The.fintalk

Spent last week in France participating in the ICES Working Group on By-catch of protected species (WGBYC).

This groups collects and assesses (analyzes) information on the bycatch of protected species that is occurring in the North Atlantic and associated seas. These species include marine mammals, birds, turtles, and rare fish (also sharks and rays).

It was a pleasure to be locked in a room for a week with experts from all over the northern Atlantic and create a document that will hopefully help European leaders to get a better idea of what is going on in the northern Atlantic Ocean. This should guide their decision making and shed some light on what has long been overlooked. It is a dream coming true to work with all these experts and be a part of this effort.

What is Theodolite tracking?

Well, what you can see in the picture next to me is a theodolite. This tool helps us track harbour porpoises when we work doing visual observations.

The theodolite is a traditional surveying tool that is normally used on land to reproduce scale models of landscapes. BUT, theodolites can also be used to measure distances and positions of points located at sea. It is a tool that has commonly been used to track whales, dolphins and porpoises during visual observations.

To use it you need a high point that overlooks a survey area, in our case a 20m cliff in Fyns Hoved (Denmark). From that position we can observe harbour porpoises. When they swim into our experimental set-up we will search them and then ‘take points’ which will include information on horizontal and vertical angles. This information will allow us to calculate their exact position later on as we have reference points with known GPS data to match them up with.

When you plot the points later on a map you will be able to see the track and heading direction of the animal. Theodolite is a non-invasive method to observe animals and get good position data without disturbing them!

Swipe through the pictures to get a better idea on how it works!

# whales

Echolocation in toothed-whales

Echolocation in cetaceans was first proven in Atlantic bottlenose dolphins when they located cups over their eyes and observed that the animal was still able to swim and avoid obstacles.

The animals emit a short intense acoustic wave which hits objects and reflects back to them providing information to them. But how does it work?

Cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), like any mammal, have two nares or nasal openings. This openings lead to the blow hole that is located on the top of their head. Vocal cords are absent in cetaceans but they have another interesting muscle structure called ‚monkey lips‘. These muscles regulate the air flow from the lungs to the blow hole creating whistles or clicks.

These clicks are shaped and directed as they pass through the melon of the animals. The melon is a mass of fatty tissue that is located in the front oft he head of cetaceans.

The sound then leaves the head of the animals, travels through the water, hits an object and the resulting echo is perceived by the animal through the echo waves that enter the mandible skull which directs the sound to the inner ear.

The information from the inner ear is then passed onto the brain of the animal allowing it to create an image for them to understand what’s going on around them.

Have a look at the picture and let me ask me questions about it in the comments :)

📸 Talia Cohen
📸 Achat

What is echolocation? 🔊🦇🐬

Echolocation is a process in which animals emit a sound into the environment and then listen to echoes tat come back from objects around them. They use this information to understand their environment and hunt!

While we could all perceive echoes in our environment, the term echolocation is reserved for a specialized acoustic adptation by animals that utilize this capability on a regular basis to forage for prey, navigate, and avoid predators.

Echolocation is used by different animals in very different environments and comes from an adaptation to low visibility possibilities. The most common species that use it are bats and odontocetes (toother whales). But it is also used by some birds, some shrews (small mole-like mammals) and even Daniel Kish a man who is blind but uses echolocation to ‚see‘!

What the animal actually does is measure the time that passes between their emited sound and the delay of receiving their echo. The closer the object, the shorter the period of time for an echo to come back.

Next time we will see how it works in toothed whales! So stay tuned (;

📸 Clement Falize

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# whales

Happy Shark Awareness Day from me and the coles house shoes on earth!

Today I learned a new detail on a fun fact that I want to share with you.

One of the reasons sharks are so vulnerable is that they can have very long gestation periods (time they are pregnant). This period can vary from 5 to 6 months (the shortest) for the bonnethead shark and up to 3.5 years such as for the basking shark! Can you believe that?!

These animals then normally have a very low number of babies (pups), making their entire reproductive cycle very slow. 

Furthermore, sharks take way longer than normal fish to reach sexual maturity. White sharks reach sexual maturity at 26 years for males and 33 years for females! This means that a white shark that was born the same year as me is still not ready to have pups (I can see some parallels 😇).

Let's keep on learning about sharks! Share your favourite shark fact in the comments!

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Happy World Ocean Day ✨🌊☀️

I cannot thank you enough for the life you have given me. I look forward to many more years living by your shores, swimming in your waters, feeling your dried salt on my skin, learning about your inhabitants and working to protect you.

📸 Thank you for the picture

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Meet the Baltic Seals 🌊☀️

Well well, you may not know this, but seals are among my favourite animals ever! This is why I am very excited to be living in the Baltic Sea now where three seal species can be found! Let’s introduce them to you:

The grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) is the most abundant and largest. But this has not always been so. Grey seals have almost gone extinct in the southern Baltic Sea due to culling campaigns as they were believed to eat away all the fish in the area. Since 2003 their colonies have started to increase again!

The ringed seal (Phoca hispida) inhabits the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. It does not come down to Germany, but it still swims around in the Baltic Sea. This seal is of a smaller size, reaching a length of up to 1.5 meters. Its name comes from the dark spot it has that is surrounded by grey rings.

The harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) is also known as the common seal. These seals are brown mixed with silvery-white or gray. Each pattern is unique to the individual. While their population is not threatened worldwide, it is in the Baltic Sea.

Swipe through the pictures and let me know in the comments which one your favorite is!

📸 Grey Seal by Niklas Sjöblom
📸Ringed Seal by NOAA
📸Harbor seal by Andreas Trepte

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Meet the Baltic Sea!

I finally made it to the Baltic Sea!

The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. It is enclosed by a number of northern countries (swipe to see the map) and connected to the Atlantic Sea through the Danish Strait.

The exchange of water between the Atlantic Ocean and the Baltic Sea is limited, making it a brackish sea. This means that it is a sea with low salinity. This actually makes the Baltic Sea a species-poor environment and connections between species are relatively simple. This makes the sea especially vulnerable, as taking out one of its elements can create a big unbalance.

The harbour porpoise is the only resident cetacean in the Baltic Sea. Losing it would thus be an important loss for the ecosystem. Get ready to learn more about it

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FAO E-lerning Academy 🌊🌱☀️

Guess Who misses going to school? Your girl right here 🤓 So let me tell you about something exciting!

The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security.  

In this effort, they cover all topics related to food such as agriculture or fisheries but also plant protection, pest management, plant breeding programs, investments in agriculture and fisheries, animal genetics and much more.

If these are topics that interest you I suggest you to check out their FREE Online learning Academy where they have super interesting courses on different topics!

The courses are self-paced and you can start them whenever you want and do them in your own time. They can be done online or be downloaded and worked through without Wifi. They offer interactive presentations, with quizzes to check your knowledge. The duration of the courses varies but is normally around 2.5 hours which makes them totally achievable and still gives you a great overlook about a topic.

Here are some of my top picks. I just did the course in ‘Fisheries and Aquaculture Response to Emergencies (FARE)’ and I am looking forward to starting the ‘Simulation Exercises for Animal Disease Emergencies. Go check out the link below and let me know if you are going to take any course!

https://elearning.fao.org/

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FAO E-lerning Academy 🌊🌱☀️

The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security.  

In this effort, they cover all topics related to food such as agriculture or fisheries but also plant protection, pest management, plant breeding programs, investments in agriculture and fisheries, animal genetics and much more.

If these are topics that interest you I suggest you to check out their FREE Online learning Academy where they have super interesting courses on different topics!

The courses are self-paced and you can start them whenever you want and do them in your own time. They can be done online or be downloaded and worked through without Wifi. They offer interactive presentations, with quizzes to check your knowledge. The duration of the courses varies but is normally around 2.5 hours which makes them totally achievable and still gives you a great overlook about a topic.

Here are some of my top picks. I just did the course in ‘Fisheries and Aquaculture Response to Emergencies (FARE)’ and I am looking forward to starting the ‘Simulation Exercises for Animal Disease Emergencies. Go check out the link below and let me know if you are going to take any course!

https://elearning.fao.org/

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Happy Valentine's to my one true love 🌊☀️🦈🐳

Can't wait to continue discovering you on different corners of this planet, taste your saltiness and have the best hairstyles after sumerging myself in you.

Thank you for being my home and giving my life a purpose. I promise I will work to preserve your beauty and support your inhabitants as long as you allow me to.

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Day of women and girls in science! 👩🏼‍🔬🌊🐳

Happy day to all my ladies out there that are conquering the field of science, studying the amazing world around us and working towards a future that is more equal and that respects mother nature and helps find solutions to create a sustainable life for all species.

I can’t thank my younger self enough for choosing the path of science that has led me to support my animal friends from here.

Nevertheless, a significant gender gap has persisted throughout years at all levels of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) discipline all over the world. Yet women have shown to be a driving force of nature in so many aspects of life. I truly wish for a future where women and girls from all walks of life and parts of the world get a similar chance to access a career in science if they wish to do so. And it is one of my goals to contribute to easier access to information and chances to those females. And now I want you to ask yourself what you can do to support the girls in your life and consider doing it. The world is a work of acts of kindness.

P.S. seems a fitting day to reveal that I moved to the northern tip of Germany to work at the Thünen Institute for Baltic Fisheries 🐟

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