State of the Oceans — Log 64

Jan 6

YOUR WEEKLY BRIEFING FROM PARLEY

DEEP SPACE

Mining companies want access to the seabed beneath international waters, which contain more valuable minerals than all the continents combined. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) has pledged “to ensure effective protection for the marine environment,” yet global regulations for ocean mining have never been established.

Resource extraction continues to fuel conflict around the world and the demand for precious metals is only rising. Mining companies argue that exploiting the sea’s material wealth could not only alleviate these struggles but also help produce the battery infrastructure needed to move away from fossil fuels and support a global renewable energy economy. But seafloor extraction could come with devastating environmental costs: the loss of entire ecosystems and species, and plumes of sediment that can suffocate marine life far beyond mining zones.

INNOVATION

Mealworms could be one answer to the global plastic crisis that threatens humans, animals, and the oceans. In a new study published in December, scientists from Stanford University showed that yellow mealworms have the ability to digest Styrofoam and excrete its harmful chemicals additives, like flame retardant. That means mealworms can not only degrade plastic, but they can also prevent dangerous substances from building up in the food chain—or bioaccumulating. “There are several routes that this could take,” said the study’s lead author. “One promising route is that you could essentially deploy mealworms to break down plastic waste in poorer countries and then use them as a feed supplement for farms.”

OCEAN CARBON

Habitat, coastal resilience, seawater filtration: seagrass meadows are an invaluable ecosystem, yet they have declined by 7% since the 1990s. While efforts to prevent nutrient runoff have led to recovery in some places, seagrass still faces threats from pollution, dredging, and climate change. One expert said, “It’s certainly not a pretty picture and may not get any prettier. These plants are very sensitive to environmental characteristics—water quality, temperature.” Ironically, seagrass meadows are one of the “blue carbon” ecosystems that, if protected, could help store CO2 and mitigate climate change. Covering just .2% of the world’s oceans, seagrass stores twice as much carbon as temperature and tropical forests.

WHALES

In Japan, whale watching is on the rise while whale consumption slowly fades. It’s no secret that the island nation has a long history of whaling, which became even more important as Japan looked for cheap protein sources after WWII. But since the 1980s, the country has begun to invest in ecotourism, and between 2008 and 2016 the number of people taking whale watching trips more than doubled from 103,000 to 234,000. Meanwhile, younger people in Japan are eating much less whale meat than older generations. While the whaling industry is still alive and receiving government subsidies, the trend is clear. One Japanese mayor said, “We have a heritage of traditional whaling, but it may be hard to sustain.”

MARINE LIFE

The red brittle star – a cousin of sea stars – is expanding our understanding of vision. A new study shows that Ophiocoma wendtii is the second known creature (along with a sea urchin species) to have extraocular vision: the ability to see without eyes. Instead, O. wendtii lives in the Caribbean and has light-sensing cells and specific pigments that work in tandem to camouflage the brittle star and give it an image of its environment. The study’s lead author said, “If our conclusions are correct, this is a beautiful example of innovation in evolution. It’s such an alien concept for us, as very visually-driven animals, to conceive of how an animal might see its habitat without eyes, but now we know of two examples.”

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Chris Hatherill