Daily Archives: February 4, 2017

NOAA Says Its Hot As Ever? A NOAA Whistle Blower Turns The Heat Up On Them!!

A high-level whistleblower has told this newspaper that America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) breached its own rules on scientific integrity when it published the sensational but flawed report, aimed at making the maximum possible impact on world leaders including Barack Obama and David Cameron at the UN climate conference in Paris in 2015. The report claimed that the ‘pause’ or ‘slowdown’ in global warming in the period since 1998 – revealed by UN scientists in 2013 – never existed, and that world temperatures had been rising faster than scientists expected. But the whistleblower, Dr John Bates, a top NOAA scientist with an impeccable reputation, has shown The Mail on Sunday irrefutable evidence that the paper was based on misleading, ‘unverified’ data. It was never subjected to NOAA’s rigorous internal evaluation process – which Dr Bates devised. The report claimed that the ‘pause’ or ‘slowdown’ in global warming in the period since 1998 – revealed by UN scientists in 2013 – never existed, and that world temperatures had been rising faster than scientists expected. Launched by NOAA with a public relations fanfare, it was splashed across the world’s media, and cited repeatedly by politicians and policy makers. Read the full story here 20:55

Newly discovered illegal reef off the coast of Lee County impacting shrimpers

An alert for one of Southwest Florida’s biggest industries after an illegal, manmade reef was discovered off the coast of Lee County. A shrimp net worth almost $2,000 was found tangled up in the illegal manmade reef. Fishermen discovered it about 9 miles off the shore of Fort Myers Beach – a place where many drop their nets to catch shrimp. Captain Mark Grunwale with Erickson and Jensen Shrimp Company spends weeks at a time fishing for shrimp with some pretty expensive equipment. “We know where a lot of them are at, but we didn’t know where this one was at,” Capt. Grunwale said. On Friday, divers from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office recovered a shrimp net caught in the illegal reef that not only impacted shrimpers but marine life as well. “There will be no knowing how it got there. This particular site is right in the middle of shrimp trolling lanes when they are coming out of Fort Myers Beach.” The net is believed to belong to a shrimp company out of Texas. Video, read the story here 19:38

All 12 crew members of sunken longliner rescued

Three helicopters and three lifeboats were launched after a distress signal of the “Gure Uxua” from Cariño (A Coruña), was received on Feb 3, 2017, at 3:26 p.m. upon returning home from fishing grounds off France. An SAR operation startedoff the coast of Luarca extending to Navia. All seven Galician and five Portuguese crew members of the fishing vessel that sank in the afternoon off the northern coast of Spain have been rescued alive by 5.30 p.m. The “Gure Uxua” went down 50 miles off the coast of Navia in Asturias. The crew abandoned ship into a raft. Read the story here 12:53

Fishermen fear a catch during negotiations over Brexit

Fishermen around the Kent coast are fearing for the survival of the industry after Brexit as they do not believe the government will deliver a clean break with the EU. The Thanet Fishermen’s Association and Whitstable Fishermen’s Association have thrown their weight behind a 90 page document by Fishing for Leave, an independent campaign aiming for withdrawal from existing EU fishing regulations in order to regain control over the country’s fishing waters and rejuvenate the industry. “When we went into the common market, we had the largest fish stocks and the largest fleet,” explains Mr West, who owns West Whelks on Whitstable harbour. “Now we have the smallest fish fleet and the smallest stocks left as our waters have been abused by other countries. “A lot of people that set the quotas are sitting in an office and haven’t got a clue about how our industry works. We’re told we are allowed to catch haddock, when we haven’t seen a haddock in almost 50 years. Read the story here 12:07

Fish Industry Says Tighter Monitoring Will Hurt Business

Several seafood and restaurant industry groups sued the National Marine Fisheries Service over its plan to more closely monitor where market-bound fish are coming from to thwart those who profit from illegal catches. In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, (Click here to read the complaint) the plaintiff associations claim the new policy would increase the costs incurred by their members and that those costs would further hurt their businesses when they were, of necessity, passed on to consumers. The fisheries service believes a large amount of the fish and other sea life consumed by Americans is being caught by illegal means or in ways that flout conservation and sustainable fishery management practices. For instance, plaintiff Alfa Seafood, a family-owned seafood importer and distributor located in Miami, Florida, claims they would need to hire three additional employees in order to comply with the Rule, which they say would cost them $195,000 per year, including benefits. If the cost of production were to go up, the cost of fish and other seafood to the consumer would also rise, Alfa says. Read the story here 10:53

UNH researchers ID bacteria contaminating seafood in seven Atlantic coastal states and Canada.

University of New Hampshire scientists in partnership with the FDA and public health and shellfish management agencies in five states have identified a new strain of a bacterial pathogen that has contaminated seafood, sickening shellfish consumers along the Atlantic Coast at increasing rates over the last decade. N.H. Agricultural Experiment Station scientists have discovered that a Vibrio parahaemolyticus strain identified as ST631 is a predominant strain endemic to the Atlantic Coast of North America and has been traced to shellfish harvested in seven Atlantic coastal states and Canada. ST631 is the second most prevalent strain isolated from patients sickened by product sourced to the Northeast United States. Vibrio parahaemolyticus is the leading seafood-transmitted bacterial pathogen worldwide with an estimated 45,000 infections in the United States every year. It causes gastroenteritis and, rarely, lethal septicemia. The findings were announced in a letter to the editor at the Journal of Clinical Microbiology “Sequence Type 631 Vibrio parahaemolyticus, an Emerging Foodborne Pathogen in North America.” Read the story here 09:31

Eight Fishermen rescued from sinking fishing boat near Burin Peninsula

Eight crew on a sinking fishing vessel near the Burin Peninsula were rescued by search and rescue teams on Friday, according to Joint Task Force Atlantic. JTF said Friday night that all eight crew members from a vessel in distress were hoisted onto a Cormorant helicopter about 130 nautical miles south of Burin. The vessel was taking on water, and JTF said Friday night it was abandoned. A spokesperson for the agency said helicopters originally sent three water pumps down to help remove water from the ship, but the group couldn’t keep up with the flooding. No vessel identification is mentioned. Link  Watch the video here  08:49