Weekly Dive Vol. 81
Jackie Clark
From singing whales to plastic art, read what’s happening in our oceans!
Keeping the Ocean Clean and Pristine: Britain sets forth in making the world’s largest ocean reserve off the Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific. The waters surrounding the islands are home to a vast amount of wildlife including multiple species of fish and other marine mammals. The reserve will aim to protect sea life from illegal fishing as well as other man made threats. The total area of the reserve will be roughly 322.138 miles, making it the largest marine protected area yet.
Photo by McGillivray Freeman Films- Journey to the South Pacific
Humpback Whales Release First Album: The sounds of nature often bring us a feeling of calm and peace. Standing next to the ocean and listening as the wave’s crash to the shore, or even taking a walk along the sand can be a therapeutic way to distress. Now, with the help of world renowned composers, we are able to take a dive under the sea and hear the melodic songs of the Humpback whale. POD TUNE pairs the sounds of whales and famous composers to bring us calming, beautiful, ocean inspired music. Relax and end enjoy as you listen to the calming sounds of the sea in a way you have yet to before.
Seals Give Report on the State of World Oceans: We now have a clearer image of the state of our oceans thanks to a group of tagged seals. Scientist at St. Andrews University in Scotland set up noninvasive tags on a small group of seals in order to receive information about the oceans environment. Seals were able to send information back to the scientist through satellite like tweeting. Launched in 2004, over a decade of information was collected, which is now ready to be released and shared with others in the field. The data will hopefully serve as a means to give the public a clear understanding of what is happening in our seas and what needs to be done for future conservation.
Photo by Marcel Burkhard alias cele4, Creative Commons License
World Oceans Day Celebration: Monday June 8th marks the celebration of the seventh official World Oceans Day. This national event, recognized by the United Nations, seeks to celebrate our oceans and inform the population of its status. This day was started in appreciation of the world’s oceans and recognition of how it connects us all. The Ocean Project and several other organizations come together each year to promote the event. This year the theme is Healthy Oceans, healthy Planet, and everyone is invited to join in on the celebration! Check out the official World Oceans Day website to learn about events in your area and ways that you can contribute to the day.
Photo by Ritiks, Wikimedia Commons
Raising Awareness Through Art: Mexico City born artist Alejandro Durán is seeking to raise awareness on ocean pollution through his latest series Washed Up. In this series, Durán collected thousands of pieces of washed up plastic from the shore of Sian Ka’an, Mexico. He then arranged the plastic artistically on the beach in order to showcase just how much debris and trash is dumped into our oceans. To finish the project out, Durán held a beach cleanup in which volunteers gathered to rid the beach of the plastic that he used for his project. In doing this, Durán hopes to raise awareness to the estimated 8.8 million tons of plastic that are dumped into our oceans yearly. Check out the amazing photos from the series and take part in the movement to keep our oceans clean!
Photo by Eric Johnson, NOAA Corps, Wikimedia Commons
Oil industry helping fund Ocean Conservation: The Irving Oil Company has been a long time partner of the New England Aquarium, offering funding in efforts towards ocean conservation. In the past twenty years the partnership has supplied researchers with the ability to study North Atlantic Right whales. Through this research, they have been able to successfully establish education and protection programs for the species. The partnership has provided the Aquarium with the funds to study the whale species in the The Bay of Fundy. This year the efforts will be expanded allowing them to also study the waters of Baie de Chaleur in Northern New Brunswick and the Roseway Basin off Nova Scotia.
Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
