Scientists Fear Oceans on the Cusp Of a Wave of Marine Extinctions

[SpiralHawk]

hatrack posted this Washington Post story in editorials. It belongs here, too. Absolutely stunning news.

Scientists - Oceans On Edge Of Extinction Tipping Point - WP


EDIT

Dozens of biologists believe the seas have reached a tipping point, with scores of species of ocean-dwelling fish, birds and mammals edging towards extinction. In the past 300 years, researchers have documented the global extinction of just 21 marine species -- and 16 of those extinctions occurred since 1972. Since the 1700s, another 112 species have died out in particular regions, and that trend, too, has accelerated since the mid-1960s: Nearly two dozen shark species are on the brink of disappearing, according to the World Conservation Union, an international coalition of government and advocacy groups.

"It's been a slow-motion disaster," said Boris Worm, a professor at Canada's Dalhousie University who wrote a 2003 study that found that 90 percent of the top predator fish have vanished from the oceans. "It's silent and invisible. People don't imagine this. It hasn't captured our imagination, like the rain forest."


EDIT

Large-scale fishing accounts for more than half of the documented fish extinctions in recent years, Nicholas K. Dulvy, a scientist while at the University of Newcastle's School of Marine Science and Technology in England, wrote in 2003. Destruction of habitats where fish spawn or feed is responsible for another third. Warmer ocean temperatures are another threat, as some fish struggle to adapt to hotter and saltier water that can attract new competitors.

But nothing has pushed marine life closer to the edge of extinction more than aggressive fishing. Aided by technology -- industrial trawlers and factory ships deploy radar and sonar to scour the seas with precision and drag nets the size of jumbo jets along the sea floor -- ocean fish catches tripled between 1950 and 1992. In some cases fishermen have intentionally exploited species until they died out, such as the New Zealand grayling fish and the Caribbean monk seal; other species have been accidental victims of long lines or nets intended for other catches. Over the past two decades, accidental bycatch alone accounted for an 89 percent decline in hammerhead sharks in the Northeast Atlantic.

EDIT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/22/AR2005082200036.html

[hatrack]

1. Thanks, Spiralhawk!

:toast:

[Ripley]

2. I wish people would respect scientists more.

It seems like Americans are so quick to dismiss catastrophic environmental problems as "oh, those liberal biased University people." Yet they'll quote an Exxon "scientist" as if he was objective. :eyes:

[eowyn_of_rohan]

12. good point-nt

[genieroze]

59. There is no such thing as science unless it benefits corporate Merika.

[sintax]

3. We are definitely at a tipping point and heading towards the cliff's edge

Warming hits 'tipping point'

Siberia feels the heat It's a frozen peat bog the size of France and Germany combined, contains billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas and, for the first time since the ice age, it is melting

Ian Sample, science correspondent
Thursday August 11, 2005
The Guardian

Researchers who have recently returned from the region found that an area of permafrost spanning a million square kilometres - the size of France and Germany combined - has started to melt for the first time since it formed 11,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age.

The area, which covers the entire sub-Arctic region of western Siberia, is the world's largest frozen peat bog and scientists fear that as it thaws, it will release billions of tonnes of methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere.

It is a scenario climate scientists have feared since first identifying "tipping points" - delicate thresholds where a slight rise in the Earth's temperature can cause a dramatic change in the environment that itself triggers a far greater increase in global temperatures.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,12374,1...

[Double T]

6. Food chains will be broken which will start a chain reaction toward......

massive extinctions in our oceans and seas. The talk must end and the action must begin. Do you want our most recent human generation's legacy to be that they were responsible for destroying this planet in mere 200 years; a planet that previously had survived for more than 5 billion years. Our human existence will not be a success, but a colossal failure.

[alfredo]

24. the Luddites were right.

[Double T]

27. The Luddites Were Ahead Of Their Time And They Didn't Know It.....

we could sure use a few more neo-Luddites vs. neo-Cons.

[alfredo]

39. With this crisis looming over us, yes we could use

a positive change. Maybe a step backwards is actually a step forward.

[Algorem]

4. Thank God President Al "Earth In The Balance" Gore's been doing ever-

ything possible for 4 1/2 years now to fix this situation.Oh,wait.Never mind.

[opihimoimoi]

5. And the GOP Band Played on......

[Ripley]

7. Okay, I'm thinking about the Math today.

I've read 'tipping point' in many articles recently. Scientists who previously were cautious or conservative in their outlook on severe climate change are suddenly getting to the point of sounding more alarmist.

Obviously vast changes are coming quickly that will limit the available water sources and crops to feed everybody no matter how much GMO seed Monsanto spawns. But then again, the stress created by lack of natural resources will lead to more regional wars and disease and large numbers of people dying off. So that lessens the impact on the Earth's systems. Earth is pretty tough and life takes hold in the most hostile places - deep ocean, Antarctica, volcano vents.

It does seem like the perfect storm is brewing though. Chaos ahead.

[opihimoimoi]

21. The Sane thing to do is to take the reins from the INSANE and do the

fuckin job ourselves...its not too late for most of Earth....we could do it but with some pain and hard work...

[Ripley]

22. I agree!

I don't think we humans can actually kill Mother Nature completely. No matter how hard some of them try.

[opihimoimoi]

38. We will kill a whole bunch including ourselves...and even as we

type....many species are being extinct...most because of human activity.

Sigh...all avoidable actually.....

[jus_the_facts]

8. more articles written recently...........

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1700530

Hellish for shellfish: Scientists brace for worst red tide yet


The disastrous red tide that swept through Bay State waters this summer, crippling shellfishing and nearly doubling clam prices, planted seeds for possible future outbreaks that could be even worse, scientists fear.
Bay State researchers say the massive toxic algae bloom that led to shellfish-bed shutdowns from Maine to Nantucket in July left microscopic cysts on the ocean floor that could develop into more potentially deadly red tide in months.

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?arti...


Red tide suspected in deaths of ten sea turtles

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Ten sea turtles found dying on Pinellas County beaches might have been suffering from red tide poisoning, officials said.

...
Major red tide outbreaks kill fish, marine mammals and water birds and can cause breathing problems in humans. Red tide poisoning killed 29 manatees off Fort Myers over a 10-day period in March.

..............

Divers In Gulf Report `Zero Things' Alive........
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGB7OVBE8CE.html

August 11, 2005

Clearwater - Diver Mike Miller struggles to convey the horror he has seen on the ocean floor. He struggles because there are only so many ways you can say dead. ``I´m talking zero things are alive out there,´´ Miller said. ``The only way to describe it is a nuclear bomb.´´

Miller and other alarmed divers say they have documented a dead zone 20 miles offshore in the Gulf waters from Johns Pass to Clearwater. This information, combined with an unprecedented number of dead turtles washing up on Pinellas County beaches this week, has divers, fishermen and scientists worried that red tide is killing more efficiently.

``Normally when we get a red tide, you can go a little north or a little west or south or someplace else and dive,´´ said Ben Dautermen, who takes divers out of Clearwater on his charter boat. ``Usually it doesn´t kill every single thing.´´

Red tide, an algae toxic to fish and an irritant to humans who breathe its choking vapors, has hung stubbornly to Florida´s west coast for close to three months. Miller and other longtime locals who make their living in the Gulf say it´s the worst outbreak in their experience.

Though it´s not certain that red tide killed the turtles, scientists at the Fish & Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg think the toxic algae wiped out sea life, creating the dead zone Miller and other divers discovered.

The scientists´ theory goes like this: Red tide cells don´t like to pass through water temperature differences of more than 2 degrees. Scientists think a thermocline, or zone of cold water, formed above the warmer water at the bottom, holding the algae bloom there longer than it naturally would stay. The toxic atmosphere worsened as dead organisms such as crabs and shellfish decomposed, consuming dissolved oxygen in the water.

Lake said the institute sent 10 biologists Wednesday for a three-day cruise to gather information on the dead zone and the status of the red tide.



............
Strange fish parade seen in Englewood"......

http://sun-herald.com/Newsheadline.cfm?headline=6413&banner=1

08/05/05
"Strange fish parade seen in Englewood"


ENGLEWOOD -- A bizarre freeway of fish swimming by the thousands
along the shore of Englewood Beach Thursday morning left crowds of
beach-goers agog and marine biologists bewildered.

"I´ve lived her for 10 years, and I´ve never seen anything like
this. It´s incredible," said Bob Ricci of Englewood.

Beach-goers reported that a wide variety of sea creatures came
swimming south in a narrow band close to the beach at mid-morning.

Included in the swarm were clouds of shrimp, crab, grouper, snapper,
red fish and flounder. They were joined by more usual species,
including sea robins, needlefish and eels.

Ten-year Manasota Key resident Nick Neidlinger spotted the commotion
from his condominium shortly before 9 a.m.

The fish were moving in a narrow band in about 18 inches of water,
he said. They were headed south, and, so far as he could tell, the
moving mass of sea life stretched a good mile long.

"We´re talking thousands and thousands of them," Neidlinger
said. "It was so thick we couldn´t walk out."

Some fish washed ashore on the Gulf´s small waves, he said. The
stranded fish flipped and struggled until they flopped back into the
water to rejoin the piscatorial parade south.

"There were blue crabs the size of a dinner plate," Neidlinger
said. "You name the species of fish and they were there."

Neidlinger said more than 100 pelicans bombarded the fish, but he
saw no sharks or other predators, nor did he detect any signs of red
tide.

[Karenina]

31. WHOOOAAA!!!

When the entire neighborhood picks up stakes and moves downstream, there are SERIOUS goings-on... :scared:

[jus_the_facts]

33. Indeed......

[NYC]

42. Strange fish parade.

That is the most amazing article.

[jus_the_facts]

43. Quite amazing and even more so is it's lack of coverage by media....

....well not amazing in the *climate* we find ourselves in....in regard to the powers that be that're silent on these types of events that're happening on a massive scale as I read a compilation yesterday on another site of mass fish die-offs happening all over the US and world. :evilfrown:

[NYC]

50. Re lack of coverage.

I was in a friend's apartment last night, and watched the news on cable television. Nothing about oil, nothing about the Iraqi constitution, certainly nothing about the fish parade. However, coming up next was a whole program devoted to the girl who died about a month ago in Aruba.

I'm sorry she's dead, but it is not national news. The new Islamic Republic of Iraq is news. The fish are news, especially if it turns out they were not fleeing red tide.

I got rid of cable about 3 years ago. Opinion masquerading as news should not cost $50 a month. I told them that when I cancelled.

[jus_the_facts]

61. I'm proud of myself in that regard as well...

...it's been over a decade since I bought TV...it's just not worth it..I totally agree with you and have voiced it many times around here and have been flamed for it too by a few...the only way to ever make a true difference is to quit paying their monthly extortion payments..that's the only thing that'll get their attention. :hi:

[Karenina]

51. I wonder if there are pix anywhere...

[NYC]

52. No luck finding pictures.

I tried Google news and images.

[Karenina]

53. Thanks for looking!

It's just TOO BIZARRE.

[NYC]

54. Keep watching for a follow up.

I would love to know what the cause was. If it is not red tide, what on earth could it be? Crabs swimming with shrimp and fish. I'm fascinated.

[Karenina]

56. You're fascinated, I'M FREAKED!!!

:scared::scared::scared: Grew up on the Bay and watched the little critters behaviour as a kid. This is NOT IT!!! EEEEEK!!!! :scared::scared::scared:

[NYC]

60. I think fascinated is a less extreme form

of freaked.

I've never heard of this before, and would really love to know what caused it. (I suspect whatever caused it is not something good, and it is too outlandish to be just a coincidence.)

[The Stranger]

9. Recommend it if you like it.

The planet's species are dying, yet the express train to Hell that is this Administration races on . . .

[whatever4]

10. We're going to need hemp more than ever!

I just had to chime in on that one, speaking of food shortages. Hemp would feed us, and the world, and will, if we use it.

Check out the history and the facts about hemp. Even for yourselves personally, if it comes down to it, if we get to the point where we grow/hunt for ourselves, or starve? Hemp grows virtually anywhere, and is as nutritious as soy, meaning the seeds. You can live on hemp seed as easily as tofu, for a fraction of the price if it were legal. Though when we're starving, the law will likely be the least of our worries, to put perspective on this.

[Toots]

11. The GOP prefers the huge trawlers with huge nets over little one man boats

that drag hooks and play each fish individually just like sports fishermen do. These little boats with a one man or sometimes two man crew buy all their fuel and supplies from the hundreds of small towns along the coast and make up a huge part of their economy where the large ships that rape the ocean buy in mass from overseas and provide absolutely nothing for the American economy. One big ship can catch as many fish as ten thousand of these little boats can but do untold damage to the environment where the little boats have a negligible effect. It is the WalMarting of the fisheries and the GOP loves it. These huge ships make millions of dollars and a lot of that goes right back into GOP coffers where the little boats make about twenty to fifty thousand dollars a year before expenses. They have very little left to bribe the politicians with.

[xchrom]

13. so sad -- just leaves me breathless.

[Gregorian]

14. This is where the large scale suffering of humankind begins.

Logging, chemical dumping, thermal changes. Trees are not just trees. They are forests. Why don't people use their minds to think about what they're doing? Fish are not just fish. They're part of an ocean. The forest is breath and persperation. The ocean is a filter and the source of water. Humans are water, essentially.
A piece of lumber is a piece of forest. Not just a slab of wood. This is the disconnect that has allowed us to destroy.
Six billion is many times too many, in the context of a modern existence. Modern means mechanized mass destruction.
We will find out that the fish were important for something. And my guess is that the result of their decrease in numbers will lead to lack of fresh water supplies. Just a guess.
The suffering on a huge humanitarian scale has not even begun. And now, even if we stopped the damage immediately, it won't change the future. This is only a guess.

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. The earth will survive.

Mankind's fate, however, is a little more doubtful.

[Lorien]

20. I see this line on every thread about global warming, extinction, etc.

a lifeless ball spinning in space-is this supposed to be comforting? Species extinction in the oceans could lead to huge "dead zones". 65% of our oxygen comes from the ocean; between the spreading dead zones and emissions from thawing arctic peat bogs, we're looking at a future without oxygen. The earth as a mass in space will survive, but life on earth may not.

[0rganism]

55. Don't count out the insects, molds, and bacteria just yet

There will be plenty of carrion for them to consume during the die-off.

[OKthatsIT]

57. MANKIND DESERVES TO DIE

[DS1]

16. But we gotta have jobs!

:eyes:

[beetbox]

17. Clearcutting the Earth on land on sea

The history of Western man has been a progressive peeling back of the psyche, as if the earliest agriculture may have addressed itself to extenuation of adolescent concerns while the most modern era seeks to evoke in society at large some of the fixations of early natality rationalized, symbolized, and disguised as need be. The individual growth curve, as described by Bruno Bettelheim, Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, and others, is a biological heritage of the deep past. It is everyman's tree of life, now pruned by civic gardeners as the outer branches and twigs become incompatible with the landscaped order. The reader may extend that metaphor as he wishes, but I shall move to an animal image to suggest that the only society more frightful than one run by children, as in Golding's Lord of the Flies, might be one run by childish adults. 
Paul Shepard, Nature and Madness

[StefanX]

36. Paul Shepard is my favorite writer

His book "Coming Home to the Pleistocene" is my favorite book.

Unfortunately, his books aren't very easy to find in big stores - I often check various Barnes & Nobles when I'm there, and they never have him.

Thank you for quoting this passage.

[emcguffie]

18. Please help with moratorium on bottom trawling.

At the UN for the last three or four years, at a summer meeting called something like the United Nations Open-ended informal consultative process on oceans and the law of the sea (UNICPOLOS), the problem of deep-sea bottom trawling has been addressed, but no action taken.

In recent years scientists have realized that the collapse of many fish populations, while obviously partially the result of overfishing, is also being caused by habitat destruction. :cry: :cry: :cry:

The bottom of the deep ocean has thousands of underwater volcanoes, called seamounts, with many cold water corals and an extraordinary variety of life, entire ecosystems, with some species specific to perhaps only one seamount. There are countless species not yet identified.

Since the coastal areas have been fished to near emptiness, commercial enterprises have moved into deeper water, and at the same time have developed the capacity for "deep-sea bottom trawling", such that they are able to locate a school of fish on a seamount by radar and then scoop up the whole thing in one fell swoop -- but devastating the entire ecosystem at the same time with their hugely destructive trawling equipment, which has gotten bigger and tougher in order to go deeper and not get hung up on the corals. No, they don't get "hung up" on the corals, they just pulverize them. What a tragedy, if previously unidentified species become extinct before we even know they were there.

One scientist described this as comparable to clear-cutting Amazon rainforest, not to capture the biomass in the wood, but just to catch a flock of birds and throw the wood away.

Consequently, at this "informal consultative process" -- which is a meeting where anyone can speak and participate, and consequently is attended by many scientists -- asking the UN General Assembly to institute a "temporary moratorium" on bottom trawling on the high seas until more information can be gathered and an organized viable system for regulating this type of fishing can be developed.

These seamounts are disappearing before they are even being looked at seriously, and some of them represent the ONLY habitat to some species of fish. Scientists surmise that the collapse of the cod in the North Atlantic was not caused just by over-fishing, bad as that is, but because through bottom trawling the vast meadows of glass fans where juvenile cod would find shelter from predators have been completely destroyed. This may be why just stopping fishing of cod has not brought significant populations back -- there's no protection for the juvenile fish.

And finally, because these are deep, cold water ecosystems, everything grows much more slowly than around warm water coral reefs. Many magnitudes more slowly. Orange roughy live to be -- gee, I forget -- 150 years old? They can't reproduce until they are 30 to 40 years old. And they were being served up at $9.99 a pound. Some of those populations have completely collapsed, and even if they have absolutely optimum conditions for recovery, it will take many, many, many decades, if not centuries, for them to do so. ;(

Anyway, to cut to the chase, as it were, each year they talk about such a moratorium, a consortium of environmental NGOs comes and lobbies for this moratorium. Year after year, the Report of the Secretary-General points out that action must be taken, urgently. But to no avail. Because of a few holdouts, they cannot achieve consensus, and so the recommendation that the General Assembly institute such a moratorium never makes it to the list of recommendations that the Assembly will look at in November-December.

So it's just stuck there. Some countries with big fishing industries are listening to the industry, not the scientists. Sound familiar?

Okay, finally, the press corps at the UN is very politically oriented, and they have to cover everything that happens. If the UNICPOLOS does not recommend a moratorium, it is a non-event and it's hard to cover. On the other hand, were they to adopt the recommendation, they'd all write about it happily. But as it is, this seems to be going on in a dark place, away from the public eye, with most people oblivious to what is being argued unsuccessfully year after year.

This issue needs public attention. Sufficient public attention, and pressure put on governments, may be the only thing that will provoke the UNICPOLOS and the General Assembly to act. And it already may be too late.

I am not in an NGO and cannot really do this advocacy work. My job is to try, usually not very successfully, to get the press to pay attention, and they usually are absorbed with Iraq, the Security Council, the upcoming Summit, whatever.

So this is my little effort to get some public attention on this. :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

I cannot even really suggest an "organized effort". But someone else could. Greenpeace, the Nature Conservancy, WWF, and quite a few other groups are involved in the advocacy work. But it seems nothing will move until it becomes more commonly understood by the public, and those nations still protecting their bottom trawling commercial fishing outfits are convinced that it really is urgent.

Here is a link to the most recent report of the open-ended consultative process: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/consultative_process/consultative_process.htm

[Doremus]

41. Thank you for that excellent post, emcguffie!

Let's spread the word! :kick:

[donsu]

19. the longer we have the bushgang, the quicker the die off

nt

[La Coliniere]

23. Thanks SpiralHawk!

As an avid diver and lover of all things aquatic, this is truly distressing. I've been aware for many years as to how the results of modern commercial fishing, environmental destruction of habitat, pollution and gluttony are merging and creating the "perfect storm" that will cause untold misery.
Will that prohibit "all you can eat" fish fries, clam bakes and succulent snow crab legs as being an option on restaurant menus? Half of the restaurants in Myrtle Beach will have to close! Shucks.

[MisterP]

25. the story has vanished off the face of the WP: even the title, which app-

eared in a search (and led to an error message), is now gone

[ken_g]

28. same

I had the same experience awhile ago. What's up with that. Do they rotate stories online?

-Ken

[mcscajun]

30. Indeed, they do...particularly if a story doesn't 'catch fire quickly'

in terms of hits and how many times the story's been e-mailed.

Most of the major papers do it that way.

But you still should be able to find it in a search. That's the odd thing here. (going to look now)

Got a link here from another site (and they credit copyright to the WP):
http://www.nrdc.org/news/newsDetails.asp?nID=1771

[ken_g]

34. Thanks mcscajun

Thank you for the link

[hatrack]

29. Same story still available on MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9039083/

Weird about the Post, though - maybe they needed to make room for a story about the fall TV lineup, which will feature reality shows about psychics competing to find Natalee Holloway.

[alfredo]

35. I noticed that too. It's become extinct.

[KamaAina]

26. "...And a third of the waters of the Earth will become wormwood..."

Your text o' the day comes from Revelations, with this sidenote: the word for wormwood in Ukrainian is, yup, chernobyl.

edit: speling

[mcscajun]

32. Actual Full Text of WP article also available on the NRDC site

http://www.nrdc.org/news/newsDetails.asp?nID=1771

[progressoid]

47. Thanks for the new link.

[CrispyQ]

37. When the last whale is gone the whales will suffer no more.

We humans deserve what we get. We've extracted ourselves from nature, stupidly believing we can act outside of the very environment that supports our life.

A very good book on this topic is Thom Hartmann's "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight." Highly recommended.


What we do to one, we do to all.

[Karenina]

45. And we have NOT been nice...

[truthpusher]

40. For the Bible-Thumpers: Revelation 8:8.....

"The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood"

[Stuckinthebush]

44. Wow. It makes one wonder

...if the world would be a much better place if we were all vegetarian.

[CrispyQ]

48. I certainly think it would be!

Better for the animals, for our environment & for our personal health.

We can't perpetuate the perversions we have on the natural world without them coming back to us. Feeding ground up cows to cows, trawling the seas to the brink of extinction, spewing our waste into the water & air & on & on & on.

In every single way we act to fulfill our desires with no regard for the rest of our planet’s inhabitants & plant life. A vegetarian philosophy generally enhances one’s awareness of the consequences our actions have on others, be they people, animals or the planet.

===

Song in Space

When man first flew beyond the sky
He looked back into the world's blue eye
Man said: What makes your eye so blue?
Earth said: The tears in the ocean do.
Why are the seas so full of tears?
Because I've wept so many thousand years.
Why do you weep as you dance through space?
Because I am the mother of the Human Race.

--Adrian Mitchell

===

The really sad thing is, we could be so much more!

[Stuckinthebush]

49. It is perverse when you think about it

Shouldn't we be more enlightened by now?

[lonestarnot]

46. What can be done? Fisherman war? War seems to be the only answer

these present day bitches offer...so solution is fisherman's war!

[Prisonerohio]

58. Maybe we are reaping what we have sowed.

If only we had done something before now but it seems like its to late for us in many ways. Even if by some miracle we could change and get everyone on the save the planet bandwagon (which is not very likely because we would have to make a lot of sacrifices)a lot of sources are saying its way to late. Don't worry though its looking like we will start World War Three long before we will all die from the effects of global climate change.