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Archive for March 10th, 2014
Farmed Salmon Threaten Wild Salmon Gene Pool
Posted by Nature World News: None Given on March 10th, 2014
Nature World News: Sterilizing farmed salmon is a good way to conserve the wild salmon gene pool, researchers say.
According to University of East Anglia researchers, farmed salmon are genetically different than wild salmon. However, they are just as fertile as their wild counterparts, meaning that they can invade wild salmon territory.
Millions of farmed salmon escape into the wild and they could deplete the salmon gene pool by mating with the wild population, researchers caution.
"Around 95 per cent of all...
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United Kingdom: Fracking is no answer to ‘immediate dilemma’ of energy security
Posted by Guardian: Catherine Wigmore on March 10th, 2014
Guardian: Fracking might be a controversial proposition, but there is no need to panic just yet. It may be that shale is indeed the solution to our energy crisis, but many are unaware of the complex and tangled web of legal issues to be picked through before anyone puts a drill in the ground.
Fracking involves the extraction of methane gas from layers of shale by pumping high pressure water down a well. But shale gas stocks are legally owned by the Crown, and it is the Crown (via the Department for Energy...
Sterilise farmed salmon to stop breeding with wild fish, researchers say
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 10th, 2014
Press Association: Farmed salmon should be sterilised to prevent them breeding with wild fish and introducing genetic weaknesses, experts have urged.
New research shows that while salmon bred in captivity for food consumption are genetically different from their wild relatives, they are just as fertile, potentially damaging wild populations if they escape and breed with them.
Millions of salmon escape from fish farms each year, and can get into wild spawning populations where they can reproduce and introduce...
Japan sees higher chance of El Nino this summer
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 10th, 2014
Reuters: There is a greater possibility of an El Nino weather pattern emerging this summer, Japan's weather bureau said on Monday, after previously forecasting a 50 percent chance of the phenomenon that is often linked to heavy rainfall and droughts.
El Nino - a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific - can trigger drought in Southeast Asia and Australia and floods in South America, hitting production of key foods such as rice, wheat and sugar.
The potential disruption to supply would come...
Funding drought curbs Australia’s “food bowl to Asia” ambitions
Posted by Reuters: Jane Wardell on March 10th, 2014
Reuters: Australia's lofty ambitions to become a "food bowl" for a rapidly growing middle-class in Asia are in danger of falling at the farm gate due to the country's harsh, drought-prone climate and a lack of investment in agricultural innovation.
The federal government has touted the food bowl plan as one way of diversifying the economy as a decade-long mining boom that brought the country riches wanes.
But the industry says it has been left between a rock and a hard place - with state grants denied...
Australia: Climate action call as ‘another angry summer’ breaks 156 heat records
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on March 10th, 2014
Guardian: More than 150 temperature records were broken in Australia during “another angry summer” that highlighted the need for deep reductions in greenhouse gases, a new report has said.
The analysis, by the Climate Council, found that Sydney experienced its driest summer in 27 years, while Melbourne sweltered through its hottest ever 24-hour period, averaging 35.5C. The Victorian capital also had four days in a row above 41C.
Elsewhere, Adelaide had a record of 11 days at 42C or hotter during the...