The Russian Far East Sees its First Shark Attacks: Warmer Waters Blamed

Overfishing together with warming offshore waters are cited as possible causes of the first known shark attacks in the Russian Far East according to this Aug. 18, 2011, NYT article "Shark Attacks Shock Russian East." Two or three (with the third unconfirmed) shark attacks took place over the past few days off the shore of the Russian coastal province of Primorsky Krai, where beaches are crowded this time of year.

For US West Coasters, the beaches of Primorsky Krai on the Sea of Japan are relatively more swimmer-friendly than the East Pacific coast, with warmer waters and more sandy shores. The footage they are showing in conjunction with the shark attacks looks like Shamora, a famous beach near Vladivostok where I hung out on at least one occasion back in my Russian environmental activism days, though I don't believe any of the attacks took place there.

For Russian-readers, here's a decent article from Lenta.ru, Aug. 18, 2011, covering the two confirmed attacks of a 25 year old man and a 16 year old boy. Both the NYT and Lenta.ru articles quote WWF's Konstantin Zgurovsky mentioning the role of climate change in the changing migration patterns of the shark.

The U.S. GAO to the Fed: Get Your Adaptation Funding Ducks in a Row

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a new report: Climate Change Adaptation: Aligning Funding with Strategic Priorities (July 28, 2011). This 14-page report suggests that the U.S. government can't align funding with climate change adaptation priorities for two main reasons: officials across agencies lack a shared understanding of climate change adaptation priorities, and mechanisms intended to align funding with priorities are nonbinding. One suggested way to ameliorate the problem is a government-wide strategic planning process to coordinate a federal adaptation response.

I haven't had a chance to digest the report enough to comment on it, but I always expect to like GAO reports, and this one looks typically plain-spoken and action-oriented.