© Gunther Deichmann - WWII shipwreck in the
Truk Lagoon, Chuuk Micronesia

WWII wrecks 'threaten Micronesia'
By Phil Mercer BBC News, Sydney
Micronesia's main sources of revenue are
diving and fishing

Australian scientists are warning of an environmental disaster in Micronesia as World War II wrecks start to leak fuel into the region's pristine lagoons.
The wrecks attract tourists from all over the world but now appear to be a serious pollution threat.
Thousands of Japanese and US vessels are scattered on the sea beds in the area and have become home to an abundance of marine life.
Micronesia is in the western Pacific Ocean and consists of 600 islands.
Diving and fishing are the region's main sources of revenue, but both could be severely damaged by a toxic threat that lurks in the tropical waters.
Scientists have said that an oil slick from a submerged ship is already contaminating the Chuuk lagoon, where dozens of Japanese vessels were sunk by American bombers...
read more @
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-
pacific/7603993.stm

Tags: WWII Wrecks in Micronesia, Marine and Conservation, Oil Spill, Polution, TOURISM, Fishing, Pacific Ocean, Operation Hailstone, Japanese WWII Wrecks, Chuuk Lagoon

© Gunther Deichmann - for more environment related images go to:
http://www.deichmann-photo.com/environment.html

'Only 50 years left' for sea fish'
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website

Natural protection
There will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continue, according to a major scientific study. Stocks have collapsed in nearly one-third of sea fisheries, and the rate of decline is accelerating.
Writing in the journal Science, the international team of researchers says fishery decline is closely tied to a broader loss of marine biodiversity.
But a greater use of protected areas could safeguard existing stocks. "The way we use the oceans is that we hope and assume there will always be another species to exploit after we've completely gone through the last one," said research leader Boris Worm, from Dalhousie University in Canada.

This century is the last century of wild seafood
Steve Palumbi
Should fish be off the menu?
Send us your comments "What we're highlighting is there is a finite number of stocks; we have gone through one-third, and we are going to get through the rest," he told the BBC News website.

Steve Palumbi, from Stanford University in California, one of the other scientists on the project, added: "Unless we fundamentally change the way we manage all the ocean species together, as working ecosystems, then this century is the last century of wild seafood."

Spanning the seas
This is a vast piece of research, incorporating scientists from many institutions in Europe and the Americas, and drawing on four distinctly different kinds of data.
For the complete article go to:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6108414.stm

Tags: Fishing, Save our Planet, Sharks, Destroy, Killing