Sea•thos Foundation

Do you LOVE our Weekly Cuteness?! Now is your chance to submit your own weekly cuteness and win a free iPhone case!

All you have to do is:
Look for a cute ocean-themed picture. It can be one of your own or something you find on the internet.

Ideas: a cute sea creature, cuddly marine mammals (like our otter friend pictured to the right), polar bears, kids dressed in cute sea costumes etc.

Please Send your picture along with your name to Team@Seathos.org
-Limit one picture per person 
-SHARE this blog with your friends to raise awareness about the contest
-Contest ends Friday, June 8th (World Oceans Day!)

 Winner will receive a new iPhone case specially crafted for Seathos by designer Heather Brown. Check it out!

Inspired by her love of the ocean, Heather Brown has designed three beautiful iPhone cases, each benefiting a different foundation.  The cases are made out of 100% post-consumer recycled plastic and packaged in recycled materials! To purchase an iPhone case, visit TruProtection.com. 15% of the purchase of each case will go to its associated foundation!  Click here to learn more about Heather and her beautiful art work.

Last week, a 7-foot dolphin was discovered in the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach and appears to be lost and “very confused”.  

The dolphin, which spectators have nicknamed Fred, is said to have entered the wetlands with a pod of 5 to 6 other dolphins which were probably chasing a school of fish. While the rest of the pod swam back out to sea, Fred stayed behind. 

Peter Wallerstein, a marine biologist with the Marine Animal Rescue service and five State Department of Fish and Game officers managed to lure the dolphin closer to sea. But before reaching freedom, Fred swam back into the wetland after noticing a group of dolphins circling nearby, which were likely his own pod. 

Shortly after, the pod left the Bolsa Chica lagoon and swam back to sea, once again leaving Fred behind. Rescuers are surprised and unsure why Fred is afraid of his own pod.

Noting that Fred appears to be healthy and “capable of going many days without eating”, rescuers have decided to let Fred find his own way out to sea when he is ready. “He proved he can get out if he wants to. There are no red flags. I’m not concerned,” said Wallerstein. Rescuers say they will reattempt to help Fred to freedom if he is still in the wetland on Saturday.

Wallerstein as well as Fish and Game officials say that the crowd of spectators are likely causing stress for the dolphin. They have advised the crowd to keep away from the area so the dolphin can leave the wetland.

Although the crowd may be unintentionally causing harm, on looker David Gonzalez says the community’s concern is inspiring. “It shows community support and community service for the environment,” said Gonzalez.

We hope Fred will find his way to to freedom soon.

Click here for a picture slideshow from LA Times
Photo credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times / April 27, 2012

As reported by BBC, plastic water bottle waste is a growing problem around the world and tourism is largely to blame. While traveling abroad, individuals tend to leave their reusable bottle at home and use as many five to six plastic water bottles a day.

Plastic bottles, made of petroleum-based plastic (a non-biodegradable material), are accumulating everywhere- our streets, parks, beaches, rivers, and oceans. This contributes to the existing problem of floating plastic debris in the pacific ocean known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

In effort to combat the plastic waste dilemma, some tourism destinations have “banned the bottle”. In 2010, Italy’s Cinque Terre national park, located along the beautiful Mediterranean coast, banned plastic water bottles. Early this year, the US National Park Service banned the sale of plastic water bottles at Grand Canyon National Park where bottles accounted for 20% of the park’s waste.

Franco Bonanini, president of Italy’s Cinque Terre national park, told London’s Telegraph newspaper 3 million annual tourists are responsible for the park’s waste. “With so many visitors, the footpaths and villages of the Cinque Terre are at risk of being transformed into a great big open-air dustbin,” he said.

Pictured is a water refilling station at Grand Canyon National Park

What you can do
Here are 5 easy steps to reduce your plastic footprint while abroad:

1. Carry your own reusable bottle. Fill it up with fresh water whenever you can.

2. Some eco-friendly hotels offer water-filling stations. If not, some hotels may be willing to boil water for you on request. Check to see what your hotel has to offer.

4. Buy big water containers to keep in your hotel room and refill your bottles. That way you’ll only use one water bottle rather than 5 to 6 a day.

5. You can even treat tap water with your own purification device. Lightweight devices, such as ultraviolet light purifiers, don’t leave an aftertaste.

Happy travels! : )

Leopard Seal

In the frigid waters of Antarctica, there are few predators higher on the food chain than the Leopard Seal. Named for their spotted coat, these marine mammals resemble their jungle cat namesake not only in appearance but also in ferociousness.

Scientific Name: Hydrurga leptonyx.

Home: Leopard Seals primarily reside in Antarctica and sub-Artic waters. Though less common, Leopard Seals have also been spotted off the coasts of southern Australia, Tasmania, South Africa and New Zealand.

Physical Characteristics: Leopard Seals can weigh up to 900-1,300 lbs and grow to 12 feet in length. Females are typically slightly larger than their male counterparts.

Perhaps their most defining physical attribute, aside from their black-spotted coat, is the seal’s sharp teeth. The teeth, highlighted by the longer front teeth are sure to evoke fear in their prey and anyone else unlucky enough to find themselves in the water with one of these beasts.

Food: Leopard Seals tend to be the hunters, rather than the hunted. Orcas are the seals only know predator.

The seals primarily feed on penguins, but also have been know to eat smaller seals, fish, squid and shellfish. They hunt penguins by waiting beneath an ice shelf for an unsuspecting penguin to dive in, then use their quickness and agility to chase the penguin down.

Conservation Status: Unlike Fur Seals, Leopard Seals have not been commercially hunted for their coats. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has deemed these predators on the low-end of their ‘Conservation Status’ scale: least concern.

Fun Fact: Take a moment to watch this amazing video of an encounter National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen had with a Leopard Seal. Normally known for their aggressive instincts, Nicklen’s subject showed a more nurturing side, confusing Nicklen for a less-adept predator and attempting to help feed him penguins.

Continued from Part One, focused on Overfishing and Marine Pollution. Read part one here.

Climate Change

Several studies have shown that in the past century our planet has seen climate change and warming unlike any other time in recent history. While this has many effects on land, such as more erratic weather patterns, it effects the oceans in two main ways: sea temperature and sea level rise.

In the past century, the temperature of the ocean has raised 0.18°F (0.1°C). Factors such as ozone depletion and increased solar activity contribute to this rise. As the surface of the water absorbs heat and the temperature rises. Some sub-tropical seas have shown a 1 degree surface temperature rise in the past half-century.

Warmer than usual marine environments also give way to marine invasive species. That is, species that do not typically inhabit a given area but with abnormal temperatures can survive in the new environment. These species can deplete a once healthy ecosystem by introducing disease and competing for food.

As ocean water warms, it expands. Due to increased sea temperature, the sea level is rising. Ice melting on land also contributes to the rise in sea level. Sea levels are expected to rise between 2.5 and 6.5 feet by 2100, a level that would swamp many cities along the East Coast of the U.S. There are other more dire scenarios some environmental scientists believe to be possible. Such as, if the Greenland ice sheet were to completely melt, the sea level could rise up to 23 feet, enough to submerge London and Los Angeles.

Ocean Acidification

Above-normal sea temperature is a contributing factor to coral bleaching. Ocean acidification also plays a major part. Over the last 250 years, the ocean has absorbed 530 billion tons of CO2 which has increased ocean acidity by 30%. Under these harmful circumstances, once healthy coral loses its algae pigmentation and expels zooxanthellae, causing it to turn white.

Acidity reduces carbonate- the mineral used to form the shells of many species such as lobster and mussels as well as smaller species which the food chain heavily depends on.

Due to ocean acidification, coral reefs are depleting twice as fast as rainforests.

Marine Habitat Loss and Destruction

70% of the world is covered by the ocean, yet only .6% of our worlds oceans are protected.

Factors such as overfishing, coral bleaching, boating, oil spills and other industrial pollution all cause serious damage to our oceans. Coral reefs bare most the brunt of marine habitat loss. Over 15% of the worlds coral reefs have already been lost. 30% of those still existing are directly threatened by human impacts.

Costal development can lead to runoff and erosion that is harmful to the surrounding marine area. This occurs all along our coastlines, small island developments and coastal swamps and marshes.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are similar to National Parks on land. While they are not closed off completely to human activity, they only allow a certain minimal and regulated presence.

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Hope everyone has a great Earth Day and celebrates it in their own way. We encourage you to share our Earth Day 2012 page. For every share, we at Seathos will collect 1 lb of trash from our local beach in Venice, CA.

The tireless and iconic ocean conservationist and activist Sylvia Earle has said that “what we do or fail to do in the next 10 years will have a magnified impact on the next 10,000 years.” This is a call to arms of sorts, a plea to shed ignorance and indifference and learn more about the dangers our oceans face, influencing us all to take positive steps towards helping to heal our oceans, rather than cause them more harm.

To celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd, Seathos is raising awareness of the top five threats our oceans face today: Overfishing, pollution, climate change, ocean acidification and marine habitat loss.

Overfishing

Our oceans are not an endless bounty of food, but they are being treated as such. Currently, 75% of the world’s fishstocks are fished faster than they can reproduce. More than 3.5 billion people depend on the ocean for their primary source of food. In 20 years, this number will double to 7 billion.

Not only does overfishing deplete once thriving marine ecosystems, but it is also has a direct negative impact on the human race as well. Abundant fish populations are vital to the survival of millions of people who depend on seafood production for food and jobs. With a growing human population and dwindling fish stocks, over fishing jeopardizes the livelihoods of many.

Pollution

Trash, chemicals, fertilizers and other harmful contaminants find their way into the ocean every minute of every day. Various factors contribute to water pollution, such as improper disposal of industrial waste, marine dumping, sewage, wastewater and agricultural runoff.

Marine litter is now 60-80% plastic, and can reach 90% in certain areas. Over 100,000 marine mammals and 1,000,000 seabirds die each year from ingesting or becoming entangled in plastic.

Plastic particles, some large, some microscopic, are scattered all throughout the ocean, but perhaps the most startling evidence of marine plastic pollution is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a gyre of marine litter located in the North Pacific. The gyre’s exact size is debatable, but studies have ranged from sizing it between twice the size of Hawaii and as large as the entire continental United States.

Head on over to Seathos’ Earth Day 2012 Campaign page and take part in our 1 for 1 pledge. For every share the page receives the Seathos team will collect 1lb of trash from our local beach in Venice, CA.

Stay tuned for Part Two, highlighting climate change, ocean acidification and marine habitat loss.