Latest news: November 4, 2011

Louisiana’s Cypress Swamp: An Endangered Beauty

By Amelia Pang, The Epoch Times. November 3, 2011.

“Envisioning elegant scenes from nature, Augen Greenwood slips into his boat to take an early morning tour of the Atchafalaya Basin in coastal Louisiana. Arriving in time to catch the sunrise, Greenwood’s expectations turn to dismay. He is confronted with dead tree trunks and rusting oilrigs…”

Casi Callaway to speak at Baltimore oil spill event

By George Altman, Press-Register (Mobile, Al.). November 4, 2011.

“BALTIMORE, Maryland — Mobile Baykeeper Casi Callaway is scheduled to speak this afternoon in Baltimore about last year’s massive oil spill. The National Aquarium is hosting a three-day symposium on the spill and the federally mandated environmental recovery process, called a Natural Resource Damage Assessment or NRDA…”

Shrimpers and turtle advocates engulfed in federal or state enforcement debate

By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.). November 3, 2011.

“A day after a group of Gulf Coast and national marine scientists sent Gov. Bobby Jindal a letter urging him to repeal a Louisiana law that prohibits state enforcement of sea turtle protection regulations, the federal arm responsible for enforcement announced Thursday that 18 shrimp trawlers have been assessed civil penalties for allegedly altering, or not having, turtle excluder devices on their vessels. And the Southern Shrimp Alliance, which represents Gulf shrimpers, quickly sent out a message of its own, saying it welcomes such enforcement…”

Bill would require rescue boats within three nautical miles of active offshore oil, gas rigs

By Bruce Alpert, Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.). November 4, 2011.

“WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives today is scheduled to consider legislation that would require standby rescue vessels within three nautical miles of active offshore oil and gas rigs. If enacted, the measure would be the first significant safety measure approved by Congress since the 2010 BP oil spill…”

Asian carp invasion: Can we fish our way out of the problem?

By Richard Mertens, Christian Science Monitor. November 4, 2011.

“Last spring in Little Rock, Ark., officials of the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force dined on one of the biggest nuisances of them all: Asian carp. “It was very good,” says Ron Brooks, head of fisheries in Kentucky. Carp native to China escaped from Southern fish hatcheries in the 1970s, where they were being cultivated to eat algae in fishponds. They’ve been spreading ever since. They are now found in much of the Mississippi River Basin, from Louisiana to Minnesota. In some places – such as the Illinois River downstream from Starved Rock State Park – 9 out of 10 fish are Asian carp…”