Limbaugh wants to shine lights on sea turtles

From a story on WTVJ-TV (Miami) by Todd Wright:

If you have ever listen to Rush Limbaugh, it would come as no surprise that he doesn't like a lot of things.

But you'd have to be a pretty cold-blooded S.O.B. not to like sea turtles. Limbaugh says: guilty as charged.

The shock jock and political loud mouth is taking time away from his busy schedule bashing Democrats to lob bombs at endangered sea turtles that arrive on South Florida beaches near his Palm Beach home.

Limbaugh doesn't like that he has to cut his back porch lights off so the sea turtles can nest and the hatchlings can safely return to the ocean. So he is taking out full page ads in the Palm Beach Post and other local papers to express his displeasure.

As if a syndicated radio wasn't enough of an audience.

“Imagine if you were told all your street lights had to be off for 8 months to protect the mating habits of geckos and feral cats, or whatever animal,” Limbaugh reportedly wrote to Page 2 Live, a Palm Beach blog.

The Town of Palm Beach requires its residents to turn off their outdoor lights from March 1 to Oct. 31, which is the turtles' nesting season. Scientists believe the lights confuse the large sea reptiles because they mistake them for the moon, which the animal uses to find its way to the beach and back to the ocean.

Too bad, so sad, said Limbaugh, who lives on the beach.

“I love landscape lighting,” he said.

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Japan mayor protests dolphin hunt documentary Oscar

Though the horror occurs far from the Caribbean, The Cove, Oscar winner for Best Documentary, deserves recognition everywhere, even if the mayor doesn't like it. From a Reuters article posted at Broadcast Newsroom:

TOKYO (Reuters) - The mayor of a Japanese town which conducts an annual dolphin hunt protested on Monday against the Academy Award given to "The Cove," a documentary film about the grisly slaughter.

The film, which picked up an Oscar for best documentary feature in addition to a series of other awards, follows a group of activists who struggle with Japanese police and fishermen to gain access to a secluded cove in Taiji, southern Japan, where dolphins are hunted.

It features shocking footage of the slaughter.

"I think it is regrettable that the film presents as fact material that is not backed up by scientific proof," Taiji mayor Kazutaka Sangen said in a faxed statement. He emphasized that the hunt was legal in Japan and urged respect for the tradition.

"There are a variety of customs relating to food, within this country and abroad," he said.

"An attitude of mutual respect is necessary, based on understanding of the years-old traditions arising from these customs and the circumstances surrounding them."

The film, directed by former National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos and featuring a former dolphin trainer from the "Flipper" television series, is little known in Japan, where the government says the hunting of dolphins and whales is an important cultural tradition.

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As Florida Keys residents confront rising sea levels, what lessons?

From an article by Richard Luscombein the Christian Science Monitor:

Waters around the Florida Keys are nine inches higher than a century ago. Efforts to battle rising sea levels make the Keys 'a canary in the coal mine,' an indicator of what other areas might need to prepare for.

(Big Pine Key, FLA.) - On many mornings over the past 22 years, the Rev. Tony Mullane has pulled back his bedroom curtains and watched endangered Key deer roaming the grounds of St. Peter Catholic Church. He considers the free nature show one of the bonuses of his ministry in the Florida Keys.

On other days, however, there are no deer to be seen – only water from the Straits of Florida lapping perilously near to the church buildings.

"It does come close to the church in a high tide," says Father Tony, as he's known. "There's a gravel pit behind us that's supposed to be a natural buffer from the water of Coupon Bight, but it fills, and sometimes laps over into, the church grounds."

What is happening at St. Peter is being repeated across the length of the 125-mile, low-lying island chain off Florida's south coast. Average sea levels on the islands are already nine inches higher than a century ago, according to environmental studies. Flooding has become much more common, which has prompted local officials and others to explore remedies. But in some cases, just how the islanders should proceed is still being figured out. (Read here to learn how the Netherlands have fought rising sea levels.)

"High tides are higher today, reaching farther inland than they did in the past. And the frequency of tides high enough to flood streets and salt-sensitive natural areas is greater," says Chris Bergh, director of the Nature Conservancy's Florida Keys program, who cites both his own observations and data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"Some change is inevitable," adds Mr. Bergh, who lives on Big Pine Key with his wife, Elizabeth, and son, Nate. "It's how we adapt to that change and manage it to our best advantage."

Of course, the Florida Keys aren't the only low-lying places in the United States. People in plenty of other coastal areas are keeping an eye on the sea level – and are concerned about the future.

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Fishy Love

From an article by Anna DeLoach in the REEF newsletter:

The first time we ever saw Hamlets spawn, Ned and I were on a liveaboard REEF trip in Belize. We were just starting serious work on the behavior book at the time and still unaware of just how rewarding dusk dives can be for fish watchers. Trying to squeeze in a fourth dive before dark, our group dropped in just before sunset, agreeing to be back up in time for dinner.

These were the days when I could still add new fish to my life list on almost every dive trip and the charismatic Hamlets with their 11 distinct color morphs and various “hybrid” variations were especially prized sightings (we’ll save the species debate for another day). Hamlets are solitary hunters during the day. So when we saw two chasing each other about, we instinctively knew something out of the ordinary was happening. But, was it love or war?

The video is from FishWeSpeak on YouTube.

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Huge garbage patch found in Atlantic too

From an article by Richard A. Lovett for National Geographic News:

Billions of bits of plastic are accumulating in a massive garbage patch in the Atlantic Ocean—a lesser known cousin to the Texas-size trash vortex in the Pacific, scientists say.

"Many people have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch," said Kara Lavender Law, an oceanographer at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

"But this issue has essentially been ignored in the Atlantic."

The newly described garbage patch sits hundreds of miles off the North American coast. Although its east-west span is unknown, the patch covers a region between 22 and 38 degrees north latitude—roughly the distance from Cuba to Virginia.

As with the Pacific garbage patch, plastic can circulate in this part of the Atlantic Ocean for years, posing health risks to fish, seabirds, and other marine animals that accidentally eat the litter.

Elusive Ocean Trash
To get a clear picture of the Atlantic garbage patch, Law drew on 22 years of data collected by students participating in her association's SEA Semester academic program.

As part of this program, more than 7,000 students have gone on research cruises, deploying thousands of fine-meshed plankton nets to meticulously catalog bits of plastic enmeshed with the drifting plants and animals.

Tiny pieces of trash, each less than a tenth the weight of a paper clip, make up most of the debris, Law said February 23 at the American Geophysical Union's 2010 Ocean Sciences meeting in Portland, Oregon.

In some places the students found more than 200,000 bits of trash per square kilometer (520,000 bits per square mile). The vast majority of these fragments come from consumer products that were blown out of open landfills or were tossed out by litterbugs.

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Falling harvest triggers Yucatán lobster fishing ban

From an article on Fish Information & Services (FIS):

The capture of marine lobster in the waters of the Yucatan state will be prohibited as from 1 March to 30 June 2010, indicated the Secretariat of Agricultural and Fisheries Development.

According to Delfin Quezada Dominguez, director of Fisheries and Aquaculture, the measure taken aims to protect the reproductive phase of the species and assure the natural repopulation of the marine ecosystem.

"This fishery is considered important in our entity given the economic income that fish producers obtain through it, which is why it is considered a sustainable fishery. It is therefore necessary to respect it," affirmed the official.

In addition, he asked that lobster fishers respect the government measures and protect the juvenile population that comprises the reproductive stock.

The average catch of the crustacean in the Yucatan state was of 350 tonnes over the last 10 years, Quezada Dominguez noted.

However, catch has been falling over the years and last season was no exception. The goal set was not surpassed, [instead] oscillating between 100 and 120 tonnes, Diario de Yucatan reports.

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What will you do?

What Will You Do? - In this specially made film for WCPA - Marine, world-renowned cinematographer Bob Talbot gives us his perspective on our one ocean and the trouble it's in. Together we can make a difference. What we do today, will determine the ocean our children inherit tomorrow. Learn more.

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