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Great interview on ocean health:  http://www.newdimensions.org/program.php?id=3121

What's Goin' On   

From:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6538073.stm

By Natalya Antelava BBC News, Aral Sea

 

The Kazakhstan government has secured a multi-million dollar loan from the World Bank to help save the Aral Sea.

The money will be used to implement the second stage of a project aimed at saving the northern part of the sea.

The United Nations has said the disappearance of the Aral is the worst man-made environmental disaster.

But this new project could mean that at least part of the Aral - once the world's fourth largest inland body of water - will be saved.

It is an ambitious project aimed at reversing one of the world's worst environmental disasters.

As a result, the sea that many predicted could never return is already filling the desert.

The story of the Aral dates back to the 1970s, when the Soviet government diverted two main rivers feeding the Aral to irrigate cotton fields in

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

The desert spread, changing the climate, destroying the economy and the ecosystem, eradicating species and forcing thousands of people to leave the area.

By the 1990s only a quarter of the Aral Sea was left, but recently using a $68m loan from the World Bank, the Kazakh government built a dam that split the

 sea into two parts.

It did not solve the problem entirely. On the Uzbek side of the border, the southern part of the sea is still shrinking, but here in Kazakhstan officials say 40%

 of the sea has already returned.

Now using the new $126m loan from the World Bank, they plan to build a second dam which they hope will bring the water back to the deserted port of Heralsk.

Communities in the area are already feeling the impact. The fishermen are back in their boats, the clouds and the rain have returned and many across

 this impoverished region say the future no longer looks hopeless.

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From:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6468451.stm?ls

From International Rivers Network:  http://www.irn.org/programs/china/index.php?id=archive/061113cancel.html

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Some of the world's most spectacular migratory animals will be severely affected by climate change, according to a new United Nations report.

The UN Environment Programme (Unep) says that rising temperatures spell extinction for some mobile species.

Turtles are particularly affected, the report finds, with rising temperatures changing the ratio of males to females.

But it says conservation measures targeted at key areas can protect even migratory animals.

By definition, migrating species must depend on several different ecosystems.

Birds may fly from one continent to another, perhaps stopping at feeding grounds on the way. Whales and turtles cover vast tracts of ocean.

The UN Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), which co-produced the report with Unep and the UK government, says that changes in any one of the locations

which these animals use can be serious.

"Obviously these species have developed these [migration] patterns over millennia, and obviously they can develop more," said CMS executive director Robert Hepworth.

"But the emphasis is that it's taken millennia. We're dealing with climate change that's likely to be drastic over the next 25 to 50 years; it's most unlikely that these

species can adapt fast enough," he told BBC News.

Turning turtles

Among the animals most hit by rising temperatures are turtles.

Scientists have found that at higher temperatures, some turtles produce far more female eggs than male. In parts of peninsula Malaysia, nesting sites

are producing only females, the report says.

The authors also cite evidence that some turtles become more prone to cancer as the waters warm, perhaps because infectious organisms can thrive.

With birds, the main issue is climate-related damage to critical habitat, at either end of the migration routes or at stopping places.

About one-fifth of bird species covered by the CMS are threatened by climate-related impacts including rising sea levels, coastal erosion and more vigorous storms,

the report concludes.

Apart from turtles, species picked out as particularly vulnerable include:

"We have some cases where a temperature rise will condemn a species to extinction," commented Unep executive director, Achim Steiner.

Adapt and survive

The report is not entirely gloomy. Even with major climatic changes, conserving vulnerable habitats can still help migrating species to recover.

"Migratory species need better and quicker delivery of conservation measures," said Dr Hepworth.

"We have to work more efficiently to step up programmes at national and international level."

And some species are apparently adapting. Fin and bowhead whales in the Arctic are changing their feeding behaviour, finding new grounds and new species to eat.

The report suggests researching ways of helping others to adapt faster.

In a two-week meeting dominated by talk of issues such as carbon markets, stabilisation wedges and the adaptation of human societies, this was a sobering

reminder that climate change threatens to bring big changes to the natural world too.

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From the BBC:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6108414.stm?ls  click link to read full story

Thursday, 2 November 2006

Stocks have collapsed in nearly one-third of sea fisheries, and the rate of decline is accelerating.

Writing in the journal Science, the international team of researchers says fishery decline is closely tied to a broader loss of marine biodiversity.

But a greater use of protected areas could safeguard existing stocks.

"The way we use the oceans is that we hope and assume there will always be another species to exploit after we've completely gone through the last one,"

said research leader Boris Worm, from Dalhousie University in Canada.

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From World Wildlife Fund:  http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/freshwater/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=83480

Counting river dolphins in Peru

dolphin survey.  The fourth of a five-stage expedition to establish river dolphins numbers in the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers and their tributaries, South American

scientists counted 818 pink dolphins (Inia geffrensis) and grey river dolphins (Sotalia fluviatilis) in 410 sightings.

The largest groups of the dolphins were seen at river confluences where fish are in most abundance.

“Preliminary observations show that the dolphin’s habitat in Peru appears to be in a good state,” said Freddy Arévalo with the Wildlife Conservation Society in Peru.

“This state of affairs owes much to the conservation initiatives and sustainable resource management programme which have been implemented in the area, including

those of WCS and WWF.”

The results in Peru were significantly more than the 131 pink dolphins spotted on the previous part of the expedition on Colombia’s Meta River.

“The Meta River has been hit hard by pollution and over-fishing,” said Marcela Portocarrero, a scientist from the Omacha Foundation, who is taking part in the

dolphin survey. “This has created a marked decline in fish stocks, made evident by low numbers of dolphins, who depend on fish for food.”

The first let of the survey recorded 270 dolphins on the Orinoco River in Venezuela in June 2006 and only 40 in Ecuador on the Lagarto Cocha, Cuyabeno and

Yasuni Rivers in July 2006.

A fifth expedition is planned for Bolivia and a possible sixth expedition on the Amazon River from Peru via Colombia to Brazil in January 2007.

The overall aim of the survey is to gather data on one of the endangered freshwater species in the world in order to design a management and monitoring plan,

as well as get to know the state of the rivers and watersheds of some of South America’s largest rivers.

“This dolphin census gives us the wide view of river dolphins in South America,” said José Saulo Usma, WWF Colombia’s Freshwater Coordinator. “This is a first

step to build an up-to-date database for the species, something that is fundamental to our future conservation work.”

END NOTES:

• The South American river dolphin survey is an initiative led by the Omacha Foundation, with support from the Wildlife Conservation Society, Whale and Dolphin

Conservation Society and WWF Colombia.

• The pink river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), also known as the boto, is found in lowland fast flowing, white-water rivers, clearwater or blackwater rivers. The species is

also present in the largest tributaries, lakes, confluences and seasonally flooded forests. It depends on healthy fish populations for its survival. Historically, the boto

has been spared human persecution because of the belief that it has special powers. Today however, it is increasingly viewed by fishermen as an unwanted competitor

for fish. The boto can get tangled up in fishing nets, or suffer wounds by colliding with boats.

• In addition to spotting the pink river dolphin, scientists are also on the look out for the grey river dolphin (Sotalia fluviatilis), a dolphin species darker and smaller

than the boto, with a shorter snout and a distinctive triangular dorsal fin.

For further information:
Julio Mario Fernández, Communications Coordinator
WWF Colombia
Tel + 57 2 558 25 77
Email: jmfernandez@wwf.org.co

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Update on the oil spill in the Mediterranean Sea as of October 29, 2006

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/middle_east_lebanon_oil_spill_clean_up/html/1.stm

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National Marine Sanctuaries

http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/welcome.html

http://www.marinesanctuariesmedia.com/

A portion of the proceeds generated by Marine Sanctuaries Media is returned to the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to

raising awareness of national marine sanctuaries. The National Marine Sanctuaries Act authorizes NOAA to enter into agreements with a business or organization

to sell products on behalf of NOAA.

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http://www.thankyouocean.org/

Your California portal to ocean information

The ocean is vital to life and touches us every day. The ocean gives so much to California: food, water, commerce, recreation, and the opportunity for quiet contemplation. Even medicines that heal us and the air we breathe come from the ocean. Yet, today the ocean is in trouble. Our ocean faces threats of pollution, marine debris, endangered populations, beach erosion, and more.

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Water Pollution Info   from the US National Library of Medicine & the National Institutes of Health  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/waterpollution.html

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From National Geographic:    http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0610/feature4/index.html

By David Ewing Duncan
Photographs by Peter Essick
Modern chemistry keeps insects from ravaging crops, lifts stains from carpets, and saves lives. But the ubiquity of chemicals is taking a toll.

Many of the compounds absorbed by the body stay there for years—and fears about their health effects are growing.

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From BBC News:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6068348.stm

Friday, 20 October 2006

warns a new report from the Christian development agency Tearfund.

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From Natural Resources Defense Council:   http://www.nrdc.org/water/oceans/pewreport.asp

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From the Environment News Service:  http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2006/2006-10-19-03.asp

UN Warns Ocean Dead Zones on the Rise

BEIJING, China, October 19, 2006 (ENS) - The number of dead zones in the world's oceans and seas has increased dramatically in the past two years, endangering

fish stocks and the people who depend on them for food and livelihoods, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) warned Thursday. The latest study finds

at least 200 dead zones across the world, up from an estimated 149 only two years ago.

The new scientific estimates of dead zones, areas where algal blooms remove oxygen from the water, were released at a UNEP marine pollution meeting in Beijing.

The conference, which began Monday and extends through Friday, is reviewing the UNEP global program of action for protection of the marine environment.

 Delegates from 115 countries are attending the intergovernmental review of the 10 year-old initiative.

The Gulf of Mexico dead zone grows to more than an 18,000 square-kilometers each year.

The algal blooms that cause dead zones are triggered by nutrients from agricultural runoff, sewage and animal wastes, and pollutions from the burning of fossil fuels.

The low levels of oxygen in the water make it difficult for fish, oysters and other marine creatures to survive as well as important habitats such as sea grass beds.

Some of the earliest recorded dead zones were in places like Chesapeake Bay in the United States, the Baltic Sea, the Kattegat, the Black Sea and the northern

Adriatic Sea.

The most well-known area of depleted oxygen is in the Gulf of Mexico - directly linked to nutrients or fertilizers brought to the Gulf by the Mississippi River.

The report identifies new dead zones in the Finland's Archipelago Sea, the Fosu Lagoon in Ghana, the Mersey Estuary in the United Kingdom and Uruguay's

Montevideo Bay. Others have been appearing off South America, China, Japan, south-east Australia and New Zealand.

The report warns that the pollution that contributes to dead zones shows few signs of decreasing. Nitrogen exports to the marine environment from rivers, for example,

are expected to rise globally by 14 per cent by 2030 when compared with the mid 1990s.

"There are numerous compelling reasons for combating pollution to the marine environment," said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. "These range from public

 health concerns to the economic damage such pollution can cause to tourism and fisheries.

Scientists fear climate change could decimate coral reefs. (Photo courtesy Carleton College)

UNEP released another report Thursday that warned that coral reefs worldwide are facing major threats from pollution and climate change.

The ability of coral reefs to survive warming waters may "crucially depend" on the levels of pollution to which they are exposed, the

report said.

"If we fail to protect the coastlines from unchecked piecemeal development, or protect the water sheds from deforestation, huge amounts

of sewage and sediment loads will reduce the ability of reefs to recover dramatically," said Christian Nellemann, a researcher with

UNEP's rapid response team. "Once they are overgrown, it is difficult for them to recover, and over time they change or even die entirely."

The study is based on surveys carried out between 2004 and 2006 following damage caused to reefs world-wide in 1997-1998 when

surface sea temperatures reached up to 34 degrees Celsius.

Corals in an estimated 16 per cent of the world's coral reefs suffered up to 90 per cent mortality as a result of mass bleaching, with reefs across the Indian Ocean, i

ncluding around the Comoros, La Reunion, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles, among those severely damaged.

But soft coral cover and stony coral increased rapidly in areas least affected by coastal development.

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From NASA:  http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/oceancolor/scifocus/oceanColor/dead_zones.shtml

Creeping Dead Zones

This is not the title of a sequel to a Stephen King novel. "Dead zones" in this context are areas where the bottom water (the water at the sea floor) is anoxic — meaning that it has very low (or completely zero) concentrations of dissolved oxygen. These dead zones are occurring in many areas along the coasts of major continents, and they are spreading over larger areas of the sea floor. Because very few organisms can tolerate the lack of oxygen in these areas, they can destroy the habitat in which numerous organisms make their home.

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From International Rivers Network:  http://www.irn.org/programs/brazil_dams/index.php?id=archive/060628campos.html

Aerial Photos Reveal Massive Cracks in Brazilian Dam

Campos Novos Dam Builders Downplay Danger

Aerial photographs of the Campos Novos Dam revealing severe damage at the base of the dam.

The controversial 626–foot (202–meter) tall Campos Novos Dam in Southern Brazil suffered an uncontrolled release of water last week, completely emptying the reservoir of the recently completed dam. Aerial photographs released yesterday by Friends of the Earth Brazil show major cracks at the base of the dam, suggesting potentially irreparable damage.

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From Democracy Now       http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/10/1339238

Thursday, August 10th, 2006

Lebanon Facing its Worst Environmental Disaster Ever: Oil Spill From Israeli Strike Still Untreated After One Month

Listen to Segment || Download Show mp3      
Watch 128k stream       Watch 256k stream       Read Transcript

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Please see water meditation page concerning this story

Oil Spill Adds Ecological Crisis to Lebanon's Agony

July 28, 2006 — By Lin Noueihed, Reuters

http://www.enn.com/index.html       click link to read full story

BEIRUT — Along Lebanon's sandy beaches and rocky headlands runs a belt of black sludge, 10,000 to 30,000 tonnes of oil that spilled into the Mediterranean Sea after

Israel bombed a power plant. Lebanon's Environment Ministry says the oil flooded into the sea when Israeli jets hit storage tanks at the Jiyyeh plant south of Beirut on

July 13 and 15, creating an ecological crisis that Lebanon's government has neither the money nor the expertise to deal with. "We have never seen a spill like this in the

history of Lebanon. It is a major catastrophe," Environment Minister Yacoub al-Sarraf told Reuters.

"The equipment we have is for minor spills. We use it once in a blue moon to clean a small spill of 50 tonnes or so. To clean this whole thing up we would need

an armada ... The cost of a full clean-up could run as high as $40-50 million." The spill is especially threatening since fish spawn and sea turtles nest on Lebanon's coast,

 including the green turtle which is endangered in the Mediterranean, local ecologists say. Carried by a north-easterly wind, the spill has travelled 70-80 km up the coast of

 Lebanon, which has been bombarded by Israel for 16 days in a war against Hizbollah.

An Israeli warship damaged by a Hizbollah missile on July 15 may also have spilled diesel oil into the sea, according to the Environment Ministry website

(www.moe.gov.lb).

At Beirut's Sporting Club, seven men in navy overalls perch on the edge of a man-made inlet skimming sludge, using buckets on the end of sticks and pouring it into

plastic containers. The ground around them is black, as are their forearms and clothes. The air is thick with acrid fumes that sting the eyes and irritate the throat.

The team is part of a pilot clean-up commissioned by the Environment Ministry. Another mop-up is underway at the San Antoine Sandy Beach Resort in northern Lebanon.

other links:

http://beirut.indymedia.org/ar/2006/07/4803.shtml

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/we-have-a-message-for-peace/oil-slick

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/07/27/oilspill_pla.html?category=earth&guid=20060727163030

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The latest from Masaru Emoto

http://www.thank-water.net/english/index.html

you can sign up to receive the new HADO Newsletter at:   http://hadolife.namasteinteractive.com/subscribe.htm

Let’s change Dead Sea’s name

It has been a whole month since I left Japan on June 25th. I was planned to be in the Sea of Galilee in Israel today to conduct a seminar and a water ceremony to

celebrate the Day to Send Love and Thanks to Water at the Sea of Galilee. I was originally at that location to celebrate the day three years ago. However, I had to

postpone this visit a week ago because of the recent problems between Israel and Hezbollah.

I was in Bali on June 27th for four days and I had a chance to ask some local people about why such a beautiful island will be the target of such a destructive terrorism.

And they had responded, “Terrorists want their action to attract as much attention as possible. There are many foreigners in Bali so it’s good for them.” From this chilling

testimony, I thought maybe there will be many foreigners that will gather if we went forward with the ceremony so I decided to postpone this event as soon as I heard

about the bombings there.

Even yesterday, the militia had launched about a hundred missiles to the northern part of Israel. Since the Sea of Galilee is also on the northern part of Israel, I’m glad

we made the decision of postponing the event.

The first time I went to visit Sea of Galilee was July 25th, 2003. I had a feeling that the origin of the problem between Israel and Palestine was the fight over River Jordan’s

water which flows out of the Sea of Galilee. So I wanted people around the world to send love and gratitude to the water in the Sea of Galilee. The event ended in a

success as about 200 people gathered there.

This year, the local organization took the lead in organizing this event. The organization was led by Sally Reidman, who is the director of Reidman International College

for Complementary Medicine. I believe it was at the beginning of this year that I received her invitation to go visit Israel again. I happily accepted and even bought a flight

ticket there right away. The ceremony three years ago was an event that I had personally organized there so there were only about 200 people that gathered, but

this time it was the local group that started the planning. Therefore, we were expecting at least 1000 people to be there.

However, unfortunately because of the current situation, it was postponed. I have made some last minute changes in my travel plan and am now in Amsterdam at my

daughter’s place. I would like to take this opportunity here to share what I was to declare at the Sea of Galilee seminar.

A proposal to change the name of Dead Sea to a more positive one!

It’s easy to understand why I would propose this. Through my twenty years of research in HADO, water, and especially water crystals, I learned that each word has its

own particular vibration, and therefore its own particular energy. Thus, “Thank you” will create a beautifully balanced water crystal but “You Fool” will not.

The balanced water crystals are the origin of creation but those that are not balanced are the origin of destruction.

Therefore, what may have been created in the area by the negative vibration of the name like Dead Sea is the vibration of destruction. And I believe that it is not very

difficult to change a name of a place with a little help from everyone’s imagination.

Dead Sea

So then, what kind of a name should it be?

I would think it should naturally use the word opposite of “dead”, “life”. But this should not be decided by a foreigner like me but have the local people spread this type

of idea and decide on a name that reflects everyone’s thoughts.

I would like to mark today, July 25th, the Day to Send Love and Thanks to Water around the world, as the day I officially propose this idea.

July 25, 2006
Masaru Emoto

Masaru Emoto's ceremony for the waters of the planet on July 23, 2006

http://thank-water.net/english/

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Pacific 'Dead Zone' Worse Than Thought

click here to read full story:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/12/AR2006081200304.html

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http://www.savebiogems.org/

From late spring to early autumn, the first rays of morning sun on the white-sand beaches of Florida's northwestern coast illuminate a crisscross pattern of fresh turtle tracks.

Atlantic loggerheads have silently climbed ashore during the night and vanished again, leaving the distinctive imprints of their powerful flippers behind them. Guided by

the earth's magnetic fields, these 200-pound giants have made their way to the Emerald Coast from as far away as Africa to lay their eggs on the same beaches

where they were born.

But escalating real estate development now threatens to disturb this age-old nesting ritual. The largest landowner in the region, the St. Joe Company, wants to

transform vast tracts of land into a maze of housing developments, shopping centers, golf courses and parking lots. If these massive construction projects are allowed

to move forward, the Emerald Coast's miles of coastlines, longleaf pine forests, cypress swamps and wetlands, which provide habitat for red-cockaded woodpeckers,

Gulf sturgeon, Florida black bears and other imperiled wildlife, may be overwhelmed by pollution, roads and traffic. Along the shoreline, the glare of countless artificial

 lights will disorient loggerhead hatchlings, drawing them dangerously close to roads and other perils as they search for the ocean's edge.

The leading edge of the St. Joe Company's development plan is a proposed $312 million airport, despite the existence of an underused airport nearby that is more

than adequate to meet projected air travel demand for the region. Funded mostly by taxpayer dollars, the project would threaten the health of important wildlife habitat

and one of the most diverse bay systems in the country. The Bush administration may soon approve the proposal -- without meeting its legal obligation to study the full

environmental impacts of the project and consider less harmful alternatives.

Urge the Bush administration to perform a complete environmental study of the impacts of a proposed new airport in the Emerald Coast's sensitive wetlands habitat.

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Chinese weather manipulation

6/29/2006

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-06-29-china-rain_x.htm

The Yangtze River was the focus of one of our water blessing meditations August 1, 2004

Here's the latest....

From the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5122074.stm    click link to read full story

mammal, from extinction.

They hope to take some dolphins from the Yangtze and rear them in a nearby lake, protected from fishermen.

The species is threatened by overfishing which removes its food, industrialisation, boat collisions, and through being caught in fishing nets.

The most recent surveys found only 17 living individuals.

Also known as the baiji and Chinese lake dolphin, Lipotes vexillifer is listed as Critically Endangered on the internationally recognised Red List of Threatened Species,

which describes it as "probably the most endangered cetacean in the world".

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Saturday, 20 May 2006

From the BBC:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5000198.stm   click link to read full story

The reservoir created by the dam has already displaced more than a million people. Another 80,000 are still to be moved as it reaches its final stages.

Some estimates say at least 1,200 villages and two major towns have had to be abandoned and rebuilt.

From the start, the central government promised cash compensation for all those forced to move. It also promised them new homes and new livelihoods.

But that process has been highly controversial.

Many families complained that much, in some cases most, of the compensation due to them was siphoned off by corrupt local bureaucrats.

Official accounts seem to support their complaints that millions of dollars have been embezzled.

The Chinese media has reported that some officials have been investigated for corruption - but the complaints continue.

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The barrier, called a cofferdam, was used to hold back the waters of the Yangtze River while the permanent structure of the dam was built.

Enough explosives to topple 400 10-storey buildings were used in the blast, China's Xinhua news agency said.

The controversial dam - the world's largest hydro-electric project - will not be fully operational until 2009.

From World Wildlife Fund:

http://google.panda.org/search?site=panda&client=panda_frontend&proxystylesheet=panda_frontend&output=xml_no_dtd&q=three+gorges+dam

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A new type of hammerhead shark has been discovered in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, marine scientists say.

The shark resembles a common species called the scalloped hammerhead but has not yet been classified or named.

US researchers say the animal appears to be rare, breeding only in waters off the South Carolina coast.

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Shark-Shaped Submarine Is Latest Cousteau Star Vehicle

Photo Gallery: Shark-Shaped Sub >>

His name alone makes Fabien Cousteau, grandson of the late Jacques, a big fish in the world of underwater exploration. Now he's taking that big-fish status to

extremes. The Paris-born, New York-based explorer had become a virtual shark, thanks to his new shark-shaped submarine. He uses the sub to dive

incognito among the oceans' top predators, great white sharks. Created at a cost of more than U.S. $100,000, the 14-foot-long (4.3-meter-long)

contraption is designed to look and move as much like the real thing as possible. It carries a single passenger, who fits inside lying down, propped up on

 elbows to navigate and observe.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1202_051202_sharks_sub.html

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Jean-Michel Cousteau

photo taken by Tom Ordway, Ocean Futures Society

http://www.oceanfutures.org/

Articles:  http://www.oceanfutures.org/features/feature.asp

Great Lakes Program:  http://resources.seacadets.org/public_affairs/articles/2005/art_051004.pdf

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America's Most Endangered Rivers 2006

http://www.americanrivers.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AMR_MER2006

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From the Monterey Bay Aquarium

http://www.mbayaq.org/oa/

California Marine Protected Areas

This is a critical year for the future of California's coast. Between now and November 3, 2006, the state will consider several options for establishing

marine protected areas along the Central Coast. It's time to let the governor know that you want him to create the best possible marine protected

areas to safeguard California's beaches and bays, fish and wildlife.       Time's Running Out—Act Now!

Sustainable Seafood Campaign

Our Seafood Watch pocket guides help you make smart seafood choices that make a difference for the future of ocean wildlife.

You can print out your own pocket guide and find other simple actions to move sustainable seafood further into the mainstream.

Start Choosing Sustainable Seafood

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Arsenic Inhibits DNA Repair

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=44160

Main Category: Water Quality / Air Quality News
Article Date: 29 May 2006 - 1:00am (PDT)

Dartmouth researchers, working with scientists at the University of Arizona and at the Department of Natural Resources in Sonora, Mexico, have published a

study on the impact of arsenic exposure on DNA damage. They have determined that arsenic in drinking water is associated with a decrease in the body's

ability to repair its DNA.

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Montana Pollution Rules Draw Federal Objections

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/08/AR2006040800920.html

Federal energy officials are opposing new rules by Montana to force companies that extract methane gas from underground coal beds to clean up the water

pollution caused by drilling operations, even as state officials cite an unreleased 2003 federal report that says cleanup costs are relatively inexpensive.

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Saving sharks with magnets

http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/marine/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=68540

Brussels, Belgium – Thousands of sharks could be saved from being caught and killed on fishing lines thanks to the winning entry of this year's

WWF-sponsored Smart Gear competition.

In the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, 89% of hammerhead sharks and 80% of thresher and white sharks have disappeared in the last 18 years as a result of bycatch.

© WWF-Canon / Cat Holloway

This is not Planet Earth, it’s Planet Water

Oceans cover 71% of our planet’s surface and make up 95% of all the space available to life.

http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/marine/blue_planet/index.cfm

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http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060508/NEWS06/605080310

Landmark lakes treaty may be reworked   The water quality of the Great Lakes faces new challenges

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R.I. Shellfish Offer Clue to Health of Chesapeake

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/07/AR2006050700711.html

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WWF Researchers create most-detailed map of the world's rivers:

http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/freshwater/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=64100

Free-flowing rivers disappearing fast: 

http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/freshwater/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=62620

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http://www.savethehighseas.org/recent_articles.cfm

High-Seas Fishing Fleets Should Be Reduced, UN Conference Says

Environmentalists Urge Global Ban on Fishing Trawlers

Smarter management needed to stop ocean plunder, says WWF and TRAFFIC:   http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=69120

Deep-sea fish stocks 'plundered':  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4996268.stm 

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conservationists.

They say over-fishing, pollution and climate change are pushing marine areas to the point of no return.

The warning comes from the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) and World Conservation Union (IUCN).

In a report launched on Friday in New York, they are calling for new marine protected areas to be set up in deep seas and open oceans.

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http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2006/06/04/energy_hungry_china_warms_to_solar_water_heaters/

Energy-hungry China warms to solar water heaters      June 3, 2006

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The pioneering work of Dr. John Todd and Nancy Jack Todd

http://www.waterstewards.org/

http://www.oceanarks.org/about/

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WaterPartners International: We envision the day...

WaterPartners International is committed to providing clean drinking water to communities in developing countries. Working in partnership with donors

and those in need of safe water, we have helped thousands of people develop accessible, sustainable, community-level water supplies.

More than one billion people lack access to a safe supply of drinking water. Water-related diseases are the leading cause of death in the world.

WaterPartners was founded in 1990 because efforts to address the world's top health problem were inadequate and inefficient. We have solutions that work.

WaterPartners Mission Statement

http://www.water.org/

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About Aquarius

Aquarius is an underwater ocean laboratory located in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The laboratory is deployed three and half miles offshore,

at a depth of 60 feet, next to spectacular coral reefs. Scientists live in Aquarius during ten–day missions using saturation diving to study and explore

 our coastal ocean. Aquarius is owned by NOAA and is operated by the NOAA Undersea Research Program’s (NURP) Undersea Research Center at

the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

http://www.uncw.edu/aquarius/

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United Nations Atlas of the Oceans

The Atlas is an information system designed for use by policy makers who need to become familiar with ocean issues and by scientists, students and resource

managers who need access to underlying data bases and approaches to sustainability. Information about the Atlas...

http://www.oceansatlas.org/index.jsp

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Masaru Emoto's diary pages from the World Water Forum in Mexico:
March 17:  http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/ediary.html#0316 

March 18:  http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/ediary.html

March 19:  http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/ediary.html  

"Mr. Hazaka brought this beautiful crystal as a souvenir from the pyramid for me. It is the shape of two pyramids put together. This was exactly the shape that I

always thought was the proper shape of a water crystal. I would like to use this during my next seminar."

March 20:  http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/ediary.html#0320

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Water Blessings

http://www.quantumbalancing.com/water%20blessing.htm

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