RTSea Blog: keeping an eye on Nature

Pakistan Leopards: research to study population and find ways for public to coexist

2012-01-30T21:05:00.000-08:00

Most of the exotic wild cats still living in the wild are considered threatened or endangered to one degree or another. They are often pressured by a loss of habitat which either pushes them towards starvation or an increase in encounters with people - both of which usually lead to the loss of the animal.

This is true of the leopard found throughout Asia, extending towards the Middle East. However, in Pakistan steps are being to taken to learn more about the current condition of the leopard population and to educate local citizens as to the plight of the leopard, it's role as an important forest predator, and how the leopard and local communities can coexist.

The Pakistan branch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF-Pakistan) has been provided funding from the Humane Welfare and Nature Conservation Society to implement an ambitious program of in-the-field study of the leopard in Ayubia National Park combined with public outreach and education.

In collaboration with the University of Siena, Italy, WWF-Pakistan will conduct tracking studies using satellite collars, diet analysis, and genetic studies, along with camera traps to better determine the extant of the current leopard population within Pakistan. WWF-Pakistan will also be working with a multimedia company to develop a variety of media products, including documentaries, to increase public awareness of the leopard and its role within the Pakistan forest ecology.

No one is sure as to the actual number of leopards in the area, but Uzma Khan, a wildlife biologist and WWF representative for the project, has stated that it “could be as few as four.”

“I conducted interviews of local residents in Ayubia and they all believe the population to be in the thousands,” Khan said. "But one leopard looks for prey in an area about 20 to 60 square hectares. So it is quite possible for a single leopard to be spotted at one corner of the park one day and the next corner the very next day. The villagers assume that they are everywhere.”

With the loss of forest habitat due to development and the free-grazing of cattle, there has come a greater number of predations by leopards on cattle - not to mention more encounters and attacks on humans. The new study and the information it disseminates will hopefully make people more understanding of the predicament that the Pakistan people have imposed on the leopard.

This is a situation that is very similar to how African communities are having to find better ways to protect people and livestock from the lions that are being encroached upon. Also, a loss of habitat in Southern California is causing a marked increase in mountain lion encounters - including attacks on joggers and mountain bikers. In all cases, this is the result of the demand for land to accommodate a growing human population. Predators like lions, tigers, and leopards are literally being backed into an ecological and geographical corner and their basic survival instincts are, unfortunately, putting them at odds with human societies.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Wildlife Department is working closely with the WWF-Pakistan in the hopes of developing a national management policy that will ensure the long-term future of the leopard while also protecting livestock and public safety.

Source: The Nation.
Source: The Express Tribune.

Groundswell: Pacific Northwest surfer and Patagonia team up on conservation documentary

2012-01-29T21:14:00.000-08:00

Surfers of the Pacific Northwest are a pretty hardy lot. Their passion for the sport takes them into sometimes freezing cold water, they trek through virgin forest, and both in the water and out they encounter many of nature's wildest animals. And so that makes them ideal ambassadors for the conservation and preservation of rugged stretches of nature that could be threatened by the environmental damage of oil pipelines and tanker spills.

The Vancouver Sun ran an article by Judith Lavoie of The Victoria Times Colonist reporting on the efforts of a Pacific Northwest surfer and environmental scientist, in cooperation with outdoor clothing manufacturer Patagonia, to bring to the screen a documentary that highlights the beauty of British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest and the need to conserve and protect this ocean and forest wilderness. The film currently is titled Groundswell and a fall 2012 release is planned. But you can read about the film project and the support from Patagonia. You can also view a film trailer on Patagonia's website by clicking here.

Surfers' Documentary Speaks for Wildlife

When a couple of sea lions swam close to Chris Darimont as he was surfing, he realized that, with his wetsuit and surf board, he looked remarkably like a marine mammal.

That is when the idea came to Darimont, science director for the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, that there should be an opportunity for surfers to speak for the marine mammals of the Great Bear Rainforest and the threats they would face from oil tankers in northern B.C. waters if the Enbridge Gateway pipeline was approved.

"Why couldn't surfers, the closest approximation of marine mammals amongst us humans, bring voice to this issue on behalf of whales, dolphins, porpoises and other species at risk," he said.

Darimont approached Patagonia Inc., a company that has supported Raincoast, and the idea for a surfer documentary film was born.

In October, the Raincoast research vessel Achiever replaced some of its usual scientific gear with a surfboard rack. Darimont, three top California surfers sponsored by Patagonia — Chris Malloy, Dan Malloy and Trevor Gordon — and top Canadian surfer Peter Devries of Tofino set off on a 10-day mission to find big waves in the choppy water off the Great Bear Rainforest.

The resulting documentary will be released internationally this fall, but a trailer, showing the diversity of animals encountered by the surfers, was released this weekend.

"It turned out to be an amazing trip," Devries said. "It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to." Seeing a plethora of marine mammals and other animals, plus dealing with heavy seas, emphasized the need to keep oil tankers away from the area, he said.

"The likelihood of a spill would be very, very high, given how crazy the seas can be," Devries said.

"The ocean is a huge part of my life and a spill would directly affect pretty much everyone and everything on the coast."

Despite his grounding in science, Darimont believes there was magic at work during the surfing trip.

"We woke up one morning and we were surrounded by a pod of killer whales. They had come to us, so, instead of surfing that morning, we spent time with the whales that seemed to have sought us out."

A walk into the forest brought encounters with grizzly bears, even though they are usually elusive, Darimont said. "That day we couldn't walk 100 feet without bumping into a grizzly bear," he said.

The working title of the film is Groundswell, which, in the surfing lexicon, means a series of intense, powerful waves, he said. That is a good metaphor for the growing pipeline opposition, Darimont said.

Source: The Vancouver Sun
Source: Patagonia.com

Expedition White Shark: iTunes app on controversial tracking of white sharks

2012-01-29T15:14:00.000-08:00

For those who watched National Geographic Channel's limited series Expedition Great White, where marine biologist Dr. Michael Domeier tagged great white sharks with satellite tracking tags, there is now a companion app for iPhone, iPod, and iPad that allows you to see, in real time, the latest progress in monitoring the location and migratory routes of the sharks that were tagged.

The Expedition Great White series generated considerable controversy among many shark advocates and shark researchers in large part due to the methods used to capture and secure the animals so that tags could be attached and other tests could be performed, like blood and sperm samples. There were issues raised as to whether the elaborate procedure employed to corral the sharks was causing more harm than good and Domeier is currently evaluating the capture procedure and the method of securing the tags themselves to hopefully minimize short- and long-term harm.

While Domeier's current and future methodologies will be scrutinized by many in the shark research and conservation community, the new app does provide some interesting information for the curious that might not be obtained unless a deliberate effort was made to seek it out and and read about it. Such is the clever attraction of many of today's apps.

With Domeier's app, called Expedition White Shark, you can view the latest position data for a group of tagged sharks and examine their past tracking patterns over time as they migrate between either Isla Guadalupe (off Baja, Mexico) or the Farallon Islands (off Central California) and the mid-Pacific area Domeier refers to as the Shared Offshore Foraging Area (SOFA), also referred to as the "White Shark Cafe" by other researchers.

There are other features to the app including pictures and videos - although their operations were a bit clunky in actual use; videos did not present themselves in the right aspect ratio or screen size, so some distortion occurs and many of the other images are of lower resolution. Perhaps that will be corrected in future updates. The app also includes some interesting great white shark facts and a game for children that takes a juvenile white shark through its early years to sub-adult.

Personally, I find the real time tracking of the sharks to be the most interesting feature. My primary concern is that to gain this kind of information, which other researchers have also provided by using more "conventional" means, I hope that, in the future, Dr. Domeier will be able to develop capture techniques that will prove less traumatic for the animals thereby garnering more support from the shark community as a whole.

Available on iTunes, proceeds for the $3.99 app go to Domeier's San Diego, California-based research organization, Marine Conservation Science Institute. The institute is currently working with the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation on tracking tiger sharks in and around Florida and the Caribbean.

Source: 10News.com
Source: NorthCountyTimes.com

Filmmaker's Journal: working with the serendipity of the moment

2012-01-28T19:43:00.000-08:00

Perched on the ledge of a small outcropping of rock, an explosion of white soft coral intermingled with the waving arms of crinoids, against a dark blue backdrop and the faint light from the surface creeping around the edge of the reef wall.

I have used the picture above on several occasions in this blog when talking about coral reef issues and it is a favorite of mine not just for the satisfactory end result but also for the memory of how it came about. It represents what I call the art of the moment which can often be the mainstay of nature photography and videography.

Many long years ago, when the earth was cooling and dinosaurs roamed the planet, I was shooting underwater still photography using a Nikonos V 35mm film camera, which meant no auto-focus, auto-iris - basically no auto-anything. So you had to prepare your shots in advance as much as possible. I was diving on Fiji's Great White Wall, one of the island chain's signature dive sites. The Great White Wall is a wide expanse along a large reef wall in the Somosomo Strait that is covered in white soft coral - small bunches packed in so tight it forms a virtual carpet of white like a fresh layer of snow. At a distance, the soft coral would take on a lavender hue, so shooting wide angle shots meant having to sacrifice capturing the white color. But taking close-ups was a challenge due to a rippin' strong current.

You approached the Great White Wall by descending down about 30 to 40 feet to a large reef head and then drop down another 40 feet or so through a crevice that formed a near perfect tunnel. Once you exited the tunnel, you abruptly turned left - whether you wanted to or not - as there was a powerful current that would sweep you along. You then found yourself flying over the Great White Wall. There was nothing to hold on to without damaging the coral, so your time spent seeing the white coral would only last about a minute before you turned to move out of the current and back to shallower depths.

About half way through the ride over the wall, I saw an outcropping that I thought would make for an interesting shot. But it was fast approaching. I set my focus, set my exposure based on the power of my single strobe at a pre-set distance - all designed to capture this little diversion in the wide expanse of white. However, I looked up and the outcropping was nearly upon me, closer than the camera was set for a proper shot. Frustrated, I thought the moment had come and gone; an opportunity lost.

In an instant, the coral outcropping was right beneath me, whizzing past in a blur. It suddenly occurred to me that there might still be a chance. As I passed, I quickly turned around and with the current continuing to propel me along, I waited for the right moment and took the shot facing backwards and then watched the outcropping quickly sail off into the lavender backdrop of the Great White Wall.

This was in the days of 35mm slide film, so I had to wait until I got home from the trip to see if I was successful in capturing the beauty and singularity of this one geological departure from the Great White Wall's broad, flat expanse. I lucked out. For me, while unbeknownst to all viewers of the image, it is a perfect example of what many wildlife photographers and videographers experience; that combination of preparedness and serendipity that sometimes allows us to capture beautiful images which, a split second later, would be unattainable. That is the art of the moment.

When working on a stage or in a controlled location, the photographer or videographer often works with art by design. You spend time setting your lights, you set marks to ensure your focus will capture the action just right, and you rehearse your camera moves while the actors rehearse their parts. You have the time and the ability to maximize all the resources at your disposal to design the scene the way you would like it to ultimately look. You have a measure of control; art by design. Sometimes the two can work in combination with preparation setting the stage to then catch unexpected magic moments.

For me, both experiences, art of the moment and art by design, can be exciting and very gratifying. Each have their own challenges and each can be fun for wholly different reasons. Either way, they hopefully contribute to the cinematic goal of telling a story in a compelling way without being obvious or intruding upon the viewers' own experience by visually shouting "look at me, look at what I did."

Southern Fried Science: new generation of scientists tackling media communications

2012-01-26T21:04:00.000-08:00

Scientists can be an odd lot. They delve into the world of minutiae, seeking the ultimate truths, while knowing that it all may be rewritten with the next experiment or expedition. And, unfortunately, in a time when science can hold the key to addressing many of the worldwide challenges we face, scientists can also prove to be poor communicators, opting for peer-reviewed papers that then gather dust within the covers of obscure journals.

This is where I have tried to make my skills and services known to the scientific community, as it is vitally important that scientific research (and the issues and implications it addresses) be distilled and disseminated to policy and decision makers and the public at large. Fortunately, there is also a generation of new scientists, albeit small, who are trying to develop and utilize the skills of broad communication, whether it be traditional or contemporary (i.e.: social) media, to get the word out. The good folks at Southern Fried Science are a perfect example.

Here is a post from David Shiffman, alias WhySharksMatter, from Southern Fried Science that captures both the enthusiasm for communicating science and the frustration, knowing that today's media has shied away from science in favor of entertainment of a lower common denominator.

Core themes of 2012: Underrepresented issues in marine science and conservation

By WhySharksMatter, on January 26th, 2012

One of the many unfortunate consequences of the decline in traditional media has been a reduction in science reporting. The formerly great CNN science unit closed in 2008, followed soon after by the health and science page of the Boston Globe. Alarmingly few trained science journalists are left, and people without proper training are being asked to cover the few science stories that still make it on the air ( I was once interviewed about shark research by the weatherman from CNN’s “American Morning”). With few exceptions, science and conservation stories are no longer considered a priority to the major news networks and newspapers. However, science is no less important to our everyday lives.

As bloggers, we are blissfully free to write about the topics of our choice without an editor telling us that we only have 3 minutes to discuss overfishing so that a story about Kim Kardashian’s wedding can air. As professional marine scientists, we know all too well what’s going on in the oceans, and we know all too well what important stories aren’t being reported by the mainstream media. We consider it both a duty and a privilege to give our readers in-depth analysis of a variety of underrepresented issues in marine science and conservation.

Just because research doesn’t come with a press release and embargo doesn’t mean that it isn’t critically important to understanding and protecting our oceans. We’re proud to have written about conservation issues surrounding such diverse marine life as krill, menhaden, orange roughy, sea otters, and sandbar sharks, among many others. We’re proud to be among the only media coverage of thorny skates being denied Endangered Species Act protections, and of the disappointing result of an important international fisheries management meeting. We’re proud to have explained so many threats to the ocean, including detailed coverage of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, destructive fishing methods, pharmaceutical products from our wastewater, altered sea turtle sex ratios as a result of climate change, deep sea mining, and viruses released into the wild as a result of aquaculture.

If there’s a new discovery about the oceans, we’ll cover it regardless of whether the mainstream media considers it headline news. While we’ll never have the resources of the mainstream media, blogs like Southern Fried Science have become a great resource for adding details to the conservation and science stories that make the news, and for detailed reporting of those that don’t.

Source: Southern Fried Science

Marine Mammals As Food: Live Science reports on increases in hungry nations

2012-01-25T21:01:00.000-08:00

While in some nations, farmers are subsidized to not grow crops, or vital staples are funneled towards ethanol fuel, or valuable aquaculture goes unfunded, other poorer nations have hungry coastal populations that are turning to the seas for sustenance. And what they are feeding on might surprise you.

A brief article in Live Science notes that more and more under-developed nations have people feeding on marine mammals like dolphins, seals, polar bears, and manatees. Jennifer Welsh, Live Science staff writer, states that some animals are being hunted while others start out as bycatch but are ultimately consumed.

Humans' Taste for Dolphins & Manatees on the Rise

Fillet of dolphin? Polar bear steak? As world population increases, people in coastal poverty-stricken areas are turning to the ocean for their meals, consuming marine mammals such as dolphins and seals, new research suggests.

Since 1990, at least 87 species of marine mammals — including dolphins, porpoises and manatees — have been served up in 114 countries. They are the victims of hunting and even commercial fishing operations, where they are sometimes caught accidentally, the researchers said.

The fishing of larger marine mammals, like humpback whales, is strictly regulated and monitored; but the extent to which these smaller warm-blooded marine species, including dolphins and seals, are caught, killed and eaten has been largely unstudied and unmonitored.

"International regulatory bodies exist to gauge the status of whale populations and regulate the hunting of these giants," study researcher Martin Robards, of the Wildlife Conservation Society, said in a statement. "These species, however, represent only a fraction of the world's diversity of marine mammals, many of which are being accidentally netted, trapped, and — in some instances — directly hunted without any means of tracking as to whether these off-takes are sustainable."

Source: Live Science

Endangered Elephants: scientists unlock mysteries while numbers decline in Indonesia

2012-01-24T21:10:00.000-08:00

Often in this blog, I cite some of the new and unusual things we are learning about life in the ocean. Much of it is literally uncharted territory with new species and biological processes cropping up all the time.

But let's not forget terra firma, too. Take for example an iconic land animal, one that we have observed and studied for many years: the elephant. Even today, the elephant has mysteries that we are still trying to unfold.

A recent study by scientists from Canada's University of Guelph of Asian elephants that reside at Busch Gardens zoological park in Florida, revealed some new information about the pachyderm's ability to retain and dissipate heat. With an animal of this size, many of the biological processes that allow other animals, including man, to function - circulation, breathing, bone structure - often go through some adaptations. To help regulate its body temperature, it is thought that African elephants radiate excess heat through their large ears. However, the Asian elephant has noticeably smaller ears. So, as it builds up heat throughout the course of the day, how can it release that stored heat at day's end? Why through its trunk, of course.

Thermal images taken of the elephants (click here to see them online at BBC Nature) throughout the day and into the evening reveal that the Asian elephant compensates for its smaller ears by concentrating heat in its trunk. In fact, the ears are some of the coolest spots on the elephant's body.

According to study leader Dr Esther Finegan, "As the Asian elephant ears are so much smaller in surface area, they [are] very much less effective [at heat loss] than the larger African elephants' ears. But, why African elephants do not use their trunks - as Asian elephants appear to do - is a wonderful question to which we do not yet know the answer."

So, a new study of an familiar old animal reveals heretofore unknown biological processes. And it also raises questions about pre-existing beliefs scientists held about African elephants. Once again, we continue to learn, we continue to question, we continue to re-learn.

Unfortunately, studying Asian elephants within the confines of zoos like Busch Gardens may someday prove to be the only way we can learn anything about these huge beasts. According to the World Wildlife Fund, the number of Sumatran elephants in the wilds of Indonesia have reached critically low levels and face a greater risk of extinction than ever before.

Pressured by a growing loss of jungle habitat to deforestation, it is estimated that there are only 2,400 to 2,800 Sumatran elephants in the wild - a reduction by 50% from a count taken in 1985. That's a population cut in half in just 25 years.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has now raised the Sumatran elephant's listing from "endangered" to "critically endangered" which puts it on the IUCN's Red List. The Indonesian government has been trying to limit forest development - deforestation has been replacing forest in favor of palm oil plantations - but the government has seen limited success. It is now considering a new approach using financial incentives.

"The government has recently allowed companies to have restoration areas instead of logging concessions for some remaining forest area, so those kind of initiatives can be done by companies where they can also still make profit and at the same time also have the recovery of the endangered species," said a representative of the World Wildlife Fund told Voice of America.

How unfortunate it is that, on the one hand, we are still learning about an animal that has roamed the earth for thousands of years, long before the dawn of man, while at the same time we may be witnessing its extinction in the wild - and that passing will be of our making. Whales, sharks, and other ocean creatures are not the only species at risk.

And we called the elephant Dumbo?

Source: BBC Nature
Source: Voice of America

Magnuson-Stevens Act: recognized as a rare bipartisan success story

2012-01-22T18:27:00.000-08:00

In the United States, for the past several years the national congress - the House of Representatives and the Senate - have been scoring abysmal approval ratings with its citizens in survey after survey and it's primarily due to one facet of today's politics: simply getting along has become a dirty word.

Whether based on political or ideological differences between the two main parties or the need to gain a tactical advantage for an upcoming election, Republicans and Democrats seem dead set opposed to bipartisanship. Where this is all going to ultimately end up is hard to say. However, there was a time when political rancor was momentarily set aside and politicians worked together to produce a piece of legislation that, although not perfect, highlighted the political process at its best: representing the interests of the people, the nation, and its natural resources. Yes, that's right. Natural resources. It was for the benefit of conservation.

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) first came to light in 1976 and was designed to eliminate rampant foreign overfishing in U.S. waters and set initial fishery management policies to ensure the future of U.S. commercial fishing by avoiding overfishing. This foundation of today's national fishery management program received bipartisan support and was noteworthy because while politicians were interested in supporting the commercial fishing interests, they also recognized that overfishing would certainly lead to the industry's demise.

With the ball now set in play, in 1996 politicians from both sides of the isle came together again to support amendments to the bill that actually shifted the focus from simply supporting the fishing industry to conserving sustainable fish populations. Politicians realized that the future of the commercial fishing industry and the conservation of species were forever linked but, in the end, it was the primacy of protecting fish populations that would prove beneficial to both industry and nature.

Finally, in 2006, the Bush administration, in one of its arguably better accomplishments, took the important step of reauthorizing the MSA with the added proviso that it would be science-based research that would determine annual catch limits. While I personally have many bones to pick with the previous administration's attempts to undermine the independent science-based approach with regards to the Environmental Protection Agency and endangered species, this was indeed one of their brighter moments.

“Based on the actions of the fishery management councils, it appears that the U.S. has fundamentally ended overfishing in federally-managed domestic fisheries. This is an enormous achievement, and one that Congress and the Administration clearly intended in its 2007 reauthorization of [the MSA]. ... The Magnuson-Stevens Act is without doubt the premier fisheries law in the world,” Dr. Bill Hogarth, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration assistant administrator for fisheries during the George W. Bush administration, was quoted as saying in a recent Pew Environment Group fact sheet.

The Magnuson-Stevens Act is an organic piece of legislation, continually being tweaked and, hopefully, improved upon either to itself or related legislation - as was the case recently with regards to shark fishing regulations and the need to land any shark whole, not just for its fins. However, to continue with effective, independent science-based decisions on sustainability requires ongoing research, staffing to monitor catches and, most importantly, funding.

So, it will require the continued realization and understanding between legislators of all parties that nature has no interest in our current political rancor or oft times competing economic priorities. And to abuse our natural resources, whether at sea or on land, will only guarantee the future will be bleak and finite for many species. The Magnuson-Stevens Act is a model and a reminder of how a responsible government should act.

Click here to download an MSA fact sheet (PDF).
Source: PEG News Room

Seaweed At The Pump: nations looking at alternatives for ethanol production

2012-01-22T13:14:00.000-08:00

The development of alternative energy sources - in particular, improvements or replacements to fossil fuel-based gasoline - has been slow, to say the least. Ethanol additives are controversial as they are not necessarily cost effective. The price of processing corn into ethanol can exceed what would be a reasonable price at the pump and what it provides in emission reductions is overshadowed by the emissions generated as part of the production process. However, there are alternatives.

Researchers have been looking into the benefits of using other organic materials that contain similar sugars which can be used to produce ethanol or suitable derivatives. Sugarcane and switchgrass are two and besides being more economical to produce, they also do not divert an important food crop like corn towards energy production. Add to the list another promising candidate: seaweed.

Several nations, including the U.S., are looking at producing ethanol derivatives using seaweed. There are strains of brown seaweed, an inedible variety, that can be used to provide similar organic sugars necessary to produce isobutanol, a gasoline additive that is more effective than ethanol in reducing fossil-fuel emissions. Whereas corn and sugarcane provide sugar through the use of lignin, one of the plants building blocks; seaweed offers a similar-acting compound called alginate.

The statistics are in seaweed's favor. It can assist in the production of 1,200 to 1,500 gallons of ethanol per acre, as opposed to 900 to 1,000 gallons per acre for sugarcane, and does not require fertilizer, fresh water, or land. However, it does have its challenges. A substantial aquaculture industry would need to be developed to generate enough product to make it worthwhile and that means seaweed farms that could impinge on other commercial and even recreational ocean activities, ranging from commercial fishing to aquaculture for food to offshore energy systems like wind turbines. Energy company Royal Dutch Shell has estimated that it would require 3 percent of the world's coasts where kelp ( a type of brown algae) grows to make enough ethanol to replace 60 billion gallons of fossil fuel, which would amount to about 4 percent of global transportation fuel demand.

"I think it's definitely worth looking at," said Jonathan Burbaum, director of biofuels for the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). "There's nothing at this point that's a showstopper. We've got a situation where it would require the development of an offshore aquaculture industry for there to be enough feedstock to really compete with things like corn and cellulose. But it's the sort of thing, where if it's successful, it will be a game changer, so that fits what ARPA-E looks for."

So, a silver bullet it isn't. And that's one of the most challenging aspects regarding the entire alternative energy debate: one alternative will not entirely replace the fossil fuel (oil and coal) that society has come to depend on. In the end, if we are to succeed, it will be through a combination of technologies that collectively replace or, at least, drastically reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

"It's [Seaweed is] no more far-fetched than the notion of using algae or any other material," said Matt Hartwig of the U.S. ethanol trade group Renewable Fuels Association. "The biofuels industry is in a constant state of innovation."

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/19/3379882/seaweed-in-the-tank-company-turns.html#storylink=cpy

Currently, the U.S., Chile and Norway are actively researching seaweed's potential as an alternative energy source. Let's hope their work produces commercially viable results; I'm not sure just how long Earth can hold its breath in anticipation.

Source: Kansas City Star

Ghost Fishing Nets: San Diego divers retrieve abandoned nets off old shipwreck

2012-01-22T09:19:00.000-08:00

In July of 2011, I wrote about ocean debris - in particular, abandoned fishing nets and lobster traps - which can continued to ensnare and destroy sealife long after they have been given up as lost. Once hooked on a reef or submerged wreck, fishing nets continue "ghost fishing" and can damage reefs as they get swung about in the ocean currents or swells. Off Point Loma, near San Diego, California's Mission Bay, lies the wreck, High Seas and recently, local divers succeeded in removing approximately 200 pounds of derelict fishing nets that had become snagged on the remains of the ship.

The removal operation was overseen by Ocean Defenders Alliance, a Huntington Beach-based non-profit that solicits the help of volunteer divers to remove derelict nets. When fishing boats release their nets, which can be hundreds, if not thousands, of feet in length, the sharp edges and contours of reefs and particularly shipwrecks can easily tear away large sections of the nets. Initially the nets smother resident sealife and can continue to catch fish that get wrapped up in the nets. Then, as the net begins to settle over time, smaller portions begin to batter the reef as swells or the back and forth motion of ocean currents, called surge, begin to take its toll.

Over a greater length of time, the nets can actually become part of the reef itself, with encrusting algae, anemones, and other plants and invertebrates using the net as a strata or foundation for new growth. At this point, removal of the nets may produce more damage than intended. So, in some locations, the derelict nets are monitored for deterioration that might reverse their sedentary condition and once again damage sealife with portions of loose nets subject to moving ocean conditions.

The High Seas is a 128-foot Navy vessel built near the end of WWII and later sold and converted to a fishing boat. It sank in 1970 and has collected a considerable amount of "ghost fishing" nets over the ensuing years. The Ocean Defenders Alliance (ODA) and its team of volunteer divers first surveyed the wreck to determine how much net could be removed without doing unintended damage and then proceeded to lift portions of the nets with floats, which enabled them to cut away a large section more easily and safely. Since ODA works with volunteers, diver safety is a crucial issue regardless of the diver's experience level. A free-floating net is a hazard to fish and humans as well.

Here is a video taken in 2010 by a local San Diego diver, Jim Ridgway, of dives on San Diego's USS Logan and High Seas. The first part of the video focuses on the USS Logan and you can see the range of sealife, from fish to colorful anemones, that can call a shipwreck home. Then the video turns to the High Seas and you can clearly see the accumulated nets and the diver even came upon a small leopard shark caught in the netting.

Fisherman view of the loss of nets as a frustrating and expensive occupational hazard. However, long after the commercial and economic loss, ghost nets can continue to exert a deadly toll on unintended sealife.

Click here to learn more about the Ocean Defenders Alliance.
Source: San Diego Reader

Filmmaker's Journal: Being reminded of the resources and support conservation needs

2012-01-16T11:02:00.000-08:00

This past week, I was away from the RTSea Blog as I was on the road, traveling to Washington, DC and Columbia, South Carolina.

In Washington, DC, I briefly met with the members of the Pew Environment Group's (PEG) Global Shark Conservation Campaign, headed up by Matt Rand. PEG is an arm of the Pew Charitable Trusts and their focus is on making inroads in national and international policy. Much of what is currently proving to be fruitful in advancing the cause of shark conservation involves this higher political level. PEG's Global Shark Conservation Campaign has been involved in some noteworthy successes of late, particularly the establishment of shark sanctuaries in Palau and Honduras. The group is now looking forward to an upcoming CITES meeting this year and the next United Nations-sponsored FAO meeting wherein they will discuss revitalizing a decade-old "international plan of action." It's at international events like these that policies regarding the protection of sharks in international waters - outside the borders or boundaries of national marine protected areas or sanctuaries - can be hammered out.

From the U.S. capitol, I then moved south - through a tiring, circuitous route of flights - to Columbia, South Carolina to film a corporate video for a major pharmaceutical company. The location was an oncology (cancer) treatment center and I was very impressed by the range of services and the quality of care this facility was providing cancer patients.

In scouting various potential locations within the center for filming, we were shown many of the treatment areas and, at one point, the head of the facility brought out some of the chemotherapy medications that are currently being used. Some of these medications cost as much as $2500 per injection and patients would be receiving these treatments sometimes as often as twice a week.

It made me ponder on one of the challenges that conservation issues face. Mankind invests a considerable amount of effort and expense in treating disease, partly because, if we look at it as "connect the dots," it's a very short and simple connection. Many of us falter when it comes to, say, issues of diet and obesity because there are a few more dots to connect before we see a consequence that has personal impact.

And for many people, conservation is a long series of connecting dots and the immediate or personal consequences begins to feel remote. But the impact(s) of dismissing conservation are very real, as real as any cancer, and while we all certainly need to care for ourselves and others who may be afflicted by disease, we must also be aware that the planet is ailing and if we choose to ignore this one patient, Earth, we could be setting ourselves up for a terminal condition that is beyond a cure.

As we wrapped up filming after two days, I thought of the hundreds of patients that come through this oncology center's doors each day. It was comforting to know that these people had a place to go and that medications were available, albeit costly because of the challenges in manufacturing and the exclusive nature of these medications. Now, if we can get more people to see that conservation needs as dedicated a commitment in effort and resources, we just might be able to prevent the planet and the human species from flatlining.

Beneath the Waves Film Festival: ocean films combine with important ocean ecology conference

2012-01-08T18:55:00.000-08:00

As society turns to science for the facts and data upon which environmental decisions are made (or should be made), scientists and researchers are, more and more, realizing the power and influence of media in communicating to broad audiences. For over 40 years, the Benthic Ecology Meeting has brought together marine and ecology scientists from a variety of disciplines and areas of study. Sponsored by different U.S. southeastern colleges or universities over the years, this year it will be held in Norfolk, Virginia, March 21st through the 24th, and is sponsored by Old Dominion University. Accompanying the meeting for its third straight year will be the Beneath the Waves Film Festival.

The Beneath the Waves Film Festival presents marine-themed films ranging from white sharks to dedicated school teachers, all with a strong ocean narrative. This is not a "what I did on my vacation" film festival; the films shown here address important ocean issues. The audience is a healthy mix of scientists, students, and the general public.

While the festivals in the past were scheduled to coincide with the meeting, which lead to some competing programs, this year the festival has a special films-only evening taking place on March 23rd. Films will be shown on the IMAX screen of the Nauticus IMSX Theatre, which is a terrific venue for any ocean film.

The Beneath the Waves Film Festival, combined with the Benthic Ecology Meeting, is a great way to meet and talk with working scientists and dedicated students involved in ocean research - and it's a great way to see some informative new ocean films. The film festival has received hundreds of films for the past two prior festivals and the submission deadline for this year, February 24th, is close at hand. If you have a potential film of interest, click here to read about the submission requirements.

For more details, visit the Beneath the Waves Film Festival website. And learn more about the Benthic Ecology Meeting at the Old Dominion University website.

Cayman Island Shark Study: results show less than expected numbers

2012-01-06T21:44:00.000-08:00

Making a strong case for shark conservation requires more than an appeal to the emotions. Railing against the practice of shark finning or positioning sharks as cuddly creatures who mean no harm can generate sympathy among portions of the general populace, but it's hard facts that are required to convince politicians and policymakers that steps need to be taken to protect these ocean predators.

For the past three years, the Cayman Islands have been host to a group of marine researchers who have been conducting a population study of sharks and rays in and around the islands. A joint effort between the Save Our Seas Foundation and Marine Conservation International, the project was coordinated by the Cayman Island's department of the environment and funded in part by the UK's Overseas Territory Environment Programme, the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, and others. A presentation was recently held to summarize the findings and while anyone familiar with the current state of shark populations might expect the reported numbers to be low, what the researchers found to be most disconcerting was there appears to be far fewer species in local waters than expected.

At the presentation, several of the researchers involved with the project, including Dr. Mauvis Gore and Professor Rupert Ormond, made a strong case for shark conservation with the usual arguments regarding the overfishing of sharks, the positive impact that sharks have in maintaining balance within local marine ecosystems, and the multimillion dollar difference in economic value between shark consumption and shark tourism value - often by a factor of x50 or more in favor of tourism. These are many of the same justifications used to support shark protections or sanctuaries in other countries.

However, what was of particular concern to the scientists was what their research found that was unique to the Cayman Islands. Several species that historically were common in Cayman waters were found to be in much smaller numbers, if found at all. The Cayman News Service reported that, as part of the study, the researchers conducted tagging of several sharks species to track their movements and, as has been documented by others, sharks like tiger sharks, oceanic whitetips, and others were found to cover considerable distances. This presents the need for establishing cooperative policies between other nearby countries as the sharks will not be paying much attention to the boundaries of local shark protected areas or sanctuaries.

"Although the tracking has helped the scientists learn more about the sharks their failure to even find key species in the area to tag such as hammerheads has limited the research but so far the scientists are able to conclude that Cayman has only a modest number of sharks and a lower than expected variety of species. Dr Gore said the scarcity of hammerheads was a concern given that in the 1970s it was possible to sea schools of this type of shark in local waters. 'People think I’m mad when I say this,' she said, given the current scarcity of the species here."

With the environment minister, Mark Scotland, calling the study's results as "eye opening," perhaps we will see action in the near future to establish protections in the Cayman's local waters combined with collaborative efforts between the Cayman Islands and neighboring countries like Mexico, Honduras, the Bahamas and others. For shark conservationists, this would be welcomed news.

Source: Cayman News Service

Zebra Shark Survival: could "virgin births" be a sign of nature's resilience?

2012-01-05T20:44:00.000-08:00

Nature will find a way.

It's an amazing component of nature's dedication to survival that, when faced with conditions that impede propagation of a species, nature may choose another course other than to watch a population dwindle towards extinction. Parthenogenesis, or virgin birth, is just one such avenue. This is when an animal is able to produce viable offspring without the need for a traditionally fertilized egg, also known as asexual reproduction. No males around to breed with? Well, why wait?

Parthenogenesis is a somewhat rare occurrence, limited to a few reported cases, but one zebra shark that resides in the Burj Al Arab Hotel's aquarium in Dubai, has successfully produced eggs that brought forth healthy juvenile sharks. And she has done it each year for the past four years. The aquarium can verify that the shark has not had any contact with a male in all that time.

Interestingly, the juvenile sharks are all female - but not just clones of the female; their gene structure shows distinct differences. Could this also be another way that nature is trying to improve the odds, by generating more females? Scientists are not sure; the rarity of the event makes it a difficult subject to study.

David Robinson, the aquarium's operations manager, explained how the aquarium staff originally made the discovery, "We were actually moving the eggs and one of the guys felt something move inside the egg. And we checked the eggs with light and there were babies inside. So, it was actually quite, I don't know...we went looking for it, but I don't think we were ever expecting to find it. So we're just awestruck."

Zebra sharks - which get their name because of the striking zebra pattern on the juvenile, which later gives way to a more leopard-like spotted pattern - will continually lay eggs several times throughout the year, fertilized or not. When I was a dive team leader at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA, part of my team's responsibilities was to round up zebra shark eggs strewn about the Tropical Reef exhibit, deposited by either of the two large female zebra sharks in the exhibit.

Stuck to the artificial rocks and corals with mucus-like strands that could probably be bottled and sold as the next super glue - or at least that was what we thought as we would spend considerable effort getting the gunk off of our fingers - the eggs would be collected and set aside for disposal. With Dubai's reproductive zebra shark, named Zebedee, as an inspiration, the aquarists in Long Beach are probably now taking a long look at those eggs that the divers find.

BBC News reported on Zebedee's egg-laying abilities recently and the report includes an interesting video. Click here to view the video.

Nature has many fascinating ways of dealing with the natural or organic challenges it has had to contend with for eons. Evolution can be both an organized progression and an abrupt reaction to environmental changes. Unfortunately, man-made impacts seem to exceed even nature's formidable skills in perseverance and resiliency. But if we give it a break, nature can do wonders.

Sources: i09.com, BBC News.

Sargasso Sea: Bermuda video highlights importance of floating seaweed

2012-01-05T20:17:00.000-08:00

A quick follow up to a recent post I wrote on efforts by Bermuda and the Pew Environment Group to establish a national marine park that would provide some measure of protection to the sargassum that surrounds Bermuda - the island is situated within the Sargasso Sea, a shoreless body of water bordered not by land but by rotating currents in the mid-Atlantic.

The idea of establishing a marine park is not falling on deaf ears within Bermuda itself. Bernews, one of Bermuda's online news outlets ran a brief article today describing the ongoing efforts and included a brief video produced by Look Bermuda. The video gives a good accounting as to why a national marine park would be good for the island, the sargassum, and the countless number of species that call this floating seaweed home.

Sargasso Teaser from LookBermuda on Vimeo.

Source: Bernews.

Climate Reality Project & Our Choice: environmental issues online, in video and now apps

2012-01-02T18:12:00.000-08:00

According to the vast majority of scientists who study environmental, meteorological, and ecological sciences, climate change is very real. And mankind is playing more than a causal hand in its proliferation. We hear about it a lot but, particularly during the U.S. presidential political cycle, we also hear that it's either a fabrication, a conspiracy, or at the very least, that the science is not there and the jury is out.

Nonsense.

The Climate Reality Project is an organization devoted to disseminating the facts about climate change and our role in its existence to anyone who will listen. In mid-September, the group held a "24 Hours of Reality" where validated information was presented on the subject in the form of an online/video presentation that ran every hour for 24 hours in 13 languages around the world. Unfortunately, it did not get much media coverage but you can still see and hear the presentation yourself at the group's website.

"Climate change is not your fault for the car you drive, the lights you turn on, or the food you eat. The climate crisis is our problem. Real solutions, systemic solutions, innovative solutions, can only come when we address it together. That’s what The Climate Reality Project will do. Without doubt. Without delay. And with your help.

The Climate Reality Project is bringing the facts about the climate crisis into the mainstream and engaging the public in conversation about how to solve it. We help citizens around the world discover the truth and take meaningful steps to bring about change.

Founded and chaired by Al Gore, Nobel Laureate and former Vice President of the United States, The Climate Reality Project has more than 5 million members and supporters worldwide. It is guided by one simple truth: The climate crisis is real and we know how to solve it." - Climate Reality Project website

The Climate Reality Project can arrange to have a trained Climate Presenter speak to your school, church, or community organization and lay out the facts about climate change and what we can do about it. While founder and former Vice President Al Gore, being a politician, has been a lightning rod at times for opposing camps, his efforts to make climate change a global issue - before it becomes an unstoppable global crisis - have fueled progress in many ways. The Climate Reality Project is one; the recent app/online book, Our Choice, available from Apple's iTunes for iPad and iPhone is another.

Our Choice is a fine example of the potential for apps to provide a wide range of information. Using all manner of interactive media - video, infographics, text, and online links, it covers the current state of climate change, A to Z, and reviews the many solutions and alternatives that are at hand. Think of it as An Inconvenient Truth for a new decade. As an iPhone app, it's handy; as an iPad app, it benefits from the larger screen format (I prefer the iPad version). It is also available in a hardcover print edition.

Take a look at the Climate Reality Project or download Our Choice. The information is there. The rationale can be made for why we must act. Minds can be changed. A planet is a terrible thing to waste.

Visit the Climate Reality Project website.
Learn more about the Our Choice book/app.

Conservation in 2012: support, commitment, and the exchange of knowledge continues

2012-01-01T20:53:00.000-08:00

2012 - It's a new year. We wish our friends and family health, prosperity, and good fortune. In fact, we bestow it upon perfect strangers as we disembark elevators or pick up the dry cleaning. It's a moment when we try to make sense of the world and hope that tomorrow and the days that follow will be better than the past. It may just be a seasonal courtesy, an obligatory tagline to a passing conversation. And there's nothing wrong with that, but deep down we know that a better life is ours for the making; it's up to us to make it so.

I hope that conservation of our natural resources is something that continues to resonate with people across the globe. From the personal measures we take in our own lives, to the support we extend to organizations taking up the struggle beyond our limited capacity, to the power we wield at the ballot box - those who support conservation must continue with their efforts and work intelligently and respectfully to recruit more to the cause. Conservation can never be relegated to being an issue du juor - it is not a short-term problem, a quick fix soon to be forgotten. The consequences for passing the buck on this one are global in scope and go to the very heart of the quality of life for future generations, not to mention the entire planet.

The cause of conservation depends greatly on organizations that exist in the world of "non-profit." They, in turn, depend on the generosity of others to survive and there are many such groups out there - each seeking a piece of what has been, of late, a very limited pie. I am seeing many specific conservation issues - from shark conservation to global warming - moving from the grass roots, emotion-fueled public awareness level to the world of policy development, regulation, and legislation. My suggestion would be to support those organizations that have the infrastructure and the strategies geared toward the national and international legislative arena; this is where quantifiable progress can often be measured, albeit such progress can be frustratingly slow. With our limited resources to donate, I recommend evaluating non-profits not on their good intentions, which are honorable, but on their actions and most importantly on their accomplishments.

For myself, this past year saw another batch of posts in this blog that I hope brought some measure of awareness, enlightenment, and even entertainment in a style that was not too technical, condescending, or argumentative to my readers. I have been fortunate in my life to have been involved in a variety of creative pursuits and though I never pursued an academic degree in marine biology or environmental science (a personal regret at times), science and the wonders of this world have been a constant throughout my life. And so at this point in my life I am trying to weave my careers and my passions together in a way that, I hope, gives back - a sort of "thank you" to those places and people who impressed me, taught me, and motivated me to love and preserve life on this incredible blue marble we call Earth.

Onward and upward. Make it a good day, everyone. Make it a great year.

New Deep Water Shark Species: CA research team finds 4 new sharks off African coast

2011-12-29T20:00:00.000-08:00

When I am called upon to speak about sharks and shark conservation, I often mention how many different species of shark there are. People initially think of the larger, more iconic species, but there are approximately 360+ and the plus sign at the end of that number keeps growing seemingly every day.

The San Francisco-based California Academy of Sciences recently completed an expedition into the deep depths off Mozambique and came up with 4 new species of shark along with a long list of new invertebrates, fish, plants, and other marine critters. Mozambique lies along the southeastern coast of Africa, with the island of Madagascar to the east. The researchers were trawling along deep canyons in depths ranging from 1,500 feet to 3,000 feet deep.

This past summer, the academy conducted a marine biodiversity expedition off the Philippines and came across deep water species of swell shark. These are small sharks that are able to gulp seawater to expand or "swell" which either makes them look more menacing to potential predators or enables them to wedge themselves in rocky crevices for protection. At home in California waters, I have come across our local swell shark species and, if gently trying to coax them out into the open for a better look, have seen them swell up. At that point they're safe from curious divers as it would take a crowbar and a couple of sticks of dynamite to dislodge them (certainly not something I advocate).

Back in Mozambique, the Academy researchers also came across two new species of lantern shark which are capable of producing light at various points on their bodies in the dark depths. Scientists suspect that light-emitting sea creatures utilize this bioluminescent ability to both attract members of their own species and provide camouflage from predators. (Where the lights are placed can confuse a predator in thinking a tail is where a head should be, so their prey zigs when they thought it would zag.) Sadly, one of the lantern shark specimens was identified in a Taiwan fish market which means that commercial fisherman are dropping nets deeper and deeper in search of fish to fill their holds.

Another new shark discovered was a type of angel shark, basically a bottom dweller with wide pectoral fins that give the angel shark a very stingray or guitarfish-like appearance. The angel sharks coloration allows it to blend in with the bottom, much like other bottom-dwelling ambush predators including flounder and halibut. When I first began diving - meaning when I was young and dumb - I used to come across angel sharks at the base of Ship Rock off Southern California's Catalina Island. I would approach these sharks strewned across the bottom and slowly lift their tails just to see them suddenly dash off. But everything once in a while, one would turn around and race towards me, obviously annoyed and looking for trouble. Told ya' - young and dumb.

The California Academy of Sciences' most unusual find was an African dwarf sawshark or sawfish, brought up from around 1,600 feet. Though considerably smaller than most species of sawshark, this particular shark uses its "saw" or rostrum in much the same way as its larger cousins. Whipping it quickly from side to side, the shark stuns and wounds smaller fish, enabling it to easily feed on the wounded fish.

At the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California, they have had a large sawshark on display in their Shark Lagoon exhibit for many years. It coexists with larger sand tiger sharks and rays, but every once in a while a curious smaller shark, like a blacktip reef shark, will forget his or her place, crowd the sawshark and get a little taste of sawshark hospitality. I've had the opportunity to film the Aquarium's saw shark and document their staff giving a blacktip shark a stitch or two. No great harm done and believe me, the blacktips learn fast.

The more research that takes place, the more it brings new species to light (This one expedition to Mozambique produced 33 scientific papers alone). In fact, David Ebert, a research associate at the Academy, said that about 200 new sharks and rays have been discovered in just the past decade, whereas close to the same number were identified in the previous three decades combined. So much for the idea of 360 species of sharks. I'll need to amend my notes. . .

Today, using submersibles and ROVs (remotely operated vehicles), scientists are finding more and more unusual creatures that have evolved and adapted to the harsh living conditions found in deep water. However, as remote and seemingly isolated as these animals may appear to be, they and the marine environment they call home are very much connected to the swallower waters that we may be more familiar with. It's one ocean and one incredibly complex, interwoven environment.

"A lot of [shark] species are going under the radar because they're not as high profile,"said David Ebert, referring to well-known sharks like the great white. "There's a lot out there in the big ocean we don't know anything about."

Source: National Geographic Daily News
Source: Deeper Blue
Source: Live Science

Orcas vs. Sharks: whales hunt deep sea sharks in New Zealand

2011-12-28T20:17:00.000-08:00

Thought I would pass along this interesting blog post from marine biologist Candace Calloway Whiting, writing in the Seattle PI. She did some digging in regards to a recent event documented in New Zealand of pod of orcas corralling what appear to be some juvenile cowsharks (six- or seven-gill) in a sort of hunting/feeding technique.

Orcas have been known to prey upon sharks, but what makes this news item so noteworthy is that these New Zealand orcas were after deep water sharks and that they managed to bring them to the surface, disorienting the sharks which played to the orcas' advantage. It also appears that the orcas were able to capitalize on the fact that these sharks will stick together - brothers and sisters - which is not a common shark behavior.

Update: 12/28/11 - In reply to my request to identify the shark species involved, Seattle Aquarium shark biologist Jeff Christiansen sent the following :

"It is difficult to make a definitive ID from a partial view and with only one photo but I would hazard a guess the shark in the photo is a sevengill shark Notorynchus cepedianus or possibly even Heptranchias perlo. While I can’t rule out a sixgill the spotting pattern visible on the dorsal surface of the shark is characteristic of the sevengill. The photo is not sharp enough to tell if there are six or seven gill slits. Its definitely one of the Cowsharks as the six and sevengill sharks are called and finding them in groups is not unusual for that species… pack hunting and association is documented in sevengills. The Sevengill can tolerate much higher light levels than its deep water cousin the sixgill."

I’ll update again when I hear back from a New Zealand orca researcher who may have more information on the orca pod that appeared to be hunting the sharks.

On Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) in New Zealand a pod of orcas managed to corral at least a half dozen sharks and apparently gave them a good thrashing in the shallows off the beach. Orcas are known to kill and eat sharks in many parts of their range – often eating the nutrient dense livers and discarding the rest – so although witnessing the interaction must have been amazing, the news that the whales went after the sharks was in and of itself not surprising.

But the fact that the orcas managed to get several sharks together in a group for the presumed mayhem is fairly astounding, and I was as curious about the sharks as I was the orcas as I read the article.

Copyright protection prohibits me from being able to use the photo of one of the sharks thought to have been involved in the altercation with the orcas, but it is similar to this one, and is one of the few species that is easily identified with just a head shot. If you look carefully you will see that the shark has six gills [note update above, this may have been a related species of cowshark, not a sixgill] instead of the usual five, and logically is called a six-gill shark (the sixth gill is thought to help extract oxygen from the deep water where the adult sharks are found).

The following video shows both the massive size this species can attain, and the depth to which it can be found. “This six-gill shark (Hexanchus) was filmed during a submersible dive off the northeast coast of Molokai at a depth of 1000m (3280ft). The 2 red laser dots are 6 inches apart, resulting in a length of about 18 ft for the shark.”

But if they were chasing this deep sea species of shark, how did the orcas manage to get several, albeit smaller, of these sharks rounded up in the shallows off the beach?

I found the answer through the Seattle Aquarium’s shark research program, and though I have not gotten a confirmation that this is the shark species involved in the New Zealand fracas, what I learned about six-gill sharks is fascinating and over-turns much of what we believe to be true about sharks in general.

The biologists have discovered that in this local population, sibling six-gill sharks stay together for many years, at least until they become large enough to move out of the protected environment of the Salish Sea.

The mother shark can give birth to over 100 baby sharks (called pups), and each litter of brothers and sisters remains together for years in “loosely associated groups”, possibly finding food together and avoiding predators.

The eyes of six-gill sharks are adapted to low light conditions and they shun the bright light of the surface during daylight hours, so the orcas might have managed to find a group of the sharks in deeper water, driven them to the surface where the sharks would have been blinded and disoriented causing them to swim up onto the beach (the news article reported that observers thought the sharks swam up to get out of the water, certainly possible but not likely.)

Although six-gill sharks are opportunistic feeders often scavenging about anything they can find, humans are not on the menu, and fortunately for them these sharks aren’t usually on our menu either – what a shame it would be to kill off the sharks of the world without ever knowing their secrets.

Brother and sister sharks growing up together, who knew?

For more on orcas and sharks, please see “Orcas and sharks, just who is hunting whom?” Also this report on New Zealand orca expert Ingrid Visser’s discovery of orcas hunting thresher sharks.

Source: SeattlePI.com
Source: Stuff.co.nz

Japanese Whaling: ships located by Sea Shepherd headed to Southern Ocean

2011-12-26T10:58:00.000-08:00

When Japan's Fisheries Agency announced that their whaling fleet would be again heading south towards Antarctica to hunt whales, it once again brought a chorus of complaints from several non-whaling nations and vows from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to take them head on, at sea, as they have done for many years. At one point, it seemed that the whaling fleet might not go out, having been thwarted in their attempts last season by Sea Shepherd. In fact, all seemed quiet enough for a while that Sea Shepherd diverted their attention to the illegal tuna fishing taking place in the Mediterranean. But with the Japanese announcement back in the fall, Sea Shepherd was able to put their ships in pursuit and, having recently spotted the lead factory vessel by aerial drone, are now preparing to engage the fleet using controversial "eco-terrorist" techniques that are praised by some and questioned by others.

According to the Sea Shepherd website, "The Sea Shepherd ship, Steve Irwin, deployed a drone to successfully locate and photograph the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru on December 24th. Once the pursuit began, three Japanese harpoon/security ships moved in on the Steve Irwin to shield the Nisshin Maru to allow it to escape. This time however the Japanese tactic of tailing the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker will not work because the drones, one on the Steve Irwin and the other on the Bob Barker, can track and follow the Nisshin Maru and can relay the positions back to the Sea Shepherd ships."

In previous posts I have written of my reservations regarding the eco-terrorist techniques employed by Sea Shepherd, or any conservation group for that matter, as it typically does not engender the support of those governments or international agencies necessary to bring about the regulations or diplomatic pressure required for real change. Australia is actively seeking legal remedies through its actions in the International Court of Justice, but it can be a slow process. In opposition to Sea Shepherd, the Japanese government-sponsored Institute for Cetacean Research has filed a lawsuit against the Sea Shepherd Society in U.S. federal court to seek an injunction against Sea Shepherd - one which, I am sure, Sea Shepherd will vigorously defend against while at the same time ignoring it at sea.

It's not difficult to understand the frustration of whaling supporters with Japan's continual reliance on a loophole in the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) regulations that allows for whaling to continue if it is for "legitimate scientific research." Japan has been able to work the loophole to where it is big enough to run a blue whale through it.

Japan's The Mainichi Daily News reported, "Japan's Fisheries Agency said the Japanese whaling fleet -- three whaling vessels escorted by a Fisheries Agency guard ship -- plans to kill some 900 minke whales and fin whales this season for what the Japanese government describes as scientific research purposes."

The idea that Japanese researchers require 900 whales to study for this year and that none of these whales will be processed for commercial purposes, as required by the IWC, is absolutely ludicrous. Fresh whale meat has been found in Japanese markets or other food outlets and, while this is evidence of blatant IWC violations, it also poses a health risk as these whale products can contain high levels of pollutants similar to what has been found in tuna and dolphin meat, also sold in Japan.

While I may not condone the techniques employed by Sea Shepherd, I understand their motivation but what raises my ire is the level of inaction on the international front, save for Australia. Japan has an interesting, almost schizophrenic, cultural mindset - on the one hand, an industrious international trading partner whose products and innovation command respect worldwide while, on the other hand, a historically protective, isolated culture that resists any suggestion of change from the outside, regardless of insurmountable evidence that their practices, like whaling, are environmentally destructive if not, at the least, antiquated.

So, once again, two ecological foes are pitted against each other. More sound bites, more footage for reality television, more threats and counter-threats. But until more nations band together with Australia to play diplomatic hardball, the game will continue and the whales, whether in the Southern Ocean or Japan's local waters, will be at risk.

Source: The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Source: The Mainichi Daily News
Source: BBC News - Asia-Pacific

Progress In Marine Conservation: many good steps forward, many more to go

2011-12-24T15:09:00.000-08:00

As we approach the end of the year, we begin to reflect on what we have personally accomplished over the past 12 months, with New Year's resolutions waiting in the wings. The same can be said for the conservation movement and there has been much this past year to feel good about. There has been traction on several fronts that could, in time, yield measurable benefits to the planet's marine biodiversity. Here's a short list of just a few.

In a recent email, Marie Levine, director of the Shark Research Institute, noted these items in the area of shark conservation:

Honduras announced creation of 92,665-sq. mile shark sanctuary
The Bahamas converted 243,244 sq. miles into a shark sanctuary
The Marshall Islands, Guam and Palau created a region-wide, 2 million sq. mile shark sanctuary
Chile banned shark finning in its waters
ICCAT agreed to reduce fishing of shortfin mako sharks and porbeagle sharks

Then of course, there has been the slow but steady parade of shark finning prohibitions within the U.S. and its territories, starting with Hawaii in 2010 and then moving to Guam, Oregon, Washington, and California.

In the area of fisheries management in the U.S., Lee Crocket of the Pew Environment Group recently wrote of progress in the implementation of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Though originally passed over 35 years ago, it has taken until today to get a workable system in place that combines the efforts of the National Marine Fisheries Service and the cooperation of the fishing industry. It's politics, so it takes time to get working policies in full force after years of back and forth between legislators and management officials and those people or industries adversely impacted, at least initially, by any policy decisions. In the long term, if fishery stocks are allowed to rebound then commercial fishing can continue at what management officials hope to be sustainable levels.

And there have been other signs of progress from Marine Protected Areas to simply increases in visitor attendance at conservation nature centers across the country. So while international efforts continue to address some of the larger issues, it would seem that interest on the general public level continues to grow.

However, we are a long ways away from breaking out the celebratory champagne. Conservation efforts can often seem like two steps forward and one step back. We must not allow the positive advances to make us complacent or lazy. I'm reminded of how the anti-whaling movement became; growing to where there was a worldwide moratorium. Then it began to fall off our priority list of pressing issues and, slowly over the years, several opposing nations bided their time and now we have whaling as a renewed hot button issue for conservationists once again.

And there are certainly other issues that need to be addressed. Acidification, climate change, and heavy metal pollution. After having spent considerable effort in making shark conservation a pressing issue in California's San Francisco Bay area, Sea Stewards is now helping to support other organizations regarding mercury levels in sea food (one typical serving of swordfish or tuna can deliver up to a month's worth of mercury based on current EPA data on "acceptable" levels).

So, we can enter the holidays feeling good over quantifiable progress in regulations and management that should benefit many marine species. But we have much more work to do and so it's time to celebrate and simultaneously roll up our sleeves and charge boldly into the new year.

Source: Shark Research Institute
Source: National Geographic Daily News
Source: Sea Stewards

World Oceans Day: getting into high gear for next year's June event

2011-12-21T20:08:00.000-08:00

This past June 8th was World Oceans Day, a day recognized by the United Nations as a day for acknowledging our marine natural resources and committing ourselves to their long-term preservation. The event is coordinated by The Ocean Project and the World Ocean Network and includes educational and public awareness events and activities across the globe.

The 2012 World Oceans Day is just a little over six months away and so planning and fundraising are getting into high gear. The Care2.com website, which brings attention to a wide variety of organizations involved in social and environmental causes, ran a post recently, submitted by the Ocean Project, that I thought I would pass along.

As we celebrate the holidays and the arrival of 2012, we can also celebrate our world’s ocean by remembering where we live. That iconic image of Earth from space sums it up: our blue sphere is dominated by ocean that covers nearly three-quarters of our planet’s surface. In many ways we live on huge islands in a vast — yet now seriously threatened — world ocean.

No matter where we live, each of us is connected to the ocean, and each of us can help make a difference in its health. A healthy ocean is critical to our own health as well as a never-ending source of inspiration. As you think ahead to the New Year, consider making a resolution to do more to protect the ocean, our blue backyard.

One way to start is by celebrating and supporting World Oceans Day. Like an Earth Day for the ocean on a global scale, World Oceans Day provides an opportunity each year to celebrate our ocean connections and get involved in taking action.

Building on Successful Action for Our Ocean

Care2 members helped the ocean in a big way a few years ago when thousands of people from around the world petitioned the United Nations to officially recognize World Ocean Day as June 8th each year. A world community signed a Care2 petition developed by The Ocean Project and the World Ocean Network, and after years of persistence, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution in December 2008, marking a milestone in global awareness of the proverbial “seven seas.”

Since that time, World Oceans Day has grown in popularity, and now the event is celebrated in most aquariums across the United States, and in dozens of other countries. Each of us can easily take action right now to help protect and conserve our oceans by clicking to generate funds to support the promotion and coordination of World Oceans Day (for more information on this free action to generate funds for ocean conservation, see the last paragraph).

Why care about the ocean?

Since the days of the first sailors who navigated unknown waters, the ocean has held a special place in our hearts and minds for its beauty, awesome power and deep mystery. It has sustained our spirits with inspiration, and our societies with incredible natural resources.

But what have we given back to our blue planet?

The ocean is home to some of our most beloved and important wildlife, from the fuzzy baby penguins we coo over to microscopic algae which produce the oxygen we breathe. Our future is inseparably linked with the future of these creatures, and it’s time to decide what it will look like. Will our children gasp in joy and amazement at the brilliant colors of the coral reefs? Or will they gasp at photos of dead sea turtles and whales with bellies full of plastic bags?

The ocean and all the animals which call it home are directly affected by the actions of humans in more ways than we know. Some threats are direct and obvious, like oil spills, but most are less visible and add up over time – such as pollution from cities, farms, streets, parking lots and yards, much of it originating far from the ocean and resulting in “dead zones” in coastal waters.

Commercial fishing has depleted the ocean of 90% of large fish, and fishing practices such as trawling have been compared to bulldozing a rainforest. Ocean acidification linked to the burning of fossil fuels is changing the very chemistry of the ocean—the water in the ocean is becoming acidic, and damaging wildlife at every stage of life.

Fortunately, for us and our ocean, the good news is that we can fight for its protection and you can join the growing effort to be part of the solution for our seas.

Why a World Oceans Day?

It is clear that the ocean’s future depends on individuals and communities taking action for its protection, and conserving it for the future. Acting together, the world community can make a real difference.

Our ocean suffers from a lack of international leadership and comprehensive conservation policies. To help create the political will for change we need to achieve conservation success on local, regional, national and international scales.

World Oceans Day provides a unique opportunity to alert and rally the world community to demand a healthier world ocean that sustains abundant life for its own sake as well as for humans.

Catch the World Oceans Day Wave

Since UN recognition of World Oceans Day, interest has been growing quickly. We’re on the verge of creating a powerful movement that can become a true force for positive change.

There are many opportunities to help. With a new year upon us, it’s a perfect time to commit to ocean conservation by taking the Seven C’s Pledge. Do you enjoy volunteering on the internet? You can become a World Oceans Day Blue Planeteer. You can also help by getting involved in organizing or participating in a World Oceans Day event in your community. Click here to learn more.

You can take action right now to raise “free” money for ocean conservation. With a few thousand more people taking a quick and easy action, the sunglasses company Maui Jim will donate $10,000 to help advance World Oceans Day. Please click here to “Like” Maui Jim or send a virtual Hawaiian lei on Facebook. The catch is it has to happen by December 31 — so, please take this quick action and let your friends know.

The ocean may be out of sight for many of us, but isn’t it time to give the ocean the protection it deserves and needs? Thank you and enjoy this holiday season!

Source: Care2.com

Dr. Edith Widder: lady of light uses bioluminescence to find trace pollutants

2011-12-19T21:50:00.000-08:00

In August of 2010, I wrote about bioluminescence and the amazing work of Dr. Edith Widder. Widder is the founder and chief scientist at ORCA (Ocean Research and Conservation Association). Her studies of the bio-illumination given off by marine animals has taken her and her equipment to the deeper depths of the ocean. It is in these regions, where sunlight does not penetrate, that animals use bioluminescence - organically-produced light - to hunt prey, camouflage from or deceive predators, and identify others of their own species.

Many of the pictures we have seen of examples of bioluminescence involve bizarre looking creatures from those cold deep depths, yet it is a feature more common than you might think. Indeed, as much as 90 percent of all creatures found in the open seas exhibit some degree of bioluminescence. Call it nature's night lights.

Dr. Widder's research has taken her into a new direction and one that can have a direct benefit on understanding the pervasive and subtle impact of pollution on oceans and waterways. In an excellent article in the New York Times, Erik Olsen writes about Dr. Widder's recent studies using bioluminescent bacteria and how it can be used to identify pollutants.

Olsen writes, "Now, Dr. Widder has found a way to put bioluminescence to work to fight pollution in the Indian River Lagoon, a 156-mile estuary that scientists say is one of Florida’s most precious and threatened ecosystems.

Back in her laboratory here, she mixes the sediment samples with a bioluminescent bacterium called Vibrio fischeri. Using a photometer to measure the light given off by the bacteria, she can quickly determine the concentration of toxic chemicals in the sediment by seeing how much and how quickly the light dims as the chemicals kill the bacteria.

Measuring the level of pollutants in the sediment provides a better indication of the estuary’s health than measuring the level of chemicals in the water, Dr. Widder said. 'Pollution in water is transient,' she said, 'but in sediment it’s persistent.'

Her samples have revealed high concentrations of heavy metals and nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen, which can cause runaway algae growth; those organisms consume oxygen and stifle life in the estuary. Dr. Widder has also designed sensors that are placed around the estuary and can beam real-time data like current and flow direction of the water. Pairing those data with the toxicity of the sediment, she can trace the source of pollution. The method is far cheaper and quicker than the more common practice of sending samples to a lab for analysis."

Click here to read the entire article. And here's a link to a great video about Dr. Widder's work. It's fascinating research from a true expert in the field. And with this new chapter in her body of work, Widder is bringing the a unique element of ocean science into the broader realm of conservation and ocean management.

As Widder, herself, says, “It’s my belief if we can make pollution visible, and let people know what small things they are doing are actually making an improvement in this incredible environment. I think it could make a huge difference. It can be a game-changer.”

Source: RTSeaBlog 08/06/2010
Source: N ew York Times

Filmmaker's Journal: scientists suggest media should pay for conservation

2011-12-18T21:48:00.000-08:00

Ever had an idea that sounded great at first blush and then as you waded into the details, it started to lose its luster? We've all had them. Some were undone right at the start while others seemed to be heading in a positive direction as the details were fleshed out, only to hit a wall when some fundamental truth - an unknown obstacle - shows itself.

I was reading an article/podcast in Scientific American about four British scientists who, in a recent issue of Science, were promoting the idea of media companies that profit from wildlife films being required to contribute a portion of their profits to conservation causes.

Writer David Biello poses the question in Scientific American, "Given the success of channels like Animal Planet, shows like Planet Earth and even films like March of the Penguins, big media makes big money from nature. Do they then have an obligation to re-invest some of their profit on the nature that provided the "ecosystem service" of existing to be filmed?"

Ecosystem service is a term used by some scientists and conservationists to describe human-valued benefits provided by ecosystems such as pollination, clean water, and the minimizing of storm damage by wetlands. Applied to nature filmmaking, if companies profit from the visual images and interesting stories that nature provides, shouldn't these companies be obligated to give something back in return.

Sounds like a great concept on paper, but when one delves into the devilish details, I see at least three issues cropping up. First, there is the fact that only a small group of players are making substantial money in the field of nature filmmaking. In this genre there are very few blockbusters; the examples that are often cited - from March of the Penguins to Discovery Channel's Shark Week - are more exceptions to the rule than the norm. Most nature filmmakers do it for the love of nature or their compassion for conservation. They would be making a lot more money shooting commercials for fast food restaurants and SUVs.

Second, if such a requirement were to be implemented, who would oversee the accumulated monies and who would determine which of the hundreds of conservation organizations would receive funding and to what extant? The British scientists proposed the establishment of a trust fund but conceded that developing an impartial and reliable board of trustees would be challenging. Where would these people come from and would they be bringing a potential for favoritism to their role? One can imagine the political overtones regarding a trustee's credentials and impartiality - problems akin to what we find in selecting judges for the Supreme Court.

And finally, given the first two issues mentioned, there is the larger philosophical argument of whether such a payment would be an unfair imposition on the free enterprise system. Take the Animal Planet channel, a Discovery Communications brand, for an example: how much of its current programming is devoted purely to nature? With it's current slate of human drama reality-based programs (a trend that is fueled in part by the high costs/low return of doing pure, 100% nature-only films) how does one fairly determine who should pay and at what level?

In media's defense, it can be argued that nature filmmaking has an ancillary effect of bringing ecological and conservation issues to the public's attention; that its very essence, that of entertainment meant to be seen by the widest possible audience, is sufficient payback. Its success spills over to conservation organizations by making the public more aware and receptive to supporting (i.e., funding) conservation.

Certainly a case can be made for suggesting that media companies with a substantial investment in nature filmmaking should, out of a sense of moral obligation, clearly support in some way the organizations who are dedicated to preserving the filmmaker's subject matter. That I support wholeheartedly. But the actual execution of making it a legally binding requirement opens a Pandora's box of complex and challenging issues.

Source: Scientific American

Egypt's Endangered Sharks: Arab Spring had unintended consequence for conservation

2011-12-17T21:05:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a few years since the week I spent diving in the northern Red Sea. Staying on a live-aboard dive boat, I had the chance to see corals that in many ways have remained unsurpassed to me ever since. The reef fish were quite abundant while, in more open water, most sharks were skittish and kept their distance, except for my first close-up encounter with a large nurse shark that was only interested in resting undisturbed on the sandy bottom.

However, according to the Egypt Independent, the Red Sea's geography that positions it as an almost completely closed body of water (open naturally in the south at the Ba-el-Mandeb Strait and in the north at the man-made Suez Canal) has not isolated it from the same problems that befall sharks throughout the rest of the world's oceans: Egypt's sharks are endangered.

Amr Ali, managing director of the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA) , claims that the populations of hammerhead, oceanic whitetip, and other sharks species have declined by as much as 80 percent, and for much the same reason as is found in other oceans.

“Over the years we’ve had many different cases of illegal fishing in the Red Sea,” said Ali. "Five years ago there was a big issue with Chinese poachers; last year it was the Yemenis. It is certainly by far the main reason behind the sharp decline.”

With iconic pyramids and many other ancient locations to visit and artifacts to see, Egypt has a large and lucrative tourism industry to protect. Because of that, the economic value in tourisim dollars for a living shark as opposed to a dead one is not lost on Egyptian officials. But they have been slow to respond to the overfishing or illegal fishing of sharks because they consider what shark fishing brings to lower-income local fisherman and because there has not been a convincing amount of study done in the Red Sea on shark populations.

Reported in the Egypt Independent, "Relying on the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) is useless, says Ali. 'So our role, if we’re serious about preventing declining populations, has to be a very active one.' In 2006, the HEPCA obtained two decrees from the Red Sea governor banning fishing for and trading sharks. Getting caught with a shark illegally resulted in severe penalties."

Encouraging, but with the coming of the Arab Spring in December of last year, the law enforcement infrastructures for many countries bordering the Red Sea weakened and with that, illegal shark fishing has increased dramatically. Government resources and priorities are being drawn elsewhere and, while the demise of dictatorships and oppressive governments are being welcomed as good news by major developed countries and Arab citizens alike, an unintended consequence has been a loss of environmental protections.

“The [army] coast guards used to fend off poachers which really helped,” Amr Ali observed. “But with them gone, it’s impossible for us or other NGOs to monitor 160km of coast.”

To help make a compelling case for shark protection - strong enough to once again make it a government priority - scientists will need to conduct more research. An overwhelming body of facts combined with a thorough explanation of the consequences of doing nothing (the trophic cascade effect that can occur when top predators like sharks are removed from the ecosystem) is what is needed for government officials to realize the magnitude of the problem and how the short-term gain for local fishermen is far outweighed by the long-term negative impact on the entire Red Sea ocean community and, by extension, on the local fishermen as well.

Mexican researchers faced this same problem in the early 2000's when they sought protections for several species of sharks and rays. The Mexican government wanted data - a lot of it. And so years of tagging and tracking studies were engaged until the evidence was indisputable. When I first met Mauricio Hoyos Ph.D. in 2005, the then graduate student was tagging and tracking great white sharks at Isla Guadalupe for just that purpose. And he continues to tag and monitor white sharks to this day.

In Egypt, HEPCA intends to embark on an extensive tagging study in 2012, along with developing a database of shark fin species and location identification, using DNA from the fins, to compile the data needed to make a case for renewed and more aggressive conservation measures.

Amr Ali said, “Once these studies are done, we’ll hopefully be able to create a proper science for shark conservation in Egypt.”

Let's hope so. I still consider the Red Sea as one of my all-time favorite dive locations even though I was there just the one time - that's how impressed I was with the beauty and biodiversity of this unique body of water. Without sharks, it stands to suffer greatly.

Source: Egypt Independent.

Oceans: Heart of Our Blue Planet - a stunning combo of imagery and science

2011-12-14T21:58:00.000-08:00

What is it that draws some of us to collect ocean-themed coffee table books? Is it the usually sumptuous photographs - pictures of places we have visited or hope to someday? Is it the written word - the in-depth facts or personal stories from leading ocean advocates? Perhaps it's a little of both actually. Personally, I can't seem to get enough. I admire the hard work of others in capturing the beauty of sealife in all its complexity. And there's always more to learn about the oceans; what we have and what's at stake, what's being done to protect the oceans and what challenges still lie ahead. But with my book shelves sagging and my coffee table in need of cinder block support, is there room for one more?

There certainly is. And Oceans: Heart of Our Blue Planet is it.

A Joint Effort
Oceans: Heart of Our Blue Planet is a joint effort bringing together the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP), Conservation International, the Wildlife Conservation Society, National Geographic, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the New England Aquarium and many other organizations and individual contributors. From this extensive aquatic brain trust of science and imagery, comes what can best be called a definitive ocean almanac. It is extensive in scope, full of well-known iconic underwater images as well as new pictures combined with a worldwide scientific-based look at the various seascapes that make up the planet's marine ecosystems and what needs to be done today to preserve them.

The book is actually the 19th volume in a series of conservation publications funded by the CEMEX corporation, a global building materials company. CEMEX began in Mexico in 1906 and has grown into one of the world's largest suppliers of cement and concrete products. While the company promotes conservation and sustainability - with their series of conservation books as outward evidence - some zealous conservationists who question the motives of large corporations might wonder why leading ocean conservation groups would choose to work with an industrial behemoth like CEMEX. I put the question to Cristina Mittermeier, founder of iLCP and who oversaw much of the photography in the book.

"Over the years I have come to realize two things. One is that the private sector and giant corporations, like CEMEX, are the most powerful forces on the planet. They can hold the key to the demise or the preservation of our planet," Mittermeier observed. "The second thing I have found out is that screaming at corporations from the other side of the aisle does not work. It is far more effective to engage the leadership of the corporate world to achieve lasting results."

The writing in Oceans: Heart of Our Blue Planet is definitely international in scope and while it is certainly accessible to any reader, much of it is geared towards the decision and policy makers of the world. If you have ever thought that international leaders needed some sort of primer or solid reference work that could provide them with an overall understanding of the oceans, the challenges, and the possible solutions required, this book would be a great start.

"The goal [of the CEMEX book series] is to find the turn-key audiences capable of making the necessary decisions that will protect this vast ecosystem. Over the years, CEMEX has donated thousands of copies of these high quality books to decision-makers, legislators, academia and educational institutions," said Mittermeier.

Stunning Imagery, Informative Writing
Paging through the book, one cannot help but notice the photographs. This is one gorgeous edition and could stand on just the pictures alone. The iLCP, which provided most of the photography, is a consortium that includes some of the most renown wildlife photographers in the world. And it certainly shows, whether capturing the beauty of the sea or its degradation at the hands of man.

However, beneath the striking images lies some important reading from several of the world's top ocean scientists and conservationists. The book sets the stage by discussing biomes - the major categories of marine ecosystems that make up the oceans - and the range of marine biodiversity, identifying key flagship species like marine mammals, elasmobranchs (sharks and rays), turtles, tuna and billfish, and several more. This establishes the main players and from there the book proceeds to focus on ten ocean areas identified as Seascapes, which are deemed representative of critical marine regions that should flourish but are threatened, that can serve both marine life and mankind but are facing severe challenges.

I asked Greg Stone, Ph.D., Chief Scientist for Oceans at Conservation International and a lead contributor to the book, if people will be able to relate to these Seascapes, some of which are a bit remote. "We picked a variety of sites from low to high latitudes and places that had good stories and experts who could write informatively. The entire global ocean is relevant to everyone on the planet, so I hope these sites make that clear," he said.

With observations and explanations based on scientific fact (and well annotated in the book's closing reference section for those curious readers who wish to dig deeper), the book lays out the foundation for global ocean management through the concept of the Seascapes Approach.

"Over the last decades, ocean scientists and marine conservationists have come to realize that ocean systems and human societies are interconnected; human societies simultaneously depend on and affect the ocean. The Seascapes Approach is a response to that realization. Seascapes Approach, formally launched in 2004, is a set of strategies ... that foster the effective management of large marine areas so that people can continue to benefit from the many services that healthy oceans provide while preserving the unique biodiversity of the world’s oceans." - excerpt from the book

This is the core strategy of the book and it is the component which makes it both scientifically informative and, in many ways, emotionally uplifting. It recognizes that the future of the oceans must include mankind; we can't be cut out as a solution. In my travels, I sometimes meet ocean enthusiasts who suffer from a sense of "burnout" because they feel overwhelmed by the problems for which we all share responsibility. "If man would just disappear, all would be right in the seas again." Perhaps, but at 6 billion and counting, that won't be happening anytime soon.

While Oceans: Heart of Our Blue Planet details the science behind the issues and solutions in a manner that recognizes the social and economic needs of mankind, this juxtaposition of both ocean and man doesn't weaken or dilute the magnitude or depth of the problems or the complexity of the solutions. There's plenty that the book covers to reaffirm the notion that what we do right or wrong in ocean conservation within the next 10 years could impact this planet for the next 10,000 years. But it presents these challenges in a way that should resonate with policy makers and politicians who respond to economic opportunities. And for us average joes, it provides us with an understanding of what needs to be done globally, enabling us to effectively judge the efforts of our government officials or international bodies - decision-makers who need to hear intelligent discourse from their constituents in the form of support or criticism, reminding them that they are accountable.

"The starting point for addressing the problems of human impacts on the ocean is to clearly remember that we do not “manage” the natural world - we manage people. Ocean life and ocean ecosystems are fragile, but can be remarkably resilient. If fish stocks are relieved from overfishing, if pollution is abated, and if other pressures are reduced, these systems can recover. These three simple facts—humans, not nature, can be managed; ocean life can be quite fragile; and that ocean ecosystems are remarkably resilient - show us clearly how to set priorities for ocean policy: focus on the human impacts, reduce their effects, and allow systems to respond and recover." - excerpt from the book

Availability Through Today's Technology
Oceans: Heart of Our Blue Planet is an important work and one that I believe should be appreciated by as many people as possible. But therein lies the rub, it would seem. A large, high-quality coffee table book does not come cheap nowadays. And according to Cristina Mittermeier, CEMEX has chosen to do a limited print run with many copies earmarked for select "turn-key audiences," as she described them. However, for as long as they are available, you can purchase a hard-cover copy directly from the iLCP website.

So why am I promoting what appears to be an expensive and somewhat elusive piece of literature? Because it is available - as an iPad app e-book. And it's free.

The publishers of Oceans: Heart of Our Blue Planet have made a brilliant move by making the book available for the iPad format. The choice of format was probably dictated by the popularity of the Apple device and the size and quality of its viewing screen. The book's pictures look bright and crisp and the text is easily readable, aided by a dynamic table of contents that allows you to jump to selected chapters. The interactive capabilities of today's app technology is not incorporated here and that is unfortunate - links, searches, live feeds and updates could transform the book into a timely reference source for both today and in the future. However, that is a minor issue when one considers it is currently available at no cost to the reader.

So, if you are like me and would like a stunning and informative look at our water planet, but would prefer not to see your coffee table come crashing down under the weight of one more volume, then do not hesitate. Download the iPad version of Oceans: Heart of Our Blue Planet from Apple's iTunes. Go to the App Store and type in "ILCP" in the search window and the iPad app will appear. (Or tuck a few bricks under your coffee table for support and order a hard copy.) Either way, you will not be disappointed.

I asked Greg Stone what he hoped the general public would take away from reading Oceans: Heart of Our Blue Planet. "Value the oceans as the most important asset we have on 'spaceship earth,' a vessel on an endless journey with no chance of resupply. We have to make due with and manage what we have."

Order a hard copy from the ILCP website.
Download the iPad app of the book using iTunes.

Photo Credits:
Purple sea stars - Thomas Peschak, iLCP
School of yellow line scads - Juergen Freund, iLCP
Madagascar fishermen - Cristina Mittermeier, iLCP

Island of the Great White Shark: telling the story of a premier shark haven

2011-12-13T20:26:00.000-08:00

Twice each year I make a crass capitalistic plug for my documentary on white sharks: Island of the Great White Shark. These indulgences in the free enterprise system occur once in August, around the time of Discovery Channel's Shark Week, and during the holiday shopping season. Not one to break from tradition, here I go again.

When I first began filming in 2005 at Isla Guadalupe, Baja, sites like YouTube and Vimeo were in their infancy. And while there had already been a few crews at the island to film the great white sharks that migrate there in the fall months, no one had attempted to do a complete documentary about the island, the shark diving operations that came there, or the working relationships they had at the time with researchers who were trying to learn more about these sharks, to better understand their behaviors so that appropriate measures could be taken to protect them. That was the story that impressed me from the very first trip I took there until I finished filming three seasons later.

Today, video sharing sites are awash with exciting home movies of Isla Guadalupe white sharks taken by some of the fortunate divers who have made the journey. But Island of the Great White Shark still finds an audience and continues to resonate. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to be in the water with a great white shark or if you've been there and want to show your family and friends why you're not completely crazy, Island of the Great White Shark is for you. This documentary brings together divers, world renown shark experts and, of course, magnificent sharks and tells it like it is, without exaggerated hyperbole - these incredible animals don't need any - while also being informative and laying out the challenges that these and all sharks are facing today.

I have been gratified to have Island of the Great White Shark screened at major aquariums, film festivals, and museums across the nation. It has given me a chance to make a case, on film and in person, for the conservation and protection of these critically important ocean predators.

Island of the Great White Shark is available in DVD through Amazon.com.

Bahamas MPA in Need: Summit Series group raising funds to support South Berry Island

2011-12-11T18:36:00.000-08:00

Marine protected areas (MPAs) can be an effective means in protecting and conserving natural marine resources. By defining a specific boundary and then managing - and in some cases prohibiting - activities such as commercial fishing, marine ecosystems are allowed to flourish, which can have a beneficial effect on marine life even outside of the MPA. Worldwide, there is only a small percentage of the ocean's surface that has been designated as a protected area, even with recent record-breaking MPAs like the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Phoenix Islands, and Chagos Archipelago.

But designating a marine protected area is just the first step. The next step can be an imposing hurdle: establishing the infrastructure to support, maintain, and enforce all related regulations. Without those components, an MPA becomes nothing more than a good intention.

In 2009, the Bahamian government set aside 6 new marine protected areas, bringing the total to 25 MPAs in the Bahamas. One of those areas, the South Berry Island Marine Protected Area, covers only 70 square miles but is considered one of the most ecologically diverse areas in the Bahamas and includes coral reefs, a conch nursery, and a 6,000 feet deep trench known as the Tongue of the Ocean. Unfortunately, it is also sadly lacking in a functional infrastructure and so the area is largely unregulated.

Hoping to come to the South Berry Island MPA's rescue is an organization of influential entrepreneurs, artists, and innovators - members of a group that sponsor the Summit Series, a kind of creative brain trust of individuals who are dedicated to giving back to the planet in one way or another. This past April, the Summit Series held a Summit at Sea aboard a cruise ship in the Bahamas and donations came forth to meet the $500,000 price tag that was determined to be what was needed to implement and sustain the South Berry Island MPA infrastructure.

To date, they have reached over $475,000 of the needed total. Individual donations are being managed by The Nature Conservancy and accepted through Crowdrise.com, another of the growing number of online fundraising sites, and there are some enticing prize drawings for donors including a $1000 Zappos gift certificate (Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO, has offered a dollar-for-dollar match to $25,000) and 600-foot submarine ride off the south coast of Florida, compliments of my friends at OceanGate Expeditions.

If you would like to learn more, here are several website you can visit:
Click here to learn about the Summit Series.
Click here to learn about the Summit at Sea.
Click here to visit the Crowdrise.com website to donate and enter in a drawing.

Philippine Whale Sharks: local fishermen see economic value in embracing ecotourism

2011-12-10T18:21:00.000-08:00

Ocean ecotourism is becoming more and more a method by which countries, particularly developing or 2nd/3rd world nations, can find economic justification for instituting conservation measures. The island of Cebu, part of the Philippines, has recently become a typical example of ecotourism's benefits, but it also highlights some of the challenges.

The town of Oslob in southern Cebu is predominantly a fishing village and local fisherman often bring in vast catches of a small shrimp locally known as "uyap." Over the past few months, another fisherman of sorts has taken a liking to the shrimp: whale sharks. The number of reported sightings began with just one and soon increased to up to seven at a time.

Though the whale sharks, reported to be from 16 to 25 feet (5 to 8m), were competing with the fishermen for the shrimp, which represented an important source of income, the fisherman wisely chose not to chase off or harm the whale sharks but to capitalize on their appearance. Ecotourism in the form of whale shark diving. Whale sharks are a popular attraction worldwide in both aquariums and in the wild. While some may question the wisdom of keeping such a large animal confined within an aquarium exhibit, seeing them in their natural habitat can be an exciting and enlightening experience.

Successful ecotourism relies on two key components: 1.) Recognizing and transitioning to a new business revenue model and 2.) establishing the logistics that will ensure its long-term success.

In Cebu, the fisherman reportedly charge 100PHP (Philippine Pesos) to allow tourists in the water with the sharks, and they charge an additional 100PHP for snorkel gear. The fishermen use some of their shrimp catch to coax the sharks up to the surface and for that they charge 100PHP for the shrimp. [For Westerners, those are bargain rates, about $7USD total per diver, so I would expect rates to rise as business continues to improve.] The response from tourists has been good and the number of divers has been steadily increasing, thereby allowing the fishermen-turned-ecotourism operators to successfully offset their losses from the sharks feeding in their local waters. So the recognition of the economic value of a living whale shark and the transition to a new source of revenue have been successful.

However, some of the logistics or the specific details as to how the shark diving is carried out have pointed out challenges that need to be addressed immediately. Reports started to circulate that the whale shark operators were unfamiliar with how to safely handle these sharks. Apparently, some fishermen were showing the tourists how they could ride the whale sharks, grabbing the dorsal fin or even, it was reported, grabbing the gills. This can stress the animal unnecessarily and can actually damage the skin, exposing it to unwelcome bacteria.

A Philippine-based dive group, the Sea Knights, stepped in last week to observe the whale sharks and the ecotourism operators' methods. In many parts of the world, there are specific procedures and guidelines that whale shark diving operators follow to both ensure the safety of the sharks and the divers and to make that their actions do not permanently chase away the sharks. The Sea Knights plan to present a report to local government officials soon.

“Oslob is already planning on making an ordinance to protect the whale sharks. We want to recommend to the local government that they make an ordinance as soon as possible and have it implemented right away since the number of whale sharks is growing rapidly,” said Fr. Charlie Orobia, OAR, Sea Knights vice president.

Shark ecotourism is being promoted by many shark conservationists as a viable way to get local communities to recognize the economic value in conserving and protecting sharks, whether it's a relatively benign species like the whale shark or more iconic species like tiger or white sharks. But it is equally important that it be implemented in a safe and prudent manner and that it be effectively managed with guidelines strictly enforced.

To a shark advocate, that's good conservation. To the local fisherman, that's good business.

Source: Cebu Sun-Star.

On the Hunt: study looks at great white shark's ambush capabilities

2011-12-09T17:29:00.000-08:00

If you have shown even a passing interest in great white sharks, you have probably heard or read descriptions of these powerful sharks as ambush predators which feed primarily on seals and sea lions. And you may have seen images of white sharks on the hunt, leaping out of the water as they hope to catch an unsuspecting seal - striking images of one of the ocean's truly most magnificent predators.

In a recent scientific paper, Neil Hammerschlag, Ph.D. of the University of Miami's RJ Dunlap Marine Conservation Program and R. Aidan Martin, Ph.D. of the University of British Columbia examined the nuts and bolts of what transpires when a great white shark is in a predation mode. "Marine predator-prey contests: ambush and speed versus vigilance and agility," published in Marine Biology Research, details the optical and physical advantages and disadvantages for both predator and prey.

Camouflage, Vision, and Speed
The researchers studied great white shark predatory behavior at South Africa's Seal Island, famed for its spectacular breaching white sharks. They observed several elements that play into the shark's ability to affect a successful ambush. First, the time of day: we have heard that many sharks like to hunt at early dusk or sunrise. This is a time period that provides the shark with a workable degree of light to see prey at the surface, but also provides maximum camouflage using its natural counter-shading (dark coloration on top, light underneath). In low light levels, the shark's gray upper body reflects very little light and easily blends in with the dark rocky bottom below.

I have seen this personally where, during bright sun, the shark is illuminated with dancing rays of sunlight and can take on a slight metallic sheen to its skin. But as the sun falls and the dappled light fades, the shark's skin becomes strikingly flat and non-reflective - its cloak of invisibility now at work.

The researchers also noted that the great white shark's ability to see a seal moving along the surface is linked to the shark's depth. A principle call Snell's Law restricts the shark's range of vision to a formula based on depth - a common depth exhibited by the sharks in gaining an ideal horizontal view of the surface (150 to 170m/490 to 550ft) is around 26 to 30m (85 to 98ft).

Finally, there is the great white shark's speed. The muscles of a great white are incredible storehouses of energy, capable of very powerful bursts that can hurtle the shark to speeds of 35km/h (22 mph) at the surface, over 1.5x the speed of breaching blacktip sharks and enough to lift a 2000 pound shark clear of the water. To reach that maximum velocity, the white shark requires a depth - a running start, as it were - of a little over 25m (82ft) and can cover that distance in less than 3 seconds! That leaves the seal with precious little time to escape.

An Opportunity for the Prey
Nature has certainly allowed the great white shark to evolve into an extraordinarily efficient hunter. But does its prey have anything up its sleeve? In the early dusk light, the seal's vision is limited to about 3m (9ft) in depth which can provide it with just a split second to spot an ambushing shark at top speed. However, with that small window of time, nature has provided the seal with a chance to escape. Seals are very agile in the water, with a very tight turning radius and the ability to change direction quickly. So if the seal is not injured in the initial charge, it can utilize its maneuverability to make a hasty getaway. The seal's vigilance and agility can give it an edge in survival. And as one can expect, those seals that are less experienced (ie: young) or slowed by illness or age are often prey for the great white shark because their awareness and agility is diminished.

We know the great white shark is a powerful hunter with capabilities that put it near the very pinnacle of the food chain. Hammerschlag's and Martin's study looks at the actual mechanics of those amazing abilities and makes for an interesting quick read. It proves, once again, how truly fascinating and magnificent these animals are.

Click here to download a PDF of the report.

A Tragedy of Errors: the fate of lionfish, moon jellies, and groupers are intertwined

2011-12-08T21:17:00.000-08:00

What do lionfish and moon jellies have in common? In Florida, it's the goliath grouper. And what links these three sea creatures together is our ability to meddle with the balance of nature.

I have written about lionfish, moon jellies, and groupers in the past (Click here for lionfish, here for jellies, and here for groupers). The lionfish is a beautiful and graceful addition to any South Pacific reef where it exists as a predator that keeps reef fish communities in balance. As an invasive species to Florida and the Caribbean (possibly inadvertently introduced in the early 90's), the lionfish is a voracious predator with an enormous appetite and their numbers have exploded in recent years, posing a significant threat from Florida throughout the Bahamas to reef ecosystems unprepared for such a hungry eating machine.

Sea jellies, or jellyfish, are also beautiful and graceful, but the yin to their yang is the powerful sting in the tentacles of many species, an ability that is used for hunting and feeding rather than as some sort of offensive or defensive weapon. In recent years, scientists have been seeing a greater number of sea jelly "blooms" - huge congregations that some believe are the result of warming temperatures due to climate change or, possibly, a lack of common predators like turtles, tuna, and sharks. For scientists, the jury is still out as to a definitive cause but the anecdotal observation is that sea jelly blooms are being reported with greater frequency.

The goliath grouper, capable of reaching up to a massive 800 pounds, is one of Florida's apex predators, right up there with sharks, billfish, and the other denizens of the deep that nature has entrusted to maintain equilibrium between predators and prey. Unfortunately, the goliath grouper was also a prized catch for sportfishermen and commercial operators and so their numbers declined rapidly over the past few decades. Listed as critically endangered in Florida waters by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in 1990 Florida imposed restrictions on the taking of any goliath grouper. However, like sharks and other apex predators, the grouper's slow reproductive rate has meant a slow recovery and a typical large grouper is currently in the 200-pound range if you're lucky to see one.

So what is the common thread between the three? Well, the goliath grouper would be an ideal candidate to serve as an exterminator of lionfish, if there were only sufficient number. The loss of the grouper to overfishing, combined with the invasion of lionfish due to, well, our thoughtlessness has left the reef communities of Florida and the Caribbean with a real threat on their hands and without a natural defender. This makes the loss of even one grouper a critical one to the marine ecosystem. Then, what about the loss of up to 75 groupers? Seventy-five groupers gone due to moon jellies. Moon jellies, you say?

That's just what happened this past August in the surrounding waters at the St. Lucie nuclear power plant near Ft. Pierce in southeast Florida. A swarm of moon jellies inundated the seawater intake to the plant, causing a shutdown that lasted two days. With thousands of moon jellies plastered up against intake grates, the jellies' delicate tentacles broke off and traveled through the plant's seawater pipes to be expelled back out to sea where they apparently came in contact with a school of groupers, stinging and inflaming their gills. Biologists, who happened to be at the plant overseeing the facility's turtle protection program, were only able to save ten of the groupers before having to leave the water themselves due to multiple stings from the floating fragments of tentacles.

The end result was the loss of several tons of goliath groupers - predators desperately needed to combat the growing army of lionfish. This is often the result when natural resources are abused: not one problem, but a series of overlapping causes and effects. And the common thread was mankind. The cascading effects of our actions when we choose to consume rather than conserve could be our lasting legacy to this planet unless we act now.

Here's a brief video of moon jellies which shut down a nuclear power plant in Israel.

Source: Huffington Post.

Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park: a success story and model for Mexican conservation

2011-12-05T21:09:00.000-08:00

At the southeastern tip of Baja California, along a dusty coastal dirt road is located the small town of Cabo Pulmo. East of the popular and sometimes wild Cabo San Lucas, Cabo Plumo has a success story of its own: the Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park.

At 27 square miles, the Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park is small; tiny when compared to some of the expansive marine parks or sanctuaries established in the South Pacific and elsewhere. But it is a great example of what can occur when local citizens and conservation organizations come together to re-orient the local economy to support the park.

According to Octavio Aburto Oropeza, a post-doctoral researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, California, populations of groupers, sharks, and other top predators have begun to flourish once again, after being heavily depleted by the commercial fishing and sportfishing. The park was established in 1995 and in the succeeding years, the overall biomass has increased dramatically. From 1999 to 2009, it saw a 463% improvement. And apex predators like large groupers, tiger sharks, bull sharks, and other reef-dwelling shark species have skyrocketed by over 1,000 percent.

North of the marine park, in the Gulf of California, there are areas that show a definite decline in the number of fish and the overall health of the reef ecosystems, and that is due primarily to overfishing by commercial operations or even local fishermen. Also, a considerable amount of illegal fishing of protected species takes place in the Gulf which has contributed to a not so stellar conservation image for Mexico. Because of this, the Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park serves as a model for the Mexican government to duplicate throughout the Gulf.

However, it wasn't an easy transition for the locals. Having restricted or "no-take" zones initially met with some resistance and there certainly were some economic adjustments that needed to be made. But over time, the shift from commercial fishing activities to tourism and diving successfully took place, as evidenced by the development of several resorts, scuba diving/snorkeling outfitters, and ecotourism operations.

"It's a very good example of how many benefits can be produced by coastal communities once you pick an area and leave it to that point that the recovery ... produces other benefits," said Aburto.

Aburto has recently been studying the return of the Gulf Grouper within the park; the fish reaching sizes twice that (up to 4 feet) of those caught outside of the park. He will soon be turning his focus on whether or not the positive effects of the park are spilling out beyond its borders. In California, with its system of MPAs (marine protected areas), researchers have seen fish populations increase outside of the MPAs' boundaries (boundaries that are totally unknown to the fish themselves). This is one of the benefits that many fishermen, who initially were MPA opponents, have come to realize. Soon, there will be a complete chain of MPAs along the California coast and it is hoped that the spillover effect will help to boost fish populations over a much wider area.

This is something that Octavio Aburto Oropeza would like to see happen in Mexico, throughout the Gulf of California and beyond. "This is very important to show that if we create bigger areas, and maintain or protect them for all these years, the benefits will be huge."

The Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park is a prime example of what can happen when we preserve rather than plunder our ocean resources. Nature has a remarkable resiliency, an ability to recover - if given the chance. There's a lesson to be learned here.

Learn more about the Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park.
Read a Baja Life Magazine article about Cabo Pulmo.
Source: North County Times.

2011 Arctic Report Card: NOAA report shows Arctic in search of new norm

2011-12-02T21:10:00.000-08:00

In September of 2007, I had the pleasure of being a member of a team that traveled above the Arctic Circle to document evidence of climate change. Organized by InMER.org, the survey was meant to be a precursor to a larger, winter expedition and so much of the data collected was anecdotal, gleaned from interviews with Inuit Indian tribal elders and government officials, and from our own observations.

The summer was also the season when the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported the lowest summer sea ice in recorded history, and we had the opportunity to fly over some and see it's cracked and patchy appearance - quite a difference from the solid sheet it was supposed to be.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other environmental research organizations continued to study the sea ice conditions, and in subsequent years it would fluctuate, showing some signs of improvement one year only to shrink drastically the next. 2011 has turned out to be not a very good year.

"This year’s end of summer ice extent was the second smallest in the 32-year satellite record," says Don Perovich, a geophysicist with the US Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL).

NOAA issues a report each year, its Arctic Report Card, and as they have had enough years to study the ice to establish a baseline for comparison, NOAA is now saying that the Arctic is definitely showing signs of change. With an overall trend of increasing temperatures and thinning ice, there are some definite shifts taking place. Nature is adjusting.

However, that does not mean that a new norm will be a good thing for all species of flora and fauna. In essence, nature's drive is to survive in one form or another, and if that means that some plants or animals are lost in the process then so be it. And that can still portend some serious socio-economic impacts on all of us.

The latest Arctic Report Card notes that the trend is toward longer periods of thin summer sea ice and more open Arctic waters. The melted ice and the exposed water is producing changes in the temperature, the salinity, and the acidic levels of the water. This impacts the growth of organisms, like plankton, at the base of the food chain. So, while polar bears and walruses struggle with thin ice that hampers their hunting (7 of 19 identified polar bear populations are in decline), migrating gray whales are finding a more robust food source and are staying longer to feed.

Away from the water, vegetation is beginning to show adaptation to new conditions. Shrubs are now growing further and further north, in areas that once only had mossy tundra. This was something that the InMER team saw on our expedition. People whose families had been living in the Arctic for several generations were reporting the appearance of shrubs for the first time in their lives. Sightings of grizzly bears moving up from the south, and even the first appearance of a bee in the town of Kugluktuk all represent shifts towards a new norm. While shrubs may be expanding their range as a result of climate change, mosses and lichens are withering and so the Arctic's fundamental botanical ecology is in flux.

"The Arctic is clearly experiencing the impacts of a prolonged and intensified warming trend," says Ms. Jackie Richter-Menge of CRREL . "Given the projection of continued warming, it is very likely, indeed expected, that these changes will continue in years to come, with increasing climatic, physical, biological and socioeconomic impact."

As long as we stay committed to dependence on fossil fuels and through that dependence expel vast quantities of carbon emissions into the atmosphere then we will continue to see nature adapt itself in the Arctic and elsewhere with untold consequences for a variety of species, including mankind.

Read NOAA's 2011 Arctic Report Card.
Source: Nature.com
Image: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

David Shiffman: new generation of shark researcher seeks your vote

2011-11-27T22:54:00.000-08:00

As a filmmaker, one of the reasons I write the RTSeaBlog is because through my work I have come to see that there is a tremendous amount of important research and data which is not making its way to the decision makers or the general public. This is true in the environmental and ecological field as well as in other disciplines. But I am certainly not alone in this understanding and there is a growing group of young scientists determined to change that status quo.

David Shiffman, also known as "Why Sharks Matter" at the Southern Fried Science blog, is one of a new generation of marine scientists who both relishes in research and understands the importance of communicating that research to the widest possible audience through today's various online mediums. He currently is working on his doctorate as a research assistant at the R.J. Dunlap Marine Conservation Program of the University of Miami.

David is also currently in the running as a finalist in the CollegeScholarships.org program that recognizes the efforts of college students and researchers who are utilizing the world of blogging to get the message out. The program is a cash prize awarded to the person with the greatest number of votes from the public.

"[The scholarship] will provide me with $10,000 towards my dissertation research, focusing on the ecological importance of sharks to coral reefs. I'll also use the money to support our lab's citizen science program, which has taken over 1,000 high school students and teachers into the field to learn about sharks and participate in an active research program. I'll also adopt a satellite tagged shark in the name of Southern Fried Science's readers, let them name it through a contest, and post regular updates about where it is and what it's likely to be encountering."

Voting ends November 30th, and it's going to be close. David is the only ocean blogger among the finalists. It would be great if all the finalists could receive cash rewards and maybe someday, with a change in the economy or the mindset of those who don't see conservation as a critical issue, that could happen. But, for the moment, this is what we have.

I have cited David and his blog work in previous posts. I met David several years ago at the first BLUE Ocean Film Festival and can attest that he is dedicated to both sharks and the need for making people aware as to the plight of these animals and what it means to the future of the oceans as a whole. He's got my vote. How about you? You can vote for David by clicking here which will take you to the CollegeScholarships.org voting page (it accepts one vote each day).

Or you can cut and paste their web address: http://www.collegescholarships.org/blog/2011/11/18/2011-blogging-scholarship/
http://www.collegescholarships.org/blog/2011/11/18/2011-blogging-scholarship/

Proposed Marine Park for Bermuda: environmental group working to protect Atlantic island's marine resources

2011-11-27T16:33:00.000-08:00

The islands that make up Bermuda lie just west of the center of the Sargasso Sea in the northern Atlantic Ocean. Further north and a bit removed from its Caribbean cousins, Bermuda has nonetheless enjoyed a fairly healthy tourist trade and is home to a variety of sea life It's aquatic abundance is due in no small part to the Sargasso Sea with its large floating mats of sargassum seaweed which provides a haven for many juvenile fish species.

The Pew Environment Group, as part of its Global Ocean Legacy program, is working to have a national marine park established in Bermuda, similar to marine parks found in other island nations.

“Our goal is to work with the Government of Bermuda, non-government organisations and scientists to establish a very large, no-take marine reserve to protect Bermuda’s ocean habitat within its Exclusive Economic Zone [EEZ], which extends from the islands’ coastline out to 200 nautical miles, and is part of the Sargasso Sea,” said the Pew Environmental Group, which launched the marine national park scheme in 2010.

Such a marine park would not only protect Bermuda's coastal marine resources and contribute to an international effort to establish safeguards to protect at least 10 percent of the world's oceans (I know, 10 percent is not much, but it's a start), but it would also provide protection for the Sargasso Sea and its namesake seaweed.

There is quite a variety of sea life that call the floating sargassum home, from juvenile reef fish to young turtles, invertebrates, and all of the larger predators that might feed on the juvenile populations. And it's not just animals that you would expect to find living locally to Bermuda. There are species that travel great distances to use the sargassum as a breeding ground and nursery. As an example, scientists have documented eel species coming from rivers as far away as North America and even Europe to spawn within the sargassum. The young eels mature in the Sargasso Sea and ultimately migrate back to the rivers.

Six hundred and forty miles from the coast of North Carolina, Bermuda is also surrounded by deep water which provides for a variety of deep sea life, again ranging from small larvae right up to deep-diving whales.

Bermuda might seem a bit remote on the map but it is not immune to the threats of climate change and commercial fishing. The Sargasso Sea is home to tuna, dolphin, wahoo, billfish, sea turtles, and the Porbeagle shark (just recently passed over for protection by the ICCAT). And there are thirty-six species local to Bermuda that have been declared threatened and placed on the IUCN's Red List.

“Given this highly productive ecosystem, scientists, Bermudians and others are concerned about protecting this area from emerging threats, such as proposals to harvest Sargassum for biofuel,” said Pew.

As part of the Global Ocean Legacy program, Pew will be focusing on Bermuda as home to a marine park, as well as areas in the Indian Ocean, Australia's Coral Sea, Hawaii, the Mariana Trench and the waters surrounding Pitcarin - famed for the late-17th century mutineers from the HMS Bounty who came to the remote island from Tahiti.

Here's a brief video about Bermuda's rich ocean resources, produced by National Geographic and narrated by Dr. Sylvia Earle.

Source: Bermuda News & Culture Source.

Octopus Takes a Stroll: tide pool visitors see mollusk on the march

2011-11-23T21:06:00.000-08:00

Marine researchers and aquarists are familiar with the amazing abilities that the octopus has up its sleeve . . . or tentacle. As a mollusk, or more specifically, a cephlapod, the octopus does not have a bony skeleton and this allows it to crawl through the tiniest of cracks and inhabit seemingly cramped quarters from small crevices to discarded teapots to even soda and beer bottles. This skill can be a source of frustration for aquarists as the clever octopus is notorious for seeking out and escaping from its aquarium exhibit through the tiniest of spaces.

Add to that, it's incredible camouflage ability, changing not only its color but the very texture of its skin to match its surroundings. Try doing that, guys, the next time your told to take out the garbage. The one thing that ties these two skills together - as an escape artist and camouflage expert - is the octopus' inherent shyness.

However, for a group of tide pool watchers at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach, south of San Francisco, one bold eight-armed cephlapod decided to be adventurous and go for a walk, literally. A popular YouTube video captures an octopus exiting the water and moving over the sea grass and algae-covered rocks at low tide. Carrying a crab which it later discarded, perhaps to aid in a hastier retreat, the octopus actually walks in a very wide circle, heading back into the water to nearly the exact same spot from where it came.

Although not that uncommon for shoreline octopuses to move from one tide pool to another, it's still fascinating to watch because you can see its arms not only pulling itself along but also pushing its body upwards, acting like strong legs. And you can get a sense it is looking around to get its bearings, seeing where it wants to go and how to get back to the water. All very deliberate-looking in its movements and direction. And all taking place with an enthralled crowd watching and snapping pictures.

One commenter on YouTube had the right idea, suggesting the octopus came from the sea to present an offering of goodwill. "We mean you no harm. Here's a crab. Now go. And leave us in peace."

Renewable Energy: report paints hopeful picture for EU if properly planned

2011-11-22T21:26:00.000-08:00

In the U.S., the Thanksgiving holiday is just a few days away. It's a time when we reflect on what we have, despite all the bad news that is swirling around us, and give thanks. It can be an optimistic day as we consider how far we have come as a nation and a people, and we consider a future filled with many more Thanksgivings by resolving to tackle the challenges we face.

That's a recipe for the whole world to follow as we consider our natural resources and the environment, and the threats that beset them.

So, from across the pond, coming from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in the UK is a report that caught my eye. "Meeting Europe's Renewable Energy Targets in Harmony with Nature" examines the importance of expanding the European Union's renewable energy capabilities and how it can be done without sacrificing nature at the same time. It's a report whose goals and objectives could be applied worldwide.

With renewable energy sources providing EU countries with an average 20% of their energy by the end of the decade as a declared EU goal, the report focuses on the importance of energy sources that have a low impact on nature, such as solar panels, rooftop solar thermal systems and electric vehicles. The report categorizes wind and wave power as medium-risk, while biofuels are placed in a high-risk category.

Martin Harper, RSPB conservation director, said the report was "a call to arms for nature conservation. Climate change is a grave threat to wildlife, and we need ambitious renewable energy targets in order to tackle it. Our study shows that it is possible to meet these targets without putting nature at risk--but there are consequences for nature if we get it wrong."

That, of course, is the trick: avoiding rushing into implementing a particular energy technology without proper planning to consider both short-term and long-term implications. The report reviews many of the issues regarding biofuels, which is an energy source that many feel is a disaster due to the amount of habitat destruction that goes into producing one gallon of fuel. However, the report also brings up the need to, in essence, look into a crystal ball to try to anticipate future issues regarding energy sources. An example from years past would be hydroelectric dams which produced plenty of power but over time severely damaged many rivers, estuaries, and the ecosystems they supported.

Overall, the report lays out a predominantly positive future if we can energize ourselves in committing to renewable energy and if we carry it out carefully and judiciously. "With so much exciting and innovative technology out there from solar arrays and geothermal extraction to electric cars and wave power systems, there is clearly a healthy future for renewable energy and wildlife in the UK and Europe," Harper said.

To download the report, click here.
Learn more from the RSPB website.

ICCAT PostScript: silky shark afforded greater protection but other species ignored

2011-11-19T17:11:00.000-08:00

Follow up to yesterday's post, "Sharks of the Atlantic: new report cites dismal international conservation efforts" . . .

The results of the ICCAT's 22nd Regular Meeting of the Commission in Instanbul, Turkey produced a mixed bag of results, leaning towards more disappointment than satisfaction. ICCAT agreed to establish greater protection for the silky shark - one of the most sought after sharks in the Atlantic shark fishing industry - but protections for the porbeagle, blue, and shortfin mako sharks were passed over, along with other important shark conservation measures that were recommended by Oceana and other conservation groups.

Maintaining a diplomatic stiff upper lip, an Oceana press release stated, “'It is a great day for silky sharks,' said Elizabeth Griffin Wilson, senior manager of marine wildlife at Oceana. 'ICCAT should be commended for its continued effort to protect the oceans top predators. Today’s decision to protect silky sharks is a strong step forward in protecting one of the most commonly found species in the international shark fin trade.'

Oceana did voice concern that ICCAT failed to reach consensus on several important shark measures, including those to protect vulnerable porbeagle sharks, establish science-based precautionary catch limits for blue and shortfin mako sharks and improve the current finning measure by requiring that sharks be landed with their fins wholly or partially attached in a natural manner."

Also in attendance at the ICCAT meeting were representatives of the Pew Environment Group. "Protecting one shark species a year and adopting no other measures for their conservation will not be enough to ensure the survival of these animals across the Atlantic Ocean," said Max Bello, senior advisor on global shark conservation for Pew.

Progress with international organizations can be painfully slow and patience is one of the founding principals of diplomacy. However, incremental steps at this stage may not be enough to preserve endangered shark species like the porbeagle which, it has been reported by scientists, would need a minimum of several decades and possibly more than 100 years to fully recover.

Read Oceana's press release on the results of the ICCAT meeting.
Read comments from the Pew Environment Group in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Sharks of the Atlantic: new report cites dismal international conservation efforts

2011-11-18T20:24:00.000-08:00

Over the past several years, we have been seeing progress made in conserving sharks through the establishment of shark sanctuaries or protected zones that have included entire island nations. The latest measure has been taken by the U.S. state of Florida which initiated a prohibition on the catching of tiger sharks and three species of hammerhead sharks inside Florida state waters. Additionally, we have seen legislation aimed at shark fin bans which, at best, puts pressure on the shark finning industry and, at the very least, forces them to fold up their tents and move elsewhere.

As positive as these steps are, they are regional efforts, globally-speaking, and many sharks species, particularly those considered the most endangered, are known to travel great distances whether traveling along migratory routes or randomly covering a lot of ocean territory and, in so doing, they move in and out of protected areas frequently.

Since these sharks will move in open international waters, it therefore becomes the responsibility of multinational fishery management organizations to ensure that sharks are being properly managed and, in many cases, prohibited from commercial shark fishing.

This could not be any more truer than in the Atlantic Ocean. A just-released report from Oceana cites as much as 75% of the migratory sharks in the Atlantic are classified as threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) but less than 1 percent are protected by the organization that is most responsible for protecting these sharks.

The ICCAT, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, is that responsible organization. According to Oceana, "The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the primary international maritime treaty, establishes that fishing nations must cooperate to ensure the conservation of highly migratory species both within and beyond their exclusive economic zones, through appropriate international organizations."

"Because highly migratory species require international cooperation for effective management, Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) have been established to manage fisheries for these species with the goal of long-term sustainability. In the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) is the most relevant and appropriate international organization to manage highly migratory species, including sharks."

Unfortunately, ICCAT's scorecard has not been a particularly winning one. Heavily influenced by commercial fishing interests, the organization has set catch limits for tuna that are consistently way below levels recommended by their own scientific advisers, and only a few species of sharks have been afforded any degree of protection.

The ICCAT has been holding its 22nd Regular Meeting of the Commission this past week in Istanbul, Turkey and Oceana is there to present the 48 member nations with the facts and to make recommendations as to actions ICCAT should be taking regarding Atlantic Ocean sharks.

Just how many sharks are being taken? Well, trying to answer that question is also part of the problem because as many as half of ICCAT's member nations did not report any shark catches in 2009 - there's no data. Based on what figures are available, combined with scientific and anecdotal observations, the current state of affairs is not good. But until there is reliable data from all member nations, the full extant of the problem can not be appreciated - which is just fine with the commercial fishing industry representatives whispering in the ears of ICCAT delegates.

In its 10-page report, Vulnerable Sharks in the Atlantic Ocean: The Need for International Management, Oceana puts forth the following recommendations to the ICCAT:

Prohibit retention of endangered or particularly vulnerable shark species, especially porbeagle and silky sharks.
Establish science-based precautionary catch limits for blue and shortfin mako sharks.
Require reporting of catch data as a prerequisite for landing a particular shark species.
Improve the ICCAT finning measure by requiring that sharks be landed with their fins wholly or partially attached in a natural manner.

I have reported on the ICCAT's dismal record in the past regarding tuna catch limits and so if the organization's history is any indication, Oceana has probably had it's hands full this past week. But it's a fight worth taking on so, as the meeting in Turkey comes to a close this weekend, let's hope that some decisive progress has been made.

Perhaps someday, with regional protections in place, a growing public awareness and clamor as to the problem, and catch levels reaching limits that are economically unsupportable, the ICCAT will live up to its environmental responsibilities. The sharks are betting their lives on it.

Download Oceana's report: Vulnerable Sharks in the Atlantic Ocean.
Read about the status of Atlantic sharks at Ocean's website.

Wolf Hunts: U.S. gray wolves, no longer protected by Endangered Species Act, are hunted down

2011-11-17T21:14:00.000-08:00

It's official. The gray wolves of the U.S. northern Rockies are getting exterminated.

Government agencies are calling it "predator management" or "harvesting" but the numbers are staggering. In Idaho, from a population of 750 to 1,000, hunters are being allowed to reduce the wolf population to just 150 animals. That's up to 85% of the population - gone. Montana intends to take down 220 of their 556 to 645 wolves. That's nearly 35% to 40% wiped out. Many scientists are concerned that the reduced populations will collapse as they will be so widely dispersed that healthy reproductive patterns will be difficult to maintain. They will literally be spread to thin to sustain themselves.

How has this come about? Weren't wolves protected by the Endangered Species Act at one time? Was it the result of political lobbying by ranchers and hunters? Yes on both accounts.

As reported by James Gibson in the Earth Island Journal, "The recent anti-wolf campaign represents an extraordinary cultural and political victory by the far-right wing in the Rocky Mountains. A loose coalition of some ranchers, hunters, and anti-government zealots demonized the gray wolves reintroduced to Montana and Idaho from Canada in the mid 1990s by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. They cast the animals as huge, aggressive, disease-ridden monsters bent on ravaging livestock, elk, deer, and even people. Wolves became symbolic representations of the hated federal government. In time, both the mainstream Republican and Democratic Parties came to accept this vision of demonic wolves invading from Canada.

In April, 2011, Senator John Tester, Democrat of Montana, facing a tough 2012 reelection challenge from Republican Congressman Denny Rehberg, led a campaign among fellow Democrats to remove gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act using a federal budget bill rider, while Idaho’s Congressman Mike Simpson did the same among House Republicans. The rider passed with little dissent, marking the first time a species has been removed from the protections of the Endangered Species Act by Congress."

That's a key point in all of this: For the first time, politicians - rather than scientists - have decided whether an animal is endangered and entitled to protection under the Endangered Species Act. The danger here is not just the immediate and ongoing threat to the wolves; there are also the implications that this action can mean for a host of other species whose protection under the law might be inconvenient for some lobbyist-represented industry. Do you see a slippery slope building here? If so, you're not alone.

A long list of environmental organizations have been fighting this change in how the Endangered Species Act is wielded. There have been lawsuits and legal appeals - and there will certainly be more.

The Center for Biological Diversity reported, "The Center and its allies are in court to challenge the congressional rider that removed these wolves from the endangered species list. 'The Endangered Species Act rightly put scientists, not politicians, in charge of deciding which species get protection,' said the Center's Noah Greenwald. 'Wolves once roamed most of North America, but were wiped off the map by intolerance and persecution -- which persist today. Wolf recovery is far from complete.'"

But for the moment, gray wolves are more than important natural predators which maintain balance in the Rocky Mountains ecosystem. They're also, now, targets.

Click here to view pictures taken by Maureen Mitra of the ongoing hunt for gray Wolves.

Read more about the wolf hunts in Earth Island Journal.
Read about what is being done on the legal side in The Center for Biological Diversity.

Seagrasses: important coastal marine plants at risk

2011-11-15T22:04:00.000-08:00

This month, SeaWeb is focusing attention on seagrasses, their importance, and the organizations working to preserve them. Sea grasses are not to be confused with seaweeds (algae); seagrasses are actually "flowering" plants much like we find on land - male and female, pollen and seeds. They grow in marine shallows and estuaries where their root structures take in nutrients (which differs from the roots of algae which serve primarily to secure the plant to the bottom).

Seagrasses play a key role in the ocean's ability to sequester carbon via photosynthesis. However, that capability is being impacted by man-made activities. Our current population of approximately 7 billion puts a tremendous demand on agriculture to produce enough food. To do that has required the introduction of powerful, nitrogen-based fertilizers. When these fertilizers make there way to the oceans, with they often do, eutrophication occurs. This is when the excess nitrogen causes an increase in phytoplankton and macro algae. This in turn, blocks sunlight and hampers photosynthesis in the seagrasses. The seagrass beds are weakened and ultimately an entire marine ecosystem can shift from seagrass-based to algal-based.

Coastal urban development can also impact seagrass beds as building and land reclamation can occur in prime seagrass areas. Worldwide, we are currently losing seagrass populations at a rate of 7% on average each year. Adding to that decline are the impacts from climate change. As we begin to see more and more periods of hot and wet weather, the increased rains and floods mean more freshwater flowing into local shorelines, thereby altering the salinity levels that are crucial for the healthy growth of seagrasses.

Mankind is not the only beneficiary of seagrasses. Juvenile sealife, from lemon sharks to scores of fish, find a safe haven within seagrass beds, while sea turtles and dugongs or manatees depend on the plants as a food source.

There are several organizations working to conserve and protect seagrasses. Seagrass-Watch is one such group that monitors and assesses the health of seagrasses in Australia and initiates replanting programs in an attempt to regain seagrass beds that have been lost to flooding. The World Seagrass Association, in conjunction with Conservation International, has produced a learning syllabus for marine management groups and government agencies. While designed to be the foundation for professional training and education, the syllabus does provide the layperson with a good sense of the importance of seagrasses and the threats that these plants are facing. You can click here to download the syllabus and give it a read.

Here's an excerpt:

The Ecological Role of Seagrass Beds Seagrass beds are important because:

They provide food for macrograzers (e.g. sea turtles) and micrograzers (e.g. sea urchins)
They provide refuges and nurseries for larvae and juveniles of many fish species (e.g. groupers, snappers, barracudas, yellow grunts)
They reduce coastal erosion, filter water, and trap sediment
They produce oxygen and take up carbon dioxide

Food and shelter

Juvenile fish and prawns mature in seagrass beds
Lobsters, crabs, and seahorses also live in seagrasses, as do important molluscs such as clams and conch
Marine herbivores, like dugongs, rely on seagrass as their primary food source, a healthy dugong can eat up to 40kg wet weight of sea grass per day
Seagrasses are also an important part of green sea turtle diets, turtles eat around 2kg wet weight of sea grass each day
Coastal waterfowl, such as ducks, geese, and swans eat seagrass too

Sediment and water clarity

Seagrass leaves trap sediment particles, improving water clarity
Seagrass roots also stabilize sediments, keeping the water clear
Seagrass root structure keeps coastal erosion under control

Oxygen and carbon dioxide

Seagrass takes up carbon dioxide during the process of photosynthesis and converts it to food for the plant
As a result of this process, seagrasses release oxygen that other marine creatures use
Oxygen is the major gas that seagrasses pump into sediments, keeping them aerated

There are many forms of marine life and complex ecosystems further out at sea that get a lot of deserved attention and concern. But right along our coastlines, right under our noses, are critical ecosystems that revolve around seagrasses which require our attention as they benefit man as well as the oceans themselves.

Read about seagrasses at SeaWeb.
Read about Seagrass-Watch.
Read about the World Seagrass Association.
Download the Seagrass Syllabus.

Manta Rays: decline motivates IUCN to declare rays vulnerable to extinction

2011-11-14T22:00:00.000-08:00

Here's a piece of good news for manta rays and all those who love them. David Shiffman (WhySharksMatter) writes in southernfriedscience.com about steps being taken by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) regarding adding manta rays to the IUCN's Red List, listing them as "Vulnerable" to extinction.

Now that may not seem like good news at first, but by making the declaration, it can start the wheels in motion that can lead to international regulations and restrictions. This can lead to preserving the species and preventing any further erosion to their numbers beyond the 30% decline that has been seen in the past few decades.

Threatened Gentle Giants: both species of manta ray added to the IUCN Red List

Manta rays are true gentle giants; though they can grow more than 20 feet wide from wingtip to wingtip, they eat only plankton. Swimming with these animals is a rare thrill for SCUBA divers, and manta-viewing ecotourism is worth over $100 million each year. Like many species of sharks, manta rays grow slowly and reproduce rarely. According to Dr. Nick Dulvy of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group, “ they give birth to an average of one offspring every two years…they are a long-lived species with little capacity to cope with modern fishing methods.” They also migrate across huge distances, regularly crossing between national boundaries and spending much of their time on the high seas, making management difficult.

Although their biology cannot support a large-scale fishery and their behavior makes any fishery inherently difficult to manage, manta rays are very much in demand. At least part of them is: their gill rakers. According to Lucy Harrison, program officer for the IUCN Shark Specialist group, “Increasing demand for these fishes’ filter-feeding system for traditional Chinese medicinal purposes, especially in Hong Kong, is rapidly driving down their population everywhere.”

By some measures, the global population of manta rays has declined by more than 30% in recent decades, with some local populations facing much larger declines. Earlier this week, an IUCN Shark Specialist Group team led by Andrea Marshall has concluded that both species of manta ray (the giant manta Manta birostris and the reef manta Manta alfredi) should be declared Vulnerable* to extinction.

The IUCN Shark Specialist Group recommends that several steps be taken to protect mantas from further population declines. These include creating an international conservation treaty for both species, a CITES listing, and national-level policy changes in countries that fish for mantas. Some of these proposals may benefit from the support of the online conservation community, so please stay tuned! I’ll continue to report on these suggested policies as they moves forward.

* “Vulnerable” in the context of an IUCN Red List status should be capitalized, as should other IUCN Red List statuses. For more information on what “Vulnerable” means, please visit the Red List website here.

Ocean Medicines: PolicyMic looks at deep sea potential

2011-11-13T14:26:00.000-08:00

For many, the oceans are both a source of nourishment and a waste disposal site. But they can also be a source of important new medicines. Unfortunately, our desire to fill our stomachs with the ocean's bounty or empty our trash is also threatening its possibilities as a new-found pharmacy.

In June, I wrote about the ocean's medicinal potential and Jonathan Booth, writing for PolicyMic.com, has written an excellent piece on the deep ocean as a source of new medicines. Rather than paraphrase, here is his piece in its entirety:

Oceanic Discoveries With Medicinal Powers

When we think of obtaining medicines from natural sources, we usually conjure up scenes of trekking through vast swathes of dense tropical forest in search of rare ferns, vines, palms, and other plant life. However, there is now a growing interest in the lesser known organisms that inhabit the oceanic abyss and the medicinal and genetic properties they may contain. An organisation that has taken significant steps to examine deep sea animals is CIOERT, which recently conducted deep sea expeditions in search of invertebrates to help alleviate an array of ailments, including cancer. Likewise, researchers in Australia have discovered derivatives from some sea cucumber species that can work as an anti-inflammatory, and some coral compounds may be used to help with bone grafting or the treatment of tumours. Accordingly, swift actions need to be taken to fund and promote the exploration, research, and protection of the oceans – some of the least explored habitats, which often escape environmental and ecological policy.

Over three-quarters of our planet is submerged under seawater, and with the Pacific Ocean’s deepest point extending over 10,000 metres below sea level, the oceans form undoubtedly the largest habitable and least explored environment on earth. Yet, unlike terrestrial regions, the absence of breathable oxygen, diminishing light levels, and immensely pressurised depths make the seas an almost inaccessible domain for humans. Due to these conditions, marine systems also function differently to land-based habitats. The land relies on plants to capture the sun’s light and combine it with water and CO2 to synthesise sugars; this provides the crux of all land food-webs. In the sunlit upper layers of the sea, conversely, green plants are substituted for single-celled phytoplankton, and terrestrial insects and herbivorous mammals are replaced with zooplankton (a drifting soup of eggs, sperm, and microscopic animals).

The deep ocean is devoid of light so no plants can live in this region; instead, abyssal organisms have to rely on organic detritus that drifts from above, or mineral-laden volcanic plumes that belch from the inner earth. In this unfamiliar realm, it is not surprising that marine scientists are making seemingly countless discoveries about new animals and even new ecosystems.

The sea floor is dominated by the weird and wonderful world of invertebrates. From the colorful architectures of sponges and corals, to mechanical crustaceans and a bewildering array of worms, starfish, sea cucumbers, and sea squirts it is difficult not to be amazed by some of these curious creatures. However, such life forms are not only visually stimulating: In the eyes of the medical profession, their physiologies can be lifesaving too, which reiterates the need to research and preserve oceanic organisms and their environments.

An animal that has been a favorite lab companion for many pharmaceutical industries is the horseshoe crab. With a large, flattened, dome-shaped carapace that masks almost all signs of the segmented limbs that emerge from beneath, and a long, tail-spike that juts out from the rear, this animal almost defies belief. Yet apart from its science fiction-like form, these extraordinary creatures have also caught the attention of the medical profession, who have been collecting specimens over the past few decades to assist scientists with medical trials. This is due to the presence of copper-based haemocyanin in the animal’s blue blood (unlike the red-pigmented ferrous haemoglobin found in mammals); this blood contains amebocytes – white-blood cell substitutes – that can help identify the presence of bacteria in medicinal solutions. Marine discoveries like these have helped to further medical progression, which in the case of the horseshoe crab includes the development of wound dressings, optical research, and the guarantee that all your injections are free from bacterial contaminants.

Recent discoveries concerning the physiological and genetic characteristics of this cast of organisms are advancing the understanding of medicine, which could be significant for society. In order to further this knowledge, we need to expand deep sea exploration projects and associated research. Since the 1970s, submersibles have discovered not only new fauna, but also entire ecosystems that function without any source of sunlight. However, there is also a need to conserve and protect the oceans. Currently, national marine parks and marine protected areas help to conserve certain coastal regions, such as coral reefs; yet the open oceans and abyss have been largely neglected. Pollution, oceanic waste-sites, overfishing, and other marine exploitations have had adverse repercussions on our marine systems; such impacts could be furthered by the escalating threats of projected anthropogenic climate changes. It is apparent, therefore, that appropriate measures need to be taken to not only research the deep and its inhabitants, but also to conserve it. Otherwise, we may be destroying a ready stocked medicine chest that has yet to be delved into – and a beautifully adorned one at that.

theBlu: bringing an interactive, underwater world to the Web

2011-11-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

Ocean conservation can be challenging because it requires engaging an audience in a world that for the most part they cannot see. Ocean ecosystems exist below the waves, out of sight of most people and so to relate to it in any kind of meaningful way, we rely on photographs, films, and books.

These kinds of media can be moving and effective but they are also passive. Interaction can add that little extra which can sometimes help to bring an unseen world truly to life in the mind of the participant. This is what scuba divers, free divers and even snorkelers experience with their in-water activities; a different kind of visceral stimulus that media is not able to provide.

theBlu - an oceanic interactive experience
Now comes theBlu, bringing the interconnectivity of the Web to further our understanding and appreciation of the ocean and all its inhabitants. theBlu is a new, web-based application that allows users to view different oceanic realms, selecting and adding sealife to their own personal ocean experience and even sharing sealife with other users throughout the world. It is a platform in which qualified digital artists can contribute realistic computer-generated sealife and users can build their own underwater domains and learn about the various inhabitants.

The brainchild of Neville Spiteri, founder and CEO of Wemo Media based in Venice, California, theBlu has received support from various media and high-tech sources as Andy Jones, animation director on "Avatar"; Joichi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab; and Louie Psihoyos, director of the 2009 Academy Award-winning "The Cove."

Online soon - a undersea world like we would want it to be
theBlu is currently wrapping up its beta-testing phase and should be fully online in the next several weeks. For the moment, interested users or digital artists can sign up for an invitation to explore and learn more about theBlu and its inner workings. (High demand has pushed invitations being completed in sometimes 1-2 weeks.) What I have seen so far is very intriguing. It paints a realistic world of oceanlife, perhaps the way we would like it to be - without the fishing nets, the pollution, and other threats. That could be a starting place to get people to realize that it is a precious, living, breathing world happening just below the surface.

Perhaps at some future point, theBlu will need to show more of the reality of what is happening today - of what was, what is now, and what could be. What propels many of us in being ocean conservation advocates is that we have seen what is going on behind the beautiful pictures of coral reefs, huge masses of schooling fish, and magnificent undersea behemoths; we have seen the loss and know that it must stop. So, for those who may never have the opportunity to actually look beneath the waves, theBlu is working to harness the Internet to hopefully enlighten those people and from there we can all work together to preserve this vital natural resource that the world depends on.

Visit and submit an invitation request at theBlu website.

Western Black Rhino: IUCN declares the African species officially extinct

2011-11-10T21:54:00.000-08:00

We've lost one and the world is a lesser place for it.

Today, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declared the Western Black Rhinoceros of Africa officially extinct.

In addition, two other sub-species of rhinos are being considered as most likely gone. The Northern White Rhino of central Africa is considered "possibly extinct" in the wild, and the Javan Rhino is "probably extinct" in Viet Nam (a small population is still holding on in Java, but their numbers are declining).

Rhino populations have suffered for decades due to habitat loss and, in particular, poaching. The demand for rhinoceros horn as a homeopathic cure in Eastern medicine, ranging from cancer cures to an aphrodisiac, has lead poachers to track down rhinos within supposedly protected animal reserves. The same situation is putting tigers and Asian bears at a high level of risk also.

When the population of a particular species gets low enough, several factors come into play that can cause their numbers to rapidly decline, spinning out of control. Lack of sexually mature males and females; bio-dispersion, whereby the population is now so diverse the odds of an encounter between a male and a female become more remote; poor health due to a lack of good mixing of the DNA gene pool - all begin to work against the few remaining animals.

"In the case of both the Western Black Rhino and the Northern White Rhino, the situation could have had very different results if the suggested conservation measures had been implemented," he added. "These measures must be strengthened now, specifically managing habitats in order to improve breeding performance, preventing other rhinos from fading into extinction," said Simon Stuart of the IUCN Species Survival Commission.

But all is not a total loss for one of wild nature's iconic species. Although a quarter of all mammal species are facing extinction, according to the IUCN's Red List, when conservation measures are put in place and effectively managed and enforced, there can be positive results. Case in point: Africa's Southern White Rhino had reached a perilous low of around 100 animals at the end of the 19th century - a victim of both poaching and "great white hunters." But today the Southern White Rhino numbers over 20,000.

In Nature, any extinction is a loss - from a small insect to a massive animal like a rhino. The biological web that ties all species together within an ecosystem makes adjustments for the loss and sometimes those adjustments cascade through several different flora and fauna as it looks for some sort of stability. Whether the changes are subtle or catastrophic, they are changes at the hand of man, changes that nature was never truly prepared to deal with.

When we lose the Western Black Rhino, we lose a little bit of ourselves, of our potential as stewards of the environment.

Source: MSNBC.

Cayman Island Tiger Sharks: tagging data shows possible Caribbean migratory patterns

2011-11-09T22:37:00.000-08:00

The Cayman News Service reported that three tiger sharks that were tagged almost a year ago in waters off the Cayman Islands have returned having roamed the wide waters of the Caribbean. The original tagging project was a joint effort between the Department of Environment (DoE), Marine Conservation International (MCI), the Guy Harvey Research Institute (GHRI) at Nova Southeastern University and the Save Our Seas Foundation.

The three sharks were tagged with satellite tags which can provide a variety of data in addition to basic positioning information. One of the three sharks spent a great deal of time cruising the coast of Jamaica; another has been in deep waters off the Cayman Islands; while the third shark spent the summer in the southwest, off Honduras and Nicaragua.

While not necessarily covering the same long "point A to point B" distances that have been reported with sharks like great white sharks and whale sharks, the data does show that the sharks can cover a considerable amount of territory and that these movements might constitute "migrations" if there is a schedule or pattern to their journeys.

Being able to verify that sharks frequent the Cayman Islands via migratory patterns might help give weight to the need to protect them - proving that they are not infrequent or fluke visitors not deserving of specific attention.

The Cayman News Service reported, "Despite their precarious situation, there is no law to protect sharks in Cayman waters but hopes for the species have been raised in the region following the ban on shark fishing by Belize, Mexico, St Maarten, Honduras and the Bahamas. Timothy Austin, Deputy Director of the DoE, welcomed the ban by neighbouring countries. 'This will give a boost to the health of the marine environment for the Caribbean,' he said."

Read about the sharks in the Cayman News Service.

Ocean Strategy: UN groups issue report as framework for international ocean conservation efforts

2011-11-07T20:31:00.000-08:00

Four United Nations organizations jointly released a report recently that outlined 10 general steps as part of an overall ocean conservation strategy. The four groups - the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, UN Development Programme, International Maritime Organization, and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization - released the report, Blueprint for Ocean and Coastal Sustainability, as a means to lay down a unifying framework for international efforts.

Formal adoption of the report's recommendations is anticipated during the next United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (RIO+20) in June of 2012. The 10 steps are broad in scope, lacking in details or specifics. And that can always be a problem because once you wade into an issue, issues of cost or economic impact can raise their heads and that always seems to attract the lobbyists and industry-supporting diplomats. Backroom deals are cut and often the end result can be good intentions but little or no action.

Here are the ten measures listed in the report:

Create a global market for ‘blue carbon’ or carbon dioxide stored in the oceans;
Correct problems in governance on the management of the high seas by strengthening the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea;
Support the development of a green economy in small island developing states;
Encourage research on ocean acidification to adapt to it and mitigate it;
Increase institutional capacities for scientific observation of the oceans and coastal areas;
Reform and strengthen regional organizations in the management of ocean resources;
Promote responsible fishing and aquaculture in the context of a green economy;
Strengthen the legal frameworks to address the problem of invasive aquatic species;
Green' the economy of nutrients to reduce hypoxia in the oceans and promote food security;
Strengthen coordination, coherence and effectiveness of the United Nations in all activities related to oceans.

South America's MercoPress reported, According to the authors of the report, 'the full realization of many of the goals and objectives will require increased efforts by states, intergovernmental organizations and the international community.' Their goal will be successful if responsible policies and effective institutional arrangements are adopted, 'which will require a greater degree of commitment and funding from the international community, and also from the nations and the business world.'”

That's quite a handful, but with quantifiable deterioration of 60% of the planet's marine ecosystems in addition to nations and their citizens continuing to abuse natural resources rather than conserve and sustain them, let's hope that with a defined general framework of ocean conservation measures as a starting point, we will be able to fill in the blanks and accomplish needed specific objectives on an international level.

Download the Blueprint for Ocean and Coastal Sustainability in PDF.
Read more about the 10 measures in the MercoPress.

Fiji's Sharks: study shows big business and locals are depleting a tourism and natural resource

2011-11-06T15:29:00.000-08:00

Following on the accomplishments of island nations like Palau to establish shark sanctuaries, there is a movement developing to do the same in Fiji. While it has not yet reached the point of actual legislation or regulations for consideration by the Fijian government, it would appear to not be a moment too soon either.

According to a study just completed by Dr. Demian Chapman of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science, Stony Brook University in New York, shark fishermen are targeting at least 10 species that are listed on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List. Included are sharks that make up a large part of Fiji's shark eco-tourism operations which contributes to the islands' tourism base.

Working in consort with the Fiji Fisheries Department, Dr. Chapman, who gained scientific recognition for his research in shark DNA that allowed for the tracking of hammerhead fins back to their place of origin, studied two shark fin traders in Fiji and combined his data with that of other researchers to paint an overall disturbing picture of the shark fin trade between Fiji and Hong Kong.

Three species - blue sharks, oceanic whitetips, and the silky shark were being targeted as bycatch from the tuna fisheries. However, one aspect of the study that was of particular concern was the extant to which local fishermen were involved, catching species more commonly found closer to shore. These are the sharks that divers from around the globe come to Fiji to see and so it represents a sizable lost economic value for the shark eco-tourism operators and the islands as a whole.

"I also observed a number of fins from inshore species. According to traders, these come from the coast of Fiji and are collected by local people who are paid by the dealers for shark fins and sea cucumbers," said Dr. Chapman.

This points to one of the major problems with the shark fin trade. While there is a large industrial fishing component that must be combated, there are also locals involved, merely trying to make a living. Like organized crime or the drug trade, these locals are not paid top dollar for their efforts - that's reserved for those further up in the shark fin distribution food chain - but they are tempted to participate as it could mean food on the table in a tough economy (not every Fiji citizen is employed by or benefits from the tourist trade).

And speaking of those further up the food chain, the amount of product that is being moved through Fiji alone is staggering. As reported in The Fiji Times Online, Dr. Chapman said, "I estimated the total number of fins present at each dealer by counting the number of fins visible in digital photographs taken onsite. Since most sharks produce four marketable fins (dorsal, two pectoral and lower caudal), I divided the estimated total number of fins by a factor of four to estimate the total number of individual sharks killed. One dealer had approximately 1000 fins drying, which represents at least 250 sharks killed.

"The dealer also had four large freezers full of frozen fins that were impossible to count. The other dealer had three very large piles of dried fins that I estimate contained a total of 10,000-12,000 fins and represented 2500-4000 dead sharks. The dealer indicated that they were exporting this volume on a monthly basis from Nadi International Airport to Hong Kong."

Twenty-five hundred to four thousand sharks each month, potentially coming from Fijian waters. Fiji's shark species and reef ecosystems can not withstand this kind of harvest.

The Fiji Times Online also quoted Ratu Manoa Rasigatale, who is spearheading an awareness campaign for the Coral Reef Alliance and Pew Environment Group to turn Fiji's waters into a shark sanctuary, '"It is sad to note from Dr Chapman's assessment that locals are heavily involved in the killing of reef sharks,' said Ratu Manoa, dubbed the Sharkman for his efforts to spread the gospel of shark conservation to all levels of the community in Fiji."

The only upside to a report like this is that it represents the kind of factual data needed to support a drive for establishing a shark sanctuary. No moral arguments about finning, no anecdotal evidence or stories of tradition or folklore; just the cold hard facts. Economic facts. Somebody is making a lot of money and it's not Fiji's everyday citizen; and one of the islands' major economic engines - the tourist trade - is at risk. Hopefully, that should catch the attention of government officials who are willing to look at the long-term future of Fiji's economy, its reefs and the sharks that call those reefs and the surrounding waters home.

Read about the shark fin trade in Fiji in The Fiji Times Online.

Antarctic Ocean Alliance: coalition to protect fertile seas of the South Pole

2011-11-04T20:22:00.000-07:00

It was many decades ago that several leading nations essentially carved up the continent of Antarctica, and so you had nations like the U.S. Russia, Great Britain, and others exploring and studying this hostile, austere, but starkly beautiful landscape. In 1959, the Antarctic Treaty was put into place which effectively demilitarized Antarctica, recognizing its primary value as a scientific laboratory. And in 1991 (made fully effective in 1998), the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty banned all mining and designated Antarctica as a "natural reserve devoted to peace and science."

So much for the protection of the continent. But what about the seas that surround it?

The oceans that surround Antarctica are extremely rich in marine life including krill which is one of the fundamental building blocks of a marine ecosystem. And it has been a source of major commercial fishing for several nations including Russia, Norway, Korea, New Zealand, the UK, and Spain. The Ross Sea, which hugs the Antarctica coast almost equi-distant between South America and Australia, is a particularly fertile ground for commercial fishing. However, as the rest of the world's seas are showing evidence of overfishing, it's only a matter of time for Antarctica to potentially suffer the same fate.

To address the future of the seas of Antarctica, several leading conservation organizations have banded together to promote the Antarctic Ocean Alliance. The Alliance's mission is to establish marine protected areas (MPAs) and no-take reserves around the icy continent, thereby providing the same measure of protection for the oceans as is afforded the land.

The organizations include the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), Oceana, Greenpeace, Mission Blue, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), The Last Ocean, Oceans 5, Forest & Bird, and several others. Famed oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, head of Mission Blue, has been an avid spokesperson for the coalition and its goals (see video below) and through her public promoting and that of the other organizations, it is hoped that there will be a sufficient groundswell of support to help motivate the policymakers.
“As the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) has set a time frame for a representative system of marine protected areas by 2012, there is an unprecedented window of opportunity to establish this network in the oceans around Antarctica as a legacy for future generations,” said the Antarctic Ocean Alliance in a public statement.

Developing Antarctic MPAs would be an ambitious project and the cumulative end result would be the establishment of the largest collection of MPAs on the planet.

Steve Campbell of the Alliance said, "The biggest marine reserve in the world at the moment is about 600,000 sqkm but we know that there are areas around Antarctica which could certainly add up to a lot more than that. We've identified about 19 regions around Antarctica where there could be a marine reserve or marine protected areas set up and this would establish a network of areas all the way around the continent of Antarctica and would be put in place for all time we hope."

The Antarctic Ocean Alliance has produced a brief video that clearly explains the situation and their goals. It shows how, due to commercial overfishing, the Antarctic's seas stand as an oasis surrounded by depleted waters. With the impact of climate change already threatening the continent's ice masses and surrounding ocean temperatures (which has worldwide implications as the world's polar regions act as generators of current, temperature and weather patterns across the globe), it would seem that protecting the marine life which call these chilly waters home would be a positive step. However, getting consensus from nations and being able to effectively enforce the security and integrity of the MPAs could be the greatest challenge.

"The problem at the moment is that as fisheries resources around the world come under more and more pressure, there are going to be more distant water-fishing nations who want to go to the oceans around Antarctica to extract protein," said Campbell. "And they are going to do it either legally or illegally."

Read about the Antarctic Ocean Alliance in Fish Info & Services.
Visit the Antarctic Ocean Alliance website.
Read about the history of Antarctica in Wikipedia.

The Montebello's Oil: California wreck is no longer a threat but a mystery lingers

2011-11-02T20:33:00.000-07:00

A couple of years back, I had pitched a television show on potential environmental disasters - man-made situations waiting to turn into ecological nightmares unless we act now. One of the segments of the show was to examine the condition and future fate of the Montebello, a 457-foot oil tanker resting on the ocean floor off the central California coast.

In the pre-dawn hours, only fifteen days following the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Japanese submarine sent the Montebello to the bottom as it left Port San Luis. She came to rest in 900 feet of water, taking along her cargo of over 3 million gallons of crude oil.

Mystery has surrounded the Montebello; surviving crewmembers claimed she was struck amidships but no oil leaked from its wound and its current position on the sandy bottom perhaps tells a different story. In 1996, NOAA sent a submersible down to explore the wreck and found it in surprisingly good shape. It appeared that the freighter had been struck near the bow, which was separated from the rest of the ship when it struck the bottom. Fortunately, the holds or tanks that would contain the oil appeared to be intact.

In 2003, the Montebello was again visited, this time by scientists from the Monterey Bay and Channel Islands Marine Sanctuaries. And this time, the old girl was beginning to show her age. The threat of the ship giving up its cargo in the form of a massive oil leak became a very real issue. However, no one was quite sure of its deadly cargo - what type of oil was it that none had been detected in over 70 years?

The following year, the Oakland Trubune reported, "Scientists were vexed by the mystery: They didn't know the density of the oil that the Montebello had taken on, an important factor for predicting the likelihood of a leak. After reading a newspaper story, Richard Quincy [surviving crewmember from the Montebello] called marine sanctuary officials with the answer: At Port San Luis, the Vancouver-bound ship had taken on a load of Santa Maria crude - oil so thick it had to be heated just to flow."

One of the 1996 researchers, Robert Schwemmer was quoted as saying, "The historic record has not revealed any oil discharge or oiled beaches in the area. So, that leads us to believe it potentially has the oil. The water temperature's 41 degrees. So, the consistency of this oil is a tar ball or Jell-o."

The Montebello was an ecological time bomb. And the clock was ticking. . .

Now return to the present and the results of several weeks of underwater testing on the Montebello have just been announced. Using advanced technology to determine the density of the liquid inside the still-intact ship, along with drilling into the fuel tanks to sample what was inside, scientists and researchers from NOAA, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the U.S. Coast Guard have come up with a startling discovery.

"At the end of the day, the Montebello is filled with seawater," said Fish and Game spokesperson Andrew Hughan.

Seawater! So, just where did over 3 million gallons of crude oil go? In a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, writer Tony Barboza reported, "The answer may never be known, but scientists have developed one scenario: Some of the oil leaked out and evaporated within the first few days after the boat went down. The bulk of it probably gurgled to the surface as the ship sank, drifting south and away from the shoreline, scientists suggested. Whatever was left inside might have washed ashore but, scattered so widely, it probably went unnoticed."

But can that be possible? Can oil, once reported to be the consistency of Jell-o, simply gurgle to the surface and evaporate? Granted, the oil becomes much for fluid when exposed to warmer temperatures - but 3 million gallons going unnoticed? Well, it's truly a mystery with what would appear to be a happy ending: no horrendous oil spill to blacken the beaches and destroy surrounding marine life in central California.

Jordan Stout, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Scientific Support Coordinator, summed it up, "We will probably never know what happened to the oil."

Read about the Montebello from the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Read recent article on the Montebello's oil in the Los Angeles Times.

California's Cap-and-Trade: guest post looks at proposed economic solution to carbon pollution

2011-11-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

Beginning in 2013, a major component of AB 32, California's climate change legislation, will commence: cap-and-trade regulations. California will lead the United States in the initiation of cap-and-trade policies and much of the country will be watching as to whether it proves to be a viable approach to stemming carbon emissions.

Cap-and-trade has it proponents, and at first blush it does seem to look good on paper. But it has its detractors, too - from businesses opposed to more government regulations to environmental groups opposed to the idea of polluters buying their way out of trouble. (Nature does not take into account a polluter's ability to pay for its own mess and then simply mitigates the negative impacts accordingly.)

One encouraging note is that, whether or not the cap-and-trade provisions of AB32 succeed and continue or fail and are discarded, the legislated overall reduction in carbon and greenhouse gas emissions will continue. At least that is what the politicians are currently saying.

Reported in the Los Angeles Times, former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said, "Today's adoption of a cap-and-trade program is a major milestone for California's continued leadership on reducing the world's greenhouse gases. As I said both when we signed the legislation in 2006, and when we fought to protect it last year when Texas oil companies attempted to overturn it with Proposition 23, the most critical phase in the fight against climate change is diligently, aggressively, and correctly implementing this law."

Elaine Hirsch, writer and affiliate with MastersDegree.net, a clearing house for online degree programs, has contributed the following guest post on the subject of California's cap-and-trade program. In it, she examines how cap-and-trade hopes to find an economic motivator to address an environmental issue.

Why Cap-and-Trade in California Should be Given a Chance

Scientists , policymakers, and academics have intensely argued about the validity of climate change since the late 20th century. With over seven billion humans inhabiting the Earth, the negative externalities of consuming energy and polluting the atmosphere are becoming increasingly pertinent problems. Regardless of arguments over climate change or increasing energy prices, it doesn't take a master's degree in climate science to realize that the amount of energy consumed is increasing at an unsustainable rate. Either consumption needs to be capped from excessive use or alternative resources must be found. California recently announced that it's pioneering a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, which will help exacerbate both problems mentioned above.

Benefits of Cap-and-Trade
Starting in 2013, California's Air Resources Board will dole out carbon credits to carbon emitters in the state. Companies can use all of their credits on emissions or buy/sell credits to others. The idea behind this system is that California will be able to control how much total emissions businesses will be able to produce as a whole, allowing the state to reduce its carbon-dioxide emissions 25% below 1990 levels by 2020. Furthermore, policymakers expect this system to become a $10 billion market by 2016. Essentially, California would be creating a market out of thin air while cleaning the state's air quality.

Although a cap-and-trade system is ultimately dictated by the state government, it retains a market approach which will please many businesspeople. Theoretically, allowing parties to dictate the costs of negative externalities is the most efficient way to find a true cost for a good. Since valuing the price of carbon is a little-researched topic, allowing businesses to essentially bid on the price will be a simple way to value the substance.

In addition to financial benefits, capping the amount of carbon emissions would act as an incentive for companies to innovate alternative energy methods. Say, if the price of a carbon credit would be too expensive for start-up companies, these companies would increase the demand for alternative energy forms such as solar, wind or nuclear. This demand would help fund initiatives for energy companies to seek cheaper alternative energy sources, creating a sustainable future for the state (and the world!).

Far From a Solution
With that said, cap-and-trade is nothing close to a panacea for our energy woes. A classic argument opposing cap-and-trade stems from disdain towards government interventions in the marketplace. Removing government intervention from markets theoretically allow businesses to most efficiently allocate their capital. Imposing the extra costs of buying carbon credits would drive up business costs and create inefficiencies for businesses.

For less free-market adherents, an alternative proposition would be a carbon tax in lieu of a cap-and-trade model. Although it would set no hard limit for how much emissions are released into the atmosphere, the state will gain tax revenue and create an incentive for businesses to find alternative energy sources to relieve taxes.

Obviously, non-believers of climate change will also be against a cap-and-trade policy. Both economists and policymakers admit that cap-and-trade would create business inefficiencies and dead-weight-losses, which will be a central focus during a time of stagnant economic growth and dismal unemployment numbers.

Hopefully, this article has illuminated many of the tangible and ideological arguments for and against a cap-and-trade system. With the cost of pollution being a hard commodity to value, implementing a cap-and-trade system in California is a great way to test how the system would work in a real-world setting. California is a large state with a vibrant economy and prominent businesses, which provides a solid framework for such a social experiment. The upside of this project would lead to less carbon emissions, higher tax revenues, and innovations in energy ideas. The downside would be an increase in government control in private enterprise and further economic stagnation. Finally, if the experiment were to fail, the costs of reversing the policy would be much less than if the United States were to reverse policy on a national level. Regardless, the entire country will be watching this social experiment, so it may be wise for both proponents and opponents to wait for the results before citing arguments based solely on economic and/or scientific models.
Elaine Hirsch, MastersDegree.net

Read more about cap-and-trade in the Los Angeles Times.
And you can read more in FastCompany.com.

Tennessee Bats: the Halloween icon needs treats, no tricks, to fight fatal infection

2011-10-30T19:23:00.000-07:00

It's coming up on Halloween, so let's talk about bats. There's bats in your hair, bats in your belfry, vampire bats - but the most frightening image is the one held by the bats themselves. Since 2006, over 1 million bats have succumbed to white-nose syndrome: a fungal infection that leaves a fuzzy white patch on the bat's nose but also eats away at their skin and wings. It also disrupts the bat's winter hibernation, causing the bat to expend needed energy to get through the winter months; and with reduced levels of bugs in the winter, many bats starve to death.

The white-nose syndrome has worked its way through many eastern states in the U.S., north and south, being transmitted from bat to bat but also from human contact via recreational cave explorers' footwear, clothing, and gear. However, states are trying to get a handle on the situation and the state of Tennessee has come up with a novel method.

When you think of the state in the U.S. with the most caves, what comes to mind? New Mexico, perhaps, because of the stalactite and stalagmite spires of Carlsbad Caverns. Well, as it turns out, it's Tennessee and they have a vested interest in keeping their cave-dwelling bat population healthy as a means of controlling the bug population, particularly during the warm summer months.

The Nature Conservancy of Tennessee in conjunction with the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Bat Conservation International, have proposed building an artificial cave, one that is disinfected with anti-fungal medication. Bats will frequently change locations, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that bats would move into the artificial cave, get a dose of medicine lining the walls, and then ultimately move on, leaving the cave for the next group of bats. Over time, it is hoped this would begin to stem the tide of the spread of white-nose syndrome.

The Chattanooga-based website, Nooga.com, quoted Cory Holliday, program director for The Nature Conservancy of Tennessee, as saying, “The fungus is really susceptible to a lot of things, such as heat and anti-fungal agents, but you can’t do what needs to be done in a natural cave setting because it would destroy other cave life forms, as well,” says Holliday. “This artificial cave is a pilot project, but if it works we are hopeful that we can build a lot of these things.”

The organizations involved are continuing to pull together the $300,000 needed to build this pilot project but they hope to begin construction soon, even before it is fully funded, as they see the situation as being a most dire and immediate threat.

According to Nooga.com, "Bats rank among our country’s most endangered wildlife, with seven in danger of becoming extinct in the United States alone. Their populations are declining as a result of habitat destruction (deforestation, cave flooding, vandalism, commercialization of caves), cave exploration disturbances, pesticide use, and 'pest control' efforts. Bats also collide with wind-energy turbines; bat fatalities have been documented at nearly every wind facility in North America."

So, bats have enough problems to deal with; no need to add a fatal fungus to the list. It has been estimated that the bats' ability to act as a flying pest-control service - pests that would devour agriculture - saves the U.S. agricultural industry as much $3.7 billion to as much as $53 billion annually. That's billion with a "B".

Cory Holliday said, “I do have hope for the bats; however, it is very distressing to go to white-nose syndrome sites and see bats that are dead or bats missing from caves where they should be. At the same time, it also drives me come up with strategies to solve this problem.”

This Halloween, the bats deserve all the treats - with no tricks - that they can handle.

To learn more about bats, check out Bat Conservation International.
To learn more about the proposed Tennessee artificial bat cave, visit The Nature Conservancy of Tennessee.