Speak Up For The Ocean Blue

Dr. Nathan Robinson tells us how those videos changed his career path to more of a science communicator path and started the You Tube Channel called "The Wandering Biologist." Check out the podcast then go to his channel and subscribe for some incredible videos of Ocean and other animals.

Dr. Alexander Pyron learned that lesson the hard way. I discuss his opinion piece in the Op Ed of the Washington Post in which he now regrets writing and says the Post added words that he did not write...words that could cost him his career and ruin his reputation as a Scientist.  I do discuss some great news in the Arctic in terms of fisheries and scientific research and cover a weird article about the Chinese Navy shredding jellyfish in the Ocean to protect their Aircraft Carriers.

This week on Ocean Talk Friday, I cover 3 stories: 1) The Science of The Climate Change Denier's Strategy to confuse people; 2) President Trump is reducing the area in National Monuments and allowing mining and commercial fishing in the protected areas; and, 3) A lobster in New Brunswick had the Pepsi logo imprinted on its claw opening a larger conversation of how bad plastic pollution has gotten around the globe Enjoy the Podcast!!!

SEA Change Clothing Co. is a company on a mission to change the way we make decisions when we buy our clothes to reduce plastic pollution. Most shirts and sweaters are made with micro-plastics and every time we wash our clothes, some of those micro-plastics come off the clothes and are added to our waterways. However, Sea Change Clothing is pure organic cotton so there are no micro-plastics in the shirt. Brennan Fitzgerald, founder of Sea Change Clothing, to find out all about him and his company. 

Ocean Update today is a special one...400 EPISODES here on The Speak Up For Blue Podcast!!! I take some time to Thank You for helping me get there and helping me build this fantastic community!!! I chat shark bites, Mexican Ocean Reserves to protect the "Galapagos of North America" and restoring the Great Barrier Reef.

Ocean Talk Friday is all about dealing with human issues (as much of marine conservation is!). I start off today by talking about a 210,000 gallon oil leak of the Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota last week as well as some news about the Keystone XL pipeline construction. 2nd story: How we should use scicomm for conservation via the Blue Planet II series and their assumption that a pilot whale calf died of toxins related plastic pollution in its mother's milk. A scientist didn't like that.

Dr. Craig McClain is on the podcast. This is his second time on the podcast as he was on our second ever episode, so this is really special. Craig is the Executive Director of the Louisiana Marine Consortium (LUMCON) and the Chief Editor of DeepSeaNews.com. He is on the podcast to chat about OCEANSDOTCOMM, an innovative concept he has been wanting to do for a very long time. OCEANSDOTCOMM will be a game changer in Science and Conservation Communication. What is it? Listen to the episode to find out. 

I cover 3 unrelated topics this week. The first story is a tragedy, the second is a call to action and the third is a congratulatory story...kind of...let me explain. Here are the topics for today: 1) 4 Sperm Whales Die After Being Stranded In Indonesia (13:51) 2) Opinion: We Need To Change The Way We Live (23:23) 3) Trump Delays Lifting Trophy Hunting Import Ban After Huge Backlash

An article came out this week where over 15,000 scientists agreed upon on thing: we are screwing up this planet royally. But don't let the title fool you, the authors highlight 9 things that either went wrong or are going wrong. The optimism is to look at the first thing the authors go over: The Ozone Layer. The paper highlights that, as a planet, we overcame ozone depletion and made it strong again. It took change and a Global Effort in how we approached using products such as aerosols, but it worked. 

Take a listen to find out how Caroline discovered her path by providing people what they wanted and how she creates products that solve people's problems in addition to being good for the environment.

I comment on a recent article from Oceans Deeply where Dr. Asha de Vos commented on how the Marine Science and Conservation field needs to move away from Parachute Science and support more long term local initiatives in developing countries. Find out what Parachute Science is all about and why we need to stop. Also on the show, we talk about how Climate Change is decreasing the Walrus population in Alaska and how the species was rejected to be put on the Endangered Species list.

Dr. Edward Hind-Ozan joins us on the podcast today to discuss some major stories that are roaming around the Marine Conservation World this week. Here is the breakdown of the stories: 1) Can we really save the Vaquita? (6:01) 2) Is Sea Shepherd Society turning over a new leaf with combating IUU Fishing? (36:48) 3) An Update form Edd's project in Mexico looking at the affects of Land Use changes in the Province of Quintana Roo, Mexico (50:15) Enjoy The Podcast!!!

I am truly honoured to have Austin as my guest today where he tells us about all of his ventures including working with his team to tag hammerhead sharks in Japan with a free diver and professional surfer. He also tells us about his non-profit organization, Beneath The Waves and his new all-organic no-sugar or sweetener added sparkling tea called Tempo.

Today I discuss the following: 1) Menhaden fish catches will be reduced to ensure their sustainability (8:40); 2) My Opinion on a post that went down in a Facebook Group about Marine Careers where one person got hate thrown at them for asking people to collaborate with them on a Marine Conservation Blog and why I like the idea (18:04); and, 3) Octopuses were found walking on the sand in fairly large numbers and it has scientists baffled (34:18).

Dr. Lyne Morissette joins me on the podcast again this week for another instalment of Ocean Talk Friday. Today we talk: 1) Volvo Award goes to Canadian Economist for High Seas Fishing Study; 2) The expansion of an Antarctic Network of Marine Protected Areas does not go ahead...yet; 3) A weird sailing story from two women who were rescued after 90 days stranded at sea, but their stories don't correlate with true accounts; and, 4) More countries collaborate to protect sharks across borders.