Tears for the 'river pig'

Increasing pollution of the Yangtze River and the threat this poses to the finless porpoise is also a warning for a third of the nation's population that depends on these waters. Wang Ru reports.Growing up in Huanggang, a city by the Yangtze River in Central China's Hubei province, He Dan had heard from elderly fishermen about a rare fish, dubbed the "river pig" by locals.

volunteer is distraught after seeing the Yangtze River finless porpoise rescued in Shishou, Hubei province, in May. Gao Baoyan / For China Daily

The fishermen described them as shy animals that often chased their boats, making a whistling sound. However, the term "river pig" was not really appropriate for the clever animal, that fishermen recall leaping out of the water in pairs or as a group.

He says she never spotted a "river pig" in her childhood, but did witness the increasing dredging of the river to feed the construction sites on its banks, and the resulting muddying of its waters.
He, a junior student of Chinese literature at Central South University in Hunan province, recalls how shocked she was to see a photograph that stirred much online discussion. It was of a rescued dolphin-like animal seemingly shedding tears. She learnt it was the "river pig" - the Yangtze finless porpoise - of her childhood.


By Wang Ru (China Daily)

Read on ...

Extinction looms for last killer whale pod

FOR at least three decades they have made the waters off the west of Scotland their own, delighting visitors and residents alike.

 

But now it seems the country's only resident pod of killer whales is doomed to extinction and pollution could be to blame.

The nine whales have failed to produce a single surviving calf in 20 years and Dr Andy Foote, a world-renowned expert on orcas, believes time has run out for the four males and five females.

The marine biologist has been studying the group, known as the West Coast Community, with the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust and the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, since 1992. He said: "It's probably too late to save this group. I do believe that they will become extinct in our lifetime which is very regrettable since not many people even know that such a distinctive group of killer whales exist just off our coast."

Little is known about the isolated community, but Foote and the NAKID (North Atlantic Killer Whale ID) project have tracked the group using distinctive fin and body markings and scars to identify them as they move around their home territory.

Since 1981, around 255 sightings of the killer whales have been reported by members of the public from Mull to Tiree and Coll. Sightings have even been recorded off the west coast of Ireland and Wales.

Although there are regular sightings of other orcas off north-east Scotland, the west coasters are believed to be the only resident community - meaning they live in Scottish waters all year.

Observers have even named the community members, calling the males John Coe, Floppy Fin, Comet, and Aquarius. The females are Nicola, Lulu, Moneypenny - she is numbered 007 in the group - Puffin and Ocassus.

John Coe, named after a famous explorer, seems the most famous member of the soon-to-be-extinct family - perhaps because he has the most distinctive looking dorsal fin.

An adult male, Moon, has already disappeared and Foote fears this is just the beginning of the problems that the orcas face.

He believes contaminants could be one of the factors that has stopped the pod from successfully breeding.

"Female orcas store contaminants in their body fat and they pass some of the pollutants in their bodies to their calves when they're feeding. This is another possible reason why there have been no live calves seen."

Foote and the HWDT are appealing to the government for help. He said: "Fire retardants, pesticides and industrial manufacturing chemicals can end up in the water and it is likely that this is causing problems for the west coast group. If we successfully pass legislation that will reduce the amount of contaminants in the water, other countries will look to that and use us as an example, which could in turn help their populations of killer whales."

Such steps are almost certainly too late for John Coe and the rest of the group.

"With large animals like these, the hope of saving them is quite slim. We know they are decades old and the possibility of something like artificial insemination is very unlikely.

"Even if we were lucky enough to catch them, the mothers are almost definitely too old to breed again. Smaller cetaceans can sometimes be translocated if they are failing to breed, but again with their size, this is just not feasible."

Foote said the best they could hope for was to avoid similar tragedies befalling other orcas in Scottish waters.

"We've learned a lesson from this pod," he said. "We can use what we know now to prevent it happening again to our other killer whale communities."

He added: "We would love to learn more about them before they become extinct and the public can help us do that. We're appealing to anyone out there who may have pictures of the west coast group prior to 1992, so that it could help us to learn more about the pod.

"Old photos that haven't been submitted could help us determine how many individuals there were and perhaps how old they are now which could help us prepare for similar scenarios in the future."

Richard Fairbairns, founder of the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust said it would be a "tragedy" if the whales disappeared. "They're very old friends of ours. I was the one who named John Coe a long time ago and not long after that I set up the trust.

"When I first saw an orca off the coast of Coll in the early 1980s, everybody thought I was a complete nutcase. But thankfully, awareness has grown and the whales will have a better chance of surviving if more people know they exist."

Andy Jackson, managing director of Ardnamurchan Charters, which provides boat trips off the west coast of Scotland, said the whales were a major attraction for his passengers.

"But they're not just an attraction, they're an endangered species and that needs to be addressed.

"We're very concerned by the huge level of pollution in our water. Pollution, over-fishing and poor techniques like dredging will all impact this group terribly and you can imagine what it's doing to the less significant species as well."

By Niamh Anderson
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/environment/Extinction-looms-for-last-killer.6838230.jp

Developers threaten animals in Croatia's cave network

Species of animals, millions of years old, could be wiped out by pollution and development in Croatia, according to a new breed of cave biologists.

Jana Bedek and her team of bio-speleologists have recently discovered that the underground networks of the Balkans, especially Croatia, have the richest cave fauna in the world.

"We are now in the place with the best range of cave animals in the world," she says.

"The other countries have their own rich fauna in rainforests, marine ecosystems etc, but here in this area we have cave fauna. Really important at world level."

But on a political and economic level, Croatia is emerging from decades of communism, and the devastating Balkan war, with a desire to develop.

They are expected to join the EU in two years' time and the government has a queue of road, rail and power projects awaiting approval.

Some 41% of the country rests on the massive shard of limestone known as the Karst.

One cave known as "Vilina Spila" or Fairy Cave, boasts archaeology alongside its biology. Athenian pottery adorned with the goddess' symbol of an owl can be found amongst broken Roman amphora which litter the floor.

It is one of the biggest and most abundant caves in the Balkans, yet it is earmarked for an extraordinary hydro-electric scheme which will store water in the cave itself by sealing much of it with concrete.

'Baby dragon'
The underground ecosystem in Croatia is extraordinary in so many ways.

First, it is animals only, no plants. The total darkness means photosynthesis is a non-starter and all the creatures must live on a meagre diet of what is washed in from the surface, bat droppings or each other.

Such Spartan rations do not allow abundant life, but it is varied, including spiders, millipedes, clams, sponges, scorpions and, weirdest of all, the cave salamander.

The cave salamander looks like an eel with legs, but it has no eyes and pale, almost translucent, skin. Once seen, you can understand the belief it was a baby dragon. In fact they are not babies at all - they can live for a very long time, up to 100 years.

But it is not just aged individuals dwelling in the underworld, the species themselves are ancient too. They can claim to be the first Europeans.

Over the past 10 million years, as ice ages and deserts wiped out most life up above, caves became the bunker for existence, clinging on in the unchanging world below.

Slavko Polak, a biologist in the huge Postojna cave just into Slovenia says: "We can prove with molecular DNA analysis these lineages of animals are very ancient. Maybe the oldest surviving species in the European continent. It is not acceptable that they will be extinct from human activity."

Most of the species do not live anywhere else in the world and are unique to a particular cave network. Yet it is such a difficult environment for scientists, that bio-speleology is in its infancy.

Jana Bedek - who won a prestigious Whitley Award in 2011 for her conservation work - usually finds a new life form on each field trip and has many more awaiting classification.

Tight rules
Kornelija Pintaric, head of the Nature Protection Directorate at the Ministry of Culture accepts that, while they do their best to protect the environment, some valuable caves will inevitably be lost: "Some caves have been destroyed because of the need to build some very important national infrastructure."

But many environmentalists believe the advent of the EU is having a perverse effect.

Ms Bedek and her colleagues are convinced European Union rules would never allow plans like the one for Fairy Cave to go ahead, but she also believes that is why many developers are in a hurry to get their permissions now - before Croatia becomes a member state.

"They're rushing to have all their permits, because when we are in the European Union, it will not be possible to get them, so now is the only chance," she says.

Europe has tight rules on habitat conservation and huge swathes of Croatia are likely to be protected.

Davorin Markovic, head of the State Institute for Nature Protection says whenever you build a road tunnel there is an 80% chance of hitting a cave and even he admits developers are pushing hard right now.

"They know that there will be some restrictions [coming] so it is normal to 'catch the train when you can'," he says.

The EU's ambassador to Croatia, Paul Vandoren, says he is aware of the pressure but insists that Brussels keeps a close eye on impending projects to prevent rules being bent.

 

By Tom Heap BBC, Croatia

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/9577248.stm

In a War of Words, Makers of Plastic Bags Go to Court (via Herp Digest)

Via Herp Digest:

In a War of Words, Makers of Plastic Bags Go to Court
By Felicity Barringer, NY Times

Published: June 11, 2011 SAN FRANCISCO - The plastic bag industry, increasingly on the defensive as municipal bag bans proliferate, has gone on the attack against ChicoBag, a competitor that bills itself as an eco-friendly alternative. A federal lawsuit in South Carolina accuses ChicoBag of illegal trash-talking about plastic bag waste.

The lawsuit, filed by three leading plastic bag manufacturers, contends that ChicoBag (whose reusable bag, when compressed into its carrying pouch, looks like a slightly squished Hacky Sack) knowingly overstated figures like the size of the garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean and the number of marine creatures killed by eating plastic garbage.

Andy Keller, 38, the inventor of the ChicoBag and the company's president, said Wednesday he believed the industry was going after a small competitor because "their product" had "become the poster child of unnecessary waste." He added that the facts on his Web site "have been part of the public debate for years."

Not so, said Philip Rozenski, the director of marketing and sustainability at Hilex Poly, a maker of plastic trash bags. He said that ChicoBag's Web site cites Environmental Protection Agency information that is outdated. The E.P.A. no longer endorses estimates like the one ChicoBag cited: that only 1 percent of plastic bags are recycled. Mr. Keller said an industry site used the same figure until recently.

Citing E.P.A. figures from 2009, Mr. Rozenski said that 11.8 percent of bags, sacks and wraps made from the most common polyethylene compounds are recycled. That category, however, also includes shrink wrap, plastic coverings over fresh grocery items or the plastic enclosing cartons of water bottles.
Perhaps the most creative form of trash-talking done by ChicoBag, however, is not part of the lawsuit. Noting that Americans use an average of 500 plastic bags a year, Mr. Keller sometimes dresses up as "Bagmonster," donning 500 bags and going to rallies in his trashy regalia.

Mr. Keller also notes that Hilex Poly's Web site also appeals to the environmentally conscious, promoting new reusable or biodegradable products and encouraging reduction in paper bag waste. He said, "We agree on all those things. Their business is single-use bags, mine is reusable bags - we disagree on the proper course of action."

Mr. Rozenski styles his company's lawsuit as a business case. "This is about a direct competitor making false and misleading claims within the marketplace. When ChicoBag is making these claims, it directly benefits Chico."

Rick Kurnit, a lawyer specializing in claims made under the federal Lanham Act prohibiting false and misleading advertising, indicated the plastic bag manufacturers may not have an easy time of it, even if Mr. Keller's claims prove to be exaggerated.

"If a consumer cares about the environment, lowering their footprint, if he cares about disposal - would it really matter if the swirling mass in the Pacific is the size of Texas or just Rhode Island?" Mr. Kurnit said.

He added, "It kind of comes down to whether the degree of exaggeration, as alleged, if proven, would be sufficiently material as to influence a consumer's purchasing decisions."

High risk of mass extinction in world’s oceans

Creating conditions associated with every previous major extinction

June 2011: The world's oceans are at high risk of an unprecedented number of marine species extinctions, according to an international panel of experts.

The panel's report was the result of a workshop considering the cumulative impact of all stressors affecting the ocean. The experts examined the combined effects of pollution, acidification, ocean warming, over-fishing and hypoxia (deoxygenation).


The scientific panel concluded that:
The combination of stressors on the ocean is creating the conditions associated with every previous major extinction of species in Earth's history.

The speed and rate of degeneration in the ocean is far faster than anyone has predicted.

Many of the negative impacts previously identified are greater than the worst predictions.

Although difficult to assess because of the unprecedented speed of change, the first steps to globally significant extinction may have begun with a rise in the extinction threat to marine species such as reef-forming corals

'The findings are shocking'
Dr Alex Rogers, scientific director of the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) which convened the workshop said: ‘The findings are shocking. As we considered the cumulative effect of what humankind does to the ocean the implications became far worse than we had individually realised.

‘This is a very serious situation demanding unequivocal action at every level. We are looking at consequences for humankind that will impact in our lifetime, and worse, our children's and generations beyond that.'

Marine scientists from institutions around the world gathered at Oxford University under the auspices of IPSO and the IUCN. The group reviewed recent research by two world ocean experts and found firm evidence that the effects of climate change, coupled with other human-induced impacts such as over-fishing and nutrient run-off from farming, have already caused a dramatic decline in ocean health.

A new extinction event inevitable if damage continues

Increasing hypoxia (low oxygen levels) and anoxia (absence of oxygen, known as ocean dead zones) combined with warming of the ocean and acidification are the three factors which have been present in every mass extinction event in Earth's history.

There is strong scientific evidence that these three factors are combining in the ocean again, exacerbated by multiple severe stressors. The scientific panel concluded that a new extinction event was inevitable if the current trajectory of damage continues.

The time to protect the blue heart of our planet is now
The report sets out a series of recommendations and calls on states, regional bodies and the United Nations to enact measures to better conserve ocean ecosystems, and in particular demands the urgent adoption of better governance of the largely unprotected high seas which make up the majority of the world's ocean.

Dan Laffoley, Marine Chair of IUCN's World Commission on protected Areas and senior adviser on Marine Science and Conservation for IUCN, and co-author of the report, said: ‘The world's leading experts on oceans are surprised by the rate and magnitude of changes we are seeing.

‘The challenges for the future of the ocean are vast, but unlike previous generations we know what now needs to happen. The time to protect the blue heart of our planet is now, today and urgent.'

Frightening truth about our oceans

Τhe rate at which carbon is being absorbed by the ocean is already far greater now than at the time of the last globally significant extinction of marine species, some 55 million years ago, when up to 50 per cent of some groups of deep-sea animals were wiped out.

A single mass coral bleaching event in 1998 killed 16 per cent of all the world's tropical coral reefs.

Overfishing has reduced some commercial fish stocks and populations of by-catch species by more than 90 per cent.

New science also suggests that pollutants including flame retardant chemicals and synthetic musks found in detergents are being traced in the Polar Seas, and that these chemicals can be absorbed by tiny plastic particles in the ocean which are in turn ingested by marine creatures.

The experts agreed that adding these and other threats together means that the ocean and the ecosystems within it are unable to recover, being constantly bombarded with multiple attacks.


http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/ocean-extinction.html

Thousands of River Thames fish killed by storm sewage

8 June 2011

Thousands of fish have died after large amounts of storm sewage flooded into the River Thames.

More than 450,000 tonnes of sewage overflowed into the river in west London when heavy rain fell on Sunday.

The Environment Agency said oxygen had been added along a 1km (0.6m) stretch of water where dead fish and sewage debris has been spotted.

Thames Water is carrying out a clear-up operation along a 12km (7.5m) stretch between Kew and Albert Bridge.

The Environment Agency said more than 250,000 tonnes of storm sewage from sewer overflows, and at least 200,000 tonnes of storm sewage from the Mogden sewage treatment works in Isleworth, was released into the river at the weekend.

Oxygenation vessels

This, combined with the current warm, dry weather and low river flows, resulted in low oxygen levels and fish deaths along a 1km stretch of the river.

Fish, including flounder, bream, roach, eel, dace and other aquatic life such as water shrimps, have been found dead.

Thames Water has put hydrogen peroxide into the water at three different locations, to add oxygen, and the agency has sent its oxygenation vessels to the area.

According to the agency's director, Howard Davidson, discharges from combined sewers happen 50 to 60 times a year and can be caused by as little as 2mm of rainfall.

Mr Davidson said that on Sunday, more than 30mm had fallen over west London.

He said: "This is a major sewage pollution incident which has caused the death of a huge number of fish.

"We are currently monitoring Thames Water's clean up efforts and assessing the full impact but unfortunately we may never know the exact numbers of fish that have died."

'Totally unsatisfactory'

Storm sewage is waste diluted with rainwater and occurs where a combined sewage network operates - one which takes both sewage from homes and businesses and rainfall run-off from roads and other hard surfaces.

Martin Baggs, from Thames Water, said: "Incidents like this are clearly totally unsatisfactory in a modern capital city and we have a major programme of work under way to sort the problem out."

Thames Water is currently reviewing responses to the first round of consultation on plans for a 20-mile (32km) "super-sewer".

The proposed Thames Tunnel would run from west to east London, broadly following the route of the river, collecting storm sewage.

If approved, construction on the tunnel would begin in 2013 and be completed by 2020.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13693265

1 June 2011 Last updated at 00:47

Acid oceans turn 'Finding Nemo' fish deaf

By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News

Baby clownfish face a "wall of mouths" when they first arrive at the reef

Clownfish, the spectacular tropical species feted in the movie Finding Nemo, appear to lose their hearing in water slightly more acidic than normal.

At levels of acidity that may be common by the end of the century, the fish did not respond to the sounds of predators.

The oceans are becoming more acidic because they absorb much of the CO2 that humanity puts into the atmosphere.

Scientists write in the journal Biology Letters that failing to move away from danger would hurt the fish's survival.

"Avoiding coral reefs during the day is very typical behaviour of fish in open water," said research leader Steve Simpson from the School of Biological Sciences at the UK's Bristol University.

"They do this by monitoring the sounds of animals on the reef, most of which are predators to something just a centimetre in length.

"But sounds are also important for mate detection, pack hunting, foraging - so if any or all of those capacities are gone, you'd have a very lost fish," he told BBC News.

Previous research has shown that fish also lose their capacity to scent danger in slightly more acidic seawater.

The fish were put in a "choice chamber" that allowed them to swim away, or not, on hearing the noise

The team raised baby clownfish in tanks containing water at different levels of acidity.

One resembled the seawater of today, with the atmosphere containing about 390 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide.

The other tanks were set at levels that could be reached later this century - 600, 700 and 900 ppm.

The more CO2 there is in the atmosphere, the more the oceans absorb - and the more they absorb, the more acidic the water becomes.

In this experiment, the fish could decide whether to swim towards or away from an underwater loudspeaker replaying the sounds of predators recorded on a reef, with shrimps and fish that would take a small clownfish.

In water with today's levels of CO2, the fish spent three-quarters of the time at the opposite end of the tube from the loudspeaker.

But at higher concentrations, they showed no preference. This suggests they could not hear, could not decipher or did not act on the warning signals.

"The reef has been described as 'a wall of mouths' waiting to receive the clownfish," said Dr Simpson.

ACIDIFYING OCEANS

• The oceans are thought to have absorbed about half of the extra CO2 put into the atmosphere in the industrial age
• This has lowered its pH by 0.1
• pH is the measure of acidity and alkalinity
• Liquids lie between pH 0 (very acidic) and pH 14 (very alkaline); 7 is neutral
• Seawater is mildly alkaline with a "natural" pH of about 8.2
• The IPCC forecasts that ocean pH will fall by "between 0.14 and 0.35 units over the 21st Century, adding to the present decrease of 0.1 units since pre-industrial times"

"What we have done here is put today's fish in tomorrow's environment, and the effects are potentially devastating."

If it takes several decades for the oceans to reach these more acidic levels, there is a chance, the team says, that fish could adapt.

Whether that can happen is one of the outstanding questions from this research. Another is whether other species are similarly affected.

A third question is why the fish are affected by these slight changes in acidity.

There appears to be no physical damage to their ears; the team suggests there could be some effect on nerves, or maybe they are stressed by the higher acidity and do not behave as they otherwise would.

Further experiments are in train that may answer those questions.

Concern about ocean acidification has arisen considerably more recently than alarm over global warming; but already there is ample evidence that it could bring significant changes to ocean life.

The organisms most directly affected appear to be corals and those that make shells, such as snails.

Just this weekend, another team of researchers published findings from a "natural laboratory" in the seas off Papua New Guinea, where carbon dioxide bubbles into the water from the slopes of a dormant volcano.

This local acidity is too much for most corals; instead, an alternative ecosystem based on seagrasses thrives.

With carbon emissions continuing to rise, researchers predicted most reefs around the world would be in serious trouble before the end of the century.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13605113

Global carbon emissions reach record, says IEA

30 May 2011 Last updated at 21:33

World leaders agreed last year to curb emissions and limit the rise in global temperature to 2C

Energy-related carbon emissions reached a record level last year, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The watchdog says emissions rose again after a dip caused by the financial crisis in 2009, and ended 5% up from the previous record in 2008.

China and India account for most of the rise, though emissions have also grown in developed countries.

The increase raises doubts over whether planned curbs on greenhouse emissions will be achieved, the group says.

At a meeting last year in Cancun, Mexico, world leaders agreed that deep cuts were needed to limit the rise in global temperature to 2C above pre-industrial levels.

But according to the IEA's estimate, worldwide CO2 emissions from the energy sector reached a record 30.6 gigatonnes in 2010.

The IEA's Fatih Birol said the finding was "another wake-up call".

"The world has edged incredibly close to the level of emissions that should not be reached until 2020 if the 2C target is to be attained," he added.

"Unless bold and decisive decisions are made very soon, it will be extremely challenging to succeed in achieving this global goal agreed in Cancun."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13595174

Bubbling sea signals severe coral damage this century

By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News

29 May 2011 Last updated at 18:42

This area is on the slope of a dormant volcano, and CO2 emerges from the seafloor naturally

Findings from a "natural laboratory" in seas off Papua New Guinea suggest that acidifying oceans will severely hit coral reefs by the end of the century.

Carbon dioxide bubbles into the water from the slopes of a dormant volcano here, making it slightly more acidic.

Coral is badly affected, not growing at all in the most CO2-rich zone.

Writing in journal Nature Climate Change, the scientists say this "lab" mimics conditions that will be widespread if CO2 emissions continue.

The oceans absorb some of the carbon dioxide that human activities are putting into the atmosphere.

This is turning seawater around the world slightly more acidic - or slightly less alkaline.

This reduces the capacity of corals and other marine animals to form hard structures such as shells.

Projections of rising greenhouse gas emissions suggest the process will go further, and accelerate.

"This is the most realistic experiment done to date on this issue," said Chris Langdon, a coral specialist from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in Miami, US.

"So I don't have any qualms about believing that what we found will apply in other parts of the world."

Coral gives way to seagrass around the vents - the shape of things to come?

The water becomes progressively more acidic closer to the vents that are bubbling CO2.

This allows the researchers to study the impacts on coral at different levels of acidity.

Seawater has an average pH of about 8.1; this is already about 0.1 lower than before the industrial age and the large-scale human emissions of greenhouse gases associated with it.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects that by the end of the century, emissions may have risen so much that pH may fall to 7.8.

In the Papua New Guinea site, few types of coral grew at pH7.8.

Reefs still formed, but were dominated by one particular type, the Porites, which form massive shapes largely devoid of the branches and fronds that characterise reefs rich in species.

"We saw only a few speces of coral, and none of the structually complex ones that provide a lot of cover for fish," Professor Langdon told BBC News..

ACIDIFYING OCEANS

• The oceans are thought to have absorbed about half of the extra CO2 put into the atmosphere in the industrial age
• This has lowered its pH by 0.1
• pH is the measure of acidity and alkalinity
• The vast majority of liquids lie between pH 0 (very acidic) and pH 14 (very alkaline); 7 is neutral
• Seawater is mildly alkaline with a "natural" pH of about 8.2
• The IPCC forecasts that ocean pH will fall by "between 0.14 and 0.35 units over the 21st Century, adding to the present decrease of 0.1 units since pre-industrial times"

"The much simpler forms support many fewer species, and theory suggests they create an environment that would be very vulnerable to other stresses."

In an even more acid part of the study site, with a pH of 7.7, the scientists report that "reef development ceased".

Here, seagrasses dominate the floor - but they lack the hard-shelled snails that normally live on their fronds.

This is the second published study of a "natural lab" for ocean acidification.

The first, from a site in Mediterranean, found snails with their shells disintegrating; but the PNG site offers a snapshot of the future that might be more applicable to the world's tropical coral hotspots.

"The results are complex, but their implications chilling," commented Alex Rogers from the University of Oxford, who was not part of the study team.

"Some may see this as a comforting study in that coral cover is maintained, but this is a false perception; the levels of seawater pH associated with a 4C warming completely change the face of reefs.

"We will see the collapse of many reefs long before the end of the century."

The scientific team behind the new research, drawn from Australia, Germany and the US, suggests that the picture from PNG may underplay the threat.

Reefs in the acidic zones of the study site receive regular doses of larvae floating in from nearby healthy corals, replenishing damaged stocks.

This would not be the case if low pH levels pertained throughout the oceans.

In addition, corals at the site are only minimally affected by other threats; there is little fishing, local pollution, or disease.

By contrast, a major survey published earlier this year found that three-quarters of the world's reefs were at risk - 95% in southeast Asia - with exploitative and destructive fishing being the biggest immediate threat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13569442

Whales are Polluted

People are polluted and whales are too. Sperm whales throughout the Pacific carry evidence of exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which occur in oil, coal, and tar deposits, and are produced as byproducts of fuel burning. Some of them are carcinogenic, and high levels of PAHs are found in meat cooked at high temperatures (such as grilling or barbecuing), as well as in smoked fish.

Whales also reveal exposure to DDT, which is banned in most Western countries, but still used to kill mosquitoes throughout much of the world. During 1999–2001, researchers biopsied skin and blubber from 234 male and female sperm whales in five locations (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show) across the Pacific Ocean and analyzed them for the expression of an enzyme that metabolizes certain aromatic hydrocarbons--the more CYP1A1 is expressed, the more likely the animal has been exposed to those compounds.

The whale tissues from were also were analyzed for DDT. Exposure to these substances was highest in whales from the Galapagos Islands, second highest in those from the Gulf of California, and lowest in those from waters farthest from the continents. Sperm whales may be important sentinels of ocean health: Since they are so long-lived (up to 70 years), their skin carries evidence of the history of ocean (and Earth) pollution.

Whales are Polluted

People are polluted and whales are too. Sperm whales throughout the Pacific carry evidence of exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which occur in oil, coal, and tar deposits, and are produced as byproducts of fuel burning. Some of them are carcinogenic, and high levels of PAHs are found in meat cooked at high temperatures (such as grilling or barbecuing), as well as in smoked fish.

Whales also reveal exposure to DDT, which is banned in most Western countries, but still used to kill mosquitoes throughout much of the world. During 1999–2001, researchers biopsied skin and blubber from 234 male and female sperm whales in five locations (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show) across the Pacific Ocean and analyzed them for the expression of an enzyme that metabolizes certain aromatic hydrocarbons--the more CYP1A1 is expressed, the more likely the animal has been exposed to those compounds.

The whale tissues from were also were analyzed for DDT. Exposure to these substances was highest in whales from the Galapagos Islands, second highest in those from the Gulf of California, and lowest in those from waters farthest from the continents. Sperm whales may be important sentinels of ocean health: Since they are so long-lived (up to 70 years), their skin carries evidence of the history of ocean (and Earth) pollution.

Plastic debris 'killing Adriatic loggerhead turtles'

One in three loggerhead turtles in the Adriatic Sea has plastic in its intestine, according to researchers studying the impact of debris on marine life.


The shallow waters of the Adriatic are important feeding grounds for the turtles as they develop into adults.

But the sea-floor is one of the most polluted in Europe.

The team studied the bodies of dead sea turtles that had been stranded or accidentally caught by fishing vessels.

The impacts of debris on marine creatures are not entirely clear. But scientists have found that animals ranging from invertebrates to large mammals consume plastic waste and are concerned that it could damage their health.

For a turtle, just a few grams of debris can be fatal if it obstructs the gut.


The researchers from the University of Zagreb found that more than a third of the 54 turtles they examined had ingested marine debris of some kind including plastic bags, wrapping foils, ropes, polystyrene foam and fishing line.

One turtle had consumed 15 pieces of plastic, which almost filled its stomach.

Although the plastic weighted just 0.71g in total, they said it was enough to "probably cause the death of this individual".

Plastic can weaken the turtles by taking up space in the gut which would otherwise digest food.

Population pressure
The shallow coastal waters of the northern Adriatic are one of the most important feeding grounds for loggerhead turtles in the Mediterranean. Here they are able to progress to feeding on the sea floor at a young age.

The southern Adriatic is also important in their development into ocean-going animals.


"It is important to know more about the Adriatic Sea in order to help loggerhead turtles across the whole Mediterranean." says Romana Gracan, one of the researchers involved in the study.

"The water temperature here suits them and because it is shallow they have the opportunity to feed on benthic [sea-floor] animals."

The concentration of litter on the sea floor is among the highest along European coasts, after the northwestern Mediterranean and the Celtic Sea.

The waste comes from the dense population of four million people who live along the coast and are joined each summer by 18 million tourists.

The sea is small and largely cut off from the rest of the Mediterranean, only joined to the Ionian Sea by the 70km wide Strait of Otranto.

Conservation hope
Loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) are omnivorous feeders that feed at a variety of different depths.

Where the Mediterranean is too deep for the turtles to reach the sea floor, they feed on floating animals.

But in shallower coastal waters of the Adriatic they take the opportunity to feast on larger sea-floor animals. This brings them into contact with large amounts of debris.

The researchers say their study, published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, is the first to address the problems caused by solid debris in the Adriatic Sea.

Chemical pollution in the Adriatic has been studied for more than 30 years and is already central to marine conservation in the Mediterranean.


The researchers hope that, now they have shown that the turtles are particularly vulnerable to plastic debris, more will be done to reduce it.

"Loggerheads are opportunistic feeders which will eat almost anything that is in front of them and plastic stays around for a very long time in the sea," says Dr Gracan.

"In the future we must think more carefully what we put in the sea."

By Mark Simpson

Reporting for BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9155000/9155453.stm

Plastic debris 'killing Adriatic loggerhead turtles'

One in three loggerhead turtles in the Adriatic Sea has plastic in its intestine, according to researchers studying the impact of debris on marine life.


The shallow waters of the Adriatic are important feeding grounds for the turtles as they develop into adults.

But the sea-floor is one of the most polluted in Europe.

The team studied the bodies of dead sea turtles that had been stranded or accidentally caught by fishing vessels.

The impacts of debris on marine creatures are not entirely clear. But scientists have found that animals ranging from invertebrates to large mammals consume plastic waste and are concerned that it could damage their health.

For a turtle, just a few grams of debris can be fatal if it obstructs the gut.


The researchers from the University of Zagreb found that more than a third of the 54 turtles they examined had ingested marine debris of some kind including plastic bags, wrapping foils, ropes, polystyrene foam and fishing line.

One turtle had consumed 15 pieces of plastic, which almost filled its stomach.

Although the plastic weighted just 0.71g in total, they said it was enough to "probably cause the death of this individual".

Plastic can weaken the turtles by taking up space in the gut which would otherwise digest food.

Population pressure
The shallow coastal waters of the northern Adriatic are one of the most important feeding grounds for loggerhead turtles in the Mediterranean. Here they are able to progress to feeding on the sea floor at a young age.

The southern Adriatic is also important in their development into ocean-going animals.


"It is important to know more about the Adriatic Sea in order to help loggerhead turtles across the whole Mediterranean." says Romana Gracan, one of the researchers involved in the study.

"The water temperature here suits them and because it is shallow they have the opportunity to feed on benthic [sea-floor] animals."

The concentration of litter on the sea floor is among the highest along European coasts, after the northwestern Mediterranean and the Celtic Sea.

The waste comes from the dense population of four million people who live along the coast and are joined each summer by 18 million tourists.

The sea is small and largely cut off from the rest of the Mediterranean, only joined to the Ionian Sea by the 70km wide Strait of Otranto.

Conservation hope
Loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) are omnivorous feeders that feed at a variety of different depths.

Where the Mediterranean is too deep for the turtles to reach the sea floor, they feed on floating animals.

But in shallower coastal waters of the Adriatic they take the opportunity to feast on larger sea-floor animals. This brings them into contact with large amounts of debris.

The researchers say their study, published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, is the first to address the problems caused by solid debris in the Adriatic Sea.

Chemical pollution in the Adriatic has been studied for more than 30 years and is already central to marine conservation in the Mediterranean.


The researchers hope that, now they have shown that the turtles are particularly vulnerable to plastic debris, more will be done to reduce it.

"Loggerheads are opportunistic feeders which will eat almost anything that is in front of them and plastic stays around for a very long time in the sea," says Dr Gracan.

"In the future we must think more carefully what we put in the sea."

By Mark Simpson

Reporting for BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9155000/9155453.stm

Gulf of Mexico oil spill threatens seahorse species with extinction: researchers

September 7, 2010

(PhysOrg.com) -- A species of seahorse unique to the waters of the Gulf Coast could face extinction because of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, warns marine conservation organization Project Seahorse. Without careful intervention, the dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) could virtually disappear within a few years, while many other fish populations, including several other species of seahorse, face a similarly bleak future as cleanup continues.

“We’re very worried,” says Assoc. Prof. Amanda Vincent, director of Project Seahorse at the University of British Columbia and a leading expert on seahorse conservation “All of the seahorse populations in the area will be affected, but the dwarf seahorse is at greatest risk of extinction because much of its habitat has been devastated by the spill.”

Dwarf seahorses are tiny (less than 2.5 cm long), sedentary animals that feed and reproduce in shallow coastal seagrass beds for much of the year. Unusually, it is the males who give birth; they produce very few young, making the species particularly vulnerable to environmental change. The spill has exposed them to high levels of oil toxins and destroyed large swaths of their food-rich habitat. Their numbers are expected to drop, even as the cleanup gains momentum.

“While the spill itself was catastrophic for these animals and ecosystems, the cleanup poses considerable threats, too,” says Assoc. Prof. Heather Masonjones, a seahorse biologist at the University of Tampa. “The dispersants used to break up the oil cause some of the toxins to sink and spread, accumulating in their food sources and poisoning more animals.”

To slow the movement of the spill, BP has burned off the oil caught in seagrass mats floating in open water. While the majority of the animals live in seagrass beds in the coastal shallows of the Gulf, others live in these loose mats of vegetation offshore.

The burning of the mats has killed many marine animals while depriving others of their habitat and exposing them to further toxicity. Seagrass is vital to the long-term health of coastal ecosystems, sheltering marine animals, acting as fish nurseries, improving water quality, and preventing erosion.

Where possible, the use of chemical dispersants and the burning of oil should be avoided, urge the researchers. Booms have been, and should continue to be, used to isolate the slicks. They can then be skimmed, left to evaporate, or treated with biological agents such as fertilizers. These organic agents promote the growth of micro-organisms that biodegrade oil. In extreme cases where animals are at high risk of poisoning, seagrass mats and beds can be cut to reduce toxic exposure.

“It’s absolutely critical that measures be taken to preserve the seagrass mats and beds,” says Masonjones. “We must act quickly and carefully to give these fragile species the best chance of survival.”

The Gulf of Mexico spill — and the explosion last Thursday of the Mariner Energy platform — raise questions about the safety of oil extraction and transport closer to home, in British Columbia’s coastal waters.

“An oil spill in B.C. would present a grave threat to several species of pipefish, close relatives of the seahorse, and to plenty of other marine life,” says Vincent. “Because of the coastal topography and wind patterns, clean up could be extremely difficult, and here, too, we could see a number of species catastrophically affected.”

Provided by University of British Columbia (news : web)

http://www.physorg.com/news203098530.html

Gulf of Mexico oil spill threatens seahorse species with extinction: researchers

September 7, 2010

(PhysOrg.com) -- A species of seahorse unique to the waters of the Gulf Coast could face extinction because of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, warns marine conservation organization Project Seahorse. Without careful intervention, the dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) could virtually disappear within a few years, while many other fish populations, including several other species of seahorse, face a similarly bleak future as cleanup continues.

“We’re very worried,” says Assoc. Prof. Amanda Vincent, director of Project Seahorse at the University of British Columbia and a leading expert on seahorse conservation “All of the seahorse populations in the area will be affected, but the dwarf seahorse is at greatest risk of extinction because much of its habitat has been devastated by the spill.”

Dwarf seahorses are tiny (less than 2.5 cm long), sedentary animals that feed and reproduce in shallow coastal seagrass beds for much of the year. Unusually, it is the males who give birth; they produce very few young, making the species particularly vulnerable to environmental change. The spill has exposed them to high levels of oil toxins and destroyed large swaths of their food-rich habitat. Their numbers are expected to drop, even as the cleanup gains momentum.

“While the spill itself was catastrophic for these animals and ecosystems, the cleanup poses considerable threats, too,” says Assoc. Prof. Heather Masonjones, a seahorse biologist at the University of Tampa. “The dispersants used to break up the oil cause some of the toxins to sink and spread, accumulating in their food sources and poisoning more animals.”

To slow the movement of the spill, BP has burned off the oil caught in seagrass mats floating in open water. While the majority of the animals live in seagrass beds in the coastal shallows of the Gulf, others live in these loose mats of vegetation offshore.

The burning of the mats has killed many marine animals while depriving others of their habitat and exposing them to further toxicity. Seagrass is vital to the long-term health of coastal ecosystems, sheltering marine animals, acting as fish nurseries, improving water quality, and preventing erosion.

Where possible, the use of chemical dispersants and the burning of oil should be avoided, urge the researchers. Booms have been, and should continue to be, used to isolate the slicks. They can then be skimmed, left to evaporate, or treated with biological agents such as fertilizers. These organic agents promote the growth of micro-organisms that biodegrade oil. In extreme cases where animals are at high risk of poisoning, seagrass mats and beds can be cut to reduce toxic exposure.

“It’s absolutely critical that measures be taken to preserve the seagrass mats and beds,” says Masonjones. “We must act quickly and carefully to give these fragile species the best chance of survival.”

The Gulf of Mexico spill — and the explosion last Thursday of the Mariner Energy platform — raise questions about the safety of oil extraction and transport closer to home, in British Columbia’s coastal waters.

“An oil spill in B.C. would present a grave threat to several species of pipefish, close relatives of the seahorse, and to plenty of other marine life,” says Vincent. “Because of the coastal topography and wind patterns, clean up could be extremely difficult, and here, too, we could see a number of species catastrophically affected.”

Provided by University of British Columbia (news : web)

http://www.physorg.com/news203098530.html

Five Ways Oil Drops Could Still Be Deadly to Gulf (via HerpDigest)

Five Ways Oil Drops Could Still Be Deadly to Gulf
by Eli Kintisch Science Magazine, August 2, 2010

Last week the debate about the fate of oil in the gulf took, according to major media reports, an optimistic turn. Now Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) is raising questions about federal oversight of dispersant use in the gulf, and a Senate committee is holding a hearing on the issue on Wednesday.

But while scientists acknowledge that dispersants can have negative effects, they are generally more worried about the oil than the dispersants, as the oil is far more toxic and more than 100 times more of it has been released. At a briefing last week in Washington, D.C., scientists were cautiously supportive of the government's gutsy decision on 15 May to allow BP to squirt tens of thousands of gallons of dispersants a day a mile deep. More than a million gallons of Corexit have been released on the sea floor since, with another 800,000 gallons sprayed by plane on the surface-in what amounts to a major, unprecedented experiment. Overall, the researchers said the move saved vast areas of coastal ecosystems and greatly reduced the amount of oil that would need to be collected or burned.

Dispersants break the oil into tiny molecules that present tens of thousands of times more surface area than normal crude to microbes to be eaten; the molecules also rise to the surface much more slowly than raw crude. Some 50 scientists at a workshop at Louisiana State University predicted these benefits from the dispersants in May, signaling their support for the decision the government had made; some dissenters led by Sylvia Earle have said it was too soon to declare it a success.

But scientists at last week's congressional briefing said say some important risks to the undersea environment remain:

1) Oil drops could wreak havoc on tuna eggs and larvae. Atlantic bluefin tuna are now spawning in their warm gulf waters. How might the oil drops affect their food supply? Biologist Robert Diaz of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, said scientists don't know. "Is the dispersed oil better or worse for the tuna-that's hard to judge," Diaz said.

2) By virtue of their size, small oil drops could be deadly. Dispersing the oil means breaking it into smaller drops, which can do unexpected things-like get wedged into the layers of armor of baby crabs, a Tulane University scientist found, as ScienceInsider reported earlier this month. Although the oil has yet to be detected in the bodies of the larvae, researchers don't know what effect it may have on the crabs and whether natural molting of their shells could rid them of the pollutant. Had the decision been made not to disperse the oil under water, the oil would have largely remained on the surface where "perhaps the larvae wouldn't see it," said Diaz.

By making the oil drops tiny-biologist Kenneth Lee of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Nova Scotia, Canada, estimated the dispersed oil drops are several hundred micrometers in size-they are far smaller than shrimp eggs or larvae, and that provides a new way for the pollutant to get into their cells. !
"Hopefully, [the oil] is diluted enough" that it's not affecting them much, said Diaz, although he has no data either way.

3) Vast undersea plumes may have gone undetected. As ScienceInsider reported last week, dozens of federal and academic scientists aboard seven research vessels in the gulf believe the undersea oil is very dilute and has remained, for the most part, within 50 km of the wellhead. Lee described how scientists use daily data from this monitoring to plan where to send ships the following day, lowering the chance that large oil plumes have remained undetected after weeks of searching.
But could giant plumes have been missed in the vast gulf anyway? "That's possible. We just don't know," said oceanographer Nancy Kinner of the University of New Hampshire in Durham. Undersea gliders operating at depth have given additional data to scientists on currents, but they lack strong detection devices for finding oil. "It's just not something you can rig to these gliders in 30 days," said Kinner, who laid out a series of new research priorities for spill scientists related to finding su!
ch plumes. (ScienceInsider will cover that next week.)

4) Are dispersants playing chemical chaperones for poisons? Dispersants form minute oil droplets by coating the oily molecules, making them into small drops surrounded by dispersant molecules. Chemist Bob Gagosian of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership in Washington, D.C., told Science Insider yesterday that some scientists worry that this could allow the most toxic elements of crude oil-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)-to enter the bodies of ocean microbes, with unknown effects.

5) Unk-unks. Dangers scientists don't know about so they can't gauge them-so-called unknown-unknowns-might lurk far below the surface. "Our knowledge declines with depth," said Diaz. For example, he said, researchers have scant details about how ecosystems that rely on deep-sea sediments work. Plus, pointed out Lee, natural oil seeps spew oil into the ocean all the time, which is, to some extent, naturally dispersed into smaller drops. Scientists have little ability thus far to differentiate between these sources and oil droplets formed by Corexit-or, for that matter, teasing out an anthropogenic signs.

Frog Deformities: Sign of Parasites on the Rise?

September 22, 2009—You might call it a teenage mutant ninja frog—minus the ninja.

In northern California, foothill yellow-legged tadpoles are developing into juvenile frogs with missing legs and eyes, like the animal seen above in 2008. These deformities are possibly caused by outbreaks of an alien parasite from Eurasia that usually attacks fish used in aquaculture and the aquarium trade, a new study says.

Anchor worms flourished in the South Fork Eel River in 2006 and 2008, when heat waves pushed maximum weekly average water temperatures to 75 degrees Fahrenheit (23.7 degrees Celsius), researchers found. (See map.)

Those years were also drier than normal, corralling tadpoles into smaller pools and making them sitting ducks for parasites.

Once the parasitic crustaceans enter the gills of a tadpole victim, they feed off the tadpole's tissues until male and female parasites mate. The male dies soon after. Meanwhile the fertilized female bores her way partially out of the tadpole.

The female worm's head and part of its body then morph into an anchor-like growth attached to the base of the tadpole's tail or to its legs. The parasite's egg sac is attached to this external growth, but part of the female parasite remains inside the tadpole's body and damages internal tissues.

(Related: "Pesticides, Parasite May Cause Frog Deformities.")

It's unclear whether this damage is responsible for the young Eel River frogs' striking defects, said study co-author Alessandro Catenazzi, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. But the team has found that many deformed frogs are infected.

The researchers also noticed that the most common malformations occur in the hind limbs—and in some cases the legs are missing altogether. Missing eyes are rare, he said, with only two cases recorded so far.

Infected frogs also tend to be smaller, making them weaker and less likely to survive the winter, according to the study, led by UC Berkeley's Sarah Kupferberg and published online in August in the journal Copeia.

Throughout California, dam construction and river flow management for irrigation, among other factors, have limited the yellow-legged frog's habitat, leading to a "dramatic decrease" of about 54 percent of the frog's native habitat, Catenazzi said. The frog historically was found from northern Oregon south to the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles, as well as higher elevations in the Sierra Nevada.

The anchor worm is yet another blow to the vulnerable amphibians, the authors say, and climate change is expected to spur more parasite-favoring heat waves in California in the future.

—Christine Dell'Amore

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/09/090922-mutant-frogs-missing-limbs.html

Frog Deformities: Sign of Parasites on the Rise?

September 22, 2009—You might call it a teenage mutant ninja frog—minus the ninja.

In northern California, foothill yellow-legged tadpoles are developing into juvenile frogs with missing legs and eyes, like the animal seen above in 2008. These deformities are possibly caused by outbreaks of an alien parasite from Eurasia that usually attacks fish used in aquaculture and the aquarium trade, a new study says.

Anchor worms flourished in the South Fork Eel River in 2006 and 2008, when heat waves pushed maximum weekly average water temperatures to 75 degrees Fahrenheit (23.7 degrees Celsius), researchers found. (See map.)

Those years were also drier than normal, corralling tadpoles into smaller pools and making them sitting ducks for parasites.

Once the parasitic crustaceans enter the gills of a tadpole victim, they feed off the tadpole's tissues until male and female parasites mate. The male dies soon after. Meanwhile the fertilized female bores her way partially out of the tadpole.

The female worm's head and part of its body then morph into an anchor-like growth attached to the base of the tadpole's tail or to its legs. The parasite's egg sac is attached to this external growth, but part of the female parasite remains inside the tadpole's body and damages internal tissues.

(Related: "Pesticides, Parasite May Cause Frog Deformities.")

It's unclear whether this damage is responsible for the young Eel River frogs' striking defects, said study co-author Alessandro Catenazzi, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. But the team has found that many deformed frogs are infected.

The researchers also noticed that the most common malformations occur in the hind limbs—and in some cases the legs are missing altogether. Missing eyes are rare, he said, with only two cases recorded so far.

Infected frogs also tend to be smaller, making them weaker and less likely to survive the winter, according to the study, led by UC Berkeley's Sarah Kupferberg and published online in August in the journal Copeia.

Throughout California, dam construction and river flow management for irrigation, among other factors, have limited the yellow-legged frog's habitat, leading to a "dramatic decrease" of about 54 percent of the frog's native habitat, Catenazzi said. The frog historically was found from northern Oregon south to the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles, as well as higher elevations in the Sierra Nevada.

The anchor worm is yet another blow to the vulnerable amphibians, the authors say, and climate change is expected to spur more parasite-favoring heat waves in California in the future.

—Christine Dell'Amore

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/09/090922-mutant-frogs-missing-limbs.html

More than 100 fish killed in pollution spill

Concerned anglers raised the alarm after spotting 100s of fish dying in pollution.

Anglers, from the Prosperous Coarse Angling Club, called water authorities after spotting a milky discharge which appeared to make it hard for the fish to breathe. The group were able to save some fish in keep nets in less polluted parts of the river before help arrived. Waterways Ireland and the Central Fisheries Board (CFB) then managed to save most of the fish, but about 100 were killed in the incident in Grand Canal near Sallins in Ireland. Officers from both organisations saw more than 100 dead fish near to some lock gates on the waterway and closed it - stopping the contaminated water spreading. The polluted water was diluted and moved to an area where the impact on wildlife would be lessened. Tests are being carried out to establish the cause of the pollution.

Luke Walsh
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=16618