Troubled Waters

Troubled Waters

Source: earthobservatory

9/25/2021

It was once a source of great abundance—particularly fossil fuels and fish—for the people of Venezuela. Now Lake Maracaibo is mostly abundant with pollution from leaking oil and excess nutrients.

Spanning 13,000 square kilometers (5,000 square miles) in northwestern Venezuela, Lake Maracaibo is one of South America’s largest lakes and one of the oldest in the world. Though it was filled with freshwater thousands of year ago, Maracaibo is now an estuarine lake connected to the Gulf of Venezuela and the Caribbean Sea by a narrow strait. That strait was significantly expanded in the 1930–50s by dredging for ship traffic. Now the north end of the lake is brackish, while the south end is mostly fresh due to abundant flows from nearby rivers.

In satellite images acquired in September 2021, Lake Maracaibo was swirling with shades of green, tan, and gray that traced the flow of currents and eddies. The sources of those colors were algae, river sediment outflows, and crude oil leaks. The image at the top of this page was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on September 25. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 observed the scene below on September 10.

Continue...

News Id		Source	Stamp	country
2976	How leaks in U.S. ban on Russian seafood are undermining efforts to stop Putin’s war machine	Economy	2022-04-15	RU
2977	Behemoth Bluefin Tuna Caught Off Florida Coast Could Be a New State Record	outdoorlife	2022-04-20	US
2978	Trojan trout: could turning an invasive fish into a ‘super-male’ save a native species?	theguardian	2022-04-21	US
2979	Lawsuit accuses Gorton's of 'greenwashing' its tilapia	salemnews	2022-04-22	US
2980	Thai caviar, anyone? Farm produces delicacy in tropical climate	freemalaysiatoday	2022-04-14	TH
2981	Rare metre-long ‘vampire fish’ spotted at Diglis Fish Pass	worcesternews	2022-04-13	UK
2982	Officials warn fish from northern Connecticut river contain high levels of PFA	fox61	2022-04-08	US
2983	Russian trawlers have access to £16m of fish in British waters despite fishing ban	express	2022-04-10	UK
2984	Nevada scientists report highest population in decades of rare Devils Hole pupfish	knpr	2022-04-12	US
2985	Illinois man sentenced in Kentucky to a year in caviar sale	foxillinois	2022-04-14	US
2986	‘Threat worse than pollution’: Dangerous fish found in the Hudson	timesunion	2022-04-14	US
2987	Bizarre cannibalistic fish with fangs washes up on SF Bay Area beach	SFGATE	2022-04-11	US
2988	Canadian researchers contribute to first-ever library of fish sounds	citynews	2022-03-02	CA
2989	Federal court judge sets aside DFO order to phase out B.C. fish farms	cbc	2022-04-26	CA
2990	Fishing rodeo for senior citizens reels in happy fishermen	nj	2022-04-16	US
2991	Anchovies' 'frantic behaviour' during spawning causes turbulence in waters and helps to circulate nutrients	dailymail	2022-04-07	UK
2992	"A fish of a lifetime": Record 131-pound catfish caught in Mississippi	cbs news	2022-04-12	US
2993	Sharing a marine reserve with fishers: Q&A with Belize Fisheries’ Adriel Castañeda	mongabay	2022-04-14	BZ
2994	Marine veteran promotes healing for people and the planet through fly fishing	wearethemighty	2022-04-15	US
2995	The underwater “eye” that is unlocking ocean secrets	vox	2022-04-20	US
2996	Hundreds of dead fish found in Vancouver Island creek	cbc	2021-06-07	CA
2997	Lake Champlain threatened by new invasive fish	wcax	2022-04-06	CA
2998	‘Devil vessels’: China’s fishing fleet faces claims of pillage and abuse	FT Daily Digest	2022-04-04	UK
2999	Sabah marine police foil diesel smuggling and fish bombing activities	nst	2022-04-07	US
3000	Koi lovers gather in San Jose for 14th annual competition, exhibition	mercury news	2022-04-19	US

119 of [218 - pages.]