By Erika Bolstad — McClatchy Washington Bureau, May 15, 2013 WASHINGTON — It’s a beach bummer. Shorelines worldwide are clogged with trash, so much so that during their annual cleanup last year, volunteers with the Ocean Conservancy picked up… Read More ›
Derelict Fishing Gear
Hotline for Entangled Marine Animals in Maryland Waters
From Southern Maryland News Net Boaters and beachgoers are reminded to keep their eyes open for sea turtles and marine mammals while enjoying the outdoors this spring. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources asks anyone who sees a dead, visibly… Read More ›
Longline Fishing and Drift Nets Savagely Reduces Sea Turtle
The San Francisco Chronicle reports: The western Pacific leatherback turtle, the world’s largest reptile and a common sight every year in the waters outside the Golden Gate, could go extinct within 20 years if more isn’t done to protect its… Read More ›
Divers Free Entangled Whale Near Maui
Crittercam captures Humbolt Squid Flashdancing on Neptune911 for Kids Just in from Yahoo News: Specially trained divers recently freed a humpback whale swimming off the island of Maui from a tangle of rope, a potentially life-threatening situation for the… Read More ›
Pacific Northwest Contact for Entangled Whale
SOS-WHALe Marine mammals occasionally swim into derelict fishing gear or marine debris and get stuck, injured, or even killed. Ocean users in the Northwest have an important role in helping entangled whales. In Washington and Oregon call the NOAA Fisheries… Read More ›
Plastic Art Defines the Plastic in Oceans
We have a new blog for the young children in your life: Neptune 911 For Kids. This fun blog features stories about ocean-hero kids, marine mammals, ways to save the ocean, and pages about the unique and weird creatures one… Read More ›
Disentangling Humpback Whale Danger in Sydney Harbor
From the Sydney Morning Herald Nov. 8, 2012 The bid to free a Humpback whale calf tangled in ropes in Sydney Harbour has been abandoned for the night, after an adult whale accompanying it began behaving in an ‘‘erratic and… Read More ›
Whales Too Big for the Ocean Traffic and Oil Research?
Editor’s Note: Whales are in the news. The following two articles show that perhaps the oceans are not big enough for whales and us. Shipping Traffic in Sri Lanka Injures Blue Whale From the New York Times By ERIK OLSEN… Read More ›
Ocean Plastics, Trash Sabotage Young Gray Whale’s Life
Editor’s Note: The gray whale is currently in migration from their summer feeding grounds in the Artic Ocean to their birthing and breeding grounds in Mexico. To follow a gray whale’s migration route and for more about the dangers these… Read More ›
Marine Mammal Entanglement Up Close & Personal
By Charmaine Coimbra This year I’ve been up close and personal with marine entanglement. A near-handful of northern elephant seals that hauled out to molt at Piedras Blancas, where I volunteer as a docent, arrived with strapping bands around their necks. If the straps… Read More ›