Fisheries NMFS
<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see salmon</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://yyy.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/07/oceans-losing-oxygen-at-unprecedented-rate-experts-warn</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx guk</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Oceans losing oxygen at unprecedented rate, experts warn</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sharks, tuna, marlin and other large fish at risk from spread of ‘dead zones’, say scientists</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fiona Harvey in Madrid</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sat 7 Dec 2019 04.00 EST</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> All fish need dissolved oxygen, but biggest fish such as tuna (above) are particularly vulnerable because they need much more to survive. Photograph: Mark Conlin/Getty Images</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Oxygen in the oceans is being lost at an unprecedented rate, with “dead zones” proliferating and hundreds more areas showing oxygen dangerously depleted, as a result of the climate emergency and intensive farming, experts have warned.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sharks, tuna, marlin and other large fish species were at particular risk, scientists said, with many vital ecosystems in danger of collapse. Dead zones – where oxygen is effectively absent – have quadrupled in extent in the last half-century, and there are also at least 700 areas where oxygen is at dangerously low levels, up from 45 when research was undertaken in the 1960s.</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The International Union for the Conservation of Nature presented the findings on Saturday at the UN climate conference in Madrid, where governments are halfway through tense negotiations aimed at tackling the climate crisis.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Grethel Aguilar, the acting director general of the IUCN, said the health of the oceans should be a key consideration for the talks. “As the warming ocean loses oxygen, the delicate balance of marine life is thrown into disarray,” she said. “The potentially dire effects on fisheries and vulnerable coastal communities mean that the decisions made at the conference are even more crucial.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All fish need dissolved oxygen, but the biggest species are particularly vulnerable to depleted oxygen levels because they need much more to survive. Evidence shows that depleted levels are forcing them to move towards the surface and to shallow areas of sea, where they are more vulnerable to fishing.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some ocean areas are naturally lower in oxygen than others, but these are even more susceptible to damage when their oxygen levels are depleted further, the report’s authors said. Species that can more easily tolerate low oxygen levels, such as jellyfish, some squid and marine microbes, can flourish at the expense of fish, upsetting the balance of ecosystems. The natural oceanic cycles of phosphorus and nitrogen are also at risk.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The world’s oceans are already being overfished, and assailed by a rising tide of plastic waste, as well as other pollutants. Seas are about 26% more acidic than in pre-industrial times because of absorbing the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, with damaging impacts on shellfish in particular.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Low oxygen levels are also associated with global heating, because the warmer water holds less oxygen and the heating causes stratification, so there is less of the vital mixing of oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor layers.</b> Oceans are expected to lose about 3-4% of their oxygen by the end of this century, but the impact will be much greater in the levels closest to the surface, where many species are concentrated, and in the mid to high latitudes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Intensive farming also plays a major role. When excess artificial fertiliser from crops, or manure from the meat industry, runs off the land and into rivers and seas, it feeds algae which bloom and then cause oxygen depletion as they decompose.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The problem of dead zones has been known about for decades, but little has been done to tackle it. Farmers rarely bear the brunt of the damage, which mainly affects fishing fleets and coastal areas. Two years ago, the meat industry in the US was found to be responsible for a massive dead zone measuring more than 8,000 sq miles in the Gulf of Mexico.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This year’s UN climate conference, known as COP25, was originally billed as the “Blue COP”, with a spotlight on the oceans for the first time in the history of the negotiations. The focus was chosen because of the original location in Chile, a country with more than 4,000km of coastline and a strong reliance on the marine economy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the move to Madrid, forced by political unrest in Santiago, has meant many of the planned events have been curtailed. Scientists and activists gathered in landlocked Madrid are trying to highlight the issues by demonstrating how vital the seas are in protecting us from climate chaos – as they absorb so much of the excess carbon dioxide, and excess heat, in the atmosphere – and how much they are at risk from its impacts.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Protecting marine life could help the oceans to function better, soaking up more carbon and providing barriers against sea level rises and storm surges, in the form of coral reefs and mangrove swamps.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“A healthy ocean with abundant wildlife is capable of slowing the rate of climate breakdown substantially,” said Dr Monica Verbeek, the executive director of the group Seas at Risk. “To date, the most profound impact on the marine environment has come from fishing. Ending overfishing is a quick, deliverable action which will restore fish populations, create more resilient ocean ecosystems, decrease CO2 pollution and increase carbon capture, and deliver more profitable fisheries and thriving coastal communities.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Ending overfishing would strengthen the ocean, making it more capable of withstanding climate change and restoring marine ecosystems – and it can be done now,” explained Rashid Sumaila, professor and director of the fisheries economics research unit at the University of British Columbia. “The crisis in our fisheries and in our oceans and climate are not mutually exclusive problems to be addressed separately – it is imperative that we move forward with comprehensive solutions to address them.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A study published at COP25 by Greenpeace International showed that restoring marine ecosystems could play a major role in tackling climate chaos.</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 class="article-title" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27092019/ocean-fish-diet-climate-change-impact-food-ipcc-report-cryosphere" rel="bookmark" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Climate Change Threatens the World’s Fisheries, Food Billions of People Rely On</font></a></h3><div class="meta" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-transform: uppercase; line-height: 1rem;"><p class="byline" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">BY GEORGINA GUSTIN</font></p><p class="byline" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ICN 919</font></p></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=a87afc1713&e=06876ede6b" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Climate Change Is Cutting Into the Global Fish Catch, and It's on Pace to Get Worse</a><br style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" /><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">BY: PHIL MCKENNA</span></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=18e4feef5d&e=06876ede6b" style="color: rgb(142, 196, 77); text-decoration-line: none; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-family: " helvetica="helvetica" neue="neue" arial="arial" verdana="verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 22px;">Warning for Seafood Lovers: Climate Change Could Crash These Important Fisheries</span></span></span></a><br style="color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: " helvetica="helvetica" neue="neue" arial="arial" verdana="verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: rgb(142, 196, 77);"><span style="color: rgb(76, 155, 34);">BY: BOB BERWYN</span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, neue, helvetica, sans-serif;">Atlantic and polar cod face a double whammy as the planet warms: rising ocean temperatures and acidification could cut reproduction by nearly two-thirds, new research shows.</span></span></p><div><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></span></div><div><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-plans-unleash-fossil-fuel-industry-conduct-violent-destructive-assaults">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-plans-unleash-fossil-fuel-industry-conduct-violent-destructive-assaults</a></font></span></div><div><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span class="mw-headline">De</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">fenders of ocean habitats and marine life are up in arms on Friday as the Trump administration is set to approve new abilities for the fossil fuel industry to conduct widescale and "deafening" underwater seismic in federal waters off the U.S. Atlantic coast.</span></b></font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The decision is expected to come from the National Marine Fisheries Service,</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> a d<b>ivision of the Commerce Department,</b> but conservation groups say it is a smack in the face to ocean ecosystems and a political nonstarter they vow to fight tooth and nail.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"This action flies in the face of massive opposition to offshore drilling and exploration from over 90 percent of coastal municipalities in the proposed blast zone," said Diane Hoskins, campaign director at Oceana. "These permits were already denied because of the known harm that seismic airgun blasting causes. President Trump is essentially giving these companies permission to harass, harm and possibly even kill marine life, including the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale – all in the pursuit of dirty and dangerous offshore oil. This is the first step toward offshore drilling in the Atlantic and we're going to make sure coastal communities know what's happening and fight this."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michael Jasny, director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project at NRDC, said the president's action is totally detached from the reality of the threats the world's ecosytems now face.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Just one week after issuing dire warnings on the catastrophic fallout of climate change to come, the Trump Administration is opening our coastlines to for-profit companies to prospect for oil and gas—and is willing to sacrifice marine life, our coastal communities and fisheries in the process," fumed Jasny. "This is the first step towards drilling and <b>scientists warn that seismic activity alone could drive the endangered North American right whale to extinction.</b> We'll stand with citizens, coastal businesses, scientists, lawmakers, and commercial and recreational fishermen who oppose seismic blasting, and we will fight this illegal action."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/11/30/trump-administration-to-let-companies-run-deafening-seismic-tests-that-can-kill-marine-life-a-step-toward-oil-drilling-in-atlantic/?twitter_impression=true&noredirect=on" style="text-decoration-line: none;">According</a> to the<em> Washington Post</em>:</font></p><blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to harming sea life, acoustic tests — in which boats tugging rods pressurized for sound emit jet engine-like booms 10 to 12 seconds apart for days and sometimes months — can disrupt thriving commercial fisheries. Governors, state lawmakers and attorneys general along the Atlantic coast say drilling threatens beach tourism that has flourished on the coast in the absence of oil production.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Seismic testing maps the ocean floor and estimates the whereabouts of oil and gas, but only exploratory drilling can confirm their presence. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill that soiled the Gulf of Mexico resulted from an exploratory drill. Another gulf disaster that looms almost as large has spewed oil for more than 14 years. The Taylor Energy Co. spill of up to an estimated 700 barrels a day started when a hurricane ripped up production wells, and could continue for the rest of the century, according to the Interior Department.</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Seismic blasting is a violent, destructive precursor to unnecessary offshore oil drilling," said Angela Howe, Surfrider Foundation Legal Director, in a statement. "According to estimates from the<b> Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM),</b> the seismic exploration projects could directly harm tens of thousands of whales and dolphins, in addition to thousands of manatees, seals, and sea turtles. This type of damage to our coastal resources is unacceptable. The Surfrider Foundation and our strong coalition of allies will stand up to protect our ocean, waves and beaches for the future."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the seismic blasting is awful enough, Earthjustice warns that this is only a part of the Trump adminstration's assault on the oceans and marine life. As the group notes:</font></p><blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">While destructive in their own right, the seismic tests are only a first step in the Trump administration’s broader plans for dramatic expansion of offshore drilling in the Atlantic and beyond. The Department of the Interior has proposed opening 90 percent of U.S. federal offshore waters to the fossil fuel industry, exposing nearly every coastline in the nation to the risk of an environmentally devastating oil spill and the degradation that comes with industrializing more of our rich ocean environments.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Since the planning process for this offshore leasing expansion got underway, more than 1.45 million Americans have demonstrated intense opposition with rallies, marches and comments submitted to the Department of Interior agency responsible for crafting the plan.</span></font></p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"As usual, the Trump administration is pulling out all the stops to give favors to the fossil fuel industry, whatever the cost to coastal communities and wildlife," said Athan Manuel, the lands protection program director for the Sierra Club. "We will continue to fight back against their dangerous plans to subject our coasts to seismic blasting and expanded offshore drilling."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><interaction data-token="5b96855f8198b4e625350260" data-context="true" data-tags="" data-fallback="true" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font></p><div><span class="mw-headline"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></span></span></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mojo</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">why </font><a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/08/why-a-new-fisheries-bill-is-being-dubbed-the-empty-oceans-act/" title="Permalink to Why a New Fisheries Bill Is Being Dubbed the “Empty Oceans Act”" rel="bookmark" style="font-family: Mallory, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(70, 85, 90); text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: none;"> a New Fisheries Bill Is Being Dubbed the “Empty Oceans Act”</a></p><p class="byline" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; color: rgb(255, 105, 0); text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal !important; font-variant-east-asian: normal !important; font-weight: bold !important; font-stretch: normal !important; font-size: 0.759375rem !important; line-height: 1.3 !important; font-family: Mallory, sans-serif !important;"><a href="https://www.motherjones.com/author/ben-goldfarb/" title="Posts by Ben Goldfarb" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(255, 105, 0); text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: none;">BEN GOLDFARB</a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-admin-takes-advantage-of-california-fires-2594248442.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-admin-takes-advantage-of-california-fires-2594248442.html</a></font></p><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; word-wrap: break-word; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-admin-takes-advantage-of-california-fires-2594248442.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Trump Admin. Takes Advantage of California Fires to Funnel More Water From Endangered Fish to Agriculture, Critics Say</font></a></h1><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url expanded" data-elid="2594248442" data-authors="Olivia Rosane" data-headline="Trump Admin. Takes Advantage of California Fires to Funnel More Water From Endangered Fish to Agriculture, Critics Say" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description"><div class="widgetbrief"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Commerce Department seemed to take its direction from President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Donald Trump</a>'s Twitter account on Wednesday when it issued a <a href="https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2018/08/us-secretary-commerce-wilbur-ross-issues-directive-national-marine" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">directive</a> to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to prioritize fighting <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">wildfires</a> over protecting <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">endangered species</a> when allocating California's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/water" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">water</a> resources, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/trump-administration-politics-water-california-wildfires_us_5b6b8a6de4b0bdd062063481?guccounter=1" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">The Huffington Post reported</a>.</font></p></div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms ease 0s; height: auto; overflow: hidden; opacity: 1;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The directive comes days after <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-says-california-lawmakers-to-blame-for-wildfires-2593274782.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Trump tweeted</a> blaming California's raging wildfires on "bad environmental laws which aren't allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized."</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Firefighters disagreed with Trump's assessment.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"We have plenty of water to fight these wildfires," Deputy Chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Scott McLean told The Huffington Post on Monday. "It is our changing climate that is leading to more severe and destructive fires."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>But that didn't stop Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross from using an emergency provision of the Endangered Species Act to direct water towards the fires.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"Today, I direct NOAA's<b> National Marine Fisheries Service</b> to make clear to all its Federal agency partners that the protection of life and property takes precedence over any current agreements regarding the use of water in the areas of California affected by wildfires," Ross wrote.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Environmentalists are concerned this move isn't about the fires at all, but rather an attempt to use the disaster to intervene in a longstanding disagreement between <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agriculture" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">agriculture</a>, the fishing industry and environmentalists over whether more water should be used to irrigate crops or should be left in rivers to preserve fish species like delta smelt and Chinook <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/salmon" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">salmon</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Ross's directive comes one month after the California Water Resources Control Board proposed diverting less water towards cities and farms in an attempt to save the two endangered species.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"Secretary Ross's directive is nothing more than a smokescreen designed to weaken these protections that NMFS's scientists determined are necessary to keep these native fish from going extinct. It's almost like the extinction of these creatures is their real goal, so that they no longer have to leave any water in rivers, but can divert it all to corporate agribusiness. The people of California won't stand for Trump destroying our precious resources to line the pockets of his corporate buddies," senior director of the water division for the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Natural Resources Defense Council</a> Kate Poole said in a statement reported by <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-administration-overrides-endangered-species-protections-prioritize-water/story?id=57115350" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">ABC News</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Around 80 percent of all water in California currently goes to agriculture, according to The Huffington Post, but, for Trump allies in the state like Republican Congressman<b> Devin Nunes</b>, that is not enough.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Nunes even went so far as to blame the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">drought</a> that devastated California from 2011 to 2017 on a misallocation of water resources.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"There was plenty of water," he told The New York Times in 2014, according to The Huffington Post. "This has nothing to do with drought. They can blame global warming all they want, but this is about mathematics and engineering."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Meanwhile, another department head also seemed to take his cue on the wildfires from a different argument in the same Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1026587142989008897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1026587142989008897&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com%2Fstory%2F2018%2F08%2F06%2Fdonald-trump-california-fires-tweets-764869" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">tweet</a>, in which the president said the state "must also tree clear to stop fire from spreading!"</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>On Wednesday, Interior Secretary <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Ryan Zinke</a> wrote an <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/08/08/active-forest-management-prevent-wildfires-column/913801002/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">opinion piece</a> for USA Today in which he blamed the fires in part on a buildup of fuels in forests.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">He called for more active forest management through logging, controlled burns and "mechanical thinning" and blamed environmentalists for preventing this kind of action.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"Yet, when action comes, and we try to thin forests of dead and dying timber, or we try to sustainably harvest timber from dense and fire-prone areas, we are attacked with frivolous litigation from radical environmentalists who would rather see forests and communities burn than see a logger in the woods," he wrote.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">However, his OpEd doesn't appear to signal any imminent policy change, ABC News reported.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Zinke issued a directive last year calling on land managers to be more "aggressive" in clearing dead trees or brush, but Interior Department spokesperson Heather Swift told ABC News that there were no changes in the works this year.</font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">global wrming atlantic</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">currents circulation</font></p><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07052018/atlantic-ocean-circulation-slowing-climate-change-heat-temperature-rainfall-fish-why-you-should-care" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07052018/atlantic-ocean-circulation-slowing-climate-change-heat-temperature-rainfall-fish-why-you-should-care</a></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px;">Scientists have found new evidence that the <b>Atlantic Ocean's circulation </b>has slowed by about 15 percent since the middle of the last century. If it continues to slow, that could have profound consequences for Earth's inhabitants.</p><p open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/2018PA003341" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(131, 190, 68); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">Studies suggest</a> it would mean much colder winters and hotter summers in Europe, changing rainfall patterns in the tropics, and warmer water building up along the U.S. coast that can fuel sea level rise and destructive storms. The changes in the North Atlantic could also <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27032018/climate-change-arctic-sea-ice-data-icebergs-ocean-shipping-oil-gas-drilling-grand-banks-canada" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(131, 190, 68); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">intensify streams of icebergs</a>into shipping lanes and coastal ice jams that hinder navigation.</p><p open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px;">There are already signs that the weakening is having an effect. In 2015, scientists traced <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29102015/warming-waters-have-thwarted-efforts-save-cod" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(131, 190, 68); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">the imminent collapse</a> of the commercially important cod fishery in the region to rapidly warming water in the Gulf of Maine, which fits the pattern of slowing Atlantic circulation. Record-warm water off the East Coast that helped fuel 2011's destructive <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=51853" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(131, 190, 68); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">Hurricane Irene</a>, as well as <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/ClimateStorms/page2.php" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(131, 190, 68); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">Superstorm Sandy</a> a year later, appears to fit that pattern, as well, according to NASA.</p><p open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px;">So what exactly is going on here?</p><p open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px;">...</p></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">gill nets</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/west-coast-drift-gillnet-fishery-2504503658.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/west-coast-drift-gillnet-fishery-2504503658.html</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/farmed-salmon-pacific-ocean-2476573629.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/farmed-salmon-pacific-ocean-2476573629.html</a></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Thousands of Atlantic <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/salmon" style="text-decoration-line: none;">salmon</a> escaped from a damaged net pen at a Cooke Aquaculture fish farm off Cypress Island in Washington's Puget Sound on Saturday, sparking fears from some that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/aquaculture" style="text-decoration-line: none;">farm-raised fish</a> could threaten wild Pacific salmon.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) <a href="http://wdfw.wa.gov/news/aug2217b/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">said</a> that 305,000 salmon were in the net pen at the time, but the company estimates that 4,000-5,000 fish escaped.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Canada-based Cooke Aquaculture blamed the incident on high tides caused in the days leading up to and during Monday's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/eclipse" style="text-decoration-line: none;">solar eclipse</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>"Exceptionally high tides and currents coinciding with this week's solar eclipse caused damage to a salmon farm that has been in operation near Cypress Island for approximately 30 years,</b>" the company said.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WDFW is monitoring the situation and crafting a fish spill-response plan with Cooke.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But why are Atlantic fish being farmed in the Pacific anyway? Well, as <a href="https://www.inverse.com/article/35812-total-solar-eclipse-fish-atlantic-salmon-washington" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Inverse</a> reported, Atlantic salmon net pens are banned in every West Coast state except for Washington.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It's really a shame that this has happened," Jonathan White, the author of <em>Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean</em>, commented to Inverse. "It underscores the risk and the dangers of farm fishing."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmental groups have long criticized the practice of aquaculture. <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/insight/factory-fish-farming" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">According</a> to Food & Watch Watch, "massive amounts of antibiotics, hormones, and pesticides are required to keep disease at bay just to keep fish and shrimp alive in overcrowded conditions (typically in nets, cages, or ponds)."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Farmed Atlantic salmon, a nonnative species to the Pacific coast, could also pose a risk to native species.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Salmon farms are extremely harmful to wild fish because they break natural laws, releasing dangerous levels of viruses, bacteria and sea lice into the water," the <a href="http://www.seashepherd.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Sea Shepherd Conservation Society</a> warns on its <a href="http://www.seashepherd.org/virus-hunter/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Operation Virus Hunter</a> campaign website. "<a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2008/02/wild-salmon-not-pink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Wild salmon are declining wherever there are salmon farms</a>."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sea Shepherd's research vessel, the R/V Martin Sheen, is currently capturing footage of salmon farms in Canada's British Columbia region, spokeswoman Zorianna Kit told the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-salmon-escape-20170823-story.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Los Angeles Times</a>. Kit said the footage reveals a proliferation of disease symptoms among the Atlantic salmon crowded into the pens, including salmon with sea lice, open sores, swollen gills, tumors and deformities.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tuna-pcbs-mercury-2471385517.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/tuna-pcbs-mercury-2471385517.html</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">pcb mercury</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bluefin-tuna-endangered-species-2470265690.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/bluefin-tuna-endangered-species-2470265690.html</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 22.4px; word-wrap: break-word; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Global sushi demand has exploded in recent years, thanks to emerging markets and the insatiable appetites of consumers in developed countries. The main fish used in that sushi: Pacific bluefin tuna, which can fetch $100,000 or more at auction. <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Sushi: The Global Catch</em> looks from the conservationist’s point of view at how the tuna has been overfished in recent years. It argues that current consuming trends are unsustainable and that sushi industry is ripe for a transformative overhaul to save entire ecosystems.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 22.4px; word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/70245093?trkid=13752289" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 22.4px; word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">Watch the movie here.</a></span>=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">farmers in CA compete for h20</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cheney and rove engineer fish kill</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/california-salmon-extinct-2412724180.html"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.ecowatch.com/california-salmon-extinct-2412724180.html</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dead zone nitrogen fertilizer (sewage?)</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> =</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">tuna win</font></p><p><a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/worlds-largest-tuna-company-finally-commits-sustainable-fishing-and-worker-protection"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://www.alternet.org/environment/worlds-largest-tuna-company-finally-commits-sustainable-fishing-and-worker-protection</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><a href="http://www.alternet.org/food/fish-farming-so-filthy-salmon-are-getting-lice"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://www.alternet.org/food/fish-farming-so-filthy-salmon-are-getting-lice</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FARMS</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/18/chile-red-tide/</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">gmo salmon</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></p><p><a href="http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/18/chile-red-tide/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/18/chile-red-tide/</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></p>