MAN IS PLAYING WITH NATURE - Chemicals are killing us.

MAN IS DESTROYING THE ECO SYSTEM

CHEMICAL MANUFACTURERS with effective lobbyists have succeeded in convincing Governments to use their poisons and toxins to maintain weed control and pest control which has had devastating effects on our Natural Eco System  wildlife and fishes. Until Governments reverse their acceptance of these Chemical toxins, our eco systems will continue to decline.

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MAN'S INTERFERENCE WITH INTRODUCED FISH CAUSING ECO SYSTEM DISASTER - Africa

The first were four species of tilapia (Cichlidae), which were introduced in the early 1950s. In 1955 the Nile Perch Lates niloticus (Centropomidae) was introduced into Lake Kioga, and when a few years later it was found in Lake Victoria, steps were taken to ensure its establishment there. Until 1978, Nile Perch remained a very small proportion of the commercial catch, less than 5 percent. Then in 1978 a very rapid expansion of the proportion accounted for by Nile Perch took place, with the result that by 1990 the commercial catch had a totally different composition, dominated by Nile Perch (almost 60 percent) and Omena (most of the remaining 40 percent). The haplochromines, and the mixture of other fish had virtually vanished from the commercial catch.(http://www.gefweb.org/COUNCIL/council7/wp/lakevic.htm)  -

9. It is important to note that the size of the fishery also exploded from 1978 on, perhaps by a factor of five or more. From Kenyan waters alone the recorded catch climbed from around 25,000 tons in 1978 to more than 175,000 tons in 1990. In the years preceding introduction of the Nile Perch, the total fisheries yield from the lake may have been in the vicinity of 100,000 tons, while in more recent years yields have been estimated in the range of 300,000 to 500,000 tons.

Eutrophication

12. Water quality in Lake Victoria has declined greatly in the past few decades, owing chiefly to eutrophication arising from increased inflow of nutrients into the lake. Nutrient inputs have increased two to three-fold since the turn of the century, mostly since 1950. Concentrations of phosphorus have risen markedly in the deeper lake waters, and nitrogen around the edges. Stimulated by these and other nutrients, the five-fold increase in algal growth since 1960, and the shift in its composition towards domination by blue-green algae, is causing deoxygenation of the water, increased sickness for humans and animals drawing water from the lake, clogging of water intake filters, and increased chemical treatment costs for urban centers. Aside from the near-total loss of the deepwater species, the deoxygenation of the lake's bottom waters now poses a constant threat, even to fish in shallower portions of the lake, as periodic upwelling of hypoxic water causes massive fish kills. The Preliminary estimates suggest the increased nutrient inflows are coming largely from rural areas, but although the main causes of the eutrophication are known, the rates of enrichment, its sources, and its numerous effects are not well quantified. Since many of the farms in the area apply no fertilizers, or use very small quantities, these are not likely to be a major source of the nutrients, nor will they be until fertilizer application rates reach substantially higher levels than currently seen. Rather, the nutrients may be released from soil particles washed or blown off the land surface by erosion, from burning wood-fuels, and from human and animal waste from areas surrounding the lake. From the urban areas, the main source is untreated sewage, which beside providing additional nutrients, also increases the disease risk from water borne pathogens.increased nutrient loads have also spurred the water hyacinth infestations.

MAN'S INTERFERENCE WITH INTRODUCED FISH CAUSING  ECO SYSTEM DESTRUCTION- Australia

Introduced fish threatens frog populations

Posted Fri Dec 12, 2003 9:00am AEDT -
The World Wide Fund for Nature says more needs to be done to get rid of an introduced pest that is threatening the survival of two Tasmanian frog species. - Populations of the vulnerable green and gold frog and the rare striped marsh frog have been steadily decreasing over the past decade. - A fish called the gambusia, which was introduced to Australia to control mosquitos, is being blamed for the decline. - The researcher in charge of a new conservation program for the frogs, Dr Karyl Michaels, says the gambusia has a real taste for frog eggs and must be eradicated. - "Unfortunately, mosquito larvae was about 25th on its list of preferred food and the green and gold frogs eggs and tadpoles are right up there on number one so as you can imagine that's having a big impact," she said. Dr Michaels -(The Native fish of Australia are avid eaters of mosquito larvae and were abundent in all creeks and waterways, now their fry are consumed by the Gambusia causing an increase in larvae.  Councils are adding to the problem by "spraying pesticides' over all creeks, drains, and banks. These toxins build up with repeated applications and are ultimately transported to the ocean with every heavy rainy season killing the Sea grass and Coral habitats.   The spraying of herbicides and pesticides also wipes out the fish fry and their natural food supply making vast areas void of many indiginous species.) - GAMBUSIA have also replaced many of our waterways indiginous species such as Melanotaenia (Rainbows) and Gudgeons.
 

Pesticides, Herbicides and other farm chemicals  
DESTROYING CORAL REEFS WORLD-WIDE

IS POTATO INDUSTRY KILLING FISH
Up to the 60's The POTATO INDUSTRY lived in harmony with the environment before the constant use of chemicals, and chemical fertilisers.

Prince Edward Island officials are investigating whether the province's potato industry is killing its fish. More than 12,000 dead and decaying fish have been collected from Prince Edward Island's lakes and rivers over the past two weeks.  "It might be reasonable to say the actual number [of dead fish] is three times that," Bruce Raymond, a Department of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Environment spokesman, said. "If we picked up 12,000, there's a hell of a lot more than that." The fear is that PEI's burgeoning potato industry is eroding the soil, making it easy for pesticides and other farm chemicals to drain into water systems, especially after rainfalls. The dead fish have been found at several sites, including the Wilmot River, where more than 6,100 were collected during the weekend. The province has had 17 smaller fish kills dating back to 1994. All but one have been attributed to farm-chemical runoff. "We have a major soil-erosion problem in PEI," Kate McQuarrie of the environmental group Island Nature Trust said Tuesday. "We've been having fish kills for the last six or seven years

Local Governments and farmers are the biggest users of Chemicals that are destroying water quality on Great Barrier Reef ecosystems and other coastal waterway habitats in Australia.

Corals and other reef organisms are influenced by a range of water quality variables. In general, they are adapted to tolerate variations in water quality, however when critical thresholds are exceeded they may be adversely impacted. Major water quality variables affecting coral reef health include water temperature, salinity, nutrient and suspended sediment concentrations, as well as toxicants including pesticides -

Polluted River and Coastal City effluent discharges are the single biggest source of nutrients to the inshore areas of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.
Since the 60's all town and City Councils use millions of litres of Herbicides and Pesticides indicrimately spraying footpaths and drains that carry these toxins to the ocean when there's heavy rains.  most of the nutrients are discharged to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area during tropical monsoon flood flows. Elevated nutrient concentrations result in a range of impacts on coral communities, and under extreme situations can result in coral reef community collapse. Elevated nutrient concentrations affect corals by promoting phytoplankton growth, which in turn supports increased numbers of filter feeding organisms such as tubeworms, sponges and bivalves that compete with coral for space. Macroalgal blooms can also result under enhanced nutrient regimes and macroalgae may overgrow coral structures, out-competing coral for space and shading coral colonies to critical levels. 

Excessive phosphorus concentrations result in coral colonies with less dense, and hence weakened skeletons, which make colonies more susceptible to damage from storm action. Additionally, neither macroalgae nor most filter feeders add to reef consolidation through calcification. Elevated nutrients can inhibit fertilisation rates and embryo formation of corals, as well as causing direct coral mortality.
Sediments and Turbidity

Offshore coral reef environments are generally regarded as being adapted to low turbidity and low-nutrient conditions. In contrast, nearshore and coastal reef systems have evolved in relatively turbid environments where suspended sediment and turbidity are primarily influenced by local wind and wave regimes rather than by sediment supply. However, excessive inputs of sediment from the land to coral reefs can lead to reef destruction through burial, disruption of recruitment success or deleterious community shifts. Sediment affects coral by: smothering when particles settle out (sedimentation), reducing light availability (turbidity) and potentially reducing coral photosynthesis and growth. Elevated sediment and nutrient concentrations can also be deleterious to seagrass beds as they can cause a dramatic reduction of water column light penetration, which limits the seagrasses ability to manufacture food.

The Key to survive is Symbiosis

The secret of support of the density, diversity, and productivity of the reef lies in an interesting symbiotic relationship between the hard-working coral animals and vast numbers of very tiny, single-cell algae called zooxanthellae. These fascinating little organisms, which are photosynthetic, live inside the coral's own cells. Just as in a balanced aquarium where the plants and animals benefit one another, the zooxanthellae and coral provide for many of each other's needs.

Although they are handicapped without them, corals do not require zooxanthellae for life. Corals are carnivorous little animals which feed on minute floating animals that they capture by means of small stinging cells on their tentacles. But corals cannot derive enough energy from this source alone to do much more than just maintain themselves. They certainly can't do the work necessary to build a reef.

Their efficiency is greatly increased however, by the presence of the zooxanthellae in their tissues. Nowhere do reef-building corals exist without this relationship. But the corals do not consume the zooxanthellae directly as food; the relationship between the two organisms is much more refined than that.  The destructive agents; - Herbicides and other pollutants may in addition, intensify the inhibition of photosynthesis in the light phase resulting in a bleaching event.  - Herbicides: interfere with basic food chain processes by destroying zooxanthellae in coral, free living phytoplankton, or algal or sea-grass ...
 

First, from the coral the zooxanthellae obviously derive support and protective shelter. But more importantly, they also receive a constant supply of certain critical nutrients, primarily nitrate and phosphate, which are waste products of the coral's own metabolism. Having an internal 'sink' for these products saves the coral energy in not having to excrete them which it would otherwise have to do because they become toxic as they accumulate.

But the primary nutrient that the coral supplies to the zooxanthellae is carbon dioxide, another of its metabolic wastes. The algae, through photosynthesis, uses sunlight to assemble three molecules of carbon dioxide with an equal amount of water to produce glycerol, a very handy energy source for both the plant's and the coral's metabolism. As a extra bonus, the plant also liberates oxygen directly into the coral's tissues and this appears to be stimulating to the coral - a little like a metabolic accelerator.

So the internal production of food and fuel, the oxygen necessary to burn it to do work, and the energy savings of built-in waste removal allows the corals to do the impressive work we see as the primary productivity of the reef. That work finally results in the construction of the massive skeletal platforms of the reefs themselves.

They are composed of lime skeletons, which are formed through successive growth and deposition of reef-building corals and coralline algae.
Each reef-building coral contains many coral polyps and symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae that live within the coral tissues. Each coral polyp is an individual coral, which withdraws into the coral skeleton during the day. The zooxanthellae photosynthesize organic compounds from sunlight and these compounds are used for food for the coral (Davidson, Osha Gray). It is considered a mutualistic symbiotic relationship because the coral benefits from the algae, but the algae also benefit from the coral. The coral produce carbon dioxide and nitrogen as a waste product, which serves as a food source for the zooxanthellae. This mutualistic relationship will not allow the coral or zooxanthellae to live without each other. Because of this relationship with the algae the corals have restricted environments. The symbiotic algae require sunlight for photosynthesis and can be easily destroyed by effects such as sedimentation, thereby killing the entire coral (Miller, Stephen).
These ecosystems are filled with the highest densities of animals on the globe and surpass even the tropical rainforests in terms of diversity (Spalding et al). Because of their immense diversity, they are of great interest to scientists, pharmaceutical companies, health professionals, and others.www.parkland.edu/planetarium/guidereef.html  -  http://www.seagrasswatch.org/news.html

___________increased discharges of nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter have caused the deterioration of waters and sediments in many of the world’s coastal zones.

Pesticides still pouring into reef waters

The Sydney Morning Herald, Monday August 13, 2007

EIGHT of the 10 main rivers flowing into Great Barrier Reef waters have breached Queensland's water quality guidelines, polluting the country's most valuable tourist attraction with increased amounts of toxic chemicals. The herbicides atrazine and diuron were present at river mouths, inshore reefs and intertidal seagrass monitoring locations, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority report said.

Monitoring over the past 12 months confirmed pesticides were "an ubiquitous contaminant" in the inshore areas of the reef, the Annual Marine Monitoring Report 2006 said. The report was released on Friday after the Herald reported concerns in environmental circles that it had been withheld for several months.

Environmental groups say that despite knowing about the problem for decades, the Queensland and federal governments have not done enough to protect the reef from pastoral and sugar cane plantation activities that are pouring mud and chemicals into rivers.

"I don't think Australians would accept that level of toxicity in the Great Barrier Reef," said a reef expert at WWF-Australia, Nick Heath. "These pesticides are used on the ground to kill weeds and will have the same effect in the ocean."

The Reef Water Quality Protection Plan released by the Australian and Queensland governments in October 2003 aimed to halt and reverse the decline in the quality of water entering the reef within 10 years.

The 2006 report, the second annual report so far, indicated that that may be a bigger challenge than originally thought, noting that the use of pesticides in the reef's catchments had increased in recent years, particularly in agricultural and urban areas.

A recent report singled out diuron and atrazine as the main problems. Diuron is used to control weeds by inhibiting photosynthesis, which means plants cannot convert sunlight into energy to grow. Atrazine, most widely used by the sugar cane industry, is used to control annual grasses and broadleaf weeds by inhibiting photosynthesis.  "The ecological consequences of chronic low-level exposure to these types of pollutants are extremely destructive, laboratory experiments have demonstrated their acute toxicity to seagrass and corals," the report said.

MASSIVE URBAN DEVELOPMENT ON THE GOLD COAST QUEENSLAND HAS ALREADY CAUSED THE LOSS OF THE DUGONGS IN THE BROADWATER AND  NOW   THE OKINAWA DUGONG IS NEARLY EXTINCT.

The Asahi Shimbun, Monday August 6, 2007

The Environment Ministry has added 461 species, including the "critically endangered" dugong, to its list of wild flora and fauna threatened with extinction.

The additions, part of a review of the entire "red list," bring the total number of threatened species to 3,155. The dugong, a seagrass-eating mammal that, in Japan, is spotted only in waters off Okinawa's main island, was assessed for the first time.

SEAHORSES ARE GONE

In the 50's Numerous seahorses were abundent in the Gold Coast Queensland waters and other Eastern coastal estuaries now they are rarely seen. - The Coastal's ecosystems with seagrass meadows, coral reefs and sandy shores, and the mangroves served as a habitat for a variety of birds, fish and plants.  These lost habitats provided massive numbers of fish specias such as "Whiting" Bream and "Flathead" - Old fisherment will confirm that it was easy to catch a bucket full of whiting in 30 minutes, but today, you are lucky to catch three fish a day.

Print this out, keep a 'hard copy' and send to your friends WHILST YOU CAN.
Eddy Everett.

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