Are you a fan of "Choose Your Own Adventure" novels? Now you have the opportunity to digitally choose your own adventure, under the sea.
The videos, from Greenpeace, chronicle a 2007 expedition to the Bering Sea and two of the world's deepest undersea canyons.
The Zhemchug and Pribilof canyons, which are both larger than Arizona's Grand Canyon, support some of the "most productive large marine ecosystems on the planet," according to Greenpeace. But these environments are also threatened by industrial fishing.
Greenpeace announced recently that the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) has initiated a process to review the canyons for protection. The announcement comes in response to a new study -- co-authored by researchers from the University of California–Santa Barbara, Greenpeace, and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center -- that found "Evidence of disturbance to the benthos from fishing activities ... in these remote [Bering Sea] canyons."
NPFMC member Bill Tweit told the Washington Post before the announcement, "After getting that [scientific update], we would then assess our current fishery management, as well as habitat-protection measures, and think about whether they’re adequate or not."
Explaining the dives to the canyons and current conservation efforts, Greenpeace's Jackie Dragon blogged:
Explorers conducted 22 dives into the canyons in Deepworker submersibles, the smallest submarines in the world, finding 14 species of coral down to depths over 1000 feet. With high resolution video cameras the team systematically surveyed the canyons and documented the life in their depths. Carrying back to the surface the first ever glimpses of life in the canyons, explorers revealed colorful images one might not imagine when looking out over the dark, cold sea: translucent apricot-colored juvenile king crab, sponges cradling fish eggs, orange and white tie-died anemones, a cluster of six king crabs crowding a lively rock covered in basket stars, spotted rockfish hugging pink sea-fan corals, and a spectacular magenta octopus curled up asleep among the sponges at 826 feet.
Click here to check out John Hocevar's photoblog to learn more about Greenpeace's work in the Bering Sea.
WATCH a Bering Sea adventure video from Greenpeace: