Curiosity and a fascination with nature have brought volunteers together to survey sea life under the pier in Ryde on the Isle of Wight, to help experts gauge what’s thriving – and what isn’t
Photographs by Peter Flude
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The blood-red tentacles of the beadlet sea anemone seem to wave underwater, beckoning to be touched. I reach out a finger. Caitlin Woombs, engagement officer for the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (HIWWT), bounds over. “You know how it feels as if they’re sticking to you?” In fact, that’s the sensation of the anemone firing dozens of microscopic harpoons into your skin, in the vain hope that it can reel you into its gaping mouth, she says, flashing a broad grin.
Contemplating this miniature drama is a huddle of volunteers, crouched beneath Ryde Pier on the Isle of Wight. It’s an unexpected place to go searching for sea life, and yet it is abundant here. The pier is a veteran survey site in the Wildlife Trusts’ citizen science Shoresearch programme, a “long-term monitoring project that allows us to understand the wildlife on our shores, and track changes over time,” says Daniele Clifford, marine conservation officer at the organisation. The expedition in Ryde is one of 12 local intertidal surveys scheduled by the HIWWT for 2024, and one of hundreds more that are available to join countrywide each year, under the broader Wildlife Trusts network. Volunteers range in age and experience, and surveying is open to all.
Volunteers with the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust prepare to begin work
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
06/24/2024 - 01:10
For generations the Gurung community in Taap, about 175km (110 miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu, and other villages in the districts of Lamjung and Kaski, have scoured the steep Himalayan cliffs for honey. The villagers say the proceeds, split among them, are drying up as the number of hives has declined over the past decade, although some also earn a living from growing crops of rice, corn, millet and wheat
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06/24/2024 - 00:00
From bees to burrowing owls, many species are adapting to urban environments and, with a little extra help from us, more could follow suit
In Sapzurro bay on the Colombia-Panama border, the blue land crab can be found scuttling around human infrastructure, burrowing in the nooks and crannies of the coastal settlement. The species, which can grow up to 15cm and ranges in colour from violet to bright cerulean blue, is considered critically endangered or vulnerable in this region, although it can be classed as invasive elsewhere. It traditionally lived in the region’s rich mangrove forests, many of which have now been urbanised – habitat loss that scientists have blamed for the crab’s decline.
But when scientists studied the distribution of the species around Sapzurro bay, they were surprised to find it was still thriving in areas where vegetation had been eliminated: crawling in pastures, banana and coconut plantations, and scurrying below concrete structures. While burrows in urban areas were fewer and smaller, it had successfully built homes along sewage canals and among houses.
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06/24/2024 - 00:00
Almost a third of installers surveyed say finding skilled fitters is a barrier for customers, while 40% note lack of interest
The UK’s drive to replace gas boilers with heat pumps is being stymied by a lack of consumer demand and a shortage of skilled installers to fit heat pumps where they are wanted, according to an industry survey.
The most comprehensive poll of heat pump installers to date found that the biggest barrier was the low number of households choosing to get one fitted.
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06/24/2024 - 00:00
Retailer says ‘circular design’ collection is the first stage of an environmental overhaul of its products
Fabric that shrinks or bobbles is a pet peeve of Britons who want to buy long-lasting clothes, with the low quality of high street fashion contributing to the 30,000 shipping containers of clothing and homewares dumped by consumers every year.
With retailers tasked with finding ways to reduce the environmental impact of the clothing they sell, the first wave of products in a new range especially designed to “minimise waste and maximise longevity” has gone on sale at John Lewis.
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06/23/2024 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 24 June 2024; doi:10.1038/s44183-024-00067-5
Operationalizing climate risk in a global warming hotspot
06/23/2024 - 17:20
This blog is now closed.
Medicinal vapes to be sold over the counter at pharmacies after Labor and Greens reach deal
Watch: Shadow minister Ted O’Brien ejected from parliament during energy debate
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David Pocock also spoke to the ABC about his private member’s bill that would see housing treated as a human right. He said it was needed because:
There’s no overarching national plan and this would legislate that these are the objectives, we want to see housing affordable, we want to reduce homelessness and then it would be up to the government to actually work out – how are we going to do that?
What are the policies that we think will address this?
One of my heroes Desmond Tutu used to say ‘don’t raise your voice, improve your argument’.
It’s pretty tragic the major parties tear the opposition down rather than improving their argument and making their plans stand on their own two feet.
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06/22/2024 - 15:00
Coalition proposal would cost a minimum $116bn – the same as Labor’s plan for almost 100% renewables grid by 2050, industry organisation says
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The Coalition’s pledge to build seven nuclear reactors as part of its controversial energy plan could cost taxpayers as much as $600bn while supplying just 3.7% of Australia’s energy mix by 2050, according to the Smart Energy Council.
The analysis found the plan would cost a minimum of $116bn – the same cost as delivering the Albanese government’s plan for 82% renewables by 2030, and an almost 100% renewable energy mix by 2050.
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06/18/2024 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 19 June 2024; doi:10.1038/s44183-024-00070-w
Gender differences in the perceived impacts of coastal management and conservation
World Ocean Explorer Wins Gold Medal Serious Simulation Award from Serious Play Annual International Competition
10/26/2023 - 14:35
For Immediate Release October 19, 2023
Sedgwick, Maine USA World Ocean Explorer, a 3D virtual aquarium and educational simulation, was recently cited for excellence, winning a Gold Medal Award in the 2023 International Serious Play Awards Program.
World Ocean Explorer is an innovative 3D virtual aquarium designed for educational exploration of the world’s oceans. With interactive exhibits and a lobby space, visitors can immerse themselves in realistic marine environments, including a DEEP SEA exhibit funded by Schmidt Ocean Institute, showcasing unprecedented deep-sea discoveries off Australia. Targeted at 3rd graders and beyond, this immersive experience offers a range of perspectives on the ocean environment and can be explored through guided tours or user-controlled interfaces. Visit DEEP SEA at worldoceanexplorer.org/deep-sea-aquarium.html.
Serious Play Conference brings together professionals who are exploring the use of game-based learning, sharing their experience, and working together to shape the future of training and education. For more information on Serious Play Award Program visit seriousplayconf.com/international-serious-play-award-programs.
World Ocean Explorer is a transformative virtual aquarium designed to deepen understanding of the world ocean and amplify connection for young people worldwide. Organized around the principles of Ocean Literacy and the Next Gen Science Standards, World Ocean Explorer brings the wonder and knowledge of ocean species and systems to students in formal and informal classrooms, absolutely free to anyone with a good Internet connection. As an advocate for the ocean through communications, World Ocean Observatory believes there is no better investment in the future of the sustainable ocean than through a new approach to educational engagement that excites, informs, and motivates students to explore the wonders of our marine world and to understand the pervasive connection and implication for our future, inherent in the protection and conservation of all aspects of our ocean world.
World Ocean Explorer presents an astonishing 3-dimensional simulated aquarium visit, organized to reveal the wonders of undersea life, with layers of detailed data and information to augment the emotional connection made to the astonishing beauty and complexity of the dynamic ocean. Within each of the virtual exhibits, students visit exemplary theme-based sites with myriad opportunities to understand the larger perspectives of scientific knowledge as organized and visualized to dramatize the impact and change on ocean life as a result of natural and human-generated events. Through immersion among displays, mixed media and 3D models, the experience of an aquarium visit will be brought into classrooms or home school environments as a free, accessible, always available opportunity for teaching and learning. All of this will be available to a world audience without physical limitation or cost. World Ocean Explorer, a project of the World Ocean Observatory, receives support from the Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation, Visual Solutions Lab, the Climate Change Institute, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, and The Fram Museum Oslo. To learn more about the current and future exhibits of World Ocean Explorer, visit worldoceanexplorer.org.
media contact
Trisha Badger, Managing Director, World Ocean Observatory | director@thew2o.net +12077011069
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