UNDERWATER NOISE POLLUTION CAUSES ACOUSTIC TRAUMA and DEATH

EARTH SKY ORG - UNDERWATER NOISE POLLUTION STRESSES FISH  by  Adam Crane and Maud Ferrari - University of Saskatchewan.  

EXCERPT: Nowadays, the underwater soundscape includes the roar of motors, the ping of military sonar and the bangs and blasts from offshore development.

Communication breakdown...

For fish, whales and other marine animals, intense underwater noises from blasts can cause acoustic trauma and even death. More common quieter noise, such as construction or shipping noise, may not kill the animals directly, but can disrupt their ability to find food and mates, or avoid predators.

WASHINGTON POST - RARE WHALE CAUGHT ON VIDEO

EXCERPT - link has video

Natacha Aguilar de Soto has studied beaked whales for 15 years. She has spent dozens of months at sea, floating above the deepest parts of the ocean, straining her eyes and ears to detect whatever might be moving in the fathoms below.

She rarely finds anything. Beaked whales — a family of 22 cetacean species characterized by dolphinlike noses and missile-shaped bodies — are some of the most elusive animals on Earth. They dive deeper and longer than any other marine mammal and spend an estimated 92 percent of their lives far beneath the ocean surface. One species, the True's beaked whale, is so rare that only a handful of people have ever seen it alive.

“Imagine,” Aguilar de Soto said, “these are animals the size of elephants that we just can't find. They're a mystery.” ...

THE GREAT SELKIE OF SULE SKERRY

Many thanks to those who participated in making the clip; Eleanor Evans, Ben Warner and Rodney Clancy.

This song and animation is an accompaniment to my novel for readers of 10 to 100, Sealskin Coast, released May 2014 by IFWG Publishing Australia www.ifwgaustralia.com, which is a depiction of the selkie myth in a modern, southern hemisphere setting." Illustrator Rowena Evans

CABRILLO MARINE AQUARIUM

CABRILLO MARINE AQUARIUM

EXCERPT:  Since 1935, we have been exhibiting Southern California's rich diversity and adaptations of our local sea life through a combination of aquaria, interpretive displays and museum collections.

SHELLS and CRABS

WORLD OCEAN DAY IS TODAY

WORLD OCEAN DAY

Will you stop using single use plastic bags, bottles and straws to help our ocean?

Plastic trash is a serious problem for our ocean, and especially all the animals that call it home, but together we can be part of the solution.

SEA OF PLASTIC - WORSE THAN EVER - BENOIT LECOMTE

WASHINGTON POST - SEA OF PLASTIC PACIFIC OCEAN SWIM

BEN LECOMTE has decided to make himself and his swim into a scientific experiment.

EXCERPT: Before French marathon swimmer Benoit Lecomte began his six-month long attempt Tuesday to become the first to swim across the Pacific Ocean, he prepared for a number of possible challenges such as sharks, extremely cold water — and “plastic smog.”

That’s the term scientists use to describe billions of pieces of microplastic in the sea.

On his way from eastern Japan to San Francisco — a distance of 5,600 miles — the 51-year-old swimmer will encounter a lot of those microplastic particles, most of which have broken down from larger plastic items or deliberately included by manufacturers in body wash or toothpaste. In the Pacific, the biggest accumulation of plastic smog is about the size of Germany, France and Britain combined and Lecomte will swim right through it.

SHELLS and TURTLES