Guarding the Oceans

Scientists urge $2-3 billion study of ocean health

OSLO (Reuters) - Marine scientists called on Sunday for a $2-3 billion study of threats such as overfishing and climate change to the oceans, saying they were as little understood as the Moon.

A better network of satellites, tsunami monitors, drifting robotic probes or electronic tags on fish within a decade could also help lessen the impact of natural disasters, pollution or damaging algal blooms, they said.

"This is not pie in the sky ... it can be done," said Tony Haymet, director of the U.S. Scripps Institution of Oceanography and chairman of the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO).

He told Reuters that a further $2-3 billion would roughly match amounts already invested in ocean research, excluding more costly satellites. New technologies were cheaper and meant worldwide monitoring could now be possible.

"Silicon Valley has come to the oceans," said Jesse Ausubel, a director of the Census of Marine Life that is trying to describe life in the seas.

Changing the Oceans

And not for the better.

A World Dying, But Can We Unite To Save It?
By Geoffrey Lean
The Independent
Humanity is rapidly turning the seas acid through the same pollution that causes global warming, the world’s governments and top scientists agreed yesterday. The process — thought to be the most profound change in the chemistry of the oceans for 20 million years — is expected both to disrupt the entire web of life of the oceans and to make climate change worse.

Venter Explores Ocean Diversity

TED--Technology,Entertainment,Design--puts together conferences on thinking big ideas. Worth your while and great video.

Safeguarding the Ocean's Food Supply

Read about overfishing the planet's oceans and how to avoid it, safe mercury levels, loss of coastal wetlands, water pollution and more.

Ocean Pollution

The Pacific Garbage Patch--twice the size of Texas, floating in the Pacific Ocean.
Altered Oceans series.

Know Your Oceans

The Nature Conservancy has a good quiz about oceans.