Ban on landing of trash fishes at Karachi Harbour: fish traders' strike enters third day

 
  
RECORDER REPORT

Fish traders' strike on Wednesday entered third day against official ban on landing of trash seafood at Karachi Fish Harbour, fishermen said. Fishermen said the strike reduced the fish and shrimp rates by 50 percent within the last three days, adding that the government and traders dispute has badly hit their living.

They feared there are several boats anchored at the harbour with loaded seafood stuff during the last three days. "The seafood stuff loaded in the boats is likely to decay as the cooling in holds is gradually losing," fishermen said. The government has suddenly imposed ban on trash fish and shrimp landing and disallowed all coming boats to landing their catch. "The policy should be implemented with consensus and with clear warnings to boats," they noted.

The ordinance, which the government has implemented now, has been in place for the last 28 years but the authorities paid any head to the grim situation that the country's seas are facing from growing seabed trawling. "The government and traders should end their dispute immediately to facilitate the local fishermen, whose earnings are relied on sales of fish and shrimp to maintain their families amid growing inflation," they said.

They said the government continued to spare the sea-lords, who are using the banned nets for seafood catch in creeks. The nets are so thin that catch undersized shrimp and fish species which are not fit for human consumption and sold at cheaper rates as trash stuff. "The government should evolve fisheries policy keeping in view the world standards in collaboration with local fishermen and then implement it effectively and indiscriminately across the coastal belt of Sindh province," they said.

 News Source

Protest and Strike of Fishermen Against Govt: of Sindh Fisheries & Live Stock Department.

 
Catching and landing of wet fishes and processing of fishmeal have been stooped in the result of a strike which is being observed under protest against Sindh Government Fisheries & Live Stock department for undeclared period. It was decided in a joint meeting of fishermen & fishmeal manufacturers/ exporters which was held at Ibrahim Haidri Goth Karachi yesterday against illegal raids over the fishmeal factories/ plants and to seal them by Govt: of Sindh Fisheries & Live Stock department. It was discussed that despite of restricted through stay orders by Honorable Sindh High Court Karachi, some officers of Sindh Govt: have been harassing fishmeal factories/ plants owners and workers not to process fishmeal alleging that it contains prohibited fish species catches through illegal fishing nets.

Fishmeal is produced automatically or manually from different wild-caught wet/ dried marine fish species which have low weight and reduced size and they ever remains naturally in their original low live weight from 5 mg to 200 mg similarly reduced size from 2 inches to 6 inches. The said wild-caught small marine fish contain a high percentage of bones and oil, and is usually deemed not suitable for direct human consumption in Pakistan and worldwide. The fish caught for fishmeal purposes solely are termed industrial. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_meal]. Hence, there is no question of alleged illegal fishing nets and so-called prohibited fish species arose in the recent issue malafidely  raised by Govt: of Sindh Fisheries & live Stock department.

16-foot great white shark spotted near Australian beach

By: Tanya Lewis, LiveScience


Cage diving with great white sharks is one thing. Spotting one at a local beach is quite another! (Photo: Hermanus Backpackers/Flickr)

A massive great white shark has been spotted swimming close to an Australian beach, scaring the locals and forcing the beach to close, according to news reports.

The female shark, nicknamed "Joan of Shark" by local fisherman, is more than 16 feet (5 meters) long and weighs about 1.8 tons (1.6 metric tons), The Telegraph reported. Signals from a satellite tag on the shark alerted authorities to its location, and city officials warned residents of Albany, Western Australia, to stay out of the water.

Joan was the largest of her kind to be electronically tagged. Fisheries protection officers injected an external tracking device in the shark and tracked her for three weeks. They captured the shark again a week later and placed a more sophisticated tag in her stomach that will enable the officers to track her for at least a decade, The Telegraph reported. A network of more than 300 monitors on the seabed can pinpoint the shark's movements, sending signals via satellite to warn authorities of her whereabouts. [Image Gallery: Great White Shark Pictures]

The shark may have smelled a dying humpback whale that was beached in the area, a spokesman for the state department of fisheries said, according to The Telegraph.

Great white sharks are the largest predatory fishes on the planet. They can reach up to 20 feet (6 m) in length and weigh up to 2.5 tons (2.3 metric tons).

They are highly intelligent and curious creatures, with well-developed senses. They can swim at speeds of up to 15 mph (24 km/h), and can leap completely out of the water when hunting prey. They attack quickly, from below, and pack a powerful, sometimes deadly, bite.

These massive sharks have 300 teeth, arranged in up to seven rows. Young great whites feed on fish, rays and other small sharks. Adults hunt harbor seals, sea lions and elephant seals, or scavenge whale carcasses for the blubber.

Great whites have been known to attack humans, but not eat them. Great white sharks have killed a number of swimmers and divers off the coast of Western Australia in the past four years.

Source:  http://www.mnn.com

Ocean Acidification Could Make Fish Lose Their Fear Of Predators, Study Finds

By Katie Valentine
 

CREDIT: Shutterstock

Add “losing fear of predators” to the long list of impacts acidifying oceans could have on fish and other marine life.
A new study published in Nature Climate Change has found that elevated CO2 levels in marine waters make reef fish attracted to the smell of their predators, rather than being repelled. Researchers looked at multiple species of reef fish living near natural volcanic CO2 seeps in Papua New Guinea, an environment the study says is acidified to levels comparable to projections of what the entire ocean’s acid content will be in the next 100 years. They compared the behavior of the fish living in the acidified environment to fish in nearby, less acidified reefs, and found that, while fish in the nearby control reefs avoided water streams that contained predator odor, fish from the acidified reef spent 90 percent of their time in water streams that smelled of their predators.
On top of that, fish that lived under high-CO2 conditions were bolder than other fish — meaning that they emerged more quickly from their hiding places after a disturbance and ventured farther from their hiding places than other fish — and couldn’t differentiate the smells of different habitats. Fish from the control reef spent more than 80 percent of their time in hiding, while two species of damselfish from the acidified reef spent less than 12 percent of their time in shelter, and two other fish species studied spent no time in shelter, preferring to swim in more exposed, open water
Danielle Dixson, assistant professor at Georgia Tech and co-author of the study, told ThinkProgress that the results of the study were surprising because scientists long believed that fish would be able to deal with ocean acidification due to their natural mechanism for coping with increased levels of CO2. When fish are exposed to high acid environments, they absorb the acid into their bodies, and to compensate for the increased acid, they increase the amount of bicarbonate — a base — their bodies produce.
“The thing that people didn’t really think about was that when they up-regulate all this bicarbonate, it interacts with neurological pathways,” Dixson said.
Dixson said that when there’s too much bicarbonate in the fish’s system, their GABA receptor stops working properly, causing the cognitive issues the researchers recorded. These effects have major implications for the future of the ocean ecosystem. The balance of the acidified reef ecosystem in the study did not suffer as a result of the cognitive problems of the fish, mainly because there were fewer predators in the environment and because, when young fish were killed by predators in the acidified environment, other young fish would migrate from nearby, less acidified reefs to replace them. But when all the oceans are at the level of the CO2 seep ecosystem, this replacement from fish in less acidified waters won’t be an option.
“It is hopeful that there are still fish that live [in the CO2 seep sites] and that they’re metabolically the same as the fish that live in the non-CO2 seep site, but the degree of aid that the control sites are providing the CO2 sites is unknown,” Dixson said. “As the world acidifies — in 100 years when the ocean is expected to be the equivalent of a CO2 seep reef — there won’t be these safe havens that can help.”
The study isn’t the first to document ocean acidification’s wide-reaching effects on fish and other marine species. Another study from August also found that fish could become confused and hyperactive as acid levels increase in the ocean, and also found evidence that the metabolism of fish could change. That study also found that when atmospheric carbon levels reached 500 to 650 parts per million — levels that are predicted by 2100 — corals, echinoderms (such as starfish), mollusks and fish were negatively impacted. Researchers have also predicted that ocean acidification could lead to a decline in shellfish, and that coral will struggle to build its skeleton as acidity rises. The effects of acidification could be so harmful to coral that Oceana predicts some species of coral could become functionally extinct within 20 years.

Source:  http://thinkprogress.org

Khan Traders Fish Meal — Karachi

Ad details

Posted by Naeem Khan

We feel pride to introduce ourselves as one of the top most leading manufacturers, processors and suppliers of pure fish meal in Ibrahim Haidri, the hub of fresh fish and sea food in Karachi Pakistan.

Khan Traders is an ambitious trading company with an extensive back ground in preparation of fish meal beside catching fresh fish and sea foods marketing. Khan Traders is founded on belief that there is a need for a good trader / supplier which delivers prime quality Fish Meal to purchaser at competitive price. The Khan Traders believes on "Best Quality at Right Price".

During the preparation of Fish Meal, we ensure best product specification, texture, physical appearance and chemical analysis to high standard value, to produce a best fish meal for poultry feed as an ingredient, result in to enhance the poultry feed quality.

We offer you our services for purchasing the best quality fish meal. Please give a chance to serve you by placing order.

Source:  http://karachi.olx.com.pk/khan-traders-fish-meal-iid-619704380

When male fish turn female!

Written by Oman Observer



In what can be termed as a perfect case of gender-bender among fish, biologists have found evidence of “feminisation” of male fish in the estuaries in the Basque coast of Spain. Pollutants acting as oestrogens are responsible for this phenomenon which, among other changes, is causing ovocytes — immature ova — to appear in male fish, biologists claimed. The acquisition of feminine features by male fish has been detected, to a greater or lesser extent in all the estuaries — not only in the characteristics of the gonads of the specimens analysed but also in various molecular markers.
“The results show that endocrine disruption is a phenomenon that has spread all over our estuaries, which means that, as has been detected in other countries, we have a problem with pollutants,” explained Miren P Cajaraville, Director of the group of Cell Biology in Environmental Toxicology at the University of the Basque Country. The team has conducted research using thick-lipped grey mullet and has analysed specimens in seven zones in coastal Spain — Arriluze, Gernika, Santurtzi, Plentzia, Ondarroa, Deba and Pasaia. The results of the research were published in the journal Science of the Total Environment and Marine Environmental Research. — IANS
Source:  http://main.omanobserver.om

Pollution is disrupting these fish and their genitals

by Nicholas Tufnell

Grey mullet fish have been caught exhibiting female gonads

Shutterstock

 

The gonads of thick-lipped grey mullets are becoming increasingly feminised in the estuaries of Spain's Basque Country, according to research carried out by members of the Cell Biology in Environmental Toxicology group from the University of the Basque Country. The cause of this feminisation is thought to be due to certain pollutants, which are increasing oestrogen levels in the fish.
The specimens tested came from six zones: Arriluze and Gernika in 2007 and 2008, and since then, Santurtzi, Plentzia, Ondarroa, Deba and Pasaia. Feminised gonads aren't the mullet's only problem -- the acquisition of feminine features has also been detected in various molecular markers.
According to the director of the research group, Miren P. Cajaraville, the results show that "endocrine disruption is a phenomenon that has spread all over our estuaries, which means that, as has been detected in other countries, we have a problem with pollutants".
The source of these pollutants can be found in products many of us use every day, including contraceptive pills, perfumes, detergents and pesticides. The chemicals inside these products react with the fish, causing endocrine disruption, which can throw some fish hormones into disarray. There is very little known about the full effect of these pollutants as they have only recently appeared in the ecosystem.
According to Cajaraville, "our discoveries are significant, because they enable us to know how far these pollutants have spread in our estuaries and rivers and what effects they have; that way, we will be able to adopt methods to prevent them reaching our waters, like legal regulations governing their use."
The pollutants, it is thought, have started to appear in these estuaries as a result of industrial farming and through cleaning systems in wastewater treatment plants. "Our main hypothesis," says Cajaraville of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve, "is that they come from the water treatment plant. It was the first place we studied, and continues to be, by far, responsible for the highest percentage of recently appearing pollutants."
 The results of the research have been published in two papers, one in the journal of Science of the Total Environment and the other in the journal of Marine Environmental Research.
Source:  http://www.wired.co.uk