Marine Life Features and Their Transmissibility Through Broadcasting

Avid readers find in literature real or imaginary scenarios, which are written in such a way that make them visit the portrayed places. The same goes for films, or documentary series, where the narrator plays a fundamental role in captivating the viewer. Both means are inductors of cultural and/or nature tourism, regardless of everyone's personal motivations. The transmission of values is important and varies over time. In the past some marine animals were perceived negatively by humans, which has faded over time. Ecotourism with activities related to the sea is a relatively recent tourism niche. Nature films or series are often boosters of impulses in tourists for the search for natural, unexplored places or places with little human pressure. Some tourist activities in the nature tourism line developed all over the world—from this induction—such as the cases of diving and observation of marine animals.

Self-powered wireless sensing platform for monitoring marine life based on harvesting hydrokinetic energy of water currents

This work presents fully underwater triboelectric nanogenerators (UTENGs) to harvest hydrokinetic energy of water currents towards self-powered marine life sensors and IoT applications.

Waste Management Practices of Beach Resorts in Biliran Province

A beach resort is a tourist spot, which is excellent for family outings and friends. It is a great place to relax and enjoy. Biliran has known for several different tourist spots, especially the beaches. Beach is one of the famous tourist spots, and those beaches are a haven for scuba divers because of the abundance of marine life. The study’s goal was to find out how beach resorts in Almeria, Biliran, dealt with waste. A descriptive research design was adopted in this study. It's descriptive in the sense that it describes beach resort trash management procedures. Leaves and seaweeds are the most general rubbish found at resorts, according to the findings of the study. According to the results, management should provide more training to employees to improve their knowledge of work and how to become more effective workers in their respective fields.

A Review of Microplastics Risk Assessment in the Coastal Environment

Pollution from microplastics has recently become a prevalent threat to the ecosystem. Microplastics with a dimension less than or equal to 5 mm are smaller. There are many ways that microplastics can reach the atmosphere. By various mechanisms, the breakdown of macro plastics will happen. Chemical degradation, tire abrasion, is the most common forms of degradation. Microplastics (MPs) pollution in the coastal and marine ecosystem is currently a global problem. Transferring MPs from land to sea and allowing them to enter the food chain has a direct negative impact on marine life and human health. The combined toxicity effects of MicroPlastics (MPs) and other contaminants in marine environments, as well as their toxicity effects and mechanisms based on a variety of environmentally important test organisms, were also covered in this study.

Long-Term Patterns of Noise From Underwater Explosions and Their Relation to Fisheries in Southern California

Acoustic deterrents can reduce marine mammal interactions with fisheries and aquacultures, but they contribute to an increasing level of underwater noise. In Southern California, commercially produced explosive deterrents, commonly known as “seal bombs,” are used to protect fishing gear and catch from pinniped predation, which can cause extensive economic losses for the fishing community. Passive acoustic monitoring data collected between 2005 and 2016 at multiple sites within the Southern California Bight and near Monterey Bay revealed high numbers of these small-charge underwater explosions, long-term, spatio-temporal patterns in their occurrence, and their relation to different commercial purse-seine fishing sectors. The vast majority of explosions occurred at nighttime and at many nearshore sites high explosion counts were detected, up to 2,800/day. Received sound exposure levels of up to 189 dB re 1 μPa2-s indicate the potential for negative effects on marine life, especially in combination with the persistence of recurring explosions during periods of peak occurrence. Due to the highly significant correlation and similar spatio-temporal patterns of market squid landings and explosion occurrence at many sites, we conclude that the majority of the recorded explosions come from seal bombs being used by the California market squid purse-seine fishery. Additionally, seal bomb use declined over the years of the study, potentially due to a combination of reduced availability of market squid driven by warm water events in California and regulation enforcement. This study is the first to provide results on the distribution and origin of underwater explosions off Southern California, but there is a substantial need for further research on seal bomb use in more recent years and their effects on marine life, as well as for establishing environmental regulations on their use as a deterrent.

A REVIEW OF PRACTICAL METHODS FOR REDUCING UNDERWATER NOISE POLLUTION FROM LARGE COMMERCIAL VESSELS

Underwater noise pollution from shipping is of considerable concern for marine life, particularly due to the potential for raised ambient noise levels in the 10-300Hz frequency range to mask biological sounds. There is widespread agreement that reducing shipping noise is both necessary and feasible, and the International Maritime Organization is actively working on the issue. The main source of noise is associated with propeller cavitation, and measures to improve propeller design and wake flow may also reduce noise. It is likely that the noisiest 10% of ships generate the majority of the noise impact, and it may be possible to quieten these vessels through measures that also improve efficiency. However, an extensive data set of full scale noise measurements of ships under operating conditions is required to fully understand how different factors relate to noise output and how noise reduction can be achieved alongside energy saving measures.

Shark Finning Legislation and Shark Welfare. An Analysis of the Kristin Jacobs Ocean Conservation Act

Thousands of sharks are cruelly killed worldwide every day due to the lucrative shark finning trade. This practice is negatively impacting marine life, as sharks are the greatest ocean predators and maintain the delicate balance of the marine ecosystem. Shark finning consists of removing the fins and discarding the rest. The sharks are alive during the process, and when tossed back into the water without fins they cannot swim, thus sinking to the depths where they asphyxiate and / or are devoured by other fish. The fins are primarily consumed in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Asian communities elsewhere in the world for making shark-fin soup. Efforts to stop the practice of shark finning vary, ranging from demanding fisheries to bring sharks to land before removing the fins, to prohibiting the trade of shark products, to the total ban of shark fishing. Legislation varies significantly between countries and states, ranging from zero to absolute protection, whereby absolute means prohibiting the possession, sale, importation and exportation of shark fins. The economic implications of the shark-fin trade are considerable, which renders the application of laws and regulations very difficult. However, the increasing business of diving with sharks offers an alternative that shows us that the value of a living shark is far greater than when it is sold for parts. Analyzing legislation from the United States, as well as international legislation, aims to show its weakness when it comes to efforts to protect sharks, and in particular the application of the concept of shark welfare when legislating in their favor. The case study will focus on the Kristin Jacobs Ocean Conservation Act, investigating and analyzing the legal efforts made in the state of Florida (USA) to stop shark finning, and analyzing the legal implications for shark welfare.

DIVE SITE ATTRACTIVENESS INDEX (DSAI) AS AN INNOVATION IN SCUBA DIVING TOURISM: A CASE OF PERHENTIAN ISLANDS

Dive sites which are home to various forms of marine life, unique structures and corals have become the main attraction for scuba divers. Divers normally choose the most attractive diving sites by visiting dive centers or getting referrals from other divers. However, there is problem in conventional subjective judgments where no standard measures have been considered. As a result, the judgments on dive site attractiveness may satisfy some divers but not others. To avoid these uncertainties, this research innovatively developed the world’s first index model for the attractiveness a dive site. Eight factors have been carefully selected, namely visibility, current stability, uniqueness of underwater scenery, coral health, the immensity of the coral reef, diversity and density of marine life. Then, these identified factors were ranked and assessed by using an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Evidential Reasoning (ER). Finally, all dive sites are indexed so it can be compared with others for better decision-making. To test the applicability of this proposed model, 22 dive sites in Perhentian Island were successfully assessed, indexed, and mapped. Terumbu Tiga (T3), Sail Rock and Tokong Laut were indexed as the top three dive sites in Perhentian Islands. The results also showed that the most profound factor that determined the attractiveness of a dive site was the diversity of its marine life followed by the diversity of its coral species, and the uniqueness of its underwater scenery. Practically, this model can be applied and widely used for indexing all dive sites in the world based on decision-makers’ preferences. It is expected that this index model will benefit divers, dive centers, marine parks, and related agencies by providing a new information that can be used in marine tourism.