March 2020 Seawords

SEawords The Marine Option Program Newsletter

March 2020

Volume XXXV, Number 2

Aloha, and welcome to the March issue of Seawords!

This month, we celebrate the life and contributions of Rick Rogers, a pilot, archivist, and friend of the MOP program who passed away on February 22, 2020. Rogers worked as a pilot for Hawaiian Airlines from 1987 to 2010, when he retired and began working for the airline as a Consultant Archivist. This job allowed him to combine his creativity with his passion for history. Rogers was described as ‘a Renaissance man’ by his coworkers, who lauded his curiosity and inventive mind.

In addition, Rogers was active in MOP; he never missed a Maritime Symposium, and occasionally assisted in the field school for the Maritime Archaeology Surveying Techniques program. Ann Botticelli, who leads an organization with which Rogers worked frequently, stated that “He curated our archives with care and loved to share what he knew. He was a passionate protector of history, an aviation enthusiast, an author, and a marine archeologist.” He will be dearly missed.

Zada Boyce-Quentin, Seawords Editor and Alyssa Mincer, Associate Editor

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Contents About the Photography -Cover: Pacific golden plover. Photo by: Big Dipper 2, Flickr.

-Table of Contents: Mollymawk albatross. Photo by: Victoria Hoete-Dodd, Flickr.

-Page 16: Albatross by USFWS Pacific RegionFlickr, Booby by Doug Greenberg- Flickr, Petrel

by USFWS Pacific Region- Flickr, Frigatebird

by Bill Bacon- Flickr, Noddy by Jean-Paul Longchamp- Flickr, Tern by patrickkavanaghFlickr, Shearwater by duncan- Flickr, Tropicbird

by Brandon Trentler- Flickr.

-Back cover: Tern. By: Mark Gunn, Flickr.

-Disclaimer: any photo taken from flickr.com is used under the Creative Commons License and is credited appropriately with links to the user’s Flickr account.

Volume XXXV, Number 2, March 2020

Editor: Zada Boyce-Quentin Assistant Editor: Alyssa Mincer Dr. Cynthia Hunter (éminence grise) Jeffrey Kuwabara (éminence grise) Seawords- Marine Option Program University of Hawai‘i, College of Natural Sciences 2450 Campus Road, Dean Hall 105A Honolulu, HI 96822-2219 Telephone: (808) 956-8433 Email: <seawords@hawaii.edu> Website: <http://www.hawaii.edu/mop> Seawords is the monthly newsletter of the Marine Option Program at the University of Hawai‘i. Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Marine Option Program or of the University of Hawai‘i.

Suggestions and submissions are welcome. Submissions may include articles, photography, art work, or anything that may be of interest to the marine community in Hawai‘i and around the world.

Articles 2: LETTER FROM THE EDITOR 4: SUNFISH & SEABIRDS: AN UNLIKELY

FRIENDSHIP

5: SOUND SAVES SEAGULLS 6: SPECIES OF THE MONTH: PACIFIC

GOLDEN PLOVER

8: SUSAN SCOTT’S KōLEA COUNT 10: FLUORESCENT FLYERS 11: HANAUMA TALKS 12: THE ALBATROSS 16: HAWAIIAN SEABIRDS 18: LUNDY CALLING 19: PREHISTORIC PENGUINS 20: SQUID & SCIENCE COMMUNICATION : AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. SARAH MCANULTY

22: THE MIGRATORY BIRDS TREATY ACT

24: CALENDAR OF EVENTS

All photos are taken by MOP unless otherwise credited.

MARCH 2020 |3

Sunfish and Seabirds: An Unlikely Friendship By: Rayna McClintock, UHM MOP Student

Mola mola. By: Ilse Reijs & Jan-Noud Hutten, Wikimedia.

Sunfish, also known as Mola mola, have often inspired awe in anyone fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of them. With their large size and strange fin positioning, these slow-moving gentle giants seem like something out of a myth instead of a real ocean dwelling creature. Adding to their peculiarity is a relationship with another seafaring animal that was observed in the waters of the North Pacific. A Japanese research vessel spotted a large school of these sunfish swimming close to the surface, above them a flock of albatrosses.

After the team got a closer look, it appeared that the sunfish were harboring a common parasite known as Pennella on their skin. This parasite is a copepod that digs into the tissue of its host and is commonly found on several whale species. The sunfish were seen following the 4|â&#x20AC;&#x192;Seawords albatrosses as the birds swooped down to the water, removing the parasite, and eating it. This symbiotic relationship shows us how little we know about the behaviors of these mysterious fish.

This symbiotic relationship is not an uncommon one. There are many cases on land of birds hanging around larger animals to clean parasites from their skin and getting a free meal. However, in the ocean it is more likely small reef fish to take on the job of removing parasites so the question remains, how did the sunfish develop the habit of working with albatrosses?

Albatross over the water. By: Ade Russell, Flickr.

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SOUND SAVES SEAGULLS By: Alexandrya Robinson, UHM MOP Student Yellow-legged gull. By: Sergey Yeliseev, Flickr.

Organisms use a multitude of environmental factors in order to assess the safety of their surroundings. The world we live in is loud; everything makes noise. Auditory feedback is one method that allows organisms to interact with their surroundings, whether by creating sound or by listening to it. Recent discoveries focused on seabirds illustrate the importance of sound.

The University of Vigo in Spain recently directed research on yellow-legged gull eggs. Researchers noticed that some young chicks were more responsive to the call that alerted to danger than others, which led to the burning question of why. The first step of any scientific experiment is observation, so the Behavioural Ecology Lab did just that. It was observed that the most reactive chicks were exposed to the danger call as eggs. To test if this theory was accurate, an experiment was concocted and led by Dr. Jose Noguera to collect 90 different gull eggs and run a controlled experiment.

The results confirmed that eggs exposed to the danger call had chicks that were able to recognize it faster than their counterparts. Not only that, but the chicks communicated with each other. Social cues, which are vital to chick survival, were able to be transferred even when they were embryos, giving them an evolutionary advantage. Eggs who had been introduced to the danger call could pass crucial information on to other embryonic birds, so that all benefitted and were more adapted to survival once the chicks hatched. The study found that when eggs exposed to gull calls were placed with those who had not been, the more informed embryos transmitted survival cues to the others. The result was that all of the embryos made less noise, and once hatched, all of the chicks were smaller, faster, and more alert to potential threats.

So far, this phenomenon has also been observed in quails, fairywrens, and zebra finches. The ability of embryos to take in social cues and pass them on to others may increase overall survival of chicks and confer numerous benefits. More research into this area is needed in order to see if other species practice this, as well, and how receptive bird embryos are to outside data.

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Species of the Month: Kōlea (Pacific Golden Plover) By: Darienne Kealoha, UHH MOP Student

“Kōlea kau āhua, a uliuli ka umauma ho‘i i Kahiki. Plover that perches on the mound waits till its breast darkens, then departs for Kahiki.” An ‘ōlelo no‘eau from Mary Kawena Pukui compares a person who comes to Hawai‘i, acquires wealth, and leaves to the kōlea. Although compared scornfully to foreigners who take from Hawai‘i, in some areas, these birds are considered ‘aumākua, a family protector or a deified ancestor. This small yellow-and-buff mottled shorebird migrates to Hawai‘i in the winter and flies back to Siberia and westernmost Alaska to breed in the spring. Adults begin to arrive in Hawai‘i in August, with juveniles following in October to feed on terrestrial insects like caterpillars, moths, and cockroaches. Once these migratory birds get their fill, they leave for spring and return to Hawai‘i again at the conclusion of the breeding season.

Kōlea are recognized as indigenous to Hawai‘i and are common in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands yearround, but are also common on all the main Hawaiian Islands between August and May. This small bird can be found in various environments, including beaches, mangroves, residential lawns, and golf courses. Kōlea can be found at up to 2,500 meters elevation, as the most suitable habitats are found on mountain slopes.

Kōlea in flight. By: Thomas, Flickr.

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Juvenile kōlea. By: Jean Tessmer, Flickr.

Land-clearing in Hawai‘i has possibly improved conditions for kōlea by creating more open habitats with an abundance of insects. It is estimated that there are 1.4 birds per 100 acres on golf courses and 5.2 birds per 100 acres on lawns, versus 0.22 to 44.7 birds per 100 acres in wild habitats.

Despite the fact that the kōlea can live in both developed and wild environments, the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan classifies this bird as one of High Concern. Hunting was a significant concern until 1941, when a ban helped populations recover.

However, kōlea still frequently come into contact with other human threats. A few possible dangers include herbicides and pesticides used on golf courses, or aircraft strikes on unsuspecting juvenile birds attempting to set up foraging territories near Kōlea. By: Troy McKaskle, Flickr. airports. To better protect and monitor kōlea in Hawai‘i, efforts in conservation include the protection of current habitats and the continuation of population and distribution surveys in known and likely habitats.

MARCH 2020 |7

Susan Scott’s

By: Alyssa Mincer, Sea Kōlea. By: Forest Starr and Kim Starr, Flickr.

“Well, now I am caught.” Melting into the gentle yet assertive grasp of a curious human investigator, the Pacific Golden Plover, known in Hawai‘i as the kōlea, admits defeat with a series of high-pitched whistles. The strange sense of tranquility that washes over the bird in response to a capture has not been readily observed, a result of the bird’s constant state of alertness to its surroundings. With the guidance of plover expert, Oscar “Wally” Johnson, one fortunate individual, Susan Scott, was able to experience the pure joy of holding a kōlea within her hands, an encounter which she would later describe as “a privilege.” In an interview with Susan, who is a marine biologist, science writer, as well as certified ‘plover-lover,’ she discusses the launch of her new website, https://www.koleacount.org/, which is aimed at providing an accessible way for the community to get engaged in the awareness and conservation of Hawai‘i’s kōlea.

A census, or count of a specified population, is an invaluable tool for recording and examining population numbers and habits of a group. Counting individual birds, however, can be a tedious, overbearing task, especially if the bird of focus is the migratory kōlea. In fact, the last kōlea census was taken almost sixty years ago, and data has since become obsolete. As a result of this lack of information, which has led to discrepancies regarding the general knowledge of kōlea habits and tendencies, Susan Scott created a website dedicated to the consideration of this native Hawaiian shorebird.

The website features an abundance of exceptional kōlea photos, the majority of which are captured by Susan herself. Formatted in an easy-to-read fashion for the availability of the general public, the website is assembled in such a manner designed to increase common knowledge and conservation practices surrounding the bird. Several tabs on the webpage provide informative facts about the kōlea, supplemented by Susan’s passionate, stylistic writing. She goes into depth concerning the scientific background of the kōlea, detailing its lifestyle and migration patterns; additionally, Susan describes the means by which individuals can personally engage with the bird, such as through feeding and knowing how to help an injured kōlea.

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Kōlea Count

awords Associate Editor

Sponsored by the Hawai‘i Audubon Society, a non-profit membership organization with goals of avian restoration, the kōlea counting website’s main goal in conservation.

Individuals in the community, as well as scientists, are encouraged to input valuable, observational information concerning local sightings of kōlea. Under the tab labelled, “Report Your Kōlea,” users can fill out a form that includes the location address or description, days seen, color of leg band, photos, personal nicknames, and geographic coordinates of a specific bird. Since kōleas are territorial, they tend to claim a territory and return to the same area year after year; this habit simplifies the counting process, and allows for people to recognize individual birds. The recording of the shorebirds, which is then added for public view on the website’s “Kōlea Database,” equips researchers and the scientific community with population statistics of the bird’s distribution and migration patterns. In a world deleteriously impacted by the effects of global warming and pollution, these variables, when analyzed, will deliver substantial insight into the health of the kōlea population as a whole.

Although the website is still undergoing constant refinements, it remains accessible for public use. According to Susan, “it is expected to go live in late March.” Visit https:// www.koleacount.org to learn more!

Pacific golden plover. By: sodai gomi. Flickr.

MARCH 2020 |9

FLUORESCENT FLYERS By: Samantha Darin, UHM MOP Student Puffin beaks have been widely studied for many years. It is a general consensus that the bright colors that distinguish them play a large role in attracting a mate. However, Jamie Dunning, a student at the University of Nottingham, was studying a puffin sent to him and decided to see what would happen if he projected an ultraviolet light on the beak. Surprisingly enough, it glowed. This is due to fluorescence, a property that many animals have in which they reflect blue light and instead emit a different color, which appears to glow.

This adaptation had previously gone undetected by humans because humans are unable to see the fluorescence with the naked eye. However, puffins, with their superior vision, are able to view the ultraviolet spectrum, allowing them to see the fluorescence of the beak without an aid.

When Dunning made this discovery, he immediately wrote up a paper. Another researcher by the name of Tony Diamond, read his paper and wrote to him explaining that he had observed the same exact thing. He shared pictures and the fluorescence was the same in both birds.

These studies, however, have only been done in dead birds thus far. Dunning, Diamond and their team are currently trying to figure out if this same phenomenon occurs in living puffins as well, and what role it may play in sexual selection. The iconic puffin beak is actually a temporary feature, one that manifests for the breeding season and then sheds in the winter.

The upcoming study will test living puffins (outfitted with special sunglasses to protect their eyes) to see if the fluorescence is present and what its specific function may be.

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Puffin above water. By: James Diedrick, Flickr.

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THE ALBATROSS: EXPERT HUNTER, SYMBOL OF LUCK, OCEAN SENTINEL By: Zada Boyce-Quentin, Seawords Editor

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Albatrosses over the water. By: Gregory Smith, Flickr.

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“And a good south wind sprung up behind;/The Albatross did follow/and every day, for food or play/Came to the mariner’s hollo!” In one of Coleridge’s most notable works, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” he describes the tendency of the albatross to trail after vessels at sea. This habit is responsible for their designation as a favorable omen, protecting sailors and signaling good fortune. Beyond this, the albatross has achieved notoriety among seabirds for their massive wingspans of up to 11 feet, which allows them to quickly traverse long distances without rest, and their prowess as hunters, able to detect the smell of fish from over 12 miles away. It is these qualities that distinguished them to Henri Weimerskirch and his team as the perfect operatives for a unique mission: detecting ships at sea.

Pew Research estimates that around 20% of the world’s seafood catch is obtained illegally by unreported fishing vessels. This can have a myriad of negative effects, from preventing accurate data for fisheries management to the use of contraband gear which frequently creates bycatch and damages ecosystems. In order to avoid detection, illegal fishing boats will turn off their tracking devices, meaning that their movements cannot be followed by the authorities. This is where the albatross comes in. Weimerskirch and his fellow reD. exulans. By: Ed Dunens, Flickr. searchers attached electronic data loggers to two species of albatross; Diomedea exulans (wandering albatross) and Diomedea amsterdamensis (Amsterdam albatross). These loggers pick up radar signals from boats; as albatrosses near a ship, the logger records the bird’s location and the number and position of vessels in the area.

169 albatrosses living on islands in the south Indian Ocean were involved in the study; these ‘Ocean Sentinels’ picked up thousands of radar signals from over 350 ships. Analysis of the results led to the discovery that 28% of boats overall were sailing unreported, and in international waters, that number jumped to over one-third of vessels. While not every ship that has its location devices off is engaging in illegal activity, unsanctioned fishing is a rampant problem with many marine casualties. The study also provided new data about albatrosses themselves, which the researchers believe will be useful to inform new conservation strategies. David Kroodsma, the research director at Global Fishing Watch, has high hopes for the use of albatrosses as ‘Ocean Sentinels’.

Fishing boat surrounded by albatrosses. By: MariaCarla F. Flickr.

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D. amsterdamensis. By: stormpetrel1, Flickr.

The ability of these birds to track ships could allow authorities to more effectively locate and catch illegal fishing vessels, as well as provide data to discover long-term hotspots and patterns for unreported marine activities.

The use of albatrosses for this mission is especially poignant, as seabirds are frequently one of the most affected victims of bycatch. This is particularly true when deep-sea and longline fishing are involved; birds often get caught on the hooks and are unable to escape. Tens of thousands of seabirds fall prey to longline fishing each year, and these numbers are far higher for illegal fishing boats, which do not employ the already scant protections in place to reduce bycatch.

Albatrosses are particularly vulnerable to bycatch, as they are typically the first to hone in on fishing vessels, and thus most likely to be caught. Their low reproductive rate and long life spans mean that the loss of large numbers of breeding adults is especially dangerous for overall numbers. Eight species of albatross are currently endangered or critically endangered. This is hugely problematic for a number of reasons beyond the immediate danger posed to an incredible animal.

Not only do declining populations of albatrosses adversely affect marine ecosystems, but seabirds are crucial indicator species, or species whose health and numbers can provide a metric for how the ecosystem as a whole is faring.

As the effects of climate change come into full force, seabirds, who are typically sensitive to environmental changes, will be more essential than ever in measuring the health of the ocean and its many denizens.

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Meet the Hawa Albatrosses

Boobys

Albatrosses are talented long-distance flyers and hunters who mate for life. Species found in Hawai‘i are the Black-Footed Albatross, the Laysan Albatross, and the Short-Tailed Albatross.

Boobies are diving birds with long bills. Some species can dive up to 30 meters! Species found in Hawai‘i are the Brown Booby, the Masked Booby, and the Red-Footed Booby.

Noddys

Terns

Named for the nodding gestures involved in their courtship routine, noddies typically feed near shore. Species found in Hawai‘i are the Blue Noddy, the Black Noddy, and the Brown Noddy.

Terns are social birds that usually nest in colonies, and dive to feed. Many species are migratory! Species found in Hawai‘i are the Grey-Backed Tern, the Sooty Tern, and the White Tern.

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aiian Seabirds Petrels

Frigatebirds

Petrels are small, tube-nosed birds with long wings that nest in burrows or rock crevices.

Species found in Hawai‘i are the Bonin Petrel, the Bulwer’s Petrel, and Tristram’s Storm Petrel.

Most famous for the male’s red throat pouch, frigatebirds catch prey from the surface of the ocean using their bills. The only species found in Hawai‘i is the Great Frigatebird.

Shearwaters

Tropicbirds

Shearwaters are recognizable by their shuffling gait, the result of posterior placement of their legs.

Species found in Hawai‘i are the Christmas Shearwater and the Wedge-Tailed Shearwater.

Tropicbirds, set apart by their long tail feathers, nest on cliffs and dive for food. Species found in Hawai‘i are the Red-Tailed Tropicbird and the White-Tailed Tropicbird.

MARCH 2020 |17

Lundy Calling By: Georgia Johnson-King, UHM MOP Student The last 15 years have seen a significant increase in the Lundy Seabird population on the island off the North Devon Coast, following a program implemented that culled the feral rats.

Lundy vista. By: James Stringer, Flickr.

A program titled the “Lundy Seabird Recovery Project”, set into motion and run by Natural England, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the National Trust, and the Landmark Trust, was initiated in 2002 after the Lundy Seabird population had fallen to only 300 breeding pairs. 17 years later, the newest figure shows the population now stands at 21,000 birds.

The island wasn’t officially declared rat free until 2006, which provided massive relief to the seabird population, as the rats would commonly eat the eggs and chicks of the ground dwelling birds.

“The rate of increase is an indication of just how important rat free islands like Lundy are as breeding sites for seabirds,” stated Helen Booker, a senior conservation officer for the RSPB, to the British Broasdcasting Corporation (BBC) in 2013.

“Lundy” is Norse for Puffin Island; the name being reflective of one of the main species that inhabits it. The program greatly benefited the island’s puffin population, with numbers increasing from five single birds to greater than 80.

“We were really concerned as previous records show that puffin numbers on Lundy had plummeted from over 3,500 pairs in 1939 to less than 10 pairs in 2000,” stated Rosie Hails the director of science and nature at the National Trust.

Lundy is home to an amazing diversity of seabirds, including in addition to puffins a number of Manx shearwaters, guillemots, and razorbills. The eradication of rats has proven to quickly and efficiently allow for an incredible increase in the populations of these species, proving not only how dangerous invasive species are, but how effective their removal can be.

Seabirds are incredibly important components of marine Guillemots. By: Matt Dean, Flickr. organisms, and so it is essential to monitor their numbers and ensure that they have safe places to roost. Lundy has been able to return to its former state as a refuge for thousands of birds, but many of these species still need help. To learn more and assist seabirds, go to: https://projectpuffin.audubon.org/get-involved/donate-online or https://pacificseabirdgroup.org/support-the-efforts-of-the-pacific-seabird-group/.

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PREHISTORIC PENGUINS By: Mercy Back, UHM MOP Student

Many theories exist in the world of paleontology as to how the age of dinosaurs ended 66 million years ago. Some scientists say that a change in climate could’ve wiped out 3/4th of the life on Earth, but others argue it was a meteor impact that caused many dinosaurs to go extinct. But what exactly happened after the dinosaurs went extinct?

New life emerged from every corner of the world, including penguins whose fossils were recovered near the Chatham Islands off the coast of New Zealand. This penguin called the Kupoupou stilwelli, Kupoupou, meaning ‘diving bird’ in Te Re Moriori, was a fairly large bird that is a distant relative of the King Penguins, which stand tall at 1.1 meters (about 3.5 feet).

Paleontologists have not discovered any remains of penguins before the Cretaceous extinction, but these birds are hypothesized to be the one of the first ancestors of penguins who could not fly. Their skeletal structures imply that, like the extant species of penguins that we love and adore, they waddled on land, unlike some other fossils of penguins recovered from around that time period. The Senior Curator of Natural History, Dr. Paul Scofield, of the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, New Zealand says that this discovery of these giant birds helps prove the hypothesis that penguins evolved rapidly after the mass extinction event occurred.

K. stilwelli, the ancient ancestor of modern penguins, gives paleontologists more insight into the evolution of the world’s penguins and how the diversity of these species emerged. Dr. Scofield said to press “It’s not impossible that penguins lost the ability to fly and gained the ability to swim after the extinction event of 66 million years ago... If we ever find a penguin fossil from the Cretaceous period, we’ll know for sure.”

King penguins. By: laikolosse, Flickr.

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Squid & Science An Interview with D

By: Zada Boyce-Quen Last month, I was delighted to have a chance to sit down with Dr. Sarah McAnulty, a teuthologist currently leading an Atlas Obscura expedition in Honolulu. In addition to her research on Hawaiian bobtail squid, she is extremely committed to developing the field of science communication and has launched a number of innovative and highly effective initiatives such as Skype a Scientist, an organization which matches scientists with classrooms, her Squids Across America tour, her Drunk Scientist Trivia nights, and her cephalopod coloring book.

Z: What first drew you to squid? When did you first know you wanted to be a teuthologist?

Bobtail squid. By: Christian Gloor, Flickr.

M: When I was eight, I rented a video from the library which had cuttlefish doing this passing cloud maneuver.

(This involves rapid color shifting of chromatophores; pigment-containing cells found in cephalopods that allow them to display different colors at will.) At that point, I didn’t really know what cephalopod work looked like, but in college I heard a talk about cuttlefish camouflage at Woods Hole, and I’ve been working with cephalopods since then.

Z: So you did your graduate research on bobtail squid and Vibrio Fischer. What first got you interested in that? (For her graduate research, McAnulty studied the interaction between bacteria Vibrio fischeri and the Hawaiian bobtail squid, and how hemocytes in the bobtail squid help maintain the symbiotic relationship between the two.)

M: I took an immunology course in my senior year, which was really interesting. I wanted to bring cephalopods and immunology together. So I started working with Dr. Spencer Nyholm, looking at how the immune cells of the bobtail squid can differentiate good bacteria from the bad. (You can read her paper here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28111565.)

Z: What inspired you to make scicomm a focus and start Skype a Scientist?

M: Around 2017, there was a lot of anxiety in the science community; people didn’t really know what the future of science held. There was a lot of energy and I wanted to funnel that into something useful, so I started Skype a Scientist. I didn’t really anticipate having it be a big part of what I was doing, but we connected 800 classrooms in the first semester. I was doing my PhD at the time, and it definitely took as much time and energy as that, so now I’m running it full-time.

Z: What’s been the most rewarding part of organizing Skype a Scientist?

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Communication: Dr. Sarah McAnulty

ntin, Seawords Editor M: I love hearing testimonials from teachers and scientists. Teachers who might not have the resources to organize field trips can virtually hop into a lab, and scientists can get really jazzed about their work again. Doing research can get exhausting, so being able to explain your work and get kids excited can help you remember that, ‘Hey, my job is awesome’.

Z: In addition to Skype a Scientist, you’ve also gone on tour! What motivated that, and what was the best part?

M: There were a few reasons I decided to go on tour; I was writing my thesis and was stuck in front of my computer, and I’ve always wanted to do a cross-country road trip. I also wanted to get scientists focused on scicomm and get them excited. It was a late-night idea that blew up into a big tour. As for a best part, there were a lot- you only get a little cross-section of the work going on through writing, so I got to see the greatest hits and museum collections at all these universities around the country. And I got to see a bunch of new parts of the country!

Z: What is the focus of scicomm for you?

M: It really depends on each scientist. Some are good with science policy, others are good as getting people intrigued, providing the first step. It works as an ecosystem; everyone’s doing something different. Find out what’s fun and what you’re good at.

Z: What advice would you give to people looking to get started in scicomm?

M: Practice all the time, and take pictures of everything.

And also, make sure you really understand diversity, equity, and inclusion. You don’t want to say anything insensitive before even getting started.

Z: If you could have any squid adaptation, what would it be?

M: Definitely chromatophores! Polarized vision would be cool too.

To learn more about Dr. McAnulty and her work, visit her website at: https://sarahmcanulty.weebly.com/ or follow her on Twitter and Instagram @SarahMackAttack.

Skype a Scientist logo. Via: @skypescientist, Twitter.

MARCH 2020 |21

The Migratory B

By: Amiti Maloy, U

Picture it: waters off the Gulf of Mexico on April 20th, 2010. One British Petroleum drilling rig versus the delicate ecosystem of a nearshore habitat.

The exploded apparatus was spewing oil like a fire hydrant. The emergency response could not halt the flow until over 170 million gallons of crude oil had leaked out into the waters of the nearby coastline. The surrounding ecosystem sustained heavy damage, and the spill, famously referred to as Deepwater Horizon, has gone down Deepwater Horizon. By: Deepwater Horizon in history as the largest marine oil spill. One of Response, Flickr. the marine denizens hit hardest was the seabird population, with over one million dying from the black bath.

What can be done after such a large-scale catastrophe? Are birds protected at all?

The money that BP paid after the horrific accident was largely due to the existence of the Migratory Birds Treaty Act, created in 1918 after worries about migratory birds arose across the United States.

From the beginning, it was understood that migratory birds move about and cross borders. Having similar concerns, Canada had actually enacted their own version two years earlier. Their protections were outlined in the Canadian Convention. Mexico followed suit, creating their Mexican Convention in 1936. In time, other major players, including Russia and Japan, also began to recognize how migratory bird stocks suffered and created more protections as a result.

Oil covered pelicans. By Deepwater Horizon, Flickr.

Over the years, updates have been made and interpretations altered, but the overall mission of the Migratory Birds Treaty Act continues to make “it illegal to take, possess, import, export, transport, sell, purchase, barter, or offer for sale, purchase, or barter, any migratory bird, or the parts, nests, or eggs of such a bird except under the terms of a valid Federal permit.”

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Birds Treaty Act

UHM MOP Student

Migratory bird species protected by the Act are listed in 50 CFR 10.13.” The act requires that, with the exception of special instances where permission is obtained, it is legally forbidden to “pursue, hunt, take, capture, [or] kill...in any manner, any migratory bird.” Even with the best of intentions, mistakes happen, and birds continue to get caught in the mess; for example, in the Deepwater Horizon spill, or in 1989, when an Exxon tanker spill caused the deaths of 250,000 seabirds.

Can reparations make it all better?

As in most tragedies, death is a factor, and loss of Seabirds in flight. By: lutmans, Flickr. life can not be undone. The Migratory Birds Treaty Act helps mitigate the losses, aid in the recovery, and work to forge further preventive measures. Additionally, its existence ensures that protection of migratory birds remains a priority.

Just because these events were accidental does not make them non-criminal. Exxon has a criminal record in the forms or injurious ecosystem behavior towards fish, birds, wildlife, and the physical habitat. These fines intentionally hefty with $12 million allocated to the North American Wetlands Conservation Funds and $100 million paid to the government of the United States. During the BP fiasco, the payment to the Conservation Fund increased to $100 million.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act serves as a traffic light, monitoring activities of individuals and organizations in order to make sure that birds are protected. The MBTA enforces its policies by way of steep fines and labeling of criminal activity. Unfortunately, as of February 3rd of this year, the Fish and Wildlife Service is massively scaling back the MBTA, so that accidental deaths of migratory birds are no longer prosecuted. This is dangerous because it lessens the pressure for companies to make bird safety accomodations. Experts believe that it is unlikely that companies will properly police themselves, and are worried about the effect this policy change will have on migratory bird populations.

The MBTA represents a crucial piece of legislation directed at protecting migratory birds, and it is about to be severely restricted. To learn more about birds and preservation of their populations, visit www.audobon.org.

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MOP & Community Events Seabirds in flight. By: Fiona Paton, Flickr.

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University of Hawai`i at MÄ noa Seawords, Marine Option Program College of Natural Sciences 2450 Campus Road, Dean Hall 105A Honolulu, HI 96822-2219 Address Service Requested

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