Let's Sea

We chat all things polar bear with the wonderful Kiersten King, a researcher with Polar Bears International! These sea-based bears will blow your mind; from their spiritual history, to how they use their big ol’ paws, you’ll bear-ly believe it.

BIG TAKEAWAY: The Arctic is vital in regulating our global climate - from the Sahara, to Antarctica, to the Amazon, it all starts in the land of the polar bear. Protecting these bears from the effects of climate change is also an act to protect ALL people and species.

Resources:

💡Researcher Spotlight: Dr. Thea Bechshoft

🔎Deeper Dive Read: “Polar Bears: The Natural History of a Threatened Species” by Dr. Stirling

🌊Conservation in Action: Polar Bears International

🤙Episode Shoutouts: NNOCCI

*This one is dedicated to a lovely creature who crossed the rainbow bridge today, a sweet tiny pup named Cupcake who acted like she was as big as a polar bear. CC will be sorely missed by Ash and her fam.*

Art by Fox and Fish Printing @foxandfishprinting

Music by Garrett Gordon and Steve Colwell of High and Dry @highanddryrock and Low Tide @lowtide.hc

Listen in as we octopi our hearts with the ink-credible Chanel Hason The Zooquarium Podcast! We dive into these brilliant, donut-brained creatures (no, really), and answer the question - is it octopi, octopuses, or neither?

BIG TAKEAWAY: Octopus continue to surprise and enthrall us with their intelligence. Honestly, best eco-forward message we can share this episode? Go talk about the cool stuff you learn; the world needs more wonder.

Resources:

💡Researcher Spotlight: Behavioral Neuroscientist, Dominic Sivitilli

🔎Deeper Dive Reads: 1) Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt 2) The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery 3) Weird is Beautiful: the Wisdom of Octopuses by Liz Marvin

🌊Conservation in Action: Education is conservation - check out OctoNation!

🤙Episode Shoutouts: The Portland Aquarium & The Zooquarium Podcast; The Elakha Alliance

Art by Fox and Fish Printing @foxandfishprinting

Music by Garrett Gordon and Steve Colwell of High and Dry @highanddryrock and Low Tide @lowtide.hc

Listen in as we chat with Kaitlyn Kowaleski of University of Washington’s Sea Grant to find out how many eyes scallops have, and how oddly similar to Pac Man they are. Stick around to hear Ash’s Art History degree finally come in handy.

BIG TAKEAWAY: Because scientists worked WITH scallop fishers to identify the right course of action, instead of without them, the US scallop fisheries are an incredible conservation success story. If you eat seafood, support your community fisheries and the environment at once by choosing local!

Resources:

💡Researcher Spotlight: Our Special Guest @katiethemolluscenthusiast

🔎Deeper Dive Read: ‘Scallops: A New England Coastal Cookbook’ by Elaine & Karin Tammi

🌊Conservation in Action: Marine Stewardship Council @mscbluefishtick

🤙Episode Shoutouts: Podcast about marine worms: seagrant.umaine.edu/category/coastal-conversations/

💰Sustainable Brand We Love: Maine Lobster Now @mainelobsternow for sustainable seafood & their community support

Art by Fox and Fish Printing @foxandfishprinting

Music by Garrett Gordon and Steve Colwell of High and Dry @highanddryrock and Low Tide @lowtide.hc

Listen in as we discuss the amazing lives of bluefin tuna with our new pal from @millerswildlife, Jason Miller! From how powerful they are, to the crazy way their circulatory system works, these huge fish are way beyond shelf staples or sushi stars. We also devolve into chats about The Office, skunks, Gloucester fishermen, sharks, and red bellied cooters.

🎣BIG TAKEAWAY: Successful conservation happens when there is collaboration with the stakeholders in adjacent industries. If we cannot work with fisheries to foster understanding and shared interests about tuna, we will lack the support needed to implement effective conservation measures.

🍣Not a fisherperson, but still want to support sustainable fisheries? You can still help!

- Before you buy seafood, check to see if it is a sustainably caught species. Don’t see the species or location listed? Ask!

- Don’t know which fish are sustainable? Check out Monterey Bay Aquarium’s @seafoodwatch

- ‘Dolphin Safe’ markers are a good start, but it doesn’t mean its sustainable

Resources:

💡Researcher Spotlight: UMass Boston Large Pelagics Research Lab @tunalab

🔎Deeper Dive Read: ‘Kings of Their Own Ocean’ by Karen Pinchin

🌊Conservation in Action: Monterey Bay Aquarium’s @seafoodwatch app

🤙Episode Shoutouts: Brian Barczyk @snakebytestv

💰Sustainable Brand We Love: American Tuna @americantuna

Want to get involved with this type of work and live in the New England area? Anglers can sign up to volunteer with the @tunalab program, ‘Tag a Tiny’, which helps track juvenile bluefin tuna - tunalab.org

Art by Fox and Fish Printing @foxandfishprinting

Music by Garrett Gordon and Steve Colwell of High and Dry @highanddryrock and Low Tide @lowtide.hc

What was the ‘seapup’, what does it have to do with the Titanic, General Mills, and a revolution in scientific discovery? Listen in as we explore Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's history, focusing on deep sea exploration and the discovery of hydrothermal vent communities!

BIG TAKEAWAY: Don’t let yourself become indifferent! Take a pause before you make a purchase and think about it. Use your technology until it doesn’t work anymore, buy used, and look into Right to Repair laws in your area. Vote for officials who are against deep sea mining and support environmental efforts.

Resources:

💡Researcher Spotlight: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution @whoi.ocean

🔎Deeper Dive Read: “Octopus's Garden: Hydrothermal Vents And Other Mysteries Of The Deep Sea” by Dr. Cindy Lee Van Dover (1st female Alvin pilot!)

🌊Conservation in Action: Deep Sea Conservation Coalition @deep_sea_conserve

🤙Episode Shoutouts: Story of Stuff; ‘rethinking stuff’ @storyofstuff

💰Sustainable Brand We Love: Beach Cleaned, jewellery made from materials gathered during beach cleanups! beachcleaned.com

Art by Fox and Fish Printing @foxandfishprinting

Music by Garrett Gordon and Steve Colwell of High and Dry @highanddryrock and Low Tide @lowtide.hc

Listen in as we chat about the seaside trees that walk: mangroves! We’re joined by Stephanie Cadaval , Alyssa Vinson , and Jose Cajiga Lopez who will blow your minds about these funky flora.

BIG TAKEAWAY: Mangroves are living shorelines, and vital for the health and safety of our seashore communities. Let’s channel our inner Lorax and speak for the trees - before trimming mangroves, consult local policies & work with a certified arborist!

Resources:

💡Researcher Spotlight: UF/IFAS School of Forest, Fisheries, & Geomatics Sciences

🔎Deeper Dive Read: “Florida Mangroves: A Visual Guide to ID & Conservation” by UF/IFAS

🌊Conservation in Action: Mangrove Action Project

🤙Episode Shoutouts: Florida Wildlife Commission - myfwc.com

💰Sustainable Brand We Love: Mang Apparel - Education, Restoration, Apparel

Art by Fox and Fish Printing @foxandfishprinting

Music by Garrett Gordon and Steve Colwell of High and Dry @highanddryrock and Low Tide @lowtide.hc

Listen in as we chat with marine conservation ecologist and plankton expert, Professor Abigail McQuatters-Gollop, about her work shaping our world’s understanding of plankton’s important role in our environment. We chat about all things jellyfish (aka jellies), how changing water temperature affects them (not how you may think), fun on ferries, international policies, and a smack-ton more!

BIG TAKEAWAY: While jellies and their fellow plankton may seem disparate from politics, they’re key indicators of larger ecosystem changes and therefore a vital part of our environmental decision making processes. The best thing you can do to support these complex ecosystems is to vote for civic leaders who will make positive large-scale change. Don’t know your candidate’s platforms? Ask!

Also, Jellies are the quintessential F-around and find out. We shouldn’t need to tell you, but… Don’t touch wild creatures!

Resources:

💡Researcher Spotlight: Abigail’s TEDx Talk: youtu.be/Xkqei3ZxS5I?si=6unUih3SCDw_yrd9

🔎Deeper Dive Read: Spineless: The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone by Juli Berwald

🌊Conservation in Action: @archipelagosimc works with Mediterranean Science Commission on JellyWatch, which uses citizen scientists to track jelly blooms!

🤙Episode Shoutouts: The Continuous Plankton Recorder cprsurvey.org

💰Sustainable Brand We Love: @chnge for fantastic clothes (we know it’s a duplicate, but Ash talks about them in the episode)

In this first episode of SEAson 3, we’re going bananas for leopard seals with Banana Boy #2 himself, Scotty Landes from The Bananas Podcast! In our first flipped-script episode, we dig into the secret lives of these Antarctic predators (literally, we don’t know much about them). Are they science fiction, the stuff of explorer legend, or oddly motherly creatures trying to teach humans to hunt penguins? Sea for yourself!

BIG TAKEAWAY: Did you know sound travels faster in water than in air? Even in the Antarctic, the sounds of large cargo ships zigzagging the ocean cause issues to animals like the leopard seal. The noise of these ships has significantly increased in the last few years with the rise of online shopping. These unregulated sounds can lead to decreased mating, hunting, and communication for an animal we still don’t know much about. Think hard about if you actually need that next-day delivery!

Resources:

💡Researcher Spotlight: Sarah Stachura Kienle @sarahstachurakienle

🔎Deeper Dive Reads: For the littles: ‘Leopard Seals (Life at the Poles)’ by Dr. Rita Santos; For adults: ‘Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage’ by Alfred Lansing

🌊Conservation in Action: Kienle Lab; Leopard Seal Biology @leopardsealbiology

🤙Episode Shoutouts: Leopard Seal noises from @oceanconservationresearch

💰Sustainable Brand We Love: Wild: refillable skin care in cute containers with great scents @wildrefill_us

Art by Fox and Fish Printing @foxandfishprinting

Music by Garrett Gordon and Steve Colwell of High and Dry @highanddryrock and Low Tide @lowtide.hc

You know the term ‘big baby’, but what about a 75-pound newborn that sounds like a velociraptor? Listen in as we chat with The Marine Mammal Center’s own Adam Ratner about one of the biggest shnozs in the sea, the elephant seal!

BIG TAKEAWAY: Given ease of access, animals who habitually raise their young on the beach are inherently targets for human predation; even one of the biggest, boldest creatures in the sea was nearly hunted to extinction. The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) is one of the elephant seals’ best protections from human interference, but it's in danger of being repealed.

🚨If you live in the US, go to https://www.marinemammalcenter.org/help-save-the-marine-mammal-protection-act for ways to act to protect the MMPA!! 🚨

Resources:

💡Researcher Spotlight: Hearst San Simeon State Park @hearstsansimeonstatepark & Año Nuevo State Park @anonuevosp

🔎Deeper Dive Read: “I Am a Seal: The Life of an Elephant Seal” by Darlene R. Stille

🌊Conservation in Action: The Marine Mammal Center @TheMarineMammalCenter - Live in the SF Bay area? Consider volunteering!

🤙Episode Shoutouts: Free 24-hour livestream of @pointreyesnps (rookery site) linked in bio!

💰Sustainable Brand We Love: @seventhgeneration - for anything you need to clean your home. Ash is obsessed with the lemon dishwasher packs 🍋

Baby seal sounds from Tristan Biological: youtube.com/watch?v=-TITeuzRIeI

Art by Fox and Fish Printing @foxandfishprinting

Music by Garrett Gordon and Steve Colwell of High and Dry @highanddryrock and Low Tide @lowtide.hc

What is the Everglades, and how is its wellness intertwined with the ocean? Listen in as we discuss Kait’s hometown ecosystem(s) and why they are critical to the surrounding marine & terrestrial communities.

BIG TAKEAWAY: You may have heard of Alligator Alcatraz, an ICE ‘detention center’, but have you heard of the vital wetlands that it’s being built on? Speaking up against the construction of this human rights disaster protects countless people, animals, and these unique water-based ecosystems!

This episode is dedicated to Dr. Dan Diresta, Kait’s first marine science mentor. Academia can feel cold, especially for women, but this wise, accomplished man was nothing but kind and encouraging. He wanted you to learn, not be judged. From the little girl that felt seen - Thank you, for everything 💙

Resources:

💡Researcher Spotlight: Audubon Everglades @auduboneverglades

🔎Deeper Dive Read: “The Everglades: River of Grass” by Marjory Stoneman Douglas

🌊Conservation in Action: Friends of the Everglades @friendsoftheeverglades

🤙Episode Shoutouts: Clyde Butcher; Center for Biodiversity, Earth Justice

@clydebutcher @centerforbiodiv @earthjustice

💰Sustainable Brand We Love: @chnge makes ethical + pro-environment clothing while donating portions of profits to amazing causes like The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (@chirla_org)

Art by Fox and Fish Printing @foxandfishprinting

Music by Garrett Gordon and Steve Colwell of High and Dry @highanddryrock and Low Tide @lowtide.hc