COMES Newsletter - Spring 2022

COMES' White Co-Lead PI for Project Assessing Ten-Year Review of Oregon's Marine Reserve Program

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) and the Ocean Policy Advisory Council (OPAC), under the direction of an executive order from the Governor and with extensive input from the community, ocean users, and other stakeholders, began work in 2008 on what would become the Oregon marine reserves program.  As a result, five marine reserve sites were established between 2012 and 2016 – Cape Falcon, Cascade Head, Otter Rock, Cape Perpetua, and Redfish Rocks. Larger areas adjacent to some of these marine reserves have been designated as marine protected areas (MPAs). In an effort to allow protected species to recover and enhance ecosystems, the marine reserves were developed specifically as no-take/no ocean development zones (with the exception of removal of animals or seaweed for research purposes assessing the efficacy of the program). Rules for adjacent MPAs are site-specific, some allowing some types of fishing but all prohibiting ocean development.  You can find more about the development of the marine reserves in “How Oregon’s Marine Reserves Were Established,” where you can also find the Chronicle of the Marine Reserve Planning Process.

When the marine reserves were officially established in 2009, one of the provisions was that ODFW would conduct an extensive 10-year review of the efficacy and productivity of the reserves. ODFW would then issue a report to OPAC.  This report is also public, and can be found online -  The Marine Reserves Synthesis Report 2009-2021.

A further requirement set forth by the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) of OPAC was that ODFW’s report would be reviewed by an interdisciplinary, Oregon-university based group of scientists who would evaluate the findings and issue a final report.  We are very pleased that this project will be co-led by COMES’ Dr. Will White and Dr. Kelly Biedenweg of the OSU Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences (FWCS). Dr White, Dr. Biedenweg and a team of scientists representing OSU, University of California, Santa Barbara, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Florida State University, California State University Northridge, and University of California, Davis were awarded this project through a competitive RFP process, and they have recently begun their work reviewing the report.  Members of this team represent the disciplines of ecology, fisheries, oceanography, economics, social science, and marine conservation policy.

Based on criteria developed by STAC, Dr. White, Dr. Biedenweg, and their team will be using a range of quantitative and qualitative approaches to evaluate the scientific integrity of the following aspects of ODFW’s report:

1. An assessment of social, economic, and environmental factors related to the reserves and protected areas;

2. Recommendations for administrative actions and legislative proposals related to the reserves and protected areas;

3. Any other scientifically-based information related to the reserves and protected areas that they deem relevant or material.

The team’s assessment will also address the following major determinations put forth in the ODFW report:

1. Were the Marine Reserves and associated MPAs effectively designed and implemented to achieve the goals set forth in OPAC’s 2008 Ocean Marine Reserve Policy Recommendations?

and

2. Did ODFW successfully execute the legislative mandates set forth regarding Marine Reserve implementation?

The team’s assessment is slated to be delivered to STAC by early Fall 2022, with possible continued involvement by Dr. White and Dr. Biedenweg through Spring 2023.

What IS "Fresh Frozen" Fish, Anyway?

COMES' Dr. Christina DeWitt and Andrew Bornstein (Bornstein Seafoods and the COMES Advisory Board) made this short video with Positively Groundfish to explain why today's fresh frozen seafood is very different than you might think.

 

 

Tillamook Bay Habitat Restoration Yields Unexpected Outcomes

Graham Shaw (M.S., Marine Resource Management 2021) and his advisor, Dr. Steven J. Dundas, had the opportunity to collaborate with NOAA and the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership to look at the economic impacts of an ecological restoration project in Tillamook Bay, Oregon.  Although the Southern Flow Corridor Restoration Project was originally intended to increase salmon habitat and decrease flooding, the ancillary economic and ecological benefits were both surprising and exciting to everyone involved.  Mr. Shaw and Dr. Dundas recently discussed the project with The Jefferson Exchange, a program on Jefferson Public Radio (a service of Southern Oregon University) in a segment titled "The ecological restoration project that exceeded expectations.”

The full NOAA report is also available – Socio-Economic Impacts of the Southern Flow Corridor Restoration Project - Tillamook Bay, Oregon.

Students in the Field

Victoria Quennessen, Ph.D. Student – Dr. Will White’s Lab
Project - Studying Survival of Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) in Relation to Climate Change in Fernando de Noronha, Brazil

Vic spent much of winter term 2022 in Fernando de Noronha, Brazil working with an exciting collaborative team studying green sea turtles. She describes their work as follows:

“We're ultimately investigating the probability of turtle populations to survive in the face of climate change, since sex ratios are determined by temperatures - warmer nests produce more females, and we don't know how many males are too few males for the population to survive in the long run. Here in Fernando de Noronha, besides having access to the nesting females, we also have access to the males and the breeding grounds, which will help us discover the relationship between sex ratio and reproductive success (we hope!). When we finally get access to our data, I will also be using computational simulations to try to understand how different kinds of adaptations, both genetic (variability in the gene that determines the switch point between a nest developing more female vs. more male hatchlings) and behavioral (if males mate with more females, or travel further to mate, etc.) will affect their survival probabilities.

As a side note, while the females lay eggs, they enter a kind of hypnotic state. We take advantage of this to tag them (if they're not tagged already), paint a number on them to make them easier to ID in the water during dive transect and capture surveys, take genetic samples, deploy a temperature logger in the nest attached to a stake so we can find it again, and measure her carapace, or shell (curved maximum width and length). We use the red lights to prevent scaring other turtles away if they come up while we're processing one, since the light doesn't travel as far as white light. 

Also, importantly, we've got fantastic collaborators for this project!

We're being housed and much of the research is being conducted in partnership with Projeto TAMAR, a Brazilian non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of sea turtles (tartarugas marinhas) in Brazil.

We're also collaborating with Dr. Mariana Fuentes and her Ph.D. student Armando Santos as the sea turtle ecology experts on the project. They're from the Marine Turtle Research Ecology and Conservation Group at Florida State University.

Finally, we're collaborating with Dr. Lisa Komoroske, her postdoc Dr. Blair Bentley, and Ph.D. student Estefany Herrera as the sea turtle genetics experts on the team. They're in the Molecular Ecology lab out at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Will [White] and I are serving as the computational modeling / simulations folks to round out the team.”

You can learn much more about this project in on April 9, 2022 as part of HMSC's Marine Science Day - check out the virtual exhibit for Dr. Will White's Lab!

Jess Schulte, Ph.D. Student – Dr. Taylor Chapple's Lab
Project - Studying Broadnose Sevengill Sharks (Notorynchus cepedianus)

This photo captures the exact moment that Jess Schulte, a first year Ph.D. student, caught her very first shark. As part of Taylor Chapple’s Big Fish Lab, her research will investigate the movement and foraging ecology of a top coastal predator – the broadnose sevengill shark (Notorynchus cepedianus) – to eventually incorporate shark predators into models that help with management. After pulling this shark up (located in Willapa Bay, WA), Jess and the team took tissue samples and then tagged the shark with an acoustic tracker which will be used in ongoing movement analysis. Jess has already started getting tag readings back and will be starting analysis on the data this fall.

This spring and summer, Jess will be continuing her research – tagging more sevengills while also collecting stomach contents to understand their foraging ecology. 

News from Dr. Brander's Lab

As always, it’s very busy in Dr. Susanne Brander’s Ecotoxicology and Environmental Stress Lab.  A recent study investigating the impacts of microplastic particles from car tires indicates that both the particles and the chemicals used to treat the rubber have a strong negative impact on estuarine and freshwater organisms.  Dr. Brander and Dr. Stacey Harper were recently featured in a segment titled “Oregon State University scientists find tiny tire particles can harm aquatic life” on Think Out Loud, Oregon Public Broadcasting.  This research is also featured in San Francisco Estuary News, Salon, and New Atlas.

Dr. Brander was also recently consulted for an op-ed in Environmental Health News titled “Scientists: US needs to support a strong global agreement to curb plastic pollution.”  The piece from February 2022 states, “On Monday, world leaders will gather at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi to negotiate a global treaty to address plastic pollution” and that “Voluntary, optional or market-led solutions will not suffice to solve this complex, global problem.”

According to Reuters, the outcome of the UNEA meeting is that, “United Nations negotiators have agreed a roadmap for a global plastic treaty that would address plastic production and design, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters, in what delegates said was a key step to agreeing an ambitious deal.”  The UN aims to have a binding treaty in place by 2024.

Finally, Dr. Brander’s lab will be moving from its current home in Corvallis to its permanent spaces at  HMSC in April 2022.  Dr. Brander’s facility will be split between the shared lab space on the second floor of the Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building and a newly refurbished aquaria space in the 900 building.  We are very excited about her arrival!

Have You Seen a Shark? We Want to Know About It!

The Big Fish Lab is soliciting sightings reports for sharks in Oregon waters. These data will contribute to a variety of different projects examining the distribution, diet, and behavior of numerous species, including white sharks, salmon sharks, sevengill sharks, and others. If you have seen a shark, you can report it via the Big Fish Lab website here: https://marineresearch.oregonstate.edu/big-fish-lab/webform/report-shark-sighting. If you aren’t sure what kind of shark you have seen, we also have a shark ID key available on our reporting page. Finally, if you have experience on the water and would like to get further involved in our research, please let us know. In addition to sightings data, we use numerous approaches to track these animals and address important questions about their role in local food webs. You can reach out to taylor.chapple@oregonstate.edu with any questions or inquiries.

-Dr. Alex McInturf

Dulse Featured in 1859 - Oregon's Magazine

In an article titled "We Need Seaweed - Eating Oregon's Dulse Can Save the World," Dr. Chris Langdon and Chuck Toombs share the importance of this sea vegetable.

"True, you might not be interested in eating a clump of seaweed. When you’re hankering for a hefty meal, a red alga poking about in the tide might not be what you had in mind. It’s often called a weed, after all, and who wants to eat weeds? But there are particular strains of seaweed called dulse that you might want to consider. Patented in the labs of Oregon State University, under the guidance of professor Chris Langdon, who has specialized in aquaculture for decades, and promoted by Chuck Toombs, an entrepreneur who is part of OSU’s School of Business, dulse is something you should really get excited about...." (read more)

-reprinted with permission from Statehood Media

Student News

Recent Graduates

Duncan Pasewark, M.S. Food Science and Technology (Fall 2021)

• Dr. Christina DeWitt, Advisor
• Thesis - The Incorporation of Novel Water-Soluble Potato Protein Extract in Pacific whiting (Merulccius productus) Fillets Through Brine Injection Technology to Improve Quality

Student Awards

COMES' students did very well in the Oral Presentation competition at the Pacific Fisheries Technologists Conference in February, taking two of the three awards:

Rufa Mendez - Second Place

• Presentation Title - Seaweed Pacific Dulse (Devaleraea mollis): A Promising Bioresource for Health Application
• Advisor - Dr. Jung Kwon - COMES Seafood Education and Research Center/Dept. of Food Science and Technology

Duncan Pasewark - Third Place

• Presentation Title - The Incorporation of Novel Water-Soluble Potato Protein Extract in Pacific whiting (Merliccius productus) Fillets Through Brine Injection Technology to Improve Quality
• Advisor - Dr. Christina DeWitt, COMES Seafood Research and Education Center/Dept. of Food Science and Technology