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Showing posts from June, 2014

Jellyfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium - and World Oceans Day

Jellyfish. All photographs (except blue whale) Copyright  ©  2014 Alexander Chow-Stuart. Today (Sunday, June 8, 2014) is World Oceans Day.   71% - or almost three quarters - of our beautiful planet is covered by oceans , and yet we do not give them the love and respect that they deserve.  We pollute them disgustingly (the Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon disasters are only two of the most publicized instances of our damage to the oceans), even on an individual level, every time someone leaves a plastic candy bar wrapper or a soda can or styrofoam cup on the beach. We overfish them, hugely depleting creatures such as the bluefin tuna and the cod. We eat clams that have taken 200 years to grow - and will not grow to that size again for another 200 years, if they survive at all. Despite treaties, dolphins and whales are still hunted (particularly by the Japanese) - these glorious creatures who are among the most magnificent on Earth. Blue whale. Photograph courtesy W