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Ocean Portal by The Smithsonian Institution

Shifting Baselines

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VIDEO The Last Wild Places In the Ocean Webcast The ocean is not as natural as it once was. Where there used to be large predators that we took for sea monsters, now there are tiny fish and jellyfish. But there are a few untouched places...MORE VIDEO


	PHOTO MORE PHOTOS Ice Melt in Iceland On average, Arctic sea ice has decreased by four percent per decade since the la...
	VIDEO MORE VIDEOS Visit the Line Islands with Reef Ecologist Dr. Stuart Sandin A number of questions have inspired marine ecologist Stuart Sandin to...
	VIDEO MORE VIDEOS Really Small Fry: Shifting Baselines in Marine Fish Stocks A public service announcement uses a dramatic example to emphasize that ocean fi...

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LATEST TODAY'S CATCH


					Resilient Coral Oct 23, 2012 - 11:54AMA coral reef near Bocas del Toro, Panama recovers from a mass bleaching event that occurred in the summer of 2010. The tops contain some bleaching, but the sides look healthy. Smithsonian marine biologist Dr. Nancy Knowlton...

Counting Mountains of Oysters

Sep 28, 2012 - 12:12PM

A longshoreman stands in front of a large pile of oyster shells on...

Arctic Sea Ice Extent Graph

Sep 8, 2011 - 7:27PM

This graph of the Arctic sea ice coverage shows how close the year 2011 is...

SPOTLIGHT


A Pleasant Surprise: The Recovery of Bleached Panamanian Corals Last September, the Citizens of the Sea blog series brought you a story of doom and gloom from the reefs of Bocas del...

Expedition to the Line Islands Nov 17 2009 - 4:46pm Remotely located in the central Pacific Ocean, south of Hawaii, the Line Islands provide a remarkable research opportunity. The archipelago includes coral reefs reflecting the whole spectrum of environmental conditions—from degraded to pristine. Some islands are heavily populated, with reefs...	Arctic Sea Ice Extent Graph Sep 8 2011 - 7:27pm This graph of the Arctic sea ice coverage shows how close the year 2011 is to reaching a record-low. The graph contains data through September 7, 2011. The National Snow and Ice Data Center, which produced the graph, says we should know within a couple weeks if the ice extent drops below the...
The Last Wild Places In the Ocean Webcast May 12 2011 - 4:36pm The ocean is not as natural as it once was. Where there used to be large predators that we took for sea monsters, now there are tiny fish and jellyfish. But there are a few untouched places left in the ocean, remote oases of life where sharks are the kings of the underwater world. These last wild...	Ice Melt in Iceland Mar 23 2010 - 2:26pm On average, Arctic sea ice has decreased by four percent per decade since the late 1970s. But at the same time, Antarctic ice has increased by 1 percent. Scientists are investigating why. More about climate change can be found in the climate change section.
Counting Mountains of Oysters Sep 28 2012 - 12:12pm A longshoreman stands in front of a large pile of oyster shells on waterfront pier in Atlantic City in 1910. Back then, oysters were incredibly abundant. In the late 1800s, fishermen pulled in 10 million bushels of oysters each year but, by the mid-1900s, the catch had dropped to 1 or 2 million...	Changing Tides - Brave New Ocean Feb 2 2011 - 7:38pm The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, ocean acidification, and the decline of fish stocks are just three of the topics that renowned ocean scientist, Dr. Jeremy Jackson discusses in this talk, recorded on World Ocean Day in 2010.
A Pleasant Surprise: The Recovery of Bleached Panamanian Corals Apr 18 2011 - 1:36pm Last September, the Citizens of the Sea blog series brought you a story of doom and gloom from the reefs of Bocas del Toro, Panama. That is the time of year we typically study -- and celebrate -- the annual birth of baby corals in the area. We arrived to find very hot water (2010 turned out to...	Resilient Coral Oct 23 2012 - 11:54am A coral reef near Bocas del Toro, Panama recovers from a mass bleaching event that occurred in the summer of 2010. The tops contain some bleaching, but the sides look healthy. Smithsonian marine biologist Dr.
Visit the Line Islands with Reef Ecologist Dr. Stuart Sandin Nov 30 2009 - 1:55pm A number of questions have inspired marine ecologist Stuart Sandin to head to the coral reefs of the Line Islands. Sandin works at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. In this video he explains why the structure of coral reefs matters and how...	Really Small Fry: Shifting Baselines in Marine Fish Stocks Dec 4 2009 - 1:06pm A public service announcement uses a dramatic example to emphasize that ocean fish aren’t as big as they used to be. Find out more about the decline in the ocean's top -- and often large -- predators in a recorded talk by marine ecologist and National Geographic explorer Enric Sala.
The Big Five of the Ocean: Exploring the Waters of East Africa Nov 21 2012 - 11:25am A whale shark swims with a diver off the coast of Southern Mozambique. Photo: Caine Delacy. When we think "Africa," we think of the "Big Five"—lions, elephants, leopards, buffalo and rhinos—that crisscross the African Savannah. Few would imagine that there could be more natural beauty on offer. But...	Dr. Jan Backman, Marine Geologist Mar 26 2010 - 1:03pm Drilling near the North Pole, Dr. Jan Backman reveals a brief moment in time when the Arctic was subtropical. More about world climate change can be found in our Climate Change featured story.