Reports

We've been hard at work writing reports this week.  After reviewing how to process information (a complex process that takes a lot of time), we have all written reports.  You can see our reports in our blogs.  Here are two really wonderful examples:


The Southern Royal Albatross – Logan

The Southern Royal albatross is the world’s second largest albatross, rivalled only by the true Wandering albatross. It is endemic to New Zealand and has a white body with white and black wings and a white tail. The leading edge of the inner upper wing becomes whiter with age especially with males. Its robust bill is light pink with a creamy tip and a black cutting edge to the upper mandible. Juveniles have blacker wings than adults with white bodies and black flecking on back, flanks, crown and tail. The ‘sky-call,’ is a high pitched screaming bray given during gams. Gams are gatherings of socialised birds such as courting birds, breeders and gatherings of immature birds on the breeding grounds. Young birds display in gams on the breeding grounds. A variety of postures are used during mating displays including, aggressive bill snapping, clapping and gulping. It has a wingspan of 3m and weighs 9-10kg. Approximately 8500 birds’ nest on Campbell Island with less than 100 on the Auckland Islands. A few more share with the Northern Royal Albatross at the Tairoa Head in the Otago Peninsula. It takes nearly a year to rear a single chick. Non-breeders and juveniles fly across the Southern Ocean to feed in South American waters. They eat squid, pelagic octopus, fish and crustaceans. They live until their 40s.

The population was seriously depleted when the population on Enderby Island was wiped out by humans after the great sheep farming era (1890-1931).  The population on Campbell Island was depleted as well, after the burning of vegetation, grazing and degradation of habitat. They were hunted and killed by the farm dogs and the people. They are easily caught by long line fishing as they dive for the bait then get tangled up in the line. They’re vulnerable to fisheries by-catch too.

We can help the Southern Royal albatross by stopping long line fishing as a lot of them get tangled in the lines each year. We could also stop littering, as when they dive for fish they could choke on a piece of rubbish floating in the water. We need to keep protecting their habitat, especially Campbell Island and the Auckland Islands. We should try to stop by-catch as this is also another threat to the birds. If the seafood demand rises, more fish will be caught, then more birds will be caught as by-catch.

Great Hammerhead Sharks – Darian

Great hammerhead sharks are spotted really far off shore and near the shoreline. They often migrate in really large groups during the summer, searching for cooler waters. These sharks are usually found in tropical or temperate waters, and they can survive in estuaries, coral reefs, sandy plains, fresh waters and kelp forests. Theses sharks are distributed throughout the world in quite a few places and you may just catch a glimpse of a great hammerhead shark wherever you are in the world. Hammerhead sharks eat various animals such as other sharks, squid, crabs, sardines, boxfish, groupers and their favourite meal, rays. They hunt twice a day around dawn and dusk. They are carnivores which mean they are meat eaters. Their heads are the shape of a hammer, that’s how it got its name. Their wide – set eyes give them a better visual range than most other sharks. The positioning of its eyes gives the hammerhead sharks a 360 degree view on a vertical plane, letting them track and spot their prey both above and below their current position with great accuracy. They also have rows of really sharp teeth which they use to catch their prey. Hammerheads use their wide heads to attack stingrays, pinning them against the sea floor. They can also sense electric fields and can detect stingrays under the sand on the sea floor. Hammerheads give birth to a live young after a gestation period of around 11 months. They can give birth to up to 55 pups at once, but they usually give birth to around 20 - 30 pups. Hammerheads can live up to 50 years (half a century) but some die in their second or third decade if they aren’t caught by fishermen.

These sharks are endangered because of overfishing, bycatch and finning. Overfishing is driving sharks to the brink. Many of the shark’s populations are down by 90 percent. 100 million sharks are killed every year for their meat, liver, fins, and other products. Bycatch while fishing for other commercial species poses a significant threat to sharks. Shark fins usually fetch a higher price than shark meat, providing an economic incentive for the practise of ‘finning’. Finning is often associated with overfishing. They also take sharks for:

• Shark fins for a bowl of soup

• Shark teeth for jewellery

• Shark jaws for tourist souvenirs

• Shark skin for leather wallets/ belts

• Shark liver oil for cosmetics/ skin care products

• Shark cartilage capsules and powders for phony medical cures

With 90 percent of the world’s large shark population already wiped out, sharks are dying faster than they can reproduce. Sharks are important apex predators. They have shaped marine life for over 400 million years and are essential to the health of the planet.

 

We can help the hammerhead sharks by not polluting the ocean and you can raise awareness. Direct conservation efforts for the hammerhead sharks are close to non-existent, though shark fin soup is illegal in the European Union, the United States, and Australia. Much work remains to be done and the highly migratory nature of the shark makes it difficult for specific nations to provide adequate protection.