Fish dance on sulphur cauldrons

By Jonathan Amos Science reporter, BBC News, San Francisco

These fish thrive in conditions that would kill most other fish More details

Scientists have witnessed the extreme lifestyle of tonguefish that like to skip across pools of molten sulphur.

The animals - a type of flatfish - were filmed on three expeditions to undersea volcanoes in the western Pacific.

Huge numbers were seen to congregate around the sulphur ponds which well up from beneath the seafloor.

Researchers from the University of Victoria, Canada, are trying to work out how the creatures survive in such a hostile environment.

"There are a lot of toxic heavy metals coming out of these active volcanoes," explained Dr John Dower, a fisheries oceanographer.

As a visual spectacle, it's like something from another planet Dr Alex Rogers, ZSL

"The water is very warm, and it can be very acidic, the pH can be as low as two like sulphuric acid," he told BBC News.

"And yet here we've got a group that has not previously been seen in this type of environment and they're doing very well - they're actually thriving."

The fish have been studied with remotely operated submersibles, including the Jason II vehicle this year.

Noaa's arc

The area of interest is the Mariana Arc, a 1,200km chain of volcanic seamounts and islands between Guam and Japan.

It hosts a number of hydrothermal vents - rock systems that draw water through cracks in the seafloor, heat it to temperatures which can be well above 100C, load it with dissolved metals and other chemicals, and then eject the hot fluid back into the ocean.

This type of habitat will support a range of specialised animals such as crabs, shrimp, mussels, and worms - but very few fish. And the flatfish seen on the Mariana Arc seamounts are a first.

"The density of these things is remarkable; we've determined that the abundances are actually about two orders of magnitude (100x) higher than what one typically finds on the continental shelf," said Dr Dower.

"So, these may be the highest flatfish densities seen anywhere, and it raises the puzzling question: what's supporting all that biomass?"

The team thinks the flatfish may be living on resources in the sediments, possibly worms or even bacteria. On one voyage to the vents, the tonguefish were seen to rip apart a dead fish that had fallen out of the water column above - so they may not be too choosy about where their meals come from.

Sulphur skippers

The Jason vehicle returns after a dive covered in sulphur deposits

What is certainly astonishing is their behaviour around the sulphur pools. The molten material that wells up from beneath the seafloor is denser than the surrounding water and simply lies in ponds in the depressions through which it emerges.

The measured temperature is more than 180C (355F).

"These flatfish live right up against the edge of the pools, and in a couple of cases we saw them out on the surface of a pool," said Dr Dower.

"We have video of a fish sitting on the molten sulphur and then moving off after a couple of minutes, apparently unharmed. They seem to be able to tolerate an environment that no other flatfish, and very few fish in general, are found in."

The deep-sea submersibles captured some of the fish and they are now being analysed.

They have been assigned to the taxonomic genus of Symphurus but they are a species new to science. The team intends to describe their behaviour and ecology in detail in a forthcoming journal paper.

MARIANA ARC TONGUEFISH The largest specimens are less than 11cm (five inches) They probably feed on worms and vent bacteria Species is new to science; currently under description Analysis of their tiny head bones will reveal growth rates Isotopic (types of atom) tests will determine food sources

Independent scientists who have seen the video of the tonguefish confess to being amazed.

Dr Alex Rogers is a senior research fellow at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), and recently co-authored a report on the state of seamounts for the United Nations.

"This is stunning," he told BBC News. "The temperatures which these fish are experiencing means they must have remarkable stress defence mechanisms to be able to survive in that environment.

"So physiologically it's remarkable; but as a visual spectacle, it's like something from another planet."

Dr Dower has been talking about the fish here at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting.

You can see video of the flatfish by clicking on the Noaa web link.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

18 manatees found dead, linked to eating laced seagrass

Given the declining seagrass in Florida, the recurrent red tides, the already heavy threats to manatees, isn't it just great Florida removed them from their endangered species list??? Well the red tide threatens many species, and recently this happened... Its a shame

Eighteen manatee carcasses have been recovered in the Ten Thousand Islands area of Everglades National Park since Nov. 9, and scientists think the animals died from eating red tide-laced seagrass.

Most of the dead manatees were recovered around Chevelier and Huston bays, but some were found as far south as Lostman's River.

"That area averages two manatee deaths a year, so 18 is unusual," said Sara McDonald, a marine research associate at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.

National Parks Service officials conducted an aerial survey of the Ten Thousand Islands last Thursday to search for more dead manatees. None were found.

Since July, 24 manatees from Pinellas County to Lee County are suspected to have died from red tide poisoning.

Manatee carcasses are often taken to the state's Marine Mammal Pathobiology Laboratory in St. Petersburg, where scientists perform necropsies - post-mortem examinations.

But transporting the Ten Thousand Island manatees would have taken eight hours, so researchers performed field necropsies.

Because the manatees were badly decomposed, they didn't show the usual red tide symptoms, which include bloody froth from the nose, swollen and bloody kidneys and wet, bloody lungs.

So scientists used a different technique to test stomach, kidney, liver, feces and lung samples of four manatees.

All samples except lung tissues showed toxin in high levels.

"To me, this indicates that these animals were not exposed by inhaling," McDonald said. "The evidence indicates they were likely exposed while feeding in seagrass beds."

Researchers recently discovered that manatees can die from eating seagrass laced with red tide toxin weeks or months after a red tide bloom. Before that, red tide had been thought to kill manatees only when they inhale the toxin at the water's surface.

"We don't know the lethal dose of red tide for manatees," McDonald said. "There are a lot of unanswered questions. We don't know whether a lethal dose comes from chronic exposure or acute exposure or a range from chronic to acute. It's difficult: We can't do controlled experiments where we give doses of red tide to manatees."

©Marco Island Sun Times 2006

Global Warming Trend Continues in 2006, Climate Agencies Say

hey all, sorry I haven't posted in a while... end of semester, busy doing last minute papers and studying for my exams... But considering how warm it still is in NY in december, and the fact that Moscow has not recorded a temperature below freezing yet this season and international ski competitions have been cancelled bc of no snow in Europe, I thought this article would be appropriate...Its from the NY Times...

A decades-long global warming trend that most climate experts say is linked to rising levels of heat-trapping smokestack and tailpipe gases continued apace this year, according to summaries issued yesterday by several national and international climate agencies.

Figures differed slightly, with British weather officials and the World Meteorological Organization, based in Geneva, estimating that 2006 would end up the sixth warmest year since modern records began and NASA scientists putting it fifth.

But all of the reports noted that temperatures greatly above normal were recorded in places as varied as Australia and Scandinavia’s Arctic islands, shattering a variety of longstanding records.

The global climate has warmed and cooled naturally throughout Earth’s history, including a protracted warm spell a millennium ago and a “little ice age” from the 1400s through the 1700s.

But the last 50 years of warming, many climate scientists say, is pressing beyond natural peaks of the last 11,000 years. They say the changes cannot be explained without including a substantial, and growing, push from billions of tons of annual emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases known to trap heat in the air.

The records set this year support various studies that “showed links between human behavior and the warming trend,” said David Parker, a climate scientist at Britain’s Met Office.

England recorded its warmest average annual temperature, 51.5 degrees Fahrenheit, since the Central England Temperature series began in 1659, British officials said.

The contiguous United States had its third warmest year since records began in 1880, according to the analyses. Blistering summer heat contributed to the worst fire season on record, with more than 9.5 million acres burned through early December.

Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies said that the Earth’s five warmest years since the late 1880s were, in decreasing order, 2005, 1998, 2002, 2003 and — if no unexpected fluctuations occur the rest of this month — 2006.

James E. Hansen, the director of the Goddard center, said that 2007 was likely to be warmer than this year because one of the periodic hot spells in the tropical Pacific Ocean, called El Niño, has begun and should persist into next spring.

In February, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will release the main findings of its first update since 2001 on causes of global warming. The previous report concluded that most of the warming since 1950 was probably caused by human activities.

Research and fresh computer simulations considered under the new review have greatly strengthened that link, while also closing in on a possible warming of 5 degrees above the 1990 average, more or less, should the concentration of carbon dioxide double from the longstanding peak measured before the industrial era.

For at least 600,000 years before the Industrial Revolution, the concentration of carbon dioxide rarely nudged beyond 280 parts per million. It is now 382 parts per million and rising steadily.

Without a worldwide shift to nonpolluting energy technologies, such a doubling is considered almost unavoidable given the growth in such emissions in both wealthy and developing countries, but particularly in China and India.

Scientists: Seagrass Ecosystems at a 'Global Crisis'; Elevating Public Awareness 'Critical'

Underwatertimes.com News Service

Washington, D.C. (Dec 1, 2006 14:41 EST) An international team of scientists is calling for a targeted global conservation effort to preserve seagrasses and their ecological services for the world’s coastal ecosystems, according to an article published in the December issue of Bioscience, the journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS).

The article "A Global Crisis for Seagrass Ecosystems" cites the critical role seagrasses play in coastal systems and how costal development, population growth and the resulting increase of nutrient and sediment pollution have contributed to large-scale losses worldwide.

"Seagrasses are the coal mine canaries of coastal ecosystems," said co-author Dr. William Dennison of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. "The fate of seagrasses can provide resource managers advance signs of deteriorating ecological conditions caused by poor water quality and pollution."

Among its findings, the study analyzed an apparent disconnect between the scientific community’s concerns over seagrass habitat and its coverage in the popular media. While recent studies rank seagrass as one of the most valuable habitat in coastal systems, media coverage of other habitats – including salt marshes, mangroves and coral reefs – receive 3 to 100-fold more media attention than seagrass systems.

"Translating scientific understanding of the value of seagrass ecosystems into public awareness, and thus effective seagrass management and restoration, has not been as effective as for other coastal ecosystems, such as salt marshes, mangroves, or coral reefs," said co-author Dr. Robert Orth of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. "Elevating public awareness about this impending crisis is critical to averting it."

"This report is a call to the world’s coastal managers that we need to do more to protect seagrass habitat," said co-author Dr. Tim Carruthers of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. "Seagrasses are just one of the many keys to maintaining healthy coastal ecosystems and their biodiversity."

Seagrasses – a unique group of flowering plants that have adapted to exist fully submersed in the sea – profoundly influence the physical, chemical and biological environments of coastal waters. They provide critical habitat for aquatic life, alter water flow and can help mitigate the impact of nutrient and sediment pollution.

Seagrasses, thats my thing! It is troubling that these vital coastal ecosystems are disappearing all over the world. And given the state of fisheries, one would expect that critical habitats like seagrass beds would be protected. Unfortunately that is not the case in many places, and even where they are protected, little resources are allotted for restoration and monitoring. This has to change for seagrasses to recover. Check out Seagrass.li, its a cool site describing the grasses as well as monitoring and restoration efforts of Long Island seagrass beds.

Roxbury ice maker will use sun to make cubes

A New Jersey Ice maker is converting. He is going to harness the sunse energy to create ice...

New Jersey Ice Maker Will Use Sun Power to Make Cubes. By Michael Daigle, Morris County Daily Record, November 28, 2006. "In the very near future, Fred Schuld will be making ice from sunlight. Schuld, owner of The Ice Factory in Landing, has installed 85 solar panels on the roof of his home/business, which will run the ice makers that provided his livelihood for the past 19 years... He is installing a 15,000-kilowatt system that will power his ice-making operation and supply the home's electric power needs... He said the solar system helps the environment and his bottom line. Schuld said his average electric bill is $13,000. The new system will drop his annual electric cost by $8,000 to $9,000, including an annual $4,320 Solar Renewable Energy Certificate, generated by the sale of excess electricity to the power system. He also is qualified for a 30 percent federal tax rebate related to his business, and he received a $72,000 rebate from the state Clean Energy Program to cover a significant portion of the $122,000 installation costs. His final cost for the solar system was $49,330. Schuld said. He will be able to break even on the installation in five years."

Turkey fryer oil for biodiesel?

PLANO - It can't be good for your arteries but it is good for the environment.

In the US South, folks like their Thanksgiving Day turkey deep fried -- and the city of Plano north of Dallas collects the bird fat from residents for use in the biofuels industry. "This is our busiest time, the week after Thanksgiving. We collect about 500 gallons of turkey fat during that time," said Lois Woolf, a Plano City worker, as she hoisted a plastic container of oil left outside someone's home for collection. In 2005, Plano collected 1,200 gallons of cooking oil, the vast majority turkey fryer fat. The bulk of it is picked up during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. The turkey fat is donated to Biodiesel Industries, the first renewable energy-powered plant producing biodiesel fuel in the state of Texas. Biofuels are gaining favor as an alternative "clean" fuel amid growing concerns about carbon emissions linked to climate change, high oil prices and instability in crude producing regions like the Middle East. This is even the case in pockets of Texas, the heart of the massive US oil industry. "The City of Plano has a rolling stock of 700-800 vehicles and 59 of these are using hybrid or alternative fuels," said Melinda Sweney, the Sustainability Communications Coordinator for Plano. Plano collects the oil from residents who call in and ask for pick-ups -- and there is plenty of demand in a region where people like their food fried and crispy. "The first time I heard about fried turkey was years ago in Louisiana and I thought 'who eats fried turkey,' said Plano resident Rita Keys. "But it's good," she added as Marty Huffman, a Plano City worker, poured fat from a deep fryer into plastic containers via a funnel. The scent in the air was distinctly turkey. The favored method is to use a deep fryer outside which is filled with peanut oil and heated with propane. Forty-quart deep fryers typically are used -- "super-sized" like everything else in Texas. This is a sharp contrast from American homes to the north where the big bird is usually stuffed and baked in the oven and the fat is consumed as gravy, not fuel.

Story by Ed Stoddard

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

I especially like that last line - "sharp contrast from American homes to the north where the big bird is usually stuffed and baked in the oven and the fat is consumed as gravy, not fuel." Good one! Anyway, I always liked fried foods, and although they are not good for you, being able to reuse fryer oil for biodiesel can help, and every little bit counts toward a better future.

As globe warms, can states force the EPA to act?

The agency argues that climate change requires a global solution, not federal regulations. The Supreme Court weighs in this week.

By Warren Richey | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

WASHINGTON – Arctic sea ice is melting. Glaciers are in retreat. Sea levels are rising. So what is the Environmental Protection Agency doing about it?

That's what a group of state officials and environmentalists want to know.

Seven years ago, they asked the EPA to get involved - to take an initial step in response to scientific evidence that suggests greenhouse gases are causing global warming.

The agency refused, saying there were too many unresolved questions about the causes and effects of global warming. The state officials took their case to court, charging that the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to take immediate action.

On Wednesday, the dispute arrives at the US Supreme Court, where the justices must decide whether the EPA is required to take action or whether the agency retains the discretion to decide for itself how best to respond to world-wide environmental threats.

The case will test the authority of special interest groups and state governments to sue federal agencies and force them to adopt certain regulatory policies that they favor. The case could also establish important legal precedents that might help or hinder state efforts to regulate greenhouses gases on their own in the absence of federal action.

On a broader level, the case raises questions about the role of the judiciary in resolving litigation over regulatory policy arguments. Should judges defer to controversial decisions made by administrative agencies on whether or when to pass regu-lations? Or should judges aggressively enforce what they see as the underlying purpose of statutes that govern agencies?

At issue in Massachusetts v. US Environmental Protection Agency is whether EPA officials acted properly when they declined to issue national regulations limiting the release of four greenhouse gases from new automobile models. The gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrofluorocarbons.

EPA officials say the agency lacks the power to regulate greenhouse gases. The Clean Air Act authorizes the EPA to take action to reduce and control agents that cause "air pollution." But agency officials have concluded that greenhouse gases are not agents of air pollution. They say the Clean Air Act does not address global climate change.

As a fallback position, EPA officials say that even if they do have authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act they also have discretion under the act to decide when to initiate such measures. The officials have said there was scientific uncertainty about global warming and that they wanted to wait for more research and additional action by Congress before crafting an appropriate response.

Massachusetts along with 11 other states, three cities, a US territory, and numerous environmental groups are urging the Supreme Court to order the EPA to faithfully enforce the law as passed by Congress.

"A straightforward reading of the language of the Clean Air Act shows that carbon dioxide and other air pollutants associated with climate change are 'air pollutants' potentially subject to regulation [under the Clean Air Act]," writes Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General James Milkey, in his brief. "When Congress has spoken as plainly as it has here, an administrative agency is bound to obey that legislative command."

In his brief, US Solicitor General Paul Clement defends the EPA's earlier legal positions. He also argues that Massachusetts lacks the legal standing to bring the lawsuit in the first place. Mr. Clement says Massachusetts officials are unable to draw a direct link between harm to the state and the EPA's decision not to pass the requested regulations.

Massachusetts and other petitioners in the case complain of "profound harms" caused by climate change including the inundation of coastal property, damage to seaside facilities, and additional emergency response costs from more frequent and intense storms. Clement argues that the state's generalized concerns are not enough to demonstrate that such cataclysmic harms are a direct result of the EPA's decision not to regulate.

The specific request was for the EPA to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from new cars. Such emissions make up only a fraction of greenhouse gases released worldwide.

Clement says that 80 percent of all greenhouse gases are from countries other than the US and that, of US emissions, 70 percent are from nontransportation sources. The solicitor general adds that of the remaining 30 percent, the requested regulation would only affect new vehicles models - leaving the vast majority of emissions in the US and throughout the world not covered by the new regulations.

In effect, Clement says, the threat of global warming is an international threat that requires an international solution. Since the EPA acting alone cannot solve the problem, lawyers from Massachusetts don't have legal standing to try to hold the EPA responsible for a problem it can't solve without international cooperation.

Mr. Milkey says the primary concern of Congress in the Clean Air Act was for the agency to determine whether certain pollutants can reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare. Where they pose such a threat, Milkey says, the agency must act to protect the public.

Sharks and seaweed inspire green energy

Researchers in Australia are looking to sea plants and shark tails as inspiration for ways of extracting energy from ocean waves and tides. Dr Tim Finnigan at the University of Sydney has formed a company, BioPower Systems, to commercialise the technologies. The wave energy system is called “bioWave” and has long, vertical blades that sway back and forth. Dr Finnigan says that it, “Is the only wave energy system that captures a wide swath of incident wave energy without using a large rigid structure. It is also the only such device that absorbs energy over the full water depth and continually self-orients with the wave direction”. The blades are attached to an “O-Drive” generator, which uses a single stage reciprocating gear mechanism with a direct-drive synchronous permanent magnet generator and a high-inertia flywheel. In extreme wave conditions, the generator is back driven to ensure that the blades assume a safe position lying flat against the sea bed. Systems are being developed for 500kW, 1000kW and 2000kW capacities. The shark tail machine is called, “bioStream” and mimics the shape and motion characteristics of shark, tuna and mackerel tails, but is a fixed device, designed to be used in a moving stream or tidal flow. In this configuration the propulsion mechanism is reversed and the energy in the passing flow is used to drive the device motion against the resisting torque of the generator. More information from BioPower Systems

The pictures from the website can't be copied to the blog... check out the website...

China boasts plan for world's largest solar plant

BEIJING (Reuters) - China, seeking to ease its dependence on coal to fuel its booming economy, said on Tuesday it will build the world's largest solar power station in the poor but sunny northwestern province of Gansu.
The 100 megawatt (mw) project would cost approximately 6.03 billion yuan ($766 million) and construction would take five years, Xinhua news agency said.
China's economy is racing along at more than 10 percent a year and miners are struggling to meet booming demand for coal, which fuels about 70 percent of the nation's energy consumption.
China has also stepped up investment in energy projects abroad and nuclear power, keen to cut down on pollution which hit the maximum "hazardous" level in the capital on Tuesday.

Planners chose the "oasis town" of Dunhuang for the solar plant.
"Covering a total area of 31,200 square metres, Dunhuang boasts 3,362 hours of sunshine every year and is hailed as a prime area for solar energy development, with its easy access to electricity transmission and communications," Xinhua said.
Xinhua claimed the world's current largest solar power station was a 5mw project in Leipzig, Germany, with 33,500 solar panels.
But a solar plant in Arnstein near Wuerzburg in southern Germany has a 12mw capacity, according to its operator S.A.G. Solarstrom.

Now this is just crazy. Why is China stepping up before the United States? I know one large solar power plant is not the end all but it is at least a start. I don't understand why we don't put solar panels on buildings in southern cities. You don't even need to be in a southern state to use solar power, houses in Maine are set up with solar power and run efficiently. We could at least start to curb our dependence on oil. Solar panels are becoming cheaper and more efficient as technology progresses. We need to step up!

UK's first vegetable oil trawler

The UK's first vegetable oil powered trawler is undergoing trials in the North Sea.

The Jubilee Quest trawler has had its diesel engine converted to run on the more environmentally friendly vegetable oil.

The conversion is not a cheap one but the project had financial backing from the government agency The Sea Fish Industry Authority (Seafish).

The UK's fishing fleet is currently powered by diesel but it is hoped that by using biofuel, far less of the harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) will end up in the atmosphere.

Vegetable oil does emit CO2 if it is used as a fuel, but the plants used to make the oil absorb the gas while growing, so the hope is that far less CO2 is pumped into in the atmosphere.

The environmental benefits of using biofuel on vessels would be vast, as a typical diesel-powered trawler on a 10-day trip emits 37 tonnes of the greenhouse gas.

In contrast, running a family car for a year would result in a comparably small emission of two tonnes of CO2.

The boat runs on a dual fuel system. It starts on diesel, switches over to vegetable oil when the engine has warmed up, then flushes itself out with diesel again before switching off.

The owners of the Jubilee Quest cannot afford to have it out of work during trials, so the trawler is now fishing as normal out of Grimsby in the North Sea.

"The performance as far as we can tell has been the same as a diesel... we've got to be confident because we work up to 300 miles away from home," skipper Graham Hall told BBC Working Lunch.

The engineer behind the Jubilee Quest's conversion says that he has carried it out for environmental and economic reasons, even though the current tax system does not work in his favour.

"It's quite tough to compete on price with fresh oils at the moment, because there's no road fuel duty to pay on marine fuel," Mike Lawton told the programme.

"Where we want to get to is run vessels on tallow oil... the thick oil left at the bottom of your frying pan after you've cooked some sausages," he said.

The waste cooking oils would be a cheaper fuel to get hold of in comparison to other biofuels currently in use.

As for drivers using biofuels, they benefit from a 20-pence-a-litre discount on the fuel duty they have to pay to the Exchequer.

But other European countries such as Germany and Ireland have gone further, experimenting with a complete duty exemption on some biofuels for road use.

Even so, a growing number of cars, buses and trucks in the UK are using the fuel.

Now fishing boats can be added to the list.

Scientists not done with whale carcass yet

Just because I think this is cool and I can't wait to see the results:

By Sandi Doughton

Seattle Times staff reporter

PREV of NEXT CASCADIA RESEARCH A dead fin whale discovered floating near Everett on Nov. 8 will be weighed down and sunk off Friday Harbor later this month.

Confronted with a rotting whale carcass on the beach in 1970, officials in Florence, Ore., hauled in 20 cases of dynamite and lit the fuse.

The resulting rain of blubber chunks smashed a car a quarter-mile away, sent onlookers fleeing for cover and yielded one of the Internet's most side-splitting video clips.

Biologists at the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratories have a better idea for disposing of a 54-foot fin whale that turned up dead in the Port of Everett earlier this month.

They plan to attach 3 tons of metal railroad wheels to the corpse and sink it off the coast of San Juan Island.

But because these are scientists, that's just the beginning of the story.

The real goal is to study the whale's decomposition at a level of detail that would make most people gag.

Using an underwater drone equipped with a video camera, the researchers will document the types of fish, crabs and other creatures that feed on the carcass, and the role it plays as a food bonanza in the marine ecosystem. Divers will also visit the site for an up-close view of the putrefaction.

Information

Video of the exploding Oregon whale: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtVSzU20ZGk

In about two years, when the bones are picked clean, the skeleton will be retrieved for display as part of a marine mammal exhibit at the UW's Burke Museum of Natural History.

"What we're re-creating in a somewhat artificial manner is something that happens occasionally in nature and may turn out to be a very interesting ecological phenomenon," said UW marine ecologist David Duggins.

Not to mention very cool to those who like such things.

"I'm anxious to see it firsthand," said Duggins, who plans to dive to the carcass as soon as possible.

This isn't the first time researchers have tracked whale decomposition.

A University of Hawaii biologist who will collaborate on the project specializes in what he calls "whale falls." When a dead behemoth falls to the sea floor, it can radically alter a world where light doesn't penetrate and food is normally in short supply. In some cases, carcasses can seed living communities that persist for up to 80 years and include worms that feed only on whale bones.

A whale carcass that Duggins and his colleagues sank in 300 feet of water off San Juan Island several years ago attracted a massive aggregation of sea life.

"I saw densities of fish higher than I've ever seen in the San Juans — just huge clouds," Duggins said.

He's been waiting for another candidate carcass ever since.

This time, the experiment will be conducted in water only about 100 feet deep, making it easier for divers to reach it. The scientists hope the shallower depth will also make it possible to collect the bones and bring them to the surface when all the flesh has been stripped away.

"This is really a new method for preparing a skeleton for exhibit," said Jim Kenagy, curator of mammals for the Burke Museum.

Normally, marine-mammal carcasses destined for display are buried in sand to decompose, a process that can take five years or longer. Digging up and transporting tons of bones, including skulls up to 10 feet long, requires backhoes, cranes and trucks. Then comes the painstaking job of scraping away remaining bits of muscle and sinew.

"It's a very costly procedure," Kenagy said.

The male fin whale that could wind up at the Burke had a short life and brutal ending. The juvenile had been entangled in rope that cut into its jaw and kept it from opening its mouth to feed. It was emaciated when it was apparently struck and killed by a ship and dragged into the harbor at Everett. It was partially decomposed by the time it surfaced.

Duggins is waiting for calm weather to sink the carcass.

He and his crew towed the animal from Everett to San Juan Island on Tuesday — almost 36 years to the day after the infamous Oregon whale explosion.

Futurama explains Global Warming - as used in "An Inconvenient Truth"

An easy to understand explanation of Global Warming from the TV series Futurama as used by Al Gore in his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" Check it out on Tuesday when it comes out on DVD

Bush, Cabinet OK Tortugas fishing ban, Crist dissents

Lame-duck governor Jeb Bush of Florida that is. In one of his last actions as governor, he and his cabinet approved a management plan banning 61 square miles of ocean in the Dry Tortugas National Park from fishing in addition to the near-by already 200 square miles closed to fishing in 2001, known as the Tortugas Ecological Reserve. The lone dissenter on the vote, Attorney General Crist, happens to be the governor elect and is "reluctant to restrict a freedom from individual recreational fishermen and fisherwomen," despite marine biologists in the area general consensus that it will actually help fisheries. Of course, whether or not the ban will last the five years before it is lifted or re-voted remains to be seen given the new governors position on the matter. Read the article here.

MPAs (marine protected areas) are a hot topic recently as more and more are popping up across the country and around the world. The basic idea is that by closing a certain size area to all fishing pressure, you can maintain and perhaps even increase marine biodiversity, protect important ecosystems and essential fish habitats, enhance fish stocks and generate dollars in terms of Eco tourism and education. Of course the big argument is whether or not these help the overall community or ecosystem. A lot of complaints are generated toward closed areas as refuges for fish and eliminating the fish from other non closed areas. The whole idea, however, is that these areas are a refuge, and fish can grow bigger and healthier, living longer lives and becoming more fecund, which in turn, generates more eggs and juvenile fish, the spill out will be toward the open areas. And while these MPAs will see increases in fish diversity and abundance first, competition for space and resources is often limiting, and even adult fish will move away from these areas. In general, long term monitoring needs to be conducted before the success of an MPA can be observed, but their impact in quite obvious. I believe these area good idea, they have been shown to work in George's Bank and Australia, and I think given the state of fisheries on the world scale, the more we can do to help the better.

If only the world would follow Zanzibar

There are many ways that pollution can damage reefs. Debris like this plastic bag can quickly become entangled on a coral and smother it. (NOAA)

Powered by CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network
by JONATHAN CLAYTON

ZANZIBAR, Tanzania (11 Nov 2006) -- Zanzibar, the spice island that has become a tropical tourist paradise, has banned plastic bags in an attempt to save its threatened ecology.

Anyone found producing, importing, using or selling plastic bags could face a fine of $2,000 (£1,120) and a jail sentence of up to 12 months, said Ali Juma, the government's director of environmental protection. "We have to put the environment above everything . . . Besides being an eyesore, plastic bags are very damaging to land and marine life and we are already threatened by the rapid pace of development," he said.

Thousands of tourists, most of them European, flock to Zanzibar's palm-fringed beaches and historic Stone Town, the headquarters of the East African slave trade.

Their arrival has brought with it an avalanche of plastic, much of it in the form of thin, blue bags. Experts say that the flimsy plastic bags can provide micro-habitats for malaria-carrying mosquitos, block drains, choke animals and marine life and take up to 1,000 years to decompose.

The ban, introduced by President Karume, who was reelected a year ago in the semi-autonomous archipelago that is part of Tanzania, has been widely welcomed. Tour operator John Glen said: "I think it is wonderful . . . those bags are everywhere and are revolting, they clog up drains and are a dreadful eyesore."

His comments were echoed by residents and environmentalists who have long complained about the impact of the bags on the island's fragile ecosystem.

Juma Hassan, a schoolteacher, said: "We have had environment laws since 1992 but the government was not serious and the environment is being destroyed."

Zanzibar has changed much since it sought to erase all signs of Westernisation in the heady days following its 1964 "Socialist and Islamic" Revolution.

Abeid Karume, father of the present ruler, took power after the island's black Africans rose up against centuries of brutal rule by despotic Sultans and slaughtered 17,000 Arabs.

His son's ban, which applies mainly to transparent PVC bags favoured by roadside traders, has drawn plaudits from all around the world. Officials warned last month that the tropical paradise was in danger of becoming one of the world's most environmentally damaged island chains.

Zanzibar's decision to ban the bags came as a new report warned that old toothbrushes, beach toys and used condoms had formed a vast vortex of plastic rubbish in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Greenpeace International found that, because plastic does not break down, ocean currents and tides had carried it thousands of miles to an area between Hawaii and the US West Coast.

Zanzibar and its neighbouring island Pemba possess long unspoiled sandy white beaches, surrounded by miles of pristine coral reef.

The azure waters are popular with scuba divers who come to see rare marine life, including some of Africa's last turtles.

However, each evening, smoke from hundreds of small fires drifts across the island as locals prepare evening meals.

Most of the island's one million inhabitants have no access to electricity or clean drinking water. Many people use the bags as toilets and then throw them in the sea.

Sweden tops climate change efforts, U.S. near bottom, environmentalists say

The Associated Press

Published: November 13, 2006

NAIROBI, Kenya: Sweden, Britain and Denmark are doing the most to protect against climate change, but their efforts are not nearly enough, according to a report released Monday by environmental groups.

"We don't have any winners, we only have countries that are better compared to others," said Matthias Duwe of the Climate Action Network-Europe, which released the data during the second week of the U.N. climate conference. "We don't have big shining stars."

The United States — the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases — ranked at 53, with only China, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia doing worse. U.S. emissions grew by 16 percent between 1990 and 2004, according to a recent U.N. report.

The index ranks 56 countries that were part of a 1992 climate treaty or that contribute at least 1 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the world. The countries make up 90 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.

The calculations, performed by the environmental group Germanwatch, took into account emissions levels, emissions trends and climate policy.

About one-quarter of the energy consumed in Sweden in 2003 came from renewable sources — more than four times as much as the European Union average of 6 percent, according to EU statistics. In Stockholm, one-quarter of city buses run on ethanol or biogas.

The country with the worst ranking was Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter. Duwe said the country's policies generally block attempts to reduce greenhouse gases.

"If you try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, you will also reduce oil consumption," Duwe said. "So Saudi oil will be in less demand."

Christoph Bals, political director of Germanwatch, said policy had an enormous effect on the rankings. The U.S. could move up 30 spots if its policies were akin to the U.K.'s, he said.

The United States and Australia are the only major industrialized countries to reject the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which calls for mandatory cuts in greenhouse gases.

The policy of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush on climate change focuses on voluntary emissions cuts by industry and long-term development of clean-energy technology. In rejecting the Kyoto Protocol's mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions, Bush said they would hamstring the U.S. economy and complained that poorer countries also should have been covered.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Monday that, "the president has made dealing with climate change a priority for this administration (and) will continue to." He was not asked about the ranking, but other White House officials had no immediate comment.

Scientists blame the past century's 0.6-degree-Celsius (1-degree-Fahrenheit) rise in average global temperatures at least in part on the accumulation of carbon dioxide, methane and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere — byproducts of power plants, automobiles and other fossil fuel-burning sources.

Some climate conference participants said the results of last week's midterm elections in the United States were a good sign for environmental issues. Americans swept Democrats into power in the House of Representatives for the first time in a dozen years and largely dismantled the Republican Senate majority.

"The U.S. elections are clearly good news for strong U.S. action on global warming," said Jeremy Symons, director of National Wildlife Federation's climate change program. He added that new leadership will "break the conspiracy of silence and denial" on environmental issues.

Not that this should come as a surprise to anyone... I mean Washington is in bed with lobyists, and big business makes all the legislation in this country through one way or another... And given the current administrations view that global warming is "fake science" and their ability to keep top NOAA officials quiet, its not that surprising that it has taken this long for the public to even care... Hopefully things will start to change...

Global Climate Refugees?

Above are models from NOAA

Scientists Say Millions Could Flee Rising Seas
November 10, 2006 — By Daniel Wallis, Reuters

NAIROBI — Nations must make plans to help tens of millions of "sea level refugees" if climate change continues to ravage the world's oceans, German researchers said on Thursday.

Waters are rising and warming, increasing the destructive power of storms, they said, and seas are becoming more acidic, threatening to throw entire food chains into chaos.

"In the long run, sea level rises are going to be the most severe impact of global warming on human society," said Professor Stefan Rahmstorf, presenting a report by German scientists at a major United Nations climate change meeting.

Warming could melt ice sheets and raise water levels, and the report said nations should already be considering making a "managed retreat" from the most endangered areas, including low-lying island states, parts of Bangladesh or even the U.S. state of Florida.

A report by international scientists who advise the U.N. has predicted a sea level rise of up to 88 cm between 1990 and 2100.

The situation was worsened, the German team said on Thursday, by the increasing frequency of extreme storms whipped up by warming sea surface temperatures -- meaning many would flee coastal areas hit by hurricanes.

Many of the world's biggest cities, from Tokyo to Buenos Aires, are by the coast. Some rich nations might be able to build ever higher dikes, such as in the Netherlands, but poor nations were destined to be swamped.

The low-lying Pacific island nation of Tuvalu has already agreed a deal for New Zealand to take about half its 10,000 people to work in agriculture if it becomes swamped by rising sea levels.

HURRICANE ENERGY

Rahmstorf said their data did not conclusively prove warmer seas created more storms, but that there was a clear link between rising temperatures and hurricanes' power.

"Since 1980 we've seen a strong rise up to unprecedented levels of hurricane energy now in the Atlantic," he said.

Some 189 nations are meeting in Kenya to explore options for a global deal to combat climate change, with most focusing on cutting the amount of carbon dioxide pumped into the air by industry and modern lifestyles.

The report's authors, the German Advisory Council on Global Change, said about a third of that CO2 was being absorbed by the world's oceans, making them more acidic.

If not checked, it said, that would have profound effects on marine organisms -- hindering everything from tiny shrimps to lobsters from forming their calcite shells -- with disastrous results for ocean food chains, and on human communities depending on sea life to survive.

Coral reefs that attract fish and protect coasts from storms and erosion are also threatened by acidity, and CO2 emissions meant they could all be dead by 2065, Rahmstorf said.

"Acidity is causing a major threat to coral reefs, on top of the bleaching effect that comes with warming," he said.

Reefs get bleached when warm water forces out tiny algae living in them, giving reefs nutrients and their vivid colours. Without algae, corals whiten and eventually die.

Expert: Oceans Turning More Acidic; 'A Major Threat to Marine Organisms'

Photo from earthguide.ucsd.edu

This is not new news of course. The ocean has long been viewed as a carbon sink. For all the years of the indutrial revolution, the CO2 in the atmosphere would need to be so great if there was no carbon sink. However, the oceans are very effective at taking atmospheric carbon and sending it to depth. As productivity increases, there is a large flux of carbon towards the bottom. Simple diffusive properties allow that the higher concentration of carbon in the atmosphere will then transfer to the surface water where the concentration is lower, and be used up by primary producers and be sunk and so on and so on. Increasing CO2 in the water decreases the pH, essentially as the oceans absorb more CO2 they are becoming more acid. This will be detrimental to marine organisms that produce calcium carbonate shells and strucutres, such as reef builders like coral and oysters, other bivalves and even phytoplankton like coccolithophores. This will have a dramatic impact on a global scale in terms of food web dynamics, fisheries, and the ecosystem in general... Here is the article from Underwatertimes:

Nairobi, Kenya (Nov 9, 2006 18:30 EST) The world‘s oceans are becoming more acidic, which poses a threat to sea life and Earth‘s fragile food chain, a climate expert said Thursday.
"The oceans are rapidly changing," said professor Stefan Rahmstorf on the sidelines of a U.N. conference on climate change that has drawn delegates from more than 100 countries to Kenya. "Ocean acidification is a major threat to marine organisms."
In a study titled "The Future Oceans — Warming Up, Rising High, Turning Sour," Rahmstorf and eight other scientists warned that the world is witnessing, on a global scale, problems similar to the acid rain phenomenon of the 1970s and 1980s.

David Santillo, a senior scientist at Greenpeace‘s Research Laboratories in Exeter, Britain, said it had come as a shock to scientists that the oceans are turning acidic because of carbon dioxide emissions.
Rahmstorf also reiterated warnings of rising sea levels caused by global warming, saying that in 70 years, temperature increases will lead more frequent storms with 200 million people threatened by floods.
The 1997 Kyoto accord requires 35 industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. The Kyoto countries meeting in Nairobi are continuing talks on what kind of emissions targets and timetables should follow 2012.

New Congress, New Chairs of the Science Committees, Will this equal change?

Democrats won, and most often, democrats are for the environment... let's see who the new chairs are for science committees and then we will know if changes will be made...

Committee: Science
New chairman: Bart Gordon, Tennesse
He has publicly spoken about the failings of NASA and is very strongly against political meddling in the sciences and research. This is great news, as many top NOAA officials have been told to keep quiet about global warming for long enough, many fisheries scientists have anonomously spoken out about administration pressuring them to report data that supports Bush administration policies, etc. Hopefully this will all come to an end now.

Committee: Energy and Commerce
New chairman: John Dingell, Michigan
This committee covers many issues of scientific interest, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), energy policy and air pollution. This is the committee that said there is no global warming. Unfortunately, Dingell, despite being a democrat, is in bed with the auto industry from his home district of Detroit. He is against enforcing stricter fuel economy standards and usually sides with Republicans in his position on global warming.

Committee: Resources
New chairman: Nick Rahall, West Virginia
This committee is where a lot of environmental battles shape up, as it regulates extracting anything from the Earth that is worth money, including fish, trees, minerals, oil and gas. He is sympathetic to the coal mining industry, but he is favored over his Republican predecessor by many environmental groups. We shall see on this one.

Committee: Government Reform
New chairman: Henry Waxman, California
This committee is meant to keep an eye on the federal government. He wants to investigate the Bush administration record on science. "In 2003, he put out a 33-page report charging the administration with manipulating science. More recently he has alleged that the government has muzzled scientists on climate change, interfered at the FDA over the Plan B emergency contraceptive and deleted a government grant for evolutionary biology from a federal education program. Expect hearings aplenty on the politicization of science." This is perhaps the biggest position, because he can expose the administration and its lies and general anti-science policy.

Committee: Agriculture
New chairman: Collin Peterson, Minnesota
This committee oversees funding for agricultural science. He comes from the cornbelt, and is extremely interested in ethanol as an alternative fuel source. This could be huge in our step to break our dependence on foreign oil.

Committee: Appropriations
New chairman: David Obey, Wisconsin
" This committee may be the most powerful in the House, since it apportions out the money every year. Obey, a senior representative, is keeping mum about his priorities, but education and the environment are among his pet issues." This is huge, because much of scientific research is funded through state and federal grants. Researchers and families depend upon getting funding for research, and numerous budgets have been increasingly cut during the past 6 years.
All information is from nature.com

GOOD LUCK!

Image from Big Marine Fish.

Groups Sue to End Gulf Bluefin Fishing

November 09, 2006 — By Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS — Bluefin tuna fishing should be shut down in the Gulf of Mexico to keep one of the world's largest and most valuable fish from dying out, environmentalists say.

Earthjustice and the Blue Ocean Institute sued the federal government this week, after the government's rejection of a petition by Earthjustice to close 125,000 square miles of the Gulf when bluefin are spawning.

Coincidentally, a study in the current issue of Nature warns that fish populations worldwide are on the brink of collapse. Researchers from Dalhousie University in Canada say long-term trends based on fish landings indicate decades of overfishing have driven most commercial species to unprecedented low numbers. If the trend is not reversed, the researchers claim, most fish stocks will crash by 2048.

The environmental groups' lawsuit was filed in Washington, D.C.

Federal fisheries managers say bluefin already are highly protected in domestic waters, and the species' decline is an international problem, since European nations catch more than 10 times as much bluefin tuna as are caught by North American nations.

Bluefin, which can reach 10 feet long and up to 1,500 pounds, travel thousands of miles every year to reach the spring spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico. Direct fishing for bluefin was banned in U.S. waters in 1999, said Sam Rauch, deputy director of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Yet many of the fish end up getting caught and sold regardless, hooked by longline fishing vessels targeting mahi-mahi, albacore and yellowfin tuna. That "incidental catch" is not illegal. Between 1995 and 2004, the most recent data available, more than 22 million pounds of bluefin tuna worth $150 million were landed in U.S. ports in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.

The lawsuit contends federal conservation laws compel Rauch's agency to stop that trade.

"The population of bluefin has been declining steadily for 20 years," said plaintiffs' attorney Steve Roady. "Unless the fisheries service takes prompt action to halt the killing of these bluefin as they spawn, that population decline will continue and lead to a situation where ... it will never recover."

But David Maginnis, a tuna buyer in Dulac for Jensen Seafood, said fishing vessels in the Gulf catch only the occasional bluefin. The problem, he said, comes when the fish migrate to the other side of the Atlantic.

"The pressure for these fish in the Mediterranean is huge," Maginnis said. "After the hurricane (Katrina) we only have about 23, 24 active boats in Louisiana. We had 150 boats working out of Venice at one time. Are 23, 24 boats hurting the bluefin stock?"

Quotas set by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas allowed the landing of 35,000 metric tons of tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean last year.

That equals more than 77 million pounds -- roughly 70 times total U.S. landings in 2004.

"We think there's massive amounts of overfishing taking place in other nations," Rauch said.

An area of the Gulf known as the DeSoto Canyons already is closed to longline fishing every year, he said. Closing additional areas could simply push fishermen into waters where they might have a negative impact on other species, including endangered sea turtles, Rauch said.

"You would not want to take an action that would preserve tuna but have a devastating impact on sea turtles," he said.

Source: Associated Press

Now we all understand there are issues in the fishery on both sides of the Atlantic, but just because they aren't as heavily regulated over there does not mean that the US should not be regulated here. And especially during spawning season. There wont be any more bluefin to catch if fisherman don't let them spawn, its pretty simple. And of course they will never admit to targetting them, even though their net worth is much greater than any of their "target species." I doubt the enviromental groups will win but its worth a shot... GOOD LUCK!

Green Apartment building!!!

from greengeek.ca
"On-site sewage treatment systems are becoming increasingly common with new development projects, and Victoria’s Dockside Green project is setting the bar high with the goal of treating all of it’s waste on-site, with no sewer connection at all. The system won’t shun the sewage system completely however, as it will require an infusion of municipal sewage to kick start the biological processes that will break down the waste from the 1,200 units in the community.

The actual area planned for the treatment facility is very small at a mere 260 square meters, with the only visible indications being a 12 meter long wall along a pathway. To further disguise the buried system, on top of it is a fish pond connected to a stream. Hiding the treatment system is important to maintain the asthetics of the site for the buyers, but also serves as an excellent indication of how integrated with our communities our waste management systems can be. The facility is being built inside the bank of a hill and three meters below sea level, resulting in many construction challenges.

Despite the treatment system’s small size, the effluent standards are extremely high and will be close to drinking water standards. In order to achieve this high quality of treated water, the designers opted to use treatment technology from Zenon Membrane Solutions. 15% of the treated water will be tinted blue and recycled back into the community’s toilets, the remainder will be used for fountains, irrigation and an artificial stream runningg throughout the community. Residents of Dockside Green will be educated to keep inappropriate substances out of the system such as harsh cleaning products.

Plant construction will start early next year and is expected to be completed in 9 months, followed by another month of testing to ensure the biological treatment process is working properly. The plant will cost approximately $3M to build, and will treat 380 cubic meters of wastewater each day at a cost of $0.01 per gallon.

In addition to clean water, the system will output a block of compressed sludge each day. Initially this will be sent to an organic composting facility in the nearby town of Langford, but eventually it will be burned in an on-site cogeneration setup to produce heat and electricity. "

Tidal power making splash in providing electricity

WATER TURBINES USE WAVES FOR ENERGY
By Jeannette J. Lee
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - In the quest for oil-free power, a handful of small companies are staking claims on the boundless energy of the rising and ebbing sea.

The technology that would draw energy from ocean tides to keep light bulbs and laptops aglow is largely untested, but several newly minted companies are reserving tracts of water from Alaska's Cook Inlet to Manhattan's East River in the belief that such sites could become profitable sources of electricity.

The trickle of interest began two years ago, said Celeste Miller, spokeswoman for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The agency issues permits that give companies exclusive rights to study the tidal sites. Permit holders usually have first dibs on development licenses.

Tidal power proponents liken the technology to little wind turbines on steroids, turning like windmills in the current. Water's greater density means fewer and smaller turbines are needed to produce the same amount of electricity as wind turbines.

After more than two decades of experimenting, the technology has advanced enough to make business sense, said Carolyn Elefant, co-founder of the Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition, a marine energy lobbying group formed in May 2005.

In the last four years, the federal commission has approved nearly a dozen permits to study tidal sites. Applications for about 40 others, all filed in 2006, are under review. No one has applied for a development license, Miller said.

The site that is furthest along in testing lies in New York's East River, between the boroughs of Manhattan and Queens, where Verdant Power plans to install two underwater turbines this month as part of a small pilot project.

Power from the turbines will be routed to a supermarket and parking garage on nearby Roosevelt Island.

Verdant co-founder and President Trey Taylor said the 6-year-old company will spend 18 months studying the effects on fish before putting in another four turbines.

The project will cost more than $10 million, including $2 million on fish monitoring equipment, Taylor said.

``It's important to spend this much initially,'' Taylor said. ``It's like our flight at Kitty Hawk. It puts us on a path to commercialization, and we think eventually costs will fall really fast.''

If all goes well, New York-based Verdant could have up to 300 turbines in the river by 2008, Taylor said. The turbines would produce as much as 10 megawatts of power, or enough electricity for 8,000 homes, he said.

With 12,380 miles of coastline, the United States may seem like a wide-open frontier for the fledgling industry, but experts believe only a few areas will prove profitable. The ideal sites are close to a power grid and have large amounts of fast-moving water with enough room to build on the sea floor while staying clear of boat traffic.

``There are thousands of sites, but only a handful of really, really good ones,'' said Roger Bedard of the Electric Power Research Institute, a non-profit organization in Palo Alto that researches energy and the environment.

``If you're sitting on top of the best scallop fishing in the world, you can't put these things down there,'' said Chris Sauer, president of Ocean Renewable Power in Miami. The 2-year-old company is awaiting approval for federal study permits in Cook Inlet and Resurrection Bay in Alaska, and Cobscook Bay and the St. Croix River in Maine.

Prime tidal energy sites lie beneath San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and in Knik Arm near Anchorage, Bedard said.

Government and the private sector in Europe, Canada and Asia have moved faster than their U.S. counterparts to support tidal energy research. As of June 2006, there were small facilities in Russia, Nova Scotia and China, as well as a 30-year-old plant in France, according to a report by EPRI.

``I expect the first real big tidal plant in North America is going to be built in Nova Scotia,'' said Bedard, who led the study. ``They have the mother of all tidal passages up there.''

The industry is coalescing over worries about dependence on foreign oil, volatile oil prices and global warming. Many states have passed laws requiring a certain percentage of energy from renewable sources, and tidal entrepreneurs believe they will be looking to diversify beyond wind and solar power.

Elefant said the industry is still trying to figure out how much energy it will be able to supply from tides, as well as waves.

``While ocean energy may not power everything in the U.S., it will be functioning in tandem with other renewable resources and supplement other sea-based technologies,'' said Elefant, a lawyer in Washington, D.C. ``The most important thing is for the nation to invest in a diverse energy supply.''

In the United States, wave energy technology is less advanced than tidal and will need more government subsidies, Bedard said, however, the number of good wave sites far exceeds that of tidal. Wave power collection involves cork or serpent-like devices that absorb energy from swells on the ocean's surface, whereas tidal machines sit on the sea floor.

Tidal energy technology has been able to build on lessons learned from wind power development, while wave engineers have had to start virtually from scratch, Bedard said. But a few companies are working aggressively to usher wave power into the energy industry.

Aqua Energy could start building a wave energy plant at Makah Bay in Washington state within two years, said Chief Executive Officer Alla Weinstein. Another wave plant, whose backers include major Norwegian energy company Norsk Hydro ASA, is under construction off the coast of Portugal.

Miller said the commission has received applications for three wave energy permits in Oregon, all filed since July.

With the uptick in interest in tidal and wave energy sites, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is holding a public meeting in Washington on Dec. 6 to discuss marine energy technologies. The meeting can be viewed on the commission's Web site

A link between cloud cover and phytoplankton?

Scientists are reporting that new research suggests that chemical emissions from phytoplankton productivity may be contributing to cloud cover. Thats a pretty big deal. Of course, increaded cloud cover increases the earth's albedo, or reflectivity. More clouds could potentially mean less heat absorbed by the earth, which could help stem global warming to a degree. However, not enough is yet understood about the mechanism by which phytoplankton contribute to cloud cover. Furthermore, it is in the best interests of the ocean to not "encourage" productivity simply to increase cloud cover, because increased phytoplankton productivity leads to an increased carbon flux into the ocean which acidifies the ocean, which could prove more devastating than global warming itself!!!!!
Read the article at UnderwaterTimes.

A sea-change for wind power

, England (CNN) -- Whenever there is a hike in oil prices, the idea of a return to wind-powered shipping catches favor, but sail ship designs have often fallen short on a number of points, not least that they have to rely on unpredictable weather.

However, the future of shipping could feature wind power, but with kites, not sails.

Flying a kite to propel a ship might sound like something from Kevin Costner's cinematic damp swib, "Waterworld", but that is exactly what a number of nautical engineering firms propose.

Sails, no matter how sophisticated their design or use of lightweight modern materials have a fundamental flaw: they take up valuable deck space and storage room that is better used for cargo.

Kites have the advantage of not needing masts, do not need a large area to store them and can be retrofitted to existing ships.

"Kites hold the potential to change the way we move goods across oceans. They are eco-friendly and sufficiently cost effective to herald a return to sail that the Earth's finite petroleum supplies mandate," says Dave Culp, President of California based company KiteShip.

Another company that is throwing itself into towing kite technology is SkySails, based in Hamburg, Germany. The company was founded by Stefan Wrage, who has developed his idea in the face of much scepticism in the past.

Neither company is proposing that engines will be made redundant with the use of a kite, rather that the added propulsion will save a considerable amount in fuel costs.

Earlier this year SkySails trailed a kite on an 800-ton former buoy tender in the Baltic Sea. Using a towing kite of only 80-square-meters the Beufort reached five knots in low winds.

While this doesn't sound very impressive, add to it engine propulsion and Wrage and his team believe that a saving of between ten and 35 percent could be made on fuel costs and in better wind conditions, perhaps even 50 percent.

Read the rest of this CNN article.

NOVEMBER 4TH, A DAY FOR ACTION

Also, send a message to your Representatives and Senators if they haven't signed on to the bill proposed in July to help reduce global warming pollution. We have the power to get things done! Encourage our government to sing onto Kyoto!!!
Go to Climate USA for more details on how you can help!

A clash in the Interior over endangered listings

By Juliet Eilperin

The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — A senior Bush political appointee at the Interior Department has rejected staff scientists' recommendations to protect animals and plants under the Endangered Species Act at least half a dozen times in the past three years, documents show.

In addition, staff complaints that their scientific findings were frequently overruled or disparaged at the behest of landowners or industry have led the agency's inspector general to look into the role of Julie MacDonald — who has been deputy assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks since 2004 — in decisions on protecting endangered species.

The documents show MacDonald has repeatedly refused to go along with staff reports concluding that species such as the white-tailed prairie dog and the Gunnison's sage grouse are at risk of extinction. Career officials and scientists urged the department to identify the species as either threatened or endangered.

Overall, President Bush's appointees have added far fewer species to the protected list than did the administrations of either Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush, according to the advocacy group Center for Biological Diversity. As of now, the administration has listed 56 species under the Endangered Species Act, for a rate of about 10 a year. Under Clinton, officials listed 512 species, or 64 a year, and under President George H.W. Bush the department listed 234, or 59 a year.

The dispute is the latest in a series of controversies in which government officials and outside scientists have accused the Bush administration of overriding or setting aside scientific findings that clashed with its political agenda on such issues as climate change, the Plan B emergency contraceptive or stem-cell research.

Interior spokesman Hugh Vickery said the agency has added fewer plants and animals to the list because it has been mired in lawsuits over existing listings and was more focused on ensuring their recovery than in identifying new ones.

MacDonald said that she does not make the decision on whether to protect a species, because the head of the Fish and Wildlife Service has that responsibility. But MacDonald said she had made her feelings clear in documents; overruled scientists' conclusions in areas where she has authority, such as designating critical habitat; and mocked rank-and-file employees' recommendations.

MacDonald said she sees her job as protecting "the public face of the Fish and Wildlife Service" by carefully scrutinizing listing documents that often seemed vague or unsupported by evidence.

"A lot of times when I first read a document I think, 'This is a joke, this is just not right.' So I'll ask questions," said MacDonald, a civil engineer by training.

Since the act's inception in 1973, the government has identified 1,337 domestic species as threatened or endangered, of which 1,311 remain on the list. At any given time the government is evaluating hundreds of candidate species; officials and scientists review all the available scientific literature on a plant or animal before awarding it protection.

Hundreds of pages of records, obtained by environmental groups through the Freedom of Information Act, chronicle the long-running battle between MacDonald and Fish and Wildlife Service employees over decisions on whether to safeguard plants and animals from oil and gas drilling, power lines and real-estate development — spiced by her mocking comments on their work and their frequently expressed resentment.

Two advocacy groups, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Center for Biological Diversity, provided the documents to The Washington Post. Francesca Grifo, who directs the union's scientific integrity program, said MacDonald's actions are "not business as usual, but a systemic problem of tampering with science that is putting our environment at risk."

In a few instances, federal judges have overturned decisions MacDonald had influenced. After she declared that the endangered Santa Barbara and Sonoma salamanders were no longer "distinct populations" entitled to protection, William Alsup, a judge on the U.S. District Court for Northern California, ruled MacDonald had arbitrarily instructed Fish and Wildlife scientists to downgrade the two species even though an agency scientist concluded "genetics state otherwise."

MacDonald has repeatedly urged employees to consider the position of industry officials more seriously when weighing whether to declare a species threatened or endangered. During a discussion of greater-sage-grouse populations, she wrote, "This paragraph completely ignores the comments received by the Owyhee Cattlemen's Association and the Idaho Cattle Association." The organization opposed the listing on the grounds that it would limit their use of land.

During a separate rulemaking concerning the threatened bull trout's habitat on the Klamath River, Fish and Wildlife officials debated via e-mail how to respond to MacDonald. Her questions, they believed, reflected the concerns of Ronald Yockim, a lawyer representing three Idaho counties opposing a pending decision to protect nearly 300 miles of the river. After MacDonald's intervention, Fish and Wildlife officials opted to protect just 42 miles.