[brian eiland]

Jeremy Jackson, marine ecologist and environmental advocate, professor of oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, describes how overfishing, habitat destruction, global warming and other human-induced activities have contributed to a crisis in the health of the world's oceans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zkwe...=http%3A%2F%2F

Its a long presentation so you might have to put aside a little time to view it. I've not had that time myself, but just a few quick excerpts I would reference as a preview: (use the time curser)
...skip the intro and go to time 11:00 minutes
...then jump to time 19:50 minutes
...then to 22:00 minutes


On another subject thread I had written,
Per the home page of your website and one of your foundation’s most basic goals, "may our children and our children’s children experience the magic of Dolphins playing with the ocean waves".

We are currently at a real risk of this not happening!!…..we are on the brink of an environmental disaster that may very soon be inflicted upon our oceans, and by our own Navy in this case.....

If we permit our oceans to become a cemetery, we may damage its alter ego the atmosphere and ultimately our planet itself.

Our oceans are a precious resource, even beyond our own imagination. We need more qualified academics in pure oceanography....

The health of our oceans affects us all on planet earth...

[AMG]

I understand your concerns, but isn´t this better discussed here?: http://forum.greenpeace.org/int/forumdisplay.php?f=3

(A funny thing I just noticed, we joined the YachtForums at the same time and you just made your post nr 800 and I reached 3.000, perhaps time to retire...)

[brian eiland]

That's an interesting site for many such discussions, and I thank you for posting it.

Certainly as users of these oceans, all of the members here should have an interest in this subject as well, and that's why I posted it.

See even I had never visited that site you referenced, and now as a result of your posting I have...the spread of information by way of the forums

Oh NOO, Please don't retire!! You've contributed such a wealth of info and GREAT designs

[AMG]

Thanks Brian, you have been on top of many issues as well. I just have the feeling from past discussions on environment that we don´t have enough expertise to come anywhere...?

So, can we hang on closer to the yachts it corresponds better to the YachtForums I think.

[brian eiland]

Originally Posted by AMG

I just have the feeling from past discussions on environment that we don´t have enough expertise to come anywhere...?

I know what you are saying...often we get contributors that just have a bit too much time on their hands, and only feel a desire to put two cents in regardless of content.

So, can we hang on closer to the yachts it corresponds better to the YachtForums I think.

I will keep this in mind.


Meanwhile I did find this contribution noteworthy (on another forum):
He is also the professor emeritus of tropical ocean research at the Smithsonian....basically the guy everyone else answers to at one of the most prestigious establishments on the planet.

The thing to really listen for throughout the presentation is his assessment of the inevitable outcome to mans interaction with the seas

One thing DR J failed to touch on in the video is the reality that plastic outweighs plankton in the oceans as measured in:
*1991....6/1 thats six floating bits of plastic seined from the sea for every on bit of plankton
*2000....10/1
*1008...? the new study is due out almost any day now and if the numbers follow trend we're looking at something between 13/1 to 15/1

The filter feeders that keep the oceans water clear and clean are starving to death in an ocean, that although it may be packed with plankton, is so packed with plastic that they starve to death wasting there energy trying to digest the 10 bits of plastic they ingest for the one bit of plankton.


I realize that boaters are such a SMALL percentage of this contribution of plastic, and likely they are more aware of the situation than non-boaters, so contribute even less. Maybe we need to be a bigger voice in getting the story out...the damage we boaters see.

[brian eiland]

Early action could be crucial to addressing the problem of major increases in jellyfish numbers, which appears to be the result of human activities.

New research led by CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship and University of Queensland scientist, Dr Anthony Richardson, presents convincing evidence that this ’jellyfish joyride’ is associated with over-fishing and excess nutrients from fertilisers and sewage.

'Dense jellyfish aggregations can be a natural feature of healthy ocean ecosystems, but a clear picture is now emerging of more severe and frequent jellyfish outbreaks worldwide,' Dr Richardson says.

'In recent years, jellyfish blooms have been recorded in the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Black and Caspian Seas, the Northeast US coast, and particularly in Far East coastal waters.

'Mounting evidence suggests that open-ocean ecosystems can flip from being dominated by fish, to being dominated by jellyfish,' Dr Richardson says.'The most dramatic have been the outbreaks in the Sea of Japan involving the gargantuan Nomura jellyfish which can grow up to 2 m in diameter and weigh 200 kg.'

The new research, by Dr Richardson and colleagues at the University of Miami, Swansea University and the University of the Western Cape, has been published in the international journal; Trends in Ecology and Evolution, in time for World Oceans Day on 8 June.

'Fish normally keep jellyfish in check through competition and predation but overfishing can destroy that balance,' Dr Richardson says. 'For example, off Namibia intense fishing has decimated sardine stocks and jellyfish have replaced them as the dominant species.'

Climate change may favour some jellyfish species by increasing the availability of flagellates in surface waters – a key jellyfish food source. Warmer oceans could also extend the distribution of many jellyfish species.

'Mounting evidence suggests that open-ocean ecosystems can flip from being dominated by fish, to being dominated by jellyfish,' Dr Richardson says 'This would have lasting ecological, economic and social consequences.

'We need to start managing the marine environment in a holistic and precautionary way to prevent more examples of what could be termed a ‘jellyfish joyride’.'



An outbreak of giant Nomura jellyfish off the coast of Japan in 2003 made life difficult for local fishermen. Image credit – Y.Taniguchi, Niu Fisheries Cooperative. CSIRO Release Ref 09/96

...interesting science site http://www.csiro.com.au/

[Pascal]

amazing picture!

the world is full of people cashing in on fear... starting with global warming and Mr Global Warming Jet Flying Big Mansion Al Gore...

then you also have those cashing on the fear of oil running out and telling us to use food for fuel even, yes, I'm talking about a scam known as Ethanol.

the planet has always been thru its cycles, not much we can do about it except watch a few "activists" experts cashing in.

[Marmot]

Originally Posted by Pascal

... then you also have those cashing on the fear of oil running out and telling us to use food for fuel even, yes, I'm talking about a scam known as Ethanol.

Hey, corn is passe' as an ethanol feedstock, we've moved on to algae and such. And to keep on topic, some jellyfish have an energy density (kj per gram of dry mass) equal to about half that of green algae.

Researchers are making great progress so let's not use old technology as an excuse to trash current research. Who knows, we might be burning jellyhol in our boats soon. I used to work on a boat that burned fish oil so caqn atttest that nearly anything is possible and might even be practical.

[OutMyWindow]

The future is now, it won’t be long before diesel engines are replaced with aquariums, and engineers with eel fishermen.
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Electric Eel Used To Power Christmas Tree
by Justin on December 3, 2007
in Miscellaneous, Renewable Power

In Japan, there’s an aquarium with an electric eel in it. And the eel’s electrical power is being used to energize the lights on a Christmas tree. It’s clean energy right? Each time the electric eel at the Aqua Toto Gifu aquarium touches a copper wire in its tank, it sends power that lights up globes decking a Christmas tree

[HMI]

Actually this is very easy to understand. It does not require a phd .

1) The population of the earth is increasing exponentially.

2) There is a finite amount of resource on the planet. This includes food, water, shelter, and "energy". Competition for these resources will increase as the population increases, and more people demand a higher standard of living. Take China as an example.

3) As the population increases so does consumption and it's by-products. A portion of these by-products are harmful to our health and to our the environment we live in.

4) The solution would be to lower our population growth, find sustainable methods of energy and food production, and lower our standard of living.

[AMG]

Originally Posted by HMI

Actually this is very easy to understand. It does not require a phd .

1) The population of the earth is increasing exponentially.

2) There is a finite amount of resource on the planet. This includes food, water, shelter, and "energy". Competition for these resources will increase as the population increases, and more people demand a higher standard of living. Take China as an example.

3) As the population increases so does consumption and it's by-products. A portion of these by-products are harmful to our health and to our the environment we live in.

4) The solution would be to lower our population growth, find sustainable methods of energy and food production, and lower our standard of living.

If we reverse what you said here and accept that all people (who doesn´t have it) want a good standard of living. Then the birth rates use to go down and many developed countries have negative population growth today.

Then we start to care more for nature and sustainable energy and so on, why I think there is hope if we allow more people to get a better life.

[woodwright]

hi folks
Im kinda new round here but I saw this thread and thought Ild chime in
there is a new documentary out called
"end of the line"
basically detailing the state of the oceans

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/292011...d_of_the_line/

in a nut shell we better think up something fast if we want to be eating seafood in the future

cheers
B