Lapang Islanders in Indonesia

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."

(Live Kryon Channelings was given 7 times within the United Nations building.)


Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.

Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.

(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."

(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.

(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.

Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.

Japan's Antarctic whaling hunt ruled 'not scientific'

Japan's Antarctic whaling hunt ruled 'not scientific'
Representatives of Japan and Australia shake hands at the court in The Hague. (NOS/ANP) - 31 March 2014
"Fast-Tracking" - Feb 8, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Fukushima / H-bomb nuclear pollution and a warning about nuclear > 20 Min)

China calls for peaceful settlement of maritime disputes

China calls for peaceful settlement of maritime disputes
Wang Min, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, speaks during a meeting to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the enforcement of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, at the UN headquarters in New York, on June 9, 2014. The Chinese envoy on Monday called for a harmonious maritime order, saying that maritime disputes should be settled through negotiation between the parties directly involved. (Xinhua/Niu Xiaolei)

UNCLOS 200 nautical miles vs China claimed territorial waters

UNCLOS 200 nautical miles vs China claimed territorial waters

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Britain should give up Chagos Islands: UN court

Yahoo – AFP, Danny KEMP, Jan HENNOP, February 25, 2019

Britain allowed a few of the evicted Chagossian islanders back for a brief visit in 
2006 (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

The Hague (AFP) - Britain should give up control of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean "as rapidly as possible", the UN's top court said Monday in a decades-old row with Mauritius over an archipelago that is home to a huge US airbase.

The International Court of Justice said in a legal opinion that Britain had illegally split the islands from Mauritius before independence in 1968, after which the entire population of islanders was evicted.

Mauritius and the exiled Chagossians reacted with delight to the "historic" opinion delivered by judges in The Hague, which is non-binding but will carry heavy symbolic and political weight.

Britain however defended its hold on the islands, saying the Diego Garcia military base, which has been used to bomb Iraq and Afghanistan, protected people around the world.

"The United Kingdom's continued administration of the Chagos Archipelago constitutes a wrongful act," chief judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said.

"The United Kingdom is under an obligation to bring an end to its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible, thereby allowing Mauritius to complete the decolonisation of its territory."

The UN General Assembly in 2017 adopted a resolution presented by Mauritius and backed by African countries asking the ICJ to offer legal advice on the island chain's fate and the legality of the deportations.

'So happy'

Colonial power Britain split off the islands from Mauritius -- which lies around 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) away -- three years before Port Louis gained independence in 1968. It also paid Mauritius three million pounds.

Between 1968 and 1973 around 2,000 Chagos islanders were evicted, to Britain, Mauritius and the Seychelles, to make way for a military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands. The evictions were described in a British diplomatic cable at the time as the removal of "some few Tarzans and Man Fridays".

The Chagos Islanders have already taken their battle through the courts in Britain,
where their supporters include the current leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn 
(second from the right in this 2007 photo) (AFP Photo/ADRIAN DENNIS)

Diego Garcia is now under lease to the United States and played a key strategic role in the Cold War before being used as a staging ground for US bombing campaigns against Afghanistan and Iraq in the 2000s.

Olivier Bancoult, chairman of the Mauritius-based Chagos Refugees Group, told reporters outside court that he was "so happy".

"It is a big victory against an injustice done by the British government for many years. We people have been suffering for many years -- I am so lucky today," he said.

Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth hailed it as a " historic moment for Mauritius and all its people".

"Our territorial integrity will now be made complete, and when that occurs, the Chagossians and their descendants will finally be able to return home," he said in a statement.

The ICJ opinion comes as a stunning blow to London in a case that goes to the heart of historic issues of decolonisation and current questions about Britain's place in the world as it prepares to leave the European Union.

Mauritius' lawyer Philippe Sands said there was "no wiggle room" in the judges' view and that Britain would resist pressure to comply.

"I suspect the United Kingdom will say to itself, what resistance can we put up to moving forward -- and particularly in the context of Brexit, as the United Kingdom finds itself a little bit isolated in the world," he told reporters outside court.

Britain's foreign ministry rejected the court's opinion.

"The defence facilities on the British Indian Ocean Territory help to protect people here in Britain and around the world from terrorist threats, organised crime and piracy," the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a statement.

'Shameful' evictions

When judges heard the case in September, Mauritius argued that it was illegal for Britain to have broken up its territory while it was still the colonial power.

Britain, while apologising for the "shameful" way it evicted thousands of islanders, insisted Mauritius was wrong to have brought the case to the ICJ.

The United States meanwhile said the court had a "duty" not to take a position on the row.

The Chagos Islanders have already taken their battle through the courts in Britain, where their supporters included the current Labour opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

The legal opinion is only the 28th since the ICJ was set up in 1946 in the wake of World War II to provide a tribunal to resolve disputes between UN member states.

Previously such opinions include one on Israel's West Bank barrier in 2004, which judges said was illegal, and declaring legal Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2010.c

Saturday, February 23, 2019

In Russia, a battle to free nearly 100 captured whales

Yahoo – AFP, Maria ANTONOVA, February 22, 2019

Captured marine mammals seen from above in enclosures at a holding facility  in
Srednyaya Bay in the Far Eastern town of Nakhodka (AFP Photo/Sergei PETROV)

Dozens of orcas and beluga whales captured for sale to oceanariums have brought Russia's murky trade into the spotlight, but efforts to free them have been blocked by government infighting.

Russia is the only country where orcas, or killer whales, and belugas can be caught in the ocean for the purpose of "education". The legal loophole has been used to export them to satisfy demand in China's growing network of ocean theme parks.

Photos of a total of 11 orcas and 87 belugas crammed into small enclosures at a secure facility in the Far Eastern town of Nakhodka sparked a global outcry, and the Kremlin on Friday stepped in, saying the fate of "suffering" animals must be resolved.

"There have never been that many animals caught in one season and kept in one facility before anywhere in the world," said Dmitry Lisitsyn, head of the Sakhalin Environmental Watch group, who has emerged as a point person in the campaign to release the whales captured last summer back into the wild.

Russian investigators launched two probes into poaching and animal cruelty, while Russia's environmental watchdog said it has refused to issue permits to export the whales.

But the investigations and any potential court case could drag on for months.

The Russian government is split between the environment ministry that says the animals must be released, and the fisheries agency that defends their capture as part of a legitimate industry.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered his ministers to "decide on the fate of the whales" by March 1, a decree said Friday.

"The animals are suffering" and may die, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, adding that they "are being kept in conditions that are inadequate for such young animals of these species."

Nearly 100 killer and beluga whales were captured last summer for sale to 
oceanariums, especially the Chinese market (AFP Photo/Sergei PETROV)

200 orcas left

The captured killer whales belong to the rarer seal-eating population of the species, which does not interbreed or interact with fish-eating orcas.

The environment ministry has tried to list the seal-eating type as endangered, ministry representative Olga Krever said.

"This population has only 200 adult animals" in Russian waters, she said.

But the agriculture ministry, which controls the fisheries agency and oversees non-protected sea species, views orcas as competitors for Russia's fish stocks and doesn't believe they are under threat, Krever said, calling the dispute a "big problem."

Marine mammal researchers say there are good chances of a successful release, but the fisheries agency told AFP that it "carries high risks of their mass death".

"Neither orcas nor belugas are endangered," and are simply a resource that can be used according to existing legislation, agency representative Sergei Golovinov said.

Greenpeace activists and supporters rally in Moscow, demanding the release of
the orcas and beluga whales back into the wild (AFP Photo/Alexander NEMENOV)

'Stars of the shows'

Both the United States and Canada stopped catching wild orcas in the 1970s due to negative publicity, so China relies on Russian exports.

There are 74 operational ocean theme parks in mainland China featuring whales and dolphins, according to the China Cetacean Alliance, which monitors the industry. More are under construction.

"Orcas are like the cherry on the cake" for new Chinese venues, said Greenpeace Russia campaigner Oganes Targulyan at a recent protest against whale capture.

"They are the stars of the shows."

All 17 killer whales that Russia has exported since 2013 -- which officials value at up to $6 million each -- have gone to China, according to CITES wildlife trade figures.

Though the animals in Nakhodka are unlikely to get green-lighted for export, their fate is unclear.

The urgency of the situation is clear however: one killer whale went missing from the Nakhodka facility this week, Sakhalin Watch said Thursday, suspecting it may be dead.

Dmitry Lisitsyn (R), head of Sakhalin Environmental Watch, says companies involved
 in capturing whales 'are using their lobbyist muscle' (AFP Photo/Alexander NEMENOV)

In the West, there is widespread opposition to keeping the highly intelligent marine mammals in parks like the US chain Sea World, but in Russia public opinion is not so certain.

Companies that caught the animals are not giving up. At the weekend, they launched a new Instagram account, praising the Nakhodka facility and defending the oceanarium industry.

'Lobbyist muscle'

On Saturday, dozens of pro-industry supporters disrupted a rally to free the whales. They showed up with signs reading "Each orca is 10 jobs" for the crews hired to catch them, and only left when police arrived on the scene.

"We see that the capturing companies are putting up a fight," Lisitsyn said. "They are using their lobbyist muscle."

Researchers meanwhile are already starting to organise to prepare for a potential release of the animals.

"There has never been so many animals released in the past," said Dmitry Glazov, a beluga whale researcher at the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution in Moscow.

He said a project of that scale would certainly require international expertise and funding. The whales, which have been fed dead fish, would need to go through an adaptation period to make sure they can rely on their natural food sources.

"For science, releasing this many animals would be invaluable," he said. "But there needs to be a decision first."

Friday, February 22, 2019

Giant tortoise thought extinct is found on Galapagos

Yahoo – AFP, February 21, 2019

The Fernandina Giant Tortoise was thought to have become extinct more than
100 years ago until this adult female was discovered by conservationists on the
Galapagos island of Fernandina on February 17, 2019 (AFP Photo/Rodrigo BUENDIA)

Quito (AFP) - Conservationists in the Galapagos Islands have found a giant tortoise from a species thought to have become extinct more than a century ago.

The adult female tortoise was found on the island of Fernandina in the west of the Pacific archipelago, and is believed to be a Fernandina Giant Tortoise, also known as Chelonoidis phantasticus, a species last sighted in 1906.

The tortoise is believed to be about 100 years old. It was taken by boat to the main Galapagos conservation center on Santa Cruz island.

The animal "exceeds 100 years" in age and is "a very old tortoise," said Washington Tapia of Galapagos Conservancy, a US non-profit dedicated to conserving the Galapagos.

Washington Tapia (L), of Galapagos Conservancy, holds a giant Galapagos tortoise 
Chelonoidis phantasticus, thought to have become extinct about a century ago (AFP
Photo/Rodrigo BUENDIA)

The islands are best known for their unique flora and fauna, which inspired naturalist Charles Darwin to write his landmark 1859 study on evolution, The Origin of Species.

Ecuador's Environment Minister Marcelo Mata announced on Twitter the discovery of a specimen "of the tortoise species Chelonoidis phantasticus, which was believed to have gone extinct more than 100 years ago."

A ministry statement said conservationists were hopeful other members of the species were on the island, judging by tracks and spores they found.

Genetic tests will be carried out to confirm the tortoise was indeed a member of the long-lost species, it said.

The Chelonoidis phantasticus species is native to Fernandina, which is uninhabited, topped by an active volcano, and one of the youngest islands in the chain.

Washington Tapia of Galapagos Conservancy, a US group focusing on preserving
 the unique flora and fauna of the Galapagos islands, transfers the newly-found giant 
tortoise from Fernandina to Santa Cruz, where conservation efforts are centered 
(AFP Photo/Rodrigo BUENDIA)

It is one of 15 known species of giant tortoises in the Galapagos, at least two of which have already vanished.

Any remaining Fernandina tortoises may be separated from each other by recent lave flows, researchers said.

In 2015, the Galapagos authorities announced the discovery of a new species of tortoise that they called Chelonoidis donfaustoi, named after Fausto Llerena, the park ranger who for 40 years looked after Lonesome George, the iconic last tortoise of his Pinta species, who died in 2012.

George become an icon of the islands, 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) off the coast of South America.

Scientists tried to save George's species by breeding him with females from a related species, but their eggs failed to hatch. After his death, his body was stuffed and is currently displayed at the Charles Darwin Research Center in the Galapagos.

The female giant tortoise is thought to be about 100 years old and scientists will 
carry out genetic tests to confirm it really is a member of the Fernandina species,
last seen in 1906. (AFP Photo/Rodrigo BUENDIA)

Giant tortoises are believed to have arrived on the remote volcanic island chain about three to four million years ago, borne by ocean currents. With no natural predators, they spread across the islands and split into different species.

Their numbers were decimated in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by sailors who took advantage of their ability to endure long periods without food or water to use them as easily stored fresh meat on Pacific voyages.

Their numbers were also hit by invasive species such as rats, pigs and dogs, which eat their eggs, while other introduced domestic animals like goats destroyed their habitat.

In captivity, the giant tortoises can easily live to more than 100 years.

Scientists have discovered that the tortoises have genetic variants linked to DNA repair, with healing power that enables their longevity.

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Iceland sets whaling quotas despite falling profits

France24 – AFP, 20 Feb 2019

Icelandic whalers had to travel further than usual from the coast to find whales, which
 increases costs Icelandic whalers had to travel further than usual from the coast
to find whales, which increases costs AFP/File

Reykjavik (AFP) - Iceland has set new quotas for its controversial minke and fin whale hunt for the next five years despite declining profits recently, a decision bound to anger environmentalists.

Fisheries and Agriculture Minister Kristjan Thor Juliusson said late Tuesday whalers would be authorised to harpoon 209 fin whales and 217 minke whales annually until 2023, stressing the numbers were sustainable.

The government said the decision was based on recommendations from Iceland's Marine Research Institute and a January 15 report from the University of Iceland on the macro-economic impact of whaling.

"We are determined to make use of our natural resources in a sustainable fashion, based on scientific opinion," Juliusson told state broadcaster RUV.

"These quotas are based on scientific research. They are sustainable, they are monitored, and they're in line with international law."

The government said in a statement that the number of fin whales has increased steadily since 1987.

"During the most recent count in 2015, their population in the Central-North Atlantic was estimated at 37,000, or triple the number from 1987," it said.

Last year, the only Icelandic company that hunts fin whales, Hvalur hf., harpooned 144 animals after a two-year hiatus due to commercial difficulties over declining consumption in Japan, its biggest market.

IP-Utgerd Ltd., which hunts minke whales, cut short its whale hunt at the end of July because it wasn't profitable, after killing just six whales out of a quota of 262, the smallest number since Iceland resumed whaling in 2003.

Whalers had to travel further than usual from the coast to find whales, which increases costs.

Iceland, along with Norway, openly defies the International Whaling Commission's 1986 ban on whale hunting.

The practice has drawn fire from numerous corners including the European Union and the United States, which in 2014 threatened Iceland with economic sanctions.

Japan also hunts whales, but uses a legal loophole that allows it to continue catching the animals in order to gather scientific data.

The Icelandic political party the Left-Green Movement -- the party of Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir -- in October reiterated its opposition to the whale hunt.

"There are diverging opinions on the matter," Juliusson acknowledged.

The University of Iceland report concluded that whaling was profitable for the country, bringing in 1.41 billion kronur (10.4 million euros, $11.8 million) per year between 2009 and 2017.

Whale watching meanwhile brought in 3.2 billion kronur in 2017, it said.

Iceland's whaling season usually opens in June.

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

'Urgent steps' needed to save Australia's biggest river system

Yahoo – AFP, 18 February 2019

This decades-old Murray cod was among millions of fish which died in mass
kills in December and January in the Darling river

The viability of a key river that feeds into Australia's biggest water system is under threat if poor conditions that killed millions of fish are not improved within six months, scientists warned Monday.

The management of the Murray-Darling River system, which stretches thousands of kilometres across several states and supplies Australia's food bowl, has been under close scrutiny following three mass fish deaths in December and January.

Authorities said millions of fish died in the Darling River events, blamed on low water flow and oxygen levels in the river as well as possibly toxic algae.

Leading scientists who studied the three bouts of kills said that while a severe drought plaguing inland eastern Australia contributed to the deaths, there were also "serious deficiencies in governance and management" of the river network.

"Our review of the fish kills found there isn't enough water in the Darling system to avoid catastrophic outcomes," said Craig Moritz, chair of the independent expert panel commissioned by the opposition Labor Party to investigate the deaths.

He said an analysis of rainfall and river flow data over recent decades points to "excess water extraction upstream" in the agricultural regions of Queensland and New South Wales (NSW) states.

If urgent steps are not taken within six months to increase the flow of water, the expert report said, the "viability of the Darling" as well as the communities that depend on it for their livelihoods would be under threat.

Authorities in 2014 launched a vast Murray–Darling Basin Plan to manage water sharing and usage along the length of the system, which runs through five states and territories.

Last month a Royal Commission launched by South Australia state accused officials of "maladministration", "negligence" and "unlawful" actions in implementing the plan.

Environmental activists and many residents living along the lower reaches of the Murray-Darling system have put much of the blame on abusive water extraction for irrigation by agribusinesses, including major cotton farms in Queensland and NSW.

But officials of Australia's conservative federal government have focused on the impacts of prolonged drought and an unprecedented heat wave during this southern summer as the primary causes of low water flow in the Darling River.

Federal Environment Minister Melissa Price said Monday that "significant rainfall" was needed to alleviate the poor water quality and that release of more water into the system from upstream dams would not improve the conditions.

Friday, February 15, 2019

Dutch trawler industry furious as Brussels votes to ban pulse fishing

DutchNews, February 14, 2019

A pulse fishing net. Photo: Ecomare/Pam Lindeboom via Wikimedia Commons

Dutch fishermen have reacted furiously to Brussels’ decision to phase out pulse fishing, a form of trawling using electric currents. 

‘Lies and emotion have beaten science,’ fishermen’s organisations said after the vote. ‘The European Council, the European Commission and the European parliament have been misled by the lies and emotional campaign fought by French environmental organisation Bloom.’ 

In total, 42 Dutch trawlers will have to stop pulse fishing this year and 42 can continue until 2021. The agreement also states that six trawlers can continue to use the technique for research purposes. 

Dutch farm minister Carola Schouten said the compromise was ‘the best’ that could be won in the negotiations. It is, she said, a dark day for the Dutch fishing industry which had been banned from a ‘sustainable and innovative’ way of fishing. 

The financial damage to the Dutch fishing sector could be as high as €200m, the fishing organisations said. 

Research 

Dutch fishermen have invested millions of euros in specialized equipment since the ban on pulse fishing was lifted several years ago under a scheme to allow research into ‘innovative methods’. Some 40% of the Dutch fleet now uses the system. 

Pulse fishing involves sending a current of electricity through sections of the sea bed, partially stunning sole and plaice and forcing some into the net. 

Its supporters say pulse fishing is less destructive than beam trawling, which involves dragging a heavy metal bar across the sea bed. Opponents say it is a cruel and unnecessary method of fishing and is depleting fish stocks.


Sunday, February 10, 2019

Russian Arctic archipelago sounds alarm over aggressive polar bears

Yahoo – AFP, February 9, 2019

Polar bears are affected by global warming with melting Arctic ice forcing them to
 spend more time on land where they compete for food (AFP Photo/TORE MEEK)

Moscow (AFP) - A Russian Arctic archipelago on Saturday declared an emergency situation over an "invasion" of dozens of aggressive polar bears that have entered homes and public buildings.

Russia's northeastern Novaya Zemlya archipelago, which has a population of around 3,000 people, has appealed for help to tackle "a mass invasion of polar bears into inhabited areas," regional authorities said in a statement.

Russian authorities have so far refused permission to shoot the bears but are sending a commission to investigate the situation and have not ruled out a cull.

Polar bears are affected by global warming with melting Arctic ice forcing them to spend more time on land where they compete for food.

They are recognised as an endangered species in Russia and hunting them is banned.

Russia has air force and air defence troops based on Novaya Zemlya.

Since December, 52 polar bears have regularly visited the archipelago's main settlement, Belushya Guba, with some displaying "aggressive behaviour," local official Alexander Minayev said in a report to regional authorities.

This included "attacks on people and entering residential homes and public buildings," said Minayev, the deputy chief of the local administration.

"There are constantly 6 to 10 bears inside the settlement," he said.

"People are scared, they are afraid to leave their homes... parents are frightened to let their children go to schools and kindergartens."

The head of the local administration Zhigansha Musin said that the numbers of polar bears were unprecedented.

"I've been on Novaya Zemlya since 1983 and there's never been such a mass invasion of polar bears," he told regional officials.

Bears are constantly inside a military garrison and "literally chase people" he said as well as going into the entrances of blocks of flats.

Local officials complained that measures to scare off polar bears such as vehicle and dog patrols have not been effective as polar bears feel secure and no longer react.

The federal environmental resources agency has refused to issue licences to shoot the most aggressive bears.

A working group of regional and federal officials is set to visit the archipelago to assess the situation and the measures taken so far.

The Arkhangelsk regional authorities, which oversee Novaya Zemlya, said that if all else failed "shooting the animals could be the only possible forced measure."

In January, a defence ministry official said that hundreds of disused military buildings had been demolished on Novaya Zemlya because polar bears were settling inside them.


Thursday, February 7, 2019

Dutch probe mass seabird death mystery

Yahoo – AFP, February 6, 2019

High winds and stormy winter seas could affect guillemots' feeding patterns,
experts said (AFP Photo/OLI SCARFF)

The Hague (AFP) - Dutch scientists said Wednesday they are baffled after 20,000 dead or dying guillemots washed up on North Sea beaches in a phenomenon not seen for decades.

The fish-eating seabirds have been washing up between the northern Wadden Islands and southwestern Zeeland -- all showing symptoms of severe starvation, a marine biologist said.

"What's killing them though is the million-dollar question," Mardik Leopold, a maritime researcher for Wageningen University, told AFP.

"And we still don't know what the answer is. It's an alarming situation," he added.

"The last time we saw high mortality rates like this was in the 1980s and 1990s."

A number of questions are puzzling scientists, he said.

The bird deaths are confined only to Dutch shores -- nothing has been reported in Belgium or Germany.

High winds and stormy winter seas also could affect the birds' feeding patterns on herring and sprat as they become too fatigued to eat, Leopold said.

"But again, why are the deaths only localised to the Netherlands? Surely we're not the only place experiencing winter weather?" said Leopold.

Dutch media have raised the question of whether the deaths may be linked to a recent container spill, littering the Dutch and German coast lines with debris, including plastic toys, polystyrene, shoes and at least one bag with a dangerous powder identified by authorities as "organic peroxide."

But Leopold said an initial autopsy on a small number of birds showed "no plastic" in their stomachs.

Similarly, if the birds were affected by a chemical, other animals would also have shown symptoms, the marine biologist said.

"The birds were not covered in oil either," he added.

Dutch authorities said Wednesday they had been told by the MSC shipping company that at least 341 containers were lost off the MSC Zoe as it was battling a storm last month.

Scientists are now planning a mass autopsy of hundreds of dead birds next week, hoping to shed more light on the mystery.

However, the species is not threatened with extinction. Some two million guillemots live in the North Sea, the NOS public broadcaster said.

Related Articles:




"... 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.  ...."

Monday, February 4, 2019

Tonga emerges from cyber darkness as internet restored

Yahoo – AFP, February 3, 2019

Cable repair ship Reliance restored the link on Saturday (AFP Photo/ANDER GILLENEA)

Tonga's two-week spell of virtual cyber darkness has ended, with authorities announcing Sunday that full internet services had been restored to the Pacific island kingdom.

"Welcome back to the internet #Tonga. We are happy to report fiber cut is repaired and #Tonga is back online," Network Atlas, which maps the world's submarine and terrestrial networks, tweeted.

The Pacific island nation of 110,000 people -- which relies heavily on the internet for daily supplies and vital tourist earnings -- was plunged into virtual cyber darkness when the sole cable providing a digital link to the outside world was severed.

For two weeks, until cable repair ship Reliance restored the link on Saturday, Tonga has survived on a small, locally operated satellite service to maintain limited international phone services and to process credit card payments.

Social media sites including Facebook and YouTube were blocked to allow essential services to continue.

"We woke up to pretty good news this morning," Tonga government spokesman Lopeti Senituli told Radio New Zealand.

"It's been two quiet weeks, so people are catching up on the gossip and the what-have-yous."

Chamber of Commerce president Paula Taumoepeau said businesses were hit hard by the blackout while banks were unable to process money transfers for families who rely on income from relatives working overseas.

"Some of the suppliers couldn't get their orders out in time, regular orders didn't happen. There was a lot of disruption and we're hoping things are back to normal on Monday," Taumoepeau said.

Although the cause of the blackout has not been established, officials are investigating the possibility that it was cut by a large ship dragging an anchor along the seabed.

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Environmentalists attacked on Mexico porpoise patrol

Yahoo – AFP, February 2, 2019

The Sea Shepherd vessel M/V Farley Mowat has been operating in the Gulf of Mexico
since 2018 as part of operation "Milagro IV" to save the critically endangered vaquita
porpoise (AFP Photo/GUILLERMO ARIAS)

Mexico City (AFP) - Environmental group Sea Shepherd said Friday one of its ships had been attacked by 20 boats while patrolling off the coast of Mexico to protect the endangered vaquita marina porpoise from illegal fishermen.

Attackers on high-speed boats threw Molotov cocktails and large rocks at the M/V Farley Mowat in the Gulf of California on Thursday, shattering windows and igniting a fire on the patrol ship, Sea Shepherd said in a statement.

It is the second time the organization's patrol ships have come under attack in three weeks. A similar attack occurred in the same waters on January 9.

In the latest incident, the ship "was violently attacked by over 50 assailants posing as fishermen," said the US environmental group.

"Sea Shepherd crew members fended the attackers off using emergency fire hoses while Mexican navy soldiers and federal police stationed on board opened fired into the air and sea to deter the attackers."

This handout photo released by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) shows 
a "Vaquita Marina" (Phocoena sinus) apparently dead after being trapped in a net 
set by fishermen to catch Totoaba fish (Totoaba macdonaldi) (AFP Photo/Omar Vidal)

Video taken by crew members showed the attackers aggressively approaching the ship and hurling projectiles that shattered its windows.

Sea Shepherd regularly patrols the vaquita marina refuge that Mexico has established in the Gulf of California.

The vaquita, the world's smallest porpoise, is nearly extinct. Saving it has become a cause celebre for the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.

Conservationists blame the vaquita's plight on poachers setting nets to catch another species, the also-endangered totoaba fish, whose swim bladder is considered a delicacy in China and can fetch up to $20,000 on the black market.