Vote to protect the Great Barrier Reef

Should the Australian Government protect the Great Barrier Reef and ban dumping in its World Heritage waters? You can help promote the protection of the reef. Vote now at YOUNESCO!

Shocking truth about plastics in our oceans

Every time I read about how much plastic has made its way into our oceans, I am heartbroken!

Go to the Rise Above Plastics website to learn more.

Oh, How They Go Extinct, Let Us Count the Ways

The website called Worldometers keeps track of various statistics in real time and is reporting the number of species that have gone extinct so far this year at 65,616 as of today.

I would bet that this number relates somewhat to the figure for toxic chemicals released by industries into our air, land, and water this year (tons) which stood at 4,630,443 when I viewed it just a moment ago. It actually kept changing as I watched it.

Watching those counters tick by on those statistics is a real eye-opener. I wondered how many species of marine life were on the endangered species list and might soon be making the counter go up. According to EndangeredSpecie.com, here is a sampling of a few species on that list:

*Sea-lion, Steller (=northern) (Eumetopias jubatus)
*Seal, Caribbean monk (Monachus tropicalis)
*Seal, guadalupe fur (Arctocephalus townsendi)
*Seal, Hawaiian monk (Monachus schauinslandi)
*Seal, Mediterranean monk (Monachus monachus)
*Whale, blue (Balaenoptera musculus)
*Whale, bowhead (Balaena mysticetus)
*Whale, finback (Balaenoptera physalus)
*Whale, humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae)
*Whale, right (Balaena glacialis (incl. australis))
*Whale, Sei (Balaenoptera borealis)
*Whale, sperm (Physeter macrocephalus (=catodon))
*Salmon, chinook (Sacramento R. winter run)Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)
*Salmon, chinook (Snake R. spring/summer run)(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)
*Salmon, chinook (Snake R. fall run)(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)
*Salmon, sockeye (=red, =blueback)(Snake R., ID, stock)(Oncorhynchus nerka)
*Sturgeon, shortnose (Acipenser brevirostrum)

I would like to find a list of all marine life that are threatened. Looks as though I may have to gather this list together myself when I have the time in order to include only marine life.

There seems to be no problem counting the statistics, but when do we start really counting the ways species are going extinct and how many solutions there might be?

Rescuing Our Coral Reefs

An informative article appeared today on the BBC News site in regard to degrading coral reefs. The article, "Recipe for rescuing our reefs," was written by Dr Rod Salm who is director of The Nature Conservancy's Tropical Marine Conservation Program in the Asia-Pacific region.

You may reach their website here: The Nature Conservancy, which features a beautiful slide show presentation on their homepage entitled, "The Hidden Life of Coral." This organization works to protect our ocean's coral and operates more than 100 marine conservation projects globally.

The Jellyfish Jam

I've been reading in the news recently about a proliferation of jellyfish in the Mediterranean. Seems more and more people are suffering the painful stings of jellyfish which can also be fatal. Various hotels are protecting swimming pool-sized sections of water near their beaches with nets to keep the jellyfish away from swimmers.

Some swimmers are investing in special full-body suits which have been found to protect them from the stings.

Here again, however, mankind is reaping what they have sown. The natural predators of jellyfish have been depleted in numbers, allowing the jellyfish population to rise. We've gotten ourselves into another environmental jam. A jellyfish jam. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the solution to these kind of problems. Upset the natural balance and you must pay the piper.

Frightful Hauntings of Ghost Nets,discarded fishing nets by the hundreds litter the sea

Silent killers are lurking in our waters. Whether small or large (some as big as a football field), they kill fish and other marine life by the thousands. These serial killers of the sea are called "Ghost Nets," floating walls of deliberately discarded or lost-at-sea fishing nets which kill again and again for years before they rot or fall apart.

Eventually, the nets fill indiscriminately with scores of marine life and are weighed down, sinking to the bottom where they remain while the dead rot away or are eaten by scavengers. Then these gaping "jaws" of death float back up again to refill themselves, repeating this process indefinitely. Nylon nets are particularly long-lived.

Unfortunately for victims caught in the nets, death comes slowly, either by drowning, shock or exhaustion. If some manage to get free, they may die later from their wounds.

I wonder how long something similar to this type of carnage would be allowed to continue if it were happening on land? Would not public outcry become great if herds of land animals were trapped in roving nets and left to die, as we watch them on the news, struggling to get free? But ghost nets are hidden from view beneath the waters and most of us are not even aware of the problem. Yet it is cruelty to animals, killing for no reason and affecting fish stocks in some areas on a large scale.

Fortunately, however, this issue is coming to the attention of groups who are trying to track and eliminate the ghost nets. But more must be done to get at the cause of the problem which are the fishermen themselves. For those not responsible for taking care of their nets, fines must be stiff and punishment, severe.