General

Traditional farming and gardening has long taken a straightforward approach: if an unwanted plant or animal interferes, it is to be killed. We even developed a special vocabulary to help justify our actions: the animals were “vermin” and the plants were “weeds”. And, in the case of one hen-house plunderer, we came up with the elaborate ritual that is fox hunting, complete with a special ‘language of avoidance’ that anthropologists have found in cultures around the world (the fox is a “dog”, its face is a “mask”, its tail is a “brush”, the dogs are “hounds”).

Pflanzenschutzmittel aus der Gruppe der Neonicotinoide können nicht nur Honigbienen, sondern auch Wildbienen und Schmetterlinge gefährden. Das zeigen einmal mehr aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse britischer, US-amerikanischer und deutscher Wissenschafter. Für ihre Untersuchung analysierten Forscher um den Entomologen Ben Woodcock, wie sich der großflächige Einsatz von Neonicotinoiden auf 62 Wildbienen-Arten in Großbritannien von 1994 bis 2011 auswirkte. 2002 waren die Pestizide dort erstmals zugelassen worden.

The link has been established before. When we reduce pests with most insecticides, they discriminate too little between friend and foe. We can’t always see butterflies as friends because of the function of their caterpillars. However, as birds, reptiles and mammals rely on these insects and their relatives for food, what happens is simply Silent Spring, all over again.

At first the biologists noticed something unusual about the dead fish washing up on the shore of the Salton Sea: All of them were fully grown, at least 7 inches long. There were no smaller fish among the carcasses pushed ashore by the lapping waves. Then the biologists started seeing other clues in the birds. Western grebes, which normally arrive by the thousands to forage, were nowhere to be found. Thousands of Caspian terns would normally stop off to nest, but they were also missing.

The rivers that serve as the lifeblood of the Great Lakes abound with organic waste compounds, including pollutants from car exhaust, factory smokestacks and tar, insecticides and herbicides and detergent ingredients. And three Michigan rivers are among the worst of the worst for the compounds: the Clinton and Rouge rivers in Southeast Michigan and the St. Joseph in Southwest Michigan, according to a recently published study by the U.S. Geological Survey — the most comprehensive look yet at organic waste compounds in Great Lakes tributaries. The Clinton, Rouge and St.

Sardines used to form the major catch for traditional fishermen who ventured out to sea during the trawl ban in Kerala’s coastal waters. But the availability of sardines has declined to alarming levels, affecting the livelihood of hundreds of fishermen. Sardines have been caught from coastal waters mainly using seines for about 200 years. Sardines in the 10-14 cm size group, less than one year old, form a major component of sardine population.

The government has suspended fishing on Lake Victoria amid fresh concerns over dwindling stock. Mara regional commissioner Magesa Mulongo told Murangi villagers the suspension will be in place from July to October this year. He said: "We are left with no other option but to suspend fishing activities on the Lake; anyone caught fishing will be punished," said Mr Mulongo. The RC said fishermen should find other income-generating activities to support their families over the two month suspension. There have been concerns over the sharp decline in stocks in Lake Victoria.

A leading ocean conservation group sounded an alarm over the state of Canada’s fishery in a new report that reveals that less than 25 per cent of the country’s fish stocks are considered healthy and the status of almost half is unknown. The status of a whopping 45 per cent of stocks couldn’t be determined due to an absence of basic or up-to-date information, which the report attributed to a lack of transparency in Canada’s fisheries.

Anlässlich des Welttags des Meeres fordert der WWF Maßnahmen gegen den drastischen Rückgang mariner Populationszahlen und für den Erhalt des ökologischen und ökonomischen Werts der Ozeane. Im Schnitt hat sich der Bestand von über 5.800 untersuchten Tierbeständen über 1.200 verschiedener Arten von Meerssäugern, Seevögeln, Reptilien und Fischen zwischen 1970 und 2012 halbiert. „Die Ozeane sind von unschätzbarem ökologischen und ökonomischen Wert für uns Menschen. Fisch ist Einkommens- und Nahrungsgrundlage für über 800 Millionen Menschen weltweit, vor allem in Entwicklungsländern.