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How countries are using innovative technology to preserve ocean life
Vast oceans cover 70% of our planet’s surface, playing a crucial role in human survival by providing food and oxygen and acting as a buffer against climate change. Despite their importance, oceans are increasingly threatened by global warming and human activity, with rising temperatures impacting fragile marine ecosystems.
More than 100 nations, including the United States, have agreed to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030, through an initiative known as “30 by 30.” This goal involves establishing Marine Protected Areas, or MPAs, where human activities are limited or prohibited to preserve marine life.
In the Bahamas, all waters are considered a shark sanctuary. On top of that, the island nation has also designated many Marine Protected Areas, all thought to be aiding the recovery of shark populations, which are critical to coral reef health.
Many of these areas are part of an ongoing global shark census called FinPrint. In 2018, that study revealed a 63% decline in the five main species of reef sharks, with overfishing and the shark meat industry partly to blame.
Candace Fields works with FinPrint and is using innovative technology to collect new data to see if these protected areas help reef shark populations rebound.
“These MPAs might be the way to kind of help these sharks come back from the brink a little bit,” she said.
There are more than 18,000 MPAs covering about 8% of the ocean’s surface, according to United Nations data. However, conservation groups claim most are just lines on a map because about two-thirds of them have little to no enforcement.
The Bahamas has strictly enforced no-fishing zones and actively patrols its waters with the Royal Bahamas Defence Force. During the patrols, officials ensure compliance with local laws, deterring illegal fishing activities, especially from foreign vessels. Their rigorous approach is supported by advanced technology, including artificial intelligence and vessel tracking.
“We are there 24/7 and if you come we’re gonna catch you,” said Senior Commander William Sturrup, who oversees many of the operations.
“We are there on the front lines as a military. That’s how important it is to our government to protect our marine resources,” he said.
Technology plays a significant role in these efforts, according to Gregg Casad of WildAid, who illustrated the advanced tools used to monitor and protect the ocean.
“This is a big chunk of ocean, right? So we’re using this technology to help focus those patrol efforts,” said Casad.
As the world grapples with the warming climate, oceans play a critical role in regulating Earth’s temperature by absorbing 90% of the excess heat generated by climate change. Their protection is not only essential for marine biodiversity, but also for mitigating broader environmental impacts.
“There’s just tons and tons of reasons that we should work towards keeping the oceans as healthy as possible,” said Fields.
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Beryl, the second tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, took shape Friday as it barreled its way toward the Caribbean.
Beryl was expected to strengthen into a hurricane as it approached the Windward Islands in the West Indies, the National Hurricane Center reported in its latest advisory late Friday night.
Beryl was centered about 1,110 miles southeast of Barbados, the hurricane center said, with maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour and tropical storm-force winds extending 45 miles from its center. It was moving west at 18 mph.
The system was expected to hit the Windward Islands by late Sunday or Monday, and was forecast to bring anything from 3 to 6 inches of rain to the Windward Islands and Barbados. No watches or warnings were yet in place.
NOAA
Last week, Tropical Storm Alberto brought torrential flooding to portions of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. It was responsible for at least four deaths in the Mexican states of Nuevo Leon and Veracruz, according to the Associated Press.
The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and lasts through Nov. 30. According to the hurricane center, the season’s first hurricane usually forms in early to mid-August, which would make Beryl unusual if it were to reach hurricane strength. In a report released last month, the NOAA predicted an “above average” hurricane season with 17 to 25 storms, 8 to 13 hurricanes and 4 to 7 major hurricanes of category 3 or higher.
A tropical storm is a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of 39 to 73 mph, while a hurricane is defined as a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds greater than 74 mph.
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Martin Mull, beloved actor known for “Fernwood 2 Night,” “Roseanne” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” dies at 80
Martin Mull, whose droll, esoteric comedy and acting made him a hip sensation in the 1970s and later a beloved guest star on sitcoms including “Roseanne” and “Arrested Development,” has died, his daughter said Friday. He was 80.
Mull’s Daughter, TV writer and comic artist Maggie Mull, said her father died at home on Thursday after “a valiant fight against a long illness.”
Mull, who was also a guitarist and painter, came to national fame with a recurring role on the Norman Lear-created satirical soap opera “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” and the starring role in its spinoff, “Fernwood 2 Night,” on which he played the host of a satirical talk show.
Mat Hayward/Getty Images for Netflix
“He was known for excelling at every creative discipline imaginable and also for doing Red Roof Inn commercials,” Maggie Mull said in an Instagram post. “He would find that joke funny. He was never not funny. My dad will be deeply missed by his wife and daughter, by his friends and coworkers, by fellow artists and comedians and musicians, and —the sign of a truly exceptional person— by many, many dogs.”
Melissa Joan Hart, who acted alongside Mull in the series “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” paid tribute to him on Instagram on Friday, calling him “a wonderful man who I am better for knowing.”
“I have such fond memories of working with him and being in awe of his huge body of work,” she wrote.
Known for his blonde hair and well-trimmed mustache, Mull was born in Chicago, raised in Ohio and Connecticut. He studied art in Rhode Island and Rome. He combined his music and comedy in hip Hollywood clubs in the 1970s.
“In 1976 I was a guitar player and sit-down comic appearing at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip when Norman Lear walked in and heard me,” Mull told The Associated Press in 1980. “He cast me as the wife beater on ‘Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.’ Four months later I was spun off on my own show.”
In the 1980s he appeared in films including “Mr. Mom” and “Clue,” and in the 1990s had a recurring role on “Roseanne.”
He would later play private eye Gene Parmesan on “Arrested Development,” and would be nominated for an Emmy in 2016 for a guest turn on “Veep.”
