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The echosounder will be launched
in 2013, commercialized by Simrad
(Horten, Norway).
In addition to the echosounder,
WESTZOO researchers have developed a stereo camera method for photographing organisms being measured
in ocean depths. The photos are used
to verify the patterns and data detected
by the echosounder. The researchers
also created an acoustic probe to quantify and distinguish fsh and plankton
down to depths of 1,500 meters.
EU's DEVOTES Aims to Improve
Marine Monitoring Strategies
The European Union (EU) in November launched the DEVOTES (DEVelopment Of innovative Tools for
understanding marine biodiversity and
assessing good Environmental Status)
project, which aims to explore how
marine biodiversity is measured and
to support the development of costeffective systems in monitoring and
management strategies.
The four-year DEVOTES project,
which has a €12 million fund, involves
more than 250 scientists in 23 research
centres from 12 EU countries, as well
as Ukraine, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and
the U.S. Ángel Borja, principal investigator at AZTI-Tecnalia's marine research division, will coordinate the
project.
The scientists will develop and validate innovative tools that relate to ecological theory and assessment. These
include remote sensing, modeling and
genomics. The goal is to advance the
understanding of the changes in ecosystems and biodiversity.
With the information and products
generated during the DEVOTES project, the researchers will propose to the
European authorities some measures
contributing to the sustainable use of
seas and marine resources.
Tagging Research Reveals Tracks
Of Mako Shark in High Resolution
A satellite-reporting tagging device
known as a Smart Position and Temperature (SPOT) tag, attached to a shortfn
mako shark in New Zealand, is providing scientists previously unknown
details of the species' timing and longdistance migratory movements.
As of November, the juvenile
shark had traveled 5,700 miles in fve
months, averaging 60 miles per day.
The Guy Harvey Research Institute
(GHRI) at Nova Southeastern University is collaborating with the New
Zealand National Institute of Water
and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) on
the tagging experiment with Carol, the
shortfn mako shark.
The SPOT tag revealed the shark
spends a lot of time at the ocean surface, reporting its location to the satellite several times daily. The shark's
movements are tracked at www.nova.
edu/~johnmatt/makosharks.htm.
"Conventional identifcation tags
tell us little about the timing of mako
shark movements, the route that they
take or distance traveled," said Malcolm Francis, who is leading the NIWA
effort on this study.
Since makos are often fshed for
their fns and meat, their population
trends are declining in parts. They are
listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature
Red List of threatened species.
The GHRI and NIWA plan to expand this study off New Zealand starting
in January 2013. The GHRI is working
with Keen M International (Isla Mujeres,
Mexico) to compare the migratory patterns of mako sharks in the Atlantic by
tagging them off Isla Mujeres. n
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