 |
| Add caption |
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Bamboo Wars
Bamboo Wars
Some 40 years ago I started planting clumping and running bamboo for screens along the street side of my place. Since the bamboo has been established, I am constantly bothered by those breaking or cutting my bamboo.
It is amazing to see the types of people involved in bamboo theft, or damage (from little girls to insurance executives):
---those wanting plant stakes
---those wanting to start up bamboo, yet have no idea of how to do it
---those wanting fishing poles
---those wanting play sticks or swords or switches
---those wanting walking sticks
---those that like to mess with other people
---those that like to destroy things
---those bending bamboo over the road so cars would hit it, or have to go around overhanging stalks
Asking people to stop damaging the bamboo, or offering to cut the stalks I wanted removed did not work. Finally, it got so bad I had to think of a solution. I decided to cut stalks that were either dead or in places not wanted and place them along property next to street for people to take without them having to expend any effort on their part to get the bamboo. Since a lot of people are basically lazy, the offering of already cut stalks (usually about 15-20) is apparently working. There is less breaking of my bamboo screen. Those that like to mess with others or destroy things are still breaking the bamboo. I have to replace the stalks about twice a month.
Adrian R. Lawler, (C) 2012 --
Some 40 years ago I started planting clumping and running bamboo for screens along the street side of my place. Since the bamboo has been established, I am constantly bothered by those breaking or cutting my bamboo.
It is amazing to see the types of people involved in bamboo theft, or damage (from little girls to insurance executives):
---those wanting plant stakes
---those wanting to start up bamboo, yet have no idea of how to do it
---those wanting fishing poles
---those wanting play sticks or swords or switches
---those wanting walking sticks
---those that like to mess with other people
---those that like to destroy things
---those bending bamboo over the road so cars would hit it, or have to go around overhanging stalks
Asking people to stop damaging the bamboo, or offering to cut the stalks I wanted removed did not work. Finally, it got so bad I had to think of a solution. I decided to cut stalks that were either dead or in places not wanted and place them along property next to street for people to take without them having to expend any effort on their part to get the bamboo. Since a lot of people are basically lazy, the offering of already cut stalks (usually about 15-20) is apparently working. There is less breaking of my bamboo screen. Those that like to mess with others or destroy things are still breaking the bamboo. I have to replace the stalks about twice a month.
Adrian R. Lawler, (C) 2012 --
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Remove Sea Turtles from Large Tank
Remove Sea Turtles from Large Tank
When I was transferred to run an aquarium in 1984, the staff on site had already put 7 loggerhead and Kemp's Ridley sea turtles into the new 40,000 gallon main tank. Most were brought in by shrimpers who had caught them in their nets. I have no idea why they decided to hold the turtles for a while or why they put them into the main tank. They all appeared healthy and free of obvious injuries. The turtles were already tearing the new main tank filter apart. At night they would try to wedge themselves under a tank decoration (fiberglass fake rocks or trawl board, etc.) or under the crushed coral substrate so they would be stable while resting or asleep. They were digging down to the screening holding up the crushed coral and tearing holes in the screen that allowed the crushed coral to fall to the base of the tank, causing "dead" spots in the crushed coral biological filter (water was no longer circulating through the pile of coral extending from the tank bottom to/or above the screen).
The Curator of the building requested I get the turtles out of the tank and release them back to the wild to stop further damage to the tank filter screen. This was a brand new tank but already had major damage to the undergravel filter. I was the new guy on the scene; this was a test to see if I could handle the job, and I knew it.
The staff that was already there before my transfer thought this was a big joke, because after putting the turtles in the tank they had not been able to catch them to remove them, and were at a loss at what to do.
I thought about it a little while, bringing together my experiences in catching/trapping animals over many years. I made up a plan that I thought might work:
---starve the turtles for a few days so they would be hungry.
---bait my 4 foot diameter hoop net with a blue crab tied to the center of the netting. (The hoop net consisted of a fiberglass hoop which had half inch mesh nylon netting attached to hoop, forming a bag about a foot deep from the hoop. Lines went from 3 points 120 degrees apart for about 3-4 feet, to one rope to pull with. I had previously used this net to catch bullminnows, crabs, grass shrimp, etc., off local piers. I had made the net to function like a very large blue crab drop net.)
---lower hoop net into tank, and pull fast if a turtle tried to eat on the crab, or got near to the center of the net.
We got holding tanks ready to receive the turtles. I got the staff ready to handle the turtles one morning about an hour before we were to open up to the public for viewing, etc.
I lowered the baited hoop net into the main tank for the first time. Shortly a sea turtle tried to eat the crab tied in the center of the netting of the hoop net. I pulled up and brought up a sea turtle in the net. Within half an hour I got all 7 of the turtles out of the tank. The Curator and staff were somewhat amazed. I made my point. We released them all later.
Unfortunately I had to nurse this tank along due to damage of the filter area for several years (until 1996, when repair was started) before we got funding and the contracts awarded for the repair. External rapid sand filters and large diatom filters were employed to give extra biological and mechanical filtration capacity to the tank; additional chemical filtration was accomplished by adding crushed charcoal to the diatom filters. Repair was finished in 1997, and that is another story. The 40,000 gallon tank went 13 years without a cleaning of the undergravel filter; it was one of the largest undergravel filter tanks in operation.
Adrian R. Lawler, Ph.D., (C) 2012 --
When I was transferred to run an aquarium in 1984, the staff on site had already put 7 loggerhead and Kemp's Ridley sea turtles into the new 40,000 gallon main tank. Most were brought in by shrimpers who had caught them in their nets. I have no idea why they decided to hold the turtles for a while or why they put them into the main tank. They all appeared healthy and free of obvious injuries. The turtles were already tearing the new main tank filter apart. At night they would try to wedge themselves under a tank decoration (fiberglass fake rocks or trawl board, etc.) or under the crushed coral substrate so they would be stable while resting or asleep. They were digging down to the screening holding up the crushed coral and tearing holes in the screen that allowed the crushed coral to fall to the base of the tank, causing "dead" spots in the crushed coral biological filter (water was no longer circulating through the pile of coral extending from the tank bottom to/or above the screen).
The Curator of the building requested I get the turtles out of the tank and release them back to the wild to stop further damage to the tank filter screen. This was a brand new tank but already had major damage to the undergravel filter. I was the new guy on the scene; this was a test to see if I could handle the job, and I knew it.
The staff that was already there before my transfer thought this was a big joke, because after putting the turtles in the tank they had not been able to catch them to remove them, and were at a loss at what to do.
I thought about it a little while, bringing together my experiences in catching/trapping animals over many years. I made up a plan that I thought might work:
---starve the turtles for a few days so they would be hungry.
---bait my 4 foot diameter hoop net with a blue crab tied to the center of the netting. (The hoop net consisted of a fiberglass hoop which had half inch mesh nylon netting attached to hoop, forming a bag about a foot deep from the hoop. Lines went from 3 points 120 degrees apart for about 3-4 feet, to one rope to pull with. I had previously used this net to catch bullminnows, crabs, grass shrimp, etc., off local piers. I had made the net to function like a very large blue crab drop net.)
---lower hoop net into tank, and pull fast if a turtle tried to eat on the crab, or got near to the center of the net.
We got holding tanks ready to receive the turtles. I got the staff ready to handle the turtles one morning about an hour before we were to open up to the public for viewing, etc.
I lowered the baited hoop net into the main tank for the first time. Shortly a sea turtle tried to eat the crab tied in the center of the netting of the hoop net. I pulled up and brought up a sea turtle in the net. Within half an hour I got all 7 of the turtles out of the tank. The Curator and staff were somewhat amazed. I made my point. We released them all later.
Unfortunately I had to nurse this tank along due to damage of the filter area for several years (until 1996, when repair was started) before we got funding and the contracts awarded for the repair. External rapid sand filters and large diatom filters were employed to give extra biological and mechanical filtration capacity to the tank; additional chemical filtration was accomplished by adding crushed charcoal to the diatom filters. Repair was finished in 1997, and that is another story. The 40,000 gallon tank went 13 years without a cleaning of the undergravel filter; it was one of the largest undergravel filter tanks in operation.
Adrian R. Lawler, Ph.D., (C) 2012 --
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Opinion: Best Times to Collect Aquatic Litter
Opinion: Best Times to Collect Aquatic Litter
I have lived on two branches of a local bayou since 1973, and thus have had a lot of experience with aquatic litter. In addition I help with the annual beach clean-up each year.
Trash is much easier to pick up and should be picked up out of the drainage ditches BEFORE it is transported to bigger waters where it may sink or be hidden in marsh areas, or litters public beaches. It is easier to find the litter in a small stream than in a large body of water or hard- to-access marsh areas. We should try to get it before it goes into the marsh.
Litter clean-up should be done in local drainage ditches BEFORE rains, and on beaches and in marshes AFTER rains. All areas, during rains, get their litter moved about, so some areas may be cleaner (drainage ditches) and some areas may end up more littered (beaches, marshes) after a rain.
To stay ahead of the litter we should clean ditches before new rains, before more litter is delivered to marshes and beaches.
Litter Comments/Notes
1. In many cities and along roads they do not pick up the litter before they mow, and the litter is broken, or chopped up. The best solution would be to pick up the litter BEFORE mowing, but if budget/manpower constraints prevent picking up the litter, then chopping it up with mower blades does two things of benefit:
---chops litter into smaller pieces to help speed its break-down.
---chops litter into smaller pieces to lessen water collection and thus decrease mosquito production.
2. The flooding waters of Hurricane Isaac caused much trash to be dispersed by the flood waters. When glass containers travel downstream and hit hard objects (as drainage pipes) a lot of the glass containers break, leaving broken glass along the trail of the floodwaters as they go downstream.
3. It is ironic that floating trash may have a benefit to the world as such trash may give algae a substrate to attach to (a new habitat) so that algae near the open ocean surface can receive better sunlight and produce more oxygen to combat the increase in carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels. Marine scientists should do studies to determine IF oxygen production in floating litter areas is increased as opposed to open ocean areas without floating litter.
Adrian R. Lawler, Ph.D., (C) 2012 --
See my article on aquatic litter at:
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/conservation/Lawler_Controlling_Aquatic_Litter.html
I have lived on two branches of a local bayou since 1973, and thus have had a lot of experience with aquatic litter. In addition I help with the annual beach clean-up each year.
Trash is much easier to pick up and should be picked up out of the drainage ditches BEFORE it is transported to bigger waters where it may sink or be hidden in marsh areas, or litters public beaches. It is easier to find the litter in a small stream than in a large body of water or hard- to-access marsh areas. We should try to get it before it goes into the marsh.
Litter clean-up should be done in local drainage ditches BEFORE rains, and on beaches and in marshes AFTER rains. All areas, during rains, get their litter moved about, so some areas may be cleaner (drainage ditches) and some areas may end up more littered (beaches, marshes) after a rain.
To stay ahead of the litter we should clean ditches before new rains, before more litter is delivered to marshes and beaches.
Litter Comments/Notes
1. In many cities and along roads they do not pick up the litter before they mow, and the litter is broken, or chopped up. The best solution would be to pick up the litter BEFORE mowing, but if budget/manpower constraints prevent picking up the litter, then chopping it up with mower blades does two things of benefit:
---chops litter into smaller pieces to help speed its break-down.
---chops litter into smaller pieces to lessen water collection and thus decrease mosquito production.
2. The flooding waters of Hurricane Isaac caused much trash to be dispersed by the flood waters. When glass containers travel downstream and hit hard objects (as drainage pipes) a lot of the glass containers break, leaving broken glass along the trail of the floodwaters as they go downstream.
3. It is ironic that floating trash may have a benefit to the world as such trash may give algae a substrate to attach to (a new habitat) so that algae near the open ocean surface can receive better sunlight and produce more oxygen to combat the increase in carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels. Marine scientists should do studies to determine IF oxygen production in floating litter areas is increased as opposed to open ocean areas without floating litter.
Adrian R. Lawler, Ph.D., (C) 2012 --
See my article on aquatic litter at:
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/conservation/Lawler_Controlling_Aquatic_Litter.html
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Aquaculture Research in United States is Mostly a Joke on Taxpayer
Aquaculture Research in United States is Mostly a Joke on Taxpayer
I consider aquaculture research in the United States as a mostly throwing money away exercise, and a joke on those that fund such programs. Why? We research and perfect the aquaculture and disease/parasite control techniques for various species, and China or another country where land and labor are much cheaper, and laws are much less restrictive than in the United States use the knowledge we researched and paid for to raise the fish, shrimp, crayfish, etc. cheaply and then sell their aquaculture products to us. And they basically got the research done by us at little or no expense to them. They do not have to fund some research programs, but just read our reports and publications, and can do many of their aquaculture operations using our knowledge. I suspect they are laughing all the way to the bank.
A United States based aquaculture research program (and there are several university or government agency programs) should be able to PROVE that aquaculture of the species they are promoting is feasible, and profitable, in the United States, and should be able to produce at least one operating aquaculture firm they have helped that is making a profit in the United States. If they cannot produce such a firm, or an aquaculture plan proving a profit, people interested in doing new aquaculture projects should consider the species being promoted to not be feasible for a profitable aquaculture operation in the United States.
And even if the proposed project is presently feasible to do in the United States, another country with cheaper wages and other costs could copy the technology after its start in the United States and render the US aquaculture farmers obsolete (and maybe broke) very quickly with a cheaper product.
Various aquaculture operations I have been involved in either as a participant or as an advisor/researcher/parasitologist were based on: raising fathead minnows, guppies, tilapia, channel catfish, hybrid striped bass, redfish, pompano, cobia, speckled trout, red snapper, and bullminnows, and shedding blue crabs and crayfish. The USA channel catfish aquaculture operations mostly developed through research by Mississippi State University have been somewhat profitable in the United States through the years. Now many catfish farmers are struggling, or out of business. primarily due to increased feed costs.
Aquaculture projects in the United States can be profitable by catering to specialty demands: one operation I advised sold live tilapia to specialty Asian-influenced markets (in the United States) where they wanted live fish for the restaurant trade. The facility operated several years, barely getting by, until problems of predation by protected birds, high feed costs, and sabotage and a divorcing owner's wife helped put them out of business.
The reasons aquaculture is usually not profitable in the United States are many: high land costs, high property taxes, high labor costs, many zoning and land use restrictions, difficulty in getting enough water to operate the facility, high utility costs, high supply/feed costs, restrictive waste disposal and environmental regulations, predation by protected birds, not enough operating money, politics, theft, bad weather, sabotage, etc.
I have personally seen United States based aquaculture operations go under due to sabotage, mismanagement, not making a profit, lack of qualified workers, hurricane damage to facility, predation by protected birds, divorce, etc. For example, the opening of one valve during the night that drained a 30,000 gallon tank caused the death of about 35,000 pounds of tilapia and made a facility lose many thousands of dollars.
Aquaculture research in United States should be directed toward those species that CAN be cultured in the United States for a profit, and research money should be spent on aquaculture projects which WILL further our economy and create more jobs in America, not create jobs and profit for other countries.
Adrian R. Lawler, Ph.D., (C) 2012 --
I reared/maintained many species of plants and aquatic organisms while being co-founder and co-chairman of a laboratory toxicology program, while running a public aquarium, while doing aquaculture projects, while having my own private farm, and while being a supplier of live fish and plants to the pet store trade during my career. My techniques to control Amyloodinium ocellatum on marine fishes in the 1980's enabled many aquaculture facilities and public aquariums to raise/display fishes free from death due to Amyloodinium ocellatum. See:
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Lawler_Diatomfilters.html
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Lawler_Parasites.html
I consider aquaculture research in the United States as a mostly throwing money away exercise, and a joke on those that fund such programs. Why? We research and perfect the aquaculture and disease/parasite control techniques for various species, and China or another country where land and labor are much cheaper, and laws are much less restrictive than in the United States use the knowledge we researched and paid for to raise the fish, shrimp, crayfish, etc. cheaply and then sell their aquaculture products to us. And they basically got the research done by us at little or no expense to them. They do not have to fund some research programs, but just read our reports and publications, and can do many of their aquaculture operations using our knowledge. I suspect they are laughing all the way to the bank.
A United States based aquaculture research program (and there are several university or government agency programs) should be able to PROVE that aquaculture of the species they are promoting is feasible, and profitable, in the United States, and should be able to produce at least one operating aquaculture firm they have helped that is making a profit in the United States. If they cannot produce such a firm, or an aquaculture plan proving a profit, people interested in doing new aquaculture projects should consider the species being promoted to not be feasible for a profitable aquaculture operation in the United States.
And even if the proposed project is presently feasible to do in the United States, another country with cheaper wages and other costs could copy the technology after its start in the United States and render the US aquaculture farmers obsolete (and maybe broke) very quickly with a cheaper product.
Various aquaculture operations I have been involved in either as a participant or as an advisor/researcher/parasitologist were based on: raising fathead minnows, guppies, tilapia, channel catfish, hybrid striped bass, redfish, pompano, cobia, speckled trout, red snapper, and bullminnows, and shedding blue crabs and crayfish. The USA channel catfish aquaculture operations mostly developed through research by Mississippi State University have been somewhat profitable in the United States through the years. Now many catfish farmers are struggling, or out of business. primarily due to increased feed costs.
Aquaculture projects in the United States can be profitable by catering to specialty demands: one operation I advised sold live tilapia to specialty Asian-influenced markets (in the United States) where they wanted live fish for the restaurant trade. The facility operated several years, barely getting by, until problems of predation by protected birds, high feed costs, and sabotage and a divorcing owner's wife helped put them out of business.
The reasons aquaculture is usually not profitable in the United States are many: high land costs, high property taxes, high labor costs, many zoning and land use restrictions, difficulty in getting enough water to operate the facility, high utility costs, high supply/feed costs, restrictive waste disposal and environmental regulations, predation by protected birds, not enough operating money, politics, theft, bad weather, sabotage, etc.
I have personally seen United States based aquaculture operations go under due to sabotage, mismanagement, not making a profit, lack of qualified workers, hurricane damage to facility, predation by protected birds, divorce, etc. For example, the opening of one valve during the night that drained a 30,000 gallon tank caused the death of about 35,000 pounds of tilapia and made a facility lose many thousands of dollars.
Aquaculture research in United States should be directed toward those species that CAN be cultured in the United States for a profit, and research money should be spent on aquaculture projects which WILL further our economy and create more jobs in America, not create jobs and profit for other countries.
Adrian R. Lawler, Ph.D., (C) 2012 --
I reared/maintained many species of plants and aquatic organisms while being co-founder and co-chairman of a laboratory toxicology program, while running a public aquarium, while doing aquaculture projects, while having my own private farm, and while being a supplier of live fish and plants to the pet store trade during my career. My techniques to control Amyloodinium ocellatum on marine fishes in the 1980's enabled many aquaculture facilities and public aquariums to raise/display fishes free from death due to Amyloodinium ocellatum. See:
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Lawler_Diatomfilters.html
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Lawler_Parasites.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)