Page 28 - AT

A28 SCIENCE
Friday 1 February 2019
Sharks drawn to warm waters by Israeli coastal power plant

By ALON BERNSTEIN and popped up at the boat's
ISABEL DEBRE ledge. The researchers
HADERA, Israel (AP) — A gi- leaned over and wrangled
ant power plant with billow- with it, planting a high-tech
ing smoke may not look like tag on its dorsal fin to track
the most natural habitat for its movements before set-
sea life. But the hot water ting it free.
gushing from an industrial "It's ironic that all of our
plant in Israel's northern knowledge of sharks cur-
city of Hadera has drawn rently comes from the very
schools of sharks that are fisheries that are threaten-
increasingly endangered ing them," said Eyal Bigal,
by overfishing in the Medi- the lab manager of the
terranean Sea. Now the project.
hotspot is also drawing The Morris Kahn Station's
tourists. top predator team is work-
Sandbar and dusky sharks ing to change this, pull-
have been sighted around ing together the first com-
the power plant for de- prehensive body of data
cades, but scientists only about the understudied
started collecting data and endangered Mediter-
two years ago. Although ranean shark species.
they are still trying to count In this Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 photo, a 6 foot (1.8 meter) sandbar shark is caught by researchers Overfishing, spurred by de-
the smatterings of sharks from the predator project at the Morris Kahn Marine Research Station established by the University mand along with lax fishing
nearby, researcher Aviad of Haifa in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of the northern Israeli city of Hadera. laws in neighboring coun-
Scheinin said the hundreds Associated Press tries like Lebanon and Syria,
flocking exclusively to the has depleted the Mediter-
Hadera power plant every Group at the International recent expansion of the shark species are coming ranean shark population
winter qualifies as "a legiti- Union for Conservation of Suez Canal, which opened to the eastern Mediterra- by over 90 percent since
mate and rare phenom- Nature based in Switzer- the floodgates to Red Sea nean from colder areas the 1950s, researchers say.
enon." land. waters, among the warm- and establishing popula- An absence of top preda-
"The paradox that we He said the power plant's est in the world. tions." tors imperils the balance of
see here is that this is not water temperature — 10 A recent study, published On a recent trip, Scheinin the entire marine ecosys-
a natural environment ... degrees warmer than the last fall in the journal Nature steered his small boat of re- tem. "If you erase the ones
and you cannot see it any- rest of the sea — is what Climate Change, found searchers along the coast at the top, the food chain
where else in the vicinity," likely attracts the sharks that climate change is and cut the motor. The will collapse," Soldo said.
said Scheinin, manager of to Hadera from deeper, steadily heating the Medi- team bobbed in the cur- "New species may emerge
the top predator project colder waters during the terranean Sea by 0.4 de- rents of the power plant and start preying on popu-
at the Morris Kahn Marine winter season. Beyond this, grees every decade, mak- discharge, straining to spot lations crucial to human
Research Station, estab- though, a great deal re- ing the region among the slender shadows whipping food security. Whole life
lished by the University of mains unknown. "We know hardest hit in the world. by in the turquoise water. forms may go extinct."
Haifa. "This phenomenon is sharks love this water, and "The winters are not as cold A sudden churning in the Hadera's hotspot for sharks
influenced and created by we can hypothesize, but as they used to be here, water jolted the crew to is now attracting visitors cu-
men, both with the power we can't say with certainty and they are no longer a action. A five-foot-long rious about the creatures
plant and the sea's increas- exactly why," he said. limiting factor for sharks," (1.5 meter-long) sandbar and the threats they face.
ingly warm water." Soldo added that although Scheinin said. "Many new shark, ensnared by ropes, q
The shifting climate of the he hadn't heard of sharks
Mediterranean Sea has congregating at power
been creating a bizarre plants outside Israel, he Thousands of Belgian teens skip
boon for sharks, which could name a few other
thrive in and chase warm Mediterranean hotspots,
water. Expert say the warm such as coral reefs near school for 4th climate march
water stimulates shark me- Beirut, where sharks swarm
tabolisms, improves their in a similarly random way,
breathing cycles and facili- perhaps driven by salinity BRUSSELS (AP) — Thou- 3,000 protesters, including tors held a climate march
tates their pregnancies. and temperature levels. sands of teenagers in Bel- many primary school pu- through Brussels on Sun-
"The spectacle is logical, Scientists say the Mediterra- gium skipped school for pils. day. "They left us a plan-
but still very mysterious," nean Sea has never been the fourth week in a row The sustained success of et in a bad shape so it is
said Alen Soldo, co-presi- warmer, both because of Thursday in an attempt to the marches comes de- our job to change that,"
dent of the Shark Specialist climate change and the push authorities into pro- spite some school mea- said 17-year-old student
viding better protection sures to dissuade students Manon Wilmart. "But we
for the world's climate. who continue to stay away can do it. We are younger
Police say the march every Thursday. It started and we know that we can
through Brussels drew at with a few thousand four do it. we are in the mood
least 12,500 students, and weeks ago and swelled to to change the climate, to
another march in east- 35,000 last week. change everything."
ern Liege had at least as The protests have kept a On top of the student
many protesters as the focus on climate change march itself, about 3,400
youth movement spread as a political pressure academics also pub-
further across the country. point before national and lished an open letter in
In Leuven, close to Brus- European Union elections, support of the grassroots
sels, there were more than after 70,000 demonstra- movement.q