Dalnie Zelentsy looking for diamonds and sea urchins

Marine habitat mapping and Ocean exploration
Research Vessel Dalnie Zelentsy belonging to Murmansk Marine Biological Institute (Russia) sailed this summer for 16 days to the Barents and the White Sea with an interdisciplinary mission. Biologists and geologists of Kola Scientific centre were looking for assessing resources of sea urchins and... diamonds. Together with MMBI scientists there were specialists from Polar Scientific research Institute for Fishery and Oceanography and from Geological institute of Kola Scientific Centre, - 13 scientists from 3 institutes. First stage of the cruise - assessment of sea urchins abundance as indicators of ecosystem health and evaluation of kelp resources was carried in the nearshore zone of the Barents Sea. The second stage was aimed at evaluating the feasibility of diamond exploration in the mouth of the White Sea. The expedition travelled the total of 700nm along the Kola peninsula, visiting fjords and inlets.
11:58 01.07.2004

Blue Crab research program accepting proposals for 2005

The Blue Crab Research Program (BCRP) invites members of the crabbing community and those involved in crabbing related industries and research to submit proposals for funding in 2005.

The program, which is funded by the N.C. General Assembly and administered by North Carolina Sea Grant, seeks innovative research that will help enhance North Carolina's blue crab fishery. Priority funding areas include stock enhancement; population assessment; blue crab biology; shedding technology; and social and economic impacts of the blue crab fishery. Potential research topics include, but are not limited to: crab migration patterns at all life stages; usage and productivity of sanctuary waters; effects of crabbing in estuarine habitats and ecosystems; mortality in shedding operations; methods of reducing pot loss; and male and female reproductive viability. For a complete list of potential topics, visit North Carolina Sea Grant online at www.ncseagrant.org.

Atlantis is a mud volcano.

Sarmast's PR trick certainly worked, beecause of the media boom in discussions of Atlantis' discovery. Physical geographer and marine geologist Dr Ulf Erlingsson says it's a 100,000-year-old mud volcano. This does make more sence, but there is no bad publicity and Google scores for "Sarmast + Atlantis" keep climbing up.

US RV Healy and Swedish Icebreaker Oden planning 2005 voyage

Marine habitat mapping and Ocean exploration
SEATTLE -- The Coast Guard icebreaker Healy, just back from its annual research trek to the Arctic, is already preparing for next year's voyage - a joint venture with Sweden in the white world of the polar north.

The U.S. vessel will be working with the Swedish icebreaker Oden, plowing through sea and ice to take deep sediment samples from the ocean floor at the top of the world. The Healy, which is based here, will set out from Barrow, Alaska, and the Oden from Tromso, Norway.

For the past three seasons, scientists aboard the Healy have been focusing on "shelf-basin interaction," the area where the continental shelf meets the sea floor.

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