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Video:Florida RiverDive nets MegalodonTooth,ManmothJaw,MastodonSkull with Nemo Dive system.
Brownies new product the BLU3 Nemo is on the market now. It is the world's smallest dive system, weighs less than 8 pounds. https://diveblu3.com/nemo/ You can dive to 10 feet for about 70 mins on a fist sized battery. I have one.
This video out today 1/1/2020 a diver in Florida used it on a river and found a tiger shark tooth, a megalodon shark tooth (huge), a Mastodon skull, a Mammoth jaw and teeth and more in just one dive.
congratulate you
I want to fish with these guys!
I’ve taken 3 does and a spike (eating my blueberry rows). Haven’t seen any big bucks yet- maybe with it cooling down a bit will see some good movement this week- will post pics if I get a decent one
I never got out... A couple of weekends I had intended to go, just pouring rain.. Good luck...
Anyone bag any nice bucks this year? So far no luck here but rug doesn’t start where I’m at till mid January (lower AL). Wondering how the unusually warm weather will effect rut this year?
hmmmm, we got a lot of dark pics up there... I'll get around to fixing them if I can...
See pics of them, but never one in the water.
The Nemo is out$350 SmallestDiveSystemEver KickStarter
65% of goal in first few hours, company stock is BWMG
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/diveblu3/nemo-by-blu3-the-worlds-smallest-dive-system
I bot a dual pack, 2 for about $700
10 feet deep for an hour on rechargeable battery, whole thing with regulator and hoses is 10 pounds!
500-pound goliath grouper eats shark as shocked Florida fishermen watch: 'He just sucked it in'
By Jennifer Earl
July 18, 2018
Can Florida’s Lionfish Challenge rein in the venomous invasive? Maybe.
Michael DeRemer, a prize-winner of the state's Lionfish Challenge, removes lionfish from a cooler for a fish fry at Jim's Dive Shop in St. Petersburg on July 13. DeRemer caught three lionfish tagged by the state. MARTHA ASENCIO RHINE | Times
By Justin Trombly
July 16, 2018 at 05:52 AM
Submerged in the Gulf of Mexico, Michael DeRemer spotted the yellow glint of the lionfish’s tag.
The 62-year-old Largo diver had been looking for grouper that June day, but the tag changed things: It meant the spiny seafarer was a lucrative target — one that would yield prizes as part of this year’s state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Lionfish Challenge, the third since 2016.
So, he aimed his pole spear.
That specimen and two more DeRemer nabbed later won him $500, a GoPro camera and a shirt. Those are the kinds of incentives Florida is offering people to catch lionfish, a venomous Indo-Pacific native that has infested Florida’s coastal waters.
And though eradicating the species no longer seems like an option, the state’s initiative — which began in May and lasts until Labor Day — could help curb the invasive population where it may be most noticeable: local reefs.
"It’s really more like weeding the garden," said Stephanie Green, a marine ecologist at the University of Alberta who studies the species.
• • •
Green’s analogy was echoed by others researchers: If you want the notoriously gluttonous lionfish to stop eating everything at the reef nearby, you have to cull them regularly.
That’s why the Lionfish Challenge is an improvement to Matthew Johnston, a biology professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale.
For years, sporadic tournaments have been organized across the state to hunt lionfish, likely doing little in the long term to combat the species. "Consistent, monthly, concerted effort throughout the entire area" is how to best control the populations, Johnston said.
Johnston and other experts — though not opposed to the contest — also expressed skepticism or uncertainty about just how much the state’s effort can address the issue on a wider scale.
"We shouldn’t be lulled into thinking that this will solve the problem," he said.
• • •
The task isn’t hard just because there are so many lionfish.
Lionfish live as far as 1,000 feet below the surface, and divers can descend only between 100 and 120 feet before risks arise. That means most divers target lionfish in relatively shallow water, on reefs. But those killed by divers can be replaced within months, either by adults that have migrated from nearby, seizing the vacuum, or by larvae that have floated in on ocean currents.
"(Lionfish) have this deep-water refuge where they can go down and spawn," said LeRoy Creswell, who works for the University of Florida-operated Florida Sea Grant, the regional leg of a national research program.
"You always have this source of new recruits coming up to the surface," he said. "You can have all the derbies and challenges and awards … but it’s just the tip of the iceberg."
• • •
The Lionfish Challenge works like this:
Any participant who submits 25 lionfish (the recreational category) or 25 pounds of the species (the commercial category) receives a shirt; a commemorative coin that allows the harvest of one extra spiny lobster per person per day during the July 25-26 season; and an entry in the conservation commission’s "Lionfish Hall of Fame."
Prizes get glitzier the more fish you bag. Turning in 400 lionfish wins you a customized ZooKeeper, a device well-known to anglers that’s designed hold 14 to 20 pounds of lionfish and protect from their venomous spines.
Along with raffles and trophies for the largest hauls, participants can win cash and other prizes for catching tagged lionfish, like DeRemer did.
The tagged fish — caught, labeled and released in public waters by the state beforehand — are new this year. The hope is that they act like Willy Wonka’s golden tickets, pushing more people to seek out the species. Lionfish aren’t normally desirable; their spines sting, making them a pain to clean and fillet. Only recently have they wound up on restaurant menus.
The number of participants and the number of harvested lionfish have increased since the effort began, conservation commission spokeswoman Hanna Tillotson said.
In 2016, 95 participants caught 16,609 lionfish; in 2017, 120 caught 26,454. As of July 10, 82 people had participated in this year’s iteration, catching 8,510 fish. The final totals are expected to overtake those of the first two years.
• • •
For his part, DeRemer was certain of one thing: "Those little guys are good to eat."
Outside Jim’s Dive Shop in St. Petersburg on a recent Friday, he was plucking strips of lionfish from a cooler, rolling them in a mound of seasoning and dropping them into a makeshift fryer for hungry guests inside.
He turned to check on his grub, revealing the back of the shirt he had won from the state: an illustration of a lionfish, its long spines fanning out over its body, red and white and deadly. The strips sizzled, and DeRemer scooped them into a tray. Golden brown.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/Can-Florida-s-Lionfish-Challenge-rein-in-the-venomous-invasive-Maybe-_169764438
Going for AJ tomorrow-
Stoked
Wind 3-8 knots offshore forecast
Launching out of Dauphin island
If we get some good ones- I will post pictures!
Wish me luck!
Seriously.....are there any real fishermen here?
BWMG introduces Nemo Dive System,sub$500 product for diving that is not much bigger than a football that you can dive down to 10 feet all day with a pocket full of std lithium batteries.
Wether diving for fun, getting crawdads for bait at the bottom, spearfishing or whatever this will be more than handy. Pic of it below.
This unit is so small it is mind boggling. And it takes std supermarket lithium flashlight batteries, the ones a little bigger than AA. So with a pocket full of batteries you can dive all day long as opposed to 5? tank refills at $50 with SCUBA. Just recharge and you are ready for the next day.
IMHO a game changer. So for surface supplied air, BWMG (Brownies stock) will have all bases covered. Nemo to 10 feet, Nomad to 35 feet, Sea Lion to 65+ feet.
At 10 feet the danger level from holding your breath (never do that) and surfacing has been shown in studies to be minimal. So this means the training required before use is proportionally less. Resorts would be comfortable with renting them without an instructor.
How many of these can be sold?
http://www.browniesmarinegroup.com/introducing-nemo/
Here is a picture of it:
Its the tiny blue thing in CEOs hand in pic. It floats on the top as you dive without any tanks just an airline. That sub $500 includes the hose and regulator.
Here is the PR today:
POMPANO BEACH, FL., May 01, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brownie’s Marine Group (BMG), BMG is pleased to announce that it has secured exclusive, worldwide license to new intellectual property in the field of supplying surface breathing air to divers. Included in the IP are custom electric motor, pump, regulator, and control algorithm designs which will allow BMG to offer the most compact, lightweight and price-competitive shallow-water dive systems in the world.
The original device is the brainchild of John Colborn a Houston, Texas resident with a passion for the water. A combination of enthusiasm and profound background in both product development and engineering brought forth the Xplorkel, a surface-supplied air (SSA) dive system that bridges the gap between snorkeling and diving. Colborn founded Setaysha Technical Solutions to make breathing underwater easier, more comfortable and accessible – a mission that perfectly integrates with that of BMG.
The device formerly-known as Xplorkel has joined the bLU3 product line as NEMO™ – the smallest of the series and the first bLU3 product to enter into production. NEMO™ is an SSA dive system that supports one diver to a maximum depth of ten feet.
“It’s the perfect entry-level device for bringing the world’s 20 million snorkelers deeper into the incredible world of diving,” stated Robert Carmichael, CEO of Brownie’s Marine Group. “It provides those, who for one reason or another haven’t made the commitment to SCUBA, their own low barrier-of-entry, underwater breathing equipment. Our team couldn’t be happier to be the ones bringing that opportunity to the world, we’re ecstatic” said Carmichael with a visible level of excitement.
Carmichael went on to note that NEMO™ captures new markets, “we’re incredibly proud of the advancements made on the new Third Lung,” he stated, referencing the Sea Lion™ Third Lung – a battery-powered dive system that runs for 3+ hours on a single battery, a major achievement announced by the company last month, he went on to say “but NEMO™ appeals to entirely new demographics we’ve had our eyes on – the recreational snorkelers, paddle boarders and treasure hunters.”
NEMO™ is about the size of a 2-slice toaster, making it a suitable addition to the bLU3 line, which touts the tagline ‘a line of ultra-portable dive systems.’ The device provides an experience like SNUBA – a global enterprise that provides over 200k surface-supplied diving experiences every year – yet in contrast, NEMO™can be owned by consumers, operates with common, rechargeable batteries, and can be carried in just one hand. It is also an item of interest to the ever-expanding market of kayak and paddleboard participants as it provides a convenient way to explore more of the water. The company has also been hearing from the dredging and treasure hunting community about bLU3 products being the perfect solution for their objectives.
“NEMO’'s size and weight is a breakthrough for both freshwater and saltwater diving. It also opens up a new opportunity for underwater metal detecting which is a market that is expanding very quickly as metal detectors become increasingly more affordable – some are as low as $200. NEMO allows metal detector users to leave the shore and search where few have before,” elaborated Brownie’s Board Member Dana Allen.
The opportunities to reach existing, yet un-served, customers are summarized in the company’s Market Analysis, available on its Investor Relations page.
The bLU3 team came across John Colborn and his invention at DEMA Show 2017, the largest trade show for companies doing business in the scuba diving and ocean watersports industries.
“Well, we originally had plans for NEMO™ to reach 15-20 feet, but when we saw the exceptional engineering John [Colborn] had put into this device, we knew it was perfect for what we were trying to do at bLU3. Anyway, when it comes to shallow reefs – you’ll experience just as much at 10 feet as you would at 20 feet, things you can’t get to know from the surface. It’s going to be a real game changer for the snorkeling community” Blake Carmichael explained, he went on to share his excitement to work with Colborn – “John [Colborn] is a great asset to our team. His ingenuity and experience is an absolute treasure.”
Due to the advancements in manufacturing engineering achieved by Colborn, NEMO™ will enter into production and become available for purchase prior to NOMAD, the feature-rich system announced by bLU3 in January 2018.
Colborn will work alongside the BMG team to further expand the Company’s patent portfolio and provide engineering and manufacturing startup support through to commercialization. He will potentially continue working on future BMG projects thereafter.
Those interested in investing can learn more at http://www.browniesmarinegroup.com/investors Those interested in more information about NEMO™ can visit https://diveblu3.com and join the bLU3 monthly newsletter to stay updated on the brand’s progress: bit.ly/bLU3-News.
NASCAR fans! WIN IHUB SUBSCRIPTIONS
ENTER NOW, FIRST RACE IS THIS SUNDAY!
Feel free to join us on the Monster Energy Board for our NASCAR contests.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/A-Monster-Energy-Nascar-Challenge-3206/
We run a main season long contest for the 36 regular season races--simple format of picking 3 cars/race each week...prizes awarded at the end of the season!
we also run 2 side contests:
1. The Playoffs--consists of the 10 playoff races
2. our non-points contest--consists of the 5 NASCAR non-point events.
Non-points contest starts Sun Feb 11th and the main contest starts with the Daytona 500 Sun Feb 18th!
Boogity Boogity Boogity!!
KickStarter Is OnForNomadDive Unit Today
Production Unit only 20x14x6,ThirdLessThanOneInVideo
And 1/3 lighter too! Can not wait to use the production unit.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1865628944/nomad-by-blu3-ultra-portable-tankless-dive-system?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=nomad
Found this from NG, does sound serious.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/03/150313-oceans-marine-life-climate-change-acidification-oxygen-fish/
Mentions same things as you, billfish being pushed up.
Thanks
Ocean Oxygen Depletion is a serious issue.
With fish always in the Strike Zone
commercial and recreational fisheries are Kill'n it.
One boat in Coasta Rica can catch over 100 Sailfish PER DAY!
Its all in the books.
Not really sure how anyone can fix this. Its not good.
$SUPERMAN, did not know that. Normally low oxygen do low in due to inversion as in Baltic Sea, in wide open water was not aware that was going on.
The BLU3 from BWMG will in effect be like weather buoys but underwater, telling us what is going on below.
Thanks for info!
Dive with a purpose. You nailed great point.
BLU3 has data recording in real time. Great feature.
https://www.livescience.com/61338-ocean-losing-oxygen.html
http://www.oceanscientists.org/index.php/topics/ocean-deoxygenation
While diving with BLU3 and having fun, the data you record
during your dive can give valuable informations in those area.
Some years ago I noticed Pacific ocean around Panama and Coasta Rica was experiencing record fishing catches unheard of,
so I did some research.
I found that fish that normally Go DEEP couldn't, due to low or no oxygen.
This keeps the fish in the "Strike Zone" and keeps them vulnerable.
Keep up the good work!
We see it alike. It has lightweight lithium batteries so any outlet even a baby generator or inverter can recharge it. Much easier to find a 400 watt outlet than a scuba high pressure compressor. BTW, BWMG sells those too now (L&W out of Germany).
If this existed 40 years ago, would have got a lot more gold. There is what is called arm depth gold in rivers, the max distance someone with a snorkel can reach to gold dredge. As so hard to get air in rough places people give up at arm depth, so someone can bring in a BLU3 and go below arm depth and get the big stuff. And another use, crevicing deep. You can see good crevices 12 feet down, but no way to stay down long enough to pry and chisel the gold out.
But the resort market is gobs bigger than the gold miner mkt.
And thanks for PM.
BTW another thing that wish had years ago for gold mining, is a SierraBlaster. You likley do not need to blow things up in Florida, but now there is a legal blasting system, no license required www.SierraBlaster.com Has video on front page of it in use. If you have a 5,000 pound boulder on bedrock hiding gold nuggets, you can break it up into 250 pound pieces and roll it out of the way. Quite cool, and only been out a couple of years, has ATF exemption.
Sure makes easier than full blown dive certification(s).
Lugging tanks and heavy gear is an issue. Heavy stuff.
The full gear can be intimidating at times to new divers.
Traveling with BLU3 should be easy and self contained complete.
Remote diving locations where air fills are not available..
With BLU3 its like diving naked! LOL
I think I like it. Looking forward to updates and release
$uperman, thanks for your opinion on that.
I have seen it under non-disclosure agreement, so can only talk about what is public. Absolutely impressed with design and capabilities. More videos are coming then all capabilities will be out by Feb 1 KickStarter. My guess on backpack with hose is maybe 15-20 pounds, not sure.
As someone that has lugged 120 pound dredge motors with air pumps on canyon walls and along boulder bars and chest high river crossings, BLU3 is so appealing. Can not wait to try it out.
And Third Lung is great if you want to go deeper.
Yes Ginnie Spring cause so crystal clear, great for video, that is Blake Carmichael a key designer of it.
Yes, thinking same thing as you, a quick training session then at resorts people could rent it after first guided tour. Then they may want to buy one. I go to Baja quite a bit and rent jeeps to go places like Cabo Pulmo, could take it with me on airline.
Cheers
I searched for more information. Not much available.
Interested in the inner workings and functions.
We know the Third-Lung already works, gas or electric.
The retail cost will be the deciding factor in attracting new markets.
Could be huge for resorts like Sandals..
At first it reminded me of my Dacor Flyt Pac BC.
One of the videos is shot at Ginnie Springs Fl. I recognize it.
I also shot some awesome videos and photos there.
Wonder what it weights?
Hi $UPERMAN,cool, me about same year and my dad was pioneer SCUBA guy in late 50s. Used to dive back then with SF disc jockey Don Sherwood for those who remember him.
Thanks for comment what is your take on how successful BLU3 will be as a product?
Here are some more links on it https://www.facebook.com/diveblu3/
https://diveblu3.com/about/dive-blu3/
https://www.facebook.com/diveblu3/videos/320591638348664/ (video of full process)
New super portable dive system,BLU3,Video
Hi I have "hookah" dived since a teenager, mostly for gold diving. In fact very much like the new TV show Gold Rush White Water in fast mountain rivers and creeks. It is where a pump sends air down to you.
There is a revolutionary new super portable dive system from Brownies (BWMG), a pioneer diving equipment company that has been around for decades.
A video is worth 10,000 words and faster. It is referred to as hookah diving, but never this lightweight before, you can jog with this on your back, throw it in back seat or even motorcycle it, or take on airliner. Its battery powered and pumps air down to you, no tanks needed.
https://www.facebook.com/diveblu3/videos/320591638348664/ It is HD suggest expanding it full screen, it shows you exactly what it does.
It will be introduced on Kickstarter Feb 1. I am an investor in the company. Have always wanted a product like this, and it will collect data for temp, salinity, turbidity and more effortlessly which will be big bene for researchers, archaeologists, treasure divers, and pleasure snorkelers will "baseline" areas as a side benefit as can be uploaded to http://www.projectbaseline.org/2016-expedition-overview for providing scientists with data.
This link has much more info on it and company. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=137920612
Do not know if any prospectors here, but it is a game changer for that. Its knapsack like on your back so you can hike in rough terrain, then throw it in water and dive to 30 feet and stay down a long time.
Toxic algae: Once a nuisance, now a severe nationwide threat
storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/media:48952a1ccc124df288f2bccd1f55ac58/800.jpeg
By JOHN FLESHER and ANGELIKI KASTANIS
November 16, 2017
MONROE, Mich. (AP) — Competing in a bass fishing tournament two years ago, Todd Steele cast his rod from his 21-foot motorboat — unaware that he was being poisoned.
A thick, green scum coated western Lake Erie. And Steele, a semipro angler, was sickened by it.
Driving home to Port Huron, Michigan, he felt lightheaded, nauseous. By the next morning he was too dizzy to stand, his overheated body covered with painful hives. Hospital tests blamed toxic algae, a rising threat to U.S. waters.
“It attacked my immune system and shut down my body’s ability to sweat,” Steele said. “If I wasn’t a healthy 51-year-old and had some type of medical condition, it could have killed me.”
He recovered, but Lake Erie hasn’t. Nor have other waterways choked with algae that’s sickening people, killing animals and hammering the economy. The scourge is escalating from occasional nuisance to severe, widespread hazard, overwhelming government efforts to curb a leading cause: fertilizer runoff from farms.
Pungent, sometimes toxic blobs are fouling waterways from the Great Lakes to Chesapeake Bay, from the Snake River in Idaho to New York’s Finger Lakes and reservoirs in California’s Central Valley.
Pungent, toxic algae is spreading across U.S. waterways, even as the government spends vast sums of money to help farmers reduce fertilizer runoff that helps cause it. An AP investigation finds algae has become a serious hazard in all 50 states. (Nov. 16)
Last year, Florida’s governor declared a state of emergency and beaches were closed when algae blooms spread from Lake Okeechobee to nearby estuaries. More than 100 people fell ill after swimming in Utah’s largest freshwater lake. Pets and livestock have died after drinking algae-laced water, including 32 cattle on an Oregon ranch in July. Oxygen-starved “dead zones” caused by algae decay have increased 30-fold since 1960, causing massive fish kills. This summer’s zone in the Gulf of Mexico was the biggest on record.
Tourism and recreation have suffered. An international water skiing festival in Milwaukee was canceled in August; scores of swimming areas were closed nationwide.
Algae are essential to food chains, but these tiny plants and bacteria sometimes multiply out of control. Within the past decade, outbreaks have been reported in every state, a trend likely to accelerate as climate change boosts water temperatures.
This June 29, 2016 aerial photo shows blue-green algae in an area along the St. Lucie River in Stuart, Fla.
“It’s a big, pervasive threat that we as a society are not doing nearly enough to solve,” said Don Scavia, a University of Michigan environmental scientist. “If we increase the amount of toxic algae in our drinking water supply, it’s going to put people’s health at risk. Even if it’s not toxic, people don’t want to go near it. They don’t want to fish in it or swim in it. That means loss of jobs and tax revenue.”
Many monster blooms are triggered by an overload of agricultural fertilizers in warm, calm waters, scientists say. Chemicals and manure intended to nourish crops are washing into lakes, streams and oceans, providing an endless buffet for algae.
Government agencies have spent billions of dollars and produced countless studies on the problem. But an Associated Press investigation found little to show for their efforts:
—Levels of algae-feeding nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are climbing in many lakes and streams.
—A small minority of farms participate in federal programs that promote practices to reduce fertilizer runoff. When more farmers want to sign up, there often isn’t enough money.
—Despite years of research and testing, it’s debatable how well these measures work.
DEPENDING ON FARMERS TO VOLUNTEER
The AP’s findings underscore what many experts consider a fatal flaw in government policy: Instead of ordering agriculture to stem the flood of nutrients, regulators seek voluntary cooperation, an approach not afforded other big polluters.
Farmers are asked to take steps such as planting “cover crops” to reduce off-season erosion, or installing more efficient irrigation systems — often with taxpayers helping foot the bill.
The U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, part of the Department of Agriculture, says it has spent more than $29 billion on voluntary, incentive-based programs since 2009 to make some 500,000 operations more environmentally friendly.
Jimmy Bramblett, deputy chief for programs, told AP the efforts had produced “tremendous” results but acknowledged only about 6 percent of the nation’s roughly 2 million farms are enrolled at any time.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the agency provided data about its biggest spending initiative, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP, which contracts with farmers to use pollution-prevention measures and pays up to 75 percent of their costs.
An AP analysis shows the agency paid out more than $1.8 billion between 2009 and 2016 to share costs for 45 practices designed to cut nutrient and sediment runoff or otherwise improve water quality.
A total of $2.5 billion was pledged during the period. Of that, $51 million was targeted for Indiana, Michigan and Ohio farmers in the watershed flowing into western Lake Erie, where fisherman Steele was sickened.
Yet some of the lake’s biggest algae blooms showed up during those seven years. The largest on record appeared in 2015, blanketing 300 square miles — the size of New York City. The previous year, an algae toxin described in military texts as being as lethal as a biological weapon forced a two-day tap water shutdown for more than 400,000 customers in Toledo. This summer, another bloom oozed across part of the lake and up a primary tributary, the Maumee River, to the city’s downtown for the first time in memory.
The type of phosphorus fueling the algae outbreak has doubled in western Lake Erie tributaries since EQIP started in the mid-1990s, according to research scientist Laura Johnson of Ohio’s Heidelberg University. Scientists estimate about 85 percent of the Maumee’s phosphorus comes from croplands and livestock operations.
NRCS reports, meanwhile, claim that conservation measures have prevented huge volumes of nutrient and sediment losses from farm fields.
Although the federal government and most states refuse to make such anti-pollution methods mandatory, many experts say limiting runoff is the only way to rein in rampaging algae. A U.S.-Canadian panel seeking a 40 percent cut in Lake Erie phosphorus runoff wants to make controlling nutrients a condition for receiving federally subsidized crop insurance.
“We’ve had decades of approaching this issue largely through a voluntary framework,” said Jon Devine, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Clearly the existing system isn’t working.”
Farmers, though, say they can accomplish more by experimenting and learning from each other than following government dictates.
“There’s enough rules already,” said John Weiser, a third-generation dairyman with 5,000 cows in Brown County, Wisconsin, where nutrient overload causes algae and dead zones in Lake Michigan’s Green Bay. “Farmers are stewards of the land. We want to fix the problem as much as anybody else does.”
The Environmental Protection Agency says indirect runoff from agriculture and other sources, such as urban lawns, is now the biggest source of U.S. water pollution. But a loophole in the Clean Water Act of 1972 prevents the government from regulating runoff as it does pollution from sewage plants and factories that release waste directly into waterways. They are required to get permits requiring treatment and limiting discharges, and violators can be fined or imprisoned.
In this Sept. 13, 2016 photo, Brent Peterson, who promotes runoff prevention in eastern Wisconsin’s Lower Fox River watershed, stands beside a creek in Brown County, Wis.
Those rules don’t apply to farm fertilizers that wash into streams and lakes when it rains. Congress has shown no inclination to change that.
Without economic consequences for allowing runoff, farmers have an incentive to use all the fertilizer needed to produce the highest yield, said Mark Clark, a University of Florida wetland ecologist. “There’s nothing that says, ‘For every excessive pound I put on, I’ll have to pay a fee.’ There’s no stick.”
Some states have rules, including fertilizer application standards intended to minimize runoff. Minnesota requires 50-foot vegetation buffers around public waterways. Farmers in Maryland must keep livestock from defecating in streams that feed the Chesapeake Bay, where agriculture causes about half the nutrient pollution of the nation’s biggest estuary.
But states mostly avoid challenging the powerful agriculture industry.
Wisconsin issues water quality permits for big livestock farms, where 2,500 cows can generate as much waste as a city of 400,000 residents. But its Department of Natural Resources was sued by a dairy group this summer after strengthening manure regulations.
The state’s former head of runoff management, Gordon Stevenson, is among those who doubt that the voluntary approach will be enough to make headway with the algae problem.
“Those best-management practices are a far cry from the treatment that a pulp and paper mill or a foundry or a cannery or a sewage plant has to do before they let the wastewater go,” he said. “It’s like the Stone Age versus the Space Age.”
QUESTIONABLE RESULTS
Do the anti-pollution measures subsidized by the government to the tune of billions of dollars actually work?
Agriculture Department studies of selected watersheds, based largely on farmer surveys and computer models, credit them with dramatic cutbacks in runoff. One found nitrogen flows from croplands in the Mississippi River watershed to the Gulf of Mexico would be 28 percent higher without those steps being taken.
Critics contend such reports are based mostly on speculation, rather than on actually testing the water flowing off fields.
Although there is not a nationwide evaluation, Bramblett said “edge of field” monitoring the government started funding in 2013 points to the success of the incentives program in certain regions.
Federal audits and scientific reports raise other problems: Decisions about which farms get funding are based too little on what’s best for the environment; there aren’t enough inspections to ensure the measures taken are done properly; farm privacy laws make it hard for regulators to verify results.
It’s widely agreed that such pollution controls can make at least some difference. But experts say lots more participation is needed.
“The practices are completely overwhelmed,” said Stephen Carpenter, a University of Wisconsin lake ecologist. “Relying on them to solve the nation’s algae bloom problem is like using Band-Aids on hemorrhages.”
The AP found that the incentives program pledged $394 million between 2009 and 2016 for irrigation systems intended to reduce runoff — more than on any other water protection effort.
In arid western Idaho, where phosphorus runoff is linked to algae blooms and fish kills in the lower Snake River, government funding is helping farmer Mike Goodson install equipment to convert to “drip irrigation” rather than flooding all of his 550 acres with water diverted from rivers and creeks.
But only 795 water protection contracts were signed by Idaho farmers between 2014 and 2016, accounting for just over 1 percent of the roughly 11.7 million farmland acres statewide. Even if many farmers are preventing runoff without government subsidies, as Bramblett contends, the numbers suggest there’s a long way to go.
Goodson says forcing others to follow his example would backfire.
“Farmers have a bad taste for regulatory agencies,” he said, gazing across the flat, wind-swept landscape. “We pride ourselves on living off the land, and we try to preserve and conserve our resources.”
But allowing farmers to decide whether to participate can be costly to others. The city of Boise completed a $20 million project last year that will remove phosphorus flowing off irrigated farmland before it reaches the Snake River.
Brent Peterson spends long days in a mud-spattered pickup truck, promoting runoff prevention in eastern Wisconsin’s Lower Fox River watershed, where dairy cows excrete millions of gallons of manure daily — much of it sprayed onto cornfields as fertilizer.
The river empties into algae-plagued Green Bay, which contains less than 2 percent of Lake Michigan’s water but receives one-third of the entire lake’s nutrient flow. Farmers in the watershed were pledged $10 million from 2009 to 2016 to help address the problem, the AP found.
Peterson, employed by two counties with many hundreds of farms, has lined up six “demonstration farms” to use EQIP-funded runoff prevention, especially cover crops.
“This is a big step for a lot of these guys,” he said. “It’s out of their comfort zone.”
And for all the money devoted to EQIP, only 23 percent of eligible applications for grants were funded in 2015, according to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
Funding of the incentives program has risen from just over $1 billion in 2009 to $1.45 billion last year. The Trump administration’s 2018 budget proposes a slight cut.
“It sounds like a lot, but the amount of money we’re spending is woefully inadequate,” said Johnson of Heidelberg University.
ALGAE PLAGUE SPREADS
While there’s no comprehensive tally of algae outbreaks, many experts agree they’re “quickly becoming a global epidemic,” said Anna Michalak, an ecologist at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University.
A rising number of water bodies across the U.S. have excessive levels of nutrients and blue-green algae, according to a 2016 report by the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Geological Survey. The algae-generated toxin that sickened Steele in Lake Erie was found in one-third of the 1,161 lakes and reservoirs the agencies studied.
California last year reported toxic blooms in more than 40 lakes and waterways, the most in state history. New York created a team of specialists to confront the mounting problem in the Finger Lakes, a tourist magnet cherished for sparkling waters amid lush hillsides dotted with vineyards. Two cities reported algal toxins in their drinking water in 2016, a first in New York.
More than half the lakes were smeared with garish green blooms this summer.
Charter boat captain Dave Spangler holds a sample of algae from Maumee Bay in Lake Erie in Oregon, Ohio, on Sept. 15, 2017.
“The headlines were basically saying, ’Don’t go into the water, don’t touch the water,’” said Andy Zepp, executive director of the Finger Lakes Land Trust, who lives near Cayauga Lake in Ithaca. “I have an 11-year-old daughter, and I’m wondering, do I want to take her out on the lake?”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is developing a system for compiling data on algae-related illnesses. A 2009-10 study tallied at least 61 victims in three states, a total the authors acknowledged was likely understated.
Anecdotal reports abound — a young boy hospitalized after swimming in a lake near Alexandria, Minnesota; a woman sickened while jet-skiing on Grand Lake St. Marys in western Ohio.
Signs posted at boat launches in the Hells Canyon area along the Idaho-Oregon line are typical of those at many recreation areas nationwide: “DANGER: DO NOT GO IN OR NEAR WATER” if there’s algae.
In Florida, artesian springs beloved by underwater divers are tainted by algae that causes a skin rash called “swimmer’s itch.” Elsewhere, domestic and wild animals are dying after ingesting algae-tainted water.
A year ago, shortly after a frolic in Idaho’s Snake River, Briedi Gillespie’s 11-year-old Chesapeake Bay retriever stopped breathing. Her respiratory muscles were paralyzed, her gums dark blue from lack of air.
Gillespie, a professor of veterinary medicine, and her veterinarian husband performed mouth-to-nose resuscitation and chest massage while racing their beloved Rose to a clinic. They spent eight hours pumping oxygen into her lungs and steroids into her veins. She pulled through.
The next day, Gillespie spotted Rose’s paw prints in a purplish, slimy patch on the riverbank and took samples from nearby water. They were laced with algae toxins.
“It was pretty horrendous,” Gillespie said. “This is my baby girl. How thankful I am that we could recognize what was going on and had the facilities we did, or she’d be gone.
https://apnews.com/8ca7048f5cff4b45a634296a358f7309/Toxic-algae:-Once-a-nuisance,-now-a-severe-nationwide-threat
Saints Running Back Mark Ingram Takes Down 600 Pound Boar
by Dylan Gwinn
13 Feb 2017
Can anyone say, “barbecue at Mark Ingram’s house?”
Based on the size of this 600 lb. boar, there’s a good chance that a lot of people will partake of some home cooking at Chez Ingram. The Saints running back went to Tennessee last week and did his part to help with the epidemic of hog overpopulation:
Mark Ingram II
@MarkIngram22
Great time hunting this week with some great folk!!! Big 600 lb hog didn't stand a chance!!! One shot shawty!!
12:09 PM - 10 Feb 2017
931 Retweets 2,094 Likes
To put that into perspective, the hog Mark Ingram shot weighs only 23 pounds less, than the entire right side of the Saints offensive line. That’s a big pig.
http://www.breitbart.com/sports/2017/02/13/saints-running-back-mark-ingram-takes-600-pound-boar/
Study: Grass carp have invaded 3 of the Great Lakes
John Flesher
Associated Press
9:13 p.m. ET Jan. 27, 2017
(Photo: Jason Johnson/The State Journal-Register via Associated Press)
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Invasive grass carp have reached three of the Great Lakes and pose a significant environmental risk there, but time remains to prevent them from getting out of hand, according to a scientific analysis released Friday.
The voracious grass carp is among four Asian carp species threatening to reach the world's largest surface freshwater system. Bighead and silver carp, the most feared, would compete with native fish that eat microscopic plants and animals, while grass carp feast on aquatic vegetation that provides crucial habitat and spawning grounds.
Grass carp have been found in Lakes Erie, Michigan and Ontario, although it's uncertain how many there are or how widely they have spread, U.S. and Canadian researchers said. At least some are reproducing.
"For the first time, we have a binational, peer-reviewed study by some of the best minds and practitioners in the field who have a consensus on what the risk is to the Great Lakes from grass carp, and it's pretty substantial," said Marc Gaden, spokesman for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.
Grass carp were introduced to the U.S. in the early 1960s to control weed growth in waterways. Like other Asian carp, some escaped into the Mississippi River and have migrated northward toward the Great Lakes.
It has long been known that at least a small number of grass carp were in the lakes, Gaden said. Some may have slipped into Lake Michigan through a Chicago-area waterway network before electric barriers were erected to block fish migration. People might have released others, intentionally or by accident.
"They've just been humming in the background," Gaden said. "They haven't gotten a lot of attention. Once in a while one would get captured."
But they have turned up more often in recent years and the threat of a full-fledged invasion appears to be rising, he said. A particularly ominous sign is that some of those caught have been fertile. Grass carp reared in hatcheries, which some states allow, are supposed to be sterilized before being released into the wild.
Twenty-three grass carp have been caught in Canada since 2012, including five in Lake Ontario at Toronto, said Becky Cudmore, Asian carp program manager for Canada's fisheries and oceans agency and the report's primary author.
"Right now, the sterile fish outnumber the fertile fish," Cudmore said. "This isn't game over, but we are finding more of these fertile fish."
The analysis said it is "very likely" that grass carp will become established in Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan and Ontario within 10 years unless effective steps are taken to stop them. The risk is lower in frigid Lake Superior, which offers less food.
An established population is one that reproduces over multiple generations.
Researchers are studying how to prevent that, Gaden said. Tougher enforcement of laws against bringing them into the region would help, along with greater care to prevent release of fertile fish from hatcheries.
Another possibility would be using nets to block their path to spawning areas during times when they reproduce, Cudmore said. Asian carp are known to spawn later than native fish.
"Our assessment is saying that yes, they were showing up before, but now they're starting the invasion process," she said. "They have arrived. Now is the time to act."
Read more:
Invasive Asian carp less than 50 miles from Lake Michigan
Column: Want to win $1 million? Fix the Asian carp problem
If Asian carp reach Great Lakes, what do we do?
Federal agencies budget $42M to combat Asian carp
Stabenow, Peters call for quicker action on Asian carp
(please note: The underlined words are 'clickable' links when accessed via the link below)
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/01/27/grass-carp-great-lakes/97165580/
nice....and bbq stew too
Thanks, we are having a birthday party for him(not the deer, the bro in law..lol) this weekend and I got the picture in an 8 x10 and in a frame for a present.
ya had the camera in a good spot.....nic pic lacy
Am I giving you a haddock yet?
Oh my cod, that was reel bad. I better stop ... starting to get shellfish with this thread.
Too Funny bud. Just for the halibut LOL
Thought I'd throw that out, just for the halibut.
Was engaged once to a gal. But I lobster, and I never flounder.
Fisherman Discovers Giant 14-Pound Lobster: 'Never In My Life Have I Seen Anything This Big'
https://www.yahoo.com/news/fisherman-discovers-giant-14-pound-155600191.html
I don't think that's me.....lol
Very Exhilarating!
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WELCOME TO THE BOARD DESIGNED FOR ALL IHUB MEMBERS TO POST PICTURES OF "THE BIG ONE THAT DIDNT GET AWAY", OR JUST TO SHARE ANY OUTDOORS PHOTOS OR STORIES!
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