Consumer Demand for Fish Depletes the Ocean's Resources

Ocean fish are the last wild creatures that people hunt on a large scale. We used to think of the ocean's bounty as endless, until recently - we have now discovered its limits. Between 1950 and 1994, ocean fishermen increased their catch by 400 percent by doubling the number of boats and using more effective fishing gear, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch.

In 1989, the world's catch leveled off at a little more than 82 million metric tons of fish per year. We have reached "peak fish," and no amount of boats will help us catch more. Today, only 10 percent of all large fish - both open-ocean species (including tuna, swordfish and marlin) as well as the large groundfish (such as cod, halibut, skates and flounder) - are left in the sea, according to research published in National Geographic.

http://www.paramuspost.com/article.php/20110810144006959

This is downright crazy...as the saying goes, "nature provides us for our need, but not for our greed"...seems apt

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Could sea asparagus be a good biofuel feedstock? - halophyte salicornia, also known as sea asparagus. This salt-loving succulent is a potential food source and an oil seed crop that can also provide a cooking oil, high-protein meal, and biofuel. So, the question is, can this be grown in marine environments? - http://www.celsias.com/article/seawater-farming-solution-rising-sea-levels-food-a/

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Ocean absorbs 25 MT of CO2 per Day - An estimated 25 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions are absorbed daily by the oceans. Fifty million gross tons of excess carbon dioxide is beyond the ocean’s ability to absorb the gas in a natural process. -

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Oceans absorb thermal energy - Oceans absorb a vast amount of thermal energy from the sun - equivalent to 250 barrels of oil per day (about 10 times what the world needs every year!) -

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Charting the oceans - Robot submarines; Deep-sea sensors; Radio-tagged fish; DNA analysis; Satellite mapping -

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Seafood watch - Which species can we grill without cares, and which seafood are ecological no-nos? -

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IPCC asks scientists to assess geo-engineering climate solutions

Lighter-coloured crops, aerosols in the stratosphere and iron filings in the ocean are among the measures being considered by leading scientists for "geo-engineering" the Earth's climate, leaked documents from the UN climate science body show.

In a move that suggests the UN and rich countries are despairing of reaching agreement by consensus at global climate talks, the US, British and other western scientists will outline a series of ideas to manipulate the world's climate to reduce carbon emissions. But they accept that even though the ideas could theoretically work, they might equally have unintended and even irreversible consequences.

Source Credit : http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2079377/ipcc-scientists-assess-geo-engineering-climate-solutions

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New things in oceans - Owing to some really new technologies, people are finding some new things in oceans: non-solar forests of giant worms living off heat and sulphur; odd food chains; pollution is causing hypoxic dead zones, with little or no life -

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IPCC asks scientists to assess geo-engineering climate solutions

Lighter-coloured crops, aerosols in the stratosphere and iron filings in the ocean are among the measures being considered by leading scientists for "geo-engineering" the Earth's climate, leaked documents from the UN climate science body show.

In a move that suggests the UN and rich countries are despairing of reaching agreement by consensus at global climate talks, the US, British and other western scientists will outline a series of ideas to manipulate the world's climate to reduce carbon emissions. But they accept that even though the ideas could theoretically work, they might equally have unintended and even irreversible consequences.

Source Credit : http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2079377/ipcc-scientists-assess-geo-engineering-climate-solutions

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Phytoplankton and water temp - Phytoplanktons are very sensitive to water temperature -

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Deep-sea bioprospecting - The expanding exploration of deep-sea marine biodiversity for scientific, as well as commercial purposes -

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Deep sea genetic resources - Commercial exploitation of deep-sea genetic resources is still ways off -

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Crop Biodiversity Could Reduce Nitrogen Runoff - Research fm Louisiana State University shows planting strategies that include a diverse range of crops is a technique that could lower nitrogen runoff. Where biodiversity of crops is high, there is less dissolved N found in surrounding watersheds that eventually make it to ocean. N from agriculture fertilizers winds up increasing the local aquatic dissolved nitrate. The increased nitrate leads to the growth of algae, which uses up the available oxygen in the water, creating dead zones. - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/crop-biodiversity-ocean-deadzone.php

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Bangladesh to be worst affected by global warming? - Low-lying Bangladesh is often cited as one of the countries likely to be worst hit by climate change, particularly due to sea-level rise. - http://www.theenergycollective.com/TheEnergyCollective/34984

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Bangladesh Climate Change Action Plan - Bangladesh is one of the countries that could be affected badly if climate change and global warming lead to rise in sea levels - most of its area could simply go under the sea! In order to tackle this, the government has come up with a detailed action plan. The link (PDF) provides more details on the plan - http://www.moef.gov.bd/moef.pdf

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Consequences of Oceans Absorbing CO2 - Scientists have been concerned that lower ocean pH caused by absorption of CO2 emissions could decrease calcification processes underlying the growth of shells and corals? hard exteriors. They are also investigating how acidification alters the concentration and behavior of ocean?s trace metals, nutrients for marine life. Also looking into unexpected consequences of ocean acidification, such as disruptions to sound propagation and transmission of chemical cues. - http://www.grinzo.com/energy/index.php/2009/02/23/ponderables-for-february-23-2009-part-ii/

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Ocean fertilization could lead to ocean acidification - Mitigation strategies that aim to transfer CO2 to the ocean, for example by direct deepsea disposal of CO2 or by fertilising the ocean to stimulate biological productivity, would enhance ocean acidification in some areas while reducing it in others. - http://simondonner.blogspot.com/2009/01/monaco-declaration-on-ocean.html

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Ocean Power Technologies Announces Results for the Year Ended April 30, 2010 - http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ocean-power-technologies-announces-results-for-the-year-ended-april-30-2010-2010-07-13?reflink=MW_news_stmp

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Sailing ships harvesting ocean wind energy could meet energy needs of entire planet - http://bit.ly/bjRvb7

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