Saving Seafood

New study links red tides and dead zones off west coast of Florida

April 26, 2022 — A new study found that when red tides began in early summer and continued into the fall, low oxygen areas—or dead zones— were more likely to also occur. This study by scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, and NOAA collaborators is the first study to link low oxygen—or hypoxia—to red tides across the west coast of Florida and offers new information to better understand the conditions favorable for combined events as they are expected to increase as Earth continues to warm.

Red tides are becoming a near annual occurrence off the west coast of Florida, which are caused by massive blooms of the algae Karenia brevis fueled in part by excess nutrients in the ocean. These  turn the  red and produce toxins that are harmful to marine mammals, sharks, seabirds and humans causing a range of issues from respiratory irritation, localized fish kills to large-scale massive mortalities to . Hypoxic areas are typically referred to as ‘dead zones’.

Read the full story at Phys.org

 

New research shows that 85% of coral reef fish studied are overfished

February 10, 2022 — A new study led by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science has found concrete evidence that more than 85 percent of the grouper and snapper studied are overfished as a direct result of increasing human demand for seafood.

The research team analyzed 30 years of population data for 15 coral reef fish species central to South Florida’s commercial and  using their length-based risk analysis (LBRA) framework.

They found that three out of the five grouper species, all eight snapper species, and two grunts analyzed were below the 40 percent minimum spawning potential ratio, a regulation necessary to sustain fish populations.

Read the full story at Phys.org

 

Here’s why Miami shark researchers are concerned about a potential COVID-19 vaccine

October 28, 2020 — Science’s steady march to find a vaccine capable of ending the coronavirus pandemic may come at the expense of another species: sharks.

Miami shark researchers say they’re concerned about a key ingredient used to make vaccines more effective, squalene — an oily substance found in plants and even human skin — but is particularly concentrated in shark livers.

The practice of using shark-derived squalene as a booster to stimulate a stronger immune response to a vaccine is not unique to the coronavirus vaccine. The compound has been shown to be safe and effective in millions of doses of vaccines, primarily in Europe, said Liza Merly, a shark immunologist at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

Read the full story at the Miami Herald

‘Invisible oil’ from 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill reached Florida Keys

February 18, 2020 —  Florida Keys residents may not have seen massive tar balls and fish kills after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, but small concentrations of toxic crude were still reaching the islands and potentially harming marine life, as the extent of the deadly disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was worse than originally thought, according to a University of Miami study.

Nearly a decade after the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history killed 11 people and dumped 200 million gallons of crude into the ocean, researchers found discrepancies in the satellite footprint that was used to establish fisheries closures and data from sampling and field tests. They concluded that the real extent of the BP oil spill may have been 30 percent larger than originally estimated. After methane seeped into the rig and triggered an explosion on April 20, 2010, oil gushed from a pipe more than 4,000 feet below the ocean’s surface for 87 days.

Looking at water and sediment measurements, oil transport models and satellite imagery, the team of researchers concluded that what appeared on the two-dimensional images provided by the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service – areas that were determined to be contaminated and closed off to fishing – didn’t match what in-site data was showing.

Oil was flowing beyond the rig’s location off the coast of Louisiana toward the west, reaching the Texas shores, and to the other side toward the West Florida Shelf, the study said. It was also present in the Loop Current that carries water from the Gulf around the southern tip of Florida through the Keys and up toward Miami.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

The toxic reach of Deepwater Horizon’s oil spill was much larger — and deadlier — than previous estimates, a new study says

February 13, 2020 — The spread of oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was far worse than previously believed, new research has found.

As the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history approaches its 10th anniversary in April, a study by two University of Miami researchers shows that a significant amount of oil and its toxic footprint moved beyond fishery closures where it was thought to be contained and escaped detection by satellites as it flowed near the Texas shore, west Florida shore and within a loop current that carries Gulf water around Florida’s southern tip up toward Miami.

In their study, published Wednesday in Science, the researchers dubbed it “invisible oil,” concentrated below the water’s surface and toxic enough to destroy 50 percent of the marine life it encountered. Current estimates show the 210 million gallons of oil released by the damaged BP Deepwater Horizon Macondo well spread out over the equivalent of 92,500 miles.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

The Fight Over Shark Fins in Florida

August 6, 2019 — The fight for sharks is converging on Florida.

With the new legislative session next in September, conservation groups are pushing for measures at both the state and federal level to ban one of the largest threats to the shark population – the fin trade.

Between 100 million and 200 million sharks are killed every year. An estimated 73 million of those are killed for their fins.

“The shark fin trade is a global market for shark fins,” Trish Albano, a shark researcher at the University of Miami’s Rosensteil School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, told NBC 6 South Florida. “The shark fin is being used to make shark fin soup.”

Read the full story at NBC 6

U.S., Cuban marine biologists put an end to ‘academic embargo’

October 22, 2018 — There are no borders that separate the water, reefs and marine life off the coasts of Cuba and Florida, and that’s why scientists in both countries say they need to get along and collaborate.

During the recent MarCuba conference in Havana, U.S. scientific institutions were well represented and researchers also used the conference to highlight research collaborations and a milestone edition of the Bulletin of Marine Science, a respected marine science journal published by the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

The Bulletin devoted its entire spring issue to marine science research in Cuba, carried out by both U.S. and Cuban scientists.

“Science plays an excellent role in diplomacy,” said Joe Roman, a conservation biologist at the University of Vermont and the guest editor of the special Cuba edition. What better area for collaboration than one with shared ocean systems, fisheries and conservation efforts, he said.

In a Bulletin editorial, Roman wrote that the Cuba edition “celebrates Cuban marine science and conservation efforts, while recognizing that improved relations and increased tourism and trade could put some natural areas at risk. Joint research shows promise that Cuba, the U.S., and other countries can work together on regional conservation efforts.”

“It’s time for Cuban researchers to reach a wider audience,” Roman said.

Read the full story at the Miami Herald

 

FLORIDA: Toxic Red Tide Could Sicken People as Hurricane Michael Pushes It Ashore

October 11, 2018 — Hurricane Michael could push this season’s toxic red tide inland, exposing more people to the dangerous health effects of a record algae bloom that has bedeviled much of Florida’s coast.

The hurricane is expected to generate a storm surge as great as 14 feet along parts of the Florida Panhandle, where it made landfall early Wednesday afternoon. That part of the coast that has seen some of the worst concentrations this year of red tide, a variety of algae that kills fish and releases toxins that cause respiratory symptoms in humans similar to tear gas.

Hurricane Michael could carry that algae past the beaches and into neighborhoods, scientists warn.

“A storm surge or king tide could bring red tide up onto land,” Larry Brand, a professor in the Department of Marine Biology and Ecology at the University of Miami, said by email. “The toxin would get into the air and people would be breathing it.”

Red tide is made up of Karenia brevis, an organism that can trigger attacks in people with asthma, according to Richard Pierce, program manager and senior scientist at the Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium in Sarasota. Even people who don’t have asthma can suffer from choking, coughing and stinging eyes. Some have reported lingering headaches and flu-like symptoms.

Pierce said this is the first time the state has had a severe red tide and severe hurricane at the same time, which makes the health effects harder to predict. But one risk is that the breaking waves could turn the algae into an airborne toxin, spreading the risk beyond the reach of the storm surge.

“Bubbles make an excellent surface for them,” Pierce said. “It’s a very efficient mechanism for getting toxins from the water onshore.”

Read the full story at Bloomberg Quint

Miami seeks to retain National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

April 25, 2018 — Miami city commissioners are urging the federal government to retain the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Headquarters at its current location on Virginia Key.

NOAA is reportedly considering relocating its Southeast Fisheries Science Center to St. Petersburg because the fisheries center on Virginia Key is outdated and needs improvement.

NOAA’s facilities on the barrier island have a long reach and impact the local community in many ways, officials say.

NOAA’s operations at Virginia Key are performed in concert with research and teaching functions at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, which is directly adjacent to the NOAA campuses.

City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Commission Vice Chairman Ken Russell are co-sponsoring a resolution urging the US Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to retain the fisheries headquarters on Virginia Key.

Read the full story at Miami Today

 

Oceana hopes shark study will help reduce bycatches

November 17, 2017 — Between 63 million and 273m sharks are caught and killed every year, often as unintentional bycatch victims, the NGO Oceana said. But the conservation group hopes the use of technology demonstrated in a study released Thursday will help reduce that number, maybe leading to emergency hot spot fishing area closures or gear changes.

For more than three months in 2016, between June and September, Neil Hammerschlag, a professor at the University of Miami, and Austin Gallagher, a researcher at Beneath the Waves, another NGO, monitored the movements in the Atlantic Ocean — from the New England to the North Carolina coasts — of 10 blue sharks tagged with satellite tracking devices, according to an executive summary of the report.

Two of the sharks came in close proximity — within one kilometer– of likely fishing activity on no less than four occasions, the researchers found when they overlaid their movements with that of the more than 60,000 vessels tracked by Global Fishing Watch.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News