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Add my beloved Bras d'Or "Lakes" of Cape Breton Island to the list. This pristine inland sea has seen an alarming increase in jellies. Two years ago our dock was almost useless for swimming, being constantly surrounded by the stinging beasts.
You can't blame overfishing. Aside from a bit of crabbing and lobstering, there hasn't been a viable commercial fishery in the Bras d'Or for decades. A corresponding decline in sea turtles is considered the more likely cause, but nothing is certain. Indeed, this might be collateral damage from the Grand Banks collapse.
Canada and Nova Scotia fiercely protect this body of water, to the point of enforcing holding tank regulations on the very few visiting yachts and resident boats that ply this almost empty sea.
If the isolated Bras d'Or is affected, no place in the ocean can be safe.
Bras d'Or is probably terra incognita to most, and as far as I know unique in its oceanography, so your confusion is understandable.
These "lakes" are actually a large, almost entirely enclosed arm of the Atlantic, with only one small and a couple of much smaller connections to the ocean. The turnover has been calculated at around 60 years, so it takes a long time for the Atlantic to affect the Bras d'Or, particularly the western end, where I reside in summer.
Being entirely Canadian water, they were never subject to the depredations of the Grand Banks, which are more than 200 nautical miles and some serious mountains away. The shoreline has hardly any development. Pollution sources are small and diligently policed. The waters are therefore similar to the open ocean of decades past.
So, if jellies show up there in conjunction with similar blooms in the open ocean thousands of miles away, something is likely going on that can't be laid entirely at the feet of overfishing or general ocean pollution. It might be coincidence, but I wouldn't bet on it. Indeed, if I were an oceanographer, I'd be looking for a link.
This is an incisive article, addressing an interesting problem that would otherwise remain invisible. This is top-notch reporting and analysis. My only question is, where is most of the river and ocean water contamination coming from? Factories or Agriculture? Any particular type of either? I've heard of organic water pollutants in the developing world being liked to increased incidence of birth defects in the surrounding area, but ecosystem collapse could have a more far-reaching impact worldwide.
Brazil's recent reduction in the rate of deforestation was good news on the environmental front though. If it continues its sustainable development and forest-protection efforts, its going to be one of the best places for clean water and agriculture, with the combination of the "Amazon rain factory" and the "alternative livelihoods" program for people who are currently cutting down the Amazon. Not to mention the carbon emission reductions from REDD and nationwide efforts to reduce illegal logging with better legislation.
Really, much is expected from the Copenhegan summit this December. All countries must have to sacrifice to ensure they cut emissions expelled into the atmosphere. Really, the story is touchy.
Surely, if "this might be collateral damage from the Grand Banks collapse" then it might be correct to blame it on overfishing? Or do you ascribe the Grand Banks collapse to some cause other than overfishing? Cheers.
1. The World is suffering from overfishing.
2. Much of the fish caught (particularly the more profitable ones) passes through the Tsukiji Fish Market in Japan
3. Tsukiji Fish Market is ageing and is in sore need of refurbishment.
Solution? Shut the whole market down for 3 years, so that it could be rebuilt from scratch, and give the fish stocks time to recover.
Just one more nail in humanities coffin. Mother Nature is going to balance the climate and ecology if it means wiping the human virus off the face of the Earth. She does not consider morals, economies, or the wishes of any species, and that includes man. Our greatest accomplishments will be dust 1,000 years after we are gone.
The rest of this century will see a return to a 1950s lifestyle, or less, IF there are any of us still here in 2100.
Some bit of opportunistic enterprising? It's organic goo, right? Scoop'em up, ground them down and turn it into fish feed/animal feed/fertilizer. Make lemonade out of lemon, and soon the lemon explosion will be under control.
Easier said than done, but it sure beats "we have sinned, the Judgment Day is upon us" idiocy (I'm looking at you, MakatiOne).
The solution of this problem is not beyond the wit of men.The problem linked to the climate change is harder but not impossible.We should joint operation to deal with the difficult problem.
what about to let scientist to find a way to use
mucillagine (italian) for a better purpose ??
We had a big problem in the Adriatci sea about ten years ago.
From then we have not experienced nothing similar.
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