Conservation & Environment

(AP) June 27, 2014 — Before they were captured in big numbers for our entertainment in the 1960s, the Northwest’s iconic, distinct and much-loved Southern Resident killer whales hovered at a self-sustaining 140 members. Human desire to see them in tanks at amusement parks caused that number to drop to 71 in 1974. The orcas have yet to fully recover, and their comeback has been hampered by the loss of their main food (Fraser River Chinook salmon), industrial shipping, tourism and pollution, according to a NOAA Fisheries report released this week documenting the findings of 10 years of research."

In 2005, orcas were listed as endangered in the wake of local and regional efforts in the 2000s to conserve this unique group.

“Killer whales can be found in many oceans, but the distinct Puget Sound population can be found most summer months and fall in Washington state waters. They primarily eat fish, rather than other marine mammals. They travel in three families, or the J, K and L pods. Whales from the same pod tend to spend most of their time together,” the Associated Press summarized.

Read the full story from the Associated Press and watch the video from NOAA at SeattlePi.com

June 26, 2014 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

When nearly 200 people set sail on a whale watch from Bar Harbor, Maine, they never expected to be party to a whale rescue. Yet, that is exactly what happened on a sunny afternoon in early June. Click here to find out what happened!

June 26, 2014 — About 2,400 great white sharks troll the waters off the California coast, a new report estimates – a number that may give pause to surfers but may also ease concerns that the super predator is in danger.

A 10-person team of researchers pursued the count, published last week in the journal PLOS ONE, in the wake of earlier claims suggesting that the population of great whites in the northeastern Pacific Ocean was perilously low.

A 2011 study by researchers at Stanford University and UC Davis, published in the journal Biology Letters, estimated that fewer than 500 adults live along the continent's western edge, igniting a debate over whether the genetically distinct Pacific white shark should be listed as endangered.

The new report finds that the great white population is not only "stable" but may be growing. Its conclusions, which were shared with regulators prior to publication, support recent decisions by the state and federal governments not to grant the animal endangered species protection.

Read the full story from The San Francisco Chronicle

NEW YORK — June 26, 2014 — The presence of a dangerous marine organism could eventually impact the fish that we eat for dinner.

As CBS 2′s Elise Finch reported, scientists are working to determine whether invasive shrimp that have been found along the East Coast are a threat to our fish supply.

They are tiny, mostly clear, and look like the grass shrimp that are native to the New York area, but their bright orange spots let scientists know that they are actually invasive creatures known as Japanese Shrimp.

“Things that are on your table wouldn’t exist without these tiny little species that are the staple of their diet,” Dr. Lauren Bergey, Marine Biologist, Centenary College explained.

The invasive shrimp have been found along the East Coast from Boston to the Chesapeake Bay, according to Dr. Bergey.

Read the full story and watch the video at CBS New York

HONOLULU, Hawaii (AP) – June 26, 2014 — The waters off the Hawaii's largest island are home to a half-million brightly-colored tropical fish that are scooped up into nets each year and flown across the globe into aquariums from Berlin to Boston. Scientists say the aquarium fishery off the Big Island is among the best managed in the world, but it has nevertheless become the focus of a fight over whether it's ever appropriate to remove fish from reefs for people to look at and enjoy.

Activists have launched a campaign to shut down the buying and selling of fish for aquariums, saying the practice from Hawaii to the Philippines is destroying coral reefs.

"In this day and age, where the ocean faces a crisis … there's absolutely no justification for a fishery for hobby," said Mike Long of Seattle-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which is spearheading the campaign.

A coalition of fishermen, state regulators and even local environmentalists say the group should focus its attention elsewhere, noting comprehensive aquarium fishery regulations and scientific research that shows fish stocks there are rebounding.
"We don't have a problem here anymore," said Tina Owens of the local environmental group Lost Fish Coalition.

Scientists estimate the aquarium trade removes about 30 million fish from reefs around the world. Hawaii accounts for less than 2 percent, while more than 70 percent comes from Indonesia and the Philippines.

Some fishermen in these countries capture fish by pumping cyanide into the water to make fish sluggish and easier to catch. The chemical may also harm nearby marine life, as well as shorten the captured fish's life span. In Hawaii, nets are used.

Local collectors may sell one yellow tang – the most commonly caught species on the Big Island's west coast – for about $3 or $4. With middlemen adding costs to store and ship them, the fish may retail for anywhere between $30 and $60.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at KALB.com

June 25, 2014 — The size of the annual summer "dead zone" of low-oxygen water in the Gulf of Mexico along Louisiana's coast will cover between 4,633 and 5,708 miles, about the size of the state of Connecticut, according to a Tuesday forecast announced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That's about average for the size of the low-oxygen area since 1985, but still a significant concern, scientists say. And the prediction means another year when states along the Mississippi River have failed to sufficiently reduce the nutrients that cause the dead zone, as called for in a 6-year-old federal-state dead zone reduction plan.

The dead zone moniker is used to describe water that scientists label as hypoxic, meaning it has oxygen levels below 2 parts per million, or anoxic, meaning it contains no oxygen.

The nutrients feed huge blooms of algae, mostly one-cell plants, that grow quickly, die and sink to the Gulf's bottom near the shoreline. There, the decomposition of the algae uses up oxygen.

The nutrient-laden freshwater tends to lie above saltier water at the bottom, forming a barrier for oxygen to mix into the bottom water until storms or a hurricane cross the area.

Many fish are able to avoid such areas, but others that can't are killed, as are organisms that live on the bottom or in the bottom sediment that are the food supply for fish and other organisms.

"The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico affects nationally important commercial and recreational fisheries and threatens the region's economy," says a NOAA news release announcing this year's estimate.

Read the full story at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

June 23, 2014 — Dr. Deepika Dave, a research scientist with the Marine Institute (MI) of Memorial University is currently working to address one of the key issues in the province’s aquaculture industry – what do to do with salmon waste.

Dr. Dave is leading the Centre for Aquaculture and Seafood Development’s (CASD) marine biodiesel research team in creating biodiesel and other value added products from salmon waste.

Dr. Dave said officials with the provincial Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture (DFA) and Environment Canada are saying that we will have to generate more landfill sites to handle salmon waste as the industry continues to grow.

According to an article by the MI, by-product and waste generated from salmon aquaculture includes processing waste and mortalities.

The processing of salmon generates large amounts of solid wastes, up to 45 to 50 percent of the body weight of the processed salmon.

Research from the DFA has revealed that 12 percent of salmon aquaculture production within the province is turned out as waste every year due to disease and other factors which includes mortality.

Read the full story at The Labradorian

June 23, 2014 — The number of great white sharks off the U.S. Atlantic Coast appears to have increased since the early 1990s after conservation measures were introduced to halt their decline, a U.S. government scientist said on Saturday.

Scientists for the National Marine Fisheries Service presented the findings in a study published this month in the PLOS ONE online journal.

Tobey Curtis, one of the government scientists who worked on the study, said in an interview his team could only capture trends in shark abundance and the study could not be used to estimate the total number of sharks in the Atlantic's northwest region, which extends from the U.S. East Coast.

"We don't know what portion of the total population we're documenting," he said.

But Curtis said the findings suggested an "optimistic outlook" for the recovery of the species, which is an apex predator and one of the largest fish in the oceans.

The study's authors described their study as based on the largest white shark dataset yet compiled from the region.

Read more at the Chicago Tribune

June 20, 2014 — The following was released by the World Wildlife Fund:

The 2014 International Smart Gear Competition seeks innovative, environmentally friendly ways to reduce fisheries bycatch.

Open to all, the competition has attracted entries from all kinds of people who care about fishing— from gear technologists and fishermen to engineers and chemists. Our international judges panel includes fisheries experts, gear technologists, fishermen, scientists, researchers and conservationists.

Please take time to read through the competition rules before filling out your entry form.

The competition entry deadline is August 31, 2014.

For more information:

https://www.worldwildlife.org/projects/2014-international-smart-gear-competition
 
http://www.wwf.ca/?14781/WWF-opens-2014-Smart-Gear-Competition-to-reduce-fisheries-bycatch

 

June 19, 2014 — Whale watching and the tri-state area are not usually mentioned in the same sentence, but that’s starting to change.

As CBS 2′s Elise Finch reported, more and more humpback whales are spending time in the region. But why?

Experts say over the past few years the waterways in New York and New Jersey have gotten much cleaner. As a result, the area is seeing more marine animals gather there.

“Rather than going all the way up north to Maine, Massachusetts, they’re stopping here and finding nutrients, menhaden, abundant fish to eat,” said Paul Sieswerda, a marine educator with the group Gotham Whale.

Menhaden, also known as bunker, are an oily bait fish that travel in large schools, attracting whales along the way.

“They’re actually swimming tighter and tighter into a circle,” said Catherine Granton, another marine educator at Gotham Whale. “They’re looking to appear larger to a potential predator, but in doing that, that gives that humpback whale a perfect opportunity to just come up, unhinge his jaws and just lunge right through.”

Read the full story and watch the video at CBS New York