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Tag: Atlantic Ocean

  • Great White Shark Crosses Atlantic

    Great White Shark Crosses Atlantic

    A 14-foot great white shark named Lydia was recently recorded traveling across the Atlantic Ocean. The shark was the first known white shark to swim across the Atlantic.

    The 2,000-pound shark was tagged by Ocearch scientists last March in Jacksonville, Fla. The female was tagged crossing the mid-Atlantic ridge on Sunday morning, officially entering the eastern Atlantic.

    “Truly a momentous occasion, Lydia has etched her place in the history of Atlantic white shark research and showed the power and value of SPOT tagging. She is single handedly raising awareness around the world,” said John Chisholm a Fisheries Biologist at the Massachusetts Shark Research Program.

    “Our 14ft. 2000 lb. white shark Lydia made history this morning by crossing over the mid-Atlantic ridge. This is the first documented trans-Atlantic white shark migration. Welcome to the history books Lydia!”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jahuJPjEU14

    The large female shark traveled over 19,000 miles in various directions since she was tagged.

    “Lydia’s remarkable trans-ocean journey reminds us that no one locality, state, or nation owns these remarkable migrators of the sea. If we are to save the sharks, we have an obligation not only to protect them in our waters, but also to work with other countries towards global conservation of sharks,” said Bob Hueter of Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium.

    Lydia traveled from Bermuda to the cold waters of Canada showing off the great white’s extreme stamina. It seems after all these travels, the great white might be pregnant.

    “I would guess that Lydia is pregnant, and that she has been out in the open ocean gestating her babies and that this spring she will lead us to where those baby white sharks are born-the nursery,” Expedition Leader Chris Fischer proclaimed on Ocearch’s Facebook page.

    You can track Lydia’s amazing voyage here.

    Image Via YouTube

  • Great White Shark Tracked For The First Time Crossing The Atlantic Ocean

    A mature female great white shark nicknamed Lydia was tagged off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida in March of last year. Since then, the researchers have been keeping a close eye on her. This weekend, almost a year later, researchers saw that she was on her way across the Atlantic Ocean. It was a milestone, since there had been no records documenting such a feat by a great white. Lydia’s current position is east of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and she seems to be headed towards the coast of the Cornwall peninsula in the U.K.

    The discovery that great white sharks can make long-distance trips has started to change the way science regards the species. For instance, it could be a factor when looking at the ways to conserve the shark population. According to Bob Hueter of the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, if sharks are to be saved, scientists and advocates must not only protect the animals where they live, but “also work with other countries towards global conservation.”

    Lydia now holds the distinction of traveling the farthest distance of any known great white shark. She has covered around 20,000 miles, including her trips along the East Coast of the United States. In 2004, another female great white was discovered to have swam from South Africa to Western Australia and back. Her journey back and forth across the Indian Ocean was tallied at 12,427 miles.

    Advances in technology have enabled scientists to track large predators such as Lydia. The group that developed the method used to secure and tag her, Ocearch.org, shows a real-time track of the great white on its website. Lydia’s tag, attached to her dorsal fin, is tracked by satellite. When she swims, her dorsal fin rises above the water’s surface, and the tag transmits location data.

    Before Lydia’s tag was developed, scientists made use of archival tags that stored information until these were retrieved. Researchers then downloaded the data to recreate where the shark had been.

    Watch “Lydia”, the great white shark, get ready for the Atlantic Ocean

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Navy Jet Crash: Rescued Pilot Recovering In Critical Care

    A Navy pilot who crashed into the Atlantic Ocean this afternoon has survived and is now recovering in hospital.

    The F-18 fighter pilot’s aircraft went down off the coast of Virginia earlier today during a training run. After ejecting from his aircraft, the pilot was first collected by a passing “good Samaritan”, the Navy says. The fisherman traveling in his vessel nearby showed up within about ten minutes after a second pilot who was also involved in the mission pinpointed his position.

    The unidentified pilot was then recovered by a Navy Hawk helicopter and subsequently taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital where he is currently listed as being in critical condition.

    Naval Spokesman ,Cmdr. Mike Kafka, indicated that the crash occurred around 2:35 p.m., roughly 50 miles off Virginia Beach. Although Kafka has reported that the pilot was both conscious and in critical condition, he did not offer any additional details regarding the crash or the status of the pilot.

    This incident arises just a week after a separate and fatal Navy crash.

    On January 8, a Navy MH-53E helicopter that was also on a training run crashed about 18 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. Five crew members were aboard the aircraft as it was performing a routine mine countermeasure training run. While two of those aboard survived the ocean wreck, the event tragically claimed three lives.

    The memorial service for the three crew members of last week’s crash has been scheduled for Friday at Naval Station Norfolk.

    Image via Youtube

  • Nigerian Cook Survives 60 Hours Underwater

    A Nigerian cook, wearing only boxer shorts, survived for roughly 60 hours in the Atlantic Ocean, after locating a pocket of air inside the sunken tugboat he was in

    Harrison Odjegba Okene, 29, was the cook on a tugboat called Jacson-4, which sunk about 20 miles off the Nigerian coast on May 26th. Jacson-4 capsized while stabilizing an oil tanker filling up at a Chevron platform during rough seas. Eleven other crew members drowned, but Okene was able to find a small air pocket, which sustained him for almost three days, before South African divers found him.

    Okene says he was in the bathroom when he realized the tugboat was beginning to capsize, and as water began pouring in, he flung open the door to the toilet and made his way to a small adjoining crew quarter. For almost 60 hours, the cook was then amazingly able to survive while breathing on a slowly diminishing 4-foot pocket of air, over 90 feet below the surface of the ocean.

    Here’s a surreal clip of the rescue:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr9zNznYd98

    “I was there in the water in total darkness just thinking it’s the end. I kept thinking the water was going to fill up the room but it did not,” Okene said, adding, “I was so hungry but mostly so, so thirsty. The salt water took the skin off my tongue.” Seawater got into his mouth, which chafed his tongue, though he had nothing to eat or drink during his time in the air bubble.

    At one point, Okene decided to swim into the officer’s quarters to retrieve some wall paneling to attempt to build a small raft to keep his body more elevated. At this point, he felt that he wasn’t alone – “I was very, very cold and it was black. I couldn’t see anything,” Okene said, “But I could perceive the dead bodies of my crew were nearby. I could smell them. The fish came in and began eating the bodies. I could hear the sound. It was horror.”

    As time wore on in the wreckage, Okene recited a psalm his wife had sent by text message:

    Oh God, by your name, save me. … The Lord sustains my life.

    Eventually Chevron and the ship’s owners, West African Ventures, were searching for crew members, and Okene heard them on May 28. “I heard a sound of a hammer hitting the vessel. Boom, boom, boom. I swam down and found a water dispenser. I pulled the water filter and I hammered the side of the vessel hoping someone would hear me. Then the diver must have heard a sound.”

    Divers rescued Okene, who then spent an additional 60 hours in a decompression chamber. There was a chance he wouldn’t survive if immediately exposed to normal atmospheric pressure.

    Image via YouTube.

  • Lionfish Invasion Could Lead To What’s For Dinner

    Lionfish, the prickly fifteen-inch increasingly dominant Atlantic marine creature, is growing in abundance at an alarming rate. Intimidating to stare down, these fish are becoming quite the appetizing dish lately.

    Lionfish are presently considered a threat due to the excessive growth rate (females can produce 30,000 to 40,000 eggs at one time) of these spiked fish, which led to efforts at population control because of a series of factors.

    Steve Gittings, who is the science program manager for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Sanctuary Program, best explained the reason behind population control for lionfish.

    “Without any known predators, and apparently no significant diseases or parasitic controls in Atlantic ecosystems, their numbers continue to skyrocket,” Steve Gittings said.

    The director of special projects for the non-profit conservation group REEF, Lad Akins, spoke about the benefits of getting the lionfish out of the oceans, which would be achieved by encouraging the human consumption of the fish.

    “We certainly want to see lionfish in more restaurants because as it goes into the market place, it creates a demand. Anything that removes them out of the water is a good thing,” Lad Akins said.

    Fortunately, the cooking process as well as the procedure of severing the meat of the fish from the poisonous spikes, prevents any poison from harming people when eating the lionfish.

    According to Tony Fins, who is a representative for the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, “Lionfish are the biggest threat to ecosystem, not only in Florida, but also the Caribbean. We all know this is a problem, so let’s speed up the process.”

    According to David Link, who is the manager of the Food Shack in Jupiter, Florida, “It’s deadly, but it’s one of most delicious fish you’ll ever eat.” That’s one way to put it. Another avenue of thought was best explained by food supplier Mano Calambichis who co-owns Big Chef.

    “We better learn how to eat them, before they eat us,” Mano Calambichis said.

    [Image Via Wikimedia Commons]

  • Lionfish Invasion: Atlantic Ocean Not The Same

    Venomous. Fast. Deadly. Will swallow food whole every time. Subject to only one known predator, which includes humans. What could this describe? The lionfish (native of the Pacific and Indian oceans) is the creature that is now taking over the Atlantic Ocean.

    Roughly sized at fifteen inches, these marine creatures are not intimidating for their size, but rather the poisonous protrusions on their bodies. Typically active during the day, lionfish are found in rocky, shallow bays as well as coral reefs where camouflage is capable.

    Graham Maddocks, the president of Ocean Support Foundation, recently spoke with CNN about the invasion. “The lionfish invasion is probably the worst environmental disaster the Atlantic will ever face.”

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    Graham Maddocks went on to further explain, “I don’t know if we can stop the lionfish invasion. This isn’t a battle we can win, we can only maintain. Human beings started this problem. It is our fault they are here. We have to take responsibility and try to fix or hope we can control it.”

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    James Morris, an ecologist with the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, echoed the sentiments of Graham Maddocks in a recent phone interview with CNN.

    “It’s an infestation. The Atlantic Ocean is a big place, but the areas being affected are extremely important,” James Morris said.

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    Concerns for the ecosystem focus around the capacity of the lionfish to devour other types of fish that cross their paths. Lionfish can produce 30,000 to 40,000 eggs within just a few days time and it is not unheard of for these fish to live for fifteen years, which equates with the potential for a high volume of unstoppable fish to dominate whatever areas these marine creatures inhabit. The potential for the survival of other types of marine life that inhabit the same space may be grim.

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    Lionfish have poison in the needle-like protrusions from their bodies; however, there is no poison within the flesh of the fish and as such humans can consume without fear of ingesting poison. Many people have previously been afraid to eat the fish due to myths about the type of poison.

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    Efforts have been underway in order to control the population of lionfish, which includes nine various subspecies. Some of the ongoing efforts for population control have included promoting lionfish tournaments and community-wide events such as fish fries.

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    Though the concern is far from over, people must continue to strive to maintain an eco-friendly balance where one species does not overtake the others.

    [Images Via Wikimedia Commons Courtesy of LASZLO ILYES, Serge Melki, Sebastian Wallroth, Daniel Dietrich and Ocean Support Foundation’s Facebook Page]