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You are here: Home / Archives for Environment

Endangered Sturgeon Get Help from Pamunkey Indian Tribe in Virginia

December 6, 2020 by Wayne Creed 1 Comment

(NOAA) – The Pamunkey Indian Tribe received a NOAA Species Recovery grant in 2018 to assess the current number of Atlantic sturgeon spawning populations and expand the ecological knowledge and stewardship of the Pamunkey and Mattaponi Rivers.

The Pamunkey River in Virginia, named for the Pamunkey Indian Tribe, used to be filled with Atlantic sturgeon. 

Atlantic sturgeon played an important role in Pamunkey life. They were not only food and income, but  catching an Atlantic sturgeon and riding on its back was considered a rite of passage for young men.

Sturgeon drawing by Pamunkey Indian Tribe member, Kirk Moore.

Today, a small population of an undetermined size remains in the Pamunkey and Mattaponi Rivers, tributaries to the York River. The York River is too salty for successful spawning, but Atlantic sturgeon are known to spawn in the Pamunkey. They may also spawn in the Mattaponi, although that has not been confirmed.

Warren Cook, a member of Pamunkey Tribe, recalls, “When my grandfather fished for sturgeon, the fish were so big that they had to put a halter around them and drag them in the water back to shore. They were over 6 feet long. Then, they would take the roe out. My grandmother would process it. She would take it apart and salt it, leave it a couple of days, and then wash and salt it again. Next, they would pack it up, and they would ship it by train up to Baltimore for processing as caviar.”

Survival Is at Stake

Atlantic sturgeon were once found in great abundance, but their populations have declined greatly due to overfishing and habitat loss. Added to the Endangered Species List in 2012, these large, bony-plated fish are struggling to survive as they continue to face a gauntlet of threats. Atlantic sturgeon are very sensitive to low oxygen, pollution, and other poor water conditions, which harm development of sturgeon offspring. These fish spawn in rivers, many of which have dams that block access to critical spawning grounds. Routine dredging of rivers to keep waterways open for commercial and recreational boats can kill eggs and young fish, as well as adults. They are also hit by vessels traveling the rivers. 

Tribal Members Work Alongside Scientists

In 2018, the Pamunkey Tribe received a 3-year Species Recovery Grant from NOAA to address four goals:

  • Create a more comprehensive ecological picture of the Pamunkey and Mattaponi Rivers and develop a Pamunkey River Keeper role to continue the work and foster improved stewardship
  • Improve physical models of the rivers to better understand the relationship of water quality factors to Atlantic sturgeon spawning habitats
  • Develop an estimate of the spawning population(s) in the rivers
  • Determine how well sonar works for counting sturgeon  

For the last three years, members of the Pamunkey Tribe have worked alongside researchers from Chesapeake Scientific to study these fish and their habitat. They collected water quality data at various stations throughout the river system, and captured and tagged Atlantic sturgeon. They also trained a Pamunkey tribal member for the York River Keeper position. 

Tribal members capturing and tagging an Atlantic sturgeon
Tribal members capturing and tagging an Atlantic sturgeon

“We are going out there and tagging them, taking DNA samples, and trying to get an abundance estimate of the adult spawning population,” says tribal citizen April Deacy in a new video premiering at the Pocahontas Reframed Film Festival called Pamunkey River: Lifeblood of our People.

“I’d never actually seen one before I worked this grant,” says tribal citizen Desiree Nuckols, who helps tag and track the enormous fish, “so it’s cool to actually work with the fish you hear stories about.” 

“This work provides vital information about sturgeon and how each of us can make a positive difference toward recovering sturgeon populations,” says Lynn Lankshear, NOAA Fisheries regional species recovery coordinator for Atlantic sturgeon.

Filed Under: Bottom, Environment, Environmental Activism, News

Bill to provide funding to protect Chesapeake Bay watershed heads to President

October 18, 2020 by Wayne Creed Leave a Comment

According to a press release shared by U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito’s, R-W.Va., office, the U.S. House of Representatives’ passage of the America’s Conservation Enhancement Act, or ACE Act, legislation she cosponsored in the Senate is now headed to President Donald Trump’s office for his signature.

The bill includes language from the Chesapeake Bay Program Reauthorization Act and the Chesapeake WILD Act, two bipartisan bills Senator Capito sponsored to support habitat restoration and conservation efforts in the Chesapeake Bay region, according to the release.

The Chesapeake Bay Program Reauthorization Act, as explained by the release, is one portion of the overall ACE Act, which would provide $90 million in the fiscal year 2020 with a $500,000 increase each year for the five years authorized and would go directly toward states within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed – West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York and Washington D.C.

Filed Under: Bottom, Environment, Environmental Activism, News

VIMS Seminar: Fisheries Management:Tales from Across the Pond

March 1, 2020 by Wayne Creed Leave a Comment

The principles of fisheries management (such as ensuring long term biological and economic sustainability) are generally the same around the globe, but the path to achieving these goals differs among national and international management bodies.

Liese Carleton, PhD Candidate, Fisheries Science Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Liese Carleton is a PhD candidate at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science studying fisheries science, and has recently returned from spending a year working in Europe. While “across the pond”, Ms. Carleton supported producing catch advice for fish and crustacean stocks in the Northeast Atlantic, ranging from assisting with stock assessments to communicating the advice to managers and members of industry. Ms. Carleton will share her unique perspective on how fisheries management and policies differ between the US and Europe, and will discuss some case studies on interesting fisheries issues that occurred during 2019. This may include discussing the process of producing catch advice; European recreational fisheries; the full implementation of the discard ban in Europe; shifting fish distributions; the future of incorporating ecosystem information in stock assessments and advice; and more!

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

7:30 PM

Seaside Hall

Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Wachapreague, Virginia

The Virginia Institute of Marine Science Eastern Shore Laboratory presents its public seminar series on the first Wednesday of the month.   The seminar is free and open to everyone.  Coffee and light refreshments will be provided.  For further information call VIMS at 757-787-5816.

Filed Under: Bottom, Environment, News

Free Movie: Advise and Consent Feb 23

February 16, 2020 by Wayne Creed Leave a Comment

Whether you have read all of the book, some of the book, or none of the book, please join us on Feb. 23, 2:30 PM at the Historic Palace Theatre for a showing of the movie Advise and Consent. This 1962 movie directed by Otto Preminger stars Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Don Murray, Walter Pidgeon and Peter Lawford.

It is based on the Pulitzer prize winning book of the same title, written by Allen Drury. The showing is free, but donations will be graciously accepted to help defray costs. Cash bar available.


There will be a book discussion of the book on Feb. 18, 7 PM, at the Cape Charles Civic Center.


Sponsored by the Cape Charles Memorial Library

Filed Under: Bottom, Environment, News

New Federal Wetlands Definition Threatens Bay Cleanup

February 2, 2020 by Wayne Creed 1 Comment

Press statement from Chesapeake Bay Foundation

(WASHINGTON, DC)—In an unprecedented assault on the Clean Water Act, the Trump Administration today unveiled a new rule slashing federal protections for wetlands and waterways that are essential to restoring the Chesapeake Bay.

The administration’s new definition of “Waters of the United States” unravels safeguards in place since the landmark law was enacted in 1972. It excludes streams that only flow after heavy rains or snow, groundwater, and most roadside and farm ditches. It also leaves out waters and wetlands that cross state borders.

The Chesapeake Bay is fed by an intricate network of creeks, streams, and rivers spanning tens of thousands of miles and 1.5 million acres of wetlands, which play an essential role supporting the waters and diverse wildlife of the Bay’s 64,000 square-mile watershed. Wetlands trap polluted runoff, absorb storm surges, slow the flow of pollutants into the Bay, and provide critical habitat for the region’s birds, fish, invertebrates, and mammals.

In the Bay watershed, the rule will do the most damage in Delaware, the District of Columbia, and West Virginia, which primarily rely on the federal definition to protect wetlands and streams within their borders. Almost 200,000 acres of wetlands in Delaware alone are now at risk of destruction. Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia have additional state water protection programs, but will still feel the impact because their programs all have holes the rule will only make worse.

Lisa Feldt, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s (CBF) Vice President of Environmental Protection and Restoration, made this statement about the new rule:

“This rule poses a dangerous threat to our efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay and mitigate the effects of climate change. By acting as natural pollution filters, wetlands are vital to improving water quality. Their marshy waters shelter many of the Bay’s birds and animals and provide our first line of defense against climate change by absorbing floodwaters and protecting local communities.

“Recognizing the value of wetlands, in 2014 EPA and the other cleanup partners committed to creating, reestablishing, or restoring 235,000 acres of wetlands by 2025. Gutting federal protections for wetlands undermines that commitment and risks derailing our decades long restoration effort at a critical time.

“The Bay has made encouraging progress in the ten years since we adopted the Clean Water Blueprint, the science-based plan for restoring it to good health. But the recovery is fragile, and the 2025 implementation deadline is approaching fast. We need the Trump administration to lead the way, not sabotage our efforts to save this national treasure.”

Filed Under: Bottom, Environment, News

Eastern Shore Public Library recently received a donation of over 1,600 historic letters

December 15, 2019 by Wayne Creed Leave a Comment

Eastern Shore Public Library recently received a donation of over 1,600 letters written by members of the John E. and Margaret LeCato Mapp family of lower Accomack County. The collection spans over 80 years and also contains family photos.


The bulk of the collection covers the period of 1884 -1929, a time of growth, wealth, prosperity, and tremendous change for Accomack and Northampton counties.


The collection is not yet available to the public. ESPL is currently seeking funding to process and preserve this wonderful resource.


Learn more about ESPL archival collections here.

Filed Under: Environment, News

Old Farmers Almanac Calling for Big Snow Year

September 29, 2019 by Wayne Creed 17 Comments

The Old Farmer’s Almanac, which was founded in 1792, says that the upcoming winter “will be remembered for strong storms” featuring heavy rain, sleet, and a lot of snow. The periodical actually used the word “snow-verload” to describe the conditions we can expect in the coming months.

“The 2020 Old Farmer’s Almanac is calling for frequent snow events—from flurries to no fewer than seven big snowstorms from coast to coast,” explains the press release.

In addition to excessive precipitation, below-normal temperatures are expected with “frigid and frosty conditions” lasting well into the spring for some parts of the country.

“This could feel like the never-ending winter, particularly in the Midwest and east to the Ohio Valley and Appalachians, where wintery weather will last well into March and even through the first days of spring,” says Almanac editor Janice Stillman.

If you’re planning to escape the cold weather, the forecast notes that “even typically tropical Hawaii will feel the chill” and experience cooler temperatures and heavy thunderstorms—so you might want to hold off on that beach vacation.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac was 80.5% accurate in predicting last year’s wild weather, and its report for the upcoming season is very similar to that of the competing Farmer’s Almanac. In other words, the chances that we’ll escape this winter without a few snowstorms and freezing temperatures are *very* slim.

Filed Under: Bottom, Environment, News

Exploitation: How Greta became the face of Movement

September 29, 2019 by Wayne Creed 1 Comment

We all love Greta Thunberg, some for different reasons. But some of us worry about her.

The autobiographical Scenes from the Heart (“Scener från Hjärtat,” 2018) by Melana Ernman, climate activist Greta Thunberg’s mother, recounts the medical difficulties and the events that led to Greta Thunberg’s now-famous “school strike for climate,” in which hundreds of thousands of children have refused to attend school to protest about government inaction over climate change.

Greta is eleven years old and has gone two months without eating. Her heart rate and blood pressure show clear signs of starvation. She has stopped speaking to anyone but her parents and younger sister, Beata. After years of depression, eating disorders, and anxiety attacks, she finally receives a medical diagnosis: Asperger’s syndrome, high-functioning autism, and OCD. She also suffers from selective mutism—which explains why she sometimes can’t speak to anyone outside her closest family. When she wants to tell a climate researcher that she plans a school strike on behalf of the environment, she speaks through her father.

Greta herself strikes every Friday and spent three weeks sitting outside the Swedish Parliament at the beginning of the school year.

It is a story of “a family in crisis and a planet in crisis”—two phenomena that are presented as linked. The book notes that the oppression of women, minorities, and people with disabilities stem from the same overarching root problem as climate change: an unsustainable way of life. The family’s private crisis and the global climate crisis are simply symptoms of the same systemic disorder.

Greta’s sister Beata, who was 12 when the book was written, also lives with ADHD, Asperger’s syndrome, and OCD. She is prone to sudden outbursts of anger, during which she screams obscenities at her mother. What would normally be a 10-minute walk to dance class takes almost an hour because Beata insists on walking with her left foot in front, refuses to step on certain parts of the sidewalk, and demands that her mother walk the same way. She also insists that her mother wait outside during class—she isn’t allowed to move, even to go to the bathroom. The child still ends up weeping in her mother’s arms.

Like many parents of children with similar diagnoses, Greta and Beata’s parents fight hard for their daughters to receive the right care and assistance in school. When Greta refuses to eat they do everything they can to save her from starving herself. Her father begs their doctor to save Beata from whatever it is that plagues her.

It has been less than a year since Scenes from the Heart was published and, during that time, Greta has become a global celebrity. This week, she was named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time Magazine. She has briefly met the Pope, who encouraged her to “Keep doing what you’re doing.” She has received numerous awards, including, most recently, the German Golden Camera award. She has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She has been featured and interviewed in most of the world’s leading media. She has appeared on a panel with the UN Secretary General António Guterres, addressed the European Parliament, and lunched with the Financial Times.

But it this really appropriate?

In Scenes from the Heart, when Greta eventually starts eating again, she only allows herself certain foods. Her mother has to prepare the same food every day for Greta to bring to school and keep in the school refrigerator: pancakes filled with rice. Greta will eat them only if there is no sticker with her name on the container: stickers, paper, and newspapers trigger Greta’s OCD against eating.

“I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day,” Greta said when she addressed the world’s leaders in Davos.

Given the child’s history of precisely that—fear and panic—the adult response should perhaps not be “You go, girl” (the words of Madeleine Albright when she was asked what she thinks of Greta’s school strike), but something considerably more cautious and reflective.

Greta was recently named ”Woman of the Year” by a Swedish newspaper. But she is not a woman, she is a child. Is it time we stopped to ask if we are using her, failing her, and even sacrificing her, for a movement?


Filed Under: Bottom, Environment, News

Elaine Luria’s Bill to Protect and Preserve Chesapeake Bay Advances Out of Key Committee

September 22, 2019 by Wayne Creed 1 Comment

WASHINGTON – The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee today passed Congresswoman Elaine Luria’s (VA-02) bipartisan bill to protect and preserve the Chesapeake Bay, recommending the legislation for a vote in the full House of Representatives.

“Our beautiful Chesapeake Bay is a critical economic and recreational resource that we must protect and preserve for future generations,” Congresswoman Luria said. “It’s been a privilege to lead this effort, gather support from both parties, and push this bill through committee. I urge House leadership to stand up for one of North America’s greatest natural resources by scheduling the bipartisan Chesapeake Bay Program Reauthorization Act for a floor vote.” 

The Chesapeake Bay Program Reauthorization Act (H.R. 1620) is a bipartisan bill that would fully fund the Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program by authorizing an injection of$455 million into the Program over the next five years. The Chesapeake Bay Program Reauthorization Actalso provides funding for local projects.

Congress has not formally reauthorized the Chesapeake Bay Program since 2005. Despite the current administration’s efforts to reduce or eliminate Program funding all together, Congress has acted in a bipartisan manner to continue funding the Program in annual appropriations bills.

The Chesapeake Bay Program coordinates data collection and distributes grants to states for Bay restoration efforts. By fully funding the Program over the long term, Congress would ensure that states get the resources they need to comply with their obligations to protect and preserve the Chesapeake Bay.

Original House cosponsors of the Chesapeake Bay Program Reauthorization Act include Chesapeake Bay Watershed Task Force Co-Chairs Rep. Bobby Scott (VA-03), Rep. Rob Wittman (VA-01), and Rep. John Sarbanes (MD-03). Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) are leading the effort in the Senate.

Filed Under: Bottom, Environment, News

The Great Climate Hoax

September 8, 2019 by Wayne Creed 202 Comments

CNN and the field of Democratic Candidates proved once again that we are indeed living in clown world. For seven hours, the brainy individuals engaged in a forum discussing climate change and the coming end of the world. The big takeaway: stop eating meat and we all must drive electric cars.

Left out of course were a few key details like how do people in emerging countries find sustenance, and what will all of this do to the economy? Like, what happens to the trucking industry, the airline industry, the boating industry, and really just about every other industry. Exactly, how many dreamy windmills and solar panels will it take to light up Topeka… not to mention Chicago?

These clowns talked about everything except empirical data. Well, here’s some:

All proxy temperature data sets reveal that there have been cyclical changes in climate in the past 10,000 years. Climate has always changed. And it has changed in both directions, hot and cold. Until at least the 17th century, all these changes occurred when almost all humans were hunters, gatherers, and farmers.

Industrialization did not happen until the 17th century. Therefore, no prior changes in climate were driven by human emissions of carbon dioxide. In the last 2,000 years alone, global temperatures rose at least twice (around the 1st and 10th centuries) to levels very similar to today’s, and neither of those warm periods were caused by humans.

Polar bears and the ice caps are actually doing fine. The 10,000-year Holocene paleoclimatology records reveal that both the Arctic and Antarctic are in some of their healthiest states. The only better period for the poles was the 17th century, during the Little Ice Age, when the ice mass levels were higher than today’s. For the larger part of the past 10,000 years, the ice mass levels were lower than today’s. Despite huge losses in recent decades, ice mass levels are at or near their historic highs.

Polar bears are one of the key species in the Arctic. Contrary to the hype surrounding their extinction fear, the population numbers have actually increased in the past two decades.

Last year, the Canadian government considered increasing polar bear killing quotas as their increasing numbers posed a threat to the Inuit communities living in the Nunavut area.

And it is not just the polar bears in the Arctic. Other critical species elsewhere, like tigers, are also making a comeback.

Carbon dioxide does not have a huge effect on climate.

While most of the current climatologists who collaborate with the United Nations believe anthropogenic CO2 emissions have exacerbated natural warming in recent decades, there is no empirical proof to support their claim.

The entire climate cabal was in for a rude awakening when global temperature between 2000 and 2016 failed to rise as anticipated. The scientists assumed that rising CO2 emissions from human activity would result in a rapid rise in temperature, but…they didn’t.

This proved that atmospheric CO2 concentrations are not the primary factor controlling global temperature. Consideration of a much longer period (10,000 or more years) suggests that CO2 had no significant role to play in temperature increases. CO2 never was the global thermostat.

W. W. Soon in Geophysical Research Letters(2007) has reviewed much of the literature on air temperature-CO2 relationships. He concludes, “there is no quantitative evidence that varying levels of minor greenhouse gases like CO2 and CH4 have accounted for even as much as half of the reconstructed glacial-interglacial temperature changes or, more importantly, for the large variations in global ice volume on both land and sea over the past 650,000 years …changes in solar insolation at climatically sensitive latitudes and zones exceed the global radiative forcings of CO2 and CH4 by severalfold, and that regional responses to solar insolation forcing will decide the primary climatic feedbacks and changes.”

A real worry is the impending solar minimum that NASA has predicted for the next two solar cycles between 2021 and 2041, ushering in a period of global cooling like it did during the solar minimum of 17th century.

There has been no increase in the frequency or intensity of floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, droughts, or other extreme weather events. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported low confidence that global warming—manmade or not—was driving increases in extreme weather events.

So, stop listening to these people. As we speak, California is planning to add climate change fear to the school curriculum. We are raising a generation of kids who are living in fear, like the poor girl from Holland that says every day she wakes up afraid for her future, so much so that she had to sail to New York. All of this is based on theory, and not empirical evidence, or as some call it, science.

Do you really want to be a punk driving around in a Prius? Screw that, crank up the Harley, and get that Dodge Challenger if you want it.

Keep Calm and Chive on.


Filed Under: Bottom, Environment, News

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