Archive for the ‘Ocean’ Category
Netherlands adds to UN climate report controversy
February 5th, 2010 
Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Agence France-Presse: The Netherlands has asked the UN climate change panel to explain an inaccurate claim in a landmark 2007 report that more than half the country was below sea level, the Dutch government said Friday. According to the Dutch authorities, only 26 percent of the country is below sea level, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will be asked to account for its figures, environment ministry spokesman Trimo Vallaart told AFP. The incident could cause further ...
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Bluefin tuna international trade ban proposal backed by UN agency
February 5th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Guardian: A UN scientific agency today backed a proposal to ban international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna, saying the species prized by sushi lovers needed to recover from commercial overfishing. Monaco had proposed protecting bluefin tuna, which can fetch up to $100,000 (£64,000) in Japan, by listing it under appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites). "In our opinion, international commercial trade in bluefin tuna should be prohibited," said ...
Swedish PM wants answers on Baltic Sea dumping
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Agence France-Presse: Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on Thursday requested explanations from a previous government on Russia's release of toxic waste into Swedish waters in the Baltic Sea, his spokeswoman told AFP. Swedish public television SVT reported Wednesday that between 1991 and 1994 Russia dumped chemical weapons and radioactive waste off the shores of Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea. The network also said the Social Democrat government that came into power in 1994 was ...
Experts observe whale hunt noise
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
BBC: Scientists on Shetland believe they may have discovered a previously-unobserved technique being used by killer whales to catch herring. Researchers from Aberdeen and St Andrews Universities recorded the whales emitting a low-pitched noise which caused the fish to bunch up. The mammals then stun the fish with their tails before eating them. The scientists said this behaviour has not been seen anywhere else in the world. The findings have come to light in the BBC2 ...
France wants tuna trade ban in 18 months
February 4th, 2010 Ocean Conserve: Ocean Conservation RSS Newsfeed
Independent (UK): France wants a ban on international trade in bluefin tuna to come into force in 18 months time in order to protect the over-fished species, a government source said Wednesday. The announcement came weeks ahead of a European decision on whether to back calls for the lucrative but over-exploited fish - beloved of Japanese sushi fans - to be officially listed as an endangered species. The French decision - due to be officially announced later Tuesday by the government - will weigh ...
Europe Leans Toward Bluefin Trade Ban
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
New York Times: European officials are increasing pressure for an international ban on the commercial fishing of bluefin tuna, a threatened species whose fatty belly is prized for sushi. But they are facing a delicate balancing act as they try to weigh economic interests of a Mediterranean fishing industry, a sushi-loving Japan, and a species that some experts say is on the verge of extinction. In the latest move toward protecting the fish, France said Wednesday that it would back a ban starting late ...
Australia: Coalition needs more than just true believers
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Australian: IN August last year the Victorian coastal Borough of Queenscliffe Council decided to take its own action on climate change and rising sea levels. At a secret meeting the council decided to introduce draconian planning measures limiting building, housing extensions, new projects and subdivisions within a "flood zone" based on predictions of sea levels through to 2100. Approximately 600 homes in the suburbs of Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff were immediately affected, and future development, ...
Cape wind review called ‘rushed.’
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Boston Globe: A federal inspector general`s investigation into the Minerals Management Service`s environmental review of the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm has concluded that several federal agencies felt "unnecessarily rushed`` to finish their contributions to the report, although no agency believed its overall conclusions changed as a result. The US Department of the Interior`s Office of Inspector General also found that the Minerals Management Service`s January 2009 final environmental ...
South Africa: Prime property at risk as sea levels rise
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Cape Times: Sixteen prime coast areas, including Milnerton Harbour, Green Point, Sea Point, Camps Bay and the entire Strand beachfront are at "high risk" from rising sea levels, says the City of Cape Town's latest sea-level risk assessment. If sea levels rise, as they are predicted to do in the next 25 years, billions of rands of coastal infrastructure will be damaged. In a report submitted on Tuesday to the planning and environment portfolio committee, Darryl Colenbrander of strategy and ...
Is there enough food out there for nine billion people?
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
New Republic: Sometime around 2050, there are going to be nine billion people roaming this planet--two billion more than there are today. It's a safe bet that all those folks will want to eat. And that's... an incredibly daunting prospect. Right now, an estimated one billion people go hungry each day. So add two billion more people, a limited supply of arable land, plus the fact that rising incomes will boost demand for meat and dairy products, plus the fact that many key natural resources (fisheries, ...
