Best of our wild blogs: 5 Sep 08

Covert operation exposes Taiji’s annual dolphin horror
on the Pulau Hantu blog

The inaugural Animal Welfare Grants funds projects
on films, story books, research, management and education on the habitatnews blog

White sandy beaches: where do they come from?
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Slope protection works at St. John's and Kusu Island
an MPA notice on the wild shores of singapore blog

Plain-pouched Hornbill: Injured juvenile rescued
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Team Building at Pulau Ubin
on the pulau ubin tour with justin blog

Dolphin serial killers?
on the New Scientist Environment Blog

Video: Is Biomimicry Key to a Clean Energy Future?
World's Leading Expert Say "Yes" on The Daily Galaxy blog

Read more!

Six countries draft protocol on coral reef management

Ni Komang Erviani, The Jakarta Post 5 Sep 08;

In a move to help preserve the region's coral reefs, the six member countries of the Coral Triangle Initiative have agreed on a draft protocol on protecting coral reefs from the effects of climate change.

The six countries, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands, agreed on the measures during a forum in Denpasar, Bali, from Monday to Thursday.

The forum participants, including government representatives, NGOs and scientists from across the globe, decided to set up a Planning Response Coral Bleaching System and Coral Bleaching Alert Network. Their aim is to spearhead the creation of a protocol on the adaptation and protection of coral reefs within the coral triangle.

The Planning Response Coral Bleaching System includes guidelines on ways to monitor coral bleaching. The Coral Bleaching Alert Network programs an early warning system in the event of coral bleaching in a particular area.

The implementation of the systems will be supported by satellite surveillance from the U.S.-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Climate adaptation scientist from The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Elizabeth McLeod, said the planned protocol was expected to act as a guideline in predicting and detecting the presence of coral bleaching, because early identification could minimize the adverse impacts of climate change on coral reefs and allow for immediate action.

According to McLeod, the protocol will act as a strategy in adapting to climate change.

Implementation will differ in each country according to its capacity and condition.

She added that several reports show the world's coral reefs would be completely depleted by 2050 if no immediate action was taken to retard the rate of destruction.

The initiative is deemed crucial in curbing coral destruction, because more than 50 percent of the world's coral species are found in the coral triangle.

TNC country director Rili Djohani pointed out no effects of climate change on the condition of coral reefs in Indonesia had yet been observed.

"Coral reefs in Indonesia tend to be more resistant toward climate change thanks to cooler underwater currents in the seas in Indonesia," Rili said.

"The temperature of our oceans doesn't change much, so they are quite resistant toward the effects of global warming."

Around 33,150 square kilometers of the total 51,000 sq. km of coral reef areas in Indonesia are in a critical condition. About 12,750 sq. km, or about 25 percent, are still in good condition, while only around 5,100 sq. km, or 10 percent, are in pristine condition.

Read more!

Inaugural grant for animal welfare projects launched

Ryan Huang, Channel NewsAsia 4 Sep 08;

SINGAPORE: More animal welfare initiatives are set to take off in Singapore, thanks to the launch of an inaugural grant.

Animal welfare projects have been handed a boost, with eight groups - majority of them youths - winning a grant of about S$1,000 each for their projects.

The Animal Protectors Grant was launched by four local groups, which comprise of an animal welfare charity and three university student organisations.

The grant aims to allow winners to focus more on their projects, instead of worrying about funding.

Executive director of Animal Concerns Research & Education Society, Louis Ng, said: "It's a really good example of active citizenry here, where today we have members of the public from all walks of life come together to fight for a common goal to make a difference to animals and the community here in Singapore."

Most of the winning ideas focus on raising awareness of illegal trading of exotic pets and sterilisation of stray dogs and cats.

One group is producing a documentary on responsible pet ownership, while another is looking into story books for children.

A member from one of the winning groups, Kevin Brandy Budiman, said: "We surveyed some audience, about 30 people. Most of them say a story book is an interesting way to educate children. And we believe by educating children, it will be more efficient - they will have the foundation to love animals."

The eight groups will present the results of their projects at the Singapore Animal Welfare Symposium in May next year.

-CNA/yt

Youth step up for the animals
Eight groups get first seed-funding-ever foranimal welfare initiatives
Ong Dai Lin, Today Online 5 Sep 08;

ONE group of Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) students wants to hold a week-long carnival to raise awareness — complete with “cruelty-free” vegetarian food and a petition to ban foie gras.

Another team from Admiralty Secondary School plans to produce a documentary about animal welfare, which they hope will be shown in other schools and even incorporated into the Civics and Moral Education curriculum.

These young people don’t just love animals but are also out to persuade their peers to respect their fellow creatures. The students are among the eight groups that yesterday received the inaugural Animal Protectors Grant.

The grant is Singapore’s first to provide seed funding specially for animal welfare initiatives. It is managed by The Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), NTU Animal Lovers Society, NUS Students’ Animal Welfare Group, and People for Animal Welfare at SMU.

The groups will each get sums ranging from $915 to $1,350, sponsored by the Lee Foundation which has been supporting Acres since 2001.

Significantly, 32 of the 34 participants are youth.

Raffles Institution studentKevin Brandy Budiman — who with his schoolmates want to reach out through storybooks that tell of the selling of turtle eggs and abuse of primates in lab experiments — said they had surveyed some 30 people.

“Most of them say a storybook is an interesting way to educate children. And we believe by educating children, it will be more efficient; they will have the foundation to love animals.”

Calling the groups’ proposals “active citizenry at its best”, Acres executive director Louis Ng said: “We had the first Singapore Animal WelfareSymposium this year and we don’twant the public to just learn aboutanimal welfare. We want them to takeaction.”

Two groups focused on the issue of the illegal wildlife trade. One proposes putting up posters in pet shops, identifying animals that are often bought and sold in shops, and the penalties involved. Students from Raffles Girls’ School have pledged to fight the exotic pet trade by holding roadshows.

The groups will present the results of their projects next May, at the second Singapore Animal WelfareSymposium.

Problem of strays? 'Cat cafes' may help
NTU campus project is one of 8 animal welfare ideas to get Lee Foundation funds
Ang Yiying, Straits Times 5 Sep 08;
THE small population of stray cats on the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) campus has been the subject of complaints from people who are not really enthusiastic about cats or animals in general.

Computer science lecturer and cat lover Kevin Anthony Jones, 51, is hoping to see these strays fed regularly and responsibly, and sterilised to control their numbers. He wants to do a study to show that this can be achieved.

His solution: more 'cat cafes' on campus, where the strays can be fed in fixed spots and monitored. This way, the campus is not littered with uneaten food; managing the strays will also keep the animals out of the way of people who dislike them.

Mr Anthony has just received $1,300 in funding to set up his feeding spots and publish a paper on the subject. He and seven groups of animal rights activists, including five consisting of students, have received a total of $8,822 from the Lee Foundation for their animal welfare projects.

Three student animal welfare groups and the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) are administering the fund, dubbed the Animal Protectors Grant.

Acres executive director Louis Ng said the 14 applications received were judged on their 'creativity, sustainability, newness and impact'.

Among the other successful applicants is a group of four Anglo-Chinese Junior College students who want to run an 'Animal Rights' week in their school, and a group of four youngsters seeking to help control the population of stray dogs through a nationwide programme to trap, neuter and then return the animals to the neighbourhoods where they were found.

Two other student groups have chosen to focus their projects on the illegal wildlife trade. One, comprising four students from three different schools, will put up posters about the illegal trade in animals in pet shops and at the airport. The group's spokesman says research has shown that posters strike fear in animal smugglers, shaking their confidence that they can get away with running an illegal trade.

The groups will present the results of their projects at the second Singapore Animal Welfare Symposium in May next year.

Read more!

Sea level rise by 2100 'below 2m'

Richard Black, BBC News 4 Sep 08;

Sea levels globally are very unlikely to rise by more than 2m (7ft) this century, scientists conclude.

Major increases would have to be fuelled by a faster flow of glaciers on the Greenland or Antarctic ice sheets.

But writing in the journal Science, a US team concludes that a rise of 2m would need glaciers to reach speeds that are "physically untenable".

However, even increases substantially less than 2m would cause major issues for many societies, they say.

"Even a sea level rise of 20cm (8in) in a century will have quite dramatic implications," said Shad O'Neel from the US Geological Service (USGS).

"This work is in no way meant to undermine the seriousness of climate change, and sea level rise is something we're going to have to deal with," he told BBC News.

Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth received some criticism for implying that a rise of 20ft (6m) was possible in the near future, although it did not give a definite timeframe.

By contrast, this latest research tallies broadly with the conclusions of other groups that have examined the question using different approaches.

Fast work

In its landmark assessment of climate change published last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that sea level rise would probably fit in the range between 28 and 43cm over the century, although 59cm was a possibility.

The current rate is about 3mm per year.

But the IPCC specifically excluded the mechanism able to produce the biggest amounts of water quickly - acceleration in the flow of ice from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, the world's two major ice masses that would between them raise sea levels by about 70m if they completely melted.

Most of the ice comes off in glaciers. Scientists know that many of the glaciers have accelerated in recent years - some quite spectacularly. The Jakobshavn glacier in Greenland, for example, doubled its speed in six years to about 12km per year.

But the processes involved are poorly understood, and the IPCC concluded that on that basis it would be unreasonable to draw any conclusions about how far the acceleration might go.

Individual scientists, however, have not be so coy. The team behind the current research looked at what we do know about Greenlandic and Antarctic glaciers, about the rates of flow and the factors that might prevent acceleration.

"We don't really know a speed limit for glaciers," said Dr O'Neel, "but we can look at what we have today and ask 'what would happen if they all behaved like Jakobshavn?'

"It's been going fast for several years now and hasn't gone another marked increase in speed. Helheim had a brief period at 14km per year, Columbia at nine or 10; so that kind of figure, in the region of 10km/year, seems to be about as fast as it gets."

To achieve a 2m sea level rise by 2100, by contrast, every Greenland glacier would have to increase its flow rate to at least 27km per year and remain at that velocity for the rest of the century.

'Scary' scenario

Antarctica is rather different. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet rests on rock that is mainly below sea level, meaning that warming seas could increase the rate of ice loss, though again the new analysis suggests this is also very unlikely to result in a catastrophic melt during this century.

David Vaughan from the British Antarctic Survey believes the US team has got its figures about right.

"The point is that whatever happens in this century can only start from present conditions and present rates of sea level rise, and that constrains the rise that can occur this century," he told BBC News.

"However, if you're looking further ahead than 2100 - and many governments are, including the Netherlands and the UK which are thinking about infrastructure that would last more than 100 years - then that second century still looks quite scary.

"I certainly don't disagree with them that we shouldn't be making outlandish statements about sea level rise, and some outlandish statements have been made; but the high end of the estimates here is still about 2m, and woe betide any government that thinks a 2m rise in sea level isn't something to take notice of."

Sea Level Rise Won't Be a "Hollywood Cataclysm"
Mason Inman, National Geographic News 4 Sep 08;

Sea levels will rise a bit higher—but not catastrophically high—in the coming century, according to a new study.

The oceans will likely rise between 2.5 and 6.5 feet (0.8 and 2 meters) by 2100, researchers say.

This is not as high as the predictions from some scientists, who have warned that sea levels may rise as much as 16 feet (5 meters) by 2100.

Just because the amount of sea-level rise predicted in the new study is "not a Hollywood cataclysm, it doesn't mean it's not important," said study leader Tad Pfeffer of the University of Colorado in Boulder.>>

"A Real Outlier"

As greenhouse gases heat up the planet, the polar regions and high elevations are warming the fastest.

That has caused glaciers, ice caps, and the vast ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica to melt and break apart. (See photos of Greenland's ice sheets crumbling.)

In the new study, Pfeffer and colleagues examined estimates of 16 feet (5 meters) or more of sea level rise, which they thought seemed unrealistic.

Focusing on outlets, where ice can flow easily across bedrock, the team looked at how much faster Greenland's glaciers would have to move toward the sea to create such a huge sea level rise.

A 16-foot (5-meter) rise would require glaciers to flow at "unrealistically high velocities," Pfeffer said.

"We can't say it's impossible, but [that estimate] is a real outlier," he added.

Instead, it seems more plausible that seas would rise 6.5 feet (2 meters) of sea level rise by 2100, the study found.

That would inundate much of Bangladesh, displacing millions of people, and would also endanger many low-lying coastal cities such as New Orleans and New York City, scientists have warned.

The new research will be published tomorrow in the journal Science.

Conservative Estimates

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007 report—the latest scientific consensus on climate change—predicted sea levels would rise between 7 and 23 inches (18 and 59 centimeters) by 2100.

But that was a conservative estimate, most scientists agree.

The report "specificially excluded dynamic effects—that's ice calving into the ocean—instead of meltwater flowing in," Pfeffer said. As a result, "everyone admits that the [IPCC] forecast is low."

The new study adds those possible dynamic contributions that the IPCC left out, said geophysicist Anders Carlson of the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

"The research does point out that we will probably have more sea level rise than predicted in the report," Carlson added.

This fits with a recent study led by Carlson, which examined signs left behind by the ancient Laurentide ice sheet that covered much of North America during the last ice age.

Read more!

Camera traps capture photos of predators in Myanmar

Mongabay.com 4 Sep 08;

Myanmar's dense northern wild lands, researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society have painstakingly gathered a bank of valuable data on the country's populations of tigers and other smaller, lesser known carnivores. These findings will help in the formulation of conservation strategies for the country's wildlife.

Using camera traps survey techniques, researchers from WCS’s Myanmar Program have combed the 3,250-square-kilometer core area (approx. 1,250 square miles) of the Hukaung Tiger Reserve, the world’ largest protected area for tigers, for evidence of the big cats and other wildlife. The recently published data were gathered between December 2002 and May 2004.

During that time, the researchers photographed six individual tigers some 21 times in the reserve, and this has allowed the first ever scientific estimate of abundance for these big cats in northern Myanmar.

“We know there are tigers here, but previously we were not able to put some numbers to the population,” said Wildlife Conservation Society researcher, U. Than Myint, co-author for an article in the July edition of the journal Population Ecology which details efforts to measure tiger numbers in Myanmar’s Hukaung Tiger Reserve. “We have collected the first real data needed to determine how many tigers are here. From the analyses of this data, it is estimated that there are at least seven and potentially up to 70 tigers living in the core area. Estimating numbers of prey animals such as gaur and sambar may give an indication of how many tigers can be supported over this vast habitat, but any further ecological monitoring will likely need to be done at the same time as efforts are increased to protect tigers and their key prey species from illegal hunting and trade.”

Researchers have also confirmed the continued existence of 18 smaller carnivores in a variety of habitats across Myanmar, according to another study by WCS’s Myanmar Program that appeared in the April edition of the journal Small Carnivore Conservation. Data on small carnivores gathered from camera-trap surveys in wild areas across the country were supplemented by the examination of animal remains found in villages and markets. The researchers found that some species such as the yellow-throated marten and the common palm civet are common throughout their country range. Red pandas were not photographed but identified as present in Hkakaborazi National Park and other areas. Other species that were not detected at all in the surveys, such as four species of otter, could be in need of protection.

“One of the most important needs for the conservation of these wild places is to get a better understanding of the status of these predators,” said WCS researcher U. Than Zaw, lead author of the small carnivore study. “So far, we’ve determined that otter populations have been decimated, mostly through a combination of hunting for their pelts and for medicines, and through loss and disturbance of their aquatic habitats. Otters require immediate conservation management. As for the other species, continued monitoring is needed to better ascertain the ecological needs of Myanmar’s wildlife.”

Funding for the research efforts were provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Rhino and Tiger Conservation Fund, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Save the Tiger Fund, and the Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation.

Read more!

Komodo dragon disappearing from natural habitat

Kathy Marks, The Independent 4 Sep 08;

The legendary Komodo dragon, a giant carnivorous lizard that feasts on water buffalo, and occasionally even attacks humans, is disappearing from its limited habitat, according to zoologists.

The dragons, which grown to 10ft long and weigh as much as 26 stone, are found only on Komodo and a handful of neighbouring islands in central Indonesia. Already endangered, their numbers are dwindling as a result of habitat destruction and hunting of their prey.

A recent expedition by Indonesian and American zoologists found that the formidable creatures, a protected species, have vanished from one of the smaller islands, Padar. On two other small islands, Nusa Kode and Gili Motang, the populations have dropped to 75 and 115 respectively.

Jeri Imansyah, a member of the team, told Indonesia's Tempo magazine: “The theoretical threshold in determining that a species is on the way to extinction is the presence of less than 100 individuals in its population.”

Komodos, the world's biggest monitor lizards, have a ferocious reputation. Heavily-built, with a powerful tail, massive claws and razor-sharp teeth, they periodically attack local people. However, the only fatal incident in more than three decades occurred last year, when an eight-year-boy was mauled and later died of his wounds.

In June a group of divers including three Britons spent two days fighting off dragons after they were stranded on Rinca island. The reptiles retreated only when they were pelted with rocks.

The dragons' favourite prey is goats, wild boar, buffalo, and above all deer. One bite can be fatal, as their saliva contains dozens of species of poisonous bacteria - a result of them feeding on rotting animal carcasses. They often kill their prey by wounding it first, then waiting for septicaemia to set in.

On Padar island, deer and boar have been wiped out by hunters, according to Ramang Isaka, head of management at the Komodo National Park. He told Tempo that as recently as 2000, dragons were abundant on the island. But none remain. “Total extinction,” Mr Isaka said. “There's no komodo excrements found any more on Padar.”

Tree-felling is another reason that dragons are in decline, experts believe. They need forests to shelter from the sun, and young dragons climb trees to escape from cannibalistic adults. While taking refuge in the branches, they survive by eating insects, birds' eggs, geckos and small lizards. “The species spends about 80 per cent of its time in the forests,” said Mr Jeri.

Gili Motang and Nusa Kode lie within the national park, but are isolated and rarely visited by rangers. Mr Jeri said he had seen fishermen chopping down trees there in order to build a fire and cook their catch.

The larger islands, Komodo and Rinca, are each still home to more than 600 dragons, which are a major tourist attraction. But on Flores, which lies outside the national park, they have disappeared from the east coast, which once had a healthy population, and have declined in other areas. Recent surveys suggest that total dragon numbers may be fewer than 3,000.

There are Komodo dragons in captivity around the world, including at London Zoo, where they were introduced as part of a conservation breeding programme. Highly unusually, females are able to reproduce without their eggs being fertilised by sperm. Zoologists from London and San Diego have played a leading role in studying and monitoring the creatures in the wild.

On Nusa Kode and Gili Motang, the giant lizards have adapted to their environment. With few large mammals present, they eat rodents and geckos. Generally, they grow to a smaller size than average.

The Zoological Society of London has urged Indonesia to ban deer hunting and slash-and-burn farming, in order to arrest the dragons' decline, according to Tempo. It also wants them to be monitored more closely on the smaller islands.

Read more!

Arctic gull: bird most contaminated by banned industrial pollutants

Gull Sets Arctic Pollution Record for Birds
Alister Doyle, PlanetArk 5 Sep 08;

OSLO - A small Arctic gull has set a record as the bird most contaminated by two banned industrial pollutants, scientists said on Thursday.

Eggs of the ivory gull, which has a population of about 14,000 from Siberia to Canada, were found to have the highest known concentrations of PCBs, long used in products such as paints or plastics, and the pesticide DDT.

"Environmental poisons are threatening ivory gulls," the Norwegian Polar Institute said in a statement of eggs collected off northern Norway and Russia. "Levels of PCB and DDT are higher in ivory gulls than in other Arctic seabirds."

The long-lasting chemicals, swept north by prevailing winds and currents from industrial centres, often end in the Arctic where they build up in fatty tissues of animals, fish and birds.

A 2001 UN convention outlawed most uses of 12 so-called persistent organic pollutants after the chemicals were found in the breast milk of Inuit women and in polar bears. Levels of many of the "dirty dozen" in the Arctic have been falling.

"Ivory gulls are top predators, that's a main reason why they have high levels of contaminants," said Hallvard Stroem, of the Polar Institute. The gulls eat cod and other fatty fish and also scavenge dead seals or polar bears for a fat-charged diet.

"We're not sure why the levels are higher than for other birds," he told Reuters, adding there were no known local sources of the pollutants to explain the high concentrations.

PCBs, at up to 0.02 percent of the egg weight, were comparable with those found in some polar bears 20 years ago.

Previous studies show that the chemical pollutants can have effects on birds such as shortening lifespans or thinning of eggshells. Ivory gulls can live about 10 to 20 years.

The shrinking of Arctic sea ice in recent years, apparently because of global warming, also threatens the birds by reducing the size of their habitat. The gulls feed most around the fringes of the ice, where fish and plankton thrive.

"Climate change is an added stress -- the ivory gull is dependent on the sea ice," Stroem said.

The survey was carried out after reports that numbers of ivory gulls had plunged by 80 percent in Canada. Stroem said population trends elsewhere were not clear. (Editing by Alison Williams)

Read more!

Palm oil firms' moratorium rejection threatens orangutans: activists

Yahoo News 4 Sep 08;

A decision by Indonesian palm oil companies to reject a moratorium on land clearing is threatening to wipe out more than 8,000 orangutans in the next three years, activists said Thursday.

The decision last week to reject the moratorium call by Greenpeace means there is no effective mechanism for protecting thousands of orangutans living outside conservation areas, said Novi Hardianto from the Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP).

COP teams have observed land clearing by two major palm oil companies in orangutan habitats in Central Kalimantan province on Indonesia's side of Borneo island, Hardianto said.

Subsidiaries of companies IOI Group and Agro Group have been clearing orangutan habitats despite signing up to voluntary standards under the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), he said.

The Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association, in rejecting the moratorium, argued RSPO standards were enough to protect species.

However, Hardianto said land clearing by the companies showed the voluntary standards would do little to arrest the rapid decline in the number of orangutans living outside Central Kalimantan's conservation areas.

"If it keeps going at this rate, we'll see orangutans in this environment wiped out within three years," he said.

An executive from Agro Group, Edi Suhardi, denied claims by the conservation group that it witnessed clearing of orangutan habitat forest at Agro's Kuala Kuayan concession.

"Definitely not, because we just obtained the license to establish palm oil in Kuala Kuayan early this year and we've just started our assessments... to identify high conservation value areas in Kuala Kuayan," Suhardi said.

"This accusation is garrulous and baseless."

A spokeswoman for the RSPO said the environment group was entitled to raise any accusations against the companies under its grievance procedures.

"If it is true then (the companies) need to make a correction in the field," Desi Kusmadewi said.

"Before they are kicked out as RSPO members, usually the RSPO gives them a chance to correct themselves," she said.

COP estimates 20,032 orangutans live in the wild in Central Kalimantan province and that close to 3,000 of them die every year.

High global demand for palm oil, which is used in a wide range of products from biscuits to soap and biodiesel, is driving massive deforestation in Indonesia's equatorial forests.

Read more!

Anchovies join cod on threatened fish list

Lucy Cockcroft, The Telegraph 4 Sep 08;

Anchovies have joined cod on a list of threatened fish species which conservationists say should be avoided by shoppers.

The Marine Conservation Society has published a consumer guide to sustainable seafood, listing which types of fish can be bought and eaten without fear of driving them to extinction and which are best left.

By ranking common seafood from 1 for sustainable to 5 for endangered, the society's Good Fish Guide warns shoppers which varieties to avoid.

Sixty-nine received the worst rating of 5, including monkfish from north and northwest Spain, North Sea cod and dogfish. Others to avoid include the Atlantic salmon, common skate and swordfish.

However fish eaters can instead eat pollack, gurnard, and king mackerel.

While conservationists have long warned of the depletion of cod stocks by over fishing, the plight of some fish, such as anchovies may surprise consumers.

The small pungent fish is a staple of Mediterranean cuisine, and is frequently used in salads and pizza toppings. However, diners have been asked to avoid them so dwindling stocks can have time to replenish.

Anchovies in the Bay of Biscay are at an all-time low and, as there is no sustainable alternative, they have been added to the MCS's updated Fish to Avoid list.

Anchovy populations in the Bay of Biscay have been struggling since 2002, as overfishing left fewer adult fish to provide eggs. The fishery suffered a complete failure in 2004 and is now officially closed.

Stocks in the other big European anchovy fishery - off the Portuguese coast - are also critical. Anchovies are still legally caught there, though quotas have been restricted.

Over pizzas, over salads but now overfished: demise of the anchovy
David Adam, The Guardian 4 Sep 08;

They are plucked off pizzas and discarded from caesar salads across the country, but somebody, somewhere has been eating too many anchovies. The fish that has divided food fans for years is today named on a list of unsustainable fish and shellfish that ethical consumers should not eat.

Anchovy is among dozens of "fish to avoid" highlighted by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS). Anchovy populations in the Bay of Biscay have been struggling since 2002, as overfishing left fewer adult fish to provide eggs. The fishery suffered a complete failure in 2004 and is now officially closed. Stocks in the other big European anchovy fishery - off the Portuguese coast - are also critical. Anchovies are still legally caught there, though quotas have been restricted.

In a report on hundreds of types of fish, the society has awarded each kind a ranking from 1 to 5, after assessing its biology, stock status, management and the impact of the farming or fishing method. Sixty-nine received the worst rating of 5, including monkfish from north and northwest Spain, North Sea cod and dogfish. Others to avoid include the Atlantic salmon, common skate and swordfish.

The society's list does not label entire species unacceptable to eat, but tries to explain that whether a certain type of fish is sustainable or unsustainable depends on where and how it was caught. It gives Dover sole caught by wasteful beam trawling in the North Sea and Irish Sea a 5 rating and says they should be avoided, while those from a sustainable fishery off Hastings are rated 2 and recommended.

Such detail is rarely made available to consumers, with current legislation only requiring the common name and rough geographical location to be included on labels. The society is calling for better labelling in restaurants and shops to help consumers choose more environmentally-friendly options.

Sam Wilding, a fisheries officer with the society, said: "Labelling of seafood sold in the UK is lacking detail, and as such is not fit for purpose. This is leading to confusion. It is vital that consumers are given better information to act upon if we are to reduce the tragedy of overfishing."

He said anchovies in European waters were at an all-time low. "There are not many anchovy left in European waters, and we say people should avoid them, to give populations a chance to recover."

Willie Mackenzie, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace, said: "You pick up some tuna in a supermarket and it might say it comes from the Indian and Pacific oceans. Well, that covers half the world, it could be one of several different species, and it could have been caught in lots of different ways. We really need better labelling with more detailed information to help consumers do the right thing."

Chris Brown, head of ethical and sustainable sourcing at Asda, said more detail risked confusing customers. He said Asda stocked marlin, which features on the MCS's "fish to avoid" list, but claimed it was sustainable because it was not deliberately targeted, but caught as inevitable "by-catch" in a sustainable tuna fishery off Sri Lanka, and would otherwise be disposed of. "I can't write all of that on the label," he said.

Brown said it was down to retailers to take more responsibility, and accused some restaurants and supermarkets of confusing the situation by selling sustainable ray, but labelling it as unsustainable skate, because customers are more likely to buy familiar species.

The society said cod demonstrated why precise labelling was important, with cod from the north-east Arctic a more sustainable choice than those from the North Sea.The MCS has certified some cod fisheries in the Pacific as sustainable, and also said consumers could choose organically-farmed Atlantic cod. Wilding called on shoppers and diners to ask more questions about the source of their fish. "Our advice is to ask the waiter or waitress. They might not know at the moment but part of what we're trying to do is to improve training, and raising awareness is important for that." He said the society had produced a pocket-sized version of the list that could be used as a reference.

Philip MacMullen, head of environmental responsibility at the industry body Seafish, said: "It is genuinely difficult to be sure of all the details of any given fish supply line. To this extent advice given via lists ... must match the reality of the available information. We should not be raising unrealistic expectations. The complexities of fisheries also mean that it is difficult to rely on a simple eat-and-avoid list. Fish stocks are dynamic and can change their status quite quickly."

Read more!

Hong Kong considers ban on fishing trawlers: report

Yahoo News 4 Sep 08;

Hong Kong is considering banning fishing trawlers in its waters to save fish stocks, a report said Thursday. The drastic proposal comes as annual catches were estimated to be 30 percent above sustainable levels, the South China Morning Post said, citing a consultation paper from the Food and Health bureau.

"Most Hong Kong waters are fish spawning and nursery grounds," said the consultation document, which will be released by the bureau's committee on sustainable fisheries next week.

"The indiscriminate trawling activity will lead to catches of infant fish that lack... economic value and seriously disrupt reproduction capacity."

Under the proposals, the government could buy out some of the 550 fishing trawlers operating in Hong Kong waters.

Environmental groups have long said that of all methods used, trawling has the most damaging effect on the seabed and fish stocks.

The document said annual production of fish in local waters has reached 26,700 tonnes, 30 percent above the maximum sustainable yield set by a recent study on sustainable fishing, the Post said.

The proposal is likely to draw opposition from the beleaguered fishing industry, which provides 12,000 jobs in Hong Kong.

Fishermen have been plagued by a string of problems including marine pollution from China, soaring oil prices, ageing operators, and mounting calls to protect international fish stocks.

Financial help and retraining could be offered to the affected fishermen, with the hope that they could turn to the leisure fishing business or fish farming, the report said.

Other suggestions in the paper included limiting new entrants and capping the number of fishing vessels, the English-language newspaper reported.

A spokesman for the department said the report was not yet available to the public.

Read more!

Geological options for storing CO2

BBC News 4 Sep 08;

The final stage of the carbon capture and storage (CCS) chain involves storing the CO2 deep underground in locations where it will remain locked away for thousands of years.

In order to transport carbon dioxide (CO2) most efficiently, it needs to be liquefied. This is achieved by pressurising the gas.

"If you increase the pressure to about 70 atmospheres, the CO2 becomes a dense liquid - about the same density as crude oil," explained Stuart Haszeldine from the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences.

"This means that you can transport much more carbon dioxide in a small space."

In this state, the gas is then ready to be moved, either by tanker or pipeline, to the location where it will be buried deep underground.


A storage site 800m or more underground will ensure that the pressure will be great enough to keep the CO2 in its liquid state.

When the CO2 is pumped into the subterranean storage site, it spreads out into the surrounding porous rock (eg limestone).

"Although they may appear solid, most of these rocks are sedimentary and made of sand or carbonate pieces," explained Professor Haszeldine.

"About of third the rock is space made up of microscopic pores, and this is where the CO2 seeps into."

Because the CO2 is buoyant, the storage area needs to have a geological "cap" to prevent the molecules escaping.

This means the location requires an impermeable layer, such as mud or clay, above the area where the CO2 is being pumped.

There are three main geological options that are being assessed for their suitability:

# Oil and gas fields: Considered to be "secure vessels" because the sites have safely stored oil or gas for millions of years. A natural porous reservoir with an impermeable seal above it.

# Saline aquifers: The injected CO2 physically pushes the salt water out of the way before dissolving into the water over time, forming fizzy salty water.

# Unmineable coal seams: Works in a slightly different way to the previous two options. The liquid CO2 chemically "sticks" on to the small fractures and pores in the coal. This option is a less attractive option at the moment, because it is still at an experimental stage.

Current estimates show that we could store up to 40 years of global CO2 emissions in the world's known oil and gas fields.

Saline aquifers are 100 times bigger than oil and gas fields, which could mean that there is potential to lock away carbon dioxide for at least several centuries.

One problem is that while some nations are well-endowed with oil fields or saline aquifers, such as the UK, others have few.

India and Japan, for example, have very little in the way or oil or gas fields.

This means that they will have difficulty finding sites in which they can lock away their liquid CO2.

"These nations may have to export their CO2 to other storage sites around the world," Professor Haszeldine suggested.

He added that another hurdle to overcome was the use of saline aquifers to store CO2 on a large industrial scale. This still needed further investigation, he said.

"There are possibilities that the increased pressure to push in the CO2 could cause complex interferences between different boreholes used to inject the CO2.

"It is possible to overcome this, but this has not been physically demonstrated yet."

Lessons to come

Professor Haszeldine highlighted another potential problem: "When you are storing CO2 under a landmass with a large human population, we will have to be extra vigilant.

"We need to make sure that when the CO2 is pushed in, we know where the salty water that is pushed out of the way ends up.

"If the salty water is pushed upwards within the layering within the sedimentary basin, it could enter freshwater aquifers used for agriculture or drinking water.

"Although it is not very likely, it does mean that there is an extra factor that needs to be demonstrated."

However, he said that this should not be used as a reason not to push ahead with carbon capture and storage technologies.

"Some people are trying to solve all storage problems all at once before taking the first step of the journey.

"We don't need to answer all of those questions right now; we can get on and use the best sites now and progressively learn more as we go along."

Read more!

Asian soot, smog may boost global warming in US

Seth Borensteing, Associated Press Yahoo News 5 Sep 08;

Smog, soot and other particles like the kind often seen hanging over Beijing add to global warming and may raise summer temperatures in the American heartland by three degrees in about 50 years, says a new federal science report released Thursday.

These overlooked, shorter-term pollutants — mostly from burning wood and kerosene and from driving trucks and cars — cause more localized warming than once thought, the authors of the report say. They contend there should be a greater effort to attack this type of pollution for faster results.

For decades, scientists have concentrated on carbon dioxide, the most damaging greenhouse gas because it lingers in the atmosphere for decades. Past studies have barely paid attention to global warming pollution that stays in the air merely for days.

The new report, written by scientists with NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, makes a case for tackling the short-term pollutants, while acknowledging that carbon dioxide is still the chief cause of warming.

That concept is also the official policy of the Bush Administration, said assistant secretary of commerce Bill Brennan.

In the United States, this approach would mean cutting car and truck emissions perhaps before restricting coal-burning power plants. In the developing world, especially Asia, it would mean shifting to cleaner energy sources, more like those used in the Western world. Much of this type of pollution in Asia comes from burning kerosene and biofuels, such as wood and animal dung.

In addition to soot, smog and sulfates, other short-lived pollutants are organic carbon, dust and nitrates. While carbon dioxide is invisible, these are pollutants people can see.

Projected increases in some of these pollutants and decreases in others in Asia will eventually add up to about 20 percent of the already-predicted man-made summer warming in America by 2060, the report said.

"What they do about their pollution can affect our climate," said study co-author Hiram "Chip" Levy, a senior scientist at NOAA's fluid dynamics lab in Princeton, N.J.

This pollution will likely create three "hot spots" in the world: the central United States, Europe around the Mediterranean Sea, and Kazakhstan, which borders Russia and China. In the United States it's "a big blob in the middle of the country" stretching from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians, Levy said.

The same analysis also shows about an inch less of yearly rain in middle America because of Asian emissions by about 2060.

As far as American-produced pollution, smog is the main problem. Reducing diesel emissions and increasing mass transit would prove a more effective and immediate strategy over limiting power plants, said study co-author Drew Shindell, a climate scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York.

The report make sense, but should also include a strategy for man-made methane, a greenhouse gas which lasts 10 years in the atmosphere, said Michael MacCracken, chief scientist at the Climate Institute in Washington. Methane mostly comes from landfills, natural gas use, livestock, coal mining and sewage treatment, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

On the Net:

The report: http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap3-2/final-report/

Read more!

Geo-engineers, too, have a vital role in saving the planet

Cleaner fuel will not halt climate catastrophe. We need to find pioneering solutions that alter the earth's thermal balance

Oliver Tickell, The Guardian 4 Sep 08;

This week the Royal Society published a special edition of its journal, Philosophical Transactions, dedicated to "geo-engineering" interventions to combat global warming. Its initiative deserves to be welcomed, not rejected out of hand. The time may come when we need to geo-engineer in order to maintain our planet in a livable state.

Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK's chief scientist, made the case against: we should muster serious political will, and equally serious finance, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Using existing and proven clean technologies from wind turbines to concentrated solar power, we need to bring about a worldwide renewable energy revolution.

If we do the above, he implied, we will not need any "outlandish" or "outright dangerous" geo-engineering solutions.

He is right in everything he is calling for. In fact, he could have gone further. We need major investments in energy efficiency and conservation, as well as in renewables. We need to bring an end to deforestation and rebuild ravaged forest ecosystems. We also need an agricultural revolution in which farmers draw down excess carbon from the atmosphere into soils, enhancing their ability to retain moisture and nutrients as well as mitigating global warming.

But even if we do all the above, can we be sure of preventing climate catastrophe? No. The Earth's climate system is characterised by feedback loops which can amplify even a small initial perturbation. And it seems that following an initial post-industrial warming of 0.8C, one major positive feedback process is already well under way, in the Arctic.

Last year saw a record melting of Arctic sea ice. This year, that record has been broken: for the first time in history, the northern ice cap can be circumnavigated. And with melting ice, more sunshine is absorbed rather than reflected back into space. The result is more warming, and more melting. In turn this increases the degassing of methane from Arctic bogs, lakes and thawing permafrost - and methane is a powerful greenhouse gas in its own right, 70 times stronger than CO2 over 20 years.

If we rapidly cut our emissions of greenhouse gases, it might bring an end to the "Arctic amplifier". Or it might not. It is entirely possible that the melting of the sea ice and the emissions of Arctic methane have already reached a point of no return that will lead to a warming world no matter what we do. It would be imprudent not to insure ourselves against this possibility.

This means setting up a global research programme into geo-engineering options. The most valuable options are those that will have immediate effect by directly altering the Earth's thermal balance. Two proposals stand out. First, the introduction of sulphate aerosol to the stratosphere to reflect sunlight. There are fears that this could damage the ozone layer, but then we know that volcanoes routinely discharge millions of tonnes of sulphate into the stratosphere, cooling the Earth without inflicting long-term harm.

James Lovelock, who developed the Gaia hypothesis, warns of global acidification as the stratospheric sulphate mist slowly falls to the ground. However this problem is easily solved. We already emit 50m tonnes of sulphur a year, mainly as sulphate from power stations and shipping. This is 10 times more than would be used for geo-engineering purposes, and that could be more than offset by additional cuts in emissions.

Better still is the proposal by physicist John Latham and colleagues to raise the reflectivity of marine clouds. This would involve a fleet of wind-powered yachts criss-crossing the world's oceans, controlled by a global network of satellites, blowing out a mist of ultra-fine salty droplets to act as cloud condensation nuclei. Latham's solution promises to be inexpensive, highly effective, environmentally benign, and reversible in a matter of days as the droplets are washed from the sky in rain.

One major question is that of who should be responsible for any interventions. The best-placed body is the UN climate convention (UNFCCC), whose major achievement to date is the Kyoto protocol. Its main objective, to "prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system", by stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations, should be extended to accommodate the possibility of geo-engineering.

This would also provide clarity as to the purpose of geo-engineering. Doug Parr decries it as an "expression of political despair" that would only produce business-as-usual emissions. Lovelock sees it as a temporary palliative before inevitable disaster strikes. We must make sure they are both wrong. Geo-engineering should be developed strictly as a firefighting capability to maintain long-term climatic stability, not as a substitute for all the other actions we should be taking.

If the topic enters into discussions at the UNFCCC meeting in Poznan this December, member states must ensure that the two approaches are firmly linked so that no geo-engineering is permitted unless accompanied by deep and rapid cuts in emissions.

· Oliver Tickell is author of Kyoto2

Read more!