Sea Notes

Fin-tastic News for Sharks!

Sharks -- and healthy oceans -- won a big victory on Monday, May 23.

That's when the California State Assembly, on a final vote of 65-8, passed a bill that bans the possession and sale of shark fins in the state. AB 376, co-authored by Chinese-American legislator Paul Fong of Cupertino, now heads to the State Senate, where the first committee vote is expected in June.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is a lead sponsor of the bill, along with a broad coalition of environmental and Asian Pacific American groups -- including Chinese-American chefs like Charles Phan and Martin Yan, and figures such as NBA star Yao Ming.

The vote reflected the sentiments of most Californians who, according to an aquarium-commissioned poll of registered voters, overwhelmingly support the ban.

Acknowledging the concerns of restaurant owners and others involved in the fin trade, Assemblymember Fong amended the bill to give businesses until January 1, 2013 to sell off any stocks of shark fins they already have on hand.

The fins are primarily used to make shark fin soup -- a luxury item in Chinese cuisine that's sometimes on the menu for festive and ceremonial occasions.

If the bill becomes law, California would join Hawaii and Washington state in outlawing the shark fin trade -- an unregulated international fishery that is decimating shark populations worldwide and killing tens of millions of sharks each year. Oregon is considering similar legislation.

Most of the sharks are killed just for their fins, and the sharks themselves tossed overboard -- dead or dying -- so the boats have more room to pack in more fins.

We'll keep you posted on opportunities to weigh in with State Senators. Check our Take Action pages, or sign up for email alerts.

 

 

All Aboard the ARCC

The Animal Research and Care Center, commonly known as the ARCC, is located in nearby Marina. While the building isn't open to the public, it's playing a critical role in housing some of the majestic open-ocean animals that you'll see starting in July. That's when we open our Open Sea galleries—the replacement for the Outer Bay—which will be home to mola molas, sharks, sea turtles, pelagic rays and many other of your favorite species.

The ARCC may be understated on the outside, but it's bustling  with activity inside. Hammerhead sharks carve graceful turns in the biggest, 60 x 40-foot oval tank, along with bluefin tuna and pelagic rays. In the next, 40-foot tank, two enormous green sea turtles swim lazily about in anticipation of the next head of lettuce that will come their way, along with barracuda. The tank also includes yellowfin tuna and bonito. The final tank, measuring 30 feet, includes smaller hammerheads and a sandbar shark.

This Water is Carefully Watched
Along one wall of the ARCC, there's a food preparation room that would rival any restaurant kitchen, with industrial refrigerators and gleaming, stainless steel countertops. Next door, a complete animal health lab is nearing completion.

Enormous filters, underground storage basins and miles of plumbing help ensure that the water is kept at a perfect salinity, pH, temperature and cleanliness for the sensitive animals that live there, according to Scott Greenwald, associate curator of animal holding.

There are enough computers, wiring and technical wizardry to rival the Starship Enterprise. "We have a main computer that logs data 24 hours per day on what the systems are doing and how well they're performing," says Scott. And everything about the building is done in as "green" a manner as possible, from water use to energy needs. All told, it takes half a dozen staff to keep the facility operating and the animals fed and cared for.

One by One and Two by Two
As the Open Sea exhibit nears completion, animals continuously arrive at the ARCC, as well as at the Tuna Research and Conservation Center (TRCC) next to the Aquarium, and behind the scenes at the Aquarium itself. Most of these species are collected by the Aquarium's husbandry staff. The TRCC is home to the five-foot mola mola that was on exhibit back in 2009, along with dolphinfish and additional tuna.

All these animals will be featured in the new, upgraded million-gallon exhibit, along with one of the largest Pacific sardine collections we've ever had. And, of course, if all goes well, we'll have a white shark on exhibit this fall for the first time since November, 2009.

Our Weedy Sea Dragons are Carrying Eggs!

For the first time ever at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, one of our weedy sea dragons (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) is carrying eggs. In late April, aquarists saw the animals performing a courtship dance. When they came in the morning of April 27, the male was carrying about 30 eggs. (Male seahorses and sea dragons carry the babies, not females.)

At first we didn’t think the eggs were viable. But a few weeks later teeny tiny eyes were peering at aquarists from some of the eggs. We’re not sure how many of the eggs are currently viable, but it’s still a positive sign, and we remain hopeful we'll have baby "weedies" someday soon! Regardless, it’s another success story for our Secret Lives of Seahorses special exhibition; all eight seahorse species on exhibit have now had babies at the Aquarium. Two pipefish species on exhibit have had babies, and one seahorse species not on exhibit has had babies. In the U.S., only three other institutions have had weedy sea dragons reproduce: Aquarium of the Pacific, Georgia Aquarium and Tennessee Aquarium. 

 Unique Life History

Unlike seahorses, who carry eggs in a bulging brood pouch, sea dragons affix them to the undersides of their tails for the duration of the pregnancy. After courtship, the female pushes the eggs onto a soft patch of tissue on the male’s tail. This tissue then surrounds the fragile eggs and holds them in place.

Not all eggs make the transfer; aquarists found some on the bottom of the exhibit. But a large number did make it, and are now clearly visible on the tail of the new father.

What’s Next

In the viable eggs, tiny sea dragon embryos will develop for a period of about five to six weeks. Before then, aquarists will “isolate the male in a small floating cage within the exhibit,” says Jonelle Verdugo, associate curator of fish and invertebrates. “The male can still swim around, but we want to isolate and protect the babies as they hatch.” Once the process starts, she expects all the babies to hatch over the course of a few days. They’ll be about three centimeters at birth.

Once the young sea dragons are born, they’ll be moved behind the scenes to ensure they get enough food.  They would most likely get lost if left on exhibit. Then, if all goes well, they’ll come back on exhibit after four to six months.

A Learning Experience

Raising tiny sea dragons is a fine art, and Jonelle stresses that there are a lot of things that could go wrong. “There’s a high probability that some of the eggs will drop off the male’s tail or that babies will be born not fully developed,” she says. “We don’t expect all the eggs to be there after five weeks.

“We’re really excited to have come this far, but we’re taking it day to day. The fact that this happened means that our sea dragons are doing well. But it’s a learning experience. We hoped this would happen, but we were still caught off guard when it actually did!”

Californians ♥ Sharks!

Golden State voters have a soft spot for sharks. That's the finding of a new poll commissioned by Monterey Bay Aquarium to gauge support for legislation that would ban the sale, possession and trade of shark fins in California.

The poll found overwhelming support among Californians of all ages and backgrounds for AB 376, authored by State Assembly members Paul Fong and Jared Huffman.

The bill (heading to the Assembly floor for a vote) would end California's participation in the global shark fin trade that costs the lives of tens of millions of sharks each year and decimates ocean ecosystems worldwide.

The survey of found that 76 percent of all respondents, and 70 percent of Chinese-American registered voters surveyed, supported the shark fin trade ban.

While shark "finning" -- killing sharks only for their fins and discarding the carcass -- is prohibited in all U.S. waters, federal law does not prohibit the import of shark fins from other countries. That's what AB 376 would do.

Support for the bill is across the board: Californians young and old; Democrats, Republicans and independents; men and women; people with college degrees and those without.

Even people who have eaten shark-fin soup are strong supporters of the ban: 69 percent of those who have eaten the soup –- a luxury dish sometimes served at special occasions in the Chinese-American community -– expressed support for the proposed legislation. That includes 65 percent of California Chinese-American voters. Bill co-author Paul Fong, himself a Macau native, stopped eating the soup several years ago because of his concern about what overfishing sharks means for the health of the oceans.

(Demand for shark fin soup drives the global fin trade.)

Only 14 percent of all voters surveyed oppose the legislation, with 10 percent having no opinion. Among Chinese-Americans, only 18 percent of voters oppose the ban and 12 percent have no opinion.

Monterey Bay Aquarium is a lead sponsor of AB 376 and is working with a broad coalition of Asian Pacific American leaders to win passage of the bill. It's also allied with prominent Asian Pacific American "Chefs Against Shark Fins," who have created recipes for shark fin soup prepared without the use of shark fins.

You can take action to support the bill. And, if you'd like to taste a delicious and ocean-friendly soup, you can go here to find a recipe for faux shark-fin soup created for the aquarium by Chef Peter Pahk of Kingsmill Resort in Virginia.

Here's what Hong Kong-born chef Kin Lui of Tataki Sushi Bar in San Francisco has to say about why he won't serve, sell or eat shark fin.