Category: Sea Life

Australia Warns Japan Over Whaling

Late February saw Australia warn Japan that the diplomacy maintained on whaling would come to an end this year, following the presentation of a valiant scheme to put a gradual stop to the notorious Southern Ocean hunts.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd reiterated a previous warning issued to Japan, where Australia even considered suing Japan for killing large numbers of minke whales who swim the seas near Antarctica every year for the sake of scientific research. Rudd further said that Australia did not support the practice, making it clear that their position on the issue was a firm one. He even said that they would be forced to instigate the necessary legal action if Japan did not come forth with a proposition on the gradual cutting down of the number of whales up to zero.

Tokyo however, deeming Australia’s proposal made at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) as ‘extremely regrettable’, chose to stand by its legality of whaling activities.
Rudd stated that Australia initially focused on trying to sort out the issue diplomatically, and said that this diplomacy will only last until the end of 2010. By this time, if Japan does not present any related proposals with regards to cutting back on whaling activities, Rudd said that international legal action would then be initiated.

The Australian plan presented at the IWC includes a reasonable five year grace period for the gradual phasing out of the hunting of the minke whale. Though Australia and Japan initially agreed to reach a diplomatic solution on the issue, recent clashes at sea between anti-whaling campaigners and Japanese fleets have led Australia to make stronger demands.

Decision soon on closing lock to stop Asian carp

Officials are considering closing a vital Chicago shipping waterway temporarily as they try to stop the increasingly invasive Asian carp from making their way to the Great Lakes.

Cameron Davis, the Great Lakes adviser to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told the AFP that discussions were currently underway on shutting down the O’Brien Lock. This is to enable crews to poison part of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to kill the giant carp.
Before a final decision, officials will first complete their search for the Asian carp and conduct several tests along the canal to identify their location.

Authorities are trying to take every measure possible to ensure the voracious carp do not reach Lake Michigan. If they do, the Asian carp could possibly starve out smaller and less aggressive fish. This will cause the $7 billion-a-year Great Lakes sport and fishing industry to collapse. However, closing the lock could also disrupt movement of millions of tons of iron ore, coal, salts, grain and other goods.

The O’Brien Lock is not open for commercial vessels as the US Coast Guard set up a safety zone in its search for Asian Carp, said the American Waterways Operators. If the Lock remains closed for a longer period, it could lead to higher shipping costs, as commodities switch to transport on land by truck or train.

The carp, which can grow up to four feet long and weigh 100 pounds, sometimes leap out of the water when boats are nearby. Last week, environmentalists hit the panic button when they caught a single Asian carp during a fish-kill operation. It was the closest sighting of the carp so close to Lake Michigan. Officials believe the carp have bypassed an electrical barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.

Over 1,000 fish species ‘threatened with extinction’

According to an updated global “Red List” of endangered species more than 1,000 freshwater fish species are being threatened with extinction. This situation is a seen as reflection of the strain on global water resources. “Creatures living in freshwater have long been neglected,” said Jean-Christophe Vie, deputy head of species programme at the IUCN.”This year we have again added a large number of them to the IUCN Red List and are confirming the high levels of threat to many freshwater animals and plants”. Covering more than 47,000 of the world’s species this list is the most respected inventory of biodiversity.

1,360 out of 1,989 species of dragonflies and damselflies were also added to the list. 261 are at risk of disappearing altogether. A cause for deep concern, as many dragonfly species are very sensitive to freshwater ecosystems and provide us with a good gauge as to status of these systems. The tiny Kihansi Spray Toad is now on the list of extinct creatures in the wild, thanks to the dam built upstream of the Kihansi Falls in Tanzania. A population of 17,000 used to exist at the Kihansi Falls until the dam removed 90 percent of the water flow to the gorge.

According to the IUCN, the overall situation may be worse as the survey covers only a fraction of the world’s species and insufficient data was recorded for 14 percent of species surveyed. “These results are just the tip of the iceberg. We have only managed to assess 47,663 species so far; there are many more millions out there which could be under serious threat,” said Craig Hilton-Taylor, manager of the IUCN Red List unit.

Electric Fish Equipped With ‘Dimmer’ Switch (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com – Fish that generate electric fields to navigate, fight and attract mates are equipped with a dimmer switch of sorts that can turn down their signals to save energy, a new study finds.

The rest is here: 
Electric Fish Equipped With ‘Dimmer’ Switch
(LiveScience.com)

Feds to decide on listing ice seals as threatened (AP)

AP – A federal agency must decide within three weeks whether spotted seals, which depend on sea ice off Alaska’s coast, should be listed as a threatened or endangered species.

Excerpt from: 
Feds to decide on listing ice seals as threatened
(AP)

U.S. scientists net giant squid in Gulf of Mexico

American scientists down in the Gulf of Mexico accidently caught a giant nineteen foot squid just off the coast of Louisiana, according to a press statement released by the department of the interior, just showing how very little we now about what goes on within the deep waters of the gulf.

There has not been a sighting or a capture of giant squid in the gulf of Mexico since way back in 1954, when a dead giant squid was found floating just off the Mississippi delta.

Weighing more than 103 pounds, the giant squid, was caught on the 30th of July in a trawlers net more than 1500 feet deep as it was pulling up a research vessel.

Unfortunately, the squid did not survive the rapid change of pressure from the change in water depth when it was bought to the surface, was quickly preserved and sent to the Smithsonian institute’s national museum of natural history for further examination and study.

The research vessel was conducting a pilot study on the dietary patterns and habits of sperm whales. The study was being conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration along with the Interior departments’ minerals management service.

“As the trawl net rose out of the water, I could see that we had something big in there … really big,” Anthony Martinez, a marine mammal scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the chief scientist on the research cruise, said in a statement.

“This find illustrates how little we know about what is swimming around in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico,” he said.

The last remnants of giant squid have been found before, usually in the stomachs of its known predators but this find is particularly significant as a single specimen has never been caught and been kept in such good condition to be studied

Giant squid, which can be 40 feet long, are usually found in deep-water fisheries, such as off Spain and New Zealand.

“This is the first time one has actually been captured during scientific research in the Gulf of Mexico,” he said.

The joint NOAA-MMS pilot study responsible for the find is part of a two-year, $550,000 study to determine the abundance and diversity of the type of fish and squid that sperm whales seek as prey.