From 2003 to 2008, an international research team led by University of Alaska-Fairbanks scientists Natalia Shakhova and Igor Semiletov surveyed the waters of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, which covers more than two million sq km of seafloor in the Arctic Ocean.

"This discovery reveals a large but overlooked source of methane gas escaping from permafrost underwater, rather than on land," the study says. "More widespread emissions could have dramatic effects on global warming."

Earlier studies in Siberia had focused on methane escaping from thawing permafrost on land.

Scientists have long thought the permafrost under the East Siberian Arctic Shelf acted as an impermeable barrier that sealed in methane, a powerful greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

But the research team’s observations showed that the permafrost submerged on the shelf was perforated and leaking large amounts of methane.

More than 80 per cent of the deep water and more than half of the surface water had methane levels about eight times higher than found in normal seawater, according to the study published in the journal Science.

The release of even a fraction of the methane could trigger abrupt climate warming. Current average methane concentrations in the Arctic average about 1.85 parts per million, the highest in 400,000 years, said Dr Shakhova.

Related posts:

1. Melting tundra creating vast river of waste into Arctic Ocean Melting Tundra Creating Vast River of Waste Into Arctic...
2. Methane Gas Likely Spewing Into The Oceans Through Vents In Sea Floor Scientists worry that rising global temperatures accompanied by melting...
3. Mercury Levels In Arctic Seals May Be Linked To Global Warming ScienceDaily — Researchers in Canada are reporting for the...
4. Global warming likely to be amplified by slow changes to Earth systems, geologists say The kinds of increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide taking...
5. Earth’s polar ice sheets vulnerable to even moderate global warming; New Orleans, much of southern Florida, expected to be permanently submerged Study: Earth’s polar ice sheets vulnerable to even moderate...

Reported by Bjarne Wildau

In Australia, where the danger of the deadly jellyfish is not ignored, beaches known to be infested have signs warning people when to swim and when not to.

The box jelly fish is clear as glass and prefers shallow water with sand bottoms – just like the millions of tourists coming to Thailand every year.

Nine year old Swedish girl Ida was nearly killed in yet another attack of the deadly box jellyfish in Thailand. Only the fast action of a Swedish fire-fighter likewise on vacation in Thailand, saved her life.
The incident took place on Koh Mak near Koh Chang. This is significant, because previously all attacks and deaths by box jellyfish have been in the Andaman sea. With this incident, the Gulf of Siam can obviously no longer be considered box jellyfish free waters.
The ordeal of Ida and her parents are described in detail in an article in Swedish language in Aftonbladet (http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article6723047.ab )
The Rosenberg family from Tyringe in the southern part of Sweden had just started their winter vacation in Thailand. Jenny, 36, and her husband Frederick Rosenberg, 35, were out snorkelling in the waters off Koh Mak Island. Their daughter Ida was splashing around in the water closer to the beach. Suddenly the parents heard her screaming in pain.
“We started swimming like mad towards the shore," the mother told Aftonbladet.
When they reached their daughter Ida, she was already unconscious on the beach. The fire fighter Anders Brunzell, 42, was fighting desperately to save her life. Ida’s heart had stopped beating by an allergic shock from the dangerous jellyfish.
The Swedish fire-fighter explains:
“I and my family were sunbathing a bit away. We ran to Ida and saw that her right leg was completely covered with long threads, like glass noodles. There was only one thing to do," says Anders who with his wife Marie began to rip off the tentacles with their bare hands.
Anders, who works as a fire-fighter in Stockholm, began heart massage and mouth-to-mouth first aid. He then ordered staff at the nearby hotel to get vinegar which will stop the tentacles of jellyfish from stinging more. He also borrowed oxygen from the hotels scuba diving school.
“The only problem was that the oxygen mask was made for diving, so it did not work, "says Anders.
But little Ida woke up thanks to the fire-fighter and his professional skills.
Then Ida was carried to a boat which brought her to the mainland, where an ambulance was waiting and brought her to a hospital.

Today, two days after the jellyfish attack, Ida is doing fine under the circumstances. She is conscious again, but is badly burned on the leg and other body parts. Over the next few days, she and her mother Jenny will stay at the hospital in Trat for observation.
“Because she was unconscious for so long, the hospital staff is worried that she has had brain damage. She is a bit groggy and still has a fever. But, everything else seems okay”, says Jenny.
Jenny is grateful for the Thai health care, and for Anders’s rapid action.
"What do you say to a man who has saved the life of one’s daughter? There are no words to describe my emotions. But one thing is clear, were it not for him, Ida had been dead today.”
But she is critical that the hotels did not warn tourists of the dangerous jellyfish, although several people have died earlier.
“No signs, no information. The day after Ida was burnt I was told that people were down there in the water at the same place swimming again. This should not be allowed to go on”.
“On the other hand, I myself have read in the newspaper back in Sweden about similar events in Thailand. But as with everything else one thinks that "it does not happen to me". Stupid really," Jenny admits.

What to do if you are attacked by the jellyfish?
Somchai Bussarawit, Chief of Reference Collection at the PMBC’s Phuket Aquarium, is working with the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute in Australia to identify the collected specimens. His advice to victims of the jellyfish is:
Any person who has suffered a possible box jellyfish sting should get out of the water as soon as possible, have his or her pulse rate monitored, and undergo cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the event of heart failure.
* The sting should immediately be treated with vinegar to stop further injection of the toxin, the PMBC advises.
* Do not rub or scratch the site of the sting or apply fresh water or alcohol to it, the PMBC advises.
* Dr Somchai reiterated that there have been no box jellyfish sightings on west coast beaches, where the seawater is generally too saline an environment for box jellies.
However, he advises seaside resorts to keep many bottles of vinegar as a standard part of their first aid kits as it is effective in treating stings from other kinds of less venomous jellyfish.
Not all attacks are deadly
The pdf file in this link informs scientifically and in depth about the life cycle and precautions one should take in relations to the box jellyfish. Some beaches extends nets from the shore into the water which will hold the grown jellyfish out. Click to read the full report: http://scandasia.com/upload_files/cubo_brochure.pdf

Related posts:

1. Ben Southall stung by an irukandji jellyfish Article from: Natalie Gregg December 30, 2009 12:00am BEST...
2. May you never have a Jellyfish Bad Day from ScubaDiverGirls Blog! The following post is seeded from the ScubaDiverGirls Blog...

Thanks Andrea from Kathy of  www.kirkscubagear.com for her review and background information about the  documentary  “The Cove”.

There are some images that cannot be unseen, and some pain that cannot be healed.  Ric O’Barry has spent the last 3 decades trying to right a wrong that led to the slaughter of tens of thousands of the world’s most loved cetaceans in a small cove tucked away in a remote corner of Japan.  Following the death of Cathy, more commonly known to the rest of the world as Flipper, O’Barry, the trainer who helped capture and train the dolphins who took turns playing Flipper on the popular television series, has been arrested countless times in countries around the world trying to free captive dolphins.  “I spent ten years building that industry up and I spent the last thirty five years trying to tear it down,” reflects O’Barry.  After the series was cancelled, Cathy took up residence in the Miami Seaquarium, but the reality of living in captivity turned out to be more than she could bear.  One day she swam into O’Barry’s arms, took a deep breath and died.  From that day forward, O’Barry has been a thorn in the side of one of the largest industries in the world, and has worked tirelessly to put an end to it.

But none of that could compare to the horror that is taking place in Taiji Japan.  Thousands of dolphins are driven into the small cove in Taiji, where dolphin trainers from around the world take their pick of dolphins to grace various aquariums and tourist attractions around the world.  The rest are slaughtered by means of handheld harpoons and their meat is sold as whale meat. At first, the dolphin meat was being served to Japanese school children as part of their mandatory school lunch program.  As dolphin meat contains dangerously high levels of mercury, it became clear why the Japanese government wanted to keep this quiet.  When two local town councillors learned of this, they spoke out about it, and since then dolphin meat has been removed from school lunches.

When O’Barry learned what was happening in this remote cove, he immediately travelled to Japan, enlisting the help of the Oceanic Preservation Society.  Working together, they brought together a team of filmmakers to capture the slaughter on film and in doing so inspire the world to put a stop to the senseless deaths of these inoffensive creatures.

This documentary is at times hair raising, following the team as they go into the cove under cover of night, deploying hidden cameras while trying to remain undetected by the nearby fishermen.  The reason for their concern is obvious, a number of years ago a fellow activist of O’Barry was strangled to death after O’Barry was taken to hospital during a hunger strike.  Fortunately, the team was successful in their endeavour, and the documentary was filmed.

While I found this film to be extremely difficult to watch, I am glad that I did.  If I had not seen these images for myself, I am not sure I would have been able to believe that such an atrocity was taking place anyplace in the world, let alone in a country as advanced and civilized as Japan.  When the filmmakers approached and spoke with the general Japanese public, none of the people they spoke with were aware of what was happening, and expressed disbelief, which was followed by shock and horror after being shown images from Taiji.

What makes the slaughter even more unbearable to comprehend, is when one considers the level of consciousness, intelligence and self awareness that dolphins possess.  While they are pinned in this small cove, they are aware of what is happening around them, and what is about to happen to them.  This elevates the slaughter to the degree of mass murder in the views of some.  My best advice to you is to grab a very large box of tissue, watch the film, and decide for yourself.  I cannot pretend that I have not seen this take place, and I cannot ignore that it is still taking place to this day, unless of course we take steps to stop it.  It’s up to you.  It’s up to us.

Andrea Skinner

Feb 2010

andrea@divewomen.com

Posted by Kathy, Padi certified diver and owner of www.kirkscubagear.com

Related posts:

1. Experts: ‘Intelligent’ Dolphins ‘Suffer If Made To Perform Or Swim With People’ Dolphins are so intelligent that they are traumatised if...
2. Rudd sets November deadline for Japanese whaling atrocities This is a pro Japanese slanted article from the...
3. Japan Hits Back At Aussie PM In Whaling Row; Sea Shepard Accused Of Conducting ‘Unlawful Rampage’ Japan pins whale row on Gillard Peter Alford, Tokyo...
4. Australia: No guarantee of legal action against whaling THE Rudd government won’t guarantee international legal action against...
5. Giant River Fish Faces Extinction After Years Of Overfishing; Ararpaima ‘Have The Curse Of Being Tasty’ The arapaima needs to surface to breathe, which leaves...

By BRITTON BROUN, TOM HUNT and TIM DONOGHUE – The Dominion Post

A day after hundreds fled their seaside homes to escape a tsunami, people have been warned to stay away from the water, with massive earthquake aftershocks possible in Chile and the seas continuing to surge.

DESPERATE DAYS; More than 700 are dead and thousands are without food, homes, electricity or water, days after an earthquake devastated Chile.

The death toll in Chile is also expected to rise, with at least 300 reported dead last night after Saturday’s 8.8-magnitude earthquake, the seventh-largest on record.

The earthquake devastated Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city, and generated a tsunami that swept across the Pacific before hitting New Zealand yesterday morning.

It caused tidal surges of close to 1.5 metres in Napier and more than a metre on the Canterbury coast.

Leon Mickelson was fishing for paua at Red Rock Beach in Hawke’s Bay when he was swamped by a metre-high surge of water, followed by two more waves. He had no idea a tsunami alert had been issued.

COSTLY CATCH: Leon Mickelson suffered cuts and bruises when he was swept over rocks as he gathered paua at Waimarama.

“This wall of water just hit me. I was getting tumbled across all the rocks, it was unbelievable. The force was just unstoppable. There was no way you could fight it, you just had to roll with it.”

The water then sucked him 20 metres out into the ocean, bouncing over rocks. “It was like being in a washing machine. It just completely and utterly caught us out.”

Mr Mickelson, 30, managed to swim ashore, and suffered cuts and bruises.

Lower Hutt teacher Joe Nawalaniec was left clinging to rocks near Cape Turnagain in southern Hawke’s Bay when the surge hit.

“The water went milky and turbulent like it was boiling,” he said.

“It’s just a massive big surge of water that starts going up and up and up. You expect it to be a tidal wave but it’s not a wave at all.”

The 45-year-old paua fisherman was aware of the tsunami alerts but thought the wave had passed by.

Diane Ross, from Waikanae Beach Holiday Park in Gisborne, helped evacuate hundreds of people from the beachfront property at 6.45am to a marae on higher ground.

She was stunned by what had happened to Gisborne Harbour while the Turanganui River – which connects the harbour to the open sea – was virtually drained.

“I was blown away by how low the tide was and 15 minutes later it was all back again. The river dropped 1.5 metres in 10 minutes. It was really scary.”

She said the tsunami threat was taken seriously, with the normally crowded beach empty yesterday.

At least 50 other Gisborne locals, and some families up the coast, were moved from their homes until the afternoon.

Interislander ferries had to go through the Northern Passage after Tory Channel was closed. Ferry trips were delayed and trains operating on the coast stopped at the time the first surges hit.

Though the waves ranged from 30cm in Wellington to a metre in Gisborne Harbour and around Akaroa, near Christchurch, they were much more dramatic in the Chatham Islands, where swells of up to three metres were recorded.

Chatham Hotel owner Valentine Croon woke his 40 guests at 5am. “We thought nothing was going to happen, then [Petre] Bay emptied right out at about 8.30am. Everyone took it pretty seriously.”

Civil Defence Minister John Carter said the tsunami warning system worked well, five months after it was heavily criticised in the wake of the Samoan tsunami.

Though the tsunami warning was called off yesterday afternoon, Civil Defence warned people to keep away from the water, with more waves possible today.

Related posts:

1. Chilen earthquake: tsunami creates havoc across the Pacific Chile earthquake: tsunami creates havoc across the Pacific Pacific...

Chile earthquake: tsunami creates havoc across the Pacific
Pacific island nations have been hit by a tsunami triggered by the powerful Chilean earthquake, although damage caused by the rising seas has been less severe than originally feared.

By Bonnie Malkin in Sydney

Swimmers and board riders venture back into the water at Sydney's Bondi Beach even though it was declared closed due to a tsunami threat Photo: AFP

Swimmers and board riders venture back into the water at Sydney’s Bondi Beach even though it was declared closed due to a tsunami threat.

As the tsunami swept west across the ocean from its epicentre near the city of Concepcion, nations across the Asia-Pacific region braced for strong waves that were forecast to reach 13 feet-high in some places.

Thousands of residents were evacuated coastal areas and moved to higher ground in preparation, fearing a repeat of the devastating 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, in which more and 225,000 people were killed.

The island of French Polynesia, located miles from the coast of Chile, felt the brunt of the surge, with waves of between six and 13 feet sweeping ashore.

In the Marquesas Islands, a chain to the north of the group, damage to boats and large tracts of shoreline was reported, but ample warning meant no one was injured by the waves.

The emergency, issued by the gave the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center shortly after the 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck, gave the low-lying Pacific nations an opportunity to test its new tsunami warning system.

Residents of Taihiti, Hawaii, Samoa, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu woke to sirens warning of an impending tsunami, triggering mass evacuations.

But despite the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center’s warning of “widespread damage” from the waves, damage was limited and no casualties have been reported outside Chile.

Hawaii was declared to have “dodged a bullet” after waves of six feet – half the size forecasters had predicted – hit the shore at intervals of one about every 20 minutes. Locals and tourists on the Big Island watched as water repeatedly drained 16 yards out to sea before surging back into shore.

Karl and Diane Champley and their five-year-old son Kai were in a hotel on Hawaii when sirens howled and hotel staff evacuated them to higher ground in shuttle buses.

“All of a sudden the reefs were exposed and we just thought ’Here comes the tsunami’,” Mr Champley said.

“But nothing happened.”

As a precaution, the US Navy Pacific Fleet had sent four warships and three other support and research vessels out to sea so that they would not be affected by the waves.

Residents in low-lying areas evacuated their homes, heading for school gyms and community centers that had been turned into makeshift way stations for evacuees.

The LA Times reported that normally crowded Waikiki Beach in Honolulu was deserted, save for a few spectators who kept dodging police to watch for incoming waves.

Elsewhere, the warning triggered panic. In Samoa, where memories of the 2009 tsunami in which 180 people died were still raw, the authorities sent out text messages warning of the danger. Frightened residents rushed for the hills and were slow to return home when the alert was later cancelled.

Further east, disaster management officials in Fiji had been warned to expect waves of as high as 7.5 feet to hit the northern and eastern islands of the archipelago and the nearby Tonga islands. But during the morning warnings were cancelled and officials said “no significant events” occurred.

New Zealand’s Chatham Islands, which lie 312 miles east of the mainland, recorded a series of tsunami waves, the largest reaching five feet. The country’s entire east coast had been considered at risk of waves up to ten feet high, but by mid-afternoon the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management said the situation had stabilised and downgraded the tsunami warning to an advisory.

In Australia, where all beaches on the east coast of the country had been closed from 8.45am, surfers flocked to the water to make the most of the forecast large surf and hundreds of spectators lined the beaches hoping to get a glimpse of the tsunami.

At Bondi, it was business as usual.

“Initially everybody got out, however, people seem to be going back in and the tsunami warning is still active,” Bondi lifesaver Jacob Waxs said. “The surfers here in Bondi will still be out there when there’s a shark alarm.”

In the end, waves of 50cm were recorded on the Gold Coast near Brisbane and the warning was lifted in the early afternoon.

Australia was deemed to have narrowly missed the worst of the tsunami, which lost power as it travelled east.

But, further north, Japan was affected. More than 70,000 people fled vulnerable coastal areas as tsunami waves hit several parts of the country’s long Pacific coastline. The first tsunami wave, reaching one foot high, hit Nemuro on Japan’s northern Hokkaido island and there were reports of a second, three feet wave in Iwate prefecture.

Tsunami sirens were activated and massive steel gates shut across the entrances to several fishing ports as warnings of a large wave of up to three metres were broadcast across northern Japan.

Related posts:

1. Diver swept away by wall of water By BRITTON BROUN, TOM HUNT and TIM DONOGHUE –...
2. Shark Diving in Moorea, French Polynesia This is not a Great White, but he plays...
3. Earth’s polar ice sheets vulnerable to even moderate global warming; New Orleans, much of southern Florida, expected to be permanently submerged Study: Earth’s polar ice sheets vulnerable to even moderate...

Study: Ocean Geoengineering Scheme No Easy Fix For Global Warming; ‘There Remain Many Uncertainties’

Editors Note:  infusing carbon dioxide into the ocean causes H2CO3  Carbonic Acid. . .we will acidify the ocean if the below occurs.

This map displays simulated additional surface warming for the year 2100 caused by the temporary use of artificial upwelling GEOMAR

SOUTHAMPTON, UK — Pumping nutrient-rich water up from the deep ocean to boost algal growth in sunlit surface waters and draw carbon dioxide down from the atmosphere has been touted as a way of ameliorating global warming. However, a new study led by Professor Andreas Oschlies of the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR) in Kiel, Germany, pours cold water on the idea.

"Computer simulations show that climatic benefits of the proposed geo-engineering scheme would be modest, with the potential to exacerbate global warming should it fail," said study co-author Dr Andrew Yool of the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS).

If international governmental policies fail to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide to levels needed to keep the impacts of human-induced climate change within acceptable limits it may necessary to move to ‘Plan B’. This could involve the implementation of one or more large-scale geo-engineering schemes proposed for reducing the carbon dioxide increase in the atmosphere.

One possible approach is to engineer the oceans to facilitate the long-term sequestration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It has been suggested that this could be done by pumping of nutrient-rich water from a depth of several hundred metres to fertilize the growth of phytoplankton, the tiny marine algae that dominate biological production in surface waters.

The aim would be to mimic the effects of natural ocean upwelling and increase drawdown of atmospheric carbon dioxide by phytoplankton through the process of photosynthesis. Some of the sequestered carbon would be exported to the deep ocean when phytoplankton die and sink, effectively removing it from the system for hundreds or thousands of years.

A previous study, of which Yool was lead author, used an ocean general circulation model to conclude that literally hundreds of millions of pipes would be required to make a significant impact on global warming. But even if the technical and logistical difficulties of deploying the vast numbers of pipes could be overcome, exactly how much carbon dioxide could in principle be sequestered, and at what risk?

In the new study, the researchers address such questions using a more integrated model of the whole Earth system. The simulations show that, under most optimistic assumptions, three gigatons of carbon dioxide per year could be captured. This is under a tenth of the annual anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, which currently stand at 36 gigatons per year. A gigaton is a million million kilograms.

One surprising feature of the simulations was that the main effect occurred on land rather than the ocean. Cold water pumped to the surface cooled the atmosphere and the land surface, slowing the decomposition of organic material in soil, and ultimately resulting in about 80 per cent of the carbon dioxide sequestered being stored on land. "This remote and distributed carbon sequestration would make monitoring and verification particularly challenging," write the researchers.

More significantly, when the simulated pumps were turned off, the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and surface temperatures rose rapidly to levels even higher than in the control simulation without artificial pumps. This finding suggests that there would be extra environmental costs to the scheme should it ever need to be turned off for unanticipated reasons.

"All models make assumptions and there remain many uncertainties, but based on our findings it is hard to see the use of artificial pumps to boost surface production as being a viable way of tackling global warming," said Yool.

Editor’s Note:  this is a baaad idea, its about the environment, stoopid?

Related posts:

1. Mercury Levels In Arctic Seals May Be Linked To Global Warming ScienceDaily — Researchers in Canada are reporting for the...
2. In carbon dioxide-rich environment, some ocean dwellers increase shell production In a striking finding that raises new questions about...
3. Earth more sensitive to carbon dioxide than previously thought In the long term, the Earth’s temperature may be...
4. Scuba Diver Alert: Acid Water in Alaska Increased Ocean Acidification In Alaska Waters, New Findings Show...
5. Climate Change Influences The Size Of Marine Organisms: Big Advantage For The Small ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2009) — The ice is melting,...

By Victoria Gill

Science reporter, BBC News, Portland

Whales store carbon by the tonne

A century of whaling may have released more than 100 million tonnes – or a large forest’s worth – of carbon into the atmosphere, scientists say.

Whales store carbon within their huge bodies and when they are killed, much of this carbon can be released.

US scientists revealed their estimate of carbon released by whaling at a major ocean sciences meeting in the US.

Dr Andrew Pershing from the University of Maine described whales as the "forests of the ocean".

Dr Pershing and his colleagues from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute calculated the annual carbon-storing capacity of whales as they grew.

"Whales, like any animal or plant on the planet, are made out of a lot of carbon," he said.

"And when you kill and remove a whale from the ocean, that’s removing carbon from this storage system and possibly sending it into the atmosphere."

He pointed out that, particularly in the early days of whaling, the animals were a source of lamp oil, which was burned, releasing the carbon directly into the air.

"And this marine system is unique because when whales die [naturally], their bodies sink, so they take that carbon down to the bottom of the ocean.

"If they die where it’s deep enough, it will be [stored] out of the atmosphere perhaps for hundreds of years."

Ocean trees

In their initial calculations, the team worked out that 100 years of whaling had released an amount of carbon equivalent to burning 130,000 sq km of temperate forests, or to driving 128,000 Humvees continuously for 100 years.

The idea would be to do a full accounting of how much carbon you could store in a fully populated stock of fish or whales

Dr Andrew Pershing, University of Maine

Guide to the great whales

Dr Pershing stressed that this was still a relatively tiny amount when compared to the billions of tonnes produced by human activity every year.

But he said that whales played an important role in storing and transporting carbon in the marine ecosystem.

Simply leaving large groups of whales to grow, he said, could "sequester" the greenhouse gas, in amounts that were comparable to some of the reforestation schemes that earn and sell carbon credits.

He suggested that a similar system of carbon credits could be applied to whales in order to protect and rebuild their stocks.

"The idea would be to do a full accounting of how much carbon you could store in a fully populated stock of fish or whales, and allow countries to sell their fish quota as carbon credits," he explained.

"You could use those credits as an incentive to reduce the fishing pressure or to promote the conservation of some of these species."

Is bigger better?

Other scientists said that he had raised an exciting and interesting problem.

Professor Daniel Costa, a marine animal researcher from the University of California, Santa Cruz, told BBC News: "So many more groups are looking at the importance of these large animals in the carbon cycle.

"And it’s one of those things that, when you look at it, you think: ‘ This is so obvious, why didn’t we think of this before?’."

Dr Pershing pointed out that whales, with their huge size, were more efficient than smaller animals at storing carbon.

He used the analogy of a small dog compared to a large dog.

"My wife’s 6lb (2.7kg) toy poodle eats one cup of food per day and my dog – a 60lb standard poodle – eats five cups of food per day," he said.

"That’s only five times as much food but my dog weighs ten times as much."

He said that the marine carbon credit idea could be applied to other very large marine animals, including endangered bluefin tuna and white sharks.

Dr Pershing said: "These are huge and they are top predators, so unless they’re fished they would be likely to take their biomass to the bottom of the ocean [when they die]."

The American Geophysical Union’s Ocean Sciences meeting has been taking place this week in Portland, Oregon.

Related posts:

1. Whaling delegates ‘fed up’ with Japanese   By ANDREW DARBY – The Age Marathon diplomatic...
2. Japan Hits Back At Aussie PM In Whaling Row; Sea Shepard Accused Of Conducting ‘Unlawful Rampage’ Japan pins whale row on Gillard Peter Alford, Tokyo...
3. Plastic Toxifying the Ocean, and Killing us All! Carolyn Barry for National Geographic News August 20, 2009...
4. Whaling Bombshell: Ady Gil Armed With Deadly Arrows; Sea Shepherd ‘Willfully Polluting’ Antarctic TOKYO, Japan — Japanese whalers have accused the Sea...

By David Derbyshire
Last updated at 11:57 PM on 20th February 2010

They are known as one of the deadliest creatures on Earth.

But according to a shocking new study, great white sharks are also one of the most endangered.

Wildlife experts say there are now fewer than 3,500 great whites left in the oceans, making them rarer than tigers.

Yesterday, marine biologists called for an end to mankind’s long battle with sharks and demanded urgent action to prevent them going extinct.

Great White Sharks were made infamous by the film Jaws, but they rarely attack people and usually do by accident

Great white sharks have a deserved reputation as ruthless and efficient killers, who use ambush techniques to attack  fish, dolphins and seals from below.

They can grow 20 feet in length, weigh up to 5,000 lb and are found in any warm coastal waters – from the Mediterranean to New Zealand. Most, however, live off the coasts of California, Mexico, Australia  and South Africa.

The new estimates of their population are due to published later this year by scientists at Stanford University who have been studying the migration of sharks tagged with radio transmitters.

They found that great whites are incredible long distance swimmers, capable of travelling 12,000 miles in nine months.

To their astonishment, the researchers found that sharks seen swimming around Hawaii were the same individuals seen off the coast of California just six months later.

Dr Ronald O’Dor, senior scientist at the Washington based Census of Marine life who has seen the findings of the unpublished report, said the number of great whites in the wild was far smaller than scientists realised.

‘The estimated total population of great white sharks in the world’s oceans is actually less than the number of tigers,’ he told the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego, California.

‘We hear an awful lot about how endangered tigers are but apparently great white sharks are pretty close to the same level.  Some people say they don’t care because they eat people, but I think we have to give them a little space to live in.

‘The Australians have now got a system where they put tags on great white sharks and they have receivers on the beaches so when a great white comes into the bay the receiver automatically  makes a cell phone call and tells the guy in charge to close the beach. So we can coexist with marine life.’

Great Sharks can mistake humans for seals in the water

Last year, Stanford researchers revealed that California sharks migrated thousands of miles across the Pacific, while others swam from South Africa to Australia and back in nine months.

They also discovered that the sharks congregated in an area dubbed the “White Shark Café” for 100 days each year halfway between the Baja Peninsula of California and the Hawaiian Islands .

‘People see a great white shark on the South California coast – and another hundreds of miles away,’ said Dr O’Dor.

‘We are now understanding that they are more mobile than we thought -  and actually it’s the same shark appearing in different places.

‘Until recently, people thought sharks were bad and there was no urge to save great whites. Now people are beginning to understand that they are rare and that they are a wonderful species.’

Although they were once thought to be "eating machines", recent research has also shown they are skilled and canny ambush hunters, taking their prey from below.

Despite their grisly public image from the movie Jaws, great whites rarely eat people, finding them too bony for their digestive systems.

Each year they are responsible for five to 10 attacks on people.Some shark experts say attacks on people are usually accidental – with the creatures mistaking people for seals.

They have grey bodies – and get their name from their white bellies.They are streamlined swimmers, capable of swimming up to 15mph.  Their mouths are lined with up to 300 serrated teeth lined in several rows.

They have organs that detect prey by the tiny electromagnetic fields generated by all animals. Great whites are victims of overfishing and hunting.

Related posts:

1. Do Sharks Sleep? Can A Shark Stop, Close its Eyes and Rest?...
2. Fin Whales, Once Rare, Crowd California Coast LOS ANGELES, Jan. 2, 2010 Population Explosion of Tiny...
3. Scuba Diving with the Unicorns of the Sea Unicorns of the Sea, Seeded from Kathy of ScubaDiving...

Trainer Dawn Brancheau Drowned Before Eyes of Dozens of Shocked Spectators

By LEE FERRAN and RUSSELL GOLDMAN
Feb. 25, 2010

The swing of a ponytail was likely what caused a killer whale in Orlando’s SeaWorld to attack and drown an experienced trainer before the terrified eyes of dozens of bystanders, a SeaWorld official said today.

Chuck Tompkins says Tillikum the killer whale is a good animal, "not depressed."

"What we have found out is that Dawn [Brancheau] had just finished up a very good session with this animal. … She was interacting with him, petting him on the nose," Chuck Tompkins, curator of zoological operations at SeaWorld Orlando, told "Good Morning America." "Dawn had very long hair in a ponytail. That ponytail had swung in front of him. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her underwater and held her underwater."

Eyewitnesses could see clearly through the viewing glass as the 12,000 pound killer whale named Tillikum thrashed Brancheau viciously underwater.

"We thought it was part of the act," said tourist Wayne Gillespie, who was at the killer whale show with his wife and two children. "We thought maybe they were playing together until we realized he was thrashing around pretty hard. That’s how we knew something was wrong."

Within minutes the Shamu Stadium, where the killer whale show takes place, was evacuated. Brancheau was pronounced dead at the scene, Orange County Sheriff’s homicide investigators said Wednesday.

Though it’s the third time Tillikum has been involved in a person’s death, there are reportedly no plans to take the massive animal out of the show.

"We need to evaluate how to do this the right way," Tompkins said. "We need to evaluate our handling procedures and how we interact with him. … I can guarantee we will make any change necessary.

"He’s a good animal," he said.

Brancheau spent 16 years of her life working with killer whales, and Tompkins said she was one of the best.

"We’re a small team of people here. We work very closely together," Tompkins said. "It’s a huge loss."

Tillikum, a male or bull whale, has lived at the park since 1992, and is one of eight killer whales there.

Dan Brown, vice president and general manager of SeaWorld Orlando, said Brancheau was one of the park’s "most experienced trainers."

"It is with great sadness that I report that one of our most experienced animal trainers drowned in an incident with one of our killer whales this afternoon," said Brown Wednesday. "We have never, in the history of our parks, experienced an incident like this," he said.

"We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends and of the trainer and will do everything possible to assist them in this difficult time."

No related posts.

Keep your hands free as you dive! This is the world’s only dive mask that has an integrated waterproof HD 720p digital video camera plus photographs at 5 mega pixels.

This is actual video shot by this wicked slick camera:

Operates to a depth of 115′ and eliminates the need to carry an underwater camera.
Ideal for scuba diving, spear fishing, free diving and snorkeling. Light attachment accessories available.

This has just been released on the market and we are selling it at K2 for $299.97

Liquid Image Video/Still Photo Scuba Mask (HD320 Mid), Blue

Technical Features:

Video – HD 720P, 30fps

Internal Memory – 64MB

Capacity – Micro SD/SDHC up to 32GB

Certified to 32m (115ft)

Attachment for lights

Audio Recording

Transparent Black Silicon Skirt

Lever Buttons

2 Size Silicon Skirts – Large and Mid Size

Technical Specifications:

Image Sensor
1/2.5" 5.0 Mega Pixels CMOS sensor

Pixels
Still Image: 5.0MP

Image Resolution
Still Images: 2560 x 1920

Video: 1280 x 720, HD 720P

Digital Video Recording Rate?
Up to 30fps @720P

Internal NAND flash Memory
64MB

Storage Medium
Micro SD/SDHC (up to 32GB)

Lens
2G2P fix lens

Lens Aperture
F/2.8 f=8.5mm

Lens Focus
0.5m to infinity

Shutter Speed
Stills: 1/4 to 1/1000 seconds

Sensitivity
Auto: ISO 100-200

White Balance
Automatic

Audio
Integrated microphone, no speaker

Display
Status LCD Panel

Storage Capacity with 32GB card
Still 36800 images (2560×1920) *

Storage Capacity with 32GB card
Video 960 mins *

Data Format
Picture: JPEG, Video: H.264 with Audio

Support System
Windows 2000/XP/Vista and Mac 10.4 or above

No Software required to download files

Interface
USB 2.0 High Speed

Optional Editing Software
TBD

Power Supply
4xAAA Batteries

Battery Performance
Lithium Batteries – Stills 2000, Videos 2hrs **

Alkaline Batteries – Stills 500, Videos 16 mins **

Weight
360g (with batteries, micro SD card)

Dimensions
8.9cm x 18.7cm x 13.3cmH

Standard Accessories
USB Cable, Optional Editing Software CD,

Manual, Silicon Tube, and Lithium Batteries

Optional Accessories
1W Head & Side Lights, MP4 Viewer

* Estimated Minimum Data Storage Capacity
** Estimated Minimum Battery Performance

Items Included

Includes:
2GB MicroSD Memory Card Digital Camera Mask
USB Cable
User Manual
Carrying Case
ArcSoft Photo Impression Software
ArcSoft Video Impression Software
2 AAA Energizer Lithium Batteries included!

Now, your turn!  What do you think of this, is it gimmicky and a fad, or is it the future or underwater video and photography?

Why have you bought this?  Why won’t you?

Leave your comments below!

Related posts:

1. SeaLife DC-1000 Maxx Underwater Camera: A Review Travel ready with everything you need for professional quality...
2. Mares Abyss Scuba Regulator Package, A Diving Equipment Review Mares Abyss 22 Scuba Regulator with Balanced Diaphragm The...