Out of plaice: popular UK fish at risk from rising temperatures

Some of the UK’s most popular fish may be driven from the North Sea, and the UK’s dinner plates, by rising temperatures, scientists warned on Monday.
Fishmonger favourites plaice, lemon sole and haddock are being pushed out of their traditional feeding grounds by rapidly warming sea temperatures. The waters of the North Sea have warmed by 1.3C in the past 30 years, four times faster than the global average. Since the 1980s landings of cold-adapted species have halved.
Flatfish, such as plaice and sole, live on the shallow, muddy bottom of the southern North Sea. As the sea warms some species are being driven further north. But the rockier, deeper seas to the north are unsuitable habitat for these bottom feeders. With North Sea temperatures set to increase another 1.8C in the next half century, a team of scientists from Exeter University believes the fishing industry for these species is likely to collapse.

“For flatfish there’s really not anywhere to go. They’re kind of squeezed off the edge of a cliff,” said study author Dr Steve Simpson who is a senior lecturer in marine biology. “In terms of being commercially viable, I doubt these fisheries can continue for much longer.”
For haddock, the North Sea is already its southern limit. Their fishery, and much of the UK’s supply, is increasingly coming from Norwegian, Faroese and Icelandic waters.
The study assessed future distributions of 10 common North Sea fish species and predicted a general trend of decline. By including habitat requirements into its modelling, the new research confounds previous assertions that fish species will simply be able to shift northwards as the oceans warm.
Dr Peter Richardson, biodiversity programme manager at the UK’s Marine Conservation Society, said the study “rightly questions the assumption that species can simply head polewards as waters warm” and called for stronger catch limits to ensure the North Sea’s native species remained sustainable for as long as possible.
“Our fisheries are worth billions, providing an important and healthy source of protein, yet European governments (including the UK) consistently fail to follow scientific advice and set total allowable catches over and above the sustainable limits advised by their fisheries experts. We cannot continue to be so cavalier with such a valuable resource and expect it to be resilient to the impacts of climate change,” he said.
The Exeter team has previously found that sardine, anchovy, squid and cuttlefish are likely to become staples of the UK fishing industry.
Simpson said their study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, had confirmed the changing ecology of the North Sea.
“We will see a real changing of the guard in the next few decades. Our models predict cold water species will be squeezed out, with warmer water fish likely to take their place. For sustainable UK fisheries, we need to move on from haddock and chips and look to southern Europe for our gastronomic inspiration,” he said.
Separate research released last week found cod increased dramatically in recent years. Cod is an apex predator and a heavily-fished species. These interactions confounded modelling, said Simpson, and the study could not predict its future under a warming climate.
Angus Garrett from seafood industry body Seafish said the new research was valuable, but the future for many fisheries remained uncertain.
“Temperature change is clearly influencing fisheries and ought to be considered in fisheries management. How temperature is considered and the modelling of impacts is likely to be a continuing debate but we welcome this contribution to the evidence base,” he said.

WA shark policy allowing killing of great whites will not be reviewed

The Environmental Protection Authority will not review Western Australia’s policy of using drumlines to catch sharks that pose a “serious threat” because it is unlikely to have a significant effect on the environment, the authority’s chairman has said.
WA Greens MP Lynn MacLaren referred the policy to the EPA in January.
It grants fisheries officers an exemption to kill great white sharks, which are protected under federal laws, in the event of a shark attack or when a “high hazard” shark is reported to have a continuous presence near a popular beach.
The definition of a high hazard shark incident was broadened last year when the “imminent threat” policy, introduced in 2012, was rebadged as a “serious threat”.
Conservationists said the new policy could potentially kill more great white sharks than the now-defunct shark cull, which caught 172 sharks before the EPA declared it environmentally unacceptable and it was dumped.
But EPA chairman Paul Vogel disagreed, saying the policy was “a discrete and different proposal” to the shark cull, under which drumlines would have been strung across beaches along WA’s south-west coast every summer for three years.

Vogel told Guardian Australia MacLaren’s referral was not valid because the serious threat policy did not qualify as a “significant proposal” under the Environmental Protection Act.
Under the Act “significant” referred to environmental impact, not “the level of community or other interest”, Vogel said.
He said the policy was “not considered significant”, in part because it had been invoked to authorise the use of drumlines only 11 times in the past two years.
It has killed sharks only once, when drumlines deployed after Bunbury surfer Sean Pollard was attacked in Esperance in October resulted in the death of two juvenile great whites.
“The EPA also noted that deployment of capture gear in accordance with the policy has been undertaken for a limited duration; and further, its implementation is responsive and temporary in nature,” Vogel said.
“Therefore, based on the existing level of impact and implementation under both the 2012 guidelines and the 2014 guidelines … the EPA considers the policy, implemented in accordance with the 2014 guidelines, is unlikely to have a significant effect on the environment.”
MacLaren’s office received the response, dated 23 March, on Thursday, more than 60 days after submitting the referral. The process was paused for 10 days while the WA Department of Premier and Cabinet provided the EPA with more information.
MacLaren said she disagreed with the rejection and would seek a meeting with Vogel.
“I’m no more confident, in spite of this two-page letter, about the environmental impact of this policy or whether the EPA has assessed it,” she said.
“The new policy, I would have thought, would suffer the same rejection by the federal authorities that the previous one did.”
MacLaren said it was concerning that the EPA had sought information only from the department, rather than any scientific sources, in determining the impact of the proposal. She also questioned why her referral was not opened up for the usual seven-day public comment period.
She said there were significant differences between the 2012 policy and the 2014 policy and it was not appropriate to assess the impact of the latter based on the implementation of the former.
One change was that the 2014 policy removed a clause that specifically recommended against the destruction of scientifically tagged sharks.
That clause was used in December, when the WA government authorised the culling of a tagged great white shark at Warnbro Sound, about an hour south of Perth, after it was repeatedly detected on acoustic receivers in the area. The government denied it had targeted the tagged shark.
Both the shark cull and the imminent threat policy were introduced as a public safety measure in response to a spike in shark attacks. There have been 14 fatal shark attacks in WA waters since 2000.
The serious threat policy has not been invoked since 31 December, when drumlines were deployed for three days following a fatal shark attack near Albany.
Natalie Banks, from No Shark Cull WA, said it was disappointing that the EPA had rejected the referral and urged WA to follow the lead of re-elected NSW premier Mike Baird, who has promised to investigate non-lethal shark hazard mitigation methods.
“It is a shame that we can’t get the same forward-thinking vision in Western Australia,” Banks said. “We clearly need non-lethal alternatives before we wipe out the white sharks completely.”
Vogel said the EPA was investigating “non-lethal alternatives”.

Rare leatherback sea turtle rescued off South Carolina coastal beach

A rare leatherback sea turtle, nicknamed Yawkey and weighing an estimated 500 lbs, was being treated at the South Carolina Aquarium on Monday after being rescued on a remote coastal beach – the first leatherback known to have been stranded alive in South Carolina.
The turtle was spotted on Saturday on a beach on the Yawkey-South Island Reserve in Georgetown County and brought to the aquarium.
Leatherbacks, an endangered species, are the largest sea turtles and one of the world’s largest reptiles. Adults generally can weigh 800 to 1,000 lbs although some have been reported as large as 2,000 lbs .
They get their name because, instead of a shell, their backs are covered with leathery, oily tissue.
It’s the first leatherback to be treated at the aquarium, said Kelly Thorvalson, program manager for the aquarium sea turtle rescue program. During the past 15 years the aquarium has treated and released more than 150 sea turtles.
Thorvalson said Yawkey’s weight is just an estimate because the aquarium scale was not large enough to weigh it.
The turtle has low blood sugar and is being treated with fluids and antibiotics.
Thorvalson said it’s possible Yawkey may have eaten marine debris such as plastic which can appear to a turtle to be jellyfish, their favorite food. Eating plastic could cause a buildup of gas in the digestive tract, making the turtle buoyant and washing it to shore.
The aquarium hopes to release the turtle as soon as possible because leatherbacks don’t do well in captivity. Since they live in the deep ocean they don’t sense boundaries so they tend to swim into the sides of tanks and bruise.
Leatherbacks migrate offshore of South Carolina
“We have seen them stranded and dead,” Thorvalson said. “It’s not that they never wash up. It’s just that we have never had one wash up alive.”
She expects Yawkey to be able to get back to the ocean quickly.
“Sea turtles are tough. They are really tough animals,” she said. “This turtle is in good enough condition that we can give it a good head start and release it. I do feel good about its prognosis.”

Crufts mystery: dog world asks whodunnit over death of Irish Setter

In its 123-year history, Crufts has attracted a few controversies, from arguments over eugenics to rumours of dog-nobbling by slipping laxatives into food or chewing gum into the fur of a prettily primped rival.
Things may have taken a more sinister turn this year, however, after police were called in over the death of an Irish Setter who competed at the show, after claims it was poisoned.
Three-year-old Thendara Satisfaction, known as Jagger, collapsed at his home in Belgium on Friday, the day after showing at the NEC in Birmingham. According to his owners, a postmortem examination revealed that beef cubes in Jagger’s stomach were the source of the poison.
Dee Milligan-Bott, a dog breeder for 30 years, told the Guardian that she and Jagger’s co-owner, Alexandra Lauwers, were devastated, and the suspicion was that the poison could have been administered while the dog was left alone on the bench at Crufts while their other dogs were being judged.
As the Kennel Club pledged to co-operate with any Belgian police investigation, breeders and owners were horrified as news of the death swept through the halls and arena at the NEC on the final day of the world-famous show.
Although the highly competitive world of dog-showing is no stranger to claims of skullduggery, a whodunnit of such magnitude was off the scale.
Underhand tactics, such as deliberately placing a bitch on heat near a male to distract him, or the subversive snipping at a competitor’s coiffure, are said to be employed as breeders battle for the prestigious Crufts’ rosettes.

Now, some wondered, whether the dog world truly could have plummeted to such depths.
“It does make you think. Jealousy comes into it. The stakes are very high. If you have got a winning dog, people would become jealous,” said Daniel Marsden, co-owner of Ozmilion, a Yorkshire Terrier, who won a reserve CC (challenge certificate) for best dog.
On the bench next to him, lovingly brushing the fringe of her Yorkshire Terrier, Andelalie, who won the yearling class, Angela Wiegand, from Airdrie, agreed. “It’s terrible to think anyone could got to lengths like that. It’s got to a stage where you’re frightened to go away and leave your dog for more than a few seconds.”
A postmortem examination has been done, indicating poisoning, but a full toxicology report is awaited. Jagger was one of several dogs taken to Crufts by the two women and took one CC and was second in limit. Milligan-Bott, from Leicestershire, said: “[The Lauwers] got home on Friday night and the dog was ill … By the time the vet got there he was dead.
“The vet did an immediate autopsy because the death was very suspicious. It was found the dog had beef cubes in his stomach that had been poisoned. The only day the dog had been left alone all week was … on the bench at Crufts while the judging of our other dogs was taking place.”
Earlier Milligan-Bott had told Dog World that the dogs were benched together, but changed places after one became agitated by being near a bitch in season. Noodle, Jagger’s half-brother, won best in breed and there was speculation he might have been the intended target. She told Dog World she felt she would be unable to continue showing. “It is turning into such a nasty sport,” she said.
But, she stressed to the Guardian, she did could only imagine “some awful random person” had done it and did not want to believe it to be the work of another dog owner.
Caroline Kisko, secretary of the Kennel Club, said it would co-operate with any investigation by Belgian police, and CCTV from the NEC would be provided if requested. She had spoken to both owners to express the club’s sympathies. “We are extremely upset to hear that the dog died,” she said.
But, she added: “I will just point out that it was 26 hours after leaving Crufts, from what we understand from talking to the owner.”
The Kennel Club was keen for their vet to talk to the vet in Belgium, but had been told this was not possible until the results of the toxicology report were released. She added that it was “largely speculative until we have got that report”.
A spokesman for the Kennel Club said they could think of no previous allegations of poisoning at Crufts.
Meanwhile, amid the pampering, brushing and blowdrying on the dog benches, paranoid owners were taking no chances.
“If it turns out to be true, then things have gone too far,” said Sue Smith, from Chatsworth, Derbyshire, whose nine-month-old Pomeranian won first in class. Smith, who has entered dogs in Crufts for 30 years, said: “I take no chances. I am just wary. I don’t trust anybody.”
Avril Cawthera-Purdy, from Gloucestershire, last year’s top Pomeranian breeder, said: “I’ve been showing for 40 years and its hugely competitive. But I would not believe that somebody involved in this would be that malicious. We are all considered to be dog lovers and at the end of the day you take home your pets and love them, whether they won or lost.
“I never let my dogs out of my sight.”
Had she ever experienced any problems? “Once, I had one dog that was given a hallucinatory drug 20 years ago. It wasn’t at Crufts, and it took her out of that show.
“We don’t know how. We can’t prove anything, We can’t say. But, that was just one incident, in 40 years,” she said.

Lovable and Fun Monkey

Due to Belize's slow development major habitat loss is not much of an issue. Actually one issue to the destruction of habitat is from nature itself as hurricanes are known to damage the rainforest canopy and put the monkeys in danger, though major hurricanes are fairly infrequent. Howler Monkeys do not make good pets. It has been said that Howler Monkeys are the only Central American monkey to have never been kept in captivity by Native Americans.

She had a huge bite wound at her throat and it was very unpleasant looking and smelling. I wiped it clean and the fur came away leaving a hole in her skin about the size of a quarter. I did surrogate EFT on her for several days to aid the healing and the hole closed up with no problems and no vet visits.

There are little bees, and frogs and lobsters and of course doggies and kitties. It continues to amaze me just how many wonderful adorable Baby Halloween costumes are available at such affordable prices. One includes a soft plush brown body with a yellow stuffed belly that looks precious on a baby. The little monkey tail is enough to melt your heart. It has a furry trim, a matching brown hood topped with the cutest little round monkey ears.

This is one of the infant baby bunting costumes for sizes 0 to 6 months. You and your family will have a barrel of fun seeing baby in this cherry red bunting with barrel style bottom and a detachable character hood. This is an officially licensed Barrel of Monkeys product. Well there is a Sock Monkey infant costume which includes a bodysuit with a snap closure pant and attached boot covers. The tail is also detachable. A matching hood completes this costume.

Blue’s Lee Ryan says ‘I had a dream’ – and sparks a million feline nightmares

Lost in Showbiz doesn’t mind admitting that it has recently felt bereft, oddly incomplete, nagged day and night by the suggestion that something was missing from its life. It feels free to confess this to you because it suspects that you have felt the same way too, and that we all know full well what the problem is. We’ve been pining for Lee Ryan, absent from public life since his appearance last year on Celebrity Big Brother. Even that offered a relatively subdued performance from pop’s leading seer and savant, overshadowed by the admittedly diverting sight of seeing Daily Mail columnist Liz Jones being handcuffed to Dappy from N-Dubz. While resident in the CBB house, Ryan offered no news as to what had happened to the “revelation of spirit” he previously predicted being visited upon the human race around the time of Blue’s appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest: “People and their minds are going to change. I don’t think the end of the world is the end of the world. I think there’s a spiritual evolution coming. You can feel it.”

Well, pine no more. Ryan is back, announcing his reappearance in inimitable style via an interview in Heat magazine. Regretfully, there’s little in the way of his trademark philosophising: no mention of the revelation of spirit, no suggestion the government is trying to prevent him from sharing vital information about aliens with us. Yet, even without that, still offers much thought-provoking material, not least the moment when he answers a question about recent dreams. “I had a dream a cat came on to me, and I had a sexual relationship with a cat,” he offers. “That was a weird one. Not that I’m into fiddling with animals or anything,” he adds, presumably lest he receive a knock on the door from a kind of zoophile wing of Operation Yewtree – Operation Mew-Tree, if you will. “But it was really weird, because this cat was really seductive, coming on to me.” Happily, he offers further clarification of the dream-cat’s unique brand of seduction entailed: “It was purring and shit.”
There, sadly, he draws a discreet veil: no mention of what happened when he finally succumbed and yielded his all to the nonexistent feline temptress. Nevertheless, LiS feels obliged to turn to Ryan in salutation and say: thank God you’re back, all is right with the world once more. Then it turns gratefully back to the interview and reads him completing the sentence “People don’t expect me to …” with the words “… be intelligent.”