Deep Sea News

Filling up 20 liter carboys with ocean water on the R/V Elakha for the Giovannoni Lab at Oregon State University

I regularly check out the Google search phrases and terms for how people arrived at DSN.  A few days ago I saw that someone asked the question in the above post.  Obviously, I was intrigued by the question.  I think it reminded me that I am privileged to do this. Although I speak of the how tough this field can be, I am grateful for having this oppurtunity.  At a basic level, it comes down to the type of job I have.  My father once said, and I am not sure he even remembers, is that you can determine whether you have good job or not by whether you have to shower before or after you come home from work.  Wise words from a man who worked himself hard in a physically demanding factory job.  So I am starting a meme and I am tagging Rick, Miriam, and Mark The rules are simple, list the Ten Best Things You Get To Do As A Marine Biologist and of course tag two others.

1. I get to explore the unexplored, seeing new species and new habitats that no human has ever seen before.
2. I get to be at the front lines of scientific inquiry about the oceans. Daily, I explore and strive to answer the big questions in science and about the deep sea.  I am privileged to add society’s collective knowledge.
3. I get to have Eureka moments, those instances when a scientific discovery is made.  A moment when everything comes together…data, analyses, knowledge, theory…and for the first time you can new insights to pattern and process.
4. I get to travel to exotic locations, be at sea, and scuba dive. I live part of my life in medium wholly alien to others. I truly love being at sea.
5. I get to interact and observe ocean life.  I am witness to the novel adaptations, rich biodiversity, amazing behaviors, and extreme profoundness of marine species.
6. The best technology the human race has to offer…remote operated vehicles, satellites, submersible, automated underwater vehicles, supercomputers, modern research vessels, offshore observation systems, etc…is at my fingertips.
7. I am surrounded by the greatest minds in science…daily.  I interact with them.  Exchange ideas with them.  We work together to develop creative solutions and engage in synthesis to advance the field.  We publish together.  And, at the end of the day we share a pint and discuss more ideas.
8. I get the oppurtunity to convey my passion and knowledge to the public.  I get to be an advocate for the ocean, trying inspire the public to be better stewards of our oceans.  I get to witness a persons excitement, curiosity, and awe when I speak about the oceans.
9. I get to spend most of my life indulging and exploring a subject I am passionate about.  My paycheck comes from doing above list. I am excited to rise in the morning and start my day’s work.  I am upset in the evening that my day is not longer, not because I have more work to do (I do!) but because I want to do it and cannot wait till tomorrow.
10. I get to take a shower before I go work, not after.

I was extremely flattered a year ago to be invited to join the academic editors at PLoS One. In that time I worked diligently to develop a Marine and Aquatic Science hub at the journal. I have accumulated what I consider to be an experienced team of academic editors who are both committed to open access but well respected researchers in their fields.  These include Zoe Finkel, Carlos Duarte, Geoffrey Trussell, John Bruno, Stuart Humphries, Stuart Sandin, and Steve Volmer, just to name a few.

Today the Marine and Aquatic Section is live. I am excited to introduce our first paper in the section.  Schmidt et al. examine the biogeography and population genetics of whale sharks demonstrating that disparate populations have considerable gene flow between them. Overall the paper cautions that conservation of whale sharks require global initiatives.

Please add Marine and Aquatic Science RSS feed to your readers!

In looking over Swimming With Sharks, I came across this video of Sea Shepard ramming a Japanese whaling ship.  Appalled is the best word I can think of to describe my reaction.  I am no whale hugger (Give me invertebrates or give me death!) but of course those big charismatic megafauna are worthy of conservation.  I definitely don’t approve of Japanese “scientific whaling”.  I support strong measures and conservation NGO’s.

However, there is so many things wrong with Sea Shepard’s actions I don’t know where to start.

1. Ramming another vessel is against every maritime code and general sense of decency I can think of.
2. For a captain to put both his own vessel and crew at risk but another as well, intentionally, is beyond forgiveness.
3. To conduct such an act that serves absolutely no function other than showboating or putting on a good show for television crews is cheap
4. To waste donation money for boat repair, given the three points above, is unethical and betrays the confidence of donors.
5. For a certain media company who owns this channel to be involved in such stunts, when the purported mission of said group is supposedly education, is hypocritical among many other not so nice terms.

Swimming with sharks has several posts that articulate these and other reasons why you should never support Sea Shepard.  Instead donate to an organization that actually gets results.

All good things must come to and end, so they may have a new beginning.
So begins the next chapter in the history of deep ocean exploration…

The NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer was commissioned this week in Seattle, WA. The vessel will be equipped with two deep-sea ROVs capable of broadcasting high-definition video from the deep-sea in real-time using Dr. Robert Ballard’s “telepresence” technology. Word on the street is the Chief Scientist’s quarters come equipped with an inflatable hot tub, sushi bar, and wine rack Dr. Ballard keeps in a briefcase chained to his wrist at all times.

NOAA’s Ocean Explorer website hosts a cool time lapse video of the conversion.
Check it out.

Think of an aquatic habitat as far away from the deep-sea as you can get without coming up on land, and we will find a connection to the deep-sea. River rock = settlement substrate. Kelp forest = urchin food. Beaches = spawning grounds for tuna food. Mangroves = seafood … food.

Bumper stickers in the Carolinas say it best – “no wetlands, no seafood.”

Now imagine for one moment that you actually depend on the ocean for your daily meal. That you couldn’t go to the grocery store, or even a restaurant, for seafood. And, it’s getting harder and harder to find your seafood. That’s the story I want to tell you. It begins in the mangroves, but reaches into the deep-sea.

Local fishermen in Baja California Sur and the mainland Gulf states of Sonora, Sinaloa and Nayarit in Mexico average hauls of 10,500 tons of fish and blue crab, worth US$19 million per year, with all landings combined. One third of the species caught by these small-scale fisheries in the Gulf of California rely on mangroves as a habitat (Aburto-Oropeza 2008). The mangroves are disappearing over the last two decades to make way economic growth and development.

The problem is – mangrove habitat is undervalued. The going rate for a hectare of mangroves in Mexico is US$1000 per hectare. But seafood from the mangroves is worth a median value of $37,000 per hectare, and more than $600,000 over 30 years, according to an economic valuation of mangrove habitat published in PNAS (Aburto-Oropeza 2008).

So, in essence, the Mexican government is selling out future generations. The study also found a positive relationship between fisheries landings and mangrove area (Aburto-Oropeza 2008). If the region is developed while mangroves are sacrificed, and the population grows, there may not be enough seafood to feed the people. Economic growth without mangroves, the study argues, is not sustainable.

Early last year, Mexico enacted a new law outlawing mangrove destruction that was designed to prevent a repeat of past catastrophes. In the La Paz region near the tip of Baja California, for example, 23% of the mangroves were wiped out between 1973 and 1981. Magdalena Bay is the largest mangrove forest in Baja California, and on the lower Pacific coast, but according to local activist Julio Solis, this jewel of a wetland is under immediate threat. A huge development is planned for the bay that spawns fish for the entire West Coast.

Magdalena Bay is important nursery habitat for highly migratory species like gray whales and humpback whales, and provides food for blue whale, striped marlin, yellowfin tuna, and billfish. Endangered green, hawksbill, olive ridley and loggerhead sea turtles come to the bay to feed, and a wide variety of birds, among them migratory and threatened species, find their way there, including brown pelicans, magnificent frigates, and bald eagles to name a few. Magdalena Bay comprises one of the most important wetland ecosystems on the Pacific coast of North America. It pushes resources off shore 200km and more in filaments, upwellings, and meanders. Now, the Bay is experiencing development pressure.

Fortunately, the Bay has an environmental champion in Julio Solis, who recently founded Magdalena Baykeeper, an organization he calls “the Vigilantes de Bahia Magdalena“. Julio started his environmental career as a panguero at the School for Coastal Studies, but now he is known as an eco-daredevil, literally called “the Han Solo of pangueros“. Once a month he gets behind the wheel of his RX-7 with a 454 under the hood, vying for first place in the regional dirt track drag race circuit. He says “I’m still a rebel, but now I’m a rebel for conservation.”

J Nichols works in the region tagging and tracking sea turtles. He says Solis’ work has resulted in the cancellation of one mangrove-leveling resort development plan, and he’s personally responsible for more sea turtles in the bay.

“Julio has the knowledge of a fisherman turned activist. But he must have learned his fearlessness from drag-racing. He faces down the developers and the corrupt officials as he fights for sea turtles and mangroves in his bay. He knows it’s about sustaining the economy his town is built on, and he’s leading the country to a greener future.”

Like others in the Ocean Revolution, Julio Solis is an eco-daredevil, turning the world around one sea turtle and one fisherman at a time. We gotta get this guy behind the wheel of a submarine sometime.

Reference:

Aburto-Oropeza, O., Ezcurra, E., Danemann, G., Valdez, V., Murray, J., Sala, E. (2008). Mangroves in the Gulf of California increase fishery yields. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(30), 10456-10459. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0804601105 Open access.

Lifeguards in the Mediterranean have a new problem, and they have overfishing, pollution, and global warming to thank for it. Stinging jellyfish invaded beaches off Barcelona a few weeks ago injuring 300 people and sending 11 to the hospital, reports the New York Times. Now patrol boats skim the water with nets and lifeguards post red and yellow flags to warn of approaching swarms.

These jellyfish near shore are a message the sea is sending [to] us saying, ‘Look how badly you are treating me’

- Dr. Josep-Maria Gili, a jellyfish expert from the Institute of Marine Sciences of the Spanish National Research Council in Barcelona.

This is ripe for a new TV show set on Mediterranean beaches. Call it Jell-Watch. Cue the trailer. “In a world, where .. lifeguards battle overfishing and global warming”. Who knows? It could be a hit. Maybe revive the Pam Anderson franchise. And David Hasselhoff is huge in Europe. It’s gotta fly.

If you have been following the story of Andrea Marshall and the manta rays off Mozambique you may notice she responded to questions in the comments section yesterday to tell us she’s working with elasmobranch expert Leonard Compagno to sort through “10 generic and 25 species synonyms, mostly without type specimens” in order to figure out whether she has a new species (or two).

Ocean Revolution co-director Tim Dykstra contacted Deep Sea News, too, thanking us for highlighting the outreach and communication model the Whale Shark and Manta Research Centre has embarked upon. I called the science communication model “Science 2.0″, but barely touched upon the most important aspect of their program, community outreach.

Here’s a few pictures of what community engagement looks like in Mozambique. Most of these people are seeing whale sharks and manta rays alive for the first time. They are learning about sustainable ecotourism as an economic alternative to commercial fishing (for manta rays).

Maunza villagers listening to Bitonga Divers presentation. Photo by Jon Snow.

Carlos Macua and Anabela Muchanga present a conservation talk in the fishing village Jobene Mozambique. Photo by Jon Snow.

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When Andrea Marshall began studying the manta rays of Mozambique for her dissertation five years ago, she never expected to discover a new species, let alone a globally cosmopolitan, highly migratory ocean wanderer. She was “awestruck by their beauty,” studied the rays, and then gradually noticed subtle differences between them. Species can be cryptic; hard to recognize from others. Individuals are identified by their unique patterns of marking on the body and underside.

The clue to Marshall’s discovery was lifestyle.

“The two species have mainly overlapping distributions, but their lifestyles differ greatly; one is migratory and the other is resident to particular areas along the coast. Other differences between the two species lie in their colour, skin texture, reproductive biology, and the presence of a non-functioning type of sting on the tail of one of the species.”

One species is Manta birostris, the black manta. The other is apparently unidentified. The Telegraph UK reports the story here.

This research highlights the need for international management of highly migratory species, and the fact there is a global fishery for manta rays. But what makes this story great to me is not what Andrea Marshall and her colleagues discovered, its how they roll.

New species are discovered all the time. Americans have a similar situation with the Orcas in Puget Sound. Some are migratory and some are resident. The most impressive aspect here is the collaborators’ multifaceted approach to science communication. They made a movie, they made posters, they prepared their websites for the announcement, and then released their findings. This is the future of scientific communication. Every scientist wants to do be able to do this, but really, it takes a village.

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You may have learned in Oceanography that wind driven surface effects are limited to the first 70m of the ocean, in what’s commonly known as the Ekman layer. However, climate oscillations, even small ones, have a deeper impact on the oceans. They can influence oceanic conditions a mile below. The Telegraph UK calls one newly revealed mechanism a “freak” ocean wave because it travels underwater, with little or no surface expression. This was such a good spin I had to promote it to main title.

In reality, these are periodic Kelvin waves travelling eastward along the equator at the submerged boundary between warm surface water and colder deep water. The forcing mechanism is a small climate oscillation called Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). The MJO is El Nino- Southern Oscillation’s (ENSO’s) little brother. It’s a trigger for ENSO that drives the tumultuous weather in the Coral Triangle region around the Philippines and Indonesia.

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