Sent 30 October 2020. Part of Little Blue Letter.

“Ocean: A body of water occupying two-thirds of a world made for man - who has no gills"
~ Ambrose Bierce
  • Conservation groups are advocating to establish three new marine protected areas (MPAs) in Antarctica, which would cover ~4 million square kilometres (1.5 million square miles).
  • The proposal is due to be discussed at the upcoming Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) meeting, it is anticipated that some countries with fishing interests in the area may object but the groups involved remain optimistic that with time the proposal will be approved.
  • If this goes through it will be the largest MPA designated in the Antarctic, a similar proposal to protect the Ross Sea (~1.55 million square kilometres, or 600, 000 square miles) took more than 5 years to gain consensus from all 25 member states.
 
 Map of proposed and existing MPAs in the Southern Ocean. © The Pew Charitable Trusts
Gif of the week
Bigfin Reef Squid, © Monterey Bay Aquarium
Curator’s Story - Living in the Falkland Islands
I’ve been on an interview panel recruiting new observers for the Fisheries Department here in the Falkland Islands and this came up a few times, so I thought readers might be interested.
  • I first worked as a Scientific Fisheries Observer, which is a difficult but adventurous job.
  • For the year and a half I was in the position, I was either packing or unpacking my bags every month, there was never a dull moment. From climbing down from the gantry in 35 knot winds to seeing whales in the high seas.
  • Currently I spend more time on land, and still, I nearly stepped on a juvenile elephant seal when walking the dog a few weeks ago. See if you can spot it below:
© Irina Chemshirova
  • Combine this with a great community spirit and you get a mass pilgrimage to the beach, when orcas are spotted off the coast. Otherwise known as your average Tuesday.
© Nicholas Roberts, Deputy Editor of Penguin News
  • The Falkland Islands are not just a wildlife heaven but one for the few places where life has been largely unaffected by the global pandemic, thanks to the combined efforts of the community and the local government.
#OceanOptimism
  • Doysinsola Ogunye established the NGO Kids Beach Cleanup in Lagos, Nigeria. Read her inspiring story on how she added sea turtle patrol and rescue sanctuary to the activities.
  • Students of the Seychelles Maritime Academy step up to keep scientific programme on Aride Island going. The pandemic led to the island losing most of its volunteers, luckily scientific work was able to continue with the help of the collaborative internship programme with the Academy.
A note from the editor
How did salmon help the Faroe Islands combat coronavirus? Check out China's growing fleet of research vessels. Record number of endangered turtles hatch in Mexico​.
The Xiang Yang Hong 09 research vessel prepares to launch China’s largest manned deep-sea submersible, the Jiaolong (© Alamy)
Little Blue Letter was curated this week by Irina Chemshirova. Irina is a PhD student at the Falkland Islands Fisheries Department and GEOMAR, Kiel. However, she rarely manages to be both places at once. Her study animal is Illex argentinus, she is investigating the delimitation of the stocks through various methods such as trace element analysis and RADseq DNA sequencing.
Editing etc. by Glen Wright. Glen is a researcher studying marine governance, the high seas, and ocean energy. He is a drinker of tea, lover of the sea, and an Oxford comma user. 
Glen recently published Academia Obscura: The Hidden Silly Side of Higher Education.
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