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What is hindering cod recovery?
The former abundance of cod in Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence may have been less stable than earlier thought, new research indicates. Studies indicate that the continued onslaught of high-pressure fishing after World War II and changes in the ocean made the cod more vulnerable, and decreased stocks. Scientists now are studying differences in productivity between stocks in the North Atlantic and factors including poor environmental conditions, food-supply changes, the poor condition of individual fish that reduced their ability to catch prey, increased susceptibility to predation, and competition for food with and predation by seals. For more details see
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/Story/cod_recovery_e.htm.

Musquash Estuary is Canada's sixth MPA

The Musquash Estuary in March became New Brunswick's first and Canada's sixth marine protected area (MPA). Located on the Bay of Fundy, it is about 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) southwest of Saint John. It is one of the last ecologically intact estuaries in a region where most original salt marshes have been modified by human activities. Estuaries such as Musquash are found where freshwater rivers meet saltwater. Conditions produced by a tidal mixing support a large variety of species, making estuaries among the most important and highly productive ecosystems in coastal waters. Musquash was originally proposed as an MPA in 1998, and in February 2000 Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) announced it as an MPA Area of Interest under Canada's Oceans Act. For more details see the Gulf of Maine Times Winter 2005 edition http://www.gulfofmaine.org/times/winter2005/editorsnotes.html and
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/media/backgrou/2007/mar01_e.htm

Restoring fishways on Mount Desert Island
Two fishways in Somesville on Mount Desert Island, Maine, adjacent to Acadia National Park, have been rebuilt with support from local residents, community groups, and state and federal agencies. When all three phases of this restoration project are complete, diadromous (sea-run) fish passage will be restored throughout the Somes Pond-Long Pond watershed, providing access to more than one stream-mile and more than 1,000 acres (405 hectares) of lake habitat for alewives, sea lamprey, and American eel.

“Historically, more than 200,000 adult sea-run alewives followed streams from Somes Sound through the mill pond to Somes Pond, Ripple Pond, and on to Long Pond,” said Tom Squiers, director of Maine Department of Marine Resource's Stock Enhancement Program.

To learn more about eels, alewives and sea lamprey, visit:
http://www.fws.gov/northeast/gulfofmaine/publications/index.htm and click on “other diadromous fish.”

Cloning the smell of the sea
Scientists from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, the United Kingdom, have discovered what makes the seaside smell like the seaside, and bottled it.

The age-old mystery was unlocked thanks to some novel bacteria plucked from the North Norfolk coast. Professor Andrew Johnston and his team at the university isolated this microbe from the mud at Stiffkey salt marsh to identify and extract the single gene responsible for the emission of the strong-smelling gas, dimethyl sulphide (DMS). Scientists have known about DMS for many years, but the genes responsible for its production have not been identified until now. The new findings were published in February in Science.