State of the Oceans — Log 98

Sep 4

YOUR WEEKLY BRIEFING FROM PARLEY

This image by Berend de Kort. Header image by Nadia Sitova.

CLIMATE

A new study led by the Universtiy of Exeter has found the oceans soak up far more carbon than most scientific models suggested. In previous measurements, the carbon flux, or movement of carbon between Earth’s atmosphere and the oceans, was misinterpreted due to small temperature differences between the surface of the ocean and the water a few meters below. Scientists have since used satellite data to correct the temperature differences of the calculated CO2 fluxes from 1992 to 2018. What they found was a substantially larger flux going into the ocean – in some cases finding up to twice as much net flux in certain times and locations.

ILLEGAL FISHING

Depleting marine stocks near the coastlines of mainland China are pushing hundreds of illegal Chinese fishing vessels to travel further and more aggressively into uncharted waters driving international conflict. Just this month, 340 fishing vessels appeared off the coast of the biologically diverse and ecologically sensitive shores of the Galapagos. The Chinese government says it has roughly 2,600 distant-water fishing vessels, which, according to a recent report by the Stimson Center, a security research group, makes it three times larger than the fleets of the next top four countries – Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Spain – combined.

MARINE POLLUTION

A massive tanker carrying 270,000 tons of crude oil caught fire on this week off the coast of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean. The country’s navy and India’s coast guard are working together to defuse the fire, and towing the ship further out to sea in anticipation of a potentially massive oil spill. There is no immediate threat, but should one happen, it has the potential to be “one of the biggest environmental disasters in the world” according to Dharshani Lahandapura, the chair of Sri Lanka's Marine Environmental Protection Authority – a Parley partner. Authorities are also warning the Maldives to keep a close eye on the tanker.

OCEAN CONSERVATION

In a world first, the extent of human development in oceans has been mapped. The range of ocean modified by manmade construction is, proportion-wise, comparable to the extent of urbanized land, and greater than the global area of some natural marine habitats, like mangrove forests and seagrass beds – an area calculated to take up two million square kilometers or 0.5% of the ocean. The numbers on future marine expansion are also alarming, with infrastructure for power and aquaculture projected to increase by 50 to 70 % by 2028. The study reiterates there is an urgent need for improved management of marine environments.

SHARKS

Until recently, little was known about the now extinct, largest shark to ever swim the Earth’s oceans – the ancient Otodus megalodon. Formerly thought to be a relative of the great white, the megalodon was believed to have reached lengths of 80 to 100 feet. However, it has now been classified into the extinct family Otodontidae. The new study uses the growth curves of five current day shark species for a body size estimation of the extinct giant. The results suggest a full-grown megalodon is likely to have had a head about 15.2 feet long, a dorsal fin 5.3 feet tall and a tail 12.6 feet long, reaching a total length of 52.5 feet.