Tuesday , June 17, 2008

•  [Thanks to Bob!] The Deepest Divers: http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewArticle.do?id=29067

•   Red tide and the killer culprit: http://explorations.ucsd.edu/Research_Highlights/2008/Jun/Red_Tide/
•   There is a snorkel event this weekend at the Cove http://aquarium.ucsd.edu/Calendar/?date=2008-06-22#1634
•    upcoming lectures at the Birch... http://aquarium.ucsd.edu/Calendar/?type=lecture
•    Shark week events at Birch http://aquarium.ucsd.edu/Education/Public_Programs/Special_Events/Shark_Days/

Thursday , June 12, 2008

Long-Lost Rubber Duckies Head for British Beaches

Monday , July 02, 2007

By Simon de Bruxelles

A flotilla of rubber duckies, washed overboard from a container ship in the North Pacific in 1992, is about to invade Britain, according to an American oceanographer.

For the past 15 years Curtis Ebbesmeyer has been tracking nearly 30,000 Chinese-made plastic bath toys — yellow ducks, green frogs, blue turtles and red beavers — that were released into the Pacific Ocean when a container was washed off a cargo ship during a storm.

Some of the bath toys, marketed in the U.S. as "Friendly Floatees," are expected to reach Britain after a journey of nearly 17,000 miles, having crossed the Arctic Ocean frozen into pack ice, bobbed the length of Greenland and been carried down the eastern seaboard of the United States.

• Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Natural Science Center.

Ebbesmeyer, who is based in Seattle, said yesterday that those that had not been trapped in circulating currents in the North Pacific, crushed by icebergs or blown ashore in Japan were bobbing across the Atlantic on the Gulf Stream.

Any beachcomber who finds one of the ducks or their kin will be able to claim a $100 reward from the toys' American distributor, The First Years Inc.

The ducks began life in a Chinese factory and were being shipped to the U.S. from Hong Kong when three 40-foot containers fell into the Pacific during a storm on Jan. 29, 1992.

Two-thirds of them floated south through the tropics, landing months later on the shores of Indonesia, Australia and South America.

But 10,000 headed north and by the end of the year were off Alaska and heading back westwards.

It took three years for the Friendly Floatees to circle counterclockwise east to Japan, past the original drop site and then back to Alaska on a current known as the North Pacific Gyre before continuing north towards the Arctic.

Many were stranded as the currents took them through the Bering Strait, which divides Alaska from Russia.

Ebbesmeyer predicted that they would spend years trapped in the Arctic ice, moving at the rate of one mile a day towards the Atlantic.

In 2000, eight years after their journey began, the ducks were reported in the North Atlantic. In 2003, when they were expected to wash up on the American eastern seaboard, The First Years announced the reward offer.

By that point the Floatees had been bleached white by the sun and sea water.

Sightings in the past two years have been scant, but oceanographers believe that their next port of call is southwestern England, southern Ireland and western Scotland.

Simon Boxall, of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, England, said that the ducks offered a great opportunity for climate-change research.

"They are a nice tracer for what the currents are doing as they travel around the world, and currents are what determines our climate, and cycles of carbon," he said. "I would ask [vacationers] to keep an eye out, as they might be very few and far between by now. It's a real adventure story and the plastic should last 100 years, so we hope it will continue."

The landfalls have all been logged on a computer model called the Ocean Surface Currents Simulation, which is used to help fisheries and find people lost at sea.

Two children's books have been written about the saga and the ducks have become collector's items, some changing hands for $1,000.

Organism ID'd That May Be Killing Sheep

Monday, July 02, 2007

By KEITH RIDLER, Associated Press Writer

BOISE, Idaho — 

Research done at Washington State University on tissue taken from dying lambs captured in Hells Canyon _ a chasm that borders Idaho, Oregon and Washington _ isolated a type of bacteria called mycoplasma ovipneumoniae.

Biologists say that could be the initial organism that attacks the sheep and works by inhibiting the ability of hairlike structures in airways to eliminate bacteria that lead to deadly pneumonia.

Biologists have known that pneumonia often proves fatal to the wild sheep, but have been stumped for years as why so many bighorns are susceptible.

"This is the first problem I've worked on where there is quite a bit of evidence piling up where the agent is a mycoplasma," said Tom Besser, a professor in WSU's department of veterinary microbiology and pathology. He works at the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory on the school's Pullman, Wash., campus.

In herds known to be infected with mycoplasma, anywhere from half to all the lambs die each year from pneumonia. The lambs are most susceptible mainly because their immune systems are not fully developed, said Frances Cassirer, a wildlife research biologist with Idaho Fish and Game.

Among adult bighorns that hadn't previously been exposed to mycoplasma, 25 percent to 75 percent die, she said, noting the variation could be due to how many were initially exposed or to how virulent a strain of the disease is at work.

She said pneumonia is the leading killer of bighorn herds infected with mycoplasma. In herds not infected, the leading cause of death is predators, mainly cougars, she said.

After WSU researchers identified the mycoplasma, biologists in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California and the Canadian province of Alberta sent the researchers blood samples previously collected from 18 herds.

Researchers found antibodies to the mycoplasma in herds that saw deaths due to pneumonia, but not in herds that were not experiencing large losses due to pneumonia.

"We found some really promising patterns and things seemed to fit together really well," Cassirer said.

More tests are being done to confirm whether mycoplasma is leaving bighorns open to pneumonia. One test involves infecting captive bighorn lambs at Washington State University to see how they react.

Biologists say about 2 million bighorns once inhabited the West, but they disappeared over most of their range in the 1800s and early 1900s due to unregulated hunting and disease believed to have been carried by domestic animals.

Repopulating projects and added protection in the last 50 years have now boosted bighorn numbers to about 50,000, Cassirer said.

But sweeping epidemics of a mystery illness have wiped out thousands of Rocky Mountain bighorns, California bighorns, Sierra Nevada bighorns, and desert bighorns since reintroductions began. Cassirer said precise numbers of deaths are not known.

Vic Coggins, a biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said pneumonia likely was the main reason, even more than unregulated hunting, for the bighorns' decline from 2 million. He said habitat loss also factored in, but there is enough habitat available now across the West to support far more than the current population.

"Easily," he said. "We estimate that in Hells Canyon we could have over 10,000."

Currently, the area has a population of about 900, he said.

Cassirer said biologists aren't finding that infected herds can build up a resistance with successive generations.

"If it's happening, it's not obvious to us," she said. "That's why we're looking for another solution because the sheep might not be able to deal with it on their own."

She said she didn't know how bighorn herds already infected with mycoplasma _ if that's a crucial factor in what's killing them _ could be helped.

She said attempts to find mycoplasma vaccines for domestic sheep have failed, and even if one existed it would be difficult to administer to bighorns in the wild.

Besser said mycoplasma is found in domestic sheep, but they typically survive. He said he didn't know if domestic sheep were transmitting the bacteria to wild sheep.

But Greg Dyson, executive director of the Hells Canyon Preservation Council, is convinced domestic sheep are making bighorns sick.

"All indications are that the domestics are passing diseases and killing off the bighorns," said Dyson. "And the bighorns just can't get a foothold to become re-established. There have been entire herds that have died off."

In May the U.S. Forest Service, facing a lawsuit from Dyson's group and two other environmental groups that share his concerns, announced that it was restricting domestic sheep grazing in some areas of the Payette National Forest this summer. The forest borders Hells Canyon.

In a federal court lawsuit filed in late June against the U.S. Department of Agriculture over sheep grazing on land near Yellowstone National Park, the Western Watersheds Project and the Center for Biological Diversity claim that allowing domestic sheep to graze in the greater Yellowstone region of Idaho and Montana puts wild bighorn sheep herds at risk of catching diseases from the domesticated animals.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Undersea Robots to Probe Mid-Arctic Ridge

Monday , June 25, 2007

BOSTON — 

Researchers hope newly developed robots will give them their first look at the mysterious ridge located between Greenland and Siberia.

Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod plan to begin a 40-day expedition of the ridge on July 1. They plan to use the robots to navigate and map its terrain and sample any life found near a series of underwater hot springs.

• Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Natural Science Center.

Tim Shank, lead biologist on the international expedition, said researchers have no idea what new life at the ridge might be like.

"I almost think it's like going to Australia for the first time, knowing it's there, but not knowing what lives there," he said.

The Gakkel Ridge marks a 1,100-mile stretch from north of Greenland toward Siberia, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates continuously move away from each other.

Scientists believe new life could be discovered there because of hot springs that are created at such tectonic boundaries when ocean water comes into contact with hot magma rising from the earth's mantle.

The organisms known to exist in the Arctic basin, where the Gakkel is located, may have evolved in a unique fashion because they were mostly isolated from the life in the deep waters of other oceans for all but the last 25 million years, said Robert Reves-Sohn, the expedition's lead scientist.

The job of reaching any new organisms at the ridge falls to scientists operating three new robotic vehicles, two of which are designed to navigate untethered under the ice.

The two robots, named Puma and Jaguar, cost about $450,000 each and received significant funding from NASA because their mission is similar to what scientists hope to do in a future exploration under the ice of one of Jupiter's moons, Europa.

The robots are built to descend to about 5,000 meters and work 5 to 6 meters off the bottom, photographing and removing samples, said Hanumant Singh, the project's chief engineer.

The advances are no guarantee of success, however.

The hot springs are difficult to find in far less challenging conditions and the margin for error is thin, since the robots cannot surface through the ice and be retrieved if there are problems.

Singh said the excitement of finding new organisms and understanding the geology in the Arctic outweighs any risks to the robots.

"Even though we know there's a strong probability, or there's a reasonable probability of losing a vehicle, it's still worth it," he said.

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Troubled Times for Endangered Sea Otters

Sunday, June 10, 2007

By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer

MONTEREY, Calif. — 

Female sea otters often bear scars on their noses, the price of breeding with clumsy, sharp-toothed partners. But vicious injuries like this are showing up with unusual frequency, one of several signs leading marine scientists to suspect something is amiss for the threatened species.

"This is one of the things that makes us think the sex ratio is skewed in an unhealthy way," said Tim Tinker, another otter expert who joined Bentall in watching the injured mother try to outswim her menacing attacker in a rocky cove near Monterey's famed Cannery Row.

The biologists have seen female otters _ many nursing babies, which makes them incapable of getting pregnant _ with their muzzles ripped off. Even young males have become targets of aggressive mating. The culprits are thought to be itinerant, adolescent otters invading the territories of males who typically guard their harems jealously.

Every spring and fall for the last quarter-century, teams of scientists have fanned out along 375 miles of California coastline to count southern sea otters, a species that was hunted to near-extinction a century ago. The census is used to gauge whether the population is rebounding or declining, with at least three years of similar results required to demonstrate a trend.

Tinker, a research biologist based at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Bentall, who works for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, were assigned to an area that has one of the state's highest concentrations of sea otters.

Armed with binoculars and portable telescopes, they scanned the nearshore water for three days, counting otters and noting their activities. The task is tricky since sea otter heads can look an awful lot like floating kelp from a distance. And observers can miss otters hidden by rocks or scared off by scuba divers and kayakers.

Overall, the May survey brought welcome news following two years of declines _ a solid 12 percent, or 334-otter increase that brought the number of adults and pups combined above 3,000 for the first time. For the California sea otter to be removed from the threatened species list, the count would have to average 3,090 or more over three years.

Scientists greeted the figures with measured optimism, noting that unusually balmy, clear weather in early May provided good conditions for the census.

More significantly, they note, the average population over the last three years is 2,818, still far below the delisting criteria but a 2.4 percent improvement over the previous three-year benchmark. Combined with similarly sluggish growth rates since the mid 1990s, the data suggest the species is hanging on, but not bouncing back.

"The fact is the population is not recovering, and we really don't have a good explanation for why," said Jim Estes, a veteran sea otter expert with the U.S. Geological Survey.

Scientists are pretty sure elevated mortality rates among adult and young adult otters are responsible for the disappointing comeback, as opposed to low birth rates. Of particular concern is that survival rates for female otters have gone down since the 1980s while increasing for the more mobile males, Tinker said.

No one knows for sure why the otters are failing to thrive, although there are plenty of theories.

Tests on the carcasses of dead otters that wash ashore suggest they are succumbing to diseases that may be linked to water pollution damaging their immune systems. But scientists cannot know the cause of death for otters who never end up on land, so they can't say whether disease or something else is the problem.

"Here we have this otter population that seems to be on the cusp," Estes said. "With a ratcheting down of the quality of the environment, it doesn't bode very well in my mind for the future, which is just on the balance right now."

The first spring census, in 1982, found 1,856 otters. The population expanded steadily _ by an average of 6 percent _ throughout the 1980s.

Based on previous growth rates of 13 to 15 percent seen in Alaska's northern sea otters, experts thought it reasonable to expect the California population would climb to about 16,000, the number estimated to have occupied the region between Oregon and Baja Mexico in the 19th Century, before the otters were nearly killed off by hunters seeking their thick, luxurious fur.

"But the population stopped growing," Tinker said.

In the case of the mother otter with the bloody face, Tinker said her marauding suitor may have been trying to get her to wean or abandon her pup, which would make her available for mating.

"When you just describe them as being cute, furry animals, you do them a disservice," Bentall said. "They are incredible survivors."

___

On the Net:

Sea Otter Alliance: http://www.seaotterresearch.org/

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November 30, 2006
Something to Read:

Thursday, 2 November 2006, 19:01 GMT

Stocks have collapsed in nearly one-third of sea fisheries, and the rate of decline is accelerating.

Writing in the journal Science, the international team of researchers says fishery decline is closely tied to a broader loss of marine biodiversity.

But a greater use of protected areas could safeguard existing stocks.

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Civil Defense Message - County of Hawaii
Read of today's [10-15-06] 6.3 magnitude earthquake, by clicking above.

Have a Fun Summer! Beach Safety 101: Tips for Staying Healthy Seaside Tuesday, June 27, 2006 By Denise Mann From death-defying rip currents and red-hot sun to jellyfish stings and shark attacks, the beach can be a pretty scary place. But it doesn’t have to be. Experts tell WebMD that a day at the beach can be … well … a day at the beach -- when you know what to look out for. “Swimming and water activities are very healthy so long as you use appropriate caution for yourself and your family when you visit the beach,” says B. Chris Brewster, president of the United States Lifesaving Association (USLA), a national organization based in Huntington Beach, Calif. The first step is knowing where danger lurks and how to avoid it. Conquering Rip Currents Rip currents, often misnamed rip tides or undertows, occur when surf pushes water up the slope of the beach and then gravity pulls it back. This creates concentrated rivers of water moving offshore. They tend to form as waves disperse along the beach, causing water to become trapped between the beach and a sandbar or another underwater feature. The water converges into a narrow, river-like channel moving away from the shore at high speed. They are anything but benign. In fact, about 80 percent of lifeguard rescues at ocean beaches are due to rip currents and 80 percent of drowning deaths are also due to rip currents, Brewster says. “Rip currents can occur at any surf beach and they tend to be more intense as surf size increases,” Brewster says. The best way to protect yourself from rip currents is to avoid them. ”Select a beach where lifeguards are present because the chances of drowning are 1 in 18 million if a lifeguard is present,” he says. Sounds simple enough, but there are many beaches around the U.S. where no lifeguards are provided by the local community, he says. “Make sure beaches are staffed at the time you are swimming,” he adds. “At some beaches, lifeguards are only staffed until 6 p.m., for example, so the mere fact that you go to a beach where a lifeguard is present doesn’t mean a lifeguard will be present when you are swimming,” he says. Brewster advises checking with the lifeguards and asking them to point out the safest places to swim. “It is their role to help you find the safest place [and] if there are no lifeguards present, you may find a kiosk or signs at beach access points listing such information.” If you do happen to get caught in a rip current, Brewster advises swimming to the side one way or the other until you no longer have difficulties or feel yourself being pulled. Whatever you do, don't fight the current. "These currents can move up to 8 knots, which is faster than an Olympic swimmer can swim,” he says. “In many cases, you will be simply unable to outpower the rip current, so you’ll want to outsmart it,” he says. Another option is to tread water until someone can assist you, Brewster suggests. “Learn to swim in the environment where you are going to be swimming,” Brewster says. “You may be a confident pool swimmer, but that doesn’t prepare you for conditions on the North shore of Oahu in Hawaii,” he says. “Always swim near a lifeguard and never swim alone,” he says. “Even a very confident swimmer can experience difficulties and if there is an emergency and you are alone, you may not be noticed.” Alcohol and Swimming Don't Mix “You should avoid alcohol while swimming,” Brewster says. According to the USLA, alcohol can reduce your body temperature and impair your swimming ability as well as impair judgment, causing you to take unnecessary risks. Float Where You Can Swim “If you have a raft, don't take it any further from shore than you have the capability to swim,” Brewster says. “If you are using a floating device such as a body board or raft, use a leash so that if you fall off, you don’t lose the device,” he recommends. Steer Clear of Sharks Each summer, we tend to hear about at least one horrific shark attack. In fact, in mid-June, a surfer died after a shark bit him in the left thigh in waters off northeastern Brazil that are known for large concentrations of sharks, according to media reports. But shark attacks are actually rather rare. In fact, worldwide there is an average of 50 to 70 shark attacks every year, according to statistics compiled by the International Shark Attack File. “You are far more likely to be injured in a car accident driving to the beach than to ever even see a shark,” says Brewster. To avoid becoming a statistic, “don’t wear shiny jewelry or swim at dusk,” Brewster suggests. “Shark bites are believed to be a result of prey identification mistakes where the shark thinks you are a fish or a seal.” Jumping Over Jelly Fish “Generally you want to avoid any and all jelly fish,” Brewster says. “If they are in the water, you may want to avoid the water or check with a lifeguard to determine what level of problems they are experiencing,” he says. Still, “jelly fish stings tend to be annoyances rather than life-threatening events.” Mind the Water Quality Most communities test beach waters and are required to do so under federal legislation,” Brewster says. “It’s a good idea to find out what the water quality is before you go in because the results of poor water quality are gastrointestinal distress, ear infection, and occasionally more serious problems,” he says. Some beaches will post updates on water quality but, explained Brewster, this information is not always reliable because most testing is random and occurs on an infrequent basis. “By the time the signs are up, the water quality may have already been poor for over a day,” he says. A good call is to avoid the ocean right after a rain fall. “If you have recently had heavy rainfall, there is a high likelihood that water quality may have degraded to at least some degree.” Slather on Sunscreen Nothing can ruin a day at the beach like sunburn. Research has shown that sun exposure prior to the age of 18 significantly increases the risk of developing skin cancer later in life, including the potentially fatal melanoma. New research has shown that sunburns after the age of 20 also increase the risk of developing melanoma. “You can substantially reduce your risk of getting burnt and developing skin cancer by taking certain precautions,” says Bruce Katz, MD, the director of the JUVA Skin and Laser Center in New York City. The first step is wearing sunscreen. "It’s not just about sun protection factor (SPF), it’s also about the other ingredients,” Katz says. Choose sunscreens with titanium dioxide or zinc oxide. “These ingredients block both ultraviolet-B (UVB) and ultraviolet-A (UVA), while other ingredients block only UVB,” he says. Choose an SPF of 15 or higher. Remember that no sunscreens are sweat-proof or rub-proof, so they will have to be reapplied every two hours, particularly if you are sweating or swimming. It’s also important to wear hats with broad rims and sunglasses with protection built into the lenses. “The sunlight is most intense from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.,” he says. “Be careful and stand under an umbrella, and remember that the sun is a lot stronger than it was 10 or 20 years ago because ozone has thinned out.” By Denise Mann, reviewed by Louise Chang, MD SOURCES: Chris Brewster, president, United States Lifesaving Association. Bruce Katz, MD, director, JUVA Skin and Laser Center, New York City. Gray Whale Birth Rate on Upswing Thursday , June 29, 2006 SAN FRANCISCO — The number of baby gray whales born along the Pacific Coast has rebounded from record low levels, suggesting that pregnant females are thriving despite a warming Arctic feeding environment, biologists said. The number of calves that passed Point Piedras Blancas near San Luis Obispo jumped from 945 last year to 1,018 calves in 2006, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers said. Fewer than 300 of the 3-month-olds were spotted in 2000 and 2001. The whales have traditionally migrated to summer feeding grounds in the northern Bering Sea, but have been forced farther north in recent years because warming air and water has reduced the population of its favored prey, the fatty amphipod. In 1999, about 270 whales washed up dead or dying on the Pacific Coast, some severely malnourished, according to NOAA. But the whales appear to have taken advantage of melted polar sea ice, discovering new routes to food farther north near Barrow, Alaska, and finding enough crustaceans in the mud to nourish pregnant females, scientists said. "It's a reasonable level of reproduction, and the overall trend over the past five years is positive," said Wayne Perryman, a NOAA fisheries biologist in La Jolla.