One woman, one horse, and one dog: A 450-mile adventure!

by Angela Szesciorka, Vertebrate Ecology Lab

Warning, this is about horses — terrestrial mammals, yes. But as you may know, cetaceans did come from an ungulate lineage. So settle down kids.

I wanted to tell you all a little bit about my sister’s upcoming epic journey.

On May 25, my sister, Samantha, will embark on a 28-day journey across Nevada on horseback.

Why you ask?

Because no one ever has!

This will be the first solo equestrian ride along the Nevada portion of the American Discovery Trail, the coast-to-coast trail across the United Stated from Point Reyes National Seashore in California to the Delmarva Peninsula in Delaware.

‘Spot a Basking Shark’ Project. How can you help save this endangered shark?

You can help the PSRC collect information to save the Basking Shark! Photo by Greg Skomal

By Kristin Walovich, Pacific Shark Research Center

Contrary to Hollywood’s portrayal of gigantic man-eating sharks, the three largest species of shark spend their time peacefully roaming the ocean’s surface munching on the ocean’s smallest creatures.  Basking Sharks, the second largest species of shark, cruise the seas in search of plankton, filtering up to 2,000 tons of water across its gills per hour. Reaching lengths of thirty five feet, this shark exists worldwide, yet very little is known about how they live or where they go.

To discover more information about this vulnerable species, scientists from the Pacific Shark Research Center (PSRC) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) have begun a new type of shark hunt. Unlike the crazed and frantic scenes from the JAWS movie, this shark hunt only requires a boat, camera and telephone! The Spot a Basking Shark Project enlists the help of local sea-farers to uncover the demographics and distribution of the California Basking Shark.

Once common along the California coast, these gentle giants are now a rare sight. In the past, these social creatures were seen in schools of hundreds or thousands; however since 1993 no more than three basking sharks have been spotted together. Fishing and eradication efforts by fishermen who believed them to be ‘man-eaters’ contributed heavily to their population decline. Despite the fishery closure in the late 1950s, Basking Shark numbers have remained low, mostly due to human impacts like vessel strikes, fisheries bycatch and illegal shark fining. Based on the decline of Basking Shark numbers and lack of species information, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed this species as endangered.

If you see a Basking Shark, the PSRC and NMFS want to know! These sharks can be identified by their large size, pointed snouts, and large gill slits that encircle the head. Basking sharks have dorsal fins up to three feet tall that are visible as they slowly swim along the surface with mouths wide open catching plankton.  If you see a Basking Shark, call or email the PSRC with your location, date and time of the sighting and any photos or videos. Your information helps the PSRC document and understand these majestic and peaceful creatures.

Visit the PSRC Website to report a sighting and to learn more about Basking Sharks!

The basking shark can filter 2,000 gallons of water per hour while searching for plankton. Photo by Andrew Parsons

Chronicles of a Curious Beachcomber

by Angela Szesciorka, Vertebrate Ecology Lab

A few Sundays ago — Super Bowl Sunday, in fact — I took a three-hour walk along the beach at Fort Ord in Monterey, CA with Don Glasco, a systems engineer and former cartographer.

This wasn’t a leisurely pursuit, but my volunteer service to the Sanctuary Integrated Monitoring Network’s (SIMoN) Coastal Ocean Mammal and Bird Education and Research Surveys, also known as Beach COMBERS.

I meet Don at Fort Ord Dunes State Park in Marina around 9 a.m. After downing the last of my coffee, we head out into the foggy morning.

Don Glasco referring to the almighty bird book to identify an unknown species by its toes.

NOAA Budget Cuts: MLML Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Stranding Response Vanishing?

By Stephanie Hughes, Vertebrate Ecology Lab

If marine mammals are deemed the “canary in the coal mine” for our oceans, how can we predict threats to oceans and human health if funds that support long-term monitoring of these sentinels are eliminated?

The importance of monitoring the health of marine mammals goes beyond our “good Samaritan” duties of saving the cute and cuddly. Rescue and recovery attempts don’t always result in a happy ending, even though we hope for the best outcome. Regardless, our efforts are never in vain, for even failed attempts present us with the opportunity to discover clues for how the animal lived, so we may (hopefully) reveal how and why it died. Responding to diseased, injured, distressed, and even deceased marine mammals is our gateway to unveiling what these animals, and even humans, may be up against as environmental conditions are in flux.

The Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Stranding Response Network operates through the Vertebrate Ecology Laboratory (VEL) at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML) and is a participant of the National Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program. The VEL-MLML stranding network has been in operation for over 20 years under the direction of Dr. Jim Harvey, professor and interim director of MLML. At its infancy, VEL-MLML stranding response, in collaboration with other stranding response organizations such as The Marine Mammal Center and Long Marine Laboratory, was conducted voluntarily.  Students, faculty, and members of the community would volunteer for rescuing, recovering, or collecting data on live and deceased stranded marine mammals. During the early years, equipment for stranding response was limited, thereby making the sample collection and storage to support long-term research difficult, though not impossible.  Volunteers often lacked proper transportation, sampling equipment, and protective gear, and many were without formal training on data or sample collection. Despite these shortcomings, dedicated volunteers would drag hundreds of pounds of dead, beached marine mammal heads, tails, flippers, etc. (yes, without latex gloves) through miles of sand dunes, then would strap their prized possession on top of their ’78 Toyota pick up, tails and flippers flapping in the wind on Highway 1 as they returned to the lab. During the early 1990s, the VEL-MLML stranding network had many willing, committed, and dedicated volunteers (still does). What it didn’t have were sufficient funds to support the infrastructure necessary for rapid, large scale, and long-term stranding response.

Happy World Ocean Day June 8th 2012!

Help create a wave of change this World Ocean Day!  Today is a day to spread the word about conservation and our responsibility of improving the health of the ocean.  To find out ways to celebrate go to worldoceans.org.  Today I am continuing to make a lifestyle change and rode my bike to get to the UC Santa Cruz library to study and make this post!  Celebrate in your own way to rise up and be the voice of the ocean!

To Meet a Giant: Responding to a Stranded Baby Gray Whale

(photo: KSBW, Amy Larson)

Brynn Hooton-Kaufman

by Brynn Hooton-Kaufman

It started as any good weekend day might.  A good cup of coffee, a good book, and a view of the bay.  I like to park my car looking out over the tidepools at Asilomar and read, letting the crashing waves add interesting sound effects to whatever scene is playing out in my current novel of choice.  Knee deep in Jurassic Park, the waves were bringing to life velociraptors crashing through the forest.  Intimidating and terrifying, those velociraptors.  But you can’t help but admire them, and the juveniles sound pretty cute.  Given the chance, I’d probably take a baby velociraptor for a pet.  At least until it started stalking me around the house.

When the sounds of my empty stomach started overpowering the thundering waves, I headed home to make some lunch and get things in order for the coming week.  Not two steps into the kitchen my phone buzzed, signaling the arrival of a text message.  More often than not, I’d have ignored it, as hunger usually wins out in my ranking of priorities.  But as all things happen for a reason, I decided to take a look, and so for once, my phone didn’t get forgotten for hours on end as it usually does.

“hey gray whale calf alive and stranded near monterey dunes colony.  TMMC is headed to the scene, we may need ur help!  r u available today?”

I had to read the message twice.  As much as people might think all marine biologists spend hours on end with dolphins, whales, and other majestic creatures of the sea, learning their mannerisms, capable of identifying any sleek shape that might be surfacing in the bay on a giving day, I hadn’t actually even seen a whaleup close.  My closest call was a pod of orcas sighted from the bow of the Point Sur during a class cruise, and I just caught a glimpse of their backs as they headed away.  Usually, my most intimate experience with whales was seeing the poof of sea spray that they leave like a footprint above the water, the proof that one of the giants had just taken a great breath before submerging.  I really don’t know much about whales.  I study seaweed.  

Big Miracle: A Whale of a Story from Operation Breakthrough

Tomorrow, Big Miracle will open in box offices across the nation, telling the story of the 1988 rescue of three gray whales trapped in the ice near Barrow, Alaska.  Dr. Jim Harvey, MLML Director and professor (and MLML alumnus), played a significant role in the operation.  Harvey, who frequently tells the story of the rescue to his grad students and now has proof of his whale-tale, sat down with us and agreed to paint the picture one more time, and fill in some of the lesser-known details.

Rescue team members Mark Fraker (left, oil company), NOAA’s Dave Withrow (center) and Jim Harvey (right, seated). (photo: Dave Withrow, NMML, NOAA)

Jim, you didn’t join the faculty at MLML until 1989, a year after the rescue operation took place?  What were you doing at the time, and how did you get involved?

That’s correct; I was doing a two-year postdoc position at the National Marine Mammal Lab (NMML) in Seattle, Washington when the story was picked up in the national media.  I had done a lot of work tagging gray whales in Baja, California with my advisor Bruce Mate while getting my doctorate at Oregon State University, and NMML recognized that I had experience with gray whales.  My status as postdoc also meant my time was more flexible than some of the other biologists.

The scientific community originally didn’t want to interfere with the whales; generally, we try to step back and let nature work its course.  However, with the whales in the national spotlight there was a lot of pressure to get involved, and since NMML had done work for years near Barrow, we were eventually asked to send biologists to help.  I, along with Dave Withrow, was asked to go, with plans to tag the whales.

(photo: Jim Harvey)

Do you know why the whales were there in the first place, and how they were discovered?

These three young whales were younger and inexperienced, and the truth was, they should have begun migrating south some time earlier when the other gray whales did.  They were trapped near Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost city in the US, where a big ice flow had traveled down and grounded itself, effectively blocking their path south.

The whales were found by an Eskimo on a snowmobile who was coming back from a day of hunting.  The Eskimo mentioned the whales to scientist Craig George.  In Alaska, the native communities hire biologists to help monitor the wildlife they harvest, conduct studies, and manage the permitting, and Craig was one of these scientists.  He was interested in recording some acoustic signals from the whales, but didn’t have any equipment to do so.  Craig went to a friend at one of the local TV station to see if he could borrow recording equipment, and the friend obliged, and others at the station asked if they could film upon hearing the story of the whales.  I don’t think Craig knew what they were planning to broadcast, but it turned out that they showed the footage on the news, and pretty soon it went viral.

(photo: Jim Harvey)

What was it like when you arrived?

When Dave and I made it to Barrow, the town was swamped with media, scientists, environmentalists, government officials, and everyone else you could think of.  There actually wasn’t even a place for Dave and I to stay.   We were flown by helicopter out onto the ice where the whales were located, and given a chance to assess their condition.  Unfortunately, one of the whales had recently disappeared, and was presumed to have died since there was no way for it to find another place to breathe.  Possibly, loud noises had likely scared it and caused it to flee from the hole.

(photo: Jim Harvey)

The good news was, however, that the Eskimos had become very efficient at cutting through the ice.  There aren’t exactly a lot of trees around Barrow, so the town didn’t have any chainsaws.  A generous company actually called the town and had some sent up to help with the effort.  By the time we arrived, they were able to make a ~15 by 25 foot hole in ten minutes.  They would cut the ice, and then use poles to push down one end.  On the other end, more poles were used to push the big chunk down and under the surrounding ice.  The only problem was, the whales were too scared to leave the safety of their own reliable hole, and they weren’t moving down the path they were cutting.

Since gray whales really aren’t very good at being in ice, Dave and I assumed they were probably extremely stressed and shaken.  We suggested that they cut the holes much closer to the whales, which thankfully worked.  The whales became so accustomed to moving from hole to hole, that eventually, a whale would pop up as soon as the newly-cut piece of ice was moved.   They actually started traveling back and forth down their line of holes, maybe enjoying a little more freedom.

(photo: Jim Harvey)

This must have taken quite a bit of time to cut so many holes toward the edge of the ice.  How long were you there, and where did you stay, since Barrow was packed?

Dave and I were on site for about two weeks, and we stayed for the rest of the rescue operation.  Our accommodations were actually sort of a funny story.  Because of the lack of lodging, we were housed at the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory (NARL).  Due to the Cold War, NARL had gained importance because of its proximity to Russia.  It was a pretty top-secret place, and here we were, a couple of scientists.  Well, NARL was quite a ways out of Barrow, so the only food available was from the commissary, served on a strict schedule.  Somehow, our schedules seemed to be the exact opposite, and we were constantly missing all meals.  As luck would have it, we discovered a Mexican restaurant in Barrow that had a limo that would come and pick you up.  Dave and I spent quite a few trips riding back and forth in a limo so we could actually eat.

You mentioned tension from the Cold War, but it was a Russian icebreaker that eventually helped the whales out of the ice.  How did that work out?

You’re right, there was a lot of tension from the Cold War, but the Russians did come to the rescue.  The reason that we needed an icebreaker was because an ice ridge was built up against the shore, and it was far too thick to cut through.  They actually considered blowing it up at one time, and took an ice expert from NOAA out to the ridge to take a look.  They dropped him off by helicopter, and planned to be back in five minutes.  On their way back, they found that he was being stalked by a polar bear, though he had no idea.  Thankfully, they were able to get him back into the helicopter before he became a meal.  In the end, they decided the icebreaker would be the best bet.

A Russian icebreaker was in the Beaufort Sea, and they were talked into helping, although there was concern because it would bring them so close to NARL and our coastline.  The Russian captain and a few other crew actually ended up visiting by helicopter, and took the chance to take pictures of the scene, and shared their traditions by handing out gifts to those of us there.  I can’t remember what I was given, but I remember I wasn’t able to give anything in return, because the only article I had was my jacket, and I never could have survived without it in the 10 to 20 degree below zero temperatures.

(photo: Jim Harvey)

So was the icebreaker able to reach the whales and lead them to open water?

Yes, the icebreaker was actually able to plow all the way through, up to the last hole that was carved by the research team.   The ship then backed out, and it created a channel that the whales were able to follow.  I wasn’t able to watch from the helicopters during this part of the rescue, but there was word that people had seen the whales in open water, and others reported seeing a pair of gray whales off of the California coast.  We never ended up tagging the whales because we didn’t want to further stress them out, so we couldn’t say for sure where they ended up.  But, I feel confident we gave them a good fighting chance.

(photo: Jim Harvey)

What do you think of a movie being made? 

I plan to go see the film, and I’m curious to see how the story is told.  I don’t think there’s any character in it that portrays the role I played.  But hopefully now, my students wont think I’m spinning a yarn when I tell them about my part in the rescue.

(photo: Jim Harvey)

Sustainable Fishing in West Africa: Combating Piracy and Poverty

Counting fin rays. photo M. Boyle

MLML alumna Mariah Boyle has been busy. Since finishing her thesis work in Ichthyology at MLML, Mariah has found  work with Fishwise, a sustainable seafood consultancy located in Santa Cruz, as Assistant Operations Director. In addition, she has found a way to merge her passions for science, travel and social justice into action. Last night, attendees of the bi-monthly Friends of Moss Landing  seminar series were treated to the inspiring story of Mariah’s recent endeavors to enhance fisheries management in Sierra Leone.

With a backdrop featuring stunning photos of the land and people of the Freetown Peninsula in Sierra Leone, Mariah filled the audience in on some socio-political history of the region. Years of corruption and violent war have left this nation; rich though it is in an abundant diversity of natural resources; mired in poverty and weak infrastructure. Fish are what Mariah knows, and as it turns out fish are of great importance to the people of Sierra Leone. Smoked in the coastal villages and transported “upcountry”, fish provide a primary source of income and protein for people throughout the country.

Minna fish, a sardinella. photo m. boyle

Fishermen in the coastal towns craft fishing nets which are slung from the side of small boats and the catch brought in every morning to be cured and sold. Though the boats are small, they are many and fisheries data in the region hardly exists. Still, fish were plentiful until recently. The threat of piracy off the Western Coast of Africa is real and it is terrible. It is thought that 40% of the fish caught off the Sierra Leone coast are caught through IUU fishing. That is; Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported. These pirate boats use gigantic trawling nets that take everything they pass over, resulting in a tremendous amount of by catch. Though it is illegal for these massive trawlers to come within 5 nautical miles of the coast, there is little to no enforcement. Local fisherman are under direct threat by the boats and people on board. Their nets are often cut. Driven from their preferred fishing spots, the local fisherman have taken to fishing the nearby estuary.

Under duress from over fishing of both the juvenile and adult stocks, the fisheries have dwindled. And there is little management practiced at this time.

That is where Mariah drew her inspiration to bring her knowledge as a scientist into play. Ms. Boyle found funding through research grants, allowing her to return to Sierra Leone in 2011 with a goal to collect fisheries data; such as types of fish being caught, numbers and size; in order to inform community management.

Photo by Meredith Chandler

She has worked to transform this information into a useable Log Book and Fish Guide with photographs of typical fish along with both local and scientific names for the fish. Mariah hopes these books can be used by the fishermen to track their own data so that the fisheries may be locally managed. During her last visit, 50-70 fish were identified and over 1000 fish were measured. She is now working up analysis on this data.

Informative documentaries on the threat of piracy to fisheries sustainability may be found at the Environmental Justice Foundation website. Follow Mariah’s progress on her facebook page and on her personal blog.

Capture the King Tides!

An opportunity is quickly approaching for you to get involved in marine science.  All you have to do is pull out your camera and snap some pictures.

On January 20, 21 and 22, and February 6, 7, and 8 king tides will take place along our coast.  What’s a king tide?  A king tide is the one of the highest seasonal tides.  For example, on January 21st the high will be 6.3 feet and on February 7 it will be 5.8 feet.  The California King Tides Initiative is asking members of the public to help document these big tides, because they can help us visualize what rising waters along our California coasts might do in the future.

Blog creator and MLML alumna Erin Loury contemplates the future of Capitola's beaches during a 2011 king tide. (photo: Center for Ocean Solutions, Mike Fox)

When king tides coincide with big swell, they can have some impressive and damaging results.  You can see pictures from past king tides and learn more on the California King Tide Initiative home page.  So charge those camera batteries, and get ready to see science in action.  And remember, have fun and stay safe!

Penguin Sweaters

photo from thinkprogress.org

As I was driving to school this morning, I caught the end of this story on oil spills, penguins and sweaters. It’s worth a listen. Apparently, the sweaters keep  penguins from ingesting oil while preening after exposure to an oil spill. Read more about the recent  New Zealand oil spill here.