Sea turtles, collectively, are some of the most endangered animals in the sea, due to loss of habitat, illegal poaching for the turtles and their eggs, and as accidental bycatch. The hawksbill sea turtle is no exception and, in fact, is listed by the World Conservation Union as critically endangered and CITES prohibits the capture and trade of hawksbill trutles and any products derived from them.
However, such proclamations of status and prohibitions have not yet prompted the hawksbill turtle populations to recover. Even in the best of natural circumstances, sea turtle eggs and young hatchlings face formidable challenges that thins the population so just the hardiest, smartest, and luckiest survive.
Found throughout all oceans, primarily in warmer climates, hawksbill sea turtles often live among the corals reefs in the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific. By 2007, the eastern Pacific population of hawksbills were considered effectively wiped out. However, recent tracking studies lead by Conservation International has shown that the eastern Pacific variety of hawksbill may have found another habitat to call its home: saltwater mangroves.
The study, recently published in Biology Letters, reports, "New satellite tracking data on female hawksbills from several countries in the eastern Pacific revealed previously undocumented behaviour for adults of the species. In contrast to patterns of habitat use exhibited by their Caribbean and Indo-Pacific counterparts, eastern Pacific hawksbills generally occupied inshore estuaries, wherein they had strong associations with mangrove saltwater forests. The use of inshore habitats and affinities with mangrove saltwater forests presents a previously unknown life-history paradigm for adult hawksbill turtles and suggests a potentially unique evolutionary trajectory for the species."
It's not clear as to whether the hawksbill migrated from more open water environments to the mangroves - perhaps as a defense reaction to a declining habitat - or whether the eastern Pacific hawksbill had, by some evolutionary quirk eons ago, found the mangroves to be a suitable home along with coral reefs. But it does add one more reason for preserving mangrove ecosystems which are currently losing ground to coastal development and pollution.
Today, every species of sea turtle is threatened with extinction to one degree or another; as yet, none are in the clear. There are several organizations - Conservation International, PRETOMA, Turtle Island Restoration Network, and others - who are working to preserve and protect sea turtles and the environments within which they thrive.
The Japanese whaling fleet has once again set out to harvest whales under the abused "scientific research" provision of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). This time, the three-vessel flotilla, led by the factory ship Nisshin Maru, are headed into the Northwest Pacific Ocean with the intention of catching 260 whales including 100 minke whales, ostensibly to examine stomach contents, take DNA samples, and conduct other research on the dead whales.
Last year, the fleet's whaling season in the southern oceans off of Antarctica was cut short, with a total of 172 whales taken, primarily due to the harassment by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessels. Many nations hoped that the curtailed season would spell an end to japan's whaling activities. The recall of the fleet was a major victory for the Society but, as of this writing, there has been no response from the anti-whaling organization in regards to this recent departure to the northwest Pacific. It is unknown as to whether it anticipated or was caught off guard by this new hunting expedition.
Several key vessels of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have been engaged in harassment of the Mediterranean tuna fishing fleet. With demand for tuna high worldwide, not just in Asian markets, the bluefin tuna stands perilously close on the brink of extinction. Demand has encouraged illegal fisheries and Sea Shepherd has dispatched the Steve Irwin and the newly acquired Brigette Bardot to the Mediterranean Sea to track down those fishing boats working outside the laws and regulations of ICCAT (International Commission on the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna).
Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research, the organization that is fronting this new hunt, told the Japan Times that the whalers haven't encountered any obstruction from anti-whaling activities so far, but said they remain on high alert.
At the last meeting of the IWC, a proposal was made to allow Japan to hunt whales in its own coastal waters in exchange for reducing its annual catch quota for research whaling. However, as a testament to the Commission's inability to reach a binding consensus regarding Japan's whaling activities, the proposal was, ultimately, not acted upon. In the meantime, Australia continues to move forward with their legal action against Japan's whaling activities through the International Court of Justice.
Read about the launch of whaling fleet in the Japan Times.
Deep ocean trenches represent a kind of aquatic dark-side-of-the-moon environment of which we know very little. In recent years, attention has been focused on thermal vents that exist in some deep water trenches and the amazing sealife that was found to be thriving in conditions that previously were believed to be hostile to any form of life. However, thermal vents are not the only source of life in the blackness of the deepest depths.
The BBC Earth News recently reported on an expedition team from the University of Aberdeen that has been investigating life in several deep ocean trenches in the southeastern Pacific Ocean off of Chile and Peru. In one particular trench that was over 26,000 feet (8,000m) deep, a new species of snailfish was discovered at 23,000 feet (7,000m).
At these depths, much of the sealife leads a scavenger existence, feeding on the remains that float down from above. In shallower areas, dead animals that come to rest on the bottom are consumed by a variety of crustaceans, bottom-feeding fish, and even sharks. At very deep depths, basically the same process occurs but with animals that have adapted to the pressure and total lack of light. It's a bleak existence with very little if any vegetation, so scavenging or feeding on the scavengers themselves is the key to survival.
The snailfish is one who feeds on the scavengers, crustaceans mainly. Although it has eyes, they are aren't of much use, so the snailfish has an extended lateral line system with sensory pores around its head which allow it to sense subtle vibrations in the water.
"When they sense movement, they suck in all the water in front of them in the hope that there are crustaceans in that water," said Dr Alan Jamieson, who lead the University's expedition.
While other animals that cruise deep open waters often utilize light-emitting organs to attract and catch prey, bottom-feeders are less attracted to those types of lures. So other sensory skills for hunting have evolved, like the snailfish's lateral line enhancement. There are over 195 species of snailfish, found in various depths in colder waters closer to the Arctic and Antarctic. They are similar to sculpin with elongated bodies, big heads, and large pectoral fins.
The University plans to conduct additional studies in the northwestern Pacific's Japan Trench. It was in the Japan Trench, in 2008, that the University, in conjunction with the University of Tokyo, discovered a species of snailfish at a depth of over 25,000 feet (7.7km), making it the deepest known fish.
The majority of the ocean exists in darkness and at great depths. While more abundant or colorful marine ecosystems in shallower waters might catch our attention, scientists know that these abyssal depths play an important role in the ocean's entire life cycle. We need to understand that role better and how it might be impacted or changing due to atmospheric and ecological changes occurring closer to the surface.
Read the BBC Earth News article.
When governments and policymakers listen to the scientists and listen to the voices of the people, every once in a while they get it right and something of value is truly accomplished. That would be the case with the recent announcement by a consortium of Pacific nations with the formation of the Pacific Oceanscape - a proposal to form a cooperative stewardship involving an enormous area of the Pacific Ocean equal to that of Canada, the U.S., and Mexico combined.
A result of the Pacific Islands Leadership Forum and heavily supported by the conservation and scientific research efforts of Conservation International, the Pacific Oceanscape, according to a recent press release, "aims to address all ocean issues from governance to climate change, as well as design policies and implement practices that will improve ocean health, increase resources and expertise, and encourage governments to factor ocean issues into decisions about economic and sustainable development. It represents perhaps the largest marine conservation management initiative in history, as measured by countries and area, and a new united Pacific voice on ocean conservation and management."
First introduced in 2009 by the president of Kiribati (read original proposal in PDF), the Pacific Oceanscape agreement includes the participation of nations from Australia and New Zealand to the Marshall and Solomon Islands, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and many other Pacific island nations.
Commented Dr. Greg Stone, Chief Ocean Scientist and Senior Vice President for Marine Conservation with Conservation International, “It is, without doubt, the most ambitious, most innovative, and most well-grounded marine initiative I have seen in my 32 years as a marine biologist and conservationist. What we are seeing here is the dawning of a new era for marine management at such a massive, multi-national scale, and the kind of leadership that brings about real, positive change.”
With so many issues facing ocean ecosystems, particularly those fragile tropical environments that not only offer such beauty but are the backbone of survival for many island communities, this is certainly a major step in the right direction. To see this many nations in cooperation over a common goal and prepared to set policies and take steps to conserve precious marine resources, well, it certainly provides a welcome uplift and a measure of hope. The rest of the world needs to take notice.
Read press release about the Pacific Oceanscape.
Read the original proposal from Kiribati.
On 05/18/08, RTSea wrote: Interesting but disturbing article in the Los Angeles Times regarding the growth of oxygen-poor zones (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2008/05/threatening-mar.html). Noting the expansion of the Pacific's zone along Mexico/Central America/South America, these zones are typically deep water but have been increasing in size, extending further north and south and becoming more shallow. These zones are different from equally dangerous "dead zones" caused by fertilizer-fed algae blooms, but have the same effect on sealife, pushing fish populations into different regions or oceanic stratas that can impact their health or expose them to a greater potential for over-fishing as their numbers increase in shallower waters.
The culprit behind this expansion, according to scientists from Germany to California, is global warming. As ocean temperatures increase due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the water's ability to retain oxygen is compromised. One more domino effect that we must address and that proves that the health of the oceans is undeniably linked to our actions on the land.
Sea turtles, collectively, are some of the most endangered animals in the sea, due to loss of habitat, illegal poaching for the turtles and their eggs, and as accidental bycatch. The hawksbill sea turtle is no exception and, in fact, is listed by the World Conservation Union as critically endangered and CITES prohibits the capture and trade of hawksbill trutles and any products derived from them.
