OCEAN: French Indo-Pacific Deployment & more – 24th Dec 2024

Ahoy from BA! This is the Rorshok Ocean Update from the 24th of December twenty twenty-four. A summary of what's going down in the 70% surface of the Earth covered in saltwater.

The first Pacific deployment of a French aircraft carrier in almost sixty years is just around the corner. According to Rear Admiral Guillaume Pinget, the French Navy’s Charles de Gaulle Carrier Strike Group (or CSG) will visit Okinawa, Japan, between February and March twenty twenty-five during the Clemenceau 25 mission.

The mission will focus on the maritime security of the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf, while reinforcing collaborations with allies like the US, Japan, and Australia, as well as promoting a stable, law-abiding Indo-Pacific. Pinget emphasized France’s commitment to international law and its approach to current regional tensions, which consists in avoiding polarizing blocs. France maintains a strong presence in the region, with over 7,000 personnel, warships, and aircraft safeguarding its territories and interests.

Still in the Pacific. A magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit the waters off Vanuatu’s coast on Tuesday the 17th, causing devastation across the island nation, located in the earthquake-sensitive Pacific Ring of Fire. Centered thirty kilometers west of Port Vila in the Pacific Ocean, the quake caused significant destruction, killing at least fourteen people and injuring hundreds. Many people ended up trapped under collapsed buildings.

Powerful aftershocks have followed, and a brief tsunami warning caused fears. Coastal areas suffered landslides, infrastructure damage, and disruptions to the island’s lifelines. Vanuatu faced challenges in rescue efforts due to damaged ports and roads. The international airport remains compromised, hampering aid deliveries by sea and air.

Moving on to European waters. Overfishing continues to threaten Europe's marine ecosystems, food security, and biodiversity, despite efforts to regulate fisheries. Only 28% of the assessed fish and shellfish stocks in European seas are sustainably fished and in good biological condition, with significant regional differences.

The North-East Atlantic and Baltic Seas are doing better, with 41% of stocks meeting sustainability criteria, while only 9% in the Mediterranean and Black Seas meet the same standards. The EU's policies, including the Common Fisheries Policy and Marine Strategy Framework Directive, aim to restore healthy fish populations, but the targets have not been fully achieved, and the long-term health of marine ecosystems and fisheries across Europe still remains not ensured.

Talking about the Atlantic, four military teams, namely TEAM V3NTURE, Force Atlantic, HMS Oardacious Valkyries, and the Oarsome Army Educators, are currently participating in the World’s Toughest Row, a 3,000-nautical mile (or 5,500 kilometers) race across the Atlantic. The journey, which started from the Canary Islands, is expected to last around six weeks.

TEAM V3NTURE is composed of British Army soldiers, while Force Atlantic is the British Army's first all-female team. HMS Oardacious Valkyries is the Royal Navy's all-female crew, and the Oarsome Army Educators is composed of four officers from the British Army's Educational and Training Services branch. The teams are enduring physical and mental challenges, including seasickness, blisters, and harsh weather, as they push forward in this grueling race.

Next up, a new study of the Polaris hydrothermal field in the Arctic Ocean shows surprising differences in how hydrothermal vents form. Researchers found that the Polaris site releases fluids rich in hydrogen and methane, rather than the typical metal-rich fluids. This really challenges previous ideas about the site and highlights the diversity of vent types.

The discovery is important for the search for life beyond Earth, as hydrogen-rich vents may offer more energy for life to thrive. The study also emphasizes the need to improve how we study and explore Earth's hydrothermal vents, which can help in the search for life on other planets.

From one Pole to the other. A study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday the 18th, shows that the decline in Antarctic sea ice is causing more heat to escape from the ocean to the atmosphere, increasing storm activity, and possibly even disrupting ocean circulation.

During the winter of twenty twenty-three, sea ice reached record-low levels, which led to double both the heat loss and the frequency of storms in the Southern Ocean, with some areas seeing up to seven additional storm days per month. This heat loss is making surface waters denser, which could affect deep ocean currents and increase sea ice melt in the future. The study warns that these changes could continue, affecting global weather patterns and accelerating Antarctic ice sheet melt.

Let’s sail to the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka’s navy rescued 102 Rohingya refugees, including twenty-five children, stranded on a fishing trawler. The refugees, fleeing persecution in Myanmar, drifted off the northern coast near Mullivaikkal. The navy brought them to Trincomalee port, where they underwent medical checks before disembarking.

Every year, many Rohingya risk dangerous sea journeys to reach Malaysia or Indonesia. The navy struggled to understand their destination due to language barriers, but they suggested that recent cyclonic weather may have caused them to drift off course. The Rohingya have suffered intense persecution since a military coup in Myanmar in twenty twenty-one, leading several hundred people to flee the country by sea.

Still in the Indian Ocean. During a secret interview with BBC in Eyl, Somalia, published on Sunday the 22nd, two former fishermen explained how they got into piracy. Frustrated by foreign trawlers stealing their equipment and killing their relatives, they now seek million-dollar ransoms by hijacking ships. The pirates accuse foreign fleets of looting Somali waters, and their growing anger fuels piracy in the region.

The pirates, armed with AK-47s and RPGs, receive financial backing from businessmen in Puntland, Somalia. They say that piracy is their only way to support their families, as fishing no longer provides a living. Despite understanding piracy is wrong, they continue their dangerous activities, knowing their actions would deeply disappoint their families.

In other news, Donald Trump recently criticized Panama's fees for US ships using the Panama Canal, calling them unfair and excessive. He warned that if Panama does not ensure the canal's secure and efficient operation, the US would demand full control of the waterway.

Trump also expressed concerns about China’s growing influence over the canal, emphasizing that it should only be managed by Panama, not any other nation. Let’s remember that the Panama Canal, completed by the US in nineteen fourteen and handed over to Panama in nineteen ninety-nine, is a crucial passage for global trade, with significant traffic from the US, China, Japan, and South Korea. The canal generates billions of dollars in revenue, and Trump’s comments signal his intention to prioritize American business interests once he takes office.

On another note, last week we talked about the two sank tankers which spilled oil in the Black Sea. On Thursday the 19th, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, called it an ecological disaster. The spill, which resulted from a storm damaging the tankers, has contaminated beaches along fifty kilometers (or thirty-one miles) of the Russian Black Sea coast.

Thousands of tons of oil leaked from the tankers, with around 3,000 tons of oil spilling into the sea. Authorities have expanded cleanup efforts, with over 2,700 volunteers and emergency workers actively removing oil from the beaches. Despite cleanup efforts, oil continues to leak from the sunken tanker, threatening further environmental damage.

From the Black to the Mediterranean Sea. On Friday the 20th, the journal Al Jazeera published an article on the story of Hassan Ali, a Pakistani survivor of a deadly Mediterranean crossing, who narrated his harrowing journey from Pakistan to Europe. After struggling to make money as a construction worker in his village, he paid 7,000 US dollars to an agent for a dangerous sea route to Europe. His boat capsized after forty hours at sea, and he barely survived, clinging to a rope thrown by a merchant ship.

Hassan’s journey, which involved months of imprisonment and abuse in Libya, ended in a refugee camp in Greece. He urges others never to attempt the dangerous route, warning that it’s “not worth the risk”. Hassan’s story highlights the deadly dangers of the Mediterranean crossing, which took thousands of lives.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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