A juvenile endangered North Atlantic right whale carcass washed ashore last month in Martha’s Vineyard, in the US state of Massachusetts. The event provided undeniable proof that Maine’s lobster fishery gear is involved in entanglements that, along with boat strikes, is the primary threat to the survival of the beleaguered population.

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For years, Maine’s lobster fishing industry has denied that there was proof that rope associated with their traditional rope-and-buoy lobstering gear was involved in the entanglement and subsequent deaths of North Atlantic right whales. Although Maine had not been directly implicated, a 2021 entanglement report produced evidence that 86% of observed right whales bore scars from entanglement with fishing gear.  

A legal wrestling match has been going on for years between Maine’s lobster fishery and federal agencies tasked with right whale management. 

The fishing industry contends that they have not seen whales in waters where the fishery sets its gear, arguing that rules meant to protect whales from entanglement unfairly target Maine’s fishers. The industry further contends that proposed or already required changes to their gear makes it more dangerous to operate. 

One regulation passed in 2020 required Maine’s fishers to add a colored rope – purple in this case – to their gear as a way to identify the geographic source of the gear. It was a purple rope marker that implicated Maine lobster gear in the entanglement that resulted in the death of the juvenile North Atlantic right whale carcass that washed ashore in Martha’s Vineyard in January.

Impact of Entanglements 

On its website, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA), an organization founded in 1954 to represent its members on issues related to lobster fishing, posted a response to the news of the death of the young right whale, saying the organization was “deeply saddened by the death of a juvenile right whale that NMFS has attributed to the Maine fishery.” 

Valued at roughly US$1.5 billion and thus an important contributor to the state’s economy, the industry lobbies hard at attempts by federal agencies to institute any regulations meant to protect the whales when these could have economical or operational consequences for the fishery.

The post went on to state that MLA believes that “entanglement in Maine gear is extremely rare,” and argues that the right whale was the first reported entanglement in Maine lobster gear in the past 20 years. 

However, research data offers a different perspective. 

The likelihood for entanglement is greatest during the right whales’ annual migration, which occurs in the waters off the coast of Maine. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries designates the coast of New England including Maine as critical habitat for foraging as the right whales travel to and from southern coastal waters. The area from Cape Fear, North Carolina to below Cape Canaveral, Florida, is deemed a critical habitat as the whales congregate in winter to breed and calf. 

When the body of a three-year-old female North Atlantic right whale washed ashore in Massachusetts, its fluke or tail had more than 100 feet (30.48 meters) of rope deeply embedded in it. The animal had been entangled in the rope for about a year. Previous attempts to remove the rope had been unsuccessful so that the rope had dug deeper and deeper into the whale’s flesh. 

Regina Asmutis-Silver, executive director of Whale and Dolphin Conservation USA, observed that the situation must have been incredibly painful for the whale. 

“Half her life was spent in pretty chronic pain,” she said.

Heather Pettis, a research scientist with the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium in Boston, counted the death of the whale known as No. 5120 as being of more significance than the loss of a single right whale. Pettis noted the impact of the individual to the survival of the entire population.

“She could have added into the population in her own calves, and then their calves and so on,” Pettis said.

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A Population in Decline

According to NOAA, entanglement and vessel strikes are the primary causes for the decline of the North Atlantic right whale’s population. Since 2017, 78% of the 123 known incidents that have killed or seriously injured right whales are due to confirmed vessel strikes or gear entanglements. The deaths of female right whales have the greatest implications for the long-term survival of the population. Less than 70 of the estimated 360 living right whales are breeding females. 

Because right whale females are not sexually reproductive until the age of ten and produce one calf every six to ten years, the loss of a single female is a significant blow for the species. It is unclear whether the remaining 70 reproductively active females, roughly 20% of the current population, is sufficient to maintain the population if deaths attributed to entanglement and boat strikes were reduced or eliminated. Between 2010-2020, the right whale population declined about 25%. 

This winter, 17 calves have been observed off the Florida and Georgia coasts. Two are presumed dead because their mothers have been spotted without their calves. Another calf was observed critically injured as a result of a vessel strike and, according to NOAA, its prognosis for survival is poor. Moreover, on February 13, 2024, the carcass of another North Atlantic right whale was discovered. This female born last year was found floating off Tybee Island east of Savannah along the coast of Georgia. 

As the number of deaths continues to rise, Kathleen Collins, senior marine campaign manager for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said the eastern coast of the US has become a graveyard. It is her contention that the “inaction from the administration is digging the graves.”

Prognosis for Survival 

According to NOAA, the number of known fatalities and injuries of right whales since 2017 has been high. The two juvenile deaths recorded since the beginning of the year bring the total since 2017 to 38 known fatalities. 

A solution that assures the North Atlantic right whale survival may not come in time to prevent the population from passing into oblivion. 

Environmental groups are seeking assistance from federal courts. They want to force the US government to finalize rules and require compliance in order to halt any further anthropogenic pressure on the population. The suits are often countered by the fishing industry and, in the one recent case, a federal appeals court sided with New England commercial fishermen. The court ruled that federal restrictions could cause the industry’s collapse, leaving a question about the impending collapse of the whale population.

Featured image: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, NOAA Research/Flickr

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The post Endangered North Atlantic Right Whale Carcass Links Maine’s Lobster Fishery to Survival Threat appeared first on Earth.Org.

Not just animals that live their entire lives on dry land are threatened by sea level rise. Several animal species, including the Florida Key deer, the loggerhead sea turtle, and the Hawaiian monk seal, all threatened species under the US Endangered Species Act, are at risk of losing critical habitat due to sea level rise. Surprisingly, the latter two are classified as marine species and would seem impervious to rising ocean conditions.

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Even Marine Species At Risk From Sea Level Rise

Sea level rise is threatening the survival of many species and contrarily to one might think, these are not just terrestrial creatures. Seemingly diverse animals as the Florida Key deer, loggerhead sea turtle and Hawaiian monk seal, are all at risk. They all share the potential for loss of critical habitat, a fact that may surprise some as the latter two are classified as marine animals that live the majority of their lives in the ocean.

The Florida Key Deer

The Florida Keys are a string of low-lying islands that lie south and west of Miami. A hundred miles south of Florida’s second-most populous city is a long strip of land populated by fairy-sized creatures. Big Pine Key, once renowned for its small round citrus, the variety used to make key lime pies, is now noted for the diminutive deer Key deer, a golden retriever-sized relative of the common white-tailed deer. It is estimated that three-quarters of the world’s Florida key deer live on Big Pine and one other low-lying key. 

The island is made of ancient coral with an elevation less than three feet above sea level. Key deer are reported to be strong swimmers but are not marine mammals. They are not adapted to survive in the event that their terrestrial habitat is inundated by rising seas driven by climate change. 

Florida key deer.

Hunting and habitat loss brought about the deer’s decline a half-century ago. Under the 1973 Endangered Species Act, the population increased 33-fold. A happy ending for the story of the Key Deer, however, is far from assured due to the very real threat of sea level rise.

A sobering report by The Center for Biological Diversity shows how many species face prospects similar to the Key deer. “Left unchecked, rising seas driven by climate change threaten 233 federally protected species in 23 coastal states.” 

This means that one in six of the US’s threatened and endangered species are at risk from rising sea levels with the Key deer being one of five considered the most threatened. 

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Hawaiian Monk Seal

It may be unexpected to read that the US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service believe that the Hawaiian monk seal and the loggerhead sea turtle, two other animals in the top five of 233 federal protected species under the Endangered Species Act, are at greatest risk from sea level rise. 

The Hawaiian monk sea and loggerhead turtle are by definition marine animals and therefore spend the vast majority of their lives in the ocean. Their survival is threatened by the loss of beaches integral to their reproduction. Sea turtles require beaches to make nests, deposit eggs, and produce hatchlings. Monk seals need the beaches to birth and nurse their pups. 

The Hawaiian monk seal, like the Key deer, exists within a limited geographic area. The seal, as the name implies, is endemic to Hawaii and is among the most endangered seal species in the world. Monk seal face numerous threats to their existence, including a lack of food sources, entanglement in fishing gear, and shark predation; however, the loss of suitable habitat for giving birth is critical for the survival of the species. The elevation of many of the atolls or islands in the northwest of the Hawaiian Archipelago used for birthing is less than 6.5 feet (1.98 metres) above sea level. Beach erosion from storm surge and sea level rise also threaten the beaches where the seals come ashore to give birth. One of their breeding islands has already disappeared into the ocean. 

Loggerhead Sea Turtle

Loggerhead sea turtle.

Loggerhead sea turtles are found worldwide. Like all sea turtles, Loggerheads are protected under the Endangered Species Act. Loggerhead turtles that nest on beaches in the US do so primarily along the Atlantic coasts of Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina and along the Florida and Alabama coasts in the Gulf of Mexico. Multiple factors threaten loggerheads, including marine pollution, entanglement, and boat strikes. Most significant in terms of their long-term survival is the loss of nesting habitat. This loss is the result of beach erosion, land development, and sea level rise. A striking example of the threat caused by sea level rise is taking place at the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, where “42% of current loggerhead nesting beaches are expected to disappear with just 1.5 feet [0.45 metres] of sea-level rise.” 

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Do We Have Any Solutions?

Nathan Rott, correspondent for National Public Radio’s National Desk, reported that sea level has risen 8 inches (0.2 metres) in the past century. This rate is expected to increase to 3 to 4 feet (0.6-0.9 metres), or even 6.5 (1.98 metres), by 2100. The rise is due to the melting of ice caps as Earth’s warming accelerates. As sea level rises, more land along the coasts will risk being completely submerged, leading to the displacement of the species and humans that lived in these areas. Animals like the Key deer and the monk seal have few or no other places to go. This situation presents a conundrum for the professionals charged with protecting these species.

Professionals like Nikki Colangelo of the US Fish and Wildlife Service specialise in species conservation, mitigation, and recovery planning and implementation. Colangelo considers the costs, benefits, and efficacy of alternatives in their work to preserve species. The most practical alternatives at present appear to be:

• Moving a species to another area within their geographic range
• Introducing them into new areas
• Relocating individuals to zoos or aquaria
• Banking a species DNA or allowing them to become extinct

Colangelo suggests the solution depends as much on ethics as it does logistics. And that, the answer should be dependent on “an all-of-society response.”

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The post How Sea Level Rise Threatens Marine Animals appeared first on Earth.Org.

Sick and dying sea lions and dolphins are appearing on Southern California beaches. The marine mammals are suffering from domoic acid toxicosis, the consequence of an algal bloom associated with rising ocean temperatures. Although domoic acid is a naturally occurring toxin, in high enough quantities it can make humans and marine mammals sick. As ocean temperatures increase, the world is likely to experience a rise in hurricanes, coral bleaching, and toxic-related illnesses.

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This summer across the world, temperatures are breaking new records. In Phoenix, Arizona, a record was set on July 18. The city experienced 19 consecutive days with daytime temperatures of more than 110F (43C). On the coast of Florida, water temperatures were breaking records, too. According to meteorologist and journalist Bob Henson, “they are off the scale of the color contours on some weather maps.” 

By June, water temperatures had become dangerously high in Southern California. Hundreds of sick and dying sea lions and dolphins began appearing on its beaches. The marine mammals were suffering from a toxic algal bloom associated with warmer ocean water temperatures. Higher than normal temperatures are linked to high levels of domoic acid, a naturally occurring toxin that can make humans and marine mammals sick. 

Domoic acid is associated with a rise in the single-celled plant Pseudo-nitzchia. Blooms of the plant are often referred to as red tide. Crustaceans like crabs and lobsters as well as fish ingest the plant. When they are eaten by humans and marine animals, domoic acid poisoning may occur. Symptoms appear after as little as 30 minutes or up to 24 hours after ingestion of the tainted tissue. Symptomatic of milder cases of domoic poisoning are vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. In more severe cases, victims experience difficulty in breathing, cardiovascular instability, and seizures. 

The first diagnosed case of domoic acid toxicosis in California sea lions was made in 1998 at the Marine Mammal Center, a preeminent marine mammal rescue facility based in Sausalito, California. Domoic acid attacks the sea lion’s brain, causing seizures and, in some cases, even heart failure. When treatment is administered early enough, the infected animals are likely to recover before significant physiological damage occurs. Domoic toxicosis also has been reported in other species of sea lion, seals, dolphins, and larger whales. 

Trends in rising sea surface temperatures along California’s coast are not unique to that state. Data from 1991 to 2015 shows that Oregon, the state just north of California, has also experienced a rise in ocean temperatures. During the five years when the highest levels of domoic acid were detected in razor clams (Siliqua patula), researchers noted that this coincided with the warmest ocean conditions.

The consequences of warm ocean temperatures extend beyond domoic acid toxicosis. Other impacts include coral bleaching with concomitant declines in fish populations and the loss of coastal protection from damaging wave action and a decline in local economic benefits. Rising water temperatures also increase the potential for more powerful weather systems and predictions for increased frequency. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US federal agency tasked with understanding and predicting changes in climate, weather, ocean, and coasts, estimates that about “40 percent of the world’s oceans are currently facing a marine heat wave.” It is the highest percentage on record that has been attributed to human-caused climate change. 

Matthew Hunter, a researcher at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife summed up these findings. His biggest takeaway is that ocean temperatures are changing and these changes have significant implications for all natural resources and human health.

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The post The Impact of Rising Ocean Temperatures on Humans, Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystems appeared first on Earth.Org.

A recent study determined that the seagrass meadows in an inlet of the Gulf of Maine had declined by more than half during a four-year period from 2018-2022. Seagrass is one of the most productive ecosystems in the world, forming the backbone of coastal ecosystems. Their decline, a serious consequence of anthropogenic global warming, represents a worldwide problem.

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What Is Happening?

A recent study conducted for Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection found that the eelgrass meadows, a common species of seagrass that can form expansive, underwater meadows, declined by more than half during a four-year period. From 2018-2022, coverage in Casco Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Maine along the southern coast of Maine, dropped from 5,012 to 2,286 acres.

 “We were aware of the decline in eelgrass, but we thought we had some time to think about this. But we lost 54% of eelgrass in the last four years. The time to act was yesterday,” said Ivy Frignoca, Casco Baykeeper for the environmental group Friends of Casco Bay.

The decline is not limited to the bay. The trend is particularly worrisome along the eastern shores of North America, especially in the Gulf of Maine where water temperatures are increasing at a disturbing rate. Last year was the second-warmest on record for the Gulf of Maine, almost four degrees above the long-term average. According to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, the average annual sea surface temperature was 53.66F (12C). In fact, the Gulf is warming faster than any other body of water on the planet except for an area northeast of Japan. 

While many people are aware of global warming, not many know about what is happening to seagrass, why these consequences are of concern, or even what seagrass is. 

What Is Seagrass?

Seagrass, also known as eelgrass, is the only flowering perennial that grows in marine environments. Seaweeds, unlike seagrasses, are algae and not flowering plants. Seaweeds grow in soft substrates like mud and sand. They are found in both areas that are exposed at low tide and those that are 23 feet (7 meters) in depth. 

There are 72 species of seagrass with Zostera marina being the most commonly found species in the Northern Hemisphere. Seagrasses can form dense underwater meadows, some of which are large enough to be seen from space. 

Eelgrass originated in the Pacific Ocean between ten to five million years ago and “spread to the Atlantic Ocean starting around 3.5 million years ago before the most recent ice age hit and ice sheets separated the two oceans.” 

Scientists have studied the similarities and differences between eelgrass living in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Eelgrass ecosystems in the latter are characterised by sparsely populated meadows with meter-high plants. In the Atlantic, seagrass meadows are denser with shorter grasses. The most striking difference is that the “eelgrass ecosystems in the Atlantic have far less genetic diversity than in the Pacific…Atlantic eelgrass’s lack of genetic diversity might be bad news for its ability to survive climate change.”  Emmett Duffy, an ecologist at the Smithsonian Institution, and an international team of scientists suspect that over time, Atlantic eelgrass might eventually evolve to have a comparative level of diversity to that in the Pacific. However, the pressures of climate change are occurring far faster than is required for evolutionary adaptation.. 

The different species of seagrass come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some look like traditional grass blades, some like tree leaves, while others are long and narrow. Seagrasses can be found in the shallow seas along the continental shelf of all continents except Antarctica. The key factor for seagrass growth is the availability of light. Indeed, seagrasses need sunlight for photosynthesis, a chemical process where sunlight is transformed into food energy. 

Why is Seagrass Important?

Seagrass is one of the most productive ecosystems in the world and plays a number of vitally important roles. The US designated them as “Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) and a Habitat of Particular Concern” under the 1996 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

For a start, eelgrass is the foundation of a highly productive marine food web. Their degradation results in increased coastal erosion, wave action, and ocean acidification as well as declines in commercially important fish and shellfish species, water quality, and carbon storage contributing to further effects of global warming. They act as an effective carbon sink and serve as feeding grounds and nurseries for a host of vertebrate and invertebrate animals. 

Eelgrass meadows “protect the coast, store carbon, and support a host of organisms, from economically important herring, sea bass, and lobsters to vulnerable species such as sea turtles and dugongs.”

While smaller organisms such as algae and tiny invertebrates can be found living on blades of seagrass. 

Seagrass meadows are being lost at a rate of around 7% annually, equivalent to two football fields every hour. This loss is attributed to many variables, including climate change, coastal development, pollution, overfishing, and other anthropogenic factors. However, “poor water quality (particularly high levels of nutrients) caused by pollution is the biggest threat to seagrasses around the world.”

Issues of water quality problems are particularly serious in rapidly growing countries. This is exacerbated when there are few laws that regulate pollution or encourage seagrass protection. 

Warming waters also impact seagrasses. They lead to algae blooms that cloud the water, making it difficult for seagrass to get sufficient sunlight required for photosynthesis. Other impacts of warming water temperature are that they favour the development of invasive green crabs. The young crab eats the seagrass and the adults pull it up by the roots, hunting for soft-shell clams.

In the Gulf of Maine in 2021, the largest puffin colony had only a 6% of puffin hatchlings survival rate compared to the typical survival rate of 75%. The young birds starved due to the lack of availability of fish. 

What Can We Do?

Across the globe, people are working to understand the problem of declining seagrass meadows and find ways to assist in its restoration. Nicole Kollars, an ecologist at Northeastern University in Massachusetts, suggests “moving seeds and plants around to increase gene flow or by using eelgrass nurseries to support restoration efforts.” 

Attempts to rebuild and restore seagrass beds have been undertaken “by planting seeds or seedlings grown in aquaria, or transplanting adult seagrasses from other healthy meadows.” Successful restoration has occurred in the Chesapeake Bay and coastal areas of Virginia. Through 2014, the Institute of Marine Science seeded more than 450 acres with nearly eight million seagrass seeds. In Tampa Bay, Florida, seagrass restoration has resulted in improvements to water quality and fish communities.

In Maine, Glenn Page, an interdisciplinary conservation scientist/practitioner with nearly three decades of experience building coastal and marine ecosystem stewardship, is taking a broader approach. He launched a bioregional movement.  His Team Zostera is hosting a meeting in July in Portland, Maine to think about regional ways to address the multiple challenges that are impacting seagrass meadows. Page believes that “seagrass meadows are the ‘canaries in our coal mine’ and have a big story to tell if we are able to listen.”

Whether the focus of restoration is on local seagrass beds or more broadly encompasses a  region, the bottom line is that seagrass populations across the globe are in trouble. Individuals can exert their own agency. Avoid littering and dumping hazardous materials down the drain. Limit the use of fertiliser and pesticides. When boating, avoid shallow areas, reduce wake near land, and avoid dragging an anchor in seagrass. 

You might also like: ​​Changing Tides: How Does Ocean Acidification Affect Marine Life?

The post Seagrass Meadows Are Declining Globally at Alarming Rate appeared first on Earth.Org.

The Maine lobster industry’s latest move in its ongoing battle for its financial survival is a lawsuit against the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The industry claims a downgrade in the Aquarium’s rating of lobster caught in Canada and Maine is defamatory and denies that they are culpable in sustainability issues involving the North Atlantic right whale. 

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California Aquarium Accused of Harming Lobster

Maine’s lobster industry has sued California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium, more precisely their Seafood Watch programme, because of a downgraded rating for lobster caught in Canada and Maine. 

On a second front, Maine’s legislators have targeted bills against businesses like Whole Foods for following Seafood Watch’s recommendation to avoid purchasing lobster caught in Maine. 

The Maine lobster industry representatives argue that its fishery has a long tradition of resource stewardship and they deny culpability in the entanglement of North Atlantic right whales. They further contend that there has not been a documented case of a right whale becoming entangled in fishing gear in Maine since 2004. The lobster industry is adamant that there is no justification for the restrictions that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) imposed in 2021. 

NOAA restrictions aimed to ban the traditional rope-and-buoy lobstering method in specially designated areas in Maine during the months of October through January. Maine’s lobster fishery was granted a 6-year delay from NOAA’s fishing regulations earlier this year. The reprieve came about by text included in a US$1.7 trillion federal spending bill.

Maine’s Governor Janet Mills joined by US Senators Angus King, and Susan Collins in offering solid support to Maine’s lobster fishery. There is no argument that the state’s economy and identity are deeply entwined with lobsters. 

In 2021, the state of Maine valued the lobster harvest at nearly $725 million. Local politicians fear that the financial costs of restrictions on current fishing practices will result in significant financial harm to the industry. 

The legal wrangling between lobster and whale advocates expanded when Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, and three Maine-based businesses filed a lawsuit against Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch.

The California aquarium’s Seafood Watch is a 20-year-old programme that assesses the sustainability of most of the seafood sold on the US and Canadian markets. In 2022, Seafood Watch downgraded its rating for lobster caught in Canada and Maine from yellow to red. The latter indicates that seafood purchases and consumption should be avoided. 

According to Seafood Watch, “this fishery poses a risk to overfished or at-risk species, including endangered North Atlantic right whales. Entanglement in fishing gear is the leading cause of serious injury and death to North Atlantic right whales [and] current management measures do not go far enough to mitigate entanglement risks and promote recovery of the species.”

The lawsuit accuses Seafood Watch of making “false and defamatory statements about Maine lobster fishing practices and for misleading consumers and commercial lobster buyers about the integrity of the Maine lobster harvest.” The plaintiffs contend that they have lost business as a result of Seafood Watch’s downgrade. The legal action also demands that Seafood Watch remove and retract all defamatory statements.

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Seafood Watch was reported to comment that the lawsuit lacks merit. Credence is given to this argument from data published in October 2021 by the New England Aquarium.  That data indicated that 86% of known right whales bore scars on their bodies. These scars show that whales have at some point in their life become entangled with fishing gear. Even when whales do not die as a direct result of entanglement, their health, reproductive success, and ultimately their long-term survival is negatively affected. 

The population of North Atlantic right whales is currently estimated to be fewer than 340, and only about 70 are thought to be breeding females. This estimate represents a considerable decline from 2011 when the population was estimated at around 480. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) determined that for the North Atlantic right whale to recover, less than one whale per year can be seriously injured or killed; however, mortalities “from fishing entanglement occur at levels five times higher than the species can withstand.”  

Seafood Watch argues that the lawsuit ignores “the extensive evidence that this fishery poses a serious risk to the survival of the endangered North Atlantic right whale, and they seek to curtail the First Amendment rights of a beloved institution that educates the public about the importance of a healthy ocean.”

Lobsters Take on Whole Foods

Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch is not the only entity to feel the ire of Maine’s lobster industry and its supporters. 

In February of this year, Maine’s Republican lawmakers unveiled bills that, among other things, would expand state control of coastal waters and fund the industry’s legal battle to overturn federal fishing restrictions. Another aim of the proposed legislation was designed to punish Whole Foods, an upscale grocery chain. 

There is only one Whole Foods store in Maine, located in Portland, because the market stopped selling lobster after Seafood Watch’s rating assessment indicated that consumers should avoid purchasing Maine lobster. 

Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart expressed support for the bill, stating that Maine “shouldn’t be giving tax breaks and using Maine’s tax system to aid any organization attempting to undercut any key industry in Maine.” 

Other legislators called for the boycott of companies like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh in the event they remove lobsters from their meal offerings.

These punitive legislative measures have received backlash from members of Maine’s legislature and from the business community. President Curtis Picard of the Retail Association of Maine expressed concern that the bill could have unintended consequences. Picard argued that “it should be up to the consumer, not the government, to decide whether to punish Whole Foods for its boycott – perhaps with a boycott of their own.”

What’s Next?

The back and forth between lobster supporters and North Atlantic right whale interests shows no sign of abatement. 

It is as yet unknown how the judge will rule on the lobster industry’s defamation suit against Seafood Watch or how the court of public opinion will react. The industry is likely to continue its stance as long as it believes it represents a threat to its financial survival. At the same time, the North Atlantic right survival appears to become more tenuous with each new entanglement. 

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The post California Aquarium Accused of Harming the Maine Lobster Industry appeared first on Earth.Org.

Fish and other seafood products provide vital nutrients for more than three billion people around the globe and supply an income for 10-12% of the world’s population. For this reason, detailed information is needed to adequately maintain a sustainable worldwide fishery. Non-profits like Global Fishing Watch and The Outlaw Ocean Project are helping raise awareness of the impacts of overfishing and overcome the challenges of data collection from the vast marine realm to provide reliable information on how and where the world’s oceans and fish stocks are being used and misused.

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The world’s oceans are a vast realm, on a scale that makes it far too time-consuming, too costly, and too dangerous for any single entity to manage. The result is that the high seas are poorly understood and under-protected. Detailed information about the scope and whereabouts of fishing is often lacking. Even a determination of what entity has the jurisdiction for enforcement is difficult to determine. 

The Work of The Outlaw Ocean Project and Global Fishing Watch

The Outlaw Ocean Project is a non-profit journalism organisation based in Washington D.C. that produces the Outlaw Ocean podcast, a riveting, first-hand account of the problem. The seven-part series relies on more than eight years of reporting covering all seven oceans and more than three dozen countries. The Dark Fleet, the second episode, tells the story of a search for one of the most wanted illegal fishing vessels. The pursuit lasting 110 days, across 10,000 nautical miles documented the vessel’s illegal activities catching Chilean sea bass in the waters off Antarctica. Not only was fishing occurring in waters not open to commercial fishing, but it also involved gillnets, a banned type of fishing gear. One net over 45 miles in length took over 100 hours to haul in. The story, rather than being an unusual occurrence, is one that is simply rarely documented due in part to the lack of data on fishing fleets that sail the high seas.

Global Fishing Watch (GFW) has been working to make such occurrences transparent so stakeholders can assess the extent to which the world’s oceans are being used and misused. GFW is an open-access satellite and machine learning technology that provides map visualisations and data and analysis tools to better visualise the threats that the world’s oceans face nowadays. The data identifies hotspots of previously heretofore unseen fishing vessels, making it possible to determine where and how much fishing activity is actually occurring.

Photo by Global Fishing Watch

 Tracking Illegal Fishing In North Korea Waters

Jaeyoon Park (GFW) with colleagues reported in a 2020 Science Advances article that illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing is a major challenge to assess because “most fishing vessels do not broadcast their positions and are ‘dark’ in public monitoring systems.” 

These challenges are epitomised in the waters of North Korea, South Korea, Japan, and Russia where stocks of Japanese flying squid (Todarodes pacificus) are heavily targeted. A lack of information about the fishery “prevents accurate stock assessment in a fishery where reported catches have dropped by 80% and 82% in South Korean and Japanese waters, respectively, since 2003.” This is troubling because squids are of critical importance to South Korea. Here, they are ranked top seafood by production value. In Japan, squid is among the top five seafood consumed and in North Korea, it was the third-largest exported product before sanctions were imposed.

The research utilised four satellite technologies to assess fishing operations. Each of the technologies has limitations but, when used in combination, they provide sufficient data to present an informative picture of the scope of fishing activity. One of these technologies is the Automatic Identification System (AIS), originally developed to reduce vessel collisions. AIS equipment provides a unique identification for each vessel as well as information about its position, course, and speed. It is possible to turn off a vessel’s AIS. This allows the ship to operate undetected but, of course, leaves the vessel and its crew at risk of collision. 

Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is another satellite technology that exploits the bright lights used to attract the flying squid. Vessels measuring between 55 and 60 metres are equipped with lights that can emit light equivalent to a football stadium. VIIRS’s utility is reduced by cloud cover. Used in combination with satellite technologies, they can help “identify potential hot spots of illegal, unregulated, or unreported fishing.” 

“Global fisheries have long been dominated by a culture of confidentiality and concealment and achieving a comprehensive view of fishing activities at sea is an important step toward sustainable and cooperative fisheries management,” the paper reads.

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Industrial Fishmeal Production In African Waters 

The biggest culprit in declining fish stocks is overfishing. Episode 5 of The Outlaw Ocean podcast focuses on the African West Coast nation of Gambia and its fishmeal factories. The three fishmeal factories in Gambia process local fish like Bonga into high-protein powder or pellets. The fishmeal is shipped abroad and used to feed animals like livestock and farmed-raised fish. An astonishing fact mentioned in the podcast is that “more than a quarter of all the fish pulled from the sea ends up as fishmeal.” 

In Gambia, Bonga used to be plentiful, so much so that it was widely available for free in local markets. The sharp decline in Bonga, however, has left communities without their daily source of protein. 

Farm-raised fish were once thought to be a solution to the world’s need for protein. The thought was that by farming fish there would be an equivalent reduction in pressure to harvest fish from the sea. However, there has been a growing realisation that farm-raised fish generate their own problems. Among them is pollution, a consequence of concentrating large numbers of fish – up to 200,000 – in a single pen. 

Arguably the most troubling problem in raising fish is that more food energy is used than is produced. Ian Urbina, American investigative reporter and founder of The Outlaw Ocean Project observed that some fish farms take in more fish in the form of fishmeal than they actually produce. In the case of tuna, for example, “you can have a single tuna that will eat 15 times its own weight in fishmeal before it’s to the size that it needs to be put on the market,” he explains. 

“So even conscientious consumers who are trying to be ethical buyers are quite likely eating fish that are taking food off of the tables of Gambians or others in the developing world.”

The economic reality is that fish-based feed is expensive.

“40% of the cost of raising a farmed fish is the feed,” writes Mark Kurlansky in The Guardian. “Farming companies would like to reduce that by turning their salmon into vegetarians, but this is not easy because salmon have short intestines designed for digesting meat but not well-suited for plants.” 

Why Is the Work of NGOs So Important?

The work of organisations like Global Fishing Watch and The Outlaw Ocean Project contributes knowledge useful in understanding the kind and extent of illegal fishing and overfishing. Their work is an important contribution toward making informed choices for local, national, and international management of fish stocks and fishing fleets. However, countless problems remain, and they are inherent in the management of a global marine commons. Questions such as how or whether to manage fisheries and who might be utilising a resource at the expense of others are far more challenging to overcome.

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A new facial recognition machine learning software that recognises the faces of individual seals with 95% accuracy was developed by researchers at Colgate University in New York. The highly accurate form of identification assists in a new understanding of the social behaviour and movement of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) and in evaluating environmental and ecological impacts.  

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Photo identification has been used for decades in the research of the distribution, lifestyle, and migration patterns of whales and dolphins. Individual animals are identified by comparing photos to those stored in a database. 

The longest and most detailed in the world of such data sets are identification photos taken of baleen whales in the Stellwagen National Marine Sanctuary, an 842-square-mile (2,181-square-metre) body of water located at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay, between Cape Cod and Cape Ann. Identification photos of humpback whales are taken of the underside of the fluke or tail. Individuals are identified by the unique patterns of black and white pigmentation and scars on the fluke. This information is then used to assign individual humpbacks a catalog number. Their identification photographs are retained in the Gulf of Maine Humpback Whale Catalog and the North Atlantic Humpback Whale Catalog, respectively archived by the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and the College of the Atlantic in Maine. 

Photo identification has also been used to recognise individual orca whales in the Salish Sea. This technique was pioneered in the 1970s by Canadian researcher Dr. Michael Bigg to study the Southern Resident orca whale population found along the Canadian province of British Columbia and Washington state in the US, Individuals are recognised by distinctive nicks, scars, and shapes on their prominent dorsal fins. The dorsal fin characteristics are used in combination with the also distinctive whitish-grey pigmentation behind the fin, an area often referred to as the saddle patch. Bigg proved the reliability of this photo identification technique after he radio-tagged an individual with two nicks carved in the rear edge of the dorsal fin. The nicks remained unchanged throughout the animal’s lifetime. 

The life history of harbor seals is less understood because, unlike humpback and orca whales, a highly reliable photo identification methodology has been lacking. Photos of seal pelage are not trustworthy for a number of reasons, including changes that occur as seals mature and during periods of molting. 

While other forms of monitoring techniques have been used, they are typically costly, time-consuming, and invasive. Accurate data on harbor seal populations is useful because these marine mammals serve as indicators of ecosystem health and knowing more about their behaviour assists wildlife managers to make management decisions.

Facial Recognition Software

Facial recognition technology is a highly accurate tool in the surveillance and authentication of human faces. It also has been used with much success in primate research. 

“Seals are one step further away from the human face, so I wasn’t sure if this would work,” Krista Ingram, professor of biology at Colgate University, said. “But I thought it was worth a try.”

In the Colgate study, dozens of harbor seals were photographed in Casco Bay, Maine. A database was created from the photos and machine learning software was created. The software nicknamed SealNet is designed to identify a seal’s face using facial features such as eyes and nose shape. More than 1,700 photos of more than 400 individual seals were used to test the SealNet software, which was eventually proved to be 95% accurate.

Photo by Pam Ferris-Olson

“Understanding their dispersal, understanding their patterns really helps inform any conservation efforts for the coast,” Ingram said. “For mobile marine mammals that move around a lot and are hard to photograph in the water, we need to be able to identify individuals.”

Harbor seals, once subject to bounties, now appear fairly abundant in Maine. Still, many questions remain about Maine’s wild populations of harbor seals and there is a need for additional ecological and behavioral information. SealNet’s application is likely to extend beyond harbor seals and could be extremely important for the study of more endangered populations such as the Mediterranean monk seal, the world’s most endangered seal species.

While SealNet has been heralded as a major breakthrough for work with harbor seals, less sophisticated photo identification methodology has been used by other groups working in the field for many years. 

A group known as Harbor Seals of Pacific Grove (HSPG) in Monterey County, California, has been photographing harbor seals for over a decade. The group attributes their work to Bay Net, a group working in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. 

“We do it differently than the facial recognition software. We look at the spots and markings on the whole seal so that no matter which direction the seal is facing or what body part is showing, we have a good chance of identifying that seal,” said a spokesperson for Harbor Seals of Pacific Grove.

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The sex of sea turtles is temperature-dependent with more females born in hot temperatures and males at lower temperatures. Increasing global temperature has important implications for sea turtle management and survival. Read on to find out why sea turtles are endangered and what the future holds for this beautiful animal. 

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How Temperature Influences Sea Turtles’ Sex

Sea turtles and most crocodilian species differ from other reptiles and vertebrates by the nature of their temperature-dependent sex determination. This means that the sex of sea turtles is not dependent on sex chromosomes. Instead, it is determined by the temperature at which the eggs develop. 

Research has shown that eggs incubated below a temperature of approximately 82 degrees Fahrenheit (27.8C) produce males while eggs incubated at temperatures of roughly 89 degrees Fahrenheit (31.7C) produce females. In instances where nest temperature fluctuates between these upper and lower limits, a mix of males and females is produced. The warmer the upper limit, the greater the female-to-male ratio while the lower limit skews the ratio toward males. 

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Unlike sea turtles and some crocodilians, vertebrates – including humans – possess sex chromosomes. Sex chromosomes are passed from parents to their offspring at the time an egg is fertilised. In the simplest terms, there are two types of sex chromosomes: X and Y. In the gametes, male (sperm) and female (egg) germ cells, X chromosomes are unique to females. Before fertilisation, an egg has a single X chromosome. Sperm, however, contain either an X or Y chromosome. At the time the sperm fertilises the egg, the sex of the offspring is determined. An egg fertilised by a sperm with an X chromosome produces a female with two XX chromosomes. An egg fertilised by a sperm with a Y chromosome produces a male (XY)*. The chance of producing offspring that is female or male is typically 50/50. 

Image by Pamela Ferris-Olson.

Why Sea Turtles Are Endangered: The Case of Florida

Florida’s beaches are an excellent place to study temperature-dependent sex determination. That’s because the state has more loggerhead turtles (also referred to as ‘caretta caretta’) nesting on its beaches than anywhere else in the world. It has been observed in recent years that the majority of turtle hatchlings in Florida have been female. 

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Research has determined that the skewed ratio of female-to-male loggerheads is due to a pattern of higher temperatures, above 89 degrees Fahrenheit, recorded during the sea turtle’s May to October nesting season. This phenomenon, however, is not limited to loggerheads. A 2018 study of green sea turtles in Australia’s Great Barrier reef also noted an increase in the percentage of female hatchlings.

Sea turtles are long-lived and mature slowly. These facts make it difficult to identify their sex  because they do not appear sexually dimorphic – showing male and female traits – until they are around 25 years old, the age they typically become sexually mature. With global temperatures rising at an unprecedented rate, it is ever more important for the management of sea turtle populations to monitor the sex of turtle hatchlings. 

Researchers at Charles E. Schmidt College of Science at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) announced they have “developed a first-of-its-kind technique that is minimally invasive and greatly enhances the ability to measure neonate turtle sex ratios at population levels across nesting sites worldwide.” The technique requires blood to be taken from a hatchling. The samples are evaluated via western blot analysis. This technique “is quick, minimally invasive [requiring a very small volume of blood], and the hatchling turtle can then be released immediately.” – researchers explain.

The FAU study found the presence of the anti-müllerian hormone (AMH). AMH plays a key role in the development of a sea turtle sex organs. Male hatchlings had the hormone while females did not. The presence of the hormone is a reliable tool for sex determination with a high level of accuracy for identifying a hatchling’s sex. These research findings have important implications that can help “estimate how climate change will affect future generations of hatchlings, and allow for expedited evaluation of management strategies used to help recover imperilled sea turtles and other reptile species with temperature-dependent sex determination.”

What Does the Future of Sea Turtles Look Like?

If ambient temperatures continue to increase there will come a point where the ratio of male to female is no longer problematic issue because the nest temperature will be too hot . The result will be 100% mortality. To avoid this possibility, researchers are considering interventions. At least one researcher remains positive about sea turtles’ long-term survival. Jake Lasala, a researcher with the Mote Marine Sea Turtle Conservation & Research Program in Sarasota, Florida, believes that sea turtles have a strong survival instinct. As an example he noted that, “this past summer, a female loggerhead laid eggs far north of Florida on the cooler sands of the Jersey Shore.”

*This description does not take into account genetic variations that occur on occasion, as for example, Klinefelter syndrome (XXY) where a boy is born with an extra X chromosome. 

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Globally, about one-third of all known shark species face extinction and noted shark biologist and author David Shiffman says the biggest threat is unsustainable overfishing. Shark finning, a particularly cruel practice, continues despite actions to halt it, in part, due to illegal criminal trade. According to Greenpeace, the US is the fourth-largest shark exporter of shark meat in the world behind Spain, China, and Portugal. 

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The news about shark fishing is sobering. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that less than 23% of the 66 shark stocks in US waters are safe from overfishing, while the status of more than half of all shark stocks is not known. 

Sharks are fished for their meat and other body parts including their fins. Shark finning is a practice where the fin is sliced off, often while the animal is alive. The shark’s body is then discarded back into the ocean where the animal dies from blood loss and suffocation. Indeed, commercial fishers often opt to keep only the fins as these are the most valuable part of the shark.

Suffocation occurs because many species of sharks need to keep moving in order to breathe. As the shark swims, water passes over its gills, the respiratory organs that function like our lungs. Tiny blood vessels in the gills extract oxygen from the water while carbon dioxide is passed out of the gills.  

Shark fins are valued in some places of the world for culinary and medicinal purposes. Fins are an essential ingredient in shark fin soup, a dish considered in Chinese culture as a symbol of status. As Caty Fairclough wrote for the Smithsonian: “Popularity has not faded with time and has even expanded with China’s growing population. Today shark fin soup is still prevalent and has become a staple for more than just emperors on special occasions. As a result, fishermen have a large incentive to gather and sell shark fins.” 

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In January 2020, a European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Stop Finning – Stop the Trade‘ was registered. This aimed to end the fin trade in the 27 member states that comprise the Union. Shark finning is currently prohibited on board EU vessels and in EU waters. Despite this, as the initiative stated, the European Union “is among the biggest exporters of fins and a major transit hub for the global fin trade.” At the end of the signature collection period in March 2022, the petition had surpassed by more than 202,000, the goal of one million signatures. 

On August 2, an Associate Press article implicated the role of the American seafood industry in the shark finning trade. Since 2000, federal law has made it illegal to cut the fins off living sharks. However, individual states may determine that fins from dead sharks may be removed and exported overseas. A recent report by Greenpeace listed the US as the fourth-largest shark exporter in the world behind Spain, China, and Portugal. The country’s regulations on shark finning, therefore, are inconsistent and lead to a misconception that shark finning in the US is illegal. 

Criminal activities are supported by a market that pays as much as US$500 a pound for shark fins. As two recent criminal indictments in Florida show, exporters may be falsely labelling cargo bound for China. “Every year, American wildlife inspectors seize thousands of shark fins while in transit to Asia for failing to declare the shipments.” – TCR reports. 

Several attempts have been made by US Congress to pass a bill to “make it illegal to possess, buy, sell, or transport shark fins or any product containing shark fins, except for certain dogfish fins”. Penalties would be imposed for violations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. According to the text, the maximum civil penalty for each violation would be “$100,000, or the fair market value of the shark fins involved, whichever is greater.” The legislation, originally introduced in 2017 by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, is once again winding its way through Congress. A 2020 poll found that 77% of all Americans and 79% of all registered voters supported the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act. 

Effective laws and enforcement are lacking worldwide. Without adequate protection for sharks, marine ecosystems and economics suffer. As top predators, sharks maintain a balance in the undersea world. Sharks have played active roles in the marine ecosystem for millions of years, long before dinosaurs existed. Additionally, there are economic consequences for under-regulated shark-finning. By way of example, Ellen Johnson writes in an article for the Mystic Aquarium that in some areas sharks are worth “more alive than dead due to the growing popularity of shark ecotourism.”

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An influenza strain known as Eurasian H5N1 has arrived in North America. This strain of avian flu, identified globally in more than 100 different species of wild birds and found to infect wild mammals has now been identified in harbour and grey seals along Maine’s coast.

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On July 20, NOAA Fisheries in the US declared an unusual mortality event. Elevated stranding of harbour and grey seal have occurred along the southern and central coast in Maine beginning in June and continuing through the present. The US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed that samples taken from the seals tested positive for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1, a “zoonotic disease” that has the potential to spread between animals and people (and their pets).

This influenza strain – commonly known as bird flu – has been causing outbreaks across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. It appears to have arrived in North America late in 2021. This strain of avian flu has been identified globally in more than 100 different species of wild birds. In  June concerned citizens reported seeing great black-back gulls dying and dead on islands in the vicinity of Portland, Maine. Hundreds of other sea birds were reported washed ashore in Martha’s Vineyard off of Massachusetts. These incidents are among many indicating a national outbreak of bird flu. 

Avian flu is a respiratory disease commonly found in a bird’s saliva, nasal secretions, and faeces. The highly contagious virus can spread quickly along migratory bird routes and has the potential to contaminate birds raised on commercial poultry farms. It has been found to infect wild mammals such as foxes, skunks, and raccoons. 

While it is not “unexpected” that the bird flu might affect mammals, it has not been reported in marine mammals according to Dr. Julianna Lenoch, national wildlife disease programme coordinator for the US Department of Agriculture. 

The first samples of infected seal tissue were collected by Marine Mammals of Maine (MMoME), a rehabilitation facility in Bath, Maine. Four of the tissue samples collected confirmed the seals were infected with the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1. NOAA has since reported that the current rate of dead seal stranding is approximately three times the normal rate for this time of year with close to 60 animals.

The US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories conducted tests. Prior to this outbreak, the last unusually high seal mortality rate occurred in 2018. That event was attributed to phocine distemper, a virus that is particularly pathogenic for seals. Ainsley Smith, the coordinator for stranded marine mammals at NOAA’s Greater Atlantic regional fisheries office, said there is a potential for the avian flu virus afflicting seals to spread to other parts of Maine’s coast. 

On the West Coast, the picture is different. According to Dawn Beavis of the Marine Mammal Center, the world’s largest marine mammal hospital, their veterinarians are on the lookout for the virus but have yet to come across any reports of the virus or care for any cases of avian flu in their seal, pinniped or sea otter patients. 

The infected East Coast harbour and grey seals most likely contracted the flu virus after coming in direct contact with infected birds or their excrement. Researchers like disease ecologist Nichola Hill of the University of Massachusetts, Boston are working to understand how the virus spreads “to mammals and whether the virus will hang on indefinitely in North America, as it has in Europe and Asia.” Other scientists are investigating the relationship between bird flu and climate change but this avenue has yet to be fully explored. 

The risk to humans is considered to be low but people are urged to keep their distance from ill or dead birds and marine mammals. People who work with poultry and wild birds have an elevated risk for the disease and are urged to wear protective gear. Sick animals should not be taken to a vet or rehabilitation facility to prevent spreading the virus.  

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