Daily Archives: April 5, 2016
Ocean Pasture Plankton Collapse Cataclysmic Say German Media – Russ George responds
DW reports (April 2016): Food chains represent the greatest interdependency within the webs of life. The marine food chain, for instance, is essential for oceans – and depends on plankton. But environmental changes and human activities may be threatening plankton – and therefore all marine animals. (Editors note: Indeed the most favoured explanation for the collapse of plankton that make up vital ocean pastures is the impact of high and rising CO2 which at once starves the ocean of vital nutrients while acidifying ocean waters such that microscopic life, the larva of fish and shellfish as well as plankton cannot thrive. Proven Technology To The Rescue. Here’s what happens when a few tens of thousands of dollars of mineral rich dust is spread in infinitesimal amounts on a dying ocean pasture. The pasture blooms and grows an abundant crop of plankton that plankton feeds all of ocean life and in the case of my demonstration project grew hundreds of millions of additional salmon. IT JUST WORKS! Read the post here 19:35
What killed the sharks off Lavallette?
Barbara Macheska of Toms River counted more than a dozen dead sand sharks over the past month during her nearly half-mile walks on the beach near her barrier island home. “About a month ago, in a three day period, I found 10 sand sharks. The majority were barely alive,” she said. “Last week I found seven more.” The dead sharks were so numerous that the state was alerted. Caryn Shinske, a spokeswoman for the department, said a large number of dogfish, a sand-colored bottom-feeding small shark, had washed ashore in Ocean County in recent weeks. (We found no reference to dogfish washing ashore in Ocean County) Read the rest here 17:17
Green Sea turtles put under new protections by Obama administration
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced Tuesday they are updating the status of green sea turtles. Green sea turtles will be divided into 11 distinct populations, the agencies said. Turtles in three of those regions will be listed as endangered species, while those in the other eight regions will be listed as threatened species . The agencies first began protecting sea turtles in 1978, but are now revising their status. As part of the changes, two distinct populations that had been considered endangered — the Florida and Mexican Pacific Coast breeding populations — will now be listed as threatened. Read the rest here, Read the Final Rule here 15:07
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for April 4, 2016
Click here to read the Weekly Update, to read all the updates, Click here 12:50 An addendum to this weeks update regarding proposed blue crab restrictions. Click here to read it.15:34
Queensland – Massive air and sea search near Fraser Island for missing prawn trawler “Cassandra” fishermen
The two men were on board a prawn trawler that capsized off Fraser Island and they haven’t been seen since. A flotilla of of trawlers joined the search on Monday which also involved two rescue helicopters, a plane and two volunteer marine rescue units. To Read Click here Related story- A search for two prawn fishermen missing in rough seas off Queensland’s Fraser Coast has been called off for a second day. The prospects of finding the men alive are “looking quite grim”, rescuers say. The trawler was last seen about 3:00am on Monday about five nautical miles off Waddy Point. It was found overturned about three hours later. To Read Click here 11:23
Nearly a month early, bunker appearing in large numbers in Peconic River
Almost a year after the major fish kills in the Peconic Estuary last summer, bunker fish are being seen in large numbers in the river almost a month earlier than usual this spring. During last summer’s fish kill, bunker fish were washing up dead by the hundreds of thousands on the shores of the Peconic and Flanders bays during the months of May and June. It was the worst fish die-off in decades, spurring a multi-agency investigation into its cause. That investigation found nitrogen-fueled algal blooms were to blame. Read the article, click here 10:10
Alleged crack head busted for allegedly poaching eels, and allegedly possessing meth!
A man was arrested for allegedly poaching eels in the Hampton Falls River on Friday, as well as for alleged methamphetamine possession, according to New Hampshire Fish and Game. Drew Hankins, 27, of Newbury, was arrested in the early morning and charged with illegally catching American eels after a foot pursuit by New Hampshire Fish and Game Conservation officers and the New Hampshire State Police near Route 1, according to Fish and Game. When a uniformed Fish and Game officer approached Hankins, Eastman said Hankins jumped into the river and began swimming across toward a culvert. When Hankins saw a state trooper waiting there, he swam back to the Fish and Game officer and turned himself in. Read the article, click here 09:43
Commercial fisherman Jonathon Hoag meets joint team who saved his life
“Who wouldn’t?” Hoag said. “A group of people who saved your life, three lives… to send a post card or a ‘thank you’ note? No, I don’t think so.” After shaking hands and personally thanking those involved in his extraction, Hoag took some time to talk about the rescue. “We were just doing our normal thing, we were fishing,” Hoag said. “It was rougher than usual; we didn’t really fish in the morning because it was so rough. We have a big sea anchor that we use so we just basically rode it out for a while. Later on in the late afternoon it ended up lying down a little bit and we got up to where we fish. The fishing was decent so we fished until just before dark.” On March 11, watchstanders at the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu received an emergency distress call that would evolve into the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy conducting a successful SAR mission to transport Hoag and his two crew members to safety. Read the story, click here 07:03
