dani escontrela – Shark Research & Conservation Program (SRC)

Plastic ingestion in fish

September 30, 2013/0 Comments/in Conservation, Ocean News /by aanstett

By Dani Escontrela, RJD Intern

Plastic debris is becoming a very prevalent problem for our world’s oceans. In fact two of the ocean’s largest features, the North Pacific and North Atlantic Subtropical gyres, have large patches of anthropogenic debris floating in its waters. There has been a significant amount of research that has found plastic or other anthropogenic debris in the stomachs of sea birds, invertebrates, marine mammals and planktivorous fishes. This debris can be harmful to these species as it can lead to physical entanglement, decreased nutrition from intestinal blockage, suffocation and decreased mobility; plastic can also be a vector for other harmful contaminants. As much research as there is about anthropogenic debris ingestion by the species mentioned, there aren’t many studies about ingestion by large marine fishes. This study set out to study this phenomenon by sampling large, pelagic predatory fishes from the central North Pacific subtropical gyre surrounding the Hawaiian Island archipelago.

Cruise Ship Pollution

May 7, 2013/0 Comments/in Conservation, Ocean News /by aanstett

by Dani Escontrela, RJD Intern

On a regular basis I am at Port Everglades which is one of the biggest cruise ships ports in the world and on any given day can house six or seven cruise ships, if not more. Every Saturday and Sunday the Oasis of the Seas and the Allure of the Seas are there, which are the biggest cruise ships in the world. These floating cities are extraordinary, everything needed to survive is on there and it functions just like any other city. They can even carry thousands of people at a time. I’ve been on cruise ships before and it feels like magic; everything is taken care off and at times it doesn’t feel like you’re out at sea. Cruise ships provide an important source of income through tourism not only to those working on the ships but to the ports of call that are visited (Cohen 2002); however, something we don’t think about the damage that cruise ships can cause. These ships can be a major source of waste and many times different cruise lines have been found guilty of illegally disposing of their waste. In fact some cruise lines like Regency Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Princess Cruises, the Holland America line, and Royal Caribbean, among others, have been convicted in the past of illegally dumping oil, garbage, paint, plastic, ballast water and food waste into the waters of Alaska and the Caribbean (Cohen 2002). These acts have either been due to negligence, by accident or have been willful acts (Cohen 2002).

Shark tagging with Island Christian School

October 16, 2012/0 Comments/in Shark Research /by aanstett

October 12th, 2012
by Dani Escontrela, RJD Intern

It had been about two months since my last shark tagging trip, so needless to say, I was super excited. I barely got any sleep the night before thinking about how incredible this trip would be. At the same time however, I tried to not get my hopes too high as sometimes we don’t catch anything, but boy was I in for a surprise!

Austin, Fiona, Stacy, Becca, Christine and I loaded up the boat with all the supplies we would need for the day and then had a couple moments to relax while our group got to the boat.

When the guys from Island Christian School got there I immediately recognized a few familiar faces from previous trips. We also had Greg Markham join us that day and Margarita Cubano, one of Neil’s students. We loaded everyone on the boat and where soon our way to Everglades National Park. We were to set our lines at Middle Grounds, a shallow water site.

The Overfishing of Mediterranean Bluefin Tuna

October 11, 2012/1 Comment/in Conservation /by aanstett

by Dani Escontrela, RJD Intern

Bluefin tuna is the most valuable fish species in the world. Their numbers, however, have greatly decreased in recent years due to their high demand. In fact, in 2001 “one 202 kilogram bluefin tuna caught off the northern coast of Oma, Japan sold at the Tsukiji market for 862 USD/kg” (Shamshak et al 2009). The bluefin tuna has life history traits that make it more susceptible to overfishing: they reproduce at a later age, they reproduce when they are of larger size, and they aggregate when they are going to spawn (Longo et al 2012). In addition, like many other species in the ocean, they are susceptible to industrial pollution. As the fishing of this species has continued without many regulations to protect them, their numbers have greatly declined. In fact the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICAAT) predicts that a collapse in the fish stock in the near future is inevitable (Longo et al 2012).

Posts