Marine News Roundup

Welcome to this week's Marine News Roundup... As always, feel free to comment and let us know what you think!

"Fears in Miami That Port Expansion Will Destroy Reefs"
Miami's Department of Environmental Protection is on the verge of granting a final permit to the Army Corps of Engineers which will allow them to conduct 600 days of blasting to deepen, widen and dredge its port to accommodate supersize freighters. At the same time, environmentalists are attempting to protect threatened coral reefs and acres of sea grass that they say would be destroyed by the expansion.

"Happy Feet finally set free"
Following last week's story following "Happy Feet's" rehabilitation and journey to the Antarctic, we are pleased to report that Happy Feet the penguuin has now been released, about 700 kilometres south of New Zealand's South Island. He needed "some gentle encouragement" to leave the safety of his crate and is now expected to complete the 2,000 kilometer journey South to his Antarctic home. He has been fitted with a satellite tracker and microchip and his progress can be followed online.

"Dogger Bank to get special marine protection"
The UK section of the Dogger Bank is home to a fantastic array of sea life and habitats and has been submitted by the Government to the European Commission. It now has candidate Special Area of Conservation (cSAC) status, with over 12,000 square kilometers of species rich sandbank having become a marine protected area to safeguard the important sea life and habitats. This is the largest European Marine Site to be submitted by any Member State for protection and links up with the existing sites in Germany and the Netherlands. Candidate SAC status means that the site must be protected from damaging activities to ensure its features are conserved.

"Unbelievable photo of shark spotted along San Diego's coastline"
A two-mile stretch of coastline at Casa Reef in La Jolla, San Diego was shut down last week after several people reportedly spotted a twelve-inch dorsal fin in the water in an area close to a seal colony. The area was reopened on Thursday because lifeguards, patrolling the area since the early morning, found no evidence of a shark. This was the third confirmed shark sighting along San Diego's coastline in a week and it is believed that this shark was a 10-12 foot Great White.

"Hawksbill Sea Turtles Not Extinct In Eastern Pacific"
Until recently, scientists had assumed that the Hawksbill Sea Turtle was functionally extinct in the eastern tropical Pacific. However, a group of researchers in Central and South America are now saying this is not the case. The new findings, published this month in Biology Letters, show that Hawksbills went undetected because they are "living among in-shore mangrove estuaries rather than the coral and rocky reefs for which they [were] previously known to inhabit". The researchers believe that conservation efforts will be easier than for turtles in the ocean, although the turtles' mangrove habitats are also close to human populations, putting them at greater risk for destruction and habitat degradation. The habitats are under pressure from fishing, tourism, development and other human activities.

"Sharks likely to get more protection"
State fishery managers will recommend at this week's Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission meeting in Naples that anglers can catch more sea trout but need to kill fewer sharks. The state regulatory board also begins reviewing a budget for the next fiscal year that proposes to institute a 10 percent cut ordered by the Florida Legislature. In fishery matters of interest to the Florida Keys, the FWC board on Thursday will hear staff proposals on protecting sharks. Tiger sharks and three species of hammerhead sharks (great, smooth and scalloped) all should be added to Florida's no-take list, which now includes 22 shark species, says the recommended action. A series of seven statewide workshops on sharks, including one in Key West, found widespread support for adding the four shark species to the protected list. Two other shark proposals, to require use of circle hooks in shark fishing, and to ban chumming from shore, did not get endorsed by FWC staff. Encouraging reports on the spotted sea trout fishery could lead to a year-around recreational season on the Gulf of Mexico food fish. The agency also will recommend extending the season for the "small" commercial fishery on sea trout. The FWC meets from Wednesday through Friday at the Naples Grande resort.

"Sardine fishery growing sustainably"
The South Australian sardine fishery has been developing quickly since 1991, but has not harmed the surrounding ecosystem, according to a seven-year study by the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI). The fishery is Australia’s largest by weight, with around 30,000 tonnes harvested annually. Most of this goes to feed farmed tuna but is increasingly destined for human consumption. “This study shows that South Australia’s pelagic marine ecosystem is in good health. The evidence suggests that the precautionary approach to management that the sardine fishery has taken, is achieving its goal of ensuring ecological sustainability,” said Associate Professor Tim Ward, who has led the SARDI Wild Fisheries research team since 1998.

"Shark Savers congratulates California Senate for banning the shark fin trade"
The California state Senate has passed a historic bill to protect all shark species from the environmentally destructive shark fin trade. AB 376 makes it unlawful for any person to possess, sell, offer for sale, trade, or distribute a shark fin. The bill was sponsored by Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Asian Pacific American Ocean Harmony Alliance and supported by a diverse coalition of organizations that included Shark Savers and thousands of individuals. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 25 to 9 and now moves to Governor Jerry Brown to be signed. Opposition was raised on the grounds that the bill was discriminatory to Asian communities but polls have indicated 70% of the Asian American community and 76% of California voters supported the shark fin ban. A companion bill, AB 853, was also passed that allow sales of shark fin until 1st July 2013 for all fin stock on-hand prior to January 1st 2012. Sharks are essential to the health of our oceans and maintain balance within the marine ecosystem and the AB 376 bill represents a fantastic step towards protecting sharks.

"Giant crabs make Antarctic leap" Scientists have found a large, reproductive population of King crabs in the Palmer Deep on the edge of Antarctica, probably as a result of warming in the region. The researchers believe the crabs may have been washed in during an upsurge of warmer water, and have warned that the crabs are likely to profoundly change the ecosystem of the area as the population spreads. It is estimated that they may be around 1.5 million King crabs in the basin and that they have been there for about 30-40 years. The species cannot tolerate water colder than 1.4 degrees Celcius but the seas there get warmer as you descend, and the crabs were only found below 850m. The crabs are voracious crushers of sea floor animals and local extinctions of other species are expected.

"Blind Cave Fish Tell Time On Biological Clocks"
How do animals that have evolved for millions of years underground, completely isolated from the day-night cycle, still "know" what time it is? A new study has attempted to tackle this question by investigating a species of cavefish, Phreatichthys andruzzii, which has lived isolated for 2 million years beneath the Somalian desert. The study has found that this cavefish has an unusual circadian clock; it ticks with an extremely long period (up to 47 hours) and is completely blind. The circadian clock is a highly conserved physiological timing mechanism that allows organisms to anticipate and adapt to the day-night cycle. The cavefish have given scientists a unique opportunity to understand how profoundly sunlight has influenced our evolution.