“Answer to vanishing bees?”


Saving the Honeybee as Nature would have it!

Honeybees have been telling us the answer for thousands of years in “why” they swarm and “where”

they settle, unfortunately man could not see it, the answer was in front of them, invisible, but in front of them.

The answer is now below and very clear.

An HOLISTIC Way in Saving The “Honeybee”

International Bee Research Association (IBRA) Conference held at the University Of Worcester on the 29th January 2011.

My name is John Harding, I have kept, researched, experimented, observed and used logic and common sense in trying to keep as much to nature as possible while keeping honeybees. During the last 30 years I have invented bee equipment that does bare my name.
“I have not used sugar or chemicals for the past 18 years, due to the first approved licensed chemical treatments killing a percentage of my queens“.
I hoped that one day I would find a natural remedy for the parasitic mite Varroa. This, I have now done.
Explanation
We know that honeybees have been on this planet for 100 to 200 million years depending which book you read, so honeybees have evolved with planet earth. This has brought with it changing climates, polarity change, a change in continents with moving earth plates and a change in flora. In all that time honeybees have been dealing with disease, mites, intruders and any other alien insect or animal, even man.
Habitat
During this time, their home has been in hollow trees, caves or covered protected position so they may get away from draughts, rain or severe weather to build their amazing honeycomb nest that is kept to an accurate temperature +or-1 degree to raise their numbers required for survival both in summer and winter.
Mankind
Thousands of years ago man found honey. Due to the honeybees perilous home positions being high in a cave or high up in a tree, man decided to re-home the honeybee into logs, boxes, skeps and then beehives so as to make it easier to harvest honey. A form of domestication.

Has Man made a difference?………………..NO!
Except for realising a unique space (Langstroth) that honeybees respect, meaning we as beekeepers can inspect our colonies with frames rather than killing off the bees, that were kept in a skep, then held over a sulphur pit to kill the bees just to get the honey. This observation only happened 150 years ago. Queen excluders were also invented.

Are there any other major discoveries?………………..YES!
Eddie Woods (a BBC sound engineer) discovered 60 years ago inside the honeybee nest that vibration levels was measured between 190 hertz and 250 hertz during normal conditions however when swarming this vibration went up to 300 hertz.
Was any scientific work carried out at the time or later?……………….NO!
If it had we could be further along the path of understanding the honeybee better. Beekeeping today is much the same as it was in the beginning except of course the Langstroth frame space, the Bee Dance (Von Frisch) and Queen excluder.
Have Beekeeping books changed?……………………NO!
The amount of knowledge we have gained about the mysterious honeybee, it always seems to be much the same, repetition, but more in depth, more of a scientific language.
Can we still learn from the honeybee?………………..YES!…………….HOW?
Using observation, common sense and logic and asking “What do honeybees really want?”.

Honeybees did not ask to be put into a log, skep, box or beehive.

However, while in our care, we, as beekeepers, should give them and treat them as if they were in a wild state of nature.

Healthy honey bees

We know they want and use vibration.(Woods)
We know they will respect a unique space.(Langstroth)
We know they use electromagnetic north/south in honeycomb building and in flight.
We know with a strong colony, disease and varroa can be kept to a minimum.
We also know with a colony of strength our rewards of honey is greater.

So! What do honeybees really want?………..VIBRATION!


How is this vibration generated and used?
At the moment by the honeybees themselves, they use this to communicate, to ward off predators and to keep their micro existent climate to a perfect temperature of 96 degrees farhrenheit plus or minus 1 degree when rearing brood (young larvae), but is this amount of vibration sufficient? Unfortunately NO!

Can it be found elsewhere?…………YES!………………….Within Planet Earth (NASA)
Planet earth has evolved, so trees, animals, plants, fish, birds and insects has evolved with it and so too, honeybees, evolving with planet earth. Which is why honeybees not only need a high vibration of 250hertz to sustain their micro-environment but actively look for it when swarming.

How could man know this?
You cannot see, feel, touch or sense this low vibration but honeybees can.


Planet earth vibrates an energy constantly at 7.83 hertz (NASA) unless disturbed.

Honeybees use vibration to get their micro-climate between 190 hertz & 250 hertz (Woods).

Honeybees are placed by man in a beehive where man wants it, if the beehive is positioned on 7.83 hertz  (where the bees do  not want it.-editor’s note)

the following will no doubt happen.


Honeybees will now have to work 31.9 times greater to get to their normal vibration levels of between 190 hertz and 250 hertz (Woods) just to stand still.

“I have reason to believe this weakens them, their immune system and defense mechanism then becoming an easy target for any alien predators like Varroa“.
Now, not being able to cope, over-stressed, disorder with eventual collapse, dying or disappearance is inevitable.


However, in many cases, they swarm prematurely leaving behind a weak colony that will inevitably perish! (Poor queen cells resulting in small and weak virgin queens that may or may not get mated and still being overrun with varroa).
Does planet earth vibrate an energy to the higher level of 250htz?…………..YES!


Transmitted upwards through underground rivers and called Geopathic Stress Lines.
These rivers are everywhere around the planet, like, i.e.; blood vessels in our own body. Remember it has taken 4 billion years to get to where we are today.

Everything has evolved together, for a reason, to be where it is and why it is there. The climate, planet earth and logic has dictated that over millions of years.
Where does the higher earth vibration energy come from and how?
Planet earths normal vibration energy of 7.83 hertz gets interrupted by hollow chambers of running water/fluid creating friction allowing oscillation to resonate to become an Electromagnetic Wave Vibration Energy which will increase it up to and above 250 hertz.

Sound familiar? (The same vibration that honeybees require in the nest)

The rivers/lines of fluid are normally very close to each other varies in-depth and only being up to 4 feet wide, like a cobweb, zig zagging their way across the planet at depths of 200 feet or 300 feet creating vibration and rising upwards to the surface and skywards, creating an electromagnetic energy curtain that reaches to about 30,000 feet. (Birds use this curtain to migrate thousands of miles).

There are 14 rivers/lines in my 3 bed detached house and 80 foot garden, so they are not miles apart, but everywhere, in close proximity, around the planet.

What is the connection between the honeybee’s vibration 250 hertz and Earth’s vibration 250 hertz?
We know that honeybees maintain 250 hertz vibration within their nests (Woods).

It is just  a coincidence? Logically, bees are drawn to planet earth 250 hertz vibration energy when they swarm.
Honeybees have “evolved” together with planet earth over millions of years, being drawn to the higher earth vibration energy, which is compatible to their own, giving honeybees less work to do, in getting to their optimum vibration within their micro-existent environment.


Honeybees need this higher vibration energy so they work 31.9 times less.


Then are able to deal with any unwelcome intruders, like the Varroa mite, hence why honeybees are drawn to it in various ways.


Are other species/organisms attracted to the higher vibration?…………..YES!
All Honeybees, Wasps, bumble bees, Ants, Cats, Oak Trees and much, much more are all attracted to and found above earths higher vibration energy. All organism are attracted to or repelled from these lines of high or low energy vibration.

Cats will always sleep on a vibration/energy line.


Are honeybees drawn to Planet Earth higher energy vibration?………….. YES!

Swarms

Yes, every time they swarm. Honeybees always settle above a 250 hertz energy line. This has been checked on every swarm collected, about 30, in the past 3 years. All wasps nest and bumble bee nest have chosen these energy lines when checked.

Bait hives

All bait hives placed above a line attracted a swarm.

Abandoned hives

Whenever I was called out to inspect abandoned hives there was always one beehive above a line. This was the only hive with bees in and thriving. The others had died.

Self – selection

Apiaries were left for 4 years to choose by for self-selection. After this time the only hives that survived, with little or no varroa were above a line, all the others had died.

The ones with little varroa were on metal stands. (Metal, see later). The hives on wooden stands had no varroa

Varroa resistant strain

In my early days of queen rearing, I too thought I varroa resistant strain only to find out every one that showed these qualities was above a line. I could not understand why they were so poor when moved to a new site, having shown perfect qualities when in the original site.(This was before I knew about the lines).

Any beekeeper that thinks he/she has a Varroa resistant strain. I can guarantee will always be above a line.


Feral Colonies

They have not been killed off by Varroa, it was an assumption, not scientific. Beekeepers are to blame by putting hives in the wrong place where they die out with Varroa, so no swarms or feral colonies. The swarms that are successful in becoming feral colonies are still out there surviving. Reduced in numbers, yes, due to beekeepers, but they are always found above a line sometimes two lines crossing. This begs another question of why do they prefer two lines crossing if at all? which I cannot answer. I used science and lab conditions to find out these answers.These feral colonies should never be moved unless insisted upon by the homeowner. They will die if moved or taken, then put in the wrong position by man inevitable overdosed by Varroa. We are killing them thinking we are saving them.

Sheffield University

I was invited by Ricarda Kather to explain my hypothesis, while there I checked their apiary without any prior knowledge not knowing which was the best or worst beehive as all looked identical. These I believe were used for Varroa hygiene. I found the two best beehives that gave the best hygienic results. These were above a line.

Observations.

Hygienic behaviour

My apiaries have not changed during my beekeeping so observations have been made pre-lines, for queen rearing selection. During all these years Cleanliness, Varroa Resistance, Hygiene and Grooming have always been noticed to be far better than others within the same apiary not realising they were on a line.

Honeybees can deal with Varroa when above a line.

Honey yield

When above a GS line the honey yield is always 2 or 3 times greater.

Queens

These colonies have tended to supersede and not swarm. Clearly they are in the right place so why swarm unless congested?

This does beg the question

“Is swarming induced by man?” being put in the wrong place by man.

How long have honeybees been trying to tell us by swarming that we don’t like it here but would like to be over there where we settle?
Case studies that will cost you nothing.

Case study 1 (within the same apiary)
Take 2 hives of similar size and queen (“A/B“), both infected with Varroa, place “A” above a line, place “B” away from the line.
Hive A; within 6 to 8 weeks this hive will have very little Varroa or none at all and thriving requiring supers.
Hive B; after 6 to 8 weeks will still be heavily infected with Varroa and much weaker.
Next season reverse these same two hives (if B is still alive) You will observe B becomes Varroa free and A is infected with Varroa.

If you can use 2 apiaries within the same year, but far enough apart, the above exchange can be done after 3 months.

Case study 2 (within the same apiary)

Take 2 hives of similar size and queen (“C/D”), both infested with Varroa, place “C” above a line, place “D” away from the line.
Hive C; within 6 to 8 weeks this hive will have very little or no Varroa (above as A).
Hive D will be as B, heavily infected with Varroa.
After 3 months change over the queens from C and D, becoming CD and DC. CD; You would imagine CD would improve D to be Varroa free, not so, it carries on being infected with Varroa. DC; Is still Varroa free.“I have used these case studies on countless occasions, with many infected hives, and the results always being the same”
Conclusion for both case studies……….
It is not strain or queen quality but the positioning of the beehive,  over an electromagnetic Geopathic Stress Line that vibrates energy at 250 hertz.

Electromagnetic Geopathic Stress Lines once found can be verified by using a simple compass, it will show a few degrees disparity from normal.

Metal negatively affect bees

Metal structures under the beehive seem to influence these energy vibrations so it is not advisable to use metal stands or put beehives above a metal structure such as a metal structure building. Metal above the nest appears okay.

I have been asked what about the metal Varroa screens below the hive, will that effect it? 

No! You will now not need it, because you wont have Varroa!

Another question. Is it the honeybees dealing with Varroa or Varroa not liking the higher vibration?

Phase two:
“This is where I need a Large Company (with an interest in Keeping Honeybees Alive or Organic Honey), University or Chemical Company for funding to help with Scientific Acclamation, Manufacturing a hand-held device, deal with media and promotions etc“.

There will always be questions, especially to a way forward. I have the answer for that to! This is just one very important question answered to stop honeybees dying.


A HOLISTIC Way in Saving The “Honeybee”

(IBRA)VARROA-STILL A PROBLEM IN THE 21ST CENTURY?

NOT FOR ME OR OTHERS THAT ARE USING MY HYPOTHESIS! (Harding)


However, that is until it is scientifically proved then IBRA may or may not sanction my hypothesis, you will have to draw on your own conclusions. 

I invite modern research to confirm my hypothesis.


John Harding

(I am not a writer or scientist, just a passionate beekeeper that does not want his bees to die!)


Copyright John Harding 2009/10/11


If you feel the need to contact me then please do.

harding@clavies.freeserve.co.uk

07974121472 or 01384423557 (Stourbridge, West Mids).

Reprinted with permission from the author.

Resources

Images 1 & 2 courtesy of Nature’s Crusaders library

Image 3  courtesy of  thegreenparent.com  http://goo.gl/LWbhJ

For more info

“Help cool Mother Nature with your garden plants + trees this year!”


Cool our climate by planting a garden this year.

Use garden tools and products that decrease your carbon foot print:
1. Weed, prune and rake leaves by hand
2. Use an electric or push lawn mower.
3. Use home made/organic compost and natural pest-control methods.
4. Avoid peat, using compost or peat-free potting and seed-starting mixes instead.

Plant trees and shrubs that fit your climate zone :
1. Plant trees and shrubs that have a long life span and plant them on the east, west or south side of their home.
2. Position new trees where they will shade your home in summer or provide protection from winter winds.

3. Trees help beautify the community, shade buildings to conserve energy thereby reducing carbon emissions resulting from energy production.

4. Trees provide habitat for wildlife and  trap air pollutants.

5. Trees control stormwater runoff.

6. Trees block soil erosion.

7. Trees transpire moisture from their leaves which absorbs heat and helps cool air temperatures at the hottest times of year and reduces the urban heat island effect.

8. Plant trees and plants that fit your hardiness zone. Check with the beautification council in your city for trees best for your area. Avoid trees that are susceptible to insect infestations.

Compost-recycle yard clippings and food waste ( not meat, dessert or processed food scraps.
* Make compost bin to reduce heat-trapping methane emissions from landfills.
* Use compost in the garden to increase carbon sequestering in the soil.

Green up your lawn.
* After mowing the grass on your lawn by leaving the grass clippings to fertilize the soil, reducing the need for added fertilizer and increasing carbon storage.
* Minimize watering, which has been linked to increased emissions of heat-trapping nitrous oxide from lawns.
Install a drip system and harvest your rain and grey water for garden use.

Encourage climate-friendly organic farms in your area.
* Support farmers who adopt climate-friendly agricultural practices such as cover cropping and crop rotation and who reduce their use of chemical fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides.
Buy local climate friendly organic produce.

Help cool Mother Nature with your garden this year!


To show your support for Climate-Friendly Gardens 
click here

Resources
Excerpts
courtesy of   thepetitionsite.com/takeaction

Image 1. courtesy of  http://bit.ly/chapyX

Video courtesy of  YOUTUBE.com

Image 2. courtesy of  peocom.com/tree.gif

Map courtesy of  accuracyproject.org/PlantZoneMap.jpg

“Is Big Oil running this world amuck?”


Who runs the  degradation of the planet?

This madness of excessive oil disasters around the world is the responsibility of us all. Why?  We have trusted that big oil will take care of our way of life and our modern life style and industry, but time to rethink that belief.  Here are of few examples of why we need a new director of modern life.

Climate:

Saudis block call for warming report on June 11, 2010.  Saudi Arabia a call by vulnerable island states at climate talks for a study into the impact of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming.

Why?

The appeal came from the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS), gathering low-lying islands in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and the Pacific, which is lobbying hard for the UN climate arena not to abandon the 1.5 C target.
The goal is receding as emissions of greenhouse gases rise and political problems for tackling climate change multiply.
AOSIS, supported by the European Union (EU), Australia and New Zealand, called for a technical report on the cost of reaching the 1.5 C target and the consequences of breaching it.
But it was thwarted by Saudi Arabia, with support from Kuwait and Qatar, under the UN’s consensus rule,because they argue that action on carbon emissions control to decrease global warming will hurt their revenues as fossil-fuel consumers switch to cleaner energy

So what if small island states could disappear from sea level rise due to global temperature rise to be kept below 1.5 C.

Where was the US and other countries backing for this bill? Who did not support it were conspicuous by their absence.

Water

From the BP oil from the Gulf gusher, Exxon Valdez and the pipe breaking on the Alaska pipeline, BP has learned that they are so well insulated that no matter the size of the disaster their insurance picks up most of the tab.  People forget and profits get better. People, nature and the environment are only around to help them increase profits.

BP got away with paying only 3% of the bill for the Exxon-Valdez mess. They  had assured the people of Alaska and the state and federal agencies, they could contain all accidents, but never bought the equipment or trained people to operate containment equipment, because it would have cost them about 1 million to complete their end of the bargain. They saved their money instead.   Is this why their logo is green?

Gulf of Mexico

They are required to have safety equipment the rubber skirts to contain oil and the ships to draw up the spillage on site, but had none and have never brought any in.  People will forget.

Cut costs  1 bill while increase production off shore and took difference out of safety budget.

BP claims to be picking up the bill for this disaster, but their is a cap on how much they have to pay-75 million liability limit.  Guess who will pay?  People will forget.

Since the blackening blanket began spreading across the Gulf of Mexico, the cost of oil per barrel has risen by $2.5 dollars a barrel. BP made 4 million dollars  a day before the crisis,  now it makes 10 million  per day.  Why should they worry about containment. People forget and go back to work on those rigs.

BP has mastered making money iearned cheap to cheep out on safety and repair; it saves my bottom line.  They are getting away with it again.

Land+ SEA  Africa

Seismic tests over the past 50 years have shown that countries up the coast of East Africa have natural gas in abundance and suggest the presence of massive offshore oil deposits. Those finds have spurred oil explorers to start dropping more wells in East Africa, a region they say is an oil and gas bonanza just waiting to be tapped, one of the last great frontiers in the hunt for hydrocarbons.

“The question is not if any hydrocarbon deposits exist, but where they are.” 

It doesn’t help that the region is so geologically complex with lots of fractures and offshore oil deposits likely deep underground. The countries with  large potential deposits regularly go to war and unrest and leaders that cannot lead. Somalia remains a no-go zone, and Ethiopia’s eastern Ogaden region is beset by a violent rebel insurgency. And while Mozambique’s civil war may have ended in 1992, it has taken years for the country to recover.

The west African countries where big oil has set up shop have had their local way of life destroyed. The oil companies have polluted their waters and made may coastal areas and river banks uninhabitable from the trash and water pollution left behind.

Oil in Africa — from the Gulf of Guinea to northwestern Sudan — lies at the heart of questions of good governance and development, as oil prices and revenues soar but fail to bring better living standards for millions of poor.

There is no person or group powerful enough to regulate these amoral oil giants to hold them accountable for responsible care of the planet much less to demand they improve  the quality of life everywhere they drill.

How long will we allow this arrogant blind greed to control and destroy our economy and world? Listen to what a life long biologist has to say as he flew over the Gulf of Mexico this weekend.

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of   terradaily.com/Climate_Saudis

Excerpts courtesy of  time.com/time

Excerpts courtesy of  petroleumworld.com

Video courtesy of   YOUTUBE.com

Video courtesy of  youtube.com

Image 1. courtesy of   greenprophet.com/dubai-money

Image 2. courtesy of  cartype.com/bp

Image 3. courtesy of  time.com and Steve Allen/Getty

“Time to help strengthen environmental protections”


The US Senate on June 10th the Senate is scheduled to vote on a resolution, sponsored by Sen. Murkowsk ito block use of the Clean Air Act which would ensure that new power plants and factories use the cleanest, affordable technology.  Sen. Murkowski’s “Dirty Air Act”  also seeks to reverse new clean car standards.

This is completely unacceptable and infuriating.

Don’t let Lisa Murkowski and her Big Oil buddies ruin our air as well as our oceans

Please dial (202) 224-3121 right now

tell your senators to vote “NO” on Senator Murkowski’s Dirty Air Act.

We also need you to spread the word on your social networks, recruit your friends and bring it up at dinner conversations this week. By engaging your friends, you help us build the movement to defeat these bad ideas and pass solid laws that protect our environment.

Your help is critical now.  Nature’s Crusaders,  NRDC Action Fund and Mother Nature thanks you.

Click here to help now. NRDC Action Fund

“Good News AFF gives Helena National Forest gift of new life”


There is good news  to share.

American Forest Foundation (AFF) gave the Helena National Forest recently received $26,000 to reforest more than 500 acres in the Big Belt Mountains and near Stemple Pass.Healthy forests are an endangered species these days so this help is greatly appreciated.

Lodgepole pine seedlings

Tree planting will target the burned areas by Maudlow-Toston and Cave Gulch burnt during the 2000 fire season. More than 40,000 acres of trees in these areas were destroyed.
“The Helena Forest, will acquire 170,000 Douglas fir and lodgepole pine seedlings from the grant money received from the American Forest Foundation will be added to the Helena Forest’s funding to expand its efforts for 2010 to areas that are generally harsh sites where natural regeneration has been unsuccessful.

Douglas fir seedling bring hope

When these trees grow they will provide watershed restoration, cover for wildlife habitat and natural beauty forest visitors and carbon sequestering for the planet.

Planting will begin in the Sulphur Bar and Blacktail areas off of the Deep Creek Highway, but closed to the public.

“Thanks AFF for continuing to help Mother Nature along.” -Nature’s Crusaders and Mother Nature

For more information about the American Forest Foundation grant or Helena National Forest tree planting efforts, contact forest silviculturist Amanda Milburn at 449-5201.

Resources
Excerpts
courtesy of   helenair.com
Excerpts courtesy of

Image (lodgepine) courtesy of  nps.gov/fire/postfiresuccession.jpg
Image (Douglas fir) courtesy of  bordenmemorialforest.com

“”Glimpses of hope for our endangered ocean life”


Using the camera to share a message of hope for the resilience of our oceans, Brian Skerry’s labor of love has been telling the stories of the ocean for thirty years. His images and words covey his deep love and respect portray for endangered wonders of the ocean life, but convey his message of hope, the timeliness, and  relevance.

Brian usually lives amongst his subjects for eight months of the year in the field,  enduring extreme conditions to capture the complete story of his beloved wildlife above and below the sea. He has lived on the bottom of the sea, spent months aboard fishing boats and dived beneath the Arctic ice to get his shot. He has spent over 10,000 hours underwater.

Brian Skerry has been a photographer for National Geographic Magazine since 1998.

“Thank you for your timeless awesomely beautiful, tender portraits of some of the oceans most endangered creatures as seen in  the photographs you shared at the TED presentation.”  (Click link )

– Mother Nature

Resource


Video
courtesy of TED.com and YOUTUBE,com

Image courtesy of National Geographic and Brian Skerry

“Historic pact to save Canadian boreal forest lands”


A truce of possibly historic nature for nature.
Two unlikely bed fellows have come together and laid down their prejudices to help save a two thirds of the all the certified boreal forest lands in Canada. This area of old growth forest that forms the border between Canada and the tundra is critically

Ancient Canadian forest and migratory Woodland caribou saved

important to carbon sequestering for the earth and home to the migratory Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou).

The Forest Products Association of Canada and nine leading environmental groups collectively have agreed to the boreal forest and the woodland caribou while allowing sustainable forestry practices to continue. The agreement was signed on May 18, 2010 with the world watching.

Through the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement 72 million hectares (277,993.554 square miles) of forest licensed to FPAC members. Under the agreement, new logging will be suspended on nearly 29 million hectares (111,969.626 square miles) of boreal forest, and in return Canopy, ForestEthics and Greenpeace will suspend their “Do Not Buy” campaigns while the agreement is being implemented.

Area of Suspended Timber Harvest in Boreal Caribou Range

endangered migrating Woodland caribou

This is our best chance to save the endangered “Woodland caribou, permanently protect vast areas of the boreal forest and put in place sustainable forestry practices,” said Richard Brooks, spokesperson for participating environmental organizations and Forest Campaign Co-ordinator of Greenpeace Canada.

Another Canadian company that supports sustainable lumber practices is RONA’s Wood Products, the largest Canadian distributor and retailer of hardware, renovation and gardening products, will by the end of 2010, buy and sell only 100% of the softwood lumber – spruce, pine and fir – sold in corporate and franchised stores will be from forests certified under three programs recognized by RONA: the Forest Products Marking Program (CSA), the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The policy gives preference to lumber certified to the FSC standard, which the Company considers best responds to its requirements with regards to biodiversity and relations with local communities.

Go Canada -Mother Nature thanks you.

Will Walmart, Home Depot and Lowe’s follow suit in the US? Buy sustainable or recycled or pressed wood products.

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of  canadianborealforestagreement

Excerpts courtesy of absoluteastronomy.com/Migratory_Woodland_Caribou

Image 1. courtesy of  resurrectionfern.typepad.jpg

Image 2. courtesy of  cpawsmb.org/woodland-caribou.jpg

Map of protected boreal forest canadianborealforestagreement.com

“North Pacific Grey whale found vacationing off coast Israel”


Possible this is the first time in 200 to 300 years that a Grey whale has been seen off the coast of Israel. It is an adult mammal a mature whale measuring some 12 meters (39 feet) and weighing around 20 tons.

grey whale

The Grey whale was first sighted off Herzliya in central Israel on Saturday May 8. It is possible that it traveled thousands of miles from the north Pacific through the melting ice of the Bering Straights looking for food.  It appears to be underweight, and might have gone astray.

“It’s an unbelievable event which has been described as one of the most important whale sightings ever,” said Dr Aviad Scheinin, chairman of the Israel Marine Mammal Research and Assistance Center which identified the creature.

Once the Grey whales were plentiful in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but the population of the Atlantic Grey whales became extinct in the 17th or 18th centuries. Until this sighting the only remaining colonies live in the western and eastern sectors of the north Pacific.

The Pacific Greys annually travel 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometres) round trip from the northeastern Pacific  rim in  October to warmer waters around the Gulf of California and back.
So it is possible that this whale when autumn came,  began travelling south, keeping the land mass on the left and heading for the Californian Gulf with the aim of “turning left” into the bay.

But instead, it reached Gibraltar and turned left into the Mediterranean and ended up off the shores of Israel, Scheinin said.

“The question now is: are we going to see the re-colonisation of the Atlantic?” he said. “This is very important ecologically because of the change of habitat. It emphasises the climate change that we are going through.”

So far, the whale seems to be happy enough in the waters off the shores of Israel, he said.

“It is pretty thin, which indicates the trip was quite harsh, but we think it can survive here,” he said. “Grey whales are very generalist in what they feed on.”

Is this the first of many Greys to relocate?   Keeping waterways clean can foster the re-habitation of many species.

Resources

Excerpts and Image courtesy of  TerraDaily.com and AFP

“Oceans our life”


As the Obama administration was approving the disastrous BP drilling, it was also lifting the decades-long, nationwide moratorium on new offshore oil drilling. It plans to push similarly dangerous oil rigs into Alaska, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic Coast from Maryland to Florida.
Here are some reasons presented by we should protect the ocean and all are waterways.

Fifty years ago the ocean was pristine and balance place to live. Sylvia Earle pleads with us to save our life by saving our oceans and waterways. The ocean is on life support. We have dumped and polluted , over fished and caused the warming of the ocean the heart of the earth.

Ninety percent of the big fish in the sea are gone in fifty years! We have only protected .8 percent of our oceans as National or International Marine Reserves.
Listen to Sylvia as she helps us find ways to protect our water, fish and all sea life.

Part of helping save our oceans is to protect them from reckless drilling. Our government must be encouraged to move in this direction.  Interior Secretary Ken Salazar proudly boasted, it will be the biggest expansion of offshore oil drilling in 30 years over the next ten years.

We have to take action right away. Make a special emergency donation now to our new Gulf Disaster Fund.

Please make a special, emergency donation today to our Gulf Disaster Fund.

Thank you for this generous emergency contribution.

Resources

Excerpts courtesy of Center for Biological Diversity

Video courtesy of  ted.com

“Clubbing of seals a subsidized hobby”


Every spring, harp seal pups off the east coast of Canada are barbarically clubbed and shot to death by sealers for their fur. This year due to global warming and the melting of the ice flows, sadly, baby seals will perish before the sealers arrive.   Clubbing seals for fun and profit

We must speak out and urge Canada to cancel the hunt and spare the surviving pups.
Wolves, seals, polar bears, whale on and on to some countries trading in animals parts and making money on the backs of threatened or endangered animals is a way of life.

In the US we cannot throw stones, we just finished slaughtering over 500 wolves and brought the numbers down to unsustainable levels.

Now Canada will allow seal hunters to slaughter 388,200 harp, grey and hooded seals this year, an increase of 50,000 from 2009.

Clubbed and skinned alive

The current kill levels are higher than they have been in half a century.
Canada’s annual commercial clubbing of seals is the largest commercial hunt of marine mammals on the planet. But will the few pennies made by each fisherman/hunter backfire on their commercial fishing income?
How?  Culling harp seals could further inhibit recovery of commercially valuable fish stocks in the Northwest Atlantic.

Time to up the pressure some more the growing worldwide criticism does not seem to penetrate the thick $$ hide of those backing the slaughter. Besides the blatant hunt’s cruelty of the hunt, the Canadian government and fishing industry have spread lots of misinformation.
The real facts about the Canadian hunt:
In 2006, 98 percent of the harp seals killed were pups under just three months of age.
Sealers are fishermen from Canada’s East Coast. There are under 6,000 fishermen who actively participate in the seal hunt each year.
Cruelty of the hunt?
Veterinarians who studied the hunt concluded that the seal hunt failed to comply with Canada’s basic animal welfare standards. In 42 percent of the cases studied, the seals had likely been skinned alive while conscious.
There are no penalties if hunters exceed their quotas. In 2004, sealers killed close to 16,000 seals more than the permitted quota. Again, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans extended the sealing season until well into June.
Each killing method is cruel. Shooting at seals from moving boats, the pups may only be wounded. if so then they are often left to suffer in agony—many slip beneath the surface of the water where they die slowly and are never recovered.

Why do they  kill so many?
Seals are killed for their fur which is make into fashion garments, seal oil  is used for both industry and for human consumption, and seal penises have been sold in Asian markets as an aphrodisiac. The commercially useless seal carcasses are left to rot where they lay on the ice.
This hunt is subsidized by the Canadian government at tax payers expense. The seal hunt is also indirectly subsidized by the Norwegian government. It purchases about 80% of the seal skins from the hunt and the skins are shipped unprocessed to Norway, There to be tanned and re-exported.
In the 1990s, the Canadian government rejuvenated the commercial seal hunt through massive subsidies. Nearly one million seal pups killed in the past three years alone, will this be yet another mammal driven to extinction through the blind greed of man?
Please take action now.

Boycott Canadian fish until seal slaughter is stopped for good.


Resources

Excerpts courtesy  of HSUS http://bit.ly/cNrEbX
Image 1. http://bit.ly/dcjkCa
Image 2. http://bit.ly/akWOM2

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