Earth ChangesS


Attention

Oil Found in Gulf Crabs Raises New Food Chain Fears


University scientists have spotted the first indications oil is entering the Gulf seafood chain - in crab larvae - and one expert warns the effect on fisheries could last "years, probably not a matter of months" and affect many species.

Scientists with the University of Southern Mississippi and Tulane University in New Orleans have found droplets of oil in the larvae of blue crabs and fiddler crabs sampled from Louisiana to Pensacola, Fla. The news comes as blobs of oil and tar continue to wash ashore in Mississippi in patches, with crews in chartreuse vests out cleaning beaches all along the coast on Thursday, and as state and federal fisheries from Louisiana to Florida are closed by the BP oil disaster.

"I think we will see this enter the food chain in a lot of ways - for plankton feeders, like menhaden, they are going to just actively take it in," said Harriet Perry, director of the Center for Fisheries Research and Development at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. "Fish are going to feed on (crab larvae). We have also just started seeing it on the fins of small, larval fish - their fins were encased in oil. That limits their mobility, so that makes them easy prey for other species. The oil's going to get into the food chain in a lot of ways."

Attention

It's Not Just BP's Oil in the Gulf That Threatens World's Oceans


A sobering new report warns that the oceans face a "fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation" not seen in millions of years as greenhouse gases and climate change already have affected temperature, acidity, sea and oxygen levels, the food chain and possibly major currents that could alter global weather.

The report, in Science magazine, brings together dozens of studies that collectively paint a dismal picture of deteriorating ocean health.

"This is further evidence we are well on our way to the next great extinction event," said Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, the director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland in Australia and a co-author of the report.

Blackbox

Feds Taking the Weekend Off in Oil Fight?

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© AP Photo
One local official is voicing his frustration over what he calls a "nine-to-five" attitude by some federal authorities in the face of the oil disaster.

Jefferson Councilman Chris Roberts says the parish has a plan to build rock levees to help keep oil out of inland waterways like Barataria Bay.

Roberts told WWL First News that after they submitted the proposal to the Army Corps of Engineers last week, Corps officials said last Friday that discussion on the plan would have to be put on hold until the following Monday, because the Corps office would be closed for the weekend.

"Whoever reviews permits, and whatever departments and stakeholders and agencies need to give approval for this...should be working around the clock, just like the people are that are trying to get this oil picked up," Roberts said.

According to Roberts, after cooling their heels for the weekend, parish officials are still awaiting an answer. He says, however, he would be very surprised to get a response over the long federal holiday weekend to come.

Attention

Hopes Ride on Giant Oil Skimmer in Gulf of Mexico

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© AP Photo/Dave MartinA boat carrying oil cleanup workers heads out from Dauphin Island, Ala., Saturday, July 3, 2010.
The latest hopes are riding on a massive new skimmer to clean oil from near the spewing well in the Gulf of Mexico, while a local Louisiana parish's plan to block the slick has been rejected by federal officials.

A 48-hour test of the Taiwanese vessel dubbed A Whale began Saturday and was to continue through Sunday.

TMT Shipping created what is billed as the world's largest oil skimmer by converting an oil tanker after the April 20 explosion sent millions of gallons of crude spilling into the Gulf.

The vessel was expected to cruise a 25-square-mile test site just north of the Macondo/Deepwater well site, company officials said.

Binoculars

US: July Snow Falls on Mt. Washington

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© Mount Washington ObservatoryThe observatory posted this picture of the snow on its website.
Ignoring the calendar, which showed the beginning of the month of July, a dusting of snow fell Thursday on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, startling tourists and forcing the closure of the road to the top.

"It's not extraordinary, but it's definitely interesting," said Stacey Kawecki, a meteorologist for the Mount Washington Observatory.

Mount Washington, the Northeast's highest peak at 6,288 feet, has recorded snow in every month. The last time it was recorded in July was 2007.

The snow fell from about 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. and then from 10 a.m. to noon, Kawecki said.

It was "about 35 degrees and there was a thick and soupy fog. Visibility was about 100 feet and ice was starting to form on the windows. Then I saw big, fat, floppy flakes hitting the windows," Kawecki said.

Attention

Gulf Oil Spill Likely to Reach Florida Keys, Miami, Report Says

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© Carolyn Cole/The Los Angeles TimesControlled burns are conducted in the Gulf of Mexico on June 19. Wildlife groups took legal action on concerns that turtles were also being incinerated in the cleanup tactic.
Those shorelines will probably see tar balls in the months ahead, NOAA finds. Also, skimming boats prepare to go back to work, and efforts to help turtles and migrating birds are announced.

Hundreds of skimming boats prepared Friday to return to calmer gulf waters in the wake of Hurricane Alex and resume cleanup of the massive BP oil spill, which scientists now predict is likely to reach the Florida Keys and Miami in the months ahead.

Using computer simulations based on 15 years of wind and ocean current data, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report Friday showing a 61% to 80% chance of the oil spill reaching within 20 miles of the coasts of the Florida Keys, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, mostly likely in the form of weathered tar balls.

Shorelines with the greatest chance of being soiled by oil - 81% to 100% - stretch from the Mississippi River Delta to the western Florida Panhandle, NOAA scientists said in a statement on its projections for the next four months.

Attention

US: Coast Guard Shark Advisory for Northeast

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© hermanusbackpackersA great white shark
Great white sharks seen off Cape Cod

The U.S. Coast Guard is warning boaters in the Northeast to watch out for sharks this holiday weekend. Authorities have confirmed the presence of great white sharks off the coast of Massachusetts, but the Coast Guard has issued a shark advisory for the entire Northeast coast.

"Predation is not generally a concern for boaters and paddlers in Northeast waters," said Al Johnson, of the First Coast Guard District, based in Boston. "But I have no doubt that a great white shark that swims into your comfort zone would surely find a splashing paddle or dangling hand inviting. I also expect that same passing shark would spend little time differentiating between boater, paddler and prey."

In recent years, sharks seen off the New England coast have been between 6 and 15 feet long. These sharks can capsize a small boat or kayak, the Coast Guard said.

Info

Forgotten Tribe: Urgent Action Needed to Save the Kalash From Extinction

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© Atiq-Ur-Rehman / Gulf NewsA Kalash woman in the Rumber valley. The Kalash lead a centuries-old primitive way of life with a religion which has no name and no written book.
Kalash Hazrat Gull, 23, was not wearing her traditional headgear as a sign of mourning for her uncle who had passed away a few days back but the community accorded him a burial after three days of celebrations over his body with dancing, feasts and a sacrifice of 40 goats. Welcome to Kalash.

"Please don't take my picture as our culture doesn't allow us to do so in mourning," Gull told me as we went to her house in the middle of wheat fields in Bumburet, one of the three valleys that the Kalash inhabit.

Gull, who is relatively well off in the community and also proud of her education, is among a few Kalash women who have completed secondary school. She invited us to her house and treated us to tea and walnuts, a staple for most people in the area.

Several historians have written about the Kalash and most of them have linked them to descendants of the army of Alexander the Great since many of their rituals, customs and traditions are indicative of the way of life of the ancient Greeks.

Gulf News travelled to the valleys inhabited by the Kalash in an attempt to glean more information about them and to find answers to the mystery of their heritage.

"Are you [the Kalash] descendants of Alexander?" My first question evokes laughter from Gull. "Not sure," she answered when she had composed herself and I felt a tinge of disappointment thinking my visit had lost its purpose. But I was wrong, for there was much to learn from the beautiful woman.

"We are not bothered whether we are descendants of Alexander or not but we are worried about the fact that our community is on the verge of extinction," she said.

There are less than 4,000 Kalash left. They were 3,554 to be precise when the last count was done in 2009.

Bizarro Earth

2 Kamchatka Volcanoes Stirring

Sarychev Volcano
© UPIRussia's Sarychev Volcano erupts.
Moscow -- Two of the active volcanoes on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula have been sending plumes of ash as much as 5 miles into the air, scientists said Saturday.

No warnings had yet been issued about air traffic in the area, RIA Novosti reported. Volcanic ash can damage aircraft engines, and an eruption in Iceland earlier this year caused chaos for air traffic in Europe and on trans-Atlantic routes.

Kamchatka, part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, has 29 active volcanoes.

Karymsky, the most active volcano in the eastern zone of the peninsula, has been spurting ash up to 3.7 miles into the atmosphere. The 4,875-foot volcano showed a new burst of activity in 1996, with periodic eruptions ever since.

Shiveluch, 10,771 feet high, has been sending ash up to 5 miles high and has also showed signs of lava flows, scientists said. The volcano became much more active in May 2009.

Seismographs have recorded numerous small earthquakes around both volcanoes, with 180 recorded at Karymsky in 24 hours.

Ladybug

Research Finds: 'Balanced' Ecosystems Seen in Organic Agriculture Better at Controlling Pests

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© Shelly Hanks, Washington State UniversityWSU entomologist David Crowder looked at insect pests and their natural enemies in potatoes and found organic crops had more balanced insect populations in which no one species of insect has a chance to dominate.
There really is a balance of nature, but as accepted as that thought is, it has rarely been studied. Now Washington State University researchers writing in the journal Nature have found that more balanced animal and plant communities typical of organic farms work better at fighting pests and growing a better plant.

The researchers looked at insect pests and their natural enemies in potatoes and found organic crops had more balanced insect populations in which no one species of insect has a chance to dominate. And in test plots, the crops with the more balanced insect populations grew better.

"I think 'balance' is a good term," says David Crowder, a post-doctorate research associate in entomology at Washington State University. "When the species are balanced, at least in our experiments, they're able to fulfill their roles in a more harmonious fashion."