Daily Archives: October 8, 2024
Milton remains an ‘extremely dangerous’ hurricane after weakening to Cat 4, forecasters warn
Hurricane Milton weakened slightly to a powerful Category 4 storm Tuesday morning while spiraling through the southern Gulf of Mexico and closer to Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Milton rapidly intensified from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane on Monday, peaking with rare, sustained winds of 180 mph and becoming the strongest storm to ever form this late in the Atlantic season. Now, the hurricane is moving east-northeast at 12 mph with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph, NHC said in its latest update. However, forecasters warned that Milton’s change in strength doesn’t make it any less dangerous, adding that the storm will likely grow in size as it approaches Florida’s west coast and makes landfall Wednesday. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:46
Invasive blob-like creatures are clogging Maine fishing gear – “They’re a pain in the ass.”
The small invertebrates, several species of which are invasive, are attaching themselves in large numbers to lobster traps and aquaculture equipment, at times creating a major hassle for harvesters as they try to tend to their gear. “The month of September, they come on like gangbusters,” Hilton Turner, a lobsterman and chair of Stonington’s harbor committee, said about the tunicates, which are better known as sea squirts. “Every year gets a little worse,” he said. Lobstermen use different techniques to try to remove the squirts. Some set the traps in boiling hot water tanks on their boats, some try immersing them in salt-saturated water, and still others blast them with a power washer, which can be time-consuming, Turner said. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:25
Swinney gives commitment to ensure that fishing and offshore wind can co-exist
First minister John Swinney has given a commitment to ensuring the fishing industry and the offshore marine energy sector can exist together. It followed a stark warning by Elspeth Macdonald, the chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, that floating wind farms and the fishing sector are “simply not able to co-exist”. Speaking at last week’s SFF dinner, Macdonald call on the government to actively protect the fishing industry from the encroaching offshore wind industry. One example quoted by the industry is the proposed 500MW Stoura wind farm, 40 miles to east of Shetland, which could be built on top of prime fishing grounds for both the whitefish and the pelagic sector. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:47
