Pacific island to introduce world-first 'reef-toxic' sunscreen ban

From 2020, lotions containing any of 10 chemicals linked to coral bleaching will be outlawed

Guardian staff and agencies

Fri 2 Nov 2018 00.32 GMTLast modified on Fri 2 Nov 2018 18.15 GMT

The tiny Pacific island nation of Palau will ban “reef-toxic” sunscreens from 2020 in what it claims is a world-first initiative to stop chemical pollution killing its famed corals.

Palau, which lies in the north-west Pacific, east of the Philippines and directly north of Australia, is regarded as one of the world’s best diving destinations, but the government is concerned its popularity is coming at a cost.

A spokesman for President Tommy Remengesau said there was scientific evidence that the chemicals found in most sunscreens are toxic to corals, even in minute doses.

He said Palau’s dive sites typically hosted about four boats an hour packed with tourists, leading to concerns a build-up of chemicals could see the reefs reach tipping point.

“On any given day that equates to gallons of sunscreen going into the ocean in Palau’s famous dive spots and snorkelling places,” he said.

“We’re just looking at what we can do to prevent pollution getting into the environment.”

Continued  

Five new blanket-hermit crab species described 130 years later from the Pacific

Since 1888, a lone crab species living in an extraordinary symbiosis has been considered to be one of its kind

Date:  April 23, 2018

Source:  Pensoft Publishers

Summary:

Unlike most hermit crabs, the blanket-hermit crab does not use empty shells for protection, and instead lives symbiotically with a sea anemone. The crab uses the anemone to cover its soft abdomen, and can pull the anemone's tissue over its head to protect itself whenever necessary. Since 1888, this crab had been considered a unique species until a research team recently described five new ones and a new genus.

At the turn of the twentieth century, two independent marine scientists -- JR Henderson in 1888, and A Alcock in 1899, described two unusual blanket-hermit crabs from the Indo-West Pacific.

Unlike other hermit crabs, these extraordinary crustaceans do not search for empty shells to settle in for protection. Instead, they have developed a symbiotic relationship with sea anemones to cover their soft bellies. To do this, the crabs use highly specialized chelipeds to pull back and forth the anemone's tissue to cover their soft bodies and heads whenever necessary -- much like hiding under a blanket.

Read on 

Rare Black Whale Discovered in Pacific

By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | August 2, 2016 01:00pm ET

The only complete skeleton of the newfound whale species is on display at Unalaska High School, in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands. The whale was found in 2004, and students helped prepare the specimen.

The discovery of a new species of rare and elusive whale in the North Pacific shows how little humans know about the deep and vast ocean, researchers say.

The 24-foot-long (7 meters) beaked whale is full of mystery, said the study's lead researcher, Phillip Morin, a molecular geneticist at Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California.

"We've only ever seen it from dead animals that have washed up on the beach," Morin told Live Science. "We only get bits and pieces of evidence from each of these animals."

A skull of the newly identified species that's been housed at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., since 1948. Back then, researchers thought it was another species of whale.

The still-unnamed whale lives in the cold Pacific waters spanning from northern Japan to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, the researchers said. 

The whale came to the scientists' attention after they read a 2013 study describing three mysterious dead whales that had washed ashore in northern Japan. The specimens were genetically distinct from the common Baird beaked whale (Berardius bairdii), which lives in the North Pacific, but the study researchers weren't sure whether it was a completely new species.

Read more … http://www.livescience.com/55623-new-species-black-whale-in-pacific.html

The enigmatic whale we can hear – but have never seen

The unique, unanswered call that echoes off California's shores speaks of the world's loneliest whale – Whale 52. But maybe he has a more urgent problem

Mario Wagner

It has become famous as the loneliest whale in the world. It swims through the Pacific calling out for others, but never gets an answer.

That is because Whale 52 is the only one of its kind, with a unique song all of its own. That, at least, is the story. But while biologists have no doubt that a mysterious whale is out there somewhere, the rest of the popular tale is not quite as told.

For starters, he – male whales do the singing, so it almost certainly is a he – may not be alone. “There is probably more than one,” says John Hildebrand of the Scripps Whale Acoustic Lab in San Diego, California. On plenty of occasions, his team has recorded the distinctive Whale 52 call on widely separated hydrophones – off San Diego and 300 kilometres north-west in the Santa Barbara channel, for instance – within a few hours, he says.

Whale 52 was so named because, when the unusual call was first identified by biologist Bill Watkins in 1989, he sang at 52 hertz. Over the years, the song has gradually deepened to 47 Hz.

The seasonal movements of Whale 52 resemble those of blue whales, so he has long been suspected to be at least partly blue whale. Watkins proposed he was a hybrid between a blue and a fin whale. We know such hybrids exist because a few have been caught by whalers.

Hildebrand is even more specific, suggesting he is the offspring of a blue whale mother and fin whale father ...

Continued ...

Pacific cod may have learned to hunt seabirds, research indicates

Yereth Rosen

Alaska Dispatch News

November 9, 2015

You could call it revenge on the birds.

While many marine birds are well known for their skills at diving into the sea to pluck out fishy meals, there is now solid evidence that some Pacific cod have turned the tables on the avian species.

The practice came to light a few years ago when seafood workers in Dutch Harbor noticed that some of the cod they were processing came with extra features -- partially digested birds in the fish stomachs.

Scientists from the Alaska SeaLife Center and University of Alaska have now examined remains of 74 birds collected from cod stomachs in 2011 and have some findings described in a study published online in the journal Marine Ornithology.

The bird remains come from cod caught in the Aleutian Islands region, off Cape Sarichef in Unimak Pass, using trawl and pot gear. The fish were processed at the UniSea plant in Dutch Harbor; the plant froze the bird remains and sent them to the scientists for analysis.

There have been other known cases of big fish eating small seabirds elsewhere in the world, the new study says, and past surveys by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have turned up, in very rare instances, bits of birds inside cod. In one case, a NOAA researcher found a murre foot in a cod stomach.

But the evidence from Dutch Harbor appears to be the first documentation of Pacific cod making a practice of eating birds, said study co-author Tuula Hollmen, science director at the SeaLife Center and an associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks' School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.

Continued ...

US Navy limits 'whale-harming' sonar in Pacific

14 September 2015 

The US Navy has agreed to limit its use of sonar that may inadvertently harm whales and dolphins in waters near Hawaii and California.

A federal judge in Honolulu signed the deal between the Navy and environmental groups on Monday.

It restricts or bans the use of mid-frequency active sonar and explosives used in training exercises.

Campaigners say that sonar disrupts the feeding of marine mammals, and can even cause deafness or death.

An explosives training exercise in San Diego four years ago killed four dolphins, Earthjustice lawyer David Henkin said when announcing the agreement.

He said the deal means:

• The Navy cannot use sonar in a well-known habitat for beaked whales between Santa Catalina Island and San Nicolas Island
• Sonar is banned in a blue whale feeding area near San Diego
• Sonar and explosives training is banned on the eastern side of the Big Island in Hawaii
• The number of major training exercises between Maui and the Big Island will be set
• Any injuries or deaths will be investigated by the National Marine Fisheries Service

Contiued ...

Marine park 'the size of the Moon' takes shape in Pacific

An ambitious plan to link marine parks across a vast swathe of ocean — whose surface area would equal that of the Moon — is slowly coming together piece by piece, say conservationists.

 

Former international rugby league player turned environmentalist Kevin Iro is a driving force behind the part of the park that will encompass the Cook Islands — a nation whose combined landmass is barely bigger than Washington DC.

 

"When I was a kid, this was all alive," said Iro, grimacing as he scooped up a lump of dead, grey coral while walking the white sands of a Cook Island beach in the Pacific.

 

"There were tracks in the coral and if you walked off them you could hear the coral crunching. Now there's no coral here, basically."

 

The Cooks' Prime Minister Henry Puna formally unveiled the 411,000 square mile reserve when he hosted the Pacific Islands Forum last month, vowing to protect the ocean for future generations.

 

Puna said the commitment by the tiny nation of 15 islands was its major contribution "to the well-being of not only our peoples, but also of humanity."

Continued:  http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/marine-park-the-size-of-the-moon-takes-shape-in-pacific

Shark 'Rescues' Man Lost At Sea For 15 Weeks

A lost fisherman who drifted at sea for 15 weeks, sleeping next to his dead brother-in-law, was eventually helped to safety - by a shark.

Toakai Teitoi was stuck on a 15ft wooden boat for more than 100 days after he ran out of fuel and the vessel drifted deep into the Pacific.

The 41-year-old Kiribati policeman relived his harrowing voyage after a fishing boat eventually picked him up and took him to Majuro in the Marshall Islands.

The father-of-six told of sleeping with the body of his brother-in-law who died during the ordeal, suffering severe dehydration.

And he said it was only after the intervention of a circling shark that he was eventually rescued.

Mr Teitoi's ordeal began on May 27 after he had flown from his home island of Maiana to the Kiribati capital of Tarawa to be sworn in as a policeman.

Instead of flying home he decided to join his brother-in-law Lelu Falaile, 52, on what was supposed to be a two-hour sea journey back to Maiana.

But after stopping to fish along the way and sleeping overnight, they woke the following day to find they had drifted out of sight of Maiana and ran out of fuel.

"We had food, but the problem was we had nothing to drink," he said.

Continued:  http://news.sky.com/story/985970/shark-rescues-man-lost-at-sea-for-15-weeks

Gray Whale Population Up to 5 Times Larger Before Whaling, Study Finds

The population of eastern Pacific gray whales shows a huge dip at the same point that whaling increased in the early 20th century, a new analysis of acient whale genes shows.

Eastern Pacific gray whales are a subspecies of grey whale that lives in the Pacific Ocean, migrating from the Arctic to Mexico yearly. Their population is currently estimated to be around 20,000. They are up to 46 feet (14 meters) long and weigh up to 99,000 pounds (45,000 kilograms).

While scientists have known that commercial whaling decreased whale populations, the specifics of the population prior to whaling has been uncertain. To get a better understanding of the pre-whaling numbers for one subspecies of gray whale, the researchers used DNA samples from the bones of eastern Pacific gray whales that lived between 150 and 2,500 years ago and compared the results with the genomes of modern whales.

"In this case, we were able to look at pre-whaling specimens of gray whales, and found that the genetic data are consistent with a sharp and recent bottleneck — very likely the result of commercial whaling," study researcher Elizabeth Alter, of City University of New York, York College, said in a statement.

Read more:  http://www.livescience.com/20199-whale-population-ancient-dna.html

Sperm Whales Form Clans to Fight Off Orcas

The threat of killer whales could be why societies of sperm whales in the Atlantic and Pacific differ so much, researchers say.

The sperm whale, the largest toothed whale, possesses the largest brain of any organism on Earth. These leviathans mostly live on giant squid and other creatures of the deep, pursuing them with the most powerful natural sonar known.

The sexes lead very different lives in sperm whales. Males leave their mothers to form ephemeral bachelor groups or to live alone, while females can develop complex societies with multiple levels of organization. At the most basic level of these societies are nearly permanent units of about 10 females that care for and suckle each other's progeny and defend their companions from attack.

Mysteriously, although the female sperm whale societies of the north Atlantic and the east Pacific are genetically similar, their social structures are substantially different. In the Pacific, units of females often temporarily gather with other units of the same clan — groups composed of thousands of females that share distinct patterns of vocal clicks known as codas. On the other hand, in the Atlantic, there is no evidence of clans, with units of females rarely grouping with others. Also, unit members in the Atlantic are more likely to be related on their mother's side than ones in the Pacific.

Read on:  http://www.livescience.com/19632-sperm-whales-clans-orcas.html

New 40,000 square mile haven for Pacific’s leatherbacks

But how do they get there safely?

January 2012: Protection for 40,000 square miles of protected critical ocean habitat off the shores of Washington, Oregon and California are now in place - creating a haven for the endangered Pacific leatherback sea turtle. The new protection laws establish critical habitat in areas where leatherbacks feed on jellyfish after swimming 6,000 miles across the ocean from nests in Indonesia.

This is the first permanently designated area for leatherbacks in continental US waters and, although it is substantially smaller than the original proposals for 70,600 square miles, it is the largest area set aside to protect sea turtle habitat in the United States or its territories.

Now we need migration safeguards for these ancient animals‘Habitat protections are vital to the survival of leatherbacks. We urgently need migration safeguards for these ancient animals as they make the longest, most epic journey of any creature on the planet to get to our West Coast every year,' said Catherine Kilduff of Florida's Center for Biological Diversity.

However, there are concerns that the new rules do not extend to protect turtles' migratory paths from commercial fishing, water pollution and marine vessel traffic. The new regulation excludes protections for migration through these habitats and also excludes consideration of dangers to the turtles from fishing, such as mile-long drift nets used for swordfish off California.

‘This is a major decision to protect feeding hotspots for endangered leatherback sea turtles, but the federal government failed to acknowledge that the turtles need safe passage to get there,' said Ben Enticknap, Oceana's Pacific project manager.

‘Leatherbacks finally have a safe haven along our coast, but still face extinction due growing threats from fisheries, pollution and ship strikes,' said Teri Shore, programme director at SeaTurtles.org in California.

Pacific leatherback population declined by more than 95 per centMile-long drift gillnets and longline gear used to catch swordfish, sharks and tunas are the two types of fishing gear most commonly known to capture and kill leatherback sea turtles. While current regulations restrict fishing to protect these sea turtles, the Fisheries Service is currently developing proposals to expand the use of these fishing gears into areas important to the leatherback.

The largest of all sea turtles, leatherbacks can grow up to nine feet long and weigh up to 2,000 pounds. Pacific leatherback sea turtles have declined more than 95 per cent since the 1980s; as few as 2,300 adult female western Pacific leatherbacks remain. The species dates from the time of the dinosaurs, having survived for 100 million years virtually unchanged; but now they face the danger of extinction.

The leatherback sea turtles feeding off the US West Coast make the longest known migration of any reptile, across the Pacific Ocean where they nest on beaches in Papua, Indonesia. They make this great migration to feed on jellyfish in the productive ocean waters of the American Pacific. They are generally found off the West Coast in the summer and fall months.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/pacific-leatherback.html

Vast shark sanctuary created in Pacific

The Marshall Islands government has created the world's largest shark sanctuary, covering nearly two million sq km (750,000 sq miles) of ocean.

The Pacific republic will ban trade in shark products and commercial shark fishing throughout its waters.

Tourism, including diving, is a staple of the Marshall Islands archipelago, which is home to just 68,000 people.

Sharks and their near relatives such as rays are seriously threatened by issues such as habitat loss and fishing.

About a third of ocean-going sharks are on the internationally-recognised Red List of Threatened Species.

"In passing this [shark protection] bill, there is no greater statement we can make about the importance of sharks to our culture, environment and economy," said Senator Tony deBrum, who co-sponsored the bill through the Marshallese parliament.

"Ours may be a small island nation, but our waters are now the biggest place sharks are protected."

To put the sanctuary in context, it covers roughly the same area as Indonesia, Mexico or Saudi Arabia, and is about eight times bigger than the UK.

The move will extend the area of ocean in which sharks are protected from about 2.7 million sq km to 4.6 million sq km (1.0 to 1.8 million sq miles).

By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News
Read on...

Endangered New Caledonian Kagu recovery plan boosted

Kagu listening posts set up September 2011. Société Calédonienne d'Ornithologie (SCO - BirdLife in New Caledonia) has received support from the USFWS Wildlife Without Borders - Critically Endangered Species Conservation Fund to help save their national bird from extinction.

Kagus are listed as Endangered by BirdLife International on behalf of the IUCN Red List, and is the only living member of the family Rhynochetidae. Physical features of Kagu that make it distinct from other birds include its dramatic displays with its strikingly banded wings.

Endemic
As with many bird species endemic to the Pacific, Kagu evolved without mammalian predators and its lifestyle - it is flightless and ground-nesting - makes it highly susceptible to predation, particularly by recently introduced mammals such as dogs, cats and pigs.

SCO have been striving to improve knowledge about the birds of New Caledonia, and is involved in the projects to protect both the birds and the habitats upon which they depend. In 2008, SCO compiled a ten year Kagu Recovery Plan.

Special recording equipment
This newly funded project deals with a crucial aspect of the Kagu Recovery Plan, namely the documentation of its distribution and density in priority areas. The most robust method for determining this (the first step in aiding their recovery) is to monitor Kagu calls using sound recorders. These are favoured because Kagu are found in remote difficult-to-access forested areas, and only call for short periods of the day.

SCO have tested the recording equipment to ensure its efficacy and now urgently need funds to undertake island-wide surveys in areas where Kagu have previously been recorded. SCO will also train local "Kagu Listeners" - members of the local communities - to collect additional data and increase the capacity for on-the-ground conservation of the species.

Recovery plan
Funds from the USFWS Critically Endangered Animals Fund amounts to about half of the total project costs, and will be used to implement some of the Kagu Recovery Plan's most important aspects, through:

Assessment and monitoring of Kagu populations at four Kagu refuges
Raising awareness and enabling local communities to protect Kagus.
Establishing community Kagu monitoring.

This project is a vital part of a wider program of work to save the Kagu (which includes funding from The BBC Wildlife Fund) from extinction by identifying new locations which will become a focus for addition conservation actions, and increasing the capacity of local people to help conserve this charismatic species and national emblem of New Caledonia.

Courtesy of Birdlife
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/kagu.html