Sea Notes

Whale Hearts, Oyster Pearls and a Greener Planet

Nature's not only a source of beauty -- it's a source of inspiration for inventors bent on solving environmental problems. That's the tale chronicled by Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post in her account of several notable inventions derived from observations of wildlife and wild systems.

Juliet's a great writer -- able to report on topics as varied as sustainable seafood, the plight of sharks and the colorful campaign of Sarah Palin. Her article is an excellent introduction to the world of biomimicry as a source of innovations that can reduce humanity's environmental impacts.

You'll have to read her article to find out how the pumping power of whale hearts and the chemistry that allows oysters to produce pearls fits into the big picture. (Juliet also writes about the water-shedding properties of lotus leaves, which stretches a bit outside our area of focus on marine topics.)

The success of of life forms and natural systems over billions of years of evolution is being tapped in new and surprising ways to solve environmental problems and shape the future economy. Check out "Nature's 100 Best" created in part by the Biomimicry Institute and learn how nature is inspiring entrepreneurs worldwide. The story on biopower from waves at Inhabitat.com (illustrated here) is just one example of biomimicry at work.

For 2009, our mantra at Sea Notes Blog and the Monterey Bay Aquarium is hope, and this is another source to draw from. Happy New Year to everyone!

Where There's a Will...

The reviews are mixed, but Will Smith does give a shout out to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and our jellies exhibits in his new film, Seven Pounds. Seems his character had a memorable encounter with box jellies at the aquarium in his youth -- and a box jelly comes back to play a significant role in the plot of the movie. (Don't worry; no spoilers here!)

Timely that the film references a youthful experience during an aquarium visit. We celebrate our 25th anniversary in 2009, with a new special exhibition -- "The Secret Lives of Seahorses" -- and special activities throughout the year. Check back for updates and highlights.

More Whaley Good News

The U.S. Navy has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by a number of environmental groups, which challenged the use of mid-range sonar in critical whale habitat.

The Navy said the settlement, which was reached Friday, calls on it to spend $14.75 million over three years on marine mammal research topics of interest to both the Navy and the plaintiffs (NRDC and others).

This decision comes after less welcome news last month, when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Navy, for the first time in many years, stating that military operations took precedence over whale health.

This issue is sure to be one that keeps on being bounced around (pun intended). We are still a long ways away from understanding how man-made ocean sounds are impacting our ocean wildlife, and according to our colleagues at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), we are dialing up the volume with climate change. Let's hope that the $14.75 million in research helps answer some of these important questions soon.

Do You See What I See?

CNN's Anderson Cooper performs a great service with his his Planet in Peril series, winner this year of an Environmental Media Award. (Heck, he even gets to free dive with white sharks; not a bad deal.) It's not just what airs as part of the show, but blog posts related to the program topics.

Here's a good example: This post by Shawn Heinrichs of Blue Sphere Media about shark finning in a marine protected area that safeguards coral reefs at Raja Ampat in Indonesia. He describes it as "truly one of the most beautiful places on Earth...one of the most remote and biologically diverse marine ecosystems on the planet."

Yet even here, as Heinrichs recounts, the finning is allowed so subsistence fishermen can make a scant living.

Tough choices in our world today. It will take all of us, working to support sustainable seafood so fish populations will recover, to create marine protected areas, and to promote environmental justice. The reward is worth the effort.

A whaley great Christmas gift

 

This Risso's dolphin jumps for joy at the latest news from Brazil! At the end of last week, the President of Brazil signed a federal decree that protects whales and dolphins in Brazilian waters.

This follows a similar move by Chile earlier this year - during the time that Chile was hosting the International Whaling Commission meeting - a law was enacted to make Chilean waters a whale sanctuary.

Brazilian officials hope that these measures will reinforce efforts to establish a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary in the entire oceanic basin.

We hope so too!

A Holiday Gift for the Oceans

For ocean lovers, it's truly a day to celebrate. Why? Because Dr. Jane Lubchenco, a real ocean champion, has been named to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the Obama Administration.

 She's a powerhouse in the scientific world: past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Ecological Society of America, a member of the Pew Oceans Commission and the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative -- and a strong advocate for swift action to address climate change and overfishing. She has been a leader in helping scientists to communicate more effectively with the public and policy makers.

(She's also a former trustee of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and a great, great person. Don't take my word for it: Here's what Julie Packard, our executive director, has to say.)

Needless to say, science and ocean conservation organizations are extravagantly thrilled and delighted -- as are the folks at Oregon State University, where she's on the faculty as a professor of marine biology and a distinguished professor of zoology.

The appointment will be announced officially by President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday. It carries the title of Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere & administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Together with the appointments of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu as Secretary of Energy, and John Holdren as White House science advisor, it's another clear sign that science will have a strong voice at the table in the new administration. It underscores that action on climate change and ocean conservation will be priority issues.

The oceans -- and all of us -- will be the beneficiaries.

Reviving the Dead

The National Research Council is urging swift action to reverse the growth of dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico.

A new report calls on the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Agriculture to coordinate efforts to keep farm chemicals out of the Mississippi River system so the chemicals don't make it downstream to the Gulf and spawn algae blooms that produce dead zones that are killing marine life.

The authors acknowledge that there will be "a considerable time lag" -- perhaps as much as a decade -- before steps to reduce nutrients upstream have any impact on Gulf waters.

Dead zones have been a problem for three decades, and now cover waters from Texas to Mississippi. Action on dead zones has been endorsed by both the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the independent Pew Oceans Commission (now working together for policy reform as the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative). Scientists worry about a potential tipping point in the growth and endurance of dead zones, with the result a collapse of marine ecosystems in Gulf waters.

With a new administration and new environmental team taking charge on January 20, there's hope for the future. Another key player on the Obama team could join the effort on Friday, when an announcement is expected naming the new administrator of NOAA -- the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Friday's Featured Film: A Song of Hope

Big shout out to Sam Fromartz at the Chews Wise blog for posting this incredible international musical effort from Playing for Change earlier in the week. It's eloquent testimony to the power of hope, of vision and collaboration -- and of music as a vehicle to touch our hearts and lift our spirits.

We humans have a lot of work to do if we're going to save the best of the natural world, including our vast living oceans. This kind of work is best done joyfully, and in concert with others. This video shows what's possible when we pull together, and this link to Bill Moyers Journal provides much of the back story (in video and a transcript on the site) from Mark Johnson of Playing for Change.

Eating for the Ocean

Good news today on several fronts connecting how we produce, sell and package the food we eat with the health of the oceans.

First comes a new survey of 1,600 chefs by the National Restaurant Association of the Top 20 "hot" culinary trends of the past year. No. 1 on the list is locally grown produce (lower carbon footprint, support local farmers), and No. 3 is organically grown produce (fewer chemicals flowing downstream to the ocean).

Sustainable seafood is No. 10, with non-traditional seafood items -- including several sustainable farmed species like Arctic chart and barramundi No. 13 on the list. Organic wine comes in at No. 18. Most of the other top trends relate to healthier eating (fruit as a side-dish with kids' meals, smaller portions) or other eco-friendly approaches (free-range meats).

Then, on Monday, Greenpeace updated its ranking of how major supermarket chains fare when it comes to offering eco-friendly seafood choices. There's some improvement since the initial rankings were issued earlier this year. The top 5 on the list of 20 markets it ranked: Whole Foods Market, Ahold USA (Stop & Shop, Giant), Target, Harris Teeter and Wal-Mart. The bottom five (listed worst to best) were Price Chopper, H.E. Butt (H.E.B, Central Market), Meijer, Trader Joe's and coming in dead last, Supervalu (Acme, Albertson's, Bristol Farms, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's).

Consumer guides like our Seafood Watch pocket guides are a great tool to use if you're not sure whether something on your supermarket shelves was caught or farmed sustainably. Using a Seafood Watch guide is also a great way to let your store know that its choice about what to put on sale matters to you.

Finally, in local news from Monterey, the city Planning Commission voted unanimously on Tuesday to support an ordinance requiring take-out restaurants to offer only environmentally friendly food packaging -- meaning no Styrofoam take-out containers. The measure now goes to the City Council for consideration. Monterey Bay Aquarium spoke out in support of the ordinance. Similar rules are being enacted by local governments across the United States -- with the support of citizen activists (hint-hint).

Carnival of the Blue 19

Sarah and the great folks at Water Notes are hosts of Carnival of the Blue #19, the December roundup of the best of ocean blogging. Enjoy!