Sea Notes

River Dolphins Reserves

Good news today for two of the world's rarest marine mammals. China has announced an extension to a network of freshwater reserves as additional protection for both the Baiji dolphin (the Yangtze river dolphin) and the finless porpoise.

The new network will connect exisiting reserves for these two rare species, who quite frankly, need all the help they can get. In fact, the Baiji dolphin has been declared functionally extinct. Sightings are occasionally claimed, but not verified.

The finless porpoise is believed to be down to a population of around 1,800 animals. This new network, which will protect their habitat and monitor river health, is a much needed boost. WWF, who is in part funding this effort, note that river dolphins are excellent indicators of water quality in their river homes. If the water is too polluted for them, then it surely cannot support human populations either.

Apart from the Yangtze, river dolphins are found in South America's Amazon, India's Ganges and Pakistan's Indus rivers as well as a few locations in south and south-east Asia.

Cleaning the Seas

Beach cleanups are nothing new. Teams of scuba divers even help with the effort underwater.

But this is something innovative: A multi-year effort in California to clean up lost fishing gear that's killing marine life in offshore waters.

Last week, California's Wildlife Conservation Board awarded $400,000 to the University of California, Davis for its lost fishing gear recovery program. The program has been in operation for two years already, and has recovered 11 tons of abandoned gear from waters around the Channel islands National Park and other areas of the state.

Now it has more money for its work -- enough to cover two years of operations.

There's more good news: The project is modeled after similar efforts in Florida, Hawaii and Washington state. With luck, more states -- and nations -- will join the effort.

You can do your part by reporting any lost gear you see. And those beach cleanups? They're coming up later this month. It's a great time to join in, if you haven't participated before.

Whale of a Report - 1

File this under Odd Science:

Our friends at the Zooillogix blog report that New England Aquarium researchers are in deep doo-doo -- whale doo-doo that is -- all in the interest of cetacean conservation.

I'll let you savor the details at Zooillogix, but for the weak of stomach, here's the CliffsNotes version.

Aquarium scientists are scooping and analyzing floating whale poop from North Atlantic right whales as a way to analyze the health of this critically endangered species.

And I thought our sea otter research team was doing well to help protect California's threatened sea otters from the perils of cat poop. In fact a visit to the sea otter exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium sparked legislation to help address the threat, and finance more research into other environmental threats facing otters.

Sounds like there's an emerging and very broad field of research out there: Scatology at Sea. Any other examples I'm missing? 

Whale of a Report - 2

Good news for whales & whale-lovers from the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The organization that maintains a global Red List of Threatened Species believes the humpback whale and southern right whale are recovering throughout much of their range, and will change their status from "vulnerable" to a category of "least concern" as a result.

The main reason: They've been largely protected from  commercial whaling. Kind of a no-brainer, really. Who knew that If you stop killing whales, you'd have more of them in the ocean?!

That doesn't mean humpbacks are out of the woods yet -- nor is the picture rosy for all cetaceans worldwide. The same IUCN report, to be released in October at its World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, still rates two species and 12 subpopulations as critically endangered.

Now the major threat not commercial whaling but the fact that so many animals are dying accidentally in commercial fishing gear. The impact of climate change on ocean ecosystems is running a close second.

The Yangtze River dolphin is considered "critically endangered, possibly extinct" by IUCN. And the vaquita -- a porpoise native to the Sea of Cortez in Mexico -- is down to 150 individuals in the wild and is also on the brink of extinction. Gillnet fisheries are killing about 15 percent of the population as bycatch each year, the IUCN says.

In general, according to Randall Reeves, a cetacean specialist with the IUCN Species Survival Commission, "Too many of these small coastal cetaceans end up as bycatch in fisheries. This remains the main threat to them and it is only going to get worse."

The Black Sea harbor porpoise, which moves from vulnerable to endangered, the North Atlantic right whale and the western gray whale, already listed as endangered and critically endangered respectively, are among the other cetaceans most at risk from the threat of accidental entanglement in fishing gear.

What's a human to do? First, make sure the seafood you're eating has minimal unintended consequences on marine life. That's what our Seafood Watch program is all about. Second, make sure your voice is heard on critical marine conservation issues, from creation of marine protected areas to campaigns to protect whales and other ocean animals. That's what joining Monterey  Bay Aquarium's Ocean Action Team is all about.

Monday's Inspirational Photo: Two good reasons to celebrate!

I never really need a good reason to blog about sea otters, but this week I have two good ones!

California State Legislature has just unanimously approved a resolution officially proclaiming the last week in September as Sea Otter Awareness Week throughout California. At the Monterey Bay Aquarium, we have been celebrating this unofficial holiday for a number of years, culminating in our weekend "Otter Days" celebration. This year, it's official! You can come celebrate with us on the 20th and 21st September.

And in other great otter news, California tax payers have generously donated enough money to keep the sea otter fund tax check-off alive for another year. To date, the fund has received over $500,000 which will support federal researchers and their agencies working to understand the impacts threatening California sea otters and to find ways to recover their population.

We are proud of the role we played in all this here at the Aquarium, as the 2006 California sea otter law was inspired by a legislator's family trip to our sea otter exhibit. The legislation was supported at critical points in the process by the Aquarium's Ocean Action Team.

The law expands sea otter research, increases the fine for killing or harming sea otters, and requires a warning label on kitty litter alerting consumers to the danger of flushing cat feces down the toilet.

Even if you don't own a cat, you can help keep sea otters healthy by carefully choosing products for your yard that won't pollute the waterways and ocean. Taking your vehicle to a car wash helps keep chemicals out of storm drains too - and the water can be recycled or treated.

This year's annual spring census of the California population showed a slight decline in numbers from last year. Every small thing you do can make a difference.

Carnival of the Blue 14

It's that time again -- when the best ocean blogging from across the web comes together in the monthly Carnival of the Blue.

This month's edition is hosted by Anthony Townsend at The Blue Economy. Check it out.

A whale of a week

My week started in the best way possible: watching a mom and calf humpback whale feeding in the nutrient rich waters of Monterey Bay. It's hard to say, however, if whales elsewhere are having such a great week.

On the one hand, Chile announced a proposal to designate its coastal waters as a whale sanctuary. An important move, given that the oceans in the southern hemisphere having been seeing increased activity in the hunt for whales for "scientific purposes".

Chile is the host of this year's International Whaling Commission meeting, and many hoped their announcement would set the tone. Japan responded by proposing the legalization of whaling. Looks like a long week ahead.

In other whale news, the Centre for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit seeking to force the U.S. Coast Guard to comply with the Endangered Species Act and protect endangered whales from ship traffic off the coast of California coast. In 2007, ship collisions were responsible for the deaths of at least three Blue whales off southern California, yet the Coast Guard maintains that it need not address endangered species when setting shipping lanes and otherwise regulating ship traffic headed into U.S. ports. That looks like a long battle too.

Meanwhile, on a more positive note, whales have provided inspiration to the designer of a wind turbine! Frank Fish (yes, apparently his real name!) after years of pondering over the design benefits of the shape of a humpback whale's unique flippers, finally got it! He realized that the bumps cause water to flow over the flippers more smoothly, giving the giant mammal the ability to swim tight circles around its prey. Fish realized this design feature could be incorporated into turbines. Now he's studying the nasal cavity of the shark, which might lead to developing an artificial nose. Just goes to prove how much we have to learn from the natural world.

(Thanks to Whaleygirl for the great breaching humpback image. Another finalist in our annual Ocean Action Team photo contest).

Monday's Inspirational Photo - Sea Otter

This lovely image was the runner up in our recent World Ocean Day photo contest. Glenn Hightree took this photo of one of our exhibit otters, Joy, in February this year. Joy also acts as a surrogate mom to young otters who have become separated from their moms in the wild. The hope is that these pups will learn the lifeskills they need to survive and can be returned to the wild and later become parents themselves. With only 3,000 sea otters in California waters, each animal has an important role to play in the future success and survival of this population.

California's sea otters are in the news again this week. A new draft report by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife service indicates that "Southern sea otters are holding their own on California's coast but their fragile population still is at risk from disease, oil spills and other disasters."

The Monterey Bay Aquarium's "Sea Otter Research and Conservation" program (SORAC) works with federal and state agencies to try to better understand the threats facing this threatened population, especially infectious disease, which is taking a heavy toll.To learn more, you can listen to our podcast or check out our SORAC web pages.

Want to do more? Check out our Save the Oceans section and learn how you can donate, join our Ocean Action Team or learn about how your seafood choices can make a difference.

Monday's Photo: Doing the Right Thing

North Atlantic right whales are one of the rarest and most endangered species of whale on our planet.  A live birth had never been witnessed until 2005, when a researcher from the New England Aquarium, (doing routine offshore observations) noticed unusual activity. On closer inspection, it turned out she was witnessing what no other person had observed before.

You're probably thinking we are slow to report this! But this event made the news again in the last few days, as the long-awaited publication of the photographs of this rarest of events finally happened. You can see them here on the New England Aquarium's website.

Find out how scientists are hoping to protect the remaining 350 whales of this species, with a network of "listening" devices. The network detects the endangered mammals as they navigate the eastern seaboard, and alert ships' captains to their presence, so they can try to avoid a collision, one of the leading causes of death for these rare whales. Unfortunately, a federal protection plan to mandate slowing of ship traffic, is on hold. Let's hope lawmakers will do the "right thing" before it's too late.

New Hope for Chile's Whales

Two great pieces of news for whale lovers -- and anyone who wants the kind of oceans that can support a growing population of whales.

First, new sightings of humpback whales off the Chilean coast are the latest and best sign of a comeback for a population that was hunted virtually to extinction. The Los Angeles Times has not only a report, but fantastic video of a humpback feeding (surrounded at one point by what looks like leaping sea lions).

Second, Chile is poised to declare its entire coastline a whale sanctuary -- perhaps by June, when it hosts the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Establishing the sanctuary would make permanent a ban on whaling that now extends through 2025.

Bárbara Galletti, president of the Cetacean Conservation Center in Santiago -- which is working with Chilean officials to establish the sanctuary, told the Santiago Times, "This is about creating a country where there is respect, deep respect. Respect for our heritage, for our waters, and for life itself. And that’s what should be unilaterally declared, that our country offers a sanctuary to the whales.”

Costa Rica and Mexico have also created sanctuaries and conservation groups are working to establish a protected zone covering all of Latin America’s Pacific coastal waters. All these efforts are being pressed in conjunction with the IWC meeting in Santiago.

The Chilean organization Ecooceanos estimates that nearly half of the world’s whale species, including endangered blue whales, pass through Chilean waters on a regular basis.