Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 12 February 2019
Scientists hope DNA in water could be way to save rare fish

By PATRICK WHITTLE life confirmed in June 2017
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — that the charr are spawn-
Scientists in Maine are using ing in the pond again.
DNA to try to preserve the Using environmental DNA
remaining populations of a can help make sure the
fish that lives in 14 lakes and smelt don't gain a foothold
ponds in the state and no- in other bodies of water
where else in the continen- where the charr live, said
tal United States. Francis Brautigam, the di-
The scientists are turn- rector of fisheries for the
ing their eye to the Arctic state wildlife department.
charr, which is a species The smelt have been il-
of landlocked fish in Maine legally introduced in Bald
that has lived in the state Mountain Pond in north-
for millennia and is prized east Somerset County,
by anglers. The charr face where charr populations
threats such as invasive have dropped, he said,
predators and a warming and controlling the situa-
climate. They are also no- tion is a priority.
toriously elusive, making "Our agency has been pret-
them difficult for research- ty responsive to ensuring
ers to track. those populations remain
Michael Kinnison, a pro- on our landscape," Brau-
fessor of evolutionary ap- In this Oct. 26, 2018 photo, University of Maine graduate student Brad Erdman holds an Artic charr, tigam said. Igor Sikorsky,
plications at University of left, and a brook trout, right, at Floods Pond near Otis, Maine. a northern Maine camp
Maine, and other scientists Associated Press owner and air taxi bush pi-
are working with the state lot, worked with the state
to make sure the fish keep than older methods, such food. But to find one in ing grant money provided on efforts to save the charr
surviving. Kinnison is work- as using nets, Kinnison said. the lower 48 states, an an- by the organization's Em- population on Big Reed
ing on a project to collect "If your only tool to count gler can only go to one of brace-A-Stream fund. Pond. He said the move to-
"environmental DNA" from a species is a gillnet, and a group of remote, rural One of the biggest threats ward using advanced tools
the water bodies where the there's not many, do you ponds and lakes in Maine, to the charr is the presence such as environmental DNA
fish live. make the tough choice some of which are barely of invasive rainbow smelt, is a smart one, because the
The project involves col- to risk killing the individuals accessible to humans. a species of small fish that fish are a unique part of the
lecting water samples from to find them?" he said. "It's The project to collect their competes with charr for state's natural landscape
the lakes and ponds where a way to get an idea of DNA in Maine launched in food and are suspected and are jeopardized by cli-
the fish are known to live, where organisms are locat- 2017, and is expected to of eating charr's young. mate change. The fish like
and studying DNA that ed and do it in a way that continue through this sum- The charr were the subject cold water, and they're at
they and other organisms presents really no harm." mer, said Brad Erdman, a of a yearslong project to the very southern end of
shed, Kinnison said. It'll pro- Arctic charr live at the top University of Maine ecology eradicate the smelt from their range in Maine.
vide vital information scien- of the world, including graduate student who is Big Reed Pond in north- "Who knows if this is the
tists can use to keep charr in northern Canada and working on it. A local chap- ern Piscataquis County to end, or if we are able to
populations stable, he said. Alaska. They're known to ter of Trout Unlimited, an save the charr's population stabilize it," Sikorsky said. "So
It's also a much less invasive seafood lovers because environmental nonprofit, is there. Maine Department far, so good is the best you
and time-consuming way they're farmed for use as working on the project us- of Inland Fisheries and Wild- can say."q

Desert attraction temporarily closes

after 4 dolphin deaths

PHOENIX (AP) — Dolphina- will close temporarily be- partment of Agriculture's
ris Arizona opened in the ginning Friday as a panel of Animal and Plant Health
metro Phoenix desert two experts investigates poten- Inspection Service said it's
years ago as marine parks tial factors in the dolphin aware of the latest dolphin
elsewhere were scaling deaths. Two of the facility's death and is "working on
back exhibits amid criticism four remaining dolphins are the next course of action."
In this Oct. 13, 2016, file photo, a dolphin plays in the water at of the treatment of animals. being returned to Dolphin It declined to elaborate.
Dolphinaris in Scottsdale, Ariz. Animal rights advocates Quest, a company that Dolphinaris Arizona is one
Associated Press took aim at Dolphinaris as loans dolphins to attrac- of five dolphin parks oper-
well, saying that putting tions, while the other two ated by Mexico City-based
dolphins in pools on tribal will be moved to another Ventura Entertainment. The
land in the desert was tan- licensed facility while Dol- others are in Mexico.
tamount to animal cruelty. phinaris Arizona is being The facility near Phoenix
Since its opening, four dol- evaluated. Federal regula- is believed to be the first
phins have died, with the tors said Wednesday they newly constructed dol-
latest death occurring Jan. have done four inspec- phin facility in the United
31 when a 22-year-old dol- tions of Dolphinaris since it States in a decade. It lets
phin named Kai had diffi- opened and they haven't people swim and play with
culty swimming, eating and taken any enforcement dolphins in pools on the
breathing. actions or issued any cita- edge of a dirt and cactus
Dolphinaris Arizona said it tions. However, the U.S. De- landscape.q