Acid in the Seas

"Worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning are dramatically altering ocean chemistry and threatening marine organisms, including corals, that secrete skeletal structures and support oceanic biodiversity. A landmark report released today summarizes the known effects of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide on these organisms, known as marine calcifiers, and recommends future research for determining the extent of the impacts."

"The report, "Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers," warns that oceans worldwide absorbed approximately 118 billion metric tons of carbon between 1800 and 1994. Oceans are naturally alkaline, and they are expected to remain so, but the interaction with carbon dioxide is making them less alkaline and more acidic. The increased acidity lowers the concentration of carbonate ion, a building block of the calcium carbonate that many marine organisms use to grow their skeletons and create coral reef structures."

Slowing skeletal growth
"Experimental studies, such as those conducted by one of the report's authors, Chris Langdon at the University of Miami, show that coral calcification consistently decreases as the oceans become more acidic. This means that these organisms will grow more slowly, or their skeletons will become less dense, a process similar to osteoporosis in humans. As a result, reef structures are threatened because corals may be unable to build reefs as fast as erosion wears away the reefs."

Threats to major ecosystems

"Several other major ecosystems that are supported by marine calcifiers may be particularly threatened by ocean acidification. These include cold-water reefs, which are extensive structures that provide habitat for many important fish species, particularly in the coastal waters of Alaska."

GREENHOUSE CORAL
MARCH 16,2007 BY THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

Coral might be the slowest-growing crop ever farmed by the University of Florida, but researchers say damaged reefs could be repaired faster if they perfect methods to cultivate the marine organisms.
UF experts are raising seven species of coral at the Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory in Ruskin, and next week they will dive to check the progress of farmed corals returned to the wild last year.
The dive takes place at a reef near Key West where a freighter ran aground in 1993, said Craig Watson, director of the Ruskin lab. Almost 160 cookie-sized coral fragments were placed there last year. The reef is within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, a protected area that comprises most of the Florida Keys.
If you grow coral in a greenhouse in a land-based system and put it in the wild, will it survive??Watson said. There are those who say no, because it won't be acclimated to those conditions where it grew and it can survive elsewhere. We don't believe that, we are setting out to prove that wrong.?
Researchers and the marine sanctuary staff hope to create a network of nonprofit organizations, businesses and individuals to raise coral and contribute specimens to repair damage from events such as vessel groundings and anchorings, said Lauri MacLaughlin, a resource manager with the marine sanctuary. The sanctuary includes Western Sambo Reef and Ecological Reserve, location of the restoration effort.
The dream is that corals rescued from human impact or coastal construction projects be used to help restore reefs elsewhere in the sanctuary,?MacLaughlin said.
Corals are tiny invertebrate animals that resemble sea anemones. Dwelling in colonies, they produce a skeleton-like structure composed mostly of calcium carbonate; only the outermost portions are alive. Though corals feed by capturing minute organisms, they co-exist with algae that provide additional food and give the coral color.
The UF project involves seven coral species commonly found in Florida, the only state in the continental United States with extensive reefs near its coasts, Watson said. Overall, the state is home to more than 100 coral species. Coral growth is estimated to range from one foot to 16 feet every 1,000 years.
Fragments placed at the Key West site had been managed in one of three ways, Watson said. One set was raised in a Ruskin greenhouse, held in tanks of artificial seawater. Another was cultured at a Mote Marine Laboratory facility at Summerland Key, using an outdoor system with seawater pumped from offshore. A third was placed on the damaged reef almost immediately after harvest. Each fragment is numbered so it can be tracked.
Colonies of larger fragments are being held in a rooftop greenhouse at The Florida Aquarium in Tampa, said Ryan Czaja, a supervisor who handles day-to-day care of the colony. The aquarium obtained two grants that fund the work; it is the organization leading the project.
Czaja was part of a team that collected all the coral from its original home, an underwater sea wall at a U.S. naval base in Key West Harbor. Planned offshore sea wall construction threatened to encase or destroy existing corals, so the state and the sanctuary granted a collecting permit.
"It was tough diving,"Czaja said. "We were out in the channel and there was a lot of water flow, visibility was about four feet without nothing dangerous or we wouldn't have been down there. Checking the fragments?health is a rigorous task, said Kathy Kilgore, a Ruskin lab veterinarian, one of five divers making the trip.
Kilgore will assess the health of each fragment, using protocols developed by veterinarians Roy Yanong, a faculty member at the Ruskin lab, and Ilze Berzins, vice president of biological operations at the Florida Aquarium and a UF/IFAS adjunct faculty member.
The inspection protocol is an essential part of the project, Watson said, because researchers want to minimize the possibility coral fragments returned to the wild will introduce diseases to new areas.
Most coral pathogens are identified by signs or appearance,Watson said. Based on that we developed the health certification with Roy and Ilze, utilizing a ruthless visual ?if it doesn't look fantastic it is not certified.
The fragments, attached to the reef with epoxy, are scattered over two areas, each measuring several hundred square meters. Others will photograph and map the site.

Oil-spill remnants endanger sea life
Florida tugboat leaks diesel fuel into ocean after collision with marker near Bella Bella
CATHRYN ATKINSON
Special to The Globe and Mail

Stormy weather is driving worries that a major fuel-oil spill near Bella Bella, B.C., may contaminate the rich kelp, crab and clam beds on which the coastal community depends.
Heavy rain and 45-kilometre-an-hour winds were hampering estimates of how much diesel fuel had leaked after the spill from an American tugboat that ran aground early Monday near the tiny fishing community on British Columbia's central coast. The storm is expected to remain in the area until at least tomorrow.
It was originally feared the ship had lost up to 49,000 litres from a single crack in a forward fuel tank of the Sea Voyager, a 174-tonne steel tug owned by Florida-based Crowley Marine Corp.
The vessel hit a large, fixed navigational light at Serpent Point, 15 kilometres south of Bella Bella, about 1 a.m. on Monday. The light was operating at the time.
"We haven't yet determined the volume of the spill yet," said Stephen Wilson, Crowley's manager at the command centre set up at the Shearwater resort on Denny Island, 13 kilometres from Serpent Point.
"We're on the positive side of this apart from the weather," he added. "The vessel is secure, and we're on the salvage side of the project. We haven't been able to fly over today [Wednesday] because the pilots won't go up."
He added that teams were looking for evidence the oil had reached shore, but hadn't found any by midafternoon yesterday.
The Sea Voyager was en route through the Inside Passage to its home port of Valdez, Alaska, after routine maintenance at Crowley's marina in Seattle when it hit the navigational light, the only aid to shipping in the area.
The tug was floated off the rocks in high tide at 3:40 a.m. yesterday and was secured to a larger Crowley tug, the Hunter, which had been sent from Seattle to assist in the Sea Voyager's recovery. The remaining fuel was transferred to the larger vessel.
Three of the Sea Voyager's seven crew members had already returned to Seattle, Mr. Wilson said, because they had been due to be relieved. The other four were still on board the tug. They had been taken to the Hunter after the accident but returned to the Sea Voyager once it had been secured. All crew have been interviewed by Canadian investigators in Shearwater, he added.
Charlie Nalen, Crowley's vice-president of environment and safety at the company's Jacksonville, Fla., headquarters, said the tug's mate, not the captain, was at the helm at the time of the accident.
"We're still working with Coast Guard Canada as to why the vessel went off course and hit a marked rock," he said.
Mr. Nalen described the diesel spilled as a "very light oil that dissipates quickly."
Vancouver's Burrard Clean Operations was on site to assist in the cleanup, he added.
American firm Polaris Laboratories, a private company that monitors contaminated sites, will be part of continuing tests of the effects of the spilled fuel and were also on location.
"It is looking good," said a relieved Randy Carpenter of the Heiltsuk Nation fisheries program, the aboriginal group that runs traditional fishing, butter clam and cockle beds, and crab fisheries near the accident site.
"The guy [from Polaris] said it usually takes a month for the diesel to dissipate," he said.
Mr. Carpenter said the one concern for the Heiltsuk Nation was that members wanted more involvement in monitoring the ongoing effects of the spill and did not want to see samples from the water and shore taken to the United States. He said they had been tentatively approached by Crowley to participate in collecting samples.
"It's so they wouldn't have to fly up from Seattle every time," he said. "What they want to do now is probably good, but we don't really like it being sent to the United States to be tested. We're going to e-mail them on that."
Ian McAllister, one of the directors with the Raincoast Conservation Society, said the Bella Bella community had been musing as to "why a big, modern ocean-going tug hit the only aid to navigation in the area. Everybody's shaking their heads.
"It reaffirms our concern of the lifting of the oil and gas moratorium on the coast here."
Bella Bella is located in the middle of the Great Bear Rainforest, an 18,000-square-kilometre wilderness area three times the size of Prince Edward Island.
The B.C. government unveiled a plan in February of 2006 to protect the ecologically sensitive region, which is home to many at-risk species, including the genetically unique spirit bear, a member of the black bear family with white fur.

Yesterday, I have bought two books. One's called "Harvest for Hope" by Jane Goodall. I have started to read it and I've found it's a great book. Hardly had I thought about the food we eat will bring disastrous effects on the earth. Hardly had I though about the meal it serves on the table comes from. Is it under multinational corporations' control? We are what we eat. We human beings need eating to survive. But can every one of us do a little to make a great change to our world? for example, by eating organic and shopping at farmers' markets and so on.

A book to inspire everyone's mind...
A book to guide us to a more mindful eating...
That's the book we modern humans need most...

Sharks in Danger
February 23, 2007 By IUCN

http://www.ocean.com/resources/sharkdanger.jpg

"Pelagic sharks are taken incidentally in high seas tuna and swordfish fisheries, and increasingly targeted as new markets for their meat develop and demand for their valuable fins grows. Bans on shark's finning?Slicing off a shark valuable fins -- have been adopted for most international waters, but lenient standards and lacking enforcement hamper their effectiveness."

"Sharks in general are especially susceptible to overfishing because most species grow slowly, mature late, and produce few young. Whereas some pelagic sharks, such as the blue shark, have dozens rather than the usual handful of pups, they still have low reproductive rates when compared to most other fish species."

"The status of scalloped hammerhead shark was heightened from Near Threatened to Endangered. Hammerhead sharks are among the species most likely to be finned as their fins are highly prized for the Asian delicacy, shark fin soup."

Comment:
Sharks are always imaged as fast, powerful and wide ranging species in pelagic ocean. However, it's not the fact at all. The leading scientists have conclued that several species are now threatened with extinction on a global scale. All three species of thresher sharks, known for scythe-like tails that can be as long as their bodies - were listed as Vulnerable globally.

Sharks are especially subject to overfishing because most species grow slowly, mature late and produce few young.

Besides, an increasing new market target for their meat and their fins makes the situation from bad to worse. "Slicing off a shark valuable fins have been adopted for most international water." And little regulations and efforts would have been take.

To most Asian people, including me, "shark fin soup" is the valuable food that is a kind of meal used to celebrating special events, for exmaple wedding party, birthday party and so on. It is also a sysmbol of prosperity and power. We know the nutritional content is not that high that many subsitutes can replace. But we eat them for getting fortunate meaning. Maybe it's our traditional customs. It's sad that I had made the situation more worse. It's high time to change my mind and tell the real truth to my family and my friends around me.

Seafood Consumption Reaches Record Levels in 2004
November 9, 2005 By NOAA

NOAA photo
Seafood consumption rose for the third straight year in 2004, as Americans ate a record 16.6 pounds of fish and shellfish per person, the NOAA Fisheries Service announced today. This and more agency data will be officially released next week in the 2004 edition of its annual publication, "Fisheries of the United States."
This is the third year in a row that U.S. per capita seafood consumption has increased. The 2004 figure is up from 16.3 pounds per person in 2003, an increase of two percent. In 2001 the rate was 14.8 pounds per person, and in 2002 it was 15.6 pounds per person.
"Seafood is a safe and healthy food choice for all Americans and, as this trend shows, the demand keeps rising," said Bill Hogarth, director of the NOAA Fisheries Service.
"The administration's National Offshore Aquaculture bill is one way to meet this demand with seafood that is either harvested or grown right here in the United States."
Of the total 16.6 pounds consumed per person, a record 11.8 pounds were fresh and frozen finfish and shellfish, up 0.4 pounds from last year. Canned seafood consumption dropped 0.1 pounds to 4.5 pounds per capita. These rates reflect a continuing trend toward fresh and frozen seafood consumption. In 2000, Americans consumed 10.2 pounds of fresh and frozen seafood and 4.7 pounds of canned seafood per capita.

Shrimp continues to be a favorite among American seafood eaters. A record 4.2 pounds of shrimp were consumed per person last year, up 0.2 pounds from 2003.
Another record figure was consumption of fillets and steaks, up 0.3 pounds to 4.6 pounds per person. Conversely, canned tuna consumption fell 0.1 pounds to 3.3 pounds per person. A total of 4.8 billion pounds of seafood was consumed in the U.S. in 2004.
The NOAA Fisheries Service's calculation of per capita consumption is based on a"disappearance" model.The total U.S. supply is calculated as the sum of imports and landings minus exports, converted to edible weight. This total is divided by the total U.S. population to estimate per capita consumption.


NOAA statistics

NOAA Fisheries Service has been calculating the nation's seafood consumption rates since 1910 to keep consumers and the industry informed. This information is published every year in the NOAA Fisheries Service annual report, "Fisheries of the United States," which will be available on the NOAA Fisheries Service Web site upon publication next week.
The NOAA Fisheries Service is dedicated to protecting and preserving the nation's living marine resources and their habitat through scientific research, management and enforcement. NOAA Fisheries Service provides effective stewardship of these resources for the benefit of the nation, supporting coastal communities that depend upon them, and helping to provide safe and healthy seafood to consumers and recreational opportunities for the American public.
NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine resources.


Comment:
We consume seafood faster than its reproduction.
As seafood is safe and healthy food choice for all of us, the demand keeps rising. Overfishing, overexploitation, is the demand-driven problem. If we change our taste, is it the best way to solve the root of the problem?

The Changing North Atlantic
February 23, 2007 By National Science Foundation

NOAA
Atlantic Cod

Ecosystems along the continental shelf waters of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean--from the Labrador Sea south of Greenland all the way to North Carolina--are experiencing large, rapid changes, report oceanographers funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the journal Science.
While some scientists have pointed to the decline of cod from overfishing as the main reason for the shifting ecosystems, the paper emphasizes that climate change is also playing a big role.
"It is becoming increasingly clear that Northwest Atlantic ecosystems are being affected by climate forcing from the bottom up and overfishing from the top down," said Charles Greene, an oceanographer at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y, and lead author of the Science paper. "Predicting the fate of these ecosystems will be one of oceanography's grand challenges for the 21st century."
Most scientists believe humans are warming the planet by burning fossil fuels and changing land surfaces. Early signs of this warming have appeared in the Arctic. Since the late 1980s, scientists have noticed that pulses of fresh water from increased precipitation and melting of ice on land and sea in the Arctic have flowed into the North Atlantic Ocean and made the water less salty.
At the same time, climate-driven shifts in Arctic wind patterns have redirected ocean currents. The combination of these processes has led to a freshening of the seawater along the North Atlantic shelf.
"Long time-series measurements, as well as research on large-scale ocean processes, are the key to improving our understanding of ecosystem shifts," says Mary Elena-Carr, program director in NSF's biological oceanography program. "This study brings together the important components: the atmosphere, freshwater flow, changes in currents and biological responses, all necessary to predicting future ecosystem responses to climate change."
Under normal conditions in summer months a warmer, less salty layer of water floats on the surface (warmer, less salty water is also less dense and lighter). This surface layer is known as a "mixed" layer, because wind-driven turbulence mixes the water and creates a uniform temperature, salinity and density to depths that can range from 25 to 200 meters.
Similar to the flow of heating and cooling wax in a lava lamp, when the air temperature cools during autumn, temperature and density differences lessen between the surface mixed layer and the cooler, saltier waters below. As the density differences get smaller, mixing between the layers typically increases and the surface mixed layer deepens.
But Greene cites recent scientific studies that reveal the influx of fresh water from Arctic climate change is keeping the mixed layer buoyant, inhibiting its rapid deepening during autumn. A gradual rather than rapid deepening of the mixed layer has impacted the seasonal cycles of phytoplankton (tiny floating plants), zooplankton (tiny animals like copepods) and fish populations that live near the surface.
Normally, when the mixed layer deepens rapidly during autumn, phytoplankton numbers decline because they spend less time near the surface where they are exposed to the light necessary for growth. But with the mixed layer remaining relatively shallow, phytoplankton populations stay abundant throughout the fall. In turn, zooplankton that feed on phytoplankton have increased in number during the fall through the early winter. Herring populations also rose during the 1990s, which some scientists suspect may be because of more abundant zooplankton to feed on.
Greene's paper also cites a link between the collapse of cod fisheries in the early 1990s and an increase in bottom-living species such as snow crabs and shrimp, which cod prey upon. Without cod, other animals that live in the water column and feed on zooplankton, including herring, may have increased.
While the herring story is still unclear, the authors contend that the crash of cod populations does not explain why phytoplankton and zooplankton populations at the base of the food chain have risen during autumn.
"We suggest that, with or without the collapse of cod, a bottom-up, climate-driven regime shift would have taken place in the Northwest Atlantic during the 1990s," Greene said.

Comment:
Most scientists care about the decline of cod population and its resultant shifting ecosystems in Northwest Atlantic Ocean. The main reason of the decline of cod population is overfishing and climate change.

Climate change, for example warmer temperatures, will make the ice and gaciers in Arctic and Greenland melt. It contributes to the rising sea level. But more importantly, the more saline water can hold more carbon dioxide. If more freshwater pour to the sea from the ice melting, the less saline water can hold less carbon dioxide and so intensify the global warming effect. Besides, the less saline sea water will change the original ecosystems. It's a dramatic change of ecosystem in Northwest Atlantic Ocean.