Sea Notes

Film Friday: Feeding time

Our new white shark has settled well into the Outer Bay, and the bubble curtain has been raised, allowing our visitors a better view of her beautiful smile! We are hoping she is getting in the mood to put those teeth to good use soon, and take interest in the salmon fillets on offer.

Many people ask, how do you feed a white shark and what do they eat? Check out the video below to see feeding in action and also watch "How to feed a white shark" on our YouTube page. As for what they eat - sustainable seafood, of course! In fact, all the animals in our care avoid all of the items on our Seafood Watch pocket guide red-list. Download yours today and be as green as a white shark!

White Magic

Each day, before the Aquarium opens, our staff are busily prepping food, preparing for programs, and taking care of our exhibits and animals. Early this morning, one by one, many were drawn to the Outer Bay, waiting for a brief glimpse of our special visitor veiled behind the curtain of bubbles. Even though for many of us, this is white shark #4, the mystique, the awe, the power is just as strong as it was four years ago.

In many ways, the care of a young white shark is "routine" for our husbandry staff. And yet we know that each day, we are creating an experience that is unique and special to our many guests, and creating memories that will last a lifetime. Yesterday, I overheard a group of twenty-somethings -- waiting for their first glimpse, declare -- "We will always remember this moment. Twenty years from now, we will remember we were here today, together."

Each guest takes away something different from their visit, but I hope all will leave right now with a little piece of white shark magic, and a desire to share our blue planet with all of these amazing creatures that call it home.

Take Action for the oceans www.oceanaction.org

We did it again!

A little after 5 pm today, a spontaneous round of applause broke out in the Aquarium's Outer Bay wing. Gathered guests and employees witnessed the entrance of a young female white shark into the million gallon exhibit, and despite her diminutive size, she owned it!

This is our second female (our first was in 2004) and our smallest to date, weighing in at a little over 55 pounds. Though if she grows and eats at the same rate as the three who graced the exhibit before her, in less than six months she could have grown at least a foot in length and added 100 pounds!

As we stood captivated, watching her explore her new and temporary waters, the Aquarium's film-maker remarked to me, that prior to the Aquarium's first successful white shark on display, only a few hundred people had ever observed a white shark underwater -- astonishingly perhaps equal to the number that witnessed her arrival today! Over the next few weeks and months, hopefully many, many thousands will see her, appreciate her and learn about the threats facing white sharks and all the other sharks, great and small that grace our ocean planet.

This young girl will teach us how to love a thing we may otherwise fear, and through that love inspire us to find ways to protect her and her kind.

We stand on the brink of losing some of our shark species, including this one. Find ways to help today on our website at www.oceanaction.org and www.seafoodwatch.org

White House Getting Blue Again

George Bush issued a memo on Monday to his Cabinet that could prove good news for marine life in the South Pacific. He asked for detailed reports on the waters surrounding remote islands under U.S. jurisdiction, and specified three areas in this isolated part of the Pacific that are under consideration for a vast marine protected area.

One of these areas includes an ocean icon – the Mariana Trench, the deepest canyon on the planet which reaches 36,000 feet below the surface. Thousands of species thrive in the nearly pristine waters, and hopefully Bush will create a broad, strong reserve which limits commercial fishing and bans destructive offshore drilling and mining. He's certainly hoping to go out on a high note with his environmental legacy (or should I say low note? Get it, the trench...anyway.)

The Pew Environment Group estimates that 19 species of whales and dolphins live in the area of the Mariana Trench, as well as the most sharks anywhere in the Pacific.

We blogged about this back in May when Bush was also considering marine reserves in the Atlantic, and the Gulf of Mexico. But these areas are also important to the U.S. oil and fishing industries.

Bush created the world’s largest marine protected area in 2006, the Northwest Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, and maybe he’ll make history again in the South Pacific before his time is up.

Last chance for stuttering plastics bill

We have been following the progress of a bill to reduce plastic bag litter in California and have encouraged our Ocean Action Team to support a scheme that will result in less litter and healthier oceans.  AB 2058, which has just become AB 2769, has one final shot this week at making it through the legislative process before "close of business" in the California Assembly.

If you are a California resident and have a minute please Take Action before Friday August 29! This bill also proposes a statewide system of litter reduction measures which will benefit all our communities, in addition to keeping harmful trash like plastic bags out of our waterways and ocean.

Friday's Film: Arise Sir Penguin

Couldn't really end this week without showing this video of "the most decorated penguin on the planet", who received a knighthood this week - after inspecting the troops, of course.

Really, you just couldn't make this stuff up!

Derelict and Deadly

We're always on the look out for good news, here at Sea Notes Blog. So today, here is an encouraging story. We've been following bill SB 899 in the California legislature that seeks to address the issue of lost and abandoned fishing gear -- known as derelict fishing gear. This gear is not only a source of marine trash and pollution, but can also be a deadly hazard to many forms of marine life.

We're pleased to report that the bill has made it through all the various committees and hearings in the California Assembly and has now been sent to Governor Schwarzenegger for his approval or veto. We're really hoping that the Governor's strong commitment to our oceans will see this bill approved.

You can go to our website now and send him a letter, and let him know you support removing this treacherous trash today!

Picturing Excess - part II

Friday's film showed human excesses in a pictorial format. Today, I'd like to share this outrageous video with you, courtesy of the Norwegian Coast Guard. It shows a British trawler ship caught in the act of dumping over 5 tonnes of freshly-caught fish overboard, on its way back to the UK port. Although European Union fishing regulations restrict the amount of catch that can be returned by a vessel, they do not restrict the catch - resulting in this truly shocking footage.

I wish I could say this is an isolated incident, but sadly, many believe that scenes like this take place in oceans around the world on a very regular basis, but are seldom caught on tape for all to see.

Here in the U.S., the latest report from the government's fisheries management agency shows that over 40 fisheries are currently experiencing overfishing and a further 40 fisheries have been overfished in the past, which is affecting the species ability to recover.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has been targeted with ending overfishing in the U.S. by 2011. Many scientists think this could be too late for some species, like Atlantic bluefin tuna.

Take Action on our website today, and ask NMFS to end overfishing now!

(Image courtesy of Mike Markovina 2007/Marine Photobank. This trawler is illegally fishing in a no-trawl zone Mayumba Bay, Gabon.)

Film Friday: Picturing Excess

Here is a speaker from the excellent TED conferences, held each year in Monterey. Photographer Chris Jordan explores the excesses of our modern lifestyle, including one-time use disposable plastic items. It's hard to imagine what two million plastic beverage bottles looks like -- the number used in the US every five minutes -- see Chris's image here, together with the plastic bags used by U.S. citizens every five seconds!

If you are a California resident, you can Take Action on our website right now, to support a bill which will reduce plastic bag usage in California (estimated at 19 billion bags per year!)

Jellies galore - by Alexa

When MBARI celebrated their 20th birthday in 2007, they created a list of the top 20 most important accomplishments since their founding. The number ten accomplishment was discovering that one third of the oceanic biomass is made up of JELLY!!!!!!!!!! That’s right, gelatinous animals made up about 1/3 of the oceanic biomass in marine food webs!

The coolest part of that announcement; jelly-ish animals happen to be my favorite creatures in the whole world! To all of you who are laughing at that pronouncement, I’m sure that by the end of the blog you too will agree with me.

I’m sorry, I bet some of you have no idea what MBARI is. MBARI stands for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. It is a center dedicated to the research and preservation of the ocean. Research also involves discovering amazing new species!

“Every time we dive below 2,000 meters, we see species that are new to science” said MBARI researcher Steve Haddock. It would take a few years to tell you all of the new animals, so I’m only going to mention a few here.  But if you want more information about MBARI and their wonderful accomplishments go to http://www.mbari.org, or if you specifically interested in jellies, check this page.

One of my favorite discoveries is a species of sea butterfly, like the one shown at the top of this blog. Isn’t it the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen? I bet you won’t believe that it’s related to a common garden snail! Some species even have a shell inside of them. Go to the MBARI website to see more jellies like red bulbous jellies, bumpy jellies and jellies that use glowing red lures to attract lunch.  They are remarkable!

- Alexa Stefanko - 2008 Official Explorer