Welcome to Fans of the Sea Magazine - First Quarter, 2008

Conservation News

Washington, DC - Ocean Conservancy Scientist, Wallace J. Nichols and University of California (UC)-Santa Cruz researcher Hoyt Peckham found surprising results in a recent peer-reviewed loggerhead sea turtle study that Nichols and Peckham conducted over the course of 10 years. The full study will be released on October 17th. The study reveals that small-scale fishing operations are a greater threat to the survival of north Pacific loggerhead sea turtles than large industrial fishing operations. The species is seriously threatened. As The New York Times recently editorialized, "For an oceanic species such as the loggerhead, these are incredibly dangerous times. It is partly the longevity of these creatures that makes their death as bystanders among the global fishing fleets feel so tragic, a truly colossal waste of life."
North Pacific loggerhead sea turtles travel more than 7,000 miles from Japan via Hawaii to feed and grow to maturity in Baja California Sur, Mexico, spending up to 30 years there before returning to Japan to breed. The number of nesting females in Japan has declined by 50 to 80 percent over the past 10 years. Young loggerheads spend 70 percent of their time in areas that are popular small-scale fishing locations. Small-scale fishing operations threaten the survival of these turtles because the turtles are inadvertently caught in gillnets set on the ocean bottom and long fishing lines with many hooks that can easily ensnare loggerhead sea turtles.
"Many small-scale fishing operations off the coast of Baja California, Mexico overlap with high concentrations of loggerhead turtles. The combination of the indiscriminate gillnets and long-line fishing gear and the density of loggerhead turtles results in a deadly situation for the turtles," said Wallace J. Nichols, Ocean Conservancy Scientist. "Local efforts to educate fishermen and remove dangerous fishing gear from the water are essential to protecting this endangered species that relies on the food-rich waters in Baja California, Mexico for survival."
While small-scale fishing operations cause great threats in Baja California, Mexico, inexpensive changes in the kind of fishing gear that even just a few fishermen use results in saving thousands of loggerhead turtles every year. Local conservation efforts are already underway to address the problem and this opportunity. Hoyt Peckham and the local Baja California conservation group, Grupo Tortuguero, with the help of Ocean Conservancy, recently worked with a local fisherman to retire dangerous long-line fishing gear to save up to 700 loggerhead sea turtles each year.
To learn more about the study that identifies the dangers of small-scale fishing on north Pacific loggerhead sea turtles, a link to the full report can found at http://www.seeturtles.org/ on Wednesday, October 17th.
The New York Times published an editorial on September 27th titled "The Plight of the Loggerhead Turtle". The piece addresses the threats and need to protect the turtles by highlighting a federal review of loggerhead status conducted by Nichols. The editorial is available online at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/opinion/27thur4.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.

Count Down to Extinction- The 6th Mass Extinction

The Earth may be on the brink of a sixth mass extinction on a par with the five others that have punctuated its history, suggests the strongest evidence yet. Butterflies in Britain are going extinct at an even greater rate than birds, according to the most comprehensive study ever of butterflies, birds, and plants.
There is growing concern over the rate at which species of plants and animals are disappearing around the world. But until now the evidence for such extinctions has mainly come from studies of birds. "The doubters could always turn around and say that there's something peculiar about birds that makes them susceptible to the impact of man on the environment," says Jeremy Greenwood of the British Trust for Ornithology in Norfolk, and one of the research team.
Now there is concrete evidence that insects - which account for more than half the described species on Earth, are disappearing faster than birds.
"If we can extrapolate that pattern of the British butterflies to other British insects, and indeed to invertebrates across the planet, we are obviously looking at a very serious bio-diversity crisis," says team member Mark Telfer of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Bedfordshire, UK.
Major ecosystems
Six large sets of data collected over the past 20 to 40 years in England, Wales, and Scotland were analyzed by Jeremy Thomas of the Natural Environment Research Council Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Dorchester, UK and colleagues. More than 20,000 volunteers submitted over 15 million records of species.
The researchers found that populations of 71 percent of the butterfly species have decreased over the last 20 years, compared to 56 percent for birds and 28 percent for plants. Two butterfly species (3.4 percent of total) became extinct, compared to six (0.4 percent) of the plant species surveyed. None of the native breeding birds went extinct in the last 20 years.
Crucially, the decline in populations happened in all the major ecosystems and was distributed evenly across Britain, rather than in just a few heavily degraded regions.
The crisis could be foreshadowing a sixth mass extinction, warn the researchers. Life on Earth has already seen five mass extinctions in its four billion year old history. The last one, which wiped out the dinosaurs, happened 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous period and was possibly caused by a giant meteor collision.
The current extinction is being precipitated by the widespread loss of habitats because of human activity, according to Tefler. The remaining habitats are small and fragmented, and their quality has been degraded because of pollution.
Nitrogen pollution
This claim is strongly supported, at least for plants, by a second study published alongside Thomas' paper in Science. Carly Stevens of the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK, and her colleagues studied the diversity of plants in 68 grassland sites in the UK. The number of species in each site varied greatly, from a mean of 7.2 to 27.6 species per site. Nitrogen pollution was found to blame for this variability.
"We found strong evidence that the decline in the species richness of grasslands within the UK was linked to nitrogen pollution," says Stevens. "In areas of high nitrogen pollution the species richness was much lower than in areas of low pollution, such as the Scottish highlands."
Atmospheric nitrogen pollution is caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and from intensive agriculture, especially from the volatilization of animal waste. This nitrogen is deposited on the soil, favoring the growth of some species to the cost of others.

• Manatees
• Aquarena Springs
  

Jobs/Volunteer Needs

Because this project is so big, we have job openings for both paid and volunteer positions. If you are interested, please e-mail us your request.

Volunteer Positions

• Models
• Videographers
• Script Writers

Paid Positions

• Grant Writers
• Project Manage
• secretary

Facts and Figures

The ocean covers by 72% of the earth's surface... 75% of the earth's Oxygen is provided by the oceans... There are a 1,000,000 species in the water out of the 1.6 million species in the world...We know more about the moon than we do about the oceans. Statistics show that with more animals being added to the endangered and threatened wildlife list every year, there is a dire need for conservation now:· It has been estimated that the current species extinction rate is 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than it would naturally be. (Source: The World Conservation Union - IUCN)· (Con't)

Jokes

Rules of Diving
· Don't take up diving to get a suntan.
· People who look good with a mask on are usually ugly without one.
· Inverse Law of Patches: A diver's ability is inversely proportional to the number of patches they wear
· Never clear a snorkel on a Mexican Federale'
· Anyone who says they have never been afraid while diving hasn't been diving or is a bad liar.
· Never use a sun intensifier lotion within 30 miles of the Equator.
· People say the funniest things when you shut their air off.
· Never dive naked underwater above a coral reef.
· Dry Suits and 10 glasses of tea do not mix
· Buddies are never where you need them to be.
· You WILL run out of film before the Whale Shark Swims By
· 60 minute camcorder batteries aren't

(Con't)

Games

• Monterey Bay Aquarium Games
• Sponge Bob
• Numerous Games

Local Projects

Marine Mammal Stranding Network
Manatee to Be Released
Mammal was found in Corpus Christi Bay, rehabilitated in Florida

By Beth Wilson (Contact)
Originally published 04:59 a.m., September 13, 2007
Updated 04:59 a.m., September 13, 2007
It's back to the wild today for a manatee who was rescued in January from the cold waters of the Corpus Christi Ship Channel.
The 7-year-old, 1,050-pound male mammal now named Texas hits the waters of Florida's Crystal River after eight months of rehabilitation at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo.
(More about the project)

Regional Projects

Longtime residents of San Marcos, Texas, can remember seeing mermaids and a famous swimming pig in Aquarena Springs' crystal-clear lake. Now they watch scuba divers learning their skills in water flowing from what archaeologists believe is the oldest continuous inhabited site in North America.
Off Interstate 35 between Austin and San Antonio, Aquarena Center, as it is now called, was once the oldest amusement park west of the Mississippi River until Southwest Texas State University took over the 90-acre (36-hectare) property in 1994. The focus of the center has changed dramatically from entertainment to ecological preservation of the native plants and wildlife, including five endangered species.
Certified instructors must first complete the Aquarena Center's two-day Scientific Diver course before they can bring their classes to the designated scuba training area. The consistent 71-degree-Fahrenheit (22-degree-Celsius) water temperature, combined with great visibility and many varieties of fish, make the center an advantageous dive training site during the cold months of the year.
Liquid History
About 150 million years ago, this area of Texas was a submerged coral reef system. As the sea receded, geologic movement created the Balcones Escarpment, a fault line that separates the Texas "hill country" from the lowlands. The shift in the ground created the Edward's Aquifer, an underground reservoir that is 175 miles (280 km) long.

( More)

Ocean Quest "An Underwater Adventure"

There is no LIFE!

In January 2008, Fans of the Sea will have a 4 disc video collection that will be available to schools and youth organizations around the world. Through funds raised at the Duck Race, 1,000 videos will be sent to schools around the world at no cost. In addition to the videos there will be helpful information on the Web: Lesson Plans; Questions and Answers; Projects, Games and Activities.

Disc One: A Marine Crisis: The need for conservation
Subjects to be explored: Importance of the Ocean and Water; Areas of Crisis; Organizations that are doing something; and Things we can do to become Responsible Consumers

Disc Two: Marine Awareness: The Need for a Healthy Ocean
Subjects to be explored: Bio Systems; Eco Systems; Marine Identification and Man's Role in Keeping a Balance

Disc Three: Small Steps: A Commitment to Make a Difference
Subjects to be explored: Become a Diver or Snorkeler; Support Organizations and Causes; Recycle; Don't Pollute; Don't Contribute to the Problem; Volunteer; Help Educate the Public

Disc Four: Extinction: The Future of our Ocean is in Our Hands
Subjects to explore: Death of Mankind if nothing is done; The Future of our Youth ; Laws and Enforcement; Creative Ways to exercise Conservation; If Nothing is Done Extinction is Our Future

Staring:Scuba Bob, Mark Kestler, Wildlife Windy, Lauren Kinslow and Abby Kinslow
Production Staff: Robert Knapick, Doloras Hernandez and Greg Broussard

• Florida Manatees
• Maui
• Hammerheads at the Flower Garden
• Cayman Brac
• Belize
• Great Shark Dive
• Aquarena Center

If you are interested in helping out on one of our expeditions please e-mail me

Scuba Bob

The production of the television episodes and DVD's are very costly with an average cost of $1,000/minute. In-kind donations like air miles help offset these costs. Don't forget our annual Fans of the Sea Duck Race, which is held at the Downtown Aquarium in Houston, Texas. Please contact us at info@fansofthesea.com or 832-202-4505 if you have any questions.

© Fans of the Sea 2007 - info@fansofthesea.com - 832-202-4505
Conservation ~ Awareness ~ Commitment