ApocaDocuments (6) for the "Species Collapse" scenario from this week [see full week] ~ [see full Species Collapse scenario and stories]
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Mon, Dec 1, 2008 from CBC News (Canada):
500 narwhals trapped by Pond Inlet ice: fisheries officials
When the trapped narwhals were first discovered on Nov. 15, residents had counted at least 200 of the Arctic whales, trapped in shrinking areas of open water, also known as breathing holes or savssats.
But since the first discovery, fisheries officials say more breathing holes have been spotted. The department now estimates a total of 500 narwhals were trapped in as many as 20 breathing holes.... Hunters in Pond Inlet, a mostly Inuit community of about 1,300, told CBC News that the task of culling hundreds of entrapped whales has been daunting.
They added that they are trying to harvest as many whales as they can with the limited amount of daylight they have at this time of year. ...
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They're stuck, and "harvest" is the only option? Where are the miraculous unicorns?
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Sun, Nov 30, 2008 from Guardian (UK):
Africa's vanishing herds
As the rain begins to fall on Tanzania's Tarangire National Park, thousands of zebra, wildebeest and giraffe will begin one of the world's greatest migrations. But many of the herds trampling across the grass at the foot of the Rift Valley highlands are falling in number - and scientists do not know why.... Numbers of wildebeest have fallen from 50,000 to 6,000 in the past 20 years, and numbers of antelope species, such as hartebeest and oryx, have declined by 90 and 95 per cent respectively. Confusingly some species -- zebra, giraffe, gazelle and buffalo - have remained relatively stable. To understand such contrasting fortunes, scientists from America's Dartmouth and Utah universities are working to determine whether habitat loss, changed food sources, or hunting -- or a combination of all -- is responsible. ...
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You mean that National Geographic special I saw in 1988 is no longer valid?!
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Sat, Nov 29, 2008 from NPR:
Bluefin Tuna On Edge Of Collapse, Scientists Say
Many of the world's fish are heading toward commercial extinction. The next one to go could be the majestic Atlantic bluefin tuna.
This week, an international committee meant to protect the species approved fishing levels that far exceed what scientists say is sustainable.
Conservationists fear that in just a few years, the remaining stocks of bluefin tuna in the Western Atlantic and Mediterranean could collapse completely. ...
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The spokestuna for the bluefin is heart-breakingly eloquent. Listen in!
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Thu, Nov 27, 2008 from Scientific American:
Troubled waters: striped bass moms pass on harmful pollutants to babies
...Striped bass and other fish have been dying in droves off the coast of San Francisco for decades; pollution from industry and agricultural runoff has long been blamed.
Now a team of scientists from the University of California, Davis, and the University of California, San Diego, have fingered the killer contaminants. They found that wild female fish from the Sacramento River produced eggs containing a host of pollutants at levels high enough to cause biological harm. The list includes chemicals called PBDEs (flame retardants), PCBs (a known carcinogen banned in the 1979), and a slew of pesticides. They even found DDT, the infamous pesticide linked to cancer that was banned in 1972 after being indicted in Rachel Carson's Silent Spring). ...
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This striped bass mom is the microcosm of the macro-contamination of Mother Earth herself.
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Wed, Nov 26, 2008 from Telegraph.co.uk:
Waterway wildlife sightings down by 25 percent
The 2008 figures show 3,000 sightings compared to 4,000 in 2007 -- despite a 17 per cent rise in visitor numbers across the waterways network.
Officials are baffled by the drop but suspect it is a statistical 'blip' rather than a dramatic fall in the number of animals.
Many more people now use waterway tow paths as a route to work – walking, running or cycling – as well as for spotting wildlife.
"If there is a similar fall-off in numbers next year then there will be a cause for concern but at the moment I am not too worried," said Dr Mark Robinson, national ecology manager for British Waterways. ...
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That's a blip like a sledgehammer is a mallet.
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Tue, Nov 25, 2008 from Kalamazoo Gazette:
War on ash borer moves outside of Lower Peninsula
The native ash trees in Michigan's Lower Peninsula are doomed.
Even $70 million in tax dollars has not been enough to defeat the shiny, green emerald ash borer, a beetle that hitchhiked to Michigan from Asia in 2002 and has since feasted on the state's ash-tree population.
Michigan agriculture officials admit it's futile to enforce a Lower Peninsula quarantine designed to contain the beetle to identified "hot spots." The reason: Everywhere is a hot spot now in the Lower Peninsula.
"If you look in Southeast Michigan, or the Kalamazoo area, you are hard-pressed to find any ash trees that are alive," said Kenneth Rauscher, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture's pesticide and plant-pest management division. "The future of ash is very, very dim." ...
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Ashes to ashes.... dust to dust...
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