Hand Holding with a Grey Seal

Ben Burville is a underwater wildlife cameraman in Northumberland, UK. He specialises in filming British marine life.

Ben recently filmed himself holding hands underwater with a grey seal. The front flippers of a seal can grasp much like a human hand, although it takes a lot of courage to be this close to a wild animal who could bite or scratch.

An amazing video!

You, too, can track a Great White Shark

Curious as to where a Great White Shark may be lurking? Well, now you can track a few Great Whites that have been tagged by the Marine Conservation Science Institute (MCSI) via a new smart phone app released on January 11, 2012, called Expedition White Shark. The app costs $3.99.

MCSI has attached satellite tags to the dorsal fins of some adult Great White Sharks which will allow anyone to follow the movements of these illusive creatures in real time. The only hitch is that the sharks have to be "finning" or cruising with their dorsal fins out of the water for a few minutes in order for the satellite to pick up the signals. MCSI says that sometimes this will result in mistakes in location, but they will correct these errors later.

The purpose of this app is to "impart interesting Great White Shark life history facts to those who dare to meet the challenges faced by a baby White Shark as it grows through the juvenile and sub-adult phases." Great White Shark encounters might also be prevented.

I played with the app for a few minutes and found the location of a 2,215 lb., 14.4' Great White Shark named Bite Face. In the "Meet Our Sharks" section, ol' Bite Face's picture reveals an expression that you definitely would not want to be close enough to see in person outside of a large boat or sturdy shark cage. Gulp! I'm hearing the song lyrics in my head, "He's a mean one, Mr. Grinch!"

You may also log into Facebook through the app and receive news from MCSI.

The only glitch I had with the app is that it kept telling me to check my internet connection, yet I was able to do everything in spite of that error message. I had to be on the network and am not sure why I was getting that message.

Happy Great White Shark tracking!

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.

Update on the Restoration of Jacques Cousteau's Calypso

To update on the restoration of Jacques Cousteau's ship, Calypso, I found some information on Wikipedia:

"Restoration work on the Calypso stopped in February 2009 due to non-payment of bills by Francine Cousteau. Piriou Naval Services of Concarneau are owed €850,000, of the estimated total €1,737,000, for work already done on the ship. The ship is now stored in one of the ship builder's hangars.

"As of March 2009, the Cousteau Society reports that Francine Cousteau is now directing the restoration of Calypso—-which has been brought to the Piriou shipyards in Brittany—-as an "ambassador for the seas and oceans." The restoration will be a complete refurbishment making Calypso a self-powered mobile "ambassador."

"In June 2010, the BBC reported that the Calypso was to be relaunched to mark the centenary of Jacques Cousteau's birth. According to one of the ship's former crew who visited the shipyard, the vessel was still being stored in several pieces in the same hangar as of 11 June 2010--the official date of the centenary--and is unlikely to sail any time soon."

Looks as though the Calypso may never be restored unless someone gets a better grip on the project.

New Technology for Deep Sea Subs

New technology is being developed to explore the deepest parts of the ocean. The Trieste bathyscaphe was the last manned sub to reach the depths of 36,000 ft. in the Mariana Trench in 1960. Triton Submarines is planning to go down in their newly designed glass bubble submarine. Read the article here:

Sub will take humans to deepest point of ocean

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?

Sea Cow Gets Herded Back Out to Sea

One of my favorite marine animals is the manatee. I confess, if it were possible, I'd love to hug 'em and plant a big kiss on their noses.

A manatee, or sea cow, was rescued today by a group of Filipino fishermen that got trapped by low tide on the shore of Palawan island's Puerto Princesa city. This manatee was one of the largest surviving members of the Dugong Dugon subspecies which is endangered.

Read the article here.

Let's hope Enero or January in the Tagalog language, as the fishermen nicknamed her, will have a long and tranquil life back where she belongs.

I cannot imagine the standards of beauty that early sailors might have had when they thought manatees were mermaids. Were women in that day so ugly that their faces could be mistaken for a manatee's? At any rate, manatees became part of the order "Sirenia" which means "siren." Sirens were half-woman creatures that could lure sailors into danger and ultimately, death. The other name for the manatee, which is sea cow, seems to be quite a more appropriate fit in my mind.

Manatees can live up to 50-60 years. They grow to about 9-10 ft. long and weigh on average about 1,000 pounds. They are hunted in South and Central American countries, but the leading cause of death for a manatee is boat collisions or getting tangled in fishing nets. Of course, pollution is affecting this mammal as much as it is others. Get some interesting information on manatees at All About Manatees.

If you are ever in the Columbus, Ohio, area, consider a visit to the Manatee Coast at the Columbus Zoo to visit the current residents of this beautiful manatee exhibit. Their aquarium is built to house up to five full-grown manatees, and they have recently transitioned more from performing the role of rehabilitation and release to medical conditioning and research for manatees.

Other resources for manatees are:

Save the Manatee Club

Manatee Cam

West Indian Manatee

Watch these Manatees give butterfly kisses:


oceanography