In this week's Eco Report feature we hear from Elisa Pokral, Community Outreach Coordinator of the newly rebranded Waste Reduction District of Monroe County, in a conversation with Environmental Correspondent Zyro Roze. They discuss the District's new name, their operations, services, programs and events happening this spring. 

Planting trees within cities is a popular plan to mitigate some hot zones. Here’s an example of Kansas City. Trees are being planted across Kansas City at an unprecedented pace, putting the city in the front ranks of American cities aggressively fighting climate change. An ongoing campaign to maintain Kansas City’s existing tree canopy is being broadened. Meanwhile, efforts to enhance native grasses and wildflowers across the metropolitan area are taking on new life and urgency.

Tree preservation will kick into high gear in June when a $12 million windfall grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture reaches city coffers. The influx will enable the city to provide greater care to their existing arboreal canopy, which includes many aging trees planted after World War II. That federal infusion is in addition to money the city budgeted this fiscal year and next for its 10,000 Tree Campaign focused on heat islands in the older, poorer sections of the city, and for giving residents trees to plant in their yards.

WFHB is doing a series on ocean fishing, focusing on those species found in grocery stores. At year 1000 AD, all the oceans had billions of fish. Fishing at the time was mostly local, that is within 10 miles from port. A popular fishing method was to use a weir, essentially a v-shaped fence running parallel to the shore. At high tide, the fence was under water, at low tide the fish were trapped, so the fisherman could simply walk out and collect the fish trapped by the weir. Fishing boats were generally small enough that they could be dragged up the shore to high ground. The Vikings were brave enough to explore the high seas, and discovered Iceland and Newfoundland. The first child of European descent born in the Americas was the son of Leif Erickson. He was born at the Norse site at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, occupied about 1021.

By 1600 AD, many European nations were fishing in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. An important fish taken from the Mediterranean was the bluefin tuna. This largest of the tuna species spawned in the Mediterranean in huge numbers. The tradition of tuna trapping began in the Mediterranean with the Phoenicians; it was improved by the Arabs around the year 1000. In the 1870s, Sicilians started packing the bluefin tuna meat in locally produced olive oil instead of preserving with salt. At that time, there were tuna operations found across Sicily. Many canned their tuna; this supported large communities of fishers and their families. Today the bluefin stock is very low in both the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic, nearing the status of “endangered”. The tv show “Wicked Tuna” is based on pursuit of the few bluefin left in the western part of the Atlantic.

Fishing in the North Atlantic by many nations occurred after 1500. Fishing pressure eased during the first half of the 20th century because of the two world wars and the Depression. By 1950, operations were again in full swing. In the 1960s the Soviet Union had developed fleets of boats to fish abundant areas around the globe. One operation was off the coast from Gloucester. The Soviets would take over 99 percent of the fish. The fleet could be seen from shore, and our fishermen were not pleased. Finally, in 1976 a bill was passed that made territorial waters 200 nautical miles out part of the nations’ fishing rights. In 1992 Canada closed the Grand Banks (east of Newfoundland) because there were few fish remaining.