Fins for Fingerprints
If you follow us on Facebook or Twitter, you may have noticed that we often mention dolphins by name. Have you ever wondered how we can tell which dolphin is which? Today, we’re going to give you a crash course…
What Is a UME?
Although the acronym “UME” sounds rather benign like it could be a new term of technical jargon, it really refers to something very sad. UME stands for “Unusual Mortality Event.” As defined by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, a UME…
Photo credit: GDEP/John Schacke
Soda Tops & Porpoise POPs
Marine mammal population health has been in the news a lot lately. Perhaps you heard that marine scientists didn’t see a single baby Atlantic Right Whale during the 2018 calving season. Or maybe you’re aware of the dwindling population of Vaquitas in the Gulf…
Coral reefs are homes to incredible biodiversity. Photo credit: LinkTV; www.linktv.org/shows/earth-focus/an-introduction-to-coral-reefs
Marine Protected Areas
With a stroke of his pen on August 26, 2016, Barrack Obama quadrupled the size of a marine protected area (MPA) established a decade earlier by George W. Bush, creating the largest ecologically protected area on the planet (Executive Order…
2018: Injured Right Whale. From GA DNR Flickr. (Required credit: Sea to Shore Alliance, taken under NOAA research permit 20556)
Right Whale Season Gone Wrong
This article is an excerpt from a newsletter from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. We at GDEP thought it was an exceptionally-written and relevant article, and have chosen to share it on our blog this week in lieu of…
Conservation on the Chopping Block
Here at GDEP, we prefer to keep matters of marine science apolitical. However, important scientific research, education, and funding comes from some key governmental organizations. Today, for the second year in a row, one of these vital support systems is…
Photo Credit: Michael Dawes. http://www.flickr.com/photos/tk_five_0/show/
Gone (Ethical) Whale Watching
This blog post is written by Cassidy Lord. Dolphins are cute, right? So cute you could jump right in with them? Give them a big hug and maybe a snack for the road? Well...don’t. Human interactions with marine mammals are…
Do You Hear What I Hear?
This blog article was written by a guest writer, Jessica Wenclawiak. On March 15, 2000, scientists Ken Balcomb and Diane Claridge walked along the beach in the North Bahamas and quickly became involved in a disturbing event: 17 marine animals,…
A rendering of the extinct wooly mammoth
Photo credit: National Geographic Kids
The Hairy Science of Cloning a Mammoth
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” ~John Muir Many of our GDEP blog pieces to date have featured species-specific information or issues explicitly impacting marine organisms and systems.…
Photo Credit: Randy Jay Braun
It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a…SnotBot?
This blog article was written by Cassidy Lord. As Unmanned Aerial Vehicles gain popularity for recreational and commercial use, researchers are finding innovative methods for collecting photographic and spatial data. A recent story circulated in popular media tells of Ocean Alliance’s…