Archive | January 13, 2018
Hundreds of dead fish ‘mysteriously’ wash up in the waters of Adelaide, Australia
The water in an Adelaide suburb is off limits as authorities investigate why hundreds of fish have turned up dead.
Residents were shocked to see hundreds of fish, including mullet, trevally, bream, snapper and even crabs, washing up in front of their homes in West Lakes.
One female resident said she spotted “about 50” on a concrete pillar.
Another said the find is “disgusting”.
“We have a lot of people that come down here to do local fishing and they might be poisoning their children if they take the fish home,” she said.
The Charles Sturt Council’s rapid response team was on the scene to take away the dead fish.
The Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia and biosecurity inspectors are testing water samples, but they believe a natural phenomenon is to blame.
PIRSA’s Dr Shane Roberts said “it’s likely algal blooms” and a lack of water flow coupled with warm conditions has dropped the oxygen in the water. He’s advised people not to swim in the area.
“If you’ve seen a fish kill the smart thing to do is don’t go in the water, could be a very slight chance there’s an algae bloom that might cause a rash,” Dr Roberts said.
It’s likely West Lakes will have to be flushed with sea water.
Courtesy of au.news.yahoo.com
40,000+ birds killed due to bird flu in Diyala province, Iraq
Iraq has reported an outbreak of a highly pathogenic bird flu strand, prompting the government to cull thousands of birds in a bid to stop the disease from spreading in the country.
According to the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the virus was discovered at a farm in Diyala province at the end of 2017. The avian influenza strain H5N8 killed 7,250 birds before Iraqi officials culled the remaining 35,750, the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture reported.
The birds showing symptoms of bird flu in the country will simply be killed, not medicated, according to the ministry. They have also indicated they will impose stricter measures to restrict the movement of live poultry in Iraq.
Bird flu virus returned to Iraq in 2016, the first occurrence of the disease in 10 years. At the time, hundreds of thousands of birds were put down as part of protection measures.
Despite the province of Diyala having been liberated from the Islamic State (IS), the area still suffers from instability as reconstruction efforts have yet to gain momentum. Remaining IS militants and lack of infrastructure and basic services impede the full return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to the area.
Baghdad had banned the sale of chickens from the Kurdistan Region in the center and south of Iraq in 2016 after two cases of bird flu in Duhok were discovered.
Bird flu, which has affected some 50-some countries, including neighboring countries like Iran, has forced the Kurdistan Region and Iraq to ban chicken products from certain countries.
Courtesy of kurdistan24.net
Dozens of pigeons fall dead in Valencia, Spain
Illustration Photo
Dozens of pigeons fall dead in Valencia, Spain
Hundreds of dead fish found in a river in Orihuela, Spain
The largest number of dead animals have been located in the area of the azarbe de Los Huertos, in term of this municipality from Alicante
The Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura (CHS) and the Seprona have taken samples of water and animals. An investigation has begun
Hundreds of fish have appeared dead or dying during this Monday evening in the Segura River passing by the municipality of Orihuela. Facts have been specifically detected along with the azarbe of the orchards.The river nursery of the Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura (CHS) and the Seprona have taken samples of water and animals,a species of carp, to open an investigation.
Courtesy of elmundo.es
Scores of Dolphin Deaths Have Scientists Baffled in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Since late last year, four or five dolphin carcasses have beached in Brazil each day. Scientists have confirmed that a virus is to blame, but the mortalities still have conservationists baffled.
The Associated Press reports more than 130 gray dolphins have washed up in the Bay of Sepetiba, a coastal area about 45 miles west of Rio de Janeiro, since late November. Another 40 dolphin carcasses were found on the neighboring island of Ilha Grande. Combined, that’s more than 20 percent of the area’s known dolphin population, which, at an estimated 800, may be the highest concentration of the species in the world.
Local conservation NGOs like the Boto Cinza Institute and SOS Botos have examined the carcasses’ skin, blood, and bones under the suspicion that a bacterium or virus was to blame. The School of Oceanography at the State University of Rio de Janeiro confirmed that cetacean morbillivirus, which can infect dolphins, porpoises, and whales, killed the marine mammals.
But scientists aren’t sure what caused the outbreak, or how long it might last. They are still trying to determine other reasons for the dolphin die-off.
The virus attacks the animals’ immune systems, resulting in skin lesions, pneumonia, and different types of infections. Boto Cinza Institute chief coordinator Leonardo Flach told StoryTrender in early January that if a pathogen-related disease was diagnosed, 70 to 80 percent of the population could die. Cetacean mirbillivirus can spread between animals through inhalation or contact. Often living in pods of up to 200 individuals, dolphins have close relationships, and a contagious illness could be devastating.
“One day we will find dolphin corpses that are male and adults, and the next day, female and [young]. But most of them are skinny and with deep skin lesions,” Flach tells ABC News.
In the northeastern United States, strains of morbillivirus killed harbor seals in 2006 and bottlenose dolphins between 1987 and 1988. The disease caused more dolphin die-offs in the Gulf of Mexico in 1992 and 1994. There have been no documented cased of morbillivirus in people, or in the fish or shellfish we might eat.
Gray dolphins are listed as data deficient, but Flach says the species should be considered endangered. In the past, the mortality rate of the area’s gray dolphins was about five each month, attributed to overfishing and chemical pollution. In 2016, 69 of the marine mammals were reported dead and in 2010, 32 dolphins were found dead.
Flach says areas surrounding Rio de Janeiro are very polluted and illegal dolphin hunting is rampant. The Bay of Sepetiba is bordered by condominiums, shipyards, and ports, but it’s unclear how the development could be affecting the marine mammals.
“They are an endangered species,” Flach says, “but with now this unknown disease, we hope to be able to put more pressure on the officials to help us to save the dolphins.”
Courtesy of news.nationalgeographic.com
8 dead dolphins and whales found washed up along the coast of Ireland
Photo: Jochen Duerr/IWDG
For the past six years, the first few weeks of the year have seen an increase in the number of dolphins being washed up on the Irish coastline.
The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group is making a determined effort this year to try to establish the cause and has begun the first post-mortem examinations of dead dolphins by a veterinary laboratory.
In this week’s podcast, the Chief Scientific Officer of the IWDG tells me what is being done and says that fisheries by-catch is particularly being looked at.
If there is another increase this year in the number of stranded dolphins, the IWDG is hoping the post-mortem scheme will provide a definite insight towards the cause of dolphin deaths.
Irish Whale and Dolphin Group reports eight strandings since Jan 1 ….There were two on New Year’s Day, a common dolphin in Tralee Bay and a white-beaked dolphin at Ballyconneely in Co,Galway. There have been strandings since in Counties Wexford, Clare, Mayo, Waterford and two more in Kerry.
Courtesy of afloat.ie
16,500 ducks killed, 53,000 more to be killed due to bird flu in Naju, South Korea
A new case of bird flu has been discovered at a duck farm in South Korea’s southwestern region, the agriculture ministry said Monday, in the latest outbreak in the duck farming region, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said H5 avian influenza (AI) was detected at a farm in Naju, 355 kilometers south of Seoul, and culled all of the farm’s 16,500 ducks.
Quarantine officials plan to slaughter an additional 53,500 ducks at five other farms located within three kilometers from the affected region as part of preventive measures, the ministry said.
If the case is confirmed as a highly pathogenic strain of the virus, it will be the second AI case in Naju since one confirmed on Dec 29, the ministry noted.
Since the first outbreak of highly pathogenic AI on Nov 19, South Korea has confirmed 11 bird flu cases and culled 1.46 million ducks and chickens. Except one confirmed case in Gyeonggi Province last week, all other outbreaks have been isolated to Jeolla Province, a major duck farming region.
Courtesy of nst.com.my
Hundreds of dead fish found in a lagoon in Maimon, Dominican Republic
A thorough investigation was launched this weekend about the death of hundreds of fish in a pond located at the entrance of the Hotel complex Riu in the Borough of Maimon.
The investigations on the situation were initiated personally by the national executive director of the Dominican Council of fisheries and aquaculture (CODOPESCA), Milton Geneva Morales, who on Saturday visited this municipality San Felipe of Puerto Plata to know the real situation that gave rise to the death of these freshwater species.
Geneva inspected the lagoon which killed several species accompanied by a team of technicians and the responsible provincial of that State dependence in Puerto Plata, Roman Tolentino, checking that the dead fish are carpías and tilapia living in that ecosystem.
Offering statements to journalist Milton Camacho, director of CODOPESCA said that it constitutes a criminal action poisoning this loophole, which is not going to overlook, because there have killed hundreds of fish of different species, so ordered take a sample of water from the pond to be analyzed in a laboratory.
During the interviews, the Government official talked with members of the Association of artisans of the Bay of Maimonsay that for several years when it comes the season of winter and the first rains fall, in that lagoon big fish run out of oxygen and die, surviving the medium-sized and small.
Courtesy of eldia.com.do
Thousands of starfish wash up on Portobello beach in Edinburgh, Scotland
Photo By SUSAN TOMES
Thousands of starfish have been found washed up on Portobello beach in Edinburgh.
They were spotted on Sunday by local residents who were out walking in the coastal suburb.
Edinburgh-based Susan Tomes, who was on the beach with her family, told BBC Scotland: “It was the strangest thing I have ever seen on Portobello beach.
“We saw this pinkish drift before realising with horror that they were starfish – thousands of them.
“People were looking at it and wondering what had happened to them.
“We presumed they were dead because we prodded one or two of them with our feet and they didn’t respond.”
Some residents speculated that the marine invertebrates may have ended up on the beach as a result of Storm Eleanor.
In April, thousands of starfish were spotted washed up on a beach in the Highlands.
In that case, marine experts said the invertebrates may have got caught up by strong winds or tides as they changed location.
Courtesy of bbc.co.uk
90 crows found dead, reason unknown, in Saitama, Japan
Ninety crows have been found dead on Thursday and Friday in two parks in Saitama Prefecture, health authorities said Saturday.
Authorities said 35 crows were found dead in Tokorozawa and another 55 were found in Iruma, Fuji TV reported.
At first, health officials suspected bird flu but tests proved negative. Also, there were no traces of poison or agrichemicals in the crows that were tested.
Prefectural health officials said there was very little food in any of the crows, indicating that they may have starved to death.
However, as a precaution, police and health authorities have urged people not to touch any dead birds.
Courtesy of japantoday.com
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