Marine restoration is the helping hand that nature needs in the battle against biodiversity loss and also a way to offset human impacts in the ocean.But the benefits can be more than ecological.In this episode, we welcome Peter Watson of SSEN Transmission, the company responsible for laying new power cables on our seabed as part of the de-carbonising of our energy grid. There's much more it wants to do, beyond rebuilding the energy infrastructure, with a little help from science. Peter and Prof Adam Hughes of SAMS discuss what benefits marine restoration can bring, the challenges such projects face and how a children's television programme can influence the direction of an entire company...The Ocean Explorer podcast is produced by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), an ocean research charity and partner of UHI based in Oban.In each episode, we take a deep dive into marine science topics with SAMS scientists and special guests.Interested in working or studying with us, or helping with our work? Visit www.sams.ac.uk to find out more.
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34:59
Ten years of ACES: Training aquaculture's future leaders
With a global human population in excess of eight billion, governments and planners are looking to aquaculture to provide food security in a sustainable way.But this is a diverse global industry that comes in many forms, with various societal and ecological challenges.  In this episode, two of the academics behind a highly-rated aquaculture Masters Degree, ACES, reflect on 10 years of the programme, designed to train the industry and academic leaders of the future. Profs. Elizabeth Cottier-Cook and Laurent Barille also highlight the challenges and opportunities within global aquaculture and reflect on how they too have learned from their international programme.The Ocean Explorer podcast is produced by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), an ocean research charity and partner of UHI based in Oban.In each episode, we take a deep dive into marine science topics with SAMS scientists and special guests.Interested in working or studying with us, or helping with our work? Visit www.sams.ac.uk to find out more.
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36:10
A new wave of ocean exploration
Oceanographers spend a lot of time exploring the deep sea, but what is it really like taking measurements in the middle of the ocean and how is it done? In this episode real-life Octonauts, Drs Neil Fraser and Lewis Drysdale, explain to Euan how detailed ocean observations give us an insight into the changing climate.They also describe how the latest technology has become a game changer in the quest for more data, more quickly as we seek more accurate climate forecasts.The Ocean Explorer podcast is produced by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), an ocean research charity and partner of UHI based in Oban.In each episode, we take a deep dive into marine science topics with SAMS scientists and special guests.Interested in working or studying with us, or helping with our work? Visit www.sams.ac.uk to find out more.
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38:36
Drowning in plastic pollution
Images of a seahorse clutching a cotton bud, or a marine mammal choking on a plastic bag provoke shocking and saddening reactions - but how much change is made as a result?As they discover a new plastic threat to mangrove habitats on the Ghanaian coast, SAMS scientists Prof. Bhavani Narayanaswamy and Dr Geslaine Lemos Concalves explain the extent of plastic pollution in our ocean and what we can do to mitigate some of the worst impacts.Find out how plastic has reached every corner of the ocean environment and how it is beginning to impact on our own health.The Ocean Explorer podcast is produced by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), an ocean research charity and partner of UHI based in Oban.In each episode, we take a deep dive into marine science topics with SAMS scientists and special guests.Interested in working or studying with us, or helping with our work? Visit www.sams.ac.uk to find out more.
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35:57
Dark Oxygen: a deep sea discovery
A discovery in the dark depths of the Pacific Ocean has been challenging the scientific consensus of how oxygen is produced and has even called into question how life on Earth began.Photosynthetic organisms like plants and algae use energy from sunlight to create the planet’s oxygen. But new evidence published by Prof. Andrew Sweetman and collaborators, including his former PhD student Dr Danielle de Jonge, has shown how oxygen is also produced in complete darkness at the seafloor 4,000 metres below the ocean surface, where no light can penetrate.Now Prof. Sweetman is returning to the Pacific with custom-built equipment, thanks for funding from The Nippon Foundation, to find out how this phenomenon is occurring.In this episode Prof. Sweetman and Dr de Jonge share their experience of making the Dark Oxygen discovery and the 'rollercoaster' they've experienced as their research paper continues to make global headlines.The Ocean Explorer podcast is produced by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), an ocean research charity and partner of UHI based in Oban.In each episode, we take a deep dive into marine science topics with SAMS scientists and special guests.Interested in working or studying with us, or helping with our work? Visit www.sams.ac.uk to find out more.
The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in Oban, Scotland is an ocean research charity and investigates various elements of our marine environment, from algae to oceanography. In this podcast, we meet staff and students from SAMS to learn more about our vast and mysterious ocean.Please consider supporting this important work https://www.sams.ac.uk/support-sams/