Swim to Sea? These Salmon Are Catching a Lift
Salmon were put into the hold of the trawler Merva W this month for a trip to San Francisco Bay. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times
RIO VISTA, Calif. — As the Merva W puttered down the Sacramento River, it looked like any other dowdy fishing vessel headed toward the Golden Gate Bridge. But no other boat had as surprising a cargo or as unusual a mission: The Merva W was giving 100,000 young salmon a lift to the Pacific in the hope of keeping them alive...Read the entire story here. [NYTimes.com]
Fish Oil May Help the Heart Beat Mental Stress
Fish oil may help the heart beat mental stress, says a recent study, "Fish Oil and Neurovascular Reactivity to Mental Stress in Humans." It appears online in the May 2013 edition of the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative, and Comparative Physiology, published by the American Physiological Society.The omega 3 fatty acids in fish oil have long been thought to protect against cardiovascular disease... Read the entire story here. [examiner.com]
One Fish Two Fish: Monitoring MPAs Educator Guide
"The California Wetfish Producers Association partners with both state and federal scientists to advance the knowledge of ocean cycles and their influence on coastal pelagic resources. California marine resources now benefit from the best fishery management in the world, thanks to strict regulations and the collaboration of scientists, management agencies and fishermen."Read the original article — kqed.orgOne Fish Two Fish: Monitoring Marine Protected Areas Educator Guide
Forming Partnerships - Spotlight: US West Coast Fisheries
This video highlights a couple west coast fisheries and their positive efforts to fish responsibly. A gillnet fishery, faced with closure in the mid 90's, redesigned the "pinger" to ward off marine mammals from being caught (now mandatory gear); An entrepreneur fisherman who has created a direct from boat fish market, attracting thousands of visitors from all over southern California and opening new income avenues not only for himself but for the harbor and the area. There are interviews with scientists who discuss the sustainable fishing issues as well as issues of buying imported fish vs. buying US caught fish. Written, produced, directed, edited, narrated by John Dutton. http://johnduttonmedia.com
El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
issued byCLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER/NCEPand the International Research Institute for Climate and Society10 April 2014ENSO Alert System Status: El NiñoWatchSynopsis: While ENSO-neutral is favored for Northern Hemisphere spring, the chances of El Niño increase during the remainder of the year, exceeding 50% by summer.ENSO-neutral continued during March 2014, but with above-average sea surface temperatures (SST) developing over much of the eastern tropical Pacific as well as near the International Date Line (Fig. 1).
The weekly SSTs were below average in the Niño1+2 region, near average but rising in Niño3 and Niño3.4 regions, and above average in the Niño4 region (Fig. 2).
A significant downwelling oceanic Kelvin wave that was initiated in January greatly increased the oceanic heat content to the largest March value in the historical record back to 1979 (Fig. 3) and produced large positive subsurface temperature anomalies across the central and eastern Pacific (Fig. 4).
Also during March, low-level westerly wind anomalies were observed over the central equatorial Pacific. Convection was suppressed over western Indonesia, and enhanced over the central equatorial Pacific (Fig. 5). Although these atmospheric and oceanic conditions collectively reflect ENSO-neutral, they also reflect a clear evolution toward an El Niño state.
The model predictions of ENSO for this summer and beyond are indicating an increased likelihood of El Niño this year compared with last month. Most of the models indicate that ENSO-neutral (Niño-3.4 index between -0.5oC and 0.5oC) will persist through much of the remainder of the Northern Hemisphere spring 2014 (Fig. 6), with many models predicting the development of El Niño sometime during the summer or fall.
Despite this greater model consensus, there remains considerable uncertainty as to when El Niño will develop and how strong it may become. This uncertainty is amplified by the inherently lower forecast skill of the models for forecasts made in the spring. While ENSO-neutral is favored for Northern Hemisphere spring, the chances of El Niño increase during the remainder of the year, and exceed 50% by the summer (click CPC/IRI consensus forecast for the chance of each outcome).This discussion is a consolidated effort of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NOAA's National Weather Service, and their funded institutions. Oceanic and atmospheric conditions are updated weekly on the Climate Prediction Center web site (El Niño/La Niña Current Conditions and Expert Discussions). Forecasts for the evolution of El Niño/La Niña are updated monthly in the Forecast Forum section of CPC's Climate Diagnostics Bulletin. The next ENSO Diagnostics Discussion is scheduled for 8 May 2014. To receive an e-mail notification when the monthly ENSO Diagnostic Discussions are released, please send an e-mail message to: ncep.list.enso-update@noaa.gov.Climate Prediction CenterNational Centers for Environmental PredictionNOAA/National Weather ServiceCollege Park, MD 20740http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.html
Giant squid escapes icy tomb
One of the ocean's monsters is being revealed to the public for the first time in the Queensland Museum's latest exhibition.
The giant squid has been thawed and preserved for public display at the Queensland Museum for the first time. (ABC Multiplatform:Lucinda Kent)A giant squid that was found frozen in a block of ice has been thawed and meticulously preserved by scientists for display in the Deep Oceans exhibition.See more photos at the 612 ABC Brisbane Facebook page.Mollusc expert Darryl Potter says the squid on display may seem large at around seven metres long, but the species can grow all the way up to 13 metres in length including their 'club tentacles' used for killing prey.Giant squid live in some of the deepest parts of the ocean and were thought to be mythological creatures until around 100 years ago, but the first sighting of a live giant squid in the ocean was in September 2004."They were spotted by mariners in early days and that lead to the tales of monsters from the deep," Mr Potter said."That of course led to all your science fiction movies with grossly distorted facts about the size of these things and what they ate."Mr Potter says the giant squid on display in the Deep Oceans exhibition, is known as Cal, short for calamari, is one of the best preserved specimens in the world.Breaking the ice Cal the squid had previously been on display at Underwater World on the Sunshine Coast, where it was kept frozen in the block of ice it was found in, which kept the creature intact before museum scientists used professional preservation techniques."We brought it back to the museum here and it took about three days of chipping through the ice very carefully because you didn't want to damage any of the appendages," he said."Not only just chipping through it but there's a lot of ice that was inside it that had to thaw, it sat around for about a week completely thawing."Museum workers had to don protective 'spacesuits' while they applied chemicals that keep the animal's skin, tentacles, and head permanently fixed.The squid has been kept in the museum laboratories for the past 5 years and can be seen for the first time out of the ice at the Deep Oceans exhibit at the Queensland Museum from 28 March to 6 October 2014.
A super El Niño on the way? Subtle signs emerging
Mashable’s Andrew Freedman has penned an intriguing and important piece suggesting the possible El Niño in the pipeline may be a doozy, comparable to the strongest ever recorded:Since climate forecasters declared an “El Niño Watch” on March 6, the odds of such an event in the tropical Pacific Ocean have increased, and based on recent developments, some scientists think this event may even rival the record El Niño event of 1997-1998.Recall an El Niño event is an episodic warming of the eastern tropical Pacific ocean, which often has worldwide weather implications.Freedman interviews two scientists, Eric Blake from the National Hurricane Center and Paul Roundy from SUNY-Albany, who see early indicators reminiscent of the development stages of past whopper El Niño events.One important possible indicator of the lead up to an El Niño is a reversal in the trade winds observed in the equatorial Pacific, from a prevailing easterly (from the east) to westerly (from the west) direction. In recent weeks and months, there have been strong westerly “bursts”.Read the full article here.
Oceana bycatch report first salvo in next NGO campaign to restrict fisheries
Oceana has released a report on the nine dirties US fisheries in terms of bycatch to great media fanfare. "Anything can be bycatch,” said Dominique Cano-Stocco, campaign director at Oceana. “Whether it’s the thousands of sea turtles that are caught to bring you shrimp or the millions of pounds of cod and halibut that are thrown overboard after fishermen have reached their quota, bycatch is a waste of our ocean’s resources. Bycatch also represents a real economic loss when one fisherman trashes another fisherman’s catch.”“Hundreds of thousands of dolphins, whales, sharks, sea birds, sea turtles and fish needlessly die each year as a result of indiscriminate fishing gear,” said Amanda Keledjian, report author and marine scientist at Oceana. “It’s no wonder that bycatch is such a significant problem, with trawls as wide as football fields, longlines extending up to 50 miles with thousands of baited hooks and gillnets up to two miles long. The good news is that there are solutions – bycatch is avoidable.”This is not the language of scientists seeking to lower bycatch. It is a call to arms to shut down fisheries.Bycatch issues in fisheries are not new. US fishery managers have spent huge amounts of time addressing bycatch.For example, one of the key functions of fisheries observers is to accurately record and document bycatch, so that impacts on stock are understood and included in fishery management decisions.Read the full article here.