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How protecting our oceans can help solve some of the world’s greatest challenges
By Roberta Attanasio Stories of the past tell us that our oceans are deep, mysterious and indestructible—but oceans are quickly changing, bowing to biological degradation and much more. Oceans are damaged every day by oil and gas drilling, pollution, and industrial impacts. Human activities are changing the ocean’s chemistry, destroying habitats, and killing marine life. The Great Barrier Reef has lost half of its corals since 1995, and a report released in 2019 on the state of global biodiversity found that over one-third of marine mammals and nearly one-third of sharks and shark relatives are threatened with extinction. Overfishing is one of the primary threats to ocean biodiversity—it endangers not…
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Salmon Farming: The Chilean Massive Die-Off
By Roberta Attanasio Salmon farming—the fastest growing food production system in the world—is going through hard times in Chile, the world’s second-largest salmon producer after Norway. Last year, Chile exported $4.5 billion of farmed salmon, but now a deadly algal bloom is killing millions of farmed fish. A few months ago, an estimated 40,000 tons of salmon died in the Los Lagos region, which is known as the Switzerland of the Southern Hemisphere’s—the snow-capped peaks of the Andes Mountains tower over deep mountain lakes and green farming valleys, creating a fairy-tale landscape. Unlike Switzerland, the fairy-tale landscape extends down to the coast and its beaches, which became covered with dead…
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Quality Water, Quality Life: Aquatic Health and Contaminants in the Midcoast Oregon Salmon Watersheds
A guest post by Ray Kinney From ridge tops to reefs, environmental degradation has caused many salmon populations to decline to one to ten percent of former numbers. Young salmon survival in freshwater is only 2 to 5% from egg to smolt phase just before entering the ocean phase of their life cycle. Many causative effects for this decline are known, but many remain to be clarified. Politics often prevents adequate investigation of contaminant effects for water quality. Chronic low dose accumulative effects of toxic contaminants take a toll that is generally unrecognized by fisheries managers. Our benevolent rainfall flows down out of the Coast Range to become, once again, part…
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The European Seafloor: More Litter Than We Thought
By Roberta Attanasio We’re all familiar with the global threat of ocean pollution — and the widespread presence of plastic on beaches and in the great garbage patches. However, until very recently, we did not know that marine litter is present in large amounts on the seafloor, in the deepest areas and at very remote locations. Marine litter is defined by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as ‘‘any persistent, manufactured or processed solid material discarded, disposed of or abandoned in the marine and coastal environment”. Results of a survey published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE on April 30, 2014, reveal the magnitude of the problem. Researchers gathered data from surveys…
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Do Sunscreen Products Harm the Coastal Marine Ecosystem?
By The Editors When new products based on mixtures of several chemicals become widely used, and the use of these products increases exponentially, it is reasonable to expect some sort of environmental impact, at least on specific ecosystems. Therefore, the recent finding that sunscreen products may cause deleterious effects in the coastal ecosystem is not surprising. Sunscreen products contain organic and/or inorganic UV chemical filters, as well as a variety of other ingredients, as for example preservatives, coloring agents and fragrances. What is surprising, however, is that this potential environmental problem has not been given the attention it deserves – until this year. Findings on the effects of sunscreen products…
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Do Sea Turtles Eat Plastic Marine Debris? Yes!
By The Editors Floating marine debris accumulates in five main oceanic gyres. These debris accumulations consist mostly of plastics and are called great garbage patches. In recognition of the global threat posed by the great garbage patches, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recently granted them a symbolic State status, and officially recognized the Garbage Patch State. Marine debris gathers in drift lines and convergence zones, which are also important feeding areas for many oceanic species, including sea turtles. Now, results from an analysis of global research data from the past 25 years show that green and leatherback turtles are eating more plastic than ever before. The analysis…
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Plastic Debris and Great Garbage Patches: Ca’ Foscari University Raises Awareness of Ocean Pollution
By Roberta Attanasio When we think of the Great Garbage Patches — of which 5 exist — we usually think of ocean pollution. Now, when thinking of garbage patches and ways to raise awareness of them, we may think of Venice and Ca’ Foscari University. Venice, the Italian city that seems to float on water, bears no resemblance to the vast concentrations of floating marine debris that makes up the garbage patches. However, you can find an artistic representation of the garbage patches right in the heart of the city and, more precisely, right in the courtyard of the world’s oldest existing building granted LEED certification. Let’s go one step…
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A New Home for Marine Debris: The Deep Seafloor
By The Editors Plastic bags are everywhere, and when they get somewhere (we’re talking sea), they’re there to stay. As we mentioned in a previous post, plastic pollution is a major global threat. Plastics are durable, degrade very slowly and may persist in the environment for hundreds or even thousands of years, resulting in the increasing accumulation of plastic debris in our seas. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is perhaps the most striking example of sea pollution caused by plastics and other debris. The United Nations Environment Programme defines marine debris as “any persistent manufactured or processed solid material discarded, disposed of or abandoned in the marine environment” (UNEP, 2009), We’re…
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World Oceans Day: Today, June 8
By The Editors June 8th is World Oceans Day, the United Nations-designated day for the global community to celebrate and take action for our shared ocean. In previous posts, we have seen how plastic pollution harms our ocean by discussing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the Plastic Footprint. Although plastic pollution represents a major challenge for our ocean, it’s not the only one. The majority of waste we produce on land eventually reaches the ocean, either through deliberate dumping or from run-off through drains and rivers. World Oceans Day is a celebration and an opportunity to conserve our ocean. This year, the World Oceans Day theme is “Together we have the power to protect the ocean”. The…
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Arctic Pollution
By The Editors The Great White North is not in good shape. It’s one of the most vulnerable and fragile ecosystems of our planet and is contaminated with about everything: furans, cadmium, dioxins, chlordane, selenium, polychlorinated biphenyls, mercury, radioactive fallout. There are 8 countries that possess territories extending beyond the 66th Parallel: Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, the United States (Alaska), Denmark (Greenland) and Iceland. It is estimated that about 4 million people live north of the Arctic Circle, Industrial development in the Arctic is leading to waste accumulation, especially in the vicinity of indigenous villages. However, this is not all. It’s a global problem, a problem of global pollution. Indeed, a…
