Image (c) Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.
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Marine & Freshwater Environmental Education
Image (c) Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.
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Since you asked … but, I’d like to preface this list of the 5 most dangerous sharks with this
excerpt taken from an article in Time by Terry McCarthy.
“In California there is only one shark attack for every 1 million surfing days, according to the Surfrider Foundation. You are 30 times as likely to be killed by lightning. Poorly wired Christmas trees claim more victims than sharks, according to Australian researchers. And dogs — man’s best friends — bite many thousands more people than sharks do.”
Here is a list pulled from the International Shark Attack File. This file (dating from 1580 to 2008) has been compiled by the Ichthyology department of the Florida Museum of Natural History.
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On June 8 in Washington D.C. Honorable Lois Capp (CA), Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL) and Julie Packard were recognized for their roles as leaders in the ocean community.
According to the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation (NMSF), the organization that distributes the awards, these women were recognized for the following reasons:
“Rep. Capps received the Award for her dedication to protecting the natural resources of California and its waters and the broader environmental health of the U.S. Among that work, she was involved in legislation to protect coastal and estuarine habitat, reform U.S. fisheries and aquaculture management, and develop an integrated coastal and ocean observation system. Through her leadership, education initiatives such as the California Bay-Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) and the Multicultural Education for Resource Issues Threatening Oceans (MERITO) programs will help create new generations of environmental stewards
and ocean champions.”
“Rep. Ros-Lehtinen received the Award for her dedication to protecting the natural resources of Florida and its waters and the broader environmental health of the U.S. Among that work, she was involved in legislation providing funding for national marine sanctuaries, coastal restoration projects, and coral reef protection. Her concern for Florida’s coral reefs led her to champion the Coral Reef Conservation Act.”
“Ms. Packard was presented with a whale tail sculpture created by Santa Barbara artist James “Bud” Bottoms of the Dolphin Family Studio. Her career and dedication was recalled through a video that features the extensive achievements of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and a testimonial by her friend and colleague, Rep. Sam Farr (CA-17). It details how she helped found the popular institution, the nation’s first major public aquarium focused on a single region, and has served as its Executive Director since it opened in 1984. NMSF also recognized her commitment to ocean conservation and her work shaping the nation’s ocean policies through other channels, including her work with the Pew Oceans Commissions and Joint Ocean Commission Initiative.”
It is said that Earth was created about 4.5 billion years ago (bya). Life began about (note “about”) 3.5 bya. And, in fact, it is thought that life began in the oceans!
Follow the evolution of the whale on the National Museum of Natural History’s Sant Oceans Hall on-line ocean portal and see if the whale is evolving backwards. Sounds interesting, eh?
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There’s a funny animal that lives on the floor of the ocean and likes to eat what most of us would only wipe off the bottom of our shoes. It’s name is the sea cucumber. The sea cucumber is an echinoderm and is closely related to sea stars, sea urchins, and sand dollars.To protect itself the sea cucumber will expel its intestines outside of its body to distract predators. The sea cucumber is a prized Japanese culinary tradition used often in soups and stews. Fisheries along the Atlantic coast have been popping up in the past twenty years to sell sea cucumbers.
Check out this video from National Geographic on how they (literally) fight with guts for glory:
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Since a 2008 resolution by the United Nations, June 8 has been designated as the universal “World Oceans Day”. Each year, non-profit The Ocean Project pulls together a great list of events from around the world celebrating World Oceans Day. The theme for 2010 is “World of Life”.
“Wear Blue, Tell Two”
In 2009 the Ocean Project began a campaign to get people to wear blue as a way to represent the ocean on World Oceans Day. Another part of this campaign is to tell two people interesting facts about the ocean to inspire them to feel connected in hopes they will also become stewards of our marine environment.
You know where to tell people to go for interesting ocean facts … http://www.beachchairscientist.wordpress.com!
This is too much fun not to share! Have a nice Sunday Funday.
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There are two types of whales: baleen and toothed. Baleen whales are the magical creatures that create “songs” under water. The series of high pitched squeals, shrieks, groan and moans can last anywhere up to twenty minutes and be as low as 20 Hz and high as 10,000 Hz.
Male whales (bulls) tend to use song as a means of finding a mate (a female whale is called a cow). But, theses sounds have been recorded and analyzed and findings see that the songs can also be a means to warn other whales of nearby predators or publicize food sources.
Scripps Institute sent out an interesting news release about a study explaining that the sounds of the male blue whales is decreasing as the species is increasing. Their sounds are fewer since the proximity to a mate is lessened.
This increase in the blue whale species is good news and I hope that this continues dispute the debate among the whaling and non-whaling member countries of the International Whaling Commission.
Here is a clip of some musical humpback whales put together by the Oceania Project, a non-profit is Australia that is dedicated to caring for whales, dolphins and the oceans.
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In this video produced by the EPA and The Weather Channel you’ll see what some people believe a watershed to be. It is not a place where people go to the bathroom, but, is more like a drain.
Understanding a watershed is tough. I think it is because the name does not fit the definition. A watershed is an area of land that drains into a shared body of water. It could be a shared stream, lake, river, estuary, aquifer, or ocean. What links the land to these water bodies are wetlands.
Each watershed is connected to another watershed. All watersheds eventually lead to the ocean. In the U.S. there are over 2,200 watersheds (including Puerto Rico). They have no restrictions on counties, state, or even national border lines.
All watersheds are delicate and their strength is dependent upon 1) what we put in them and 2) how we use them. Follow how I am learning to make less on an impact on my watershed.
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On the way home from work yesterday I had a driveway moment and could not stop listening to a story on All Things Considered on the benefits of forgoing the pub this Sunday and instead preparing some heartwarming Irish food at home to celebrate Erin go bragh. The story featured a recipe – Molly Malone’s […]
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These days – Absolutely! In past decades it was not uncommon to substitute succulent scallops with shark or the wings of a sting ray. The scallop industry has been thriving since 1970’s and this has not been the norm. How can you tell? Real scallops will break apart very easily when separated, also, the meat […]
Knot is a measure of nautical speed. More specifically one knot equals one nautical mile per hour. One nautical mile equals 6,080 feet. The term knot came from how sailors calculated speed. They threw a log with a rope attached to it overboard. The rope had knots evenly spaced (every 47 feet and 3 inches). […]
Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives Discovery brings SHARK WEEK viewers on a search for a massive killer Great White shark responsible for a rash of fatalities off the coast of South Africa. One controversial scientist believes that the shark responsible could be Megalodon, a 60-foot relative of the Great White that is one of the […]
Swamps and marshes are easily interchanged as they are both areas of vegetation that are susceptible to flooding. In North America they are defined a little differently (check out this BCS post for a quick lesson in wetland ecology – image below). A swamp is a place where the plants that make up the area […]
“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” King Solomon There is not a lot life down in the deep sea. Fortunately, it is convenient that the hydrothermal vents down there share a wealth of minerals to the otherwise desolate neighborhood. More notably what was just uncovered is that iron particles (known as […]
Lately everyone has been asking me how the junior Beach Chair Scientist is doing and I often find myself saying, “Oh! She’s as happy as a clam!” It occurred to me that I didn’t fully understand the expression since clams are not known to smile. I did some research and found out that the phrase […]
Running Advice for Overweight Runners Get active, stay safe, and build your fitness over time Runners, despite what may be advertised, come in all shapes and sizes. If you’re overweight, running is a great option that can help you improve your health, get in shape, boost your confidence, and achieve a healthy weight. Read the latest […]
There has been a lot in the news recently about shark finning. It’s the inhumane practice of capturing a shark, slicing its fins off (shark fin soup is an expensive delicacy popular at Chinese weddings and Chinese New Year celebrations), and tossing the rest of the animal overboard to bleed out a die. As noted […]
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