Baleen Treasure Trove

Sometimes great surprises do come in very large packages.  Last week, Christmas came early for the archaeological community when a treasure trove of baleen whale fossils was unearthed in the Chilean desert courtesy of a highway expansion project.  Scientists around the world have been buzzing with questions of how the animals got almost a mile inland and why so many died in the same place, and most importantly, everyone is wondering whether these finds present new evidence in the evolutionary record of marine mammals.

While this mass grave has stirred up more questions than answers, researchers are certain of a few things.  Of the 80 individual animals, 25 of the skeletons are perfectly intact, making it one of the largest and best-preserved sites of its time period.  Paleoclimatologists are convinced that they must have died anywhere between 2 and 7 million years ago when the area was a large lagoon.  But the question remains - why did so many animals simultaneously die?  Some have proposed that perhaps a natural disaster such as a landslide or earthquake sealed off the lagoon, trapping the animals inside.  Perhaps they could have beached themselves after becoming disoriented as whale pods still do today.  Other theories include a sudden change in the lagoon water chemistry or even a large tidal wave that pushed them ashore.

Interestingly, these whales weren't alone when they died.  An extinct aquatic sloth, an extinct dolphin complete with two large walrus tusks, and an ancient seabird with an 18-foot wingspan were all also uncovered at the site.  Can you even start to imagine a bird almost as large as a school bus?  Once you have conjured an image of this strange and distant land, picture this unfamiliar ecosystem stretching as far as the eye can see.  Sounds like the beginnings of a C.S. Lewis novel to me!

These discoveries give researchers a window into the past, when the landscape looked dramatically different than it does today.  It also reminds us to keep a healthy amount of skepticism in our lives.  How do we know what we know?  We cannot excavate everything.   And, even when scientists do stumble across the evidence, the best we can do is make educated guesses and let our imaginations fill in the rest.  In this case, the developers wanted all of the skeletal remains moved away from the expansion project but Chilean government officials have protected it in an attempt to prioritize the potential contributions to science.  Thanks to Chile, we'll know a little bit more about ancient life in the Atacama Desert.

Happy (Sustainable) Thanksgiving!

Today Knaussers celebrate Thanksgiving in DC and further afield with friends and family.  Thanksgiving is traditionally a day to appreciate bountiful harvests and began as a celebration of safe passage from Europe to the New World.  What does this have to do with the oceans, you ask?  While we don't normally feast on foods from the oceans on this day, there are two reasons we could all try to include the oceans, coasts, lakes, and streams on our lists of things to be thankful for this year.

First, as we all know, the oceans are an integral part of our food system and provide for much of life on earth.  Second, the oceans bear the brunt of agricultural activities on land that pollute downstream waters.  Whether it's poultry farm waste or corn field pesticides, everything makes its way to the sea and burdens the plant and animal communities that support us.  I bring these things up not so that each bite of turkey and stuffing is laden with guilt, but more to highlight and appreciate all of the growing efforts that support the locavore movement and sustainable community-supported agriculture.  While we all can't afford to grow our own potatoes or purchase organic turkeys from our neighborhood markets, I suggest that we all take the time to truly enjoy and indulge in the things we consume this holiday season.  Slow down and appreciate your food, your drink, and your company.

Relatedly, consider joining me at Eastern Market for some Christmas shopping in the coming weeks or even visiting the DC Downtown Holiday Market that starts in December.  Come out and support our local artists!  Stay tuned for details on a group outing.  Happiest holiday season to the whole Knauss community, our friends, and family.

Book Review: Poseidon's Steed

If you've ever wondered about animals that fall into the genus Hippocampus, commonly known as seahorses, then this is certainly the book for you.  Helen Scales teaches readers about the biology, conservation, and historical traditions surrounding these mysterious and endearing creatures in her engaging book Poseidon's Steed: The Story of Seahorses from Myth to Reality.  Did you know that seahorses can camouflage with their surroundings and that the males are the ones that give birth?  Scales shares these details and more in what has to be one of the best examples of enlivening scientific information with cultural and historical context that would turn any reader into a seahorse enthusiast.

Despite the fact that seahorses love tropical areas, Scales shows readers how their cultural and historical influence stretches as far north as Great Britain and the Netherlands, with ancient gold plates and shields depicting sea creatures resembling members of Hippocampus.  However, nowhere does the seahorse influence penetrate more deeply into a national psyche than in Asia, where the demand for seahorses for medicinal purposes is one of the strongest drivers of global trade.  The demand for these animals is so high that they are listed under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) in an attempt to halt population declines measured around the world.  Unfortunately, instituting trade restrictions often leads to climbing prices on the black market.  That risk aside, the new rules state that traded seahorses must be large enough to ensure they have been able to reproduce before being harvested.

Human use is of course not the only danger facing seahorses.  Trawling, cyanide fishing, and pollution are common human activities that are slowly destroying the seamounts and reefs seahorses call home.  Project Seahorse is a grassroots effort that became a well-established nonprofit organization that promotes the conservation of seahorses through community involvement, fisheries management, outreach, and marine protected areas.  Check out their blog to learn more and support their efforts!

In sum, I highly recommend this story for anyone looking to consider the history of our fascination with marine animals and the many facets of species conservation.

Seals, Influenza, and Stranding.... Oh My!

Ever wonder if seals and dolphins get sick like people do?  The answer is yes, of course!  Not only do animals in captivity need the careful eye of veterinarians, but animals in the wild get sick too.  For the last few months, NOAA staff have been responding to numerous dolphins and seals stranding in what have been deemed Unusual Mortality Events both in the Gulf of Mexico and the Northeast Atlantic.  Staff work diligently to investigate the causes of these strandings to both monitor emerging diseases and minimize health risks to the public.

In the northern Gulf of Mexico, almost 600 cetaceans have stranded over the last year, nearly all of them washing ashore dead.  These cases began showing up just before the oil spill and have continued since.  After a controlled sampling of wild dolphins over the summer, lab results indicate that a bacterium known as Brucella may be the culprit behind the strandings.  This bacterium can be transmitted through contact with infected animals, which keeps NOAA responders monitoring the situation closely.  In the Northeast, harbor seals have been stranding with skin lesions since September.  These strandings are different from the usual cases of malnutrition at this time of year and some of the animals have tested positive for the flu!

As if these events weren't enough to handle, a similar problem has been arising in the Arctic.  Since the summer, over 100 ringed seals have stranded with hair loss and skin lesions on their faces and flippers.  Most recently, walruses and a bowhead whale also exhibited similar symptoms.  Stranding responders and NOAA employees work hard to coordinate international communication in an area of the world that is difficult to even traverse.  Even more complicated, these animals are an important subsistence resource for local native communities that hunt and consume these animals.  Coming into contact with sick animals presents its risks to stranding responders and local Alaskans, which highlights the importance of leaving this work to the professionals!

Thanks to the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program for watching out for these animals along our coasts!  And remember, if you ever see a seal on the beach, keep your distance and contact the stranding network or the authorities.

Placement Week - Phew, Success!

Placement week for the Knauss class of 2012 started off with host presentations and a downtown happy hour.  Four days and countless great conversations later, incoming fellows return home knowing a little more about what their next years will hold.  Placement week was certainly the topic of conversation among current fellows, all excited to talk about who would take over for us come February.  This week afforded us the opportunity to speak about all of the wonderful things we have accomplished and learned this year.  What a good chance for professional reflection!

Big thanks to Chelsea for so seamlessly coordinating everything and everyone!  To the class of 2012 - make sure to contact us with any questions about the fellowship, housing, or DC in general.  Can't wait to see you in February!

The Replacements

The time has come. Today marks the start of Placement Week for the 2012 class. A fresh crop of ocean enthusiasts has descended on DC to sift through the jargon and acronyms to find the perfect host office.

Remember this?

Should we be bitter? Should we cast them a cold shoulder as they vie for our positions? Heck no! The Knauss Family is a welcoming bunch. Our fellowship year ends when it ends regardless of the incoming class. It wasn't so long ago we donned our 'nice' shoes and clothes that required *gasp* ironing to begin the search ourselves. It was tiring and awkward at times, but I for one really appreciated having current fellows around who knew exactly what we were going through and offered words of wisdom. Proof that Placement Week is survivable and maybe even kind of awesome.

Whether or not your office is interviewing for a 2012 fellow, you have valuable information to share. Do you like where you live? Did you bomb your first interview because your head hadn't quite wrapped around the process yet? (I did) The way I see it, ushering in our replacements is just as much a part of the fellowship experience as going to a cookout at the boys' house. So I hope to see you at the happy hours this week sharing your stories and meeting the new class. If nothing else it gives you a reason to head to the bar on a work night.

Wildlife Conservation Society & Ocean Giants

Last week, representatives from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) came all the way from their headquarters at the Bronx Zoo in New York to talk to staff in NOAA Fisheries about all the great work they do in promoting animal protection throughout the world's oceans.  Despite the countless challenges of conducting international conservation, the WCS has made enormous strides toward improving the situation or "seascape" for its Ocean Giants.  Namely, this means tackling the threats and cumulative impacts of fisheries, pollution, and energy development on elephant seals, sea turtles, whales, river dolphins, whale sharks, and manatees.

These goals have taken them to West Africa, Central America, and the Coral Triangle, to name a few regions.  Their scientists have even gone to villages in Madagascar to learn about the cultural customs of hunting dolphins, where the meat is not considered a delicacy (unlike shark fins) but is a low cost low demand source of protein nonetheless.  What else are people to do when their local fisheries have been dramatically depleted by illegal harvesting and overconsumption?  Moving farther east, WCS also works on developing capacity within Bangladesh to help create Marine Protected Areas that benefit threatened river dolphins.  In countries where food shortages, disease, and polluted drinking water are common, it is humbling to think that there are still ecologists, resource managers, and funding agencies eager to protect wildlife.  Luckily, oftentimes incentives for improving livlihoods and public health are aligned with conservation initiatives that also minimize corrupt pollution or exploitation. 

One of their most impressive accomplishments is a comprehensive map of the seabirds and marine mammals that live off of South America, aptly named the Atlas of the Patagonian Sea.  Images beautifully depict areas important for breeding, feeding, and migration for petrels, penguins, turtles, and seals overlaid with physical oceanography throughout the seasons of the year.  This project is not your typical clunky scientific database, but has been created for ocean lovers and members of the public to learn more about these animals and areas.  One benefit to their layout is that it reminds us how dynamic the ocean and its creatures are: animals naturally move around throughout the year and conditions vary from year to year, greatly complicating management efforts.  Check out the information on important areas for the green turtle!

Happy Birthday Marie Curie!

Marie Curie

The Google Doodle reminds us that today we celebrate Marie Curie's 144th birthday.  Is her name not ringing a bell?  Think radioactivity....  Not only was Curie a groundbreaking physicist and chemist, but her accomplishments are also noteworthy because she was a woman scientist working in the early 20th century.  Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in 1903 and is the only woman to ever win two (not to mention they are in separate fields).  Among her scientific achievements, this Polish woman was also the first female professor at the University of Paris. 

Marie Curie put forward a theory for radioactivity and developed techniques for identifying isotopes.  Later in her career, she discovered two elements, the first of which she named "Polonium" after her native country.  After establishing the Curie Institute in Paris and Warsaw, she inspired the first scientific research exploring the medical application of radiation to treat tumors.  She shared her first Nobel Prize with her husband, as her daughter then did with her own husband many years later.  Science runs in her DNA to be sure!

Polonium structure

Despite celebrating her birthday today, we should remember that she only died a mere 80 years ago.  Only 100 years ago we were just beginning to understand the radioactivity of the elements on earth.  The evolution of science is really an incredible thing to witness.  Each day, grad students, professors, and research technicians return to lab benches or computer monitors or field sites and search for answers.  The small bits of information that they gather feeds into an ever-growing scientific body of knowledge.  While this dedication is worthy of praise, it really takes a visionary innovator to completely challenge accepted theories or even synthesize the information that is gathered to create something meaningful.  The Curie family did this but across disciplines and fields to provide groundbreaking perspectives.  While it seems that progress is slow, it was only 100 years ago that women did not teach science in universities around the world.  Who knows what social or environmental injustices might be eradicated by science and social change in the next 100.

Thanks to Google for reminding us to take a few moments today to celebrate a brave and dynamic woman who contributed to the past and future accomplishments that shape our world.

Large Marine Ecosystems: A Little-Known Program?

NOAA's Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) program is a management framework for monitoring the health of the world's coastal areas through a strong partnership between the IUCN, UNEP, the and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Committee.  While we may have heard the term "LME" once or twice, it seems strange that we don't know more about the management utility of such an overarching, global effort to document and assess the marine environment.  As I explored the website, I started thinking that maybe this information isn't widely advertised because these sixty-four LMEs dotting coasts around the world are used less for streamlining management and more for depicting economic benefits.  Reports estimate that these LMEs are collectively worth $12 trillion annually through fishing, resource extraction, coastal protection, and more.   


So why don't we use this type of messaging to support management activities at the regional level?  Their five-module assessment process measures several indicators in five categories for a comprehensive valuation of the area's net worth.  With places ranging from the Arctic Ocean, to New Zealand, and to the Coral Triangle, this must be the ultimate model of global interdisciplinarity.  With marine spatial planning efforts, continued energy development, state conservation projects, and federal mandates, the ocean is a blur of lines and boundaries.  With these existing frameworks, do LMEs have a chance for being recognized as useful management measures or will they remain an intellectual valuation exercise useful mainly for ensuring that we extract the maximum monetary value from our coasts? 

These LME boundaries are based solely on physical features (bathymetry, hydrography, productivity, and biodiversity) of the seascape, so what argument can be made for designating them as management units?  I ask these questions not to diminish the accomplishments of this framework but more to call attention to the fact that it must be extremely difficult to draw lines deciding which areas or human activities to include and which to omit.  More so than in forests or grasslands, the ocean's fluidity defies rectangular boundaries - if only we could reshape our own management tendencies to mimic its natural variability! 

At the end of the day, it is easy to see why conservation and management efforts move slowly.  There are so many people coming together to make nuanced and often impassioned decisions that will eventually impact the way we use our environment.  As many of us work on local, state, or regional domestic management, it is stimulating to broaden our horizons and think about the grand scope and coordination of the efforts going on around the world.


Learn more about the valuation of global LMEs through these reports.