The Starving Ocean : A large collection of articles by Debbie MacKenzie on the death of the ocean. The idea is that removing most of the fish from the sea might be sort of bad for the marine ecosystem as a whole. Her writing style is a bit kooky, but she has been right on some points (ie. the Grey Seal thing). Oh, and fishing is also responsible for the rise of atmospheric
carbon dioxide.
posted by sfenders
on Sep 14, 2004 -
10 comments
Microscopic fragments of plastic are a "major pollutant", floating in the ocean, settling on seabeds, and washing up onshore - with unknown consequences for marine ecosystems, according to a new study. "We've found this microscopic plastic material at all of the sites we've examined," [lead researcher]
Dr Richard C
Thompson [of University of Plymouth, UK]
said. "Interestingly, the abundance is reasonably consistent. So, it suggests to us that the problem is really quite ubiquitous."
posted by mcgraw
on May 7, 2004 -
15 comments
His name is Jean-Michel Cousteau! [dramatic chords] His father's name was
Jack something, and like his father, Jean-Michel believes by working on things like
Finding Nemo he,
"can reach a far larger audience through entertainment in popular media than through innumerable press conferences, summits and reports. That is not to say that prestigious conferences and notable studies are irrelevant. They are critically necessary to validate the condition of the world’s oceans and bring opinion leaders together to share ideas and shape the collective political will." With this new
sea-lebrity (haha! get it?), he hopes to
help young people change the world. ...Well I just thought that was like totally rad and wanted to share with the virtual blue.
posted by ZachsMind
on Nov 15, 2003 -
7 comments
The treasures of the sea. A fascinating look at underwater archeological sites in France. The Cosquer Cave is particularly enthralling due to the art and the difficulty in getting to it.
(warning - annoying frames and popup info boxes that don't work so well in Mozilla) [More inside...]
posted by Irontom
on May 29, 2003 -
2 comments
Canada's forgotten weapons of mass destruction. Shortly after the end of World War II, the Canadian navy began to dispose of its surplus chemical weapons by dumping them off the shore of Atlantic Canada. Large quantities of chemical agents, including mustard gas, were loaded onto barges and scuttled at undisclosed locations.
Over 50 years later, some of these military dumpsites have become lost due to poor record keeping. With increasing offshore oil exploration and a commercially successful shellfish industry, there's a possibility that these forgotten chemical agents could
return to the coasts of "Canada's Ocean Playground".
posted by Caffine_Fiend
on Jan 13, 2003 -
14 comments
The UN Atlas of the Oceans provides information on a wide range of topics relating to the world's oceans, such as geography, economic uses and environmental issues (here's a
BBC article about the atlas.)
Another nice site about the oceans is the
Blue Planet web companion to the gorgeous Discovery/BBC TV series of the same name. Sadly, the
threat to coral reefs may soon rob the oceans of some of their more spectacular biological diversity.
posted by homunculus
on Jun 25, 2002 -
1 comment
The
Spiegel Grove was supposed to be sunk upright, creating the largest and most accessible artificial reef ever. Cool!
Unfortunately, the ship had other ideas and now appears to be impersonating a
giant turtle. One of the nation's top
marine salvage outfits has been called to the rescue. Looks like a potential Discovery Channel show in the making. (Check out the pictures on the Spiegel Grove site, they're pretty cool.)
posted by groundhog
on May 27, 2002 -
4 comments
Underwater Warpdrives Some naval experts believe that supercavitating systems could alter the nature of undersea warfare, changing stealthy cat-and-mouse stalking contests between large submarines into something resembling aerial combat, featuring noisy high-speed dogfights among small, short-range "subfighters" shooting underwater bullets at one another after having been launched from giant "subcarriers."
posted by hmgovt
on Apr 26, 2001 -
22 comments
Damn, but this site is pretty. Nice, understated, good writing, not too much fluff, good copyediting (a weak spot on the web -- separates the women from the boys), and a design that fits on my monitor.
If you helped Free Willy, check OceanFutures out.
posted by baylink
on May 22, 2000 -
5 comments
