Coast Of Newfoundland Research Articles

Reducing uncertainty on the Grand Bank: tracking and vessel surveys indicate mortality risks for common murres in the North-West Atlantic

Seabirds and other marine animals are at risk from anthropogenic activities that target them directly and those that can harm them incidentally. We integrate year-round tracking and vessel studies to assess risks for a globally important seabird population in the North-West Atlantic. The eastern Canadian Grand Bank has a rich and diverse food web that supports an abundance of apex predators. Major resource extraction industries (hydrocarbon production and fisheries) operate in the area, and, in addition to shipping and hunting, pose risks for marine birds. Understanding the relative risks has been hampered by poor information on bird distribution at sea. Here, we deployed global location sensors (loggers or geolocators) on common murres Uria aalge at Funk Island, the species' largest North American breeding colony. Adults (n=10) were resident on the Grand Bank and in adjacent pelagic waters year round. Within 10 days of leaving the colony, males dispersed offshore (<50 degrees W), southsouth-east of Funk Island. Females departed later and spent 10-47 days in coastal waters before moving offshore. All birds were in the vicinity of offshore oil platforms during November and December, but remained outside the area of the coastal Newfoundland and Labrador murre hunt. Three of six tracked females, but only one of four tracked males moved closer to shore during January and February where vulnerability to the hunt may have increased. Vessel-based surveys confirmed the importance of offshore, shelf-edge habitats for murres in winter. Our results highlight the relative risk to wintering murres from different human activities, providing a sound scientific rationale for focusing conservation and management actions. This information is particularly timely given the continued expansion of deep-water drilling in the North-West Atlantic and increasing risk of oil pollution for seabirds attracted to platforms.

Playing in the woods: youth, leisure and the performance of gender relations in rural Newfoundland

Based on qualitative interviews and focus groups with youth (12–24 years) living in rural, coastal Newfoundland, Canada, we examine how leisure practices within this context served to reproduce and naturalize localized gender relations. More specifically, we argue that the participants drew upon dominant discursive constructions of rural leisure to reiteratively enact a binary distinction between the ‘town’ as a space of constraint, youth-adult tensions, and consumerism in contrast to the freedom and privacy of the ‘woods’. This dichotomy was mapped onto gender binaries, where the town was coded as feminine and the woods, masculine. We argue that these constructions served to mark the boundaries of normative gender leisure practices in the production of embodied gender subjectivities.

Bird Cloud (review)

Reviewed by: Bird Cloud Matt Low Bird Cloud. By Annie Proulx. New York: Scribner, 2011. 256 pages, $26.00. Annie Proulx’s new memoir, Bird Cloud, is about a house. To be exact, the house that she spent several years having built on 640 acres of former grazing land deeded to the Nature Conservancy in south-central Wyoming. Obvious analogs from Proulx’s oeuvre are her three collections of short stories set in Wyoming: Close Range (1999), Bad Dirt (2004), and Fine Just the Way It Is (2008). However, looking to her Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, The Shipping News (1993), might be more appropriate, as Quoyle’s doomed efforts to restore a family home in coastal Newfoundland discernibly foreshadow Proulx’s own frustrations to establish a sturdy human dwelling in a locale beset by the elements, especially the wind. The title of the book comes from the name Proulx bestowed upon the place after seeing a “cloud in the shape of an immense bird, the head and beak, the breast looming over the Rockies” as well as her hope that her new property would continue to serve as a sanctuary for golden and bald eagles, blue herons, and kestrels (48). Readers familiar with Proulx’s Wyoming fiction will no doubt come to the book expecting copious description of the physical environment in which Bird Cloud is situated. Proulx’s desire to build in this location stemmed from a similar attachment to the topography and ecology of the North Platte River valley; she writes, “Because place is such a major part of my writing life, I thought it important that Bird Cloud breathe in and out of the landscape” (50). Consequently, Proulx routinely leaves the construction of the house behind in order to traverse the bluffs, prairies, and waterways around Bird Cloud, often taking the construction crew along with her. The “deep map” that makes up much of the book’s second half recounts these excursions [End Page 208] and attempts to uncover the ecological and archaeological layers of the area, often with fascinating results. Yet Proulx occasionally comes across as unconcerned with examining her own complicity in the alteration of Bird Cloud’s ecology—such as when she removes dead wood from around her house in order to “reduce the number of porcupine dens” in the area—missing a chance to reflect critically upon US place-making in the New West (220). Bird Cloud also gives considerable space to the seemingly mundane choices Proulx had to make in the house’s design and her near daily struggles with contractors, architects, and builders. At times, these details feel like minutiae, but as Gaston Bachelard philosophizes in The Poetics of Space (1958), even the simplest houses transcend the construction materials, square footage, and building codes that constitute their physical realities. Articulating the “chief benefit of the house,” Bachelard proclaims that the house “shelters daydreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace” (6). Proulx’s aspirations to build such a house may fall short in the end, but the resulting memoir makes clear that her labors were not in vain. Matt Low University of Iowa, Iowa City Copyright © 2011 Western Literature Association

Residency time, migration route and survival of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar smolts in a Canadian fjord

Atlantic salmon Salmo salar smolts (n = 181) from two rivers were surgically implanted with acoustic transmitters and released to determine migration route, residency time and survival in a 50 km long estuarine fjord located on the south coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Data obtained from automated receivers placed throughout the Bay d'Espoir fjord indicated that migrating smolts used different routes to reach the outer areas of the fjord. The duration of time that smolts spent in the immediate estuary zone also differed between the two localities (7 and 17 days) although the total time smolts were resident in the fjord was similar and extensive (40 days). Many smolts were resident for periods of 4-8 weeks moving back and forth in the outer part of the fjord where maximum water depths range from 300 to 700 m. Survival in the estuary zone was greater for smolts with prolonged residency in estuarine habitat. Overall smolt survival to the fjord exit was moderately high (54-85%), indicating that the initial phase of migration did not coincide with a period of unusually high mortality.

Northern Range Extension of the Gladiatior Box Crab, Acanthocarpus alexandri Stimpson, 1871 (Decapoda: Brachyura: Calappidae) in the Northwest Atlantic

Abstract A specimen of a gladiator box crab, Acanthocarpus alexandri Stimpson, 1871, was captured off the northeast coast of Newfoundland during June 2009. This is the first report of the species in Canadian Atlantic waters, and represents a major northern expansion in the distributional range by approximately 800-900 kilometres. The known distribution of this western Atlantic species now extends from Newfoundland to Brazil, encompassing tropical, temperate, and sub-arctic marine ecosystems.

Environmental conditions and occurrence of hypoxia within production cages of Atlantic salmon on the south coast of Newfoundland

Dissolved oxygen (DO) levels were monitored in two marine Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) cage sites on the south coast of Newfoundland (Canada) during the summer and fall of 2008 and 2009. In 2008, sites A and B had cages with stocking densities of approximately 9 kg m−3. In 2009, site A was being fallowed while stocking density at site B was of 10 kg m−3. During 2008 and 2009, few hypoxic events (defined as DO <6 mg L−1 O2) were recorded at site A; however, at site B intermittent hypoxic events (4–6 mg L−1 O2) were observed. Our study provides a description of intermittent hypoxia occurring in salmon cages. These hypoxic events occur mostly during the summer season and last for as long as 2.5 months. Fish swimming behaviour show that water layers exhibiting low DO did not cause avoidance behaviour. This confirms results found by other authors. Site B exhibited low water currents below 5 m suggesting that caution should be taken before considering an increase in stocking densities in cages. Questions remain about the effect of this intermittent hypoxia on fish health and growth, and will be the focus of future research.

Aggregational behavior of the blue mussels Mytilus edulis and Mytilus trossulus: a potential pre-zygotic reproductive isolation mechanism

The blue mussels Mytilus edulis and Mytilus trossulus occur sympatrically and are able to hybridize in populations on the eastern coast of Newfoundland, Canada, presenting an opportunity to study their aggregational behavior. Aggregation behavior may therefore provide insight into post-settlement interactions and pre-zygotic reproductive isolation between the species. Three treatments were designed using M. edulis and M. trossulus to investigate their intraspecific and interspecific spatial distribution patterns. With Ripley’s K-function and Monte Carlo simulation analysis, we found that in the single-species treatment, M. edulis aggregated significantly but not M. trossulus. Based on results of two-way ANOVAs, both the number of aggregations and the moving distance were significantly affected by the treatments (single-species or mixed-species treatment) and times (24, 48, 72 and 96 h). In further pairwise comparisons using Tukey’s test, M. edulis aggregated differently with or without M. trossulus occupying the same tank, suggesting that the aggregational behavior of M. edulis could be driven by species-specific chemical cues. The result that M. edulis aggregates intraspecifically may increase the probability of intraspecific fertilization of the spawned gametes and thus function as a pre-zygotic reproductive isolation mechanism maintaining the blue mussel hybrid zone.

Respondent uncertainty in contingent valuation: the case of whale conservation in Newfoundland and Labrador

In this article we investigate the issue of respondent uncertainty in contingent valuation studies while estimating the willingness to pay for a whale conservation program off the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador. We use data from a phone survey administered to a sample (N = 614) of adult Canadians, proposing a policy consisting of subsidizing and enforcing the use of acoustic devices that would reduce the likelihood that whales become entangled in fishing nets. A follow-up question asked respondents how certain they were about their answer to the main dichotomous-choice question, which allows us to investigate how the treatment of uncertainty affects value measures. A mean willingness to pay of about $81/year per respondent is estimated when accounting for the degree of certainty with which respondents expressed their willingness to pay. We also analyse payment vehicle effects using a split-sample approach whereby some respondents were asked a dichotomous-choice question about a tax contribution while others were asked about a voluntary donation instead.

Clarifying the Northern Distributional Limits of the Slipper LimpetCrepidula fornicatain the Northwestern Atlantic

The distribution of the slipper limpet Crepidula fornicata (Linnaeus, 1758) in the northwestern Atlantic is generally understood to extend only as far north as Baie des Chaleurs (∼48°N, 66°W) in the southwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence and only as far east as Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia (-46°N, 60°W). Here we present evidence that this species is found considerably further north (to 51°N) and east (to 55°W) than previously recognized. More specifically, its distribution is now known to include the Quebec “Lower North Shore” of the Gulf of St. Lawrence as well as the southern and western coasts of Newfoundland. Our evidence is based upon (1) shell collections from 12 museums in Canada and the U.S., (2) reports from both the primary and the secondary literature dating back to 1841, and (3) collections of C. fornicata in Newfoundland in 2009. While our investigations suggest that C. fornicata is expanding its geographic range in eastern Canada, we cannot be certain of this since the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland, and Labrador have not been extensively sampled in the past for non-commercial benthic marine molluscs. Factors such as larval drift in known surface currents may be sufficient to explain such supposed range extensions. Clarification of current geographic ranges of marine species, particularly of well-studied and easily recognizable taxa such as C. fornicata, remains an important task for establishing temporal benchmarks against which to assess the effect of climate change on the marine environment.

Sources of variability in prevalence and distribution of bitter crab disease in snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) along the northeast coast of Newfoundland

AbstractMullowney, D. R., Dawe, E. G., Morado, J. F., and Cawthorn, R. J. 2011. Sources of variability in prevalence and distribution of bitter crab disease in snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) along the northeast coast of Newfoundland. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: . Bitter crab disease (BCD), caused by a parasitic dinoflagellate of the genus Hematodinium, is a source of mortality in Newfoundland and Labrador snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio). Prevalence and distribution patterns have been spatially and temporally variable since the discovery of BCD in 1990, and controlling factors are poorly understood. Data from a long-term trap survey in two bays along the northeast coast of Newfoundland are analysed, investigating the influences and interactions of various biotic and abiotic factors over BCD. Factors examined include host size and density, temperature, salinity, and depth. The density of small to medium-sized snow crabs was directly related to prevalence and distribution of BCD, whereas all other factors had either an indirect or no effect. Further, much of the spatio-temporal variability in disease expression is a function of variability in host productivity, growth, and movement. The study also considers the impacts BCD can exert on the commercial fishery, and the potential for predicting intermediate to long-term recruitment potential based on BCD prevalence levels.

Comparative study of reproductive synchrony at various scales in deep-sea echinoderms

This study examined the influence of temporal and spatial factors on the determination of reproductive cycles in selected deep-water echinoderms. The prevalence of inter-individual synchrony in the gametogenesis of three ubiquitous species, Phormosoma placenta (Echinoidea), Hippasteria phrygiana (Asteroidea) and Mesothuria lactea (Holothuroidea) collected off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador (eastern Canada), was determined. Analyses revealed diverse degrees of gametogenic asynchrony at the scales examined (within trawls, between trawls over similar or different periods, as well as among depths and locations over the same period). Taken as a whole, samples did not show any annual or seasonal patterns, whereas some sets of samples, taken over a particular time period in the same area and at the same depth, revealed well synchronized maturing and/or spawning periods in P. placenta and H. phrygiana. This study presents evidence that determination of reproductive cycles in many deep-sea species may be affected by low sampling resolution inherent to most deep-sea studies. More accurate assessments of reproductive patterns and periodicities may require much tighter collection designs as several species are likely to rely on long-term or transient pairing and aggregation to synchronize their breeding activities.

Killer whale (Orcinus orca) photo-identification in the eastern Canadian Arctic

We identified individual killer whales (Orcinus orca) using recent (2004-09) photographs to obtain a minimum count of whales that use eastern Canadian Arctic waters. Fifty-three individuals were identified from nine different sightings; 11 individuals from western Hudson Bay sightings and 42 from the areas around northern and eastern Baffin Island. One whale was resighted: an adult female or large juvenile photographed 17 days and 375 km apart at Churchill, Manitoba, and off-shore of Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, in August 2007. With only one individual re-sighted, the number of individuals that use this area is likely much larger. No re-sightings occurred between Arctic killer whales and individuals photographed off the coast of Newfoundland. Our results represent the minimum number of killer whales sighted in eastern Canadian Arctic waters and provide the foundation for further killer whale research. Little is known about Arctic killer whales and, as a top predator, it is unclear what effect they have on Arctic marine ecosystems.Keywords: Abundance; Baffin Island; Canada; distribution; High Arctic; Hudson Bay; photographs(Published: 23 May 2011)Citation: Polar Research 2011, 30, 7203, DOI: 10.3402/polar.v30i0.7203

Furs, Fish, and Ivory: Medieval Norsemen at the Arctic Fringe

Abstract Why did the Norse Icelanders colonize Greenland in the late tenth century A.D., and why did they explore the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland? Was it a desperate search for farmland at the margins of the known world, or was it a market-driven economic strategy applied to sub-arctic territory? To address these questions, the author gives a brief introduction to the Norse expansion and economic strategies in three regions: the Sami territory in Northern Scandinavia, the Finnish and Russian territories east of Scandinavia, and Greenland and Labrador in the western North Atlantic. The purpose of the expansion north and east of Scandinavia was to buy or extort furs from the hunter-gatherer communities. This strategy is unthinkable without a European and even Middle Eastern demand for furs, and must generally be seen as market-driven. The author suggests that the Norse explorations of Labrador and the colonization of Greenland was equally market driven, with walrus tusks as the most successful expor...

Trichomycetes from Newfoundland, including Gros Morne National Park

Twenty-one taxa of trichomycetes are recorded from aquatic insects collected from sites on the east and west coasts of Newfoundland. Three new species, Smittium colboi Strongman sp. nov., Smittium georgense Strongman sp. nov., and Stachylina forantipes Strongman sp. nov., are described. Spartiella barbata Tuzet &amp; Manier ex Manier is reported for the first time in North America, and six species are new geographic records for Newfoundland. Of these six, three are new records for Atlantic Canada. Pennella hovassi Manier ex Manier was recovered from sites in eastern Newfoundland, and taxonomically important features of this and other species in the genus are discussed.

Comparison of Metazoan Parasites of Atlantic Cod, Gadus morhua, from Three Geographical Areas of Coastal Newfoundland

This study compared metazoan parasites in the digestive tract of Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua , captured from 3 geographical areas off the northeastern (NE), southeastern (SE), and southwestern (SW) coasts of Newfoundland. Samples were obtained by line trawl and frozen after capture, and the digestive tract was subsequently examined for metazoan parasites following conventional parasitological methods. Mean abundance of nematodes, but not the trematodes, and an acanthocephalan was significantly greater in cod taken from the NE than from the SE or SW areas, which were generally similar. Four species of trematodes, 3 nematodes, and an acanthocephalan, Echinorhynchus gadi , were the dominant parasites observed. Differences in mean abundance among samples from different areas might be related to the types of prey consumed rather than to environmental factors. The dominant parasites were probably acquired by cod on the NE coast after feeding on capelin, Mallotus villosus , which serve as paratenic hosts for several helminth species. Previous studies on tagging, feeding, and prevalence of 3 parasites have revealed differences in the populations of cod from the NE than from the SW or SE areas. Results from the present study, indicating geographical differences in parasite mean abundance and prevalence from the digestive tract of Atlantic cod between SW and NE areas, support the view of distinct coastal cod stocks off Newfoundland.

Crepuscular foraging by a pursuit-diving seabird: tactics of common murres in response to the diel vertical migration of capelin

The spatial and temporal distribution of prey directly influences the foraging and feed- ing behaviour of predators. To investigate predator-prey interactions through the diel cycle, we examined continuous records of diving activity by a pursuit-diving seabird, the common murre Uria aalge, in conjunction with fine-scale data on the vertical distribution of their main prey, capelin Mal- lotus villosus, off the northeast Newfoundland coast, Canada. Diurnal patterns in the diving activities of murres closely reflected changes in the vertical distribution and movements of capelin. During daylight hours, 43% of murre dives were deep (≥50 m), bringing murres into sub-0°C water in the Cold Intermediate Layer (CIL; ~40 to 240 m), when 82% of capelin biomass was located within or below the CIL. At night, murres concentrated diving activity at shallower depths (94% of dives were <50 m) when 86% of capelin biomass was in the upper water column. Capelin migrated through the water column during twilight periods, moving up at dusk and down at dawn. In response, murres' diving frequency increased and diving depths were graduated, becoming shallower through dusk and deeper through dawn. Crepuscular habits indicate that capelin are more accessible during twi- light periods. In summary, though murres are constrained by commuting costs, they show exceptional behavioural flexibility in their efforts to access capelin throughout their diel vertical migration (DVM). The various trade-offs involved in such predator-prey interactions are discussed, as are the ecological consequences of the DVM pattern across trophic levels.

High Arctic sea ice conditions influence marine birds wintering in Low Arctic regions

Ocean climate change is having profound biological effects in polar regions. Such change can also have far-reaching downstream effects in sub-polar regions. This study documents an environmental relationship between High Arctic sea ice changes and mortality events of marine birds in Low Arctic coastal regions. During April 2007 and March 2009, hundreds of beached seabird carcasses and moribund seabirds were found along the east and northeast coasts of Newfoundland, Canada. These seabird “wrecks” (i.e. dead birds on beaches) coincided with a period of strong, persistent onshore winds and heavily-accumulated sea ice that blocked bays and trapped seabirds near beaches. Ninety-two percent of wreck seabirds were Thick-billed Murres ( Uria lomvia). Body condition and demographic patterns of wreck murres were compared to Thick-billed Murres shot in the Newfoundland murre hunt. Average body and pectoral masses of wreck carcasses were 34% and 40% lighter (respectively) than shot murres, indicating that wreck birds had starved. The acute nature of each wreck suggested that starvation and associated hypothermia occurred within 2–3 days. In 2007, first-winter murres (77%) dominated the wreck. In 2009, there were more adults (78%), mostly females (66%). These results suggest that spatial and temporal segregation in ages and sexes can play a role in differential survival when stochastic weather conditions affect discrete areas where these groups aggregate. In wreck years, southward movement of Arctic sea ice to Low Arctic latitudes was later and blocked bays longer than in most other years. These inshore conditions corresponded with recent climate-driven changes in High Arctic ice break-up and ice extent; coupled with local weather conditions, these ice conditions appeared to be the key environmental features that precipitated the ice-associated seabird wrecks in the Low Arctic region.

Influence of prey behaviour and other predators on the foraging activities of a marine avian predator in a Low Arctic ecosystem

Air-breathing marine predators can expend considerable time and energy searching for patchily distributed prey and, thus, likely employ varying foraging strategies to minimize these costs. We studied the diurnal foraging patterns of the northern gannet Sula bassana along with the distrib- utional patterns of its main prey, capelin Mallotus villosus, off the NE Newfoundland coast from 1999 to 2005. We explored whether gannets minimize searching costs for near-surface ( 70% of gannet diets. Gannets aggregated in shallow areas (<30 m) where spatially and temporally persistent shoals of capelin were accessible through daylight, but were also found in deeper water where capelin were inaccessible. Gannet diving activity was only recorded during daylight, and although activity peaked at the start and end of daylight, most dives occurred when capelin had migrated to inaccessible depths. Gannets were more tightly associ- ated with whales than with near-surface capelin shoals, suggesting that they may successfully track capelin by cueing to the foraging activities of whales. A mixed strategy of memory-based and local enhancement foraging tactics appear to play important roles in minimizing the effort required to access prey.

Estimating the negative binomial dispersion parameter with highly stratified surveys

We investigate several estimators of the negative binomial (NB) dispersion parameter for highly stratified count data for which the statistical model has a separate mean parameter for each stratum. If the number of samples per stratum is small then the model is highly parameterized and the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) of the NB dispersion parameter can be biased and inefficient. Some of the estimators we investigate include adjustments for the number of mean parameters to reduce bias. We extend other estimators that were developed for the iid case, to reduce bias when there are many mean parameters. We demonstrate using simulations that an adjusted double extended quasi-likelihood estimator we proposed gives much improved estimates compared to the MLE. Adjusted extended quasi-likelihood and adjusted maximum likelihood estimators also give much-improved results. We illustrate the various estimators with stratified random bottom trawl survey data for cod ( Gadus morhua) off the south coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Interannual variability in feeding rate and niche breadth of radiated shanny (Ulvaria subbifurcata) larvae from coastal Newfoundland

Using 6 years of data for radiated shanny (Ulvaria subbifurcata) larvae from coastal Newfoundland, we examine relationships between prey availability, specific consumption rates (SPC) and niche breadth (S) as a function of both larval size and cohort. We also examine the extent to which specific consumption rates correlate with interannual variations in otolith-based estimates of average growth rate (mm day ―1 and variability in individual growth rates. In all years, we observed an ontogenetic dietary shift, from nauplii to larger copepods, as the Ulvaria larvae grew. There were significant differences in SPC both across size categories and among years. There was also a significant increase in S with increasing body size in most years. There was a positive, but variable, correlation between SPC and average growth rates for small- and intermediate-sized fish, but no significant relationship with variability in individual growth rates. Overall, we found that foraging success increased with larval size, whereby the majority of large larvae were feeding above maintenance levels while small larvae fed at or below maintenance levels. Food limitation may therefore be an important factor that directly affects the mortality of small, but not necessarily large, larvae. Coupled with the observed ontogenetic change in diet, quantifying the relationship between food availability and larval growth will thus depend not only on prey availability, but also on the size-based foraging abilities of larval fish.