by Underwatertimes.com News Service – April 4, 2012 18:57 EST
SILVER SPRING, Maryland — Mariners along the U.S. east coast can now download a new iPad and iPhone application that warns them when they enter areas of high risk of collision with critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. The free Whale Alert app provides one source for information about right whale management measures and the latest data about right whale detections, all overlaid on NOAA digital charts.
Whale Alert, a free app, can be downloaded from the App Store. Credit: NOAA
“Whale Alert represents an innovative collaboration to protect this critically endangered species,” said David Wiley, NOAA’s Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary research coordinator and project lead. “Whale conservation is greater than any one organization and this project shows how many organizations can unite for a good cause.”
A key feature of Whale Alert is a display linking near real-time acoustic buoys that listen for right whale calls to an iPad or iPhone on a ship’s bridge showing the whale’s presence to captains transiting the shipping lanes in and around Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. “The idea that right whales are directly contributing to conservation through their own calls is pretty exciting,” said Christopher Clark, whose team at the Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology helped develop the acoustic detection and warning system.
Read the full article at http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=32710094856
By Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun March 28, 2012
Environmentalists and the groundfish bottom trawl industry on Wednesday announced a landmark agreement on ways to limit the impact of trawl nets on sensitive corals, sponges, and deepsea habitats on the B.C. coast. Photograph by: Handout , ...
Environmentalists and the groundfish bottom trawl industry on Wednesday announced a landmark agreement on ways to limit the impact of trawl nets on sensitive corals, sponges, and deepsea habitats on the B.C. coast.
The agreement sets out total annual bycatch objectives for the entire fleet at 562 kilograms for corals and 322 kilograms for sponges, the lowest levels reported in the past 15 years.
A protocol is in place to alert skippers in the fleet when a trawl bycatch exceeds 20 kilograms of corals or sponges.
The total area of coastline trawled will also be reduced by 20.6 per cent to 31,633 square kilometres, the amount of continental slope habitat trawled to a depth of 200 to 800 metres by 18 per cent to 12,413 square kilometres, and the amount of deepwater habitat trawled to 800 to 1,400 metres by 65 per cent to 1,395 square kilometres.
Written by Darci Palmquist. CoolGreenScience. The Nature Conservancy
Published on March 27th, 2012
The world’s marine habitats are in trouble, and there are only so many dollars we can throw at the problem. But putting just a few toward community education and outreach pays huge dividends, according to a new study by Nature Conservancy scientists and coauthors just published in the journal Marine Policy.
Researchers headed to the remote Indonesian islands of Misool and Kofiau — located in the heart of the Coral Triangle, the richest marine environment in the world — to find out whether a community marine education program would help in the creation and management of local marine protected areas (MPAs).
They found that with a limited budget of just $24 per person per year, positive attitudes towards and local knowledge of marine resources rose in local people by 33% over the course of five years.
Perhaps the biggest change came in people’s understanding that illegal fishing activities — such as dynamite, traditional poison and cyanide fishing — are some of the most destructive ways to catch fish. In 2005, only 34% of local people knew these activities were illegal, while 74% did after the outreach program.
And scientists report that illegal fishing activities have decreased sharply after the outreach program, says Craig Leisher, lead author of the study and Conservancy senior advisor on poverty and conservation.
For more details about the study, download it here (subscription required).
By Associated Press, Published: March 21
AP. TREENA SHAPIRO
02/17/2012 9:17 am
(AP) — A proposal to collect fees from customers who choose disposable paper and plastic shopping bags is gaining support as it works its way through Hawaii’s Legislature.
If lawmakers pass the House Bill 2260 this session, Hawaii would become the first state to enact this kind of pro-environment legislation.
The measure has been touted as a way to discourage shoppers from using single-use shopping bags by charging an extra 5 cents per bag. The average person uses 400 plastic bags each year, advocates say.
Mark Fox, Director of External Affairs for the Nature Conservancy, told a House committee Thursday that the legislation has two benefits: “It works on changing people’s behavior and encourages them to bring reusable bags. And if you’re unable to change your behavior, you can contribute to helping our watersheds.”
Maui, Kauai and Hawaii Island counties have all enacted measures to limit use of plastic bags.
Melissa Pavlicek, testifying on behalf of Safeway and Times Supermarket, said plastic bag bans on Maui and Kauai have led more shoppers to ask for costly paper bags instead of bringing their own reusable totes.
The grocery chains support the bill, however, but requested the state use some of the fee to help them cover the cost of administering the program. Read the full article
Aboard Mission Blue, scientist Greg Stone tells the story of how he helped the Republic of Kiribati create an enormous protected area in the middle of the Pacific — protecting fish, sealife and the island nation itself.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012. Key West Citizen. Letters to the Editor
In 1996, as a volunteer certified diver, I went down to the Florida Keys to assist in mapping out the reef at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. I was one of more than 100 volunteer divers for this project. In three weeks we mapped out the entire reef for the state of Florida. This reef was to be preserved as a state park.
I have just learned that the bottom of this reef is currently full of garbage — not being preserved — and I am very perturbed that this could have happened. I find out that people are still hand-feeding dolphins, which is a federal offense, and they are dumping trash, which sinks to the bottom and has settled on the reef.
Garbage being on the bottom of the reef greatly threatens the wildlife that depends on the reef for housing and survival. Dolphins use the reef to hunt for the fish, as do crabs and other varieties. Bonefish, bonita, blue marlin, dolphins and all other species depend on the reef for their existence.I don’t understand why people don’t respect this.
I reside in the mountains of South Carolina, where I am retired. I would appeal to those who live in Monroe County to take up the cause and take care of your underwater wildlife at the John Pennekamp reef.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission does not have the funding and people resources to patrol these waters effectively. It is, therefore, incumbent upon the people residing in Monroe County to organize teams of volunteers to care for the waters in this area. Small teams of volunteers could be organized to start this process.
Perhaps someone reading this is an organizer. It only takes one dog in the pack to lead others. Of course, effective change starts with just one person and grows from there.
If you love your waters — those beautiful clear blue waters that many of us don’t have the access to — you’ll rise up and begin to save the gorgeous Pennekamp reef.
William Highfill
West Union, S.C.
WASHINGTON | Fri Jan 20, 2012 11:57am EST
(Reuters) – The United States said on Friday it was appealing a World Trade Organization ruling against U.S. dolphin-safe labeling measures for tuna in a longrunning spat with Mexico closely watched by environmentalists.
“Our dolphin-safe labeling measures for tuna products provide information for American consumers as they make food purchasing decisions for their families,” said Andrea Mead, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative.
