Climate impacts on U. S. living marine resources: National Marine Fisheries Services concerns, activities and needs

With the increasing recognition that climate change is occurring and having large impacts on living marine resources, a sound ecosystem approach to management of those resources requires both understanding how climate affects ecosystems and integration of that understanding into management processes. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) must identify how changing climatic conditions will impact its mission and must be prepared to adapt to these changes. This document identifies the climate related ecosystem concerns in the regional marine ecosystems for which NMFS has living marine resource management responsibilities, what NMFS is currently doing to address these concerns, what NMFS must do going forward to address these concerns, and what climate information is needed to integrate climate into resource management. The regional ecosystems included in this analysis are: the Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf; the Southeast U.S. Continental Shelf, Gulf of Mexico, and U.S. Caribbean; the California Current Ecosystem; the Alaskan Ecosystem Complex; the Pacific Island Ecosystem Complex; the Eastern Tropical Pacific; North Pacific Highly Migratory Species; and the Antarctic.

Near and distant connection of atmospheric systems to ocean temperature change in the coastal California Current region

In studying hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere interactions, it is useful to focus on specific subsystem processes and energy exchanges (forcing). Since subsystem scales range over ten orders of magnitude, it may be difficult to focus research on scales that will yield useful results in terms of establishing causal and predictive connections between more easily and less easily observed subsystems. In an effort to find pertinent scales, we have begun empirical investigations into relationships between atmospheric, oceanic, and biological systems having spatial scales exceeding 10^3 kilometers and temporal scales of six months or more.

Evidence for changes in large-scale upwelling in the California Current over the past 700 years [abstract]

EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT): Bidecadal radiocarbon measurements on tree rings provide a detailed series of carbon-14 activities at isotopic equilibrium with atmospheric carbon dioxide. ... Most marine environments do not permit development of a comparable series of carbon-14 ages with which to compare the terrestrial tree ring series. However, we have recently begun work on such a series using material from the varved sediments of the Santa Barbara Basin off southern California. ... We now have a nearly continuous record of carbon-14 dates representing the age of the water over the upper 100 meters. ... The ocean reservoir ages show an increase prior to 1450 and a progressive decrease with time after 1450. Although there may be other explanations, we believe this trend is principally the result of changes in large-scale upwelling of water from below 500 meters. These changes were probably also associated with changes in the intensity of the California Current.

Marine pollution in the Indian Ocean: problems, prospects and perspectives

Following a brief outline of the physiography of the Indian Ocean, an examination is made of the current situation regarding contamination of the environment. Prominent marine pollutants and the consequences of the marine disposal are discussed, considering in particular oil pollution, heavy metal pollution, agricultural wastes and domestic wastes. Research activities conducted in the area investigating the levels of marine pollution are detailed, and an evaluation made of future prospects concerning the monitoring and control of pollution.

An integrated approach to national marine resources development

A review is presented of the various marine resources and their potential, concerning fishing, aquaculture, transportation, pollution, hydrocarbons and solid minerals, renewable energy and ocean thermal energy conversion. Administrative problems confronting their rational management in Sri Lanka are examined, considering coastal area management and development, management issues, and alternatives.

Fracture and energy partitioning in uncooked and cooked noodles

Humans perform fascinating science experiments at home on a daily basis when they undertake the modification of natural and naturally-derived materials by a cooking process prior to consumption. The material properties of such foods are of interest to food scientists (texture is often fundamental to food acceptability), oral biologists (foods modulate feeding behavior), anthropologists (cooking is probably as old as the genus Homo and distinguishes us from all other creatures) and dentists (foods interact with tooth and tooth replacement materials). Materials scientists may be interested in the drastic changes in food properties observed over relatively short cooking times. In the current study, the mechanical properties of one of the most common (and oldest at 4,000+ years) foods on earth, the noodle, were examined as a function of cooking time. Two types of noodles were studied, each made from natural materials (wheat flour, salt, alkali and water) by kneading dough and passing them through a pasta-making machine. These were boiled for between 2-14 min and tested at regular intervals from raw to an overcooked state. Cyclic tensile tests at small strain levels were used to examine energy dissipation characteristics. Energy dissipation was >50% per cycle in uncooked noodles, but decreased by an order of magnitude with cooking. Fractional dissipation values remained approximately constant at cooking times greater than 7 min. Overall, a greater effect of cooking was on viscoplastic dissipation characteristics rather than on fracture resistance. The results of the current study plot the evolution of a viscoplastic mixture into an essentially elastic material in the space of 7 minutes and have broad implications for understanding what cooking does to food materials. In particular, they suggest that textural assessment by consumers of the optimally cooked state of food has a definite physical definition. © 2007 Materials Research Society.

Techno-economic analysis of production and marketing of marine by-products in India

Marine by-products coming under the ancillary products group found many applications in pharmaceutical and industrial sectors. Although many of these products are fetching very high price at the export market, adequate statistics regarding their current production, marketing and utilisation is lacking. The present analysis deals with the production potential, level of exploitation, uses, export growth rate and potential for the future of some of these marine by-products. The analysis revealed that an estimated quantity of 205 t. of shells, 10 t. of gastropod operculum, 4,932 t. of shark liver oil and 4,384 t. of shark cartilage could be produced annually in India with the current landings. The production potential of chitin is estimated as 3,560 t. from shrimp shell wastes and 1,354 t. from crab shell wastes. The high unit value of different products clearly indicates the scope for their development by evolving appropriate utilisation and marketing strategies.

Some behaviours of strongest short-term coastal change induced by cross-shore wave energy flow and corresponding theoretical consideration

There is a number of famous theoretical and experimental works that oriented themselves to solve actual problem of coastal change, including the change of coastline, under versatile influence of oceanic wind waves. In this paper the author would like to give supplementally a few new behaviours of that phenomena observed along the coasts of Vietnam, such as coastal collapse & primitive on-the-spot accumulation, material hurl, etc. Most simple theoretical explanation of them grounding on the Newton's second law has been presented and as results of that there appeared such notion as indicator and criterion which could be used for demarcation of different behaviours in initial stage of general coastal changing processes.

On the reaction of marine fishes in interrupted A.C. of 50 Hz

The reactions of marine fishes in interrupted A. C. off uniform electrical field and constant current density have been studied in order to determine the optimum effective periods of shock: for narcosis and fixation. Higher effective periods were required with gradual decrease in potential difference between head and tail, which in turn depended on the length of fish and its position in electrical field. The body voltage of fish varied directly with the length and inversely with the rise of angle between their body axis and field lines. The fish subjected to higher effective period took longer time for recovery from narcosis. The effect of impulse current was manifested by increased rate of gill movements in Platax tefora, Haetodon ollaris, Crysophus burda, Siganus vermiculatus and Scolopsis leucotaenia, and lowered rate of movements in others when subjected to different effective periods inspective of length.

Development of electro-trawl system in marine environment

High voltage pulsed current produced on board a trawler is fed to electrodes distributed along the foot rope of a trawl net through two core TRS cable which builds up a homogeneous electrical field around the net mouth. By comparative fishing tests with the electrified and non-electrified 32 m long wing trawl net, the increase in total catch of shrimps and fishes was found to be 19.8 and 36%, respectively.

Characterization of TRPC2, an Essential Genetic Component of VNS Chemoreception, Provides Insights into the Evolution of Pheromonal Olfaction in Secondary-Adapted Marine Mammals

Pheromones are chemical cues released and sensed by individuals of the same species, which are of major importance in regulating reproductive and social behaviors of mammals. Generally, they are detected by the vomeronasal system (VNS). Here, we first investigated and compared an essential genetic component of vomeronasal chemoreception, that is, TRPC2 gene, of four marine mammals varying the degree of aquatic specialization and related terrestrial species in order to provide insights into the evolution of pheromonal olfaction in the mammalian transition from land to water. Our results based on sequence characterizations and evolutionary analyses, for the first time, show the evidence for the ancestral impairment of vomeronasal pheromone signal transduction pathway in fully aquatic cetaceans, supporting a reduced or absent dependence on olfaction as a result of the complete adaptation to the marine habitat, whereas the amphibious California sea lion was found to have a putatively functional TRPC2 gene, which is still under strong selective pressures, reflecting the reliance of terrestrial environment on chemical recognition among the semiadapted marine mammals. Interestingly, our study found that, unlike that of the California sea lion, TRPC2 genes of the harbor seal and the river otter, both of which are also semiaquatic, are pseudogenes. Our data suggest that other unknown selective pressures or sensory modalities might have promoted the independent absence of a functional VNS in these two species. In this respect, the evolution of pheromonal olfaction in marine mammals appears to be more complex and confusing than has been previously thought. Our study makes a useful contribution to the current understanding of the evolution of pheromone perception of mammals in response to selective pressures from an aquatic environment.

Longitudinal prediction of the operational energy use of buildings

Thus far most studies of operational energy use of buildings fail to take a longitudinal view, or in other words, do not take into account how operational energy use changes during the lifetime of a building. However, such a view is important when predicting the impact of climate change, or for long term energy accounting purposes. This article presents an approach to deliver a longitudinal prediction of operational energy use. The work is based on the review of deterioration in thermal performance, building maintenance effects, and future climate change. The key issues are to estimate the service life expectancy and thermal performance degradation of building components while building maintenance and changing weather conditions are considered at the same time. Two examples are presented to demonstrate the application of the deterministic and stochastic approaches, respectively. The work concludes that longitudinal prediction of operational energy use is feasible, but the prediction will depend largely on the availability of extensive and reliable monitoring data. This premise is not met in most current buildings. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

Status of marine protected areas and fish refugia in the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem

The report reviews the status of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Fish Refugia in the Bay of Bengal. Baseline studies are presented and current and potential linkages between MPAs and fisheries management discussed. Feedback from a a workshop in Penang is also presented.

Marine Vertebrates and Low Frequency Sound: Technical Report for LFA EIS

Over the past 50 years, economic and technological developments have dramatically increased the human contribution to ambient noise in the ocean. The dominant frequencies of most human-made noise in the ocean is in the low-frequency range (defined as sound energy below 1000Hz), and low-frequency sound (LFS) may travel great distances in the ocean due to the unique propagation characteristics of the deep ocean (Munk et al. 1989). For example, in the Northern Hemisphere oceans low-frequency ambient noise levels have increased by as much as 10 dB during the period from 1950 to 1975 (Urick 1986; review by NRC 1994). Shipping is the overwhelmingly dominant source of low-frequency manmade noise in the ocean, but other sources of manmade LFS including sounds from oil and gas industrial development and production activities (seismic exploration, construction work, drilling, production platforms), and scientific research (e.g., acoustic tomography and thermography, underwater communication). The SURTASS LFA system is an additional source of human-produced LFS in the ocean, contributing sound energy in the 100-500 Hz band. When considering a document that addresses the potential effects of a low-frequency sound source on the marine environment, it is important to focus upon those species that are the most likely to be affected. Important criteria are: 1) the physics of sound as it relates to biological organisms; 2) the nature of the exposure (i.e. duration, frequency, and intensity); and 3) the geographic region in which the sound source will be operated (which, when considered with the distribution of the organisms will determine which species will be exposed). The goal in this section of the LFA/EIS is to examine the status, distribution, abundance, reproduction, foraging behavior, vocal behavior, and known impacts of human activity of those species may be impacted by LFA operations. To focus our efforts, we have examined species that may be physically affected and are found in the region where the LFA source will be operated. The large-scale geographic location of species in relation to the sound source can be determined from the distribution of each species. However, the physical ability for the organism to be impacted depends upon the nature of the sound source (i.e. explosive, impulsive, or non-impulsive); and the acoustic properties of the medium (i.e. seawater) and the organism. Non-impulsive sound is comprised of the movement of particles in a medium. Motion is imparted by a vibrating object (diaphragm of a speaker, vocal chords, etc.). Due to the proximity of the particles in the medium, this motion is transmitted from particle to particle in waves away from the sound source. Because the particle motion is along the same axis as the propagating wave, the waves are longitudinal. Particles move away from then back towards the vibrating source, creating areas of compression (high pressure) and areas of rarefaction (low pressure). As the motion is transferred from one particle to the next, the sound propagates away from the sound source. Wavelength is the distance from one pressure peak to the next. Frequency is the number of waves passing per unit time (Hz). Sound velocity (not to be confused with particle velocity) is the impedance is loosely equivalent to the resistance of a medium to the passage of sound waves (technically it is the ratio of acoustic pressure to particle velocity). A high impedance means that acoustic particle velocity is small for a given pressure (low impedance the opposite). When a sound strikes a boundary between media of different impedances, both reflection and refraction, and a transfer of energy can occur. The intensity of the reflection is a function of the intensity of the sound wave and the impedances of the two media. Two key factors in determining the potential for damage due to a sound source are the intensity of the sound wave and the impedance difference between the two media (impedance mis-match). The bodies of the vast majority of organisms in the ocean (particularly phytoplankton and zooplankton) have similar sound impedence values to that of seawater. As a result, the potential for sound damage is low; organisms are effectively transparent to the sound – it passes through them without transferring damage-causing energy. Due to the considerations above, we have undertaken a detailed analysis of species which met the following criteria: 1) Is the species capable of being physically affected by LFS? Are acoustic impedence mis-matches large enough to enable LFS to have a physical affect or allow the species to sense LFS? 2) Does the proposed SURTASS LFA geographical sphere of acoustic influence overlap the distribution of the species? Species that did not meet the above criteria were excluded from consideration. For example, phytoplankton and zooplankton species lack acoustic impedance mis-matches at low frequencies to expect them to be physically affected SURTASS LFA. Vertebrates are the organisms that fit these criteria and we have accordingly focused our analysis of the affected environment on these vertebrate groups in the world’s oceans: fishes, reptiles, seabirds, pinnipeds, cetaceans, pinnipeds, mustelids, sirenians (Table 1).