At Crystal Lake In Ellington, Vacuums Battle Aquatic Weeds

Crystal Lake appears as pristine as its name, at least on the surface.

But down below is where the milfoil lies -- a slimy and insidious aquatic invader residents here are battling to root out.

The Crystal Lake Association, a group of residents dedicated to preserving the lake, is taking action, with the help of $67,000 the town has put up for an anti-milfoil campaign. Milfoil can cause problems for boating and fishing, even swimming.

"We want our lake," said Jean Burns, a Crystal Lake Association Member and lakefront homeowner. "We want the resource to stay."

Native to Europe and Asia, milfoil is a freshwater weed that is an unwelcome presence in Connecticut from Candlewood Lake in the western part of the state to Crystal Lake in the East. The plant is believed to be transported between lakes and ponds by boat trailers and waterfowl.

The effort to get rid of the milfoil got underway today...[Link]

Dive for Earth Day events in SoCal and globally

This month, as we head toward Earth Day on Apr. 22, you’ll get a jolly green earful of great festivals and events where you can celebrate our planet upon terra firma. But since over 70% of the Earth’s surface consists of water, it’d make sense to get a little wet for the occasion, don’t you think?

That’s where Dive for Earth Day comes in. Initiated by environmental nonprofit Project AWARE Foundation in 2000, the campaign has prompted thousands of divers in over 115 countries to volunteer and raise awareness about our fragile aquatic environments. Projects on and surrounding Earth Day largely consist of beach and underwater cleanups as well as educational events.

Last year, in Katowice, Poland, 280 volunteers collected 1,500 bags of trash from shores and sea. On the Isle of Wight in the UK, a “fancy dress beach cleanup” attracted the likes of a James Bond look-a-like and others festively collecting tar, cans, bottles and other rubbish. On Maui, Hawaii, divers collected 500 pounds of garbage and recycled some of it, including fishing lines and weights that were cleaned and got a chance at new life via a local shop, according to the Project AWARE website...[LATimes]

New bill aims to protect Molokai's reefs from scuba divers

Molokai seems to attract independent people and the island has a reputation for standing on its own. Now, if a new fisheries bill passes, independence is exactly what Molokai will have.

'Molokai's Fisheries Bill' was introduced in the House by Mele Carroll and in the Senate by Kalani English. It has passed the first reading in both and will be headed for hearings if all goes well. As of this writing, 14 different Senators have signed on to the introduction of the bill.

The act establishes a community-based subsistence fishing area around Molokai to help protect the fish stocks and coral reef habitats. It would place the responsibility with the Molokai people, arguing there has been negligence by state agencies.

"Lack of meaningful stewardship threatens to cause irreparable harm to the cultural, social and economic well-being of the island," states the bill...[CDNN]

Patrolling the Deep

It is common to see a policeman patrolling the streets, directing traffic, even chasing after criminals and arresting lawless elements. But to find a policeman underwater?

It is indeed unusual to find our policemen in the deep sea, diving for trash. But Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Jesus Verzosa, an avid diver, made this happen through the Scubasurero project.

“There is a dramatic increase in pollution, particularly in the seas. Because of that, I initiated some environmental advocacies like our project Scubasurero,” says Verzosa, who chose the catchy name Scubasurero from the terms scuba diver and basurero or garbage collector.

“The Scubasurero project is our modest contribution to protecting the natural environment,” he adds.

The Scubasurero program focuses on the clean up of sea beds and shore lines. It also includes lectures on the importance of preserving the environment in a bid to involve the community in coastal clean up and preservation...[PhisStar.com]

In pictures: Tagging seahorses

Project Hippocampus, based in Mar Menor, south-east Spain, has been running a programme for two years to identify and tag seahorses in an attempt to learn more about the creatures’ movements and behaviour...[BBC]

Divers cut away at net that has been killing marine life

In the wee hours one morning in 2006, the trawler Infidel sank off the southern end of Santa Catalina Island, taking several tons of squid and a 9,000-pound fishing net down with it.

The Infidel came to rest on its keel, about 150 feet under the sea. But in the turbid currents, the fine-mesh hemp and polypropylene net -- 40 feet high, several hundred feet long and made to last thousands of years -- wrapped itself around the wreck and became a deadly snare for marine life.

It has been entangling and killing sea lions, dolphins, sharks and fish ever since, littering the sandy bottom with skulls and bones picked clean by crabs.

On Sunday morning, a team of volunteer scuba divers armed with filet knives and shears began cutting away the danger. Guided only by flashlights, they sliced off swaths of the netting, which they then attached to inflatable air bags that rose to the surface. From there, the netting was hauled aboard the 75-foot trawler Captain Jack...[LATimes]

Bush designates ocean conservation areas in final weeks as president

George Bush will designate nearly 200,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean as conservation areas on Tuesday, recasting his record on the environment just two weeks before leaving the White House.

Tuesday's formal announcement will establish Bush as the leader who has protected more of the oceans than anyone else in the world, environmentalists said. The three regions in the Pacific Ocean encompass some 195,280 square miles of remote and relatively uninhabited island chains. They include pristine coral reefs, vanishing marine species and the deepest place on Earth.

Their preservation brought rare praise from environmentalists who have spent much of the last eight years fighting Bush on climate change, air pollution, and wildlife management.

"The president has given the world a Texas-sized gift," said Diane Regas, manager of the ocean programme at the Environmental Defence Fund.

But the marine reserves were as much a gift from Laura Bush, who was credited with heading off determined opposition from the vice-president, Dick Cheney, as well as business leaders in the Mariana Islands who had lobbied on behalf of fishing and energy exploration...[Gaurdian.co.uk]

Underwater Forest Vs. Underwater Chainsaw

It may seem like a pipe dream for someone to come up with a viable solution to stop the endless logging in many parts of the world. Logging that is driven by people’s materialistic needs, usually the very same people who bemoan the loss of our rainforests and the effects of global warming. Yet one company, Triton, who have been in business for a number of years, discovered perfectly adequate resolution quite a while ago, its just few people know of it, or practice it.

Beneath the surface of many lakes around the world stand sprawling underwater forests. Towering trees that may have been submerged for decades but are no less usable than trees plucked from land forests. It’s thought there are around 300 million trees lying in a number of lakes formed after valleys were flooded to make way for dams and reservoirs. These perfectly preserved forests could easily be the answer conservationists have been looking for...[EnvironmentalGraffiti.com]