Animals
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Health

One in Four Fish in U.S. Waterways Contaminated with Unsafe Levels of Mercury

Sara Goodman
Scientific American
Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:08 UTC
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© Brian Hughes, U.S. Geological Survey The U.S. Geological Survey found mercury in waterways, sediments and fish.
A U.S. Geological Survey study finds mercury levels above federal standards in 25 percent of fish

Mercury contamination found in a quarter of U.S. freshwater fish exceeds federal safe levels for human consumption, according to a study released today by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The agency examined mercury in fish, sediment and water drawn from 291 rivers and streams between 1998 and 2005, finding 25 percent carried mercury at levels above the safe standard for human consumption (0.3 parts per million wet weight), while all of the fish had detectable mercury levels.

"This study shows just how widespread mercury pollution has become in our air, watersheds, and many of our fish in freshwater streams," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement. "This science sends a clear message that our country must continue to confront pollution, restore our nation's waterways, and protect the public from potential health dangers."
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Fish

Millions of salmon fail to turn up in Canada


Agence France-Presse
Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:54 UTC
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Millions of salmon have mysteriously failed to turn up in a Canadian river as part of their annual spawning, leaving experts baffled and the local fishing industry in despair.

The Canadian government's Department of Fisheries and Oceans projected that between six and 10 million sockeye salmon would return to the Fraser river this month.

But the official count for the annual 'summer run' -- by far the largest of four salmon migrations that see millions of fish return to Canada's lakes and rivers from the Pacific each year from June to late August -- is now just 600,000.
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Target

US: Tomato fungus appears in Wisconsin

Karen Herzog
Journal Sentinel
Fri, 07 Aug 2009 04:08 UTC
tomato blight
© Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer ProtectionThis blighted tomato plant is from a home garden in Dane County. Late blight has also been found at a Rock County vegetable farm.

Wisconsin potato growers are on alert for a highly contagious fungus that has been found on tomato plants throughout the state. Officials worry that the fungus - which caused the Irish potato famine in the mid-19th century - could make the leap to potatoes and threaten the local crop.

As of Friday, Wisconsin had at least eight confirmed cases of the late blight fungus on tomatoes in Dane, Rock, Portage and Langlade counties - including at least one commercial vegetable farm, said Amanda Gevens, a plant pathologist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Wisconsin Extension. An additional 20 to 30 suspected cases are being investigated in several counties, she said.

The fungus first appeared earlier this summer in the Northeast, possibly carried by infected seedlings at garden centers. It has spread to other parts of the country since, rapidly killing tomato plants in its path. Spores are carried by wind, rain, people, machinery and wildlife.

In other states, the fungus quickly made the leap to potatoes, which is why Gevens met with Wisconsin potato growers this week to explain the signs and to prepare growers for a potentially devastating crossover. Wisconsin - the nation's third largest potato producer behind Idaho and Washington - last year harvested 2.3 billion pounds of potatoes.

"It has now landed in the center of commercial potato production in Wisconsin, so the risk is great," Gevens said.
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Pumpkin

US: Nebraska tomatoes over a month late ripening

Nancy Gaarder
World-Herald
Sat, 01 Aug 2009 03:57 UTC
green tomatoes
© unknownThis year, the prize of gardening — a juicy tomato, ripe by the Fourth of July — has remained stubbornly green and hard.

Talk about frustration.

By now, many vegetable gardeners would be layering fat slices of tomatoes on a plate and eating them like watermelon.

But not this year.

The prize of gardening - a juicy tomato, ripe by the Fourth of July - has remained stubbornly green and hard.

"This is as slow as I've seen it, and I've been growing tomatoes since 1972," said Bob "The Tomato Man" Green.

A Sarpy County farmer, master gardener and longtime competitor at the county fair, Green has 67 plants - 27 varieties - this year at his farm outside Springfield, Neb. And they just aren't ripening.

Blame it on the cool weather, he said. Tomatoes need warm days and warm nights to ripen. So far, though, much of eastern Nebraska is running about 4 to 6 degrees below normal for July.
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Info

Aftermath of a Japanese whale hunt

Sandrine Ceurstemont
New Scientist
Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:57 UTC
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has just released video footage from a whale hunt that occurred late last month.

Baird's beaked whales are rare, but are exempt from whaling bans since they are still classified as small cetaceans. Around 60 Baird's a year are hunted commercially in northern Japan and sold in Japanese supermarkets. However, tests have revealed extremely high levels of mercury in the meat, which could pose a serious health risk.

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Ladybug

The plight of the humble bee

Alison Benjamin
The Guardian
Wed, 05 Aug 2009 08:19 UTC
Honeybees are in serious trouble. Last year nearly a third of the UK's 240,000 honeybee colonies were wiped out, putting at risk the pollination of fruits and vegetables. Early indications of losses this year suggest the bees are faring slightly better, but a survey of beekeepers to be released this month is expected to show that around one in five hives didn't make it through the winter. Beekeepers can usually expect to lose 10% of their hives due to poor weather or disease.
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Alarm Clock

King salmon vanishing in Alaska, smokehouses empty

Mary Pemberton
Associated Press
Sun, 02 Aug 2009 09:22 UTC
Anchorage - Yukon River smokehouses should be filled this summer with oil-rich strips of king salmon - long used by Alaska Natives as a high-energy food to get through the long Alaska winters. But they're mostly empty.

The kings failed to show up, and not just in the Yukon.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Outbreak of Fungus Threatens Tomato Crop

Julia Moskin
Los Angeles Times
Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:54 UTC
Tomato blight
© Meg McGrath/CornellGreen tomatoes affected by the spores of highly contagious fungus, called late blight.

A highly contagious fungus that destroys tomato plants has quickly spread to nearly every state in the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic, and the weather over the next week may determine whether the outbreak abates or whether tomato crops are ruined, according to federal and state agriculture officials.

The spores of the fungus, called late blight, are often present in the soil, and small outbreaks are not uncommon in August and September. But the cool, wet weather in June and the aggressively infectious nature of the pathogen have combined to produce what Martin A. Draper, a senior plant pathologist at the United States Department of Agriculture, described as an "explosive" rate of infection.

William Fry, a professor of plant pathology at Cornell, said, "I've never seen this on such a wide scale."

Comment: Related Story:

US: The Irish Potato Famine Fungus Is Attacking Northeast Gardens And Farms Now

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Butterfly

Watchers Track Butterflies for Environment Signs

Greg Bluestein
The Associated Press
Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:00 UTC
Searching
© AP Photo/John BazemoreJerry Payne looks for butterflies during the annual butterfly count in Hillsboro, Ga., Friday, June 26, 2009.
The rusty van creaks to a halt and two men jump out, binoculars in hand, heads pivoting. Quickly, questioningly, they call out evocative names: Is that a Pearl Crescent? A Carolina Satyr? A Sleepy Orange? A Swarthy Skipper?

It's butterfly counting time at a central Georgia wildlife refuge. That means a sweaty but fun outing for these two men, one a retired entomologist, the other the abbot of a Roman Catholic monastery. But it has a serious side: some researchers worry butterfly populations may be in decline, possibly signaling a worsening environment.

The flying insects are often viewed as canaries in a coal mine because they are sensitive to changes in their habitats.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Algae are killing fish, but how is a mystery

Jake Grovum
IndyStar.com
Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:43 UTC
ExpSeveral hundred dead fish, one large algae plume and a "perfect storm" that led to it all have state officials and Rocky Ripple residents scratching their heads over what's killing fish in the White River.

Since July 17, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources has received reports of hundreds of dead fish alongside the White River near Rocky Ripple, just north of Butler University.erts puzzle over latest fish deaths in White River
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