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Archive for March 25th, 2011
Great Lakes barrier may be too weak to stop carp
Posted by Reuters: Andrew Stern on March 25th, 2011
Reuters: Voltage coursing through electrical barriers designed to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes may need to be raised to keep out juvenile fish, U.S. officials said on Friday.
The Army Corps of Engineers has mounted a multimillion-dollar effort to keep voracious Bighead and Silver Carp that now infest the Mississippi River Basin out of the Great Lakes, where scientists predict they could decimate the lakes' $7 billion fishery.
"The current barrier operating parameters are effective...
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Salmon play hidden role in forest growth, researchers find
Posted by Vancouver Sun: Margaret Munro on March 25th, 2011
Vancouver Sun: Salmon play hidden role in forest growth, researchers find
Salmon may live in the water, but a new study shows they help shape the forest.
A study of 50 watersheds in the Great Bear Rainforest on British Columbia's central coast says bears, fish-catching wolves and other predators haul huge amounts of salmon into the forest that provide a potent "nutrient subsidy" that drives plant growth in the surrounding forest.
Nitrogen released by the fish favours some plants -such as the aptly named...
Japan: Devil’s in the Details for Drinking Water in Nuclear Accident Scenarios
Posted by Greenwire: Jenny Mande on March 25th, 2011
Greenwire: Residents of Tokyo and other areas around the failed Daiichi power plants have been faced with a whiplash of advisories on the safety of tap water in the face of tests showing the presence of radioactive iodine. Tokyo officials warned Wednesday that infants should not consume tap water, only to rescind the advisory yesterday when radiation levels tested lower. It is not clear what the precise route of exposure is through which Japanese water supplies have picked up detectable levels of radioactivity,...
Amazon village bans tourists
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 25th, 2011
Guardian: The small Amazonian town of Nazareth is a traveller's dream. Wildlife prowls the surrounding jungles and indigenous inhabitants practise ceremonies that long predate the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores.
But it may be advisable for tourists to give the place a wide berth. Locals have declared their town off-limits to travellers, even though this stretch of the Amazon river is playing host to more visitors than ever. Their main complaint: tourists' behaviour, and that only a fraction of the...
New Mekong Dam a Go, and a Blow to Endangered Megafishes?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 25th, 2011
National Geographic: , recommended a 10-year building freeze on all Mekong dam construction projects to allow time for more studies on the dams’ environmental and societal impacts to be conducted.
"My intuition is that if you really account for the full sweep of negative impacts to humans and fish species, it would be hard to justify a dam on the Mekong River," McIntyre said.
Laos recently indicated it would resist the SEA report's recommendations. "We have no reason to believe that the Project should be delayed...
Nuclear safer than coal, Chinese atomic official says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 25th, 2011
Reuters: Even in the wake of Japan's Fukushima nuclear crisis, nuclear power remains a safer and cleaner choice for China than coal, Pan Ziqiang, the chairman of the science and technology committee at the China National Nuclear Corporation, said on Friday. Before Japan's earthquake and tsunami, Beijing was bullish about the prospects of nuclear power in China, fast-tracking the approval of dozens of reactors along the coast as part of a wider plan to ease dependence on heavily-polluting fossil fuels. Since...