Sharks International, the first international shark conference in 20 years, brought together over 200 delegates from 23 countries to present the latest in shark science. It provided a forum for the world’s leading shark and ray experts, along with students and researchers, to come together to share ideas, update information and report on the progress of the most recent scientific studies in the field of shark and ray ecology. The evolution of some key technologies has been a considerable driving force behind the advancement of knowledge of shark behaviour over the past 25 years. As these species become more affected by human environmental factors on a global scale, international approaches to their study and management will be increasingly important.

The Save Our Seas Foundation, along with other organistions such as the Australian Government and James Cook University, sponsored the event. Thirteen scientists supported by the Save Our Seas Foundation presented cutting edge research in fields ranging from telemetry studies focusing on the movement patterns of sharks and the use of portable field kits for measuring stress levels in sharks to the genetic analysis of shark fins and the current status of shark conservation.

Dr Rupert Ormond, Chief Scientist of the SOSF, presented his findings on how some individuals buck the trend of recorded movement pattern. It appears some individual basking sharks, white sharks and whale sharks in the NE Atlantic, South Africa and the Seychelles respectively take the pass less traveled between feeding grounds and appear to be resident in feeding areas for different lengths of time, while the majority stick to a particular route and pattern. Perhaps as a youngster those individuals were exposed to different currents or water temperatures, which led them on their unique journey and they have simply stuck to it over the years. SOSF is still trying to solve the mystery.

Following on from this Alison Kock from the SOSF Shark Centre in Cape Town presented her work on the year-round white shark presence in False Bay, South Africa with distinct seasonal changes in habitat utilization. Her work highlighted that even though white sharks are fully protected in South Africa, there are many issues such as bycatch, poaching, impact of shark bites, habitat, prey loss and pollution that still affect these sharks.

Sharks have feelings too… and they get stressed! Stressed to death in some cases. Several scientists presented their results on how sharks fare after being hung in the open ocean by a long lining hook – dragged along the sea floor in a trawler’s net or left by fishermen on a boat slowing suffocating before being thrown back into the sea. Sharks may have evolved over the past 400 million years – but they didn’t come equipped to deal with modern fishing torture techniques.

Sharks are global travellers and observing them in the wild is no easy task. The biggest change to shark behaviour research arrived with the advent of acoustic and satellite telemetry. These technologies, which use tags to record a wide array of sensory data, enable scientists to track the exact locations of where individual sharks travel and the temperature, depth, and light levels that they experience on their journeys. Through telemetry scientists have expanded our knowledge of movement patterns, feeding and mating behaviour, as well as an understanding of the physiology that drives these behaviours. There has been a growing trend in the number of scientists using telemetry technology and over 20 per cent of the talks at the conference include the use of telemetry. Blacktip reef sharks, whitetip reef sharks, whiptail stingrays in the Amazon estuary, shovelnose guitarfish, manta rays, bull sharks, blue sharks, whale sharks and white sharks are just some of the species fitted with tags, which are well on their way to revealing just exactly what they get up to when scientists aren’t looking.

SOSF scientist Dr. Andrea Marshall (also known as the Manta Queen, from the 2009 BBC documentary) presented her work on seven years of observations of the size, population structure and migratory behaviour of the newly described giant manta ray (Manta birostris). From her base in southern Mozambique Dr. Marshall has identified over 130 individuals at an inshore aggregation site, which supports both feeding areas and cleaning stations. Preliminary data from two satellite tagged individuals have demonstrated that the species is capable of international migration – a crucial consideration for future regional management plans. As well as discovering the species Dr. Marshall has also discovered that this manta is one of the deepest diving fish in the sea.

Dr. Jeurg Brunnschweiler later revealed his results on the small-scale movement patterns of bull sharks in the Shark Reef Marine Reserve off the southern coast of Viti Levu, Fiji. More than 60 bull sharks fitted with acoustic tags collected this data, while 14 pop-up satellite archival tags were deployed between 2004 and 2009 to monitor the movement of bull sharks away from Shark Reef and their passage through the water column.

One of the biggest difficulties in fisheries management is the widespread distribution of most species and the fact that sharks don’t acknowledge international boundaries. Dr. Shivji, based at the Save Our Sea Shark Research Centre and Guy Harvey Research Institute in Florida, USA, gave a “first-look” analysis of population genetic structure in sharks. He revealed that nearly all species of sharks with global distributions have different inter-ocean basis populations and distinct genetic population structure has also been detected within ocean basins. In fact, the scale of some populations may be on an even smaller geographic scale, meaning the sharks in a specific location may belong to their own genetic population. These discoveries are an important conservation flag. The major significance of these findings is being able to assess and manage sharks on a population-specific basis. The number of species in one area might be healthy, but elsewhere that same species may be in danger of extinction, and because they are genetically distinct populations the healthy populations won’t fill the gap of a population that is fished off our planet. “Over the last five years we have discovered through genetic research that the population structures of sharks are different to what we use to assume. This information needs to be used by management bodies to help conserve shark populations,” says Dr. Shivji.

Other talks illustrated how research on the big fauna, such as whale and basking sharks, leads to better protection of the web of life that surrounds them. Dr. Mauvis Gore discussed the ‘Ups and downs of being a megaplanktivore’ by illustrating how both basking and whale sharks dive in a number of distinctive patterns, including V-shaped spikes, W-shaped sawtooth and oscillatory staircasing! – in search of prey. Deni Ramirez-Macias covered her work on whale shark population size and structure in La Paz Bay, Mexico, and David Rowat presented some interesting observations on the long term residence in coastal aggregations of whale shark in Seychelles and Djibouti.

In the beginning shark behaviour research resulted from the need to answer, “How can we protect humans from sharks?” The tide has since turned and, with as many as 73 million sharks killed each year, today we are all asking, “How can we protect sharks from humans?” Collecting and analyzing all this data is a giant step towards providing some answers to this question. Shark filming legends Ron and Valerie Taylor, who attended the conference, were once champion spear-fishermen before they turned into marine and shark life advocates. “Marine life belongs to all of us, not just the fishermen, and we should be able to see them (the sharks and other fish) anytime we want,” said Valerie.

Cheryl-Samantha Owen

www.saveourseas.com

Kuroshio Sea – 2nd largest aquarium tank in the world – (song is Please don’t go by Barcelona) from Jon Rawlinson on Vimeo.

–CLICK FULL SCREEN OPTION IN LOWER RIGHT CORNER FOR FULL ENJOYMENT

June 10:

SACRAMENTO — In May, after an article appeared in The Log detailing public reaction to a reporter being forcibly removed from a Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) North Coast Regional Stakeholder Group work session, MLPA staff decided to reverse a ban on videotaping and audio recording at future sessions. However, the move has not eased tensions between those tied to the planning process for new Marine Protected Areas off the California coast (where fishing will be off limits) and sport anglers who advocate retaining open fishing areas.

On May 28, United Anglers of Southern California (UASC) and the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans, who have opposed the direction MLPA’s appointed Blue Ribbon Task Force appears to be heading, filed a suit against the task force and the MLPA Science Advisory Team, claiming they have violated the California Records Act.

http://thelog.com/news/logNewsArticle.aspx?x=11038

Photo: Dida Kutz

Dida Kutz is founder and publisher of http://www.blueplanetdivers.org/, a website that connects research institutions with potential science diver candidates, as well as editor of Point Lobos Magazine in Monterey.

You appear to have devoted your life to the ocean. What started you on that
path?

Gosh, a lot of things. I was an avid reader as a kid and our family had that Time-Life Nature Library, and my favorite book in that library was the one entitled The Sea. I also read Rachel Carson’s The Sea Around Us. And my dad built a sailboat in the backyard over four years and we used to sail out to the Channel Islands quite a bit. Actually, I enjoyed that the most of us three kids, and he and I used to take trips out there ourselves. In fact, I was completely blissed out by those trips, and fascinated by the huge pods of dolphins in the channel, the shark frenzies we sometimes encountered while we were trolling for fish, and of course by my dad scuba diving at Santa Cruz Island. So it was a combination of things, not one single event.

See link below for more:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5530840/profile_dida_kutz_marine_conservationist.html?cat=58

For more of Jim Ridgway’s videos, see: http://www.youtube.com/user/jridg

Internet File Photo of Aquarium Diver--not me...

Date: 6-26-10

Location: California Science Center, Los Angeles

Max Depth: 24 ft.

Mix: 21% [Air]

Critter Seen: see below

Dive Buddies: Assistant DSO, Barbara and Jim, fellow science-divers-in- training

Well, today has been quite a day, I must say.

We got there a few minutes early and then were escorted up to get our badges and sign in for the day.

Then, the assistant DSO came out to take us into the Kelp Tank for some simple drills, like mask removal and regulator recovery, just to make sure we knew what we were doing and then, we got down to business.

The assistant took us down through schools of Senoritas, Blacksmith fish, Garibaldis, Batrays and Sheephead, down to the bottom of the tank, where, the next thing we knew, to our amazement, he was coaxing a 4 foot long, green Moray Eel out of his hole and passing him down to us, where we got to gently stroke him as he went by, before slithering off. Wow!

The next critter he passed to us to stroke was a small Swell shark, which we’re familiar with from diving Scripps Canyon, where they are common. Still, the little guy seemed shy and kept trying get away from us and go back down to his hole near the bottom, but he was so cute–kept trying to bury his head under my arm.

Then, he picked up some Stingrays, carefully from the bottom and handed those over to us and we just as carefully handled them from the bottom as well, before letting them zoom off.

Next was the juvenile Giant Sea Bass, who seemed to inhabit a certain corner of the tank and patrol that area.

Then, we got to swim with the Leopard Sharks, in the upper layer of the 24 ft deep tank, who seem to patrol that zone, while we cleaned the tank glass with specially designed sponges. It was cool, because they give you a special suction cup to anchor yourself to the glass with, while you scrub, because you have a tendency to float up or down while working.

Here you can make faces with and mug for all the little kids looking up at you and pointing and screaming in delight.

Then, he took us back up through long strands of Boa Kelp and Giant Kelp back to the surface, where we broke for lunch.

After lunch, we suited up again and participated in the afternoon Public Feeding.

First, Jim got to feed the Leopard sharks from the surface, apparently to avoid competition from other fish trying to get their food, then Barb and the assistant jumped in, wearing the full-face masks, so he could do the live narration and Barb could get used to the using the mask. Jim and I will get trained with these later on…..

Then. we were given the choice of what critter we wanted to feed, with a special bowl of goodies we had chopped up for each one set aside to take down with us.

I chose to try and feed the juvenile Giant Sea Bass first, but he seemed a little spooked by all the divers in the water today and was a little skittish, so I came back up and got some Moray Eel food [squid] and brought a container of that down, and to the amazement of all the kids and families watching, soon had the medium sized one munching on squid. I was almost as amazed as the audience.

Then, on the advice of another, more experienced aquarium diver, I followed her over to a special section of the wall, where a very large Moray Eel and an equally large Spiny Lobster were sharing a hole together. I did not attempt feeding the larger Moray, who seemed longer than I was.

Finally, the feeding came to an end, and we all waved goodbye to all the kids and families with their faces glued to the glass and made a slow ascent up through the kelp to the surface.

Diving in an aquarium takes a little getting used to, as space is obviously more limited than in the open ocean and you have to be carefully where and when you kick your fins to avoid hitting nearby marine animals and you must also be careful not to let your steel tank scrape against the glass.

I have to say that I got closer to some species of marine life native to San Diego today than I ever got to them diving in San Diego!

It was absolutely surreal day, capped off by having to pass through thousands of colorfully dressed attendees of the ‘Electric Daisy Festival,’ next door at the L A Coliseum.

It was a total blast and I highly recommend volunteer aquarium diving for anyone wanting to fine-tune their diving skills as well as work their way towards eventual certification as a Science Diver with AAUS, the American Academy of Underwater Science.

Credit: Kim Fulton-Bennett MBARI

MONTEREY, California — For almost three decades, oceanographers have been puzzled by the ability of microscopic algae to grow in mid-ocean areas where there is very little nitrate, an essential algal nutrient. In this week’s issue of Nature, MBARI chemical oceanographer Ken Johnson, along with coauthors Stephen Riser at the University of Washington and David Karl at the University of Hawaii, show that mid-ocean algae obtain nitrate from deep water, as much as 250 meters below the surface. This finding will help scientists predict how open-ocean ecosystems could respond to global warming.

The sea around Hawaii may be clear and blue, but it hides an enduring oceanographic mystery. Surface waters in this and other mid-ocean areas contain almost no nitrate or other plant nutrients. Yet each year, microscopic algae (phytoplankton) flourish in these vast, open-ocean areas. Although minuscule in size, these mid-ocean algae consume about one fifth of all the carbon dioxide taken up by plants and algae worldwide.

To solve this mystery, Johnson and his fellow researchers used a robotic drifter called an Apex float, which automatically moves from the sea surface down to 1,000 meters and then back again, collecting data as it goes. Researchers at the University of Washington outfitted this drifter with an oxygen sensor and a custom version of Johnson’s In Situ Ultraviolet Spectrophotometer (ISUS), which measures nitrate concentrations in seawater.

http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=87135964201