Category Archives: High Seas

The Arctic coastal states of Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, Russia, and the USA as well as the remote fisheries actors Iceland, the EU, Japan, South Korea and, finally, China, haveratified the International Agreement to Prevent Unregulated Fishing in the High Seas of the Central Arctic Ocean.

The Agreement was signed in 2018 and enters into force on 25 June 2021.

I am very pleased that the central Arctic Ocean Agreement is a reality. This clearly states that the agreement parties take seriously the governance of living marine resources located there, Norwegian Fisheries and Seafood Minister Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen says in a ministry press release.

Most of the Arctic Ocean is under the jurisdiction of the coastal states of Canada, Norway, Russia, USA and Greenland/Denmark. At the center of the Arctic Ocean, however, there is an area of international waters.

The said agreement is to prevent unregulated fishing in this high seas areaextending across 2.8 million square kilometers, an area larger than the Mediterranean, the ministry writes. The area is currently covered by ice large parts of the year, and there are no commercial fisheries. If the ice cover is reduced in the coming decades, fishing may become possible.

The Fisheries Minister says the agreement is an internationally unique precaution measure through its solving a problem before it arises.

The agreement period is 16 years, with options for prolonging.

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Agreement is to Prevent Unregulated Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean - High North News

28 June 2021By Tom Collinstom@TheCork.ie

Cork County Council have commissioned a large-scale mural celebrating legendary pirate Anne Bonny on the iconic Stoney Steps in Kinsale.

Following the presentation of the idea to paint the steps by the Kinsale Tourism and Business Association, the Council sought submissions of ideas from the public, from which the theme of Anne Bonny was chosen. The painting was funded through the Bandon Kinsale Municipal District Town Development Fund and artists Splattervan were chosen to undertake the project.

Anne Bonny was born near the Old Head of Kinsale at the end of the 17th Century, and her life is shrouded in mystery, folklore and adventure. Stories survive of defying her fathers wishes, marrying for love, divorcing and taking to the high seas as a pirate at a time when women were considered to be bad luck on board a ship.

At the unveiling of the mural on the steps, Cllr. Kevin Murphy, Chair of Bandon-Kinsale Municipal District, said

The wonderful harbour town of Kinsale has benefited from another beautiful addition through this painting. These steps, favoured by visiting photographers, now boast a mural which will resonate with many locals and visitors to Kinsale today. Legends of Anne Bonny, one of the towns most illustrious expats, resonate with the rebels and adventurers in us all, and the artists have done a remarkable job in bringing this legendary Irish Pirate back to her home on the Wild Atlantic Way.

See more here:

Pirate Anne Bonny Returns to her hometown of Kinsale - TheCork.ie

The deluge of July 26, 2005, still evokes memories of the night long trek from Andheri to Lower Parel on the Western Express Highway wading through neck deep water with carcasses of cattle floating around. It was just a month into the many months that has now become a 16-year long journey, of being a Mumbai resident who fears to step out of the comfort of the four walls each monsoon. Was 2005 my first brush with climate change? Maybe. The deluge might have been a one-off episode but what has slowly but steadily changed in the last two decades is the Arabian Sea which one can smell in Mumbai every morning that could possibly lead to catastrophic security future.

What one possibly ignored was Bandu and Phet in 2010, Keila in 2011, Murjan in 2012, Nanauk and Niolfar in 2014, Ashobaa, Chapala and Megh in 2015, Sagar, Mekunu, Luban in 2018, Vayu, Hikaa and Kyarr in 2019 in the Arabian Sea, till Nisarga made a landfall at the coastal village of Shirvardhan on June 3, 2020. Every agency from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicting the course of the cyclone to the relief teams from the National Disaster Response Force, Indian Navy, Coast Guard and state agencies were on alert and deployed to carry out exigencies the cyclone would bring along. The storm of 2020 passed, and once again silence was restored.

Then on May 17, 2021, the unthinkable happened on the Bombay High. The wind speed had increased to 100 kilometers per hour. The tide and swell of the sea was at all time high sea state of 8, which meant that waves were taller than a single storey house. At sea, and literally, were 710 lives. And to rescue them another 1,200 lives were roped in. The Indian Navy in an operation that has no precedent, managed to rescue most of them. But even the valiant Indian Navy could not beat the natures fury which claimed 88 lives on the fateful day.

What is disturbing is not what Cyclone Tauktae, the fifth most powerful cyclone in the Arabian Sea, showed us, but that more Tauktaes are in the offing in the coming years. Studies by climate change experts point to an increase in the frequency of cyclones in the Arabian Sea in the coming decades largely due to the rising temperature of the sea. Rising temperatures couple with a rising sea level potentially points to catastrophic repercussions in the coming future.

Dr Roxy Mathew Koll, climate scientist and IPCC lead author, through his papers has on how tropical cyclones are among the most destructive natural disasters on earth, and how the north Indian Ocean, including the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, account for 6 per cent of the global tropical cyclones. His papers also point to the rapid intensification of cyclones which could also prove to be a major cause of concern in the future for coastal cities like Mumbai. In fact the scientist had taken to Twitter to post a thread post Tauktae which read With climate change, the storyline has changed for Mumbai and the coastline of India.

Arabian Sea is brewing more intense cyclones than ever. Tauktae was the most intense cyclone (220 km/hr) that came very close to Mumbai. Cyclones drive storm surgeshuge waves (5 m high) that push water onto the land, flooding the coast, wrote Dr Koll. Dr Koll also points out to the sea level rise at a fast pace along the coast of Mumbai at about 3 centimeter per decade, while pointing out the calamitous position that Mumbai was in devoid of its mangroves.

A security threat assessment of global climate change a paper produced by The National Security, Military and Intelligence Panel on Climate Change of the United States of America in 2020 predict that Indian Ocean region will experience devastating sea level rise threatening megacities, infrastructure and population if one was to witness a global average warming at 2-4+C/3.6-7.2+F.

Over long-term projections of severe warming, sea level rise is the most devastating climate threat to the Asia-Pacific region. A one meter rise in sea levels would displace 37 million people in the East Asian and Pacific, and that number would nearly double with a two meter rise. Heavily populated cities along the coast will see huge economic and livelihood losses due to rising seas, including Mumbai, Bangkok, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, and Guangzhou, states the paper. The paper puts 44 million Indians in the climate risk category, 53 million in Bangladesh, 38 million in Vietnam, 26 million in Indonesia and 107 million in China.

Dr Pushp Bajaj, of the National Maritime Foundation, in his June 2020 paper Climate Risks to Indias Holistic Martime Security Part 1: Rising Sea Level points out that the global mean sea level was rising, and that the rate of rise is accelerating. Dr Bajajs paper states that the sea-level rise increased from 1.4mm per year over the period 1901-1990 to 2.1 mm per year between 1970-2015 to 3.2 mm per year to 3.6 mm per year over the period of 2005-2015.

This also poses the need for a sea change in the role Indias maritime security agencies, especially the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard, as security challenges increase from accelerating climate change. While the Indian Navy will be increasingly called out to respond to extreme weather conditions like cyclones and floods, they themselves will be vulnerable to the impacts of the sea level rising. A vast majority of its bases across Mumbai, Goa, Karwar, Kochi and in the islands of Lakshadweep could be under high risk, and any damage to critical infrastructure could seriously hamper the ability to provide effective assistance. This also necessitates state and central government agencies like the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to create short-term and long-term strategies to mitigate the threat of cyclones and floods in the coming future.

For Mumbai, to mitigate the threat posed by climate change, it would also mean that the civic body and the countless development agencies of the state evolve a strategy that looks to create a buffer zone of mangroves to start with, to an effective and state-of-the-art storm water drainage system, to keep the city from marooning.

Read more from the original source:

Mumbai: The curveball that Cyclone Tauktae has thrown at Mumbai - Free Press Journal

Sea of Thieves Season 3 update shocked fans with the unexpected Disney crossover, A Pirates Life. As players venture into Tall Tale 2, The Sunken Pearl, theres a lot of puzzles and boss fights to overcome, from finding the Black Pearl to defeating The Kraken and taking down the Siren Queen.

After freeing (and then later losing) Jack Sparrow, youll need to venture out into the high seas once more to time discover the fate of the iconic sunken Black Pearl under the Sea of Thieves.

Once there, youll face off against Sirens and Ocean Crawlers as you attempt to solve Siren Spires puzzles to rescue Sparrows crew from whatever fate the game sees them in.

Once youve spoken to The Castaway, board your ship. From there, open your Sunken Pearl quest book before venturing out onto The Sea of Thieves. The last two pages will indicate that the location of the Black Pearl lies to the South-West of the Sea of Thieves game map. More specifically, the ship lies North-West of Shark Bait Cove, and slightly South-West of Old Salts Atoll.

The circled mark on the image above is where you need to head. Its not hard to miss, though a bright blue beacon will shine down on the location as you get closer, music will begin to swell, and theres debris floating in the water.

Now comes the tricky part: diving down into the depths to find her. Once youre under the water, a mysterious Siren song will start. Simply follow these steps:

Before you can progress further in this Sea of Thieves Tall Tale, youll need to unlock Jack Sparrows Captain Quarters on the sunken Black Pearl to retrieve his compass:

Once youve used Jacks compass and followed where its told you to go, youll enter into The Siren Spire. During your time in the Spire, youll have to complete six puzzles, all following the same setup: Therell be four statues holding a trident, with a mural of these statues on the wall.

Simply put, what you need to do is match the actual statues to what theyre doing on the mural. This can be done by either swinging your sword at them up close or firing at them from a distance.

Each statue has three possible positions for its left arm: high, middle, or low. After youve positioned them correctly, youll need to hit the larger statue with the shell.

After battling the Ocean Crawlers or Sirens, the last one will drop a Siren Heart. Look for the statue that is missing the yellow gemstone, and slot it in. Then, align the statues arms as follows:

The other positions for each of the following puzzles are listed below:

The fourth Siren puzzle is slightly different. On your way to the Siren Citadel, youll come across a giant door blocking your way with two large carvings of a Siren.

To progress with this, youll need to place the Sirens Heart into the missing statue as before and then put boths statues arm positions to low. Then, shoot the main statue with the shell, and the door will open.

After spotting the Kraken throughout the zone, youll come face to face with it during your time fighting on the Silver Blade. Having been torn apart and held in place by The Siren Queen and her loyal subjects, youll face off in a not-so-naval battle against Ocean Crawlers.

To reach the Kraken, though, youll need to raise the anchor of the Silver Blade which will pull the ship upwards, defeating enemies with the cannons as you go.

When you reach the third level, youll fight off a horde of Ocean Crawlers on the deck before the Kraken rears its head. Luckily, defeating it is relatively easy:

In the area before reaching the Silver Blade, you have the chance to pick up a key to unlock the Captains quarters, which contains a Chest of Sorrows.

Back in the room with the platforms and pulleys, raise the wooden section of the ship and hop across to the left side of the room. Therell be a carving of a face with an open mouth thats emanating a red light. Head in there, grab the key, and youll be able to unlock the door on the ship.

Once defeating the Kraken, follow these steps:

Thats it! You should now have the commendation, and you can continue on to the last boss battle of the Tall Tale.

Throughout the Sea of Thieves Sunken Pearl Tall Tale, youll come into contact with Sirens. Luckily, whenever they do swim across your path, therell be plenty of tridents around the place to take them down.

The tridents have a regular attack and a charged attack. The longer you hold down the fire button, the wider the range will be. Despite this, firing the trident without the charge seems to be just as effective in the long run.

After sending her minions to do her bidding, and warning you to not proceed further all quest long, the final standoff of The Sunken Pearl is when you finally face the Siren Queen.

Despite a lot of talk, taking her out wont take much. Follow these tips:

So, there you have it. Thats everything you need to know about the Sea of Thieves Tall Tale 2, The Sunken Pearl.

See you out there on the high seas!

Go here to see the original:

Sea of Thieves A Pirates Life: How to complete The Sunken Pearl Tall Tale quest - Dexerto

TEHRAN Iranian Navy unveiled a destroyer and a minesweeper through a virtual videoconference led by President Hassan Rouhani on Monday.

Dena is the fourth Jamaran-class destroyer built by the Naval Industries of the Defense Ministry.

The Iranian destroyer which is named after one of the most famous mountaintops of the country is equipped with various defense and offense systems, is designed to make long journeys in the oceans, and is capable of detecting, tracking, and hitting various aerial, surface, and submarine targets.

Dena is reported to weigh more than 1300 tons, and is equipped with 4 cruise missiles ready to open fire at any threats. It is also capable of carrying helicopters on its deck.

Shahin, the other new addition to the Iranian naval fleet, is a minesweeper with a length of 33 meters that was developed and built by local Defense Ministry engineers.

The military ship is outfitted with cutting-edge technology that allows it to detect and detonate several types of naval mines.

Iranian military specialists and technicians have made significant progress in recent years in manufacturing a wide spectrum of indigenous weaponry, allowing the armed forces to be self-sufficient in the armaments sphere.

In the inauguration ceremony attended by top military commanders, President Rouhani ordered the Navy to unveil the latest accomplishments.

"The power of Iran and our armed forces is high only for deterrence and defense. We do not intend for war and tension, but will not yield to the invading powers," he remarked.He also said that today, the Islamic Republic of Iran is a power that guarantees the security of the region for itself and its neighbors.

We explicitly declare to our dear neighbors that the power of our armed forces is not against you but also your supporter and protector, as well as for the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, and the Iranian army is the defender of its own and regional countries independence, the president added.

Iran has long been the icon of the peace in the region, offering peace initiatives and inviting neighbors and regional countries to sit at the same table to negotiate. Iranian politicians have always believed that tensions in the region can be reduced through dialogue.

Irans multilayered strategy shows the complexity of diplomacy in the region. On the one hand, the approach of peace initiatives put forward by the Islamic Republic has earned the country a reputation as a key player in maintaining peace and security in the region. And on the other hand, Iran, a country surrounded by 40 U.S. military bases in the West Asia, needs to boost its defensive abilities to protect itself from the unwanted guests in the region. These unwanted guests have time and again shown that they do not understand diplomacy, and they act barbarically. Iraq and Afghanistan are true examples of the American barbarism.

With Iran enhancing its defensive capabilities, the neighboring countries can also benefit from the advanced defensive equipment the Islamic Republic has.

The West Asia has long suffered from instability and tension, too weak to reform itself. That is when the neighbors come to the rescue. For example, in case of ISIS, Iran helped its neighbor Iraq to retain stability. Iran also helped Syria overthrow ISIS.

A coin has two sides. Iran has offered peace initiatives such as HOPE (Hormuz Peace Endeavor), Regional Dialogue Forum, the 4-point plan to establish peace in Yemen, the 4-point plan to establish peace in Syria, the Palestinian cause, etc. On the other side of the coin, there is Irans military power which assures every country in West Asia that there will be a strong help in case an intruding power comes to destabilize.

The recent negotiations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, along with the recent unveilings of the Iranian naval force accomplishments suggest the perfect implementation of this multi-layered strategy of boosting defensive facilities and capabilities, along with shaping dialogue and negotiating with neighboring countries.

This strategy was highlighted on Monday once again by Iranian officials. Even when Saudi Arabia was not interested in negotiations, we stressed that the dialogue is the best way to resolve the issues, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday the same day Dena was unveiled and added that Iran will take the dialogue forward in a noteworthy manner.

SA/PA

Link:

To the high seas and beyond - Tehran Times

CONSTANTA NAVAL BASE, Romania In the dimly lit war room of the Romanian frigate Regina Maria, glowing radar screens illuminate a cheat sheet for identifying Russian vessels.

The ship's commander points to the newest warships, Grigorovich and Sviyazhsk, that have appeared on the horizon since Russia seized Crimea in 2014 and began to expand its Black Sea fleet. Romanian Cmdr. Alexandru Gobjila then points to older vessels, armed with the latest technology and weaponry, including supersonic Kalibr cruise missiles capable of reaching 1,600 miles into Europe.

The Russian Black Sea navy now numbers over 200 large ships, all in a body of water twice the size of the Great Lakes.

Vladimir Putin's power projection in the region is designed to secure unfettered warm water access through a war of intimidation waged on the high seas, and President Joe Biden's detente with Putin may mean American deterrence will be left to NATO's newest member countries.

MILITARIZATION OF CRIMEA HEIGHTENS THREAT TO NATO'S SOUTHEASTERN FLANK

"We are going to assure the security of the lines of communication inside the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, or wherever the alliance requests," Gobjila told the Washington Examiner while touring the frigate, named after Romania's Queen Mary, whose 1919 trip to the Paris Peace Conference consolidated Romania's international recognition after siding with the Allies in World War I.

A century later, and 30 years after throwing off the cloak of communism, Romania again finds itself at the intersection of the world powers, and without the resources to go it alone.

"Romania is on the border of both the EU and NATO alliance," said Romanian flotilla deputy commander Auras Liviu Coman, who admits his three frigates, each emblazoned with the NATO star on their sides, do not possess modern naval strike missiles.

"This is a very ambitious project," Coman said of an 18-month upgrade plan.

That means the smaller countries of the Black Sea must rely on a deterrent U.S. and NATO ally presence and their own incremental modernization to ward off Russian aggression.

The Montreux Convention of 1936 limits the tonnage and amount of time foreign navies can spend in the Black Sea. To maintain a regular presence of some 100 days per year, the United States is moving destroyers into and out of the Black Sea for 21-day tours that entail multilateral exercises and freedom of navigation missions.

Whether Biden is willing to continue that role in the detente with Russia remains to be seen.

After achieving a verbal commitment from Putin to withdraw his 100,000 troops from the eastern Ukrainian border, it is widely believed that the U.S. in turn canceled the entry of two warships into the Black Sea.

"The Black Sea has always been very strategically important to Russia, going back to Catherine the Great's time," retired Capt. Brent Sadler, a naval analyst at the Heritage Foundation, told the Washington Examiner.

Maintaining unfettered movement from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean via the Black Sea is vital to Russia's counterencirclement strategy, the 26-year Navy veteran explained.

"It's not necessarily important that you match hull for hull. It's not necessarily important that you match capability for capability," Sadler said of the Russian presence. "But you do need to have an adequate maritime presence there that complicates their unquestioned control of all the Black Sea."

But with a globally strained U.S. Navy and strategic shift to the Indo-Pacific, America cannot do it alone. It must rely on the NATO countries of Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania and the partner countries of Ukraine and Georgia to keep the strategic sea safe and free.

Regular U.S. exercises are one way the U.S. is helping to build capacity.

"We are increasing the level of interoperability," said Gobjila. "Not only among allies, but partners as well, because the most important thing is to build the trust, the confidence among Black Sea littoral countries."

The ship commander recalls how far Romania has come from pre-NATO days, when NATO Partnership for Peace exercises in 1997 consisted of bridge-to-bridge communication and simple tactical maneuvering.

"Right now, we are treating very well all exercises related to maritime domain awareness," he said. "That means to us as navy personnel, anti-submarine, anti-surface, anti-air exercises, electronic warfare exercises, all the spectrum of the exercises."

But exercises, movement of military ships, and even commercial transit are being hindered by Russia's Black Sea fleet, explained Romanian security analyst George Scufaru.

"Russia will try to harass us," Scufaru said at a meeting in Bucharest. "They have a bigger fleet compared to Turkey in the Black Sea, to Romania, to Bulgaria. It will be very difficult. This is the reason why it's necessary to have the support of NATO and to have more U.S. vessels."

Scufaru pointed to a map produced by his New Strategy Center that delineated all of the Black Sea perimeters where Russia allegedly conducted military exercises in 2019.

According to international convention, militaries may announce perimeters within international waters where they are conducting potentially dangerous exercises. Russia has abused this practice in recent years to block key passageways such as the Kerch Strait access to the Sea of Azov, the maritime boundaries surrounding Crimea, and coasts near Ukraine and Georgia, where Putin has fomented protracted conflicts.

"Indeed, Russia is modernizing its suite of capabilities," Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu told the Washington Examiner by phone from Bucharest. "NATO is also reacting by organizing a lot more naval exercises, by having a more substantive rotational presence of allied ships in the region."

Aurescu said Romania is investing heavily in military infrastructure and command and control to host more NATO and American land, sea, and air power to deter Russia.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

"Let's see the next step," said a dubious Scufaru of Biden's pullback from the Black Sea in advance of the Biden-Putin summit. A recent report indicates that pullback also included a White House freeze of $100 million of military assistance to Ukraine ahead of the summit.

"Is this only linked with the summit, with this meeting?" posed Scufaru. "Or, is this the beginning of a beautiful friendship'?"

Original Location: Russias Black Sea navy grows as allies worry Biden will pull back

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Russia's Black Sea navy grows as allies worry Biden will pull back - Denver Gazette

The High Seas Drifters were crowned the champions of the first-ever Washington360 race.

The Olson 30 monohull sailboat rounded Point Hudson shortly before 1 p.m. Thursday, June 10, less than four days after the start of the race.

Race officials had allotted a total of two weeks for competitors to finish the course, which ran from the South Puget Sound, near Olympia and as far north as Point Roberts before returning to the finish line in Port Townsend.

Sailors Shad Lemke, Mark Bostrom, Scott Wood, and Jefferson Franklin needed less than half of that time to reach the finish line and be greeted by a crowd of cheering onlookers on the Port Townsend waterfront.

After arriving at the Northwest Maritime Centers dock, the Team High Seas Drifters rang the famous bell used in previous years by participants in the R2AK to signify their completion of the arduous race.

Race Boss Daniel Evans handed over the teams prize, a championship belt the likes of which would be right at home resting on the shoulder of Hulk Hogan.

So how does one feel after completing a two-week race in less than four days?

Tired, Franklin replied in a tone that was anything but glib.

With the race now safely behind them, the newly-crowned champions pondered what they should have brought along for the ride.

More gummy bears, Wood said.

More bushings for the pedal drives, Franklin said.

We would like to have known that was broken from the start. We started and went Oh, theres a problem and we had to figure it out on the fly. We rebuilt it four or five times, he added

It sounded like a blacksmiths shop under the cabin, Wood chimed in. With him just hammering away without the tools he needed.

The conditions even saw the sailors cannibalizing other parts of their boat to repair their pedal drives.

The last bushing we made, we cut down the handlebars off the seats and that one lasted for a long time, Franklin said.

There was general consensus among the crew that the High Seas Drifters all worked well together as a team.

We all got along good and sailed hard together and relied on each other, Wood said.

We took care of each other, Franklin said.

There was a lot of skill in this boat, Bostrom added.

As to whether the High Seas Drifters would be making a triumphant return for another WA360, Lemke calmly said, Sailors amnesia has to set in first, then well figure it out.

The beleaguered seafarers all shared a laugh.

Lemke also had advice for any future competitors: Not do what we did. They should train.

Just behind the first-place winners were Team Fressure (Justin Hinchcliffe, Casey Pruitt, Andrew Bly, and Charles Boremann) and Team Lake Pend Oreille Yacht Club (Gabe Mills, Jason Taft, Jon Totten, and Ben Price).

As Team Fressures Merit 28 cruised past the finish line, Boremann stood on the foredeck and held a thumb and index finger to eye level, We were this close, he chuckled.

We stuck together and we didnt kill each other, Pruitt said, prompting an incredulous response from Boremann.

Well, we came close, Boremann said.

Pruitt said one crucial oversight served to hinder their progression as they neared the Bellingham race marker.

When youre thinking about doing something, just do it, dont wait until later, Pruitt said in his advice to future competitors.

We thought about fixing the chain tension and we didnt do it, because I hadnt slept in 24 hours, he recalled.

We said, Well get that later, were sailing, its fine. We skipped a cog, and here we are, we were fixing the seat, fixing the pedal drive; and then those guys are winning!

The team said future competitors should plan to get plenty of exercise in advance and remain resilient in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

We were behind by 20 boats at one time and we were ahead of all of them at another time, Boremann said. Constantly changing positions.

Light winds in the first days of the race placed a premium on human-powered propulsion like the pedal drives aboard the early finishers boats.

Race organizers have even gone as far as calling the race a 360-mile floating bike race, punctuated by spinnaker runs.

As of Tuesday morning, a stalwart handful of racers were still toughing it out, making their way across the course, little-by-little. They still have plenty of time to complete the race before the June 21 cut-off.

To follow these determined racers on their journey and check daily updates from the race organizers, visit nwmaritime.org/follow-wa360/

Read more:

Monohull sailboat claims first place in first-ever Washington360 race - Port Townsend Leader

The US president has announced a raft of positive marine measures and appointments, but must work with China to make a breakthrough on subsidies, the high seas and Antarctic protection Chinese fishing vessels on the high seas of the North Pacific (USCG file image)

PublishedJun 16, 2021 1:59 PM by China Dialogue Ocean

[By Todd Woody]

In the opening months of President Joe Bidens administration there has been a sea change in ocean policy as the United States moves to re-engage with the international community to tackle climate change.

This engagement could have significant consequences for a host of marine issues, from harmful fishing subsidies and a high seas biodiversity treaty, to efforts to create marine protected areas (MPAs) in Antarctica. To achieve progress, though, observers say the Biden administration must work with China, given the countrys influence on ocean policy.

China is working on climate change, they participated inthe Biden summiton that, and so it seems like theyre really interested in engaging in these multilateral forums on ocean issues, said Andrea Kavanagh, project director for the Pew Charitable Trusts Protecting Antarcticas Southern Ocean initiative.

The details of many Biden policies remain to be announced. But the administration has signalled its strong support of ocean issues by appointing respected scientists and environmentalists to key positions at agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which had been demoralised, defunded and politicisedunder the previous president, Donald Trump.

Biden, for instance, has proposed a record $6.9 billion budget for NOAA (a 26 percent increase on the previous year) and has nominated a former top NOAA scientist, oceanographerRick Spinrad, to run the agency. John Kerry, the administrations climate envoy, founded theOur Ocean conferencewhen he served as secretary of state in the Barack Obama administration. Marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco,who has becomethe deputy director for climate and environment at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, served as NOAAs chief under Obama.

The Biden administrationhas pledgedto protect 30 percentof US land and waters by 2030. In May, it tried to globalise that 3030 commitment when it joined acommuniquissued by G7 nations calling for protection of 30 percentof the worlds oceans, also by 2030.

The communiqu committed the nations to work toward concluding negotiations over ahigh seas biodiversity treatyby the end of 2021 and supported efforts to expand a network of marine protected areas in Antarctica.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly slowed international negotiations, 2021 could prove a pivotal year to finalise long-running talks on damaging fishing subsidies, the high seas biodiversity treaty and the creation of vast new marine protected areas in Antarctica.

Fisheries subsidies

For two decades, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) hasattempted to reach an agreementby its 164 member states to ban harmful fisheries subsidies that promote overfishing andillegal, unreported and unregulated(IUU) fishing.

During that time, Chinas overseas fishing fleet has expanded and become the worlds largest, at nearly 3,000 vessels.Researchers in 2016 determined thatUS$20 billion of US$35 billion in annual global fisheries subsidies were harmful. The result: one-third of fish species are being harvested at biologically unsustainable levels,according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Rashid Sumaila, a University of British Columbia fisheries expert and close observer of the WTO, is optimistic that a deal may finally be in sight for two reasons. One is that the new director-general,Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealaof Nigeria, hasmade fisheries subsidies a priority. She is convening aministerial conference in Julywith the aim of finalising negotiations. The other reason is the new environmentally friendly US administration.

Hopefully, these two recent events might just help the WTO and the world get the job done after 20 years of trying, he said. That would be a big win for marine biodiversity, fish and fishers who want to fish sustainably.

The Biden administrations specific stance on the negotiations remains to be seen. So far the administration has been focusing on climate change and have not said much about the WTO negotiation on fisheries subsidies, noted Sumaila, adding that it seems to be holding to the US position that the country wants an ambitious agreement. I hope they are pushing for this behind the scenes.

Cooperation between China and the US, two of the biggest subsidisers, is key to breaking the stalemate at the WTO, according to Sumaila. For years, negotiations have been hampered by disagreements over whether developing countries would be given more time to phase out subsidies. WTO member states are allowed to declare themselves as developing nations, as China has done.

One single action that would help is for the US to work with China and come up with a joint communiqu stating that the nations will support reaching an agreement at the upcoming WTO Ministerial [conference], he said. I think such an agreement between the US and China would incentivise other countries to sign on.

Antarctic marine protection

Antarctica is one of the regions most impacted by climate change and fishing. Its also where the international community, even at its most divided, has come together to protect the continents unique biodiversity. At the height of the Cold War in 1959, the US, Soviet Union and 10 other countries signed theAntarctica Treaty, committing the parties to peaceful exploration.

An international convention established the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) in 1982. CCAMLR currently has 26 member states, including China and the US. The parties approval of the 1.57 million km2Ross Sea marine protected area, which came into effect in 2017 and banned commercial fishing for 35 years, created the worlds largest MPA.

Temperatures in Antarctica are rising three times faster than the global average, according to a 2020 study

It was to be part of a network of protected zones to limit the effects of climate change and a burgeoning krill fishing industry.Krill, a small crustacean, is considered a keystone species because it converts energy from the sun by eating single-celled plants called phytoplankton into food for larger marine species including penguins and whales. Commercial fishing turns hundreds of thousands of tonnes of krill into fish meal to feed farmed fish and pets, as well as krill oil for human health supplements.

Krill populations are also being affected by climate change, with temperatures in Antarctica rising three times faster than the global average, a 2020studyfound.

However, efforts to address these two threats through the establishment of three additional MPAs in East Antarctica, the Weddell Sea, and around the Antarctic Peninsula have foundered in recent years, largely due to objections from China and Russia. China deploys akrill fishing fleetin the Southern Ocean and Russia has taken steps to establish its own krill fishery. Other nations fishing for krill in the past decade include Norway, South Korea, Japan, Chile, Poland and Ukraine. A proposed MPA requires unanimous approval by member states.

Efforts to break the impasse received a boost in April whenKerry announced the US would join other CCAMLR statesto press for the approval of the East Antarctica and Weddell Sea MPAs. The proposed Antarctica Peninsula MPA is still being evaluated by CCAMLRs scientific committee.

The US coming on as an official co-sponsor is great news, said Kavanagh of the Pew Charitable Trusts. Its just showing that theres this global push and a global awareness that we need to have these protections.

She noted that negotiations over the Ross Sea MPA dragged on for years until a group of nations coordinated a campaign to persuade China and Russia to sign off on it. Obama himself got involved, especially when talking with China, said Kavanagh.

In virtual negotiations, you dont have any of the hallway meetings or the receptions and dinners where most of the work gets done.

She said a similar approach is needed to reach consensus on the East Antarctica and Weddell Sea MPAs. Kerrys involvement is an encouraging sign, given his former position as secretary of state and hisexperience in negotiating with China.

John Kerry in his role as the climate envoy knows how important MPAs are to provide resilience against climate change, said Kavanagh.

Prospects for face-to-face negotiations, however, look dim. CCMALR is headquartered in Tasmania, Australia, where its annual meeting is held. But in May, theAustralian government announcedit would keep its borders closed to international visitors until mid-2022.

Its just tough because in the virtual meetings you dont have as much time for negotiations because of time differences, Kavanagh said. And you dont have any of the hallway meetings or the receptions and dinners where most of the work gets done.

High seas biodiversity treaty

In early March 2020, Kerry helped facilitate a High Seas Treaty Dialogue with government leaders in Monaco. The event highlighted issues to be taken up three weeks later at the United Nations when delegates were to convene for what was to be a final session to complete a landmarktreatyto protect biodiversity on the high seas.

Among other provisions, the treaty would allow for the creation of marine protected areas in the 58 percentof the ocean that lies beyond national jurisdiction, provide for thesharing of marine genetic resourcesamong nations and require environmental impact assessments for certain high seas activities.

There was little consensus, though, on the specific terms of those provisions or how they would be implemented as delegates prepared to gather in New York last year. Then, days before negotiations were to begin, the United Nations and the rest of New York City went into lockdown as the pandemic spread.

With in-person negotiations postponed, delegates began meeting virtually in monthly video sessions, according to Peggy Kalas, coordinator of theHigh Seas Alliance, a coalition ofmajor environmental groupsfounded in 2011 to advocate for a high seas biodiversity treaty. The talks are informal, which means they dont carry the weight of formal negotiations.

Kalas said its too early to know how the Biden administrations environmental policies will affect the treaty negotiations, noting that ocean-related senior positions in the US State Department remain vacant.

But observers view Kerrys interest in the high seas biodiversity treaty as promising.

Were hoping that we can perhaps get Kerry to engage in treaty negotiations, Kalas said.

In-person negotiations currently are set to resume in August, though some observers expect talks to be postponed as other UN negotiations have been recently. In that event, virtual discussions will likely continue.

We are all very exceedingly Zoomed out, said Kalas.

Todd Woody is a California-based environmental journalist who specialises in ocean issues.

This article appears courtesy of China Dialogue Ocean 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.

Excerpt from:

Can Joe Biden Kick-Start Progress on Ocean Conservation? - The Maritime Executive

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the past year has been hugely challenging for most industries, but perhaps few have suffered as much as cruise operators.

Related:Chapek Confirms Disney Cruise Lines Second Private Island

Disney Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, and other cruise companies that make port in the United States have been unable to sail for over a year, leading to huge profit losses and disappointment for cruise vacationers.

Now, however, thanks to increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates throughout the U.S., the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have begun allowing cruise lines to begin the process that will get them back on the high seas.

Related:Disney Cruise Line Considering Sailing Out of Ft. Lauderdale

In the CDCs Conditional Sailing Order (CSO) it is noted that cruise operators must conduct test cruises with a variety of pandemic health and safety protocols in place. This is intended to both allow crew members to get used to these new pandemic-era procedures and to provide proof that the CDCs various requirements have been satisfied.

Royal Caribbean was the first cruise ship company to conduct test cruise trips and, as a result, was expected to launch the first cruise trip from a U.S. port in over a year. However, the itinerary has now been delayed due to a COVID-19 outbreak onboard.

Related:Disney Cruise Lines Test Cruises Are NOT Open to the Public

Orlando News 6s Click Orlando website reports:

Royal Caribbean has suffered a setback in its push to resume cruises from Florida.

Eight workers aboard the Odyssey of the Seas have tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting Royal Caribbean to delay the ships upcoming cruise in early July.

The cruise line said Wednesday that Odyssey of the Seas was scheduled to set sail from Fort Lauderdale on July 3, but that cruise has now been pushed back to the end of July.

Click Orlandos report also noted that the entire crew was vaccinated, but it is believed the eight Royal Caribbean employees contracted COVID-19 prior to their vaccines reaching full effectiveness. At this time, Royal Caribbean intends to conduct its other planned cruises on schedule.

Currently, no other cruise lines including Disney Cruise Line have announced that this news will impact their return to sailing in any way.

Related:Ahoy, Captain Minnie! NEW Nautical Cupcake and Shake on Disney Cruise Line!

Disney has not officially confirmed when the four ships in its existing fleet the Disney Dream, the Disney Fantasy, the Disney Magic, and the Disney Wonder will officially hit the high seas again domestically.

It is worth noting that Disneys Magic at Sea staycation cruises cruises with no ports of call will leave from United Kingdom ports this summer. They are only open to U.K. residents.

However, the company is planning to conduct its first test cruise to the Bahamas on the Disney Dream in July. Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek has expressed optimism for a fall 2021 return to sailing, which seems possible given this test cruise date, although nothing has been announced at this time.

Related:Congress Clears the Way For Disney Cruise Line to Return to Alaska

Unless crew members test positive for COVID-19 following the test cruise next month, it seems unlikely that DCL will have to postpone its return to the water.

Although 2021 sailings are still up-in-the-air at this time, Disney is planning a major return to sailing in 2022 with the maiden voyage of their first Triton Class ship, the Disney Wish, in June of next year.

Related:Disney Launching First-of-Its-Kind Star Wars Hyperspace Lounge!

Are you looking forward to getting back on a Disney Cruise Line ship?

Have a future cruise credit? Want to book a new DCL itinerary? The expert team at Academy Travel can help you plan a magical Disney Cruise Line vacation to anywhere in the world! From a Mexico Disney cruise to a journey to Disneys private island Castaway Cay in the Bahamas, they can make your high seas dreams come true.

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First US Cruise In Over a Year Postponed Due to COVID Outbreak - Inside the Magic

I make things. I make weird electronic things. I make scientific instrument things. And I make things out of wood. I make a lot of things out of wood.

When Im not working on marine conservation technology, educational programming, or high seas policy, Im usually out back in the woodshop, building furniture, functional art, and other woodcrafts. This probably isnt a surprise. For the last eleven years, one of the most popular articles at Southern Fried Science has been How to build a canoe from scratch on a graduate student stipend.

Every few years, I turn an analytical eye on my hobbies, assessing the lifecycle of the materials I use, the sources of inefficiency, and, most importantly, how the practice of the craft aligns with or deviates from my personal environmental ethic. In other words, I do a sustainability audit on my recreational activities.For the last year, Ive focused on understanding and improving the environmental impacts of my woodworking.

Sustainable is an odd word to describe a hobby. Recreational woodworking isnt necessarily the kind of activity that draws heavy resource demand. It already leaves a fairly light footprint on the planet, and even with herculean efforts to reduce the environmental costs of woodworking, the average hobbyist, working alone in a shed, garage, or basement, will never yield more than a small reduction to the already low impacts of woodworking.But woodworking is unique in that the product of the craft, when produced thoughtfully and with foresight, can benefit the planet for generations.

Woodworking may already leave a light touch on the planet, but it can exact a heavy toll on the person. So far as humans are as much a part of the ecosystem as the forests we draw our trees from, the human health impacts of the materials and consumables we use also contribute to the sustainability of the craft. A solvent thats bad for your brain is no better going down the drain.

Sustainability isnt just a tactic, its an ethic. Fostering an environmental ethic in the hobbies we pursue requires an interrogation of what we value in those hobbies, where trade-offs exist, and how the choices we make can contribute towards a stewardship vision of the future.So, I did what I always do. I made something. And somewhere along the way, this thing became a manifesto for environmentally conscientious woodworking.

Each section ended up being much bigger than our regular blog posts, so rather than drop 10,000 words of lumber musings on you all at once, Ive broken it into manageable chunks to be published periodically over the next week. See you Monday!

(Monday, June 21, 2021) Part 1: I turned my woodshop into a personal solar farm.

(Tuesday, June 22, 2021) Part 2: Getting a handle on workworking chemicals, or sometimes we all need to vent.

(Wednesday, June 23, 2021) Part 3: Furniture as Revolution.

(Thursday, June 24, 2021) Afterwards: Reflections and Next Steps

(Friday, June 25, 2021) Resources: Books, Magazines, Tools, and other ephemera

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Built to Last: A Reflection on Environmentally Conscientious Woodworking - Southern Fried Science