Don’t Release Your Balloons!
Here at Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center we participate in the Clean Ocean Initiative. Each time marine debris is spotted during the cruise we collect it and record the day, weather conditions, as well as take a picture of the debris. Balloons are our most collected piece of debris. It is important to…
Biomagnification and Persistence of Chemical Marine Pollution
As the abundance of marine debris in the form of plastics and other trash increases, we have also seen a great increase in community efforts to minimize this trash. It is easy to visualize the damage done in the piles of trash on the beach, mylar balloons floating at sea, and the famous pictures of…
Australia at the Forefront of Marine Debris
The sea is a mysterious place. Mostly undiscovered, uncharted and unknown territory lies beneath the oceans that we see at the beach each day. Approximately 70 percent of the earth is covered by water. Only 20 percent of that water has been explored. The ocean may seem like a foreign and exotic place, but when…
Biomimicry Thinking; Learning from Nature’s Genius
It is argued that the human species is the most intelligent species to roam the planet. We communicate in depth, we have extraordinary cognitive abilities, and we build and expand like no other species – but, we build our complicated designs and stable habitats in an ever changing environment. There is indeed something that we…
The Water Quality in Cape May, New Jersey and its Effects on Bottlenose Dolphins
The Water Quality in Cape May, New Jersey and its Effects on Bottlenose Dolphins Mary Jacketti Intern at Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center, University of Miami Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine if the Atlantic Ocean or Delaware Bay in Southern New Jersey was clean or polluted. We…
A World of Plastic
Marine debris is any man-made solid material that has been directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed or abandoned into the marine environment (NOAA, What is marine debris?). 60% to 80% of all marine debris is composed of plastic (Derraik 2002). Plastics are lightweight, durable, and cheap synthetic organic polymers. This has allowed them to…
What is Light Pollution?
My bedroom at home is on the top floor of our house. It sits back from the main road and there are no streetlights that flood my room with a hazy orange glow. Instead, the only thing I can see at night is the distinct outline of the pine trees that line my yard. Sometimes I pop the screen of one of my windows out and crawl through my open window onto the roof so I can view the unobstructed night sky. The Big Dipper is always easily visible on a clear night, as is Orion, and even the Seven Sisters, faint and clustered together. I can even see the Milky Way. This, I have come to realize, is a rare view for most of the world’s population. A view of the Milky Way over Eagle Lake, Acadia National Park,…
Biomagnification of Pollution in Bottlenose Dolphins
The North Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins that reside in the Cape May, NJ waters are at the top of their food chain. With no viable predators, our dolphins are free to rule the waters, while consuming whatever they choose. As this may seem advantageous for our dolphins, it has actually become a serious health problem. Like…