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Underwater Heat Wave May Lead to More Coral Bleaching

October 10, 2015 By Lonnie Davidson Leave a Comment

Underwater Heat Wave May Lead to More Coral Bleaching

Bleached coral

According to a U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) report released Thursday, an underwater heat wave may lead to more coral bleaching in the world’s oceans.

It is the third time on record that the heat wave and a mysterious patch of warm water called “The Blob” strike coral reefs.

Other reports show that rising sea temperatures linked to climate change may kill corals on over 4,600 square miles, which accounts for five percent of all corals in the world. Climate experts, however, failed to link The Blob with climate change.

But this is not the first time NOAA issues an alert on the risk posed by high temperatures to coral health. The agency issued similar reports in 2010 and 1998, two years that broke temperatures records.

Corals’ demise may trigger the extinction of other sea creatures because they are nurseries to many species of fish and algae. When they are stressed out by warm temperatures, for instance, they eject the algae that dwell inside them and turn white. Soon afterward, if they fail to recover or are hit by another wave of heat they eventually die.

Corals also help local economies because they lure in tourists in regions that has nothing else to offer.

Mark Eakin of the NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch recently said that this is the third global bleaching event on record. Conservationists noticed bleaching events across the northern Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Indian oceans.

The northern Pacific was devastated by a patch of warm water of unknown origins called “The Blob.” Corals there  suffered unprecedented bleaching. Eakin declined to link “The Blob” to climate change. He said that the phenomenon’s origins remain a mystery.

Other alerts about global beaching were issued in 1998 and 2010. Both overlapped with El Nino events. These atmospheric phenomena warm up the tropical Pacific and can hike temperatures worldwide, worsening climate change’s effects.

Richard Vevers likened coral bleaching to a strange phenomenon that turns tropical forest white before it kills them. Vevers is one of the researchers that worked on the report showing that underwater heat wave may lead to more coral bleaching. He also said that the last two major bleaching events went almost unnoticed.

NOAA researchers recommend people living on the coasts with bleached corals not to stress them out more and refrain from overfishing and spreading pollution such as washing their cars and allowing chemicals from cleaning products to reach the ocean.
Image Source: Wikipedia

Filed Under: Science Tagged With: Climate Change, coral bleaching, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, the blob

Guadalupe Fur Seals Raise Alarm at Federal Level

October 5, 2015 By Martha Goodwin 1 Comment

Guadalupe fur seals have been stranding on the California coast in unusual numbers this year. For over half of the marine mammals, this led to their death.
Guadalupe fur seals have been stranding on the California coast in unusual numbers this year. For over half of the marine mammals, this led to their death.

This Guadalupe fur seal pup was a patient of the Marine Mammal Center. Guadalupe fur seals have been stranding on the California coast in unusual numbers this year. For over half of the marine mammals, this led to their death.

Guadalupe fur seals have been stranding on the California coast in unusual numbers this year. For over half of the marine mammals, this led to their death.

As the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization (NOAA) declared the puzzling event an ‘unusual mortality event’, other federal organizations and institutions are trying to take the challenge of saving as many Guadalupe fur seals as possible.

Since January, federal officials have counted 80 Guadalupe fur seals stranded along the California Coast. Of them, 42 were dead when rescue teams reached the shore. Of the 38 which were retrieved, only 16 remained alive and could be reintegrated in their natural habitat.

The Pacific Marine Mammal Center is among the actors that are raising up to the challenge. When a similar mortality event was declared in the case of sea lions in 2013, members of the Center helped with the rescuing and reintegration efforts.

According to Keith Matassa, the director of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, Orange County is ready to do its best to save the Guadalupe fur seals from certain death. While 80 of the marine mammals being stranded on the California coast might not seem like such an alarm signal, it should. The species in endangered and during the 1800s it was on the brink of extinction.

Now, experts count that approximately 15,000 individuals of this rare species are still alive.

“There is a chance, that’s why we’re preparing. If we did get some, as they are an endangered species, they would be transferred to Sea World’s Rehabilitation Center”,

stated Matassa.

At Sea World, the Guadalupe fur seals would receive prime care. The majority of the seals found on shore were emaciated. Death by starvation once they are stranded on the coast is almost a certainty if they are not retrieved timely. As such, immediate and attentive care is the Guadalupe fur seals’ only hope for survival.

During a typical year since the records are being kept, the number of stranded Guadalupe fur seals doesn’t exceed 12 on average. These marine mammals breed on the Guadalupe Island, thus their exotic-sounding name. Just off Baja California, the island is home to the species until they venture in the ocean in search for food.

The puzzling mortality event declared by the NOAA might be partly explained precisely by the feedstock availability. As the warm blob advances and disrupts marine wildlife across global oceans and Pacific Ocean, some fish are pushed further north or on unusual migration patterns.

The global warming of seawater is disrupting marine ecosystems, in some cases leading to high mortality events. As is the case with the Guadalupe fur seals. Pushed ashore after already starving, they can’t find food and die.

Of the 80 Guadalupe fur seals found this year, the majority were pups, according to Justin Viezbiecke, the coordinator of the West Coast marine mammal stranding department for NOAA Fisheries.

Photo Credits: Flickr

Filed Under: Science Tagged With: California coast, Guadalupe fur seals, marine mammals, NOAA

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