Wildlife

13 August 2014 - By Mara Certic

Just weeks after blue-green algal blooms were detected in Georgica Pond, extremely high levels of the toxic rust alga Cochlodinium have emerged in Sag Harbor and East Hampton waters.

Cochlodinium first appeared on Long Island in 2004 and has been detected in local waters every summer since. According to Professor Christopher Gobler, who conducts water quality testing and is a professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, densities above 500 cells per milliliter can be lethal to both finfish and shellfish. The Gobler Laboratory recorded Cochlodinium at densities exceeding 30,000 cells per milliliter in Sag Harbor Cove, and over 1,000 in Accabonac and Three Mile Harbors.

http://sagharborexpress.com/toxic-tide-shows-up-early-in-sag-harbor/

http://sagharboronline.com/sagharborexpress/page-1/toxic-tide-shows-up-early-in-sag-harbor-32598

submitted by Albert Gomez

National Research Council. Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Fifth Biennial Review, 2014. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2014.

The Everglades ecosystem is vast, stretching more than 200 miles from Orlando to Florida Bay, and Everglades National Park is but a part located at the southern end. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the historical Everglades has been reduced to half of its original size, and what remains is not the pristine ecosystem many image it to be, but one that has been highly engineered and otherwise heavily influenced, and is intensely managed by humans. Rather than slowly flowing southward in a broad river of grass, water moves through a maze of canals, levees, pump stations, and hydraulic control structures, and a substantial fraction is diverted from the natural system to meet water supply and flood control needs. The water that remains is polluted by phosphorus and other contaminants originating from agriculture and other human activities. Many components of the natural system are highly degraded and continue to degrade.

In this Oct. 2008 photo provided by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation is a little brown bat with fungus on its nose in New York. Michigan and Wisconsin wildlife officials said Thursday, April 10, 2104 that tests have confirmed the presence of the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, which has killed millions of bats in the U.S. and Canada. The disease has now been confirmed in 25 states following today's announcements in Michigan and Wisconsin. (AP Photo/New York Department of Environmental Conservation, Ryan von Linden)

ap.org - by JOHN FLESHER and TODD RICHMOND - April 10, 2014

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A fungal disease that has killed millions of North American bats is spreading and now has been detected in half of the United States, officials said Thursday. . .

. . . "It doesn't affect people or other animals" . . . but "bats save the agricultural economy $22.9 billion a year by gobbling crop-damaging insects and reducing the need for pesticides. They also eat mosquitoes, some of which carry West Nile virus."

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A barge loaded with marine fuel oil sits partially submerged in the Houston Ship Channel. The bulk carrier Summer Wind, reported a collision between the Summer Wind and a barge, containing 924,000 gallons of fuel oil, towed by the motor vessel Miss Susan.  Photo: U.S. Coast Guard

Dike, ports closed after barge collides with ship

galvestondailynews.com - by Wes Swift, T. J. Aulds and Kevin M. Cox - March 23, 2014

TEXAS CITY — A collision between a barge and a ship Saturday near the Texas City Dike spilled 160,000 gallons of heavy oil into Galveston Bay.

The accident forced authorities to evacuate the dike and surrounding areas — and to close the Houston Ship Channel.

Authorities also suspended operations of the ferry between Galveston and Port Bolivar.

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ALSO SEE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IN LINKS BELOW

http://time.com/34630/barge-leaking-oil-in-galveston-bay-after-collision/