Humpback whale songs provide insight into population changes
By Staff | Dec 31, 2020 Approximately 8,000-12,000 of the North Pacific humpback whale stock visits the shallow waters of the Hawaiian Islands seasonally to breed. During this time, mature males produce an elaborate acoustic display known as “song,” which becomes the dominant source of ambient underwater sound between December and April. Following reports of unusually low whale numbers that began in 2015-16, researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, in collaboration with the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, Oceanwide Science Institute and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, examined song chorusing recorded through long-term passive acoustic monitoring at six sites off Maui as a proxy for whale populations between September 2014 and May 2019. The findings were published in “Endangered Species Research.”
DNA tech identifies shark that killed Maui surfer (and how big it was)
DNA tech identifies shark that killed Maui surfer (and how big it was) By Mark Carpenter | December 18, 2020 at 6:14 PM HST - Updated December 18 at 6:14 PM
HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - 10 days ago, surfer Robin Warren was bitten by a shark in Honolua Bay. The 56-year-old died of his injuries the next day.
âI feel like when you lose somebody like that, you generally want to know as much information about the situation as you can,â Derek Kraft, of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. âSo, this at least lets us give them the fullest picture to our ability.â
UH Research Leads to Identification of Shark Involved in Fatal Incident
Honolulu – Using new DNA barcoding technology, a pair of shark researchers at the University of Hawai‘i‘s – Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) have determined a tiger shark caused fatal injuries to a 56-year-old Lahaina man, who was bitten at Maui’s Honolua Bay on December 8. Separately, by measuring bite marks on the surfer’s board, they have determined the shark was approximately 14.3-feet-long.
Lead researcher Dr. Carl Meyer, a renowned shark expert said, “Prior to the development of these new techniques, uncertainly over the size and species of sharks responsible for bites to people was common. We are absolutely certain that it was a large tiger shark (in the 98th percentile for size), that bit this man.” The DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) collaborated with HIMB to definitively identify species and to calculate shark size from bite impressions.
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