Posts
Just
In: Emergency closure of fishery along entire West Coast
―
Almost
no babies surviving since 2011
― “Catastrophic crash… Population decimated… Crisis… Collapse so severe”
― “Catastrophic crash… Population decimated… Crisis… Collapse so severe”
―
“Latest
in series of alarming die-offs… mass reproductive failures…
strange diseases”
―
Official:
“A lot of weird things out there”
16
April, 2015
NY
Times,
Apr 15, 2015 (emphasis
added):
[Regulators] approved an emergency
closure of commercial sardine fishing off Oregon, Washington and
California…
Earlier this week, the council shut down the next sardine season…
[R]evised estimates of sardine populations… found the fish
were declining
in numbers faster than earlier believed…
[Stocks are] much
lower than estimated last
year… The reasons
are not well-understood.
Pacific
Fishery Management Council meeting,
April 13, 2015: Ben
Enticknap, Oceana senior scientist (1:08:00
in) — “We’ve seen a significant
change in
recruitment [Recruitment:
The number of new young fish that enter a population]. There’s
been practically
no recruitment in recent years, and this was not expected.”
Undercurrent
News,
Apr 14, 2015: [A]ccording to the report
on the emergency action from
the PFMC… “the total stock biomass of Pacific sardine
is declining
as a result of poor recruitment“…
[A California Wetfish Producers Association official said] “little
recruitment was observed in 2011-2014.”
Oregonian,
Apr 13, 2015: Pacific coast sardines are facing a population
collapse so severe[fishing]
will be shut down… [The] downward
spiral in spite of favorable water conditions has
ocean-watchers worried
there’s more to this collapse than
cyclical population trends. “There are a
lot of weird things happening out
there, and we’re
not quite sure why they aren’t responding the
way they should,” said Kevin Hill, a NOAA Fisheries biologist…
Fishery managers are adding it to a list of baffling
circumstances off the West Coast…
NOAA surveys indicate very
few juvenile fish made it through their first year.
“The
population isn’t replacing itself,”
Hill said.
SFist,
Apr 14, 2015: [T]he population
appears decimated…
As the Council writes, “temperatures in the Southern California
Bight have risen in the past two years, but we haven’t seen an
increase in young sardines”… Sardines typically spawn in warmer
waters, with cold water decreasing their numbers.
SF
Chronicle,
Apr 14, 2015: Sardine
population collapses…
[There's] evidence stocks are going
through the same kind of collapse [seen
in the 1950s]… The sardine
population along the West Coast has collapsed… Causes
of crisis —
A lack
of spawning…
was blamed for the decline… Severedownturn…
things recently
took a turn for the worse…
because of a lack of spawning due to poor ocean conditions in 2014…
The collapse this year isthe
latest in a series of alarming die-offs, sicknesses and population
declines in the ocean ecosystem along the West Coast.
Anchovies… have also declined [due to] a lack
of zooplankton…
Record numbers of starving sea lions… Brown pelicans, too, have
suffered from mass
reproductive failures and
are turning up sick
and dead… Strange
diseases have also been proliferating in
the sea…
KPCC,
Apr 1, 2015: The first
time that sardine fishing has been banned since
federal management of the fishery began… Many are worried
a… catastrophic
crash is
happening.
Thousands
of dead fish found
floating on lake in China
Thousands of fish, weighing 100 tonnes, have been found dead at a lake in Huizhou City in southern China's Guangdong Province
13
April, 2015
Thousands
of animals have died overnight at a commercial fish farm in southern
China's Guangdong Province after the lake became polluted.
More than 100 tonnes of dead fish were found floating in the water near Huizhou City on Friday morning by devastated farmer Mr Zhang.
Workers had rushed to clear the lake, using plastic baskets and nets to scoop them out, creating a huge mountain of rotting fish on the shore.
Others were sent to spread 2.5 tons of edible salt to try and restore the chemical imbalance of the lake which had become contaminated with ammonia, reported The People's Daily Online.
It may save the few remaining live fish but Mr Zhang, who founded the business in 1996, admitted he was not optimistic.
More than 100 tonnes of dead fish were found floating in the water near Huizhou City on Friday morning by devastated farmer Mr Zhang.
Workers had rushed to clear the lake, using plastic baskets and nets to scoop them out, creating a huge mountain of rotting fish on the shore.
Others were sent to spread 2.5 tons of edible salt to try and restore the chemical imbalance of the lake which had become contaminated with ammonia, reported The People's Daily Online.
It may save the few remaining live fish but Mr Zhang, who founded the business in 1996, admitted he was not optimistic.
A mountain of rotting fish: A team of people have been working to clear the dead fish from the water by piling them up on the nearby shore
The
shock death of thousands of fish means he could be facing financial
ruin.
The farmer stands to lose over 1 million RMB (£110,000) in potential sales, and claimed he would need at least a decade to recover.
'It's the first time that my fish farming has had such a problem since I started in 1996. I'll need another ten years to make up for this loss,' said Mr Zhang.
'It has taken me years to build the fish numbers up and my one source of income has vanished almost overnight.'
Mr Zhang claims the source of the ammonia may have been fertilizer being used at a nearby farm.
The farmer stands to lose over 1 million RMB (£110,000) in potential sales, and claimed he would need at least a decade to recover.
'It's the first time that my fish farming has had such a problem since I started in 1996. I'll need another ten years to make up for this loss,' said Mr Zhang.
'It has taken me years to build the fish numbers up and my one source of income has vanished almost overnight.'
Mr Zhang claims the source of the ammonia may have been fertilizer being used at a nearby farm.
Later
Day Manner Falls In
Thailand, As Fish Rain Over
Streets
14
April, 2015
Later
Day manner has fallen on Thailand. In Thailand Fishes Gets
Litters All Over the Streets After Rainfall with many people
expressing surprise.
Indeed,
passersby have been held in awe as hundreds of fishes had flown to
the banks of seashore and on the road.
Reports
have it that most of fishes were found dead.
Whilst
some people tried to save the fishes, others stood watching in
amazement.
It
is on record that rainy season in Thailand varies from region to
region.
Its
rainy season can be classified as May/June to October and the
river fishing season in Khao Sok National Park is influenced by the
monsoon winds from both the Indian and Pacific Ocean.
From last year -
Video: Villagers stunned as
Video: Villagers stunned as
hundreds of fish fall out the
sky over Sri Lanka
8
April, 2014
They
found a total of 50kg worth of dead and alive fish, which is a valued
commodity on the island and is believed to be fine to eat
A
stunned community in west Sri Lanka were delighted when they were hit
by a downpour of raining FISH.
A
village in Chilaw reported that a storm had left behind scores of
fish lying on roads, grass and roofs after they heard heavy thuds
across the district.
The
fish, which are fine to be eaten, fell during treacherous weather
after scientists believe they were lifted out of the river during
strong winds before plummeting back down to the ground.
Scientists
said this happens when swirling whirlwinds over relatively shallow
water become waterspouts, sucking in almost anything in the water
including fish, eels and frogs.
But
this isn't the first time the country has been plagued with
mysterious bouts of rain - back in 2012, south Sri Lanka encountered
a rainfall of prawns when a similar event occured.
A
Sperm Whale Washes Ashore in the Bay Area
The
dead behemoth that appeared south of San Francisco is "emaciated."
16 April, 2015
The
Bay Area suffered a massive bummer this week, when the carcass of a
nearly 50-foot sperm whale was spied on a beach just south of San
Francisco.
The
behemoth is still at Mori Point in Pacifica,
for anybody who wants to touch it like the guy above. Experts from
Sausalito's Marine Mammal Center are cutting it apart for a
necropsy and removal, and though cause of death has yet to be
established, it looks "emaciated," reports
the Associated Press.
Here's more:
The animal, which was first spotted Tuesday, is one of 17 dead sperm whales to beach along the North Coast of California during the 40 years that the center has been handling such cases, a spokeswoman said....
In 2008, a 51-foot adult male sperm whale was found washed ashore in Point Reyes, north of San Francisco. Scientists who performed a necropsy found more than 450 pounds of trash in his stomach, which caused his death. The trash was used to create an art exhibit at the center's headquarters to teach visitors about the importance of keeping trash from oceans.
In January, a rare pygmy sperm whale died after beaching itself in Point Reyes. Investigators said it had likely gotten sick and was too weak to swim.
Dead
Dolphins In Fukushima Stranding Found With White Radiated Lungs
15
April, 2014
Japanese
scientists are saying they have never seen anything like what they
discovered after autopsying a massive group of dolphins that ended up
dead after being discovered stranded on a beach near the site of the
2011 Fukushima disaster.
Their
lungs were white, which, according to scientists is an indication of
loss of blood flow to the organs which is an indication of radiation
poisoning.
The
translated article comes from EneNews:
Google
Translate: Ibaraki Prefecture… for a large amount of dolphin which
was launched on the shore… the National Science Museum…
investigated… researchers rushed from national museums and
university laboratory, about 30 people were the anatomy of the 17
animals in the field. [According to Yuko Tajima] who led the
investigation… “the lungs of most of the 17… was pure white
ischemic state, visceral signs of overall clean and disease and
infections were observed”… Lungs white state, that has never seen
before.
Systran:
The National Science Museum… investigated circumstance and cause
etc concerning the mass dolphin which is launched to the seashore of
Ibaraki prefecture… the researchers ran from the museum and the
university laboratory… approximately 30 people dissected 17…
[Yuko Tajima] of the National Science Museum which directed
investigation research worker [said] “the most lung 17 was state
with true white, but as for the internal organs being clean”… The
lung true white as for state, says… have not seen.
Fukushima
Diary, Apr
12, 2015: According to National Science Museum, most of the inspected
17 dolphins had their lungs in ischaemia state… The chief of the
researching team stated “Most
of the lungs looked entirely white”… internal organs were
generally clean without any symptoms of disease or infection, but
most of the lungs were in ischaemia state. She said “I have never
seen such a state”.
Wikipedia:
Ischemia is a vascular disease involving an interruption in the
arterial blood supply to a tissue, organ, or extremity that, if
untreated, can lead to tissue death.
Many
reports have been published on the links between ischemia and
radiation exposure:
“It
has been shown that the ionizing radiation in small doses under
certain conditions can be considered as one of starting mechanisms
of… IHD [ischemic heart disease].” -Source
“Radiation risks on non-cancer effects has been revealed in the [Chernobyl] liquidators… Recently, the statistically significant dose risk of ischemic heart disease… was published.” -Source
“Incidence of and mortality from ischemic heart disease (IHD) have been studied in a cohort of 12210 workers [at] Mayak nuclear facility… there was statistically significant increasing trend in IHD incidence with total external gamma dose.” -Source
“Numerous studies have been published concerning non cancer diseases in liquidators… Risk of ischemic heart disease… seems increased.” -Source
“In 1990 the International Chernobyl Project has been carried out under the aegis of the IAEA… It is known that the international experts who had taken part in the International Chernobyl Project were aware of the report by the Minster of the Ministry of Health Care of Belarus delivered at an informal meeting arranged by the IAEA… The Belorussian Minister reported about… the worsening of the general health state of the affected population… “Among adults in 1988 there was a two- to fourfold increase, in comparison with preceding years, in the number of persons suffering from… ischemic heart diseases” -Source
“In a study on a Russian cohort of 61,000 Chernobyl emergency workers… a statistically significant risk of ischemic heart disease was observed.” -Source
How
do you feel about the findings of the autopsies of the Fukushima
Dolphin standing?
Dwindling
bird populations in Fukushima
Even
as radioactivity diminishes near the site of the 2011 nuclear
disaster, negative effects on birds strengthen
UNIVERSITY
OF SOUTH CAROLINA
15
April, 2015
This
is the time of year when birds come out and really spread their
wings, but since a disastrous day just before spring's arrival four
years ago, Japan's Fukushima province has not been friendly to the
feathered. And as several recent papers from University of South
Carolina biologist Tim Mousseau and colleagues show, the avian
situation there is just getting worse.
Since
a few months after the March 11, 2011, earthquake, tsunami and
subsequent nuclear catastrophe at Japan's Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear
power plant, Mousseau and several co-workers have undertaken a series
of bird censuses in contaminated areas. They recently published a
paper in the Journal of Ornithology showing results from the first
three years of the effort for 57 bird species.
Many
populations were found to have diminished in number as a result of
the accident, with several species suffering dramatic declines. One
hard-hit species was the barn swallow, Hirundo rustica, which
suffered large population losses in a dose-dependent manner according
to individually measured levels of radiation exposure.
The
researchers looked more closely with the barn swallow, trying to
isolate the mechanism causing the population decrease with their
first two years of data. But as Mousseau, his postdoctoral associate
Andrea Bonisoli-Alquati and colleagues reported in a separate
recently published study in the journal Scientific Reports, their
tests of peripheral erythrocytes in individual barn swallow nestlings
failed to show genetic damage as a result of direct-dose radiation
effects. Nevertheless, the more detailed study showed a dose-response
decrease in both numbers and fraction of juveniles.
"We
were working with a relatively small range of background exposures in
this study because we weren't able to get into the 'hottest' areas
that first summer after the disaster, and we were only able to get to
some 'medium-hot' areas the following summer," Mousseau says.
"So we had relatively little statistical power to detect those
kinds of relationships, especially when you combine that with the
fact that there are so few barn swallows left. We know that there
were hundreds in a given area before the disaster, and just a couple
of years later we're only able to find a few dozen left. The declines
have been really dramatic."
Another
place in the world that might provide insight into what's now
happening in Fukushima is Chernobyl, the scene in 1986 of a
devastating release of radioactive materials in Ukraine. Mousseau, as
director of the Chernobyl + Fukushima Research Initiative since it
was founded in 2000 at Carolina, is uniquely qualified to draw
comparisons, having been a leader over the past two decades in
establishing a large body of research on the effects of radioactivity
on animals living in the wild.
In
a separate paper in the Journal of Ornithology, Mousseau and his
longtime collaborator Anders Moller of the CNRS (France) discuss how
the response of bird species differed between Fukushima and
Chernobyl. One contrast between the effects of radiation in the two
locales was striking: Migratory birds appear to fare worse in the
mutagenic landscape of Chernobyl than year-round residents, whereas
the opposite is true in Fukushima.
"It
suggests to us that what we're seeing in Fukushima right now is
primarily through the direct result of exposure to radiation that's
generating a toxic effect -- because the residents are getting a
bigger dose by being there longer, they're more affected,"
Mousseau says. "Whereas in Chernobyl, many generations later,
the migrants are more affected, and one possibility is that this
reflects differences in mutation accumulation.
"The
DNA repair capabilities of migratory species are impaired at least
for a short period of time following migration. After they've been
flapping their wings, generating oxidative stress as a consequence of
exercise, their antioxidant levels -- vitamin E, carotenoids, for
example -- are much lower than normal, so the radiation hits them
harder than the resident species that don't have that acute depletion
effect."
What
might be most disheartening to the researchers involved, and
bird-lovers in general, is how the situation is progressing in
Fukushima. Despite the decline in background radiation in the area
over these past four years, the deleterious effects of the accident
on birds are actually increasing.
"The
relationship between radiation and numbers started off negative the
first summer, but the strength of the relationship has actually
increased each year," Mousseau says. "So now we see this
really striking drop-off in numbers of birds as well as numbers of
species of birds. So both the biodiversity and the abundance are
showing dramatic impacts in these areas with higher radiation levels,
even as the levels are declining."
Oregon
Beaches Blanketed by Slimy Purple 'Jellyfish'
Millions
of valella vallela - also known as 'purple sails' - have washed up on
Oregon's shores in huge numbers. Neely Chalmers of KGW reports
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