Footprints of fixed-gear fisheries in relation to rising whale entanglements on the U.S. West Coast

On the U.S. West Coast, reports of whales entangled in fishing gear increased dramatically in 2014. In this study, a time series of fishing activity maps was developed from 2009 to 2016 for the four fixed-gear fisheries most commonly implicated in entanglements. Maps were generated using vessel monitoring system (VMS) data linked to port-level landings databases, which were related to entangled whale reports over the same time period and with modelled distributions of humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae Borowski. Over the full study period, neither marked increases in fishing activity nor changes in fisheries footprints within regions with high whale densities were detected. By contrast, a delayed fishery opening in California due to a harmful algal bloom in spring of 2016 led to ~5–7 times average levels of Dungeness crab Metacarcinus magister (Dana) fishing activity, which was consistent with a high rate of entanglement in that year. These results are consistent with current hypotheses that habitat compression caused by a marine heatwave increased the overlap of whales with fishing activity, despite minimal changes in the fisheries themselves. This study adds to literature on bycatch of protected species in otherwise sustainable fisheries, highlighting the value of using VMS data for reducing human–wildlife conflict in the ocean

Mapping Coupled Social-Ecological Systems in Puget Sound: Lessons from Paired Social and Biophysical Data

Ecology benefits from integrated, interdisciplinary collaborations. However, most collaboration exists within natural science disciplines. Expanding these collaborations to disciplines outside the natural sciences enhances both ecology as well as other engaged disciplines. Our work suggests that ecosystem based research needs to be grounded in social science frameworks, in order to better address the complexities of resource management in urbanized and urbanizing systems. The Washington portion of the Salish Sea is home to over 3.5 million people. The anthropogenic pressures are substantial, as are the complexities of managing them. This complexity challenges conventional ecology-centric management approaches, and this limitation can be reduced when sociological factors are incorporated. In our study we sought to garner collaborative insights generated by linking a social survey to landscape ecology. The survey identified normative influences in social interactions in the Puget Sound basin by posing a series of questions regarding individual views on the local environment and the desirability of a range of potential ecosystem conditions within Puget Sound. We tried to identify the relationship between an urban development trajectory and people’s views on environmental problems and possible policy solutions. We mapped the survey data to US zip code regions and spatially overlaid the survey response data with existing geospatial data layers of biophysical conditions. We found relationships between people’s responses and the conditions within their residence zip code, which alters our interpretation of both the sociological and ecological data. Interdisciplinary collaboration across conventional disciplinary boundaries is at the center of this socio-ecological effort to improve environmental restoration efforts and decision-making in the Puget Sound. Because restoration goals for various aspects of the Puget Sound ecosystem are often products of biophysical analyses combined with the sociopolitical expressions of stakeholders and managers, robust research around restoration must include both a developed understanding of the local landscape ecology and an informed analysis of Salish Sea-specific societal perceptions and values

Urban-related distribution patterns of an iconic Salish Sea mesopredator, the giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini)

Like many coastal areas globally, the Salish Sea has undergone rapid urbanization over recent decades. Terrestrial research suggests urbanization facilitates a variety of mesopredators by enhancing food and shelter resources and by limiting apex predation. Yet urbanization’s effect on mesopredators in the marine environment has rarely been examined. The giant Pacific octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is an iconic mesopredator of the Pacific Northwest due to its size and cognition, and is thought to reach a particularly large maximum size in inland waters of the Salish Sea. We examined the spatial distribution patterns and habitat use of giant Pacific octopus in Puget Sound using a combination of field surveys and citizen-contributed data from the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF). Specifically, we sought to determine: (1) Whether octopus distribution was related to land-based urbanization indices, (2) Whether octopus abundance correlated with anthropogenic debris, and (3) Whether octopus diets differed relative to urbanization intensity. Our findings suggest that effects from urbanization may depend heavily on the depth of benthic habitats. In deeper subtidal areas (\u3e 24 m), the estimated probability of octopus occurrence increased with adjacent land-based urbanization. Conversely, octopus in shallower subtidal zones (\u3c 18 m) were less likely to occur as urbanization intensity increased. This pattern appears to be unrelated to utilization of prey resources by octopus, as accompanying surveys of octopus middens showed no depth-specific differences in diet relative to urbanization. However, additional video transect surveys at paired sites with high versus low concentrations of anthropogenic debris indicated that artificial structures, which may be extensive in deep-water habitats within heavily urban areas, facilitate higher octopus abundances by serving as den sites. We suggest that den provisioning by urban artificial structures may be a key mechanism driving urban-related distribution patterns of giant Pacific octopus, and should be explored further through future research

Retrospective analysis of measures to reduce large whale entanglements in a lucrative commercial fishery

Recovering marine animal populations and climate-driven shifts in their distributions are colliding with growing ocean use by humans. One such example is the bycatch of whales in commercial fishing, which poses a significant threat to the conservation and continued recovery of these protected animals and is a major barrier to sustainable fisheries. Long-lasting solutions to this problem need to be robust to variability in ecological dynamics while also addressing socio-cultural and economic concerns. We assessed the efficacy of gear reductions as an entanglement mitigation strategy during 2019 and 2020 in the highly valuable Dungeness crab fishery (Washington State, USA) in terms of changes in the entanglement risk to protected blue and humpback whales, and in terms of economic consequences for the fishery. Using a combination of fishery logbooks, landings data, and whale habitat models, we found that in the two seasons with mandatory crab pot reductions, entanglement risk was reduced by up to 20 % for blue whales, and 78 % for humpback whales, compared to seasons with no regulations. Spatio-temporal variability in the distribution of each whale species was a key factor in determining risk. Importantly, the conservation measure did not have a substantial negative effect on fleet-level fishery performance metrics, despite a reduction in fishing effort. Results indicated that a simple, fixed management strategy achieved the desired conservation goals in an economically sustainable way. Our findings underscore the value of carefully considering the dynamic nature of species\u27 spatial distributions and key social and economic impacts that together determine conservation efficacy

Marine heatwave challenges solutions to human-wildlife conflict

Despite the increasing frequency and magnitude of extreme climate events, little is known about how their impacts flow through social and ecological systems or whether management actions can dampen deleterious effects. We examined how the record 2014-2016 Northeast Pacific marine heatwave influenced trade-offs in managing conflict between conservation goals and human activities using a case study on large whale entanglements in the U.S. west coast\u27s most lucrative fishery (the Dungeness crab fishery). We showed that this extreme climate event diminished the power of multiple management strategies to resolve trade-offs between entanglement risk and fishery revenue, transforming near win-win to clear win-lose outcomes (for whales and fishers, respectively). While some actions were more cost-effective than others, there was no silver-bullet strategy to reduce the severity of these trade-offs. Our study highlights how extreme climate events can exacerbate human-wildlife conflict, and emphasizes the need for innovative management and policy interventions that provide ecologically and socially sustainable solutions in an era of rapid environmental change

Landscape Ecotoxicology of Coho Salmon Spawner Mortality in Urban Streams

In the Pacific Northwest of the United States, adult coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) returning from the ocean to spawn in urban basins of the Puget Sound region have been prematurely dying at high rates (up to 90% of the total runs) for more than a decade. The current weight of evidence indicates that coho deaths are caused by toxic chemical contaminants in land-based runoff to urban streams during the fall spawning season. Non-point source pollution in urban landscapes typically originates from discrete urban and residential land use activities. In the present study we conducted a series of spatial analyses to identify correlations between land use and land cover (roadways, impervious surfaces, forests, etc.) and the magnitude of coho mortality in six streams with different drainage basin characteristics. We found that spawner mortality was most closely and positively correlated with the relative proportion of local roads, impervious surfaces, and commercial property within a basin. These and other correlated variables were used to identify unmonitored basins in the greater Seattle metropolitan area where recurrent coho spawner die-offs may be likely. This predictive map indicates a substantial geographic area of vulnerability for the Puget Sound coho population segment, a species of concern under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Our spatial risk representation has numerous applications for urban growth management, coho conservation, and basin restoration (e.g., avoiding the unintentional creation of ecological traps). Moreover, the approach and tools are transferable to areas supporting coho throughout western North America

Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases

The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs) can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e. iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference

The life and scientific work of William R. Evitt (1923-2009)

Occasionally (and fortunately), circumstances and timing combine to allow an individual, almost singlehandedly, to generate a paradigm shift in his or her chosen field of inquiry. William R. (‘Bill’) Evitt (1923-2009) was such a person. During his career as a palaeontologist, Bill Evitt made lasting and profound contributions to the study of both dinoflagellates and trilobites. He had a distinguished, long and varied career, researching first trilobites and techniques in palaeontology before moving on to marine palynomorphs. Bill is undoubtedly best known for his work on dinoflagellates, especially their resting cysts. He worked at three major US universities and spent a highly significant period in the oil industry. Bill's early profound interest in the natural sciences was actively encouraged both by his parents and at school. His alma mater was Johns Hopkins University where, commencing in 1940, he studied chemistry and geology as an undergraduate. He quickly developed a strong vocation in the earth sciences, and became fascinated by the fossiliferous Lower Palaeozoic strata of the northwestern United States. Bill commenced a PhD project on silicified Middle Ordovician trilobites from Virginia in 1943. His doctoral research was interrupted by military service during World War II; Bill served as an aerial photograph interpreter in China in 1944 and 1945, and received the Bronze Star for his excellent work. Upon demobilisation from the US Army Air Force, he resumed work on his PhD and was given significant teaching duties at Johns Hopkins, which he thoroughly enjoyed. He accepted his first professional position, as an instructor in sedimentary geology, at the University of Rochester in late 1948. Here Bill supervised his first two graduate students, and shared a great cameraderie with a highly motivated student body which largely comprised World War II veterans. At Rochester, Bill continued his trilobite research, and was the editor of the Journal of Paleontology between 1953 and 1956. Seeking a new challenge, he joined the Carter Oil Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during 1956. This brought about an irrevocable realignment of his research interests from trilobites to marine palynology. He undertook basic research on aquatic palynomorphs in a very well-resourced laboratory under the direction of one of his most influential mentors, William S. ‘Bill’ Hoffmeister. Bill Evitt visited the influential European palynologists Georges Deflandre and Alfred Eisenack during late 1959 and, while in Tulsa, first developed several groundbreaking hypotheses. He soon realised that the distinctive morphology of certain fossil dinoflagellates, notably the archaeopyle, meant that they represent the resting cyst stage of the life cycle. The archaeopyle clearly allows the excystment of the cell contents, and comprises one or more plate areas. Bill also concluded that spine-bearing palynomorphs, then called hystrichospheres, could be divided into two groups. The largely Palaeozoic spine-bearing palynomorphs are of uncertain biological affinity, and these were termed acritarchs. Moreover, he determined that unequivocal dinoflagellate cysts are all Mesozoic or younger, and that the fossil record of dinoflagellates is highly selective. Bill was always an academic at heart and he joined Stanford University in 1962, where he remained until retiring in 1988. Bill enjoyed getting back into teaching after his six years in industry. During his 26-year tenure at Stanford, Bill continued to revolutionise our understanding of dinoflagellate cysts. He produced many highly influential papers and two major textbooks. The highlights include defining the acritarchs and comprehensively documenting the archaeopyle, together with highly detailed work on the morphology of Nannoceratopsis and Palaeoperidinium pyrophorum using the scanning electron microscope. Bill supervised 11 graduate students while at Stanford University. He organised the Penrose Conference on Modern and Fossil Dinoflagellates in 1978, which was so successful that similar meetings have been held about every four years since that inaugural symposium. Bill also taught many short courses on dinoflagellate cysts aimed at the professional community. Unlike many eminent geologists, Bill actually retired from actively working in the earth sciences. His full retirement was in 1988; after this he worked on only a small number of dinoflagellate cyst projects, including an extensive paper on the genus Palaeoperidinium

Review and design criteria of behavioral fish guidance systems

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