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IUCN World Conservation Congress

By Mera McGrew
This week, leaders from governments, the public sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), businesses, UN agencies, and social organizations will convene in Jeju, Republic of Korea, for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress (WCC). Held every four years, the Congress will bring together the world’s leading environmental and development experts with the aim of improving how our natural environment is managed.  It is the world’s largest and most important conservation event.
The Congress will start September 6th and go through the 15th of September. It will begin with the Forum — described as a “hub of public debate,” which will bring people together from across the globe. Cutting-edge ideas, thinking and practices surrounding pressing conservation issues will be the main focus of debate, workshops, roundtable discussions, training courses and more.…

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Millions in Losses Underscores the Need for Protecting Species

Researchers say that a new Pew-commissioned study underscores the need for protecting species by outlining the economic costs of historic overfishing. In a prepared statement the Pew Environment Group explained, “the Southeast sustained tens of millions of dollars in economic losses during a five-year period because years of overfishing depleted species.”
The study, conducted by the nonprofit consulting firm Ecotrust, examined the impact of overfishing on nine severely depleted species in the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico from 2005 to 2009.
“Overfishing—catching fish faster than they can reproduce—leaves a costly legacy that hurts our communities,” said Lee Crockett, Pew’s Director of U.S. Fisheries Campaigns. “The Ecotrust study makes a strong economic case for the laws we have today that require science-based annual catch limits to end and prevent overfishing.…

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In the Field: Pacific Islands Forum Marks New Era in Marine Conservation

By Peter Seligmann
I am on the plane returning from the Pacific Islands Forum in the Cook Islands. All I can say is “Wow.”
Thanks to the inspired leadership of CI’s newest board member, President Anote Tong of Kiribati, and strong support from the Prime Minister Henry Puna of the Cook Islands, the Pacific Oceanscape is gaining traction. In fact, the Oceanscape has been officially adopted by the entire forum as an essential platform of their collaboration with each other and with their outside development partners, including Australia, the European Union, the World Bank, the U.N., China, the U.S., New Zealand, France and Taiwan.
These leaders have appointed one of their most distinguished and senior diplomats, Tuiloma Neroni Slade of Samoa as the commissioner of the Pacific Oceanscape and have created a Regional Ocean Alliance to provide support to the commission.…

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Secretary Clinton Remarks at the Pacific Islands Post-Forum Dialogue

Remarks: Hillary Rodham Clinton (Secretary of State of the United States)
Location: Cook Islands National Auditorium. Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Date: Aug 31, 2012
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Thank you very much, Prime Minister, and let me begin by saying what a pleasure it is to be here in the beautiful Cook Islands. I am honored to be the first Secretary of State of the United States to participate in the Pacific Islands Forum-Post Forum dialogue. And on behalf of my delegation and our government, we express deep appreciation to you.
And I wish to thank Secretary General Slade and his team for the excellent preparation, all the leaders and delegations and representatives from the Forum partner countries. I’ve had the privilege of meeting many of you at our annual roundtable at the United States General Assembly, and last year at the Pacific Island countries leaders meeting with President Obama in Hawaii, America’s own bridge to the Pacific.…

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The Oceans’ Unsung Heroes — Invertebrates

By Mera McGrew
Invertebrates, animals without backbones, are some of the world’s most abundant creatures.  They can be found in nearly all ecosystems across the globe — swimming, flying, swarming, and floating. They thrive in NYC apartments, the depths of the ocean, and everywhere in between.
Making up an estimated 97 percent of all living species, invertebrates are truly nature’s unsung heroes, playing a key role in maintaining a healthy environment.  “If human beings were to disappear tomorrow, the world would go on with little change,” famed biologist E. O. Wilson once wrote. However, if invertebrates were to vanish, he said, “I doubt that human species could last more than a few months.”
Invertebrates form the basis of numerous food chains, play a key role in the reproductive cycle of many plants, are used to assess overall habitat quality, and outweigh all the fish in the sea by both species and mass.…

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Leading the Fleet: Explorer Sylvia Earle’s Pioneering Life in Marine Science and Conservation

By Mera McGrew
A host of names gets thrown around when oceanographer, undersea explorer and advocate Dr. Sylvia Earle gets mentioned. Hero of the Planet. Living Legend. Ambassador of the World’s Oceans. Pioneer.
Earle has led more than 400 expeditions, logged more than 7,000 hours underwater, holds multiple diving records and has been instrumental in developing and engineering deep-water submersibles. She has authored more than 125 publications focused on marine science and technology.
She is the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s former chief scientist and is now a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, founder of the global ocean advocacy initiative Mission Blue and serves on multiple boards.
Q: When did you first know you wanted to dedicate yourself to studying and advocating for the world’s oceans?…

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200-Year-Old Oceanic Mystery Solved

The origin of Cerataspis monstrosa has been a mystery as deep as the ocean waters it hails from for more than 180 years. For nearly two centuries, researchers have tried to track down the larva that has shown up in the guts of other fish over time but found no adult counterpart. Until now.
George Washington University Biology Professor Keith Crandall cracked the code to the elusive crustacean’s DNA this summer. His findings were recently published in the journal “Ecology and Evolution,” and his research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative. In it, Dr. Crandall, the senior author of the paper, explains how “monster larva” and the deep-water aristeid shrimp known as Plesiopenaeus armatus are one in the same: larvae and adult forms of the samespecies.…

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In the Field: Before Pacific Islands Forum, a Memorable Dive in Cook Islands

By Greg Stone
As I gaze at the night sky, the stars are the clearest I have ever seen them. The Milky Way glows from horizon to horizon, and while I see many familiar constellations visible from the Northern Hemisphere, I also see a number of new ones — strange assortments of stars that are only visible south of the equator.
We are here diving in the Cook Islands on the breaking crest of a new wave of marine conservation. This week, 16 nations have gathered at the 43rd Pacific Islands Forum to coordinate their actions across an area so vast it encompasses 40 million square kilometers (15.4 million square miles) — 10% of our planet’s ocean. This area is called the Pacific Oceanscape.…

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The Science Behind the “Insane in the Chromatophores” Video: Mission Blue Talks to the Brains Behind the Viral Squid Video

By Mera McGrew
With nearly a million views in less than a week, a video of a long fin inshore squid (Loligo pealei) changing color to the beat of the 1993 Cypress Hill hit “Insane in the Brain” has gone viral. The video titled “Insane in the Chromatophores,” highlights the ability of squid to neurally control the color of their skin. 

“Insane in the Chromatophores” provides an up-close view of a long fin inshore squid’s dorsal side fin as researchers tested the effects of music on the squid’s pigmented cells, which are scientifically known as chromatophores. Using the cockroach leg protocol, researchers essentially hijacked the neural system that controls coloration in the squid’s skin by stimulating the chromatophore motoneurons with an electrical signal produced by a song.…

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Desktop Diaries: Learn What Sylvia Earle Has on Her Desk

For those of you who missed it, catch this great video of Dr. Sylvia Earle in Science Friday’s Desktop Diaries.
In the video, Dr. Earle, Oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer in Residence, shows viewers around her Oakland, California desk. She introduces her “mentor,” describes the evolution of her own relationship with the ocean, and presents various items that have accompanied her on different deep-sea expeditions.
This video promises to help inspire others to be curious and concerned about our world’s ocean — our planet’s blue heart.…

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