Living Oceans Foundation fights ocean pollution in Small Island Developing States
By GENA GIBBS
Nassau, The Bahamas
FIGHTING for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to have the scientific right to ecological protection is the mission of Khaled bin Sultan's Living Oceans Foundation.
After prior extensive aerial surveys and reconnaissance of the Cay Sal Bank, the first expedition will take place there on April 26.
Prince Khaled bin Sultan of the Saudi Royals began his foundation 10 years ago and is now funding a five-year global expedition. Since one of his passions is deep-ocean diving, he said he feels a special connection to the ocean. He has chosen a team of scientists who are now evaluating the impact that global pollution has on marine life and human survival.
"The first thing people ask is who is Khaled bin Sultan? He is a Saudi Arabian Royal and he is the Assistant Minister of Defence and Aviation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," said Captain Phil Renault, executive director of the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation.
"So, everyone says, 'well how did he ever start this foundation?' About 15 years ago, he built these ships and the ship we're standing on right here is the Motor Yacht Golden Shadow. It is actually designed as a logistical support ship for the yacht he has."
Captain Renault explained that the captain of the ship in the mid 90s realised the Golden Shadow was an amazing platform to conduct oceanographic research. The yacht began to attract business from many oceanographers and researchers from around the world.
"And then someone advised the Prince that might be the proper time to establish a foundation, and that was the genesis of the Khalid bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation. We just turned 10 years old," said Captain Renault.
"I consider the first decade of our foundation to be a developmental phase and the first generation in building capabilities and capacities. We are looking forward to entering what I consider the second generation of the Living Oceans Foundation and that is this global reef expedition. It is a very, very ambitious project."
The Living Oceans Foundation chose the Bahamas to launch their "Science Without Borders" research project on board the Motor Yacht Golden Shadow to examine the coral reef systems in the Red Sea, Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
The foundation spent their first 10 years finding a niche in coral reef studies and surveys. Now they will spend the next five years going around the world mapping, characterising, and surveying the ocean resources.
"Beginning right here in the Bahamas, we'll take this ship around the world and we'll survey both remote and near shore coral reefs. We're going to look across gradients of biodiversity, and man-made stress, and try to close some of these scientific gaps," said Captain Renault.
"We have some significant gaps in the scientific knowledge on these coral reef ecosystems and our contribution will be to applied science. Products and outputs from this big project can go directly towards management and that's where it all becomes important."
Captain Renault said that global resource managers in business to protect coral reefs and their future natural sustainability are hungry for information.
"They are hungry for maps and they are hungry for outputs from a project like ours," said Captain Renault.
April 13, 2011
tribune242
An International Caribbean Online Log about the news and opinions in the Americas and World. This Caribbean Blog of global reach and appeal is maintained by Bahamian Blogger - Dennis Dames with all readers and subscribers in mind.
Showing posts with label marine life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marine life. Show all posts
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Monday, March 1, 2010
Disappearing reefs threaten marine life
tribune242/editorial:
WE WANT to thank our loyal readers who from time to time send us news item they think might interest us, but which we might have missed.
In the past week we have received information picked up on the BBC about the lack of needed knowledge in the Caribbean about the warning signs of an approaching tsunami, and information from London's Mail Online about disappearing coral reefs.
The Mail article by David Derbyshire in San Diego reports scientists as predicting that the rising acid levels in the "seas and the warmer ocean temperatures are wiping out the spectacular reefs enjoyed by millions of divers, tourists and wildlife lovers.
"The destruction would also be a disaster for tropical fish and marine life which use coral reefs as nurseries and feeding grounds," Mr Derbyshire wrote.
Dr Jacob Silverman from the Carnegie Institution in Washington, was quoted as saying that rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were making seas more acidic.
And so, although scientists are disputing whether global man-caused greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is warming the climate, there now is evidence that it is certainly warming our seas, creating more acid, which in turn is breaking up subterranean coral.
Dr Silverman's studies have led him to believe that reefs stop growing and start breaking up when the amount of greenhouse gas reaches twice its pre-industrial level.
He predicted that if present trends continue this could happen by the end of the century.
"These ecosystems, which harbour the highest diversity of marine life in the oceans, may be severely reduced within less than 100 years," he said.
Dr Silverman told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego that reef-building corals are highly sensitive to the acidity and temperature of the seawater in which they grow.
To illustrate the article a dramatic photograph was shown of a mass of dead coral, bleached white. The photo was taken at Australia's Great Barrier Reef, known for its abundant marine life. Scientists believe that rising levels of acid in the sea will kill these reefs within a century.
If man does nothing to reverse this trend, and if it continues at the present rate, another source of man's food will disappear. Recently, there was the bee scare. Scientists were alarmed at the rapidly decreasing colony of bees. Without them there would be no pollination, and without pollination man's food chain would collapse.
Recently, we saw a scientist showing a Bahamian farmer how to care for tomato plants. He told him that every day he should stop at each plant and gently agitate the branch with a flick of the finger. We asked why. "Pollination," he replied, "we have to do the work of the bees, when there are no bees."
And so man's fish supply is being threatened, his meat supply is threatened -- no feed for the animals -- and his plant supply is threatened, while man still debates whether it's necessary to reduce industrial carbon-dioxide emissions. So whichever way we approach the problem, man is digging his own grave. And don't forget, the homes of Bahamians sit atop coral reefs.
And now for the lack of knowledge in the Caribbean to recognise an approaching tsunami.
Dr Hermann Fritz, a civil engineering professor from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and four Haitian colleagues travelled around the coast of Haiti gathering information about a tsunami that was triggered by the 7.0 Port-au-Prince earthquake.
"This was a relatively small event," Dr Fritz told BBC News. "Most of the fatalities were due to the earthquake, but at least three victims we know of survived the earthquake and were hit by the wave."
These three victims were a father and his two young sons. They were standing close to the shore in Petit Paradis, watching the wave instead of heading for higher ground.
"And on the border [with the Dominican Republic], fishermen were taking photos and videos of the draw-down of the sea," he said.
This ominous draw-back in the water level is a classic sign that a big wave is approaching.
"It demonstrated a lack of [tsunami] education," Dr Fritz said. "It was pure luck that the misinformation did not kill more people in this case."
And on Saturday before the all-clear was called on the tsunami watch in Hawaii -- the result of the Chile earthquake -- a CNN announcer reporting from high ground drew viewers attention to a lone figure on the beach below watching as the ocean sucked the sea from the beach. He was obviously a tourist unaware that this was the first sign of an approaching tsunami.
Instead of fleeing for high ground, he stood and watched.
March 01, 2010
tribune242
WE WANT to thank our loyal readers who from time to time send us news item they think might interest us, but which we might have missed.
In the past week we have received information picked up on the BBC about the lack of needed knowledge in the Caribbean about the warning signs of an approaching tsunami, and information from London's Mail Online about disappearing coral reefs.
The Mail article by David Derbyshire in San Diego reports scientists as predicting that the rising acid levels in the "seas and the warmer ocean temperatures are wiping out the spectacular reefs enjoyed by millions of divers, tourists and wildlife lovers.
"The destruction would also be a disaster for tropical fish and marine life which use coral reefs as nurseries and feeding grounds," Mr Derbyshire wrote.
Dr Jacob Silverman from the Carnegie Institution in Washington, was quoted as saying that rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were making seas more acidic.
And so, although scientists are disputing whether global man-caused greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is warming the climate, there now is evidence that it is certainly warming our seas, creating more acid, which in turn is breaking up subterranean coral.
Dr Silverman's studies have led him to believe that reefs stop growing and start breaking up when the amount of greenhouse gas reaches twice its pre-industrial level.
He predicted that if present trends continue this could happen by the end of the century.
"These ecosystems, which harbour the highest diversity of marine life in the oceans, may be severely reduced within less than 100 years," he said.
Dr Silverman told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego that reef-building corals are highly sensitive to the acidity and temperature of the seawater in which they grow.
To illustrate the article a dramatic photograph was shown of a mass of dead coral, bleached white. The photo was taken at Australia's Great Barrier Reef, known for its abundant marine life. Scientists believe that rising levels of acid in the sea will kill these reefs within a century.
If man does nothing to reverse this trend, and if it continues at the present rate, another source of man's food will disappear. Recently, there was the bee scare. Scientists were alarmed at the rapidly decreasing colony of bees. Without them there would be no pollination, and without pollination man's food chain would collapse.
Recently, we saw a scientist showing a Bahamian farmer how to care for tomato plants. He told him that every day he should stop at each plant and gently agitate the branch with a flick of the finger. We asked why. "Pollination," he replied, "we have to do the work of the bees, when there are no bees."
And so man's fish supply is being threatened, his meat supply is threatened -- no feed for the animals -- and his plant supply is threatened, while man still debates whether it's necessary to reduce industrial carbon-dioxide emissions. So whichever way we approach the problem, man is digging his own grave. And don't forget, the homes of Bahamians sit atop coral reefs.
And now for the lack of knowledge in the Caribbean to recognise an approaching tsunami.
Dr Hermann Fritz, a civil engineering professor from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and four Haitian colleagues travelled around the coast of Haiti gathering information about a tsunami that was triggered by the 7.0 Port-au-Prince earthquake.
"This was a relatively small event," Dr Fritz told BBC News. "Most of the fatalities were due to the earthquake, but at least three victims we know of survived the earthquake and were hit by the wave."
These three victims were a father and his two young sons. They were standing close to the shore in Petit Paradis, watching the wave instead of heading for higher ground.
"And on the border [with the Dominican Republic], fishermen were taking photos and videos of the draw-down of the sea," he said.
This ominous draw-back in the water level is a classic sign that a big wave is approaching.
"It demonstrated a lack of [tsunami] education," Dr Fritz said. "It was pure luck that the misinformation did not kill more people in this case."
And on Saturday before the all-clear was called on the tsunami watch in Hawaii -- the result of the Chile earthquake -- a CNN announcer reporting from high ground drew viewers attention to a lone figure on the beach below watching as the ocean sucked the sea from the beach. He was obviously a tourist unaware that this was the first sign of an approaching tsunami.
Instead of fleeing for high ground, he stood and watched.
March 01, 2010
tribune242
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