Coral Reef Resource to bookmark

Online Coral Reef Resource Now Available at reefrelieffounders.com

Dear friends and Reef Relief founders Craig and DeeVon Quirolo retired from the Key West based grassroots organization last July, only to begin a comprehensive effort to provide an online resource on coral reefs.  Their new website provides all the award-winning educational tools, grassroots strategies, project reports and images of coral reefs assembled during their work over the past 23 years in the Florida Keys and throughout the Caribbean protecting coral reefs.  You can find it at www.reefrelieffounders.com.
“We just wanted to insure that others can learn from our experiences and continue the important work of saving endangered coral reefs,” noted DeeVon in a recent note.  “Craig’s image archive from all the years he monitored coral reefs, especially those revealing new coral diseases, are invaluable to researchers, students, media, divers and the general public to learn about coral reefs.  We hope to inspire a new generation of sea

U.S. Coast Guard|by PO3 Walter Shinn

November 18, 2009 - JUNEAU, Alaska – The Coast Guard Cutter Polar Sea, the world’s most powerful non-nuclear icebreaker, will moor at the South Franklin Pier in Juneau and is scheduled to open for public tours.

The Polar Sea is returning to its homeport in Seattle after completing a 101 day deployment, 60 which were above the Arctic Circle. Although the crew of the Polar Sea has conducted multiple patrols in the Arctic, this would mark the cutter’s first science deployment in more than a decade concluding the cutter’s Arctic West Fall 2009 deployments.

The first phase took place over the course of two weeks in mid-September and involved 34 scientists from the Naval Research Laboratory led by Dr. Richard Coffin. The scientists met the cutter off Barrow, Alaska and conducted coring operations to study sediment composition. They were also involved in taking water samples to study temperature, salinity and levels of oxygen at varying

Madrid — The Oceana Ranger catamaran is equipped with a robot that has dived down to 500 meters depth to film species that are rarely spotted, or have never even been seen, in the Canarian archipelago.

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The goal of the expedition is to identify areas that should be turned into marine protected areas. Only 2.7% of the EU’s marine surface area is protected, but the United Nations calls for 10%.

Oceana has found around a dozen species in the Canary Islands whose existence in the archipelago was unknown until now. Glass and rock sponges, ball, white and black coral, and armored searobin are some of the species that have been found. A wide variety of rare species, or species for which hardly any biological information is known, were also able to be filmed live, including channeled rockfish, anglerfish, silver and pink gallo fish, fan coral, bathyal sea fans, Venus fly-trap anemones, and lollipops sponges.

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HD PodCast - Got KIDS? Too bad.

Too bad more television shows are not produced for young kids. I hear complaints from parents who state most children programming is animation cartoon based. One DVD called The Reef has animated fish, but they don’t teach anything about the Ocean. The fish character speak English, have human-like roles, engage in social situations about every aspect of life with little to nothing about the reef or fishes. Have you ever seen a fish talk? So what is the educational message?

How about a television show about the Ocean in a format kids can enjoy? Young kids can’t experience the reef so let’s bring the reef to them.

Perhaps there is enough kids programming to satisfy the federal mandate, but few are designed to engage kids with science on their level or drive them to the local aquariums. Just more of the same after school cartoons. Boring…

With the exception of the host, this is a concept for kids. Unfortunately I missed the awesome opportunity to attend this year’s National Geographic Producers Workshop @ WGBN Boston. Gives my team a year to wait and hope we are selected next time. What a team!

• Host: Paul Dymon (temporary, cheap, stand-in for real talent)
• Voice of GOD: Bob Cummings (free labor)
• Announcer: Garry Lee Rosenberg (illegal alien)
• Music: (stolen from) Garry Lee Rosenberg
• ICE: Remote from Key West (slave labor)

NO ACT OF KINDNESS SHALL GO UNPUNISHED!

Best view is the HD PodCast on iTunes:  “CLICK” or try the pop-up player.

The second video is seven minutes filled with fun and laughs.

I am a huge fan of reduced consumption, pollution, and localizing commerce in an effort to reduce human impact on the planet. When Al Gore took an interest in Ecology it was time for the rest of us to worry.  Politicians make promises that are impossible, make snap decisions without all the facts, and spend money they don’t have. Imagine for a moment the Post Office and Dept of Motor Vehicle merging. That the future of socialized medical when the federal government gets hold of it.  Wait until we see the new Government Motors line of autos; don’t be surprised if there is a horse involved, most likely pushing.

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Attention Mr. Gore, the Academy (not of science; of moviegoers), and the brain-a-holics at Nobel (again not of science; of peace): Ice is supposed to fall off a glacier. That’s how the system works. Can you say FJORD? Some are hundreds of meters deep. Please tell me, how did that happen?

Al Gore doesn’t know if the glaciers are broken, or if they need fixing. If ice didn’t fall off the glaciers we would be back into an ICE AGE. What Gore did was insight fear and panic into the public opinion for personal gain and glory. Instead he is reward him with an Oscar and Nobel?

Here’s the good

I don’t like being negative, but I recently read an article that a soup of plastic debris floats off the coast of California, a testament to humanity’s reliance on plastic and the failure to dispose of it properly, which is why we Ocean lovers must be diligent and set the ecology example.

I first heard of this plastic-rich portion of the ocean way back in the 1970’s. It is a product of swirling currents, known as the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, that gather and concentrate debris. Like an iceberg of debris floating in the Pacific Ocean, the mass usually isn’t visible on the surface, but lurks just below. You can’t walk on it.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has become an early symbol of what some say is a looming trash crisis. But this floating mass of is hard to measure, few agree on how big it is or how much plastic it holds. That makes it difficult to determine what to do about it.

That hasn’t stopped activists and the media from using only the biggest estimates of the patch’s size to warn of an environmental catastrophe, which really captures the publics imagination, but to characterize it inaccurately is wrong and prone to exaggeration and mis-characterization. One thing is for sure; it is human trash and so it can be controlled.

It is difficult to know how to extrapolate the findings. The borders of the gyre shift between seasons, and some scientists argue that the high-plastic area is concentrated and confined to a relatively small part of the gyre.  So what let’s fix it, RIGHT?

I found a very interesting government study based on research from 25 nations took park in the International Polar Year, 2007 – 2008. Follow both links.  Over 500 researchers [collectively and cooperatively] discovered dozens of new species in the polar seas.  That’s right seas with an s, plural.  Both polar seas have species in common that are just now discovered.

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We have seen out into space to the beginning of time; the big bang. We can detect what a star is burning for fuel thousands of light years away, and yet the earth beneath us holds so many unsolved mysteries.

The newly discovered species are mostly invertebrates; simple life-forms without backbones, but all total as many as 235 species were found in both polar seas, including five whale species, six sea birds, and nearly 100 crustaceans.

The question is; With the same species at both poles separated by nearly 7,000 miles, where the pole regions connected in the evolutionary process? During the last ice age, or maybe the ice age before that?

The Earth is a dynamic planet meaning it is always changing, evolving in random cycles and that includes temperature. We just happen to live during a very nice period, so enjoy it.  But also take care of it as best you can.

NEWS FLASH: buried on PAGE 14 - Arctic ice sheet discovered

Earlier this week it was reported the global ice sheet was underestimated.  In their defense, there is a tremendous amount of ice on the Arctic Circle.  How much ice was found amounts to the size of California.

On the other hand: How the heck do you miss something the size of California?  The good news is we have more ice.

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PodCast # 008 is about another predator. Why? Because the web is good for bringing quick hits, shock value, what I call “kick-in-the-ass” content. Suddenly here comes HD2O.tv underwater video where everything is soooo sloooow, or is it.

• Ocean Fun Fact: Did you know the baracuba can swim at speeds reaching 30 MPH? Take a look at this Great Barracuda he’s hunter and predator they may follow divers, as they do larger fish, in the hopes of scavenging remains.

About this shot: As quickly as I got “ICE” to turn the camera this cuda snapped up a small fish near his leg.  Look closely; the minnow is in his teeth as he turns off to eat what remains.

Good thing barracuda don’t like the taste of humans?  You bet! because he sees us long before we see him. We’d have no chance, so remember ” Do No Harm” in hopes that no harm come to you or your fingers which could be gone in a second if you mess with this magnificent animal in his domain!

Remember: these clips are HD so they are large.  I recommend using the ‘pop-up player’ and they may take a moment to start.  For best viewing jump over the iTunes and subscribe to our HD Podcast! For absolute best viewing get the DVD from our store here, Or we send a barracuda to your home for a little visit.

Ask a Scientist: How sharks breathe varies by species :: Saving the Sharks :: Care2 Groups.

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This is an excellent explanation of how fish and some sharks draw water with muscles to breathe.

Answer-link :   (by Dale Madison, professor of biology at Binghamton University):

Google Maps Enhance Ocean Images - WSJ.com.  Good news for Ocean lovers, Google Inc. added imagery for the ocean floor to its popular 3-D mapping service Google Earth, which allows users to browse satellite images of the Earth’s terrain.

Google executives announced the enhancements at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, highlighting partners ranging from the U.S. Navy to National Geographic. The partners contributed data and tools to make the multiyear project possible.

LAS VEGAS, NV–(FreePress - February 2, 2009) - hd2o cameraflyer Joe “ICE” Berg, is on assignment to capture the Manatee.

A date and time will be determined by weather (daily conditions of the atmosphere in terms of temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind, and moisture), weather will determine whether (or not) ICE (the cameraflyer, not the weather condition) can get the shot (with a camera not a weapon). Any questions?   What’s a Manatee? <<Look it up link<<< or click on this handsome fellow below.  “Hey Manatee, why the long face?”

On assignment with HD2O

“We are speaking with local experts, seeking out the best ways to approach the animals without stressing them.”  ICE has a great presence with animals; they are somewhat comfortable around him. Perhaps it is his comfort level in their environment that sets the animals at ease?

But this post is about iTunes and a 30-second Barracuda clip posted there. You can watch it right now with the pop-up player, but for the best viewing experience I suggest viewing our HD2O PodCast withTunes. Check it out, Sign up, because Manatee clips are coming soon.

Do you want to see this guy’s video? Playing with our cameraflyer? (of course you do)

HD2O -  PodCast 007

The clip features a predator, the Barracuda! This animal is easy to find and fun to shoot because they don’t fear of man.  Our cameraflyer and crew were drifting to the end of a dive. The group (seen in this clip) was exploring the other side of the reef. Do you think they checked-out the ‘chops’ on this Great Barracuda?He was lurking under the ledge to duck out of the strong current, but barracuda rarely bother with humans, thank God.  This one is way more interested in its reflection in the camera, watch as he checks himself out in good light for our camera. One swish of that powerful tail and he can go from Zero to 30 mph instantly!  Click the in-line links for more detailed reading on the remarkable barracuda.

Next in the series on predators:

Podcast 008 Lunchtime with a Great Barracuda up close and personal.  Clear and visible in HD, you will see a fish he just caught as he calmly swims away. Stay tuned.

tip: Have you tried our flog search?  Just type a word of interest, Ocean stuff such as ‘tug boat’ or ’shark’ or HD topics like ‘color’ and see all related posts.  Also try the tag cloud, filled with popular keywords from published articles.

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Video Post: Stupid people in South Africa sell the chance to jump into a cage for a cheap thrill while they jerk food from the sharks, from the safety of a boat. They take tourist to ’shark alley’ and tease these majestic animals. Sharks are the top of the food chain, and the operator is teasing them calling it Eco-Tourism.  If this is somehow appealing to your ego? Imagine someone knocked your lunch on the floor. Then your friends come along and they jerk their lunch too.  Would you bite back? What happens to the next diver who doesn’t feed the shark? Now resident sharks in these fast food feeding zones expect man to show up with fast-food which might one day be a human life. This activity has altered the sharks behavior.

Take a look at what happens in this video. I can only hope the government of South Africa takes immediate action against the exploitation of Nature’s most magnificent predator before the next…