Extracts from MCCN (Marine and Coastal Community Network) Pew SeaSpan, MPA News, and BRN (Biodiversity Research Network) newsletters, along with individual contributions. Selected and edited by Jon Nevill, OnlyOnePlanet Australia.
Please email prospective items to jon_nevill@yahoo.com.au. They need to be (a) of general marine biodiversity interest, (b) short (one paragraph only), and (c) they need to have a web or email link so readers can obtain more information. Abstracts or summaries of published papers of wide general interest are suitable, as are notifications of upcoming conferences or seminars.
November 2006
Orange roughy listed as threatened by the
Australian Government:
November 9, 2006: the
Australian Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell,
announced that the orange roughy will be added to the threatened species list
under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act
1999. This is the first commercially harvested fish to be listed under the
Act. Orange roughy will be listed as conservation dependent, and will be managed
subject to a conservation programme to be implemented by the Australian
Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA). “Scientific
advice to me indicated that Orange Roughy is under considerable pressure and
protection under environment law is needed if the species is to have any chance
of long-term survival,” Senator Campbell said. “The conservation programme
will protect Orange Roughy from over-fishing, in part by prohibiting targeted
fishing in fishing zones. Catch limits at the Cascade Plateau will be set at
levels that will conserve the species – AFMA has already
announced a reduction in the zone’s 2007 total allowable Orange Roughy
catch.”
Minister’s
press release: http://www.deh.gov.au/minister/env/2006/mr09nov406.html
Editor’s
comment:
Under new AFMA rules, exploratory fishing for orange roughy below 700 m is now
banned in the south-east trawl fishery. However, the existing orange roughy
fishery at the Cascade Plateau is exempted from the 700 m ban, and will
continue. While the Minister believes that the Cascade Plateau fishery “will
conserve the species”, previous Australian fishery ministers made similar
assurances in the past regarding other orange roughy stocks, which have now all
been fished below both target and limit reference points. The Minister
responsible for Fisheries is Senator Eric Abetz. Under the Commonwealth’s
enabling legislation, the Minister, and AFMA, are obliged to apply a
precautionary approach to fishery management. Such an approach requires that,
where the possibility exists of serious environmental damage, lack of scientific
evidence should not delay protective action. Several studies have provided ample
evidence that deep-water bottom trawling over the vulnerable coral habitats
where orange roughy aggregate is likely to cause damage which is not only serious
but effectively irreversible within the timescale of a human life (or an orange
roughy life). In my opinion, by allowing continued fishing for orange roughy
over the Cascade Plateau, the Minister appears to be acting in clear
contradiction to his statutory duties. AFMA policy also, in theory, supports the
application of an ecosystem approach to fishery management; however in the case
of the Cascade Plateau fishery, no significant allowance appears to have been
made for the ecosystem effects of the fishery. In summary, by allowing the
continuation of the Cascade Plateau fishery, the Minister appears to be
breaching his own commitments to the ecosystem and precautionary approaches, and
well as an international commitment, expressed in section 194 of the Law of the
Sea, to protect vulnerable habitat.
Accelerating loss of ocean species
threatens human well-being
In a study published in the November 3 issue of the
journal, Science, an international group of ecologists and economists
show that the loss of biodiversity is profoundly reducing the ocean’s ability
to produce seafood, resist diseases, filter pollutants, and rebound from
stresses such as over fishing and climate change. The study reveals that
every species lost causes a faster unravelling of the overall ecosystem.
Conversely every species recovered adds significantly to overall productivity
and stability of the ecosystem and its ability to withstand stresses.
“Whether we looked at tide pools or studies over the
entire world’s ocean, we saw the same picture emerging,” says lead author
Boris Worm of Dalhousie University. “In losing species we lose the
productivity and stability of entire ecosystems. I was shocked and disturbed by
how consistent these trends are – beyond anything we suspected.”
October 2006
Carl Safina: New York Times interview:
Carl Safina was recently featured in a New York Times article and
interview. Writer Andrew C. Revkin writes: "For Carl Safina - a biologist,
conservationist and prize-winning author - passions and intellectual pursuits
are deeply entwined. Now 51, he has written three books on the rising human
impact on seas once presumed boundless. The first was on fishing, the next on
the travels and travails of albatrosses. His latest, "Voyage of the Turtle:
In Pursuit of the Earth's Last Dinosaur" (Henry Holt, 2006), follows the
struggles of the ocean's ancient leatherbacks and other sea turtles. His prime
goal, he has said, is to develop a "sea ethic" similar to the land
ethic of Aldo Leopold, and a scattering of success stories has convinced him
that a balance is still possible between exploitation and conservation of marine
resources."
SOURCE: Andrew C. Revkin, The New York Times, 24 October 2006
To read the full interview, go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/24/science/24conv.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin
Iceland: commercial whaling to resume:
Iceland said it would resume commercial whaling after a moratorium of
nearly two decades, defying a worldwide ban on hunting whales for their meat.
The government will allow the hunting of 30 minke whales and nine fin whales
through next August. The Ministry of Fisheries said there were more than 43,000
minke whales and 25,000 fin whales in Icelandic coastal waters. Asta
Einarsdottir, a lawyer for the Ministry of Fisheries, said that the resumption
of whaling "is part of our main principle of sustainable use of all living
marine resources" and that "fisheries have been our bread and
butter." The meat will be sold on the domestic market, the government said,
although some could be exported should demand arise.
SOURCE: Associated Press/New York Times, 18 October 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/18/world/europe/18briefs-004.html?ex=1162443600&en=6d6ba966ec31becf&ei=5070
CSIRO concludes fishery risk assessment
contract:
20/10/06. The CSIRO (Division of Marine and Atmospheric Research) has finalised a major contract for the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA), providing an ecological risk assessment (ERA) methodology and preliminary risk assessments for about 30 AFMA-managed fisheries. The ERAEF method is a hierarchical approach that moves from qualitative to quantitative risk assessment, and assesses risks from fishing activities for five ecological components of the ecosystem – target species; byproduct and bycatch species; threatened, endangered and protected species; habitats; and communities. At Level 2 in the ERAEF hierarchy, biological units (species, habitats or communities) within each fishery are assessed on two central criteria: productivity (a proxy for resilience or recovery ability) and susceptibility (exposure and vulnerability to damage from fishing activities). The steps in the hierarchy can be seen as a successive process of screening out risks, and an explicitly precautionary approach to uncertainty is adopted. The method also provides a mechanism for focussing research resources where they are most needed in term of ecological risk. Overseas agencies have shown considerable interest in the CSIRO work. Further information may be obtained from Alistair Hobday or Tony Smith at CSIRO (phone +61 3 6232 5222) or Tim Smith at AFMA (phone +61 2 6272 5631).
Japan admits massive fraud in overcatch of southern bluefin tuna.
Article from "The Age" 16 October 2006. Japan accused over albatross deaths - The Age 23 September 2006
Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna
Official figures underestimate shark catch:
The number of sharks being killed to supply the burgeoning
demand for shark fin soup is three to four times as high as previous estimates,
scientists report in the October issue of Ecology Letters. The study, a
statistical analysis based on records of Hong Kong shark fin traders, calculated
that 26 million to 73 million sharks are killed each year.
That's three to four times higher than the numbers reported by the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Scientists have long suspected that
the UN numbers were too low, thanks to a large chunk of illegal, unregulated or
unreported trade in sharks. But data have been hard to come by.
"Numbers as high as 100 million had been floating around for a while, but
we had no way of knowing whether or not this was accurate," says Ellen
Pikitch, executive director of the University of Miami's Pew Institute for Ocean
Science and an author on this week's paper in Ecology Letters.
Source: Washington Post, Juliet Eilperin, 25 September 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/24/AR2006092400753.html?referrer=emailarticle
Also see:
Sharks in hot water, Nature.com, Amanda Leigh Haag, 29 September 2006
http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060925/full/060925-14.html
Citation:
Clarke S. C., McAllister, M. K., Milner-Gulland, E. J., Kirkwood, G. P.,
Michielsens, C. G. J., Agnew, D. J., Pikitch, E. K., Nakano, H., and M.
Shivji; Global estimates of shark catches using trade records from commercial
markets. Ecology Letters, 9. 1115 - 1126 (2006).
Australia implements limited ban on trawling below 700 m.
The Australian Fisheries Management Authority announced new restrictions on deep-water fishing (AFMA Update 3(17):1 on October 4, 2006. AFMA has imposed a ban on fishing in depths below 700m by any method in the South Eastern Shark and Scalefish Fishery (SESSF) unless the AFMA Board approves a specific proposal that satisfies a range of environmental and management requirements. This deepwater closure is intended to prevent the targeting of all non-quota deepwater species and protect fragile deepwater habitats from the effects of fishing.
The depth closure will come into effect from 1 January 2007 and will complement additional area and seasonal closures in other parts of the fishery.
According to AFMA, there will be an exception for the Great Australian Bight Trawl Sector where an alternative depth closure is to be determined. Fishing for orange roughy and alfonsino in designated areas will also continue under current arrangements consistent with the Commonwealth Harvest Strategy Policy.
Comment by Jon Nevill: At first glance the prohibition on exploratory bottom trawling below 700 m in the SESSF appears to achieve little, as the fishery most likely to cause damage (the orange roughy fishery at the Cascade Plateau) is exempted from the ban.. The vulnerable deep-water ecosystems in the SESSF appear to occupy the 500-1500 m depth range, largely along the continental slope and around seamounts. Deep water trawling for shark, dories and gemfish generally occurs above the new 700 m cut off point for exploratory trawling, and so will not be substantially affected. Below 700 m, fishing for orange roughy and alfonsino will not be restricted by the new ban, and these are the fisheries which provide the main threat to cold water corals. While these fisheries will be excluded from some of the marine protected areas announced by the Commonwealth Government in 2006, this would have been the case without the 700 m ban. Specific exclusions applying to the fishery, such as the ban on fishing spawning aggregations at St Helens Hill, pre-date the new rule.
There are, however, two reasons to praise the October 2006 ban. Firstly, it clearly adopts, within narrow limits, a precautionary approach. AFMA has shown considerable reluctance to implement the precautionary approach since its enabling legislation was amended in 1999 to require application of precaution, so this is an important step forward. Secondly, by signalling that additional (additional to the agreed MPAs) areas may be excluded to deep water quota fisheries in the near future, AFMA is demonstrating a progressive attitude to fishery closures to protect benthic ecosystems (and spawning aggregations). This too is an important step forward. It is noteworthy that a considerable number of the 70 south Tasmanian seamounts were left outside the 2006 MPA network (notably those immediately to the west of the Huon Protected Area, for example). Seamounts on the South Tasman Rise and Cascade Plateau similarly remain vulnerable to ongoing deep sea trawling. It is also noteworthy that a recent application to the Commonwealth Government to place all 70 south Tasmanian seamounts on the Commonwealth Heritage List resulted in only 13 seamounts being listed (www.hsi.org.au).
US position on high seas bottom trawling:
President (3/10/06) directed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in
consultation with Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, to further strengthen
the efforts of the United States to protect sustainable fisheries and to
safeguard their effective use by calling for an end to destructive fishing
practices, such as unregulated bottom trawling on the high seas. The President
emphasized that it remains United States policy to support protection and use of
sustainable fisheries as a food source and to meet the needs of commercial and
recreational fishing.
More info: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/10/20061003-1.html
Commonwealth review of the Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park Act 1975:
The Minister for the Environment and
Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, has released the review of the Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park Act 1975. This review delivers on an Australian Government
election commitment to review the Act to improve the performance of the Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, its office holders and its accountability
frameworks. The review panel consulted with a wide range of stakeholders and
heard a diverse range of views. The review panel considered 227 submissions and
held 36 consultations.
The review focused on updating the regulatory, governance and accountability frameworks and consultative mechanisms required for the long-term protection of the Great Barrier Reef, and the impact of the landmark Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
The Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, said the Government supported the review's recommendations. Importantly, these include:
Minister Campbell said "The Government will ensure the current zoning plan remains in place until at least 2013 to provide for business and community certainty.
"The zoning plan process will be made more accountable and transparent. Any future decision to review a zoning plan will be made by the Australian Government Minister for the Environment and Heritage who will also ensure that the process by which a review is undertaken is based on comprehensive scientific and socio-economic information, and community consultation."
"The Queensland Government is intrinsic to the future management of the Great Barrier Reef especially if threats to the Reef from catchment to coast are to be managed effectively. The current intergovernmental agreement needs to be updated to meet these future challenges."
The review panel was chaired by the Secretary of the Department of the Environment and Heritage, David Borthwick, with Barbara Belcher, First Assistant Secretary, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Jonathan Hutson, General Manager, Department of Finance and Administration.
For a copy of the review report see http://www.deh.gov.au/coasts/publications/gbr-marine-park-act.html
September 2006
Thirteen of seventy Tasmanian seamounts protected under the Commonwealth Heritage List:
The Tasmanian pinnacle seamounts support intact benthic
communities that differ markedly from the sediment dwelling faunas of the
surrounding deep sea floor. The seamounts are dominated by cold-water coral
species and characterized by a relatively high species richness and endemism.
They can be regarded as oases of comparative productivity in the open ocean,
with the coral matrix which provides habitat otherwise lacking in the dark and
deep abyssal waters and dense schools of seamount-associated fish. The seamounts
communities are very vulnerable to disturbance being dominated by long-lived
species with low growth rates. Research on the Tasmanian seamounts has already
substantially contributed to the nation’s knowledge of deep sea organisms and
has potential to continue to do so. They are regionally unusual ecosystems that
represent the principal characteristics of seamounts as species-rich, deep sea
communities.
There are 13 seamounts within the Tasmanian Seamounts Commonwealth Heritage Area, all of which are within the Huon Marine Protected Area (Commonwealth Heritage List, listed 18/9/06). Of these, 8 have been surveyed and are known to be in good condition having been only lightly trawled as at the 1997 survey. The other 5 seamounts are of unknown heritage value. These are assumed to be in good condition because they occur in deep water. Deeper seamounts are generally in a better state of conservation as they are less affected by fishing operations due to the difficulties associated with fishing at depth. The most heavily fished seamounts are those peaking at shallower depth about 650-1000 metres below sea level. The abundance and diversity of benthic marine life drops of sharply below 1400-1500 metres.
More info: http://www.deh.gov.au/
Oil tanker spill in Phillippines near
marine reserve
A tanker ship (M/T Solar I) containing 2 million liters
of bunker fuel as cargo sank in rough seas off the coast of Guimaras Island in
the Philippines on 11 August, spilling more than a tenth of its fuel cargo.
The resulting slick, 20 nautical miles wide, has heavily impacted 11 coastal
communities, or "barangays", as well as four locally managed marine
sanctuaries and the 10-km2 Taklong Island National Marine Reserve. The
Taklong reserve - featuring mangroves, coral reefs, and seagrass beds - has
served as a field laboratory for MPA research, including on larval export and
reserve effects. Within two hours of the tanker sinking, the National Oil Spill
Contingency Plan was activated and the Philippine Coast Guard assigned a task
force to provide overall strategy and direction for spill management. A
Coast Guard briefing on the spill described the remaining fuel on the sunken
tanker as "an environmental time bomb." To guard against such a
disaster occurring again, the Philippine government has indicated its intent to
establish sea lanes for vessels carrying oil and other hazardous substances to
keep them away from ecologically sensitive areas. Currently the Philippine
archipelago, with more than 7000 islands, relies on a fleet of 200 tanker
vessels to carry fuel oil from Luzon Island - where the country's two refineries
are located - to outlying islands.
Source: MPA News, Vol. 8, No.3, September 2006, University of Washington
http://depts.washington.edu/mpanews/issues.html#Sep%202006
Wild salmon at risk from fish-farm
escapees
More than a million farmed salmon have escaped into the
wild from Scottish fish pens in the past three years, which scientists fear may
be driving wild salmon towards extinction. Figures released by the
Scottish government show 1.6 million salmon have escaped from fish farms in more
than 50 separate incidents since 2000, with 821,500 escaping last year alone. So
far this year, official figures show 106,000 of the fish have escaped. Recent
scientific evidence shows the escape of farmed salmon from pens each year can
lead to catastrophically reduced survival of the progeny of wild salmon, which
breed with the domesticated fish. Scientists call the effect the
"extinction vortex" because they say it could lead to the demise of
wild salmon populations that have evolved over thousands of years in particular
rivers. The latest figures would appear to confirm fears among officials of the
North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation that wild salmon populations are
continuing to decline despite the widespread buy-out of commercial nets in
Europe and Greenland.
Source: Charles Clover, The Daily Telagraph, 29 August 2006
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/29/nfish29.xml
California expands marine protected areas
The California Fish and Game Commission has banned or severely
restricted fishing across nearly 18% of the waters off Central California,
beginning to roll out the nation's first network of marine reserves next to a
heavily populated coastline. The commissioners settled on a network of 29 marine
protected areas, stretching from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz counties, that
collectively cover about 200 square miles of state waters. About half are
reserves that forbid any fishing; the other protected areas ban commercial
fishing or impose other restrictions. This set of reserves, more than six years
in the making, is expected to be a model as additional reserves are created
along the entire California coast to help depleted fish populations rebound.
Source: Kenneth R. Weiss, Los Angeles Times, 16 August 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fish16aug16,0,5861386.story?coll=la-story-footer
Additional source material:
"Network of Marine Reserves Designated in Central California"
MPA News, Vol. 8, No.3,September 2006, University of Washington
http://depts.washington.edu/mpanews/issues.html#Sep%202006
Wal-Mart to promote sustainable fisheries
in Europe
ASDA, Britain's second largest supermarket group has called for British
withdrawal from the Common Fisheries Policy in order to protect the livelihoods
of fishermen and preserve fish stocks in the North Sea. Gordon Maddan,
regulatory affairs manager for the Yorkshire based retail chain said: "We
want all the fish we sell to be sustainable. It's very clear however that the
Common Fisheries Policy has failed to deliver this so we are now supporting
calls for a radical change in approach." Earlier this year ASDA announced
it was dramatically changing the way it sources fish, bringing its sustainable
fish policy into line with its parent company Wal-Mart. Within the next three to
five years, ASDA said it would only stock wild-caught fresh and frozen fish from
fisheries that meet the Marine Stewardship Council's (MSC) independent
environmental standard for sustainable and well-managed fisheries.
Source: Fishupdate 6 September 2006
http://www.fishupdate.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/5260/Asda__joins_call__for_EU_policy_pull-out.html
The 8th Invertebrate Biodiversity &
Conservation Conference 2007 “Pacific Priorities”
will be held at the Queensland Museum, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 3 – 7
December 2007.
To ensure you receive more information as it becomes
available please register your interest on www.ibcc2007.org/
Or contact Sally Brown, 8IBCC Conference Secretariat
PO Box 108, Kenmore, QLD 4069, Australia
Sally.brown@uq.net.au
Shorebird conservation toolkit
Source: www.shorebirds.org.au
WWF-Australia with funding from the Australian Government's Natural Heritage
Trust is pleased to announce the launch of the Shorebird Conservation Toolkit - www.shorebirds.org.au
- to help protect and enhance shorebird habitat across
Australia. The toolkit builds on the success of the national Shorebird
Conservation Project (2001-2005), drawing from over 31 on-ground and
community-driven shorebird conservation projects. The toolkit is a comprehensive
resource that will enable users to:
* understand and appreciate shorebirds, their habitat and conservation needs;
* locate important shorebird sites in Australia and access population estimates;
* develop site survey and monitoring programs;
* identify/assess site management needs, and implement/evaluate management
actions;
* write grant applications, site communication plans and media releases;
* access existing resources;
* identify and advocate international/national conservation options; and
* access organisations with knowledge/expertise in practical shorebird and
wetland conservation.
The toolkit is available on-line at www.shorebirds.org.au
and on CD.
For more information or to obtain a copy of the toolkit contact: Bianca Priest,
Shorebird Conservation Project, WWF-Australia, 0413 300 797, 03 6225 1394,
bpriest@wwf.org.au .
Northern Bass Strait Islands will be closed to all abalone fishing
Following an outbreak of the abalone disease
Ganglioneuritis in southern Victoria, the Northern Bass Strait Islands will be
closed to all abalone fishing to minimise any likelihood of the disease
spreading to Tasmania's abalone stocks. The closure comes into effect on
Wednesday, August 16. The Minister for Primary Industries and Water, David
Llewellyn, announced the temporary closure with the full support of the
Tasmanian Abalone Council which represents Tasmania's commercial abalone
fishers, processors and exporters. "The abalone industry is one of
Tasmania's key industries and the largest wild abalone fishery in the world,
providing approximately 25% of the annual world harvest," Mr Llewellyn
said. "Given the importance of the abalone fishery to Tasmania, it is
essential that we take a precautionary approach to provide every possible
protection against the potential for spread of this disease." The Minister
said that under the closure, all recreational and commercial abalone fishing is
banned in the waters around the Kent, Curtis, Hogan and Moncoeur Island
groups north of Flinders Island. "The closure is a precautionary measure
for a period of three months while the potential spread of the Ganglioneuritis
outbreak in Victoria is assessed. Further details on the closure area, including
a map is available on the Department's website www.fishing.tas.gov.au
from tomorrow. Further information: Tasmanian Government Communications
Unit,tel. (03) 6233 6573
See also: More Protection for Abalone Stocks 23/8/06
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1722322.htm
Conservationists call for firearm ban on
fishing boats
Source: HSI / AMCS Media Release, 1 September 2006
The Australian Marine Conservation Society and Humane Society International
today joined forces to call for a ban on guns on fishing boats used to shoot
protected wildlife and for mitigation measures in trawl nets to prevent
'accidental' seal bycatch. Craig Bohm, National Fisheries Campaigner with the
Australian Marine Conservation Society said, "All Australians would be
appalled by the slaughter of 40 protected fur seals in Bass Strait this
week.
The Australian Government should finally ban guns on boats and stop this
senseless killing of our protected marine life." Nicola Beynon, Wildlife
and Habitats Program Manager with the Humane Society International said,
"Unfortunately, the shooting of 40 seals this week is not a one-off
incident. There are regular reports of seal shootings by Australian fishermen.
However, these incidences are rarely witnessed so that they can be prosecuted.
The solution is to ban guns on boats". "It is not only guns that kill
seals. Hundreds of fur seals are also drowned in trawl nets of south eastern
Australia each year. Seals are listed protected species and it is unacceptable
that fisheries continue to so openly slaughter so many of them each year"
said Craig Bohm. The Australian Action Plan for Australian Seals identifies that
the major problem for seals in the waters of mainland Australia is conflict with
fisheries. Seals chase the trawl boats seeking a free feed from within the fish
nets and from the discarded bycatch. The seals get caught in the nets
and drown. Ms Beynon continued, "We are calling on the Australian
Government to continue the development of 'seal
excluder devices' in trawl nets to allow seals to escape unharmed.
The killing has been going on for many years even though we have listed seals as
protected species. We are failing in our duty of care for these creatures."
Bohm concluded, "Clearly current fisheries management approaches are
failing Australia's protected fur seals. The public is rightly appalled at the
deliberate shootings this week.
They will be even more appalled to realise hundreds of seals are routinely
killed in our fisheries every year. The Australian
Government needs to take tougher action".
For more information contact Craig Bohm on 0427 133 481 or Nicola Beynon on 0404
065 517 1. Reference - The Action Plan for Seals - http://www.deh.gov.au/coasts/publications/seals-action-plan.html#download.
Nature: news@nature.com highlights: 11 September 2006
Half our fish are now farmed Aquaculture boom spells good and bad news. 6 September 2006 http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eZxi0KRyGq0C30BAeV0Ei
Nature: news@nature.com highlights: 11 September 2006
Melting lakes in Siberia emit greenhouse gas Methane from thawing permafrost could increase global warming. 6 September 2006 http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eZxi0KRyGq0C30BAeW0Ej
August 2006
Seal slaughter in Victoria
Police are investigating a mass shooting
of fur seals at a colony on Kanowna Island, off Wilson's Promontory in Victoria.
The shooting happened late on August 30 and police say most of the 40 seals
involved were killed.
It was witnessed by three Deakin University researchers who reported the shots
came from a fishing boat. Detective Senior Constable Richard Sulley from
Wonthaggi Police says researchers feared for their own safety during the
shooting. Police later searched a boat,
confiscated two rifles, and took two men for
questioning.
Source: ABC Radio National 31/8/06: http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1730147.htm.
Review of the Conservation Status
of Australia's Smaller Whales and Dolphins (Australia)
www.deh.gov.au/coasts/publications/conservation-smaller-whales-dolphins.html
Sea Level Rise is Accelerating
Global sea levels could rise by about 30
cm during this century if current trends continue, a study warns. Australian
researchers found that sea levels rose by 19.5 cm between 1870 and 2004, with
accelerated rates in the final 50 years of that period. The research, published
in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, used data from tide gauges around
the world.
The findings fit within predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC's Third Assessment Report, published in 2001, projected that the global average sea level would rise by between 9 and 88 cm between 1990 and 2100. In an attempt to reduce the scale of uncertainty in this projection, the Australian researchers have analysed tidal records dating back to 1870. The data were obtained from locations throughout the globe. These records show that the sea level has risen, and suggest that the rate of rise is increasing (NJ White, JA Church, JM Gregory - Geophysical Research Letters, 2005; vol 32).
Predation by Rats a Key
Threatening Process
Predation by exotic rats on Australian
offshore islands of less than 1000 km2
(100,000 ha) has now been listed as a key threatening process. Copies of the
advice can be downloaded at: www.deh.gov.au/ biodiversity/threatened/ktp/island-rats.html.
Ocean acidification:
articles 2004-2006:
Article
from the French National Centre for Scientific Research
Article
from the US National Ocean and Atmosphere Administration
Article
from the US National Centre for Atmosphere Research
Abstract
of a research paper in the journal, 'Nature'
Report from the
Royal Society in England (pdf file)
Scientific
American article (pdf file)
Media release
from the EU OSPAR organisation (pdf file)
http://www.pml.ac.uk/data/files/12.03.06_Shellfish.pdf
Dr Richard Matear presented a paper to the ACE CRC Symposium in Hobart on 30
August 2006.
Among many interesting points he noted that the Southern Ocean was particularly
vulnerable due to its temperature and chemistry, and that the IPCC IS92a emissions scenario would be likely to push
atmospheric and oceanic carbon dioxide levels past those of the last 60 million
years. The Cretaceous mass extinction event dates to approximately this time.
Roberts JM et al. (Science 312:543-547) suggested levels could exceed
those of the last 300 million years.
Nature: 31 August 2006 Volume 442 Number 7106, pp
957 - 1076
The rising level of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere is making the world's oceans more acidic.
Jacqueline Ruttimann reports on the potentially catastrophic effect this could
have on marine creatures. 10.1038/442978a http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eZoH0KRyGq0Ch08wX0Ey
Nature: 31 August 2006 Volume 442 Number 7106, pp 957 - 1076
Discovery of a magma chamber and faults beneath a Mid-Atlantic Ridge hydrothermal field Satish C. Singh et al. 10.1038/nature05105 Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eZoH0KRyGq0Ch08w50EP Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eZoH0KRyGq0Ch08w60EQ
Nature: 31 August 2006 Volume 442 Number 7106, pp 957 - 1076
Evidence that mechanisms of fin development evolved in the midline of early vertebrates The median fins of sharks develop from a continuous finfold derived mainly from paraxial mesoderm. Expression of Tbx18, which specifies the anterior limit of the paired forelimbs, also delineates the boundaries of median fin outgrowth. Lampreys, primitive vertebrates that lack paired limbs, have a median fin that shares a similar pattern of development with sharks. Renata Freitas, GuangJun Zhang and Martin J. Cohn 10.1038/nature04984 Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eZoH0KRyGq0Ch08w70ER Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eZoH0KRyGq0Ch08w80ES
Science Table of Contents Text
for Freshwater Resources: 25 August 2006; Vol. 313, No. 5790
Trajectory shifts in the Arctic and
Subarctic freshwater cycle
Bruce J. Peterson, James McClelland, Ruth
Curry, Robert M. Holmes, John E. Walsh, and Knut Aagaard
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/313/5790/1061?etoc
p. 1061
Science Table of Contents Text
for Freshwater Resources: 25 August 2006; Vol. 313, No. 5790
Ice Sheets and sea level
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/313/5790/1043c?etoc
p. 1043
Science Table of Contents Text
for Freshwater Resources: 25 August 2006; Vol. 313, No. 5790
ECOLOGY: Are global conservation
efforts successful? Ana S. L.
Rodrigues
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/313/5790/1051?etoc
p. 1051
NATURE 24 August 2006 Volume 442 Number 7105, pp 847 - 956
Oceans cool off in hottest years Temperature drop puzzles climate researchers. Quirin Schiermeier 10.1038/442854a http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eZiJ0KRyGq0Ch08ON0E5
CONFERENCE
ON IMPLEMENTING THE ECOSYSTEM APPROACH TO FISHERIES:
This conference will be held from 26-28 September 2006, in Bergen, Norway.
Organized by the Nordic Council of Ministers, it aims to review concepts and
address implementation issues related to applying the ecosystem approach to
fisheries. For more information, contact: Kari Østervold Toft, Norwegian
Institute of Marine Research; tel: +47-5523 8538; fax: +47-5523 8586; e-mail:
karit@imr.no; internet: http://cieaf.imr.no
THIRD
INTERNATIONAL TROPICAL MARINE ECOSYSTEMS MANAGEMENT SYMPOSIUM:
ITMEMS-3 will be held from 15-20 October 2006, in Cozumel, Mexico. ITMEMS is
a major activity of the International Coral Reef Initiative. ITMEMS-3 aims to
provide an opportunity for marine and coastal managers and stakeholders to
exchange experiences and knowledge, and define future action for the management
of tropical marine ecosystems. For more information, contact: ITMEMS-3
Organizing Committee; e-mail: info@itmems.org;
internet: http://www.itmems.org
SECOND
INTERGOVERNMENTAL REVIEW OF THE GLOBAL PROGRAMME OF ACTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF
THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT FROM LAND-BASED ACTIVITIES:
GPA IGR-2 will take place from 16-20 October 2006, in Beijing, China, to
strengthen GPA implementation at the national, regional and global levels. For
more information, contact: GPA Coordination Office; tel: +31-70-311-4460; fax:
+31-70-345-6648; e-mail: gpa@unep.nl; internet:
http://www.gpa.unep.org/
TECHNICAL
CONSULTATION ON DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL GUIDELINES ON ECOLABELING OF FISH
AND FISHERY PRODUCTS FROM INLAND AND MARINE FISHERIES:
This FAO meeting will be held from 17-20 October 2006, in Rome, Italy. For
more information, contact: Rolf Willmann, FAO Fisheries Department, tel:
+39-06-5705-3408; fax: +39-06-5705-6500; e-mail: rolf.willmann@fao.org;
internet: http://www.fao.org/fi/NEMS/events/detail_event.asp?event_id=33207
ICES
SYMPOSIUM ON FISHING TECHNOLOGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY:
This symposium, organized by the International Council for the Exploration
of the Sea (ICES), will be held from 30 October – 3 November 2006, in Boston,
US, and will focus on integrating commercial fishing and ecosystem conservation.
For more information, contact: Christopher Glass, Symposium Secretariat; tel:
+1-603-862-0122; fax: 1-603-862- 7006; e-mail: chris.glass@unh.edu; internet:
http://www.ices2006boston.com/
THE
EAST ASIAN SEAS (EAS) CONGRESS 2006:
Sponsored
by the GEF/UNDP/IMO Regional Programme on Partnerships in Environmental
Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA), this meeting is scheduled to be
held from 12-16 December 2006, in Haikou City, China. It will bring together
international organizations, experts and multi-sector stakeholders to exchange
knowledge and build capacity in developing strategies to implement the
Millennium Development Goals and World Summit on Sustainable Development goals
for the region’s coasts and oceans. For more information, contact: EAS
Congress Secretariat; tel: +632-9-202211; fax: +632-9-269712; e-mail: congress@pemsea.org;
internet: http://www.pemsea.org/eascongress
JOINT
MEETING OF REGIONAL TUNA FISHERIES MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATIONS:
This meeting will take place from 22-26 January 2007, in Kobe, Japan, and
will bring together secretariats of tuna RFMOs. Expected outcomes include an
action plan and recommendations to further harmonize tuna conservation and
management among RFMOs. For
more information, contact: Akihiro Mae, Japanese Fisheries Agency; tel:
+81-3-3502-8459; fax: +81-3-3502-0571; e-mail: tuna_rfmos@nm.maff.go.jp;
internet: http://www.iotc.org/files/proceedings/2006/s/IOTC-2006-S10-03%5BEN%5D.pdf
CITES COP-14: The fourteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species will take place from 3-15 June 2007, in The Hague, the Netherlands. For more information, contact: CITES Secretariat; tel: +41-22-917-8139; fax: +41-22-797-3417; e-mail:
"Empty oceans, empty nets"
report examined by UBC
The University of British Columbia
Fisheries Centre has reviewed the Hunter Community Environment Centre report
titled "Empty Oceans, Empty Nets". The review was conducted by Robyn
Forrest and Tony J Pitcher. "A recent report
characterises New South Wales fisheries as seriously mismanaged and
unsustainable. While there have undoubtedly been declines in some fish
populations in New South Wales, we are unable to substantiate these claims since
the report lacks both consistency and rigour, analytical methods are not clearly
described, fisheries science is not appropriately applied, and there is a
failure to comprehend the management systems and responsibilities in Australian
fisheries. In summary, the published report is so seriously flawed that it
should not be used or quoted."
The authors also state:
"It is evident that careless interpretation of fisheries statistics
increases confusion and may undermine the credibility of legitimate conservation
efforts." Editor's comment: this issue underlines the importance of peer
review. There are many experienced Australian scientists willing to assist in
reviewing major reports prepared by conservation groups. All such reports should
undergo independent review before publication.
The UBC review is available at http://www.fisheries.ubc.ca/publications/working/2006/2006-16.pdf
news@nature.com highlights: 21 August 2006
Ancient whale 'truly weird':
Blue whale's aged cousin: small, enormous eyes, ate sharks. 16 August 2006 http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eZfw0KRyGq0C308D60EK
Source & full article: ABC On-Line
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1715433.htm
16 August 2006
A bizarre whale fossil found on a beach in southern Australia suggests that
baleen whales, the filter-feeding gentle giants of the sea, were not always
gentle, or giants, a researcher says. Erich Fitzgerald, a PhD student of Monash
University in Melbourne and a research associate at Museum Victoria, describes
the 25 million year old discovery in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings
(http://www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/index.cfm?page=1087)
of the Royal Society B.
news@nature.com highlights: 21 August 2006
The methane mystery: The claim that living plants emit the greenhouse gas methane has shaken up atmospheric scientists. Quirin Schiermeier talks to the experts trying to make sense of the measurements. 16 August 2006 http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eZfw0KRyGq0C308EB0EX
The outlook for Amazonia is dry: Drought of 2005 is a taste of things to come. 16 August 2006 http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eZfw0KRyGq0C308EC0EY
Science Table of Contents Text for 18 August
2006; Vol. 313, No. 5789
CLIMATE CHANGE: Is Global Warming Causing More, Larger Wildfires?
Steven W. Running http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/313/5789/927?etoc
p. 927
Greenland ice sheet melting:
scientific studies measuring Greenland's rapidly melting ice sheet and the pace
of Antarctic snowfall suggest that the sea level may be rising faster than
researchers previously assumed. The papers, both published in the journal
Science, provide the latest evidence of how climate change is transforming the
global landscape. JianLi. Chen and other University of Texas at Austin
researchers, using twin satellites, determined that the Greenland ice sheet,
Earth's second-largest reservoir of fresh water, is melting at three times the
rate at which it had been melting over the previous five years. A separate study
by Andrew J. Monaghan and 15 international scientists concluded that Antarctic
snowfall accumulation has remained steady over the past 50 years, with no
increases that might have mitigated the melting of the ice shelf, as some
researchers had assumed would occur.
Citations: Chen, J. L., C. R. WIlson and B. D. Tapley. 2006. Satellite
gravity measurements confirm accelerated melting of Greenland Ice Sheet. Science
Express online August 10, 2006. Andrew J. Monaghan and 15 coauthors. 2006.
Insignificant change in Antarctic snowfall since the International Geophysical
Year. Science 313(5788): 827-831.
Nature highlights 15 August 2006:
No sign of increased snowfall in Antarctica. Weather 'hindcast' could spell bad news for sea-level rise. Nature online: 10 August 2006 http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eZZL0KRyGq0C307nL0ES
Nature Contents: 10 August 2006 Volume 442 Number 7103, pp601-718
Arctic hydrology during global warming at the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum Mark Pagani et al. 10.1038/nature05043 Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eZUY0KRyGq0Ch07d20Er Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eZUY0KRyGq0Ch07d30Es
Tasmania releases another coastal
vulnerability report:
Indicative Mapping of Tasmanian Coastal Vulnerability to Climate
Change and Sea Level Rise: Explanatory Report 2nd Edition, was commissioned as
part of the Government's Climate Change Project, and is an extension of work
released in April 2005. Together with the earlier report, 84% of Tasmania's
coastline has been assessed for climate change vulnerability. Further
information: Tasmanian Government Communications Unit, Phone: (03) 6233 6573.
Tasmanian canal development proposal resurrected:
The Save Ralphs Bay group has protested to the Tasmanian Government regarding the new Ralphs Bay proposal. The group is opposed to the Walker Corporation's plan to build a $300 million residential marina on Hobart's far eastern shore. The Walker Corporation withdrew its plans for the multi-million dollar development last year. Walker has now re-submitted the plans and Parliament is yet to decide if it will be a project of state significance to be assessed by the Resource Planning and Development Commission (RPDC). A CSIRO study this year put the known population of the endangered Spotted Handfish at only 700 to 800, including 150 in Ralphs Bay. Approval under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 must be sought if a threatened specie is likely to be affected.
Science Notification for 3 Aug 2006.
Science Notification for 3 Aug 2006.
Science Notification for 3 Aug 2006.
Science Notification for 3 Aug 2006.
Science Notification for 3 Aug 2006.
Nature notification 2 August 2006
Tiny volcanoes spring from underwater cracks: Miniature eruptions leak information about the mantle below. 27 July 2006 http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eZLQ0KRyGq0C3062Z0EW
Estimates of the number of ocean bacteria
species:
Oceans carry 10 to 100 more types of bacteria than previously
believed, most of them unknown, according to a recent study. Using a new genetic
mapping technique, U.S., Dutch and Spanish scientists said they found more than
20,000 different types of microbe in a single litre (1.8 pint) of water from
deep sites in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. "These observations
blow away all previous estimates of bacterial diversity in the ocean," said
lead author Mitchell Sogin of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Wood's Hole,
Massachusetts. Until recent years, estimates of the total number of species on
earth -- from microbes to elephants -- were below a million. The new findings
suggest that a swimmer swallowing a mouthful of sea water may be consuming
perhaps 1,000 types of bacteria.
According to Mitchell Sogin (http://jbpc.mbl.edu/labs-sogin.html): "We have initiated a new project that will organize an International Census of Marine Microbes (ICoMM). Most of the genetic and metabolic diversity of Life is microbial. In the world’s oceans, micro-organisms account for more than 90% of the biomass. The carbon content of these creatures equals 50-100 percent of the total estimated for all terrestrial plants. The number of microbes in oceans exceeds 36,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 cells. The abundances of viruses and phages are ten-fold higher. With such enormous populations, there is considerable potential for the accumulation of mutations leading to very high levels of genetic diversity and phenotypic variation. ICoMM’s goal is to develop a large-scale strategic plan that will describe the biodiversity of marine micro-organisms.
SOURCE: Alister Doyle, Reuters, 1 August 2006
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=10978
Pew Fellow John Avise's new book on "Evolutionary
Pathways in Nature," published by Cambridge University Press, is
described as " scientifically educational yet entertaining treatment of
ecology, genetics, and evolution intended for college students, professional
biologists, and anyone interested in natural history and biodiversity."
Reconstructing phylogenetic trees from DNA sequences has become a popular
exercise in many branches of biology, and this book explains why.
Molecular phylogenies provide a genealogical backdrop for interpreting the
evolutionary histories of many other types of biological traits (anatomical,
behavioral, ecological, physiological, biochemical, and even geographical).
Guiding readers on a natural history tour along dozens of evolutionary pathways,
the author describes how creatures ranging from microbes to elephants came to
possess their current phenotypes. Avise is a Distinguished Professor at the
University of California
July 2006
Ecological networks and their fragility
Stuart Pimm's article on ecological networks in the July issue of
Nature addresses the complex interaction between species. The article states:
"Darwin used the metaphor of a 'tangled bank' to describe the complex
interactions between species. All interactions can be visualized as ecological
networks, in which species are linked together, either directly or indirectly
through intermediate species. Ecological networks, although complex, have
well defined patterns that both illuminate the ecological mechanisms underlying
them and promise a better understanding of the relationship between complexity
and ecological stability" Pimm is the Doris Duke Chair of Conservation
Ecology at Duke University.
SOURCE: Montoya J.M., Pimm S. L., Sole R. V. 2006. Ecological networks and
their fragility. Nature 442:259-64
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v442/n7100/abs/nature04927.html
Science Table of Contents Text
for HIV/AIDS: Latin America & Caribbean: 28 July 2006; Vol. 313, No. 5786
Early Pleistocene Glacial Cycles and the Integrated Summer Insolation Forcing
Peter Huybers: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/313/5786/508?etoc,
p. 508
news@nature.com highlights: 17 July 2006
Seaweed extract protects against cervical cancer: algae compound surprisingly effective at preventing cancer-causing viral infection. 13 July 2006 http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eY7j0KRyGq0C305yA0EK
news@nature.com highlights: 17 July 2006
Geology: the start of the world as we know it: Plate tectonics has created oceans and pushed up mountain ranges. But when did the process that shapes the planet get going? Alexandra Witze joins the geologists debating the issue. 12 July 2006 http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eY7j0KRyGq0C305yM0EW
The 6th Australian Algal
Workshop will be held at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences,
University of Wollongong, 24th -26th September 2006
(finishing at lunch time on the 26th ). The workshop comprises
lecture and laboratory sessions, and is dedicated to the taxonomy of the main
algal groups. Apart from a general background on identification of algae,
special talks on filamentous green, diatoms, charophytes, red and blue algae are
on the program. The workshop will emphasize on toxic taxa with several special
talks on new findings. NATA representatives will provide an update on laboratory
accreditation. Identification guides will be provided. The organisers are Dr
Adriana García and Dr Stephen Skinner and can be contacted by email: adriana@uow.edu.au.
More information is available online at http://www.uow.edu.au/science/eesc/conferences
This conference, trade show and associated events of the National Aquaculture Council, the South Australian Aquaculture Council and the Asia-Pacific Chapter of the World Aquaculture Council.is to be held from 27-30 August 2006 at the Adelaide Convention Centre, SA. More information: http://www.australian-aquacultureportal.com/austaqua/aa06.html
The 2006 ASFB Conference and workshop will be held in Hobart, Tasmania, from 28 August to 1 September 2006. The 2006 workshop theme is Cutting Edge Technologies In Fish And Fisheries Science. The aim of the workshop is to demonstrate the application of new technologies and techniques in the study of aquatic systems. The workshop will be held on 28-29 August with the conference to run from 31 August to 1 September. Examples of technologies and techniques include smart tags, acoustic tracking, hydro-acoustics, remote sensing, habitat classification, underwater visual systems, electronic data capture and genetic and microchemistry applications. The Australian Society for Fish Biology was founded in 1971. The objectives of the Society are to promote research, education and management of fish and fisheries in Australia and to provide a forum for the exchange of information. Delegates can register online at http://www.cdesign.com.au/asfb2006/pages/registration.htm.
The 15th Australian Weeds Conference will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre from 24-28 September 2006. The conference theme is Managing Weeds in a Changing Climate. More information: http://www.plevin.com.au/15AWC2006/
This symposium is to be held in Perth, WA, on 27-28 Spetember. Email swcoordinator@wwf.org.au for more information.
Preliminary notice of triennial meeting of the Malacological Society of Australasia entitled Molluscs in Research, Conservation and the Economy. The meeting is to be held on 6 - 8 December 2006 at the University of Wollongong, with two day pre and post conference workshops (4-5th Dec, 9-10 Dec). The objective of this meeting is to bring together students, established researchers, naturalists and members of government and NGO agencies that have an interest in molluscs. The meeting will focus on current research involving molluscs in the Australasian area. Molluscs are the second largest animal phylum and many are ecologically and economically important. They are dominant organisms in marine environments and have suffered more human-induced extinctions on land and in freshwaters than seen in all tetrapod vertebrates. Themes:
· Applied studies (aquaculture, fisheries, parasitology, invasive species)
· Conservation and ecology (including endangered species, indicator species, molluscs in experimental ecology, tracking environmental changes)
· Systematics (including taxonomy, phylogeny, evolution, faunistics, biogeography)
· Genetics and development (population genetics, evolution-development, larval development)
For more information or to register visit the conference website at www.uow.edu.au/conferences/MOLLUSCS06/ or contact: Mark Norman mnorman@museum.vic.gov.au or Winston Ponder wponder@bigpond.net.au.
Tamar NRM, in associate with the Centre for Environment, University of Tasmania, is holding a conference entitled “Biodiversity: Balancing Conservation and Production – case studies from the real world“ from 26 – 28 June 2007. The conference will be a pooling of practical experience, innovative ideas and vision to inspire informed action for the improvement of both productivity and biodiversity. An invitation is extended to those interested in presenting case studies of direct relevance to the conference theme. Deadline for expression of interest for presenters is 31 August 2006. For more information contact Amanda Bruce (amanda.bruce@launceston.tas.gov.au) or the Conference Managers 03 6330 1444, Luba.Richards@conferenceplus.com.au.
Join the inaugural meeting of the Australasian
Section of the Society for Conservation Biology at a conference entitled The
biodiversity extinction crisis: an Australiasian and Pacific response. This
conference is to be held from 10-13 July 2007 at The University of NSW, Sydney.
It is being hosted by Australasian Section of the Society for Conservation
Biology. Currently
there is no website, although one will be forthcoming in the near future. In the meantime if you
would like to register your interest or find out more, contact Karen Firestone (kfirestone@unsw.edu.au)
or Richard Kingsford (r.kingsford@unsw.edu.au) at UNSW.
The official newsletter for the South Coast
Shorebird Recovery Program gives you all the gossip on Threatened Nesting
Shorebirds including endangered Hooded Plovers, Little Terns and vulnerable Pied
and Sooty Oystercatchers. Find out whose nesting with who, where the fashionable
nesting sites are and who looked best on the beach this summer. Read the
newsletter online at http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/PDFs/south_coast_shorebird_newsletter_may06.pdf
The Federal Court at Brisbane has recently dismissed a case brought by North Queensland conservation group Wildlife Whitsunday against the Commonwealth Department of Environment and Heritage (DEH). This legal action was commenced in July 2005 after the DEH failed to consider carbon emissions resulting from the burning of coal from two large coal mines when assessing the impacts of the mines under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The mines concerned – near Collinsville – are expected to produce 18 and 30 million tones of coal respectively (equivalent to about 25% of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions in a single year). However, the Minister’s delegate determined that these two mines were not 'controlled actions' and did not need to be assessed by the Department for the Environment and Heritage under the EPBC Act. In his judgment, Justice John Dowsett found that the government official acted lawfully in finding no link between the emissions from the mines and any specific damage to Australia’s environment. Although Minister Ian Campbell last year had stated “global warming ... is a very serious threat to Australia,” in providing evidence to the Federal Court, the Minister downplayed his previous statement to support his delegate and dismiss the threat of global warming as merely a “genuine concern”. The full decision is available at: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/federal_ct/2006/736.html
A Commonwealth report, Stronger Evidence but New Challenges: Climate Change Science 2001-2005, reveals that climate change may be occurring at a more rapid rate than scientists previously thought. The report also throws new light on the question “what constitutes dangerous climate change” by summarising recent advances in two major areas of research: determining by how much climate will change due to greenhouse gas forcing and observing and analysing the impacts of climate change. The report is available online at http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/science/publications/science2001-05.html
Basking shark genetic diversity
Hoelzel, A. R., Shivji, M.S., Magnussen,
J., Francis, M. P. 2006. Low worldwide genetic diversity in the basking shark (Cetorhinus
maximus). Biology Letters. FirstCite Early Online Publishing
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/(w5haph3izaidbz452vbjbyv0)/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,11,55;journal,1,7;linkingpublicationresults,1:110824,1
Atlantic Bluefin Tuna overharvesting
continues
Bluefin tuna stocks in the East Atlantic
and Mediterranean are under serious threat from both legal and illegal fishing
activities, according to a report published by the World Wildlife Federation
(WWF). The conservation group has called for a complete ban on bluefin fishing
and the immediate introduction of a sustainable recovery plan in the Atlantic.
The WWF report indicated that catches of bluefin over the last two years were
more than 40 per cent higher than the quota set by the 42-nation International
Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). The report blamed
soaring demand for bluefin tuna on the growth of sushi bars in recent years.
To access the report, go to:
http://assets.panda.org/downloads/wwfbftreportfinaleditionreducido_final.pdf
UN report on destructive
deep sea fishing activities
A long-awaited report by the United
Nations shows the need for an international moratorium on bottom-trawling and
other destructive fishing practices that damage deepsea life. The U.N. Division
for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea (DOALOS) reviewed measures to protect the
vulnerable deep oceans of the high seas - the 64 percent of ocean that lies
beyond the national jurisdictions of any individual nation. Its review, ordered
by the U.N. General Assembly in 2004, was based on reports from member states on
steps taken to stop destructive high seas fishing practices. A draft version of
the review posted on the DOALOS Web site said extremely vulnerable deep sea
habitats require protection, but that fishing for newly discovered resources in
the high seas often proceeds unregulated to the point of serious harm.
"Many fisheries are not managed until they are overexploited and clearly
depleted and, because of the high vulnerability of deep-sea species to
exploitation and their low potential for recovery, this is of particular concern
for these stocks," the review said. The review called bottom trawling a
particular concern, due to its tendency to over-fish both targeted and
non-targeted species, and the damage it causes to vulnerable ecosystems that
provide critical habitat for marine life. It cited an "urgent need" in
some cases for interim steps such as a moratorium on bottom trawling until
formal conservation and management systems can be set up. Sylvia Earle, the
renowned deep sea explorer who heads Conservation International's marine
conservation division, likens bottom trawling to trying to capture a songbird
with a bulldozer.
The report can be viewed online.
http://www.un.org/Depts/los/general_assembly/documents/impact_of_fishing.pdf
Additional:
DEEP SEA CONSERVATION COALITION (DSCC) RESPONDS TO THE UN REPORT
"The long awaited UN Report of measures to protect the
vulnerable deep oceans of the high seas has confirmed that these areas receive
about as much protection as the dodo did in seventeenth century Mauritius.
Matthew Gianni of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) said, "the
dodo was extinct within decades of sailors hitting Mauritius in the 1600s; deep
sea bottom trawlers work even faster. It's taken two years for this report to
confirm what everyone knew already, that there are no comprehensive measures to
protect the most vulnerable areas of the high seas."
Source: Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, 14 July
http://www.savethehighseas.org/display.cfm?ID=129
U.S. Navy gets approval for sonar in Hawaiian
waters
The U.S. Navy and conservationists reached a settlement that will allow the use
of mid-frequency sonar during the Rim of the Pacific training exercises in
Hawaiian waters. The settlement comes four days after a U.S. District Court
issued a temporary restraining order that halted planned use of sonar in the
multi-national exercises. The court instructed Navy officials to sit down with
conservation groups worried about the impact of sonar on marine mammals. The
settlement calls for an increased number of marine mammal observers onboard
ships equipped with sonar, as well as monitoring from aircraft in the area and
from passive acoustic sonar operations.
Source: Charlotte Woolard, The Garden Island, 7 July 2006
http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2006/07/08/news/news02.txt
Norway's 2005-06 whaling activities
Norway's whaling fleet will catch only
half of its quota this season. The government set a quota of 1,052 minke whales,
but so far only 444 have been landed. Industry spokesmen predict the final tally
for the April to August season will be about 500, and say bad weather earlier in
the year prevented hunting. Western environmental groups say the industry is in
crisis, with stores full of unsold meat and a lack of demand from the Norwegian
public.
Source: Richard Black, BBC News, 13 July
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5175970.stm
Steller sea lion research continues
US researchers headed into the Pacific
Ocean last week to resume studies of threatened Steller sea lions - the first
that have been permitted since a court shut down their projects. All Steller
research was blocked in May after a 2005 Humane Society lawsuit alleged that the
species could be harmed by the research procedures used by the US National
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
Source
NATURE (Vol 442)13 July 2006 News in Brief
Carl Safina: "Voyage of the
Turtle"
Carl Safina's "Voyage of the
Turtle" has been published by the Henry Holt Company. Pew Fellow Safina,
author of "Song for the Blue Ocean" and "Eye of the
Albatross," and President of Blue Ocean Institute, describes the Voyage of
the Turtle as: "a global journey on oceans and coasts in pursuit of Earth's
last warm-blooded monster reptile. The Leatherback is the closest thing we have
to a last-living dinosaur. It's a turtle that can weigh over a ton. Throughout
our global explorations from tropical New Guinea jungle beaches to chilly waters
off Newfoundland, we come face-to-face with animals, villagers, and researchers
living and working at extremes. We meet poachers, fishermen, and native people
who still worship the Leatherback Turtle." The book is on the New York
Times Book Review "Editors' Choice" list.
Safina was recently featured on National Public Radio's Diane Rehm's Show about
Saving the Oceans. To listen to the interview, go to:
http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/06/07/13.php#11366
The Anindilyakwa traditional owners of the remote Groote archipelago in the Gulf of Carpentaria have declared their country an Indigenous Protected Area ( IPA), promising to manage it according to international conservation guidelines in the interests of all Australians. They have recieved $100,000 in funding for Indigenous rangers to undertake land management measures– including weed and pest control, surveillance for illegal fishing and cleaning up ghost nets that foul the remote beaches and entangle turtles. The declaration of the IPA will lead to new jobs for Anindilyakwa people, based on environment conservation, cultural protection and ecotourism and the new funding will enable Indigenous rangers to further their skills in land management practices and environmental monitoring. For further information on Indigenous Protected Areas, visit www.deh.gov.au/indigenous/ipa
A
survey of the deep waters off Western Australia’s Rottnest Island has revealed
fish species previously unknown to science. The voyage was part of research
under the Australian Government’s marine science programme. Read the media
release at http://www.deh.gov.au/minister/env/2006/mr30may06.html
Global change is causing degradation or loss of marine and coastal ecosystems on which much of the world’s human population depends. The UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) has released a report which describes the current status of marine and coastal ecosystems, the services (eg. food security, employment etc) provided by these ecosystems, drivers of change in these ecosystems, and what can be done about the loss of these ecosystems and their services. The report identifies fishing as the primary threat to marine biodiversity, along with climate change, pollution, habitat damage and alien species. The report is a synthesis of the findings from the reports of the four Millenium Assessment (www.MAweb.org) Working Groups (Conditions and Trends, Scenarios, Responses, and Sub-global Assessments) concerning marine and coastal ecosystems. The aim of this synthesis report is to contribute to the dissemination of the information contained within the MEA to decision-makers and a wide range of stakeholders of marine and coastal ecosystems through seven key messages. Access the report online at http://sea.unep-wcmc.org/resources/publications/otherpubs.htm
In an extraordinary letter of protest, 10 000 U.S. scientists are asking Congress to stop the Bush administration from closing the Environmental Protection Agency’s network of technical research libraries. The EPA scientists, representing more than half of the total agency workforce, contend thousands of scientific studies are being put out of reach, hindering emergency preparedness, anti-pollution enforcement and long-term research, according to the letter released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The closures are part of the Bush administration’s $2 million cut (from an overall EPA budget of nearly $8 billion) and are in spite of EPA internal studies showing that providing full library access saves an estimated 214,000 hours in professional staff time worth some $7.5 million annually, an amount far larger than the total agency library budget of $2.5 million. Read more at http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=706.
Nature Contents: 12 July 2006 Volume 442 Number 7099, pp109 - 222:
Geology: The start of the world as we know it. Plate tectonics has created oceans and pushed up mountain ranges. But when did the process that shapes the planet get going? Alexandra Witze joins the geologists debating the issue. Alexandra Witze http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eY4Y0KRyGq0Ch05hj0EH
Nature Contents: 12 July 2006 Volume 442 Number 7099, pp109 - 222:
Snapshot: Deep-sea wonders: From the whimsical to the downright scary, images featuring creatures from the deep are showcased in the BP Kongsberg Underwater Image Competition being held this week at the 11th International Deep-Sea Biology Symposium, UK. Narelle Towie takes a look at some of the most striking entries. http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eY4Y0KRyGq0Ch05hZ0Ez
Science Table of Contents Text for 7 July 2006; Vol. 313, No. 5783.
Confronting amphibian declines and extinctions Joseph R. Mendelson, III, Karen R. Lips, Ronald W. Gagliardo, George B. Rabb, James P. Collins, James E. Diffendorfer, Peter Daszak, Roberto Ibanez D., Kevin C. Zippel, Dwight P. Lawson, Kevin M. Wright, Simon N. Stuart, Claude Gascon, Helio R. da Silva, Patricia A. Burrowes, Rafael L. Joglar, Enrique La Marca, Stefan Lotters, Louis H. du Preez, Che Weldon, Alex Hyatt, Jose Vicente Rodriguez-Mahecha, Susan Hunt, Helen Robertson, Brad Lock, Christopher J. Raxworthy, Darrel R. Frost, Robert C. Lacy, Ross A. Alford, Jonathan A. Campbell, Gabriela Parra-Olea, Federico Bolanos, Jose Joaquin Calvo Domingo, Tim Halliday, James B. Murphy, Marvalee H. Wake, Luis A. Coloma, Sergius L. Kuzmin, Mark Stanley Price, Kim M. Howell, Michael Lau, Rohan Pethiyagoda, Michelle Boone, Michael J. Lannoo, Andrew R. Blaustein, Andy Dobson, Richard A. Griffiths, Martha L. Crump, David B. Wake, and Edmund D. Brodie Jr. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/313/5783/48?etoc
Science Table of Contents Text for 7 July 2006; Vol. 313, No. 5783.
Global biodiversity conservation priorities T. M. Brooks, R. A. Mittermeier, G. A. B. da Fonseca, J. Gerlach, M. Hoffmann, J. F. Lamoreux, C. G. Mittermeier, J. D. Pilgrim, and A. S. L. Rodrigues http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/313/5783/58?etoc p. 58
AMC biosecurity expertise:
The Victorian campus of the Australian
Maritime College will become an international centre of excellence for
biosecurity threats, supported by additional funding from the Australian
Government. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and
Heritage, Mr Greg Hunt, announced that the Government will support the
establishment of an international consortium for education and research into
marine biosecurity threats through a $200,000 Natural Heritage Trust project.
The funding will support the proposal by the Australian Maritime College's
National Centre for Marine and Coastal Conservation at Point Nepean, which will
develop courses for students and professionals in the prevention and management
of introduced marine pests and pathogens. The NHT contribution will bring total
funding for the project to more than $550,000, with the balance being
contributed by the College's Centre for Marine and Coastal Conservation and its
consortium partners. Minister for the Environment and Heritage Senator Ian
Campbell said the establishment of the consortium was a strategic measure to
assist Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies address the growing
threat of marine biosecurity problems. A workshop of confirmed and prospective
consortium members was held in Victoria in mid-June.
Nature Contents: 6 July 2006
Volume 442 Number 7098, pp1 - 108
Should conservation biologists push policies? To
advocate or not advocate? Emma Marris http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYxJ0KRyGq0Ch05Jx0Es
Western
Australia's Marine Futures project:
The WA Marine Mapping project has been
re-named the Marine Futures project to reflect a broadening in scope. The
project is a partnership between the Commonwealth and the WA State Governments, regional resource planners, university researchers and industry. It is
partly funded by the Commonwealth, and is the largest marine investment of the
Natural Heritage Trust to date in Western Australia. Information is
being collected by multi-beam sonar, tow video and site inspection, as well as
use of remotely sensed data. Upon
its completion in June 2008, the project will produce the first comprehensive
maps and assessments of key southern and western (WA) marine habitats. This will
provide information on the distribution and extent of
the different habitats and the organisms associated with them. The
outputs from Marine Futures will underpin the strategic management of WA's
marine environment, and will form the basis for identifying key marine
indicators and habitats. The project will support regional natural resource
managers in establishing targets for maintaining the quality of their marine
ecosystems. Environment and fisheries agencies at both Commonwealth and State
levels are also expected to use the outputs for planning purposes.
More information my be obtained from Heather Taylor (08) 6488 5800, or by email marinefutures@uwa.edu.au.
Pandolfi, JM &
Jackson, JBC (2006)
'Ecological persistence interrupted in Caribbean coral
reefs', Ecology Letters, vol. 9, pp. 818-26.
The recent mass mortality of Caribbean reef corals dramatically altered reef
community structure and begs the question of the past stability and persistence
of coral assemblages before human disturbance began. We report within habitat
stability in coral community composition in the Pleistocene fossil record of
Barbados for at least 95 000 years despite marked variability in global sea
level and climate. Results were consistent for surveys of both common and rare
taxa. Comparison of Pleistocene and modern community structure shows that Recent
human impacts have changed coral community structure in ways not observed in the
preceding 220 000 years.
Indirect effects of algae on coral
Citation: Smith, J. E., M. Shaw, R. Edwards, D. Obura, O.
Pantos, E. Sala, S. Sandin, S. Smriga, M. Hatay and F. L. Rohwer. 2006. Indirect
effects of algae on coral: algae-mediated, microbe-induced coral mortality.
Ecology Letters 9: 835-845.
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2006.00937.x
Declines in coral cover are generally associated
with increases in the abundance of fleshy algae. In many cases, it remains
unclear whether algae are responsible, directly or indirectly, for coral death
or whether they simply settle on dead coral surfaces. Here, we show that algae
can indirectly cause coral mortality by enhancing microbial activity via the
release of dissolved compounds. When coral and algae were placed in chambers
together but separated by a 0.02 lm filter, corals suffered 100% mortality. With
the addition of the broad-spectrum antibiotic ampicillin, mortality was
completely prevented. Physiological measurements showed complementary patterns
of increasing coral stress with proximity to algae. Our results suggest that as
human impacts increase and algae become more abundant on reefs a positive
feedback loop may be created whereby compounds released by algae enhance
microbial activity on live coral surfaces causing mortality of corals and
further algal growth.
June 2006
Tasmanian Biosecurity Strategy released
for comment
Source: Media Release, http://www.media.tas.gov.au/release.php?id=18242
, David Llewellyn, MHA Minister for Primary
Industries and Water, Tuesday, 27 June 2006.
Tasmania is moving to the forefront of strategic approaches to biosecurity with
the release today for comment of a highly detailed strategy to realise the
State's biosecurity objectives. Primary Industries and Water Minister David
Llewellyn said that continuing to achieve a very high level of protection from
biosecurity risks for Tasmania in a changing world will require a co-ordinated
effort from producers, shippers and the broader community as well as from all
levels of Government. The draft Biosecurity Strategy is available at the
Department of Primary Industries and Water website: www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/biosecurity,
Further information: Tasmanian Government Communications Unit Phone: (03) 6233
6573.
Editorial on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument
"The conservation of our natural resources and their
proper use constitute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other
problem of our national life," President Theodore Roosevelt told Congress
in 1907. A century later, President Bush literally looked over his shoulder at a
portrait of Teddy Roosevelt that hangs in the White House as he shocked and awed
his environmental critics by announcing earlier this month the establishment of
the world's largest marine conservation area. The new Northwestern Hawaiian
Islands Marine National Monument will safeguard a remote, biologically rich
string of islands, submerged lands and their surrounding waters, totaling over
84 million acres -- 38 times the size of Yellowstone Park (340,000 km2). This monument is an
extraordinary victory for the environment and for the recognition of Native
Hawaiian traditional and cultural practices, unparalleled in history. It's the
result of 100,000 letters and 100 public meetings generated by a Hawaii-based
network, or hui, of native Hawaiian cultural practitioners, commercial,
recreational and subsistence fishers, kupuna (elders), divers, dedicated
researchers and local environmentalists with a national and international reach.
However, the need for public input is not over. Continued public involvement
will be of vital importance to ensure the creation of strong regulations and an
appropriate management plan. Securing funding for strong enforcement and to
support the newly expanded role of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be
crucial to ensure that these visionary protections do indeed protect this
special place forever."
Source: The Washington Times, 28 June 2006
http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20060627-090829-7599r
Carl Safina, Pew Fellow and President of the Blue Ocean
Institute, submitted the following comments regarding the Northwest Hawaiian
Island Monument to the editors of the New York Times: " Many
environmentalists hailed president Bush¹s new designation of the oceanic waters
around the Northwest Hawaiian Islands as the largest protected area on our
planet. But everything worth protecting on and around those islands is
threatened by Bush¹s refusal to act on global warming. Global warming threatens
the islands¹ wildlife in at least three ways. The sandy land in those small
islands is just a few feet above sea level. Current sea level rise will, within
this century, force massive crowding of seabirds and eliminate much current
breeding area of the endangered monk seals and green sea turtles. Temperature
threatens the 90 percent of Hawaii¹s green sea turtles by changing sand
humidity needed for egg incubation, and because hatchlings¹ sex ratio is
temperature-determined. And as carbon dioxide from oil and coal dissolve into
the sea, acidification of ocean waters will destroy animals making calcium
carbonate shells, including clams and oysters, major plankton groups at the
food-chain¹s base, and reef-building corals; their shells will all dissolve.
The U.S is not alone in causing warming, but we¹re the main contributor, and
the Bush administration stands outside global political consensus by refusing to
acknowledge the science and the obvious. The islands, ocean, and world
environment need to be protected not by the Bush administration¹s current
policies, but from them. To protect the islands and ocean northwest of Hawaii,
we must protect the world from a destabilized climate and an energy policy
running counter to the collective long-term self-interest of us all."
Source: Pew Seaspan June 2006.
Most depleted USA fish stocks are not
recovering:
Just three of 67 depleted U.S. fish stocks have been rebuilt in the
past 10 years, according to a new study. The study, which examines 10 years of
federal data on overfished fisheries, will be published in the August issue of
the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. The study was funded by
the Lenfest Ocean Foundation, which was launched by the Pew Charitable Trust in
2004. The three rebuilt stocks are Atlantic sea scallops, Pacific whiting and
Pacific lingcod, the report says. "Unfortunately, we are failing to rebuild
many of the resources on which our fishing economy depends," said Andrew
Rosenberg, chief author of the report and a professor at the University of New
Hampshire. The Magnuson-Stevens Act mandates that U.S. fishery management
councils draft rebuilding plans for overfished stocks to bring them back to
healthy levels within 10 years if this is biologically possible.
Source: Allison A. Freeman, E & E News, 21 June 2006
NOAA establishes Aleutian area closed to
bottom trawling:
Scientists recently announced that large and diverse coral
communities have been discovered in the deep, cold waters of the Olympic Coast
National Marine Sanctuary off Washington State. And in a separate but related
development, coral and other seafloor communities in the North Pacific were
today given sweeping new protections from destructive fishing practices. A new
ruling by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) bans bottom
trawling in a 370,000-square-mile (958,000-square-kilometer) area off Alaska's
Aleutian Islands. The closure creates the largest no-trawl zone in U.S. waters.
The rule is intended to keep the region's deep-water coral and sponge
communities safe, along with the marine life these ecosystems support. A similar
prohibition protecting 135,000 square miles (350,000 square kilometers) of
seafloor stretching from California to Washington went into effect earlier this
month.
Source: Scott Norris, National Geographic News, 28 June 2006
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/06/060628-cold-corals_2.html
Related article: New reefs discovered off Florida's coast
Nicholas Spangler And Curtis Morgan, The Miami Herald, 17 June 2006
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14839477.htm
Heike K. Lotze, Hunter S. Lenihan,
Bruce J. Bourque, Roger H. Bradbury, Richard G. Cooke, Matthew C. Kay, Susan M.
Kidwell, Michael X. Kirby, Charles H. Peterson, and Jeremy B. C. Jackson
Science 23 June 2006 312: 1806-1809 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1128035] (in
Reports)
Abstract:
Estuarine and coastal transformation is as old as civilization yet
has dramatically accelerated over the past 150 to 300 years. Reconstructed
time lines, causes, and consequences of change in 12 once diverse and
productive estuaries and coastal seas worldwide show similar
patterns: Human impacts have depleted >90% of formerly important
species, destroyed >65% of seagrass and wetland habitat, degraded
water quality, and accelerated species invasions. Twentieth-century
conservation efforts achieved partial recovery of upper trophic
levels but have so far failed to restore former ecosystem structure
and function. Our results provide detailed historical baselines and
quantitative targets for ecosystem-based management and marine
conservation.
Science Table of Contents: 30 June 2006; Vol. 312, No. 5782
p. 1926 Surface and deep ocean interactions during the cold climate event 8200 years ago. Christopher R. W. Ellison, Mark R. Chapman, and Ian R. Hall http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/312/5782/1929?etoc
p. 1954 Rapid Advance of Spring Arrival Dates in Long-Distance Migratory Birds Niclas Jonzen, Andreas Linden, Torbjorn Ergon, Endre Knudsen, Jon Olav Vik, Diego Rubolini, Dario Piacentini, Christian Brinch, Fernando Spina, Lennart Karlsson, Martin Stervander, Arne Andersson, Jonas Waldenstrom, Aleksi Lehikoinen, Erik Edvardsen, Rune Solvang, and Nils Chr. Stenseth http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/312/5782/1959?etoc
p. 1872 Testing Climate Reconstructions http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/312/5782/1872b?etoc
p. 1876 SOCIOLOGY: Fishing Rights and Race Relations Nicholas J. G. Winter http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/312/5782/1877?etoc
p. 1888 ECOLOGY: Climate Change and Crop Yields: Beyond Cassandra. David Schimel http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/312/5782/1889?etoc
Nature highlights: 21 June 2006
Fussy fish prefer trustworthy cleaners: Sea bream choose cleaners they've already spied hard at work. 21 June 2006 http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYtZ0KRyGq0C304xg0Ef
Nature: news@nature.com highlights: 29 June 2006
Society for Conservation Biology: Emma Marris reports from the world's biggest gathering of conservation researchers, meeting in San Jose, California, from 25-28 June. Read what she finds, and what she thinks, on our newsblog. http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYtZ0KRyGq0C304xl0Ek
Science
Plio-Pleistocene Ice Volume, Antarctic Climate, and the Global {delta}18O Record M. E. Raymo, L. E. Lisiecki, and Kerim H. Nisancioglu Science published 22 June 2006, 10.1126/science.1123296 http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1123296v1?papetoc
Science
Early Pleistocene Glacial Cycles and Integrated Summer Insolation Forcing Peter Huybers Science published 22 June 2006, 10.1126/science.1125249 http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1125249v1?papetoc
International Whaling Commission: Press
Release: Day 3, 18 June 2006:
The primary item of business in the morning concerned the question of
Sanctuaries. A proposal by Brazil and Argentina for a South Atlantic Sanctuary
was again presented to the Commission. Such a proposal would have required a
three-quarters majority to have been adopted. In the event, after considerable
discussion, the matter was not put to the vote. A proposal to abolish the
Southern Ocean Sanctuary was again presented to the Commission by Japan. It
would also have required a three-quarters majority to pass but was defeated by
28 votes to 33 with 4 abstentions.
The Commission then turned its attention to the question of special permit whaling. Last year, Japan began the first year of a two-year feasibility study for a research programme in the Antarctic. Under the lethal component of the programme, 853 Antarctic minke whales and 10 fin whales were caught. Japan also has a North Pacific programme under which a total of 220 common minke, 50 Bryde’s, 100 sei and 5 sperm whales were caught. As part of its programme, Iceland took 39 common minke whales.
The issue of special permit whaling is
controversial within the Commission and, as in previous years, strong statements
were made both for and against special permit whaling.
The Commission then returned to its discussion of the agenda item ‘Normalising
the IWC’ that had been left over from the previous day. The primary
document considered was called the ‘St Kitts and Nevis Declaration’. The
document declared a commitment to ‘normalising the functions of the IWC based
on: the terms of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling and
other relevant international law; respect for cultural diversity and traditions
of coastal peoples and the fundamental principles of sustainable use of
resources; and the need for science-based policy and rulemaking that are
accepted as the world standard for the management of marine resources.’ After
a ruling from the Chair, the document was voted upon as a draft Resolution. It
was accepted by 33 votes to 32 with 1 abstention and can be found HERE.
Several of the countries voting ‘no’ formally disassociated themselves from
the declaration after the result was declared.
The supporters of the St Kitts and Nevis Declaration are:
St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote
d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Grenada, Republic of Guinea, Iceland,
Japan, Kiribati, Mali, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mongolia,
Morocco, Nauru, Nicaragua, Norway, Republic of Palau, Russian Federation, St.
Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Tog, Tuvalu.
Science Table of Contents Text for 23 June 2006; Vol. 312, No. 5781
ECOLOGY: Coral Reefs and the Global Network of Marine Protected Areas Camilo Mora, Serge Andrefouet, Mark J. Costello, Christine Kranenburg, Audrey Rollo, John Veron, Kevin J. Gaston, and Ransom A. Myers http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/312/5781/1750?etoc p. 1750-51.
Science Table of Contents Text for 23 June 2006; Vol. 312, No. 5781
OCEANOGRAPHY: A Direct Proxy for Oceanic Phosphorus? Edward A. Boyle http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/312/5781/1758?etoc p. 1758
Nature Contents: 22 June 2006 Volume 441 Number 7096, pp 907-1026
The Southern Ocean biogeochemical divide:
The Southern Ocean has central roles in carbon dioxide exchange
between the oceans and the atmosphere, and in nutrient supply to the rest of the
world's oceans - but these are physically separated due to the nature of ocean
circulation, creating a biogeochemical divide. The area south of the divide has
the most important influence on carbon dioxide exchange with the atmosphere;
while the area to the north has the most significant effect on global oceanic
productivity. I. Marinov, A. Gnanadesikan, J. R. Toggweiler and J. L. Sarmiento
Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYmS0KRyGq0Ch04Mm0Eh
Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYmS0KRyGq0Ch04Mn0Ei
Senate motion on high seas
bottom trawling fails to gain Government support:
June 19, 2006. Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert (WA) moved a
motion in the Senate calling on the Australian Government "to support
interim measures [at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in October
2006] to address the destructive impacts of bottom trawling on deep sea
ecosystems while long-term governance measures are put in place". The
motion, which had the support of the ALP, Greens and Democrats, was opposed by
the Liberal-National Coalition Government, and was defeated. The Australian
Government has undertaken a review of deep sea trawling in
Australian waters (both regulated and IUU) to support the UN Secretary-General's
coming report. The Australian report, prepared by the IUU task force at the
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Australia) is expected to be
released by the end of June 2006.
Source: Press Release by the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition Australia: http://www.savethehighseas.org/publicdocs/OZ-MP-senatemotion-June2006.pdf.
American bycatch criticised by report:
Federal and regional fishery managers are paying too little attention
to the billions of pounds of fish that fishermen unintentionally kill and throw
back into the ocean in New England and nationwide, states a report released by a
coalition of conservation organizations. The Marine Fish Conservation Network's
report says the government has taken few steps to reduce the amount of wasted
fish, or bycatch, and fails to take bycatch into account when setting annual
catch targets. The network, a national coalition made up of 170 conservation,
fishing and science groups, also criticized recent funding cutbacks from Federal
programs to hire observers who ride on fishing boats to monitor and track
bycatch. A fishery analyst with the New England Fishery Management Council
management agency said the report was flawed and inaccurate.
For a copy of the report, go to the Marine Fish Conservation Network:
http://www.conservefish.org/site/catch01/index.html
Coral and climate change:
Citation: Berkelmans, R. and van Oppen, M. J. H. 2006. The
role of zooxanthellae in the thermal tolerance of corals: a 'nugget of hope' for
coral reefs in an era of climate change. Proceedings of the Royal Society B:
Biological Sciences. FirstCite Early Online Publishing.
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/(kjj1ky31m3emqb45ax2b3vz2)/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=searcharticlesresults,6,32;
Special issue of PARKS on MPAs:
Source: PARKS Vol 15, No 3 (2005): High Seas Marine
Protected Areas
Edited by Kristina Gjerde and Graeme Kelleher
Available online at: http://www.iucn.org/themes/wcpa/pubs/pdfs/PARKS/15_3_lowres.pdf
Use of historical anecdotal evidence:
Professor Callum Roberts has published an article on "The value of evidence
about past abundance: marine fauna of the Gulf of California through the eyes of
16th to 19th century travelers" in the recent issue of Fish and Fisheries.
The authors write that:
"Eyewitness accounts written by early travellers to 'the new worlds'
provide valuable
insights into how seascapes once looked. Although this kind of information has
been
widely used to chart human impacts on terrestrial ecosystems, it has been
greatly
overlooked in the marine realm. The article presents a synthesis of 16th to 19th
century
travellers' descriptions of the Gulf of California and its marine wildlife. The
diaries
written by conquerors, pirates, missionaries and naturalists described a place
in
which whales were 'innumerable,' turtles were 'covering the sea' and large fish
were
so abundant that they could be taken by hand. Beds of pearl oysters that are
described
had disappeared by 1940 and only historical documents reveal the existence of
large,
widespread, deep pearl oyster reefs, whose ecology and past functions we know
little
about."
The article suggests that the review and analytical
synthesis of reports made by early travellers should become part of the
pre-requisites for deciding how to manage marine ecosystems today."
Source:
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2006.00214.x
Reference: Saenz-Arroyo, A., C.M. Roberts, J. Torre, M. Cariño-Olvera, and J.P.
Hawkins. 2006. The value of evidence about past abundance. Fish and Fisheries 7:
128-146.
UN-sponsored report on high seas biodiversity
Swift and wide ranging actions are needed to conserve
the world's entire marine environment amid fears that humankind's exploitation
of the deep seas and open oceans is rapidly passing the point of no return,
according to a United Nations-backed report released on 16 June 2006 that calls
for urgent measures to conserve areas of the ocean which contain more than 90
per cent of the planet's living biomass. The
report 'Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Deep Waters and High Seas',
(Kristina Gjerde) has
been published jointly by the UN Environment Programme and the World
Conservation Union (IUCN). Press release: http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=480&ArticleID=5296&l=en
Report itself: http://www.unep.org/pdf/IUCN_Report_16June06.pdf.
The UN-sponsored report addresses damage to the once pristine habitats of the
deep oceans by pollution, litter and overfishing that is running out of control
and indicates that time is running out to save them. The report said humankind's
exploitation of the deep seas and oceans was "rapidly passing the point of
no return". Last year some 85 million tonnes of wild fish were pulled from
the global oceans, 100 million sharks and related species were butchered for
their fins, some 250,000 turtles became tangled in fishing gear, and 300,000
seabirds, including 100,000 albatrosses, were killed by illegal longline
fishing. Into the water in their place went three billion individual pieces of
litter - about eight million a day - joining the 46,000 pieces of discarded
plastic that currently float on every square mile of ocean and kill another
million seabirds each year. Kristina Gjerde, high seas policy adviser with the
International Conservation Union's global marine programme, who wrote the new
report, said: "Once limited largely to shipping and open ocean fishing,
commercial activities at sea are expanding rapidly and plunging ever
deeper." She said the effects of climate change made conservation efforts
more important.
Citation: Gjerde, K. (2006). Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Deep Waters and
High Seas.
UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No. 178. UNEP/ IUCN, Switzerland.
Nature Contents: 15 June 2006 Volume 441 Number 70954, pp
785-906
Snapshot: Atlantic in bloom. Plankton
death throes off the Emerald Isle. Jim Giles http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYf20KRyGq0Ch03q60Eh
Nature Contents: 15 June 2006 Volume 441 Number 70954, pp 785-906
US satellite system loses climate sensors. Joint civilian-military programme culls weather instruments. Jacqueline Ruttimann http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYf20KRyGq0Ch03q70Ei; and the same issue:
Science Table of Contents Text for 16 June 2006; Vol. 312, No. 5780
Climate Sensors Dropped From U.S. Weather Satellite Package http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/312/5780/1580?etoc p. 1580
Nature Contents: 15 June 2006 Volume 441 Number 70954, pp 785-906
Climate change: The tipping point of the iceberg. Could climate change run away with itself? Gabrielle Walker looks at the balance of evidence. Gabrielle Walker http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYf20KRyGq0Ch03rB0Eu
Nature Contents: 08 June 2006 Volume 441 Number 7094, pp 667-784.
Palaeontology: Respect for stromatolites. Is it time to stop worrying over whether the ancient structures called stromatolites are of microbial origin? ‘Yes’ is the answer to emerge from field and lab work on a 3,430-million-year-old marine ecosystem. Stanley M. Awramik http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYZe0KRyGq0Ch03W80Ew
Brief report from Coast to Coast
Conference 2006:
Abridged from a report on the conference given by Edwina HR Davies
Ward, West Australian Coordinator of the Marine & Coastal Community Network.
There were sessions on Coastal Development and Planning, Community and the
Coast, Living Oceans, International Relations, Catchment to Coast, Coastal Use -
Fisheries, Climate Change, and Coastal Use -
Tourism. For proceedings go to http://www.vcc.vic.gov.au/coasttocoast2006.htm
Marine pests and nutrient cycling: Coast
to Coast Conference 2006:
Micheal Keogh gave a presentation on the linkages between nutrient
cycling and marine pests. The CSIRO Port Phillip Bay study highlighted the
possible scenario of parts of the bay's ecosystem flipping into an
eutrophic system. Marine fauna plays a significant role in the process of
de-nitrification - the removal of nitrogen from marine sediments. Source:
Christian Bell, MCCN Newsletter June 2006.
IUU high seas fisheries: WWF releases report on improving RMFOs
Citation: Willcock, A & Lack, M (2006), Follow the leader: learning from experience and best practice in regional fisheries management organizations, WWF International, London. Available from http://www.traffic.org.
Press release: "Around the world, governments are failing to prevent over-fishing on the high seas. Many are ignoring scientific advice and increasing catches rather than enforcing wise management, reveals a new report from WWF and TRAFFIC. "Although past performance of most Regional Fisheries Management Organizations has been poor, also some innovative solutions to common problems have been developed," said Anna Willock, TRAFFIC's Senior Fisheries Advisor and co-author of the report. "What is now urgently needed is for these best practice approaches to be shared, improved upon and more broadly adopted to combat destructive over-fishing on the high seas."
Alaskan sablefish fishery MSC certified
Alaskan sablefish, also known as black cod, has become the 19th fishery to
become certified as well managed and sustainable according to the Marine
Stewardship Council's (MSC) international fishery certification and eco-labeling
program. In total, over 40 fisheries worldwide are engaged in the MSC
environmental program, representing more than three million tons of seafood.
Following a detailed independent assessment of the fishery against the MSC's
Principles and Criteria for sustainable fishing, Scientific Certification
Systems (SCS) - an independent certification body accredited by the MSC - has
issued a certificate to the non profit corporation called Eat on the Wild Side
sponsored by Fishing Vessel Owners Association (FVOA) and the Deep Sea Fishermen
Union, both of which represent longline crews and vessel owners. Alaskan
sablefish products may now carry the blue MSC eco-label - the international sign
for sustainable seafood for consumers. The eco-label can be found on more than
300 seafood products sold in retail chains in 26 countries. Black cod is the
fourth Alaskan species to get the MSC certification. Source: Fishupdate.com 15
May 2006.
Australian Government releases coastal management framework document:
The Framework and Implementation Plan for a National Cooperative Approach to Integrated Coastal Zone Management is at www.deh.gov.au/coasts/publications/framework/index.html
Nature Contents: 1 June 2006 Volume 441 Number 7093, pp 549-666
The Cenozoic palaeoenvironment of the Arctic Ocean. Analysis of Arctic Ocean sediment core spanning more than 50 million years identifies several key features of Arctic climate history -- the revised timing of the earliest Arctic cooling events implied by this record coincides with those from Antarctica, supporting arguments that climate change is symmetric about the Earth's polar regions. Kathryn Moran et al. Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYSp0KRyGq0Ch03AM0Ez Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYSp0KRyGq0Ch03AN0E1
Nature Contents: 1 June 2006 Volume 441 Number 7093, pp 549-666
Episodic fresh surface waters in the Eocene Arctic Ocean. A core of sediments taken from underneath the Arctic Ocean provides evidence that ocean conditions could support a free-floating fern, Azolla, during the middle Eocene epoch, roughly 50 million years ago. Henk Brinkhuis et al. and the Expedition 302 Scientists Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYSp0KRyGq0Ch03AO0E2 Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYSp0KRyGq0Ch03AP0E3
Nature Contents: 1 June 2006 Volume 441 Number 7093, pp 549-666
Subtropical Arctic Ocean temperatures during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum. Identification of the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum in a marine sedimentary sequence shows that sea surface temperatures near the North Pole increased from roughly 18 degrees Celsius to over 23 degrees Celsius - such warm values imply the absence of ice and thus exclude the influence of ice-albedo feedbacks on this Arctic warming. Appy Sluijs et al. Expedition 302 Scientists Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYSp0KRyGq0Ch03AQ0E4 Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYSp0KRyGq0Ch03AR0E5
May 2006
Gaol terms planned for illegal fishers.
Source: http://www.mffc.gov.au/releases/2006/06046a.htm
24 May 2006. The Australian Government will amend Australia's fisheries
laws to include gaol sentences for foreign fishers caught illegally in our
territorial waters, Fisheries Minister Senator Eric Abetz announced today.
"This bill, if enacted, will allow for gaol terms of up to two or three
years, depending on size of the vessel illegal fishers are using, as well as
substantial fines of up to $825,000, or both, for those caught illegally fishing
in our territorial waters," the Minister said. "These new penalties
will be among the toughest in the world, and are an important part of the
Government's new 'get-tough' measures in its fight against illegal foreign
fishing." Senator Abetz said that, at the moment, foreign operators caught
fishing illegally in our waters are gaoled for only token periods, and then only
if they fail to pay a fine. He particularly pointed to a recent case where an
illegal foreign fisherman was fined just $5 in a South Australian court, despite
being caught in Australian territorial waters with $10,000 worth of stolen fish
on board. "That's just frankly not good enough," he said. The new
custodial penalties will apply in territorial waters controlled by the
Australian Government - from three to 12 nautical miles from the coastline.
"That includes the mainland, Tasmania and adjacent islands, as well as
external territories, such as those in the sub-Antarctic," Senator Abetz
said. "Applying the new measures to waters controlled by the States - from
the coastline to the three nautical mile point - is also a consideration, and
the Government is already discussing that with the States most affected."
Waters in Australia's exclusive economic zone - that is, from 12 to 200 nautical
miles - cannot be included in the new custodial penalties under international
law. However, the non-custodial penalties applying there under existing
Commonwealth law will continue. The Minister said that he expected the bill,
which will be introduced into Parliament tomorrow, to be rapidly passed into
law. "I would expect cross-party support for this bill that will help deter
illegal fishing boat incursions that, as well as harming our fisheries, could
bring exotic pests and diseases to this country."
UK Marine Bill 2006
Nature Contents: 25 May 2006 Volume 441 Number 7092,
Submarine volcanic ecosystems. Long-term eruptive activity at a submarine arc volcano Direct observations and sampling of an active eruption at a submarine arc volcano determines that long-term eruptive activity has produced an unusual chemical environment and an ecosystem perhaps distinctive of active arc and hotspot volcanoes. Robert W. Embley et al. Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYN70KRyGq0Ch02fc0Ev Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYN70KRyGq0Ch02fd0Ew
Nature Contents: 18 May 2006 Volume 441 Number 7091, pp 255-382
Copper-containing plastocyanin used for
electron transport by an oceanic diatom
Graham Peers and Neil M. Price Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYHW0KRyGq0Ch01za0Ee
Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYHW0KRyGq0Ch01zb0Ef
Nature Contents: 18 May 2006 Volume 441 Number 7091, pp 255-382
Horizontal endosymbiont transmission in
hydrothermal vent tubeworms
Andrea D. Nussbaumer, Charles R. Fisher and Monika Bright Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYHW0KRyGq0Ch01zc0Eg
Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYHW0KRyGq0Ch01zd0Eh
Australian government releases final plan
for MPA network in SE Australia
The Australian government has released its final plan for a
representative MPA network in Southeast Australia, to cover 226,000 km2
of commonwealth waters in 13 new marine protected areas. The release on 6
May followed months of consultations with stakeholders, conducted in response to
the government's proposal last year of a candidate MPA network ("MPA
Network Is Proposed for SE Australia", MPA News 7:7). The government
will now begin a statutory process to have each MPA designated as a Commonwealth
protected area, expected to be completed by the end of 2006.
According to Environment Minister Ian Campbell, the final plan achieves a
notable combination of feats: it is 24% larger than the 171,000-km2 network
proposed last year, while its impact on the commercial fishing sector is
significantly more benign than that of the earlier proposal. "We have
been able to deliver these new marine protected areas with minimal impact on
industry," said Campbell in an announcement. "Since I released
the proposed network last December, we have made more than 20 adjustments to
boundaries and zoning that will reduce the impact on commercial fishing by more
than 90%."
The network will be integrated with a national program to reduce fishing effort,
including a license buyout initiative, described in the February 2006 MPA News.
Roughly 43% of the network area will allow no fishing or other extractive
activity; 36% will be closed to commercial fishing but open to recreational
fishing and other activities; and the remainder will allow for multiple uses,
including various commercial fishing methods.
The June 2006 issue of MPA News will contain more details on the Southeast
Region MPA Network as well as lessons learned by stakeholders and planners.
For the official announcement of the network plan, as well as maps and
other information, visit http://www.deh.gov.au/coasts/mpa/southeast/index.html.
For more information: Leanne Wilks (Leanne.Wilks@deh.gov.au) and Paul Garrett (paul.garrett@deh.gov.au),
Department of the Environment and Heritage, GPO Box 787, Canberra ACT 2601,
Australia.
IUCN Red Book updated
More than 16,000 species of animals, birds, fish and plants are
registered as under serious threat of becoming extinct on the Red List of
Threatened Species, which is compiled by the World Conservation Union (IUCN).
The number is up from just over 15,500 last year. Of 547 shark and ray species
listed, 20 percent are considered to be threatened with extinction. The angel
shark has been declared extinct in the North Sea, and the common skate has been
upgraded from 'endangered' to 'critically endangered.' However, some
conservation projects have appeared to yield results. The Abbott's booby, a
seabird found in Australia and listed as critically endangered in 2004, has
since started to recover, as have the Indian vulture and Mekong catfish.
Report link: www.iucn.org/marine
Source: Devika Bhat: Natural world on red alert. The Times, 01 May 2006. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2159743,00.html;
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/organizations/ssg/2006Mayredlist.pdf
MPA goals of the 'Micronesia Challenge'.
The Pacific Ocean nation of Palau is considering setting up an
endowment fund worth 12 million US dollars to generate revenue to support the
goals of the Micronesia Challenge. The Challenge was first issued by Palau's
president to other regional countries last year. Its goal is to get at least 30
percent of natural marine resources and 20 percent of forest resources under
effective marine conservation by the year 2020. Guam, the Commonwealth of the
Northern Marianas, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia
have signed up.
Source: Radio New Zealand International, 2 May 2006. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/bulletins/rnzi/200605020930/c48c8e3
Dolphins' sensitivity to marine noise
Reference:
J.A. David: Likely sensitivity of bottlenose dolphins to pile-driving noise.
Water and Environment Journal 20(1):48, March 2006.
doi:10.1111/j.1747-6593.2005.00023.x.
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1747-6593.2005.00023.x
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/wej/20/1
Does coastal vegetation reduce Tsunami
death rate?
Coastal mangroves and green belts offer little or no protection
against the deadly might of a tsunami. This is the finding of a controversial
new scientific report published in the international journal Estuarine and
Coastal Shelf Science. The researchers' findings challenge current advice by the
United Nations Environment Program, non-government organizations, and other
scientists that 'green belts' and buffer zones should be incorporated into
reconstruction efforts to protect villages from future tsunamis. In fact, the
ecologists warn, these green belts may give a false sense of security, leading
to greater loss of life should such a tragedy recur in future. When researchers
re-analyzed data from a recent Indian study, they found height above sea-level
and distance from the shore protected the inhabitants of some villages, rather
than vegetation.
News link/source: ScienceAlert.com, 3 April 2006. http://www.sciencealert.com.au/stories/misc/Greenbelt.htm
Reference: Kerr, A. M., Baird, A. H. and Campbell, S. J. Comment on
Kathiresan and Rajendran: Coastal mangrove forests mitigated tsunami. Estuarine,
Coastal and Shelf Science 67: 539-541, 2006.
Halibut and herring fisheries receive MSC
accreditation
The Pacific halibut fishery in Alaska, Washington and Oregon has
become the first halibut fishery in the world to receive Marine Stewardship
Council (MSC) certification. Pacific halibut joins 16 other fisheries worldwide
that are currently certified to the MSC environmental standard for well-managed
and sustainable fisheries. The Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association (PFA) North
Sea herring fishery has also been awarded the MSC certificate for well-managed
and sustainable fisheries at the European Seafood Exposition in Brussels. PFA
North Sea herring is the largest fishery in Europe to gain MSC certification.
PFA's members catch over 180,000 metric tons of fish per year. Fish products
resulting from these certified fisheries can now carry the MSC's blue eco-label
on retail packaging. The eco-label can be found on more than 300 seafood
products sold in retail chains in 26 countries. In total, 40 fisheries worldwide
are engaged in the MSC environmental program, representing over three million
tons of seafood.
News link/source: EUCC Coastal News, No 03, March/April 2006 http://www.coastalguide.org/news/CN06-03.pdf
Report on ship strikes with cetaceans
The first global progress report on ship strikes with cetaceans is
available on the website of the International Whaling Commission. The report
includes five priority recommendations to reduce these incidents. The report
will be presented and discussed during the IWC Conservation Committee meeting in
St Kitts and Nevis (Caribbean) on 9 June 2006.
Report link: http://www.iwcoffice.org/_documents/commission/IWC58docs/58-CC3.pdf
Nature 11 May 2006
Did humans kill off the mammoth?
The mammoth and other species probably became extinct more than
10,000 years ago because of climate shifts, not over-hunting by humans, new
research suggests. Radiocarbon dating of 600 bones of bison, moose and humans
that survived the mass extinction and remains of the mammoth and wild horse that
did not, suggests humans were not responsible. "That is what this new data
points out," says Emeritus Professor Dale Guthrie of the University
of Alaska in Fairbanks, author of the paper in today's issue of the journal Nature.
ABC: http://abc.net.au/science/news/ancient/AncientRepublish_1635896.htm.
Fisheries patrol director is murdered in
Philippines
The 46-year-old leader of a community-based fisheries patrol in Cebu
City, Philippines, was murdered on 12 April in what authorities and colleagues
say was likely meant as retribution for his team's enforcement activities.
Elpidio (Jojo) dela Victoria was director of the city's Bantay Dagat
Commission, a volunteer civilian force deputized to patrol Cebu City waters for
illegal activity up to 15 km from shore, particularly blast fishing. Under
dela Victoria's direction since 1996, the Cebu City Bantay Dagat has confiscated
P16 million (US $310,000) of dynamited fish and arrested 449 illegal fishers.
His crew also raided several local factories of explosives and blasting
caps. More information: MPA News 7(10), May 2006.
Original story from: Liza Eisma-Osorio, Coastal Conservation and Education
Foundation, Rm 302, Third Floor, PDI Condominium, Banilad, Cebu City,
Philippines. Tel: +63 32 233 6947; E-mail: ccef-ed@mozcom.com
Special issue of MPA News examines MPA
evaluation tools
"With so many [evaluation] methods available, managers
interested in conducting an evaluation may be overwhelmed by the choices. Several
analyses are underway to assess these mechanisms, distill what they have in
common, and determine the keys to MPA success. Undertaking these analyses
- mostly in early stages - are WCPA (A Global Analysis of Protected Area
Management), Conservation International (Global Marine Management Area
Management Effectiveness Analysis), WWF US (MPA Management Effectiveness
Meta-Analysis), and the University of Rhode Island in the US (studying marine
ecosystem governance in the context of Caribbean MPAs). Project leaders
are in discussions on how best to harmonize these projects and minimize
duplication."
More info including 2 special essays: MPA News 7(10) May 2006.
Science Table of Contents Text for Topics in Virology: 12 May 2006; Vol. 312, No. 5775
Statistical independence of escalatory ecological trends in phanerozoic marine invertebrates Joshua S. Madin, John Alroy, Martin Aberhan, Franz T. Fursich, Wolfgang Kiessling, Matthew A. Kosnik, and Peter J. Wagner http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/312/5775/897?etoc p. 897
Science Table of Contents Text for Topics in Virology: 12 May 2006; Vol. 312, No. 5775
Oceanographic basis of the global surface distribution of Prochlorococcus ecotypes Heather A. Bouman, Osvaldo Ulloa, David J. Scanlan, Katrin Zwirglmaier, William K. W. Li, Trevor Platt, Venetia Stuart, Ray Barlow, Ole Leth, Lesley Clementson, Vivian Lutz, Masao Fukasawa, Shuichi Watanabe, and Shubha Sathyendranath http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/312/5775/918?etoc p. 918
Nature Contents: 11 May 2006 Volume 441 Number 7090, pp 127-254
Sympatric speciation in palms on an
oceanic island
Two species of Howea palm endemic to the remote Lord Howe Island are
sister taxa and diverged from each other well after the island was formed 6.9
million years ago - providing clear support for sympatric speciation. Vincent
Savolainen et al. Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYA40KRyGq0Ch01X30Ec
Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYA40KRyGq0Ch01X40Ed
Nature Contents 5 May 2006
Survey reveals diversity of marine creatures. A LEAGUE UNDER THE SEA slideshow. http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eX7o0KRyGq0C301TP0Ew
Chilean blue whales studied
Scientists say they have discovered one
of the world's most important blue whale colonies off the coast of Chile, where
the endangered animals appear to be staying for the summer instead of migrating
south to the Antarctic to feed according to their traditional migratory
patterns. ‘What we are seeing is one of the biggest feeding and breeding
sources, at least in the southern hemisphere’, Said Ernesto Escobar, a
spokesman for the Ballena Azul (Blue Whale) project. The project has been
studying the animals in Chile for the past four years.
Source: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article362314.ece
April 2006
Cold water corals reviewed in Science
The 28 April issue of the journal Science includes a review of recent
major advances in our understanding of cold-water coral ecosystems. Coral reefs
are generally associated with shallow tropical seas; however, recent deep-ocean
exploration has revealed unexpectedly widespread and diverse coral ecosystems in
deep waters on continental shelves, slopes, seamounts, and ridge systems around
the world. Advances reviewed here include the use of corals as paleoclimatic
archives, as well as their biogeological functioning, biodiversity, and
biogeography. The authors discuss the potentially devastating threats to these
fragile, long-lived, and rich ecosystems, especially bottom trawling and ocean
acidification. "...modelled scenarios suggest that this could cause
the greatest increase in ocean acidification over the last 300 million
years". (p. 546).
Report links: Fox News, 01 May 2006
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/312/5773/543/DC1
Source:
J. Murray Roberts, Andrew J. Wheeler, and André Freiwald: Reefs of the Deep:
The Biology and Geology of Cold-Water Coral Ecosystems. Science, 28 April 2006:
543-547.
Dinosaur from the deep
Core from the ocean floor may hold rare plateosaur find. Nature
26 April 2006 http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eX2o0KRyGq0C30zrx0EG
Coral bleaching recovery reported in Nature
A new study published in Nature reports that some species of coral
may be equipped with a coping mechanism that helps them survive bleaching.
Although some corals are able to recover and to survive bleaching, the
mechanisms underlying such resilience are poorly understood. This research shows
that the coral host has a significant role in recovery and resilience.
Researchers bleached two species of branching coral in warm water. After several
weeks, they returned the samples to the Hawaiian reef where they were collected
to see whether they would recover. One species bounced back by consuming five
times more plankton from the surrounding waters than healthy counterparts did.
The discovery could help scientists better predict how reefs will respond to
global warming.News link: Catching dinner could save some corals from climate
doom. 26 April 2006 http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eX2o0KRyGq0C30zry0EH
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/426/5?rss
Reference:
Andréa G. Grottoli, Lisa J. Rodrigues and James E. Palardy: Heterotrophic
plasticity and resilience in bleached corals. Nature 440 (7088):1186,
doi:10.1038/nature04565. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7088/index.html
Gulf of Mexico dead zone fuelled by
government subsidies
For over 20 years, scientists have documented the appearance of a
summertime 'dead zone' that all but obliterates marine life in the Gulf of
Mexico, one of the most important fisheries in the United States. Each year the
dead zone grows to an area of 5,000 to 8,000 square miles. The main culprit: an
annual flood of wasted fertilizer from heavily farmed land, running off into
rivers and finally into the Gulf, where it feeds the development of massive
algae blooms. The algae then die and decompose, robbing the water of oxygen and
suffocating all life that cannot leave the area. According to a new report by
the Environmental Working Group, at current prices, farmers flush more than one
third of a billion dollars of nitrogen fertilizer down the Mississippi River
each spring. The U.S. Department of Agriculture provided these farms with $30
billion in subsidies between 1997 and 2002, while conservation programs in those
same counties received $75 million. A multi-state compact to shrink the dead
zone to one-third its current size by 2015 has been ineffective so far, possibly
because the program is voluntary.
News link and report: Environmental Working Group: Dead in the Water, 10 April
2006.
http://www.ewg.org/reports/deadzone/about.php
British food retailer to carry only
line-caught cod and haddock
The British food retailer Waitrose says it will convert all its fresh
and smoked cod and haddock to being line-caught. This latest move marks the
completion of a seven year project for Waitrose, and is described by the company
as "another giant step in the supermarket's ethical approach to
sourcing." In 1999 the supermarket took the decision to stop selling North
Sea cod and haddock due to concerns over declining stocks, and instead switched
to sourcing from sustainable fisheries in Iceland. Jeremy Langley, fish buyer at
Waitrose, said: "Our customers are increasingly considering how their food
is sourced--and they want the assurance that the fish on our counters is caught
in the most responsible way possible."
Source: FishUpdate.com, 13 April 2006.
http://www.fishupdate.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/4303/Waitrose_converts_all_its_fresh_and_smoked_cod_to_line_caught.html
Norway's whaling plans under criticism
A dozen countries have called for an end to commercial whaling by
Norway, which plans to step up whale hunts this year to the highest in two
decades, with a target of more than one thousand whales. The other countries
backing the statement are Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil,
Britain, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and
Spain. Norway is also expanding hunts into international waters in the North
Atlantic from its own zone for the first time since the 1980s. Japan, the other
main whaling nation, also raised its 2005 target catch for minke whales to 850
in Antarctic waters, up from 440.
News links: http://www.newswire.co.nz/main/viewstory.aspx?storyid=313246&catid=33
http://news.scotsman.com/latest_uk.cfm?id=600242006
ICES Annual Science Conference
19-23 September 2006
LOCATION: Maastricht, The Netherlands
The annual meeting of the International Council on the Exploration of the Seas
(ICS) will include many plenary and keynote lectures on marine biodiversity,
marine data, and climate variability and change. Some of the theme sessions
cover harmful algal blooms, large-scale changes in the migration of small
pelagic fish, human health risks and marine environmental quality, the effects
of discarding (bycatch); and marine mammals, seabirds, and fisheries.
Symposium link: http://www.ices.dk/iceswork/asc/2006/index.asp
European Union urged to set high marine
conservation targets
The Committee of the Regions (CoR) is urging the European Commission
(EC) to be more ambitious in its efforts to achieve a sustainable marine
environment and to reverse the effects of decades of ecosystem deterioration.
The CoR recently approved a report by Michael Cohen, mayor of Kalkara, Malta,
calling on the Commission to achieve its marine conservation targets by 2018 at
the latest. The Commission had previously suggested a deadline of 2021.
"This is way too late in our view," said Cohen. "We need to
address the problems affecting the marine environment with far greater
urgency." He stated that man-made factors such as pollution and
contamination of the seas, as well as the impact of unsustainable patterns of
over-fishing, are chiefly to blame for the deterioration of Europe's marine
environment. He also expressed concern about current methods for monitoring the
state of the marine environment, labeling them "neither integrated nor
complete." The report also called for increased funding and an information
campaign about the conservation objectives. The EC is due to publish a paper on
the future of maritime policy on 31 May 2006.News link:
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=COR/06/45&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
Draft manuscript (by jon nevill) on EU marine policy available for comment: http://www.ids.org.au/~cnevill/marineGapsANDstrengthsEUprograms.doc
French scientists have studied a unique data set of dates of first arrival and laying of first eggs over a 55-year period for the entire community of Antarctic seabirds in East Antarctica. The records over this long period show a general unexpected tendency toward later arrival and laying by Antarctic birds. This trend is the inverse to the trend observed in the northern hemisphere. Overall, Antarctic species now arrive at their colonies 9.1 days later, on average, and lay eggs an average of 2.1 days later than in the early 1950s. These delays are linked to a decrease in sea ice extent that has occurred in eastern Antarctica. This study was published in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences of the USA, April 6, 2006.
New analysis of the world's oldest fossil penguins confirms some birds survived the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, researchers say. The penguins once lived in shallow seas off New Zealand's east coast 60 million years ago. Now a molecular study, published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, links them closely to modern penguins. Co-author Associate Professor Ewan Fordyce from the University of Otago says penguins are specialised birds that evolved much later than other species. "The fact that they have been found within a few million years of the dinosaurs' extinction is compelling evidence that modern birds must have evolved earlier and diversified during the time of the dinosaurs," he says. "It also suggests that many of those bird lineages survived the catastrophe that wiped out the dinosaurs, so it's unlikely that there was a big turnover, with modern birds only emerging after the mass extinction." The study incorporates genetic evidence of the evolutionary relationships between penguins' distant cousins like shearwaters, albatrosses, ducks and moas. Source: ABC science online, 7 April.
Teams of volunteers recruited by Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) and assisted by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) have effectively reduced the sea spurge infestation in local coastal national parks to less than one per cent of what it was four years earlier. Sea spurge is a seemingly innocent-looking herbaceous plant which originates from the Mediterranean and arrived on the east coast after being inadvertently introduced to Australia about 70 years ago, probably in ship's ballast. It has the capacity to cover entire beaches within a period of a few years and is a threat to shorebirds that nest on beaches and to people's enjoyment of our beaches. Staff from the NPWS and members of the Bingi Landcare group have undertaken some of the sea spurge work but CVA volunteers, many of whom have come here from around the world, have tackled the heaviest infestations. Read more at http://www3.environment.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/dec_media_060413_02.
The draft Biodiversity Strategy for South Australia, No Species Loss, has been released for public comment. No Species Loss has been prepared to provide a vision for biodiversity conservation and management in SA. The strategy identifies goals and targets for halting species decline. Comments can be submitted up until 2 June 2006. For a copy of the Strategy visit http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/biodiversity/bio_strategy.html
The first monitoring survey in Fiordland Marine Area has just been completed, with a team of divers from the New Zealand Department of Conservation and University of Otago spending 17 days diving and recording footage of maine flora and fauna along the fiordland coast (what a tough job!, Ed.). The footage will be used as a benchmark for monitoring the marine environment as part of the management of the area. The survey team were happy to find no new invasive species in the area. Source: Fiordland Focus, Wednesday 22 March 2006.
Science Table of Contents Text for 28 April 2006; Vol. 312, No. 5773
Marine Parks Need Sharks? http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/312/5773/526d?etoc p. 526
news@nature.com highlights: 24 April 2006
Hurricanes could cause tsunami threat. Shifting of ocean sediments could trigger undersea landslides. 20 April 2006 http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eXtL0KRyGq0C30zMq0E2
Coast to Coast Conference 2006
Australia’s
biennial national coastal conference, Coast to Coast, will be held in Melbourne
22-25 May. For more information, and to view the
conference program, visit www.iceaustralia.com/coasttocoast2006/
New South Wales Government reluctantly accepts
responsibility for fishers' health tests
As reported below, contamination issues
sparked the closure of commercial fishing activities in Sydney Harbour. According
to the Australian Broadcasting Commission's website: (21/4/2006) "Political
indifference turned to action in the space of 24 hours after the 7.30
Report's revelation last night of high dioxin levels among commercial
fishing families in Sydney. Reversing an earlier decision, the New South Wales
government now says that free blood testing will be available to those
commercial fishermen and their families who want them." http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2006/s1620444.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2006/s1619476.htm
Albatross study examines North Pacific
ocean contamination
As long-lived predators at the top of the marine food chain,
albatrosses accumulate toxic contaminants such as PCBs, DDT, and mercury in
their bodies. A study has found significant differences in contaminant levels
between two closely related albatross species that forage in different areas of
the North Pacific. Researchers also found that levels of PCBs and DDT have
increased in both species over the past ten years. The differences in
contaminant levels between black-footed and Laysan albatrosses indicate regional
differences in the contamination of North Pacific waters, said Myra Finkelstein,
lead author of the study, which was published in the journal Ecological
Applications. The increase in pollutants is most likely due to current use of
these chemicals by unregulated countries combined with the legacy of historic
use from by the United States and other developed nations, Finkelstein notes.
SOURCES:
Amy Coombs, ScienceNOW Daily News, 4 April 2006. http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/404/3?rss=1
TerraDaily, 6 April 2006. http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Albatross_Study_Shows_Regional_Differences_In_Ocean_Contamination.html
Reference link:
http://www.esajournals.org/esaonline/?request=get-abstract&issn=1051-0761&volume=016&issue=02&page=0678
Further restrictions on Pacific Salmon
fishing
The Pacific Fishery Management Council, which regulates fisheries in
U.S. federal waters off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington, has
recommended severely scaling back salmon fishing along most of the Oregon and
Northern California coastline to preserve shrinking Chinook salmon populations.
The recommendation would restrict salmon fishing along the 700-mile (1,127
kilometre) stretch of coastline for most of May, June and July. If approved by
the National Marine Fisheries Service, this year's schedule would be the most
restricted salmon fishing season ever in the region, regulators said. The
Pacific Fishery Management Council estimates that the schedule, which includes a
complete suspension in some areas, will be a 75-percent reduction of the
commercial fishing season from last year. The 2005 season was also scaled back
compared to 2004.
News link: Pacific Fishery Management Council www.pcouncil.org
Source: Teresa Carson, with Timothy Gardner. Reuters, 7 April 2006.
Community action sees Californian Green
Sturgeon listed as 'threatened'
The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has named a
population of the North American green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) as
'threatened' under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). NMFS denied protection
for spawning populations of this rare fish in the northern portion of its range.
The population of sturgeon lives in the San Francisco Bay and Delta and spawns
in the Sacramento River basin. NMFS had previously denied ESA listing for the
green sturgeon. However, in response to a lawsuit brought by several
environmental organizations, a federal District Court ruled in 2004 that the
determination was arbitrary and violated the ESA. The court ordered NMFS to
publish a new listing determination, which resulted in this new 'threatened'
listing. NMFS must now issue a special regulation specifically defining how the
fish will be protected.
Link: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/species/grnsturgeon/index.html
New management plan for Elizabeth and
Middleton Reefs Marine Reserve
The Australian
Government has released (April 2006) a second management plan for the Elizabeth
and Middleton Reefs Marine National Nature Reserve, about 150km north of Lord
Howe Island off the NSW coast. The area contains unique ecological communities,
including some threatened species, as well as culturally significant
shipwrecks. The new plan divides the Reserve into a Sanctuary Zone at
Middleton Reef, including the surrounding area, and a Habitat Protection Zone at
Elizabeth Reef. This arrangement will protect the reefs while still allowing
some limited uses. The new management plan will
operate for seven years until 2013. The plan can be viewed at www.deh.gov.au/coasts/mpa/elizabeth/
or by contacting the Community Information Unit at the
Department of the Environment and Heritage at ciu@deh.gov.au or on freecall 1800
803 772.
Western Australia's marine mapping project
A $4.2 million project to
map the State's marine habitats has begun, jointly funded by the Australian and
Western Australian governments.The partnership project involves five regional
natural resource management groups, researchers at the University of Western
Australia and representatives from the Western Australian Fishing Industry
Council, the Conservation Council and Australian and State Government agencies.
Fieldwork will focus on the marine environment from Kalbarri to Esperance.For
more information about the project phone Jessica Meeuwig 08 6488 1464. Natural
Heritage Trust details: www.nrm.gov.au
Ocean acidification and deep-water corals
Deep water corals are currently threatened by bottom
trawling, particularly in the vicinity of seamounts. In the medium to long term,
increasing ocean acidification caused by atmospheric carbon dioxide levels
presents a serious threat. John Guinotte, a marine biogeographer at the Marine
Conservation Biology Institute, and his colleagues have published a discussion
in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-04/esoa-oat033006.php
John Guinotte, James Orr, Stephen Cairns, Andre Freiwald,
Lance Morgan, and Robert George (2006) Will human-induced changes in seawater
chemistry alter the distribution of deep-sea scleractinian corals? Front Ecol
Environ 4(3): 41-146.
Oxygen depletion and fish gender
Oxygen depletion in the world's oceans could spark the
development of far more male fish than female, threatening some species with
extinction, according to a study published online by the journal Environmental
Science and Technology. The researchers found that low levels of dissolved
oxygen decreased the activity of certain genes that control the production of
sex hormones and sexual differentiation in embryonic zebra fish. As a result, 75
percent of the fish developed male characteristics, versus 61 percent of those
raised under normal oxygen conditions. This gender shift decreases the
likelihood that they will be able to reproduce in sufficient numbers to maintain
sustainable populations. The study raises new concerns about vast areas of the
world's oceans, known as "dead zones," that lack sufficient oxygen to
sustain most sea life. Fish and other creatures trapped in these zones often
die. Those that escape may be more vulnerable to predators and other stresses.
This new study, which will appear in the 1 May print issue of the journal,
suggests that dead zones potentially pose a third threat--an inability of
offspring to find mates and reproduce. Report link: http://pubs3.acs.org/acs/journals/doilookup?in_doi=10.1021/es0522579
Seagrass in global decline
Around the world, seagrass beds are in decline, says a scientist who
has been studying the shallow water ecosystems for decades. As these underwater
meadows disappear, so do commercially valuable shellfish and fish, waterfowl and
other wildlife, water quality, and erosion prevention. Frederick Short, research
professor of natural resources and marine science at the University of New
Hampshire, compares seagrass beds to forests on the ocean floor. From the Hudson
Bay, where the Cree Nation enlisted him to transplant their diminishing eelgrass
beds, to the Pacific Island of Palau, Short has found the same thing.
"Almost everywhere we start monitoring seagrass, it's declining," he
says. While conclusive global results are not yet available, Short believes
human impact is responsible for the decline. "Human pollution of the water
has been the biggest issue," he says.
Environment News Service, 28 March 2006: http://www.ens-newswire.com/
For more information visit: http://www.seagrassnet.org
or http://www.worldseagrass.org/
Climate of the Past: open access journal
"Climate of the Past" (CP) is a new open-access journal from the EGU
(European Geosciences Union), devoted to the publication and discussion of
research articles, short communications and review papers on the climate history
of the Earth. CP has a two-stage publication process: after an initial
screening, papers appear online in Climate of the Past Discussions (CPD), where
they are open for traditional peer review but also for public comment.
After this stage is complete, papers undergo a normal editorial process before
appearing in CP itself. CP and CPD are available freely (and free of
charge) at http://www.copernicus.org/EGU/cp/cp.html;
if you would like to be aware of new papers coming in (which gives you the
chance to read them and also to comment on papers in the discussion phase) then
please subscribe to an alert at http://www.co!
pernicus.org/EGU/cp/alert_service.html : you can subscribe to all papers in CP,
or just to subject areas that interest you.
Of course the editors would also welcome your papers being submitted to CP!
On behalf of the Chief Editors (Denis Didier Rousseau, Gerald Ganssen,
Martin Claussen, Eric Wolff)
Eric Wolff
British Antarctic Survey
High Cross
Madingley Road
Cambridge CB3 0ET
United Kingdom
E-mail: ewwo@bas.ac.uk
Phone: +44 1223 221491
Eighth CBD CoP sees new commitments to
MPA targets
Source: MPA News, April 2006: Government leaders in the
Micronesia region, spread over 3 million miles of the Western Pacific, have
joined together to pledge to protect 30% of their nearshore marine ecosystems by
2020. Termed "The Micronesia Challenge", the commitment is being
led by Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the
US territories of Guam and Northern Marianas Islands. It was formally
announced at the Eighth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD), held in Curitiba, Brazil, in March 2006. The
pledge also includes a commitment to protect 20% of their terrestrial ecosystems
by 2020.
Palau President H.E. Tommy Remengesau said his nation intends in the intervening
years to be the first in the world to achieve, and surpass, having at least 10%
of each of its ecological regions effectively conserved. Guam Governor
Felix Camacho said conservation would be the key to establishing Micronesia as a
world-class tourism destination, and would set an example for the rest of the
world. Also at the CBD meeting, the Caribbean island nation of Grenada
pledged to put 25% of its nearshore marine resources under effective
conservation by 2020.
An IUCN press release on the Micronesia Challenge is available online at http://www.iucn.org/en/news/archive/2006/03/28_pr_islands.htm.
Report available on post-tsunami status
of reefs
Most coral reefs in the Indian Ocean escaped serious damage from the
December 2004 tsunami and could recover naturally within 5-10 years if human
impacts are managed effectively, according to a new report from the Global Coral
Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) and IUCN. "Status of Coral Reefs in
Tsunami-Affected Countries: 2005", the most comprehensive report to date on
tsunami impacts to reefs in the region, says the cumulative effect of
anthropogenic stresses on the environment remains the major threat to Indian
Ocean coral reefs. These stresses include overfishing, destructive fishing
methods, sediment and nutrient pollution, and unsustainable coastal development.
The report raises concern about potential economic and ecological damage caused
by ongoing rehabilitation efforts. Many boats that have been sent to
replace destroyed fishing vessels use different technology, leading to
inappropriate use and increasing fishing effort. "There is a major
need to sit back and assess what was successful during the whole rehabilitation
process and what needs improvement, what lessons can be taken from this
experience, and what still needs to be put into place before the next coastal
disaster," says co-editor Clive Wilkinson, global GCRMN coordinator at the
Australian Institute of Marine Science. He calls on national leaders,
donors, and agencies to convene small, high-level meetings in the affected
countries to gather positive and negative lessons from the disaster.
The report's major recommendations call for: establishment of an early warning
system; capacity-building in integrated coastal management; improved fisheries
management and coral reef monitoring; establishment of more marine protected
areas; careful reparation and rehabilitation of tsunami damage; and development
of stronger national ocean policies. The report is available online in PDF
format (6Mb in size) at http://www.iucn.org/themes/marine/pdf/scr-tac2005-all.pdf.
Impacts of size-selective harvesting in
fish stocks:
Fisheries scientist David Conover, dean and director of the Marine
Sciences Research Center at SUNY Stony Brook, is leading the most extensive
laboratory study to date on the effects of size-selective harvesting in fish
stocks. He and his team mimicked fishing by removing 90 percent of the largest
fish from a lab population of Atlantic Silversides (Menidia menidia), a small
marine fish. In another experimental group they removed 90 percent of the
smallest fish, and in a control group they removed the same amount of fish, but
without regard to size. The lead author on the most recent study, Matthew Walsh,
a PhD student at University of California Riverside, says that the results were
striking - in five generations of this kind of selection, the different
categories of fish greatly diverged in characteristics. In the group where only
the smallest fish were taken out, the fish grew larger, ate more, produced more
eggs, had a higher rate of survival, were better at foraging for food, and tired
less in swim tests. But in the group that mimics our current fishing
regulations, where the largest fish were removed, showed opposite, negative
characteristics. "Fish are far lower in abundance than they have been
historically, but a second observation is that fish are much smaller than they
were historically," says Conover. The study is funded in part by The
Pew Institute for Ocean Science.
SOURCE: Sarah Simpson, Scientific American, April 2006
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=5&articleID=000B1D61-2F31-1417-AE6E83414B7F0000
March 2006
Reduction of Federal coastal funding
prompts launch of self-funded coast care magazine
Source: email from Kim Bilham 10/4/06:
Science Table of Contents Text for 7 April 2006; Vol. 312, No. 5770
U.S. Ocean policy: major fisheries bill Introduced in House http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/312/5770/34b?etoc p. 34
Further advice requested on
Orange Roughy nomination
Source: Ocean Action Bulletin, April 7
2006
The Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, this
week announced that further advice would be sought in relation to a nomination
to list the commercial fish Orange Roughy as a threatened species. The Orange
Roughy was nominated for listing as a threatened species under the Australian
Government’s environment legislation - the Environment Protection and
Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The nomination to list Orange Roughy
underwent an assessment by the Australian Government’s independent Threatened
Species Scientific Committee (TSSC). The advice from the Committee indicates
that there are serious concerns regarding the long-term conservation of the
Orange Roughy. The Orange Roughy is an important part of the deep water
fisheries of the coast of southern Australia. As such, it has been under the
active management of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority for a number
of years. "Given that the species forms part of an actively managed fishery
it is beholden on me to ensure that I have all the facts relevant to the species
survival before me when I make my decision,” Senator Campbell said.
“Accordingly, I have asked for additional analysis in the context of potential
biological and ecological implications for the species and how these relate to
risk of extinction and potential recovery."
U.S. West Coast waters partly closed to
bottom trawling:
Bottom trawling has been banned in a large area of federal waters off the U.S.
west coast from Canada to Mexico. On 8 March, the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) approved a plan developed by the Pacific
Fishery Management Council (PFMC) to establish an area of 'Essential Fish
Habitat' comprising more than 150,000 square miles (388,000 km2) of marine waters off the West
Coast, to replenish depleted fish populations. NOAA said that less than 10
percent of revenue from commercial fishing comes from areas that will be closed.
NOAA says the bottom trawling closure plan was developed with support and advice
from both environmental and fishing industry groups, but one of the lead groups
in the campaign calls the decision "bittersweet." The conservation
organization Oceana expressed disappointment that the area closed to bottom
trawling is smaller than what the PFMC had originally planned (more than 250,000
square miles). SOURCE: Environment News Service, 10 March 2006.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2006/2006-03-10-03.asp
See also MPA NEWS 7(9) April 2006.
The NOAA press release is available online at http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releases2006/mar06/noaa06-r104.html.
For more information: Steve Copps, NOAA Fisheries, 7600 Sand Point Way NE,
Seattle, WA, 98115, USA. Tel: +1 206 526 6187; E-mail: Steve.Copps@noaa.gov.
OECD High Seas Task Force report recommends
stricter controls on IUU
The High Seas Task Force (HSTF) has published a report,
"Closing the Net: Stopping Illegal Fishing on the High Seas", listing
9 major proposals (recommendations). Key
proposals include a global database to track down illegal fishing vessels and a set of guidelines for regional fisheries management organizations to fight
illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and to sustainably manage
ocean resources. Ship identification requirements using satellite vessel
monitoring systems should be accelerated and unified. The HSTF comprises fisheries ministers from six nations and
three conservation organizations, including the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The
worldwide value of IUU catches are worth up to US$ 9.5 billion and make up about
14 percent of the value of marine catch globally, based on figures available for
2001. About 30% of IUU fishing occurs beyond national jurisdiction, where
there are fewer controls. The report stresses the need to improve knowledge of
IUU fishing and its impacts on target fish stocks and other marine species and
habitat; calls for a comprehensive and better managed network of regional
fisheries management organizations; and calls for initiatives to help
authorities to detect, apprehend and sanction those involved in IUU fishing. The
HSTF partners reportedly will start implementing the report's suggestions
immediately; hopefully other nations will follow suit.
Report link: http://www.high-seas.org/
(then click on the "What's New" tab)
SOURCE: World Conservation Union, 3 March 2006.
http://iucn.org; http://www.unobserver.com/layout5.php?id=2165&blz=1
Shallow layers of good habitat increase
fishing risks for large pelagic fish
Large areas of cold hypoxic water occur as distinct strata in the
eastern tropical Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Research published in the
journal Fisheries Oceanography shows that this water distribution
restricts tropical pelagic marlins, sailfish, and tunas into a narrow surface
layer of often as little as 25 meters, especially where levels of dissolved
oxygen are a limiting factor, which increases the vulnerability of these fish to
over-exploitation by surface gears. Predictably, the long-term landings of
tropical pelagic tunas from areas of habitat compression have been far greater
than in surrounding areas. Many tropical pelagic species in the Atlantic Ocean
are currently either fully exploited or overfished, and their future status
could be quite sensitive to increased fishing pressures, particularly in areas
of habitat compression. The research points to the need to be especially
vigilant in monitoring the catch and effort in these areas, to ensure that the
stocks are not diminished.
Report link: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/fog/0/0;jsessionid=bKTQgMe9rVc8xsVqyO
Reference:
Eric D. Prince and C. Phillip Goodyear: Hypoxia-based habitat compression of
tropical pelagic fishes. Fisheries Oceanography, published online 6 March 2006,
doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2419.2005.00393.x.
Deeper fishing lines will reduce sea
turtle bycatch
Earthwatch-supported scientists say that the turtle mortality by
longline fisheries in the Mediterranean Sea could be reduced by as much as 80
percent if fishermen bait their hooks with mackerel and fish at slightly deeper
depths, while the target swordfish catch would remain the same. The experiment
was modelled after a similarly successful study in the North Atlantic by the
U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, and was conducted with their assistance.
The study was part of a long-term research project to find solutions to the
bycatch problem. The research was done by the Alnitak Marine Environment
Research and Education Centre, the Spanish Oceanographic Institute, and Dr.
Scott Eckert, director of science at the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation
Network (WIDECAST), which is headed by Dr Karen Eckert.
Links: http://www.earthwatch.org (search
for Canadas)
http://www.widecast.org
http://www.newswise.com/p/articles/view/518436/
European Commission proposes fishing
subsidy to reduce fuel consumption
The European Commission has announced a proposal to help its fishing
sector face the increasing cost of fuel. According to the proposal, member
states could award temporary assistance to fishing firms that commit to reduce
either fuel consumption or engine power. The international organization WWF
responded that this will just lead to more overfishing, "as the EU cannot
ensure that the proposed measures are properly enforced." According to WWF,
the priority for the EU fishing fleet should be better
management to adapt the fishing capacity to the natural limits of the fish
stocks. WWF claims current EU fleet capacity still exceeds the natural limits of
stocks. Up to 80 percent of EU fish stocks are overfished, they say, and many
marine species are endangered because of bycatch. News links:
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/281&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=63060
http://www.fishupdate.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/4039/Conservation_group_hits_at_EU_engine_plan.html
Krill surveyed in Southern Ocean south of
Africa
Scientists found aggregations of krill up to hundreds of kilometers
in extent, in little-explored seas of eastern Antarctica. They expect to
radically revise upward the regional estimate for the crustacean at the center
of the Antarctic food web, which is being
increasingly fished. The one-million-square-kilometer area of Southern Ocean
covered by the research voyage lies off the far coast of the Australian
Antarctic Territory below Africa. It was last surveyed 25 years ago, when a
catch limit of 450,000 tonnes of krill was set, based on a biomass estimated at
5 million tonnes. Link:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/antarctic-researchers-get-a-surprise-and-a-thrill-after-moving-infor-the-krill/2006/03/15/1142098528932.html
Whale birth decline tied to global
warming
By observing more than 1,800 right whales in the southern Atlantic,
researchers have determined that changes in climate are affecting the whales'
reproductive success. The problem, they believe, is not that whales suffer
directly from warm conditions, but that their food supply--mainly krill--does.
In a study published in Biology Letters, scientists compared sea-surface
temperatures in the southwest Atlantic to their index of the yearly calving
success of whales that breed off the Argentine coast. The researchers found a
strong correlation between the number of right whale calves born and changes in
sea-surface temperature in the autumn of the preceding year. Previous data
support a significant relationship between sea-surface temperature and the
breeding success of krill-loving gentoo penguins. Lead author Russell Leaper
says the study has implications for whaling policy as well.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0118_060118_right_whales.html
Reference: Russell Leaper, Justin Cooke, Phil Trathan, Keith Reid, Victoria
Rowntree, and Roger Payne. Global climate drives southern right whale (Eubalaena
australis) population dynamics. Biology Letters, 10 January 2006. DOI:
10.1098/rsbl.2005.0431
Kiribati creates MPA for entire coral
archipelago
The Republic of Kiribati announced the creation of the Phoenix
Islands Protected Area (PIPA) on 28 March 2006, the largest marine protected
area in the Pacific Islands and the third largest in the world. Surpassed in
size only by Australia's Great Barrier Reef and the North-eastern Hawaiian
Islands, the PIPA represents 8 percent of all marine protected areas on Earth
and helps safeguard about 71,300 square miles (184,700 square kilometres) of nearly pristine marine
wilderness. More than 120 species of coral and 520 species of reef fish have
been identified in the area, as well as dolphins, sea turtles, and healthy
seabird populations. It contains a near pristine coral archipelago with abundant
marine and bird life, and is the first marine protected area in the region with
deep-sea habitat, including a number of seamounts. The PIPA is the result of a
partnership between the Republic of Kiribati and the New England Aquarium (NEAq)
together with Conservation International (CI). A management plan being developed
by the partners aims to include careful zoning, to allow for subsistence
harvesting and other sustainable economic opportunities, and for capacity
building to allow enforcement of regulations. Kiribati will be compensated for
its investment through a unique endowment system, demonstrating the potential
economic return of choosing conservation efforts over extractive industries.
CI's Global Conservation Fund will finance the implementation phase and initiate
the endowment. Pew Fellow Greg Stone has led the NEAq's efforts, with the legal
help of Pew Fellow Peter Shelley.
SOURCE: Jennifer Shatwell: Convention on Biological
Diversity New Marine Protected Area Safeguards Entire Coral Archipelago.
Conservation International FrontLines, 28 March 2006.http://www.conservation.org/xp/frontlines/protectedareas/03280601.xml
Article from MPA News April 2006.
North-eastern Pacific studies reveal
deep-sea populations controlled by food supply:
Analysis of fish and other marine animals over a 15-year period in
the deep sea of the eastern North Pacific Ocean (one of the longest time-series
studies of any abyssal area in the world) found a threefold increase in fish
abundance, an upsurge that appears to have been driven by an increase in the
food available to the animals. Researchers say their results indicate that
animals in the deep sea live in an environment in which food supply drives
population levels, called a "bottom-up control," rather than a
"top-down control" situation in which predator pressure controls prey
abundance. Significant changes in the deep-sea environment were likely driven by
changes at the surface of the ocean created by El Niño and La Niña events.
While animals near the surface can rapidly benefit, it can be years until
changes reach the ocean bottom, leading to a proliferation of bottom-dwelling
invertebrate animals that support deep-sea fishes. Comparing these observations
to those for shallow water, the researchers speculate that deep-ocean and
shallow-water fish communities' work differently. News Link: http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/article_detail.cfm?article_num=721
To be published in the March issue of the journal Ecology. Authors:
David Bailey, Henry Ruhl and Ken Smith. http://esapubs.org/esapubs/journals/ecology.htm
Greenpeace report suggests sites for high
seas marine protected areas
Callum Roberts, Leanne Mason and Julie Hawkins have published a report with Greenpeace International called 'Roadmap to Recovery: A global
network of marine reserves.' The report, which presents a design for a
global network of high-seas marine reserves, brings together many different
kinds of biological, physical and oceanographic data, and identifies places that
are hotspots for large and vulnerable species. The report used data on the
distribution of different biological areas, depth zones, seabed sediment types
and ocean trenches to represent the variety of habitats and their variation
across the globe. The report pays particular attention to highly sensitive
deepwater habitats, using maps of seamount distribution and of the seafloor to
identify places vulnerable to harm by bottom fishing. Twenty-nine large high
seas marine reserves are proposed, covering 40.8% of the area of the oceans.
Report link: http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/documents-reports/roadmap-to-recovery
Upcoming conference, ICES. LOCATION:
Netherlands. DATES: 19-23 September 2006. ABSTRACTS DUE: 24 April
2006. Symposia and theme sessions for 2006 include harmful algae
bloom dynamics; large-scale changes in the migration of small pelagic fish;
Census of Marine Life; biodiversity in marine benthic habitats; operational
oceanography; human health risks and marine environmental quality; evolutionary
effects of exploitation on living marine resources; environmental and fisheries
data management, access, and integration; technologies for monitoring fishing
activities and observing catch; spatiotemporal characteristics of fish
populations; and use of data storage tags to reveal fish behavior. For more
information, go to:
http://www.ices.dk/iceswork/asc/2006/index.asp
Report available from European MPA
conference
A short report has been published from a November 2005 conference on
the use and implementation of marine protected areas for fisheries management
and biodiversity conservation. The conference was co-organized by IUCN and the
European Bureau for Conservation and Development. Representatives from EU and
non-EU state governments, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, fishing
industry, environmental NGOs, and other institutions attended. Report link:
Report of the Conference on Marine Biodiversity, Fisheries Management, and
Marine Protected Areas (28 pages):
http://www.ebcd.org/News/Report%2018-1-2006%20final.pdf
Nature Contents: 30 March 2006 Volume 440 Number 7084, pp 581-714
Melting in the Earth's deep upper mantle caused by carbon dioxide By determining the solidus of carbonated peridotite at high pressure it was demonstrated that melting beneath mid-ocean ridges may occur at greater depths than usually assumed - down to 330 kilometres or more. Rajdeep Dasgupta and Marc M. Hirschmann Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eXXL0KRyGq0Ch0xnS0ET Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eXXL0KRyGq0Ch0xnT0EU
news@nature.com highlights: 27 March 2006
Warnings rise over rising seas. Fresh predictions about climate change prompt news@nature.com to ask what we know about the future of our oceans. 23 March 2006 http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eXU40KRyGq0C30xe80EX
News Link to the special online section of Science on climate change, March 24, 2006.
Ice sheets across both the Arctic and Antarctic could melt more quickly than expected this century, according to studies in the journal Science that blend computer modeling with paleoclimate records. The studies show that by 2100 Arctic summers may be as warm as they were nearly 130,000 years ago, when sea levels eventually rose up to 20 feet (6 meters) higher than today. The researchers based their findings on data from ancient coral reefs, ice cores, and other natural climate records, as well as computer modeling.
Bering sea ecosystems under fundamental
change
Until recently, northern Bering Sea ecosystems were characterized by
extensive seasonal sea ice cover, high water column and sediment carbon
production, and tight pelagic-benthic coupling of organic production. Research published in the journal Science shows that these ecosystems are
shifting away from these characteristics. In the past decade, geographic
displacement of marine mammal population distributions has coincided with a
reduction of benthic prey populations, an increase in pelagic fish, a reduction
in sea ice, and an increase in air and ocean temperatures. According to the
book, these changes should affect a much broader portion of the
Pacific-influenced sector of the Arctic Ocean.
Reference: Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, James E. Overland, Sue E. Moore, Ed V.
Farley, Eddy C. Carmack, Lee W. Cooper, Karen E. Frey, John H. Helle, Fiona A.
McLaughlin, and S. Lyn McNutt: A Major Ecosystem Shift in the Northern Bering
Sea. Science 311(5766):1461-1464, 10 March 2006.
Baltic Sea action plan relies on
ecosystem approach
The nine countries bordering the Baltic Sea and the European Union
have agreed on a common vision of a healthy Baltic, plus a set of strategic
goals and ecological objectives that lead to achieving that vision. The plan is
based on a proactive ecosystem approach instead of being driven by reactions to
pollution events. At its annual meeting, the Helsinki Commission officially
approved the first core elements of an "ambitious but realistic action
plan" to restore the Baltic Sea marine environment. The Commission and
member states will identify and detail the kind of actions needed to curb
eutrophication, prevent pollution involving hazardous substances, and improve
safety of navigation and accident response capacity, as well as halting habitat
destruction and the decline in biodiversity. SOURCE: Environment News
Service, 10 March 2006
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2006/2006-03-10-01.asp
Science Table of Contents Text for 24 March 2006; Vol. 311, No. 5768
How a marine bacterium adapts to multiple environments http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/311/5768/1697?etoc p. 1697.
Science Table of Contents Text for 24 March 2006; Vol. 311,
No. 5768
Niche partitioning among Prochlorococcus ecotypes along
ocean-scale environmental gradients.
Zackary I. Johnson, Erik R. Zinser, Allison
Coe, Nathan P. McNulty, E. Malcolm S. Woodward, and Sallie W. Chisholm http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5768/1737?etoc
p. 1737
Nature Contents: 23 March 2006 Volume 440 Number 7082, pp 383-580
Southern Ocean sea-ice extent
Southern Ocean sea-ice extent, productivity and iron flux over the
past eight glacial cycles. Data from the Southern Ocean sea-ice extent, the
biological productivity of the ocean, and atmospheric iron flux over the past
eight glacial cycles indicate that during glacial terminations, changes in
Patagonia apparently preceded Antarctic sea-ice reduction - showing that
multiple mechanisms may be responsible for different phases of CO2 increase
during glacial terminations. E. W. Wolff et al.
Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eXR50KRyGq0Ch0xM60Ew
Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eXR50KRyGq0Ch0xM70Ex
Science Table of Contents:
17 March 2006; Vol. 311, No. 5767. Policy Forum ----p. 1557----------------
ECOLOGY:
Globalization, roving bandits, and marine resources
Improved technologies-faster boats, better refrigeration, and local laws that
cannot keep up with international markets-have allowed today's fishers to
quickly roam across every corner of the seas. This increased globalization means
that the traders are central drivers in the overexploitation of the world's
oceans, destroying local stocks and evading authorities. Now 15 researchers from
around the globe have joined forces to draw attention to the damage to fisheries
caused by these "roving bandits." Writing in the journal Science, the
experts have called for new institutions with broad authority and a global
perspective to create a system with incentives for ocean conservation.
F. Berkes, T. P. Hughes, R. S. Steneck, J. A. Wilson, D. R. Bellwood, B. Crona,
C. Folke, L. H. Gunderson, H. M. Leslie, J. Norberg, M. Nystrom, P. Olsson, H.
Osterblom, M. Scheffer, and B. Worm.
News Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/03/0316_060316_ocean_bandits.html
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/311/5767/1557?etoc
Three more fisheries seek
MSC certification, and one achieves it
Recent
months have seen a series of announcements as more fisheries decide to step
forward for assessment against the MSC's environmental standard. The first
Japanese fishery (flathead flounder and snow crab), the first Norwegian fishery
(saithe) and the first tuna fishery (Western US albacore) all represent
significant milestones and demonstrate that the MSC is now having impact around
the world. January 2006 also saw a major announcement - the Pacific cod freezer
longline fishery completed its assessment and became the first cod fishery in
the world to be independently certified as sustainable and well managed. It is
not yet known where the first MSC-labelled cod products will be sold, but
commercial buyers were showing enthusiasm and interest in the fishery at the
announcement celebration in London. There are now 15 certified fisheries and 20
fisheries in full assessment, plus dozens more in the confidential
pre-assessment stage. Source: Marine Stewardship Council www.msc.org.
MSC
to be 100% consistent with FAO guidelines
In a statement, the MSC's Board of
Trustees has announced that the MSC will be wholly consistent with the UN Food
and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) Guidelines
for Ecolabelling of Fish and
Fish Products from Marine Capture Fisheries
by the end of June 2006. Although the MSC is already largely
consistent with the guidelines, two areas of activity have been reviewed and
will be restructured to ensure full consistency. In future the decision to
accredit or de-accredit a certification body will be taken by an external,
independent organisation. From June decisions
relating to complaints and appeals will also be fully independent of the MSC. A
fee structure for complaints is a further necessary change to conform with the
guideline, and this will be designed to protect equitable access for all
interest groups. Together, these changes mean that the MSC will be the only
fishery eco-labelling programme in the world that
is fully aligned with FAO guidelines, including third party independent
assessment, a robust standard, science based, and an open and transparent
stakeholder process.
Source: Marine Stewardship Council www.msc.org.
London dumping convention protocol
modified
A more protective set of international rules governing the
dumping of wastes at sea will take effect on 24 March. Based on the
precautionary principle, the new rules also include the principle that the
polluter must pay for damages. For the first time, a maritime treaty will govern
storage of wastes in the seabed, as well as the abandonment or toppling of
offshore installations. The new rules are defined by the 1996 Protocol to the
London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and
Other Matter, which prohibits dumping at sea, except for materials on an
approved list. The United Kingdom is a party to the
agreement, as are New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany,
Norway, Spain and South Africa, among others. The United States is a party to
the London Convention of 1972 buy did not ratify the more precautionary 1996
Protocol.
SOURCE: Environment News Service, 10 March 2006
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2006/2006-03-10-02.asp
Publication: Australian dolphins
Review of
the Conservation Status of Australia's Smaller Whales and Dolphins (Australia).
Graham Ross 2006. Department of the Environment and Heritage.
Source: http://www.deh.gov.au/coasts/publications/conservation-smaller-whales-dolphins.html
This report has been prepared in response to a request by the Threatened Species
Scientific Committee for an update on the current status of the smaller
Australian cetacean species, and the conservation initiatives pertaining to
them.
Coming: shark workshop - Sydney, May 2006
Sharks strike fear and fascination into our hearts. They are an
ancient, unique and commercially important group of fishes. Australia has a rich
fauna of sharks and rays, many of which are found nowhere else. Discover these
amazing animals with shark expert Dr Meri Peach, first through talks at WEA, and
then a guided visit to Sydney Aquarium (entry included). The workshop is
at WEA Sydney, 72 Bathurst Street Sydney, on Saturday 20th May, from 9.30-4.30.
The cost is $95, or $85 concession. Booking details can be found at www.weasydney.nsw.edu.au
(course number 62WK065), or call
(02) 9264 2781.
Nature Contents: 09 March 2006 Volume 440 Number 7081, pp 127-254
GOOS can help to keep an eagle eye on the oceans Keith Alverson http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eXGU0KRyGq0Ch0wWc0ED
Nature Contents: 02 March 2006 Volume 440 Number 7080
Neutral theory tested on coral reefs.
Three James Cook University researchers at the ARC Centre of
Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) have called for the worldwide
networking of tropical marine parks and protected areas to limit the risk of
large-scale extinctions under global change, in the light of their findings. Their research, published in Nature 2 March 2006,
finds evidence from sites across the Pacific Ocean to refute the "neutral
theory of biodiversity", which had been proposed as a framework for
conservation. Summary
The research has been hailed by Nature as "a landmark paper, set to
turn our attention in a completely new direction," in a commentary by John
Pandolfi of the University of Queensland.
Report link: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7080/index.html
Accounting for environmental fluctuations
in MPA planning
Research published in the 2 March 2006 issue of Nature journal
suggests that for ecosystem conservation to be effective in dynamic ocean
environments, networks of large MPAs may be necessary. The study, which
examined the degree of variability exhibited by local coral communities in the
Western Pacific, found that species composition was more random than predicted
by "neutral" ecological theory. In fact, similar habitats in the
study region exhibited vastly different compositions of coral. This high
variability - attributed to the impact of local environmental disturbances like
cyclones, bleaching, and crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks - indicates that
attempts to protect particular ecosystems should account for the need to
repopulate them following local disturbances. Maria Dornelas of James Cook
University in Australia led the study ("Coral reef diversity refutes the
neutral theory of biodiversity", Nature, 440:80-82) - see news item below
under subheading of "neutral theory". The research team also
included Sean Connolly and Terence Hughes of James Cook University. Dornelas
briefly discusses the implications of this research for MPA planning in MPA NEWS
7(9) April 2006..
February 2006
United Nations Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group (OIWG) to study issues relating to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction
The OIWG of the General Assembly, co-chaired by Australian Philip Burgess (DEH), met at the UN Headquarters New York 13-17 February 2006. Discussions were based on a draft Co-Chairs' summary of trends, to be read in conjunction with the summary of discussions of the Working Group, which will be circulated after the end of the meeting to GA delegates. Both summaries will be transmitted as an addendum to the report of the Secretary-General on oceans and the law of the sea, to the 61st session of the General Assembly. Summary report. OIWG webpage The implications of this meeting may have a far-reaching effect on international policy relating to the governance of the high seas. Comprehensive independent coverage of discussions at the meeting can be viewed at http://www.iisd.ca/oceans/marinebiodiv/ Source: Oceans Action Bulletin 24 Feb 2006
Two other notable working groups have been established to examine issues of high seas biodiversity conservation: one under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity (Burgess is also a member of this group) and the second under the auspices of the IUCN. The latter group is known as the WCPA Task Force on High Seas MPAs (World Commission on Protected Areas). Australia's Graeme Kelleher chairs this group.
New Zealand proposes a ban on bottom trawling over a million square kilometres. BBC news item. Also covered in MPA NEWS, Vol. 7, No. 8 (March 2006). For a fishing industry perspective, see the article by Kevin Stokes in MPA NEWS Vol 7, No. 9 (April 2006) - recommended reading.
Greenland's icesheet melting faster than expected:
Report
link:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol311/issue5763/index.dtl
Reference: Rignot and Pannir Kanagaratnam: Changes in the Velocity Structure
of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Science 311: 986-990, 17 February 2006. DOI:
10.1126/science.1121381].
Caribbean
seamount retains diverse biota
A seamount with some of the richest diversity of marine
life in the Caribbean has been the subject of a recent scientific survey: the
Saba Bank Atoll, a coral-crowned seamount, 250 kilometers southeast of Puerto
Rico in the Netherlands Antilles. During a two-week survey, researchers
discovered scores more species of fish than previously known in the region, as
well as a rich flora. The researchers counted a total of 200 species of fish,
over 150 more than previously known, including two new species of gobies. Mark
Littler, a marine botanist at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural
History and a diver on the expedition, declared the Saba Bank the richest area
for seaweeds in the Caribbean. Seaweeds form the base of the food chain in coral
reefs, from which the rest of biodiversity depends. However, the biodiversity
hotspot could be under threat. A petroleum trans-shipment depot on the nearby
island of St Eustatius causes a significant amount of marine traffic. To avoid
mooring fees, some large tankers are said to anchor on the bank, causing
significant damage to the reef. The researchers are hoping to get the area
protected by the International Maritime Organization.
Source: Rebecca Morelle: Marine life treasure trove found. BBC, 14 February
2006.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4709594.stm
Jane
Lubchenco receives AAAS Award
The American Association for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS) has named Pew Fellow Jane Lubchenco to receive the prestigious Public
Understanding of Science and Technology Award for her exemplary commitment to,
and leadership of, public understanding of science initiatives in public policy
and professional arenas. Lubchenco is Wayne and Gladys Valley Professor of
Marine Biology and Distinguished Professor of Zoology at Oregon State
University. A marine ecologist by training, she launched the Aldo Leopold
Leadership Program in 1998 under the Ecological Society of America to help
outstanding environmental scientists become more effective communicators to the
public and to policy-makers, as well as the media and private sector. In 1999,
she co-founded the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea, a
collaborative effort to communicate marine conservation science to
policy-makers, marine resource managers, journalists, and the public to inform
decision-making and accelerate the pace of sound solutions to important marine
environmental problems. "Dr. Lubchenco has shown us that public
communication is both necessary and appropriate for scientific leadership,"
said Alan I. Leshner, chief executive officer of AAAS and executive publisher of
the journal Science. "Through her example, many scientists and engineers
are moving beyond efforts just to educate or help the public understand
scientific concepts, and instead are promoting an open dialogue on issues
affecting all our lives." News link:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-02/aaft-jlr020606.php
Sharks
absent below 3000 m.
Research co-authored by Rainer Froese says that the
depths of the world's oceans (below about 3,000 meters) appear to be shark-free,
and thus that all shark populations are within reach of human fisheries and
could be at greater risk than was previously thought. According to this study in
the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society, sharks apparently are limited to
around 30 percent of the world's oceans near to the surface, where they are
within reach of human fisheries, and distribution of many species is fragmented
around sea mounts, ocean ridges, and ocean margins. Sharks are already
threatened worldwide by the intensity of fishing activity. But the study's
authors suggest sharks may be more vulnerable to over-exploitation than was
previously thought.
Reference:
Imants G. Priede, Rainer Froese, David M. Bailey, et al. The absence of sharks
from abyssal regions of the world's oceans. Proceedings of the Royal Society B:
Biological Sciences. Published online 21 February 2006. http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/(tjbeju5542jeabr2h1lrx03x)/app/home/issue.asp?referrer=parent&backto=journal,1,217;linkingpublicationresults,1:102024,1
Damselfish
as coral reef herbivores: Magnetic Island study
Territorial damselfish are important herbivores on coral reefs. However, on
coastal coral reefs damselfish occupy habitats that are often dominated by
unpalatable macroalgae. Lawrence McCook and co-authors examined a coastal reef
(Magnetic Island, Great Barrier Reef) that is seasonally dominated by Sargassum
and that is dominated by three abundant species of damselfish occupying up to 60
percent of the reef substrata. All three species of fish promoted the abundance
of food algae in their territories. The magnitudes of the effects varied among
reef zones, but patterns were relatively stable over time. The authors summarize
that damselfish appear to readily co-exist with large unpalatable macroalgae,
which they can use as a substratum for promoting the growth of palatable
epiphytes. Reference:
Daniela Ceccarelli, Geoffrey Jones, Laurence McCook . Effects of territorial
damselfish on an algal-dominated coastal coral reef. Coral Reefs 24(4):606-620,
December 2005.
Calls to ban deep sea trawling
continue
Dr Sylvia Earle has co-authored an editorial in the
International Herald Tribune on the highly destructive exploitation of the deep
seas. Earle is executive director of the non-governmental organization
Conservation International, and co-author Dan Laffoley is vice chair marine of
the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas. They write, in part: "The
imposing footprint of humanity has advanced from our shores and into the high
seas, the ocean waters beyond national jurisdiction. This footprint damages and
depletes almost everything in its path....Fishing operations are now targeting
the seamounts, oceanic ridges and plateaus of the deep ocean beyond national
jurisdiction, where ownership and responsibility do not lie with any nation. In
the course of a decade or more, we have caused significant damage to largely
unknown ecosystems, depleted species and probably doomed many others to
extinction. Every day, commercial fishing fleets dispatched primarily from just
11 nations venture onto the high seas to fish the deep ocean with seabed
trawls..Given the fragility of these environments, we simply do not have the
luxury of time, but we can act before it is too late."
News link:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/19/opinion/edearle.php
Source: Sylvia Earle and Dan Laffoley: Protecting Earth's last frontier.
International Herald Tribune, 19 February 2006.
Tasmania: Hunter Island lease
allocated to McGuire family
Source ABHF
Media Release Feb 8, 2006. More information refer to full text of media release.
http://www1.bushheritage.asn.au/upload/-953950696/docs/Hunter_Island_lost_080206.pdf
Hunter Island is a Tasmanian Nature Conservation Reserve. A 20-year grazing
lease expired in 2005, and has been renewed, in spite of expressions of concern
and an application to take over the lease from ABHF: "Hunter Island,
50km north west of Smithton, provides refuge for the orange-bellied parrot
(which migrates seasonally across Bass Strait),
Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle, swift parrot, and the leafy greenhood orchid, as
well as many other significant species. Threatened wildlife
of Hunter Island was dealt a blow when the Tasmanian Government failed to award
the lease to Australian Bush Heritage Fund. Project Coordinator, Stuart Cowell,
said “Bush Heritage and its supporters having been working hard to protect the
endangered plants and animals of Hunter Island, and have raised funds to do
so”. For further information contact Alexandra de Blass ph. 03 8610
9100, or Stuart Cowell on 0427 163 080 at the Australian Bush Heritage
Fund.
Public comment on a proposed network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) for the South-east Marine Region closes on Tuesday 28 February.
The Australian Government has been working with key stakeholder groups for the past three years to develop the South-east MPA network using agreed criteria and the best available scientific information. Meetings have been held with stakeholder groups and state fisheries and MPA managers during January and February to consult on MPA boundaries, zoning and management issues and displaced fishing effort. Final written comment is due by Tuesday 28 February.
After Ministerial consideration during March the final boundaries will be released for a public comment period of 60 days, as part of the declaration process under the EPBC Act 1999.
Following the declaration the Director of National parks will begin the Management Planning Process. There are many opportunities for stakeholders to be involved in the Management Planning Process, including the opportunity to comment in detail on a Draft Management Plan.
Details of the candidate Marine Protected Areas are available online at http://www.deh.gov.au/coasts/mpa/southeast/index.html. More information can be obtained by contacting Paul Garrett (02 6274 1925) or Leanne Wilks (026274 1767).
The timing of the MPA process coincides with large scale fisheries reform in the region. Assistance measures for fishermen impacted by the creation of the MPAs and fisheries reform were announced under the Australian Government’s Securing our Fishing Future package.
The structural adjustment components of the Fishing Future package is being administered by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Enquiries should be directed to a hotline number - (02) 6272 5363.
All enquiries regarding changes to management arrangements of Commonwealth fisheries should be directed to the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) on its hotline, 1300 723 621.
Science Table of Contents Text for 24 February 2006; Vol. 311, No. 5764
AAAS ANNUAL MEETING: Hot times for the Cretaceous oceans http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/311/5764/1095a?etoc p. 1095
Nature Contents: 23 February 2006 Volume 439 Number 7079, pp 891-1030
Marine science: Boiling points Teams of researchers are finding vents in ocean floors around the globe. Christina Reed follows the hunt for these extreme ecosystems. http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eW3s0KRyGq0Ch0vPm0EO
Later comment on 'boiling points' http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eXEj0KRyGq0C30vsH0Ed
Nature Contents: 23 February 2006 Volume 439 Number 7079, pp 891-1030
Marine biology: Spawning spot Rosalind Cotter http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eW3s0KRyGq0Ch0vPy0Ea
Oceanic biology: Spawning of eels near a seamount Tiny transparent larvae of the Japanese eel collected in the open ocean reveal a strategic spawning site. Katsumi Tsukamoto Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eW3s0KRyGq0Ch0vP50ES Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eW3s0KRyGq0Ch0vP60ET
Nature Contents: 23 February 2006 Volume 439 Number 7079, pp 891-1030
Corrigendum: Genomic perspectives in microbial oceanography Edward F. DeLong and David M. Karl http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eW3s0KRyGq0Ch0vQZ0E5
Nature Contents: 16 February 2006 Volume 439 Number 7078, pp 763-890
Global change: Rivers are delivering increasing amounts of fresh water to the ocean. The cause seems to be the influence that higher concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide are having on water use by plants. Damon Matthews http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eWxf0KRyGq0Ch0uxS0EX
Nature Contents: 09 February 2006 Volume 439 Number 7077,
pp 633-762
Volcanoes and climate: Krakatoa's signature
persists in the ocean This huge eruption slowed sea-level rise and ocean warming
well into the following century. P. J. Gleckler et al. Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eWsb0KRyGq0Ch0uXo0EK
Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eWsb0KRyGq0Ch0uXp0EL
European Union:
Internet consultation on the communication on halting the loss of biodiversity
by 2010 and beyond
http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/nature/biodiversity/develop_biodiversity_policy/policy_develop_process/index_en.htm
closing date for submissions: 6 February 2006.
Global oceans conference finds progress
slow
The international goals of eliminating illegal fishing and fishing
overcapacity by 2004 and 2005 has not been met, and 75 percent of the world's
fish stocks are either being fully exploited or overfished said ocean experts at
a UN conference held 24-27 January. A study presented at the conference forecast
that the goal of establishing representative networks of marine protected areas
by 2012 will only be met in 2085 at the present rate of designation. Progress
toward better management of oceans and coasts is too slow, agreed the 400 ocean
experts and decision makers from 78 countries attending the Third Global
Conference on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands at UNESCO headquarters in Paris
last week. Management of coastal regions affects half of the world's population
living in coastal communities. The conference was convened to assess progress in
achieving the objectives adopted by the international community at the 2002
World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg and the Millennium
Development Goals. Participants said those targets had been unrealistic. There
was particular concern over insufficient national action to meet the fisheries
goals. Pew Institute Director Ellen Pikitch co-chaired a panel entitled
"The Status of Oceans and Coastal Ecosystems and Peoples: Operationalizing
Ecosystem-Based Management."
News link: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2006/2006-01-31-01.asp
Conference report available at: http://www.iisd.ca/ymb/globaloceans3/ymbvol68num3e.html
SOURCE: ENS News, 31 January 2006
Bottom trawling banned at three high-seas
sites in Mediterranean
In January 2006, the General Fisheries Commission for the
Mediterranean (GFCM), the main intergovernmental fishery management body in the
region, designated three ecologically important deep-sea areas as off-limits to
bottom trawling and dredges. The decision is binding on all Mediterranean
states. Declared as "deep sea fisheries restricted areas", the
three sites are all on the Mediterranean high seas, outside of national
jurisdictions:
- The Eratosthenes seamount south of Cyprus;
- A deepwater coral reef off Capo Santa Maria di Leuca, Italy, in the
Ionian Sea; and
- An area of cold seeps and associated chemosythetic communities (not
requiring sunlight for energy) offshore from the Nile Delta.
Although considered to be in deepwater, the sites are shallower than 1000 meters
in depth, and therefore were not protected under a 2005 decision by the GFCM to
ban bottom trawling in Mediterranean and Black Sea waters beyond 1000 meters
(MPA News 6:9, "Bottom Trawling Prohibited Below 1000 Meters in
Mediterranean"). "Declaring protection status is an important
achievement for these unique areas, and we hope that the GFCM will continue to
support sustainable fisheries by declaring new protected sites in the very near
future," says Sergi Tudela of WWF, which presented the original proposal
for these closures to the GFCM scientific committee in early 2005. A WWF
press release on the closures is available at http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/marine/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=57840.
U.S. Ocean Report Card gives poor grades
The bipartisan Joint Ocean Commission Initiative (JOCI) has released
a U.S. Ocean Policy Report Card, which gives the nation poor scores in many
areas, including failing grades in International Policy and in New Funding for
Ocean Policy and Programs, and a D-plus in ocean policy reform. "The ocean
continues to be in crisis," says Leon Panetta, co-chairman of the
initiative. "This crisis will overwhelm us in the future." The JOCI
brings together two committees that recently reviewed the state of U.S. ocean
management: the privately funded Pew Oceans Commission, and the US Commission on
Ocean Policy (USCOP), which submitted a whopping 212 recommendations on all
aspects of ocean policy to the government in September 2004, calling for
immediate action. In December, the government responded with what the USCOP
called a "promising" US Ocean Action Plan. But, the JOCI now says, any
attempts to combat the problems such as pollution and overfishing have so far
proven disappointing.
News links: For an editorial by Panetta on the report card, go to:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/13632410.htm
To download the complete Report Card and related documents, go to:
http://www.jointoceancommission.org/press/press/release0203.html
SOURCES: Joint Ocean Commission website: http://www.jointoceancommission.org;
Jacqueline Ruttimann: Non-governmental commission delivers damning report card.
Nature, 6 February 2006; http://www.nature.org
Wal_Mart pledges to buy MSC fish
Wal-Mart has pledged to source all of its wild-caught fresh and
frozen fish for the North American market from fisheries that meet the Marine
Stewardship Council's independent environmental standard for sustainable and
well-managed fisheries. The decision will lead to dozens of fish products
bearing the MSC's distinctive blue eco-label becoming available to Wal-Mart's
North American customers in coming years. Conservation International and the
World Wildlife Fund will be working with Wal-Mart and their suppliers to make
improvements in less well managed fisheries, including strengthening management
practices, rebuilding stocks, reducing environmental impacts, and encouraging
support for broader marine ecosystem management and protection efforts. As
fisheries improve, Wal-Mart and suppliers will encourage them to participate in
the MSC certification program. Wal-Mart accounts for approximately 8 percent of
all U.S. retail sales and is the world's largest retailer, with $285.2 billion
in sales in the fiscal year ending 31 January 2005. The company employs 1.6
million associates worldwide through more than 3,800 facilities in the United
States and more than 2,400 units in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa
Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua,
Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Kingdom.
SOURCES: GreenBiz.com, 1 February 2006;
http://www.gnet.org/news/newsdetail.cfm?NewsID=30261&image1=2
http://www.walmartfacts.com/newsdesk/backgrounders.aspx
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/secrets/
Killer Whales and whaling: the scavenging
hypothesis
A paper by Hal Whitehead and Randall Reeves published in the journal
Biology Letters presents research on the relationship between killer whales and
whaling. Their paper addresses how killer whales (Orcinus orca) frequently
scavenged from the carcasses produced by whalers. This practice became
especially prominent with large-scale mechanical whaling in the twentieth
century, which provided temporally and spatially clustered floating carcasses
associated with loud acoustic signals. The carcasses were often of species of
large whale preferred by killer whales but that normally sink beyond their
diving range. In the middle years of the twentieth century floating whaled
carcasses were much more abundant than those resulting from natural mortality of
whales, and the authors propose that scavenging killer whales multiplied through
diet shifts and reproduction. During the 1970s the numbers of available
carcasses fell dramatically with the cessation of most whaling (in contrast to a
reasonably stable abundance of living whales), and the scavenging killer whales
needed an alternative source of nutrition. Diet shifts may have triggered
declines in other prey species, potentially affecting ecosystems, as well as
increasing direct predation on living whales.
SOURCE: Whitehead, H., and R.R. Reeves. 2005. Killer whales and whaling: the
scavenging hypothesis. Biology Letters. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2005.0348.
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/(bqjzu4q5gtffcxrj4r5je245)/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,10,33;journal,2,5;homemainpublications,1,7;
January 2006
UK marine noise committee reports:
IACMST Inter Agency Committee on Marine Science and Technology (2006) Underwater sound and marine life: report of the IACMST working group, National Oceanography Centre, Southhampton UK.
Recommendation
1: A more detailed study should be made to produce a research strategy for the
effects of underwater sound on marine life, from a UK perspective. This should
include consideration of both inputs and impacts.
Recommendation 2: To authorise through the appropriate authorities the careful
and well planned use of Controlled Exposure Experiments, which have the
potential to yield much needed quantifiable information on the effects of
different sound sources on marine animals.
Recommendation 3: To better inform the framing of future regulation, systematic
and comprehensive mapping of noise in the ocean at appropriate space/time
resolution needs to be undertaken.
Recommendation 4: In consultation with stakeholders, Government needs to
establish standardised protocols for testing the extent to which sources radiate
sound in the marine environment. This needs to include a system for depositing
data in appropriate formats so that they can be used in future models predicting
ambient noise in the oceans.
Recommendation 5: That relevant tools, technology and databases be shared via
appropriate Government incentives.
Recommendation 6: The applicability of existing regulations and treaties for
protection of the environment in general and the marine environment specifically
to cover underwater sound should be investigated. Where necessary, amendments
should be proposed.
Recommendation 7: The UK, with EU and international partners where appropriate,
should build a modern, regulatory, risk-based framework relating to noise in the
marine environment, based on existing legislation and the application of the
precautionary principle. Its purpose should be to provide agreed impact/harm
criteria, eliminate confusions over terminology, and enable more consistent
mitigation measures.
Recommendation 8: A Marine Environmental Noise Assessment for UK waters should
be undertaken and permits for activities that generate noise should be issued
within it.
Recommendation 9: That a UK forum be created at which a coordinated approach to
underwater sound and its effects can be discussed across all sectors of
industry, military, scientists, other sound producers, environmental NGOs,
regulators and ocean resource users. (As an interim measure, until such a forum
is set up by the appropriate authorities, IACMST could provide such a role but
would need additional resources.)
EU strategy on marine protection:
As part of a wider European Union Marine Strategy, a proposal for a directive to
protect the marine environment has been prepared by Director General Environment
and was discussed by the European Commission in June 2005. The proposed
directive follows a Communication from the Commission in 2002, "Towards a
strategy to protect and conserve the marine environment" (COM 2002/539),
and a series of stakeholder consultations. The proposal would require each
Member State to establish a national marine strategy to restore and protect the
marine environment by 2016. The draft directive contains a list of criteria to
assess good environmental status, for instance decreasing pollutants and
maintaining or restoring habitats and ecosystems, and an aim to reach this
overarching goal by 2021. This can be compared with other EU commitments, such
as the WSSD target to restore fish stocks by 2015 agreed in Johannesburg in
2002.
Thematic Strategy on the Protection and Conservation of the Marine
Environment:
europa.eu.int/comm/environment/water/marine/com_504_en.pdf
Draft critique
UNEP Report on mangroves and coral reefs:
In the front line:
Shoreline protection and other ecosystem services from mangroves and coral reefs
PARIS/NAIROBI, 24 January 2006 – The
economic value and life saving function of coral reefs and mangroves is brought
into sharp focus in a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP). The report underlines the vital role these natural features play in
tourism, stemming coastal erosion and acting as nurseries for fish including
those in the multi-million dollar aquaria trade. The report recognises that
corals and mangroves absorb up to 90 per cent of the energy of wind-generated
waves. It is also underlines that conserving them is a small price to pay when
set against the costs of destroying them or substituting their role with
man-made structures.
The full report is available online at www.unep-wcmc.org/resources/PDFs/In_the_front_line.pdf.
It is also available through IUCN and Earthprint, priced US$25.
Brazil releases draft protected area
strategy
This
section contributed by Patricia von Baumgarten, DEH South Australia.
The
Brazilian Government released a draft National Plan for Protected Areas
for public consultation in January 2006. The plan defines objectives, targets
and strategies for the establishment of a comprehensive system of ecologically
representative and effectively managed protected areas, which integrates
terrestrial and marine landscapes, by the year 2015. The Plan includes specific objectives for
marine areas. Although it specifies that the final percentage of total
protection to be given for each ecosystem will depend on further research on the
representativeness of specific ecosystems, the Plan proposes a minimum target of
10% fully protected for each major ecosystem type.
The Plan includes sixteen objectives for coastal and marine areas that cover direct guidance for the planning, selection, establishment of the system, its monitoring and evaluation, the establishment of participative decision making, institutional capacity building, and equal opportunities for sharing benefits.
Fish
contaminated: commercial fishing banned in Sydney Harbour.
Extract from David Fisher, Daily Telegraph 25
January 2006 http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17930958-421,00.html
DIOXIN levels in bream caught in a part of Sydney Harbour many kilometres from the waterway's major pollution sites are up to 10 times higher than World Health Organisation standards. Test results show dioxin levels in bream caught in the Harbour near the polluted sites are up to 100 times the WHO standard. New South Wales Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald cautioned recreational fishers to release most of their catch and to eat only 150g a month of fish caught in the Harbour. Commercial fishing between Parramatta and the Heads has been banned for two years. This ban along with a ban on prawn fishing instituted last December (again on contamination grounds) affects 30 professional fishermen. The NSW Government is considering compensation for affected commercial operators. Greenpeace Australia drew attention to high levels of dioxin contamination in sediments around Homebush Bay in 2002. Homebush Bay lies in the western reaches of Sydney Harbour, and is the former site of a pesticide manufacturing plant. Dioxin is persistent in the environment and bio-accumulates. Dioxin is carcinogenic. WHO recommends the acceptable level of dioxins be between one and four picograms per gram - one picogram equals one trillionth of a gram. The NSW Government has been criticised for slow action on a matter of considerable public health concern.
New Zealand Government releases Marine
Protected Areas Policy
The
MPA Policy outlines processes for MPA planning that are based on a common
approach to habitat and ecosystem classification and which are directed by the
priorities identified in the inventory process. Planning for offshore MPAs will
be implemented at a national level, while planning for nearshore MPAs will be
implemented at a regional level. Both
the nearshore and offshore processes will be designed to allow for constructive
engagement with tangata whenua, user groups, and the public to ensure that MPA
planning is inclusive, without compromising biodiversity protection objectives.
Both processes will be underpinned by a commitment to minimise the adverse
impacts of new MPAs on existing users of the marine environment and Treaty
settlement obligations.
More
info: http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/marine-and-coastal/index.asp
Last November the NZ Government announced that
work would be recommended on the national Oceans Policy. (more info URL as above).
Science Table of Contents Text for 27 January
2006; Vol. 311, No. 5760
Scaling of connectivity in marine
populations R. K. Cowen, C. B. Paris, and
A. Srinivasan http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5760/522?etoc
p. 522
Science Table of Contents Text for 27 January
2006; Vol. 311, No. 5760
Community genomics among stratified
microbial assemblages in the ocean's interior
Edward F. DeLong, Christina M. Preston, Tracy Mincer, Virginia Rich, Steven J.
Hallam, Niels-Ulrik Frigaard, Asuncion Martinez, Matthew B. Sullivan, Robert
Edwards, Beltran Rodriguez Brito, Sallie W. Chisholm, and David M. Karl http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5760/496?etoc
p. 496
Sea Shepherd ship held under Flag State
authority
After seven weeks at sea opposing the Japanese whale
killing, the Sea Shepherd flagship, 'Farley Mowat', arrived at Cape Town on
Tuesday, 24th of January 2006.
On the 25th January 2006 the ship, Captain Paul Watson and some of the crew were
detained indefinitely. The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) has
placed a guard on the gangplank; with another patrolling the ship. The ship has
been detained following a request from the Canadian government. The ship and
crew have been held indefinitely.
According to reports, the ship and crew have been detained for two reasons:
1. Apparently, according to Canadian maritime law, both the captain and first
officer should be Canadian nationals. Captain Paul Watson is Canadian, First
Officer Alex Cornelissen is Dutch.
2. SAMSA claims that the Farley Mowat was 'not in possession of an international
ship security certificate or a ship security plan'. This means the ship
allegedly does not comply with the International Ship and Port Facility Security
Code (ISPS Code), which is a comprehensive set of measures to enhance the
security of ships and port facilities, developed in response to the perceived
threats to ships and port facilities in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in the
United States.
The changing nature of high seas fishing:
- how
flags of convenience can provide cover for pirate fishing
co-authored by Matthew Gianni and Walt
Simpson (published by WWF) is the culmination of over a year of investigation
and research on Flags of Convenience and IUU fishing on the high seas. The
report can be downloaded at: http://www.panda.org/marine
The study analysed information available from the Lloyd’s Register of Ships
between 1999 and 2005 on fishing vessels registered to the top 14 countries
which operate open registries or “flags of convenience” for large-scale
fishing vessels.
The top 14 FOC countries are Belize, Bolivia, Cambodia, Cyprus, Equatorial
Guinea, Georgia, Honduras, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Netherlands Antilles,
Panama, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone and Vanuatu.
Nature Contents: 26 January 2006 Volume
439 Number 7075, pp 369-508
Panel quits in row over sonar damage
Programme to test how noise affects
marine mammals seems doomed. Rex Dalton http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eWhv0KRyGq0Ch0th40Ej
Nature: 19 January 2006 Volume 439 Number 7074, pp 243-368
Reduced mixing generates oscillations and chaos in the oceanic deep
chlorophyll maximum
Jef Huisman, Nga N. Pham Thi, David M. Karl and Ben
Sommeijer Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eWcO0KRyGq0Ch0s8D0ES
Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eWcO0KRyGq0Ch0s8E0ET
BBC News January 2006
Further calls to ban or limit deep sea
trawling
Northern
Atlantic fish critically endangered.
Jennifer A. Devine, Krista D. Baker and Richard L. Haedrich:
Deep-sea fishes qualify as endangered. Nature 439, 29, 5 January 2006.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v439/n7072/abs/439029a.html;jsessionid=27764E6A5DCE4E4F980ACC6E378A17D1
Nature Contents: news@nature.com highlights: 10 January 2006
Marine reserves do more good than
expected:
Caribbean reefs protected by no-fishing zones despite rise in predators. http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eWUu0KRyGq0C30saO0Al
Science: Researchers looked at how the ecology
of a coral reef in the Bahamas changed following the banning of fishing
in 1986. There had been concern that the re-establishment of a predator called
the Nassau grouper would lead to a reduction in the population of parrotfish.
Parrotfish are a key component of the reef food web because they eat algae,
protecting the coral reef. The research showed that banning fishing had
two consequences. One was that both parrotfish and grouper numbers rose sharply.
More subtly, the rise of the grouper population favored those species of
parrotfish that grow too large for groupers to eat. These large parrotfish are
also the species that eat most seaweed. All in all, the increase in the
parrotfish population led to a doubling of grazing on the reef, as well as to an
increase in the number of groupers.
SOURCES: Peter J. Mumby, Craig P. Dahlgren, Alastair R. Harborne, Carrie V.
Kappel, Fiorenza Micheli, Daniel R. Brumbaugh, Katherine E. Holmes, Judith M.
Mendes, Kenneth Broad, James N. Sanchirico, Kevin Buch, Steve Box, Richard W.
Stoffle, and Andrew B. Gill: Fishing, Trophic Cascades, and the Process of
Grazing on Coral Reefs. Science, 311(5757):98-101, 2006.
Report link: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5757/98?etoc
High seas fisheries governance
A special double issue of the International Journal of Marine and
Coastal Law is guest edited by Pew Fellow Kristina Gjerde. The issue focuses
on high-seas fisheries governance. The articles are based on those commissioned
from leading experts by the Canadian government for the May 2005 Conference on
High Seas Fisheries Governance and the United Nations Fish Stock Agreement. The
issue includes Gjerde's review of the current state of high seas fisheries, key
recommendations of the commissioned articles, and tables and maps detailing
individual regional fisheries management organization coverage and
implementation.
REFERENCE: International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law 20(3-4), November
2005.
Link to special issue (requires subscription/fee):
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mnp/estu/2005/00000020/f0020003;jsessionid=1mecul9l7g9nh.victoria
Collaborative fisheries vs closed area
management
Tim McClanahan has published a study in Aquatic Conservation,
reporting on what is probably the first test that directly compares
collaborative fisheries with closed area management. It was done in one
biogeographic area along the Kenya-Tanzania border, where two different
political philosophies have created two different management systems. McClanahan
and colleagues examined ecological changes over a seven-year period during a
warm-water disturbance (the 1998 ENSO), to determine the interaction of
management with climatic disturbance. McClanahan concluded that "the large
closed area system protected the undisturbed ecology of these reefs and
associated ecological processes, and the full diversity of fish and coral,
including sensitive species such as branching corals and slow-growing fish.
Collaborative fisheries and large permanent closed area management have
different attributes that, when combined, should achieve the multiple purposes
of sustainable fisheries, ecosystem functions and protection of
fishing-sensitive species."
Reference: T.R. Mcclanahan, E. Verheij, and J. Maina: Comparing the management
effectiveness of a marine park and a multiple-use collaborative fisheries
management area in East Africa. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater
Ecosystems. Published online July 2005. Print edition January 2006.
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/home
Nature Contents: news@nature.com highlights: 10
January 2006
Ocean currents flip out: Global warming
millions of years ago put seas in a spin. 4 January 2006 http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eWUu0KRyGq0C30saR0Ao
Research shows a monumental reversal in the circulation of
deep-ocean patterns around the world and helped the researchers conclude that it
was triggered by the global warming the world experienced at the time.
News link: http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/article_detail.cfm?article_num=708
Reference: Flavia Nunes and Richard D. Norris: Abrupt reversal in ocean
overturning during the Palaeocene/Eocene warm period; Nature 439 (7072), 5
January 2006. doi:10.1038/nature04386
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v439/n7072/index.html#News
European Union reluctant to follow
scientific advice on Cod quotas
The European Union (EU) has given fishermen permission to catch half
of the present haul of cod in the North Sea next year. That is despite
scientific advice for the fourth consecutive year that catches should be cut to
zero to protect stocks from collapse. The EU decided against a total ban on cod
fishing. The deal was reached after one of the bleakest assessments on record
for fish stocks after over-fishing of deep sea species including plaice and blue
whiting and last year's collapse of industrial fishing for sand eels. Prof David
Read, the vice-president of the Royal Society, said: "This is not the time
for half measures to save cod. The scientists' warning is as stark as it gets:
there needs to be a total ban on cod fishing in the North Sea. Yet, amid the
horse trading that happens at the European Fisheries Council, ministers seem to
have lost sight of the fact that unless they heed the independent scientific
advice there will soon be no cod for them to haggle over, for fishermen to catch
or to bequeath to our children."
SOURCE: Charles Clover, News Telegraph, 2 January 2006
News link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/23/ncod23.xml
Link to the scientific advice: www.ices.dk
Oceans Action Bulletin: 13 January 2006
South-east MPA network – work-plan and timeline
A network of Marine Protected Areas
(MPAs) for the South-east Marine Region is to be finalised by the end of March
2006. The Australian
Government has been working with key stakeholder groups for the past three years
to develop the South-east MPA network using agreed criteria and the best
available scientific information.
Further meetings will be held with stakeholder groups and state fisheries and MPA managers in January and February to consult on MPA boundaries, zoning and management issues and displaced fishing effort. Final written comments from stakeholders are due by Monday 28 February.
Following the announcement of the finalised MPA boundaries, there will be a 60-day public comment period, as part of the statutory process of declaring the final MPAs.
Details of the candidate Marine Protected Areas are available online at http://www.deh.gov.au/coasts/mpa/southeast/index.html
$150 million has been committed to buy out fishermen in target fisheries around Australia as part of the fisheries reforms. In the South-east Marine Region the buy-out will also cover Commonwealth and state licensed fishermen affected by the creation of MPAs.
The structural adjustment components of the Fishing Future package is being administered by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Enquiries should be directed to a hotline number - (02) 6272 5363.
All enquiries regarding changes to management arrangements of Commonwealth fisheries should be directed to the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) on its hotline, 1300 723 621.
Last November, the NSW Government launched the zoning plan for the multiple-use Cape Byron Marine Park at Byron Bay on the state’s North Coast. The plan is intended to balance protection of marine biodiversity and support for a broad range of recreational, tourism and commercial activities. After considering 6000 submissions, the plan describes a number of sanctuary zones including: rock platforms and boulder habitats around Cape Byron and Broken Head; Julian Rocks, a critical habitat site for grey nurse sharks; and the unique oceanic lagoon at Lennox Head known as the Bream Hole or the Moat. Activities that do not harm plants, animals and habitats are permitted in these zones. Read more at http://www.mpa.nsw.gov.au/cbmp/cb-mr-30-nov-05.html.
NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald and Environment Minister Bob Debus have announced the creation of a new multi-use marine park for the State’s mid-north Coast. The new Port Stephens-Great Lakes Marine Park will protect of some of state’s most important estuarine systems, while allowing for fishing and other recreational and commercial activities. The 97,200 hectare Port Stephens-Great Lakes Marine Park is a priceless addition to the state’s network of marine parks,” Mr Debus said. The park stretches south from the Cape Hawke Surf Life Saving Club, near Forster, to Birubi Beach Surf Life Saving Club, at the northern end of Stockton Beach. It includes Port Stephens and the Karuah and Myall rivers to their tidal limits, as well as the Myall Lakes system and Smiths Lake. Read more at http://www.mpa.nsw.gov.au/psglmp/manning-mr-30-nov-05.html.
In April this year the NSW Government plans to declare a new 85,000 hectare multiple-use marine park on the NSW south coast to protect important marine habitats, bolster fish stocks and boost tourism in the area. In addition, $8.5 million will be spent on the buy-back of commercial fishing licences.Management of the new marine park will be shaped by an extensive public consultation process, which will include the establishment of a local advisory committee, information days and the public exhibition of a draft zoning plan. The Batemans Shelf Marine Park will stretch from just north of Brush Island, north of Batemans Bay, to Wallaga Lake, south of Narooma. Read more at http://www.mpa.nsw.gov.au/bmp/bmp-mr-30-nov-05.html.
December 2005
Publications:
fisheries crisis
Recent books on the crisis in world fisheries:
- Michael Wigan's Last
of the Hunter Gatherers 1998, and Charles Clover's End of the Line 2004.
Publication: marine extinctions
Citation: Edgar, G, Samson, CR & Barrett, NS (2005) 'Species extinction in the marine environment: Tasmania as a regional example of overlooked losses in biodiversity', Conservation Biology, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 1294-300.
Abstract: We used Tasmania as a case example to question the consensus that few marine species have recently become extinct or are approaching extinction. Threats to marine and estuarine species-primarily in the form of climate change, invasive species, fishing, and catchment discharges-are accelerating, fully encompass species ranges, and are of sufficient magnitude to cause extinction. Our ignorance of declining biodiversity in the marine environment largely results from an almost complete lack of systematic broad-scale sampling and an over-reliance on physicochemical data to monitor environmental trends. Population declines for marine species approaching extinction will generally go unnoticed because of the hidden nature of their environment and lack of quantitative data.
Checklist of marine fishes
of the Recherche Archipelago
Hutchins, J.B. (2005). Checklist of
marine fishes of the Recherche Archipelago and adjacent mainland waters. In
Wells, F.E., Walker, D.I. and Kendrick, G.A. (eds), The marine flora and
fauna of Esperance, Western Australia: 425-449. Western Australian Museum,
Perth.
Although this paper was published as part of the Esperance Workshop of 2003, most of the survey work that is reported was carried out in 1977, 1978, and 1984. It was the first marine investigation of the fauna in the region, and resulted in the discovery of 37 new species of fishes, many of which have since been described. A total of 263 species are included, comprising 241 warm temperate, 20 subtropical, 4 tropical and 6 circum-Australia species. Endemic species for Western Australia totalled 53.
Nature Contents: 1 December 2005 Volume 438 Number
7068, pp 531-710
Oceanography: The Atlantic heat conveyor slows
Computer simulations predict that global warming will weaken
the ocean circulation that transports heat from the tropics to higher latitudes
in the North Atlantic. Such an effect has now been detected. Detlef Quadfasel http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eV4x0KRyGq0Ch0qVt0Eb
Nature Contents: 03 November 2005 Volume 438 Number 7064, pp 1-128
Significant decadal-scale impact of
volcanic eruptions on sea level and ocean heat content
John A. Church, Neil J. White and Julie M. Arblaster Abstract: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eVhX0KRyGq0Ch0ovz0EX
Article: http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eVhX0KRyGq0Ch0ov10EK
Nature Contents: 03 November 2005 Volume 438 Number 7064, pp 1-128
Global change: Sea level and volcanoes Large volcanic eruptions cool the world ocean. In doing so, they temporarily reduce the increase in ocean heat content and the rise in sea level attributed to warming caused by greenhouse-gas emissions. Anny Cazenave http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eVhX0KRyGq0Ch0ovY0Ey
UNGA resolution defers action on deep sea trawling 29 November 2005
A report released by UNEP last year singled out bottom trawl fishing, the most widely used method of fishing deep-sea bottom species such as orange roughy, deep-sea halibut and grenadiers on the high seas, as the greatest threat to deep ocean corals and ecosystems. At the same time, over 1000 scientists together with a global coalition of NGOs have called on the General Assembly to declare a global moratorium on all bottom trawl fishing on the high seas.
An increasing number of countries recognize that a moratorium on high seas bottom trawl fishing is needed to protect deep-sea ecosystems until new international regimes to regulate fisheries on the high seas are put into place. Nonetheless, after contentious discussions on this issue over the past several weeks, the UNGA has decided to postpone consideration of a moratorium until 2006.
Matthew Gianni, Political Advisor to the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) said: "The UNGA called for urgent action in 2004 but then decided to sit on its hands this year and wait to see if somehow the problem would fix itself. The reality is that there has been very little progress at the regional and national level in solving this high seas problem. We're disappointed that the General Assembly - the guardian of the world's ocean commons - did not agree to clear, decisive action to put a stop to bottom trawl fisheries on the high seas until these fisheries can be regulated effectively and to prevent destruction of deep-sea ecosystems."
The high seas cover two-thirds of the world's oceans and most high seas areas are devoid of effective internationally agreed controls for deep-water fishing, including bottom trawling.
Where regional fisheries treaty organizations have been established, most have failed to prevent bottom trawl vessels from towing or plowing through deep-water coral reefs, some of which are thousands of years old, and other deep-sea habitats.
The General Assembly did agree to conduct a
review in 2006 of actions taken by high seas fishing nations and regional
fisheries treaty organizations to protect deep-sea ecosystems. "The good
news is that there is growing momentum for action and we're hopeful that next
year the UN GA will tackle this problem head on and high seas fishing nations
will be persuaded to call a halt to the practice of bottom trawl fishing in
international waters until we can be certain that deep-sea ecosystems are
protected."
MORE INFO: www.savethehighseas.org.
Developing guidelines for fish-friendly
aquatic infrastructure
Kurt Derbyshire, Queensland DPI ph (07)
3225 1469.
MPA News, vol 7 no. 5. link
Special issue of MEPS on ecosystem-based
management
The journal Marine Ecology Progress Series (MEPS) has
published 13 papers under the theme "Politics and socio-economics of
ecosystem-based management of marine resources". Although the journal
is traditionally available by subscription only, this theme section is available
online for free at http://www.int-res.com/articles/meps_oa/m300p241.pdf.
Importance of whale falls to deep ocean
ecosystems
Scientific studies are showing that, in death, whales
give life as their giant, slowly decaying carcasses supporting communities of
fauna that make so-called "whale falls" among the most diverse
habitats in the deep sea. Pew Fellow Craig Smith describes the process in an
E-Magazine article.
SOURCE: Kieran Mulvaney, E-Magazine, ewslink: http://www.emagazine.com/view/?2843
For more information on Craig Smith:
http://www.pewmarine.org/pewFellowsDirectoryTemplate.php?PEWSerialInt=9976
EU fails to tighten rules for Mediterranean fishing
European Union (EU) ministers failed to agree to tighter
rules on trawling in the Mediterranean, after 15 years of talks. With species
like sardines, hake and swordfish disappearing after years of overfishing, the
proposed new regulation aimed to make fishermen use nets with larger holes so
that younger fish have a better chance to escape. The rules also set minimum
distances for trawlers from the coastal zones that are home to sensitive
wildlife and fish habitats. Opposition to the proposed regulation was led by
France and Italy, which complained of the threat to the local industries whose
livelihoods depend on small-scale fishing. The EU says it cannot save
Mediterranean fish stocks from collapse on its own, since the region is an
international fishing zone that is bordered by many other non-EU countries.
SOURCE: EUCC Coastal News and EUCC Euro-Mediterranean Newsletter. News # 9 &
10 September-October 2005.
News link: http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/32587/story.htm
Census of Marine Life program meeting
Representatives from all over the world
attended the second Census of Marine Life (CoML) All Program Meeting in Germany
in November 2005.
The Frankfurt meeting attracted around 300 delegates and was a valuable forum
highlighting the success of CoML activities to date and identifying future
directions.
During the meeting, branch head of the National Oceans Office and chair of CoML
Australia, Ian Cresswell, gave a presentation on Australia's progress toward
achieving the aims of the Census.
Australia represented at international oceans
policy meeting
Australian representatives attended the
Oceans Policy Summit in Portugal in October 2005. Organised by the International
Ocean Governance Network, the Summit involved more than 200 participants from 53
countries, representing governments, regional organisations, UN agencies,
academia, non-governmental organisations and industry.
The theme of the Summit was "Integrated Ocean Policy: National and Regional
Experiences, Prospects and Emerging Practices." Its goal was to provide a
forum to learn from one another, encourage other nations, and capture emerging
good practice, or useful observations on trends and issues.
One panel discussion focused on the work undertaken on integrated oceans
management by the Australian and Canadian Governments. Head of the Marine
Division of the Department of the Environment and Heritage, Donna Petrachenko,
gave a presentation to this panel on the development of Australia's Oceans
Policy. She also outlined the provision of a focused legislative framework for
marine planning under Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity
Conservation Act (1999). Dr Petrachenko also chaired a panel discussion
examining issues in implementation of ocean policies, in particular financial,
evaluation and stakeholder issues.
More information can be obtained from the conference website http://www.globaloceans.org
NE Atlantic Fisheries Commission fails to
reduce deep sea fishing impacts
According to the Deep Sea Conservation
Coalition, the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) has failed to
further reduce fishing effort on vulnerable deep-sea fish stocks and to protect
cold-water coral reefs from deep sea bottom trawling, against the recent advice
of scientists. Although NEAFC agreed to long-term conservation of fish stocks
and ecosystems, it decided to maintain deep-sea fishing effort in North East
Atlantic waters at the same level as in 2005--a situation that the International
Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES) clearly indicates is unsustainable.
SOURCE: Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, 25 November 2005
News link: http://www.savethehighseas.org/display.cfm?ID=84
To read the NEAFC Press Release, go to:
http://www.neafc.org/news/docs/2005-press-release_final.pdf
Marion
Bay whale stranding incident
Source:
EPBC Notices www.wwf.org.au/epbc
5 December 2005
Between the 25th and 27th of October 2005, 145 long-finned pilot whales stranded
and died in a series of three stranding events in the Marion Bay region in the
Southeast of Tasmania. 19 whales were successfully returned to the sea. Mass
strandings of this species in this area are not uncommon, occurring seven times
over the previous 50 years, most recently in 1998. At the time of the second and
third stranding events, two Royal Australian Navy mine-hunting vessels were
conducting a search in the Marion Bay region using high-frequency sonar in an
attempt to locate an historic anchor. These strandings were investigated by a
panel of experts, who concluded that there was insufficient knowledge and
evidence to reach any definitive conclusion on whether the Navy's activities had
contributed to the strandings. There may have been an effect. The Navy was not
"exonerated" as the ABC report below claimed.
To read the incident review findings visit:
http://www.deh.gov.au/coasts/publications/marion-bay-strandings-2005.html
See also: Navy not responsible for whale deaths 1/12/2005
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1520737.htm
Case closed on deaths of racing albatrosses
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1502950.htm
10 November 2005
Scientists have given up trying to find out why all the albatrosses died in this
year's big bird race from Tasmania.
The Big Bird Race is flown annually to raise awareness of the perils facing
albatrosses, such as long-line fishing and starvation.
Tasmanian shy albatrosses are fitted with tracking devices and punters
bet on which bird will reach South Africa first.
This year, all the birds died shortly after leaving three small islands off
Tasmania in May. No bodies or tracking devices were recovered. Since then, researchers have been trying to work out why.
But a spokesman for the Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment,
says the case has now been closed, without any clear answers.
Overview of implementation and management of
MPAs
The December 2005 issue of the journal
Conservation Biology contains a special section devoted to describing successful
processes for setting up and running successful marine protected areas (MPAs).
The special section is based on a Pew Fellows symposium on MPAs at the Society
for Conservation Biology's annual meeting. Fellows who contributed to this
section include Juan Carlos Castilla and Miriam Fenandez ('Marine Conservation
in Chile'), Tim McClanahan ('Conservation and Community Benefits from
Traditional Coral Reef Management at Ahus Island, Papua New Guinea'), and Helene
Marsh ('Establishing Representative No-Take Areas in the Great Barrier Reef').
Pew Fellow Rodrigo Bustamante served as one of three guest editors of the
special section, which is entitled 'Implementation and Management of Marine
Protected Areas.'
Report Link: http://www.conbio.org/SCB/Publications/ConsBio/Search/
Handbook available on reef fish spawning
aggregations
The Society for the Conservation of Reef
Fish Aggregations (SCRFA), an NGO, has released a handbook to educate managers
and stakeholders on the phenomenon of reef-fish spawning aggregations and the
need for their conservation. The handbook accompanies an earlier-released
methods manual detailing how research and conservation of spawning aggregations
can be carried out. Both publications are available in PDF format at http://www.scrfa.org/server/educational/manual.htm.
AFX News Limited
Marine Biodiversity News - full 2005 file