Archive | July 9, 2015
Large amount of dead fish wash ashore on Lake Camanche in California, USA
High temperatures and low water apparently led to a substantial fish kill over the weekend on the northern side of Lake Camanche.
“Just driving by yesterday, we looked down and noticed the the whole shoreline was covered with dead fish,” said Nick Rider, who lives nearby.
Vultures and pelicans were still feeding on the carcasses Monday in an arm of the lake fed by Rabbit Creek.
A spokesperson for the East Bay Municipal Utility District, which operates the lake, said the fish kill was not related to any specific reservoir operations.
“We believe the dead fish are a natural consequence of the drought– high temperatures and low dissolved oxygen likely occurring in the Rabbit Creek arm,” Abby Figueroa said in an email to News10.
An examination of public documents suggests a project aimed at harvesting up to 6,000 acre feet of water trapped in the Rabbit Creek arm may be at least partly to blame for the fish kill.
In late 2014, the Amador County Department of Transportation and Public Works installed a four-foot culvert near the base of the dam that serves as the roadbed for Camanche Parkway North. The culvert allows the free flow of water between Rabbit Creek and the main body of Lake Camanche that had been cut off when the original culvert collapsed in 2006.
Without the culvert, the level of the Rabbit Creek arm rose independently of the main lake level– but now the smaller body of water has become a shallow, stagnant pool.
Figueroa said EBMUD was unaware of any problems with the fish until an employee noticed unusual pelican activity on Friday.
Michaela Rider, Nick’s wife, wishes someone could have anticipated the fish kill.
“All they would have to do would be to say ‘calling all fishermen,'” she said. “And the shores would have been packed.”
Courtesy of news10.net
9 Lions and over 500 blue bulls dead from flooding in Gujarat, India
The death toll of endangered Asiatic lions due to flash flood in Amreli and Bhavnagar has gone up to nine as two more carcasses of the big cats were recovered on Sunday. The count of blue bull deaths has also crossed 500, as more dead animals were recovered from Shetrunji dam in Bhavnagar.
Forest rangers spotted carcass of a lion on the banks in Maidhar village, downstream Shetrunji dam in Palitana taluka of Bhavnagar district, at around noon. The Deputy conservator of forest (DCF) of Bhavnagar, Ganga Sharan Singh, said that the lion was around five-year-old and was washed away in the flood after heavy rain in Amreli and Bhavnagar districts on Wednesday.
“Our staff have located majority of lions which live in Bhavnagar. Therefore, we suspect that this lion was washed away from upstream Amreli,” said the DCF. This was fourth lion carcass to be recovered from the banks of Shetrunji in Bhavnagar in the last three days.
Carcass of another lioness was reportedly recovered from Ghoba village in Savarkundla taluka of Amreli. Ghoba village is part of Gir East division.
On the other hand, two teams of NDRF scanned nine islands in Shetrunji dam and recovered 135 carcasses of wild animals. Out of them, 130 were of blue bulls, while the rest were bovines, the Bhavnagar DCF said.
“In all, 157 carcasses of blue bulls were recovered on Sunday, taking the toll to around 400 in Bhavnagar alone. Carcasses of nine spotted deer, six wild boars and one jackal have also been recovered so far,” said Singh, adding the NDRF teams will keep on inspecting islands in the dam on Monday also.
Carcasses of as many as 112 blue bulls, seven spotted deers, seven black bucks and a jungle cats have been recovered from banks of Shetrunji in Amreli district. “But in an encouraging sign, our staff have traced location of 27 Asiatic lions in Liliya taluka and they are safe,” DCF (social forestry) of Amreli, Mangal Gujjar said.
Courtesy of indianexpress.com
Hundreds of dead fish wash ashore in Kahramanmaras, Turkey
Kahramanmaras, factory waste is poured hundreds of fish died in the River Aksu allegedly washed up on the beach. Citizens living in the region, due to environmental wastes of bad odors, and discoloration of the water changed, 3 days fish deaths took place, he said.
If you can get past the neighborhood of Aksu Township Pilgrims Center Rick Desmond Tea most carp in the death of hundreds of fish living in the environment, including the citizens concerned. The Cihan News Agency, according to the citizens the fish deaths caused by factory waste that is being streamed to tea. Measures required for relevant organizations to intervene immediately.
Engaged in farming in the region, John Schiavone (45), “the water’s dirty, because the waste of factories began to die, the fish surfaced in places. I’m afraid that the authorities would ask him to take a precautionary measure here. It used to be that water içiliyordu. But now filthy. An animal is not coming anymore, “he said.
Courtesy of birgun.net
Large die off of fish ‘due to drought’ in Serang Baru, Indonesia
Floating fish FARMERS in Serangbaru suffered heavy losses due to the prolonged dry season. The water of the Lake is where fish farming increasingly shrinking so much fish that kept dying.
Fish farmers Association Chairman Serangbaru, Koyim reveals, many fish are dying because of the lack of water and oxygen. Besides the hot weather undertook to change the cold water temperature is getting hotter. “It’s risky as hell, extreme weather like this fish much the mabok because not strong with climate change,” he explained.
He said a Radar to Bekasi, most fish farming in keramba is a type of fish is catfish, carp, and catfish are also necessary adaptations of the season. Moreover, the weather is fickle now make fish not strong with current weather conditions.
The losses experienced by farmers, especially those who want to harvest a few days more for the supply of Underwear.
He compared the drought last year which was not bad this year. According to him the drought now could not have been predicted by farmers that many farmers who have been sowing the seeds of the fish because it is considered drought is not too long.
“A lot of the fish are dead, but spread because many who thought the dry briefly but in fact quite a long time,” he added.
In the future, farmers did not wish Koyim origin just menbebar seed fish. Previously should be seen first of the climate the weather so that farmers do not suffer heavy losses.
Courtesy of gobekasi.pojoksatu.id
Large amount of dead fish wash up on a beach in Taichung, Taiwan
Evergreen Harbor Beach dead by sun exposure, odors drift. (Reporter Zhang Xuan Zhe photo)
Large number of fish died suddenly yesterday, the dead fish with a hydroplaning to Evergreen Harbor Beach, a bright tail end of a dead fish turned belly lying on the beach on the ground, the sun exposure, drift an odor, causing panic fishermen; EPA yesterday afternoon sent the fish to trace the cause of death and did not find water with heavy metals.
Evergreen Hong Kong Liang Guoming fishermen found dead yesterday morning around Port Beidi beach pine floor, mostly small fish about the size of a thumb, and quickly inform legislators Cai Qichang Service. Secretarial Service Zhou Yu Qi said that the two days Dajia waters south wind blowing, analyzing four good river flows to the sea dead after being rushed to the beach, resulting in dead fish all over, if not promptly clean up the environment will affect beach and hope the EPA can find out as soon as the fish die-off reasons.
Located in Miaoli County, Taichung City, with four good river junction, in recent years, sometimes spread pollution violations, four good people suspected contaminated creek will again. EPA inspectors battalion Wang Zongbang said almost all of the fish die-off of fish, we can not determine whether the four good creek dead fish. After collecting water detection, pH, dissolved oxygen, heavy metal concentrations are normal, but the high temperature; the scene did not find water, fish have been brought back for testing to clarify the cause of death.
Courtesy of news.ltn
Large die off of fish in Mystic River, ‘worst in 60 years’ in Massachusetts, USA
This year was not just a very hard winter for humans and human habitats, but was also very tough on the environmental habitats of our rivers and lakes.
This spring was also much hotter and drier than usual, creating a follow-on tough season for fish. Dead carp have been reported from the Lower Mystic Lake all the way to the Amelia Earhart Dam.
While fish die every year, the observed number of dead carp this year is far greater than any that has been seen in the past 60 years in the Mystic River.
The city of Medford and the Mystic River Watershed Association have been consulting with the fish experts at the State Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. They feel strongly that while this die off is not normal, it is a natural occurrence.
There are several clues, in that the die off is occurring along the entire stretch of the river, and only one type and size of fish is dying. The experts believe it is an “epizootic” occurrence, which means it is an outbreak of a disease affecting many animals of one kind at the same time.
The State Division of Fisheries and Wildlife do not believe this episode is caused by pollution or toxins because any pollution in the river that would cause a sudden, mass die off of carp would also affect the other fish, including the herring.
Similarly we know the water chestnut harvester is not the cause for two reasons: it would not cause such a specific fish kill, and the die off of carp extends into Lower Mystic Lake and the top of the Mystic River where water chestnut work has not been undertaken.
An analogy for this fish kill would be to think about a human population that had been badly stressed by the environment and then exposed to a disease that would not normally cause people to die, but because of their weakened immune system, they succumb when normally only the weakest would succumb.
In this way, our carp have dealt with a very stressful winter and spring and are likely falling prey to an illness that they could have survived under better conditions.
The die-off of the carp is an unfortunate situation and runs counter to another fascinating story developing on the Mystic River.
The Mystic River Watershed Association and volunteer fish counters are counting a remarkable increase in the number of river herring returning to the watershed to spawn.
Courtesy of wickedlocal.com
Hundreds of giant frogs found dead and dying due to pollution in Lake Titicaca, Bolivia
Gulls swept down to feast on hundreds of dead and dying giant frogs floating in the rancid waters along a southeastern shore of Lake Titicaca, where the algae-choked shallows reek of rotten eggs.
The die-off was the most striking sign yet of the deteriorating state of South America’s largest body of fresh water.
Local fishermen have a harder time finding anything to catch, while farmers who work the land along the shores complain that tainted water is stunting crops.
As human and industrial waste from nearby cities increasingly contaminate the famed lake that straddles the border between Bolivian and Peru, the native Aymara people who rely on it for food and income say action must be taken before their livelihoods, like the frogs, die off.
“We used to live off of fishing,” said Juan Quispe, a local villager. “But now we have nothing to sustain us.” The fish have moved farther and farther from shore.
On a recent Saturday, the 78-year-old Quispe joined a cleanup brigade to remove dead dogs, tires and other refuse from the shore of Cohana Bay where the lake meets the Katari River.
Near-shore fishing was good until about 2000, when locals began to notice that the crystal azure waters periodically would turn a murky green, Quispe said.
Most pollution on the Bolivian side, including such toxic heavy metals as lead and arsenic, originates in El Alto, a fast-growing city of 1 million people near La Paz that sits 600 feet (200 meters) above the lake and just 25 miles (40 kilometers) away.
Seventy percent of El Alto’s 130 factories operate illegally and are not monitored for pollution, says Bolivia’s environment ministry. Runoff from mining exacerbates matters.
A study by the binational Lake Titicaca Authority found elevated levels of iron, lead, arsenic and barium in the water, the worst at the mouth of the Katari, which flows from El Alto.
Contamination is most serious in the shallow waters of Cohana Bay, near the popular tourist spot of Copacabana and, on the Peruvian side, Puno Bay and near the Ramis and Coata rivers. The latter flows from the city of Juliaca.
Urban runoff is not solely to blame. More than half the people living along the shores lack plumbing and existing local water-treatment plants are badly overtaxed, the lake authority says.
To date, the only true remediation has been sporadic algae cleanups, authority president Alfredo Mamani said. “It’s like cleaning a pus-oozing wound without attacking the cause.”
Bolivia and Peru created the authority to manage the body of water but have given it few resources to do so, he said. While Mamani declined to disclose the authority’s budget, he said it has 30 employees and no money for equipment or projects.
During a meeting Tuesday in Peru, the presidents of the two countries agreed to strengthen the authority and to form a binational commission that, over the next six months, will come up with a plan to help the lake and finance the effort.
Long before the frog deaths in April, the authority asked Peru and Bolivia for permanent monitoring efforts and laboratories to measure contaminants entering the lake. Even without such resources, the signs of contamination are obvious.
Mamani blames the frog kill on untreated sewage and other waste that distill into a hydrogen-sulfite cocktail that chokes the life out of near-shore aquatic habitats.
“It is time that urgent and coordinated measures be taken,” Mamani said.
While only a small portion of Titicaca’s waters are polluted, the affected areas are along shores where more than a half-million Aymara people live, he said.
Trout farms and nearby agriculture also have suffered.
Quispe said the potatoes he grows near the shoreline have shrunken over time, a change he blames on contamination of the lake waters, which partially cover his fields before each growing season.
Locals fear the tourism industry is next. Each year, some 750,000 tourists visit the 12,470-foot-high (3,800 meter-high) Lake Titicaca for its reed boats, pre-Columbian ruins and majestic views of snowcapped Andean peaks.
Villagers from Puerto Perez, who paddle tourists on the lake on weekends, showered Bolivia’s environment minister, Alejandra Moreira, with complaints at a meeting in a nearby village in May.
She suggested the 46 communities on Titicaca’s shores and islands, which are among the poorest in the two Andean nations, pool funds for expanded sewage systems and treatment plants.
The village secretary, Guillermo Vallejos, called her response worse than inadequate.
“When we have problems, officials come, take pictures and leave,” he said. “Rarely do they return. We must do everything ourselves to save the lake.”
Deputy Environment Minister Ruben Mendez later said that the Bolivian government plans to raise tens of millions of dollars to build waste treatment plants along Titicaca’s shores.
Details about the plan, however, have yet to be provided.
Courtesy of therepublic.com
Major winter storm approaching parts of Australia
A major winter storm will bring widespread showers, snow, hail and blustery winds to the southeast this weekend.
Meteorologists say this strong cold front will sweep over much of Australia potentially causing the largest outbreak of frigid conditions in 15 years.
The front will send the mercury dropping in Adelaide and Melbourne on Saturday, while Sydneysiders will experience the sharp sting of winter on Sunday.
Snow is expected down to 700 metres by Sunday morning in Victoria, meaning the Dandenong Ranges and the central highlands are likely to get falls along with alpine areas.
In NSW, snow will creep up the Great Dividing Range almost to the Queensland border.
Rain is likely in virtually all parts of all three states over the next three days, bringing some relief for drought-affected farmers in northern and western Victoria and inland NSW.
The weather system is also great news for snow bunnies, who have had one of the poorest starts to the ski season in decades.
Courtesy of skynews.com.au
Landslide knocks out gas supply in Akhaldaba village, Georgia
A minor landslide in the village Akhaldaba has damaged the Kaztransgas -Tbilisi gas pipeline, leaving the village inhabitants without this utility.
According to Kaztransgas-Tbilisi, the company will begin to restore the gas supply after cleanup efforts are over.
“The pipeline was first damaged during the 13-14 June disaster. Then the Kaztransgas –Tbilisi Co. repaired the pipeline in a few days; this time the company will begin repair efforts after relevant services complete cleanup work,”- Kaztransgas –Tbilisi co. informs
According to the Emergency Service Agency, nobody was injured by the landslide.
Courtesy of interpressnews.ge
Plane crashes and bursts into flames in Osoyoos, Canada
Osoyoos plane crash (Richard Vollo, Twitter)
A single-engine plane has crashed on Highway 97 north of Osoyoos.
Bill Yearwood with the Transportation Safety Board says the pilot escaped before flames engulfed the aircraft.
No word on a condition at this point.
Yearwood says investigators don’t know why the plane crashed, although Osoyoos RCMP say it hit a semi-trailer.
The TSB is assessing the incident to determine what level of investigation will be necessary.
Courtesy of news1130
Please Donate To Support My Work
Earth Extremities 
Comments