The dawn of a new age of undersea research

Image credit University of Washington

Didn’t Batman have one of these? I want one for Christmas. With a wingspan 20 feet across the XRay autonomously glides through the water collecting data for scientific modeling of oceanographic systems. The XRay was tested in Monterey Bay earlier this year. Expect schools of robot fish and other autonomous marine research devices.

See also:

Schools of undersea robots give oceanographers new eyes and ears in the sea

Underwater gliders

XRAY: A Buoyancy-Driven Underwater Glider

Posted by Steven Lutz

China's freshwater dolphin driven to extinction

After surviving 20 million years, China's goddess of the river is driven to extinction

By Clifford Coonan in Beijing

Published: 18 December 2006

For 20 million years, the white-fin dolphin, or baiji, swam China's longest river, the Yangtze. But a few years of breakneck development, overfishing and a massive increase in shipping have reduced sightings of this shy, graceful creature to zero. A recent expedition failed to spot a single Lipotes vexillifer, and now conservationists fear the almost-blind, long-beaked animal is gone for good, the first big aquatic mammal to become extinct due to human activity.....click link above for the rest of the story.

Whale Vomit

Please Let It Be Whale Vomit, Not Just Sea Junk


Photo: Gordon M. Grant for The New York Times


If conserving the creatures that live in the ocean doesn't appeal to you (or more likely, someone else you know) on the basis of biodiversity, cancer cures, tourism dollars or aesthetic value, maybe COLD HARD CASH - or hard, smelly whale vomit - could be the incentive you've been looking for to protect our marine mammals. And this isn't from me - it is from the paper of record - The New York Times.



Please Let It Be Whale Vomit, Not Just Sea Junk

Rapid Bleaching Assessment Protocol announced for Caribbean tropical corals

The Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment Program (AGRRA) has announced a new rapid assessment protocol for assessing bleaching impacts on Caribbean tropical corals (dubbed BLAGARRA). The ability to quickly assess large areas is essential in monitoring the effects of mass bleaching events (immediate and delayed coral mortality, recovery, etc.). This protocol is well suited as an accompaniment to the recent Reef Manager's Guide To Coral Bleaching for reef managers throughout the wider Caribbean. Click here to see BLAGRRA.

Posted by Steven Lutz

The day Boris Worm's study got media spotlight, so many friends contacted me and asked, "What do you think of the projected fisheries collapse in 2048? Is it true?" I always wanted to say that it's not the year that matters. 2048? 2047? 2049? It doesn't matter. The moral of the story is that biodiversity is a key component of the solution to the fisheries decline. Fortunately, there's a news article today in the Chronicle Herald that allowed Boris to stress this point, and also to repond to some of his critics.

Go to article:
Professor Worm answers his critics – gently
By Jim Meek
Chronicle Herald

Putting a Price Tag on Carbon

The New York Times came out with an article today addressing the cost benefits of reducing carbon emissions sooner rather than later, and how climate change is as much an economic problem as it is an environmental problem. One of the interesting things the article states is that by using current technology carbon emissions could be reduced by more than ½ by 2020, and implementing the use of these current technologies would save businesses and consumers money in the short term as well as the long term. The article is one in a series called: The Energy Challenge: Fossil Fuel Economics, which examines “the ways in which the world is, and is not, mobbing toward a more energy efficient, environmentally benign future”. It is possible that at some point in the near future reducing carbon emissions will be seen as the economically sound path to take for the future of our country and the world.

In related news, a report released today in Geophysical Research Letters predicts that if greenhouse gasses are released at the current rate, the Arctic will have no Summer ice by the year 2040. This loss of sea ice would raise global sea level dramatically and flood many of the world’s current economic and population centers.

New York Times article:
The Cost of an Overheated Planet

Read other articles in The Energy Challenge series

MSNBC:
Arctic Summer Could be Ice-Free by 2040

Photo: EPA

Dissecting the deep sea coral language in H.R. 5946 - the meat and bones (mesoglea and septa)

Deep sea corals are happy today

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 (as amended to H.R. 5946) was passed by Congress on December 9 at 1:25 A.M. Two provisions of this legislation specifically address deep sea corals (sections 105 and 408):

Section 105 authorizes (via discretionary authority) the Regional Fishery Management Councils to restrict the use of destructive types of fishing gear within areas of known deep sea coral habitat. This provision intends to promote a proactive approach towards deep sea coral protection. Furthermore, Council activity does not need to be linked to a determination of deep sea corals as essential fish habitat for individual or complex fisheries. In other words, the Councils now can protect deep sea corals for their own merit as valuable and vulnerable marine ecosystems.

Section 408 establishes a coordinated deep sea coral research program at NOAA. Coordination should include the deep sea coral research currently carried out at NOAA on an ad-hoc basis, plus any new research. Program goals include the mapping of locations of deep sea coral habitat, reducing the interactions between fishing gear and deep sea corals, and the reporting of management relevant information to the Councils. This program is “subject to the availability of appropriations,” presumably meaning that NOAA would have to highlight funds in its annual budget for this activity.

For the full text of H.R. 5946 go to: Search Thomas (enter “H.R. 5946” in the search bar).

Posted by Steven Lutz

Ocean Acidification...the greatest ocean threat.

Elizabeth Kolbert wrote a very informative article on ocean acidifcation in the Nov 20, 2006 issue of the New Yorker titled "The Darkening Sea...What carbon emissions are doing to the ocean". Climate change skeptics do not dispute the fact that the oceans are becoming more acidic because we are burning ever increasing quantities of fossil fuels. The science and cause of ocean acidifcation are rock solid. Fossil fuel combustion releases carbon dioxide and that carbon dioxide is eventually absorbed by the ocean, making it more acidic. The implications for life in the oceans is dire. Ocean acidification will increase in the coming decades and will probably impact entire food webs from the smallest plankton to the great whales. The biological response of many taxa to ocean acidification are not yet known by scientists, but corals, mollusks, and some species of plankton tested to date do not fare well under more acidic ocean conditions. It should be clear that the switch from fossil fuel energy sources to "clean" non-CO2 emitting energy must occur as soon as possible if we hope to salvage our oceans and ultimately our childrens' futures.

New Yorker


Recent Press on Ocean Acidification:
LA Times
National Geographic
Washington Post

Next up for extinction, the Vaquita?

Another marine mammal appears on the brink of extinction, the Vaquita. This tiny (1.5 m) charismatic porpoise is endemic to the north-western corner of the Gulf of California, Mexico. It is estimated that there are less than 600 left in the wild. Who’s to blame? Recent research published in Mammal Review points the finger at “mortality in fishing gear” or "bycatch". Basically, the Vaquitas population is being depleted by entanglement and mortality in gillnets set for fish and shrimp.

See also
L. Rojas-Bracho, R. R. Reeves and A. Jaramillo-Legorreta (2006). Conservation of the vaquita Phocoena sinus. Mammal Review, Vol. 36 Issue 3, pg 179.

Small, Smaller, Smallest: The Plight Of The Vaquita (ScienceDaily, Dec 11, 2006)

Vaquita fact sheet

Vaquita Marina

Posted by Steven Lutz

Large charismatic marine megafauna thought to be extinct, who’s next?

Say goodbye to the poor Baiji Dolphin

Last sited in 1997, the poor Baiji Dolphin is expected to be extinct. The Bajii is (or was) a nearly blind finless freshwater white dolphin which apparently has scumbed to Chinas relentless economic growth.

On Dec 6 the Wall Street Journal (paper edition) reported the results of a 26 day last ditch conservation expedition: no sightings, “it may be too late to save the Yangtze goddess.” Perhaps we will officially declare the Baiji extinct next year (ironically 2007 is the international year of the Dolphin).

Who’s next? In writing about the Bajii, the Wall Street Journal article also laments the fate of the Caribbean Monk Seal, extinct in the 1950’s. How about the Hawaiian Monk Seal? Plummeting populations, unfocused management, a dire situation almost on the brink?

Obviously we, as our planet’s caretakers, have to do much better than what we served the poor Baiji or Caribbean Monk Seal.

See also:

The Baiji.org Foundation

International Year of the Dolphin

Caribbean Monk Seal

Hawaiian Monk Seal

Posted by steven Lutz

Deep sea corals – One step back, two steps forward?

The deep water coral Madrepora oculata, from the Straits of Florida (image courtesy Reed 2006)

Dec. 7th was a cold dark day for deep cold-water corals, as the UNGA formally adopted its resolution negotiated last month in New York through the UN Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS). Sadly, a moratorium on bottom trawling on the high seas was NOT adopted. Such a moratorium would have greatly enhanced deep water coral protection worldwide where unregulated high seas deep water trawlers are known to scrape the tops of seamounts, destroying these fragile and long-lived ecosystems. As the chaff falls, we know one thing, this issue will not die.

Excerpt from the statement on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum Nations, made by Palau (Dec. 7th):

“We are very disappointed that some States were unwilling to support such an approach. We consider that an interim prohibition would have been the clearest and most effective means for dealing with the impacts of bottom fishing in areas where there are no multilateral measures in place, and none in prospect. An interim prohibition would have further encouraged the development of new RFMOs for unregulated areas. We were further disappointed that a small number of States were not willing to consider a freeze on the expansion of bottom fisheries in unregulated waters from current levels. We believe this goes against the intent and spirit of many of the measures agreed in this year’s resolution. . . . . .”

Trawling Moratorium Dead in the Water

However, two days later (Dec 9) within the final few hours of the 109th U.S. Congress legislation was passed that establishes a new national policy for the conservation of deep sea coral ecosystems. The coral provisions give our regional fishery management councils unambiguous discretionary authority to protect deep sea coral ecosystems and establish a deep water coral research program at NOAA (subject to appropriations). Such deep water coral legislation is a major marine policy focus at MCBI.

MCBI press release - Congress Passes Legislation to Protect Deep Sea Corals from Fishing Gear

For exact text go to: Search Thomas (enter “H.R. 5946” in the search bar, see listing 2 (phrase exactly as entered.), sections 105 and 211 for the deep water coral provisions)

Posted by Steven Lutz

No more seafood?

A widely publicized article recently came out in Science that predicts the collapse of seafood by the year 2048. I hope people see this not as a sign to give up on ocean conservation but rather as a call to step up efforts and to protect biodiversity. Unlike most of the media, the authors went out of their way to insist that with modifications to the way we currently use the ocean, these trends are reversible, and to highlight the importance of preserving biodiversity, the real take away point of the paper. (Photo: NOAA)