When oil spills into the ocean, it claims many victims. Join writer Linda Hogan as she reflects on the lost life of a sea turtle, found dead after one such spill.
“We had been together so very long,
you willing to swim with me
just last month, myself merely small
in the ocean of splendor and light,
the reflections and distortions of us,
and now when I see the man from British Petroleum
lift you up dead from the plastic
bin of death,
he with a smile, you burned
and covered with red-black oil, torched
and pained, all I can think is that I loved your life,
the very air you exhaled when you rose,
old great mother, the beautiful swimmer,
the mosaic growth of shell
so detailed, no part of you
simple, meaningless,
or able to be created
by any human,
only destroyed.
How can they learn
the secret importance
of your beaten heart,
the eyes of another intelligence
than ours, maybe greater,
with claws, flippers, plastron.
Forgive us for being thrown off true,
for our trespasses,
in the eddies of the water
where we first walked.”
Song for the Turtles in the Gulf has been reproduced here with permission from Split This Rock’s The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database.
Looking for a marine podcast? From marine life to ocean tech to maritime matters to diving and swimming, this list of podcasts will take you into the ocean.
Whether you’re looking to dive into the ocean, keep your feet firmly on terra firma, or stay in your chair, there’s a community science (aka citizen science) project for you.
David L. Mearns OBE, OAM, Director at Blue Water Recoveries Limited, discusses his career as a shipwreck expert and being honoured by Prince William.
Tiny Ocean Opportunities is a free version of Ocean Opportunities, a listing of 600+ marine STEM-related jobs, Post-Docs, PhDs, Masters, conferences, workshops, courses, webinars, internships, fundings, and other types of opportunities.
They may be small and often overlooked, but seagrasses play a role in keeping our oceans healthy. Seagrass meadows create vital habitats for marine life, capture and store carbon, and help stabilise coastlines. Yet, seagrass meadows are disappearing at an alarming rate due to coastal development, pollution, and climate change. Italy hopes to reverse that trend with the ambitious Marine Ecosystem Restoration Project.
For Early Career Ocean Professionals, training opportunities are crucial for career development. Peter Keen, Director of Keen Marine Ltd, and Luis Menezes Pinheiro, Professor of Marine Geophysics at the University of Aveiro, discuss how the All-Atlantic Floating University Network (@SeaNetwork) is supporting training at sea throughout the Atlantic Ocean.
The IMarEST Marine Mammals Special Interest Group (MMSIG) and Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) have created a new partnership that will help guide innovation in marine mammal monitoring
Ok, a confession. As far as I know, there are no awards for jellyfish, but if there were, these fabulous six would certainly meet the grade
Artificial nests can boost the breeding success of endangered African penguins, but different designs are more effective at different colonies
What’s geodiversity you ask? It’s short for geological diversity - the diversity of the natural parts of our planet that aren’t alive. The rocks, soils, sediments, landforms, and hydrological features, for example, and the processes that create and change these and other non-living features. Geodiversity isn’t just the stuff we see on the land. It’s underwater too. Let’s take a peek at just five spectacular undersea features that make up some of our World’s geodiversity.
In 1879, Edmund Clarence Stedman (1833 - 1908) designed a rigid airship inspired by the anatomy of a fish. His airship was never built, by Stedman’s literary works came steadily. Between 1875 and 1892, Stedman had the fortune to travel to the Caribbean. His poem “Sargasso Weed” was inspired by this journey and is as much about the swaths of sargassum that float in the sea as it is a criticism of European and American imperialism in the region.
Community science project Competitive Angling as a Scientific Tool (CAST) could provide a unique insight into the distribution, life stages and habitat preferences of data-poor fisheries.
Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are developing new measures to protect the Mekong Delta and it’s communities from erosion.
62% of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) designated to protect rare migratory fish species are outside of their core habitats, according to a new modelling study.
It’s World Bee Day! Bees are famous for their pollination, but did you know that there are many other pollinators? Some even live in the sea.
Palaeontologists believe the teeth may have been used for defence, competitive fighting, or as digging tools
This World Penguin Day we take a look at the Galapagos Penguin - arguably the loneliest penguins in the world.
Scientists have shown for the first time that juvenile great white sharks gather in nearshore waters up to 10 meters deep with temperatures between 16 and 22 °C – a very different habitat from that of adults. These preferences may optimize their growth and minimize the risk of predation. These results can inform conservation efforts and help avoid unwanted encounters with swimmers.
A new report released at the Our Ocean Conference in Greece by SkyTruth, a nonprofit conservation technology organization, identified 757 oil slicks covering 1.9 million hectares in the Mediterranean Sea between July 2020 - January 2024. Most of these slicks were discharged from vessels in transit.
In her poem "The Whalers Song", Lydia Huntley Sigourney (1791 - 1865) imagines the moment a whaler spots a whale...
Are you working or studying in a marine STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, or Maths) field? Looking for a professional society or association? Here’s a list from around the world.
Missed out on March 2024's ocean news? Here's a glimpse into what went down in Davy Jones's Locker this month. News relates to marine animals & plants, the climate crisis and the ocean, fisheries and aquaculture, marine technology, oceanography, and people and the sea.
The data reveals UK coastal seas were on average 0.39 Celsius warmer in 2023 than in 2022.
Thousands of marine species are discovered every year. Discover the top ten new finds in 2023, as chosen by my taxonomists.
Lydia Huntley Sigourney (1791–1865) was a popular poet in her time, but today has largely been forgotten. In her poem Iceberg, Sigourney recounts the journey of the steamship “Great Western” from Europe to the USA in 1841, in which the steamship passed through a “fleet” of icebergs. The captain of the Great Western (Captain Hoskins) reported the fleet stretched for approximately 3/4 of a mile, and estimated to be 300 - 400 in number.