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"Unprecedented" fish kill in Jacksonville, Florida not related to annual cycle: Brain lesions point to toxicity

Jim Sutton
Jacksonville.com
Sat, 26 Jun 2010 16:47 UTC
dead fish
© Jon M. Fletcher/The Times-Union
A dead red fish floats belly up in the St. Johns River north of the Buckman Bridge Monday, June 7, 2010. A multitude of dead red fish have been reported for the past two weeks with the cause being unknow at present.
Fish kill in St. Johns isn't related to annual cycle

If you think the month-long fish kill on the St. Johns River is an annual event that just came early this year - think again.

That's the message that two men with close ties to the river want you to know.

The persistent plague of dead fish on the St. Johns that began around Memorial Day isn't caused by a cycle of summer oxygen depletion, insists Jimmy Orth, the executive director of the St. Johns Riverkeeper.

"This kill is unprecedented," he said. He explained that fish kills due to low oxygen levels are typically confined to smaller areas, not as widespread as the problem has become.
      Read More...
Attention

Kangaroos Being Poisoned by Fluoride in Australia

David Gutierrez
NaturalNews
Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:00 UTC
Image
© Margaret Burin
Fluoride from a nearby alumininum smelter is making Portland kangaroos ill.
Hundreds of kangaroos have been euthanized due to acute fluoride poisoning in the Australian state of Victoria, the country's Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has announced.

The poisonings appear to be occurring due to emissions of fluoride from the Alcoa aluminum smelter at Portland and the Austral Bricks factory at Craigieburn, the state's first and second biggest emitters of fluoride dust, respectively. According to Bruce Dawson of the EPA, the toxic chemical is being absorbed by nearby plants that kangaroos and other animals forage on. The animals may also be breathing in the chemical directly.

The levels of fluoride being emitted by Alcoa and Austral are fully legal under Australian law. The smelter emits 120 tons of the dust per year, while the factory emits 66 tons.
      Read More...
Hourglass

Oil washes onto big Mississippi tourist beach

Matthew Bigg
Reuters
Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:23 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Oil from a BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico washed ashore at one of the largest tourist beaches in Mississippi on Monday, forcing tourists to pack their bags and evacuate the shore.

Sludgy brown oil, light sheen and tar balls arrived at a series of points in small towns in the Gulf state on Sunday, the first time oil has hit Mississippi's mainland. On Monday, it reached Biloxi, a major resort city famous for its casinos.

One day after state and local officials complained vehemently about the slow pace of cleanup efforts, just three people from a private contracting company hired by BP were working on Biloxi's shore, putting tar balls into containers.

Some children on holiday in Biloxi stepped into tar balls before their parents whisked them away from the beach.

"We are leaving today. My child stepped in oil yesterday as we were playing on the beach. Obviously we are cutting our vacation short. This is a complete shame and very sad," said Susan Reed, who came with her family from Texas on vacation to Biloxi.
      Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Thick oil soils Mississippi shore as storm looms

Leigh Coleman and Guy Faulconbridge
Reuters
Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:03 UTC
oily bird
© AP

Ocean Springs, Mississippi/Toronto- Gluey gobs of thick oil from BP Plc's Gulf of Mexico spill washed ashore in Mississippi for the first time on Sunday as Russia called for a special levy on oil companies to finance a fund to help clean up environmental disasters like this one.

BP and the U.S. Coast Guard kept a close watch on tropical depression Alex as it moved into the southwestern gulf.

Forecasters expect Alex to make landfall again as a hurricane early on Thursday between Brownsville, Texas, and Tuxpan de Rodriguez Cano in Mexico, sparing BP's oil collection efforts at its ruptured deep-sea well.
      Read More...
Document

US: Documents Show Vast Cleanup of Plum Island Land

Frank Eltman
The Associated Press
Sun, 27 Jun 2010 00:00 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/USDA-ARS
Plum Island, off the northern shore of New York's Long Island
Government documents obtained by The Associated Press show extensive efforts since 2000 to remove vast amounts of waste and contaminants from Plum Island, site of top-secret Army germ warfare research and decades of studies of dangerous animal diseases.

Yet some environmentalists remain concerned about the secrecy surrounding the 840-acre, pork chop-shaped island off northeastern Long Island - and they're dubious of any claims that pollution has been remedied.

"We are highly concerned that when the government acts alone they may not be doing the best job," said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment. "Every government cleanup needs the public's involvement and independent oversight to ensure its validity."

The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to sell the island 100 miles east of Manhattan and build a new high-security laboratory in Kansas to study animal diseases.
      Read More...
Binoculars

US: Raccoon Blamed for 5-Hour Outage in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee


The Associated Press
Sat, 26 Jun 2010 21:00 UTC
A raccoon described as acrobatic and mean-spirited knocked out power to a section of downtown Memphis that included two hospitals and the newspaper for more than five hours.

Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division president Jerry Collins told The Commercial Appeal said the raccoon climbed more than 30 feet, over barriers intended to keep animals out, and short-circuited a switch on a substation.

Overall, about 8,000 customers were without city power late Thursday and early Friday.
      Read More...
Hourglass

Arctic Birds are Contaminated with Pesticides and Heavy Metals

Kim Evans
Natural News
Sat, 26 Jun 2010 07:29 UTC
Image
On an isolated island high in the Arctic, biologists recently tested the toxicity of birds by testing their droppings. The conclusion? The birds' poop was loaded with environmental poisons. In these remote birds, they found high concentrations of pesticides and heavy metals including lead, mercury, aluminum and cadmium. The source of these poisons was determined to be the birds' diet of fish and shellfish and the source of the pollution of the fish and shellfish was human pollution. After these toxins were released via their excrement, they were recycled onto the earth producing toxic and contaminated areas.

The testing was done in a remote, isolated area far from industrial and agricultural pollution. In fact, there is little industry and few people anywhere close by. However, over 45 years ago atomic weapon testing was done in the area.

The media is reporting that the people who are eating the eggs of the birds are perfectly safe, but the birds' eggs weren't even tested. And if the birds' droppings contain elevated levels of these contaminants, so do the birds - and the birds' eggs. Eating mercury, lead, cadmium and aluminum is never safe and since these are in birds from isolated areas of the Arctic, it's curious to wonder what contaminants are in birds from more populated industrialized areas. Since the birds obtained these toxic poisons from the fish and shellfish they ate, it's also safe to assume that fish from less isolated areas - closer to industries and toxic agricultural runoff - are equally as polluted and likely far more so. Yet, many people are eating those fish regularly - and their poisons too.
      Read More...
Question

What is Killing Argentina's Right Whales?

Marlowe Hood
Agence France-Presse
Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:17 UTC
Right Whale
© AFP
A Franca Austral whale (also known as Southern Right Whale).
Agadir, Morocco - Fatal strandings of southern right whales around Argentina's Valdes Peninsula have soared in recent years, and worried scientists are not sure why, the International Whaling Commission heard Friday.

From 1971, when systematic monitoring began, only a relative handful of whale deaths were reported over the next three decades.

Starting in 2003, however, the mortality rate began to soar: from 31 that year, to 47 in 2005, 83 in 2007, 95 in 2008 and 79 last year, the IWC's scientific committee reported.

"Over 90 percent of the deaths have been of first-year calves," the scientists said.

The Valdes Peninsula is one of the most popular whalewatching venues on the planet, attracting some 200,000 eco-tourists every year hoping to see the huge mammals -- which grow up to 17-metre (56-foot) long -- in their element.

It is also a critically important breeding and nursery ground for right whales.

Three causes, possibly in combination, have been fingered as possible culprits.
      Read More...
Question

Grand Cayman Island: DoE Investigate Mystery of Dead Fish


Cayman News Service
Fri, 25 Jun 2010 11:53 UTC
Dead Fish
© CNS
The cause of a large number of dead juvenile fish along the waterline on Seven Mile Beach is unknown, according to the Department of Environment, and appears to be confined to a single species.

The fish, which were reported to the DoE Wednesday 23 June, appeared to all be filefish fry about 2-3cm long, possibly white-spotted filefish, but because of their young stage of development the department is unable to identify the species with certainly.

"Despite the large number of dead fish observed over several miles on southern and central Seven Mile Beach we do not suspect that there is a systemic environmental problem at this time," said John Bothwell, Senior Research Officer with the Department of Environment.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Big Algae Bloom Expanding Off China's East Coast


The Associated Press
Fri, 25 Jun 2010 05:24 UTC
Image
© Jianan Yu/Reuters
Green algae outbreak in 2008, in Chaolu lake in Hefei, Anhui province, endangered water supply in nearby cities and posed a great threat to aquatic life.
A huge bright green algae bloom is blanketing the sea off China's east coast and wind is driving it closer to land, an official said Friday.

Cui Wenlin, an official with the State Oceanic Administration, said the slimy bloom is the biggest China has seen since a huge outbreak in 2008 threatened to disrupt sailing events during the Beijing Summer Olympics. Before the games, thousands of soldiers, volunteers and fishing boats were recruited to clean up that bloom, which sailors took to calling "The Fairway" and "The Carpet."

The current outbreak has nearly doubled in size since it was first spotted June 14 near eastern China's Shandong province and now measures about 110 square miles (300 square kilometers), said Cui, who works at the administration's North China Sea Environmental Monitoring Center.

Winds are pushing the mass toward the resort city of Qingdao, and it was 6-12 miles (10-20 kilometers) from shore late Friday, he said.
      Read More...
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