Dive Into Your Imagination

The ocean’s supply of fish is dwindling. Heather Lahr is an advocate for sustainable seafood, by helping restaurants follow sustainable seafood practices, which can help conserve fish populations! The ocean may seem endless, but the creatures that lie beneath it are actually a limited resource.

What is the current state of the world’s fisheries?
Our oceans are vast, and for many years people viewed them as an endless supply of food. Recent studies have shown that 30% of fished populations have already been wiped out, and the majority of the wild seafood eaten today will probably be wiped out by mid-century if our behavior doesn’t change. Altantic Cod, Bluefin Tuna and Chilean Seabass are now on the Endangered Species List. Over 90% of the large predatory fish in the ocean, like sharks and swordfish, are now gone. Gaining a better understanding of fisheries and what is happening in our oceans can motivate people to take action to improve what is happening out there.

Did you know that tropical coral reefs extend down to 500 feet? Richard Pyle has dedicated much of his research to purely studying these deep reefs. He is also an icthyologist (someone who studies fish) interested in how some fish pretend to look like something they’re not!

What is a deep reef and why is it special?
The word "deep reef" means different things, depending on the context. There are extensive cold-water coral reefs that occur in very deep water, but these are not the habitats that I study. The deep coral reefs that I'm interested in are the deeper portions of shallow tropical coral reefs. What most people think of as "coral reefs" -- dominated by large stony table and branching corals -- represents only the shallowest 20% or so of the full extent of tropical coral-reef habitat. The remaining 80% -- spanning depths of about 100-500 feet deep -- are typically dominated by soft corals, sponges, other encrusting invertebrates, and fishes.

The reason these deep coral reefs are special is that they represent the transition zone between the brightly-lit shallow reefs, and the perpetually dark depths. Most of this depth range (200-500 feet or so) remains almost completely unexplored, so there are many, many species new to science inhabiting this realm.

Dr. Kuris has spent most of his career studying parasites: organisms that make their living by relying on other organisms. These can be found in almost every environment, including aquatic systems, so it is important to learn about them.

What defines a parasite?
A parasite lives on or in another organism (the host) and consumes energy and nourishment from only that individual host. In this interaction, the host is affected negatively while the parasite is, obviously, positively affected. This is very different from predation, which is also a negative/positive relationship. Predators, in contrast attack, feed on, and kill more than one victim. Parasites come in many forms. An example of one type is a parasitic castrator, which blocks host reproduction.

When we go to the beach we can see the impact we have on our ocean. Trash that is not thrown away properly harms sea life. Holly Bamford is the director of the Marine Debris Program at NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and her job is to help fix this problem by creating and managing programs that reduce the affect of marine debris.

There is a huge buildup of trash in parts of our ocean, such as the North Pacific Gyre. What is a gyre? Why does it collect trash?
A gyre is any manner of swirling vortex often used to describe large-scale ocean currents. Worldwide, there are five large-scale subtropical oceanic gyres that are formed by smaller ocean currents. They are the North and South Pacific Subtropical Gyres, the North and South Atlantic Subtropical Gyres, and the Indian Ocean Subtropical Gyre. The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is the gyre most notably known for collecting debris and is made up of four large, clockwise-rotating currents – North Pacific, California, North Equatorial, and Kuroshio (see map below).