Get Started for FREE
Sign up with Facebook Sign up with X
I don't have a Facebook or a X account
 Your new post is loading...
Your new post is loading...
Scoop.it!
A plan to boost eco-tourism on Catalina Island by increasing the number of bison has recharged a debate over the environmental impacts of the shaggy beasts 
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scoop.it!
When creatures from the Red Sea stray into Mediterranean waters, the results can be lethal. Red-Sea pufferfish colonising the eastern Mediterranean are s
PIRatE Lab's insight:
See the full blog entry here: http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/05/economist-explains-35
Scoop.it!
This summer, Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) will be hosting their 8th Annual Summer Lionfish Derby Series. Lionfish Derbies are competitions where divers and snorkelers compete to bring in the most lionfish in a single day for over $3,500 in cash prizes. Since the first derby in 2009, REEF has facilitated the removal of over 16 thousand lionfish from all around South Florida.
Scoop.it!
Daniel Moniz, who said he took a snakebite to the face while wrestling a 13-footer, snagged two of the top prizes.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Get them invasive snakes!
Scoop.it!
It’s generally accepted that invasive plants and animals are bad for biodiversity and should be eradicated. Many individuals, organizations and municipal leaders have enlisted in the battle against these non-native species - plants in particular.
Scoop.it!
Embracing “novel” ecosystems is dangerous, according to a new study by an international team.Embracing.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Scoop.it!
WowTwo picnic baskets packed with 67 live giant African snails were seized by federal authorities at Los Angeles International Airport , authorities said Monday.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Wow! Customs and Border Protection actually managed to catch the dude with two giant picnic baskets on his way to San Dimas with 35 pounds of live gigantic snails. Impressive. I think he was sitting next to me on my last flight home. Errrr...no. Now that I think about it, I am pretty sure THAT guy's 35 pounds of mollusk was marine in origin. The dripping salt water and purple squid ink decorating the seat and aisle were the give away. If only he hadn't been pre-approved by the TSA's stellar Global Entry he might have been screened and caught like Mr. Nigeria here. I guess this poor schmuck from Lagos failed to pay for his get out of jail free card.
Scoop.it!
liforniaOver the last two decades, the conservancy that owns nine-tenths of this island has shot, trapped and shipped out thousands of goats, pigs and bison that were literally eating away the island.
Scoop.it!
A hitchhiker's ride to New Zealand: alien voyages by sea and air Via Dr. Gabriele Kerber, Marian Locksley
Scoop.it!
Indo-Pacific lionfish have invaded the Atlantic and are wrecking havoc on foreign ecosystems. Their population explosion is alarming and cause for great concern, but a new study shows light at the end of the tunnel. Via Konstantinos KOKOSIS
PIRatE Lab's insight:
This is good news, but controlling them is still a pipe dream anywhere other than a few focal spots where you can have active spearing efforts (e.g. daily dives with numerous divers) over a sustained period (many weeks/months at a time).
Scoop.it!
The California Coastal Commission on Wednesday approved the state’s first aquaculture farm to be located in federal waters about eight miles offshore of Long Beach.Known as Catalina Sea Ranch,
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Our first mariculture facility in federal waters off of the California coast. Cool beans!
While the cltivation of non-native species is normally a red flag, in this case the cat is long, long out of the bag across the entire west coast. As such, this was a non-issue.
While California has lots of good intentions with our strong environmental laws, they have in many instances acted to quash innovation and coastal-dependent industries (this is why, for example, we have no offshore alternative energy production...even though we design and create systems that get installed in Oregon, Mexico, etc.).
PIRatE Lab's curator insight,
January 11, 2014 11:30 AM
This effort offers the opoprtunity to supply shellfish to local So Cal markets with markedly reduced carbon footprints.
Scoop.it!
Re 'N.Y. rethinks marsh spray: DEC 'changed course' on plan to use herbicide,' Nov. 14 article:
PIRatE Lab's insight:
While there are significant potential downsides of herbicides, they are an iportant tool to have in our management quiver.
|
Scoop.it!
The once-nomadic Irula tribespeople from India show why they are the world's 'best' snake-catchers.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Get them snake hunters going!
Scoop.it!
From
psmag
We can now alter the genomes of invasive species to slow their advance. Should we?
PIRatE Lab's insight:
What a great question and what a great debate!
Scoop.it!
Around the world, battles are being fought to protect native wildlife and ecosystems, property and people’s livelihoods from animal invaders. Because the resources to fight these invasions are limited, natural resource agencies must prioritize their prevention, management and eradication efforts.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Them damn Nutria!
Scoop.it!
Tens of thousands of cobia that escaped from an aquaculture farm off the coast of Ecuador may be Southern California bound Via clare wormald, Donald Rodriguez
Scoop.it!
Because reducing the impacts of feral cats--domestic cats that have returned to the wild--is a priority for conservation efforts across the globe, a research team recently reviewed the animals' diet across Australia and its territorial islands to help consider how they might best be managed. The investigators recorded 400 vertebrate species that feral cats feed on or kill in Australia, including 16 globally threatened birds, mammals and reptiles. The cats feed mainly on rabbits when they are available, but they switch to other food groups when they are not. Reptiles were eaten most frequently in desert areas, whereas medium-sized mammals, such as possums and bandicoots, were eaten most frequently in the temperate southeast. "Our most significant finding was a pattern of prey-switching from rabbits to small native mammals," said Tim Doherty, lead author of the Journal of Biogeography study. "This is important because control programs for rabbits could inadvertently lead to feral cats killing more native mammals instead. This means that land managers should use a multi-species approach for pest animal control."
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Interesting diet study of feral cats. I had not thought of doing a diet analysis on them, but it makes perfect sense. It would be interesting to do a similar study here in coastal southern California.
Scoop.it!
You can't really put a price on the Mississippi river and the ways its used by so many people, but saving the wildlife of Minnesota's most popular waterway may come with the price tag of just $75,000 dollars. A species of carp have been slowly making their way up north on the Mississippi River, threatening the natural species that call those waters home.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Acoustic fences to drive away invading fish is interesting and worth a try. The worry is the 10% of the fish in the lab that are not scared of the sound. Chances are those dudes will get right through this barrier (especially when it becomes a routine sound in this system.
Scoop.it!
It’s an environmental success story on the islands off our coastline which has left even biologists involved in the project surprised.
It’s a story we first told you about last week. Efforts to save the rare Island Fox have been so successful, researchers are moving to remove them from the endangered species list.
KCLU’s Lance Orozco has the story behind the story, explaining how they made a long shot effort work.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
A fantastic summary of the efforts to recover endangered species on our California Channel Islands. This is shaping-up to become a classic example of ecosystem interactions, food web dynamics, invasive species, and novel pollutants (environmental estrogens).
Click the "MP3 Island Fox Recovery" link to hear the story.
Scoop.it!
Florida bills would ban importation of Indo-Pacific lionfish.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Great article on the state of affairs in Florida waters. The reality is that we need to ban the importation and display of such potentially dangerous creatures. The reality is also that the ship has left the dock: these waters are totally screwed when it comes to these devastating invaders. We need to be getting out ahead of these issues rather than reacting. The whole idea of some folks only wanting to ban the "invasive" lion fish is beyond laughable. That's akin to saying "we only want to ban the sperm that get you pregnant."
Scoop.it!
The plight of the Lyubov Orlova has grabbed the imagination of the media with its tale of cannibal rats" aboard an abandoned vessel drifting in the north Atlantic -- possibly toward the U.K.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
This ship is probably flooded and sunk by this point. But it is a great example of many of the challenges we face in coastal and marine management: non-native species dispersal, international flags of convenience, ship breakers, the vagaries of the ocean, surface currents, etc. Oh, and it has a twitter account with almost 3,000 followers (Lyubov Orlova).
Another post about why this sucker is probably not much of a threat is here:
Scoop.it!
Scientists at Nofima have developed a new and efficient DNA test to trace escaped farmed salmon, in which they can link the DNA profile of the escaped fish to the fish farm from which it escaped.
Testing of the system on a pilot scale demonstrates virtually 100 % accuracy, and simulation of data that has so far been done on an industrial scale is promising.
This system means all the fish in the sea cage can relax; they do not need to be tested in order to be matched with escaped fish because their parents were tested before the production fish were hatched.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Traceability comes to wild fish.
Scoop.it!
The quagga mussel saga at Lake Piru in eastern Ventura County continues to develop as officials scramble to determine the extent of the infestation.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Well, they have finally made it here. We have staved this invasion off for a bit. This includes having turned away many boaters who were intentionally trying to introduce these mussels into our coastal reservoirs as they didn't like having to go through quarantine prior to being able to put their boats in the water to fish. Totally insane, pure a***ole maneuvers. It looks like they finally got their wish.
|
