Humpbacks and the world they live in

The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is one of the largest whales found in our planet, up to 45 feet in length (13.716 in meters) and weighs about a ton per foot (or 2,976 kg per m). Based on its current population, the IUCN considers them under the global Threatened Red List status as “of least concern”. Note however, that for some populations, e.g., in the Philippines, they are considered as “Vulnerable”, and in the Arabian Sea as “Endangered”. The species is relatively well studied, though only a few studies have focused on its mid-ocean migratory behaviour. The documentary from Bermuda “Where the Whales Sing” by Andrew Stevenson is the first that documents this migration in detail, and which discusses the humpback’s habitat, ecology, behavior, threats, and most importantly, advocates for its protection.

Written by:

Patricia Yap

Research Assistant

The SeaLifeBase Project

FishBase and SeaLifeBase in Mundus Maris website

FishBase and the SeaLifeBase are featured in the Biodiversity section of the Mundus Maris website.

FishBase and SeaLifeBase in Mundus Maris

Mundus Maris is a group of scientists, artists, educators, concerned parents from different regions of the world to provide scientific and relevant indigenous knowledge and encourage artistic expression about the marine environment to promote its restoration, conservation and sustainable use.

Posted by:

Lealde Pacres-Urriquia

Research Assistant

The SeaLifeBase Project

New publication in PLOS ONE

SeaLifeBase Project Principal Investigator Daniel Pauly and SeaLifeBase Project Coordinator Maria Lourdes Palomares are co-authors in a new publication entitled "Gaining Perspective on What We’ve Lost: The Reliability of Encoded Anecdotes in Historical Ecology", published in the peer-reviewed open-access journal PLOS ONE.

Abstract:

Historical data are essential in fisheries management and conservation, especially for species that suffered significant population declines prior to ecological data collection. Within the field of historical marine ecology, studies have relied on anecdotal evidence, such as written accounts by explorers and interviews of different generations of resource users, to demonstrate the former abundance of certain species and the extent of their ranges. Yet, do we all agree on how these anecdotes are interpreted? This study examines the way that different people interpret anecdotes extracted from historical narratives. We outsource a survey to 50 randomly selected people using Amazon Mechanical Turk (www.mturk.com) and ask them to ‘code’ historical anecdotes based on their perceived abundance of species. We perform intercoder reliability tests to show that people's perceptions of historical anecdotes are generally consistent. The results speak to the reliability of using people's perceptions to acquire quantitative data, and provide novel insights into the use of anecdotal evidence to inform historical ecology.

Read and/or download the rest of the paper here.

Posted by:

Lealde Pacres-Urriquia

Research Assistant

The SeaLifeBase Project

2nd Aquatic Wildlife Rescue Manual Series Write-shop: Marine Mammals

As we mentioned in our earlier post, the SeaLifeBase Project participated in a meeting of marine mammal researchers, coordinated by the Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines (MWWP), to draft and publish a rescue manual for stranded marine mammals in the Philippines.

Marine mammal rescue initiatives in the Philippines started in the late 1990’s, albeit without the benefit of a standardized rescue manual. This workshop is thus responding to this need.

Philippine marine mammal researchers.

The group was composed of 16 participants from the following organizations/institutions: Silliman University, Philippine Council for Sustainable Development, MWWP, SeaLifeBase Project, Davao Bone Collector Museum, and The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources - National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (BFAR-NFRDI) and other institutions, not present, but who provided their inputs via correspondences.

Insights from field practitioners provided by representatives from Palawan, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Calatagan, and Davao, helped build a framework for rescue field procedures. This manual will hopefully be given an official government seal for distribution to users within the Philippines (identified by the MWWP). Given government and private sector support, establishing trained rescue teams in areas where marine mammals may occur is the next step.

This workshop was held in Bontocs Bed and Breakfast in Anilao, Batangas, Philippines on 22-24 August 2012.

Written by:

Patricia Yap

Research Assistant

The SeaLifeBase Project

The banded piglet squid

Photo from this article of The Telegraph.

Look, this looks like something right out of a cartoon page!

This is the Helicocranchia pfefferi, and unfortunately, we have limited data for this species.

Do you have some photos or literature about this species that you can share? Be one of our collaborators and help us know more about this species. Do not hesitate to shoot us an email, we look forward to hearing from you!

Written by:

Jeniffer Espedido

Research Assistant

The SeaLifeBase Project