NYT: new voyagers on the Panama Canal
Dear friends,
Weeks before Donald Trump started threatening to seize the Panama Canal, I spent a quiet, rainy night on the canal with scientists who were interested in it for just about the last reason Trump was: They were studying the critters living in its waters.
We squeezed onto a tiny deck boat, two biologists, a photographer, the captain, and I. In between setting long nets, hauling up the catch and checking for crocodiles, we contorted ourselves on the boat’s benches to catch some sleep.
My story this week (link here) is all about that night, as well as the years of research and growing concern about what could be happening in the canal — namely, that its newly expanded locks, meant to let king-size ships pass through, are also letting in a flood of fishy intruders from both oceans, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific ecosystems in a way not seen in perhaps three million years.
Ray
Bonus: Some cheery news for the Earth that I got to deliver this week.