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What Do House Cats Have to Do With Deep-Sea Mining? The Ocean Story Nobody Expects

How To Protect The Ocean

Release Date: 03/06/2026

The Invisible Ocean Engine That Controls Earth’s Climate show art The Invisible Ocean Engine That Controls Earth’s Climate

How To Protect The Ocean

Every year, the ocean removes billions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Most people assume whales, mangroves, or seagrass are responsible for this massive climate service. But the largest carbon capture system on Earth is actually microscopic. In this episode of How to Protect the Ocean, we explore the biological carbon pump, a powerful process driven by ocean microbes that captures carbon at the surface and transports it deep into the ocean for centuries. These tiny organisms, including phytoplankton and cyanobacteria, form the foundation of marine food webs and play a critical...

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How To Protect The Ocean

When people think about ocean life, they imagine whales, sharks, coral reefs, and giant kelp forests. But the vast majority of life in the ocean is invisible. In a single teaspoon of seawater, there can be millions of microbes, including bacteria, archaea, and microscopic phytoplankton. These organisms may be tiny, but collectively they regulate oxygen production, drive nutrient cycling, and influence Earth’s climate system. In this episode of How to Protect the Ocean, we explore the hidden microbial world that powers the ocean. You will learn how ocean microbes control the chemistry of...

info_outline What Do House Cats Have to Do With Deep-Sea Mining? The Ocean Story Nobody Expects show art What Do House Cats Have to Do With Deep-Sea Mining? The Ocean Story Nobody Expects

How To Protect The Ocean

Deep sea mining and domesticated cats do not seem like they belong in the same story… but they are. In this episode of the How to Protect the Ocean Podcast, Andrew Lewin sits down with deep-sea ecologist Dr. Andrew Thaler to explore one of the most unexpected stories in ocean science. What starts with mining minerals from the deep ocean quickly turns into a journey through ancient trade routes, maritime history, and the surprising role the ocean may have played in how cats became one of humanity’s closest animal companions. Dr. Thaler shares a fascinating narrative that connects...

info_outline We Know How to Protect the Ocean. So Why Aren’t We Doing It? show art We Know How to Protect the Ocean. So Why Aren’t We Doing It?

How To Protect The Ocean

We Know How to Protect the Ocean. So Why Aren’t We Doing It? We do not have an ocean knowledge problem. We have an implementation problem. The science behind fisheries recovery, pollution control, climate adaptation, and high seas governance is strong and repeatedly confirmed. When fishing pressure is reduced, stocks rebuild. When nutrient runoff is controlled, water quality improves. When ecosystems like mangroves and seagrass are restored, coastlines stabilize. The evidence is not unclear. The results are predictable. So why do strong ocean policies succeed in some regions and collapse in...

info_outline The Ocean Just Got a Historic Deal. Will It Actually Protect Your Future? show art The Ocean Just Got a Historic Deal. Will It Actually Protect Your Future?

How To Protect The Ocean

High Seas Treaty: Nearly half the planet lies beyond national borders, and for decades it has operated under fragmented rules and weak oversight. Now, countries have agreed to a historic global deal to protect biodiversity in international waters. It sounds like a turning point. But a signed agreement does not automatically stop illegal fishing, deep sea extraction, or weak enforcement. The real question is whether this treaty will move protection from paper to practice. BBNJ Agreement: The new treaty under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea creates a legal pathway to...

info_outline The Ocean Is Visible Now, What Happens Next Is Up to Us show art The Ocean Is Visible Now, What Happens Next Is Up to Us

How To Protect The Ocean

The ocean is no longer invisible. Satellites can now track fishing vessels across the planet in near real time. So if we can see the exploitation, what happens next? In this episode of How to Protect the Ocean, we break down how satellite monitoring, AIS tracking, radar systems, and machine learning have fundamentally changed ocean enforcement. Industrial fishing now covers more than half of the ocean’s surface. Some vessels turn off their tracking systems near marine protected areas. Others cluster just outside boundaries in a practice known as “fishing the line.” But here is the shift:...

info_outline The Ocean Is “Protected.” So Why Is Illegal Fishing Still Happening? show art The Ocean Is “Protected.” So Why Is Illegal Fishing Still Happening?

How To Protect The Ocean

Marine protected areas now cover more than 8 percent of the global ocean. Governments announce new boundaries. Press releases celebrate historic milestones. But here is the uncomfortable truth: a line on a map does not stop illegal fishing. In this episode, we break down why enforcement, not designation, is the real driver of ocean recovery, and why many so called protected areas still struggle with noncompliance. Enforcement capacity, staffing levels, and stable funding predict ecological success better than size alone. Drawing on findings from Gill et al. 2017 in Nature, we examine how...

info_outline Nature, Law and the High Seas: Can Direct Action Save the Ocean? show art Nature, Law and the High Seas: Can Direct Action Save the Ocean?

How To Protect The Ocean

Nature is protected by laws on paper, but what happens when those laws are not enforced? On the high seas, beyond national borders, illegal fishing, whaling, and environmental exploitation often operate in legal gray zones. Environmental lawyer and author Sarah Levy joins the show to unpack how international ocean law actually works, where it fails, and why enforcement remains the biggest challenge in marine conservation. Law and activism collide in this deep dive into Sea Shepherd, Captain Paul Watson, and the controversial role of aggressive nonviolence in protecting marine wildlife. We...

info_outline Nature Is Overheating: Ocean Heat Records Are Breaking Again show art Nature Is Overheating: Ocean Heat Records Are Breaking Again

How To Protect The Ocean

Nature is absorbing more heat than we realize, and most of it is going into the ocean. Global ocean heat content has reached record highs, confirming what climate scientists have warned for years: the ocean has absorbed more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases. Data from NOAA and findings summarized in the IPCC AR6 report show a continued upward trajectory, with no sign of stabilization. Ocean heat is not just a statistic. It is driving stronger marine heatwaves, coral bleaching, shifting fisheries, oxygen loss, and rising sea levels through thermal expansion. Peer...

info_outline Nature’s Most Overlooked Climate Solution: How Seagrass Is Quietly Saving Coastal Economies show art Nature’s Most Overlooked Climate Solution: How Seagrass Is Quietly Saving Coastal Economies

How To Protect The Ocean

Seagrass meadows may be the most powerful climate solution underwater, and almost no one is talking about them. Research published in Nature Climate Change shows that seagrass ecosystems store vast amounts of carbon in their sediments, sometimes for centuries. Unlike forests, much of this carbon is locked below ground in oxygen poor environments, reducing the risk of rapid release. But when seagrass meadows are degraded, that long-stored carbon can return to the atmosphere. A study in Science Advances demonstrates that large scale seagrass restoration can significantly enhance blue carbon...

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More Episodes

Deep sea mining and domesticated cats do not seem like they belong in the same story… but they are.

In this episode of the How to Protect the Ocean Podcast, Andrew Lewin sits down with deep-sea ecologist Dr. Andrew Thaler to explore one of the most unexpected stories in ocean science. What starts with mining minerals from the deep ocean quickly turns into a journey through ancient trade routes, maritime history, and the surprising role the ocean may have played in how cats became one of humanity’s closest animal companions.

Dr. Thaler shares a fascinating narrative that connects deep-sea resources, seafaring civilizations, and the spread of cats across the world. It is a reminder that the ocean has influenced human history in ways we rarely think about, and that even modern debates like deep-sea mining are connected to much bigger stories about exploration, trade, and human society.

If you enjoy ocean science, unusual scientific connections, and great storytelling, this episode will give you a completely new way to think about both the deep ocean and the animals that now live in our homes.

Listen now to discover how an ocean story thousands of years in the making might explain why cats and humans share such a unique relationship.

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