Brown seaweed’s potential as a vast source of biofuels has been highlighted with the announcement that scientists have found a way of converting all its major sugars into ethanol.

A team reported in Science on 19 January that it has engineered a microbe that will convert the sugars to ethanol, overturning one of the main obstacles to making the use of brown macroalgae, or seaweed, as a biofuel feedstock competitive.

Read the full article from http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/biofuels/news/breakthrough-in-quest-to-turn-seaweed-into-biofuels-1.html

Global Fellowships in Marine Conservation (Summer Term II)
Application Deadline: February 15, 2012

The Duke University Marine Laboratory is offering an unparalleled educational opportunity from July 9 to August 10, 2012. Duke’s Integrated Marine Conservation Program focuses on principles necessary for the conservation and preservation of coastal and ocean environments during an intensive 5-week summer session. The focus is on interdisciplinary problem solving using biophysical and social science to address real world environmental problems. This program is a tremendous opportunity for students and professionals at any level to think about conservation biology and policy in an environment full of students, faculty and practicioners grappling with the same issues. The core class (BIO 109/ENV 209 Conservation Biology and Policy) involves field trips, discussion groups and lectures and visits with Distinguished Conservation Scholars each week. Students will leave the class with an appreciation of the policy process, as well as with grounding in the fundamentals of marine conservation.

Global Fellowships in Marine Conservation will be awarded on a competitive basis. The Fellowship fully covers travel expenses, room and board, and tuition for both BIO 109/ENV 209 Conservation Biology and Policy plus one specialized elective course. Electives (subject to availability) include: Biology and Conservation of Sea Turtles, Marine Mammals, Marine Ecology and Marine Invertebrate Zoology.

The Global Fellowship application deadline for summer, 2012, is February 15, 2012.

Eligibility
The Global Fellowships are available to any international applicant with a good working knowledge of English who has an interest in marine conservation biology and policy, ideally with the intent to apply this interest to the practice of coastal and marine conservation. The course does not have specific prerequisites, but Global Fellows have a BA or BS degree in hand, are enrolled in such programs, or have some professional experience.

To Apply for Global Fellowships:
Application for a fellowship should be made on the printed Duke University Marine Lab summer course enrollment form <http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/marinelab/programs/enrollment_forms/summerapp>. It is our preference to receive applications via email (rachel.lopiccolo@duke.edu) or by fax (252)504-7648.

Application materials should be directed to:

Duke Marine Lab Global Fellows Program
c/o Rachel Lo Piccolo
135 Duke Marine Lab Rd
Beaufort NC 28516, USA

Application Materials
In addition to the enrollment form, each Global Fellowship applicant is required to submit the following credentials: (Please include last name and title on all printed and electronic documents)

1. A brief essay – please limit this to one page – describing the applicant’s background, education, research, and work experience. Please note a Curriculum Vitae does not take the place of this essay;
2. A brief statement of purpose – please limit this to one page – i.e., describing the applicant’s reason for applying for the Fellowship, how the applicant will be able to apply the training in his/her home country; and the applicant’s future goals.
3. A letter of recommendation from academic faculty or employer addressed to Dr. Mike Orbach. We do not offer guidelines about the information to be included in your reference letter. These letters typically include how the referee knows you, his/her opinions of your work together in the past, and thoughts about whether he/she feels you’d be well suited to this program.
4. A Complete Curriculum Vitae.
5. A copy of your transcript is preferred. It may be an unofficial version. The transcript can be emailed to rachel.lopiccolo@duke.edu<mailto:rachel.lopiccolo@duke.edu> or faxed to (252) 504-7638 or scanned and emailed to the attention of Rachel Lo Piccolo. A non-certified translation of the transcript is fine. If sending a transcript is impossible, then please send a copy of your degree. If a traditional transcript is available, documentation certifying your courses, grades and official notes taken in each course during university studies in addition to a copy of your diploma will be required.

Due Date
Global Fellowship applications materials must be received no later than 15 February, 2012, by Rachel Lo Piccolo (rachel.lopiccolo@duke.edu). All applicants will be notified of their award status shortly after the deadline date.

We appreciate your interest in our Global Fellows program. If you have any questions you may contact Rachel Lo Piccolo at rachel.lopiccolo@duke.edu.

For additional information specific to the Global Fellowship in Marine Conservation contact Rachel.Lopiccolo@duke.edu. 

http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/marinelab/programs/enrollment_forms/index.html

http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/marinelab/programs/summeraid

http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/marinelab/programs/courses/summer2011-2

This to announce A Chapman Conference on The Agulhas System and its Role in Changing Ocean Circulation, Climate, and Marine Ecosystems organised by SCOR/IAPSO/WCRP Working Group 136 On the Climatic Importance of the Greater Agulhas System, with the support of AGU. The Conference will be held from 8 to 12 October 2012 at Spier Wine Estate, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa. 
Deadline for abstract submission: 1st June 2012. 

For further details visit   http://www.agu.org/meetings/chapman/2012/ecall/index.php

Conference convenors: Will de Ruijter, Rainer Zahn, Arne Biastoch, Lisa Beal.

In the 1960s, Seychelles Warbler Acrocephalus sechellensis became one of the world’s rarest birds when the population slumped to just 26 individuals, all on tiny Cousin island in the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean. Formerly, the bird had been more widely distributed in the Seychelles, but habitat destruction and non-native species brought the warbler to extinction everywhere apart from Cousin. But now the fortunes of the bird are looking much brighter, thanks to a programme to redistribute these birds to other islands in the Seychelles.

In the latest move, 59 Seychelles warblers have been transferred from Cousin Island Special Reserve to Frégate Island thanks to a Nature Seychelles (BirdLife Partner) led initiative. The transfer was carried out to start a new breeding population on Frégate Island – a privately-owned luxury resort – making it the fifth island in Seychelles to hold this species.

Read the full article from http://www.birdlife.org/community/2012/01/an-amazing-conservation-success-story-in-seychelles/

On 6 January 2012, Rare, in partnership with National Geographic, announced the grand-prize winner and runners-up of “Solution Search: Turning the Tide for Coastal Fisheries.” Through online voting at www.solutionsearch.org, the public voted for their top three solutions. The Wildlife Conservation Society won the grand prize with its solution, “Bycatch Escape Gaps for Fish Traps” in Curaçao and Kenya. It received a U.S. $20,000 prize to support its conservation and resource management initiative. The two runners-up, Off the Hook Community Supported Fishery and the Misool Baseftin Foundation, each received prizes of U.S. $5,000 for their respective solutions, “Fresh. Fair. Fish.” in Canada and “Defending the Heart of Marine Biodiversity: Community Stewardship of Raja Ampat’s Reefs” in Raja Ampat. The winners will receive their awards at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 8.

This first-ever global Solution Search sought applications from organizations worldwide with demonstrated innovations that benefit coastal communities and marine ecosystems. More than 100 applications were received from 48 countries, from which a panel of expert judges selected 10 finalists, with the public choosing the winners. Solutions submitted for the contest includedthe implementation of no-take zones, introduction of innovative fishing gear and the development of alternative livelihoods. Submissions came from across the globe, including Indonesia, Madagascar, Brazil and Turkey.

“For too long the conservation community has focused on problems,” saidBrett Jenks, president and CEO of Rare. “But there are a lot of working solutions in remote parts of the planet. These finalists, and particularly the winners, prove just that. By sharing their solutions with the world, they are improving conservation everywhere.”

“Discovering and sharing solutions that restore marine life and human communities is key to changing the broader world of fishing and seafood,” said Miguel A. Jorge, director of National Geographic’s Ocean Initiative. “By telling the stories of these win-win innovations, we hope to inspire more people and communities to transform their relationship with the ocean.”

For more details on the winner, visit http://www.rareplanet.org/en/solution-search-entry/use-escape-gaps-fishing-traps-step-towards-increasing-biodiversity-and-sustain

NUMBER OF SCHOLARSHIPS: 150 scholarships for Master’s  degree courses and 70 scholarships for training programs

WHERE: selected universities in Belgium

WHEN:  2012-2013
       
ELIGIBILITY: Candidates must be no more  than 40 years of age for the Master’s degree, and no more than 45  years for the training programs, should be nationals of the selected  developing countries, and have knowledge of French

FIELDS OF STUDY INCLUDE:  aquaculture, environment, food  economics, genetic resources, tropical and sub-tropical crops,  innovation in family agriculture

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 13 February 2012

Additional information on CUD fellowship programmes are available at the following URLs:

FRENCH: http://www.cud.be/content/view/335/199/lang,/

ENGLISH: http://www.cud.be/content/view/341/210/lang,/

SciDev.Net talks to Sylvia Earle, scientist, oceanographer, explorer, about her hopes for oceans at the Rio+20 conference in Brazil in 2012.

The oceans are a life-support system and they are under severe threat, says Sylvia Earle. That’s why she wants to ensure that they are on the agenda of next year’s international conference on sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro.

Earle is an oceanographer and explorer, president and CEO of Deep Ocean Technology and Deep Ocean Engineering in California, US; founder of Mission Blue, which aims to establish protected marine areas around the world; and former chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She has been called “Her Deepness” and “The Sturgeon General”. After speaking at the Eye on Earth Summit in Abu Dhabi (12-15 December 2011) she told SciDev.Net about her oceanic hopes and fears.

Read the full interview from http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/eye-on-earth-summit/features/q-a-sylvia-earle-on-the-planet-s-blue-engine.html

A Ugandan report suggests that policymakers’ interest in science and technology is growing. But they need support to turn it into action.

If there was an easy route between scientific evidence and policymaking, last week’s UN Climate Change Conference (COP 17) in Durban, South Africa, would surely have reflected the scientific consensus and ended in a clear-cut global agreement on immediate steps to curtail carbon emissions.

But, as the fractious debates made clear, the real world does not work that way. Scientists and politicians operate within different epistemological frameworks. This often means that what appears as an imperative course of action to one group is merely a potential — and not necessarily desirable — way forward to the other.

In the developed world, factors such as economic or political self-interest can often be blamed for the gap between evidence and policymaking. In the case of global warming, for example, most of those who continue to challenge the scientific evidence live in countries (such as the United States) that stand to lose most from curbs on carbon emissions.

Read the full article from http://www.scidev.net/en/science-communication/influencing-policymakers/editorials/policymakers-need-a-better-understanding-of-science-1.html

A paper by Sumaila and his co-workers was recently published in the Nature Climate Change and is based on extensive review of the existing knowledge on the responses of marine ecosystems to ocean and climate changes, and how these changes are expected to affect the economics of global marine fisheries. It also describes approaches that can be used to adapt to these changes. The paper also focuses on climate change (long-term changes in mean conditions), as well as on long-term changes in the level of climate variability (cyclical changes, for example, annual, decadal). The paper also review studies that investigate the responses of marine ecosystems and fisheries to climate variability to reveal the potential implications of climate change for fisheries. Furthermore, it discusses other envi­ronmental changes resulting from human-induced greenhouse-gas emissions that affect marine ecosystems directly, for example, ocean acidification. Below is the abstract of the paper

Global marine fisheries are underperforming economically because of overfishing, pollution and habitat degradation. Added to these threats is the looming challenge of climate change. Observations, experiments and simulation models show that climate change would result in changes in primary productivity, shifts in distribution and changes in the potential yield of exploited marine species, resulting in impacts on the economics of fisheries worldwide. Despite the gaps in understanding climate change effects on fisheries, there is sufficient scientific information that highlights the need to implement climate change mitigation and adaptation policies to minimize impacts on fisheries.

Citation: Sumaila, U.R., Cheung, W.W. L., Lam, V.W. Y., Pauly, D. and Herrick, S. 2011. Climate change impacts on the biophysics and economics of world fisheries. DOI: 10.1038/NCLIMATE1301