IT'S EARTH DAY! WAYS TO CELEBRATE TODAY and EVERY DAY! 10,000 EVENTS

EARTHDAY ORG  Click on your place in the world....

Excerpt: Community cleanups, teach-ins, peaceful demonstrations, tree planting, voter registration, town hall meetings, community organizing — every action strengthens the movement. Add your event to the map and show the power of collective action.

ORCAS HAVE BEEN SINKING BOATS

It's true... there have been a number of reports.


DIVE MAGAZINE : ORCAS SINK BOAT - PORTUGAL


OUTSIDE ONLIE : WE SAILED THROUGH ORCA ALLEY - BOATS RAMMED -SINKING


Excerpt: Along the Iberian Peninsula, where the North Atlantic collides with the rugged coastlines of Spain and Portugal before pinching into the Mediterranean Sea, an endangered subpopulation of orcas has developed the unfortunate habit of ramming into sailboats. The powerful animals target the rudders, often breaking them and destroying or disabling a boat’s steering. Such force can sometimes also damage a boat’s hull and cause a leak.

Orcas, also called killer whales (Orcinus orca), are known for their prowess as marine predators, and they’re intelligent and highly social. Across their global range, they’re unusually flexible in what they eat, how they hunt, and where they call home. Among their many talents, they’re masters of surprise.

BLUE WHALES GONE SILENT?! CLIMATE CHANGE? ALL ENERGY USED TO FIND ENOUGH FOOD - KRILL

THE WEEK : BLUE WHALES NOT SINGING -CLIMATE CHANGE

Excerpt: The study tracked over six years of acoustic monitoring in the central California Current Ecosystem. During those years, blue whale sounds decreased by approximately 40%.

"We don't hear them singing," John Ryan, a biological oceanographer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and the lead author of the study, said to National Geographic. They are "spending all their energy searching." There's "just not enough time left over" for singing, and that "tells us those years are incredibly stressful." It's like "trying to sing while you are starving,"

"When we have these really hot years and marine heat waves, it's more than just temperature," Kelly Benoit-Bird, a marine biologist at Monterey Bay Aquarium and co-author of the study, said to National Geographic. "The whole system changes, and we don't get the krill." So the animals that "rely only on krill are kind of out of luck." High ocean temperatures lead to algal blooms that can kill krill. And blue whales are "forced to forage over a much larger geographic area when krill populations become depleted," said Newsweek.

Marine heat waves are only going to get worse due to fossil fuel usage. Oceans act as the world's largest carbon sink, meaning they "already absorb more than 90% of the excess heat from climate change," said The Independent. There are "whole ecosystem consequences of these marine heat waves," said Benoit-Bird. If whales "can't find food and they can traverse the entire West Coast of North America, that's a really large-scale consequence."

BLUE WHALES ARE THE LARGEST ANIMALS ON OUR PLANET!

BIODIVERSITY CORAL

 

TIDEPOOLING : HOW TO BEHAVE TO SHOW RESPECT FOR LIVING SEA CREATURES and THE ECOSYSTEM

HOW TO BEHAVE TO SHOW RESPECT FOR LIVING SEA CREATURES and THE ECOSYSTEM

1) Do take your camera. Photograph during the day. No flashes.

2) Do place feet carefully on dry or drier areas. Wear no-slip shoes. (Rubber thongs are not recommended. The creatures may be too tiny to see.) Take it slow.

3) Don't touch any sea creature or algae/kelp or plant life. (They are feeding and this is all part of the local eco-system they depend upon.)

4) Don't collect or take any sea creature, algae/kept or plant life, shells or stones. Simply take photographs or take notes of what diversity you've seen or perhaps note that the tidepools seems to be devoid of life.

5) Do not pour any liquid into the water. Not even your bottled water.

6) Do not urinate or defecate in the water or in or around the tidepools or beach.

7) Do not leave any trash in the water or around the tidepools or beach. If it's easy to do so without hurting yourself or the sea creatures, remove the trash others have left there.

8) Report your visit - what you saw - when and where and what time of day - to those who care.  This blog has so very many links so organizations that do care.

9) Get out of there if the wind is high or the tide is coming in. Low tide is the best time to go.

10) Do some beach clean up. Plastics, wrappers, cans, surfing board wax, sunglasses, shoes, all of it will eventually go back to the tidepools or the ocean, so getting it off the beach does help.

C 2025 Siren's Link To Sea

THE BLACK ABALONE : CALIFORNIA STATE SEASHELL and ECOSYSTEMS : TAKE THE TIDEPOOL FIELD TRIP

LAGUNA OCEAN FOUNDATION

Excerpt: Tidepools are technically pools of water left behind in the rocks when the water recedes during low tide. However, tidepools typically refer to the entire rocky area in the intertidal zone which are submerged during high tide and exposed during low tide. Tidepools are home to many species of animals, seaweeds, and plants. The organisms that live in this habitat are very resilient because of the stress they have to go through on a daily basis due to tidal change and the threat of desiccation (drying out), but humans can cause irreversible harm if we are not careful where we step and how we act in the area.

THE BLACK ABALONE : AN ENDANGERED MOLLUSK SPECIES WE DON'T OFTEN THINK ABOUT

CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY : BLACK ABALONE 

Excerpt : Black abalone were once the most abundant large shellfish clinging to the rocks of intertidal zones between Baja and Oregon. A savored delicacy for sea otters and native coastal people alike, these hard-shelled marine snails were prized for the iridescent colors and the occasional pearl found inside their shells. Like most other species of abalone native to coastal California, black abalone have been decimated by seafood enthusiasts and the fisheries that fill their plates.

DRONES RECORD HUNDREDS OF WHALES : CHANGES IN SIZE OF FEMALES AND CALVES : DROP IN BIRTHRATE : HEATWAVES EFFECT

SEATTLE TIMES : DRONES RECORD HUNDREDS OF WHALES by Brendan Rascius  of McClatchy News 

EXCERPT: ... scientists documented dramatic changes in the size of the mothers and calves and in humpback birthrates.
Changes in size

Between 2018 and 2022, “a total of 2,410 measurements were taken from 1,659 individuals, with 405 repeat measurements from 137 lactating females used to track changes in maternal body volume over migration,” Martin van Aswegen, one of the study authors, said in a news release from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

In six months, they decreased in body volume by 17% on average. Specifically, the mothers off Hawaii — where the whales breed — lost about 214 pounds of blubber each day.

Comparatively, nonpregnant and pregnant females off Alaska — where the whales feed — gained size much faster than new mothers, putting on weight between two and six times the rate of lactating females.

Calves, in contrast, rapidly put on weight. They increased their body volume by about 395%, and their length increased by nearly 60%.

***

KEEP READING! 

OCEAN CURRANTS STALLING? CHANGING? WEATHER MOVING TOWARDS AN ICE AGE?

DAILY MAIL SCIENCE : CLIMATE CHANGE by Jonathan Chadwick - Assistant Science and Technology Editor.

 
Excerpt: A new study by experts at University of Gothenburg and the German Alfred Wegener Institute reveals that rapidly melting freshwater ice in the Arctic could be one cause. This melted ice could weaken or even cause a collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) – Earth's vast system of ocean currents.

Described as 'the conveyor belt of the ocean', AMOC transports warm water near the ocean's surface northwards from the tropics up to the northern hemisphere, keeping Europe, the UK and the US east coast temperate.

If and when AMOC does collapse, much of the northern hemisphere, including Europe and North America, could experience harsh, freezing cold winters.

But study author Dr Céline Heuzé, senior lecturer in climatology at the University of Gothenburg, said it's 'scary' that the exact effects of weaker global ocean circulation are as yet unknown.

OCEAN ACIDIFICATION TICKING TIME BOMB : SEA LIFE CRISIS

THE GUARDIAN : SEA ACIDITY CRISIS TICKING TIMEBOMB 

Excerpt: It found that by 2020 the average ocean condition worldwide was already very close to – and in some regions beyond – the planetary boundary for ocean acidification. This is defined as when the concentration of calcium carbonate in seawater is more than 20% below preindustrial levels.

The deeper in the ocean they looked, the worse the findings were, the scientists said. At 200 metres below the surface, 60% of global waters had breached the “safe” limit for acidification.

“Most ocean life doesn’t just live at the surface,” said PML’s Prof Helen Findlay. “The waters below are home to many more different types of plants and animals. Since these deeper waters are changing so much, the impacts of ocean acidification could be far worse than we thought.”

Siren here: Animals and plants cannot live in acidic waters.

NASA REVEALS GLOBAL SEA LEVELS ROSE BY UNEXEPECTED HIGHER LEVELS : HUNDREDS OF CITIES MAY BE OVERWHELMED

DAILY MAIL : NASA ...GLOBAL SEA LEVEL RISE UNEXPECTEDLY HIGH AMOUNT 

The rise we saw in 2024 was higher than we expected,' said Josh Willis, a sea level researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

'Every year is a little bit different, but what's clear is that the ocean continues to rise, and the rate of rise is getting faster and faster.'

Since 1993, global sea levels have risen by a staggering 3.97-inches (10.1cm).

And if they continue to climb at this rate, hundreds of densely populated cities around the world could be plunged underwater. Excerpt: According to NASA, this 'unexpected' increase was due to an unusual amount of ocean warming, combined with meltwater from land-based ice such as glaciers.

Siren here! Check out those charts!

OARFISH : LEGENDARY FISH THAT ANNOUNCES TSUNAMIS

You can find past posts about OARFISH by clicking on the label below.  This is a documentary by YouTube Station Best Documentary about this fish...  Because I dislike unasked for advertising, I'm linking to this video rather than embedding it. It's an interesting and well made video.  Siren

BEST DOCUMENTARY : OARFISH LEGENDARY ANNOUNCES TSUNAMIS

INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR THE CONSERVATION OF NATURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES MEETING 2025 DUBAI

IUCN ORG

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. By harnessing the experience, resources and reach of its more than 1,400 Member organisations and the input of some 17,000 experts, IUCN is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
|
9-15 October, 2025
Description


The IUCN World Conservation Congress is a once-every-four-years, diverse gathering of nature conservation experts, leaders and decision-makers from around the world. It will help shape global priorities for nature conservation and climate change for the coming decade and beyond.

MONTEREY BAY WHALE WATCHERS AMAZED AND WORRIED AFTER SIGHTING OF OLIVE RIDLEY SEA TURTLE

SACRAMENTO BEE : RARE SIGHTING OF OLIVE RIDLEY SEA TURTLE 

It hasn't been seen in the bay since 2013 and it's usually in need of warmer waters.

NEUROTOXIN POISONING OF SEA LIONS ALONG CALIFORNIA COAST : MARINE MAMMAL CARE CENTERS WORKING HARD TO SAVE LIVES

LA TIMES : NEUROTIN IS POISONING LARGE NUMBERS OF SEA LIONS - CALIFORNIA COAST 

Excerpt: "The levels we're finding inside these animals is off the charts," said Giancarlo Rulli, a spokesman for the Sausalito - based Marine Mammal Center.  "It's all hands on deck."

Domoic acid is a neurotoxin released by Pseudo-nitzschia, a common phytoplankton species found in coast waters.  Sea lions - and other marine mammals - become poisoned when they eat large amounts of fish or invertebrates that have been chowing on the contaminated diatoms.

Symptoms include lethargy, vomiting, unusual behavior, seizures, loss of pregnancy, and death. 

Excerpt: Raphe Kudela, a professor of ocean science at UC Santa Cruz, said there might also be a connection to heat and runoff from inland rivers.

He said in the last few years, really wet winters have contributed to an increase in river runoff - and a resulting dump of nutrients into California's coastal waters.

"So you get a pulse of upwelling, which brought some cool water with even more nutrients to the surface, and then everything warmed up.  That's just absolutely perfect conditions for a bloom like this," he said.

It's also a perfect recipe for creatures like sardines and anchovies, who feast of the diatoms, algae and phytoplankton in these cool, nutrient-rich waters.  And those fish bring in predators, such as sea lions, dolphins, fur seals, bords and other fish that then proceed to feast on these "toxic bullets."

GRAY WHALES SHRINKING IN SIZE

Excerpt:  Researchers from Oregon State University used drones to monitor these whales and gauge changes in their size over time.  They found that, while a whale born in the year 2000 could be expected to grow to around 40 feet in length, a whale born in 2020 would end up closer to 35 feet in length.  Researchers said the shift in size is dramatic, comparable to the average American woman shrinking from five feet, four inches, to four feet, eight inches in the space of just twenty years.

YAHOO NEWS : IT'S NOT JUST THE FISHES

WARMING OCEAN TEMPERATURES - FOOD SCARCITY - WHALES AND DOLPHINS AT GREATEST RISK

PBS SCIENCE : MARINE MAMMALS IN U.S. WATERS : RISING TEMPERATURES : FOOD SCARCITY 

Excerpt:  Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration examined more than 100 stocks of American marine mammal species and found more than 70 percent of those stocks are vulnerable to threats, such as loss of habitat and food, due to the consequences of warming waters. The impacts also include loss of dissolved oxygen and changes to ocean chemistry.

The scientists found large whales such as humpbacks and North Atlantic right whales were among the most vulnerable to climate change, and that other toothed whales and dolphins were also at high risk.

ATLANTIC OCEAN COLLAPSE? WHY IT'S SO IMPORTANT

NPR : WHEN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN CURRENT COLLAPSE  by Lauren Sommer

Excerpt: Deep in the Atlantic Ocean, there's a massive current the size of 8,000 Mississippi Rivers. Its role in the Earth's climate is so powerful that it determines weather from the equator to Europe, crop production in Africa and sea level rise on the East Coast.

GREY WHALE NOT SEEN IN ATLANTIC FOR 200 YEARS DOCUMENTED SWIMMING PAST NANTUCKET : CLIMATE CHANGE

DAILY MAIL UK : EXTINCT FROM ATLANTIC FOR 200 YEARS : GREY WHALE : CLIMATE CHANGE 

Excerpts:

'The Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific through the Arctic Ocean in Canada, has regularly been ice-free in the summertime in recent years, partly due to rising global temperatures,' the aquarium said.

This means that more gray whales could potentially travel the Northwest Passage during the summer when normally they would have been blocked.

...

O'Brien, an associate research scientist with the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium, said the animal's arrival off New England serves 'as a reminder of how quickly marine species respond to climate change, given the chance.'

So how can you tell a gray whale apart from its counterparts?

Unlike the humpback whale, which is more commonly sighted in New England, gray whales can be identified by their lack of a dorsal fin and mottled appearance. 

They also sound different; gray whales make gurgles, grunts and croaks while humpback wales produce what is known as 'songs' as it is reminiscent of human vocals.

SEA TURTLES AS A KEYSTONE SPECIES : SEE TURTLES : WORKING IN CENTRAL AMERICA and THE CARIBBEAN : AN EXPANSIVE WEBSITE

"If a keystone species is removed from a habitat, the natural order can be disrupted, which impacts other wildlife and fauna in different ways."

SEE TURTLES

SEE TURTLES is a science-facts website that I know you will find fascinating and take some time with.  You will learn the things you can do to help protect this necessary species of marine animal.

Here are some excerpts from the site.

1. Don’t buy souvenirs or other items made from critically endangered hawksbill shell.

2. Help Heal The Climate: Climate change affects the health of coral reefs which are vital to the hawksbills survival. A warming planet also skews sex ratios in baby turtles

3.  Avoid eating seafood or choose responsibly caught seafood. Sea turtles are vulnerable to commercial fishing methods like trawling, longlines, and drift gillnets, becoming unwanted catch (also known as "bycatch") that is discarded like trash.

4.  Just say NO to plastics! Sea turtles and other ocean life mistake plastic as food and ingest it. An estimated that more than 100 million marine animals die each year as a result of eating or getting entangled in plastic.

7. Turtles dig the dark! Sea turtles need dark beaches for nesting and for navigating their way to the ocean. Light from beachfront development can deter females from coming ashore to nest as well as lead newly born hatchling away from the water and towards danger.

9. Choose sunscreen carefully. Chemicals in some types of sunscreen can damage coral reefs and pollute turtle habitat. Avoid any sunscreen with "oxybenzone" and look for brands labeled as "Reef Friendly" & avoid sprays that pollute the sand where turtles nest.