They says the temperature rise was caused by climate change.
Experts say it is the first time that Galapagos sea lions have set up a colony outside the islands.
The monitors say the water temperature in Piura, off the coast of northern Peru, has risen from 17C to 23C over the last 10 years.
The temperature is much closer to the sea temperature around the Galapagos Islands, which averages about 25C.
Now that the conditions of the sea around northern Peru are so similar to the Galapagos, they say, even more sea lions and other new marine species could start arriving.
Like so many native species in the Galapagos Islands, the sea lions are unique to the archipelago, located about 600 miles west of continental Ecuador.
Ever since the English naturalist, Charles Darwin, first visited the islands more than 150 years ago, they have become known as a living museum of evolution.
Now, thanks to global warming, that unique ecosystem could face unprecedented changes.
Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Godfrey Bloom’s comment has prompted outrage from the environmental group, which has accused him of “celebrating” the death of Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira during the 1985 incident in Auckland.
But Mr Bloom yesterday said he had forgotten one man was killed and French secret service agents were convicted of manslaughter after the bombing, the Guardian newspaper reported.
The former Tory cabinet minister, and MEP for Yorkshire had also earlier said climate change was “a stinking ruse to put cash and power into the hands of political elites”.
Mr Bloom was filmed posing in front of the present Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow Warrior II, during the climate summit at the Copenhagen harbour.
In the footage, he said: “Here we have one of the most, most truly fascist boats since 1945.
“Well done the French for sinking (it).”
But when asked yesterday whether he regretted his statements given the death of Fernando Pereira in the bombing, Mr Bloom first said he did not know a man had been killed, then said he had forgotten.
The video appeared to have been uploaded to Mr Bloom’s YouTube channel Goddersvision on December 16 during the last days of the summit, but was later taken down.
However, the “politics magazine and discussion” blog Liberal Conspiracy obtained and uploaded a copy of the video to YouTube.
…
Greenpeace New Zealand campaign director Chris Harris said it was “amazing” anyone could condone what was an act of state terrorism.
Mr Harris said it made no difference Mr Bloom had forgotten a man had died in the sinking of the ship.
“The fact that he got his facts wrong I don’t think changes the situation.
“I don’t think forgetting something like that’s any sort of excuse or condones the remarks in any case.”
He expected New Zealanders would want an apology from the MEP.
“Given the fact that it was the French trying to stop us working on an issue in our own backyard I would imagine pretty much everyone in New Zealand would want an apology over this.”
Greenpeace International head of media Ben Stewart also said an apology from Mr Bloom was appropriate.
“It’s extremely upsetting to see this guy saying those things in front of the Warrior.
“Our dear colleague Fernando Pereira was murdered the day the French secret service planted that bomb,” he said.
“It was an act of terror, pure and simple, and to see a member of the European Parliament lauding it is jaw-dropping.” Mr Bloom owed the crew of the Rainbow Warrior and the Pereira family an apology, he said.
“If he can’t bring himself to say sorry then UKIP’s new leader should apologise on his behalf. We can disagree about climate change without celebrating the killing of a man.”
ExxonMobil cash supported concerted campaign to undermine case for man-made warming: here.
Australian Liberal leader Tony Abbott last week released the opposition coalition’s new climate change policy, pledging to establish a multi-billion dollar public fund to be placed at the disposal of the largest corporate polluters and agribusiness interests: here.
In a July 22 Dissent Magazine article, Michael Busch said the corporation began operations at the invitation of the neoliberal Arena party government, which issued exploration permits in 2002.
Since 2005, the Cabañas community have organised against Pacific Rim because of the concerns about water and soil pollution from the mining operations.
Busch said: “Miners use cyanide-laced water to extract gold from subterranean rock, which, experts contend, makes its way back to reserves tapped for drinking.”
Community efforts successfully blocked Pacific Rim’s from obtaining mining permits. The government led by Mauricio Funes, who came to power last year, has said it will not allow the mines to proceed.
Pacific Rim has responded by filing a lawsuit with the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) against the Salvadoran government.
Busch reported that Pacific Rim allege violations of the US-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), claiming hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. …
A January 13 statement from the US-based Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador published at Cispes.org said that “in recent months, it has proven especially dangerous to oppose mining in Cabañas, with a steady stream of attacks, death threats and attempted assassinations and kidnappings against community leaders and anti-mining activists”.
Wright Stuff - Ricky Tomlinson on Prison (09.04.08)
A surprise call on the topic of being released from prison and how to make a life, from the Royle Family star airing his views, as he spent two years in prison [for trade union activism] from 1973.
Royle Family actor Ricky Tomlinson is considering standing in the general election, it has been reported.
He is on the verge of taking the plunge in protest at a prospective Labour candidate, Londoner Luciana Berger, being “parachuted” into the Liverpool Wavertree constituency where current MP Jane Kennedy is standing down.
If he decides to stand, Mr Tomlinson would stand for the Socialist Labour Party, of which he is a member, led by former National Union of Mineworkers president Arthur Scargill.
Mr Tomlinson told the Liverpool Daily Post the final decision would be made on his candidacy at a party meeting next week.
He criticised Ms Berger for a lack of local knowledge after she admitted not knowing who Bill Shankly was or who performed Ferry Cross The Mersey.
Mr Tomlinson said: “This woman that they have parachuted in from London could not even answer some easy questions about Liverpool.
“At one time, Liverpool had a contingent of working-class MPs like Eric Heffer. People say you could be letting the Tories in, but there is no difference between the Conservatives and new Labour.”
A report commissioned by the Labour government shows how its pro-business agenda during its 13 years in office has led to a dramatic increase in inequality: here.
British Conservatives move away from climate change as election nears: here.
VietNamNet Bridge – Researchers have found out a new species of gecko in the Ta Cu Nature Reserve in Binh Thuan province.
The new endemic gecko is named Gekko takouensis sp. nov. Ngo & Gamble since it was discovered by Ngo Van Tri, an expert from the HCM City Institute of Tropical Biology and Dr. Tony Gamble from the Minnesota University, USA.
This is the second endemic gecko species found on Ta Cu mountain. The other is bent-toe gecko named Cyrtodactylus takouensis Ngo & Bauer.
Recently, many rare species of animals have been discovered in the Ta Cu Nature Reserve, including francolin, mountain hawk, Truong Son silver douc and black-legged monkey (Pygathrix nigripes).
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Ta Cu Nature Reserve has 751 floral species and at least 15 species are very rare. It is also the home to around 178 species of terrestrial spinal [vertebrate] animals.
Dr. Vu Ngoc Long, Director of the HCM City Institute of Tropical Biology‘s Bio-diversity and Development Centre, there are at least 25 species of endangered animals at the Ta Cu Nature Reserve.
To protect the important nature reserve, a project has been launched to improve management capacity of local authorities and raise people’s awareness of protecting environment.
February 2010. The Long whiskered owlet, one of the rarest birds in the world, has been filmed and photographed in January 2010 in the Neotropical Primate Conservation (NPC) main research area, La Esperanza, in Peru.
The owlet was observed by Shachar Alterman, an Israeli birdwatcher who joined the UK charity organization’s project for a month to carry out bird inventories in the region.
The species was also seen by Noga Shanee, co-founder of the organization, and Edin Fonseca, a local guide whose help made it possible to find such a rare species.
First discovered in 1976
The Long-whiskered owlet (Xenoglaux loweryi) was first discovered in 1976, when it was caught in a mist nest
sic; mist net
by an ornithological team. Since then, the wlet has been seen very few times. It is endemic to a very small altitudinal range in the humid mountain forests of Amazonas and San Martin. The species is listed as Endangered on IUCN Red List.
Despite all efforts, by researchers and birders alike, no Long-Whiskered Owlet has been seen since 2007. Alterman and Sahnee state that “As far as we know, this is only the fourth time this rare bird has ever been seen in the wild - and the first time it has been captured on video”.
“At first I thought it was a frog, since it sounded coarser than the playback I have. But it is a very distinctive call”, Said Alterman after the sighting. “Suddenly it felt as though the whole forest is full of ‘Lechusitas’ (The common local nickname for the bird in Peru).
“After a brief moment of silence, they were calling from all different corners of the forest”, He added. “The bird itself was perched five metres above our head.”
“It’s been one of the happiest moments in my life. We birders are so easy to please, just give us a new bird and we’re satisfied, but this one tops it all. This is the first time that I feel that finding a new bird can help its natural habitat and a whole community. At least that’s what I pray will happen”, says Alterman.
Shanee added that “On the same night the owlet was found, the NPC group heard no less than five birds which responded to the recorded calls played by the team. No previous record of such dense population exists so far”. Two other species of rare and endemic birds; Rusty-Tinged Antpitta and Johnson’s Tody-Tyrant were identified on the same 3 week trip.
During the survey, Shanee also spotted 12 yellow tailed woolly monkeys - Adults males and females, and some young ones.
Critically endangered monkey - Threatened by deforestation
According to Shanee, the owlet is threatened by the same hazards which affect the yellow-tailed woolly monkey (Oreonax flavicauda). This critically endangered monkey is endemic to a small area of the Tropical Andes in Peru; itself an endangered ecosystem. The main threat facing the area and its inhabitants is massive deforestation which is directly connected to the growing human population and poverty. There are less then a 1,000 of these monkeys dispersed between several remote and unconnected populations.
“We are hoping that this new discovery of the Long-Whiskered Owlet’s population and the interest it will generate with birdwatchers and conservationist groups will help to further conservation efforts for this special forest”.
Neotropical Primate Conservation (NPC) was founded by Sam and Noga Shanee and Lizzie Cooke in 2007. It began as a non-profit organization and was awarded UK charity status in August 2009. NPC was set to promote the conservation of Neotropical forest habitat and all wildlife through various means. These include: land protection; research; improvement of degraded habitat for wildlife; creation of public awareness; environmental education; and facilitation of the commercialization of sustainable, ecological products on behalf of local people.
February 2010. As many as 130,000 Laysan Albatross chicks have been killed by lead paint flakes from 70 deadly lead paint-contaminated buildings since jurisdiction of Midway was transferred from the US Navy to the US Department of the Interior (DOI) in 1996.
“Curious Albatross chicks are ingesting the lead-based paint chips, which causes a variety of painful ailments and ultimately, a slow death,” said Dr. Jessica Hardesty Norris, Seabird Program Director for ABC.
Many of the chicks on Midway exhibit a condition called “droopwing”, which leaves them unable to lift their wings. Unable to fly, many die of starvation and dehydration.
10,000 birds die every year
The area encompassing Midway and its waters was included in President George Bush’s designation of the North-western Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument in 2006. Despite Midway’s designation as a National Wildlife Refuge and its location with the marine national monument, about 10,000 of these rare birds needlessly die there each year.
In a paper to be released in the scientific journal, Animal Conservation, Dr. Myra Finkelstein of the University of California-Santa Cruz and co-authors, including scientists and managers from the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, concluded that the death of Laysan Albatross chicks from lead exposure on Midway has long-term consequences for the nesting population of Laysan Albatrosses there. By 2060, there may be as many as 190,000 fewer albatrosses due to lead poisoning. By contrast, removing lead-based paint now could increase the population by up to 360,000 by 2060.
“The death of thousands of seabirds is contrary to the purpose of our National Wildlife Refuge System. We are preparing a letter to members of Congress to bring this matter again to their attention in the hopes that they can find a way to clean up Midway and stop the needless suffering of innocent birds,” said Marjorie Ziegler of the Conservation Council for Hawai’i.
70% world’s population of Laysan Albatross nest on Midway
About 70 percent of the world’s population of Laysan Albatrosses nests on Midway. The IUCN-World Conservation Union lists the species as globally vulnerable to extinction.
The DOI estimates that $5.6 million is needed to clean up the toxic lead paint on Midway Atoll. Approximately 70 of the federally-owned buildings must be stripped of all lead-based paint, and sand surrounding these old buildings needs to be thoroughly sifted to remove paint chips. DOI officials have stated that the current federal budget for the nation’s wildlife refuge system is insufficient to prevent the continued ingestion of lead paint by Laysan Albatross chicks.
“We strongly encourage Congress to pay close attention to the important scientific conclusions of today’s Animal Conservation paper on Laysan Albatrosses and enact a meaningful appropriation to address this severe and well documented wildlife hazard in Hawaii,” said John Harrison, President of Hawai’i Audubon Society.
February 2010. After a two year drought, The Nairobi National Park finally received some decent rain in December and early January and the effects have been dramatic. Before the rains came, every last blade of grass had been grazed to dust by the 6000 or so resident herbivores & a similar number of illegal cattle. However the surviving cattle have now moved away to grazing lands in Maasailand.
The Nairobi National is 120 kms2 teeming with game and contains almost everything you might see bigger more remote parks, except elephants. In fact it is the best place in Kenya, if not the whole of Africa, to see Black rhinos in the wild.
Seasonal wetlands provide excellent habitat for aquatic birds such as this Saddlebill stork.
All predators, including the Big Cats have done well during the drought, with virtually all wildlife in the Athi-Kapiti ecosystem north of the Namanga highway being contained in the park owing to the presence of water & grazing.
Bohor reedbuck are doing well (many of them are translocated from Western Kenya) & are easily visible in the new short grass.
Buffalos surprisingly survived the drought well: there are close to a thousand of these large bovines in the park now.
Kongoni (Coke’s hartebeest) are now confined to the park because of human activities in the dispersal area. They are increasing in numbers & provide food for the ever-hungry & ever increasing NNP lion population (which is estimated at between 35 & 40 individuals.)
Dikdik in the Silole Sanctuary abutting the park: I have never seen this species in the park itself. Could somebody suggest why this might be the case?
Southern White rhino continue to do well; we have 11 in the The Nairobi National Park.
I estimate that there are between 35 - 40 lions in NNP. They are all descended from the 7 that survived the drought of 2005 when so many were killed after cattle-killing outside the park.
This is way above the historical average of 30 lions established by the lion researcher Judith Rudnai in the 70’s & a reflection of the changing conditions in NNP during a prolonged dry cycle.
The NNP population of lions is very young, with all but 7 individuals being less than 5 years old & at least one more litter of young cubs recently observed.
Dr Gales, who heads the Australian Marine Mammal Centre, says that information gained from this trip will give greater insight into the little-known facts about how whales interact with sea ice and how they use their environment, providing critical information to assist in the future conservation of whales.
More than one hundred satellite tags will be deployed onto the whales to enable researchers to keep track of their movements over the coming months as they head north to their breeding grounds.
At the same time, other non-lethal methods such as biopsies, acoustics and hydrographic surveys will be employed.
The findings from this expedition, together with aerial surveys carried out this season close to the Antarctic continent will be presented in a report to the next International Whaling Commission meeting in June.
In the meantime, it has been a busy time for the scientists – each, specialists in their field - preparing for the trip south. For the tight-knit group of whale specialists the voyage is the culmination of two years’ planning.
The voyage, aboard New Zealand’s RV Tangaroa, will return in mid-March.
Researchers have set sail from New Zealand to study whales off Antarctica without killing them, an open challenge to Japan’s killing of up to 1,000 whales a year in the name of science: here.
The federal government isn’t ruling out support for an Australian Greens bill which would see anyone convicted of helping a whaling operation go to jail: here.
Scientists on Shetland believe they may have discovered a previously-unobserved technique being used by killer whales to catch herring: here.
A new law requiring French Guianese shrimp fishers to use special devices that reduce unwanted fish catch will help better protect marine turtles and other vulnerable marine species in the region.
As of Jan. 1, the country’s fishing fleet under the new law now has to use a device called the Trash and Turtle Excluder Device, or TTED, to limit accidental capture of larger marine species.
Widespread use of this device, which took three years to develop, will greatly reduce bycatch among shrimp trawlers. In French Guiana, tropical shrimp fisheries represent a major source of undesired bycatch. Without a bycatch reduction device in place, shrimp represents only 10 to 30 percent of the total catch, meaning the rest is made up of other marine species.
Nearly half of the world’s recorded fish catch is unused, wasted or not accounted for, according to estimates in an April scientific paper co-authored by WWF. The paper, Defining and Estimating Global Marine Fisheries Bycatch, estimated that each year at least 38 million tonnes of fish, constituting at least 40 percent of what is taken from oceans by fishing activities, is unmanaged or unused and should be considered bycatch.
The TTED is an improvement of a previous device, the Turtle Excluder Device, that consists of a rigid grill inserted at a 45 degrees angle in the trawl with an opening toward the top or bottom. NOAA has documented in research a 97 percent reduction in marine turtle captures through using the device, and additional TED studies conducted internationally have shown a reduction in large marine organism bycatch of as much as 91 percent.
After three years of trials, a prototype combining the advantages of different systems was identified. This model, the TTED, offers numerous advantages, including a 25 to 40 percent reduction of fish bycatch.
In addition, the TTED reduces sorting time and risks of injury due to sharks and rays being caught. The new gear also improves the quality of shrimps, which are less likely to be crushed in the bottom of the trawl, and may also lead to a reduction in the amount of fuel consumed by the boats.
WWF will be talking about this successful project at the upcoming Seafood Summit in Paris, France, running from Jan. 31to Feb. 2.
The TTED is the culmination of years of research. With funding provided by the European Union and the DIREN (Regional Environmental Authorities), WWF commissioned a study from IFREMER (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea) to determine which selective gear was the most adapted to fishing conditions in French Guiana. These initial trials, conducted under experimental conditions, were carried out on board a shrimp trawler.
Following this work, shrimp industry’s members expressed the need to continue these experiments and to become more involved in the project. In response, WWF and the French Guiana Regional Fishery and Ocean Farming Commission began working in close collaboration in order to determine the best gear for the French Guiana fleet.
With technical support from NOAA and IFREMER, the Commission carried out numerous at sea trials in close collaboration with French Guiana fleets. Specific parameters where tested such as the shape and spacing between the bars of the selective grid. These trials allowed the fleets and the crews onboard the shrimp trawlers to understand the advantages of a more selective fishing gear and the benefits of using it in French Guiana.
Based on the results and the captains’ recommendations, the Commission decided to make the use of this TTED system mandatory by January 2010, when the annual fishing licences are issued.
The TTED was developed with the assistance of IFREMER, NOAA, French Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Région Guyane, and the European Fund for Fisheries (FEP).
Good that at last something is done about this problem.
When I was in Baboensanti, in Suriname close to French Guiana, I saw sea turtles. I did not see them myself as victims of bycatch. What I did see as victims of bycatch were many dead crucifix sea catfish on the beach. It is to be hoped that these fish now will have a better future as well.
Oostduinkerke on the West Flanders coast is the only place in the world where you will still see the 500-year-old tradition of fishermen trawling for shrimp on horseback: here.
