Tuna and Mackerel Populations Have Reduced by 60% in the Last Century

A study shows that the impact of fishing for tuna and similar species during the last 50 years has lessened the abundance of all these populations by an average of 60%. Experts add that the majority of tuna fish have been exploited to the limits of sustainability.

The debate about the impact of fishing on different species has already gone on for 50 years. A recent study concluded that populations of tuna and similar species have been cut by 60% on average throughout the world over the last century.

The project published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal adds that most of these populations have been exploited to the limits of sustainability, and there are many species that have been overexploited.

The populations that have had their abundance most affected are cold water tuna, such as the Atlantic bluefin and the southern bluefin, which have decreased by 80%. These species are big, long-lived and high in economic value.

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120208103226.htm

Gary Null, PhD., and Jeremy Stillman - The 12 Tipping Points

The 12 Tipping Points
By Gary Null, PhD., and Jeremy Stillman 

Currently, more than half of the population of the United States does not believe that Global Warming is real or that it is man-made. Most discussions involving our environment rest upon Global Warming as a single issue, however, we are confronted today with multiple environmental crises. Any one of these issues can cause extreme suffering and in some cases, cataclysmic devastation if they were to go so far as to tip. Hence, we present an exploration of these tipping points to better understand the dangers that we face and how to limit their negative consequences.

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Iraq water crisis could stir ethnic clash

Iraq is facing worsening water shortages caused by the failure of successive postwar governments to ensure supplies and extensive dam-building in neighboring states that could trigger sectarian conflict.

"One prediction, which has yet to come true, has been made repeatedly by former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali since 1988: That the Middle East will at some point in the future see war break out over access to water," the Middle East Economic Digest observed.

"Boutros-Ghali thought an interstate war would occur because of disputes over the ownership of the Nile. This has yet to happen.

"But if policymakers in Baghdad do not act soon, water could well be the source of renewed strife, not between Baghdad and its neighbors, but between Iraq's already deeply divided population," the weekly warned.

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http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Iraq_water_crisis_could_stir_ethnic_clash_999.html

More than hundred dolphins beached in Cape Cod baffle scientists

Animal rescuers are working to save more than a hundred common dolphins beached off Cape Cod, Mass., since January 12. Marine scientists have been unable to explain the recent pattern of dolphins being washed ashore.

The recent beachings have been described as the largest single-species stranding ever in that part of the U.S. According to Daily Mail, of 116 common dolphins that beached on Cape Cod since January 12, three died on Friday, bringing the total number of deaths to 84. CNN reports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had reported that 81 dolphins died at Cape Cod in the series of strandings that began last month. According to ABC News, hundreds of volunteers are working to save the dolphins by releasing them into deep water. CNN says the animals are transported by trailer, after they have been tagged, to an outer Cape Cod coast where they are released. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has rescued 31 dolphins and attached satellite tags to them to track their movements. According to Brian Sharp, an IFAW official: “Right now we’re at around 66 percent. We release them off beaches where it gets deep quite quickly. From all these signs that we’ve seen from this event, the satellite tags look very good. We had a pregnant female dolphin that we were able to release. We began doing our health exam and sure enough we discovered that the dolphin was pregnant with probably a third trimester calf.” This season is usually the period in which strandings peak near Cape Cod but the number of strandings this year is far beyond the usual pattern over 12 years. There has been a spike in the number of strandings this year and marine experts have been left guessing the cause of the upsurge.

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http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/319045#ixzz1lkjgXAfY

Water supplies may run out by 2030 in India: Study

Water supplies will begin running out in critical regions where they support cities, industries and food production -- including in India, China and the Middle East -- by 2030 due to over-extraction of groundwater, a scientist has warned.

“The world has experienced a boom in groundwater use, more than doubling the rate of extraction between 1960 and 2000 -- with usage continuing to soar up to the present,” says Craig Simmons, director of the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT).

A recent satellite study has revealed falling groundwater tables in the US, India, China, Middle East and North Africa, where expanding agriculture and cities have increased water demand.

“Groundwater currently makes up about 97 percent of all the available fresh water on the planet and presently accounts for about 40 percent of our total water supply," says Simmons, also a member of Unesco’s global groundwater governance programme, according to a NCGRT statement.

Read More:

http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_water-supplies-may-run-out-by-2030-in-india-study_1636255-all

Well Blowout, Toxic Water: Fracking Disasters on the Rise

The process of hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, has recently been linked to earthquakes in Ohio, and fracking chemicals were confirmed in Wyoming groundwater just a month ago.

On Friday afternoon, The Calgary Herald reports, fracking at one oil well in Alberta caused a blowout at another oil well a kilometer away.

Fluids blasted deep into the earth under high pressure appear to have intersected underground with the second well, forcing oil up through the well bore at explosive rates.

A witness saw what appeared to be oil and chemicals spewing into the air.

"We're still not quite sure what happened," said Scott Ratushny, Midway Energy's chief executive. "We're still investigating it, but something allowed the frack to carry into the same zone, 130 to 140 metres away (underground),"

Read More:

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/01/17-3

Goodbye, Fish: Rising CO2 Direct Threat to Sea Life

New research shows the disastrous consequences the world's rising carbon dioxide levels are having on ocean life.

The Australian Associated Press reports that the new research point to ocean problems beyond acidification.  From Professor Phillip Munday, one of the researchers:

''We've now established it isn't simply the acidification of the oceans that is causing disruption, as is the case with shellfish and plankton with chalky skeletons. But the CO2 itself is damaging the fishes' central nervous systems.''

Agence France-Presse reports:

The team began by studying how baby clown and damsel fishes performed alongside their predators in CO2-enriched water.

They found that while the predators were somewhat affected, the baby fish suffered much higher rates of attrition.

"Our early work showed that the sense of smell of baby fish was harmed by higher CO2 in the water, meaning they found it harder to locate a reef to settle on or detect the warning smell of a predator fish," said Munday.

Read More:

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/01/16-6

Karen McVeigh - Fracking will poison New York's drinking water, critics warn

• A former staffer at a state government agency responsible for regulating hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has warned that allowing the controversial gas drilling method in New York would lead to contamination of the state's aquifers and would poison its drinking water.

These stark warnings, issued by Paul Hetzler in a letter to an upstate newspaper, came as a current employee and union representative at the Department for Environmental Conservation (DEC) sounded alarm bells over the under-staffed agency's ability to monitor the industry and to deal with any emergencies if the plan goes ahead.

Fracking is the process of injecting a high-pressure mixture of sand, water and chemicals thousands of feet into hard shale rocks to shatter them and release the natural gas inside.

Read More:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/05/fracking-new-york-poison-claim

ScienceDaily - Global Forests Are Overlooked as Water Suppliers, Study Shows

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111215094923.htm

ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2011) — The forests of the world supply a significant amount of moisture that creates rain. A new study published in Global Change Biology reveals how this important contribution of forests to the hydrologic cycle is often overlooked in water resource policy, such as that of the EU.

The study, by David Ellison, Martyn Futter and Kevin Bishop at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), shows that reducing forest area reduces regional and continental rainfall. This needs to be recognized to obtain a fair picture of the forest role in the hydrologic cycle.

"Are forests good for water? An apparently simple question divides scientists in two camps -- those who see trees as demanding water and those who see trees as supplying water," said David Ellison who works in the Future Forests research program studying resource management. "This paper demonstrates that the difference between these two camps has to do with the spatial scale being considered."

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Maude Barlow - How To Save Our Great Lakes

Published on Friday, December 16, 2011 by The Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/maude-barlow/how-to-save-our-great-lakes_b_1148758.html

by Maude Barlow

There are huge and growing problems in the Great Lakes.

Water use is growing at a rate double that of the population, and we now know that by 2030, global demand will outstrip supply by 40 per cent. Lack of access to clean water is the greatest killer of children by far

So we who live around the Great Lakes of North America have a very special responsibility to preserve and care for them in the light of the global reality now so clear.

While there have been some breakthroughs -- on PCBs, acid rain, and Lake Erie for example -- as well as many border treaties to protect air and water quality and fisheries, they are not enough to offset other damage, both existing and new.

Ongoing issues include climate change, over-extraction, non-point pollution, continued high levels of sewage discharge into the Lakes, the loss of wetlands and forests, and invasive species

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