The Beacon
Oceana’s blog about the latest ocean news, policy and science.
A Chance for Bluefin
Things could be looking up for the tigers of the sea.
Next month, 175 nations will meet in Doha, Qatar to discuss whether bluefin tuna will join the likes of pandas and elephants as endangered species under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
While France has joined Monaco in declaring its support for the ban, Spain’s position remains in doubt.
Spain currently holds the EU presidency and the dubious honor of landing much of the Mediterranean's bluefin tuna. Yesterday, Oceana held an event along with Greenpeace, MarViva, Pew, WWF and Ecologistas en Acción urging Spain to support the ban.
Kofi Annan, Michael Douglas and Colin Firth, among many other public personalities, have signed on in support of the listing.
Oceana will be in Doha in March voicing our support for bluefin. Here’s hoping -- and stay tuned.
Oceana U: Report from Connecticut College
Last semester (for those of you who still think in those terms), I started working with a young and dedicated oceans advocate at Connecticut College. Check out her story below:
Hi! My name is Olivia and I’m a sophomore at Connecticut College. I’m from Newport Beach, California and was fortunate enough to be introduced to the remarkable work that Oceana does to protect our oceans.
I was so shocked by how little I knew about the devastating statistics and lack of governmental enforcement to protect the sea creatures that are very close to extinction, so I felt a need to find a way to participate. After volunteering for their Sea Change event in Laguna Beach, I contacted a member of Oceana about starting a college branch. I was the first student to approach them with this idea and they were very excited to get started!
'Océans' Film Washes Over France
As Time reports this week, according to box office figures, the oceans have eclipsed George Clooney in popularity this week -- at least in France.
More than 100,000 people went to see Jacques Perrin's new documentary, Océans, in its first 48 hours in French theaters, which is double the number that went to see Clooney's Up in the Air. (They opened the same day).
Océans is the culmination of two years of planning, four years of filming, which included 70 expeditions to 54 shooting locations. The film banks on the beauty of the oceans (plus the skill of the crew and some fancy equipment) to convince viewers that ocean conservation is paramount. Not surprisingly, the technique works, say the critics.
Perrin produced the 1996 documentary, Microcosmos, which followed insects at close range, and 2001’s acclaimed Winged Migration.
As a documentary buff and ocean lover, I’m marking my calendar: the film opens in the U.S. on Earth Day, April 22.
Target Nixes Farmed Salmon
In a blow to the salmon aquaculture industry, on Tuesday Target announced it will stop selling farmed salmon in favor of more environmentally sustainable wild-caught salmon in its fresh, frozen and smoked seafood sections.
With its announcement, Target -- the second largest retailer in the country behind Wal-Mart -- raises the profile of the slew of problems associated with farming one of the most popular seafood species.
In case you need a refresher on why farmed salmon is so deleterious to the environment and potentially public health, check out this post I wrote back in 2008.
In the U.S. Oceana is working to protect wild Pacific salmon, and in Chile, we are working to reduce the use of antibiotics in the industry, reduce salmon escapes and establish a marine protected area in Patagonia to defend its pristine ecosystems from the industry's southern push.
Whale Wednesday: Going Batty Edition
Bats and toothed whales share the ability to squeak and click their way to prey. And now two new studies in this week’s journal Current Biology reveal that their echolocation, which evolved independently in the two groups, has a similar underlying molecular mechanism.
There are plenty of examples of evolutionary convergence, such as the tusks of elephants and walruses, or the bioluminescence of fireflies and jellyfish.
But it’s highly unusual for convergence to occur at the molecular level. Turns out the inner ear hair cells of both the bottlenose dolphin (a toothed whale) and 10 species of bats contain a protein called prestin, which plays an important role in echolocation.
But not all echolocaters are created equal. Because the speed of sound in water is five times that in air, dolphins can use echolocation for more than 100 meters. Bats can only do so for a few meters.
(Hat tip to Monterey Bay’s Sea Notes blog for this story.)
Ted Danson: 'a great egret in a topcoat'
In this month's GQ, Oceana founding board member Ted Danson sounds off on his roles on Bored to Death, Curb Your Enthusiasm and his forthcoming awareness-raising book about the world's oceans.
And don't miss the accompanying photo slideshow -- Danson looks as dapper as ever in a series of gray suits.
As the writer notes, "Danson carries his six-foot-two frame gracefully, like a great egret in a blue cashmere topcoat." An apt description, if ever there was one.
4 Key Reasons to Oppose Offshore Drilling
This week, Oceana's corporate partner Nautica invited us to Key West Race Week to spread the word and gather support for our opposition to Congressional efforts to open up Florida’s coasts to offshore drilling.
In the American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009, there’s a proposal that would open up currently protected areas in the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling.
Why is this proposal such a big deal? I’ll give you a few reasons…
1. Currents: the Florida and Loop currents in the Gulf spread vital nutrients to marine life off Florida’s west coast, so if the currents are exposed to oil, it could expose Florida’s beaches and marine habitats to oil contamination.
2. Habitats: Florida’s mangroves and corals provide habitat for over 40 bird species, over 500 fish species, sea turtles, dolphins, manatees, sharks and commercially-important shellfish like spiny lobsters, oysters, clams and shrimp. These habitats are particularly vulnerable to oil.
A Tough Winter for Turtles
This winter has been a doozy around the country, and not just for humans. On Tuesday, The Miami Herald published a letter to the editor from Oceana's chief scientist Mike Hirshfield on the effect of this year's harsh winter on sea turtles. Check it out:
Officials are calling this one of the worst years on record for sea turtle strandings in the United States. Approximately 2,500 sea turtles have been found wounded or dead as a result of cold-stunning in the increasing frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Volunteers are busily scouring the coastline for sea turtles that can be rehabilitated and eventually released back into the wild, and rescue centers are becoming inundated with sea turtles fighting for survival.
To a scientist, it all makes perfect, if unfortunate, sense. Cold-blooded reptiles like sea turtles are simply unable to warm themselves in cold water. While sea turtles are commonly found in northern U.S. waters during the summer and early fall, they typically migrate to warmer climates by late October. Unfortunately, not all of them made it out before the area temperatures dropped to unbearable levels, and with a winter like we are having, it is bound to be a deadly scenario.
Miriam Goldstein Talks Trash
Over the weekend I attended ScienceOnline2010, a raucous gathering (if conferences can be raucous) of scientists and journalists. I met some great folks, including Miriam Goldstein -- one of my favorite ocean bloggers -- of Oyster's Garter fame. (She also recently joined the salty bloggers over at Deep Sea News.)
Miriam was the chief scientist for last summer's Scripps SEAPLEX expedition to the Pacific garbage patch. As if being chief scientist weren't enough, she also blogged and tweeted the journey. And as she hilariously illustrates in this story from one of the first days of the expedition in the California Current, sometimes science doesn't like to be live. (Apologies in advance for my, um, budding video skills.)
The SEAPLEX expedition received a ton of press attention. So after the session, I asked her, "Has the media overblown the pacific garbage patch?" She said, "Well, yes, in a way. There is no 'island' of trash -- the ocean is homogeneous. But it is also way, way worse than we thought."
Look out for the results of the SEAPLEX expedition later on in 2010.
Miriam Goldstein Talks Trash from Oceana on Vimeo.
Q&A with Shark Biologist Michelle McComb
A study in the Journal of Experimental Biology made big news late last year by beginning to answer a fundamental, fable-like question: why are hammerhead sharks shaped the way they are? The answer, as it turns out? The better to see their prey with, my dear.
The researchers found some surprising results about hammerhead vision. One of those researchers, Michelle "Mikki" McComb of Florida Atlantic University, happens to also be an enthusiastic Oceana supporter. Mikki was kind enough to answer some questions about the research:
Can you summarize the conclusions you and your colleagues reached about hammerhead vision?
The popular literature is filled with claims that hammerheads have better vision, but this was never tested. Our goal was to quantify the extent of the visual fields of hammerhead sharks in contrast to more typical head shaped sharks, in order to determine if they possessed binocular vision.
The visual field is the entire expanse of space visible around the head and can be described by one eyes field of view (monocular field), two eyes field (cyclopean) and the overlap of the two monocular fields (binocular overlap). We determined the horizontal and vertical visual fields of three hammerhead shark species as well two closely related “typical” shaped sharks.
What we found was a surprise! Hammerhead sharks do have binocular vision, and even more surprising, the extent of binocular overlaps was greater than found in the “typical” shaped sharks. The largest binocular overlap was found in the winghead shark, the hammerhead with the widest head, and is a result of the positioning of the eyes on the end of the head.
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