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no longer have to go to Australian waters to find barramundi The Merrcury News, 15 November 2006 MIAMI - The barramundi looks like a snook, but without the dark lateral line. It grows much larger, has sharper gill plates, jumps more often and higher, and fights ferociously to the end when hooked. About the only people in North America who have caught barramundi had to travel to Australia to do it. But that no longer is necessary. Eco Barramundi, an Australian aquaculture firm, is growing these snook cousins in three leased ponds in Holopaw, a central Florida farming town. One of those ponds, holding 10,000 fish, recently opened to the public for sportfishing. Japan: Japan issues tsunami warning after quake Chron, 15 November 2006 TOKYO — Thousands of people living along northern Japan's Pacific coast fled to higher ground Wednesday after a powerful undersea earthquake prompted tsunami warnings as far away as Alaska. Waves generated by the quake hit Hawaii hours later without causing problems, officials said. The 8.1-magnitude quake struck an area claimed by both Russia and Japan, but the waves near Japan did not swell higher than 23 inches. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. Six hours later, tsunami waves up to nearly 4-feet high caused by the quake crashed into Hawaii's shores, civil defense officials said. United States: Fishermen dispute ominous predictions Halfmoonbayreview, 15 November 2006 Is the fishing industry on the verge of failure? A recent article published in the journal Science predicted a near-complete collapse of commercial fishing in four decades - a warning which chilled the hearts of seafood lovers everywhere. But at Pillar Point Harbor, fishermen are saying reports of the impending death of their trade are greatly exaggerated. "Their numbers must be telling them something wrong," said John Hurwitz, an El Granada fisherman who has caught crab, salmon and albacore tuna for nearly four decades himself. Researchers claim link between tsunamis and outer space ABC, 14 November 2006 MARK COLVIN: After the devastation of the Aceh tsunami nearly two years ago, Australians have a clear idea of what a tidal wave can do. But imagine a mega tsunami, a tidal wave 10 times bigger than the Aceh event. A group of scientists from the US, Australia, Russia, France and Ireland have been working on a theory that such mega tsunamis may happen, not every half a million years as astronomers had predicted, but every couple of millennia. They say they're caused by meteor or asteroid impacts, which they believe have been much more frequent in earth's history than had been believed. They call themselves Holocene Impact Research Group, and one of their members is Associate Professor Ted Bryant of Wollongong University. United States: Tsunami specialists to survey island Kodiak Daily Mirror, 13 November 2006 The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina disasters are bringing experts to Kodiak for a citywide survey to help the island be ready in case it gets hit again. Liesel Ritchie, professor of sociology and senior research associate at Western Michigan University, and Duane Gill, professor of sociology at Mississippi State University, are going door to door in Kodiak handing out 1,300 survey forms to residents to be used to assist Kodiak in tsunami readiness. The surveys take from 20 to 30 minutes to fill out. Ritchie and Gill arrived in Kodiak Wednesday. They are operating under a national grant to study the effectiveness of tsunami warnings in the United States. Madagascar: Ancient Crash, Epic Wave The New York Times, 14 November 2006 At the southern end of Madagascar lie four enormous wedge-shaped sediment deposits, called chevrons, that are composed of material from the ocean floor. Each covers twice the area of Manhattan with sediment as deep as the Chrysler Building is high. On close inspection, the chevron deposits contain deep ocean microfossils that are fused with a medley of metals typically formed by cosmic impacts. And all of them point in the same direction — toward the middle of the Indian Ocean where a newly discovered crater, 18 miles in diameter, lies 12,500 feet below the surface. United States: U.S. submarine security to be reviewed World Peace Herald, 14 November 2006 WASHINGTON -- Navy officials confirmed yesterday that an aircraft carrier battle group failed to detect a Chinese submarine that surfaced within weapons range of the USS Kitty Hawk. Anti-submarine defenses for the carrier battle group will be reviewed as a result, they said. "It was not detected," said one Navy official of the encounter with a Chinese diesel-powered attack submarine. "And we're concerned about that, obviously." Turkey: World War I Australian Submarine Ae2 To Be Recovered From Her Grave In Istanbul Strait Turkishpress, 14 November 2006 MELBOURNE - World War I Australian submarine Aero 02 (AE2) which was damaged by a Turkish torpedo boat and was scuttled by her crew in Istanbul Strait in 1915 will be recovered before 2015 under a project sponsored by the Australian government. The Australian government has allocated a fund of 388,500 Australian dollars for the AE2 project. AE2 project's Turkish advisor Vecihi Basaran in a written statement indicated today that the submarine, which lays 72 meters beneath the surface, was discovered in June 1998 by Selcuk Kolay, then curator of Rahmi Koc Museum in Istanbul. United States: Marine sanctuary teems with life — and hope USA Today, 14 November 2006 When President Bush designated a string of largely uninhabited islands, atolls and reefs northwest of Hawaii as America's newest national monument this summer, he called the resulting protection a "big deal." And that amounts to a Texas-sized understatement. Starting about 160 miles northwest of Kauai and extending about 1,200 miles into the Pacific, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument — chosen by our experts as one of the seven New Wonders of the World — encompasses roughly 140,000 square miles of ocean. It is the largest protected area on the planet and larger than all of America's national parks combined. Canada: Gone fishing Globe and Mail, 11 November 2006 In recent years, there have been a number of reports about the catastrophic decline of marine life. In 2003, in the journal Science, Ransom Myers and Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, published the shocking news that over the past 50 years, commercial fishermen have "harvested" 90 per cent of the larger fish species in the world's oceans -- cod, tuna, swordfish, billfish and sharks -- leaving only a measly 10 per cent for current fishermen to work with. This month (also in Science), 14 biologists contributed a paper in which they concluded that 40 years from now, at the current rate of exploitation, there will be nothing left for people to take out of the ocean. Commercial fishing, they said, will be over by 2048. Pacific/Indian Ocean: Norwegian Embassies gets tsunami warning Boarding.no, 11 November 2006 The Norwegian Royal Ministry of Affairs and company RM Consult has signed an agreement about supporting Norwegian Embassies with tsunami warning to dedicated mobile phones. 10 Embassies and General Consulates around Pacific and Indian Ocean are participating in 1-year trial testing this new warning system. The warnings are delivered as “Flash SMS” that overrides all other information in the mobile phone display. Under normal conditions new warnings shall arrive within 3 minutes. These subscriptions will be part of the total safety management performed by the safety and crisis management department at their head office in Oslo. Cambodia: Cooperating for Coastal and Community Survival IDRC, 11 November 2006 To protect Cambodia’s threatened mangrove stands — and to improve the lives and livelihoods of local people — it has been necessary to take a long-term look at social relations and the legacy of war. Koh Kong province in western Cambodia, resting on the Gulf of Thailand, is a lush and formerly remote region that boasts one of the most impressive remaining mangrove stands in all of Southeast Asia. Mangrove trees are species that have adapted to life in brackish water — some of them have special straw-like roots called pneumatophores that stick out of the water to draw in air. Growing in large clusters in coastal areas, they bring multiple environmental benefits, such as providing a protected breeding ground for crabs, fish, shrimps, oysters, and other aquatic life. There are also suggestions that they can buffer the effects of storms on exposed coastlines. Taiwan: Navy team in US for submarine talks Taipei Times, 11 November 2006 Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (李傑) yesterday said that the ministry had sent a delegation of navy officers to the US to renegotiate terms for the nation's submarine purchase. "Initially, we planned to spend NT$11.7 billion [US$355 million] for the submarines, but lawmakers complained that they were way too expensive. So we need to re-negotiate with the US representatives," Lee said. Lee, accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳), made the remarks during a briefing with the Taiwan Solidarity Union caucus yesterday morning to discuss the impact of the US' midterm elections on US-Taiwan military cooperation. India: Tip Of The Submarine Outlook India, 11 November 2006 When Outlook broke the story linking the naval war room leak case and the Rs 18,798-crore Scorpene submarine deal, the defence ministry as well as naval HQ were quick to go into denial mode. The then Union minister of defence, Pranab Mukherjee, was dismissive when he told a TV interviewer that the civilian recipients of the secrets—arms dealer Abhishek Verma, his associates Ravi Shankaran (a relative of the recently-retired naval chief Admiral Arun Prakash) and Kulbhushan Parashar—would not be acted against. Reason: "Why does action have to be taken against them? This is commercial information," he said. Verma and Shankaran, reiterating their innocence, also issued similar denials. Thales, the French manufacturers of the Scorpene, denied any "contractual" relationship with Verma or the Atlas Group that he co-founded. Unites States: Salmon Spawning Draws Record Crowd The Ellsworth American, 11 November 2006 Last Sunday may have been a little cloudy and cool, but it was a perfect day to watch Atlantic salmon breed as the Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery held its Spawning Spectacular. The event, which drew a record crowd of over 300, featured Atlantic salmon spawning demonstrations led by biologists from the hatchery and informational booths set up by watershed councils and other state, federal and private organizations involved in preserving the salmon. Those attending learned how salmon are bred at the hatchery as well as the importance of organizations partnering to find methods to preserve the Atlantic salmon. Canada: Right whales, wrong timing for lobstering Portland Press Herald, 11 November 2006 FREDERICTON, New Brunswick - A number of endangered North Atlantic right whales are overstaying their welcome in the Bay of Fundy and could force a delay in the opening of lobster season. Jerry Conway of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans said Friday that although the main pods left the bay on schedule for southern waters, as many as 50 of the slow-moving whales are hanging around. Fishermen are scheduled to start setting traps on Tuesday. "The concern is that with this number of whales and the opening of the lobster season next week, there is potential for right whales to get entangled in fishing gear," Conway said. Plastics choking world's sea life DetNews, 10 November 2006 Plastic trash caught up in a swirling vortex in the North Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii is killing sea life, choking birds and fish and entangling seals and sea lions, a new Greenpeace report says. Six-pack rings, plastic bags, condoms, beach toys and stray nets -- much of it washed off U.S. shores and some tossed directly into the ocean -- float in a mix of plastic pollution that injures hungry animals as big as whales and as small as zooplankton, according to a report by the international environmental group. Scientists traveling aboard the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza said this week that they now are gathering firsthand data on threats to the world's oceans from pollution, overfishing and whaling. As part of that investigation, they released the report, a compilation of studies published since 1990 on plastics in the marine environment. Canada: Slow-moving right whales in Bay of Fundy may pose problem for lobster fishery Canada.com, 10 November 2006 FREDERICTON (CP) - A number of rare and endangered North Atlantic right whales are overstaying their welcome in the Bay of Fundy and could force a delay in the opening of lobster season. Jerry Conway of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans said Friday that although the main pods left the bay on schedule for southern waters, as many as 50 of the slow-moving whales are hanging around. Fishermen are scheduled to start setting traps on Tuesday. Russia: St. Petersburg shipyard launches multipurpose submarine RIA Novosti, 10 November 2006 St. Petersburg's Admiralty Shipyards held a ceremony Friday to lay the keel of the Sevastopol, a serially produced multipurpose submarine. Admiralty Shipyards said in October it would begin construction of a fourth-generation diesel-electric submarine in November. "The Project-677, or Lada-class diesel submarine, whose keel will be laid November 10, will be named after a city associated with Russian naval glory - Sevastopol," a company source said. "It is to be launched in 2010." Igor Dygalo, aide to the Navy commander, said that today's event "testifies to the fact that Russia's shipbuilding program now enjoys stability, and we will see the results as soon as 2010." Canada: Northwest Passage dreams reawaken ContraCostaTimes, 10 November 2006 Global warming allows one sturdy ship to traverse the legendary waters; commercial oil tankers are sure to follow ICEBREAKER CHANNEL, Northwest Passage - The Amundsen's engines growled low, as if in warning. The ship stole ahead; its powerful spotlights stabbed at fog thick with the lore of crushed ships and frozen voyagers. Ice floes gleamed from the void like the eyes of animals in the night. The Canadian coast guard icebreaker weaved in graceful slow motion through the ice pack, advancing through the legendary Northwest Passage well after the Arctic should be iced over and shuttered to ships for the winter. United States: Oyster hatcheries might swell catch The News Observer, 10 November 2006 MOREHEAD CITY - The state is planning three shellfish hatcheries capable of producing billions of oysters for coastal waters, in a bid to restore natural stocks decimated by disease, overfishing and pollution. Mike Remige, planning coordinator for the N.C. Aquarium Division, said that if the legislature agrees to build them, the hatcheries would produce tiny seed oysters for restoration projects, including planting of small oysters in sanctuaries. In the past, the state's restoration efforts have relied on importing oyster seed from other states. Russia: Murmansk's oil and metals bonanza BBC News, 10 November 2006 The potholed roads and the weather-beaten, crumbling, facades of many of Murmansk's buildings send a clear signal: a cash injection is desperately needed. Years of neglect, particularly during the 1990s when the Russian economy imploded, sparked the departure of about a quarter of Murmansk's population. Fortunately for those who stayed, the Arctic city is slowly waking up to the region's enormous economic potential and people are beginning to return. These days, new blocks of flats are being built, old ones are being renovated and property prices are rising fast, according to Professor Oleg Alekseevitch Andreev of the Baltic Institute for Ecology, Politics and Law. Chile: Some Chilean sea bass is labeled sustainable AZ Central, 09 November 2006 Since last month, shoppers browsing the seafood counter at Whole Foods markets nationwide have been greeted by banners proclaiming: "Welcome back Chilean sea bass!" The chain stopped selling the fish seven years ago because a brisk rise to popularity in the 1990s led to rampant poaching and severe overfishing. The species was said to be on its way to extinction. But now, the Marine Stewardship Council, an international environmental agency based in London, has certified as sustainable a small Chilean sea bass fishery in the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic near Antarctica. Whole Foods says the fish it is selling comes only from that fishery. Pacific: New Volcanic Island Reported in South Pacific Near Tonga Fox News, 09 November 2006 WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A new volcanic island has risen from the South Pacific near Tonga, according to reports from two vessels that passed the area. The crew of the Maiken, a yacht that left the northern Tongan islands group of Vava'u in August, reported on their Web log on Aug. 12 that they saw streaks of light, porous pumice stone floating in the water — then "sailed into a vast, many-miles-wide belt of densely packed pumice." They posted photos of huge pumice rafts that they encountered after passing Tonga's Late island while sailing toward Fiji. Britian: BAE warns jobs at risk without submarine order Globe and Mail, 08 November 2006 BAE Systems PLC says more than 3,500 jobs are at risk if Britain doesn't build a new generation of Trident submarines that carry its nuclear missiles. The government will decide within the next few months whether to renew the submarines at a cost of at least $20-billion (U.S.) as the current fleet reaches the end of its life in service. BAE would be the main company making the subs. "This country has to get its mind around the fact that we won't be designing nuclear submarines if we don't go through with it," Murray Easton, managing director of BAE's submarine manufacturing unit, said in an interview in London yesterday. He spoke after testifying to a committee of law makers. BA (London) rose 3.75 pence to £4.14 ($8.90). Russia: Russian submarine had no nuclear fuel when it caught fire RIA Novosti, 08 November 2006 A Russian submarine that caught fire last week in a northern Russian dock during repairs had no nuclear fuel onboard at the time, a shipyard official said Wednesday. The Akula-class nuclear submarine K-317 "Panther" was docked at the Sevmash plant in the northern Arkhangelsk Region. "Welding during repair work was the cause of the fire November 2," a spokesman said. "The submarine is commissioned with the Russian Navy, but there was no nuclear fuel onboard at that moment." He added that the plant's firefighting units quickly extinguished the blaze and that nobody was injured in the incident. Russia: Japanese captain arrested in Russian Far East on poaching charges RIA Novosti, 08 November 2006 Prosecutors in Russia's Far East have arrested the captain of one of four Japanese fishing vessels detained off the country's Pacific coast in early November on suspicion of poaching, an aide to the regional prosecutor said Wednesday. Four fishing vessels were taken to a Russian port on the Kamchatka Peninsula's northeast coast after being stopped in the Russian zone of the Bering Sea November 3 with a suspected undeclared catch. One of the ships, the 5 Dairin Maru, was released the next day because its violations of catch limits were minor. United States: US researchers make breakthrough in fish attracting signals FISHupdate, 07 November 2006 FOLLOWING President Bush's call for a halt to destructive high seas fishing practices and last week's report in the journal "Science", a Florida research firm has said it has developed technology that can "talk to fish". Working from a long-dead concept tried during WWII, in which undersea signals were used to encourage “fishy directions” to dolphin carrying explosives under enemy shipping, the nonprofit Florida Institute of Video Education has been working on a documentary about the results of research into bringing fish closer to commercial fishing boats. Since the signals have proven “tunable” to those that encourage specific fish, this could reduce the dependency on the bottom trawling practice decried by the President. President Bush specifically referred to the technique of bottom trawling, which destroys natural habitats such as sea mounts, corals, and sponge fields and devastates fish populations and the ocean floor. Canada: Melting Arctic Ice Could Spark a Boom in Shipping The New York Sun 07 November 2006 ICEBREAKER CHANNEL, Northwest Passage — The Amundsen's engines growl low, as if in warning. The ship steals ahead; its powerful spotlights stab at fog thick with the lore of crushed ships and frozen voyagers. Ice floes gleam from the void like the eyes of animals in the night. The Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen weaves in slow motion through the ice pack, advancing through the legendary Northwest Passage well after the Arctic should be iced over and shuttered to ships for the winter. The fearsome ice is weakened and failing, sapped by climate change. Ultimately, this night's ghostly procession through Icebreaker Channel will be the worst the ship faces on its late-season voyage. Much of the trip, crossing North America from west to east through the Northwest Passage, will be in open water, with no ice in sight. Malaysia: Sea Wolves kept at bay Vancouver Sun, 06 November 2006 The Straits of Malacca appears to be losing its title as the world's worst spot for maritime piracy in the face of a sustained campaign by coastal states against the sea wolves. The International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, says it has been told of only eight attacks in the first nine months of this year, compared with 10 in the same period in 2005. The Straits of Malacca is one of the world's busiest shipping routes, with about 50,000 ships a year carrying a third of the world's trade making the passage to and from Asia. Throughout the 1990s, scores of ships were attacked each year by pirates, most based in Indonesia. But international concern in the last few years about the death and disruption that could result from a terrorist attack in the strait on, for example, a liquid natural gas carrier, has led to coordinated and enhanced policing by the navies and coast guards of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Africa: Global fisheries collapse to hit Africa first Afrol News, 06 November 2006 Several scientists last week warned about an upcoming collapse of all commercial ocean fisheries, which has been met with criticism by fellow researchers. But even critics agree that especially the waters off Africa are among the most likely to experience collapsing fisheries due to overfishing and poor management and monitoring. All species of wild seafood that are currently fished in world oceans are projected to collapse by the year 2050, according to a new four year study by an international team of ecologists and economists published in 'Nature'. In the study, collapse is defined as 90 percent depletion. Pacific: Plastic Trash Vortex Menaces Pacific Sealife Global Surf News, 06 November 2006 Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 6 November, 2006 : - - WASHINGTON - Old toothbrushes, beach toys and used condoms are part of a vast vortex of plastic trash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, threatening sea creatures that get tangled in it, eat it or ride on it, a new report says. Because plastic doesn't break down the way organic material does, ocean currents and tides have carried it thousands of miles (kms) to an area between Hawaii and the US West Coast, according to the study by the international environmental group Greenpeace. Somalia: Pirates demand $150,000 for crew’s release Khaleej Times, 05 November 2006 Until late last evening, gunmen continued to remain in control of the hijacked UAE-flagged MV Veesham I off the lawless coast of Somalia, demanding $150,000 ransom to release 14 crew members on board the vessel, said Ajay Kumar Bhatia, Managing Director of Duabi-based Veesham Shipping Incorporation, owners of the vessel. “The pirates are demanding such a huge amount which in the worst scenario we would pay to secure the release of the crew members and the vessel,” he said, adding, “this will be the end of all trade ties in the future with Somalia.” United States: Survey, special season bring Atlantic salmon discussion back to the fore MaineToday, 05 November 2006 There were 241 fishermen who bought a license to fish for Atlantic salmon on the Penobscot River in a special season this fall, and a decision to open the river for a spring season may be forthcoming, state officials say. However, because of an unusual study released by the National Marine Fisheries Service last month, that opportunity may be shortlived. A new report by the Atlantic Salmon Biological Review Team shows that Atlantic salmon in Maine rivers are in dire straits. Pacific: Bering waters see shift in ecosystem Anchorage Daily News, 05 November 2006 ON THE BERING SEA — As the research vessel Thomas G. Thompson steamed toward St. Paul Island, crab fisherman Wayne Baker was holed up in the tiny Alaska harbor, waiting for a break in the weather. It hadn’t been a great season so far. “I’ve never seen so many blanks,” said Baker, who set pots for four days without pulling up a single crab. St. Paul is a speck of land in the Bering Sea, the treacherous expanse of water that separates Siberia and Alaska near the top of the world. Ocean fish, seafood 'could collapse by 2048' Trade Arabia, 04 November 2006 The world's fish and seafood populations will collapse by 2048 if current trends in habitat destruction and overfishing continue, resulting in less food for humans, researchers said. In an analysis of scientific data going back to the 1960s and historical records over a thousand years, the researchers found that marine biodiversity -- the variety of ocean fish, shellfish, birds, plants and micro-organisms -- has declined dramatically, with 29 per cent of species already in collapse. Extending this pattern into the future, the scientists calculated that by 2048 all species would be in collapse, which the researchers defined as having catches decline 90 per cent from the maximum catch. United States: As Seattle buzzes, tribal fishermen cast nets for salmon Brandonsun, 04 November 2006 SEATTLE (AP) - In the shadow of a city bustling with high-tech hype, high-end coffee and high-flying jets, a tradition tuned to nature's quiet rhythm thrives at this time of year. Small tribal fishing boats take to the water around the clock, crews setting their nets for coho and chum salmon. The Muckleshoot tribe works the lower Duwamish River, where it streams into Puget Sound's Elliott Bay on either side of industrial Harbor Island, surrounded by massive ships, busy tug boats, and stacks of rusty cargo containers. The Suquamish tribe focuses on the north end of Elliott Bay. Japan/Russia: 4 fishing vessels seized by Russia confirmed as Japanese boats Mainichi Daily News, 04 November 2006 The Foreign Ministry on Saturday confirmed that four fishing vessels captured by Russian coast guards in the Bering Sea are Japanese boats. The four boats entered the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Russia's Far East Saturday for an investigation of possible violation of fishing regulations, the ministry said. The four boats were identified as the No. 5 Yokei Maru, the No. 5 Dairin Maru, the No. 53 Tomi Maru and the Gyokuryu Maru. They also received checks on the sea from Russian cost guards late last month, the ministry said. Malacca Strait: US praises Malaysia and others for anti-piracy steps The Star, 03 November 2006 Nations bordering the once pirate-infested Malacca Strait in Southeast Asia have made significant progress ousting the sea robbers, senior U.S. naval commanders said this week at an international navy conference in Waikiki. Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore began coordinating their sea patrols of the narrow waterway - through which half the world's oil trade and a third of global commerce passes - in July 2004. They started air patrols last year. U.S. leaders had voiced concerns terrorists could ally themselves with pirates already established in the strait to blow up an oil tanker or turn ships into floating bombs. Antartica: Antarctic Poaching 7 Days, 03 November 2006 Illegal fishing techniques in the waters off Antarctica threaten the staple food for seals, whales and penguins, according to researchers addressing a scientific conference in Hobart, Australia. The gathering of the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources heard warning of ships that are vacuuming up tiny shrimp-like creatures known as krill. The catches are used to feed salmon farms, and localised depletion of the tiny crustaceans could develop into food shortages for larger marine species that depend upon them. Those in attendance at the conference also heard that pirate fishing vessels are invading the rarely patrolled southern waters to catch Chilean sea bass. “It’s a deep-living, slow-growing, long-lived predator fish found in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica … It’s important for the survival of Weddel seals, killer whales and sperm whales,” said Mark Stevens of the US-based National Environmental Trust. A world without seafood? ChronicleHerald, 03 November 2006 Overfishing and climate change are threatening ocean ecosystems and people’s well-being worldwide at a faster rate than ever before, says a Halifax biologist. The trend could be disastrous if left unchecked and could lead to the collapse by 2050 of all species now being fished, says Dalhousie University’s Boris Worm, lead author of a massive four-year study just published in the journal Science. "The depletion of ocean species is rapidly progressing," Mr. Worm said in an interview Thursday. "It’s been going on for hundreds of years but it’s been accelerating recently." Mariculture walking fine line between protein provision and biodiversity threat Creamer Media's Engineering News, 03 November 2006 Wild fish stocks the world over are on the decline, putting increasing pressure on local and international governments to cut fishing quotas. While the chances of natural stocks recovering are unlikely, the ever-growing market demand for fish and seafood is paving the way for substantial growth of mariculture industries, says Rhodes University's Professor Peter Britz, of the Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science. Belize losing its treasured reef to bleaching MSNBC, 31 October 2006 CAYE CAULKER, Belize - A rainbow-hued parrot fish nibbles on a veined purple sea fan in the tranquil waters of Belize’s barrier reef, the largest in the western hemisphere. But the fish stays well away from a large patch of dying coral, a white skeleton amid the bright colors of spectacular ocean life along the coast. |
