Archive for the ‘conservation’ Category

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Artists and Scientists Collaborate to Help Seabird Species

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012
Rhinoceros Auklet

Photo of Rhinoceros Auklet from cs.birdwatchingdaily.com

Right now, northern elephant seal mating season is in full swing at Ano Nuevo State Reserve, a wildlife hotspot about a one-hour drive south of Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. The seals are the loudest, largest, and most obvious beneficiaries of that reserve’s protected status, but the island just offshore provides critical breeding habitat to a number of seabird species.

Of special interest is the rhinoceros auklet, a puffin-like bird that grows a distinctive horn on its bill during mating season. The species ranges around the Pacific rim from Japan to California, but because it nests in burrows, it needs a place like Ano Nuevo Island, which is free of animals (bobcats, foxes, coyotes, and their domesticated kin) that prey on nestlings. In fact, Ano Nuevo Island and the Farallon Islands are the only spots in California where these birds breed, which makes it a “species of special concern” to the California Department of Fish and Game. (more…)

Posted in birds, conservation | 1 Comment »

Agencies and Public Cooperate to Protect Resources in MPAs

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

Some FFMR volunteers have recently been trained to monitor and report activity within the Montara State Marine Reserve of which FMR is a part. (See page 11 of our December 2011 newsletter for more about our local monitors.) They and other citizens all along the California coast have signed up to help protect the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that have been established over the past few years. Observing through binoculars, the monitors will track and report activities such as fishing, setting crab pots, and other illegal harvesting.

Enforcing the no-take law falls to the extremely understaffed California Department of Fish and Game. The department has just one large vessel plying the waters along the Central and Northern California coast, and fewer wardens per capita than any other coastal state. Poachers take advantage of wardens being spread so thin; recently crab traps were set within the boundaries of Montara State Marine Reserve. The low fines meted out by judges for poaching, set against the current price of crab, makes the gamble worth taking for some fishermen. Read more about the challenge of protecting MPAs in this San Jose Mercury News article.

Posted in Volunteers, conservation, sea life | No Comments »

Tsunami Debris Arriving Earlier Than Predicted?

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

The Tohoku tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011 swept untold tons of material ranging from personal belongings to entire buildings into the Pacific ocean. As we reported in May, researchers using computer models of ocean currents predicted that the debris would take several years to arrive on the west coast of North America.

But as early as December 2011, beachcombers in Neah Bay, WA and on Vancouver Island began reporting tsunami debris washing up on their coastline. While most debris is expected to move at about 7 mph, larger items pushed along by the wind may reach 20 mph. But there is debate over whether the reported flotsam and jetsam, which ranges from lumber to bottles, is linked to the tsunami, since debris from Japan frequently washes up along west coast beaches. (Generations of beachcombers have collected glass Japanese fishing floats, for example.) (more…)

Posted in conservation, marine debris | No Comments »

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