tagged w/ Sea
-
In a deadly game of heads or tails venomous sea snakes in the Pacific and Indian Oceans deceive their predators into believing they have two heads, claims research published August 5 in Marine Ecology.
The discovery, made by Dr Arne Redsted Rasmussen and Dr Johan Elmberg, showed that Yellow-lipped Sea Kraits (Laticauda colubrina) use skin markings and behaviour patterns to fool predators into thinking their tail is a second head, complete with lethal venom.In a deadly game of heads or tails venomous sea snakes in the Pacific and Indian... more
-
-
In southern Campania there are 180,000 hectares of land on which lies the National Park of Cilento and Vallo di Diano, one of the largest national parks in Italy. Inside it there are eight mountain communities and eighty municipalities. An area with a high natural value where grow at least 1800 species of plants, many of them rare, including the primrose of Palinuro, adopted as a symbol of the park, and the wild orchid of San Giovanni a Piro.In southern Campania there are 180,000 hectares of land on which lies the National... more
-
-
Off the Californian coast, giant kelp grow to gigantic sizes. They provide a good source of food to armies of industrious sea urchins, which attack them in force in a seemingly unending chase of life seeking food...Off the Californian coast, giant kelp grow to gigantic sizes. They provide a good... more
-
-
The High Court of New York has decided that can be used engine during next America's Cup. One of the most important regatta will completely change with this new regulation.
For purist of sailing, today it's a sad day. After 158 years everything will be different. Now Alinghi and Oracle will be race only on the sea, no more in court.The High Court of New York has decided that can be used engine during next... more
-
-
Crabcakes and fish sticks won't be disappearing after all.
Two years after a study warned that overfishing could cause a collapse in the world's seafood stocks by 2048, an update says the tide is turning, at least in some areas.
"This paper shows that our oceans are not a lost cause," said Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, lead author of both reports. "I'm somewhat more hopeful ... than what we were seeing two years ago."
It's personal as well as scientific.
"I have actually given thought to whether I will be hosting a seafood party then," Worm said, meaning 2048.
Ray Hilborn of the University of Washington challenged Worm's original report, leading the two — plus 19 other researchers — to launch the study that led to the new findings. They're being published in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
The news isn't all good.
Of 10 areas of the world that were studied, significant overfishing continues in three, but steps have been taken to curb excesses in five others, Hilborn and Worm report. The other two were not a problem in either study.
Hilborn noted that 63 percent of fish stocks remain below desired levels. It takes time to rebuild after steps are taken to reduce the catch.Crabcakes and fish sticks won't be disappearing after all.
Two years after a... more
-
-
Discovery news investigates a study
that suggest that the way jelly fish
swim affects the climateDiscovery news investigates a study
that suggest that the way jelly fish
swim... more
-
-
macfan
-
added this
-
2 years ago
- |
-
The Underwater Express mini-submarine designed by Electric Boat, and part of one of the latest DARPA projects, is being tested in the oceans.
The speed of the Underwater Express is currently the main focus for DARPA. If the test is successful, the submarine will be able to achieve speeds of up to 100 knots. That is 70 knots faster than todays submarines.
The mini-submarine uses a hydrodynamic effect called Supercavitation -- when the Underwater Express gains enough speed, it will be shielded by a gas bubble, which reduces drag, thus allowing the sub' to accelerate at a very high speed.
The Underwater Express will be tested as a small-scale vessel, off the coast of Rhode Island, NY. I fresults from the test are successful, then Electric Boat will create A full scale 100-foot submarine.The Underwater Express mini-submarine designed by Electric Boat, and part of one of... more
-
-
A 70-tonne adult fin whale, the second biggest species in the world, was found wedged against the bow of a cruise ship when it docked in Vancouver after passing through Alaskan waters.
Now an autopsy will be carried out to determine if the whale was dead or alive when it became wedged in the ship.
The ship's crew doesn't know when or how the collision took place. The cruise line said in a statement: 'It is unknown how or when this could have happened, as we have strict whale avoidance procedures in place when our ships are in the vicinity of marine life. We have clear guidelines for our ships on how to operate if whales are sighted nearby, which include altering course and reducing speed as required.'A 70-tonne adult fin whale, the second biggest species in the world, was found wedged... more
-
-
Declining populations of tunas received conservation support from countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean this week as governments realize how much damage overfishing has done to the world's tuna stocks.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France today announced his country's support for a ban of international trade in endangered Northern Bluefin Tuna, joining a growing call to list the overexploited fish under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES.
Speaking at the close of a national stakeholder consultation on France's future sustainable fisheries and maritime policy, the "Grenelle de la Mer," President Sarkozy said, "France supports listing bluefin tuna on the CITES convention to ban international trade."
Sarkozy put this in the context of France's support for a broader sustainable fisheries policy. "Ours is the last generation with the ability to take action before it's too late — we must protect marine resources now, in order to fish better in future. We owe this to fishermen, and we owe it to future generations," he said.
The Principality of Monaco was first to communicate its willingness to sponsor a proposal to ban international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna, and has this week launched a formal CITES consultation process to seek the support of other range States.
Northern Bluefin Tuna is found in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean and the species is in trouble.
Contributing to the species' steep decline are the huge overcapacity of fishing fleets, catches that far exceed legal quotas, pirate fishing, the use of illegal spotting planes to chase tuna, under-reporting of catch, fishing during the closed season, management measures that disregard scientific advice — all driven by the insatiable appetite of the world's luxury seafood markets where Northern Bluefin Tuna fetches record prices.
On the other side of the world, hope for the future of the tuna stocks in the Eastern Pacific was raised when the Colombian government agreed to support an annual two month ban on tuna fishing.
Colombia's decision means that tuna fishing along the entire Pacific Coast of Latin America will be banned by all nations for two months a year to help protect the world's tuna stocks.
The ban is part of a series of measures introduced by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) to avoid the catastrophic collapse of valuable stocks of yellowfin (Thunnus albacares), bigeye (Thunnus obesus) and skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) tuna.
Studies carried out by the IATTC showed a rapid deterioration of tuna populations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean – particularly bigeye – and data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization states that yellowfin tuna has been "fully exploited" in the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, meaning that stocks are seriously depleted.Declining populations of tunas received conservation support from countries bordering... more
-
-
Designer Kevin Schöpfer plans to set sail in three years -- his exuberant yacht designs are set to get him noticed in the world of water-based concepts.
Wired magazine display some of the images of Schöpfer's yacht designs, all of which bring futuristic glamour and innovation to the sea.
Schöpfer, who is currently working on the proposal to turn New Orleans into a floating city, told Wired.com: “Nobody in the US is looking at what’s next in yacht design, and I didn’t want to have to play catch-up, as did U.S. auto.”Designer Kevin Schöpfer plans to set sail in three years -- his exuberant yacht... more
-
-
(AP) The Chinese and U.S. militaries will work together to avoid confrontations at sea that have sparked worries of a crisis in overall relations, a top Chinese military officer said Wednesday.
The issue was at the center of their first high-level military talks in 18 months after a series of recent naval encounters _ including a collision of a Chinese submarine and a U.S. sonar device _ that have raised concerns about poor communication between the two sides.
The military officials also discussed North Korea, which has threatened war with the U.S. and its allies in response to new U.N. sanctions imposed over its recent nuclear test blast.
"Our two sides agreed to work together to avoid such incidents from happening again since such incidents will surely have a negative impact on our bilateral relations in general," Ma told a news conference at the end of the U.S.-China Defense Consultative Talks in Beijing.
Pentagon officials have said there were four incidents earlier this year where Chinese-flagged fishing vessels maneuvered close to unarmed U.S. ships crewed by civilians and used by the Pentagon to do underwater surveillance and submarine hunting missions.
The defense discussions were last held in December 2007. They had been suspended by Beijing in anger over U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, the self-governing island China claims as its own territory.
Ma said that China had pressed the U.S. delegation on the issue of the arms sales, calling them a "central topic of the discussions."
"We told the American side that the issue of Taiwan arms sales is a major reason for the constant stop-start course of China-U.S. military relations," he said.
Ma said they also discussed North Korea, which counts China as its closest ally. He did not give specifics of what was said. China had hosted now-stalled six-nation talks aimed at pressing Pyongyang to halt its nuclear programs in return for financial aid and diplomatic inducements.(AP) The Chinese and U.S. militaries will work together to avoid confrontations at... more
-
-
BEIJING — Chinese and American officials on Wednesday gave a positive assessment of their military talks aimed at addressing the growing nuclear threat from North Korea and a series of naval skirmishes that have marred relations between the countries.
The two days of dialogue were the first military talks since December, when China broke off annual military exchanges to protest a $6.5 billion arms deal between the United States and Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province.
Although there were no measurable achievements, both sides agreed to another round of high-level military talks next month intended to ease tensions that have been heightened by China’s increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea.
In the latest episode, a Chinese submarine damaged a piece of sonar equipment being towed by an American naval ship three weeks ago. China later described the collision as an accident.
During other, more aggressive confrontations this year, Chinese fishing vessels have menaced American surveillance ships during routine patrols. The United States insists that the intelligence-gathering missions are allowed under international law, an assertion that China has repeatedly challenged.
China on Wednesday played down the skirmishes, saying that both countries should increase communication to minimize potential conflict.
“Our two sides agreed to work together to avoid such incidents from happening again, since such incidents will surely have a negative impact on our bilateral relations in general,” Lt. Gen. Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, said at a news conference on Wednesday.
Michele Flournoy, the under secretary of defense for policy and General Ma’s American counterpart in the discussions, echoed that sentiment, saying there was no reason such “accidents” should harm relations, even if the two countries remained at odds over the definition of international waters. “We have to put the safety of mariners first and foremost,” she said in a separate news conference.
During talks about North Korea’s nuclear weapons ambitions, Ms. Flournoy said Chinese military officials reiterated their support for United Nations Security Council sanctions that seek to punish North Korea for the detonation of a nuclear device last month. “There is very much a shared objective to getting North Korea to change course and return to a verifiable path to denuclearization,” she said.
This month, the Security Council unanimously passed a package of sanctions that, among other things, calls upon member states to inspect suspect ships at sea, or direct them to a nearby port if they refuse. Although General Ma described North Korea’s nuclear pursuits as a “serious concern,” he did not indicate whether China would countenance the search of the Kang Nam, a North Korean vessel en route to the Strait of Malacca that is suspected of carrying conventional weapons.
The United States Navy is monitoring the ship, which may be headed toward Myanmar, but North Korea has warned that interception would be seen as a declaration of war.BEIJING — Chinese and American officials on Wednesday gave a positive assessment... more
-
-
To fight against illegal fishing, this is the aim of Paul Watson, founding member of Sea Shepherd and founder of Greenpeace.To fight against illegal fishing, this is the aim of Paul Watson, founding member of... more
-
-
The fact is that piracy is not just a legend from days long past, but is a dangerous trend that is actually on the upswing and for the past few years. Read the following facts to discover what you might not know about modern-day pirates.The fact is that piracy is not just a legend from days long past, but is a dangerous... more
-
-
Celtic Christianity Today Homily “The Goodness of Creation” on April 26, 2009 at Union Community Church, Valparaiso, IN by Rev. Dr. George Cairns of Chesterton, IN.
Rev. Dr. George Cairns delivers Celtic Christianity Today homilies:
The homilies on Celtic Christianity take a look at several topics including the European roots of the Celts (primarily Scotland and Ireland) and how Earth-based cultures can impact the future of civilization including actively protecting the environment, respecting fellow humans, different cultures and nature.
Cairns is working closely with Rev. Gregory Jones on several social fronts.
Rev. Jones is the pastor of the Union Community Church and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Theology at Valparaiso University.
Founded in 2007, The non-profit Turtle Island Project is known for its ongoing work with Native American issues - and the other wing involves other Earth-based religions like the Celts. Dr. Cairns is the co-founder of the nonprofit Turtle Island Project.
Rev. Cairns continues to work closely with the foremost Celtic group in the world, the Iona Community in Scotland that is a dispersed Christian ecumenical community working for peace and social justice, rebuilding of community and the renewal of worship.
Cairns is a research professor of Practical Theology and Spirituality at Chicago Theological Seminary, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and lives in Chesterton, Indiana.
Cairns recently completed a six-part "contemplative reading and discussion" of Philip Newell's book "Christ of the Celts" at the Union Community Church. Cairns and his wife, Nancy, recently hosted a conference on Celtic Spirituality, Ecology, and Participative Consciousness.
Dr. Cairns says:
Celtic Christianity is a strand of the Christian tradition which developed during the
middle of the first millennium. Its full flowering in Ireland and Scotland continued for several hundred years before it was incorporated into the dominant church as many of its traditions were lost or suppressed.
There are two major reasons for this recovery and reconstruction of Celtic Christian practical theology for the church today: Church Renewal & Engaging and transforming the genocide and ecocide taking place today.
We are concerned that our current individual and systemic western consciousness is disembodied and ill. We believe that this process started several thousand years ago in the late Paleolithic. We are not trying to turn back the clock to the Stone Age. But we do know that a change in consciousness must begin if our planet and we are to survive.
What we have lost is participative consciousness, which understands that our lives are profoundly related to the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of all of creation. Another way of putting this is that we are completely relational beings. Reconnection with all of creation as sacred and responsive
and alive is our great task in the early 21st century.
We have living guides to help us such as Celtic Spirituality, Native American Spirituality and post-modern science. I believe we need to integrate the profound gifts of these resources and open ourselves to deepen our relationships with all of creation.”
Related websites:
Celtic Christianity Today
http://www.celticchristianitytoday.org
Rev. George Cairns on Spirit Cafe blog, United Church of Christ
http://i.ucc.org/FeedYourSpirit/SpiritCafe/CafeBlog/tabid/83/Default.aspx
Iona Community, Scotland
http://www.iona.org.uk
Iona Community New World Foundation: Iona associates, friends in U.S.
http://www.iona-nwf.org/links.htm
Turtle Island Project
http://www.TurtleIslandProject.org
Union Community Church, Valparaiso, IN
http://unioncommunitychurchucc.blogspot.com
Rev. Gregory Jones, Theology Department at Valparaiso University
http://www.valpo.edu/theology/faculty/gregoryjones.phpCeltic Christianity Today Homily “The Goodness of Creation” on April 26,... more
-
-
"The infamous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, one of the largest in U.S. history, dumped more than 10 million gallons of crude into Prince William Sound.
While the amount of oil and its ultimate fate in such manmade disasters is well known, the effect and size of natural oil seeps on the ocean floor is murkier. A new study finds that the natural petroleum seeps off Santa Barbara, Calif., have leaked out the equivalent of about eight to 80 Exxon Valdez oil spills over hundreds of thousands of years.
These spills create an oil fallout shadow that contaminates the sediments around the seep, with the oil content decreasing farther from the seep.
There is effectively an oil spill every day at Coal Oil Point (COP), the natural seeps off Santa Barbara where 20 to 25 tons of oil have leaked from the seafloor each day for the last several hundred thousand years. The oil from natural seeps and from man-made spills are both formed from the decay of buried fossil remains that are transformed over millions of years through exposure to heat and pressure.
"One of the natural questions is: What happens to all of this oil?" said study co-author Dave Valentine of the University of California, Santa Barbara. "So much oil seeps up and floats on the sea surface. It's something we've long wondered. We know some of it will come ashore as tar balls, but it doesn't stick around. And then there are the massive slicks. You can see them, sometimes extending 20 miles [32 kilometers] from the seeps. But what really is the ultimate fate?""The infamous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, one of the largest in U.S. history,... more
-
-
Basking Sharks' Hiding Places Found
May 7, 2009 -- For centuries, scientists have wondered where basking sharks go in the wintertime. Now, they have an answer -- and it's full of surprises.
more in link...Basking Sharks' Hiding Places Found
May 7, 2009 -- For centuries, scientists... more
-
-
"Strange communities of extreme microbes in hostile, otherworldly environments have been discovered at the bottom of the sea in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists announced today.
They found reddish microbial oozings, along with volcanoes, craters, bubbling gas, mud pots and even dancing eels that seemed to follow the window of a moving deep-sea submersible craft.
"These are the kind of scenes I imagine could exist on distant planets or other astronomical bodies," said Samantha Joye, a University of Georgia researcher who led an expedition to explore deep-sea mud volcanoes nearly 2,000 feet (600 meters) beneath the ocean surface.
Such deep-sea vents are candidates as birthplaces for the first life on Earth, other studies have concluded. Yet little is known about them. Only about 5 percent of the world's ocean floors have been explored. By contrast, the far side of the moon is well mapped.
"Here we have more fascinating examples of microbial life coping with very, very unusual environments — regions of the ocean deeps that we can't help but describe as extreme or harsh," said Phillip Taylor, head of the National Science Foundation's Ocean Section. "Yet life has clearly adapted to exist, even thrive, in these systems. Such discoveries can't help but lead us to think that life beyond Earth is probable. Also, the discoveries of the evolved strategies for survival in unique environments have the potential to yield new uses of microbial processes and products in the biotech arena.""Strange communities of extreme microbes in hostile, otherworldly environments... more
-
-
It's taken the staff at Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium in Cornwall quite a while to figure out what's at the bottom of all the mysterious attacks on the precious coral reef in one of their tanks, but finally they've figured it out. It's Barry, the giant sea worm.
See as friendly as Barry sounds, he's not. He's a four foot long slimy sea worm who's “covered with nasty bristles that sting and can cause permanent numbness in humans,” who's also responsible for injuring a Tang Fish.
In a bid to catch him the aquarium's staff laid traps, but Barry just munched his way through the traps during the night. So as a final resort the staff decided to dismantle the tank piece by piece, and in doing that eventually found Barry, who after chomping through some 20lb fishing line, and not falling for the fish scraps used to try and entice him out from his rocks, was eventually captured.It's taken the staff at Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium in Cornwall quite a... more
-
-
Art + Debussy Music + talk => 5 min mini doc
….a series of gradually unfolding, beautiful digital seascapes created by images captured from webcams overlooking the sea, sited at different locations along the south east coast of the UK..
British artist Susan Collins’s work draws upon classical landscape traditions in painting to create digital works which unfold in real time.
Presented at the modernist masterpiece, the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhll on Sea, Sussex.
http://tiny.cc/seascapecollins
Debussy's Reflets Dans L'Eau - Reflections in the Water - is one of many works in the composer's output inspired by water or by the sea.
It is also one of the most evocative of the imagery the composer attempts to convey and one of the most popular piano works in his output. Debussy revealed that he viewed the piece as a depiction of a pebble being tossed into calm water to make ever-widening ripples. That said, the work also conveys a good bit more, including, as the title suggests, reflections on the water surface, undoubtedly of the sun and sky and nature scenery surrounding it.
The piece quietly opens, with chords rising into the upper register seeming to depict gentle splashes. Thematically, the work is threadbare; atmospherically, however, it is rich. The main theme is short-breathed (mainly consisting of eight, sometimes ten notes), gradually evolving from the opening material. The middle section develops tension and erupts in music the composer must have envisioned as ripples nearly turning into waves. The mood returns to its earlier tranquil demeanor and this approximately five-minute work quietly ends.
Debussy wrote and rewrote Reflections while staying at the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne across the bay from Bexhill on Sea. He had to flee Paris in 1905 with his mistress, Emma Bardac, to escape a scandal - his wife had shot herself. From the hotel he wrote to his Publisher, Jacques Durand:
"Your impatience with regard to the Images is touching, but this is what’s happening to me: I’m really not pleased with the first piece, “Reflets dans l’eau”, and so I have decided to compose it afresh with new material and in accordance with the most recent discoveries of harmonic chemistry… I’m beginning to see straight in my imaginative affairs again, and my thinking machine is slowly getting into gear."
Less than a month later Debussy was clearly satisfied with the Images compositions of which Reflets was one, and was able to tell Durand: “Without any false modesty I think these three pieces stand up well and will take their place in the piano repertoire… to the left of Schumann, or to the right of Chopin, as you like it.”Art + Debussy Music + talk => 5 min mini doc
….a series of gradually... more
-
