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Ocean Leaders Recognized

June 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment

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.”

Filed Under: People

When did life in the ocean begin?

June 9, 2010 by Leave a Comment

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?

Do you have another good question or suggestion for the Beach Chair Scientist? Go to http://www.beachchairscientist.com and let us know. Or you can e-mail your question to info@beachchairscientist.com.

Filed Under: Marine Mammals, Ocean, Random Fun!

Can we eat sea cucumbers?

June 8, 2010 by 4 Comments

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:

Do you have another great question? Simply email me at info@beachchairscientist.com.

Filed Under: Echinoderms Tagged With:

Tomorrow is World Oceans Day!

June 7, 2010 by Leave a Comment

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”.

Image (c) http://theoceanproject.org

“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!

Filed Under: Ocean

M.C. Lars “Ahab”

June 6, 2010 by Leave a Comment

This is too much fun not to share! Have a nice Sunday Funday.

Filed Under: People, Random Fun!

10 facts about manatees

June 5, 2010 by 15 Comments

  1. Manatees are marine mammals and breathe air through their nostrils.
  2. Manatees belong to an order of marine mammals called the Sirenians. Dugongs are the other member of this family. Stellar sea cows were also a member of this family, but they were hunted to extinction within 27 years of their discovery.
  3. Manatees can weigh up to 2,000 pounds.
  4. Manatees closest modern relative is the elephant. Evidence of this relationship is easy to spot – both animals have three to four fingernails.
  5. Manatees are typically pretty slow, but, can swim up to 20 mph.
  6. There are four species of manatees: the West Indian Manatee, the Florida Manatee (technically a subspecies of the West Indian species), the Amazonian Manatee and the West African Manatee.
  7. Manatees are credited for being the basis for the mermaid legend.
  8. Manatees are herbivores.
  9. Manatees can live up to 60 years old.
  10. Manatees have no natural predators, but, they are peril. Find out more about their plight at Save the Manatees.

Do you have a great question for us? E-mail info@beachchairscientist.com.

Filed Under: Marine Mammals Tagged With: , , , ,

Whale songs

June 4, 2010 by Leave a Comment

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.

Do you have another great question? Check out www.beachchairscientist.com and enter your request or e-mail info@beachchairscientist.com.

Filed Under: Marine Mammals

What is a watershed?

June 3, 2010 by 2 Comments

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.

Do you have another great question? Check out www.beachchairscientist.com and enter your request or e-mail info@beachchairscientist.com.

Filed Under: Ocean Tagged With: , ,

Connecting to my watershed – Part I

June 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

I rarely preach on this blog. But, I just watched a documentary called “No Impact Man” where the writer, Colin, and his family decide to reduce their impact on the environment. He wanted to reduce to nothing. They even went for 6 months without any electricity in their 5th Avenue apartment. I was skeptical. He did a good job of reducing to none. He even mentioned the affective connection that happens when contributing to nature. Therefore, he was contributing to the black. Not just trying to reduce the red.

Needless to say, I was inspired. There is no way I could live without air conditioning or a stove. But, there are changes I could make to try and reduce the impact of pollution on my local watershed. Now, we already recycle, compost, take public transportation, joined a CSA to eat local, carry around water bottles, carry cloth bags to the grocery store and re-use the random accumulated plastic bags.

So, how can we take it one step farther? Well, the No Impact Man inspired us to … get this … make our own cleaning products! It seems simple. And we can reuse some materials from being recycled.

This website, Earth Easy, is the best one I found to learn on how tackle this new challenge. I will keep you updated on how everything works.

Why do I think this is important? Well, as the Beach Chair Scientist I am extremely concerned with anything that goes down the sink drain, runs through the shower drain, goes through the washing machine or is put on the lawn and then runs off to the nearest drain. All of these materials will end up in the ocean. It is true. That is how a watershed works.

Do you have another great question? Check out www.beachchairscientist.com and enter your request or e-mail info@beachchairscientist.com.

Filed Under: People, Random Fun!

June 2010 is National Oceans Month (NOM)

June 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

“NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2010 as National Oceans Month.  I call upon Americans to learn more about what they can do to protect, conserve, sustain, and enjoy our oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes.”

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

So, June is National Oceans Month (NOM). What does this mean for Beach Chair Scientist? In the month of June I am challenging myself to write 30 entries. Today is June 3 so I am already two days behind. Throughout the month I will bring simple, insightful and entertaining ways to learn to take President Obama’s advice to “protect, conserve, sustain, and enjoy our oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes.” Sounds fun, right?

I am committed to keeping a positive spin on the 30 NOM posts. I will not dwell on the oil spill. But, it would be irresponsible if I did not mention it. The only positive light I can see with this oil spill is that it does hit home and therefore we (the American public) are forced to look for alternative forms of energy.

Filed Under: Ocean