Qld

[eve]

The saying to describe Queensland was "Beautiful one day, Perfect the next", but today, after a cold night, the abc on-line says:
"Queensland, sunny one day, snowing the next" !

It has been one of the coldest nights in Qld this year, with parts of the state reporting snowfall. The temperature in Brisbane plummeted to six degrees overnight, while snow was reported yesterday afternoon in the Granite Belt region in the state's south. Elsewhere in the state, temperatures were well below average, including Hughenden in the north-west at four degrees and Coolangatta at five.
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[Kurmudgeon]

I see cars from QLD down here that have number plates saying "The sunshine state". So that is no longer accurate?

I also see Victorian plates saying "The place to be". If that is so, what are they doing in NSW?

[adam antichrist]

I am from Newcastle but now in Melbourne, my Mum said they had two feet of snow at Barrington Tops (Nth of Newcastle) but in Melbourne it's sunny and 14 degrees...

Climate change people!

[eve]

I see that London had 30C this week! Yes it is really winter where I live now, and although the sun comes out and it is lovely during the day, the overnight temperature drops to single digits, and when that happens, something goes wrong with the heating at the open air pool where I swim every morning at 6am. It's my intention now to check the o/night forecast, and if it is below 10, I'll have a lie in!

[eve]

The New South Wales Government has approved an $18 million lobster farm for the State's north. Queensland company, Australian Bay Lobster Producers, has been given the go-ahead to start the aquaculture industry near Cudgen, near Tweed Heads.

State Member for Tweed, Neville Newell, says the farm will be built on an old sugar cane farm near Cudgen.

I really think that most people are unaware of the full impact made by aquaculture farms.

[adam antichrist]

I really think that most people are unaware of the full impact made by aquaculture farms.

Can you give us more info on that subject pls Eve?
TIA

[eve]

It's actually quite a big subject adam a, but will try to be brief. Today's farmed fish are the equivalent of broiler hens, bred to grow fat, fast, under tight controlled conditions. Any escapees spread disease and disaster for native fish, weakening genetic strength when they mate with wild stock. A few years ago a study found that a quarter of the spawning salmon in Norwegian rivers were escapees of fish farms, and the Norwegian govt was forced to use poisons to destroy all the wild fish in 38 rivers when a deadly parasite from the aquaculture operations infected them. (Ref S Cowan & B Schienberg, "Farming the Seas" Habitat Media for PBS, 20 Nov 2004)

As to feeding, 80 percent of farmed fish are fed grain that could feed people directly. During the 6 month fattening period, caged bluefin tuna consume 10 to 17 pounds of wild fish per one pound of flesh yielded. Many species are disappearing as they are being fed to farmed fish. Biomass fishing that uses tight nets, indiscriminately harvests marine life for a mash - anything and everything gets scooped up with this technique, including endangered species, and juvenile fish that haven't had a chance to breed. Ref: N A Melville, "The downside of fish farms" HealthScout 23 Sept 2000.

Many mangroves that provide fish with refuge from predators, and nurseries for offsping, are cleared away to build coastal aquaculture pends. This is happening now in the Wide Bay where I live. Fish farming is the main reason that half the world's mangroves are gone. Refs: C Safina, "The World's Imperiled Fish" from 'Scientific American', Nov 1995 p49.

When it comes to poisons, a study released in 2004 showed farmed salmon contained 10 times more PCBs plus other poisons than wild, and 90 percent of fresh salmon eaten in the US is farmed. Refs: R Edwards, "Farmed salmon more contaminated than wild" "New Scientist" 8 Jan 2004.

There's much more, but this will do for now!