Ballast water is great for stabilizing a ship in rough waters. Unfortunately, it is equally great at carrying all sorts of aquatic organisms across the world before releasing them into new ecosystems where many of them become problematic invasive species.

The cost of invasive species in the Great Lakes of North America have now reached $200 million a year and scientists predict that this number will increase sharply if the dreaded fish virus known as VHS manage to hitchhike its way into Lake Superior. Considering the number of international shipping vessels that arrive to this river system each week, it is probably just a matter of time unless drastic measures are put in place to stop the costly carrying of disruptive stowaways.

Is ballast treatment the solution?
On-board ballast treatment systems have been proposed by parts of the shipping industry as well as by many scientists, but so far, no one has been able come up with an efficient, cost-effective and safe solution that will work in both freshwater and saltwater. Researchers from the Lake Superior Research Institute* in Superior are now trying to change this.

“The question is how clean is clean? Zero would be great, but is it achievable?” asks Mary Balcer, director of the Lake Superior Research Institute.

Balcer, her research team and students at the University of Wisconsin-Superior are currently analyzing a long row of different solutions developed by private companies to see if any of them could help protect environments such as the Great Lakes from the threat of marauding newcomers.

The goal is to find a solution that will eliminate as many living organisms as possible before the ballast water is released. The treatment must also be safe for the ecosystem into which the water will be released.

Freshwater more demanding
Last month, researcher Tom Markee and several students tested using chlorine to eliminate organisms such as tiny worms, midges and water fleas growing in fish tanks in the university lab. Carrying large containers of chlorine on a ship is naturally dangerous, so Markee and his team instead opted for a solution where the treatment system produces its own chlorine by exposing saltwater to an electric current. The goal for Markee et al is now to find the ideal dose of chlorine as well as make sure that the system works in different types of water.

“They’ve tested it in saltwater and it works fine, but when you get to harbors or a river system, that’s when it becomes less effective,” Markee explains.

Other examples of techniques that are being explored by the research institute are the use of ultraviolet light, ozone and even lethal inaudible sound.

Balcer says her research team hasn’t yet found any viable treatment system that would kill all the living organisms in a ballast tank, but she’s happy with the progress that’s been made.

“Everyone’s behind getting the problem solved,” she says. Eventually we’ll be able to find something that really works.”

* Lake Superior Research Institute, http://www.uwsuper.edu/wb/catalog/general/2006-08/programs/LSRI.htm

The invasive kelp Undaria pinnatifida is has now spread from Los Angeles to San Francisco Bay, despite eradication efforts.

Earlier, the northward spread of this sea weed – which can grow an inch a day and forms dense underwater forests – was believed to have been stopped at Monterey Bay, but this assumption turned out to be wrong when a biologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center happened to notice a six-foot long piece of kelp attached to a boat in a yacht harbor in San Francisco Bay.

“I was walking in San Francisco Marina, and that’s when I saw the kelp attached to a boat,” said Chela Zabin, biologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Tiburon, California. “It was six-foot long, and there is nothing here in the bay that gets to that size. I didn’t want to believe what it was, it’s depressing.”

Further investigation showed U. pinnatifida clinging not only to boat hulls in the marina but to docks and pier pilings as well.

U. pinnatifida was discovered in Los Angeles Harbour in 2000 and within a year reports of its presence had arrived from Catalina Island and Monterey Bay. A federal eradication program was put in place, but the funding dried up last year. Since then, volunteer divers have been the only ones combating the kelp.

Five quick facts about Undaria pinnatifida

• Undaria pinnatifida is a fast growing kelp native to the waters of Japan, China and South and North Korea.

• Within its native range it is an appreciate source of food and if you’ve ever tasted miso soup, this is what you were eating. The Japanese name for this species is wakame.

• U. pinnatifida has managed to establish itself in many different regions outside its native range, such as the Atlantic coast of Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Argentinean coast. By attaching itself to vessel hulls it can hitchhike across the globe in search of new suitable habitats. This kelp can also enter ecosystems via imported oysters, and some people deliberately or accidently introduce U. pinnatifida to local ecosystems by cultivating it for cooking purposes.

• When U. pinnatifida spread to ecosystems not used to its presence, it can grow uncontrolled and prevent native kelp species from getting any sunlight. This can disturb the entire ecosystem.

• U. pinnatifida has been nominated to the list “100 worst invasive species in the world”.

A Japanese team of scientists are now announcing that they are close to completing genome sequencing of the Bluefin tuna. Once they have reached this goal, their next project will be to use their knowledge to create a tuna breeding program for a new type of tuna specially designed for aquacultures.

The wild tuna populations have become severely depleted due to overfishing and the WWF has warned that the Atlantic Bluefin tuna will be eradicated within three years unless radical measures are taken to safeguard remaining specimens.

“We have already completed two computer sequencing runs and have around 60 per cent of the tuna genome,” says Dr. Kazumasa Ikuta, director of research at the Yokohama-based Fisheries Research Agency. “We expect to have the entire sequence in the next couple of months. We plan to use the sequence to establish a breeding programme for bluefin tuna as most aquaculture farmers presently use wild juveniles. We want to establish a complete aquaculture system that will produce fish that have good strength, are resistant to disease, grow quickly and taste delicious.”

The genome sequencing is the result of the collaborative efforts of scientists from Japan’s Fisheries Research Agency, Kyushu University, and The University of Tokyo.

Specimens of the invasive Blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) have now grown large enough to reach the top of the food chain in James River, Virginia. A catfish weighing 102 lbs (46 kg) was caught from the river not long ago; the largest caught freshwater fish ever to be reported from Virginian waters.

30 years ago, Blue catfish was deliberately introduced to this U.S. river as a game fish. During recent years, the catfish population has grown explosively while many other fish species have decreased. An eight year old Blue catfish normally weigh a mere 4 lbs (1.8 kg), but as soon as it gets large enough to start catching other fish and devouring fully grown crabs, it begins putting on weight at a rapid pace and can gain as much as 10 lbs (4.5 kg) a year.

Blue Catfish – Ictalurus furcatus. Copyright www.jjphoto.dk

According to Bob Greenlee, a biologist with the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, scientists doing sampling used to get around 1,500 catfish in an hour in this river in the 1990s. Today, this number has increased to 6,000. “We have an invasive species that is taking over the ecosystem,” says Rob Latour, a marine biologist with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William and Mary.

Sea Lamprey spawning sites have been discovered in the River Wear at Chester-le-Street, County Durham, by local anglers. After being alerted by the fishermen, the Environment Agency found no less than 12 spawning sites, known as redds, measuring up to a metre across.

“We were thrilled to discover lampreys back in the River Wear as these rare blood-suckers show us that the water quality in the river is very high“, says Environment Agency fisheries officer Paul Frear. “Lampreys are extremely selective with their spawning sites and will only nest where the water quality is optimal. Today, only three species of this blood-sucking creature remain in Britain and their habitats are protected by an EC directive.”

The lamprey feeds by attaching itself to another animal with its suction-cup like mouth and, once in place, gradually rasps away tissue from its host. The largest specimens are roughly 100 cm long, but most lampreys are smaller than this.

If you see a lamprey or a lamprey redd (nest) in the UK, please report the sighting directly to Paul Frear by e-mailing him at paul.frear@environment-agency.gov.uk.

As reported earlier, invasive sea lampreys have caused serious problems in North America where they lack natural enemies.

Picture is from North America where the lamprey have caused serious problems.

Most IWC* member countries accidently kill whales, e.g. by unintentionally ramming into them with motorized vessels or by using fishing methods that may entangle and suffocate these air-breathing mammals as accidental by-catch. While this type of accidental deaths is reported from most member nations, Japan and South Korea have an inordinate amount of accidental by-catchs, says Professor Scott Baker, associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University.

By analysing the DNA of whale-meat products sold in Japanese markets, Baker, a cetacean expert, and Dr Vimoksalehi Lukoscheck of the University of California-Irvine, found that meat from as many as 150 whales came from the coastal population. Japan’s scientific whaling program only targets whales from open ocean populations, but whales accidently killed outside the program are allowed to be sold.

Humpback Whale

Japan and South Korea are the only countries that allow the commercial sale of products derived from whales killed as accidental by-catch and the sheer number of whales represented by whale-meat products on the market suggests that there might be something fishy about these allegedly accidental kills.

They DNA study showed that nearly 46 percent of examined Minke whale products came from a coastal whale population, which has distinct genetic characteristics, and is protected by international agreements. In addition to minke whales, Baker and Lukoscheck also found DNA from Humpback whales, Bryde’s whales, Fin whales, and Western gray whales.

“The sale of bycatch alone supports a lucrative trade in whale meat at markets in some Korean coastal cities, where the wholesale price of an adult minke whale can reach as high as $100,000,” Baker said. “Given these financial incentives, you have to wonder how many of these whales are, in fact, killed intentionally.”

In January 2008, Korean police launched an investigation into organized illegal whaling in the port town of Ulsan, reportedly seizing 50 tons of minke whale meat.

Japan has asked the IWC, who is holding its annual meeting this week, to allow a small coastal whaling program in Japanese waters. This request is something that professor Baker says should be scrutinized carefully because of the uncertainty of the actual catch and the need to determine appropriate population counts to sustain the distinct stocks.

Baker and Lukoscheck have presented their findings to the IWC commission and the study will also be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Animal Conservation.

* International Whaling Commission

Norway, one of the two countries that openly defy the IWC ban on commercial whaling, has suspended this year’s whale hunt mid-season after catching less than half the quota of 885 whales. The suspension coincides with this week’s annual IWC meeting in Portugal, but is not linked to the meeting or any adjacent negotiations. Instead, a lack of demand in the Norwegian distribution chain is cited as the reason behind the surprising deferment.

“The number of whales killed so far is enough to meet the known demand,” said Willy Godtliebsen, head of sales at the Norwegian Fishermen’s Sales Organisation (NFSO). “They may resume the hunt later if new buyers turn up.”

According to NFSO marketing director Lise Mangseth, the suspension is an effect of the current financial crisis. The financial situation has dissuaded processing plants from freezing and stocking the meat the way they normally do, in order to save money.

“More generally, [the suspension is due to] organisational problems rather than a problem of demand,” Mangseth said. “The whalers are such small actors and the volumes from the hunt are so limited that the distribution chains don’t really want to invest in their product and there are no marketing campaigns as there are for other food products“.

She also claimed that it isn’t unusual for whalers to take a break during the season.

Greenpeace are interpreting the suspension as a sign of waning consumer demands for whale meat.

“If they don’t start the hunt again later this season, 2009 will be the ‘worst’ year for whaling since Norway resumed commercial whaling”, Greenpeace spokesman Jo Kuper said.

Norway resumed whaling in 1993, despite international protests. When Norwegian whalers were asked to suspend their hunt on Tuesday this week, 350 Minke whales had been harpooned since the start of the whaling season in April. Normally, the hunt would continue until October.

Up to 50 lungfish, some of them up to on metre long, was killed when tonnes of water was released from an Australian dam this week.

The water was released from the North Pine Dam in southeast Queensland between Monday morning and Tuesday night as heavy rains were threatening to overfill the dam.

According to SEQWater, who manages the North Pine Dam, up to 100 native fish went with the release, including roughly a dozen lungfish. SEQWater spokesman Mike Foster said staff were on the scene at every dam release to check for “fish kills” and that they had rescued a handful of lungfish from pools. He also stated that staff would return on Thursday [today] to see if more could be done.

In May, when the North Pine Dam opened its gates for the first time in many years, up to 150 lungfish were rescued.

Roger Currie, spokesman for the Wide Bay Burnett Conservation Council, said conservationists on the scene during the most recent water release had found up to 50 lungfish that had been killed or mutilated as a result of the release.

“Some were found caught in trees yesterday and last night,” Currie said. “They’ve just been pummelled by the sheer force of it.”

The Wide Bay Burnett Conservation Council is pushing for a study to find out how large the North Pine Dam lungfish population is, and the council is also calling for measures to protect fish during water releases.

Lungfish of the species Neoceratodus forsteri.
Copyright www.jjphoto.dk

What’s so special about the Australian lungfish?
The Queensland lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, is the only now living member of the family Ceratodontidae and order Ceratodontiformes. Also known as Australian lungfish or Barramunda, Neoceratodus forsteri is native only to the Mary and Burnett river systems in south-eastern Queensland. It has however been introduced to several other Australian rivers south of this area during the past century.

Fossil records of the lungfish group date back 380 million years to a period when the higher vertebrate classes were at the starting point of their development. Prehistoric fossils unearthed in New South Wales are almost identical to the now living Qeensland lungfish, indicating that this species hardly has evolved at all during the last 100 million years. Lungfishes flourished during the Devonian period (c. 413-365 million years ago) but only six species of freshwater lungfish remain today; one in Australia, one in South America, and four in Africa.

The Queensland lungfish can survive for several days out of water, but only if kept moist. It can breathe oxygen directly from the air using its lung-like swim bladder. This species is remarkably long-lived compared to most other fish species and will usually attain an age of at least 20-25 years if it manages to survive into adulthood. Granddad, a Queensland lungfish living at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, is at least 80 years old. He has been housed at the aquarium since 1933 and seen many generations of zoo keepers come and go. The largest

Of the 679 whales Japan reported killing during the hunt of 2008/2009, 304 were female. 192 of them were pregnant and four were lactating.

“The four lactating females would each have had a calf that would have starved to death,” said Michael Kennedy, director of the Humane Society International Australia.

The details of Japan’s impact on female whales was contained in what is known as a “Cruise Report”, secretly sent to the IWC’s* scientific committee before the IWC meeting in Portugal this week.

Japan claims that its whaling is legal, scientific research, but many opponents have spoken out against what they see as an unnecessary slaughtering of animals under the guise of science.

“They report they measure the length and weight of the foetus, they measure their eyes and take skin samples from the foetus for what they call genetic studies,” said Kennedy. “It is gruesome, useless information which, if it was even needed, could be found without dismembering a foetus.”

Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett, who is attending the IWC meeting in Portugal, said Japan had killed more than 13,000 whales in the name of science IWC banned commercial whaling in 1986.

* International Whaling Commission

No less than 215 anglers from throughout the UK participated in the 2009 Scottish Sharkatag organised by the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network (SSACN).

The Sharkatag had three goals:

– To highlight the perilous state of the endangered shark species.

– To gather data to support claims for their protection.

– To press politicians and fisheries managers to recognize the needs of the sea angling community and its contribution to the Scottish economy.

The information gathered during the Sharkatag will feed into SSACN’s Scottish Shark

Tagging Programme; a program dedicated to broaden our knowledge of shark, skate and ray stocks in Scottish coastal waters.

Attending anglers caught, tagged and released various shark species from boats, kayaks and the shoreline of Solway in South West Scotland, and what they found was worse than expected.

“It really worries me that many of the tope packs have failed to

show this year“, says Ian Burrett, SSACN’s Project Director. “The whole region seems to be void of the expected male breeding stock and the fish caught were mostly immature females, typically under twenty pounds and a few solitary females in the 50-60 pound range; Luce Bay was especially poor for the time of year.”

The Tope shark (Galeorinus galeus), also known as the School shark, Soupfin shark and Snapper shark, is a type of hound shark found at depths down to 550 metres (1800 feet). It can reach a length of 2 metres (6.5 feet) and is listed as Vulnerable at the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The situation was equally worrisome for several other species of shark and ray.

“Around two hundred tope, smoothhound and bull huss were tagged over the three days and that can only be described as poor compared to what the total should have been, says Burrett. “Combined with the lack of rays tagged, only three throughout Sharkatag, it shows how urgently plans are needed to helpprotect and regenerate the stocks. Twenty year ago virtuallyevery boat would have recorded several mature tope and rays.”

You can find more information at the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network’s website www.ssacn.org and the website of SSACN’s Scottish Shark Tagging Programme www.tagsharks.com.