National Geographic Blog Explores the Ocean Issues

by: Katie Grimmer

Did you know that there are over 40 endangered and threatened species under the National Marine Fisheries Service alone? The blog Ocean Views, part of National Geographic Society’s ocean initiative, seeks to bring awareness to facts like these by “diving into ocean issues.” The NewsWatch blog first launched in late March 2011 but has only recently started posting on a regular basis.

Photo by Daniel Botelho

The blog hopes to bring new and experienced voices to discuss and inform the readers of the threats towards the ocean, as well as celebrating its success. Dr. Enric Sala, a marine ecologist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, hosts the blog while supporting his goal to help restore marine life.

Articles posted on this site range from education on the endangered coral in the Caribbean to sustainable fishing. Tim Bender, the Vice President of Collection Planning at Shedd Aquarium informed the readers in a blog post about the Beluga Conservation Research Program. In 2008, Shedd along with other accredited aquariums conducted physicals on 18 whales, as well as attached transmitters to monitor their movement. Now they are back in the field to update us on what they’ve learned these past four years.

The NatGeo blog is already making waves. A shot of a large ocean animal, the Mola mola (shown above), spread like wildfire across the Internet. In a post, Dr. Tierney Thys discussed these unique looking ocean sunfish and how little marine biologists know about these creatures.

There’s also a recipe for Grilled Alaskan King salmon — although we’re not quite sure how that promotes Dr. Sala’s goals.

To read more from Ocean View, visit the blog here.