Tsunami

Amid the chaos and destruction this story from Midway atoll seems to have gone unnoticed...
Midway, as it's name suggests is about midway across the Pacific Ocean, some 2800 nm from California and 2200 from Japan. This gave the few people staying on Midway approximately 4 hours to prepare and to get to high ground - aka the third floor of Charlie Hotel - to escape the coming wave.

source: US Fish and Wildlife Service

The atoll consists of 3 islands, Sand, Eastern and Spit Islands within an outer reef of 5 miles in diameter, covering a total of c.1500 acres.

These islands are home to millions of sea birds, including:

• a single pair of short tail albatross, Phoebastria albatrus,
• some 450 thousand pairs of Laysan albatross, Phoebastria immutabilis, one of which Wisdom was successfully raising a chick at the tender age of 60+ years,
• more than 25 000 black footed albatross, Phoebastria nigripes,
• some 100 or so Laysan ducks, Anas laysanensis,
• Bonin Petrels, Pterodroma hypoleuca,
• and the odd monk seal, Monachus schauinslandi. 

 Busy islands!

The biggest wave is reported to have been nearly 5 feet, which doesn't seem much but when the highest feature is a 3 story building, 2 m is huge. It is also huge when you are a ground nesting bird and that you have eggs or chicks.

So when the wave came over and washed over 60% of Eastern Island and 20% of Sand Island, the birds were in serious danger. Some 10' of thousands of chicks and over 1000 adult and sud-adult Laysan albatross are thought to have died as a result of it. Wisdom is on the missing list, but it is unclear if she has just flown away or has been harmed. [Wisdom has since been seen and is well]

Two chicks and adult Laysan Albatross awaiting rescue - Refuge biologist, Pete Leary.

The short tail chick got pushed about and had rough ride but was seen found and returned to its nest the next day.

Down but not out: the Short Tailed Albatross - Refuge biologist, Pete Leary.

Amid the tonnes of debris washed up ...

Birds in debris - Pete Leary/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

... were thousands of fish and two green turtles. They all got washed up by the wave, and whilst the fish were dead, the turtles were only stranded...

A green turtle out oh its comfort zone - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

and a little help to get them to the beach enabled them to take back to the seas.

A helping hand and a little flipper warm up before the big plunge - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Who would have thought that turtle would get caught up in this and that the (adult) birds wouldn't take off...

All of these pictures are courtesy of  the US Fish & Wildlife service - Pacific Region. More pictures available here!

Drilling down under!

During the off season there aren't many stories from the beach, but a tour of the news comes up with a few gems. I really thought I was day dreaming when I saw this one:

Shell Oil has come under heavy criticism for planning an oil and gas drilling site that could threaten a coral reef off the coast of Australia that is among the most valuable marine ecosystems on the planet.

I had to read that a couple of times before it sunk in. Shell is actually wanting to drill for oil 30 miles from Ningaloo Reef marine park. It is home to some 460 species of fish, 200 species of corals,  molluscs, turtles, dugongs, whale sharks... the list goes on.

4 species of turtles, loggerhead (Caretta caretta), green (Chelonia mydas), flatback (Natator depressus) and hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) use the surrounding waters to forage  and the  surrounding beaches as nesting grounds. The flatback is only found in that region, and all turtles are endangered.  But it isn't only about the turtles or the fish or the whales... Australian reefs are the most pristine in the world and the least impacted by human activities. According to the UN, reefs have an economic impact of $172bn annually and 300 million people depend on them directly.

Despite the 'best intentions' of oil companies claiming a very strong commitment to the protection of biodiversity, we all know the impact of oil spills. Gulf of Mexico anyone?

And it isn't just Shell that is at it, BP has announced plans to conduct seismic exploration with a view to drill in the Great Australian Bight marine park. 

View Larger Map

Let's hope these plans just stay on paper and don't reach the development phase.

The fish will thank us!

recently in the news: Shell's drilling off Australia could 'devastate' endangered marine life

Red River Giant Softshell Turtle

 A few days ago there was a report published about the most endangered tortoise/terrapins. On the top of the list is the Red River Giant Softshell Turtle also known as Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle (Rafetus swinhoei). Only four of these are known to be left, and only one female... bleak prospects then!
A pair is in a zoo in China, but they are yet to successfully breed despite laying eggs every year since 2008. All the eggs have died before the end of incubation; years of malnutrition and old age are thought to be responsible.

Another is in Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi, were it is considered sacred and thus protected. 

View Larger Map

Unfortunately, its sacred status hasn't stopped people filling its lake with debris and polluting the water; the animal that was once very rarely seen now surfaces more and more revealing infected wounds which have alarmed local people. This has triggered an incentive to clean the lake, get some debris out and pump clean fresh water in. They are also trying to get the turtle out so as to clean its wounds.

Rafetus swinhoei in the sun. photo by Tim McCormack

This is another gentle giant, up to 1 meter in length and 120kg... ears of consumption, habitat destruction and pollution have left it close to disappearance. A last effort to help prolong its life; after this there aren't anymore...

The BBC has a short video reporting this story:  Pollution fear for Hanoi turtle.
This story is now being reported in today's Independent 9/03/2011  here! 




 

Making the news, but going the way of the Dodo!

In the space of a few days, turtles, tortoises and terrapins have made the news again, which is great.

First there was news about how the 'migration mystery is solved' in sea turtles. Well it isn't really solved, we (humans) have just worked out that sea turtles can determine latitude and longitude. The difficult part was longitude, and as pointed out by one of the authors it took centuries for sailors to figure it out. It was so difficult in fact that the British government of the day past the Longitude Act awarding £20 000 to the person who could find a way to determine longitude within 30 nautical miles. In the mid 1700' that was a small fortune! John Harrison eventually worked it out.
So the small matter of longitude is in built in loggerhead hatchlings from the day they are born...

This article was on the BBC web site, never made it to TV news (I'll blame that on the current geopolitics and war games going on), but it made it to the web copies of various papers and was on national radio in France (and other countries?).
The fact that turtles get into mainstream news, for reasons other than they are disappearing is great; only when people understand what is going on and that there is more to the story than 'turtles are critically endangered' and they are doomed. No they are not out of trouble, but we have a lot to learn from these animals and the world around us.
How accurate is your GPS?

The doom and gloom leads me to the next story... going on land with our armoured friends. According to a new study over half of the 328 species of tortoise and terrapins are threatened with extinction. This excludes the 7 species of sea turtles, which are all in a poor state (except maybe the Olive ridley). The full report is available from the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, listing the 25 most endangered species, followed by a following group of 40.
The story is the same all around: habitat destruction, collecting for consumption, and the pet trade.
Sound familiar? well it should do. The same happens to the sea turtles and I am sure that if leatherbacks weren't quite as huge, people would want those in aquariums also!

I guess 'one' is supposed to have faith, believe that things can change and can be changed. And if you ask why turtles? (The obvious answer would be what are you doing here?!)
Well maybe we should consider the importance of these species. They are important

• ecologically: maintaining habitats (without tortoise on the Galapagos island, many plant species would be in danger; in fact it was so bad that goats have been culled in a lot of parts and breeding programs for tortoise have been put in place to help restore that unique and beautiful world)
• economically: you would be amazed how many people go on holiday to see a specific species alive. for a bit of reading: Money talks, and there are many more reports.
• scientific: we know next to nothing about so many species, yet we are set on destroying them and losing them for ever. We have a lot to learn from them. What if the navigational system in turtles can help humans improve geolocation systems? and what if molecules secreted by polyps can help cure cancer?

Yes, what if. And what if not? Well until we do the research we cannot know,   and if we destroy everything we cannot do the research... so we will never know? It is worth the effort, not much is needed.

Astrochelys radiata. ©Dom

Do they really have to go the way of the Dodo?