Fish health affected by flood pollution

Sydney Morning Herald

Fish in Brisbane are being affected by the floods, developing red spot fungus as a result of polluted waters. Oxley Creek was found to have enterococci at levels 250 times higher than normal, a result of contamination due to damage of the Oxley sewerage plant. It is likely to be six weeks before the sewerage contamination is disinfected and in the meantime fishing in run-off areas has ceased. Testing of waterways in Brisbane is still ongoing for pesticides and heavy metals.

posted by anna on January 31, 2011 at 5:15 pm · filed under

Mining waste a potential solution for algal blooms

CSIRO

CSIRO and the Western Australian Department of Water have discovered a way of using mining industry by-products to adsorb contaminants and reduce algal blooming on rivers. They tested a suitable by-product by adding it to the soil of a turf farm in the Swan Canning catchment, which successfully removed 97 per cent of phosphorus and 82 per cent of nitrogen from groundwater. As well as a potentially effective solution against algal blooms, the strategy is cost-effective and environmentally-friendly, making use of mining by-products which would otherwise become waste.

posted by anna on January 31, 2011 at 4:40 pm · filed under

ACF warns of more frequent extreme weather

ACF

Australian Conservation Foundation President Ian Lowe has expressed his concern for those affected by severe recent flooding in Queensland and says the “floods are another reminder of what climate science has been telling us for 25 years. As well as a general warming and increasing sea levels, it predicted more frequent extreme events: floods, droughts, heatwaves and severe bushfires.” Although he notes that, “It is still too early to say with certainty that climate change is responsible for the strong El Nino event which brought devastating drought to eastern Australia and the equally strong La Nina event which has produced the terrible floods,” Professor Lowe warns, “If we don’t want to see more events like the 2009 Victorian bushfires and the floods now happening, we need a concerted program of action to reduce greenhouse pollution.”

posted by seamas on January 13, 2011 at 8:35 pm · filed under

WA Government called on to support citizen-led renewable energy drive

The Australian Greens

The Australian Greens have congratulated the growing number of Western Australians using renewable energy, while calling on the State Government to abandon plans for more coal-fired power stations and do more to encourage renewable energy developments. According to the Greens, more than 12,000 WA households have installed systems including solar, wind and micro-hydro power, but they also say those numbers would grow even more rapidly with the right policies in place.

posted by seamas on January 11, 2011 at 7:38 am · filed under

Opposition’s dam agenda roundly criticised

The Age

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s apparent pursuit of a dams-based solution to Australia’s alternating flood and drought crises has drawn criticism from water management experts and conservation advocates. Quoted as endorsing dams as a flood-mitigation measure, as well as water storage and clean power generation mechanisms, Mr. Abbott has now established a shadow ministerial task group to examine in more detail the potential role new and larger dams could play in future water management across Australia.

However, experts say Mr. Abbott’s proposal appears to be based on a “misunderstanding of the natural system in Australia” and describe it as a “knee-jerk reaction” to the devastating floods affecting parts of the country. The Greens also condemned the proposal, highlighting the threat dams pose to freshwater fish species and the environment.

posted by seamas on January 8, 2011 at 7:28 am · filed under

Japanese Government admits fault in whaling corruption scandal

Greenpeace Australia Pacific

Greenpeace says the admission of corruption within the Japanese Government agency responsible for regulating whaling is a crucial win for the campaign to end Japan’s controversial whale hunting program and exposes ethical breeches that warrant wider investigation. Late last month, the Fisheries Agency of Japan admitted some of its officials had accepted kickbacks from the fishing body that runs the whaling program, which it still bizarrely maintains is conducted for scientific purposes.

posted by seamas on January 6, 2011 at 7:16 am · filed under

2010 Australia’s third wettest year

ABC News

The La Nina weather system brought about the third wettest year on record for Australia in 2010, with a mean total rainfall of 690mm surpassing the long-term average of 465mm. Extreme flooding was seen across parts of the country, with Queensland experiencing its wettest year on record, and it was the third wettest year for the Northern Territory, New South Wales and South Australia. Although a cooler than average year overall, 2010 saw the close of the hottest decade on record for Australia, and Western Australia’s southwest region had its driest year on record.

posted by anna on January 5, 2011 at 4:19 pm · filed under