Pollution even in Earth's farthest reaches: ocean study

Yahoo – AFP, Mariëtte Le Roux, February 13, 2017

A Nature picture of a Hirondellea gigas, known to consume almost any organic
material that descends from the surface waters, including any pollutants (AFP
Photo/Dr. Alan JAMIESON)

Paris (AFP) - Banned chemicals are tainting tiny crustaceans that inhabit the deepest ocean, a study said Monday -- the first evidence that humans are polluting even the farthest reaches of our planet.

Even at depths of nearly 11 kilometres (seven miles) these scavengers could not escape "extraordinary" levels of contamination with chemicals used in coolants and insulating fluids, researchers said.

The pollutants likely came from plastic waste and dead animals sinking to the ocean floor, they wrote in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

"We still think of the deep ocean as being this remote and pristine realm, safe from human impact, but our research shows that, sadly, this could not be further from the truth," said study co-author Alan Jamieson of Newcastle University.

Jamieson and a team used specially-built underwater craft to collect bottom-dwellers called amphipods from the Pacific Ocean's Mariana and Kermadec trenches.

These are some of the deepest, darkest places on Earth, less well-known to mankind than the surface of the Moon.

Amphipods are among the few creatures that can survive in this inhospitable zone of extreme pressure.

The researchers used mackerel-baited traps to catch the shrimp-like carrion-feeders, then analysed them for traces of chemicals.

The tests revealed high levels of pollutants, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) banned almost 40 years ago for causing cancer and wreaking havoc with hormones.

"The fact that we found such extraordinary levels of these pollutants in one of the most remote and inaccessible habitats on Earth really brings home the long-term, devastating impact that mankind is having on the planet," said Jamieson.

Hirondellea gigas inhabit depths of 6000 to nearly 11,000m below sea level (AFP Photo/

Dr. Alan JAMIESON)

Last frontier

The research was carried out in the ocean's hadal zone, between six and 11 km deep, and comprised of deep trenches in the sea floor caused by tectonic plate activity.

It is the least-explored ecosystem on Earth, "and the last major marine ecological frontier," the team wrote.

The Mariana trench is deeper than Mount Everest is high.

It is believed that some 1.3 million tonnes of PCBs -- which can persist in the environment for decades -- were produced from the 1930s to 1970s.

About 65 percent of the total is thought to be in landfills or still in electrical equipment today, and the other 35 percent in coastal sediment and the open ocean.

The scientists also found traces in the amphipods of another long-lived pollutant -- polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) used in flame retardants.

"PCBs and PBDEs were present in all samples across all species at all depths in both trenches," the researchers wrote.

In the Mariana trench, the world's deepest, the highest PCB levels in samples were 50 times higher than in crabs from paddy fields fed by the Liaohe River, one of China's most polluted.

The team inferred that pollutants must be pervasive "across the world's oceans and to full ocean depth."

"What we don't yet know is what this means for the wider ecosystem", the animals that feed on amphipods and the food chain higher up, Jamieson said in a statement.

Three missing Dutch warships in Java Sea were salvaged for scrap

DutchNews, February 13, 2017

The HNLMS Kortenaer in the 1930s 

Three Dutch naval wrecks that went missing from the bottom of the Java Sea appear to have been taken illegally by scrap dealers, NOS reports. 

An investigation by Dutch and Indonesian experts found evidence of a salvage operation at the sites where cruisers SNLMS De Ruyter, Java and Kortenaer were sunk by Japanese ships in 1942, with the loss of around 1,100 sailors. 

Prime minister Mark Rutte asked the Indonesian government to investigate after divers reported in December that the wrecks had vanished. 

Photographs of the seabed and interviews led researchers to the conclusion that the ships had been deliberately removed. Education and science minister Jet Bussemaker said a detailed study of the seabed would now be carried out. 

In total seven shipwrecks have disappeared from the Java Sea. Divers made the discovery during preparations for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Java Sea which involved Dutch, Indonesian, British, American and Australian warships. 

A total of 2,200 Allied servicemen died, including 900 Dutch and 250 Indonesian nationals. The battle led to the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies. 

Related Article:

Indonesia says not to blame for missing WWII shipwrecks

Whale beachings: some notable events

Yahoo – AFP, February 10, 2017

Residents attempt to save melon-headed whales beached on the shore of Hokota
city, northeast of Tokyo on April 10, 2015 (AFP Photo/TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA)

The mass stranding of more than 400 pilot whales on the beaches of New Zealand on Friday ranks among the worst in a nation accustomed to the phenomenon.

The cause of the beaching was unknown, though officials said the shallow bay and jutting hook shape of Farewell Spit, near Nelson, could have trapped the pod of Pilot whales.

New Zealand's Department of Conservation said it was the country's third-worst mass stranding; the biggest occurred when 1,000 whales beached at the remote Chatham Islands in 1918, followed by 450 that washed ashore in Auckland in 1985.

Here are other notable mass strandings of cetaceans from around the world.

Argentina

The International Whaling Commission says animals can swim to their deaths on shore, or die at sea and wash up on the beach later.

Strandings can occur for natural reasons, like age and disease, or from man-made disruption, such as environmental degradation or collision with ships.

One of the largest known mass beachings in the last century was of false killer whales in October 1946, when an estimated 835 false killer whales were stranded near Mar del Plata in Argentina.

Chile

In December 2015 more than 300 whales were discovered washed up on a remote Patagonian inlet in southern Chile. Scientists at the time called the sight of the stranding "apocalyptic".

A surge in algae in the water, known as a "red tide", was believed to be the culprit. It bloomed across the ocean around Chile in the early months of 2016, choking to death an estimated 40,000 tons of salmon in the Los Lagos region -- or some 12 percent of the country's annual production of the fish.

In July 2016 some 70 dead whales were also found on the southern Chile coast.

Whale strandings can occur for natural reasons, like age and disease, or from 

man-made disruption, such as environmental degradation or collision with ships

(AFP Photo/Marty Melville)

Madagascar

In May 2008 around a hundred whales swam onto the beaches of Madagascar and three quarters of them perished, in the first mass beaching blamed on high-frequency sonar mapping systems deployed in the hunt for oil.

According to a report released by the International Whaling Commission in 2013, the culprit was as a high-power 12 kilohertz multibeam echosounder system operated by an ExxonMobil vessel about 65 kilometres (40 miles) offshore. The company disagreed with the findings.

The use of anti-submarine sonars was also suspected of causing the mass-beaching of whales in 2002, when some 15 beaked whales perished in the Canaries after a NATO exercise.

Japan

In April 2015, around 150 melon-headed whales were discovered washed up on a stretch of beach in Japan.

The cetaceans, which usually live in deep water and are a member of the dolphin family, were thought to have either suffered from a parasitic infection that disrupted their ability to navigate, or had become unable to navigate in the sandy shoals.

Related Articles:

Hundreds of whales dead in mass stranding in New Zealand


“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

“… (2) The second thing the melting ice caps give you is about ecology. I'll give you this prediction in a moment. There is a Human 3D paradigm that says everything gets "used" and then goes away. But nature doesn't work that way, and our prediction is going to go against everything you have been told. I'm going to give you a parable and the prediction in a moment, but before that, I'm going to give you the explanation of the birds and the fish.

In the last few weeks, fish have been washing up dead in certain lakes by the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Birds have been falling from the sky. I'm going to make a statement way in advance of what science is going to tell you. All of it can be traced to the water cycle - all of it. It's always about the weather, a cycle of weather you've not seen before. Do you remember a few years ago when whales were beaching themselves? Did you notice that this attribute stopped? But while they were beaching themselves every year, many Human Beings were in fear, saying, "It's the end of the world. They're committing suicide."

The whales beached themselves because the magnetics of the earth shifted so greatly that their navigational system [the magnetite in their biology, which is their migration compass] steered them right into the land. The land didn't move; the magnetics did. Therefore, you might say their internal inherited migration map was flawed. The reason it's not happening now is because the calves, the generation beyond the one that beached themselves, figured it out and rewrote the maps. Nature [Gaia] does this. So the next generation didn't repeat it. Instead, it realigned itself to the migratory lay lines and now whales don't beach themselves nearly as often.

The magnetics of the planet continue to shift and the birds are unaware. Like the whales, many of the birds have migrated themselves right into a high place in the atmosphere, which pummeled them to death by freezing rain and hail. Then they fall from the sky. It's the weather cycle. Will they continue to do this? Some will, for awhile, and then they will figure it out and recalibrate. That's what nature does.

You might say, "Well, nature's way is severe." It is not severe. It is a positive learning system that allows generations of birds to be around next time. The few deaths allow for the many to continue their life cycle and their lineage on the earth.

I want you to analyze the fish that have washed up. Let science reveal this as well. I want you to analyze the fish. They have something in common. They're all juveniles. And why is that? What do you know about the water cycle? What do you know about cold water and the life cycle of certain fish and their habits of reproduction? I will tell you the layers of water are changing in temperature and that is going to change the life cycle of the oceans and lakes. The juvenile fish are the most susceptible to death by becoming too cold, especially the ones of the kind that washed up dead. By the tens of thousands, the cold killed them. It is the water cycle. Will it continue? For awhile, until they acclimate, until they recalibrate for the cold - and they will. Nature does that.  ….“

"The Energy of the Future" (2) - Dec 7, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… The Physics of It: A Review

Now for some physics, and I'll call it spiritual physics so it's not too complicated. In 1993, we gave you a book called The End Times. In this book, we made some statements. We talked about the magnetic grid of the earth, and we told you that it had to be there for Human life to exist - and it does. At the time, science didn't agree, but now many are seeing it. We went on to give you the esoterics of it, what my partner calls the woo-woo part. Your DNA, a multidimensional molecule, has within it everything that the Universe knows. It carries your Akashic Record, all of your lifetimes, all of your spiritual purpose, your spiritual being and your karma. Everything is in your DNA. This will never be proven, since it's a spiritual attribute. The DNA creates a field and it's called the Merkabah (a Hebrew word).

We also told you that the magnetic grid of the earth, a multidimensional energy, transfers certain things to your DNA on a day-by-day basis. The grid then becomes a major energy transfer system. That should have connected the dots for some of those who were paying attention - for if the grid changes, dear ones, you do, too. I told you the grid would change more in 10 years than it had in 100, and it did. You can measure your magnetic grid's movement with a compass. Between 1993 and 2002, it moved greatly, more than in any other time in modern Human history. We said this would be, and so it was. Our grid group left in 2002, as we told you we would.

Again, those paying attention should have known something was happening. I also told you within those initial transmissions back then that you would have no Armageddon, and you did not. Also, that there would be no World War III, and there wasn't. In the face of all the prophecy that told you differently, we told you there was a potential for Human Beings to pass the marker, survive, and start a new energy on the planet. We told you this would be the start of peace on Earth, and this is where you sit today. All of those years ago, we told you about the potential of where you sit today, listening to this message, and asking what might be next. So I'll label the channel right now: The Energy of the Future.

The Energy of the Future

Last week, I gave you a channelling of what to expect within the next three years. The message tonight will talk to you about the energies that are going to be manifested beyond that and some of the changes to expect and why they are taking place. You may want to listen to this channel a number of times to put it together, for there are reviews and new information.

So before we begin, what have we established?

Number One: Locked into the Human body via your DNA is brilliance and mastery, working at approximately 34 percent.

Number Two: The magnetic grid of the planet postures everything to do with your DNA. It also has much to do with what you call Human nature, what you want and what you've created. It seems static, never changing, and has been seen as "the way it is". However, we will call it the temporary lock on DNA. You see, when your Human consciousness and spiritual maturity starts to move in the next years, your DNA will start to change. This has nothing to do with chemistry, but everything to do with energy stored within it, and rewriting the data. New energies will unlock certain parts that have been locked, some of them being the very parts that I've just told you about at the beginning of this channelling - the things that are puzzling regarding healing and the Akash.  …”