Archive | July 19, 2015
MAGNITUDE 4.2 POLAND
http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=451372
Subject To Change
Depth: 2 km
Distances: 199 km NE of Prague, Czech Republic / pop: 1,165,581 / local time: 21:18:05.3 2015-07-19
59 km SE of Zielona Góra, Poland / pop: 118,433 / local time: 21:18:05.3 2015-07-19
4 km N of Polkowice, Poland / pop: 21,565 / local time: 21:18:05.3 2015-07-19
9 km E of Radwanice, Poland / pop: 2,100 / local time: 21:18:05.3 2015-07-19
1.4 MILLION+ chickens have been killed this year due to avian flu across Nigeria
More than 1.4 million birds were destroyed across Nigeria to stamp out bird influenza that hit poultry farms early this year, according to Mohammed Ahmed, the Executive Director, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom.
Mr. Ahmed told the News Agency of Nigeria in Vom on Sunday that 18 states were affected by the flu whose last case was reported on May 28.
He said 800 suspicions were diagnosed in the institute’s laboratory out of which 500 tested positive to the disease.
The NVRI boss said that compensations for the destroyed birds were already being paid by the Federal Government.
“Payment of compensation for the destroyed birds is already in progress; it started and stopped at a point, but it has resumed,” he said.
He observed that the compensation was being handled by the Federal Government and appealed to the states to help by initiating steps to assist farmers.
“Since it is the economies of the affected states that are being largely affected, the states should augment the compensation as they did during the first outbreak years ago.
“The states should specifically help in the design of poultry farms to encourage bio-security of the farms,’’ he explained.
Mr. Ahmed particularly warned against cluster farms, and blamed that trend for the large number of birds that had to be destroyed.
The NVRI boss singled out Plateau and Kano as states with the largest concentration of cluster farms, and explained that the flu usually spread faster and engulf more birds in cluster farms.
He expressed satisfaction that the flu was contained in few months compared to the first outbreak that lasted from 2006-2008, but observed that more birds were destroyed this time.
“More birds had to go because the production of poultry has changed with the cluster farms. In Rantya, a village in Jos South Local Government, for instance, the cluster farms are so close and heavily concentrated in one vicinity,” he said.
Mr. Ahmed said that the disease had subsided but “certainly not over yet’’.
“We are not taking anything for granted and have therefore gone into active surveillance.
“We have already trained people to take samples; their task is to buy and test chickens randomly from farms and live birds markets all over the nation.
“We are virtually out of the passive, so we must go to look for possible cases. There are states and federal offices and officers to handle surveillance even in the remotest of the rural settlements.
“Such surveillance is usually the most expensive part of disease control, but Nigeria is being supported by some interventions from the World Bank, FAO, USAID and other development partners.’’
Mr. Ahmed said that the Federal Government was also carrying out forensic investigation to ascertain how the disease came in.
“We are forced to do that because what was diagnosed in NVRI laboratories is not related with previous cases, it is a new introduction all together,’’ explained.
He said that there were many speculations with humans suspected to be possible carriers, while poultry importations could also be a source of disease dissemination.
The official, however, expressed happiness that no human case had been found, saying that people tested, including farm workers, proved negative.
The NVRI boss disclosed that another poultry disease, known as Newcastle disease, was being zeroed in for eradication by the international community through vaccinations like Thermostable and MDV12 that is usually targeted at poultry farmers in the hinterlands.
Courtesy of premiumtimesng
Thousands of dead fish found floating in the waters of Kwun Tong, China
Photo: Felix Wong
Thousands of dead fish were floating off the Kwun Tong Typhoon Shelter yesterday, stinking to high heaven and startling passers-by and nearby residents.
The unsightly scene recalls the thousands of dead fish drifting in waters between Peng Chau and Discovery Bay in April.
In the current case, the Marine Department said it received a report at about 7am and sent three vessels to the area.
“About 2,000kg of dead fish have been taken away so far. The cleaning work is still ongoing,” a department spokesman said in the afternoon.
He said no oil spillage could be detected, but did not explain the cause of the phenomenon.
The morbid scene was near the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, which opened two years ago.
One passer-by said: “They stink really bad. There is also a lot of rubbish floating in the water.” Others covered their noses as they hastened past the shelter.
Professor Chan King-ming, director of Chinese University’s environmental science programme, believed the mass deaths could be the result of an algal bloom. He said the increasingly warm weather favoured the growth of algae. “During the day, algae make use of sunlight for photosynthesis. But at night, they take in oxygen from the water,” he said.
The fish could have died of oxygen starvation, Chan said.
Another possible reason, he said, was that mud from construction projects nearby had entered the waters through the Kai Tak nullah.
The mud would also take away marine oxygen while facilitating the growth of bacteria, he said.
Ichthyological Society chairman Chong Dee-hwa, who visited the pier, had another postulation. He told Cable TV that last week’s Typhoon Linfa might have loosened toxins accumulated at the bottom of the nullah, poisoning the fish.
Green Sense chief executive Roy Tam Hoi-pong, meanwhile, believed the fish deaths had to do with global warming.
“From my observations, we had one of the hottest Junes in the history of Hong Kong,” Tam said.
“Global warming is becoming increasingly serious. Hongkongers are not aware of that because many are worried only about the stock market these days.”
He said mass deaths of fish had been occurring in many parts of the world.
Last month, Australian authorities launched an investigation to determine the cause of the thousands of fish deaths in Tasmania, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Courtesy of scmp.com
170,000 birds to be killed due to avian flu in Lancashire, England, UK
A suspected case of bird flu at a poultry farm in Lancaster has been detected by food safety authorities.
Tests done by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) indicate an outbreak of avian influenza.
170,000 birds on the farm in Goosnargh, Preston are due to be culled and animal movements within a 6-mile “control zone” have been restricted.
The decision to cull the birds was “based on the clinical symptoms and emerging laboratory findings,” according to Defra.
The risk to public health is very low, Defra have said and there is “no food safety risk” for consumers according to the Food Standards Agency.
Farmers in the region have been advised to be vigilant for any signs and the disease and the annual Goosnargh and Longridge agricultural show has been affected.
A spokesperson for Defra said: “We have a strong track record of controlling and eliminating previous outbreaks of avian flu in the UK.”
Outbreaks of bird flu in Yorkshire in 2014 and in Hampshire in February were both quickly contained.
No humans have been affected by bird flu in the UK, according to the NHS.
Courtesy of independent.co.uk
Thousands of dead fish found in a river in Tucuman, Argentina
The environmental disaster caused by 12 years of neglect, devastation and appropriation of natural resources during Alperovich can be synthesized in the images that sent in the last hours a reader through the context WhatsApp.
The river left appears overwhelmed by thousands of dead fish, which waters are dragged down by the current from areas close to sugar mills of Tucumán, heading to the front dyke of Termas de Río Hondo, Santiago del Estero.
Photos were taken near the Britos, Leales Department.
Vinasse, waste that is generated during the production of ethanol with sugar cane molasses, represents the main problem of contamination of the Salí freshwater basin, which also forms part of the province of Santiago del Estero.
Courtesy of contextotucuman.com
Thousands of fish die due to algae bloom in a lake in Iowa, USA
Photo By: CHRIS ZOELLER, The Globe Gazette
Thousands of Crystal Lake fish were killed earlier this week due to decaying algae and reduced oxygen levels, leaving anglers and fisheries biologists uncertain regarding the immediate future for one of North Iowa’s premier fisheries.
Much of the shoreline was littered Friday with bleached carcasses, while the light breeze carried the pungent odor of decay.
“She’s pretty sad,” said Forest City angler John Gullickson. “The lake took a big hit.”
The kill was a natural event caused by an alignment of environmental conditions, according to DNR Regional Fisheries Biologist Scott Grummer.
Iowa’s shallow lakes are subject to periodic algae blooms fueled by their innate fertility along with nutrients from agricultural and urban runoff.
Several days of warm temperatures and light winds prior to July 4 contributed to an unusually heavy blue-green algae bloom.
“It just shows how nutrient-rich Iowa waters are,” Grummer said.
The algae died rapidly earlier this week, probably due to abnormally cool temperatures and overcast days.
Decomposition of plant material removed oxygen from the water, while the weather also decreased the metabolic activity of oxygen-producing plants. Oxygen levels dropped quickly as a result.
“If that algae would have died off over a week or two period, we likely wouldn’t have had an oxygen issue,” Grummer said.
Oxygen levels became inadequate to meet the biologic demands of the system, causing the die-off of fish and other aquatic creatures.
Decomposition of the plant material and dead fish should progress rapidly, reducing the oxygen demand. Higher winds to aerate the water and warm, sunny days to stimulate oxygen-producing plants would help.
“I would expect things to gradually improve,” Grummer said.
There is nothing DNR can do to accelerate the process, Grummer explained.
Collection and disposal of the fish and plant material would be prohibitively expensive and would potentially create ecological issues elsewhere.
“Environmentally, it’s probably best to let the fish decompose in the basin that created them,” Grummer said.
Crystal Lake is equipped with a winter aerator designed to maintain an ice-free zone, allowing ambient air to oxygenate the surrounding water. This creates a “refuge” to which fish can migrate as winter oxygen levels gradually drop.
Activating this system would have minimal impact during open-water conditions, Grummer noted, and fish would not likely be able to migrate to areas of higher oxygen concentration in response to a rapid decrease such as this one.
That’s frustrating news for the many anglers who have been enjoying outstanding success on Crystal Lake in recent years.
“I’ve had 40-fish days, and that’s keepers. Some were up to 4 pounds,” said Gullickson, who normally targets largemouth bass. “(Friday) I caught three fish, and they were the color of toilet paper.”
“I come up here quite a bit,” said Paul Friesth of Badger. “I’ve had no trouble getting a limit of nice crappies.”
Although it’s too early to determine the extent of the kill, DNR officials noted dead fish of a variety of sizes and species.
No changes to fishing regulations are planned. Grummer said fish remain safe to eat, although he noted algae blooms sometimes give fish an undesirable taste.
The kill is expected to have no lasting environmental impact, according to Grummer.
“The setback is the loss of the current fish,” Grummer said. “A new population will develop and grow well.”
DNR plans to conduct netting and electrofishing surveys this fall to assess the fishery. Some restocking, if indicated, could begin soon thereafter.
“Management decisions are going to be based on what we have left and how we move forward from that point,” Grummer said.
“As a fisheries agency, we’re just as disappointed as anybody,” he added. “We’re going to do everything we can to get it back on track as quickly as possible.”
Courtesy of globegazette.com
4 TONS of fish die in a lake ‘due to pollution’ in Tukums, Latvia
Law enforcement authorities have started a criminal probe into the mass death of fish in a lake in the central Latvian municipality of Tukums, local media reported Friday.
The investigation was started after four tons of dead fish were removed from Lake Dzirnavu, which has been polluted by sewage, said Julija Nikitina, a representative of the Latvian State Environmental Service.
It is feared that the pollution might have killed even more fish as those that have been exposed to sewage and are suffocating will come to the surface later. The dead fish stocks removed from the water so far include breams, tenches, pikes, sanders and bleaks.
No deaths of fish have been detected in the nearby lakes examined by the environmental service’s inspectors.
Authorities presume that the pollution in Lake Dzirnavu has been caused by sewage that leaked into the lake from a damaged water treatment facility in Tukums.
The local authority of Tukums called a meeting for this evening at which it will decide on declaring a state of emergency over the pollution.
An ozonator, a device used to add ozone to water through an aerator, is being installed in the lake to save the remaining fish.
Courtesy of globalpost.com
Hundreds of dead fish found floating in a canal in Brussels, Belgium
Hundreds of fish have been found, dead in the Brussels canal. Samples have been made, to understand what has happened. And it is obviously last week heat and drought, which have been fatal. Story by Alix Battard and Xavier Gerard.
On the surface of the canal between lock Molenbeek and Anderlecht, Brussels, approximately on a kilometre long, have appeared hundreds of corpses of fish, causing a strong odour in the vicinity. Memory of Captain, Luc Delprat, the person responsible for the operation of the port of Brussels had never seen it. “We see from time to time dead fish but not like that”, he said. Since yesterday, a cleaner boat is responsible for picking up all these animals.
The IBGE (Brussels Institute for management of the environment) has plunged a probe at the bottom of the water in order to understand what had happened. The verdict was immediate: the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water became too low. Fish need a rate of 5% to breathe normally, but the meter from the IBGE displays near figures of 0%.
Two factors explain this fall in oxygen levels in the water: the heat wave a hand and other drought that causes a lack of water.
All the affected fish are roaches. The survivors have more than to expect heavy rain which will oxygenate the waters of the Brussels canal.
Courtesy of rtl.be
600+ trout found dead in a river in Aveze, France
A small group of volunteers traveled the streams on 400 m to pick up the dead in the town of Avèze fish. This approach was organized in a health concern but also to preserve the image of the territory on the eve of the arrival of tourists.
Patrick Courant, president of the fishing company, the balance sheet is heavy. “More than six hundred trout, hundreds of other fish and crayfish of all sizes are dead. Some trout measured more than 30 cm. And not to mention the destruction of countless fry of the year. The anger of fishermen is legitimate. They seek compensation.” This pollution is of accidental origin. The product in question comes from a sawmill of Molières-Cavaillac.
The Arre was considered once including the most nourishing of the grace Department River to its limestone environment. In recent years, she became ensure fishermen. The population of trout in the Cévennes rivers is Mediterranean strain pure, perfectly adapted to its environment. One of the objectives of the society of the Arre fishing is to “improve his genetic knowledge of the local aquatic environment very rich and varied to adapt its practices”.
Courtesy of midilibre.fr
Thousands of eels die in a river, ‘a mystery’ in Termunten, Netherlands
Volunteers of the landscape of Groningen had the nasty task pockets full of dead eel on to have to clean up. Photo: The Landscape Of Groningen
The lurid find of thousands of dead eels near Termunten is a great puzzle. The fish died massively unexpected crawled out of the water and around the Breebaartpolder at the Groningen.
The countless animal carcasses were this week found to on the way past the Dollard dijk, left the landscape of Groningen worried administrator know. Possible had the animals ‘ stuffy ‘ by oxygen deprivation yet and they tried to get away.
It seems that there are no other fish species have gone dead. In the region despite the heat period the fishing mortality was not remarkably high, so it seemed at least until Wednesday. Went here and fish death in garden ponds, but not much in nature reserves. Also may have heavy rainfall there what to do with it.
Blue-green algae
Employees of the water board Hunze and AA’s and the volunteers of the Groninger landscape now, however, the nasty task had pockets full of dead eels on to have to clean up. The water Board has at the same time water samples taken for further research into the mystery.
The Groningen polder has a limited tide of thirty centimeters, since there is an opening through a diver in the dike was made to make that possible. Glass eel in the water is turned off.
Dry out
The famous eel fisherman Gaele Palmer from salt camp has the last period just barely dead eel seen in its fishing waters, elsewhere in the province of Groningen at the Lauwersmeer area. ,, I have this period yet just two hundred kilograms of eels caught. ”
Of such a huge mortality as now even has an experienced fisherman, as Palmer never heard before. He is also curious about what is going on. ,, For blue-green algae, they are not very sensitive. It seems that the eels ‘ stuffy ‘ have had it there by the warm time. But once on the side they can still dry out if their protective mucus dries up by the cold wind ‘ ‘, he suggests.
The water Board went there Thursday after a preliminary examination that the animals indeed ‘ stuffy ‘ were looking for oxygen rich water. Their swimming water turned out to be hit by algae growth deteriorated. The heat was on shore, however, fatal, before they could swim safely back in better water. Cool weather there will probably ensure that the striking eel drama does not repeat.
Courtesy of telegraaf.nl
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