Category Archives: High Seas

Although One Piece can be quite a fun anime series, the series also shows some of the harsh realities of being a pirate and what they go through.

Every kid has wanted to be a pirate at onepoint in their childhood. Series likeOne Piecehaveromanticized the life of a pirate as a jaunty adventure on the high seas filled with thrills and excitement.

RELATED:10 Ways One Piece Has Changed Since 1997

As fun as Luffy and his crew make it look, being a pirate is not all fun and games. Life on the high seas is fraught with peril and it's easy to forget how troubling it is to be a pirate. The Straw Hats make it look easy but it's important to remember these ten harsh realities about being a pirate.

Scurvy is a word that gets lobbed around as if they were cannonballs being shot at enemy shipsbut people tend to underestimate how serious it is.One Pieceacknowledged this when the Straw Hats first met Yosaku and Johnny early on in their adventures who suffered this affliction. The obvious solution is to get plenty of fruit but that can be a risky endeavor. The last thing a pirate needs is to eat a Devil Fruit by accident and lose their ability to swim. Although it's reaching the point where pirates don't have a choice.

When the show first started, criminals like the Black Cat Pirates didn't need Devil Fruit to instill fear and be a successful pirate crew. As Luffy built up his crew and made his way to the Grand Line, more pirates with Devil Fruit powers popped up that could easily level cities if they wished.

RELATED:One Piece: 10 Most Powerful Elemental Devil Fruits, Ranked

As if that weren't bad enough,some marines have eaten Devil Fruit that could one-shot a pirate crew. If anyone wishes to last more than a month on the Grand Line, they'll need to grab some Devil Fruit. Even then that's just the start.

In today's day and age, people's attention spans are shorter than the fuse on a cannon. When pirates do have downtime, they don't have the luxury of going to a brothel or watching TV. They're out at sea stuck on their one ship with the same people for weeks. Sure, there's work to do and alcohol helps pass the time but unless thereare books or plenty of sea shanties to be sung, it's going to get boring pretty fast. Even when pirates do make it to shore, they can't afford to relax.

If there's one thing pirates love more than treasure it's the infamy they garner from piracy. With so many astonishing pirates with godlike powers about, it's difficult to stand out among the rest. It's hard to stand out when they are clown pirates, cyborg pirates, and of course, straw hat pirates causing all sorts of chaos and completing legendary feats.

RELATED:One Piece: 10 Characters With The Highest Bounties Prior To The Time Skip

Even among pirates, coming up with an original gimmick is a challenge that many must accept if they want enough notoriety to warrant a bounty. When they do get it, it tends to backfire in ways they never see coming.

Once someonedecides to become a pirate, there is no turning back. From the moment a pirate commits their first crime, they are a wanted fugitive whether they are the captain of a ship or one of their subordinates.Not only will the local authorities be a constant threat, but so will bounty hunters looking to reap a reward. Unless a crew finds a sanctuary for pirates, they risk being reported to the authorities whenever they reach the port for supplies. Hard to enjoy the life of a pirate when there's always the lingering threat of being caught.

The Grand Line is home to a variety of oddities from Fish Men to Giants but at least there is a minimal chance that they can be persuaded. The real threats are the colossal Sea Kings that can rip a ship asunder with little to no effort. Unless someone has the patience and charm of Luffy, there's no way to talk these creatures down. Any pirate that stumbles across one will be in for the fight of their lives. One would think they're the greatest threat to pirates but that isn't the case.

It's bad enough competing against other pirates but at least they are disorganized and can be dealt with one crew at a time. The Marines are far more complex and organized when it comes to hunting down pirates. The Marines have more than their fair share of corrupt, bad apples that will give out their twisted brand of justice.

RELATED:One Piece: 10 Strongest Marines In The New World, Ranked

It doesn't matter if their prisoners are guilty or not, they will still subject them to cruel and unusual punishments. Making one question if the World Government is too vast to constantly monitor or if the elders running it are looking the other way.

Just as there are corrupt marines, noble pirates also exist like the Straw Hat Pirates. Just because a pirate crew is ransacking places and causing destruction doesn't mean they are doing so with ill-will. It's a shame that their heroism won't be shared with the rest of the world. When Luffy toppled Crocodile's criminal empire and freed Arabasta from his control, the public was told the Marines stopped him.

Most likely that wasn't the only time the World Government have covered up the truth and any pirates looking to do a good deed aren't likely going to get credit.Still, it's not the worst thing they've done.

Naturally, becoming a pirate means saying goodbye to home sweet home and everyone that isn't joining the crew. Promises can be made easily but keeping them is a completely different matter. Just look at the Straw Hat Pirates; how long has it been since Usopp said farewell to Kaya or Sanjay to the Baratie staff? When a pirate sets sail, they won't be seeing their loved ones for years if not decades.Assuming that they ever make it back.

The Straw Hat Pirates stand out not just for their insane power set and incredible accomplishments but because they are one of the few good pirates. Luffy may make being a pirate sound like loads of fun but a majority of the pirates in the series have all committed horrific atrocities.

Ranging from massacres to slavery, they're one of the reasons people tolerate the Marines and rely on them for protection. Pirates are criminals who plunder, pillage, kill, and destroy with little to no regard for the law. If Luffy ever does become King of the Pirates, he'll have his work cut out giving pirates a good name again.

NEXT:One Piece: 10 Ways The Franchise Has Changed Since Romance Dawn (Good & Bad)

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Jackson Brueheim is a writer, editor, riffer, and animation lover that lives out in California. He's written articles for the defunct site Nerdcrave, worked on numerous short films, served as a PA on two feature films, developed a Mystery Science Theater 3000-inspired web series called What a Riff Off, and currently writes list articles for CBR. He graduated from St. Mary's College of California in Moraga, CA, where he receved his BA in English and currently attends a vocational film program for adults on the Autism spectrum called Futures Explored in Livermore, CA. When he's not making up lists, he listens to film and comedy podcasts, listens to Let's Plays while playing video games, enjoying modern cartoons, anime, and films, writing the occasional fan fic or spec script, and trying to get better at drawing.

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One Piece: 10 Harsh Realities About Being A Pirate | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Photo Credit: James Grenz

Today: Occasional showers, mainly before noon. High near 78. Light and variable wind becoming east southeast 5 to 8 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Tonight: Showers likely, mainly after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 63. East southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Monday: Scattered showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 78. East southeast wind 3 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Today: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after noon. Widespread haze. Partly sunny, with a high near 78. Calm wind becoming west southwest around 6 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Tonight: Isolated showers before midnight. Widespread haze. Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear, with a low around 61. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Monday: Scattered showers after noon. Widespread haze. Increasing clouds, with a high near 79. West wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Today: Showers likely, with thunderstorms also possible after 1pm. Widespread haze. Partly sunny, with a high near 74. North northeast wind 11 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Tonight: Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Widespread haze. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 52. Breezy, with an east wind 13 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Monday: Scattered showers. Widespread haze. Partly sunny, with a high near 75. East wind 11 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Today: Showers likely, mainly before noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 70. Windy, with an east wind 21 to 26 mph, with gusts as high as 38 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Tonight: Showers likely, mainly after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 46. Breezy, with an east wind around 17 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Monday: Scattered showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 71. Breezy, with an east wind 15 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Today: Isolated showers after noon. Widespread haze. Partly sunny, with a high near 78. Windy, with an east wind 22 to 26 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Tonight: Widespread haze. Partly cloudy, with a low around 69. Windy, with an east northeast wind around 25 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph.

Monday: Isolated showers after noon. Widespread haze. Mostly sunny, with a high near 79. Windy, with an east northeast wind around 26 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Today: Occasional showers, mainly before noon. High near 75. East wind 3 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Tonight: Showers likely, mainly after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61. Northeast wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Monday: Scattered showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 76. Northeast wind 8 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Today: Scattered showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Widespread haze. Mostly sunny, with a high near 80. East wind 6 to 8 mph becoming west northwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Tonight: Scattered showers and thunderstorms before 7pm. Widespread haze. Mostly clear, with a low around 61. West northwest wind 6 to 8 mph becoming east after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Monday: Isolated showers after 1pm. Widespread haze. Sunny, with a high near 81. East wind around 6 mph becoming north in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Breezy trade winds will continue for the next couple of days, then become locally strong Wednesday and Thursday. Low clouds and showers will favor windward areas, but coverage and intensity will diminish later today as the atmosphere stabilizes. A brief increase in windward showers is possible on Tuesday, but heavy rainfall is not expected.

In summary, trade winds remain in the forecast through next weekend. Breezy trade winds will be veered to a direction slightly S of E through Friday, becoming stronger around mid-week before returning to a more typical ENE direction next weekend while remaining breezy. Low clouds and showers will favor windward areas while most leeward areas will receive little rainfall. The island atmosphere will be somewhat unstable in the short term, but a stabilizing trend over the next day or two means that shower coverage should diminish. However, a slight increase in moisture on Tuesday may bring a brief period of increased showers. A deep-layer trough W of the islands may bring some increase in showers around mid-week. High clouds will clear today, but may return Wednesday and Thursday.Locally breezy trade winds (supported by a 1039 mb high to the distant NE) are delivering low clouds and showers to windward areas, while a trough aloft near Kauai is producing scattered to broken high clouds over the islands from Oahu to the Big Island. Windward shower coverage increased overnight, likely due to a combination of cloud top cooling and the passage of a trough aloft. As the trough moves steadily E today, high clouds will clear and the island atmosphere will be increasing stable. However, the trough axis is expected to be over the Big Island this afternoon, and then E of all islands by tonight, so there remains a slight chance that a thunderstorm will again develop over the Big Island slopes today.From Monday through Wednesday mid-level temperatures will warm, leading to increasingly stable conditions. The surface high to the distant NE will change little while a surface front gradually approaches from the NW, thus we expect the locally breezy trade winds to be veered to the ESE. An area of shallow moisture embedded within the trade flow arriving Tuesday may bring a brief period of increased windward showers.On Wednesday, guidance indicates the dissipating and stalling front to the W will help seed a low-level, N-S oriented trough along 165W, supported by a trough aloft. Meanwhile, the high to the NE will strengthen to near 1047 mb. This is expected to lead to strong ESE winds, but it remains uncertain how much of a moisture and instability increase the trough will bring over the islands, with guidance indicating that it will remain just W of the islands. Closest point of approach of the convergent boundary would be to Kauai around Wednesday before it retreats to the W. The trough will dissipate by next weekend as the high to the NE remains strong, with breezy to locally strong ENE trade winds the result.The departure of the trough aloft means high clouds will clear the chain today, but they may increase Wednesday/Thursday in association with the new trough aloft NW of the islands.

Moderate to breezy trades will continue to push areas of clouds and showers over the islands through the forecast period. Brief MVFR conditions are to be expected, mainly along the windward slopes, with a shower or two being pushed over to leeward areas at times. Otherwise, prevailing VFR is expected through the weekend. In addition, lingering instability will allow for a slight chance of thunderstorms along the leeward slopes of the Big Island this afternoon.AIRMET Sierra is in effect for tempo mountain obscuration due to an area of enhanced showers moving in on the trade wind flow. This activity should diminish by late morning, with improving conditions.AIRMET Tango remains in effect for low-level mechanical turbulence over and downwind of terrain for Big Island through Molokai due to the breezy trades.AIRMET Tango also remains in effect for mid/upper-level turbulence over the entire area between FL250 and FL450.

Strong surface high pressure located off the mainland west coast has created a tight surface pressure gradient across the eastern Pacific and is directed toward the Hawaiian Islands. This will produce and maintain fresh to strong easterly trades through the week. Healthy trades will further strengthen and increase in areal coverage from Wednesday into next weekend. Strong easterly winds will produce heightened easterly swell and wind waves that will impact the islands the next several days. Rough seas will likely reach Small Craft Advisory (SCA) thresholds for those waters exposed to this combination of easterly swell and wind driven wave action.An SCA remains in effect for the windward waters, bays and channels surrounding Maui County and the Big Island through Monday afternoon. As large wind driven seas reach SCA thresholds early this week, the advisory will likely need to be extended and expanded westward to include all of the Hawaiian coastal waters. Advisory conditions are forecast to continue into next weekend to account for strong trades and resultant high seas.In response to strengthened trades over and upstream of the islands, east-facing shoreline surf will be on the rise the next couple of days. Recent satellite ASCAT wind observations verify a large region of strong trades upstream of the state that will generate a long fetch region. High Surf Advisory (HSA) level surf along eastern exposures is expected to develop Monday into Tuesday. These larger wind driven seas will impact eastern-facing shores through next week.A couple of small, overlapping longer period west northwest swells will travel around the islands in the coming days. The first of these swells is arriving today and be leveling out from tonight through Tuesday afternoon. The second set of similar low west to northwest swells will be moving through during mid to late week. Surf along north and west-facing shores will remain far below HSA levels through Friday. Energy from far Southern Hemispheric gales may clip the islands and provide a subtle bump to south-facing shoreline surf today although much of this energy will pass east of the chain.

Small Craft Advisory until 6 PM HST Monday for Maui County Windward Waters, Maalaea Bay, Pailolo Channel, Alenuihaha Channel, Big Island Windward Waters, Big Island Leeward Waters, Big Island Southeast Waters.

Data Courtesy of NOAA.gov

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Hawaii County Weather Forecast for February 21, 2021 - Big Island Now

February 19, 2021 A U.S. president announced Americas distancing from the most significant climate treaty in history. Sixteen years later, President Donald Trump followed suit. In other words, whiplash is not new to U.S. environmental politics and, for decades, it has been at the center of our treaty-making.

Trump took a page out of President George W. Bushs playbook when he announced in 2017 he was ditching the Paris climate deal. Bush had taken similar action when he refused to move forward with the Kyoto Protocol, the 1990s precursor to the Paris Agreement. On Inauguration Day of this year, President Joe Biden initiated the rejoining of the Paris Agreement. Today it becomes official.

Rejoining the Paris deal, according to John Kerry, the new U.S. envoy on climate change, will allow the U.S. to become a global climate leader. He summarized the administrations core belief about the global climate crisis: It is existential.

But climate change isnt the only existential crisis the world is facing. Biodiversity loss and ocean exploitation, to name just two, are crises happening concurrently with climate change and much of the rest of the world has turned to a number of lesser-known environmental treaties to address these. But, the U.S. government has never signed, has failed to ratify, or still dances around them. America may re-sign the Paris Agreement but it will not be a convincingly green leader on the global stage until it confronts the forgotten environmental treaties it has trapped in limbo, sometimes for decades and the world will suffer more from all the existential crises it faces than if the U.S. led the way.

From Walden Pond to Paris

When I teach college students in my U.S. environmental policy courses, I start with Thoreaus cabin on Walden Pond and end with the Paris Agreement. America popularized the genre of nature writing, came up with national parks, and drafted the first federal endangered species lists nature-saving solutions now adopted by many nations around the world. Yet weve failed to fully embrace the global communitys choice of nature-saving solution: environmental treaties. By hyper-focusing and hyper-villainizing any one former administrations climate legacy, America obscures its past failing as a whole to step into environmental leadership positions.

Few of the non-climate environmental agreements are household names the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Bonn Convention, Law of the Sea but Americas lack of official participation makes it a major holdout on global efforts to stop biodiversity loss, protect migratory animals, and steward our global ocean. While America still sends observers to meetings that further negotiate or expand these treaties, formally speaking, the country of Liechtenstein (estimated population 38,000) currently has a more legitimate voice in global environmental governance than America.

Take the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Paris Agreement-equivalent for the extinction crisis. In 1993, the Clinton Administration signed the treaty, it arrived at the U.S. Senate for ratification, and the Senate did nothing. The documents wait for action in a kind of treaty purgatory, with a sad internet presence, alongside thirty-six others. Consider the Bonn Convention, officially known as the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). It coordinates transboundary operations that conserve the migratory routes and habitat of mobile species. Canada and Mexico join the U.S. and a handful of other major nations that never signed on to this convention. Its true that America has signed on to a few of CMSs memorandums of understanding, but on a species-by-species basis. Meanwhile, billions of birds continue vanishing from North Americas migratory routes over just one generation, including climate-sensitive seabirds like albatross and petrels.

Lastly, the UN Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS), an agreement that governs human activities in seas and oceans: America was one of its earliest architects in the 1980s, but in the 1990s the treaty followed the similar signed-but-not-ratified fate as the biodiversity agreement. Today, scientists in the U.S. are again helping to design an international legal binding agreement that will address problems resulting from UNCLOSs gaps, notably: how to deal with the overfishing of biodiversity on the high seas, technically called Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ). After the pandemic subsides, the BBNJ treaty will likely be on the diplomatic table, but scientists are cautious, based on Americas fickle history, that political leaders will formally join, despite the urgent message of ocean exploitation.

Such concrete action would make absolutely clear where America will and will not lead when it comes to environmental problems, from climate change to biodiversity loss to overfishing of the high seas.

There is no shortage of political explanations and diplomatic rationales for Americas historical self-distancing from these agreements. First, the U.S. Senate must advise to ratify treaties by a two-thirds vote. Somesenatorshave long been treaty-averse, witharguments circling that claim treaties risk U.S. sovereignty and its global economic position. Second, the U.S. has in these cases preferred to make progress through soft diplomacy, making handshakes and good neighbors without signing the dotted line.

These political traditions are like our battleships they dont turn on a dime, no matter which party is in power. But from a scientific and historical perspective, a smart approach would be the one that is most comprehensive: confronting all the treaties that are in limbo now, in a transparent way. Such concrete action would make absolutely clear where America will and will not lead when it comes to environmental problems, from climate change to biodiversity loss to overfishing of the high seas.

Reconciling the Past to Move Forward

The lack of clear-eyed and transparent treaty-making has long-term consequences, as seen in another instance where the U.S. has failed in this area: the injustices wrought by not honoring and breaking treaties by the U.S. government against Native Americans. Many Native Americans still have high levels of mistrust for non-tribal government because of this historical trauma and, because of this and many other reasons, often low levels of voter turnout. When Native American communities do engage, they can swing political outcomes. The lack of Native American participation in democratic processes is a lasting bruise on our democracy. As with other injustices, our ability to successfully move forward on this front requires a full recognition of the past.

Americas leaders have a window and opportunity in 2021 to turn this legacy around and make it clear where the country will and where it will not lead on the environment.

Turning the page on Americas environmental story also involves an honest telling of the past. That story is rich in national vision but undeniably fickle when it comes to the hard work arguably the hardest work of saving the whole planet through global cooperation and agreements.

Americas leaders have a window and opportunity in 2021 to turn this legacy around and make it clear where the country will and where it will not lead on the environment. One of President Bidens orders signed on January 27 seeks the U.S. Senates advice on ratifying the Kigali amendment an important amendment to the lesser-known climate treaty, the Montreal Protocol which could reduce the use of climate-warming hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) pollutants. This treaty expansion ratification is possible due to at least some bipartisan agreement, in part because of its potential economic benefits for the U.S.

And further bipartisan environmental agreement in the Senate does exist. The 2020 passage of The Great American Outdoors Act, the largest land conservation legislation in the 21st century, had bipartisan support. Similarly, there may be bipartisan support for the creation of a jobs corps bill that has the same appeal of supporting public lands and rural jobs, while also focusing on the new administrations climate agenda. This kind of bipartisan momentum matters for seeking ratification of green treaties in the Senate.

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If successful, the ratification of an expanded Montreal treaty still stays within the climate action realm the Biden Administration seems most comfortable in at least for now. By ratifying or at least confronting the treaties that have been left in the lurch all these years, the country has the opportunity to show its environmental leadership in a way that is clear about what it does and does not consider existential enough to address meaningfully in concert with other nations.

President Biden says he will host global leaders on Earth Day 2021 for a dialogue about the climate crisis, echoing Kerrys language, that climate change is an existential threat. And just as with the pandemic, Biden said, it requires global cooperation.

With the pandemic, another science-based crisis, America can build trust with other nations with laser focus and moving forward. But for America to become an environmental leader, the country must reckon with its past failings to lead, take stock, and understand that climate change is not the only environmental problem that needs leadership and global cooperation.

Editors note, 2/20/21: Early in the piece, Biodiversity loss and ocean health was updated to Biodiversity loss and ocean exploitation.

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Opinion: The other environmental treaties the US must confront - Ensia

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Japan is poised to propose a reduction of the total allowable catch (TAC) of Pacific saury at the upcoming annual meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC), scheduled to take place online from February 23 to 25.

The Pacific saury fishery has been plagued by seriously depleted catches in recent years, calling for conservation measures throughout its range. The NPFC, which provides a forum for international discussion of the long-term management of Pacific saury resources, known as sanma in Japanese, is set to take up the issue.

There is concern, however, that some members of the commission such as China and Taiwan, which have been fishing for Pacific saury mainly on the high seas of the North Pacific, may raise objections to Japans proposal and prevent the NPFC from reaching a consensus.

The NPFC is made up of eight countries and regions. There are the coastal fishing nations of Japan and Russia, the pelagic fishing countries and regions of China, South Korea, Vanuatu and Taiwan, and the United States and Canada as interested countries. Only the United States and Canada do not participate in the Pacific Saury fishery.

The annual meeting was initially scheduled to be held in Sapporo last June 2019, but was postponed owing to the spread of new coronavirus infections. Given that the Pacific saury fishery could begin as early as late April, the timing of the coming NPFC conference comes just before the deadline for concluding resources management negotiations for 2021. The NPFC secretariat has noted that prolonged negotiations could cause the meeting to extend into February 26.

The current fishing limits on Pacific saury are based on an agreement made at the last NPFC meeting in 2019, which addressed management measures for 2020. That agreement set the TAC for the entire distributional range of sanma at 556,250 metric tons, of which the ceiling on high seas catch was limited to a total of 330,000 metric tons. An accord was also reached to allocate the remaining 226,250 tons of allowable catch to fisheries within the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Japan and Russia.

Japan is set to put forth a proposal for an overall cut in the TAC this time. Lower catches on the high seas, which are allocated 60 percent of the Pacific saury quota, are called for in order to materialize the conservation goals. As it is difficult to seek reduced catch limits on high seas fisheries alone, Tokyo has also determined that a certain level of reduction of the upper limits on catches in the EEZs of Japan and Russia is inevitable.

However, China and Taiwan are both engaged in pelagic fisheries in the North Pacific for Pacific saury, and they may be adverse to any tightening of regulations of fishing on the high seas.

Interests differ between nations such as Japan, that takes Pacific saury primarily in coastal waters around the country, and China and Taiwan, both of which focus their fisheries on the high seas. Regarding the need for reducing the TAC, China and some others took exception to Japans proposal as premature at the 2018 NPFC meeting, resulting in a compromise that delayed introduction of the fishery curbs until a year later, at the 2019 meeting.

In recent years, the actual high seas catch has made up about 80 percent of the total Pacific saury haul. China and Taiwan, and possibly others could call for a change in the way the total quota is apportioned to match the current reality of the Pacific saury fishery.

There are many different views on causes of the poor Pacific saury catch. In addition to the increasing impact from high seas hauls by fishing vessels from China and Taiwan, there are theories pointing to a decline in the Pacific saury stock itself, and shrinkage of the saurys distribution range due to a rise in the population of true sardines that compete for the same food source.

Japans haul of sanma nationwide for 2020, announced in January this year by the National Cooperative Association of Saury Stick-Held Dip Net Fisheries (called Zen-Sanma in the Japanese abbreviation), stood at 29,566 metric tons. This was a decrease of 27 percent from the year before, marking a record low for the second straight year.

Poor Pacific saury catch is not limited to Japan. It is obvious that the overall stock circumstances of the saury have been worsening, with an official of Japans Fisheries Agency noting: All countries and regions concerned may have a common sense of crisis over the situation.

This will be the first virtual annual meeting of the NPFC. The markedly different format brings with it a host of uncertainties concerning the course of the discussion.

Concerns are growing that the poor sanma harvests will affect consumers at the table. Prices of canned Pacific saury have been rising sharply. For example, in early January Maruha Nichiro Corporation, one of Japans major marine products companies, announced that the wholesale price of four kinds of canned saury will be raised 30 yen per can before tax, effective from its April 1 shipments.

Kohei Oishi, executive director of Zen-Sanma, said, Id like to see the NPFC meeting implement sound conservation management measures so that fishermen, food processors, distributors and consumers all come out of this comfortably.

RELATED:

(Read the Sankei Shimbun report in Japanese at this link.)

Author: Akihiro Morita

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Will NPFC Protect Pacific Saury by Cutting Fish Catch? China and Taiwan Might Disagree - JAPAN Forward

Rangers duo Joe Aribo and Leon Balogun will take to the high seas when they report for international duty with Nigeria.

The pair played a starring role in the weekend win over Dundee United as Steven Gerrard's side stand on the brink of the Premiership title.

Aribo scored one and assisted one, while Balogun filled in at right-back in the absence of captain James Tavernier.

They're both expected to report for Nigeria duty next month as the Super Eagles take on Benin and Lesotho in back-to-back Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The latter will see Gernot Rohr's side play in Nigeria's largest city Lagos for the first time in over a decade.

But it's their plans for the short away trip to play Benin in the city of Cotonou that's sure to raise eyebrows at Rangers.

Although there are just 75 miles between the cities, the journey takes up to five hours because of undeveloped roads and Nigeria have now announced they will travel to the game by the unorthodox method of taking a boat across the Gulf of Guinea to the game at the Stade de l'Amitie.

Rohr explained: "We are playing in Lagos for the first time in a very long time. I am very excited for the players.

"We have players like Leon Balogun and Joe Aribo, who were born in Europe and have never seen Lagos. I want them to discover this crazy city with 19 million inhabitants.

"So it's important we have good security and escorts to move around. The traffic in Lagos is terrible. We also need to do some work on the surface of the pitch, like cut the grass which is very much needed.

"For the first match in Benin, we are playing in the city of Cotonou. We will stay in Lagos ahead of the match.

"But because the road is not good between Lagos and Cotonou, we will travel to the match on a boat because the crossing only lasts two hours, instead of many hours on poor roads by coach."

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Joe Aribo and Leon Balogun in Rangers international adventure as Ibrox stars take to the high seas for Nigeria duty - MSN UK

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 up to 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 being fished beyond sustainable levels. 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 largely failed to follow scientific advice. As recently as November 2020, the EU and US blocked a catch retention ban for North Atlantic shortfin mako sharks, despite scientific 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 inadvertently catches lots of different species. This means 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 overlap most with fishing vessels. 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.

This article was first published in The Conversation.

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Sharks and rays are in devastating decline a global solution is needed - chinadialogue ocean

Michelle Havlik dives in the Red Sea with an aquatic speaker during a research expedition. (Photo: Michelle Havlik)

First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.

The oceans have become substantially noisier since the Industrial Revolution. New research has shown how human-made noise negatively affects marine lifeforms, disrupting their behaviour, physiology, reproduction and in extreme cases causes death.

Sound is the sensory cue that travels farthest through the ocean and is used by marine animals, from invertebrates to great whales, to interpret and explore their environment and to interact. Using 40 years of research, an international team of experts led by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia has shown how detrimental noise pollution is.

In the research, published in early February in the journal Science, they explain that there are natural sounds such as the wind blowing over the ocean, waves breaking, rain or hail falling on to the sea surface, and gas bubbles vibrating, rising, and bursting at the surface. Theres noise from earthquakes, undersea volcanoes, and hydrothermal vent activity. And of course, polar ice breaking up. There are the myriad wonderful sounds animals make: from crabs scraping along and sea urchins foraging to whales and dolphins singing, seals barking and evenfish spawning.

Examples of human sound interference include seismic surveys aimed at detecting the presence of petroleum and gas deposits below the seafloor. The construction and operation of oil and gas infrastructure in the oceans is noisy. Equally bad are offshore windfarms during the construction phase and when the turbines operate.

Vessels, scrapers and finders

Fishing boats use fishfinders to search for schools of fish, and navies use active sonars across a range of frequencies to detect submarines and other targets.

Scientists say that, over the past 50 years, increased shipping has contributed to an estimated 32-fold increase in the low-frequency noise present along major shipping routes. Vessel noise is prominent in many ocean regions, even away from major shipping lanes.

Technology that scrapes the bottom of the ocean whether dredging the seafloor, harvesting minerals, or trawling forfisheries also generates low-frequency noise. Dynamite fishing, designed to stun or kill reef fish for easy collection, remains a major source of blasting noise in Southeast Asia and coastal Africa, and controlled detonation of World War 2 bombs dropped on the sea floor continues to be a major source of disruptive and destructive sound in the North Sea. Explosions of mines, missiles, and bombs during naval warfare or military exercises also represent a source of destructive sound.

On a small scale, even coastal recreational activities such as small motorboats, swimming, scuba diving, surfing, paddling, flying drones, or fireworks contribute, the team said.

In addition, climate change directly affects the temperature, heat content, and stratification of the ocean, with sound travelling faster in warmer oceans.

The research shows the noise can interfere with the natural auditory signal processing by marine animals, which is called masking. The various noises overlap with the frequency band of animals hearing in the same way as we humans cant hear a conversation at a loud party so we start to shout at each other.

The masking of signals disrupts cues of the presence of prey or predators, which may result in the loss of social cohesion and can lead to behavioural changes in marine animals.

Masking and mitigation

Shipping noise has been reported to disrupt travelling, foraging, socialising, communicating, and resting, and leads to increased mortality and reduced ability to learn to avoid predators in future encounters, according to the team. It is possible that some species may adapt, but there are gaps in the data regarding this and it may not be possible for many other species.

There are a limited number of studies testing the effectiveness of mitigation measures, but scientists say human stewardship needs regulatory frameworks designed to manage sound within exclusive economic zones and the high seas, to promote the deployment of available technological solutions.

Even just reducing the speed of ships on major shipping routes in the eastern Mediterranean from 15.6 to 13.8 knots led to an estimated 50% reduction in the broadband noise from these vessels between 2007 and 2013.

Marine construction, particularly for offshore wind farms, is achieving some results with noise-dampening technology. Acoustic barriers such as bubble curtains and noise-abating sleeves have been introduced in some European wind farms.

The teams hope is that the research will prompt national and international policies to regulate marine noise, which the researchers say is the neglected elephant in the room of global ocean change. DM168

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper which is available for free to Pick n Pay Smart Shoppers at these Pick n Pay stores.

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Theres so much noise that sea creatures cant hear themselves think - Daily Maverick

It always makes me wonder how sailors in the days long before world-wide travel must have felt when going abroad.

To perhaps have grown up in the back streets of Portsmouth then join the navy and travel to far away places such as Australia must have been mind-blowing.

The top photograph was taken from the bridge of HMS Sussex in 1934 as the ship approached Sydney Harbour bridge.

She served with the Royal Australian Navy from 1934 until 1936 as part of a mutual exchange, with HMAS Australia serving with the Royal Navy.

Standing on 8-inch B gun turret we see four Royal Marine buglers at stand-easy ready to come to attention to announce the ships arrival. Port and starboard we see some of the ships company fallen in for entering harbour.

Ahead of the ship above the jackstaff can be seen Pinchgut Island with the tower of Fort Denison. It was originally a rocky island and a place of punishment for convicts. In the mid-19th century a Martello Tower and fort were built on the outcrop to protect Sydney from seaborne invasion.

The bridge had opened just a couple of years before the the arrival of HMS Sussex, on March 19, 1932.

Somewhere on the high seas HMS Sussex has come to rest to allow sailors to have a swim.

The ships public address system would echo hands to bathe, hands to bathe and all those who could swim took to the water. Perhaps there might have been water a mile deep beneath them.

The person in the top right hand corner is not a Wren but a sailor in a swimming costume in the style of the period.

Geoff Wheeler dropped me a line to say that Fareham Town FC was formed in 1947. It was formed after the amalgamation of Fareham FC, Fareham Brotherhood and Fareham Casuals. Geoffs father Frank, can be seen to the right of the goalkeeper.

Just a dozen years later the heavy boots and shinguards would be done away with for much lighter kit although shin injuries became the norm, even after a kick from lightweight boots.

No doubt the team would have also played a 2-3-5 formation with three half-backs and five forwards. I wish some manager, especially one from the bottom of a league would give this formation a try once again. Im sure it would frighten the opposition to death to see five forwards lined up against them.

A message from the editor, Mark Waldron.You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Portsmouth news online - as well as fewer adverts, access to our digital edition and mobile app.Our trial offer starts at just 2 a month for the first two months.

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What must Landport lads have felt as they sailed into Sydney? | Nostalgia - Portsmouth News

The skipper of a yacht who put out a mayday call last week failed to cancel it after reaching calmer seas, but Maritime New Zealand won't take action against him.

The yacht, Tribe, made a distress call on Wednesday evening, off the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, sparking a major search and rescue operation in the area the mayday call was made.

Maritime New Zealand say in eight metre swells, with night falling, the skipper radioed that his yacht was taking on water and was sinking.

"He gave coordinates as well as he could," Maritime NZ says in a statement.

"He had a hand-held VHF radio attached to his clothing but after the broken communications with Maritime Radio, he could no longer use his radio or listen to it.

"He was under high stress, in a very noisy environment, single-handedly struggling to manage his yacht and keep his inexperienced crew member safe in the heavy seas, strong wind, and increasing darkness. He did not hear any of the radio messages to him and the broadcasts to all vessels in the search area."

After he made the mayday call, he was able to sail north using the motor, and after several hours reached calmer seas.

Tribe was eventually discovered in Bream Bay, a few miles out of Whangarei. Both people on board were safe.

Maritime NZ says the skipper's radio was functioning then and he could have cancelled the call.

"The key messages for all boaties are, take two waterproof ways to call for help and if you believe life is in danger you should not hesitate to make a mayday call - delay can be fatal," it says in a statement.

"Another vital piece of equipment recommended by Maritime NZ is a distress beacon, which when activated notifies Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand of your distress via a global satellite system, and the beacon can be homed onto.

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"In this case, the skipper did not seem to sufficiently understand the distress channel, VHF channel 16, which is monitored 24/7 by Maritime NZ's Maritime Radio Service. Maritime NZ has discussed this with him.

"If you make a mayday call and the situation changes for the better, then make another radio call to cancel the mayday. You will be thanked for the cancellation - no one will be critical or angry."

Maritime NZ says if people activated a beacon and are no longer in danger, they should make sure they leave the beacon on until they are contacted by rescuers.

If they turned it off, Maritime NZ will know where the beacon was activated, but have no way of knowing whether they have moved or what has happened.

In this case, the skipper of Tribe had a distress beacon but didn't activate it or it would have started a second search based on the location of the beacon, according to Maritime NZ.

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Coromandel sea search used as warning to boaties - The Bay's News First - SunLive

Scientists say there is a big increase in the humpback whale population around New York City thanks to cleaner water that has led to an abundance of small fish the whales love to eat. (Oct. 7) AP Domestic

The ocean has become a very noisy place.

The world's seas are much louder than they were in pre-industrial times, "becoming more and more a raucous cacophony as the noise from human activity has grown louder and more prevalent," according to astudy published Thursday.

The noise has had an impact on marine animals worldwide, affecting their behavior, physiology and, in some cases, their overall survivability. Higher ocean noise levels can reduce the ability of animals to communicate with potential mates, other group members, their offspring or their feeding partners,the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationsaid.

Sounds travel very far underwater. For fish, sound is probably a better way to sense their environment than light, said Francis Juanes, an ecologist at the University of Victoria in Canada and a co-author of the paper.

Noise can also reduce an ocean animal's ability to hear environmental cues that are vital for survival, including those key to avoiding predators, finding food and navigating to preferred habitats, NOAA said.

The researchers sifted through thousands of data sets and research articles documenting changes in noise volume and frequency to assemble a comprehensive picture of how the ocean soundscape is changing and how marine life is affected.

From the songs of whales to grinding arctic sea ice, the world's oceans' natural chorus is performed by a vast ensemble of geological and biological sounds, according to the study, which was led byCarlos Duarte, a marine ecologist at the Red Sea Research Center in Saudi Arabia.

For example, snapping shrimp make a sound resembling popping corn that stuns their prey. Humpback whale songs can resemble a violinists melodies.

But for more than a century, sounds from human activities on the high seas, such as fishing, shipping, recreational boatingand development, have increasingly added to the mix, making modern oceans far noisier than ever before.

For many marine species, their attempts to communicate are being masked by sounds that humans have introduced,Duarte said.

That noise can travel long distances underwater, leading to increases and changes in ocean noise levels in many coastal and offshore habitats.

"This onslaught of noise, which far exceeds the Navys own safety limits for humans, can have a devastating effect on marine species especially whales, who use their keen sense of hearing for almost everything they do," the Center for Biological Diversity said.

A humpback whale and her calf.(Photo: L. Candisani/Courtesy Instituto Aqualie)

Thestudy maps out how underwater noise affects countless groups of marine life, including zooplankton and jellyfish, according to The New York Times.The extent of the problem of noise pollution has only recently dawned on us, study co-author Christine Erbe,director of the Center for Marine Science and Technology at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, told The Times.

Surprisingly, its not just noises added human activities have also made some areas of the ocean quieter, the study found. For example, the deterioration of habitats such ascoral reefs and the hunting of large marine mammals, including highly vocal whales, has led to drastic declines in the abundance of sound-producing animals.

In addition, the loss of sea ice because ofthe planet's rapidly warming climate has drastically altered the natural acoustics of arctic marine environments.

When people think of threats facing the ocean, we often think of climate change, plastics and overfishing. But noise pollution is another essential thing we need to be monitoring, said Neil Hammerschlag, a University of Miami marine ecologist, who was not involved with the paper.

There is hope, however: The study authors argue that the harmful effects of noise pollution could rapidly decline through the mitigation and regulation of sources of marine noise.

Changing ocean soundscapes have become the neglected elephant in the room of global ocean change, the study authors write. In an era when societies increasingly look to the blue economy as a source of resources and wealth, it is essential that ocean soundscapes be responsibly managed to ensure the sustainable use of the ocean.

The study was published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal Science, a publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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The noisy ocean: Humans have made the world's seas a very loud place to live - USA TODAY