Shark fishing once again...New thoughts

Large North Atlantic sharks are in danger. Because of the over fishing the whole marine ecosystem is paying the price. Smaller sharks are normally eaten by larger sharks. Now these smaller sharks are have become so abundant that they are destroying shellfish stocks. The shark decline follows the increasing demand for shark fin soup, which is causing some scallop fisheries to collapse entirely. The article comes out this week in Science journal and it is the first ever to show how wiping out the top-level predators impacts the rest of the food chain.

"Industrial fishing has left so few big sharks that they no longer perform their role as the top predators," said study co-author Julia Baum of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. The artilce continues with worries about rays (Cownose) which has increased 20-fold in the last 30 years, because there are so many of them, a scallop fishery has been closed down after a century. They are now worried that these smaller sharks and rays will run out of the shellfish and turn to other species.

"Herds of rays may destroy seagrass beds as they go through looking for smaller buried mollusks," Baum, of Dalhousie University, said.

People do not think about what the long term effects of the actions will be. We need to consider what damage we are doing to the marine environement, which in many ways supports our earth habitat. Stricter laws need to be enforced. Its good to know that people so close to home are helping in these difficult times and getting the news out there about what this over shark fishing is actually doing.

Source:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/03/070329-sharks-shellfish_2.html

Turtle Meat

If its not shark fins it TURTLES!!!!!!!!!!!! This controversial topic has been around since the 80's and now they are getting the meat from Turtle Farms.. The rapid expansion of these turtle farms are endangering the native species. The demand for turtle meat is so great it it now affecting populations in the United States.

"Turtle farmers buy wild-caught turtles to improve their breeding stock," Parham explained. "There is a belief that wild turtles breed better in captivity than captive-born turtles." I just understand the thinking behind eating turtle and sharks. Not in mass quantities anyways. It is one to thing to live on an island in a tribe and fish for these things but it is completely different when you have all kinds of food choices living in a place like China.

There are more than a thousand turtle farms and they are valued at more than a billion dollars US. Peter Paul van Dijk is a turtle conservation expert with the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Conservation International, who was not involved with the new survey.
He said some farms are primarily illegal laundering operations that sell wild-caught turtles as "farm raised".

To read more about Turtle farming just follow the link. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/03/070323-turtle-farms_2.html

An oldy but a "goody"

WOW!!!! Fossil remains of a crocodile-like reptile called Thalattosuchia were discovered in eastern Oregon. So far 50% of the animal including the upper leg bone and rib fragments have been unearthed.

"This creature lived in Jurassic times, so it's 150 to 180 million years old," retired University of Oregon geologist William Orr said in a press release. Orr provided expert advice to the excavation team.

The remains they assume are about 5,000 miles from where it died, so it probably lived in Japan. The reptile is the olded ever found in Oregon, and unlikely in North America, so they assume that it was carried here by plate tectonics. As the section of Earth's crust containing the fossils moved eastward, the Pacific plate collided with the North American plate, pushing the bones into the mountains.

The 6- to 8-foot-long (1.8- to 2.4-meter-long) creature, shown in an artist's conception (top), is part of a group that scientists think represents an evolutionary transition for this line of crocodilians. Features from related fossils suggest that the animals were evolving from being semiaquatic to entirely ocean dwelling.

The remains will now go University of Iowa for further study until they are displayed in the Oregon museum.

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/03/070322-crocodile.html

20 New Species

At least 20 new species of sharks and rays have been found this week off the coast of Indonesia. These finding come after a 5 year survey done at local fish markets, in an area where there is great aquatic diversity. This sleek, spade-shaped Hortle's whipray, for example, is the newest of 17 whipray species known to live in the muddy shallows along Indonesia's shores.

"Indonesia has the most diverse shark and ray fauna and the largest shark and ray fishery in the world," said biologist William White in a statement from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), which led the new survey.

To see photos of some of the new species just click the link below

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/03/070301-sharks-stingrays.html

GARBAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I stumbled across this article and was blown away by some of the stats. The International Coastal Cleanup engages people to remove garbage and debris from beaches and waterways. In 2005 6 million people participated (those 6 million people could fill Madison Square Gardens three times) and the collected 100 million pounds of trash ( whick is equal to 400 Blue Whales the largest mammal in the world) They broke down the finding and recoreded all of it in a pie chart 40.8% of all debris collected was smoking related with 20,655 butts picked up!!!! The article lists the Top 10 Garbage Iteams and give the percentage for each. In the conclusion most people do not consider their personal contributions to warrent change. It is a global issue and people are unaware of the damage caused by their littering behaviour. Education programs are in place to change peoples minds about littering and polution. Attached is the link to read the article in its entirety for yourself. I promise you will be surprised.

Source: http://www.savethesound.org/CleanUps/2005_ICC_Summary_Connecticut.pdf

Play it Cool

This article talks about the effects of climate change on winter sports. The program was started by David Suzuki with support from two olympic skiers. Reports from the UN have showen a decrease between 50-75% in recent years to mountain in Europe and the US. Downhill skiing could disappear in as little as 23 years if climate change contines. Look at the article for full details and atheletes opioions on this topic. Its nice to see people in the media doing something worth wild with the fame!

Sourse:

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/play_it_cool.asp

Post Presentation Bubble Net Video

Technology is great when it works and when it doesn't you have my presentation this morning. minus my video so I thought I would throw the link up here and let you check it out!!! Really it is super cool.

Sourse: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/php/search.php?search=search&keywords=Humpback+Whale+&show_title=none

Go to that link and then chose the Video that says Humpback Whales and underneath it says Bubble Net......

Shark Nursery Yeilds Secrets of Breeding

This article is so cool. It talks about the Lemon Shark's breeding habits. This study has been going on for sometime now and the results have been well worth it. They mention that the female sharks return to the site on a two year rotation giving birth every other year. The fathers do not return. "By using genetic sampling, we've demonstrated unequivocally that a female that carries a litter could have up to four different sires, so ten or 12 different babies might have four different fathers, or two different fathers. So we have multiple paternity, and we suspect that this happens with a lot of other big sharks." said Gruber. This research seems so rewarding and exciting it make me want to be in the water with them. The full article is attached.

Sourse: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/06/0605_020605_shark3.html

Shark Fins

I was really sickened by the shark fin soup article Dr.Conrad posted and I decided to do a little digging to see if I could find out anything else and I came across this article in National Geographic.

This article also takes about the outragous behaviour of shark finning however it also talks about a new DNA study that they have started. While living in Hong Kong Clarke was investigating the shark-fin trade. She was able to communicate with the Cantonese speaking people and convinced them to allow her into the warehouse and gave her small samples from the fins, she was also allowed to watch shark-fin auctions where she recorded prices. She wanted to see if Chinese names correlated with specfic sharks. As fate would have it conservationalists showed films on finning and a backlash from the shark finning community resulted and she was blacklisted. "Apparently they made a poster of me that said, 'Don't talk to this woman," Clarke said. This was ok because she had finished her thesis about shark fin DNA by this point.

To read the full article which is quite interesting and informative go to:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/09/0917_020917_sharks.html

Bycatch

This article talks about bycatch, which is sometimes refered to as bykill or dirty fishing. Bycatch is a mix of young of low-value fish, seabirds marine mammals and sea turtles often considered useless and is thrown back dead or dying. Elliot Norse makes a good point when he said "If a hunter is hunting for elk, he's not killing sparrows, eagles, coyotes, and pronghorn," Elliot Norse is the president of of Marine Conservation Biology Institute (MCBI) in Redmond, Washington.

A recent study was conducted and found that only 10% of sharks, swordfish, and other large preditory fish remain in the worlds oceans after only 50 years of commercial fishing. Without immediate action, they could go the way of the dinosaurs, warns study author Ransom Myers, a fisheries biologist from Dalhousie University in Hallifax, Nova Scotia.

Look at the link for things they are doing to try and eliminate bykill. They have come up with some pretty good ideas so far however it is still not enough.

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/08/0811_0308011_tvbycatch.html

I came across this site about the submarine ring of fire. It was a research project that went from April 18th to May 13th, 2006. On this site are day by day recording with an article as well as some fantastic photos. Check it out!

--Four tonguefish samples from Nikko volcano. The fish at Nikko are almost twice as big as their counterparts on Daikoku. The largest sample here is less than 11 centimeters (5 inches) long. Image courtesy of Submarine Ring of Fire 2006 Exploration, NOAA Vents Program

Source: http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/06fire/logs/summary/summary.html

Oil Spill in Bering Sea

Who would have thought a ship carrying soyabeans could be so dangerous? Well when it lost power and went agroud oil started leaking from every direction. The death toll on animals is huge with a lot of unanswered questions. Like what will happen to the fox that eat the birds contaminated by the oil. Attached is the full article, it really is a plee for help.

Source: http://www.pacificenvironment.org/article.php?id=160

Picture: http://www.ibrrc.org/images/oilpenguin.jpg

The voracious lion's mane jellyfish

The voracious lion's mane jellyfish
These are the first photos of a cannibal that not only eats jellyfish much larger than itself, but also two at once. Words: Peter ParksImages: Peter Parks and Chris Parks
Lizard IslandI've looked forward to each of my many filming ventures to Lizard Island, in the Great Barrier Reef, because each new trip has produced a different dominant species of drifting planktonic animal and plant.
Early on in the trip, we were near the edge of the lagoon reef only a kilometre from our landbase. Until then, by far the most dominant large drifter had been the ubiquitous moon jellyfish Aurelia aurita. But this time, pale purple Aequoria sp. were scattered among them. These were what we'd hoped to film and we duly collected them.
The lion's maneThen, something new, fist-sized and cobalt blue, drifted abreast our boat. It was soon bucketed and on board. Against the white of the bucket, it seemed a bit pinker, and I noticed that entangled among its tentacles were two Aequoria. It was a lion's mane jellyfish Cyanea sp..
For filming, we transferred a dozen moon jellyfish into a tank. Then we introduced the lion's mane, whose frilly edges were like a silky Victorian bedspread, all convolutions, pleats and tucks. Now and again, the skirt or a tentacle would brush across a moon jellyfish. These tentacles were either very sticky or else were firing off nematocysts (long, hollow threads that are either barbed or venomous) on contact.
Thinking back to when we'd caught the Cyanea, I remembered the small Aequoria in its tentacles. Could it be that this was a jellyfish-eating jellyfish? We soon knew the answer.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/features/142index.shtml

Secrets of Shark Sex

The Seychelles, 14 October

On the north-west of Mahé, we notice a disturbance on the surface of the sea - a feeding frenzy of thousands of small fish over a particularly dense area of plankton. Behind the fish are five adult whale sharks, their huge mouths agape, reaping the harvest. This isn't the first time we've seen whale sharks since the plankton 'bloom' began a few weeks earlier, but it's the largest grouping and the first indication that something very unusual is afoot.
We drop over the side of the boat. The plankton has reduced visibility to less than 10 metres. A huge, streamlined shape appears out of the gloom - an awesome sight. I find the apparent absence of teeth reassuring.

16 October

Off Therese Island, we spot four or five sets of fins breaking the surface. In we go. As the bubbles clear, I see something I'm really not expecting - six distinctive pairs of sharks some way below us, all ascending towards a spot extremely close to us. It's like the scene from Star Wars, where all the Empire cruisers are converging on the rebel ships. They're coming at us from every direction. We look at each other and climb out of the water. Why are they acting like this?

The mystery revealed

On the next dive, I see what's going on. I notice two sharks, coupled together, ascending almost vertically. Turning round, I see two more doing the same thing. They're mating. It scarcely seems plausible, but it must be true. Then, a large female, maybe 14 metres long, heads straight towards me. Before I can do anything, she lifts me clean out of the water. I put my right hand flat onto her head, the first time I've ever touched a whale shark. She's warm with the texture of semi-dry concrete. I tip over to one side, and think she's going to strike me with her tail, but she pulls the stroke just short of hitting me. Later, she comes alongside the boat to stop it drifting into the group. Her actions appear to be those of a matriarch who doesn't want us around.

Once in a lifetime

Afterwards, we conclude that the combination of a large, mixed group of whale sharks plus an unusually rich harvest of food triggered the urge to mate. Pairs of sharks appeared to feed, then dived, before coming together for the nuptials.
The sharks may have travelled for thousands of kilometres to be in the same place at the same time, and it was only good fortune that we were there to see them. For a few hours, this part of the ocean became a portal into another world, allowing us a brief but inspiring peek inside.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/features/252feature1.shtml

Trash in our Oceans--You Can Be Part of the Solution

Marine debris, often called litter, has become a problem along shorelines, coastal waters, estuaries, and oceans throughout the world. It is defined as any man-made, solid material that enters our waterways directly (e.g., by dumping) or indirectly (e.g., washed out to sea via rivers, streams, storm drains, etc.). Objects ranging from detergent bottles, hazardous medical wastes, and discarded fishing line all qualify as marine debris. In addition to being unsightly, it poses a serious threat to everything with which it comes into contact. Marine debris can be life-threatening to marine organisms and humans and can wreak havoc on coastal communities and the fishing industry.

Source: http://www.epa.gov/owow/oceans/debris/index.html

Monster Glowing Squid Caught on Camera

Monster-size, deep-sea squid that use their glowing arms to blind and stun their prey have been filmed in the wild for the first time, scientists say.
The mysterious creatures were videotaped as they hunted deep in the North Pacific Ocean off southeastern Japan
The footage shows the animals—Dana octopus squid, or Taningia danae—targeting prey with bright flashes of light emitted from their arms.
The squid appear to use the tactic to illuminate and stun their victims, writes the team that made the discovery.
Other glowing signals seen from the bioluminescent species may represent a form of communication, possibly for attracting a mate, the researchers add. The human-size squid were filmed at depths of 780 to 3,100 feet (240 to 940 meters) off the Ogasawara Islands during a scientific expedition led by Tsunemi Kubodera of the National Science Museum in Tokyo, Japan.
It was off these same islands in 2004 that Kubodera's team captured the first ever images of a live giant squid (Architeuthis) in the wild.

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/48106372.html

World's Longest Underground River Discovered in Mexico, Divers Say

Divers exploring a maze of underwater caves on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula have identified what may be the longest underground river in the world.

For Full story go to: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/03/070305-cave-river.html

17th U.S. Coral Reef Task Force Meeting.

The U.S. Coral Reef Task Force (Task Force) will be meeting in Washington D.C. at the Department of the Interior (DOI), March 1 & 2, 2007. Co-chaired by the Department of Commerce and the DOI, the Task Force is composed of senior representatives of twelve federal agencies and the Governors of seven states, territories, and commonwealths. Since its establishment by Presidential Executive Order in 1998, the Task Force has helped lead U.S. efforts to address the global decline of coral reefs and to effectively manage the nationís valuable coral reef ecosystems. This meeting will highlight the issues, progress, challenges and opportunities for coral reef management, with special presentations on the Local Action Strategies and alternative market incentives to spur coral reef conservation. On the afternoon of Wednesday, February 28, the Task Force is hosting an International Year of the Reef (IYOR) Mini-Summit to promote greater participation in IYOR 2008 and inspire new and creative collaborative action. The meeting is open to the public. For more information on the meeting and to register, visit the Task Force Meetings

Source: http://www.coralreef.noaa.gov/

The Weather Villain: El Niño

El Niño is an abnormal system of currents in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of South America. "El Niño" means "The Baby" – specifically, the baby Jesus. It was so-named because of its appearance around Christmas. It is a phenomenon that has been repeated many times, and has been known and observed for generations, at least by the fishing communities affected by the phenomenon. To our eyes, the movement of the oceans appears to take place on the surface, in the form of waves or storms. But in the inky depths there is powerful activity that we are only just beginning to understand. Currents are not merely surface water flows. In truth, they are immensely powerful systems existing in three dimensions. The famous Gulf Stream, for example, forms a closed loop thousands of kilometres long, with warm water on the surface flowing roughly north before cooling off in the Arctic, sinking, and returning along its entire length to be warmed again in southern waters. Not only do the ocean's current affect the temperature of the seawater, but they affect the atmosphere, too. A warm water current heats the air above it. As that warm air rises, cool air is sucked in beneath it. That circulating motion is commonly referred to as a "pump." It behaves like a vast, atmospheric machine, with weather as its product. This pumping action creates much of the world's weather and plays an important role in regulating the planet's temperature. It pushes warm air from the equatorial regions to cooler areas closer to the poles, and in return pulls cool air closer to the equator to be heated. These pumps are a crucial part of the Earth's ecosystem because they regulate and diffuse temperature. The equatorial regions receive much more energy from the sun than the rest of the planet, and the ocean-current pumps serve to cool off the hot regions and warm up the cold ones. Without them, much of the planet would be uninhabitable for human beings. El Niño is a periodic adjustment of one of these crucial pumps. Ordinarily, a large region of warm water rests in the area of the Pacific Ocean adjoining Indonesia and Australia. During an El Niño, that body of warm water moves east and sits off the coast of South America. Thus the huge – but intricate – weather systems caused by the current are completely thrown off. Dry areas experience floods; moist areas, such as Borneo, are hit with droughts. Canada may experience a warmer, more damp winter, resulting in terrible ice storms. Agriculture around the world suffers. Weather isn't alone in being affected by El Niño. With such a large part of the Earth's ecosystem in flux, other systems are also affected. For example, in areas receiving a higher–than–normal rainfall, elevated water levels facilitate the growth of more insects and disease. As well, mould, usually present but invisible, also increases, intensifying allergies for many people. Fish migrate differently, destroying the livelihood of many fishermen. Meanwhile, forest fires rage across the globe as normally steamy rainforests become dry. Forest fires elevate the already high levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and during a recent El Niño many cities in Southeast Asia were enveloped in a smoky haze from the fires. Thousands died in China from flooding that also ruined crops. Russia suffered a disastrous harvest that threatened that nation's economic and political stability that winter. On and on the list goes of the hardships caused by the great flows of water and air that, until recently, had been almost unknown to most of the world's people. is an abnormal system of currents in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of South America. "El Niño" means "The Baby" – specifically, the baby Jesus. It was so-named because of its appearance around Christmas. It is a phenomenon that has been repeated many times, and has been known and observed for generations, at least by the fishing communities affected by the phenomenon. To our eyes, the movement of the oceans appears to take place on the surface, in the form of waves or storms. But in the inky depths there is powerful activity that we are only just beginning to understand. Currents are not merely surface water flows. In truth, they are immensely powerful systems existing in three dimensions. The famous Gulf Stream, for example, forms a closed loop thousands of kilometres long, with warm water on the surface flowing roughly north before cooling off in the Arctic, sinking, and returning along its entire length to be warmed again in southern waters. Not only do the ocean's current affect the temperature of the seawater, but they affect the atmosphere, too. A warm water current heats the air above it. As that warm air rises, cool air is sucked in beneath it. That circulating motion is commonly referred to as a "pump." It behaves like a vast, atmospheric machine, with weather as its product. This pumping action creates much of the world's weather and plays an important role in regulating the planet's temperature. It pushes warm air from the equatorial regions to cooler areas closer to the poles, and in return pulls cool air closer to the equator to be heated. These pumps are a crucial part of the Earth's ecosystem because they regulate and diffuse temperature. The equatorial regions receive much more energy from the sun than the rest of the planet, and the ocean-current pumps serve to cool off the hot regions and warm up the cold ones. Without them, much of the planet would be uninhabitable for human beings. El Niño is a periodic adjustment of one of these crucial pumps. Ordinarily, a large region of warm water rests in the area of the Pacific Ocean adjoining Indonesia and Australia. During an El Niño, that body of warm water moves east and sits off the coast of South America. Thus the huge – but intricate – weather systems caused by the current are completely thrown off. Dry areas experience floods; moist areas, such as Borneo, are hit with droughts. Canada may experience a warmer, more damp winter, resulting in terrible ice storms. Agriculture around the world suffers. Weather isn't alone in being affected by El Niño. With such a large part of the Earth's ecosystem in flux, other systems are also affected. For example, in areas receiving a higher–than–normal rainfall, elevated water levels facilitate the growth of more insects and disease. As well, mould, usually present but invisible, also increases, intensifying allergies for many people. Fish migrate differently, destroying the livelihood of many fishermen. Meanwhile, forest fires rage across the globe as normally steamy rainforests become dry. Forest fires elevate the already high levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and during a recent El Niño many cities in Southeast Asia were enveloped in a smoky haze from the fires. Thousands died in China from flooding that also ruined crops. Russia suffered a disastrous harvest that threatened that nation's economic and political stability that winter. On and on the list goes of the hardships caused by the great flows of water and air that, until recently, had been almost unknown to most of the world's people.

Source:http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/forcesofnature/elnino.html

Shark Poaching

Nearly a million U.S. dollars in fines collected from convicted poachers who had been taking leopard shark pups from the San Francisco Bay will be used to start a fund for restoring the animals' habitat, federal prosecutors recently announced.The sharks, which are at risk because they are often caught unintentionally in fishers' nets, are a prized species in the home aquarium trade. Pups can fetch up to $240 each in a pet store.

Photograph by James Gritz/Getty

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/25101403.html

Colossal Squid Caught off Antarctica

February 22, 2007—In Antarctica's Ross Sea, a fishing boat has caught what is likely the world's biggest known colossal squid (yes, that's the species' name), New Zealand officials announced today.
Heavier than even giant squid, colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) have eyes as wide as dinner plates and sharp hooks on some of their suckers. The new specimen weighs in at an estimated 990 pounds (450 kilograms).
The sea monster had become entangled while feeding on Patagonian toothfish (toothfish photos) caught on long lines of hooks. The crew then maneuvered the squid into a net and painstakingly hauled it aboard—a two-hour process.
The animal was frozen and placed in a massive freezer below decks. Now in New Zealand, the carcass awaits scientific analysis.
"Even basic questions such as how large does this species grow to and how long does it live for are not yet known," said New Zealand Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton in a statement.
The deep-sea species was first discovered in 1925, though the only evidence was two tentacles found in a sperm whale's stomach. Since then there have been only a scattering of sightings, including a colossal squid caught in 2003 in the same region as the recent find.
The new specimen is likely the first intact male ever recovered, Anderton said.
Squid expert Steve O'Shea told local press, "I can assure you that this is going to draw phenomenal interest."
For one thing, added the Auckland University of Technology professor, the squid would yield calamari rings the size of tractor tires.
—Ted Chamberlain

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070222-squid-pictures.html

NOAA RELEASES FIVE-YEAR CORAL REEF RESEARCH PLAN

March 2, 2007 — NOAA released the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Research Plan, identifying priority research needs and guidance for coral reef research through 2011. The plan looks at key research objectives and long-term needs to enhance NOAA’s understanding of coral reef ecosystems and provide guidance to coastal and ocean managers on regional research priorities to help preserve, sustain and restore coral reef ecosystems. (Click NOAA image for larger view of the cover for the “NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Research Plan.” Click here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)“NOAA has developed this research plan to guide the full suite of NOAA’s coral reef ecosystem research capabilities, as well guiding management-driven research across U.S. coral reef regions,” said Timothy Keeney, deputy assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and co-chair of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force. “By providing researchers and coastal and ocean managers with high-priority scientific information, they will be better equipped in their efforts to conserve, protect, restore and sustain coral reef ecosystems.” Coral reef ecosystems are highly valued for their biological, ecological, cultural and economic resources, as well as their aesthetic qualities. These ecosystems provide coastline protection, renewable resources, benefit fish populations, and support commercial and recreational activities. “Research is the cornerstone on which to build and improve ecosystem-based management and resource management decisions,” said Richard Spinrad, NOAA assistant administrator for NOAA Research. “The Coral Reef Ecosystem Research Plan provides a planning tool for national and regional coral reef research and establishes an unprecedented NOAA-wide effort containing contributions from regional coral reef managers and researchers.”In the past few decades, competing demands on these ecosystems, including increased threats from natural and human stressors, have contributed to a significant decline in coral reef health worldwide. NOAA has identified research as a cross-cutting priority demonstrating that productive research is the cornerstone on which to build and improve ecosystem-based management.
Two earlier NOAA reports, The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States: 2002 and 2005, summarized the status and health of coral reef ecosystems throughout U.S. waters. Based on these status reports, the research plan outlines the national and regional research needed to address the many management challenges presented by current coral reef decline.
The research plan also builds on strategies identified in NOAA’s Strategic Plan, NOAA’s five- and 20-year Research Plan, the National Action Plan to Conserve Coral Reefs, the National Coral Reef Action Strategy and the U.S. Ocean Action Plan.
The Coral Ecosystem Research Plan is a product of the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, which consists of NOAA Research, NOAA Ocean Service, NOAA Fisheries Service, and NOAA Satellite and Information Service. The plan covers all shallow-water coral reef ecosystems under the jurisdiction of the United States and is intended for resource managers, scientists, policy makers and the public. A wide variety of experts provided direct input and reviewed the plan, including representatives from NOAA; other federal, state, territorial, commonwealth and local agencies; members of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force; fisheries management councils; coral reef managers; scientists and other key stakeholders, as well as the public through a formal request for comments published in the Federal Register.
NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is celebrating 200 years of science and service to the nation. From the establishment of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau and the Commission of Fish and Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA. NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

Source: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2007/s2808.htm

NEW FEDERAL RESEARCH PLAN LAYS OUT FUTURE OF HURRICANE FORECASTING CAPABILITIES

March 6, 2007 — Federal agencies involved in hurricane research have mapped out the future of hurricane forecasting capabilities in the publication “Interagency Strategic Research Plan for Tropical Cyclones: The Way Ahead” released Monday at the 61st Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference in New Orleans. (Click NOAA satellite image for larger view of Hurricane Katrina taken at 11:45 a.m. EDT on August 28, 2005, when the storm brewed into a Category 5 hurricane before devastating the U.S. Gulf Coast. Click here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
The plan focuses on areas within the field of hurricane-related sciences that were identified as needing research and then transferring this research into operations. The plan was put together by the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research.
“Coastal population growth and land development have resulted in a dramatic rise in the potential damage that can be inflicted by tropical cyclones,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “In our country, 50 percent of the population lives within 50 miles of the coast and are, therefore, exposed to landfalling hurricanes. Tropical cyclones can have catastrophic impacts, which make constant improvements in the accurate prediction of these events of paramount importance.”
Annual U.S. hurricane losses currently average about $10 billion. There is a projected doubling of economic losses from landfalling hurricanes every ten years. Cyclone track forecasting has improved significantly during recent decades. Emergency management and other end-user responses to these improved forecasts and warnings result in lives saved, as well as reduction of property damage, physical injuries and psychological distress. In a typical hurricane season, forecasts, warnings and associated responses are estimated to save $3 billion.
The strategic research plan is the outgrowth of actions resulting from the 58th IHC in March 2004, where attendees determined that a comprehensive strategy needed to be developed to guide interagency research and development. The plan highlights that the needs can be characterized by seven tropical cyclone-related, day-to-day operational forecast and warning categories or a combination of these categories: intensity, structure, track, sea state, storm surge, precipitation and observations. This plan addresses each of these categories, and provides recommendations and strategies to be implemented over the next decade to meet those needs.
“The ultimate goal is to prevent loss of life and injuries and to reduce the nation’s vulnerability to these potentially devastating storms,” said Samuel P. Williamson, federal coordinator for meteorology. “We conducted a thorough review of our current capabilities in tropical cyclone forecasting and outlined strategies to meet the operational needs of the tropical cyclone forecast and warning centers. This strategic research plan is how we plan to bridge the gap between current and future capabilities.”
The strategic research plan presents a comprehensive strategy that was developed over the past two years by the staff at OFCM and the Joint Action Group for Tropical Cyclone Research. The authors of the plan began by reviewing the tropical cyclone research and development community and examined the current capabilities and limitation of the nation’s tropical cyclone forecast and warning system. They summarized the operational needs of the tropical cyclone forecast and warning centers, and planned capabilities to meet the needs.
With these identified needs in mind, the strategic research plan identifies tropical cyclone research priorities to aid in meeting the operational needs, and presents a comprehensive roadmap of activities to further improve the effectiveness of the nation’s tropical cyclone forecast and warning service during the next decade and beyond.
The strategic research plan makes recommendations for improved tropical cyclone reconnaissance, surveillance and observation through manned and unmanned vehicles, space-based platforms, remote sensing and other forms.
In addition to identifying research that is required in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences, the strategic research plan also includes areas of research that are needed in social sciences to include the warning process, decision making, behavioral response, and social impacts. The report states that “knowledge gains in the social, economic and decision sciences will lead to the implementation of better response strategies, and can help set priorities as to where increased research would be most beneficial.”
Implementation of the plan will be discussed at the IHC, which is scheduled to last through March 9. After the conclusion of the IHC, an OFCM-sponsored working group with representation from all applicable agencies will be formed to begin implementing the recommendations, to include identifying funding strategies.
NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is celebrating 200 years of science and service to the nation. From the establishment of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau and the Commission of Fish and Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA. NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

Bycatch

Many fisheries catch fish other than the ones that they target and in many cases these are simply thrown dead or dying back into the sea. In some trawl fisheries for shrimp, the discard may be 90 percent of the catch. Other fisheries kill seabirds, turtles and dolphins, sometimes in huge numbers.
Estimates vary as to how serious a problem bycatch is. Latest reports suggest that around eight percent of the total global catch is discarded, but previous estimates indicated that around a quarter of might be thrown overboard. Simply no-one knows how much of a problem this really is.

The incidental capture, or bycatch, of mammals, sea-birds, turtles, sharks and numerous other species is recognised to be a major problem in many parts of the world. This figure includes non-target species as well as targeted fish species that cannot be landed because they are, for instance, undersized. In short, anywhere between 6.8 million and 27 million tonnes of fish could be being discarded each year, reflecting the huge uncertainties in the data on this important issue.

The scale of this mortality is such that bycatch in some fisheries may affect the structure and function of marine systems at the population, community and ecosystem levels. Bycatch is widely recognised as one of the most serious environmental impacts of modern commercial fisheries.
The victims

Different types of fishing practices result in different animal/species being killed as bycatch: nets kill dolphins, porpoises and whales, longline fishing kills birds, and bottom trawling devastates marine ecosystems.

It has been estimated that a staggering 100 million sharks and rays are caught and discarded each year. Tuna fisheries, which in the past had high dolphin bycatch levels, are still responsible for the death of many sharks. An estimated 300,000 cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) also die as bycatch each year, because they are unable to escape when caught in nets.

Birds dive for the bait planted on long fishing lines, swallow it (hook included) and are pulled underwater and drowned. Around 100,000 albatrosses are killed by longline fisheries every year and because of this, many species are facing extinction.

Bottom trawling is a destructive way of 'strip-mining' the ocean floor, harvesting the species that live there. As well as the target fish species, this also results in bycatch of commercially unattractive animals like starfish and sponges. A single pass of a trawl removes up to 20 percent of the seafloor fauna and flora. The fisheries with the highest levels of bycatch are shrimp fisheries: over 80 percent of a catch may consist of marine species other than the shrimp being targeted.
Technology

Many technical fixes exist to reduce bycatch. Turtle exclusion devices are used in some shrimp fisheries to avoid killing turtle species. In the case of longline fisheries, the process of setting the hooks can be changed and bird-scaring devices employed which radically cut the numbers of birds killed. To avoid dolphins being caught in nets other devices can be used. Pingers are small sound-emitting and dolphin-deterring devices that are attached to nets, but they are not always effective. Escape hatches (consisting of a widely spaced metal grid, which force the cetacean up and out of the net) have also been used.

Although these devices may have a role to play, they cannot address the whole problem. Such devices need continual monitoring to check how well they work and assess any potential negative effects they may have. Realistically they will probably only be used in areas with well-developed fishery management and enforcement agencies.

On a global level, probably the only effective way to address the problems of bycatch is to control fishing effort. This will be best achieved through the creation of marine reserves. Nonetheless, in the case of highly mobile species such as seabirds and cetaceans, the only effective way of preventing bycatch is to discontinue the use of particularly damaging fishing methods.