Ecosystems and Biodiversity Scientists are calling for fishing regulations to help save the Amazon forest. Why? Brazil’s Pantanal is a floodplain the size of Washington State, which spends half the year underwater. The Pantanal’s biodiversity is helped by large, fruit-eating fish, which spread undigested seeds to 95% of the region’s woody plants. These seeds are […]

As spring turns to summer here on the West Coast, talk of holiday travel and visitors has lately been giving way to the pressing environmental concern of plastic in our oceans. With the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch — also known as the Pacific Trash Vortex — now double the size of Texas, people are […]

Last week, the journal PLOS ONE published a study on the acoustic calls of narwhals, an elusive Arctic species whose day-to-day life we know very little about. Ocean Wise researcher Valeria Vergara, who spends her summers recording beluga whale acoustic communication, read over the study “Spatial and temporal patterns of sound production in East Greenland […]

Sustainable Seafood In an effort to meet growing demands for seafood,  Malaysian, Nicaraguan and Tanzanian fishers have resorted to a technique called “fish bombing” to maximize yields. Using bombs made from fertilizer and diesel fuel, the fishing technique destroys reefs and aquatic life. Researchers in Malaysia are now using acoustic sensors, previously used to locate […]

Along with the pigeon, the gull might be the most detested of all birds. They can be loud, aggressive and particularly annoying when you’re trying to eat some fries near a coastline. But Perry Poon, Ocean Wise’s prop master, does not think of them as a common pest. He is curious about where they might […]

One morning in April 2017, aquarium biologist Michael Manalang noticed something different about a familiar fish in the Vancouver Aquarium’s Tropics gallery. The spotted pike characin (Boulengerella maculata) is a slender polka-dotted fish from the Amazon basin that spends its time near the water’s surface, feeding on insects and hiding behind plants. Manalang caught sight of […]

As the Sustainability Manager for Ocean Wise’s Vancouver Aquarium, I often confront tough facts on the job, from climate change to species extinction. The annual Association of Zoos and Aquarium (AZA) Mid-year Conference and Green Summit is where I go to rejuvenate and re-inspire. This year, I flew south to Jacksonville, Florida and filled up […]

Every week, Ocean Wise combs the headlines to bring you the most fascinating ocean news from around the world. Read on! Ecosystems and Biodiversity Two papers published last week show weakening ocean current patterns, some as much as 20% in the last 150 years, which are impacting fish distribution and other species. Most of that […]