Project Ocean

Did You Know

Corey Engstrom — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:09:27 +0000

Photo By Mike Baird photo:

A grown blue whale could inflate 2,000 balloons with a single big breath.

Blue and fin whales can also make sounds louder than a jet engine.

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Turtle Nesting Season

Corey Engstrom — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:37:22 +0000

Florida Season

On May 1st, the Florida turtle nesting season officially began. It is more important than ever for coastal residents and visitors to help keep Florida’s beaches safe for all sea turtles.

Consider This

Many loggerhead sea turtles will leave their nesting beach sites and travel to their feeding grounds in the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Cuba, and many other areas along the Eastern coast of the United States. One Loggerhead turtle that was tagged at Melbourne beach was captured 11 days later on the northwest coast of Cuba. What a journey that must have been traveling over 40 miles a day in the raging ocean currents. So, please remember what these turtles go through to lay their eggs on the beaches of Florida.

How To Help

Respect turtle nesting sites
Keep beaches clean
Keep bright lights away from both nesting and hatchling turtles
Do not disturb tracks left by nesting turtles

Click Photo to download larger PDF

Have Suggestions

If you have suggestions or unique ways to protect nesting sea turtles, please let us know by sharing your comments.

Protecting the Oceans Saves Lives

Corey Engstrom — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:22:29 +0000

By helping protect our oceans, you could be saving someones life. New cancer treatments are being formed with help from our oceans. Please watch the video below for more information.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

March Teacher of the Month

Corey Engstrom — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:23:27 +0000

Congratulation to Del Campo High School Teacher of the Month Disa Banker. Thanks to Banker’s high-tech teaching methods which incorporate Facebook, Skype and Project Ocean, Banker has gained a lot of traction with her students and the support from several parents. We are very proud of Disa and glad we could be included in her teaching methods.

To see the full story, please visit the Carmichael Patch article.

Brazilian Beach Visitors Save Dolphins

Corey Engstrom — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:57:42 +0000

March 5th 2012

30 dolphins were saved by local beach visitors in Brazil. It is thought that the dolphins were forced to beach due to strong ocean currents. Thanks to these kind beachgoers all the dolphins were saved as they were dragged back into the water which allowed them to swim free. Project Ocean gives two thumbs up to all the folks that helped these dolphins.

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Leap Year Turtle Sponsorship

Corey Engstrom — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:21:13 +0000

Help Sponsor 29 Sea Turtles

Project Ocean is celebrating the leap year by working to gathering enough $29 donations to sponsor 29 sea turtles. With your help, we know it is possible.

The donation process is simple. Just click on the Donate button above and you will be directed to a special PayPal site that will allow you to easily make a $29 donation.

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Fishing Under Ice

Corey Engstrom — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:47:02 +0000

I had to share this video due to the amazing creativity. I hope everyone enjoys.

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Sharks Eating Lion Fish

Corey Engstrom — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:43:54 +0000

While looking through Facebook, I came across a photo that was a sign of hope.

Along with many others, I am hoping the sharks will one day be able to help control the lion fish problem in the Atlantic.

To learn more about this problem, please see the below YouTube video.

2011 Shark Attack Report

Corey Engstrom — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:12:06 +0000

Recent news from the University of Florida states that in 2011 unprovoked shark attacks in the US were down with a total number of 29 attacks. The really good news about these 29 attacks is that none of them were fatal even with the US having the highest number of overall attacks. Within the US, Florida had the highest number of attacks at 11. As the article states, “It’s a good news/ bad news situation”. Could the downturn in the economy mean that tourists are visiting US waters causing the number of attack to lower?

Worldwide unprovided shark attacks increased in 2011 to a total of 75 attacks. Sadly of these 75 attacks 12 of them involved fatalities.

Fatalities:
Australia – 3
Reunion – 2
Seychelles – 2
South Africa – 2
Costa Rica – 1
Kenya – 1
New Caledonia – 1

Interesting Facts:
1. 60% of unprovoked attacks involve surfers.
2. 35% of unprovoked attacks involve swimmers.
3. 5% of unprovoked attacks involve divers.

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Diving with the sharks

Corey Engstrom — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:22:55 +0000

The nurse sharks is one shark species with the ability to breath while not moving. This is due to their neck muscles that allow them to pump water in through their mouthes and out over their gills. Because of this ability, you can often find these sharks “sleeping” under ledges in the reef. These ledges give protection until night fall when the nurse sharks typically hunt for crustaceans, mollusks, sea snakes, and their favorite, stingrays. These sharks can grow 14 feet long and over 300 pounds.

The nurse shark is not widely commercially fished. However, its skin is exceptionally tough and prized for leather and its liver is often used for oil. Even though this shark is not often taken as a game fish, we fell it should be more widely protected. As you will see in the below video, these sharks are not typically a threat to humans and they are very graceful creatures.

Cozumel Eagle Rays

Corey Engstrom — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:34:20 +0000

While diving in Cozumel Mexico David Knisley and I had the pleasure of getting to see two Spotted Eagle Rays. As you will see, these are some of the most beautiful creatures you will ever see.

I must apologize for the first part of the video being a little shaky. I had to kick for a while in order to catch up to this guy and was a bit shaky once I slowed down. Also, due to the speed of these big rays I was never able to get close enough for proper color balance, so the video is a bit blue. With that said, I am super happy I was able to catch this footage so it could be shared with everyone.

Return From Cozumel

Return From Cozumel

Corey Engstrom — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:18:35 +0000

Status Report

Two days ago David Knisley and I returned from a week-long trip to Cozumel, Mexico. We stayed at the Sabor Cozumel Resort and Spa and went diving on five consecutive days with Dive Palancar, the on-site operator at the resort. The island and the reef look better and better every time we visit following Hurricane Wilma’s hit in 2006.

We think the diving off Cozumel is fantastic. The deep reefs are majestic. Although the shallower reefs reportedly took the worst that Wilma had to offer, what we found there last week included plenty of healthy coral, dozens of huge lobsters, sharks, turtles, spotted eagle rays, octopi, stingrays, lionfish (boo!), huge green morays, spotted morays, crabs, and the elusive splendid toadfish that can be found only in Cozumel. I did my best to get some good photos which can be seen on the Photos part of the Project Ocean site and on Flickr.

One of our major goals while on this trip was to take count of the number of turtles and sharks that were observed on each dive so this data can be compared to other dive sites we will be visiting this year and subsequent visits we hope to make to Cozumel. Below you will see this results.

Dive Count

Sharks 1 – Turtles 0 (Santa Rosa Wall)
Sharks 1 – Turtles 1 (Cedral Pass)
Sharks 0 – Turtles 1 (Palancar Gardens)
Sharks 1 – Turtles 0 (San Francisco Wall)
Sharks 0 – Turtles 1 (Punta Tunich)
Sharks 0 – Turtles 0 (Santa Rosa Shallow)
Sharks 2 – Turtles 0 (Palancar Bricks)
Sharks 2 – Turtles 0 (Santa Rosa Shallow)
Sharks 0 – Turtles 1 (Palancar Caves)
Sharks 1 – Turtles 2 (La Francesa)
Sharks 1 – Turtles 4 (Cedral Wall)
Sharks 0 – Turtles 2 (Cedral Pass)

Del Campo High School Poems

Corey Engstrom — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:36:32 +0000

Mrs. Banker’s Expository Writing Classes 2012

Project Ocean wants to again thank Mrs. Banker and all the students in her new expository writing classes for the amazing work they did to support Project Ocean.

In total, these students submitted 106 poems to the Project Ocean Poems site. Most of the poems written were in support of Sea Turtles and how the lack of Turtle Excluder Device (TED) use is allowing these turtles to stay on the endangered species list. In addition, there were some unique poems on Ocean Beauty, Dolphins, Palm trees, Sharks, and even lil’ Wayne and the Dougie.

Project Ocean President Corey Engstrom again had the pleasure to Skype with the students of these two classes. As always, it is great to get to talk with the students to get their perspective on environmental conditions and other factors that are impacting our oceans and aquatic life. We really appreciate all the support these students have shown.

The Thank You

In order to show our thanks to Mrs. Banker and all of her students, Project Ocean has donated to Sea Turtle Conservancy to adopt a Green Sea Turtle on behalf of Del Campo High School, Mrs. Banker, and all the students that have shown their support.

As part of this adoption program, a very special green sea turtle in Tortuguero, Costa Rica will one day be tagged with a metal flipper tag used to help identify it for nesting trend data. Once the turtle has been identified and tagged it will proudly display the name Cougar. Hopefully Cougar will live a long and prosperous life.

First Period Winners:

Battle (By Heaven Ware)
Sea (By Semona Tkachuk)
Turtle Haiku (By Travis Jones)

Third Period Winners:

Overlooked (By Hollyn Silveira)
Midnight Moment (By Robert Pachinger)
lets help the turtles:) (By Shelby Props)

Honorable Mentions:

Honorable mentions go out to Hollyn Silveria, Shelby Props, Robert Pachinger & Adelaide Bruggeman as each of these poets had more than one poem selected as a winning candidate.

Turtles (By Hollyn Sliveira)
saving the turtles we can do itty:) (By Shelby Props)
Mysterious Sea (By Robert Pachinger)
Friends of the deep (By Adelaide Bruggeman)
Protect thy Ocean (By Adelaide Bruggeman)

A special thanks also goes out to Tyler Rovai for his Untitled poem. Tyler’s poem really made us laugh and you have to appreciate his creativity. In addition, Tyler was able to point several of his Facebook friends to the Project Ocean Fan Page which is always a great help.

Untitled (By Tyler Rovai)

Waterpebble

Corey Engstrom — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:38:16 +0000

Save Water, Time, Money & Aquatic Life

Looking for a great way to start saving water? We might have just the answer for you. We haven’t yet had the opportunity to give this gizmo a try, but it sure sounds like it will do the trick.

How Does It Work?

The small device sits in the bottom of your shower and monitors the water going down the drain. It memorizes your first shower and then using that data as a benchmark, the Watterpebble indicates, via a series of ‘traffic lights’ moving from green through to red, when to finish showering. Each time you shower Waterpebble automatically fractionally reduces your shower time helping you to save water without needing to think about it.

Where To Purchase?

While roaming the internet, we found the Waterpebble can be purchased online at UncommonGoods for a price of $10. Obviously we feel this is a small price to pay to protect aquatic life. For more details about this product, please check out their website.

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Peaceful Swimmers

Simoto Fa'anati — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:25:39 +0000

Turtle Peaceful, Endangered Swimming, Killing, Decreasing Now losing more turtles Marine Reptile Related posts: The Peaceful Creatures of the Deep Peaceful Palms The Green Sea Turtle Related posts:

The Swell

Hollyn Silveira — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:24:50 +0000

A Swell Rises High Across The Horizon Rolling Into Shore Related posts: The Sea Ocean SEA TURTLES Related posts:

Oil Can Kill

Simoto Fa'anati — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:24:02 +0000

Blame the oil spill Many turtles have been killed Help save many more. Related posts: The Ocean Sea Turtles Turtles? Related posts:

struggling

Coleman Gentry — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:07:46 +0000

Turtle
Endangered,Counted
Dyeing, Drowning, Struggling
Sea turtles are struggling to survive, but some humans are still the same
Swimmers

The Beauty of Nature

Victoria Melnik — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:50:32 +0000

Beautiful creatures. Why do they get harmed the most? Let them live their lives. Related posts: Ocean Beauty The Oceans Magnificant Beauty Sea Turtles Related posts:

The Oceans Magnificant Beauty

Kameron McKenzie — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:49:30 +0000

The Ocean’s Dark Blue The Ground Shakes When The Wave Breaks The Sky’s Reflection Related posts: Oceans Oceans Ocean Beauty Related posts:

Harmless Creatures

Victoria Melnik — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:48:36 +0000

sea turtles peaceful, elegant swimming, gazing, wandering never does harm lovely creatures Related posts: The Peaceful Creatures of the Deep Turtles Battle Related posts:

Ocean

Semona Tkachuk — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:47:59 +0000

Full of mysteries, Relaxes my eyes and ears, the soothing ocean. Related posts: Protect thy Ocean Ocean Ocean Creatures Related posts:

lets help the turtles:)

Shelby Props — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:47:17 +0000

they’re going extinct
lets get together to help
i believe we can:)

Turtles are Cool

Richard Spinali — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:45:46 +0000

Turtles can fly too They fly in the great ocean We should all fly too Related posts: Turtles Sea turtles Turtles Related posts:

Turtles

CFrank — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:44:33 +0000

I saw sea turtles swimming through the deep, blue sea coming straight for me Related posts: Turtle Haiku turtles Turtles Related posts:

Marine Life

CFrank — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:43:17 +0000

Creatures many, different swimming, swaying, peeking lurking in the big, blue ocean Marine Life Related posts: marine life Life of the Ocean Ocean Graphics Related posts:

Splendid Toadfish of Cozumel

Corey Engstrom — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:27:49 +0000

A splendid toadfish
Hiding waiting to be found
For you I will search

I Like Dolphins

Richard Spinali — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:20:09 +0000

Dolphin Grey, Happy Jumping, Playing, Squeaking They are one of the smartest fish in the sea. Mammal Related posts: Dolphins Sea Cow Wonderful Whales Related posts:

Grand Cayman Stingrays

Corey Engstrom — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:16:24 +0000

Stingray
Silky, smooth
Soaring, gliding, floating
Magical creature flying by
Stunning

Big Gray Mammals

Jabob Madrid — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:38:33 +0000

Dolphin
Intelligent, Mammals
Swimming, Migrating, Squeaking
Portrayed heroes by Hollywood
Bottle Nose

Dolphins

SEA TURTLES

Khachtur Karapetyan — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:37:42 +0000

Turtles are creatures Laying eggs near the beach shore Turtles swim through bays Related posts: Turtles Sea Turtles Haiku Turtles Related posts:

Peaceful Palms

Brett Allred — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:37:05 +0000

Palms Tall, Green Waving, Whistling, Whisping Swaying in the air dropping coconuts everywhere Trees Related posts: The Peaceful Creatures of the Deep Turtle Related posts:

Life in in the Ocean

Kameron McKenzie — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:36:39 +0000

The Ocean’s calm waves
Schools of fish go out to play
Turtles swim through Bays

sea endangered

Coleman Gentry — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:36:08 +0000

turtles are fished up but some try to help turtles Oceans are the ones Related posts: Endangered Turtles The big blue !!!! :) Haiku Related posts:

Midnight Moment

Robert Pachinger — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:35:36 +0000

Starry midnight sky A cool breeze and soft white sand The sea’s peaceful song Related posts: The Ocean Oceans Sand :):) Related posts:

turtles are awsome :)

Shelby Props — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:34:54 +0000

Turtles, green, slow swimming, flapping, loving turtles are very unique awesome turtles Related posts: sea turtles Turtles Turtles problem Related posts:

The Welcome Mat to the Ocean

Aimee Fankhauser — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:34:27 +0000

The beach is awesome It is great for everyone No one hates the beach Related posts: Protect thy Ocean The Sea Ocean Ocean Related posts:

The Most Peaceful Creatures

Victoria Melnik — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:33:59 +0000

Sea turtles swimming. Wandering from place to place. Very peacefully. Related posts: Ocean Creatures Creatures… Related posts:

Seaweed is Great

Richard Spinali — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:33:22 +0000

Flowing in the sea Swaying around with otters Down at the bottom Related posts: They’re Great(: Related posts:

They’re Great(:

Spectacular Waters

Kameron McKenzie — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:32:58 +0000

Oceans
Big, Beautiful
Crashing, Swallowing, Destroying
Helpless for the ships
Waves

Sea Turtles

Khachtur Karapetyan — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:32:36 +0000

Sea Turtles Good Swimmers, Slow Movers Swimming, Breathing, Moving Can breath underwater for more time then anyone else Marine Life Related posts: Turtles turtles Sea Turtles Related posts:

Wonderful Whales

Myles Robinson — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:31:51 +0000

Whales Big, Slow Eating, Swimming, Jumping Whales are amazing & big Orca Related posts: Beluga Whale Sea Turtles Turtles Related posts:

Friends of the deep

Adelaide Bruggeman — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:31:30 +0000

Turtles are our friends The calm part of the ocean Never enemy Related posts: Deep-Sea Light Protect thy Ocean The Turtle Related posts:

why the reef needs saving

Tyus Mendoza — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:30:36 +0000

Reef Homey, Beautiful Dieing, Saving, Producing where turtles and fish eat and live Coral Related posts: Saving Turtles One by One Leatherback Turtles Coral Related posts:

Mysterious Sea

Robert Pachinger — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:30:02 +0000

Sea Deep, Blue Shifting, Flowing, Changing The sea’s ominous tide is full of mysteries Ocean Related posts: Sea Ocean Ocean Graphics Related posts:

The Killers of the Sea

Victoria Melnik — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:29:40 +0000

fishermen selfish, lazy fishing, selling, earning some only interested in money trawler Related posts: Turtles The Peaceful Creatures of the Deep Ocean Related posts:

Free Rien

Mc Kenzie Pope — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:29:14 +0000

Sea turtles flying slow across the ocean floor like majestic birds Related posts: Seaturtles Beautiful Coral Majestic turtle Related posts:

Overlooked

Hollyn Silveira — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:28:02 +0000

A beautiful sea
A spectacle from the deep
A life to be missed

Haiku

Awesome Turtles

Tyler Stanfield — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:27:34 +0000

Turtles Sleek, Smooth Swimming, Eating, Diving Turtles are so beautiful Sea life Related posts: Turtles turtles Turtles:)) Related posts:

turtle:)

Juliet Arledge — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:26:59 +0000

I’ve seen three turtles I love to watch turtles move Turtles are very cool Related posts: Turtle Haiku! Turtle Haiku Turtle Haiku Related posts: