Author: Cathy Salmento

Maine Clams are being Threatened

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 32

In Maine, soft-shell clams are collected by hand and raked from the mud flats of Maine. Recently, they are becoming less plentiful. This reduction jeopardizes one of New England’s oldest and most historic coastal industries.

Maine is the soft-shell clam capital of the country. Despite this, harvests have generated less than 1.5 million pounds last year. This is the lowest total in 25 years and is down from nearly 8 million pounds at the industry’s peek in the late 1970s.

At one time, the only larger industry than clamming in Maine was the lobster industry.

“Last year was one of the lowest totals since the ’50s,” said Chad Coffin, a Freeport clammer who heads the Maine Clammers Association. “There’s still areas of the coast right now where there just isn’t a lot of clams.”

The threats to clams in Maine include an uptick in predation from green crabs and milky ribbon worms, and the increasing acidification of the ocean. Another problem is that shellfish toxins also sometimes necessitate shellfish harvesting closures, as they did in the state’s eastern coast last year and southern coast this year.

Maine soft-shell clam diggers are still hopeful for a stronger summer this year. The clammers’ association says it’s hoping for a bounce-back year because many clams seem to be reaching legal size, Coffin said.

In order to stabilize the industry long term, it is going to need to adapt, said Brian Beal, a professor of marine ecology at the University of Maine at Machias. The heightened predation from the crabs and worms has tracked in line with rising coastal water temperatures, which are predicted to keep rising, he said.

According to Beal, predators are the largest threat to clams. One way to negate this threat is by employing strategies such as putting netting around areas of mud flats where clams grow and planting clam seed in protected areas, he said.

“If we don’t adapt, we’re going to be dead in the water,” Beal said. “Unfortunately, our environment has changed.”

Maine is not the only state to harvest soft-shell clams. They are harvested in smaller numbers in Massachusetts and New York. Other states are also experiencing dwindled, like in Rhode Island, where clammers harvested barely 7,000 pounds of softshell clams in 2015 after frequently topping 100,000 pounds in the 2000s.

People are not ideal when trying to come up with a way to protect the soft-shell clams. In Maine, state biologists are working on surveys and protection projects to try to preserve the clams, said Jeff Nichols, a spokesman for the state Department of Marine Resources. The number of clammers in the state has held steadily between 1,700 and 2,000 for most of the past ten years.

Coffin said he agrees with Beal that adaptation is vital if they want to revive the industry. If they wait too long the crabs and worms will make it impossible.

“It’s not that there’s not clams,” he said. “It’s that they don’t survive.”

Source: Whittle, Patrick. “Maine’s Soft-shell Clam Industry Is in Jeopardy.” Boston.com. The Boston Globe, 04 July 2017. Web. 06 July 2017.

Marine Debris Bill Introduced in the House

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 31

The bipartisan co-chairs of the House Oceans Caucus introduced legislation recently that, if passed, is supposed to help federal, state and local governments combat the increasing influx of trash in the world’s seas.

H.R. 2748, from Representatives Don Young (R-Alaska) and Suzanne Bonamici (D-Oregon), would reauthorize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program through fiscal 2022.

“It would also allow the NOAA administrator to work with state governors to declare marine debris events and authorize funds to assist cleanup and response” (Smith-Schoenwalder).

“The issue of marine debris and cleanup is crucially important to Alaska — especially given how closely connected our coastal communities and economies are to our oceans, waterways and ecosystems,” said Young.

According to a summary of the bill, up to 12.7 million metric tons of trash made its way into the oceans in 2012. If changes and improvements are not made to waste management infrastructure, then the number is expected to rise.

“Keeping garbage and large pieces of debris out of the ocean and off of our shores protects our health and well-being, our vibrant coastal tourism economy, and the many people who make a living in the fishing industries,” said Bonamici.

The bill would also encourage international negotiations with countries that produce large amounts of trash to discuss and attempt to find solutions to the problem.

Do you want this legislation to be passed? Do you think more should be done to lower the amount of trash entering our oceans? How do you personnel try to lower your trash output so that it does not reach the oceans?

Source: Smith-Schoenwalder, Cecelia. “Caucus Leaders Introduce Marine Debris Bill.” Greenwire. E&E News, 12 June 2017. Web. 12 June 2017.

What is Costing the Agricultural Industry Billions?

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 29

A new report published on Thursday, May 18th claims that the global agriculture industry could be losing $540 billion a year due to the spread of pests and pathogens that damage plant life.

The report was published by the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG) at Kew in London. The report claimed that due to an increase in international trade and travel, flora has been left facing rising threats from invasive pests and pathogens. The report calls for greater biosecurity measures.

“Plants underpin all aspects of life on Earth from the air we breathe right through to our food, our crops, our medicines,” said Professor Kathy Willis, RBG Kew’s director of science.

“If you take one away, what happens to the rest of that ecosystem – how does it impact?”

The report also tries to determine what traits would help plant species cope with the climate changes.

The report finds that plants with deeper roots and higher wood density are more capable of withstanding a drought, while thicker leaves and taller grasses are better able to cope with higher temperatures.

The researchers were surprised to find that the traits that are likely to help species thrive appear to be transferable across different environments.

“The interesting fact to emerge is that the suite of ‘beneficial’ traits are, on the whole, the same the world over and are as true in a temperate forest as in a desert,” Professor Willis said in a statement.

The report was worked on by 128 scientists in 12 countries and found that 1,730 new plant species were discovered last year.

Of the 1,730 new plant species discovered, nine were of the climbing vine Mucuna which is used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. The species were found and named across South East Asia and South and Central America.

Source: Hanrahan, Mark, and Matthew Stock. “Pests and Pathogens Could Cost Agriculture Billions: Report.” Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 18 May 2017. Web. 18 May 2017.

Coal Mine Turned Thriving Garden

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 26

Just five short years ago, where the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden is currently located, was water polluted with high concentrations of aluminum from a nearby coal mine that was abandoned decades ago.

With the help of an underground treatment system, which removes the acidity from the water, the pond is one attraction seen by 25,000 annual visitors. The other hope garden creators have is that the pond represents that money spent on reclamation projects can reap economic rewards.

“Here they’ve turned a liability into an asset, and that’s the goal,” said Robert Hedin, president of Mt. Lebanon-based Hedin Environmental, which installed the treatment system.

“You can spend on things that have a priority because there’s economic development,” he added. “This place has been the talking point for the last five years about making that money available.”

Before old mining land was restored to how it was before the mine took over, but14 pilot projects in Pennsylvania using $30 million are creating sites that have the potential to add value. Two of the projects are a waterline construction that cleans up acid mine drainage while extending water to a community and construction of a geothermal pool that draws energy from the earth’s natural heat.

The botanic garden is one of a kind. No other project on the state’s list is like it.

“The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) also awarded funds to the Allegheny County Airport Authority to reclaim 54 acres of abandoned mine land as part of its World Trade Center Business Park development. Airport planners have envisioned more than 1 million square feet of office space, research and development facilities and a hotel with convention space on a bluff overlooking Pittsburgh International Airport” (Moore).

The pond cleanup in the botanic garden was funded through the Growing Greener fund — $250,000 from the state DEP and another $100,000 from the federal Office of Surface Mining.

This was before Congress authorized coal mining states to pull from a new pot of money set aside for mine cleanup with a focus on community development. In July, the DEP announced the 14 sites across the state that would receive $30 million.

“By targeting projects that have an economic development aspect, more funding can be leveraged and more projects completed without additional state dollars,” said Patrick McDonnell, DEP acting secretary. “That’s government that works.”

The Pittsburgh Botanic Garden was awarded $716,000. This money will be spent on reclaiming more land in order to expand to make more gardens available to the public. Officials announced that over the summer, crews will smooth out the cliffs left behind by strip mines and fill in the subsidence pits.

“Generally, there are sites more dangerous than this,” Mr. Hedin said. “But now you throw a botanic garden on top of it … now it becomes a bigger concern.”

“This is a neat place, all the reclamation people want to be part of the botanic garden,” Mr. Hedin said. “There’s lots to clean up but lots of good resources.”
Do you think that Congress is putting this $30 million to good use? Do you think other states should start turning their mines into projects that add value or should they keep restoring mining lands to their original condition? What other mining sites would you like to see refurbished to add value?

Source: Moore, Daniel. “Where Coal Was Once Mined, a Garden Now Thrives.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 01 May 2017. Web. 01 May 2017.

Coastal Zone Reform Bill Encountering Resistance

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 25

Business leaders and environmentalists alike have been preparing to argue their sides regarding Delaware’s Coastal Zone Act.

Preparations were put to us on Thursday, May 18,2017, when state legislators introduced a bill that would alter how Delaware’s signature environmental zoning law is administered. If these changes come to pass, they would only be the second made in nearly 50 years.

Some environmentalists do not support the bill and have gone so far as to state that it is even worse than they imagined.

“It’s absolutely terrifying,” longtime activist Amy Roe said. “What they’re proposing would completely and totally break the Coastal Zone Act while putting low-income, minority communities at risk of real environmental disasters.”

The Coastal Zone Conversion Permit Act, House Bill 190, if passed, would create a permitting process that would allow new industrial uses at 14 coastal sites, only one would not be located in New Castle County.

Though not all are currently active, all have in the past had heavy industry use and all are polluted. Supporters argue that the bill would encourage businesses to clean up the sites and hundreds of factory jobs.

“The state doesn’t have the funds to remediate these sites and the only way to clean them up is for a business to come in,” said James DeChene, vice president of government affairs for the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce.

“The only way they’re going to do that is if they can use the sites and then you get new industries and good-paying jobs,” he added. “It’s a win-win.”

A big problem for environmentalists is a provision that would allow nine properties with docks and piers built before 1971 to conduct bulk product transfer, which means it can move cargo such as oil or raw chemicals from ship to shore and vice versa.

The current Coastal Zone Act fought to protect the Delaware Bay and the state’s shoreline from the encroachment of heavy industrial development and specifically bans bulk product transfer.

The act’s first paragraph warns that ports and docking facilities used for that purpose would represent a significant danger of pollution and attract exactly the types of heavy industry the law sought to contain.

“For these reasons,” the law states, “prohibition against bulk product transfer facilities in the coastal zone is deemed imperative.”

Roe said she would be devastated if these shipments were now allowed.

“That would mean opening Delaware’s coast up to more ships and more trains carrying hazardous materials,” she said. “That means a much greater risk of oil spills and other incidents that could threaten our wildlife, our fishing industries and our beaches.”

Proponents counter that these fears are overblown.

“Everyone seems to focus on the fear of an oil spill,” said state Rep. Ed Osienski, D-Newark, the bill’s lead sponsor in the House. “But I’m sure with the new technology – sensors, switches, electronics, video – that when something goes wrong, it’s going to be caught quickly to eliminate any major disaster.”

The legislation, he argues, has provisions that would require owners of the properties to put up money to cover cleanup costs from spills and other contamination.

“I don’t think it will impact the state’s tourism industry at all,” he said. “There are 14 sites [in the bill] none of which I can ever imagine being tourist sites.”

What are your thoughts about the bill?

Source: Goss, Scott, and Xerxes Wilson. “Bitter Fight Expected over Coastal Zone Reform Bill.” News Journal. Delawareonline, 20 May 2017. Web. 22 May 2017.

Leo DiCaprio teams with Mexico to Save Endangered Porpoise

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 24

In an unusual combination, the Mexican government, tycoon Carlos Slim and U.S. actor Leonardo DiCaprio announced on Wednesday, June 7, 2017, that they are teaming up and have created a plan to protect a tiny porpoise in the Gulf of California. This porpoise has become a powerful symbol of critically endangered animal species.

What was once a thriving population of snub-nosed vaquita porpoise living in the Gulf of California, is now a dangerously low number due to gillnet fishing for shrimp and totoaba, a popular delicacy in Asia, sparking increasing calls for action.

In Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s home in Mexico City, he as well as Hollywood star DiCaprio and Slim signed a memorandum of understanding committing to conserve marine life in the Gulf of California, including the vaquita.

The once thriving porpoise population is down to fewer than 30 wild vaquita according to the foundations run by Slim and DiCaprio.

“The accord comes less than a month after DiCaprio urged his fans on social media to petition Pena Nieto to save the vaquita, which prompted the president to take to Twitter to assure the actor that Mexico was doing all it could to protect the porpoise” (Graham).

The memorandum states that the signatories will undertake to make permanent a temporary ban on using gillnets in the vaquita’s waters and to step up efforts to combat the use of illegal gillnets, as well as the prosecution of illegal fishing and totoaba poaching.

Gillnet fishing uses mesh which is designed to allow fish to get only their head through the netting but not their body. It is believed that this is largely to blame for trapping the vaquita porpoises and killing them.

“The plan also included a commitment to prohibiting nighttime fishing in the upper Gulf of California and the vaquita reserve, and to enforce limited entry and exit points in the region for fishing, among other measures” (Graham).

In the last month, 200,000 people signed the petition to save the vaquita that DiCaprio created aimed at Pena Nieto, the World Wildlife Fund said.

In the statement, DiCaprio, the 42-year-old star of “Titanic,” called the memorandum a “critical step” on behalf of the marine mammal.

“I am honored to work with President Pena Nieto, who has been a leader in ecosystem conservation, to ensure the future viability of marine life in the Gulf,” DiCaprio said.

Later in the day, after signing the memorandum, Pena Nieto tweeted pictures of his meeting with DiCaprio and Slim, saying that Mexico understood its environmental responsibility to the world.

It is unclear at the moment just how much money was being dedicated to the rescue effort and how much each signatory was providing.

What more do you think can be done to save the vaquita? Do you think celebrities drawing attention to causes is appropriate? What causes would you like to see celebrities supporting and drawing attention to?

Source: Graham, Dave. “Mexico, DiCaprio and Carlos Slim Craft Plan to save Endangered Porpoise.” Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 07 June 2017. Web. 08 June 2017.

Race is On to Find Why Marsh is Dying

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 23

A colony of tiny bugs has taken up residence near the mouth of the Mississippi River and is killing large amounts of wetland grass that is needed to ensure the health of Louisiana’s coast. This incident is causing state and university scientists to quickly try to figure out how and why the pest, which could be a European or Asian import, got to south Louisiana, and how can they stop them from killing more of the wetland grass.

The wetlands in south Plaquemines Parish have experienced large-scale die-offs of Roseau cane. Roseau cane is a tall-growing grass that’s native to Louisiana and is the perfect habitat for fish and other wildlife. This has been going on since last fall. This grass is so important to the health of wetlands because its roots hold marshlands in place. Without this grass the already rapid erosion of the coastline will happen even quicker.

“Roseau cane is very, very important to the overall stability of our coastline,” state Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain said. “This is happening at the mouth of the Mississippi, and that’s part of the economic lifeblood of the American economy. It’s important we deal with this.”

The invasive species is a type of scale, an aphid-like insect that feeds on plant sap. Scientists do not think it is native to North America. Louisiana entomologists are collaborating with others in Europe and Asia to identify the scale.

“At the moment, we don’t know the species name of the scale nor its origin,” said Rodrigo Diaz, a Louisiana State University entomologist. “We are working with taxonomists and ecologists to understand this problem. Because of the recent discovery of the problem, there are a lot of unknowns.”

The large-scale cane deaths were first reported to Department of Agriculture and Forestry by fishers and charter boat captains in October and November. In winter, the cane dies back naturally. By February, when department scientists inspected the affected areas, the marshes should have been green with regrowth.

“We went out in airboats, and the impact was obvious,” said Joey Breaux, an environmental specialist with the department’s soil and water office. “We were seeing regrowth of just 5 and 15 percent when it should have been 80 or 100 percent. And we’ve been back since then, and it’s lots worse.”

It is unknown how many acres are affected. Charter fishing captain Eric Newman guesses that thousands of acres near Venice have experienced partial or near-total die-off.

“These places were flush with cane in November,” he said. “Now they’re almost unrecognizable. These bugs have eaten almost all of it.”

The Agriculture Department has found cane death as far north as the Bohemia Spillway. The scale has caused the biggest problems around the river’s mouth, including the Pass a Loutre Wildlife Management Area. Breton Island has also been hit hard.

Scientists are trying to determine how the scale arrived and whether environmental factors, such as changes in climate, water chemistry and storm patterns, might have affected the scale’s spread.

Source: Baurick, Tristan. “Mystery Pest Wiping out Wetlands at the Mouth of the Mississippi River.” NOLA.com. Times-Picayune, 04 Apr. 2017. Web. 13 Apr. 2017.

Energy Storage Development Priority for Military

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 22

In an effort to improve energy security, military leaders are looking to use on-site power storage. Since they are not the experts on this technology, two of the military branches are reaching out to the energy industry for ideas about how to most effectively utilize this rapidly growing technology.

“Developers have been working on building and commercializing the necessary battery technology to complement intermittent renewable power sources, and now the military appears more interested in their success” (Mintz).

On April 25, the Army and Air Force, along with the Defense Logistics Agency, asked for information from companies regarding the new technology as well as their thoughts on “approaches, opportunities and strategies” for implementing energy storage projects on installations.

The interest comes as a logical next step to the military installing renewable energy systems on bases, said Michael McGhee, who heads the Army’s Office of Energy Initiatives, in an interview.

“To us, a very attractive situation would be where we have on-site generation on Army installations, on-site storage, whether that be fuel or battery storage, and then finally combined with the necessary controls that allow power to be turned inward … in the event of a grid disruption,” he said.

“The efforts, which have been ongoing for years, also tie to a recent Army directive on energy and water security, which ordered installations to work toward meeting mission-critical energy and water needs for a minimum of 14 days” (Greenwire, March 28).

While this technology looks very promising, there is a drawback. If there is horrible weather or a cyberattack, there could be potentially catastrophic grid disruptions.

“We do have a concern about the vulnerabilities that may be evident in the current infrastructure that is the national grid,” McGhee said.

Extreme weather is a great concern due to the increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events, he said, but equally concerning are “malevolent actors have been probing and are looking at and have been attempting to insert malware into systems that manage or otherwise operate the grid.”

“Those attacks appear to be intended to disrupt the grid in ways that would be rather catastrophic,” McGhee said. “We are concerned … that if these attacks are successful, they could result in large-scale and long-term grid outages, more than we have seen before.”

Do you think this technology should be utilized by the military? If so, how do you think they should use it?

Source: Mintz, Sam. “Military Focuses on Developing Energy Storage.” E&E News. Greenwire, 08 May 2017. Web. 08 May 2017.

Pest Destroying Wetlands Grass Identified

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 21

The unknown pest wreaking havoc on thousands of acres of a critical wetlands grass in the Mississippi River Delta is no longer unknown.  The pest has been identified as an invasive insect from Asia. After weeks of numerous consultations with scientists from all over the world, Louisiana State University announced Thursday, April 13th that the pest is known as Nipponaclerda biwakoensis, which is a type of scale originating from Japan and China.

It is still unknown to Louisiana scientists just how the scale arrived in Louisiana. The scientists have yet to discover how to stop the spread of the pest. Since fall, the scale has destroyed copious amounts of roseau cane, a tall grass considered vitally important for fish and bird habitats and for the stability of the fast-eroding delta. If the spread of the pest is not controlled soon, scientists and Plaquemines Parish residents worry the loss of the cane could speed up coastal erosion.

The most damage to the cane is located in the far south end of Plaquemines, including the Pass a Loutre Wildlife Management Area, where about 80 percent of the preserve’s 110,000 acres are affected by the pest. So far, the scale has spread as far north as the Bohemia Spillway.

“We’re the first on the North American continent to see it first, unfortunately,” said Joey Breaux, an environmental specialist with the state Department of Agriculture and Forestry.

LSU says that entomologist Scott Schneider is the scientist who first identified the scale. Schneider works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Systematic Entomology Laboratory in Beltsville, Md.

The British Natural History Museum’s John Noyes has discovered what could turn out to be the scale’s weakness. He believes that a type of tiny parasite, also native to Japan and China, preys upon the scale. The parasite, known by the scientific name neastymachus japonicus, appears to accept no other host but the particular type of scale now invading south Plaquemines.

Breaux said that the parasite could be released in Plaquemines to kill the scale. Unfortunately, this option comes with many unknowns, such as availability and price.

“Japan probably doesn’t have a batch of the parasite ready to ship,” Breaux said. “And if they did, it’d be expensive.”

If the parasite does not turn out to be a viable option, there are others. These include controlled marsh fires and pesticides. These other options come with their own set of risks.

“We want something affordable, do-able and environmentally friendly,” Breaux said. “In the meantime, we’re losing more roseau. We’ve got to get at it and do something.”

While we can all agree that something must be done and fast, what do you think is the best option for dealing with the scale? Can you think of any other ways of dealing with the scale? Do you think Louisiana scientists are handling the situation properly? In the meantime, what is your biggest concern regarding the presence of the scale?

Source: Baurick, Tristan. “Scientists Identify Pest Laying Waste to Mississippi River Delta Wetlands Grass.” NOLA.com. NOLA.com, 13 Apr. 2017. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.

Proposed Bill to Increase Leisure Fishing

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 20

A bill has again been proposed in the House that, if approved, will change the nation’s top fisheries law.  The bill specifically focuses on the need to make it easier for recreational fishermen to get access.

The bill is being referred to as the “Modern Fish Act.”  It would allow fishery managers to consider different avenues than the annual catch limits and the current 10-year limit on rebuilding fish stocks. The bill was proposed on April 6, 2017 by Reps. Garret Graves (R-La.), Gene Green (D-Texas), Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) and Rob Wittman (R-Va.).

This new bill allows for an alternative option to the bill proposed by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), which was not well received when it was introduced last year. Young’s bill, H.R. 1335, despite the controversy, did pass the House but did not make it to the Senate.  In the hope of getting the bill to reach the Senate, Young proposed a revised version of the bill earlier this year.

If either bill makes its way through the necessary channels, they would change the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.  Recreational fishing groups are supporting the “Modern Fish Act.”  They see the bill as a common-sense update to a law that was originally intended to regulate the commercial sector.  Some of the groups supporting the “Modern Fish Act” are the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, the Recreational Fishing Alliance, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, and a few other recreational and sportsmen’s groups.

“For decades, the recreational fishing community has been subjected to antiquated federal policies not designed to manage recreational fishing,” said Jeff Angers, president of the Center for Sportfishing Policy. “The time is now to update these policies so families can fully enjoy our nation’s remarkable marine resources and continue a proud American tradition on the water.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration attempted to address the recreational industry’s concerns in recent years through administrative actions. An example of this occurred last August when the agency released new guidance to urge fishery managers to review catch allocations.

“Today’s bill would require a periodic review of allocations, which recreational groups say are “locked in place” and favor the commercial sector. It would also “clarify” that NOAA is allowed to implement “alternative management approaches” that are more suitable to anglers, according to a summary of the bill” (Yehle).

It is possible that environmental groups will oppose the “Modern Fish Act” like they did for Young’s bill.  They opposed Young’s bill because they felt that it would weaken conservation measures.

Do you support or oppose the “Modern Fish Act?”  Why?  What changes, if any, do you think should be made to the “Modern Fish Act?”  What concerns, if any, do you have with the possible changes to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act?

Source: Yehle, Emily. “Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Boost Recreational Fishing.” Greenwire. E&E News, 06 Apr. 2017. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.