Humpback Whale Count January 2012
Volunteers collected data from 61 sites on the shores of O‘ahu, Kaua‘i, and Hawai‘i Island for the January Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Ocean Count. Over Read more
Humpback Whale Ocean Count 2012
The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary offers you a chance to monitor Humpback Whales from the shores of Oahu, Hawaii and Kauai. Volunteers count the number of humpback whales which can be seen around the islands over a four-hour period and record their behavior. The 2012 count will be held the last Saturday of January, February, and March from 8:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
This year, on January 28, February 25, and March 31, the Sanctuary Ocean Count will be conducted at over 60 different shore sites around the islands (15 different sites around Kaua‘i). The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, which is jointly managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the State of Hawai`i, lies within the shallow warm waters surrounding the main Hawaiian Islands and constitutes one of the world’s most important humpback whale habitats.
Scientists estimate that 12,000 swim to Hawaii’s waters to mate and nurse their young, typically between September and March. Since 2006, the annual count has tracked a steady rise in the humpback whale population visiting the sanctuary. Visit Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary for details.
Hawaiian Reef Fish and Emperor Angelfish
Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator) are Hawaiian reef fish that can grow to 15 inches in length. As with many Angelfish, Emperor juveniles are very different in appearance from their adults. Prior to 1933, young emperors were considered a separate species because of the wide variation in range of color and pattern in small to large specimens.
Juvenile Emperor Angelfish are dark blue with concentric electric blue and white rings. Adults have horizontal yellow and blue stripes, white snout with black around the eyes. It takes about 24 to 30 months for an Emperor Angelfish to acquire its adult coloring. They can be easily distinguished by the presence in angelfishes of a strong opercular spine.
Juveniles are encountered under ledges, or in holes of outer lagoon patch reefs or semi-protected areas of exposed channels and outer reef flats. Subadults move to reef front holes and surge channels. Large adults inhabit ledges and caves in areas of rich coral growth on clear lagoon, channel, or seaward reefs.
Ocean Acidification and Marine Life
Marine life ranging from the smallest plankton to the largest whale may be affected by ocean acidification. Coral reef ecosystems will be some of the first casualties of ocean acidification. Impacts to these beautiful and important habitats could have huge consequences for a quarter of the entire biological diversity of the oceans that depend on coral reefs for food and shelter. Shellfish such as sea urchins, lobsters, sea stars and brittle stars are some prime examples of creatures that could be affected. More acidic oceans are expected to lead to a shortage of carbonate, a key building block that these animals need to build their shells and skeletons.
In addition to coral reefs and shellfish, animals without shells or skeletons such as squid and various types of fish may be negatively affected in a variety of ways. Impacts to individual species may ultimately disrupt entire food webs. For example, pteropods are tiny swimming sea snail that forms a large base of the food chains and their shell building is particularly vulnerable to increasing ocean acidity. If pteropod populations plummet from acidified waters, this will affect the population numbers of animals that eat them, like salmon. If salmon numbers drop due to a loss of pteropods, it could further impact predators that eat salmon, such as killer whales.
The changing acidity of the oceans threatens to throw off the delicate chemical balance upon which marine life depends for survival. Corals are the framework builders of reefs, by far the most diverse ecosystems of our oceans. However, the effects of acidification are not going to stop with reefs. Like dominoes, the impacts are going to be far-reaching throughout the oceans.
Hawaiian Monk Seal and Ciguatoxin
Hawaiian Monk Seals, whose population has dwindled to around 1100, are now exposed to another threat. Researchers from NOAA have discovered a potent and highly-debilitating toxin in the critically endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal. The dangerous toxin, called ciguatoxin, is produced by marine algae common on coral reefs, and accumulates in fish species that are consumed by humans.
The study was conducted by marine toxin experts at NOAA’s National Ocean Service in collaboration with veterinarians and ecologists at NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. Monk seals were sampled throughout the Hawaiian Islands, including in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, and samples were analyzed for toxins.
The study reveals that Hawaiian Monk Seals (Monachus schauinslandi) are exposed to significant levels of these ciguatoxins. Ciguatera, the human disease caused by ciguatoxin, affects thousands of people every year worldwide and comes in the form of acute gastrointestinal and neurological illness with symptoms resembling chronic fatigue syndrome.
The threat could pose management challenges for this species that has been dwindling at four percent annually. “Based upon this study, we believe that ciguatoxin exposure is common in the monk seal population. This study is an important first step. However, we still need to understand more clearly how widespread exposure is and more importantly what role it may be playing in the decline of the species.”
Hawaiian Monk Seal and Threats
Hawaiian Monk Seals face a new threat from a pathogen in cat feces that is carried to the ocean in polluted runoff and sewage. Experts worry that the disease, toxoplasmosis, will derail efforts to restore this endangered species. Over the past ten years, the cat parasite has killed at least four monk seals in the main Hawaiian islands – two from Kauai, one from Oahu, one from Molokai, and perhaps more. In the past decade, toxoplasmosis has been regularly found in a wide range of marine mammals, including whales, dolphins, as well as seabirds, and the endangered Hawaiian crow.
No studies have been done in Hawaii, but in California, researchers have found that it infects sea otters mainly though runoff from urban areas. Flushing cat litter down the toilet is one pathway, since sewage treatment does not always kill the parasite’s hardy eggs, called oocysts. Studies have found that oocysts can live for at least two years in sea water.
Although domestic cats are considered the main source, feral cats in remote areas also transmit the disease. Nearly 40 percent of cats captured from the slopes of Mauna Kea, on the island of Hawaii, tested positive for toxoplasmosis. The state Division of Forestry and Wildlife estimates that 300,000 to 400,000 free-ranging cats live on Maui alone.
The Hawaiian Monk Seal (Monachus schauinslandi) is considered the most endangered pinniped in the United States. Their overall population is declining at a rate of about 4.5 percent a year. The good news is that in recent years, their numbers have been growing in the main Hawaiian islands. With only about 1,100 monk seals left in the wild, each death is very concerning, and now toxoplasmosis is one of the primary concerns. To raise public awareness about toxoplasmosis and cat feces, NOAA has begun talking with the Hawaii Humane Society, various interest groups, and the health department.
