Ocean Forum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The world’s largest tidal turbine, weighing 1000 tonnes, has been installed in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough. The tidal turbine is rated at 1.2 megawatts, which is enough to power a thousand local homes. It was built by Marine Current Turbines, and it will be the first commercial tidal turbine to produce energy, when it begins operation later this year.

The turbine has twin rotors measuring 16 meters in diameter. The rotors will operate for up to 18-20 hours per day to produce enough clean, green electricity.

The turbine will be positioned 400 meters off of shoreline in Strangford Lough, which is know for its fast tidal current, and protection from severe weather.  The rotors on the SeaGen turbine turn slowly: about 10 to 20 revolutions per minute. A ship’s propellers, by comparison, typically run 10 times as fast. The risk of impact from SeaGen rotor blades is small, because the marine creatures that swim in strong currents tend to be agile, and can avoid slow-moving underwater obstructions… More…

 

---

Endangered Islands - Tuvalu

 

With every click of his camera, Japanese photographer and activist Shuuichi Endou hopes to draw attention to the plight of Tuvalu, a remote nation of people whose home is slowly disappearing.

He's taking 10,000 photos, one of each person who lives there, to show the world the human face of climate change.

"Tuvaluans do not ask much, neither goods nor money," he says.

"In Japan, people sacrifice their time and life to get more goods and money. I hope the viewers see the contrast by looking at the photos. We're sacrificing peaceful Tuvalu."… More…

 

---

Since it became a viable energy resource around 20 years ago, wind power has emerged as a leading renewable technology.

At the end of 2006 the worldwide capacity of all wind turbines was close to 75 gigawatts, which represents around one percent of all electricity use in the world.

Three quarters of that wind power usage is currently based in Europe. The Danes lead the way with nearly 20 percent of their electricity created by wind. They are followed by Germany, which generates around half that amount and Spain around seven percent… More…

 

---

Britain has given planning permission for a prototype tidal power project in the northeast England, industry minister John Hutton said on Monday.

Pulse Tidal Ltd's test project, which has been given 878,000 of public money, could generate up to 0.15 megawatts of electricity from underwater currents in the Humber Estuary near Hull.

If successful, the technology could be used to develop 1-MW units strung together in tidal power farms generating up to 100MW, or enough to power the equivalent of 70,000 homes… More...

 

---

The discovery of a colony of short-snouted seahorses (Hippocampus hippocampus) living in the Thames means that the London river is becoming cleaner, conservationists said today.

Scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) have discovered five seahorses during routine conservation surveys in the Thames estuary in the past 18 months, evidence which they say indicates that a breeding population exists.

The rare species, which is normally found in the Mediterranean and Canary Islands and also along the south coast of England, has been found at Dagenham in east London and Tilbury and Southend in Essex. The sea creatures thrive in shallow, muddy waters, estuaries or seagrass beds… More…

 

---

The fishing industry has lost out in a Brussels policy battle which now seems certain to favour interests of the EU's 500m citizens and the marine environment over the interests of fishermen.

The former directorate-general for fisheries and maritime affairs has been quietly re-named DG Mare (pronounced mar-ay) as a result of a decision by all 27 member states.

Commission sources say that the change has come about because Commissioners were embarrassed by DG Fish's management of the Common Fisheries Policy - which often doles out fish quotas in defiance of scientific advice… More…

 

---

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has invited nations to submit proposals to limit shipping's impact on Antarctica's unique environment.

The IMO's environment committee recognised campaigners' fears that the continent's waters were at risk from the rising number of ships in the area.

Environmentalists said the sinking of the M/S Explorer in 2007 was a wake-up call to tighten rules in the region.

The meeting also agreed to curb emissions from commercial vessels.

A paper submitted by a coalition of environmental groups called for the IMO to ban ships fuelled by heavy oil or without reinforced hulls from the area's waters… More…

 

 

---

 

Anti-submarine sonar may have killed a group of whales found dead in the Hebrides in one of Britain's most unusual strandings, scientists believe.

Five Cuvier's beaked whales, a species rarely seen in British waters, were discovered on beaches in the Western Isles on succeeding days in February. Another animal from a related species was discovered at the same time.

Experts consider such a multiple stranding to be highly abnormal. They calculate, from the state of the carcasses inspected that the whales died in the same incident out in the Atlantic to the south and west of Britain, and then drifted towards the Scottish coast over two or three weeks.

The main suspect in the case is sonar, as it is known that beaked whales are highly sensitive to the powerful sound waves used by all the world's navies to locate underwater objects such as submarines… More…

 

---

The world’s first deep-water device to generate electricity from the tides on a commercial scale is due to start operating within weeks.

A seagoing crane barge has lowered the 1,000-tonne double turbine into place and an operation to fix it to the seabed with 12 metre (40 ft) pins begins today.

The SeaGen Tidal System at Strangford Lough in Co Down, Northern Ireland, is designed to produce enough electricity to supply 1,000 homes… More...

 

---