Shark cull plans for Western Australia

I came across this story in the Nature journal today and the mere thought of it disgusted me. 
The Western Australian Government have recently announced a $6.85 million plan to cull sharks that come too close to the shore in order to reduce attacks on humans. $2 million is set to be allocated to the tracking and destroying of the sharks, with a further $2 million being allocated to the setting of traps to kill any sharks that come too close to the shore. 

The plan, which is set to be put in place in January 2014, will include setting drum lines - a line of baited hooks - a kilometer offshore aiming to kill any sharks that come too close to the shore. It will also arrange 'management zones' around some of Western Australia's most popular beaches in which any shark that enters the area will be killed. 

This plan is supposed to reduce attacks on humans that take to the water for recreation however is likely to severely damage population numbers of the species being hunted.
The three species most commonly known to attack humans are the infamous Great White, the Tiger Shark and the Bull shark; all three being listed as threatened by the IUCN with the Great White being listed as vulnerable to extinction. 
George Burgess, a shark researcher from the Florida Museum of Natural History, rightly states that "If they take enough sharks out of the water, sure it’s going to reduce shark attacks", but how many will need to be killed before a difference can be seen? 

Currently the average number of shark attacks per year in Australia is 15, with a study from 2011 showing that fatalities were as low as 1.1 per year on average over the past 20 years. 
Some may say that these numbers are too high, however I think people need to remember that the ocean is their habitat - not ours. 

Not only will this cull damage shark population numbers, it may also have a hugely detrimental effect on the marine ecosystems that they survive in and may also be dangerous to other species, such as Dolphins, that are common in those areas. 

I was shocked to hear that three shark control programs are currently in place worldwide; two in Australia (in Queensland and New South Wales) and the other in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. However, with this region of Western Australia thought to be a migration route for Great Whites, the plans for this new 'control' program has caused uproar once again. 

Besides being environmentally irresponsible and totally archaic behaviour, this new plan also goes against current legislation that protects Great Whites in Commonwealth and WA waters. 

I urge all of you reading this to go and SIGN this petition to try and stop this plan going ahead. It appears that humans need reminding that they do not own this world, and that every species has as much right to live on this earth as we do. Humans are not marine animals and we should not alter such a delicate environment to suit our needs. 

5 Reasons why sharks are in trouble!

Photo Credit: National Wildlife Federation

There are 5 main reasons why Sharks are in trouble today, and all of them are man-related. 

1. Commercial Shark fishing - Fishing for Sharks has been around for decades and in the past 60 years has depleted populations drastically. Shark fishing occurs worldwide and they are hunted for their fins, liver oil, cartilage and meat.
2. Shark bycatch - Bycatch is when sharks are accidentally caught in commercial fishing nets. Unfortunately they are then often killed. This is usually unreported and illegally carried out, causing a decrease in shark numbers over the years. 
3. Consumer demand - Worldwide shark fins are in high demand, especially in Asia where they are used for the delicacy Shark Fin Soup. Over the years this industry has increased in value from $400 to $500 million a year. 
4. Lack of regulation - Unfortunately these species are not as protected as they need to be, meaning that shark fishing is still taking place across the world. 
5. Misunderstanding - These giants of the sea are very misunderstood creatures and, as a consequence of movies such as the famous Jaws, get very bad press. In reality, Sharks play a very important role as the oceans top predators and without them a lot of marine ecosystems would suffer. 

Disease causing starfish to turn to goo

Photo Credit: Melissa Miner - LiveScience

Researchers have discovered a disease that is killing hundreds of starfish along the East and West coast of the United States. 

The disease, which has been named Sea Star Wasting Syndrome, causes lesions and eventually limb loss, effectively turning them to goo. Researchers have been unable to figure out exactly what is causing the disease and are unsure whether it is bacterial, viral or a combination of effects that have been caused by environmental stressors such as increasing water temperatures.

This disease may also be a consequence of our behaviour as the ocean absorbs about half of the carbon dioxide that man releases, causing the pH of the water to drop to more acidic levels.
This increased acidity may be causing the shells and skeletons of marine animals to dissolve, including starfish who have a calcium-based skeleton. 
You can read more about this here where some researchers from my local Marine Laboratory have studied the affects of global warming on marine wildlife. 

Sea star wasting syndrome is not thought to be spreading to other marine species, however this drastic loss of starfish may have serious detrimental effects on marine ecosystems. It has been recorded that this disease has killed up to 95% of some populations consisting of hundreds of individuals.
Some species of starfish, such as the West Coasts Ochre sea star and the Sunflower sea star (the largest sea star on earth) are thought to be keystone species, meaning that without them the ecosystem they exist in will simply not exist, killing every other species that relies on them to survive. 

This has occurred in sea stars before and populations have bounced back from it, so it is not 100% certain that this disease will be catastrophic however it will certainly be kept a close eye on. Some starfish are important indicator species, meaning that they help us to find out what is going on in the environment and a loss of these indicators may suggest something is going wrong elsewhere.

Blinky the three-eyed crab

Photo Credit: Gerhard Scholtz, Peter K. L. Ng and Stephen Moore

This strange creature is Blinky, a three-eyed freshwater crab that was found in the Hoteo river on New Zealands north island. Many of you may have heard of Blinky the three-eyed fish from The Simpsons but, unlike the fish whose deformities were comically blamed on nuclear waste pollution, this little critter is likely to be the result of conjoined crab twins.

German researcher Gerhard Scholtz and colleagues discovered this individual crab during their research in the Hoteo river and at first must've thought they had discovered a new species that defied all rules of biology. Unfortunately, closer examination showed a perfectly reasonable, yet rare, explanation for Blinkys abnormalities.

As well as the obvious three eyes, the little crab also has an antennae-like protrusion on it's back. Scientists believe that this would have been the fourth eye, but the damaged tissue regenerated into this antennae-like deformity.
It was also seen that Blinky had an abnormally small and deformed brain.

Although rare, conjoined twins have been seen in humans however this pattern of deformities has never before been seen in animals.

Story of the week: Humpback whale spotted in UK

Sorry that I've been lacking in the post department recently! I've been pretty busy with all the Halloween festivities and Uni but here is last weeks story of the week...better late than never! 

Last week, for possibly the first time ever, a Humpback Whale was spotted off of the coast of the UK. The 10-12m Whale was spotted off of the coast of Great Yarmouth and was only around 600m from shore! From there it moved to Winterton-on-sea where it stayed and fed in front of onlookers for about 2 hours.
Today, what appears to be the same whale has been spotted AGAIN, this time off the coast of Suffolk!
It was spotted about 1.5 miles offshore where it stayed and fed off fish for about an hour before swimming north. 

This is thought to be the first ever recorded sighting of this species in this area of the UK, says Carl Chapman, Norfolk’s cetacean recorder and coordinator for the national Sea Watch Foundation. He has examined records dating back to the 1700's and has found no recorded sighting of this species in the UK. 

These gigantic creatures are easily identified by the size of their flippers - reaching up to a third of their body size - and by the hump on their back. They can grow up to 50ft in length and can weigh as much as 40 tonnes!

Photo credit: BBC News

• Humpback whales hunt cooperatively using the 'bubble net' strategy where several whales circle underwater emitting a stream of bubbles, which trap fish within an air ring. The whales can then gorge on the contents of their 'net'.
• The whales are renowned for their acrobatic aerial breaching and complex songs performed by males during courtship

Source: BBC Nature

Story of the Week: Turtles released back into wild

Photo Credit: National Aquarium

                                                              

So here it is,  my first ever Story of the week!

Now I realise it didn’t occur in the UK, but it was way too happy for me to ignore (plus turtles are one of my favourite animals so this story was a given).

On October 20th 2013 the National Aquariums remaining two loggerhead turtles, Portsmouth and Rooney (Yeah they could've picked a better name for the last one) were finally released back into their natural environment.
Over 300 spectators gathered on Virginia Beach to wave off Portsmouth and Rooney, as well as two loggerheads from the Virginia Aquarium.

Rooney was one of the Aquariums first cold stunned turtles of 2013 and Portsmouth was caught on a fishing hook at the Ocean View Fishing Pier on July 4th. Both turtles required extensive veterinary and husbandry care and after the pair had gained sufficient weight, the were ready to be released back into their natural habitat.

The two turtles, who have satellite and acoustic tags, will be continuously monitored and tracked to ensure they are doing well in their new, and very large, ocean habitat.

Soon you will be able to follow Portsmouth and Rooney's adventures through the National Aquariums website, so go and have a look and see how they're getting on!