The Oceanic Resource Foundation: Underwater Photography / Marine Conservation

February 15, 1998

Pfiesteria Piscicida Pollution-related Fish Kills

Six states in the Chesapeake Bay region of the Eastern United States and the US EPA have joined to form an alliance to understand and combat the Pfiesteria Piscicida microbe causing massive fish kills throughout the region. The Pfiesteria piscicida is not a virus or bacterium and is not infectious. The organism releases a toxin which causes sloughing of the surface layer of skin and lesions, and in high concentrations, kills fish.

This dinoflagellate was originally discovered in 1988 in fish cultures at the North Carolina School of Veterinary Medicine and subsequently identified as a new organism in 1992 by researchers JoAnn Burkholder, E.J. Noga, Cecil W. Hobbs, Howard B. Glasgow, and S.A. Smith. This organism was named after the late Dr. Lois Pfiester, whose work focused on the complex life cycles of dinoflagellates.

The continuing laboratory research and field studies are focusing on the nutritional ecology of the Pfiesteria, attempting to determine growth stimuli. Nutritional stimulation has been related to inorganic and organic nitrogen and phosphorus enrichments. Sources of these enrichments have been traced to human sewage and effluent from swine and chicken production facilities. In North Carolina the source is large hog-growing operations and in Delaware and Virginia the source is some 625 million chickens, a population that has grown by approximately 20 percent in recent years. Effluent from these production facilities is carried into the Chesapeake Bay from the Rappahannock, Patuxent, Choptank, Chicamacomic, Manokin, and Pocomoke Rivers. The Pamlico Sound area is fed via the Neuse and Pamlico Estuaries. The toxic Pfiesteria has also been confirmed in other North Carolina estuaries such as the White Oak and New River.

As the Pfiesteria is an animal and not a plant, it is suggested that it responds to nutrient enrichment indirectly. The microscopic plants and animals that the Pfiesteria normally feed on respond directly to nutrient enrichment, and the Pfiesteria respond to an abundance of their preferred food. Seasonal growth stimulation is also being studied as fish kills often occur in the warmest part of the year.

Seafood from the areas is generally considered safe to eat, however consumers are urged to use common sense by avoiding dead fish or fish with sores or lesions. There have been no reports of illness from eating shellfish (crabs, oysters, clams, etc), however little information is available. Symptoms have been reported by commercial fishermen and other citizens in North Carlina, Maryland and Virginia, and researchers who have been in contact with the Pfiesteria in the laboratory. The mild to serious symptoms include sores, fatigue, narcosis, severe headaches, blurred vision, nausea and vomiting, kidney and liver dysfunction, and short-term memory loss.

Human illness is of lesser concern than the impact to fish populations as a result of the massive fish kills. The Chesapeake Bay has not experienced large-scale fish kills such as those observed in North Carolina. Recent fish kills in the Pocomoke River area were reported to be tens of thousands. North Carolina has reported millions of fish deaths. It is suggested that the depth of the Chesapeake Bay and greater flushing of the estuaries may contribute to the lower fish deaths.

Virginia Institute of Marine Science

North Carolina State University Aquatic Botany Laboratory Pfiesteria pisicicda Home page

University of Maryland

Give Swordfish a Break Campaign

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) launched a campaign on January 20, 1998, in association with 27 leading East Coast chefs, to remove swordfish from restaurant menus for one year. It is anticipated that this campaign will raise public awareness about the critical decline in fishery populations worldwide.

The US Atlantic swordfish became commercially popular about 1900. The method used was a harpoon which was the common instrument of destruction at the time, being used on all marine species including whales, seals and walrus. Swordfish were killed while basking on the surface, usually during the summer. Technology moved from the harpoon to miles of longlines after World War II. Longlines baited with hundreds of hooks increased the catch of swordfish and bycatch. Immature swordfish, tunas, sharks, marlins, sailfish, sea turtles, pilot whales, dolphins, and waterfowl are also killed by the indiscriminate use of longlines.

Where the swordfish were once hunted only in the US Atlantic, they are now targeted in their feeding and breeding areas, and along migratory routes. The swordfish have followed an all too prevalent pattern with the landings diminishing along with the population. In 1988 swordfish landings were 10.23 million pounds diminishing to 6.3 million pounds in 1995. The average size of swordfish has gone from 300-400 pounds to 90 pounds. The swordfish caught today are not mature enough to reproduce and replenish the species. The management of this species is the responsibility of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). This organization manages the fisheries of large migratory fish including tunas and swordfish, however the ICCAT has failed to prevent overfishing and depleting of every fish population it manages. ICCAT establishes catch levels that are too high and fails to take any remedial action when depletion occurs.

It is suggested that the swordfish populations may recover if given protection. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) must adopt measures that will protect nursery and spawning grounds. Size limits must be increased from the existing 44 pounds (well below reproductive size) to 150 pounds for females. Also, a return to the use of harpoon is recommended, rather than longline, as virtually no subsize swordfish or endangered species will become bycatch. And as a consumer, individuals can speak from the wallet: give swordfish a break.

NRDC, January 1998

Coastal Cleanup: Good and Bad

The 11th Annual International Coastal Cleanup provided bittersweet results according to Roger E. McManus, president of the Center for Marine Conservation. Worldwide 277,710 volunteers removed 4,890,914 pounds of trash from 9,128 miles of shoreline. The cleanup shows an appalling increase in land and marine based pollution, posing a danger to human health and to the health of the oceans. The coastal cleanup is the world's largest volunteer effort to collect data on the marine environment.

Center for Marine Conservation

Coral Disease Increasing in Florida

A new report from the US Environmental Protection Agency shows that cases of coral disease in the Florida Keys went up 276 percent in the past year. Specifically, the incidence of disease nearly quadrupled in frequency from 25 monitoring stations in 1996 to 94 stations in 1997. Of the 44 total species of coral in the Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary, the number of corals affected increased from 9 in 1996 to 28 in 1997. Causes are being studied by the Florida Marine Research Institute, the University of Georgia and the University of Charleston with assistance from the EPA and NOAA.

Scuba Times Magazine, February 1998

Turtle-Safe ^(TM) Shrimp Campaign Growing

The Sea Turtle Restoration Project (Earth Island Institute) successfully expanded the certified Turtle-Safe^(TM) Shrimp program last year by increasing supplies, adding two major retailers, and increasing public support through the media and direct outreach.

The campaign reached new heights when STRP activists secured the commitment of two large natural food store chains to sell Earth Island certified Turtle-Safe^(TM) shrimp. Nature's Fresh Northwest in Oregon, the third largest natural food store in the nation, announced it would sell turtle-safe shrimp exclusively.

After two years, supplies of certified turtle-safe shrimp have reached 3 million pounds annually and shrimper participation has increased to 125 vessels. While meeting with shrimpers this summer, STRP director Todd Steiner was interviewed for an ABC News/Discovery Channel program about Turtle Excluders Devices (TED's) and Turtle-Safe shrimp that was broadcast across the nation.

By asking for Turtle-Safe^(TM) shrimp, consumers are not only buying some of the finest shrimp available, but helping to protect endangered sea turtles. Demand continues to grow as people learn how TED's protect sea turtles.

Turtle-Safe Shrimp Retailers:

Food For Thought, Sonoma County, CA
Monterey Fish Market, Berkeley, CA
Walnut Creek Yacht Club Market, Walnut Creek, CA
Nature's Fresh Northwest, Portland, OR

Turtle-Safe Restaurants:

Aqua, San Francisco, CA Hayes Street Grill, San Francisco, CA

Bix, San Francisco, CA Monterey Bay Aquarium, Portola Café

Bucci, Emeryville, CA Oliveto, Oakland, CA

Campton Place, San Francisco, CA One Market, San Francisco, CA

Catahoula, Calistoga, CA Postrio, San Francisco, CA

Chez Panisse, Berkeley, CA Tra Vigna, St. Helena, CA

Don Giovanni, Napa, CA Trilogy, St. Helena, CA

Enrico's, San Francisco, CA Waterfront, San Francisco, CA

Farallon, San Francisco, CA Wente Vineyard Restaurant, Livermore, CA

Ginger Island, Berkeley, CA Yabbies, San Francisco, CA

Greystone Restaurant, St. Helena, CA Zuni Café, San Francisco, CA

Sea Turtle Restoration Project, Earth Island Institute

Alarming Increase of Fibropapilloma Tumors

Fibropapilloma tumors were first described in captured green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) in 1938. It was later identified in mariculture-raised green turtles at the Cayman Turtle Farm in the late 1970's. In the late 1980's the disease started increasing at various sites including Florida and Hawaii. In these areas, more than 50% of some populations were found to be affected. Although usually identified on green turtles, similar tumors have been found on loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) turtles. Electron microscope examination of tumors has revealed a herpes-like virus.

This disease, which often grows as lesions around the eyes, on flippers and internal organs, is now appearing on turtles worldwide. The turtles in Hawaii may be the most severely affected with 92% of some populations showing sings of tumors. In 1996, the first documented case of fibropapilloma was identified on an olive ridley at Playa La Flor, Nicaragua by Randall Arauz with the Sea Turtle Restoration Project. Biologist Pandora Martinez later examined 496 turtles at Playa La Flor and found tumors on 5 turtles.

Although Fibropapilloma has not been directly linked to land-borne pollutants being carried to the ocean, circumstantial evidence points to that conclusion. The prevalence of the disease in nearshore versus offshore populations of sea turtles indicates a strong link. A high incidence of tumors has been identified on populations near the Indian River Lagoon in Florida and Honokawai, West Maui, Hawaii. Both of these areas appear to have significant amounts of nutrient pollution associated with agriculture and other pollutants >from industrial and urban development. On Maui, the Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility pumps sewage effluent into injection wells at the rate of 15-25 million liters per day. Its is possible that this effluent is seeping through the porous volcanic rock to the surrounding ocean waters, causing unusual nearshore seaweed growth. Waste from pineapple and sugar cane fields has also been discharged into the Hawaiian coastal waters adding both nutrient and pesticide pollution.

Observers on Maui speculate that there may be a transmission link through the symbiotic relationship of turtles with cleaner fish. As the nutrients increase the food supply, more turtles are attracted to an area increasing the possibility of an infected turtle in the population. Cleaners have been observed biting edible parasites on eye tumors and then cleaning the eyes of healthy turtles. Dr. Larry Herbst found that the disease can be experimentally transmitted by skin scarification or cutaneous injection. There are no current methods of controlling the disease in wild populations.

Turtle Trax at http://www.turtles.org
Sea Turtle Restoration Project, Viva La Tortuga!

UNESCO International Year of the Ocean-1998

One Earth, One Ocean, One Life

The United Nations, in recognition of the importance of the marine environment, has declared 1998 as the International Year of the Ocean. It is expected that this year of recognition will provide the means to raise awareness of the plight of the oceans. Governments, organizations and individuals need to accept a common responsibility to protect that which sustains us.

The idea for the Year of the Ocean came from the Seventeenth Session of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) held in March 1993. The resoultion was endorsed by the UNESCO General Conference in November 1993 and by ECOSOC in July 1994. The UN General Assembly formally adopted the proposal in December 1994.

Recent research has identified the crucial role of the marine systems as part of the Earth's climate system. The objective of the IYO 1998 is to focus attention on the importance of the oceans. A large number of Member States have committed themselves to this effort through education, awards, research, publications, cruises, workshops, postal stamps, and other initiatives.

Additional information about this year-long celebration may be obtained at the IYO 1998 website at http://www.unesco.org/ioc/iyo/iyohome.htm.

Scientists Warn that Oceans are in Peril

At the start of the United Nations's International Year of the Ocean, more than 1,600 marine scientists and conservation biologists from 65 countries have issued an unprecedented warning to the world's governments and citizens that the sea is in trouble. Troubled Waters: A Call for Action summarizes the urgent threats to marine species and ecosystems and calls for immediate action to prevent further damage.

Troubled Waters paints a dismaying picture of the destruction of marine biological diversity from five causes: 1) overexploitation of species, 2) physical alteration of ecosystems, 3) pollution, 4) alien species from distant waters disrupting local food webs and 5) global atmospheric change. Overfishing has decimated commercial fish populations and caused the collapse of many fisheries worldwide, including the once-bounteous cod fisheries of Georges Bank off New England. Destructive fishing methods such as bottom trawling have crushed and buried bottom-dwelling species by scouring a vast area of seabed. Coastal development has consumed mangrove forests and salt marshes. Reef corals and marine mammals are falling victim to new diseases, perhaps caused by pollution. And global warming has dramatically reduced the sea's productivity off Southern California since 1951 and contributed to the steep decline of salmon in the North Pacific.

The call for action comes from scientific leaders in renowned marine research institutions such as Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences, from scientists in universities, federal agencies, local governments, tribal fisheries commissions, conservation groups and private industry. Endorsers include marine scientists such as Drs. Jane Lubchenco, Past President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; Paul Dayton of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Sylvia Earle of Deep Ocean Exploration and Research. Leading conservation biologists who are expert on conserving species and ecosystems on land and are all too familiar with threats to biological diversity, including Drs. Edward O. Wilson of Harvard University; Peter Raven of the Missouri Botanical Garden and Michael SoulÇ, the father of the science of conservation biology, have also endorsed Troubled Waters. The signatures were collected in only eight months, starting just before the first Symposium on Marine Conservation Biology in June 1997.

"A recent New York Times poll found that only 1 percent of Americans consider the environment the most important problem facing our country," said Dr. Elliott Norse, marine ecologist and President of Marine Conservation Biology Institute (MCBI), the nonprofit organization that coordinated the statement. "Because few of us spend much time below the surface, it is easy to overlook signs that things are going wrong in the sea." But the signs are increasingly obvious to the experts," according to Norse. "The scientists who study the Earth's living systems are far more worried than the public and our political leaders. That's a wake up call that nobody can afford to ignore."

Dr. JoAnn Burkholder of North Carolina State University, who discovered the linkage between coastal pollution and outbreaks of nightmarish fish-eating Pfiesteria piscicida, said "It's hard to imagine that farming on land and building in cities could harm the marine environment and fishermen, but it does. The tons of sewage produced by millions of people don't just go away when we flush... a lot of it winds up in our coastal waters. And construction, agriculture and logging send clouds of choking sediments and excess nutrients into marine waters, smothering sensitive habitats. What we do on land profoundly affects life in the sea."

"If it's business as usual," said Dr. M. Patricia Morse, a marine biologist from Northeastern University, "we'll see more declines in corals, fishes, marine mammals and seabirds. That spells disaster for industries like fishing and tourism that depend on healthy marine life, and for every human on Earth, because we all use goods and services provided by the sea every day. Oceans regulate our climate, provide a breathable atmosphere and break down wastes. Coastal wetlands protect our shores from flooding and storm damage, improve water quality and provide crucial habitat for fishes and other marine life. When we destroy these ecosystems, we lose both their products and services."

Troubled Waters calls on citizens and governments to act now to reverse current trends and avert even more widespread harm to marine species and ecosystems. It outlines needed changes, including elimination of government subsidies that encourage overfishing, an end to fishing methods that damage fish habitat, reduction of non-point source pollution from activities on land, cuts in emissions that cause global warming and the creation of an effective system of marine protected areas from the shore to the open ocean.

"Getting scientists to agree on anything is like herding cats," said Norse, "so having 1,600 experts voice their concerns publicly highlights how seriously the sea is threatened. Troubled Waters shows that the world's experts want the public and our leaders to know that threats to marine species and ecosystems are urgent, and that we must change what we're doing now to prevent further irreversible decline. A White House Conference on the Marine Environment would help to highlight what's known about marine environmental problems and to address the most pressing ones. The International Year of the Ocean provides the ideal opportunity to move forward in protecting, restoring and sustainably using life in the sea. We need to do it for two reasons: because it's essential to our well-being and survival and because it's the right thing to do."

Press Release, Dr. Elliot A. Norse, January 6, 1998

Construction on Playa La Flor National Wildlife Refuge-Nicaragua

Playa La Flor, located on Nicaragua's Pacific Coast, is one of only two arribada (arrival) sites for the endangered olive ridley sea turtle in Nicaragua, and is one of six sites still remaining in the Eastern Pacific. Approximately 15,000 olive ridley turtles nest at the Playa La Flor each year. Leatherback sea turtles also nest at the site regularly, and green and hawksbill sea turtles have also been reported to nest there occasionally. Playa La Flor has been protected as a National Wildlife Refuge for several years, although its official status as a Wildlife Refuge was only finalized in 1996.

The Nicaraguan Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA) and the University of Central America (UCA) have been carrying out efforts to develop sea turtle monitoring and research programs, as well as community-based conservation programs.

A landholder with property inside the refuge (and directly behind the nesting beach) has illegally, and without permits, begun construction activities in recent months that threaten the nesting beach including: road building, land clearing and second growth tree cutting, fencing the nesting beach with barbed-wire, planting non-native vegetation (teak, melina, pine) in areas used by nesting turtles, and within the Refuge in general, illegal collection of more than 70 truck loads of river rock and dumping into the Refuge for the future hotel construction site, and allowing cattle and horses to enter the nesting area and trample nests. This work is being done for either a hotel or high-priced residences.

JA! (Environmental Youth!), UCA (University of Central America) and other Nicaraguan biologists and conservationists have requested support to pressure the Nicaraguan government to enforce the General Law of the Environment, in order to protect Playa La Flor and the endangered sea turtles that nest there. During the Regional Workshop for the Conservation of Central American Sea Turtles, held in Tortuguero, Costa Rica, from September 26 through October 1, 1997, the participating group voted unanimously to support a Resolution directed toward the President of Nicaragua to protect Playa La Flor and ensure the General Law of the Environment is fully enforced. Individuals are encouraged to send a letter of support to:

President Arnoldo Aleman
Republic of Nicaragua
Casa Presidencial
Managua, Nicaragua

Further information concerning the efforts to protect sea turtles in Central America may be obtained from Environmental Youth! (JA!) via ja@nicarao.apc.org.ni, the Nicaraguan Sustained Development Network via ayon@ns.sdnnic.org.ni, and:

Randall Arauz
Central American Director
Sea Turtle Restoration Project, EIIApdo 1203-1100
Tibas, San Jose, COSTA RICA
Phone/FAX 506-236-6017
Email: rarauz@caiari.ucr.ac.cr