A trip to the Toronto Ripley’s Aquarium in December-2023 yielded a very pleasant surprise. In addition to the wonderful aquariums filled with reef fish, fish found in the freshwater rivers and lakes of Canada, and deep-water fish, including sharks, rays, grouper, etc., the tour route ended with an educational display.   The final display started with a self-guided tour of the immense water filtration and treatment systems it takes to keep all of the aquarium’s residents healthy. Next up were several posters and displays designed to educate school age children on the plasti ..read more

Aaaahhhh! The Bahamas. What a glorious way to spend Spring Break week in March. But, COME ON kids. I know you’re here to have fun, wind in the hair, drinks in hand, screaming “Who Let the Dogs Out” at the top of your lungs, but do you have to let your trash blow away into the beautiful Caribbean water? Certainly, a bright yellow bag would catch someone’s attention. Certainly, someone would care enough to have the captain slow down and come beside the trash so it could be picked out of the water. I observed all of this from a vantage point on a veranda, unable to reach the bag myself and unable ..read more

An article posted on LinkedIn by The Ocean Cleanup describes the first extraction of 2024 stating that 7029 kg of garbage has been removed from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (see blog post dated 29JAN2022: Great Pacific Garbage Patch (mermaids4cleanoceans.com)). Your first question might be, “What does The Ocean Cleanup do with all this garbage?”. It is very interesting that they take the garbage back on land and perform research on every piece of garbage to gather information such as bite marks (from sea life), brands, languages, and production dates. This information then allows ..read more

The Okefenokee Protection Alliance is a group of more than 40 organizations (including the Georgia River Network headquartered in Athens, GA) leading the effort to save the largest black water network in the US. This network includes a 440,000-acre ecosystem and 2 rivers (Okefenokee River and St. Mary’s River). The St. Mary’s River flows southeast from the swamp and enters the Atlantic Ocean between Amelia Island, Florida and Cumberland Island, Georgia. The swamp attracts over 700,000 visitors per year and contributes heavily to the local economy with tourism dollars. For years, the Okefenoke ..read more

In June 2023, I embarked on an extraordinary voyage with Ocean Missions Iceland, a dedicated team of environmental stewards on a mission to protect our marine ecosystems. Living aboard a sailboat with a group of like-minded individuals, we set sail to explore the pristine waters of north Iceland, eager to make a difference as "Ocean Ambassadors." Ocean Missions Iceland is more than just a conservation organization; it's a passionate community of individuals from diverse backgrounds united by a shared love for the ocean. Their vision reflects a deep understanding of the power of inspiration an ..read more

Each one of us has the power to start reducing and ultimately stop plastic waste from reaching the fragile ecosystem under the ocean’s surface. From purchasing items in eco-friendly packaging, recycling plastic and using non-plastic containers for out water, groceries, food storage, etc., we can control these actions that are within our sphere of influence. In a 2019 article entitled “When the Mermaids Cry: The Great Plastic Tide”, author Claire Le Guern states that “The world population is living, working, vacationing, increasingly conglomerating along the coasts, and standing on the front r ..read more

While the Bulldogs prepare for their much-anticipated game against the No. 2-ranked Michigan Wolverines in the Orange Bowl College Football Playoff Semifinal, a team of University of Georgia researchers from the College of Engineering is already hard at work in Miami to help leaders there tackle a problem that affects nearly every city in the world: plastic pollution. UGA researchers have partnered with ,Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, and the ,City of Miami to better understand the life cycle of plastic pollution and, more importantly, what steps must be taken to ..read more

This blog post is taken from an article posted by Blue Ocean Magazine on February 11th, 2020. --original article In 2019 the UN Industrial Development Organization published the report ‘Addressing the challenge of Marine Plastic Litter using Circular Economy methods‘. It estimates that 83 Mt of plastic waste has already accumulated in the oceans and an estimated 8 Mt of additional, mismanaged plastic waste entering oceans annually, at least 80% of which originates directly from land-based sources. It addresses the idea of using circular economy to clean the plastic in the ocean. We all know ma ..read more

How do you teach your children to love and respect the ocean? How can you teach young children the importance of the ocean to our survival on Earth? How can you teach them the devastating effects of ocean pollution on marine life? How can you teach them all of these lessons without scaring or traumatizing young children with the ugly images of ocean pollution and the devastation on marine life? Kids need to understand what polluting the ocean does to the environment and that there are consequences to their actions when they visit the beach. Sadly, horrific images of what is happening to the ..read more

Information republished from an article written by Megan Avakian, Feb-2021 - “Ocean pollution is a widespread, worsening, and poorly controlled problem that is directly affecting human and ecosystem health,” said lead study author Philip Landrigan, M.D., director of the Boston College Global Observatory on Pollution and Health. “It is a complex mix of toxins that, until now, has not received the systematic attention it deserves.” The ,,study , funded in part by NIEHS and coordinated by the Centre Scientifique de Monaco with support from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, is the first ..read more