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February 26th, 2008: Krill Discovered Living In The Antarctic Abyss!

Scientists have discovered Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) living and feeding down to depths of 3000 metres in the waters around the Antarctic Peninsula. Until now this shrimp-like crustacean was thought to live only in the upper ocean.

The discovery completely changes scientists' understanding of the major food source for fish, squid, penguins, seals and whales. Reporting recently in Current Biology, scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton* (NOCS) describe how they used a deep-diving, remotely operated vehicle (RoV ) known as the Isis to film previously unknown behaviour of krill.

Professor Andrew Clarke of the British Antarctic Survey said, "While most krill make their living in the ocean's surface waters, the new findings revise significantly our understanding of the depth distribution and ecology of Antarctic krill. It was a surprise to observe actively-feeding adult krill, including females that were apparently ready to spawn, close to the seabed in deep water."

Scientists have been studying krill since the 'Discovery' expeditions of the early 20th century. Oceanographic expeditions, using a combination of echo-sound techniques and collection samples in nets, indicated that the bulk of the population of adult krill is typically confined to the top 150 metres of the water column. The grant to purchase the Isis RoV was led by Professor Paul A Tyler of NOCS.

He says,"Having the ability to use a deep-water ROV in Antarctica gave us a unique opportunity to observe the krill and also to observe the diversity of animals living at the deep-sea floor from depths of 500m down to 3500m. The importance of such observations is that, not only do we have the ability to identify species, but we can see the relations among individual species and their relationship to the ambient environment." The discovery holds some important lessons, Clarke continued. "The behaviour of marine organisms - even quite 'primitive' ones - can be complex and more varied than we usually assume. There is still a great deal to learn about the deep sea and an important role for exploration in our attempts to understand the world we live in." About Antarctic krill Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), feed on phytoplankton and are in turn eaten by a wide range of animals including fish, penguins, seals and whales. Phytoplankon are the starting point for the marine food chain and use photosynthesis to extract carbon from carbon dioxide. Krill live in the open ocean, mainly in large swarms and reach particularly high numbers in Antarctica. Antarctic krill can grow up to a length of 6cm and can live for 5-6 years. They are one of the largest protein resources on Earth and can be fished easily with large nets for human consumption. The total weight of Antarctic krill is calculated between 50-150 million tonnes. Numbers of Antarctic krill appear to have dropped by about 80% since the 1970s. The most likely explanation is a dramatic decline in winter sea-ice. Krill feed on the algae found under the surface of the sea-ice, which acts as a kind of 'nursery'. The Antarctic Peninsula, a key breeding ground for the krill, has warmed by 2.5°C in the last 50 years, with a striking decrease in sea-ice. It is not fully understood how the loss of sea-ice there is connected to the warming, but could be behind the decline in krill. The article, "Antarctic krill feeding at abyssal depths" by Andrew Clarke and Paul Tyler is published in Current Biology the week of February 25, 2008.

February 21st, 2008: Australian scientists discover new sea creature
Photo / Reuters

Australian scientists believe they have discovered new species of marine life in the Antarctic Ocean.

The Australian Antarctic Division monitored the impact of environmental change on marine organisms in the Antarctic Ocean. Three ships returned with their decks full of an array of sealife including some unknown species.

Among the creatures found were tulip like organisms called tunicates and seaspiders...some the size of dinner plates.

Marine scientist Dr Martin Riddle said there was "a huge diversity of life, very colorful, very rich, far exceeding any of our expectations."

The researchers carried out a census of life in the icy ocean and on its floor, over a kilometre below the surface. It's an attempt to help scientists monitor the impact of environmental change in Antarctic waters.

February 19th, 2008: Kiribati Creates World’s Largest Marine Protected Area in Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Island nation of Kiribati has established the world’s largest marine protected area as part of an effort to protect coral reefs and rich fish populations threatened by over-fishing and climate change.

The 410,500-square-kilometer Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) conserves one of the Earth’s last intact oceanic coral archipelago ecosystems, which includes eight coral atolls and two submerged reef systems in a nearly uninhabited region of abundant marine and bird life. It also includes underwater mountains and other deep-sea habitat.
The creation of PIPA was first announced by Kiribati in 2006, during a Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Brazil. Now, the adoption of formal regulations for PIPA by Kiribati on January 30 has led to the doubling of its original size, making it the largest marine protected area on Earth.
Kiribati and the New England Aquarium (NEAq) developed PIPA over several years of joint scientific research, with funding and technical assistance from Conservation International’s (CI) Global Conservation Fund and Pacific Islands Program.
“Kiribati has taken an inspirational step in increasing the size of PIPA well beyond the original eight atolls and globally important seabird, fish and coral reef communities. The new boundary includes extensive seamount and deep sea habitat, tuna spawning grounds, and as yet unsurveyed submerged reef systems,” said Greg Stone, the NEAq vice-president of global marine programs.
Located near the equator in the Central Pacific between Hawaii and Fiji, the Phoenix Islands are part of the Republic of Kiribati, which comprises three distinct island groups—Gilbert Islands, Phoenix Islands and Line Islands—with a total of 33 islands to make it the largest atoll nation in the world.
“The creation of this amazing marine protected area by a small island nation in the Pacific represents a commitment of historic proportions; and all of this by a country that is under serious threat from sea-level rise attributed to global warming.,” said CI President Russell A. Mittermeier.
“The Republic of Kiribati has now set a standard for other countries in the Pacific and elsewhere in the world. We are proud to be associated with this effort that helps the people of Kiribati, and we call on governments and private conservation groups everywhere to support Kiribati in its efforts and make similar commitments to protect their own natural systems,” Mittermeier added.
So far, research expeditions have discovered over 120 species of coral and 520 species of fish, some new to science, at the Phoenix Islands.
Some of the most important seabird nesting populations in the Pacific, as well as healthy fish populations and the presence of sea turtles and other species, demonstrated the pristine nature of the area and its importance as a migration route.
The restriction of commercial fishing in the area would result in a loss of revenue that the Kiribati government would normally receive from issuing foreign commercial fishing licenses. NEAq and CI are helping design an endowment system for Kiribati that which will compensate the government for the foregone commercial fishing license revenues.
The plan, which will also cover the core recurring management costs of PIPA, allows for subsistence fishing by resident communities and other sustainable economic development in designated zones of the protected area.
Scientists believe that keeping oceans and marine ecosystems intact and healthy will enable them to continue their natural role of sequestering atmospheric carbon that causes global warming.

February 18th, 2008: Scientists capture giant Antarctic sea creatures
(Reuters) - Scientists studying Antarctic waters have filmed and captured giant sea creatures, like sea spiders the size of dinner plates and jelly fish with six metre (18 feet) tentacles.

A fleet of three Antarctic marine research ships returned to Australia this week ending a summer expedition to the Southern Ocean where they carried out a census of life in the icy ocean and on its floor, more than 1,000 metres (yards) below the surface.

"Gigantism is very common in Antarctic waters -- we have collected huge worms, giant crustaceans and sea spiders the size of dinner plates," Australian scientist Martin Riddle, voyage leader on the research ship Aurora Australis, said on Tuesday.

"Many live in the dark and have pretty large eyes. They are strange looking fish," Riddle told local radio.

"Some of the video footage we have collected is really stunning -- it's amazing to be able to navigate undersea mountains and valleys and actually see what the animals look like in their undisturbed state," Riddle said.

"In some places every inch of the sea floor is covered in life. In other places we can see deep scars and gouges where icebergs scour the sea floor as they pass by," he said.

The Australian Antarctic Division expedition will help scientists monitor how the impact of environmental change in Antarctic waters, such as ocean acidification caused by rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, will make it harder for marine organisms to grow and sustain calcium carbonate skeletons.

"It is predicted that the first effects of this will be seen in the cold, deep waters of Antarctica," said Riddle.

"What we saw down there were vast coraline gardens based on calcareous organisms and these are the ones that could really be lost in an increasing acidic ocean," he said.

The three ships, the Aurora Australis, France's L'Astrolabe and Japan's Umitaka Maru docked in Hoabrt on Australia's southern island state of Tasmania, with their decks full of an array of sealife including unknown species of sea creatures collected near the eastern Antarctic land mass.

Some creatures, which were retrieved from between 200 - 1,400 metres (yards) below the surface, weighed up to 30 kgs (65 pounds), while some 25 percent of the sealife chronicled was previous unknown.

The census of life in the Southern Ocean is known as the Collaborative East Antarctic Marine Census (CEAMARC). The French and Japanese ships examined the mid and upper ocean, while the Australian ship studied the ocean floor.

"This research will help scientists understand how communities have adapted to the unique Antarctic environment," said Graham Hosie, leader of the census project on Umitaka Maru.

"Specimens collected will be sent to universities and museums around the world for identification, tissue sampling and bar-coding of their DNA. Not all of the creatures that we found could be identified and it is very likely that some new species will be recorded as a result of these voyages."

CEAMARC is part of the international Census of Antarctic Marine Life, coordinated by the Australian Antarctic Division, which will see some 16 voyages to Antarctic waters during this, the International Polar Year (2007-2009).

The census will survey the biodiversity of Antarctic slopes, abyssal plains, open water, and under disintegrating ice shelves. It aims to determine species biodiversity, abundance and distribution and establish a baseline dataset from which future changes can be observed.

February 18th, 2008: Shark species face extinction amid overfishing and appetite for fins

A scalloped hammerhead shark. Photograph: Stephen Frink/Corbis

Nine more species of shark are to be added to the endangered list as scientists warn that oceans are being emptied of the fish by overfishing and finning.

The scalloped hammerhead shark, which has declined by 99% over the past 30 years in some parts of the world, is particularly vulnerable and will be declared globally endangered on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) list.

"Sharks are definitely at the top of the list for marine fishes that could go extinct in our lifetimes," said Julia Baum of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California and a member of IUCN shark specialist group. "If we carry on the way that we are, we're looking at a really high risk of extinction for some of these shark species within the next few decades."

At the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Boston yesterday, Baum said that in addition to the scalloped hammerhead, other shark species that will be added to the revised IUCN endangered list later this year are the smooth hammerhead, shortfin mako, common thresher, big-eye thresher, silky, tiger, bull and dusky. There are already 126 species of shark on the IUCN's list.

"The perception has been that really wide-ranging species can't become endangered because if they are threatened in one area, surely they'll be fine in another area," said Baum. "But fisheries now cover all corners of the earth and they're intense enough that these species are being threatened everywhere."

Recent studies have shown that all shark populations in the north-west Atlantic Ocean have declined by an average of 50% since the early 1970s.

Shark numbers can become depleted very quickly because they take a long time to mature - 16 years in the case of a scalloped hammerhead. Their fins are highly prized in China and can fetch up to £140 a kilogram. Until recently the eating of shark fin was a delicacy restricted to the rich in China, said Baum, but as the country's middle class has grown in the past 25 years, so has the market for shark fins.

Excessive fishing has caused a 90% decline in shark populations across the world's oceans and up to 99% along the US east coast, which are some of the best-managed waters in the world, according to Baum.

The decline in predators such as sharks can have devastating consequences for the local marine ecology.

In a case study published last year, Baum found that a major decline in the numbers of predatory sharks in the north Atlantic after 2000 had allowed populations of the sharks' prey, cownose rays, to explode. The rays in turn decimated the bay scallop populations around North Carolina. "There was a fishery for bay scallops in North Carolina that lasted over a century uninterrupted and it was closed down in 2004 because of cownose rays."

Fishing for sharks in international waters is unrestricted, but Baum supports a recent UN resolution calling for immediate limits on catching sharks and a ban on shark finning.

Sonja Fordham, of the Shark Alliance, a coalition of 50 scientific and conservation groups, said: "People think these wide-ranging, fast sharks are resilient to fishing; however, this shows this is not the case. Concerned citizens can really help by making their fisheries ministers aware that they support conservation measures such as catch limits."

Some conservation efforts for sharks will focus on newly identified hotspots where sharks congregate during migrations. Peter Klimley of the University of California, Davis, found that scalloped hammerhead sharks migrate along fixed "superhighways" in the oceans, speeding between a series of "stepping stone" sites near coastal islands ranging from Mexico to Ecuador.

"Hammerhead sharks are not evenly dispersed throughout the seas, but concentrated at seamounts and offshore islands," he said. "Hence, enforcing reserves around these areas will go far in protecting these species and will provide the public with places for viewing sharks in their habitat."

One site between Hawaii and Mexico attracts so many sharks it has become known among scientists as "the white shark cafe", Klimley says.

"We started calling it the cafe because that is where you might go to have a snack or maybe just to 'see and be seen'. We are not sure which," said Salvador Jorgensen, a researcher at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station.

"Once they leave the cafe they return year after year to the same exact spot along the coast, just as you might return to a favourite fishing hole. See our own Shark Message!"

February 16th, 2008: The spineless menace: Jellyfish overwhelm the sea

By Elizabeth Nash: Perhaps you thought that jellyfish were a summer hazard of ocean beaches, freak invaders that spoil your enjoyment of your favourite southern holiday resorts – but only momentarily, and only if you are unlucky. Well, if so, be warned.

Jellyfish are now active throughout the winter too, building up strength for their annual assault upon the shore. What's more, they won't be going away. Jellyfish, says Spain's top scientist who specialises in these glutinous stinging creatures from the deep, are here to stay.

"We think of jellyfish as a worrying summer problem, particularly here in Spain, where we are so dependent on the tourist industry, says Josep Maria Gili, research professor at Barcelona's Institute of Marine Sciences. "But we have found that they come ashore just as frequently in the winter months, although no one notices. We've established that they proliferate off our shores all year round. It means the situation is much more serious than we thought."

Last November, the institute launched for the first time a pioneering research programme to monitor jellyfish movements off the Costa Brava all year round. Scientists were alarmed to discover that large groups ("blooms") of Pelagia noctiluca – the ubiquitous mauve stinger familiar to many holidaymakers who have been brushed by its poisonous tentacles – were assembling in large numbers throughout the winter months.

Between last November and January, 30 separate colonies of mauve stinger were detected in concentrations of between four and 10 creatures per cubic metre of water. One day last January, thousands of jellyfish were detected off the coast near Girona, north of Barcelona. A few days later, a similar sighting was reported near the Balearic island of Ibiza and, within a week, hundreds more jellyfish were spotted around the popular Mediterranean port of Valencia.

This generation was formed last autumn; they will themselves reproduce in the spring in readiness for what Professor Gili predicts will be another massive summer invasion.

"They mostly live 10 miles or more off shore. Conditions in recent years have been ideal: very mild and with little rain, with none of the winter rainstorms and icy blasts we usually experience, and with unusually warm sea temperatures. People have been really enjoying it," he adds with a laugh, swiftly curtailed. "But these are ideal conditions for jellyfish, and they've become a continuously present phenomenon, not just a seasonal one."

Alarmed by the intensity of and frequency of jellyfish invasions over the past three years, Spain's environmental authorities financed the study. Now they need to put money into preventative measures, Professor Gili says.

Last summer, amateur mariners were mobilised for the first time the length of Spain's southern coast as jellyfish scouts, to operate as an informal early warning system to alert authorities on shore when an invasion was imminent.

This year, Professor Gili wants the initiative put on a much more professional footing. "We must take measures, and the government must provide the finance, for a flotilla of small boats to patrol the shoreline, ready to scoop up the jellyfish as they head for land, when they are about 100m from the shore."

There's no point pursuing jellyfish when they are out to sea, he says. They sink beneath the surface, and you risk netting fish and other marine life, and breaking the tentacles. Those that are swept into shore are usually dead or dying, although their sting remains intact.

"Those floating on the surface can be easily caught in small nets called "pelicanes" if spotted in time. Removed from the sea and dropped into fresh water, their poison drains away within 48 hours. "They no longer pose a health risk and can then be recycled as protein-rich fertiliser," says Professor Gili.

"The important thing is to catch them whole without causing them damage, because the tentacles remain poisonous even if broken off, and even if the creature is dead."

But these are short-term measures and they offer no solution to the wider problem of why jellyfish have become so prevalent. Last year, jellyfish were frequently found in concentrations as high as 100 per cubic metre.

Millions of jellyfish washed up on Spanish beaches last year, and tens of thousands of holidaymakers were treated for painful allergic reactions to their stings.

Overfishing is the main cause, the scientist insists. And the only solution is to change the fishing practices of countries that have stripped the world's seas of big fish such as swordfish and red tuna which feast upon jellyfish.

The other traditional predator of jellyfish – the leatherback turtle, Caretta caretta – has been driven to the point of extinction. The beaches where it lays its eggs have been lost to tourism. It's not just a Mediterranean problem. Increases in the populations of jellyfish have been "spectacular" from Japan to Africa, from Alaska to Australia, Professor Gili says. "Every time we are swamped with jellyfish, the sea is sending us the message that it is sick and we are mistreating it. We face a huge problem of ecological imbalance."

Overfishing on a global scale has left jellyfish without the big fish and crustaceans that are their natural predators, and without small fish, such as sardines and whitebait, that compete with them for minute marine creatures and plankton. "Jellyfish are left with all the food they want, so they can reproduce without limit," says Professor Gili.

To make matters worse, jellyfish gorge voraciously on fish eggs and larvae. The common Aurelia species, for example, whose variant Aurelia Aurita or "moon jellyfish" is common in the Mediterranean, can hoover up to 10 young herrings an hour. Jellyfish, as a result, are taking the place of fish in the global ecosystem.

Apart from the ubiquitous mauve stinger, various other species thrive in the Mediterranean. One regular visitor is Cortylorhiza tuberculata, known as "fried egg", which luxuriates in the warm, salty lagoons of the Mar Menor, near the fashionable Murcian resort of La Manga. These lagoons are rich in nutrients from fertilisers drained from the region's intensive plastic-greenhouse agriculture. The fried egg's sting is mild, but its sheer numbers transform the water into a milky gloop.The Mar Menor is so infested that latterly 1,000 tonnes of "fried egg" have been cleared from it every year.

The Rhizostoma pulpo, or octopus jellyfish, named for its eight long tentacles, is also on the increase.

The fearsome Portuguese Man o' War (Physalia physalis), whose sting can be fatal, is increasingly swept towards Europe's Atlantic coasts, in "blooms" resembling a sea of plastic bags. Isolated examples sometimes reach the British Isles, but currents have yet to drag them through the Gibraltar Strait into the Mediterranean.

For all their undulant mobility, jellyfish have little control of their movements. They are not actually fish, but a kind of giant plankton that cannot swim, driven this way and that by winds and currents. In an extreme demonstration of imminent ecological breakdown, they come ashore to die. "Jellyfish are a natural part of the marine environment, but the scale of what's happening now is a warning that something's going very wrong," says Dr David Santilo, a marine biologist for the Greenpeace research laboratories at Exeter University.

Do we then face a return to primeval slime? "A lot of pressures are pushing in that direction," says Dr Santilo. "The mechanisms are there to make that happen. Ecosystems are flexible up to a point, but no one knows when elasticity breaks into a different sort of ecosystem and you get an irreversible shift. This plague of jellyfish is a like hazard warning light. It's a wake-up call."

Jellyfish plagues have happened before, in cycles of seven to 10 years. But recent cycles are shorter, and every year for the last two decades, the blooms have become bigger, denser and longer lasting.

Until three years ago, no one thought to take special measures other than to provide first-aid to bathers suffering painfully swollen limbs, and to close infested beaches. Now that the glaucous visitors arrive en masse every year alarm bells are ringing amid hard evidence suggesting they will be with us for the foreseeable future.

The Mediterranean's temperature is now two to three degrees warmer than its usual winter minimum, in a clear symptom of global warming, while lack of rainfall has caused a drop in the volume of cooler fresh water entering it from the sky, and from rivers. As a result, the Mediterranean is turning into a warmer, saltier soup that puts off larger creatures, but in which jellyfish thrive

Prodded by Spain's mighty tourist industry, the environmental authorities are expected to support scientists' anti-jellyfish recommendations.

The Environment minister, Cristina Narbona, admits more effort is needed. Even with preventive measures in place, "we cannot guarantee in any way the complete absence of these organisms in bathing areas," she says.

Professor Gili insists that the year-round programme of monitoring jellyfish movements must be continued. He proposes a list of specific measures: to station jellyfish-hunting boats in beaches under threat; provide locals and holidaymakers with information on how to protect themselves; and to close beaches to bathers when necessary.

But far more essential, he says, is to face up to the global ecological crisis highlighted by the uncontrolled proliferation of this spineless, brainless creature, and change the way we manage fish stocks worldwide.

February 16th, 2008: Scientists fear 'tipping point' in Pacific Ocean
Coast has seen deadly drop-off in oxygen levels for sea life

By ROBERT McCLURE, Where scientists previously found a sea bottom abounding with life, two years ago they discovered the rotting carcasses of crabs, starfish and sea worms, swooshing from side to side in the current. Most fish had fled -- and those that didn't or couldn't joined the deathfest on the sea floor.

Extraordinarily low oxygen levels were to blame -- swept up from the deep ocean into normally productive waters just off the Pacific Northwest coast by uncharacteristically strong winds.

On Thursday scientists announced they had documented that low oxygen levels that killed the sea life in 2006 were the lowest in a half-century -- and that for the first time, parts of the ocean off our coast were measured with zero oxygen in the water; 2007 looked only a bit better.

Strong winds and low oxygen levels have persisted for eight summers now, leading scientists to conclude that the ocean may be "poised for significant reorganization"-- their way of saying an ecosystem gone awry.

It looks like the Pacific has reached a "tipping point," a threshold where low-oxygen levels are becoming the rule, researchers said. And while scientists can't prove it's caused by a changing climate, that's consistent with what is predicted by computer projections built to anticipate global warming.

"The real thing in the back of our minds is: Is this the first signs of what global warming might be like?" said Bill Peterson, a federal scientist and co-author of the research published in the journal Science. But because it's not conclusive proof, he said, "We tried not to go there too much."

Whatever the cause, it's worrisome, researchers said, because shallow, productive ocean areas like those off the Northwest coast occupy just 1 percent of the globe's oceans -- yet produce 20 percent of the fish we eat.

"People keep asking us, 'Is this situation really all that different or not?' " said Jane Lubchenco, a co-author and prominent ocean researcher, in a news release about the research.

"Now we have the answer to that question, and it's an unequivocal 'yes.' The low oxygen levels we've measured in the last six years are abnormally low for our system. We haven't seen conditions like this in many, many decades."

Only once during the past seven years did the strong northerly winds of spring and summer go away -- and that time, in spring and early summer of 2005, the pendulum swung wildly the other way, with little wind at all until partway through summer.

That set off a chain of events that scientists concluded were responsible for a startlingly widespread wave of seabird deaths -- from the Farallon Islands off San Francisco to Vancouver Island.

After that, researchers from Oregon State University, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife looked intensely at waters off the Oregon coast for the research announced Thursday. And the same thing is happening off Washington's coast.

Mary Sue Brancato and her colleagues first noticed it on a visit to the coast in 2000 or 2001.

"We were out there for another (research) project and we were like, 'What is it with these thousands of dead crabs?' " said Brancato, a marine biologist who works at the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

Those were Dungeness crabs. Later other species were affected, Brancato said, leading scientists to surmise it was some widespread cause. By 2004 they were taking measurements to document low levels of dissolved oxygen, the kind of oxygen sea creatures can use.

By the time the biggest oxygen drop-off happened in 2006, it lasted for two weeks and researchers noted species of rockfish, eels and crabs normally found in deep water were along the coast instead, she said.

"It could be climate change, but we don't have definitive proof of that," Brancato said

She said the findings mirror a Canadian study that has been going on for 50 years that also detected declining dissolved oxygen levels.

Brancato was not on the team of researchers whose work is being published this week.

Those researchers had realized for years that they were seeing "really low" oxygen levels, said lead author Francis Chan.

"But the key is, what is the norm?" Chan said. To ascertain that, Chan conducted a painstaking search for recordings of oxygen off the Northwest coast. He was able to find reliable records extending back into the 1950s.

"Now we know exactly what the norm looks like and we see that the kinds of values we've gotten (in 2000-2006) are really unprecedented for our system," Chan said.

Oxygen levels in the spring and summer of 2007 also were depressed, but not as much as 2006.

The way the strong spring and summer winds reduce oxygen levels is complex. When these winds blow from the north as the Earth is turning toward the east, the water in the shallows along the coast is forced farther out to sea.

This allows water from deeper in the ocean -- colder water with little oxygen but lots of nutrients -- to seep up near the coast. It's filled with nutrients because it contains dead plankton, fish excrement and more.

Once in the shallow water, these nutrients feed an explosion of one-celled plants. They die, falling to the bottom -- only to fuel a massive buildup in bacteria that gobble up the oxygen while they eat the dead microscopic plants.

It's possible that such low-oxygen periods occurred before reliable measurements were made starting in the '50s, Chan said. But 50 years is enough time to have covered many oscillations between the El Niño and La Niña phases of ocean activity.

"If this was because of El Niño or La Niña cycles, we should have seen it in the past," Chan said.

Even the changes known to last decades in the Pacific have switched back and forth several times in the past half-century.

Researchers would like to find out now how much oxygen levels have varied over the course of tens of thousands of years around here. But already, Chan said, "if we look at the deeper past, it gives us an idea that changes in climate do lead to changes in the intensity of low-oxygen zones.

"Oxygen is such a basic, critical (need) for the ecological processes for marine life that changing that number in a rapid and dramatic way, is likely to have some big ecological consequences," Chan said. source

February 15th, 2008: Walking Shark Discovered

The tiny Epaulette shark is a relatively new discovery, but one that is unique in its style and method of movement.
The “walking” shark, rather than swim around to gather prey, walks across the bottom, using its fins to take it where it wants to go.

The walking shark moves by propelling itself with its fins across the bottom of the water body
Discovered only as recently as 2006 it is believed to be an entirely new species of shark and one that is well worth exploration, living as it does in only a few restricted areas.
The Following information comes from the Mongabay.com website, which has a short article on the walking shark
Not a lot is know of the sharks breeding and feeding habits as they are still being explored by scientists, being such a very recent discovery
Threats from over-fishing with dynamite and cyanide, as well as deforestation and mining that degrade coastal waters, require immediate steps to protect the unique marine life that sustains local communities.
The video below has several sea creatures with the beginning footage that of the walking shark in action.

US SCIENTISTS have discovered the shark off the coast of Indonesia, witnessing the shark walking on its fins.
A team from Conservation International said they had found 52 new species off the province of Papua. These included 24 types of fish, 20 types of coral and eight new species of shrimp. Another was a shrimp that looked like a praying mantis.
But the team warned that the area, known as Bird’s Head Seascape, was under threat from fishermen using dynamite and cyanide.
“It’s one of the most stunningly beautiful landscapes and seascapes on the planet,” Conservation International’s Mark Erdmann said. “Above and below water, it’s simply mind blowing.”
The discoveries added to an already legendary reputation for the area, which stretched for more than 194,000 square kilometres, Mr Erdmann said.
Dubbed Asia’s coral triangle, it is home to more than 1200 species of fish and almost 600 species of reef-building coral — 75 per cent of the world’s total.
Conservation International called on the Indonesian Government to set up marine parks around Bird’s Head Seascape to protect the wildlife.
Among the most unusual finds were two new small epaulette sharks that spend much of their time skulking on the ocean bed looking for treats.
They grow to 1.2 metres and often scamper around on their muscular pectoral fins.
“They’re extraordinary animals,” Conservation International’s Roger McManus told ABC News. “They sort of walk on their pectoral fins.
“They spend a lot of time on the bottom and they’re hunting for mussels and crabs and the things that live in the sand or on the sand,” he said.
Epaulette sharks are so called because two large round spots near their heads resemble shoulder ornaments.

February 14th, 2008: Better protecting our unique marine environment

Press Release: New Zealand Government - Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton and Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick have today announced the next step in protecting New Zealand’s marine environment.

The country has been divided into 14 coastal regions to create a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that reflect the diversity of New Zealand’s marine environment. Local groups, or forums, will now identify which areas in each region should be protected.

“This is part of the Labour- Progressive government’s commitment to having 10 per cent of our coastal marine environment protected by 2010, as stated in the Biodiversity Strategy of 2000,” Jim Anderton said.

There will be three types of marine protection in these regions:

- Marine Reserves – highest form of protection that prohibits taking anything from the water.

- Other marine protected areas – allows some activities, but prohibits anything that would significantly change the overall environment, e.g. bottom trawling, dredging.

- Other marine protection tools – protects certain plants or animals in the marine environment.

Jim Anderton said these standards, or levels of protection, will help to identify what marine protection is already in place around New Zealand and what more needs to be done.

“Today’s announcement means that community groups, called Marine Protection Planning Forums, can start looking at the best way for each region to protect their local habitats,” he said.

The forums will consist of tangata whenua and local groups, including commercial and recreational users, environmental groups, regional councils and tourism operators. They will work together to recommend new areas that should be protected in each region,.These will then be considered by Ministers.

Steve Chadwick said four of the 14 regions have been chosen to start this work: West Coast South Island region, Otago-Southland region, the Hauraki Gulf area and the Sub-Antarctic region, which covers the Auckland, Campbell and Bounty Islands.

“Work is already well underway on the West Coast and the other areas will follow now that this technical information is available. Setting up marine protected areas is vital to the Labour-Progressive government’s aim to preserve our rich natural marine heritage for future generations.”

Details of the implementation of this policy in particular regions are on the following website, www.biodiveristy.govt.nz/mpas

Background Information

14 coastal regions
Each of the 14 coastal regions is classified according to local environmental factors that characterise the area, such as water temperature or depth. For example, different species would live in the warm waters around the Poor Knights Islands in Northland compared to sub-Antarctic islands, or similar rocky headlands in Northland or Otago would be home to very different plants and animals.

In each region there are two broad environment types; estuarine and marine.

New Zealand’s marine environment
New Zealand’s diverse marine environment covers an area of approximately 4.1 million square kilometres.

More than 15,000 marine species have been found living in New Zealand’s territorial sea (the area of sea from the coast out to 12 nautical miles) and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ – the area of sea from the territorial sea out to 200 nautical miles), and it is estimated that a further 50,000 may also be found. This represents perhaps 10% of the world’s total marine species.

Why proceed with marine protected areas?
New Zealand has a particularly rich and complex seascape, making it a world hotspot for marine biodiversity, which the Labour-led government is committed to protecting for study and for future generations.

In addition, our isolation in the south-west Pacific means that there are many species that are unique to New Zealand. The network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) will include examples of all 44 major marine habitats, as well as places that are nationally or internationally outstanding, distinctive or rare.

What are we trying to achieve
The long term objective is to protect a full range of habitats and ecosystems that is representative of New Zealand’s indigenous biodiversity. For each of the 44 habitats in each region, the MPA policy requires the establishment of at least two MPAs - one marine reserve and one where some activities can occur.

Making progress by 2010
Achieving the full objective will take time. The 2010 target is for marine protection over at least 10 per cent of New Zealand’s territorial sea and of the EEZ.

Involving communities and tangata whenua
MFish and DOC staff are working together to provide an inventory of the habitats and ecosystems that are already protected. Community-based Marine Protection Planning Forums will recommend what other areas within their region should be protected.

February 8th, 2008: New Marine Science Center to open!

By Ralph Nichols: A new marine science center- one of only two such college-owned facilities in Washington with direct saltwater access-is expected to open in Redondo during spring quarter.

The $2 million Marine Science and Technology Center (MaST) of Highline Community College will provide expanded learning opportunities for students, residents of South King County and the entire Puget Sound region.

Another $500,000 is being raised to endow and permanently fund scholarships, camps and community programs.

"This one-of-a-kind facility will bring together science education, research, and community outreach," Dr. Jack Bermingham, interim president of HCC, told Robinson Newspapers last week.

Located on a pier extending 260 feet into the Sound, the 2,500 square foot MaST Center will feature more than 2,000 gallons of flow-through saltwater tanks in its public space.

Together, these tanks-five aquariums and three touch tanks for children, which will display more than 80 species of fish and invertebrates - will comprise the third largest aquarium in the state, according to college officials.

In addition, the center's 68 feet of saltwater frontage along Redondo Beach will provide easy access to a diversity of natural habitats that are part of the Puget Sound estuary-one of the two largest ocean inlets in the continental United States.

This facility also will house state-of-the-art equipment, laboratories and research areas, classrooms, and offices.

"The newly renovated facility will provide hands-on marine science learning and research experiences for students, faculty, scientists and community members," Bermingham noted.

It will be open to the public weekly and used by K-12 school groups regularly.

Highline originally used the Redondo facility for its Undersea Diving Program, which taught students to be commercial divers. When that program was phased out in the early 1990s, the structure was used to Puget Sound water quality research and as a lab for college biology classes.

The MaST Center opened there in 2003, offering college-level marine science and biology courses and community outreach including programs for K-12 students.

Following three years of planning, the center closed in 2006 for construction of the new facility. Some parts of the structure have been renovated; much of it has been replaced.

"We're 60 days out from completing the superstructure," Bermingham said. "Within three months we expect to have our dedication and we'll be ready to roll."

He described the MaST Center as a "cutting-edge facility for K-12 and higher education alike" that will study and contribute to "the whole ecology of the Sound.

"It will provide opportunities for people to get passionate, to get enthusiastic about science."

Research projects at the center range from partnerships with large research institutions such as the University of Washington to "citizen science"- participation by ordinary members of the public in collecting scientific data that may be used for research.

Types of research that may be conducted at the MaST Center may include the behavioral ecology of Puget Sound organisms, physiology of Puget Sound organisms, invasive species, water quality monitoring, current flow measurements, and comparisons of freshwater input and mixing with Puget Sound water.

"The college now seeks assistance from local community members in raising funds to cover the final third of the $2.5 million necessary to pay for the MaST construction and operating endowment," Bermingham added. Source: http://www.federalwaynews.net

February 5th, 2008: What we can do to help conserve our seafood?

The greatest problem facing the oceans today is not pollution although global warming could have a big impact in time but overfishing. The global fish catch has now plateaued and is likely to go down as large technologically sophisticated industrial fleets fish out the dwindling shoals of fish that remain. All the large big predators like sharks, swordfish, marlin and tuna have disappeared to a fraction of what they once were. It's a wonder you can still buy fresh tuna, given how intensively the stocks are now being exploited. In Japan's Tsukiji fish market, the tuna are going for thousands of dollars apiece. This translates to the capture and destruction of the last shoals of Bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean which have sustained themselves and people for over five thousand years. Should we care? What can we do? There are so many prongs to this issue and they are now being covered in books like Charles Clover's The End of the Line.

As a species we rely on fewer and fewer species of plants and animals to sustain us. Most of what we consume can be put down to about 20 species like wheat, rice, potatoes, sugar cane, chicken, pig, cattle, apples, pears, oranges, bananas ... it may sound impressive but it does not compare with what our distant forefathers as hunter gatherers went for. At that time they ate a more varied diet that was exploited thinly and proved more nutritious in some ways. We have to think about seafood in the same way. Most seafood consists of popular choices like tuna, cod, haddock, plaice, hake, halibut and sardines but there are hundreds more species that we could think of that are under-eaten. The overexploited fish get even more overexploited and collapse in numbers.

Before you buy seafood please think about these things.
1. What species of fish/shellfish/crustacean is this?
2. Is it in any way endangered?
3. How was it caught or farmed? - Prawn/Shrimp farming in tropical countries is doing untold damage to mangrove forests and creating lots of pollution - are there any messages on the shrimps/prawns about environmental friendliness? Long line tuna fishing (no matter how "dolphin friendly" have lines up to 60 miles long) catches seabirds, turtles and other fish and creates untold bycatch (non target marine life that usually gets wasted). Pole and line fishing where you only catch 1 fish at 1 time with no bycatch is best. Worse than this is purse seine netting - especially for fish like tuna - this has huge bycatch, - if there are no labels it was probably caught at an industrial level.
4. If the fish was farmed was it farmed in an enclosed pond (the best) or in pens in the sea with lots of pollution (the worst)?
5. If it's farmed was the fish a vegetarian or omnivorous? - feeding fish other fish to fatten them as happens with farmed salmon can be environmentally wasteful, the equivalent of us raising farmed foxes on chickens. Tilapia and catfish are environmentally friendly fish to buy raised in enclosed ponds, they get fed on plants and "waste" food substances.
6. Does the fish have any eco labeling? Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) labeled fish is the best along with similar ecological labels (not "dolphin friendly") that shows the fish stocks are healthy and were caught sustainably.

It's best to visit NZ's Forest and Bird "Best Fish Guide", the Monterey Bay website or the Marine Conservation Society website and many similar to print out a list of fish that you can eat without feeling guilty.

Generally any locally sourced fish of high diversity is better than fish coming from long distances that have been caught to satisfy our artificially manipulated tastes as to the benefits of some exotic, hard to get species of fish (e.g., do avoid shark fin soup 100 million sharks killed annually). Under-eaten local seafood can include limpets, razor shells, small shoaling fish among others from your local area are likely to be better for the environment than a factory ship caught fish that has traveled thousands of miles being kept frozen for so long before hitting your plate. The fish on your plate may have used up an inordinate amount of hydrocarbon fuel in transport and freezing and generated the slaughter of thousands of tons of bycatch. Fish need not be this environmentally costly.

It's high time we all started thinking about what we eat and how that food impacts on the environment as well as our health. Scientists predict that at the present rate of consumption fish stocks would have collapsed by 2040. Just as well that a few enlightened governments in places like New Zealand, Australia and California are bringing in measures to protect our seas so we can think of fish not just as things to eat, but as valuable actors in the marine ecosystem - to watch, enjoy and learn from.

February 4th, 2008: Some Good News for Sharks

Beth Bader: In a bit of good news for sharks, Unilever, a global cosmetics company that makes Dove and Pond’s brands, will stop using shark liver oil, or squalene, in the making of its cosmetics. Squalene-free products that use a plant-based substitute could be on the shelves as soon as spring of 2008. The announcement heralded marine conservation group Oceana’s efforts to build awareness among cosmetics manufacturers and end the use of squalene.

“Many of the world’s shark populations are collapsing, and the use of shark products for commercial purposes is the greatest threat to their survival,” said Elizabeth Griffin, marine wildlife scientist at Oceana.

Globally, at least 16 of the 300-plus shark species are listed as threatened, endangered or vulnerable. Sharks are especially vulnerable to fishing pressures. They are slow to mature, some, like lemon sharks, do not reach sexual maturity until they are thirteen or later. Gestation for one species, the spiny dogfish, is nearly two years — thought to be the longest for any vertebrate. Many species only give birth to a few young at a time, and do not breed annually. This type of reproductive pattern makes it nearly impossible for shark species to recover from commercial fishing pressures.

Sharks serve a valuable role in the ocean as an apex predator, removing the weaker and sick individuals from fish populations. They are the great enforcers of the ocean’s “survival of the fittest.”

Efforts like those of Oceana are critical to help reduce fishing pressures on sharks. Consumers, too, play an important role in the choices we make. According to information the European headquarters of these companies provided to Oceana, cosmetic brands Beiersdorf, LVMH, Henkel, Boots, Clarins, Sisley and La Mer (an Estée Lauder brand) have either made the decision to stop using shark-based squalene or had a policy to never use it in the first place. And L’Oreal is currently completing the phase-out of shark-based squalene and its substitution.

January 30th, 2008: 10 Things You Did not Know About Bony Fish

1. Today there are about 21,000 species of bony fish, inhabiting all marine and freshwater environments. Their number is larger than the number of all other vertebrates together. Compare this with about 50 species of lampreys and hagfish (jawless fishes) and about 700 species of sharks and rays (cartilaginous fishes). Of the bony fish, about 6,700 species live in freshwater (33.1 %), 1,625 freshwater species that can live for a time in salt water (8.1 %); migratory species make 120 species (0.6 %). Tropical sea fish living down to 200 m (660 ft) m make about 8,000 species (39.6 %), while those inhabiting temperate/cold shallow water make 1,130 species (5.6 %). About 1,280 species are abyssal (6.4 %) while pelagic species (living in open sea) are represented by about 260 species (1.3 %). Bathypelagic fish live in the water mass below 200 m; they make about 1,010 species (5 %).

2. Freshwater species make about 40 % even if freshwater makes a very small percent of water volumes. This is explained by the geographical isolation forming numerous species. Each lake or river can form an isolated biotope. Examples are the African lakes of Victoria, Tanganika and Malawi, where fish of the Cichlidae family formed hundreds of species. The finches of Galapagos, Drepanide birds of Hawaii or rodents appear poor in species. Some insects genera may have thousands of species, but they are spread worldwide and are much older than vertebrate genera (they can be considered equivalent to vertebrate families).

3. Coelacanths are one of the most primitive types of bony fish. Their fossils range from 400 to 60 million years ago. When Latimeria, the living coelacanth, was discovered in 1938 near Comoros Archipelago (close to Madagascar), this was a shock: it was like finding a living dinosaur. The locals knew the fish, sometimes accidentally captured, but considered it too greasy to be eaten. Unlike other bony fish, coelacanths have lobed fins, containing muscles and bones. Latimeria does not "walk" with these fins; the fish stands sometimes on its head, making alternative swimming movements with its fins. The fish stays in deep waters during the day, and ascends to feed on squids and small fish during the night. Still, ancient coelacanths are believed to have given birth to amphibians.

4. Lungfishes (Dipnoi) also have intermediary traits towards the amphibians. They appeared 300 million years ago. Today, just 6 species survive in South America, Africa and northern Australia. When rivers desiccate during the dry season, lungfish bury themselves into the mud. The African species make a cocoon inside the mud and enter into a state of inactivation called estivation, waiting for the rains, for months and even years. They survive because they have a pair of lungs and circulatory system adapted to oxygenate the blood through the lungs and gills at the same time.

The Australian lungfish does not live in rivers that dry, but these rivers, too, get suffocated with plants and devoid of oxygen during the summer. Breathing air from time to time allows the fish to survive.

5. Bichirs and reedfish live in African rivers and lakes. They too have lungs besides gills, and a fleshy base (like in coelacanths) at each fin. They propel themselves using their fins (other fish, using their tails) to hunt insects and small invertebrates.

6. Sturgeons form a group of about 20 species, some restricted to freshwater, other feeding in the sea and breeding in freshwater. The largest species, beluga, can reach lengths of up to 9 m (30 ft) and weights of one ton. Such an individual, about 75 years old, would produce 180 kg (400 pounds) of caviar and 688 kg (1,600 pounds) of meat. Sturgeons are not related to sharks, but they have a cartilaginous skeleton and a tail with a larger upper lobe, too. Sturgeons have been exploited for caviar intensively, and dams impede their breeding. Ichthyocol, a gelatin-like substance, was achieved from the swim bladder of beluga and used for rinsing the wine.

7. Over 95 % of the bony fish are represented by Teleostei. Their type is varied, from eels to flounders and sea horses. They have flexible skeletons and completely ossified skeletons. The vertebrae have two pairs of ribs, and the radii of fins are bony and sometimes replaced by spikes. The fins have the role of rudders, the tail delivering the propulsion. The flat overlapped scales found in most species protect of external trauma. The scales mark the fish's age just like the tree rings. Swim bladder ensures floatability. This bladder is an ancestral lung turned into an organ that absorbs gases from the blood and, like a balloon, it allows the fish to inhabit average depths or to remain suspended in the water when not actively swimming. Fish living at the bottom, like flounders and soles, lost their swim bladder.

Many teleostei fish still can breathe air, even without a lung. The weather fish, loaches and other related species swallow air, and the intestine takes oxygen from it. In some cases, the swim bladder still can be used for breathing. Labyrinth fishes (like gouramis and fighting fish) have a labyrinth organ, a complicated network of blades, in the gill area, that serves for breathing air oxygen. In some tropical fish (like mudskippers), the mouth mucosa serves for aerial breathing.

8. Over 1,000 species of abyssal bony fish produce bioluminescence, for camouflage or to hide their contour line. Angler fish use bioluminescence to lure their prey, while lantern fish, for communicating with the others.

Salmons are believed to chemically recognize the spring in which they hatched. They go upwards, and when the water has the right taste, they spawn. After hatching, in five years, most of the salmons migrate to the ocean, but some males mature precociously in the river and even spawn. This is the insurance policy that the species will survive, if no male returns from the ocean.

The scorpion fish has a more powerful venom than that of a cobra.

Sea horse is the only fish whose head makes a 90o with the body.

9. Plants evolve in many cases through polyploidy (the increase of number of chromosomes). Fish are a rare example of something like this amongst animals. In goldfish (Carassius auratus), the number of chromosomes is double compared to the Crucian carp (Carassius carassius).

10. Despite their large eyes, fish have a rudimentary retina and see less clearly than other vertebrates. The round crystalline lens also projects diffuse images. Fish detects blurredly the shape of the objects as they are short sighted. They do not have 3-D vision, due to the lateral positioning of the eyes, thus they cannot detect relief and distance, and the image is flat. Instead, moving objects are rapidly detected. Bottom species may see almost nothing, but in lighted surface water, other fish can detect objects from a distance of 10 m (33 ft). Immobile objects may not be seen by fish.

January 25th, 2008: Scientists launch first census of marine life off Antarctic coast
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - New Zealand, U.S. and Italian marine scientists launched a two-month voyage to Antarctica's northern coast Tuesday as part of the first-ever census of Antarctic marine biodiversity, Prime Minister Helen Clark said.
The census of Antarctic marine life is a multinational research project "involving 23 countries and 11 coordinated voyages to survey marine ecosystems and habitats in waters surrounding Antarctica," she said.
The 26 scientists on board the research ship will collect samples of sea life and capture images of the sea floor down to depths of 4,000 metres in previously unexplored areas, Clark said in a statement.
The data collected by surveys in areas not previously explored will "assist decision-making on environmental issues such as climate change and its effect on Southern Ocean ecosystems," she said.
Research, Science and Technology Minister Pete Hodgson said, "The oceans are truly the final frontier of exploration," and New Zealand's research ship Tangaroa was making "a significant contribution to major international projects."
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the voyage would provide essential information about the biodiversity and functioning of the Ross Sea ecosystem off the north Antarctic coast.
"New Zealand strives for a balance between well-managed, sustainable harvesting in the Ross Sea and the safeguarding of its long-term ecological viability and biodiversity," Peters said in a video link from Scott Base, New Zealand's science base on the Antarctic coast.
New assessments of ocean acidification caused by climate change and identification of new species off Antarctica's coastline are expected from the voyage, Clark said.
The work is part of International Polar Year, a global science program designed to advance knowledge of the land and sea environments of the Arctic and Antarctic. The first IPY was held in 1882.

January 25th, 2008: The toxic legacy of plastic bags

By Ian Kiernan: Our easy addiction to plastic bags is destroying our environment.

At the heart of arguments against introducing a ban on the damaging common plastic shopping bag lies a stubborn refusal to consider anything other than the economic costs of keeping them.

Plastic bags are cheap to make and cheap for shops to buy. We have become used to the convenience of them and think they make our lives somehow easier.

But our easy addiction to plastic bags is destroying our environment, killing our marine life and birds, and is so pervasive and persistent that it is entering the food chain.

How can those who assess plastic bags simply on their economic merits ignore the impacts of the waste left behind? How can any of us afford not to?

In the half dozen decades since plastic became a regular part of our lives and plastic bags a common sight, the natural environment has become full to bursting with plastic rubbish.

Plastic doesn't go away - it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces but it never actually dissolves or disappears completely. Much of it ends up in our oceans.

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, near Hawaii, lies a floating garbage patch twice the size of Britain. It is a place where the water is filled with six times as much plastic as plankton. This plastic-plankton soup is entering the food chain and heading for our dinner plates.

Plastic bags are mistaken as food and consumed by a wide range of marine species, especially those that consume jellyfish or squid, which resemble plastic bags when floating in the water column.

There have been international studies done on the impact of plastic on marine life and birds but unfortunately the statistics on the dead and maimed are often only estimates as it is almost impossible to track where all plastic bags end up and observe what happens to every whale, dolphin and turtle that swallows them.

Stomach-churning
What scientists do have are the contents of marine mammals' stomachs when they wash up dead on our coastlines.

A total of 177 marine species are known to ingest plastic litter. Ingestion of litter such as plastic bags can cause physical damage to the oesophagus, mechanical blockage of the digestive system, and a false sensation of feeling full. This can lead to infections, starvation and death.

In August 2000, an autopsy of an eight-metre bryde's whale beached at Trinity Bay near Cairns revealed a tightly compacted ball of plastic debris in the animal's stomach. The contents included 33 different items made up mainly of plastic bags, as well as noodle packages.

In total there was nearly six square metres of plastic in the whale's stomach.

Sea turtles are especially affected by the presence of plastic debris. They ingest different types of floating objects including condoms, balloons and fishing line, as if they were food.

In 1998, an autopsy carried out on the body of a juvenile green turtle found washed up on Lennox Head Beach in northern NSW revealed a complete bowel blockage caused by a piece of black plastic the size of an open palm.

Above the blockage food putrified and slowly poisoned the animal to death.

The Federal Government's own Threatened Species Scientific Committee has found plastic bags and other marine debris are a direct threat to 20 marine species, including the loggerhead turtle, southern right whale, blue whale and tristan albatross. It has listed plastic bags as a Key Threatening Process under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

Public support
Eighteen years of Clean Up Australia Day has clearly demonstrated the impact plastic bags are having on the environment. A survey of the rubbish collected is done each year and plastic bags are among the most common plastic items found on Clean Up Australia Day year after year.

More than half of the tens of thousands of plastic bags collected on Clean Up Australia Day are found on beaches, waterfront areas, in rivers and creeks.

Two national opinion polls in a row have shown overwhelming public support for a ban on plastic bags in Australia and a growing number of communities are introducing their own bans.

The only harm involved in a ban on plastic bags is not doing it.

Introducing a levy on plastic bags has now been shown to not work. In Ireland, a levy produced a dramatic initial decrease but we now know that people simply became used to paying the levy, which led to an increase in plastic bag use by one third in just two years.

There are alternatives to the common single-use plastic bag and the most encouraging progress is being made with biodegradable bags, often made from cornstarch.

But of course you could just not use a plastic bag at all - just as using a plastic bag is a habit, so too would not using one become.

January 16th, 2008: Call for urgent action on whaling, overfishing

Maritime Union calls for urgent action on whaling and overfishing

The Maritime Union of New Zealand say the developing situation around the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean could be a turning point in the battle against the exploitation of the marine environment.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says he believes an opportunity has arisen where the international reaction against whaling could create pressure for change in protecting the wider marine environment.

"The sad fact is that one of the only ways to protect marine life is the type of direct action we have seen, which has brought the attention of the world to focus on the whaling issue."

Mr Hanson says the Government could send a frigate to observe events, as a signal of the extreme concern and disappointment of the New Zealand people.

"We have allowed the slaughter of whales right up to the point of extinction. Now we have realized the terrible mistake and we must try to protect this species and all other marine species that have been devastated by overfishing."

Mr Hanson says the Maritime Union has for some years been pointing out the links between overfishing and exploitation of fishing crews, and has previously spoken out against whaling.

He says the Union would like to see far stronger regulation and controls on a national and international level to protect marine life and fishing and maritime workers from rampant exploitation.

"The situation is one where the abuses occur out of sight and out of mind, driven by a stripmining mentality that is only interested in short term profits."

Mr Hanson says Southern Ocean and Antarctic waters are in our backyard, and as a nation we have a responsibility to protect the marine environment for future generations.

January 16th, 2008: Black Abalone At Risk Of Extinction, Endangered Species Act Protection Sought

NOAA Fisheries Service has filed with the Federal Register a proposed rule to list black abalone, a marine mollusk coveted by fishermen and gourmets alike, as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The proposal comes after NOAA Fisheries Service considered the report of a scientific review team concluding that the species is at risk of extinction.
"The scientific review team reported major declines in the population of black abalone, especially in the areas around the Channel Islands off Southern California," said Rod McInnis, Southwest Regional Administrator for NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service. "These proposed regulations seek federal protection for black abalone and request input from the public in determining what areas might be included as critical habitat for the species."
Black abalone were once plentiful in the intertidal waters from Northern Baja California, Mexico, to Monterey, Calif., although there is some scientific debate about how far north the population once extended. The species was utilized by early California natives and peaked as a commercial fishery in the state in 1973 with almost two million pounds harvested.
Since the 1980s, black abalone abundance has plummeted primarily from a bacterial disease known as withering syndrome. Other causes of the rapid population decline are likely due to historical overfishing, poaching and natural predation.
NMFS has considered recent preliminary evidence which suggests a small disease resistant population may exist at San Nicolas Island. Even with this possibility, the likelihood that black abalone populations will continue to decline towards extinction (within the next 30 years) is very high.
Adapted from materials provided by NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS. January 10th, 2008: Banning Plastic Bags, Helping Marine Life

China’s surprise crackdown on plastic bags, announced on Tuesday, will prohibit the production and distribution of ultra-thin bags beginning June 1. The ruling bans the manufacture, sale, and use of plastic bags under 0.025 millimeters thick and prohibits supermarkets and shops nationwide from handing out the sacks for free. With the move, China joins a growing list of regions, from San Francisco to South Africa, that are using taxes, bans, and other regulations to try to decrease the prevalence of the ubiquitous bags.

Some 4 to 5 trillion plastic bags—including large trash bags, thick shopping bags, and thin grocery bags—were produced globally in 2002, according to the Worldwatch Institute’s State of the World 2004 report. Roughly 80 percent of those bags were used in North America and Western Europe. Every year, Americans reportedly throw away 100 billion plastic grocery bags, which can clog drains, crowd landfills, and leave an unsightly blot on the landscape.

Perhaps less widely known is the destructive impact that plastic bags have on oceans and marine life. Tossed into waterways or washed down storm drains, the bags are the major source of human-related debris on the seabed, particularly near coastlines, according to the 2007 Worldwatch report Oceans in Peril: Protecting Marine Biodiversity. At least 267 different species are known to have suffered from entanglement or ingestion of marine debris, and plastics and other synthetic materials cause the most problems for marine animals and birds.

Every year, tens of thousands of whales, birds, seals, and turtles die from contact with ocean-borne plastic bags. The animals may mistake the bags for food, such as jellyfish, or simply become entangled. Plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to break down, so even when an animal dies and decays after ingesting a bag, the plastic re-enters the environment, posing a continuing threat to wildlife. While most plastic bags eventually break down into tiny particles, smaller sea creatures may still eat the sand-sized fragments and concentrate toxic chemicals in their bodies.

In addition to the bans, taxes, and other government policies now in place to fight the plastic-bag scourge in countries like Bangladesh, Ireland, Kenya, and Taiwan, a variety of responses have emerged in the business community. Some companies now manufacture and purchase biodegradable bags or bags made from recycled materials, and a growing number offer in-store recycling for the receptacles. Although recycling the petroleum-based bags is not always cost-effective, one ton of recycled plastic bags can save 11 barrels of oil, according to an estimate in EJ Magazine.

Other responses include manual cleanups and bans on dumping plastic from ships at sea. Many anti-plastic-bag advocates support the commonsense approach offered by the Chinese government. “We should encourage people to return to carrying cloth bags, using baskets for their vegetables,” said a notice posted on the central government website.

January 9th, 2008: Group including Stanford, Monterey Bay Aquarium form center to protect oceans
By Julie Sevrens Lyons. Calling the ocean an "irreplaceable resource in dire trouble," leaders at three major San Francisco Bay Area institutions announced today they are banding together to establish the Center for Ocean Solutions, an organization geared toward protecting the world's oceans.
Stanford University, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute are joining forces not only to find solutions to the key problems threatening the marine environment - namely global warming, pollution and overfishing - but to actually begin to implement them, center officials said.
The center is believed to be the first in the world to partner scientists with policy makers, business leaders and lawyers in an effort to bring about change for the planet's ailing waters. It is being launched with a $25 million grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and environmentalists are already lauding the effort as a huge step for ocean ecosystems.
"Here is something that demonstrates hope," said Warner Chabot, vice president of the Washington-based Ocean Conservancy. "I would expect the center to be able to bring the best and brightest experts together to address ocean issues."

Scientists believe the world's oceans are at a crossroads, and that drastic changes are needed - and fast - to protect everything from coral reefs to marine animals.
Studies have suggested that unless global warming is controlled very quickly, most of the world's commercial fisheries
will collapse within 50 years. Polar bears and other wildlife could face extinction, and rising sea levels could lead to widespread flooding of islands and some low-lying areas, including parts of the Bay Area.
"Now is the time to invest in doing the right thing," said Julie Packard, a trustee of the Packard Foundation. "Oceans make up over 70 percent of the planet and yet there's very little attention being paid to them."
The center will be established in Monterey, near the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Meg Caldwell, an attorney and former chairwoman of the powerful California Coastal Commission, will serve as interim director.
Center leaders expect to spend the next six to eight months identifying not only the most important challenges facing the ocean, but the issues the agency will be in the best position to do something about, Caldwell said.
The concept is somewhat revolutionary in scientific circles, with the center expected to be neither a research institute nor a think tank, but a combination of both.
"It's a tradition of science to not get involved in the messiness of policy making," Caldwell explained. "But we want to make sure that the work that we're doing within the center and across these institutions is not only offering up practical solutions but also helping to bring them to fruition."
"What's so unique about this center is science and policy will be on equal footing," agreed Michael Sutton, vice president of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Although the center will be based in California, and managed by Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment, leaders say they will address problems affecting oceans worldwide. They will also ultimately bring in scientists from all over the world to assist in research and policy making, Caldwell said.
Packard, who also serves as executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, said that while some of the ocean's problems may sound insurmountable, conservation efforts can - and already have - make a difference throughout the world.
"We have seen some fish populations recover. We have protected altered marine areas. We have taken species off the endangered species list," she said. "We have plenty of victories to celebrate. We just need to take it all to the next level."
The $25 million grant is a "darn good start" to solving some of the ocean's problems, Chabot said.
"But would I have liked this center to exist a decade ago?" he asked. "Of course."
What's wrong with our oceans?
• Oceans absorb more than 80 percent of the excessive heat produced by global warming, causing ice caps to melt, sea levels to rise, healthy ecosystems to decline, species to abandon their home range, and storms and hurricanes to become more intense.
• The Northern Pacific Ocean has grown 30 percent more acidic because of increased carbon dioxide in the air, which threatens the existence of some marine animals and will likely wipe out most of the world's corals by the end of this century.
• Two-thirds of the world's fisheries are fully or over-exploited, and 90 percent of the world's biggest fish are gone.
• With global warming expected to raise sea levels by up to 3 feet by 2100, flooding could become a problem in low-lying coastal regions around the world..
Source: National Weather Service; Ocean Conservancy

January 6th, 2008: New dolphin, whale species found
Led by an expert from the United Kingdom, a Pakistani research team has for the first time identified and recorded the presence of 12 species of marine dolphins and whales in the waters of the Sindh and Balochistan provinces. The identified species include five dolphin species, one porpoise species, two species of the toothed whale and four species of the baleen whale.

The research results were announced by Mauvis Gore, the head of the team which included Shoaib Kiani, Pervaiz Iqbal, Baber Hussain and Umer Waqas.

The study forms part of the Darwin Initiative Project, 'Conservation of Pakistan's marine cetacean biodiversity and pelagic environment', a collaborative effort with Karachi University's Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology (CEMB), the World Wildlife Fund-Pakistan and the University Marine Biological Station Millport (UMBSM).

The first phase of the project, which spanned three years, ends in September this year and it is hoped that the study can be extended by another two years.

According to Gore, this was the first baseline study ever carried out on the marine cetaceans found in Pakistan's waters. "Earlier, there was no recorded information about the various species of marine dolphins and whales found here," she said, "and the little information that was available was not backed by scientific evidence." The only cetacean ever studied was the Indus blind dolphin which lives in the freshwaters of the lower to middle Indus River, where the fragile population has been protected by the Sindh Wildlife Department (SWD) and the WWF-Pakistan.

Gore said that the findings were the result of a team effort and the team was keeping its fingers crossed in terms of obtaining more positive results. "The important thing is that people should know that their coastline and the sea hold a significant number of these wonderful creatures that need to be protected," she remarked, pointing out that this baseline data would serve as groundwork for further research in Pakistan.

January 3rd, 2008: Fears over fish stocks as jellyfish invade Baltic Sea
By Tony Paterson: Finnish marine biologists have identified a dangerous species of invasive jellyfish in the Baltic and raised fears that the creature has the potential to drastically reduce fish stocks in what is already regarded as one of the world's most polluted seas.

Evidence collected by scientists aboard the Aranda, a ship operated by the Finnish Institute of Marine Research, revealed that the Mnemiopsis leidyi species of jellyfish which caused huge declines in fish stocks in the Black and Caspian Seas had been sighted in the Baltic's Gulf of Finland.

Dr Markku Viitasalo, one of the institute's senior marine biologists, said yesterday that the crew of the Aranda spotted the species of combed jellyfish, which had never been seen in the Baltic before, while cruising in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland last week. He said the species almost certainly arrived in the Baltic after leaving the waters off North and South America which are their natural habitat and entering the ballast tanks of container ships plying the Atlantic for Europe.

Dr Viitasalo told Der Spiegel magazine that the species had found its way into the Black and Caspian Seas by the same means and had almost completely wiped out fish stocks in both. The discovery followed other disturbing evidence collected by the Aranda which suggested that decades of effort invested by the countries of northern Europe in cleaning up the Baltic had made minimal impact so far.

The institute said research carried out by the ship's biologists had shown that the sea's already damaging phosphorus levels had actually risen off the coasts of Poland and Russia. "It is very important to monitor whether these efforts have had any effect and the answer is not yet," said Dr Viitasalo. Phosphorus, a by-product of agricultural fertilisers which are allowed to run off into the Baltic, and human waste promote the growth of blue algae. The weed-like substance pollutes the Baltic in summer, covering the sea's surface in acres of bad-smelling, green sludge which cuts the vital oxygen supplies needed by fish and other plant life.

Recent figures released by the Helsinki Commission or Helcom – a 10-member organisation comprised of Baltic seaboard countries which has been trying to cut the sea's pollution levels since 1974 – revealed that 730,000 tons of nitrogen and 36,300 tons of phosphorus were currently being found in the Baltic each year.

The organisation said that the amounts were enough to trigger massive algae pollution.

The Aranda's findings highlight the urgency of the latest attempt to rescue the almost completely landlocked sea. Last month the European Commission signed up to the Baltic Sea Action Plan, which aims to restore the sea to "good ecological status" by 2021.

The plan, which will be implemented from 2010, gives each of the Baltic's nine seaboard countries individual pollution reduction targets to cut phosphorus emissions by 15,250 tons and nitrogen by 135,00 tons annually. It also aims to step up efforts to protect declining fish stocks, reduce pollution caused by heavy shipping traffic and equip small communities which currently discharge their effluent directly into the Baltic, with proper sewers and waste treatment plants.

Unfortunately, the plan will do nothing to stop the Aranda's latest discovery and halt the jellyfish's spread across the Baltic.

December 27th , 2007: SOS ALERT: Save Our Sharks

Chinese New Year is nearly here (which is on 7th February in 2008, the Year of the Rat), and no doubt sharks fin soup will be on the menu in many households and restaurants….

Every year, in oceans around the world, tens of millions of sharks are hunted to meet the demand for shark fin soup. Sharks’ fins are often removed when the animals are still alive; the sharks are then thrown back into the water to endure a painful death from suffocation, blood loss, or predation by other species. Sharks are apex predators who play an essential role in marine ecosystems. The cruel and ecologically devastating practice of shark finning endangers their survival.

Here’s how you can help:

1. Never consume or serve any products containing shark fin. You should also be aware that consuming shark fin can have health implications, especially for children and pregnant women.

2. If you see shark fin on a restaurant menu, ask the management to stop serving it.

December 26th , 2007: Whale shark numbers increasing, study finds

By Lindy Kerin: A 12-year study by Australian and US marine biologists has found an increase in the population of the world's largest fish, the whale shark.

The research was published in the journal Ecological Applications. It contradicts previous studies that found whale shark numbers declining.

It attributes the increase in population to conservation practices at Ningaloo Reef, off the Western Australian coast, where whale sharks migrate every year.

Whale sharks, which can grow as long as 18 metres, have long been listed as vulnerable to extinction.

Marine biologist Brad Norman from Western Australia's Murdoch University has been studying the species for more than a decade.

"It's just fantastic to be able to work on such an amazing creature that we didn't really know a lot about," he said.

"They were only first discovered in 1828, whale sharks, and then up until the mid-1980s there was only about 320 confirmed sightings around the world. So the species is a mystery."

Mr Norman and a team of researchers have been studying whale shark populations in the Ningaloo Reef area.

They have analysed more than 5,000 underwater images taken by hundreds of researchers, divers and ecotourists between 1995 and 2006.

"Whale sharks have a pattern of spots on their skin, so it's given us the opportunity to actually analyse the numbers of whale sharks using photo identification," Mr Norman said.

"We've drawn on literally hundreds of assistant researchers, which are members of the public, that have helped us collect the data, which we then can use to analyse and work out how the numbers of whale sharks are doing at Ningaloo."

The 12-year study shows whale sharks continue to return to the Ningaloo Reef area every year - and in growing numbers.

It contradicts previous findings that the whale shark population in the area is in decline.

Mr Norman says Ningaloo Reef is a critical feeding habitat for whale sharks.

"Now, they need to go there and obviously it's very important in their survival," he said.

"But what's important about this is that even though ecotourism is occurring and there are people in boats and there are tourists in the water, et cetera, with whale sharks, as long as you sort of give the sharks their space, don't over-exploit them, then the sharks will actually be quite comfortable and return to the area."

Mr Norman says he believes the ecotourism practices in the region have helped produce the results.

"It just gives the opportunity not only for us people to swim and see how fantastic the largest fish in the ocean is, it gives the opportunity for people to learn more about them," he said.

"And maybe take that message home that we really need to understand more about our marine environment and our threatened species and hopefully really do something about it and make a difference and keep whale sharks, but keep the marine environment as healthy and as pristine as possible. Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/26/2127440.htm

December 19th , 2007: Unlocking the Mystery of Red Tide
After more than 20 years, researchers make a key discovery about red tide toxins, with some surprising applications.

Algae hitched a ride north on the Gulf Stream, producing a rare red tide on the northeast coast of Florida throughout October. Beachgoers were told to stay away. Asthmatics were urged to wear facemasks. Fish kills were reported across multiple counties. Like all harmful algae blooms, no one is quite sure what caused it, and no one can say for sure when it will retreat.

But there is hope on the horizon. Chemists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have unlocked a 22-year-old puzzle on how certain algae produce these toxins, which may have implications not only for the marine environment but also for a new class of drug therapies.

Red tide is a misnomer for toxic algae blooms, which are caused by a few dozen types of algae and do not always color the water red. In the case of Florida red tides, an organism called Karenia brevis makes a ladder-shaped toxin, called brevetoxin, that can kill fish and even manatees and irritate lungs when inhaled.

In 1985, Koji Nakanishi at Columbia University suggested that ladder toxins are created through a series of events called a cascade. During the cascade reaction, small molecular rings of the ladder break open and additional “rungs” are added, creating the backbone of the toxin. This hypothesis was intriguing, but for more than two decades no researcher could make the cascade unfold in a way that mimicked the natural environment.

Enter Timothy Jamison, a synthetic organic chemist at MIT. While other chemists were using a chemical to force the reaction to happen, Jamison says this is clearly not how nature does it. The team at MIT tried a more direct route by adding the first “rung” of the ladder to spur the reaction.

“What we finally realized was that if we attached a template, that template might be enough to tip the balance towards that reaction,” he explains. Although nature does not use this template, Jamison suspects an enzyme takes its place in the natural reaction.

But there was one more piece of the puzzle. Researchers were not doing the experiment in water because most organic compounds are not soluble in water, Jamison explains. But this reaction actually works even better in water, he says, “and since these organisms live in water, it makes sense.”

Until this discovery, Jamison says making only a few milligrams of these molecules, which are responsible for nearly half of the red tides worldwide, took the equivalent of one person working for a lifetime. Now they can make these pieces in only a few weeks.

“What Jamison has done is very impressive because he has managed to make this core so easily and so efficiently and so specifically,” says John Schwab, a program director at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, which provided funding for the research. “It’s a big advance, but he’s not yet synthesized the natural compound.”

Even without the entire compound, Jamison says these ladders can be used as bait to attract the enzyme causing the cascade. Once marine biologists can identify the enzyme, “then you can do genetic experiments to find out the biochemistry of how they make it,” he says. Jamison estimates researchers could have results in as little as six months to a year addressing why these blooms, which cost the U.S. $50 million annually, occur.

The synthesis of these molecules also has repercussions for creating novel drugs. Daniel Baden, the director of the Center for Marine Science at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, says work is already being done to design treatments for cystic fibrosis, ciguatera food poisoning, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease using this synthesis.

For cystic fibrosis, Karenia brevis, the organism responsible for Florida red tides, also produces a natural anti-toxin called brevenal. While brevetoxin is a lung irritant when inhaled, Baden says brevenal actually restores normal lung function. Researchers at the University of North Carolina are developing brevenal in conjunction with the pharmaceutical company aaiPharma, Inc. and hope to begin clinical FDA trials in about a year. “I’m really excited about Jamison’s group finding this new way of producing these molecules,” Baden says. “And we’re excited to see how far we can push that. Source: http://scienceline.org/2007/12/19/bio-tweed-redtide/

December 12th , 2007: Rapid Arctic Melt Worries Scientists
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Evidence of an increase in the melting speed of the Arctic over the summer drew the attention and concern of scientists, who viewed the discovery as a sign that global warming has reached an alarming rate.

The discovery of the melt acceleration in the region has led experts to draw drastic predictions, such as the complete vanishing of the summer sea ice in the span of five years.

Measurements revealed that the melting of the Greenland ice sheet is 10 percent more this year than last year, and has brought about a lift in global sea levels by two one-hundredths of an inch.

Data from NASA satellites also showed that the volume of the ice at the end of the summer was half of what was measured four years ago, according to the AP.

"The Arctic is screaming," declared Mark Serreze, a senior scientist at the snow and ice data center located in Boulder, Colorado.

Jay Zwally, a NASA climate scientist, drew from his studies the prediction that "the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at the end of summer by 2012."

The Houston Chronicle quoted Konrad Steffen of the University of Colorado, who noted the Arctic melting as "the equivalent of two of all the ice in the Alps or a layer of water more than one-half mile deep covering Washington, D.C."

Experts are attempting to surmise if the recorded increase in melting is a sign of the continuous increase in climate, or a result of a completely new climate cycle that signals a situation far worse than those predicted.

"The Arctic is often cited as the canary in the coal mine for climate warming," explained Zwally. "Now as a sign of climate warming, the canary has died. It is time to start getting out of the coal mines."

December 11th , 2007: There is no planet B
This week, protestors from many nations took to the streets to urge their governments to act in the face of overwhelming evidence for Global Climate Change.

A new report released by WWF estimates that penguin populations worldwide are in decline, especially the Antarctic species, dependent on ever shrinking sea ice. It is also estimated there's been an 80% decline in krill abundance. This small shrimp-like critter is at the base of the marine food chain and critical for so much of our ocean wildlife, including penguins and whales.

Emperor penguins have delighted millions, both as animated birds in Happy Feet, and in the real life documentary March of the Penguins, but sadly are estimated to have lost half of their numbers in some colonies. Other species are also being similarly impacted by changing climate conditions.

But it is not too late to act. We can all make a difference. In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech this week, Al Gore quoted Robert Frost: "Some say the world will end in fire; some say in ice." "But", added Gore, "neither need be our fate. It is time to make peace with the planet."

December 4th , 2007: An Ancient Sea Monster
Sea monsters are the stuff of legends, though the search for giant squids continues to fascinate deep sea researchers today.

Now comes word of the discovery of a true marine monster -- in fossil form. In a German quarry, British researchers have found the claw of an ancient sea scorpion that would have been eight feet long. That makes it the largest arthropod ever discovered.

The BBC has the full story, along with a very cool computer animation of the 390 million-year-old sea scorpion in action as it "(makes) mincemeat" out of a prey item, in the words of paleontologist Simon Braddy of the University of Bristol, lead investigator on the project.

Sea scorpions have been extinct for some 250 million years, and their modern ancestors are tiny by comparison.

While scientists don't expect to find giant sea scorpions in the ocean today, they do anticipate discovering millions of still unknown species as they continue to study the oceans. Documenting those species is one objective of the global Census of Marine Life now under way. Source: http://montereybayaquarium.typepad.com/sea_notes/2007/12/an-ancient-sea.html

November 30th , 2007: Fin Whales Swallow a Bus-Full
How much can a great whale gulp? Scientists now know the answer. According to new calculations, when lunging toward schools of krill and fish with an open mouth, a single fin whale can engulf up to 2,900 cubic feet of the ocean "soup."
That's equivalent to what would fit into a large school bus. After filtering out the water through special plates at the top of its mouth, the whale, which can measure up to 88 feet in length, is left with about 25 pounds of krill.
For decades, researchers have speculated about how much water and food whales can fit into their mouths. The new calculation, along with analysis of whale energy and locomotion, are the first that are based on verifiable scientific testing procedures rather than on educated guesswork. Pyenson points out it's not easy gathering data on the massive mammals.
"Remember that you can't get whales to run on a treadmill in a laboratory," said Nicholas Pyenson, who worked on the research with colleagues Jeremy Goldbogen and Robert Shadwick.
"It'd also be impossible to hold a whale in place for research," he said, "not to mention the fact that their activity occurs under water and their size makes it next to impossible for a cameraman to hold a camera in the right position for any usable length of time."
The research, published in this month's Marine Ecology Progress Series journal, actually used footage from Discovery's recent "Blue Planet" series.
Pyenson, a paleontologist and University of California at Berkeley Department of Integrative Biology researcher, and his two colleagues input footage from the "Open Seas" episode into a computer program. The footage showed a Bryde's whale lunge-feeding on a school of fish.
"The footage is extraordinary and is arguably the best for any rorqual (fast-moving lunge feeders)," Pyenson told Discovery News. "It serves as a vital source of information regarding the change in (mouth) gape angle over time."
The scientists combined this data with information gathered in recent years from "critter cams," or tiny recording devices stuck momentarily with plungers to the backs of whales. They also took precise measurements of whale skeletons from museum specimens.
Together, the information suggests fin whales feed in a series of lunges, which each last 6-10 seconds. A single dive incorporates up to seven lunges. Given the nutrition in 25 pounds of krill, a whale could meet its daily energy requirements in about four hours of hunting, according to the researchers. Source: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/11/30/whale-krill-food.html?dcitc=w19-502-ak-0000

November 27th , 2007: Acrobatic mobula rays
Spectacular picture of mobula rays leaping out of the ocean; taken in the Sea of Cortez at the southern end of the Gulf of Mexico.

November 15th , 2007: Marine researcher discovers new species of sea slug

A sea slug found off the coast of Green Island is pictured in this photo. The new species of slug, nicknamed ``little strawberry,'' was discovered by Chen Ming-huei of the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium.
PHOTO COURTESY OF WU SUNG-HUNG

A new species of sea slug was discovered last month off the coast of Green Island by Taiwanese marine biologist Chen Ming-huei). It has been temporarily nicknamed "little strawberry" until an official name can be determined.

Chen, a research assistant at the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, found the slug while conducting a survey of soft-body animals.

Chen and his team were commissioned by the Taiwanese Coral Reef Society to investigate the marine life in the area to determine whether Green Island should be included in the Construction and Planning Agency's plan to establish a marine park along the Dong Sha Atoll.

Chen reportedly set a new record by finding more than 30 species of sea slugs native to Green Island during his survey.

To confirm his finding, Chen sent an e-mail to a sea slug expert, Richard Willan -- the curator of molluscs at the Northern Territories Museum in Darwin, Australia.

Willan confirmed that "little strawberry," a type of nudibranch, which belongs to the Trotonia species, was a new discovery.

November 11th , 2007: Secrets of the deep sea
DEEP-SEA LIFE.

Far below the limit of light penetration in the ocean is the abyssal zone, which lies below about 6,560 feet (2,000 meters). The major environmental features of such depths are pressures greater than 200 atmospheres, or 2,940 pounds per square inch (207 kilograms per square centimetre); temperatures ranging from 30 to 41 F (-1 to 5 C); total darkness; calm, relatively motionless water; and soft sediments on the ocean floor. Green plants cannot grow in the absence of light that is, below about 1,970 feet (600 meters) so the primary energy source of deep-sea life is organic matter that falls from waters much closer to the surface.

Most animal species living in the abyssal zone belong to groups that also live in shallower marine environments. Deep-sea species of squids, octopi, worms, and molluscs, for example, have been discovered living in the abyssal zone. A wide variety of fish families also live in the deep sea. Fish living under such pressures and in perpetual cold and darkness must be biologically specialized to survive. Most deep-sea fishes, for example, are small, usually only a few inches in length, with soft bodies and minimal bone structure, which are adaptations to the tremendous pressures.

Bioluminescence, or the generation of light by living organisms, is common among deep-sea fishes. Such light is produced by special cells or by bacteria that live within the fish. Some fishes have lights of different colours and on various parts of the body that flash on and off constantly. Although the exact purposes of the light displays are unknown, they presumably function as a form of communication.

Some predatory species use bioluminescence to lure prey. Deep-sea angler fish, for example, have long filaments with a light on the end dangling over the top of the head. These anglers feed on other fishes that mistake the light for small prey and swim into the angler's enormous mouth.

Mid-Ocean Ridge Vent Life
A discovery in 1977 revealed how some organisms cope with some of the harsh conditions of the ocean depths. Scientists discovered ocean-floor communities at the Galapagos Rift, at a depth of 8,200 feet (2,500 meters). The area is a major rift, or fissure, between two of the plates making up the Earth's crust. The gradual separation of the plates and the exposure of the underlying volcanic activity result in a mixing of cold seawater with hot minerals on the ocean bottom. The environmental conditions have created habitats that support deep-sea communities that were formerly unknown.

When magma, molten rock in the Earth's crust, breaks through the surface of the ocean floor in the abyssal zone, lava slowly enters the zone and cools rapidly because of the high pressure and low temperatures. Seawater circulates downward into fissures and exits the fissures laden with dissolved minerals. These hydrothermal, or hot-water, vents, called smokers, contain high concentrations of iron, manganese, zinc, copper, nickel, and other metals. Much sulphur is also present in the form of hydrogen sulphide, which is believed to be the primary energy base of the vent communities. Organisms known as chemosynthetic bacteria thrive on the hydrogen sulphide and form the bottom of the food chain.

The life forms huddled around these vents are characterized by large body size and high numbers of individuals, presumably because of the abundance of nutrients and the warmer temperatures. Among the remarkable finds were colonies of large red worms encased upright in white tubes anchored to the ocean floor. These worms measure up to 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length. Their red colour results from haemoglobin, which performs the usual function of binding with oxygen. The haemoglobin also reacts with sulphur compounds, which may be used as an energy source. Previously unknown species of clams, mussels, crabs, jellyfish, and other animals have been discovered in the rift communities. Newly discovered clams with white shells and tissues rich in haemoglobin are among the largest clams known, some reaching lengths of more than 10 inches (25 centimetres).

Deep-sea fishes, also common around the thermal vents, live in the warm-water areas amid the clams and tube worms. A species of blind crab is a common scavenger in some areas. Colonial jellyfish were also discovered attached to the bottom by stalks and bearing yellow spheres looking much like dandelions. Although the members of rift communities have close relatives that inhabit the warmer, sunlit seas, many are species new to science.

Rift communities have been discovered on other parts of the ocean floor and presumably could occur wherever fissures are formed by the separation of the Earth's crustal plates. Some species are common to rift communities separated by thousands of miles of cold, dark ocean. Each community discovered so far, however, has a unique assemblage and diversity of species. The discovery of rift communities created much excitement in deep-sea biology. Knowledge of the behaviour and ecology of most deep-sea species is scarce because of the difficulty of observing and studying animals at great depths in the ocean.

October 31st, 2007: Jellyfish swarm in Nelson waters
By NAOMI MITCHELL - The Nelson Mail

BLOWN IN: A swarm of stinging lion's mane jellyfish, described by one boatie as the worst he's seen in 30 years, has been blown into Nelson waters from Cook Strait by strong northerlies.

Unusually large swarms of stinging jellyfish on the Nelson coastline are proving a pain for swimmers, boaties and beachgoers. Cawthron Institute marine ecologist Rod Asher said "many thousands" of the lion's mane jellyfish had been blown into Nelson waters from Cook Strait by strong northerlies earlier this month.

They had remained because they could not swim against the current. "They are sort of stuck." They had been reported inside the haven, 3km outside the Cut, at Croisilles Harbour and in Golden Bay.

Boaties and swimmers were keeping their fingers crossed for the southwesterly winds that are needed to blow the jellyfish away. Nelson man Ralph Hetzel was leaving the Nelson marina to participate in the Tasman Bay Cruising Club's Wednesday night race when his yacht's engine stopped. He eventually found a jellyfish had been sucked into a salt water intake.

The jellyfish, which took up almost all the space in the one to two-litre water intake strainer looked like "purple snot", he said. No damage was caused to the engine, but he was not able to participate in the race. "We have been here for 30 years and I can't remember them being around like they are now."

Mr Hetzel, also a keen ocean swimmer, said organisers of the upcoming summer sea swim series were concerned the jellyfish might still be a problem when racing started in two weeks. Swimmer Denis Cooper said he was swimming in the harbour last week when he was stung on the face.

Mr Cooper, who is training for the Auckland Harbour Swim next month, said he had never seen so many jellyfish. He was considering shifting his training to Cable Bay or Rabbit Island, but had yet to check whether they were jellyfish-free. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research regional manager Ken Grange said the jellyfish were "fascinating things to watch".

"They might sting a little bit if you get them across your mouth, but they aren't particularly nasty." Nelmac turf manager Peter Gray said jellyfish were still being washed up on Tahunanui Beach, and signs warning swimmers were in place. The jellyfish's sting could remain intact even once they had washed ashore, he said.

October 29th, 2007: Marine Bioblitz uncovers biodiversity bonanza

Wellington’s Marine Bioblitz has uncovered a biodiversity bonanza, identifying 551 species – including at least four new species during the month-long search.

Marine Bioblitz Co-ordinator Heather Anderson says the Marine Bioblitz – the world’s first – was a tremendous success in revealing the incredible diversity and richness of plant and animal life in Wellington’s marine environment.“We knew that Wellington was rich in an abundance of marine life, but the variety and number of species found has been really exciting, and demonstrates how little we know about the underwater life that exists right on our doorstep.”

The Bioblitz, conducted in the area off Wellington’s south coast to be announced as the Kupe-Kevin Marine Reserve in January, found four new species:
• A many-tentacled tube anemone found by NIWA scientist Malcolm Francis
• A tiny red and green nudibranch (sea slug) found by Forest & Bird marine advocate Kirstie Knowles
• A bryozoan (a tiny animal that builds a stony skeleton, also known as moss animals or sea mats) found by Kirstie Knowles and NIWA’s Adam Smith
• A diatom (a single-celled phytoplankton) found by Margaret Harper of Victoria University.

Dive teams from Island Bay Divers and Dive HQ also found six more potential new species, including a minute “red blob” – the origin of which is so puzzling that the experts are completely baffled about what phylum it might belong to.

These discoveries will now be analysed in more detail by experts to determine whether they are indeed new species previously unknown to science

Another highlight of the Bioblitz was the appearance of two species of whale – an orca and a southern right whale.

Heather Anderson says the Bioblitz brought together scientists, conservationists, divers and the Wellington public and raised public awareness of Wellington’s unique marine biodiversity.

“The Kupe-Kevin Smith Marine Reserve will be New Zealand’s first marine reserve located so close to a major urban centre, and will be the first marine reserve in Cook Strait, which has a diversity of unique marine plants and animals. The marine reserve will play an important role in protecting this rich underwater world.”

October 29th, 2007: