WHALES ARE A BIG CONCERN TO THE NAVY AND NOAA

Aside from hump backs, sie, fin and right whales, the Cuvier’s Beaked Whale is common to the U.S. Eastern seaboard.  However, sightings of Cuvier’s Beaked Whales in the New York Bight are rare.  They are more plentiful further north and east of Montauk where they have been studied by NOAA’s Okeanos Explorer Research vessel last Autumn in the underwater deep exploration of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.   No doubt, the Navy is as concerned about whales as its sister agency.

A NAVY MISSION TO HELP PROTECT MARINE MAMMALS

THE NAVY’S LIVING MARINE RESOURCE IS COMMITTED TO MARINE MAMMAL PRESERVATION

The post USS COLE RECEIVES ORDERS TO TRACK MIGRATORY CUVIER’S BEAKED WHALES appeared first on New York Harbor Channel.

The word ‘Hydrography’ means underwater mapping.  This one hundred year old institution grew from the 16th century explorers of the New World.  Each ship brought cartographers with them so the maps would prove the existence of a new claimed territory.  Of course the map served to make return trips possible by identifying landmarks and bodies of water as well as marking dangerous locations and hazards. 

The earliest tools of measuring the depth of bodies of water was a piece of stone or lead tied to a string.  Early civilizations like Ancient Greece or Nordic Vikings used measurements for their ports, but it took the British Royal Navy to establish the position of Hydrographer of the Navy in 1795 to standardize the depths of the most traveled coastlines.  The term ‘fathom’ was used by the British Admiralty in 1801 as six feet of rope or cable. 

Not to be outdone, the U.S. Depot of Charts and Navigation was formed.  It was headed by Commander Matthew Maury in 1825.  Commander Maury’s work is the inspiration and precedent for the creation of the U.S. Navy’s Navoceano department.  NYHC was privileged to interview the Navy crew as well as the civilian scientists working on USNS Maury in 2018 as it’s latest multibeam sonar and ROV’s were used for coastal hydrographic surveys.   

NINETEENTH CENTURY WESTERN LITERATURE CAPTIVATED BY THE DARKNESS OF THE OCEANS

        In 1871, a French novelist was awestruck by Commander Maury’s findings.  Jules Verne must have fantasized about submersible underwater vehicles as he wrote his famous novel ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea’.  You get the impression from the title Verne might be referring to the depth of the ocean; however, this still was not possible as ocean depth measurement was still in its infancy.  Instead, twenty thousand leagues is the total distance traveled by Verne’s character, Captain Nemo and his crew aboard the fictional submarine, Nautilus.  The number of leagues translates to 80,000 kilometers, almost twice the circumference of the earth.    

Back in the United States, the North Atlantic spawned Herman Melville’s ‘Moby Dick’.  This novel brought a monsters of the deep into reader’s bedrooms as the world slowly learned about the creatures who would magically surface only to dive to its depths once again.   Captain Ahab’s unwavering pursuit of the famous but probably fictional ‘white whale’ as Beluga whales of the Arctic are white, but they are not the colossal size capable of capsizing a whaling ship. 

The depths of the world’s oceans would remain a place of mystery especially to those who traveled it frequently.  The love of trans-Atlantic voyages would occasionally pull vessels to the ocean’s floor.  Newsreel features showed seasoned passengers on Ocean Liners such as RMS Titanic swallowed by mishap.  Who could imagine an iceberg sinking a ship?

THE WORLD BEGINS TO MAKE SENSE FROM OCEAN SCIENCE  

        International political turmoil prevented uniformity in ocean transit and measurements.  Finally, in 1921, there was an effort to establish consultation between national governments for safe navigation, technical standards and the protection of the marine environment.  The world’s waterways did begin to follow common guidelines as coastal surveys became the norm for international shipping.

The second half of the 20th century developed submarine technology that spawned manned and unmanned submersible vehicles that descended to the depths of the ocean collecting digital hydrographic data.  The French explorer, Jacques Cousteau, made for spectacular television viewing in the 1970’s with weekly episodes of underwater scientific adventures.  For those of us who watched his series, Cousteau opened our eyes to the discoveries of his exploration team members and the instruments that seemed to roll out of production on a weekly basis.  The Cousteau Society mission has found itself alive and well today in Fabien Cousteau, Jacques’ grandson, as he pioneers underwater habitats that may be the predecessor of cities of the future.

Planet Earth’s new frontier is the ocean floor as it is now as popular as space exploration.  Fifteen years ago, the United Nations hosted the member countries of the modernized initiative called the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).  The UN assembly adopted a resolution for the entire planet to celebrate World Hydrography Day every June 21st.  This year’s theme is “Enabling Autonomous Technologies”.  Next year, 2021 will mark the one hundredth anniversary of the creation of the original Hydrography Organization that was comprised of multiple nations around the world.

THE U.S. CHAMPIONS OF HYDROGRAPHY ACKNOWLEDGE INTERNATIONAL HYDROGRAPHY DAY

         Aside from the U.S. Navy’s Navoceano program, the most dedicated agency is the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  NOAA is divided into various sectors of study.  Meteorology is most visible as it deals with weather and weather events such as hurricanes.  NOAA also operates its Fisheries sector and it includes the Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) branch.    

OER’s newest hydrographer, Dr. Sam Candio, paid homage to the IHO on International Hydrography Day.  He mentioned sonar devices are helping define the marine world, but only one fifth of the ocean floor is mapped.  He looks forward to being a key player in NOAA’s participation of this exciting frontier.   

The IHO gives the world an opportunity to pull back the curtains and reveal each country’s self-serving interests in hopes of incorporating them into a shared, glorious, global plan.  The world oceanographic industries do have a reason to celebrate.  Measurements will not be propriety.  Everything will be shared.  The cost of technology is shared.

U.S. NATIONAL MARITIME DAY IS CELEBRATED ON MAY 22ND DRIVING THE NEED FOR HYDROGRAPHY

        In 1933, the U.S. Congress created a national holiday that honored the first U.S. steamship to make a trans-Atlantic voyage in 1819.  Holidays such as these strengthen a sense of national pride, however, they do little to allow international efforts, blinding us to see the larger picture taking place on a global stage. 

The United States carefully watches the shipping activity of its ports.  International container goods shipped around the world is approximately 1.8 billion metric tons.  With these kind of numbers, Is environmental protection the driving force behind measuring the ocean depths?  Well, yes it can.  Advocacy groups have helped shape the establishment of dozens of government agencies that do protect marine ecosystems and sea life.  

The Obama Administration created Monuments as protections of fragile habitat zones and established marine sanctuaries; however, the Trump Administration is striping those protections.  Preservation advocacy groups convinced the Obama Administration to mandate the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to strictly regulate fishing and exploration in the entire Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument (NCSMNM) area as it was recognized to be a spawning ground for species essential to supporting and sustaining marine life along the North Atlantic coastline. 

If the present U.S. administration has it’s way, this apparent romantic notion may be outweighed by the greater force of marine commerce and the exploitation of natural resources under the ocean floor.  It must also be noted that this administration has no desire to actively participate in the IHO as the President clings to an ‘America First’ decree.  There is not a single American in the IHO executive committee.  The future is a shimmering stardust in the specter of autonomous transportation initiatives.  Somehow, NOAA scientists hang on to the dreams and desires of the past administration.  

NOAA SOON TO ENTER ITS THIRD DECADE OF DEEP WATER EXPLORATION

         As the world is increasingly comfortable with operating submersibles, ROV’s are entering uncharted regions in record numbers.  Not only are military and governmental agencies lowering these essential automated tools into the oceans, private foundations and commercial industries are busy at work on a multitude of missions.  NOAA’s Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) is quickly logging two decades of exploration data.

What was NOAA’s closest deep sea exploration to the U.S. Eastern coastline?  New York City should be proud to know that less than one hundred miles southeast of the Verrazzano Bridge, the Hudson Canyon Expedition was successfully mapped and researched in 2002.  Dr. Peter Rona, then a professor at Rutger’s University, was lead scientist aboard the NOAA Exploration ship, Ronald H. Brown.  High definition cameras caught images of the canyon floors revealing deepwater corals, sponges, and species never before seen.  The depths of the canyons fall three miles below the surface of the New York Bight.   Seismic reflection profiling was used to map the canyon.  Since then, this controversial method has become a major subject of protest by environmental advocacy groups.  Seismic blasting has given much evidence of the harm it causes to marine mammals and the ecosystem in general.

BATHYMETRIC DATA COLLECTION SPAWNS A DOZEN ACRONYMS TO ACHIEVE ONE GOAL

      Over the past decade, multiple data-collection programs created multiple data results.   With one fifth of the earth’s ocean bottom mapped, the end-product is questionable.  Nonconformity has obvious flaws when it comes to science.  The IHO is spearheading the international effort to conform to one agreed protocol for all to standardize the methodology and instrumentation. 

ASPIRE is the acronym for the Atlantic Seafloor Partnership for Integrated Research and Exploration.  A centralized, shared protocol to unify independent underwater data acquisition and established qualified and quantified databases of the ocean floor.  The Galway Statement has successfully joined forces between the United States, Canada, and the European Union nations to initiate programs in the North Atlantic to do just that. 

Another collaborative initiative is called Seabed 2030 to standardize and furnish authoritative data available to everyone.  It’s goal is to help make policy decisions based on the bathymetric information.  NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) division data base is already accessible to agencies and the general public.

ASPIRE and Seabed 2030 are foundations of NOAA’s latest hydrographic study as it is tackling the deep canyons of the North Atlantic.   

TWENTY PRIORITIES RESULTING FROM THE 2018 CALL FOR INPUT WORKSHOP

        On November 16th, 2018, NOAA summarized their Exploration Science Planning Workshop.  The “Call for Input” netted 50 deep sea experts to discuss their ideas and concerns for regional exploration priorities in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.  Here is the summary of twenty exploration subjects planned for the 2019 & 2020 expeditions….

1. Marine mammal habitats
2. Water column exploration for Beaked whale feeding and spawning grounds in seeps of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument (NCSMNM)
3. North Atlantic Right Whale transit in the Laurentian Channel
4. Seeps in the Laurentian Fan
5. A proposed marine park in the Laurentian Fan
6. Fisheries and benthic habitat assessment in the Halifax Line
7. Unknown fauna of The Gully
8. Unknown canyons
9. Submarine landslides in the Laurentian Fan.
10. Geohazards
11. Deep-sea coral and coral conservation areas
12. Sponges in the Seamounts
13. Deep-sea mining interests
14. Fisheries habitats and interests
15. Underwater Cultural Heritage surveys
16. Shipwrecks offshore of Boston and New York
17. USCGC Bear search with high-resolution mapping using AUV
18. Cold-water coral communities in the Gulf of Maine
19. Partner with existing marine geophysical surveyors for oil and gas exploration in the Grand Banks and Flemish Cap region. Multibeam bathymetry coverage for critical mineral inventory initiatives.
20. Resurvey of the RMS Titanic using new archaeological devices and methods.

THE NOAA OCEAN RESEARCH VESSEL, OKEANOS EXPLORER

Okeanos Explorer’s home port is North Kingstown, Rhode Island.  It utilizes the latest exploration tools such as multibeam sonar, telepresence, water column investigations, and underwater robotics. Two Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) submersibles on Okeanos are Deep Discovery and Seirios.  According to NOAA’s OER, Okeanos is “the only federal vessel dedicated to exploring our largely unknown ocean for the purpose of discover and the advancement of knowledge about the deep ocean.”

THE 2019 EXPEDITION ONE HUNDRED MILES FROM MONTAUK

        Ground Zero for residents of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast region of the United States, is the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument (NCSMNM).  NCSMNM is 5,000 square miles of underwater terrain and it is as deep as the Grand Canyon.  It sits 100 miles south east of Cape Cod and Montauk Point.  This deepwater sanctuary remains mostly unexplored.  Thanks to NOAA, here are some Images of the submarine breathtaking landscape from the Okeanos Explorer study. 

Two of the 2019 Okeanos Expeditions were called “Deep Connections” and “Windows To The Deep”.  They featured Biodiversity hotspots as it proudly broadcast the existence of Bubblegum Coral in Gully Canyon during one of its many live NOAA webcasts.  Other webcasts allowed the NOAA audience to watch as the ROV slowly examined the face of a sheer cliff wall with no variance, truly a massive Massive.  The Okeanos crew repeatedly mentioned the beauty that has no boundaries between the borderlines that separate Canadian waters from the Untied States.  The underwater regions are seamless as the ecosystems expand and transit beyond the man-made boundaries above.  This is a stellar picture of hope and optimism. 

A PARODY OR A PARADOX

        NOAA is surrounded by storm clouds.  A politically-inspired storm field that is interwoven within NOAA’s very fabric, its very existence.  Since 1971, the NOAA emblem clearly stated it is connected to the U.S. Department of Commerce.  The DOC is currently headed up by Wilbur Ross, a man who has risen through the ranks utilizing fossil-fuel industries as his backbone.  Ironic that the very organization that prides itself as the people’s voice that tries to stop the advancement of fossil fuel reservoirs under the ocean floor is captained by a man whose hands are mired in it.  The outwardly visible side of NOAA is glowing with environmentally friendly, science-based, and thought-provoking initiatives intended to lessen fossil-fuel dependency.  NOAA Fisheries is a shining tower, the pinnacle of progressive, earth-minded thinking.  However, it’s subservience to the DOC cannot be ignored. The powerful mandates that arise from the DOC’s cellars are hypnotic and unquestionable.  The paradigm is this.  NOAA is all about protection.  DOC is all about mass economic undersea mining and self serving plundering of the ocean’s riches.

Meanwhile, the Environmental and Energy Law Program of Harvard University has carefully monitored recent activities that affects the waters not far from it’s Cambridge, Massachusetts campus.  Harvard carefully followed President Trump’s executive order #13795 signed into effect on April 28th, 2017 that instructed immediate review by the Secretary of Commerce of the protection of Canyons and Seamounts as it was a watermark of the Obama Administration in 2016.  The executive order instructed Wilbur Ross to assess the opportunity costs associated with potential energy and mineral exploration in this area. 

 It wasn’t long before environmental groups such as Oceana quickly sued the DOC.   Using the Freedom of Information Act, Oceana stated the DOC failed to disclose actual initiatives in hopes of forcing the administration to reveal its secretive plans for resumption of offshore drilling and deregulated commercial fishing.  This and other lawsuits have sidelined the government’s desire to activate oil and gas surveys.  The independent seismic testing vessels were denied operation.

And yet, with all of the drama swirling around within DOC, it was as if Moses parted the sea to allow the single NOAA ship to motor out into the Northeast Canyons and pursue their solo mission in otherwise turbulent political waters.  Half of the Okeanos mission was accomplished before the approaching winter of 2019 closed down Okeanos operations.  The ship returned to Rhode Island for retrofit and repairs.  The samples and data were inspected and the crew sat out the season waiting to resume in April of this year. 

AS A PLAGUE SETTLES OVER AMERICA, THE EXPLORATION AND ITS D.O.C. TENTACLES ARE ON HOLD

         Okeanos Explorer is halfway through it’s seafloor mapping mission of the NCSMNM.  Additional exploration and mapping was scheduled for this August to mid September.  Covid-19 has paused the operation until further notice.  Once the mission is given the green light to resume activity, the concentration for this year’s survey will focus on the Sohm Plain.  Flat ocean bottoms are the kind of terrains of most interest to the oil and gas industry.    

Out of the blue, President Trump’s June 5th Proclamation was announced before an audience of Lobstermen representing the Commercial Fishing Industry at the airport in Bangor, Maine.  The Proclamation immediately opens the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument protected area to large-scale trawling.  This is the very region that NOAA recently touted its mandate to reasonably manage fishing based on scientific study.  It is no coincidence the Proclamation cites a healthy increase in the populations of species that were of primary concern to ensure protection.  Neil Jacobs, now famous for his role in Sharpie-gate, has issued a dubious statement claiming the harm to whale species does not rise to “a population level consequence for the species.”  Jacobs mouths the Trump administration credo that the United States must be energy independent. 

The Fossil-fuel industry supports EPA Secretary Wheeler’s proposal to rollback Obama protections and allow shortcuts for businesses to bypass regulations such as Clean Air Act of 1970 and Climate Change regulations.  On the surface, top NOAA officials have unilaterally reversed direction in favor of compliance with other federal administration officials within the DOC.  It is an understatement to say the Proclamation overrides NOAA’s carefully formulated plans this year.  The light-minded thinkers of NOAA can only wonder how their mission will continue unimpeded as commercial fishing vessels are now allowed to drop their nets into the very depths they are trying to protect. 

Just a few weeks ago, a National Strategy for Mapping, Exploring, and Characterizing the United States Exclusive Economic Zone was distributed this month by the President’s Ocean Policy Committee.  To the uneducated mind, there seems to be a veiled reference in section 4.2 to “create a market for commercially developed technology applications” with the inclusion of “external partners”.  In section 2.1 seabed backscatter acoustic imagery and sub-bottom profiling” is communicated, but seems to be vague.  There are methods expressly outlined for ocean floor testing; however, they are not specifically referenced as the only methods currently available or specifically utilized. 

Will NOAA be using Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM)?  The International Association of Oil and Gas Producers funds PAMguard software created by Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St. Andrews. 

Meanwhile, five seismic testing companies have been green-lighted to perform the controversial mapping method on the Outer Continental Shelf in the North Atlantic.  It is no coincidence that just last week, the federal government overruled North Carolina’s case that tried to stop the testing forty miles off the outer banks.  This area, known as ‘The Point” is a massive habitat for marine species.  The endangered Right Whales and Cuvier’s Beaked Whales are extremely sensitive to the seismic blasting.  The Bureau of Energy and Management (BOEM) rescinded its previous decision three years ago in favor of granting the permits. 

It is obvious that NOAA continues to operate critical global initiatives with one hand tied behind its back.  NYHC has attempted to contact officials at NOAA for comment on it’s policy on seismic testing.  We have yet to receive a reply.   

SUSPENSE THRILLERS OF THE 1980’S MAKE A COMEBACK

        There are two motion pictures that come to mind as we witness the paradox unfolding at NOAA.  One is Star Wars Episode V and the other is Hunt for Red October.  Both movies offer a psychological window into the schizophrenic drama playing out between the DOC and NOAA.  Interestingly enough, the brilliant American actor, James Earl Jones, is in both of them.

I cannot help but hear James Earl Jones’ voice-over for the Darth Vadar character as the haunting black-robed figure wearing a veiled helmet and respirator, menaces, “You don’t know the power of the dark side!  I must obey my master.”  Can you envision Wilbur Ross standing over a cowering researcher on the gangplank of Okeanos?  Lord Vadar  pleads with his son, “Come Luke, Come to The dark side.”   

Then, in the 1990 movie, Hunt For Red October, James Earl Jone’s character, Admiral James Greer famously says, ” That torpedo didn’t self-destruct, you heard it hit the hull and I was never here!” as the submarine mission takes a solicitous turn of international detente.  A meeting inside the DOC could easily adopt this scene.

It is not too far a stretch to align Captain Nemo, Captain Ahab with Admiral Greer and Lord Vadar.  Despite their being a century apart, all four of these characters face their inner souls during a critical time in their mission.  Hopefully, they choose wisely.  We can only hope the same for our cast of characters that hold the future of our seas in their hands.

CONCLUSION

           Diving down within the US Economic Exclusion Zone, the haunting question is when is the seabed surveys allowing commercial exploration?  Thanks to the virus and the exploration halt, the stoppage has bought some time.  Despite, declining call for seismic blasting technology over the past five years, the gas and oil exploration industry continues to develop more sophisticated instruments to enhance the controversial marine geo-physical survey technique.  4D imagery is now available as well as floor mounted devices that can be remotely activated in a field that may require periodic use of seabed inspection.  

The meaning of International Hydrography Day is quite simple.  It is a moment to recognize the good work the entire world can participate in.  It serves everybody.  And everybody should be excited by it.  The mapping of the ocean floor is a signal of the future.  In these times when the world should come together, it should not be taken as a signal that threatens the United States into formulating a self-serving credo.

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As the Maine lobster population migrates north into Canadian waters, an alarming five-foot long Lion’s Mane Jellyfish was discovered on a Maine beach earlier this month.   Since 2015, these giants of the Arctic have occasionally appeared along the Maine coastline; however, their dimension has never been as large as the monsters we are seeing today.

CITIZEN SCIENTISTS ON THE LOOKOUT

A researcher connected to the Gulf Of Maine Research Institute, Dr. Nick Record, began to log the unusual sightings during that summer of 2015.  He posted his request to recruit anyone who came upon the Lion manes to enter the data on his Bigelow Lab for Ocean Sciences weblog and send photographs for verification.  Citizen scientists were responsive to his call.

Fast-forward to 2020, Dr. Record was interviewed earlier this week by the local Boston television station to shed light on the dozens of sightings in Maine and around Massachusetts Bay this month.

Admittedly, Dr. Record and his associates cannot offer a valid reason for the unusual jellyfish migration behavior.  He states that there is no good historic data yet to develop predictive models.  Once again, this year, his group needs to track the species everyone is seeing as he builds a library of jellyfish sightings.  Even without data, New England beach-goers overwhelmingly say that climate change is real and it is here.

Craig Gilvarg, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs has also weighed in on the world’s largest species of jellyfish, named Cyanea capillata.   He corresponds on their Facebook page, “Their bell-shaped bodies alone can stretch as wide as 8 feet. If they live in plankton-rich waters their tentacles can grow to be as long as blue whales, which often span nearly 90 feet.”

Lion mane jellyfish are abundant and common to the North Atlantic and the Arctic Oceans.   They are related to coral and anemones, not fish.  Jellyfish are faring better than coral as the oceans become more acetic with climate change.  Lion mane bodies are 98 percent water.  Lion mane jellyfish use their tentacles to capture small fish although their main diet is zooplankton.  This species is thought to be at least 500 million years old that dates them back to dinosaurs.

Lion Mane Jellyfish should not be confused with the Lion Fish.  Lion Fish are not accustomed to cold water climates as they are most commonly found in Cuba and Florida.   Lion Fish are also poisonous with barbs.

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) research vessel, Ocean Explorer, has recently conducted science data gathering of the Lion Mane Jellyfish.  In 2019, the crew descended into the deep underwater environs of Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.  Seafloor mapping and exploration will continue this summer.

THE JELLYFISH IMAGE THAT BLEW UP SOCIAL MEDIA

Twitter handle UberFacts shared an image of a Lion mane approximately five times the size of a diver next to it on October 25th, 2015.  Within the hour, there were more than two thousand retweets.  The photo caption read, “In 1870, a Lion’s Mane Jellyfish washed up onto Massachusetts bay with tentacles measuring 120 feet (73 meters) making it larger than a blue whale.”  Naturally, it caught the attention of the marine biology community.  It wasn’t long before the Assistant Director of Science for the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, Dr. Craig McClain, to write that he knew the picture had been doctored.  He found the same photo without the diver next to it.  Sensationalism won out as the Lion mane is now prominently in the public eye.

HOW DO JELLYFISH MOVE AND MIGRATE

Researchers are collecting data to determine if Jellyfish migration is purposeful or accidental.  The marine scientific community does not offer a genetic or learned mechanism as a reason for jellyfish to move over the ocean like salmon or whales who return to the same location annually to spawn.  Jellyfish commonly float in currents, but they do swim by contracting their bell-shaped body.

Jellyfish models have been the cornerstone of robotic propulsion.  Only recently, a study at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute discovered their propulsion to be extremely efficient as they experimented with jellyfish-inspired robots that could pulsate through the oceans to measure temperature and salinity with limited use of energy.

As of today’s post, only the New England coastline has reported sightings and encounters.  With the Covid-19 pandemic wreaking havoc on professional sports, the betting industry might be interested on taking odds on the chances the Lion mane bloom will be coming to New York and New Jersey beaches?

TREATING THE STING OF A LION MANE JELLYFISH

New York and New Jersey ocean enthusiasts have lived with a variety of stinging jellyfish over the past four decades.  Portuguese Man-o-War have visited our shores and thankfully, the Box Jellyfish has not made its appearance to date. “If a beach-goer encounters a lions mane jellyfish, they should move slowly up current and away from the animal to avoid tentacle exposure.” Craig Gilvarg offers. “If stung, flush the tentacles away from the affected area with clean seawater thoroughly and don’t rub the area until the tentacles are gone.”   A sting is extremely painful, but not life-threatening.  There are people who are allergic to the venom, so all should be vigilant.

REPORT YOUR SIGHTING OF A LION’S MANE JELLYFISH

We suggest beach-goers, fishermen, swimmers, boaters and all Citizen Scientists be vigilant and immediately report to your local administrations.  If you like, you can report your discovery of the Lion Mane to Jellyfish.org sighting page.  Sightings along the Gulf of Maine should be reported here to Dr. Record’s page.  You can also contact us here at New York Harbor Channel.

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It is not uncommon for the Wellfleet Wildlife Sanctuary to rescue at least 600 sea turtles a year.  As the sea turtles travel south along the U.S. coastline toward the Caribbean, they leave Canadian, New England, or Massachusetts waters.  Some of the migration pack get trapped by the Provincetown hook and swim further inside Cape Cod Bay.  Thanks to the quick action of the volunteers at Wellfleet, the aquarium staff rehabilitated all three back to health.

Sea turtles require our help during the fall and winter months.  Cape Cod is not alone.  Other not-for-profit organizations such as New York Marine Rescue Center and the Atlantic Marine Conservation Center are dedicated to patrolling and rescuing turtles on Long Island beaches.  And along the New Jersey shore, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Division established the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network.  Those of you who will walk the beaches and estuaries over the next couple of months may stumble upon a distressed turtle.  The best course of action is to contact the emergency rescue phone numbers to learn what to do.

Kemp’s Ridley turtles are endangered and although it cannot be confirmed if there is a direct connection between these cold-stunning incidents and interaction with fishing boats, trawler net entanglement remains the number one culprit for sea turtle trauma and mortality.  Let’s turn our attention to this critical man-made danger that affects all ocean mammals and sea life in general.  It is important to remember that where there are turtles, there is shrimp.  And where there is shrimp, there are shrimp boats.

Shrimp trawlers are an iconic fixture in harbors around the world. They offer an idyllic backdrop to many serene seascapes that commonly adorn our home interiors.  But shrimp trawlers are far from romantic when they catch sea turtles in their nets.  A typical 100 ton trawler requires an engine capacity of 500 horsepower.  The trawler is identified by the characteristic outrigger boom that spans 30 meters across.  The winch and deck machinery at the aft of the ship is generally boxed into a 6 to 8 meter square. The configured elements of the trawl include rope, floats, chains, and netting.  The trawl netting is either dragged along the seabed where shrimp are found in the mud or sand, or the netting is pulled midwater. Each of these devices pose a threat of entanglement.  Shrimpers operate globally, fishing warm-water and cold-water species.

Turtlegate: Laws To Put Doors on Nets

Today, NOAA and many marine mammal advocacy groups such as Oceana, wait for Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce at the Department of Commerce (DOC), to approve and implement stricter proposed regulations for full utilization of Turtle Excluder Devices (TED).

These modifications to the fishing trawler nets will help prevent thousands of sea turtles from being entangled.  Meanwhile, preservation measures sit at the door of the DOC.  In fact, Oceana has sued the Trump Administration in 2017 for violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA) stating the government faileding to adequately consider the harm to sea turtles by shrimp fishing.  Proactive efforts abound in a general initiative to save the endangered sea turtles with relatively little additional financial impact on fishing trawler operators.

The current administration is tabling an otherwise fast-track bill that has support from a
multitude of agencies.  Are we facing Turtlegate?   This past August, the Trump administration stripped protections from the ESA to favor companies who could take advantage of reduced environmental regulation such as offshore oil drilling.  The Department of Commerce (DOC) holds the key to unlock this door to Turtlegate.

Entanglement spawns a phrase commonly used by trawler operators.  It is called “bycatch”. A quick search on the internet finds three good definitions:  The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines bycatch as “the portion of a commercial fishing catch that consists of marine animals caught unintentionally.”  The Free Dictionary defines by catch as “unwanted marine creatures that are caught in the nets while fishing for another species; “thousands of dolphins, porpoises and whales are killed as part of the by-catch each year”. Then Wikipedia defines Bycatch as, “in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while catching certain target species and target sizes of fish, crabs etc. Bycatch is either of a different species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juvenile individuals of the target species.”

Advocates for marine mammal preservation have always been aware that efficient gear is attractive to fishermen only if effective fishing practices calculate their marketable catch.  Obvious goals over the last four decades have been a) to keep shrimp catch high and bycatch low, b) modify fishing gear to achieve ecosystem objectives, c) design a new trawl, and d) increase the selectivity of fish species. The Bycatch Reduction Device (BRD) has been a standard since it was first designed by a Norwegian fisherman in the 1980’s.  It is a metal or wooden grid, essentially creating a door in the nets.  Although primitive, the BRD was a step in the right direction and adapted quickly around the world.

Results from Reykjavik: International Efforts to Minimize Bycatch

Experts in marine biology utilized mathematical formulas to create a variation of trawl net sizes needed to take the individual species into consideration.  However, researchers working with local Division of Marine Fisheries of Wilmington Harbor would say. “what works in Iceland doesn’t necessarily work in North Carolina”.  The resulting study would be increments of the mesh size.

Presently, trawl configuration has adapted multiple separator panels such as “Square mesh windows” and “extended funnels” based on the Icelandic Shrimp trawl designs.  Trawl nets were made of nylon and polyethylene.  Fibre technology created Dyneema that is a much stronger fibre as well as being much lighter.  The use of magnets reduces towing resistance.  But above all, the “Turtle Excluder Devices” (TED)  has been the most significant promising advancement to guide turtles safely out of the trawl.

The Hull Truth: Regulations and Enforcement

The trawlers operating in the North Atlantic are under intense scrutiny this year.  NOAA is responsible for the fishing regulation rules and technical data that all ships operating in U.S. waters must abide by.

The United States Coast Guard is empowered to impose enforcement and implementation of NOAA fishery regulations.  This summer, after completing New York Fleet Week this past May, the USCGC Campbell was delegated to a 90 day assignment to inspect fishing vessel equipment, quotas, and proper operations in the Atlantic between New York and Canada.

The USCG is committed to the safety and the safe fishing practices of marine mammals as part of the cirriculum of its Northeast Regional Fisheries Training Center .  Living Marine Resources (LMR) is an essential credo of USCG. The educational arm of NOAA cannot be ignored as it is a leader in marine research and study concentrating on every aspect of marine sea life preservation.

Ghost Gear: A Heavy Toll on Endangered Ocean Species

Fishing net entanglement is not restricted to sea turtles.  Recently, the most endangered of the whale species had one of the less than 500 remaining North Atlantic Right Whale population floating dead off Jones Beach, Long Island.  The whale known as ‘Snake Eyes’ died with no gear attached to his body, but scientific laboratory inspection detected traces of netting and the necropsy identified entanglement as the cause of death.  No less than 7 of this endangered whale species have died as a result of lost or detached fishing gear in Canadian waters.  Sadly, the whales continue to migrate south after the initial incident until they succumb to their injuries.

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