The air here is so clear that it is incomprehensible, friend. We are sailing on the vessel Tecla, with the swirled gray gneiss and black granites of Greenland rising vertically before us. A whale surfaces, blows, black back wheels revealing a sickle fin before sliding back beneath the waves. It looks like a minke whale,…
An ice cube in a pint glass demonstrates how the shrinking polar ice cap gives more flow to a stronger Gulf Stream, while an ice cube in the adjacent pint glass demonstrates why Gulf of Maine seawater is not warming faster than any other water body. On the hot bricks of Boston’s City Plaza at…
In Massachusetts, the popular bill to reduce single-use plastic bags has passed the Senate and is about to be brought up by the House Speaker for a vote. Meanwhile Governor Baker sounds reluctant with unsubstantiated claims that grocery bills will go up and “Mom and Pop stores” will suffer. What’s your reason for implementing a…
One hundred forty odd miles southeast of Nantucket, the cod-gray seas of Georges Bank turned to Mediterranean blue. We had left the continental shelf in our wake and were motoring out over one of the deep sea canyons. The first sperm whale we came upon was floating dead in the water. Likely killed by a…
Please write a personal thank you note to the President in the comment section below. Please include your town and state, so the President will see that saving this ocean realm is more than of local interest. Top Ten Comments Calling for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Marine Monument, a wondrous Atlantic Ocean 4,900…
The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) has stepped up in support of a proposal for a “demonstration and research” Marine Protected Area around Fair Isle. Meaningful engagement with stakeholders had played a key role in SFF’s decision to support the initiative. Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the SFF, said: ‘We recognize the vast amount of effort…
Liz Stebbins, one of two ORI spring interns, spent Spring Break in Bocas del Toro, Panama. I’ve invited Liz to be guest blogger and here’s her report: Each day we went to one of three types of sites: mangroves, sandy beaches, or coral reefs (usually finger corals or staghorn corals). My favorite were the mangroves…
George W. Bush forever protected Pacific Ocean seamounts by proclamation creating the Northern Hawaii Island National Marine Monument. Now the rare earth elements and high-tech metal mining-eye of Mordor is turning to seamounts in the Atlantic Ocean off of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. The four pristine seamounts are named Bear, Physalia, Mytilus, and…
