Mass stranding of sperm whales

Between Thursday 10 and Friday 11 December a pod of seven sperm whales stranded on the coast of the Gargano Peninsula (Italy), in the Adriatic Sea.

The animals, including several males of 10+ m, are scattered along a stretch of about six km of beach. Five have already died.

Scientists from the Centro Studi Cetacei, the Natural History Museum of Milan, and the Italian universities of Bari, Padua, Pavia and Siena, among others, are on site and coordinate operations and scientific analyses.

Giovanni Bearzi and Silvia Bonizzoni, who live in Apulia not too far from the stranding area, went to have a look.

See what they found:

http://www.istitutotethys.org/gargano/

Mega-flood filled the Mediterranean in less than two years

Around 5.6 million years ago tectonic movements and a drop in sea level cut the Mediterranean out of the worlds' oceans. For 300 million years our sea dried up almost everywhere, in what is called the Messinian salinity crisis.

The water then returned: what started like a trickle, later became an event of biblical proportions which filled the Mediterranean in under two years. At peak times, the sea level rose by up to ten meters a day - the largest known flood in Earth's history.

Daniel Garcia-Castellanos of the Jaume Almera Institute of Earth Sciences in Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues, who published their work on Nature, estimate the peak flow to have been around 1000 times higher than the present Amazon river at its highest rate.

Eleonora de Sabata
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For more information:
- Catastrophic flood of the Mediterranean after the Messinian salinity crisis
- Castellano's page

Lower frequency in blue whale songs

Blue whales are not singing as they were used to do. Their songs’ tonal frequency is decreasing every year by a few fractions of an hertz.

Global warming, noise pollution, changing population dynamics and new mating strategies are the possible reasons, but none of these hypotheses provide a full explanation and researchers have not yet found the real clue.

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McDonald M., Hildebrand J., Mesnick S. 2009. Worldwide decline in tonal frequencies of blue whale songs. Endangered Species Research 9:13-21.

Abstract:

Blue whale Balaenoptera musculus songs can be divided into at least 10 types worldwide, each type retaining the same units and similar phrasing over decades, unlike humpback whale song which changes substantially from year to year. Historical acoustic recordings dating back as far as the 1960s were examined, measuring the tonal frequencies of 1000s of blue whale songs. Within a given year, individuals match the song frequency (related to ‘pitch’ in musical nomenclature) to within less than 3%. The best documented song type, that observed offshore of California, USA, now is sung at a frequency 31% lower than it was in the 1960s. Data available for 7 of the world’s 10 known song types show they are all shifting downward in frequency, though at different rates. Any behavioral, ecological, oceanographic or anthropogenic change hypothesis seeking to explain the observed shifts should account for the worldwide occurrence of a nearly linear downward shift in the tonal frequencies of blue whale song. Hypotheses examined consider sexual selection, increasing ocean noise, increasing whale body size post whaling, global warming, interference from other animal sounds and post whaling increases in abundance. None of the commonly suggested hypotheses were found to provide a full explanation; however, increasing population size post whaling provides an intriguing and testable hypothesis that recovery is altering the sexually selected tradeoff for singing males between song amplitude (the ability to be heard at a greater distance) and song frequency (the ability to produce songs of lower pitch).

Tethys Seaway

Click on figure to enlarge.

From:
STEEMAN, M.E., M.B. HEBSGAARD, R.E. FORDYCE, S.Y.W. HO, D.L. RABOSKY, R. NIELSEN, C. RAHBEK, H. GLENNER, M.V. SORENSEN, E. WILLERSLEV. 2009. Radiation of extant cetaceans driven by restructuring of the oceans. Systematic Biology 58(6):573-585.

Oceans for Pathi

Oceans for Pathi is a new nature film based on revolutionary techniques that allowed enjoying the secrets of the oceans as never before.

Thanks to remote-controlled mini helicopters and hydrodynamic cameras, the film reached the goal of ‘catching’ the ocean's most intimate events. For this purpose the crew worked in 50 different locations and filmed 80 marine species, from crabs to whales.

It took four years, 500 hours of footage and £45 million to be produced but the result must be amazing!

The film will be out for general release by the end of January 2010.

SB

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Photo by Barcroft Media: an example of how some whale footage was obtained.

More information in the DailyMail article

Video of the Month: December 2009

Disappearing Dolphins

by Chris and Genevieve Johnson / earthOCEAN

NEW - Short version (7 min 20 sec)

2009

Common dolphins were once abundant throughout the Mediterranean Sea. Today, they are declining rapidly, surviving only in portions of their former range. In western Greece, the sea around the island of Kalamos is their last stronghold, or at least it used to be. So why are the dolphins disappearing?

We interview Giovanni Bearzi, the President of the Tethys Research Institute in Italy, and a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation. Giovanni has been studying coastal dolphins in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea for two decades. What began as a study on the ecology and behavior of common dolphins around Kalamos, became a systematic record of their demise.

See the original version (18 minutes)

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View complete list of Tethys Videos of the Month

View complete list of Tethys Books of the Month

Book of the Month: December 2009

The Origin of Species

by Charles Darwin

1859

Penguin Classics, London

Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, published on 24 November 1859, is a seminal work of scientific literature, considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Its full title was On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. For the sixth edition of 1872, the short title was changed to The Origin of Species. Darwin's book introduced the theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. It presented a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution. Darwin included evidence that he had gathered on the Beagle expedition in the 1830s and his subsequent findings from research, correspondence, and experimentation. The book was written for non-specialist readers and attracted widespread interest upon its publication. Within two decades there was scientific agreement that evolution, with a branching pattern of common descent, had occurred, but scientists were slow to give natural selection the significance that Darwin thought appropriate. During the "eclipse of Darwinism" from the 1880s to the 1930s, various other mechanisms of evolution were given more credit. With the development of the modern evolutionary synthesis in the 1930s and 1940s, Darwin's concept of evolutionary adaptation through natural selection became central to modern evolutionary theory, now the unifying concept of the life sciences. (Adapted from Wikipedia)

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View complete list of Tethys Books of the Month

View complete list of Tethys Videos of the Month

Book of the Month: November 2009

Guida dei Mammiferi Marini del Mediterraneo

by Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara and Massimo Demma

2004 (First edition: 1994)

Franco Muzzio Editore, Padova

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View complete list of Tethys Books of the Month

View complete list of Tethys Videos of the Month

Tethys workshop

On December 2nd, Tethys organised an internal workshop that had a considerable attendance (25 collaborators, including juniors and seniors).

On this occasion, the participants presented and discussed the research and conservation activities conducted since 1986, the ongoing projects in the Pelagos Sanctuary and in Greece, and the future goals and "vision" of the Institute.

Nine presentations were scheduled:

• Synthesis of the work done by Tethys, 1986-2009 (Giovanni Bearzi)
• An overview of Tethys field courses, 1990-2009 (Stefano Agazzi)
• The dolphins of the Amvrakikos Gulf, Greece (Joan Gonzalvo)
• The new research project in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece (Silvia Bonizzoni)
• Cetacean Sanctuary Research: 20 years in the Pelagos Sanctuary (Sabina Airoldi and Simone Panigada)
• The "Habitat" project (Arianna Azzellino)
• Fin whale feeding areas in the western Ligurian Sea (Maddalena Jahoda)
• Aerial and naval surveys in the Pelagos Sanctuary (Simone Panigada)
• The Tethys project on cetacean collisions with ships (Elisa Remonato)

The workshop was a success and the president of Tethys, Giovanni Bearzi, declared: "It turned out to be a pleasant and productive event... Even for those who know Tethys well, seeing so much work presented at once has been a moving experience. I am also glad that we can rely on so many skilled collaborators, and I look forward to the next opportunity to meet and share ideas and information".

Silvia Bonizzoni

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Photo: Some of the participants in the Tethys workshop held at the Milan Civic Aquarium on December 2nd, 2009 (click on photo to enlarge)

EU funded tens of millions to fish for depleted tuna

The European Union has given out €34.5 million, between 2000 and 2008, to subsidise the Mediterranean tuna fishing fleets despite warnings from scientists that overfishing is pushing the species close to extinction.

Joe Borg, the European Fishery Commissioner, revealed that €23 million was given to fund the construction of new boats, including ultra-modern purse seiners that are able to land 100 tonnes in one haul. A further €10.5 million was given to modernise existing vessels, increasing their ability to track down and catch the tuna. Only €1 million was used to decommission vessels, but mainly for small-scale, local boats.

Spain received more than half of the subsidy, with French and Italian fleets the next biggest beneficiaries. Cyprus, Malta and Greece were also given money.

Scientists from ICCAT (International Council for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna) believe that the bluefin tuna stock was below 15 per cent of its pre-exploitation levels.

Read full article on the Times

Eleonora de Sabata

State of the Med: the UNEP 2009 report

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) and its Regional Activity Centres have released the first State of the Environment and Development report covering the Mediterranean region, which tackles key environmental issues, including climate change. The “State of the Environment and Development in the Mediterranean 2009″ was released during the 16th Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, which took place from 3-5 November 2009, in Marrakech, Morocco.

The report is a pilot exercise, based on available sources of information and covers the 21 countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It finds that climate change is already occurring in the region and forecasts that it will lead to, inter alia, a decline in rainfall, increased periods of droughts and rises in sea-level. The report also identifies the most vulnerable Mediterranean zones and states that climate change will also affect agriculture and fishing, the attractiveness of tourism, coastal zones and infrastructure, and public health.

Eleonora de Sabata

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The Report

Whale-ship collisions featured on Italian TV

On November 23rd, Tethys researcher Sabina Airoldi, director of the Cetacean Sanctuary Research project, took part in the TV programme Geo&Geo, aired on the Italian channel Rai Tre.

Sabina talked about whales and dolphins in the Mediterranean Sea, particularly in the Pelagos Sanctuary, also discussing the problem of collisions between ships and large whales.

Following Sabina's participation in this popular TV programme, the website on whale collisions managed by Tethys had several hundreds of new visitors from all over Italy in the following days. It was an important opportunity to let the general public know about the cetacean conservation initiatives conducted by Tethys.

Elisa Remonato

A new FAO treaty to crack down on illegal fishing

Rome, Nov 23 2009 - A new FAO treaty to fight illegal fishing - finalised by 91 countries - is now open for signature by member states. The agreement will legally enter into force after 25 countries have ratified it.

Officially known as the Agreement of Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, the treaty specifies minimum standards for inspection.

Under the terms of the text, foreign vessels will have to request permission in advance to dock at specially designated ports and will have to provide information on their catch. Signatories will also commit to regularly inspect fishing vessels in their ports according to a set of international standards. Port States will be obliged to prohibit entry to illegal fishing vessels.

So far the situation is not good: a research by the Pew Environment Group shows that while some vessels known to engage in IUU fishing are penalised by port authorities, many are entirely unaffected or simply manage to escape penalties by moving out of the convention area where they were listed.

Environmental groups estimate that one-fifth of all fish landed are caught illegally.

Eleonora de Sabata

photo: FAO/G.Bizzarri

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For more information:
Pew Environment Group: Port State Performance
FAO press release: New treaty will leave ‘fish pirates’ without safe haven

Breathing Earth

How often is a child born?
How often does someone die?
How much CO2 are we producing?

http://www.breathingearth.net/

Tails for whales

Tails for Whales is an IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) project and a global campaign.

The idea is simple: take a photo of you with your hands shaping a whale tail, and add your photo to the ‘tails for whales’ community.

These photos will be used to create posters, TV ads and petitions to encourage governments everywhere to do all they can to stop whaling.

This project received support from many government members as well as some of the world’s most familiar faces... let’s join them!

SB

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For more information:
http://www.tailsforwhales.org/