"Abandoned" oil well causes new spill in GOM / "Verschlossenes" Bohrloch löst neuen Ölteppich im Golf aus

"The  newspaper earlier reported that state officials had fingered work being done to the Anglo-Suisse's non-producing oil well near Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River as the likely source, calling it a "well capping out of control."  Anglo Suisse Offshore Partners  released a statement last night confirming it was the source of the spill, but that it was "surprised" that its dormant well could have released that much oil, according to the paper. The Times Picayune reported the well was being capped for permanent abandonment" (via Huffington Post)

Seems like the initial scare about another large gulf of Mexico oil spill is solved. It seems the oil comes from what oil companies call a "permanently capped well" whose cap failed. Just a reminder - there are over 27000 of these abandoned wells in the gulf alone! What could possibly go wrong!

Nachdem zwischenzeitlich die Meldungen über eine neuerliche Ölkatastrophe im Golf umgingen scheint sich die Ursache geklärt zu haben. Ein verlassenes und verschlossenes altes Bohrloch leckt. Kann schon mal vorkommen, oder? Nur blöderweise gibt es davon 27000 alleine im Golf von Mexiko. Jeder davon kann sich irgendwann mal in Wohlgefallen auflösen - das wird in den kommenden Jahrzehten ja noch spannend...

The end of fish in 2050 AD / Keine Fische mehr im Jahre 2050

"Species have been disappearing from ocean ecosystems and this trend has recently been accelerating,[...]Now we begin to see some of the consequences. For example, if the long-term trend continues, all fish and seafood species are projected to collapse within my lifetime -- by 2048.” Worm is an assistant professor of marine conservation biology at Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Canada.
"At this point[...],29 percent of fish and seafood species have collapsed -- that is their catch has declined by 90 percent. It is a very clear trend, and it is accelerating. We don't have to use models to understand this trend.”
It has been estimated that 90 percent of large predatory fish have already been extracted from our oceans[...] and we currently throw away 40 percent of what we do catch as “unwanted.”  What an amazing and horrifying paradox. (via seashepherd.org)

The statement that "90% of the large fish are gone" has made its appearance everywhere, but the truth is even darker, it seems - almost a third of everything humans eat from the sea has been reduced by that number and more depletion is to come. And what do people do in such a situation? Use the fish more wisely, eat fish that comes from stable fisheries that are not overfished? No, they dump half of the fish they catch back into the ocean - dead! What are the thinking. "There are so many fish, we can never catch them to depletion"? Yeah right  - and there will always be oil and the atmosphere is too big to be affected by humans. What an odd combination of overestimating and at the same underestimating the role humans play.

"90% der großen Fische sind weggefischt" - diese Aussage taucht zunehmend in den Medien auf, nachdem eine studie dies belegt hat. Aber offenbar ist die Wirklichkeit noch ein wenig düsterer. Es scheint als ob fast ein Drittel aller Lebewesen die Menschen  aus dem Ozeanen verspeisen ähnlich geschrumpft ist und die Projektionen für die nächsten Jahrzehnte sehen auch nicht gut aus. Und was machen die großen Fischereifirmen? Vernünftiger fischen? Nur so viel nehmen wie nachwachsen kann? Nein natürlich nicht - man schmeisst sogar die Hälfte der gefangenen Fische weg weil man sie nicht mag. Es gibt ja genug davon. So wie es genug Öl gibt und das bisschen Atommüll in einem so großen Meer ja nicht auffällt. Was für eine verrückte Kombination von Unterschätzung und Überschätzung der Rolle des Menschen auf diesem Planeten!