The Scanner: Moving Forward Edition - Oceana USA
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March 26, 2010

The Scanner: Moving Forward Edition

Happy Friday, everyone.

It’s been a rough few weeks for the oceans at CITES, but now it’s time to pick up the pieces. If CITES taught us anything, it’s that the work of the ocean conservation community is more important than ever.

This week in ocean news,

….Rick at Malaria, Bed bugs, Sea Lice and Sunsets discussed one of the more shady aspects of CITES: the secret ballots, which were invoked for votes on bluefin tuna, sharks, polar bears, and deep water corals.

…The Washington Post reported that Maryland is cracking down on watermen who catch oysters in protected sanctuaries or with banned equipment. Once a principal source of oysters, the Chesapeake now provides less than 5 percent of the annual U.S. harvest.

…For the first time, scientists were able to use videos to observe octupuses’ behavioral responses. The result? The octupuses had no consistent reaction to one film — in other words, they had no “personality.” Curiously, other cephalopods display consistent personalities for most of their lives.

…The New York Times wondered if the 700,000 saltwater home aquariums in the United States and the associated trade in reef invertebrates are threatening real reef ecosystems.