Science

Omega-3 fatty acids such as those found in fish oil supplements may reduce the risk of breast cancer, according to a new study.

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle followed 35,016 post-menopausal women who had no history of breast cancer.

They found that women who regularly used fish oil supplements had a 32 percent reduced risk of developing the most common form of breast cancer. Of the total number of women in the study, 880 developed the disease.

Long-chain, omega-3 fatty acids (abundant in fish oil supplements and fatty fish) are essential building blocks for the cell membranes of the body and brain, blocking inflammation and allowing messages to be transmitted between cells, she said. Because the body doesn't produce it on its own, people must get it from their diet, and fatty fish is the best source.

Among those fish are salmon and sardines. There are plant-based sources of omega-3 fatty acids — including canola, soybean and flaxseed oil — but the body can't convert them to the more potent form as well as it can the ones that are found in fish, she noted.

Read the complete story from Good Morning America on ABCNews.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The recently completed 2011 SMAST scallop video survey found that the US scallop resource remains constant and strong. Within the survey area sampled each year by SMAST, the overall biomass was 323 million lbs in 2011 compared to 322 million lbs in 2010. In fact, despite recent harvest, the exploitable biomass (collectable in a 4” ring) increased from 233 to 241 million lbs. Further, exploring new areas resulted in documenting an additional 23 million lbs. This year’s survey data are critical because for the first time the industry will face Accountability Measures if they exceed the 2011 Annual Catch Limit (ACL) of 55 million lbs for limited access vessels. These results confirm the assumptions of more resource outside traditionally surveyed areas, which were used to increase the overall estimate of scallop abundance during the 2010 sea scallop stock assessment.  They also provide additional survey data that will allow the New England Fishery Management Council to refine the ACL for subsequent years.

On Tuesday evening (8/16/11) the F/V Edgartown returned to New Bedford from surveying the central historic scallop fishing grounds in the Gulf of Maine (Platt’s Bank, Fippennies, Cashes and Jefferies Ledges) marking the completion of the 2011 cooperative SMAST-Industry scallop video survey. This cooperative research program with the scallop industry began in 1999 and has contributed to the success of scallop rotational management, resulting in one of the best managed fisheries in the U.S. with record yields and a stable, high biomass.

The information collected during the previous nine cruises to Georges Bank and the Mid-Atlantic was presented to the Scallop Fishermen’s Steering Committee on Tuesday 9 August 2011. Within the survey area sampled each year by SMAST, the overall biomass of the stock remained constant with 322 million lbs in 2010 and 323 million lbs in 2011. In fact, despite recent harvest, the exploitable biomass (collectable in a 4” ring) increased from 233 to 241 million lbs.

The 2011 survey included areas outside the standard sampling area. Exploring of these areas arose from discussions with the fishing industry and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s 2010 scallop stock assessment workshops. Responding to this the New England Fishery Management Council’s Atlantic sea scallop Fishery Management Plan Development Team set exploring new areas as a research priority.  As a result the Council provided Research Set Aside funds.  An additional 26.5 million lbs of scallops, 23.2 million lbs of which are outside the National Marine Fisheries Service survey strata, representing 7% of the entire resource was observed. This is a good example of how the SMAST program can quickly respond to the need for updated scientific information.

The SMAST video survey season ran smoothly due to the hard work of the staff and students and the continued close cooperation with the fishing industry. For each of the 10 cruises the dredge gear had to be removed from the vessel, and the SMAST sampling pyramid, hydraulic winch and pilot house equipment had to be loaded and assembled. This took two days to set-up, starting with a call to Blue Fleet Crane Service to pick up and load the gear onto the vessel. The vessels sailed with two scientists, two fishermen and new students who were being trained in the field procedure.

Jon Carey was responsible for the logistics and equipment transfer and organization of all cruises. Jon managed these 10 cruises while also completing and defending his Master’s of Science thesis entitled “Physical and biological influences on juvenile sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) distribution on Georges Bank and the Mid-Atlantic Bight” and winning the Alan Ansell Memorial Award for Best Student Presentation on his research at the International Pectinid Workshop in Qingdao, China.

Tom Jaffarian developed a custom field application that records the station number, latitude, longitude, depth, number of scallops observed, substrate and biota, and a linked laboratory application which captures the video footage, verifies and updates the field collected data, quality controls the data and incorporates it into our interactive database. Tom also had the most days at sea for the lab again this year completing five of the ten cruises.

Cate O’Keefe, as scallop program manager and a member of the New England Fisheries Management Council Scallop Plan Development Team, oversaw the entire operation and presented the SMAST research. Cate completed a survey trip early in the season then focused on expanding the yellowtail bycatch avoidance program for Closed Areas I and II including over 200 vessels, which is also part of her PhD research. This program is still underway as the closed area fisheries have remained open, and to date there has been very little bycatch from these areas.

Susan Inglis is a new addition to the laboratory and is completing her PhD from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She is studying scallop seasonal growth based on our cooperative industry tagging studies, isotopic measurements of scallop shells, and energetics. She also has continued research on seasonal meat weight variations, specifically looking at the unusually large meats that occurred in the Mid-Atlantic this spring.

Two students graduated and left our program this spring. Dr. Brad Harris defended his PhD dissertation entitled “Habitat conditions in persistent high-concentration sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) aggregations on Georges Bank, USA” and was immediately hired as an Assistant Professor at Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage. Carly Mott examined factors that influence scallop growth and defended her Master’s thesis entitled “Examining variation in sea scallop shell growth and environmental conditions across Georges Bank and the Mid-Atlantic.”

Katherine Thompson joined the lab as a new Master’s student and will be studying spawning events in scallops. Katherine worked as a deck hand in the lobster fishery in Maine and has already been to sea several times on the video surveys and in support of the RSA-funded yellowtail bycatch surveys in collaboration with Ron Smolowitz of Coonamessett Farm and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

Erin Adams participated in three surveys while conducting our educational outreach program and developing her Master’s degree research with Professor Dan Georgianna, who also sailed on the Gulf of Maine video survey.

Dave Bethoney sailed on several surveys helping the scallop program while conducting his PhD research on reducing river herring bycatch in the Atlantic herring and mackerel trawl fisheries. Dave is a versatile researcher who recently published his Master’s thesis work on lobsters entitled “Association between diet and epizootic shell disease in the American lobster (Homarus Americanus) around western Martha’s Vineyard using 15N signatures”.

Each video survey trip sampled between 200 and 400 stations with four drops of the SMAST pyramid at each station using four cameras to collect data from different views and angles of the sea floor. After each trip the recorded video footage was examined by summer interns, a group of undergraduate and graduate students hired to gain experience in marine science and fisheries. Over 50 different fish and invertebrates are identified along with 15 different combinations of substrate type for habitat classification. Courtney Donovan developed a training program and quality control testing procedure that each new student must complete before working on the field data. This year Samuel Asci, Kyle Cassidy, Andrea Carey, Courtney Donovan and Sarah Rocha worked long hours analyzing the field collected video data and participated in some of the ten survey trips.

As in past years the industry support has been exceptional. Food, fuel, vessels and crew time were all donated from the fleet and supporting industries.

This year’s survey data are critical because for the first time the industry will face Accountability Measures if they exceed the 2011 Annual Catch Limit (ACL) of 55 million lbs for limited access vessels. The Accountability Measures would reduce the number of Days at Sea and area available to fish in 2012. In 2010, the overall landings were 56.7 million lbs. In 2011 the overall ACL is 60 million. Our survey data indicate that the scallop resource has not decreased and that there is an additional 23 million lbs outside the traditional survey area.  These results confirm the assumptions that were used to increase the overall estimate of scallop abundance during the 2010 sea scallop stock assessment.  They also provide additional survey data that will allow the New England Fishery Management Council to refine the ACL for subsequent years.  Finally, they provide the good news that there is a harvestable scallop resource today in areas where scallops were largely absent a decade ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW BEDFORD — Using underwater video to survey scallop fishing grounds, researchers from UMass Dartmouth's School for Marine Science and Technology have hit the jackpot, discovering a trove of scallops in areas never before surveyed.

SMAST has completed a similar study every year since 1999 and this year's results are the latest chapter in a remarkable comeback story for an industry that nearly went bust in the late 1990s.

"When I came here in '97, the scallopers were in terrible shape," said SMAST's Kevin Stokesbury, chairman of the Department of Fisheries Oceanography, who headed the study. "About one-third of the fleet was on the verge of bankruptcy."

It's a very different story these days, thanks to the SMAST findings.

Read the complete story from The Standard-Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Army is eager to know whether omega-3 fatty acids not only are good for the heart, but also might deter soldiers from killing themselves.

"I'm all over it, because I'm looking for something to help," says Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff, who has been working for years to reduce the service's record number of suicides.

Research published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry last month showed that men in the service with low levels of an omega-3 fatty acid known as docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, were 62% more likely to commit suicide. The researchers compared routine blood samples taken from 800 servicemembers from 2002 to 2008 — and who months later committed suicide — with samples taken from 800 other servicemembers.

The authors say their findings do not suggest fish oil is a way to deter suicides. The Army suicide rate reached 22 per 100,000 last year, higher than civilians of the same age group.

Read the complete story from USA Today

 

 

 

 

 

Washington D.C. – House Science, Space, and Technology Chairman Ralph Hall (R-TX) today announced his intention to initiate a formal Committee investigation into the formation of a "climate service" at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Hall's announcement follows nearly ten months of Committee inquiry and correspondence related to actions by NOAA to stand up a climate service, triggered by NOAA senior official Tom Karl's statement in a press interview that "We've moved in. We're waiting for the marriage certificate, but we're acting like we have a Climate Service." Despite Karl's statement, NOAA is precluded from establishing or implementing a climate service unless explicitly authorized by Congress to do so.

In March, Hall wrote NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco requesting documents related to the NOAA Climate Service, including any changes to the roles and responsibilities associated with the agency's organizational structure, reporting lines, review processes, program oversight, or program advocacy. A follow-up letter was sent on September 6.

Read the complete story from Space Ref.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Brian Rothschild, a distinguished professor at UMass Dartmouth's School for Marine Science and Technology, has again been honored by his peers in the scientific community.

Rothschild traveled to Seattle earlier this month as this year's recipient of the Oscar Elton Sette Award, presented annually by the American Fisheries Society to an individual who has made "sustained and important contributions to marine fishery biology."

Oscar Elton Sette was a pioneer in the development of fisheries oceanography and is regarded by many fisheries scientists as the father of modern fisheries oceanography in the United States. A National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel based in Hawaii is named for him.

Rothschild was a friend and colleague of Sette in Honolulu and while Sette was at Stanford University, and the pair co-authored a report on skipjack tuna in 1996.

Read the complete story from The Standard-Times.

 

 

 

 

 

Seafood could be going off a lot of menus as the world warms. More than half of a group of fish crucial for the marine food web might die if, as predicted, global warming reduces the amount of oxygen dissolved in some critical areas of the ocean – including some of our richest fisheries.

The prediction is based on a unique set of records that goes back to 1951. California has regularly surveyed its marine plankton and baby fish to support the sardine fishery. "There is almost no other dataset going back so far that includes every kind of fish," says Tony Koslow of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, who heads the survey. The survey records also include information on water temperature, salinity and the dissolved oxygen content.

Koslow's team studied records of 86 fish species found consistently in the samples and discovered that the abundance of 27 of them correlated strongly with the amount of oxygen 200 to 400 metres down: a 20 per cent drop in oxygen meant a 63 per cent drop in the fish. There have been several episodes of low oxygen during the period in question, mainly in the 1950s and since 1984.

Global climate models predict that 20 to 40 per cent of the oxygen at these depths will disappear over the next century due to warming, says Koslow – mainly because these waters get oxygen by mixing with surface waters. Warmer, lighter surface waters are less likely to mix with the colder, denser waters beneath.

Read the complete story from New Scientist 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A new study has found that the number of sea turtle deaths by bycatch in US coastal waters — currently 4,600 — has dropped by an estimated 90 per cent since 1990.

The report by researchers at Duke University Project GloBAL and Conservation International was published in the scientific journal Biological Conservation.

Total sea turtle takes used to surpass 300,000 annually, of which 70,000 were killed. All six marine turtle species in US waters — including loggerheads, leatherbacks and green sea turtles — are categorized as threatened or endangered.

Scientists used data collected from 1990-2007 by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to find out bycatch rates across more than 20 fisheries operating in US coastal waters.

They found that overall rates have fallen about 60 per cent. Shrimp trawls made up 98 per cent of them.

Read the complete story from Fish Information and Services

 

 

 

 

 

Fish are not generally renowned for their intelligence, but new research suggests they are smarter than we thought.

Tool use, once thought to be exclusive to animals with highly developed brains, has been recorded for the first time by a fish in the wild.

Tusk fish have been photographed appearing to be smashing open cockle shells that were between two and eight millimetres thick.

The pictures were taken by Scott Gardner during a dive at Egg Rock in the Keppel Islands, a protected area of the Great Barrier Reef, in June.

The fish grasps the bivalve in its mouth and swivels its body back and forth, landing alternate blows on the sharp part of the rocks. After several blows, the bivalve cracks open and the fish eats the meat inside.

Read the complete story from The Sydney Morning Herald

 

 

 

 

 

NEW ORLEANS — Lack of data from shrimp trawling is a huge problem in getting a national picture of sea turtle deaths and captures on fishhooks and in fishing nets, and limits on such bycatch should be set nationally rather than within individual fisheries, a new study says.

All six species of sea turtles found in U.S. waters are either endangered or threatened. Most either migrate or are so widespread that they can be caught in different ways by people fishing for different species of fish and shellfish, said lead researcher Elena Finkbeiner, a doctoral student who did the research at Duke University and just transferred to Stanford University.

The most extreme example is loggerhead turtles, up for a federal decision this week about whether they should be listed as endangered rather than threatened. Finkbeiner said they're so widespread that they can be caught in 17 of the 18 fisheries analyzed by scientists at Duke, Conservation International and the National Marine Fisheries Service for the study published Wednesday in the journal Biological Conservation.

But limits on sea turtle "bycatch" are currently set and regulated by those 18 fisheries, 14 in the Atlantic and four in the Pacific. They range from boats using set gillnets off of California to those dredging for scallops in the mid-Atlantic and those fishing for snapper or grouper.

Read the complete story from The Miami Herald