Shark massacre reported in Colombian waters

Sandra Bessudo, a french origin woman, saved from illegal fishing the Malpelo island, in the Colombian Pacific. birth place for different rare sharks and other marin species. She is nom minister of the environnement of Colombia, in the Juan Manuel Santos government.

From TheGuardian

Environmental authorities say up to 2,000 hammerhead, Galápagos and silky sharks were slaughtered for their fins.

Colombian environmental authorities have reported a huge shark massacre in the Malpelo wildlife sanctuary in Colombia's Pacific waters, where as many as 2,000 hammerhead, Galápagos and silky sharks may have been slaughtered for their fins.

Sandra Bessudo, the Colombian president's top adviser on environmental issues, said a team of divers who were studying sharks in the region reported the mass killing in the waters surrounding the rock-island known as Malpelo, some 500 kilometres from the mainland.

"I received a report, which is really unbelievable, from one of the divers who came from Russia to observe the large concentrations of sharks in Malpelo. They saw a large number of fishing trawlers entering the zone illegally," Bessudo said.
The divers counted a total of 10 fishing boats, which all were flying the Costa Rican flag.

"When the divers dove, they started finding a large number of animals without their fins.
They didn't see any alive," she said.
One of the divers provided a video that shows the finless bodies of dead sharks on the ocean floor.

Calculating an average of 200 sharks per boat, "our estimates are that as many as 2,000 sharks may have been killed," Bessudo said.

>>> geolocalization with the Marine GeoGarage <<<

The sanctuary covers 8,570 square kilometres of marine environment that provides a habitat for threatened marine species – in particular sharks.
Divers have reported sightings of schools of more than 200 hammerhead sharks and as many as 1,000 silky sharks in the protected waters, one of the few areas in the world where sightings of short-nosed ragged-toothed shark, known locally as the "Malpelo monster," have been confirmed.
In 2006 Unesco included the Malpelo park on its list of World Heritage sites.

Bessudo, a marine biologist, has spent much of her career in Malpelo and fighting to preserve the unique marine environment there.

But the high concentration of sharks in Malpelo and the remoteness of the marine sanctuary draws illegal fishing boats from nearby nations which trap the sharks, strip them of their fins, and throw them back into the water.
Shark fin soup, considered a delicacy of Chinese cuisine, can fetch £63 per bowl in a Hong Kong restaurant.

Colombia's navy sporadically patrols the waters and maintains a small outpost on the 1.2 square kilometre island, which is 36 hours from the nearest port.
At the time of the reported shark finnings, however, no navy ships were nearby.

Once the report of the finnings were made public, the navy dispatched a ship to the area and on Sunday reported the seizure of an Ecuadorian fishing boat, caught with an illegal catch of 300kg, including sharks and other species.

At the same time, Colombia's foreign ministry took up the issue with the Costa Rican government, which vowed to co-operate to help stop the practice by ships registered under its flag.

In a communiqué, the Costa Rican foreign ministry said it "energetically condemns" the reported finning and said it would prosecute if the participation of Costa Rican flagged ships were involved.
At least three of the ships were identified by their names: the Marco Antonio, the Jefferson and the Papante.

Colombian environmental authorities have reported a huge shark massacre in the Malpelo wildlife sanctuary in Colombia's Pacific waters, where as many as 2,000 hammerhead, Galápagos and silky sharks may have been slaughtered for their fins.

Sandra Bessudo, the Colombian president's top adviser on environmental issues, said a team of divers who were studying sharks in the region reported the mass killing in the waters surrounding the rock-island known as Malpelo, some 500 kilometres from the mainland.

"I received a report, which is really unbelievable, from one of the divers who came from Russia to observe the large concentrations of sharks in Malpelo. They saw a large number of fishing trawlers entering the zone illegally," Bessudo said.
The divers counted a total of 10 fishing boats, which all were flying the Costa Rican flag.

"When the divers dove, they started finding a large number of animals without their fins. They didn't see any alive," she said.
One of the divers provided a video that shows the finless bodies of dead sharks on the ocean floor.

Calculating an average of 200 sharks per boat, "our estimates are that as many as 2,000 sharks may have been killed," Bessudo said.

The sanctuary covers 8,570 square kilometres of marine environment that provides a habitat for threatened marine species – in particular sharks.
Divers have reported sightings of schools of more than 200 hammerhead sharks and as many as 1,000 silky sharks in the protected waters, one of the few areas in the world where sightings of short-nosed ragged-toothed shark, known locally as the "Malpelo monster," have been confirmed. In 2006 Unesco included the park on its list of World Heritage sites.

Bessudo, a marine biologist, has spent much of her career in Malpelo and fighting to preserve the unique marine environment there.

But the high concentration of sharks in Malpelo and the remoteness of the marine sanctuary draws illegal fishing boats from nearby nations which trap the sharks, strip them of their fins, and throw them back into the water.
Shark fin soup, considered a delicacy of Chinese cuisine, can fetch £63 per bowl in a Hong Kong restaurant.

Colombia's navy sporadically patrols the waters and maintains a small outpost on the 1.2 square kilometre island, which is 36 hours from the nearest port.
At the time of the reported shark finnings, however, no navy ships were nearby.

Once the report of the finnings were made public, the navy dispatched a ship to the area and on Sunday reported the seizure of an Ecuadorian fishing boat, caught with an illegal catch of 300kg, including sharks and other species.

At the same time, Colombia's foreign ministry took up the issue with the Costa Rican government, which vowed to co-operate to help stop the practice by ships registered under its flag.

In a communiqué, the Costa Rican foreign ministry said it "energetically condemns" the reported finning and said it would prosecute if the participation of Costa Rican flagged ships were involved.
At least three of the ships were identified by their names: the Marco Antonio, the Jefferson and the Papante.

Links :

• YouTube : Sharks under threat in Costa Rica

This is your brain on the ocean

mindandocean.org

From OneEarth

Interview with "neuro-conservationist" and turtle researcher Wallace J. Nichols

About two-thirds of the body is made of what is essentially seawater.
But our relationship to the deep, believes biologist Wallace J. Nichols, may be more than chemical:
Our minds are also linked to the ocean, he says, in some surprising -- even game-changing -- ways.

Nichols’ passion for the marine environment has made him one of the world’s most inspirational speakers on ocean conservation.
In June, he organized the first Blue Mind Summit: a revolutionary new approach to studying -- and energizing -- the complex relationship between humans and the sea.
The idea behind Blue Mind is simple: If the ocean has a direct, neurological impact on our brains, an awareness of this connection will change the way we treat it.
The implications of this premise are profound; they may, Nichols believes, revolutionize the way we teach conservation and ecology.

"J.," as he prefers to be called, is a research associate at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, and founder/co-director of Ocean Revolution, an international network of young ocean advocates.
He earned a PhD in wildlife ecology and evolutionary biology from University of Arizona for his work with Mexico’s endangered black sea turtle, and has authored more than 50 scientific papers.
A resident of Davenport, California -- where he lives with his wife and two daughters -- J. juggles a daunting speaking and research schedule, traveling around the globe to promote his humanistic view of conservation.

He spoke to OnEarth shortly after the inaugural Blue Mind Summit.
He had just learned that 2010 turned out to be the best nesting season in nearly three decades for the endangered black turtle.
The recovery owes much to grass-roots community organizing, building personal relationships, "and perhaps even 'love,'" mused J., "as radical as it may seem."

What do you mean by the term "Blue Mind?"

When we think of the ocean -- or hear the ocean, or see the ocean, or get in the ocean, even taste and smell the ocean, or all of those things at once -- we feel something different than before that happened.
For most people, it's generally good.
It often makes us more open or contemplative.
For many people, it reduces stress.
And that's "Blue Mind."

Wallace J. Nichols at www.seeturtles.org

How did you come to link this concept with neuroscience?

During my early years of sea turtle research in northwestern Mexico, I was involved not only in science and tracking, but also in conservation.
This required building grassroots networks of fishermen and finding out who among them was hunting sea turtles, and how much the turtles were worth.
My interest was in measuring, tagging and releasing the turtles; theirs was in taking them home and eating or selling them.
But even though I was working with turtle poachers, I found I could engage them on an emotional level.
There was a shared appreciation of their beauty.

I couldn't, however, find a way to raise that issue with my academic colleagues.
There was no language that allowed for serious discussion about the emotions of people doing illegal activities.
It was all about economics and how we could pay people to not take turtles.

That’s when I decided to start looking at how the ocean makes us feel: not through poetry or music or art, but through cognitive neuroscience.
In the early ’90s I started reading the work of Antonio Damasio, who studies the neuroscience of emotion.
New brain imaging techniques have opened the door to talk about empathy, happiness and compassion in a scientific way.


How did the summit come about?

The ocean is the biggest feature of our planet, but when I asked neuroscientists about research on this topic, well, there wasn’t any.
That struck me as a huge oversight.
So I decided to invite a group of neuroscientists, ocean folks, journalists and artists to start a conversation about the science of our emotional connection with the sea.

How does the ocean affect the brain?

Sound, for example, affects our brain and influences our emotions.
If I ask you to close your eyes and turn on a recording of the ocean, I can change your mood immediately.
There’s a huge body of research on the science of music and the brain, but almost nothing on the sound of the ocean and the brain.
That’s probably going to be the first study that comes out of the Blue Mind Summit, because you can transport it pretty easily into the laboratory.

Do we have a sense of why listening to the ocean actually affects our brains?

There’s a growing body of research on nostalgia, music and memory looking at which songs give you chills, a measurable physiological response.
It turns out that in your teens -- between ages 16 and 21 -- you are most likely to put down many of these nostalgic memories.
So, I’m hypothesizing, if you spend important time near the ocean during your teenage years, those sounds become part of your soundtrack.
They’re the sounds you become most nostalgic about for the rest of your life.

But what about people who grow up in landlocked places like Kansas, Hungary or even Nepal? Clearly, they’re not as impacted by the ocean. How does this research relate to their lives?

We’re not sure, but I think that these studies can impact the way we handle environmental education anywhere.
If we take kids of that age group outside and connect them with rivers, with trees, with animals, with mountains, with the ocean, they will form strong ties to nature.

So you’re suggesting that we "wire" a conservation ethic into them.

Basically. The idea is, how can we use what we learn about the brain as a tool for building empathy?
But it’s critical to do it in a transparent way, so it’s not creepy, like mind control.
Instead, it’s actually empowering, because it teaches you how your brain works.
I tell my kids: "Because your brain works this way, we’re going to spend some time by the ocean. Hopefully, you’ll fall in love with it!"

At the conference, Eric Johnson from Sotheby’s Realty commented that the phrase "ocean view" is the most valuable phrase in the English language.

That’s right.
Let’s consider real estate in San Francisco: two penthouse apartments, same building, same layout.
One faces the city, one faces the water.
The one that faces the water recently sold for half a million dollars more.
If we extrapolate that to all the real estate in San Francisco, or the U.S., we’re talking about a trillion dollar premium, thanks to the ocean.
It’s a premium added to your restaurant, hotel room or a cup of coffee -- because it comes with an ocean view.
And the ocean gets none of that value!

So what are some of the most important questions raised by the Blue Mind Summit?

How do we make the relevance of the ocean understood to more people?
One idea might be to have a grad student calculate the "ocean-view premium" in a bulletproof way and put that number, or range of numbers, out there.
That’s the kind of information that you can take into a policy discussion.

There’s also the question of figuring out how the ocean reduces stress because we know that stress causes disease.
Now we’re talking public health: coastal access as a public health issue.
If you can show that a walk on the beach is as good as x-y-z pill for reducing stress, that’s an argument for protecting open space and access to it.

Ocean Voices from Wallace J. Nichols : Describe a world without oceans

Let’s project into the future. How long do we have to "change our minds" about the ocean?

Research is saying 90 percent of the big animals in the ocean are gone.
So on one level it’s too late.
Half of leatherback sea turtles now have plastic in their bodies.
All of the beaches I’ve been to in the past decade have micro-plastic in the sand.
A lot of fisheries have crashed or are in decline.
Ocean acidification is a growing problem.
So we’re in crisis now.
The response that should have happened 20 years ago didn’t.
And the response that should be happening now isn’t happening either.

But the ocean’s resilient, and we’re resilient.
The plasticity of the human brain gives me hope.
I’ve seen what marketers have been able to convince us to buy -- and I think clever marketers could convince us to do good stuff, too.

So you're trying to be a clever marketer.

Yes, but there’s a difference between neuro-marketing and neuro-conservation.
Neuro-marketing hides the "neuro" portion of it; good neuro-marketers are invisible.
You don't know they're manipulating your brain, your emotions.
I’m not saying this is a silver-bullet answer to our problems, but neuro-conservation, as I define it, tells you about your brain.
"Look what happens to your brain on the ocean. Doesn't that feel good?"
It builds fascination and self-awareness -- and, ideally, changes behavior.

Apple Expands iPhone 4S GPS Capabilities with GLONASS Support

From MacRumors

Apple yesterday quietly updated its iPhone 4S tech specs page to note that the device offers not only Assisted GPS but also GLONASS, the Russian version of GPS.

Just two weeks ago, Russia launched the last of 24 satellites required for global location coverage, setting the stage to restore GLONASS to its full operational status that had been lost amid economic turmoil in the country during the late 1990s.

Far from being a Russia-only service, some current global positioning hardware and software is capable of utilizing both GPS and GLONASS satellite information to provide more accurate geolocation information with faster acquisition times.
We have reached out to Apple for comment on whether the iPhone 4S can in fact take advantage of satellites from both systems on a worldwide basis, as it is unclear from the tech specs whether this is the case, but have yet to receive a response.

Photo by Walter Galan, from iFixit (lossless cropped)

Note : according to IHS iSuppli company, chipset Qualcomm MDM6610 is responsible for navigation systems and data transfer in iPhone 4S mobile phone network.

Notably, only the tech specs page on the U.S. site has been updated to mention GLONASS capabilities, with the corresponding page in other iPhone 4S launch countries still listing only Assisted GPS as the device's satellite location service.

Links :

• 9to5Mac : Apple appeases russians and improves gps with GLONASS support
  

Dive into theBlu, a giant ocean simulation

The Blu is a global mission to create the ocean on the web - an interactive world where every species and habitat is a unique work of art created by digital artists and developers around the world, as a social online experience.

From CNET

Coming to a Web browser near you--a giant user-generated simulation of the world's oceans.
Known as theBlu, the huge collaborative project is the first effort from Wemo, a startup built by a series of Hollywood veterans including Academy Award-winning animator Andy Jones, as well as MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito.
The idea? To let 3D artists design and model many of the creatures of the deep, and to invite everyday users to explore and learn about the digital sea, and to collect--and buy--the artists' creations.
TheBlu launched Tuesday.

Ultimately, Venice, Calif.-based Wemo intends to use its "Maker Media" platform as the basis for a wide variety of environments.
But the company decided on the ocean as the launch project.
As a result, thousands of people will soon be spending time following, and searching for, a wide variety of fish species, while those with 3D modeling skills will be vying for the attention of users and their money.

According to Wemo founder and CEO Neville Spiteri, theBlu is "a global mission to create the ocean on the Web as an interactive online world where every species and habitat is a unique [piece of] content created by digital artists" and subsequently tagged and, hopefully, collected by users.
Essentially, Wemo wants to crowdsource the development of a massive digital underwater universe, Spiteri told CNET, much as Wikipedia tackled the spread of information.

There's little doubt that theBlu can only succeed if it generates a critical mass of users.
And that will only happen if there's a corresponding amount of content created by the participating artists.
But the seed-funded 10-person Wemo hopes to make that happen by allowing anyone who can design 3D models to take part.
Artists will vie to design the most popular species in hopes of convincing normal users to buy their work.

A screen shot from theBlu, a new virtual simulation of the ocean.
Artists and explorers alike are expected to flock to the new environment.
(Credit: Wemo)

But the more species populate the oceans, the more there will be for users to do, and the more time they'll spend in the digital deep.
Spiteri said that one benefit to users is that every piece of content comes with a corresponding piece of educational data.
That means that the more a user explores, the more he or she can learn.

But theBlu is also meant to engage users through social game mechanics.
As a result, users are challenged to dive into the oceans and search for specific species.
The more new species they spot--and tag--the more sets they complete.
And for each set they finish, they get to choose one fish to add to their collection.
The other way to collect fish is to buy them.
Some will choose to buy more fish, Spiteri said, in order to accelerate their progress.

In the early going, theBlu is featuring a group of standard ocean environments--a European coral reef, an African coral garden, Australian open water, Asian sandy bottoms, and American undersea cliffs.
But as time passes, additional areas could be added that present things like prehistoric views of the ocean.

There's also a social element.
If a user sends a fish they've bought or collected into another area, others can connect with them and initiate a conversation.
This is a way, Spiteri said, for people to make new acquaintances without any real social obligation.

As it stands, theBlu provides a beautiful but limited experience.
The content that's already been created for it tends to be colorful and interesting to look at, but there's not very much of it.
So Wemo is counting on artists flocking to theBlu and adding more material.
If that happens, Wemo foresees its platform being used by all kinds of educational institutions: museums, universities, and others.

For now, though, it's all about the beauty and simplicity of our oceans, and the ability to witness wondrous events from the safety of your browser.
But don't be surprised if you start getting Facebook alerts about humpback whale migrations in your area, or perhaps giant schools of jellyfish turning up when there's a full moon.
If that happens, get ready to get wet.
Digitally, that is.

Orcas make waves to hunt seals

Naturalists and guests on a National Geographic Expeditions cruise in Antarctica witness and record the phenomenon of Type B Orcas working in unison to dislodge a seal from an iceberg.

From BBC

A BBC film crew has captured footage of killer whales working together to create waves to wash their vulnerable prey into the water.
The predators targeted a weddell seal that was resting on a small ice floe, sweeping it off the ice to where they could attack it.

Scientists who worked with the film crew said the footage revealed new insights into killer whale ecology.
The team filmed the sequence for the BBC documentary Frozen Planet.

Robert Pitman, from the National Marine Fisheries Service in California, joined the team in order to carry out research and as a scientific adviser on the documentary.
He said that the footage was "some of the most amazing wildlife footage ever taken".
Although killer whales - otherwise known as orcas - had already been recorded hunting in this way, Dr Pitman said that "to see footage of it in action like that is totally unprecedented".

Wave-washing killer whales were first observed by scientists in the early 1970s.
"It wasn't seen again for about 30 years," explained Dr Pitman. "Then a tour boat saw it and [a tourist took] some home video.
"[The BBC] contacted us because they were interested in filming it.
"As part of our research, we're able to tag them [with tracking devices] and follow them," he explained.

Killer whales often work in teams to hunt seals, according to scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in California.
Working together, killers whales create waves with their tails.
These waves in turn knock seals off their ice flows and into open water, where they are vulnerable.
But if the seal happens to hide among the ice after being knocked into the sea, the whales create shock waves with their tails or blow bubbles under the seal to chase their prey out into the open.

So, in 2009, Dr Pitman and his colleagues joined the BBC team off Adelaide Island, in the western Antarctic Peninsula, and went in search of wave-washing killer whales.
They are not the easiest mammals to track down; killer whales can travel up to 200 miles (320km) in a day as they move around in search of their prey.

"But we lucked out," recalled Dr Pitman.
"We saw 22 wave-wash attacks on 22 different seals; it turned out that this was actually a fairly common occurrence."

Dr Pitman said that the trip generated new insight into killer whale ecology.
"It was shocking to us that, although there are lots of different types of seals down there, they were only interested in weddell seals," he said.
"We learned a lot; it was a great collaboration."

The trip also added weight to a theory that there are actually several different types of killer whale.
Dr Pitman believes that there could be four different species in Antarctica alone and that their feeding habits are different - with some hunting mammals and some feeding only on fish.
"This is one of the world's most immediately identifiable mammals," he said, "and yet we're still discovering differences the species level."
"It just shows how little we know about the life in our oceans."

Links :

• YouTube : Orcas hunting seal on ice floe in Antarctica