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csnews · 4 years

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'I've never seen or heard of attacks': scientists baffled by orcas harassing boats

Susan Smillie - September 13, 2020

Reports of orcas striking sailing boats in the Straits of Gibraltar have left sailors and scientists confused. Just what is causing such unusually aggressive behaviour?

When nine killer whales surrounded the 46ft boat that Victoria Morris was crewing in Spain on the afternoon of 29 July, she was elated. The biology graduate taught sailing in New Zealand and is used to friendly orca encounters. But the atmosphere quickly changed when they started ramming the hull, spinning the boat 180 degrees, disabling the autohelm and engine. The 23-year-old watched broken bits of the rudder float off, leaving the four-person crew without steering, drifting into the Gibraltar Straits shipping lane between Cape Trafalgar and the small town of Barbate.

The pod rammed the boat for more than an hour, during which time the crew were too busy getting the sails in, readying the life raft and radioing a mayday – “Orca attack!” – to feel fear. The moment fear kicked in, Morris says, was when she went below deck to prepare a grab bag – the stuff you take when abandoning ship. “The noise was really scary. They were ramming the keel, there was this horrible echo, I thought they could capsize the boat. And this deafening noise as they communicated, whistling to each other. It was so loud that we had to shout.” It felt, she says, “totally orchestrated”.

The crew waited a tense hour and a half for rescue – perhaps understandably, the coastguard took time to comprehend (“You are saying you are under attack from orca?”). To say this is unusual is to massively understate it. By the time help arrived, the orcas were gone. The boat was towed to Barbate, where it was lifted to reveal the rudder missing its bottom third and outer layer, and teeth marks along the underside.

Rocío Espada works with the marine biology laboratory at the University of Seville and has observed this migratory population of orca in the Gibraltar Straits for years. She was astonished. “For killer whales to take out a piece of a fibreglass rudder is crazy,” she says. “I’ve seen these orcas grow from babies, I know their life stories, I’ve never seen or heard of attacks.”

Highly intelligent, social mammals, orcas are the largest of the dolphin family, and behave in a similar way. It is normal, she says, that orcas will follow close to the propeller. Even holding the rudder is not unheard of: “Sometimes they will bite the rudder, get dragged behind as a game.” But never with enough force to break it. This ramming, Espada says, indicates stress. The Straits is full of nets and long lines; perhaps a calf got caught.

But Morris’s was only one of several encounters between late July and August. Six days earlier, Alfonso Gomez-Jordana Martin, a 31-year-old from Alicante, was crewing a delivery boat near Barbate for the same company, Reliance Yacht Management. They were proceeding under engine when a pod of four orcas brought their 40ft Beneteau to a halt. He filmed them – it looks more like excitement and curiosity than aggression – but even this bumping damaged the rudder. And the force increased, he says, over 50 minutes. “Once we were stopped, they came in faster: 10-15 knots, from a distance of about 25m,” he remembers. “The impact tipped the boat sideways.”

The skipper’s report to the port authority said the force “nearly dislocated the helmsman’s shoulder and spun the whole yacht through 120 degrees”.

At 11.30pm the previous night, 22 July, Beverly Harris, a retired nurse from Derbyshire, and her partner, Kevin Large, were motor-sailing their 50ft boat, Kailani, just off Barbate at eight knots, when they came to a sudden standstill. It was flat calm, pitch black. They thought they’d hit a net. “I scrambled for a torch and was like, ‘Bloody hell, they’re orcas,’” says Harris. The couple checked their position and found the boat pointing the opposite way. They tried to correct several times, but the orcas kept spinning them back. “I had this weird sensation,” Harris says, “like they were trying to lift the boat.” It lasted about 20 minutes, but felt longer. “We thought, ‘We’ve sailed across the Atlantic, surely we’re not going to sink now!’” Their rudder was damaged but got them to La Línea. It was a long night. “Kevin said I should get some sleep. I said, ‘Are you joking? I’m having a gin and tonic,’” recalls Harris.

While enjoying her drink, Harris could have spared a thought for Nick Giles, having a sleepless night alone after an almost identical encounter off Barbate just two and a half hours earlier. He was motor-sailing, and playing music when he heard a sudden bang “like a sledgehammer”. The wheel was “turning with incredible force” as the vessel spun 180 degrees, dislodging the autohelm and steering cables. “The boat lifted up half a foot and I was pushed by a second whale from behind,” he says. While resetting the cables, the orca hit again, “nearly chopping off my fingers in the mechanism”. He was pushed around without steering for about 15 minutes before they left him.

Catastrophic encounters between whales and boats are not unknown – the best-known events all took place in the Pacific. In 1972 the Robertson family from Staffordshire were shipwrecked off the Galapagos Islands after an orca strike (their book, Survive the Savage Sea became a classic). The following year, also on the way to those islands, Maurice and Maralyn Bailey’s 31ft boat was holed by a sperm whale. In 1989 William and Simone Butler lost their boat as a huge pod of pilot whales rammed them. In these and all other known cases, the mammals ignored the humans who took to life rafts; it was the boats that attracted their ire. More usually in encounters, the whale is left dead or injured. The International Whaling Commission records these strikes – more collisions are occurring with private boats as technological advances increase performance speeds.

The encounters described around Barbate were certainly frightening for the crew, who understandably felt targeted, but it’s unlikely they were meant as aggressive attacks. At least two other boats had harmless encounters. On 20 July Martin Chambers, a yacht master for Allabroad Sailing Academy, was unconcerned when they were joined by a pod near Barbate. One individual “had hold of the rudder and stopped us moving the boat”, he says. “That’s the first time I’ve seen them do that.” It seems the encounters increased in intensity, but it’s also worth considering that different boat constructions can suffer different outcomes – rudders on some modern boats can be quite fragile.

“These are very strange events,” says Ezequiel Andréu Cazalla, a cetacean researcher who talked to Morris. “But I don’t think they’re attacks.” Orca specialists around the world are equally surprised, agreeing the behaviour is “highly unusual”, but are cautious, given that the accounts are not from trained researchers. Most agree that something is stressing the orcas. And when it comes to sources of stress, there are plenty to choose from.

“The lack of tuna has led these orca to the very edge with only 30 adults left”

The Gibraltar orcas are endangered – there are fewer than 50 individuals left, with a continuing decline projected – adults and juveniles are sustaining injuries, suffering food scarcity and pollution. Their calves rarely survive. The Gibraltar Straits is, Cazalla points out, “the worst place for orcas to live”. This narrow stretch of water is a major shipping route. And the presence of orcas attracts more marine traffic – highly profitable whale-watching. Theoretically, it is regulated, but some operators flout rules about speed and distance to chase the animals. Constant harassment by boats affects the orcas’ ability to hunt. Which brings us to the biggest stress of all: fishing.

The orcas return to this noisy, polluted stretch of water for one reason – to feed. They specialise in hunting bluefin tuna, also highly prized by humans. The near collapse of bluefin tuna between 2005 and 2010 “has led this orca population to the very edge, with about 30 adults left”, says Pauline Gauffier, who has studied them.

The Straits is an important migratory route for the tuna. It has been economically crucial to this region for thousands of years – the Romans produced coins in Cadiz depicting the once bountiful fish. Local fisheries still use an ancient technique – almadraba, a complex system of trap nets. Each spring, the bluefin arrive to spawn in the Med; many find their way into the nets instead. In July and August, as the tuna leave for the Atlantic, the fishermen switch to drop lines – baited with fish and lowered with rocks. These artisanal techniques are far less harmful than trawling, purse seining or driftnets – and than the reckless sport-fishing boats speeding at 10 knots, trailing long lines.

“They target the orca, because they think there must be tuna under the pods,” says Jörn Selling, a marine biologist for Firmm whale watching and research foundation with 17 years’ experience in the Straits. “They go right through the pods, their hooks cutting the dorsal fins”.

In the past, the orca chased the bluefin to exhaustion, but with fewer and smaller fish available, and the pressures from human activity, some have adapted. As a result, there now exists what biologists call “depradation” – a complex balance between the orca, tuna, and humans – and what the fishermen call “stealing”.

Since 1999, two of the Straits’ five pods have learned to take tuna from the drop lines, leaving the fishermen pulling up the tuna head alone. It’s infuriating for the fishermen, but for the orca, this is high risk. Several have sustained serious injuries. “We see marks caused by fishing lines,” says Selling. “We hear about young orca getting hooked.” There are two females with severed flippers – “Lucia”, Selling says “lost her baby together with her flipper, due to the interaction with tuna fishermen”. Gauffier points out that “there is little the fishermen can do to avoid line or hook injuries” when orca interact; and it’s not known what caused the injuries. But many conservationists suspect some fishermen retaliate violently.

“The fishermen hate the killer whales,” says Selling. The orca are protected, but “unobserved, the fishermen do what they want. They see them as competitors.”

Stories persist of fishermen stunning orca with electric prods, throwing lit petrol cans, cutting dorsal fins. Cazalla has seen two orca with recent injuries (Morris thinks there was an injured individual at her boat). “One has a significant scar – you can see white tissue so it’s deep.” This, he thinks, is unlikely to be from a propeller, which would cause multiple scars.

Selling points out that the orca interact with the almadraba as well as drop-line fishing, and talks of a male which worked out how to navigate the labyrinth of submarine nets to take tuna in Barbate years ago. This orca was later observed with serious injury to its dorsal fin. It hasn’t been seen since.

But the orca have endured harassment for decades. What explains the new behaviour? Was there reduced noise during the Covid lockdown? Selling says yes. “No big game fishing, no whale watching or sailing boats, no fast ferries, fewer merchant ships.” He’s intrigued by the idea that the orca had two months with reduced noise – “Something most of them probably never experienced before” – and considers the possibility they felt angry as the noise restarted (Gauffier thinks this unlikely, but notes that the Barbate pod still actively chases tuna, “for which they need a quieter environment”).

There is one very unscientific phrase I hear repeatedly from several researchers: “Pissed off”. Some speculate that the multitude of stresses these highly sentient cetaceans have endured – years of grieving lost calves, injuries, competition for fish, coupled with a pause and reintroduction of human activity, could have affected their behaviour. There is a great deal we don’t yet know about orca, which, like us, have evolved complex cultures and different languages around the world. A couple of years ago Ken Balcomb from the Center for Whale Research talked about endangered orca being dependent on scarce chinook salmon in the Pacific Northwest. “I’ve seen them look at boats hauling fish. I think they know that humans are somehow related to the scarcity of food. And I think they know that the scarcity of food is causing them physical distress, and also causing them to lose babies.”

Sounds like anthropomorphising? Lori Marino, neuroscientist and president of the Whale Sanctuary Project found in orca brains an astounding capacity for intelligence. “If we are talking about whether killer whales have the wherewithal and the cognitive capacity to intentionally strike out at someone, or to be angry, or to really know what they are doing, I would have to say the answer is yes. They are likely defending a territory or resources.”

Meanwhile, Nick Irving from Reliance is wondering if he should send clients’ boats out after the last three sustained damage: “Is it reckless?” Neither of us say it, but we’re both thinking he doesn’t want to be the mayor in Jaws – the obvious, if lazy stereotype that comes to mind. Word is starting to get out, frustrating Espada. Friends call, asking about the “attacks”, if it’s safe to swim. “Are you mad?” she asks. “Of course it’s safe!” As shark conservationists know all too well, it’s difficult to protect endangered animals with a bad image.

This tiny population’s presence is of huge importance, and if human activity is affecting their behaviour, human activity must be regulated. Gauffier has presented the Spanish Environment Agency with a conservation plan proposing that in the Barbate area, “activities producing underwater noise should be reduced to a minimum”. This is the very least that should happen. Each sailor I spoke to was concerned that their activities had stressed the orca. Victoria Morris, who has been searching for a specialist subject when she returns to study marine biology in autumn has found her topic. The Gibraltar orca has one more ally – which is good because these majestic, beleaguered mammals need all the help they can get.

#news #wild #cetacean #orca #killer whale #gibraltar #whale #dolphin

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sciencespies · 3 years

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Protecting coral from heat stress and coral bleaching

https://sciencespies.com/environment/protecting-coral-from-heat-stress-and-coral-bleaching/

Protecting coral from heat stress and coral bleaching

Corals are the backbone of marine ecosystems in the tropics. They are threatened by rising water temperatures caused by global warming and they are among the first ecosystems worldwide that are on the verge of ecological collapse. Coral bleaching, which is becoming stronger and more frequent due to heat stress, has already wiped out corals at many locations globally. With the help of a microbiome-targeting strategy developed by an international team led by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, it could become feasible to help protect corals from heat stress. The work has now been published in the international journal Microbiome.

Images of bare, naked white coral reefs have been increasingly circulating around the world. The typically colourful reefs of tropical oceans, which are home to many species of the marine ecosystem, are suffering from rising water temperatures due to global warming. There is no heat relieve for the corals in sight. Scientists are desperately seeking out ways to make the temperature-sensitive organisms more resistant to heat stress. A group of scientists led by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel are developing a promising approach, which is based on a therapeutic treatment known from human medicine. The study was published in the international journal Microbiome.

“The idea is that probiotic bacteria with beneficial functions could help a coral to better withstand heat stress,” explains Dr Anna Roik from GEOMAR, lead author of the study, which was funded as part of a Future Ocean Network project at Kiel University. “In the current study, we tested the approach of a ‘microbiome transplantation’, inspired by microbiome-based applications we know for example from clinical treatments,” Roik continues.

The research group conducted coral microbiome transplantation experiments with the reef-building corals Pocillopora and Porites in the Andaman Sea in Thailand. They investigated whether this technique can improve the heat resistance of corals by modifying the bacterial microbiome. The scientists first looked for more heat-tolerant “donor” corals. “We then used material from the coral tissue of the donor corals to inoculate conspecific, heat-sensitive recipients and then documented their bleaching responses and microbiome changes using a genetic analysis method called 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding,” explains Dr Roik.

The recipient corals of both species bleached more mildly compared to the control group during a short-term heat stress test (34 °C). “The results show that the inoculated corals were able to resist the heat stress response for a short time,” explains Prof. Dr Ute Hentschel Humeida, head of the Marine Symbioses Research Unit at GEOMAR and co-author of the study. “In addition, the microbiome data suggest that the ‘inoculated’ corals may favour the uptake of putative bacterial symbionts,” Dr Anna Roik continues. “However, further experimental studies are required to unravel the exact mechanism of action, as well as long-term field-based studies to test the durability of the effect,” says the marine biologist, looking ahead.

Story Source:

Materials provided by Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR). Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

#Environment

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sciencenewsforstudents · 4 years

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Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is currently experiencing its third mass bleaching in just five years — and it is the most widespread bleaching event ever recorded.

Results from aerial surveys conducted along the 2,000-kilometer-long reef over nine days in late March, and released April 7, show that 25 percent of 1,036 individuals reefs surveyed were severely affected, with more than 60 percent of corals bleached. Another 35 percent of the reefs had less extensive bleaching.

“This is the second most severe event we have seen, but it is by far the most widespread,” says marine biologist Terry Hughes, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, who led the aerial surveys along with scientists from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

What is most concerning this year is that the southern third of the reef, which escaped unscathed in 2016 and 2017, is now extensively bleached, too. “For the first time we have seen bleaching in all three regions of the reef — the north, the middle and the south,” Hughes says.

Bleaching occurs when corals experience periods of unusually high summer sea temperatures, and they eject the symbiotic algae that both nourish corals and give them some of their colors (SN: 10/18/16). It’s not a guaranteed death sentence, but many corals will not survive.

The first mass bleaching recorded on the Great Barrier Reef was in 1998, with the next in 2002. But bleaching events in 2016, 2017 and now 2020 have scientists seriously concerned, as there has been little time for reefs to recover in between episodes (SN: 11/29/16; SN: 4/11/17).

“We are seeing more and more bleaching events and the gap between them is shrinking,” Hughes says. “Those gaps are important because that’s the opportunity for corals to rebound and make a recovery…. It takes about a decade for the fastest-growing corals to fully rebound.”

#science #scied #sciblr #great barrier reef #climate change #climate crisis #coral bleaching

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ao3feed-goodomens · 4 years

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Marine Biology: Processes, Systems, and Impacts

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3c0zMXp

by squiddz

“I’ve already told you this.”

Aziraphale narrowed his eyes at him from the other end of the sofa. He wobbled a bit before slumping into the leather. “Have you?”

Crowley made a garbled sound in the back of his throat. “Yes!” he said, gesturing wildly. “Sitting in this very spot! Eleven years ago!”

“I see. And, erm, what exactly was it you’d already told me?”

“Dolphins are not fish, Aziraphale.”

Words: 672, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Good Omens (TV)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens)

Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)

Additional Tags: Fluff, Love Confessions, Drunken Kissing, Crowley is jealous of other snakes, In which the author is a long suffering marine biologist, Ficlet, Originally Posted on Tumblr

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3c0zMXp

#ao3feed #fanfic #Good Omens

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ao3feed-ineffablehusbandz · 4 years

Text

Marine Biology: Processes, Systems, and Impacts

by elizabethelizabeth, squiddz

“I’ve already told you this.”

Aziraphale narrowed his eyes at him from the other end of the sofa. He wobbled a bit before slumping into the leather. “Have you?”

Crowley made a garbled sound in the back of his throat. “Yes!” he said, gesturing wildly. “Sitting in this very spot! Eleven years ago!”

“I see. And, erm, what exactly was it you’d already told me?”

“Dolphins are not fish, Aziraphale.”

Words: 0, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Good Omens (TV)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens)

Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)

Additional Tags: Fluff, Love Confessions, Drunken Kissing, Crowley is jealous of other snakes, in which the author is a long-suffering marine biologist, Ficlet, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Podfic & Podficced Works, Podfic, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/23534365

#ao3feed ineffablehusbandz #ineffable husbands #good omens #aziraphale #crowley #anthonyjcrowl

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pansexual-potatoes · 3 years

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Who is your hero?: I don’t have one.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?: I’d become a woods witch, of sorts. I picture it as a cabin so deep in the woods you only find it if you’re lost. Me, my dog and Frank (if we’re theoretically still married) in a very cute cabin with a little mailbox that’s never used and a short walkway to nowhere in particular. I’d have foxglove and lupine up front, hosta and ferns in the shaded areas and a wooden fence around my garden. No driveway but I’d have a shed with a snowmobile, snowblower, and shovel for the winter and a four wheeler, and a tiny car for the summer. I’d have a fire pit for campfires, a hot tub and a pool. Attached to the back of the house would be a greenhouse with a dining area for warm weather. Despite my rural living, I’d get great cell service and excellent internet.

What is your biggest fear?: Losing the people I care about.

What is your favorite family vacation?: My family growing up didn’t do vacations but my husband and I do. I also do fun stuff with my best friend.

What would you change about yourself if you could?: My looks

What really makes you angry?: Disrespect

What motivates you to work hard?: I have bills to pay, and we need to eat.

What is your favorite thing about your career?: I enjoy the plants. I work in a commercial greenhouse and for most of the year the plants are really nice.

What is your biggest complaint about your job?: the pay and lack of needed benefits are big problems.

What is your proudest accomplishment? I’m still here.

What is your child's proudest accomplishment?: Bailey learned to lay down. So far he’s learned Sit, Shake and lay down. I think next we’ll teach him to stay.

What is your favorite book to read?: cookbooks, lol. I actually love reading but my eyes can’t do it much anymore.

What makes you laugh the most?: memes

What was the last movie you went to? What did you think? I don’t like movie theaters. I think the last movie I saw in one was the newest grinch movie and I thought it was a cute movie. I liked how they humanized him and brought his situation into scale.

What did you want to be when you were small? An oceanographer, then a marine biologist

What does your child want to be when he/she grows up? Bailey, I’m assuming, wants to be a smart, happy and curious doggo.

If you could choose to do anything for a day, what would it be? Mentally healthy

What is your favorite game or sport to watch and play? I don’t watch sports.

Would you rather ride a bike, ride a horse, or drive a car? Depends on what I’m doing. If I’m in hell being punished, then you’ll see me on a bike. Horses are nice for leisure. Car if I have errands to run or am busy.

What would you sing at Karaoke night?:

I’m not singing

What two radio stations do you listen to in the car the most?

I don’t listen to the radio. I have Amazon music

Which would you rather do: wash dishes, mow the lawn, clean the bathroom, or vacuum the house?

Any of those except the dishes.

If you could hire someone to help you, would it be with cleaning, cooking, or yard work?

Yard work. I don’t trust people that much except a very few people so cleaning is out of the question. I love cooking so wouldn’t need help there usually either. Yard work is impersonal enough where I’d feel more comfortable with someone doing that.

If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Salad. Anything can be a salad if you try hard and believe in yourself

Who is your favorite author?

Anne Rice

Have you ever had a nickname? What is it?:

Not any that weren’t degrading

Do you like or dislike surprises? Why or why not?

Generally not a fan. I have anxiety and I don’t like being the center of attention.

In the evening, would you rather play a game, visit a relative, watch a movie, or read?

Any except visiting relatives.

Would you rather vacation in Hawaii or Alaska, and why?

Hawaii. The warmth and hiking would be incredible, the beaches pretty and the cold makes my body hurt.

Would you rather win the lottery or work at the perfect job? And why?

Hm. Win the lottery. It would allow me to help not just myself but others too.

Who would you want to be stranded with on a deserted island?

No one. If I’m stranded, I’m not going to make it. I don’t want someone else to go through that. I’ll just suffer alone, thanks.

If money was no object, what would you do all day?

Help people who are struggling.

If you could go back in time, what year would you travel to?

2014.

How would your friends describe you?

According to them, I’m nice but straightforward.

What are your hobbies?

I like cooking, hiking, makeup, and relaxing

What is the best gift you have been given?

Companionship in all it’s forms.

What is the worst gift you have received?

Domino’s and a pack of socks to share with my brother (we had to share both). This was from my moms second husbands mom and we had to sit and watch our then step sister open a pile of gifts. We were kids, and my mom and her second husband had been married for a few years at that point so there was zero reason for us to be treated like that.

Aside from necessities, what one thing could you not go a day without?

Hope

List two pet peeves.

-Disrespect

-Laziness

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Hopefully further along with my mental health

How many pairs of shoes do you own?

3- 1 for home, 2 for work

If you were a super-hero, what powers would you have?

I’d want to be able to financially help people

What would you do if you won the lottery?

First, before I tell ANYONE, my house is getting paid off. Ditto for all our bills. Once all that’s done, then I’ll let Frank know. From there on we decide what we want to do together

What form of public transportation do you prefer? (air, boat, train, bus, car, etc.)

Train isn’t bad, neither is bus.

What's your favorite zoo animal?

Hippos.🥰

If you could go back in time to change one thing, what would it be?

If Frank and I could go back with the knowledge we have now we wouldn’t get licensed for foster care.

If you could share a meal with any 4 individuals, living or dead, who would they be?

My husband, my best friend, Nina, and Gerard Way

How many pillows do you sleep with?

2 when I’m awake, 1 once I fall asleep

What's the longest you've gone without sleep (and why)? Like 3 days. I was having a mental breakdown and ended up in the hospital.

What's the tallest building you've been to the top in?

No idea.

Would you rather trade intelligence for looks or looks for intelligence?

Depends on the ratio between what you lose versus what you gain.

How often do you buy clothes?

As needed.

Have you ever had a secret admirer?

Of course not

What's your favorite holiday?

Definitely Christmas

What's the most daring thing you've ever done?

I fought continuously for ownership of myself in a house where I was viewed as less important than furniture because I was female. I dressed as a boy, quit bathing and became as repulsive as I could so I wouldn’t be attractive to the men or women in my moms lifestyle.

What was the last thing you recorded on TV?

I don’t

What was the last book you read?

Working on a new one.

What's your favorite type of foreign food?

Love Asian foods I’ve tried

Are you a clean or messy person?

Messy, I guess.

Who would you want to play you in a movie of your life?

No one. I wouldn’t want people to see what I went through.

How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?

About a half hour

What kitchen appliance do you use every day?

The Keurig

What's your favorite fast food chain?

I don’t like most of them, tbh. Maybe Subway?

What's your favorite family recipe?

My moms bread recipe

Do you love or hate rollercoasters?

As long as they’re not super tall I don’t mind them

What's your favorite family tradition?

The Christmas Poinsettia

What is your favorite childhood memory?

Probably meeting my best friend.

What's your favorite movie?

The nightmare before Christmas

How old were you when you learned Santa wasn't real? How did you find out?

I don’t remember.

Is your glass half full or half empty?

I’m just glad it has something to drink

What's the craziest thing you’ve done in the name of love?

I got married.

What three items would you take with you on a deserted island?

Food, water, and a boat to get me home.

What was your favorite subject in school?

Band.

What's the most unusual thing you've ever eaten?

Pets

Do you collect anything?

Dishes.

Is there anything you wished would come back into fashion?

Comfortable clothes. I’m going to wear them regardless but it would be nice to have a bigger selection to choose from

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

Absolutely an introvert.

Which of the five senses would you say is your strongest?

Touch

Have you ever had a surprise party? (that was an actual surprise)

No and I’m fine with that.

Are you related or distantly related to anyone famous?

Not that I’m aware of.

What do you do to keep fit?

Lol.

Does your family have a “motto” – spoken or unspoken?

Nope.

If you were ruler of your own country what would be the first law you would introduce?

Baseline living guarantees

Who was your favorite teacher in school and why?

I didn’t really have a teacher I was close to.

What three things do you think of the most each day?

My family, my job, and my obligations

If you had a warning label, what would yours say?

Warning: Avoid asking questions you don’t want an honest answer for. All attempts at niceness will be tried but there is no guarantee of satisfaction.

What song would you say best sums you up?

I have no idea. There are many who describe parts of me but not one I can think of that describes me as a whole.

What celebrity would you like to meet at Starbucks for a cup of coffee?

Weird Al. He seems like a pretty chill guy who wouldn’t mind chatting with an average person.

What's the most interesting thing you can see out of your office or kitchen window?

My lilacs.

On a scale of 1-10 how funny would you say you are?

Like a 2

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Hopefully much further along with my mental health

What was your first job?

Picking pine cones out of this ladies yard.

If you could join any past or current music group which would you want to join?

None.

How many languages do you speak?

English and a lot of American Sign Language

Who is the most intelligent person you know?

My husband

If you had to describe yourself as an animal, which one would it be?

Probably a bear. I’m not super social, enjoy sleeping through the winter as much as possible, am selective in my social obligations,enjoy fish and berries, avoid people if possible

What is one thing you will never do again?

Drive a semi.

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dailydolphinsuitjotaro · 7 years

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Some aquariums don't treat dolphins very well whyareyousupportingthem.

“I think it’s unfair to stop supporting ALL aquariums, and zoological parks as a whole just because many seem to be profit-based organisations. But…”

((I’m assuming this is about my first post where I joked that Jotaro was forced into wearing a dolphin suit for free admission forever to his local aquarium but anyway please read the rest of the jumbled mess of a mildly ic opinionated essay under the cut. お願いします!))

“But first, let’s talk about dolphins since you brought them up. The Chinese White Dolphin is a favourite of my blog’s moderator. There’s approximately a 2.5% annual decline in their populations within crucial habitats in the Pearl River estuary. Even under the most ideal conditions, other experts can only agree that the species would be able to survive for another 40 generations. However, it is far far less than ideal. Besides organochlorines, heavy metals and other pollutants in their oceans, coastal development destroying habitats, vessel collision due to increasing marine traffic, underwater noise pollution, and overfishing are other factors rendering propagation in the wild … difficult, to say the least.

This is not a new situation. The Baiji dolphins which inhabited the Yangtze River had suffered similar circumstances and were considered to be functionally extinct in late 2006. It is also considered to be arguably the first dolphin species in history to be driven to extinction.

But back to your question, I am most definitely against any aquariums and zoos that use the animals in their care solely for entertainment and profit, especially if said animals involve species that have high cognitive potential with relationships and social identity being intertwined in how they survive normally in the wild. I also believe that despite the rapid degradation of habitats, I think captivity breeding isn’t the best method for conservation—especially for large marine mammals such as dolphins—as it has its own host of barriers, such as ensuring the starting population is genetically viable, keeping them alive in the long-term, and acquiring sufficient accommodation to house them in the first place. Reintroducing captive borns into the wild is also a difficult task due to likely lacking immunity to wildlife diseases and needing to be reintegrated into wild populations’ social structures. In fact, the few efforts for captive breeding of a similar breed of Pink Dolphins haven’t proved very successful in Singapore’s Sentosa. Capturing a viable starting population is also dangerous as catching methods can gravely injure them.

The most ideal situation for conservation of dolphins and cetaceans would be to first conserve their crucial habitats. So no, I don’t wholeheartedly support dolphinariums or marine mammal parks that insist on sketchy breeding programmes often accompanied by daily 20-minute dolphin performances.

Nevertheless, it is not an ideal world. Unless governments are willing to expand protected zones for these creatures and compromise for sustainable development, more and more may believe captive breeding should unfortunately be considered their last hope.

For example, if I had to grossly simplify the debate on whether the Chinese White Dolphin should be bred in captivity or not then whichever side you support would ultimately be whether one valued the species’ survivability in captivity in terms of their recorded average life spans and infant mortality rates compared to those in the wild over their quality of life, that is, enjoying freedom and a “good life” in animal welfare terms.

I dearly hope that captive breeding will never be considered a necessity for the propagation of these magnificent creatures, but if there comes a time when we do find the Chinese White Dolphin to be functionally extinct in the wild, I will do whatever I can to try to keep the species alive if there are still any in captivity, and hopefully one day reintroduce them back into Hong Kong waters once sufficient protected zones are established.

Regardless, I can’t deny that captive breeding has or is forecasted to have a great positive impact for other species, marine or terrestrial. For example, captive breeding programmes for salmonids have succeeded in maintaining neutral genetic diversity for several generations (albeit with trends in reduced fitness in offspring), which may be sufficient for whatever dangers in their natural habitats to be removed. Conservation efforts in European and American zoos for the breeding of King Penguins have also proved successful, which is quite a breakthrough as climate change in the Southern Ocean is likely to cause drastic wild population declines in the future. And, while not a marine animal, the Arabian Oryx conservation effort is another significant example.

Still, my overall conclusions for captive breeding in aquariums and zoos is to think of them not as the final solution but a possible plan B until the factors contributing to their initial decline can be addressed. (Though there is the issue with ‘rehab’ animals deemed unreleasable by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums but that’s something to discuss for another time).

Anyhow, aquariums also benefit marine conservation beyond breeding programmes such as research into diseases along with the development of vaccinations, rehabilitation (as the second anon mentioned) and overall responsible promotion and education of marine conservation. Also, it’s unrealistic for facilities to “empty their tanks” and dump their captive born into the wild without meticulous plans for safe and proper transition. Good grief, let’s not forget a similar incident in America where tens of thousands of minks were …forcibly released from a farm only for most of them to likely die of starvation and negatively affect the surrounding ecosystem.

Many marine biologists can say their interest was born from visiting aquariums when they were young. Moreover, there are studies that looked into the positive educational impact of zoos and aquariums in the most recent volume of the Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, which you may read. Their ability to expose youth to the wonders of marine life is important, though I’d prefer if they weren’t so plentiful and more were NGO non-profit based.

If it helps, I generally judge an aquarium by at least the following criteria:

Prioritize and support human entertainment with dolphin, whale, seal, penguin, etc. shows (especially if they have little emphasis on education)?

Entirely profit-based with very little budget allocation to conservation or research efforts?

Support untrained customers touching and petting captive animals?

No ties to legitimate academic institutions and research projects?

Saying yes to any of the above means it’s likely not that great of an institution, which is, unfortunately, probably most of them. It’s likely your local aquariums do break one of these criteria, but campaigning to shut them down entirely doesn’t have to be the only option, perhaps they can change with enough pressure–unless they are absolutely unforgivable that is.

What I’m saying is that every conservation facility, zoos or aquariums, are unique in their level of ethics and should be considered individually. Responsible zoos and aquariums that prioritise facilitation and promotion of conservation of animals are very much needed in the current era. Elizabeth Kolbert, author of ‘The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History’, had suggested we are amidst a sixth mass extinction event and that 20-50% of all flora and fauna on earth will be lost by the end of the 21st century . Unfortunately, this one being different than the others with human activity playing a significant part. While it would be ideal if animals could thrive on their own in the wild or protected areas, that is ultimately not so …easy for most endangered and threatened species, to say the least.

Apologies if this comes across as very vague as this is mostly my own ramblings from the top of my head. Relevant links below if you’re interested:

Study on captive breeding of Salmonids

Study on captive breeding of King Penguins

Study on the effect of the zoo setting on the behavioural diversity of captive Gentoo Penguins and the implications for their educational potential

Study on impact of in-school zoo education programmes

HK Dolphinwatch

I recommend JZAR if you’re interested in zoo biology and related fields. I believe all their articles are open access so do check them out.”

((DISCLAIMER: I’m NOT an expert nor do i have formal education in marine science. I’ve been interested in it since I had the pleasure to see a Chinese White Dolphin during a local dolphin watch tour by the HK Dolphinwatch when I was a wee child a decade ago. There were over 180 dolphins recorded in 2003 but the numbers have since declined to 87 in 2010 and 47 in the last year. Ocean Park, which is basically the only large marine mammal park–and conservation facility on the side–in Hong Kong, has shown interest in breeding them in captivity but ofc there’s a lot of criticism to that, most of which I agree with but god the whole situation is really distressing and idk what we can do because the government sure isn’t gonna do anything like expanding protected zones or enforcing regulation on marine traffic through those zones. In fact, the new zhuhai bridge and other runways they’re using our tax money for is most certainly making the whole situation worse lol god just kill me take me instead of the dolphins i’ve had enough of this world))

#Anonymous #jotaro kujo #jojo's bizarre adventure #daily jojo #daily jjba #suitless joot #DiU joot #((anyone studying marine biology pls feel free to correct me because im dumb and i don't know anything #i hope this clears things up a bit!!#tl;dr i don't support captivity of dolphins and other cetaceans but I still appreciate aquariums and zoos for their potential as research #institutions and rehabilitation facilities and also educating the normal populace about zoo biology #and basically i feel it can be unfair to just paint all of them with the same brush #and i'm sad about chinese white dolphins my dudes :< but i dunno what to do #things suck here man things really do))

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frankkjonestx · 4 years

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The Great Barrier Reef is suffering its most widespread bleaching ever recorded

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is currently experiencing its third mass bleaching in just five years — and it is the most widespread bleaching event ever recorded.

Too hot spots

Aerial surveys along the 2,000-kilometer-long Great Barrier Reef over nine days in late March revealed more widespread bleaching than ever before recorded. While the reef suffered bad bleaching events in 2016 and 2017, most of the impact then was north of Townsville. In 2020, damage was recorded from the tip of the continent to well south of Townsville.

Where bleaching was observed on the Great Barrier Reef in 2020

ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies

While scientists saw reefs in the northern and central regions of the Great Barrier Reef begin to recover following 2016 and 2017, they now have concerns that progress has been for nothing.

“They are just getting hammered by these repetitive, destructive heat waves,” says Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, who studies coral reefs at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. “If this continues over the next 10 years or so, there won’t be much of a Great Barrier Reef left.”

Hoegh-Guldberg — who is also the deputy director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, but was not involved in the survey work — says while the extent of the bleaching is an “absolute tragedy, it’s one we’ve been expecting.” February 2020 had the warmest sea surface temperatures on the Great Barrier Reef since records began in 1900, according to figures released in March by Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology.

Hoegh-Guldberg argues that, aside from governments taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, one thing that can be done is to map out those individual reefs that are less exposed to the effects of climate change than others, such as areas protected by upwellings of cooler water (SN: 9/25/19). These sites may be the source of coral larvae to regenerate bleached reefs in the future, and should be especially protected from other damage, such as from agricultural runoff, he says.

These stony Acropora corals off Lizard Island in Australia have lost their color. Bleaching occurs when corals experience periods of unusually high summer sea temperatures, and they eject the symbiotic algae that both nourish corals and give them some of their colors. It’s not a guaranteed death sentence, but many corals will not survive.Kristen Brown/ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies

“That’s one place I think we can do further work,” Hoegh-Guldberg says. “Identify those areas that are least exposed to climate change and which have the greatest role to play in any renewal.”

But Hughes notes that “the problem with that approach is that we are running out of reefs that haven’t yet bleached.” He led a study published in Nature in 2019 showing an 89 percent decrease in numbers of coral larvae released in 2018 from reefs that had been damaged in 2016 and 2017. “The ability of the reef to rebound has been compromised,” he says.

“We are in uncharted territory in terms of rebound potential. We are not sure what the Great Barrier Reef will recover to anymore. The mix of species is changing and really quickly,” Hughes says. “Optimistically, if temperatures don’t rise too much more, we’ll still have a reef, but it’s going to look very different.”

.image-mobile { display: none; } @media (max-width: 400px) { .image-mobile { display: block; } .image-desktop { display: none; } } from Tips By Frank https://www.sciencenews.org/article/great-barrier-reef-suffering-most-widespread-bleaching-ever-recorded

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bountyofbeads · 4 years

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"Mining companies want access to the seabed beneath international waters, which contain more valuable minerals than all the continents combined."

History’s Largest Mining Operation Is About to Begin.... It’s underwater—and the consequences are unimaginable.

Story by Wil S. Hylton | Published January/February 2020 Issue | The Atlantic | Posted December 26, 2019 |

Unless you are given to chronic anxiety or suffer from nihilistic despair, you probably haven’t spent much time contemplating the bottom of the ocean. Many people imagine the seabed to be a vast expanse of sand, but it’s a jagged and dynamic landscape with as much variation as any place onshore. Mountains surge from underwater plains, canyons slice miles deep, hot springs billow through fissures in rock, and streams of heavy brine ooze down hillsides, pooling into undersea lakes.

These peaks and valleys are laced with most of the same minerals found on land. Scientists have documented their deposits since at least 1868, when a dredging ship pulled a chunk of iron ore from the seabed north of Russia. Five years later, another ship found similar nuggets at the bottom of the Atlantic, and two years after that, it discovered a field of the same objects in the Pacific. For more than a century, oceanographers continued to identify new minerals on the seafloor—copper, nickel, silver, platinum, gold, and even gemstones—while mining companies searched for a practical way to dig them up.

Today, many of the largest mineral corporations in the world have launched underwater mining programs. On the west coast of Africa, the De Beers Group is using a fleet of specialized ships to drag machinery across the seabed in search of diamonds. In 2018, those ships extracted 1.4 million carats from the coastal waters of Namibia; in 2019, De Beers commissioned a new ship that will scrape the bottom twice as quickly as any other vessel. Another company, Nautilus Minerals, is working in the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea to shatter a field of underwater hot springs lined with precious metals, while Japan and South Korea have embarked on national projects to exploit their own offshore deposits. But the biggest prize for mining companies will be access to international waters, which cover more than half of the global seafloor and contain more valuable minerals than all the continents combined.

Regulations for ocean mining have never been formally established. The United Nations has given that task to an obscure organization known as the International Seabed Authority, which is housed in a pair of drab gray office buildings at the edge of Kingston Harbour, in Jamaica. Unlike most UN bodies, the ISA receives little oversight. It is classified as “autonomous” and falls under the direction of its own secretary general, who convenes his own general assembly once a year, at the ISA headquarters. For about a week, delegates from 168 member states pour into Kingston from around the world, gathering at a broad semicircle of desks in the auditorium of the Jamaica Conference Centre. Their assignment is not to prevent mining on the seafloor but to mitigate its damage—selecting locations where extraction will be permitted, issuing licenses to mining companies, and drafting the technical and environmental standards of an underwater Mining Code.

Writing the code has been difficult. ISA members have struggled to agree on a regulatory framework. While they debate the minutiae of waste disposal and ecological preservation, the ISA has granted “exploratory” permits around the world. Some 30 mineral contractors already hold licenses to work in sweeping regions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. One site, about 2,300 miles east of Florida, contains the largest system of underwater hot springs ever discovered, a ghostly landscape of towering white spires that scientists call the “Lost City.” Another extends across 4,500 miles of the Pacific, or roughly a fifth of the circumference of the planet. The companies with permits to explore these regions have raised breathtaking sums of venture capital. They have designed and built experimental vehicles, lowered them to the bottom, and begun testing methods of dredging and extraction while they wait for the ISA to complete the Mining Code and open the floodgates to commercial extraction.

At full capacity, these companies expect to dredge thousands of square miles a year. Their collection vehicles will creep across the bottom in systematic rows, scraping through the top five inches of the ocean floor. Ships above will draw thousands of pounds of sediment through a hose to the surface, remove the metallic objects, known as polymetallic nodules, and then flush the rest back into the water. Some of that slurry will contain toxins such as mercury and lead, which could poison the surrounding ocean for hundreds of miles. The rest will drift in the current until it settles in nearby ecosystems. An early study by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences predicted that each mining ship will release about 2 million cubic feet of discharge every day, enough to fill a freight train that is 16 miles long. The authors called this “a conservative estimate,” since other projections had been three times as high. By any measure, they concluded, “a very large area will be blanketed by sediment to such an extent that many animals will not be able to cope with the impact and whole communities will be severely affected by the loss of individuals and species.”

At the ISA meeting in 2019, delegates gathered to review a draft of the code. Officials hoped the document would be ratified for implementation in 2020. I flew down to observe the proceedings on a balmy morning and found the conference center teeming with delegates. A staff member ushered me through a maze of corridors to meet the secretary general, Michael Lodge, a lean British man in his 50s with cropped hair and a genial smile. He waved me toward a pair of armchairs beside a bank of windows overlooking the harbor, and we sat down to discuss the Mining Code, what it will permit and prohibit, and why the United Nations is preparing to mobilize the largest mining operation in the history of the world.

Until recently, marine biologists paid little attention to the deep sea. They believed its craggy knolls and bluffs were essentially barren. The traditional model of life on Earth relies on photosynthesis: plants on land and in shallow water harness sunlight to grow biomass, which is devoured by creatures small and large, up the food chain to Sunday dinner. By this account, every animal on the planet would depend on plants to capture solar energy. Since plants disappear a few hundred feet below sea level, and everything goes dark a little farther down, there was no reason to expect a thriving ecosystem in the deep. Maybe a light snow of organic debris would trickle from the surface, but it would be enough to sustain only a few wayward aquatic drifters.

That theory capsized in 1977, when a pair of oceanographers began poking around the Pacific in a submersible vehicle. While exploring a range of underwater mountains near the Galápagos Islands, they spotted a hydrothermal vent about 8,000 feet deep. No one had ever seen an underwater hot spring before, though geologists suspected they might exist. As the oceanographers drew close to the vent, they made an even more startling discovery: A large congregation of animals was camped around the vent opening. These were not the feeble scavengers that one expected so far down. They were giant clams, purple octopuses, white crabs, and 10-foot tube worms, whose food chain began not with plants but with organic chemicals floating in the warm vent water.

For biologists, this was more than curious. It shook the foundation of their field. If a complex ecosystem could emerge in a landscape devoid of plants, evolution must be more than a heliological affair. Life could appear in perfect darkness, in blistering heat and a broth of noxious compounds—an environment that would extinguish every known creature on Earth. “That was the discovery event,” an evolutionary biologist named Timothy Shank told me. “It changed our view about the boundaries of life. Now we know that the methane lakes on one of Jupiter’s moons are probably laden with species, and there is no doubt life on other planetary bodies.”

Shank was 12 years old that winter, a bookish kid in North Carolina. The early romance of the space age was already beginning to fade, but the discovery of life near hydrothermal vents would inspire a blossoming of oceanography that captured his imagination. As he completed a degree in marine biology, then a doctorate in ecology and evolution, he consumed reports from scientists around the world who found new vents brimming with unknown species. They appeared far below the surface—the deepest known vent is about three miles down—while another geologic feature, known as a “cold seep,” gives rise to life in chemical pools even deeper on the seafloor. No one knew how far down the vents and seeps might be found, but Shank decided to focus his research on the deepest waters of the Earth.

Scientists divide the ocean into five layers of depth. Closest to the surface is the “sunlight zone,” where plants thrive; then comes the “twilight zone,” where darkness falls; next is the “midnight zone,” where some creatures generate their own light; and then there’s a frozen flatland known simply as “the abyss.” Oceanographers have visited these layers in submersible vehicles for half a century, but the final layer is difficult to reach. It is known as the “hadal zone,” in reference to Hades, the ancient Greek god of the underworld, and it includes any water that is at least 6,000 meters below the surface—or, in a more Vernian formulation, that is 20,000 feet under the sea. Because the hadal zone is so deep, it is usually associated with ocean trenches, but several deepwater plains have sections that cross into hadal depth.

Deepwater plains are also home to the polymetallic nodules that explorers first discovered a century and a half ago. Mineral companies believe that nodules will be easier to mine than other seabed deposits. To remove the metal from a hydrothermal vent or an underwater mountain, they will have to shatter rock in a manner similar to land-based extraction. Nodules are isolated chunks of rocks on the seabed that typically range from the size of a golf ball to that of a grapefruit, so they can be lifted from the sediment with relative ease. Nodules also contain a distinct combination of minerals. While vents and ridges are flecked with precious metal, such as silver and gold, the primary metals in nodules are copper, manganese, nickel, and cobalt—crucial materials in modern batteries. As iPhones and laptops and electric vehicles spike demand for those metals, many people believe that nodules are the best way to migrate from fossil fuels to battery power.

The ISA has issued more mining licenses for nodules than for any other seabed deposit. Most of these licenses authorize contractors to exploit a single deepwater plain. Known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, or CCZ, it extends across 1.7 million square miles between Hawaii and Mexico—wider than the continental United States. When the Mining Code is approved, more than a dozen companies will accelerate their explorations in the CCZ to industrial-scale extraction. Their ships and robots will use vacuum hoses to suck nodules and sediment from the seafloor, extracting the metal and dumping the rest into the water. How many ecosystems will be covered by that sediment is impossible to predict. Ocean currents fluctuate regularly in speed and direction, so identical plumes of slurry will travel different distances, in different directions, on different days. The impact of a sediment plume also depends on how it is released. Slurry that is dumped near the surface will drift farther than slurry pumped back to the bottom. The circulating draft of the Mining Code does not specify a depth of discharge. The ISA has adopted an estimate that sediment dumped near the surface will travel no more than 62 miles from the point of release, but many experts believe the slurry could travel farther. A recent survey of academic research compiled by Greenpeace concluded that mining waste “could travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometers.”

Like many deepwater plains, the CCZ has sections that lie at hadal depth. Its eastern boundary is marked by a hadal trench. No one knows whether mining sediment will drift into the hadal zone. As the director of a hadal-research program at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in Massachusetts, Timothy Shank has been studying the deep sea for almost 30 years. In 2014, he led an international mission to complete the first systematic study of the hadal ecosystem—but even Shank has no idea how mining could affect the hadal zone, because he still has no idea what it contains. If you want a sense of how little we know about the deep ocean, how difficult it is to study, and what’s at stake when industry leaps before science, Shank’s research is a good place to start.

I first met Shank about seven years ago, when he was organizing the international mission to survey the hadal zone. He had put together a three-year plan to visit every ocean trench: sending a robotic vehicle to explore their features, record every contour of topography, and collect specimens from each. The idea was either dazzling or delusional; I wasn’t sure which. Scientists have enough trouble measuring the seabed in shallower waters. They have used ropes and chains and acoustic instruments to record depth for more than a century, yet 85 percent of the global seabed remains unmapped—and the hadal is far more difficult to map than other regions, since it’s nearly impossible to see.

If it strikes you as peculiar that modern vehicles cannot penetrate the deepest ocean, take a moment to imagine what it means to navigate six or seven miles below the surface. Every 33 feet of depth exerts as much pressure as the atmosphere of the Earth, so when you are just 66 feet down, you are under three times as much pressure as a person on land, and when you are 300 feet down, you’re subjected to 10 atmospheres of pressure. Tube worms living beside hydrothermal vents near the Galápagos are compressed by about 250 atmospheres, and mining vehicles in the CCZ have to endure twice as much—but they are still just half as far down as the deepest trenches.

Building a vehicle to function at 36,000 feet, under 2 million pounds of pressure per square foot, is a task of interstellar-type engineering. It’s a good deal more rigorous than, say, bolting together a rover to skitter across Mars. Picture the schematic of an iPhone case that can be smashed with a sledgehammer more or less constantly, from every angle at once, without a trace of damage, and you’re in the ballpark—or just consider the fact that more people have walked on the moon than have reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth.

The first two people descended in 1960, using a contraption owned by the U.S. Navy. It seized and shuddered on the descent. Its window cracked as the pressure mounted, and it landed with so much force that it kicked up a cloud of silt that obscured the view for the entire 20 minutes the pair remained on the bottom. Half a century passed before the film director James Cameron repeated their journey, in 2012. Unlike the swaggering billionaire Richard Branson, who was planning to dive the Mariana in a cartoonish vehicle shaped like a fighter jet, Cameron is well versed in ocean science and engineering. He was closely involved in the design of his submarine, and sacrificed stylistic flourishes for genuine innovations, including a new type of foam that maintains buoyancy at full ocean depth. Even so, his vessel lurched and bucked on the way down. He finally managed to land, and spent a couple of hours collecting sediment samples before he noticed that hydraulic fluid was leaking onto the window. The vehicle’s mechanical arm began to fail, and all of the thrusters on its right side went out—so he returned to the surface early, canceled his plan for additional dives, and donated the broken sub to Woods Hole.

The most recent descent of the Mariana Trench was completed last spring by a private-equity investor named Victor Vescovo, who spent $48 million on a submarine that was even more sophisticated than Cameron’s. Vescovo was on a personal quest to reach the bottom of the five deepest trenches in the world, a project he called “Five Deeps.” He was able to complete the project, making multiple dives of the Mariana—but if his achievement represents a leap forward in hadal exploration, it also serves as a reminder of how impenetrable the trenches remain: a region that can be visited only by the most committed multimillionaire, Hollywood celebrity, or special military program, and only in isolated dives to specific locations that reveal little about the rest of the hadal environment. That environment is composed of 33 trenches and 13 shallower formations called troughs. Its total geographic area is about two-thirds the size of Australia. It is the least examined ecosystem of its size on Earth.

Without a vehicle to explore the hadal zone, scientists have been forced to use primitive methods. The most common technique has scarcely changed in more than a century: Expedition ships chug across hundreds of miles to reach a precise location, then lower a trap, wait a few hours, and reel it up to see what’s inside. The limitations of this approach are self-evident, if not comic. It’s like dangling a birdcage out the door of an airplane crossing Africa at 36,000 feet, and then trying to divine, from the mangled bodies of insects, what sort of animals roam the savanna.

All of which is to say that Shank’s plan to explore every trench in the world was somewhere between audacious and absurd, but he had assembled a team of the world’s leading experts, secured ship time for extensive missions, and spent 10 years supervising the design of the most advanced robotic vehicle ever developed for deepwater navigation. Called Nereus, after a mythological sea god, it could dive alone—charting a course amid rocky cliffs, measuring their contours with a doppler scanner, recording video with high-definition cameras, and collecting samples—or it could be linked to the deck of a ship with fiber-optic cable, allowing Shank to monitor its movement on a computer in the ship’s control room, boosting the thrusters to steer this way and that, piercing the darkness with its headlamps, and maneuvering a mechanical claw to gather samples in the deep.

I reached out to Shank in 2013, a few months before the expedition began. I wanted to write about the project, and he agreed to let me join him on a later leg. When his ship departed, in the spring of 2014, I followed online as it pursued a course to the Kermadec Trench, in the Pacific, and Shank began sending Nereus on a series of dives. On the first, it descended to 6,000 meters, a modest target on the boundary of the hadal zone. On the second, Shank pushed it to 7,000 meters; on the third to 8,000; and on the fourth to 9,000. He knew that diving to 10,000 meters would be a crucial threshold. It is the last full kilometer of depth on Earth: No trench is believed to be deeper than 11,000 meters. To commemorate this final increment and the successful beginning of his project, he attached a pair of silver bracelets to the frame of Nereus, planning to give them to his daughters when he returned home. Then he dropped the robot in the water and retreated to the control room to monitor its movements.

On-screen, blue water gave way to darkness as Nereus descended, its headlamps illuminating specks of debris suspended in the water. It was 10 meters shy of the 10,000-meter mark when suddenly the screen went dark. There was an audible gasp in the control room, but no one panicked. Losing the video feed on a dive was relatively common. Maybe the fiber-optic tether had snapped, or the software had hit a glitch. Whatever it was, Nereus had been programmed to respond with emergency measures. It could back out of a jam, shed expendable weight, guide itself to the surface, and send a homing beacon to help Shank’s team retrieve it.

As the minutes ticked by, Shank waited for those measures to activate, but none did. “There’s no sound, no implosion, no chime,” he told me afterward. “Just … black.” He paced the deck through the night, staring across the Stygian void for signs of Nereus. The following day he finally saw debris surface, and as he watched it rise, he felt his project sinking. Ten years of planning, a $14 million robot, and an international team of experts—it had all collapsed under the crushing pressure of hadal depths.

“I think we’ll be looking at hundreds or thousands of species we haven’t seen before, and some of them are going to be huge.”

“I’m not over it yet,” he told me two years later. We were standing on the deck of another ship, 100 miles off the coast of Massachusetts, where Shank was preparing to launch a new robot. The vehicle was no replacement for Nereus. It was a rectilinear hunk of metal and plastic, about five feet high, three feet wide, and nine feet long. Red on top, with a silvery bottom and three fans mounted at the rear, it could have been mistaken for a child’s backyard spaceship. Shank had no illusion that it was capable of hadal exploration. Since the loss of Nereus, there was no vehicle on Earth that could navigate the deepest trenches—Cameron’s was no longer in service, Branson’s didn’t work, and Vescovo’s hadn’t yet been built.

Shank’s new robot did have a few impressive features. Its navigational system was even more advanced than the one in Nereus, and he hoped it would be able to maneuver in a trenchlike environment with even greater precision—but its body was not designed to withstand hadal pressure. In fact, it had never descended more than a few dozen feet below the surface, and Shank knew that it would take years to build something that could survive at the bottom of a trench. What had seemed, just two years earlier, like the beginning of a new era in hadal science was developing a quixotic aspect, and, at 50, Shank could not help wondering if it was madness to spend another decade of his life on a dream that seemed to be drifting further from his reach. But he was driven by a lifelong intuition that he still couldn’t shake. Shank believes that access to the trenches will reveal one of the greatest discoveries in history: a secret ecosystem bursting with creatures that have been cloistered for eternity in the deep.

“I would be shocked if there aren’t vents and seeps in the trenches,” he told me as we bobbed on the water that day in 2016. “They’ll be there, and they will be teeming with life. I think we’ll be looking at hundreds or thousands of species we haven’t seen before, and some of them are going to be huge.” He pictured the hadal as an alien world that followed its own evolutionary course, the unimaginable pressure creating a menagerie of inconceivable beasts. “My time is running out to find them,” he said. “Maybe my legacy will be to push things forward so that somebody else can. We have a third of our ocean that we still can’t explore. It’s embarrassing. It’s pathetic.”

While scientists struggle to reach the deep ocean, human impact has already gotten there. Most of us are familiar with the menu of damages to coastal water: overfishing, oil spills, and pollution, to name a few. What can be lost in the discussion of these issues is how they reverberate far beneath.

Take fishing. The relentless pursuit of cod in the early 20th century decimated its population from Newfoundland to New England, sending hungry shoppers in search of other options. As shallow-water fish such as haddock, grouper, and sturgeon joined the cod’s decline, commercial fleets around the world pushed into deeper water. Until the 1970s, the slimehead fish lived in relative obscurity, patrolling the slopes of underwater mountains in water up to 6,000 feet deep. Then a consortium of fishermen pushed the Food and Drug Administration to change its name, and the craze for “orange roughy” began—only to fade again in the early 2000s, when the fish was on a path toward extinction itself.

Environmental damage from oil production is also migrating into deeper water. Disturbing photographs of oil-drenched beaches have captured public attention since at least 1989, when the Exxon Valdez tanker crashed into a reef and leaked 11 million gallons into an Alaskan sound. It would remain the largest spill in U.S. water until 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon explosion spewed 210 million gallons into the Gulf of Mexico. But a recent study revealed that the release of chemicals to disperse the spill was twice as toxic as the oil to animals living 3,000 feet below the surface.

Maybe the greatest alarm in recent years has followed the discovery of plastic floating in the ocean. Scientists estimate that 17 billion pounds of polymer are flushed into the ocean each year, and substantially more of it collects on the bottom than on the surface. Just as a bottle that falls from a picnic table will roll downhill to a gulch, trash on the seafloor gradually makes its way toward deepwater plains and hadal trenches. After his expedition to the trenches, Victor Vescovo returned with the news that garbage had beaten him there. He found a plastic bag at the bottom of one trench, a beverage can in another, and when he reached the deepest point in the Mariana, he watched an object with a large S on the side float past his window. Trash of all sorts is collecting in the hadal—Spam tins, Budweiser cans, rubber gloves, even a mannequin head.

Scientists are just beginning to understand the impact of trash on aquatic life. Fish and seabirds that mistake grocery bags for prey will glut their stomachs with debris that their digestive system can’t expel. When a young whale drifted ashore and died in the Philippines in 2019, an autopsy revealed that its belly was packed with 88 pounds of plastic bags, nylon rope, and netting. Two weeks later, another whale beached in Sardinia, its stomach crammed with 48 pounds of plastic dishes and tubing. Certain types of coral like to eat plastic more than food. They will gorge themselves like a kid on Twinkies instead of eating what they need to survive. Microbes that flourish on plastic have ballooned in number, replacing other species as their population explodes in a polymer ocean.

If it seems trivial to worry about the population statistics of bacteria in the ocean, you may be interested to know that ocean microbes are essential to human and planetary health. About a third of the carbon dioxide generated on land is absorbed by underwater organisms, including one species that was just discovered in the CCZ in 2018. The researchers who found that bacterium have no idea how it removes carbon from the environment, but their findings show that it may account for up to 10 percent of the volume that is sequestered by oceans every year.

Many of the things we do know about ocean microbes, we know thanks to Craig Venter, the genetic scientist most famous for starting a small company in the 1990s to compete with the Human Genome Project. The two-year race between his company and the international collaboration generated endless headlines and culminated in a joint announcement at the White House to declare a tie. But Venter’s interest wasn’t limited to human DNA. He wanted to learn the language of genetics in order to create synthetic microbes with practical features. After his work on the human genome, he spent two years sailing around the world, lowering bottles into the ocean to collect bacteria and viruses from the water. By the time he returned, he had discovered hundreds of thousands of new species, and his lab in Maryland proceeded to sequence their DNA—identifying more than 60 million unique genes, which is about 2,500 times the number in humans. Then he and his team began to scour those genes for properties they could use to make custom bugs.

Venter now lives in a hypermodern house on a bluff in Southern California. Chatting one evening on the sofa beside the door to his walk-in humidor and wine cellar, he described how saltwater microbes could help solve the most urgent problems of modern life. One of the bacteria he pulled from the ocean consumes carbon and excretes methane. Venter would like to integrate its genes into organisms designed to live in smokestacks and recycle emissions. “They could scrub the plant’s CO2 and convert it to methane that can be burned as fuel in the same plant,” he said.

Venter was also studying bacteria that could be useful in medicine. Microbes produce a variety of antibiotic compounds, which they deploy as weapons against their rivals. Many of those compounds can also be used to kill the pathogens that infect humans. Nearly all of the antibiotic drugs on the market were initially derived from microorganisms, but they are losing efficacy as pathogens evolve to resist them. “We have new drugs in development,” Matt McCarthy, an infectious-disease specialist at Weill Cornell Medical College, told me, “but most of them are slight variations on the ones we already had. The problem with that is, they’re easy for bacteria to resist, because they’re similar to something bacteria have developed resistance to in the past. What we need is an arsenal of new compounds.”

Venter pointed out that ocean microbes produce radically different compounds from those on land. “There are more than a million microbes per milliliter of seawater,” he said, “so the chance of finding new antibiotics in the marine environment is high.” McCarthy agreed. “The next great drug may be hidden somewhere deep in the water,” he said. “We need to get to the deep-sea organisms, because they’re making compounds that we’ve never seen before. We may find drugs that could be used to treat gout, or rheumatoid arthritis, or all kinds of other conditions.”

Marine biologists have never conducted a comprehensive survey of microbes in the hadal trenches. The conventional tools of water sampling cannot function at extreme depth, and engineers are just beginning to develop tools that can. Microbial studies of the deepwater plains are slightly further along—and scientists have recently discovered that the CCZ is unusually flush with life. “It’s one of the most biodiverse areas that we’ve ever sampled on the abyssal plains,” a University of Hawaii oceanographer named Jeff Drazen told me. Most of those microbes, he said, live on the very same nodules that miners are planning to extract. “When you lift them off the seafloor, you’re removing a habitat that took 10 million years to grow.” Whether or not those microbes can be found in other parts of the ocean is unknown. “A lot of the less mobile organisms,” Drazen said, “may not be anywhere else.”

Drazen is an academic ecologist; Venter is not. Venter has been accused of trying to privatize the human genome, and many of his critics believe his effort to create new organisms is akin to playing God. He clearly doesn’t have an aversion to profit-driven science, and he’s not afraid to mess with nature—yet when I asked him about the prospect of mining in deep water, he flared with alarm. “We should be very careful about mining in the ocean,” he said. “These companies should be doing rigorous microbial surveys before they do anything else. We only know a fraction of the microbes down there, and it’s a terrible idea to screw with them before we know what they are and what they do.”

Mining executives insist that their work in the ocean is misunderstood. Some adopt a swaggering bravado and portray the industry as a romantic frontier adventure. As the manager of exploration at Nautilus Minerals, John Parianos, told me recently, “This is about every man and his dog filled with the excitement of the moon landing. It’s like Scott going to the South Pole, or the British expeditions who got entombed by ice.”

Nautilus occupies a curious place in the mining industry. It is one of the oldest companies at work on the seafloor, but also the most precarious. Although it has a permit from the government of Papua New Guinea to extract metal from offshore vents, many people on the nearby island of New Ireland oppose the project, which will destroy part of their marine habitat. Local and international activists have whipped up negative publicity, driving investors away and sending the company into financial ruin. Nautilus stock once traded for $4.45. It is now less than a penny per share.

Parianos acknowledged that Nautilus was in crisis, but he dismissed the criticism as naive. Seabed minerals are no different from any other natural resource, he said, and the use of natural resources is fundamental to human progress. “Look around you: Everything that’s not grown is mined,” he told me. “That’s why they called it the Stone Age—because it’s when they started mining! And mining is what made our lives better than what they had before the Stone Age.” Parianos emphasized that the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which created the International Seabed Authority, promised “to ensure effective protection for the marine environment” from the effects of mining. “It’s not like the Law of the Sea says: Go out and ravage the marine environment,” he said. “But it also doesn’t say that you can only explore the ocean for science, and not to make money.”

The CEO of a company called DeepGreen spoke in loftier terms. DeepGreen is both a product of Nautilus Minerals and a reaction to it. The company was founded in 2011 by David Heydon, who had founded Nautilus a decade earlier, and its leadership is full of former Nautilus executives and investors. As a group, they have sought to position DeepGreen as a company whose primary interest in mining the ocean is saving the planet. They have produced a series of lavish brochures to explain the need for a new source of battery metals, and Gerard Barron, the CEO, speaks with animated fervor about the virtues of nodule extraction.

His case for seabed mining is straightforward. Barron believes that the world will not survive if we continue burning fossil fuels, and the transition to other forms of power will require a massive increase in battery production. He points to electric cars: the batteries for a single vehicle require 187 pounds of copper, 123 pounds of nickel, and 15 pounds each of manganese and cobalt. On a planet with 1 billion cars, the conversion to electric vehicles would require several times more metal than all existing land-based supplies—and harvesting that metal from existing sources already takes a human toll. Most of the world’s cobalt, for example, is mined in the southeastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where tens of thousands of young children work in labor camps, inhaling clouds of toxic dust during shifts up to 24 hours long. Terrestrial mines for nickel and copper have their own litany of environmental harms. Because the ISA is required to allocate some of the profits from seabed mining to developing countries, the industry will provide nations that rely on conventional mining with revenue that doesn’t inflict damage on their landscapes and people.

Whether DeepGreen represents a shift in the values of mining companies or merely a shift in marketing rhetoric is a valid question—but the company has done things that are difficult to dismiss. It has developed technology that returns sediment discharge to the seafloor with minimal disruption, and Barron is a regular presence at ISA meetings, where he advocates for regulations to mandate low-impact discharge. DeepGreen has also limited its operations to nodule mining, and Barron openly criticizes the effort by his friends at Nautilus to demolish a vent that is still partially active. “The guys at Nautilus, they’re doing their thing, but I don’t think it’s the right thing for the planet,” he told me. “We need to be doing things that have a low impact environmentally.”

By the time I sat down with Michael Lodge, the secretary general of the ISA, I had spent a lot of time thinking about the argument that executives like Barron are making. It seemed to me that seabed mining presents an epistemological problem. The harms of burning fossil fuels and the impact of land-based mining are beyond dispute, but the cost of plundering the ocean is impossible to know. What creatures are yet to be found on the seafloor? How many indispensable cures? Is there any way to calculate the value of a landscape we know virtually nothing about? The world is full of uncertain choices, of course, but the contrast between options is rarely so stark: the crisis of climate change and immiserated labor on the one hand, immeasurable risk and potential on the other.

I thought of the hadal zone. It may never be harmed by mining. Sediment from dredging on the abyssal plains could settle long before it reaches the edge of a trench—but the total obscurity of the hadal should remind us of how little we know. It extends from 20,000 feet below sea level to roughly 36,000 feet, leaving nearly half of the ocean’s depths beyond our reach. When I visited Timothy Shank at Woods Hole a few months ago, he showed me a prototype of his latest robot. He and his lead engineer, Casey Machado, had built it with foam donated by James Cameron and with support from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, whose engineers are hoping to send a vehicle to explore the aqueous moon of Jupiter. It was a tiny machine, known as Orpheus, that could steer through trenches, recording topography and taking samples, but little else. He would have no way to direct its movements or monitor its progress via a video feed. It occurred to me that if Shank had given up the dream of true exploration in the trenches, decades could pass before we know what the hadal zone contains.

Mining companies may promise to extract seabed metal with minimal damage to the surrounding environment, but to believe this requires faith. It collides with the force of human history, the law of unintended consequences, and the inevitability of mistakes. I wanted to understand from Michael Lodge how a UN agency had made the choice to accept that risk.

“Why is it necessary to mine the ocean?” I asked him.

He paused for a moment, furrowing his brow. “I don’t know why you use the word necessary,” he said. “Why is it ‘necessary’ to mine anywhere? You mine where you find metal.”

I reminded him that centuries of mining on land have exacted a devastating price: tropical islands denuded, mountaintops sheared off, groundwater contaminated, and species eradicated. Given the devastation of land-based mining, I asked, shouldn’t we hesitate to mine the sea?

“I don’t believe people should worry that much,” he said with a shrug. “There’s certainly an impact in the area that’s mined, because you are creating an environmental disturbance, but we can find ways to manage that.” I pointed out that the impact from sediment could travel far beyond the mining zone, and he responded, “Sure, that’s the other major environmental concern. There is a sediment plume, and we need to manage it. We need to understand how the plume operates, and there are experiments being done right now that will help us.” As he spoke, I realized that for Lodge, none of these questions warranted reflection—or anyway, he didn’t see reflection as part of his job. He was there to facilitate mining, not to question the wisdom of doing so.

We chatted for another 20 minutes, then I thanked him for his time and wandered back to the assembly room, where delegates were delivering canned speeches about marine conservation and the promise of battery technology. There was still some debate about certain details of the Mining Code—technical requirements, oversight procedures, the profit-sharing model—so the vote to ratify it would have to wait another year. I noticed a group of scientists watching from the back. They were members of the Deep-Ocean Stewardship Initiative, which formed in 2013 to confront threats to the deepwater environment. One was Jeff Drazen. He’d flown in from Hawaii and looked tired. I sent him a text, and we stepped outside.

A few tables and chairs were scattered in the courtyard, and we sat down to talk. I asked how he felt about the delay of the Mining Code—delegates are planning to review it again this summer, and large-scale mining could begin after that.

Drazen rolled his eyes and sighed. “There’s a Belgian team in the CCZ doing a component test right now,” he said. “They’re going to drive a vehicle around on the seafloor and spew a bunch of mud up. So these things are already happening. We’re about to make one of the biggest transformations that humans have ever made to the surface of the planet. We’re going to strip-mine a massive habitat, and once it’s gone, it isn’t coming back.”

#u.s. news #u.s. military #politics #politics and government #trump china #china news #china #tech news #technology #tech #world news #international news #news #atlantic ocean #oceanography #climatechangeisreal #climateaction #climate crisis #climate change

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csnews · 5 years

Photo

Are we watching a real-time extinction of southern resident killer whales?

Randy Shore - October 9, 2018

Images of the orca J35 Tahlequah carrying her dead newborn for a heartbreaking 17 days over 1,600 kilometres were seen around the world. Canadian and American veterinarians and biologists then joined forces in dramatic fashion to diagnose and treat the ailing three-year-old J50 Scarlet from the same pod, but failed to save her life. Three deaths this summer — including the young male L92 Crewser, which disappeared in June — have focused the world’s attention on the difficulties facing southern resident killer whales like never before.

Now, the world will watch as we bring the 74 remaining community members back from the brink, or witness their extinction. Biologists and conservationists hope the celebrity of the Salish Sea’s orcas can be used to save them.

“They are a symbol for a lot of species that share their ecosystem and some of them are doing poorly, too,” said Vancouver Aquarium veterinarian Marty Haulena. Sea stars, chinook and sockeye salmon and rockfish populations are all in distress, but considerably less photogenic than orcas.

“Hopefully the southern residents have the star power to get some attention,” said Haulena. Orcas have strong family bonds, they play, and apparently grieve their losses, making them uniquely relatable.

“That is why we take their deaths so hard,” said Mark Leiren-Young, director of The Hundred Year Old Whale and author of The Killer Whale Who Changed the World.

“The photos of a baby orca leaping through the air that went viral — captioned ‘learning to fly’ — that was J50 Scarlet,” he said. “She was the symbol of a baby boom, the symbol of hope. And this is the whale that we just watched die.”

Scientists who study the West Coast’s killer whales identify individuals by their dorsal fins and a unique white saddle patch. Each gets a number and then a name, and hence a public persona. Vets and biologists are now gearing up to provide personalized medical attention to the southern residents.

Veterinary researcher Joe Gaydos of UC Davis, working with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has created individualized health records for every member, like you and I have with our family doctor.

“We need to know a lot more about the individual health of these animals,” said Haulena. “We can’t treat them as a population anymore. We have so few left that we need to know why every individual has died. And we don’t.”

Gaydos has adapted an approach developed for a closely monitored group of mountain gorillas in Uganda and Rwanda.

“(The gorillas) each have a health record, they are all vaccinated, and they are treated medically when something goes wrong,” Haulena said.

American researchers are able to collect feces, breath samples and “snot” from the southern residents, and use darts to collect samples of skin and blubber, according to Lynne Barre, southern resident killer whale recovery co-ordinator for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“We slice and dice these samples and cross-reference it with other data in every way we can think of to get a full picture,” she said.

The physical condition of the whales is assessed from photographs and video taken from the water’s surface and from aerial drones.

“So we watch and listen and sometimes even smell their breath,” she said.

Blubber samples in particular reveal the presence of toxins, from long-banned DDT and PCBs to newer threats such as PBDE flame retardants.

“Some of these are endocrine disrupters that are persistent in the environment and accumulate over time, affecting reproduction and the immune system,” said Barre.

A study published last week in the journal Science found that southern residents are moderately affected by PCBs compared to killer whale groups in Brazil and Europe, yet the contamination is predicted to negatively affect their ability to reproduce.

PCBs accumulate and concentrate in fish-eating fish such as chinook.

One sign of hope is that the whales continue to mate and conceive.

Females from J, K and L pods are showing signs of pregnancy and in mid-September the southern residents from all three pods merged into a super-pod near Race Rocks on Vancouver Island.

“We heard that there was a lot of social activity going on,” said Barre.

Time for action

The southern residents that make their summer home in the Salish Sea between the Fraser River and Bamfield on the west coast of Vancouver Island haven’t successfully produced a calf in three years.

Three members died just this summer, including the male L92 Crewser, who was declared missing in June. He was just 23 and in his prime.

Just a decade ago, surviving calves were being born at a rate of three, four or five per year. But since November of 2015, not a single one has survived.

Forty surviving calves have been born to the group since 1998. Over the same period, 73 southern residents have died.

Most cetaceans have a higher mortality rate in the first year of life, said Haulena.

But many of the other 17 orcas that perished since 2012 were in their prime — 13, 18, 20 and 23 years old.

“Orcas in their prime absolutely should be surviving,” he said.

A 27-year-old male, K25, has recently showed signs of decline in aerial photos, which Barre characterized as a “warning signal.”

Evidence points to a lack of food — mainly chinook salmon — as a threat to the orcas’ survival. Underwater noise from shipping, ferries, commercial and recreational fishing boats, and whale watchers interferes with their ability to locate what little prey is available.

Six groups, including the Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the David Suzuki Foundation, asked the courts on Sept. 5 to compel the federal government to issue an emergency order under the Species at Risk Act to protect the southern residents and their main food source, chinook salmon.

The chinook are themselves in deep crisis. The Columbia River chinook are listed as endangered in the U.S., and last week Fisheries and Oceans Canada released data showing this season’s chinook returns in the Fraser River were well below the historical average.

The southern residents, too, are listed as endangered under the Species at Risk Act. The next status after endangered is “extirpated,” meaning they are reproductively non-viable, or dead. Ottawa is taking public input on the Species at Risk Act recovery strategy for northern and southern resident killer whales until Nov. 3.

Earlier this year the litigating groups asked Ottawa to curtail sport fishing and whale watching in critical feeding areas. The government responded by reducing the chinook catch by 25 to 35 per cent and increasing the buffer zone for whale watching to 200 metres.

Parts of the most important foraging areas in the Gulf Islands and the Strait of Juan de Fuca were closed to all fishing and partial closures were implemented at the mouth of the Fraser River.

“Since the death of three whales, including J50, we have upped our ask,” said Misty MacDuffee, a biologist for Raincoast. “Now we want the closure of all marine-based commercial and sport chinook fisheries.”

The groups are also calling for a full ban on whale watching for the southern residents.

Up to two dozen whale-watching vessels follow the group daily in their main feeding areas on the Salish Sea, she said.

Whales or oil?

The plight of the southern residents is now central to the progress of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.

In overturning the pipeline approval, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the National Energy Board should have considered the impact of increased tanker traffic on southern resident killer whales.

Federal Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson hinted this week that further protections for killer whales could come before cabinet decides whether to approve the pipeline again, after the National Energy Board’s do-over review is complete.

The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion would increase the number of large vessels entering the Port of Vancouver by about six per week. The port currently serves 3,200 vessels a year.

Ottawa’s $1.5-billion Oceans Protection Plan — created in advance of Trans Mountain’s original approval — included plans to improve prey availability for the whales and to reduce underwater noise that interferes with the their ability to communicate and locate prey.

The government will invest an additional $167 million over five years in the Whales Initiative, supporting research, enforcement and education, and adding fisheries officers to ensure compliance to new regulations by anglers. Aerial surveillance over critical habitat has been increased by 30 per cent, according to Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada is spending $9.5 million on chinook habitat restoration on the Fraser, Thompson and Skeena Rivers and salmon streams on Vancouver Island, much of it in collaboration with First Nations.

A $150-million industry-funded oil spill protection plan was suspended when the pipeline approval was overturned.

A recent study published in the Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology suggests that a major oil spill near the orcas’ summer feeding grounds could affect up to 80 per cent of their critical habitat.

Animals such as orcas that spend a lot of time at the water’s surface are most likely to suffer from contact and ingestion of diluted bitumen, the main product to be exported by the proposed pipeline expansion, the authors said.

The port has implemented two programs aimed at reducing the impact of shipping on the southern residents.

Vessels travelling through the Strait of Juan de Fuca have been asked to shift their route as far south as possible within the shipping lane to create more distance between the ships and foraging areas.

In its fourth year, Enhancing Cetacean Habitat and Observation is a voluntary program in which ships are asked to reduce their speed through the Haro Strait to reduce underwater noise.

Underwater microphones installed in the Haro Strait found that noise created by slower vessels was “significantly” reduced, by about 6 to 11 decibels.

“We asked vessels to slow down to 11 knots,” said Carrie Brown, the port’s director of environmental programs. “We’ve had 87 per cent participation by ships in the current slowdown period.”

The program doesn’t have a specific threshold or goal for the level of underwater noise; instead it operates on the notion that any reduction in noise will be of benefit.

American authorities are considering dramatic action to improve chinook stocks and there is real public pressure to demolish four Lower Snake River dams.

Washington Governor Jay Inlee’s Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery Task Force has just released draft recommendations that include expanding hatchery programs, real-time orca monitoring to close active fisheries when the southern residents are in the area and removing barriers from a river system that has 14 hydroelectric dams.

After the removal of a dam on the Elwha River in 2014, chinook are returning to spawning areas above the former dam site, according to the Klallam Nation.

A massive increase in local populations of harbour seals and sea lions is also contributing to prey scarcity, because they also selectively eat chinook, according to recent research published by the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.

The report also contemplates “management actions” to control the number of harbour seals in Puget Sound. Earlier this summer, the U.S. federal government authorized a cull of sea lions in the Columbia River.

“If we don’t increase the availability of chinook and lessen the toxic load in the chinook population then we are watching (the southern residents) vanish,” said Leiren-Young.

#news #wild #orca #killer whale #srkw #extinction #conservation #whale #dolphin #cetacean

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loviswriting · 4 years

Text

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Bizarre Beach! Torn Between Scylla and Charybdis!

JJBA part 4 fan fic. Chapter 8: No trash, only dolphins, please!

Summary: During his stay in Morioh, Jotaro needs to come up with a subject for his doctoral thesis in marine biology! Strange happenings in the waters of Morioh beach piques Jotaros interest, making him investigate strange sightings of a mermaid, followed by injured surfers! In hopes of finding a subject for his thesis he teams up with Kishibe Rohan and Joseph Joestar to solve the mysterious happenings! Is it the work of an actual mermaid or is there a Stand user lurking around the corner?!

Number of chapters: 9

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Total word count for all chapters: 12 749.

Chapter 8 word count: 1166

Authors note: this is my first fan fic, I tried my best and hope you will enjoy it! You may also read it on my Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20937995/chapters/49778429

Jotaro and Rohan sank down a bit into the water, landing on a rocky plateau. Jotaro put down the two starfish and spoke to them, in a clear and slow manner, with the help of Star Platinum. “We mean you no harm. We understand you defended yourselves. Our trash is disturbing your home and the sea life, and by trash, I do not mean Rohan right now. We did wrong and want to help,” Jotaro said and one of the starfishes Stands emerged in front of them; it was Scylla, making its mermaid form. “Our will to attack.. gone,” it spoke, “We saw you, taking black goop away from water,” it continued and pointed at Star Platinum. Jotaro nodded, as did Star Platinum, “Yes. Oil. It’s dangerous for the oceans and I want to protect the oceans. I am a protector of the ocean,” he said and spontaneously invented a new glamorous title for ‘marine biologist’. The mermaid was silent for a while, observing them, before speaking again, “Why you destroy home with strange objects..? Trash..?” it asked with both curiosity and vigilance, confused by the human's contradictory words and actions. “Some humans are careless. Do things without thinking it through,” Rohan answered, “For ages, we humans have thrived in consumption, without thinking about the consequences. Exploiting and doing as we please. Without taking responsibility for our actions… which in the long run harms others, like your home and all of the ocean has been harmed.” Jotaro jumped into Rohan's speech, “And sometimes we need the perspective of others to see clearly. And seeing through your eyes we realize that we have been taking this beach and Morioh waters for granted. Prioritizing tourism before it’s beautiful nature... Dolphins...” Rohan looked around and saw no dolphins, “Anyway… You have powers and so do we as you have seen. We have friends with powers and together we can help you restore your home.” “You can help?” Scylla's mermaid said, still uncertain about Jotaro and Rohan, “How do we know you speak the truth?” Jotaro for a second thought about making Bucciarati lick his cheek again as proof of him no lying but realized that would make no sense to the starfish, “If we did not, would we not have gotten rid of you by now? You have seen our powers. And both your people and our people suffer from this. We know you have attacked our people and you had a good reason for doing so,” Jotaro bent down on one of his knees and Rohan observed and followed him, “And I apologize for the wrongdoings of humanity. But this circle of hurt has to stop. We humans too love the ocean and if we don’t stop this behaviour now, we will not only hurt you who inhabit the oceans, but we will also hurt ourselves. We are all part of the same planet. The same world. Let’s help each other solve this problem.” Scylla was silent for a moment and then spoke, “We accept... the apology. We trust you. Help us.” Jotaro nodded and smiled, “Then we will ask our friends for help. Do you need help to get back to your colony?” he offered. “No,” Scylla answered boldly, “We make our way ourselves. We will prepare. Find all the places with.. trash,” it answered before disappearing in a green energy cloud. Then both of the starfish glowed up with Stand energy and was lifted up upon a rock that started to glide away in the water, back towards the starfish colony near the beach. Jotaro and Rohan made their way back up to the surface and up aboard the boat. “Jotaro-san, to think you are the type to have such a tongue for a great speech like that...” Rohan said and smiled, impressed by the stoic Jotaro. “I haven’t had to choose my words that carefully since I was at university last time, exhausting… Yare yare daze,” he tilted his hat. Bucciarati approached them as the boat started to move towards the Morioh harbour. “It seems you resolved the issue with the starfish?” he said and then pointed at Rohan, “Also that guy doesn’t speak Italian anymore, I have no idea what he just said.” Rohan's writing on his arm that made him speak Italian had been washed off in the water, “For fuck's sake...”, he grunted. The boat arrived at the harbour and Rohan and Jotaro was to step off the boat, as Jotaro hesitated for a moment and stopped, turning to Bucciarati. “Hey. By the way. We’re currently chasing a serial killer in this town. A Stand user. And your Stand seems pretty powerful. We could use someone like you on our team.” Bucciarati smiled but shook his head, “I have to turn the offer down. I have my own matters to attend to. But I hope you won’t be killed, Jotaro Kujo and Rohan Kishibe.” Jotaro and Rohan smiled and made their way off the boat, seeing the Italian off, “Thanks for the help, goodbye!” Rohan bid Bucciarati farewell. “I have no idea what you said! Arrivederci!” Bucciarati greeted back and the Quattro Stagioni started to make its way out of the harbour. “What a strange happening and a strange town… And that Jotaro, he had a certain energy to him.. I feel as if it won’t be the last time I come across someone with that special energy,” Bucciarati said to himself, disappearing towards the horizon. “Okay then, that was an informative field trip with lots of great experiences! It will be a great asset for an ocean arc for my Pink Dark Boy series…” Rohan was satisfied with the day, “So do you have any plan for how to help the Starfish?” “Yeah. I’ll get the team together. I’ll need a day to prepare, I’ll call you tomorrow,” he waved Rohan off as they parted ways. But it felt like he had forgotten something, something important that he should have remembered to take care off, a responsibility… At the same time, a bit out from Morioh beach waters, a lone motorboat was drifting around in the water. “Yare yare fucking daze, the boat...” Jotaro sighed and looked out into the horizon, ocean glittering beautifully with hope, except for the boat, of course, which had no hope left in any possible horizon and was only to face a rough destiny, bruised by violent waves, sinking into oblivion doomed to rust into a husk of its former self. Possibly. Or more likely just drift back to the shore, but that is another tale that is not relevant to Jotaros story, although it actually was his fault and the boat rental will most likely give Jotaro an extra fee for not returning the boat according to rental rules, causing him to spiral deeper down in student loans and debts. Anyway, let’s move on with the actual story. What? The chapter is over? Okay, see you next time in BoatBoats Bizarre Adventure: Motorboat is Unsinkable!

#jojos bizarre adventure #jjba #fanfic #jjba fanfic #jotaro #Rohan Kishibe #bruno bucciarati #jjba part 4 #jjba part 5 #vento aureo #Diamond is Unbreakable #jjba diu #writeblr #writing #writer

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sciencespies · 3 years

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Ocean areas that, if strongly protected, would help solve climate, food and biodiversity crises

https://sciencespies.com/nature/ocean-areas-that-if-strongly-protected-would-help-solve-climate-food-and-biodiversity-crises/

Ocean areas that, if strongly protected, would help solve climate, food and biodiversity crises

From climate change and carbon emissions to biodiversity and global hunger, humanity faces so many challenges that tackling them quickly is a daunting task. One solution that potentially addresses multiple issues could provide the impetus society needs to make significant progress.

An international team of 26 authors, including six at UC Santa Barbara, has just published a study in the prestigious journal Nature offering a combined solution to several of humanity’s most pressing challenges. It is the most comprehensive assessment to date of where strict ocean protection can contribute to a more abundant supply of healthy seafood and provide a cheap, natural solution to address climate change, in addition to protecting embattled species and habitats.

The researchers identified specific areas of the ocean that could provide multiple benefits if protected. Safeguarding these regions would protect nearly 80% of marine species, increase fishing catches by more than 8 million metric tons and prevent the release of more than one billion tons of carbon dioxide by protecting the seafloor from bottom trawling, a widespread yet destructive fishing practice.

The study is also the first to quantify the potential release of CO2 into the ocean from trawling, and finds that trawling pumps hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 into the ocean every year.

“Ocean life has been declining worldwide because of overfishing, habitat destruction and climate change. Yet only 7% of the ocean is currently under some kind of protection,” said the study’s lead author Enric Sala, an explorer in residence at the National Geographic Society.

“In this study, we’ve pioneered a new way to identify the places that — if protected — will boost food production and safeguard marine life, all while reducing carbon emissions,” Sala said. “It’s clear that humanity and the economy will benefit from a healthier ocean. And we can realize those benefits quickly if countries work together to protect at least 30% of the ocean by 2030.”

To identify the priority areas, the authors — leading marine biologists, climate experts and economists — analyzed the world’s unprotected ocean waters. They focused on the degree to which they are threatened by human activities that can be reduced by marine protected areas (for example, overfishing and habitat destruction).

They then developed an algorithm to identify where protections would deliver the greatest benefits across the three complementary goals of biodiversity protection, seafood production and climate mitigation. They mapped these locations to create a practical “blueprint” that governments can use as they implement their commitments to protect nature.

“While we consider three key benefits that marine protection is known to confer, this is really just the beginning,” said co-author Darcy Bradley(link is external), co-director of the Ocean and Fisheries Program at UC Santa Barbara’s Environmental Market Solutions Lab (emLab). “Our approach is a way to bring multiple stakeholders to the table, to show that their interests can be prioritized, and ultimately to demonstrate that solutions that protect large ocean areas and benefit multiple simultaneous objectives exist.”

The study does not provide a single map for ocean conservation, but it offers a first-in-kind framework for countries to decide which areas to protect depending on their national priorities. However, the analysis supports the claim that 30% is the minimum amount of ocean that the world must protect in order to provide multiple benefits to humanity.

“There is no single best solution to save marine life and obtain these other benefits. The solution depends on what society — or a given country — cares about, and our study provides a new way to integrate these preferences and find effective conservation strategies,” said coauthor Juan Mayorga(link is external), a marine scientist at emLab as well as National Geographic Society’s Pristine Seas.

The study comes ahead of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which will gather in May in Kunming, China. The meeting will bring together representatives of 190 countries to finalize an agreement to end the world’s biodiversity crisis. The goal of protecting 30% of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030 (the “30×30” target) is expected to be a pillar of the treaty. The report follows commitments by the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, the European Commission and others to achieve this target on national and global scales.

“Solutions with multiple benefits are attractive to people and leaders alike,” said coauthor Jane Lubchenco, a university distinguished professor at Oregon State University. “Our pioneering approach allows them to pinpoint the places that, if protected, will contribute significantly to three big problems at once: food security, climate change, and biodiversity loss. Our breakthrough in methodology can bring multiple benefits to nature and people.”

The report identifies highly diverse marine areas in which species and ecosystems face the greatest threats from human activities. Establishing marine protected areas with strict regulations in those places would safeguard more than 80% of the ranges of endangered species, up from a current coverage of less than 2%. The authors found that priority locations lie throughout the ocean, with the vast majority of them contained within the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of coastal nations.

Additional protection targets are located in the high seas — those waters governed by international law. These include the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (a massive underwater mountain range); the Mascarene Plateau in the Indian Ocean; the Nazca Ridge off the west coast of South America; and the Southwest Indian Ridge, between Africa and Antarctica.

“Perhaps the most impressive and encouraging result is the enormous gain we can obtain for biodiversity conservation with only 21% of the ocean being protected, if we carefully chose the location of strictly protected marine areas,” said coauthor David Mouillot, a professor at the Université de Montpellier in France. “One notable priority for conservation is Antarctica, which currently has little protection, but is projected to host many vulnerable species in a near future due to climate change.”

Shoring up the Fishing Industry

The study finds that wisely placed marine protected areas (MPAs) that ban fishing would actually boost the production of fish at a time when supplies of wild-caught fish are dwindling and demand is rising. In doing so, the study refutes a long-held view that ocean protection harms fisheries. Instead, it opens up new opportunities to revive the industry just as it is suffering from a recession due to overfishing and the impacts of global warming.

“Some argue that closing areas to fishing hurts fishing interests. But the worst enemy of successful fisheries is overfishing, not protected areas,” said lead author Sala. The study finds that protecting the right places could increase the catch of seafood by over 8 million metric tons relative to business as usual.

“It’s simple: When overfishing and other damaging activities cease, marine life bounces back,” said co-author Reniel Cabral(link is external), an assistant researcher at UC Santa Barbara’s Marine Science Institute and in its Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. “After protections are put in place, the diversity and abundance of marine life increase over time, with measurable recovery within reserves occurring in as little as three years. Target species and large predators come back, and entire ecosystems are restored within MPAs. With time, the ocean can heal itself and again provide services to humankind.”

Soaking up Carbon

The study is also the first to calculate the climate impacts of bottom trawling, a damaging fishing method used worldwide in which boats drag heavy nets across the ocean floor. The researchers found that the amount of CO2 released into the ocean from this practice is larger than most countries’ annual carbon emissions, larger even than emissions from global aviation.

“The ocean floor is the world’s largest carbon storehouse. If we’re to succeed in stopping global warming, we must leave the carbon-rich seabed undisturbed,” said coauthor Trisha Atwood of Utah State University. “Yet every day, we are trawling the seafloor, depleting its biodiversity and mobilizing millennia-old carbon and thus exacerbating climate change. Our findings about the climate impacts of bottom trawling will make the activities on the ocean’s seabed hard to ignore in climate plans going forward.”

The study finds that countries with large national waters and large industrial bottom trawl fisheries have the highest potential to contribute to climate change mitigation via protection of carbon stocks. The authors estimate that protecting only 4% of the ocean — mostly within national waters — would eliminate 90% of the present risk of carbon disturbance due to bottom trawling.

Closing a Gap

The study’s range of findings helps to close a gap in our knowledge about the impacts of ocean conservation, which to date had been understudied relative to land-based conservation.

“The ocean covers 70% of the Earth; yet, until now, its importance for solving the challenges of our time has been overlooked,” said coauthor Boris Worm, Killam Research Professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. “Smart ocean protection will help to provide cheap natural climate solutions, make seafood more abundant and safeguard imperiled marine species — all at the same time.

“The benefits are clear,” he continued. “If we want to solve the three most pressing challenges of our century — biodiversity loss, climate change and food shortages — we must protect our ocean.”

#Nature

#03-2021 Science News #2021 Science News #Earth Environment #earth science #Environment and Nature #Nature Science #News Science Spies #Our Nature #outrageous acts of science #planetary science #Science #Science Channel #science documentary #Science News #Science Spies #Science Spies News #Space Physics & Nature #Space Science #Nature

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paulbenedictblog · 5 years

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New Post has been published on %http://paulbenedictsgeneralstore.com%

News top stories daily news hot topics Assailing Columbus, VR for seniors, otter attack: News from around our 50 states

News top stories daily news hot topics

News top stories daily news hot topics Alabama

Huntsville: The U.S. Military is defending a resolution to halt its ancient, 57-year-dilapidated articulate and technical library at Redstone Arsenal. Military officials bid it changed into a joint resolution made by parties. Al.com reports that the Redstone Scientific Records Heart closed its doors Sept. 30. The center changed into established in 1962 by a constitution between the Military and NASA. It changed into overseen by a board of directors made up of senior leaders and scientists at Redstone’s varied missile organizations. Dr. Wernher von Braun and Maj. Gen. Francis “Frank” McMorrow agreed to make the distinctive facility, which held data about rocketry and articulate science old to come United States rocket functions.

News top stories daily news hot topics Alaska

Anchorage: A man says he rescued his family’s dog from an assault by river otters in a small lake inner an arena park. Alaska Public Media reports Kenny Brewer waded waist-deep into Taku Lake and suffered a bite on his hand whereas pulling the dog a long way from the river otters that converged on the pet. The 27-year-dilapidated Anchorage dietitian says he and his essential other were strolling the husky-mix, which changed into bitten by a community of otters that dragged the dog underwater temporarily. Brewer says a veterinarian cleaned the dog’s cuts, sliced away broken tissue and stitched a drain tube into its leg. Natural world biologists bid they were no longer attentive to old assaults by river otters in Anchorage. One biologist says the animals likely perceived the dog as a likelihood.

News top stories daily news hot topics Arizona

Tucson: Two retirement communities within the metropolis are the launching pad for a program to inspect how virtual actuality technology helps senior voters with cognition, dementia, loneliness and diversified issues. The Arizona On every day foundation Star reports Watermark Retirement Communities needs to in the end build the technology available at dozens of facilities nationwide. With a cordless headset system known as Oculus Quest, elderly residents devour been ready to fade a roller coaster, visit the Egyptian pyramids and visit locations they old to live. Watermark also needs to permit residents across its communities so to fulfill up honest about. Grayson Barnes, a 20-year-dilapidated Rochester Institute of Know-how student, spent two years increasing the Defend VR program for Watermark. He says most be taught suggests dementia patients are extra devour themselves after experiencing virtual actuality.

News top stories daily news hot topics Arkansas

Puny Rock: A judge says he’s running for a seat on the articulate’s Supreme Court, atmosphere up one other presumably dear and heated trudge in a articulate that has drawn heavy involvement from birth air conservative groups. Pulaski County Circuit Deem Morgan “Chip” Welch on Monday announced he changed into running for the seat at label held by Justice Jo Hart in next year’s election. Hart, who has served on the court docket since 2013, has no longer acknowledged whether or no longer she’s seeking reelection next year. Arkansas’ nonpartisan Supreme Court races in latest years devour drawn the dear focal point of birth air conservative groups which devour spent tens of millions on TV commercials and assault mailers. A articulate justice obtained reelection final year after two conservative groups spent honest about $2.5 million making an are attempting to u.s. her.

News top stories daily news hot topics California

Sacramento: The articulate will ban the sale and fabricate of latest fur merchandise starting up in 2023. Legislation signed Saturday by Gov. Gavin Newsom makes California the first articulate to form this kind of ban. It doesn’t exclaim to old fur merchandise or fur old for non secular or tribal functions. And it excludes the sale of leather; cowhides; deer, sheep and goat skin; and the relaxation preserved through taxidermy. There’s a gorgeous of up to $1,000 for added than one violations. Democratic Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, the bill’s author, says there are “sustainable and humane” substitutes for fur. Opponents of the legislation devour acknowledged it would possibly perhaps well probably per chance per chance build a gloomy market and be a slippery slope to bans on diversified merchandise.

News top stories daily news hot topics Colorado

Colorado Springs: A portray by the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative says the articulate’s 54 easiest summits continue to inspect an increasing number of of us seeking to climb the fourteeners, or those at the least 14,000 toes excessive. The Gazette reports that an prognosis by the nonprofit initiative estimates 353,000 of us were attracted to the peaks at some stage in 2018’s ice climbing season, up 5.7% from the 2017 count. That’s almost 100,000 extra than the first portray from four years within the past. Colorado Fourteeners executive director Lloyd Athearn says the heightened numbers near along with his organization increasing its monitoring capabilities on the mountains. Per the portray, Mounts Bierstadt, Elbert, Lincoln, Bross, Democrat and Sherman apart from to Predicament, Grays, Torreys and Longs peaks all gaze extra of us. And for the first time, Predicament High changed into the busiest fourteener. Bierstadt previously held the unpleasant.

News top stories daily news hot topics Connecticut

Hartford: A fresh articulate portray displays the articulate’s utilities are “well attentive to the increasing dangers” of cyberattacks and appear to devour successfully thwarted latest threats they encountered. Four utilities participated within the third annual cybersecurity assessment of Connecticut’s electricity, natural gasoline and public water utilities. The list entails Eversource, Connecticut Water, Aquarion Water Co. and Avangrid. The portray says the utilities conducted “in depth fresh work” all the contrivance in which during the final year to carry their cybersecurity resilience, including vetting the hiring of all employees and vendors. Phishing, spear phishing, threats to cloud data storage and insider threats are cited as one of the most most worrisome threats going during the articulate’s utilities. The portray highlights a need for better data sharing between the federal Division of Location of foundation Safety and the articulate utilities touching on cyber compromises.

News top stories daily news hot topics Delaware

Newark: ChristianaCare researchers bid they devour created a fresh computer program that can allow scientists to inspect the impact gene modifying has on tumor cells, a theory they hope to patent. It wasn’t invented by a health center doctor or a researcher, though they did lend a hand. The muse came from Rohan Kanchana, a junior at Newark Structure College who interned there final wintry climate. The 16-year-dilapidated is too younger to form technical lab work at ChristianaCare’s most cancers center, nonetheless he would possibly perhaps well per chance code. The fresh computer program revolves spherical a technology known as CRISPR, the genetic version of spell-check on a Discover file. If a individual has an wrong observe – or, in this case, a gene – the technology will name and ethical it, says Eric Kmiec, director of the Gene Editing Institute at ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Most cancers Heart & Study Institute.

News top stories daily news hot topics District of Columbia

Washington: Plans are within the works to add presumably hundreds extra dockless scooters to D.C. streets, WUSA-TV reports. As of now, 6,210 dockless scooters are accepted within the district. For 2020, the District Division of Transportation is all in favour of a proposal that would possibly perhaps well per chance boost the number to 10,000. The observation duration to add extra scooters goes till the cease of October. After that, DDOT officials bid they're going to guage the responses and resolve the following steps. The proposal also entails the addition of dockless bikes, considering up to 10,000 within the district. The autos wouldn’t be designated to 1 dwelling nonetheless unfold out across all eight wards.

News top stories daily news hot topics Florida

Orlando: Gatorland has built fresh homes for some of its most distinctive-having a seek for residents, thus creating an novel for a rare albino gator and two even-extra-rare leucistic gators, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The White Gator Swamp would be the positioning of moderately one gator impart, officials hope. These very light-skinned residents are really being impressed to build offspring. “It’s the largest breeding facility for white alligators anywhere on this planet,” says Designate McHugh, Gatorland’s CEO. The white gators were launched to their fresh digs Oct. 4. Leucistic gator Trezos hesitated to enter the waters, whereas his brother, Feros Zombi, dived off the aspect of a ramp after uncooked-chicken inspiration. Albino alligator Pearl did a reptilian form of strut prior to making a splash. Albino gators have not any pigment at all, whereas leucistics devour some coloring in their skins. All three devour separate waters and likely mates to explore.

News top stories daily news hot topics Georgia

Brunswick: Marine salvage experts seeking to scheme halt an overturned cargo ship halt to the articulate’s seacoast bid they're going to haul it away in objects since it would possibly perhaps well probably't be safely righted and refloated intact. Their Unified Expose acknowledged in a assertion Saturday that the hull of the 656-foot Golden Ray would be dismantled, in conjunction with the ship’s diversified parts and cargo, and brought away in what it described as a “advanced challenge.” The Golden Ray overturned Sept. 8 approach the Port of Brunswick. Rescuers drilled into the hull’s steel plates and rescued four crewmen trapped within the bowels of the ship for added than a day in sizzling warmth and darkness. The Wing Guard has acknowledged it would possibly perhaps well probably per chance consume “weeks, if no longer months,” to scheme halt the ship, which overturned whereas heading to sea.

News top stories daily news hot topics Hawaii

Honolulu: As Salvage. Tulsi Gabbard travels all the contrivance in which through Iowa and Original Hampshire making an are attempting to kickstart her Democratic presidential bid, she is going through a serious scheme back lend a hand dwelling in Hawaii for her U.S. Residence seat. Divulge Sen. Kai Kahele, a fellow Democrat, is deciding on up endorsements and criticizing Gabbard for no longer paying sufficient consideration to constituents in Hawaii whereas she campaigns for president hundreds of miles away. The 45-year-dilapidated Native Hawaiian is a combat former and pilot for the Hawaii Air National Guard. He flies passenger jets for Hawaiian Airways and is a member of the pilots union, a helpful attribute in union-pleasant Hawaii. Gabbard hasn’t indicated whether or no longer she's going to flee for reelection.

News top stories daily news hot topics Idaho

Boise: Authorities devour released plans to quit devastating wildfires in southwestern Idaho, southeastern Oregon and northerly Nevada with one likelihood creating 1,500 miles of gasoline breaks up to 400 toes broad along novel roads. The U.S. Bureau of Land Administration on Friday released a draft environmental impact assertion for the Tri-Divulge Gasoline Breaks Challenge and is taking public comments during the cease of November. The BLM says creating gasoline breaks by clearing vegetation would possibly perhaps well lend a hand firefighters quit wildfires and protect key habitat for epic grouse and diversified natural world on land also old by ranchers and birth air fans. The BLM says alternate strategies encompass fewer miles of gasoline breaks the overall contrivance the overall manner down to no gasoline breaks at all. The placement in latest decades has seen repeated giant rangeland wildfires.

News top stories daily news hot topics Illinois

Marengo: A French non secular repeat has reached a preliminary settlement with a northern Illinois county that would possibly perhaps well per chance allow nuns to make a winery, brewery, gift shop and coed boarding college there. The consent decree between McHenry County and Fraternite Notre Dame Inc. would possibly perhaps well per chance cease honest about four years of litigation and local opposition to the repeat expanding its operation in Marengo. The repeat sued the county in 2015, alleging that by blocking off the expansion, the county changed into violating the U.S. Non secular Land Notify and Institutionalized Folks Act and the Illinois Non secular Freedom Restoration Act. The Chicago Tribune reports that U.S. Magistrate Deem Iain Johnston is scheduled to grab this month whether or no longer to approve the settlement. McHenry County Divulge Attorney Patrick Kenneally and county board Chairman Jack Franks declined to observation.

News top stories daily news hot topics Indiana

Indianapolis: Butler University has raised extra than half of of the $250 million it needs for a campaign to make investments in science training, carry enrollment beyond resident undergraduates and boost community outreach. The non-public college has pooled $171 million from extra than 27,000 donors at some stage in its greatest fundraising campaign, which runs through Could perhaps per chance per chance. The college plans to add a $100 million science facility. But college President James Danko says the campaign will also lend a hand fund efforts to abet working experts to enroll. Melissa Beckwith, vice president of approach and innovation, says the college would possibly perhaps well per chance partner with local companies to present training for employees who aren’t enrolled as undergraduates. The college will also are attempting to present Indianapolis public college college students dual degree credits.

News top stories daily news hot topics Iowa

Des Moines: Backers of a skateboard park below construction downtown bid they've reached their $6.3 million funding goal. The Lauridsen Skatepark would be the nation’s greatest when carried out in spring 2020. The 88,000-square-foot skate park is being built on 5 acres of land between 2d Avenue and the Des Moines River. Recent items by the Lauridsen Family Foundation and the articulate’s Toughen Iowa fund enabled organizers to prevail in their fundraising goal. Nix and Virginia Lauridsen devour donated an total of $1.6 million to the challenge. Moreover the skate areas, the park will encompass viewing platforms, handicap accessible walkways, colour constructions and landscaping. Organizers request about 40,000 skaters a year will employ the park. They novel skateboarding will be an Olympic sport in 2020.

News top stories daily news hot topics Kansas

Kansas City: The Kansas City T-Bones are officially locked out of their stadium. The Unified Authorities of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, modified the locks and padlocked the gates to the stadium Monday since the crew has failed to pay heaps of of hundreds of dollars in unpaid debts. The government issued an eviction inspect in August after the T-Bones accumulated extra than $760,000 in lend a hand rent and utility payments. The crew changed into given a one-month reprieve in September after making a $50,000 payment. The Kansas City Star reports crew house owners devour acknowledged they're working to promote the crew, nonetheless no deal has been reached. The T-Bones done in an unbiased league and have not any Major League Baseball affiliation.

News top stories daily news hot topics Kentucky

Winchester: Daniel Boone National Woodland officials bid extra than one fires devour burned heaps of of acres there, with almost the overall fires precipitated by of us. WTVQ-TV in Lexington reports three crews from Puerto Rico devour volunteered to revive what they'll within the wooded space. Officials want to natty up destroy from fires prior to dry climate returns. The volunteers are working 16 hours a day performing such responsibilities as reseeding, battling erosion, and knocking down bushes that would possibly perhaps well per chance tumble and afflict somebody. Volunteer Roberto Martinez instructed the dwelling of us from the U.S. went to Puerto Rico to lend a hand when Hurricane Maria struck there, and now it’s his likelihood to return the favor. Daniel Boone representatives bid it would possibly perhaps well probably per chance per chance be a pair of extra weeks prior to aspects of the wooded space birth to the public.

News top stories daily news hot topics Louisiana

Original Orleans: The National World Warfare II Museum’s $25 million training and outreach building will birth Thursday. After a gap ceremony, this can destroy ground for its final novel corridor and fetch an birth rental at the fresh building, known as the Corridor of Democracy. It facets a be taught library, classrooms, an auditorium, the Institute for the Peek of Warfare and Democracy, and the WWII Media and Education Heart. There’s also a diversified novel gallery. The gap exhibition is set the consume, extradition and trial of Adolf Eichmann, who done a essential segment within the Nazi mass executions of Jews. The fresh building is the museum’s sixth, including three novel pavilions, a theater and a restoration building. Its 239-room resort and conference center is anticipated to birth in unhurried tumble.

News top stories daily news hot topics Maine

Portland: A scientist with an environmental community says she has chanced on what she believes is the first recorded appearance of a presumably unfavorable species of crab in Maine waters. Marissa McMahan of the Massachusetts-based mostly community Manomet says she located the refined mud crab earlier this month on a be taught commute. The crabs, that are regularly chanced on south of Cape Cod, can pose issues for aquaculture businesses because they prey on younger oysters. The one specimen is aloof alive, as McMahan silent it. Moderately a pair of birth air species of crabs already pose a likelihood to Maine’s ecosystem. Acadia National Park officials acknowledged earlier this tumble that a molted shell of an Asian shore crab changed into chanced on along the shore. It changed into among the first confirmed reports of the species within the dwelling.

News top stories daily news hot topics Maryland

Adamstown: A rural fireplace chief says an “elusive” 3-foot-prolonged alligator has finally been caught. WJLA-TV reports the gator changed into caught Saturday in a retention pond on a private property in Adamstown after animal adjust officers and others spent hours Thursday and Friday making an are attempting to consume it. The dwelling reports officers ended up inserting a live animal cage trap with bait on the muddy shoreline after initial efforts using a fishing line failed. Carroll Manor Volunteer Fire Chief Mike Smallwood says he chanced on the “artful and clean” reptile inner the steel cage about 6: 30 a.m. Saturday. Maryland residents will no longer be allowed to hold exotic animals, including alligators. The dwelling reports Frederick County Animal Administration says the alligator changed into likely abandoned by its owner as a result of its dimension.

News top stories daily news hot topics Massachusetts

Boston: Two articulate lawmakers want to build it simpler for communities to devour interplay dormant railroad tracks to convert into leisure trails. The MetroWest On every day foundation Records reports articulate Sen. Jamie Eldridge and articulate Salvage. Carmine Gentile, both Democrats, jointly filed legislation that, if authorized, would allow cities and cities to employ Neighborhood Preservation Act cash to devour interplay railroad lands to rework into trails for strolling, running and bicycling. Neighborhood Preservation Act cash is also old to protect birth articulate and ancient sites, build realistic housing and fabricate birth air leisure facilities. However the articulate Division of Income has dominated it would possibly perhaps well probably't be old to do away with federal rail banks and rights of contrivance. Eldridge, of Acton, says rail trails pork up public well being by offering net opportunities for exercise and boost economic trend.

News top stories daily news hot topics Michigan

Detroit: A church that served as a favored venue for nationwide civil rights leaders, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, is getting a grant for wished renovations. The National Park Carrier has awarded the Michigan Divulge Historic Preservation Location of job $500,000 for King Solomon Baptist Church. Work entails rehabilitating the roof and making ready construction drawings. The church inbuilt 1917 for a white congregation changed into sold in 1955 by an African American congregation. King spoke twice at King Solomon, and Malcolm X gave his “Message to the Grassroots” speech there in 1963. King Solomon’s pastor, the Rev. Charles Williams II, says the goal “is to continue the church’s custom of empowerment, training and be taught.” The church changed into listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

News top stories daily news hot topics Minnesota

St. Cloud: More than 100 mannequins in blaze orange sweatshirts were situation up along Minnesota Highway 23 within the metropolis Saturday. The label, organized by Pathways 4 Childhood, represented the number of childhood experiencing homelessness on any given night in Central Minnesota. “Heaps of of us within the neighborhood exact don’t know,” says Tim Wensman, board chair and president of Pathways 4 Childhood. The occasion kicked off the organization’s “Now That You Know” campaign, which targets to carry consciousness on childhood homelessness, apart from to specialize in how of us can toughen the organization’s efforts. Pathways 4 Childhood is a handy resource center for childhood ages 16 to 24 who're experiencing homelessness. The center helps them attain their training, secure net employment and compose stable housing. It also connects childhood with a quandary to bathe, meals and hygiene merchandise, and a warmth evening meal.

News top stories daily news hot topics Mississippi

Meridian: The metropolis guarantees there will be sunshine Oct. 26, although it’s a cloudy day. That’s the day Meridian will honor the unhurried David Ruffin, one in every of the lead singers of the Motown community The Temptations. He sang the hit “My Girl,” which included that sunny lyric. The Meridian Star reports the metropolis will add signs ceremonially naming four blocks of a downtown boulevard “David Ruffin Boulevard.” Born in nearby rural Whynot, Ruffin claimed Meridian as dwelling. Mississippi’s Arts + Entertainment Ride will also quandary Ruffin’s considerable individual on its plug of popularity, whereas Jackson Divulge University’s marching band, the “Sonic Notify of the South,” will lead a parade. LaMont Robinson, head of the National Rhythm & Blues Corridor of Popularity and Ruffin’s son-in-law, presented the thought to the metropolis.

News top stories daily news hot topics Missouri

Columbia: The CEO of Dow Inc. has donated $6 million to a fresh University of Missouri well being institute centered on customized pills. The college says the gift from Jim Fitterling is one in every of the first from a individual donor for the NextGen Precision Effectively being Institute. The $220.8 million center is anticipated to birth in October 2021. The articulate has contributed $10 million to this point, with diversified funding coming from a combination of non-public and company toughen. Fitterling acknowledged in a assertion that as a most cancers survivor, he's “keenly drawn to advancing be taught that helps patients and their households devour better outcomes and better qualities of existence.” He started working at Dow exact two weeks after graduating from the University of Missouri’s College of Engineering in 1983.

News top stories daily news hot topics Montana

Missoula: Divulge wooded space experts devour proposed a bushes harvest and prescribed-burns challenge to cleave the likelihood of wildfires within the Lolo National Woodland. The Missoulian reports the proposed treatments were designed to make contributions to the overall wooded space well being and gasoline-cleave price targets and build the wooded space extra resilient to drought, wildfire, bugs and illness. Woodland experts bid the challenge would cowl about 36 square miles in Missoula and Mineral counties and encompass harvesting bushes for mills, tree thinning and prescribed fires. Experts bid some novel roads are anticipated to be decommissioned for work. Experts bid they're seeking additional public input on the proposal at a assembly Wednesday. Submitted comments would be permitted by mail, electronically and hand-delivered for the following 30 days.

News top stories daily news hot topics Nebraska

Norfolk: These who want to lend a hand protect monarch butterflies can build free milkweed seed pods during the Nebraska Sport and Parks Commission. The pods, seeding instructions and monarch instructional data will be available whereas gives final at Sport and Parks’ Northeast District Location of job in Norfolk. Milkweed is the host plant for the monarch. Monarchs lay eggs most intriguing on milkweed, and it’s the easiest plant monarch caterpillars will consume. Scientists bid the monarch inhabitants has greatly declined all the contrivance in which during the final 20 years. Contact Jamie Bachmann at 402-370-3374 or [email protected] for added data.

News top stories daily news hot topics Nevada

Tonopah: Nye County has decided to abandon a controversial proposal that would possibly perhaps well devour extra diminutive the hours when exquisite prostitutes were allowed to plod away licensed brothels. The southern Nevada county had proposed an ordinance that would possibly perhaps well devour barred brothel crew from leaving for added than six hours at some stage in a 10-day duration. Brothel house owners, local prosecutors and others supporting the proposal acknowledged they were alive to prostitutes would devour unprotected sex once they left brothels. The Las Vegas Solar reports Nye County decided to tumble the design after receiving criticism from sex crew and advocates who acknowledged it violated their rights. Intercourse crew and advocates bid they also favor the county to repeal an novel rule requiring prostitutes to be retested for sexually transmitted diseases and HIV any time they leave for added than 24 hours at a time.

News top stories daily news hot topics Original Hampshire

Manchester: Shakers devour prolonged been known for the easy fabricate of their furniture and family objects, nonetheless a fresh novel at the Currier Museum of Art work explores their reducing-edge talents in impress administration. The Manchester museum is featuring a fresh novel known as The Shakers and the New World, drawn from both its hold collection and the holdings of Canterbury Shaker Village. Andrew Spahr, the museum’s director of collections, says the Shakers at one time precipitated apprehension with attempts to convert outsiders to their religion, nonetheless then they developed a branding approach to counter detrimental public conception and were mercurial to comprise printed media and pictures to promote a extra obvious seek for. The novel will be accompanied by public and instructional functions developed with Canterbury Shaker Village, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

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Trenton: The articulate’s gloomy endure hunt is underway this week. The first three days of the hunt starting up Monday are for hunters armed with bows and arrows. Archers and muzzleloading rifle hunters can consume half on Thursday and Friday. The hunt is specific to 5 zones. Gov. Phil Murphy has again prohibited hunting on articulate lands. The endure hunt for firearms most intriguing is decided to open Dec. 9. Hunters killed 225 bears in 2018, the lowest quantity since 2003.

News top stories daily news hot topics Original Mexico

Albuquerque: Police data displays 42 Native Individuals devour been reported lacking within the metropolis to this point this year, after 36 in 2018. Smash of day Begay, the metropolis’s Native American affairs coordinator, says the figures signify birth lacking people circumstances in Albuquerque. Figures from U.S. Census Bureau’s American Neighborhood Survey impart the metro dwelling is dwelling to roughly 50,000 Native Individuals. Of the 36 lacking in 2018, 15 were ladies. Begay shared the numbers Friday at an occasion held to specialize within the arena of lacking and murdered indigenous ladies in Original Mexico’s greatest metropolis. An City Indian Effectively being Institute seek for final year listed Albuquerque among cities with the superb number of lacking Native American ladies. Authors of the portray had counted 37 lacking and homicide circumstances complete for Native American ladies and girls.

News top stories daily news hot topics Original York

Albany: The articulate Division of Environmental Conservation is promoting patches to toughen repairs work on birth air game facilities. The most fresh fabricate of the Original York Divulge Plod Supporter Patch resembles the spherical yellow disks marking connector trails on articulate lands. The old fabricate changed into red, devour markers old by DEC on east-west directional trails. The patch is supplied for $5 at carrying license stores or on-line at the articulate’s fishing and hunting license portal. The patch changed into launched in 2007 to lend a hand carry funds to carry up trails across the articulate. Gross sales devour raised extra than $41,000 to this point. Tasks supported by patch gross sales encompass a boardwalk in Texas Hollow Divulge Woodland, foot bridges on the Northville Placid Plod, repairs of Otter Creek Horse Trails and lean-tos within the High Peaks Barren situation.

News top stories daily news hot topics North Carolina

Raleigh: Gov. Roy Cooper targets to build a articulate-funded program to lend a hand residents in four counties increase from Hurricane Dorian after the federal government declined a demand for help focusing on them. The Federal Emergency Administration Agency final week instructed Cooper there wasn’t sufficient destroy from final month’s storm to people and households in Carteret, Dare, Hyde and Original Hanover counties to warrant a federal declaration. So Cooper wrote Friday to the U.S. Runt Industry Administration requesting one other extra or much less declaration for low-ardour loans within the four counties and those surrounding them. If it’s authorized, Cooper’s quandary of job acknowledged he would build a grant program to complement the loans for folks and businesses.

News top stories daily news hot topics North Dakota

Bismarck: The North Dakota auditor says the Commerce Division broke articulate law on bidding contracts for the articulate’s fresh “Be Legendary” logo. Divulge Auditor Joshua Gallion released the audit Monday. The logo sparked criticism earlier this year when the contract for it changed into awarded to a Minnesota agency headed by a girl who once worked for Gov. Doug Burgum’s dilapidated Fargo machine industry. The firm changed into awarded the $9,500 job without competition since it came in below the $10,000 threshold required for added bids. Gallion says the audit of the agency chanced on one other contract linked to the emblem, bringing its complete cost to extra than $87,000. The Commerce Division says it did nothing execrable.

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Dayton: A neighborhood air sinful is going during the an increasing number of overall pickle of an aging group. The Dayton On every day foundation Records reports about half of of the 30,000 of us working at Wright-Patterson Air Power Execrable are nearing the cease of their careers. Air Power Gen. Arnold Bunch Jr. says filling those jobs and taking care of employees is “serious.” More than a third of employees at the Air Power Study Laboratory are eligible to retire. This would per chance per chance also be no longer easy because honest about 70% of the lab’s group has at the least a master’s degree. Per a U.S. census estimate from 2017, most intriguing 10% of Ohioans 25 and older fetch an developed college degree. The president of the Southwestern Ohio Council for Elevated Education says the Air Power would possibly perhaps well per chance aloof focal point on attracting and recruiting nontraditional candidates.

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Tulsa: A Republican articulate senator who unsuccessfully tried to criminalize abortion has announced plans to scheme back GOP U.S. Salvage. Markwayne Mullin next year. Sen. Joseph Silk, from Damaged Bow, says he’ll are attempting to u.s. Mullin, who has served four phrases representing jap Oklahoma within the U.S. Residence. In a assertion, Silk says he selected to enter the 2020 Republican valuable for the 2nd Congressional District because he changed into pissed off with what he known as the “very liberal” management within the Oklahoma Legislature. Republicans fetch overwhelming majorities in both the Oklahoma Residence and Senate. Mullin’s chief of crew, Mike Stopp, says Mullin intends to flee for one other term, nonetheless he declined to observation on Silk’s candidacy.

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Portland: The pissed off owner of North Portland’s by no manner-old Wapato Jail has announced he's going to bulldoze the power except somebody comes up with funding to convert the power right into a homeless shelter within the following two weeks. Oregon Public Broadcasting reports Jordan Schnitzer, president of Harsch Investment Properties, acknowledged Thursday that he planned to tag a demolition contract by the month’s cease. Assuming no final-minute stakeholder steps in, Schnitzer acknowledged his firm will destroy ground on a fresh warehouse there by spring. Schnitzer acknowledged he changed into “sickened” that a year-and-a half of-prolonged quest to convert the 150,000-square-foot penal advanced right into a shelter would cease with the power reduced to rubble. But metropolis leaders, in conjunction with local nonprofits, had been reticent to quandary of us lacking shelter in tailored penal advanced cells 11 miles a long way from Portland’s downtown core.

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Doylestown: About a of Bucks County’s lined bridges will be getting a makeover as a result of a $2.5 million refurbishment challenge, to encompass all seven county-owned spans. At one point there were extra than 50 lined bridges in Bucks County, nonetheless now most intriguing a dozen remain. These aloof standing were built between 1832 and 1874, when horse-drawn buggies were the dear manner of transportation. Ten bridges aloof carry autos and autos apart from to the occasional walker and bicycle owner. The diversified two are in parks. Whereas largely made of wood, loads of the spans are held up by steel constructions that would possibly perhaps well per chance aloof be stripped and repainted. County operations director Kevin Spencer says diversified work entails fireproofing inner and exterior wood surfaces, changing cedar going through and siding boards, and diversified repairs.

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Providence: A statue of Christopher Columbus changed into vandalized Monday, on the U.S. holiday named for him. The statue in Providence changed into splashed from head to toe with red paint, and a tag finding out “Stay celebrating genocide” changed into leaned in opposition to the pedestal. The observe “genocide” changed into written in orange paint on the rear of the pedestal. The statue has been the target of vandals on Columbus Day within the past. The Original World explorer has change into a polarizing resolve. Native American advocates devour pressed states to alternate Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day over concerns that Columbus spurred centuries of genocide in opposition to indigenous populations within the Americas. Police are investigating, and a spokeswoman for Mayor Jorge Elorza acknowledged the statue would be cleaned.

News top stories daily news hot topics South Carolina

Columbia: The articulate is adding a fresh dwelling code. The most fresh situation of digits will augment the Palmetto Divulge’s oldest dwelling code – 803. In the placement stretching from Aiken to Rock Hill with Columbia at its center, fresh numbers starting up with 839 will be available within the Midlands starting up Could perhaps per chance per chance 26, 2020. The Put up and Courier reports historically, the 803 dwelling code changed into the easiest one within the articulate after World Warfare II ended. In 1995, 864 came to the Upstate. The coastal 843 dwelling code changed into created within the unhurried 1990s. Sooner than the fresh number’s availability, tens of millions of landline callers are requested to exclaim dialing the dwelling code prior to each and every local number. Calls dialed without dwelling codes will quit going through April 25, 2020.

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Sioux Falls: Krystal Trull’s daughter went months without autism treatments after the family lost insurance coverage coverage. Trull lost get entry to to the treatment that first gave 4-year-dilapidated Nikole the gift of speech. She timid if Nikole would be ready to increase. Months after petitioning articulate leaders to require insurers to cowl an intensive compose of autism treatments known as Utilized Conduct Prognosis, Trull commended a resolution announced Friday that Sioux Falls-based mostly insurers would again cowl the treatment for some households. Sanford Effectively being and Avera Effectively being will open offering coverage in 2020 after a loophole in articulate law precipitated South Dakota households such because the Trulls to lose insurance coverage coverage this year. Gov. Kristi Noem, Sanford and Avera announced the coverage in a joint assertion Friday.

News top stories daily news hot topics Tennessee

Memphis: A girl whose father changed into accomplished for assassinate 13 years within the past requested a judge Monday to repeat the checking out of DNA evidence within the case. The hearing in Memphis centered largely on whether or no longer April Alley can legally carry a petition for DNA checking out on behalf of her father’s property. Sedley Alley changed into convicted of the 1985 assassinate of 19-year-dilapidated Marine Lance Cpl. Suzanne Collins in Millington. She had been out jogging when she changed into kidnapped, overwhelmed, raped and mutilated. Alley confessed to the crime nonetheless later acknowledged the confession changed into coerced. He changed into accomplished by lethal injection in 2006. April Alley’s attorneys encompass Innocence Challenge co-founder Barry Scheck, who instructed the court docket they filed the petition for DNA checking out after law enforcement officers in St. Louis contacted him a pair of that you just'd call to mind replacement suspect in Collins’ assassinate.

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Waco: The Mayborn Museum strikes the starting up air inner to coach kids some overall classes on the natural world in its fresh Yard Ecology Corridor. The Waco Tribune-Herald reports the corridor, a $1.2 million revamping of the museum’s first-ground teenagers’s articulate, contains 4 gigantic novel rooms and a big overall dwelling for live demonstrations – and households needing a quandary to sit down and relaxation. The rooms mix interactive actions, live reptiles, bugs and specimens from one of the most Mayborn’s collections to form classes with connections to local ecosystems. The displays, created particularly for the Mayborn, goal in class students from fourth- to eighth-grade phases nonetheless hold arena subject for youthful teenagers, older college students and adults, assistant displays director Rebecca Nall says.

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Clearfield: Two firefighters are receiving reward after they chanced on a ingenious approach to carry up a younger girl silent at the scene of a car accident. North Davis Fire District Fire Chief Designate Becraft acknowledged the firefighters let a younger girl paint their nails after she and her mother were in a car accident Saturday within the northern Utah metropolis of Clearfield. Chief Allen Hadley and Captain Kevin Lloyd checked on the crying, screaming girl whereas medics evaluated her mother. No person changed into seriously injured. They requested her about the nail polish she changed into conserving and supplied to devour their nails painted. Both men devour younger daughters. Becraft acknowledged the girl changed into straight away soothed. Hadley and Lloyd left the scene with red manicures.

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Wallingford: A community of birth air lovers is working to carry the profile of the White Rocks National Recreation Residence within the Green Mountain National Woodland, and they’re procuring for some lend a hand. The Rutland Herald reports Nate Rand, of Wallingford, says he and a buddy devour talked about forming the White Rocks Beginning air Collaborative, and they’ve been using a social media community to net likely participants and coordinate their efforts. Rand says about 100 of us devour joined a Fb page, nonetheless the thought is aloof within the formative segment. Rand says many people are familiar with the White Rocks ice climbing trails, nonetheless comparatively few are aware that the White Rocks National Recreation Residence gives opportunities to hike, snowshoe and execrable-nation ski.

News top stories daily news hot topics Virginia

Richmond: A federal appeals court docket has set aside a fetch on two permits wished for construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday issued a quit of permits from the U.S. Fish & Natural world Carrier whereas it opinions a lawsuit filed by environmental groups in August. The Sierra Membership acknowledged in a assertion that the suspension effectively manner construction have to quit on the 300-mile natural gasoline challenge. The lawsuit alleges that the Fish and Natural world Carrier’s approval of the challenge failed to adequately protect endangered species along the pipeline’s direction. Also on Friday, the firm building the pipeline agreed to pay extra than $2 million and undergo enhanced monitoring to resolve a lawsuit brought by Virginia officials.

News top stories daily news hot topics Washington

Spanaway: A meals monetary institution that serves roughly 1,100 of us in Pierce County has been broken in a fireplace. Spanaway Meals Bank director Harold Smith says households quick of meals showed up all the contrivance in which during the day Friday and were directed to diversified meals banks for lend a hand. Smith says the meals monetary institution’s freezers and refrigerators were lost, and the meals couldn't be salvageable. The fireplace changed into reported about 6 a.m., and Central Pierce Fire & Rescue spokesman Darrin Shaw says the structure changed into closely alive to when crews arrived. The trigger of the fireplace wasn’t straight away known. Smith says the power, which has operated for four decades, hands out about 15,000 kilos of meals every month.

News top stories daily news hot topics West Virginia

Charleston: The articulate Division of Education data says extra than half of of the articulate’s teachers missed extra than 10 days of faculty final year. WSAZ-TV reports 52.75% of teachers missed extra than 10 days, in step with its be taught of data from the educational division. The prior year’s number changed into 52.46%. The year prior to that it changed into 51.44%, and in 2016 it changed into 50.83%. Divulge Superintendent Steve Paine says teachers devour a tense, anxious job, nonetheless some are lacking too grand college. The percentage of teachers who missed extra than 20 days changed into honest about 11%. The omnibus training bill that handed a pair of months within the past included a $500 attendance bonus for teachers who omit fewer than four days. Paine acknowledged the articulate needs to resolve if that has an form.

News top stories daily news hot topics Wisconsin

Milwaukee: The metropolis’s natural history museum is hoping its fresh live spiders novel can educate guests as an replacement of scaring them away. The Milwaukee Public Museum is net web articulate hosting the Spiders Alive! novel through January. It facets 17 species of live arachnids from spherical that world, including tarantulas, gloomy widows, brown recluses and wolf spiders. It also entails some family of spiders, including scorpions. The novel’s on-space curator, Jon Bertolas, says he ensures that guests will leave with an even bigger appreciation of spiders. Visitor Sandra Romanshek says she decided to are attempting the novel because spiders are predominant for the atmosphere, despite the indisputable truth that she thinks they're creepy crawlers.

News top stories daily news hot topics Wyoming

Casper: Divulge lawmakers devour developed legislation that would possibly perhaps well per chance lend a hand build bigger a community of toll road crossings for natural world. The Casper Star-Tribune reports a legislative committee unanimously authorized three bills Friday making a diversified natural world conservation myth to lend a hand fund extra crossings, signage and game fences in sensitive natural world habitats. Lawmakers bid the committee is anticipated to sponsor the bills within the 2020 session. Officials bid the fund would possibly perhaps well per chance carry federal dollars appropriated below an infrastructure bill containing $250 million for natural world crossings at key migration chokepoints. Lawmakers bid migration corridors were a manner of keeping natural world and inserting a stability between energy trend and conservation pursuits.

From USA TODAY Community and wire reports

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