Volendam Japan to Vancouver - greetings friends!!

Fushimi Inari shrine; Kyoto, Japan

We've just returned from a very special voyage on board the ms Volendam, from Kobe Japan to Vancouver Canada.  I want to thank all the very kind and supportive guests who attended my lecture series and made the crossing such a great experience for Jan and I.

I promised a link to a couple of the books I referred to:
"Stung! On Jellyfish Blooms and the Future of the Ocean" by Lisa-ann Gershwin
"The Once and Future World" by J.B. MacKinnon (see a good review here...)

I also referred to the paper by economists Crow White and Christopher Costello, who examined the provocative idea of completely closing international waters to fishing.

My next big idea came from E.O. Wilson who wrote a provocative article in Smithsonian magazine in 2014: "Can the World Really Set Aside Half of the Planet for Wildlife?"


Thanks again!  Please keep in touch...if you have a chance, sign up for my future postings down below to the right - all you need is your email address.

Best regards, George

Japanese Crane near Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan

Crane chick - about 10 days old

Cherry blossom time in Kyoto, Japan

Triple Gains if Fisheries Closed on High Seas

An important study was recently published by economists Crow White and Christopher Costello, who examined the provocative idea of completely closing international waters to fishing.  They found that closing the High Seas to fishing would, on a global scale, simultaneously give rise to large gains in fisheries profit (>100%), fisheries yields (>30%), and fish stock conservation (>150%).

Amberjack.  Photo by Dee Wescott

View the study here

Abstract

The world's oceans are governed as a system of over 150 sovereign exclusive economic zones (EEZs, ~42% of the ocean) and one large high seas (HS) commons (~58% of ocean) with essentially open access. Many high-valued fish species such as tuna, billfish, and shark migrate around these large oceanic regions, which as a consequence of competition across EEZs and a global race-to-fish on the HS, have been over-exploited and now return far less than their economic potential. We address this global challenge by analyzing with a spatial bioeconomic model the effects of completely closing the HS to fishing. This policy both induces cooperation among countries in the exploitation of migratory stocks and provides a refuge sufficiently large to recover and maintain these stocks at levels close to those that would maximize fisheries returns. We find that completely closing the HS to fishing would simultaneously give rise to large gains in fisheries profit (>100%), fisheries yields (>30%), and fish stock conservation (>150%). We also find that changing EEZ size may benefit some fisheries; nonetheless, a complete closure of the HS still returns larger fishery and conservation outcomes than does a HS open to fishing.

Amazing Australian Lyrebird

In Australia, we're off to the home of the Superb Lyrebird -- one of the most amazing vocalists and mimics on our planet.

Photo by Fir0002/Flagstaffotos CC BY-NC

Anastasia Dalziell, from the ANU's Research School of Biology, says the skill does not come naturally, but is the result of years of practice.
"The young [lyrebirds] are incredibly vocal but don't mimic at all," she says. It was possible to "get an idea of what they are doing about the age of five", but it was not until they were adults - around age seven - that they had perfected the skill.

One of the most famous clips of David Attenborough is this one covering the Lyrebird:

Here's another short clip to give some idea of the sounds this remarkable bird can reproduce:

 

For more on the the amazing Lyrebird and the research by Anastasia Dalziell, see the excellent article on ABC:  Lyrebirds prove they're masters of karaoke

Now we're off to the Blue Mountains near Sydney Australia.  In a few days we join the Amsterdam on a segment of the Grand World cruise from Sydney to Singapore, via Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

 

Whistled Language of La Gomera, Canary Islands

Known as the Silbo Gomero...

On our recent transatlantic cruise on board the Maasdam, I was lecturing about the ecology, culture and geology of the Canary Islands.  I presented a clip from the following excellent UNESCO video on the unique and amazing "Whistled Language of Gomera" 

UNESCO: Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity - 2009:  Visit the UNESCO website to learn more: http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/RL/...
Description: The whistled language of La Gomera Island in the Canaries, the Silbo Gomero, replicates the islanders habitual language (Castilian Spanish) with whistling. Handed down over centuries from master to pupil, it is the only whistled language in the world that is fully developed and practised by a large community (more than 22,000 inhabitants). The whistled language replaces each vowel or consonant with a whistling sound: two distinct whistles replace the five Spanish vowels, and there are four whistles for consonants. The whistles can be distinguished according to pitch and whether they are interrupted or continuous. With practice, whistlers can convey any message. Some local variations even point to their origin.
Taught in schools since 1999, the Silbo Gomero is understood by almost all islanders and practised by the vast majority, particularly the elderly and the young. It is also used during festivities and ceremonies, including religious occasions. To prevent it from disappearing like the other whistled languages of the Canary Islands, it is important to do more for its transmission and promote the Silbo Gomero as intangible cultural heritage cherished by the inhabitants of La Gomera and the Canary Islands as a whole.