Missed out on April 2022's ocean news? Here's a glimpse into what went down in Davy Jones's Locker this monthth

Sections

Animals and Plants
Climate Crisis
Fisheries and Aquaculture
Marine Technology
People and the Sea

Animals and Plants

• To save Florida, USA's endangered seagrasses, Commissioner Curt Smith of Brevard County suggests culling threatened manatees. Understandably, Smith's stance has already come under fire.
  
  
• Scientists have identified over 5,500 previously unknown RNA viruses in the ocean!
  
  
• Want to know whats happening with California's kelp forests? A new mapping tool Kelpwatch shows changes in kelp cover along the length of the California coast since 1984. It will be updated every quarter and can be used to target areas most suitable for kelp restoration.
  
  
• In more kelp news, The Nature Coservancy and Kelp Forest Alliance have released their Kelp Restoration Guidebook. Informed by a series of global workshops, and an expert panel of authors and editors, with the aim to share and distil lessons learned from kelp restoration efforts globally.
  
  
• A new study has found that Seychelle's stingrays prefer to stay in the shallows, but when temperatures get too hot or cold, or tides become very low, they head out into deeper waters where they're at higher risk of predation. Researchers are concerned that ocean warming may keep the rays in those more dangerous waters for longer.
  
  
• Another mapping tool, this time from NOAA fisheries for marine fish in USA waters. The Distribution Mapping and Analysis Portal will improve data sharing and collaboration, facilitate decision-making about fishery management and science and increase overall knowledge of species distribution for stock assessments.
  
  
• Scientists sound another alarm bell and call for urgent action to save coral reefs. They make several recommendations, many focused around to reefs they previoulsy identified to be most resistent to climate change.
  
  
• Prawn/shrimp fishing is threatening a "coral garden" in British Colombia, Canada. The area has been flagged for conservation by the Provincial government and the area's First Nation, but DFO, who manage fishing, are showing no signs of taking action.
  
  
• Scientists, students and communicators from Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Spain are launching a scientific expedition to study Panama’s Cordillera de Coiba seamounts.
  
  
• Far from being passive drifters, a new study finds marine bacterial actively swim through their water to track down their preferred food.

Climate Crisis

• Scientists have published a study that sheds greater light on how carbon, including pollution from cars, moves from the atmosphere into the ocean and ultimately makes its way into the deep ocean.
  
  
• The Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) have released their Offshore Wind Roadmap for the Philippines. Initiated by the World Bank, the roadmap provides strategic analysis of the offshore wind development potential in the Philippines, considering the opportunities and challenges under different, hypothetical growth scenarios. The goal is to provide evidence to support the Government of the Philippines in establishing policy, regulations, processes, and infrastructure to enable successful growth of this new industry.
  
  
• Researchers have developed global forecasts that can provide up to a year's advance notice of marine heatwaves, sudden and pronounced increases in ocean temperatures that can dramatically affect ocean ecosystems.
  
  

Fisheries and Aquaculture

• Vancouverites may see less sockeye salmon and more humbolt squid on their restaurant menus in the future. Researchers used a rather interesting method to come to this conculusion. They studied restauant menus dating back to the 1880's!
  
  
• With the Russian invasion of Ukraine also impacting the EU's fishing and aquaculture sector, the Commission proposed a legislative amendment to the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund 2014–20 (EMFF), which give financial compensation for additional costs, for income forgone and for the storage of products, as well as for the temporary cessation of fishing activities where they are currently unsafe.
  
  
• ICES have updated their Roadmap for bycatch advice on protected, endangered and threatened species to include species lists for each ICES ecoregion.
  
  
• NOAA are inviting public comments on their 2022-2024 Climate Regional Action Plans. These plans help put Fisheries’ #ClimateScience Strategy objectives into action.
  
  
• Fifax has become the first farm in Finland to achieve ASC certification, for their land-based rainbow trout farm.
  
  
• Allied Market Research estimate the haddock market value will reach U$1,123.4 million by 2030. The market as at 2020 has an estimated value of U$679.2 million.
  
  
• A Federal Court judge has set aside a Department of Fisheries order that would have phased out fish farming in British Columbia, Canada’s Discovery Islands.
  
  
• Taiwan has been cracking down on abuse at sea. Nine Taiwanese have been indicted on charges relating to the forced labor and physical abuse of foreign crew members on an offshore fishing vessel.

Marine Technology

• A new record has been broked for the longest subsea cable. The 2Africa cable stretched some 45,000 kilometers and will "deliver international connectivity to approximately 3 billion people, representing 36% of the global population and connecting three continents, Africa, Europe, and Asia."
  
  
• Ocean Alliance have tagged whales with modified DJI drones. Whale tagging is typically a long and costly process. It's also potentially dangerous to whales and people. This new technique allows researches to attach suction cup tags from the air.
  
  
• The WHOI have collected a sediment core from the Puerto Rico Trench, some 8 km below the sea surface. It's the deepest core ever collected from the Atlantic Ocean, and possibly from any ocean.
  
  
• A survey performed by the Seafood Harvesters of America, along with NOAA Fisheries scientists, Conservation X Labs, Schmidt Marine Technology Partners, and the Alaska Ocean Cluster has identified the most-pressing tech needs of U.S. fishermen.

People and the Sea

• The Government of Canada in coordination with industry, announces new environmental measures for cruise ships in Canadian waters. The measures target greywater (from sinks, laundry machines, bathtubs, shower-stalls, or dishwashers) and blackwater (wastewater from bathroom and toilets)
  
  
• The Scotish Government have released their Blue Economy Vision. The paper sets out the Scottish Government’s long-term goal for the blue economy to 2045.
  
  
• Oman has become the 100th country to ratify the Maritime Labour Convention. The treaty protects the rights, pay and conditions of seafarers.
  
  
• Curious about the political and power dimensions of marine community science 🤔 Check out Dr. Ben McAteer's summary of his recently published paper "Power, knowledge and the transformative potential of marine community science".
  
  
• This one is a bit of a cheat because it focuses on rivers and not oceans, but this story of Brandina Mundimba and the Bbindauko Banakazi Kapenta Fishing Cooperative is a must read.
  
  
• The EU has amnnoucned €1 billion worth of commitments to protect the ocean. Not sure if they'll actually make good on their commitments? The EU has also developed a commitment tracking tool so everyone can follow the progress.
  
  
• The UK have launched their Marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (mNCEA) programme. Heralded as a flagship program, mNCEA aims to provide a robust evidence base, suite of tools and a framework where ecological, societal, and economic information is brought together in a holistic way. Improving our understanding and helping us make better decisions about the marine environment.
  
  
• Kenya have announced Nancy Karigithu, Principal Secretary, State Department for Shipping and Maritime in the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing, Urban Development and Public Works as special envoy for maritime and blue economy affairs.
  
  
• Following a two year delay due to COVID, Parks Canada are getting ready to return to the Franklin Expedition site. Research plans include mapping and assessing the current site conditions of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror wrecks.