Seas The Day

The Convention of Biological Diversity is set to meet in October 2021 and will discuss adopting a new target of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030. Over the last two decades, there has been a drastic increase in the number of large-scale marine protected areas (MPAs) driven mainly by international MPA targets and a “bigger is better” approach to conservation. In this episode, Megan Swanson and Sage Riddick explore how these often remote ocean spaces can still have important social impacts by looking at two cases: the Chagos Marine Protected Area and the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

In her 2007 book: The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein explores the ways in which institutions take advantage of natural disasters to promote capitalist, neoliberal agendas, under the bill of “build back better.” To illustrate her case, Klein describes how Sri Lanka and other nations tried to use the devastation of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami to “build back better,” introducing that phrase into development for the first time. In this episode, Colleen Baker, Crystal Franco and Claudia Meca take a look more than 15 years after the disaster, and review what actually happened after the tsunami, how the recovery and development process worked, and whether there are ways to build back better, better.

With a focus on "Memorializing the Middle Passage on the Atlantic seabed in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction” (published in the journal of Marine Policy in October 2020), episode host, Stephanie Hillsgrove interviews two of the authors from the paper - Dr. Phillip Turner, Duke University Alumni and Dr. Cindy Van Dover, Professor of Biological Oceanography at Duke University.

Deep-sea mining is a topic of hot debate as groups argue over whether it will be good or bad for the countries where deep sea resources are found. On this episode, Masha Edmondson and Brandon Gertz explore the risks, rewards, and resistance deep-sea mining has sparked in three pacific island nations: Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands, and Fiji. Along the way, deep sea experts Dr. Cindy van Dover and Ph.D. student Elisabetta Menini from Duke University help explain the environmental and human impacts of deep-sea mining and the actions that can be taken to avoid them.

In this podcast, Maddie Paris and Maya Lytje discuss how COVID-19 has influenced marine plastic pollution. They explore the marine conservation, human health, and international equity implications of plastic pollution through the lens of the ongoing pandemic. In exploring these issues, the pair interviews Dr. Dan Rittschof, a professor at the Duke Marine Lab, and John Hocevar, the Greenpeace USA Oceans Campaign Director, to get their perspectives.

In this episode, Rafaella Lobo and Jessica Zhao explore the role of non-government organizations (NGOs) in promoting conservation in developing countries. They focus in particular on the role of and relations among Big International NGOs (BINGOs) and small, local NGOs, the strengths and weaknesses of each.

On this episode, Lillian Dukes, Haoyang Tang, and Franny Oppenheimer address the current status of the North Atlantic right whale and the threats they face like entanglements, ship strikes, and climate change. The episode also explores management measures that have been taken to protect them and considers the future of this critically endangered whale.

On this episode Bree Collins and Erin Sullivan speak with Dr. Andy Read and Dr. Randy Wells about their past, present, and future efforts to save the critically endangered vaquita.

On this episode, the host, Rafaella Lobo, talks to five current and former students, as well as a faculty member, about their experiences leaving their home countries to pursue higher education in the US.

For more information, visit https://sites.nicholas.duke.edu/seastheday/?p=792

In this episode, Maggie, Lily, and Savannah explore the intersections between ecotourism and Indigenous tourism. Using the lens of agency, they use specific cases to highlight how the agency of Indigenous peoples within tourism ventures varies, and with what consequences.