CHENNAI: Scientists, environmentalists and politicians are coming together to spearhead a new wave of protests against the Sethusamudram shipping canal in the south of India, claiming dangers to environment and Hindu religious symbols.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies are planning demonstrations across Tamil Nadu against the dredging of the coral reef in the waters near the temple town of Rameswaram.
The protest campaign has won unexpected supporters, all ganged up against a project that is a dream come true for the state’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party and its partners.
When completed, the canal will cut travel time for ships navigating between the west and east coasts of India. They will not have to circle Sri Lanka any more.


Read full article: 'Protests mount against Sethu shipping canal'

BREATHING air provided by algae watered with recycled urine, and pedalling a bike for electricity, an Australian aquanaut emerged today after 13 days living underwater in a "biosub".

Lloyd Godson entered the 2m by 3m yellow biosub capsule, submerged in a former quarry on wetlands near the southeastern town of Albury, on April 5.

His survival at a depth of 5m hinged on a coil of green algae which provided air in return for Mr Godson urinating on the plants each day.

"I will be glad to get out in the sunshine and fresh air again. I have even had thoughts of running like Forrest Gump, and just not stopping!" Mr Godson said before surfacing.


Read full article: 'Aquanaut emerges from urine-fuelled sub'

Beijing - The arrest of a prominent Chinese environmental activist who has campaigned for years against the pollution of Taihu Lake along the Yangtze River has once again drawn attention to the issue of how China deals with dissent.

Wu Lihong was hauled away from his home by police on Friday night as friends and neighbours tried in vain to prevent his arrest. 'He is a thorn in the side of local authorities,' a friend explained.


Read full article: 'Attempt to save polluted Chinese lake leads to arrest'

BOULDER, COLORADO, USA – April 17, 2007 – Support Bonaire, Inc., a U.S. non-profit organization created to help support Bonaire’s non-profit social and environmental efforts announced that its 2006 grants to various Bonaire non-profit organizations was US$60,271. Funding for Support Bonaire’s grants comes solely from individual donors who select from one of a series of special projects Support Bonaire has created to focus on particular needs on Bonaire. In some cases, donors may also request that Support Bonaire apply some part of their donation to their favorite charitable effort on Bonaire, a request that the Board of Directors of Support Bonaire typically honors.


Read full article: ' Support Bonaire, Inc. Grants Over US$60,000 to Bonaire Charities'

An official report reveals that the amount of solid and liquid waste, including industrial pollutants, pesticides and fertilisers, pumped into the Yangtze runs in the billions of tonnes. All life in the river is at the risk of extinction, even the common carp. The river provides 35 per cent of China’s freshwater resources.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The Yangtze, China’s longest waterway, is so polluted that all life it contains is at risk of extinction, this according to a report released by the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology (NIGLAS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in association with the World Wildlife Organisation and the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission. The river, which is also the world's third longest, represents 35 per cent of the country’s total fresh water resources. And the disaster is of such magnitude that much of the damage “is largely irreversible.”


Read full article: 'Beijing admits fish in Yangtze River are dying'

WASHINGTON (AP) _ A worldwide scientific effort to catalog every living species has topped the 1 million milestone. Six years into the program the total has reached 1,009,000, researchers report. They hope to complete the listing by 2011, reaching an expected total of about 1.75 million species.

Thomas M. Orrell, a biologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, said the finished catalog will include all known living organisms, from plants and animals to fungi and microorganisms such as bacteria, protozoa and viruses.


Read full article: 'Species Total Tops 1 Million'

Woods Hole, Massachusetts (Apr 14, 2007 17:48 EST) Scientists have found one of the largest fields of seafloor vents gushing super-hot, mineral-rich fluids on a mid-ocean ridge that, until now, remained elusive to the ten-year hunt to find them.

"The discovery of the first active vents ever found on an ultraslow-spreading ridge is a significant milestone event," said Jian Lin, leader of a team of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists who participated in a Chinese expedition to the remote Southwest Indian Ridge in the Indian Ocean in February and March.

Read full article: 'Seafloor Vents Discovered on Ultraslow-spreading Ridge'

ROME—Some of Europe's biggest retailers are urging the European Union to halve the amount of bluefin tuna allowed to be taken from the sea, saying the prized sushi fish could soon become extinct in the Mediterranean.



Read full article: 'Supermarkets Join Call for Curbs on Tuna Hunt'

Petaling Jaya, Malaysai (Apr 13, 2007 17:40 EST) Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said development projects cannot be implemented in Pulau Sipadan, Sabah, as the beautiful environment surrounding the island especially the coral reefs need to be protected.



Read full article: 'Sipadan Cannot be Developed'

SAN FRANCISCO - One of the nation's most ambitious plans to protect marine life was approved Friday when a state panel voted to ban or restrict fishing across more than 200 square miles of water off Central California.



Read full article: ''Landmark' marine life plan passes in California'

Washington, D.C. (Apr 12, 2007 13:59 EST) True World Foods, one of the largest suppliers of sushi meat in the United States, has entered into a partnership with leading Japanese whale meat trader, Kyokuyo, to distribute Kyokuyo's new frozen sushi product in the United States. In its new report, "Raw Deal," the Environmental Investigation Agency details Kyokuyo's decades-long involvement in hunting whales and its recent links to True World Foods.

Kyokuyo is a multinational seafood conglomerate that got its start in the 1930s as a whaling company operating in the Antarctic. Although it sold its stock in the government of Japan's whaling fleet last year, Kyokuyo has not cut its connections to the whaling industry. It continues to sell millions of cans of Polar Seas brand canned whale meat and other whale products across Japan and on the Internet.


Read full article: 'Major U.S. Sushi Supplier Linked to Japan's Whale Hunts'

More than seven million sharks and skates are killed every year as an unintended consequence of longline fishing off the west coasts of South Africa, Namibia and Angola, a report by environmental group WWF said on Thursday.

The practice also claims about 34 000 seabirds and 4 200 sea turtles a year in the area known as the Benguela ecosystem, according to the report compiled in association with conservation body BirdLife.

"The majority of albatross and sea-turtle species and many shark species are listed as threatened with extinction by the IUCN [World Conservation Union], with fisheries impacts being cited as a major cause," said a statement released in Cape Town.


Read full article: 'Longline fishing kills sharks, sea birds, turtles'

GALVESTON , Texas (12 Mar 2006) -- The underwater explorers who spent last week scouring the offshore continental shelf for signs of 19,000-year-old human habitation sailed back to Galveston empty-handed Saturday.

The crew of geologists, biologists and marine archeologists was hoping to find clues of human activity in the area during the last Ice Age, when they believe the Texas coastline extended 100 miles into the Gulf of Mexico.


Read full article: ''Secrets of the Gulf' still secret'

SOUTH SHIELDS, UK (10 Apr 2007) -- Bomb disposal experts were called in to detonate a Second World War device washed up on South Shields beach.

Hordes of families were enjoying the bank holiday by the sea yesterday when a youngster from Consett discovered the device at 3.20pm.

Littlehaven Beach and the surrounding area was evacuated and cordoned off by the police and coastguard.


Read full article: 'WW2 bomb detonated after washing up on UK beach'

Princeton, New Jersey (Apr 11, 2007 16:42 EST) Two of the world's worst natural disasters in recent years stemmed from different causes on opposite sides of the globe, but actually had much in common, according to researchers who are part of a large National Science Foundation-funded research initiative that has been studying both the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 and the Hurricane Katrina of 2005.

One of the research team's surprising conclusions: when it comes to the damage they wreak, hurricanes and tsunamis can bring surprisingly similar forces to bear.


Read full article: 'Damages from Indian Ocean Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina Surprisingly Similar'