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Feel-good, water stories and how to tap out on wasted water
Dear Reader,
Dot has a theory that there are four kinds of people: desert people, prairie people, mountain people, and water people. Simplistic, I know. But everyone I’ve asked knows exactly which they are. There is topography that simply stirs our souls. I am most definitely a water person — water, for me, feels like home.
And so I am delighted to share with you this Feel-Good Friday assortment of watery stories. We’ll start with this one, about an Arizona State University biologist who, together with his collaborators, tried to untangle a problem — specifically, the vast number of loggerhead sea turtles that were getting caught in gillnets. The plan involved creating a lighting system that fishers would be willing to attach to their nets in order to warn away sea turtles. As Anthropocene reports, “What emerged was a small plastic cylinder packed with electronics, including thin-film solar cells and a battery that powered strips of flashing green LED lights. The buoyant light had a hollow tube through the middle, enabling fishers to string it to their nets like a bead on a necklace. Strung across the upper edge of the net, they resemble Christmas lights on the edge of a roof. The system held enough charge to power lights for five days without sun. … So far, it appears to be a hit with both fishers and turtles.” To date, the reduction in sea turtle moralities is 63%, a number researchers aim to raise to 95%.
USA Today reporter Dan Morrison has a story about an unlikely alliance — between fishermen and environmental activists — that not only saved an industry heading toward collapse, but also led to a boost in fish stocks while providing an economic incentive for conservation. Put simply, environmentalists lobbied to remove regulations that put a cap on a fisherman’s daily catch and mandated fishing only within a specified season. These regulations had the result that fishermen, in order to make money, had to go out more often when they could, sometimes in dangerous weather. “Rules meant to protect fisheries were instead pushing fishermen to grab everything they could, every possible day,” Morrison reported. “Enter the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, which started lobbying lawmakers in Washington and doubtful fishermen on three coasts to take a chance on a system that allowed fishermen to catch as much as they wanted on any given day, while reducing their overall seasonal catch by as much as half.”
People were skeptical. But time has told the tale: Stocks have rebounded, fishermen are working less and making more (thanks to reduced costs/burning of diesel fuel, another boon for the environment). Even better, the new system is bipartisan and has survived over a number of administrations.
Good news for fish, for fishermen, and for fish eaters.
Swimmingly,
Dot
Make a change in your daily bathroom routine to avoid wasting water.
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