Water contaminated with radiation is flowing out into the Pacific Ocean from a harbor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant despite assurances from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that it has been "completely blocked." Abe on Sept. 19 based his assertion on measurements taken in the outer ocean. But experts said levels of seaborne radioactive substances stay mostly below … [Read more...]
Let’s keep our oceans pristine
Which beach will you be cleaning up on International Coastal Clean-Up day, which is Saturday, 21 September this year? Looking after the environment should be an everyday occurrence, but on International Coastal Clean-up Day we are all reminded to get active and head for the nearest beach. You will not understand the severity of this problem until you have participated, … [Read more...]
Fukushima radiation devastates fishing industry
Third-generation fisherman Fumio Suzuki sets out into the Pacific Ocean every seven weeks, not to catch fish to sell, but to catch fish that can be tested for radiation. For the last 2½ years, fishermen from the port of Yotsukura near the stricken Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant have been mostly stuck on land with little to do. There is no commercial fishing along most of … [Read more...]
Climate change to harm all forms of marine life
Rising levels of carbon dioxide are harming all forms of marine life because the oceans are acidifying as they absorb the gas, German researchers found. Molluss, corals and a class of creatures called echinoderms that includes starfish and sea urchins are the worst affected by the uptake of CO2 by the seas, according to a study in the journal Nature Climate Change by … [Read more...]
Wrecked Fukushima plant leaking radioactive water
Contaminated water with dangerously high levels of radiation is leaking from a storage tank at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the most serious setback to the clean up of the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. The storage tank breach of about 300 tons of water is separate from contaminated water leaks reported in recent weeks, plant operator Tokyo Electric … [Read more...]
Offshore fracking on the cards for Mossel Bay?
PetroSA wants to explore the possibility of hydraulic fracturing to improve the productivity of three of the development wells currently being drilled 110km offshore of Mossel Bay. In an advertisement that recently appeared in Die Burger, environmental assessment consultant WorleyParsons and PetroSA expressed their intention to amend their existing production right and … [Read more...]
400 parts per million – now what?
On 26 June 2013 CO2 in the atmosphere rocketed to 400 parts per million, partly due to emissions caused by human actions. This carbon concentration was recorded in the Southern Hemisphere in the region of Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. According to the Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii already had carbon recorded at this staggering amount in May. This last happened 3 to … [Read more...]
An urgent threat to the Great Barrier Reef
Australia’s legendarily irresponsible mining industry has a new plan: while the planet faces catastrophic climate change, build the world’s largest coal mining complex, and then build a shipping lane to that port straight through the greatest ecological treasure we have - the Great Barrier Reef! This is a terrible idea with devastating consequences, and the investor group … [Read more...]
Setting sail for the plastic seas
“How sad it is that garbage and debris are what is calling us to wild shores,” said ocean conservation pioneer Dr. Carl Safina as he joined an international team of scientists, artists and educators in Seward on Friday. Dr. Safina and the others are taking part in Project Gyre, a marine debris expedition and exhibition of marine debris art from the giant rotating ocean … [Read more...]
Help save our tuna
Tuna is in trouble. It's is one of the world’s favourite fish, and the staple protein of millions, but it is overfished globally. The statistics are grim: 3/4 of the world's fish stocks are being harvested faster than they can reproduce. Ninety percent of all large predatory fish – including tuna, sharks, swordfish, cod and halibut – are gone. Scientists predict that if … [Read more...]
Participate in State of the Environment Report
During the final session of the public participation process for the Western Cape’s Draft State of the Environment Report a summary of this important report was presented by Karen Shippey, Western Cape government Director of Sustainability. In the virtually empty provincial chambers sat a few stakeholders - the Green Times as only media and other civic bodies, NGOs and … [Read more...]
Using puppets to teach kids about the ocean
On Saturday 22 June 2013 at 09h00 the Two Oceans Aquarium will launch the first puppet story book titled “Keep the beach clean”. Based on the popular puppet show by the same name which is performed daily in the AfriSam Children’s Play Centre in the Aquarium, the book tells the delightful story of Beauty and her ocean friends as they struggle to overcome the environmental threat … [Read more...]
The terrible tale of tuna
Are the words “dolphin-friendly” or “dolphin-safe” on local tuna cans truthful, considering that most of our canned tuna seems to be imported from the Philippines, or Thailand? This is also where it is very common for dolphins to get caught up in tuna fishing nets and subsequently killed. This is the issue I tried to clear up with some research. Some fishermen purposely … [Read more...]
