Of sardines and red herrings

Julian Kenny
Tuesday, June 30th 2009
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_opinion?id=161498645

We are merely ten and a half years away from Mr. Manning's 2020 vision and I wonder whether a scientifically aware people are part of this vision noting with cynical despair what passes for science in this country, at least what may be reported. Recently there was a fish kill or fish kills at certain beaches on the south coast. Now fish kills are common in various parts of the world in rivers, lakes and marshes and not infrequently in coastal waters. There have been several in this country over the past several decades. Fish kills and their causes are well known scientifically and those that have been documented scientifically have been shown to be caused by different factors and sometimes a combination of factors.

The initial die-off is usually caused where a relatively densely concentrated fish population finds itself in a local area of oxygen depletion, often where there are algal blooms. But they may also be caused by other factors such as release of toxic wastes, explosions and even odd weather conditions, or occasionally pathogens. Once a significant part of a population dies and commences decay, this usually adds further to oxygen depletion and more die-off. Determination of the cause or causes of the die-off is difficult at the best of times and can only be determined reliably by collecting the dying fish and recording the conditions where they were dying, not by examination of carcasses washed up on the beach. Now I read in the Express of June 19 of an investigation of the recent fish kills in the south conducted by a fish "expert", Dr Newaz-Fyzul at the University of the West Indies with the strange emphasis on bacteria. She is alleged to have stated that one type of bacteria may have been responsible. But as a fish "expert" she must surely know of the nature of the skin of fishes and the presence of bacteria in the thin superficial slime layer. But, but, but-did she really state that the herrings eat sardines and may have eaten bacteria-infected sardines? Herrings, as any biologist will know, filter plankton from the water column as sardines and anchovies do. Dr Newaz-Fyzul should make the anatomical comparisons of the mouth and dentition of our local thread herring and the size of our common sardines or anchovies. But an even bigger red herring came to us from no less a place than the Senate and the Minister of Agriculture Lands and Marine Resources, the Hon. Arnold Piggott. I saw recorded in two of the daily newspapers his response to a question put to him by Opposition Senator Adesh Nanan. According to a newspaper report the Minister is reported to have stated we have abundant wildlife resources that are not under threat, trotting out a list of numbers of species in different categories. The 432 birds are simply listing of recording them in the country. The 644 list of butterflies is simply a repeat of the Barcant listing of fifty years ago and does not include the 300-odd hesperiid butterflies that have been recorded since. And the 2,555 species of plants - wildlife? The Minister and his advisers simply do not understand the difference between a species record listing and species abundance nor the progressive manmade changes in the natural environment over the past centuries. But one cannot blame the Hon Minister. When a parliamentary question is asked it goes to the appropriate ministry that may seek information internally of from other state agencies, draft an answer which goes to a special cabinet committee, modified if thought necessary and read out in Parliament. The fact that the answer has the imprimatur of Cabinet does not necessarily mean that the information is correct or relevant. Cabinet claims that there is an abundance of wildlife and that there is no threat is simply absurd and nonsensical. In reality several of our mammalian and avian wildlife species have greatly reduced distribution in the country and some are indeed barely hanging on, for example manatee, ocelot, pawi, otter and several finches. The odd species may have gone extinct. The game animals with one or two exceptions are no longer seen in many parts of the country and the curious thing is that much of this is already documented. The real problem for our wildlife is extensive and continued habitat loss and degradation. One would have thought that the ministry might have consulted the Environmental Management Authority in which there is a specialist staffed biodiversity unit that could have provided the necessary factual response to the question, or even consulted the Biodiversity Clearing House website of the Ministry of Planning, Housing and the Environment established in 2005, assuming that still exists and is functioning. But I do hope that herrings eating sardines does not become embedded in the public record, as have other travesties of local EMA "science" such as different sea levels from north and south and 700 species of orchids!