Saturday, May 05, 2007

Ocean returns our foul gifts

In a foul turnabout, people are complaining about the ocean polluting their environment. Rotting sea lettuce, gorged on sewage and nutrient runoff, is piling up on beaches and angering beach-front residents.

It's an ironic reversal to see the results of human pollution create a nuisance for the owners of prime beachfront property. Since people have more votes than fish, maybe this will get things moving in a way that never happens when fish are the only victims.

Finally, the ocean is learning to communicate effectively. I wonder what's coming next?

4 comments:

McScreedle said...

Hey man, I like the site. Keep it up. I just had someone post a piece about fishing in New Zealand and how it's changed over the years that you might want to check out:
The World's Fisheries

Anything similiar happening up in WA?

Up Welng said...

hey there, mark...
not sure what the situation is like in the pacific nw, but here in cali we are dealing with an explosive outbreak of domoic acid poisoned pinnipeds, birds, and even whales... overfishing, pollution, and shoreline damage are the presumptive culprits behind the algal blooms that are responsible for the domoic acid incidents...

Mark Powell said...

Rick,

I've been reading about that domoic acid problem, check out Toxic algae killing birds and mammals in California. Is it really the worst ever? BTW, keep up the good work over at Malaria, bedbugs, sea lice and sunsets.

Mark

http://blogfishx.blogspot.com/2007/04/toxic-algae-killing-birds-mammals-in.html

Mark Powell said...

Tony,

Nice site you have going. There are sadly similar stories in WA and elsewhere, I don't think we've yet learned our lesson on the need to end overfishing. The new US law should help us.

Mark