The Scanner: Snowy Edition - Oceana USA
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February 12, 2010

The Scanner: Snowy Edition

As you’ve no doubt heard, Father Winter dealt the DC area a record-breaking series of blizzards this week, so it’s been quiet on the blog. While we were breaking our snow shovels (at least I did) and fighting cabin fever, the oceans were making news. Here’s your weekly digest:

…A new study reports, unsurprisingly, that the world’s first experimental marine protected area closed to fisheries has had immediate benefits for the endangered African penguin. The African penguin’s population has decreased by 90 percent during the 20th century because their primary food source, sardines, have shifted due to overfishing and warming oceans.

… After last month’s freeze in Florida, more than 4,000 cold-stunned sea turtles were rescued. 200 to 300 injured sea turtles are still receiving treatment.

…Both sides of the climate debate tried to use the East Coast’s snowy winter as ammo. And while one frigid season does not a climate make, “there is evidence that such events will probably become more frequent as global temperatures rise.”

…SeaNotes reports on the “immortal jellyfish”, Turritopsis nutricula, which is able to perform transdifferentiation by reverting back from mature (medusa) to immature (polyp) life stages.

…Salt belongs in the oceans, not so much on roads. Discovery News points out that the 22 million tons of road salt used nationwide each year may help melt snow and ice, but it can also harm plants, aquatic life and groundwater. New techniques and chemicals are in development, but for now the salt assault continues.