'Wiped out before our eyes': Hawaii offers bold plan to stop shark killings

Proposed law would protect any shark or ray in state waters and be first of its kind in US

Breena Kerr in Maui

Fri 8 Feb 2019 23.00 GMTFirst published on Fri 8 Feb 2019 11.00 GMT

Sharks could soon become more numerous in Hawaii waters – and advocates say that’s a good thing.

Lawmakers in Honolulu advanced a proposed ban on killing sharks in state waters on Wednesday, after receiving hundreds of calls and letters of support from around the country. The law, which would provide sweeping protection for any shark, rather than select species, could be the first of its kind in the United States.

“These amazing animals are getting wiped out before our eyes, and people don’t even realize what they’re missing out on,” said Ocean Ramsey, a Hawaii-based shark conservationist, researcher and tour operator who has been instrumental in lobbying for the bill, in an interview with the Guardian. Last month, a photo of Ramsey swimming with a 6-metre (20ft) great white shark off the coast of Oahu went viral.

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Diver filmed with huge great white: sharks must be 'protected not feared'

Ocean Ramsey, a shark researcher, came face-to-face with what could be one of the largest great whites ever recorded

Associated Press in Haleiwa, Hawaii

Sat 19 Jan 2019 00.39 GMTLast modified on Sat 19 Jan 2019 14.52 GMT

Two shark researchers who came face to face with what could be one of the largest great whites ever recorded are using their encounter as an opportunity to push for legislation that would protect sharks in Hawaii.

Ocean Ramsey, a shark researcher and conservationist, told the Associated Press that she encountered the 20ft (6-metre) shark on Tuesday near a dead sperm whale off Oahu. The event was documented and shared on social media by her fiance and business partner, Juan Oliphant.

The Hawaii department of land and natural resources said it was aware of photos of the great white and that tiger sharks also had been feeding on the whale.

Oliphant, who photographed the now viral images, said it was unclear if the shark was the famed Deep Blue, believed to be the largest great white ever recorded.

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NW Hawaiian Island Vanished: Was Critical Breeding Ground for Turtles, Monk Seals & Birds - via Herp Digest

Sorry, A Belated Difference of Opinion- Variations of this article appeared all over the net, including the New York Times. But George Balazs, who has been studying green turtles in Hawaii for over 40 years has a less sensational view of the story. (See bottom)

Attribution: U.S. Dept of Fish & wildlife

East Island of French Frigate Shoals after major hurricane Walaka. The sand that made up the island can be seen underwater in the center of the image. Waves pushed it into a deep lagoon in the center of the shoals that were around the island.

Oct 23, 2018 

Seven government scientists, who were on teams that had been studying and protecting endangered monk seals, green turtles and sea birds at French Frigate shoals East Island for decades, had to evacuate East Island on October 2 ahead of category 4 hurricane Walaka, one of the strongest hurricanes on record in the central Pacific. The island was the breeding ground for about half of Hawaii’s endangered green sea turtles and 30% of Hawaii’s highly endangered monk seals. When scientists recently examined satellite photos after the hurricane they discovered the whole half-mile long 400 ft wide island had vanished.

East Island, French Frigate shoals, NWHI, before & after Hurricane Walaka About Hawaiian Hurricane Walaka washing away the green turtle (honu) nesting island of Hikina (East) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands:

For rest of story: 

https://bit.ly/2PUruct

For another point of view, less alarmist, from someone who has been studying Hawaiian sea turtles for 40 years George Balazs

“Surely this is one of the most exciting times of my 48-year career working with Hawaiian green turtles! The loss of East Island at French Frigate Shoals started decades ago documented by photo evidence. It is part of a natural long term process where sand, unlike stone, comes and goes, accumulates and then washes away in cycles. Sea turtles for millennia have always been able to adapt to such changes. If they hadn't they would all have gone extinct long ago. The Hawaiian green turtle population is robust, durable and incredibly adaptive. They will figure out where to nest new and it will be insightful and amazing to watch it happen over the next few years. With Confidence in both Mother Nature and the Honu,” 

Invasive frogs give invasive birds a boost in Hawaii

Date: November 29, 2017

Source: American Ornithological Society Publications Office

Summary:

Puerto Rican coqui frogs were accidentally introduced to Hawaii in the 1980s, and today there are as many as 91,000 frogs per hectare in some locations. What does that mean for native wildlife? Concerns that ravenous coquis could reduce the food available for the islands' native insect-eating birds, many of which are already declining, spurred researchers to examine the relationship between frog and bird populations -- but their results weren't what they expected.

Continued

Colorful Hawaiian Fish Named in Honor of President Obama

By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | December 21, 2016 02:36pm ET

Next time he's vacationing in Hawaii, President Barack Obama might just bump into his new namesake: a pink, yellow and blue coral-reef fish that researchers have named in the president's honor.

Researchers discovered the previously unknown fish species, now dubbed Tosanoides obama, during a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expedition to Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in June 2016.

"We decided to name this fish after President Obama to recognize his efforts to protect and preserve the natural environment, including the expansion of Papahānaumokuākea," the study's lead author, Richard Pyle, a scientist at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, said in a statement. "This expansion adds a layer of protection to one of the last great wilderness areas on Earth." 

Obama expanded the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument on Aug. 26 after Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), along with conservationists and marine scientists, urged the president to protect the region's waters and marine life. The monument is now 582,578 square miles (1.5 million square kilometers), an area more than twice the size of Texas, that holds the title for largest permanent protected marine area on the planet. (The 598,000-squaremile, or 1.55 million square km, marine reserve in Antarctica's Ross Sea is larger, but that area is protected for only a 35-year period, Live Science reported in October.)

During a September trip to Midway Atoll, an island within the monument, Obama met with legendary scientist, conservationist and deep-ocean explorer Sylvia Earle, who gave the president a photograph of T. obama. The footage of the visit will be shown on the National Geographic global broadcast special, "Sea Of Hope," which will air Jan. 15, 2017.

Fishy find

T. obama is small, just 2.4 inches (6.1 centimeters) long, and it lives deep underwater, about 300 feet (90 meters) under the surface. Deep coral reefs grow at this depth, but despite the diversity of animals that live there, this so-called "twilight zone" isn't well-explored by marine biologists, the researchers said.

When scientists first spotted the small pink fish, they thought it was a Pseudanthias thompsoni (another tropical fish species), but a prominent red spot on the end of the animal's dorsal fin indicated that the fish was a previously unidentified species, the researchers wrote in the study.

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The Mysterious Sex Lives of Hawaii's Endangered Yellow-Faced Bees

In late September 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) added seven of Hawaii's yellow-faced bee species to the Endangered Species List — the first time any bee has been declared endangered. What do we know about their sex lives and could this information be the key to saving these rare bees?

In Hawaii, there are more than 60 species of yellow-faced bee (genus Hylaeus), a solitary type of bee that lives in a wide range of habitats, from coastal areas to high-elevation forests. These bees are the primary pollinators of a common Hawaii shrub called naupaka, which blooms half-flowers and is the focus of a Hawaiian story about star-crossed lovers who are fated to be forever separated.

Though scientists have long been aware of the bees and their importance, "there's virtually nothing known about the mating behaviors of yellow-faced bees," said Sheldon Plentovich, the Pacific Islands Coastal Program Coordinator for USFWS.

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Scientists discover hidden world of Hawaii's coral 'twilight zone'

20-year study of deep reefs finds algae meadows and swaths of continuous coral with the highest rate of species found nowhere else in Earth’s seas

Jessica Aldred

Tuesday 4 October 2016 15.39 BST Last modified on Tuesday 4 October 2016 15.40 BST 

The “twilight zone” of Hawaii’s deep coral reefs are home to vast algae meadows and support the highest rates of species found nowhere else in Earth’s seas, scientists have discovered.

A 20-year study of the archipelago’s poorly-explored mesophotic – middle light – coral zone also found the deep-reef habitats are home to many unique and distinct species not found on shallow reefs with vast areas of 100% coral cover.

While much is known about shallow, tropical coral habitats, the richness, diversity and ecological importance of these deep sea ecosystems, found at depths of 30-150 metres, has only recently been understood. 

In one of the largest and most comprehensive studies of its kind, published on Tuesday in the journal PeerJ, the entire 2,590km Hawaiian archipelago was covered over two decades using a combination of submersibles, remote-operated vehicles, drop cameras, data recorders and advanced diving techniques. 

A major focus of the study was to document extensive areas of 100% coral cover at depths of 90m (300 feet) or more off the islands of Maui and Kauai. Vast expanses of continuous coral cover were found extending for tens of square kilometres, dominated by stony, reef-building corals in the genus Leptoseris, a plate-like coral adapted for deepwater environments.

“These are some of the most extensive and densely populated coral reefs in Hawaii,” said Anthony Montgomery, a US Fish and Wildlife biologist and co-author of the study. “It’s amazing to find such rich coral communities down so deep.”

The study identified more than 70 species of macroalgae in extensive meadows that support unique communities of fish and invertebrates. Both corals and algae depend on sunlight for photosynthesis, and the study attributed the existence of many of the deep reef habitats to exceptionally clear water.

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Bees added to US endangered species list for the first time

Seven types of the yellow-faced or masked bees once found in great numbers in Hawaii are under threat, federal officials say

Saturday 1 October 2016 03.26 BST Last modified on Saturday 1 October 2016 03.36 BST

Seven types of bees once found in abundance in Hawaii have become the first bees to be added to the US federal list of endangered and threatened species.

The listing decision, published on Friday in the Federal Register, classifies seven varieties of yellow-faced or masked bees as endangered, due to such factors as habitat loss, wildfires and the invasion of non-native plants and insects.

The bees, so named for yellow-to-white facial markings, once crowded Hawaii and Maui but recent surveys found their populations have plunged in the same fashion as other types of wild bees – and some commercial ones – elsewhere in the United States, federal wildlife managers said.
 
Pollinators like bees are crucial for the production of fruits, nuts and vegetables and they represent billions of dollars in value each year to the nation’s agricultural economy, officials said.

Placing yellow-faced bees under federal safeguards comes just over a week since the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed adding the imperilled rusty patched bumble bee, a prized but vanishing pollinator once found in the upper midwest and north-eastern United States, to the endangered and threatened species list.

One of several wild bee species seen declining over the past two decades, the rusty patched bumble bee is the first in the continental United States formally proposed for protections.

The listing of the Hawaii species followed years of study by the conservation group Xerces Society, state government officials and independent researchers. The Xerces Society said its goal was to protect nature’s pollinators and invertebrates, which play a vital role in the health of the overall ecosystem.

The non-profit organization was involved in the initial petitions to protect the bee species, said Sarina Jepson, director of endangered species and aquatic programs for the Portland, Oregon-based group.


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