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How To Protect The Ocean

Andrew Lewin
How To Protect The Ocean
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  • How To Protect The Ocean

    Marineland Canada Shuts Down: The Beluga Whale Rescue Begins

    2026-07-23 | 18 min.
    Marineland Canada is officially closing, and this week the park began moving its remaining beluga whales out of Niagara Falls. Six belugas were flown out on a single flight this week, four to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and two to SeaWorld San Antonio, marking the start of a rescue effort that has been years in the making. Andrew walks through how the park got here, from its 1961 founding through decades of protests, whistleblower allegations, OSPCA charges, and a failed 2025 attempt to export the belugas to a Chinese aquarium.
    The episode traces the full timeline: the 2012 Toronto Star exposé that first exposed conditions at the park, trainer-turned-whistleblower Phil Demers and his years-long legal battle with Marineland, the 2019 passage of Canada's Free Willy Bill, and the deaths of Kiska the orca and Mary Holler, the park's last owner, which left the facility's future uncertain. Andrew also digs into why Marineland's plan to send the belugas to China was blocked and why sending them to accredited US aquariums, while still captivity, is being treated as the safer near-term option.
    Andrew shares his own take on the ethics of the situation, arguing that owning captive animals comes with an obligation to care for them regardless of a park's finances, and explains why release into open ocean is not a realistic option for whales that have never hunted on their own. He also covers the ongoing effort to build a whale sanctuary in Nova Scotia and the funding gap still standing in its way.
    Takeaways
    Marineland Canada is closing and moved its first six belugas to US aquariums this week
    The park's collapse followed over a decade of OSPCA charges, whistleblower allegations, and public protest
    A planned export of the belugas to a Chinese aquarium was denied by Canada's fisheries minister
    Belugas raised in captivity cannot be released directly into open ocean since they have never hunted on their own
    The Whale Sanctuary Project in Nova Scotia still lacks federal permits and full construction funding
    The land Marineland sits on is expected to be sold for development once the animals are relocated
    Support Independent Podcasts: https://www.speakupforblue.com/patreon
    Need help with your ocean non-profit, company, or project? Get the help you need with Pisces Oceans Inc.: https://www.piscesoceans.ca

    Connect with Speak Up For Blue
    Website: https://bit.ly/3fOF3Wf
    Instagram: https://bit.ly/3rIaJSG
    TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@speakupforblue
    Twitter: https://bit.ly/3rHZxpc
    YouTube: www.speakupforblue.com/youtube
  • How To Protect The Ocean

    American Samoa Said No to Deep-Sea Mining. The US Government Doubled The Area

    2026-07-22 | 20 min.
    The US government is moving toward the world's first commercial deep-sea mining lease sale, and it's happening in federal waters off American Samoa. In this episode, Andrew breaks down how we got here: a California startup's 2025 request to mine polymetallic nodules, the Request for Information process that followed, and the 75,000-plus public comments that came in during the 30-day comment window, with 80 to 98% opposed to mining. Despite that opposition, and despite a standing moratorium from American Samoa's own governor, the federal government expanded the proposed mining area from 18 million to 33 million acres and pushed the lease sale forward, currently projected for August 2026.
    Andrew walks through who's actually bidding on this, including Impossible Metals, The Metals Company, and a handful of smaller entrants, and digs into what the peer-reviewed science says about the risks. That includes a 2025 Nature Ecology & Evolution study showing a 37% drop in seafloor animal density after a single test mining pass, a Nature study finding measurable impacts still detectable four decades after a 1970s test site, and research on the socioeconomic stakes for Pacific fisheries and tuna-dependent economies.
    The episode closes with the question that matters most: do American Samoans actually want this? Spoiler, no, based on every available measure of public sentiment, though the picture isn't entirely uniform. Andrew also unpacks the deeper pattern here, indigenous Pacific communities being asked to shoulder the risk of an untested industry with little say in the outcome.
    Takeaways:
    Sign a petition opposing the lease sale
    Follow and support Earthjustice, Greenpeace, and NRDC as they track legal action
    Follow Future Swell for ongoing updates
    If you're a US voter, remember this fight runs through the midterms
    Support Independent Podcasts: https://www.speakupforblue.com/patreon
    Need help with your ocean non-profit, company, or project? Get the help you need with Pisces Oceans Inc.: https://www.piscesoceans.ca

    Connect with Speak Up For Blue
    Website: https://bit.ly/3fOF3Wf
    Instagram: https://bit.ly/3rIaJSG
    TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@speakupforblue
    Twitter: https://bit.ly/3rHZxpc
    YouTube: www.speakupforblue.com/youtube
  • How To Protect The Ocean

    Ghost Nets: Why They Keep Happening and What's Actually Working

    2026-07-21 | 16 min.
    A viral TikTok about fish aggregation devices drifting into marine protected areas got Andrew thinking about a topic he hasn't covered in a while: ghost nets. In this episode, he breaks down what ghost nets actually are, the scientific term for them (ALDFG, or abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear), and why they're a growing, well-documented problem from the ocean surface all the way down to the deep seafloor.
    Andrew walks through what the peer-reviewed research shows: entanglement patterns across whales, seals, sea turtles, and coral reefs, a personal diving story off Big Cayman where he watched a ghost net get cut free from a loggerhead sea turtle, and the real economic and technical challenges holding back solutions like ropeless fishing gear and biodegradable nets. He also covers where progress is actually happening, from derelict net removal programs to circular economy recycling models.
    This isn't a "just stop fishing" episode. Andrew makes the case that ghost nets are a solvable, adaptable problem, but one that needs more research funding, cheaper technology, and stronger enforcement to get there.
    Takeaways from this episode:
    Ghost nets (ALDFG) are found from the ocean surface to the deep seafloor, and they keep catching and killing marine life for as long as they remain in the water.
    The animals most affected span whales, seals, sea turtles, and coral reef species, not just fish.
    Solutions like ropeless gear and biodegradable nets are real and improving, but cost and fisher adoption remain the biggest barriers.
    Stopping fishing altogether isn't a realistic fix. The path forward is better gear design, more funding, and stronger enforcement.
    Listeners can support the fisheries and programs that are already investing in gear-loss prevention and removal.
    Support Independent Podcasts: https://www.speakupforblue.com/patreon
    Need help with your ocean non-profit, company, or project? Get the help you need with Pisces Oceans Inc.: https://www.piscesoceans.ca

    Connect with Speak Up For Blue
    Website: https://bit.ly/3fOF3Wf
    Instagram: https://bit.ly/3rIaJSG
    TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@speakupforblue
    Twitter: https://bit.ly/3rHZxpc
    YouTube: www.speakupforblue.com/youtube
  • How To Protect The Ocean

    What the Wildfire Smoke in Your Sky Has to Do With the Ocean

    2026-07-20 | 24 min.
    For a week straight, Andrew watched his own sky turn orange outside Toronto as smoke from nearly 900 wildfires burning across Canada, most of them following the boreal forest from the east coast to Northwestern Ontario, drifted south into the US and back again. He walks through what actually happened on the ground: which towns and First Nations were evacuated, how bad the air quality got (Toronto briefly had the worst AQI in the world), and why northwestern Ontario, not a hugely populated area but home to vulnerable First Nations communities, bore the brunt of it.
    Then he digs into why this keeps happening. Most of Ontario's fires this season were sparked by lightning, not arson, despite conspiracy theories claiming otherwise (arson accounts for well under a quarter of cases). An active El Nino is drying things out further, and climate change is intensifying the underlying heat and dryness that let these fires spread. Andrew also connects the dots to the ocean directly: the boreal forest is one of the planet's biggest carbon sinks, and when it burns that stored carbon heads into the atmosphere, where roughly a quarter of it eventually gets absorbed by the ocean, driving further acidification.
    The back half of the episode gets political. Ontario slashed its emergency firefighting budget from $271 million spent in 2025-26 down to $150 million budgeted for 2026-27, even as Premier Doug Ford defends the province's readiness. Meanwhile, US President Trump and several senators have floated tariffs and sanctions against Canada over the smoke, a move Andrew calls scientifically and diplomatically backwards given how often Canada and the US send firefighters and equipment across the border to help each other. He closes with concrete steps listeners can take, from checking air quality indexes to contacting elected officials about wildfire funding.
    Takeaways From the Episode
    Nearly 900 wildfires were burning across Canada as of July 16, most following the boreal forest belt into Northwestern Ontario.
    Vulnerable First Nations communities and small towns bore the brunt of evacuations, some residents had to self-evacuate by boat or air with little warning.
    Most fires were lightning-caused, not arson, arson accounts for well under a quarter of cases despite online conspiracy theories.
    Burning boreal forest releases stored carbon into the atmosphere, and roughly a quarter of human-caused CO2 emissions get absorbed by the ocean, tying wildfires directly to ocean acidification.
    Ontario cut its baseline emergency firefighting budget from $271 million spent to $150 million budgeted for the coming year, a proactive-versus-reactive funding problem.
    US tariffs and sanctions threats against Canada over the smoke ignore how often the two countries help each other fight fires, including the loss of a Canadian firefighter in Colorado this year.
    Individual actions still matter: check air quality indexes before extended time outdoors, follow evacuation orders immediately if you're in a fire zone, keep a 72-hour go bag ready, and contact your elected officials if wildfire underfunding frustrates you.
    Support Independent Podcasts: https://www.speakupforblue.com/patreon
    Need help with your ocean non-profit, company, or project? Get the help you need with Pisces Oceans Inc.: https://www.piscesoceans.ca

    Connect with Speak Up For Blue
    Website: https://bit.ly/3fOF3Wf
    Instagram: https://bit.ly/3rIaJSG
    TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@speakupforblue
    Twitter: https://bit.ly/3rHZxpc
    YouTube: www.speakupforblue.com/youtube
  • How To Protect The Ocean

    100 Years of Data Reveals Why Sharks Keep Stealing Your Catch

    2026-07-17 | 11 min.
    If you've ever felt a hard strike, fought a fish, and reeled up nothing but a head, you already know what shark depredation feels like. In this episode, Andrew breaks down a new study that tracked shark depredation across the entire Atlantic coast, from Maine to Texas and the US Caribbean, going back a full century to figure out why it's happening more now than ever before.
    The study found at least 51 targeted fish stocks affected and 22 shark species involved, with bull sharks and sandbar sharks showing up most often. But the real story isn't that sharks are out of control. It's that decades of shark conservation, starting with the 1993 US shark management plan, actually worked, and a recovering shark population combined with more anglers on the water means more overlap, and more overlap means more bite-offs.
    Andrew unpacks the concept of "dead discards," the fish that die during depredation but never get counted in stock assessments, and why that creates a blind spot in fishery management. The episode closes with concrete, same-day actions anglers (and non-anglers) can take, from changing fishing tactics to reporting depredation events to NOAA, so both fish and shark populations can keep being managed well.
    Support Independent Podcasts: https://www.speakupforblue.com/patreon
    Need help with your ocean non-profit, company, or project? Get the help you need with Pisces Oceans Inc.: https://www.piscesoceans.ca

    Connect with Speak Up For Blue
    Website: https://bit.ly/3fOF3Wf
    Instagram: https://bit.ly/3rIaJSG
    TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@speakupforblue
    Twitter: https://bit.ly/3rHZxpc
    YouTube: www.speakupforblue.com/youtube
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Om How To Protect The Ocean
Dive into the Depths: Join Andrew Lewin on 'How to Protect the Ocean' – Your Gateway to Exclusive Ocean Insights! Explore the latest, uncharted realms of ocean science and conservation that you won't find anywhere else. Andrew takes you on an inspiring journey to uncover the hidden gems of oceanic discovery and initiatives. Tune in to discover how you can transform your life for a better ocean, one episode at a time. The How To Protect The Ocean is your resource to keep you informed on the latest ocean news; teach you how to speak up for the ocean; and, how you can take action to live for a better ocean. There is so much information on the ocean and the issues that are affecting it that it can be difficult to find optimism in the future of the ocean. Climate change, overfishing, plastic pollution, water pollution, and coastal development have altered the ocean in ways that have negatively changed the way we use it. The repercussions of climate change, including the ominous specter of rising sea levels, the relentless march of warming ocean temperatures, and the ominous shadow of ocean acidification, have not only altered the very fabric of our coastlines but have also conjured fiercer storms and summoned floods with growing frequency. The fossil fuel industry may whisper in your ear that the situation is insurmountable, an inescapable fate. However, this podcast is here to unveil a different narrative, one that empowers you to take action. It illuminates the path to change by casting your vote for leaders committed to implementing climate-rescuing policies and by offering invaluable insights into how each of us can shrink our individual carbon footprint. The grim reality of overfishing casts a long shadow, fueled by governmental shortcomings in the stewardship of both commercial and recreational fisheries. Within the delicate balance of our oceans, every fish population possesses a threshold - a point at which the relentless harvest of fishermen begins to erode their numbers. The management of these aquatic resources is a formidable task, as the elusive currents of the sea often defy easy tracking. Furthermore, the menace of illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing looms large in many nations, adding to the crisis. Yet, a glimmer of hope shines through the depths. A beacon for responsible consumption emerges in the form of seafood programs, guiding conscientious individuals toward choices that safeguard our oceans. By heeding these programs, you not only savor the delights of sustainable seafood but also become an informed guardian of marine ecosystems. The relentless scourge of plastic pollution has unleashed an epidemic of death upon the denizens of our oceans. It's a ruthless killer, claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of marine mammals, majestic sharks, grandiose fish, gentle sea turtles, and the graceful sea birds that soar above. The malevolence of this crisis knows no bounds, with microplastics infiltrating even the remotest depths of the ocean and etching their presence along every coastline. To mount a defense against this ecological cataclysm, the clarion call for action echoes on the international and national stages. It beckons governments far and wide to adopt resolute policies, wielding the power to outlaw the menace of single-use plastics and demanding the meticulous detoxification of our supply chains. In this grand battle to safeguard our seas, the fight against plastic pollution knows no borders. The ominous specter of water pollution looms large, a consequence of our thoughtless disposal into the arteries of our planet – our streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. This callous act reverberates, sending shockwaves through the intricate ecosystems of our coastal havens, where the likes of coral reefs, resilient mangroves, and swaying seagrasses thrive. But alas, this intrusion is not benign; it bears the capacity to corrode and dismantle these vital sanctuaries, the very lifeblood of countless fish and the steadfast guardians of our vulnerable shorelines. Yet, amidst the unsettling tide of pollution, there emerges a ray of hope. Through individual resolve and visionary government policies harnessed with cutting-edge technology, we can stem this toxic deluge. Water treatment systems stand as stalwart guardians, armed with the ability to sift out the insidious nutrients that fuel destructive algal blooms. The power to heal our waters and preserve the sanctity of our coastal treasures lies within our grasp. Coastal development, driven by human desires to construct homes or fortify the shoreline against erosion, represents a significant intervention in the natural order. Yet, these changes, while initially confined to the coastal zone, often send ripple effects that extend far beyond their original boundaries, casting a shadow of unintended consequences. The repercussions of altering coastlines resonate through interconnected ecosystems, occasionally triggering a cascade of events that can inflict profound harm on distant areas. In doing so, this well-intentioned transformation can unwittingly imperil the lives and livelihoods of communities residing in the wake of its impact. It is a stark reminder that our actions along the coast carry a profound responsibility, not just to the immediate environment but to the greater web of life and society that depends upon it.
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