Nearly 50 pilot whales have re-stranded on Farewell Spit, frustrating efforts by experts and hundreds of volunteers to steer them back out to sea.
The Department of Conservation says 48 whales were stranded at Triangle Flat, near the base of the spit, about 6:30pm today, after spending a few hours out in Golden Bay.
They will be cared for until dark by around 40 volunteers and it is expect the whales will refloat on the incoming tide.
DOC rangers will look for the whales at daybreak tomorrow.
“It is unsafe to attempt to refloat whales in darkness,” DOC spokeswoman Trish Grant said.
DOC rangers, Project Jonah volunteers and others have been trying over the weekend to refloat the dozens of whales.
The pod of about 50 had spent a few hours in Golden Bay this afternoon, before they re-stranded.
That was despite eight whales, which had stayed close to the shore, being put down to prevent them causing the bulk of the pod to re-strand.
Today, 40 whales were refloated, 30 swam further out to sea but 10 whales hung back swimming parallel to the coastline. They then re-stranded. The other whales at sea then headed back to shore, also re-stranding on Farewell Spit.
About 100 volunteers have assisted in caring for the whales and refloating them, many of them trained Project Jonah volunteers.
A total of 71 whales were found on the beach this morning, including eight dead, spread over 1.6km.
This morning, 53 whales stranded, including 13 which died.
The whales are believed to be part of the same pod seen off Taupata Point, south of Farewell Spit, on Tuesday. Later that day, 13 whales stranded on the spit – none of which survived.
Pilot whales regularly become stranded on Farewell Spit. On January 6, 39 whales stranded there and died or were put down.
Health authorities opened an investigation Saturday to determine what killed about 1,000 ducks in a southern county recently hit by an outbreak of avian influenza (AI).
The Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency found the flock of migratory birds dead in a reservoir in North Jeolla Province a day earlier and began an investigation to confirm a possible link to AI, according to the provincial government.
The investigation comes after bird flu was confirmed in thousands of ducks at a duck farm in Gochang, a nearby village in the same province.
It was the first case of AI since May 2011 in South Korea. More than 3 million poultry were slaughtered at the time in connection with the virus.
If AI is confirmed, it would be the first case of the virus in migratory birds in South Korea, authorities said, adding that such a result would have major ramifications.
Another flock of farm ducks is likely to have been infected with a highly virulent strain of the bird flu in the same region, the agriculture ministry also said, adding that it is investigating for a possible link to the other cases.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs ordered a cull of some 6,500 farm ducks in North Jeolla Province’s Buan village as part of preventive measures, a ministry official said.
“An investigation is under way to find a possible connection among the infection cases in Gochang and Buan farms and in the wild,” the official said, hinting at the possibility that the AI-infected wild ducks spread the virus while flying over duck farms in the region.
The ministry will set up some 150 disinfection and quarantine posts in the region to prevent further infection, the official said.
Fishermen district of Santa Rosa and other creeks in the region Lambayeque are concerned because, in recent days, many schools of fish have washed up dead on the shore of the beach for reasons not yet explained.
Seamen who start their job very early found several species stranded in recent days, has done tremendously unusual caught their attention.
“It must be the water source, but many people are dying, people come to pick them up from the shore,” said Jose shaman, one of the seamen.
Imparpe authorities so far have not provided an explanation of this new massive varazón marine species, after the death of dolphins, seals, turtles and boobies on the entire beach.
For environmentalists this is very strange, as also recorded in Piura and Chimbote and believe that it can be pollution, what is motivating the death of these species.
It is estimated that more than two tons of fish have been stranded on the beaches of the coast of Lambayeque.
Thousands of fish have turned up dead in Old Lyme and environmental officials believe it was a natural occurrence.
Striped bass lined the banks and the marsh near the Black Hall River Friday, two weeks after the state experienced a deep freeze.
“Thousands,” said neighbor Fred Schavoir. “Birds were all over them. But since I didn’t know what killed them I didn’t want to eat any of them.”
Officials from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said it was the result of a cold shock.
“Striped bass exposed to sudden change in temperature,” explained Dave Simpson, Director of DEEP Fisheries. “What we had a couple of weeks ago during that cold snap in very shallow water, simply they had no place to retreat to.”
Simpson said at the time the tide was astronomically high and as it receded to a very low tide, the freeze hit. He said the fish could not swim out to deeper water and were trapped.
“There have been a lot of birds taking advantage of the situation,” Simpson said. “Lots and lots of seagulls, even bald eagles and raccoons.”
He said the remaining fish not eaten will be left to decay.
Inspection in a multisectoral was 20 kilometers from the beaches of Sechura 26 specimens of dead dolphins that were stranded by the waters of the sea south sector Reventazón found. The bodies of 11 sea lions and 15 turtles were also found.
The delegation led by the Instituto del Mar del Peru located Paita (Imarpe) and the Management of Natural Resources and Environmental Management Regional Government of Piura, the journey began at 10 am, taking advantage of the low tide. On the way, I was surprised to find remains of pelicans above the natural average.
The head of Imarpe Paita, Barriga Edward Rivera, described the event as unusual, the high number of deaths, but denied that these were produced by human activities.
“The species we found are at a high level of decomposition, so it is quite difficult to draw samples for the cause of death. What I have observed is that there are external factors that determine who may have been killed by shots bullet or some kind of entanglement in fishing nets, “said Barriga.
The official said that it is very likely to be an anomalous oceanographic event which is causing this unusual mortality in the marine area.
However, in the case of seals, I would have said yes human intervention, as indicated that two of them were found in a suspicious position.
After the inspection, close to the border with the Lambayeque region, the delegation met with a delegation of workers Imarpe-Santa Rosa (Lambayeque), who also toured the coastline of its jurisdiction. Joining them veterinary specialist took one sample of the bodies, which will be sent to Lima for analysis and to determine the causes of the deaths.
The inspection by the regional government involved the deputy Environment, Mr. Isabel Pizarro, and the deputy of Standards and Oversight, Abog. Fany Torres, both of the Management of Natural Resources. Rounding out the team’s representative to the Provincial Prosecutor in Environmental Matters, Rumiche Silvia, the chief of the Reserved Zone Illescas, Aldo Aguirre, the representative of the Police Environment Protection Sullana, and the representative of the Forestry Department and Wildlife.
Incidents of fishkill were reported in Mati City days after torrential rains were spawned by the low pressure area that has now become Tropical Depression Agaton, leading to flooding and excessive runoff from nearshore areas.
The fish die-off incidents happened off Purok Guang-guang along Pujada Bay, where fish cages are located.
About 20,000 fish reportedly died in the area.
Authorities from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said the fishkill could be related to the weather condition affecting the city since last week.
BFAR 11 Director Fatma Idris said a huge volume of fresh water coming from land to the sea could have affected the salinity and the water temperature of Pujada Bay that killed the fish population, especially the juveniles.
Idris said government technicians have taken samples for analysis to determine the exact cause of the fishkill.
Local authorities, meanwhile, advised the people not to eat the fish as this could be harmful.
Mati City Mayor Carlo Rabat met with BFAR officials to discuss ways of helping the affected fishermen with their livelihood.
A large winter fish kill at Clinton Lake near DeWitt has been attributed to recent fluctuations in water temperatures.
A wide selection of species, including walleye, bass, crappie and channel catfish, was among more than 5,300 fish located Tuesday by a fisheries biologist from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
The fish were found between the Illinois 48 and DeWitt bridges, near the hot water channel for the Clinton Power Station, said IDNR spokesman Tim Schweizer.
“Abrupt changes in water temperatures are not uncommon at a power plant lake” and likely caused the fish kill, said Schweizer.
Lake fishing should not be negatively impacted, said Schweizer.
An alarmingly high number of Olive Ridley turtles seem to have died on the southern and northern parts of the east coast this season.
Supraja Dharini of TREE Foundation, an organisation involved in Olive Ridley conservation, said that nearly 155 turtles have been reported dead on the stretch between Napier Bridge and Marakkanam since the beginning of this season in December.
During the entire nesting season (December to March) last year, the total deaths were not more than 190, she said.
Ms. Dharini said in the northern part of the east coast, in the Nellore area, the number of turtle deaths had already touched 300 since the beginning of the new year. Last year, during the corresponding period, only 96 turtles had died.
The use of wide-mesh net by trawlers is one of the main reasons for the increase in the casualty of sea turtles. Another major reason is the use of banned Ray Fish nets, which also lead to deaths.
Ms. Dharini said many fishing trawlers from Tamil Nadu with wide-mesh nets were fishing in the waters around Nellore. When fishing takes place within five kilometres from a high tide, turtles that come to lay eggs, get entangled, drown and die, she said.
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