BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill effects
August 25, 2010
Now that the media hype surrounding the BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill has largely died down, we think it would be of interest to track news & findings about the effects of this environmental disaster that might not make it into mainstream consciousness.
The lasting impression we had from the last batch of news released was that, as big as the disaster was (some 5 million barrels of crude oil leaked), there remained hope, even some considerable confidence, that naturally occurring microbes were busy seeing-off much of the oil that leaked into the Gulf of Mexico.
It would now appear that previous US government reports on which this “news” was based have to be reconsidered in light of a 22-mile (35-kilometer) long oil-plume that has been discovered:
from National Geographic:
A giant plume from BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been confirmed deep in the ocean—and there are signs that it may stick around, a new study says.
Many scientists had predicted that oil-eating bacteria—already common in the Gulf due to natural oil seeps—would process much of the crude leaked from BP’s Deepwater Horizon wellhead, which was capped July 15.
But new evidence shows that a 22-mile-long (35-kilometer-long), 650-foot-high (200-meter-high) pocket of oil has persisted for months at depths of 3,600 feet (1,100 meters), according to a team from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts.
Read full article HERE
38cm baby Whale Shark rescued in Philippines
March 12, 2009
A 38cm-long whale shark, the size of a forearm, was rescued and released last week by activists in the waters off Pilar in eastern Philippines. The World Wide Fund for Nature called it “arguably the smallest living whale shark in recorded history.” The group said the tiny whale shark was tied to a small rope on a beach and said the discovery is the first indication that the Philippines coastline may be their birthing ground. In this photo, biologist Embet holds the baby whale shark.
Click HERE for ABC News Baby Animals photograph library.
Coral Trout recover after Australian Fishing ban
June 25, 2008
BB-Films: “Is it just us? or is there odd about ’scientists’ being surprised that fishing bans lead to recovery of fish stocks.???”
Australia’s coral trout have thrived under a fishing ban on the Great Barrier Reef, showing that no-take reserves can spur dramatic comebacks in overfished ocean habitats, new research suggests.
Coral trout is the common name of about a half-dozen fish species from the grouper and cod family targeted by commercial and recreational hook-and-line fisheries in Australia.
Scientists behind the new study found that the fish bounced back within two years after no-take reserves were established.
From National Geographic: Read more
Mediterranean Hammerhead shark population fallen by 99.99%
June 13, 2008
Conservationists have examined historical fishing records which show that sharks in the Mediterranean Sea have suffered dramatic declines in the past few decades due to overfishing.
The scalloped hammerhead shark. A team of scientists at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada, examined fishery logbooks that chart the demise of several shark species. The records show hammerheads all but vanished from coastal waters in 1900, and have barely been spotted in the open sea for 20 years. They say the hammerhead population has fallen 99.99% in 200 years.
Some thresher shark species have dwindled by more than 99%, according to the fishing records examined by conservationists.
Records from long-line fisheries suggest a 99.99% fall in mackerel sharks. The typical size of sharks caught in the Mediterranean is among the lowest in the world, indicating that more young sharks are being caught.
Since the mid-1950s blue sharks have declined by 96.5%.
Conservation groups fear that without strict catch limits on sharks, many of the 47 species in the Mediterranean will soon become locally extinct.
From the Guardian.co.uk: See slideshow story
Yangtze turtles on the very edge of extinction
June 2, 2008
With only three males and a single female left in the world, a team of experts is battling to save a species on the edge of extinction.
He nudged her gently. She nuzzled him back. And, almost as one, the dozen herpetologists, vets, conservationists and zoo officials who were gathered around the enclosure let out a sigh of relief.
He may be 100 years old and she a sprightly 80, but all hope for one of the most critically endangered species on the planet, the Yangtze giant soft-shell turtle, is vested in them. Nature must take its course and, say scientists, the first signs are more than encouraging.
Only four Yangtze turtles are known to exist. Three are male – one in a zoo in Suzhou in China’s Jiangsu province, one in Vietnam’s famous Hoan Kiem lake in Hanoi, and another in the wild in a lake east of Hanoi.
Until recently there was no known female. Barring a miracle, the species was to die out, mirroring the destiny of Lonesome George, the sole survivor of the Galápagos’s Pinta Island tortoises.
From the Guardian.co.uk: Read more
