Latest news with #OCEAN
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Heartbreaking Video Shows Fish Fleeing Huge Nets
David Attenborough has become the voice we associate with all things beautiful in nature, but he's never shied away from showing the harrowing destruction that humans visit upon our planet. This, however, might be the biggest gut-punch he's delivered yet. In his latest documentary "OCEAN," Attenborough presents us with unique footage showing the devastating effects of bottom trawling on the seafloor, right where the action is happening. The filmmakers placed a camera underwater, showing us the actual view of the trawl net as it sweeps up countless poor sea creatures, who desperately try to out-swim their doom. It's an unprecedented look — but it doesn't make for easy viewing. "I have seen the bycatch on the deck of trawlers, but like everybody else, I had never seen what the trawl does underwater," Enric Sala, a marine ecologist who served as executive producer and scientific advisor on Ocean, told IFLScience in a recent interview. "Being at the level of the net and seeing all these poor creatures trying to escape the net, that's something that nobody else had seen." Bottom trawling is a widely used method of fishing that involves dragging an enormous net across the seafloor, ensnaring hundreds if not thousands of aquatic creatures in a single sweep. It's a blunt approach that doesn't discriminate between species. Most of the fish that get caught aren't even what the fishermen are looking for, but they perish anyway. "Over three-quarters of a trawler's catch may be thrown away," Attenborough narrates in the documentary. "It's hard to imagine a more wasteful way to catch fish." Trawling also ravages the seafloor itself, as the heavy chain or beam that keeps the net open smashes into any rock or aquatic fauna in its path, while dredging up literal tons of sediment. "The trawlers tear the seabed with such force, that their trails of destruction can be seen from space," Attenborough says. It gets worse. As the seabed is thrown up, so are the vast stores of carbon it harbored. A massive 2024 study estimated that some 370 million metric tons of carbon dioxide is released by bottom trawling every single year. That puts it "on the scale of global aviation," Sala said, which produces nearly a billion tons annually. In terms of both the greenhouse impact and the sweeping scale of the damage wreaked to local habitats, it's the ocean's equivalent to deforestation. One study estimated that bottom trawlers scrape 1.9 million square miles of seafloor per year, roughly equivalent to 1.3 percent of the entire ocean. "It's happening everywhere around the ocean, including in many of our protected areas," Toby Nowlan, the director and producer on OCEAN, told IFLScience. "The difference being that this is as destructive as bulldozing your local ancient woodland, or the Amazon rainforest." "If my local ancient woodland, Leigh Woods, was just bulldozed, the entire city would be up in arms, but this is what's happening underwater," Nowlan added. "The whole reason [people aren't up in arms about trawling] is that it's remained hidden from view." Not anymore. More on the ocean: Benevolent Orca Pods Are Adopting Baby Pilot Whales in an Apparent Effort to Clean Up the Species' Image
Yomiuri Shimbun
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japanese Defense Minister Calls for Enhancing Multinational Security Cooperation at Asia Security Summit in Singapore
Hirotaka Kuriyama / The Yomiuri Shimbun Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, right, shakes hands with Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles in Singapore on Sunday. SINGAPORE — Defense Minister Gen Nakatani called for stronger relations with like-minded countries, including the United States, to increase deterrence against China in conjunction with the Asian Security Summit in Singapore held from Friday to Sunday. As the U.S. government is increasing its pressure on allies and like-minded countries through tariff measures, Nakatani focused on maintaining multinational cooperation. After finishing his meetings at the summit, which is also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, Nakatani told reporters on Sunday, 'I exchanged opinions with many defense ministers, and reaffirmed the need to strengthen defense cooperation and partnership.' On the same day, Nakatani met with Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles to call on the Australian government to jointly develop ships based on the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami class destroyers regarding Canberra's plan to introduce a new type of ship. If joint development is realized, it is expected that interoperability between the SDF and the Australian military will be improved. Nakatani also held individual talks with the defense ministers of the Philippines and Malaysia, which are both in dispute with China over territorial claims in the South China Sea, and held bilateral meetings with a total of eight countries during his stay. The defense ministers of Japan, the United States, Australia and the Philippines held a meeting on Saturday. The meeting was aimed at maintaining U.S. involvement in the Indo-Pacific region as the Trump administration, which has been accused of disregarding its allies, has been at odds with other countries over tariff measures. The ministers confirmed that they will meet regularly in the future, expressed 'serious concern' about China's attempts to change the status quo and reconciled their perceptions of China. A trilateral defense ministers' meeting of Japan, the United States and Australia was also held on Saturday. The ministers issued a statement acknowledging the importance of partnership. Nakatani's focus on maintaining multinational cooperation, including with the United States, at the summit is aimed at preventing China, which has been making unilateral advances in the region, from taking advantage of the growing distrust of the U.S. to expand its influence in the region. On Saturday, Nakatani delivered his address at the Asian Security Summit and emphasized the importance of 'the rules-based international order.' He also proposed the cooperative framework of OCEAN (One Cooperative Effort Among Nations) so that countries sharing common values and interests will jointly expand their cooperation. 'Each of the countries also expressed similar views. I got responses indicating that all of them shared the same opinion,' Nakatani told reporters on Sunday. However, it remains to be seen whether the relationship between the United States and its allies and like-minded countries will be able to improve. A senior Defense Ministry official said, 'It will be increasingly necessary for Japan to compensate for the decline in the U.S. presence.'
Asahi Shimbun
4 days ago
- Politics
- Asahi Shimbun
Nakatani offers OCEAN security concept for all Indo-Pacific area
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani speaks at the Shangri-La Dialogue conference on May 31 in Singapore. (Mizuki Sato) SINGAPORE—Japan was involved in flurry of solidarity activities apparently with China in mind at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an Asian defense conference, here. In a speech on May 31, Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani proposed a security concept called OCEAN (One Cooperative Effort Among Nations). Under OCEAN, cooperation and partnership would strengthen among countries with common values to monitor the entire Indo-Pacific region, Nakatani said. Also that day, the defense chiefs of Japan, the United States, Australia and the Philippines met for the first time since U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration in January. In a joint statement, they expressed continued and serious concern about China's attempts to change the status quo in the East China Sea and South China Sea. Nakatani also met separately with U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and they confirmed a policy of strengthening cooperation in the cyber domain. After the meeting, Nakatani was asked by reporters about Hegseth's speech calling on Japan to increase defense spending. 'It is important for Japan to take the initiative,' Nakatani said. He added that he had conveyed this idea to Hegseth in the past.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Investors flee to Bitcoin and gold as Trump's tariffs shake markets
Gold has surged in recent months as investors seek safety amid ongoing geopolitical tensions, ie, Trump Tariffs. Reuters reported, 'The latest flare-up of tensions between the world's two largest economies dented sentiment in wider financial markets, sending investors towards safe-haven assets such as gold.' Over the past six months, gold has risen by roughly 19.33%, or $512 per ounce. Bitcoin, often compared to gold for its scarcity and store-of-value potential, has seen even more dramatic price movement. Rising from $67,000 to a high of $109,000 before settling in the mid-$80,000s. While gold's value is rooted in centuries of trust, Bitcoin offers a fixed supply and rapidly increasing regulatory clarity, which could attract a growing wave of institutional and retail investors. Bitcoin and AI infrastructure firm Auradine has raised $153 million in a funding round that exceeded its target in a series C round, bringing their total funding to over $300 million. StepStone Group led the round, joined by investors including Qualcomm Ventures, Samsung Catalyst Fund, Premji Invest, and MARA Holdings. The company also launched AuraLinks AI, a new division that will build networking tools to help AI data centers handle more traffic and stay cool as they grow. CEO Rajiv Khemani said the funding will help Auradine grow faster and build tech that supports both AI and blockchain in a more energy-efficient way. Tether is partnering with OCEAN, a decentralized Bitcoin mining pool led by Bitcoin Core developer Luke Dashjr, to deploy both its current and future hashrate. The move is aimed at advancing Bitcoin's decentralization by leveraging OCEAN's open-source DATUM protocol, which enables miners to build their own block templates and operate in low-bandwidth environments. 'We see supporting decentralization in Bitcoin mining as essential to the network's long-term integrity,' said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. The partnership aims to help Tether earn mining rewards directly, potentially cut costs, and grow into regions with limited access to mining tools. Bitcoin Core version 29.0 was released on April 14, 2025, bringing bug fixes and improvements. With this update, support for versions 26.x and earlier has ended, meaning they will no longer receive updates. In line with the project's security policy, any major security issues found in those older versions will be publicly disclosed two weeks after the release. Bitcoin Core is the main software that powers the Bitcoin network. It verifies all transactions, includes a built-in wallet, and is based on the original code from Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. The project is open source, with contributors from around the world. Final decisions on code changes are made by trusted developers known as maintainers. Development is done openly on GitHub. CleanSpark has expanded its capital strategy with a $200 million Bitcoin-backed credit facility from Coinbase Prime. The funding allows the company to support growth without issuing new shares, as it transitions to a self-funded operating model. As part of the shift, CleanSpark will begin selling a portion of its monthly Bitcoin production to cover expenses. The company holds more than 12,000 BTC, valued at roughly $1 billion. 'While we remain committed to Bitcoin as a long-term, hardened asset, we believe a more effective way to increase shareholder value is through a balanced approach between monetizing new production and building long-term holdings,' said CEO Zach Bradford. The move sets CleanSpark apart from competitors who continue to rely on equity dilution or high leverage to fund operations. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of TheStreet Crypto. This piece is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial or investment advice. Sign in to access your portfolio
