Doggerbank & The 'Ivory' Coast

Captain Qahn's picture

Scarborough Council is set to form a task group to provide a strategic plan for Scarborough Harbour.  No doubt under the auspicious eye of the the Portfolio holder Mike Cockerill and the Overview & Scrutiny  Board Chair Steve Siddons.  Both of whom freely admit that depsite headlining the recently dissolved  Ports  Development group that they failed.  No doubt they will seem fit to oversee & head up the proposed Harbours Task Group.   With recent questions asked of the future of Scarborough Harbour it seems fitting to look at some of the past associations, fossil style.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOVwc8_PSZ0

And then of course there is the local Angling Club, Yacht Club, Harbour Association, Sub Aqua Club, RNLI, MMO,  .... many of whom claim to be silenced by a common denominator.

Tis a can of worms.

However given the recent media exposure of German U-boats laid at rest at Doggerbank. http://www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk/lifestyle/exhibit-of-the-week-german... Many local fisherman considered the north end of Doggerbank as 'consecrated ground' with a 'zone' in place to avoid any disturbance of the dead.  Respect.

Well,  who would go digging up an elephants grave yard ...

An 'elephants' grave yard is indeed an historic part of the Doggerbank and has been exploited in the very near past by beamers (flat fish vessels) for their tusks.

Evidence has emerged that these tusks (Ivory) have been landed at Scarborough Harbour.  Mammoth.  

Mammoth droppings in the North sea is nothing new:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2865374/Mammoth-skeleton-...

https://www.northseafossils.com/

"Fifty thousand years ago, the North Sea did not exist. The area between what are now the white cliffs of Dover and the Dutch sandy dunes was part of the continent of Europe and the natural habitat of mammoths, cave lions, woolly rhinos and other prehistoric marvels. On these fertile grounds they fed, fought, procreated and died for thousands of years. Then the ice came. The lowering of the earth’s temperature at around 25.000 B.C. caused the extinction of these fascinating creatures, their remains being buried by hundreds of meters of ice which covered the whole of northern Europe. Temperatures rose and melt began to set in at around 12.000 B.C., replacing the ice with water and so giving birth to the North Sea as we know it today. The remains of its old inhabitants were still there however, now covered by a thin layer of sand and fathoms of salty water.

Nowadays tidal currents cause the seabed to turn around, freeing the fossils from their sandy tomb. Since the mid-20th century, Dutch fishermen have caught many of these fossils in their nets, and brought them ashore. This is where our company started. We have established excellent contacts with the fishermen, and have been buying their fossils for reasonable prices for many years. In exchange for this arrangement we ask the fishermen to take good care of the fossils from the moment they are found, and to record the GPS coordinates and other relevant information of the finds.

In recent years fishing methods have evolved drastically due to technological developments and environmental considerations. Traditional trawling methods, in which nets dredge the sea floor, are becoming rare. Most of our fossils are found with exactly this technique, which means that our supply from this source has now been reduced. We are however still finding fossils from sand extracting activities in rivers and old estuaries, which belong to the North Sea realm and share the same characteristics as our traditional fossils. In addition to this, we also organize several dedicated fossil trawling expeditions each year, fishing for Pleistocene treasures in especially fossil-rich areas of the North Sea.

Fossils of primary scientific importance are never sold, but are donated by us to appropriate museums, institutes or specialists. Other pieces, which are often still of museum quality, but not so rare or unique to be of the utmost scientificic importance, are sold through our website.

All fossils sold by North Sea Fossils have been legally procured. All fossils can be freely sold and do not fall under CITES or any other legal restrictions. On request certificates of authenticity and/or provenance can be supplied for all purchases."

Trust no one... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUFPooqKllA

Is Green all it is cracked up to be? The offshore wind farm industry has been heralded as a pathway to clean energy and Dalby Offshore are keen to make a clean sweep.

Once again, it would seem the activities of Scarborough Harbour users are predatory to say the least and hidden behind layers of 'fact & fiction' the truth will eventually out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ67Fz1Jf6E

Of interest (to a few) Long in the Tooth:

http://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Speybank.htm

Best not mention the Silence of the Lambs ... Up Periscope

Ha ...  Scarborough Harbour Task group 2017 ;-0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6kAWwdJg98

Nope, things aren't like they used to be ...

Thankfully.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yam5uK6e-bQ

"I have reason to believe that several harbour users have reported ** ********* recent chartering escapades to the harbour authority. The authority is it seem taking its usual laid-back stance of little or no involvement."

"To put it bluntly   “ IF! THE! CAP! FITS! WEAR! IT! “

Green?  

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/leisure/showbiz/15530007.A_family_of_four_mam...

How creepy is that . Feeling Nauseus...

Wotever next?

 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/wildlife-woolly-mammoth-ivory...

Time Out.

Tags: 

6 Comments

Captain Qahn's picture

Woolly Rhinos

Oh OK, you get the Woolly thing ... so much for trying to be sensitive :-)

http://www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk/lifestyle/view-from-the-zoo-world-rh...

"There used to be around 500,000 rhinos found across Africa and Asia, however only about 29,000 are left today due to the high demand in poaching for their valuable horns. Today all rhinos are threatened with extinction and three out of the five species are classed as critically endangered, with some subspecies now extinct. Rhino horn is more valuable than gold and is sought after in Asian countries where it is used in traditional medicine to ‘treat’ a variety of conditions. The horn is made out of keratin and has no proven medicinal benefits. It is also used as a status symbol to show someone’s wealth and success. Even though rhino numbers have declined drastically, thanks to the persistent efforts of conservation programmes there is a slow increase in rhino numbers. From working with local communities in key areas, raising global awareness of the crisis and captive breeding programmes within zoos, all are contributing to help save these incredible animals."

Flamingoland's incredible Conservation work speaks for itself.  

Best start knitting ...

tis a wild thing

Shiver.

Benefitz Betty's picture

Amphibeans at Large

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41512796

"Environment Secretary Michael Gove has announced a consultation to end the trade in ivory of all ages - previous attempts at a ban would have excluded antique ivory produced before 1947.

The government says there will be some exemptions, for musical instruments and items of cultural importance.

Conservation groups have given a guarded welcome to the plan.

Growing market

While the UK has had a ban on the trade in raw ivory tusks, it has become the world's leading exporter of legal ivory carvings and antiques in recent years.

According to an Environmental Investigation Agency report, there were more than 36,000 items exported from the UK between 2010 and 2015, more than three times that of the next biggest exporter, the US.

Conservationists argue that these sales stimulate the demand for the product, and are linked to increased elephant poaching across Africa...."

Bah Bah Blah  .. and  the difference beteen a reptilian and an amphibean? 

Erm... who cares. 

How now,  about Ms Mays bracelet. 

Ah, so :

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/oct/04/was-theresa-mays-frida-...

"Either way, it’s perhaps a surprising statement for the Tory leader, not least because Kahlo was a communist, married to artist Diego Rivera, a prominent figure in the Mexican Communist party, and a close friend of Leon Trotsky. She also spent her career concerned with the plight of the impoverished, our connectedness to self, nature and the universe, the relationship between pain and identity, and imagined, one day, we could live in a classless society."

Awesome.

 

 

Captain Qahn's picture

Buzz Lightyear

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-41367884

"Archaeologists have unearthed an Anglo-Saxon settlement as part of preparation work for a £2.5bn wind farm.

East Anglia One is being built 30 miles (48km) off the Suffolk coast, with the onshore cable route running 23 miles (37km) from Bawdsey to Bramford.

There are 50 excavation sites along the route, with some 400 archaeologists working on the project.

Experts said they have discovered "many layers of activity" at the "complex" 1,500 sq m site near Ipswich.

ScottishPower Renewables, the energy firm behind the scheme, said project leaders were unable to recruit enough archaeologists from the UK and had to turn to Portugal to get more specialists."

"Archaeologists have uncovered what is thought to be a bread oven, a corn drier and a broken millstone.

They think the buildings were used for seasonal work, and if the broken millstone is medieval they "can be sure" the site was occupied by the miller.

Experts have also unearthed later activity with an 18th Century quarry at the site.

Richard Newman, from Wardell Armstrong Archaeology, said the finds will be analysed further and detailed reports will be produced.

"It is safe to say we already know a lot more about Suffolk's history today than we did a year ago," he added.

"Up to 230 specialists have worked on the site each week and 20 metal detectorists have been invited to work on the project.

Jo Young, from Scottish Renewables, said: "This wind farm is about the future, new technology and carbon-free living but we have to look at the past.

"That's the beauty of it, looking into the future and into the history of Suffolk."

Cabling will be laid once the excavation work is complete.

East Anglia One will have 102 wind turbines and is due to be operational by 2020."

Fascinating :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41548203

"Only 17 years old and he is already a recognised scientist. Muhammad Shaheer Niazi's research on electric honeycomb was recently published in the Royal Society Open Science journal.

Physicists have known the phenomenon of electric honeycomb for decades. It occurs when a layer of oil is placed in an electric field between a pointy electrode and a flat one - and the instability caused by the build-up of ions applies pressure to the surface of the oil - creating a beautiful pattern that looks like a honeycomb, or a stained glass window.

The high school student from Pakistan's city of Lahore managed to photograph the movement of ions that forms the honeycomb besides recording the heat found on the surface of oil. No one has done this before.

Electric honeycomb phenomenon was the problem given to him at the International Young Physicists' Tournament held in Russia last year. Mr Niazi, and four other students, made up the first-ever team to represent Pakistan at the tournament. Returning from Russia, Mr Niazi decided to get his research published..."

One for the F.E.X. (I ain't gotta clue..)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3mKXSB9G6U

Disturbia ?

http://www.gazetteherald.co.uk/news/15584168.Anti_fracking_protestor_occ...

"Mr Thornton spent Sunday night in the tower. He said: "All I want to do is observe and document what is happening at the entrance to the fracking site.

"I am causing no disruption or obstruction - you'd think they'd prefer me to be up here in a tower..."

Indeed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiWomXklfv8

Nah .. f*ck it ... clearly tis The Next Generation.

Thankfully.

Captain Qahn's picture

Knight's 'UK Ivory Ban'

11:07am 10th October 2017

East Yorkshire MP Sir Greg Knight is welcoming Government plans to ban the sale and export of almost all ivory items in the UK.

The UK has already banned the trade in raw ivory tusks, but is still one of the world's leading exporters of ivory carvings and antiques.

Previous proposals were for a ban on ivory except ivory items produced before 1947 but Sir Greg says “unscrupulous criminals have become adept at using dyes and other treatments to falsely ‘age’ ivory products, and then seek to pass them off as antique”.

Sir Greg, who has long campaigned on this issue, said:

“Radical action needs to be taken because 20,000 elephants are killed by poachers every year.  I am pleased that the Government are now acting to protect one of the world's most iconic and treasured species for the next generation.

The UK has become the world centre for ivory trading so we have a moral responsibility to take a stand on this matter”.

 

Iconic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrLk4vdY28Q

http://www.forewind.co.uk/dogger-bank/overview.html

Innogy ... more Gush

https://iam.innogy.com/en/ueber-innogy

http://www.4coffshore.com/windfarms/dogger-bank---teesside-b-united-king...

Hmmm ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/10/02/carbon-capture-plans-reli...

"The plans to embrace carbon capture and storage (CCS) are the first to emerge since a billion-pound funding competition fit two coal power plants with the technology collapsed two years ago.

The new scheme will focus on helping to cut harmful greenhouse gas emissions from heavy industry and heating.

Claire Perry MP, a minister in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, resurrected CCS ambitions at the Conservative Party conference, saying it was a “vital technology”, which should be deployed “at an appropriate cost”.

The plans are expected to emerge “in a few weeks”, she added, and are likely to be part of the Government’s long overdue Clean Growth Plan, which aims to tackle the greenhouse gas emissions in the country’s industry and gas heating networks.

Heating and industrial emissions make up almost half of total greenhouse gas emissions in the UK.

“It’s hard. There is no magic bullet. Ahead I see a road of small but important steps,” Ms Perry said, adding that plans to toughen up standards on new home building, business energy efficiency and waste heat would also play a role.

The return of CCS to the political agenda could play a major role in reducing the carbon intensity of heavy industry by stripping carbon from factory flues and capturing the gas before piping it into permanent storage sites below the North Sea seabed.

It could also help transform the UK’s gas grid to run on cleaner hydrogen gas by trapping and removing the carbon dioxide produced in the process of breaking methane down to hydrogen.

Leeds City Council has already taken steps to convert the gas grid to run on hydrogen, rather than natural gas or methane. The process will include carbon capture technology to trap the CO2 produced. Similar plans are afoot to create a “hydrogen cluster” in Manchester and Liverpool.

The Clean Growth Plan kicks off a raft of Government energy programmes. It will be followed by a review of industrial energy costs spearheaded by Professor Dieter Helm and the Government’s Industrial Strategy will follow, Ms Perry said."

"switchable ionic liquid, or SWIL"

somin else to get ya heads around?

https://phys.org/news/2017-10-scientists-distinct-regions-popular-carbon...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DLnhdnSUVs

 

 

Captain Black's picture

Remote Control

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion/the-yorkshire-post-says-hel...

"EVEN though the realignment of local authority committees is not normally worthy of public comment, an exception deserves to be made for North Yorkshire County Council’s changes that have been instigated by its leader Carl Les.

By refining its area committees so they directly correlate with the area’s Parliamentary constituencies, the purpose is to make it easier to hold MPs to account and persuade them to use their position to influence the Government.

The Yorkshire Post says: Devolution and why it is time that the county seized control

This is key. For some time, there’s been a sense that North Yorkshire’s MPs, who are all Tory with one exception in York, have not been sufficiently vocal when it comes to making sure that the county receives fair funding to cover 3,300 square miles and serve 1.15m residents.

It’s the same with devolution. With the notable exception of Scarborough and Whitby’s Robert Goodwill who has publicly backed the One Yorkshire campaign, his colleagues seem surprisingly reluctant to challenge the obfuscation of Northern Powerhouse Minister Jake Berry who is intent on blocking the will of 18 councils and South Yorkshire’s mayor.

And, like their colleagues in West Yorkshire where the Tories lost ground at the last election, their indifference over the chaos on the region’s railways has been interpreted by voters as a positive endorsement of Chris Grayling at a time when residents want the Transport Secretary, and others, held to account."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-45288429

Paperwork & Red Tape, eh?

Slightly too graphic for a Confirmation Statement

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2XZmKhjhpU

https://phys.org/news/2018-08-shape-shifting-material-morph-reverse.html...

Cough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fGU90-I_H4

Captain Black's picture

The Puzzlingly Absent

"I had a feeling I couldn’t immediately place. I wanted to go out but wasn’t allowed. Shelves were emptying at the nearest supermarket and instead of fresh fruit and vegetables I was eating British comfort food – sausages and mash, pie and beans. My freedom to make decisions like an adult was limited."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/09/drug-users-hypocri...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MnUrhptPSo

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/08/the-guardian-view-...

Ah, yes about that Camp ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_xmujSyxkU

"In the end we can’t take anything seriously... a more enlightened nation might look back on Cameron and Johnson as a self-erasing supernova, a final bright flare and a burning out, the dying of the public school light in a burst of corruption and incompetence so spectacular the glimmer will be visible from space."

Fence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTymtAbaG08

There's somin not quite right about Hull ...

One wonders what that could be.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-68715164

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDyQ4e_shm4

"MineOne bought the land close to the military base in 2022 and later installed cryptocurrency mining equipment."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c03dd6g1l4zo