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Hope Beneath the Bering Sea!
/in Bering Sea Expedition, Featured, Ocean Doctor's Reflections/by Ocean DoctorYesterday I received wonderful news from colleague and friend, John Hocevar at Greenpeace, who has been on the front lines in Juneau seeking protection for the world’s largest underwater canyons, both in Alaska’s Bering Sea: Zhemchug Canyon and Pribilof Canyon, the “Grand Canyons” of the sea.
According to John, “the [North Pacific Fishery Management] Council unanimously adopted motions for both short term and long term measures. First, they agreed to identify coral areas in the canyons and weigh options to protect them. Second, they will develop a Fishery Ecosystem Plan for the Bering Sea, with particular emphasis on the shelf break.“
Following eight days of often contentious hearings and tremendous pressure from powerful industrial fishing interests, this is very welcome news and exactly what our Greenpeace-led coalition had hoped for.
Over the weeks and months ahead our coalition will have a great deal of work to do helping ensure that the Council to follows through with strong measures that will ensure the health of the Bering Sea and the fisheries it sustains.
Our Ocean Doctor action alert set a new record for the number of responses. You added your voices to thousands around the world, and for that we are deeply grateful. And I am pleased to say that your voices were heard loud and clear. According to Greenpeace’s Jackie Dragon, Council member John Henderschedt thanked all who provided comments, saying “your voices are important to this process and they’ve been heard.” From all sources, more than 100,000 individuals submitted comments!
This victory is especially important as it underscores that the oceans represent the largest public trust in the United States, and not the exclusive domain of industrial fishing or any other commercial interest. They belong to and must be stewarded by all of us. You helped us make that point loud and clear, and for that, please accept my profound thanks.
Sincerely, |
David E. Guggenheim, Ph.D. President, Ocean Doctor Director, Cuba Conservancy |
Learn More: The Worst Thing I Ever Saw Underwater Action Alert: Grand Canyons of the Bering Sea VIDEOS: Return to the Arctic Depths BeringSeaCanyons.org (Greenpeace) Spoiler alert: Fishery Council votes in favor of the Bering Sea (Greenpeace) |
The Worst Thing I Ever Saw Underwater (and Why it Matters This Week)
/in Bering Sea Expedition, Featured, Ocean Doctor's Reflections/by Ocean DoctorOn Friday, August 3rd, 2007, I landed the Deepworker submersible at 1,052 feet in the second largest underwater canyon in the world, Pribilof Canyon in Alaska’s Bering Sea. In the distance, I saw the lights of the other submersible, piloted by Michelle Ridgway.
As we both sat on the bottom conducting life support checks and communicating with the Greenpeace ship, Esperanza above, I peered through the dome and saw something strange. I reported that I had landed on what appeared to be some sort of geologic stratification — unusual layers and grooves of sediment in parallel lines across my path. What in the world was this? We hadn’t seen anything like it. Read more
Action Alert: Grand Canyons of the Bering Sea
/in Action Alert, Bering Sea Expedition, Featured, News, USA & Territories/by Ocean Doctor
Protect the Bering Sea’s Grand Canyons
Background
In 2007, Greenpeace launched a groundbreaking expedition to explore the two largest underwater canyons in the world, in the heart of the Bering Sea. It was the first time manned submersibles ever entered these canyons and human eyes gazed directly upon their treasures. Ocean Doctor president, Dr. David E. Guggenheim served as a sub pilot and scientific consultant during the 2007 expedition. The expedition revealed an extraordinary tapestry of life thousands of feet below the surface, including beautiful, brightly-colored deepwater corals, sponges, anemones, octopus and fish and resulted the discovery of new species and species ranges. Read more
An Important Message from Ocean Doctor
/in Bering Sea Expedition, Cuba, Cuba Research & Conservation, Featured, News, News & Announcements/by Ocean DoctorI Hereby Reclaim This Land for Nature!
/in Podcast/by Ocean DoctorDecember 13, 2010: Mangroves are critically important to our coastlines, to fish, manatees and other ocean wildlife we love. But in South Florida many acres of mangroves were destroyed to make way for waterfront real estate, and around the world, mangroves face a myriad of threats. Enter the Reclamation Project, a unique art, education and restoration project hosted at Miami Science Museum. Mangrove seedlings in cups are displayed as art in galleries, retail stores and schools throughout the region, and once large enough, they are replanted along the shoreline. Along the way comes lots of new awareness about the incredible wetlands residents may be only vaguely aware of, and deep appreciation for the beauty of nature. Our guests: Reclamation Project Founder and artist, Xavier Cortada and Executive Director, Fernando Bretos. Also: Attacked by the Giant Squid’s cousins and a silky shark with an appetite for video cameras.
The Ocean Doctor airs weekly on WebTalkRadio.net. Want to listen on your iPod, iPhone or mp3 player? Download the mp3 file or subscribe on iTunes and don’t miss a single episode. See the complete list of episodes.
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Submit a question and I’ll try to answer it on the air. Even better, record your question or comment on our special message line and I might play it on the air. Call: (805) 619-9194. You can also leave questions and comments for this episode below.
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Deep Reflection: Alone in the Dark at 1,300 Feet Below
/in Featured, Ocean Doctor's Reflections/by Ocean DoctorI 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
Beneath the Deadliest Catch: Beauty & Mayhem Under the Bering Sea
/in Podcast/by Ocean DoctorSeptember 6, 2010: We return to Alaska’s Bering Sea aboard the Greenpeace ship “Esperanza” and take the DeepWorker 1-person submarine down to nearly 2,000 feet where we’ll find the best and worst things The Ocean Doctor has ever seen underwater. We also visit with Greenpeace Oceans Campaign Leader, John Hocevar aboard the Esperanza.
The Ocean Doctor airs weekly on WebTalkRadio.net. Want to listen on your iPod, iPhone or mp3 player? Download the mp3 file or subscribe on iTunes and don’t miss a single episode. See the complete list of episodes.
Submit a question and I’ll try to answer it on the air. Even better, record your question or comment on our special message line and I might play it on the air. Call: (805) 619-9194. You can also leave questions and comments for this episode below.
Like the show? Learn how to become a sponsor. Read more
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You’re a Submarine Pilot!
/in Podcast/by Ocean DoctorJune 28, 2010: The Ocean Doctor kicks off by taking you on the series? first weekly field trip aboard the? one-person submersible, the DeepWorker, on a dive to 2,000 feet, to the bottom of Alaska’s Bering Sea.? Our guest is Jeff Heaton, sub pilot and operations manager at Nuytco, Ltd. in Vancouver where these incredible subs are manufactured.? Also: The Gulf of Mexico — What you can do.
The Ocean Doctor airs weekly on WebTalkRadio.net. Want to listen on your iPod, iPhone or mp3 player? Download the mp3 file or subscribe on iTunes and don’t miss a single episode. See the complete list of episodes.
Submit a question and I’ll try to answer it on the air. Even better, record your question or comment on our special message line and I might play it on the air. Call: (805) 619-9194. You can also leave questions and comments for this episode below.
Like the show? Learn how to become a sponsor.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Google Earth 5.0 ? Now With Genuine Ocean!
/in Bering Sea Expedition, Cuba, Cuba Research & Conservation, Events, Featured, News & Announcements, Projects & Expeditions/by Ocean DoctorThe ExpeditionCasts podcast is back! The series returns with the video version of the Ocean Doctor’s popular blog post, “Attacked by the Giant Squid’s Cousins.” (You can access the video version below.) That’s big news. But the GINORMOUS news is that ExpeditionCasts returns along with a new version of Google Earth. Version 5.0 of Google Earth allows you to explore the other 70 percent of the planet — the world’s oceans — and access stunning underwater video content from around the world. We have been privileged to be a contributor to this enormous, er, GINORMOUS project, and you’ll find five ExpeditionCasts videos among the others Google Earth 5.0. Look for them in Alaska’s Bering Sea and off the northwestern coast of Cuba.
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P.O. Box 53090
Washington, DC 20009
Just Released: The Remarkable Reefs of Cuba: Stories of Hope from the Ocean Doctor by Dr. David E. Guggenheim, President of Ocean Doctor