Marine Debris - A tremendous problem

Marine debris is defined as "any manufactured or processed solid waste material that enters the marine environment from any source." Debris is everywhere—found around every major body of water on the planet, and below water as well. Marine debris is a global pollution problem that impacts human health and safety, endangers wildlife and aquatic habitats, and costs local and national economies millions in wasted resources and lost revenues.

Many people assume that if trash exists in the ocean, it must be that the fishing and shipping industries are to blame. But in fact, only 20% of the items found in the ocean can be linked to ocean-based sources, like commercial fishing vessels, cargo ships (discharge of containers and garbage), or pleasure cruise ships.

The remainder (80%) is due to land-based sources, like litter (from pedestrians, motorists, beach visitors), industrial discharges (in the form of plastic pellets and powders), and garbage management (ill-fitting trash can lids, etc).

Mysterious Changes in Ocean Salt

Over the past 50 years, the salty parts of the oceans have become saltier and the fresh regions have become fresher, and the degree of change is greater than scientists can explain.

Researchers are heading out into one particularly salty ocean region, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, in the hopes of better understanding what drives variation in salinity in the upper ocean.

Ultimately, they hope, research like this will offer insight on the dynamics behind the dramatic changes in the ocean's salt content.

Many oceanographers have a hunch about what is going on: Climate change, Ray Schmitt, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, told journalists during a news conference Wednesday (Sept. 5). "Climate is changing all the time, and some of that change is due to natural variation," Schmitt said. "The 50-year trend we are talking about, most of us believe is really due to the general trend of global warming."

Four tons of marijuana found floating off Southern California coast

Four tons of marijuana in large bales were found bobbing off the Southern California coast, and authorities are still trying to determine where it came from.

Harbor patrol agents began receiving tips about "suspicious bales" 13 miles offshore near Dana Point, in Orange County around noon on May 20, according to a report from CBS Los Angeles.

The Coast Guard, Orange County Sheriff's Department and U.S. Border Patrol hauled in some 160 bales or 7,623 pounds of marijuana. Border Patrol agents said the bales had a street value of $3.6 million.

So far, there have been no arrests, and there were no suspect vessels sighted near the area where the dumping occurred.

Border Patrol spokesman Michael Jimenez called the incident unusual in the Orange County Register. Typically, bales are found in the water because suspects and boats fleeing from authorities are in a hurry to get rid of them.

Whole Foods -- Way to go .....

WHOLE FOODS

Oh buoy! As of Earth Day 2012, we no longer carry red-rated wild-caught fish in our seafood departments! It’s our way of supporting our oceans and helping to reverse overfishing trends.

We give you the whole story on the wild-caught fish we sell. Wild-caught seafood from fisheries certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is the top choice for sustainability and we offer the widest selection available.

We display the color-coded sustainability ratings of our partners, Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) and Blue Ocean Institute (BOI), on all wild-caught seafood that’s not certified by MSC to help customers make informed choices. And we only carry green- and yellow-rated choices. Red ratings typically suggest that the fish is over fished or caught in ways that harm other marine life or habitats.

We promised to eliminate all wild-caught seafood from red-rated fisheries and we did it—ahead of our deadline. We’ve always been on the leading edge with our commitment to responsibly caught seafood. Years ago we stopped selling species that were extremely depleted in the oceans, such as orange roughy, shark and bluefin tuna.

Tsunami debris floating across Pacific toward US

This file photo taken March 13, 2011, and provided by the U.S. Navy, shows a Japanese home adrift in the Pacific Ocean, days after a massive earthquake and the ensuing tsunami hit Japan's east coast. Scientists believe ocean waves carried away 3-4 million tons of the 20 million tons of debris created by tsunamis that slammed into Japan after a magnitude-9.0 earthquake nearly a year ago. One-to-two million tons of it _ lumber and other construction material, fishing boats and other fragments of coastal towns _ are still in the water and are being carried across the Pacific by ocean currents. One to five percent of that may reach coastlines in Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon and Washington states. 

(AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Dylan McCord)

By AUDREY McAVOY
HONOLULU (AP) — Refrigerators, TVs and other debris dragged into sea when a massive earthquake hit Japan last March, causing tsunamis as high as 130 feet to crash ashore, could show up in remote atolls north of Hawaii as soon as this winter, with other pieces reaching parts of the West Coast in 2013 and 2014, experts say.
Debris from the tsunami initially formed a thick mass in the ocean of Japan's northeastern coast. But ocean currents have dispersed the pieces so they're now estimated to spread out some 3,000 miles halfway across the Pacific.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday the first bits of tsunami debris are estimated to make landfall this winter on small atolls northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands. Other pieces are expected to reach the coasts of Oregon, Washington state, Alaska and Canada between March 2013 and March 2014.