Missed out on May 2022's ocean news? Here's a glimpse into what went down in Davy Jones's Locker this month
Sections
Animals and Plants
Climate Crisis
Fisheries and Aquaculture
Marine Technology
People and the Sea
Animals and Plants
- North Atlantic right whale populations seem to be taking another hit, this time from the small-size of females. Smaller whales produce fewer offspring, and scientists think that "declining body sizes may be contributing to low birth rates.
- So apparently dolphins can recongise each other by the taste of their pee....
- Marine bacteria makes the seafloor a rather delightful place to settle for Hydroides elegans, a species of marine tubeworm.
- Researchers have ID's four migratory fish species blue corridors in the Pacific Ocean. Protecting these corridors, the researchers say, is vital for large pelagic conservation efforts.
- Quiet please, we're trying to make babies. Apparently reducing boat traffic noise helps coral reef fish breed more successfully.
- Divers removed some 30 tonnes of undaria, an invasive seaweed species, from New Zealand's Fiordlands. The seaweed will be used for salads and miso soups. Yummy!
- Nothing to hear here! New research suggests southern right whales use waters off a remote headland in South Australia as a nursery because the geomorphology helps reduce sounds spreading. That means predators can't find their calves quite so easily
Climate Crisis
- Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark have pledged to build at least 150 gigawatts of "offshore wind capacity in the North Sea by 2050 to create a "green power plant" for Europe.
- A new report from the World Meterological Organisation suggests that open ocean surface pH "is now the lowest it has been for at least 26,000 years and current rates of pH change are unprecedented since at least that time.”
- You've probably heard of coral bleaching but what about sponge bleaching? New Zealand's south coast sponges are turning white, likely due to rising sea temperatures.
- Extreme storms certainly cause disaster for many beaches, but one new study has found that in some cases, storms can help protect beaches from sea level rise.
- The ocean is loosing it's memory, a new paper finds. "We show that ocean memory, as measured by the year-to-year persistence of sea surface temperature anomalies, is projected to steadily decline in the coming decades over much of the globe."
- Climate researchers are helping decision-makers wade through the various sea-level rise projections, start implementing action, and deal with uncertainty.
- Looks like ocean acidificaton isn't great news for diatoms either. Apparently descreasing pH levels cause diatom's silicon-based shells to dissolve more slowly, dragging the diatoms into deeper waters.
Fisheries and Aquaculture
- Norway and the EU have "reached a political understanding" to strengthen cooperation for sustainable fishing in the Northeast Arctic (ICES subareas 1 and 2).
- Disco-ligh lovin' scallops Yes that's really a thing. And it could make for a much more sustainable scallop fishery.
- Off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, fishers are voluntarily using shorter gillnets in summer to reduce the chance of catching diving ducks and porpoises. They're also avoiding key duck areas in winter.
- The Australian federal government are set to buy back fishing permits to help jackass morwong, redfish, john dory and silver trevally recover.
- In Kerela, India, trawl fishers are concerned about their future due to an annual trawl bans, heavy penalties for bycatch, and price of the fishing licence.
- Over in California, USA, shellfish aquaculturalists have been sharing their experiences with ocean acification with scientists. The idea is to develop a roadmap for improving resilience in the industry.
Marine Technology
- Engineers have created a remora-inspired aerial-aquatic hitchhiking robot that can fly, swim, and stick onto surfaces in air and water.
- Researchers in New Zealand are working on tech to allow mussel aquaculturalists monitor what's going on under the sea surface without leaving their desk.
- The BRO-7 satellite entered low orbit earlier this month, joining six other BRO satellites that are keeping an eye on "dark ships"--those that have turned off their AIS so they can't be monitored by conventional means.
- EDF Renewables has deployed a customized remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to carry out what is believed to be the first autonomous wind farm foundation inspection at its Blyth offshore wind farm in the UK.
- NOAA is seeking proposals from U.S. shipbuilders for the design and construction of new ships for the agency. The new vessels will primarily support NOAA’s coastal, continental shelf and deep ocean data collection requirements.
People and the Sea
- The UNHCR's newly published report "Protection, saving lives, & solutions for refugees in dangerous Journeys" makes for grim reading. Deaths at sea on migrant routes to Europe almost double, year on year.
- Could the future of farming be subsea? Off the coast of Liguria, Italy, the world's only underwater greenhouse-Nemo's Garden-is producing vegetables, flowers, and herbs.
- What to do with discarded fishing containers? Designer Takuto Ohta has an intereting answer... make furniture.
- More ocean trash-to-treasure news, this time from Marina DeBris (pun intended). Mariana is creating art and fashion from litter she finds on Sydney beaches.
- Reserachers at Los Alamos NAtional Laboratory (USA) have developed a new method of detecting earthquakes, potentially providing earlier tsunami warnings.
- The European Commission has launched the EU Blue Economy Observatory. The new observatory will focus on socio-economic components of the maritime related sectors.
- Recycling is very important, but to prevent plastic bottles ending up in the ocean, the priority should be on refillable bottles. That's the findings of an Oceana study that looked at the impact of the leading beverage producer's recycling pledges.
- Our medications are ending up in fish. A three year study of bonefish in South Florida found that each fish carries, on average, seven different pharmaceuticals. Other species that eat bonefish, like crabs, also had drugs in their system.
- Seals can hear underwater much better than people, right? One new study suggests that for certain frequencies, we hear just as well as they do.