Consumption by marine mammals on the Northeast U.S. continental shelf

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurel A. Smith ◽  
Jason S. Link ◽  
Steven X. Cadrin ◽  
Debra L. Palka
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Marine Mammals

Marine Technology, Oceanic Research Activities and Their Integration into the General Framework of International Law

2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 58-67
Author(s):  
Montserrat Gorina-Ysern
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
International Law ◽  
Marine Mammals ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Outer Continental Shelf ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Ocean Exploration ◽  
Operational Oceanography ◽  
Marine Technology

Marine technology is a fundamental component in the conduct of oceanic research activities. This article focuses on three oceanic research activities—ocean exploration, outer continental shelf delimitation and operational oceanography—that provide important benefits to all societies and yet are not well known by the general public. It is suggested that the peripheral status of these activities, by contrast with research impinging on marine mammals, is due to the absence of international disputes since the end of WWII involving oceanic research. This positive development, however, is offset by the development of the law governing oceanic research activities away from a body of legal experts in international law. The marginal regulation of ocean exploration, outer continental shelf delimitation and operational oceanography suffers from definitional, fragmentation and complementarity defects, as well as from the absence of a case law in the field that could assist the international judicial and legal professions, as well as policymakers, oceanographers, and law enforcement agencies in ensuring a greater degree of legal certainty, predictability, and security in the face of important new expansionary claims and new technologies.

scholarly journals How we all kill whales

2014 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 760-763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Fishing Gear ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
Commercial Whaling ◽  
Popular Interest ◽  
Western Media

Abstract Today there is enormous popular interest in marine mammals. Western media tend to dwell on the ongoing debate about commercial whaling by Japan, Norway and Iceland. There is, however, relative silence as to how the shipping and fishing industries of many if not all maritime countries are also catching and sometimes killing whales, albeit unintentionally. Thus, western countries have, through the development and increase in fishing and shipping in continental shelf waters, essentially resumed whaling as vessel speeds and fishing gear strength have increased in recent decades. The ways in which these animals die, especially in fixed fishing gear that they become entangled in and swim off with, would raise substantial concern with consumers of seafood were they to be aware of what they were enabling.

scholarly journals Cetacean occurrence in the Gulf of Alaska from long-term passive acoustic monitoring

2021 ◽  
Vol 168 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ally Rice ◽  
Ana Širović ◽  
Jennifer S. Trickey ◽  
Amanda J. Debich ◽  
Rachel S. Gottlieb ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Continental Slope ◽  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Gulf Of Alaska ◽  
Acoustic Monitoring ◽  
Physeter Macrocephalus ◽  
Passive Acoustic Monitoring ◽  
Temporal Separation ◽  
Shelf Slope ◽  
Passive Acoustic

AbstractThe Gulf of Alaska is an important habitat for a diverse array of marine mammals, many of which were severely depleted by historical whaling. To study current cetacean distributions in this region, passive acoustic monitoring was used to detect species-specific call types between 2011 and 2015 at five locations spanning the continental shelf, slope, and offshore seamounts. Spatial and temporal detection patterns were examined for nine species to compare differences in behavior and habitat use. Mysticetes showed seasonal increases in calling that indicated possible behavioral shifts between feeding and breeding in blue (Balaenoptera musculus), fin (B. physalus), and humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) whales, and matched known migration timing of gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus). Interannual changes in blue and fin whale calling may relate to the marine heat wave that began in 2013 and lasted through the end of the monitoring period. Odontocete detections revealed unique spatial distributions, with killer whales (Orcinus orca) most common on the continental shelf and sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) most common on the continental slope, where detections occurred year-round. Beaked whales showed both spatial and temporal separation: Baird’s beaked whale (Berardius bairdii) detections were highest at Quinn Seamount in the spring, Cuvier’s (Ziphius cavirostris) at Pratt Seamount in winter, and Stejneger’s (Mesoplodon stejnegeri) on the continental slope in the fall. The year-round presence of many species highlights the ecological importance of the Gulf of Alaska and the spatiotemporal information reported here should inform future conservation efforts.

Evidence of a predation event on a tagged Mediterranean spearfish (Tetrapturus belone; Pisces, Istiophoridae), inferred from pop-up satellite tagging data

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Danilo Malara ◽  
Pietro Battaglia ◽  
Pierpaolo Consoli ◽  
Erika Arcadi ◽  
Simonepietro Canese ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Research Group ◽  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Biodiversity Hotspot ◽  
Pelagic Species ◽  
Archival Tag ◽  
Abiotic Parameters ◽  
Predation Event ◽  
Satellite Tagging ◽  
First Time

The Strait of Messina is located at the centre of the Mediterranean Sea and is considered a biodiversity hotspot and an obligatory seasonal passage for different pelagic species such as sharks, marine mammals, and billfishes. For the first time, in the Strait of Messina, our research group tagged a Mediterranean spearfish (Tetrapturus belone) using a pop-up satellite archival tag (PSAT). The observation of abiotic parameters (depth, light, and temperature) recorded by the PSAT confirmed that the tagged specimen was predated after about nine hours. The tag was then regurgitated 14 days after the tag deployment date. The analysis of collected data seems to indicate that the predator may be an ectothermic shark, most likely the bluntnose sixgill shark (Hexanchus griseus).

Marine mammals are natural hosts of Oceanivirga salmonicida, a bacterial pathogen of Atlantic salmon

2020 ◽  
Vol 139 ◽  
pp. 161-174
Author(s):  
R Palmer ◽  
GTA Fleming ◽  
S Glaeser ◽  
T Semmler ◽  
A Flamm ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
16S Rrna ◽  
Atlantic Salmon ◽  
16S Rrna Gene ◽  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Bacterial Disease ◽  
Common Dolphin ◽  
Stenella Coeruleoalba ◽  
Striped Dolphin ◽  
Natural Hosts

During 1992 and 1993, a bacterial disease occurred in a seawater Atlantic salmon Salmo salar farm, causing serious mortalities. The causative agent was subsequently named as Oceanivirga salmonicida, a member of the Leptotrichiaceae. Searches of 16S rRNA gene sequence databases have shown sequence similarities between O. salmonicida and uncultured bacterial clones from the digestive tracts of marine mammals. In the current study, oral samples were taken from stranded dolphins (common dolphin Delphinus delphis, striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba) and healthy harbour seals Phoca vitulina. A bacterium with growth characteristics consistent with O. salmonicida was isolated from a common dolphin. The isolate was confirmed as O. salmonicida, by comparisons to the type strain, using 16S rRNA gene, gyrB, groEL, and recA sequence analyses, average nucleotide identity analysis, and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Metagenomic analysis indicated that the genus Oceanivirga represented a significant component of the oral bacterial microbiomes of the dolphins and seals. However, sequences consistent with O. salmonicida were only found in the dolphin samples. Analyses of marine mammal microbiome studies in the NCBI databases showed sequences consistent with O. salmonicida from the common dolphin, striped dolphin, bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus, humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae, and harbour seal. Sequences from marine environmental studies in the NCBI databases showed no sequences consistent with O. salmonicida. The findings suggest that several species of marine mammals are natural hosts of O. salmonicida.

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