---

Feature Destination

Conservation Photography with Karim & Jack

---

What’s In Our Newsroom

---

The FREE Weekly Conservation Post and Jobs List

Signing up for the free Weekly Newsletter & Jobs List will get you a round-up of upcoming events, webinars, meetings, reports, funding opportunities, photos of the week, and recent postings to the jobs list.

To sign up for our free subscription, please Click Here or email us Here. 

Since 2004, SEVENSEAS Media has fostered an informal and non-partisan platform to promote understanding of key issues and challenges while building partnerships across an increasingly diverse group of marine conservation professionals and students.

Our mission is to promote communication and build partnerships across the global marine community and to identify and address gaps in the community’s work. SEVENSEAS Media achieves this through multimedia promotion and partnerships. The community consists of a diverse and growing group of participants, including non-governmental organizations, government agencies, foundations, bilateral and multilateral agencies, fellowship programs, independent consultants, and academia/students.

If you are interested in contributing or getting involved, email us Here. 

---

The FREE Distinguished Speaker Series brings global scientists, conservationists, researchers and educators to Museum guests of all ages

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – The Museum of Discovery and Science (MODS) and the Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and caring for the world’s oceans, with a specific focus on sharks and rays, today announced an international lineup of environmental speakers for the upcoming Distinguished Speaker Series. The goal is to increase awareness of the environmental, social and economic importance of ocean protection here and across the world and to educate people to make a difference. 

“As Broward County’s dynamic hub for dialogue regarding resiliency and community solutions to the impact of climate change, MODS is the space to have these conversations,” said Joseph P. Cox, president and CEO at MODS. “Working together to create intelligent and feasible solutions to combat climate change starts with public education. Now is the time to have these conversations and to take an active and intentional role in the health of our planet.”

The lineup for 2022 Save Our Seas Distinguished Speaker Series at MODS includes scientists from around the globe who will discuss their research discoveries across a spectrum of topics: from white sharks to hammerheads, lemon and deep-sea sharks, whale sharks, manta rays, community engagement, ocean education and conservation and much more! Attendees look forward to the always-popular Deep Sea Shark Expert Panel Discussion, featuring prominent researchers and conservationists from across the region. These speakers are all eminent scientists supported by the Save Our Seas Foundation for their research on endangered sharks and rays.

“The challenges faced by our oceans and their inhabitants today are concerning for communities across the globe. To bring about sustainable and effective change, there is a need to weave together the strands of research, conservation and education,” said Dr. James Lea, CEO of Save Our Seas Foundation. “Through our partnership with MODS, we are sharing the latest innovative research in marine life and ocean conservation to encourage local actions by communities.”

2022 Save Our Seas Distinguished Speaker Series at 6 p.m. EDT
(Program lineup is subject to change)

• April 7 – White Sharks and Community Safety with Greg Skomal, marine biologist, underwater explorer, photographer, aquarist and author with Boston University.
• May 5 – Hammerheads and Recreational Fishing with Jill Brooks, graduate student at Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology. 
• June 2 – Ocean Education and Conservation with Hannah Medd, founder of the American Shark Conservancy, and Candice Brittain, director of outreach and partnerships with Cape Eleuthera Institute in the Bahamas. 
• July 7 – Bonnethead Shark Ecology with Cheston Peterson, fisheries scientist with NOAA.
• August 4 – Sawfish Education with Jeff Whitty, founder of Sawfish Conservation Society. 
• August 30 – Whale Shark Tracking with Jonathan R. Green, project founder and director of Galapagos Whale Shark Project, and Sofia Green, investigator and data analyst with Galapagos Whale Shark Project. 
• September 1 – Lemon Sharks and Pollution Effects with Andria Beal, postdoctoral collaborator with the Environmental Epigenetics Lab at Florida International University. 
• October 6 – Community Engagement and Local Knowledge Panel Discussion with Julia Wester, co-founder of the Field School, and Nadia Rubio, marine biologist and conservationist with Mar Sustentable Ciencia y Conservacion. 
• November 3 – Deep Sea Sharks Panel Discussion with Sofia Graça Aranha, biologist and PhD candidate with The Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere at the University of Algarve and University of Porto, and Diana Catarino, postdoctoral student with OKEANOS. 
• December 1 – Manta Rays and Commercial Fishing with Don Croll, professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz and co-founder of Island Conservation, and Melissa Cronin, PhD candidate in the Conservation Action Lab at the University of California Santa Cruz. 

MODS has become Broward’s Hub for Resiliency Education, anchoring and championing the community’s conversation, education and action regarding environmental sustainability and resiliency. As an extension of The Community Foundation of Broward’s goal to make the county a more livable and resilient place to call home, MODS is the lead organization, creating a network among Broward nonprofits to elevate and educate residents about the critical issue of climate change and environmental sustainability.

For more information and to register for 2022 Save Our Seas Distinguished Speaker Series at MODS, please visit mods.org/2022saveourseas. 

---

ABOUT SAVE OUR SEAS FOUNDATION:

Founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2003, the Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF) is a philanthropic organization that aims to protect and care for the world’s oceans. Its support for research, conservation and education projects worldwide focuses primarily on endangered species of sharks, rays and skates, as well as their habitats. Three permanent SOSF research and education centres reinforce its action in the Seychelles, South Africa and the USA. Over the past 19 years, the SOSF has supported 425 projects in 85 countries, passionately upholding the founder’s pledge to protect the populations of sharks, rays and skates whose presence is essential to the health and biological diversity of our seas. For more information about the Save Our Seas Foundation, please visit saveourseas.com.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY AND SCIENCE (MODS):

Founded in 1976 as the Discovery Center, today the Museum of Discovery and Science (MODS) is at the forefront of science education, innovation and exploration. MODS connects people to inspiring science. The Museum encompasses more than 150,000 square feet of interactive exhibits. This includes all of our permanent and travelling exhibits, as well as our outdoor Science Park. Families can enjoy super science shows and demonstrations, wild Creature Feature animal encounters, private experiences, mind-blowing Makerspace labs, cool camps, unforgettable birthday parties, engaging field trips and STEM curricula, professional development workshops for educators, distinguished speakers, and more. In addition to daily hours, MODS is currently offering virtual and offsite programming. MODS’ STEMobile delivers STEM education on location across South Florida! A STEMobile experience ranges from one-hour to full day with programming for pre-kindergarten through adults and is available for schools, community centres, corporate team building and special events! All programs can be customized for time, group size and age group. Book a STEMobile visit today. Free programs and scholarships are available!

The Museum celebrates diversity and welcomes visitors from all walks of life. The Museum hours are Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. MODS is located downtown at 401 SW Second Street, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33312. For more information about the Museum, please visit mods.org or call 954.467.MODS (6637).

---

The medieval settlement of Unguja Ukuu, on the Zanzibar Archipelago off the coast of Tanzania, was a key port in an extensive Indian Ocean trade network that linked eastern Africa, southern Arabia, India and Southeast Asia.

Our archaeological research shows how human activities between the seventh and twelfth centuries AD irreversibly modified the shoreline around the site. At first, these changes may have helped the trading settlement develop, but later they may have contributed to its decline and abandonment.

Ancient seafaring

For millennia, the Indian Ocean has been the maritime setting for an early form of globalisation. Large trade networks operated across the vast ocean, foreshadowing modern global shipping networks. Unguja Ukuu was a crucial location in this early trade and an important node in the nascent slave trade out of continental Africa.

Unguja Ukuu was an active settlement from the mid-first millennium until the early second millennium AD. Archaeological evidence and historical accounts suggest Unguja Ukuu is one of the earliest known trading settlements on the Swahili coast.

The rise and fall of trading ports

To understand how and why early ports thrived or declined, it is important to know how the coastal landscape influenced the way traders operated. This includes their choice of mooring locations and their connections to inland locations. 

But the question of how these commercial activities in turn modified the coastline has received less attention.

Unguja Ukuu prospered in an ecologically marginal zone, hemmed in between the sandy back-reef shore of Menai Bay and mangrove-banked creeks to the east. 

Menai Bay afforded shelter from monsoonal storms and navigable waterways across the shallow inner shelf to the shore. It also provided food and other materials from the mangrove habitat. 

This landscape enabled the emergence of the farming, fishing, and trading settlement of Unguja Ukuu.

Sediment, sand and shells

We studied sediments, back-beach sands, and shells at Unguja Ukuu to understand how the settlement had affected its own environment. We found the accumulation of coastal sediments over centuries led to significant changes in the landscape.

Detritus from the settlement, such as food remains, hearths and other domestic waste, helped the beach spread outward into the sea. Our analyses show how human waste and the compaction of ancient surfaces drove the coastline change, supporting the emergence of a major trading site.

As more land was used for urban living and agriculture, more sediment moved from the land to the sea. This contributed to rapid growth of beach fronts, physically altering the coastal landscape and the ecological conditions of the adjacent sea-scape. 

These changes in turn could have resulted in habitat shifts and silting of the lagoon which possibly contributed to Unguja Ukuu’s decline. 

Early human impacts

Human-made processes might also be implicated in the decline and eventual abandonment of Unguja Ukuu in the second millennium AD. This was an important period in the socio-political and economic transformation of coastal African societies, marking the emergence of maritime Swahili culture. 

But suggesting a purely environmental cause for the settlement’s abandonment would be too simplistic. The interaction of coastal villages and harbours with their dynamic landscapes may have had a role in this regional reorganisation of settlements, harbours, and trade flows.

New advances in archaeological science techniques, combined with systematic archaeological analyses, are increasingly allowing us to disentangle natural from human-made drivers of events. Such work often reveals far earlier human impacts than once envisioned, shedding light on the early roots of Earth’s current geological epoch: the Anthropocene, in which human activity is a key force reshaping the planet. 

Human-made soil

Our work records snapshots of the evolution of a natural coastal system at the fringes of an early settlement. 

River sediments were covered by beach sands containing increasing amounts of human waste accumulating from the mid-seventh century AD. This backshore activity area was used for small-scale subsistence activities (including processing shells for meat), trade, and the dumping of industrial waste. 

Earlier urban development shaped Unguja Ukuu’s soils over the long term and through periods of settlement decline and abandonment from the twelfth century AD onwards. A dark earth “anthrosol” (human-made soil) continues to evolve on these archaeological deposits today, supporting cultivation in and around the modern town.

Dark human-made soils such as these, formed by the rapid decay of organic- and phosphate-rich waste from the settlement, may be used as markers for as-yet-undiscovered archaeological sites on the eastern African coast. Their distinctive dark colour renders the soils easily identifiable on satellite images and other remote-sensing datasets.

Understanding the past to shape the future

Our study clearly shows how human modification of natural environments affected coastal landscapes on an East African island more than 1,000 years ago. These findings are a reminder that humans have been changing our environment for thousands of years – sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse. 

Studying history and archaeology is not simply about learning from our ancestors’ mistakes so that we don’t repeat them. It is also about ensuring that scientifically rigorous data that show how human activity in the past often altered the landscapes and environments in which people lived is effectively communicated, to both governments and the public. 

If we can do this we might be able to make better informed sustainable choices for the future of our planet.

See the original post here…

---