Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for April 3, 2009

Dolphin Discovery: Now Time to Reassess Conservation Effort

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dolphin_out_of_water.jpgJUST a month ago it was considered really good news when another eight Irrawaddy dolphins were found at Chilika Lake in India bringing the total number to 146.  The lake is considered a principle habitat for this rare species of freshwater dolphin with the world population estimated at just 900.

Much of the global conservation focus has been on populations of less than 50 individuals classified as ‘Critically Endangered’ by the World Conservation Union in places like the Mekong River and working with local fishing communities to reduce fishing pressure.

But now a New York-based conservation group, the Wildlife Conservation Society, has discovered a population of about 6,000 Irrawaddy dolphins – that’s right six thousand –  in the Sundarbans mangrove forest area of Bangladesh. 

[Read more…] about Dolphin Discovery: Now Time to Reassess Conservation Effort

It’s Official: Oceans Caused Droughts

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Folks,

 

Here’s an interesting report from the “pedigree” US Climate Change Science Program (heavily backed by NOAA).

 

http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap1-3/final-report/

 

And a news description of it from the good ole’ National Post:

 

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1453831&p=2

 

I sort of remembering seeing a brief press release on this in December (when it was issued), but I certainly didn’t understand that it was associated with such bombshells as:

 

“It’s wrong to blame our warming climate on human pollution alone, says a major analysis by U. S. climate scientists who say North America’s warming and drying trend also has important natural causes.

 

Natural shifts in ocean currents have caused much of the warming in recent decades, and almost all of the droughts, says the U. S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).”

 

Cathy