Overfishing
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Paul Allen puts $40 million towards combatting illegal fishing
Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen is working on a system that will monitor the oceans for illegal fishing, reports Bloomberg. It's called SkyLight and Allen is putting $40 million towards the project. Currently, the system is being tested in Palau and Gabon, but it's set to be more widely available early next year.
‘Sustainable seafood’ grows in a lab instead of the ocean
Taking a whiff of a tray of multiplied cells, made from the stem cells scraped off a dead fish, all I could detect was a faint aroma of something smelling 'off.' Fishy, even. The co-founders of Finless Foods are working every holiday and weekend to 'feed' the cells so they divide and grow well enough to construct a fish fillet of edible meat within a few months. The biotechnology startup is pinning all of its hopes on consumers choosing lab-made meat over the potentially overfished or antibiotic-laden pieces of fish they might be purchasing now.
Google and conservationists are tracking boats to stop illegal fishing
Overfishing has been a problem for ages, but oceans are big and it's not as if the water police authorities can track where every boat drops its nets. At least, until now, since thanks to Google, SkyTruth and Oceana, we're now close to being able to pinpoint where every boat is in every ocean. Culling data from AIS - the automatic identification system that boats are required to broadcast so that they don't get lost - the trio can overlay that imagery with satellite maps to show if any boat is operating in a prohibited zone. Currently, GlobalFishingWatch can only show you data from 2012-2013 for boats that are either registered as fishing vessels or displaying "fishing like" activity, but the plan is to build out the system so that it works in near-to real time. Of course, there are still holes in the system, since any vessel can disable their AIS -- although that's almost enough of a reason to haul 'em in to be interrogated by the cops. Maybe this will be the inspiration for a whole new series called Law and Order: Environmental Crimes Unit.
Mankrik's tuna fight, and Bioshock in Azeroth
A couple of sight gags have popped up on the forums over the past few days, and all of them are pretty darn funny.First off, Mankrik (the character, not the NPC) recently raised a ticket with the GM about an Environmental problem. No, not glitching graphics or missing shaders-- he was worried about tuna overfishing, specifically in the Barrens. A GM even answered him, though he said it's nothing to worry about. Conspiracy? Click the picture above to see the whole, hilarious thing (and thanks to Zeph for sending this one along to us).And after the jump, a couple of different players used WoW as a canvas to paint their favorite new game, Bioshock. It's my favorite shooter/RPG/Objectivist commentary on the 360-- at least until Halo 3 comes out. Click the link below to see some Big Daddies and Little Sisters, WoW-style.
