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Blue Planet
June
2006
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news to use
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WorldOceanDay.org is live! The new website is an easy-to-navigate, central location for this increasingly popular event, with plenty of inspirational information and ideas to help you plan your World Ocean Day activities. We have also listed some of the 2006 events. Add your own if you haven't yet done so! We will continue to update the events list. We are also are actively seeking volunteer translators to help make the site more accessible to our Partners and others throughout the world. Your help would be greatly appreciated and we will publicly recognize those who help us on the website translations. From all of us here at The Ocean Project, Happy World Ocean Day!
If you have any questions specific to World
Ocean Day, please feel free to email the
World Ocean Day Coordinator, Denise
Washko. |
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The
Australian government will ban fishing
in some areas off its southeastern coast
after creating 13 marine life protection
areas encompassing 226,000 square kilometers.
The government also plans to look at a
proposal for the geological storage of
carbon dioxide--a world's first--in some
of these areas. Carbon dioxide would be
captured, compressed into liquid form
and then injected, under intense pressure,
into deep geological formations.
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The
U.S. Coral Reef Task Force has approved
a new initiative aiming for stronger enforcement
of aquarium reef fish trade harvesting
regulations. The task force will examine
the use of cyanide and other poisons in
the collection of reef fish on the global
market. Although illegal in most countries,
the use of cyanide to capture reef fish
alive is widespread, and is driven by
the lucrative, growing and largely unregulated
international trade in live reef food
fish and the marine aquarium industry.
The United States is the top market for
coral reef fish for the aquarium trade.
Previous studies estimate that most live
reef fish entering into international
trade and imported into the U.S. are collected
with the use of cyanide, and thus are
illegal.
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The
Pacific halibut fishery in Alaska, Washington
and Oregon has become the first halibut
fishery in the world to receive Marine
Stewardship Council (MSC) certification.
Pacific halibut joins 19 other fisheries
worldwide that are currently certified
to the MSC environmental standard for
well-managed and sustainable fisheries,
including, most recently, Alaskan sablefish,
also known as black cod. The Pelagic Freezer-Trawler
Association North Sea herring fishery
has also been awarded the MSC certificate
for well-managed and sustainable fisheries
and is the largest fishery in Europe to
gain MSC certification. In total, 40 fisheries
worldwide are engaged in the MSC environmental
program, representing over three million
tons of seafood.
Learn
more about this and other sustainable
fisheries from MSC
.
Source: Fishupdate.com
Take action!
Learn how you can help the fish by eating
sustainably. Click here
to learn how.
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A
federal study on climate change concluded
that the Earth's lower atmosphere and
its surface are growing warmer. Skeptics
of global warming had cited different
surface and atmospheric temperatures as
a reason for doubting climate change.
But this is only the first of 21 studies
commissioned by the Bush administration
to examine the issue.
Public
Agenda research has found a substantial
majority of the public says they're concerned
about climate change. The public is split
on how well the government is working
with other nations on this, with nearly
equal numbers giving the U.S. an "A"
or "B" (30 percent) as give
it a "D" or "F" (28
percent).
Read the story in The
Washington Post or from Public
Agenda. |
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The
Conference on Ocean Literacy is a two-day
forum around World Ocean Day that will
bring together key participants to discuss
the essential principles of ocean literacy
and the current challenges and opportunities
for both formal and informal education
efforts in educating the public to make
informed, responsible decisions about
the ocean and its resources. In addition,
Regional Workshops will be hosted at five
aquariums around the country, and you
can participate online.
Take
Action! Find out much more here
and participate no matter where you live! |
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An
Inconvenient Truth, a documentary
film just released, tackles the subject
of global warming and will serve as another
rallying cry to reversing the effects
of global climate change. The film tracks
Al Gore's crusade to halt global warming.
After his defeat in the 2000 election,
Gore re-set the course of his life to
focus on a last-ditch, all-out effort
to help save the planet from irrevocable
change.
For
more information about this powerful film and to view the trailer, visit the film's
website.
Or find a theater
near you.
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Sea
Stories is Blue Ocean Institute's
new online journal, featuring a cornucopia
of literary and artistic expressions from
people from all walks of life. The inaugural
issue features memoir, poetry, and descriptive
prose, photography and painting. Among
other jewels, in these pages of Sea
Stories you'll venture with a ten-year-old
girl on her first dive to a coral reef,
discover new coves with poet laureate
Billy Collins, and find colorful trouble
in paradise on oil and wood.
Visit Sea
Stories and remember why you, too,
love the oceans. |
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Environmental
Concern, Inc., an Ocean Project Partner,
offers a variety of courses designed for
formal and non-formal educators who are
interested in learning more about wetlands,
and who would like to bring the excitement
of wetland education into their classroom.
Courses include WOW! The Wonders of Wetlands,
Wetland Plants--Know'em and Grow'em,
Schoolyard Wetland Habitats, and much
more. Check out their schedule on-line,
or contact the education department to
learn how to arrange for a course in your
area. They can also design a custom course
to meet your needs. Scholarships are available.
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Celebrate our ocean. Make every day
World Ocean Day.
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