Meteorological and environmental reasons cited as reasons for record low catches
Spanish fishing boats are landing only a tenth of their normal summer catch of octopus – an unheard-of drop.
To date, since 1 July they have caught 38 tonnes of octopus, compared with a normal average of 378 tonnes over the same period. Income has slumped by 84%. Catches vary from year to year but such a huge drop is unprecedented.
Continue reading...Stephanie Blais had called her father due to problems with water supply at remote Saskatchewan cabin
The father of a Canadian woman who was killed by black bear has said that he was on the phone with her at the time of the attack.
Stephanie Blais, 44, was with her husband, Curtis, and two young children at the family’s remote cabin in the province of Saskatchewan. But problems with the water supply prompted her to call her father on a satellite phone.
Continue reading...Ecuador stood up for the Galápagos, but other countries don’t stand a chance against the 17,000-strong distant-water fleet
The recent discovery by the Ecuadorean navy of a vast fishing armada of 340 Chinese vessels just off the biodiverse Galápagos Islands stirred outrage both in Ecuador and overseas.
Under pressure after Ecuador’s strident response, China has given mixed signals that it could begin to reel in its vast international fishing fleet. Its embassy in Ecuador declared a “zero tolerance” policy towards illegal fishing, and this week it announced it was tightening the rules for its enormous flotilla with a series of new regulations.
Continue reading...Report finds climate change ‘clearly played a role’ in conditions that led up to Australia’s 2019-2020 fires, which were so extreme, traditional firefighting methods often failed
Last summer’s bushfire disaster was so unusual that traditional firefighting methods, such as hazard reduction burning, failed in some instances, an inquiry into the crisis heard.
The final report of the New South Wales bushfire inquiry, published on Tuesday, said the 2019-20 bushfire season brought fires in forested regions on a scale not seen in recorded history in Australia.
Continue reading...Swedish environmental activist says she’s heading back to the classroom after travelling the world, spreading her conservation message
Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg has returned to school after a year off campaigning to curb climate change.
“My gap year from school is over, and it feels so great to finally be back in school again!” the 17-year-old tweeted, attaching a smiling photo of herself with a schoolbag on her back and her hands resting on a bicycle.
Continue reading...Researchers find that even exposure to levels below EU limits has an impact
Infants exposed to even low levels of air pollution experience reduced lung function as children and teenagers, researchers have found.
Their study found that exposure to air pollution in the first year of life reduced lung function development from the ages of six to 15, even at pollution levels below EU standards.
Continue reading...‘Stunned’ scientists say there is little doubt global heating is to blame for the loss
A total of 28 trillion tonnes of ice have disappeared from the surface of the Earth since 1994. That is stunning conclusion of UK scientists who have analysed satellite surveys of the planet’s poles, mountains and glaciers to measure how much ice coverage lost because of global heating triggered by rising greenhouse gas emissions.
The scientists – based at Leeds and Edinburgh universities and University College London – describe the level of ice loss as “staggering” and warn that their analysis indicates that sea level rises, triggered by melting glaciers and ice sheets, could reach a metre by the end of the century.
Continue reading...Experts say they are concerned as two potential hurricanes head north – and coronavirus is complicating matters
Two potential hurricanes are heading towards the northern Caribbean and mainland United States – with a third building in the Atlantic – in apparent confirmation of meteorologists’ predictions that the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season will become one of the worst on record.
Related: US faces threat of two Caribbean storms hitting simultaneously as hurricanes
Continue reading...Exclusive: Cramped work and home conditions may be behind infections in factories, says expert
Britain’s demand for cheap food could be fuelling the spread of the coronavirus in factories, a leading health expert has warned, as analysis shows nearly 1,500 cases across the UK.
Cramped conditions in some factories and in low-paid workers’ homes, spurred by the UK’s desire for cheaply produced food, may have driven infection rates in the sector, according to David Nabarro, a World Health Organization special envoy on Covid-19.
Continue reading...MV Wakashio has split in two and leaked 1,000 tonnes of oil into the water since it ran aground
Salvage crews were preparing to sink a Japanese-owned ship that ran aground off Mauritius, despite opposition from environmental campaigners.
The MV Wakashio broke into two on Saturday, almost three weeks after hitting a reef and spilling 1,000 tonnes of oil into idyllic waters full of marine life.
Continue reading...Climate-driven loss is likely to be the worst for centuries, and is pushing up sea levels
The Greenland ice sheet lost a record amount of ice in 2019, equivalent to a million tonnes per minute across the year, satellite data shows.
The climate crisis is heating the Arctic at double the rate in lower latitudes, and the ice cap is the biggest single contributor to sea level rise, which already imperils coasts around the world. The ice sheet shrank by 532bn tonnes last year as its surface melted and glaciers fell into the ocean and would have filled seven Olympic-sized swimming pools per second.
Continue reading...In a nationwide blitz, gas companies and their allies fight climate efforts that they consider an existential threat to their business
When progressive Seattle decided last year to wipe out its climate pollution within the decade, the city council vote in favor was unsurprisingly unanimous, and the easiest first step on that path was clear.
About one-third of the city’s climate footprint comes from buildings, in large part from burning “natural” gas for heating and cooking. Gas is a fossil fuel that releases carbon dioxide and far more potent methane into the atmosphere and heats the planet. It is plentiful and cheap, and it’s also a huge and increasing part of America’s climate challenge.
Continue reading...Officials seek to reassure public after world’s largest hydro-electric dam nears capacity amid heavy floods
Extreme floods have hit China’s Three Gorges dam, which recorded the largest inflow of water in its history, prompting officials to assure the public it would not be breached.
Inflows to the world’s largest hydro-electric dam reached 75m litres of water a second, according to state media. By Thursday morning, 11 outlets of the dam had been opened to discharge 49.2m litres of water a second, the largest release since its construction.
Continue reading...Cargo from the MV Rhosus caused the explosion in Lebanon’s main port – its crew say they were stranded aboard for a year
The problems began the moment Captain Boris Prokoshev set sail aboard the MV Rhosus in 2013.
He discovered that the ageing Russian-owned cargo ship, bound for Mozambique, was in “terrible” condition, including having a defunct generator. Then he learned that the previous crew had mutinied over unpaid wages. So it was no surprise when the owner told Prokoshev there was no money to pay for fees for the Suez canal, either.
Continue reading...Weather conditions this month include soaring temperatures and earliest-forming ‘J’ storm
A heatwave has brought sweltering conditions to much of north-west Europe and the UK this month. Temperatures have exceeded 30C (86F) across France for several days, climbing to the low 40s in the south-west of the country. The heat has exacerbated a drought, with 72 of 96 regional departments subject to water restrictions.
Europe is not alone in experiencing intense heat. High temperatures in California have resulted in increased demand for electricity as residents increasingly rely on air conditioning.
Continue reading...The Pantanal wetland – home to the hyacinth macaw – is suffering its worst blazes in decades, most probably started by humans
The world’s biggest refuge for endangered hyacinth macaws has been devastated by a historic fire in the Brazilian Pantanal.
The Pantanal, a vast tropical wetland straddling Brazil’s border with Bolivia and Paraguay, is currently suffering its worst fires in more than two decades, with nearly 12% of its vegetation reportedly already lost.
Continue reading...Two years on from her first school strike, activist attacks ‘ignorance and unawareness’
Two years on from Greta Thunberg’s first solo school strike for the climate, she says the world has wasted the time by failing to take the necessary action on the crisis.
Thunberg’s strike inspired a global movement, and on Thursday she and other leading school strikers will meet Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, which holds the rotating presidency of the European council. They will demand a halt to all fossil fuel investments and subsidies and the establishment of annual, binding carbon budgets based on the best science.
Continue reading...Rise in sea temperatures caused by climate emergency is transforming marine environment and affecting local species
The waters off Kyonan were once home to dense forests of seaweed – the ideal habitat for the prized abalone and sardines that support the town’s economy.
Today, the seaweed beds are threadbare; in some places they have vanished altogether, to be replaced by coral that belongs in the tropics, not in this corner of Tokyo Bay. Marine life that depended on macro algae for survival is making way for fish usually found in waters much further south.
Continue reading...Chlorination of hens and use of pig sow stalls among disparities highlighted by charity ahead of post-Brexit trade talks
US hens have half the living space of UK birds and are dipped in chlorinated water after slaughter to kill bacteria growing on them as a result of the birds “literally sitting in each other’s waste”, according to a new video being launched today by the RSPCA.
Aiming to highlight the welfare differences between US and UK farm animals as trade talks resume between the two countries in September, the UK’s largest animal welfare charity is taking the unusual step of releasing a video that “exposes the realities of animal welfare” and warns consumers against US dairy, egg and meat imports.
Continue reading...Some people seem to be above the law. Those people do not include the whistleblower and his lawyer, Bernard Collaery
Timor-Leste only achieved independence in 2002. It was Asia’s poorest country and desperately needed revenue. Revenue from massive gas resources in the Timor Sea was its big hope. But it needed to negotiate a treaty with Australia on their carve-up. Australia ruthlessly exploited that fact: delays from the Australian side in negotiating a treaty for the carve-up of those resources, and repeated threats of more delays, were a constant theme of the negotiations. In November 2002 the former Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer told Timor-Leste’s prime minister, Mari Alkatiri: “We don’t have to exploit the resources. They can stay there for 20, 40, 50 years.” In late 2003 Timor-Leste requested monthly discussions. Australia claimed it could only afford two rounds a year. Poor Timor-Leste offered to fund rich Australia’s expenses. Australia didn’t accept.
Related: Witness K and the 'outrageous' spy scandal that failed to shame Australia
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