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The Russian military in Arctic training exercises in 2013. Photo by Ageyenko Igor/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis
The Russian military in Arctic training exercises in 2013. Photo by Ageyenko Igor/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis

Stories from the Seven Seas

Coastal news that caught our eye.

Authored by

by Colin Schultz

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Hakai Magazine is all about the coast, but other outlets sometimes share our fascination. Every week on Strand we round up our favorite coastal stories from around the web.

No rest for the Arctic: As big oil pulls out, military muscles in

by Fred Pearce for New Scientist

“Three years ago, miners and oil prospectors were hurtling north as the ice melted, in search of the last great fossil fuel bonanza. That rush has been snuffed out for now by the depressed prices of everything from copper to crude. Chevron, ExxonMobil and Statoil have all abandoned drilling in the Arctic Ocean. But just when it seemed safe for a few years, the region is suddenly full of soldiers.”


Wounded sea turtle gets a 3D-printed jaw

by Kelsey D. Atherton for Popular Science

“To make the jaw, the company scanned the turtle, and then converted those scans into 3D models. Then, they printed the jaw out of medical-grade titanium and mailed it to the rescue center, where surgeons attached the jaw to the turtle. The turtle is still in recovery—scientists have to make sure it doesn’t reject the prosthetic—but thanks to modern technological marvels and the efforts of rescuers, it should be free to return to the seas soon.”


Japanese aquariums vote to stop buying Taiji dolphins

by Justin McCurry for The Guardian

“Taiji, in Wakayama prefecture on the Pacific coast, gained notoriety in the Oscar-winning 2009 documentary The Cove, which showed fishermen herding pods of dolphins into shallow water before killing them with knives.”


Indian Ocean reefs hit by coral bleaching

by Michael Casey for CBS News

“‘You are going from something that was a Pacific Ocean bleaching event to one that is headed towards being a global event,’ Mark Eakin, coordinator of NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch, told CBS News. ‘Every time we had one of these global events, they started in the Pacific, then you had outbreaks in the Indian Ocean and then later a third basin in the Atlantic including the Caribbean. That is what we are on the look out for.’”


The ambitious plan to pump oxygen back into the Baltic Sea

by Steph Yin for Motherboard

“For almost a decade now, Anders Stigebrandt, a 72-year-old retired oceanographer, has been working on a scheme to breathe oxygen back into the Baltic. He wants to use pumps to mix oxygen-rich water into the sea’s hypoxic bottom depths. Now, he is one step closer to realizing his vision.”


Tracking the missing heat from the global warming hiatus

by Christina Reed for Eos

“At the end of the 20th century, climate scientists noticed what they thought at first was an anomaly: a slowdown in the pace of global warming in the lower atmosphere. Today, it is a recognized trend that has lasted more than 15 years. Perplexed, oceanographers are on a hunt to find where this missing heat has gone.”


If your shark photos aren’t good, you’re not close enough

by Jakob Schiller for Wired

“Jorge Hauser has three rules for photographing sharks. First, always make eye contact so the shark knows you’re watching. Second, always dive with a buddy so a shark doesn’t sneak up behind you. And third, no matter what, remain calm so you don’t flail around like a dying seal.”