Good morning.
We’ll have a high of fifty-six today, with a twenty-percent chance of afternoon showers.
We are far from the Atlantic Ocean, and so among the many immediate concerns of Wisconsinites, the lionfish, fortunately, is not one:
The clear waters around Bermuda are as picturesque as you can imagine, and the brilliantly colored fish swimming around are like something from a crayon box. But a serious problem lurks behind the beautiful facade: the lionfish.
Lionfish are not native to the Atlantic Ocean. The venomous, fast reproducing fish are aggressive eaters and will consume anything and everything, gorging so much they are actually getting liver disease. With no known predators — except human beings — they can wipe out 90% of a reef.
“The lionfish invasion is probably the worst environmental disaster the Atlantic will ever face,” said Graham Maddocks, president and founder of Ocean Support Foundation, which works with the government and research agencies to help reduce the lionfish population in Bermuda.
While the problem is only beginning to escalate, many in the marine preservation field are already concerned for the marine life that surrounds the lionfish.
How did this happen, that a non-native species got there?
Ask Florida.
Florida pet owners are blamed for their release into unfamiliar waters. Believe it or not, DNA evidence traces all lionfish in the Atlantic back to only six to eight female lionfish.
In Wisconsin’s experience, Frederick Douglass speaks to a Beaver Dam audience on 10.20.1856:
1856 – Frederick Douglass Speaks in Beaver Dam
On this date Frederick Douglass arrived in Beaver Dam and spoke about the brutality and immorality of slavery. His speech was also intended to generate support for the abolitionist movement in Dodge Co. and Wisconsin. A former runaway slave and leading orator and author of the abolitionist movement, Douglass is regarded as one of the most influential Americans of the 19th century. [Source: Wisconsin Local History Network]