Tag Archives: conservation

NOAA Ocean Exploration Webinar for Educators

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Journey into Midnight – Light and Life Below the Twilight Zone 2019 Expedition

Tuesday, June 4, 2019 at 4:00 PM EDT

Please register at:  https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8902228179294145281

Despite being the largest habitat by volume on the planet, the water column remains one of the most poorly explored environments. This is especially true once one moves below 1000 m into the bathypelagic realm.

Join Dr. Edie Widder, world renowned deep-sea explorer and founder of the Ocean Research and Conservation Association (ORCA), as she shares the fascinating science behind the upcoming NOAA Ocean Exploration and Research supported expedition, Journey into Midnight: Light and Life Below the Twilight Zone.

From June 7 to June 23, 2019, Dr. Widder and her team will explore bathypelagic depths (the water column below 1000 m) in the Gulf of Mexico to study bioluminescence and vision capabilities of the organisms that live there. What we learn is sure to be illuminating!

This 60-minute webinar will provide an introduction to the expedition and associated education resources available online.

Questions? Contact susan.haynes@noaa.gov.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Virtual Research Mission blogs

Posted on by whaleweb

Celebration of Conservation and Creep into the DEEPEND Seamails™

Welcome Teachers. This month we’re posting some of the Seamails and activities from our most recent Virtual Research Missions: Celebration of Conservation and Creep into the DEEPEND.  We’ll post the email from the Science Team member, plus photos, videos, activities, Explorer mini-posters (bios) or other related information or links. For our programs, teachers pick and choose, mix and match the Seamails, photos, activities…etc. how ever you would like to use them with your class. (We put the blog — aka Seamail in pdf format for ease of use in the classroom.)

Here’s the first one from Dave Weller from  the Celebration of Conservation: Gray Whales, Elephant Seals, and Vaquita. Enjoy

Celebration of Conservation Highlights:

TEAM GRAY WHALE

(NOTE: For classroom use only. Seamails, photos, activities and other related curricula are copyrighted and trademarked and cannot be sold, posted, repackaged, or used in any other way without written permission of WhaleTimes, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

It’s Slime Time!

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Merry…uh…Happy, no…hmmm, oh, Hooray,  it’s HAGFISH DAY!!! Celebrate the anniversary of the 9th Hagfish Day Celebration with us October 18, 2017!!! Nine years of exotic, unusual, some might say ugly (we prefer beauty-challenged) ocean animals.

The beautiful hagfish.

The beautiful hagfish.

WhaleTimes created Hagfish Day (in 2009) to celebrate the beauty of ugly. Hagfish are the perfect example. These deep-sea scavengers ooze buckets of slime. They also play an important role in their ecosystem. WhaleTimes believes repugnant and slightly revolting animals like hagfish make great role models for highlighting conservation concerns for all marine animals.
“Sometimes it seems as if ecological causes are popularity contests that exclude the less attractive and less well-known, though equally vulnerable, creatures,” said WhaleTimes Director Ruth Musgrave. “There are species in peril that kids never hear about.”

How do you celebrate Hagfish Day? Classrooms, individuals and families can participate by making Hagfish Slime, writing , make or send a Hagfish Bouquet to a friend. It’s sure to be a good slime! Below are some Hagfish Day activities if you just can’t wait to celebrate the beauty of ugly.

What makes for a great Hagfish Day star? Animals that are a combination of unusual, endangered, and beauty challenged.

 2017 Hagfish Stars Unveiled

 

2017 Hagfish Day Experts: Our extraordinary ocean experts include

Andrew Clark & Hagfish Knots

Want to show your friends you care, but don’t have time to make a  Hagfish Bouquet? Send a Happy Hagfish Day card to a friend. (Click on thumbnail photo, save, and send.)

 

Copyright WhaleTimes Inc LOGO All Rights Reserved

See 60 Minutes segment on Vaquitas

Posted on by whaleweb

This 60 Minutes segment about vaquitas is a must watch!

Join WhaleTimes, Oregon Coast Aquarium’s Oceanscape Network, and Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries as we celebrate 2017 Year of the Vaquita and Save the Vaquita Month every March. Don’t just join us, make a difference. DEMAND sustainable, traceable seafood.

Year of the VaquitaWhaleTimesCopyrightBTaylor

savethevaquita {at} this website

 

Join us at the DEEPEND!

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DEEPENDwhtMediumJoins WhaleTimes at the DEEPEND, no floaties required!

Our DEEPEND Science Team is at sea, right now!  Follow the ship (May 1 to 8th) on the DEEPEND Consortium website.

That means, WhaleTimes’ first set of Postcards from the DEEPEND will be arriving soon!

WhaleTimes is excited to be part of the DEEPEND Project…a consortium of amazing scientists and organizations studying the Gulf of Mexico deep sea.

WhaleTimes will share the DEEPEND science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)  with you through our

 
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DEEPEND research, outreach, and education funded by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GOMRI) award number GOMRI2014-IV-914

News from Dudley: Whale sharks

Posted on by Dudley

Whale Shark WhaleTimes Courtesy NOAA wbsmHi Kids,

This is one of my friends, a whale shark. Whale sharks are the largest fish in the sea and, as you can see, also one of the most beautiful. Whale sharks grow to reach 40 feet or more! Maybe as big as 65 feet long! Their average weight is about 40,000 pounds. That’s about the weight of 10 cars!

Its white spots and pale vertical and horizontal stripes make it easy to identify. They have a flattened head with a blunt snout and a giant mouth. According to EVERYTHING SHARKS (National Geographic Kids, 2011) it’s mouth is almost as wide as a car! Wow!

Don’t worry, this gorgeous giant is only interested in eating plankton (tiny plants and animals).

Like many shark species, whale sharks need our help.  The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) lists whales sharks as vulnerable mostly due to overfishing.

See you later,

Dudley

PS. Remember to join us for Fintastic Friday: Giving Sharks a Voice on May 8, 2015 to celebrate sharks!

Creep into the Deepend!

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Logo Deepend

WhaleTimes is excited to be part of the DEEPEND Project

…a consortium of amazing scientists and organizations studying the Gulf of Mexico deep sea. WhaleTimes will share that science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)  to you through our Creep into the Deep Virtual Research Missions, Postcards from the Deep, Taking Science Deeper Curriculum, and so much more.

Our first Postcards from the Deep…End  arriving this spring.

Our first Creep into the Deep…End cruise, this fall.

Joins WhaleTimes at the DEEPEND, no floaties required!

DEEPEND research, outreach,  and education funded by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative. Thank you!

Learn more about the DEEPEND funding at: http://research.gulfresearchinitiative.org/research-awards/projects/?pid=257

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Invite gray whale experts into your classroom!

Posted on by whaleweb
Gray whale poster weblg

Gray Whale: Celebration of Conservation Poster

Be part of WhaleTimes next Virtual Research Mission…

Gray Whales: Celebration of Conservation

Students connect with Southwest Fisheries Science Center-NOAA (SWFSC) biologists at the Piedras Blancas (California) field station. This is the third year SWFSC scientists have invited classrooms ‘into’ the gray whale research station. Students learn about the importance of monitoring and counting mother-calf pairs, photo identification of individual whales, and more.

Mission Date: April 20 to May 1, 2015

To register or find out about classroom scholarships contact: graywhales2015 this URL