Fish poachers have stolen an 8kg hapuku that was pumped full of clorine, formalin and peroxide from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research aquaculture center at Ruakaka.
What were they thinking? Not the poachers; the scientists that injected all those chemicals into the fish! Other fish taken from the center's quarantine and disease investigation unit were Kingfish that had been treated with a sex reversal drug, making them queenfish?
Were the thieves that hungry? They had to top 2 metres of barbed wire to get to the fish giving a whole new meaning to baiting the barbed hook!
Meanwhile...
Yet another right foot has washed up near Vancouver. It's the 4th one now in less than a year. The 4th right foot mind you. Terry Smith, B.C.'s chief coroner cautioned against jumping to any conclusions such as foul play. Smith says, "This may very well be nothing more than the results of natural process of decomposition in water and the combined affects of predation by aquatic scavengers."
Meaning no disrespect for the loved ones of those formerly attached to these right feet, but why would a scavenger have a left foot preference?
All 4 right feet were wearing socks and men's running shoes. What happened to the left feet? I wish my first question would have been what happened to the former owners of the right feet, but sadly, in this day and age, it was not.
By the way...
Scientists have come up with a new environmentally friendly bomb. It's nice to know they best minds in the world are working on protecting the environment. Keep up the good work gang. We could certainly use fewer toxins in the environment!
Labels: Environment, Hapuku, Kingfish
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
www.pacificspirit.org
Poached Kingfish; Receipe for Disaster! Try the Hapuku instead.
On May 14, KGET channel17in Bakersfield CA, reported another strange infestation of frogs. So many frogs in fact one couple in the Rosedale neighborhood said, "You'd see cars go by, and see them slinging up frogs like they were rocks." KGET reports the forgs have literally spread out through this entire neighborhood.
On May 9, thousands of toads were spotted in Jiangsu province, in China. The picture is erriely simaler, except for the crowd on bicycles as that in the video I have posted about the frogs invading in bakersfield.
It is reported the same phenomenon was also noticed in some of the areas affected by the massive earthquake in China on May 13. There were similar toad stories throughout China in the days leading up to the devasting earthquake, Mianzhu, China being one.
It is also interesting to note that swarms of frogs or toads were reported before the 1989 Loma Prieta quake in California.
One geologist, Jim Berkland,has a 75% accuracy rate when it comes to predicting earthquakes. Berkland thinks animal behaviour is one of the key indicators of coming quakes. One thing he's been tracking for decades is the number of lost pet entries in newspapers prior to events. The number of lost pets, cats especially seem to take a sharp curve upwards in the days just before an earthquake. Berkland also says high tides, floods. Reservoir water storage is another factor that contributes to seismic events. Dams are built to withstand the seismic potential the structures themselves pose to an area.
Check out this information on the 3 Gorges Dam project and the seismic research, precautions, and seismic supervision system in place to supervise an earthquake caused by the reservoir water storage that was set up before the water storage at the 'Three Gorges Project.' Really interesting information!
Labels: China, earthquake, frogs, Frogs Bakersfield, reservoir water storage seismic, Toads Bakersfield
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
www.pacificspirit.org
If It Jumps Like A Toad, Croaks Like A Toad...it's probably not a duck.
There may be as many as 8 Russian ice breakers patrolling the frozen waters of the Arctic. There are weekly reports of Russian aircraft over-flying the North Pole, simulating strikes on 'enemy bases and shipping.'
Simulating strikes on enemy bases has to pain Prime Minister Stephen Harper like a raw nerve in a bad tooth. In August 2007 Harper announced that Canadian Forces would develop a northern army training base at Resolute and a deepwater port at Nanisivik, on Baffin Island. The plan to protect Canadian Sovereignty includes the procurement of 6 to 8 Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships, the first is expected in 2013.
Too little too late?
Russia operates 7 nuclear-powered icebreaker and the worlds largest nuclear-powered icebreaker '50 Years of Victory' which is able to cut through 9.5 feet thick ice. In 2007 Russia had 18 total icebreakers.
Meanwhile the United States needs to figure out how to protect American interests in the Arctic with its two most powerful icebreakers nearing the end of their lives. In 2007 when both of them were sitting at a dock in Seattle, one manned by a skeleton crew, and one that is leased out to the National Science Foundation exclusively for research.
Of course it's not a matter of having everyone's ships in the same place at the same time, in a icebreaker face-off, but it's difficult to understand how Canada or the U.S. will play catch-up in the 'Great Game' when it is obvious they find themselves suddenly in a match they didn't expect for perhaps decades.
It might be a little difficult to assert sovereignty or authority showing up at the battle field waving a set of plans and good intentions. In fact some of these plans are still attached to the drawing board making logistics of even waving the plan more difficult.
It looks as though the Russians have been playing a strategic game of chess while while the U.S. was playing with their Wii's and Canada was artfully sketching out plans.
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
www.pacificspirit.org
Annell Bay, vice president of exploration for Shell in the Americas,
February 2008......"This is a tremendous opportunity, and with that comes a tremendous responsibility to Alaska and the offshore area,"......
Been there done that! Talk is so cheap.
Shell bid a record-breaking $105.3 for one of 448 tracts that went on the auction block in Alaska's Chukchi Sea.
Don Cornett, Exxon, was the guy that told the citizens of Prince William Sound in 1989 "You have had some good luck and you don't even realize it. You have Exxon and we do business straight."
Cornett must have been thinking of the straight shot he would be firing off at consumers when gas prices rose 8 cents per gallon nation wide after the spill and admitted that Exxon would add some of the cleanup costs to the price of its products. Cornett said," "If it gets to the consumer, that's where it gets. It's just like any other cost of doing business."
Exxon's profits in 1988 were $5.3 BILLION. Exxon Mobil profited a staggering $1,287.00 per second for every second of 2007, $40.61 Billion.
After 500,000 gallons, that's half a million gallons of oil shot into the Arthur Kill waterway between Jew Jersey and Staten Island from a leaking pipeline on January 1, 1990, Douglas Walt, spokesman for Exxon in Linden, N.J., acknowledged that there had been "regrettable accidents," but defended the company's overall
environmental record.
Earlier this month ConocoPhillips, Shell, Marathon, Chevron and BP about 12 oil companies that reached a settlement for knowingly contaminating the drinking water of some 153 municipal water providers in 17 states. Exxon was one of 6 companies that did not settle. The oil companies added methyl tertiary butyl ether,(MTBE) to their gasoline to reduce air pollution and hid information showing MTBE causes massive contamination when discharged into the air.
Bill Day, Valero "The settlement agreement is being reviewed by the court and is not yet final." Bill Tanner, ConocoPhillips "...there are still other issues that are outstanding, that are still subject to litigation." Don Campbell, Chevron...declined to comment. Valerie Corr, BP didn't immediately return requests for comments along with Thomas Golembeski, Sunoco and the oil companies lawyers
James Pardo, and Peter Sacripanti....Linda Casey, Marathon, 'We consider our portion of the settlement to be minor." "It's not material to the company."
The same mistakes are being made today that were made more than 20 years ago in Alaska when the oil companies 'promised to use great care to avoid a spill'. Knowing Alaska was not equipped to contain a large oil spill and that more than 8.4 million gallons couldn't be contained and would result in long term adverse consequences to the environment.
Exxon knew the icy waters of Prince William Sound were extremely treacherous to move supertankers through; and yet they knowingly allowed a known drunkard and relapsed alcoholic to operate the Valdez. Hazelwood wasn't even allowed to drive a car to the Quicky Mart for a doughnut, having lost his license for driving drunk.
The fox doesn't have a very good record when it comes to guarding the hens. A glance at the oil industry's safety record indicates there is a wolf dressed up in sheep's, or in this case a polar Bear's clothing. Did you get the polar bear memo?
Please link over to our friends at PEER and read the full details on what is really going on...Read how the Interior Department deals with it's own scientists when there is dissent.
Read internal emails
Read how scientific warnings on the dangers of the oil industry's new stampede into Arctic drilling are being disregarded.
The Whole Truth Prince William Sound, Alaska History of the Spill
Polar Bears Message
Labels: Alaska, Arctic, Department of Interior, DOI, ExxonMobil, MTBE, oil, oil spill, oil tanker, PEER, Polar Bear, Polar Bear and Dog, Shell, Valdez
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
www.pacificspirit.org
Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. Cheap talk from some expensive oil reps.
Some good news about the nation's coastal waters was published this week; even if it was old news. A 20-year study, which began in 1986 and ended in 2005, found 'overall' levels of 140 chemicals had decreased.
Not so much specifically, but generally. Overall.
The lead scientist of the NOAA project, Gunner Laurenstein says, "Different regions have different stories". Overall the news is good; DDT is down, PCB's are also down during the 20 years between 1986 and 2005. Areas near large urban centers are still suffering, but we'll take any good news we get. But, we're headed toward 2009 in a few scant months, so isn't the good news nearly 4 years old already?
This report come out of the Mussel Watch program which is the longest continuous contaminant monitoring program in U.S. coastal waters. Mussels and oysters accumulate all kinds of contaminants in their fatty tissue making them a treasure trove of information.
But, what about "Nanoparticles"?
Nanoparticles, now becoming ubiquitous, are being used in everything from socks and teddy bears to shower tiles.
Nanoparticles are 10,000 times thinner than a human hair, one-millionth of a millimeter, and there's plenty of scientists concerned nanotechnology's affects on humans and marine life have not been adequately studied.
Fish swimming in water containing only modest amounts of one type of nanoparticle, showed a large increase in brain damage. I know what you're thinking and before you even ask; how do they measure fish IQ, watch this video!
Goldfish training kit
Please hand me my tinfoil hat; it's over there the corner with my antimicrobial socks.
EPA started a voluntary reporting program called the Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program. This program was started in January and so far a whooping 2 companies have submitted data. There are 135 companies that supply 1,955 different nanoparticles worldwide. Those numbers suggest to me there are probably zillions of items being produced using nanoparticles. And, the public has no idea what they are and what the outcome will be as a result of their use.
Take for example; silver nanoparticles. These are now used in antimicrobial socks! Socks...socks that keep feet from stinking. In April, scientists at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans tested 6 different kinds of socks all containing silver nanoparticles. When washed in room-temperature water, some socks released all of the silver nanoparticles they contained; others released none. These silver nanoparticles are so miniscule, one-millionth of a milimeter, no water treatment facilities can filter them out. These particles are ending up in our rivers, lakes and seas. We still know little about the consequences of nanoparticles leching into our environment.
There is no technology for monitoring potential nano-pollutants in the environment.
A few not so novel ideas!
If you find you simply cannot live with a white sofa that won't show red wine spills, because it coated with nanoparticles, try cutting yourself off after one glass or switch to white wine.
If limescale on your shower tiles makes you crazy, instead of buying tiles coated with nanoparticles, use a squeegee after you shower...it takes about 30 seconds.
If your feet stink...try using a little soap on them, in your nanoparticle free shower. While you're at it; wash behind those ears. We don't want any genetically modified potatoes sprouting up back there!
And,never underestimate the capacity of the mind. Even when it's in a fish.
Labels: antimicrobial, nanoparticles, nanoscale materials stewardship program, silver nanoparticles, trained goldfish, video
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
www.pacificspirit.org
Good News About Coastal Waters and Some Chemicals, but what about nanoparticles?
If the treatment is more deadly than the cure, then find another cure. That's the Canadian motto.
Canadians are working on a project that would store, underground, a billion tonnes of CO2. The Redwater reef could soak up all greenhouse gas emissions for 20 years if their plan can be implemented. What's the plan?
$50 billion and 7 oilsands bitumen upgrader projects in Alberta Industrial Heartland district. $500 million to be spent on capturing carbon-dioxide emissions from nearby could be turned into liquefied C02 and pumped into Redwater wells to revive the old oil field. 130 million to 180 million barrels of light premium oil could be pumped out at a rate of 10,000 to 15,000 barrels a day.
The U.S. has taken the position that it won't buy fuel from Alberta's tar sands, on the grounds that, it is too environmentally tainted. That's the pot calling the kettle black, but a good decision none the less.
The U.S. can't sign contracts to buy gasoline and other fuels whose production releases more global warming pollution than conventional petroleum.
Neil Shelly, executive director of Alberta Industrial Heartland Association says, this project could make Edmonton area's oilsands upgrader ally one of the very few heavy industrial areas in the world able to comply with emerging controls of greenhouse gas emissions.
It seems to me carbon capture is a modern-day C02 distillery; of a sort. Capturing something that would normally rise up, mix with the air and become lost is the same principle Bootleggers use to make moonshine.
Some industrial operations put off C02 gases that simply rise up and mix with the air and become lost, or at least out of our control; of course they aren't really lost.
Carbon capture will trap those gases transform them into something magical, or so it would seem. The CO2 will get pumped into the ground for a time yet to be determined and with an outcome yet to be determined.
Bootlegging Moonshine has been going on in nearly every country on the globe, in nearly every generation. Man usually finds a way to alter his perceptions, hide what he doesn't want to face and often times bury the problems he creates; hoping they simply disappear, or at least stay buried until he is long.
At Redwater reef, the intent is to send the CO2 about 1,000 metres under a hard rock cap where it will be stored. How long, how well, and how safely is yet to be determined.
Carbon capture and sequestration, like Moonshine, could be hazardous to your health.
As as luck would have it, carbon credits are becoming a valuable commodity. Now, with worth to them, everyone will be trying to capture, trade and cash in on greenhouse gases.
Photo Thanks: A Wilkes County copper moonshine still
Courtesy of Applachian Cultural Museum
Applachian State University
Boone, North Carolina
Illustration Thanks: co2capture project
Labels: Alberta, Canada, Carbon, carbon dioxide, Carbon-credit, carbon-trading market, CCS, Geosequestration, Oil Sands, Oil shale, Oil tar
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
www.pacificspirit.org
Turning CO2 Into Liquid Gold or Corn Into Moonshine; one man's trash is another one's treasure.
Merriam Webster's definition of a flash point is 1: the lowest temperature at which vapors above a volatile combustible substance ignite in air when exposed to flame. 2: a point at which someone or something bursts suddenly into action or being.
If there is a second tinderbox on the planet outside of the Middle East that place has to be the Arctic. Never before has the Arctic held such a high potential for becoming potentially explosive.
A report from Javier Solana and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, two of the EU's top foreign policy officials warns the Arctic is ripe for "significant potential conflicts'.
In their 7 page report, the two warn, the rapid melting of the polar ice caps is changing the geostrategic dynamics of the region.
In what is being called the 'Solana Report' the authors call on the EU to draw up an Arctic Policy "based on the evolving geostrategy of the region, taking into account access to resources and the opening of new trade routes."
The call for EU policy action isn't a new one. Nearly 4 years ago to the date, the United Nations Environment Programme stated, the "Arctic's unique environment and indigenous peoples are under increasing threat from industrial activities and the region is likely to change drastically unless decision-makers in the European Union and 'elsewhere' address the challenges seriously."
Prof. Jacqueline McGlade, EEA,European Environment Agency, Executive Director, pointed out in 2004 that, "Indigenous peoples have managed the Arctic's resources in a sustainable manner for thousands of years..." "Industrialised countries, including the EU nations are both the main users and the main sources of pollution affecting the region." Indigenous peoples suffer most of the adverse effects of this exploitation while receiving a relatively small share of the benefits."
“With the high levels of toxic chemicals in local Inuit peoples, the melting of permafrost and the retreat of glaciers across the region, the Arctic is like an environmental early warning system for the world,” UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said in 2004.
Nestled in the heart of this tinderbox are the Inuit. While nestled in the warm halls of the U.N. and in the 'meet and greets', officials gather in places like Brussels to discuss the topics of volatility, energy and pollutants. But, no one on earth is touched by the cold, harsh facts of what the future holds for the icy, northern most part of the planet like the Inuit.
Labels: Arctic, Climate Change, EEA, EU, Inuit, Solana Report, U.N.
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
www.pacificspirit.org
At least 36 people were washed out to sea following a sudden and high tidal wave. Korea's Coast Guard is reporting 9 dead so far and 14 others injured. 1,200 police, firefighters and volunteers are searching for others reported missing from the surge. However there is, at this time, no accurate count of how many people may actually be missing.
On May 4th a giant wave, maybe as high as 16 feet, caught tourists and recreational fishermen off guard sweeping them out to sea.
The wave reportedly hit Juk Island without any warning. Korea Meteorological Administration is investigating the cause of the massive wave which caught them by surprise. There was no weather alert issued. Witnesses say there were only mild winds blowing just before the wave over took as many as 49 people who were on the shoreline at the time.
The Korea Meteorological Administration suspects the wave may have been somehow amplified by artificial breakwaters or an erratic configuration of the sea floor. There were no strong winds or sea earthquakes detected.
The use of artificial breakwaters date back as far as the ancient Romans. The breakwaters are designed to impede the violence of the sea and prevent just the sort of tragedy that happened on Sunday.
Since artificial breakwaters alter currents they can create dangerous rip currents and the unintended erosion of beaches. The beach can build up on one side of the breakwater and be eroded away on the other side. Some beaches have to be replenished by dredging sand from offshore, thereby changing the landscape of the seabed.
Photo Thanks Joongang daily / JONHAP
Labels: Breakwater, Juk Island, South Korea, Tidal Wave
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
www.pacificspirit.org
More Sea Trouble For Sea Troubled South Chungcheong Province.
It takes 2 - 4.5 cubic metres of water to produce 1 cubic metre of synthetic crude oil from oil sands. With the price and availability of oil these days, billions of barrels of water are at risk of being poisoned and abandoned in tailing ponds.
Water, used to extract the bitumen required to produce millions of barrels of oil, will end up a toxic soup of sludge. The same toxic soup water killed more than 500 ducks on April 28th in Alberta, Canada.
What may be the world's largest oil deposit, in oil sand, is located in Alberta, Canada. It's estimated as much as 180 billion barrels of oil could be recoverable in the Athabasca region of Alberta. There are toxic lakes covering 50 square kilometres around Syncrude Canada, who, if found negligent in the deaths of the ducks could face fines of $1 million.
Alberta's 59 tar sands sites represent the largest single industrial zone on the face of the planet. Investment in the oil sands is expected to exceed $75 Billion over the next 5 years. Oil production will increase by 160% and the man-made wasteland that will come along will as well, maybe by 54,000 square miles.
The oil industry uses 15% of the Athabasca Rivers winter water flow. Summer flows and winter low flows in the Athabasca have declined by nearly 30% since 1970. The industry is licensed to draw 414,396 cubic decameters of water per year from the river. That's enough water to supply the water needs for a city of 2 million people for one year.
Demand for food, water and oil are increasing at rates the world has never before seen.
We will all have plenty of gas in our cars so that we can drive around looking for food and water. We can die of thirst or starve to death, but at least we won't have to be walking!
Labels: Alberta, Athabasca, Canada, Oil Sands, Oil shale, Oil tar
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
www.pacificspirit.org
Deep Fried Duck. Demand for Oil Will Cook Our Goose.
April 14, Robert Dziak, a geophysicist for NOAA said, more than 600 quakes he was listening to off the Oregon coast were unlike anything scientists have heard in the 17 years they have been listening to underwater rumbles.
On April 18, people in the normally 'stable' Midwest were jolted out of bed with the strongest earthquake they've had in 40 years. That quake was felt as far away as Chicago. The quake centered just 40 miles outside of Evansville Indiana. The quake rattled people from Alabama to Michigan.
Since February, people in Reno have had their nerves tested with nearly 350 quakes. This pattern of quakes is also causing scientist to wonder what's going on. Usually an earthquake is followed by a string of smaller aftershocks. In Reno the quakes have been building in strength. Tom Rennie, a seismic analyst with the Nevada Seismological Laboratory says no single fault line has been identified with these quakes.
Last night the Aleutian Islands were rocked by a hefty 6.5 earthquake. This area is no stranger to earthquakes, but after the past couple of months I'm wondering what our Mother Earth has in store for the coming months.
The U.S. is already standing on shaky ground metaphorically, now the earth is literally shaking under our feet. Stay tuned, and fasten your seat belts, we could be in for a bumpy ride.
Labels: Aleutian Islands, earthquake, Mid-west, NOAA, Oregon Earthquake, Reno
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
www.pacificspirit.org
