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Previously unknown fish, Hemiscyllium halmahera, uses its fins to move along the sea bed in search of crustaceans

A species of shark that uses its fins to "walk" along the bottom of the ocean floor has been discovered off the coast of Indonesia. The shark, Hemiscyllium halmahera, uses its fins to wiggle along the seabed and forage for small fish and crustaceans, scientists from Conservation International said on Friday.

The shark, which has wide horizontal stripes, grows to a maximum length of just 30in and is harmless to humans.

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Massacres of civilians are being exploited for narrow geopolitical competition to control Mideast oil, gas pipelines

On 21 August, hundreds - perhaps over a thousand - people were killed in a chemical weapon attack in Ghouta, Damascus, prompting the US, UK, Israel and France to raise the spectre of military strikes against Bashir al Assad's forces.

The latest episode is merely one more horrific event in a conflict that has increasingly taken on genocidal characteristics. The case for action at first glance is indisputable. The UN now confirms a death toll over 100,000 people, the vast majority of whom have been killed by Assad's troops. An estimated 4.5 million people have been displaced from their homes. International observers have overwhelmingly confirmed Assad's complicity in the preponderance of war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Syrian people. The illegitimacy of his regime, and the legitimacy of the uprising, is clear.

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Under the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth Recovery Project, the Australian Government has approved more than $162.8 million in projects to preserve the region’s unique ecological character as a wetland of international importance.

The Australian Ramsar site nomination guidelines are the 4th module of the Australian National Guidelines for Ramsar Wetlands - Implementing the Ramsar Convention in Australia.

The Australian Government has released a series of new wetland factsheets that were developed with the assistance of the Wetlands and Waterbirds Taskforce

World Wetlands Day is celebrated internationally each year on 2 February. In 2013 the theme is ‘Wetlands take care of water’.

On 21 December 2012, Piccaninnie Ponds Karst Wetlands in South Australia was designated as a Ramsar site under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat.

Environmental water is being deliver to a range of inner-floodplain native plant communities in the marshes such as reed beds and water couch meadows while supporting migratory waterbirds and native fish and keeping waterbird colony sites healthy.

SENG SA Chapter News and Events

August site visit - Green Beacon Brewery Co

Fracking boom sucks away precious water from beneath the ground, leaving cattle dead, farms bone-dry and people thirsty

Beverly McGuire saw the warning signs before the town well went dry: sand in the toilet bowl, the sputter of air in the tap, a pump working overtime to no effect. But it still did not prepare her for the night last month when she turned on the tap and discovered the tiny town where she had made her home for 35 years was out of water.

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The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office does not currently anticipate trading allocations or entitlements (excluding zero dollar transfers) in the first half of 2013-14.

Up to 300 gigalitres of Commonwealth environmental water is being provided to help improve water quality and flush salt and nutrients from the Murray River, improving conditions for native plants, fish and water birds particularly in the Lower Lakes and the Coorong.

CCTV footage shows the 15-tonne mountain of congealed fat and sanitary products in a sewer in Kingston, south-west London. The massive lard lump was first noticed after the residents of a block of flats nearby were unable to flush their toilets. The 'fatberg' was blasted by high-powered hoses and took three weeks to clear. Thames Water says it's the biggest ever recorded in Britain, and was the size of a bus. They hope people will think twice about what they dump down the drain Continue reading...

Team of sewerage workers took three weeks to clear bus-sized toxic ball of fat that threatened to flood streets with sewage

A sewage worker has become an unlikely hero after taking three weeks to defeat a toxic 15-tonne ball of congealed fat the size of a bus that came close to turning parts of the London borough of Kingston upon Thames into a cesspit.

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Climate change has reduced ice in the Arctic to record lows in the past year, forcing animals to range further in search of food

A starved polar bear found found dead in Svalbard as "little more than skin and bones" perished due to a lack of sea ice on which to hunt seals, according to a renowned polar bear expert.

Climate change has reduced sea ice in the Arctic to record lows in the last year and Dr Ian Stirling, who has studied the bears for almost 40 years and examined the animal, said the lack of ice forced the bear into ranging far and wide in an ultimately unsuccessful search for food.

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A lack of sea ice, caused by global warming, meant the bear was unable to hunt seals and starved, according to an expert who had been monitoring the animal in Svalbard, Norway

• Starved polar bear perished due to record sea-ice melt, says expert Continue reading...

Two Pennsylvanian children will live their lives under a gag order imposed under a $750,000 settlement

• The anti-fracking activist barred from 312.5 sq miles of Pennsylvania

Two young children in Pennsylvania were banned from talking about fracking for the rest of their lives under a gag order imposed under a settlement reached by their parents with a leading oil and gas company.

The sweeping gag order was imposed under a $750,000 settlement between the Hallowich family and Range Resources Corp, a leading oil and gas driller. It provoked outrage on Monday among environmental campaigners and free speech advocates.

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SENG National Newsletter - Issue 3 July 2013

Dismissals of catastrophic methane danger ignore robust science in favour of outdated mythology of climate safety

Debate over the plausibility of a catastrophic release of methane in coming decades due to thawing Arctic permafrost has escalated after a new Nature paper warned that exactly this scenario could trigger costs equivalent to the annual GDP of the global economy.

Scientists of different persuasions remain fundamentally divided over whether such a scenario is even plausible. Carolyn Rupple of the US Geological Survey (USGS) Gas Hydrates Project told NBC News the scenario is "nearly impossible." Ed Dlugokencky, a research scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) said there has been "no detectable change in Arctic methane emissions over the past two decades." NASA's Gavin Schmidt said that ice core records from previously warm Arctic periods show no indication of such a scenario having ever occurred. Methane hydrate expert Prof David Archer reiterated that "the mechanisms for release operate on time scales of centuries and longer." These arguments were finally distilled in a lengthy, seemingly compelling essay posted on Skeptical Science last Thursday, concluding with utter finality:

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