Free Republic

The discovery of this new habitat is all the more surprising, since such hard corals have long been considered vulnerable to chemical contamination and oily discharges from oil wells and susceptible to being smothered by the discharges of sediment from the surface, when muds and cuttings are returned to the waters.

DAVENPORT, Calif. - The state acquired five miles of beaches and rugged coastline in Santa Cruz County on Friday, bringing public ownership to one of the longest stretches of private beachfront property in Northern California. The state Public Works Board voted to accept 407 beachfront acres of Coast Dairies Ranch, which consists of 6,845 acres of redwood forests, artichoke fields and rolling hills northwest of Santa Cruz. The beaches, including Panther Beach, Bonny Doon Beach and Davenport Bluffs, will become part of a new state park that will be opened to the public and patrolled by rangers over the next...

Scientists Discover Undersea Volcano Off Antarctica http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/newsroom/images/news_images/volcano_still_th.jpg   An artist's depiction of the track of the camera array as it is towed over the volcanic cone. Credit: Trent Schindler / National Science FoundationSelect image for larger version(Size: 216KB)     The underwater video array is prepared for deployment. Credit: National Science Foundation / Hamilton CollegeSelect image for larger version(Size: 96KB)     The icy deck of the Laurence M. Gould. Credit: NSF / Hamilton CollegeSelect image for larger version(Size: 300KB)     Larger versions of all images from this document    Note About Images ARLINGTON, Va.-Scientists working in the stormy...

Rather than read the various media interpretations, here's the commission's press release in its entirety. April 20, 2004 Press Statement: A Blueprint for U.S. National Ocean Policy for the 21st Century: U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy Releases Preliminary ReportOceans in Serious Trouble: Must Act Now Delicate Balance Between Use and Sustainability is Key to Future of Our Oceans Historic Report to be Reviewed By Governors and Stakeholders Washington, D.C. – Calling on Congress and President Bush to establish a new national ocean policy that balances use with sustainability, is based on sound science and educational excellence, and moves toward an...

Among the New Year’s many unappreciated gifts to the seafood industry and ultimately to every industry reliant upon nature’s resources is the $2.5 million PEW-funded study by U.S. academics claiming high contaminant levels of PCBs in farmed salmon. That well-planned and funded assault on the global seafood trade has European nations eyeing the credibility of the United States research community with the same anger and derision portrayed in the 1958 novel, “The Ugly American” authored by Eugene Burdick and William J. Lederer. Imperious, incompetent, arrogant, and erroneous are reflective of the invectives being hurled at the so-called “U.S. study.” Eastern...

U.S. EPA Orders Seven-Up to clean up waste water discharge from Sacramento facility For Immediate Release: March 25, 2004 Contact: Lisa Fasano, 415-947-4307 Press Office Main Line: (415) 947-8700 SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently ordered the Seven-Up/RC Bottling Company Inc. of San Francisco to immediately comply with the federal Clean Water Act at the company's Sacramento facility. Stormwater polluted by industrial materials such as fuel and battery acid runs off from the Seven-Up plant at 2670 Land Avenue, in Sacramento, a violation of facility's storm water discharge permit. In addition, the industrial wastewater discharged by...

Advocates of a United Nations treaty that would severely erode US sovereignty and national security were stealthily trying to push the measure through the Senate - until Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma invited Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney and former treaty negotiator Peter Leitner to tear the treaty apart. With the Bush Administration focused on fighting terrorism, arms-controllers within the bureaucracy have been working quietly with their allies in the Senate to ratify the UN Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) without the proper vetting from senior officials appointed by the president. In a recent meeting with conservative...

Say marine mammals depleting fish supply PORTLAND -- Columbia River smelt, salmon and sturgeon are being gobbled up by hungry seals and sea lions at alarming rates, according to fishermen in Oregon and Washington. When smelt were in the Cowlitz River recently, a pack of eight to 10 sea lions would swoop in and "blow the smelt right off the spawning beds," Bruce Crookshanks, a Cowlitz County commercial fisherman, said at a hearing this past week to set salmon-fishing seasons. Seals and sea lions are protected species under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act. "You've got a major predator problem,"...

Researchers Try to Unravel Mystery of Disappearing Eels Mar 20, 2004 Virginia Smith/ The Associated Press ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (AP) - At 3:30 a.m., Kim Tugend sweeps a dip net across the face of the Guana River dam. From the concrete ledge in the dam house, it is a steep drop to the water, and Tugend's net is long and unwieldy. Her only light comes from her tiny headlamp. From the ledge, in the dark, she can see tiny jellyfish flashing an otherworldly purple light, and the churning waters are deafening. When she pulls her net up and empties it...

SAN FRANCISCO – The federal government banned commercial fishing for swordfish in a large swath of the Pacific Ocean in order to protect endangered sea turtles that were being killed or injured by the hooks. The new rules, released Thursday by the National Marine Fisheries Service, mean that longline fishing for swordfish will be prohibited in a 1,600-mile stretch of the Pacific Ocean between the West Coast and Hawaii. The ban is scheduled to take effect on April 12 and will affect about two dozen fishing boats based in California, Oregon and Washington. Recreational fishing is not affected. "It's an...

Stalin's last army - hordes of gigantic crabs on their way to invade Europe - By Julius Strauss in Kirkenes, northern Norway (Filed: 28/02/2004) Millions of giant Pacific crabs, whose ancestors were brought to Europe by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s, are marching south along Norway's coast, devouring everything in their path. The monster crabs, which can weigh up to 25lb and have a claw-span of more than three feet, are proving so resilient that scientists fear they could end up as far south as Gibraltar. Energised by a mysterious population explosion a decade ago, whole armies of the crustaceans...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's Great Barrier Reef will lose most of its coral cover by 2050 and, at worst, the world's largest coral system could collapse by 2100 because of global warming, a study released on Saturday said. The study by Queensland University's Center for Marine Studies, commissioned by the Worldwide Fund for Nature, said that the destruction of coral on the Great Barrier Reef was inevitable due to global warming, regardless of what actions were taken now. "Under the worst-case scenario, coral populations will collapse by 2100 and the re-establishment of coral reefs will be highly unlikely over the...

Scientists agree that coral reefs are in an alarming global state of decline. However, determining the main cause or causes of this decline has proven a much more contentious issue. In the current edition of the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology (JEMBE), Harbor Branch marine scientist Dr.Brian Lapointe and colleagues present new evidence they hope will help settle one major debate: whether pollution or overfishing is the main cause of the coral-smothering spread of seaweed on many reefs. The research suggests that pollution from such sources as sewage and agricultural runoff is the main culprit, a conclusion that...

SAN ONOFRE, Calif., – Thousands of large sardines, some up to a foot long, died this week when they were sucked into intake tunnels at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, officials said. About 13,500 pounds of the thin, silvery fish were killed in a 24-hour period between Monday and Tuesday, said Ray Golden, spokesman for Southern California Edison, which is the majority owner of the plant. The fish appeared to have been swimming near shore to escape choppy seas off the coast of northern San Diego County, Golden said Wednesday. The mass fish deaths were an oddity, according to...

Navy boards illegal fishing boat A NAVY boarding party rappelled down ropes from a helicopter to seize a suspected illegal fishing boat in treacherous Antarctic seas, the federal government said today. The boat, Maya V, was apprehended late yesterday for suspected poaching within Australia's economic zone around the remote Heard and McDonald Islands, more than 4000km south-west of Perth. "Our frigate HMAS Warramunga and her sailors on patrol in Australia's southern oceans battled extremely bad weather and high seas to intercept and board the Maya V," Defence Minister Robert Hill said in a statement. "It is a credit to their...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Mr. Bill, the "Saturday Night Live" clay character from the 1970s whose misadventures usually left him squished, will be part of a campaign aimed at teaching people - especially children - how Louisiana is losing its coastal marshes and swamps. "I wish I had a quick three-word synopsis for it other than maybe Mr. Bill says 'Ohh, nooo!!! - the coastal erosion,'" said Walter Williams, Mr. Bill's creator and a native of New Orleans. The campaign will be launched next summer with Mr. Bill and a gang...

The American lobster fails to "get it on" with European female lobsters. This will probably save the European population of lobsters. Norwegian fishermen caught American lobsters within the Oslo fjord. Scientists who warned that the european species risked beeing jostled out because of the import of the American relative, now sound the all-clear according to TT (Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå). The courting of the American lobster male runs smooth, until it is time for the finale. Then the male suddenly becomes unsure - since he does not recognise the anatomy of the female lobster.

SAN VALENTIN, Mexico - Laws barring the killing of protected sea turtles and the sale of their eggs have been as effective as anti-drug trafficking programs: driving the practice underground but failing to stop it. The latest threat is a horseback-riding gang whose members wield Kalashnikov rifles to drive away police and unarmed environmental activists. Centuries-old traditions make the turtles, and especially their eggs, highly prized in Mexico, where officials have spent decades trying to protect the sea creatures. Turtle eggs can still be found at rural markets and restaurants in many parts of southern Mexico, though they are sometimes...

Are You Eating Cancerous Salmon? By Ronald Bailey Smoked salmon with capers and onions was featured at brunch at a friend's house this past Sunday. I dug in and enjoyed two helpings, despite last week's dire headlines that I was recklessly gambling with cancer. Those alarming headlines were based on the study "Global Assessment of Organic Contaminants in Farmed Salmon" published in Science. That study tested 700 samples of salmon from Europe and South and North America for the presence of various man-made contaminants. The researchers supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts especially focused on poly-chlorinated biphenyls (PCB) levels in...

Landmark Environmental Law Put On Hold Governor Says There Isn't Enough Money To Fund Project MONTEREY, Calif. -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is putting a landmark environmental law on hold, saying there isn't enough money to continue funding the project. The legislation is known as the Marine Preservation Life Act. It requires the state to create more marine reserves off the California coastline by 2005. The law was passed in 1999 under the Clinton administration as a way to preserve endangered fish in California waters. Many marine biologists Action News spoke with Tuesday said they're enraged by the governor's action, calling...