6 February 2019 — Ocean opportunity

~ Enric Sala

Protecting the big blue

• Spain will create the second-largest marine national park in the Mediterranean, making the Cabrera National Park, south of Majorca, a massive nine times bigger. The park will be afforded the highest level of legal protection.
• The government of Chile created two new marine protected areas and one national park last year and 42% of its seas now under some degree of protection. Chile’s newest marine protected area is the Diego Ramírez-Drake Passage Marine Park. See some breathtaking images from other Chilean reserves.
• The winter wetland of Spoonie (aka the critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper), Nanthar Island in Myanmar, has been declared a protected area.

• In the UK, DNA barcoding is being used to investigate sales of protected shark products in fish and chip shops!
• The Global IUU Fishing Index has just been launched, shining a spotlight on fishy fishing practices.​
• World Wildlife Day (3 March) will focus on marine species for the first time.

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Gif of the week

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#OceanOptimism

• A sixth grade class in land-locked Arkansas heard about a mass die-off of starfish on the west coast, so they raised money for research at Cornell University. The findings have just been published in Science Advances.
• The Ocean was high on the agenda at the World Economic Forum in January. The Friends of Ocean Action group was behind the Ocean Day at Davos with many ocean related panel discussions, including the one titled “The wild wet west: The high seas: an emerging opportunity or a failed state?” 
• A successful coral conservation project in Hong Kong could potentially transform the seas of southern China and beyond.
• Scientists have figured out why exposure to naval sonar drives beaked whales to beach themselves in bizarre bouts of apparently suicidal behaviour.

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Ocean opportunity
The Ocean Solutions Accelerator is open for applications.

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From the editor

Happy Valentine's Day! (Drawn with love by June Vergé-Kemp)
Anglerfish mating is super weird, as The Oatmeal explains.

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