Skynews interview!! Climate change, what research do we do at SAMS? and have I done in the past?

I was super excited to be asked to speak to Sky News about climate change and what projects I have been involved with at SAMS and BAS to try and work out what is actually changing with our climate and how it is going to affect our marine world and how we use it sustainably. Here are some of the things I spoke about, you can see it live in the New Year.

Why do I/we study the oceans? The facts?!

Oceans cover 71% of the planet and make up 95% of space available to life and these oceans are our support system and the lungs of our planet. The oceans produce all of the oxygen we breathe, from animals like phytoplankton through photosynthesis. 

The ocean provides us with a place to exercise, socialise, and provides free goods and services, the food we eat, and the oxygen we breathe. Not only that, but the oceans also regulate the global climate, mediate temperatures, and drive the weather systems that we plan our short weekends by. Our climate can determine when we get massive rainfall, droughts or floods..it is truly incredible.

What is the craic with carbon?

Here is the ARISE blog where more information about the carbon cycle can be found, you can contact them if you have any questions or would like to know more about their project!

The ocean is also the largest store of carbon where 80% of global carbon is cycled through the ocean. The industrial revolution...but what does that even mean. Since the industrial revolution so in the last 200 years 1/3rd of C02 is produced by us humans have been absorbed by the oceans and heat from the rising greenhouse gases, all of this extra C02 causes the ocean acidity to increase causing ocean acidification which we are seeing most visually and known about on the great barrier reef as the carbon skeletons breakdown this means the coral reef support a healthy ocean habitat for species that rely on them for food and protection. I have seen and studied this with my own eyes in Koh Tao in Thailand where I worked for a month on the New Heaven marine conservation program. 

Animals like turtles are being affected by dying coral reefs! 

This was back in 2012 straight after school. It was a great conservation program and I learned a lot. Biorock is an amazing system whereby we "transplanted dying, broken, and vulnerable coral fragments onto the structures for rehabilitation, collecting growth rates and assessing the percentage cover of the corals on the structure to compile data on its effectiveness as a reef restoration technique." 

A little project like this is great, however, we need a big global effort. The United Nations climate change conference COP26 next year aims to reduce greenhouse gases and share knowledge and experience through world leaders. Climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, addressed the U.N.'s Climate Action Summit last year, ""My message is that we'll be watching you. This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!...For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.....The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees [Celsius], and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control....Fifty percent may be acceptable to you. But those numbers do not include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of equity and climate justice. They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist....How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just 'business as usual' and some technical solutions?"

The people on this planet are finally waking up and wanting to make the change! Cutting our greenhouse emissions is the first step. If it is all a bit daunting, here are a few steps that the WWF recommend: 

1.Learn more about your carbon emissions. 

2.Commute by carpooling or using mass transit. ...

3. Plan and combine trips. ...

1. 4. Drive more efficiently. ...
2. 
   
3. 5. Switch to “green power.” Switch to electricity generated by energy sources with low—or no—routine emissions of carbon dioxide.

Next topic, why does plankton matter?

Calanus a species of zooplankton, migrate to hibernate at these deeper depths (600-1400 m) during the winter so that they can preserve the omega 3 that they have build up by eating lots of juicy omega 3 enriched diatoms. By migrating they save energy and are less available for predation. This vertical downward migration of copepods transfers lipid carbon deep into the ocean where it is metabolised at the same rate as sinking detritus. Noone has yet calculated how much carbon is being drawn to depths by Calanus copepods alone!

This copepod in the photo above has large lipid reserves (the blue outline) and is the main trophic link between phytoplankton and higher trophic levels in the North Atlantic and Arctic. The reserves vary over the year and with developmental stages. We (the DIAPOD CAO project) want to develop an understanding of how the omega-3 fatty acid content of Calanus is affected by the food environment and in turn, dictates patterns of their diapause (which I will explain next)- and reproductive success.

At BAS in 2016 we dived on icebergs (the photo was taken of myself and Kate Stanton the dive officer by Ben Robinson the Marine Biologist using his ROV called Debra) over the winter and found that it was filled with Diatoms! The diatoms had set themself up overwinter on undulating cusps on icebergs where they were just getting enough light through the surface of the sea ice and enough nutrients from the small currents under the ice.

 

Calanus undergo a dormant period called diapause during their juvenile development. As they develop they accumulate lipid energy stores. Some of the copepods will then continue to develop to adulthood and become reproductively active. During periods of low food availability, other individual copepods will migrate to deep water, slow their metabolism, and remain dormant for several months. DIAPOD is researching how to understand and predict the timing of diapause entry and exit and the ‘parking’ depth of the three calanoids. On exit of diapause, they swim to the surface, develop into adults, and mate.

All of this represents a drawdown of the atmospheric C02 which is represented in the global carbon cycle. This lipid pump has previously not been incorporated into the estimates of deep ocean carbon sequestration and like other parts of the biological pump, the lipid pump does not remove surface nutrients!

Why do we care about all of this?

What we are, as scientists are trying to work out is when we are going to reach the tipping point as the climate responds to increasing carbon emissions which will cause extreme weather events, changing ocean currents, rising sea levels, and temperatures, melting sea ice, and glaciers. We at SAMS quantify and predict how the variability in marine environments on varying timescales from sea lochs to ocean basins increase in rain increases runoff which increases nutrient runoff which causes harmful algae blooms (the fish we eat and where we swim is affected). Prediction of these changes of natural ecosystems to see how regional shifts will respond to climate change. All of these are aggravated by impacts from overfishing, pollution, and habitat degradation

I spoke about all of this and what we do at SAMS, CAO, and BAS for Sky News last week for a pilot on a new climate program that will be airing in the New Year!

Climate change and the reason for why Santa is moving to the South Pole for Christmas!?

I have given a few talks over the years and I finished one talk by explaining this topic and asking the question....Why is this all so unique and important? Why is researching the polar regions helping us? Why is researching how the Arctic ice retreating will open up more shipping lanes? Most importantly why is Santa moving? 

"If we want to survive, “we need to learn to work with nature, not against it."

Studying this change is important because it enables us to verify the natural way in which the climate works and also gain a better understanding of the relationship between the different parts of the atmosphere. For example, we can see how the temperature and CO2 levels are related (CO2 is the main greenhouse gas we hear so much about these days). It also enables us to understand the importance of what is happening today in regards to the rapid rise in temperatures, a phenomenon which has never been so fast. 

Lastly, as David Attenborough explains in his latest documentary and it is his witness statement to 'Life on Our Planet..."Biodiversity", Attenborough argues, "is the answer to these problems. The significance of biodiversity in maintaining ecosystems both in our oceans and on land is not just so animals and plants can flourish, but so humanity can survive. Healthy and diverse oceans and forests are one of our most important natural allies in removing excess CO2 from the atmosphere – acting essentially as “carbon sponges” – and that rewilding the majority of these spaces is our key to survival. The overarching message as the documentary draws to a close is that it’s still not too late if we act now. 

It paints a picture of a future world where society has finally achieved harmony with the natural world.

 This includes rewilding vast expanses of nature and shifting from a dependency on fossil fuels to renewable energy sources as well as fine-tuning our agricultural processes and diets to minimise our damaging impact. 

To get his point across he uses the massive human disaster of Chernobyl where the opening and closing scenes are filmed in Chernobyl, Ukraine. As the camera pulls back, the healed aftermath of the

Ghost fishing? What is it? and how did it effect our oceanographic moorings on DY120?

Ghost fishing is a modern issue of today. The reason I decided to talk about it in my blog is that I wanted to learn more about it, as on the DY120 research cruise in October, we had one oceanographic mooring that had a massive tuna longline attached to it. 

Ghost fishing is when derelict fishing gear 'continues to fish.

Climate change is aggravated by impacts from overfishing, pollution, and habitat degradation...all of which ghost fishing plays a part. 

As the oceanographic mooring was rolled in over the back of the Discovery a massive longline was found to be attached to it. Read here for what a deep-sea mooring is! 

It is not able to go through the block to winch it onboard, so each section needed to be cut off with a knife. This added at least 1.5 hours to the operation, we had a tight schedule this year with timing and weather so delays were pretty stressful. 

So what is ghost fishing? 

https://www.ghostfishing.co.uk/ explain ghost fishing as, "The problem of ghost fishing gear has reached public prominence over the past five years. It is a normal but unfortunate part of fishing that nets, pots, and lines become lost. This is rarely a deliberate act on behalf of the fishing community, but simply a reality of a very harsh environment.

The main issue of this derelict fishing gear sometimes referred to as "ghost gear," is that any discarded, lost, or abandoned, fishing gear in the marine environment. This gear continues to fish and trap animals, entangle and potentially kill marine life, smother habitat, and act as a hazard to navigation. Derelict fishing gear, such as nets or traps and pots, is one of the main types of debris impacting the marine environment today."

We did not find any marine life tangled up within the deep-sea mooring, just our sensors!

Incredibly, it was just this one microcat sensor that had held the longline in place, which over time with the currents had then got attached around the buoys and tangled themselves. The microcat was not even damaged. 

Estelle and Lewis took the time to detach the metal hooks so that they could be recycled. The net did not look that old. We think what happened was that the hook must have got caught to the microcat when deploying their net and when it got caught the only option was for them to cut the line...!

It then got tangled around all of the buoyancy buoys.

So from a scientist's perspective, the next question would be did this mess (cause an anomaly) up the data? The plot below was plotted by tech Lewis Drysdale from SAMS on Matlab. I personally thought that the weight of the net would have dragged the whole mooring system downward or sideways. Like this: 

What actually happened is that it looks like there was enough buoyancy to prevent the deep-sea mooring from moving off course from vertical. The data below correlates to data we have seen over the years of collecting this data. Over the two years of this dataset, it shows the usual interannual variation in currents. 

One of the other big issues about these nets is the plastic and debris left behind!! There is a great podcast from Costing the Earth about ghost netting and there is a diver from ghost fishing helping remove a net they found. 

"Plastic nets and equipment left in the ocean by fishing boats are estimated to make up over 10% of marine rubbish and in the 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' over 40% of the accumulated plastic is lost fishing gear. Even worse these plastic 'ghost nets' can go on catching fish and attracting other wildlife which then becomes entangled too. Often these nets are very old and once they finally do start to degrade they add to the problem of 'microplastics' which are ingested by sea creatures. It's a big global problem but as Lucy Siegle discovers in Cornwall and Italy there are lots of solutions on offer and teams of enthusiastic volunteer divers who want to get these old nets out of the sea and into a recycling scheme.

With the help of 'Ghost Fishing UK,' Lucy takes a look at what can be done to prevent more 'ghost gear' being lost and to help get existing nets out of our oceans and she mentions how tax causes issues of recycling the nets, however, there are now new projects that recycle the nets to make kayaks, jewelry, and many other things. The crux of the matter is that the nets are super expensive and fishermen do not mean to dump their nets unless there is no other option, they want and need the nets for their livelihood. When the net disappears so does their own money and they put 5% is usually set aside in their budget for lost gear. 

As usual...and it is a pet hate of mine because people just do not seem capable to do it properly...communication. Communication between the fishermen especially, their lost gear and catch, and also between a reporting system to get a team of divers, for example, to work together to prevent the net from becoming ghost gear. Lucy concluded, "Changes in legislation could set the president for global action. A small change could have big results!" 

One reason for writing this blog was for me to learn too, did you know that you can report what you find!" All scuba divers can contribute to the clean up of our oceans by reporting any ghost gear they see on their dives to Ghost Fishing UK through our online reporting system on this website."

For the future? Well as Sir David Attenborough in his latest documentary called, 'A life on our planet' he alludes to overfishing and how we should live in more of a sustainable way, especially with overfishing... which I think I will talk about in a different blog because it is a large topic! 

Skippering!

After the research cruise in October, I spent two weeks cramming for my Yachtmaster Coastal skipper exam. I was awarded a scholarship from Trinity House and the RYA last year to do all of this training! 

I spent 4 long days getting used to Bold Ranger, a Nelson 42 owned by James at https://hebrideanseaschool.com/

These blue sheets across the windows are to represent fog. We practiced our blind nav using just speed, distance, time, and using radar. 

These are all of the things that we get tested on in 1.5 days and need to know off by heart and be competent! It is a big scary list, however, over the years I have been building this up so it was great to actually test my knowledge and skill! 

International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea Questions will be confined to the International Regulations and although candidates must be aware of the existence of Local Regulations, they will not be expected to memorise specific local regulations. 

 General Rules (1-3)  Steering and sailing rules (4-19)  Lights and shapes (20-31)  Sound and light signals (32-31)  Signals for vessels fishing in close proximity (Annex II)  Distress signals (Annex IV) Safety Candidates will be expected to know what safety equipment should be carried on board a motor yacht, based either on the recommendations in the RYA Boat Safety Handbook (C8), the ISAF Special Regulations or the Codes of Practice for the Safety of Small Commercial Vessels. In particular, candidates must know the responsibilities of a skipper in relation to:  Safety harnesses  Lifejackets  Distress flares  Fire prevention and fighting  Liferafts  Knowledge of rescue procedures  Helicopter rescue Boat Handling Candidates will be expected to answer questions and demonstrate ability in complex situations and will also be expected to show a high level of expertise in:  Coming to and weighting anchor under power in various conditions of wind and tide  All berthing and unberthing situations in various conditions of wind and tide  Recovery of man overboard  Towing under open sea conditions and in confined areas  Boat handling in confined areas  Boat handling in heavy weather  Helmsmanship  Use of warps for securing in an alongside berth and for shifting berth or winding HEBRIDEAN SEA SCHOOL General seamanship, including maintenance  Properties, use and care of synthetic fibre ropes  Knots  General deck-work at sea and in harbour  Engine operations and routine checks Responsibilities of skipper  Can skipper a motor cruiser  Communication with crew  Delegation of responsibility and watch-keeping organisation  Preparing vessel for sea and for adverse weather  Tactics for heavy weather and restricted visibility  Emergency and distress situations  Victualling for a cruise and feeding at sea  Customs procedures  Standards of behaviour and courtesy Navigation  Charts, navigational publications and sources of navigational information  Chartwork including position fixing and shaping course to allow for tidal stream and leeway  Tide and tidal stream calculations  Buoyage and visual aids to navigation  Instruments including compasses, logs, echo sounders, radio navaids and chartwork instruments  Passage planning and navigational tactics  Pilotage techniques  Navigational records  Limits of navigational accuracy and margins of safety  Lee shore dangers  Use of electronic navigation aids for passage planning and passage navigation  Use of waypoints and electronic routeing  Use of radar for navigation, pilotage and collision avoidance Meteorology  Definition of terms  Sources of weather forecasts  Weather systems and local weather effects  Interpretation of weather forecasts, barometric trends and visible phenomena  Ability to make passage planning decisions based on forecast information Signals  Candidates must hold the Restricted (VHF only) Certificate of Competence in radiotelephony or a higher grade of certificate in radiotelephony

Having two engines means that if you keep the helms neutral you can use the engines to park! 

We had a gale force 8 for the day and night of the exam - typical. I thought it would throw me off, especially when the table flew across the room as we went over a big wave. These big rollers were not just big in the daytime of the exam but also for the night navigation. The big waves meant that we could not take our usual transit across to places so had to go up into the waves and directly down then so we were not caught on the beam which could cause us to capsize. 

 Straight after the exam I was out on the boats at work at SAMS on Seol Mara and up Loch Etive. 

We then launched the RIB Uisge and I gave inductions to staff so that they could be signed off as skipper and crew! 

Now instead of 4 miles I can go 20 miles offshore in all sorts of power vessels.

Adrian, checking to see how the seaweed has grown!

I also did some drills and training on the vessel Seol Mara at work so eventually next summer I can get ticked off to skipper her with staff and students. This is the emergency tiller! 

Sunsets always make me reflect. I have one more year left of the scholarship. So because I love to stress myself out, next year I am heading down to Plymouth in the summer to get tested for my Yachtmaster RYA Sailing Offshore, I will then convert the Sail Offshore ticket (if I pass) to Power Offshore. I am also planning to do my ocean theory exam before I head off in March to the Caribbean where Al and I are bringing a yacht back to the UK! Hopefully, this all goes to plan but over 2021 I am going to work hard to try and complete this, but who knows!