Seven New Species Of Deep-sea Coral Discovered

It is fascinating how much of our earth we know very little about! Too bad these new corals are too deep for diving!

ScienceDaily (2009-03-06) -- Scientists identified seven new species of bamboo coral in the deep waters of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. Six of these species may represent entirely new genera, a remarkable feat given the broad classification a genus represents. Scientists expect to identify more new species as analysis of samples continues.

What a great way to bastardize a song!

What an oxymoron Clean Coal. Now they taken a song and bastardized it!

Marine Dead Zones

An article on Nature News talks about how rising temperatures and increase in CO2 in the atmosphere effects the worlds oceans by depleting O2 levels. The increase in CO2 will feed the algae growth and increase bacteria grow as it feeds on the increase in biomass, which will decrease the O2 level. Any one who has ever had an aquarium you now you need to make sure you have an air source in the aquarium or you could kill your fish because of exactly what is described in this article. If our severely depleted fishing stocks start dying because of lack of O2 on top of our over fishing we will have a collapse in the fishing stocks. Not to mention how boring it will be to scuba dive in a dead ocean!

You can find the article here: http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081114/full/news.2008.1230.html

Dophins playing....

I could watch these dolphins all day long....

Sea The Value!

Oceana – Protecting the World’s Oceans:Sea the Value Report

Oceana conducted a study to determine the value of of ocean resources for the scuba diver in the US. While I know that our ocean resources have value to us as scuba divers, I am not sure that their study reflects true value. My example is that I spent close to$8,000 to go to Palau and Yap...but if their reefs sucked I would not have spent that kind of money to go.
Check out their article....http://www.oceana.org/north-america/what-we-do/dive-into-ocean-conservation/sea-the-value-report/

World Ocean Day -Unofficial

Tell the UN to officially declare June 8 as "World Ocean Day!"
World Ocean Day was created in 1992 at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, put on by the United Nations. Ever since, thousands have celebrated the oceans' importance and their personal connections with them. But unfortunately, for the past 16 years this honorary day has remained an unofficial celebration because the UN has failed to formally designate June 8 as World Ocean Day every year.Oceans provide us with food, they regulate climate and generate oxygen, so it doesn't matter if you reside on the coast or farther inland; the ocean in some way impacts your everyday life. Sign our petition today!Tell the United Nations to officially declare June 8 as "World Ocean Day!"

http://takeaction.oceana.org/t/6234/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=625

Stop the Slaughter!

Stop the Slaughter! The annual Japanese dolphin hunt is currently underway. Watch this video and help protect thousands of dolphins by contacting the Japanese Embassy!

Congrats to Al Gore

Congrats to Al Gore

No matter your political preference, you have to admit that Al Gore has been devoted to the environment for much of his political career. After not winning his bid for the white house, he once again turned to help the environment and his Nobel Peace Prize is a result of his tireless effort to bring knowledge about our planet to the planet.
Congrats!

Great Job Oceana

Hurrah OCEANA
I was reading my Oct 2007 edition of Kiplinger's (The Green Issue) last night and there is an article about Charities That Deserve Your Dollar (p76), that mentions Oceana. I have been very impressed with Oceana my self and now to see that a respectable magazine like Kipplinger's has listed it as a Charity that deserves my dollars, make me feel that every dollar that I have given Oceana was worth while!
In the article they talk about Charity Navigator (www.charitynavigator.org). Charity Navigator listed Oceana as a 4 Star rated organization.

To see the Kiplinger's The Green Issue go here.

Take The Oceana/Duke Dive Survey

You know how much your house is worth, your savings and investments … but how much is a healthy ocean worth?

Oceana wants to know how divers value ocean resources, so we’re asking you to fill out a short online survey. It only takes about 10 minutes, and it’s completely voluntary and confidential. At the end of the survey, participants will have the opportunity to enter a raffle for a free “Save Sea Turtles” T-shirt. The survey will not only support our work protecting the oceans, it’s also for the master’s thesis of one of our interns and a much-needed contribution to academic research in environmental economics.

Take the survey and tell us what the ocean is worth to you.

Take the Survey! I did!

Action Alert- Tell Congress to Protect Our Sharks

The threat of shark extinction in a number of species is very real, and its consequences could be potentially disastrous to the world’s oceans.
Ask your senators and member of congress to protect sharks!
Take Action

Sharks have survived for hundreds of millions of years, but now they have finally met their match: humans. Popular media have portrayed sharks as vicious predators, but we are the much greater threat to sharks. Humans kill over 100 million sharks each year. In contrast, sharks kill an average of five people per year, throughout the entire world. This means that people are statistically more likely to be killed by a falling coconut than they are by a shark bite. Shark populations all over the world are in trouble and the consequences could be disastrous for the world's oceans.
>> TAKE ACTION: Ask your senators and member of congress to protect sharks!

Fishing activity has nearly eliminated sharks worldwide, depleting their populations by 90 percent in only the last 50 to 100 years. Destructive fishing practices pose a danger to sharks so great that many may soon become functionally extinct, possibly changing the entire marine ecosystem as we know it.Sharks are at the top of the ocean food chain and maintain order in the underwater realm by helping to control populations of other marine species. Remove sharks from the equation, though, and what's left is an entire ecosystem out of whack.Most sharks are slow growing, late maturing, long lived and give birth to few young, so they are extremely vulnerable to overexploitation from fishing.Take action today by asking your senators and member of congress to help protect sharks. In addition, please send a letter to your local newspaper expressing your concern about the rapid depletion of sharks from our oceans. Without a voice of their own, if we don’t speak up for sharks, who will?

International Trade Endangers Sharks - Take Action to Help

International trade in sawfish, spiny dogfish and porbeagle sharks is endangering the future of these vulnerable species. Your help is needed to support sound proposals limiting their unsustainable trade.

I took action and you should too! It is very easy to do....

Environmental report

I heard yesterday that an international group of scientist released a report about global warming...which basically said what Al Gore was talking about in his movie...an Inconvenient
Truth. The saddest thing I heard was that "President" Bush wants more research before any action. I really hate to say this but...how much more "research" does he need? I think that the world could be coming to an end and he would do no action! It is about time for him to leave the white house...he has been nothing but a disgrace to the office! I am glad that the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA had to do something about the gas mileage of cars!