Many non-target species are killed regularly as a result of commercial fishing activities, these are known as marine bycatch. As well as fish, many seabirds are affected by fishing, particularly by long-line fishing techniques.

A potentially policy-influencing paper was published last year in Frontiers in Ecology and Environment, suggesting that loss of seabirds by fishing activities could be ‘compensated’ by promoting conservation efforts such as removing rats from islands colonized by seabirds. However new research published in PLoS suggests that this would only work in a limited number of cases, and in the majority of cases, the mitigation scheme would actually be detrimental. This is because the seabirds affected such as albatross, are often long-lived and produce few young infrequently, so they are unable to replace themselves at the rate they are being lost through bycatch. The authors suggest the policy would only benefit some of the species affected by bycatch, whilst others continue to be lost or could potentially be affected worse by inaction.

The authors of the paper urge caution when adopting policies for endangered species.

Ruth Kelly, Transport Secretary, is to deliver a speech to the UN International Maritime Organisation today, in which she is expected to call for shipping to be included in emissions trading schemes and more research into hydrogen fuel cells. The Minister is also expected to call for a reduction in ships’ speeds in shipping lanes. A drop of just two knots, from an average speed of 18 – 19 knots could save 5% of fuel emissions.

A report in today’s Guardian highlights the potential to develop new forms of storage for hydrogen, to be used in shipping to cut the emission of greenhouse gases. The Ross Barlow, a canal boat converted by a team at the University of Birmingham to run solely on hydrogen, breaks new ground in running on hydrogen stored in the form of metal hydrides. The project team believe that this technology could offer a solution to the massive carbon dioxide emissions from the shipping industry, which amount to 1.1 billion tonnes each year, projected to rise by 30% by 2020. Shipping accounts for nearly 4.5% of all global CO2 emissions.

Hydrides are too heavy for transportation in cars, meaning that the issue of storage hydrogen as volatile compressed gas or liquid remains for these vehicles. In shipping however, the heavy hydrides can be used to provide ballast.

The International Maritime Organisation

In a speech he is due to deliver today, the leader of the Conservatives, David Cameron, will reaffirm his party’s commitment to green policies, stressing that the global credit crunch has not led to a watering down of his commitment to this agenda. He is expected to say that he recognises that it is harder for the public to go green when economic times are hard, but that the world “can not afford” to do more to save the planet.

Mr Cameron is expected to say that the only way to “realistic environmentalism”, harmonising social, economic and environmental concerns, is to ” develop a strategy… not ignoring economic realities and just pressing on regardless, but understanding economic realities and using them as a spur to innovation and imagination. Although fighting climate change may seem like a step too far to cash-strapped families, Mr Cameron will insist that;”The truth is it’s not that we can’t afford to go green – it’s that we can’t afford not to go green.”

See original media articles (16 June 2008)

This week’s Times Higher (12 June 2008) has reported some unease amongst the biological sciences community in relation to a proposed merger between the Institute of Biology and Biosciences Federation. The merger has been suggested as a means to counter complaints from policy-makers and opinion formers that biology speaks with multiple voices. A stronger, better co-ordinated effort could lead to a higher profile for the biological sciences in policy circles.

The BSF represents 44 organisations from across the spectrum of the biological sciences, from learned societies such as the BES to private sector pharmaceutical companies. The IOB meanwhile counts 14,000 biologists as members, with a network of affiliated societies, of which the BES is one.

It is anticipated that, if successful, a merger could be complete by mid-2009.

A new report by Frontier Economics commissioned by NGOs including the RSPB and National Trust, suggests that a tidal barrage is the least cost-effective way of generating renewable energy for the UK.

The barrage could potentially supply 5% of the UK’s electricity in less than two decades, however the independent report suggests that not only will the barrage waste taxpayers’ money, but cause widespread environmental damage to 85k hectares of protected wetlands. The wetlands support numerous important species of wading birds as well as permit salmon, sea trout and sea lampreys to reach spawning grounds.

The projected costs are in the region of £15 billion, however it is thought that this figure could be much greater. This figure does not take into account the value of the ecosystem services the wetlands provide, which it is anticipated would have to be considered as part of the forthcoming legislation in the Marine Bill.

However, given the UK target of obtaining 40% of its energy from renewables by 2020, serious consideration must be given to alternative renewable energy projects.

Link to RSPB Press Release (12 June 2008)

The BES invites members and blog readers to comment.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is inviting opinions on the direction BBSRC-funded research should take in the future regarding environmental change, particularly climate change.

Further information, including scientific scope, BBSRC remit, consultation questions, potential priorities and a glossary, can be found in the full consultation document.

The British Ecological Society will be submitting a response to the consultation. If you would like to have your say, please e-mail your comments to the policy team no later than Friday 4 July.

An unique and insightful piece of research on British birds has recently been published by Dr Gavin Thomas in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. For the first time a phylogeny (taxonomic family tree) of British birds has been published, showing that closely related species tend to decline in sync.

Dr Gavin Thomas found that birds experiencing population declines tended to be clustered on the phylogenetic tree. The implication of his research is that birds in taxonomic groups with species that have already undergone declines, may be at risk from decline in the future. For example, the greenfinch is closely related to the linnet and bullfinch, which have undergone declines, but the greenfinch is not currently listed as endangered. It is proposed that this could be due to shared traits that predispose certain species to decline, such as requiring specialist habitats or having a slow life history, (for example small clutch size and low reproductive rate).

However it is likely that there are other key traits that enable some species to survive better than others such as broad diet and habitat requirements, which could be why the blackbird is not declining but other family members such as the mistle thrush and starling are in decline.

Where resources are limited or practicalities prohibit conservationists to undertake baseline surveys of birds, the use of genetic information to identify birds potentially under threat in the future will be incredibly useful.

BES members and blog readers are invited to comment on this article.

The Royal Society has joined other academic institutions from around the world in calling for rapid agreement on a timetable to fit carbon capturing technologies to coal-fired power stations, in order to avoid “rapid and irreversible” climate change. Academies from the G8 nations have issued a statement on climate change adaptation and the transition to a low-carbon economy, setting out the key points which must be addressed by the G8 summit in July.

Amongst other points, the societies call on industrialised countries to step-up their efforts to develop greener housing and transport, in the move to a low carbon economy, and urge the G8 nations to commit themselves to power station upgrades to capture CO2. Carbon capture technology is still unproved at the industrial scale but the UK government believes that it could remove 90% of the CO2 released by Britain’s fossil fuel power stations.

The statement has been delivered to the Japanese government, which hosts the next G8 Summit. Japan has this week announced a new climate change policy that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 – 80% by 2050. Japan has encouraged voluntary pledges from industry to cut emissions under a new carbon trading scheme.

Read Press Release from the Royal Society (10 June 2008)

The BES policy team attended several insightful and stimulating talks at this year’s Cheltenham Science Festival, which took place last week. In particular, Jonathon Porrit (Programme Director of Forum for the Future and Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission) delivered a fascinating, if controversial talk on the issue of global population growth, in the context of rising oil prices, increasing food costs and ongoing environmental degradation. Jonathon identified a number of global regions , many in South East Asia and Africa, where population growth exceeds a neutral growth rate, or ‘replacement’ rate; with some families having up to seven children on average. He cited the lack of funding, and political will, for effective family-planning programmes in many developing countries as a major barrier to reducing global population growth.

With the global population set to exceed 9 billion by 2050, and current resources struggling to fulfill demand, the current rate of consumption cannot hope to match a future population if everyone in the world consumed as much as those in ‘developed’ countries. What Jonathon failed to identify clearly was the link between demand for resources and demography. It is true to say that many of the world’s poorest reside in the most biologically diverse regions of the world, such as tropical rainforests, and that they depend on their resources for their livelihood. But in the same spirit, the driving force of habitat loss and destruction is generally from economically more developed countries.

A strong case has been made for sustainable population growth, if not reduction, but the root cause of the world’s environmental ills presently is not just in the rapidly expanding population, but in the existing and falling populations in economically more developed countries with the overwhelmingly larger environmental footprint. Geometric population growth should not be overlooked as an environmental issue because of its controversy, but the facts should not be misrepresented, so as to ease the mindset of the economically most developed countries into continuing unsustainable and environmentally damaging activities, such as over-exploitation of natural resources, continued pollution of the natural environment and increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

We all have a part to play in living less environmentally harmful lifestyles and globally, countries should take responsibility in equal measure rather than naming and shaming others.

The Economist provides an interesting insight to the topic of population growth, and other links.

The BES would like to invite blog readers to share their thoughts and opinions on this topic.

A team of researchers at the University of Plymouth have carried out the first in-situ investigation into the possible effects of anthropogenic CO2 on the world’s oceans. Until now, studies into the effect of increasing atmospheric CO2 on the chemistry of the oceans were carried out in aquaria. The results were published online yesterday (8 June) in Nature.

Studying the effect of high concentrations of CO2 around volcanic vents off the coast of Italy, the researchers found that around these vents, coral and microbial organisms with calcite exoskeletons were absent, with a proliferation of algae in their place. As the concentration of CO2 in the ocean increases, the pH decreases; the oceans become more acidic. The increase in acidity removes calcite and aragonite from the marine environment, which are used by many marine organisms to build their shells.

The researchers describe their results as “quite worrying”. The next step is to undertake more work to see how ocean acidification trickles through marine food webs.