“We believe the high count this year is partly explained by excellent viewing conditions, but it also appears to reflect increased food availability in the range center,” says Dr. Tim Tinker, a research ecologist who leads the USGS sea otter research program. “The boom in sea urchin abundance throughout northern and central California has provided a prey bonanza for sea otters, and that means more pups and juveniles are surviving to adulthood.”
Human actions have already increased carbon on the planet by about 40 percent. A quarter of that goes into the ocean. And the ocean has decreased by about .2 pH units, which may not sound like a lot. But, pH is a logarithmic scale like the Richter scale. So .2 pH is about 30% more acidic than it was before the Industrial Revolution.
A slogan of the last century was ‘think globally, act locally.’ But if we’re to deal with the collapse of living systems today we have to think and act locally, regionally and globally simultaneously. That would probably not be possible without the communications tools we now have on our laptops and other devices.
Editor’s Note: The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary Nomination has been proposed to NOAA. The proposed marine sanctuary would begin at Santa Rosa Creek in Cambria at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary southern boundary, and end at Gaviota Creek in… Read More ›
Water is much denser than air, so its molecules are packed tighter together. This means that sound (which relies on molecules vibrating and pushing against one another) propagates muchfurther and faster under water than in air.
Entanglements have surpassed ship strikes as a leading danger to right whales in recent years. Forty-four percent of diagnosed right whale deaths were due to ship strikes and 35 percent were due to entanglements from 1970 to 2009, the study said. From 2010 to 2015, 15 percent of diagnosed deaths were due to ship strikes and 85 percent were due to entanglements, it said.
… as climate change alters the chemistry of the world’s oceans, scientists and fishermen are just beginning to understand how this economically, culturally, and ecologically important species will be impacted.
SAUSALITO, CA — The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito praised the commitment made Friday by President Barack Obama and Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto to intensify the efforts of both countries to protect the critically endangered vaquita porpoise. Dr. Frances… Read More ›
To our loyal readers, Neptune 911 will be off line for the next 30 days. The editor needs a vacation! There is so much news every day, but we’ll be back after a rest.
Sardine stocks are at historic lows and might get worse, according to The Maritime Exclusive, “The sardine fishery closure is the second in as many years; it was closed mid-season last year due to low stocks, but it has since fallen further, and is expected to be down by 30 percent over last year by summer.”
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