TIME magazine on Sylvia Earle, Mission Blue and the quest to save the ocean

Sargassum --Shaul Swartz/Reportage by Getty for Time

"In her more than 50-year career in ocean science, Earle has studied the deep, dived it and written about it. Now she's trying to save the oceans, and she's focusing on one simple idea: protect them. Create true reserves — marine protected areas (MPAs) — on the high seas, sanctuaries for everything that swims, just as governments have created parks on land. About 12% of the planet's land surface is conserved in some way, but little more than 1% of the 139.5 million sq. mi. of the oceans have any protection whatsoever."

Read more: click here or  
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2020806_2020805_2020796-1,00.html#ixzz11c6Sr4up

International Jellyfish Art Contest

Marine Photobank

Visitors to the ocean know them for their stings, and in many parts of the world people eat them, but did you know that jellyfish are important ocean predators that can be bigger than a human, or as small as a pinhead, or that their numbers may be increasing across the globe?  

We met sea jelly expert Dr Rob Condon in Melbourne many years ago. He's asked  if any Aussie kids/schools would be interested in joining the Jellyfish Art Contest. Find out more here

 International Jellyfish Art Contest 

The Global Jellyfish Group invites your students and children age 12 and under to submit their best artwork of jellyfish to the first ever Jellyfish ROCK student art contest!  We already have involvement from many children in the USA, Bermuda, Spain and Chile but it would be great to have more entries - this is the first ever global jelly art contest!  jellywatch.org/blooms/contest

Age Categories: Pre-school (Under 5); Age 5-8; Age 9-12 

Categories: 

1. Visual art (drawing, painting, collage, printmaking, photography).
2. Multimedia (computer art, animations, movies).

Submissions:  Please see website for details.  Depending on the region, either paper and/or electronic submissions will be collected.  Parents and teachers, please contact your regional representative.

The art should display any aspect of jellyfish, including jellyfish blooms, their biology, their effects on the environment or society, and their role in food webs. 

For more information see ‘Fun facts’ brochure for teachers and parents online. jellywatch.org/blooms/facts 

Jury and Notification: Submissions will be judged by a consortium of international jellyfish researchers and educators.  Artwork should be submitted via mail or email to your regional representative (see website for information) with the student’s name, age, school/country, contact details and title of artwork (optional). 

Contest Winners: Winning submissions will be displayed at the Jellyfish ROCK outreach event in Santa Barbara, CA, on 20 November 2010.  Prizes will be presented to the winning pieces in each age category & will be displayed at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History at that time.

DUE DATE: Entries must be received by 5 p.m. local time on November 1, 2010.  Winners will be announced November 12, 2010

Good luck & happy drawing!

The Global Jellyfish Group

Rob Condon, PhD

Research Scientist

Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL)

101 Bienville Blvd

Dauphin Island, AL 36528

Skype ID: mnemiopsis007

Phone: (251) 861-2141 x7546

Email:  rcondon@disl.org

TALKING OCEAN: Marine Discovery Centres from top to bottom

Australia's Marine Discovery Centers (MDC) share information and assist each other with inspiration on how to attain the best possible outcomes for education about the marine environment. This month two school-based two Marine Discovery Centres, situated respectively in the northern and southern coastal regions of Australia, did just that.

Tagai College News

Andrew Denzin who also recently received the well earned Queensland Green Teachers Award doesn't sit on his laurels. When provided with the opportunity, the Marine Studies Coordinator, Tagai College, on Thursday Island headed down to Adelaide accompanied by Torres Strait Regional Authority's well respected Sea Ranger, Frank Loban and Matthew Denzin, Associate Principal of Tagai College with the idea of visiting the awarded Henley Beach Marine Discovery Centre at the Star of the Sea College in South Australia.

The visit allowed for sharing ideas and a dialog on continuing progress of the Tagai College facility, currently undergoing design, renovation and update changes that contribute to their Marine Studies Centre of Excellence.

Both MDCs are education partners with AUSMEPA, who have just completed publication of two literacy readers specifically for the Torres Strait.

Find out more about the Australian Marine Environment Protection Association (AUSMEPA) here
Find Henley Beach MDC South Australia newsletter here
Find Torres Strait Queensland Green Teacher news here 
Find out more about Australia's network of Marine Discovery Centers here

Shore Bird Protection; New South Wales

A healthy Australian coastal environment can be ascertained fairly easily by the presence 
or absence of the birds associated with that ecosystem. However sea and shore birds often 
have a difficult time sharing space with people and their activities.


Volunteers associated with the Sapphire Coast Marine Discovery Centre along the southern 
coast of New South Wales have been involved in a program co-ordinated by the NSW National 
and Wildlife Service to provide some protection for the birds.

Volunteering either as a community member or through school participation can contribute to the health of our coasts and oceans. There are many possibilities both local and national. To find out what is available in your area speak with your local council or search online

Visit the Sapphire Coast Marine Discovery Center here

FOR TEACHERS: AUSMEPA's new Coastal Conservation Leadership unit of work for schools will be available on our website in the next month or so. Watch this space!

Visit the AUSMEPA website here

Re-using bottle tops to seal and re-use plastic bags

In the interests of removing plastic from the environment you've probably done your best to eliminate plastic drink bottles and plastic bags from your home. However if you still find some sneak into the house you may be interested in an email forward received recently demonstrating a novel way to re-use bottle tops to create an airtight seal on a plastic bag. [Test the bag for any holes first]

"Cut up a disposable water bottle and keep the neck and top, as in photo.

Insert the plastic bag through the neck and screw the top – to seal.

The bottle is made to be air-tight, such that water will not leak, the secret lies with the top and screw!"

[Forwarded by S Best]

INDO PACIFIC CORAL FINDER: Coral Identification, Capacity Building and the Coral Hub

Corals are an amazing natural phenomenon of our Australian waters and indicators of the health of our coastal seas. Russell Kelley's guide will be in demand as it demonstrates how excellence in science communication makes identifying corals a whole lot easier in and out of the water.

The guide here contains over 700 images on 36 plastic pages and can be used to identify 70 coral genera anywhere in the Indo-Pacific. Clear visuals are provided with text limited to concise clear plain language, a must for those who are monitoring, surveying or merely curious. At the end of October it will be complimented by the supporting Coral Hub website and a suite of video training movies.

To get a sense of the website's look and feel go here

Some introductory movies can be found here and here. Over 90 minutes of dedicated coral identification training movies are currently in production and will be available on the website by the end of October 2010.
 
For information related to AUSMEPA school resources on Coral Bleaching and Climate Change for middle year students and teachers click here.

WORLD CLOCKS and SHIFTING BASELINES

Poodwaddle World Clock

Have you ever come across internet world clocks? They are both interesting and scary. On a world scale they highlight statistics about people with a temporal context not in terms of centuries or decades but changes occuring from moment to moment.
A few that may be of interest to you are:
World Clock click here
Worldometer click here
Breathing Earth click here

Teachers using AUSMEPA educational resources (click here) might find these novel devices useful to demonstrate how it is that we know that our oceans are coming under increasing pressure. More people, more activities of people and the resulting increases in pollution that affect us all.

Additionally there is an opportunity to talk about how the ocean has changed from our grandparents and our parents time to the world in our eyes today -- also known as shifting baselines. To view a slideshow from the that demonstrates shifting baselines in relation to fish numbers in the sea click here. Although this slideshow was made in the North America we Aussies are entitled to be proud that the Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary signage in the slide show is from Ricketts Point in Beaumaris, Victoria.