July 5, 2011

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Now die even bigger fish in Örsundaån
[Translation Disclaimer]

On Friday went on rainbow trout in Vilstena fish to die of asphyxia. Earlier this week, it is the smallest fish in about one inches in length succumbed. But yesterday floated also bigger fish lifeless on the surface of the black water."

As UNT told on Thursday, the water in Örsundaån been poisoned. At the fish farm in Vilstena downstream Heby suspect that the problem comes from the effluent with water in the Heby sawmill.

The sawmill stopped last Wednesday water spraying. But not because the wastewater with bark residues would have run out of Arnebobäcken and on to Örsundaån, they say. The reason is simply that the water level is low right now. We have a water court to relate to, said plant manager Olle Modin.

UNT - www.unt.se
1 Jul 2011
H Lundgren
Location: Örsundaån, Sweden - Map It


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Pod of dolphins killed by virus

A pod of dolphins found dead in the Swan River two years ago likely perished from a debilitating virus found in their systems, recent testing has confirmed.

Six dolphins were found floating in the Swan River in 2009, with scientists from the Swan River Trust baffled as to the cause of their death, due to a wide range of symptoms on each of the mammals. Trust principal scientist Kerry Trayler said samples were sent to Ireland for testing, and the results this week found the presence of morbillivirus in two of three cases. One test is still pending.

This is the first time the virus has been found in WA marine mammals, and only the second such time in Australia, according to Dr Trayler. "The presence of morbillivirus could explain why there so much variation in the symptoms that have been observed among the dead dolphins," Dr Trayler said.

"Some had ulcerative skin disease, one had encephalitis, and others had succumbed to pneumonia." Two of the dolphins were so badly decomposed, they could not be tested for the virus.

WA Today - www.watoday.com.au
30 Jun 2011
L Rickard


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Plastic Found in Nine Percent of 'Garbage Patch' Fishes: Tens of Thousands of Tons of Debris Annually Ingested

The first scientific results from an ambitious voyage led by a group of graduate students from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego offer a stark view of human pollution and its infiltration of an area of the ocean that has been labeled as the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch."

Two graduate students with the Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition, or SEAPLEX, found evidence of plastic waste in more than nine percent of the stomachs of fish collected during their voyage to the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Based on their evidence, authors Peter Davison and Rebecca Asch estimate that fish in the intermediate ocean depths of the North Pacific ingest plastic at a rate of roughly 12,000- to 24,000 tons per year.

….During the SEAPLEX voyage in August 2009, a team of Scripps graduate students traveled more than 1,000 miles west of California to the eastern sector of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre aboard the Scripps research vessel New Horizon. Over 20 days the students, New Horizon crew and expedition volunteers conducted comprehensive and rigorous scientific sampling at numerous locations. They collected fish specimens, water samples and marine debris at depths ranging from the sea surface to thousands of feet depth.

Of the 141 fishes spanning 27 species dissected in the study, Davison and Asch found that 9.2 percent of the stomach contents of mid-water fishes contained plastic debris, primarily broken-down bits smaller than a human fingernail. The researchers say the majority of the stomach plastic pieces were so small their origin could not be determined.

ScienceDaily - www.sciencedaily.com
1 Jul 2011


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Cited Journal Article
P Davison, RG Asch. Plastic ingestion by mesopelagic fishes in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2011; doi: 10.3354/meps09142


OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Photo courtesy of The Guardian, Week in Wildlife

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