June 18, 2006. Sedona, Arizona Wildfire.Photographer states :: Wildfire blazing a few miles west of Sedona this afternoon with triple-digit temperatures and gusty winds.The stratification of the butte is rather dramatic. It was all due to the fact this area of land was once underwater. Each layer of rock settled to the bottom of a great ocean over time. The ocean would advance and recede. Each time there was an advancement of the ocean it would bring a different type of sediment due to the different atmospheric conditions.
June 18, 2006. Deerfield Beach, Florida. Waterspout.
By ADAM RANEY FRIGATE BAY, St. Kitts Jun 18, 2006 (AP)— A slim majority of nations on the International Whaling Commission voted Sunday in support of a resumption of commercial whaling, but pro-whaling nations still lack the numbers needed to overturn a 20-year-old ban. The resolution, approved 33-32 with one abstention, declares that the moratorium on commercial whaling was meant to be temporary and is no longer needed. But to reverse the ban imposed in 1986, another vote supported by 75 percent of the 70 IWC members would be required. The IWC meeting on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts erupted in shouting and finger-pointing after the vote on the resolution authored by six Caribbean nations and backed by the major pro-whaling nations Norway, Iceland, Japan and Russia. The Japanese applauded which was met by head-shaking from whaling opponents. The winners shouted "sore losers" at opponents when they tried to continue debating the resolution after the vote. The Irish delegate looked despaired, holding his head in his hands. Representatives of anti-whaling countries were booed and shouted down after they yelled into the microphone that they did not recognize Iceland as an IWC member because it had previously dropped out. Delegates from both sides traded barbs, talking over each other to try to get their reactions heard for the record. Still it was not immediately clear what impact the vote would have....
A fish farm in a bay near Floro, Norway. The cod are bred onshore and then raised in these cages for two to three years until they are large enough to be sold.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 18, 2006
Filed at 12:54 a.m. ETFRIGATE BAY, St. Kitts (AP) -- A coalition of conservation-minded nations blocked Japan's attempt to form a pro-whaling majority on the International Whaling Commission on Saturday and reverse the moratorium on commercial hunting that went into effect two decades ago.
Japan and other pro-whaling countries lost their third straight vote at the 70-member commission's annual meeting on Saturday, thwarting their predicted takeover of the organization that manages whaling.A proposal to allow fishermen in Taiji, a coastal community in southeast Japan, to hunt minke whales went down to defeat 31-30. It would have needed a 75 percent majority to pass. The failure to win even a simple majority was a stinging defeat for Tokyo.Four countries that were expected to side with Japan -- China, South Korea, the Solomon Islands, and Kiribati -- unexpectedly abstained, prompting a rebuke from Joji Morishita, the Japanese delegation's spokesman: ''We are glad this is not a secret vote. Japan will remember which countries supported this proposal and which countries said no.''Japan had proposed Friday to introduce secret ballots, but that vote, which needed just a simple majority, failed 33-30. It also failed to remove the issue of hunting dolphins and porpoises from the meeting's agenda, losing by a 32-30 vote Friday.After losing Saturday's vote, Japan removed another proposal from the floor that would have allowed the hunting of 10 Bryde's whales off its coast each year through 2010 as a form of traditional whaling. Critics said the proposal was a guise to kill whales solely for commercial purposes.Tokyo believes whale stocks have sufficiently rebounded to allow regulated hunts of certain species, and Japan plans to lead a meeting Monday on its plan to ''normalize'' the 60-year-old commission and push it back toward its roots as a whaling management group.''I can't understand it,'' said Ben Bradshaw, Britain's Minister for Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare. ''We are a great friend and ally of Japan in almost every other field. And it is completely inexplicable to me that Japan, Norway and Iceland continue to push for a resumption of commercial whaling.''That hugely damages their international reputations,'' Bradshaw added. ''The whale meat is stacking up in huge freezers in these countries because they can't sell it. I can only think that it is about a kind of culturally nationalistic obstinacy that makes them pursue this course.''Conservationists expressed relief at the failure of Japan and other pro-whaling nations to achieve a majority, but noted that the votes were becoming closer.''Japan is now down three votes for three. But the margin was again too close for comfort. Extra countries have turned up since the first day and are voting with Japan,'' said Greenpeace International's John Frizell.Togo, which usually sides with Japan, paid some $14,000 in back dues late Friday, making it eligible to cast ballots.The five-day meeting of the International Whaling Commission runs through Tuesday in the Caribbean island of St. Kitts.
