HAKAI
undeniably nmy saturday weeklly favourite oceanic ijnfo,keeping us informed
View the web version ~ Below: photo by Grant Callegari
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Anticipating Disasters and Following Their Wake
Ask any environmental scientist about their biggest challenge and many of them will tell you—or at least, many of them have told me—that it’s not always getting the data, it’s processing it. Acousticians scrub through thousands of hours of hydrophone recordings for a few precious seconds of whale song. Oceanographers parse endless temperature and salinity logs from monitoring buoys to find trends. It’s astounding how often science’s rate-limiting step is just dealing with all the information.
The University of British Columbia’s
Sea Around Us initiative has just compiled a mind-blowing volume of data on fish stocks around the world. They measured species biomass since 1950 and looked specifically at how much of the fish that people like to eat is actually in the ocean. This scope of study is valuable, and this one draws a pretty clear picture: we’re decimating most of our favorite fish.
The group used computer-based statistical methods to assess over 1,000 populations of 483 fishes and invertebrates humans find delicious and found 82 percent of these populations had dwindled beyond what can support maximum levels of fishing. Some places were worse than others, but with such big data the overall trend is clear.
Next comes the question of policy. Catch limits and protected areas can help stocks recover. Implementing them, however, can be tricky. Sustainable aquaculture can alleviate fishing pressure, too. But whatever comes next, the first step in any solution is getting a clear picture of the problem. Now, there are some good numbers to lean on.
So this week, let’s give a shout-out to the researchers, students, and everyone everywhere crunching numbers and weeding through and making sense of the deluge of information out there. Without them, we’d be far more in the dark about the problems, and solutions, of our world.
Amorina Kingdon
Staff researcher and writer
This Week’s Stories
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Capturing Carbon with Underwater Gardening
Researchers bet on giant seaweed to store carbon in the ocean.
by Emma Bryce • 1,800 words / 9 mins
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How a Coral Reef Holds Up in a Hurricane
Two Category 5 hurricanes that slammed into the US Virgin Islands gave researchers a glimpse into how corals weather storms.
by Jason G. Goldman • 500 words / 2 mins
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Reef Manta Reaches New Record-Breaking Depth
Scientists aren’t sure why reef mantas are taking adventures into the deep.
by Bethany Augliere • 400 words / 2 mins
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An Unorthodox Tsunami Warning Has Put This Alaska City on Edge
An uncertain forecast of a potentially devastating tsunami is causing confusion and worry.
by Tim Lydon • 950 words / 4 mins
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Pebble Mine’s Environmental Review Foreshadows Future “Streamlined” Process Forged by Trump Administration
Environmental reviews are now to be done much, much faster than before.
by Ashley Braun • 900 words / 4 mins
What We’re Reading
With borders closed by the coronavirus,
200,000 seafaring workers and crew have been stranded aboard offshore vessels around the world for months, exhausted and unable to return home. The United Nations is calling the situation a growing humanitarian crisis. (
Al Jazeera)
A record-setting
hurricane season is already well underway in the Atlantic, with a seventh named storm on the horizon, and warmer water temperatures setting the stage for higher intensity hurricanes. (
Washington Post)
Visitors may be cavorting happily with super-realistic
animatronic dolphins in the marine parks of the future, their concerns about animal cruelty assuaged. Creators of the bottlenose robo-dolphin say it is virtually indistinguishable from the real thing, but we have to wonder if it will be as
cheeky, clever, or playful. (
The Guardian,
New York Times)
For decades, photography innovator Harry Gruyaert has captured gauzy textures and vivid pops of color in his
images of seashores in flux. (NPR)
In 2011, marine archaeologists discovered an
intact bottle of perfume in the shipwrecked
Mary Celestia that had been submerged for 150 years off Bermuda. Using gas chromatography, two perfumers tried to
re-create the opulent scent. (
Atlas Obscura, The Cut)
By 2100, the projected number of ice-free days in the Arctic will exceed how long
polar bears can fast, pushing the animals—which have become an iconic symbol of climate change impacts—
toward extinction. “There is very little chance that polar bears would persist anywhere in the world, except perhaps in the very high Arctic in one small subpopulation,” says Canadian researcher Peter K. Molnar. (
New York Times,
Time)
