Save Our Seas Magazine

In this issue, we explore the complex world of sound in the marine ecosystem and the ever-growing impact our human activities have on its sensitive balance. We examine the cultural interpretations of sawfish around the world, contest that consciousness and intelligence aren’t limited to human beings, search for undiscovered shark species and showcase the rays the world forgot.

**A tribute to Dr Samuel H. Gruber**
Artwork by Gregory Gilbert-Lodge

Dr Samuel (‘Sonny’) Harvey Gruber passed away at his home with his family by his side on Thursday, 18 April 2019 at the age of 80. A true pioneer and one of the most influential figures in shark science, Dr Gruber made contributions to elasmobranch research that cannot be overstated. Called simply ‘Doc’ by most who knew him, he broke new ground in the study of sensory physiology in sharks and over the course of a career lasting more than 50 years he published over 190 peer-reviewed papers on shark biology, ecology and behaviour, greatly advancing our understanding of these enigmatic creatures.

**The Ray the World Forgot: Wedgefish under Threat**
Photo by Sirachai Arunrugstichai

The story of wedgefishes is one of belated revelations. Almost before any real light has been shone on these species, we have realised that their populations have plummeted and that they face significant threats. Photographer Sirachai Arunrugstichai’s images juxtapose the beauty of wedgefishes in their natural environment and the pressures they face from human activities today. Dr Will White helps to narrate this modern conservation story, pointing to the urgent need for evidence-based conservation and fisheries management actions to protect wedgefishes before it’s too late.

What Jacques Cousteau dubbed ‘Le Monde du Silence’ is anything but a silent world. Sound travels faster, further and more effectively in the ocean, a realm made for acoustic communication and one that is alive with new possibilities for how we perceive the animals that call it home. When it comes to sophisticated singers like humpback whales and complex social creatures like orcas, seeing through sound is the best way to build a more comprehensive understanding of the rich lives they lead underwater. In collaboration with the Gitga’at First Nation and WWF-Canada, Janie Wray of the North Coast Cetacean Society and post-doctoral researcher Ben Hendricks have set up a novel project that tunes into the ocean’s orchestra and will help them gain insights into the life histories of whales on the coast of British Columbia.

In recent times we have woken up to the fact that sawfishes are now the most endangered fishes in the ocean. In past centuries, though, they were familiar to many societies that lived along coasts and major rivers in the tropics and, moreover, were incorporated into their stories and belief systems. Ruth Leeney and Matthew McDavitt take a brief trip around the world to look at how sawfishes featured in the physical and spiritual worlds of people and what their decline might mean for the survival of traditional cultures and, more broadly, for the connection humans have with the natural world around them.

In the 1960s, Jane Goodall helped change the way we viewed intelligence and sentience in chimpanzees. Her research triggered a core question: if chimpanzees have complex inner lives, what about other animals? Haley Pope explores pioneering research that shows marine organisms also possess and exhibit facets of consciousness, including sentience, self-awareness and intelligence.

**Turning the Tide for Manta and Devil Rays**

Having begun with a vision – to see experts in a range of fields working around the world to protect manta and devil rays – the Manta Trust eight years on has a long and laudable list of achievements. The charity’s head of conservation strategy, Isabel Ender, looks back over what it has accomplished.

The great hammerhead shark plays a key role in maintaining healthy ocean systems in the tropics, but overfishing has sent its populations into free fall. Understanding how these sharks move between The Bahamas and the USA could be essential for their conservation. Lauren De Vos discusses a publication by Tristan Guttridge that provides the first evidence that great hammerheads travel huge distances but repeatedly return to specific sites and may stay there for months at a time.

Crackling, popping, barking and singing; life in the sea is anything but silent. A chorus of sound guides ocean life on the reef, helping an array of animals to find their home, new mates and food and to defend their territory. How this happens, and what it all means, is the focus of a ground-breaking project in the Caribbean. Coral Chorus is bringing new insights to light and at a time when the effects of human activities in the sea threaten to overrun the delicate orchestra at play underwater. Postdoctoral researcher Paul Caiger from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution leads us on a sonic tour of one of the Virgin Islands, where the science of sound might just help us save reefs in the future.

Making sense of nature – ordering its different forms and naming its various characters – is a scientific practice that dates back centuries. Since Aristotle’s day, the field of taxonomy and systematics has been developed by scientists and natural historians to classify our planet’s inhabitants. In today’s conservation climate, this oftignored sector is increasingly important as subspecies are translocated across regions and new species are discovered with little time to spare before they disappear entirely. Dr Dave Ebert tells Lauren De Vos what it takes to attract students into what has been called a dying field and how shark taxonomy can be made exciting and relevant to a new generation and a wider audience.

This article is from:

Save Our Seas | 10 | Summer 2019 | Sea of Sound | Ocean of Intelligence | Lost Sharks