King salmon vanishing in Alaska, smokehouses empty

Mary Pemberton, Associated Press Yahoo News 2 Aug 09;

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Yukon River smokehouses should be filled this summer with oil-rich strips of king salmon — long used by Alaska Natives as a high-energy food to get through the long Alaska winters. But they're mostly empty.

The kings failed to show up, and not just in the Yukon.

One Alaska river after another has been closed to king fishing this summer because significant numbers of fish failed to return to spawn. The dismally weak return follows weak runs last summer and poor runs in 2007, which also resulted in emergency fishing closures.

"It is going to be a tough winter, no two ways about it," said Leslie Hunter, a 67-year-old store owner and commercial fisherman from the Yup'ik Eskimo village of Marshall in western Alaska.

Federal and state fisheries biologists are looking into the mystery.

King salmon spend years in the Bering Sea before returning as adults to rivers where they were born to spawn and die. Biologists speculate that the mostly likely cause was a shift in Pacific Ocean currents, but food availability, changing river conditions and predator-prey relationships could be affecting the fish.

People living along the Yukon River think they know what is to blame — pollock fishery. The fishery — the nation's largest — removes about 1 million metric tons of pollock each year from the eastern Bering Sea. Its wholesale value is nearly $1 billion.

King salmon get caught in the huge pollock trawl nets, and the dead kings are counted and most are thrown back into the ocean. Some are donated to the needy.

"We do know for a fact that the pollock fishery is slaughtering wholesale and wiping out the king salmon stocks out there that are coming into all the major tributaries," said Nick Andrew Jr., executive director of the Ohagamuit Traditional Council. "The pollock fishery is taking away our way of living."

Since 2000, the incidental number of king salmon caught has skyrocketed, reaching over 120,000 kings in 2007. A substantial portion of those fish were bound for western Alaska rivers. If those fish had lived, an estimated 78,000 adult fish would have returned to rivers from the Pacific Northwest to Western Alaska.

Efforts to reduce bycatch are not new. In 2006, bycatch rules were adopted allowing the pollock fleet to move from areas where lots of kings were being inadvertently caught, thereby avoiding large-scale fishing closures. Then, 2007 happaned, and it was back to the drawing board.

Last April, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, the organization that manages ocean fish, passed a hard cap on the pollock fishery. Beginning in 2011, the portion of the fleet that participates in the program is allowed 60,000 kings a year. If the cap is reached, the fishery shuts down. Those who don't participate have a lower cap — 47,591 fish.

The loss of the kings is devastating village economies. These are the same Yukon River villages where spring floods swept away homes, as well as boats, nets and smokehouses. There's no money to buy anything, Andrew said.

"It is crippling the economy in all of the rivers where we depend on commercial fishing for income," he said.

Bycatch plays a role but is not the only reason for the vanishing kings, said Diana Stram, a fishery management plan coordinator at the council.

Herman Savikko, an Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist, agreed. He pointed to changing ocean currents, plankton blooms and even the carnivorous nature of salmon. River conditions could be changing, too, he said.

A lot isn't known about what happens to king salmon in the ocean, Savikko said. "Once the fish enter the marine environment it just is a big black box," he said.

In a good year, Kwik'pak Fisheries L.L.C. in Emmonak on the lower Yukon employs between 200 and 300 people. This summer, only about 30 people have been hired. Kwik'pak is the largest employer in the region.

General manager Jack Schultheis said when the king fishery was shut down, the summer chum salmon run was curtailed as well, even though a good number of chums were returning to the river.

The lower Yukon villages are economically devastated, he said.

Fishermen used to get between $5 million and $10 million from the fishery. Last year, it was $1.1 million.

That means instead of making between $20,000 and $30,000 in the 1970s, fishermen are making just a few thousand dollars now, and that in villages where fuel costs $8 a gallon, milk is $15 a gallon and a T-bone steak costs $25, he said.

It's hard to see the villages in such economic hardship but the Yukon should be managed conservatively until the problem of the disappearing kings is better understood, Schultheis said.

"For 50 years, it was an extremely stable fishery," he said.

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France's oyster industry hit by fresh crisis

Deborah Claude Yahoo News 2 Aug 09;

RENNES, France (AFP) – For the second consecutive year, the French shellfish industry has been plunged into crisis, with a mystery ailment decimating stocks of young oysters.

In 2008 French oyster farmers saw between 40 and 100 percent of their baby oysters wiped out, a far higher mortality than usual in the summer months.

Scientists at Ifremer, the French institute for the exploitation of the sea, pointed the finger at the virus OsHV-1 (Ostreid herpesvirus 1), which is associated with bacteria and flourishes in warmer weather.

This summer is seeing the same phenomenon, Jacques Sourbier, regional president of the national shellfish producers' body in the Loire told AFP, saying it appeared to be "every bit as worrying and serious as last year."

He was reluctant to give any precise figures as data was still being collated.

But oyster farmers are reporting a mortality rate of young oysters between 50 and 80 percent.

"It began in the south in April... and has since gone up the coast as far as Normandy," Maxime Sion from the organisation of Loire producers told AFP.

The Poitou-Charentes coast, half-way up France's Atlantic coastline, was hit in May, with a mortality rate of 80 percent, according to regional shellfish producers' official Francois Patsouris.

Stephan Alleaume, president of the producers in Britanny in northwest France, put mortality among baby oysters at between 35 and 89 percent around Cancale, which is reputed for its oysters.

This week, Ifremer and maritime ministry experts carried out tests on deep water oyster beds in the bay of Quiberon, on the southern part of the Breton coast.

All the available data would be known in about a fortnight said Sourbier, "but we have already asked the government for the same level of help as last year."

In 2008 the national committee for agricultural insurance estimated losses at more than 184 million euros (260 million dollars) and granted producers 36.9 million euros in aid with an exceptional compensation rate set at 20 percent.

"Broadly speaking producers can get over one year of very high mortality, but they can't get over two, especially as the market rates are very low," said Sion, who feared that many oyster farmers would go out of business.

Producers have been lobbying Ifremer to put more resources into getting to the bottom of what is killing the oysters.

In a report at the end of July, Ifremer said analyses confirmed "the widespread presence of the OsHV-1 virus, which has been associated with episodes of mortality of young Pacific oysters for several years."

It said it was urgently looking for solutions, of which one would be to select species resistant to the virus.

Last year was France's worst crisis since the native European or Portuguese oyster was virtually wiped out nearly 40 years ago. Since then most oyster farms have restocked with the Pacific "creuse" oyster.

France is the biggest oyster producer in Europe and fourth in the world after China, Japan and South Korea. Its 15,000 to 20,000 oyster farmers produce around 130,000 tons of oysters a year.

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Are wind farms a health risk? US scientist identifies 'wind turbine syndrome'

Noise and vibration coming from large turbines are behind an increase in heart disease, migraine, panic attacks and other health problems, according to research by an American doctor

Margareta Pagano, The Independent 2 Aug 09;

Living too close to wind turbines can cause heart disease, tinnitus, vertigo, panic attacks, migraines and sleep deprivation, according to groundbreaking research to be published later this year by an American doctor.

Dr Nina Pierpont, a leading New York paediatrician, has been studying the symptoms displayed by people living near wind turbines in the US, the UK, Italy, Ireland and Canada for more than five years. Her findings have led her to confirm what she has identified as a new health risk, wind turbine syndrome (WTS). This is the disruption or abnormal stimulation of the inner ear's vestibular system by turbine infrasound and low-frequency noise, the most distinctive feature of which is a group of symptoms which she calls visceral vibratory vestibular disturbance, or VVVD. They cause problems ranging from internal pulsation, quivering, nervousness, fear, a compulsion to flee, chest tightness and tachycardia – increased heart rate. Turbine noise can also trigger nightmares and other disorders in children as well as harm cognitive development in the young, she claims. However, Dr Pierpont also makes it clear that not all people living close to turbines are susceptible.

Until now, the Government and the wind companies have denied any health risks associated with the powerful noises and vibrations emitted by wind turbines. Acoustic engineers working for the wind energy companies and the Government say that aerodynamic noise produced by turbines pose no risk to health, a view endorsed recently by acousticians at Salford University. They have argued that earlier claims by Dr Pierpont are "imaginary" and are likely to argue that her latest findings are based on a sample too small to be authoritative.

At the heart of Dr Pierpont's findings is that humans are affected by low-frequency noise and vibrations from wind turbines through their ear bones, rather like fish and other amphibians. That humans have the same sensitivity as fish is based on new discoveries made by scientists at Manchester University and New South Wales last year. This, she claims, overturns the medical orthodoxy of the past 70 years on which acousticians working for wind farms are using to base their noise measurements. "It has been gospel among acousticians for years that if a person can't hear a sound, it's too weak for it to be detected or registered by any other part of the body," she said. "But this is no longer true. Humans can hear through the bones. This is amazing. It would be heretical if it hadn't been shown in a well-conducted experiment."

In the UK, Dr Christopher Hanning, founder of the British Sleep Society, who has also backed her research, said: "Dr Pierpont's detailed recording of the harm caused by wind turbine noise will lay firm foundations for future research. It should be required reading for all planners considering wind farms. Like so many earlier medical pioneers exposing the weaknesses of current orthodoxy, Dr Pierpont has been subject to much denigration and criticism and ... it is tribute to her strength of character and conviction that this important book is going to reach publication."

Dr Pierpont's thesis, which is to be published in October by K-Selected Books, has been peer reviewed and includes an endorsement from Professor Lord May, former chief scientific adviser to the UK government. Lord May describes her research as "impressive, interesting and important".

Her new material about the impact of turbine noise on health will be of concern to the Government given its plans for about 4,000 new wind turbines across the country. Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, has made wind power a central part of his new green policy to encourage renewable energy sources. Another 3,000 are planned off-shore.

Drawing on the early work of Dr Amanda Harry, a British GP in Portsmouth who had been alerted by her patients to the potential health risk, Dr Pierpont gathered together 10 further families from around the world who were living near large wind turbines, giving her a cluster of 38 people, from infants to age 75, to explore the pathophysiology of WTS for the case series. Eight of the 10 families she analysed for the study have now moved away from their homes.

In a rare interview, Dr Pierpont, a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told The Independent on Sunday: "There is no doubt that my clinical research shows that the infrasonic to ultrasonic noise and vibrations emitted by wind turbines cause the symptoms which I am calling wind turbine syndrome. There are about 12 different health problems associated with WTS and these range from tachycardia, sleep disturbance, headaches, tinnitus, nausea, visual blurring, panic attacks with sensations of internal quivering to more general irritability.

"The wind industry will try to discredit me and disparage me, but I can cope with that. This is not unlike the tobacco industry dismissing health issues from smoking. The wind industry, however, is not composed of clinicians, nor is it made up of people suffering from wind turbines." The IoS has a copy of the confidential manuscript which is exhaustive in its research protocol and detailed case series, drawing on the work of leading otolaryngologists and neurotologists – ear, nose and throat clinical specialists.

Some of the earliest research into the impact of low-frequency noise and vibrations was undertaken by Portuguese doctors studying the effects on military and civil personnel flying at high altitudes and at supersonic speed. They found that this exposure may also cause the rare illness, vibroacoustic disorder or VAD, which causes changes to the structure of certain organs such as the heart and lungs and may well be caused by vibrations from turbines. Another powerful side effect of turbines is the impact which the light thrown off the blades – known as flicker – has on people who suffer from migraines and epilepsy.

Campaigners have consistently argued that much research hitherto has been based on written complaints to environmental health officers and manufacturers, not on science-based research. But in Denmark, Germany and France, governments are moving towards building new wind farms off-shore because of concern over the potential health and environmental risks. In the UK there are no such controls, and a growing number of lobbyists, noise experts and government officials are also beginning to query the statutory noise levels being given to councils when deciding on planning applications from wind farm manufacturers. Lobbyists claim a new method of measuring is needed.

Dr Pierpont, who has funded all the research herself and is independent of any organisation, recommends at least a 2km set-back distance between potential wind turbines and people's homes, said: "It is irresponsible of the wind turbine companies – and governments – to continue building wind turbines so close to where people live until there has been a proper epidemiological investigation of the full impact on human health.

"What I have shown in my research is that many people – not all – who have been living close to a wind turbine running near their homes display a range of health illnesses and that when they move away, many of these problems also go away."

A breakthrough into understanding more of the impact of vibrations came last year, she said, when scientists at Manchester University and Prince of Wales Clinical School and Medical Research Institute in Sydney showed that the normal human vestibular system has a fish or frog-like sensitivity to low-frequency vibration. This was a turning point in understanding the nature of the problem, Dr Pierpont added, because it overturns the orthodoxy of the current way of measuring noise. "It is clear from the new evidence that the methods being used by acousticians goes back to research first carried out in the 1930s and is now outdated."

Dr Pierpont added that the wind turbine companies constantly argue that the health problems are "imaginary, psychosomatic or malingering". But she said their claims are "rubbish" and that medical evidence supports that the reported symptoms are real.

Case study: 'My husband had pneumonia, my father-in-law had a heart attack. Nobody was ill before'

Jane Davis, 53, a retired NHS manager, and her husband, Julian, 44, a farmer, lived in Spalding, Lincolnshire, until the noise of a wind farm 930m away forced them to leave

"People describe the noise as like an aeroplane that never arrives. My husband developed pneumonia very quickly after the turbines went up, having never had chest problems before. We suffer constant headaches and ear nuisance. My mother-in-law developed pneumonia and my husband developed atrial fibrillation – a rapid heartbeat. He had no pre-existing heart disease. Our blood pressure has gone up. My father-in-law has suffered a heart attack, tinnitus and marked hearing loss.

" I understand this can be regarded as a coincidence, but nobody was ill before 2006."

The defence: 'Wind turbines are quiet and safe'

The British Wind Energy Association, UK's biggest renewable energy trade association, said last night: "One of the first things first-time visitors to wind farms usually say is that they are surprised how quiet the turbines are.

"To put things in context: the London Borough of Westminster registered around 300,000 noise complaints from residents in 2008, none from wind turbines. The total number of noise complaints to local councils across the country runs into millions.

"In contrast, an independent study on wind farms and noise in 2007 found only four complaints from about 2,000 turbines in the country, three of which were resolved by the time the report was published.

"Wind turbines are quiet, safe and sustainable. It is not surprising that, according to a DTI report, 94 per cent of people who live near wind turbines are in favour of them. There is no scientific research to suggest that wind turbines are in any way harmful, and even many of the detractors of wind energy are honest enough to admit this.

"Noise from wind farms is a non-problem, and we need to move away from this unproductive and unscientific debate, and focus on our targets on reducing carbon emissions."

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Coal fires up India farmers against power plants

Phil Hazlewood Yahoo News 2 Aug 09;

POINAD, India (AFP) – Rajni Ramakan Patil has a message for the energy companies that want to build coal-based power stations on the land that she and two generations of her family have farmed for more than 50 years.

"Even if you give us gold, we won't leave this place. This is our land," she said.

Rajni and five other families from the village of Poinad cultivate a small parcel of land on the flat and fertile plains near the coastal town of Alibag, about 130 kilometres (80 miles) south of the western city of Mumbai.

The land, used for sowing rice crops and growing vegetables like okra and white onions, is among 8,500 acres (3,400 hectares) earmarked for the construction of four giant thermal power plants.

Activists opposed to the development fear it could destroy the livelihoods of thousands of people in the area, pollute the clean air and soil and create health problems among the poor farmers and their families.

"They only know how to sow, how to manage fields, how to harvest, how to fish," said Satish Londhe, who is spearheading the villagers' fight against the proposals.

The situation in the lush foothills of the Western Ghats mountain range embodies the problem facing India: how does it meet the increasing demand for energy as the country's population explodes and economic growth continues.

According to the International Energy Agency, more than half of the world's energy demands by 2030 will come from India and its fellow emerging economic powerhouse China.

But while China was reportedly building two new power stations per week, India's energy infrastructure has struggled to keep pace with rapid growth.

Some 400 million people currently lack regular electricity and even where it is available power cuts can be daily occurrences.

Maharashtra Energy Generation Ltd, a unit of India's largest private utility firm Reliance Energy Ltd, Tata Power and the other companies involved in the proposed plants say the 7,700 megawatts produced will ease supply problems.

The villagers and environmentalists supporting them accept the need for more electricity but question whether coal is the answer.

With concern about high levels of greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, they want renewable energy, which currently supplies about 25 percent of India's electricity, to be given greater priority.

According to Greenpeace India, wind, solar and tidal power could provide up to 35 percent of the country's power by 2030, with less environmental damage and social consequences.

"People don't want the project," said Vishnu Mhatre, a medical doctor who runs a clinic near the proposed power plant sites. "They want change but they don't want pollution.

"They want electricity but electricity can be provided by wind or other renewables."

But India -- the world's third-biggest producer of electricity from fossil fuel -- appears set on coal, which at present provides just under 55 percent of the country's power.

The ministry overseeing the industry maintains that coal will continue to take "centre stage of India's energy scenario" in the years to come, calling it a "unique ecofriendly fuel service to (the) domestic energy market".

Retired Admiral L. Ramdas, a former chief of the Indian naval staff, lives in Alibag with his wife, Lalita, who sits on the board of directors of Greenpeace International.

He called for more use of wind power and energy storage and described the potential displacement of thousands of farmers at a time of chronic food shortages in some parts of rural India as a "crazy, crazy situation."

The fight between India's fabled "common man" and at least two of its biggest corporate beasts might seem unevenly matched, but there is a precedent for a victory against the odds.

Proposals for another power plant in the southern state of Karnataka were shelved after popular protests.

"Even a project delayed is a limited victory," said Ramdas. "We will carry on. We will wear them out. They won't wear us out."

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Climate Change: Cutting out the political hot air

Straits Times 3 Aug 09;

THE Group of Eight climate action agenda calling for an 80 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050 has been rightly criticised as mere hot air. Without any specific short-term targets or a roadmap, lofty declarations like the one made in L'Aquila could end up as ineffective as the Kyoto Protocol. The only concrete 'achievement' of the G-8 was its commitment to keep mean temperature under 2 deg C over pre-industrial levels - essential to prevent irreversible disruption of the global climate system.

While G-8 officials were congratulating themselves for reaching an agreement on emission cuts by 2050, scientists were looking at alarming satellite images showing that Arctic ice has shrunk considerably over the past four years. Nasa scientists have said that a recovery in the thickness of perennial Arctic ice was unlikely.

The other G-8 'achievement' - in setting a 2-degree warming target - would still spell disaster for developing nations dependent on rain-fed agriculture. Governments have been coy about spelling out what such a rise in temperature might mean for countries' food supplies.

Columnist Gwynne Dyer, quoting an unpublished study by an Indian think-tank done on behalf of the World Bank, concluded that a 2 deg C increase would result in India's agricultural production falling by a whopping 25 per cent. If this estimate is even half accurate, it underscores the urgency of adopting mitigating policies. However morally justified, the refusal of developing countries to join in a global effort to counter global warming amounts to shirking their responsibility as co-managers of the planet.

Developing countries bear the heavy responsibility of lifting their millions out of poverty - and right now, that can be accomplished only by burning the fossil fuels that cause global warming. The responsibility for finding a way out of this conundrum lies mostly with developed nations, but developing countries cannot hide behind the argument that the West bears sole historical responsibility for the problem.

At a recent Tallberg Forum in Sweden, interestingly titled How On Earth Can We Live Together?, former Costa Rican president Jose-Maria Figueres summed up the response needed to face the multifarious challenges posed by global warming as 'three decouplings'.

First, decouple growth from carbon emissions: Contrary to the common belief that reducing carbon emissions is a costly undertaking, significant gains can be made through the efficient use of energy. The development of renewable energy and associated technologies also opens up good business opportunities while mitigating the effects of climate change.

Second, 'we have to decouple our personal satisfaction from over-consumption', he said, pointing to the carbon cost of excessive consumption in the developed world. 'In our world today, one billion people over-consume and are wasteful, and six billion people do not have enough.'

The third challenge is to 'decouple our political and democratic participation from the context of the nation state'. This, of course, is the toughest challenge. Voters elect their leaders to deliver welfare exclusively to them, not to other regions. Yet, given the close integration and interdependence of the world, Mr Figueres says: 'We need to understand that the governments that we elect at local, regional and national levels are ever more members of a global community of governments that need to coordinate actions among themselves so that we all can live better lives.'

However logical, Mr Figueres' call for the election of partners in a global government will inevitably be met with yawns. The timidity of the G-8 leaders in refusing to provide a medium-term target is evidence of their focus on electoral support back home. Vague promises to cut emissions in the future satisfy their global posturing without incurring any political cost.

Meanwhile, global temperatures continue to rise and the glaciers continue to shrink. Mother Nature was quite clearly not a signatory at the summit at L'Aquila.

The writer is editor of YaleGlobal Online

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Best of our wild blogs: 2 Aug 09

Life History of the Great Mormon
from Butterflies of Singapore

Raffles’ Malkoha building nest
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Placid at Pasir Ris
from wild shores of singapore

East coast lagoon - Where are the fish?
from Singapore Nature

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Malaysia To Impart Knowledge To Indonesia To Fight Haze

Bernama 1 Aug 09;

KUCHING, Aug 1 (Bernama) - Malaysia is to impart knowledge of peatland management and 'zero burning' techniques to the authorities of the province of Riau in Sumatra, Indonesia as part of efforts to have greater collaboration in tackling haze in the region.

Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas said as part of the cooperation between Malaysia and Indonesia under the Memorandum of Understanding on Transboundary Haze Pollution of June last year, Malaysia is assisting Riau, an area that has many forest fires and is closest to Peninsular Malaysia, to develop peatland management in tackling peat soil fires which cause haze.

"I will be going to Riau from Aug 7-9 to look at the work carried out by our Malaysian team on the ground.

"Beside that, I will continue the discussion with our counterparts on fire fighting. We need to enhance our cooperation and take concrete actions to end the annual return of the haze," he told reporters after officiating the inaugural Malaysian Peat Society Seminar and Meeting themed "Peatland 2009" here Saturday.

On integrated peatland management in Riau, Uggah said Malaysia is to put up 'check dams' to maintain the water level in the peatlands.

"Experts have advised that better management of the water level of peatland will help to reduce peat soil and ground fires. During the dry season, the water level will go down by between 10 to 15 metres and the top part of the peatland could easily catch fire. So, we must manage the water level to avoid peat soil fires," he said.

Beside that, he said the ministry had sent a team to Riau to teach local farmers new land clearing methods and also the implementation of 'zero burning' techniques to prevent open burning on agricultural land.

On the National Action Plan on Peatlands, Uggah said the ministry will present the draft of the plan to the Cabinet by the end of the year.

"I believe with this action plan to look into the wise use of peatlands in an integrated manner we can better manage our peatlands," he said.

He added that the plan would provide the platform for more scientific work on the country's tropical peatlands which was still very much lacking.
-- BERNAMA

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'Electric' ants seen in UK for first time

Aleisha Scott, The Independent 2 Aug 09;

A species of super ant with a fatal attraction to electricity has been discovered marching through Hidcote Manor gardens in Gloucestershire, one of England's finest National Trust properties. It is thought to be the first time Lasius neglectus, known as the Asian super ant, has been recorded in the UK, although the ants have been spotted in Germany, Hungary, France, Spain and Poland.

The species was first identified in Budapest 20 years ago and looks like a common black garden ant. Colonies at Hidcote have now been formally identified as Lasius neglectus, after investigation by English Heritage and the National Trust into infestations within the estate. The Asian super ant can form super-colonies, with many queens and interconnected nests spreading over a hectare. The queens breed with males from their own nest and quickly set up self-sufficient nests, even when separated from the main colony. The species is highly dependant on aphid honeydew and is associated with a range of tree species. Like American fire ants, their compulsion to follow electricity is stronger than their need for food or drink. Swarms of ants around electrical cables can cause blackouts.

Simon Ford, a nature conservation adviser for the National Trust in Wessex, said 35,000 ant carcasses were found inside just one electrical junction box in Hidcote. "The ants themselves pose little direct threat, as they don't bite people or pets. But their habit of creating super-colonies means they pose a threat to native species by outcompeting them for food and space, and the attraction to electrical circuitry means they could pose a fire risk," he said.

The super ant has so far proven resistant to traditional insect poison, so the National Trust is now working with pest controllers looking into options including bait systems and controlling their food source – aphids. Brian Ridout, an English Heritage entomologist, said their resemblance to the common ant may mean they have gone unnoticed at the estate for some time.

Fire risk 'super' ants discovered
BBC News 1 Aug 09;

Ants believed to have a "kamikaze attraction" to electricity have been discovered in one of England's finest National Trust gardens.

Colonies of lasius neglectus, the so-called Asian super ant, have being found at Hidcote Manor, near Chipping Campden, in Gloucestershire.

It is thought to be the first recorded sighting in the UK, although they have been spotted in mainland Europe.

They are naturally drawn to electrical currents so can pose a fire risk.

The species was first identified in Budapest 20 years ago. The ants look like a common black garden variety.

English Heritage and the National Trust carried out investigations into infestations within the Hidcote estate to identify them as lasius neglectus.

The Asian super ant is highly-dependent on aphid honeydew and is associated with a wide range of tree species.

Their compulsion to follow electricity is stronger than their need for food or drink.

Swarms of ants around electrical cables can cause blackouts.

Brian Ridout, English Heritage entomologist and architectural conservator, said they may have gone unnoticed for some time.

"The behaviour of the ants didn't agree with that of any known UK species," he said.

"Our suspicions were confirmed when samples were sent to the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona which has been studying major infestations of them in Spain.

"They look just the same as the common black garden ant, although there will be ten to a hundred times as many of them."

The National Trust said 35,000 ant carcasses were found in one electrical junction box at Hidcote.

'More prolific'

Simon Ford, nature conservation advisor for the National Trust in Wessex, said: "The ants themselves pose little direct threat to us as they don't bite people or pets.

"Their habit of creating super-colonies means they pose a threat to native species by out-competing them for food and space, and their attraction to electrical circuitry means they could pose a fire risk.

"Researchers have feared for several years that this species would make it to the UK, and while the Hidcote colony is the first case recorded, it is not clear if it is the first in the UK or indeed that it is the only one.

"It is very likely the ants are more prolific."

The super ant is resistant to traditional insect poison so the National Trust is now working with pest controllers to investigate other options, including bait systems.

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An Underwater Fight Is Waged for the Health of San Francisco Bay

Malia Wollan, The New York Times 1 Aug 09;

SAN FRANCISCO — Chela Zabin will not soon forget when she first glimpsed the golden brown tentacle of the latest alien to settle in the fertile waters of San Francisco Bay.

“I had that moment of ‘Oh God, this is it, it’s here,’ ” said Dr. Zabin, a biologist with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. “I was really hoping I was wrong.”

The tentacle in question was that of an Asian kelp, Undaria pinnatifida, a flavorful and healthful ingredient in miso soup and an aggressive, costly intruder in waters from New Zealand to Monterey Bay.

The kelp, known as wakame (pronounced wa-KA-me), is on a list of “100 of the World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species,” compiled by the Invasive Species Specialist Group. Since her discovery in May, Dr. Zabin and colleagues have pulled up nearly 140 pounds of kelp attached to pilings and boats in the San Francisco Marina alone.

Every year the damage wrought by aquatic invaders in the United States and the cost of controlling them is estimated at $9 billion, according to a 2003 study by a Cornell University professor, David Pimentel, whose research is considered the most comprehensive. The bill for controlling two closely-related invasive mussels — the zebra and the quagga — in the Great Lakes alone is $30 million annually, says the United States Federal Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force.

Many scientists say that San Francisco Bay has more than 250 nonnative species, like European green crab, Asian zooplankton and other creatures and plants that outcompete native species for food, space and sunlight.

“Here you’ve got a veritable smorgasbord of habitats from shallow and muddy to deep water,” said Lars Anderson, a lead scientist with the United States Agriculture Department. The Oakland port ranks as the fourth busiest in the nation, and ships bring in tiny hitchhikers from across the globe to take up residence in the bay.

Most invasive aquatic species arrive stuck to hulls or as stowaways in ballast water. Wakame first arrived at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in 2000, Dr. Zabin and other scientists said. A year later it had moved south into Baja California and north as far as Monterey Bay, where scientists in scuba suits yanked it off boat hulls and marina moorings.

“It’s just like gardening, you can pull out all the weeds you want, but there will always be that little dandelion seed that will sprout and recolonize,” said Steve Lonhart, senior scientist at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The kelp, which can grow an inch a day, could spread as far north as Canada before the water becomes too cold to sustain it, Dr. Lonhart said.

Native to the Japan Sea, wakame has now spread to the Mediterranean and elsewhere along European coastlines, and to New Zealand, Australia and Argentina, where the fetid smell of rotting kelp has kept beachgoers from parts of the coast.

Wakame harms native kelp, mucks up marinas and the undersides of boats, and damages mariculture like oyster farming.

Money to help eradicate invasive species is difficult to come by on both state and federal levels, particularly in a state facing an unprecedented financial crisis and cuts to programs. “When there is a big wildfire, no one stops and asks, ‘Who is going to pay for this?’ They just fight the fire,” Dr. Anderson said. “We don’t have that kind of automatic response with invasive species.”

On weekends, Dr. Anderson trolls Tomales Bay, 50 miles north of here, in a sea kayak, looking for wakame’s wide leaves.

John Finger is owner of Hog Island Oyster Farm, which has beds in 160 acres of Tomales Bay. His beds yield 2.5 million oysters per year, worth $6 million, Mr. Finger said. Of wakame’s approach, he said, “It seems inevitable that it will show up here.”

Though wakame has not yet been spotted in the bay, Mr. Finger said he was pre-emptively training his staff on how to identify and remove the kelp. “This is just another sign of how small the world is,” he said.

Back in San Francisco, Dr. Zabin and colleagues from nonprofit groups and state and federal agencies have been pooling resources and volunteers, donning scuba and snorkeling equipment and filling black plastic trash bags with the kelp.

But before trucking it to the landfill, Dr. Zabin plans to ship some to Texas. “I got an e-mail from a guy who wants to use it to make biofuel,” Dr. Zabin said. “Maybe he could just come and vacuum it up.”

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Climate threat to Australian heritage sites

Josh Gordon, The Age 2 Aug 09;

THE Federal Government has warned that Australian icons such as the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu National Park, the Tasmanian wilderness, Carlton Gardens and the Sydney Opera House could be damaged irreparably if the Coalition fails to support Labor’s emissions trading scheme.

Less than two weeks before a Senate vote on the Government’s climate change legislation, a government report to be released today has found Australia’s 17 world heritage sites could be devastated by lower rainfall, rising sea levels, higher sea and land temperatures, ocean acidification and extreme weather events.

It warns that the Opera House, which is 3.5 metres above sea level, could be swamped by high tides. Eighty per cent of Kakadu’s freshwater wetlands could be lost and the Great Barrier Reef would face "catastrophic" coral bleaching by 2050.

A senior Labor source said the report would mark the beginning of a campaign to pressure Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull on climate change and emissions trading.

"We’ll be pulling every policy lever and using every means at our disposal to argue a case to protect jobs and protect the environment by tackling climate change," the source said.

The Coalition is deeply divided over the issue of climate change. Mr Turnbull has endorsed Labor’s target to cut emissions by up to 25 per cent by 2020 but, facing significant disunity in his ranks, he is refusing to clarify whether his party will support Labor’s legislation until after the US position is finalised and Copenhagen global climate talks are concluded in December.

The report, prepared by the Australian National University for the Department of Environment, said that with continued warming there would be "substantial reductions" in rainforests, declines in the abundance of native flora and fauna and potential damage to architecture.

It said temperatures in Australia were likely to rise by up to 5 degrees by 2070 under a high emissions scenario, with a 10 per cent fall in average rainfall, lower stream flows, worsening water security and quality and more cyclones. By 2030, sea levels were likely to rise by about 17 centimetres.

"Higher sea and land temperatures, sea level rise and ocean acidification, and prolonged drought pose a significant threat to marine and terrestrial biodiversity across Australia’s World Heritage estate," the report concludes.

"Climate change effects are likely to exacerbate the current problems associated with human-induced changes to the landscape through deforestation, fire, urban expansion, water extraction and tourism, as well as … the spread of exotic pests and diseases."

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong had to defend the Government’s emissions trading legislation at the ALP’s national conference yesterday.

In one of the rowdier sessions during the three-day talkfest, Senator Wong’s speech was interrupted by Labor protesters angered by concessions being offered to the coal industry, but it also drew strong and vocal support from members of the audience.

Senator Wong said: "We need to act now to protect Australia’s unique environment, especially these World Heritage sites that support so many Australian workers in the tourism and hospitality industry.’’ She said efforts to reduce carbon pollution were essential to securing Australia’s prosperity.

"In 11 days, the Parliament will vote on legislation to start reducing carbon pollution for the first time ever.’’

The government report singled out Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens, warning they could face deterioration from higher temperatures and drought. But it said the World Heritage-listed location would be among the least affected of the 17 Australian sites. Environment Minister Peter Garrett said it was the first comprehensive report by any country into the impacts of climate change on all its World Heritage properties.

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New UK 'crisis satellites' launched

BBC 1 Aug 09;

A rocket has been launched from Kazakhstan carrying two British-built satellites which will help monitor natural disasters.

The UK-DMC2 and Deimos-1 spacecraft will join four platforms already in the sky that together form the Disaster Monitoring Constellation.

The network obtains rapid pictures of areas struck by natural calamities - such as floods, earthquakes and fire.

The imagery is used by governments and aid agencies to co-ordinate relief.

The two satellites headed for orbit aboard a Dnepr rocket which was launched from Baikonur cosmodrome, Russia's Strategic Space Troops said.

The Dnepr, a converted Soviet-era SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile, was also carrying four other foreign satellites, including the United Arab Emirates' first space platform, known as DubaiSat-1.

Map resource

"After a major disaster, the first thing you need to do is supply the relief workers with an up-to-date map," explained Philip Davies, from manufacturers Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL).

"If there's been a big flood, there will be landslides, roads will have been washed away and bridges will be down. So you need a new map that shows you how to get around the area; and it's the satellite imagery that helps you do that."

UK-DMC2, as the name suggests, is Britain's second contribution to the constellation. Deimos-1 is owned by a Spanish imaging company.

The pair joins orbital assets that belong to Algeria, China and Nigeria (a Turkish satellite is no longer operational after finishing its mission).

The spacecraft picture the Earth at resolutions between 4m and 32m, across an ultra-wide 600km-plus swath.

When they fly over their home territories, the satellites acquire a range of data for domestic use - everything from urban planning to monitoring locust swarms, the BBC's Jonathan Amos reports.



But when the platforms fly across the rest of the globe, they gather imagery which is pooled and sold on to commercial users.

Every so often, however, a major disaster will strike some part of the globe and the DMC constellation will be tasked with gathering emergency pictures as fast as possible.

Recent deployments have included the Australian bushfires in February this year, and after the major cyclone that hit Burma in May 2008.

"The biggest use of the DMC was after the Asian tsunami is 2004," said Mr Davies.

"We used the fact that it's a constellation and can cover very wide swaths to image the entire Indian Ocean coastline.

"Other satellites may have been able to deploy high resolutions at particular locations, but we were the only system that could cover the entire coastline at a reasonable resolution."

The UK-DMC2 platform carries some improvements over the previous DMC satellites, including an enhanced camera sensor to deliver better ground resolution, and X-band transmitters that will enable the spacecraft to download data 10 times as fast as its orbital cousins.

The 96kg, 60cm cube is also carrying a student experiment called Poise, which was developed by pupils at Shrewsbury School, in Shropshire.

The experiment will measure variations in the ionosphere - the outermost layer of the atmosphere. These variations can affect the accuracy and safety of satellite navigation (sat-nav) systems.

SSTL is famous for producing the very first spacecraft for Europe's forthcoming sat-nav system, Galileo.

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Nissan unveils zero-emission hatchback "Leaf"

Chang-Ran Kim, Reuters 1 Aug 09;

YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co took the wraps off its much-awaited electric car on Sunday, naming the hatchback "Leaf" and taking a step toward its goal of leading the industry in the zero-emission field.

Japan's No.3 automaker and its French partner, Renault SA, have been the most aggressive proponents of pure electric vehicles in the auto industry, announcing plans to mass-market the clean but expensive cars globally in 2012.

Nissan will begin selling the first Leaf cars in the United States and Japan in the latter half of next year, adding more models in rapid succession.

Twinning the car's unveiling with the inauguration of Nissan's new global headquarters in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn drove up to the stage in a sky-blue Leaf prototype, carrying former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and two other guests to greet a throng of journalists who made the trip from all over the world.

"We celebrate today the start of a new chapter of our company's life," Ghosn said.

Nissan is returning to the port city of Yokohama, where it was founded in 1933, after being based in Tokyo's posh Ginza district for the last 41 years.

Hit by sliding vehicle sales worldwide since the financial crisis hit last year, Nissan has suspended its goals set under a mid-term business plan, with the exception of its aggressive push into the electric car business.

Nissan did not announce pricing for the five-seater Leaf, but Ghosn said the price, without the expensive lithium-ion battery that Nissan expects to lease, would be within the range of a comparable gasoline-engine car.

Other automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen AG have also announced plans to launch electric cars in the next several years, but expect implementation to take time due to the vehicle's high cost, limited driving range and long charging times.

Nissan's Leaf will have a cruising range of 160 km (100 miles) and a top speed of over 140 km/hour (76 mph).

(Editing by Dean Yates)

FACTBOX: Nissan's first mass-volume electric car "Leaf"
Reuters 1 Aug 09;

YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co on Sunday unveiled the prototype of its first mass-volume electric car, the "Leaf," which is due to go on sale in the United States and Japan in the latter half of 2010, followed by a global launch in 2012.

Here are some facts about the car:

- Name: Leaf

- Class: medium-sized hatchback

- Seating: 4-5 passengers

- Cruising range: 160 km (100 miles)

- Top speed: over 140 km/hour (87 mph)

- Battery: Laminated compact lithium-ion battery developed and manufactured by Automotive Energy Supply Corp (AESC), a joint venture between Nissan and the NEC Corp group.

- Charging time: 8 hours on 200V; 16 hours on 100V; 30 minutes with three-phase 200V fast-charge station

- Powertrain layout: front motor, front drive

- Other features: Dedicated IT system that shows on the navigation map the driving radius within range of remaining charge in the car's batteries. The driver can also check on the state of charge online or on a cellular phone, find charging stations within range or use a timer function to turn on the air conditioner or begin charging using cheaper electricity available at night.

(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim, Editing by Dean Yates)

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