A Blue View: Explore A Shore Responsibly

A Blue View is a weekly perspective on the life aquatic, hosted by National Aquarium CEO John Racanelli.

From the smallest plants and animals invisible to the human eye to entire ecosystems, every living thing depends on and is intricately linked by water.

Tune in to 88.1 WYPR every Tuesday at 5:45 pm as John brings to the surface important issues and fascinating discoveries making waves in the world today.

June 12, 2013: Explore the Shore

Click here to listen to John discuss the importance
of responsibly enjoying the shore!

Whether boating, fishing, or just walking along the sandy shore, spending time on the water is a classic summer pastime. For many of us, these visits are an opportunity to explore. From birds, crabs, and fish, to the occasional dolphin and seal sighting, an amazing diversity of life lives in harmony along the shore. It is critical, though, as many of us make our way to the water, that we take responsibility for the ways that our actions impact the environment.

When we get too close to certain wildlife, for example, we can unintentionally cause a nest failure or force an animal to flee, putting its survival at risk. Never feed wildlife, not even the bread scraps from your beach picnic, and avoid sensitive sand dunes by sticking to walkways. And when boating, obey posted speed limits and slow down while motoring through shallow waterways. Respect these natural habitats by observing wildlife from a distance—close enough to appreciate the beauty of these incredible ecosystems but far enough away to leave wildlife and plants undisturbed.

It’s also essential to dispose of trash properly. Every summer, people leave their footprints—and a whole lot of trash—along our coasts. From fishing line to plastic bags, our throwaways can throw our oceans into turmoil if we don’t dispose of these materials responsibly.

Fishing line is particularly dangerous to animals. Wildlife often eat or become entangled in monofilament line, which is practically invisible. One unfortunate sea turtle was found with an astounding 590 feet of fishing line in his gut. One study showed that more than 50 percent of sea turtles stranded on a beach contained traces of debris in their digestive tracts. Sixty-five percent of those animals had ingested plastic bags, and it’s no wonder: the U.S. International Trade Commission reported that 102 billion plastic bags were used in the United States in 2008 alone—that’s a bag a day for every woman, man and child.

Though there are many statistics citing the numbers of animals that die as a result of marine debris each year—one estimate in fact is 100,000 marine mammals and millions of birds and fishes—this area of study is evolving. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program is taking essential strides in supporting efforts to research, prevent, and reduce the impacts of marine debris, but it’s clear that we can’t afford to wait to take action. The bottom line is that even one piece of garbage on the beach is one too many.

This year, think about your impacts as you pack for your day at the beach. A great place to start is reusable goods. It’s often windy by the shore, so keep your trash and belongings from blowing into the ocean. Some popular fishing areas provide safe recycling containers for monofilament line. You can also ship monofilament to the Berkley Recycling Center in Iowa. This company will use your line to create Fish-Habs, which are four-foot underwater habitat structures made from recycled fishing line, milk cartons, and soft drink bottles. These cubes attract fish and encourage plant growth, providing natural cover necessary to maintain healthy habitats.

Whatever you do, follow this one essential rule when you’re at the shore this summer: When it’s time to go home, leave nothing but your footprints!

James Cameron Inspires Future Generations of Explorers in Washington, DC!

You don’t have to go to space to find great exploration horizons!

Yesterday, ocean pioneer and Academy-Award winning filmmaker, James Cameron, and his submersible, the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER, arrived in Washington, DC!

It was the fifth stop on the DeepSea America Tour, a nation-wide trek to bring the sub to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts where it will be studied by engineering students who are building the next generation of submersible research vessels!

In Washington, the tour made two stops: first, on Capitol Hill to advocate on behalf of ocean research and exploration; and second, at an outdoor event for local school children. At the second event, students were invited to come see the vessel and learn more about the ocean, exploration and science. National Aquarium was honored to be asked by Cameron and his foundation to support these DC outreach efforts. Our CEO, John Racanelli, and education team were delighted to be on-site  participating in yesterday’s educational program!

Here at the Aquarium, one of the most important aspects of living our mission to inspire conservation of the world’s aquatic treasures is engaging the community and our youth through STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education topics!

We have a variety of learning programs including internships, on-site field trips, teacher workshops, after-school programs and more that provide local students the hands-on experience and knowledge they need to become the next generation of ocean explorers!

Click here to learn more about how National Aquarium is taking education beyond the classroom!

The Ocean, Our Planet’s Final Frontier

In Barcelona in 2006, oceanographer Sylvia Earle received an international award for her storied career as an ocean explorer. Also honored that day was John Hanke, developer of the now-famous Earth visualization tool Google Earth. Smiling slyly, Dr. Earle commended John for creating an amazing new way to view the world, then asked, “When do you plan to finish it? You’ve done a great job with the land—‘Google Dirt.’ What about the ocean?” Thus challenged, John asked Sylvia and her team to help him fix this oversight and in early 2009, we unveiled Ocean in Google Earth, offering earthlings a global view of the ocean’s vast bathymetry.

This story illustrates a truth about how many of us think (or more accurately, don’t think) about the ocean. Though half the world’s population lives within 50 miles of a coast, the cliché “out of sight, out of mind” describes the way most of us relate to the expansive, interconnected ocean that covers 70 percent of Earth’s surface and contains 97 percent of its water.

This blue planet is indeed a water planet, yet incredibly, over 90 percent of the ocean remains unexplored and unseen by humans. In a world that’s increasingly tamed and cataloged, it’s astounding to learn that until last year, only two human beings had been to the ocean’s greatest depth: Challenger Deep, off the Mariana Islands. That epic descent occurred in 1960—before we’d even ventured into space! Just last year, one more explorer made the voyage: renowned filmmaker James Cameron piloted a new craft, Deepsea Challenger, there and back. I suspect we’ll soon be treated to some spectacular footage of a world we understand less than we do the planet Mars.

Experts believe that up to two-thirds of the plant and animal species in the ocean may still await our discovery, with as many as one million species of non-bacterial sealife yet to be identified. In other words, we’ve only scratched the ocean’s surface.

Scientists, poets and philosophers have referred to the ocean as our planet’s life-support system, its blue lungs. Our air, weather, freshwater, climate and much of our food are ultimately regulated, moderated or provided by the sea’s seemingly limitless bounty. Over 2.6 billion people rely on the ocean for their primary source of protein. And we count on the ocean to absorb more than 30 percent of the climate-changing carbon dioxide (CO2) we produce.

Yet for all these benefits (called ‘ecosystem services’ by ecologists), the ocean cannot sustain our unrelenting onslaught. We put in too many bad things, take out too many good things, and reconfigure its shores, chemistry and balance. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists have calculated that the ocean absorbs and stores 50 times more CO2 than the atmosphere, yet it’s no secret that atmospheric levels of this greenhouse gas are rising at an alarming rate and now routinely approach 400 parts per million; at this rate, we are poised to double pre-Industrial Revolution CO2 levels in the next few decades. And, in case you’re wondering, human-influenced climate change is no longer mere theory, as if it ever were. In a review of 12,000 papers published in research journals, 97 percent of the authors—atmospheric scientists who seldom agree on anything—concur that it is directly attributed to human activities.

Against this gloomy backdrop, one might ask, “What hope is there?” In my view, there’s plenty. We have never known so much about aquatic systems and the delicate interplay between them. We’ve doubled the area of our National Marine Sanctuary system over the past decade. We have a National Ocean Policy and a nascent implementation plan, the first in our nation’s history. Whether in fisheries management, ecosystem thinking or product life-cycle planning, we’re learning from our past and planning a better future.

Here at National Aquarium, we value the conservation of aquatic treasures—by which we mean habitats and inhabitants, human and non-human, individual and community. By definition, treasures are worth protecting. World Oceans Day is one way of celebrating such oceanic treasures. This year, I invite you to embrace a thought, one shared by all of us who commit our lives to the sea: the ocean matters to me and to those I love. With every drop of water you drink and every breath you take, you are connected to this complex ecosystem, whether you live on the coast, in the mountains, in a city or a desert.

Simply by existing, the ocean gives us the gift of life. It’s time we returned the favor.

A Blue View: Our Ocean Junk

A Blue View is a weekly perspective on the life aquatic, hosted by National Aquarium CEO John Racanelli.

From the smallest plants and animals invisible to the human eye to entire ecosystems, every living thing depends on and is intricately linked by water.

Tune in to 88.1 WYPR every Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. as John brings to the surface important issues and fascinating discoveries making waves in the world today.

June 5, 2013: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Listen to John discuss how marine debris
is seriously affecting the health of our oceans. 

In 1900, plastic debris did not exist in the ocean. Today, hundreds of millions of metric tons affect our seas. The oceans need our help now.

Imagine a stroll along the beach. You might picture a beautiful, uncluttered expanse of blue. The reality is that the ocean is a complex system filled with plants, animals, minerals, elements, and, yes, trash.

This trash often ends up in a gyre.  Gyres are large areas of calm water that are encircled by ocean currents formed by the earth’s wind patterns and rotation of the planet. Debris that drifts into these gyres stays there for years – pushed gently in a slow spiral toward the center. Every ocean in the world has a gyre, with additional gyres near Antarctica and Alaska.

Map courtesy of 5 gyres.

Within these enormous ocean junkyards, you aren’t likely to see giant pieces of plastic and other trash floating on the surface. Animal ingestion and entanglement in larger types of marine debris is a major issue. But primarily, these garbage patches are made up of plastic that has broken down over time into smaller, sometimes microscopic, pieces. This plastic is suspended in a layer of the water column that reaches below the surface. Because most of the debris isn’t readily visible on the surface, the size of the garbage patch cannot be seen or tracked by satellite or aircraft.

These plastic particles that circulate through oceans act as sponges for contaminants that have washed through our watersheds. These persistent organic pollutants absorb into plastic in high concentrations. Once in the oceans, fish and other marine animals cannot avoid eating this minute particles, so plastic enters the ocean food chain at its most basic level. These fish are then eater by other fish and organisms, delivering this pollution to onto our dinner plate.

So who is responsible for cleaning up these oceanic garbage dumps? Because these gyres are so far from any country’s coastline, no nation has been willing to take responsibility. It’s up to concerned citizens to make this issue a priority. One group that has stepped up to inform and inspire the public about this issue is 5 Gyres. Through events and other outreach opportunities around the country, including at both National Aquarium venues in 2012, the group aims to conduct research and employ strategies to eliminate the accumulation of plastic pollution.

Since plastics are not going away, we as a culture need to figure out how to balance our use of these items with awareness and concern for their impact on the environment. This issue may seem insurmountable, but even one person cutting back on their plastic consumption can make a difference starting today.

Did you know? Approximately 29 billion bottles are purchased every year in the United States. Make a pledge to reduce your consumption of plastic bottles today and help us take better care of our oceans! 

A Blue View: Studying Dolphin Behaviors

A Blue View is a weekly perspective on the life aquatic, hosted by National Aquarium CEO John Racanelli.

From the smallest plants and animals invisible to the human eye to entire ecosystems, every living thing depends on and is intricately linked by water.

Tune in to 88.1 WYPR every Tuesday at 5:45 pm as John brings to the surface important issues and fascinating discoveries making waves in the world today.

May 22, 2013: Studying Dolphin Behaviors

Click here to listen to marine mammal researcher
Cynthia Turner describe using enrichment as a research tool

 

Dolphins are highly intelligent, social, playful animals. As we work to understand these amazing creatures, research is an essential part of  our mission at the Aquarium. Our Atlantic bottlenose dolphins are participating in a study consisting of enrichment trials in an effort to understand more about dolphin behaviors, namely, emitting large bubble spheres from their blowholes.

Enrichment provides opportunities to animals to become engaged in something that will hopefully be fulfilling for them. In the bubble sphere enrichment study, staff put together 10 different types of novel enrichment that the dolphins had not previously experienced. Each enrichment is presented to the dolphins in front of the glass four days in a row, and a video records the dolphins and the bubble spheres that are generated. Independent reviewers will look at the tapes and count the bubbles to see if there is a correlation to the number of bubble spheres and exposure to the enrichment.

The Chimp Parade has been one of the favorites so far. The hamster, chimp, and duck are robotic, and they all move when activated. The stars on the chimp’s springy headband have flashing LEDs, and there is a similar star on the back of the duck’s wagon. The vertical object behind the chimp with the silver pipe cleaners on the end and purple, green, and red ribbons is actually a large spring that sways when the skateboard moves.

Another enrichment exercise involves bubble wrap being popped against the glass of our exhibit. Watch Beau and Foster respond to the bubble wrap by emitting bubble spheres: