Crochet Coral

The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the world's largest living structure, covering over 130,000 square miles. Unfortunately climate change has become a major threat to the reef, creating environmental concerns like coral bleaching (when stress causes the organism to lose its color, eventually leading to the demise of the coral colony). Some scientists say the reef is in so much danger it could actually disappear within the next 20 years.

Organizations like the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace have been working on ways to save the reef for years. And the Institute for Figuring has recently come up with their own creative way of paying homage to the reef—by crocheting a reef made of wool!

This is just one of the many beautiful examples that crocheters from around the world have contributed to the woolen reef. Click here to view photo galleries of other works and to find out more about the threats facing the reef.

New Slips, Safe Manatees

On Tuesday, the Broward County Commission passed a plan that allows for the construction of 4,392 new boat slips. An earlier draft of the proposal called for 7,000 new slips to be built but was hotly contested by environmentalists hoping to limit the number of manatees in Broward that are killed by boats. The approved proposal marks a compromise between the boating industry and state wildlife officials.

The Broward plan greenlights the construction of storage units, parking spaces, and other boating facilities. It also mandates that 513 of the new slips be set aside for those who cannot afford private dock space. The County Commission instated additional means of protecting manatees including a fee increase for boaters that are caught speeding and the installation of speed-reduction signs that light up when manatees are present.

"Everybody understands this is a compromise plan," said Frank Herhold, executive director of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida in an interview with the Sun-Sentinel. "We all hope it will stand the test of time."

Make Gas Last

With summertime gas prices skyrocketing, here are BoatU.S.'s top ten tips for getting the most from a tank of gas.

1. Leave the extra ‘junk’ home: Don’t load the boat up with weight you don’t need. Do a little spring cleaning—unused equipment that has been collecting mildew in the bottom of lockers for years should be taken home.

2. Water weight: At 8.33 pounds per gallon, why keep the water in the tank topped off if you’re only going out for the afternoon?

3. Tune her up: An engine tune-up is an excellent investment and should easily pay for itself over the summer.

4. Tune your prop: If your boat goes 30 mph with a like-new prop and only 27 mph with a prop that’s dinged and out of pitch, that’s a 10% loss in fuel economy, or, you’re wasting one out of every ten gallons you put in your tank.

5. Paint the boat’s bottom: When boating in salt or brackish waters a fouled bottom is like a dull knife. It takes a lot more fuel to push your boat through the water.

6. Keep the boat in trim: Using trim tabs or distributing weight evenly will help move your boat through the water with less effort – and less fuel.

7. Go with the flow: Consult tide tables and try to travel with the tide whenever possible.

8. Install a fuel flow meter: A fuel flow meter is like a heart monitor; when consumption starts to rise, it’s an early warning that something is amiss. A fuel flow meter also allows you to select a comfortable cruising speed that optimizes the amount of fuel being consumed. If you don’t want to spring for a fuel flow meter (about $300), you can calculate your fuel mileage by dividing distance traveled by gallons at fill-up. Using your logbook, you can then approximate fuel flow using average speeds and time underway.

9. For sailboats only: While their engines are miserly, a sailboat with a fouled bottom, prop, or poorly maintained engine can have marked effect on its fuel economy.

10. Get a discount: Many of the 870 BoatU.S. Cooperating Marinas around the country offer up to 10 cents off a gallon of gas. To get the discount all you have to do is to show your BoatU.S. membership card.

Photo credit: www.wjye.com

Pledge Per Paddle

Some people canoe or kayak for fun—but Margo Pellegrino is doing it for her children’s future.

Pellegrino, a New Jersey mom of two, is in the midst of an 11-week, Miami-to-Maine trip in a 20-foot-long kayak. Her goal is to raise money for groups trying to solve coastal environmental problems, including the Surfrider Foundation, Oceana, and the Mordecai Island Land Trust. She’s been an active canoer and kayaker since she was a preteen, but the birth of her children, ages five and two, as well as some articles about our collapsing fisheries refocused her concern about what we’re doing to our nation’s waterways. “My kids have inspired me,” she told New Jersey Monthly recently. “There’s no way that they will be able to enjoy a healthy ocean, clean beaches, and an abundance of seafood if we continue to degrade the ocean at the rate we’re going. Like any parent, I want what’s best for them.”

Paddling an average of 25 to 35 miles per day, Pellegrino is subsisting on energy bars and water packs stowed aboard her 18-inch-wide craft, but she’s also enjoying normal meals and some good nights’ rest at the homes of sponsors and other supporters along the route.

You can track her current position, read about her progress, and donate to her cause via her Maimi2Maine blog.

Regulations Threaten Mexico's Pelagic-Rich Waters

If you fish, have fished the waters off Baja California, or are at all concerned with worldwide pelagic populations, a recent e-mail that I received from Wayne Bisbee, founder of the Cabo San Lucas, Mexico Bisbee’s Black & Blue Tournaments, will be of interest to you. It alerted me to a potentially tragic, harmful situation that threatens billfish and other game fish in the waters off Baja California.

Despite strong opposition from a number of groups, including the Billfish Foundation, Mexican officials approved Regulation NOM-029, or Shark Norma. Promoted as a way to stop the overexploitation of sharks and rays, the regulations can certainly do more harm than good. The Billfish Foundation points out the potential tragedies behind NOM-029:

Under current regulations no commercial fishing vessels are allowed to fish for or possess marlin, sailfish, dorado and other protected species within the 50 mile conservation zones. The only allowed fishing was under sportfishing bag limits. This law provided strong protection to a wide variety of marine life. Under NOM-029 these species can be targeted and retained. Commercial boats less than 30' can come within 10 miles of shore with longlines (section 4.2.1). Commercial longline boats between 30' and 89' can fish as near as 15 miles from the shore in the Sea of Cortez, and within 20 miles of the west coast of the Baja (4.7.3).

And this is the tip of the iceberg. What can you do to help? See the Billfish Foundation article on how to take action.