Quick Dips
Curated topical articles on the Blue Economy

New Research to Explore Seaweed for Ocean, Economic Health

• Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences • Energy Solutions • Fisheries & Aquaculture

A nearly $900,000 grant awarded to Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences will be used to explore how kelp aquaculture can remediate negative effects of climate change. The international project is funded by World Wildlife Fund with support from the Bezos Earth Fund.

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New Online Platform Creates Knowledge Portal for Aquaculture Farmers

• Writing Staff, SEVENSEAS Media • Fisheries & Aquaculture

The Gulf of Maine Research Institute announced the launch of The Maine Aquaculturist — a free-to-use online knowledge portal designed to help Maine’s sea farmers access an array of existing business resources across the state.

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Methane-Busting Seaweed Farms on Track for 2021 Production

• Andrew Spence, SEVENSEAS Media • Energy Solutions • Fisheries & Aquaculture

Construction of the first farm and processing plant to turn red seaweed into a feed supplement for cows to reduce their methane production by 90 per cent is expected to begin mid next year in South Australia.

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Eight small-scale Indonesian tuna fisheries earn MSC certification

• Madelyn Kearns, SeafoodSource • Fisheries & Aquaculture

The International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF), in partnership with IPNLF member Asosiasi Perikanan Pole and Line dan Handline Indonesia (AP2HI), has announced that eight Indonesian one-by-one tuna fisheries have achieved Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification.

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4 Climate Finance Priorities for the Biden Administration

• Joe Thwaites, World Resources Institute • Energy Solutions

Providing funding to poorer nations to undertake climate action is not only a moral and legal responsibility for developed countries, but also a strategic investment in a cleaner and more resilient world. Such support pays dividends by reducing the severity and costs of climate impacts for people, including extreme weather, ecosystem loss and societal instability both at home and abroad.

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The great blue economy wave

• Investors' Corner, BNP Paribas Asset Management

The sheer size of the blue economy means it can offer substantial development potential around ocean resources. Having already seen major technological development, the blue economy can provide investors with unique opportunities.

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Sea Grant awards $4.7 million to strengthen economics of U.S. aquaculture

• Hallee Meltzer, NOAA • Fisheries & Aquaculture

Sea Grant today announced $4.7 million in federal funding to support 12 research projects to advance the understanding of the economics of aquaculture businesses and provide the industry with important market information to aid sustainable growth in the U.S.

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Gas-powered infrastructure achieves first fire at DOE carbon capture test site

• Power Engineering International • Energy Solutions

The National Carbon Capture Center has announced the “first fire” of its new natural gas infrastructure, paving the way for the first test runs of carbon capture technologies using actual natural gas-derived flue gas.

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Biden Administration Commits to Protect 30% of U.S. Land and Ocean by 2030

• World Resources Institute

WASHINGTON (January 27, 2021)—President Biden signed sweeping Executive Orders to address climate change, protect biodiversity, improve environmental justice and create clean energy jobs across America.

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Scientists and scallop industry team up to study effects of ocean acidification

• National Ocean Service, NOAA • Fisheries & Aquaculture

Understanding vulnerability to coastal acidification: scientists, oyster growers and restoration specialists working together in the Chesapeake Bay.

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Mangroves threatened by plastic pollution from rivers, new study finds

• GRID-Arendal • Plastics & Pollution

Mangrove ecosystems are at particular risk of being polluted by plastic carried from rivers to the sea. 

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Can Macroalgae Save the Planet?

• Clayton Starr, The Liquid Grid • Fisheries & Aquaculture

Nature-based or natural climate solutions involve managing ecosystems to respond to climate change. One strategy with increasing buzz is macroalgae aquaculture and restoration. 

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3 Shifts to Advance Adaptation and Resilience in 2021

• Manish Bapna and Christina Chan, World Resources Institute • Energy Solutions

The COVID-19 pandemic did not break the world, but rather revealed a world already broken. COVID-19 and the climate crisis exposed the fragility of economies and societies, upending the lives of people worldwide and, in particular, harming vulnerable communities and countries already facing multiple challenges.

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History made: Renewable energy surpassed fossil fuels for European electricity in 2020

• Jazmin Goodwin, CNN Business • Energy Solutions

Europeans got more of their electricity from renewable sources than fossil fuels for the first time last year, according to an annual report from Ember and Agora Energiewende.

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Ganges river carrying billions of plastic particles into ocean each day

• Nick Lavars, New Atlas • Plastics & Pollution

A group of scientists studying the flow of plastic into the ocean have found a startling amount of pollution exiting South Asia's largest river systems.

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Four themes that will shape aquaculture in 2021

• Sarah Riddle, The Fish Site • Fisheries & Aquaculture

Sarah Riddle, director of business engagement at the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC), looks at four key areas where the sector is likely to evolve during the next 12 months.

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Helping small-scale shrimp farmers gain sustainability recognition

• The Fish Site • Fisheries & Aquaculture

A new initiative to promote promote both social and environmental sustainability in small-scale shrimp farms in Southeast Asia has been launched this week.

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Only a third of UK’s key fish populations are not overfished

• Fiona Harvey, The Guardian • Fisheries & Aquaculture

Only a third of the UK’s key fish populations are in a healthy state, and catches of key species such as cod should be reduced this year as the UK negotiates fishing rights with the EU, according to the first post-Brexit assessment of the UK’s fisheries.

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Meet the next generation turning the tide on plastic pollution

• Taylor Clayton, World Economic Forum • Plastics & Pollution

The pandemic has exacerbated the already severe problem of plastic pollution. Here are eight young people from around the world who are leading the fight against our throwaway culture.

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Combined river flows could send up to 3 billion microplastics a day into the Bay of Bengal

• University of Plymouth, Science Daily • Plastics & Pollution

New research shows the Ganges River - with the combined flows of the Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers - could be responsible for up to 3 billion microplastic particles entering the Bay of Bengal every day.

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