Yearly Archives

2016

Nov 15
0

Free the Feast

By | Action today, Featured Post, Sustainable Living, Uncategorized, W2O Blog

 

Free the feast! When shopping for produce avoid plastic packaging this holiday season. Single use plastic never goes away, breaks down into smaller and smaller particles, and ends up in our oceans. Mistaken for food, tiny fragments of plastic are often consumed by marine life and can end up at our dinner table in the food we serve to our families.

Shop locally, if possible, and remember to bring your reusable bag. Avoid storing leftovers in plastic wrap (use our handy guide) and invest in some everlasting quality glass or stainless steel containers. Give thanks for our oceans. Make your holiday season a happy and healthy one.. plastic free.

Good for you; good for our oceans!

Oct 23
0

The Super Food Secrets of Seaweeds

By | Action today, Events, Featured Post, Sustainable Living, Uncategorized, W2O Blog

Kombu kelp lasagna anyone? When thinking of cooking with fresh greens, seaweed is hardly the first thing to come to mind for most people. Dr. Nichole Price and Chef Barton Seaver joined W2O members last week to show us why we shouldn’t be so quick to rule out vegetarian options from the sea when planning our menus.

At our “Cooking with Sea Greens” event, both presenters extolled the virtues of cultivating and consuming seaweeds. Dr. Nichole Price, a marine ecologist who studies climate change at Bigelow Laboratories in Maine, explained how these marine plants can play an important role in fighting climate change. Large seaweeds, such as kelp, are functionally the “trees’” of the ocean, absorbing carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, while producing life-sustaining oxygen. These amazing plants can lower acidity levels and also absorb toxins from the water column, helping to maintain healthy chemistry. While these absorptive abilities make a big difference for local ecosystems, toxins aren’t transferred to people when consumed, making these plants a powerhouse before and after harvest. Dr. Price’s work communicates this science, engaging local communities and inspiring active solutions. Seaweed aquaculture meets both these goals: healthy oceans, healthy communities.

Shifting how and where we grow our food could also translate into healthier diets. Sea greens are jam-packed with nutrients, providing often-lacking iodine, among others. “This is a blue revolution and my job is to convince you to eat it,” explains Barton Seaver. Seaver had no trouble convincing us; everything he cooked was delicious. From seasoning soups with seaweed for a “sultry sauna of flavor” to zesty pesto and fresh salads, attendees tasted a variety of dishes that would make you forget everything you think you know about seaweed. Barton Seaver’s cookbooks show you how to bring sustainable, delectable treats into your own kitchen. Sea greens are truly a super food: good for you, good for our oceans.

Chef Barton Seaver with W2O member Meghan Jeans

 

 

Todays Blog contributor Emily Conklin, is a Master’s candidate in Marine Biology at Northeastern University. She is currently an intern for W2O working on outreach and education and plans to continue her career in science education after graduation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 22
0

Celebrating Hopeful Signs for More Marine Protected Areas

By | Featured Post, In the News, Uncategorized, W2O Blog

What a relief to finally hear some promising, hopeful and, quite frankly, exciting news about protection for our oceans. September’s headlines about President Obama designating Papahānaumokuākea off of Hawaii and the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts in the Atlantic as National Monuments could not have come at a better time. Every day there is a broadcast, article, or radio commentary about climate change and the devastation taking its toll on our blue planet. Ten years ago information regarding ocean risk was something you searched for in an environmental magazine or maybe the science section of a newspaper. It is telling that the coverage of climate science related to our oceans is now every publication’s front page news.  This hopeful sign signals that conservation groups are no longer “preaching to the choir” and that generations are learning and becoming keenly aware of the importance of protecting our oceans for our future. With his announcement at the Our Ocean Conference, President Obama declared that “The health of our planet’s oceans determine, in large part, the health of our bodies and the health of our economies.”  Thank you President Obama, for putting the health of our oceans on the world stage and for giving us hope that this might be the first wave of more protection of vulnerable marine areas.

Sep 15
0

The First Marine National Monument in the Atlantic

By | Action today, In the News, Uncategorized

On Thursday, September 15th 2016,  President Barak Obama designated the New England Coral Canyons and Seamounts as a National Marine Monument!  A group of devoted ocean advocates and organizations, including our partners at the New England Aquarium have worked for years for protection of marine habitat in the Atlantic. W2O is proud to have contributed and supported this campaign.

“It is this spectacular ocean wilderness that has plummeting canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon, undersea mountains taller than anything east coast of the Rockies, and sublimely beautiful deep-sea corals that blossom out of the depths and are as ancient as the redwoods,” says Brad Sewell, who oversees work on fisheries and Atlantic Coast issues at the Natural Resources Defense Council in an article from The New York Times.

Photo: NOAA

Aug 28
0

#MahaloObama from a Grateful Ocean

By | Action today, Events, Featured Post, In the News, Uncategorized, W2O Blog

Photo of Blue Trevally: US Fish and Wildlife Service

“Mahalo” (thank you in Hawaiian) to President Obama and many others for Monument designation expansion of the pristine area of Papahānaumokuākea off the coast of Hawaii. It is now the largest protected area (land or sea) in the world! This is big world news this week and hopefully sends a message to everyone of the importance of protecting vital habitat everywhere in our oceans. Protected areas are the basis of climate refuge and, according to Douglas McCauley from UC Santa Barbara in this NPR interview, the area of Papahānaumokuākea is one of the most spectacular places on earth. “You put on a mask, and the mask essentially becomes a time machine. You put your head under water, and you’re looking at what the ocean looked like on reefs thousands of years ago. It’s what Hawaii-the reefs that we see when we go on vacation out there-looked like before we impacted and disturbed this ecosystem,” says McCauley.

Photo: Lee Gillenwater
The Pew Charitable Trust

Marine protected areas have proved to be a hotspot for the study of climate change and have demonstrated that when left alone, without fishing, tourism or reef disturbance, protected areas are able to rebound from damaging human activity. W2O co-founder and Chair of Trustees of the New England Aquarium Donna Hazard is so grateful for the news from Hawaii but also knows that she wants to see more areas protected.  She is particularly concerned about the Atlantic where it might be more difficult to imagine the abundance of diversity under the dark blue cold waters. “It’s so important to protect those biologically diverse habitats.  It would be great if I could just know that during my lifetime I could help secure more marine protected areas for the next generation. We can’t afford to let this opportunity pass by without trying to protect the most worthy scientifically significant marine areas,” Hazard passionately remarked when speaking about the possibility of a monument in the Atlantic.  “I am hopeful that the wonderful press and excitement about the Monument expansion of Papahānaumokuākea will help propel the movement for more marine protected areas,” Hazard added.

 

Aug 11
0

Sailors Delight Plastic Free

By | Action today, Featured Post, In the News, Sustainable Living, Uncategorized

Boaters will tell you that plastic is their friend for making sure food is fresh and transportable. Reusable hard plastic dinnerware and shatterproof glasses are boating standbys, especially for enjoying refreshments above deck.  Storing food on a boat means thinking about avoiding condensation and tightly sealed containers that are light weight are the favorite choice.  It would be great to decide to go plastic free completely while boating but today a doable goal would be to decide to refuse single use plastic or plastic that we use once and then throw away. There are choices you can make to reduce the amount of plastic pollution that ends up in our oceans.

After our visit to Sailors for the Sea, and checking out their “Green Your Galley Guide,” we were inspired to look a little closer at how to make a day out on the water single use plastic free. Most day sailors and boaters are really “picnic-ing” on a boat with transportable foods usually eaten at the dock, on a mooring or anchored in a safe harbor.  The first step to a plastic free day starts at home. Here are some tips to help you take the important steps to healthy plastic free choices for you, your family and our oceans.

  • Make your food! Create a simple meal at home and avoid picking up prepared foods in single use plastic containers. Transport food in insulated reusable bags in glass or metal containers.
  • Find a basket with handles, like the one Emily is passing up above, or a deep wide tray for handing food and drinks above and below deck.
  • Bring a large cooler and fill it with ice and water at the dock rather than opting for that case of water bottles. Filling it up at the dock ensures it will stay cold for the trip and is easier to transport from home. Using insulated reusable water bottles are also a handy solution.
  • Life tastes better with real cutlery! Stock bamboo or metal on your boat instead of single use plastic.
  • Transport your gear in reusable bags or choose to invest in a “boat” bag. The one pictured below is 20 years old, has clocked many miles at sea and is still as good as new.

Aug 06
0

Sailors for the Sea

By | Action today, Featured Post, In the News, Sustainable Living, Uncategorized

Milk jugs, plastic bags, fishing nets, food packaging, straws; these are now common sightings for avid ocean fanatics. Mark Davis and the “crew” at Sailors for the Sea are on a mission to educated boaters and sailors about how to make sustainable choices and still enjoy being out on the water.

From serious ocean racers, to the average weekend enthusiast, participation in activities on the water while being an ocean steward is a relatively new concept for most. “It use to be that out of sight out of mind mentality,” says author and sailor Barbara Beck of Annapolis Maryland. “I remember ocean racing and tossing large green garbage bags overboard without much thought, hoping they would sink to the bottom.” Today most boaters know about pollution in the ocean but are unaware of how they can be part of the solution. “At our yacht club there are efforts to “go green,” says Beck, “but those efforts often fall short because there doesn’t seem to be easy solutions and people opt for convenience.” Sailors for the Sea is hoping to educate boating enthusiasts that opting for convenience is creating a bigger problem and destroying our oceans for future “Sailors.”

The “Sailor” in our title is “anyone who travels across a body of water”, says Mark Davis, president of Sailors for the Sea. “We won’t be taking on other sports or events because we are very focused on the community of boating and sailing,” says Davis. Sailor for the Sea, headquartered near the harbor in Newport Rhode Island, is creating useful tools and delivering a global healthy ocean message to all sailors and boaters across the U.S., Europe and Asia. With the support of Sailors, enlisted volunteers follow “best practices” which begins with assembling a “green team.” With their programs for clean regattas next generation educational lessons through KELP and a new Clean Boating Guide, their mission is to make boaters “catalysts for change.” Good for you, Good for our oceans!

Jun 23
0

Protect Yourself and The Reef

By | Action today, Featured Post, In the News, Sustainable Living, Uncategorized, W2O Blog

 

Suntan lotion is at the top of the list for your summer holiday. Choose one that is healthy for you and for our oceans.

Consider this the next time you are investing in skincare protection for you and your family: most suntan lotions are harmful to marine life. Researchers at NOAA and the National Park Service warn us that, “the products covering our skin wash off when we enter the water, and it adds up! Research tells us that 6,000-14,000 tons of sunscreen lotion are emitted into coral reef areas each year. This means that our most popular reefs, such as those in our national parks, are exposed to the majority of sunscreens.” Scientists tell us that no sunscreens are completely “reef safe” and in fact, according to a study by the Coral Disease and Health Consortium (CDHC) and Cheryl M. Woodley, PhD, over 3,500 sunscreen products worldwide contain Oxybenzone (also known as BP-3;Benzophenone-3) which is known to have toxic effects on marine life. 

 

Look for a mineral-based sunscreen to protect you and the reef

Look for a mineral-based sunscreen to protect you and the reef

Tropical Snorkeling.com has a guide to better choice mineral-based sunscreens that might be right for you and your family. Proprietors of the site, Galen and Nicole give the low down on which are water resistant, which are oily and which ones go on clear (Yes!). Remember: when you can, use clothing (rash guard, hat, wetsuit) to cover up!
Good for you. Good for our oceans.

More on the science and research for this topic:

CDHC Scientific Study by Cheryl Woodley

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/nov15/sunscreen-corals.html

oceanservice.noaa.gov/…ws/feb14/sunscreen

 

Jun 08
0

Happy World Oceans Day from Intern Emily Conklin

By | Events, Featured Post, In the News, Uncategorized, W2O Blog

Emily at WOD

Happy World Ocean Day from Women Working for Oceans (W2O)  

I am thrilled to be working with W2O on outreach and advocacy this summer and New England Aquarium’s World Oceans Day was the perfect first assignment. The event drew hundreds of families, all interested in learning more about our precious ocean resources and what they can do to preserve them.

W2O’s booth and education activity focused on the importance of Cashes Ledge, 80 miles off of the New England coast, and our work with partner organizations to try and have it established as a National Monument. Children colored in pictures of ecologically important marine organisms as part of a letter writing campaign to urge President Obama to designate protection for Cashes Ledge. Even the littlest participants had touching and remarkable things to say about the ocean and were eager to talk about the animals they were designing. It was exciting and refreshing to see such passion for the environment and enthusiasm for ensuring these ocean treasures are healthy and available for years to come.

Interacting with the next generation of ocean conservationists, I was inspired by the level of interest in action demonstrated by World Oceans Day and am excited to move forward with this and other W2O projects. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year will bring! 

Emily Conklin holds a BA in Biology from Wheaton College and is a Masters of Science Candidate in Marine Biology at Northeastern.

For more information on how you can help Save Atlantic Treasures, HERE

 

Jun 05
0

Cashes Ledge: Save Our Atlantic Treasures, Save Our Future Fish Today!

By | Action today, Featured Post, In the News, Uncategorized

This place is not a fantasy, but exists today only 80 miles east of Boston in the Gulf of Maine

Imagine, if you will, an underwater cathedral of rock off the coast of Maine, where ledges of stone that rival Mount Washington provide a foothold for the largest cold water kelp forest in the Atlantic.

Marine life on Cashes Ledge

Photo: Brian Skerry

Broad blades of kelp lift towards the surface, converting energy from the sun into life supporting oxygen and providing cover for a staggering abundance and diversity of marine life.

Here you can still find both large and small sharks and fish like cod, pollock and tuna of the size our ancestors described.

Marine life on Cashes Ledge Photo: Brian Skerry

Marine life on Cashes Ledge
Photo: Brian Skerry

Kelp Forest and Red Cod at Cashes Ledge; 70-miles off the coast of Maine. Photo: Brian Skerry

Kelp Forest and Red Cod at Cashes Ledge; 70-miles off the coast of Maine. Photo: Brian Skerry

Lobster and sea stars, anemones and sponges cover the bottom like clumsy, multi-colored fists of large fingers reaching to a wash of nutrients in the water.

Photo: Brian Skerry

Upwards to ten thousand whales, dolphins and porpoises at a time come to the surface to feed on the abundance of smaller fish and plankton. Seabirds on the surface hunt for leftovers and bring this enormous cauldron of productivity and energy back to land. You needn’t jump in a time machine to go there. This place is not a fantasy, but exists today only 80 miles east of Boston in the Gulf of Maine as an extension of the mountain range of Acadia National Park. The area is simply known as Cashes Ledge and it is part of our Atlantic Treasures, a fragile place being considered for marine protection through designation as a National Monument.

The rugged mountainous rocks of Cashes Ledge interrupt the river of currents flowing through the Gulf, creating smaller upending rivulets that deposit nutrients on canyon edges, fueling the start of the food chain. The larger catch upon which New England fisheries depend, such as cod and tuna, reproduce and feed on smaller fish here before ranging to the open ocean. Tiny gears turn progressively larger gears in a simple, yet elegant mechanism that is as ancient as our earth. It is these uninterrupted gears that support our healthy seas, which in turn sustain us.

“I spent a lot of time flying aerial surveys over this area,” says Scott Kraus, Ph.D.,the Aquarium’s vice president of research and one of the leading experts on the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale. “One day, we encountered a multi-species aggregation of dolphins and whales that extended along the shelf edge for nearly 10 miles. There must have been 10,000 animals, and it looked like the equivalent of the Serengeti in Africa—only instead of wildebeest, giraffes, antelope and lions it was grampus, pilot whales, striped, spotted and common dolphins and sperm whales.”

But Cashes Ledge is under threat as waters warm globally. The Gulf of Maine is warming at a rate faster than 99% of other areas worldwide. Some ocean animals have started to show signs of stress from habitat changes as they search for cooler waters. A movement to permanently protect Cashes Ledge through designation as a National Monument needs your support today. Protecting Cashes Ledge, a feeding and breeding ground for so many populations of fish and marine mammals, would be the equivalent of protecting the principal of an investment, ensuring that future dividends can be paid.

Please join us in protecting this New England treasure. Sign the petition here and urge your congressmen elected officials to voice their support in protecting Cashes Ledge.

More about the species, habitat and health of Cashes Ledge from the scientific assessment proposal on marine National Monuments including work from Dr. Scott Krauss and the New England Aquarium

Laura Parker Roerdan, a W2O board member, is Executive Director of Ocean Matters.