Missed out on March 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

• New research suggests putting floating wind turbines in deeper waters would create an artificial source of turbulance, potentially offsetting "the impacts of climate change on stratification and increase the supply of nutrients to the surface layer and oxygen to the deep water."
  
  
• Leatherback turtle engangled in your fishing gear? The faster the disentanglement, the more likely the turtle will survive.
  
  
• In a quest to help conserve sharks, researchers created an artificial uterus for the deepwater slender tаil lаntern shаrk, and managed to birth the baby sharks. Sadly the sharks died after a few days
  
  
• Basking sharks living in and visiting Ireland's waters are set to receive "protected wild animal" status.
  
  
• The Government of Canada have announced the North Atlantic right whale protection measures for 2022. Just 336 North Atlantic right whales are thought to be left.
  
  
• In celebration of World Taxonomist Appreciation Day, the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) has released its annual list of the top-ten marine species described by researchers in 2021. If you want look back on some more discoveries, check out my own Fishy discoveries from 2021.
  
  
• Farewell Spit, New Zealand has seen another mass stranding. Despite efforts from volunteers, unforuntately, many of the 36 pilot whales died in the incident.
  
  Chinese white dolphins and Indo-Pacific finless porpoises seem to have benefited from our restricted movements. Researchers report fewer individuals of both species washed up dead in Hong Kong in 2021.
  
  
• In a bid to reduce fishery-related threats to dugongs, dolphins, and turtles the WWF has bought last commercial gill net fishing licence in the Great Barrier Reef.
  
  
• Time for a nap? Researchers supect New Zealand’s draughtsboard sharks catch 40 winks.
  
  
• After 50 years of conservation efforts, green turtles in the Seychelles seem to be recovering.
  
  
• Community science shines a light on Salish Sea fish! A new study shows how over the last 20 years or so, volunteer divers played a critical role in monitoring Salish Sea fish - and identify a new species.

Climate Crisis

• Apparently corals can be "trained" to tolerate heat stress… in a lab at least.
  
  
• Can evolution be fast enough for species to cope with ocean acidification? For some fish… maybe...
  
  
• With sea levels rising, flood barriers alone aren't going to cut it for many of our coastal cities. Instead, Dr Faith Chand and Dr Olalekan Adekola argue, we need a holistic approach.
  
  
• Tropical fish on the move! Researchers predict six tropical fish species will expand northward into temperate regions of the Japanese coast as sea temperatures rise.
  
  
• Concrete walls designed to protect against rising seas may be contributing to the problem. Researchers estimate the emissions involved in creating north-eastern Japan’s concrete breakwaters at around six million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
  
  
• Thanks to climate change impacts on krill, it's lean times for Southern Ocean humpback and southern right whales.

Fisheries and Aquaculture

• Researchers use an ultrasound transducer to "quickly and noninvasively detect when "abalone are ready to spawn."
  
  
• The Japanese fish slaughering method ike jime could be good for fish welfare-and reduce spoilage.
  
  
• Fish in the city! Quebec, Canada sees it's first commercial urban fish farm. They're looking at farming arctic char for the local market, with deliveries made on electric bikes.
  
  
• FishVerify, a mobile app that helps anglers in the USA ID their catch and learn about regulations just reached over 150,000 subscribers.
  
  
• Months after the Repsol oil refinery crude oil disaster in Peru, coastal fishers livelihoods and food security is still in disarray.
  
  
• Recreational fisheries can cause substantial damage to fish populations, and apparently ever-improving tech isn't helping the situation.

Marine Technology

• Canada’s largest icebreaker, the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, is getting a refit. The work will keep the vessel going until the arrival of a replacement, expected in 2030.
  
  
• Ifremer is testing out "smart trawls" which embrace AI to alert fishers to a high abundance of by-catch, allowing them to operate a system that allows the amnimals to escape.
  
  
• Meanwhile in South Korea, researchers have developed a glue to help catalysts stick to electrodes of seawater batteries. What makes this glue so special? It was insiired by mussels.
  
  
• Dream of living underwater? One company (name unknown) is hoping to turn an old quary in England cinto a scientific research facility.
  
  
• Ever wondered how we study the air-sea interface? Wonder no more with this overview of in-situ and ex-situ instrumentation.

People and the Sea

• The University of Stirling has joined forces with North Ayrshire Council to grow the ‘blue economy’ in the west of Scotland.
  
  
• When artist Olga Belka gets ready to go paint, she throws in some rather unusual kit - an oxygen tank, weights, and wetsuit. Belka is the an underwater painter. For each painting, she undertakes between four and seven dives, with each dive lasting up to three hours.
  
  
• The MarENet consortium (Universidad de Vigo, Münster Technological University, Université La Rochelle, ACLUNAGA, CEPESCA, Irish Maritime Development Office, ICSEM, Puerto de Vigo) has built a network among blue economy stakeholders (workers, industries, training providers, sectorial organizations, policy makers), designed specific training actions to meet the demands of the industry, and created digital tools to support those actions.
  
  
• The Government of Canada has released their "What we Heard", a report summarising the perspectives of Canadians who make a living from the ocean that will help develop Canada's blue economy strategy.
  
  
• Roxanne Ross-Manikkam, aka "Maverick Manikkam" has become the Port of Durban's first female commericial diver.
  
  
• The BBNJ (biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction) ocean treaty seems to be on the rocks, with UN member states deliberately dragging their feet.
  
  
• Egyptian fashion designer Amany Yehia held a fashion show... in the Red Sea.