How Sea Creatures Could Adapt To Changing Climate

Studies: How Whales, Fish Might Adapt To Warming Ocean
Gray whales might be adapting while fish populations are shifting

Tom Banse | Newport, Oregon - VOA - August 05, 2011

Two new science studies provide a glimpse of how some important Pacific Ocean sea creatures could adapt to a changing climate.

One study describes how gray whales successfully adapted to previous cycles of global warming and cooling. The second predicts a fish shift on the west coast of North America. The study suggests that some West Coast fishermen will need to pursue different prey if the Pacific Ocean warms as projected over the next 50 years.

Nick Pyenson is a paleobiologist who curates the marine fossil collection at the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C. The famous collection includes lots of creatures driven to extinction by environmental changes. It also includes some of the long fossil record for gray whales, a species that still lives in the Pacific Ocean today.

"Grey whales fit into this question about ongoing climate change," says Pyenson. He and his former doctoral advisor from UC Berkeley wondered how gray whales survived through previous cycles of global warming and cooling.

"In the past two million years, the Northern Hemisphere has undergone dramatic changes with ice sheets going all the way down to Chicago and Seattle," says Pyenson. "In doing so, that sucks up a lot of the water that would be otherwise be put in the ocean and drops sea level dramatically."

According to Pyenson, historic sea level changes periodically expanded and closed off vast feeding grounds. He theorizes gray whales hung on through bad times by either migrating less, switching food sources or both. Even today, there are small numbers of gray whales that stay in one place and eat fish and krill, while most of their species migrate long distances and bottom feed.

"What we think is telling is that those who don't migrate are telling us about the range in behavior and what these animals can do ecologically."

Pyenson says that adaptability bodes well for how the whales may respond to future climate changes. He adds one caveat though, saying the current cycle of human-induced global warming is developing faster and more powerfully than the historic episodes he examined.


Fish shift

In a separate study, a group of Canadian and American researchers examined how a warming ocean could affect fish common along the West Coast of North America.

The science team studied 28 fish species whose biology and distribution is well understood. Oceanographer Ric Brodeur of the NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Newport, Oregon, says the list includes salmon, smelt, sharks, pollock and sardines. Brodeur says the researchers simulated what could happen if the North Pacific heats up due to global warming.

"Because these fish are so mobile, they can move up and down the coast or inshore or offshore to find the preferred temperature that they want."

The federal science agency, NOAA, predicts the ocean's surface waters off Oregon and Washington will warm about two degrees Celsius over the next 50 years. Brodeur says that's enough to cause significant moves. A forthcoming research paper models how much. If you combine the home ranges of all the fish that the team studied, there's an average shift northward of roughly 40 kilometers per decade. Over time, Brodeur predicts fishermen and seafood consumers will notice.

"A lot of the species that we consider very important - like hake - things that are commercially fished here might be gone and replaced by other species that may or may not be commercially important."

Across Yaquina Bay from Brodeur's office, charter fishing boats unload sun-burned anglers. Veteran captain Robert Waddell says he's already seen some evidence of warm water species shifting northward.

“I've noticed in the last 12-13 years, we've been starting to see some marlin off and on out there and we've hooked them a few times," says Waddell.

Blue fin tuna is another possible newcomer that could fill the vacancy if, say, salmon left for cooler waters off Canada. Waddell is optimistic the local fishing fleet can adapt.

"People will make adjustments," he says. "Fifty years from now, we might be the marlin capital of the world. You never know."


How Sea Creatures Could Adapt To Changing Climate
Article from VOA

Loss of species at the top of the food chain could have far-reaching effects on evironment -

Loss of Predators Impacts Food Chain

Sharp decline upsets balance of the world’s ecosystems

Rosanne Skirble | Washington, D.C. - July 19, 2011

A loss of species at the top of the food chain could have far-reaching effects on the environment, according to a study in the Journal Science.

Some of the world’s top predators - including lions, wolves and sharks - are in sharp decline. Human activities like pollution, habitat destruction, overfishing and hunting are largely to blame.

Jim Estes studies sea otters. The University of California, Santa Cruz professor of ecology and evolutionary biology says these furry marine mammals - once hunted to near extinction - are important to the health of coastal North Pacific ecosystems.

“We have discovered that sea otters have an important limiting effect on sea urchins and that allows the kelp forest to persist," he says. "And kelp forests, in turn, have all sorts of important functions.”

In the absence of sea otters, the ocean's kelp forest - which provides a habitat for fish and absorbs climate changing carbon emissions from the atmosphere - is left barren by sea urchins.

The kelp forests also provide habitat for fish and absorb climate changing carbon emissions from the atmosphere. Estes says this close connection between species health and the health of global ecosystems is a “ubiquitous phenomenon and that it occurs worldwide in all ecosystem types.”

Estes compiled the work of 24 scientists in six countries. He says the research shows the cascading ecological effects of a loss of top predators and large herbivores.

"It eventually reaches the plant populations at the base of the food web and in many instances results either in an increase in the abundance of plants or in most cases in terrestrial systems, a decrease in the abundance of plants, influencing things like fire frequency, carbon sequestration and disease and on and on and on.”

Aquarius Mission - Connection Between Earth’s Climate and Oceans

Aquarius Mission to Look at Connection Between Earth’s Climate, Oceans

VOA - Jessica Berman | Washington June 10, 2011

Photo: NASA

Global map of average Sea Surface Temperature

The U.S. space agency NASA launched a new satellite observatory Friday that will measure the saltiness of the world’s oceans.  Scientists hope to learn what impact changes in ocean circulation and the salinity of the seawater are having on the globe’s changing climate.

Most of the Earth’s water cycle of rainfall and evaporation occurs over the oceans.  At the same time that global temperatures are rising, scientists for more than a century have noted from shipboard and buoy measurements a change in global water cycle and ocean circulation patterns.

These changes in rainfall and evaporation have led to a gradual cooling of sea surface temperatures in some places and warmer waters in others.

To get a global view of how changes in the water cycle might be affecting climate, NASA scientists will be measuring the salinity, or the amount of salt dissolved in seawater with the Aquarius satellite.

Coral Reef Destruction is Slowing This Year

US Agency Says Coral Reef Destruction is Slowing This Year

VOA - Zulima Palacio June 02, 2011

Photo: Z. Palacio - VOA

There's some good news, for a change, in the latest climate forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  NOAA scientists say the world's threatened coral reefs, which for decades have been bleaching out and dying off because of climate-induced changes in ocean conditions, might be getting a respite this year.

For nearly three decades, marine scientists and environmentalists have been issuing distress calls about the rapid destruction of coral reefs around the world.  This time, predictions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicate that cooler water temperatures make it unlikely there will be any major bleaching events anywhere in the world this year.  Mark Eakin, who coordinates NOAA's Coral Reef Watch program said the new forcast shows that while "there is a little bit of stress, [it] is not too bad and the forecast for this year doesn’t look bad at all.”

Arctic's polar ice is melting much faster than previously thought...

Arctic Ice Melting Faster than Predicted

VOA - Rosanne Skirble May 04, 2011

 

As government officials from eight Arctic nations - the United States, Russia, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland -  prepare to meet in Greenland next week to discuss the challenges of climate change, a report released May 4, 2011 underscores the urgency of the Arctic Council meeting.  The study finds the Arctic's polar ice is melting at a much faster rate than previously thought.

The report was released by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, the scientific arm of the 8-nation Arctic Council. It finds that the past six years - between 2005 and 2010 - were the warmest years recorded in the Arctic since measurements began in 1880.

Gordon Hamilton is a leading glaciologist and professor at the University of Maine Climate Change Institute. He says the new assessment updates the U.N.’s Climate Change Panel’s 2007 report with data on Arctic conditions over the past five years.

"And so with our new understanding on how ice sheets are behaving and how they are responding to climate change we can say that the IPCC [UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] estimate for sea level rise from 18 to 59 centimeters is a very large underestimate and we are looking at something probably double the upper end of the estimate. So we are expecting one meter of sea level rise by 2100," said Gordon Hamilton.

Melting from Arctic glaciers, ocean ice and the Greenland ice sheet will make substantial contributions to that sea level rise, the report finds.  Hamilton says while the year 2100 may seem like a long way off, the new estimates can help policy makers address changes in coastal areas where more than half the world’s population lives.   

"If you’re building coastal structures or if you are planning development in coastal zones, these are the types of human activity that take place over the course of decades and so we need to be making these decisions with the best sea level estimates in hand," he said.

Hamilton is amazed at the rate of change he’s witnessed in polar regions.

"In my field, glaciology, six years ago we didn’t think that ice sheets responded to climate change on a time scale any shorter than a few thousand years, whereas now we are seeing the big ice sheets in Greenland and west Antarctica respond in just a few months to triggers that are coming from the climate systems," said Hamilton.

The extent and duration of snow cover have decreased throughout the Arctic, falling by 18 percent since 1966. Other accelerated changes, Hamilton says, include the rapid decline of sea ice.

"A few years ago the projection was that the Arctic Ocean would be ice-free in the summers by the year 2080," he said. "Well, in the first few years of this decade there were some extraordinarily fast declines in Arctic sea ice."

The report finds that the Arctic Ocean could become nearly ice-free in the summers within the next thirty to forty years. Hamilton says there is still time to act to slow down these changes by drastically reducing climate-changing carbon emissions, initiatives that he hopes the Arctic country ministers adopt when they meet next week in Greenland.    

 

Arctic Ice Melting Faster than Predicted

Article from VOA

Springfest Ocean City, MD - Eastern Shore of Maryland Event

Springfest Ocean City, MD May 5 - May 8, 2011

dd to planner

Springfest 

Address:

Inlet Parking Lot 

Phone:

800-626-2326 

Website:

http://oceancitymd.gov/Recreation_and_Parks/specialevents.html

Location:

Oceanside Boardwalk/Inlet

Type:

Concerts/Live Music

Map data ©2011 - Terms of Use

Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Sunday 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Springfest 2011 celebrates spring and the upcoming summer season. It is four dynamic days of delicious food, live entertainment and unique arts and crafts under four huge big top tents located in the Inlet Lot at the south end of Ocean City’s famous Boardwalk.

Bring your appetite so you can enjoy delicious food from famous Eastern Shore delicacies as well as a wide assortment of ethnic food.  Over 30 food vendors serve a variety of delicious food, as the Springfest artisans will delight your eyes with their arts and crafts creations during the Springfest 2011 celebration.

Springfest serves up a continuous variety of musical performances on two stages. Admission to the four day event is free! All entertainment is free with the exception of the headline acts.

Headlining Acts:

George Jones - Friday May 6 . The ticket prices are $50, 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20.

Richard Marx - Saturday May 7. The tickets prices are $40,35,30,25,20.

Tickets are in-person sales only at Convention Center Box Office on 40th Street in Ocean City . Ticket sales at  www.ticketmaster.com or 800-551-7328.

Plus, new to Springfest this year -

CONCERTS HOSTED BY RADIO DISNEY!

Radio Disney AM 640, part of the #1 radio outlet for kids, tweens and families, joins in on the fun at Springfest hosting on-stage performances by “Shake It Up” star Roshon Fegan and Radio Disney’s “N.B.T.” (Next Big Thing) season three winner Kicking Daisies. Fans will also have a chance to take pictures and talk with Kicking Daisies during a hosted meet and greet session following their performance. Performances will take place 3:30p.m. to 4:30 p.m. under the tent on the Springfest grounds at the inlet parking lot. Click here for artist bios!

Transportation:

Ride the Boardwalk tram directly to the Springfest grounds for only $3 per person one-way.  The tram runs from 10 a.m. to midnight on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.The Springfest Express offers direct service for festival attendees traveling from the Roland E. Powell Convention Center to the Inlet.  This is a non-stop express that takes you directly to the Springfest grounds for only $1 per boarding or $3 ride-all-day. Parking is free at the Convention Center south lot. Shuttles depart the lot every 20 minutes from 9 a.m. until 11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Due to limited parking around the festival, and for your convenience, park your vehicle for free at the following locations and ride the bus – It’s the way to go.

      Presbyterian Church on 13th Street

      Public Safety Building at 65th Street

      Ocean Plaza Mall on 94th Street

  

      Gold Coast Mall at 115th Street

      Northside Park on 125th Street.

Take advantage of the Town’s Park & Ride location on Route 50 in West Ocean City.  Park your car for free and hop on the non-stop shuttle that takes you round trip (If you require special assistance with handicapped transportation, please call 410-723-1606).

Visit the Official Event Merchandise Shop located just inside the Main Entrance. Don’t forget your official 2011 Springfest tee!  Toddler, youth and adult sizes through 4XL are available.  For more information about Springfest, call the Ocean City Recreation & Parks Department at 410-250-0125, or toll-free 1-800-626-2326.

2011 Springfest Entertainment Schedule:
All Entertainment will be subject to change without notice.

Outdoor Stage: Thursday - 10:00 Opening Ceremony, 11:30 JP McDermott & Western Bop, 1:30 Frankie & the Pack, 5:30 Rick K and the Allnighters; 8:00 1st Annual Local Band Jam; Friday - 11:00 The Janitors, 1:00 Jay Henley & The Stone Broke Band, 3:00 Rick K and the Allnighters, 5:00 Front Page News, 6:30 J R Booker; Saturday - 11:00 J R Booker, 1:00 Bottle of Blues, 3:00 DejaGroove, 5:00 Mary Lou & The Untouchables, 6:30 Sir Rod; Sunday - 10:00 Captain Quint, 12:30 Ever-G and the Crew, 2:30 21 Horses Band,  4:30 James Gallagher & Off the Boat

Indoor Stage: Thursday - 10:30 Rick K and the Allnighters, 12:30 Recreation Line Dancers, 2:30 Laurazine, 4:30 JP McDermott & Western Bop, 6:30 Jesse Garron's Tribute to Elvis; Friday - 10:00 Rick K and the Allnighters, 12:00 Sir Rod, 2:00 The Janitors, 4:00 Jay Henley & The Stone Broke Band, 8:00 "Country Legend" George Jones (Admission;) Saturday - 10:00 Rick K and the Allnighters, 12:00 DejaGroove, 2:00 Capatin Quint, 4:00 Randy Lee Ashcraft & The Saltwater Cowboys, 8:00 Richard Marx with Orchestra (Admission;) Sunday - 11:30 Country Grass, 1:30 The Delmarva Big Band, 3:30 - 4:30 Free DISNEY CONCERT - see above!


Springfest Vendor Application

800-626-2326 or 410-250-0125

Spring Fest Ocean City MD Event Information Sourced From -

http://ococean.com/events/springfest

International Coastal Cleanup Day - Trash from ocean beaches, rivers and other waterways threaten marine life.

Trashed Oceans Threaten Marine Life

Volunteers remove 3.5 million kilos of trash from ocean beaches, rivers and other waterways worldwide

VOA - Faiza Elmasry | Washington, D.C. April 04, 2011



 Last September, more than 600,000 volunteers from all over the world participated in International Coastal Cleanup Day. According to a report released recently, they removed more than 3.5 million kilos of trash from ocean beaches, rivers and other waterways worldwide, enough to cover 170 football fields. They collected enough tires to outfit almost 6,000 cars, and enough cigarette butts to fill nearly 95,000 packs.

Talking trash

The report is called "Tracking Trash: 25 Years of Action for the Ocean." It contains data and stories about the trash that volunteers collected during last year's International Coastal Cleanup Day.
The annual event is organized by the advocacy group, Ocean Conservancy. Plastic bottles, bags, cigarette butts and other trash are clogging the oceans and killing marine mammals and sea turtles every year, according to Vikki Spruill, the group's president.

"Earth, as we know it, is a water planet," says Spruill. "If you look from outer space, you see blue before you see the land. It’s all connected. The ocean is the system that actually provides the rain water that we all depend on in our life. Half of the oxygen in the next breath you’re going to take comes from the oceans." 

Luckily, she says, thousands of people from more than 120 countries and all 50 U.S. states care enough to volunteer every year for clean ups of the planet's waterways, beaches and ocean fronts.

"We have students, school kids, scout troops, stay-at-home mothers. We have military leaders, every imaginable walk of life, participating in these cleanups."

International effort

One of those volunteers is Oscar Oviedo, a banker from the Dominican Republic. "A couple of friends and myself, we practice scuba diving and we began to see the situation of the ocean from underneath and said we had to do something," he says. "So we established our own foundation, Vida Azul, which means Blue Life, four years ago. We gathered about 1,800 volunteers."

They've been cleaning waterways in the Santo Domingo area.

"What we’re doing is we organize speeches and reunions where we talk about the importance of water and try to get people involved, mostly children under 12," Oviedo says. "I think we’re pretty effective. A lot of people know about our efforts and they know the importance of not throwing trash in rivers and lakes and the ocean as well."

When Blue Life volunteers reach out to school children, he says, they raise other issues as well.

"For example, we ask them if they’ve seen their fathers while they shave. We say if you close the water every time you shave, then you open the tap again to wash the razor, you’re saving so much amount of water."

Spreading the word

Judy Bolin, an American from the east coast state of North Carolina is also concerned about the oceans. She runs NC Big Sweep, a group which conducts year-round education to cut down on littering.

"The great thing about people participating in the clean ups is that after they’re finished with their cleanup, we’ll hear them say, ‘I didn’t know there was so much litter out there. I’m never going to litter again,'" says Bolin. "It’s an eye-opening experience for everyone as it was for me. I remember one time we released a green heron from a fishing line out there in the river, and it was just wonderful to see it fly away and recover from what someone had done, [leaving] a fishing line in the river, which is not a good thing to do."

Now, Bolin says, volunteers from all over the world can communicate and exchange experiences.

"We’ve got social media. We’ve just started getting into Facebook and Twitter last year and a couple of our counties were successful recruiting volunteers this way. So we’ve got connections all over the world."

Judy Bolin and Oscar Oviedo say they hope more volunteers will join their effort to clean up the oceans. To those who cannot join, they say, please stop littering our waterways.

Trashed Oceans Threaten Marine Life

Article and video from VOA

Tsunami - What Causes a Tsunami?

What Causes a Tsunami?
VOA March 11, 2011

A tsunami is a series of large waves generated by an abrupt movement on the ocean floor that can result from an earthquake, an underwater landslide, a volcanic eruption or - very rarely - a large meteorite strike.

However, powerful undersea earthquakes are responsible for most tsunamis. Seismologists say only earthquakes measuring greater than 7.0 on the Richter scale can produce a major tsunami.

Most earthquakes that generate tsunamis - including Friday's jolt off Japan's eastern coast - occur in areas called subduction zones, where pieces of the Earth's crust press against each other. Subduction means that one tectonic plate slides beneath another and sinks deep into the Earth's mantle.

The friction between two slow-moving plates of the Earth's crust creates vast amounts of seismic energy which is released in the form of an earthquake. When a strong undersea earthquake strikes a relatively short distance below the sea floor, it abruptly pushes up one of the immense plates of the Earth's crust. That suddenly displaces an enormous amount of ocean water which becomes a tsunami, spreading outward in every direction from the epicenter of an earthquake - like ripples on a pond, only on a much larger scale.

Tsunamis generated in the open ocean appear to be only small waves, but they can grow rapidly in size as they reach shallow water before crashing into seacoast settlements. Waves up to nine meters high have been recorded on numerous occasions, and tsunamis up to 30 meters high are believed to have occurred in the past.

Damage is usually worst in areas closest to the undersea quake, often because the fast-moving waves will hit land so quickly. Tsunamis radiate out from the site of an undersea quake nearly as fast as a jet airliner can travel, but because the expanse of the Pacific is so wide, alert systems are in place to sound a warning to those in the path of an advancing wave.

The term tsunami comes from two Japanese words that mean "harbor" and "wave."



What Causes a Tsunami?
Article from VOA

World's Coral Reefs Threatened

Report: 75 Percent of World's Coral Reefs Threatened
Zulima Palacio | Washington March 02, 2011 - VOA

Photo: VOA Photo Z. Palacio
Coral reefs are essential for coastal protection, and for the food security and economic wellbeing of millions of people around the world.

About 75 percent of the world's coral reefs are currently threatened by human activities and ecological disruptions, according to a new study released last week by a network of more than 24 environmental organizations. The report was issued simultaneously in a number of locations around the world.

The new study called Reefs at Risk Revisited is an update of a report first issued in 1998. It makes use of newly-available data and higher-resolution satellite mapping technology. And for the first time, it considers the impact of climate change along with other factors, on these fragile marine organisms.

Its somber assessment: if the international community does not do anything now to save the coral reefs and their rich ecosystems, more than 90 percent of the world's reefs will be threatened by 2030 and nearly all of them could be at risk in less than 40 years.

"Approximately 75 percent of the world's coral reefs are currently threatened by a combination of local and global pressures," said Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "If the current trends persist, the projection for this report tells us that 20 years from now, roughly half the reefs globally will experience thermo stress sufficient to induce severe bleaching in most years. Within the next 50 years this percentage is expected to grow more than 95 per cent."

And according to Nancy Knowlton, of the Smithsonian Institution, this could have a major impact on sea life.

"It's been estimated that about one fourth maybe as much as one third of all species that live in the ocean are associated with coral reefs," said Knowlton. "Perhaps it is not too surprising to know in a recent analysis suggesting that one third of all coral species are actually at risk of extinction. This makes coral the most endangered animal on the planet, even more endangered than frogs."

Coral reefs are essential for coastal protection, and for the food security and economic wellbeing of millions of people around the world. They are an important source of protein, a potential source of pharmaceuticals, and as Lauretta Burke of the World Resources Institute points out, a valuable tourist attraction.

"Tourism is an important economic contributor in over 95 countries and territories around the world, it contributes over 20 percent of GDP in over 20 countries," noted Burke.

Burke was one of the lead authors of the study. She says it found 275 million people are dependent on the resources from coral reefs, mostly in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.

The study includes detailed data on the most serious global threats to the oceans: among them, overfishing, climate change and higher acidity levels caused by carbon dioxide emissions.

Other threats, especially at the local level, include the use of explosives for fishing as well as the runoff of sediments, excess nutrients, toxic materials and other pollution.

"Overfishing is the most widespread threat affecting about 55 percent of the world's coral reefs," added Burke. "The threat is particularly high in Southeast Asia. Watershed coastal pollution and coastal development affects roughly a quarter of the coral reefs."

Burke said while the reefs around Australia are the best preserved, those in Southeast Asia are the most threatened, with 90 per cent of them at risk, largely because of overfishing.

The study's authors say they hope the report communicates what is at stake: that coral reefs are critically important, and that better management practices and policies must be implemented to reduce the threats to these valuable ecosystems.




Report: 75 Percent of World's Coral Reefs Threatened
Article and Video from VOA

Plastic Trash in Oceans - Effects on Marine and Human Life

Plastic Trash in Oceans Enters Marine Food Chain
Zulima Palacio | Washington February 15, 2011 - VOA

Marcus Eriksen is on a global expedition to document and publicize the growing accumulation of plastic trash in our oceans, and to study its effects on marine and human life.


During the past half-century, a growing portion of what we eat, drink or use has come in plastic packaging - petroleum-based containers that are sturdy and long-lasting, yet are used only briefly and then thrown away. Daily, we use and discard billions of plastic bags and bottles, and much of this trash ends up littering the environment or, increasingly, being washed out to sea. Many scientists have documented the growing volume of plastic garbage floating in the oceans. Now a young couple is taking a fresh look at the problem to see if something can be done to solve it.

Marcus Eriksen is not really fishing. He is catching plastic trash in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, thousands of kilometers from the nearest land.

Eriksen is on a global expedition to document and publicize the growing accumulation of plastic trash in our oceans, and to study its effects on marine and human life.

“These are the five sub-tropical gyres in the world where the majority of the plastic in the world accumulates,” he said.

“The gyre is formed by ocean currents that couple with the spinning of the earth's rotation. And what happens is that you have, effectively, a massive whirlpool, a large spinning system, where debris can accumulate,” said Anna Cummins, who along with her husband Marcus Eriksen, is a co-founder of the 5 Gyres Institute, a California-based non-profit organization that promotes research into plastic pollution in the oceans.

Cummins says that in less than 100 years, we have replaced most of our re-usable products and natural materials with plastics that are used just briefly. At the end of their short use cycle, plastic bags or bottles have little intrinsic value; the large majority end up in solid-waste landfills or as litter in creeks and rivers. A lot of this waste also washes out to sea, where it enters swirling ocean currents and over time, travels thousands of kilometers.

“This becomes a problem in the marine environment because plastics are designed to last forever," Cummins said. "They don’t break down, they can’t be digested by marine organisms and they persist in the ocean for thousands of years.”

In their journeys across the world’s oceans, Eriksen and Cummins have been trawling the top 20 centimeters of the water's surface with a fine mesh net. Hundreds of samples of the debris they've collected are now being analyzed in a California lab.

“What shocked me the most on all these trips is to cross an ocean for thousands and thousands of miles and find that every single sample we pull up has plastics,” Cummins said.

“The plastic out there is not a condensed island of trash, [it] is really spread out," Eriksen said. "[It] is a plastic soup, from continent to continent.”

Animals mistakenly eat the smaller pieces of plastic, or feed them to their young. Hundreds of sea birds, fish and turtles die every year from consuming this toxic trash.

“Roughly 43 percent of all marine mammals, 86 percent of all sea turtle and 44 percent of sea bird species are found with plastics in or around their bodies,” Cummins said “Thirty-five percent of the samples of fish that we collected in the north Pacific had plastic in their stomachs.”

5-Gyres Institute and its research partners are now documenting the way plastics are entering the ocean food chain and studying their possible impact on human health.

“I had a chance to do what's called a 'body burden analysis' on my own blood," Anna Cummins said. "We looked into my blood serum to find, do I have the same chemicals that we know stick to plastic. And we found in my blood trace levels of PCBs [Polychlorinated biphenyls - a man-made organic chemical], DDT [dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane - a synthetic pesticide], PFCs [Perfluorocarbons - linked to infertility] and high levels of flame retardant. We don’t know how these chemicals entered my body. As a woman I know that these chemicals in my body will pass on to the next generation.”

As part of their effort to raise public awareness of the plastic trash problem, Marcus Eriksen and his partners built an ocean-going raft using 15,000 empty plastic soda bottles. They named the vessel "JUNKraft," and in 2008, they set sail from California to Hawaii - traveling right through the North Pacific Gyre.

“The North Pacific Gyre is surprising," Eriksen said. "If you go only 1,000 miles [1,609 Km] off the coast of California, which is 7,000 [11,265 km] miles from Japan, you still get a lot of Japanese and Chinese plastic because of [the] currents.”

Eriksen and Cummins recognize that cleansing the seas of plastic would be nearly impossible, since oceans cover two thirds of the planet. That plastic trash will be with us for a long time, they concede. But there are other solutions.

“The solutions do not begin in the ocean, they begin on land,” Eriksen said.

“We need to improve our recycling infrastructure" said Cummins. "Here in the U.S. we only recover and recycle rougly five percent of our plastics.”

Besides more plastic recycling, the husband and wife team advocates the wider use of biodegradable materials and the re-design of products so they are more fully recyclable. They also believe people around the world need to become more aware of plastic trash and its serious environmental and health impact.

In March, Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen will begin the last of their ocean expeditions, this time sailing through the South Pacific Gyre. On their return, the two activists plan to share their research findings with the scientific community and to publish a book about their ocean experiences.



Some plastics in the ocean stay in large pieces for a long time. But many break into smaller particles.




Plastic Trash in Oceans Enters Marine Food Chain
Article and Video from VOA

Tidal Power Plant - India

Indian State to Establish Country’s First Tidal Power Plant Anjana Pasricha | New Delhi 21 January 2011 - VOA

India’s western state of Gujarat is establishing a power plant that will utilize the flow of ocean tides to generate electricity.

The agreement between London-based Atlantis Resources Corporation and the Gujarat government was signed earlier this week after a study identified the Gulf of Kutch along India’s western coast as suitable for tidal power generation.

Tidal power uses turbines to harness the energy contained in the flow of ocean tides.

The project - the first of its kind in the country - will generate 50 megawatts of power.  But its capacity can be increased to 250 megawatts.

South Korea is the only other Asian country known to be building a tidal power plant.  If Gujarat’s plant is commissioned earlier, the project will become Asia’s first tidal power project.


Rajkumar Rajsinghani, the official overseeing the tidal power project at Gujarat Power Corporation Limited, says the project will have multiple benefits for the state.
"It will help us in two regards,” Rajsinghani explains. “This technology is not with Asia Pacific countries. That technology will be transferred to the state. And second thing is that since this is a project that can generate power round the clock we are thinking this source will be helpful to give us good, renewable power on a competitive price."

Officials in Gujarat hope the upcoming tidal power facility will be the first of several others because the state’s 1,600-kilometer-long coastline offers good potential for generation of tidal power.

Gujarat is one of India’s most industrialized and economically progressive states, but like the rest of the country, it generates most of its power from fossil fuels. However, in the coming years, the state plans to establish tidal, wind and solar power plants to produce more than 7000 megawatts of power and significantly raise the share of renewable energy sources. 

India's effort to build clean energy sources, including solar energy, comes amid a global focus climate change and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.  India is the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Worldwide, the generation of tidal power is still small compared to other renewable sources of energy, such as solar and wind, but experts say that could change with the rising focus on clean energy sources.

Indian State to Establish Country’s First Tidal Power Plant - article came from VOA

Ocean Energy - Wave and Wind

Catching a Wave - and its Energy

Marine energy developers explore whether electricity can be generated in the ocean at affordable prices.
Tom Banse
Tillamook, Oregon 26 November 2010

One of the newest sources of alternative energy is also one of the oldest - water power. The 19th century water wheel, though, bears no resemblance to the 21st century contraptions powered by ocean waves.

The wave energy sector has been slow to coalesce around one technology. Quite the opposite. Unconventional ideas are blooming like algae along America's Pacific Coast in a proliferation of creative electric engineering.

Harnessing the power of waves

The steady, powerful pounding of the ocean surf at this time of year is a reminder why marine energy developers love the Pacific Northwest. Huge waves crash against the jetties at the mouth of Tillamook Bay on the Oregon Coast. Columns of spray shoot in the air.

"The wave energy potential is very large here," says Stephanie Thornton, American program director for the Wave Energy AS. The Norwegian company proposes redesigning jetties and breakwaters like these to include electricity generators built inside.

"It's designed in such a way that it has open chambers on the wave facing side," Thornton explains. "When the waves crash or hit against this device, water fills these chambers and runs into the back where the turbine is. Basically it's very similar to a hydroelectric dam where water just flows through and drives a turbine."

Wave Energy AS program director Stephanie Thornton hopes to harness the power of the crashing waves near Barview, Oregon.

The industry is in its infancy. It's a period of great experimentation, overflowing with creative technologies.

"Once they figure out if it can work from a technical standpoint, then it's the business side of it," Thornton says. "The economics may be the key issue."

Innovation

The Scottish firm, Aquamarine Power, is one of several other foreign companies scouting here.

Aquamarine outreach coordinator Theresa Wisner recently described her firm's near-shore device to the Tillamook County Commission. Called the Oyster, it's a very large mechanical flap resting on the sea bottom.

"What happens is a wave comes in from the ocean. It forces the top of the Oyster down onto some pistons," says Wisner. "Those pistons force that water into high pressure water line that goes ashore to a Pelton wheel, which is one of the oldest ways of generating electricity."

Wisner was followed to the podium in Tillamook by a representative for Seattle, Washington-based Principle Power. Kevin Bannister described his company's plans for floating wind farms offshore of Oregon and Portugal.

"The design came from the oil and gas industry. So, semi-submersible platforms like this one are not terribly new," says Bannister. "The integration with a wind turbine however is a new idea."

Yet another company diving into the competition is a Salem, Oregon based startup, M3 Wave Energy Systems. Its idea relies on wave pressure passing over air-filled pillows on the sea floor. The pulses compress air, which can then be used to spin an electric turbine.

Tillamook Public Utility District manager Pat Ashby has seen even more far out ideas cross his desk.

"We've become kind of a bulls-eye for world developers," says Ashby.

Prototype ocean energy devices are generating electricity in Scottish, Hawaiian and Australian waters, but not here yet.

Coming first to the U.S. West Coast will likely be a bobbing buoy generator next year. Eventually, a field of 10 floating buoys, anchored to the ocean floor, would bob up and down with the swells. The movement creates electricity. Ashby says a floating wind farm also seems plausible near term because wind power is well understood.

"The others have got new technology that needs to be tested. It's not really existing anywhere in the world right now. And the devices that produce the energy and their ability to withstand saltwater - corrosive elements - need a lot of work yet."

Winning people over

Ashby says community acceptance also needs some work yet.

At the Port of Garibaldi, Oregon, Darren Mobley prepares his boat for winter crabbing. He's among the many fishermen and crabbers who worry about how harnessing ocean energy will impact them.

"They're talking about a big area around them that would be closed to fishing," says Mobley. "We can't afford to have any more fishing ground taken from us."

Wave Energy's plans to put electric generators inside the breakwaters is the only idea that wins favor from Mobley.

U.S. and foreign governments are keen on the sector and are pumping in lots of funds to float more prototypes. But whether electricity can be generated in the ocean at affordable prices remains an open question

LIVERPOOL, UNITED KINGDOM - MAY 12:  Turbines of the Burbo Bank off shore wind farm

Catching a Wave - and its Energy article sourced from voanews.com