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Author Archives: Colin Munro
Great whites sharks, makos or sailfish, what is the fastest fish?
My only encounters with a great white were on a cage diving trip, many years ago. Two of us at a time would enter the cage and wait, cameras poised. This was around Isla Guadalupe, 250km west of Baja Peninsula, Mexico. … Continue reading
Posted in Marine wildlife
Tagged blue marlin, countercurrent, fastest fish, fastest fish in the ocean, great white shark, great white sharks, great white speed, how fast is a mako shark, mako shark, mako shark speed, mako sharks, marlin speed, porbeagle, porbeagle shark, porbeagle sharks, rete mirabilia, sailfish, sailfish speed, salmon shark, salmon sharks, swordfish, swordfish speed, warm blooded sharks
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The Grind. Is campaigning for it to stop or condemning it on social media hypocritical?
The grind, or grindadrap, is a non-commercial, community based whale and dolphin drive in the Faroe Islands. Around 840 pilot whales and white sided dolphins are killed every year. This is done by local boats driving them in to designated … Continue reading
Posted in Marine wildlife
Tagged dolphin drive, Faroe Islands, grindadrap, pilot whales, Sea Sheherd, the grind, whale drive, whale hunting, whale killing, whaling
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Cornwall’s blue sharks
An account of photographing blue sharks off Cornwall, Southwest Britain, a few years back, and a link to buying fine art prints of these amazing hunters of of the oceans at colinmunroimages.com. On a clear July morning I stumbled out … Continue reading
The extraordinary life cycle of the lion’s mane jellyfish
Jellyfish, or sea jellies as they are now often called (clearly they are not fish) are amongst the most ancient of multi-organ animals. Fossils of jellyfish (or scyphozoans, to give them their scientific name) are found only rarely as they … Continue reading
Posted in Marine wildlife
Tagged Arran, Atlantic marine life, Atlantic sealife, british marine life, british sea life, Cyanea, Cyanea capillata, jellyfish, lion's mane jelly, lion's mane jellyfish, scottish marine life, scottish sealife, scottish wildlife, scyphozoans, sea jellies, sea jelly, seajellies, seajelly, undersea britain, undersea scotland
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Scallop dredging: why is it considered so damaging to reefs?
I first wrote this blog back in 2012. If moved off-site for several years, but in 2020 I’ve reinstated it, with a few very minor changes. Lyme bay now has statutory protection from scallop dredging, and all towed bottom fishing … Continue reading
Posted in Lyme Bay marine ecology
Tagged fisheries habitat impacts, Lyme Bay, Lyme Bay Closed Area, Lyme Bay Reefs, marine conservation, mobile fishing gear, scallop dredging, scallop dredging damage, scallop dredging impacts, seabed damage, seabed habitat destruction, seabed impacts, towed fishing gear habitat impacts
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Marine Environmental Impact Assessment
The relevant legislation for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in the marine environment can be tricky to keep up with. Within UK waters, licensing is now generally controlled by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO). The requirements for Marine licensing and Environmental … Continue reading
Posted in Seabed survey and monitoring
Tagged diver survey EIA, diver surveys EIA, EIA, EIA Devon, EIA environmental surveys, EIA Exeter, EIA marine surveys, Environmental Impact Assessment, environmental scoping, environmental statement, Environmental Statment, harbor EIA, harbour development EIA, harbour EIA, marine bio-images EIA, marine EIA, marine environmental impact assessemnt, marine environmental scoping, marine environmental statement, marine environmental surveys Cornwall, marine environmental surveys Devon, MMO, MMO EIA, MMO environmental statement, pipeline EIA, port EIA, seabed survey EIA, seabed survey environmental statement, underwater camera survey EIA, windfarm EIA
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Remote Camera Surveys
Remote camera surveys – drop down video, towed video and combined video and stills drop-down or towed systems – have been a major component of our underwater survey work for over a decade. Remote camera surveys can often be used … Continue reading
Posted in Seabed survey and monitoring
Tagged drop camera system, drop video survey devon, drop video survey Exeter, drop-down video, drop-down video surveys, marine environmental surveys Cornwall, marine environmental surveys Devon, marine environmental surveys Dorset, marine environmental surveys Hampshire, pipeline corridor camera survey, pipeline corridor camera surveys, pipeline corridor surveys, seabed biotope mapping, seabed habitat mapping, seagrass mapping, seagrass surveys, towed camera survey, towed camera surveys, towed video sled, towed video sledge, underwater camera inspection, underwater camera system, undrwater camera survey devon, Zostera mapping, Zostera surveys
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How to buy bad science.
Summary Lyme Bay Closed Area was a first for British waters. The very first statutory closed area established for conservation reason, protecting fragile reefs and associated species from the effects of bottom-fishing trawls and scallop dredges. It was a long … Continue reading
Posted in Lyme Bay marine ecology, Seabed survey and monitoring
Tagged bad science, DEFRA Marine Conservation Zones, diver monitoring, England MCZs, Lyme Bay Closed Area, Lyme Bay closed area monitoring, Lyme Bay exclusion zone, Lyme Bay no-take zone, lyme Bay protected area, Lyme Bay Reefs, marine bio-images, marine biological monitoring, Marine Conservation Zones, Marine Protected Areas, MPAs, Natural England Marine Conservation Zones, No take zones
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Benthic survey versus monitoring, a comparison of aims and methodologies
The terms survey and monitoring are often used interchangeably when collecting data on the marine environment. More worryingly there is sometimes a blurring of the differences between the aims and methods required for descriptive surveys and data collection as part … Continue reading
Posted in Seabed survey and monitoring
Tagged benthic monitoring, benthic survey, benthic survey versus monitoring, diver monitoring, marine monitoring, photographic monitoring, survey vs monitoring, video monitoring
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Lyme Bay, Lane’s Ground Reef: sponge species recovery and opportunities lost
As part of a small study looking in to gear impacts on seabed species, we recently conducted a few dives attempting to record HD video of bottom trawls and crab pots working on the seabed. Unfortunately we picked a period … Continue reading
Posted in Lyme Bay marine ecology
Tagged bottom fishing impacts, bottom trawling impacts, Lyme Bay, Lyme Bay Closed Area, Lyme Bay closed area monitoring, Lyme Bay exclusion zone, lyme Bay protected area, Lyme Bay Reefs, mobile fishing gear impacts, scallop dredging, scallop dredging impacts, sponge assemblages, sponge communities
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