Sea Lion Die-Off Tied to 'Junk Food' Fish
A barking California sea lion pup shows signs of undernourishment.
Record numbers of California sea lion pups have been starving and stranding on beaches by the thousands in recent years, and now new research finds that a decline in their mothers’ food quality is behind the disturbing trend.
High calorie sardines and anchovies are now harder for sea lion moms to find, causing them to eat more rockfish and market squid that can be great for people on diets, but aren’t as hearty a meal for hungry sea lions. The findings are published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.“For human consumption, highly oily fish may actually be less desirable to consumers,” lead author Sam McClatchie told Discovery News. “In contrast, for predators with high energy demands, such as nursing female sea lions, eating fish with higher energy density due to higher content of calories and fats provides a more effective way to meet their nutritional demands.”Human demand for anchovies, in particular, has been on the rise due to the savory fish’s popularity in Caesar salad dressing and in “junk foods” like pizza. The real junk food for breeding female sea lions, minus the high calories, turns out to be the other types of fish that are now more prevalent in their feeding areas off central California.McClatchie, an oceanographer at NOAA Fisheries Service’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center, and his team studied both the sea lion pup strandings and population trends for fish that adult sea lions eat. Data for the latter came from surveys that are conducted each summer off the coast of California.A perfect storm now appears to be in place that is hurting the sea lions. Due to conservation efforts, numbers of these marine mammals increased from about 50,000 40 years ago to around 340,000 now. No one knows what the historic populations were like, given that Native Americans also frequently hunted sea lions and there are no detailed sea lion population estimates prior to the 1970s.At a time when the sea lion population appears to be approaching what the researchers call its current “carrying capacity” for the region, sardine and anchovy numbers plummeted while market squid and rockfish abundance increased.Several researchers, such as marine biologist Malin Pinsky of Rutgers, have attributed this and prior dramatic fish population plunges to overfishing by humans. He and his team note that such collapses started to occur more frequently in sardines and anchovies after the advent of efficient fishing vessels and techniques following World War II. Anchovies and sardines are important to the pet food and fish oil industries, in addition to their other mentioned common uses.“Overfishing is a problem throughout the world and across all species, including slow-growing fish like sharks, many of which are in serious trouble,” said Pinsky. “But it turns out that fishery collapses are three times more likely in the opposite kinds of species — those that grow quickly.”
McClatchie and his team, however, believe that the problem is “environmental,” and not because of overfishing.
McClatchie and his team, however, believe that the problem is “environmental,” and not because of overfishing. This distinction is important, as federal regulators are planning to do an official stock assessment of anchovies in the fall and will consider updating the 25,000-ton rule that now limits catches.“Sardine and anchovy populations both show large inter-annual variability that is environmentally driven and prior to any fishing,” McClatchie said.Joshua Lindsay of the National Marine Fisheries Service told Discovery News that populations of anchovies, sardines and other small fish “are linked to prevailing environmental conditions. NMFS has been working to better understand these environmental processes driving fish populations as well as the diet linkages between forage fish species and higher order predators to enhance the ecosystem science used in our fisheries management.”Marc Mangel, a professor at both the University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of Bergen, says the study “will help refocus the discussion about the causes of sea lion declines. More importantly, in my opinion, it is a terrific example of how we can use marine mammals and birds as sentinels or samplers of the environment.”In the meantime, the short-term outlook for sea lions is worrisome, particularly for rescue centers that have been stretched to their limits. McClatchie and his colleagues say that they “expect repeated years with malnourished and starving sea lion pups,” but can’t predict when that will end.
Read the original post: http://news.discovery.com/
NOAA: Oceanic acidity caused by climate change could affect Alaska crab numbers
ANCHORAGE -Oceanic acidification caused by climate change could cause a decline in numbers of Alaska crab species, according to new studies from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, officials announced in a press release Tuesday.60 percent of U.S. seafood comes from Alaska and a profitable portion comes from crab fisheries. The acidic conditions in ocean water could affect crabs on varying levels depending on a crab's age, according to NOAA official, Chris Long."The ocean environment that larval Tanner crabs live in is highly dynamic, with variable levels of acidity," said Long. "At this age, tanner crabs seem able to tolerate shifts in pH. But if these animals are exposed to more acidic conditions at the embryo stage, they may be less able to tolerate changes in ocean acidification as larvae."Young crabs exposed to low pH levels do not accumulate calcium well which makes them more vulnerable to predation and that fewer crabs would make it to adulthood.A separate study on blue king crabs revealed slower growth rates and higher mortality in juveniles exposed to more acidic conditions. The blue king crab populations around Pribilof Islands and St. Matthew Island areas have fluctuated dramatically, officials say."This suggests that environmental conditions play a big role in the number of young crabs that actually grow to maturity and can be caught by the commercial fishery," officials wrote. "Changes in ocean acidification may make it even more difficult for these populations to recover from recent low levels."Bob Foy, head of the Kodiak Lab for Alaska Fisheries Science Center says the situation doesn't look good. Based on the research, unless crabs are able to adapt to the changing conditions, officials say Alaskan fishermen will see a drastic drop in crab numbers within the next 50 years.
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Fish and Pregnancy: Mercury Exposure Outweighed by Beneficial Effects
— Posted with permission of SEAFOODNEWS.COM. Please do not republish without their permission. —
Copyright © 2016 Seafoodnews.com
[Note: Although this article is just concerned with measurement, not causes, its findings support the hypothesis that selenium, which is also found in high concentrations in seafood, acts to prevent mercury from having toxic effects at low levels. The hypothesis is that selenium binds with mercury, making the mercury more inert in any biological process. This idea has been put forward to explain longitudinal studies, such as in the Seychelles, that show populations with extremely high levels of fish consumption, and therefore higher exposure to mercury, show no mercury toxicity effects. -JS]Among its myriad of health benefits, fish contains nutrients that are important for developing fetuses, which is why pregnant women are advised to eat two or three servings of fish each week. However, concerns over the detrimental effects of mercury - found in nearly all fish - have given pregnant women a reason to be cautious. Now, a new study suggests the negative effects of ingesting low levels of mercury through fish are outweighed by the beneficial effects for newborns.The study, led by Kim Yolton, PhD, from the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio, is published in the journal Neurotoxicology and Teratology.According to the researchers, previous studies examining the effect of low-level gestational mercury exposure from fish intake on neurobehavioral outcomes of newborns have been limited.As such, they conducted an in-depth study involving 344 infants at 5 weeks of age using the NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS).The researchers measured gestational mercury exposure through maternal blood and infant umbilical cord blood. They also collected information on maternal fish intake and estimated consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acid based on type and amount of fish the pregnant women ate.In total, 84% of the mothers reported eating fish during pregnancy, but they only averaged about 2 ounces per week.In 2014, both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revised their advice to pregnant women regarding fish consumption; they advise consuming 8-12 ounces per week, as well as selecting fish with the lowest levels of mercury.Fish with low mercury levels include salmon, shrimp, pollock, light canned tuna, tilapia, catfish and cod, whereas high-mercury fish include tilefish, shark, swordfish and mackerel.Fish consumption counteracted neurotoxic effects of mercuryAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), mercury may have toxic effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, and also on the lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes.It is on the WHO's list of top 10 chemicals that are of major public health concern.However, results from the latest study yielded little evidence of harm in newborns whose mothers consumed low amounts of fish and who had low exposure to mercury.Interestingly, the infants whose mothers had higher mercury exposure during pregnancy and who also consumed more fish displayed better attention and required less special handling.The researchers say this is likely due to the positive nutritional effects of consuming fish.Although infants with higher prenatal mercury exposure showed asymmetric reflexes, after the researchers took fish consumption into account, they found that the infants whose mothers consumed more fish displayed better attention.Commenting on their findings, Yolton says:"The better neurobehavioral performance observed in infants with higher mercury biomarkers should not be interpreted as a beneficial effect of mercury exposure, which is clearly neurotoxic.It likely reflects the benefits of polyunsaturated fatty acid intake that also comes from fish and has been shown to benefit attention, memory and other areas of development in children."Most people do not eat recommended two to three servings per weekAccording to the FDA, nearly all fish contain at least traces of mercury because as they feed, they absorb it. Mercury typically builds up more in certain types of fish, particularly in larger fish with longer life spans.Although fish confers health benefits for the general public, many people do not currently eat the recommended amount of fish, which is two to three servings per week."The important thing for women to remember is that fish offers excellent nutritional qualities that can benefit a developing baby or young child," says Yolton. "Moms just need to be thoughtful about which fish they eat or provide to their child."She adds that in their study, mercury exposure was low - likely due to the mothers consuming fish low in mercury - "so the detrimental effects might have been outweighed by the beneficial effects of fish nutrition."
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Seas Are Rising at Fastest Rate in Last 28 Centuries
More Reporting on Climate Change
The lead author of that report, Dr. Strauss, said the same was likely true on a global scale, in any coastal community that has had an increase of saltwater flooding in recent decades.The rise in the sea level contributes only in a limited degree to the huge, disastrous storm surges accompanying hurricanes like Katrina and Sandy. Proportionally, it has a bigger effect on the nuisance floods that can accompany what are known as king tides.The change in frequency of those tides is striking. For instance, in the decade from 1955 to 1964 at Annapolis, Md., an instrument called a tide gauge measured 32 days of flooding; in the decade from 2005 to 2014, that jumped to 394 days.Flood days in Charleston jumped from 34 in the earlier decade to 219 in the more recent, and in Key West, Fla., the figure jumped from no flood days in the earlier decade to 32 in the more recent.
The new research was led by Robert E. Kopp, an earth scientist at Rutgers University who has won respect from his colleagues by bringing elaborate statistical techniques to bear on longstanding problems, like understanding the history of the global sea level.
Based on extensive geological evidence, scientists already knew that the sea level rose drastically at the end of the last ice age, by almost 400 feet, causing shorelines to retreat up to a hundred miles in places. They also knew that the sea level had basically stabilized, like the rest of the climate, over the past several thousand years, the period when human civilization arose.
But there were small variations of climate and sea level over that period, and the new paper is the most exhaustive attempt yet to clarify them.
The paper shows the ocean to be extremely sensitive to small fluctuations in the Earth’s temperature. The researchers found that when the average global temperature fell by a third of a degree Fahrenheit in the Middle Ages, for instance, the surface of the ocean dropped by about three inches in 400 years. When the climate warmed slightly, that trend reversed.
“Physics tells us that sea-level change and temperature change should go hand-in-hand,” Dr. Kopp said. “This new geological record confirms it.”
In the 19th century, as the Industrial Revolution took hold, the ocean began to rise briskly, climbing about eight inches since 1880. That sounds small, but it has caused extensive erosion worldwide, costing billions.
Due largely to human emissions, global temperatures have jumped about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit since the 19th century. The sea is rising at what appears to be an accelerating pace, lately reaching a rate of about a foot per century.
One of the authors of the new paper, Dr. Rahmstorf, had previously published estimates suggesting the sea could rise as much as five or six feet by 2100. But with the improved calculations from the new paper, his latest upper estimate is three to four feet.
That means Dr. Rahmstorf’s forecast is now more consistent with calculations issued in 2013 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations body that periodically reviews and summarizes climate research. That body found that continued high emissions might produce a rise in the sea of 1.7 to 3.2 feet over the 21st century.
In an interview, Dr. Rahmstorf said the rise would eventually reach five feet and far more — the only question was how long it would take. Scientists say the recent climate agreement negotiated in Paris is not remotely ambitious enough to forestall a significant melting of Greenland and Antarctica, though if fully implemented, it may slow the pace somewhat.
“Ice simply melts faster when the temperatures get higher,” Dr. Rahmstorf said. “That’s just basic physics.”
How Much Warmer Was Your City in 2015?
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Study: Fish Prevents Alzheimer's; Don't Sweat Mercury Levels
— Posted with permission of SEAFOODNEWS.COM. Please do not republish without their permission. —
Copyright © 2016 Seafoodnews.com
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Atlanta Journal] By Larry Clifton February 17, 2016Atlanta - A new study challenges the dietary populism that in the past suggested the consumption of fish poses more of a health risk to the brain than benefit.According the study, there is not enough toxic mercury to damage our brains in the weekly consumption of seafood. Conversely, the new findings show that the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish had a role in defending our brains against Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Previous studies questioned whether increased mercury levels in the brain would cancel out such benefits, an issue specifically addressed in the new study, published by CNN.Researchers questioned the study group about their diet every year starting in 1997. Furthermore, they performed brain autopsies on 286 participants who died between 2004 and 2013 to examine the levels of mercury and to determine whether there was neurological damage associated with dementia."The findings were very striking," said Martha Clare Morris, director of nutrition and nutritional epidemiology at Rush University Medical Center."Our hypothesis was that seafood consumption would be associated with less neuropathology, but that if there were higher levels of mercury in the brain, that would work against that. But we didn't find that at all," said Morris, who is lead author of the study, which was published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.The research only added one caveat; they only observed the benefit among participants who had a strong genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's. These participants carried a version of the APOE gene called APOE-4, which is associated with higher risk of developing Alzheimer's. Nevertheless, unless one has been specifically tested for the APOE-4 gene, consuming more fish is decidedly healthy and, according to the study, does not result in the accumulation of toxic amounts of mercury.Even people who test negative for the APOE-4 gene likely gain some lesser amount of protection from Alzheimer's by a weekly consumption of seafood, but the current study was not able to confirm or deny that question, Morris said."One theory is that seafood consumption may be more beneficial in older age because, as we age, we lose DHA in the brain," a molecule that is important to maintain brain health, Morris said. DHA is one of the main fatty acids that can be obtained from fish. People with APOE-4 are thought to lose even more DHA in the brain, so seafood consumption could be even more beneficial to them, Morris added.Still, Morris maintained that individuals sustaining a steady diet of certain kinds of seafood could experience a downside to brain health. "Our findings can't be generalized to people who are really high consumers of seafood," Morris said. In the Midwest population in the study, very few ate seafood every day.The latest study augments findings of previous surveys as well as the professional opinions of doctors who treat patients and study Alzheimer’s disease."The evidence is quite clear that people who consume healthier forms of fish [which are baked or broiled rather than fried] are going to end up with healthier brains," said James T. Becker, professor of psychiatry and associate director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh, who was not involved in the current study.As for whether mercury increases the risk of dementia, "I personally don't think there's evidence for it. I think these heavy metals are going to do other things first," such as causing nerve pain, itching or burning, Becker said.
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Where is promised ‘Godzilla’ El Nino? Update says slimmer monster lying in wait
On the left, a satellite image from Jan. 23, 2016 of El Nino, vs. the latest image, on the right, of Feb. 4, 2016.
Southern Californians using newly purchased umbrellas as parasols and wearing sunscreen instead of rain slickers have been asking: Where is El Niño?The answer from scientists, climatologists and weather forecasters is: Right here.“No, it hasn’t gone away. It is still as strong as it ever was,” said Ken Clark, meteorologist with Accuweather.com in Southern California.Huh?With sunny skies and a week’s worth of summer-like weather spiking the mercury into the high 80s, how can that be true? Isn’t El Niño supposed to bring wet, stormy weather?Be patient, says El Niño expert and climatologist Bill Patzert of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge. It’s coming.“A month from now you’ll be writing about the March Miracle or the April Apocalypse,” he said, responding to what he calls the media’s unquenchable thirst for colossal storms and massive mudslides, neither of which has happened as predicted for Southern California.Even Josh Willis says that local rains are coming. He’s the JPL project scientist for oceanography satellite Jason-3, the newest sea-temperature and sea-level reading tool used by climatologists to identify the current El Niño as the largest ever.“Don’t throw out that umbrella just yet,” he said Tuesday.All three scientists say El Niño will perform, but its arrival into Southern California has been delayed. They’re expecting a conveyor belt of squalls to enter stage left in late February and continue through March, possibly into April. This is a month or so later than original predictions for heavy rains.Patzert says sometimes El Niños take their sweet time.“It is not unusual for El Niños, with regards to Southern California rain, to be slow starters,” Patzert explained. “When they hook up, they are fast and furious finishers.”Also, in cases of El Niño, size matters. This one is too big — about 21/2 times the size of the continental United States — and is having trouble maneuvering. But new satellite data from Feb. 4 show the El Niño has shrunk nearly 40 percent since the last capture on Jan. 23, Patzert said. The El Niño has receded east of Hawaii, whereas last month’s image showed it west of the islands, he said.“As this signal shrinks, the jet stream should pull farther south” tracking storms into Southern California, he said.The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland, released its monthly El Niño forecast on Thursday. It predicts a 50 percent to 60 percent probability of above-average rainfall in Southern California for March and April, with only 40 percent to 50 percent for Central California and 30 percent to 40 percent for Northern California, said John Gottschalck, chief of the center’s operational prediction branch.In short, it reiterated a prediction of El Niño-patterned weather for Southern California. Namely, weakened westward-blowing trade winds and a warming of the upper ocean in the central and eastern Pacific will alter the jet stream, pulling storms into the West Coast, much like what happened during the last El Niño in February and March 1998.Another reason for El Niño’s slow start is its entanglement with a high-pressure system over Utah that brought dry, hot weather into Southern California over the past week and a half. More importantly, the high-pressure dome pushed the jet stream north, sending El Niño-fueled storms into Central and Northern California in January and the Pacific Northwest and western Canada in February. This has increased Sierra snowpack to 105 percent, a positive sign for breaking the drought.Calling it a “short-term” phenomena, Clark says the high pressure has begun to fade, with the National Weather Service predicting “a slight chance” or rain on Thursday. However, serious rain is not expected until the end of the month. “There may be more stormy patterns as we get into the end of February and into March,” he said.Of course, no one can say for sure what El Niño will do. But scientists are hardly reprimanding El Niño, Spanish for “the child.” They are giving it a second chance.“The ball game is not over yet. We do have a lot of innings left in the game,” Gottschalck said. “ We still have March.”
Read the original post: http://www.dailybreeze.com/
Federal disaster loans offered to commercial Dungeness crab fishermen
Monterey - Help is on the way in the form of federal disaster loans for commercial fishermen who have suffered financial losses from California's canceled commercial Dungeness crab season this year.That's according to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which announced this week that it is offering low-interest federal disaster loans to small business commercial fishermen. With a "disaster" declaration made by Gov. Jerry Brown, fishermen can receive immediate access to the loans of up to $2 million at an interest rate of 4 percent (2.625 percent for private, non-profit organizations) with terms of up to 30 years. Those eligible include any small business owner or worker engaged in crab fishing in the waters affected by the delay of the season itself or by the closure of Rock Crab Fishery. That includes the suppliers of fishing gear and fuel, docks and boatyards, processors, wholesalers, shippers and retailers. The declaration covers 39 counties in California including Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, and two counties in Nevada and two counties in Oregon."If anybody feels like they're impacted in any way, shape or form, than they should apply," said Susheel Kumar, Public Information Officer for the Small Business Association.It was in November that state officials closed the Dungeness crab fishing season after finding unsafe levels of a toxin called domoic acid, caused by a massive coastal algae bloom fueled by El Nino.The season was originally set to kick off on Nov. 15."We run crab combos from November until April where we put the pots out in the water and go pull out the crab pots in the afternoon," said Chris Arcoleo of Chris's Fishing Trips and Whale Watching in Monterey. "So without having the crabs to make the trip worthwhile for those people, it really affects you. And once you get into January and February, all we can fish for is flat fish, and it affects the amount of fish you can take trips out for."The closed crab fishing season has also impacted Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing, according to owner Phil DiGirolama."We didn't have any local crab so we're bringing crab up from Oregon and the price reflects that," said DiGirolama.But for Mike Ricketts of the Monterey Commercial Fishing Association who has made his living from crab and salmon fishing for the last 40 years, it has been a combination of the recent bad salmon season and now crab season that has really hit him and other fishermen hard."No one saw it coming so nobody could prepare for it," said Ricketts. "Fishermen had already spent a considerable amount of money without having any way to repay it."Ricketts said that probably 80 percent of income from crab fishing has gone by."Most guys are living off their credit cards," he said. "And now the further we go into the season, the less demand there is for crab."Ricketts is also leery of the SBA loans."That doesn't help a lot of people because of the collateral they want," he said. "If you own a boat and you can't pay it back, they'll want your boat and that scares a lot of fishermen. If we don't get to go fishing, there are no ways for these to be repaid."But Kumar said that help is there if needed and those interested can learn more at two different information sessions in the Monterey area, one at the Moss Landing Harbor District at 7881 Sandholdt Road on Wednesday and the other at the Monterey Harbor Office at 250 Figueroa St. on Friday, Feb. 12. Applicants can also go online at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/
Read the original post: http://www.marinij.com/
Harmful Algal Blooms: A Sign of Things to Come?
Pseudo-nitzschia, a marine algae that produces a toxin called demoic acid. Excess production of pseudo-nitzchia can result in a harmful algal bloom such as the one that shut down shellfish fisheries along the U.S. West Coast last year. Photo: NOAA Fisheries.
Scientists from NOAA Fisheries and the University of Washington Applied Physics Lab have developed the Environmental Sample Processor, a robot that monitors the water for harmful algal blooms. This one is being deployed in Puget Sound, just north of Seattle. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Stephanie Moore.Transcript: Harmful Algal Blooms, A Sign of Things to Come?
Listen to the podcast: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/podcasts/2016/01/habs_with_vera_trainer.html