We need marine reserves today

Become Cheat Neutral :-)

A smart, brilliant, fun criticsm of carbon offsetting. Worth viewing!

http://www.cheatneutral.com/

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For more information read Jennifer Jacquet's The Guilty Language of Offsets

How many planets do I need?

A simple game to calculate our ecological footprint and carbon emissions. In other words, a way of finding out out how heavy is our lifestyle impact on the planet.

http://calculator.bioregional.com/

http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/

Personally, I thought that I was doing quite well, but it turns out that my living standards would require about 2.2 planets... obviously there is much more that I can and should do!

Try this game, and see if you can further reduce your impact on the environment.

SB

18th century log books help scientists chart climate change

Weather logs kept by Captain James Cook and other 18th and 19th century explorers are being used by scientists to predict the change in climate.

Read more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Dolphins of Greece, 1-9 October

I loved this experience! Joan and Zsuzsanna were awesome. They were patient and increased my understanding of dolphins and the impact of overfishing. At the end of the project I had a much better understanding of how field research in marine biology is done. I now feel I can make better consumer choices on which fish to buy that are not a burden on the environment. I can also educate my friends and family on what I learned at the Dolphins of Greece expedition about overfishing, so they too can make wiser consumer choices. Overall this trip was very informative but most of all a lot of fun. I had a great time with the other volunteers on the boat, cooking, cropping and matching dolphin photos. I leave with great memories!

Maribeth, USA

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Images of Vonitsa

Bright sun,
calm, glassy seas,
a juvenile leaps!
Then, rides the bow... Wow!

Learn to shout out
“dolphin out at 2 o’clock at 50 meters”
when all you can blurt,
“my god, that’s a dolphin...right there”

The castle lit at night,
laughter at the table,
constant teasing,
a lucky dog named Poseidon.

Mary Beth, my friend,
Irina, a new friend.
Susanna, so pretty,
so sweet, but, what a taskmaster!
Joan, a flirt with his wink,
passionate, stern and authoritative (well, he tries).

Suzanne, USA

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This is my third attempt to write in this diary... now I know why I never owned one! A Greek saying comes to mind “Ta polla logia ine ftohia...” meaning that saying to much defeats the purpose... or something like that! So... from the bottom of my heart I want to thank all of you, Joan, Susie, Suzanne, Maribeth and of course Posi and the dolphins for making this week one that i will cherish for the rest of my life! Learned a lot, laughed a lot, looked a lot, bounced a lot, guessed a lot (+/-100 meters!) and of course ate A LOT! Loved it all! Thank you guys.

Irina, Greece

Bird cam films interaction between albatrosses and killer whales

Tiny cameras attached to the backs of four Antarctic albatrosses have revealed a clever feeding strategy: instead of randomly scanning the open ocean for prey, some birds appear to fly alongside killer whales and scavenge for scraps left by the mammalian predators.

Read more at:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/10/albatrosswhale/

Whale mating

Isabella Rossellini explores the mating habits of whales :-)

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Source:
http://www.sundancechannel.com/thegreen/

New hope for monk seals at Cabo Blanco

CBD-Habitat documented a monk seal birth in the Mediterranean colony located in the Cabo Blanco peninsula (Morocco/Mauritania), as reported yesterday to the MARMAM list.

On September 22nd, a newborn pup was observed in an open beach. There are no records of such an event in decades, in which seals were persecuted leading them to abandon open beaches and use exclusively marine caves to haul out and breed.

Acording to CBD-Habitat, one of the main set of actions of the Action Plan for the recovery of Mediterranean monk seal in the Eastern Atlantic developed by the governments of Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Mauritania was to “promote the occupation of beaches as breeding and resting habitat”.

During the last 9 years, and under these guidelines established by the Action Plan, the protection of breeding caves and vicinities by CBD-Habitat project has been intense reducing to a minimum disturbances caused by goose barnacle pickers, fishermen as well as the threat of illegal setting of artisan fishing gears in the area.

After years of continuous efforts, monk seals have began to progressively re-colonize open beaches of the protected area for hauling out. The final step, the use of open beaches as breeding habitat is the event that took place in September, perhaps the beginning of a new conservation path for this colony.

The pup is a female and is in good shape condition. The birth took place in a beach located a few hundreds of meters south of one of the main breeding caves.

This fact joins the progressive recovery of the population, which in 1998 was estimated to have a size of around 100 individuals and that today is almost reaching 200. Although the situation is still critical, these last events bring hope for the future of this population and the species.

Source:
Message sent to the MARMAM list by Pablo Fernandez de Larrinoa
Programa de conservación de la foca monje en Cabo Blanco
Fundación CBD-Habitat, Madrid, Spain

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Photo by CBD-Habitat

Bleak future for Mediterranean mammals

The latest assessment of Mediterranean mammals shows that one in six is threatened with extinction at a regional level, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Learn more at:
http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/news_events/?3888/Bleak-future-for-Mediterranean-mammals--IUCN

Survey confirms dolphins exposed to Timor Sea oil spill

See the news item at:

http://www.wdcs.org/story_details.php?select=453

Book of the Month: October 2009

Guns, Germs and Steel: the fates of human societies

by Jared M. Diamond

1999

W.W. Norton & Co.

Jared Diamond convincingly argues that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed religion --as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war --and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history. (Adapted from Google Books)

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View complete list of Tethys Books of the Month

View complete list of Tethys Videos of the Month

Whale and dolphin field courses 2009: 318 participants from 27 countries

Since 1990 Tethys has been organising whale and dolphin field courses dedicated to those who are willing to contribute to research and conservation campaigns. These courses represent a unique opportunity of observing marine mammals in their natural environment and discover the fascinating world of cetacean research. Participants of all nationalities are involved in activities conducted in the field including whale and dolphin sightings, data collection at sea with advanced methodologies and informal lectures by the Tethys staff.

In 2009, a total of 318 volunteers participated in field work and research activities by Tethys in Italy and Greece.

Volunteers came from 27 different countries:

Australia
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Canada
China
Denmark
Estonia
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Lithuania
Monaco
New Zealand
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
The Netherlands
Russia
UK
USA.

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For more information:
http://www.tethys.org/tri_courses/courses_index_e.htm

Innovation

Innovation comes from saying no to 1000 things to make sure we don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much.

-- Steve Jobs

Gulf of Corinth: the 2009 research season ends

The Ionian Dolphin Project in the Gulf of Corinth has recently concluded its first research season, with a total of 58 dolphin sightings.

We are happy about the work done in 2009, and we would like to thank all the 66 volunteers who participated in the Delphi’s Dolphins field courses and helped us with the research.

Participants in our dolphin research programme came from 18 different countries: Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Russia, UK, and USA.

A big THANK YOU to our volunteers:
Gunda, William, Ramona, Dagmar, Hermann, Clara, Tony, Peter, Jacqueline, Luke, Aimee, Dipti, Agnes, Julia, Eddie, Hilary, Juliette, Zuzana, Emilie, Rebecca, Emilie, Neysa, Emma, Susan, Elektra, Cate, Katherine, Sara, Heather, Catherine, Delphine, Ana, Julja, Jenny, Rebecca, Russell, Hannah, Amie, Kelly, Petra, Felicity, Christian, Roberta, Nadine, Jacqueline, Julia, Grace, Odile, Alice, Gaelle, Catherine, Yvette, Anthony, Elisabetta, Paul, Helen, Jade, Dora, Orsolya, Victoria, Levanna, Ellie, Alyssa, Tracy, Joanne, and Esther (*).

The IDP staff 2009:
Silvia, Stefano, Joan, Susie, Aina, Tilen, Giovanni

(*): in order of participation

Video of the Month: October 2009

The Age of Stupid

The Age of Stupid is the new movie from Director Franny Armstrong and producer John Battsek. Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?

http://www.ageofstupid.net/

2009

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View complete list of Tethys Videos of the Month

View complete list of Tethys Books of the Month