Oceans under greatest threat in history, warns Sir David Attenborough

The leatherback turtle is the largest turtle on the planet. David Attenborough travels to Trinidad to meet a community trying to save these giants.

Photograph: Gavin Thurston

From The Guardian by Damian Carrington

The world’s oceans are under the greatest threat in history, according to Sir David Attenborough.
The seas are a vital part of the global ecosystem, leaving the future of all life on Earth dependent on humanity’s actions, he says.

Attenborough will issue the warning in the final episode of the Blue Planet 2 series, which details the damage being wreaked in seas around the globe by climate change, plastic pollution, overfishing and even noise.

Previous BBC nature series presented by Attenborough have sometimes been criticised for treading too lightly around humanity’s damage to the planet.
But the final episode of the latest series is entirely dedicated to the issue.
“For years we thought the oceans were so vast and the inhabitants so infinitely numerous that nothing we could do could have an effect upon them.
But now we know that was wrong,” says Attenborough.
“It is now clear our actions are having a significant impact on the world’s oceans.
[They] are under threat now as never before in human history.
Many people believe the oceans have reached a crisis point.”
Attenborough says: “Surely we have a responsibility to care for our blue planet.
The future of humanity, and indeed all life on Earth, now depends on us.”



This world-exclusive introduction to the show is narrated by series presenter Sir David Attenborough and set to an exclusive track developed by Hans Zimmer and Radiohead.

The prequel features an array of some of the most awe-inspiring shots and highlights from the new series, as well as several exclusive scenes that will not feature in any of the seven episodes which are set for UK broadcast on BBC One later this year.

BBC executives were reportedly concerned about the series appearing to become politicised and ordered a fact-check, which it passed.
The series producer, Mark Brownlow, said it was impossible to overlook the harm being caused in the oceans: “We just couldn’t ignore it – it wouldn’t be a truthful portrayal of the world’s oceans.
We are not out there to campaign.
We are just showing it as it is and it is quite shocking.”

Brownlow said much of the footage shot of albatross chicks being killed by the plastic they mistake for food were too upsetting to broadcast.
The programme also filmed on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016, witnessing the worst bleaching event in its history.

 A bleached section of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Photograph: BBC NHU

Climate change is causing ocean temperatures to rise, bleaching the corals vital as nurseries for ocean life, and waters are warming rapidly in Antarctica too.
Jon Copley, from the University of Southampton and one of many scientists appearing in the final episode, says.
“What shocks me about what all the data shows is how fast things are changing here [in Antarctica].
We’re headed into uncharted territory”

Carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning also dissolves in seawater, making it more acidic.
Prof Chris Langdon, at the University of Miami, says it is “beyond question” that the problem is manmade.
“The shells and the reefs really, truly are dissolving. The reefs could be gone by the end of the century.”

The noise from shipping, tourism, and fossil fuel exploration is also revealed as harming sea life.
Steve Simpson, at the University of Exeter, who works on coral reefs in southeast Asia, says: “There is a whole language underwater that we are only just getting a handle on.
They use sound to attract a mate, to scare away a predator.
You hear pops and grunts and gurgles and snaps.”
He shows the noise of motorboats distracting saddleback clownfishes from warning against a predator attack.

 Lucy Quinn from the British Antarctic Survey with an albatross on South Georgia

 credit : John Dickens

The Blue Planet 2 team found plastic everywhere they filmed, even in the most remote locations such as South Georgia island, an important breeding site for wandering albatrosses.
There, Lucy Quinn from the British Antarctic Survey says many chicks are killed by plastic fed to them by their parents, including one young bird whose stomach was punctured by a plastic toothpick.

Overfishing, which remains prevalent around the world, is also addressed.
“Every night thousands of miles of fishing lines laden with hooks are set – there is enough, it is said, to wrap twice around the world,” says Attenborough.
But the programme also highlights some success stories, such as the revival of sperm whales off Sri Lanka and herring stocks off Norway after bans or restrictions were put in place.

Strict management of the herring fishery in Norway has saved it from collapse.

Herring now draw in humpback whales and orca.

Photograph: Audun Rikardsen

Attenborough also visits Trinidad, where the conservationist Len Peters has transformed the prospects of the giant leatherback turtles who come to the island to lay their eggs and whose numbers have fallen catastrophically in recent decades.
“I grew up in a house where turtle meat was normal,” says Peters.
But his work to end turtle hunting and encourage tourism has seen numbers rise from 30-40 to more than 500.

Quinn says the oceans are of vital importance for the whole world: “The oceans provide us with oxygen, they regulate temperature, they provide us with food and energy supplies.
It is unthinkable to have a world without a healthy ocean.”

Daniel Pauly, who leads the Sea Around Us programme at the University of British Columbia in Canada, and was not involved in Blue Planet 2, endorsed its stark conclusion.
He said vast, subsidised fishing fleets were scraping the bottom of the barrel and that ocean acidification could be terminal for many species.

Pauly also warned of the dangers of plastic attracting toxic chemicals and then being eaten: “They become poison pills.” Pauly said the question facing humanity now was simple: “Are we going to fight for the oceans or not?”

Links :

• The Telegraph : Sir David Attenborough: the world’s oceans are becoming a ‘toxic soup’ of industrial waste and plastic
• FT : Politicians seek to tackle plastic litter polluting the oceans
• BBC : Ocean plastic a 'planetary crisis' - UN
• CBS news : UN environment chief warns "we're facing an ocean Armageddon"
• GeoGarage blog : David Attenborough on the scourge of the oceans: 'I ... / Blue Planet II : in the deep with a submarine / Our seas have become a plastic graveyard - but can ... / 'Planet is doomed' unless ocean health improves ...

New sailing routes for future container mega-ships

The Northwest Passage is increasingly ice-free.

From Maritime Executive by Harry Valentine

A recent forecast of future trade suggests that by mid-21st century container ships could carry double the capacity of the largest present day ships.
By then, a new potentially competitive sailing route could develop.

An artist render Samsung Heavy Industries’ 21,100 TEU container ship.

Introduction

A decade ago, the bulk of the world’s sea-going container trade was carried aboard Panamax-size container ships of 5,000 TEU capacity.
The combination of increased international trade and developments in transportation logistics required the development of larger container ships to sail between Europe and Asia, also between Asia and West Coast America.

 Major shipping routes in the colonial era

There was also a perceived need to upgrade the Panama Canal to transit much larger container ships and also increase the transit capacity of the Suez Canal by building a section of parallel navigation channel, with future plans to extend that parallel section.
At present, the Suez Canal allows passage to vessel of under 1,006 square meters submerged cross section, restricting passage to container ships of under 16.75 meters draft by 60 meters beam.
Within the next decade, container ships built to 18 meters draft by 65 meters beam by 420 meters length and carrying over 28,000 TEUs could appear on the trans-Pacific service between west coast American ports and Asian ports, also between Asian ports and selected Brazilian ports such as Fortaleza (Pecem) sailing via the southern tip of Africa.
Changing weather patterns could provide a route for such ships between Asia and Europe.

 Photograph by Mukul Joshi

Earth’s Weather History

Geologists and climatologists have discovered much about the earth’s weather history, dating back over several thousand years.
The Arctic region has undergone multiple repeat cycles occurring every 10,000-years of warm periods where the region was free from ice.
While climate change may contribute to a warming Arctic, the region has been free from ice during several previous periods.
There is also a long-term cyclical history of El Nino and La Nina weather patterns and the earth has undergone several cycles of warming and cooling.Changing weather patterns are part of the earth’s long-term climatic history.

 Northern Sea Route season length

Canada’s Northwest Passage
While the sailing draft along Russian side of the Arctic sailing route is suitable for Seaway-max size of ships, most of the Canadian passage through McClure Strait and Barrow Strait between the Beaufort Sea and Baffin Bay exceeds a depth of 200 meters.
Within the next decade, container ships of 28,000 TEUs could appear, as changing weather patterns and a warming Arctic could allow the Canadian passage to transit container ships for perhaps a period of three months per year.
Perhaps within a quarter of a century, Canada’s northwest sailing season could extend from early May to late October.

Container ships that sail via the Canadian Arctic would likely sail from Asian ports such as Shanghai, Busan, Qingdao, Fuzhou and Hong Kong to east coast American ports such as Newark, Sydney NS and Melford Terminal NS as well as to European ports such as Rotterdam – Antwerp.
The future competitiveness of the Canadian passage will depend on the pace at which average temperature increases at the Arctic.
Future enlarging the Suez Canal to transit larger container ships would depend on traffic sailing west from Asian ports such as Singapore, Vizhinjam (India) and Colombo to Europe and North America.

 Caada C3 participants watch as the Polar price exits the Bellot Strait

photo : Jackie Dives / The Goble and Mail

Potential Competition

Beyond the next decade, container ships of more than double the capacity of neo-Panamax container ships could enter service and potentially sail via the Arctic for a few months per year.
Such a development could divert traffic sailing between Asia and east Coast North America, away from the Panama Canal and to ship-to-ship container transshipment terminals currently being developed in Eastern Canada, from where a multitude of smaller vessels would sail to mainly American east coast ports and ports located along the St Lawrence Seaway.
Shippers could seek to maximize container movement during the northern navigation season.
While the northern passage is open to shipping, super ships from western Asia ports will still sail via the Suez Canal to European and east coast North American ports.
The future seasonal closure of the northern passage would result in a seasonal increase in mega-ship traffic sailing via the Suez Canal and involve ships sailing from eastern Asia ports to European ports, Port of Newark and east coast North American transshipment terminals.
The combination of the development of larger future container ships and trans-Arctic navigation via Northern Canada represents future competition for the Panama Canal.

Liverpool2 is a new deep water container terminal at the Port of Liverpool, costing up to £300m. Photo: courtesy of Peel Ports Group. Mega ships 

Future Port Modifications

While reconstruction was underway for the Panama Canal to transit larger ships, corresponding reconstruction began at many ports internationally to berth and provide service to larger ships.
At the present time, a small number of international ports and planned ports that are under construction offer sufficient depth to clear the draft of the next generation of mega-size container ships.Most ports that serve the present generation of mega-size ships will require further dredging with possible modification to port entrances to deflect prevailing ocean currents so as to minimize build-up of silt following port deepening.
There may be scope to modify a few deep-sea ports that presently serve only bulk cargo carriers to function as stop-over ports-of-call for future mega-ships.
Such ports would include Richard’s Bay and Saldanha Bay in South Africa, both located on the Asia – Brazil mega-ship route.
By mid-century if projected trends in international trade continue, container ships of up to 35,000 TEUs could enter service and approach 19 meters draft, 39 meters height, 69 meters beam and 450 meters length.
Some ports would require that bridges be raised in the future for such ships to arrive at quayside.

18,000 TEU ships less efficient for ports, expert says

Conclusions
Long-term market projections suggest that by mid-century, international trade could require container ships of up to 50,000 TEUs capacity.
Concept ships of up to 35,000 TEUs could fit into the envelope (draft, beam and length) of the largest oil tankers.

 This will be the world’s first autonomus battery-powered containtership

Unmanned vessels can be built entirely differently from current ships... 

source : NTU & Sintef, Yara Birkeland

Super-size ships would likely appear on the Asia – Brazil service and the trans-Pacific service between east Asia and west coast America.
Depending on the pace of Arctic warming and a future northern navigation season, future mega-size container ships could sail via the Canadian Arctic route on voyages between east Asia and Europe, also between east Asia and east coast North America.
Future mega-ships sailing to the North American east coast and Europe from Asian ports such as Vizhinjam, Colombo and Singapore would provide future business for the future twin channels of the Suez Canal, perhaps with a wetted cross section increased from 1,006 square meters to 1,200 square meters and perhaps even greater.
Future mega-size container ships could likely sail exclusively between transshipment terminals.

Links :

• Maritime Executive : An Articulating Hinge for a 50,000-TEU Container Ship / 50,000 TEU... the Future or Not?
• Asia Times : Russia plans to shut its Northern Sea Route to foreign vessels
• Washington Post : Putin wants to ban foreign ships from traversing oil-rich Arctic on strategic critical route
• Environmental Research : Arctic routes are seasonally predictable
• Hellenic Shipping News : Huge Implications of Russia’s Northern Sea Route. An Alternative to the Suez Canal?
• Oil price : China’s Mysterious Arctic Silk Road 
• The Globe & mail : Northern voyage opens a new channel in diplomacy with China
• Global research : The Arctic Silk Road: A Huge Leap Forward for China and Russia 
• GeoGarage blog : Arctic mapping to make navigating Northwest Passage safer / Russian tanker sails through Arctic ... / Arctic shipping passage 'still decades away' / 

Copernicus ocean currents

Major Global Ocean Currents at the surface (red) and bottom of the ocean (blue)
Our ocean currents are part of the most powerful machine on Earth.
Did you know?: 
Sea water is 832 times as dense as air,
providing a 5 knot ocean current with more kinetic energy than a 350 km/h wind. 

To learn more visit the CMEMS website

 Map of the Gulf Stream and Drift (Maury, 1858)

The Sea Level Thematic Center (SL TAC), part of the Copernicus Marine Service is in charge of providing satellite sea surface height and wave observation data.

“We then went with the current of the sea's greatest river, which has its own banks, fish, and temperature. I mean the Gulf Stream. It is indeed a river that runs independently through the middle of the Atlantic, its waters never mixing with the ocean's waters. It's a salty river, saltier than the sea surrounding it. Its average depth is 3,000 feet, its average width sixty miles. In certain localities its current moves at a speed of four kilometers per hour. The unchanging volume of its waters is greater than that of all the world's rivers combined.” (Jules Verne, 20,000 leagues under the sea)

Our vision of ocean currents is slightly more complex now than in 1869 when Jules Verne published his novel, but some of the above statement still remain true (it was mostly coming from the oceanographer Matthew Maury, who wrote « The Physical Oceanography of the Sea », published 1855).

The complexity lies in the turbulence: the ocean currents are not “straight” rivers crossing the seas as might be interpreted from the citation above, but turbulent flows shedding eddies all along their paths.

Their observation now is done not only at sea, but also from above: satellites enable to measure the reliefs of the sea surface.

These in turn can be used to compute the currents which are turning around the “hills” and “valleys” of this surface.

The steeper the slope of the relief, the faster the currents, so that we can map ocean currents any day of the last 25 years over the whole world from observations.

Over those 25 years, no less than 12 satellites has been used, with currently 6 of them measuring, enabling to make the most detailed daily maps of ocean surface ever.

Copernicus Marine Service is providing such measurements for use in science, forecasts and practical applications.

Crossing the North Sea Alone, wintertime

So here it is, my biggest challenge in my sailing career!
(Erik Aanderaa, RESQ GROUP- Safety and Emergency Preparedness)

Sailing solo across the North Sea from Haugesund, Norway- to Lerwick on Shetland the 26th of January, 2017.

North Sea with the GeoGarage platform (NHS)

This made me and Sigurd the first ones ever to have crossed the North Sea solo to join the Up Helly Aa- festival on these beautiful islands...
Some say crazy, I say crazy not to give it a try.
This is how we develop and grow.
Staying safe all the time wont get you anywhere.
The video was hard to make.
Its all about having the effort to pick up the camera when you really dont want to, and most important, trying to make a story out of it..
Seasick, cold and wet every minute.
I loved it.
Its all about making a plan and follow it.
Theres only plan A.
You dont think about plan B before you are forced to!
Stay on your course and hold it steady!
Youve might heard the words often attributed to Mr. Winston Churchill: "If your going through hell, keep walking" ;)

5 simple mistakes ship navigators make that can lead to accidents

Picture by Pascal Rheaume

From Marine Insight by Capt Ashi Joshi

There is an old anecdote about a ship going up-river in a port when another ship is sighted on the radar.
There is already a marine pilot onboard who informs that there is no mention of outbound traffic and the other ship on the radar is probably at anchor.

Just to confirm, he calls the ship on VHF, identifying her by geographical position and asks, “Vessel in position XYZ are you at anchor?”; to which, the other ship replies, “ This is the ship in position XYZ, yes, I am a tanker”.
The ensuing confusion results in an accident.

Once the humour wears off, the readers who use VHF for communication every day at sea will realise that this situation is actually quite possible.
Use of VHF for collision avoidance is always debatable and whether to use it or not will depend on a case-to-case basis.
It is extremely common in certain parts of the world and in pilotage waters where changes of miscommunication are minimum.

Considering these points in mind, let’s identify few basic seamanship and good navigation practices, which can save the day.


1. Don’t Solely Rely On Radar: At open sea from his cabin, the Captain saw a small fishing boat in close proximity to the bow of own ship.
He rushed up to bridge, engaged hand steering and avoided a collision.
In this case, the officer of the watch had not sighted the fishing craft as he was navigating solely by radar and this target was not picked up due to its size.
At that time OOW was altering course for another ship that was seen on radar.

In this case, had the officer of the watch kept proper lookout by actually looking out of the bridge window the situation could have been avoided.
There is saying that nothing beats the “Mark 1 Eyeball method of navigation” and despite technological advancements this still holds true, a trained human eye can pick up a lot of information and brain can process it faster than a complex algorithm spits it out on radar display screen.

Because of sunrise you can spot a boat in water,

but if water is choppy or it’s sunset time it will not be easy to sight.

2. Radar target must always be verified visually: In restricted visibility and an area known for dense traffic, the lookout on duty informed OOW about a target sighted right ahead on the radar.
The officer of the watch did not take any action as he assumed that the target was either a fishing craft that would move away as the ship got closer to it or it was a false echo.
This resulted in a collision with another ship that was stopped and drifting.
In the above case altering course even for a “false echo” would have been the best action to ensure vessel safety.

Safe navigation using radar can be done only when the navigator is confident in his understanding of the equipment and knows its limitation.
During the times when radars were not used 24X7 there was a term called “Fairweather practice”, it is still relevant today.
This meant that best use was made of opportunity to use radar whenever it was available and a mental image was built up which would help in comprehending radar picture during restricted visibility.
Now with increased AIS dependence, there is even less use made of automatic radar plotting aid (ARPA) function of radar.
Radar target must always be verified visually.
Over a period of time just by looking at echo and its movement navigator will be able to ascertain the type of target being painted.

3. Don’t Solely Depend On Safety Management System: While approaching port and after plotting position on the chart, the navigating officer informed the Captain that the vessel was North of intended track and he should come South to counteract that.
On the basis of the feedback, the captain started adjusting the course, but the radar picture of landmarks and navigator’s assessment did not match.
So the Captain checked for himself and realized that OOW had plotted latitude incorrectly, the vessel has just crossed The Equator and was in the Southern hemisphere.

Similar to this incident is when during the crossing of Greenwich or meridian or 180 ° longitude position is marked East instead of West or vice versa.

With an increased use of ECDIS possibility of such errors is minimized.
But what remains missing from navigators’ understanding is the principle of monitoring a ship’s position.
They depend on company Safety Management System for guidance and then regardless of their own situation, plot positions at prescribed intervals from SMS.
This doesn’t help because SMS can provide guidance but you as a navigator must make an educated decision.
A simple rule of thumb to remember here is that “between two successive position plots a vessel should not be in danger”.
Whenever a navigator plots position on a chart, it should be followed with a dead reckoning position (DR position), which will give a rough estimate of vessel location at the time of next plotting.
On basis of DR, the frequency of plotting can be increased or decreased.

It will be easier to comprehend for modern navigator if this is compared to look ahead function of ECDIS.

4. Read The Buoys Carefully: An experienced chief officer was taking the ship to pick up the pilot in a buoyed channel.
He was little nervous as he was being assessed for his ship handling skills by the Captain.
After entering the channel, the ship started setting and starboard hand lateral buoy was sighted right ahead.
Seeing the buoy right ahead, the Chief officer immediately ordered hard to starboard, Captain overrode his order, realigned the ship again and handed over con back to him.

Somewhat similar to East West North South cases mentioned above, this can happen during a lapse of concentration resulting in confusion regarding the colour of buoys and which side to pass them.
A common reason for this to happen is due to the different colour of buoys in IALA regions – region A and region B or inside some ports, the direction of the voyage will change (clockwise around landmasses), or in case of preferred channel buoys.

Such confusion can be kept to the minimum by remembering, “can to port – cone to stbd” when inbound, this will reverse when outbound.

5. Always Monitor The Rudder Angle: In a busy traffic separation scheme, the Captain had the con of the vessel and OOW was communicating with VTS.
when the lookout reported that a stationary fishing boat on the starboard side had now started moving and was crossing the bow.
Captain verified the movement of the target on the radar and ordered to helmsman “starboard 20”.
At this time, the bridge telephone rang and was answered by Captain.
After completing the telephone conversation, when he looked up, he noticed that fishing boat was still not clear of the ship’s bow and he ordered: “hard at starboard”.
At this time bridge team realized that though the helmsman was repeating the order, he was actually applying helm in the opposite direction.
It is always essential to monitor the rudder angle indicator (RAI) to break such chain of error.

Links :

• Marine Insight : 8 Maritime Systems That Ensures Ship Safety And Security / Two Incidents That Prove Improper Communication Leads To Accidents At Sea
• Marine Electronics & Communications : Cyber security revealed for ship bridge systems