Adventures in Ocean Stewardship

 Unintended consequences are when one does something for one result and unintentionally gets other results. One example of this is in India. Vets were using diclofenac which is a painkiller for cattle. When the use of the drug started people didn't see a problem because most of the cattle were being raised for milk and not meat. However as the cattle died vultures consumed the meat of the cattle causing many vultures to die. As the vulture population declined stray dogs also consumed the meat causing them to become aggressive and rabid. The government put a ban on the use of diclofenac, but people fear that the damage has been done. So, what was just intended as a painkiller for cattle had unintended consequences.   https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/indian-vultures-are-dying-for-some-good-news/ More in-depth story on the vultures.

    The Mess in Macquarie     The devastating events that took place in the Macquarie Island are great examples of when environmentalism has a perverse result, and the good intentions end up leaving things worse than they were found. The island, between Antarctica and Australia, soon became known for its vast quantity of fur seals, attracting many hunters. With the many new hunters arriving, rats made their way on ships as well and infested the island. To solve this problem, many cats were introduced, as well as rabbits to feed any stranded sailors. While this seemed to be a smart move, it backfired when the overpopulation of cats killed all the rare birds of the island in a short amount of time. They were then removed, leaving the rabbit population to breed rapidly. They soon consumed about 40% of the island's vegetation and hopefully inspired scientists to look further into long-term effects before pursuing their plans.

          Ocean Acidification: Our oceans are carbon sinks, which means that they actually absorb great amounts of CO2. However, they haven't always been this way. Before the industrial era, oceans were actually natural CO2 PRODUCERS, but with the increasing levels of CO2 in our atmosphere, the system was reversed and they started to absorb CO2.  Scientists used to think of the ocean as a solution for the increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. It was believed that the ocean "would take care of the problem for us". However, they would soon come to notice that their "solution" would come with any unintended consequences.  Once dissolved in the ocean, a carbon atom will stay there for more than 500 years. However, Carbon Dioxide changes the acidity of the water, leading to a process called ocean acidification that impacts all marine life. In the past 200 years, the ocean has become 30% more acidic. Although a change in pH of .1 or more might...

The Osborne Reef Jan 12, 2022       In the 1960s and 70s, over 2 million used tires were dumped in the Atlantic Ocean in an attempt to create the longest artificial reef in the world. The tires were meant to provide a reef-like habitat to combat major coral reef loss off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, FL.    Although the reef was meant to have positive environmental effects, the opposite happened. The problem with the Osborne Reef is that over time, the saltwater corroded the restraints the bound the tires together in the reef formation. The tires now float around at the bottom of the ocean, becoming projectiles and destroying any coral structure or reefs in their path.      The clean-up process for the Osborne reef has been slow. Recovering the tires is a time-consuming and expensive project. Despite the progress made, approximately 2/3 of the tires remain.  https://www.4ocean.com/pages/osborne-reef Here's a 4Ocean page with plenty of videos ...

  Plastic Pollution From Online Shopping Although the video mentioned Amazon, most companies use some form of plastic in their packaging. The best solution is for people to stop shopping online, but since that is most likely not going to happen, enough public pressure can help solve the problem.  Online shopping is convenient, which is in part due to its simplicity. Amazon of all companies benefits from it. Consumers look up what they want to buy and add it to their cart. From there, they purchase it and wait for it to arrive. However, repeated online shopping leads to a dependence on it while simultaneously harming the environment. We might not always see the effects from our online shopping, or the bottled water we bought last week, but it's still there nonetheless. If we collectively stop ordering stuff online, or even from one big corporation like Amazon, we would save billions of plastics per year that would've ended up in the ocean. One person produces around 68 pounds o...

       Lolita the killer whale has been entertaining families and young kids for over 50 years. Her tricks and performances have always ben captivating to watch but its time for her to be  released into the wild. Her "home" is at the Miami Seaquarium. This aquarium has been open since 1955 and Lolita has been there since August 1980. That means she has been in captivity for 51 years. Lolita or Tokitae has been separated from her family all these years and they still miss her and they know that she's gone. Orca's are animals that travel and live as a pack or family. Even when entrepreneurs organized the large-scale capture of Tokitae and her pod, her mother tried to separate Tokitae and the other young whales to keep them from getting captured. Sadly Tokitae and her siblings were spotted when they came up for air by a helicopter part of the operation. She was then sold and separated from her family for the last 51 years. Many say that it is a miracle that sh...

 History: In the early 1970s, a nonprofit group suggested using the tires to create an artificial reef. They thought that the tire reef would help with new coral growth, attract more fish and marine life, improve biodiversity, and benefit the economy in the area. Over two million tires were thrown into this reef.  The problem:  Over time, saltwater corroded the restraints that held the tires together. The loose tires move with great force that has made marine life suffer even more. Buy this bracelet to help fund the growth of the cleanup of these tires! https://www.4ocean.com/products/the-osborne-reef-bracelet Watch these videos for more information on 4Oceans mission and more information on the problem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjRXf85aCyw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqBkZIKv58o More info here - https://www.leisurepro.com/blog/ocean-news/lesson-failure-osborne-reef/

     The Osborne Tire Reef is an artificial reef that was made in the 1970s. It was originally supposed to expand on an already existing reef and be a way to dispose of old tires. People were hopeful that it would create new habitats for sea life and corals would eventually grow onto the tires. However, when the tires were placed in the water the nylon straps holding the tires together corroded. The tires very quickly became to mobile and destroyed everything in their path. Many environmental groups like 4Ocean have begun to remove the tires but it is a slow going process. So far 1/3 of the tires have been recovered from this man-made reef. Hopefully, these efforts continue just as strongly in the future. https://www.projectbaselinegulfstream.com/the-osborne-tire-reef/

  OVERFISHING Some Impacts of Overfishing - Loss of Biodiversity in Ecosystems - When species such as bluefin tuna and monkfish are overfished, whole ecosystems can be affected. Species such as these are relied on by other species in many ways (as a source of food, for controlling the population of other species, and for keeping an ecosystem balanced in general), and without them, communities could have havoc wreaked upon them. - Bycatch - The NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association) defines bycatch as "fish [or] other animals such as dolphins, whales, sea turtles, and seabirds that can become hooked or entangled in fishing gear". While losing a few of these precious animals in a day may not seem like a huge issue to some, bycatch can contribute to, once again, a loss of biodiversity and keystone species in habitats by killing such animals. Harmful Fishing Methods - Bottom Trawling - Bottom trawling is a method of fishing where a large net is dragged across the o...

 Calista Honick  Orca Whales in Captivity https://us.whales.org/our-4-goals/end-captivity/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA8vSOBhCkARIsAGdp6RTiT2wNXgJf9lOQb_nbYgh-PApjCtWjxPTcXWuX6erOj-6N6udWX40aAsidEALw_wcB Companies that keep orca whales in captivity create an unnatural environment for the animals. Because the ocean differs so greatly from giant glass windows that limit the whales, this ultimately affects the animals' behavior. Such a giant disruption to their way of living can result in aggression towards trainers and other whales. However, this behavior is warranted because of the significant reduction to their area for swimming, number of interactions with other whales, and the loss of their family through the capturing process.  https://whalesanctuaryproject.org/whales/tilikum-the-whale-who-rebelled/ Tilikum Tilikum was an orca whale that was captured in 1983 and presented by multiple companies. This whale is known for three different attacks against trainers while one resu...

     The Nassau Grouper is an extremely important spices here in Florida and also all around the Caribbean. The Nassau grouper is in fact a keystone species, meaning its is extremely important for the balance and well being of our marine biodiversity and health of our oceans. One of the unique things that they do is they all meet up in one place in very large groups to reproduce. This has been very harmful for this species though. This has given fisherman an easy way to catch many of these fish at once. Because of this there has been a lot of harm done and the number of this spices all around has dramatically gone down. If anything this fish need to be protected because of how much of an impact they have. Here is a youtube link that will tell you a little more about this fish (Nassau Grouper) What About The Nassau Grouper! | Life Of The Sea | Wildlife Documentary Other sources: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/nassau-grouper -Ramsey Huggins