Tag Archives: climate change
Climate Change Is Sending This Fluke Fight to Court
Disputes over fish quotas are not new, and the $25.2 million East Coast market for fluke—although a reliable bread-and-butter fish—is not particularly lucrative. And New York has sued to alter the quota before. But this lawsuit is being watched closely because it introduces a new factor into the decades-old quota system: the impact of climate change. Quickly warming waters have reshaped the entire fishing industry on the East Coast, moving the fluke dramatically to the north. The lawsuit argues that now 80% of all fluke catches occur within 150 miles of Long Island and that state allocations need to be updated to reflect the fishes’ evolving location. >click to read< 08:17
The Voice Of The Lobster
Over in the Tweetiverse, someone was all boo-hoo about the eeevil effects of “climate change” that he claimed had “already occurred”. He referenced a publication from a once-noble organization that sadly has drunk the “CLIMATE EMERGENCY” koolaid, National Geographic. So I read it, and the only thing in that, other than what “might” and “probably” and “could” occur at some uncertain time in the future, was a mention of “oceanic heatwaves” in Maine and surroundings, viz: “The U.S. is already grappling with climate change’s heavy costs, like when a powerful ocean heatwave struck the Northeast and devastated the region’s lobster fishery.” As a long-time commercial fisherman, that piqued my interest. So I looked to see what I could find out. >click to read< 05:56
NASA, NOAA’s Latest Climate Scare Based On Intentionally Flawed Data
Because science is the pursuit of knowledge, and political actions almost necessarily restrict personal freedom, science, laws, and regulations should use the best available data. Using bad data undermines both the pursuit of truth and the legitimate justification of laws and regulations. Everyone, from the far left to the far right on the political spectrum, should be able to agree about this. >click to read< 12:11
From July 30, 2019, ‘Hidden’ NOAA temperature data reveals 6 of the last 9 months were below normal in the USA, and NOAA can’t even get June right – >click to read<
Study connects marine heat wave with spike in whale entanglements
A new study shows how the record-breaking marine heat wave of 2014 to 2016 caused changes along the U.S. West Coast that led to an unprecedented spike in the numbers of whales that became entangled in fishing gear. “With the ocean warming, we saw a shift in the ecosystem and in the feeding behavior of humpback whales that led to a greater overlap between whales and crab fishing gear,” said Jarrod Santora, a researcher in applied mathematics at UCSC’s Baskin School of Engineering and first author of the study,,,,>click to read< 10:02
2019: The Year Of Peak Green Bullsh*t
2019 was the most extraordinary year of green bullshit yet. Despite the planet being a wealthier, healthier and safer place than it was when fears of global warming first appeared on the political agenda in the 1980s – and despite the failure of more than half a century of green prognostications – crazy and destructive green ideas still dominate politics. >click to read< 10:48
Stock decline leads to historic shutdown for Gulf P-cod
Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod fishermen will be keeping their gear dry this winter: The federal fishery has been closed for the 2020 season. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council decided to close the fishery due to concerns about historic low biomass shown in the latest stock assessment. The struggles of the stock have been linked to climate change more than excessive fishing. In 2014, the Gulf of Alaska experienced a major influx of warm water, linked to the El Nino event in the south Pacific. >click to read< 15:44
Commentary: Northwest must speak for trees, salmon in Alaska
Keeping the Roadless Rule in force for the Tongass protects resources and climate we enjoy at home.,, We rise before dawn, our 43-foot salmon troller, the Nerka, nestled among rocks in one of our favorite Southeast Alaskan bays. Pulling the anchor and puttering out to the fishing grounds, eyelids are still half-mast, minds precariously balanced between dreams and blurred reality from weeks of 18-hour days, hauling salmon aboard one fish at a time. >click to read< Search Results for: Tele Aadsen >click here< 12:10
Nova Scotia lobsters still in sweet spot despite climate change
Canadian scientists have attempted to predict the impact of a warming ocean caused by climate change on the lucrative Nova Scotia and New Brunswick lobster fishery on the Scotian Shelf. In most areas, lobster habitat in the offshore is expected to remain suitable or improve over the next few decades, according to a study published in the journal Frontiers of Marine Science. Offshore is defined as beyond 19 kilometres from land. “Some of the climate projections suggest that it may not have a big impact over the next number of years on adult lobsters,” >click to read< 08:49
Who Are the “Experts” on Climate Change?
We live in complicated times, immersed in a society of incessant, loud, conflicting voices. Nowhere is this more true than in the discussion of the impact of carbon dioxide on the planet, oceans, better known as “climate change.”,,, So who are the “Experts” that we should listen to? For starters it’s important to understand that “Experts” is not a homogeneous collection of people. You can divide Experts into just two very different subgroups: “Real Experts” and “So-Called Experts.” So-Called Experts are like doctors on TV: actors who wear a white coat. They look and sound like the real thing — but clearly they are not. How do we tell the Real Experts from the Imitations? >click to read< 16:26
2019 Climate Ready Fisheries Act: Rep. Cunningham meets with Lowcountry fishermen, will introduce sustainable fishing bill
2019 Climate Ready Fisheries Act – Congressman Joe Cunningham met with fishermen on Shem Creek to discuss the impacts of climate change on the fishing industry. The democratic representative for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District says he plans to introduce a bill on Capitol Hill Tuesday that will encourage sustainable fishing. Rep. Cunningham says development and rising costs have forced fishermen out of business Shem Creek. But tonight he says the way to save the industry is to preserve the environment. >click to read< 12:05
B.C. salmon fishing industry ask feds to provide disaster relief
The commercial fishing industry in British Columbia is in turmoil.,,,“British Colombia’s coastal salmon fishery is experiencing a disaster,” said Gavin McGarrigle, regional director of Unifor Western. “It’s hard to overstate the importance of the salmon run to local economies up and down B.C.’s coast.” He added: “There is an industry wide consensus about both the degree of the disaster and the urgent need to help workers and communities impacted by the collapse of the 2019 salmon run.” >click to read< 16:43
Dr. Tim Ball Defeats Michael ‘Hockey Stick’ Mann’s Climate Lawsuit
The Supreme Court of British Columbia has dismissed Dr. Michael Mann’s defamation lawsuit against skeptical Canadian climatologist Dr. Tim Ball. Full legal costs were awarded to Dr. Ball, the defendant in the case. The Canadian court issued its final ruling in favor of the Dismissal motion that was filed May 2019 by Dr. Tim Ball’s libel lawyers. Mann’s “hockey stick” graph, first published in 1998, was featured prominently in the U.N. IPCC 2001 climate report. >click to read<15:07
Sea Level Rise? President Obama Just Bought Beachside Property on Martha’s Vineyard
President and Michelle Obama join the growing list of climate activists who want to enjoy a little beachside luxury before the carbon demon swallows all the coastlines. Headline: Barack and Michelle Obama are buying a $15M estate in Martha’s Vineyard.,,, I’m sure we all wish the Obamas well in their new home, but I can’t help thinking this purchase of a low lying seaside property somewhat contradicts previous statements by President Obama about the urgent need to address sea level rise. by Eric Worrall >click to read< 14:03
Google Pitchman Bill Nye: Fighting Climate Change Will Make You ‘Filthy F-cking Rich’
Inventing climate change solutions or technology could you make you a fortune, according to liberal media favorite: Bill Nye “The Science Guy.” Nye shared an F-bomb dropping video on Instagram on Aug. 13. He said that if his typical warning that the “oceans are rising” wasn’t enough to make people care, he had another reason for them to take action on climate change. “I’m gonna level with you. The real reason you should do your part to combat climate change is — It’ll make you filthy f—king rich” Nye shouted. Video >click to read< 11:12
Changing climate boosts Maine lobster industry — for now
Maine’s lobster industry has found itself in something of a climate change sweet spot. The state’s coastal waters are still cold enough for lobster to thrive, but warming ocean temperatures are now encouraging them to settle here, mate and eventually shed their hard shells.,,, “Maine has enjoyed this abundant, expanding resource but everything that comes up must come down, and that is very related to climate change because that is very related to water temperature,” said Genevieve McDonald, a lobsterman and Stonington’s new representative in the Maine Legislature. >click to read< 16:44
‘Hidden’ NOAA temperature data reveals 6 of the last 9 months were below normal in the USA, and NOAA can’t even get June right
While media outlets scream “hottest ever” for the world in June and July (it’s summer) and opportunistic climate crusaders use those headlines to push the idea of a “climate crisis” the reality is for USA is that so far most of 2019 has been below normal, temperature-wise. Little known data from the state of the art U.S. Climate Reference Network (which never seems to make it into NOAA’s monthly “state of the climate” reports) show that for the past nine months, six of them were below normal, shown in bold below. The data, taken directly from NOAA’s national climate data page, shows not only that much of 2019 was below normal, but that the US Temperature average is actually cooler,,, >click to read< 15:19
Climate change is now a fact of life in Atlantic Canada fishery
The Atlantic Ocean is one of the most productive marine environments in the world, with an abundance of marine organisms from crabs, to lobsters and wild fish stocks, supporting over 55,000 jobs in industries like fishing, aquaculture, and tourism. On April 10, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson released what is the first Atlantic Ocean status report, called Canada’s Oceans Now–Atlantic Ecosystems,2018 >click to read<15:52
Ghost Fishing Off Long Island’s Coast
On the deck of the vessel Christine & Jennifer, a dozen tiny mud crabs, each smaller than a fingertip, scuttle out of a rusty lobster trap. The crabs move sideways, exploring the edges of these newly discovered surfaces with their long thin legs. Dan Kuehn, a research technician at the Cornell Cooperative Extension, a nonprofit agency affiliated with Cornell University, inspects the next lobster pot. Something is moving among the wires. He peers inside and says: “One undersized lobster.” Kuehn cradles the small lobster in his hands. This one is lucky — it’s still alive. >click to read<15:46
Fishermen weathering effects of climate change
The lobster off western Cape Breton didn’t get the memo about thriving in colder water. “They should have told the lobsters that this year,” said John Phillip Rankin, a fisherman from Mabou Coal Mines. “By the first of July, it was warm and they started snapping but we were after putting our traps on the wharf. They start jumping when it gets warmer. They do all right in cold water. It was a decent season but it was cold-water trapping, you could tell. Last year, it was warm right through, a better season. The landings were quite a bit higher.” >click to read<14:35
FISHY BUSINESS: A personal look at Scituate fishing
I have been writing Fishy Business about the commercial fishing industry and other maritime topics for a number of years and until now have never referred to myself. This column is different because our commercial fishing industry in Scituate is on the cusp of extinction; which is very personal to me. In this case, “commercial fishing” is referring to the finfish (or groundfish) fleet and the few boats that drag for shellfish. For now, the lobster fleet is doing well, but those businesses face their own perils to be discussed another time.,, There are many factors that are leading to the end of commercial fishing in Scituate and in many other small ports. By Christian Putnam >click to read<09:43
Climate change moving fish north, threatening turf wars, study says
World conflict is likely to increase over access to fisheries, as species move north in response to a warming ocean, according to a Rutgers University study published last week in the journal Science. “Seventy or more countries will likely have to start sharing with their neighbors” in coming decades, said lead author Malin Pinsky, including the U.S., Canada and Mexico.,, Gregory DiDomenico, executive director of the Garden State Seafood Association, said northern states such as New York argue they should now get a larger allotment for their fishing industries. He said allotments, which are set by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, are based on the history of landings by state. >click to read<23:32
Remember when we were told “Penguins Don’t Migrate, they’re dying!” ? – never mind
WUWT readers may remember this story from last year, where Chris Turney, leader of the ill fated “ship of fools” Spirit of Mawson expedition that go stuck in Antarctic sea ice said: “Penguins Don’t Migrate, they’re dying!” and of course blamed the dreaded “climate change” as the reason. Of course three days later, Discover Magazine ran an article that suggested Turney was full of Penguin Poop. Well, seems there’s a surplus of Penguins now, in a place nobody thought to look, there’s an extra 1.5 million Penguins. From Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. >click to read< 18:03
Our Drowning Coast: Left to Louisiana’s tides, Jean Lafitte fights for time
Out toward the horizon, a fishing village appears on a fingerling of land, tenuously gripping the banks of a bending bayou. Just two miles north is the jagged tip of a fortresslike levee, a primary line of defense for New Orleans, whose skyline looms in the distance. Everything south of that 14-foot wall of demarcation, including the gritty little town of Jean Lafitte, has effectively been left to the tides. Jean Lafitte may be just a pinprick on the map, but it is also a harbinger of an uncertain future. As climate change contributes to rising sea levels, threatening to submerge land from Miami to Bangladesh, the question for Lafitte, as for many coastal areas across the globe, is less whether it will succumb than when — and to what degree scarce public resources should be invested in artificially extending its life. Video, images>click to read<21:20
Fishermen: Narragansett Bay cleanup might be doing harm
Narragansett Bay is cleaner and clearer than it’s been in decades. But after huge strides in treating wastewater and controlling storm runoff, some are asking a question that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago about what is arguably Rhode Island’s most valuable natural resource: Is the Bay too clean? Fishermen are raising the issue after seeing steep declines in numbers of flounder, lobster and other species that were once so abundant that they formed the bedrock of their industry. It has gotten bad enough that lobsterman Al Eagles says that he and others now call the Bay “Chernobyl,” a reference to the site of the devastating Soviet-era nuclear disaster. click here to read the story 09:20
Waste Water Treatment Plants: Once home to thriving aquaculture, Great Bay is under great strain – You can see it in the lack of eelgrass beds that used to cover thousands of acres of tidal flats. These new treatment plants have filtered or poisoned most of the nutrients from the Piscataqua River and the many other rivers that serve their municipalities that dump their now super-treated effluent into the tidal water, now so sterile and lacking in nutrients and full of poison that plants and animals cannot survive. click here to read the story
Listing the Bearded Seal as Threatened: A Disturbing Victory for Untestable Hypotheses and Flawed Models.
The Center for Biological Diversity also petitioned to list thriving populations of Bearded Seals as threatened or endangered by melting sea ice. In response to their petition, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) assembled a Bearded Seal Biological Review Team (BRT). The BRT’s report can be read here. Oddly, despite promoting a threatened designation, the BRT reports Bearded Seals have existed for over 1-2 million years, surviving far greater bouts of climate change as the earth bounced between several ice ages and warmer interglacials. An interesting (click here) read by Jim Steele 18:25:37
Scientists accused of scaremongering, ‘overheated claims’ with warning to humanity
A recent warning to humanity endorsed by thousands of scientists around the world includes “scaremongering” and “overheated” claims while ignoring much of the progress made in recent decades, some experts say. “It concerns me that the message from science is this doom-and-gloom scenario that just turns off about 75 per cent of people,” said Erle Ellis, an associate professor of geography and environmental systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “There’s a small percentage that loves the crisis narrative, and they just repeat it over and over to each other.” click here to read the story 10:03
New Southern New England lobster fishing rules on the way amid warming waters
New restrictions are coming to southern New England’s lobster fishery in an attempt to save the area’s population of the crustaceans, which has dwindled as waters have warmed. An arm of the interstate Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted on Tuesday to pursue new management measures to try to slow the decline of lobsters in the area. Management tools will include changes to legal harvesting size, reductions to the number of traps and seasonal closures to fishing areas. The board’s move was “a recognition that climate change and warming water temperatures play an increasingly role in lobster stocks, especially in southern New England,” said Tina Berger, a spokeswoman for the commission. click here to read the story 11:23
Could the Gulf of Maine’s Ground Fishery Rebound?
“The English had discovered living resources that would attract, shape, and sustain the communities of the coast of Maine for the next four centuries,” wrote journalist and historian Colin Woodard of the bounty that once existed in the Gulf of Maine in the 17th century in his book “The Lobster Coast.” “Early explorers were flabbergasted by the largesse of the Gulf of Maine, a semienclosed sea stretching from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia. They saw great pods of whales, acres of thrashing tuna, vast schools of salmon, herring and mackerel, clouds of puffins and terns, shoals of mussels and oysters, vast mudlfats infested with fat clams, cod and haddock biting at the hook, and enormous lobsters foraging in the rockweed. The waters off England and France seemed barren by comparison.” As Woodard noted, the geology and climate of the Gulf of the Maine with its 7,500-mile coastline made the area perfectly suited for a thriving fishery — a “fertile oasis in a world ocean that is, ecologically speaking, largely desert.” click here to read the story 09:27
‘Deadliest Catch’ Faces Its Own Extinction – The crabs are missing in the Bering Sea, and the series may soon have nothing to film.
If Discovery’s “Deadliest Catch” is in trouble, it’s climate change – not ratings – that may hasten the show’s demise. Over the last year, temperatures rose about four degrees in the Bering Sea, which is 50 times the global average. As filming began for the 13th season of “Deadliest Catch,” which premieres Tuesday night, the show’s fishermen had to contend with a serious problem: With warming waters, the crabs have moved elsewhere. “The first thing that you need in order to film a show about crab fishing are the crabs,” said executive producer R. Decker Watson, Jr. “If the crabs don’t show up, then we’re all out of business.” The Alaska Department of Fish and Game sets an annual quota system on crab fishing, depending on a survey they take in the spring and summer. This past year, they found that half the crab was missing, and quotas were cut across the board.“We didn’t know if we were even going to be on the water long enough to film the 20 hours of ‘Deadliest Catch’ for the season,” Watson said. “It became a much more difficult fight for each skipper… It worries me for the future of the fishermen, they’re really having to fight to save their way of life. But it makes for great television.” Indeed, the fishermen’s struggle became a major part of the story this season. click here to read the story 20:03
Climate change and agricultural run-off top two threats identified in NSW marine threat report
Climate change and agricultural run-off are listed as two of the biggest threats to the state’s marine waters listed in a new report. The Marine Estate Management Authority’s threat and risk assessment report looked at beaches, estuaries, coastal lakes and lagoons to the limit of state waters three nautical miles from the coast. Wendy Craik, chair of the Authority, said they had used the best available scientific evidence and advice to work out what are the most significant threats and a management strategy would be developed based on the priorities that emerge from the report. Dr Craik said she was keen to have public comment on the findings. “We’ve put out this threat list so people can have a look at it and say ‘Have we got this right?’. Mary Howard, a partner in two prawn trawlers in the Hawkesbury region and a former director on the Hawkesbury Nepean Catchment Management Authority cited urban run-off as a problem. “Fishermen are being continually blamed for productivity issues and over-harvesting so to have a recognition that the wider community has an impact on the fish in our systems right across the state is important,” Ms Howard said. Read the rest here 12:34
