I initially wrote this post in 2017 and updated it in 2018, 2019 and asked that if any reader had links to news items or copies of clippings pertaining to "recent" sightings of unidentified sea creatures to please get in touch.
It is 2021 and....not a word. Not a link.
it seems that the sea creatures of old accounts are gone.
11th February, 2018
It seems that all I wrote about on this blog and in my books on Lake and, very particularly sea 'monsters', is proving to be correct.
In the pre-mechanised age of sea voyages ships would only have created the noise of their plowing through the waves and some odd noises (humans calling or talking). These ships, from below, might well have looked like whales or other creatures and attracted the attention of unknown sea creatures which popped up to investigate -or they were simply ignored.
Come the mechanised age there were the sounds of the engines, the prop-shafts as well as the pollutants. Not just another "thing" travelling through the sea but a bloody loud thing that needed avoiding.
Humankind has proven itself the top species of vermin by destroying not just natural habitats but killing millions of animals for 'fun' so that many are today threatened with extinction. We are the greatest threat to this planet and killing and destruction comes as easy as breathing. The Thylacine was wiped out because the species slaughtered sheep and devastated flocks. In fact, it has now been proven that this is untrue. It was an excuse used to justify killing off every thylacine "because" -the same reason is given for the hunting, poisoning and killing of wolves.
All of this we can clearly see because it took place on terra firma and the sickening number of 'trophies' are recorded on photographs, video and even cell phones these days.
But what of the seas and oceans? So much of it is unknown and very definitely unexplored. We are discovering new species all the time and filming them...before capturing and dissecting them. The fact that they are "there" is unimportant because they have to be killed and dissected to prove they exist.
We discover tiny, small, medium sized and large new species every year. But what of something very big. Why have we not had solid evidence of very large and unknown sea creatures? Well, for one thing, none has swam close enough to one of the very, very few underwater cameras so that it can be seen. Secondly, the cameras deployed are either set up in a specific spot or are lowered into oceans from vessels to be remotely piloted from a ship -which involves a lot of noise.
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In my last book (see bottom of this post) I discussed the number of "Globsters" discovered on beaches and, like the 'huge crocodile-like' carcasses found at sea, they are all whale remains. So far nothing has been found that has proven to be from an unknown creature -and scientists would love to find such a thing because it means they go down in scientific history and also reap many rewards and the idea of "cover ups" is ridiculous.
Every and any carcass found on a sea shore should be investigated "in case". The Dingellchough Mystery Creature I discussed in an earlier book and was uncertain on how it should be classified. In the new book I not only suggest what it is but show exactly why it is the only possible conclusion: it is an unknown species -of what...you'll need to read the book!
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But things of the sea only turn up on shores when they are dead, decayed or lumps of fibre after marine creatures such as sharks have fed off them.
I put forward the argument on this blog and in my books, that Humankind has probably killed off these "sea monsters". I really hope not but if they survive it must be in very depleted numbers and I receive no new "sea monster" reports at all and they appear to have vanished from the press, replaced my out-and-out hoaxes and worse.
The ice caps are melting and polar bears are starving and we now know that our pollution has created what could be the greatest tragedy in the natural world -because it has been hidden so long under the sea and in, on or killing sea life slowly. This UNESCO Facts and figures on marine pollution summary is very grim reading:
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/ioc-oceans/focus-areas/rio-20-ocean/blueprint-for-the-future-we-want/marine-pollution/facts-and-figures-on-marine-pollution/
And when you read from 2014: Plastic Pollution in the World's Oceans: More than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111913 You begin to realise the problems.
2017 there was no excuse not to know what is going on. News stories such as this in the Telegraph should have had enough impact but images on TV News programmes and the BBCs Blue Planet II hit millions of TV screens.
Five shocking facts about the scale of plastic pollution that's choking our seas
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/five-shocking-facts-scale-plastic-pollution-choking-seas/
We can see how all forms of pollution, and now mainly plastics that were not in existence at the time of the old sea creature reports. We see and can prove all of this and yet we have no idea how unknown smaller or very large sea creatures are affected but if whales, sharks and other species are suffering we would have to suggest that the unknowns suffer also. They are, after all, marine animals.
It looks grimmer and grimmer for the unknown species. To be honest, there is absolutely nothing we can do as it may well already be far to late. Ignoring You Tube and blog hoaxes -photo shop images or CGI footage- just how many new reports of "sea monsters" have you seen reported in newspapers or magazines in the last 10..or 25 years?
I really do hope that there are some large unidentified species out there.
If you read any of my books, particularly Pursuing The Strange & Weird:A Naturalists Viewpoint, I have expanded my previous research on possible unidentified sea creatures.
Take away the fake photoshop images or You Tube videos and where are all of the unidentified sea creature reports? I have, in conjunction with the Natural History Museum (London) and other bodies, identified carcasses found/photographed and to date all we have are whale remains in various states of decay.
Sir David Attenborough in Life On Earth (Readers Digest, 1980), as well as on TV programmes, stated his belief that there could very well be large, unidentified sea creatures -"sea monsters"- in the Earth's oceans.
Arch skeptic, Arthur C. Clarke stated on his TV series, as well as in the book of the series Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World , along with Simon Welfare, John Fairley (Fontana 1980), his belief that unidentified, large sea creatures very likely exist.
In fact, there are a list of such statements from eminent persons past and present. For instance,
David Rains Wallace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rains_Wallace, in Neptune's Ark: from Ichthyosaurs to Orcas (University of California Press, 2007), p XIX:
"On many days when I see harbor porpoises, countless half-dollar-sized Velella hydroids, jellyfish relatives with transluscent white sails and iridescent violet-blue bodies litter the beaches -doubtless a coincidence, but odd. Unidentified cetaceans pass offshore of the murre rock, showing taller dorsal fins than the porpoises. Unexplained dark shapes and splashes occur. Point Resistance may be just a bedroom of the Pacific, but so many things lurk in that Neptunian mansion that there is no knowing what might slip in. When the air is clear, a notorious haunt of monsters looms to the west..."
The 10th August 1741 sighting of an unidentified sea creature by Georg Wilhelm Steller (who gave his name to the Steller's Sea Cow) and his crew is also dealt with (pp. XX- XXI)
David Rains Wallace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rains_Wallace, in Neptune's Ark: from Ichthyosaurs to Orcas (University of California Press, 2007), p XIX:
"On many days when I see harbor porpoises, countless half-dollar-sized Velella hydroids, jellyfish relatives with transluscent white sails and iridescent violet-blue bodies litter the beaches -doubtless a coincidence, but odd. Unidentified cetaceans pass offshore of the murre rock, showing taller dorsal fins than the porpoises. Unexplained dark shapes and splashes occur. Point Resistance may be just a bedroom of the Pacific, but so many things lurk in that Neptunian mansion that there is no knowing what might slip in. When the air is clear, a notorious haunt of monsters looms to the west..."
The 10th August 1741 sighting of an unidentified sea creature by Georg Wilhelm Steller (who gave his name to the Steller's Sea Cow) and his crew is also dealt with (pp. XX- XXI)
So, what is going on? Are people on ships -passengers and crew- seeing but not reporting even in this age of digital recording devices such as cameras, phones etc? Fear of ridicule or being called another You Tube faker? Or are news services not reporting accounts while over indulging in statements from the crank fringes of Ufology?
In my book I look at how industrial fishing going back a long way has had an effect on fish populations and everything tied in to fish populations. The tiny prey is eaten by the larger predator which is, itself, eaten by a larger predator and on and on. If the tiny prey dies off because what it eats -fresh or rotting vegetable matter or even carcasses then what has its large predator to eat? Or the predators predator?
We know that seals, whales, dolphins, sea turtles, etc. were killed when they bumped into sea mines during World Wars 1 and 2. But what of other creatures that met this fate but were not seen? Sea mines were heard to go off but no submarine/ship wreckage was found. What collided with the mines?
Whaling -we know the devastation that caused but still whaling continues, as does dolphin killing. Vast numbers of small squid are caught in industrial fishing. Fish species have declined to such an extent and yet, despite everything that has been learnt, new "virgin areas" for industrial fishing have been identified as they have "abundant species numbers".
It is possible -we know whales attack squid for food and that much larger than usual squid may well attack whales "defensively"- that humans are killing off the food sources for so far unidentified large sea creatures. It is rare to find whale carcasses because most are disposed of at sea by all manner of creatures -carcasses that are washed up show the signs of this. So an unidentified carcass washes up somewhere -"It's just a whale" and even some seen at sea are dismissed that way.
Back in the 19th century newspapers expected sea serpent reports at specific times of the year and at certain locations and even noted with some reports that "this is not usually the sea serpent is sighted nor the location" Yes, while gentlemen naturalists and 'experts' sat on their asses in comfortable chairs, others, including journalists for goodness sake, noted migratory dates and paths!
All ignored. And we have many examples of animals ignored by science until after extinction at which point we hear shouts of "Why did no one look into this animal scientifically?" Even the fox, if you read my Canids book you will know how little we knew/know of the fox that currently lives in the UK and not a great deal about past native species. All that mattered was "How to find it. How to kill it. How to hunt it."
Sea creatures such as dolphins, whales, sea turtles and so on are recorded and filmed caught up in plastic waste. One dead whale was recently found to have 30 plastic bags in its belly. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4185038/A-whale-30-PLASTIC-BAGS-stomach.html
Oil and other pollution, not to mention waste dumped "legally" into deep ocean areas have taken a toll -as researchers have recently discovered such unknown dumps.
And now we learn that pollutants banned in the 1970s are at work in deep seas. It may well be possible that Humans have wiped out any large, unidentified sea creatures before they were "scientifically" discovered. The old newspaper clippings and reports in books may one day be seen as the only official record we have of species ab hominibus -killed by humans.
Pollutants banned in the 1970s found in depths of Pacific Ocean
Researchers say the idea that the deep ocean is safe from
the effects of pollution "could not be further from the truth".
Sky News: http://news.sky.com/story/pollutants-banned-in-the-1970s-found-in-depths-of-pacific-ocean-10766388
Monday 13 February 2017
The Mariana Trench filmed during James Cameron's
Deepsea Challenge mission
Scientists say man-made cancer-causing chemicals, which have
been banned since the 1970s, have been found in the deepest recesses of the Pacific Ocean .
Traces of high levels of the pollutants were found in
scavenging shrimp-like amphipods living more than 10km (6 miles) below the
surface in two trenches 7,000km (4,300 miles) apart.
Residue of polychlorinated biphenyls, better known as PCB's
was found in the creatures' bodies at the bottom of the deepest oceans.
Researchers were shocked to find contamination levels
similar to those found in a heavily polluted area just off Japan .
The findings are being published in Nature Ecology and
Evolution, and now the study team is to investigate if microbeads have been
swallowed by the deep sea creatures.
Report author Alan Jamieson said: "We still think of
the deep ocean as being this remote and pristine realm, safe from human impact,
but our research shows that, sadly, this could not be further from the truth.
The pollutants were found deep in the Mariana and Kermadec
trenches
He told Sky News: "We can't assume now there are any
places in the world that are still pristine."
The findings come after Sky's Ocean Rescue campaign was
launched to raise awareness of the damage being done to our marine environment
worldwide.
Chemicals found in the 2-3cm long crustaceans included
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which have been defined as carcinogens and do
not break down for decades.
Around 1.3 million tons of PCBs were widely used in industry
from the 1930s until they were banned in the 1970s.
PCBs were used in plastics and carbonless copy paper as well
as electrical equipment, glues and engine oils.
Industrial accidents and leakage from landfill have seen
them released into the sea and they are extremely slow to break down.
Scientists also discovered polybrominated diphenyl ethers
(PBDEs) which were used as flame retardants and are known to reduce fertility.
The team used deep-sea landers to search the Mariana Trench,
east of the Philippines , and
the Kermadec Trench, north of New
Zealand .
The Mariana Trench is the deepest part of the world's
oceans. In 2012, Titanic director James Cameron made a
record-breaking solo dive to the bottom of the trench in a submersible.
Scientists believe the pollutants have found their way into
the remote trenches through contaminated plastic debris and dead animals
sinking to the ocean floor.
Dr Jamieson (below) says the research shows the devastating effect
man is having on the planet
Dr Jamieson, of Newcastle University's School of Marine
Science and Technology, said: "The fact that we found such extraordinary
levels of these pollutants in one of the most remote and inaccessible habitats
on earth really brings home the long term, devastating impact that mankind is
having on the planet.
"It's not a great legacy that we're leaving behind."
update 2nd December 2019
I believe that it was over twenty years ago that I first wrote about human pollution and how it was affecting sea life. Over recent years I have noted that pollution (that will take many decades to even try to clear up) affecting every species from smallest to largest could have diminished the number of scientifically unidentified sea species and particularly those that were once referred to as "sea monsters/serpents".
At this point I chuckled as TVs angling darling Jeremy Wade who, uh, "investigated" stories of sea serpents and his conclusion was so wet and groanable that I stared at the monitor. Oar Fish (Regalecus glesne ) -many congratulations to Jeremy who has joined the ranks of people using that identification...for over a century. Science by TV personalities never ends well.
You see the big fish eat the small ones and the even bigger ones eat the big fish and that is the cycle of feeding in the seas and oceans. Microscopic plastic particles are found in the seabed and in parts of the Black Sea jelly-fish are the only things around -with the Black Sea this situation is down to it being used as a dumping ground for all types of waste.
According to news today:
update 2nd December 2019
I believe that it was over twenty years ago that I first wrote about human pollution and how it was affecting sea life. Over recent years I have noted that pollution (that will take many decades to even try to clear up) affecting every species from smallest to largest could have diminished the number of scientifically unidentified sea species and particularly those that were once referred to as "sea monsters/serpents".
At this point I chuckled as TVs angling darling Jeremy Wade who, uh, "investigated" stories of sea serpents and his conclusion was so wet and groanable that I stared at the monitor. Oar Fish (Regalecus glesne ) -many congratulations to Jeremy who has joined the ranks of people using that identification...for over a century. Science by TV personalities never ends well.
You see the big fish eat the small ones and the even bigger ones eat the big fish and that is the cycle of feeding in the seas and oceans. Microscopic plastic particles are found in the seabed and in parts of the Black Sea jelly-fish are the only things around -with the Black Sea this situation is down to it being used as a dumping ground for all types of waste.
According to news today:
"A young male sperm whale that died after being stranded on the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides had a 100 kg “litter ball” of marine debris in its stomach.
The creature was dead for 48 hours before it was discovered by members of the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme (SMASS), an organisation that has investigated the deaths of whales and dolphins since 1992.
They identified fishing nets, rope, plastic cups, bags, gloves, packing straps and tubing compacted into a huge ball in the whale’s stomach, adding the debris could have been swallowed at any point between Norway and the Azores."
The full story and rather distressing photos can be found here: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/sperm-whale-dead-plastic-litter-ball-141053177.html
As SMASS states, it is not known what killed the whale but the find in its stomach is very worrying.
We have dolphin, whale and a large number of seal deaths that have yet to be explained and if these known animals are dying what of those unknown? It is possible that some unknown sea creatures have washed up on islands or deserted shorelines around the world. However, if not reported who would know.
At least now people -if not those in authority- are showing concern about plastics in the seas. But it could very well be far too late for many animals.
________________________________
What Is In Strange & Mysterious Beasts?
http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/strange-mysterious-beasts/paperback/product-23451940.html
&
I was told that it was probably a good idea not to reveal all of the contents of the new book. Fair enough. It is 324 pages with lots of photographs. If you have read one of my previous books then I will point out that this new look at the chupacabra is expanded on. I have managed to draw some conclusions on certain previously unidentified beasts.
I am guessing that the conclusions in the chapter on the Shunka Warak'in and the famous stuffed and mounted specimen are going to really upset some cryptozoologists.
In High Strangeness and UFO Contact? I looked at the faults in Ufology and how the subject needed drastic overhauling and I do the same here regarding mystery animal research which seems to be full of charlatans and liars out to make money rather than look for the truth. I try to give anyone approaching the subject matter some advice and guidelines but 'cryptozoology' and 'cryptozoologist' are two words they ought not to use.
Strange & Mysterious Beasts is the smaller format book while Mysterious & Strange Beasts is the standard larger A4 format.
IGNORE the "only ships from North America" as that is just a site message error or may apply only until AFTER Christmas
I need to point out that, much though I really do want to avoid this, US taxes are not leaving me much in the way of profit from sales. I really do not want to increase book prices since I think that at the moment they are fair (considering what a purchaser gets and the amount of my work that gets plagiarized). I am told that it has to be an option, however, I have until 1st February, 2018 to decide.
Anyway, enough publisher waffle, here are some of the contents:
The Monster of the Forest of Mouliere
The Beast of Lyonnais
The Beast of Cevennes
The Beast of Sarlat
The Beast of Gevaudan
British Man Beasts
Bigfoot and Werewolves in the West Midlands
The Strange Creature in Repton Woods
Bigfoot Returns – To Kent
Werewolf!
The Curious and Frightening Case of the Hull
The Gnome of Girona
The Caponi Close Encounters and Photographs
Return of the Shark Killing Thing –a Possible Identification
The Dingellchough Mystery Creature
The Unidentified Corfu Sea
Strange Sea Creature Found In Persian Gulf
The Devil of Gatagon
The Supernatural Invasion: Slender-man and Black Eyed Kids
The Sheep Killer of Niali
Mystery Creature of the Bay of Flamanville
Things Caught on Camera –Fact and Fiction
The Bat Creatures
The Owl-man
The British Pig-man and Snake-man
The Pictish Beast
Shunka Warak'in –A Hyena Too Far?
The Chupacabra
The Chupacabra
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