Google has added a new high-resolution bathymetry layer to Google Earth and Google Maps. In Google Maps you have to switch to satellite mode to see it. The new layer appears to be based on the NOAA NDGC ETOPO1 or Gebco global bathymetry products.
These are the same bathymetry data used in SEATURTLE.ORG's STAT and Maptool resources.
This is a very exciting development, particularly if it means we are getting closer to the release of the long rumored Google Ocean product.
Possibly the biggest retailer to jump on the anti-plastic bag bandwagon. Are they really committed to the environment or is this just PR stunt?
Retail giant pledges to slash plastic bag waste by a third
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2227033/wal-mart-turns-heat-war-plastic
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/251/story/448512.html
Turtle enthusiasts have been waiting for almost five months for news about a proposed sea turtle state license plate.
Proceeds from sales of the $25 tags would be used to increase funding for the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island. Republican state Rep. Jerry Keen of St. Simons Island spearheaded the legislation for the plates. Gov. Sonny Perdue signed it in May.
Marketing director for the Jekyll Island Authority, Eric Garvey, says the tag needs final approval from the state Department of Natural Resources.
Garvey says if interest continues, the center should be able to reach its goal of having 5,000 turtle tags on the road within the first year.
Florida already has a very successful sea turtle license plate program. The proceeds of which support sea turtle research and conservation in Florida.
North Carolina has a similar program with the proceeds supporting the sea turtle hospital on Topsail Island.
If you live in these states, support sea turtles by getting a sea turtle license plate!RSPCA Queensland is appealing for public help following the slaughter of a large marine turtle near Deception Bay.
Witnesses say the turtle was taken from a beach on the back of a trolley and the meat was then fed to dogs.
The turtle was described as being so large that its flippers were dragging on the ground while it was being transported. The shell was then cleaned up and moved, the intention allegedly being to sell it on eBay.
“We basically know what happened. We just can’t get anyone who is prepared to make a sworn statement,” RSPCA Qld Inspector Simon Eager said.
http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/sep/20/turtle-dragged-trolley-fed-dogs/
Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup is tomorrow (20 Sept 2008). The spring cleanup gathered 55 tons of garbage.
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1221706517204980.xml&coll=7
If you live near the coast join 400,000 volunteers in 76 countries. Learn more and how to get involved here:
http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/PageServer?pagename=press_icc
Proponents of beach driving really need to avoid this kind of thing. It does not help their case. Although it seems a bit ridiculous to allow driving at all on a sea turtle nesting beach during nesting season. What do you expect is going to happen?
http://www.newschannel5.tv/2008/7/15/994560/Driver-Who-Killed-Sea-Turtle-Identified
This is a really great story featuring Bev the sea turtle.
See her track here:
http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/?tag_id=80060
And more info here:
http://gstc.blogspot.com/2008/04/bevs-back.html
Zoom in with this super cool track in google maps.
A news item came across my desk today Dems Take Another Vacation From History with the fanciful claim that "DCI Environmental Center ... used spy satellites to monitor volcanoes and sea-turtle nests. It's worth pointing out that this is an opinion piece from a Republican representative of the US Congress.
Even so, it sounded pretty cool. Imagine being able to monitor sea turtle nesting activity from space? It would finally allow us to get a handle on all of those really out of the way sea turtle nesting sites. For example, I just returned from Gabon, which supposedly hosts the world's largest leatherback sea turtle nesting population. Unfortunately, the agencies and NGOs working there don't have the resources to properly monitor the entire coastline and any population estimates contain some pretty serious extrapolations. So what's the real population size?
A recent comment on CTURTLE got me thinking about how much more popular sea turtles have become with the general public and in the press. Then I realized that I can actually quantify it, at least somewhat.
SEATURTLE.ORG started aggregating sea turtle related news in 2001. This started out as manual searches, but now involves automated searching of the google news feed every hour. There is a reason for this automation. Before 2003 you could expect to find only a couple of stories a month about sea turtles. Today there are a dozen or more new news stories every day. So many that manually hunting them all down would be a near impossible task.
Comments from US first lady Laura Bush at Marine Debris Initiative announcement:
Full text available here:
http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=17613
We became very fond of these funny little birds that we watched, but we also saw the carcasses of a lot of these infant Laysan Albatross, because when their parents fish, they fish on the surface for squid, and that's where the plastic floats. And so they eat plastic and then feed their babies, regurgitate this plastic that they've eaten.
So we would see the little carcasses, and when we sort of looked in them, you would see cigarette lighters and toothbrushes and bottle caps and toys -- toy cars or little tires from toys -- and every single type of plastic that we all know we use every day.
And this is not from falling off of a boat. I mean, this isn't plastic that fell overboard, although certainly a lot of debris in the ocean is fishing gear that did fall from boats or was tossed from boats. But this could be a cigarette lighter somebody dropped in a curb, you know, on their street somewhere in the United States or anywhere in the world, and it slowly washed through the drains out into the oceans, and then finally ended up at these Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
So that reminded me, when I saw these little Laysan Albatross carcasses, baby carcasses, of how what we do here can affect every single part of our world, and why it's so important for us to make sure children know that. And that's one of the great things about what we just saw with these children inside. They were going through debris that somebody had picked up, marine debris. And of course, a lot of it was Styrofoam buoys, real marine debris that happens because of marine economy. But a lot of it were just things that people had dropped somewhere -- a lot of plastic, a lot of wrappers from -- plastic wrappers from paper, a lot of cans, a lot of beer cans. (Laughter.) That's what they got to go through.
But it really is very important that state and local governments and industry and academia and non-profit organizations and our federal institutions work together to make sure we reduce and remove debris in the marine environment.
Nice post here:
A couple of recent news articles have reported sea turtles in unusual locations.
Not as unusual:
Rare Leatherback Turtle Spotted Off Coast
http://www.koin.com/Global/story.asp?S=7013170
Synopsis: PORTLAND - One of the world's most critically endangered sea turtles made a surprise appearance along the Oregon Coast. Four fishermen recently spotted the
More unusual:
Whale watchers baffled by mysterious creature
http://www.fishupdate.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/8459/Whale_watchers_baffled_by_mysterious_creature_.html
Synopsis: The last time a giant sea turtle was spotted in Icelandic waters was off the eastern Westfjords in 1963. That one was over six feet long and weighed 375 ...
Iceland has to be at the pretty extreme northern range for loggerheads and apparently have not been sighted there for a LONG time!
Pet sea turtle stolen from PSL porch
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2007/aug/27/pet-sea-turtle-stolen-psl-porch/
Hard to say if this is bad reporting or just plain weird. I am guessing it was not really a sea turtle, but if it was then the "victim" should be charged with possession of an endangered species.
News from Australia, and great news for green sea turtles. See link for more information.
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/about_the_epa/media_room/raine_island_national_park_scientific/
Dr. Caroline Rogers Wins Grand Prize in Ocean Conservancy Photo ...
St. John Tradewinds, U.S. Virgin Islands
Synopsis: “I still really enjoy photographing the sharks, eagle rays and sea turtles, so I’m trying to keep positive about a pretty difficult situation,” she added
For the full story visit http://www.stjohntradewindsnews.com/
See all of the photos posted by Dr. Rogers' in the seaturtle.org Image Library.
From the truth is stranger than fiction department...
Democrats search for Cheney role in fish kill
House Democrats held a lengthy hearing Tuesday to probe evidence that Bush administration officials improperly meddled with several decisions affecting endangered species, but they failed to find the smoking gun directly linking Vice President Dick Cheney to a controversial decision that contributed to the largest fish kill in U.S. history.
This is some welcome news from Walton County, Florida.
Walton to confiscate items left on beaches
"Starting Monday, the Sheriff’s Office and county Code Enforcement will patrol beaches to look for items that have been left unattended. Items left on the beach for an extended period of time or overnight will be tagged. Officials want to ensure that beaches are clear at night and in the early morning so county crews can perform beach maintenance and nesting sea turtles can come ashore to lay eggs."
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