DOCSLIB.ORG

The Sargasso Sea Commission: Saving the Atlantic Golden Rainforest the SARGASSO SEA COMMISSION: SAVING the ATLANTIC GOLDEN RAINFOREST

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Sargasso Sea Commission: Saving the Atlantic Golden Rainforest the SARGASSO SEA COMMISSION: SAVING the ATLANTIC GOLDEN RAINFOREST The Sargasso Sea Commission: Saving the Atlantic Golden Rainforest www.sargassoseacommission.org THE SARGASSO SEA COMMISSION: SAVING THE ATLANTIC GOLDEN RAINFOREST The Sargasso Sea contains a unique ecosystem based upon floating seaweed. It is a marine treasure that is threatened by pollution and other human activities. The Sargasso Sea Commission, an international team of researchers and policy makers, is working to preserve and protect this wonder of the ocean. The Golden Rainforest of the Ocean to very specialised communities of animals. The two species that make In the North Atlantic Ocean, surrounded up the rafts are the only large seaweeds by clockwise rotating currents, lies a that spend their entire life floating in refuge of calm, sapphire blue water the ocean, reproducing solely by renowned for its exceptional clarity and growing new rafts from fragments that unique biodiversity. The Sargasso Sea break off larger mats. With its long is an unusual gem in the open ocean, evolutionary history, these mats of where golden forests of seaweed crown Sargassum have become home to very deep blue waters that are often crystal specialised communities of animals, clear to unusual depths. Covering including 11 endemic species that approximately two million square miles are found nowhere else in the world. surrounding the island of Bermuda Many species have become adapted and part of the infamous Bermuda to living amongst the weed, including Triangle, it has no land boundaries the Sargassum angler fish, which is but is enclosed by four major ocean camouflaged but also has modified fins currents – the Gulf Stream, the North to grasp the weed fronds. Atlantic Current, the Canary Current and the North Equatorial and Antilles The Sargasso Sea and neighbouring Gulf Current – the whole system forming the of Mexico are the primary areas where subtropical North Atlantic gyre. rafts of Sargassum are found. Recently, however, large quantities of the weed Home to countless legends of have become stranded on the beaches wrecked ships and mysterious events, in the Caribbean and West Africa. This along with unique communities of Sargassum originates in the ocean to marine life, the Sargasso Sea is an the south of the Sargasso Sea, where irreplaceable natural wonder. Despite the weed is believed to have bloomed its intrigue, these waters and their rapidly due to increased temperatures inhabitants are threatened by pollution, and fertilisers released from the Orinoco and many are working to save this and Amazon rivers. The resulting amazing ecosystem. blooms are carried into the Caribbean by ocean currents. Two species of Sargassum weed float on the surface of the ocean, forming Beyond the creatures that live clumps and rafts. Dubbed the ‘golden exclusively in the seaweed rafts, many rainforest of the Atlantic Ocean’, these species of endangered sea turtles hide CREDIT: JP Rouja rafts of Sargassum weed are home in the Sargassum rafts during their WWW.SCIENTIA.GLOBAL CREDIT: Andrew Stevenson formative years to escape predators, from the shores of the islands is partly In 2011, the Sargasso Sea Alliance – a eat, and grow big enough to brave sustained by the transport of fish larvae collaboration led by the Government the open ocean as adults. The larvae and adults that raft within the floating of Bermuda – began laying the of several fish species are often seaweed. The Sea is an integral part of groundwork for international found associated with Sargassum the island chain’s maritime history, as collaboration that could provide and numbers of fish species use the well as an important component of its stewardship for the area. Three years Sargasso Sea as a breeding ground economy and the economies of other later, the Hamilton Declaration and and migratory route, including sharks, bordering nations. Sargasso Sea Commission were borne tuna and billfish. The deep water of the However, the Sargasso Sea is currently out of those efforts, in the process Sargasso Sea, below the Sargassum threatened by climate change and developing a conceptual framework mats, is the only known spawning more directly by pollution and other for how international waters could be ground for the endangered American human activities including overfishing. collaboratively managed. and European eels. Any pollutants that get into the central Sargasso Sea are trapped there by the In 2014, the Hamilton Declaration on As well as serving as a habitat for a encircling currents, and the area is now Collaboration for the Conservation multitude of species, the Sargasso Sea’s home to the North Atlantic Garbage of the Sargasso Sea was signed, golden rainforest is highly important Patch – an accumulation of mostly recognising the ecological, economic, to the residents of Bermuda for many degraded plastic covering an area larger and research value of these waters. reasons. The golden Sargassum than the state of Texas, which is held in The Declaration was initially signed seaweed is carried inshore during place by the gyre. by five governments – Bermuda, the the winter months, where it acts as Azores, Monaco, the United Kingdom, an important food source for reef fish Protecting a Natural Treasure and the United States. The British Virgin when it sinks to the coral reef below. In Islands, the Bahamas, and Canada addition to providing nutrients to corals Among the greatest challenges facing joined in 2016, followed by the Cayman and other benthic organisms, it also this area are legal ones – the ocean Islands in 2017. Other governments are provides food and habitat for intertidal belongs to no country. Over 50% of considering signing also. organisms, which in turn are the prey of the planet’s surface is covered by many shorebirds. marine waters that fall outside of the The Declaration establishes stewardship governance of nations. These so- over the Sargasso Sea and aims to In addition to feeding the Bermuda called ‘High Seas’ require extended encourage and facilitate research into food chain, the decomposing washed international cooperation and the wildlife and effects of pollution on up Sargassum helps fortify the beaches, collaboration, since they fall outside of the blue waters. The Declaration led preventing erosion, and is used as any country’s legal jurisdiction. to the appointment of the Sargasso fertiliser by island farmers. Fishing Sea Commission by the Government WWW.SCIENTIA.GLOBAL ways that the Sea can be preserved through conservation efforts. The Sargasso Sea Commission is also working to develop a Stewardship Plan for the Sargasso Sea – which would be the first such plan for an open high seas area. This would include parameters that could regulate different types of human activities that disrupt the golden seaweed rafts CREDIT: JP Rouja and pose a threat to the life around of Bermuda. The Commission is a Sargasso Sea seamounts in its area and them. Limitations would require the group of ‘distinguished scientists and gear restrictions on midwater trawling. cooperation of multiple countries and other persons of international repute private sector corporations through committed to the conservation of high In 2014, the Commission brought international bodies such as the seas ecosystems’, and in particular, together cable companies, marine International Maritime Organization this natural wonder. Commissioners researchers, academics, and legal (IMO) and the Regional Fisheries are appointed by the Government of scholars to discuss the environmental Management Organizations. Bermuda after a consultation process effects of laying submarine fibre involving the signatory governments. optic telecommunications cables A Bright Future for Blue Waters across the ocean floor, which provide ‘The role of the Commission members over 97% of worldwide international The innovative work of the Sargasso … is to exercise a stewardship role communications. Sea Commission is currently mainly for the Sargasso Sea and keep its funded through the support of private health, productivity and resilience The Sargasso Sea Commission is donors – it is seeking further funding under continual review,’ says Dr David also working with more traditional to continue its important work into Freestone, Executive Secretary of the conservation groups to protect specific the future. The Commission aims to Sargasso Sea Commission. Rather wildlife, such as the endangered continue working to protect the Sea as than being associated with any one American and European eels, and a whole, while also working to protect country, the Commission operates as a collecting further data to support the migratory range of the European stand-alone entity, established under the need for extending protections eel, to regulate vessel activities, and to Bermudian law. to this incredible body of water. In conserve threatened fishery resources collaboration with the Convention on in the area. It is also working with NASA The Commission’s Work So Far Migratory Species, efforts are underway to develop comprehensive satellite to define and protect the migration imagery of the area. In only a few short years, the Sargasso routes of the European eel to the Sea project has set a new paradigm Sargasso Sea as well as its spawning ‘We are working closely with NASA on for conservation of areas beyond areas there. its pilot COVERAGE project, which will national jurisdiction, bringing together provide a visual representation of its stakeholders from multiple countries The Commission has also collected satellite data on the Sargasso Sea,’ and organisations. In 2011 the Alliance data on how the Sargassum seaweed explains Dr Freestone. ‘This can be published a baseline study on the bolsters numerous species of fish that overlaid with other data on animal Protection and Management of the are commonly sought in commercial movements and human activities Sargasso Sea and the following year, fishing, as well as charismatic and in the area.’ This data could help the parties to the Convention on endangered sea turtles, all of which researchers identify the most critical Biological Diversity, drawing on this rely on the masses of golden seaweed areas for conservation efforts, and study, agreed that the Sargasso Sea be for shelter and nutrition.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • North America Other Continents
    Arctic Ocean Europe North Asia America Atlantic Ocean Pacific Ocean Africa Pacific Ocean South Indian America Ocean Oceania Southern Ocean Antarctica LAND & WATER • The surface of the Earth is covered by approximately 71% water and 29% land. • It contains 7 continents and 5 oceans. Land Water EARTH’S HEMISPHERES • The planet Earth can be divided into four different sections or hemispheres. The Equator is an imaginary horizontal line (latitude) that divides the earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres, while the Prime Meridian is the imaginary vertical line (longitude) that divides the earth into the Eastern and Western hemispheres. • North America, Earth’s 3rd largest continent, includes 23 countries. It contains Bermuda, Canada, Mexico, the United States of America, all Caribbean and Central America countries, as well as Greenland, which is the world’s largest island. North West East LOCATION South • The continent of North America is located in both the Northern and Western hemispheres. It is surrounded by the Arctic Ocean in the north, by the Atlantic Ocean in the east, and by the Pacific Ocean in the west. • It measures 24,256,000 sq. km and takes up a little more than 16% of the land on Earth. North America 16% Other Continents 84% • North America has an approximate population of almost 529 million people, which is about 8% of the World’s total population. 92% 8% North America Other Continents • The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of Earth’s Oceans. It covers about 15% of the Earth’s total surface area and approximately 21% of its water surface area.
    [Show full text]
  • Assessing the Economic Contribution of Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Services in the Sargasso Sea
    NICHOLAS INSTITUTE REPORT Assessing the Economic Contribution of Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Services in the Sargasso Sea L. Pendleton* F. Krowicki and P. Strosser† J. Hallett-Murdoch‡ *Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University † ACTeon ‡ Murdoch Marine October 2014 NI R 14-05 Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions Report NI R 14-05 First published October 2014 Revised April 2015 Assessing the Economic Contribution of Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Services in the Sargasso Sea L. Pendleton* F. Krowicki and P. Strosser† J. Hallett-Murdoch‡ *Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University † ACTeon ‡ Murdoch Marine Acknowledgments Support for this report was provided by the World Wide Fund for Nature Marine Protected Area Action Agenda and the Secretariat of the Sargasso Sea Commission. External peer review of the original manuscript was managed by Kristina Gjerde of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Useful comments and expert subject matter guidance were provided by Rashid Sumaila, Luke Brander, David Freestone, Howard Roe, Dan Laffoley, Brian Luckhurst, and Emilie Reuchlin-Hugenholtz. All errors and omissions are the responsibility of the authors alone. Additional support for Pendleton’s time was provided by the “Laboratoire d’Excellence” LabexMER (ANR-10-LABX-19) and the French government under the program Investissements d’Avenir. How to cite this report Pendleton, L., F. Krowicki., P. Strosser, and J. Hallett-Murdoch. Assessing the Economic Contribution of Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Services in the Sargasso Sea. NI R 14-05. Durham, NC: Duke University. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Sargasso Sea ecosystem generates a variety of goods and services that benefit people.
    [Show full text]
  • Fronts in the World Ocean's Large Marine Ecosystems. ICES CM 2007
    - 1 - This paper can be freely cited without prior reference to the authors International Council ICES CM 2007/D:21 for the Exploration Theme Session D: Comparative Marine Ecosystem of the Sea (ICES) Structure and Function: Descriptors and Characteristics Fronts in the World Ocean’s Large Marine Ecosystems Igor M. Belkin and Peter C. Cornillon Abstract. Oceanic fronts shape marine ecosystems; therefore front mapping and characterization is one of the most important aspects of physical oceanography. Here we report on the first effort to map and describe all major fronts in the World Ocean’s Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs). Apart from a geographical review, these fronts are classified according to their origin and physical mechanisms that maintain them. This first-ever zero-order pattern of the LME fronts is based on a unique global frontal data base assembled at the University of Rhode Island. Thermal fronts were automatically derived from 12 years (1985-1996) of twice-daily satellite 9-km resolution global AVHRR SST fields with the Cayula-Cornillon front detection algorithm. These frontal maps serve as guidance in using hydrographic data to explore subsurface thermohaline fronts, whose surface thermal signatures have been mapped from space. Our most recent study of chlorophyll fronts in the Northwest Atlantic from high-resolution 1-km data (Belkin and O’Reilly, 2007) revealed a close spatial association between chlorophyll fronts and SST fronts, suggesting causative links between these two types of fronts. Keywords: Fronts; Large Marine Ecosystems; World Ocean; sea surface temperature. Igor M. Belkin: Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, 215 South Ferry Road, Narragansett, Rhode Island 02882, USA [tel.: +1 401 874 6533, fax: +1 874 6728, email: [email protected]].
    [Show full text]
  • Geography Notes.Pdf
    THE GLOBE What is a globe? a small model of the Earth Parts of a globe: equator - the line on the globe halfway between the North Pole and the South Pole poles - the northern-most and southern-most points on the Earth 1. North Pole 2. South Pole hemispheres - half of the earth, divided by the equator (North & South) and the prime meridian (East and West) 1. Northern Hemisphere 2. Southern Hemisphere 3. Eastern Hemisphere 4. Western Hemisphere continents - the largest land areas on Earth 1. North America 2. South America 3. Europe 4. Asia 5. Africa 6. Australia 7. Antarctica oceans - the largest water areas on Earth 1. Atlantic Ocean 2. Pacific Ocean 3. Indian Ocean 4. Arctic Ocean 5. Antarctic Ocean WORLD MAP ** NOTE: Our textbooks call the “Southern Ocean” the “Antarctic Ocean” ** North America The three major countries of North America are: 1. Canada 2. United States 3. Mexico Where Do We Live? We live in the Western & Northern Hemispheres. We live on the continent of North America. The other 2 large countries on this continent are Canada and Mexico. The name of our country is the United States. There are 50 states in it, but when it first became a country, there were only 13 states. The name of our state is New York. Its capital city is Albany. GEOGRAPHY STUDY GUIDE You will need to know: VOCABULARY: equator globe hemisphere continent ocean compass WORLD MAP - be able to label 7 continents and 5 oceans 3 Large Countries of North America 1. United States 2. Canada 3.
    [Show full text]
  • Quantifying Sargassum on Eastern and Western Walls of the Gulf
    QUANTIFYING SARGASSUM ON EASTERN AND WESTERN WALLS OF THE GULF STREAM PROTRUDING NEAR CAPE HATTERAS INTO SARGASSO SEA BERMUDA/AZORES ABSTRACT The Sargasso Sea has been a marine life habitat for millions of years. located in the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre with the western limit formed by the north and the north-eastern flowing, powerful ‘Gulf stream. The importance of the Sargasso Sea is recognized for the role of this current-system providing shelter and protection for marine animals such as fish and sea turtles. Two species of Sargassum natans and S. fluitans are highly branched with thalluses with numerous pneumatcyst that contain oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide to give buoyancy to the brownish algae. Sea surface winds cause Sargassum aggregate and form lengthy windrowed rafts to propagate. As the pneumatcyst lose their gasses, Sargassum can reach 100 meters below the sea’s surface or even accumulate on the sea floor. Accurate mapping of the boundary in the local area of the Gulf Stream near the coast of Cape Hatteras extending to Bermuda area has yet to be conducted using Earth observing Landsat satellites. Detection of these scattered aggregations of floating Sargassum suggests that this brown algae form small raft-like sea surface features In relativity to the resolution of Landsat series and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) atmospheric instruments have been found to have difficulty due to lack of spatial resolution, coverage, recurring observance, and algorithm limitations to identify pelagic species of Sargassum. Sargassum rafts, when identified, tend to be elongated and curved in the direction of the wind, and warmer than the surrounding ocean surface.
    [Show full text]
  • Values from the Resources of the Sargasso Sea
    Values from the Resources of the Sargasso Sea U.R. Sumaila, V. Vats and W. Swartz CANADA USA MEXICO Number } Sargasso Sea Alliance Science Report Series When referenced this report should be referred to as: Sumaila, U. R., Vats, V., and W.Swartz. 2013. Values from the Resources of the Sargasso Sea. Sargasso Sea Alliance Science Report Series, No 12, 24 pp. ISBN 978-0-9892577-4-9 N.B The Indirect Values of the Sargasso Sea (Section 8) replace those given earlier in Laffoley, D.d’A., et al. The protection and management of the Sargasso Sea: The golden floating rainforest of the Atlantic Ocean. Summary Science and Supporting Evidence Case. Sargasso Sea Alliance, 44 pp. The Sargasso Sea Alliance is led by the Bermuda Government and aims to promote international awareness of the importance of the Sargasso Sea and to mobilise support from a wide variety of national and international organisations, governments, donors and users for protection measures for the Sargasso Sea. Further details: For further details contact Dr David Freestone (Executive Director) at [email protected] or Kate K. Morrison, (Programme Officer) at [email protected] The Secretariat of the Sargasso Sea Alliance is hosted by the Washington D.C. Office of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Suite 300, 1630 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington D.C., 20009, USA. Website is www.sargassoalliance.org This case is being produced with generous support of donors to the Sargasso Sea Alliance: Ricardo Cisneros, Erik H. Gordon, JM Kaplan Fund, Richard Rockefeller, David E. Shaw, and the Waitt Foundation.
    [Show full text]
  • Coral Reefs, Unintentionally Delivering Bermuda’S E-Mail: [email protected] fi Rst Colonists
    Introduction to Bermuda: Geology, Oceanography and Climate 1 0 Kathryn A. Coates , James W. Fourqurean , W. Judson Kenworthy , Alan Logan , Sarah A. Manuel , and Struan R. Smith Geographic Location and Setting Located at 32.4°N and 64.8°W, Bermuda lies in the northwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is isolated by distance, deep Bermuda is a subtropical island group in the western North water and major ocean currents from North America, sitting Atlantic (Fig. 10.1a ). A peripheral annular reef tract surrounds 1,060 km ESE from Cape Hatteras, and 1,330 km NE from the islands forming a mostly submerged 26 by 52 km ellipse the Bahamas. Bermuda is one of nine ecoregions in the at the seaward rim of the eroded platform (the Bermuda Tropical Northwestern Atlantic (TNA) province (Spalding Platform) of an extinct Meso-Cenozoic volcanic peak et al. 2007 ) . (Fig. 10.1b ). The reef tract and the Bermuda islands enclose Bermuda’s national waters include pelagic environments a relatively shallow central lagoon so that Bermuda is atoll- and deep seamounts, in addition to the Bermuda Platform. like. The islands lie to the southeast and are primarily derived The Bermuda Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extends from sand dune formations. The extinct volcano is drowned approx. 370 km (200 nautical miles) from the coastline of the and covered by a thin (15–100 m), primarily carbonate, cap islands. Within the EEZ, the Territorial Sea extends ~22 km (Vogt and Jung 2007 ; Prognon et al. 2011 ) . This cap is very (12 nautical miles) and the Contiguous Zone ~44.5 km (24 complex, consisting of several sets of carbonate dunes (aeo- nautical miles) from the same baseline, both also extending lianites) and paleosols laid down in the last million years well beyond the Bermuda Platform.
    [Show full text]
  • Atlantos D9.5. European Strategy for All Atlantic Ocean Observing System
    European Strategy for All-Atlantic Ocean Observing System This report is a European contribution to the implementation of the All-Atlantic Ocean Observing System (AtlantOS). This report presents a forward look at the European capability in the Atlantic ocean observing and proposes goals and actions to be achieved by 2025 and 2030. Editors: Erik Buch, Sandra Ketelhake, Kate Larkin and Michael Ott Contributors: Michele Barbier, Angelika Brandt, Peter Brandt, Brad DeYoung, Dina Eparkhina, Vicente Fernandez, Rafael González-Quirós, Jose Joaquin Hernandez Brito, Pierre-Yves Le Traon, Glenn Nolan, Artur Palacz, Nadia Pinardi, Sylvie Pouliquen, Isabel Sousa Pinto, Toste Tanhua, Victor Turpin, Martin Visbeck, Anne-Cathrin Wölfl Design coordination: Dina Eparkhina The AtlantOS project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 633211. This out- put reflects the views only of the authors, and the European Union cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of this information contained therein. 2 3 Contents Executive Summary 4 1. European strategy for the All-Atlantic Ocean Observing System (AtlantOS) 6 1.1 Why do we need a European strategy for Atlantic ocean observing? 7 1.2 Structure of this strategy 8 2. Meeting user needs: from requirement setting to product delivery 9 2.1 Recurring process of multi-stakeholder consultation for user requirements and co-design 9 2.2 The ‘blue’ value chain – products driven by user needs 10 2.3 European policy drivers 12 3. Existing and evolving observing networks and systems 13 3.1 Present capabilities and future targets 13 3.2 Role of observing networks and observing systems in the blue value chain 15 3.3 Advancing the observing system through new technology 17 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Sargasso Sea Phosphorus Biogeochemistry: an Important Role for Dissolved Organic Phosphorus (DOP)
    Biogeosciences, 7, 695–710, 2010 www.biogeosciences.net/7/695/2010/ Biogeosciences © Author(s) 2010. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Sargasso Sea phosphorus biogeochemistry: an important role for dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP) M. W. Lomas1, A. L. Burke1,*, D. A. Lomas1, D. W. Bell1, C. Shen2, S. T. Dyhrman3, and J. W. Ammerman4 1Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, St. George’s GE01, Bermuda 2Princeton University, Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton, New Jersey, 08544, USA 3Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Biology Department, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 02543, USA 4School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5000, USA *current address: University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA Received: 2 October 2009 – Published in Biogeosciences Discuss.: 28 October 2009 Revised: 22 January 2010 – Accepted: 11 February 2010 – Published: 19 February 2010 Abstract. Inorganic phosphorus (SRP) concentrations in the subtropics may be phosphorus stressed (a physiologi- the subtropical North Atlantic are some of the lowest in the cal response to low inorganic phosphorus), utilization of the global ocean and have been hypothesized to constrain pri- DOP pool allows production and accumulation of microbial mary production. Based upon data from several transect biomass at Redfield proportions. cruises in this region, it has been hypothesized that dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP) supports a significant fraction of primary production in the subtropical North Atlantic. In this 1 Introduction study, a time-series of phosphorus biogeochemistry is pre- sented for the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study site, in- Phosphorus is a key macronutrient for phytoplankton growth cluding rates of phosphorus export.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mid-Atlantic Ridge Hypothesis
    www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN New clues on the Atlantic eels spawning behavior and area: the Mid‑Atlantic Ridge hypothesis Yu‑Lin K. Chang1, Eric Feunteun2*, Yasumasa Miyazawa1 & Katsumi Tsukamoto3 The Sargasso Sea has long been considered as the only spawning area for Atlantic eels, despite the absence of direct observations. The present study raises a novel scenario, deviating from Schmidt’s dogma, begins with a review of historical and recent observations that were combined to build up a global theory on spawning ecology and migration behavior of Atlantic eels. From this, it is argued that a favorable spawning area could be located eastward of Sargasso Sea at the intersection between the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the oceanic fronts. Ocean circulation models combined with 3D particle- tracking method confrmed that spawning at this specifc area would result in larval distribution ftting the feld observation. This study explores the hypothesis that leptocephali are able to swim and orientate to reach their specifc growth areas. It proposes a novel framework about spawning ecology, based on orientation, navigation and meeting cues of silver eels to the spawning area. Together this framework may serve as a stepping‑stone for solving the long‑lasting mystery of eel reproduction which frst came out 2,400 years ago and promotes the understanding of oceanic migration and reproduction of marine organisms. Since Danish fshery biologist Johannes Schmidt’s renowned discovery in the twentieth century, the Sargasso Sea has been widely considered to be the Atlantic Ocean spawning area for the European eel Anguilla anguilla and American eel Anguilla rostrata1.
    [Show full text]
  • TCP/TUN/3001 (A): Technical Support for the Promotion of Aquaculture Development and Management of the European Eel (Anguilla Anguilla) in Tunisia
    TCP/TUN/3001 (A): Technical support for the promotion of aquaculture development and management of the European eel (Anguilla anguilla) in Tunisia Valerio Crespi Aquaculture Management and Conservation Service (FIMA) FAO Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Rome, Italy [email protected] INTRO D UCTION his article presents the activities upstream and downstream, migration In Tunisia, eels are exploited in inland Tundertaken by TCP/TUN/3001 through waterways is hindered by and coastal areas. Captured eels (A): "Technical support for the numerous man-made obstacles such come mainly from lagoon and inland promotion of aquaculture development as dykes and dams lacking “fish pass”; fisheries. The main fishing gears used in and management of the European eel there is also particularly high mortality inland waters are gillnets and trammel (Anguilla anguilla)" in Tunisia during rate among the adult eels making their nets. In the lagoons (Ichkeul, Ghar the period from January 2004 to way to spawning grounds. El Melh and lagoon of Tunis), fixed August 2006. The project was jointly gears are usually employed; the most implemented by FIMA, the FAO EEL EX P LOIT A TION IN TUNISIA common are the fyke nets “capéchades” Representation in Tunisia and the and the barriers “bordigues”. They Interprofessional association of fishing Tunisia, like other Maghreb countries, offer the advantage to keep fish caught Products (GIPP) which provided staff is a producer of eel and it has an alive that is particularly appreciated to coordinate activities at the national important role to play in the restoration in the market of Northern European level. and conservation of the species.
    [Show full text]
  • SESSION I : Geographical Names and Sea Names
    The 14th International Seminar on Sea Names Geography, Sea Names, and Undersea Feature Names Types of the International Standardization of Sea Names: Some Clues for the Name East Sea* Sungjae Choo (Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Kyung-Hee University Seoul 130-701, KOREA E-mail: [email protected]) Abstract : This study aims to categorize and analyze internationally standardized sea names based on their origins. Especially noting the cases of sea names using country names and dual naming of seas, it draws some implications for complementing logics for the name East Sea. Of the 110 names for 98 bodies of water listed in the book titled Limits of Oceans and Seas, the most prevalent cases are named after adjacent geographical features; followed by commemorative names after persons, directions, and characteristics of seas. These international practices of naming seas are contrary to Japan's argument for the principle of using the name of archipelago or peninsula. There are several cases of using a single name of country in naming a sea bordering more than two countries, with no serious disputes. This implies that a specific focus should be given to peculiar situation that the name East Sea contains, rather than the negative side of using single country name. In order to strengthen the logic for justifying dual naming, it is suggested, an appropriate reference should be made to the three newly adopted cases of dual names, in the respects of the history of the surrounding region and the names, people's perception, power structure of the relevant countries, and the process of the standardization of dual names.
    [Show full text]