BABY FUR SEAL BREAKS INTO HOUSE ON WELCOME BAY

Baby fur seal sleeping on the sofa of a New Zealand home. Via The Daily Mail.

  
A baby fur seal crawled through the cat flap of a New Zealand home, hopped up on the sofa and fell asleep. From the Mail Online:

The stunned owner of the house, Annette Swoffer, thought she was hallucinating when she found the pup in her kitchen, hanging out with her cats.

It had made its way from the waterfront at Welcome Bay, New Zealand, through residential streets, across a busy road, and up some steps. 'I was in my office and I heard an awful racket down below,' Miss Swoffer told the Bay Of Plenty Times. 'I thought the cats have brought a rabbit or something in so I went down and had a look�and there's a seal in my kitchen. I thought "I'm hallucinating, this is just wrong". I'm looking and I'm definitely seeing flippers and not paws.'

Miss Swoffer called the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals�who struggled to believe her at first. 'They were giggling away and I'm saying "I'm not drunk, I'm not lying, there's a seal in my house",' said Miss Swoffer.

Sea lion. Credit: lowjumpingfrog via Flickr.

 
This reminds me of a filming trip I made to to Mexico's San Ignacio Lagoon many moons ago when an immature sea lion crawled up the ladder onto our live-aboard boat, hopped into a cabin and onto a bunk, where he fell blissfully asleep.

For the next week, he came and went from the boat as he pleased, returning in true Goldilocks-fashion to one bunk or another.

In the end we had to forcibly (gently) evict him before sailing north to San Diego.

ELEPHANT SEAL COMMUTES 18,000 MILES

Southern elephant seal. Credit: Butterfly voyages�Serge Ouach�e via Wikimedia Commons.

 
A southern elephant seal has been tracked swimming an astonishing 18,000 miles/29,000 kilometers between December 2010 and November 2011.

That's the equivalent of a roundtrip between New York and Sydney.

Jackson's amazing travels. Via Our Amazing Planet.

  
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) fitted a male seal named Jackson with a small satellite transmitter on the beach of Admiralty Sound in Tierra del Fuego in southern Chile. 

From there he swam:

• 1,000 miles/1,610 km north
• 400 miles/644 km west 
• 100 miles/160 km south

Along the way, Jackson meandered inshore through fjords and ventured offshore beyond the continental shelf.

Patagonia fjords. Credit: � Julia Whitty.

  
All this in search of the fuel that drove his travels: fish and squid. From the IUCN Red List description of the species:

Foraging elephant seals combine exceptionally deep diving with long-distance traveling, covering millions of square kilometers while traversing a wide range of oceanographic regions during periods of up to seven months at sea. The seals spend most of their at-sea time in particular water masses that include frontal systems, currents and shifting marginal ice-edge zones. Studies of foraging locations suggest that seals are sensitive to fine-scale variation in bathymetry and ocean surface properties (sea-ice concentration, sea surface temperature).

In the course of his travels, Jackson was also diving deep�a skill at which elephant seals excel.

Different satellite tracking studies (pdf) have shown that during the seven months they're living offshore southern elephant seals typically spend only a few minutes breathing hard at the surface before making repeated dives of 20-minutes or more duration to depths of 1,300-3,300 feet/400-1,000 meters.


  
Some female elephant seals have been recorded making 2-hour-long dives. And some have made dives to more than 4,600 feet/1,400 meters. From the Red List:

Southern elephant seals are prodigious divers and routinely reach the same depths as their northern counterparts. Dive depth and duration vary during the year and between the sexes, but normally range from 300 to 500 m deep and from 20 to just over 30 minutes in duration. A maximum depth of 1430 m was recorded for a female, following her return to sea after the moult. Another post-moult female dove for an astonishing 120 minutes, which is by far the longest dive ever recorded for a pinniped.

Southern elephant seals. Credit: B.navez via Wikimedia Commons.

   
At the end of his peregrinations, Jackson returned to the same beach he'd left from on Admiralty Sound. His satellite tag should continue to transmit until early next year when it will cease transmitting and fall off.

The WCS research is part of their ambitious goals in the region:

The information WCS gathers will serve as a foundation for a new model of private-public, terrestrial-marine conservation of the Admiralty Sound, Karukinka Natural Park (a WCS private protected area), and Alberto de Agostini National Park. It will help build a broader vision for bolstering conservation efforts across the Patagonian Sea and coast.

OCTOPUS KAMA SUTRA

Combine weightlessness while swimming with 16 limbs and squishy bodies and the mating possibilities get really interesting. H/T Deep Sea News.

Mimic octopus. Credit: Bernd via Wikimedia Commons.

ATOLL

Credits, top to bottom:

1. Mataiva Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia. 
2. Bokak Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands.
3. Arno Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands.
4. Tetiaro Atoll, Society Islands, French Polynesia. 
5. Pearl and Hermes Atolls, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. 
6. Bikini Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. 
7. Atafa Atoll, Tokelau Islands.
8. Nukuoro Atoll, Federated States of Micronesia.
9. The Tuamotu Archipelago, chain of atolls, French Polynesia. 
10. Malosmadulu Atolls, Maldives.

THEORY

SUNDAY POETRY: SEA MAP

Credit: desdibuix - miquel Miquel Bohigas Costabella via Flickr.

    
SEA MAP 
By Hilda Morley

Taste of salt on my fingers,

                                           that�s how

I like it:

               the line of sea rising

above the dark-green pine,

                                           the sea meeting

the horizon,

                     so always the eyes are lifted higher,

                     the pulse buoyed upward

with them

                  So it

should be for us all�

                                  to belong to

whatever moves us outward into

the wideness, for journeying,

                                              tales of

distant places,

                        treasures piled

                        to fill our smiling,

                                                       for us to know of

along the travelled coastline,

                                           the mountains

we can climb to,

                           each port,

                                           each harbor

another window to wash our faces in,

                                                         pull us

forward

               & made for us,   made for

all of us,

                as the birds know, who

fly the continents,   the oceans

for their secret reasons,

                                     a map of the earth

written inside their bodies,

                                           marked

under their breastbones:   

                                       a continuance

of the now most fragile,         

                                        always travelled

patiently enduring world

VIEW FROM AN ICEBREAKER

Via Tim Zimmermann.

FAILING ARCTIC REPORT CARD

Icebergs breaking off glacier, Greenland. Credit: Mila Zinkova via Wikimedia Commons.

 

NOAA released its 2011 Arctic report card. And then they confused the metaphors by using a traffic signal. *Sigh.*

But if we follow through on the original metaphor, we get the following report card:

• Atmosphere: F
• Sea Ice & Ocean: F
• Hydrology & Terrestrial Cryosphere: F
• Marine Ecosystems : C
• Terrestrial Ecosystems: C

Sea ice age in the first week of March derived from tracking the drift of ice floes in 1988, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Figure courtesy of J. Maslanik and C. Fowler, via NOAA.

  

The foremost conclusion of the report is that 2006 marked a major shift in the Arctic Ocean system. 

The report doesn't say 'tipping point.' But in fact it might well have been a tipping point. Here's what this tippinglike point looks like:

• Persistent decline in the thickness of sea ice cover
• Persistent decline in the summer extent of sea ice cover
• A warmer upper ocean
• A fresher upper ocean

The tipping-ish part is that the system may not return to what it was before 2006. In other words, another new normal.

Polar bears approach the submarine USS Honolulu (SSN 718) while surfaced 280 miles from the North Pole. Credit: Chief Yeoman Alphonso Braggs, US Navy.

The consequences of the tip are broad spectrum, impacting biology, chemistry, meteorology in (often) positive feedback loops. 

For marine life, most consequences are a response to ever-smaller areas of ice and ever-larger areas of open water. Specifically:

• Biological productivity at the base of the marine food chain�aka phytoplankton�has increased
• Sea ice-dependent marine mammals�like polar bears and walrus�continue to lose habitat

Many of the changes underway for terrestrial life  are linked to warmer temperatures in coastal regions where sea ice used to keep things cool but is now in retreat. Including:

• Increases in the greenness of tundra vegetation
• Increase in permafrost temperatures

Increased autumn snow in Siberia predicts a weakening Arctic vortex in winter. Credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation.

  
A second key point from this report card is the repeat in 2011 of an anomalous wind pattern that first appeared in the Arctic winter of 2010. This weakening of the Arctic vortex led to the jet stream dipping south and warming Greenland and northeastern Canada, while bringing much colder temperatures to Europe and North America. The results:

• Higher than normal temperatures in the Arctic
• Record ice sheet mass loss
• Record low late spring snow cover in Eurasia
• Shorter lake ice duration
• Unusually lower temperatures and snow storms in some low latitude regions

  Rare deep depletion in the ozone layer over the Arctic in 2011, much like the annual Antarctic ozone hole. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory.

 
On top of all that, the Arctic grew its own bona fide ozone hole last winter�one that threatens far more populated areas of the globe than the Antarctic hole, and one with the power to impact the winter crops that feed us.

The executive summary of the report concludes:

The 2011 Report Card shows that record-setting changes are occurring throughout the Arctic environmental system. Given the projection of continued global warming, it is very likely that major Arctic changes will continue in years to come, with increasing climatic, biological and social impacts.

I LONG TO BE ONCE AGAIN IN THE SEA

dagdraumar from Allan Wilson on Vimeo.

OZ MARINE PARK: BIGGEST, BEST, OR BUST?

Part of the Coral Sea off the Queensland coast of Australia. Credit: NASA.

 

The Australian government announced last week a proposal to create the world's largest marine protected area in the phenomenally biodiverse richness of the Coral Sea.

Too bad no one's happy with it.

Of course, it's in the nature of protected areas to make people unhappy for a good long while before there's any hope of making them happy.

Bison, Yellowstone National Park. Credit: Daniel Mayer via Wikimedia Commons. 

Yellowstone, the world's first national park, might have triggered part 2 of the Civil War if there had been more people living in the West at the time. Here's what Senator Cornelius Cole of California had to say about it during legislative debate:

I have grave doubts about the propriety of passing this bill. The natural curiosities there cannot be interfered with by anything that man can do.... I cannot see how [they] can be interfered with if settlers are allowed to appropriate them....  I do not see the reason or propriety of setting apart a large tract of land of that kind in the Territories of the United States for a public park. There is abundance of public park ground in the Rocky Mountains that will never be occupied. It is all one great park, and never can be anything else.... There are some places, perhaps this is one, where persons can and would go and settle and improve and cultivate the grounds, if there be ground fit for cultivation.

Australia's Coral Sea draft marine reserve covers 989,842 square kilometers (382,180 square miles). Courtesy Commonwealth of Australia.

In Australia, some fishers are mad as hell about the proposed new park. For brevity in reporting, nothing beats this article, in its entirety, from the Queensland ABC:

Commercial fishers in the Coral Sea claim they are being made scapegoats despite a long history of sustainable fishing. Rob Louden is a licence and quota holder in the Coral Sea and East Coast sea cucumber fishery. He says the proposed Commonwealth marine park will put valuable and productive fishing grounds off limits for no apparent ecological or biological reason.

Man, sea cucumber. Credit: Fritz Geller-Grimm via Wikimedia Commons.

Scientists and conservationists are equally unhappy with the Coral Sea proposal. From Nature News:

Hugh Possingham, director of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions at the University of Queensland, points out that little more than half... of the Coral Sea reserve is proposed as a 'no take' area, in which all fishing would be banned. The world�s largest existing marine reserve, established last year by the British government around the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, spans 544,000?[square kilometers] and is a no-take zone throughout. An alliance of campaigning conservation groups, including the WWF and the Pew Environment Group, argues that more of the Coral Sea should receive this level of protection.

Blue starfish (Linckia laevigata) resting on Acropora coral, Lighthouse, Ribbon Reefs, Australia. Credit: Richard Ling via Wikimedia Commons.

The fight is fierce�and important. Australia is struggling to create meaningful protection for much of its waters. 

But its weak draft proposal last May for a southwestern Australian marine park prompted 173 scientists to write an open letter to the government in protest. One of the co-signers, CJA Bradshaw, wrote at his blog Conservation Bites:

Basically, the proposed parks are merely a settlement between government and industry where nothing of importance is really being protected. The parks are just the leftovers industry doesn�t want. No way to ensure the long-term viability of our seas.

Barry Wrasse is a stakeholder too. Here's what he has to say.

ICE LIGHTNING

FIRST FISHERS

Beach at Tutuala, East Timor. Credit: doug.deep Doug Anderson via Flickr.

 

A new paper in Science reports on 42,000-year-old fish bones found in Jerimalai cave on the island of East Timor, just north of Australia. 

This is the oldest evidence yet of human fishing activity. Even more interesting, about half the 38,000 bones were of fast-swimming pelagic species�tuna and shark�implying the ancient fishers worked offshore from vessels.

Credit: Froschmann : ?????? H Aoki via Flickr.

  

We know that people were seafaring 50,000 years ago. And seafaring and fishing are inextricably linked. But until now hard evidence of pelagic fishing was lacking. From Science Now:

Although modern humans were exploiting near-shore resources, such as mussels and abalone, by 165,000 years ago, only a few controversial sites suggest that our early ancestors fished deep waters by 45,000 years ago. The earliest sure sites are only about 12,000 years old.

 

What's not known is exactly how these first fishers in East Timor caught open-water species. The researchers speculate they went to sea on boats or rafts equipped with nets or hooks-and-lines.

  

A broken shell fishhook found in East Timor. Scale is in millimeters. Credit: Sue O�Connor, et al. Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.1207703. 

  

At Jerimalai the archaeologists also found the earliest known fish hooks�including one from a mollusk shell dating to 23,000 years ago. These hooks were too small to catch the pelagic species, so were likely used inshore. 

Prior to these findings, the oldest fish hooks dated to the beginning of agriculture, or about 5,500 years ago in Southeast Asia. 

Fisher, East Timor. Credit: United Nations Photo via Flickr.

  

The paper:

• Sue O�Connor, Rintaro Ono, Chris Clarkson. Pelagic Fishing at 42,000 Years Before the Present and the Maritime Skills of Modern Humans. Science. 2011. DOI: 10.1126/science.1207703

HAPPIEST FEET: OILED PENGUINS GO FREE

Little blue penguin. Credit: Noodle snacks via Wikimedia Commons.

Forty-nine of 343 little blue penguins rescued from the oil spill off the New Zealand coast were released back into the ocean yesterday�with more to come in the next few weeks, says Maritime New Zealand.

At least 2,008 birds died.

When Rena grounded on 5 October 2011 it contained 1,712 tons of oil. About 360 tons spilled into the ocean. The last of the 1,319 tons remaining were removed by salvors working under really tough conditions by 13 November. Kudos to them.

The freed penguins were released back into the Bay of Plenty with hopes they'll make their way to their breeding rookery on Rabbit Island.

Bonne chance, little dudes.

ULTIMATE WORLD CRUISE

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael K�nig on Vimeo.

TODAY'S PACIFIC

20 Nov 2011, 2100 UTC. Credit: NOAA-NASA GOES Project.

A HISTORY OF THE SKY

A History of the Sky from Ken Murphy on Vimeo.

TIDEPOOL CURIOSITIES

Keyhole limpet. Credit: skome via Flickr.

Bubbles left at tidepools after waves retreat. Credit: Mila Zinkova via Wikimedia Commons.

Sparring sea anemones, white tentacles are fighting tentacles. Credit: Mila Zinkova via Wikimedia Commons.

The curio cabinet of a tidepool, with starfish, anemones, sea urchins, marine algae, barnacles, and hermit crabs. Credit: summersumz via Flickr.

Tidepool architecture. Credit: 4johnny5 via Flickr.

Artificial tidepool. Credit: Johnny Grim via Flickr.

Natural tidepool. Credit: bikehikedive (nugun) via Flickr.

Sea star growing new legs. Credit: Mila Zinkova via Wikimedia Commons.

Sea anemone, Anthopleura sola, eating a by-the-wind-sailor, Velella velella, carried to shore on spring winds. Credit: Mila Zinkova via Wikimedia Commons.

Octopus in tidepool. Credit: Mila Zinkova via Wikimedia Commons.

Microcosmos. Credit: Avenue via Wikimedia Commons.

Highrises. Credit:Glen Bowman via Wikimedia Commons.

Sea star eating a mussel. Credit: Mila Zinkova via Wikimedia Commons.

Brooding sea anemone, Epiactis prolifera. Numerous young in different stages of development are visible on the pedal disk. The brooding anemone is a colonial hermaphrodite that fertilizes and incubates its eggs in its own digestive cavity. After hatching, the larvae swim out of the mouth and migrate to the disk, installing themselves on the outside until they're big enough to move on and feed themselves. Credit: Mila Zinkova via Wikimedia Commons.

Nudibranch, Acanthodoris lutea, laying eggs in tidepool. Credit: Mila Zinkova via Wikimedia Commons.

Psychedelic nature: flame-lined chiton. Credit: Mila Zinkova via Wikimedia Commons.

Ocean vegetables. Credit: bastasia via Flickr.

Curiosities observed. Credit: nashworld via Flickr.