Reports of marine wildlife from all around the British Isles, with pollution incidents and conservation initiatives as they affect the flora and fauna of the NE Atlantic Ocean.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

23 August 2007
We caught 11 Triggerfish, Balistes capriscus, angling just 500 metres off Hengistbury, Dorset. We also lost several on the way up. Quite often as we reeled in a fish another would follow it right to the surface. They were all returned alive.
 

10 August 2007
Mark Guppy clearly spotted a Broad-billed Swordfish, Xiphias gladius*,  that jumped out of the water about 800 metres from the Condor ferry beyond Old Harry Rocks about five miles off Poole Harbour, Dorset, in the English Channel.(*Species assumed without precise identification.)

2 -3 August 2007
A young Minke Whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, followed a fishing boat into Fraserburgh Harbour, north-east Scotland. It became trapped with an adult Minke Whale, believed its mother stationed outside the harbour. Rescue was achieved by British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) who coaxed the young whale back to the open sea using small boats and noise. 

31 July 2007

Commercial fisherman Dougal Lane caught an Atlantic Bonito, Sarda sarda, about three miles east of Sark, Bailiwick of Guernsey. The fish had a length of 511 mm and a whole weight of 1331 grams.

29 July 2007 
An astonishing bright red fish misnamed as the Boar Fish, Capros aper, was discovered swimming around in a pool when the tide was out on Littlehampton main beach (east of the River Arun), Sussex. It was about 75 mm long, and I was able to scoop the rhomboidal fish up in a shell, before I allowed it to swim away.

27 July 2007
A Northern Bottle-nosed Whale, Hyperoodon ampullatus, became stranded in the River Orwell, Suffolk, and is unlikely to survive being trapped in the estuary. The three metres long whale was first seen around 2:00 pm in the area of the Orwell Bridge, just outside of Ipswich. 

PS: The whale was humanely euthanased to prevent it suffering a lingering death.

Marine Wildlife of the North-east Atlantic Ocean Mailing Groups

With the closure of Smart Groups at the end of November 2006 most of the 7500+ messages have been filed at:

Marine Wildlife of the North-east Atlantic Ocean Jiglu
http://www.Jiglu.com/spaces/glaucus/

For ongoing messages please transfer to the Yahoo forum as I think you will find that easier to use.
Marine Wildlife of the North-east Atlantic Ocean Yahoo Group
New Group: http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/Glaucus

Images can be uploaded to flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/glaucus/

NEW
Wet Thumb (Marine Aquariology) Forum Link

Each month, at least one special marine image will be published from images sent to the BMLSS. This can be of the seashore, undersea world or any aspect of the marine natural world, especially the underwater life, but not restricted to life beneath the waves. Topical inclusions may be included instead of the most meritorious, and images will be limited to the NE Atlantic Ocean and adjoining seas, marine and seashore species and land and seascapes.
 

NEW BOOK:
 

The Gulf Stream
by Bruno Voituriez 
Publisher:  UNESCO 
ISBN:  92-3-103995-4 
222 pages, figures, glossary, bibliography

The Gulf Stream
Amid contemporary scenarios of potential climatic catastrophes and global warming that might be imagined to bring a new ice age, the powerful image of the Gulf Stream rising from the Florida Straits and flowing to the north Atlantic inevitably provokes questions about its ecological significance and whether it might ever stop.
 

JOURNALS:
 

Newsletter on biodiversity education, with a polar pullout for children with its focus on the Arctic. 
 

The Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom launched a new full colour magazine, GLOBAL MARINE ENVIRONMENT in 2005, which will appeal to people who wish to read accurate, interesting and entertaining articles about the world's oceans and its inhabitants.
Much of the source material for this new magazine is the Journal of the Marine Biological Association (JMBA). Whereas the journal is full of excellent scientific papers, GLOBAL MARINE ENVIRONMENT takes some of the most interesting studies and, in full colour, writes a more understandable summary of the findings.

The first issue of Global Marine Environment may be purchased in hard copy for £1.75 (see below) or downloaded from the web at the following
address:

http://www.mba.ac.uk/PDF/mbaglobal%20news.pdf
Information provided by Richard Lord (Guernsey)
 

Coastal Plankton
Photo Guide for European Seas

by Otto Larink & Wilfried Westheide

reviewed by Wim van Egmond
 

ISBN  0-9522831-5-8 Available from:

NEW