Archive | May 8, 2017
Hundreds of leopard sharks dying in San Francisco Bay, USA
Biologists are trying to figure out why hundreds of leopard sharks are dying in the San Francisco Bay this year.
Researchers tell the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/2qcl8Zn) huge numbers of dead sharks have been found since mid-March along the shorelines of Redwood City, Foster City, Alameda, Hayward, Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco.
It is the largest die-off in six years of the striped fish, which is the bay’s most abundant shark.
Pelagic Shark Research Foundation executive director Sean Van Sommeran believes the number of dead and dying sharks in the bay could be in the thousands.
It is the largest leopard shark mortality event since 2011, when more than 1,000 dead sharks were counted inside and outside the Redwood Shores Lagoon and along Richardson Bay, in Marin County.
Experts believe the sharks are picking up toxins in stagnant saltwater.
Courtesy of abcnews.go.com
18,000 cattle dead after flash flooding in Samburu, Kenya
Livestock farmers in Samburu County are counting losses after an estimated 18,000 heads of livestock were swept by flash floods following a heavy downpour in the county.
Livelihoods are now under threat in an area that has suffered the blunt of drought that has left hundreds of livestock dead due to starvation.
Speaking to Citizen Digital on phone, area Member of Parliament, Alois Lentoimanga said that the most affected areas by floods are Nyiro, Ndoto, Elbarta, Nachola, Angata and Baawaa wards where households have also been swept away by the floods.
Lentoimanga is now appealing to the government and the Kenya Red Cross to intervene, describing the situation as dire.
According to Joseph Lekaato, a resident of Bendera village in Samburu North Sub County, this is the worst loss that has never been experienced in the region.
“We have lost millions of shillings after our cattle, camels, goats, sheep and donkeys died of hunger and now rainfall,” Lekaato said.
The affected residents are now calling upon county and national governments to increase relief food distribution in the region.
Lenadongor said relief food and elderly money that is being received in the village is not enough to satisfy the affected community urging well wishers and government to visit the area.
According to the Meteorological Department, the months of May and June will be defined by heavy rainfall over several parts of the country.
High intensity is also expected over highlands west, central highlands, areas around Mt. Kenya and the Coastal region.
Courtesy of citizentv.co.ke
10,000 cattle dead due to ‘rare Spring snow storm’ in Colorado, USA
(Credit: Austin Schroder)
Ranchers are dealing with a big problem from this past weekend’s blizzard in southeastern Colorado. The snowstorm killed thousands of cattle.
“They’ll actually drown in the snow. The snow will get up in their lungs,” said Prowers County rancher Justin Willhite, who lost a third of his cattle.
Seven foot high snow drifts buried cows and toppled acres of wheat crops in Prowers County and Baca County near the Kansas and Oklahoma borders, costing farmers millions of dollars.
There are no confirmed numbers yet, but it’s estimated as many as 10,000 cattle were killed in the rare spring storm.
After the storm dumped 30 inches of snow in some areas, the damage is compared to the blizzard of 2007, which was one of the worst snowstorms in state history.
“All those small communities, they depend on the farmers and ranchers to support their communities, to support jobs in their communities, so the effects could be really dire,” said Colorado Farm Bureau spokesman Chad Vorthmann.
Courtesy of denver.cbslocal.com
Hundreds of migratory birds found dead in Galveston, Texas, USA
(Photo: Josh Henderson, Galveston Police Department)
Hundreds of migratory birds were found dead after an entire flock crashed into the American National Insurance building at One Moody Plaza.
Officer workers found the dead birds when they arrived to work early Thursday morning, according to Josh Henderson of the Galveston Police Department’s Animal Services Unit.
Henderson says they collected 395 deceased birds, mostly warblers and orioles, that were found outside the building.
The Houston Audubon Society says the bird kill was likely caused by a combination of bad weather and bright lights.
They believe Wednesday night’s storms caused the flock to fly lower to the ground and they say bright office lights attract birds which can cause them to crash into buildings.
“We encourage building administrators to turn those lights out,” said Richard Gibbons, conservation director for the Houston Audubon Society. “It is less of an attraction to avoid collisions.”
The deceased birds will be studied to examine the health of the migratory bird population and prevent more deaths, according to Henderson.
Among the hundreds of dead birds, rescuers found three that survived the crash and fell to the ground. They have been taken to the Wildlife Center of Texas for rehabilitation.
Courtesy of khou.com
Hundreds of dead fish wash up in Navesink River in New Jersey, USA
State environmental officials are trying to determine what is causing a large amount of dead fish to wash up in the Navesink River.
The dead fish started appearing late last week, particularly in the waters off Marine Park in Red Bank, a popular spot for pedestrians as well as boaters.
The number of dead fish began multiplying this week, to the point that they were visible from almost every spot along the bulkhead at the park. They also surrounded several boats.
While doing routine algae sampling of the river at the park, staff from the Monmouth County Health Department noted stressed and dying mehanden, said Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Hajna said it could be the case of a predatory fish chasing a school of menhaden up the river where their large presence depleted them of oxygen.
DEP staff were on scene on Tuesday and a pathologist was scheduled to go to the site on Wednesday to collect some fish for analysis, Hajna said.
He said it appears to be relatively isolated situation with fish scattered in the area. Small groups of dead fish were pushed by the wind against bulkheads, he said.
He said it appears to be a result of bluefish and/or other predatory fish having chased the bunker into a confined part of the river with low salinity, where they consumed available dissolved oxygen and died.
The department has been studying the river to determine how to clean up its pollution, which studies have shown includes traces of human feces and animal waste.
The river is bordered by seven populous towns and its water quality has been downgraded several times since 2005.
Past studies have also shown pollution coming from leaking garbage Dumpsters and an overflowing water-oil separator.
Courtesy of nj.com
Hundreds of dead fish found in a lake in Bengaluru, India
The gruesome sight and stench of hundreds of dead fish floating on Doddakallasandra lake on Monday morning shocked residents of a Bengaluru locality — an eerie resemblance to last year’s Ulsoor lake incident.
But residents of Konanakunte, Bengaluru had to wait over 24 hours surrounded by the rotting fish carcasses before authorities finally acted on their complaints and began cleaning the watery graveyard.
Residents say that the lake, divided by a sandbank, has two parts. In one part of the lake, untreated sewage water and construction waste is dumped rampantly. The other part, used for baths and domestic purposes, remains relatively clean.
Heavy rain on Monday resulted in the sandbank’s inundation and in the process, sewage and waste overflowed to the other half, residents said.
Officials of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike said they have deployed pumps to clean the lake.
“It will take at least two weeks for the entire lake to be cleaned including filtering the water of the lake,” Krishna, a BBMP worker told TNM. BBMP workers also used coracles to clear out the foul-smelling fish remains.
Regional media attention of the incident also spurred the area’s corporator, Shoba Gowda, to travel to the site and overlook Doddakallasandra lake’s cleaning process.
“What I think happened was that the water has been polluted by the nearby construction sites. They have dumped their dirty water in our lake. This is why the fishes died. The rain made it worse because the sewage has now mixed with the cleaner water,” Dinesh, a resident, told The News Minute.
Although the lake’s deplorable condition is not new, residents said, they have never witnessed such a horrible scene.
Sayyed, a 70-year-old resident said, “The water was never that clean. It might have been earlier. This lake is used to rear fishes. It was not sparkling clean ever. It was less dirty but not totally clean but the fishes have not died before this time.”
Despite multiple attempts, the corporation could not be reached for a comment.
When the Ulsoor lake incident occurred in March 2016, experts attributed the death of thousands of fish to the depletion of oxygen due to highly poisonous pollutants that settle on the bed of the lake. The lack of oxygen leaves the organisms “gasping for breath,” one expert said.
Ramprasad, convenor of Friends of Lakes, an NGO involved in rejuvenation of lakes in the city said, “There can be two reasons for the oxygen depletion in the lake which resulted in the fish kill. The incident must have occurred between 2am-5am in the morning when the oxygen concentration is lowest.”
He said, “Apart from the sewage and chemical effluents, some supplement used by the fishermen could have also resulted in the oxygen depletion in the water.”
Authorities in Bengaluru have been called apathetic to activists’ protests to protect the city’s lakes.
Even the National Green Tribunal recently asked the state authorities to make all city lakes free of pollutants within a month.
There have been multiple incidents of lakes catching fire or drying up due to pollution or encroachments.
Courtesy of thenewsminute.com
MAGNITUDE 5.2 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS.
http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=590475
Subject to change
Depth: 10 km
Distances: 3736 km NE of Tokyo, Japan / pop: 8,337,000 / local time: 02:08:32.4 2017-05-09
4461 km NE of Pyongyang, Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of / pop: 3,222,000 / local time: 01:38:32.4 2017-05-09
4476 km NE of Seoul, Korea, Republic of / pop: 10,350,000 / local time: 02:08:32.4 2017-05-09
MAGNITUDE 6.4 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS.
http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=590470
Subject to change
Depth: 10 km
Distances: 3740 km NE of Tokyo, Japan / pop: 8,337,000 / local time: 02:00:47.2 2017-05-09
4460 km NE of Pyongyang, Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of / pop: 3,222,000 / local time: 01:30:47.2 2017-05-09
4477 km NE of Seoul, Korea, Republic of / pop: 10,350,000 / local time: 02:00:47.2 2017-05-09
MAGNITUDE 5.9 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS.
http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=590458
Subject to change
Depth: 20 km
Distances: 3832 km NE of Tokyo, Japan / pop: 8,337,000 / local time: 00:47:29.6 2017-05-09
4576 km NE of Pyongyang, Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of / pop: 3,222,000 / local time: 00:17:29.6 2017-05-09
4589 km NE of Seoul, Korea, Republic of / pop: 10,350,000 / local time: 00:47:29.6 2017-05-09
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