The Beacon
Oceana’s blog about the latest ocean news, policy and science.
Arctic Protections Finalized
In a definitive victory for the Arctic, the government released final regulations protecting almost 200,000 square miles of U.S. Arctic waters from industrial fishing.
The new regulations, which close all U.S. waters north of Alaska’s Bering Strait to commercial fishing, will be effective starting December 3, 2009. The closure will allow for more time to assess the health of Arctic ocean ecosystems and the potential impacts of large-scale fishing given the impacts the Arctic is already facing from climate change and ocean acidification.
And don't forget the looming threat of offshore oil drilling in the Arctic. Last month the government approved a plan for drilling in the Beaufort Sea next summer, and a similar plan for the Chukchi Sea is currently under review with a decision expected this month.
Conservationists, scientists, and local communities agree that the science-based precautionary approach we have achieved with industiral fishing should be replicated with oil, especially given the higher risks of oil spills in the Arctic and the inability to contain, control or clean up an accident in the icy waters of the Arctic.
Congratulations to everyone who helped make this happen!
Whale Wednesday: Beaked Breakthrough
It's been a while since we started the Whale Wednesday weekly feature, and I don't think beaked whales have ever gotten their day in the spotlight. Today's the day, then, for this mysterious group of cetaceans.
The BBC reports that researchers from Duke University observed the largest group of Arnoux's beaked whales -- around 60 -- ever recorded, off the coast of Antarctica.
Male beaked whales have tusks that emerge from their lower jaws, and in general beaked whales are deep divers. Of the 21 known species of beaked whales, only a few are well-known, including the Cuvier's beaked whale and the Baird's beaked whale.
But their obscurity hasn't made the members of the Ziphiidae family safe from threats. As trawl nets have gone into deeper waters, the enigmatic creatures have become more frequent bycatch victims.
As one of the Duke scientists, Dr. Ari Friedlander, told BBC, "The Arnoux's were a unique and amazing experience. Hopefully this brief glimpse will spawn further work to better understand the species, their distribution and behaviour, and how these animals fit into the larger ecology of the southern ocean."
Daniel Pauly Talks Fish on 'Fresh Air'
On the heels of his piece in The New Republic, Aquacalypse Now, fisheries guru and Oceana board member Dr. Daniel Pauly has a two-part interview on NPR's "Fresh Air" yesterday and today.
Here he is talking with host Terry Gross about orange roughy:
GROSS: But I have to say the fish that you mentioned, orange roughy, Chilean sea bass, monkfish, they're very tasty.
Prof. PAULY: Oh, no problem with that. In fact, the flesh of very old animal in the water is strangely - is firm and it's white, beautiful fillet. And it's richly fat. Yeah, this is good fish. The problem is that this fish are long-lived. If you take orange roughy, they reach up to 150 years. And they...
GROSS: Wow, really?
Prof. PAULY: ...yeah. The oldest has been aged that old. And they mature at 30 years.
GROSS: Wait, wait. I just want to make sure I understand you correctly. You mean, each fish lives 150 years?
Prof. PAULY: The one that survive can live up to 150 years. And they become mature, they become adult at 30 years, older than us, twice older than us. So you are eating something that is older than your grandmother when you're eating one.
And the Freakiest Fish of 2009 is...
The results are in and the freakiest fish is… the hairy angler! This deep-sea creature not only looks frightening, but has a scary big appetite. Due to its expandable stomach, it can eat prey as big, or even bigger, than itself. This certainly comes in handy in the food-scarce depths of the ocean.
Learn more about crazy creatures, interesting places, and ocean science in our brand new Explore section.
Though Halloween has passed, we should still be frightened for the future of the oceans. Visit our Act section on the new website, donate to support our work, and spread the word to your friends and family that the oceans need our help.
Sam Waterston on Acidification
Oceana board member Sam Waterston penned an op-ed on the crisis of ocean acidification for CNN.com today. Here's an excerpt:
The current acidification level hasn't been seen for at least 800,000 years, and acidification is coming on 100 times faster than at any point for hundreds of thousands for years. The levels are alarming. The rate of change makes them even scarier, because it so restricts the ability of sea creatures to adapt.
In contrast to the debate that continues about the causal relationship between this or that weather event and human activity, there is no debate about the source of ocean acidification. The change in the chemistry of the ocean is a man-made event, plain and simple, and the consequences of its continuing rise in acidity will belong squarely to us.
It will make for some uncomfortable moments around the dinner table when our children and grandchildren ask, "What did you do in the [climate] war, Daddy?" If we don't recognize the ocean's warning, the first cataclysm from man-made carbon dioxide emissions that will get our attention will be the collapse of the oceans.
If we do recognize the warning, the oceans are ready to be a solution. Power in the tides and waves is there to tap. Offshore wind power is a technology that's ready to go right now, near the great population centers on our coasts, where it's most needed.
EU Court Rules Against Italy for Use of Driftnets
In a big victory for our colleagues in Europe, yesterday the EU Court of Justice found Italy in violation of EU law for the country's continued use of driftnets, a fishing gear banned since 2002.
Driftnets, which float freely, sometimes for miles, are a serious threat to cetaceans, sea turtles, sharks and fish in the Mediterranean. Hundreds of thousands of whales and dolphins are killed each year by driftnets.
The day before the decision, Oceana presented its latest report on the use of driftnets in the Mediterranean and stressed that the Court's judgment was an essential step in eradicating the use of the fishing gear.
The Oceana report contains photographs from 2008 of 92 vessels with driftnets on board, 80 percent had already been identified during campaigns in previous years.
Xavier Pastor, Executive Director of Oceana Europe, said, “The judgment is an important milestone in the elimination of driftnets from the Mediterranean. At last we may be moving towards the end of this illegal fishing gear, seven years after the EU banned their use."
Over several years of campaigning in the Mediterranean, Oceana has documented and reported how driftnets, despite the ban, continue to be used, not only in Italy, but also in other areas of the Mediterranean such as Morocco, Turkey, and until recently, France.
Congratulations, Xavier and team!
Kate Walsh, Sea Turtles and More in Our Fall Newsletter
I’m happy to share our latest quarterly newsletter with you. We’ve taken a slightly different approach this time around and featured several facets of our campaign to save sea turtles. We’re also officially introducing Kate Walsh, star of the hit TV shows “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice,” as our sea turtle campaign spokeswoman. *Kate Walsh Wants to Get Sea Turtles Off the Hook: The actress travels to the Virgin Islands with Oceana to film a public service campaign to protect sea turtles. *New Oceana victories to protect krill, sea turtles and more. *Introducing Casey: This 11-year-old sea turtle activist from North Carolina raises money for sea turtles through bake sales, and joins Oceana’s holiday adopt-a-creature fundraiser. *Nesting Nights: Oceana online editor Emily Fisher and marine biologist Kerri Lynn Miller traveled to Bald Head Island to witness loggerhead sea turtle nesting. *Photos from our Sea Change Summer Party honoring Morgan Freeman and Glenn Close. *A profile of Lea Haratani, marine biologist and new vice chair of the Ocean Council. *A sustainable seafood recipe from renowned Spanish chef Sergi Arola. You can also download a PDF of the newsletter. I hope you come away entertained and enlightened about Oceana’s work.
These stories and more are inside:
[Andy Sharpless is the CEO of Oceana.]
Freaky Fish are Back!
Halloween is just around the corner, so you know what that means -- time to vote for your favorite freaky fish! While we may only spend one day a year donning frightening costumes, these creatures are terrifying all year long.
Check out this year's contestants and more freaky fish in our Explore section. Voting closes Friday, October 30 at midnight, so time is of the essence.
And for more check out some tips to green up a typically orange and black holiday.
Whale Wednesday: Talkin' to You
Don't you hate when you're at a party or restaurant, and even without music on, the room grows louder and louder and louder? Until you can barely hear the person standing right next to you? New research shows that sperm whales have evolved to circumvent this cocktail party conundrum.
According to the scientists, whose work will be presented at the Acoustical Society of America next week, the whales are polite conversationalists -- they make a specific effort to keep their calls from overlapping by changing the intervals between their echolocating clicks.
Perhaps humans can try this. It might go something like this:
"Would you - click - like an hors d'oeuvre - click?"
"Yes, one - click - mushroom puff - click - please."
And in other acoustic findings, researchers have discovered the first known instances of male humpback whales singing to one another, similar to songbirds. Whether the whale songs are macho seduction tunes -- like male birdsongs -- is still unclear.
What is clear is that there's a lot we don't know about what's being said and sung under the sea.
Kristen Berry to be Honored at GQ Gentlemen's Ball
On Wednesday, OCYC Commodore Kristen Berry will represent Oceana as its honoree for the GQ Gentlemen's Ball. Berry is a long-time environmental advocate and professional sailor.
Adrian Grenier, Ashton Kutcher, Mark Wahlberg and Josh Duhamel will also be there as ambassadors for Oceana, UNICEF, The Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation and the Pat Tillman Foundation, respectively.
The Gentlemen's Fund initiative "raises support and awareness for issues that are essential to modern men and encourages men to become agents of change by contributing to charities that champion these causes."
Congratulations, Kristen!
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