globalbriefs


Fish Fried New Numbers Confirm Global Overfishing


The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organiza- tion has been collecting reports for decades on how many fish are caught in the oceans annually. How- ever, those numbers don’t take into account small- scale, recreational and illegal fishing or the bycatch that’s discarded before boats return to harbors. A study published in Nature Communications increases the actual total world catch from 1950 to 2010 by 50 percent. Daniel Pauly, author of the University of British Columbia study, states, “The


world is withdrawing from a joint bank account of fish without knowing what has been withdrawn or the remaining balance. Better estimates for the amount we’re tak- ing out can help ensure there’s enough fish to sustain us in the future.” Based on offi- cial counts, global catches peaked in 1996 and have declined modestly each year. The decline isn’t due to less fishing or restrictions on certain fish, though. “It’s due to the countries fishing too much and having exhausted one fish after the other,” says Pauly. The findings also emphasize the value of fisheries to low-income people in


developing countries. The next steps will require well-informed action to preserve this critical resource for people and for the planet.


Source: Tinyurl.com/OverfishingReport


Toxic Teflon Scientists Increasingly Find It Dangerous


According to a new meta-analysis of previous stud- ies, Philippe Grandjean, of Harvard, and Rich- ard Clapp, of the University of Massachusetts, concluded that DuPont Teflon, used for 50 years to make frictionless cookware, is much more dangerous than previously thought, causing can-


cer, birth defects and heart disease, and weakening the immune system.


Even though Teflon’s harmful perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is no longer produced or used, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found it in the blood of more than 99 percent of Americans studied, because it can be passed from mother to unborn child in the womb. The researchers say that the federal government’s recommended “safe” level, set in 2009, is as much as 1,000 times too high to fully protect people’s health. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has yet to set a legal allowable limit for its presence in drinking water.


Source: EnvironmentalHealthNews.org


Recycling Nutrients Animal Droppings Help Forests Absorb CO2


A paper published in Forest Ecosys- tems concludes that frugivores, large, fruit-eating animals like toucans, tapirs, curassows and spider monkeys, help to keep the woods healthy by eating fruits and spreading seeds. As traps for carbon and an effective defense against global warming, forests collectively absorb up to 30 percent of the world’s CO2


emissions and store more than 1,600 gigatons of carbon in the soil. “You have a lot of large birds that


play a fundamental role for large trees,” says study author Mauro Galetti. “They increase the likelihood that seeds will turn into actual photosynthesizing plants.” However, big, tropical birds are constantly under threat of hunt- ing, poaching and habitat loss; the International Union of Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources’ Red List notes that 14 of the world’s 16 toucan species, for instance, are decreasing in population. The study found that with- out the help of high-capacity frugivores, there would be no way for larger seeds to grow into the towering trees that store carbon best. Scientists now want to research


Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond to it.


~Lou Holtz 26 Long Island Edition www.NaturalAwakeningsLI.com


individual species to calculate how much each animal’s services are worth in terms of battling climate change. Putting a dollar amount on a species, say Galetti, could be the only way to persuade governments to protect it.


Find the study at Tinyurl.com/ForestCar- bonReport.


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