2004-07-23

Posted at 20:19 UT by Tamara

 

Broadcast Cable Series:
Tamara Lynn Scott
Segment 82: Endangered Species of the World
California's Endangered Species
Segment Run time:29:48
Interviews at Monterey Bay Aquarium with Debbie Hutchinson and Karen Jefferies
Copyright 2004 Tamara Lynn Scott

Opening Musical Theme:

United

We are United together,
Every link entwined.
We are United together,
In each hope to find.
We are United together,
In our reasons why.

Be who you are.
Be who you are.
It’s all we are.
United.

We are a part,
The soul and the heart.
We are the try,
The secret of wise.
Here in our hearts.
Here in our minds.
Here in our lives,
The secret of time.

We are beginning
to open our eyes,
Only beginning
to see,
realize,
One World.

United together,
Every link entwined.
United together,
in each hope to rise.
United together,
in each dream that shines.

Be who you are.
Be who you are.
It’s all we are.

United.

Sharks: Myth and Mystery

Interview with Karen Jefferies

"This one coming up on the left is a Zebra Shark.
It has distinct stripes."

"Beautiful!
Are they very rare?"

"No. They're typical reef sharks."

"These are the Pacific Islands.
The Corals are endangered world-wide aren't they?"

"Yes. These are not live corals.
That's a Black tipped reef shark.
The other is a White tipped reef shark."

"Can they breed together?"

"No. They’re two different species.
She’s got a bit of a story.
Her name is Jig Saw.
She lived with a family in Pleasanton who bought her from a pet store when she was very young. in a 1800 gallon home tank, and she was outgrowing that."
"We get a lot of calls from people saying they have sharks that have grown really big, asking us to take them. This time we said yes, because we were doing this exhibit."
"We do not encourage people to have sharks as a pet."

"Because they over grow- like Tigers?"

"They're wild animals, and more importantly, they have very specific dietary and water quality needs, difficult to maintain in an aquarium like this, let alone at a home aquarium."
"She's very used to people. She lived with them for three years, and then we brought her over here. And we've got her healthy. She's doing well."

"When the feeders go in there, do the sharks nibble on their toes? Or do they leave them alone and wait for them to feed them shrimp or something?"

"These two sharks are known to , if they get bugged or something, they'll go after them, but they're not considered aggressive."

"Beautiful blue eyes on that Zebra shark! Why do they call it Zebra when it's got spots?"

"When it's young it has very distinct stripes."

"Interesting leopard kind of spots.
Are the patternings all unique?
Can you recognize the sharks by the patterning on its back, kind of like a tiger?"

"That's a good question. I don't know."

"A beautiful shark! What do you feed them?"

"These are fed fish, probablly smelt. These are fish eaters."

"You have Dory, the finding nemo fish, the Tang.
The sharks don't eat them?"

"No. I think they are known to eat the bigger fish.
But as a typical aquarium, We overfeed our sharks so they're not hungry.
They're not hungry, so they won’t go after something.
We can't stop their instinctual behavior. If they decide they're going to go chomp somebody they're going to do it."

Freshwater stingrays sting only in defense. A stingray rests serenely on the bottom. Then surprise, a swimmer steps on her wing, Zing! The razor sharp spine at the base of her tail pierces his foot- injecting venom and causing intense pain. Next time that swimmer will be sure to shuffle his feet, so the ray will feel him coming and glide out of the way.

"Our species are from the Amazon. The Sharks and the Stingrays either come from other institutions, are grown here, or come from some collector from the local area.
This is the first time the Monterey Bay Aquarium has had this species on display.
Rays are cousins of sharks, They all belong to the Cartilaginous fish, instead of bones."

"Is that an advantage because they can squeeze into small places?"

"No. They can't squeeze into small spaces. They hunt differently, definitely bottom dwellers. They suck up things. Their gills are underneath. When they suck up gravel and things they have spiracles by their eyes that blow out the gravel ."

"Very striking color patterns.
What's that one called?"

"A Black spotted ray, one of the common names."

"And the one next to him?"

"An Oscillated ray. You see the one moving in the back, That's a Jaguar ray. The corner one is a spider web ray."

"They disguise themselves well. Can these rays interbreed?"

"No, They're all separate species."

"How do you increase their numbers?
Do you have to cooperate with other aquariums?"

"Yes, that, and we do hope to breed some on display. I don't know what the success is going on with these. Once this exhibit ends, in two or three years, we don't have a closing date, then we will send these on to other institutions. The local species we'll put back into the wild. Since these are tropical, they will go on to other aquariums so that other people can enjoy them."

"The other fish you have in there with them - is that a copacetic relationship? Do they like each other?"

"It's typical of this Amazon river habitat. They're cousins of the pyranna. Sharks and rays usually eat mollusks and snails, crustaceons, things they're finding in the gravel."

"Have you successfully bred any of the rays you have in here, or they just solo individuals?"

"I believe they're just solo. I haven't heard whether we've bred any of them yet."

"Are they group animals? Do they get lonely by themselves, or do they like to be alone, like cats?"

"I don't know."

Stingrays spawn spectacular stories. Families live, play and fish along the Amazon River, where stinrays thrive in warm, muddy waters. The powerful, painful stings of these respected animals inspire fantastic myths and legends, as they have for many centuries.

As night falls on the river, monkeys call and catfish croak. Light the kerosene lantern and crawl under your mosquito net. It's time for a bedtime story about mother Stingray, a fierce river spirit who protects her stingray kin.

The Pacific Northwest

"You can touch the bats with your fingers and investigate."

"Do they like massage?"

"Some of them seem to enjoy being touched."

Bat ray
Can you see how this fish got its name?

One village is changing its ways to protect sharks. They aren't making shark fin soup anymore.

When local sharks were being overfished, a group of West African fishermen created a no shark sighing zone to help shark populations recover. And instead of supporting the trade in shark fins, they now catch other fish that aren't in trouble.

"The best thing that you can do is be aware of seafood that they're eating. Whether or not it's sustainable."

"That's your Seafood Watch Program."

"Yes. That's also looking out for sharks.
About a 100 million sharks are killed world wide by the world fisheries every year, half of those are accidental bycatch by fishermen targeting other species. 50 million is a lot of sharks."

"So what's being done to help eliminate the by-catch problem internationally?"

Save sharks when you shop. You can help prevent overfishing of sharks by avoiding all shark products - from soup to cartilage pills.

"The thresher shark is sustainable, isn't it?"

"We advocate no sharks at all.
They're late to mature sexually, so they reproduce late in life. They only produce one pup a year. Most are taken out of the ocean before they even breed."

Bark Paintings from Northern Australia

"The Aborigines create these
Bark paintings by the aborigines of Australia, to honor the sharks and rays, who they believe helped create the formations of the earth. Who swam around getting back to water, creating mountains and valleys. So they honor the earth. They are very connected to that spiritualness of being one with the earth."

Creation Myths: Sharks and rays are sacred to the Yolngu people of northern Australia. They believe these animals represent ancestral spirits who helped create the world. Yolngu honor their shark ancestors in elaborate bark paintings that reveal stories from the time of creation.
Gaze at the images of sharks passed down for more than 40,000 years.

"These are based on totems or symbols that date back 40,000 years. The actual practice of bark painting is less historical than that. It still dates back thousands of years, but not as long as that, again Showing the reverence that these People have. They're already spiritually connected. This is an expression of that."

Tiger Shark : This figure symbolizes a mythical shark. This painting depicts the artists' ancestor whose spirit was transformed into a tiger shark. Look for the sharks U-shaped liver, painted as though the artist had x-ray vision. This X-ray style reminds us that this is a mythic creature and not a real shark.

Shark at Wandawuy
This painting tells a story about Mana the shark.
During the time of creation, a mythical shark named Mana traveled miles inland from the sea, carving rivers and other features as he swam. He eventually came to rest near the artists' home in Wandawuy. The Black circle at the top of the painting symbolizes the underground realm where Manas' spirit rests. - Late 20th century

"Is that music that we're hearing related to your exhibit?"

"That is from the Pacific Northwest. The gallery that we just came through . It's part of the ceremonial dances. In honor of their connection."

The Serpent and the Shark at Naypinya
Snakes and sharks are sacred symbols. For native peoples of Australia, snakes symbolize the coming of the rainy monsoon season. This painting shows Wstitj, a mythical snake who sucks in sea water, rises into the sky and spits out thunder and lightning to create rain. The shark emphasizes the power and danger of the waters near Naypinya, one of the snake's sacred places.

"Hi, I’m Debbie Hutchenson, aquariumist here at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Today we're focusing on our new exhibit that we're opening on April 2nd: Sharks - Myth and Mystery My job here is to help make sure that the sharks are all healthy. We have 24 different species of sharks and rays on display in this exhibit."

"How many are we seeing in this tank?"

"There are three different sharks in this exhibit and some bony fish too. We have some tropical fish swimming in with our Sharks."

"The Pacific islands?"

"It's neat in this exhibit. One of them is the Pacific Islands. Then we also have fresh water rays We have some species from Australia, and other tropical areas too."

"Where do the Hammerheads live? Are they in the Pacific?"

"They are common around sea mouths, more in southern California.

In this exhibit we have opened the 4th largest tank in the aquarium Galapagos sharks and hammerheads You really get a great view of these animals. You can see their structures, their sensory organs, and everything else too."

"We're now standing in front of the three that are primarily from the Pacific Islands?"

"What's on display here are the Blacked tipped and White tipped reef sharks and Zebra shark."

"Are these populations being Captured and made into Shark Fin soup? Are they having a problem because everybody is catching them?"

"That's a very good question. There are about 350 different species of sharks, and 80 species of those are considered threatened or endangered. The problem is that Sharks produce fairly few young, and it also takes a long time before they reach sexual maturity. What's happening out in the oceans, is that we're fishing them out as bycatch. Before they are being able to reproduce young to carry on the generations. We're seeing a lot of shark populations starting to go down.
Over the last two years in certain populations about a 90% decline.
These we have on display here are common animals and are caught in bycatch a lot of times."

"How do we stop bycatch?
It's an international effort."

We have a seafood watch card. Use your money. If you want to help sharks out, Check out the seafood watch card."

"Look at the Seafood Watch Card, which you can download for free."

"Basically, on that Seafood Watch Card it gives suggestions for fisheries that don't impact other animals and take them out.
It tells you where to buy The animal. What kind of fish that's good to eat. Check out our website for that card."

"We did!
As far as the international problem of long liness where they're catching everything, and they're too long to get back to release the bycatch fish. What can be done to put international pressure on? Most of the American Fish lines are short lines now, aren't they."

"Yes. We're not allowed to use the long drift nets. There has been some acts passed to protect a couple hundred miles from shore. Studies are going on the tag fish to see what corridors they use to migrate, and actually trying to reduce fishing pressures in those areas. Corridors where fish pass through.. They do migrate. That's the problem with international waters, We can't really control what's going on."

"So What can we do to put pressure on the international fishing industry to eliminate these long lines? We can first of all -buy no fish from them. And we learn from The Seafood Watch Card where to buy. That's the first thing we can do. Use our money to speak!"

"Exactly!"

"Is anything happening? Are they hearing anything yet?"

"It's amazing to see how world-wide the Seafood Watch Card has gone. Even on the east coast now, These cards are getting out, People are Talking to people."

"I was telling them about your Seafood Watch Card."

"That's great! The more we can get the information out, the better."

"And you have a Chefs collaborative that chefs can tie into and know what fish to order.
So The main thing is to Use our finances to control the marketplace."

"Exactly. When you're buying fish at restaurants, let them know."

"Take some cards in with you and leave them."

"That puts pressure on them, and makes them realize that people are aware."

"Other than that, which is very important and strong. Your money speaks.
If people want to get political, and they want to go on-line to find out who's doing this stuff ?"

"My suggestion would be to research on the web. The Palagic fish foundationis really good too. They focus on conservation."

"Would there be anything that kids could do? Schools could get involved. You have little armies of kids coming through here every day, right?"

"That's going to be the coolest thing with this exhibit, having all kinds of school groups come through here."

"If you get the Kids could get involved. They can really stir it up, can't they?"

"Instilling values and gain an appreciation. that will carry on throughout their life."

"Do you check big restaurant chains To see where they're getting their fish?"

"Most of those questions go directly to our Seafood Watch Group. We have a whole team constantly researching. We update the seafood watch card a couple times a year. There's access to that on our website. We're really good about answering questions."

"How have the shark populations been doing in the last year? Has there been any recovery, or is it still so critical you have to save a few babies here so that the species survives?"

"It's not that critical. We're trying to maintain populations out in the wild."

"That's right!"

"We're trying to keep healthy populations out in the wild.
It's hard if you're trying to reestablish a whole fish population. It's too late if you only have a few animals in an aquarium. The idea that we're really interested in is Marine Sanctuaries. Like here in the Monterey Bay."

"Where no fishing occurs?"

"Exactly. You're trying to build up a population there, and it ends up growing."

"You know where they're breeding. Where the most important sanctuaries would be.
So International sharing of information is important.
Are Sanctuaries difficult to set up, or easy?"

"I haven't heard of any, most recently."

"Can you buy Ocean real estate like you do land, so if someone wealthy out there says they want to help ?"

"That's a great question."

" Ocean Real estate moves around a lot.
Look at those beautiful Greenish light eyes!"

Tropical Ray tank

" These are our Cow nose Rays, and our Southern rays which hang out on the bottom. Cow nose are free swimming ,staying up in the water column."

"You've got a little space age dome over here , an observatory."

"Yes. It's one of the best views. Kids love it. People can have a photo opportunity. The rays come up and over."

"They have some aquariums where the whole gallery is a bubble."

"We wanted to give people a different interaction with the fish. These guys are extremely charismatic."

"You don't think of these guys when you think of sharks."

" No. But these are related."

"Cousins?"

"These are cartiligeneous, the same substance as your nose is made of. Cartilage, instead of bones. Some conservation on these two - A lot of people don't know is occasionally scallops will not be your shellfish. Sometimes Scallops will be sold and they are rays,part of the ray fins. Basically what they will do is take a cookie cutter a cut out a circle that looks like a scallop and sell them that way."

"How can you tell when people are doing that?"

"It has to do with the texture of the meat. With rays, the muscle texture goes a different way. Best thing is to ask at the restaurant to make sure that they are the shellfish."

"Is there a law now that makes everyone label where it came from, what specifically it is, and how it was caught? Isn’t there a push towards getting everything labeled so that everyone knows exactly how everything is caught?"

"There are still some discrepancies with that in trying to figure out all the legislation with that."

"It hasn't come into being yet."

"No."

"We can do things locally, voluntarily, couldn't we? We don't have to wait for the government to tell you to do something."

"Exactly! The thing is just to get the word out. The Seafood Watch Cards have helped significantly."

"Have you noticed any of your fish purveyors doing these kind of things voluntarily? Being ahead of the game."

"A lot of local fishermen have been going by our seafood watch card. Definitely in the Monterey Bay area we've had an impact. And it's been amazing to hear reports from the east coast and restaurants."

"It's starting to sink in. Everyone wants to help save their world."

"A lot of people don’t realize, just because they're not by the oceans, that we need healthy shark and fish populations."

"What would happen if the sharks suddenly disappeared? We wouldn't have their DNA anymore."

"A lot of sharks are key predators in the oceans and help take out a lot of the sick, weak and injured animals,and then fish populations would be out of wack."

" Then other fish populations might start starving if they get over numbered.They help keep the other populations in check."

"Exactly."

One World,
United