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Living fossil taken alive
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News / Marine Pollution Bulletin 44 (2002) 3–6
despite the global moratorium on whaling agreed in the International Whaling Commission (IWC). At the same time, Japan’s whaling fleet set sail again on November 6th for the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary for another season of what they refer to as ’scientific’ whaling. Exploiting a loophole in the IWC convention which allows nations to catch whales for legitimate scientific purposes, between now and April 2002 they aim to take up to 440 Southern minke whales.
PII: S0025-326X(01)00314-9
Living fossil taken alive off Kenya coast A coelacanth caught off the Kenyan coast remained in virtual obscurity in cold storage for five months, until a junior Kenya Fisheries Department official, Charles Oduol, spotted the strange fish and suggested the fishing company that caught it displayed it at a local agricultural show. This is the first time the fish, regarded as a ‘living fossil’, has been caught in East Africa. Conservationists are now investigating whether a colony of coelacanths lives in the Kenyan waters. The first time a coelacanth was captured was in 1938 at the mouth of River Chalumna near East London, South Africa. J.L.B Smith, who first identified the fish, mounted a search off the East African coast for more, but returned empty-handed. Coelacanths have been known from fossils dating back to more than 360 million years, but they then disappear from the fossil records some 65 million years ago. The East African specimen, which was 1.7-metres long fish and weighed 77 kilograms, was caught by a Kenyan trawler MV Venture II off the coastal town of Malindi. In 1952 the Comoros Islands, north west of Madagascar, were identified as the home ground of the coelacanth after a fish regularly caught there and known locally as ‘Gombessa’ was identified as the living fossil. Other coelacanths were sighted off the coast of Mozambique in the early 1990s and in 1997 and 1998, two were recorded off Manado Tua Island in Indonesia, thousands of kilometres east of the Comoros. These were identified as a new species. DNA from the Kenyan fish is being examined at the Max Planke Institute in Germany to determine whether it is a stray from existing populations or represents a completely new find. Coelacanths are known to live in depths of several hundred feet in the Comoros, however, accounts of shallow sightings have been rare. The Kenyan fish was taken by net at a depth of only 85 metres. Kenyan icthyologists are hoping that the find may stimulate further scientific interest in the area whilst Kenyan authorities are hoping its discovery may help revive tourism.
PII: S0025-326X(01)00315-0
Global warming could slow Gulf Stream Models of Atlantic Ocean circulation have shown that the Gulf Stream could be affected by glacial melt waters. Researchers at the National Science Foundation, studying the
end of the last ice age, 11.5 to 13 thousand years ago, have discovered that the Gulf Stream may have shut down at this time. Only a few hundred years appeared to be necessary to bring about this effect although at that time the Gulf Stream was not very strong. Using today’s figures, it would appear that although an input of freshwater from glacial melting and increases in rain and snow could slow the Gulf Stream it would be unlikely to stop it or, if it did, it would take much longer. Any slow down would mean that western Europe could receive only half its normal input of warm water and this would cause the climate to cool down. However, this would not be the only effect. Currently, the warm Gulf Stream water gets saltier as water evaporates and these denser waters sink by the time they reach Newfoundland. This causes deep circulation of water, called overturning, with the denser water travelling slowly into the Southern Hemisphere. If too much fresh water was added then the density of this water would be less and it might not sink. This could have considerable implications on the crucial mixing of waters that occurs now.
PII: S0025-326X(01)00316-2
Polluted waters of Hawaii The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced results of a court-ordered review of Hawaii’s 1998 list of polluted waters, which concluded that 30 coastal waters and 81 streams show evidence of impairment by pollutants including sediments, nutrients, bacteria and trash. A court order issued in September mandated the EPA’s review of Hawaii’s 1998 list of polluted waters. The EPA based the revised list on water quality data collected from 1993 to 1998 and on-site visits to nearly 100 water bodies in 1996–97. Hawaii’s water pollution problems are usually along shorelines and in middle-to-lower reaches of streams where silt and excess nutrients damage the environment. Most of the apparently polluted waters are streams in urban and agricultural areas, coastal bays and estuaries, and harbours. The list includes 58 Oahu waters, 15 on Maui, 20 on Hawaii, 2 on Molokai, and 16 on Kauai. In addition to previously recognized pollution problems in water bodies such as the Ala Wai Canal, Honolulu Harbor, and Pearl Harbor, the list includes Hanauma Bay, Kuhio Beach, and other swimming beaches. The Hawaiian Department of Health (HDOH) considered the available information in 1998 to be inadequate to list more than 19 polluted waters in the state. Since 1998, the HDOH has revised its water quality monitoring programme and will issue a new list of polluted waters in October 2002 based on all available water quality information. Under the federal Clean Water Act, states must periodically issue lists of the polluted waters in the state. The federal Clean Water Act requires water quality assessments to identify pollutant sources and set allowable pollutant loads for water bodies identified by states as polluted. The Clean Water Act calls these water quality assessments total maximum daily loads, (TMDLs).
News / Marine Pollution Bulletin 44 (2002) 3–6
despite the global moratorium on whaling agreed in the International Whaling Commission (IWC). At the same time, Japan’s whaling fleet set sail again on November 6th for the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary for another season of what they refer to as ’scientific’ whaling. Exploiting a loophole in the IWC convention which allows nations to catch whales for legitimate scientific purposes, between now and April 2002 they aim to take up to 440 Southern minke whales.
PII: S0025-326X(01)00314-9
Living fossil taken alive off Kenya coast A coelacanth caught off the Kenyan coast remained in virtual obscurity in cold storage for five months, until a junior Kenya Fisheries Department official, Charles Oduol, spotted the strange fish and suggested the fishing company that caught it displayed it at a local agricultural show. This is the first time the fish, regarded as a ‘living fossil’, has been caught in East Africa. Conservationists are now investigating whether a colony of coelacanths lives in the Kenyan waters. The first time a coelacanth was captured was in 1938 at the mouth of River Chalumna near East London, South Africa. J.L.B Smith, who first identified the fish, mounted a search off the East African coast for more, but returned empty-handed. Coelacanths have been known from fossils dating back to more than 360 million years, but they then disappear from the fossil records some 65 million years ago. The East African specimen, which was 1.7-metres long fish and weighed 77 kilograms, was caught by a Kenyan trawler MV Venture II off the coastal town of Malindi. In 1952 the Comoros Islands, north west of Madagascar, were identified as the home ground of the coelacanth after a fish regularly caught there and known locally as ‘Gombessa’ was identified as the living fossil. Other coelacanths were sighted off the coast of Mozambique in the early 1990s and in 1997 and 1998, two were recorded off Manado Tua Island in Indonesia, thousands of kilometres east of the Comoros. These were identified as a new species. DNA from the Kenyan fish is being examined at the Max Planke Institute in Germany to determine whether it is a stray from existing populations or represents a completely new find. Coelacanths are known to live in depths of several hundred feet in the Comoros, however, accounts of shallow sightings have been rare. The Kenyan fish was taken by net at a depth of only 85 metres. Kenyan icthyologists are hoping that the find may stimulate further scientific interest in the area whilst Kenyan authorities are hoping its discovery may help revive tourism.
PII: S0025-326X(01)00315-0
Global warming could slow Gulf Stream Models of Atlantic Ocean circulation have shown that the Gulf Stream could be affected by glacial melt waters. Researchers at the National Science Foundation, studying the
end of the last ice age, 11.5 to 13 thousand years ago, have discovered that the Gulf Stream may have shut down at this time. Only a few hundred years appeared to be necessary to bring about this effect although at that time the Gulf Stream was not very strong. Using today’s figures, it would appear that although an input of freshwater from glacial melting and increases in rain and snow could slow the Gulf Stream it would be unlikely to stop it or, if it did, it would take much longer. Any slow down would mean that western Europe could receive only half its normal input of warm water and this would cause the climate to cool down. However, this would not be the only effect. Currently, the warm Gulf Stream water gets saltier as water evaporates and these denser waters sink by the time they reach Newfoundland. This causes deep circulation of water, called overturning, with the denser water travelling slowly into the Southern Hemisphere. If too much fresh water was added then the density of this water would be less and it might not sink. This could have considerable implications on the crucial mixing of waters that occurs now.
PII: S0025-326X(01)00316-2
Polluted waters of Hawaii The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced results of a court-ordered review of Hawaii’s 1998 list of polluted waters, which concluded that 30 coastal waters and 81 streams show evidence of impairment by pollutants including sediments, nutrients, bacteria and trash. A court order issued in September mandated the EPA’s review of Hawaii’s 1998 list of polluted waters. The EPA based the revised list on water quality data collected from 1993 to 1998 and on-site visits to nearly 100 water bodies in 1996–97. Hawaii’s water pollution problems are usually along shorelines and in middle-to-lower reaches of streams where silt and excess nutrients damage the environment. Most of the apparently polluted waters are streams in urban and agricultural areas, coastal bays and estuaries, and harbours. The list includes 58 Oahu waters, 15 on Maui, 20 on Hawaii, 2 on Molokai, and 16 on Kauai. In addition to previously recognized pollution problems in water bodies such as the Ala Wai Canal, Honolulu Harbor, and Pearl Harbor, the list includes Hanauma Bay, Kuhio Beach, and other swimming beaches. The Hawaiian Department of Health (HDOH) considered the available information in 1998 to be inadequate to list more than 19 polluted waters in the state. Since 1998, the HDOH has revised its water quality monitoring programme and will issue a new list of polluted waters in October 2002 based on all available water quality information. Under the federal Clean Water Act, states must periodically issue lists of the polluted waters in the state. The federal Clean Water Act requires water quality assessments to identify pollutant sources and set allowable pollutant loads for water bodies identified by states as polluted. The Clean Water Act calls these water quality assessments total maximum daily loads, (TMDLs).