The end of the Amazon Rainforest?

The end of the Amazon rainforest could be in sight if a highly controversial road is allowed to go ahead, ploughing its way through the heart of Peru's most pristine rainforest, disturbing at least two previously un-contacted tribes.

The proposed road will connect directly with the 'Inter-Oceanica' highway, already well under way in Brazil, that would make road transport possible between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

Such a highway has been the nightmare of conservationists for years, but until now political instability in the entire Amazon region has kept the completion of it at bay.

However, recently, many inter-Amazonian governments have stabilised due to high economic growth fuelled by a number of factors, including not least the boom in the Chinese economy that has seen investment in the Latin American region spiral without check.



If the 'Inter-Oceanica' highway goes ahead the fragmentation of the Amazon basin is likely to grow apace, so bringing the end the huge rainforest tract as we know it.

Blue Shark Azores Gallery

I've just got around to posting some images in our blue shark gallery. If anyone is thinking of joining us for the 2012 season with a hosted trip to the Azores with our chosen top operator, don't hesitate to get in touch.

Humboldt Giant Mantas Exceed Expectations

Of any project, the field work is where the foundations are laid for successful data processing. Processing that data is maybe not as action packed as collecting it, but it is equally as engaging and fascinating. It is here, in the frigid blue light of a computer station that the real secrets of what we discover are revealed.

I have probably mentioned already that the start to this season was depressingly non productive. Almost a whole month without seeing a manta, but the later stages of the field work more than made up for the lull at the start. Herein lies something of a problem. Last year I chose a later field trip, but frustrated by local reports of mantas earlier in the season, in 2011 I organised an earlier field season to try to take advantage of those early mantas, and perhaps avoid the blank two weeks suffered in 2010 as the mantas left early. Our budget only stretches so far and aiming our field time to coincide with these mantas remains something of a guessing game. Unfortunately in a script written by murphy himself, the mantas arrived and left late, a complete opposite to last year.

Just as we finished the field work, some critical hardware problems caused a delay in processing of the data, but luckily our hard copy originals saved the day. Now, as our mantas are somewhere perhaps distant, and certainly a yet unknown, I am wading through gigabyte after gigabyte of data. It is going to take some time yet but early results show an increase in our year on year re-sightings. This is encouraging as previously we had only managed to capture one re-sighting. Whilst it is great to see new manta after new manta, it is important to quantify a result and simple addition is of little value for this purpose.

Another result that looks promising is that this year a greater percentage of females were recorded. Although the population remains predominantly male it is interesting to note at least one year where we captured more females than normal. There are some trends beginning to show. Our repeat sightings show some interesting patterns, and the next batch of ID’s I am working on will hopefully underline these early suggestions.

Piece by piece, my small dedicated team and I are beginning to reveal the secrets of this population. We look forward to what we will find out about them as we reach further into their unknown territory.

This post also appears on my Save Our Seas blog entry.

Is Shark Porn a Recent Fad?

Here's a great video recently published of a shark subject heavy conference occurred at the California Academy of Sciences. A number of speakers cover a variety of subjects from shark attacks, to the politics of protective legislation, to the role sharks play in coral reefs. You can see the video here on web conference channel FORA.tv.

One part of the conference that I found interesting was where Juliet Eilperin talks about the celebrated painting Watson and the Shark by John Singleton Copley. I am not going to add my own overview of the ins and outs of the painting as you can read a full breakdown of events here, but what is interesting is that the painting was commissioned by the victim himself, and helped him further his career as a politician. Watson became the Lord Mayor of London between 1796-97.

So, long before The Sun newspaper got to dream up such killer headlines as Der-Dum Der-Dum (come on Sun you can do better) when someone saw a basking shark off the Cornish coast, the modern artists of the day back in the 18th Century were already at it. The public loved it too, and the painting propelled Copley to wider recognition, particularly in the UK. Less can be said for Watson, whose political enemies regularly commented that a wooden head would have served him better than the wooden leg left him by the shark.

Disclaimer: Shark Porn, for those who don't know it, is a derogatory term used by the conservation movement to refer to the poor level of media coverage ascribed to the subject of sharks, usually resulting in poor quality coverage of shark attacks and high drama, rather than informative biology or conservation based documentary. It is not my attempt at using porn as a keyword to get more hits ;)

WHO THE HELL IS DAVID SHIFFMAN?

It just so happens he's probably one of the best marine science and conservation bloggers of today. This doubtless won't be the the only post written about this energetic young blogger and academic, as he is possibly quite close to winning $10,000 US in a blog voting contest that has got the shark world in a bit of excitement. It is almost crazy to think that a blog that heralds sharks as worthy beings on our planet would be so popular, something almost unthinkable just a few years ago, but such has been the momentum in the wider community to get people to love our sharks, and to consider the toothy carnivores as not just the domain of heavy metal loners sporting dodgy T-shirts, and misinformed film directors. (seriously, if you are over eight years old and wear a T-shirt like that, there IS something wrong with you).

So, here's a blog wishing shiffers good luck over the next few hours, I see there are a couple of competitors creeping up the ranks today (ooooh). Keep writing fun and engaging blogs David and I'm sure you will be successful for a long time to come. It is refreshing to see someone who doesn't have an ego so big they can't get out of bed due to the weight, and, well, by the looks of the shirts you wear, I don't think you have any ego at all :)

Giant Mantas in Peru

Migration is an eco-sexy word. You might be studying something altogether beautiful and inspiring in shape and form, but if you can say that is migrates as well, wow! That is really something. Think of those poor people studying elephants, they can only say that in the good old days before human population explosion and the great white hunter, that their subjects 'used to migrate'. Now elephant gurus have to deal with the fact that their subjects will most probably be retained behind the same piece of park boundary for all eternity, or at least until either a.) the elephant gets angry and breaks out, or b.) an angry poacher breaks in and the elephant gets shot. All joking aside, the best migrations are happening in the ocean, with many megafauna species migrating vast tracts of open ocean, in some cases such as certain whale species, the great white, the basking shark, these big guys can migrate half way around the planet. That is amazing! Whilst it might be considered that such a trait can render a species indelible in the public minds eye, migration also presents those charged with studying them a few problems. If it can be ascertained that saving a species in one country is beneficial, there are examples out there of real and very valuable conservation initiatives making changes on the legislative slate. However, if the species, so protected in once country, migrates, then it is only protected whilst it is within the boundaries of that country. Once it is outside, on the way to wherever it goes, it is as at risk as if never protected. The only real way to protect such migratory species are via international treaties such as CITES listing, or listing on a CMS appendicies as I beleive is going to happen with Manta birostris this month at the CMS COP in Bergen, Norway. With the mantas I am involved with in the Pacific, sits a perfect example. Protected in Ecuador since 2010 after an explosion in mobula take inspired a local reaction and pressure upon the government into prompt action, mantas are without protection in the neighbouring country of Peru. On a recent visit there, I saw first hand incidence of multiple mobula catches, and met face to face a fisherman that claims to be taking over 100 giant manta rays per season. The guy in the top image was out taxi driver on one day, who decided to buy a mobula wing for his lunch. Mobula and mantas all go for local trade within Peru, sold for a regional dish known as chinquirito. It is a type of dried ceviche dish of which ray wings are a sought after, primary ingredient. My aim for the next few years will be to see how I might help the local parties within Peru to bring about a change in attitude towards mantas and mobulas, so that these migratory species can continue their inspiring existence for many years to come.

Hummingbirds in flight

One of my favourite images from this year. It is a hummingbird about to arrive on a flower. They are very quick birds, zipping around so fast they are virtually impossible to capture in a photograph. The hummingbird society says of them "On the one hand, hummingbirds appear tiny and delicate: the average hummer weights only about 1/10 ounce (3-4 grams). Yet they are hardy and resilient: some species annually migrate as much as 3,000 miles each way." Want to join us to photograph hummingbirds in the wild? Look here.