Archive | June 2, 2015
Large die off of fish in a river in Nakhon Nayok Province, Thailand
Farmers in Nakhon Nayok Won relevant agencies to accelerate urgently to the drought. The “fish” lack of oxygen dead salt cages. Over half a million damage As merchants – female head wear. Wait to buy cheap fish to feed sources.
On 21 May, the reporter was informed by Mr. Kittibhum light district chief Salika province of Nakhon Nayok that farmers who raise fish in cages are affected by the drought is very serious. After Nayok river fell sharply. The fish farmed in floating cages strewn dead. So I went to check the house number 106 Moo 8. Salika. Muang. Nayok’s glistening Gen. least 41 years of age among the fish farmers over Tibbets.
Mr. Narong said it has already raised more than 20 fish out all now dead fish cages damage to eight cages of 6-8 billion baht worth of damage for a cause, Mr. Kittibhum identified Nayok River fell sharply. The fish are large, ready to sell the place. Lack of oxygen to turn up. Before dying down, one by one, while young fish do not have much impact, however, was a merchant – trader. Waiting for the fish dead at 50 baht per kg from a normal price for 88 baht per kg and it is expected to have the remaining fish in cages are gradually died. Request the authorities concerned to help resolve the issue, too.
Courtesy of dailynews.co.th
Tens of thousands of fish have died in a canal in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Tens of thousands of fish have died on the upstream part of Ho Chi Minh City’s major canal Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe this week as officials said the first rains of the season pushed sewage into it.
Fish started dying on Monday night and were seen belly up all over the part of the canal as of Tuesday afternoon.
The city’s environment workers have collected several dozen tons of them, most of which are carp and tilapia.
It was the first time fish in the canal die in mass, first time since it was cleaned up several years ago and since the city released fish fry to revive the canal’s biodiversity.
Nguyen Huynh Ngoc Dat, a man living near the canal, said that “dead fish painted the part of the canal white on Tuesday morning and caused a heavy stink.”
Tran Van Son from the city’s agriculture department said the fish died of pollution.
Son said the upstream part of the canal, which runs through Districts 3, Tan Binh and Phu Nhuan, is not connected to any natural waterways but many sewage pipes.
Rains the past days have carried waste stored in the pipes during the dry season into the canal, he said.
The canal is designed with its own waste treatment system, but the waste must have been too much, he said, adding that a lot of fish also died during the start of previous monsoons.
Nhieu Loc – Thi Nghe runs roughly eight kilometers through seven districts in Ho Chi Minh City.
The city spent around a decade and more than US$390 million, including funding from the World Bank, to bring it back from a stinky, dirty canal several years ago.
Courtesy of thanhniennews
Hundreds of thousands of oysters dead due to storm in New South Wales, Australia
Livelihoods have been ruined and some oyster lovers will be going without their favourite delicacy as a result of last month’s super storm in the Hunter region.
Mother Nature’s wrath destroyed an estimated $6million worth of stock and infrastructure across the port and in the Hawkesbury River.
Almost all of the area’s 40 growers suffered significant losses that will take years to replace.
“It’s horrific,” Port Stephens Shellfish Committee member Mark Hunter said.
“Everyone’s been affected, some worse than others.”
In addition to wharves, leases and other infrastructure, hundreds of thousands of juvenile Sydney rock oysters were lost.
“It won’t be so much this Christmas but the one after that when there will be a shortage,” Mr Hunter said.
Making matters worse is the fact that growers have not been able to harvest surviving oysters because salinity levels are too low.
Port Stephens growers were tentatively getting back on their feet after a mystery disease wiped out the area’s $5 million Pacific oyster crop in 2013 and 2014.
The latest blow has left many more growers on the brink or ruin.
“We basically just live on the money we have in the bank,” Mr Hunter said.
Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair said the government would ensure the affected growers received necessary assistance.
“This has been a testing time for the communities and businesses right across the Hunter and the NSW government is doing everything it can to make sure these communities get back on their feet,” he said.
A suite of assistance measures have been developed to help farmers and producers get back on their feet.
The Natural Disaster Relief Scheme assists primary producers and small business operators affected by flood, fire and storm damage.
This includes loans of up to $130,000.
Courtesy of smh.com.au
1.3 MILLION birds to be killed due to avian flu in South Dakota, USA
An eastern South Dakota farm with 1.3 million egg-laying chickens is the first in the chicken-production business in the state to be infected with a deadly flu virus despite efforts to prevent it, state and farm officials said.
Flandreau-based Dakota Layers, which accounts for nearly half of the state’s almost 2.7 million egg-laying chickens, reached out to the state veterinarian after it noticed an unusual number of dead birds in one of its nine barns.
A South Dakota State University lab confirmed the presence of the highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza virus. Officials hadn’t confirmed yet whether it was the H5N2 strain. If so, then the virus will have led to the deaths of more than 33 million chickens and turkeys in the Midwest, primarily at farms in neighboring Minnesota and Iowa.
South Dakota State Veterinarian Dustin Oedekoven said crews would begin euthanizing the chickens after they determined how best to handle the largest outbreak the state has seen thus far.
Dakota Layers’ Chief Executive Officer Scott Ramsdell said in a statement Thursday that Dakota Layers had taken “extensive biosecurity measures” over the last two months to prevent an outbreak in their barns.
“Unfortunately, as many poultry farms are discovering, even our extraordinary measures proved ineffective in preventing the spread of avian influenza into one of our barns,” Ramsdell said.
Dakota Layers produces more than 90,000 dozens of eggs daily and ships about 70 percent of its eggs to California. Agriculture officials have stressed there is no danger to the supply and very low risk to humans.
Oedekoven said it was disappointing to see a large-scale operation lose it birds after taking all the appropriate precautions.
“It’s a big loss, it’s a big hit,” he said.
Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture were on site to evaluate the operation and work with the state in figuring out how to proceed. Bird flu has already been found at eight turkey farms in South Dakota — affecting almost 500,000 birds — but none of this magnitude.
The hens would likely be humanely euthanized with carbon dioxide gas, Oedekoven said, but the state hasn’t yet decided how to dispose of the carcasses. Officials have primarily been burying turkey carcasses in addition to composting them.
“It’s not pleasant work, but we’ve had great cooperation with our industry and we hope they can make it through this,” Oedekoven said. “We’ll proceed as best we can and continue to hope for the end of this plague.”
Courtesy of insurancejournal.com
Hundreds of dead fish appear in a stream in Montemorelos, Mexico
Hundreds of dead fish appear in a stream in Montemorelos, Mexico
Hundreds of dead fish found in a lake in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, USA
One community in Delaware County is dealing with hundreds of dead fish. They’ve been showing up along the shoreline of a neighborhood lake, and it’s raising questions as well as creating a foul odor.
The waters along banks of Ridley Lake in Ridley Park are filled with dead fish of all sizes: sunfish, catfish, carp and trout.
Resident Stephen Dilks says, “I would say at least, in this area, it looks like about 30, 40 [fish]. They’re all up and down the bank and all.”
The park is a popular place for people to come fish and hold family gatherings. Today they couldn’t help but notice the dead fish and foul, fishy odor in the air.
Monday afternoon borough workers were out skimming the surface of the water, trying to clean up the lake of all the dead fish.
Jessica Graae lives nearby. She called Action News when she couldn’t get a good answer from officials as to what was going on.
She tells us, “I am worried about what’s going on in the lake. I am worried about the fish. We have a lot of wildlife here. We have a lot of birds that eat the fish, turtles, frogs.”
Borough Councilman James Glenn met us at the lake. He said the Department of Environmental Protection came out Sunday and took samples. They determined that recent run-off from heavy rains brought an abundance of nutrients to the lake, fueling the growth of algae.
The algae and fish compete for oxygen and the algae is winning.
Glenn explains, “It can be runoff from vegetation that can stir it up. It can be from fertilizer and things like that. In addition to if the streets are hot like they were this weekend, the rain hits that, heats the water, and you’re dumping warm water into the lake, which activates the algae in the lake.”
A fountain installed in the lake as well as bubblers can’t do enough to compete with the algae and the problems caused by the run-off caused by the heavy rain.
Officials say there is nothing in the lake which is toxic. The fish in essence are suffocating, but are otherwise just fine. So they tell us it’s still safe to fish in the lake.
Officials are hoping the worst of this fish kill is behind them.
Courtesy of 6abc.com
1300+ sea birds found dead on beaches in Hualpen, Chile
More than a thousand birds were found dead Monday at the beaches and Ramuntcho Lenga bay of San Vicente, in Hualpén, in the Bio Bio Region.
The phenomenon, which began at dawn, was alerted by the inhabitants of the area to Sernapesca and the Agriculture and Livestock Service (SAG), who attended the scene to take samples.
Thus, it is expected to clarify whether the death of 1,300 birds was caused by disease, pollution, or by the action of fishing by sardine fishing.
The main fear is that the phenomenon resulting from a mutation of avian flu, which could affect humans.
It is expected that the first test results are available within 48 hours.
Courtesy of 24horas.cl
Dozens, maybe HUNDREDS of turtles washing up dead along Flanders bay in New York, USA
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Divan said. “They were all dead.”
Dozens of dead turtles have been washing up on beaches along Flanders Bay— with little explanation as to what is killing them.
The bloated bodies of dozens of diamondback terrapins, a species of turtle that can be found in coastal wetlands along the East Coast, have been found scattered across the shores of several Jamesport and Flanders beaches since late April.
“A woman called who said her daughter had seen a hundred turtles dead on the beach,” said Jim Divan, Riverhead Town Bay Constable. “I was like — a hundred turtles? That sounds crazy.”
But when he arrived at the beach, residents there told him they’d taken “about 100 of them” from the beach over the weekend.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Divan said. “They were all dead.”
“We’ve just been getting more and more calls every single day,” said Karen Testa, executive director of Jamesport-based Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons. Testa has collected the bodies of at least 50 terrapins since April 21, when the first report came in.
“And that’s just the ones that happen to wash up, the ones we happen to find,” Testa said. “People don’t walk the entire shoreline of the island. These turtles could be dying in the middle of the bay, and they just float down to the bottom and no one ever finds them.
“It was a horrendous sight,” she added sadly. “All those animals just washed up on the beach.”
Testa’s all-volunteer organization has been collecting any bodies that have been reported, sending them off to a pathologist at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County to be necropsied. “Their bodies are in perfect condition,” Testa said. “No lacerations, nothing. They’re bloated when we find them, but that could be due to drowning.”
Just today, another report of dead turtles at the Iron Point sandbar in Flanders drew the New York Department of Environmental Conservation to the area.
“I’ve never seen them die in piles like this,” said William Caldwell, the bayman who transported a DEC technician to Iron Point this morning.
Iron Point is a long sandbar that juts out into Flanders Bay, the main body of water where the turtles seem to be dying off. The sandbar is inaccessible by car, so Caldwell ferried DEC wildlife technician Nick Mancuso to the area this morning in a motorboat.
Together, they brought two of about a dozen turtle bodies from the beach to send back to the DEC for necropsies.
“This place isn’t healthy anymore,” Caldwell said. “This used to be a great spot for clams. We could come in here and catch hundreds of bushels of steamers a day, but there hasn’t been a single one around for years. Something’s out of whack somewhere.”
Diamondback terrapins have one of the largest ranges of North American turtles, spanning from Florida to Massachusetts. After they were hunted almost to extinction in the 20th century due to their popularity as a delicacy in turtle stews and soups, they are now recognized as an endangered species in Rhode Island, a threatened species in Massachusetts and a species of concern in six other states — but not including New York.
New York does regulate the harvesting of terrapins, however; in 1990, an open season for hunting terrapins was established between August 1 and April 30.
The DEC is investigating the cause of this massive die-off, but Kevin McAllister, former head of Peconic Baykeeper organization and founder of Defend H20, speculates it might have something to do with a contaminated food source.
“I’d have to say that would have to be the main factor in a die-off this large,” he said.
Last week, the DEC found elevated levels of the marine biotoxin saxitoxin in local shellfish, prompting the state to close Shinnecock Bay, Meetinghouse Creek and Terry Creek to shellfish and gastropod harvesting. High levels of saxitoxin in shellfish, when consumed by humans, can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning, an acute and potentially severe illness.
Shellfish and gastropods are a main food source for diamondback terrapins.
“It’s very likely that by consumption of the shellfish, the turtles are being poisoned and dying off,” McAllister said.
Saxitoxin is produced mainly by harmful algal blooms, commonly known as “red tides” or “brown tides,” according to the DEC. It causes paralytic shellfish poisoning in humans who have consumed shellfish contaminated by the biotoxin.
Algal blooms have become “almost an annual occurrence” in the Flanders Bay area, according to McAllister.
“It might not be occurring at a density to pose a public health risk,” he said, “but lower densities taken up by the shellfish, which take the toxin in through filter-feeding, could potentially threaten the turtles.”
He emphasized the significance of what 50 dead turtles could mean to the diamondback terrapin population. “That’s a lot of animals, when you consider the population size,” he said. “It’s somewhat rare when you’re out in the field to see a group of them together, so the occurrence of seeing groups of them like that — dead— well, that’s very disturbing news.”
Courtesy of riverheadlocal.com
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