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Collapse of Bluefin Tuna population off northern Europe
2007-08-09 06:16:00
Ocean historians affiliated with the Census of Marine Life have painted the first detailed portrait of a burst of fishing from 1900 to 1950 that preceded the collapse of once abundant bluefin tuna populations off the coast of northern Europe ।The chronicle of decimation of the bluefin tuna population in the North Atlantic is being published as other affiliated researchers release the latest results of modern electronic fish tagging efforts off Ireland and in the Gulf of Mexico, revealing remarkable migrations and life-cycle secrets of the declining species।Disappearing bluefinsDusting off sales records, fishery yearbooks and other sources, researchers Brian R. MacKenzie of the Technical University of Denmark and the late Ransom Myers of Canada's Dalhousie University show majestic bluefins teemed in northern European waters (North Sea, Norwegian Sea, Skaggerak, Kattegat, and Oresund ) for a few months each summer until an industrialized fishery geared up in the 1920s and literall...
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Satellite tracking will help answer questions about penguin travels
2007-08-08 11:01:00
You could understand if a half-dozen Magellanic penguins developed a "big bird is watching" phobia before this month is over, but the surveillance really will be for their own good।University of Washington scientists will attach satellite tracking devices to the backs of six penguins that have been treated at two centers in northern Argentina after their feathers were fouled with oil. The birds will be released into the Atlantic Ocean and their movements traced using satellites and the Internet.The idea is to plug a critical gap in the knowledge of the Magellanics' annual life cycle, their movements on the journey from their winter feeding grounds back to their breeding colonies along the southern Argentina coast and the Islas Malvinas, or Falkland Islands."We're missing that information. We know what happens when they leave the breeding grounds but we don't know what happens on the return trip," said Elizabeth Skewgar, a University of Washington doctoral student in biology. "W...
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Marine Phytoplankton Changes Form To Protect Itself
2007-06-16 13:52:00
A tiny single-celled organism that plays a key role in the carbon cycle of cold-water oceans may be a lot smarter than scientists had suspected। Researchers report the first evidence that a common species of saltwater algae -- also known as phytoplankton -- can change form to protect itself against attack by predators that have very different feeding habits. To boost its survival chances, Phaeocystis globosa will enhance or suppress the formation of colonies based on whether nearby grazers prefer eating large or small particles. "Based on chemical signals from attacked neighbors, Phaeocystis globosa enhances colony formation if that's the best thing to do for survival, or it suppresses the formation of colonies in favor of growing as small solitary cells if that's the best thing to do," said Mark E. Hay, Teasley Professor of Biology at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "These changes in form made nearly a 100-fold difference in the alga's susceptibility to being eaten. It's...
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Microbes At Work Cleaning Up The Environment
2007-06-16 13:50:00
It may sound counterintuitive to use a microbial protein to improve water quality। But some bacteria are doing just that to protect themselves from potentially toxic nanoparticles in their own environments, and clean up crews of the future could potentially do the same thing on a larger scale.A team from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that bacteria from an abandoned mine excrete proteins that cause metal nanoparticles to aggregate. The bacteria are binding and immobilizing the metals in the nanoparticles and the nanoparticles themselves, which are potentially toxic to the bacteria.Sulfate-reducing bacteria can cause heavy metals such as zinc (Zn) to precipitate and form nanoparticles. However, these particles are able to move freely because they are so small (typically 2-6 nanometers in diameter) and can redissolve if conditions change.In the case of the mine bacteria, the researchers showed that the bacteria are...
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Color Pattern Spurs Speciation In Tropical Fish
2007-06-15 06:50:00
A team of researchers from McGill University and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) has provided the first example of how colour patterns on a coral reef fish species can drive its evolution into many distinct species।“These fish were the unusual suspects for a model explanation of how new species arise,” said lead author Oscar Puebla, a PhD student in the Neotropical Environment Option (NEO), a collaboration between McGill and STRI. “When investigating ecological speciation, the first reflex is to look at the species’ environmental conditions rather than at its behavioural traits.”The researchers looked at feeding and mating behaviours based on colour patterns to explain the emergence of several species of hamlet fish (genus Hypoplectrus). Predatory Hypoplectrus fish were observed tracking other non-predatory fish species with similar colour patterns to surprise their prey, which are usually not afraid of non-predatory fish species.They were also observe...
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Study investigates 'divorce' among Galapagos seabirds
2007-06-14 10:12:00
Being a devoted husband and father is not enough to keep an avian marriage together for the Nazca booby, a long-lived seabird found in the Gala pagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador.Many Nazca booby females switch mates after successfully raising a chick, according to a Wake Forest University study scheduled for publication in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences June 13.This is surprising because there is an advantage to staying together, said Terri Maness, a doctoral student who co-authored the study with David J. Anderson, professor of biology at Wake Forest. The chance of successfully breeding probably improves as the pairs of birds get older and are together longer, as has been found in other birds.But, often the female seeks a divorce after a few breeding seasons. Since males significantly outnumber females in the colony studied, there are plenty of bachelors available if the female has a wandering eye."Our study population has 50 percent more ma...
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Study Helps Preserve Arctic Whale, Eskimo Subsistence Hunt
2007-06-13 13:20:00
Research on one of the oldest-living mammals - the bowhead whale - has helped preserve a primary food source for Eskimos in the far reaches of Alaska, and also may provide a useful tool for studying genetic variation in other migratory animals।The bowhead whale, devastated in the 19th and early 20th centuries by commercial whaling fleets, has been a food staple for Eskimos and other indigenous arctic peoples dating to prehistoric times. Due in part to research done by Purdue University professor John Bickham, the International Whaling Commission ruled last week to allow Eskimos to harvest 56 whales per year, the same quota that had been in place but had expired."Eskimos have been whaling for more than 2,000 years and have never endangered the bowhead whale," said Bickham, the professor of forestry and natural resources who presented data from a study he co-authored at the scientific meeting of the commission in May.Bickham said the bowhead’s population has recently been increasi...
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First Buoy To Monitor Ocean Acidification Launched
2007-06-13 13:17:00
The first buoy to monitor ocean acidification has been launched in the Gulf of Alaska। Attached to the 10-foot-diameter buoy are sensors to measure climate indicators. Acidification is a result of carbon dioxide absorbed by the seas."The instruments will measure the air-sea exchange of carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen gas in addition to the pH, a measure of ocean acidity, of the surface waters," said Steven Emerson of the University of Washington, the project's lead scientist. "This is the first system specifically designed to monitor ocean acidification."The buoy is anchored in water nearly 5,000 meters deep. Once it hit the water, the buoy immediately began to transmit data via satellite.The buoy is part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant awarded to oceanographers at the University of Washington and Oregon State University, working in collaboration with scientists at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL), and at Fisheries and Ocean s Canada and the ...
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Caribbean turtles said threatened by catches and illegal trade
2007-06-13 12:43:00
Turtles in the Caribbean are under threat from over-fishing and illegal trade, with almost all eggs laid in Guatemala taken by humans, a wildlife trade monitoring network said on Tuesday. Traffic, comprising the WWF conservation group and the World Conservation Union, urged governments in the region to set tighter limits on catches to help safeguard the region's six species of turtles."Turtles may be adequately protected in some waters, but then travel into areas where they are at risk from unmanaged or illegal take," said Steven Broad, Traffic's Executive Director."Caribbean nations need to improve their cooperation to manage and conserve the region's turtles," he said in a statement issued on the sidelines of a U.N. Conference on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in The Hague.Traffic said overexploitation was a threat to the survival of the region's turtles, targeted for their shells, meat and eggs that are laid on beaches. All six species in the region are cla...
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Maine scientists to study right whales
2007-06-13 12:41:00
Scientists are studying endangered right whales this summer to learn more about their behavior and assess the risks posed by lobster gear. Three initiatives are under way in New England aimed at developing gear that won't harm the whales without putting too much of a burden on Maine 's nearly 6,000 commercial lobstermen.The efforts come as the federal government considers a new rule that would ban floating lobster lines. Supporters of the rule say keeping rope between traps closer to the bottom would help to prevent right whales from becoming entangled.Some fishermen are in denial about the new rule, but most are anxious about how it will affect them financially, said Jeff White, a 37-year-old lobsterman from York."It's hanging over our heads," he said.Conservationists have lobbied for years for the right whale. Only 300 or so remain, and most have scars from entanglements with fishing gear. But a lot is still unknown about the animals, which spend the winter in warm waters to the...
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Nineth century weapon found in whale
2007-06-13 12:39:00
A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt — more than a century ago. Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3 1/2-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale's age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old. "No other finding has been this precise," said John Bockstoce, an adjunct curator of the New Bedford Whaling Museum.Calculating a whale's age can be difficult, and is usually gauged by amino acids in the eye lenses. It's rare to find one that has lived more than a century, but experts say the oldest were close to 200 years old.The bomb lance fragment, lodged in a bone between the whale's neck and shoulder blade, was likely manufactured in New Bedford, on the southeast coast of Massachusetts, a major whaling center at that time, Bockstoce said.It was probably shot at the whale from a heavy shoulder gun around 1890. The small metal cylinder w...
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Eels, sawfish get trade protection from U.N
2007-06-13 08:17:00
A U.N. wildlife forum imposed trade restrictions on European eels on Monday and outlawed trade in shark-like sawfish, famed for a long toothed snout, to prevent a slip towards extinction. "The stock (of eels) is dangerously close to collapse," said Stellan Hamrin, a Swedish official, making a rare European Union proposal to curb a commercial European species. Eel prices have sometimes exceeded those of caviar after decades of overfishing.The U.N. Conference on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) voted 93-9 at the June 3-15 meeting for a system of permits to regulate international trade in European eels, worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year.Eels spawn in the Atlantic and grow to maturity in rivers and lakes across Europe and North Africa before swimming back to sea, making them vulnerable to threats including pollution, dams, a warming of the oceans and excessive catches."Overfishing is the single most important factor" in a precipitous decline of more than 95 p...
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Hawaii study examines monk seal deaths
2007-06-13 08:15:00
More endangered Hawaii an monk seals are trapped and killed by marine debris during years when the El Nino phenomenon warms tropical Pacific waters, according to University of Hawaii researchers. El Nino events cause ocean currents carrying marine debris to flow farther into the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands where most monk seals live. The seals often drown or starve if they can't free themselves from fishing nets and other floating garbage.Scientists knew marine debris was a top killer of the seals, but they lacked an explanation for the disparity between years.Since 1982, the number of seals known to be entangled have ranged from a low of two in 1985 to a high of 25 in 1999.Mary Donohue, study co-author, was helping analyze monk seal entanglement data for the federal government's protected species program when she noticed a pattern."I had plotted it out, and when I looked at the peaks, to me it looked like a graph of El Nino," said Donohue, a marine mammal ecologist with the Univ...
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Deaf Dolphin gives birth to healthy calf
2007-06-13 08:13:00
A stranded deaf Atlantic bottlenose dolphin delivered her calf Monday at a marine mammal rehabilitation center in the Florida Keys. The unnamed calf is approximately 42 inches long and weighs about 30 pounds, according to officials at the Marine Mammal Conservancy. "The calf looks great. It's swimming real well and breathing normally," said MMC president Robert LingenfelserThe calf's mother, Castaway, has been vocalizing to the calf and the baby has answered back, said Lingenfelser.But Lingenfelser said he is certain that Castaway cannot process the calf's return sounds."Castaway's vocalizations are not normal," Lingenfelser said. "She speaks in a monotone, similar to the way that people who cannot hear speak."Because Castaway can't hear, MMC officials installed a dolphin "chat line" of sorts, electronically connecting Castaway's habitat with a lagoon at Dolphin s Plus, a research and interactive educational facility a few miles away. Underwater speakers and microphones were in...
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Beluga moved to Tacoma, WA aquarium
2007-06-13 08:08:00
A thousand-pound, 6-year-old beluga whale arrived at a Tacoma Aqua rium early Sunday after a flight on a chartered military transport plane from Chicago. Qannik, an Inuit name for snowflake, traveled tucked inside an enormous, foam-padded tank in the DC-8 plane for a cross-country flight that cost $84,000, according to officials at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium.Aquarium officials say the entire cost to move the beluga from Chicago's John G. Shedd Aquarium to his new home was nearly $120,000.Qannik (pronounced kah-NIK') is the offspring of a female named Mauyak, who left Tacoma for Chicago in 1997. Both whales belong to Point Defiance and are participants in a nationwide cooperative breeding program.The aquarium kept the timing of Qannik's move under wraps to stave off protests, officials told The News Tribune of Tacoma. Some animal rights activists argue whales should not be held in captivity, and they oppose airlifting the marine mammals.A veterinarian monitored Qannik throug...

Judge dumps horseshoe crab protection
2007-06-13 08:07:00
A judge has struck down Delaware's two-year ban on harvesting horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay, saying the crustaceans' population is healthy enough to allow a limited harvest. The state failed to prove its case in favor of the ban, Superior Court Judge Richard Stokes ruled Friday in a lawsuit filed by two businesses involved in the harvest and sale of the crabs. He said that while the crab population was seriously depleted by overharvesting through 1998, it has since stabilized.The ruling is "extremely disappointing," said Michael Parr, vice president of the American Bird Conservancy."The court has put the profits of a very small number of fishermen over the interests of the people of Delaware," Parr said.Fourteen Atlantic coast states, including Delaware, have implemented conservation measures to protect the crabs, which are used as bait by eel and conch fisherman but also are vital to migratory shorebirds that gorge on crab eggs during spring stopovers on the shore of Delaware B...
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Spanish beaches invaded by jellyfish
2007-06-13 08:05:00
What do tourists and jellyfish have in common? They both love warm water and proliferate along Span ish beaches in the summer. And that's bad news for Spain, the world's top tourist destination after France.On Friday, the government approved a plan to create an armada of recreational boaters to spot the stinging blobs and summon help."The important thing is that anybody who comes to the beaches here in Spain should know that a serious plan is under way to keep this from being a problem," said Josep-Maria Gili, the biologist coordinating the project.Spain's Mediterranean waters are home to half a dozen kinds of jellyfish. Some areas have seen an exponential rise in jellyfish populations, called a bloom. Last year the proliferation was so bad in parts of Spain's Catalonia, Valencia and Almeria regions, some beaches had to be closed for a few days.Scientists blame the problem in part on overfishing, which has sapped stocks of natural jellyfish predators like tuna and turtles, and of...
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Female Sharks Reproduce With Out Dad!
2007-06-13 08:03:00
Virgin births are possible in female sharks, accordingto a new study that determined a captive female bonnethead sharkreproduced without having been near a male in three years.Since other captive females — including a white spotted bamboo shark —have anecdotally accomplished the same feat, researchers conclude itis likely all shark species possess the ability.The recent determination, made possible through DNA analysis, actuallyapplies to the birth of a bonnethead shark (of the hammerhead family)that occurred six years ago at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Nebraska."It was a big surprise for us," zoo director Lee Simmons toldDiscovery News.Simmons added, "We brought in three female bonnetheads on December 15,1998, and on December 14, 2001, bang! One of them gave birth to an8-inch-long offspring."The pup unfortunately died the same day from internal injuries likelycaused by a stingray in the same exhibit that munched the wiry infantand then spit it out. Puzzled by the birth, Simmons and...
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China Algae Outbreak Sparks Water Panic
2007-06-13 08:01:00
Residents of a city in eastern China rushed to buy bottled water after tap supplies became putrid from algae blanketing a nearby lake, state media said on Thursday, and scientists said the outbreak could last for months. The level of Taihu Lake in Jiangsu province was at its lowest in 50 years and blue-green algae had spread, leaving the water that usually supplied Wuxi undrinkable, Xinhua news agency said. Panic ked Wuxi city residents stripped supermarkets clean of bottled water and small shops raised prices, local newspapers reported. The volatile mix of pollution, thirsty citizens and health worries echoed a panic in late 2005, when millions of residents of Harbin in northeast China had tap water cut off for weeks after a toxic spill in the Songhua River affected drinking water. China's leaders have promised to clean up the country's air and water, but decades of unchecked growth and rickety enforcement have left many places vulnerable to pollution outbreaks. Officials in Wuxi,...
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Caribbean Corals In Danger Of Extinction: Climate Change, Warmer Waters Cit
2007-06-13 07:56:00
Caribbean coral species are dying off, indicating dramatic shifts in the ecological balance under the sea, a new scientific study of Caribbean marine life shows.The study found that 10 percent of the Caribbean's 62 reef-building corals were under threat, including staghorn and elkhorn corals. These used to be the most prominent species but are now candidates to be listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species."One of the Atlantic Ocean's most beautiful marine habitats no longer exists in many places because of dramatic increases in coral diseases, mostly caused by climate change and warmer waters," said Dr. Michael L. Smith, director of the Caribbean Biodiversity Initiative at Conservation International.A gathering of 23 scientists in Dominica in March 2007 analyzed data on Western Tropical Atlantic corals, seagrasses, mangroves and algae, which are fundamental components of marine ecosystems providing food and shelter for numerous other organisms and ...
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The Fisherman Is A Predator Like Any Other
2007-06-13 07:45:00
For Peru fishing is a prime source of foreign exchange, second only to mining. The country's anchovy fishing fleet, which seeks the Peruvian anchovy Engraulis ringens, is the world's largest single-species fishery, with an average of 8% of global landings. For safety and monitoring purposes, vessels have the statutory obligation to be equipped with satellite geopositioning indicators, seeing that industrial-scale fishing is prohibited within a band of 5 nautical miles (about 9 kilometres) from the coast. This satellite device, the vessel monitoring system (VMS), gives the real-time position of the vessels to an accuracy of 100 m, communicated to bodies responsible for vessel movement recording and scientific monitoring of fishing. Scientists from the IRD and the Peruvian Institute of the Sea (IMARPE) used this high-resolution spatial information to characterize vessel movement in campaigns targeting shoals of this anchovy species, a pelagic fish that usually lives and builds up of...
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Marine Sediment Microbial Fuel Cells Get A Nutritional Boost
2007-06-13 07:41:00
Discarded crab and lobster shells may be the key to prolonging the life of microbial fuel cells that power sensors beneath the sea, according to a team of Penn State researchers. To produce energy, microbial fuel cells need organic material for the microbes to consume. However, deep sea sediments can be surprisingly devoid of organic material because living things in the photic zone -- the area where light penetrates the water -- are continuously recycled and little falls to the ocean floor. An absence of organics limits the lifetime of marine microbial fuel cells.The researchers include chitin -- processed crustacean shells -- in a pillow-like anode made of carbon cloth. The anode is placed in the sediment or hung in the water where naturally occurring bacteria can eat the chitin."This approach is good for deeper ocean areas or anywhere we want to increase the power of marine microbial fuel cells," says Bruce E. Logan, the Kappe Professor of Environmental Engineering.Microbial fuel...
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Grim Future For Europe's Seas Predicted
2007-06-13 07:39:00
On the eve of World Oceans Day, a group of over 100 scientists from 15 countries has revealed new evidence for the declining state of Europe's 4 regional seas।Their models developed during a €2.5M EU funded research project have predicted dire consequences for the sea unless European countries take urgent action to prevent further damage from current and emerging patterns of development. The project coordinator, Professor Laurence Mee, Director of the Marine Institute at the University of Plymouth said "Europeans are just beginning to wake up to the fact that the area of their seas is bigger than the land and that it is already seriously degraded."In every sea, we found serious damage related to the accelerated pace of coastal development, the way we transport our goods and the way we produce our food on land as well as the sea. Without a concerted effort, to integrate protection of the sea into Europe's development plans, its biodiversity and resources will be lost."The past ...
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Who Needs Environmental Monitoring?
2007-06-13 07:38:00
We monitor the stock market, the weather, our blood pressure। Yet environmental monitoring is often criticized as being unscientific, expensive, and wasteful. Scientists argue that environmental monitoring is a crucial part of science in the review, "Who needs environmental monitoring?" Gary Lovett (Institute of Ecosystem Studies) and colleagues from several universities and US government offices contributed to the review. The review is particularly relevant, given the budgetary constraints on current monitoring and the ongoing debate regarding the opportunities, limitations, and costs associated with the establishment of national environmental observatories in the US . These include the upcoming National Ecological Observatory Network, as well as established ecological monitoring programs such as those run by the Envi ronmental Protection Agency and face imminent closure unless Congress reverses the Agency's budgetary Plans that monitor air pollution and acid rain.Long-term monit...
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Iron Fertilization Of Oceans: A Real Option For Carbon Dioxide Reduction?
2007-06-13 07:33:00
Over the last weeks, commercial efforts have been launched to manipulate a portion of the Pacific Ocean to increase the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide by artificially enhancing phytoplankton activity। A research vessel is currently sailing to the Galapagos Sea to seed an area larger than Puerto Rico with tonnes of iron, to stimulate the CO2 sequestration into the deep ocean. However, such iron fertilization is also a way of generating carbon offsets, whereby CO2 polluters can buy “ecosystem restoration credits” and shrink their carbon footprint.This experiment is based on the fact that in about one-third of the surface ocean, the growth of phytoplankton is limited by the lack of iron; a well researched phenomenon. However, a valuable question to raise is to what extent artificial iron fertilization represents a real option for CO2 reduction. Indeed, a group of EUR-OCEANS scientists using the Kerguelen Plateau as a site study for natural iron fertilization of the Southern...
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Iron Fertilization Of Oceans: A Real Option For Carbon Dioxide Reduction?
2007-06-13 07:33:00
Over the last weeks, commercial efforts have been launched to manipulate a portion of the Pacific Ocean to increase the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide by artificially enhancing phytoplankton activity. A research vessel is currently sailing to the Galapagos Sea to seed an area larger than Puerto Rico with tonnes of iron, to stimulate the CO2 sequestration into the deep ocean. However, such iron fertilization is also a way of generating carbon offsets, whereby CO2 polluters can buy “ecosystem restoration credits” and shrink their carbon footprint.This experiment is based on the fact that in about one-third of the surface ocean, the growth of phytoplankton is limited by the lack of iron; a well researched phenomenon. However, a valuable question to raise is to what extent artificial iron fertilization represents a real option for CO2 reduction. Indeed, a group of EUR-OCEANS scientists using the Kerguelen Plateau as a site study for natural iron fertilization of the Southern O...
More About: Carbon , Real , Oceans , Redu , Opti

Salty Oceans Provide Early Warning For Climate Change
2007-06-10 12:49:00
Monitoring the saltiness of the ocean water could provide an early indicator of climate change। Significant increases or decreases in salt in key areas could forewarn of climate change in 10 to 20 years time. Presenting their findings at a recent European Science Foundation (ESF) conference, scientists predicted that the waters of the southern hemisphere oceans around South Africa and New Zealand are the places to watch.Palaeoclimate data shows that the ocean's currents (like the Gulf Stream and its North Atlantic deep water partner) are capable of shifting gears very suddenly, but until now it wasn't clear how this occurred. Using a combination of modern observations, numerical models and palaeoclimate data scientists are increasingly realising that salt is the key.Their results reveal that a build up of salty water can stimulate deep water circulation, while a diluting of the waters is linked to sluggish flow. "Salt plays a far more important role that we first thought," says ...
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Genes of sea Sponge reveals the origins of Nervous System
2007-06-09 09:17:00
Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara have discovered significant clues to the evolutionary origins of the nervous system by studying the genome of a sea sponge, a member of a group considered to be among the most ancient of all animals. The findings are published in the June 6 issue of the journal PLoS ONE, a Public Library of Science journal."It turns out that sponges, which lack nervous systems, have most of the genetic components of synapses," said Todd Oakley, co-author and assistant professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology at UC Santa Barbara."Even more surprising is that the sponge proteins have 'signatures' indicating they probably interact with each other in a similar way to the proteins in synapses of humans and mice," said Oakley. "This pushes back the origins of these genetic components of the nervous system to at or before the first animals much earlier than scientists had previously suspected."When analyzing something a...
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Stray penguins probably reached northern waters by fishing boat
2007-06-07 06:52:00
Guy Demmert got quite a surprise when he hauled a fishing net into his boat off the coast of southeast Alaska in July 2002. There among the salmon, in living black and white, was a Humboldt penguin, thousands of miles from where any of its kind should have been.The flightless bird appeared to be healthy and in good condition, and Demmert snapped its picture before turning the bird loose.It wasn't the first sighting of a penguin in Alaskan waters. In fact Demmert himself reported seeing one while fishing in 2001, and in 1976 a research cruise in the Gulf of Alaska recorded the sighting of "brown penguins."So how is it that birds that swim rather than fly and live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere turned up deep into the Northern Hemisphere? Did they migrate more than 5,000 miles from Peru" That's doubtful, say two University of Washington biologists. Were they the remnants of efforts to introduce breeding penguin colonies into the Northern Hemisphere" Probably not. Did ...
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Birds starve at South Korea wetland
2007-05-15 13:35:00
Fewer than 1,000 spoonbilled sandpipers remain in the wild.Tens of thousands of migratory birds are facing starvation in South Korea , the UK-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)says.The group says a land reclamation project has destroyed key wetlandsused by the birds on their way from Asia to their breeding groundsin the Arctic.Without the food at the Saemangeum wetlands, on the east coast, manyof the birds will not survive the journey.Two endangered species of wading bird face extinction because of thechanges.There are believed to be fewer than 1,000 mature spoonbilledsandpipers and Nordmann's greenshanks left in the wild.The RSPB and other wildlife and conservation groups are highlightingthe environmental problems at Saemangeum to mark World MigratoryBirds Day.'Motorway service station'Saemangeum was once an estuarine tidal flat on South Korea 's YellowSea coast.What we've lost here is one of the jewels in the crown of wetlandhabitatsSarah Dawkins, RSPBIt was ...
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