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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2016
Scientists scrutinize carbon in crustaceans
Studies focus on
Dungeness crab
By PHUONG LE
Associated Press
MUKILTEO, Wash. —
Millions of pounds of Dunge-
ness crab are pulled from
Paciic Northwest waters each
year in a more than century-old
ritual for commercial and recre-
ational ishermen.
But as marine waters absorb
more carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere, federal scientists
are worried that the ocean’s
changing chemistry may
threaten the sweet-lavored
crustaceans.
So scientists with the NOAA
Fisheries’ Northwest Fisher-
ies Science Center are expos-
ing tiny crab larvae to acidic
seawater in laboratory experi-
ments to understand how ocean
acidiication might affect one of
the West Coast’s most lucrative
isheries.
Research published this
year found that Dungeness crab
eggs and larvae collected from
Puget Sound and exposed to
higher levels of carbon diox-
ide — which increases ocean
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Paul McElhany, a research ecologist with NOAA’s North-
west Fisheries Science Center, pilots a boat to retrieve
Dungeness crab larvae from light-catching traps set out
the day before in the marine waters outside of the center’s
station in Mukilteo, Wash., in July. The crabs, found from
central California to the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, play an
important role in the ocean’s ecosystem.
acidity — grew more slowly
and larvae were more likely to
die than those in less corrosive
seawater.
A step further
Now, researchers are taking
the experiments a step further
to study how the crabs respond
to multiple stressors during var-
ious growth stages. They also
plan to analyze the sublethal
effects: Even if the crabs don’t
die, are they affected in physio-
logical or other ways by ocean
acidiication?
“They’re so economically
and ecologically important here
on the West Coast,” said Paul
McElhany, a research ecologist
with the Northwest Fisheries
Science Center north of Seat-
tle, who is leading the current
experiments.
Crab larvae are valuable
food for small salmon and for-
age ish like herring that are
eaten by salmon. Dungeness
crabs are also the top reve-
nue-fetching ishery in Wash-
ington and Oregon. In 2014,
nearly $200 million worth of
crabs were harvested along the
West Coast.
Previous research has found
that levels of ocean acidiica-
tion expected within a century
are likely to impact red king
crab and Tanner crabs, two
commercially important spe-
cies in Alaska. One long-term
experiment found that both crab
species grew slower in acidiied
waters and survival decreased.
In Puget Sound, McElhany
and Audrey Djunaedi set out
in a boat one morning over the
summer to retrieve crab larvae
from light-catching traps.
Once back in the lab with
their catch, Djunaedi and others
readied equipment so each crab
could be reared separately in
different treatment containers.
An intricate complex of
tubes, pipes and sensors control
the levels of CO2, temperature
and oxygen in each container.
High carbon dioxide and low
oxygen create the most stress-
ful conditions, while low car-
bon dioxide and high oxygen
simulates more benign envi-
ronments, in addition to other
combinations.
The experiments simulate
current conditions as well as
what can be expected in the
future as the seas absorb more
carbon dioxide.
“We don’t see them outright
dying in the experiment, but
there are still some physiologi-
cal cost to being reared in these
high CO2, low oxygen condi-
tions,” McElhany said. After
the crabs molt, they’re fro-
zen and researchers will ana-
lyze their chemical changes to
understand those impacts.
“There’s some sort of meta-
bolic cost, there’s some sort of
physiological cost for them in
trying to maintain their inter-
nal pH in the presence of this
lower pH in the external envi-
ronment,” he added, referring
to the measure of acidity in the
water.
Upwelling
Because Puget Sound has
naturally higher CO2 lev-
els from upwelling — events
that bring water higher in car-
bon dioxide up from the deep
ocean — one worry is that add-
ing more human-caused carbon
emissions will make conditions
even worse.
Not all species of crabs may
be affected by ocean acidiica-
tion in the same way. And the
broad range of habitats that
Dungeness crabs occupy along
the West Coast gives McElh-
any hope that the crustaceans
can do well in some environ-
ments even if they don’t sur-
vive in others.
Congratulations
Coast Guard rescues woman from Saddle Mountain
The Daily Astorian
HAMLET — The U.S.
Coast Guard rescued a
75-year-old woman with a bro-
ken ankle off the summit side
of Saddle Mountain Wednes-
day night.
The Air Force Rescue
Coordination Center, responsi-
ble for inland search and res-
cue, contacted the Coast Guard
just before 7 p.m. Wednesday,
requesting a helicopter evacu-
ation of the woman. A ground
crew from the Hamlet Rural
Fire Protection District had
hiked up the mountain to treat
the woman. By 8 p.m., a Coast
Guard MH-60 Jayhawk heli-
copter had hoisted the woman
and headed back to Air Station
Astoria, where she was trans-
ferred to awaiting medical
services.
“Our air crews are trained
for various kinds of inland
search and rescue and we
always stand ready to assist
the Air Force and our state
emergency coordinators as
needed,” said Petty Oficer 1st
Class Starr Franklin, an oper-
ations unit leader with Sec-
tor Columbia River’s com-
mand center. “Inland rescue is
unique to our area of respon-
sibility where we are often the
closest search and rescue asset
that can rescue someone from
steep terrain.”
Dawn McIntosh rejoins Campbell & Popkin
Judge-elect Dawn McIntosh has rejoined Campbell &
Popkin to work closely with Chris Palmer, in whom
she has great conidence. Dawn and Chris are both
well-known for skillfully representing clients in di-
vorce, seperation, custody and other family law mat-
ters. Campbell & Popkin also provides services in
business law, litigation, real estate, estate planning and
probate. Dawn and Chris are both taking new clients.
Dawn McIntosh
www.campbellpopkin.com
Jerry & Donna
Hendryx
on your
60 Anniversary
th
Chris Palmer
503-738-8400 • 1580 N. Roosevelt Drive, Seaside
F rom the
4-T’ s and T heir F amilies
Gary M. Mauro
August 6, 1961-September 10, 2016
Order my steps in thy word: and let not iniquity have dominion over me. Ps. 119:133.
Gary M. Mauro of Point Ellice, Washington, died Saturday, September 10, 2016, the victim of a traffi c accident. Mauro, 55, was born in Astoria, Oregon on August 6,
1961. He was the youngest child of Anna M. Perciaccanto Mauro and Albert M. Mauro, Sr., transplants from New York. Mr. Mauro Sr. was the longtime butcher for
Astoria’s Safeway store, and for three decades coached local American Legion baseball.
During the last month or so, Gary had relished watching the humpback whales feeding and frolicking in the Columbia River, just downhill from his front yard.
Gary grew up playing baseball, football, wrestling and fi shing. He occasionally worked as a commercial fi sherman, going aft er salmon, sturgeon, and crab. As a sports
fi sherman, his ability to catch crab and particularly razor clams was a wonder to his friends. He worked in surf above his knees, shoveling out the unsuspecting bivalves.
Gary graduated from the Astoria school system, going on to Portland State University where he received his undergraduate degree. He then went to Arizona State
University on a baseball scholarship: he was a walk-on who earned the position of catcher, the team member who is on the receiving end of a 90 mph fast ball and an even
faster foul ball. He received his MBA in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix in Sacramento, completing his studies while working in Korea.
Mauro’s profession was that of private contractor providing auxiliary construction services to the military. His fi rst posting was to South Korea in the late 1990s where
he helped construct a nuclear plant; he next served in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Since 9/11, Gary served perhaps eight tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, including Baghdad,
Basrah, Mosul, and Kabul where he helped build the U.S. Embassy. Sometimes that service was under fi re by which he was at least once injured.
Gary’s friends relish what they call “Gary Stories.” One day, he and a friend were discussing the redeeming nutritional value of Twinkie snack bars-Gary was noted for his
love of sugar. At the conclusion of the conversation they nailed a Twinkie to an Astoria fi sh packing plant just to see how it would age. When they checked on it a year
later, it was still there, an uneaten somewhat smaller version of its younger self. “Even the seagulls wouldn’t eat it,” his friend remembers.
Gary Mauro was a man of deep and knowledgeable Christian faith. His faith perhaps best described by something he recently wrote:
“Th e Gospel Truth.* ‘Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and
wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what i preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
‘For I delivered unto you fi rst of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that He
was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures...’
“Although out of favor, increasingly unpopular and disregarded today, the Gospel of Truth, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, remains
entirely relevant, for truth of any sort stands independent of culture and time. Th ere are absolutes. And this Truth can still save your
never-dying soul (what happens aft er I die?) if you accept it.
“Saved fr om what, you might ask? THE WRATH OF GOD and ETERNITY IN HELL.”
“(Find out what is meant by ‘according to the scriptures.’)”
*I Corinthians 15:1-4 was written by Paul the Apostle circa 40-66 A.D. Th e text above is quoted fr om the Authorized Version of the Holy Scriptures.”
Gary was a member of the Ocean View Baptist Church of Long Beach, WA. At his request, no funeral or memorial service will be held. Donations may be made to the
charity of the donor’s choice.
Th is courageous man of character, a “force to be reckoned with,” his survivors say, leaves behind many beloved people: his wife Paula; his nephew Alexander “Mac” Mac
Donald; his friend Frans Honl; his stepsons Ethan and Johnathan Hanson; his grandchildren Michael, Christopher, and Kaitlan Elizabeth; his sister Janice Perciano; and a
large and extended family including his uncles Mario Mauro, Tony Stramiello, Sr., nieces, nephews, cousins, and close friends. He also leaves four cats who take the tragedy
of this life cut short with feline equanimity.
Requiescat in pace, Gary.