Its good to see others paying attention to our oceans plight.The real story to bite into that is causal to our oceans problems starts with the story of the find in Norways waters of the German submarine in late 2006 that was found in 500 feet of water with "55 TONS" of mercury in flasks destined for Japan to make mercury gas explosions.The British archives told of "30" other mercury ship missions that had already been worked on. The british have known since they broke the cable codes between the Germans and Japanese that lead to the downing of that particular sub,with technicians onboard to teach the Japanese how to use the mercury against the allies. With over 30 missions that have been worked on and approximately 20 more to go,and the knowledge that the warnings for mercury in fish have now encompassed most fields of fish,does it not make you wonder just whos in charge and why the problem has not been "Marshall Planned" Children born in Greenland were having so many problems with genetics and intellect from ingestion by their mothers of whale meat ,a scientist from Harvard started a program of information that has helped. Whales are so stupid these days fronm the mercury destroying their intellect they beach themselves and swim up rivers in confusion.Its a serious and sad thing that the off planet assistance of Germany that taught them about mercury explosions during the war has destroyed our oceans and not many are paying attention to the root cause of our oceans plight. This old Papa is a sad old Papa,because it may be too late,all of those aluminum flasks have not corroded through yet and released their cargo. The foolish people"Read Scientists" that have determined that just a sand and rocks cover up in the Norway case(As they did in the 30 other missions,that I know about) is sufficient. AND THE TERRIBLE THING is that it is only 500 feet of water that the U boat sits in 2 pieces.If you folks knew the grid science as I do,and understand ocean vents and herniations of the ocean floor,you would know that they have commited to continue the genocide of our oceans.I can only assume that it was a conscious decision to do so. Anyone care to prove me wrong.??

Earth Shaman

After WWI and WWII large military and merchant marine ships were sunk all over the world, all containing toxic material.  Lewisite, a highly toxic blistering agent was sunk on huge ships off the Bahamas and dumped into the Gulf of Mexico.  Mustard gas and God knows what, it was dumped until the 1970's with NEPA and all that.

As to mercury, I'd like to clarify to say that elemental mercury is actually fairly stable - it is methyl mercury that is the problem (mercury fume or "Mad Hatter's Disease" does not exist in aquatic environments).  Methyl mercury is an industrial  by-product (acetaldehyde production) as well as associated with COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS.  

I'm not going to say flasks of mercury in the ocean are good or bad, but that coal power plants, drill rigs, industrial dumping, and other sources of methyl mercury are much more effective in bio-accumulation of marine species, bottom to top.

Onward through the fog

It is good news, apparently, that the joint Israeli-Jordanian project to construct solid foundations for coral reefs in the Gulf of Aqaba has had initial success.  "Build it, and they will come!," "they" in this case being the corals, fish and other organisms that make up a reef ecosystem.  (Though we shall have to wait and see if what might be a global problem facing all coral reefs presents itself there too.)  To say nothing of the human side of the story: it is always swell, and far too rare, to see Israelis cooperating with Arab neighbors on something positive and peaceful having nothing to do with any of the region's sources of conflict.

As for diving and coral-reef-watching in the waters off Palau, sorry to sound reverse-snobbish, anti-travel, anti-hedonist and anti-sensationalist, but I cannot see how all that air travel is justified for that single destination.  Now, if the stop in Palau were just part of a South Seas/Southeast Asian itinerary, featuring a number of sites of naturalist, scientific, aesthetic and cultural interest, then that would be another story.

The area designated as a marine reserve for hatchling and juvenile cod, at the New England Fisheries Management Council meeting in Plymouth, MA, is not near Plymouth itself, but is around a seafloor channel between Cape Cod and the Georges Bank, which is some distance out in the Atlantic.  If you draw a line ESE from Boston, and another line SW from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, where they intersect is close to the center of the Georges Bank.

Or, really, 3a. It is a pity that in this case, the fishermen and their allies are opposed to the designation of the reserve -- which of course was explained and supported by Oceana among others -- , and claim that the borders of the area were not determined with a sound scientific basis.

Chickens are our cousins! So are fish! So are other sentient animals! Let us learn to be kind.

Thanks Andrew. Particularly interested in a follow-up to the Woods Hole conference on iron-seeding, and any more details anyone has about the Lovelock idea. How many of these tubes is he talking about? How would wave action bring up deep water? I'm suspicious enough DMS could be generated to create substantial cloud cover.

I'm always been suspicious of the geo-technical engineering ideas, mainly because they would just provide cover for people to go on polluting as before. But I'm starting to feel desperate enough to consider them as stop-gap measures along with massive carbon abatement.

A great example of orgs that fiddle while the earth burns.  Gaia crisps anyone?  made from the real living planet!!

"the scientist behind the theory that the earth is a living organism"

Please don't lend this nuclear power proponent any credibility.   He deserves recognition for his idiotic support of nuclear power everytime his traitorous name is mentioned.

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