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.
Kilauea Point Lighthouse Lens
In 1909, thirty-one acres were purchased for the construction of the Kilauea Point Lighthouse, and construction began three years later in 1912. The centerpiece of the lighthouse was the lens designed by Augustin Fresnel and fabricated in Paris. A Fresnel lens contains hundreds of glass prisms concentrating and focusing the light passing through. The lens is two-sided (shaped like a clam’s shell) with two bull’s-eyes on each side.
The entire lens assembly weighs about 4.5 tons and was designed to “float” on mercury and pressurized air. A system of cables, weights, and pulleys rotated the lens, similar to descending weights turning the hands of a cuckoo clock. The weights would gravitate down a shaft in the center of the lighthouse. The lighthouse had to be wound every 3-1/2 hours by pulling the weights back to the top, then an electronic motor was installed in 1939, eliminating this lighthouse keeper’s task.
The fresnel lens and clockworks were manufactured in France at a cost of $12,000. But, when the lens arrived, it was discovered that the assembly instructions were in French, so a message was sent to Honolulu, requesting help with translation. Fred Edgecomb was dispatched on an interisland ship from Honolulu to Nawiliwili Harbor and then rode twenty miles on horseback to the site. After he had helped translate the instructions, the four-and-a-half-ton lens was assembled in the tower and floated in a trough six feet in diameter and nine inches deep filled with mercury. The revolving lens, which was first illuminated on May 1, 1913, produced a double flash every ten seconds that was visible up to a distance of twenty-one nautical miles.
Electric Vehicles in Hawaii
A network of electric vehicle charging stations in Hawaii is a key step in getting consumers to embrace the technology because they want the assurance that they will be able to recharge their vehicles when they are away from home. The Nissan Leaf, the first mass-produced electric car to be sold in Hawaii, has a range of about 100 miles on a single charge. The effort to put more electrical vehicles in the state got a boost with the awarding of $2.6 million in federal grants to install and promote charging stations across the islands.
Six companies and organizations will receive grants from federal stimulus money. The “EV Ready Grant” program is designed to complement the “EV Ready Rebate Program,” another initiative funded with stimulus money that provides a $4,500 rebate to individual consumers for the purchase of an electric vehicle and a $500 rebate for a home charging station. Grants were awarded to:
- Better Place – for charging stations on all islands and the introduction of EVs to a rental car fleet.
- AeroVironment – to install up to 320 charging stations on all islands, conduct grid integration analysis, and accelerate electrical vehicle introduction to dealerships and vehicle fleets.
- GreenCar Hawaii – to introduce EVs to car-sharing services within the hospitality industry.
- County of Kauai – for charging stations on the Garden Island and EVs for County fleets.
- City & County of Honolulu – for charging stations on Oahu, EVs and an online charger permitting system.
- Plug In America – for an EV Ready Guidebook for Hawaii, along with education and outreach.
Once deployment of the charging stations is completed, Hawaii will have one of the nation’s first statewide public charging networks supporting electric vehicle drivers.
Hawaiian Wildlife and Spinner Dolphins 4
Once a week a cruise ship visits Rangiroa. Expertly using the pressure wave off the bow, the dolphins get the effortless ride of a lifetime. . . surfing sideways and even upside-down in the flow. . .
At day’s end, as the bottlenose and their adopted spinner surf the waves, a large school of spinner dolphins further offshore makes haste for their feeding grounds. . . Now all the collective energy of the school comes together as the dolphins approach the most thrilling and dangerous part of their lives.
Scientists have likened the dash to the deep — and all its accompanying aerial displays — as akin to a football team psyching itself before a game. This communal pep rally serves yet again to synchronize the dolphins’ intentions, and perhaps to overcome their fears. For as night falls, a change takes place in the deep water far below.
A community of marine life, known as the deep scattering layer — which spends the daylight hours at depths of up to 3,000 feet now begins to migrate upward. As these riches come within reach, many surface dwellers — including the spinner dolphins — begin to hunt. Small subgroups spread out across the sea.
Despite being separated by several miles of water, the school still coordinates its activities through sound — -and through spinning — which reaches an explosive crescendo in the darkness of night . . . Time after time, the dolphins dive . . . down into the utter darkness at 800 feet, or more.
Schools of squid rise with the deep scattering layer. Jet-propelled, they are among the most elusive of prey.
Yet dolphins of many kinds are adept at catching them. For all the spinners’ skill and agility in this eerie world, they are wary of predators. Many sharks live in the deep scattering layer . . .
Using their echolocation, the spinners scan the darkness. . . then using their whistles, they call members of the school back together. and unite for their defense . . . And so most nights, the collective defenses of the dolphin school protect each member from harm. By dawn, the spinners regroup. Well-fed, they move once again towards the shelter of the islands.
Millions of years of natural selection have made spinner dolphins supremely adapted to the paradoxical worlds they inhabit . . one in the darkness of the abyss . . the other in the sunlit shallows. But nothing in their evolutionary past has prepared these dolphins for the onslaughts of the modern age. In the open sea, spinner dolphins and spotted dolphins frequently swim above large schools of yellowfin tuna. Fishermen in the eastern tropical pacific use dolphins to locate the tuna. . . Then set their nets around the dolphins.
O/C Marten:
Setting nets on dolphins to catch tuna kills them in large numbers. There’s no way to avoid that. And really what the public ought to understand is that the problem is not solved. Dr. Ken Marten was an official observer aboard u.s. tuna boats for two years. His job was to count and report the number of dolphins killed.
V/O Marten:
The mother boat launches 4 to 6 speedboats which chase the dolphins for an hour or more at high speed until the dolphins are exhausted. The mother boat approaches and sets the long purse seine net around the dolphins.
Any place the net is still open, the speedboats are sent and now they have a new function — to drop bombs into the water, that explode, and prevent the dolphins from escaping out of the net. And the rationale behind that is that if the dolphins ever escape out of the net, the tuna escape with them.
The nature of such a huge net around dolphins for such a long period of time, is that dolphins can get caught in folds of the net and drown. And it can happen to all of the dolphins in the net. And the number of dolphins in the net may be 3 or 4,000. These aggregations of spinner and spotted dolphins in the deep eastern tropical pacific are almost like little cities of dolphins. And the entire city can be wiped out.
The spinners’ brilliant defensive systems. . . group loyalty . . . sonar . . . speed and agility . . offer them no protection here — and may even work against their survival in the chaos of the nets.
Many of the dolphins who do escape may die soon afterward . . . as they are now completely deafened by the bomb explosions underwater. Tragically for a dolphin being deaf is equivalent to being blind.
Marten:
I can state this on my own experience, because when the tuna fishermen used to throw the bombs at me, as an observer, to keep me from reporting large kills, those bombs made me deaf for about a day. Nor do the “dolphin-safe” labels appearing on some cans of tuna offer absolute guarantees that no dolphins were killed . . . Meanwhile, the effect of tuna fishing on dolphins has been catastrophic. Today, more than 60 percent of the population of spinner dolphins in the Eastern tropical pacific has been wiped out in the tuna nets.
This morning, after a successful night of hunting, the spinner dolphins of Kealakekua Bay are returning to shore. Mornings are a time of celebration — as the members of the school meet, and play together. Youngsters practice their lessons. Little by little, the warm, clear waters entice them to rest . . . the dolphins draw closer. Together they rise and fall from the surface . . . until each spinner slips into sleep, safe inside a cocoon of friends.
In the 30 years that spinner dolphins have been studied, much has been Deciphered of their lives in the wild. Yet most of their world remains — and may always remain — completely mysterious. They thrive in what is essentially a different universe . . and yet, we feel close to them.
Perhaps the attraction lies in a sense of kindred spirit . . .
For although we understand something now of the complex and serious business of their lives. . . we can also feel their unique and joyful energy. . . that moment of flight . . . that instant when the burdens of life are cast away.
Kauai Beaches and Wailua
Wailua Beach is a long, golden sand beach at the mouth of the Wailua River on Kauai’s Coconut Coast. It is surrounded by the towns of Wailua and Kapaa to the north, Lydgate Beach Park to the south, Wailua River State Park inland, and Wailua Bay.
There is no protective reef to protect the beach against the open ocean and therefore the swells are always large. The water here is usually murky because of the river water flowing down the mountains. Also, the river and the ocean are always clashing, creating nasty rip tides, and strong currents. These two factors makes Wailua Beach poor for swimming or for novices.
Wailua River in itself offers many activities – water-skiing boats, kayak equipment, and hiking expeditions are offered by nearby rental services. Outrigger canoe races are also held here. At the rivers mouth are several historical sites including Hawaiian heiau (temples) and petroglyphs carved by early Hawaiians.
If you have children and want to swim in more protected waters then Lydgate Beach Park is for you. Here there are two enclosed ponds that allow for fresh ocean water to enter, along with fish, yet protect swimmers in the pond from the ocean’s force. There are also bathrooms, picnic areas, playgrounds, lifeguards, and grassy areas. These extras are incredibly appealing to families with small children.
Not good for swimming
Surfing
Bodyboarding
Kayaking
Hiking expeditions
Fishing
Historical sites
Directions: Wailua Beach is across the street from the intersection of Highway 560 (Kuhio Highway) and Highway 580 (Kuamoo Road).
Please remember: When in doubt, don’t go out.
Check our Kauai Surf Report.
Hawaiian Wildlife and Spinner Dolphins 3
Besieged on all sides, these spinner dolphins may one day find themselves without any haven at all on the island of Moorea. But this afternoon, as the sun begins to drop, the dolphins slowly awaken from rest. From the surface, the first sign is an increase of aerial displays.
Scientists studying spinner dolphins have catalogued seven types of aerial behaviors. Simplest of all are the nose outs . . .as the beak is thrust from the surface. . . this is often one of the first signs of a school coming out of the rest period. The spinners use tail slaps as acoustic signals– giving cues about danger. . . or a signal to dive. They can also be performed upside-down. Head slaps . . . side slaps. . . and back slaps are most frequently seen as the school begins to pick up speed. . . Spinner dolphins also perform a series of leaps, including arcuate leaps. . .salmon leaps. . .and tail-over-head leaps. . .
Last — and most spectacular — are the spins themselves. Many animals spin repeatedly. . . with each spin tending to get smaller and Smaller . . finally finishing up with an emphatic side slap.
The power of the spin comes from the tremendous acceleration under the water. . . And the torque of the tail as the dolphin breaks the surface. The aftermath of the spin — the sound of the slap. . . the splash on the surface . . . and the dense bubble cloud underwater, which even distant dolphins can pick up through their echolocation. . . may be the real purpose of the spin.
Spinner dolphins maximize the effect of this splash by twisting around to land in a belly-flop, or back-flop. Spins are most frequently performed while the school is spread out across the water. A spinning dolphin may be signaling to the others: “here I am. . . . here is where I am going. . . ” The effect of many dolphins spinning and leaping at once, defines what scientists call the envelope of the school — that is, its size, direction, and speed of travel.
This afternoon in moorea, as the spinners awaken from their afternoon rest, some members begin to spin, urging the school to move out of the lagoon. . . . But other members are reluctant to leave just yet, and slowly nudge the school back into the bay, and into resting behavior. For the next hour or more, the spinners perform this zig-zag pattern. . . going airborne, moving out. . . . then quieting down, and drifting back toward shore…
Because there is no hierarchy in spinner society, movement and change are decided by group consensus. Only when all the members of the school are ready to make the move into the open sea will the charge begin. . . . Suddenly, the vocalizations of the school burst forth. . . . The sound is a cacophony of squawks, blats, barks, whistles, and clicks — as all the members of the school literally shout at once.
For the dolphins, this uniquely noisy display now signals that they are indeed ready to move into the open sea. But to clear the lagoon, they must exit through one of the passes. The spinners will not travel through the surf itself, as the crashing waves create a barrier of bubbles which their sonar cannot penetrate.
Dr. Michael Poole recalls the day when the weather changed suddenly, the waves building so high that they closed out the dolphins’ only exit.
Poole: The waves were so much larger even than they are today, that the entire pass was closing out. We stayed inshore and on my boat — we had two teams working simultaneously — watching these dolphins the entire day. At sunset, around 6:00 or 6:15, the animals were still here.
Never before had the dolphins stayed inside the lagoon until sunset . . . but with several newborn calves and enormous waves blocking their route, the school could not leave. . . The dolphins were hungry — especially the females with young. As night fell, the waves grew even larger.
Finally, nearly 30 hours after entering the lagoon, the dolphins’ doorway opened once again.
Poole: As the swell dropped back down they then went out into the open ocean and left. I believe that they’d been stuck here through that night and through that day because they’d been unable to go out with their small calves. But this afternoon, the pass is wide open, and the dolphins swim through easily on their way out to the open sea.
Once outside the reef, conditions change immediately. Ocean swells build all around. The school picks up speed. . . Spreading out across the water. . . signaling to each other through aerial displays. . . As the spinners turn the northwest corner of moorea, their keen hearing picks up powerfully resonant sounds. . . ..
The songs of humpbacks are punctuated by their own brand of aerial behavior. . . Two 50-ton males slash their tails and breach. . . They are competing for a female, who tries to elude them.
A pod of pilot whales join the pursuit. As does a school of rizzo’s dolphins — all seemingly drawn by curiosity to the mating of the giants. Dolphins and pilot whales dive across the bows of the great whales. . . surfing them as they would a ship. The humpbacks seem oblivious to the smaller cetaceans. . . absorbed, as they are, in their own graceful and powerful ritual. . . as one male struggles to shoulder aside the other, in pursuit of the female.
But this spectacle — however compelling — does not divert the spinner dolphins from their agenda, as they head out to sea. Spinners rarely deviate from their daily schedule, no matter what goes on around them. Interactions between different species of whales and dolphins are rarely observed in the wild, let alone understood. But one of the most intriguing cases of a relationship between species can be found 300 miles north of moorea, on a coral atoll known as rangiroa.
Millions of years ago, rangiroa was also a massive island. Today its volcanoes are long extinct, eroded and subsided entirely back into the sea. Only two passes remain into rangiroa’s lagoon. . . and with each change of the tides, huge flows of water rip through the passes. . . sweeping nutrients in and out, a fluid pendulum of the sea. These passes have become a gathering place for an astonishing variety of marine life. . . . Including hundreds — perhaps thousands — of sharks. . .
Because of the sharks, and the rip tides, the spinner dolphins of rangiroa never enter this lagoon. . . Instead, resting offshore each afternoon. But a school of bottlenose dolphins — much larger and stronger than the spinners — have chosen to live in these passes year-round. And twice a day, when the tides change, the 10-foot high standing waves of the rip tide become the bottlenose dolphin’s playground. . . ..
For human swimmers, the whirlpools and undertows created by this rip tide would prove fatal… Dragging them hundreds of feet deep and sweeping them far out to sea. But for the dolphins, these challenging conditions are nothing short of exhilarating.
Year after year, the bottlenose of rangiroa have enjoyed this twice-daily recreation, passing the surfing art on from one generation to the next. But several years ago, observers here noticed something new. . . . a dolphin acting quite differently in the waves than the others. . . . .a much smaller dolphin. . . spinning. At that time, for reasons we can only guess, this pod of bottlenose dolphins adopted an infant spinner dolphin.
With their short rounded beaks, the bottlenose are twice the length and ten times the weight of the spinner. Yet despite these differences, the young spinner has lived among these bottlenose. . . doing everything just as the larger dolphins do. . . including entering the standing waves twice a day. But when the bottlenose leap, the spinner spins. . . .
In addition to surfing the pass, these dolphins have another kind of thrill to look forward to…
