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| United States:
Deadly
hypoxic event finally concludes YubaNet, 31 October 2006 The longest, largest and most devastating hypoxic event ever observed in marine waters off the Oregon Coast has finally ended, researchers at Oregon State University say. During mid-October, a normal shift arrived from summer southward-blowing winds to fall and winter northward-blowing winds, resulting in the end of the upwelling season and a rise in dissolved oxygen to levels that can generally support marine life, scientists said. The oxygen levels should continue to increase throughout the next month. Ocean life makes waves CommonGround, 31 October 2006 Most people have heard of the “butterfly effect” – the idea that a small change, such as a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world, can set in motion a series of events that leads to a big event, such as a tornado, somewhere else. The term is largely used as a metaphor, but science now shows that there’s a literal aspect to the theory that has much broader implications. To say that everything is connected to everything else has become a cliché, but its true especially in nature. Scientist and author James Lovelock uses the term Gaia to describe the Earth as a living, self-regulating system. According to this hypothesis, all of the planets biological creatures are intimately connected with all of its physical systems, from the soils to the oceans to the atmosphere. Changes in any of these systems can affect everything else. United States: 1,000 dead croakers found on Jupiter Island Palm Beach Post, 31 October 2006 Scientists are trying to figure out why at least a thousand dead sand drum fish were found Sunday along a two-mile stretch of ocean near the Blowing Rocks Preserve on Jupiter Island. "I've never seen anything like this," said Blowing Rocks site manager Bruce Beh, who discovered the dead fish about 10 a.m. Sunday. Beh, who has worked at Blowing Rocks for 11 years, monitors the beaches daily, looking for things like beached animals and trash. On Sunday, he found the choppy waters brimming with dead and dying sand drums, which locals commonly refer to as croakers. But "the blue fish were biting like crazy that day," Beh said. Germany: German rivers repopulated with sturgeon Science Daily, 31 October 2006 BERLIN, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Atlantic sturgeon from Canada are being transported to Germany for reintroduction into that nation's rivers. A test batch of aquarium-raised fish has already been re-introduced and a school of fish will likely be released in the Oder River this fall, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported Tuesday. Frank Kirschbaum, a fish specialist at Berlin's Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, is working with colleague Jorn Gessner and Polish researchers. "We're planning Europe's largest practical experiment in sturgeon re-population," Gessner told Der Spiegel. United States: Scientist Says Large Coral Disappearing TodaysTHV, 31 October 2006 Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands -- Large species of coral that form underwater reefs and create rich habitat for marine life are disappearing from around the U.S. Virgin Islands, Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean, a leading researcher said Tuesday. The larger species are being replaced by smaller varieties, which don't grow high enough to protect the fish, lobster and other sea life that rely on the underwater reefs, said Peter Edmunds, a biology professor at California State University, Northridge. Japan/ Russia: The Northern Territories Impasse Zmag: 28 October 2006 It is common wisdom that the "Northern Territories problem" refers to a diplomatic dispute between Japan and Russia (formerly the Soviet Union). When we look at the background to this issue, however, we see that it was actually created by the United States. The Kurile Islands, which were Japanese territory prior to World War II, were occupied by the Soviet Union immediately following the cessation of hostilities in 1945; when Japan renounced "all right, title and claim to the Kurile Islands" under the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty, the islands were incorporated into the Soviet Union, despite the fact that the USSR was not a signatory to the treaty. Japan approached the U.S., its guardian in defeat, arguing that "of the islands occupied by the Soviet Union, the two islands of Habomai and Shikotan, located extremely close to Hokkaido, are actually part of Hokkaido rather than part of the Kurile Islands, and as such we want you to define them as Japanese territory." Canada: Newfoundland: The 'promised land' of fishing Globe and Mail, 28 October 2006 It's not often someone refers to Newfoundland as a promised land, but that's how Glenn Cooke sees the province. Mr. Cooke is chief executive officer of Cooke Aquaculture Inc. and yesterday he announced a $135-million expansion in Newfoundland that will triple the province's production of farmed salmon and propel New Brunswick-based Cooke into the big leagues of global aquaculture. "Newfoundland, for us, is kind of like a new promised land," Mr. Cooke said yesterday from St. John's. United States: Anglers exceed Maryland’s striped bass quota by 60 percent Bay Journal, 27 October 2006 For the second straight year, Maryland’s recreational anglers have exceeded their early season quota for striped bass, forcing state officials to look for ways to curb their enthusiasm. “Anglers are becoming more proficient,” said Howard King, fisheries director of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. “We have to control the effort. We have to fish responsibly.” Canada: Go fish Globe and Mail, 27 October 2006 It's not often someone refers to Newfoundland as a promised land, but that's how Glenn Cooke sees the province. Mr. Cooke is chief executive officer of Cooke Aquaculture Inc. and Friday he announced a $135-million expansion in Newfoundland that will triple the province's production of farmed salmon and propel New Brunswick-based Cooke into the big leagues of global aquaculture. “Newfoundland, for us, is kind of like a new promised land,” Mr. Cooke said yesterday from St. John's. United States: VT Halter Marine to Build Swath Vessel for NOAA NOAA, 27 October 2006 NOAA announced that VT Halter Marine Inc. of Pascagoula, Miss., will complete the final design and build of a new Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull Coastal Mapping Vessel, or SWATH CMV, for the agency. NOAA exercised a $15 million option for the ship with VT Halter Marine, which also completed the vessel's preliminary design under a separate option. The primary mission of the SWATH CMV will be to map the full seafloor in coastal areas for the nation's nautical charts. It will operate in waterways along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, Caribbean Sea and Great Lakes, conducting basic hydrographic surveys of the seafloor using side scan and multibeam sonar technologies. The vessel's ability to monitor and detect changes to the seafloor—including obstructions, shoaling and other dangers to navigation—will enhance the nation's commerce and security and improve NOAA’s ability to characterize marine ecosystems. Russian: court fines South Korean citizen for poaching Novosti, 26 October 2006 VLADIVOSTOK, October 26 (RIA Novosti) - A court in Sakhalin, in Russia's Far East, has fined the captain of a South Korean fishing vessel 100,000 rubles ($3,700) for poaching in Russia's territorial waters. In September the ship's captain, "who was in an exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation, caught some 200 kilograms of Pacific saury without authorization, which was later packed in 20 cardboard boxes," prosecutors said. "During the pursuit of the ship by a Russian border guard vessel, all twenty boxes were thrown overboard," the statement said. Canada: Minister Ramsay pitches in to stock Atlantic salmon CCNMatthews - Oct. 26, 2006 Tomorrow, Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay will get knee-deep in a history-making conservation project as he personally assists the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, and the Toronto Region Conservation Authority in stocking about 12,000 Atlantic salmon in Duffins Creek, near Ajax. "It's been over a century since Atlantic salmon flourished in Lake Ontario but thanks to the support and research of the M.N.R., ongoing stream stewardship efforts of groups such as the TRCA and the overwhelming support from O.F.A.H. sponsors and volunteers, Ontario can welcome back this lost ecological treasure," said Dr. Terry Quinney, O.F.A.H. Provincial Manager of Fish and Wildlife Services. United States: Great Lakes vulnerable as Asian carp overwhelm nearby rivers Belleville, 25 October 2006 HAVANA, Ill. - The only thing more spectacular than the volume of Asian carp now frothing the water in some river stretches of the northern Mississippi basin is the speed at which the invasion has occurred. Part-time commercial fisherman Mike Savochka netted 6,500 pounds of bighead carp on a hot summer morning in late July. He said those nets, dropped in the same area of the Illinois River, once regularly filled with 5,000 pounds of native buffalo fish. "Today we got one," he said of his buffalo fish total. "Not 1,000 pounds. One fish." Beaked Whales Perform Extreme Dives to Hunt Deepwater Prey Innovations Report, 23 October 2006 A study of ten beaked whales of two poorly understood species shows their foraging dives are deeper and longer than those reported for any other air-breathing species. This extreme deep-diving behavior is of particular interest since beaked whales stranded during naval sonar exercises have been reported to have symptoms of decompression sickness. One goal of the study was to explore whether the extreme diving behavior of beaked whales puts them at a special risk from naval sonar exercises. United States: Warming threatens state's coast Delaware Online, 22 October 2006 In Katharina Billups' Lewes lab, a graduate student peers into a microscope and sorts out tiny specks -- little grains of sediment that look like seashells. Thousands and sometimes millions of years ago, sand-speck-size sea creatures lived and died. Their remains give Billups and her graduate students clues about what the climate was like. Meanwhile, Frederick "Fritz" Nelson treks across Arctic tundra to see how permafrost -- the permanently frozen soils, rocks and water beneath the ground -- is changing. Living Planet Report: Humanity Overdrawn on Nature's Credit Environmental News Servicec, 24 October 2006 Earth's resources are being used faster than they can be replaced, according to a new report, which claims humanity's impact on the planet has more than tripled since 1961. "Living Planet Report 2006," released today by the global conservation group WWF and the Global Footprint Network, says that by 2050 humanity will demand twice as much as the planet can supply. “Humanity is living off its ecological credit card,” said Dr. Mathis Wackernagel, executive director of Global Footprint Network, an Oakland, California group working internationally to make ecological limits central to decision making. Pacific: Conventional Fishing Practices Put Some Fish at Risk VOANews, 19 October 2006 Scientists say conventional fishing practices put some fish at risk, even though their stocks appear healthy. The researchers say the finding poses a double threat to some fish populations. The study, published in the journal Nature, analyzed data from a more than 50-year survey of fish in the waters off the Pacific coast of North America, particularly the U.S. state of California. The researchers found variability in the numbers of fish from month to month, and over time. Ocean Data Confirms Fishing Puts Targeted Species in 'Double Jeopardy' YubaNet, 19 October 2006 For the first time, a research study has shown that fishing can promote boom and bust swings in supplies of targeted fish stocks. The study, authored by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (National Marine Fisheries Service), Imperial College London and the University of Oxford, shows that beyond the potential for fishery exploitation to cause systematic declines in targeted fish stocks, fishing carries with it a "double jeopardy" impact by also amplifying the highs and lows of natural population variability. This increases uncertainty in estimating population levels and could put fisheries at greater risk of collapse than previously believed. Indonesia: Indonesian Navy to purchase six Russian submarines The Associated Press, 19 Oct 2006 JAKARTA, Indonesia The Indonesian Navy will purchase six modern diesel submarines from Russia as part of an upgrading of its aging military arsenal, the state news agency reported Thursday. Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Slamet Soebijanto told Antara the military will buy four Kilo class and two Amur 950, Lada class, Russian submarines. No financial details were disclosed. Iceland: Death on the high seas Guardian Unlimited, 19 October 2006 Iceland's decision to resume commercial whaling has made it an international pariah - and blown a 20-year moratorium on hunting out of the water. But since no one actually wants to eat whale, why are the harpoonists heading out again? John Vidal reports I first tasted whale almost 10 years ago in the Faroe Islands. An unhappy hunter was getting drunk on one side of me, telling me about his urge to kill the largest creatures in the sea, and a secondary school headmaster who ran the islands' whaling association was kicking his shins under the table trying to keep him quiet. Even as the whaler slumped senseless in his cups, the plate of steaming minke arrived. S.Korea: Navy to launch new stealth destroyer Yonhap News, 19 October 2006 SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will launch its sixth 4,000-ton-class destroyer with radar-evading stealth technology this week under a force improvement program, the Navy said Thursday. The 4,500-ton ship, equipped with a range of sophisticated weapons systems, will be launched Friday at a shipyard in Ulsan, about 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the Navy said in a statement. United States: Fishing study suggests strategy change Sciencee Daily, 18 October 2006 U.S. scientists are questioning a common fishing strategy of catching older, larger fish and leaving younger and fitter generations alive. George Sugihara and colleagues at the University of California-San Diego say the strategy might make the remaining fish more vulnerable to environmental change. The researchers reached their conclusions after studying results of the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigation, a unique 50-year survey that enabled them to compare the abundance of exploited and non-exploited species in the same ocean. Japan: Govt may let MSDF pursue DPRK vessels The Yomiuri Shimbun, 18 October 2006 The Maritime Self-Defense Force may be given authorization to carry out surveillance on and pursue suspicious ships during inspections under the U.N. Security Council resolution calling for sanctions against North Korea, government sources have said. The government is expected to confirm with Washington on the cooperation of the MSDF with U.S. forces in ship inspections at a meeting of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Aso with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on Wednesday. United States/S.Korea/N.Korea: Rice to ask SKorea to join ship inspection initiative, envoy says Channel NewsAsia, 18 Oct 2006 SEOUL: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will ask South Korea to join operations to inspect ships for weapons of mass destruction following North Korea's nuclear test, the US ambassador said on Wednesday. Rice is due to arrive here on Thursday as part of an Asian tour to rally support for the tough enforcement of UN sanctions imposed on the North last Saturday. US Ambassador Alexander Vershbow said Rice will ask Seoul to expand its role in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), Yonhap news agency reported. Sri Lanka: 17 killed in suicide attack on Sri Lankan naval base New Kerala, 18 October 2006 Colombo, Oct 18 : At least 17 people were killed Wednesday when suspected Tamil rebels sailed two explosives-packed boats into a naval base in southern Sri Lanka and detonated them, the military said. A naval spokesperson said 15 rebels, one member of Sri Lanka's military and a civilian were killed in the suicide attack in Galle, a tourist spot far from the restive northern and eastern regions of the island, where Tamil rebels have been fighting for a separate state for the Tamil minority for three decades. India: India navy drops another anchor Asia Times, 17 October 2006 BANGALORE - The Indian Navy is getting a new base on the country's east coast. It is 50 kilometers south of Visakhapatnam, where the navy's eastern command is headquartered. This is India's second east-coast naval base, and it is designed to help protect the country's trade with Southeast Asia and to keep a wary eye on China's naval posture in the Bay of Bengal. The new base - it doesn't have a name yet since it is still at a concept and design stage - is expected to berth two aircraft carriers, support ships and submarines. India's first indigenously built aircraft carrier, which is capable of operating a fleet of 30 aircraft, including naval light combat aircraft, MiG 29K and Sea Harrier aircraft, is likely to be berthed there. |
