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Posted: 15-06-2013 07:07 Post subject:

Bristol named European Green Capital for 2015

Bristol has been crowned the European Green Capital for 2015 at a ceremony in Nantes.
The city beat Brussels in Belgium, Glasgow in Scotland and Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, to the win. Nantes in France currently holds the title.
The title rewards cities which consistently achieve high environmental standards and are committed to further improvement and sustainability.

Last year Bristol was the runner-up, finishing behind Copenhagen in Denmark.
It is the third time the city has made the final shortlist.

Speaking to the BBC from the event in Nantes, elected mayor George Ferguson thought the judges liked the city's "enthusiasm, ambition and achievements over the last few years".

He said: "You talk to all of the cities that have been green capital - they're all here with me tonight - and they say it's made a huge difference to their cities, to the perception of the city, to making sure it's a really good place to live in.
"They have absolutely no doubt that it's been a platform for taking their environmental policies one step further.
"It's something that's very close to my heart, so I feel very fortunate that we find ourselves in this position."

Mr Ferguson, who was one of a seven-strong delegation representing the city of Bristol in France, said even though the win didn't bring any money directly to the city, it would bring business, investment and other economical benefits.

In Bristol, Liz Zeidler from the Bristol Green Capital Partnership said at an announcement event at the M Shed that the result was "absolutely fantastic".
"I'm quite emotional. So much work has been put in by so many people across this city, from top to bottom," she added.
"They knew what a difference it's going to make to our city, to our children's future, to the economy - all the things that matter to people in this city.
"So I am so delighted for everybody here who has been so supportive."

Eight cities submitted bids for 2015. They were assessed against 12 criteria including innovation and sustainable employment, energy performance, water consumption, waste water treatment and climate change.

Bristol beat competition from Dublin in Ireland, Bydgoszcz in Poland, Kaunas in Lithuania and Kutahya in Turkey to reach the final stage of selection.

"In the build up to 2015, we're going to get every single citizen in Bristol involved in this," added Ms Zeidler.
"We're going to hear all of the ideas people have got to make this city greener, happier and better for everybody.
"We're going to make those as much of a reality as we can. This will help us leverage the money, the support and the energy that we need to make it happen."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-22910214

A picture caption says: "Mayor George Ferguson pledged to swap his famous red trousers for a green pair if the city won." Cool

Posted: 20-06-2013 21:07 Post subject:

I still have an old passport which describes me as a Geologist - that was for convenience when entering certain countries, as I was working then in oil exploration. But it wasn't a total fraud - I had had a couple of months training in sedimentary geology! Cool

But although my oil-man career didn't last long, I retained an interest in geology as it overlapped with other scientific interests like evolution.

But recently geology has hit the front pages big-time because of fracking. In fact, the first mention of fracking (in a geological context Wink

) on this MB was just two years ago, in a post by me about the Blackpool earthquakes:

http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1104355#1104355

If you want to know what fracking's all about, a real geologist explains:

Horizon - 2012-2013 - 14. Fracking: The New Energy Rush

Iain Stewart investigates a new and controversial energy rush for the natural gas found deep underground. Sometimes, this is right under the places people live in. Getting it out of the ground involves hydraulic fracturing - or fracking.

Iain travels to America to find to find out what it is, why it is a potential game changer and what we can learn from the US experience. He meets some of the people who have become rich from fracking as well as the communities worried about the risks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b02zldds/Horizon_20122013_Fracking_The_New_Energy_Rush/

Available until
9:59PM Wed, 17 Jul 2013

Posted: 20-06-2013 21:21 Post subject:

Posted: 21-06-2013 07:21 Post subject:

New pollution high as haze chokes Singapore
[video]

Pollution levels reached a new record high for a third day in a row in Singapore, as smoky haze from fires in Indonesia shrouded the city state.
The Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) hit 401 at 12:00 on Friday (04:00 GMT) - the highest in the country's history.
The haze is also affecting Malaysia, with another 100 schools closed in the south of the country.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsieng Loong warned on Thursday that the haze could remain in place for weeks.
"We can't tell how this problem is going to develop because it depends on the burning, it depends on the weather, it depends on the wind," he said.
"It can easily last for several weeks and quite possibly it could last longer until the dry season ends in Sumatra which may be September or October."

A PSI reading above 300 is defined as "hazardous", while Singapore government guidelines say a PSI reading of above 400 over 24 hours "may be life threatening to ill and elderly persons".
"Healthy people [may also] experience adverse symptoms that affect normal activity," the government says.

Singapore resident Nicole Wu told the BBC that she had stayed indoors for the past two days.
"It's terrible. In my flat the windows are all closed with the air conditioning on," she said. "My mother has to wear a mask to go shopping."
"I can't even see what's happening outside my house due to the smog. You can't see birds [or] moving objects," she added.

Philip Koh, a doctor, told AFP news agency that the number of medical consultations he had had in the past week had increased by 20%.
"My patients are telling me they are worried about how long this is going to last and how much higher this is going to go," he said.

Singapore's National Environment Agency has started providing hourly PSI updates on its website, in addition to the three-hourly updates it previously provided.
Around 300 schools in southern Malaysia have now been closed as a result of the smog. Schools in Singapore are currently closed for the holidays.

The fires are caused by illegal slash-and-burn land clearance in Sumatra, to the west of Singapore.
The smog has strained diplomatic relations between Singapore and Indonesia - two countries that usually share good relations, the BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta reports.

Mr Lee said Singapore had provided satellite date to Indonesia to help it identify companies involved and said that if any Singapore firms were involved, that would be addressed.

Indonesia says two helicopters with cloud seeding equipment were deployed early on Friday to try and create artificial rain to put out the fire, AFP reported.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said "all the country's resources" would be mobilised to extinguish the fires.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22998592

Posted: 22-06-2013 16:43 Post subject:

River Thames oil spill in Windsor affects 150 swans

About 150 swans have been rescued from the scene of an oil spill at the River Thames in Windsor.
Thames Water was called out at 22:30 BST on Friday to the site of the spill between Windsor bridge and Eton bridge.

Wendy Hermon, of the charity Swan Lifeline, said it was "one of the worst oil spills" she had seen and that some swans were covered up to their necks.

The Environment Agency (EA) said the oil spillage has now stopped. The swan rescue is ongoing.

Oil can cause a swan to sink as it affects its water-proofing Ms Hermon said: "It's a total disaster. We've got teams up there at the moment and we're just having boat-loads brought in every 15 minutes.
"We have got to wash every single one of them. We are going to be busy for the next couple of days."
She described the river as "jet black", and said she could "see the swans swimming through the oil that was up to their necks".

An Environment Agency spokeswoman said reports were received on Friday night from members of the public about an oil spill near Eton Bridge.
She said the "oil coming into the River Thames has stopped, with no oil coming from any of the surface outfalls or other potential sources".
She added that the "high dilution of the River Thames has minimised the impact of the pollution".
A Thames Water spokeswoman said: "Our crews have been out since 10.30 last night, but it is still not clear how this has happened."

In February last year, in an oil spill in the same area of the river, 68 swans were rescued.

Ms Hermon said: "The problem the other year was very minor compared to this. This is one of the worst oil spills I've seen."
The swans are being cleaned in communal tubs with washing up liquid.
They will also be fed charcoal powder to neutralise any oil chemicals they may have ingested, the charity said.
There are about 200 swans in the Windsor area and about 400 on the River Thames in Berkshire, the charity added.

The EA will carry out riverside checks and "continue to monitor the situation".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-23013456

Posted: 24-06-2013 07:40 Post subject:

A recent post from the National Federation of Fishermen's Organizations (NFFO):

21/06/13
Rubbishing Science

It's more than a little strange for Greenpeace, in its attempts to demonise the NFFO, to claim that we should "respect scientific advice rather than rubbishing it".
Where have they been?

Haven't they heard of the groundbreaking Fisheries Science Partnership, which has set the standard for participative scientific advice in Europe, and which the NFFO pioneered along with CEFAS and DEFRA?

Or what about the NFFO's role in the NWWRAC's data deficiency initiative, working with ICES?

Or our work with scientists on long term management plans in the Celtic sea, the Irish Sea and the North Sea?

Wasn't the NFFO a leading member of the North Sea Commission Fisheries Partnership that established a dialogue with scientists at an international level for the first time and led to the establishment of the North Sea RAC?

Hasn't the NFFO called for the Commission to take into account the latest scientific work on deep sea fisheries?

Once again some rudimentary homework would have saved Greenpeace a lot of embarrassment. The first rule of science is "get your facts right". As we have said on more than one occasion now, fishermen have a deep interest in objective, rigorous, impartial science - if only to fend off the more outlandish claims of professional doomsayers like Greenpeace.

http://www.nffo.org.uk/news/nffo_rubbishing_science_2013.html

Posted: 28-06-2013 10:07 Post subject:

Birdwatchers see rare swift killed by wind turbine
Dozens of birdwatchers who travelled to a Scottish island to see an extremely rare swift have been left distraught after it was killed by a wind turbine. Sad

By Simon Johnson
2:44PM BST 27 Jun 2013

Around 40 people were watching the White-throated Needletail, the world's fastest flying bird, on the Isles of Harris when the tragedy happened.
Sightings of the bird have only been recorded eight times in the UK in nearly 170 years, most recently in 1991, prompting around 80 ornithologists to visit the island in the hope of catching a glimpse.

John Marchant, a project coordinator for the British Trust for Ornithology, visited the island on a specially-arranged trip with a group of other birdwatchers and witnessed the death.
The 62-year-old bird enthusiast said he travelled from Norfolk when he heard about the arrival of the bird, which had brown, blue and black bird plumage.
“We were absolutely over the moon and thrilled to see the bird. We watched it for nearly two hours. While we were watching it suddenly it was a bit close to the turbine and then the blades hit it,” he said.
"We all rushed up to the turbine, which took about five minutes, hoping it had just been knocked out the sky but was ok. Unfortunately it had a blow to the head and was stone dead.”

David Campbell, from Surrey, told BBC Scotland the incident took place late on Wednesday afternoon. Speaking as he made his way home, he said: “We just watched the whole thing with dismay."

Josh Jones, of Bird Guides, a specialist website for ornithologists, said he had spoken to witnesses, who had seen the bird fly straight into one the turbine’s blades.
He said: “It is ironic that after waiting so long for this bird to turn up in the UK it was killed by a wind turbine and not a natural predator.
“More than 80 people had already arrived on the island and others were coming from all over the country. But it just flew into the turbine. It was killed instantly. The corpse will be sent to a museum but obviously this is just terrible.”

Experts said they thought the bird had got lost migrating from Siberia and it should have been as far away as Australia or Japan instead of Tarbert on the Isle of Harris.
It was spotted by chance on Monday by two birdwatchers from Northumberland holidaying on the island. Steve Duffield, a Western Isles wildlife expert, said: “The bird in Harris was hanging around for its third day – it was attracting a lot of attention from the birding community with people travelling from southern England to see it.”

During the 1991 sighting, a single bird was spotted four times in Kent, Staffordshire, Derbyshire and finally Shetland.

The White-throated Needletail, also known as the Needle-tailed Swift or Spine-tailed Swift, is known to fly up at speeds of up to 69mph, although there are unconfirmed reports of them reaching 105mph.

The birds have very short legs, which they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces, and they build their nests in rock crevices in cliffs or hollow trees. They spend most of their lives in the air, living on the insects they catch in their beaks.
They breed in rocky hills in central Asia and southern Siberia but migrate south to the Indian Subcontinent, southeast Asia and Australia.

The SNP administration at Holyrood is pressing ahead with a rapid expansion in the number of wind farms after setting a target to generate the equivalent of all Scotland’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/10146135/Birdwatchers-see-rare-swift-killed-by-wind-turbine.html

Posted: 03-07-2013 08:06 Post subject:

Blue and beaked whales affected by simulated navy sonar
By Victoria Gill, Science reporter, BBC News

Blue and beaked whales' behaviour is disturbed by simulated navy sonar, according to two published studies.
In two experiments, teams of researchers managed to attach tracking and sound-recording tags to 17 blue whales and two beaked whales.
They then played simulated sonar sound through an underwater speaker and measured the animals' responses.
The findings are reported in two Royal Society journals, Proceedings B and Biology Letters.

Researchers have previously linked mass strandings and deaths of beaked whales around the world to military exercises using what is known as mid-frequency sonar. So scientists have been keen to understand if the sound harmed the animals.
The new study does not explain those strandings - the chain of events that leads to these remains unclear.

But marine mammal expert Patrick Miller, from the University of St Andrews' Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU), who was not involved with the new study, said the results showed it would be wise for naval exercises to "avoid critical habitat areas".

The beaked whale study was led by scientists also from the SMRU.
It revealed what researchers had long suspected, that man-made sound had a negative effect on these deep-diving whales. Beaked whales use sound to hunt as well as to communicate. They produce echolocation clicks as they dive up to a mile in depth, picking up echoes that bounce of the bodies of the squid they are hunting.

When the scientists played the sonar sound during their experiment, both of the tagged Cuvier's beaked whales stopped hunting and "swam rapidly, silently away".

Perhaps more surprising was that, in the other study, led by Jeremy Goldbogen from the Cascadia Research Collective in Washington State, several blue whales also responded to the sound.
Blue whales communicate with very low frequency sound - far below that of naval sonar. And because they do not use sound to hunt, the scientists thought they would not be affected.

The whales' responses did vary.
Animals that were feeding close to the surface showed almost no response, but animals that were diving for krill - rather than sifting the surface waters - reacted very differently.

"One animal was diving and feeding repeatedly all throughout the day," recalled Dr Goldbogen.
"And as soon as the sound started, the animal stopped feeding and maintained a directed heading and moved away from the sound source.

These vast animals can scoop up half a million calories worth of krill in one gulp as they dive, so disturbing their feeding deprives them of large amounts of energy.
"I calculated that in that time, the animal lost a metric tonne of krill," said Dr Goldbogen.
"So if this happens a lot in these feeding hotspots, that could have real consequences."

And currently, naval exercises are carried out in these "hotspots".
The blue whales in this study, for example, were feeding in the in-shore waters of California during the summer and autumn of 2010. The study area is where the US Navy carries out regular exercises and where the whales come to build up fat stores for the long migration to their breeding grounds.

Even subtle disturbance to this vital pre-migration gorge, said Dr Goldbogen, "could have real consequences for the population health."
"These are the biggest animals that have ever lived, so they need a huge amount of food," he added.

The detailed examination of the whales' behaviour was made possible by the technology contained within the tracking tags.
"A lot of the same sensors that are in our smart phones are in the tags we attached to these whales," said Dr Goldbogen.
"When you rotate your phone and the screen moves with you. That's because there are these sensors called accelerometers and magnetometers.
"That's how we get the information about the position of the whale.
This resulted in detailed animations of each whales' position, speed and movement.

But to actually put a tag onto one of these giant mammals involved a chase.
The tags are attached using suction cups, so the researchers had to use a small boat to move alongside each whale, while one member of the team used a long carbon fibre pole to "tap" the tag onto the animal's back.

"It's a lot easier in blue whales than some other whales, because they're so big," said Dr Goldbogen.
"We can programme the tag to release, so we find the tag and download the data."

This is a far trickier exercise with beaked whales, which are smaller and dive for an hour at a time.
"If you see a beaked whale and if you don't get the tag on it, you might never see it again," said Dr Goldbogen.

Although both studies provide clear evidence that sonar affects these rare marine mammals, the scientists say much more research is needed into the specific impacts of human activity on their environment.
Dr Miller commented: "Further research on the possible long-term impacts of these effects are needed, to evaluate whether more protection measures are required."

Dr Goldbogen concluded: "We didn't expect blue whales to have a strong response, so there's clearly a dearth of basic data on how animals respond to man-made sound.
"These animals have evolved in a very different environment to the one they're living in today."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23115939

Posted: 06-07-2013 06:48 Post subject:

Here's a laudable idea, but I think this is the first I've heard of it. Received by email:

SOUTH WEST FISHING FOR LITTER PROJECT LANDS 50 TONNES OF LITTER
Posted: 05 Jul 2013 07:10 AM PDT

Fishermen across Cornwall and Devon have landed over 40 tonnes of litter through the pioneering Fishing For Litter project. Over 130 fishing vessels caught the 50 tonnes of marine litter in their fishing gear, and have brought it ashore.

The project provides vessels with large durable bags to collect marine litter. When full, these bags are deposited safely on the quayside, where the harbour authorities move them to a dedicated secure Fishing for Litter skip.

Fishing for Litter has been operational since March 2009, starting in Newlyn and steadily growing across South West ports to Brixham, Plymouth, Newquay, and Looe. A further four Cornish ports have just joined the project: St Ives, Mevagissey, Hayle and Padstow.

Alison Elvey de Rios, South West Fishing for Litter Coordinator commented, “It’s great that this innovative, simply executed project, has landed over 50 tonnes of marine litter. The project’s momentum is growing year on year, and more fishermen are getting involved to help clean our seas.”

Millions of marine mammals, birds, turtles and fish perish as a result of entanglement or ingestion of deliberately or accidentally discarded debris. Therefore, participating fishermen, by helping to reduce marine litter, are making a vital contribution to the protection of the marine environment as a whole.

The Crown Estate’s Marine Stewardship Manager, Fiona Wynne said: “The Crown Estate is committed to supporting projects that help reduce the amount of litter in the marine environment. To have landed 50 tonnes of marine litter is a fantastic achievement for all involved in the project and with more ports and vessels signing up each year we are confident Fishing for Litter South West will continue to make a vital contribution to the protection of the marine environment.”

A Duchy of Cornwall spokesperson said: “We are delighted to see Fishing for Litter in Devon and Cornwall passing its 50 tonnes milestone – removing a significant volume of harmful waste from the seas around our coasts – and we praise the work of these fishermen, who are committed to preserving and enhancing the marine environment”.

Items commonly landed include pieces of plastic and polythene, rope and cord, nets, bottles, rubber, metals and textiles. If not recovered, these items could eventually end up destroying ecosystems or littering the region’s beaches and shoreline, which could also impact on the regions tourism sector.

Councillor Edwina Hannaford, Cornwall Council Portfolio Holder for Environment, Heritage and Planning, agreed, “It’s wonderful to see the Fishing for Litter Partnership achieving excellent results, that is of real benefit to our maritime environment and to those who live and work alongside it. Cornwall’s beaches attract thousands of tourists each year, keeping them clean is very important; the waste collected by this project prevents it being washed ashore.”
Dave Owens, Assistant Head of Environment & Waste Management at Cornwall Council, continued, “Cornwall Council has supported this programme from day one and it’s very rewarding to be part of this scheme, it’s great to see that the project is going from strength to strength.
The aim to add more ports and fishing vessels to the projects network will significantly increase the amount of marine and coastal litter removed from the seas.”

Fishing for Litter Southwest is also supported and funded by The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Cornwall Council, The Cornish Fish Producers’ Organisation, Duchy of Cornwall, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Devon County Council and The Crown Estate, through the organisation’s Marine Stewardship Fund.

In addition, this voluntary project also helps fishermen themselves as a recent KIMO study, by Hannah Bateson, on the Economic impacts of Marine Litter, showed the average yearly cost of marine litter to a fishing boat is £10,000, through contamination of catches, broken gear and fouled propellers.

Fishing for Litter forms part of the Fishing for Litter network run by KIMO, an international organisation of local authorities working to tackle marine pollution and environmental issues.

Notes to editors: The South West project is based upon Fishing for Litter Scotland which has been in operation since 2005. Fishing for Litter South West is coordinated by Alison Elvey de Rios from Seafood Cornwall Training Ltd.

For further information please contract Alison on 01736 364324 or alison@seafoodcornwalltraining.co.uk or check out the website on: www.fishingforlitter.org/FishingforLitterSouthWest.aspx

Posted: 13-07-2013 09:56 Post subject:

This is something new to me:

The 'underground forests’ that are bringing deserts to life
Encouraging 'weeds’ to grow in desert areas is helping prevent land degradation and allowing crops to thrive
By Geoffrey Lean
8:38PM BST 12 Jul 2013

They call it the “underground forest”, and it has proved, literally, to be an answer to prayer, both for one young Australian and for countless people living in one of the hungriest corners of the planet. For it has enabled millions of hectares of severely degraded land to produce good harvests, spurring a grassroots agricultural revolution that – almost unnoticed by the outside world – is spreading across West Africa’s Sahel.

The revolution – and similar, largely unpublicised, developments around the globe – offers hope of reversing perhaps the world’s most alarming environmental crisis: land degradation costs at least 30 billion tons of priceless topsoil and deprives farmers of an area three times the size of Switzerland every year. And it represents one of the best ways of combating climate change and preventing conflict.

The story starts with Tony Rinaudo – a young Australian missionary in the Maradi region of Niger in the early 1980s – who tried to ease the suffering of the people in an area where desperately poor farmers could sow crops up to four or five times a year only for them to be smothered by drifts of sand. Time and time again he planted trees to stabilise the soil, retain water from the occasional rains and provide shade for crops. Every time they died.

One day he gazed despairingly out on the unforgiving desert, wondering: “How many saplings, how many people, how many millions of dollars would I need for this?”

Driven to prayer, he says, he “saw for the first time what had been there all along. Seemingly useless small bushes scattered over the dry land, which we had despised as weeds, were actually the outward signs of a vast underground forest.”

The bushes turned out to be clusters of shoots from the buried stumps of long-felled trees, whose root systems still drew water and nutrients from far beneath the arid soil. The shoots could never grow much before being cut or eaten by livestock, but when Rinaudo pruned them down to a single stem and kept the animals away, they shot up into substantial trees within four years.

As the trees grew, so did crops. And as local farmers began reaping good harvests, neighbours and visitors followed suit. Now, two decades later, some 200 million trees have been regenerated in this way, covering five million hectares of Maradi and the neighbouring region of Zinder, enabling the growing of enough extra grain to feed two-and-a-half million people.

Nor is this all. Satellite images have shown that the same technique has been used successfully over 485,000 hectares of next-door Mali. And it is known to have spread to Senegal and the Niger regions of Tahoua and Dosso, though no one has had the resources to quantify it.

This was only one of the success stories that emerged at a conference in Switzerland this week on land restoration. Counter-intuitive techniques developed by Allan Savory, a Zimbabwean farmer and biologist, are successfully revitalising 15 million hectares of degraded land on five continents, by grazing livestock very intensively on small areas for short periods: their dung and the grass they trample enrich the soil, mimicking the natural practices of the once-vast herds of gnu or American bison.

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/10176217/The-underground-forests-that-are-bringing-deserts-to-life.html

Posted: 13-07-2013 10:30 Post subject:

That is an amazing discovery indeed.

Posted: 21-07-2013 08:19 Post subject:

Date set for Stowey quarry public inquiry

A date has been announced for a public inquiry into whether asbestos can be dumped in a quarry in North Somerset.
A planning application was originally turned down last November for hazardous waste to be left at Stowey Quarry.
After the owners appealed, the proposal went to a public inquiry.
The hearing will be held over 3-5 September to decide whether Bath and North East Somerset Council was right to turn down the application.

David Elliot, from the Stowey Sutton Action Group, said: "There's the dust, there's the noise, there's the particles of asbestos that could come out of the quarry and we've proven the water that leaves the quarry will end up at Chew Valley lake which is extremely dangerous."

Chew Valley lake is a reservoir about 1.2 miles (2km) from the site. It is looked after by Bristol Water, which also opposes the plans.

Oaktree Environments - who are acting on behalf of Quarry owner Larry Edmunds - declined to comment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-23389509

Posted: 24-07-2013 08:18 Post subject:

The bitter battle over Alaska's salmon
By Stephen Sackur, BBC News, Alaska

Alaska's fishing community and mining industry are engaged in a bitter battle, with fishermen arguing that a planned gold mine risks poisoning the waters where Pacific salmon spawn. The debate has forced Alaskans to consider what kind of future they want for their wild and sparsely-populated state.

In summer camps across America youngsters hike, swim and toast marshmallows by the fire. But they play by different rules in south west Alaska.
In Dillingham, a small town at the mouth of the Ishugak river, children as young as six go to camp to learn how to gut and bone a sockeye salmon.
Youngsters who show promise with the filleting knife are introduced to the joys of the smokehouse. Nobody goes home without a strip of dried salmon to chew on.

Kim Williams, mother of six, camp leader, subsistence fisherwoman and stalwart of the Yupik tribe, says it is vital to pass on practical skills to the next generation.
"Our people have lived off fishing for thousands of years," she tells me, as a rich aroma of woodsmoke and singed salmon meat hangs in the air. "It's our past and our future."

Kim and her family catch salmon the old-fashioned way. They string up a net close to the bank of the Ishugak and haul it in when they see fish thrashing in the mesh.
It is a satisfyingly simple art, and it works.

But the salmon harvest is also a billion-dollar business. Commercial fishermen from Seattle and beyond haul in tens of millions of fish between June and September.
The catch is sliced, diced, canned, frozen, smoked and salted with relentless efficiency in processing plants along the Kvichak estuary. Then it is shipped all over the world.

The indigenous fishermen, the commercial fleet and even the sports anglers who breeze into Dillingham in their private planes all abide by the strict rules imposed by Alaska's fish management team.
If the numbers of salmon reaching the spawning grounds are down, then fishing permits are suspended. First priority is always given to the long term sustainability of the world's greatest wild salmon run.

But for how much longer can that be guaranteed?
A cloud of uncertainty hangs over this corner of Alaska.
It comes in the form of a plan to dig one of the world's biggest copper and gold mines in the upper reaches of the Bristol Bay catchment area.

The Pebble mining company - part owned by the British minerals giant Anglo American - wants to extract billions of tons of copper ore from a hole in the ground at least two miles wide and half a mile deep.
The mine could be worth up to half a trillion dollars.

Pebble's boss John Shively invites me into his helicopter to tour the site. We swoop over an intricate tapestry of lakes, hills and narrow streams.
An empty land where bears, caribou and wolves have no need to fear human predators.
"The pit will be over there" he says pointing along a shallow valley. "And the waste will be held in reservoirs over there."

John Shively believes a giant copper mine generating billions of tons of potentially toxic waste is exactly what this wilderness needs.
"If I thought this mine would poison the water, and harm the fishery do you think I'd be here?" he asks.
"This mine will give the local tribes what they really need. Jobs and the chance of a better life."

That is not the way the fishing folk of Bristol Bay see it.
They have heard independent scientists question the wisdom of storing billions of tons of dangerous waste in vast reservoirs close to a geological fault line.
And they worry about the leaching of copper compounds and sulphuric acid into the river network.

Outside her smokehouse on the Ishugak river Kim Williams puts it simply: "The salmon is our source of life. We cannot put it at risk."
She has even been to London to tell Anglo American's board to dump its interest in Pebble mine.

The battle between fishing community and mining industry has divided opinion. Even the dominant Republican Party is hopelessly split.
Rick Halford, a former president of the state senate and architect of a raft of pro-mining legal reforms has had a change of heart.
"I never met a mine I didn't like" he tells me ruefully, "until now".
He invites me to enjoy the magnificent view from his lakeside home outside Dillingham.
"I'm no tree-hugger," he says "but Pebble is the wrong mine, in the wrong place".

A proud and sustainable fishing community locked in a conflict with a mining industry promising a once in a lifetime opportunity bonanza.
Alaska has a choice to make, which will do much to define the future of America's last frontier

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23362163

Posted: 24-07-2013 14:28 Post subject:

Another fishy story connected to mining, but this time it's local to me!

'Extraordinary' trout with tolerance to heavily polluted water found in Hayle
10:39am Wednesday 24th July 2013 in News .

University researchers have found a population of brown trout that can survive in the contaminated waters of the River Hayle in Cornwall, where metal concentrations are so high they would be lethal to fish from unpolluted sites.

The team from the University of Exeter and King’s College London believe this is due to "changes in the expression of their genes".
The researchers compared the trout living in the River Hayle with a population living in a relatively clean site in the River Teign. The results showed that the accumulation of metals in the kidney and liver – where metals are stored and detoxified - were 19 and 34 times higher in the Hayle trout.
In the gill, concentrations averaging 63 times higher were present in the Hayle fish, but there were no differences in metal content in the gut.

They said that this accumulation of metals in the Hayle fish "highlights their extraordinary tolerance of the extreme metal concentrations in their environment".

In order to investigate how the Hayle brown trout are able to tolerate such high levels of metal exposure, and also look for potential signs of toxicity, advanced high throughput sequencing was conducted at the Exeter Sequencing Facility to sequence the genes and then measure changes in their expression between the two river sites.

The gene encoding a protein, metallothionein, responsible for binding, storing and detoxifying a number of metals, was found to be highly expressed in the River Hayle trout, indicating its importance in their ability to tolerate metals in their environment.

Evidence of the presence of other metal-binding and transporting proteins, particularly those responsible for handling iron, was also found.
Usually metals cause toxicity in fish by causing oxidative damage and disrupting the balance of ions in the body. The team found evidence that to counter this toxicity, Hayle fish showed changes in genes responsible for maintaining the balance of these ions in the body and a modest increase in anti-oxidants.

This work was led by T. Uren Webster, Dr R. van Aerle and Dr E Santos from the University of Exeter and Dr N Bury from King’s College London, and has been published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Tamsyn Uren Webster said: “The work demonstrates that this population of brown trout has developed strategies for dealing with the metal pollution in the water and accumulation in their tissues avoiding the lethal damage that such concentrations of metals would normally cause.”
A detailed understanding of how the Hayle trout population has developed this tolerance could have potential implications for re-stocking rivers and increasing food security in polluted regions of the world.

Dr Eduarda Santos said: “The story of the brown trout in the river Hayle is a fascinating one, demonstrating its resilience and its ability to defeat the odds and tolerate the challenges imposed upon them as a result of human activities.
"Many aspects of this story remain untold. We do not know how or when this tolerance has arisen, and, most importantly, we do not know what the future holds for them if they are challenged with further stressors in their environment. But we know that such populations need careful management.
"If the Hayle brown trout, with their unique physiology, were to be lost, it is possible that this river may never be home to brown trout again. Therefore, understanding the relationship of fish with their environment is a crucial requirement to effectively manage and protect our aquatic ecosystems.”

Dr Nic Bury said: “Cornwall has a rich history of mining activity. Despite the cessation of the majority of this activity in the 19th and 20th centuries a number of rivers and estuaries, still possess elevated metals.
"Brown trout are extremely sensitive to metals when tested in the laboratory. However, biology is remarkable and adaptable, and it is astonishing that trout are able to survive and flourish in the river Hayle. It may be that this population is unique and an important component of the genetic diversity of brown trout.”

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/10567709._Extraordinary__trout_with_tolerance_to_heavily_polluted_water_found_in_Hayle/?ref=mr

The Hayle River starts as springs not far from Praa Sands on the south coast, and flows roughly NW to the village of St Erth. From there it runs a short distance north into Lelant Saltings, the SW lobe of Hayle Harbour.

Posted: 27-07-2013 08:10 Post subject:

More trout, but sadly dead:

Par Beach bathers warned after pollutant kills fish

People have been told to stay out of the sea at a beach after a pollutant killed a "significant number" of fish.
About 70 brown trout have died in a four-mile (7km) stretch of the River Par in Cornwall, between Luxulyan and Par Beach, the Environment Agency said.

While it tries to find the source of the pollution, Cornwall Council has advised people not to enter the water.
The authority said bathing water could be affected and the warning could remain in force for several days.
It added the incident was not believed to be associated with the sewage treatment works.

The Environment Agency said officers had found a "significant number of dead fish" in the river.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-23469563