On this trip, our team was fortunate enough to see many tiger sharks, a small whale shark, giant manta rays and mobula rays, and schools of dolphins, tuna and marlin. All in all it was an incredible showing of marine wildlife and a successful trip in terms of collecting new data.
Despite incredibly warm waters, part of the building El Niño conditions, our whale shark team, led by Turtle Island’s Science Director Alex Hearn and Jonathan Green, have finally encountered whale sharks at Darwin Arch in the Galapagos Islands.
Conservation groups filed a lawsuit today challenging last-minute exemptions for industries in the new “waters of the United States” rule that could open the door to more pollution of wetlands, streams and other waterways. The rule, finalized in May by the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, defines which waterways can be protected against being destroyed, degraded, or polluted without a permit under the Clean Water Act.
Implying that our oceans somehow be ‘cleared’ of sharks is a dangerous notion. But it is not a novel one. It has been tried before and it is called culling. In Western Australia baited lines were attached to floating drums to catch sharks off popular beaches.
Are you a whale watcher? Do you know you can help track whales by reporting when you see them!
Ron is one of the featured photographer’s in Photography for a Change’s incredible online show. As a quick recap for those of you who haven’t already heard, Photography for a Change, provides exquisite photographs of our natural environs. This show features four photographers who have generously donated their images and prints to support Turtle Island Restoration Network.
Last week Turtle Island Restoration Network ‘s Salmon Protection And Watershed Network (SPAWN) teamed up with CA Fish & Wildlife biologists to rescue salmon trapped in drying pools including “Roy’s Pools,” located on the San Geronimo Golf Course and El Cerrito Creek, a small tributary of San Geronimo Creek.
A rare endangered leatherback sea turtle was spotted off the Golden Gate this past weekend, an apparent early and rare arrival to the area.
The first time I saw an image of a finned shark I was appalled. The shark was sinking in clear beautiful blue water without it’s classic dorsal fin.
During a recent scientific expedition to Cocos Island National Park (May 4-15, 2015), small two and three passenger submarines known as submersibles were used to deploy acoustic listening stations at 180 m (590 ft) depth, an inflatable boat was used to catch sharks and implant acoustic tracking tags, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, also known as drones) were used to patrol from above in search of marine wildlife below. The expedition was directed by Randall Arauz, Central American Director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network (Turtle Island), in collaboration with Costa Rica’s National System of Protected Areas (SINAC) and the Cocos Island Marine Conservation Area (ACMIC), and with the companies Alucia Productions II, Precision Integrated and Aeroval.
