Friday, June 21, 2013
NEWS FROM AFGHANISTAN FOR JUNE 21, 2013
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Combined Force Arrests 2 Extremists in Nangarhar Province
From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release
KABUL, Afghanistan, June 21, 2013 - An Afghan and coalition security force arrested two extremists during a search for a senior Taliban leader in the Khugyani district of Afghanistan's Nangarhar province today, military officials reported.
The sought-after Taliban leader is a subordinate to one of the highest-ranking Taliban leaders in Nangarhar province, officials said. He is responsible for planning, coordinating and executing multiple attacks against Afghan and coalition forces using large groups of extremist fighters.
The sought-after insurgent also directs the movement of weapons, ammunition, money and other military equipment to Taliban cells operating in Nangarhar province, officials said. The security force also seized a shotgun and 30 pounds of opium as a result of the operation.
In other Afghanistan operations today:
-- A combined force arrested a Haqqani facilitator and five other extremists in the Pul-e 'Alam district of Wardak province. The facilitator managed the transportation and distribution of weapons, ammunition and other supplies to extremist groups operating in the Pul-e 'Alam district. He also participated in attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.
-- Combined forces confirmed the death of a Taliban leader, Jilani, during a June 19 operation in the Sayyidabad district of Wardak province. Jilani controlled a group of fighters responsible for attacks on Highway 1 targeting Afghan civilians and Afghan and coalition forces. He also coordinated the movement of weapons for extremist operations and performed intelligence and reconnaissance duties for senior Taliban leaders.
In June 20 operations:
-- Afghan National Army Special Forces of the 4th Special Operations Kandak, advised by coalition forces, killed five insurgents in the Shindand district of Herat province. The insurgents attacked the joint forces as they conducted a presence patrol in the vicinity of Kushe village in south Zereko Valley. Three Afghan troops were wounded in the engagement.
-- Afghan National Army Special Forces, advised by coalition forces, killed three insurgents in the Maiwand district of Kandahar province, and members of the Afghan National Army killed five insurgents in the Khakrez district of Kandahar province.
Combined Force Arrests 2 Extremists in Nangarhar Province
From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release
KABUL, Afghanistan, June 21, 2013 - An Afghan and coalition security force arrested two extremists during a search for a senior Taliban leader in the Khugyani district of Afghanistan's Nangarhar province today, military officials reported.
The sought-after Taliban leader is a subordinate to one of the highest-ranking Taliban leaders in Nangarhar province, officials said. He is responsible for planning, coordinating and executing multiple attacks against Afghan and coalition forces using large groups of extremist fighters.
The sought-after insurgent also directs the movement of weapons, ammunition, money and other military equipment to Taliban cells operating in Nangarhar province, officials said. The security force also seized a shotgun and 30 pounds of opium as a result of the operation.
In other Afghanistan operations today:
-- A combined force arrested a Haqqani facilitator and five other extremists in the Pul-e 'Alam district of Wardak province. The facilitator managed the transportation and distribution of weapons, ammunition and other supplies to extremist groups operating in the Pul-e 'Alam district. He also participated in attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.
-- Combined forces confirmed the death of a Taliban leader, Jilani, during a June 19 operation in the Sayyidabad district of Wardak province. Jilani controlled a group of fighters responsible for attacks on Highway 1 targeting Afghan civilians and Afghan and coalition forces. He also coordinated the movement of weapons for extremist operations and performed intelligence and reconnaissance duties for senior Taliban leaders.
In June 20 operations:
-- Afghan National Army Special Forces of the 4th Special Operations Kandak, advised by coalition forces, killed five insurgents in the Shindand district of Herat province. The insurgents attacked the joint forces as they conducted a presence patrol in the vicinity of Kushe village in south Zereko Valley. Three Afghan troops were wounded in the engagement.
-- Afghan National Army Special Forces, advised by coalition forces, killed three insurgents in the Maiwand district of Kandahar province, and members of the Afghan National Army killed five insurgents in the Khakrez district of Kandahar province.
CARAT EXERCISE AND USS FREEDOM DEPARTS CHANGI NAVAL BASE
Marines assigned to I Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, and 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, currently attached to combat assault battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, conduct an amphibious raid exercise with Royal Thai Marines during exercise Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Thailand 2013. More than 1,200 Sailors and Marines are participating in CARAT Thailand. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. John C. Lamb (Released) 130610-M-VK320-166
The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) departs Changi Naval Base for a patrol in the Indo-Asia Pacific region. Freedom is in Singapore as part of a deployment to Southeast Asia. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Toni Burton (Released) 130611-N-QD718-001
USDA WORKING TO MANAGE SUGAR SURPLUS
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
USDA Announces Additional Actions to Manage the Domestic Sugar Surplus
WASHINGTON, June 17, 2013 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced actions to manage the domestic sugar surplus, as required by law, while operating the sugar program at the least cost to the government. Record-breaking yields of sugar crops and a global surplus have driven down U.S. sugar prices and USDA is required to act to stabilize the domestic market. Today’s actions are designed to manage the sugar program while minimizing federal sugar program expenditures.
First, USDA announced today its intention to purchase sugar from domestic sugarcane or sugar beet processors and subsequently conduct voluntary exchanges for credits under the Refined Sugar Re-export Program. Exchanging sugar for credits reduces imports into the U.S., and is designed to reduce the sugar surplus. It is a less costly option than loan forfeitures. Since not less than 2.5 tons of import credits will be exchanged per 1 ton of sugar, there will be a minimum net reduction of 1.5 tons of sugar in the U.S. market per ton of sugar exchanged, making this a less costly option than forfeitures. USDA anticipates this action could remove around 300,000 tons of sugar from the U.S. market and cost approximately $38 million, subject to sequester, which is one-third the expected cost of forfeitures. USDA will continue to monitor current market conditions and projections to determine if additional actions are necessary.
Second, USDA announced today that licensed refiners now have 270 days—rather than 90 days—to make required exports or sugar transfers under the Refined Sugar Re-export Program. This action increases the pool of available re-export credits, facilitating the exchange announced above. These temporary waivers make no permanent change to Re-export Program rules.
Today’s announcements build on previous actions USDA has taken to stabilize the domestic sugar market. At the start of FY 2013, USDA announced at minimum allowable levels both the domestic Sugar Marketing Allotments and the U.S. WTO raw sugar import tariff-rate quota. On May 1, 2013, USDA announced two waivers of provisions in the Refined Sugar Re-export Program, temporarily permitting licensed refiners to transfer program sugar from their license to another refiner’s license through Sept. 30, 2013, and temporarily increasing their license limit from 50,000 metric tons raw value of credits to 100,000 metric tons raw value of credits, through Dec. 31, 2014.
USDA will closely monitor stocks, consumption, imports and all sugar market and program variables. USDA will also, on an ongoing basis, evaluate the need for use of other tools authorized in the 2008 farm bill, including the Feedstock Flexibility Program.
For additional details on the Refined Sugar Re-export Program changes announced today, please check the Federal Register notice here: Notice of Sugar Purchase and Exchange for Re-export Program Credits; and Notice of Re-export Program Time Period Extension. USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), managed by the Farm Service Agency, will invoke the Cost Reduction Options under the 1985 farm bill to purchase sugar. This CCC sugar will be offered to licensees who have credits under the Refined Sugar Re-export Program.
USDA Announces Additional Actions to Manage the Domestic Sugar Surplus
WASHINGTON, June 17, 2013 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced actions to manage the domestic sugar surplus, as required by law, while operating the sugar program at the least cost to the government. Record-breaking yields of sugar crops and a global surplus have driven down U.S. sugar prices and USDA is required to act to stabilize the domestic market. Today’s actions are designed to manage the sugar program while minimizing federal sugar program expenditures.
First, USDA announced today its intention to purchase sugar from domestic sugarcane or sugar beet processors and subsequently conduct voluntary exchanges for credits under the Refined Sugar Re-export Program. Exchanging sugar for credits reduces imports into the U.S., and is designed to reduce the sugar surplus. It is a less costly option than loan forfeitures. Since not less than 2.5 tons of import credits will be exchanged per 1 ton of sugar, there will be a minimum net reduction of 1.5 tons of sugar in the U.S. market per ton of sugar exchanged, making this a less costly option than forfeitures. USDA anticipates this action could remove around 300,000 tons of sugar from the U.S. market and cost approximately $38 million, subject to sequester, which is one-third the expected cost of forfeitures. USDA will continue to monitor current market conditions and projections to determine if additional actions are necessary.
Second, USDA announced today that licensed refiners now have 270 days—rather than 90 days—to make required exports or sugar transfers under the Refined Sugar Re-export Program. This action increases the pool of available re-export credits, facilitating the exchange announced above. These temporary waivers make no permanent change to Re-export Program rules.
Today’s announcements build on previous actions USDA has taken to stabilize the domestic sugar market. At the start of FY 2013, USDA announced at minimum allowable levels both the domestic Sugar Marketing Allotments and the U.S. WTO raw sugar import tariff-rate quota. On May 1, 2013, USDA announced two waivers of provisions in the Refined Sugar Re-export Program, temporarily permitting licensed refiners to transfer program sugar from their license to another refiner’s license through Sept. 30, 2013, and temporarily increasing their license limit from 50,000 metric tons raw value of credits to 100,000 metric tons raw value of credits, through Dec. 31, 2014.
USDA will closely monitor stocks, consumption, imports and all sugar market and program variables. USDA will also, on an ongoing basis, evaluate the need for use of other tools authorized in the 2008 farm bill, including the Feedstock Flexibility Program.
For additional details on the Refined Sugar Re-export Program changes announced today, please check the Federal Register notice here: Notice of Sugar Purchase and Exchange for Re-export Program Credits; and Notice of Re-export Program Time Period Extension. USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), managed by the Farm Service Agency, will invoke the Cost Reduction Options under the 1985 farm bill to purchase sugar. This CCC sugar will be offered to licensees who have credits under the Refined Sugar Re-export Program.
DOD CREATES TISSUE BANK FOR STUDY OF TBI
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
DOD Establishes Tissue Bank to Study Brain Injuries
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 14, 2013 - The Defense Department has established the world's first brain tissue repository to help researchers understand the underlying mechanisms of traumatic brain injury in service members, Pentagon officials announced yesterday.
The announcement follows a symposium that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel convened, in which a group of senior defense officials and experts in the medical field and from outside organizations discussed advancements and areas of collaboration regarding traumatic brain injury.
"We have been at war for more than a decade, and our men and women have sacrificed," said Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. "The military health care system is bringing all the resources it can to better understand how to prevent, diagnose and treat traumatic brain injuries and to ensure that service members have productive and long, quality lives.
"Our research efforts and treatment protocols are all geared toward improving care for these victims," Woodson continued. "And that will have benefits to the American public at large."
The Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine Brain Tissue Repository for Traumatic Brain Injury was established at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., with a multiyear grant from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command to advance the understanding and treatment of TBI in service members.
"Little is known about the long-term effects of traumatic brain injury on military service members," said Dr. Daniel Perl, a neuropathologist and director of the brain tissue repository. "By studying these tissues, along with access to clinical information associated with them, we hope to more rapidly address the biologic mechanisms by which head trauma leads to chronic traumatic encephalopathy."
CTE is a neurodegenerative disorder that involves the progressive accumulation of the protein tau in nerve cells within certain regions of the brain. As the tau protein accumulates, it disturbs function and appears to lead to symptoms seen in affected patients such as boxers and, more recently, football players with multiple head trauma.
Defense Department researchers will look at the brain tissue samples to characterize the neuropathologic features of TBI in service members. Important questions to be addressed include "What does blast exposure do to the brain?" and "Do the different forms of brain injury experienced in the military lead to CTE?"
Service members exposed to blasts "are coming home with troubling, persistent problems and we don't know the nature of this, whether it's related to psychiatric responses from engagement in warfare or related to actual damage to the brain, as seen in football players," Perl said. "We hope to address these findings and develop approaches to detecting accumulated tau in the living individual as a means of diagnosing CTE during life -- and, ultimately, create better therapies or ways to prevent the injury in the first place."
"We are learning though the process of discovery the effects of repetitive mild traumatic brain injury, and also how to prevent this issue of chronic traumatic encephalopathy," Woodson said. "The brain tissue repository will enable us to learn even more about how we can treat injuries and prevent future calamity for service members."
DOD Establishes Tissue Bank to Study Brain Injuries
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 14, 2013 - The Defense Department has established the world's first brain tissue repository to help researchers understand the underlying mechanisms of traumatic brain injury in service members, Pentagon officials announced yesterday.
The announcement follows a symposium that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel convened, in which a group of senior defense officials and experts in the medical field and from outside organizations discussed advancements and areas of collaboration regarding traumatic brain injury.
"We have been at war for more than a decade, and our men and women have sacrificed," said Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. "The military health care system is bringing all the resources it can to better understand how to prevent, diagnose and treat traumatic brain injuries and to ensure that service members have productive and long, quality lives.
"Our research efforts and treatment protocols are all geared toward improving care for these victims," Woodson continued. "And that will have benefits to the American public at large."
The Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine Brain Tissue Repository for Traumatic Brain Injury was established at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., with a multiyear grant from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command to advance the understanding and treatment of TBI in service members.
"Little is known about the long-term effects of traumatic brain injury on military service members," said Dr. Daniel Perl, a neuropathologist and director of the brain tissue repository. "By studying these tissues, along with access to clinical information associated with them, we hope to more rapidly address the biologic mechanisms by which head trauma leads to chronic traumatic encephalopathy."
CTE is a neurodegenerative disorder that involves the progressive accumulation of the protein tau in nerve cells within certain regions of the brain. As the tau protein accumulates, it disturbs function and appears to lead to symptoms seen in affected patients such as boxers and, more recently, football players with multiple head trauma.
Defense Department researchers will look at the brain tissue samples to characterize the neuropathologic features of TBI in service members. Important questions to be addressed include "What does blast exposure do to the brain?" and "Do the different forms of brain injury experienced in the military lead to CTE?"
Service members exposed to blasts "are coming home with troubling, persistent problems and we don't know the nature of this, whether it's related to psychiatric responses from engagement in warfare or related to actual damage to the brain, as seen in football players," Perl said. "We hope to address these findings and develop approaches to detecting accumulated tau in the living individual as a means of diagnosing CTE during life -- and, ultimately, create better therapies or ways to prevent the injury in the first place."
"We are learning though the process of discovery the effects of repetitive mild traumatic brain injury, and also how to prevent this issue of chronic traumatic encephalopathy," Woodson said. "The brain tissue repository will enable us to learn even more about how we can treat injuries and prevent future calamity for service members."
Thursday, June 20, 2013
ISAF NEWS FROM AFGHANISTAN FOR JUNE 20, 2013
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Coalition, Afghan Forces Arrest Extremists in Paktia Province
From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release
KABUL, Afghanistan, June 20, 2013 - A combined Afghan and coalition security force arrested three extremists during a search for a senior Haqqani network leader in the Zurmat district of Afghanistan's Paktia province today, military officials reported.
The Haqqani leader organizes and executes attacks against Afghan and coalition forces and manages supply routes for weapons and equipment.
The security force also seized a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, a grenade, six anti-personnel mines, body armor, nine assault rifle magazines and ammunition.
In Afghanistan operations yesterday:
-- A combined force in Kandahar province's Panjwai district killed a Taliban leader who produced and distributed improvised explosive devices and facilitated the movement of Taliban weapons.
-- Afghan local police in Kandahar's Panjwai district neutralized four IEDs after seeing enemy fighters planting them. Working from the district's newest checkpoint, local police for the village of Pay-e Maluk have neutralized 12 IEDs over the last week in their daily patrols.
-- A combined force in Wardak province's Sayyidabad district killed two extremists during a search for a Taliban leader who controls a group responsible for attacks on Highway 1 targeting Afghan civilians and Afghan and coalition forces. He also coordinates the movement of weapons and performs intelligence and reconnaissance duties for senior Taliban leaders.
-- An Afghan provincial response company uncovered more than 800 pounds of homemade explosive materials near Wardak's Sra Kala village and arrested a suspect.
ALF 502
FROM : NASA
John Wargo, lead technician at NASA Glenn's Propulsion System Laboratory (PSL) is performing an inspection on the inlet ducting, upstream of the Honeywell ALF 502 engine that was recently used for the NASA Engine Icing Validation test. This test allows engine manufacturers to simulate flying through the upper atmosphere where large amounts of icing particles can be ingested and cause flame outs or a loss of engine power on aircraft. This test was the first of its kind in the world and was highly successful in validating PSL's new capability. No other engine test facility has this capability. Glenn is working with industry to address this aviation issue by establishing a capability that will allow engines to be operated at the same temperature and pressure conditions experienced in flight, with ice particles being ingested into full scale engines to simulate flight through a deep convective cloud. The information gained through performing these tests will also be used to establish test methods and techniques for the study of engine icing in new and existing commercial engines, and to develop data required for advanced computer codes that can be specifically applied to assess an engine's susceptibility to icing in terms of its safety, performance and operability. Image Credit: NASA Bridget R. Caswell (Wyle Information Systems, LLC)
$20 MILLION TO BE USED TO HELP INMATES PREPARE FOR WORKFORCE
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
U.S. Department of Labor awards $20 million to help adult inmates prepare to enter the workforce
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today awarded grants totaling $20 million to provide job training for inmates aged 18 and older participating in state or local work-release programs. The grants are part of the Training to Work-Adult Reentry initiative, which seeks to provide work skills, education, and supportive services to improve the long-term employment prospects of soon-to-be-released inmates.
"The grants announced today will help incarcerated adults build a bridge to their communities and improve their chances of success in life," said acting Secretary of Labor Seth D. Harris. "Through the Training to Work program, the participants have a better chance of attaining employment by acquiring industry-recognized credentials, and as a result are more likely to positively contribute to their communities."
Sixteen grants were awarded to nonprofit organizations around the country. Grantees are expected to help participants obtain high school diplomas (or equivalent) and industry-recognized credentials. The grant programs will focus on in-demand occupations in which ex-offenders are eligible to work within the local communities. These grants require the inclusion of components such as workforce development activities, training leading to industry-recognized credentials, education, case management, mentoring, and follow-up services to help reduce recidivism and lead to long-term success.
Grants were awarded through a competitive process open to nonprofit organizations with Internal Revenue Code 501(c) (3) status and proven success in implementing the key components of the grants in communities with high poverty and crime rates. The grants will cover 39 months, which include six months of planning and 33 months of operation. The funds also must provide for a minimum of nine months of follow-up services for each participant.
DOD CFO POINTS OUT POST-SEQUESTOR PROBLEMS
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Comptroller Offers Glimpse of Post-sequester Options
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 13, 2013 - The budget storms assailing the Pentagon are unprecedented, the Defense Department's chief financial officer said here today.
"I've never seen anything like this," Pentagon Comptroller Robert F. Hale told an audience attending the 2013 Defense Communities National Summit, "and I hope we never see it again."
Hale asked attendees how many of them had seen serious effects from sequestration defense spending cuts at their home installations, and dozens of hands went up around the room.
Hale said the across-the-board cuts, costs for the war in Afghanistan that were higher than expected, and continuing resolutions that have in recent years replaced approved budgets have left Pentagon planners unable to make long-term course corrections.
Remaining shortfalls in fiscal year 2013 clearly show "we haven't fully landed this plane," Hale acknowledged, and he warned that 2014 and 2015 could be just as bad.
Cuts to training and maintenance this year will result in future "get-well" costs as the services clear backlogs and retrain members, Hale noted. If Congress passes a budget this year, he added, he's confident defense programs will be funded near the levels President Barack Obama requested. If a continuing resolution again takes the place of an approved budget, however, "we would face the get-well costs without the resources to get well," the comptroller said.
Defense officials, including Hale, have maintained repeatedly that they can save greatly in the long term if Congress allows them to close excess facilities, and the budget request this year again asks for a round of base realignments and closures, Hale noted.
Studies have shown DOD has 25 percent too much infrastructure, all of which is expensive to maintain and operate, the comptroller said. He added that while it's a "significant understatement" to say Congress is reluctant to approve base closures, previous BRAC rounds resulted in ongoing savings of $12 billion per year. Consolidating or closing underused military facilities will be essential to the department's future financial health, he added.
"We need the help of the United States Congress. BRAC is an obvious example," he said, but it's not the only area in which the Pentagon needs Congress to act.
"We need their permission to retire lower-priority weapons ... [and] slow the growth in military pay and benefits," he said, noting "uniform agreement" among the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the department must contain personnel costs.
Hale said results from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's strategic choices in management review -- which has been completed and is now being studied at the Pentagon's highest levels -- will guide spending decisions in the coming years.
Sequestration has been and remains a painful experience, Hale said, but he added that defense managers are learning to identify lower-priority initiatives as cuts increase.
"Some of those decisions shouldn't be reversed. ... As we recover from this long disease called sequestration, I hope we can benefit just a little bit from the cure," he said.
Comptroller Offers Glimpse of Post-sequester Options
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 13, 2013 - The budget storms assailing the Pentagon are unprecedented, the Defense Department's chief financial officer said here today.
"I've never seen anything like this," Pentagon Comptroller Robert F. Hale told an audience attending the 2013 Defense Communities National Summit, "and I hope we never see it again."
Hale asked attendees how many of them had seen serious effects from sequestration defense spending cuts at their home installations, and dozens of hands went up around the room.
Hale said the across-the-board cuts, costs for the war in Afghanistan that were higher than expected, and continuing resolutions that have in recent years replaced approved budgets have left Pentagon planners unable to make long-term course corrections.
Remaining shortfalls in fiscal year 2013 clearly show "we haven't fully landed this plane," Hale acknowledged, and he warned that 2014 and 2015 could be just as bad.
Cuts to training and maintenance this year will result in future "get-well" costs as the services clear backlogs and retrain members, Hale noted. If Congress passes a budget this year, he added, he's confident defense programs will be funded near the levels President Barack Obama requested. If a continuing resolution again takes the place of an approved budget, however, "we would face the get-well costs without the resources to get well," the comptroller said.
Defense officials, including Hale, have maintained repeatedly that they can save greatly in the long term if Congress allows them to close excess facilities, and the budget request this year again asks for a round of base realignments and closures, Hale noted.
Studies have shown DOD has 25 percent too much infrastructure, all of which is expensive to maintain and operate, the comptroller said. He added that while it's a "significant understatement" to say Congress is reluctant to approve base closures, previous BRAC rounds resulted in ongoing savings of $12 billion per year. Consolidating or closing underused military facilities will be essential to the department's future financial health, he added.
"We need the help of the United States Congress. BRAC is an obvious example," he said, but it's not the only area in which the Pentagon needs Congress to act.
"We need their permission to retire lower-priority weapons ... [and] slow the growth in military pay and benefits," he said, noting "uniform agreement" among the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the department must contain personnel costs.
Hale said results from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's strategic choices in management review -- which has been completed and is now being studied at the Pentagon's highest levels -- will guide spending decisions in the coming years.
Sequestration has been and remains a painful experience, Hale said, but he added that defense managers are learning to identify lower-priority initiatives as cuts increase.
"Some of those decisions shouldn't be reversed. ... As we recover from this long disease called sequestration, I hope we can benefit just a little bit from the cure," he said.
MIXED OYSTER NEWS
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| Oysters. Credit: USFW/Wikimedia |
FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
World Oceans Month Brings Mixed News for Oysters
In World Oceans Month, there's mixed news for the Pacific Northwest oyster industry.
For the past several years, it has struggled with significant losses due to ocean acidification. Oyster larvae have had mortality rates high enough to render production no longer economically feasible.
Now a new study documents why oysters appear so sensitive to increasing acidity, but also offers some hope for the future.
It isn't necessarily a case of acidic water dissolving the oysters' shells, scientists say. It's water high in carbon dioxide altering shell formation rates, energy usage and, ultimately, the growth and survival of young oysters.
"The failure of oyster seed production in Northwest Pacific coastal waters is one of the most graphic examples of ocean acidification effects on important commercial shellfish," said Dave Garrison, program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Ocean Sciences.
NSF funded the study through its Ocean Acidification Program, part of NSF's Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability programs.
"This research is among the first to identify the links among organism physiology, ocean carbonate chemistry and oyster seed mortality," said Garrison.
Results of the study are online in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, published by the American Geophysical Union.
"From the time eggs are fertilized, Pacific oyster larvae precipitate roughly 90 percent of their body weight as a calcium carbonate shell within 48 hours," said George Waldbusser, an Oregon State University marine ecologist and lead author of the paper.
"Young oysters rely solely on the energy they derive from the egg because they have not yet developed feeding organs."
During exposure to increasing carbon dioxide in acidified water, however, it becomes more energetically expensive for organisms like oysters to build shells.
Adult oysters and other bivalves may grow more slowly when exposed to rising carbon dioxide levels. But larvae in the first two days of life do not have the luxury of delayed growth.
"They must build their first shell quickly on a limited amount of energy--and along with the shell comes the organ to capture external food," said Waldbusser.
"It becomes a death race of sorts. Can the oyster build its shell quickly enough to allow its feeding mechanism to develop before it runs out of energy from the egg?"
The results are important, marine scientists say, because they document for the first time the links among shell formation rate, available energy, and sensitivity to acidification.
The researchers say that the faster the rate of shell formation, the more energy is needed. Oyster embryos building their first shells need "to make a lot of shell on short order," said Waldbusser.
"As the carbon dioxide in seawater increases, but before waters become corrosive, calcium carbonate precipitation requires more energy to maintain higher rates of shell formation during this early stage."
The researchers worked with Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery in Netarts Bay, Ore. They found that on the second day of life, 100 percent of the larval tissue growth was from egg-derived carbon.
"The oyster larvae were still relying on egg-derived energy until they were 11 days old," said Elizabeth Brunner of Oregon State University and a co-author of the paper.
The earliest shell material in the larvae contained the greatest amount of carbon from the surrounding waters.
Increasing amounts of carbon from respiration were incorporated into shells after the first 48 hours, indicating an ability to isolate and control the shell surfaces where calcium carbonate is being deposited.
Waldbusser notes that adult bivalves are well-adapted to growing shell in conditions that are more acidified, and have evolved several mechanisms to do so.
These include use of organic molecules to organize and facilitate the formation of calcium carbonate, pumps that remove acid from the calcifying fluids, and outer shell coatings that protect minerals to some degree from surrounding waters.
Waldbusser said that the results help explain previous findings at the Whiskey Creek Hatchery of larval sensitivity to waters that are high in carbon dioxide but not corrosive to calcium carbonate.
They also explain carryover effects later in larval life of exposure to high carbon dioxide, similar to human neonatal nutrition effects.
The discovery may be good news, scientists say, because there are interventions that can be done at hatcheries that may offset some of the effects of ocean acidification.
Some hatcheries have begun "buffering" water for larvae--essentially adding antacids to incoming waters--including the Whiskey Creek Hatchery and the Taylor Shellfish Farms in Washington.
The study provides a scientific foundation for the target level of buffering.
"You can make sure that eggs have more energy before they enter the larval stage," said Waldbusser, "so a well-balanced adult diet may help larval oysters cope better with the stress of acidified water."
-NSF-
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
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