American Association for the Advancement of Science: Sea turtles, tuna and whales travel along marine superhighways as they traverse their underwater world. Petrels and albatross do something similar, following landmarks hidden from us as they track the oceans.
Now scientists hope to map out these oceanic roadways in an ambitious project that might also help to save species such as the leatherback and loggerhead sea turtles from probable extinction.
Researchers from Duke University and from the Marine Conservation Biology Institute yesterday discussed their vision for marine preserves and safe havens for threatened marine species at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting, now underway in Seattle, Washington.
Drs Andy Read, Larry Crowder and Patrick Halpin lead a €1.5 million project entitled "Spatial Ecological Analysis of Megavertebrate Animal Populations" or SEAMAP for short. Disparate research groups are involved in studies of various marine species or in the flow of underwater currents. SEAMAP seeks to bring these separate programmes together, blending the information they hold as a way to better understand both the marine environment but also the lifestyles and habits of the animals that populate it.
And in a related presentation during a session referred to as "conserving Nemo", Dr Elliot Norse of the Marine Conservation Biology Institute joined with the Duke researchers in describing how satellites and modern communications technology were delivering entirely new information about marine animals as they live their lives.
Small electronic tags carried by turtles, elephant seals and other animals periodically beam back information about location, dive depth and water temperatures.
The threat to marine creatures is very real, Dr Crowder said. Many turtles are killed as catch by the fishing industry, but habitats are also under pressure. "Loggerheads and leatherbacks will become extinct during the lifetimes of the people sitting in this room unless something is done."
Longline fisheries, where lines literally miles long and carrying thousands of hooks are baited took an estimated 200,000 loggerheads and 50,000 leatherbacks worldwide during 2000, the researchers estimate. This has helped bring about population declines of between 80 per cent and 95 per cent.
He and the other speakers suggested that the creation of marine reserves provided one way to protect these animals. The modern technology that allows turtles and seals to be tracked by satellite could also support the creation of conservation areas and detail the marine superhighways used by many species, Dr Norse suggested.
The challenge is that many of the places where these animals congregate and which sustain them are not static, he said. They are not fixed, being associated with underwater currents and temperature gradients which are displaced and vary over time. "The vast expanses of the oceans look featureless," he said, but not to the animals that must survive by finding invisible features such as currents or meeting points of warm and cool water.
"The problem with the oceans is the places where these things occur move," Dr Norse said. Improved technology including satellites gives a real time view of where the meeting places are.