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
4626	NOAA: $100 Million Of Disaster-relief Aid Available To U.S. West Coast Salmon Fishermen	Underwatertimes	2008-09-18	US
4627	Silent Streams? Nearly 40 Percent Of North American Freshwater Fish Now At-Risk	Underwatertimes	2008-09-10	US
4628	Snapping Salmon: A Biologist's Underwater Passion	Morning Edition	2008-08-02	US
4629	Discovery of sea trout in Seine shows success of river clean-up	theguardian	2008-08-02	UK
4630	Fishing in Peru? Take a long line, but no dynamite	Reuters Life	2008-08-05	PE
4631	Deadliest catch: Thailand's 'ghost' fishing nets help COVID fight	manilastandard	2021-01-24	TH
4632	Scientists Receive Signals From The Atlantic Salmon Highway; 'Helps Us Fill In A Big Gap'	Underwatertimes	2008-08-19	US
4633	О Байкале и не только в назидание потомкам	rg	2021-02-05	RU
4634	Dredging of Mindemoya River important to salmon population	Manitoulin Expositor	2018-09-21	CA
4635	Mindemoya River mouth dredged to accomodate spawning salmon	Manitoulin Expositor	2011-10-05	CA
4636	История ГМО лосося, который все же попал на рынок	HABR	2021-02-05	RU
4637	Omega-6 Rich Tilapia Healthy; Replacing With Bacon, Hamburgers Or Doughnuts 'Not Recommended'	Underwatertimes	2008-07-17	US
4638	Beijing to give five more sturgeons to Hong Kong	china.org	2008-07-15	CN
4639	Microchips to Stop Illegal Sturgeon Hunt	Science News	2008-07-18	RU
4640	New Catfish Species Named For Museum Mail Supervisor; 'I Was Impressed By Frank's Dedication'	Underwatertimes	2008-06-09	US
4641	No furry-tail ending to this dragon quest	smh	2008-05-05	AU
4642	Commercial Ban As 'Fish Failure' Declared For U.S. West Coast Salmon Fishery; 'A Tough Decision'	Underwatertimes	2008-05-02	US
4643	Fish, yabbies and aquatic life dead after 'toxic' herbicide treatment in irrigation channel	abc	2021-01-22	AU
4644	В Приморье заложили краболов и сдали рыбодобывающий завод	rg	2019-11-28	RU
4645	Рыбакам разрешат потрошить улов на борту	rg	2021-02-04	RU
4646	Fossil fills out water-land leap	bbc	2008-06-25	UK
4647	Rare fish 'back from the brink'	bbc	2008-07-07	UK
4648	Tilapia Contains Potentially Dangerous Fatty Acid Combination; 'Exaggerated Inflammatory Response'	Underwatertimes	2008-07-10	US
4649	Tennessee man reels in monster catch	WZTV	2021-01-25	US
4650	Caring grandmother finds a giant fish in the road and stops at nothing to save it	Trainee Reporter	2021-01-22	UK

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