'Save the Albatross' Campaign a Remarkable Success

The outlook for endangered albatross species has dramatically improved, thanks to the success of an international conservation programme implemented by the RSPB and Birdlife International.

The Albatross Task Force (ATF) was established in 2006 in order to reduce the number of accidental albatross deaths caused by long-line fishing. At the time, it was estimated that one bird was killed every five minutes from long line fishing, and 19 of the 22 albatross species were under threat from extinction.

The birds dying because they were taking bait from fishing lines fed into the sea from boats fishing for tuna or swordfish. Once they swallowed the bait, they would become caught on the hook, dragged underwater and drown.

Specialist instructors from the ATF went out with fishermen and taught them techniques that would stop the birds becoming entangled. They were encouraged to fish at night, weight their lines and attach streamers the back of vessels to scare the birds away. Government legislation also played its part by stipulating that no more than 25 birds could be caught as "by-catch" during trips.

The programme has been heralded as a resounding success, and has reduced deaths by up to 85% in some locations.

Dr Ross Wanless, coordinator of the Birdlife programme in Africa, said: "Changing entrenched attitudes and practices is a slow process, but the ATF has shown that by working with government and industry, change is possible."

Whilst the 19 species are not freed from the threat of extinction yet- many are still snagged by trawlers, breeding is slow and habitats are endangered - the campaign is likely to have made a remarkable impact on their population stability and its success cannot be understated.

Learn more about the 'Save the Albatross' Campaign here

Read more about this story at the BBC News website and the Times News website

US Designates 200,000 Square Miles of Conservation Zones in the Pacific Ocean

George Bush was expected to announce yesterday that he will designate nearly 200,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean as conservation areas. This announcement will make the US President the leader who has protected a greater area of the oceans than anyone else in the world.

Areas to be designated as marine reserves are the Mariana islands in the Western Pacific, a chain of remote islands in the central Pacific and the Rose Atoll off American Samoa. The Marianas Marine National Monument will protect the Mariana Trench: as deep as Everest is tall. The area is home to a wide variety of species, including many species of corals and some of the most diverse fish populations to be found in the Mariana islands. Other species to be protected by the three conservation areas include sharks, turtles, petrels and the Micronesian megapode; a bird which uses heat from volcanic vents to incubate its eggs.

Commercial fishing, mining and energy exploration will be banned within the protected areas. Recreational fishing will be allowed, but only by permit, with the number of permits to be limited.

Although excited by the proposals, conservationists are disappointed that protection will only extend to a distance of 50 miles from the islands: scientists had recommended a protection zone extending up to 200 nautical miles.

Guardian, 6 January 2009: Bush designates ocean conservation areas in final weeks as President.

Forthcoming Workshop on 'Space and the Marine Environment'

GLOBE UK will hold a workshop in London on Thursday 22 January on 'space and the marine environment'. Together with partners, including the Advisory Committee on the Protection of the Sea (ACOPS) and the British National Space Centre (BNSC), GLOBE UK will explore the need for mapping and monitoring the marine environment, necessary for setting up marine reserves around Europe. This is a key feature of the Marine Bill, currently passing through the UK Parliament. The speakers will address this and other applications including marine pollution monitoring, fishing, hydrographic surveying, oil and gas exploration, the arctic and carbon sequestration. The event will cover technical, environmental, operation and policy aspects of the contributions of satellites and new systems for the analysis and communication of the data.

The event will be held from 2-6pm in the Boothroyd Room in the Portcullis House, opposite the Palace of Westminster. If you would like to attend this meeting or would like more information, please email globe@parliament.uk.

Marine Bill Receives Royal Assent

At 11.20am today, the House of Lords witnessed the State Opening of Parliament marking the beginning of the parliamentary session.

Here, the Queen's Speech was delivered, outlining the Government's plans for the coming Parliamentary year.

Given the current global economic climate, it was no surprise that the Government's main priority is to ensure the stability of the economy during the global economic downturn. Many of the commitments and proposed legislation mentioned in the Queen's speech, understandably centred around helping people and families through hard economic times.

The main highlight for the British Ecological Society was the Marine Bill receiving Royal Assent. The science policy team are particularly pleased that many of the recommendations made to Government to strengthen the bill were taken into consideration. The Queen said:

"To protect the environment for future generations - a bill will be brought forward to manage marine resources and protect access to the coastline."

The speech also described the Government's intention to work closer with the devolved administrations - a requirement for the Marine Bill to be effective.

The science policy team would be delighted to receive comments from readers of the blog

Questions Over Future of Fast Food Fish

As popular white fish species such as cod, face fisheries collapse, pollock has increasingly been an essential alternative. For instance the kid's favourite, Fish Fingers, now increasingly consist of pollock rather than cod, as do McDonald's 'Filet-o-Fish.'

Perhaps the pollock's newly received endangered status has been brought about by increased corporate-consumer demand.

Recently the US National Marine Fisheries Service advised an 18 per cent reduction in next year's catch from the pollock's stronghold in the eastern Bering Sea. However given that advice about the North Atlantic Cod stocks were not heeded, many believe greater reductions are needed.

Greenpeace's oceans campaign director, John Hocevar has been vocal about the need to reduce pollock fishing in order to prevent total collapse, suspecting that "we are on the cusp of one of the largest fishery collapses in history."

Many scientists including Hocevar believe that the pollock's immense decline could be the reason that stellar sea lion's - a major predator of pollock - are faring so badly. Their numbers have tumbled by 80 per cent since the 1970s.

Once again, the imperative to diversity fish tastes at home and abroad has been highlighted, to allow imperilled fish stocks to recover.

Larger Fish Produce Hardier Offspring

Research published in the Royal Society's Biology Letters journal suggests that fisheries management must consider population demography.

Modeling the life history demographics of 25 different marine fish species, Canadian scientists have found that larger, older female fish produce tougher offspring than their younger counterparts.

In efforts to make fisheries more sustainable, conserving the elder female fish could help sustain populations. Currently the findings of the research are out of sync with real-life fisheries practice, where the largest fish are sought. Overfishing results from this practice because of the two-fold effect of removing the best breeders, and subsequently reducing the rate of recruitment in the local population.

It is suggested that by enforcing size regulations, altering the size of fishing gear and how it's used could protect the bigger older individuals. The practicality of implementing these measures on the ground are not explored explicitly however, and targeting large female fish within populations could be very difficult to implement.

Do blog readers believe that European fisheries practices are sustainable? Does the Common Fisheries Policy need re-evaluating?

Blog readers are invited to comment on this article

Bluefin Tuna Under Threat from Short-Sighted EU Policy

It seems as though the Government-Industrial complex has overcome sensibilities in a move by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), calling to maintain fishing levels of bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus 50% above scientists' recommendations.

ICCAT members decided to permit a take of 22,000 tonnes per year (Total Allowable Catch), despite ICCAT scientists setting a quota of 15,000 tonnes (TAC). The members voted on the higher quota despite warnings by scientists that fisheries would collapse if their advice was not heeded. The ICCAT members' target does not even take into consideration the additional 30% of take that illegal fishing contributes.

Some European countries have independently expressed concern over bluefin stocks. Spain, which consume the most tuna of any European country, called for a suspension of the fishery, whilst Italy have opted for a total moratorium.

It is thought that conservation groups may now engage the Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), in order to enforce trade control over the bluefin tuna trade.

Europeans, particularly the British, have a tendency to favour very few fish species over the relative diversity of fish available on the market. There are many decent alternatives to popular choices such as Atlantic cod and bigeye tuna (stocks of both are perilously depleted), its simply a matter of educating the public, and where possible your colleagues.

The Marine Conservation Society has provided a comprehensive sustainable fish guide, and a pocket-sized version is available from their fish online website.

North Atlantic Rays and Sharks Face Extinction

The IUCN have today announced the findings of an investigation into the state of the North Atlantic's rays and sharks; 26 per cent of these face extinction with 20% 'near threatened.'

The estimated percentage is conservative however, insofar as many of the species (27%) assessed lacked sufficient data to effectively assess their status. Even the conservative estimate of 26 per cent threatened, is much greater than the global average of 18 per cent.

Claudine Gibson, former Programme Officer for the IUCN SSG and lead author of the report said: “Most sharks and rays are exceptionally vulnerable to overfishing because of their tendency to grow slowly, mature late, and produce few young. Those at greatest risk of extinction in the northeast Atlantic include heavily fished, large sharks and rays, like porbeagle and common skate, as well as commercially valuable deep water sharks and spiny dogfish.”

Presently the UK and Sweden are leading Europe on marine conservation, with full protection offered for some shark and ray species. The EU has imposed some limits on skate and ray species, although full consideration to scientists' recommendations has not yet been conceded.

The primary cause of their alarming status is overfishing. As the annual meeting for EU quotas looms closer, there will be opportunities to bolster the recovery of these species.

Sonja Fordham, Deputy Chair of the IUCN SSG and Policy Director for the Shark Alliance called for government officials to listen up and take notice:

"Country officials should heed the dire warnings of this report and act to protect threatened sharks and rays at national, regional and international levels. Such action is immediately possible and absolutely necessary to change the current course toward extinction of these remarkable ocean animals,"

This report highlights the urgent need to ratify the Marine Bill, due to be announced in the forthcoming Queen's speech.

UK Seals Suffering Massive Decline

Marine Biologists have disturbingly discovered that some of the UK's harbour seal Phoca vitulina vitulina populations have and are undergoing 'massive' declines. The results are particularly concerning given that scientists are as yet, unable to account for exactly why these declines are occurring at their present rate.

Ian Boyd, a professor with the sea mammals research unit at St Andrew's University said:

"This is very abnormal. To give you an idea of the level of abnormality, the rates of decline are equivalent to these populations producing no offspring for five or six years."

The declines coincide with reports that other groups in these areas (Orkney islands and East England) such as sea birds are undergoing similarly rapid declines. Last month scientists at the University of Stockholm reported that their 'junk food hypothesis' could offer some explanation to the declines. The theory goes, that as key prey populations in the North Sea such as cod Gadus morhua have depleted to near extinction, fish such as sprat Sprattus sprattus have grown considerably in abundance, replacing the cod's ecological niche. However despite their abundance, they lack the nutritional value of cod leading to leaner seabirds and lower survival rates in young.

Other theories researchers have put forward include an increasing range overlap with gray seals Halichoerus grypus resulting in greater competition, direct persecution at fishing grounds by shooting, and a greater reported abundance of killer whales around Orkney and the North sea, leading to increased mortality of seal pups.

The report comes at a time when Scotland is consulting on a Scottish Marine Bill. Conservationists have called for the abolishment of the Seal Conservation Act that permits seal shooting near fisheries, and for protection under the existing Wildlife & Countryside Act.

Since top predators such as seals are sensitive to perturbations in community dynamics, the declining trend seen in many of their British populations should be a considerable cause for concern. Continued monitoring will provide a better understanding of whether this is a natural fluctuation in their population dynamics or a more concerning trend.

Blog readers are invited to comment on this article

Avoiding Imminent North Sea Cod Extinction

Cod is historically one of the most popular commercial fish species in the UK, not to mention popular across the European continent. Because of this, major commercial fisheries have been forced to close, and existing fisheries may also soon face closure.

Exacerbated by the mismatch in timing of their young's main food source, the copepod, caused by predicted warming events, Cod face an uncertain future.

If cod populations disappear completely, it is likely that 'trophic cascade' events could occur, i.e. the food chain within the broader community could be severely disrupted, as happened when the Canadian cod stocks collapsed.

A recent review paper published in Biology Letters suggests that fisheries management should be at the species-fishery scale, rather than a broad species-specific approach to management. The motivations for the author's suggestion lie in the considerable variability in genetic make-up and spawning aggregations between different cod populations, and the potential for small meta-populations to crash without being detected, since these are amalgamated with the whole population. Therefore data collection should be accurate and well-timed for effective management.

Targeted conservation measures are recommended to policy-makers where appropriate, however the socio-economic consequences of any decisions made must be given serious consideration.

Blog Readers are invited to comment on this article!

Source: Hutchinson, W.F. (2008). The dangers of ignoring stock complexity in fishery management: the case of the North Sea cod. Biology Letters. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2008.0443

Related Material:

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1299&format=PDF&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Seabirds Sensitive to Local Impacts of Climate Change

A paper published recently in the journal Global Change Biology, has shown how local impacts of climate change affect seabird populations of the common guillemot Uria aalge and the thick-billed guillemot Uria lomvia around the Northern Hemisphere.

Climate change may alter the frequency, intensity and distribution of the climatic indices; the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the Arctic Oscillation. These climatic oscillations are linked to sea surface temperature (SST), which in turn affects the prey abundance for seabirds.

In this study, data were collected and analysed from 43 different colonies across the whole circumpolar region. Colonies where factors other than climate were known to have a great impact on guillemot populations, (such as excessive hunting and oil spills) were excluded from the study so as not to confound the results. Whereas previous studies had focused on effects of climate change on seabird populations at single locations, the strength of this study lies in the extent of area covered; most of the Northern Hemisphere. Looking at such a large geographic area greatly minimises the possibility that observed changes could have been caused by anything other than climate change. SST datasets were taken from three time-series, 1965-76, 1977-88 and 1989-97. SST was described as the temperature deviation (positive or negative) from a 50-year average around guillemot colonies.

The researchers discovered that both species responded negatively to rapid changes in the environment, regardless of how the temperature changed. However, common guillemots responded favourably to colder phases (that is, an increase in colder, energy-rich waters) and thick-billed guillemots favoured warmer phases (since they are found further north and warmth allows ice melt and greater feeding opportunities). The response to rapid change reinforces the idea that broadly, even within an ecological time frame, species with a slow life-history strategy particularly cannot adapt fast enough to rapid environmental change.

The wider implications for biodiversity, and thus for conservation managers and policy-makers, is once again a strengthening of measures to tackle climate change. Although conservation measures can be implemented for biodiversity at mid-latitudes to help local adaptation, species already at northern latitudes cannot readily shift their climatic envelopes. Hence globally, we must increase efforts to reduce the rate at which we are changing our climate.

Reference:

Irons, D., Tycho, A-N., Gaston, A.J. et al. (2008). Fluctuations in circumpolar seabird populations linked to climate oscillations. Global Change Biology. 14(7):1455-1463.

Read the full paper online here (subscription required).

A Vision of the Future from Volcanic Vents

A team of researchers at the University of Plymouth have carried out the first in-situ investigation into the possible effects of anthropogenic CO2 on the world's oceans. Until now, studies into the effect of increasing atmospheric CO2 on the chemistry of the oceans were carried out in aquaria. The results were published online yesterday (8 June) in Nature.

Studying the effect of high concentrations of CO2 around volcanic vents off the coast of Italy, the researchers found that around these vents, coral and microbial organisms with calcite exoskeletons were absent, with a proliferation of algae in their place. As the concentration of CO2 in the ocean increases, the pH decreases; the oceans become more acidic. The increase in acidity removes calcite and aragonite from the marine environment, which are used by many marine organisms to build their shells.

The researchers describe their results as "quite worrying". The next step is to undertake more work to see how ocean acidification trickles through marine food webs.

DEFRA Consultation on the Draft Marine Bill

An encouraging step forward has been made regarding the proetction of the UK marine environment with today's release of the draft marine bill, on which DEFRA is consulting. The aims of the marine bill at this stage include:

• proposals to create a network of marine reserves in order to protect endangered species and habitats around England's coastline
• setup of Marine Management Organisation by government to deliver objectives for marine environment
• fisheries management and marine enforcement

Environment Minister Hilary Benn has stated that: "Our proposals will raise protection and management of our seas to a new level, halting the decline in biodiversity to create clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas."

BES members are invited to comment on the draft bill. The deadline for responses to the consultation is 26 June 2008.

EFRA Committee Announces Scrutiny of Draft Marine Bill

The EFRA Select Committee is to undertake pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Marine Bill once this has been published by DEFRA, expected within the coming weeks.

Once published, comments on the draft Bill will be invited by the Committee.

Latest news from DEFRA on the Marine Bill

Guidance on submitting evidence to a Select Committee

Huge Study Maps Human Impact on World's Oceans

A huge study which has mapped the total human impact on the seas for the first time has revealed that the picture is far worse than the scientists imagined. 40% of the world's oceans have been heavily affected by human activities, including fishing, coastal development and pollution from shipping. The most severely affected areas are the North Sea, South and East China Seas, Carribean, Mediterranean, Red Sea, the Gulf, the Bering Sea, the East Coast of North America and the Western Pacific.

Scientists compiled data on the impact of 17 human activities across 20 ecosystems to compile a map of impacts at a global scale. The results were presented last week at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

One of the scientists behind the study commented that; "the message for policy-makers is clear... Conservation action that cuts across the whole set of human impacts is needed right now in many places around the globe".

See the Map of Human Impacts on the Oceans

Marine Climate Change - UK Impacts

The new published annual report card of the Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP) shows that marine climate change is having a significant impact on the UK's marine environment. According to the report, 2006 was the second warmest year for UK coastal waters since records began, with seven of the warmest years occurring in the last decade.

Recent warmer conditions have led to a shift in the abundance and geographical distribution in plankton. In turn this has led to reduced prey availability for some seabirds, linked to poor breeding success and reduced survival rates.

Models predict that coastal erosion and flooding will increase, with an increase too in the number of severe storms. This will have a severe impact on the goods and services which the seas can provide, with fishing and farming severely compromised by temperature change and alterations in plankton availability and ports, shipping and built structures all at risk.

Queen's Speech

The Queen's Speech included the Climate Change Bill and the draft Marine Bill (not mentioned in the speech).

Response to the Marine Bill White Paper

Defra published the summary of responses to A Sea Change – a Marine Bill White Paper. Defra received a total of 8519 responses, 8085 "campaign" responses and 434 "non-campaign" responses. 82% of the responses were supportive of the Marine Bill. A number of the responses emphasised the importance of the Bill being included in the Queen's speech and that their support was dependant on the implementation of all the proposals.

Marine Research Report

The House of Commons' Science and Technology Committee have released their report Investigating the Oceans, which addresses marine science in the United Kingdom. The Committee recommend the following:

• Urge Defra to bring forward to draft Marine Bill without delay.
• A new marine science agency should be established to coordinate marine science and research in the UK, to promote the education on marine science in schools, universities and the UK public to overcome the skill shortage in marine science.
• Both NERC and the government need to commit to ensuring that the research vessel planned for 2011 is delivered on time and that NERC should develop a case for a new coastal vessel.
• It is essential that the government establish Marine Protected Area (MPA) pilot sites ahead of the Bill, to assemble the necessary evidence required to develop the science needed to underpin MPA's and that MPA policy is directly linked to the draft Climate Change and Energy Bills.

Weekly Parliamentary News Update

Questions
Parliamentary questions were asked on the following: research into the impact of livestock husbandry on climate change; the tonnage of waste going to landfill in greater London; habitat compensation schemes, secured under the EU Habitats Directive and the environmental impact of the increase in residential air conditioning, the provisions made in the National Curriculum, for education on climate change, and recycling timber.

Debates
In an opposition debate on global poverty, several members discussed climate change in relation to international development objectives of sustainable development and poverty alleviation.


Select Committees
The Environmental Audit Select Committee has launched two new inquiries into environmental labelling and the sustainability of biofuels and published a report on the voluntary carbon offset market.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has launched an inquiry into flooding

POST
The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology has published POSTnotes on managing urban flooding, and environmental protection and new industries in the deep sea such as carbon storage.