Electronic News Service       May  2000           ISSN  1464-8156

"It is wrong always, everywhere and for everyone to believe anything upon insufficient evidence."                                            William Kingdom Clifford

World Oceans Day

World Oceans Day was first declared as 8th June at the Biodiversity Conference “Earth Summit” of World Leaders in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Events will occur all around the world on and around this day. World Oceans Day offers the opportunity for people to join in with others to increase the understanding of the wildlife of the oceans and the marine environment. 

 

The British Marine Life Study Society will be participating in the Adur Exhibition to be held at Shoreham-by-Sea on 3 June 2000. Members in other parts of the British Isles are encouraged to organise their own exhibitions. 
 

World Oceans Day 2000
(Link that includes other events in Cornwall, Devon, Isle of Man, Shetland Isles, and Yorkshire)

Wembury Bay  Rockpool Rambles
Contact  Wembury Marine Centre  Tel:  01752 862538

Leaflet from Devon Wildlife Trust  Tel:  01392 279244.

Coastal Visitors Centre
Salisbury Gardens
Dudley Road
Ventnor
Isle of Wight
PO38 1EJ

Tel:  01983 855400
EMail: coastcent@iwight.gov.uk

The Centre covers many aspects of the coastal zone, which include coastal flora and fauna, marine and inter-tidal archaeology, coastal defence and particularly coastal instability issues.

Husavik

The Whale Watch capital in Iceland is based at Husavik.  Sights include Blue Whales, Humpbacks, Orca, Minkes and Sei Whales, dolphins, porpoises, plus Northern Bottle-nosed Whales.

The page for whale and dolphin spotting around Britain has not been prepared yet.  If you are interested in marine wildlife, including marine mammals, and are planning a holiday in the UK, especially Scotland, it is work clicking on the image "SeaProbe" and having a look at the page:

Also

New Quay Dolphin Monitoring Group, Cardigan Bay, Wales
http://www.ceinewydd.co.uk/

Dolphins, Porpoises and Whales of the Moray Firth
http://www.highlanderweb.co.uk/dolphins.htm

Cornwall:
Dolphins are reported from the south coast of Cornwall regularly during the summer. The Lizard peninsula is a good vantage point. 

Shetland Isles:
Sumburgh Head, the southernmost trip is a regular spot for spotting whales and dolphins as is the ferry to the islands.

Shetland Sea Mammal Report 1998

Minimising disturbance to Cetaceans from recreation at sea
http://www.wildlife-countryside.detr.gov.uk/whales/rec.htm

Minimising disturbance to Cetaceans from Whale watching operations
http://www.wildlife-countryside.detr.gov.uk/whales/whale.htm
 

24 April 2000
Several Basking Sharks, Cetorhinus maximus, were seen from the ferry Scillonian on its way from Penzance to the Isles of Scilly .

Report by Vince Smith

Vince Smith's One-List/Cornish Wildlife
Seaquest SW (Cornwall Wildlife Trust web pages)

9 April 2000
A Bearded Seal, Erignathus barbatus, visited Mid Yell Voe in the Shetland Isles from 11:00 - 15:30 hrs, providing splendid views from the fortunate watchers. 
This common Arctic species has only been recorded off the Shetland Isles on 10 previous occasions. 

Reported by Hugh Harrop

Shetland Wildlife Pages
& UKB Birding

Bearded Seal, Erignathus barbatus, Hartlepool Fish Quay, Teesside, January 1999 (Martyn Sidwell)
sent in by Steven Gantlett (Editor of Birding World)

Bearded Seal (More information)
SCS Bearded Seal Information
Seals Page (BMLSS)

5 April 2000
Tens of thousands of gallons of china clay waste (mica suspension) was accidentally discharged by ECC into the river Fal at St Dennis, south Cornwall, some ten miles from the sea. 
Mica is not toxic, it forms an opaque surface suspension which blocks out sunlight. Heavy rainfall diluted the discharge and there were no reports of fish kills or damage to the Fal estuary.

Report by Jon Makeham and update by Ruth Adams 

March 2000
The first Basking Shark, Cetorhinus maximus, of the year was seen in Booby's Bay, Cornwall. The 3 metre plus shark (10-footer) was spotted by Clive James, from the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. Last summer the same stretch of coast was the scene of spectacular visits by groups of Basking Sharks.

 BMLSS Report Forms

Hairy Hermit Crab from the shore at Bembridge, Isle of Wight, England.

Can anybody identify the species?

from  Luke Richards

Other Hermit Crabs (Link)

BIOMAR

Picton, B.E. and Costello M. J. (editors). 1998. BioMar biotope viewer: a guide to marine habitats, fauna and flora of Britain and Ireland. Environmental Sciences Unit, Trinity College, Dublin. ISBN 0 9526 735 4 1

Copies are available on request from:
EcoServe, 17 Rathfarnham Road, Terenure, Dublin 6W, Ireland.
Fax + 353-1-492 5694. Email mcostello@ecoserve.ie.
They cost £10 + £2 P & P (standard economy rate).

It includes

•  a database of marine species recorded during field surveys around Ireland;
•  descriptions and photographs of marine biotopes defined by the BioMar project;
• photographs and descriptions of some of the species recorded;
• a bibliography of marine environment literature for Ireland.

URL = http://www.ecoserve.ie/biomar/aims.html

The Variety of Life: A Survey and a Celebration of all the Creatures that have ever lived, by Colin Tudge

ISBN  0-19-850311-3   £35.00  (Oxford University Press, March 2000)
 
 
 
 

The Spring 2000 MARLIN newsletter was received on 12 April 2000. Almost all the articles can be viewed on their web site:

MARLIN
Marine Life Information Network

 Sue Daly produces a Creature Feature every month on her web site.
 
 
 

We had originally planned to bring this service to our  members. However, as Sue is already producing this series, I have decided to devote my energies to producing other information.
 

     Featured Web Page: 

A similar exhibition is planned for the year 2000. 
Print photographs should be sent in to Glaucus House from March 2000. They could also be used on the BMLSS web sites.

However, if you have a large selection of your own photographs, I would suggest that you should arrange your own exhibitions at a Local Library or similar venue. We will help to advertise the event. 
 
 

This is a simple project or request to members and readers of this Bulletin. It is to take pictures of the coast when you are next down on the shore. Even general views have value, but ideally we would like photographs of the shore showing the type of rock, topography and rock pools, dominant fauna, and information that cannot be described adequately by words on the Report Cards. 

The name of the particular coast should be included and the grid reference, if known. Print photographs can be included in Exhibitions and on the BMLSS Web Sites and electronic publications. Electronic images in *.JPG format can also be considered for the web site. 

Transparency photographs are the best choice of film.

The British Marine Life Study Society Web Site has been included as an Encyclopaedia Britannica Recommended Site and included on the BBC On-line Internet Guide.

There are more entries on the GATEWAY pages of the BMLSS Web Site and on the Torpedo File on the web site (click on this text).
 

NEW Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions	English and European Wildlife Issues
Coastal Guide   Europe	Living Earth
Cornish Wildlife Vince Smith's One-List/Cornish Wildlife Send a message to the list at: CornishWildlife@onelist.com This is a really good forum for Cornish wildlife and  environmental discussion.	Seaquest SW  (Cornwall Wildlife Trust web pages)

These pages are not designed for the default settings on the Page Set-ups of your browser. I recommend viewing in Internet Explorer 5 and altering the right and left hand columns in the Page Set-up menu to 9 mm (from 19 mm).
The page set-up can also be amended in Netscape Composer, and this has the advantage of enabling the specified number of pages to be printed and the information about the file (name, path, date) to be deleted.

The new Premier Membership for the year 2000 also entitles the member to the Official BMLSS CD-ROM (available Spring 2000), which will contain the BMLSS web pages and more information about marine life, together with a selection of other exclusive marine life information, electronic back copies of BMLSS publications, and the full version of TORPEDO Electronic News Bulletin sent to them every month by Email, as well as the other BMLSS Electronic Information Services. The CD-ROM will also contain useful shareware and freeware programs, and should be at least as good value as a computer magazine CD-ROM for the second aspect alone.
 
 

Premier	Membership	Ordinary
New Member	£28.00	£22.00
Renewal	£25.00	£18.00

The work of the BMLSS is funded by entirely by member's subscriptions and we do not receive any grants.

Torpedo  compiled by Andy Horton 3 May 2000