Thriving Oceans

Plastic washing ashore and littering our beaches, the incredible Pacific Ocean garbage patch twice the size of Texas, and piles of trash blotting our seafloors left me wondering if the plastic pollution problem had reached a plateau. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, I discover that plastic, under the guise of plankton, is becoming an inadvertent food source for all forms of life that rely on our oceans for survival. The main culprit appears to be tan plastic fragments that mimic the keystone species krill…

The ocean world may be vast, but getting connected with other ecologically-minded individuals is a great way to protect our seas. Click the flip tab below the video and “Let’s Get Ocean Responsible!” with the help of SmallRivers. By the way, it’s a great video.

A short video showcasing the biodiversity found in the Monterey Bay.  In love with the ocean, a close neighbor and frequent visitior to The Bay, and harboring a soft spot for Mola molas provided enough reasons for me to share…

The plastic kick continues…Once in a while it is great to just sit back and relax after a full day of outside chores.   How about a host of new species and a little ocean education with National Geographic’s “Into the Abyss”? All was going well as the cameras catapulted me to a world of darkness filled with sea creatures many of us only imagine would appear on the SciFi Channel.  And with only 10 minutes remaining in the show’s hour allotment I was eagerly awaiting the climax as the ROV (remotely operated vehicle) descended to a depth of 9200 feet in the Celebes Sea, just off the Philippines.  What kind of giant fish or incredible invertebrates were we going to witness for the first time as the ROV scooted along the bottom?  And there it was, humankind once again setting a precedence, a huge pile of plastic and other trash littering the ocean depths.  ‘Twas not the  ending I had expected, but a finale easily predicted with so much garbage entering our seas.

Check it out for yourself!

I received a tip from a Sea Turtle List Serve that I am on regarding the mounting problem of trash entering our oceans.  If you are new to the problem of trash in our oceans and the incredible amount of harm it does to the ecosystem and wildlife then have your eyes opened.  Even those well versed in the issue should take a peak as this video: