It was a bit hectic with COVID-19 this time. However, we manage to organise our cleanup event on Sunday 7th October 2021. This time, we managed to collect only 74 kilograms of marine debris from the beach which is a bit less than last time.

By undertaking these endeavours, we aimed to make a positive impact on our local environment while raising awareness about the significance of preserving our oceans. You can support us by making a DONATION HERE.

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PADI AWARE Foundation’s Dive Against Debris Highlights Socioeconomic Influences on Debris in Global Study

PADI AWARE Foundation™ has teamed up with CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, and Ocean Conservancy, the US-based advocacy non-profit, to highlight the role that socioeconomics plays on global hotspots of common debris items on land and the seafloor. Read more…

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Spiny Tiger Shrimp – Jack’s October 2021 Underwater Photograph

The Tiger Shrimp (Phyllognatia ceratophthalmus) is also called Spiny Tiger Shrimp, Bongo Shrimp, Horned Bumblebee Shrimp and one of Lembeh’s Top Crustaceans. See more…

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Imperiled Reef: The Fascinating, Fragile Life of a Caribbean Wonder

This book brings alive the richly diverse world of an underwater paradise: the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. Stretching 625 miles through the Caribbean Sea along the coasts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras, this reef is the second largest coral structure on the planet. Read more…

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Eco-friendly Sailing Adventures in the Florida Keys

The Florida Keys is one of America’s most popular vacation spots because of its miles and miles of splendid beaches, coral reefs, and shipwrecks that can only be completely explored by water. It is also a home to rich marine ecosystems, a variety of public nature parks and historical sites. Read more…

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The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation Completes the Largest Coral Reef Survey and Mapping Expedition in History

Coral reefs around the world are rapidly declining due to various natural and anthropogenic factors, including climate change, overfishing, pollution, and coastal development. Scientists estimate that we have already lost more than half of the world’s coral reefs, and we could lose the rest by the end of the century. Read more…

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Sex & The Symbiont: Can Algae Hookups Help Corals Survive?

A little more sexy time for symbionts could help coral reefs survive the trials of climate change. And that, in turn, could help us all. Researchers at Rice University and the Spanish Institute of Oceanography already knew the importance of algae known as dinoflagellates to the health of coral as the oceans warm, and – Read more…

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Fisheries Interactions More Threatening to Maui Nui Dolphins than Previously Thought

Researchers at Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF), a nonprofit organization protecting the ocean through science and advocacy since 1980, dove deep below the surface in a new study that could revolutionize how researchers evaluate the impact of fisheries interactions on dolphin populations. Read more…

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Ocean Hope Chronicles: The Mid-Ocean Mysteries of Humpback Whales

Documentary filmmaker and author, Andrew Stevenson was telling me how he began his work with humpback whales. It started when he was on the beach in Bermuda where he lived with his two-year-old daughter, Elsa. A humpback whale breached and landed with a loud boom. Read more

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SAWFISH NEWS: Seeking Wall for Endangered Sawfish Mural

Hey Florida, I’m working with the Sawfish Conservation Society, the Center for Biological Diversity, and artist Roger Peet to get us a sawfish mural (or two or three) as part of the Endangered Species Mural Project! Read more…

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Sunlight Can Bake Plastic Waste Into a Soup of Tens of Thousands of Organic Molecules

Leave a cheap plastic bag in the sun long enough and it’ll eventually crumble into a powdery mess, its petrochemical fragments destined to be blown far and wide by the elements. Microplastic fragments – considered a major ecological hazard all on their own – might not even be the worst thing to come out of this disintegration. Read more…

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Where Are the Fish Going? Unsustainable Fishing Practices Leading to Fishery-Induced Evolution

“Our oceans are being plundered”(WWF, n.d, 1.). Many people rely on seafood to survive, whether it is their main source of protein or their livelihood. Overfishing and overexploitation of many fish species is leading to the full collapse, or soon to collapse entirely, in the commercial fisheries. Read more…

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Under the Waves with Karim Iliya, October 2021

A group of endemic milletseed butterflyfish accompany a Hawaiian green sea turtle covered in fibropapillomas tumors on the south side of Maui, Hawaii. Read more…

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More Than 2,185 Scientists & Academics Call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

Over two thousand academics across disciplines and from 81 countries have delivered a letter demanding a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to manage a global phase out of coal, oil and gas to governments gathering at tomorrow’s UN General Assembly. Read more…

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Allen Coral Atlas Completes First Global Coral Reef Maps

From offering food security and protecting coastlines to supporting 25 percent of the ocean’s marine biodiversity, coral reefs play a vital role for this planet. And for these marine ecosystems, information is opening new doors for targeted action. Read more…

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Self-Discovery in The Sand By Cath Wallis

My feet slip with every step. Moving with the soft sand beneath. Struggling to gain traction and push forward. And yet I must. Force each step; push with the poles to achieve forward motion. This is the desert, and as much as it forces me back, I must resist. Read more…

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‘Driving’ Innovation to Help Eliminate Plastic Waste

Each year in the United States, millions of tons of plastic waste are discarded and not recycled, leading to serious environmental problems. In an effort to help keep this waste from ending up in the environment, engineers at the University of Missouri are partnering with Dow and the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to- Read more…

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Zero-Waste Week: The Beauty Brands Reducing Their Plastic & 5 Ways To Be More Eco-Friendly

As part of Zero-Waste Week, Uswitch has analysed 50 of the UK’s most popular make-up brands to reveal which are committing to reducing their plastic packaging. Read more…

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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. 

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Researchers at Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF), a nonprofit organization protecting the ocean through science and advocacy since 1980, dove deep below the surface in a new study that could revolutionize how researchers evaluate the impact of fisheries interactions on dolphin populations. Using dorsal fin, mouth line and underwater body imagery, the latter a first of its kind for this type of study, researchers found that fisheries interactions on Maui Nui dolphins may be more pervasive than initially thought.

Principal investigator Jens Currie, PWF’s Chief Scientist and co-author oversaw the recently published paper, External Scarring as an Indicator of Fisheries Interactions with Bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) and Pantropical Spotted (Stenella attenuata) Dolphins in Maui Nui, Hawai‘iwhich used PWF’s long-term historic data on bottlenose and spotted dolphins collected over a 24-year period from 1996-2020. A recent paper citing an apparent decline in bottlenose dolphin population in Maui Nui highlights the importance of PWF’s study in exploring the potential impacts of fisheries interaction to these dolphins.

Abigail Machernis, PWF Research Biologist and lead author of the paper, examined data collected in the Maui Nui region of Hawai‘i, which consists of the islands of Maui, Moloka‘i, Lana‘i and Kaho‘olawe and found 27% of 255 identified bottlenose dolphins and 13% of 374 identified spotted dolphins displayed one or more fishery gear-related scars. Every image in the nonprofit’s extensive photo-ID catalog, was reviewed to identify dolphins with scars on dorsal fins, mouthlines and bodies of dolphins that indicate past interactions with fisheries and fishing gear. The objectives of PWF’s research were (1) to determine the number of bottlenose and spotted dolphins that showed evidence of a fisheries interaction in Maui Nui; and (2) to determine if underwater body images, in addition to the traditionally used dorsal fin and mouthline images, increased detection rates of evidence of fisheries interactions.

Building on established methodology, focused primarily on dorsal fin analysis, researchers used underwater body images to gain a new perspective for assessing fisheries interactions. The inclusion of underwater photo analysis was a game changer, according to Machernis. “Most research literature that examines fisheries interactions look primarily at dorsal fins and we wanted to use all the data we have collected to examine as much of the dolphins’ body as possible for evidence of fishing-gear related scars.”

The study’s innovative approach involves combining individual assessments of dolphins’ dorsal fins, mouthlines and bodies into a single assessment and found the inclusion of underwater imagery increased scar detection rates by 51% for bottlenose dolphins and 40% for spotted dolphins. Using past research on fisheries interactions coupled with forward-thinking research methods, the study is the first to present a standardized approach for using photos of dorsal fins, mouthlines, and underwater body footage into the assessment of fisheries interactions. 

“Without documenting real-time interactions or observing physical gear on an animal’s body, photo analysis is the best available proxy for quantifying fisheries interactions,” notes Currie. “There is still more research to be done and we want to make sure we have all the information needed to determine if there is a conservation concern and then work with fishers on a solution if warranted.”

Worldwide, interactions with fisheries have been identified as one of the leading conservation concerns for cetaceans resulting in lethal or non-lethal consequences. The full extent is hard to assess as most entanglements are never observed, but research noted by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) suggests that over 300,000 whales and dolphins die annually due to entanglement in marine debris. This can have a devastating, long-term conservation impact on those populations that are already threatened, in some cases critically.

Past and ongoing research confirms that direct interactions between cetaceans and fishing gear typically transpire in one of two ways: (1) animals unintentionally swim into gear becoming entangled or entrapped or (2) animals deliberately remove fish captured in gear, a behavior known as depredating, and become hooked and/or entangled as a result. Some fishing gear interactions can result in serious injury or mortality from entanglement or ingestion of gear. 

These types of interactions occur globally and are likely to increase due to the potential for continued human encroachment on cetacean habitats. Thus, the paper asserts, population-level impacts of fisheries on cetaceans are of great concern and there is a critical need to identify which species interact with which fisheries and the location(s) these interactions occur so researchers can work with fishers to find sustainable solutions. 

In short, Machernis concludes that these findings suggest that fisheries interactions are more widespread than we previously thought, and this can have implications on how we manage these near shore island-associated populations. In addition to informing management and conservation actions, the study and paper support outreach efforts targeting recreational and commercial fishers that provide education on best fishing practices when dolphins are present. 

“We highly recommend researchers interested in examining the threat of fisheries interactions to dolphins make a concerted effort in the field to collect above-water mouth line and body shots, in addition to underwater footage,” Machernis advises, emphasizing the value of images such as those studied in providing a more accurate analysis of scar detection rates. 

PWF’s scientific paper, External Scarring as an Indicator of Fisheries Interactions with Bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) and Pantropical Spotted  (Stenella attenuata) Dolphins in Maui Nui, Hawai‘iauthored by Abigail Machernis, Stephanie H. Stack, Grace L. Olson, Florence A. Sullivan and Jens Currie, is published in Aquatic Mammals and available for review. All Pacific Whale Foundation publications are freely available at PacificWhale.org/research/publications.

To learn more or make a contribution to support PWF’s dolphin research, please visit PacificWhale.org/pacific-whale-foundation/.

About Pacific Whale Foundation

With a mission to protect the ocean through science and advocacy and to inspire environmental stewardship, Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF) conducts Research, Education and Conservation programs. Founded in 1980 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to saving the world’s whales from extinction, PWF now solely owns social enterprise PacWhale Eco-Adventures, which offers fee-based programs and services to help support the nonprofit. Combined with memberships, donations, charitable grants and a remarkable group of dedicated volunteers, PWF now reaches more than 400,000 individuals each year through its Maui and Australia offices and research projects in Ecuador and Chile. 

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