Maria Lourdes D. Palomares

The growth of jellyfishes

To date, a disparate array of concepts and methods have been used to study the growth of jellyfish, with the result that few generalities have emerged which could help, e.g., in predicting growth patterns in unstudied species. It is shown that this situation can be overcome by length-frequency analysis (LFA), applied to jellyfish bell diameter (i.e., “length”) frequency data. A selection of LFA methods (ELEFAN, Wetherall plots and length-converted catch curves, all implemented in the FiSAT software) is applied here to 34 sets of bell diameter frequency data of jellyfish. This led to the estimates of parameters of the von Bertalanffy growth function (VBGF), which, especially in its seasonal form, was found to fit the available size-frequency data reasonably well. We also obtained numerous estimates of mortality, useful for modeling the life history of jellyfish. Finally, by scaling their asymptotic weight (W∞, a parameter of the VBGF) to the weight they would have if they had the same water content as fish, we show that most jellyfish grow at the same rate as small fishes (guppies and anchovies). As in fish, the VBGF parameters K and W∞, when plotted in a double logarithmic (“auximetric”) plot, tend to cluster into ellipsoid shapes, which increase in area when shifting from species to genera, families, etc. If validated by subsequent studies, auximetric plots for jellyfish would provide a powerful tool for testing comparative hypotheses on jellyfish life history.

Gaining perspective on what we've lost: the reliability of encoded anecdotes in historical ecology.

Historical data are essential in fisheries management and conservation, especially for species that suffered significant population declines prior to ecological data collection. Within the field of historical marine ecology, studies have relied on anecdotal evidence, such as written accounts by explorers and interviews of different generations of resource users, to demonstrate the former abundance of certain species and the extent of their ranges. Yet, do we all agree on how these anecdotes are interpreted? This study examines the way that different people interpret anecdotes extracted from historical narratives. We outsource a survey to 50 randomly selected people using Amazon Mechanical Turk (www.mturk.com) and ask them to ‘code’ historical anecdotes based on their perceived abundance of species. We perform intercoder reliability tests to show that peoples perceptions of historical anecdotes are generally consistent. The results speak to the reliability of using peoples perceptions to acquire quantitative data, and provide novel insights into the use of anecdotal evidence to inform historical ecology.

Antarctica and the strategic plan for biodiversity

The Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, adopted under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity, provides the basis for taking effective action to curb biodiversity loss across the planet by 2020—an urgent imperative. Yet, Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, which encompass 10% of the planet’s surface, are excluded from assessments of progress against the Strategic Plan. The situation is a lost opportunity for biodiversity conservation globally. We provide such an assessment. Our evidence suggests, surprisingly, that for a region so remote and apparently pristine as the Antarctic, the biodiversity outlook is similar to that for the rest of the planet. Promisingly, however, much scope for remedial action exists.

Growth, Natural Mortality, Length–weight Relationship, Maximum Length and Length-at-first-maturity of the Coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae

Based on the re-interpretation of published data, the von Bertalanffy growth function parameters of the coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae, are estimated as L∞=218 cm total length, s.e. 23; K=0.059 (year−1), s.e. 0.012; t0=−3.3 (year), s.e. 0.5, corresponding to a life span of 48 years. The length–weight relationship of the form W=a*TL∧b, with wet weight (W) in g and total length (TL) in cm, is estimated as a=0.0278, b=2.89, r2=0.893, n=87, range=42.5–183 cm TL. Using extreme value theory, the maximum length for female coelacanths is estimated as 199 cm TL (95% confidence interval=175–223 cm TL) and for males as 168 cm TL (95% confidence interval 155–180 cm TL). Based on data from seven females with embryos or mature eggs, the length-at-first-maturity for females is estimated to be about 150 cm TL, corresponding to an age of about 16 years. Based on the value of t0=−3.3 years and on the presence of three scale rings found in a newborn coelacanth, the period of embryogenesis lasts for about three years, the longest known in vertebrates. The natural mortality rate is estimated at M=0.12. Population food consumption is found to be 1.4 times the existing biomass per year, and gross food conversion efficiency indicates that only 10% of the consumed food is utilized for somatic growth.

Historical Ecology of the Raja Ampat Archipelago, Papua Province, Indonesia

This work presents a review of the status of marine resources of the Raja Ampat Archipelago, Papua Province, Indonesia, based on narratives of early European expeditions in various museums and libraries in Europe, Canada, and local archives in Papua. More than 500 pertinent documents on the study area were identified and located in various European museums and at the University of British Columbia library. About half of these were scanned (25,000 pages), which yielded the equivalent of 900 pages of text (or 4% of the total number of pages scanned) with observations on abundance and impact of the human population on the marine ecosystem within 2 degrees North and 2 degrees South between 127 degrees and 132 degrees East. In general, these observations, which spanned the period from 1810 to the present, suggest a decrease in the perceived occurrences of turtles, fish, and invertebrates; perceived abundance of turtles, fish, and algae; percieved subsistence exploitation of marine resources; and an increase in perceived commercial exploitation of marine resources. We conclude with a discussion of the problems and potential of contents analysis, and its use in the historical reconstruction of broad biodiversity trends.

Host range, host ecology, and distribution of more than 11 800 fish parasite species

Our data set includes 38 008 fish parasite records (for Acanthocephala, Cestoda, Monogenea, Nematoda, Trematoda) compiled from the scientific literature, Internet databases, and museum collections paired to the corresponding host ecological, biogeographical, and phylogenetic traits (maximum length, growth rate, life span, age at maturity, trophic level, habitat preference, geographical range size, taxonomy). The data focus on host features, because specific parasite traits are not consistently available across records. For this reason, the data set is intended as a flexible resource able to extend the principles of ecological niche modeling to the host–parasite system, providing researchers with the data to model parasite niches based on their distribution in host species and the associated host features. In this sense, the database offers a framework for testing general ecological, biogeographical, and phylogenetic hypotheses based on the identification of hosts as parasite habitat. Potential applications of the data set are, for example, the investigation of species–area relationships or the taxonomic distribution of host-specificity. The provided host–parasite list is that currently used by Fish Parasite Ecology Software Tool (FishPEST, http://purl.oclc.org/fishpest), which is a website that allows researchers to model several aspects of the relationships between fish parasites and their hosts. The database is intended for researchers who wish to have more freedom to analyze the database than currently possible with FishPEST. However, for readers who have not seen FishPEST, we recommend using this as a starting point for interacting with the database.

Too precious to drill: the marine biodiversity of Belize

Belize has a natural resource based economy and its marine resources, particularly the Belize Barrier Reef System and its accompanying Atolls are critical to tourism, Belize‘s number one foreign exchange earner, act as a natural disaster shield and provide food security, thus being a major source of jobs. Oil concessions have been granted by the Government over most of the offshore waters of Belize, including the Princess acreage with an average water depth of 4,000 ft (1,219 m), but there has been little activity to date. However, as plans move ahead to allow offshore oil exploration and drilling in the precious Belizean waters, it is important to consider the negative impact this will have on the 3E‘s: Environment, Economy and Employment. Offshore oil is being promoted as an abundant source of revenues and jobs with minimum environmental damage, yet the oil industry experience in other areas of the world and the facts and figures about Belize are saying otherwise. While the onshore oil industry (outside of the national parks) can be beneficial to Belize, the proposed offshore oil industry activity will be potentially damaging to the 3Es and thus, should not be pursued. This applies even if the additional, non-calculable, value that the reefs and atolls provide to the welfare of Belize and that no oil industry can replace, is not taken into account. INTRODUCTION Belize has a natural resource based economy and its marine resources, particularly the Belize Barrier Reef System and its accompanying atolls are critical to tourism, are Belize‘s number one foreign exchange earner, act as a natural disaster shield and provide food security, thus being a major source of jobs. Oil concessions have been granted by the Government over most of the offshore waters of Belize, including the Princess acreage with an average water depth of 4000ft, but there has been little activity to date. However, as plans move ahead to allow offshore oil exploration and drilling in the precious Belizean waters, it is important to consider the negative impact this will have on the 3E‘s: Environment, Economy and Employment. Offshore oil is being promoted as an abundant source of revenues and jobs with minimum environmental damage, yet the oil industry‘s experience in other areas of the world and the facts and figures about Belize are saying otherwise. History of the oil industry in Belize The first exploration well in Belize was drilled in 1956 by Gulf Oil in the Yalbac area in Cayo District. Between 1956 and 1982, 41 exploration wells were drilled by major oil companies such as Gulf, Philips, Anschutz, Chevron, Esso and Placid. From 1982 to 1997, only nine further exploration wells were drilled by small or independent companies, i.e., Spartan, Central Resources, Lucky Goldstar, Dover and Bright Hawk (Belize Audubon Society, 2008). Onshore and offshore seismic data was acquired during this period over a large area of the country (see Figure 1). Exploration wells drilled in Belize before 1997 found some 1 Cite as: Kirkwood, F.G., Matura-Shepherd, A., 2011. Offshore oil vs. 3E‘s (Environment, Economy & Employment). In: Palomares, M.L.D., Pauly, D. (eds.), Too Precious to Drill: the Marine Biodiversity of Belize, pp. 3-7. Fisheries Centre Research Reports 19(6). Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia [ISSN 1198-6727]. Offshore oil vs. 3Es, Gordon Kirkwood and Matura-Shepherd 4 oil, but there were no commercial discoveries, with majority of exploration in shallow waters, except the Gladden #1 well drilled in 1997 at 1,000 ft (304.8 m) water depth (see Figure 2). In 2000, Belize passed the Petroleum Act into law, which established the framework for opening up the Belize oil industry to new concession holders. Since 2004, 19 new oil concessions have been awarded, mainly to small, newly formed oil companies; 12 concessions are for onshore and 7 are for offshore. Current onshore oil production Belize Natural Energy Ltd. made the first commercial oil discovery In the Mike Usher #1 well that was drilled in 2005 in the farming community of Spanish Lookout, between Belmopan and San Ignacio in the Cayo district. This field, for many years the only oilfield producing in Belize, was brought onto production in 2005 and reached a peak production level of 4,500 barrels per day (bpd). All oil produced onshore is exported by road tanker from the field to Big Creek port and then by sea to its point of sale, as there are no oil refining facilities in Belize. Belize Natural Energy ships oil to buyers in Costa Rica, Panama and Corpus Christi, Texas. Some crude oil is also trucked over land to El Salvador. In addition to Spanish Lookout field, the Never Delay field, which extends under Belmopan, was discovered in 2007 and is now under development with a current production rate of about 500 bpd. Figure 3 shows the locations of these onshore oil production sites. Offshore oil concessions The oil concession map, as of October 2010, is shown in Figure 4. Offshore concessions are held by 6 companies, these being: Island Oil Belize (since May 25 2004); Miles Tropical Energy Ltd. (12 Oct 2007); PetroBelize Co. Ltd. (12 Oct 2007); Princess Petroleum Ltd. (12 Oct 2007); Providence Energy Ltd. (12 Oct 2007); Sol Oil Belize Ltd. (12 Oct 2007). OPIC Resources Corp., whose concession granted in Jan 2009, withdrew in October 2010. Offshore exploration was limited with: (i) no additional seismic being acquired since 2004 despite commitments to 550 km2 by October 2011; (ii) minor relinquishments of acreage by the concessionaires despite 50% relinquishments being due by October 2011; and (iii) 2 offshore wells (one incomplete) being drilled by Island Oil in the south of Belize off Monkey River in 2007. IMPACT OF THE OIL INDUSTRY ON THE ENVIRONMENT There is a potential conflict between the oil industry and the environment both onshore and offshore as the concessions make no special recognition of national parks, marine reserves and other conservation areas as shown in Figure 5. The risks to the environment of offshore oil exploration and development are further increased by a range of factors. The award of deepwater offshore acreage to Princess Petroleum has attracted some criticism. The average water depth in the offshore part of their concession is 4,000 ft (1219 m), with depths ranging from 0 (on Lighthouse Reef Atoll) to 12,000 ft (3658 m) further out to sea. Princess Petroleum Ltd., is a hotel company and had no oil industry experience prior to being awarded this concession, which puts in question their ability to lead successful Figure 1. Seismic surveys done in Belize during the period 1955-1997 courtesy of Geology and Petroleum Department, Government of Belize. Figure 2. Exploration and production wells in Belize from 1955-1997 courtesy of Geology and Petroleum Department, Government of Belize. Too Precious to Drill: the Marine Biodiversity of Belize, Palomares and Pauly 5 and accident-free operations. Moreover, the Belize government lacks the offshore oil industry resources, which, in the event of accidents, prevents immediate intervention. The petroleum Industry in Belize is controlled by the Department of Geology and Petroleum (GPD) within the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (Minister Hon. Gaspar Vega) within the Government of Belize (Prime Minister Hon. Dean Barrow). The GPD department is small, consisting of a Director (Andre Cho) and 6 staff, who not only deal with the oil industry, but with all mineral extraction activities in Belize as well. Belize benefits greatly from its environment. The tourism industry, based on its marine environment, is the country‘s primary money earner. In addition, the marine environment provides a significant food source for the Belizean people, i.e., fish and crustaceans. And, the barrier reef provides large scale coastal protection for Belize against tropical storms and hurricanes. The current good health of Belize‘s marine environment is already under threat from a number of sources, and, if offshore oil exploration and development goes ahead, there will be further threats to the environment in terms of: (i) impacts of seismic surveys on fish, mammals and divers; (ii) risk of oil spills, industrial discharges, drilling mud and cuttings discharges from exploration drilling; (iii) dredging, pipelaying, platform and facilities building and installation, large scale well drilling; and (iv) impact of long term industrial discharges into the marine environment. THE IMPACT OF THE OIL INDUSTRY ON THE BELIZE ECONOMY Economic data is scarce for Belize, but according to the CIA World Factbook Data as of June 2011, Belize‘s GDP for 2010 was 2.651 B USD, which grew by a dismal 2% from the 2009 record, but which saw no growth compared to 2008 with a 3.8 % growth. This is an economy in which the service sector accounts for 54% of GDP, tourism accounting for the largest portion of this sector. With a population of just over 320,000 and a labour force of 130,000, the unemployment rate is a very high at 23% (up from 13.1% in 2009 and 8.2% in 2008), with 43% of Belizeans living below the poverty line. This can easily be appreciated by the fact that exports for 2010 were reported as 404 M USD, while imports were 740 M USD. With this big gap in the balance of payments, external debt is at 1.01 B USD (2009 estimate), and growing. With conflicting reports in the media and some inconsistent data in the CIA World Facts book, we decided to have a look at the economic facts ourselves based on available raw data. Balance of payments 2011 We looked at the estimated balance of payments for 2011, i.e., a comparison of the amount of money that flows out from a country with the money that flows into a country (see Table 1). This analysis in Belize currency of the expected balance of payments in 2011 shows that there is more money flowing out (1336.3 M BzD) of the economy than there is coming in (1149.6 M BzD). The main foreign currency earner

Fishing Down Marine Food Webs: An Update

One of the major ecosystem impacts of fishing is the selective extirpation of large, long-lived fishes and their replacement in the ecosystem and in fisheries catches by small, short-lived fishes and invertebrates. As large fish tend to be top-predators, feeding on smaller fishes while smaller fish and invertebrates feed on plankton and/or detritus, this process, recently shown to be operating globally, has been called “fishing down marine food webs.”

The economics of fishing the high seas

Much of the economic profitability of fishing the high seas is dependent on government subsidies. While the ecological impacts of fishing the waters beyond national jurisdiction (the “high seas”) have been widely studied, the economic rationale is more difficult to ascertain because of scarce data on the costs and revenues of the fleets that fish there. Newly compiled satellite data and machine learning now allow us to track individual fishing vessels on the high seas in near real time. These technological advances help us quantify high-seas fishing effort, costs, and benefits, and assess whether, where, and when high-seas fishing makes economic sense. We characterize the global high-seas fishing fleet and report the economic benefits of fishing the high seas globally, nationally, and at the scale of individual fleets. Our results suggest that fishing at the current scale is enabled by large government subsidies, without which as much as 54% of the present high-seas fishing grounds would be unprofitable at current fishing rates. The patterns of fishing profitability vary widely between countries, types of fishing, and distance to port. Deep-sea bottom trawling often produces net economic benefits only thanks to subsidies, and much fishing by the world’s largest fishing fleets would largely be unprofitable without subsidies and low labor costs. These results support recent calls for subsidy and fishery management reforms on the high seas.

The state of biodiversity and fisheries in Regional Seas

The approach is presented, which was used to extract the mean, maximum and minimum values of various features in areas of the global ocean, and aggregate these to yield indicators relevant to the status of Regional Seas, with emphasis on their biodiversity and fisheries. This work, facilitated by the availability of several databases previously spatialized (in a 1⁄2° latitude by 1⁄2° longitude grid system) by the Sea Around Us project, also required a rigorous spatial definition of UNEP’s Regional Seas, which had been lacking so far.