Survey shows more Cook Inlet belugas

Mary Pemberton, Associated Press Yahoo News 18 Dec 07;

The number of beluga whales swimming in Cook Inlet appears to be increasing, but biologist say it's too soon to know whether the winsome white whales are finally making a comeback.

Fisheries biologists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were quick to caution Tuesday that the increased estimate does not in itself prove that the genetically distinct whales are finally recovering after numbers fell by more than half — a drop blamed largely on overharvesting by Alaska Native subsistence hunters.

"While we are encouraged by this higher estimate, further surveys will be required to determine if this is a reliable upward population trend," said Doug DeMaster, director of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.

Over the years, the numbers gathered in the annual survey have shown a lot of variability, said Rod Hobbs, leader of the beluga whale research project at NOAA's National Marine Mammal Lab, also in Seattle.

Hobbs said the long view shows that this year's estimate of 375 beluga whales is about what it was in 1999.

"They are not that much different," Hobbs said. "We certainly need more survey work before we can be satisfied that they are actually increasing."

The white whales that swim the silty waters near Alaska's largest city are at the center of a debate over whether they should be listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. The National Marine Fisheries Service determined this year that if nothing changes Cook Inlet belugas are in danger of becoming extinct in the next 100 years.

In 2000, the agency refused to list the whales. A new listing decision is expected in April. The agency is wading through over 100,000 public comments on the issue.

Gov. Sarah Palin already has come out against listing the whales because of the potential for long-term damage to the local economy. Listing also could impact some major projects proposed for Cook Inlet, including the building of a large coal mine across Cook Inlet from Anchorage and the building of a bridge across the Knik Arm.

In June, NOAA biologists flew five surveys of waters in the upper Cook Inlet where the whales tend to be most often and recorded video of the belugas in groups. The biologists came up with the new estimate of 375 whales — up from 302 whales last year — by examining the video and from counts made by researchers.

Researchers used two video cameras for the count. One is set up to zoom in on the center of the pods to capture images of young whales that are dark gray for the first few months after birth and hard to see in the silty water. That information is later used to account for the fraction of young whales likely missed in the overall count.

"The observers were counting more whales and there were more whales to see, either because they are spending more time on the surface or maybe there are more whales," Hobbs said.

An estimated 1,300 belugas swam the waters off Anchorage as recently as the 1980s. Numbers fell by nearly half between 1994 and 1999 when the average yearly subsistence harvest was 77 whales.

Alaska Native hunters, working with the federal government, agreed to cut back dramatically on the harvest to give the whales a chance to recover. Only five belugas have been killed for subsistence in Cook Inlet in the past eight years. No whales were taken this year.

Biologists initially believed that cutting back on the harvest would do the trick. But numbers for much of this decade have remained stagnant.

This year's increased estimate is the largest since 2001 when 386 whales were counted.

While good news, the higher estimate is no reason not to list Cook Inlet belugas, said Brendan Cummings, ocean programs director for the Center for Biological Diversity, which is leading the fight to get the ESA listing.

"The opponents may say this is a reason not to list the beluga ... but the threats to the species have only grown over time with increased industrialization of the inlet and the impacts of climate change," he said.

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Australia sends patrols to shadow Japan whalers

Rob Taylor, Reuters 19 Dec 07;

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia will send a fisheries patrol ship to shadow Japan's whaling fleet near Antarctica and gather evidence for a possible international court challenge to halt the yearly slaughter, the government said on Wednesday.

The icebreaker Oceanic Viking, used for customs and fisheries policing, would leave for the Southern Ocean in days to follow the Japanese fleet, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and Environment Minister Peter Garrett told journalists.

But to avoid a high-seas incident and ease concern in Tokyo, heavy machine guns on the ship and sidearms used by boarding crews would be locked in storage below decks, they said.

Separately, Greenpeace sent a ship on Wednesday to try and stop the Japanese fleet hunting whales.

Japan's whaling fleet plans to hunt 935 minke whales, 50 fin whales and, for the first time in 40 years, 50 humpback whales for research over the Antarctic summer.

Humpbacks were hunted to near extinction until the International Whaling Commission ordered their protection in 1966.

Patrols by a low-flying A319 Airbus jet used by Australian Antarctic scientists would also follow and photograph the Japanese fleet, Foreign Minister Smith said.

"We are dealing here with the slaughter of whales, not scientific research. That's our starting point and our end point," Smith, whose centre-left Labor government won elections last month, partly on a promise of tougher anti-whaling action.

Japan has long resisted pressure to stop scientific whaling, insisting whaling is a cherished cultural tradition. Its fleet has killed 7,000 Antarctic minkes over the last 20 years.

"Japan's whaling is being conducted in line with international treaties and for the purpose of scientific research. We would like to win the understanding of others," a Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Tokyo.

Smith said photographic and video evidence gathered by the ship and aircraft would be used before any international legal tribunals to "make the point that what we are seeing is not scientific research, but the slaughter of whales."

"If you read Australian lips, you'll say that slaughtering whales is not scientific. It's cruel, it's barbaric and it's unnecessary," Garrett added.

DIPLOMATIC PROTEST

An Australian special envoy would formally convey opposition to the hunt to Tokyo and a separate diplomatic protest by anti-whaling nations was being prepared, Smith said.

The government was also getting legal advice for a case against Japan in international courts including the International Court of Justice in The Hague and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

"All options are on the table, including utilizing the whaling convention, utilizing the endangered species convention," he said, pointing to the 1973 CITES treaty, drawn up to protect threatened species.

Australian international law specialist Don Rothwell warned earlier this year that armed patrols would breach the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, which deemed Antarctica to be a demilitarized zone, and possibly spark an international incident.

Smith said he did not expect a diplomatic backlash from Tokyo, a major trading partner and security ally, but to ease concerns the patrol ship's crew would keep the weapons below deck during the surveillance, expected to last up to 20 days.

Greenpeace, whose protest vessel left New Zealand on Wednesday to chase the Japanese fleet, said Australia was taking strong action which would encourage other nations to join the campaign against whaling.

"We're going to try to stop it. We'll put our inflatables between the whales and the harpoon," Greenpeace Australia Chief Executive Steve Shallhorn told Reuters.

Australia warns deaths possible if Japan whalers, protesters clash
Yahoo News 19 Dec 07;

Australia urged Wednesday Japanese whalers and environmental activists heading for a showdown in the Southern Ocean to show restraint, warning deaths could occur if anything went wrong.

Announcing that Australia would deploy an unarmed customs ship and a surveillance aircraft to monitor the Japanese hunt, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said whaling and protest ships needed to exercise caution.

"We are dealing here with an area of water that is thousands of miles away from mainland Australia, if there is an adverse incident on those seas, the capacity for rescue is very low," Smith told reporters.

"The capacity for adverse injury or fatality is very high."

Greenpeace and the militant environmental group Sea Shepherd have each sent a ship to Antarctic waters to try to disrupt Japan's plan to kill more than 1,000 whales, including humpbacks.

Greenpeace has vowed to stage a non-violent campaign but the Sea Shepherd's Paul Watson has threatened in the past to ram his ship, recently renamed the "Steve Irwin", into Japanese whalers.

Smith said the Australian customs vessel "Oceanic Viking" would set off for the killing grounds in the next few days from the Western Australian port of Fremantle.

He said the ship and an A319 jet operated by the Australian Antarctic Division would monitor the whaling fleet's activities to collect evidence for a possible legal challenge to the cull in international courts.

The 105-metre (346-foot) "Oceanic Viking", which has a reinforced hull to cut through ice, is normally fitted with two deck-mounted 0.50 calibre machine guns.

But Smith said the machine guns, as well as the firearms normally carried by the customs boarding crew operating from the vessel, would all be removed and stored below decks while it was monitoring the Japanese whalers.

"It will be surveillance, not enforcement, or intervention," Smith said, adding that customs officials would not attempt to board the whaling ships.

Smith said Australia would lead a formal diplomatic protest to Tokyo over the whaling, which Japan says is carried out for scientific reasons, even though it admits most of the whale meat ends up on dinner plates.

(Editing by Sanjeev Miglani

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Malaysian boars flee floods, get dished up instead

Reuters 18 Dec 07;

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Two wild boars fleeing for dry ground after torrential downpours in southern Malaysia ended up in cooking pots, a local newspaper reported on Wednesday.

One animal, weighing about 80 kg (175 pounds), dashed into a food court and scattered 30 diners before it was cornered and beaten to death by a group of fishermen who divided the meat among their friends, the New Straits Times said.

Fishermen nearby hauled up another boar of similar size in a net a few miles off the coast after it apparently drowned, the paper said.

Ser Boon Huat, chairman of a regional fishermen's association, said there had been many sightings of dead animals at sea after floods that hit southern Johor state, bordering wealthy Singapore, last Saturday.

The creatures would try to swim to safety as their homes in the coastal mangrove belt got flooded. Reptiles such as snakes climbed to the top of trees, the paper quoted him as saying.

Muslims in multi-racial Malaysia do not eat pork, but it is favoured by ethnic Chinese, who are often Buddhist or Christian.

A total of 28 people have died so far in floods in Malaysia's south and northeast, where rising waters have driven more than 34,000 people from their homes to seek refuge in community halls and schools, local media have reported. (Reporting by Clarence Fernandez; Editing by David Fox)

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Best of our wild blogs: 19 Dec 07

Prof Peter Ng talks at climate change symposium
‘Marine Biodiversity Conservation - Lessons from a small red dot’, on the rmbr news blog

Spiders in our backyard
on the justin dive blog

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Floods forcing Malaysian government to relook its growth plans

The Star 19 Dec 07;

SEPANG: The Government may have to review all its existing development plans as a long-term measure to overcome the perennial problem of flooding.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the Cabinet had decided that a team would be formed to look into these development plans, particularly those in the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

“The team will be headed by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Azmi Khalid and made up of representatives from the state governments. It will hold discussions with local and state governments as well as other agencies such as the Economic Planning Unit.

“Whatever proposals it has will be submitted to the Cabinet, which may then review the development plans and incorporate changes in the mid-term review of the 9MP,” he told reporters after visiting a kerepek factory in Kg Bukit Bangkong here yesterday.

Abdullah said there could have been cases where a road or residential development had obstructed the flow of water and caused floods in nearby areas.

“We have to plan everything carefully or else we will have to fork out funds every year for repairs and to aid flood victims.

“For the massive flooding in Johor last year, we had come up with over RM1bil in aid,” he pointed out.

Abdullah said Malaysians must also consider the effects of climate change which might bring about heavier rainfall.

On his visit to Selangor, Abdullah said he was happy to see more agro-based activities and that rural folk were now more keen in venturing into these areas.

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Not all Albizia trees in Zehnder Rd will get chop

Reply from SLA and NParks, Straits Times Forum 19 Dec 07;

WE REFER to the letters, 'Retain scenic trees in South Buona Vista Road' (ST, Dec 6) and 'Is there no place for our very own Albizia?' (ST, Dec 10).

Albizia trees generally have shallow roots and can be vulnerable to storm damage. We have considered the feedback and wish to assure the public/writers that the Singapore Land Authority and the National Parks Board are not felling all the wild Albizia in the Zehnder Road vicinity.

We have identified the ones which are in poor condition or are leaning in such a way that makes them vulnerable to storms and strong winds. Among these, 13 will have to be felled now as they pose a danger to the public, given their very close proximity to residential areas and roads.

We will continue to monitor the remaining trees which are in a more thickly forested area. They would be felled if they grow to a height or an extent that poses a similar danger to the public.

We seek the public's understanding that the felling of trees is done for the safety of the public and would like to thank the writers for their feedback.

Chia Hwee Boon
Senior Manager
Land Estate Management
Singapore Land Authority

Tee Swee Ping
Assistant Director
Streetscape (West)
National Parks Board

RELATED ARTICLES

Is there no place for our very own Albizia?
Letter from Yap Yang Ming, Straits Times Forum 10 Dec 07;

Retain scenic trees in South Buona Vista Rd
Letter from Chong Kuan Mui (Ms), Straits Times Forum 6 Dec 07

Read more!

Illegal animal traps found on Pulau Ubin

One could hold a wild boar, and two others, 15 each - such traps are a threat to endangered animals
Sumathi V. Selvaretnam, Straits Times 19 Dec 07;

VOLUNTEER nature guide Ben Lee, 45, has very sharp eyes - he spotted three illegal animal traps recently.

On his monthly walk with his team on Pulau Ubin, he makes it a point to veer off the beaten track to enter a forested area along Jalan Ubin.

On Sunday, he found a large wooden door partially concealed by a patch of overgrown grass.

Probing further, he found a trap the size of a large dog's kennel. Made of wood and green wire fencing, it could trap a full-grown wild boar.

The other two traps, discovered in September, were even bigger - they could hold more than 15 boars.

Poaching in parks and nature reserves, including Pulau Ubin, is illegal under the Parks and Trees Act. Offenders can be fined up to $50,000, or jailed up to six months, or both.

On the occasions when the National Parks Board (NParks) needs to set traps, its traps carry its logo. Also, traps set up by researchers carry a permit number.

But the illegal poachers' traps are crude and may endanger the trapped animals, including rare species like the leopard cat.

When an animal enters the trap and eats the bait, a string is released, and the heavy wooden door slams shut, said Mr Lee, who is the founder of Nature Trekker, a local non-profit group that organises nature appreciation tours.

The group, which has some 1,800 registered members, launched a park policing programme in July.

Its members visit parks and nature reserves once a week and keep a lookout for poachers and their illegal traps.

Mr Koh Soon Kiong, acting director for conservation at NParks, said: 'Singapore's rich biodiversity is a great achievement for an urban city. Taking the animals away from their natural habitat...will also adversely affect Singapore's natural heritage.'

He added that NParks will be dismantling the trap found on Sunday.

Nature Society conservation sub-committee chairman Ho Hua Chew said the traps were likely used to capture wild boars, a traditional delicacy here and in Malaysia.

While wild boars are not endangered, rare animals like the leopard cat, as well as the civet cat, pangolin, long-tailed macaque and the Oriental small-clawed otter might get ensnared too.

Eleven cases of illegal animal traps were reported to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) this year, up from two last year.

Apart from the penalty for illegal traps in parks and nature reserves, it is generally an offence to trap or kill any wild animals and birds in Singapore. If convicted, the offender will be slapped with a fine not exceeding $1,000.

The AVA can be contacted on 6227-0670.

RELATED ARTICLES

Five illegal traps found on Pulau Ubin since September
Channel NewsAsia 18 Dec 07;

Also on the XinHua website

Wild boar trapped by poachers on SAF land dies
Today Online 6 Oct 07

Large trap found in Pulau Ubin, illegal poaching suspected
Channel NewsAsia 30 Sep 07

Boar traps found in Ubin
NParks gets tough as poaching is on the rise here
Sheralyn Tay, Today Online 1 Oct 07

Read more!

In Singapore: Watch out for floods during Christmas period

Arti Mulchand, Straits Times 19 Dec 07;

KEEP your umbrellas close - it will be a wet, windy countdown to Christmas, says the weatherman.

Thunder and showers are expected over the next three days, particularly in the afternoons, and moist and unstable monsoon winds will continue to blow for the rest of the month. That means cool days and more rain than normal.

Rainfall in the second half of the month is expected to be 'substantially above the average', said a National Environment Agency (NEA) spokesman.

It is hard to say if it will beat last December's record of 765.9mm, but the month so far has been wetter than usual.

Rainfall was well above average in the first two weeks of December, particularly on Dec 5 and 10, when more than 100mm of rain fell in some areas.

The eastern part of the island, which is most exposed to the monsoon, has been most badly bombarded. Rainfall recording stations in Changi got between 330mm and 360mm of rain, up to three times more than average.

But the water will not just come from above.

High tides are also expected from Sunday to Friday next week, with a high of between 3m and 3.2m each day.

If they coincide with heavy rain, it could mean flash floods in low-lying areas, the NEA warned. This, despite a move by national water agency PUB earlier this month to put flood alleviation projects into high hear.

Flood-prone areas include Chinatown and the Central Business District, Tanjong Katong, Geylang, Lorong Buangkok and the area off Jalan Besar.

About 100 PUB staff and contractors have been put on high alert. They are checking for blockages in drains in an attempt to ensure water can flow out of flooded areas, the agency said.

The rainy season, brought in by the North-east Monsoon, lasts till next month.

Read more!

Waiting for the big tide on Friday: flooding expected in Malaysia, Indonesia

Electric New Paper 19 Dec 07;

FOUR days from now the waters are expected to rise.

How high will it be?

That is their worry. Malaysian authorities have warned people living in towns near river estuaries along the east coast about high tides on 21 Dec.

The people in these towns are already reeling under the effects of heavy rain and floods.

The New Straits Times reported that preparations are being made anticipating a worsening scenario on Friday. This includes possible evacuation and strengthening relief supply lines for food and essential items.

The high tide is expected to aggravate the floods, especially in some of the towns which had been inundated with water, Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday.

'We are all prepared for the high tide on 21 Dec which may cause more floods in areas near the river estuaries,' he said when met at the flood relief centre in Lepar, near Kuantan on Sunday.

'Although floodwaters in some areas seem to be subsiding, we do not expect it to recede as fast as expected, especially in the worst affected places,' he said.

He said the biggest threat was from a huge body of water trapped upstream following heavy rains.

'That is our main worry because once the water starts to flow downstream and coupled with the sea's high-tide effect, it could aggravate the floods.'

He, however, expressed confidence that government agencies tasked with the relief operation were fully prepared for any eventuality.

'I can see that the relief operations have been carried out smoothly.

'There were problems in areas that have been cut off by floods but we managed to send relief supplies using army vehicles, boats and helicopters.'

He said Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob was co-ordinating relief supply operations and had made Kuantan the supply hub.

'Armed forces personnel will do their part in distributing the supplies,' added MrNajib, who is also the defence minister.

DAM BURST

Meanwhile, floods in Malaysia's north-eastern Kelantan state worsened after a dam burst in southern Thailand.

Mr Najib said water levels at the Golok river, which marks the boundary between Malaysia and Thailand, rose above the danger level of nine metres to 10.51 metres.

'I was told the broken dam has caused a higher volume of water to enter Golok river and move towards Rantau Panjang and other adjacent areas,' he was quoted saying on The Star newspaper's website.

The official Bernama news agency reported that among the latest victims was a six-year-old girl who fell into flood waters while playing in the backyard of her family home in Kelantan.

It reported the number of flood evacuees in Kelantan rose sharply to 6,039 yesterday from 3,772 the previous day, while in central Pahang state 21,699 were being housed in relief centres.

But in southern Johor state flood conditions improved steadily, with 3,500 people remaining in relief centres after the weekend, compared with almost 5,000 last week.

The floods have so far claimed 25 lives in the past two weeks in Kelantan and two other eastern states said an official at the Malaysian Control Center, which coordinates flood operations nationwide.

At least one other person was missing in Kelantan, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing protocol.

Malaysia has increased flood mitigation efforts after one of its worst periods of monsoon flooding last year, in which it suffered estimated losses of 1.2 billion ringgit ($500m).

On complaints by some flood victims that they had not received food supplies, MrNajib said the problem arose mainly among those who refused to move to relief centres despite being ordered to do so.

'There are no problems at the relief centres.

'Nonetheless, I have directed that food and other supplies be delivered to these people even if they refuse to move out from their homes,' he said.

Flood havoc in the region: High tide chaos looms
Straits Times 19 Dec 07;

# In Malaysia: 27 dead, 33,000 people evacuated
# In Indonesia: Flood waters reach 1.5m, 2,000 evacuated
# In Thailand: 2 dead, 150 schools closed, 900 evacuated
By Salim Osman, Indonesia Correspondent in Jakarta & Carolyn Hong, Malaysia Bureau Chief in Kuala Lumpur
FRESH floods are threatening to bring further chaos to Malaysia and Indonesia, with unusually high tides, strong winds and more rain forecast at the end of the week.

Northern Jakarta is bracing itself for a deluge this weekend, while in Malaysia the Meteorological Department warned that the east coast of the peninsula and the west coast of Sarawak are at risk.

Officials from Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency told The Straits Times yesterday that high tides are expected from Saturday to Christmas Day next Tuesday.

And the agency's Mr Fakhri said: 'We have to prepare for floods occurring when heavy rain coincides with high tide.'

The warning follows a similar forecast from the Jakarta Flood Project, which last Friday predicted the capital would be pounded by 2m-high waves this weekend, with the districts of Muara, Penjaringan and Pluit particularly at risk.

Over the last week, North Jakarta residents have already been subject to regular flooding from sea surge after coastal barriers broke.

But even as workers rush to rebuild the six barriers, the situation is expected to worsen when high tides and heavy rain arrive over the weekend.

Jakarta government crisis centre head Heru Joko Santoso warned that the tides could be worse than those that hit the north of the capital on Nov 26.

Global warming is commonly blamed for worsening floods, but environmentalist Hasbi Aziz said the growing problem facing Jakarta is largely the result of development projects begun on low-lying land in the late 1980s.

And Flood Project head Jan Jaap Brinkman told reporters last Friday: 'Climate change only plays a minor part in this. The current high tides are part of an 18.6 year lunar cycle which has been worsened by land subsidence.'

In Malaysia, where heavy rain and strong winds are forecast and disaster relief agencies have been put on standby, the Meteorological Department also pointed to planetary influence yesterday.

It said that between Friday and Dec 29, high tides will occur as the moon, Sun and Earth are lined up together.

'On Dec 22, the moon and the Earth will be at their closest distance from each other, and on Dec 24 there will also be a full moon.'

While this is not particularly unusual, it creates a strong gravitational pull on the ocean and causes large waves, and when combined with heavy rain and strong winds, it can lead to disastrous floods.

Read more!

Floods Displace More Than 20,000 in East Sri Lanka

PlanetArk 19 Dec 07;

COLOMBO - Flooding displaced more than 20,000 people from their homes in eastern Sri Lanka as a depression over the Bay of Bengal increased monsoon rains, officials said on Tuesday.

Flooding and displacement are common in Sri Lanka, where a southern monsoon batters the island between May and September, and a northeastern monsoon runs from December to February.

The eastern district of Ampara, a largely flat agricultural area which was hard hit by the 2004 tsunami, has taken the brunt of this downpour, with neighbouring Batticaloa also affected.

So far, 22,612 people have been displaced, said Ramya Siriwansa, deputy director of emergency operations at the National Disaster Management Centre.

"They are not in camps, they are at relatives' and friends' houses."

Around 400 acres of paddy fields were damaged by flood waters up to two feet deep, although the level was receding, he added.

Some roads were blocked by landslides in Nuwara Eliya district in the central tea-growing hills, where 80 houses were damaged, he added.

The Meteorology Department forecast continued rainfall in coming days, but said it would not be heavy.

Flooding and drought are cyclical in Sri Lanka.

In January, around 60,000 people were displaced by flooding, with the southeastern district of Hambantota badly hit.

More than a dozen people were killed by landslides in the central hills at the time, hundreds of houses were damaged and thousands of people were stranded in makeshift welfare centres. (Reporting by Simon Gardner; Editing by Grant McCool)

Read more!

Fish Swim North as Seas Warm

Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience.com Yahoo News 18 Dec 07;

As their ocean homes overheat, some fish species are swimming North again for the first time in hundreds of years to seek out cooler waters.

That's according to several studies of archaeological material, tax accounts, church registers and account books of monasteries, which juxtapose marine life as it looked in the distant past with fish data from today's warming world. The results, detailed in 14 papers in a special issue of the journal Fisheries Research, shed light on how global warming is impacting fisheries.

Global and regional climate models predict that air and sea temperatures will rise by about 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) in the next 70 to 100 years.

Scientists studying ancient fish bones dated to a prehistoric warm period (between 7,000 and 3,900 B.C.) in Scandinavia found an abundance of warm-water species such as anchovies and black sea bream, which are typically thought to reside much farther south. While these species disappeared from the archaeological record when temperatures cooled, many have returned to the waters around Denmark as temperatures have risen over the last decade.

Another study looked at marine life during one of the coldest recorded periods, the Little Ice Age, from 1675 to 1696. Results showed that the cold-tolerant herring, flounder and eelpout formed the majority of the catches in the Baltic Sea at the time. Warm-water species such as perch and pikeperch, however, were less than 1 percent of the catches. It's these warm-water fish that are now relatively widespread in the Baltic, say the researchers. That suggests the fish have made their way north as the waters became relatively balmy.

Fishing pressures also played a role in the health of fish populations.

Recent increases in sea temperatures have been blamed for the plunge in young cod survival in the North Sea. But this cold-water species was abundant in Scandinavia during the prehistoric warm period. The researchers suggest lower fishing pressure in the past kept cod populations healthy. That means sustainable cod populations could be maintained in the North Sea even during the climate change expected in the 21st century, they say.

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South Korea in emergency survey of oil spill damage: officials

Yahoo News 18 Dec 07;

South Korea's government will conduct an emergency survey of ecological systems on the west coast after parts were hit by the country's worst oil spill, officials said Tuesday.

The survey will be conducted soon, an environment ministry spokesman said, as concerns rose over marine life after dead porpoises started washing up on shore.

Experts from the environment ministry and the ministry of maritime affairs and fisheries will assess the damage after a tanker was holed by a drifting barge on December 7, spilling 10,500 tons of crude oil off Taean county.

Environmentalists say it may be decades before the coastline can full recover, despite the efforts of 40,000 people and hundreds of ships still battling the spill on Tuesday.

"We will make haste to get the results of our joint probe by the end of this year," the spokesman told AFP, adding the government would set up a long-term recovery plan based on the study.

A finless porpoise was found dead in Taean on Monday, with its body covered in oil. Animal rescuers and villagers have since retrieved six more bodies.

Ministry officials said experts would conduct autopsies to determine the cause of the deaths.

Much of the oil which coated beaches in Taean was being removed by tens of thousands of volunteers, police and troops.

But clumps of tar and slicks were spotted up to 130 kilometres (80 miles) south of the spill in the Yellow Sea, Coast Guard officials said.

The Coast Guard said it had set up more booms at the mouth of Cheonsu Bay, south of Taean, to protect the habitat for migratory birds.

Navy ships are also battling to disperse the oil near a group of islands, famous for rich fishing grounds, off Gunsan.

The damaged tanker was taken to a port in Taean Tuesday. It will be moved to Hong Kong after unloading the remaining oil aboard.

The government has promised to provide 30 billion won (32 million dollars) in emergency aid to residents of the disaster-hit area by the end of next month.

Separately, it has offered up to 300 billion won in emergency funds to support small businesses and marine farmers.

The European Union, the United Nations and Japan have despatched 1environmental experts to assist the cleanup. Aid has also come from Singapore, China and the United States.

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Sweden beats Kyoto targets: "possible to reconcile economic growth with emissions reductions"

Yahoo News 18 Dec 07;

Sweden reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by almost nine percent from 1990 to 2006, largely exceeding the target set by the Kyoto Protocol, the Swedish environment ministry said on Tuesday.

"Sweden was allowed to increase its emissions by more than four percent. (But) emissions have decreased by nearly nine percent so (overall) that means Sweden has reduced its emissions by 12.7 percent, more than agreed under the Kyoto Protocol," a political advisor at the ministry, Hannes Borg, told AFP.

The Scandinavian country, which is known for its protection of the environment, also registered strong economic growth during the same period, of 44 percent in fixed prices.

"Developments in Sweden give us a chance to show other countries that are doubtful that it is possible to reconcile economic growth with emissions reductions," Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said in a statement.

"This means we can both encourage industrialised countries that have not yet done enough and convince developing countries that sustainable development of society is possible," he said.

The Kyoto Protocol was agreed upon in December 1997 and entered into force in February 2005.

The document requires industrialised countries, which account for about 30 percent of global CO2 emissions, to reduce their emissions by five percent from their 1990 levels during the 2008-2012 period.

A report by the German environmental group Germanwatch published in early December showed that Sweden does the most to protect the climate.

The environment ministry said emissions from housing and services had been reduced by more than 50 percent since 1990 owing to the use of cleaner energies, such as heat pumps and burning pellets.

Emissions from the transport sector were also "decreasing for the first time in many years," it said.

Sweden has introduced clean buses in its public transport system in big cities, and in July the capital Stockholm introduced a road toll in order to reduce traffic and pollution.

Read more!

Melbourne's city growth bad for eco-health

Sarah Wotherspoon, The Herald Sun 19 Dec 07;

THE health of Melbourne's rivers, native vegetation and biodiversity is being threatened by rapid urbanisation and land clearing.

Urban development accounted for about 1400ha of woody vegetation and 2700ha of native flora being cleared every year for the past seven years.

An average 30 per cent of the region's native vegetation remains, mainly on the outer fringe, but levels are as low as 5 per cent in urban Melbourne and 19 per cent on the Mornington Peninsula.

The inaugural Melbourne Environment Report, released yesterday by the Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority, said native vegetation losses were threatening native species habitat, water quality and biological diversity.

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 lists two critically endangered and 12 endangered species within the region, including the golden sun moth, orange-bellied parrot, Leadbeater's possum and the helmeted honeyeater.

The report also found less than one-third of rivers in Melbourne and surrounding areas had been assessed as in excellent or good conditions.

It said 77 per cent of rivers in Melbourne and surrounding catchments were in a moderate to very poor condition, due mainly to population growth and pollution from storm water.

The report assessed environmental conditions in nine key areas, including urban Melbourne, Port Phillip Bay, Mornington Peninsula, Western Port Bay, Bass Coast, Casey, Yarra Ranges, Macedon Ranges and Greater Geelong.

Authority CEO David Buntine said while there were some positives in the report, work on restoring native vegetation should be a priority. "There's a lot of our vegetation types that are very heavily depleted.

"When you have all of your native vegetation and you lose a little bit, it doesn't have a large or recognisable difference, but as soon as you get down to 30 per cent or less you start to see the decline in local ecosystems and flora and fauna species."

The report also found:

WATER quality in Port Phillip Bay is the best it has been in 20 years.

AQUIFER levels in the Mornington Peninsula area are steadily declining.

TURBIDITY and sediment levels in northern and eastern Western Port Bay remain high and seagrass loss has been extreme.

ONLY 12 per cent of rivers in the Melton-Greater Geelong region are in good or excellent condition.

COMMUNITY groups are taking a leading role in most areas and developing environment protection programs.

The report looked at the extent of native vegetation, river health, water quality, groundwater supply, park conditions and the strength of community groups. Indicators were given a rating of excellent to very poor based on whether they met or were on track to meet environmental targets set in 2003.

Environment Minister Gavin Jennings praised the work of community groups such as Landcare for their efforts.

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