By Tina Casey •
January 10, 2010
According to a recent study, fish can live with a new type of hydropower that does not involve constructing dams, weirs, or other fish-unfriendly infrastructure. It’s called hydrokinetic power, and it simply uses underwater turbines to harness the energy of existing currents in rivers. Sounds good so far, but the key point is whether or not river dwelling fish can co-exist with the installation.
Hydro Green Energy, LLC is a leading hydrokinetic company that engaged the study. One goal was to help provide a definitive answer to the fish question industrywide, so the study went all the way. Rather than simply extrapolating from computer models, the study involved tagging and tracking hundreds of individual fish with radio transmitters and balloons. The results provide encouraging news for the development of a more sustainable energy landscape for hydropower, and rivers could be just the beginning.
By Zachary Shahan •
December 13, 2009
A new report published in the journal Global Change Biology shows that 45 species of the Galapagos Islands have become extinct or are facing extinction largely due to human activities.
The main causes are the 1982 El Nino and overfishing. The results show the great vulnerability of this diverse area to significant climate change and human activities.
By Zachary Shahan •
November 29, 2009
As scientists continue to show, the oceans absorb CO2 and keep it from going into the atmosphere. Thus, they help to protect against global climate change. However, this is looking to be perhaps an even bigger problem than climate change!
When oceans absorb this CO2, it makes them more and more acidic. “Since the industrial revolution, the ocean acidity has increased by 30%,” according to Lisa Suatoni, Ph.D. If we continue polluting CO2 as we are now, “ocean acidity will double by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times. That is a big problem.”
A beautiful short video of the issues related to this, the oceans, and the challenge we are facing follows. It includes commentary from leading scientists and narration by Sigourney Weaver.
One of the best videos I’ve seen in a long time!
By Michael Ricciardi •
November 28, 2009
As Arctic temperatures rise, precipitation rates, and snow/ice cover volumes, begin to change as well. In some cases, this has lead to an increase in vegetation, which can have the beneficial effect of reducing atmospheric CO2, but which can also cause a disruption in the trace gas exchange between earth and atmosphere. Also, many of these climate change impacts produce imbalances within ecosystems (the web of interactions between species, and between species and their environments) and these can and do [...]
By Zachary Shahan •
November 3, 2009
An ecologist and an engineer at Michigan State University are working together to create robot fish that can better monitor various factors in aquatic environments.
Combining the brilliance of nature with some top-notch engineering, these two scientists are on to something and getting the funding for it.
The researchers are breaking ground with this and looking to raise water monitoring to another level.
By Tina Casey •
October 27, 2009
San Diego Gas & Electric has embarked on a demonstration project to test the commercial viability of a new concentrated solar power system that uses shallow pools of water as a passive cooling system for high-efficiency solar cells. The unique proprietary technology was developed by Pyron Solar of Sorrento Valley, California.
The new technology could be attractive in land-rich areas, and it may also have some application for introducing sustainable energy to more densely developed areas, since its use of high efficiency solar cells enables it to pack more generating capacity into less space. It also may prompt some new exploration of the opportunity to double up solar energy generation with other operations, such as fish farming.
By Chris Milton •
October 27, 2009
The devastation Man’s appetite for seafood is wreaking on the ocean environment has been thrown into sharp relief by a “red fish list” published by Greenpeace.
These are the fish which are most in peril from destructive, illegal or simple over fishing. It lists 19 fish, two shellfish and one crustacean.
Cod we all know about and hopefully everybody avoids. However the list also includes other common white fish, including hoki and pollock.
Then there are other common seafood: salmon, quahog, swordfish, red snapper, halibut and most types of tuna.
The list goes on and on and is truly astounding: you can read it all at the Greenpeace Red Fish List page.
By Michael Ricciardi •
October 14, 2009
According to a 2008 study (Jelks et al), nearly 40% of freshwater species in North America are either at risk of disappearing or have already vanished. Representing some 761 distinct species, 230 are deemed “vulnerable”, 190 are threatened, 280 are endangered, and 61 are extinct (or extinct in the wild). These numbers represent a 90+% increase over a 1989 assessment of freshwater species. And these trends are consistent with assessments in Europe.
Cat got your tongue? Well, not in this case! According to the BBC, a strange-looking parasite was recently discovered inside the mouth of a weaver fish off the Minquiers. Attracted to fish, the parasite, an isopod, eats the fish’s tongue then takes up residence inside its mouth!
By Jerry James Stone •
August 15, 2009
LiveFuels, Inc. hopes to make a renewable fuel using processed algae-fed fish.
The company–who develops renewable algae-based biofuels–has a test facility in Brownsville, TX. At the location they have 45 acres of open saltwater ponds which will be used for optimizing the algal production.
Most algae-to-biofuel companies are limited to monomcultures of algae, but LiveFuels plans to grow a mix of regional species in low-cost, open-water systems. The algae will be “harvested” with filter-feeding fish and other aquatic herbivores.
By Daniel Hohler •
August 8, 2009
We have all been waiting for this day. Finally, shark repellent has arrived to the world… except this shark repellent is not used to save humans from sharks. No this shark repellent was made to save sharks from humans. With good reason, while only about 4 people die of unprovoked shark attacks each year, humans kill an estimated 73 million sharks each year. You do the math and tell me who is the biggest threat to whom?
Many sharks are inadvertently killed in fishing equipment used for tuna, swordfish, and other commercial fish. This is called bycatch. These unwanted sharks are often thrown back into the ocean dead, dying, or injured.
