An algae bloom stretching from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state to the northern parts of Oregon has killed thousands of seabirds by stripping them of the natural oils that keep them waterproof. Without these oils, seabirds quickly get wet and succumb to hypothermia.

“This is huge,” says Professor Julia Parrish, a marine biologist who leads a seabird monitoring group at the University of Washington. “It’s the largest mortality event of its kind on the West Coast that we know of.”

Similar mass-deaths have taken place along the coast of California before, but this is the first time it is reported from the states of Oregon and Washington. Also, as far as we know, the California die-offs affected hundreds of seabirds, not thousands.

The so called algae “bloom” consists of tiny single-celled algae of the species Akashiwo sanguinea.

Marine biologists have not been able to determine the reason for the sudden appearance of up to a million Akashiwo sanguinea cells per litre seawater, but recent storms in the area may have contributed to the severity of the problem by breaking up the algae.

When the algae get whipped, it turns into what can best be described as a bubbly soap which sticks to the seabirds.

“It looks like they’re [the seabirds] lying in a sea of bubble bath,” said Greg Schirato, regional wildlife program manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The Indonesian Navy (TNI AL) has officially announced that they are deploying five warships and one reconnaissance plane to protect the Natuna waters from illegal fishing and poaching.

“The five warships and reconnaissance plane have conducted routine patrols in the Natuna waters as part of efforts to reduce the number of fish thefts,” S.M. Darojatim, Commander of the Main Naval Base IV Commodore, announced Tuesday.

He also stated that the Natuna waters and the South China Sea were vulnerable to a number of criminal offences, including fish and coral thefts.

“The Pontianak naval base has so far secured the West Kalimantan waters well so that it sets a good example to other naval bases to safeguard the Indonesian waters,” said the commander.

Natuna Sea Facts

The Natuna Sea is a part of the South China Sea and home to an archipelago of 272 islands, located between east and west Malaysia and the Kalimantan (the Indonesian portion of the island Borneo). The islands form a part of the Indonesian Riau province and is the northernmost non-disputed island group in Indonesia.

The islands are populated with roughly 100,000 people, most of them farmers and fishermen. The beaches are important nesting sites for sea turtles and the surrounding waters are filled with biodiverse coral reefs. The archipelago is also famous for its rich avifauna with over 70 different described species of bird, including rare ones like the Natuna Serpent-eagle and the Lesser Fish-eagle. The islands are also home to primates, such as the Natuna Banded Leaf Monkey which is considered one of the 25 most endangered primates in the world.

According to a new UN report, marine plants take 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide away from the atmosphere each year as they use the carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. Most of these plants are plankton, but planktons rarely form a permanent carbon store on the seabed. Instead, mangrove forests, salt marshes and seagrass beds are responsible for locking away well over 50 percent of all carbon that is buried in the sea – an amazing feat when you consider that these types of habitat only comprise 1 percent of the world’s seabed.

“The carbon burial capacity of marine vegetated habitats is phenomenal, 180 times greater than the average burial rate in the open ocean,” say the authors of the UN report.

Mangrove forests, salt marshes and seagrass beds are the most intense carbon sinks on our planet and they store away an estimated 1,650 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

Unfortunately, these habitats are being ruined or damaged worldwide and a third of them are believed to have been lost already, although it is difficult to obtain accurate figures regarding the extent of these types of habitats worldwide. What we do know is that half of the world’s population lives within 65 miles of the ocean and that vegetated ocean near habitats are often under severe pressure.

“On current trends they may be all largely lost within a couple of decades”, said Christian Nellemann, the editor of the report.”

To help developing nations protect the remaining marine vegetated habitats the authors of the report suggest that a fund should be launched. They also wish to have a market place created where oceanic carbon sinks are traded in the same fashion as terrestrial forests.

The report, which has been named Blue Carbon, is a collaboration between the United Nations Environment Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organisation and Unesco.

The rare Gangetic dolphin (Platanista gangetica) has been declared National Aquatic Animal of India. A few days after the formal declaration, which took place at a National Ganga River Basic Authority meeting in New Delhi earlier this week, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar announced that he has directed state authorities to put a halt to dolphin hunting in the Ganga.

“A close watch is being kept on the ghats of river Ganga by the magistrates, police officials and block development officers to stop hunting and fishing of the mammals,” senior officials said.

Patna District Magistrate J K Sinha said that instructions from chief minister has been passed
to senior officials, including sub-divisional officers, magistrates, police officers and block development officers to ensure close surveillance and act swiftly to stop hunting of the aquatic animal.

“Schools will take steps to aware the students about the gangetic dolphin which would

boost eco-tourism in the region,” he added.

Although the Wildlife Protection Act of India mandates dolphin conservation as a priority, little has been done at the government level to implement or enforce the law.

Where is Bihar?

Bihar is an Indian state located in the eastern part of the country. It is bordered by Nepal to the north, Jharkhand to the south, Uttar Pradesh to the west, and West Bengal to the east. The state is bisected by the Ganga River which flows through the middle of the state from west to east.

What is Ganga?

Outside India, the Ganga River is more commonly known as the Ganges River.

What is the Gangetic dolphin?

The Gangetic dolphine, also known as Ganges dolphin, Ganges river dolphin, Blind dolphin, and Side-swimming dolphin, is a dolphin endemic to the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. Its scientific name is Platanista gangetica and it is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The current population consists of 1,200-1,800 individuals, and roughly half of these are found in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

It is referred to as the Blind dolphin due to its poor eye-sight which is probably an adaptation to the murky waters of the Ganga River.

Lack of iron is a limiting factor for plankton growth in many parts of the ocean, especially in the southern oceans and parts of the eastern Pacific. Scientists at the University of Leeds, UK, have now showed that acid in the atmosphere breaks down large particles of iron found in dust into small and highly soluble iron naonparticles; particles which can be easily absorbed and utilized by oceanic plankton.

Since plankton absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, more available iron could trigger increased movement of carbon dioxide from the air to the ocean.

“This could be a very important discovery because there’s only a very small amount of soluble iron in the ocean and if plankton use the iron nanoparticles formed in clouds then the whole flux of bioavailable iron to the oceans needs to be revised,” says Dr Zongbo Shi, lead author of the research from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds.

Polluting industries that causes a high degree of acidic particles to be present in clouds can therefore strangely enough simultaneously be combating global warming.

“Man made pollution adds more acid to the atmosphere and therefore may encourage the formation of more iron nanoparticles,” says Dr Shi.

“This process is happening in clouds all over the world, but there are particularly interesting
consequences for the oceans. What we have uncovered is a previously unknown source of
bioavailable iron that is being delivered to the Earth’s surface in precipitation,” says Professor Michael Krom, the principal investigator of the research, also at the University of Leeds.

Compared to the record-setting low years of 2007 and 2008, the Arctic Sea ice has made a slight recovery in 2009, according to the University of Colorado at Boulder’s National Snow and Ice Data Center. Despite this positive change, the minimum sea ice extent in 2009 was the third lowest since satellite record-keeping started in 1979.

“It’s nice to see a little recovery over the past couple of years, but there’s no reason to think that we’re headed back to conditions seen in the 1970s,” said NSIDC Director Mark Serreze, also a professor in CU-Boulder’s geography department. “We still expect to see ice-free summers sometime in the next few decades.”

The standard measurement for climate studies is the average ice extent during September. This September, the average Arctic Sea ice extent was 5.36 million square kilometres, which is 1.06 million square kilometres more than September 2007 and 690,000 square kilometres more than September 2008.

According to Mike Steele, Senior Oceanographer at the University of Washington, the decrease in ice loss is probably due to cloudy skies during late summer. Sea surface temperatures in the Arctic were higher than normal this season, but slightly lower than in 2007 and 2008 – most likely due to the presence of clouds this year. Atmospheric patterns in August and September also helped spreading the ice pack over a larger area.

Arctic sea ice follows an annual cycle of melting during the warm season and refreezing in the winter, and the extent of Arctic sea ice has always varied due to changing atmospheric conditions. During the past 30 years, there has however been a dramatic overall decline in Arctic sea ice extent.

During a visit to a beach in Saint-Michel-en-Greve, Brittany, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon announced that the French government will pay to have the beaches of France cleaned from toxic seaweed.

“The state will assume all of its responsibilities and will take charge of the clean-up of the worst affected beaches, where there could be a public health risk,” he said.

Local communities in Brittany have long been urging the government to do something about the toxic green algae that has been flourishing on Brittany beaches for years.

Last month, a rider was rendered unconscious on the Saint-Michel-en-Greve beach and his horse died after slipping on the algae, apparently after inhaling the toxic gas hydrogen sulphide released by the rotting weed. Investigations carried out by France’s National Institute for Environmental Technology and Hazards (Ineris) showed a potentially lethal concentration of the gas on parts of the beach. Some stretches had a concentration of 1,000 hydrogen sulphide parts per million; a concentration which can be deadly in just a few minutes. Ineris recommends providing all cleaning workers with gas detectors and ban the public from the beach until its deemed safe.

The green seaweed thrives when the levels of nitrate is high, which means that excess field fertilizers and manure from local livestock flushed into the ocean by French farmers creates an ideal environment for the algae.

The algae problem is not peculiar to France; the same type of green algae is also turning up along the UK coast line, especially in Dorset, Hampshire, West Sussex, and on the Isle of Wight. According to the UK Environment Agency, the algae are a threat to wildlife along the coast and tighter controls on farming fertiliser and sewage plants will be required to starve the algae of nutrients.

Federal stimulus money will be used to pay about 40 diving fishermen to recover lost fishing nets from the Puget Sound.

Due to the worldwide economic crises, many of the Puget Sound fishermen who normally make a living out of exporting cucumbers and sea urchins to Asia are currently out of work and the Northwest Marine Conservation Initiative has therefore received $4.6 million in stimulus funds to recover most of the nets that litter Puget Sound.

Thousands of large nets clutter the waters of Puget Sound where they continue to “ghost fish” for as long as their strong and durable synthetic fibres last. According to the Northwest Marine Conservation Initiative, the nets are responsible for killing tens of thousands of marine life, mammals and birds every year. The nets are also a hazard for maritime humans since they can tangle boat propellers and ensnare scuba divers. Modern fishing nets used by commercial fishermen tend to be very large and some of the nets lost in Puget Sound extend larger than a football field.

The only reason the nets have remained underwater for so long, said Ginny Broadhurst, director of the Northwest Marine Conservation Initiative, is because the damage they are doing to the environment is invisible from the surface.

“If you had nets strung along the streets that are catching bunny rabbits and squirrels, we wouldn’t be discussing whether we should be removing them. We would be pulling them. It would be immediate,” said Broadhurst. “When those threats are underwater it’s so much harder to know what impacts they are having.”

Over the next 18 months the group expects to pull some 3,000 nets from Puget Sound.

Significant areas of coastal wetlands have been restored and enhanced in Port Arthur, Texas. The largest restoration took place in the Lower Neches Wildlife Management Area near the Gulf of Mexico where historic water flow has been brought back into roughly 1,300 acres of wetland.

The other main restoration site is located within the J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area where approximately 1,500 acres of coastal emergent marsh plant communities have been restored to historical conditions through the installation of berms and other water control structures.

Almost 90 acres of estuarine intertidal marsh and over 30 acres of coastal wet prairie have also been established by NOAA in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Texas General Land Office, and the Chevron Corporation.

“Coastal wetlands are extremely valuable habitats that provide numerous services for both humans and the environment,” said John H. Dunnigan, assistant administrator for NOAA’s National Ocean Service. “The wetlands restored through this cooperative project will help improve water quality and provide a buffer as tropical storms and hurricanes move onshore.”

The restored wetlands are a way for Chevron to compensate the public for the injury caused by the Clark Chevron refinery in Port Arthur. The refinery, which commenced production in 1902, caused substantial injury to natural areas and waterways inside and adjacent to the processing plant by releasing hazardous substances into the environment.

“These completed projects will not only provide habitat benefits to the fish and wildlife of the region, but will also enhance public use and outdoor recreation opportunities,” said Wildlife Management Area manager Jim Sutherlin.

The restoration is a part of NOAA’s Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program. Through this program, NOAA works with industry, agencies and communities to restore environments harmed by oil spills, hazardous substance releases and ship groundings. Last year, the program settled nearly 200 natural resource damage assessment cases, generating almost $450 million for restoration projects.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) have developed an aquatic robot capable of collecting algal cells from the ocean and extracting the genetic information needed to identify them. The robot, which can accurately be described as a seafaring mobile analytical laboratory, can also extract toxins from the algae samples, thereby allowing scientists to assess the risk to humans and wildlife.

The MBARI-designed robot, formally known as the Environmental Sample Processor, or ‘ESP,’ for short, has now been successfully used by scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science to conduct the first remote detection of an algal species and its toxin below the ocean’s surface.

The global distribution, frequency, duration and severity of harmful algal blooms are believed to be on the increase and the new robot will make it much easier for scientists to assess the situation and relay accurate information to coastal managers and public health officials.

“Our public health monitoring program is one of the many groups that can benefit directly from the ESP technology and ability to provide an early warning of impending bloom activity and toxicity,” said Gregg Langlois, director of the state of California’s Marine Biotoxin Monitoring Program. “This is critical information for coastal managers and public health officials in mitigating impacts on the coastal ecosystem, since the toxicity of these algae can vary widely from little or no toxicity to highly toxic.”

The information obtained by ESP is transmitted to the laboratory via radio signals.

More details about the project can be found in the June issue of the journal Oceanography.

Pictures by mbari