Author: bertram

A Little Update

We are now currently working with several prominent organizations – they receive our information from reputable sources and as such are seen as responsible organizations – we on the other hand can act as we see fit – because there is a “back up” we can speculate and theorize without jeopardizing the message.

In other words the seaweed harvesting and other industries rely on officialdom to filter information.  They say that if it does not have their stamp it is not “scientific.”

As a result we hear that some of Norway’s state organizations are hiding information under the threat of job losses and worse if it is released unofficially – this ultimately will impose a huge financial burden on the public – not on the companies concerned.  We also hear that whistle blowers in the seaweed industries world are permanently excluded from employment.

A little further speculation – if the information on these pages is correct then the government of Norway is allowing a American multinational (with a very dubious past) to empty the seaweed forests of life other than seaweed – it is jeopardizing the welfare of communities along the coast and much further afield by tampering with a mechanism that cleans the seas, it is also destroying large amounts of wildlife. Further Norway’s Marine biologists will look utterly incompetent.

Communicating with Marine biologists worldwide it is staggering to learn how little they actually know of the general picture – is this deliberate???

A Little More on Taretråling Norway

A excellent document on some of the aspects of Norway’s seaweed harvest is this one http://www.netalgae.eu/uploadedfiles/WP2-Norway-Bioforsk_FOKUS_7(2)_s278-279.pdf

Netalgae norwegian seaweed harvesting.

here is a map showing the current areas being harvested – I know from friends  that there is big activity further north than the fields shown on the fiskeriedirektoratets map.

Areas of seaweed harvest

So that means nearly all of the Norwegian coast is now being harvested by seaweed trawlers.

This is what it says about the Norwegian harvest

reduction in epiphytes and marine life

This is the united nations food and agriculture organization

fao fisheries and agriculture

There seems to be no mention of the environment in this document – perhaps because it does not see itself as responsible in any way for this – past history has shown some dramatic consequences.

Here is a snip from an article from the FAO on seaweed

world seaweed resources

Essentially it says that seaweed is not being used enough – that the seas are full of the stuff and where most of it is.

As there has been a major shift in the ecology of our oceans in the last 25 years is it possible that FAO’s information is being acted upon – in fact could this be the biggest environmental secret of our decade – why don’t you – the reader find out for yourself!

A Little Refresher on Taretråling

Taretråling, or seaweed trawling, occurs on the coast of Norway where seaweed grows in sufficient amounts to allow this.

taretråling feldt fiskeridir

This is a screen save from the fiskeriedirektoratets home page showing the areas marked for seaweed trawling. Unless my information is incorrect that covers the entire area where stor tare or Laminaria hyperborea grows on the coast of Norway in sufficient amounts to be harvestable. Closer examination of the maps on the website reveals that some areas within those boundaries are exempt from taretråling, but pressure from FMC biopolymers has allowed access to over 90 bird reserves etc. (information available on this site)

http://www.snh.org.uk/publications/on-line/livinglandscapes/kelp/harvesting.asp

This document – produced by a Scottish government organization https://www.nature.scot/  details very nicely the situation on the Norwegian coast

Brief explanation of seaweed trawling - useful

What it says is that they have considered the Norwegian method of harvesting. The frequency of the harvests means that most of the animals that normally live in the forests and are attached to the stalks are not present enabling a purer and more financially rewarding extraction of alginates.

Extract from this document —————

“here are a number of important factors which should be addressed in the management of any harvesting operation should it happen in the future. For example, in Norway the 4-year reharvesting period results in growth of smaller plants with fewer associated animals and seaweed than a mature kelp forest.”  —————–

So lets be a little clearer – the harvesting activity on the Norwegian coast is emptying the seaweed forests of life. Here it is in black and white from an impeccable source – the maps show where the harvesting occurs – currently the ships are harvesting further north than those boundaries because regrowth in areas formerly considered too poor has occurred.

Having been told by Henning Steen http://www.imr.no/om_havforskningsinstituttet/ansatte/s/henning_steen/nb-no

at the last taretråling conference at Runde during the question time on his presentation on Sea urchin predation on the Norwegian coast that this activity “has nothing to do with taretråling,” (not once but twice) I’m beginning to wonder about major Norwegian institutions and their role in looking after and monitoring the environment on behalf of the Norwegian people.

“other factors which may have a bearing on management of kelp harvesting activity include the role of urchin grazing in recovery of the kelp forest after harvesting, and the importance of kelp forests as a habitat for lobsters and pelagic fish species. “this again from the above document.

So this is pure speculation as i am no Marine biologist or even possessing the capabilities of doing this research – the area of seaweed trawling on the Norwegian coast is such that the areas being trawled are emptying of life – the surrounding areas are also being affected because of the release of defense chemicals from the plants in sympathy with the ones being “attacked” if this is true then that could link to why our seabirds are dying from lack of thyamine if the major source for this is the seaweed forests – and it is very probably occurring worldwide.

There you have it – an American company from a corporation with a long history of every kind of environmental devastation and destruction is destroying the habitat of and killing Norwegian wildlife on a grand scale.

Chemical Warfare – Seaweed Produces Poisons to Protect Itself

Reading the crown services document raised the interesting aspect of Laminaria hyperborea – the most prominent seaweed on this coast – releasing large amounts of iodine and other chemicals if disturbed – iodine is poisonous to many animals –  the compounds are quite complicated, some of them even  being capable of affecting the weather.

https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/9/823/2009/acp-9-823-2009.pdf

This is a study of another sea plant but there is no reason to assume that it is not similar to Laminaria hyperborea,  it would be interesting to find out if the release of these substances from Laminaria Hyperborea is more vigorous than other seaweeds.

https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-signal-presence-of-predators/  This is what Acacia trees do – it is not entirely unreasonable to assume that seaweed does the same.

Our maps show the entire coast of Norway where seaweed grows  is harvested by trawlers – we don’t have papers on this yet but it is very likely that the harvested/stressed areas send signals to other areas and they too release these chemicals.

Black Fish Livers

It seems that most of the fish caught here inland have discolored livers – it seems reasonable to assume that my initial assumption that it was associated with decaying seaweed is incorrect – WRONG – it is more likely that this is associated with chemicals released by seaweed damaged by taretråling, a defense mechanism.

A cod caught a few days ago inside the Hustadvika bay exhibited a completely black liver – many specimens have discolored livers disintegrating – forming a kind of jelly.  If this is fatal to the fish I don’t know but it is reasonable to assume this is the case.

Internet searches into the analyses of the livers for iodine poisoning shows that this is a very difficult substance to detect but there is a machine that can do this.

So this is how it looks – our marine wildlife is being decimated by the defense mechanisms of disturbed seaweed.  The seaweed is being destroyed by trawlers dragging huge steel sleds over the seaweed beds to remove the seaweed for the production of alginates.

The marine ecosystem is supposedly being monitored by a government organization called the havsforsknings institut.

Here is a little report on one of their major players

Article on havsforsknings instituts leader snip

https://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/frykter-rokkestyrt-havforskning/65211190

Here is the full article – essentially what is says is that Leiv Grønnevet sat on the board of the Havsfosknings institut – the one that overseas the health of the Norwegian coast – as the same time as being on the board of Aker seafoods and lobbied for them to get the krill fishing concession in the arctic.   The article goes on to mention several others.

The organization that overseas the health of the Norwegian seas is being run by people who also run some of the big seafood   industries – fmc biopolymer is in there too –  there are a number of other names easily connected – This is truly fascinating – if i can find this out so easily why cant others?

If anyone wants to contact me they can on stopptt@stopptt.no

This is truly outrageous and very dangerous – it is becoming obvious throughout the world that not taking care of nature is far more damaging to the economy than exploiting it.  That those who do exploit nature never have to pay personally for its destruction – it is the rest of us that do.  These people are protected by politicians – governments are tools – tools are best used by those who understand them – companies are experts in the use of those tools – they are however supposedly designed for everyone to use so all it takes is interest.  I AM – but my capabilities are limited.  However I am beginning to connect with others and other groups – we need coordination.

The Plot Thickens – More and More Irrefutable Evidence

Searching the internet reveals a great many surprises – one of the most surprising things is that the clear evidence against seaweed dredging as damaging to the environment and even to the health and well being of our seas.  Surprising because none of the major players seem to be aware of these documents freely available, but perhaps that is not an accident.

http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/media/358662/initial_environmental_consideration_of_large-scale_seaweed_farming.pdf

This is a feasibility study of farming seaweed off the coast of Scotland – it also mentions some of the surprising chemistry of our Laminaria hyperborea.

It seems the reason why seaweed is packed with iodine is because it is a weapon against attack – a poisonous bitter substance.  When the stalks are damaged it is released – so are some other very surprising chemicals.  This adds strength to the idea that our birds and sea mammals are suffering from a definitive lack of seaweed in the food chain or their diet.  So perhaps that is the cause of this worldwide die off.

Surprisingly enough it also mentions this

Steen removal of notrogen from water by seaweed

This is from the Crown estate document – it mentions 480 tons of nitrogen per 20 square kilometres of seabed removed by Laminaria hyperborea – so there is supposed to be 6,000 square kilometres of this on the Norwegian coast so that works out at roughly 144,000 tons of nitrogen removed from the sea per year – i assume that the figures for other chemicals would not be far from that.  The gulf stream brushes along the Norwegian coast – would that amount  not being removed mean that other coasts are  being enriched.  Could that be why they are  so many harmful algal blooms?

This paper seems to raise enormous amount of questions.

But one thing is becoming crystal clear – the Norwegian people are being fooled by the assurances and work of the bodies supposedly overseeing this and fmc biopolymers comes from a group of companies who are in receipt of record fines for environmental pollution, fraud, price fixing cartels and the production of one of the most damaging chemicals to wildlife and nature, in fact one of their chemicals responsible for the decimation of Africa’s wildlife and they are entrusted with the health of Norway’s seas.

Bird Deaths – Huge Mortality of Marine Mammals

It has been recently drawn to my attention that there has been a huge die-off of birds and marine mammals in parts of the world.

In Sweden it was eventually discovered that the birds lacked the amino acid thiamine

https://www.pnas.org/content/106/29/12001.full

So I contacted a Swedish professor Lennert Balk engaged with studying the effects of thiamin deficiency – when I suggested that there is a possible link between this and seaweed being removed from the environment he said that thiamine in the environment comes from plant matter – so there could definitely be a connection.

http://www.su.se/english/research/research-news-archive/unravelling-the-mystery-of-dead-elk-in-southern-sweden-1.137132

Recently I spotted a large auk swimming in the boat harbor here at hustadvika – its behavior was very listless – it did not seem to have very good coordination – the next day it was dead – out to sea a small auk swam up to our boat, I leant over the side and picked the bird up in my hands – it had very poor coordination and died an hour later – I just cover a very small area. Is this happening along the coast?

THIS IS WHERE SEAWEED IS HARVESTED ON THE NORWEGIAN COAST

taretråling feldt fiskeridir

According to FMC biopolymers seaweed does not grow north, or south of this area in sufficient quantities to warrant harvesting. So the entire coast of Norway where seaweed grows is subject to seaweed harvesting.

Fish Livers and Crabs… Could There Be A Connection?

In February I started catching cod with blackened and discolored livers – I sent pictures and samples to mattilsynet – they asked me to take them back saying that they did not have the competence to analyze them, they also added that nifes did not either.

normal fish liver adj 2
This is a normal cod liver

Severly damaged liver from a cod caught at hustadvika
Severely damaged liver from a cod caught at hustadvika

This is a different liver – can you spot the difference?  Mat tuilsynet can’t, nor can Marine biologists at Nina https://www.nina.no/

This is the homepage for nifes: http://www.nifes.no/forskning/

Now it appears that crabs caught by a salmon farm have black insides and are polluted with cadmium –

https://www.tv2.no/a/4056073

it just so happens that the salmon farm belongs to a Norwegian government minister Lisbeth Berg-Hansen
.

By protecting the industry’s capitalizing on the nature on the Norwegian coast the state is protecting the interests of powerful individuals – this is fine if the consequences were simply that they got rich – but it is not as simple as that – sooner or later the bill must be paid and that will be by everyone.

https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/5000000000000-the-cost-each-year-of-vanishing-rainforest-2096367.html

Chile in Trouble

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2296882/Chiles-crimson-tide-prawns–Mystery-millions-dead-shrimp-washed-ashore-turning-beach-bright-red.html

Dead shrimps washed ashore – presumably poisoned

Chile sead crustacea

Chile, peru dead dolphins

This is all very unscientific – I’ve been repeatedly told not to use anything unscientific or that cannot be verified – for instance there is no scientific proof that seaweed trawling damages the environment – or so the seaweed trawling industry tells us repeatedly and those who want to believe do so.  However I say the opposite should be happening – even the industry itself says there is not enough research on the long term effects of commercial seaweed harvesting on the ecology – there are major changes in the ecology of the sea – these events are not natural/normal – these coasts are being constantly harvested for seaweed – does not seaweed clean the sea, the same as plants on land???

Here is a little piece from an article from FAO the food and agriculture organization in the 80s about harvesting in Chile.

- too many animals in the seaweed

Essentially it says that some forms of seaweed have been decreasing in value due to fish eggs.  Possible solutions are to change the ph of the water so they are no longer attractive to the fish – other methods such as removing the fish altogether are not commercially viable.

The paper is here http://www.fao.org/3/P8253E/P8253E01.htm#ch1.2

Interesting Relationships

Probably the biggest hazard facing the marine ecosystem in Norway, if not the world is seaweed harvesting – as we know seaweed removes many dangerous chemicals, including carbon dioxide and it is an oxygenator – it is also the home for an amazing number of creatures including many of our most important food animals – from the map in the previous post it is clear that the entire Norwegian coast is being harvested.  The information on this is in the hands of qualified marine biologists.

I asked Henning Steen who gave the first lecture at the Runde taretråling conference,  if the predation of sea urchins had anything to do with taretråling – he replied nothing at all – I then asked him if taretråling had ever been undertaken in the areas where sea urchins were causing problems – he replied that taretråling had no connection with sea urchin predation – This was in the conference hall with a full audience.

Henning steen Cråkeboller lecture adj
From the video on the Henning Steen lecture at Runde.

Another lecture was on the problems caused to seabirds by taretråling – i was able to read the paper later it was by Svein -Håkon Lorentsen among other authors

Essentially part of the document said that taretråling does have an impact on Sea urchin numbers – and here is the proof to show it.

Lorentzen cråkeboller predation

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320710002363

The Fiskeriedirektoratet has been receiving papers from us on seaweed harvesting worldwide – and other related information – when we asked them why we were of importance to them we were told that they had no other source – we then said surely you have a research department – we were told that it was run by Henning Steen –

So we did a little research into Mr. Steen – and this is what we found.

Henning Steen

It appears he is responsible for the development of Taretråling on the Norwegian coast – and monitoring and establishing new areas to harvest.

Strangely enough we also found out that many of the directors of Fmc biopolymer come from the fiskeriedirektoratet and the havsforskning institut – so let’s be clear on this – there are very close ties between the industry and the regulatory bodies – very.