SENATE PANEL DIVES INTO FISH FARM DEBATE By J.R. Pegg -WASHINGTON, DC, April 10, 2006 (ENS) - The Bush administration's desire to expand aquaculture in federal waters drew support from the Senate Commerce Committee Thursday, but senators outlined concerns that the specific plan fails to safeguard the environment and lacks protection for state fishing interests. The hearing was the first look by the committee at the administration's proposal to increase fish farming five-fold over the next decade. http://www.ens-newswire.com

POOR DESIGN OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT LINKED TO SICK KIDS - WASHINGTON, DC, April 10, 2006 (ENS) - National Public Health Week focused this year on the fact that the modern built environment is harming the health of American children. Across the country, children are facing serious medical problems as a result of living in unhealthy built environments because poorly designed neighborhoods and buildings, roads, and sidewalks do not foster health, according to the American Public Health Association. http://www.ens-newswire.com

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO ENTRUSTS TWO RESERVES TO COMMUNITIES -KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo, April 10, 2006 (ENS) - Legally recognized community conservation took a big step forward in the Democratic Republic of Congo last week when the government handed the care and control of two large nature reserves over to local community groups. Adjacent to one other, the reserves form a globally important biodiversity site inhabited by endangered Grauer’s gorillas, eastern chimpanzees, forest elephants, and okapi. http://www.ens-newswire.com

RARE COLOMBIAN SPECIES SAVED FROM VACATION HOME DEVELOPMENT -WASHINGTON, DC, April 7, 2006 (ENS) - Quick action by an alliance of conservation groups has raised $130,000 to purchase a haven for endangered species on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, before it could be developed for vacation homes. Now the site will be protected as a nature reserve. The site in the northeast corner of Colombia, near the Venezuelan border, is the sole breeding ground for the Santa Marta parakeet, classed as globally endangered. http://www.ens-newswire.com 

CHESAPEAKE BAY STATES ASK FEDERAL FUNDING TO CURB POLLUTION - ANNAPOLIS, Maryland, April 7, 2006 (ENS) - Both federal and state funding to help farmers reduce polluted runoff to Chesapeake Bay from agricultural operations and urban development has been inadequate to the task, according to a new report by the Chesapeake Bay Program. Poor dissolved oxygen levels, declining water clarity, and increased algal blooms have prompted the governors of all six Bay states and environmental groups to request federal funding to restore the nation's largest estuary. http://www.ens-newswire.com