Not sure what these are called, but I was very surprised and impressed early this year while anchored off Matthew Town at Great Inagua at the southern end of the Bahamas to see these Haitian trading vessels sailing in and docking in the tight basin, all with no auxiliary power.

Wood and steel hulls in old boats can be managed relatively easily through established recycling routes, as can other metal and wood components on a boat. This is not the case for FRP, which doesn’t easily decompose, though it does physically break down over time. Research undertaken at the University of Brighton has shown that boats made of FRP which are left in the water release microscopic fibres.

It’s powerful stuff, and given the implied messages around generational misery stemming from the inhumane work practises, you might have thought that thirty five years down the track, the developed world had addressed the problem.

Applications go beyond construction. Superwood is like carbon fiber, but less brittle, and carbon fiber is already used in everything from sports equipment and tennis shoes to race cars and airplanes. The last notable wooden airplane was the De Havilland Mosquito, in World War II, but in a future of eVTOLs, otherwise known as “flying cars,” a material like Superwood could be in demand.

A young Alan Orams bought the plans from Collins, and built the Althirza on the beach at One Tree Point, near Whangarei, starting in 1946. All with hand tools. And all of the timber used was native New Zealand: kauri for the planking, kowhai and tanekaha ribs, totara cabin sides, matai decking and cabin top, and matai plywood for the bulkheads. Orams’ tight budget necessitated concrete for ballast. “She was my dream yacht. I built her to take me around the world.”

But some things are just wrong, however many jobs they provide and however much money they make for their stakeholders. There’s a reason the whaling industry was shut down in Australia in the 1970’s. The same applies to the tobacco industry in the 2000’s (which at its height employed about the same amount of people as the Salmon industry does today.) Values change with time.

It’s the equivalent of the family section of the restaurant, or maybe the quiet carriage of the train; a new study that has found that migrating whales use two stopover sites along the Queensland coast: one more social in nature and the other used, primarily, by mothers and calves.

“We’re very excited to see more native species now rats are no longer eating them. Seedlings of tamanu and puka are increasing and we’re seeing and hearing more birds. Wood pigeons and red-tailed tropic birds have returned to Home Islet. Crabs and lizards appear to be more abundant.”

Why should anyone care about the disappearance of sharks in the Saya de Malha Bank?  Ernest Hemingway once described going bankrupt as something that happens gradually… and then suddenly. The extinction of species is like bankruptcy, and when it finally occurs, there’s no going back. If we keep draining the Bank of one of its most previous riches, a “sudden” reckoning may be soon.

The story of mosquito nets in Lake Mai Ndombe shows how solutions created thousands of miles away can have unexpected consequences, and why local communities must lead conservation efforts. 

In the realm of environmental activism, innovation often springs from the simplest ideas. Samuel McLennan, the founder of Project Interrupt, epitomises this ethos. His ambitious project involves sailing a raft up the coast of Australia, constructed entirely from waste materials collected from Tasmania's shores.

Mr Palin approached the Wooden Boats Centre in the Huon Valley in Southern Tasmania to create five buoys out of wood, to be dropped into Antarctica's icy waters later this month.

According to the most recent data from the Marine strike log maintained by the MMAG, over 50% of all collisions reported result in damage to either the vessel and/or its crew, as well as possible injury or death to marine life.

A court has ordered anti-whaling activist and environmentalist Paul Watson to remain in detention in Greenland, as authorities consider a request from Japan to extradite him on charges dating back more than a decade.

“It's like dumping a car in a national park and expecting everyone to be OK with that. I'm not OK with dumping a car in a national park, and we should be treating our beautiful harbour with the same outlook."

As responsible, environmentally aware marine professionals, we should be fostering the value of maintaining and rejuvenating more of the fine vessels that have already seen yeoman service rather than taking part in their ignoble demise in the rush to connect our customers with new models of dubious virtue or reliability.  

The agreement was groundbreaking in its ambition. It led to the near-total cessation of whaling activities, with a few notable exceptions , and has contributed to the resurgence of many whale species, including the largest animal on Earth, the blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus

For four years now, orcas have been ramming and sinking yachts in European waters, and scientists have struggled to work out just why these smart, social animals had learnt this destructive new trick. But it's not due to some anticapitalist 'eat the rich' agenda, nor is it to do with territory and aggression. The truth is, well, it's child's play.

Preliminary information from the Blue Schooner Company suggests the vessel was hit by a “sudden and violent” storm, causing it to capsize and sink. Survivors reported donning survival suits and boarding life rafts as the vessel began to sink.

Only in June 2020 did the number of people visiting Challenger Deep exceed the number of people who’ve walked on the Moon.