National Geographic: Do We Know Enough About The Deep Sea To Mine It?. “The United Nations organisation [International Seabed Authority (ISA)] headquartered in Kingston, Jamaica, is charged with promoting the mining of the ocean floor while, contradictorily, ensuring its protection. That’s about to change. As the ISA meets this month to draft regulations to allow mining to begin, it is set to unveil a public database that contains all environmental data reported by the miners since 2001. For the first time, scientists will be able to analyse the quantity and quality of that information and determine if mining contractors have complied with ISA rules.”
marine life
The Standard: 22 new species on Hong Kong reefs
The Standard: 22 new species on Hong Kong reefs . “A local marine conservation group discovered at least 22 species of fish that are new to Hong Kong and launched the city’s very own comprehensive reef fish web portal yesterday. Bloom Association Hong Kong, along with a volunteer group of recreational scuba divers, spent more than 2,900 hours underwater and recorded nearly 400 species of fish, including several that are threatened, since the project’s inception in 2014.”
UChicago News: Scientists use technology to examine questions around climate, biodiversity
UChicago News: Scientists use technology to examine questions around climate, biodiversity. “clam shell may be a familiar find on the beach, but its intricate curves and markings tell a rich tale. For centuries, biologists have collected, drawn, measured and compared the shells of bivalve species, pursuing knowledge about how the environment and behavior shape biodiversity. Now, University of Chicago scientists are combining high-resolution 3-D imaging with new geometric deep learning approaches to reveal a fuller version of the story hidden in shells.”
Times of India: Network to record stranding of marine animals launched
Times of India: Network to record stranding of marine animals launched . “Of late, the stranding of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) and sea turtles has been reported across the Karnataka coast. Of the 120 odd species of marine mammals found in the world, 30-35 varieties of cetaceans and one variety of sirenian are found in the waters of the Indian subcontinent. However, so far, there has been no documentation of the marine mammals, especially those that have washed ashore in Karnataka.”
Fishackathon: Protecting Marine Life with AI and the Wolfram Language (Wolfram Alpha)
Wolfram Alpha: Fishackathon: Protecting Marine Life with AI and the Wolfram Language. “The first global competition was held in 2014 and has been growing massively every year. In 2018 the winning entry came from a five-person team from Boston, after competing against 45,000 people in 65 other cities spread across 5 continents. The participants comprised programmers, web and graphic designers, oceanographers and biologists, mathematicians, engineers and students who all worked tirelessly over the course of two days. To find out more about the winning entry for Fishackathon in 2018 and how the Wolfram Language has helped make the seas safer, we sat down with Michael Sollami to learn more about him and his team’s solution to that year’s challenge.”
Idaho State University: Idaho Museum of Natural History researchers receive grant to digitally scan bones of California blue whale
Idaho State University: Idaho Museum of Natural History researchers receive grant to digitally scan bones of California blue whale. “The Idaho Museum of Natural History and Idaho State University received a $20,000 award from the National Science Foundation in January to scan the entire skeleton of a blue whale that washed ashore in California. The skeleton is at the Noyo Center for Marine Science in Fort Bragg, California.”
EOS: Coral Reef Video Game Will Help Create Global Database
EOS: Coral Reef Video Game Will Help Create Global Database. “Players dive off a research boat, identify and classify coral reefs using satellite and drone images, and bring marine life back to reefs. In doing so, they help scientists teach a machine to learn.”
