Daily Archives: September 1, 2021

Top image: Fishing boat in between icebergs, Disco Bay, Greenland (Peter Prokosch / GRID-Arendal /CC BY-NC-SA 2.0/www.grida.no/resources/4162)

PublishedAug 29, 2021 3:22 PM by China Dialogue Ocean

[ByDavid Balton]

In June, theCentral Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreemententered into force, bringing to fruition a diplomatic effort that began more than a decade ago.

The agreement represents an unusual and farsighted effort to address a potentially serious environmental problem before it occurs. Too often, governments find themselves in the unenviable situation of dealing with issues only after they have arisen. This time, acting in advance will prevent unregulated commercial fishing in a wide swath of the Arctic Ocean that could have caused significant harm to the marine environment.

In another first, a formal agreement relating specifically to the Arctic region includes non-Arctic signatories, with parties to the agreement comprising Canada, China, Denmark (in respect of Greenland and the Faroe Islands), the European Union, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

It demonstrates that nations can find ways to act in their mutual self-interest even in the face of serious geopolitical tensions. There were many sources of friction that might have derailed progress along the way particularly during the Trump administration.But with key players in the United States, Russia and China signing and ratifying the agreement, the oceans have a new and groundbreaking multilateral instrument.

Commercial fishing ban

The agreement consists of two basic commitments. First, the parties will not allow their vessels to conduct commercial fishing operations in the high seas portion of the Central Arctic Ocean.

Parties commit, for the duration of the agreement, not to allow their vessels to conduct commercial fishing operations in the high seas portion of the Central Arctic Ocean, diagonally hatched in the map above. (Image: Pew Charitable Trusts)

No commercial fishing has ever taken place in this area because until now, it has been covered in ice. But the Arctic iswarming three times as fastas the Earth as a whole. As a consequence, a significant percentage of the Arctic Ocean, including some of the high seas area, is now ice-free for part of each year. Current projections indicate that the entire Arctic Ocean islikely to be ice-freefor part of the year within a few decades.

So why would these governments agree to prevent commercial fishing in this large and increasingly accessible ocean space? Mostly because they do not know enough about the ecosystems of this part of the ocean to have any reliable basis on which to manage a commercial fishery there successfully, which is to say, sustainably. By using the precautionary approach, the parties have prevented the possibility of serious environmental degradation.

The second basic obligation is a joint programme of scientific research and monitoring which will advance the state of knowledge of one of the least understood parts of the planet. The programme aims to improve understanding of the ecosystems and also to determine whether fish stocks in the agreement area could ever be harvested on a sustainable basis, and what the possible impacts would be.

The programme will also give the parties more information to decide, sometime in the future, whether to replace the agreement with a treaty that would open and manage a sustainable commercial fishery on the basis of sound science.

The agreement will remain in force for 16 years, and will be extended in five-year increments afterwards. This represents a compromise among different interests:Canada, Denmark (Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Norway, Russia and the United States whose national fishery zones surround the high seas portion of the Central Arctic Ocean would have preferred to forestall the possibility of a high seas fishery for even longer. On the other side, parties from Asia and the European Union who have fleets seeking new opportunities to fish in high seas areas would have preferred a shorter ban.

Indigenous inclusion

Two other aspects of the agreement also deserve mention: the incorporation of indigenous and local knowledge in the scientific programmes and related work, and a guarantee that Arctic indigenous peoples will participate in the implementation of the agreement.

The agreement recognises that Arctic residents, including indigenous communities, have significant interests in preventing unregulated fishing in the high seas of the Central Arctic Ocean. Even though the indigenous people and others who live near the Arctic coastline do not engage in high seas fishing, the potential depletion of fish stocks in the high seas area by commercial fishing vessels would threaten marine resources closer to shore on which those communities depend.

That is why three of the delegations Canada, Denmark (Greenland and the Faroe Islands) and the United States included representatives from indigenous communities who provided compelling perspectives and insights that may not otherwise have been considered.

Getting to yes

The agreement had a gestation period of well over a decade, beginning in 2008 with a US Congressresolutionwhich called for one to be negotiated. Next, the United States adopted its first-ever Arctic Fisheries Management Plan, which essentially prohibited commercial fishing in an area north of Alaska also because of a lack of scientific knowledge necessary to manage fisheries successfully.

In parallel, the United States began urging its immediate neighbours in the Arctic Russia and Canada to consider the possibility of an international agreement to prevent or delay commercial fishing in the high seas portion of the Central Arctic Ocean. Those discussions eventually broadened to include Norway and Denmark.

Although it was far from clear that these other four governments would support the launching of negotiations on such an agreement Russia, in particular, expressed significant doubts about the necessity or even the desirability of moving forward these delegations signed anon-binding statementin Oslo in 2015.

The resulting declaration recognised that, under international law, vessels from any state have the right to fish on the high seas. Thus, a broader negotiating process would be necessary to prevent unregulated fishing in the high seas portion of the Central Arctic Ocean, one that would include other states, as well as the European Union, with fishing fleets potentially capable of fishing there.

Obstacles to progress

Looking back, one might be tempted to conclude that the development of the agreement followed an obvious, even inevitable, path to completion. That was hardly the case. During the years in question, serious tensions arose between Russia and the other Arctic states over the situation in Syria, and especially over the invasion of Crimea in 2014. Evidence that Russia sought to influence the outcome of the 2016 US election and the more recent revelations of Russias role in hacking US government computer systems made matters worse.

These and other sources of friction, including a souring of USChina relations during the Trump administration, threatened many times to derail the process. In the end, though, the governments in question chose to set aside those differences about other matters in favour of joining as partners in preventing unregulated commercial fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean a matter of mutual interest. Russia, having repeatedly expressed misgivings about the negotiating process, became the first to ratify the agreement. The United States and others followed in reasonably short order. China deposited its instrument in late May 2021, triggering the entry into force on 25 June.

The governments now need to decide when and where to hold the first Meeting of the Parties, a question complicated by the pandemic. While this gathering could theoretically take place virtually, in practice only an in-person event would allow for the careful negotiation of decisions necessary to begin successful implementation of the agreement. For that reason, the first meeting probably will not occur until 2022, when an in-person meeting of this nature may become feasible.

This is an edited version of an article that first appearedonPolar Points, a column of the Wilson Centers Polar Institute.

David Balton is a Senior Fellow with the Wilson Centers Polar Institute. He formerly served as the US Ambassador for Oceans and Fisheries and, in that capacity, chaired the international negotiations that produced the Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement.

This article appears courtesy of China Dialogue Ocean and may be found in its original form here.

Top image: Fishing boat in between icebergs, Disco Bay, Greenland (Peter Prokosch /GRID-Arendal /CC BY-NC-SA 2.0/www.grida.no/resources/4162)

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

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Landmark Arctic Fisheries Agreement Enters Into Force - The Maritime Executive

The Azores archipelago (Aores in Portuguese) lies about 1,000 miles west of mainland Europe and is made up of nine volcanic islands: So Miguel (the largest), So Jorge, Terceira, Pico, Faial, Ilha das Flores, Santa Maria, Graciosa and Corvo, which you can cross by ferry or plane.

Colonised by the Portuguese in 1432, the Azores is now an autonomous region. During the period known as the Discoveries, Portugal had the largest high-seas fleet in the world, with many of its ships stopping to replenish stocks in the Azores as they travelled back and forth to Brazil, India, Japan and elsewhere, bringing with them spices that changed Azorean cuisine from simple. plain dishes to ones spiced and flavoured with new-world produce, such as tomatoes, sweet potatoes and yams.

The weather can vary even across a day, with locals (about 245,000 residents) often calling each other to find out where on an island the sun is. Lots of rain makes for a lush landscape with many waterfalls and hot springs. Tea and coffee are grown here, as well as pineapples. The town of Angra do Herosmo on Terceira and the landscape of Picos vineyard culture are Unesco world heritage-listed sites.

What the Azores produces is astonishing: not just for its quality but because the vines are grown in seemingly inhospitable cracks in rocks and hardened lava, buffeted by winds and storms. These conditions provide distinctive salty notes. The most famous Azorean wines are from Pico, an island dominated by Mount Pico. Try them at Pico Wines, a cooperative, or at the Azores Wine Company, which recently opened an architecturally impressive winery with views across the squares of dry-stone corrais that comprise the vineyards. Pico makes the more well-known wines but Biscoitos, on Terceira, has a similar landscape and also produces great stuff.

There are beaches across the Azores, but since these are volcanic islands the sand is dark or the shore is rocky. Swimming pools dot the shoreline of all the islands: sometimes ladders hang on the edge of rocks, some can be accessed directly from the shore, and others are in little harbours. In August, the sea temperature can reach 23C, but given this is the Atlantic, the water is cold for much of the year. There are also waterfalls and volcanic springs to plunge under and into. Dolphin- and whale-watching trips are widely available.

The islands have their own cakes and biscuits, of which my favourites are Dona Amlia, small cakes made from melkana (like molasses, brought from Brazil), sugar, eggs, cornflour, cinnamon and raisins. Created to celebrate the visit of King Don Carlos and his wife, Dona Amlia, in 1901, try them at Pastelaria O Forno in Angra do Herosmo. Pudim conde da praia is made from potatoes, sugar, butter, lemon, eggs and cinnamon. Espcies de So Jorge are horseshoe-shaped cookies stuffed with a spiced filling that includes fennel, black pepper, cinnamon and lemon those made by Dulores on So Jorge are good.

When the Portuguese discovered the Azores they shipped over livestock to the islands to see if the animals could survive. They did, especially the cows with abundant grass to graze on grazing. Butter, milk, cream and cheese produced across the Azores are likely to be some of the best you have ever tasted. Two cheeses have Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status: tangy Queijo Sao Jorge (try it at Queijaria Canada on So Jorge) and buttery Queijo do Pico, but every island produces wonderful ones (O Morro on Faial is incredible). The ice-cream, yoghurt and ghee (from Azorghee) are also exceptional.

Drive, walk or cycle along the roads of the Azores and you will be greeted by banks of hydrangeas, often tall bushes full of large floral heads in shades of blue, pink, white and purple. Faial is also known as the blue island a volcanic eruption in 1957 left behind a fertile soil full of acidity and aluminium, which makes the flowers blue. Hydrangeas are not an indigenous species they were introduced by Portuguese settlers in the 17th century but became invasive because of the conditions (the rain, the rich earth) and had a devastating effect on some of the local flora. They were used like walls to keep the cows to certain fields. Hydrangeas begin to bloom in late April and flower until early September.

Formed from lava flows that stopped at the sea, fajs are mostly steep cliffs running down to the coast and are most concentrated on So Jorge. Being volcanic, fajs are exceptionally fertile and were used by settlers to grow yams, maize and vegetables. These days coffee and tropical fruits are grown along the more gentle slopes. Take the spectacular walk from Faj dos Cubres to Faj da Caldeira de Santo Cristo, the only place on the archipelago where clams are grown (its also a magnet for body boarders and surfers). Eat the clams at Restaurante O Borges before walking back to Faj dos Cubres.

The holy spirit (or holy ghost) festivals are the primary annual event for Azoreans, 90% of whom are Catholic. The festivities have common threads but the celebrations and traditions vary from island to island. They centre around imprios (empires) small shrines to the holy spirit highly decorated and maintained with care. Their architecture also varies: on Terceira, where there are 73, they are topped with an imperial crown. The festivals are also social and family celebrations, with singing, processions and eating and drinking. The cult arrived with the first settlers, with the Azorean people becoming more devoted as communities came together to worship, isolated from the mainland.

The Azores has fabulous tuna. Much of it is exported as well as canned, but eating it fresh on the islands is a must. Other species include blue jack mackerel, chub mackerel, forkbeard, red porgy and swordfish, while lobsters, slipper lobsters, crabs and spider crabs are abundant. But there are two types of seafood that are particular to the Azores. The first, more widely available, are lapas, limpets which are usually grilled (try them at Sabores Sopranos on So Jorge, which often has lapa branco, which is more orange, and lapa mansa more black). The other is cracas, barnacles that look like rocks, but have small holes inside that are home to sweet, almost lobster-like meat, which has to be picked out. Cracas are more easily found on Terceira try them at Beira Mar de So Mateus.

Tea is grown on two plantations on So Miguel Gorreana and Porto Formoso, both on the north coast, producing black (primarily orange pekoe, pekoe, moinha, oolong and broken leaf) and green tea. You can visit the plantations and factories to learn about their teas. Tea is thought to have been introduced to the islands at the beginning of the 19th century, when it was realised that the climate was good for its cultivation. High-quality, fruity coffee is grown on faj slopes on So Jorge sample that produced by the Nunes family at Caf Nunes at Faj dos Vimes.

Nine islands, one geopark. There are 121 geosites across the archipelagos land and the sea bed. There are dry caldeiras, lakes in craters, fumarolic fields, hot springs, caves, grottoes and crevices, many of which are the result of the volcanic nature of the islands. The sites include Mount Pico, which you can climb to the top of. Capelinhos volcano, on the westernmost point of Faial, resulting from an eruption between 1957 and 1958, has a 2km-wide surface caldeira around the crater, which is a nature reserve. On Ilha das Flores, the walking trail at Faj de Lopo Vaz, probably one of the first places to be settled on the islands, is also a geosite.

More information at visitazores.com

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10 of the best things to do in the Azores - The Guardian

Sea Of Thieves has a new collaboration event underway, this time with sci-fi shooterBorderlands.

The Making Mayhem Event began last night (August 24) and tasks players with causing trouble on the high seas to earn Favour.

The main reward of the event is unlocking the Mayhem ship set inspired by Borderlands, in very bright yellow and red colours, while a figure of Claptrap is also on the front of the ships bow.

To be within a chance of unlocking this gaudy vessel, Sea Of Thieves players can engage in to build Favour with the Bilge Rats, categorised as Minor Mayhem Challenges or Major Mayhem Challenges.

Just like it sounds, Minor Mayhem Challenges are bite-sized tasks, such as blasting a shark with a Gunpowder Barrel or torching skeletons with a Firebomb. Major Mayhem Challenges are more more challenging but also more lucrative, such as looting all the gold piles in a Treasure Vault or tearing through a Tall Tale.

Making Mayhem is a time-limited event, so players have until September 7 to claim all the pieces of the Borderlands ship set.

Sea Of Thieves has seen an increased popularity in 2021 following the release of free Pirates Of The Carribbean-themed expansion A Pirates Life, which saw the game topping the Steam charts.

Elsewhere, Microsoft started Gamescom with an Xbox showcase yesterday (August 24), where it was announced that critically acclaimed PC title Crusaders Kings III is coming to Xbox as a Game Pass title from launch, whileForza Horizon 5 showed off its cover cars and a limited edition controller.

Unfortunately,Halo Infinite was absent from the showcase. It was previously confirmed by the developer that both campaign co-op and the creative forge mode would not be available at launch.

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Sea Of Thieves new Borderlands crossover event has started - NME

* Sri Lanka Navy seizes 290 kg of heroin worth over Rs. 2.3 billionTue, Aug 31, 2021, 12:01 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Aug 31, Colombo: Sri Lanka Navy, during a special search operation conducted in the high seas in the afternoon of 30th August 2021 seized over 290 kg of heroin attempted to be smuggled into the island by sea and arrested 05 suspects in connection with the smuggling.

During the special operation, the Navy has seized a multi-day fishing vessel carrying about 290kg and 200g of heroin estimated to be worth over Rs. 2321 million.

The fishing vessel with heroin and the suspects were brought ashore this morning (31st August), the Navy said.

Based on information received from a coordinated intelligence operation led by Sri Lanka Navy Intelligence and other intelligence services, the Navy detected and searched a suspicious multi-day fishing trawler heading landward, during this special anti-drug operation carried out in the high seas in the afternoon of 30th August.

The interception made way to the recovery of about 290kg and 200g of heroin in 259 packages stuffed in 10 sacks which were concealed in the vessel. Apart from the haul of drugs and the multi-day fishing trawler, the Navy also nabbed five suspects onboard the fishing vessel.

The multi-day fishing trawler seized by the Navy on suspicion of smuggling heroin, had ventured out to sea on 30th July 2021 and it is suspected that the consignment of narcotics was fetched to the trawler from foreign smugglers in international waters.

Meanwhile, the street value of the seized consignment of heroin is believed to be over Rs.2321 million.

The suspects held during this operation were identified as residents of Ahungalla, Balapitiya and Habaraduwa, from 31 to 37 years of age. The Navy and Police Narcotic Bureau are conducting further investigation into the incident as of now.

Continue reading here:

Sri Lanka : Sri Lanka Navy seizes 290 kg of heroin worth over Rs. 2.3 billion - Colombo Page

Far too many Hollywood executives dont realize this, but not every major franchise has to go on forever, and theres a solid argument to be made that Pirates of the Caribbean should be a case in point. The series has brought in over $4.5 billion at the box office and gained a legion of fans, and there are at least two new projects in the works, but the swashbuckling saga was running out of gas long before the Johnny Depp fiasco.

Not only did reviews get progressively worse from Curse of the Black Pearl to Dead Men Tell No Tales, but the fifth installment saw earnings drop significantly. Dont get us wrong, $794 million is a chunk of change that 99% of blockbusters would kill for, but it was viewed internally by Disney as a disappointing outcome.

Then the Mouse House decided to drop the leading man, most popular character and main selling point of the entire property and forge ahead on a pair of new movies without him, which has drawn exactly the response youd expect. Its been a while since weve heard anything concrete surrounding either the canonical Pirates 6 or Margot Robbies spinoff, but a new rumor claims that theres even more high seas action on the way.

A third Pirates of the Caribbean effort is reportedly in the works exclusively for Disney Plus, but thats the beginning and end of the information available, so its hardly the most in-depth or fleshed out slice of speculation weve heard. Knowing that theyre already running the risk of alienating a huge number of viewers by moving forward without Depps Captain Jack Sparrow, would Disney realistically move forward on yet another new offering for the franchise? Thats a question thatll need to be answered one way or another, because all weve got is hearsay.

Excerpt from:

New Pirates Of The Caribbean Movie Rumored For Disney Plus - We Got This Covered

Being a young achiever in the maritime industry is no longer an extraordinary occurrence. For years now, millennials have already occupied the higher echelons of leadership onboard vessels and shore-based executive positions. And while the title "young achiever" gives a significant tinge of grandeur after the name of its owner, it brings along greater expectations.

Such is the case for Jean-Vincent Abobo. He was the youngest chief engineer and the only Filipino onboard an offshore construction vessel back in 2017, a time when European chief engineers are better preferred by ship owners and the Filipinos were relegated to lower positions.

"The stakes were high for young leaders like us. It entailed great expectations from clients and shipmates, and our decisions were critical to a multimillion-dollar ship," Abobo said.

"I was the first Filipino chief engineer on our fleet and my first command was on one of the largest and most advanced flex-lay subsea installation and construction vessels," he recalled.

The experience never dwarfed the man, however. Abobo saw the moment as the culmination of his childhood passion for building and repairing boats.

"I grew up with my grandparents. My lolo was a motor banca builder and at a young age, I have witnessed him and my uncles overhaul engines. As a child, my toys were old pistons, exhaust valves, and other engine parts. I was comfortable tinkering and playing with them," Abobo recalled.

This childhood experience led him to a career he is passionate about - marine engineering.

"There was no seafarer in our family. What drew me to marine engineering is simply a personal and instinctive interest in ship engines. And so, I entered Mariners Polytechnic Colleges in Legazpi, Albay and finally, in 2005, I have completed the Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering (BSMarE) at the Philippine Maritime Institute (PMI) in Quezon City."

From playing with engine parts as a little boy on the shores of Catarman, Northern Samar, Abobo took his engineering passion across the world onboard deep sea and offshore vessels.

"My best memories on the high seas were delivering and commissioning new ships from the shipyard of our clients, taking dynamic positioning (DP) trials, and successful subsea projects. I've experienced sailing on both deep sea and offshore vessels, and I would say that in my career, my technical know-how has expanded while working aboard subsea construction vessels with sophisticated equipment and machinery. It was like a premium upgrade with lots of new toys," Abobo quipped.

His engineering mettle was tested when his ship once stalled in the middle of pirate-infested waters and was in danger of being attacked.

"There was a major mechanical failure that caused our ship to stall. The crew was left with no other option but to hope that my team would be able to reinstate the system swiftly. Fortunately, we were successful in fixing the system and steered safely away from danger," he shared.

Today, the 37-year-old chief engineer shares his experience and expertise with the younger generation of mariners. As the PHMA president and general manager of Solstad Offshore ASA in Manila, he is contributing to the company's core values by producing reliable, competent, and responsible Filipino seafarers.

"My career both offshore and onshore is closely analogous to the game of golf; success is achieved not by perfecting your game (not even the greatest golfers have done this) but by constantly striving to improve your game while learning to accept and react to challenges that are happening on that day during that round," the golf enthusiast said.

Outside of work, Abobo sees himself as a cool husband and father. He is Jean to colleagues and Vincent to family and close friends.

"Apart from being an engineer, I'm a car enthusiast. Before the pandemic, me & my son, who is also fond of supercars, would always visit car shows and regularly join the fun runs and car club meets. Eight months ago, I started playing golf, and one of the many reasons I love this game is because it challenges both my mind and body and allows me to look inward and works towards improvement," he concluded.

Read more:

Meeting great expectations - The Manila Times

If you're not familiar with sailing but have been on a cruise, or plan to, then you're likely to get confused with the use of terms like "port" and "starboard".

Perhaps you know the terms from many hours watching the America's Cup. But do you know what they mean and where the terms came from?

Port is to your left if you are looking towards the front of the ship.

Originally the left side of the ship was called 'backbord', a German word which didn't last long and was replaced by the English word 'larboard', likely an adaptation of a word meaning 'loading side'.

Thankfully, someone along the way - apparently in the mid-19th century - realised that "larboard" and "starboard" sounded rather alike and could easily be confused or misheard. And that wouldn't be a good thing if you're under attack or in more modern times, docking at a five-star hotel.

So the term port was introduced, but while the idea of the name deriving from a drunken sailors favourite high-seas tipple, its origin is much more simple.

Due to the position of the ship's captain, the vessel would always dock with the left side against the port, so there you have it.

Starboard is to the right of the ship when looking forward and the origin of the term is quite straightforward compared to the other side of the boat.

'Starboard' combines two old words, stor ('steer') and bord ('the side of a boat').

So with the ship's captain steering the boat from the right side, storbord, starboard it was.

See the original post here:

The history of the words 'port' and 'starboard', and how to remember which is which - Newshub

The ocean has always glowed.

The Greeks and Romans knew of luminous sea creatures as well as the more general phenomenon of seawater that can light up in bluish-green colors.

Charles Darwin, as he sailed near South America on a dark night aboard the H.M.S. Beagle, encountered luminescent waves. He called it a wonderful and most beautiful spectacle. As far as the eye could see, he added, the crest of every wave was bright so much so that the livid flames lit the sky.

Now, scientists report that ocean bioluminescence can be so intense and massive in scale that satellites orbiting five hundred miles high can see glowing mats of microorganisms as they materialize in the seas. Last month in the journal Scientific Reports, eight investigators told of finding a luminous patch south of Java in 2019 that grew to be larger than the combined areas of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

It was an epiphany, said Steven D. Miller, lead author on the bioluminescence study and a specialist in satellite observations at Colorado State University. When a hidden wonder of nature comes to light, he added, it captures your imagination.

The scientists said the close examination of images gathered between December 2012 and March 2021 from a pair of satellites let them identify a dozen extremely large events approximately one every eight months. Even the smallest was a hundred times larger than Manhattan.

The imagery is opening a new window on the worlds oceans, scientists say, and promises to aid the tracking and study of the glowing seas, whose origins are poorly understood.

Kenneth H. Nealson, a pioneer of bioluminescence research at the University of Southern California, called the discovery a big step toward being able to understand how an enduring mystery of the sea actually comes to be.

The new paper noted that the large concentrations of living lights have long eluded rigorous scientific inquiry, and thus little is known about their composition, formation mechanism, and role within the marine ecosystem.

Sea bioluminescence is often associated with gruesome creatures of the inky deep. One iconic illuminator is the anglerfish, which dangles bright lures in front of needlelike teeth. In contrast, the luminous seas appear to originate when many trillions of tiny bacteria light up in unison.

Dr. Nealson, who was not involved in the satellite research, and colleagues reported in 1970 that dilute suspensions of a particular type of bacteria emit no gleam. If allowed to multiply, however, the microbes can suddenly light up as if a switch were thrown. Scientists now theorize that the glittering masses of bacteria lure fish, whose guts provide nourishing habitats.

Dr. Millers trail of discovery began nearly two decades ago when a lunchtime chat raised the question of whether sea bioluminescence might be visible from space. While working at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Monterey, Calif., in 2004, he began examining imagery from a weather satellite. Soon, he spotted in the northwestern Indian Ocean what turned out to be a glowing patch that was nearly the size of Connecticut.

The blurry area was barely visible, but Dr. Miller and his colleagues grew quite excited because they knew that a new generation of satellite sensors would soon provide much greater sensitivity and sharpness. The improved sensors debuted on a pair of satellites launched by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2011 and 2017.

The sensitive detectors proved adept at least on dark nights at capturing glimmers of light from the seas and provided the imagery for the current report.

A surprise, Dr. Miller said, is that the events turn out to persist for long periods. For instance, the large patch off Java in 2019 lasted for at least 45 nights. That raises the possibility that a rapid response team of oceanographers might have enough time to reach the patches and take samples for detailed studies.

To date, Dr. Miller said, no team has succeeded. He added that television companies that make nature documentaries have shown interest in using the satellite detections to track down and film the gleaming seas.

Peter Herring, a British marine biologist known for his work on deep bioluminescence, called the satellite work important because, after ages of uncertainty, it raised the prospect of finally coming up with hard evidence of what powers the luminous whorls.

The discovery, he added, is a large splash and will have significant ripples.

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Satellites Spot Oceans Aglow With Trillions of Organisms - The New York Times

A special operation conducted by the Sri Lankan Navy in the high seas in the afternoon of 30th August 2021, led to the seizure of a multi-day fishing vessel carrying about 290kg and 200g stock of heroin, attempted to be smuggled into the island by sea.

As per the sources seized drugs were smuggled from Pakistan.

The operation also made way to the apprehension of five suspects in connection to this smuggling attempt. Meanwhile, the fishing vessel with heroin and the suspects were brought ashore on Tuesday.

Based on information received from a coordinated intelligence operation led by Sri Lanka Navy Intelligence and other intelligence services, the Navy detected and searched a suspicious multi-day fishing trawler heading landward, during this special anti-drug operation carried out in the high seas in the afternoon of 30th August.

The interception made way to the recovery of about 290kg and 200g of heroin in 259 packages stuffed in 10 sacks which were concealed in the vessel. Apart from the haul of drugs and the multi-day fishing trawler, the Navy also nabbed 05 suspects onboard the fishing vessel.

The multi-day fishing trawler seized by the Navy on suspicion of smuggling heroin, had ventured out to sea on 30th July 2021 and it is suspected that the consignment of narcotics was fetched to the trawler from foreign smugglers in international waters. Meanwhile, the street value of the seized consignment of heroin is believed to be over Rs.2321 million.

The operation was conducted adhering to COVID-19 protocols in force to prevent the spread of the pandemic. Meanwhile, the Navy and Police Narcotic Bureau are conducting further investigation into the incident as of now.

Read more from the original source:

Sri Lankan Navy seizes over 290 kg of heroin worth more than Rs.2321 million - Zee News

After years of training, the start into space is getting closer and closer. Another two months, then astronaut Matthias Maurer should take off for the International Space Station (ISS). If everything goes according to plan, the Saarland resident will be the twelfth German in space after taking off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the fourth German on the ISS. Im of course very happy that it will finally start. Ive been working for a few years to finally fly into space and I believe that I wont be excited until Im really on the launch pad in the capsule, said he scheduled to start on October 31st.

Maurer will be the first German to get to the ISS in SpaceXs Crew Dragon spaceship. In the flying laboratory, at an altitude of around 400 kilometers, he will carry out numerous international experiments on behalf of researchers on Earth in weightlessness. As a trained materials scientist, he has a particular focus on: Activities to develop new materials, but also solutions for life sciences and physical experiments.

What is the 51-year-old looking forward to most? I hope that I will be able to enjoy the view of our beautiful earth very soon after my arrival. I will then go on a 90-minute trip around the world, so to speak. I imagine this moment to be incredible. Every time I just think about it, I already have goosebumps. The ISS takes around 90 minutes to circle the earth once.

Maurer is well prepared for the expected six months in space. In 2015 he joined the astronaut corps of the European space agency ESA and has been training for his first space flight ever since. This included a 16-day underwater mission, geological field training and survival training on the high seas. But he has also trained tricks on how to keep his body fit in space and selected meals for the time in near-earth orbit.

Eating is extremely important in order to stay in a good mood, says Maurer. Most of the food comes in cans or bags, and water must be added to dry food. He prefers the thermo-stabilized dishes to the dried ones, says Maurer. And: For his mission, he is planning to make yogurt in space himself. But Im not so sure yet whether this will work.

Maurer has just completed training in Houston for a possible field deployment in space. Now its back to California to practice at SpaceX. Then there is a short vacation at home on the program before going back to the USA. Quarantine is announced two weeks before the start.

Maurers mission comes at a time of uncertainty about the future of the human outpost. Russia has recently shown little interest in continuing to operate the more than 20-year-old colossus in the cosmos. However, Moscow recently sent a new research module to the ISS. Jan Wrner, Europes long-time head of space, sees this as a sign that the sky laboratory will be used for a longer period of time. Some see commercialization as a future perspective for the ISS. There are said to be two visits from space tourists during Maurers mission.

And what about German space travel? Actually very good, says astronaut Alexander Gerst in a video from the federal government. We are at the forefront at eye level. Gerst was twice on the ISS and is considered a candidate for a moon flight. So far there has not been a German astronaut. That will change, thinks spaceman Thomas Reiter, in 2006 the first German on the ISS. The more women participate in an astronaut selection process, the greater the likelihood of making it to the final round.

NASA astronauts Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron will set off with Maurer in autumn. Around 35 experiments from Germany and many international experiments are planned. The engineer Maurer, who has a doctorate in materials science, may also go out into space for a field trip.

It is the ESA astronauts first mission, which Maurer called the Cosmic Kiss. The name is a declaration of love to space and the connection that the space station establishes between humanity and the cosmos. Already 4000 years ago people were enthusiastic about space.

Maurers home community in Saarland is excited. The tension increases, the joy increases. Yes, we are extremely proud, says the mayor of Oberthal, Stephan Rausch. Large banners will be set up at the entrances to the town, pointing to Maurer and his mission. In addition, a take-off event is planned for October 31. How exactly this will look still has to be planned. Maurer grew up in the Oberthal district of Gronig with around 1300 inhabitants.

(mho)

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The countdown is on - astronaut Maurer before the start of the ISS - Market Research Telecast