June 30, 2020 By Emma Bryce and Mary Flora Hart chinadialogue ocean
There are five trillion pieces of plastic in the ocean. Here’s how they got there, what it’s doing to marine life, and some potential solutions.
June 29, 2020 By Christina Couch Smithsonian Magazine
Deborah Giles and her dog are on a mad search for floating poop. Killer whale poop, to be precise. Giles, a killer whale biologist at the University of Washington’s Center for Conservation Biology, is cruising the Strait of Juan De Fuca, a roughly 15-mile-wide inlet between Canada’s Vancouver Island and Washington state. The coastal waterway is a hotspot for migrating killer whales. Lately, the waters have been calmer and quieter because of boating and border restrictions enacted in the wake of COVID-19. That is why Giles has brought her scat-tracking dog, Eba, who will sniff the air as the boat cruises then start licking her lips, whining, and barking as they get closer to killer whale excrement.
June 24, 2020 By Doug Johnson Hakai Magazine
After a fishing boat ran aground on a fragile atoll, the consequences for the ecosystem were alarming—and curious.
June 24, 2020 By Rachel Zalucki Honolulu Civil Beat
On Tuesday morning, a small crowd formed near Pier 29 to welcome the crew of the sailing vessel KWAI back from their 48-day voyage, during which they collected 103 tons of garbage from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
June 22, 2020 Circular
Scientists led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel have now, for the first time, examined plastic items that have verifiably been at the abyssal seabed for more than 20 years. As the researchers publish in the online journal Scientific Reports, they could not find any traces of fragmentation or even degradation.