Tag Archives: ecosystem
Brigantine residents express concerns about offshore wind projects
Having clean energy as a renewable resource may sound nice, but residents still have questions and concerns about the offshore wind projects planned just off the island’s coast, which is why the mayor held an informational meeting last weekend. Ørsted’s offshore wind farms, which are expected to have 98 wind turbines roughly 15 miles off the coast, are scheduled to be completed by 2024. Meanwhile, 111 Atlantic Shores offshore wind turbines are expected to be operational 10 miles off Brigantine by 2027. Many residents said the cons outweigh the pros. “I’m just trying to figure out the positives in this,” said resident Mary Anne Ford. “The pro column is a big blank slate.” >click to read< 07:21
Meet the super-plant from Nova Scotia’s shorelines: eelgrass
Eelgrass protects shorelines against storms, cycles nutrients and provides juvenile fish and lobster with places to hide and grow. If that’s not enough to convince people that eelgrass is a super plant, it is also many times more efficient at capturing and storing carbon than terrestrial forests.,,”If you lose eelgrass there’s nothing to replace it,” says Heike Lotze, a researcher and professor at Dalhousie University,, While protections for eelgrass can be put in place, Lotze points to a lack of understanding and recognition that what happens on land directly affects the ocean. Eelgrass is extremely sensitive to runoff (water carrying sediments and or chemicals) from land due to human activities such as development and agriculture (wastewater treatment plants). >click to read< 17:56
Opinion: How Maine’s Bagaduce River could become the latest ecosystem destroyed By Tom Stewart
All of a sudden in 2013, we have seen an unprecedented expansion of leases and 15 new applications for test permits. As permission is granted for more of these commercial aquaculture operations, I wonder how much of this activity the Bagaduce can support before there is a significant change to the balance of indigenous, marine life. more@bdn 18:06
Climate, ecosystem linkages explain salmon declines in Maine rivers (lot’s of wacked out comment’s at the article!)
Today, Maine’s rivers flow cleaner than they have in decades. Dams are being torn out, both on the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers. Salmon should be flocking back. Or should they? more@portlandpressherald
