Monday, May 3, 2010

Gulf Oil Spill - Blowout Preventer and Swordfish

Plan A for BP and the Gulf oil spill was a multi ton blowout preventer. This high tech piece of equipment was meant to shut off oil from the well head some 5000 feet under the surface under a variety of circumstances.

That has failed.

Plan B is a massive clean up lasting for the next two decades.

Here's what a similar high tech piece of equipment looks like on the sea bed, and yes, that is a swordfish being rescued from the rig.

Amazing video:

India and Whale Sharks - Research

Good news from India and Veraval (Gujarat).

We have been following Indian efforts to protect and conserve whale shark populations off this coast for a while now.-

This week researchers re-acquired a previously identified whale shark releasing it from a net it was trapped in.

Efforts in Gujarat to bring tourism to the region with these gentle giants is a multi act affair with input from NGO's, private business, and the global whale shark database managed by ECOCEAN.

Complete story here.

Research in Action - Shark Data Atlantic

While browsing the web for hard data on shark stocks in the Atlantic we came across this paper from 2003.

Titled "Collapse and Conservation of Sharks in the Northwest Atlantic," and authored by Julia K. Baum, Ransom A. Myers, Daniel G. Kehler, Boris Worm, Shelton J. Harley,
Penny A. Doherty, this paper is a great read for those interested in shark population statistics and correlating fishing pressures over time.

Complete paper here.