24 December 2008
Seagrass-Watch's electronic news service, providing marine and coastal news of international and national interest. Abbreviated articles are presented with links to their source.
Seagrass-Watch HQ recommends that readers exercise their own skill and care with respect to their use of the information in this bulletin and that readers carefully evaluate the
accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance of the material in the bulletin for their purposes. Seagrass-Watch welcomes feedback on the bulletins, and you are free to
distribute it amongst your own networks.
IN THIS BULLETIN
NEWS.................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 1
Dead dugong thought victim of fishing gear (Thailand).................................................................................................................................. 1
Dugongs attract crowds at Mermaid Lagoon exhibition (Sydney, Australia) .................................................................................................. 2
Kentucky HPV researchers tackle similar manatee disease (Lexington,KY,USA)......................................................................................... 2
Massive Coral Bleaching Could Decimate SE Asia's Coral Triangle (London, UK)....................................................................................... 2
How clean are our waterways? (Port Charlotte, FL, USA) ............................................................................................................................. 3
Old Ideas Are Polluting the Chesapeake Bay (United States) ....................................................................................................................... 3
Ghost nets scheme wins award (Australia) .................................................................................................................................................... 3
Competition between the invasive macrophyte Caulerpa taxifolia and the seagrass Posidonia oceanica: contrasting strategies (New York,
NY, USA)........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Sethusamudram Project could damage marine eco system (Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India) ........................................................................... 4
Anti-Essar activists petitions the President (Port of Spain,Trinidad and Tobago) .......................................................................................... 4
It's a shore thing for volunteers (Pakenham, Victoria, Australia).................................................................................................................... 5
Manatees sighted in St Ann's Bay (Kingston,Jamaica) .................................................................................................................................. 5
Gippsland Lakes caretaker comes clean (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) ..................................................................................................... 5
CONFERENCES/WORKSHOPS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 6
Seagrass-Watch Workshops 2009................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Queensland Coastal Conference 2009: Waves of Change (Gold Coast 13-15 May, 2009) .......................................................................... 6
GALLERY ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6
Hervey Bay and GSS, Qld (Australia): 12 - 14 December 2008..................................................................................................................... 6
Singapore : 12 - 13 December 2008 .............................................................................................................................................................. 6
FROM HQ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6
Frequently Asked Questions .......................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Seagrass-Watch News Issue 34 .................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Seagrass-Watch Shop ................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Virtual Herbarium ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Giveaways...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Future sampling dates.................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Handy Seagrass Links ................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Please note: links to sources were active on date of publication. Some sources remove links periodically.
NEWS
Dead dugong thought victim of fishing gear (Thailand)
03 December 2008, Phuket Gazette
LAEM PANWA: More bad news for Phuket's tiny dugong population came early yesterday morning, when the
carcass of an immature female was found floating less than a kilometer offshore from Laem Ka, up the coast from the
Sea Gypsy Village in Rawai.
Dugong researcher Kanjana Adulyanukosol from the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) said the carcass was
recovered at about 6 am by local fisherman Boonlert Sukasem, who brought it to Chalong Pier and notified local
conservationist Sutha Prateep na Thalang, who in turn notified the PMBC.
www.seagrasswatch.org
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A necropsy performed later that afternoon indicated that the dugong had been feeding well, with a wide variety of
seagrasses in both its large and small intestines, she said. Although the exact cause cannot be confirmed, Dr
Songtaya said the most likely cause of the sudden death was that the animal became ensnared in fishing gear and
was unable to get to the surface to breath.
more....................... http://www.seagrasswatch.org/news.html
Read more on Dugong research in Thailand in Issue 35 of Seagrass-Watch News: http://www.seagrasswatch.org/newsletters.html
Dugongs attract crowds at Mermaid Lagoon exhibition (Sydney, Australia)
19 December 2008, The Western Australian
They may not be as pretty as the mythical creatures they inspired, but the newest additions to the Mermaid Lagoon
exhibition at Sydney Aquarium are still wowing the crowds.
Ten-year-old male Pig and four-year-old female Wuru - two of only five dugongs on exhibition in the world - joined the
new tropical water habitat this month. The docile herbivores will feed on up to 90kg of cos lettuce daily to replace
their natural diet of seagrass.
The number of dugongs in the wild are in decline due to the destruction of their natural habitat, boating injuries and
drowning in nets. Pig and Wuru - an Aboriginal word meaning young child - were raised in Queensland's Sea World
after being rescued as orphaned calves.
more....................... http://www.seagrasswatch.org/news.html
Kentucky HPV researchers tackle similar manatee disease (Lexington,KY,USA)
22 December 2008, by Sarah Vos Kentucky.com
Two Kentucky researchers who helped develop a vaccine to thwart a sexually transmitted disease in humans are
using some of that knowledge to help an unlikely group of patients -- manatees.
More than 15 years ago, Dr. A. Bennett Jenson and Shin-je Ghim of the University of Louisville were part of a team
that helped develop a vaccine for the human papilloma virus, which causes cervical cancer. When a similar virus was
identified in manatees, they were asked to help.
West Indian manatees, or sea cows, are large aquatic mammals that live along the Atlantic coastline and in estuaries
in Florida. They eat seagrass, weigh as much as 1,200 pounds and are most closely related to elephants. They
migrate hundreds of miles a year, going as far north as Virginia in summer and wintering in warmer waters around
Florida. In manatees, the virus is spread from mother to calf. When the manatees have lesions, it can also be spread
from manatee to manatee when they snuggle and nuzzle.
The two researchers created a vaccine for the virus in manatees and a test to see whether manatees had been
exposed to it. They found that about 30 percent of migrating manatees had been exposed to the virus, compared with
35 percent to 40 percent of manatees in captivity, Jenson said. This fall, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded
Jenson and Ghim a Manatee Conservation Award for their work.
Full story and source: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/634802.html
Massive Coral Bleaching Could Decimate SE Asia's Coral Triangle (London, UK)
19 December 2008 Earthtimes
Potentially widespread and severe coral bleaching is predicted this winter, which could cause immense damage to
some of the world's most important marine environments including the Coral Triangle of SE Asia and the Western
Pacific, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) warns.
A report from the US Government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts severe
bleaching for parts of the Coral Triangle, a 3.4 million square mile expanse of ocean in the Indo-Pacific that is
considered the center of the world's marine life.
Stretching from the Philippines to Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands,
the Coral Triangle is home to 75% of all known coral species and more than 3000 species of fish. Labyrinths of
limestone reefs, extensive seagrass meadows and coastal mangrove forests attract several different species of tuna,
sea turtles and giants of the sea such as humpback whales, who all feed, breed and rest in the rich and sheltered
waters.
The bleaching, predicted to occur between now and February, could have a devastating impact on coral reef
ecosystems, killing coral and destroying food chains, including economically significant tuna species. There would be
severe impacts for not only the 120 million people who live in the region, but cause a ripple effect felt around the
world.
Full story and source: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/massive-coral-bleaching-could-decimate-se-asiarsquos-coral-triangle-this-
winter,662351.shtml
www.seagrasswatch.org
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How clean are our waterways? (Port Charlotte, FL, USA)
14 December 2008, Sun newspapers
When Bobbi Rodgers wants to know how clean the water is in Lemon Bay, she looks at the seagrass. A slow-
growing, flowering plant that likes shallow water, seagrass provides vital habitat for wildlife. To be healthy, it needs
plenty of sun and won't grow in polluted, cloudy or turbid water. A century ago, the water was clear.
Beyond the pollution running off from the land, the ecology of Lemon Bay was altered in the 1960s and 1970s when
the Intracoastal Waterway was cut along Florida's west coast, extending the dead-end bay north to South Venice.
The mix of freshwater and saltwater changed, as did the circulation of water in the bay. With it came a change in the
sea life. "There were profound changes in salinity and turbidity" in shallow Lemon Bay, said Ernie Estavez, director of
Mote Marine Laboratory's Center for Coastal Ecology.
"In Lemon Bay, seagrass is doing well," said Rodgers, who has been monitoring water quality in Lemon Bay for years
as environmental resources manager for Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center at Cedar Point Park. Studies show
coverage is stable, she said.
Full story and source: http://www.sunnewspapers.net/articles/pnnews.aspx?NewsID=428285&a=newsarchive2/121408/ch1.htm&pnpg=0
Old Ideas Are Polluting the Chesapeake Bay (United States)
14 December 2008, Washington Post
The last sail of the year was a good one -- stiff breeze from the south, flocks of wintering sea ducks buzzing around
close to the water and, as expected, the Chesapeake Bay as clear and clean as all outdoors. If that last bit doesn't
sound right to you in view of recent reports of dead zones and a general decline in the bay's water quality, you must
be a fair-weather boater. In warm months, the bay indeed looks dismal -- murky and clouded with suspended algae.
By late June, most grass beds are gone and dead zones return in vast areas of deep water, where decomposing
algae eat up oxygen and higher life-forms can't survive.
The villain in this tragedy is well known: excess nutrients. Walter Boynton, a University of Maryland professor who
has studied the bay's decline for 30 years, says loads of phosphorus and nitrogen entering the bay and tributaries
from sewage plants, farm fields, polluted air and storm-water runoff are six times what they were 400 years ago and
double what they were just 50 years ago.
Boynton was among a group of scientists who gathered this month to note a depressing milestone in the
Chesapeake's ongoing saga. Twenty-five years ago, top elected officials from Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and
the District met in Fairfax to forge a historic agreement to clean the bay. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
agreed to lead the resulting Chesapeake Bay Program, whose mission was to reduce nutrient loads with the active
support of the states. "The hope was that very substantial decreases in nitrogen and phosphorus would develop,"
Boynton said. Ambitious targets were set but none ever were met. What happened?
"The simple, semi-mindless answer is, 'Not much,' " Boynton said. The bottom line is, in a quarter-century the CBP
has run through an estimated $6 billion to reduce nutrients, but the bay is no better. "In some places it's worse, in
some places it's better," Boynton said. "In most places, it's not worse." Faint praise for all those billions spent, and all
those good intentions.
Full story and source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/13/AR2008121301765_2.html
Ghost nets scheme wins award (Australia)
12 December 2008, ABC Online
An environmental program aimed at cleaning up waters in the Gulf of Carpentaria, in far north Queensland, has won
more recognition, this time taking out a state award as part of the Clean Beach Challenge. The Carpentaria Ghost
Nets program has won the Wildlife Protection Award for its work in tracking and removing fishing nets from the water.
The coordinator, Riki Gunn, says that helps to save marine life which becomes tangled in the nets as they wash up
on shore. "Most of the marine life we're finding is all shallow water stuff, like the turtles, but also we've found
swordfish, crocodiles, sharks and lots and lots of crabs," she said.
"Some of them [the nets] are humungous and some of them are just mere scraps - but over 5,000 net pieces at this
time ... I think that was from the end of August and that's pretty scary when you think of how much could still be out
there. "We're only working on the shoreline so we don't know exactly what is happening on the water. Ms Gunn says
18 Indigenous communities around the gulf rim are also involved in the program
Full story and source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/12/2444500.htm
Read more on Ghost Nets in Issue 32 of Seagrass-Watch News: http://www.seagrasswatch.org/newsletters.html
www.seagrasswatch.org
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Competition between the invasive macrophyte Caulerpa taxifolia and the seagrass
Posidonia oceanica: contrasting strategies (New York, NY, USA)
11 December 2008, 7thSpace Interactive (press release)
Plant defense strategy is usually a result of trade-offs between growth and differentiation (i.e. Optimal Defense
Theory - ODT, Growth Differentiation Balance hypothesis - GDB, Plant Apparency Theory - PAT). Interaction
between the introduced green alga Caulerpa taxifolia and the endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica in the
Mediterranean Sea offers the opportunity to investigate the plausibility of these theories. We have accordingly
investigated defense metabolite content and growth year-round, on the basis of an interaction gradient.
When in competition with P. oceanica, C. taxifolia exhibits increased frond length and decreased Caulerpenyne -
CYN content (major terpene compound). In contrast, the length of P.oceanica leaves decreases when in competition
with C. taxifolia. However, the turnover is faster, resulting in a reduction of leaf longevity and an increase on the
number of leaves produced per year. The primary production is therefore enhanced by the presence of C.taxifolia.
While the overall concentration of phenolic compounds does not decline, there is an increase in some phenolic
compounds (including ferulic acid and a methyl 12-acetoxyricinoleate) and the density of tannin cells.
Interference between these two species determines the reaction of both, confirming that they compete for space
and/or resources. C.taxifolia invests in growth rather than in chemical defense, more or less matching the
assumptions of the ODT and/or PAT theories. In contrast, P.oceanica apparently invests in defense rather than
growth, as predicted by the GDB hypothesis. However, on the basis of closer scrutiny of our results, the possibility
that P.oceanica is successful in finding a compromise between more growth and more defense cannot be ruled out.
Full story and source:
http://7thspace.com/headlines/299839/competition_between_the_invasive_macrophyte_caulerpa_taxifolia_and_the_seagrass_posidonia_ocea
nica_contrasting_strategies.html
Sethusamudram Project could damage marine eco system (Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India)
11 December 2008, Zee News
Asking India to shelve the controversial Sethusamudram Project as it could damage the productive marine eco-
system, an international group of environmentalists has suggested the Gulf of Mannar region should be declared a
Cultural and Natural World Heritage Site.
Requesting President of India Pratibha Patil to cancel the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project, the Ecologists
and Environmentalists group claimed that the government's decision to go ahead with the project was based on legal
flaws and would have inevitable and disastrous ecological and social impact. The project could disrupt and damage
the productive marine eco-system through a massive increase in the burden of silting and sedimentation, the group
said adding, it will also affect coral reefs, seagrass beds, oyster beds and food fisheries.
It also asked India and Sri Lanka to write an application to the UNESCO to declare the Gulf of Mannar region a mixed
Cultural and Natural World Heritage Site. Earlier, a resolution in this regard was adopted on the issue at a two-day
meeting here attended by an international consortium of ecologists, academics, scientists and religious leaders.
Full story and source: http://www.zeenews.com/nation/2008-12-11/490117news.html
Read more on the Gulf of Mannar in Issues 25 and 26: http://www.seagrasswatch.org/newsletters.html.
To learn more about the campaign, visit http://www.livingplanetfoundation.org/campaign.htm
Anti-Essar activists petitions the President (Port of Spain,Trinidad and Tobago)
09 December 2008, Trinidad News
Members of the Claxton Bay Resource Protection Group yesterday met with President George Maxwell Richards with
the hope that he could mediate with the Government for construction of the Essar Steel Mill and port at Claxton Bay
to be scrapped.Speaking to the media after meeting with Richards for close to one hour, Rhea Mungal, said the
meeting with the President was very informative.
Two petitions were presented to Richards, one signed by residents which contained 12,000 signatures and an online
petition with more than 600 signatures. Mungal said international groups have taken interest in the group's cause
including Fian International from Germany, Global Response, Mangrove Action Project and Greenpeace.
President of the Claxton Bay Fishing Association Kishore Boodram said Richards was told of the destruction of
seagrass and destruction of mangrove, and shrimp and mullet hatchery. He said fishermen have been "struggling
more than year". Boodram said if food security was a concern in the country then the mangrove and seabed should
be saved. Dr Wayne Kublalsingh, a member of the group, said 500 acres of arable Caroni 1975 Ltd land, 625 acres
of seagrass bed and 35 acres of mangrove will be destroyed "to put a steel mill in the midst of six to seven small
communities."
Full story and source: http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,91411.html
www.seagrasswatch.org
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It's a shore thing for volunteers (Pakenham, Victoria, Australia)
09 December 2008, Australian Star
A NEW marine care volunteer group in Hobsons Bay will help Parks Victoria undertake scientific research at
Jawbone Marine Sanctuary. The group, called the Jawbone Marine Sanctuary Care Group, was established a few
weeks ago and will monitor the 110-year-old sanctuary to compile data for Parks Victoria. The data will help Parks
Victoria detect any changes in ecology and marine life at the sanctuary and could be used for future management
decisions.
The group's joint secretary, Carol Majernik, said the group would compile information as part of Parks Victoria's Sea
Search program. This program uses community-based organisations to undertake monitoring projects, such as for
seagrass and fish stocks. Parks Victoria Jawbone Marine Sanctuary park ranger Emily Matheson said it was
beneficial for the sanctuary to have a community group help Parks Victoria.
The group will hold the next seagrass monitoring day on 17 January and on 18 January will host a Walk and Talk
around the sanctuary to educate the public about its features. "It's important to get the community involved, as the
sanctuary is part of their backyard and needs looking after," Ms Majernik said.
Full story and source: http://www.senews.com.au/story/67786
Manatees sighted in St Ann's Bay (Kingston,Jamaica)
07 December 2008, Jamaica Observer
A group of manatees (Trichechus manatus), locally called Sea Cows, have been sighted in St Ann's Bay, sparking
excitement among environmentalists. The animals have been in the Bay since Saturday, November 29th.
"Manatees, which are a protected species in Jamaica, are rarely sighted in our waters, as the population in the wild is
estimated to be less than 50 manatees (in Jamaican waters)," said Ainsley Henry, manager of the Ecosystem
Management Branch at the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA).
Manatees feed on water plants such as seagrass, consuming up to 45 kg of vegetation in six to eight hours. They are
commonly found along the coast in shallow, calm brackish waters (a mixture of salt and freshwater), usually one to
two metres deep. They are seen near areas with rivers as they drink freshwater from the sea surface. It is believed
that the presence of seagrass beds and freshwater in the bay may be the reason for them remaining in the area as
they appear to be feeding. In Jamaica, they have been sighted mainly along the south coast, in Clarendon,
Manchester and St Elizabeth.
Full story and source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20081206T210000-
0500_143410_OBS_MANATEES_SIGHTED_IN_ST_ANN_S_BAY_.asp
Gippsland Lakes caretaker comes clean (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)
07 December 2008, The Age
THE chairman of the Gippsland Lakes Taskforce has admitted that the authority has failed to adequately monitor the
vulnerable wetlands' health and has no real idea how sick the waterways are. Professor Barry Hart, the independent
chairman of the State Government taskforce -- which has received $20 million in taxpayer funding since 2001-- also
revealed the group was under pressure from Treasury officials to prove it was effectively reducing nutrient pollution
levels in the lakes.
"We have tried to monitor what is coming into the lakes and a little bit, a lot less than we would have liked, of
monitoring what is going on in the lakes' catchments," he told the meeting. "We think the major change we are going
to need is much more focus on the lakes themselves and their health. "What's their health? We haven't really, no-one
really is focusing on a good comprehensive monitoring program that's saying what's going on there."
Already under stress, the Gippsland Lakes were swamped in June 2007 with floodwaters laden with phosphorus,
nitrates, heavy metals and chemicals accumulated across its 2-million-hectare catchment during a decade of
drought. Six months later a marine algae, Synechococcus, was detected in the lakes for the first time.
Locals soon noted the disappearances of barnacles from jetty pylons and boats, sandworms were in short supply,
seagrass beds were thinning, drifts of mollusc shells were washing ashore and the Department of Primary Industry
issued permits for farmers to shoot swans that had begun feeding in lucerne paddocks.
Full story and source: http://www.theage.com.au/national/gippsland-lakes-caretaker-comes-clean-20081206-6sx8.html?page=-1
www.seagrasswatch.org
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CONFERENCES/WORKSHOPS
Seagrass-Watch Workshops 2009 For more information: http://www.seagrasswatch.org/training.html#wrkshop09
Australia
Whitsunday (QLD), April 4-5
Cooktown (QLD), March 9-10
Asia
Singapore, May 02 -03
Bali (Indonesia), May 09-10
Queensland Coastal Conference 2009: Waves of Change (Gold Coast 13-15 May, 2009)
Registration for the Queensland Coastal Conference 2009 "Waves of Change" has now opened. The Early Bird
discounted rate will be available until Wednesday 28 January 2009, please register and make payment before this
date to secure the special rate.
The Queensland Coastal Conference 2009 is not just about learning of new developments in natural resource
management, but will be a balanced discussion of practical, on-ground coastal management and the policies and
programs that inform coastal zone management in Queensland.
To Register: http://www.iceaustralia.com/qldcoast09/register.html
GALLERY
Hervey Bay and GSS, Qld (Australia): 12 - 14 December 2008 http://www.seagrasswatch.org/gallery.html
A quick visit to Hervey Bay and Great Sandy Strait by Seagrass-Watch HQ provided the opportunity to catch up with Seagrass-
Watch teams and revisit some sites.
Singapore : 12 - 13 December 2008 http://www.seagrasswatch.org/gallery.html
It's a very special monitoring trip as we also celebrate the newly wed Mr and Mrs Lam our first wedding in TeamSeagrass of two
Team members! After a quick celebratory toast and cake, we're off with Melvin in the wonderfully named boat, for a monitoring
session on Cyrene Reef. It's busy work monitoring on Cyrene as we have lots of species on this reef. Although the reef is next to our
busy world-class port and ringed by petrochemical plants, the meadows are very rich.
FROM HQ
Frequently Asked Questions http://www.seagrasswatch.org/faq.html
Seagrass-Watch News Issue 35 http://www.seagrasswatch.org/newsletters.html
Seagrass-Watch Shop http://www.seagrasswatch.org/shop.html
Virtual Herbarium http://www.seagrasswatch.org/herbarium.html
Giveaways http:/ www.seagrasswatch.org/shop.html#GIVE1
Future sampling dates http://www.seagrasswatch.org/sampling.html
Handy Seagrass Links http://www.seagrasswatch.org/links.html
************************************************************
DISCLAIMER
News articles posted as a free community service for the purposes of non-commercial education, research and study; review and the reporting of news; and archived for reference of students and researchers as a 'fair dealing' activity
under Australian Copyright Law.
Seagrass-Watch HQ does not guarantee, and accepts no legal liability whatsoever arising from or connected to the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of any material contained in this bulletin. Seagrass-Watch HQ
recommends that readers exercise their own skill and care with respect to their use of the information in this bulletin and that readers careful y evaluate the accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance of the material in the bul etin for
their purposes. This bul etin is not a substitute for independent professional advice and users should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances. The material in this bulletin may include the views or
recommendations of third parties, which do not necessarily reflect the views of Seagrass-Watch HQ (or those of the Queensland Government) or indicate its commitment to a particular course of action.
Seagrass-Watch HQ is supported by the Australian Government's Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility (Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts) represented in North Queensland by the Reef and
Rainforest Research Centre, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), the Queensland Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries and by private donations.
Seagrass-Watch E- Bulletin is compiled by Len McKenzie & Rudi Yoshida.
www.seagrasswatch.org
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