Surf Therapy Connects People to Water – Ocean Health Depends on this ‘Blue Attunement’
.Ocean therapy provides a lens to see, understand and experience the ocean as restorative and health-enabling. Even when coastal blue spaces are considered places of exclusion, danger or risk, the ocean can be transformed into a place of healing and connection through initiatives like Sea Sisters in Sri Lanka, a social enterprise that empowers local girls and women using swimming and surfing as tools for social change. I co-founded another project in Iran, Be Like Water, with triathlete Shirin Gerami to make surfing more accessible to minority groups of women and girls while strengthening their connection
Thailand Hopes Trackers Will Boost Conservation of Endangered Leatherback Turtles
successfully made their way into the ocean, while others perished after hatching, so a programme was launched to nurse the weak baby leatherbacks, according to Pinsak Suraswadi, Director-General of Thailand's Department of Marine and Coastal Resources.Thailand is one of five countries, including Sri Lanka and Canada, that have been able to nurse this species of baby turtle up to their first year. A typical leatherback will lay eggs after 20 to 25 years.They were released in April by conservationists and have satellite tags to monitor their progress, part of an international initiative by the non-profit
More Than 60% of World's Coral Reefs May Have Bleached in Past Year
by heat stress, coral bleaching occurs when corals expel the colourful algae living in their tissues. Without these helpful algae, the corals become pale and are vulnerable to starvation and disease.Scientists have documented mass bleaching in at least 62 countries and territories, with India and Sri Lanka recently reporting impacts.The last global event, which ran from 2014 to 2017, saw 56.1% of reef areas subjected to bleaching-level heat stress. Previous events in 1998 and 2010 hit 20% and 35% of reef area, respectively.While the current event has affected a greater swath, Manzello said the 2014-17
India Keeps Close Watch on Chinese Research Vessel
, according to an Indian military official and an independent researcher, as new Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu deepens ties with Beijing, distancing from New Delhi.It is likely to raise concern in New Delhi, which has previously viewed the presence of such vessels close to its shores, including in Sri Lanka in 2022, as problematic.These vessels are not military ships, officially, but India and others worry about the military use of their research.Relations between traditional friends New Delhi and Male have soured since President Muizzu took office in November riding an 'India Out' campaign
Inside the Subsea Cable Firm Secretly Helping America Take on China
funding to get the Oman Australia Cable built, the two people said.The 10,000-kilometer cable was officially opened by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in October 2022. It includes a splice to the Cocos Islands, an Australian territory which comprises a cluster of tiny islands between Sri Lanka and Australia. Australia’s military has been seeking parliamentary approval for funds to upgrade an airfield there and make other improvements aimed at strengthening its maritime surveillance capabilities in the region.Slattery on Nov. 19, 2022, tweeted a group photo that included himself
Obituary: Dr. David Thomas Pugh (1943-2022)
fluctuations of sea level called seiches, in which he made extensive use of temporary deployments of compact and relatively inexpensive tide gauges. In fact, David became an expert in the use of such instruments. Papers were published by David and colleagues on seiches at Indian Ocean islands and Sri Lanka. A recent example of such work dates from 2020 and concerned the Shetland Islands where seiches are endemic to every inlet. Many have periods around half-an-hour which led David to propose a theory (still to be properly worked up) that coastline and bathymetry evolution lead naturally to such a
European Group Lifts Funding to $4.6B to Prevent Plastic Pollution in Seas
or washed into rivers, the group said on Friday, threatening the marine environment and communities that rely on the sea for their livelihood.The new target for 2025 builds on an initial funding goal of 2 billion euros by 2023, 80% of which has already been allocated to projects in countries including Sri Lanka, China, Egypt that will benefit more than 20 million people, the group said."The oceans are under severe pressure: they are polluted, littered, overfished, their species richness is massively compromised," Stefan Wintels, chief executive of German development bank KfW, said.Earlier
ROV Pair Cleans Ship Hulls Double Time; HullWiper expands into South Korea
under HullWiper’s lease agreement, which was introduced in 2017. Since its launch in late 2013, HullWiper has expanded from its first base in Dubai to key locations across the Middle East, as well as ports in Australia, Denmark, Egypt, Gibraltar, Mauritius, Namibia, Norway, Panama, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Sweden.To date, HullWiper has performed hull cleans for more than 1,400 vessels worldwide.
Shipbuilding: Cable Layer Delivered to Japan
(CDPLC) delivered the first ever modern Cable Laying Vessel built for Kokusai Cable Ship Co. Ltd. (KCS) Japan, on June 21, 2019. This is the biggest vessel, both in terms of length and price, ever built by Colombo Dockyard in its history, and the first ever ship built ‘in its class’ from Sri Lanka to Japan.This ship measures 113.1 x 21.5m with an 8.8 m depth, and with a maximum load laying draft of approx 7.1m has a deadweight carrying capacity of 5,757 DWT and a speed of 14.5 knots with accommodation facilities for 80 persons.This vessel is a modern, high technology vessel, which is intended
February 2025
