The term Blue Carbon seems to be gaining traction outside of the world of science and environmental economics. Or – at the very least – its gaining traction in Cancun.
The is quite a bit of buzz today about recent research that quantifies how much whaling has – and is – contributing to atmospheric carbon. The focus needs to be broadened beyond whales. Ocean habitats are continually overlooked by the global community as viable sites of carbon sequestration.
Dr. Andy Read is a marine mammologist and Duke Univeristy Marine Lab professor. He’s also part of a team of experts that convened last week in Honolulu. The new Take Reduction Team (TRT) is assessing the high mortality rate of false killer whales in the Pacific longline fishery. The team’s assessment is long overdue.
For those of us who work with coral, NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch is quite useful. It’s a online tool for tracking global sea surface temperature data in real-time. But what about temperatures, say, a quarter mile beneath the surface? There are no user-friendly websites or pretty maps for tracking anomalous temperatures in deeper waters. A recent population increase and geographic spread of the deep-water Humbolt Squid gives reason for new concern about the changing mesopelagic world.
Unlike the growing climate debates, the anthropogenic blame for ocean plastics is undeniable and disturbing. While many scientists are going to the front lines defending climate change, other global phenomena of environmental change are being left in the periphery.
Clare Fieseler is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Nicholas School of Environment at Duke University. She received a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University with a concentration in Environment. At Georgetown, Clare first began her interest in marine life while working as a research assistant for marine [...]
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