May I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year with blessings
May I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year with blessings
644 Animal Mass Death Events In 76 Countries
***URGENT ALERT***
Summary For 2014 – 644 Animal Mass Death Events In 76 Countries
Masses of dead fish wash ashore along the coast of Chennai, India
A large quantity of dead fish was washed ashore along the coastline from Srinivasapuram up to Ashtalakshmi temple in Besant Nagar on Wednesday.Fisherfolk, dependent on the Adyar estuary for their livelihood, were shocked by this sudden surge of dead fish.
R. Suresh, a fisherman from Nadukkuppam, said release of untreated hazardous wastewater from a couple of hospitals could have caused the death of the aquatic life. “Since yesterday, we have been sensing a stench and then, this morning, saw the huge quantity of dead fish on the shore,” he said.
S. Palayam, president, Oorurkuppam Fishermen Cooperative Society, said he, along with five other fishermen, could earn nearly Rs, 2,000 by spreading their nets at the mouth of the estuary. Similarly, a good quantity of prawn was also caught in the bay, he said, adding that the release of untreated hazardous waste into the Adyar River had led to the death of fish.
“It not only affects the fish, but even the prawn fingerlings get wiped out due to contamination by polluted waste. So far, we have not had such a large-scale death of fish in our area,” he said. Mullet, sardine and milk fish were the three species found in abundance in the area, he added.
Pooja Kumar, of Coastal Resource Centre, Besant Nagar, said they got the call from fishermen around 3 a.m. on Wednesday about the dead fish washed ashore. A drainage pipe on the old Adyar bridge had got damaged in some portions, from which the sewage seems to have leaked into the river. Thus, the water passing through Adyar Creek before reaching the Bay of Bengal could have become contaminated, resulting in the mass death of fish, she explained.
Nearly five lorry loads of dead fish were collected by unidentified persons, who said they would sell them to units manufacturing poultry feed.
Mr. Palayam said that, on several occasions, the fishermen had complained to authorities about the release of untreated raw sewage into Adyar River. But, so far, no action had been taken. The rise of new hotels and residential apartments near the coast along Foreshore Estate exacerbated the issue, he said.
Sources with the fisheries department said eutrophication (presence of excessive nutrients due to increased presence of algae) could have caused the death.
Thousands of dead fish found floating in a creek in Brevard County, Florida, America
Thousands of fish floated up dead this week in Turkey Creek, alongside several other dead animals, fouling the air and flustering residents.
“I’m seeing somewhat of an oil slick on top of the water,” Ken Abruzzini, who lives along the creek, said Tuesday.
Reports to a state fish-kill hotline included dead hardhead catfish, armored catfish and an alligator.
Abruzzini’s seen dead fish before in his eight years living along the creek, never this many at once.
“There were thousands of dead catfish in the water,” he said of his boat ride down the creek earlier this week, “to the point where we couldn’t go any farther because we we’re losing our breaths.”
Abruzzini said he also saw a dead turtle, three dead racoons and a dead armadillo.
Hundreds of vultures swooped in to feast on all the remains.
Biologists with the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute’s lab in Melbourne responded to the scene Tuesday to gather samples of the fish and sheen-covered water.
“It doesn’t look like gasoline, but it does look like some contaminant,” said John Mongioi, who lives along Turkey Creek and has fought for more than a decade to protect the creek.
“There were well over 1,000 dead catfish,” Mongioi said. “The buzzards are eating them as fast as they can eat them.”
After heavy rains in late September, Palm Bay sent 5.7 million gallons of partially treated sewage into a canal that flows to Turkey Creek.
But there have been no reports of recent sewage spills.
“This is not a nice thing to happen when we don’t know what happened and we don’t know what caused it,” Mongioi said.
Courtesy of Florida Today
100,000 dead starfish found washed ashore on Fripp Island, S.Carolina, America
Thousands of starfish were stranded on Fripp Island on Christmas Eve, likely because of the day’s stormy weather, according to a marine veterinarian.
Al Segars of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources said he had not looked into the stranding, but said strong winds could have caused the creatures, also known as sea stars, to wash ashore. Christmas Day beachgoers estimated that roughly 100,000 sea stars were on the beach.
The Sea Islands experienced the same thing last year, Segars said.
“I wouldn’t say it’s anything out of the ordinary,” he said. “These guys are just sitting on the bottom, so if you’ve got a strong wave action, they can’t fight the current.”
George Sedberry, a science coordinator in national Office of Marine Sanctuaries, said he has not studied this stranding but offered other possible explanations for the sea stars’ deaths.
The creatures have poor tolerance for water with low dissolved oxygen, which can wreck a population, Sedberry said. Those events are commonly reported in the Myrtle Beach area, but a dip in oxygen levels is unlikely to occur in the winter or as far south as Fripp, Sedberry said.
Some of the sea stars could also have been unintentionally caught by shrimp trawlers and then discarded, Sedberry said. He noted there may have been increased fishing to meet seafood demand for the holidays, as well as to prepare for the upcoming end of commercial shrimping season.
Segars said it’s possible fishing played a role in the stranding, though he’s seen similar events before when no trawling was occurring.
“I don’t know how you would differentiate between the two (causes),” he added.
A wasting disease has decimated Pacific starfish populations in recent years, but Segars said he is confident a virus is not to blame.
“We haven’t seen any evidence of that” in this area, he said.
42,000 Chickens culled after another avian flu outbreak in Miyazaki, Japan
Chickens at the poultry farm in the Uranomyo area in Miyazaki tested positive for the H5 strain of the bird flu, the prefectural government said Sunday.
The prefectural government has set up 10 sterilisation points around the affected farm.
The latest case marks the second time a highly pathogenic bird flu strain has been confirmed in Japan this year, Japan Times reported.
On Dec 16, the highly pathogenic H5N8 virus was confirmed at a poultry farm in the city of Nobeoka, also in Miyazaki prefecture, where about 4,000 chickens were killed.
A prefectural official said it was uncertain whether the latest case is linked to the Nobeoka one.
On Sunday, the poultry farm in Uranomyo first reported to the Miyazaki government that chicken deaths seemed to be on the rise there. As the prefecture conducted a test on five dead chickens and another five that were alive, all the dead chickens tested positive for bird flu.
The government has prohibited moving chickens within a radius of three km of the outbreak and shipments of another 1.93 million chickens in other areas within 10 km have been banned.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has instructed related ministries to ensure that proper quarantine measures are taken. The central government will soon dispatch an emergency assistance team to the affected area.
100 TONS of fish suddenly die in Lake Maninjau, Indonesia
Padang-Farmers fish cages in the area of Lake Maninjau, Agam, West Sumatra received another bullet at the end of this year. Due to bad weather around 100 tonnes of fish belonging to the farmer died suddenly.
Head of Marine and Fisheries (DKP) Erwanto Agam said heavy rain and strong winds over the last few days in the area, led to the reversal of water to the surface resulting in a lack of oxygen.
“It is causing the fish to die. Because the water flow conditions in Maninjau is very vulnerable to bad weather, “he said on Monday (29/12).
He said the dead fish are located in Bayua and Nagari Nagari Maninjau, District of Tanjung Raya each of 70 tons and 30 tons.
The fish deaths caused losses of farmers reached 2.9 billion, with prices at the farm level Rp29,000 per kilogram.
It is estimated that the potential of fish die due to bad weather will continue until a few days ahead. Because of heavy rainfall and strong winds are still potentially hit Maninjau area until early next year.
Erwanto previously mentioned Agam District Government has issued a circular to farmers to be aware of extreme weather throughout October 2014 until January 2015, by not stocking.
“We’ve asked people not to spread the seeds throughout the period, because the weather is not good that cause fish to die,” he said.
However, himbaun it, said Erwanto not too heard the people who mostly work as a fish farmer.
To avoid greater losses, he asked farmers fish cages in Maninjau early harvesting and reduce seeding until the end of January.
Until recently the number of cages in the area of Lake Maninjau reach 18,000 units with an overall production capacity of 18,000 tons of fish or one ton per unit cage with a size of 5 x 5 meters.
Mass die off of fish in fish farms of Jakarta, Indonesia
Mass death of fish in the reservoir allegedly caused water pollution leading to a reduction of dissolved oxygen (Dissolved Oxygen / DO).
Pollution of the waters of the reservoir is not only due to the existence of floating net cages exceed the carrying capacity of the environment, but because it is a downstream reservoir watershed that has been contaminated by sewage.
Floating net cage fish farmers (KJA) in waters Cirata, West Java, helm obtain weather forecast information hostile conditions the next few weeks. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) predicts the peak of the rainy season occurs early January to February 2015.
Learning from the experience of previous years, entered the peak of the rainy season means it will appear threat of mass death of fish (KMI) in waters Cirata. Signs before the events of the IMA, usually cloudy sky for a few days with the wind.
Therefore, these days most of the farmers did not dare to speculate with the weather conditions. “Because the weather is getting a bit ugly, some farmers to harvest fish early KJA. There are also farmers who plant the seeds reduce fish so great loss, “said fish farmers KJA, Maman, told The Jakarta, last week.
Farmer losses could reach millions of dollars for failing to harvest fish cultivation KJA. Head of the Regional Office Technical Implementation Unit (UPTD) Aquaculture Fisheries Development Center Public Bodies Cirata, Ade Durahman, giving examples of November occurred KMI around 153 tonnes due to the quality of water decreases dramatically.
Of the total of KMI, which absorbed about 85 percent of the market price of six thousand dollars per kilogram. “Dead fish only sold six thousand dollars, whereas fish fresh condition can be sold up to 18 thousand dollars per kilogram,” said Ade, last week.
In fact, said Ade, dead fish could not have prices so the majority of farmers accidentally let it rot in the waters of the reservoir. This fish spoilage and polluting the waters thereby increasing the environmental burden in the reservoir.
“The carcasses of dead fish are left to rot in the waters of the reservoir can cause odor and make the water reservoir becomes rancid and slimy,” said researcher Associate environmental technology Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), Nawa Suwendi, told The Jakarta, recently .
To prevent pollution of the water reservoir once the IMA, originally was published in West Java Governor Decree No. 41 of 2002 on Development and Utilization of Agricultural Land and Reservoir Region. KJA development in Cirata limited to 12 thousand plots. “In fact, now this number reached 53 thousand plots KJA,” said Ade.
Approach is difficult to apply the law, deception Ade, because Cirata wide. This reservoir has a total area of 7,111 hectares (ha) (including land) and a broad pool of approximately 6,200 ha. In addition, the presence of reservoirs in the three districts, namely West Bandung, Purwakarta, and Cianjur it difficult for enforcement.
Reduced DO
When law enforcement does not work, the researchers tried to find the root causes of the IMA to offer a solution. KMI in Cirata allegedly caused water pollution leading to a reduction of dissolved oxygen (Dissolved Oxygen / DO).
Investigate a investigate, water pollution Cirata not only due to the presence of KJA which exceeds the carrying capacity of the environment, more so because Cirata is downstream of the flow of water from the River (Citarum and Cicendo) actually has contaminated domestic and industrial waste in the form of organic materials and inorganic.
“The level of pollution of the waters of the reservoir influenced their activities in the upstream watershed (DAS) that goes into the reservoir and the activity in the reservoir itself,” said Nawa. The effects of increasing pollution of reservoirs in the form of organic load and downs of the carrying capacity of the environment may cause a reduction in DO.
DO condition that usually gets worse when the weather is less friendly. Nawa explain the rainy season like now it will affect the discharge of rivers that flow into the reservoir to be able to cause the flow pattern in the waters of the reservoir. Flow pattern in this reservoir can cause the spread of pollution and sediments in the reservoir teraduknya.
“Teraduknya reservoir bottom sediment (organic matter) can interfere with the process of photosynthesis in aquatic organisms resulting in lower levels of DO,” said with a doctorate from the University of Indonesia.
Decreased levels of DO in the rainy season, said Nawa, compounded when the winds blowing parallel to the coast resulting in flows perpendicular to the coast, causing upwelling. Occurrence will result in the lifting of the upwelling of nutrients that exist in the base to the surface. The high nutrients in the surface can lead to hinder the process of photosynthesis organisms that live in the waters.
“Disruption of the process of photosynthesis means that inhibits the production of oxygen in aquatic organisms,” explained Nawa. The process of photosynthesis is also disturbed when clumps of clouds covering the sun rays to the Earth’s surface.
Nawa continue lasting cloud cover also affect the temperature of the air at the surface. The surface air temperature would then affect the temperature of the water reservoir, causing reduction in DO. “Reduced DO is what causes the IMA,” said Nawa.
Sustainable Production
Based on the research Nawa, KMI in Cirata in a year can occur more than once. In addition to the environmental impact, a negative impact on the economy KMI KJA owners who lost their capital and workers who have lost their livelihoods.
The collectors and fish traders are also affected because they could not sell. In the end, the supply source of protein ordinary people who eat fish also disrupted.
Cirata fish production, said Ade, so far to supply the protein source community in West Java, Central Java, and Jakarta. “Cirata fish production reached 240 tons per day,” he said.
Therefore, Nawa KJA suggested that fish farmers should not lose money in producing fish farming remains the balance between environmental, economic, and social. The balance of these three aspects are the pillars of sustainable development.
That is, when building a fish farming business KJA still consider the carrying capacity of the environment to the economy they are not disturbed because acaman KMI. No less important than that, the supply of protein for fish consumption did not break down.
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