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GOSSIP DREDGED FROM THE WATER COOLER OF THE MARINE INDUSTRY


Dinosaur mission A compelling presentation was recently


given at IMarEST’s HQ by Oliver Steeds, the founder and CEO of the Nekton Oxford Deep Ocean Research Institute. While outlining Nekton’s next ocean exploration mission, which will explore the deepest and most remote waters of the Indian Ocean, Steeds was asked what he and his team actually hope to discover. After outlining an impressive list of environmental and educational aims, Steeds then revealed that the leading scientist on the mission is actually hoping – in all professional seriousness – that the mission will discover dinosaurs. “At fi rst, I thought he was joking,”


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explained Steed to the audience of leading politicians, media and marine organisations. “But he then went on to convince me that the idea does actually make a great deal of sense. “After all, the scientifi c world was


staggered, in the mid-20th century, when coelacanths, thought to have been extinct for at least 60 million years, were discovered in the Mozambique Channel, living at depths of around 100m. “So, if there are any dinosaurs still


living on the earth they are probably going to be found exactly where we will be looking – hundreds of metres below the surface of the Indian Ocean.”


Star shark


Nothing, it seems, can stop Andy the Tiger Shark. Tagged in Bermuda by scientists in 2014, Andy is now, offi cially, the longest-tracked tiger shark on record. In that time he has travelled 38,000 miles through the Atlantic Ocean, mostly off the east coast of the United States and around Bermuda, the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, surviving extreme temperatures and four major hurricanes.


“We are delighted with


how long Andy has been reporting back data, which has tremendous value for us as researchers,” says Dr Mahmood Shivji, a professor in oceanography at Nova Southeastern University, who has been leading the tagging research team. “This amazing four-year track has


revealed clear repeated patterns in shark migration between summer and winter. “Tracking the migration of sharks for


extended periods allows us to better understand their behaviour and habitat use – resulting in greater knowledge on how to manage the species.” Shivji’s research has revealed that tiger


shark migrations are heavily infl uenced by a shark’s individual physical characteristics (particularly size and age) and environmental variations (particularly water temperature and prey availability). It’s hoped that the new data and information will prompt fi sheries managers to re-evaluate how best to protect this near-threatened species. More than 150 sharks, including tigers,


makos and oceanic whitetips, have been tagged by the university in the last decade, and you can now follow Andy, and the other tagged sharks, in real-time by going to the research team’s website at nova.edu/sharktracking.


Pretty in pink


A shipyard in Japan has ordered vast amounts of magenta paint for a ship under construction for delivery in April. It’s part of the new branding for Ocean Network Express (ONE), a merger of NYK, MOL and K Line, that starts operating later this year. Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis was the fi rst ship owner to introduce magenta paint to his merchant fl eet. Then, a decade ago, Conti Reederei turned heads with its choice of a particularly vibrant pink livery for its ships. And while we’re on the subject of paint, look out for our special coatings reports in the next issue of The Marine Professional.


AROUND THE WEB


A marine biologist claims that a humpback whale saved her from being mauled by a 15-foot tiger shark during a swim in the South Pacifi c. Nan Hauser, president of the Center for Cetacean Research and Conservation, captured the encounter on fi lm. In the footage, the whale can be seen nudging Hauser with its head and seemingly shielding her with its pectoral fi n. See the video for yourself here:


http://ti.me/2CPYAQN


Pirates aren’t known for being voracious readers — but a new discovery from the wreckage of Blackbeard’s fl agship proves that a pirate’s life wasn’t all boozing and plundering. Conservators in the US recently found 16 tiny fragments of paper in one of the ship’s cannons. Their analysis determined that the paper came from a 1712 book by Captain Edward Cooke describing his adventures around South America. Read more about the discovery here: http://bit.ly/2FssTP8


Young dolphins can recognize themselves in a mirror earlier than human children, according to a new study. Self-recognition is often thought of as a measure of intelligence — and dolphins reach this milestone at just seven months of age. Children start showing signs of self-recognition at around one year old, while chimpanzees follow suit at two years of age. Read more here: http://nyti.ms/2D6E7uE


Subsea volcanic eruptions happen around four times a century, but they’re diffi cult to spot. This is why researchers sent one autonomous and one remotely-operated vehicle to the site of one of the largest underwater eruptions in recent history. Their fi ndings showed that Havre Seamount, located north of New Zealand, spewed debris all the way to Micronesia and the eastern Australian seaboard. Read more about subsea volcanoes here: http://bit.ly/2D3ygWW


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