Satellite watchroom targets illegal fishing

22 January 2015 Last updated at 09:59

By Jonathan AmosScience correspondent, BBC News

Technologists have introduced a novel system they hope can help tackle illegal fishing.

It meshes satellite and other data to monitor the activities of vessels, automatically triggering alarms when suspicious activity is observed.

The project is a joint venture between the Pew Charitable Trusts and the UK Satellite Applications Catapult.

It is thought as many as one in five fish are landed outside of national or international regulations.

The value of this trade could exceed more than $20bn (£13bn; 17bn euros) a year, according to some estimates.

Much of this theft is perpetrated by industrial-scale pirate operations that think the vast expanse of the oceans can hide their behaviour.

The new system, known as Project Eyes on the Seas, will be operated initially from a "watchroom" at the Catapult's Harwell, Oxfordshire, HQ.

The smart monitoring system does not merely track vessels at sea; it analyses their movements. And by looking at additional inputs like sea conditions and probable fish locations, it can make predictions about what vessels are doing.

Algorithms built into Project Eyes will provide alerts to the watchroom.

Read on ...

Henley hit by 'mutant super rat' invasion

Researchers found the picturesque riverside Oxfordshire area has been inundated with dozens of the pests, which carry a poison-resistant gene.

Having migrated from parts of Berkshire and Hampshire, the brown rats, and their life-threatening diseases, are spreading after being found on several unidentified farms.

The survey found the rats to be living in both urban and rural areas.

Experts say that despite appearing the same as their non-mutant counterparts, they are resistant to pest controls because of their genetic mutation.

"All rats tend to carry various diseases,” said Dr Alan Buckle, from the University of Reading.

“The reason we need to get rid of them is because they transmit diseases from themselves to humans and farm animals.

“They can be life-threatening.”

Dr Buckle, who led the study, added: "These anticoagulant-resistant rats carry the same diseases as other rats carry but are very difficult to control."

The survey, funded by nine organisations involved in pest control, tested the tails of hundreds of rodents to establish where the mutant rats lived.

A map was drawn indicating where the rats were found, including areas around Henley and Berkshire towns Caversham and Sonning although precise locations were not published.

The team used new DNA techniques to determine the prevalence of rats with the poison-resistant gene.

Continued:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9689624/Henley-hit-by-mutant-super-rat-invasion.html

Appeal to save Oxon wildlife site launched

BBOWT needs to raise £99750 in 6 weeks
June 2012. The Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) launches a public appeal to raise £99,750 in just six weeks to purchase a riverside meadow near Bampton in west Oxfordshire. If BBOWT does not reach its target in time, this rare opportunity to purchase the land known as Upper Common could be gone forever. 

Upper Common is an 11-hectare site on the edge of BBOWT's Chimney Meadows Nature Reserve. The willow-lined riverbanks and flower-filled hay meadows at Chimney are a refuge for some of England's most threatened species, including the water vole. Awash with glorious displays of wildflowers in the summer, the meadows attract butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies that flit through the nodding heads of brightly coloured wildflowers. Tragically, meadows like this are now a rare site with only 3% of traditional hay meadows remaining in England and Wales.

Neil Clennell, Head of Conservation and Education (Oxfordshire) for BBOWT, says: "With the right management we could transform Upper Common into a colourful meadow, teaming with life once again. Using green hay cut from the nature reserve we can spread wildflower seed onto prepared ground where species like knapweed, fairy flax and delicate quaking grass can flourish.

"With greater control over the water levels it will be possible to keep areas of the reserve wetter for longer, creating new wetland habitats for threatened wading birds such as curlew and snipe. There are already signs of water voles and otters on Upper Common and with a bit of work we could provide safer habitat, helping these much-loved creatures to survive. Opportunities to buy land like this are exceedingly rare. If someone else purchases this land, the vital restoration work needed on the meadow and waterways is unlikely to happen."

It's not just wildlife that will benefit if BBOWT is successful. The public will be able to enjoy a stroll through the new meadow on a circular walk taking in the delights of the nature reserve and the Thames path.

If you would like to help us secure this vital site for wildlife, you can donate to BBOWT's Chimney Meadows appeal at www.justgiving.com/chimneymeadows. Alternatively, please call BBOWT's Supporters' Office on 01865 788300.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/bbowt-appeal.html

Residents urged not to feed red kites in Chilterns

A conservation board in Oxfordshire has renewed its plea for local residents to stop feeding red kites.

Cathy Rose, from the Chiltern Conservation Board, told the BBC's Inside Out programme they were "magical animals" but it was time for people to stop feeding them and let them survive naturally.

Red kites were reintroduced to the Chilterns in 1989 and their numbers have increased from 93 birds to more than 600 breeding pairs.

Some local residents have complained the birds are becoming a nuisance because people feed them.

But one of the men who helped reintroduce them into Oxfordshire has said he does not think it is a problem for people to feed them.

Illustrator and naturalist Nigel Snell was the regional co-ordinator during the reintroduction scheme.

"Anytime anybody sees masses of anything they always think there are too many of them," he said.

"We've only got to go a short way up the M40 and you'll hardly see any of them."

'Sensationalist news'

People feeding red kites in their gardens can attract as many as 50 of the birds, which predominantly scavenge for their food.

Ms Rose said: "People have been putting food out for red kites for years thinking that they are doing them a favour but what it might be doing is causing them to cluster in areas where perhaps they are not as welcome as they might be.

"Maybe they are breeding in areas where they are being fed at a level that is higher than the area would naturally be able to sustain.

"People start reading sensationalist news stories about children being injured by kites or kites coming down into peoples gardens and we don't want the kites to be viewed in that way."

Gamekeeper Joe Wasylowski has said people should be fined for feeding the birds.

"I don't think people should be doing it like this," he said.

"I think they should be left alone to get on with it like the rest of the wildlife."

Coal merchant Richard Smith has fed the birds regularly for nearly a decade.

He said he only feeds them once a week so they do not become too dependent.

And Gill Smith, who also regularly feeds the birds, said: "We don't feed them so much in the summer because there is more food about but in hard winters, it just sees them through."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-16795226