The move aims to step up efforts to investigate marine poaching, because illegal operations by foreign vessels are believed to be one of the reasons behind recent poor catches in Japan of sanma saury and other marine products. The envisioned scheme will use a system called Global Fishing Watch, which was developed by the U.S. information technology giant and other entities. The system can display ships’ positions and courses on a map, based on information sent from the vessels’ automatic ship identification systems that is received by satellites and base stations on the ground. It is expected that the system will make it easier to find which ships are operating in areas where fishing is prohibited, and to which ports products caught in illegal fishing are being delivered. The FRA will provide images of ships and other data to Google, which will provide map data such as vessel movements. They plan to start their investigations in the Pacific. The FRA … [Read more...] about Japan fisheries institute, Google to work on system to monitor illegal fishing
Marine research institute
Whale killed by Iceland fishermen was not protected species: Institute
A whale killed by Icelandic fishermen at the beginning of July was not a rare blue whale, as marine conservationists had claimed, and was therefore not protected, a scientific institute said on Thursday. The whale which was harpooned and landed at an Icelandic whaling station on July 7 was a hybrid between a blue whale and a fin whale, the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute in Reykjavik said in a statement. Sea Shepherd, an international non-profit marine conservation movement, had claimed the mammal was a rare blue whale, the world's largest leviathan which the International Whaling Commission has been protecting since 1966. But the whaling station, Hvalur hf, argued that the animal was a fin whale, the second largest animal on the planet, which can be legally hunted in Iceland despite an international moratorium on whaling. In its statement, the MFRI said that a genetic analysis had shown that the butchered animal was, in fact, "a hybrid of a fin whale father and a blue whale … [Read more...] about Whale killed by Iceland fishermen was not protected species: Institute
Nanoplastics found to accumulate in marine organisms, risk being transferred up food chain: NUS study
SINGAPORE: Plastic nanoparticles - plastic pieces smaller than 1 micrometre - have been found to accumulate in certain marine organisms and could be transferred up the food chain, according to a study by scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS).It is estimated that there are more than 150 million tonnes of plastic in the world's oceans, with 8 million tonnes ending up there every year, according to an NUS press release published on Thursday (May 31).This plastic can get broken down into smaller pieces and eaten by marine animals that mistake them for food.The NUS research team looked at smaller pieces of plastic - nanoplastics - using barnacles and their larvae to understand how nanoplastics could impact marine organisms.As barnacle larvae are transparent until they mature, feeding them with flourescent, non-toxic nanoplastics meant the researchers could easily spot these under the microscope."Their short life cycle and transparent bodies made it easy to track … [Read more...] about Nanoplastics found to accumulate in marine organisms, risk being transferred up food chain: NUS study
NUS researchers discover mysterious sea creatures underneath Indian Ocean near Java
Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) conducted a joint scientific underwater expedition in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Java, where they discovered at least 11 bizarre deep-sea creatures that were unknown to science or the marine world. After a two-week-long joint expedition, researchers collected over 12,000 specimens from 63 sites of the southern coast of West Java, as they sailed from Jakarta to Cilacap town. The expedition covered the Indian Ocean of Java's southern coast as well as the Sunda Strait which separated the island from Sumatra. AFP reported that Peter Ng, who is the head of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum at NUS and the chief scientist for the Singapore research team said that the team was surprised at their findings, as this part of the Indian Ocean has never been explored for the deep-sea animals. The researchers never had any idea about what they were going to find, he said. The … [Read more...] about NUS researchers discover mysterious sea creatures underneath Indian Ocean near Java
Researchers discover mysterious sea creatures underneath Indian Ocean near Java
Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) conducted a joint scientific underwater expedition in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Java, where they discovered at least 11 bizarre deep-sea creatures that were unknown to science or the marine world. After a two-week-long joint expedition, researchers collected over 12,000 specimens from 63 sites of the southern coast of West Java, as they sailed from Jakarta to Cilacap town. The expedition covered the Indian Ocean of Java's southern coast as well as the Sunda Strait which separated the island from Sumatra. AFP reported that Peter Ng, who is the head of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum at NUS and the chief scientist for the Singapore research team said that the team was surprised at their findings, as this part of the Indian Ocean has never been explored for the deep-sea animals. The researchers never had any idea about what they were going to find, he said. The … [Read more...] about Researchers discover mysterious sea creatures underneath Indian Ocean near Java