Issue 45 - January 2019

Underwater ultrasound and first ever blood sampling on adult whale sharks

Innovative techniques used on whale sharks in the Galapagos to find out more about their reproduction

pregnant whale shark getting an ultrasound

Researchers in the Galapagos have successfully completed ultrasounds on free-swimming whale sharks, and taken blood samples from adult whale sharks for the first time ever in the wild. The incredible results allowed them to see and identify reproductive organs, such as the ovaries, and even developing follicles. These technologies hold promise for finally unlocking the mystery of breeding in the world’s largest sharks.

A team of global whale shark experts, comprised of scientists and conservationists from the Galapagos Whale Shark Project (Ecuador), Galapagos National Park (Ecuador), Okinawa Churashima Foundation (Japan), University of San Francisco/Galapagos Science Center (Ecuador) and the Marine Megafauna Foundation (USA), has just returned from a two-week expedition to Darwin Island, in the far north of the Galapagos Archipelago.

This remote volcanic island is one of the few places where huge adult female whale sharks, up to 14 m (45 ft) in length, are commonly seen each year. The main aim of the expedition was to assess the sharks’ reproductive state.

Jonathan R. Green, the expedition leader and founder of the Galapagos Whale Shark Project, notes: “Almost nothing is known about the reproduction of these giant sharks. After I first saw these huge female whale sharks in the far north Galapagos, I realised that this was a great opportunity to learn more. We’ve been able to put together an experienced team to research sharks in this remote area, one of the world’s most isolated dive sites.”

whale shark swimming

Dr Simon Pierce, an expedition member from the Marine Megafauna Foundation, explains further: “Whale shark breeding is a mystery. Only one pregnant shark has been physically examined so far, back in 1995 in Taiwan. That ‘megamamma’ shark had 304 little whale shark eggs and pups inside, all less than 60 cm in length.”

The team conducted scans using a 17 kg ultrasound system in a waterproofed case. Whale sharks have tough protective skin, more than 20 cm thick on some individuals, so the 30 cm penetration of the ultrasound waves proved a challenge – not to mention the difficulty of carefully checking the whole belly area of a gigantic shark while it is swimming. Dr Matsumoto had to use a propellor system mounted on his air-tank to keep up with the sharks.

“We use some interesting technology anyway, but working with the Okinawa team was something else”, commented Dr Pierce. “I felt cool by association. We saw dive groups a couple of times at the site, and I can only imagine what they thought – why is that guy diving with a briefcase? And a jetpack?”

Dr Matsumoto reports that the initial results were promising: “We confirmed the presence of follicles in the ovaries but none of the images captured embryos or egg capsules inside the uterus. These adult female sharks we saw at Darwin Island might be on their way to mate further offshore. I am confident that we can judge the sexual maturity, and probably also determine the pregnancy of whale sharks in the field, using the underwater ultrasound”.

pregnant whale shark getting an ultrasound

The researchers attached satellite-linked tags to the sharks to track their onwards movements. Professor Alex Hearn from the University of San Francisco/Galapagos Science Center explains: “We’ve tagged whale sharks in Galapagos before, but there are lots of predatory sharks at Darwin and they often try to eat the tags, which can rip them out of the whale sharks almost immediately. To reduce early tag loss, we tried a different method on this trip, clamping the tags to the tip of the dorsal fins. All tags are transmitting well, so we should get great information on where these sharks swim over the months to come.”

Project member Dr Alistair Dove, from Georgia Aquarium, notes that these tags could document some amazing behaviours: “Whale sharks are already known to be the deepest-diving of all fish. The current depth record is 1,928 m – well over a mile – set by a juvenile whale shark. Larger, older animals can generally dive deeper than young smaller ones, so perhaps we will challenge that record.”

Kiyomi Murakumo, from Okinawa Churashima Foundation, successfully collected blood samples from six adult sharks – no easy job. Her colleague, Dr Ryo Nozu, analyzed the results immediately following the trip: “Sex steroid hormone levels in the blood are an excellent way to monitor reproduction in individual sharks. This study measured levels of estradiol, progesterone and testosterone of wild, adult female whale sharks for the first time in the world. Estradiol could be associated with follicular development, and progesterone could be involved in ovulation and pregnancy. Over time, as we sample more whale sharks, we can build up a complete picture of their reproductive cycle by combining the blood sampling with the ultrasonography.”

Jonathan R. Green added: “These big female sharks are not going to give up their secrets easily. One thing is clear: there’s a lot of work still to do to understand the reproductive processes of this endangered species. However, this trip proved that it is possible to research their breeding in the wild. We’ll continue to hone our techniques and build upon this knowledge, as we need to understand these enigmatic sharks and protect them through their life cycle.”

This project was supported by Galapagos Conservation Trust, Planeterra Foundation and Temperatio.

About the Galapagos Whale Shark Project: The GWSP is comprised of a small group of scientists and volunteers whose common interests are the marine environment, diving and conservation. The Galapagos Whale Shark Project, combining the efforts of all our partners through a multi-disciplinary study, gathers the data necessary to better understand whale sharks. Through this understanding we hope to create awareness and the foundations necessary for their protection and conservation.

About Okinawa Churashima Foundation: The Okinawa Churashima Foundation (OCF) is the administrative arm of the Ocean Expo state-run park established to commemorate the Okinawa International Ocean Exposition that was held in Okinawa in 1975. OCF has been managing and maintaining the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium (OCA), the Okinawa Churashima Research Center (OCRC) and the Ocean Expo Park. OCA presents the rich nature of Okinawa’s marine environment and strives to create a place where people can encounter the abundant variety of sea life found in the Kuroshio Sea surrounding these southern isles. OCRC promotes advanced research, industrial development, and improvement of park functions for further contributions to society. For more information about OCA visit https://churaumi.okinawa/en/ About OCRC visit http://churashima.okinawa/en/ocrc/

About Marine Megafauna Foundation: MMF’s vision is a world in which marine life and humans thrive together and we aspire to attain it by saving threatened marine life. Our target group is marine megafauna, which is vital to the delicate balance of the marine ecosystem. When we protect ocean giants, we also achieve an umbrella protection for a wide variety of marine species. Consequently, we target coastal communities that represent the biggest threat to these species and, as a result, to their own food security. Through our 4 pillars, we provide an integrated solution: by using our research findings to educate and inspire the masses, we gather the necessary tools to provide sustainable marine conservation strategies for communities and policymakers to bring about lasting positive change. Finally, by empowering, informing and giving a voice to local communities, we help to create a generation of Ocean Ambassadors and Guardians, who cherish and understand the marine ecosystem. For further details, please see https://marinemegafaunafoundation.org/ and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

About Georgia Aquarium: Georgia Aquarium is a leading 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Atlanta, Ga. that is Humane Certified by American Humane and accredited by the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Georgia Aquarium is committed to working on behalf of all marine life through education, preservation, exceptional animal care, and research across the globe. Georgia Aquarium continues its mission each day to inspire, educate, and entertain its millions of guests about the aquatic biodiversity throughout the world through its hundreds of exhibits and tens of thousands of animals across its seven major galleries. For more information, visit georgiaaquarium.org

About Galapagos Science Center: Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ is a liberal arts, non-profit, private university located in Quito, Ecuador. It was the first totally private self-financed university in Ecuador and the first liberal-arts institution in the Andean region. Academically, USFQ ranks as one of the three-top universities (category A) in the ranking of Ecuadorian universities. USFQ is the only university in the world with a campus in the Galapagos Islands, and in the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve(Tiputini Biodiversity Station), one of Earth’s most biodiverse areas. The Galapagos Science Center (GSC) is a joint effort between USFQ and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). This facility was constructed on San Cristobal in the Galapagos Islands, with the aim of advancing a shared goal of promoting science and education that will help protect these fragile island ecosystems and enhance the lives of their inhabitants. For more information, visit http://galapagosscience.org.

About The Galapagos Conservation Trust: Galapagos Conservation Trust (GCT) is the only UK charity focussed solely on the conservation of one of the most unique and ecologically important, but vulnerable, areas in the world, the Galapagos Islands. With over 20 years of experience, we partner with Ecuadorian authorities, NGOs, local communities and leading researchers to support impactful Science & Conservation programmes and deliver community outreach across the Archipelago through our Education & Sustainability programme. We have been supporting the Galapagos Whale Shark Project since 2011. galapagosconservation.org.uk

About Planeterra’s Ocean Health Fund: In partnership with G Adventures, and supported by thousands of travellers from around the world who’ve sailed on the G Expedition ship, Planeterra has been able to support several organizations that specialize in protecting the health of our oceans. Planeterra has invested over $350,000 into these programs over the last five years through the Ocean Health Fund, with its most recent recipient of funds being the Galapagos Whale Shark Project. Planeterra is proud to support such a ground-breaking initiative, making new, important discoveries every day about the magnificent whale shark. Planeterra.org/oceans

About Planeterra Foundation: Planeterra is a non-profit organization, established in 2003 by G Adventures with a mission to connect partners and local communities to the benefits of tourism by developing and supporting community-owned enterprises while promoting more responsible travel. Planeterra connects social enterprises to the tourism marketplace by providing catalyst funding, capacity training, and a market link for small businesses supporting women, youth, Indigenous communities and organizations working for environmental conservation. For more information visit Planeterra.org

About G Adventures: G Adventures is a responsible adventure travel pioneer and social enterprise offering more than 700 affordable small group tours, safaris and expeditions to more than 100 countries on all continents. Powered by a global team of passionate travellers, the award-winning trips embrace local accommodation, cuisine and transport to put travellers on a first-name basis with the planet’s people, cultures, landscapes and wildlife. Their intimate and responsible approach to small group travel introduces travellers to the highlights of a destination while offering the freedom and flexibility to explore it on their own. Whatever age, interest, ability or budget, G Adventures has a true life-changing experience for everyone. For more information please visit www.gadventures.com

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Issue 45 - January 2019

The Destination Guide to Loving Your January Blues

There are two things about travelling that are hard: doing it on a budget and doing it in an eco-friendly way. Modern day travelling, by nature, has an impact on the environment – usually it involves flying or driving to destinations and staying in hotels which often choose convenience over the environment. This is understandable, when it can often be more expensive to act in an eco-friendly way.

road sign with arrows pointing to cities

However, it is becoming easier and easier to travel responsibly, as the issue gets more prominence in the public eye. Although people say that tourism often destroys destinations in need of preservation, often that’s actually not the case. The areas need tourism in order to fund their upkeep and sustainability – and as long as people act responsibly, they can be maintained for generations to come.

Whilst it is becoming easier to travel sustainably, it is undeniably expensive. But this January, we have the perfect solution, to tickle some travelling taste buds whilst helping you to save money. The Destination Guide to Loving Your January Blues flips the idea of the January Blues on its head and showcases some of the best blue inspired destinations in the world, with tips on how to travel to them and discount codes for booking them.

With the potential to save considerably on your holiday booking, acting in an eco-friendly way while out there might be a little easier, with that little bit of spare holiday budget to spend. Whilst choosing whether it’s the Blue Lagoon you fancy visiting, or the Blue Mountains in Australia, it might be worth researching into eco-friendly places to stay and places to visit as well.

It’s the small changes we make in our day to day lives that help conservation efforts and saving money here and there – on things you might not otherwise have saved on, like flights to your next holiday destination – that really make the difference in enabling us to act more responsibly towards the environment.

Discouraging people from travel is definitely not the answer – encouraging sustainable travel definitely is. And if that means helping people out with some savings here and there, to ensure they can pocket the extra cost of sustainable tourism, then it seems like a good step forward.

To explore the destinations the guide has to offer, click here.

world map with vacation destinations

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Issue 45 - January 2019

Plastics are forever.

By Tom Brinkworth

The rise of the global anti-plastic discourse was born from the visual effects of plastic pollution. A six-pack ringed turtle, a plastic ensnared dolphin or the waste-filled belly of a whale confronts us in a way that no issue purely founded in academia can. This is the great failure of plastic and the champion of the green movement – an associative image that draws an emotive response. It motivates action. This is particularly evident of plastic in marine environments.

plastic covered beach

“Plastic is the most prevalent type of marine debris found in our ocean”

These images can, for example, drive swathes of people to their local beach in tireless dedication to a regular ‘beach clean-up’ for which no compensation is received. And still, at a long day’s end, an individual will look back on the events of the day and take in a breath of self-satisfaction.

The invasive nature of plastic on Our visual perception fuels the anti-plastic movement. But, emerging research has revealed a dilemma.

What if, before days end on the beach clean-up, a net-touting scientist were to pass by only to describe your hard-cleaned beach as filthy? That your days efforts accomplished little more than a face-lift. What if this operation removed little more than a fraction of the plastic on said beach?

What if most plastics on said beach remained untouched because they are imperceptible to humans?

The classic idiom ‘out of sight and out of mind’ does not just describe a human tendency to remove from thought that which is out of sight. It also describes how sight motives action. In this case, sight motivates a denouncement of plastic.

microplastic in water

Enter, Microplastics.

Microplastics are not a new thing. Scientists and businesses have utilised them in everyday products since at least the late 1960s. But, only recently has the magnitude of their impact being realised.

So, what are these troubling denizens of a largely imperceptible world?

Microplastics are a subset classification given to plastic particles measuring 5mm wide or less. This class is broken again into two subcategories: primary and secondary.

Primary microplastics are intentionally produced as a raw material for use in pharmaceutical and cosmetic products; as an abrasive component; or as an additional component in many other industrial products.

Secondary microplastics are a by-product. It results from the fragmentation of larger plastic products, such as the breakdown of beach litter or the shedding of synthetic fibres in laundry. For example, synthetic clothing can release up to 700,000 microfibers during the average wash cycle.

Whether primary or secondary, all microplastics share at least one commonly concerning characteristic – durability.

The durability of microplastics and plastics in general, is the favoured property that spurred human interest. Now, this property presents one of the biggest threats to marine environments. As structural pollutants, they do not easily biodegrade and are highly persistent in marine environments.

“Nearly all plastic that has ever been released into the environment still exists today” – Aaron Jackson

fish swimming with microplastic

The Problem.

The study of microplastics is an emerging field in the sciences and has only recently gained traction. Hitherto research ventures have been poorly funded and the field is understudied. There is little known about the impacts of microplastics on marine life and food webs, for example, and the exact severity of their presence in the world’s marine environments.

As a fault of, the extensity and density of microplastic concentrations in the world’s waters is constantly being revised up, as study after study finds new regions with increasingly higher concentrations.

The findings of a study published in Nature Geoscience concerning the River Tame near Manchester took samples from 40 sites and found upwards of 500,000 particles in these areas alone. The same study discovered that during heavy flooding, around 40 billion particles are washed into the ocean.

A study in British Columbia found microplastics concentrations of 9,200 particles/m in seawater. A separate study found that the North Pacific Gyre, otherwise known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, increased from 331,809 pieces per square kilometre in 1999 to 19,912,037 in 2014.

Studies estimate a global microplastic index of around five trillion pieces. (Although this is believed to significantly underestimate the true figure).

Manta rays swimming through plastic

So?…

While studies are limited, the effect of microplastics on marine life is being realised. To many of these creatures, the true nature of microplastics is indiscernible, and it is mistaken for food or consumed unintentionally. Herein lies the danger.

Filter feeders, for example, are particularly susceptible to unintentionally ingesting microplastics. Creatures like whale sharks and manta rays swallow hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of water every day. This introduces microplastics into their body on a grand scale. In the Sea of Cortez, whale sharks were found to ingest 200 pieces of plastic per day. In the Mediterranean Sea, fin whales swallow about 2,000 microplastics per day.

Large filter feeders are not the only affected creatures. Microplastics effect all levels of the food web. Zooplankton have been observed ingesting up to 30.6 mm of microplastics – a hefty meal by the standards of Zooplankton.

The effects of microplastics on the body is an equally understudied field. But, evidence is emerging to suggest that the ingestion of microplastics is hazardous to marine animals. Known effects that occur from the ingestion of microplastics include nutritional stress, digestive system blockage, entanglement, inflammation, asphyxiation and more.

More concerning still is emerging evidence that suggests microplastics transport and bind to toxic chemicals, like phthalates; concentrates chemicals, like pesticides, in localised areas; and transports bacteria present in the surrounding seawater or that has been acquired during the transition from land to sea. All of which may be transferred into the body and have adverse toxicological effects.

Nano particles have been observed crossing the cell membrane and causing tissue damage; ingesting these chemicals and pollutants can affect the physiology of the host organism; persistent exposure can compromise a species fitness et cetera.

In the current timeframe of awareness and with the minimal breadth of information available to us, it is difficult to surmise the precise scale and breadth of potential issues. But, precedents set by past and current anthropogenic problems raise concerns around several potential effects, including bio-magnification and chronic toxicity. The concerns don’t stop here.

The most confronting insight for many is the realisation that microplastics have long been impacting humans. While indirectly affecting humans through bioavailability, microplastics in the food web has transpired into direct consumption of said plastics. For example, a study in Europe found that occasional consumers of shellfish may ingest up to 11,000 microplastics a year from this meal alone.

A review of 250 bottles from 11 leading water distribution brands found that 93 percent of the samples had on average 315 microplastics per litre. One sample contained more than 10,000 particles per litre.

beach town faced with plastic pollution forever

Our future.

Plastic pollution has been synonymous with the recent history of man. As our societies have continued to move forward founded on ineffective waste management strategies and outdated perceptions, the issues of plastic pollution are worsening.

Globally, more than 330 million metric tons of plastic is produced each year. There are few adequate ways to dispose of said waste. Landfills simply concentrate plastics in a localised area and kick the can down the road. And, this most popular of methods collects microplastics that eventually reach marine environments through the airways during the breakdown process.

The failings of other disposal methods are far less… subtle. In the Pacific Ocean, nestled between California and Hawaii, an expanse 3 times the size of France contains a garbage patch fed by four ocean currents. It boasts the highest recorded concentration of plastic, comprising an estimated 80,000 tonnes of the material.

A seemingly endless and unbelievable list of the impacts humans have had on the environment through plastic pollution are easily searchable. But, even without research, it seems common sense that plastic pollution has been disastrous and requires drastic action.

The answer to halting future pollution is simple: stop using plastics. The solution to our past is nowhere near as simple. For in the same manner as diamonds, plastics are forever. (Diamonds are not actually forever. They eventually break down into graphite).

Tom Brinkworth is an ardent conservationist, explorer and photographer hailing from the South Coast of Australia. Recognising our planet’s fleeting voice and eclectic beauty, he devotes much of his time in pursuit of them.

www.thegreennomad.org

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