Posts Tagged ‘Sharks’
How Fishing Communities Use Locally Managed Marine Areas to Combat the Effects of Climate Change
Blog by: Arianna Trapp, Blue Parks Science Intern Featured Image: Fishing in Fiji by Tom Vierus Most large, well-known marine protected areas (MPAs) are located in developed, financially stable countries where central governance and ample budgets for management are common. However, the top-down, centrally managed structure of many of these MPAs doesn’t work everywhere, particularly…
Read MoreAre Fish Aggregating Devices just a FAD?
Blog by: Lindsay Brubaker, Blue Parks Science Intern Featured Image: A view from below of a fish aggregating device (FAD). Wade Fairey Fish Aggregating Devices—called FADs—result in five times more bycatch than other fishing methods, and lost FADs become ghost gear, costing millions of dollars in cleanup efforts in fragile ecosystems. These floating ocean objects…
Read MoreSharks Are in Trouble … Without Them, Whole Ecosystems May Disappear
(Part 1 of 2) by Alexandra Smith, Blue Parks Intern Featured Picture: Carcharhinus longimanus © IUCN Photo Library ©Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch Imagine an ocean without sharks-it’s not too far-fetched. A recent study found that in the last 50 years, populations of 18 shark and ray species (called elasmobranchs) have declined by a staggering 70%, and half…
Read MoreMagnetic Signatures & Singing Stages: the mysterious connection between whales, sharks, and seamounts
By Morgane Bouvet, Seamounts Intern Many of our blogs are now available for listening! Tune in weekly for the audio experience. On the bottom of the deep ocean lie seamounts, massive underwater volcanoes that are largely unexplored, and generally absent of marine protections or management. Most seamounts are located in areas beyond national jurisdiction; also…
Read MoreCall of the Deep: Exploring the Wonderful, Wacky Deep Sea
Featured Picture: Staff scientist Samuel Georgian takes a turn piloting the ROV Beagle (Marine Applied Research and Exploration) during an expedition off the coast of California. The Last Frontier “There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath…” -Herman Melville…
Read MoreWayfarers of the Eastern Tropical Pacific
Featured Pic: Hammerhead Sharks. Photo Courtesy of Cesar Peñaherrera, MigraMar By Armand McFarland, Marine Conservation Institute Science Intern Migrating animals can connect marine ecosystems thousands of kilometers apart. Many shark species are highly migratory, their migration routes serving as conduits that connect systems and create a network of shared nutrients. The network formed by shark…
Read MoreConserving shark populations
Well-regulated and well-managed marine protected areas (MPAs) established in biologically significant places benefit marine wildlife [1]. One lingering question, however, has been about the value of MPAs for conserving highly-mobile species, like sharks, that move easily across their boundaries. Robust shark populations are necessary to keep marine ecosystems healthy, and many shark populations are threatened…
Read MoreWe’re gonna need a bigger sanctuary
It is Shark Week and sharks are once again at the forefront of our public consciousness. Thanks to terrifying portrayals in movies like Jaws and this summer’s The Shallows, sharks have a reputation as blood-thirsty killers. But, if anything, sharks should be more frightened of humans than vice versa. Every year, humans kill over 100…
Read MoreGoing in for the Krill: Why Whales Love the California Coast
The California coast is a whale-watcher’s paradise. Not only can you find the world’s largest population of the world’s largest whale – the blue whale – here in the northeastern Pacific, but at certain times of year a lucky whale-watcher can spot up to four of the five species of whales that frequent these waters…
Read MoreGreen Light in the Galápagos
Marine Conservation Institute is thrilled by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa’s declaration to strongly protect a vast area of important marine habitat surrounding the Galápagos Islands, the source of inspiration for Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. This decision protects an unparalleled legacy of marine life and ocean habitat for generations to come. While there have been…
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