On the 24th October 2018, the Department of Environmental Affairs announced that the South African government will be increasing their Marine Protected Area (MPA) cover from its current 0.4% to 5% by introducing 22 new off shore MPA’s in areas around South Africa that have been recognized as important species Read more…
Are you more Plastic or Planet this Christmas? Christmas is one of the top two retail shopping seasons of the year, generating roughly $680 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. Americans spend an average of $967 for items such as decorations, gifts and festive foodstuffs during the holiday season Read more…
Out with the Old… Several months back I wrote a blog detailing a preliminary method for classifying kelp from satellite imagery, based on some methods from researchers in California. We drew a couple conclusions from this. Namely, that the resolution of the LANDSAT imagery was not high enough for the Read more…
There are over 2,000 species of fish found in South African waters, 16% of which are endemic, meaning they don’t occur anywhere else! South Africa represents an eclectic mix of marine habitats ranging from coastal sandy and rocky shores, estuaries, reefs and kelp forests, to off-shore sea mounts, shelf edges, Read more…
rayshader is a new R package from Tyler Morgan-Wall that makes creating beautiful hillshaded maps dead easy! Check out this quick demo of Table Mountain I threw together.
Shark Spotters The Shark Spotters shark safety program began in 2004 as a Proudly South African solution to a surge in the number of shark sightings and shark bites that was occurring at the time. The program aims to provide environmentally friendly and socially responsible shark mitigation measures, one of Read more…
Abalone poaching is a hot topic in South Africa, but what is it all about? What are Abalone? Abalone are a large species of snail found in temperate water environments in several areas around the world. They occur in Kelp forests and rocky reefs and play a very important role Read more…
Examining the patterns of interactions between individuals in both single-species and mixed-species shoals, particularly in relation to group cohesion, polarisation, and information use, and how these differ with risk. In collaboration with Alicia Burns, Behavioural biologist at Taronga Conservation Society Australia and researchers at the University of Sydney, Australia, Cape Read more…
This blog also appeared on the University of Washington’s Marine Biology Student Spotlight on 15 October, 2018. Hi everybody! I’m Amanda Gardiner, a junior here at UW pursuing a BS in Biochemistry and Biological Oceanography with minors in Marine Biology and Paleobiology, along with a BA in English – Creative Read more…
Mike’s Cape Town activity recommendations for students! When Cape RADD students aren’t diving or in class they can take advantage of being on the doorstep of Cape Town, one of the most vibrant and action-packed cities in the world. There is so much to do in Cape Town you will Read more…