Marine issues high on the global political agenda

Dr Simon Brockington, Deputy Director Defra, represented Minister Therese Coffey at the 8th Annual Meeting of the NOC Association on 1 May. Dr Brockington spoke of the Government's 25 year Environment Plan which will achieve good environmental status of our seas while allowing marine industries to thrive, and complete our ecologically coherent network of well-managed marine protected areas (MPAs).

Dr Brockington also spoke of the UK's international endeavours in the form of the Commonwealth Clean Ocean Alliance, to address plastic pollution and the efforts the UK is making to conserve coral reefs through the Coral Reef Life Declaration. His speech highlighted the Commonwealth Blue Charter and the continued commitments to the G7 Future of the Seas initiative, OSPAR, G20 and UN programmes. He also discussed concerns relating to ocean acidification and rising sea temperatures.

Dr Brockington quoted Minister Coffey in concluding that, "Marine issues have never been higher on the global political agenda."

CommOCEAN 2018 to be hosted in Southampton

The NOC is proud to be hosting CommOCEAN 2018, the third International Marine Science Communication Conference, in Southampton on December 4-5.

CommOCEAN is aimed at professional communicators working in a marine institute, governmental body or a NGO, as well as marine scientists who are looking to level up their skills in modern ocean science communication. The conference programme combines hands-on activities in current skills and tools for communicating ocean research and technology, with plenty of expertise-sharing, social interaction and fascinating marine science along the way.

Registration and the call for abstracts is now open. See http://bit.ly/commocean for full details. Keep an eye on Twitter for lots of updates in the run up to the event @CommOceanConf

CommOCEAN 2018 - registration and call for abstracts

Getting a soaking with the Wirewall project team

The Wirewall team found the perfect excuse to throw some water at a prototype when partners from HR Wallingford visited the NOC's Southampton site this week to discuss flume rig design for the project. Find out more about how the project aims to help improve the design of sea defences and protect coastal communities at bit.ly/wirewall

Wirewall project - testing an early prototype

Ten astounding marine species of the last decade

The necklace foraminiferan, described by NOC scientists, has made it onto the top-ten list of newly-described marine species of 2017, one of two top-ten lists compiled by the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) to celebrate a decade since it was established.

At 8 cm tall, these are some of the largest single-celled organisms on the planet, and are the dominant megafaunal organisms in the area of the Pacific Ocean where they were discovered.

Also on the top-ten species of the last decade was the Hoff crab, which was first glimpsed using the NOC's deep-water remotely operated vehicle.