Sustainable Fishing

I do not think that in the near future sustainable fishing is possible--commercially. With the most common methods of fishing including long lining, purse seining and bottom trawling; it will be challenging to meet demands without using such methods. Purse seining and longlining are efficient at catching hundreds if not thousands at a time with many by catches with it. By catches include dolphins, whales and porpoises. Not only that but, long lines which catch "non-targeted" species, can get lost in the ocean, not retrieved. Resulting in casualties by means of other aquatic life being caught and trapped in the net. Sea turtles have been seen caught in such traps; seals, birds, whales and many other marine life. Along with that only 1.5% of the oceans are protected territories. Leaving many other areas as a spot for fishermen to go undetected.                                                                                                                    Methods in which are efficient are unlikely to be stopped. Unreported fishings which are not tracked are parts of this problem. Money--bluntly put-- money is a major concern for this problem. Bribery to the national level. Such examples include the 10,000 by-catch dolphins each year in France. Shockingly, this is only a fragment; it's estimated that worldwide, 300,000 dolphins, whales, and porpoises are killed by catch. Unless drastic changes are made, there is little to no chance of changing the majority into sustainable fishing.

Shark Finning

 Shark Finning is a practice that is looked down upon for its gruesome and cruel method. Only the fins of the shark are harvested and are put into use, whilst the body is then left to die when thrown back in the ocean. The fins are consumed, notorious usage is that of shark fin soup. A delicacy with its only purpose being to assert your rank, your privilege and wealth; as a soup cost around US$100 this is proven so. It's used as an aphrodisiac, supposedly helps to stop ageing, organ functions--tasteless and little to no nutritional value. For this purpose and usage, every year, around 73 million sharks are slaughtered.    Since the last 5 decades, the population of some species of sharks have declined by as much as 90%. Many of these also are not only the cause of shark finning but, by-catches. By-catches are fishes or other marine species caught "unintentionally" while catching certain target species and target sizes of marine life. Though some by-catch may survive, many die in the process.

Sharks are the apex predator, not many, or at all can make sharks their prey. They control the ecosystem, balancing certain species so that they wouldn't overpopulated. Overpopulation is a problem with how the life cycle balances. This occurrence would likely be the extinction of certain species whose hunter are the preys of sharks. As such this would disrupt how much of the said species there are. In turn, when the said species is extinct soon enough, the shark's prey would be also as their source of food is no more. This chain of reactions could possibly cause the extinction of countless species that including ourselves.

GPGP (News Paper) Article

Following the short presentation introducing the topic--The Great Pacific Garbage Patch--in which we highlight some of the main issues surrounding it. In the several sessions after that, we then begin to write an article containing the knowledge that we've acquired previously. The article was to contain, what happened, what it is---the problem--- its cause and the effects. It includes keywords in which were to be put in; keywords such as gyres, plankton as well as several others which were important parts to this topic. The article is presented in such a way to copy a newspaper, using colour and how the title is worded. I believe that we need to be more cautious about what is done today. The future looks quite dim.

The Article: Plastic Ruins All

The Starfish Poem

The Starfish Poem is a text that details how even a little thing will be able to make a difference. This is suggested by the last sentence of the poem, "It made a difference for that one." 

The poem was about how a young man saved threw starfishes in the sea as the tide was going down. He was questioned by a man; "But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along with it. You can't possibly make a difference!", and as such he said the statement above.

The Starfish Poem

A lesson was learned in the poem, a value that we can all learn from and use in our daily life. Doing a single kind gesture, a gesture in which we believe to be positive could change something. Even if minimal, a change is a change, perhaps even a greatly impacting action that can affect lives for the better.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

As the first term finished a new topic arises within the subject of Social Sciences. As such, we begin to look at The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), in which we uncover what it is and the cause of why it has happened. Plastic, pollution, as well as global warming, are major issues in modern times.  It could change the future as we know it in just several decades to come. Drastic changes must be made. However, with the amount of pollution--plastic--just in our oceans, it is truly ever possible?  

Through our constant usage of plastic, it has accumulated in such a great amount in which it is able to out-size a country. A great example being the GPGP, more than 3 times the size of France. It is an accumulation of plastic held by the ocean currents in the Pacific. A sentiment to our ignorance and resistance to change many of our ways.

Corrosion

Corrosion I

 Investigating Rusting:

Aim: To investing the factors that cause rusting in iron. 

Equipment:

• Four test tubes
• Test tube rack
• Bung
• Four iron nails
• Boiled water
• Tap water
• Salty water
• Cooking Oil
• Calcium Chloride

 Method: 

1. Label four test tubes and place in a test tube rack.
2. Test tube contents:

• B = Iron nail and tap water
• C = Iron nail and salty water
• D = Iron nail, boiled water and oil.
• E = Iron nail and calcium chloride sealed with a bung.

      3. Leave the test tubes undisturbed for at least three days.

Test Tube	Conditions present or absent	Observations
E	Iron nail and calcium chloride sealed with a bung	Test tube E with calcium chloride and bung showed no visible corrosion. Iron oxide didn't form to an extent in which is visible to the naked eye. It is the only test tube that showed no corrosion.
B	Iron nail and tap water	Iron nail and tap water showed the worse reaction. It was the most corroded out of all the test tubes that were experimented with. The iron oxide formed at the bottom of the test tube with a dark hue of orange.
C	Iron nail and salty water	The salty water test tube was ever so slightly better with corrosion. Although a similar hue of orange was seen; dark iron oxide wasn't too visible.
D	Iron nail, boiled water and oil.	The rusting was moderate. It wasn't the extent that the salty and tap water was. It was similar to the reaction of the zinc pellet. It was akin to its orange hue but was more yellow.

Hypothesis: The test tubes labelled A to C are expected to rust more than the later tubes. With C having significant visual effects rather than D to H. Though all of the nails may get rust the previously mentioned would gain more and will be more visible.

Corrosion II

Preventing Rusting:

Aim: To investigate a number of techniques that may prevent rusting.

Equipment:

• Four test tubes
• Test tube rack
• Bung
• Four iron nails
• Boiled water
• Tap water
• Vaseline gel
• Nail
• Polish or paint
• Zinc pellets or magnesium ribbon

1. Label four test tubes and place in a test tube rack.
2. Fill all test tubes with equal volumes of water - enough to cover the nails.
3. Test tube contents:

• A = Iron nail
• F = Iron nail, water and vaseline
• G = Iron nail and nail polish
• H = Iron nail, zinc and water

      4. Leave the test tubes undisturbed for at least three days.

Test tube	Conditions present or absent	Observations
A	Iron nail	The iron nail rusted but only lightly, visible yet faint.
F	Iron nail, water and vaseline	Test tube F showed moderate rusting, covered by the vaseline--rusting was shown in the areas in which were more present in the water.
G	Iron nail and nail polish	G--showed significant rusting, the paint was eaten away and the iron corroded-- to an extent in which iron oxide coloured the tube with a hue of orange.
H	Iron nail, zinc and water	The rusting of the test tube H was only slightly rusted. The zinc pellet affected the rusting of the iron by a good margin.