Our fashion advice for this spring? Skip the stingray 'leather'

This weekend, Living Oceans Society found itself in uncharted waters: giving advice on fashion trends in the Fashion and Beauty section of a major newspaper.

Check it out: there we are in the Globe and Mail, right alongside supermodels, world-famous designers, and other sorts who wouldn't associate with us in the real world.

Such as this designer, who is shown
viewing our staff photo

Plastification of our seas

Plastic... where to begin? Call me Ishmael? No, that's been done before. Given the size of the problem though, it seems only fitting to make leviathan references. Instead, I'll start at what is clearly the logical starting point for such a discussion: a picture of a sea turtle.

Green sea turtle - chilling out in the weeds (Photo: greenpacks.org)

 A green sea turtle, to be precise. This turtle was recently in the news when an examination of a juvenile captured off Argentina revealed it had a belly full of plastic debris. This is a common problem for sea turtles as outlined in a Marine Turtle Newsletter editorial. Young turtles often find themselves in the same places as floating plastic debris, and being indiscriminate eaters, they scarf down large quantities this garbage (real garbage, that is, not the kind John eats while he's blogging). Between their high-plastic diet and entanglement in abandoned fishing gear, marine debris can lead to young turtles' untimely demise.

What do three sablefish do over the course of 20 years? Grow a few inches, move around a bit...probably go bowling a few times

This is pretty cool:

From the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, we learn that fishermen on the U.S. west coast have recently caught several sablefish (aka black cod) that were tagged years ago in a now-defunct tagging program. Each of the three sablefish in question was first tagged over 20 years ago. Two were recovered more than 500 miles from the point of tagging,  but the third was found less than 15 miles from its tagging location.

MSC label on cat food: I can haz sustainable fisheries?

This just happened. 

Mars Petcare, makers of legendary cat foods Whiskas and Sheba (which Jake assures me are both equally delicious), recently announced that some types of their catfoods in certain European countries will now bear the mark of the Marine Stewardship Council.

Good news, cats! Now you can stop eating songbirds!
Cat collage courtesy of someone with too much time on their hands, via Wikimedia Commons

The strangely touching case of the brittle star and the coral, or: why I was crying at my desk yesterday

There are a lot of things that touch your heart and in doing so generate warm feelings and misty eyes. Puppies. Old faded photographs (especially if they are of puppies). Old videos of Puppy Bowl. And so on.

You know what's not on that list? Brittle stars. For the vast majority of humanity, brittle stars score a perfect zero on the emote-o-scale. An average person sees a brittle star, and they think "I don't care". They may even say it out loud.

Canadian tar sands meet American politics

Top o' the early afternoon to ye, ye wee fragile laddies and lasses o' the internet.

Have you been following the Tyee's excellent series on the hydra-headed, multi-national political beast that serves the interests of the Alberta tar sands? It's a must-read.

If you haven't been following along, today's a good day to jump in - the subject is the ties between the Canadian tar sands and the Koch brothers, the obscenely wealthy and enormously powerful American industrialists whose billions support a network of arch-conservative operations and operatives in the States.

The Marine Economy and Beyond

Northern Vancouver Island may conjure images of economically depressed towns, victims of the downturn in its staple industries of fishing, logging and mining (cue the minor key and the overly concerned voice of a documentary narrator). While the north island economy is no longer ‘booming’, as it was in the 70's and 80's, many business owners have recognized new markets and are capitalizing on existing ones.

Salmon opening near Metlakatla, BC, ca. 1985

Just a couple of weeks back, the Vancouver Sun ran a story on the 'sheer tenacity' of local Port Hardy business Keltic Seafoods ltd. Former employees of the Maple Leaf Foods processing plant took the place over after the company shut down its operation in 1999. Today, the plant supports up to 200 workers and creates even more employment for its suppliers.

There are many such success stories in the marine sector of the north island. In fact, the marine economy of the region is now quite diverse, according to a joint study by Living Oceans Society and the Regional District of Mount Waddington. The study looked at wages, benefits and employment of local residents from ocean-related businesses in the region. In all, almost 30 % of local employment could be linked to the ocean in 2009 (the study year), and that portion would likely be much greater after last year's spectacular sockeye run. If you'd like the details, final report of the study can be downloaded can be downloaded here.

Friday Links - 98.5% Charlie Sheen-free

Hey, it's Friday! Got big plans for tonight?

No? You're going to sit at home with Blood on the Tracks on repeat, eating an entire block of Velveeta while thinking over all of the mistakes you've made?

Tough break. If you get tired of that, here's some stuff to read, I guess.

To cheer you up, here's a picture of my dog eating carrots.

Would you like some Oil with your Pi?

Happy Pi Day! That's right, today (March 14, or 3.14) is the 22nd annual day of celebration of the notorious mathematical constant here in geekdom. It is usually marked by eating pie (the homophone of pi) and generally sharing terrible mathematical puns. NewScientist offers a musical take on the ratio of honour, by translating the digits of pi into notes and chords with surprisingly melodious results.

Waiting for Tsunamis

As someone who has spent my entire life on the coast of British Columbia, I feel fortunate in saying that I have never experienced a tsunami. Not one. Of course, I've seen many tsunami watches and even warnings over the years. In fact one of my earliest memories is of my parents waking me up very early one morning at Kanis Island, just off the west coast of Vancouver Island, to get to higher ground as a tsunami was apparently on its way. The allotted time passed, the water remained flat and everyone went back to bed. The same scenario has played out over half a dozen times on this coast that I can remember.

Hurricanes, marine planning, and public fora

This past week there were two hurricane warnings for the waters around northern Vancouver Island, indicating winds over 64 knots (118 km/h), the first of which materialized and wrought destruction along the west coast. On this side of the island, some trees were knocked down, the ferries were canceled, and the power was knocked out on Malcolm Island for a day or so. The second hurricane warning failed to materialize, but was still enough to cancel several sailings on Friday. Sandwiched in between these two dramatic weather events was a public advisory forum in Port Hardy, almost as if it were being held in the eye of the hurricane.

Crazy freediving clip. Do not try this at home. Or anywhere. Ever.

This has been making the rounds for quite some time, so you may have already seen it. What "it" is, is a stunning short film showing world champion freediver Guillaume Nery apparently freediving to the bottom of a massive hole in the seafloor. 

My response when I saw this for the first time a few months ago went pretty much like this: screaming ARE YOU KIDDING ME and gasping for air even though I was sitting on my landlubbing posterior, safe and sound - and dry - at home.

My second response was to google the hell out of it. And, as is made obvious by the people who created the movie, it is fiction - the subject and the camera operator are both champion freedivers, but the 'dive' in the video was, as I understand, composed of several different dives spliced together. The makers of the movie never suggested it was anything else than that, either.

But, you know what? It doesn't matter. It's an amazing clip. Here's the deal: I'll stop writing, and you watch it. Deal? Deal.

Sick Bees, Pesticides, and the Fate of Ocean

So as often happens this time of year, I wake up feeling like I've just inhaled half a yard of gravel through my nose. Now I know what you're thinking, "That's what Keith Richards goes through every single day". But as I as I sit here with stuffy head and no hearing in one ear, all I can think is that I'm glad that I'm not a bee. Why? Because when bees get sick, this is what happens:

Marine Planners Wanted!

Have you ever wanted to step into the exciting world of marine planning? Of course, how can you resist? The meetings, the discussion, the lengthy papers to read... Alright, so it isn't exactly a glamorous occupation. But starting this week, you can help shape the future of your coast without the day-to-day drudgery that professional marine planners endure.

How to mingle at, and get thrown out of, a party with marine biologists

So, the weekend's coming up and you're going to a backyard barbecue at Dr. Sylvia Earle's house. Yes, it's still wintertime. Don't ask questions.

You check your supplies: guitar, marshmallows, dead pig (just in case it is a pig roast - you don't want to show up unprepared), giant inflatable sumo wrestling outfit (as is the custom for Dr. Earle's barbecues).

A Tangled Tale of Humpback Research

So it was Tuesday morning, and I was one very excited individual. Because it was garbage day perhaps? No, though that's still rather novel here in Sointula. Because it wasn't raining? No, but also a novelty. Could it be the website material I was going to write that day? Um... not quite. No, I was excited because (for a change) I knew exactly what I would blog about that morning.

Simple life: images of ocean creatures living on a Sointula dock

Some simple yet remarkable photos of invertebrates living on the underside of a Sointula dock. (All photos belong to Samantha Point).

The place: Sointula dock on a gray day.

The highly technical gear and method.

The results

Pint of Awe: Sperm whale edition

Now this is worth seeing. Amazing footage of an encounter with a sperm whale.

Sperm Whale Encounter from Howard Hall on Vimeo.

This comes from Howard Hall, who has several other videos that will make the rest of your day disappear if you're not careful.

Hat tip: Blogfish.

The Grammys of oceans-related music, feat. Snoop Dogg and Neil Young

Hey, how about the Grammys? Person X won, and Ensemble Y lost and totally should have won, and OMG did you see what Vacant Starlet was wearing?

OK, so I didn't watch it. 

Nevertheless, we here at Water Blogged are excited to join in the fun and hopefully the page hits that are to be had in the Grammy afterglow. So today we present to you a few oceans-related music videos and arbitrarily declare them either winners or losers, as is inevitable in life.

Fraser sockeye done wrong by salmon farms

Well, lookee here. If it ain't the Open Net-Cage Gang. Afternoon, boys. Lookin' sharp in them suits.

Now I ain't one for pontificatin', and I know you ain't much for listenin' anyways. So I'll get to it. You've had your run of this place for a long time. Too long. But see here: there's a new study in town.  

Says here that Fraser river sockeye collected in yonder Discovery Islands had higher loads of sea lice than them Skeena river sockeye what don't pass salmon farms.

The sounds of the sea

Quick - when you think of ocean animals making sounds, what comes to mind?

Chances are, you immediately think of whales. After all, some whales make beautiful music. So beautiful, in fact, that some of the more enlightened among us even make whale music an integral part of their relaxation rituals.

Biodiversity is good vs. minks can go straight to hell

Biodiversity is priceless and must be conserved. After all, it is diversity within and between living things that supports ecosystems, buffering them against variations in climate and other environmental factors. For this reason, biodiversity is generally thought to make ecosystems stable and resilient to change. In turn, we humans base our societies and economies on the stable and relatively predictable provision of ecosystem products and services. In short: humans need biodiversity, because we need sound and stable ecosystems.

But does that mean that we have to like every animal out there?

Yeah right. Let me introduce you to minks. Minks, for those of you who don't know, are murderous beady-eyed devils. They make seriously foul messes wherever they go. Their stench could deactivate the magnetic strip on a credit card. And they kill chickens.

And yesterday, they killed my chickens. In characteristically brutal fashion.

Overlooked Species Theatre Presents: Sculpins

Editor's Note: Overlooked Species Theatre is a feature in which we highlight species or species groups that seem to be, well, overlooked. A key feature of OST is blatant anthropomorphizing of the subjects, and for this we make no apologies because this is a blog and not a thesis. In this edition, we attribute extreme surliness to sculpins.  

Question, hotshot: Why is Chuck Norris afraid to fish?

Answer: Because he might catch a sculpin.

Taxpayer pockets at risk for cleaning up oil spills

The ongoing environmental disaster from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico might have you asking yourself the following question: “What would happen if a similar spill were to occur here at home?” As BC currently has in place a moratorium on offshore drilling, we will hopefully never find out. However, we do not have a ban on oil tankers, and they’re currently a serious threat. For the sake of argument, let us say that a slightly smaller spill than the Deepwater Horizon occurs, somewhere in magnitude around the Exxon Valdez. Aside from the obvious devastation of marine life and local economies (see our oil-spill model), there would be a substantial cost to clean up the oil itself.

The glass ball: A beachcomber's lament

This time of year is often a bit deflating. Winter has barely begun and the next couple of months promise only darkness and cold. Yet when I was growing up on the shores of the Pacific, this time of year was rivaled only by Christmas in terms of sheer excitement. The holidays might be over, but it was mere weeks until glass ball season.

In the first few months of the year, I would eagerly await the raging south-west winds, which often heralded exotic treasures from the open sea. If these storms sustained themselves for long enough, they would begin to transport objects from the North Pacific current straight to our doorstep on the BC coast.

The North Pacific Current runs from the open ocean east of Japan to the open ocean west of California and forms the northern portion of the North Pacific Gyre. At its eastern terminus, the warm Kuroshio current from the south collides with the arctic Oyashio Current to feed the North Pacific Current. This brings all sorts of unusual items from the coast of Japan into the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Most of this debris ends floating around in the Pacific or washes up on the shores of Hawaii, but given the right conditions, some would make it to North America.