News from a Changing Planet -- This Week on Earth #25
A new tool to help save the whales, more malfeasance by the coal industry, Massachusetts leading the way, and quick links to other things I'm reading. Cmon!
SAVING THE WHALES JUST GOT EASIER (MAYBE): Climate science can help forecast how warming oceans might affect migrations and help fishermen to avoid entanglements. (New York Times)
In a new study, using climate data, scientists say they can use ocean temperature forecasts to better predict where whales and other threatened and endangered species might be up to a year in advance. Why does this matter? If scientists can better model where whales might be (they tend to seek cooler water in our warming oceans) far in advance, they can help the fishing and shipping industries plan their routes and seasons better, helping them to avoid causing whale entanglements or ship strikes, which are among the leading causes of death for whales. This study looks at California, but its methods could be used for all kinds of species, all around the world.
I’ve written a lot about protecting whales from shipping and fishing, and the role that habitat modeling and whale forecasting can play in saving these animals, which is important from a biodiversity perspective but also a climate one, given their role in helping draw down carbon dioxide emissions.
But this study/method is cool because of the long lead time it can offer, especially to the fishing industry, which is also facing pressure from a combination of factors — overfishing, warming temperatures, habitat loss — but whose participants also depend on these ecosystems and the relative seasonal predictability of their fisheries for their livelihood.
California is currently experiencing a marine heat wave —specifically, The Blob, a mass of warm water offshore, is back. The Blob is pushing whales and other species closer to shore where the water is cooler. This also happens to be where fisherman set their traps for Dungeness crab, but the season has been delayed to protect humpback whales looking for krill and anchovy along the coast.
“My personal opinion is that this is very, very helpful,” Richard Ogg, a commercial fishing boat captain based in Bodega Bay, told the New York Times. Ogg happens to be a conservationist, who appreciates that fishermen depend on a healthy environment for their livelihood, though changing regulations doesn’t make things easy.
“One of the biggest problems we have is the unpredictability,” Mr. Ogg said. “We’re living from week to week.”
COAL COMPANIES STILL NOT CLEANING UP THEIR MESS: And making sure the taxpayers will have to pay for it instead. (Mountain State Spotlight and Propublica)
Coal companies — mining companies and those that burn coal for power — have rarely (if ever) paid to clean up the mess they made — unless under intense legal pressure. This joint investigation (interesting but wonky! you have been warned!) from Mountain State Spotlight and ProPublica shows just how destructive big coal has been to West Virginia in this case, but to coal communities all over the country.
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