Vanishing island

Vanishing Island from The New York Times - Video

This short documentary profiles residents of the Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana, as they confront a future threatened by sinking shorelines and rising seas.

Jean Charles island in the Marine GeoGarage

Drones would revolutionize oceanic conservation, if they weren't illegal

Drones over dolphin stampede and whales off Dana Point and Maui

From Motherboard

A small, remote-controlled quadcopter lifts from the deck of a skiff.
As it rises into the air, a gray whale breaches on the horizon. Slowly, the drone cruises towards the whale, now revealed to be a mother and calf.
It climbs higher, offering a breathtaking view of a moment few will ever witness.
The whales, undisturbed, continue their long migration up the California coast.

This interaction seems ideal--we get an unparalleled view of an ocean giant while the whales barely notice the buzzing aircraft above.
But this flight could cost the drone pilot his equipment and his freedom.

As drones become more affordable and reliable, amateur drone enthusiasts are taking to the sea, photographing whales and dolphins and producing incredible videos of marine mammals in their natural environment.
The advantages offered by drones are clear.
These small vehicles are less obtrusive than whale watching boats and allow a large audience to observe whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals while maintaining a safe and respectful distance.

Autonomous drones have also proven themselves effective tools for marine mammal research.
Wayne Perryman of NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center has been using drones to track sperm whales and even sample the chemical and microbial constituents of whale exhalations.
But Perryman argues that the regulatory agencies are still playing catch-up to new technologies.

Whales and other marine mammals are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), a series of regulations that limit and restrict human activities when marine mammals are present. Scientists like Perryman must go through an extensive permitting process to get authorization to interact with marine mammals.

These regulations, which treat drones the same as full-sized aircraft, appear woefully out-of-step with technological development.
For example, the guidelines for applying for a Commercial or Educational Photography Permit encourages applicants to “submit your application electronically on a 3.5” floppy disk” for “faster processing.”

The MMPA doesn’t just protect cetaceans like whales and dolphins, but also manatees, seals, sea lions, sea otters, walruses, and polar bears.
These animals are protected whether in water or on land.
As all currently extant species are endangered, sea turtles also receive nearly identical protection under the Endangered Species Act. Some states, such as North Carolina, confusingly lump sea turtles—which are assuredly not mammals—and marine mammals together under marine mammal enforcement.
Dead marine mammals receive many of the same protections as living ones.

While the MMPA doesn’t have regulations specifically for drones, it does have broad regulations for traditional aircraft.
Until the Marine Mammal Commission explicitly outlines guidelines for drones, prudent pilots would be wise to treat their machines as Chinooks, rather than minnows.
Fortunately, NOAA has clear guidelines for aircraft pilots.
Unfortunately, these guidelines make viewing marine mammals via drone nearly impossible.

Dana Wharf "Copter Cam" exclusive video of a fin whale off Dana Point, California

Aircraft are required to maintain an altitude of at least 1000 feet for all whales and 1500 feet for North Atlantic Right Whales.
The FAA advises drone pilots to fly below 400 feet.
These conflicting guidelines means that that it is currently impossible for a drone pilot to be 100 percent confident that their whale flight is legal, regardless of how little it impacts the animal’s behavior.

Boats, on the other, hand may approach within 300 feet of a whale pod (150 feet for dolphins), with their big outboards humming, but cannot place themselves in the animal’s path and must proceed at the slowest possible speed.
An airboat in the Florida Everglades, whose unmuffled fans can crank at 130 decibels, can come closer to a manatee than a two pound quadcopter hovering 300 feet above.

Amateur drone pilots often exist in a legislative gray area.
Following an incident in which a drone forced young bighorn sheep away from their flock, the National Park Service grounded these aircraft in all national parks, pending review.

 An Aerotestra Hugo UAS outfitted for water quality sampling, chilling in Lake Merritt, Oakland.

Image: Andrew David Thaler

Commercial drone guidelines are just as murky, if not even more restrictive, with both the FAA and MMPA banning almost all commercial drone use.
Though Amazon made waves earlier this year with a plan for drone-based delivery, they remain grounded.
Only BP has permission to fly commercial drones on US public land.
We won’t see the Tacocopter anytime soon.

The MPAA is a particularly challenging piece of legislation.
Drone enthusiasts may find themselves in violation of this complex legal document, a position that comes with steep fines, loss of equipment, and even jail time.
Unfortunately, the status of drones with regard to the MMPA is undefined, so marine mammal observers eager to use drones to track and record sea life must proceed with caution.
According to Perryman, both the Marine Mammal Commission (which oversees the MMPA) and the FAA are “trying to catch [drone pilots] as best they can.”

The Marine Mammal Protection Act forbids the "taking" of marine mammals in national waters, but the term ‘take’ is misleading.
A take is defined as any action to “harass, hunt, capture, kill or collect, or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, kill or collect.”
Loosely defined, anything that affects the natural behavior of a marine mammal in any way is a take.

Takes can include actions that have the potential to injure a marine mammal but also actions that might alter a marine mammal’s behavior or cause stress.
This includes obvious actions like chasing or touching wild animals, but also less intuitive actions, like approaching too closely, feeding, or even disturbing a sleeping seal with the high pitched buzz of a low-flying quadcopter.

Even seasoned marine biologists run afoul of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, as orca researcher Nancy Black discovered when she was charged and found guilty of violating the act by baiting cameras to attract whales; she had a permit for the cameras, but not the bait.

After a long legal battle, she was found guilty, forced to pay $12,500 and placed on 3 years probation. Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society, who was on site filming during Black’s infraction and whose footage was ultimately used as the key evidence to convict Black, was forced to forfeit their $50,000 vessel.

Enforcement is at the discretion of federal and state regulators, and responsible drone pilots have a strong argument in their favor.
However, given the ambiguity of current regulations, and the fact that no drone pilots have faced prosecution for MMPA violations (yet), enthusiasts need to be familiar not only with existing regulations, but also understand why those laws exist and how marine mammal behavior can be affected by their devices.

Whales and dolphins are particularly sensitive to sound; it is their primary tool for both navigation and communication.
The presence of conventional aircraft can alter the behavior of sperm whales and grey whales. Although drones are much smaller, even the smallest quadcopter can produce high-frequency, high-decibel noise which can alarm whales basking at the surface.
The presence of a small flying object nearby can also stress the animals, as seagulls have been observed harassing southern right whales to the point of disrupting feeding.

There are also actions that are clearly illegal under the MMPA.
Landing a drone on, or otherwise coming into direct contact with a marine mammal, either intentionally or accidentally, is an unambiguous violation of the MMPA, as is placing your vehicle in a position when direct contact could occur—regardless of whether it’s a drone, a boat, or a person.
Drone pilots should avoid positioning their aircraft in such a way that it could potentially collide with any wildlife.

Chasing a marine mammal is also a clear violation, especially if it is apparent that the animal has noticed the drone and is attempting to avoid it.
Accidental interactions may be given more leeway, but the waters become murkier if the drone pilot’s intent is to film marine mammals.

The simplest step that drone pilots can take is to avoid making animals aware of their presence and learn to recognize behaviors that indicate an animal is becoming agitated.
Stressed seals and sea lions may bark frequently and retreat to sea.
Female humpback whales will shield their calves from perceived threats. Agitated dolphins will slap their tails and leap out of the water.
Careful, responsible piloting and approaching no closer than is necessary can minimize potential disturbances.

Drones are a natural fit for marine mammal research and observation.
Compared to outboard motors, fixed-wing aircraft, or helicopters, they are much less disruptive. Rotors can be muffled, flight plans can be easily altered, and videos can be recorded with as little interaction with the subject as possible.
When properly used, drones can provide a low-impact, unobtrusive platform to observe marine mammals in the wild.

But the MMPA has not caught up to the state of the art, and it only takes one unfortunate incident to permanently restrict the use of drones for marine mammal observation.
Drone pilots who want to use their aircraft to view marine mammals must work within the existing regulatory framework while pushing for greater clarity within the Marine Mammal Protection Act, or risk the future of the practice.

Links :

• Southern Fried Science blog : 10 ways drones can save the ocean

Fishermen are throwing fish away, and they're losing millions of Dollars because of it

From HuffingtonPost by Dominique Mosbergen

The by-catch problem in the U.S. isn't just hurting our oceans, but our pockets too, according to a new report by Oceana.
The environmental group estimates the U.S. fishing industry loses at least $1 billion annually from the staggering amount of seafood that is unintentionally caught (and then discarded) by fishermen.
As the report notes, this figure seems especially high, considering that in 2012 the total amount of seafood landed by U.S. fishermen was worth about $5 billion in total.
"The fishing industry in the United States is an important part of the economy, generating $82 billion in sales and supporting 1.2 million jobs," the report reads. "Unfortunately, much of this value could be undercut by by-catch."

The economic analysis, which was made public Thursday, is a follow-up to an earlier Oceana report's estimate that 2 billion pounds of by-catch is discarded at U.S. fisheries every year.
According to that report, the use of unsustainable and indiscriminate fishing methods and gear in fisheries across the United States has meant that some fishermen are regularly throwing out a large percentage of everything they catch -- either because the fish (or other marine creatures) have been injured or prematurely killed during their capture, or because they weren't supposed to be caught at all.
Marine scientist and report co-author Amanda Keledjian told The Huffington Post that her team used the earlier report in their economic analysis, assessing what the value of the discarded fish would be if they were sold instead of thrown overboard.

The $1 billion figure was a "conservative estimate," she said, adding that if one considers the "indirect cost of by-catch," like reduced wages or the loss of jobs because of the lower number of fish brought to port, the "overall impact could very well be much higher."

Ultimately, Keledjian says she hopes the new report will draw attention to just what an ecological and economic disaster the by-catch problem is in this country.
Addressing industry criticism that Oceana's by-catch report did not adequately acknowledge the progress that the U.S. fishing industry has recently made with regard to by-catch, Keledjian said that the nonprofit's goal was to provide an "overview of the by-catch problem" in the U.S.
She added that although some fishermen and the government have made great strides to manage the issue, the problem of by-catch continues to contribute to overfishing and the decline of fish populations.
"There's been a lot of progress. ... But we're not finished yet -- and that's our point," she said. "It's important that we keep taking these steps to benefit the marine environment and the people whose livelihoods depend on it."

In its report, Oceana recommends that the government and the fishing industry devise new ways to "accurately count all catch, cap the amount of by-catch with science-based limits and control by-catch through effective management measures that will ensure limits are not exceeded and that by-catch is reduced over time."
By-catch is, of course, just one of many problems plaguing our oceans today.

In a new report released this week, the Global Ocean Commission warned that the oceans are in serious decline. Overfishing, illegal fishing, pollution and climate change are just a handful of the many problems facing our seas which the report highlights.

Read Oceana's "Wasted Cash: The Price of Waste in the U.S. Fishing Industry" report here.

Small miniatures : the secret life of marine microfaunia

Under a magnifier, a splash of seawater teems with life.

The planktonic soup includes bug-like copepods; long, glassy arrowworms; coiled filaments of cyanobacteria; rectangular algae called diatoms; fish eggs; and a big-eyed larval crab the size of a rice grain.

From NationalGeographic

"Small is beautiful," declared economist E. F. Schumacher.
Wise perspective for a planet where most organisms are built on a minor scale.
A dipperful of seawater can reveal a hodgepodge of tiny free-swimmers and nebulous drifters that fog the water column.
Many are microscopic.

As if you needed another reason not to drink sea water!

David Liittschwager, an accomplished award-winning photographer who has created numerous marine wildlife photos for National Geographic, has created an image showing the microfauna that exists inside a single drop of seawater!

By magnifying the water 25 times, he showed that the salty taste of seawater isn’t just salt – there are bacteria, worms, fish eggs, crab larva, diatoms, and a whole host of other creepy crawlies all fighting for a place on your tongue.

Dive-shield has a more accurate breakdown of the critters in this awesome shot.

 Curled like a fishhook, a larval blenny (Entomacrodus species) is transparent and nearly colorless beneath the photographer’s lights.

Although these fish inhabit offshore Hawaiian surface waters during their early days, as adults they live in shallow, surf-beaten tide pools along rocky shores.

Others would be visible except they're virtually transparent.

A larval swordfish measuring less than an inch has a long way to go to reach a length of up to ten feet (three meters) which it may attain over its lifespan of perhaps 10 to 20 years.

In these early days it eats fish larvae and tiny crustaceans called copepods—and is always at risk of becoming a snack for larger fish.

Gelatinous shape-shifters lazily ride the currents.

 This larval flounder swims with other fish for now, hidden from predators by transparency (the color is an effect of lighting).

It will soon be a bottom dweller that shimmies into the sand, gazing upward. Eyes start out one on each side; as the skull develops, one migrates to join the other.

Familiar forms in miniature—wide-eyed fish larvae, baby squid and octopuses—dart freely.

  No bigger than a quarter, a Glaucus nudibranch preys on toxic Portuguese men-of-war, appropriating their stinging cells for its own defense.

Camouflaged in blue and silver, this sea slug was caught off Hawaii but drifts in mild waters worldwide.

Their lives are precarious.

Fish eggs gathered from near the sea surface in a fine-mesh net house embryos (visible, right) and oil globules to nourish the hatchlings.

Some wear shells or exude toxins against predators; others are active only after dark.

 Pea-size and big-eyed, the larva of the slender mola is easy pickings for larger fish.

But as an adult it will grow into a cone-shaped creature three feet (0.9 meters) long.

But untold numbers succumb to hungry mouths—each other's or those of bigger foe.

This young octopus surfaces under cover of darkness to feed near the sea surface.

When mature, it will stick to the seafloor, strong-arming prey and popping into hidey-holes for shelter.

To see the show, photographer David Liittschwager joined scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration off the island of Hawaii.

Photographer David Liittschwager discusses the diversity of life and the intersections between art and science as he gathers and photographs some of the creatures that inhabit the waters beneath the Golden Gate Bridge.

Inhabitants must specialize to survive in these open, nutrient-poor waters—making for rich diversity.

 This jellyfish relative called a blue button isn’t one organism but many, joined at the gas-filled hub that keeps the colony afloat.

Each tentacle has a specialized role in the cooperative—catching prey, digesting, or reproducing.

The pigment blocks ultraviolet rays.

Liittschwager sampled with a bucket and fine-mesh net; at night, he lowered lights as lures.
What squirmed toward the glow?
"A genuine riot of life," he says.
The scientists kept some animals on board to confirm identities; the rest they returned to the sea.

A larval crustacean (a shrimp or a lobster) seeks prey with its bulbous eyes; its spearlike rostrum serves for defense.

Condenser lenses cast focused beams to outline see-through specimens; side lighting rendered a baby flounder iridescent, and a backlight exposed its developing bones and organs.
Tinkering with light, Liittschwager captured the nearly invisible.

The other side of the Ice

The Other Side of the Ice - Official Trailer [HD] from HOLE IN THE WALL PRODUCTIONS

Onward: Visit the World's largest open-ocean fish farm

Located off the coast of Panama, the world's largest open-ocean fish farm raises hundreds of thousands of cobia fish in colossal underwater pods.
Brian O'Hanlon, whose company runs the farms, hopes to bring this sustainable aquaculture approach to more coasts, and cobia to more plates.

Read more about cobia and this style of fish farming:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/special-features/2014/04/140430-other-white-meat-fish-aquaculture-cobia/

Hawaiian traditional surfing

Hawaiian traditional surfing from Jonathan Clay
Hawaiian surf-pro Tom Pohaku-Stone surfs a traditional wooden surfboard that he himself shaped.
This is a sequence from the "Oceans" episode of the BBC's documentary series "Human Planet".