Rogue waves are rare in nature, but new research is making them perfectly common. They seem to come from nowhere, walls of water towering above the sea, and then disappear without a trace. Rogue waves can swamp huge ships, lighthouses, or offshore structures without warning, and are among the most terrifying threats facing people at sea. Rogue waves—waves […]
Hakai
Keeping Track of Deep-Sea Mining
A new website uses ship location data to track deep-sea mining exploration. Mining companies have claimed more than a million square kilometers of ocean around the world and soon—maybe sooner than you think—will begin sending huge robotic diggers to grind up the seafloor and extract gold, copper, manganese, and other metals to feed our growing hunger […]
Brexit Vote Will Likely Cause Problems for UK Fishers
Fishers were part of the “Leave” push, but it may not work out as they’d hoped. The United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union in last week’s “Brexit” referendum will have profound effects on how fisheries are managed in both the UK and the EU. For now, it’s unclear exactly what those effects will […]
This Scientist Is Making Batteries Out of Recycled Crab Shells
Shellfish chitin is a starting material ripe for chemical modification. If you want to work in Mark MacLachlan’s lab, it helps to have a taste for seafood. The chemist, who works at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, is working on turning the discarded shells of shrimp, crabs, and lobsters into advanced materials that […]
Clawing Their Way to Victory
Research suggests fiddler crabs with regenerated claws have distinct fighting strategies. Male fiddler crabs have one oversized claw, which they use to both attract females and to fight other males for the best breeding burrows on the beach. These fights can get violent, and crabs will sometimes lose their big fighting claw in the process. […]
No, Britain Isn’t Naming a Ship RRS Boaty McBoatface
The British people have spoken, and they really want to name their new, US $290 million polar research ship the RRS Boaty McBoatface. In what probably seemed like a nice piece of public outreach, the United Kingdom’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) invited the public to suggest names for its new vessel, which is scheduled […]
The Ghosts of Fishers Past
Lost fishing gear keeps on doing the job it was designed for long after its owners are gone. Lacuna is like most other humpback whales in the Atlantic Ocean. He overwinters in warm Caribbean waters—where humpbacks breed and give birth—and heads north in spring, toward colder waters to feast on the abundance of krill, copepods, […]
When Good Fish Die Young
Rising temperatures are suppressing survival rates for young fish. Climate change is making fish die young. Over the past six decades, the proportion of fish that survive to adulthood has been going down, by three percent per decade on average, according to a new analysis of global fish stock data. Compiling statistics on changing fish […]
A Fishy Plan
Canada’s new government says it’s going to expand the country’s marine protected areas. Scientists worry the government is cutting corners to hit its goal. Canada has a long way to go in protecting its oceans. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity wants 10 percent of the world’s marine and coastal environments protected by 2020. […]
The Living Lice Comb
Aquaculture adopts integrated pest management techniques for water-borne pests. Like their land-based colleagues, fish farmers have to deal with pests and parasites that attack their animals. And like famers on land, they are looking for natural ways to deal with the pests that minimize the use of chemical treatments. For salmon farms on the east […]