Entries by john

Fishing of three species of large sharks banned

The Fisheries Agency on Thursday announced a ban on fishing three species of large sharks — megamouth, great white and basking sharks — in a bid to preserve biological diversity in waters off Taiwan. Fishing vessels that catch these sharks by accident must release them back into the sea, whether they are dead or alive, […]

Marine conservation a multilevel obligation

By Chen Chung-ling The designation of sea areas for marine protection is generally acknowledged as the most effective way to conserve marine life. The measures that come with the designation alleviate the negative impact on marine environments by development, overfishing and climate change, and can help restore biodiversity, which offer opportunities for regional tourism, the […]

Remote fishing village under threat

With two-thirds of its land gobbled up by developers and the government rejecting their bid for historic settlement, the residents of Makang refuse to give in. By Han Cheung Chen Wang-shi (陳罔市) doesn’t know where to go if she is forced to move. The 78-year-old Chen is an active “sea woman” (海女) in Taiwan’s easternmost […]

Evergreen Marine joins recycling initiative

FIRST FOR TAIWAN: The company is the 11th shipowner in the world to become a member of the platform, which aims to encourage responsible ship recycling practices By Kao Shih-ching Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) yesterday disclosed its ship recycling policy as it joined the Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative (SRTI), which comprises firms that value its environmental, […]

Marine food webs could be radically altered by heating of oceans

Temperature and carbon dioxide changes reduce the numbers of some species and promote the growth of algae, a University of Adelaide study found By Graham Readfearn / The Guardian Heating of the world’s oceans could radically reorganize marine food webs across the globe, causing the numbers of some species to collapse while promoting the growth […]

Planting in the Lab could help save critical seagrass

The UK’s Ocean Conservation Trust has planted the first seeds in its seagrass cultivation laboratory at the National Marine Aquarium. The project is part of a major £2.5 million habitat restoration project funded by EU LIFE and led by Natural England. The laboratory, which was unveiled for the first time in early June to coincide […]

Distinguishing floating plastics from space

A pioneering technique to detect aggregated patches of plastics floating on the sea surface has been published in Scientific Reports. Led by scientists at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Earth observation scientists analysed data from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellites to develop this new approach, which demonstrates for the first time that aggregated patches of plastics […]

South Korea to extend emission control area limitations

26 Aug 2020 by Craig Jallal South Korea is establishing emission control areas and issues a timeline on fuel limitations to curb emissions from shipping. Under the Special Act on Air Quality Improvement in Port and Other Areas, the South Korea Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has announced the formation of emission control areas (ECAs) with accompanying […]

Class approves remote and digital DP annual trials

27 Aug 2020 by Martyn Wingrove Annual trials of dynamic positioning (DP) systems can be conducted remotely using class-approved digital surveys to reduce costs for vessel owners. Offshore support vessel (OSV) operators can undertake mandatory DP trials without paying for a surveyor to attend using Kongsberg Maritime’s DP Digital Survey (DPDS) application after it was approved by […]

Rotating microscope could provide a new window into secrets of microscopic life

Like spirits passing between worlds, billions of invisible beings rise to meet the starlight, then descend into darkness at sunrise. Microscopic plankton’s daily journey between the ocean’s depths and surface holds the key to understanding crucial planetary processes, but has remained largely a mystery until now. A new Stanford-developed rotating microscope, outlined in a study […]