What a great Idea and a great way to use plastic bags that we all have to much of.
Lupe Garcia from Genoa, Ohio makes tote bags from old, plastic grocery bags.
The Gulf of Mexico continues to gush oil just as a whaling controversy threatens to land Australia and Japan in international court for killing protected species. Meanwhile, another less-publicized but arguably more cataclysmic oceanic disaster continues to worsen.
Overfishing threatens to destroy most of the world’s fisheries within a matter of decades. But while it’s proven difficult to save the gulf or save the whales, we know how to save the fish: Stop treating the ocean like a public bathroom, says Christopher Costello, a professor of natural resource economics at UC Santa Barbara.
Director Louis Psihoyos and his team of filmmakers embarked on an elaborate sting operation to expose Japan’s illegal dolphin hunters. The result is a documentary called The Cove, which took home the Oscar for best documentary. And days after the Academy Awards Psihoyos was back stirring things up.
Using the same cameras that were used to expose illegal dolphin hunters, Psihoyos and his team busted The Hump, a Santa Monica, California restaurant that had secretly been serving sushi made from the endangered sei whale.
“Everything in the ocean from the great whales to dolphins to plankton is being jeopardized,” Psihoyos tells Reason.tv. “We’re raping and harvesting the ocean unsustainably.”
Overfishing “could mean the end of certain species,” agrees UC-Santa Barbara’s Costello. He points out that about a third of the world’s fisheries have already collapsed, and many more are heading toward the same fate. Costello says the world’s fisheries are in such bad shape because of the same reason public restrooms are typically foul places: “Nobody owns them. Nobody has the incentive to keep them up.”
One proven solution is a system called “catch share,” in which fishermen have the right to a certain share of the total catch of a type of fish. This form of ownership gives fishermen an incentive to make sure fish populations grow, and according to Costello’s worldwide research, it’s the only thing that seems to work.
Environmentalists are often suspicious of the profit motive, but from Alaska to New Zealand, market forces have been harnessed not for plunder but for preservation. Fishermen like the system because they make money, and environmentalists like it because it supports sustainable practices. Expanding the catch share system may well be the best way to save a dying ocean.
“How to Save a Dying Ocean” is written and produced by Ted Balaker, who also hosts. The associate producer is Paul Detrick, the cameramen are Hawk Jensen and Alex Manning; Zach Weissmueller also helped to produce the segment. Animation by Hawk Jensen.
Approximately six minutes.
Go to http://reason.tv for downloadable iPod, HD, and audio versions of this and all our videos, and subscribe to Reason.tv’s YouTube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live.
Sudbury – Captain Paul Watson, a founder of the environmental organization Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, made no apologies for his brand of activism at Green Earth Expo, an environmental trade show April 24 at the Exhibition Centre.
After sailing more than 8,000 nautical miles and spending 128 days crossing the Pacific, the world’s largest ocean, in a boat made of 12,500 plastic PET bottles, the Plastiki expedition and her crew have safely and successfully reached their planned destination of Sydney to cheers of welcome and support.
Join Surfrider Foundation at the Capital Courtyard in Tallahassee. The more people the bigger the statement
Location:
The Capitol Courtyard (between the old and new Capitol) Tallahassee, FL
Time
July 20 · 11:30am – 10:30pm
HELP US SEND THIS MESSAGE TO OUR LEGISLATORS:
JOIN HANDS WITH FLORIDIANS AND
LET THE VOTERS DECIDE!!
…
An important message from Dave Rauschkolb (founder of Hands Across the Sand):
This is the most important week in the battle to keep oil drilling out of Florida’s waters. I am calling on every Floridian who joined hands with us on February 13 and June 26 to join hands once again and do one or all of 3 very important things.
1. Join us this Tuesday, July 20 in Tallahassee for an important gathering to JOIN HANDS (details below.)
There is no more important thing you can do right now than join hands with us in one or all three of these ways. Help us put the decision to drill in our waters firmly where it belongs, in our hands!! Join hands Florida!! Special thanks to the Coalition of organizations (listed below) which has joined hands to bring this event together.
Very best,
Dave Rauschkolb
A JOINING OF HANDS AT THE CAPITAL IN TALLAHASSEE
FOR THE SPECIAL SESSION ON OIL DRILLING
Please join Crude Awakening, Hands Across The Sand, The Florida Wildlife Federation, 1Sky Florida, Audubon of Florida, Clean Water Action, Emerald Coastkeeper, Defenders of Wildlife, Progress Florida, Save Our Shores! Florida, Sierra Club Florida and other organizations for a Hands at the Capitol Event to ask our legislators to let Florida citizens decide the question – Should drilling be banned from our state territorial waters?
Join us on Tuesday July 20 at 11:30 am EST in the Capitol Courtyard for this important event then stay to visit with your elected representatives to ask them to let the voters decide.
Goal: at least one caravan from EVERY legislative district! Please tell all your supportive friends in Florida!
The Legislature has been called into Special Session on Tuesday, July 20 -23 to consider a Joint Resolution that would place the question of drilling in state waters on the ballot for November. This event will show the statewide support for this ballot initiative. Our message to the legislators is – Let the people decide!!
For more information on this important event, including finding out about places to stay and other events in Tallahassee that week, please go to Crude Awakening’s link -
Do you need a car wash? If you live in the Treasure Coast area stop by Surf Ratz tomorrow from 9am – 5pm for a fundraiser car wash. All $$$ goes to support Surfrider Foundation. Surf Ratz is located at 1665 NW Federal Highway in Stuart, FL
By JAY REEVES, JOHN FLESHER and TAMARA LUSH, Associated Press Writers Jay Reeves, John Flesher And Tamara Lush, Associated Press Writers – Thu Jun 17, 7:40 am ET
GULF SHORES, Ala. – Dolphins and sharks are showing up in surprisingly shallow water off Florida beaches, like forest animals fleeing a fire. Mullets, crabs, rays and small fish congregate by the thousands off an Alabama pier. Birds covered in oil are crawling deep into marshes, never to be seen again.
Marine scientists studying the effects of the BP disaster are seeing some strange phenomena.
Fish and other wildlife seem to be fleeing the oil out in the Gulf and clustering in cleaner waters along the coast in a trend that some researchers see as a potentially troubling sign.
The animals’ presence close to shore means their usual habitat is badly polluted, and the crowding could result in mass die-offs as fish run out of oxygen. Also, the animals could easily be devoured by predators.
“A parallel would be: Why are the wildlife running to the edge of a forest on fire? There will be a lot of fish, sharks, turtles trying to get out of this water they detect is not suitable,” said Larry Crowder, a Duke University marine biologist.
The nearly two-month-old spill has created an environmental catastrophe unparalleled in U.S. history as tens of millions of gallons of oil have spewed into the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. Scientists are seeing some unusual things as they try to understand the effects on thousands of species of marine life.
Day by day, scientists in boats tally up dead birds, sea turtles and other animals, but the toll is surprisingly small given the size of the disaster. The latest figures show that 783 birds, 353 turtles and 41 mammals have died — numbers that pale in comparison to what happened after the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska in 1989, when 250,000 birds and 2,800 otters are believed to have died.
Researchers say there are several reasons for the relatively small death toll: The vast nature of the spill means scientists are able to locate only a small fraction of the dead animals. Many will never be found after sinking to the bottom of the sea or being scavenged by other marine life. And large numbers of birds are meeting their deaths deep in the Louisiana marshes where they seek refuge from the onslaught of oil.
“That is their understanding of how to protect themselves,” said Doug Zimmer, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
For nearly four hours Monday, a three-person crew with Greenpeace cruised past delicate islands and mangrove-dotted inlets in Barataria Bay off southern Louisiana. They saw dolphins by the dozen frolicking in the oily sheen and oil-tinged pelicans feeding their young. But they spotted no dead animals.
“I think part of the reason why we’re not seeing more yet is that the impacts of this crisis are really just beginning,” Greenpeace marine biologist John Hocevar said.
The counting of dead wildlife in the Gulf is more than an academic exercise: The deaths will help determine how much BP pays in damages.
As for the fish, researchers are still trying to determine where exactly they are migrating to understand the full scope of the disaster, and no scientific consensus has emerged about the trend.
Mark Robson, director of the Division of Marine Fisheries Management with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said his agency has yet to find any scientific evidence that fish are being adversely affected off his state’s waters. He noted that it is common for fish to flee major changes in their environment, however.
In some areas along the coast, researchers believe fish are swimming closer to shore because the water is cleaner and more abundant in oxygen. Farther out in the Gulf, researchers say, the spill is not only tainting the water with oil but also depleting oxygen levels.
A similar scenario occurs during “dead zone” periods — the time during summer months when oxygen becomes so depleted that fish race toward shore in large numbers. Sometimes, so many fish gather close to the shoreline off Mobile that locals rush to the beach with tubs and nets to reap the harvest.
But this latest shore migration could prove deadly.
First, more oil could eventually wash ashore and overwhelm the fish. They could also become trapped between the slick and the beach, leading to increased competition for oxygen in the water and causing them to die as they run out of air.
“Their ability to avoid it may be limited in the long term, especially if in near-shore refuges they’re crowding in close to shore, and oil continues to come in. At some point they’ll get trapped,” said Crowder, expert in marine ecology and fisheries. “It could lead to die-offs.”
The fish could also fall victim to predators such as sharks and seabirds. Already there have been increased shark sightings in shallow waters along the Gulf Coast.
The migration of fish away from the oil spill can be good news for some coastal residents.
Tom Sabo has been fishing off Panama City, Fla., for years, and he’s never seen the fishing better or the water any clearer than it was last weekend 16 to 20 miles off the coast. His fishing spot was far enough east that it wasn’t affected by the pollution or federal restrictions, and it’s possible that his huge catch of red snapper, grouper, king mackerel and amberjack was a result of fish fleeing the spill.
In Alabama, locals are seeing large schools hanging around piers where fishing has been banned, leading them to believe the fish feel safer now that they are not being disturbed by fishermen.
“We pretty much just got tired of catching fish,” Sabo said. “It was just inordinately easy, and these were strong fish, nothing that was affected by oil. It’s not just me. I had to wait at the cleaning table to clean fish.”
Surfriders planning beach clean-ups in preparation for possible oil spill arrival!! Contact your Local Surfrider Foundation for information on how you can help!!
HOBE SOUND — With an eye on the mass of pollution from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Treasure Coast Surfriders are expanding their coastal cleanup efforts during the next two months.
However, if the slick ends up in the loop current that could bring the oil through the Florida Keys and up the east coast of Florida, they intend to quickly mobilize members to get the trash and other debris from the sand.
“There are so many beaches if we start now we can get more done,” said Tiffany Jackson, Surfrider chairman.
The group, meeting Tuesday at Scooters in Hobe Sound, didn’t want to begin the clean up too quick, as the spill isn’t expected to reach the Florida Panhandle in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s three-day outlook, let alone move towards South Florida in that time.
Surfrider Board member Greg Gardner said with the slick still potentially weeks away, it’s best to time the cleanup closer to when any of the pollutions may arrive.
The local Surfriders chapter already had planned a beach clean up for Jensen Beach — at the east end of the Jensen Beach Causeway — for June 20, to tie in International Surfing Day.
The additional cleanups are now set for: May 29 at Hobe Sound Beach, June 5 at Normandy Beach, June 12 at Santa Lucia Beach, June 26 at Stuart Beach, July 10 at Pepper Park. For information, visit www.surfrider.org/treasurecoast.
information from http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2010/may/11/surfriders-planning-beach-clean-ups-in-for-oil
Go to a car wash
