The world's waters were once seen as a boundless source of fish for humans to eat, but over-fishing and aquaculture have depleted some species and left others famished and weak, two reports said on Monday.

Climate change is expected to add more stress for fish populations, forcing warm-water species further toward the poles, changing marine and freshwater food webs and habitats, the reports said.

The big fish most likely to appear on rich countries' dinner plates -- like salmon and tuna -- have already been over-fished, the nonprofit environmental group Oceana reported, adding that now the smaller fish that these fish eat are under pressure... More...

(March 3, 2009. Source: Reuters, PlanetArk. Story by: Deborah Zabarenko. http://planetark.org/wen/51850)

Human Factor Suspected in Mass Beaching of Whales in Australia

Conservationists are demanding an immediate and thorough inquiry into what they say is the suspicious stranding of 200 whales and dolphins.

Fears that the mass stranding on an Australian beach on Sunday was caused by human disturbance were raised because two species of cetacean came ashore simultaneously.

Most of the animals were pilot whales, but a number of bottlenose dolphins were also among the pod... More...

Click here for video of rescue efforts.

(March 3, 2009. Source: The Times Online, UK. Story by: Lewis Smith. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5834714.ece)

The Big Question: Are Shark Attacks on the Rise, and Can Anything be Done About Them?

Why are we asking this now?
There has been a spate of shark attacks on bathers swimming in Sydney, the most recent occurring on Sunday when a 15-year-old boy was badly injured. He became the third shark-attack victim in as many weeks. In one of the previous attacks a navy diver in Sydney harbour lost an arm and a leg after being savaged by a bull shark. The other attack was on a surfer using the city's Bondi Beach whose badly severed hand had to be surgically re-attached. Local fishermen claimed that shark attacks are on the increase, aided by anti-pollution measures that have brought shoals of fish - and their natural predators - closer to shore.

Has there been an increase in shark attacks globally?
There is very little data to support the idea of a statistically significant increase in shark attacks. The recent instances from Australia get widely reported but there is no obvious trend which suggests that shark attacks are getting more common. In 2001, for instance, there was a wave of media reports about shark attacks around the world - it became known as the "summer of the shark". There did appear to be a cluster of attacks at that time. However, when experts came to examine the figures at the end of 2001, the actual number of shark attacks and deaths for the year were down slightly on previous years... More...

(March 3, 2009. Source: The Independent, UK. Story by: Steve Connor. http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/the-big-question-are-shark-attacks-on-the-rise-and-can-anything-be-done-about-them-1635921.html)

Interview - EU Must Make Good on Pledge to Protect Sharks

The European Union must make good on pledges to tighten hunting limits for sharks, which are increasingly threatened by overfishing and the practice of slicing off their prized fins, a campaigner said on Monday.

Around a third of the shark and ray species found in European waters are at risk of extinction, conservationists say.

Sharks may have a reputation as the sea's most ferocious predators but they grow slowly, mature late and produce few young over long lifetimes, meaning their population tends to increase at extremely low rates... More...

(March 3, 2009. Source: Reuters, PlanetArk. Story by: Silvia Aloisi. http://planetark.org/wen/51851)

Row Over UN's Call for Increased Fish Farming

Campaign groups criticise as "simplistic" the UN's call for a big expansion in fish farming to protect wild stocks

Seafood-lovers are being urged to eat more "vegetarian" species, including tilapia and carp, as the United Nations calls for a big expansion in fish farming to protect wild stocks.

A boom in fish farming in the past three decades has already led to the industry supplying nearly 52m tonnes a year, or nearly half of all fish eaten in the world. Now the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for aquaculture to nearly double again to stop the growing world population putting any more pressure on devastated wild stocks.

However, in response to criticism from environmental groups, particularly about harvesting smaller species to feed fish farms, the FAO said today that all aquaculture businesses should be "sustainable" in their use of water, land and feed. This should include encouraging more people to eat fish, which can feed on a vegetarian diet of water plants and seeds, rather than on other fish, said a spokesman... More...

(March 2, 2009. Source: The Guardian, UK. Story by: Juliette Jowitt. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/02/un-fish-farming)

Study: Combining Pesticides Makes Them More Deadly

Common agricultural pesticides that attack the nervous systems of salmon can turn more deadly when they combine with other pesticides, researchers have found.

Scientists from the NOAA Fisheries Service and Washington State University were expecting that the harmful effects would add up as they accumulated in the water. They were surprised to find a deadly synergy occurred with some combinations, which made the mix more harmful and at lower levels of exposure than the sum of the parts.

The study looked at five common pesticides: diazinon, malathion, chlorpyrifos, carbaryl and carbofuran, all of which suppress an enzyme necessary for nerves to function properly... More...

(March 2, 2009. Source: The Seattle Times. Story by: Jeff Barnard, Associated Press Environmental Writer. Link.)

Groups Say Oceans Need Protection from Overfishing and Coastal Development

The nation's love affair with seafood and coastal living continues to take a heavy toll on ocean resources, two environmental groups reported Monday, calling on federal and state governments to do more to preserve fisheries and coastal areas.

Florida's coast faces many threats and doesn't get enough protection, said Paul Johnson with Reef Relief, one of seven environmental groups that make up the Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition. The coalition concluded the state continues to allow too much development on the coast and fails to protect important wetlands along its 8,500 miles of coastline.

"We shouldn't allow coastal construction in inappropriate areas," Johnson said, such as along critically eroded beaches. That includes about half the beaches in Volusia County and some 25 percent of the beaches in Flagler County... More...

(March 2, 2009. Source: The News Journal Online. Story by: Dina Voyles Pulver. Link.)

Farmed Fish and Shrimps Need Sustainability Boost

Aquaculture, revealed in a key UN analysis today to be the basis of all future growth in global seafood production, desparately needs to be put on a more sustainable basis, leading global environment organization WWF said today.

State of the World's Fisheries and Aquaculture 2008 (SOFIA 2008), released this morning by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said that food supplies from aquaculture now equal those from ocean and freshwater capture fisheries. The report also documents a continuing drop-off in yields from the world's marine capture fisheries, with FAO saying "more closely controlled approaches to fisheries management" are needed.

"The dramatic growth in aquaculture makes it more and more urgent to ensure that aquaculture becomes more sustainable and that supplying the stock and the feed for fish farming becomes less of a burden on traditional fisheries," said Miguel Jorge, Director of WWF's Global Marine Programme... More...

(March 2, 2009. Source: WWF, ENN. Story by: Phil Dickie. http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/39397)

UN Report Warns Fishing Industry on Climate Change

The fishing industry must do more to confront the effects of climate change as well as get a grip on the perennial problem of overfishing, said a UN report to be published Monday.

The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) report said responsible fishing practices must be more widely implemented and called for new strategies to cope with climate change.

"Climate change is already modifying the distribution of both marine and freshwater species. Warmer-water species are being pushed towards the poles and experiencing changes in habitat size and productivity... More...

(March 1, 2009. Source: Agence France-Presse, TerraDaily. Link.)

Almost 200 Whales Stranded on Australian Island

Rescuers used jet skis, excavators and human muscle to save dozens of whales and dolphins stranded on a beach in southern Australia today, officials and news reports said.

The 194 pilot whales and half a dozen bottlenose dolphins became stranded on Naracoopa Beach on Tasmania state's King Island yesterday evening - the fourth beaching incident in recent months in Tasmania.

Strandings happen periodically in Tasmania as whales go by during their migration to and from Antarctic waters, but scientists do not know why it happens. It is unusual, however, for whales and dolphins to get stranded together... More...

(March 2, 2009. Source: The Independent, UK. Story by: Associated Press. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/almost-200-whales-stranded-on-australian-island-1635312.html)

Historical Photographs Expose Decline in Florida's Reef Fish, Study Finds

A unique study by a scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has provided fresh evidence of fishing's impact on marine ecosystems. Scripps Oceanography graduate student researcher Loren McClenachan accessed archival photographs spanning more than five decades to analyze and calculate a drastic decline of so-called "trophy fish" caught around coral reefs surrounding Key West, Florida.

In a paper published online in January and printed in an upcoming issue of the journal Conservation Biology, McClenachan describes a stark 88 percent decline in the estimated weight of large predatory fish imaged in black-and-white 1950s sport fishing photos compared to the relatively diminutive catches photographed in modern pictures. In a companion paper being published in the Endangered Species Research journal, McClenachan employs similar methods to document the decline of the globally endangered goliath grouper fish... More...

(March 2, 2009. Source: University of California - San Diego, Science Daily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090217141813.htm)

Erosion Rates Double Along Portion of Alaska's Coast

Skyrocketing coastal erosion occurred in Alaska between 2002 and 2007 along a 64 kilometer (40 mile) stretch of the Beaufort Sea, a new study finds. The surge of erosion in recent years, averaging more than double historical rates, is threatening coastal towns and destroying Alaskan cultural relics.

Average annual erosion rates along this segment of the Beaufort Sea, which lies North of Alaska, had already climbed from about 6.1 m (20 ft) per year between the mid-1950s and late-1970s, to 8.5 m (28 ft.) per year between the late-1970s and early 2000s, the study's authors note. The most recent erosion rates reached an average of 14 meters (45 feet) per year during the 2002-2007 period, reported Benjamin Jones, a geologist with the U.S Geological Survey in Anchorage, and his colleagues on February 14 in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union (AGU)... More...

(March 1, 2009. Source: American Geophysical Union, ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090218135052.htm)

Psychedelic Bouncing Fish Classified as New Species
Frogfish with tan and peach zebra stripes discovered by scuba diving instructors in shallow waters off Ambon Island in Indonesia

A funky, psychedelic fish that bounces on the ocean floor like a rubber ball has been classified as a new species, a scientific journal reported.

The frogfish which has a swirl of tan and peach zebra stripes that extend from its aqua eyes to its tail was initially discovered by scuba diving instructors working for a tour operator a year ago in shallow waters off Ambon Island in eastern Indonesia.

The operator contacted Ted Pietsch, lead author of a paper published in this month's edition of Copeia, the journal of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, who submitted DNA work identifying it as a new species... More...

(February 27, 2009. Source: The Guardian, UK. Story by: Associated Press. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/feb/27/psychedelic-fish-indonesia)

US Denounces Iceland Whaling Move

The United States on Friday denounced Iceland's decision to go ahead with a sharply higher whaling quota, voicing concern there were not whales to sustain the hunt.

Iceland's new left-wing government said last week it will maintain an earlier decision for a quota of 150 fin and 150 minke whales this year -- a sixfold increase -- despite international calls for it to reconsider.

The US State Department said it "strongly opposes" the decision... More...

(February 27, 2009. Source: Agence France-Presse, TerraDaily. http://www.terradaily.com/reports/US_denounces_Iceland_whaling_move_999.html)

Heat Could Be Stifling Turtles' Swimming Abilities in Australia

It seems we're not the only ones struggling to adapt to the summer weather - University of Queensland researchers have found the increased temperatures may be affecting turtles too.

Zoologist Dr David Booth, from UQ's School of Biological Sciences, said green turtle hatchlings from Heron Island weren't swimming as well as usual.

"The 2008-2009 green turtle nesting season on Heron Island has seen the highest nest temperatures recorded at this site, with many nests having average temperatures above 31 degrees, and experiencing temperatures above 35 degrees during the last week of incubation," Dr Booth said... More...

(February 27, 2009. Source: The University of Queensland, ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090227095000.htm)

Ocean Sanctuaries Won't Save Reefs

According to research presented at the recent Ecological Society of Australia conference in Sydney, marine reserves may help save fish species in the face of climate change but they will not protect the coral reefs that shelter them.

University of North Carolina marine ecologist John Bruno and his former graduate student Elizabeth Selig compared data collected from 8,540 coral reefs in the Indian, Caribbean and Pacific regions from 1987 to 2005.

They compared coral cover, sea surface temperatures and whether the reef was in a marine reserve or not...More...

(January 15, 2008. Source: ScienceNetwork, WA; Science Alert Australia & New Zealand. Story by: Carmelo Amalfi. http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20081512-18583-3.html)

Climate Change and Water from the Sea

Forty years ago a change in atmospheric circulation occurred, un-noticed. Rain-bearing systems of the south-west of Western Australia moved pole-wards. This change would delay the start of winter rains, reduce the incidence of wet winters, increase the incidence of low-rainfall winters and reduce rainfall intensities.

Thirty years ago the change was causing drought, but this was not unusual for the recorded climate. Public water supplies, although designed for such eventualities, were stressed. Drought-response measures were introduced and water systems augmentation was brought forward.

Twenty years ago, the drought persisted. A good wet year to rejuvenate water systems had not occurred for two decades. Internationally, climate scientists gave the first warning of human-induced climate change and in 1987 national scientists forecast a rainfall decrease as likely for the region... More...

January 15, 2009. Source: Science Alert, Australia & New Zealand. Story by: Brian Sadler. http://www.sciencealert.com.au/opinions/20081612-18586.html)

Red Algae Immune to Bleaching

The key to better understanding coral bleaching has surfaced in a common red alga that produces defensive compounds against the phenomena affecting reef environments worldwide.

University of New South Wales PhD candidate Alexandra Campbell told the recent Ecological Society of Australia conference that the seaweed Delisea pulchra, found around southern Australia including WA, produced defensive chemicals called furanones.
These compounds protect the seaweed from being fouled by other organisms growing on it or shading it... More...

(December 15, 2008. Source: ScienceNetwork WA; Science Alert Australia & New Zealand. Story by: Carmelo Amalfi. http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20081612-18592.html)

Environmental Advice for Obama: End Overfishing

US President-elect Barack Obama could protect ocean wildlife and save jobs in commercial fisheries by ending widespread overfishing, environmental and economic leaders and scientists reported on Thursday.

About 70 percent of the world's fisheries are over-exploited or have already crashed, the report said. If this long-term trend continues, scientists have predicted that all current salt-water fish and seafood species will collapse by 2048.

The report said this could be remedied by instituting a system known as catch shares, where the total amount of fish allowed to be taken in a given fishery is capped and fishermen are given a share of the fishery's quota... More...

(November 14, 2008. Source: Reuters, PlanetArk. Story by: Deborah Zabarenko. http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/51054/story.htm)

No Fishing: Sea Provides a New Wave in Green Funerals

In an eco-friendly measure, increasing numbers of people are choosing to be buried at sea. Traditionally a send-off for former sailors and naval personnel, it has been adopted by people who believe it to be a greener burial option.

Their bodies are wrapped in cotton sheets and placed inside plywood coffins which have concrete attached. Grieving relatives and friends are then taken on a boat to one of the two locations off the British coast where the burials are allowed.

John Lister, a director of the Britannia Shipping Company, based near Sidmouth, Devon, which has collected deposits from 150 people who have left instructions for a sea burial, said that everything would degrade. "Burials at sea are a 100 per cent green option," he added... More...

(November 14, 2008. Source: The Times Online, UK. Story by: Valerie Elliott. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5150905.ece)

Marine Plankton Found in Amber

Marine microorganisms have been found in amber dating from the middle of the Cretaceous period. The fossils were collected in Charente, in France. This completely unexpected discovery will deepen our understanding of these lost marine species as well as providing precious data about the coastal environment of Western France during the Cretaceous...

... Amber is a fossil resin with a reputation for preserving even the most minute details of insects and other terrestrial arthropods (spiders, scorpions, mites) that lived in resiniferous trees. The forest-based provenance of amber in theory makes it impossible for marine animals to be trapped in the resin. Nonetheless, researchers from the Géosciences Rennes laboratory have discovered various inclusions of marine plankton in amber from the Mid-Cretaceous (100 to 98 million years BP). These micro-organisms are found in just a few pieces of amber among the thousands that have been studied, but show a remarkable diversity: unicellular algae, mainly diatoms found in large numbers, traces of animal plankton, such as radiolaria and a foraminifer, spiny skeletons of sponges and of echinoderms... More...

(November 14, 2008. Source: CNRS, ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081112161206.htm)

Small Islands Given Short Shrift in Assembling Archaeological Record

Small islands dwarf large ones in archaeological importance, says a University of Florida researcher, who found that people who settled the Caribbean before Christopher Columbus preferred more minute pieces of land because they relied heavily on the sea.

"We've written history based on the bigger islands," said Bill Keegan, a University of Florida archaeologist whose study is published online in the journal Human Ecology. "Yet not only are we now seeing people earlier on smaller islands, but we're seeing them move into territories where we didn't expect them to at the time that they arrived."

Early Ceramic Age settlements have been found in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Montserrat, for example, but are absent from all of the larger islands in the Lesser Antilles, Keegan said. And all of the small islands along the windward east coast of St. Lucia have substantial ceramic artifacts - evidence of settlement - despite being less than one kilometer, or .62 mile, long, said Keegan, who is curator of Caribbean archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus... More...

(November 14, 2008. Source: University of Florida, ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081030144633.htm)

Australia - Whaling Target ‘Proves Protests are Working'

Opponents of Japanese whaling are pointing to a reported cut in the coming Antarctic season's quota as evidence that the struggling industry is in retreat.

The Antarctic minke whale quota this summer will be reduced from 850 to 700, according to the respected Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

The federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, said that if the report was accurate, the change would be the first reduction in the target since 1987... More...

(November 14, 2008. Source: The Sydney Morning Herald. Story by: Andrew Darby. http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/whale-watch/whaling-target-proves-protests-are-working/2008/11/13/1226318837941.html)

Hybrid Tugboat May Give Local Ports a Green Push

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the largest cargo container ports in the nation, invest in cleaner-air efforts.

For all of its 21st-century advancements, the shipping industry drags a lot of old technology around.

Giant vessels are so sophisticated these days that they require only a handful of crew members. But the ships still burn a thick, dirty sludge called bunker fuel while at sea and slurp diesel to keep the lights and air conditioning running while in port.

Inefficient yard tractors and cranes guzzle fuel and spew exhaust as they stack containers. And tugboats, pound for pound the most powerful vessels on the water, waste most of that muscle idling or cruising... More...

(November 14, 2008. Source: Los Angeles Times. Story by: Ronald White. http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-fi-tugboat13-2008nov13,0,6166320.story?track=rss)

Supreme Court on Sonar: Navy Trumps Whales

Threats to national security are more important than possible harm to whales and dolphins, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in lightening restrictions on the Navy's use of sonar in anti-submarine training off Southern California despite its potential effects on undersea creatures.

The ruling, the first of the court's 2008-09 term, accepted the Navy's arguments that the limitations would hinder vital exercises in the use of sonar to detect enemy submarines. The restrictions, imposed by lower courts, would have required the Navy to reduce or halt underwater sonar pulses when marine mammals might be nearby.

"Forcing the Navy to deploy an inadequately trained anti-submarine force jeopardizes the safety of the fleet," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. The resulting damage to the Navy and the public interest, he said, outweighs the injury that environmental groups that challenged the use of sonar might suffer from "harm to an unknown number of marine mammals that they study and observe."... More...

(November 13, 2008. Source: The San Francisco Chronicle. Story by: Bob Egelko. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/12/BALA1436Q5.DTL)

Arid Aquaculture Could Relieve Worsening Pressure on World's Drylands

"Arid aquaculture" using ponds filled with salty, undrinkable water for fish production is one of several options experts have proven to be an effective potential alternative livelihood for people living in desertified parts of the world's expanding drylands.

In a new report researchers with the United Nations University, the International Centre on Agricultural Research in Dryland Areas (ICARDA), and UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Program say alternatives to traditional crop farming and livestock rearing will need to be put in place in drylands in order to mitigate human causes of desertification.

While it may sound far-fetched, researchers say using briny water to establish aquaculture in a dry, degraded part of Pakistan not only introduced a new source of income, it helped improve nutrition through diet diversification. The researchers also showed it possible to cultivate some varieties of vegetables with the same type of brackish water... More...

(November 13, 2008. Source: SeedDaily.com. URL. )

In Bad Economy, Boat Owners Abandon Their Vessels

From Southern California to Maine, the foundering economy, high fuel prices and poor fishing have driven boat owners to abandon perhaps thousands of vessels on the waterfront, where they are beginning to break up and sink, leaking oil and other pollutants.

Boats have long been a barometer of consumer confidence, disposable income and the overall state of the economy. Now, marina and harbor officials are reporting a sudden increase in the past year in the number of deserted pleasure boats and working vessels.

In Antioch, a town about 45 miles east of San Francisco, harbormaster John Cruger-Hansen showed up at his marina one day last spring to find the horizon changed overnight. On the San Joaquin River, he saw an old crane, a rusted barge, a tugboat and an assortment of other junked boats, all of which had been hauled in and left illegally... More...

(November 13, 2008. Source: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Story by: Malia Wollan, Associated Press. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_meltdown_abandoned_boats.html)

Japan Denies Report It has Cut Its Whaling Target

Japan is denying a report that it plans to cut the target for its whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean this Summer.

Our correspondent in Tokyo, Shane McLeod says a newspaper report in Japan says the whaling target for this season will be reduced by 20 per cent killing 700 minke whales instead of the usual 850.

But the Japanese Fisheries Agency says the report is wrong, and there is no plan to reduce the target... More...

(November 13, 2008. Source: Radio Australia. http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200811/s2419119.htm?tab=asia)

Japan Says to Spare Humpbacks Whales Again

Japan will again spare humpback whales from its annual Antarctic hunt in the face of strong protests by Australia and environmentalists, an official said Thursday.

Japan last season planned to hunt humpbacks for the first time since the 1960s, enraging Australia where slow progression along the coast and intricate songs have turned the whales into a major tourist attraction.

But Japan at the last minute suspended its plan to harpoon 50 humpbacks under an agreement brokered by the US chief of the International Whaling Commission (IWC)... More...

(November 13, 2008. Source: Agence France-Presse. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gmYITI9PDMCR8wCOqrd6RB9tDIdQ)

Multi-Million Dollar Marine Life Theft Ring Busted

Seven adults and a juvenile are under arrest after an undercover Fish and Wildlife Commission investigation into an illegal marine life theft ring.

Some of those arrested were taking marine life and exporting it to New York and Amsterdam.

The FWC says the six-month investigation in the multi-million-dollar scheme worked under a fake company called One Tropical Way. The group advertised and bought illegally obtained products from a group known to sell illegal marine life... More...

(November 13, 2008. Source: ABC Action News. Story by: Keith Baker. http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=ccc3e8dc-f754-41fd-8315-4f4c6a0b44cc)

Measuring Water from Space

Observations from satellites now allow scientists to monitor changes to water levels in the sea, in rivers and lakes, in ice sheets and even under the ground. As the climate changes, this information will be crucial for monitoring its effects and predicting future impacts in different regions.

Sea level rise in one of the major consequences of global warming, but it is much more difficult to model and predict than temperature. It involves the oceans and their interaction with the atmosphere, the ice sheets, the land waters and even the solid Earth, which modifies the shapes of ocean basins. Measurements from tidal gauges show that for most of the twentieth century, sea levels rose by 1.8 mm per year on average.

Since the 1990s, a number of altimeter satellites have been measuring the height of the ocean surface and this has dramatically improved our understanding of sea level rise. Currently, three altimeter satellites cover the entire globe every 10 to 35 days, and can measure the height of the sea surface to a precision of 1 to 2 cm... More...

(November 13, 2008. Source: European Science Foundation; EurekAlert. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-11/esf-mwf111308.php)

Octopus Family Tree Traced Using New Molecular Evidence

Octopuses started migrating to new ocean basins more than 30 million years ago as Antarctica cooled and large ice-sheets grew...

...These huge climatic events created a 'thermohaline expressway' - a northbound flow of deep cold water, providing new habitat for the animals previously confined to the sea floor around Antarctica, according to new research led by Dr Louise Allcock at Queen's School of Biological Sciences and colleagues from Cambridge University and British Antarctic Survey.

Isolated in new habitat conditions, many different species evolved. Some octopuses lost their defensive ink sacs because there was no need for the defence mechanisms in the pitch black waters more than two kilometres below the surface... More...

(November 13, 2008. Source: Queen's University Belfast, ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081112113610.htm)

A Tag Fit for a Porpoise

In 2003, Stacy DeRuiter arrived as a graduate student at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), where a new device developed at WHOI was sparking a revolution in marine mammal research: the D-tag. The cell phone-size digital recording device-affixed temporarily (and non-invasively) to large whales-has given scientists the ability for the first time to track whale movements in the deep sea and record the sounds the animals make and hear.

But DeRuiter was eager to take the next step.

She wanted to use the device to study some of the smallest cetaceans of all, harbor porpoises. She yearned to unveil whether they used sound differently than whales to communicate, navigate, and hunt in shallower coastal waters. She wondered if they were finding it harder to negotiate waters that had become so much "noisier" in recent decades because of increased ship traffic, sonar use, and air guns for oil exploration. She dreamed that a greater understanding of how porpoises use sound could help find ways to balance the needs of people and porpoises in coastal waters... More...

(November 13, 2008. Source: Oceanus, WHOI. Story by: Matt Villano. http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewArticle.do?id=52528§ionid=1020)

US Government Begins Offshore Drilling Study on Atlantic Coast

Soaring energy prices this year eroded long-standing political opposition to offshore drilling

The US government has taken the first step in 25 years toward offshore drilling in the mid-Atlantic region, launching a study of a potential exploration area just north of the North Carolina border.

The 2.9m-acre study area off the Virginia coast is within 55 miles of the North Carolina coast.

The US Minerals Management Service said yesterday it would prepare an environmental-impact study, beginning a 45-day public comment period. A decision whether to sell leases to the area in 2011 will come later... More...

(November 13, 2008. Source: McClatchy Newspapers; The Guardian, UK. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/13/offshore-drilling-environment-usa)

Whales Lose as Top US Court Says Navy Can Keep Sonar

The US Supreme Court Wednesday ruled the US Navy can continue to use long-range sonar in exercises off the California coast, dismissing arguments that the practice was harmful to whales.

"Even if the plaintiffs have shown irreparable injury from the navy's training exercises, any such injury is outweighed by the public interest and the navy's interest in effective, realistic training of its sailors," the court said in a written opinion.

It upheld the case brought by the government which argued President George W. Bush has the constitutional power to exempt the US Navy from environmental laws curbing the use of long-range sonar in the North Pacific Ocean... More...

(November 13, 2008. Source: Afence France-Presse. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i4aEYZKQW1segIzVnp_nabodNVHA)

Paul Rose led eight scientific diving expeditions for the BBC's new Oceans series, which aims to give a global picture of the state of our seas. Here, he documents just a few of the observations his team made.

In the early 1960s my life's heroes were in their prime.

Hans Haas was using military diving gear to film his fabulous shark documentaries. Mike Nelson was up to his neck in Sea Hunt adventures, saving downed jet pilots; and beautiful women were hiring Mike for diving lessons... More...

(November 12, 2008. Source: BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7723998.stm)

How Floating 'Energy Islands' Could Power the Future

The ocean harbors abundant energy in the form of wind, waves and sun. All of these could be sampled on something called an Energy Island: a floating rig that drills for renewables instead of petroleum.

The concept is the brainchild of inventor Dominic Michaelis. He was originally unsatisfied with the slow progress in developing ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), a process in which cold water is pumped up from the deep ocean to generate electricity.

"Nothing new was happening with OTEC, so I thought why not bring other marine energy technologies on board?" Michaelis said... More...

(November 12, 2008. Source: LiveScience. Story by: Michael Schirber. http://www.livescience.com/environment/081112-pf-energy-islands.html)

Nature's ‘Fibre Optics' Experts

Sea sponges can beam light deep inside their bodies, and do so using the natural equivalent of fibre optic cables, scientists have found.

Sponges are among the oldest and simplest of Earth's animals.

The discovery that they use such a futuristic light transmission system has therefore delighted researchers... More...

(November 12, 2008. Source: BBC News. Story by: Matt Walker. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7720836.stm)

Round Gobies: Alien Fish in Swedish Waters

A round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) was caught in late July off the Swedish coast near Karlskrona. This is the first find of its kind in Sweden. The species, which originates from the Black Sea and probably spread to the Baltic via ballast water, has been found in the Gulf of Gdansk since 1990, in the southern Baltic.

Today it is one of the most common coastal fishes there, so it was expected that it would show up in Swedish waters sooner or later, according to researcher Gustaf Almqvist of Stockholm University.

Göran Pettersson is the man behind the sensational catch, which he made as he was bottom angling for perch in Saltsösund outside Karlskrona. Göran, who is from Sibbehult in Scania, has experienced many fish catches in the waters surrounding Karlskrona, but he had never seen this species before. He was even more surprised when, later that day, he caught three more of them... More...

(November 12, 2008. Source: The Swedish Research Council, ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081028132100.htm)

Indonesia Launches New Early Warning Tsunami System

Indonesia launched a new hi-tech system on Tuesday aimed at detecting a potential tsunami and providing faster alerts in a region battered by frequent earthquakes.

The sprawling archipelago of some 17,000 islands, which lies in the seismically-active "Pacific Ring of Fire", was hit by a devastating tsunami about four years ago that left an estimated 170,000 people dead or missing in Aceh province.

Since then, Indonesia has installed some warning systems, but experts have said the country's disaster preparedness is still a work in progress and large parts of the country are still not covered... More...

(November 12, 2008. Source: Reuters TV, PlanetArk. http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/51026/story.htm)

Loggerhead Turtle Release to Provide Vital Information to Scientific Community

On Thursday, November 6, 2008, Dr. Kirt Rusenko, Marine Conservationist, and staff from Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton will release two juvenile loggerhead sea turtles raised in captivity into the Indian River Lagoon near Sebastian Inlet.

The loggerheads, dubbed Milton and FeeBee, hatched on Boca Raton's beaches in July 2002 and were part of a sex ratio study conducted by Dr. Jeanette Wyneken of Florida Atlantic University. The gender of sea turtles is determined mostly by the temperature of the sand. Warmer temperatures produce more females, while cooler temperatures produce more males. The study aims to better learn how many males and females are born every year to more successfully determine the health of threatened sea turtle populations...More...

(November 12, 2008. Source: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science; ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081103130933.htm)

Mini Helicopter Used to Test Whale Health

Scientists are using miniature 'spy' helicopters to test the health of whales.

The remotely-controlled machine is flown over the whale as it surfaces to breathe expelling air through its blow hole.

Gases and mucus blown out are collected in sterile Petri dishes attached to the 3.5 feet-long helicopter which are then examined to discover the health of the animal whether it is carrying any disease... More...

(November 12, 2008. Source: The Telegraph, UK. Story by: Paul Eccleston. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/3440888/Mini-helicopter-used-to-test-whale-health.html)

Nowhere are dolphins and whales safe, threatened as they are in an ocean ‘managed' and mauled by commercial fishing corporations. Their MO - virtuous greed, results in stripped resources, dumped waste contaminated with heavy metals such as mercury and lead, plastic, pesticides and other agricultural and industrial pollutants.

And then there is the trafficking.

Wildlife trafficking, similar to its human counterpart, generates a minimum of $13-billion annually, using the infrastructure and networks of organised crime cartels.
And when captured, most dolphins don't survive the process of confinement in the shallow, unhygienic and cramped pens. They are unable to manoeuvre and feed themselves; distressed and isolated, often they refuse to even try... More...

(November 12, 2008. Source: Thought Leader, South Africa. Story by: Khadika Sharife. http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/khadijasharife/2008/11/11/butchered-dolphins-oceanic-collapse-and-the-myth-of-fish-farms/)   

Deep Sea Exploration Sets Sail

Setting sail on the Pacific, a University of Delaware-led research team has embarked on an extreme adventure that will find several of its members plunging deep into the sea to study hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor.

The team, which will be conducting research in environments that include scalding heat, high pressure, toxic chemicals and total darkness, is part of the National Science Foundation-funded "Extreme 2008: A Deep-Sea Adventure."

The scientists are being joined by students from around the world on dry land who have signed up for an exciting virtual field trip. More than 20,000 students from 350 schools in the United States, Aruba, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Great Britain and New Zealand are participating... More...

(November 11, 2008. Source: University of Delaware, ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081110164123.htm)

Fish Farms among New Chances for Arid Nations

Solar energy, ecotourism and even fish farms can create new jobs in arid regions of developing nations as global warming strains scant water supplies, a U.N. report said on Tuesday.

A four-year study of drylands in eight countries, ranging from China to Tunisia, showed that people could shift to less water-intensive farming and set up new businesses, sometimes helped by microcredits, to cope with climate change.

"We have to think outside the box, look at options where dependence on water resources is much lower," said Zafar Adeel, a co-author and director of the U.N. University's International Network on Water, Environment and Health (INWEH)... More...

(November 11, 2008. Source: Reuters, Africa. Story by: Alister Doyle. http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnJOE4AA0LJ.html)

The Federal Government is unlikely to send ships to monitor Japanese whaling in the Antarctic this season, MPs said today.

Australia last year sent a customs and fisheries icebreaker to shadow anti-whaling activists and the Japanese fleet, gathering photo evidence of the yearly research hunt for a possible international legal case against Tokyo.

But after high-seas clashes between the whalers and activists in the frigid Southern Ocean, the brief detention of activists on a whale hunting ship and diplomatic protests from Japan, Environment Minister Peter Garrett would not promise a repeat... More...

(November 11, 2008. Source: The Daily Telegraph, Australia. Story by: Rob Taylor. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24635768-5006505,00.html)

New Approach in Tsunami Early Warning System

The newly implemented Tsunami Early Warning System for the Indian Ocean, GITEWS, goes into operation today and with this, the system enters its final phase of optimisation. As foreseen, the system was officially handed over to the BMKG (Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysical Agency of Indonesia) by the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, slightly less than four years after the catastrophe of 2004.

"We are very pleased to put the Tsunami Early Warning System into operation today, exactly on schedule", explains Professor Reinhard Huettl, Chair of the Scientific Executive Board of the responsible GFZ - German Research Centre for Geosciences. "All partners have, through enormous effort and dedication, contributed to achieving today's result. And for this, I would like to sincerely thank all those involved"... More...

(November 11, 2008. Source: Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers, ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081110153720.htm)

Pakistan to Launch Fisheries ‘Megaprojects'

Research into marine fisheries will form part of a plan to improve Pakistan's fisheries sector, following a ban on its exports by the European Union (EU) in February 2007.

The ban was imposed when EU inspectors observed that offshore fishing and onshore handling of the catch was conducted in an unhygienic way.

The Pakistani government has launched several initiatives to boost the sector, including stock surveys, upgrading fishing vehicles and training fishermen... More...

(November 11, 2008. Source: Science and Development Network, ENN. http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/38624)

Southern Ocean Close to Acid Tipping Point

Australian researchers have discovered that the tipping point for ocean acidification caused by human-induced CO2 emissions is much closer than first thought.

Scientists from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and CSIRO looked at seasonal changes in pH and the concentration of an important chemical compound, carbonate, in the Southern Ocean.

The results, published in today's Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, show that these seasonal changes will actually amplify the effects of human carbon dioxide emissions on ocean acidity, speeding up the process of ocean acidification by 30 years... More...

(November 11, 2008. Source: ABC Science, Australia. Story by: Bianca Nogrady. http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/11/11/2415539.htm?site=science)

Spring Bloom Brings Jelly Balls to (New South Wales) Coast

An unusual abundance of jelly-like creatures has been discovered in waters along the NSW coast from Sydney to Newcastle during a marine survey of the region by a team of scientists from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and CSIRO.

Vast numbers of these small marine 'jelly balls' have recently washed ashore on local beaches.

The research team aboard the Marine National Facility Research Vessel Southern Surveyor targeted these gelatinous animals, called salps, which while similar in appearance to the more familiar jellyfish, pose no threat to swimmers... More...

(November 11, 2008. Source: TerraDaily. URL. )

The Real Price of Farmed Salmon

Salmon aquaculture is devastating the world's oceans and an international coalition of scientists, Canadian First Nations and tourism operators have called for a global moratorium.

"We've seen a regional collapse of all sea life in the 20 years since the salmon farms moved in," said Chief Bob Chamberlin of the Kwicksutaineuk Ah-kwa-mish Canadian First Nation in the province of British Columbia on Canada's west coast.

"I can only shake my head in bewilderment that this is allowed to continue," Chamberlin told IPS from Gilford Island in the Broughton Archipelago, where 20 salmon farms are in operation... More...

(November 11, 2008. Source: The World Business Council for Sustainable Development, ENN. http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/38619)

Completion of World's First Artificial Kelp Reef Praised

State and utility officials applauded the completion Monday of the world's first artificial kelp reef that they say will provide a thriving habitat for fish and marine organisms for decades.

Spread over two miles south of San Clemente Pier, the pioneering reef was undertaken by Southern California Edison to make up for environmental damage caused by the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

"In the end we have both the energy and the environment we need," Cecil House, a Southern California Edison vice president, said during a ceremony attended by about 100 people on the pier... More...

(November 10, 2008. Source: San Diego Union Tribune. Story by: Michael Burge. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20081110-1737-bn10reef.html)

Coral Reefs Found Growing in Cold, Deep Ocean

Imagine descending in a submarine to the ice-cold, ink-black depths of the ocean, 800 metres under the surface of the Atlantic. Here the tops of the hills are covered in large coral reefs. NIOZ-researcher Furu Mienis studied the formation of these unknown cold-water relatives of the better-known tropical corals.

Furu Mienis studied the development of carbonate mounds dominated by cold-water corals in the Atlantic Ocean at depths of six hundred to a thousand metres. These reefs can be found along the eastern continental slope from Morocco to Norway, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and on the western continental slope along the east coast of Canada and the United States.

Mienis studied the area to the west of Ireland along the edges of the Rockall Trough... More...

(November 10, 2008. Source: TerraDaily. Link. )

Correcting Ocean Cooling

On a Thursday evening in February 2007, Josh Willis stood in front of his laptop, his wife cajoling him to get ready to go out to dinner. He looked with a sinking feeling at the map he had just made. Willis, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, specializes in making estimates of how much heat the ocean stores from year to year.

"The oceans are absorbing more than 80 percent of the heat from global warming," he says. "If you aren't measuring heat content in the upper ocean, you aren't measuring global warming."

In 2004, Willis published a time series of ocean heat content showing that the temperature of the upper layers of ocean increased between 1993-2003. In 2006, he co-piloted a follow-up study led by John Lyman at Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle that updated the time series for 2003-2005. Surprisingly, the ocean seemed to have cooled... More...

(November 5, 2008. Source: NASA Earth Observatory. Story by: Rebecca Lindsey. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/OceanCooling/printall.php)

When It Comes to Sea Level Changing Glaciers, New NASA Technique Measures Up

A NASA-led research team has used satellite data to make the most precise measurements to date of changes in the mass of mountain glaciers in the Gulf of Alaska, a region expected to be a significant contributor to global sea level rise over the next 50-100 years.

Geophysicist Scott Luthcke of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., and colleagues knew from well-documented research that changes in the cryosphere - glaciers, ice caps, and other parts of the globe covered year-round by ice -- are a key source of most global sea level rise. Melting ice will also bring changes to freshwater resources and wildlife habitat. Knowing that such ice-covered areas are difficult to observe consistently, the team worked to develop a satellite-based method that could accurately quantify glacial mass changes across seasons and years, and even discern whether individual glacier regions are growing or shrinking.

The study's authors found that the annual ice mass lost from glaciers in the Gulf of Alaska has been 84 gigatons annually, about five times the average annual flow of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon and equal to the entire amount of water in the Chesapeake Bay... More...

(November 10, 2008. Source: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center; ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081106122254.htm)

A city of brittle stars off the coast of New Zealand, an Antarctic expressway where octopuses ride along in a flow of extra salty water and a carpet of tiny crustaceans on the Gulf of Mexico sea floor are among the wonders discovered by researchers compiling a massive census of marine life.

"We are still making discoveries," but researchers also are busy assembling data already collected into the big picture of life in the oceans, senior scientist Ron O'Dor said.

The fourth update of the census was released Sunday ahead of a meeting of hundreds of researchers that begins Tuesday in Valencia, Spain. More than 2,000 scientists from 82 nations are taking part in the project, which is to be completed in 2010... More...

(November 10, 2008. Source: Associated Press, Yahoo! News. Story by: Randolph E. Schmid. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081110/ap_on_sc/sci_marine_census)

Arctic Warming Leading to ‘Regime Change' in North Atlantic Ecosystems

The planet is experiencing some of the most dramatic climate changes in mankind's history, according to a new study.

Warming in the Arctic is leading to 'regime change' in North Atlantic ecosystems, the research claims.

Scientists from Cornell University looked at the effects fresh water - produced from melting ice in the Canadian Archipelago and Fram Strait - is having on ocean currents and marine life... More...

(November 10, 2008. Source: The Telegraph, UK. Story by: Paul Eccleston. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3399710/Arctic-warming-leading-to-regime-change-in-North-Atlantic-ecosystems.html)

Building the Next-Generation Alvin Submersible

Plan offers a roadmap to extend sub's diving capacity to reach 99 percent of the seafloor

Three times geologist Adam Soule has climbed inside the deep-diving submersible Alvin and headed to the seafloor. Geochemist Susan Humphris stopped counting after 30 dives. Dan Fornari, who studies deep-sea volcanoes, has descended more than 100 times.

Yet for all of them, the deepest seafloor depths have remained out of reach. Alvin is not designed to withstand pressures beyond a depth of 4,500 meters, or 2.8 miles.

"Right now, Alvin allows us to see 63 percent of the ocean," Fornari said. "We want to see 99 percent."... More...

(November 10, 2008. Source: Oceanus, WHOI. Story by: Amy Nevala. http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewArticle.do?id=53066§ionid=1000)

Editorial: The Protein Pyramid

Per capita meat consumption more than doubled over the past half-century as the global economy expanded. It is expected to double again by 2050. Which raises the question, what does all that meat eat before it becomes meat?

Increasingly the answer is very small fish harvested from the ocean and ground into meal and pressed into oil. According to a new report by scientists from the University of British Columbia and financed by the Pew Institute for Ocean Science, 37 percent by weight of all the fish taken from the ocean is forage fish: small fish like sardines and menhaden. Nearly half of that is fed to farmed fish; most of the rest is fed to pigs and poultry... More...

(November 10, 2008. Source: The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/opinion/10mon3.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)

Fishing Threatens North Atlantic Sharks

A quarter of sharks and rays are threatened with being fished out of existence in the Northeast Atlantic, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said on Monday.

That is far above the threat level globally, reflecting the activity of fishing nations such as Spain, Portugal, France and Britain, the Swiss-based conservation group said.

The IUCN hopes that its findings will drive tougher fishing controls in the European Union -- and recommended a zero catch for spiny dogfish and all deepwater sharks, and an end to fishing for common skates... More...

(November 10, 2008. Source: Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4A925M20081110)

Major Change Planned for West Coast Fisheries

In a move to save depleted stocks, managers vote to implement a quota system on important bottom-dwelling species.

After years of lax rules and wasteful practices that led to an economic disaster, fishery managers have decided to adopt a new approach to some of the West Coast's largest fisheries: give fishermen exclusive rights to a portion of the overall catch.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council voted unanimously Friday to make a historic shift in strategy that encourages cooperation, rather than competition, among fishermen who drag nets to catch cod, whiting, rockfish, flounder and sole.

The new approach, often called "individual fishing quotas," will give commercial fishermen from Morro Bay on California's Central Coast to Puget Sound in Washington state the right to bring in their portion of the catch when the seas are safe and they can command higher prices... More...

(November 10, 2008. Source: Los Angeles Times. Story by: Kenneth Weiss. http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-fish10-2008nov10,0,3402253.story)

Plan for New Maldives Homeland

The president-elect of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, says he wants to buy a new homeland for his people.

He says that the gradual rise in sea levels caused by global warming means the Maldives islanders may eventually be forced to resettle elsewhere.

The Maldives is the lowest nation in the world. Its highest land is little more than two metres above sea level... More...

(November 10, 2008. Source: BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7719501.stm)

Farmed Salmon Leaps in Popularity as Health Message Hooks Consumers

Consumption by British households of Scottish farmed salmon has risen by 22 per cent over the past two years. The increase, which represents an additional 40 million meals, is a boost for an industry that has fought criticism by marine environmentalists.

Consumers seem increasingly won over by the health arguments in favour of oily fish. Scottish aquaculture, valued in excess of £400million in 2006, is now second only to the beef sector (£467million) and ahead of the sheep, pig and commercial fishing sectors.

The renaissance of the Scottish industry, which is the third biggest salmon producer in the world, is also heralded by the Scottish government's consultation document, A Fresh Start, on a renewed strategy for fish farming. Ministers say they intend to create an industry that is "ambitious, thriving, growing, diverse and profitable"... More...

(November 10, 2008. Source: The Times, UK. Story by: Melanie Reid. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article5120292.ece)

Social Disaster before Rising Seas?

Kiribati braces for the many challenges

For Kiribati, the threat of submergence because of sea level rise seems distant when compared to the range of potentially disastrous ecological and economic problems it is faced with in the short-term.

The alarm bells of sea level rise as a result of global warming and climate change-brought centrestage in no small measure by the 2006 documentary film ‘An Inconvenient Truth'-catapulted the world's low-lying atoll nations to the front pages of the global media.

In the Pacific, Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands have been perceived as the most threatened. Over the past few years, these countries have been the focus of much research by the world's scientists to find definitive answers relating to their impending submergence. In Kiribati alone, two small islets have been submerged by rising sea levels... More...

(November 10, 2008. Source: Islands Business. Story by: Dev Nadkarni. Link. )

Great White Sharks Look for Girlfriends in Underwater Singles Bar...

Great white sharks travel huge distances and mysteriously spend up to six months gathered at an isolated spot in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii.

Satellite tagging has revealed that male and female sharks make frequent and repetitive dives together, which may be linked to courtship.

The stretch of ocean the sharks make for - from both California and Mexico - is not a particularly rich feeding ground but it may act as a "singles bar" where they can find a mate... More...

(November 9, 2008. Source: The Telegraph, UK. Story by: Paul Eccleston. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3411115/Great-white-sharks-look-for-girlfriends-in-underwater-singles-bar-scientists-believe.html)

Octopuses had Antarctic Ancestor: Marine Census

Many octopuses evolved from a common ancestor that lived off Antarctica more than 30 million years ago, according to a "Census of Marine Life" that is seeking to map the oceans from microbes to whales.

Researchers in 82 nations, whose 10-year study aims to help protect life in the seas, found a mysterious meeting place for white sharks in the eastern Pacific Ocean and algae thriving at -25 degrees Celsius (-13 Fahrenheit) in the Arctic.

"We are approaching a picture of the oceans ... from micrcobes to whales," said Ron O'Dor, co-senior scientist of the census of the 2007-08 findings by up to 2,000 scientists... More...

(November 9, 2008. Source: Reuters. Story by: Alister Doyle. http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE4A82GL20081109?sp=true)

Ecologists and oceanographers have predicted the future impacts of climate change by reconstructing the past behavior of Arctic climate and ocean circulation.

The research team comprised of Charles Greene of Cornell University and colleagues, who reconstructed the patterns of climate change in the Arctic from the Paleocene epoch to the present.

Over these 65 million years, the Earth has undergone several major warming and cooling episodes, which were largely mitigated by the expansion and contraction of sea ice in the Arctic... More...

(November 9, 2008. Source: Thaindian News. Story by: ANI. http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/health/scientists-predict-future-impacts-of-climate-change-using-oceanographic-data_100116777.html)

Overfishing Threatens European Bluefin Tuna

Bluefin tuna disappeared from Danish waters in the 1960s. Now the species could become depleted throughout the northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean, according to analyses by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Aqua) and University of New Hampshire. The species is highly valued as sushi.

Bluefin tuna is a treasured delicacy. A kilo of its much sought after meat can bring in prices reaching 130 Euros at fish auctions. The species in the Mediterranean Sea and northeast Atlantic is caught by fishermen from many countries, particularly France, Spain and Italy.

But there are fewer tuna left in the sea, and those that are left are younger and smaller. In 2006, the organisation that manages bluefin tuna fisheries (ICCAT; International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) launched a recovery plan whose main objective is to rebuild the population by 2022... More...

(November 8, 2008. Source: Census of Marine Life via EurekAlert, ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081107143614.htm)

Sea Snakes Seek Out Freshwater to Slake Thirst

Sea snakes may slither in saltwater, but they sip the sweet stuff. So concludes a University of Florida zoologist in a paper appearing this month in the online edition of the November/December issue of the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology.

Harvey Lillywhite says it has been the "long-standing dogma" that the roughly 60 species of venomous sea snakes worldwide satisfy their drinking needs by drinking seawater, with internal salt glands filtering and excreting the salt. Experiments with three species of captive sea kraits captured near Taiwan, however, found that the snakes refused to drink saltwater even if thirsty - and then would drink only freshwater or heavily diluted saltwater.

"Our experiments demonstrate they actually dehydrate in sea water, and they'll only drink freshwater, or highly diluted brackish water with small concentrations of saltwater - 10 to 20 percent," Lilywhite said... More...

(November 8, 2008. Source: University of Florida, ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081106153629.htm)

Twelve of 20 Cruise Ships Cited for Violating Pollutant Levels

An analysis by state regulators shows that more than half of the cruise ships that discharged wastewater regularly into Alaska waters received citations.

The analysis shows 45 tests on wastewater violated permit levels for pollutants. The most common violation was for ammonia, found in urine.

Twelve of the 20 ships that discharged regularly this summer in Alaska waters were cited... More...

(November 8, 2008. Source: Anchorage Daily News, Associated Press. http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/582680.html)

Sunlight Has More Powerful Influence on Ocean Circulation and Climate than North American Ice Sheets

A study reported in Nature disputes a longstanding picture of how ice sheets influence ocean circulation during glacial periods.

The distribution of sunlight, rather than the size of North American ice sheets, is the key variable in changes in the North Atlantic deep-water formation during the last four glacial cycles, according to the article. The new study goes back 425,000 years, according to Lorraine Lisiecki, first author and assistant professor in the Department of Earth Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Lisiecki and her co-authors studied 24 separate locations in the Atlantic by analyzing information from ocean sediment cores. By observing the properties of the shells of tiny marine organisms, called foraminifera, found in these cores, they were able to deduce information about the North Atlantic deep water formation. Scientists can discern historical ocean temperature and circulation patterns through the analysis of the chemical composition of these marine animals... More...

(November 7, 2008. Source: University of California - Santa Barbara, via EurekAlert, ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081106153633.htm)

Dear Colleagues,

Breaking Waves will not be updated while I am out of the office on maternity leave.

Please visit http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ (search 'ocean'), http://www.terradaily.com/, http://www.enn.com/, or http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/editions/world-edition/, to keep up with some of the news stories normally brought to you by Breaking Waves.

Thank you,
The Editor