Monthly Archives: January 2021

Image courtesy USN

By The Maritime Executive 01-24-2021 07:28:00

The USS Theodore Roosevelt and her escorts have returned to the South China Sea, marking the carrier's second deployment to the region in less than a year's time.

After sailing through these waters throughout my 30-year career, its great to be in the South China Sea again, conducting routine operations, promoting freedom of the seas, and reassuring allies and partners, said Rear Adm. Doug Verissimo, commander, Carrier Strike Group Nine. With two-thirds of the worlds trade traveling through this very important region, it is vital that we maintain our presence and continue to promote the rules-based order which has allowed us all to prosper."

The strike group is carrying out a range of routine training and presence operations, including flight ops, maritime strike exercises and coordinated tactical training between surface and air units, the Navy said.

We all benefit from free and open access to the seas and our operations represent our commitment to maintaining regional security and stability, said Capt. Eric Anduze, USS Theodore Roosevelt's commanding officer. Im incredibly proud of the work and professionalism this crew shows every day operating on the high seas.

Images courtesy USN

The strike group includes USS Theodore Roosevelt, the cruiser USS Bunker Hill and the destroyers USS Russell and USS John Finn.

Theodore Roosevelt departed San Diego for deployment to the Indo-Pacific on December 23. Herrare "double-pump" deployment follows after a challenging tour in the Western Pacific in the first half of 2020. After a port call in Vietnam, an outbreak of COVID-19 swept through the ship, eventually infecting one quarter of the crew. A 10-week period of quarantine and disinfection followed at the Navy's base at Guam, and after the all clear, Theodore Roosevelt returned to San Diego, arriving in early July.

Despite a second, smaller COVID outbreak affecting her personnel, she trained up and got under way in late December, less than six months after her return to base.She sustained two crewmembers fatalities in the run-up to departure, including a man-overboard in mid-December and a suicide in mid-October.

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10 Months After Outbreak, USS Theodore Roosevelt is Back in W. Pacific - The Maritime Executive

Shortfin mako shark (NOAA)

By David Sims 01-27-2021 10:31:00

Oceanic sharks and rays live so far from land that the average person is unlikely to ever see them. But these species, which live in the vast open ocean, are also among the most revered, and include the great white shark and the giant manta ray. For millennia, their remoteness has allowed these species to largely avoid humans. But since the early 1950s, industrial-scale fishing fleets have been able to reach distant waters and gradually spread to exploit the entire global ocean.

Rising demand over the same period for shark and ray meat, as well as fins, gill plates and liver oil, has caused catches of the 30 or so oceanic species to soar. Marine biologists have been raising the alarm for several decades now, but their warnings were often limited to what regional trends showed. Now,new researchhas brought together disparate threads of data into a single, global analysis of shark and ray populations in the open ocean.

Worldwide, oceanic shark and ray abundance has declined by 71 percentsince 1970. More than half of the 31 species examined are now considered to be endangered, or even critically endangered. Compare this with 1980 when only one species, the plankton-feeding basking shark, was thought to be endangered. These are stark statistics, and they indicate that the future for the oceans top predators is fast deteriorating.

Nose dive

To arrive at the first global perspective on oceanic shark and ray population trends, the study synthesised a huge amount of data. The researchers calculated two separate indicators of biodiversity, using indexes established by the Convention on Biological Diversity to track progress towards international targets. They used state-of-the-art modelling to estimate trends in the relative abundance of species. One of the indicators combined assessments of 31 species by theIUCN Red Listover a 38-year period.

The results revealed huge declines in the abundance of sharks in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. Once abundant species such as the oceanic whitetip shark have declined by 75% globally in just the past half-century, while populations of the endangered shortfin mako shark valued for its meat and fins have shrunk by about 40%. Manta ray populations have suffered even greater losses.

The study attributes these declines to overfishing. The researchers documented a greater than twofold increase in fishing pressure from longline fisheries for instance, which use lines stretching 100km and bearing 1,200 baited hooks. These lines are deployed each day by any one of the thousands of longlining vessels worldwide, snaring sharks in the open ocean either intentionally or as bycatch while targeting other marine life.

Shortfin mako sharks are one of the worlds fastest animals, but often fall foul of fishing gear.Jos Antonio Gil Martnez,CC BY

The study also found increases in the proportion of sharks that are being fished beyond sustainable levels. But its particularly worrying that unreported catches werent included in the studys analyses. This means the number of sharks and rays killed by fishing boats is likely to be an underestimate and the actual declines of these species may be even worse. Unlike most species of bony fish, sharks and rays produce few offspring and grow slowly. The rate at which they reproduce is clearly no match for current levels of industrialised fishing.

Regulating the high seas

Immediate and far-reaching action is needed to rebuild these populations. Its clear that the rate of overfishing has outstripped the implementation of fisheries management measures and trade regulations. Since most oceanic sharks and rays are caught in the high seas areas beyond national jurisdictions agreements between fishing nations within management organisations are needed for conservation measures to work.

But, as this new study details, fishery limits imposed by management organisations of regional tuna fisheries bodies tasked with managing oceanic sharks and ray populations have been largely inadequate in following scientific advice. As recently as November 2020, the EU and US blocked a catch retention ban for North Atlantic shortfin mako sharks, despitescientific evidenceclearly indicating that it was the first rung on a ladder to restoring this population of an endangered species.

To begin the recovery of oceanic shark and ray populations, strict measures to prohibit landings of these species and to minimise their bycatch in other fisheries are needed immediately. This must be coupled with strict enforcement. Reducing the number of sharks and rays caught accidentally will be crucial but challenging, especially for longline fishing, which is not very selective and inadvertently catches lots of different species. This currently means that bans on intentional fishing are unlikely to be effective on their own. One solution would include modifying fishing gear and improving how fishers release sharks and rays after capture, to give them a better chance of survival.

An equally important measure, noted in the current study, would be banning fishing fleets from hotspots of oceanic sharks and rays.Research published in 2019highlighted where these areas in the global ocean overlap with fishing vessels most. Led by the UN, negotiations are underway for a high seas treaty which would create no-take marine reserves to protect threatened species in the open ocean. This new study should urge the international community to take such action while theres still time.

David Sims is a Senior Research Fellow at the Laboratory of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, in Plymouth, and Professor of Marine Ecology in the Ocean and Earth Science school at the University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, UK.

This article appears courtesy of The Conversation and may be found in its original form here.

The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.

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Why Have Sharks and Rays Declined by 70 Percent in Five Decades? - The Maritime Executive

Ocean Beach Pier designed to take the hits - even after some damage from waves, pier demonstrates its prowess

Massive waves strike the Ocean Beach Pier in early January. PHOTO BY JIM GRANT

Consider, too, the brawn of imagination, dreamers, and a communitys craving to fish in deeper waters, no boat required. An earlier pier at the foot of Del Monte Avenue took shape in the early 1940s but World War II gobbled the steel needed to finish it.

By 1965, pier fever crescendoed and movers and shakers on the Point Loma peninsula had ruffled enough city feathers to get the job done. The local firm of structural engineers and architects, Ferver-Dorland & Associates, designed the new pier. Opening day festivities on July 2, 1966, were celebrated amidst a mighty commotion of parade floats, bands, and California Gov. Pat Browns ribbon cutting.

Still today, fishermen, sunset gawkers, and hundreds of annual visitors crave a wallowing along the pier. But when winter storms come, sometimes railings get washed away and city lifeguards close the gates to pedestrians.

Those railings are doing exactly what they were meant to do wash away in high seas, lessening resistance of water hitting the pier, says the general contractor who built the pier (he prefers we not mention his name for privacys sake). Rails can be easily replaced, though at an expected cost to the city.

The feat of building such a structure was unconventional. We had to design equipment to handle problems. The whole idea of a fishing pier was to keep it as low as we could for fishermen pulling up their catch.

Incidentally, engineer Greer Ferver, himself a fisherman, in his draft of the pier addressed the convenience of cutting bait on wider tops of the wooden rails.

Ferver had done his underwater design study the summer ahead, noting four feet of sand on top of the natural sandstone layer under the area where we put the pier, the general contractor said.

Midway through the build it was necessary to alter the original blueprint after an aggressive January storm washed out three forward pilings and nearly forced a costly crane into the water. Keep in mind that at the time, the pier was still under construction when the sea devoured portions of two, 30-foot precast concrete deck sections.

It was then discovered that the natural progression of winter tides took out all that sand from the sandstone ledge, which increased the height of waves that would hit the pier.

To accommodate this revelation, the structural engineer redesigned the grade of the pier from the destruction point, or from where the pier bends up, notes the contractor, thus increasing the grade, or slope, by 1 percent to get above the surf, nearly two-thirds the length of the pier. All in a days work

Curious surfers were discouraged from the dangers of riding through the underside of the pier, but piles at this monstrous construction site intrigued nearly everyone.

The contractor holds rich esteem for the community of Ocean Beach, for its early tenacity for want of a pier, and its on-going affection of it. Everybody loves that pier! he crows.

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Ocean Beach Pier designed to take the hits - even after some damage from waves pier demonstrates its prowess - Strutting its piling and decking 1 971...

Jack Sparrow's signature "drunk" walk, which gives him the appearance of being constantly inebriated, is actually the result of Sparrow's sea legs.

Within thePirates of the Caribbean franchise, Jack Sparrows (Johnny Depp) signature off-kilter walk earnshim the reputation of being constantly inebriated, but Sparrows drunk swagger has an ingenious secret that doesnt involve a single drop of rum. While Sparrow often refers torumthroughout the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise as if its both hisaddiction and a secret weapon that allows him to pull off potvaliant stunts and schemes, the unbalanced walk is actually more telling of another great love of his: the sea.

Thoughits hard to imagine Jack Sparrow being any different from the charming and disreputable anti-hero that is the center of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, a lot of Sparrows eccentricity is owed to Johnny Depps interpretation of the character, who was alternativelywritten as a swashbuckling hero in the original script for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. In an interview with Collider, Depp details some of his early insights about Captain Jack, which he concocted while sitting in a sauna. After experiencing extreme heat within the sauna, Depp had the idea that Sparrows brain would be par-boiled after baking in the sun all day onboard a ship, inspiring Sparrow's mad yet brilliantpersona. Just as being out on the open ocean would affect Sparrows mental state, Depp also decided that the days Sparrow spent at sea would affect his body language as well.

Related:Why Pirates of the Caribbean Succeeded Where Cutthroat Island Failed

While its initially assumed that Sparrows off-kilter and quirky walk is the result of excessive drinking, its actually the product of his sea legs - the capacity to balance and not get seasick when sailing. Since Sparrow spends more of his time being tussled by the waves on board a moving ship, hes not accustomedto walking on dry land, and is therefore ironically unbalanced when on solid ground.However,Sparrows sea legs are exaggerated to an almost preternatural level, since Sparrow walks perfectly straight when on board a moving ship and only acquires his signaturedrunk walk when hes walking on dry land. Not only is the drunk walk completely realistic, since sailors themselves similarly earned a reputation for being drunks due to their sea legs, but Sparrows walk acts as an indicator of where he truly belongs: on the high seas.

Jack Sparrows sea legs also reinforce his eccentric and unpredictable personality. Throughout the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Jacks character consistently thrives by being different from the norm. Sparrows compass doesnt point north; he talks nonsense in circles in a way that strangely makes sense. Having Sparrow be unable to walk a straight path on land, and yet be perfectly balanced at sea, is a rather poetic way of highlighting yet another aspect of Sparrow that shows the normal rules of everyday life dont apply to him.

While Sparrows time at sea couldve naturally given him sea legs, theres also the possibility that the walk itself is a cunning plan devised by Sparrow to manipulate other peoples perspective of him by playing up his reputation as a drunken, half-witted selfish pirate. Sparrows escapades are often successful because he is underestimated by his peers. After teaming up with William Turner (Orlando Bloom) in The Curse of the Black Pearl, Sparrow successfully commandeers the fastest ship in the British Royal Navy, The Interceptor, by subverting Commodore Norringtons (Jack Davenport) expectations of him as the worst pirate hes ever seen. Despite the fact that Sparrow wanted to commandThe Flying Dutchman himself, Sparrow also defeats Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) and Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) in one fell swoop in Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End by choosing to help a fatally wounded Will stab Davy Jones heart and live on asthe next captain of The Flying Dutchman instead of acting in his own best interest.

Since Jack Sparrow already presents himself as scatter-brained and somewhattouched in the head throughout the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, the drunk walk may be an additional clever ploy that minimizes his ability in the eyes of his enemies, therefore giving him the upper hand.

More:Pirates Of The Caribbean: Captain Hook's Hidden Role Explained

Zack Snyder's Justice League Posters Tease The Team's Fall & Rise

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Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow's "Drunk" Walk Is Secretly Genius - Screen Rant

Madrid, 28 (Europe Press)

According to a new statistical analysis from Imperial College London, tropical cyclones are approaching land as their paths shift toward the pole and west.

The findings, published in the journal Science, could herald an increased risk of these devastating storms for coastal populations around the world. Tropical cyclones are one of the most devastating and costly natural disasters, and today nearly a third of the worlds population resides within their reach.

Recently, it has been observed that these storms are getting stronger and occur at higher latitudes than in the past. Although man-made impacts of climate change are believed to be driving these changes, their potential impact on coastal areas remains unclear.

Understanding these trends is critical to better gauging how coastal tropical cyclone risks will change in the future. For this reason, researchers Shuai Wang and Ralph Tomei studied the global activity of tropical cyclones during the period 1982-2018 and discovered that in addition to their migration towards the poles, the activity of cyclones is approaching the Earth around the world. .

According to their results, the distance between the maximum intensity point of each storm and the Earth decreased by about 30 kilometers per decade. In addition, the proportion of tropical cyclones entering coastal regions defined as the area of the high seas less than 200 kilometers from the nearest Earth also increases every decade, they say.

Wang and Tommy discover a shift westward in tropical cyclone tracks. They say that tropical cyclone activity is moving westward in the western Pacific, eastern Pacific, and northern and southern Indian oceans.

Although the reasons behind these displacements remain unclear, the authors suggest that they may be due to differences in the large-scale atmospheric circulation systems of Locker and Hadley.

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Science. Tropical cyclones are closer to land around the world - Sunday Vision

A person shovels snow in the city of Toyama in this January 2020 file photo. (Mainichi/Ikuko Aoyama)

TOKYO -- The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) is calling for people to be on guard against blizzards, storms and high waves in areas across Japan through Jan. 30.

The JMA forecasts a developing low-pressure system and a winter pressure pattern will cause strong winds with snow and very stormy seas through the evening of Jan. 29 in western Japan and through Jan. 30 in eastern and northern Japan. Heavy snow is expected mainly in areas along the Sea of Japan.

The emerging low-pressure front is in the middle of the Sea of Japan, and is moving eastward to Hokkaido in the north. Cold air will cover many parts of the country through Jan. 30, causing a strong winter pressure pattern.

The JMA forecasts maximum instantaneous wind speeds of 40 meters per second in Hokkaido, 35 meters per second in the northeastern Tohoku region and the Hokuriku area on the Sea of Japan coast, and 30 meters per second in the western Kinki and Chugoku regions through Jan. 30. During the same period, 9-meter-high waves are expected along the coasts of the Hokkaido, Tohoku and Hokuriku regions, 7-meter-high waves are tipped for the Chugoku region, and 6-meter-high waves are forecast for the Kinki region. The JMA is warning of transport disruptions caused by blizzards, storms and high waves.

Over the 24-hour period ending at 6 a.m. on Jan. 30, the JMA is forecasting 70 centimeters of snow in the Hokuriku and central Tokai regions, 60 cm in the Hokkaido and Tohoku regions, and 50 cm in the Kinki region. Over the 24-hour period ending at 6 a.m. on Jan. 31, 30 to 50 cm of snowfall is forecast in the Hokuriku region, while 20 to 40 cm of snow is expected in the Hokkaido, Tohoku and Tokai regions.

The JMA is urging people to take precautions against transport disruptions caused by heavy snow and against avalanches and the accumulation of snow.

(Mainichi)

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Heavy snow set to hit regions along Sea of Japan through Jan. 30: weather agency - The Mainichi - The Mainichi

Oceanic sharks and rays live so far from land that the average person is unlikely to ever see them. But these species, which live in the vast open ocean, are also among the most revered, and include the great white shark and the giant manta ray. For millennia, their remoteness has allowed these species to largely avoid humans. But since the early 1950s, industrial-scale fishing fleets have been able to reach distant waters and gradually spread to exploit the entire global ocean.

Rising demand over the same period for shark and ray meat, as well as fins, gill plates and liver oil, has caused catches of the 30 or so oceanic species to soar. Marine biologists have been raising the alarm for several decades now, but their warnings were often limited to what regional trends showed. Now, new research has brought together disparate threads of data into a single, global analysis of shark and ray populations in the open ocean.

Worldwide, oceanic shark and ray abundance has declined by 71% since 1970. More than half of the 31 species examined are now considered to be endangered, or even critically endangered. Compare this with 1980 when only one species, the plankton-feeding basking shark, was thought to be endangered. These are stark statistics, and they indicate that the future for the oceans top predators is fast deteriorating.

To arrive at the first global perspective on oceanic shark and ray population trends, the study synthesised a huge amount of data. The researchers calculated two separate indicators of biodiversity, using indexes established by the Convention on Biological Diversity to track progress towards international targets. They used state-of-the-art modelling to estimate trends in the relative abundance of species. One of the indicators combined assessments of 31 species by the IUCN Red List over a 38-year period.

This story is part of Oceans 21Our series on the global ocean opened with five in-depth profiles. Look out for new articles on the state of our oceans in the lead up to the UNs next climate conference, COP26. The series is brought to you by The Conversations international network.

The results revealed huge declines in the abundance of sharks in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. Once abundant species such as the oceanic whitetip shark have declined by 75% globally in just the past half-century, while populations of the endangered shortfin mako shark valued for its meat and fins have shrunk by about 40%. Manta ray populations have suffered even greater losses.

The study attributes these declines to overfishing. The researchers documented a greater than twofold increase in fishing pressure from longline fisheries for instance, which use lines stretching 100km and bearing 1,200 baited hooks. These lines are deployed each day by any one of the thousands of longlining vessels worldwide, snaring sharks in the open ocean either intentionally or as bycatch while targeting other marine life.

The study also found increases in the proportion of sharks that are being fished beyond sustainable levels. But its particularly worrying that unreported catches werent included in the studys analyses. This means the number of sharks and rays killed by fishing boats is likely to be an underestimate and the actual declines of these species may be even worse. Unlike most species of bony fish, sharks and rays produce few offspring and grow slowly. The rate at which they reproduce is clearly no match for current levels of industrialised fishing.

Immediate and far-reaching action is needed to rebuild these populations. Its clear that the rate of overfishing has outstripped the implementation of fisheries management measures and trade regulations. Since most oceanic sharks and rays are caught in the high seas areas beyond national jurisdictions agreements between fishing nations within management organisations are needed for conservation measures to work.

But, as this new study details, fishery limits imposed by management organisations of regional tuna fisheries bodies tasked with managing oceanic sharks and ray populations have been largely inadequate in following scientific advice. As recently as November 2020, the EU and US blocked a catch retention ban for North Atlantic shortfin mako sharks, despite scientific evidence clearly indicating that it was the first rung on a ladder to restoring this population of an endangered species.

To begin the recovery of oceanic shark and ray populations, strict measures to prohibit landings of these species and to minimise their bycatch in other fisheries are needed immediately. This must be coupled with strict enforcement. Reducing the number of sharks and rays caught accidentally will be crucial but challenging, especially for longline fishing, which is not very selective and inadvertently catches lots of different species. This currently means that bans on intentional fishing are unlikely to be effective on their own. One solution would include modifying fishing gear and improving how fishers release sharks and rays after capture, to give them a better chance of survival.

An equally important measure, noted in the current study, would be banning fishing fleets from hotspots of oceanic sharks and rays. Research published in 2019 highlighted where these areas in the global ocean overlap with fishing vessels most. Led by the UN, negotiations are underway for a high seas treaty which would create no-take marine reserves to protect threatened species in the open ocean. This new study should urge the international community to take such action while theres still time.

Continued here:

Oceanic sharks and rays have declined by 71% since 1970 a global solution is needed - The Conversation UK

Maritime technology company ZeroNorth and leading global satellite and data company Spire Maritime have today announced a new partnership that powers up ZeroNorths vessel optimisation software Optimise with Spires world leading maritime AIS and weather data.

Optimise ensures that a tramp operators vessels are always sailing at thebest speed towards their destination. It enriches customer data with third-party information such as Spires AIS and weather forecasts to create itsrecommendations on optimal operating speeds and estimated time of arrival.

Having an accurate view of a vessels position and forecasted weather conditions in open oceans has an enormous impact on performance and safety. The high quality data input provided into Optimises algorithm will therefore provide owners and operators with greater assurance that the softwares recommendations are based on the reality that they face on the high seas.

The collaboration effectively puts Spires market-leading data directly at the fingertips of tramp shipping operators and vessels currently using Optimise, powering even greater decision-making to reduce emissions and fuel consumption, and increase revenue.

Withthe industrys growing focus on fuel efficiency, emissionsreduction,safety,andproductivity, itis more important than ever to have access toaccurate weather forecasts and AIS data.

Moreover, because of Spiresunique combination of Satellite AIS, Dynamic AIS and Terrestrial AISdata, Optimise users can now take advantage of anunprecedented level of coverage on global maritime shipping routes, including in busy areas such as the South China Sea.

Sren Christian Meyer, CEO of ZeroNorth

Speaking on the announcement, Sren Meyer, CEO, ZeroNorth, said: We are delighted to announce this partnership with Spire Maritime, which further powers up our Optimise software with genuinely market-leading vessel position data.

This profoundly rich data input enables Optimise to generate even better recommendations on vessel route and speed, in turn unlocking emissions reductions and revenue optimisations. However, this partnership is about more than data integration: by partnering together, we unite forward-thinking technologies to advance digitalisation within shipping and prove to the market that these solutions can generate real action on decarbonisation goals.

We believe these partnerships and the creation of collaborative ecosystems focused on the same goal are vital if shipping is to meet the challenges of the next decade. We are excited to continue to deepen our partnership with Spire to generate even better outcomes for our customers and the wider industry.

Simon van den Dries, General Manager, Spire Maritime, added: We are excited by this new partnership with ZeroNorth. Optimise, and the powerful insights it can generate, is an obvious and fitting way to provide more users across shipping with access to our AIS and weather data.

The power of this data cannot be understated. Having a good understanding of positioning and open ocean condition is integral to optimising vessel performance. In the context of an increasingly conscious customer-base and with crew welfare front and centre, we believe that more people will recognise the importance of good data in shippings day-to-day operations.

Simon van den Dries, General Manager of Spire Maritime

Partnering with ZeroNorth allows us to champion these causes and prove to the market that collaboration and technological alignment are powerful tools in shippings toolbox to tackle the emergent challenges we all face.

Spires weather data is amongst the most accurate and comprehensive currently available within the maritime industry. While weather stations and sensors are widespread on land, the same cannot be said foropen oceans. Spire overcomes this limitation by using remote sensing techniques such as radio occultation from a growing constellation of satellites orbiting the globe. It allows the capture of detailed temperature, humidity, and pressure information across the entire planet, including our vast oceans under-observed corners. The resulting boost to weather prediction is beneficial to both the global maritime industry and global forecast models.

Both organisations have committed to constantly improve the outcomes of the partnership. Spires satellites, for example, have the capacity for continual software improvements to improve the quality of data input being provided into Optimise. Meanwhile, Optimises algorithm will also further develop as it receives more quality data. This means that this partnership effectively generates both improved data input as well as an improved data output continuously over time, showing the power of digitalisation as a force to generate real change.Source: ZeroNorth, Spire Maritime

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ZeroNorth and Spire Maritime partner to provide easy access to market-leading AIS and weather data - Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide

The global population of sharks and rays has crashed by more than 70% in the past 50 years, researchers have determined for the first time, with massive ongoing losses pushing many species towards extinction.

A huge increase in fishing since 1970 has ravaged the abundance of sharks and rays in our oceans, with previously widespread species such as hammerhead sharks now facing the threat of being wiped out, the study found. Half of the worlds 31 oceanic shark species are now listed as either endangered or critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The giant manta ray is also endangered.

The decline isnt stopping, which is a problem, said Nathan Pacoureau, a researcher at Simon Fraser University in Canada who was lead author of the study, published in Nature. Everything in our oceans is so depleted now. We need proactive measures to prevent total collapse, this should be a wake up call for policy makers.

Using a raft of previous studies and catch data, the researchers compiled the first global census for shark and ray species, finding there has been an overall 71% decline since 1970. The losses could be even deeper in reality, with insufficient data to chart population trends back to the 1950s, when the explosion in mass industrialized fishing started.

While sharks and rays can be affected by ship strikes, oil and gas drilling and, increasingly, the climate crisis, the researchers said that overfishing was the primary cause of decline. It has been previously estimated that 100 million sharks are killed by humans every year, overwhelming their slow reproductive capacity to replenish numbers.

Sharks are often killed unintentionally by fishers using nets to catch other marine creatures but are also targeted for purposes such as making shark fin soup, which involves sharks having their fins hacked off before their helpless bodies are discarded back into the ocean.

Ongoing declines show that we are not protecting a vital part of our ocean ecosystems from overfishing, and this will lead to continued decline in the health of our oceans until we do something about it, said Dr Cassandra Rigby, a biologist at James Cook University in Australia and study co-author.

The research highlights the patchwork quality of fisheries management around the world. Steep declines in shark and ray numbers in the Atlantic Ocean began to stabilize somewhat after 2000 amid conservation measures, while the rate of loss has also slowed in the Pacific Ocean. But in the Indian Ocean, shark and ray abundance had plummeted continually since 1970, with an estimated drop of 84% in overall population in this time.

Many species of shark are migratory, meaning their protection requires the cooperation of different countries, while much of the harmful fishing occurs in the largely ungoverned high seas. Previous international efforts to stem losses have had limited impact, although overfishing is set to be raised at a virtual oceans and climate summit this week featuring John Kerry, the USs new climate envoy.

Governments need to enforce science-based catch limits on a domestic and regional basis to ensure sharks continue their vital roles as ecosystem predators and protein source for poorer communities, Rigby said. Mariah Pfleger, marine scientist at Oceana, added that countries should also ban the sale and trade of shark fins. The ocean conservation group is pushing for the US to adopt such a ban, as Canada enacted in 2019.

The findings of this paper are horrifying but ultimately not that surprising, Pfleger said. We have long known that many species of sharks and rays cannot withstand extensive commercial fishing pressure.

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Global shark and ray population crashed more than 70% in past 50 years study - The Guardian

Joining the Merchant Navy was one of the great job opportunities when I was growing up. I can hardly think of a household that didnt have a few sons sailing the high seas, returning home with wonderful stories about far off places such as Rio de Janeiro and Bahia Blanca.

And so we immediately got out the atlas and traced a line with a pencil from Lochboisdale all the way across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and on south round Cape Horn. We were Robinson Crusoe and Ralph Rover and, later on, Joseph Conrad sailing through the adventurous islands of Sumatra and Java. Though when we looked out from the deck of the Claymore as we sailed to Oban we could only see Tiree and Coll.

The Merchant Navy continues to be central to world trade as well as being a major employer. There are more than 50,000 merchant ships sailing in all corners of the globe, employing more than 1,500,000 sailors, 22,400 of them from the United Kingdom.

In my own patch of the sea, CalMac ferries are not just lifeline services to the islands but a major and highly-regarded employer. They operate 34 vessels running from the Ardrossan-Brodick service in the south to the Stornoway-Ullapool service in the north, employing 1,700 people, including 200 at their Gourock headquarters.

But whether sailing to Sumatra or to Scrabster, one of the major issues ships have to deal with is pollution; 90% of the worlds trade is still moved by sea and more than 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions can be attributed to ocean-going ships. Conservation group Oceana states that: If global shipping were a country it would be the sixth largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions. Only the United States, China, Russia, India and Japan emit more carbon dioxide than the worlds shipping fleet. Neverthless carbon dioxide emissions from ocean-going vessels are currently unregulated.

Which is why I welcome a remarkable new development that has gathered pace in recent years; the building of eco-friendly trade ships to transport goods from one corner of the globe to the other. And not merely as a politically-correct and environmentally-friendly campaign but as a real and profitable proper shipping business. Its back to the future with wind in their sails.

A handful of companies are engaged in this growing trade, including: Fairtransport, a company based in the Netherlands; Timbercoast working out of Germany; Trans Oceanic Wind Transport in France; and New Dawn Traders based in Bristol.

And their ships are beautiful wooden with lovely traditional canvas sails. Of course there are also global container ships now fitted with high-tech sails made of extra-high tensile steel and alloys, with added solar panels and wave energy convertors to generate the energy required.

Even with Covid, the shipping trade is one that has an expanding future. As long as we want to drink coffee or tea, buy a car or build a home, eat a banana or drink orange juice this global trade will continue to grow.

It is market driven and, as long as our often preposterous demands exist, then someone will be willing to sell it to us. So if we want strawberries on Christmas Day, some company will transport them thousands of damaging miles across the oceans to sit on our plates. And if we want fresh salmon in the middle of winter, off we go to the supermarket to find it there freshly frozen from Alaska. It certainly didnt swim here on its own.

Ive always felt that our ferries should be equipped with sails to help them cross both the Minch and the North Sea. Aesthetically beautiful canvas sails flapping in the constant wind between Oban and Lochboisdale and between Shetland and Aberdeen would be best, though Id be more than happy to see button-operated carbon sails as well.

Im sure Murdo or Murdina could as easily press a button as climb the mast to unfurl the sails as you travel through a nice Force 10 in the sea of the Hebrides or the Pentland Firth!

My father-in-law joined the Merchant Navy as a cadet in 1948 sailing out of Leith. He told me the other day that the chief engineer he first sailed with was born on a sailing ship in 1890 on its way round Cape Horn. Think of the romance of it all. But mostly, think of his poor mother!

Angus Peter Campbell is an award-winning writer and actor from Uist

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Angus Peter Campbell: Can we sail our way to a better future? - Press and Journal