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Sunday, 7 August 2011

Bluefin tuna sighting off Dorset 'significant'

Bluefin tuna is critically endangered

When a spear fisherman caught a bluefin tuna off the coast of Dorset, news of his unusual catch quickly spread.

The presence of a bluefin off Portland in July has attracted the attention of conservation groups since the critically endangered species is seldom seen there.

Dorset Wildlife Trust described the catch as "irresponsible" but added the sighting of bluefin tuna there was significant.

Kathryn Dawson, from the trust, said records of tuna sightings in the area had been kept for 70 years and were "pretty rare and quite special".

"Bluefin tuna has historically been present in waters around the UK and this is the first time we've had a verified identification in Dorset," she said.

Over-fishing of tuna has led to strict controls and quotas in the oceans where it is most commonly found.

Popular as sushi

Bluefin tuna is caught in the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, with smaller quantities fished from the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean.

“Start Quote

If anyone catches and releases a tuna we would like to know”

End Quote Kathryn Dawson Dorset Wildlife Trust

The biggest market for the fish is Japan, where people eat it raw in sushi.

Bluefin numbers began to decline in the 1960s with the introduction of new fishing methods, with over-fishing leading to its critically endangered status.

In Dorset, Ms Dawson suggests a possible reason for their reappearance was that they were following a food supply.

She said: "We don't know for sure why they were there, it could be that they were returning to waters they once used, for some reason, or could have been there all along but just hadn't been seen.

"We haven't had these in our waters in years - but we are meant to have them."

The Dorset coast, and in particular Weymouth and Portland, is popular with both commercial and recreational anglers, and Ms Dawson believes most people who fish there would know not to catch and kill - or "land" - a tuna.

'Catch and release'

Weymouth-based fisherman Dave Pitman has run fishing trips from the town's harbour for the past 35 years.

Fish caught by his customers are often put back into the sea, and can include dogfish, skate and turbot.

Dorset Wildlife Trust said bluefin tuna had been sighted around Portland Harbour

He said the man who caught the tuna had seen two of them, and caught it using a spear gun while he was diving.

He said: "If you caught a tuna most people would go mad [with excitement], but we know they are endangered and to not fish for them in this country."

Ms Dawson urged fishermen to follow the practice of "catch and release", which is also a way of helping to preserve local fish stocks.

"We appreciate that anglers are excited but they need to look after their own resources," she said.

"If anyone catches and releases a tuna we would like to know."

Dorset Wildlife Trust's Peter Tinsley said: "It would be irresponsible to intentionally kill one of these fish and it would be sad to see another killed in Dorset."

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is calling for vigilance from the fishing industry to ensure it does not catch bluefin tuna and "strongly discourages" any targeted fishing of the species.

Monday, 17 January 2011

the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, have been probed by scientists.

The climate secrets of the deepest part of the ocean, the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, have been probed by scientists.

The international team used a submersible, designed to withstand immense pressures, to study the bottom of the 10.9km-deep underwater canyon.

Their early results reveal that ocean trenches are acting as carbon sinks.

This suggests that they play a larger role in regulating the Earth's chemistry and climate than was thought.

Although two explorers, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, reached the deepest part of the Marianas Trench - a point called the Challenger Deep - in 1960, no humans have been back since.

And the handful of scientific missions, including this recent visit to this deepest spot, have been carried out using unmanned underwater vehicles.

Lead researcher Professor Ronnie Glud, from the University of Southern Denmark and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (Sams), said that working at more than 1,000 atmospheres of pressure was challenging, but advances in technology had made it possible.

He told BBC News: "This is the first time we have been able to set down sophisticated instruments at these depths to measure how much carbon is buried there."

Under pressure

Professor Glud, working with scientists from the Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology (Jamstec) and from the UK and Germany, used a lander equipped with special sensors packed in a titanium cylinder that was able to resist the remarkable pressures.

Don Walsh (left) and Jacques Piccard (right) in the bathyscaphe Trieste (Noaa Ship Collection)

Don Walsh (l) and Jacques Piccard's (r) deep-sea record still stands

The lander was launched from a ship and took three hours to free-fall to the sea bottom, where it carried out pre-programmed experiments before releasing its ballast and returning to the surface.

The tests helped the scientists to assess the abundance of carbon at those murky depths.

Professor Glud said: "Basically, we are interested in understanding how much organic material - that is all the material produced by algae or fish in the water above - settles at the sea bed, and is either eaten by bacteria and degraded or is buried.

"The ratio that is either degraded or buried is the ultimate process determining what are the oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations of the oceans and the atmosphere, and this gives us an overall picture of how efficiently the sea can capture and sequester carbon in the global carbon cycle."

While this has been studied in other parts of the ocean, such as the abyssal plain - the large flat area of the ocean that lies between 4.6km and 5.5km of depth - the role deep sea trenches play in the carbon cycle has until now remained largely unknown.

“Start Quote

To see an experiment such as this carried out at these extreme depths is a great leap forward in deep-sea science”

End Quote Dr Alan Jamieson Oceanlab

Professor Glud said: "Although these trenches cover just 2% of the ocean, we thought they might be disproportionately important, because it was likely that they would accumulate much more carbon because they would act as a trap, with more organic matter drifting to the bottom of them than in other parts of the ocean."

He explained that preliminary data from his experiments suggested that this was the case.

He said: "Our results very strongly suggest that the trenches do act as sediment traps. And they also had high activity, meaning that more carbon is turned over by bacteria in the trenches than is turned over at 6,000m of depth in the abyssal plain.

"What it means is that we have carbon storage going on in these trenches that is higher than we thought before, and this really means that we have a carbon dioxide sink in the deep ocean that wasn't recognised before."

The next stage for the team is to quantify their results and work out exactly how much more carbon is stored in deep sea trenches compared with other parts of the sea, and how much carbon turnover by bacteria is being carried out.

This, the researchers said, should help them to better establish the role of the ocean trenches in regulating climate.

Surprising finds

This is not the first time deep sea trenches have surprised scientists.

These fish were filmed at a depth of 7.7km

Beyond the abyss

Recent studies by University of Aberdeen's Oceanlab team have revealed that marine life is much more abundant in this hostile habitat than was previously thought.

In 2008, they filmed the deepest living fish ever to be caught on camera - a 17-strong shoal found at depths of 7.7km in the Japan Trench, and the revealed other animals such as amphipods were present in large numbers even deeper.

Dr Alan Jamieson, from Oceanlab, said the new study was helping researchers to build up a better idea of what happens in the deepest of the deep.

He said: "The trenches continue to amaze us.

"And to see an experiment such as this carried out at these extreme depths is a great leap forward in deep-sea science.

"These studies will greatly enhance our understanding of how the deep trenches contribute to carbon cycling in the world's oceans."

Thursday, 13 January 2011

Pesticide ban call for around India's Kaziranga park

12 January 2011 Last updated at 12:11

Pesticide ban call for around India's Kaziranga park

By Subir Bhaumik Kaziranga national park

Dead elephant in Kaziranga national park

Campaigners say pesticides have killed elephants and other animals in Kaziranga (Photo: Subhamoy Bhattacharjee)

Forestry officials in the north-east Indian state of Assam have demanded the creation of a no-pesticide zone around the famous Kaziranga game sanctuary.

The call follows the deaths of two pregnant elephants and other animals in tea estates around Kaziranga.

The national park is renowned for its varied wildlife, especially the tiger and the one-horned Indian rhino.

Officials say that mammals and birds were killed after eating grass that was contaminated by pesticides.

The two elephants ventured out of the park in search of food and ate grass which had been sprayed to kill red ants, officials say.

"The death of these elephants has brought the pesticide issue to the limelight, because the chemicals sprayed in tea estates are playing havoc with wildlife in our forests which are surrounded by hundreds of tea estates," said Anurag Singh, a senior forestry official in northern Assam where Kaziranga is located.

The area has the highest concentration of tea estates in India.

"The managements of these estates must turn to organic farming and stop spraying chemicals," Mr Singh said.

'Endangering our wildlife'

He added that hundreds of birds have died in the same area as has livestock which has eaten pesticide-laced grass in recent weeks.

“Start Quote

Unless we all go organic, our teas will be under a scanner and we will lose lucrative markets ”

End Quote Gossainbarie tea estate owner Binod Saharia

"The cows died in their dozens and the vultures who fed on them also died in large numbers. So you can imagine the effect on human health when consumers drink these teas," Mr Singh said.

He said the forestry department was contemplating the prosecution of some tea estates if animals - especially those that are endangered - are killed by the pesticides.

Local community groups also support a pesticide ban.

"The tea estates should go organic and stop spraying random pesticides. They are not only endangering our wildlife and aquatic life but also our people," said Moni Manik Gogoi, who heads a "people's committee" near Kaziranga.

Some tea estate owners have also supported the call, especially those who run estates which are fully organic.

"Unless we all go organic, our teas will be under a scanner and we will lose lucrative markets where consumers are very health conscious," said Binod Saharia, owner of the Gossainbarie tea estate near Kaziranga.

But some planters are wary of losing out if they make the transition.

"The tea industry is so used to chemicals because they represent the easy option when combating plant diseases like halepeltis," said HS Siddhu, a veteran tea planter in Northern Assam.

He said the planters should be persuaded rather than being forced to convert to organic farming.

Friday, 7 January 2011

rising food prices re-emerging as a threat to global growth and stability

G20 Must Act To Stabilize Food Prices. “With, the G20 industrial and developing nations should prioritize the provision of food for the poor, World Bank President Robert Zoellick says. In an opinion piece in Thursday's FT, Zoellick sets out nine action points to ensure the poor have access to food. …

French President Nicholas Sarkozy has identified food price volatility as a priority for his country as it takes the presidency of the G20 in 2011. …Zoellick called for more efforts to understand the relationship between international prices and local prices in poor countries. And he said food aid should be exempted from export bans. …” [Dow Jones/Factiva]

Reuters reports that “… ‘The answer to food price volatility is not to prosecute or block markets, but to use them better,’ Zoellick wrote in an opinion piece in Thursday's FT urging G20 leaders to put access to food at the top of its agenda. ‘By empowering the poor the G20 can take practical steps towards ensuring the availability of nutritious food,’ he wrote. …

He also called for an international code of conduct to exempt humanitarian food aid from export bans. …Other steps include improving supply transparency and long-weather forecasting, creating small humanitarian reserves in disaster-prone regions and providing alternatives to export bans and price fixing. Risk management products, such as weather insurance or a hedge on energy prices to keep transport and input costs low, should also be considered, he said.” [Reuters/Factiva]

The opinion by Zoellick published in the FT also writes that “…Increase public access to information on the quality and quantity of grain stocks. Better information reassures markets and helps calm panic-induced price spikes. Multilateral institutions could help identify ways to improve transparency.

Improve long-range weather forecasting and monitoring, especially in Africa. Accurate long-range weather forecasting is taken for granted by farmers and purchasers in the developed world; in poor countries where yields depend on rainfall, poor crop projections amplify price swings. Better weather forecasting would enable people to plan ahead, and help anticipate needs for assistance. The World Meteorological Organisation and the World Bank are already helping, but more is needed. …

Ensure effective social safety nets. It is vital that we protect the most vulnerable populations, such as pregnant and lactating women and children under two. We need to connect agriculture and nutrition, and help countries target those most in need at reasonable cost.

Give countries access to fast-disbursing support as an alternative to export bans or price fixing. To help countries avoid policies that harm their own farmers and neighbors, we need to provide reliable, fast alternatives customized to local needs. The World Bank has created a crisis response window under the International Development Association (IDA), its $49bn fund for the poorest countries, and launched a rapid-response Food Security Fund, but we could also explore credit lines or loans with repayment suspension and extension during price shocks. …

The answer to food price volatility is not to prosecute or block markets, but to use them better. By empowering the poor, the G20 can take practical steps towards ensuring the availability of nutritious food. Mr Sarkozy has shown leadership in putting this issue on the G20 agenda; the G20 must now act to put food first.” [The Financial Times/Factiva]

Food Prices Surge, Lifting Unrest Fears. “A prominent indicator of international food prices hit a record high in December, sounding a warning about looming threats to the world's poor and to global growth. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization's monthly food price index rose for the sixth consecutive month to 214.7, topping the previous peak, 213.5, reached in June 2008.

The index doesn't measure domestic retail prices, which can be affected by a wide range of factors, including government subsidies. Instead, the index tracks export prices and can still serve as a barometer of what consumers may pay. The prior record was set months after violent food riots struck several nations, an experience that is heightening concerns about potential consequences from the current rise. …” [The Wall Street Journal/Factiva]

FT notes that “…The warning from the UN body comes as inflation is becoming an increasing economic and political challenge in developing countries, including China and India, and is starting to emerge as a potential problem even in developed countries, including the UK and the eurozone.

Abdolreza Abbassian, senior economist at the FAO in Rome, said the spike was ‘alarming’, but added the situation was not yet a crisis similar to 2007-08, when food riots broke out in more than 30 poor countries, from Bangladesh to Haiti. …Abbassian painted a sombre outlook, warning that agricultural commodities prices were likely to rise further. ‘It will be foolish to assume this is the peak,’ he said. …” [The Financial Times/Factiva]

Dow Jones reports that Abbassian “… said poorer countries will at some point have to tap the international markets for foodstuffs. ‘That is the worrisome development...We consider the [current] prices quite punitive for the poorer countries.’ Abbassian said there is more likelihood that prices will rise in 2011 than fall. Any potential price correction is unlikely until the middle of the summer when the next harvests are due to begin.” [Dow Jones/Factiva]

Monday, 22 November 2010

Carbon emissions fell in 2009 due to the recession therefore can we conclude

2009 carbon emissions fall smaller than expectedBy Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News

Coal use in developing economies tends to make them less “carbon-efficient”

Continue reading the main story

Monday, 15 November 2010

putting up the price of junk food

Panorama reporter Shelley Jofre visits a chocolate factory in Denmark

By Shelley Jofre
Reporter, Panorama

In the same way as taxing cigarettes helped to reduce smoking and related illnesses, could putting up the price of junk food - as Denmark has done - cut obesity rates in the UK?

The first thing that struck me on the taxi journey into Copenhagen was how slim everyone looked.

I really had trouble spotting anyone fat.

And the second thing that became obvious the moment I stepped out of the cab and was almost run over by a cyclist, was that the Danes are clearly no strangers to exercise.

So why on earth has their government become the first in the world to introduce a tax on junk food?

The answer is depressingly simple. They may be among the slimmest in Europe but the Danes do not want to end up as fat as the British.

The UK is the fattest nation in Europe; one third of children and two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese.

When cigarettes were taxed... there was an immediate decline in the number that were bought

Professor Peter Kopelman
Obesity expert

At this rate, by 2050 obesity will be costing the state £32bn a year.

In Denmark there are signs that obesity among younger children is actually falling for the first time in 60 years.

But adult obesity is still on the increase and the government is anxious to reverse that trend.

"We've been relying on and emphasising self-responsibility for the last 50 years and it doesn't work," Charlotte Kira Kimby, of the Danish Heart Foundation told me.

"We know that sugar and fat are really what causes obesity to increase. So to target taxes makes sense and should have an impact on health."

'Ruin ourselves'

Think of all your favourite indulgences - chocolate, ice cream, crisps, sweets, cola… and imagine they all cost you significantly more than at present.

That is what is happening in Denmark. If it hit you in the pocket, would it make you change your behaviour? Or would you simply be furious about the food police telling you what to eat?

I met one Danish couple who are raising three young children on a modest income in what is already the most highly-taxed nation in Europe.

FIND OUT MORE

Panorama: Tax the fat is on BBC One on Monday 15 November at 2030GMT

Or watch it later via the BBC iPlayer

Join the debate on the Panorama blog

But they do not resent the government adding further to their grocery bills; far from it.

Lars Moerck and Karina Kirkefeldt have both struggled with obesity in the past.

At his heaviest Lars jokes that he had the belly of "an English hooligan".

Having both lost substantial amounts of weight, neither of them wants their children to have the same problems.

"We ruin ourselves and somebody has to take action. So if we can't do it, then the government should make health for the people," said Karina.

And Charlotte Kira Kimby denies that the new taxes amount to government nannying.

"We still have the same free choice to buy the things we would like to buy in the shops.

"What is happening with this kind of tax is that we actually just see the state going in and balancing price because it is cheap to produce food with a high content of sugar, fat and salt."

Calorie cuts

Not everyone has welcomed the changes though.

Jesper Moller believes consumers are already demanding healthier options

As chief executive of leading chocolate company Toms, Jesper Moller is Copenhagen's very own Willy Wonka.

He says firms like his are already reducing the calorie content of their products in response to customer demand.

He thinks the new taxes are an unnecessary burden.

"It just makes it very complicated to be a confectionary producer in Denmark. We already have some of the highest labour costs in the world," he said.

Obesity expert Professor Peter Kopelman of the Royal College of Physicians argues that the UK could learn a lesson from the lean Danes.

He believes that there is a clear parallel with the taxation of cigarettes.

Nudges are very important... tax is not a nudge, tax is a shove

Andrew Lansley, Health Secretary

Prof Kopelman said: "When cigarettes were taxed, you found that there was an immediate decline in the number that were bought.

"We also saw that there was a decline in the diseases that complicate cigarette smoking. I think there are lessons to learn for unhealthy food."

The Health Secretary Andrew Lansley is due to publish a white paper on public health for England shortly. In it, he will lay out his strategy for tackling obesity.

But it seems any idea of a junk food tax is already off the table.

"Nudges are very important. Tax is not a nudge, tax is a shove," he said.

"If you start down the route of taxation, quite often you get quite a lot of push back against that. The public don't think it's our job to be trying to tell people what to do."

Read his lips. No new taxes.

It is too early to tell whether the Danish experiment will be successful but at least they have time on their side.

In the UK, the clock is ticking.

Public health experts fear that if we do not take steps to improve our diet in the UK, by 2050 we could expect a 20% rise in heart disease and a staggering 70% rise in Type 2 diabetes.

No-one would argue there is anything sweet about those statistics.

Panorama: Tax the Fat is on BBC One on Monday 15 November at 2030 GMT. Or watch it later via the BBC iPlayer. Join the debate on the Panorama blog.

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Sunday, 7 August 2011

Bluefin tuna sighting off Dorset 'significant'

Bluefin tuna sighting off Dorset 'significant'

“Start Quote

Monday, 17 January 2011

the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, have been probed by scientists.

“Start Quote

Thursday, 13 January 2011

Pesticide ban call for around India's Kaziranga park

Pesticide ban call for around India's Kaziranga park

“Start Quote

Friday, 7 January 2011

rising food prices re-emerging as a threat to global growth and stability

Monday, 22 November 2010

Carbon emissions fell in 2009 due to the recession therefore can we conclude

Carbon emissions fell in 2009 due to the recession therefore can we conclude

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Monday, 15 November 2010

putting up the price of junk food

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Sunday, 7 August 2011

Bluefin tuna sighting off Dorset 'significant'

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Monday, 17 January 2011

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Thursday, 13 January 2011

Pesticide ban call for around India's Kaziranga park

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Friday, 7 January 2011

Monday, 22 November 2010

Carbon emissions fell in 2009 due to the recession therefore can we conclude

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