Bering Sea, Alaska | Ocean Doctor | Ocean Conservation in Action

The Top 10 Countdown: Your Favorite Episodes of 2010

December 27, 2010 By Ocean Doctor

December 27, 2010:

It’s our end-of-the-year party and retrospective where we count down your top 10 favorite episodes of the year and enjoy highlights from each of them. If you’ve missed any past episodes of “The Ocean Doctor,” here’s your chance to catch up and discover shows you’d like to hear in full. Find them all at oceandoctor.org/radio

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Filed Under: Bering Sea Expedition, Bering Sea, Alaska, Gulf of Mexico, Podcast, Sustainable Aquaculture Tagged With: David Helvarg, environmental education, florida keys, great white shark, Seacamp

Deep Reflection: Alone in the Dark at 1,300 Feet Below

September 18, 2010 By Ocean Doctor

I am inside a tiny, 1-person submarine beneath the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles offshore from the Alaskan coast. There are 1,300 feet of water between me and the surface. I’m here as part of a Greenpeace-led expedition to shed new light on the unexplored depths here.

It’s freezing cold, completely dark, and forbidding — and it’s utterly beautiful. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bering Sea, Alaska, Featured, Ocean Doctor's Reflections, Places Tagged With: alaska, bering sea, corals, curiosity, deepworker, greenpeace, humility, manned submersibles, trawl, trawling

Juneau Douglas High School (Juneau, AK)

December 21, 2008 By Ocean Doctor

Juneau Douglas High School (Juneau, AK)
Physical Address: 1639 Glacier Avenue, Juneau, Alaska 99801

[Read more...]

Filed Under: 50 States Expedition, Bering Sea, Alaska, Events, Flotsam, Places, USA & Territories, Washington, DC Tagged With: alaska

New Species Found, New Records Set, Beneath the Bering Sea

May 5, 2008 By Ocean Doctor

A New Species of Sponge: Aaptos kanuux, Discovered During Last Summer's Greenpeace Expedition to the Bering Sea (Photo Â© Greenpeace/Thomas Einberger) BERING SEA, Alaska — On August 1, 2007, Kenneth Lowyck took his tiny sub to one of the expedition’s “shallower” dives, to about 700 feet into the Bering Sea’s Pribolof Canyon, where he extended the sub’s manipulator arm and collected rock containing a tiny, unassuming white sponge. Months later, there would be no doubt: This was a new species, named Aaptos kanuux, the word “kanuux” being the Aleut word for “heart,” in honor of the Bering Sea’s canyons, considered to be the heart of the Bering Sea. It was the first time the genus Aaptos has ever been documented in the Bering Sea. The discovery comes on the heels of Earth Day and will likely herald future announcements of new species discovered during last summer’s Greenpeace expedition to the Bering Sea’s two largest canyons. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bering Sea Expedition, Bering Sea, Alaska, Featured, News & Announcements Tagged With: Add new tag, alaska marine, Bering Sea Expedition, black coral, conservation policies, fisheries council, greenpeace, greenpeace expedition, marine science, north pacific fisheries, robert stone, sea photo

The Heart of the Bering Sea Beats with Discovery

April 28, 2008 By Ocean Doctor

Kenneth Lowyck in DeepWorker

It’s hard to get a big smile out of Ken Lowyck, Greenpeace’s capable Action Unit Coordinator (and sub pilot) based in Toronto. I snapped the photo to the right and captured Ken’s pre-dive excitement last summer on August 1, just minutes before he was launched on the dive to 700 feet in Pribilof Canyon in the Bering Sea that resulted in one of the expedition’s most important discoveries. I imagine the modest smile that appeared on his face has returned today as Greenpeace has announced that the tiny, unassuming white sponge he retrieved on that dive was never before documented by Homo sapiens, and may well herald future announcements of other new species from the expedition. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bering Sea Expedition, Bering Sea, Alaska, Conservation, Featured, Ocean Doctor's Reflections Tagged With: alaska, aleut word, bering sea, canyons, discoveries, Discovery, greenpeace, Ken Lowyck, natives, Pribilof, sponge, toronto

Bering Sea Expedition Continues on Dry Land

September 8, 2007 By Ocean Doctor

The brilliant pink coral, Swiftia pacifica, found at 1,300 feet in Pribilof Canyon, Bering Sea, Alaska (Photo by David E. Guggenheim)

BERING SEA, Alaska — This past summer, the Greenpeace ship M/V Esperanza carried two manned submersibles, a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) and an international research team to the Bering Sea for a three week survey of Zhemchug and Pribilof Canyons,to map and document deepwater corals living at depths of more than 1,000 feet. The expedition was conceived of and was led by Greenpeace. 1planet1ocean president David E. Guggenheim participated as a sub pilot and scientific consultant. Pribilof and Zhemchug Canyons revealed diverse and complex ecosystems, rich with corals, sponges, fish and other marine life. They also revealed striking human impacts from trawlers, damage that was documented during the expedition. More than a terabyte of video data and numerous biological specimens are now being analyzed and results are being shared with a range of decisionmakers and decisionmaking bodies, including the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council.

Filed Under: Bering Sea Expedition, Bering Sea, Alaska Tagged With: alaska, BERING, bering sea, Bering Sea Expedition, canyons, David E. Guggenheim, ecosystem, fish, greenpeace, guggenheim, Marine, north pacific fisheries, sea expedition, Swiftia, Zhemchug

A Sea Turtle is Born in Alaska

August 24, 2007 By Ocean Doctor

Esperanza Returns to a Tranquil Unalaska I awakened at 4am in my bunk to something strange. The ship was still. After enduring two days of pounding seas and gale-force winds, we had at last arrived at the island of Unalaska and were nearing the port of Dutch Harbor. A few hours later, juggling my cameras, I tried in vain to capture the profound tranquility of that early Alaskan morning as dawn’s gentle glow painted small swaths of green across the surrounding mountains atop a canvas of deep blues and grays. An incredible journey was nearing its end, and I was reluctant to let go. So was the wildlife. In a moment, the morning silence was replaced by shrieks from the deck below. They were shrieks of joy as once again we were surrounded by whales as a pod of humpbacks divided itself evenly and passed closely along both sides of us, filling the morning air with their spouts and flukes. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bering Sea Expedition, Bering Sea, Alaska, Conservation, Featured, Ocean Doctor's Reflections Tagged With: alaska, dutch harbor, gale force winds, incredible journey, OceanDoctor, sea turtle, tranquility, Turtle, Unalaska, whales

Expedition to the Bering Sea Concludes Successfully with New Insights, New Questions

August 17, 2007 By Ocean Doctor

A bald eagle sits atop Unalaska’s Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Ascension with Esperanza at anchor in background.
(Photo by David E. Guggenheim)

With a Terabyte (1,000 Gigabytes) of high-definition video, photographs and other data, along with numerous biological samples, now making their way around the world to scientists, policymakers and public forums, new insights and perspectives are emerging as the hard work of reviewing this vast volume of new data moves forward. The science team and sub pilots have departed Esperanza, which is continuing west along the Aleutian Island chain, continuing important outreach to local communities. The ship will eventually continue west to Japan.

Before departing Dutch Harbor, the science team/sub pilots made the first public presentation of its findings, including imagery and videos, to the community of Unalaska. The following day, members of the community were invited aboard Esperanza during an Open House to meet with the crew and see the ship up close. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bering Sea Expedition, Bering Sea, Alaska, Featured, News & Announcements Tagged With: alaska, Aleutian Island, aleutian island chain, BERING, bering sea, canyons, David Guggenheim, dutch harbor, ecosystem, ecosystems, esperanza, fish, greenpeace, guggenheim, OceanDoctor, pinnacles, public forums, rov, science team, sea turtle, Zhemchug

Attacked by the Giant Squid’s Cousins

August 10, 2007 By Ocean Doctor

Squid Attack!

It’s the fantasy of many a marine biologist and explorer. To catch a glimpse of the giant squid, alive, and in its natural habitat: The deep ocean. Giant squid have been scientifically documented at a size of up to an incredible 43 feet long based on specimens that have washed ashore. I’ve seen one such specimen at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Laying there pickled and motionless in its sterile white display case, it was hard to imagine this animal rocketing about the dark depths, living up to its reputation as a formidable predator. During one of his talks when I first met oceanographer Bob Ballard, he compared trying to find the giant squid from a submersible to trying to find an F-15 jet racing by, on a mountain top, at night, in a driving rainstorm, with a flashlight. Yesterday I had second thoughts about looking for the giant squid when one of its cousins, less than 2% of its size, disabled my sub and aborted my dive as I was descending through 1,300 feet.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Bering Sea Expedition, Bering Sea, Alaska, Conservation, Featured, Ocean Doctor's Reflections Tagged With: bob ballard, deep ocean, giant squid, los angeles county museum of natural history, marine biologist, OceanDoctor, oceanographer, predator

Esperanza Heads South to Dutch Harbor with New Insights

August 10, 2007 By Ocean Doctor

Location of Pinnacles Remains a Mystery

A Dall's porpoise (top) gives Michelle Ridgway in DeepWorker a sendoff before her dive to 1,700 feet at Zhemchug Canyon in this surreal looking image. Hundreds of Dall's porpoises were present around the ship during the expedition. (Video still by David E. Guggenheim)

The Esperanza began its 2-day steam south and endured gale-force winds and 15-foot seas along the way, but all are well and grateful for the successes along the way. The team achieved a total of 25 sub dives during the expedition, well-exceeding expectations for this part of the world where weather is typically unforgiving.

The team collected nearly a Terabyte (1,000 Gigabytes) of high-definition video, photographs and other data, now being archived, cataloged and distributed. Also collected were numerous coral, sponge, and other invertebrate samples which are being prepared for distribution to scientists around the world for further analysis. [Read more...]