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.

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News Id		Source	Stamp	country
4451	NOAA Policy Encourages Catch Shares To End Overfishing And Rebuild Fisheries; 'An Effective Tool'	Underwatertimes	2010-11-04	US
4452	Schoolboy, 13, lands giant catfish weighing 200lbs on half-term trip	Daily Mail	2010-11-04	SP
4453	Giant fish caught in Mekong River	vietnam news	2010-11-03	VN
4454	Study: Chemicals common in Minn. affecting male fish	MPR News	2010-11-01	US
4455	Deep sea fish take ugliness to new level, says Niwa	NZ Herald	2010-10-26	NZ
4456	Man sues over tuna 'poisoning'	upu	2010-10-19	US
4457	Big albino muskie landed in Wisconsin	upi	2010-10-20	US
4458	Salmon 'losing distinct genetic characteristics'	BBC News	2010-10-14	UK
4459	Death or Delicacy: The Notorious Fugu Puffer Fish	foodsided	2021-02-23	JP
4460	The Plan to Rear Fish on the Moon	hakaimagazine	2021-02-22	CA
4461	Kitchener study links dog waste to change in fish population	kitchenertoday	2021-02-23	CA
4462	New fish species found	smh	2010-10-14	AU
4463	The Shropshire mystery of the mutilated koi carp	BBC News	2010-09-29	CA
4464	Surprise: FDA Panel Unable to Reach Conclusion on Genetically Modified Salmon	abcnews	2010-10-20	CA
4465	Weird Facts About Genetically Engineered Salmon	npr	2010-10-20	US
4466	АФК «Система» заинтересовалась рыбалкой на Камчатке	ТАСС	2021-03-02	RU
4467	State encouraging anglers to harvest fish in some — not all — waters	Bangor Daily News	2021-03-01	US
4468	The 1,000 fish that DIDN'T get away: Angler breaks ultimate fishing record	dailymail	2010-09-03	UK
4469	Is this the world's ugliest fish? Odd-looking creature nicknamed Shrek by scuba divers	dailymail	2010-09-02	UK
4470	Aquarium lands rare 'ribbon fish'	belfast telegraph	2010-08-29	UK
4471	Kayaker hit in the head by 30lb carp	telegraph	2010-08-26	US
4472	The monster fish who swallowed up my whole life	dailymail	2010-08-20	UK
4473	Ashford anglers mourn death of giant carp 'Two Tone'	BBC News	2010-08-16	UK
4474	Angler ate his record-breaking fish	expressandstar	2010-08-16	UK
4475	More Fishing, Higher Consumption Might Help Reverse Lionfish Invasion; 'Delicious'	Underwatertimes	2010-08-06	US

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