2nd State of the Ocean Forum Inspires Hope for the Future

“The next 10 years may be the most important in the next 100,000 years — the best chance our species will have to protect what remains of the natural systems that give us life.” —Sylvia Earle

On Monday, December 7, 2009 MERI founder/director Dr. Susan Shaw chaired a panel of top marine scientists at the 2nd State of the Oceans Forum, Facing the Crisis: Reasons for Hope,” at the Explorers Club in New York City. Featuring Dr. Shaw, Time magazine’s first “Hero for the Planet,” Dr. Sylvia Earle, and the undersea-robotics innovator Dr. David Gallo, the panelists discussed how we can and must save the world’s most crucial natural resource—the living ocean—while there is still time.

 “We no longer ask whether our oceans are in crisis,” said Dr. Shaw, the dynamic force behind the forums. “The question is—what are we going to do to protect them for future generations?”

The scientists, including coral reef biologist Dr. Nancy Knowlton and 1planet1ocean founder Dr. David Guggenheim addressed everything from eliminating the “invisible threat” of chemical pollution and plastics from the oceans to creating Marine Protected Areas as “hope spots” to restore depleted seas, radically reducing carbon emissions to curb ocean acidification, crafting a comprehensive oceans policy for the future, and igniting public action through media and leading-edge web based technology. Special guest Jim Fowler, wildlife expert and host of Emmy-Award winning show Wild Kingdom, concluded the sold-out event with a reading about the sea.

Click here to view the program.

Click here to read more about the panelists.

Discoverer of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Captain Charles Moore, Launched MERI’s 20th Anniversary Celebrations

Explorer, sailor and ocean advocate Captain Charles Moore launched MERI’s 20th Anniversary celebrations  on Friday, January 8th with the first Ocean Environment Lecture of 2010, “A Sea of Plastic.” It was a full house with nearly 150 people from Portland to Bar Harbor showing up to hear his message.

On a return voyage from a yachting competition across the Pacific in 1997, Moore accidentally stumbled upon an enormous swirling swath of plastic garbage twice the size of Texas floating at sea. “There were shampoo caps and soap bottles and plastic bags and fishing floats as far as I could see,” Moore has recalled. “Here I was in the middle of the ocean, and there was nowhere I could go to avoid the plastic.”

Since his discovery, Moore has been at the forefront of the investigation to track the scope and implication of plastic contamination on the marine food chain, logging over 100,000 miles aboard his research vessel, Alguita. As founder of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, a California based non-profit dedicated to the protection of the marine environment and its watershed through research, education and restoration, his mission is to shed light on one of the most under-recognized yet ubiquitous issues facing our planet—plastic debris in our oceans.

Now,  concerns are growing over the threat chemicals, including DDT and PCBs, leaching from these plastics as they degrade in the wind, wave, and sun pose to the marine ecosystem and human health. “At MERI, we have been examining the levels, effects and trends of many of these toxic chemicals in harbor seals and their prey fish in the Northwest Atlantic region since 2000.  We are so pleased to welcome Captain Moore to talk about the challenges our oceans face as a result of our “throw away culture” of plastics and what we can do about it,” stated Dr. Susan Shaw, MERI Founder/Director.

To find out more about the effects of "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch," listen to Captain Moore's MPBN interview here.

The evening was generously sponsored by Blue Hill Co-Op Community Market and Café and Blue Hill Inn. Contact the MERI Center for more information at info@meriresearch.org or (207) 374-2135.

MERI Director Part of U.S. Expert Panel Addressing Flame Retardant Dilemma in China

Dr. Susan Shaw, marine toxicologist and Founder/Director of the Marine Environmental Research Institute (MERI), recently joined a team of international scientists and policy experts to address the expanding production and use of brominated flame retardant chemicals (BFRs) in China. Sponsored by the Green Science Policy Institute, The Fire Retardant Dilemma in China Symposium was held August 22nd at the Western Academy in Beijing, China.

Speaking to a broad audience of Chinese, European, and U.S. scientists, media representatives, manufacturers, and government officials, the panelists presented an overview of BFR production and use worldwide, noting that China’s increasing use of fire retardants in consumer products is a global problem since China is the leading global manufacturer and exporter of consumer goods. China’s production and use of flame retardant chemicals stems in large part from the demands of the countries it serves. The United States has dominated the global consumption of PBDEs for the last thirty years.

Halogenated fire retardants such as the polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are added to everyday products such as baby strollers, electronics, and household and office furniture to retard flame ignition and meet fire safety requirements. Over time, PBDEs and other brominated flame retardants leach out of the products and into the home and outdoor environments where they persist for years and are absorbed into the tissues of wildlife and people.

Dr. Shaw said her role on the panel was “consistent with MERI’s mission to bring unbiased scientific information about toxic chemicals to bear on decision-making to protect human health and the environment.” Click here to read more.

Presentations by all of the panelists (in English and Chinese) are available at http://greensciencepolicy.org/beijing-2009-fire-retardants-conference/. Download Dr. Shaw’s symposium presentation here.

MERI Tracks Red Tide Outbreak on the Maine Coast

MERI is part of the state’s early warning system for red tide blooms, which have contaminated shellfish beds along the coast since 2004. 2009 is the worst year on record for red tide blooms on the Maine coast. The red tide organism (Alexandrium spp) is a type of phytoplankton that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) in people who eat contaminated shellfish (mussels, clams). According to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, "The geographic extent of this red tide event is unprecedented, with many areas of the coast showing high levels of toxicity, areas where there has never been any toxin in the last 30 years of records kept by Maine Department of Marine Resources."

This past summer, MERI intensified monitoring for red tide at multiple sites in Blue Hill Bay, including the growing number of mussel aquaculture farms in the Bay. In early July, MERI researchers found elevated numbers of Alexandrium cysts at several sites. By July 15, red tide had cleared in the upper Bay and this area was re-opened for shellfish harvesting. But surrounding areas (Mount Desert Island, Deer Isle, the lower Blue Hill Bay) remain highly impacted areas.

"The economic impact of this event is devastating. Maine DMR estimates 97% of productive shellfish beds are closed due to red tide. There have been unusual reports of mortalities – a fish kill of a dozen short-nose sturgeon at the mouth of a major river, and eider ducks washing ashore in Casco Bay. These events are suspected to be caused by the transfer of the extremely high red tide toxicity through the food web to these larger animals.”

MERI’s Blue Hill Bay Watershed Monitoring Project  monitors 40 freshwater and marine sites weekly or bi-weekly, testing for a suite of water quality parameters, nutrients, and bacteria. Enterococcus bacteria, the indicator that triggers beach closures, is monitored at local swimming beaches. MERI reports its data to the state and has proved to be an invaluable resource for the region and the local community.