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Food Source News

14 Aug 2023

Commercial Fishing on the Great Lakes is a Family Affair

Š Hank Erdmann / Adobe Stock

Although the number of fishermen who make a living on the waters of the Great Lakes is much diminished from a half century ago, the region's commercial whitefish fishery continues to be viable and profitable.Henriksen Fisheries is one of about a dozen commercial entities in the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan, focused on trap netting whitefish in Green Bay and the waters surrounding the Door Peninsula.Charlie Henriksen started his family-owned fishing business in Door County in 1987.Originally from Illinois…

28 Jun 2018

New Research in Biofilms: Fighting Nature with Nature

Underneath the glistening patchwork of blues and greens lurks an intricate world of unique animal communities, diverse landscapes, and changeable conditions. The ocean is also one of the most extraordinary and fascinating ecosystems on the planet - a place that can host both the source of a problem and the solution. In the maritime sector, an estimated $56 million a year is associated with biofouling for the US Navy alone. Anti-fouling coatings have the potential to reduce millions of tonnes of greenhouse emissions each year, but the industry is yet to find an effective method that is also environmentally friendly. Dr. Maria Salta, an…

21 Sep 2016

Tropical Coral reefs lose their Zooplankton through Ocean Acidification

Tropical coral reefs lose up to two thirds of their zooplankton through ocean acidification. This is the conclusion reached by a German-Australian research team that examined two reefs with so-called carbon dioxide seeps off the coast of Papua New Guinea. At these locations volcanic carbon dioxide escapes from the seabed, lowering the water’s acidity to a level, which scientists predict for the future of the oceans. The researchers believe that the decline in zooplankton is due to the loss of suitable hiding places. It results from the changes in the coral reef community due to increasing acidification. Instead of densely branched branching corals, robust mounding species of hard coral grow, offering the zooplankton little shelter.

12 May 2016

Oil-hungry Bacteria Could Clean Up Next Big Oil Spill

Heriot-Watt scientists have cracked the genetic code of the marine bacteria which helped ‘eat’ the oil spilled in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, information which could aid clean-up efforts for any future major spill. Dr Tony Gutierrez, Associate Professor of Microbiology at Heriot-Watt, was in the US at the time of the disaster and was able to perform experiments with samples from oil-contaminated waters of the Gulf of Mexico shortly after the spill occurred, samples that contained key species of bacteria that fed on the oil. Experiments with the samples revealed that certain bacteria had thrived on the oil that gushed into the Gulf, devouring the oil as a preferred food source.

21 Nov 2015

Warm Water Mixing up Life in Arctic

The warming of arctic waters in the wake of climate change is likely to produce radical changes in the marine habitats of the High North. This is indicated by data from long-term observations in the Fram Strait, which researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) have now analysed. Their most important finding: even a short-term influx of warm water into the Arctic Ocean would suffice to fundamentally impact the local symbiotic communities, from the water’s surface down to the deep seas. As the authors recently reported in the journal “Ecological Indicators”, that’s precisely what happened between 2005 and 2008. The Arctic is a remote and extreme habitat.

04 Dec 2014

Experience Counts in the Arctic

Edison Chouest’s Fairweather, LLC lessens Arctic risk while increasing efficiencies in a challenging environment. As interest in offshore commerce in the Arctic increases, key components of any successful operation in this theatre include logistics, assets, and of course, a healthy dose of experience while operating in cold weather environments. To that end, Fairweather LLC’s Arctic operations include the Deadhorse Aviation Center (DAC). Strategically located at Prudhoe Bay, DAC provides oil companies and their suppliers with an aviation command center to manage both onshore operations and Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) exploration and production activities on the Arctic Ocean and Beaufort Sea.

11 Sep 2014

Keep it Clean & Green

When dealing with oil and other hazardous contaminants on vessels and in marine facilities, there are some common misconceptions about the way hydrocarbons biodegrade. “The words biodegrade and bioremediate are not interchangeable,” said Jay H. Murland, CEO of EnviroLogic Biobased Technologies Inc. who manufacturer a line of over 30 EPA-approved bioremediation products. To explain further, let’s look at the difference between the processes of bioremediation, bioaugmentation and encapsulation. • Bioremediation occurs naturally all over the earth.

09 Sep 2003

Careful, Your Species May Be Non-Indigenous

By Dennis L. Dangers posed by movement of species from one part of the world to another where they are uncommon (non-indigenous) have been recognized since the black death (bubonic plague) arrived in western Europe from central Asia in the 1300's, killing up to one-third of Europe's population. Modern medicine has been able to address most disease outbreaks, as evidenced by our recent experience with SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). The environment has coped less successfully. Since man began traveling long distances in relatively short time, plants and animals have also made the voyage. Some have been brought intentionally, as when European domestic animals and crops were transported to America and Australia for farming. Others, such as rats, were brought unintentionally.

07 Jul 2004

Government Update: Ballast Water Management Acquiring Teeth

Effective August 13, 2004, the U.S. Coast Guard will have the authority to impose civil penalties of up to $27,500 per day against vessels that fail to submit ballast water management reports. The basic ballast water management program has been in existence for some years, but submittal of reports has been largely voluntary since the agency lacked the power to require submittal. As a result, participation in the program has been abysmal - at less than 30 percent. It is expected that participation will rapidly become universal as the penalty regime takes hold. The goal of ballast water management is to reduce the risk of transport in a ship's ballast tanks of aquatic species from one location to another where the species is not indigenous and may have no natural enemies.

17 Jul 2002

TOP NEWS: Trinity in Legal Mess over Barge Corrosion

Florida Marine Transportation Inc., New Orleans, La. filed the charges in Louisiana State Court claiming the coating material inside the barge hull voids was a food source for bacteria that was causing the premature deterioration of the steel. There has been no reported problem with the tank holding the petroleum. The barge company said they had taken three of the 18 barges out of service due to the corrosion problem and they were working with the U.S. Coast Guard inspection department in New Orleans to investigate the problem. "We are working with the Coast Guard and the preeminent scientist in the country on this problem", said Jason Belcher, Florida Marine president. "We think this is an industry problem that will impact other carriers", Belcher added.

10 Mar 2003

Coatings & Corrosion Control: Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC)

Recently, the use of certain environmental-friendly waxes or "semi-hard coatings", used by barge fabricators to protect the internal void walls and floors of marine double-hulled steel barges from corrosion, have fallen under scrutiny by some barge owners/operators. It is believed that certain paraffin wax coatings act as a food source for certain living corrosive microorganisms. These single-celled organisms are associated with a phenomenon known as Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC) that can cause localized pitting and eventually leaks in steel barge voids. This following examines the biological and chemical research that has recently been performed on the Jotun Paints, Inc, "beeswax" coating by two independent laboratories.

15 Oct 2002

Trinity Files Form 8-K Update to Barge Litigation

In an update to previously disclosed litigation in their inland barge business group, Trinity filed a Form 8-K noting that another lawsuit had been filed involving barges valued at approximately $14 million. The following is an update to the issues raised in a previously reported lawsuit filed against the Company and a coating manufacturer by Florida Marine Transporters, Inc., a tank barge customer, seeking recovery of damages related to corrosion problems with eighteen barges purchased from the Company's subsidiary, Trinity Marine Products, Inc. The company has been advised that J. Russell Flowers, Inc. (JRF), a barge leasing customer of Trinity Marine…