Green Options » marine life

Toxic Dolphins Found in Miami

Jake Richardson — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:51:10 +0000

Scientists found unusually high levels of flame retardant in dolphin blubber.

The closer the dolphins lived to downtown Miami, the more of the chemical was concentrated in them. The flame retardant can cause sterility in dolphins. Brominated flame retardants are applied to furniture, clothes and electronics to prevent them from burning. They also help slow the ignition of items that are in a burning room.

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Sea Otter Pops Up in Oregon Waters, Where They Have Been Extinct

Jake Richardson — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 23:03:41 +0000

A sea otter sighting has been confirmed in Oregon near Depoe Bay. There have been no confirmed sightings of the creature in Oregon waters since 1906. Morris Grover spotted the animal but did not want to tell anyone until he sent photos of it to biologists and they told him what he photographed. They identified it as a sea otter. (Many river otters there have been mistaken for sea otters).

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13,000 Species Documented in Marine Census

Jake Richardson — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:24:19 +0000

A team of international researchers has released the results of an extensive survey of the Antarctic and Arctic oceans.

The census showed 7,500 species in the Antarctic and 5,500 in the Arctic. The total number includes several hundred thought to be newly discovered species. In addition it was discovered, astonishingly, that 200 or more of species are common to both oceans - though they live 11,000 kilometers from one another.

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Mussels Decline: Water Quality Suffers

Kay Sexton — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:21:31 +0000

Queen’s University, Ireland, has joined a project to try and save the horse mussel reefs off the Irish coast.

The horse mussel is an important biological tool because it ‘engineers’ water quality by filtering the water to obtain food, and is also an indicator of biological diversity because many other marine species rely on this bio-engineering behaviour for their own survival. The mussels, provide a vital stabilising effect that binds the seabed by linking living mussels, dead mussel shells and sedimentary deposits.

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Palin Protests Federal Listing of Beluga Whales as Endangered

Timothy B. Hurst — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 03:50:24 +0000

Again questions science behind an endangered species listing

The beluga whales of Alaska’s Cook Inlet are endangered and require additional protection to survive, officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Friday. The ruling contradicts Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s administration who has questioned the science showing a decline in the distinctive white species.

It was the second wildlife-themed rebuke Gov. Palin received from Washington this year. The governor had previously asked federal courts to overturn an Interior Department decision declaring polar bears threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

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Parts of Chesapeake Crab Industry Declared ‘Commercial Fishery Failure’

Timothy B. Hurst — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:00:20 +0000

Federal declaration will bring economic aid to struggling crabbers

The harvest of soft shell and peeler blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay has been declared a commercial fishery failure by the U.S. Government. The federal declaration is an important step in providing economic assistance to the communities reliant upon crab production.

The governors of Maryland and Virginia requested that the Secretary of Commerce determine a disaster in the blue crab fishery and applied for more than $15 million to offset the economic impact of new limits on the bay’s crab harvest. The harvest value of soft shell crabs in Maryland and Virginia has declined by 41 percent from the late 1990s, according to NOAA’s Fisheries Service.

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Sewage Pipeline in the Pacific Spawns New Marine Life

Amiel Blajchman — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:33:54 +0000

According to a report in today’s Globe and Mail, a sewage pipeline installed by Epcor (www.epcor.ca) - a Canadian utility company – has created an artificial reef system that supports marine life in a previously desolate region.

Most people don’t associate outfalls with increased life, but this pipeline structure is adding complexity to what was a flat, sandy habitat,” said Jason Clarke, an engineer and marine biologist with consulting firm WorleyParsons. “It’s been a rapid diversification that I haven’t seen to quite this degree.

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In Defense of Plastic Bags

Shirley Siluk Gregory — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 20:34:53 +0000

Plastic bags apparently do not kill hundreds of thousands of seabirds and other animals, according to the Times in the U.K. The paper traces the bag’s deadly reputation to a misquoted study that blamed discarded fishing nets for killing numerous animals.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Oceans are Hurting: Thanks, Humans

Shirley Siluk Gregory — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:55:59 +0000

Most of Earth might be covered with water, but the large population of bipedal animals that crowd the planet’s land masses is doing its best to leave its imprint on the oceans as well.

A new study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) finds that humans have had a heavy impact on more than 40 percent of the world’s oceans. That’s an area of more than 55 million square miles, or more than 144 million square kilometers.

NOAA researchers combined data from about 17 different human activities — including fishing, fertilizer runoff, shipping and pollution — to generate a global map on how those factors are affecting the oceans.

The marine regions suffering the most include the East Coast of North America, the North Sea, the South and East China seas, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Bering Sea and parts of the western Pacific. So far, the polar seas remain the least impacted (give climate change a little more time, though, and that could soon no longer be the case).

“The extent of human influence was probably more than any of us expected,” said Kenneth Casey, a co-author of the study, which will be published in tomorrow’s (Feb. 15) issue of Science.

In those areas, the ecosytems facing the greatest threats are coral reefs and seagrass beds, both of which are critical habitats or nursey grounds for fish, as well as coastal mangroves.

Maybe this latest study will help further weaken one of the arguments used by climate change deniers, the one that says humans are too puny to wreak large-scale damage to a planet the size of Earth. Puny, yes, but damaging? Without a doubt.

Don’t ‘Help’ the Seal Pups

Shirley Siluk Gregory — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:13:08 +0000

It’s the time of year when harbor seals in California start giving birth to pups. Don’t assume, however, any young, lone pup on the beach has been abandoned. Harbor seal mothers normally leave their newborns alone for short times while feeding in the ocean, too many of which are picked up each year by people who think they’ve been orphaned. If in doubt, call a park ranger.

Photo courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration