Back to Ngee Ann Stream with Fairfield Methodist School (15 Mar 10) from Water Quality in Singapore
Galapagos of the Indian Ocean: Christmas Island, Kingdom of Crabs from Raffles Museum News
The man who planted trees
from The Green Volunteers
Exploring the Sakeng side of Semakau
from Nature's Wonders
CITES: Murky waters for marine conservation
from BBC NEWS blog by Richard Black
Non-native species with venomous sting likely released into reservoir by hobbyists
Grace Chua, Straits Times 25 Mar 10;
IT IS official: Freshwater stingrays the size of dinner plates are breeding in at least one Singapore reservoir.
These barbed Motoro stingrays, native to South America, are lurking in the Upper Seletar Reservoir where sport fishing, kayaking and boat rides are allowed.
These fish, likely to have been released into the reservoir by fish hobbyists, can deliver venomous stings that can cause extreme pain and even death.
But national water agency PUB, the custodian of reservoirs, said that to date, there have been no reports of stingray injuries in Upper Seletar. Still, it advises kayakers to wear protective footwear and to launch their boats from a concrete pontoon instead of the shore.
PUB also urged fish hobbyists not to release non-native animals into the reservoir because, injuries aside, these creatures can upset the food chain there by feeding on native species, out-competing them for food and spreading diseases to which the local species are not immune.
Examples of non-native species that have established themselves in Singapore include the toman or snakehead fish and the African walking catfish, both of which are voracious and aggressive.
Toman made the news in 1991 when they attacked the young swans in Botanic Gardens.
Local anglers and park staff have thus far known of the Motoro stingrays only anecdotally, but scientists from the National University of Singapore's Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research have netted and identified them.
Their scientific paper, published late last year in the journal Biological Invasions, is the first record of these South American rays establishing a colony this far from their home in the Amazon.
The rays seem to have adapted well to life in the reservoir: The scientists' haul of five of these disc-like fish included two pregnant females.
What is to be done, now that they seem to have dug in and multiplied?
Biologist Peter Ng, one of the authors of the paper, said when alien species establish themselves, they cannot be eradicated overnight, 'so we need to be proactive and plan ahead'.
In their paper, the scientists recommended fishing or trapping the rays, educating the public on the danger of releasing non-native species into the wild and teaching people how to avoid injuries.
Recreational angler Tan Tien Yun, 28, who has seen people catch stingrays using live bait, said of the creatures' hunting style: 'Stingrays are ambush predators. They sit around where prey is likely to be, and when prey passes by, wham!'
When they are not hunting for food, these naturally shy creatures attack only when they feel threatened.
These rays are themselves snared for the pet trade. Since the mid-1990s, various species of freshwater rays have been popular with freshwater-aquarium keepers.
Adult Motoro rays can cost as much as $150 each, grow to more than 30cm in diameter and measure nearly a metre from head to barbed tail.
Since 2004, it has been illegal for pet shops to display and sell stingrays and other venomous fish or fish with spines, said the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).
Shops caught selling such fish can be fined $100.
But the ban does not apply to fish farms, which import the fish for re-export.
They are allowed to sell these fish to individual hobbyists who know how to handle them and are told not to release them into the environment, the AVA explained.
Iskandar Investment chief says efficient public transport key to growth of tourism
Lee U-Wen, Business Times 25 Mar 10;
EFFICIENT trains and water taxis - not building another bridge - are the best solutions to enable more people to commute between Johor and Singapore quickly.
This is the view of Iskandar Investment president and chief executive Arlida Ariff, who said that the future growth of the tourism sector for both places would largely depend on jointly providing an efficient public transportation system that could cater to the ever-increasing numbers of people making the trip across.
'Whatever you want to do with the airports is limited by the land space. You need more runways to deal with the larger numbers. We really need more entry points, and the water taxi mode, for instance, provides a good alternative,' she said in an interview with BT.
Ms Arlida was in Singapore earlier this month for a one-day visit, and as she made the short drive across the Causeway that morning, she was told that as many as 66,000 Malaysian motorcycles were travelling to Singapore, along with 20,000 cars.
'People choose private transportation because it's the easiest, but future growth cannot depend on this. We need public systems that include the rail and waterways,' she said.
Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Ismail ignited a long-standing debate recently when he suggested that a bridge should replace the Causeway to boost connectivity between Malaysia and Singapore.
He added that he was willing to act as a mediator between both countries to resolve the bridge issue and other areas of discussion, including the supply of water to the Republic and even extending Singapore's MRT system into Johor.
Said Ms Arlida : 'Trains would be the best because it's fast, easy and safe. The trains can take you right into the city. The biggest stumbling block, however, is how to connect (the two sides), which makes it a bilateral issue.'
An idea bandied about by her team at Iskandar Malaysia is having a water taxi service that can ferry tourists from hotels in Iskandar to major tourist attractions in Singapore, such as the two integrated resorts. Ms Arlida added that transport is one of the main areas being discussed by the Joint Ministerial Committee.
The special economic zone, three times the size of Singapore, is a 15 minute drive from the Second Link.
'Politically, we feel that we are in a better environment today. Our prime ministers are speaking the same language and walking the talk and moving in the same direction. Of course, any major decision requires time and the necessary legislation to be implemented,' she said.
There is much for foreign investors, especially from Singapore, to be excited about at Iskandar Malaysia, she added. For the first phase of the development, the management 'deliberately focused' on family-type entertainment projects, such as the upcoming Legoland theme park, set to open its doors in 2012.
'We worked out the nature of our attractions such that they don't compete head-on with Singapore for tourists, but rather such that we can collaborate and expand on the tourism stay, particularly for long-haul tourists,' she explained.
Currently, the average visitor to Johor or Singapore stays for about 2.5 days.
'It's really all about whether the tourist sees enough to warrant a longer stay. I've always been a great believer that if Johor and Singapore can work together on marketing their attractions, it can convince people to stay longer,' said Ms Arlida.
Her message to Singaporean companies keen to invest in Iskandar Malaysia: 'This is a natural, safe location that is within a close proximity so there is no need to travel far to see how your projects are performing. The entry costs are low, and hence that reduces the risk. Of course, it's all about getting the right players on board in the long term, but we believe that the fundamental reasons for why Singaporeans should come to Iskandar remain very sound.'
Core strengths such as safety, reliability and efficiency no longer sufficient to set Singapore apart in global talent war
Sue-Ann Chia, Straits Times 25 Mar 10;
MENTION Singapore and chances are most people would think of a country that has sound policies, good infrastructure, is safe, reliable and efficient.
But such core strengths are no longer sufficient to set Singapore apart in the global war to woo talent and investments, Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew noted yesterday.
He revealed that Singapore intends to embark on a new national effort to brand the country differently, with a message that goes beyond those which just appeal to the intellect and the mind.
'We need also to have a message that reaches out, that touches the heart, moves the spirit and stirs emotions...,' he said at a public communications conference organised by the Civil Service College.
'These are the qualities we need to work on. We need to better strengthen and position ourselves going forward. It is not to dilute the brand we built up over the years, for which people know us well. But it is evolving the brand so that it offers far more than what people know of us in the 80s and in the 90s.'
Agencies have already branded Singapore in various ways, with taglines such as 'Uniquely Singapore', and 'Your Singapore, City in the Garden, World of Opportunities'.
Rear-Admiral (NS) Lui said such individual campaigns have been successful to some degree, but 'none has shown how broad the richness of what Singapore has to offer as a whole'.
One country he cited which has a good brand image is New Zealand. It has, over the past 10 years, used the slogan '100 per cent pure New Zealand'.
And it has stayed true to this message, he noted. It decided, for instance, not to adopt genetically modified food after much debate as it believes this would go against the promise of being pure.
Similarly, Singapore had to ensure its brand is something the country can live up to.
To provide people with a brand to remember and which is consistent and true requires the Government to have a common brand platform - a task lying with the national marketing team at his ministry.
Ms Carol Tan, who heads the team, offered a peek of some plans in a presentation at the conference.
Singapore aims to brand itself beyond its existing attributes of efficiency and reliability to showcase new traits such as creativity, confidence, and 'a dare to dream attitude', she said.
This is because surveys showed that locals and foreigners believe that Singapore has no 'X-factor', is one-dimensional with a focus on the economy, does not contribute to global issues, and is not well-known to an international audience.
To counter negative perceptions, she cited ideas being mulled over: Creating narratives on the lifestyle, culture and entertainment here; cultivating the foreign media; using Singaporeans as ambassadors to market the country; having a panel advise on how to brand Singapore better; identifying an X-factor; and raising Singapore's voice on global issues.
Ms Tan declined to reveal more details on the plans when asked by reporters, but said there would not be a 'ra-ra marketing campaign' for the branding effort.
Others at the conference noted that Singapore's brand had been taking shape from as early as 2004 through various platforms. It has included cultural diplomacy events such as the Singapore Season in London and China, and even a video titled 'Singapore, where the world meets' which aired at last November's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit here.
Such efforts, plus the upcoming plans, will help give Singapore a more recognisable brand that will also have economic value, noted Ms Tan.
It has already worked on the business front. Brand Singapore - whose icons will include Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore Airlines - has enabled local companies to clinch major deals abroad, noted Surbana International Consultants' senior vice-president Louis Tay.
Another speaker, Tourism Queensland's chief executive officer Anthony Hayes, said Singapore already had strong 'X-factors' such as its cleanliness and efficiency.
His wife and mother love Singapore for these reasons, he said, adding: 'Your brand is already so strong. You should be proud of it.'
Straits Times 26 Mar 10;
I REFER to last Friday's commentary, 'Reign of old king coal is not necessarily over'.
It highlighted several environmental and technological uncertainties associated with the use of coal, which would be best answered by the Government.
The public needs to know the pros and cons of using coal, and it would help if the Government openly and clearly explains its decision to use coal, while anticipating the coming carbon-constrained world, maintaining our clean and green image, and achieving our aim to be a clean energy hub.
Several questions should be addressed.
Has there been official assessment of the environmental impact of using coal or a life cycle assessment study of coal? How does coal's cleanness compare with that of natural gas?
Will the upcoming coal and biomass-fired power plant of Tuas Power or new power plants using coal be required to conduct an environmental impact assessment before construction?
Will the use of coal lead to more carbon emissions than natural gas, and undermine official efforts to reduce emissions by 16 per cent from 2020 business-as-usual levels?
Is there official funding for research on carbon capture and storage, or technology to reduce coal emissions so they are on par with emissions from natural gas?
Will the use of coal tarnish Singapore's reputation as a clean and green city?
Will the use of coal without carbon capture and storage technology contradict Singapore's aim to be a clean energy hub?
Finally, will use of coal reduce demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and affect the viability of the Government's new LNG terminal?
Eugene Tay
Today Online 26 Mar 10;
SINGAPORE - Visitors to the Singapore Garden Festival this year are in for an added treat - they will be able to catch a glimpse of the Gardens by the Bay.
A 100 square metre exhibition of the gardens will be on display at the festival when it opens in July.
The 101-hectare Gardens by the Bay are three distinctive waterfront gardens that will take shape in the heart of Marina Bay. Phase One is scheduled to open next year.
Meanwhile, as a prelude to the Garden Festival, about 400 people of all ages chipped in yesterday to plant seedlings onto a huge centrepiece.
Titled "The Man Who Planted Trees", it is inspired by a French tale of a shepherd who transformed a barren valley into a Garden of Eden.
The idea is to plant the five-metre-tall piece with 130,000 plants. It will then be transported to the festival at Suntec City.
Festival director Wong Wei Har said: "It mirrors what we are doing in Singapore. If everyone of us take ownership and do our part in taking the Garden City as our own, we can also recreate and keep the Garden City going and perhaps even stronger."
Dr Wong said that everyone who planted a seedling will "remember planting this man and when you come in July, you will see all the plants fully grown".
After the festival, the centrepiece will be located permanently at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
Other new exhibits this year include balcony garden displays and miniature gardens.
Sixty community groups will also showcase their gardens. Wang Eng Eng
The festival will be held from July 15 to 22. More information and ticket prices are available at www.singaporegardenfestival.com.
Sowing the first seeds
Straits Times 26 Mar 10;
Community groups, students and Singaporeans from all walks of life kick-starting the planting of seedlings into a 5m-tall topiary called The Man Who Planted Trees at the Singapore Botanic Gardens yesterday. The giant centrepiece is inspired by the eco-fable of the same name, written by French author Jean Giono in 1953. The fictional tale has inspired generations of environmentalists as well as reforestation efforts worldwide. Over the next few months, more seedlings will be planted as the form takes shape at the Gardens. Come July, it will be gingerly dismantled and re-installed at the Garden Festival to highlight the upcoming event, which is slated to be held at Suntec.
Part of Gardens by the Bay to be re-created at Singapore Garden Festival
Wang Eng Eng Channel NewsAsia 25 Mar 10;
SINGAPORE: Visitors to the Singapore Garden Festival will be able to catch a glimpse of Gardens by the Bay.
A 100-square metre exhibition of the gardens will be on display at the festival when it opens in July.
Some 400 individuals - both young and old chipped in to plant seedlings onto a huge centrepiece.
Titled 'The Man Who Planted Trees', it is inspired by a French tale of a lone shepherd who transformed a barren valley into a Garden of Eden.
Taking centre stage will be a five-metre tall piece with 130,000 plants.
Dr Wong Wei Har, director, Singapore Garden Festival, said: "It mirrors what we are doing in Singapore. If everyone of us take ownership and do our part in taking the garden city as our own, we can also recreate and keep the garden city going and perhaps even stronger.
“For every kid and every individual who is here, it will touch your lives because you will remember planting this man and when you come in July, you will see all the plants fully grown."
After the festival, the centrepiece will be located permanently at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
Other than Gardens by the Bay, new exhibits this year include balcony garden displays and miniature gardens.
60 community groups will also be showcasing their gardens.
The Singapore Garden Festival will be held at Suntec City from July 15 to 22. - CNA/vm
Freedom at dawn : Sammy's release
The release of the whale shark was kept a well-guarded secret by Atlantis. Here's a blow-by-blow account of the highly delicate operation
Derek Baldwin, Gulf News 25 Mar 10;
Dubai : Dubai's most famous whale shark checked out of her five-star home on Thursday, March 18 at 5.15am.
Her departure marked the end of a controversial 18-month stay and was filmed, said a top marine scientist at Atlantis.
Following criticism that no visual proof of the release has been presented - leading to wild speculation the shark fell ill and died in captivity - Steve Kaiser, Vice-President, Marine Sciences, said the private release exercise was filmed, but the public and media were excluded for the shark's safety.
Under cover of darkness, the 4.5-metre shark was released on the eastern end of The Palm crescent along the sea wall boulders, XPRESS has confirmed through multiple sources.
The clandestine nature of the pre-dawn operation ensured waters were free of boats and dangerous propellers to give the shark clear passage out to sea, he said.
The release is important, given that whale sharks, the largest fish in the world, are listed as vulnerable and easily targeted for their fins, which can fetch small fortunes in fish markets. Grey and covered with white spots along bodies that can reach up to 12 metres, these sharks are easy prey because they move slowly and are often found near the surface.
Irrefutable evidence
"We have photos and video," Kaiser said in an exclusive interview, "but I don't release photos, I release animals."
Kaiser has worked at the sister Atlantis hotel in the Bahamas where he helped in the release of other marine creatures such as large manta rays into the wild.
The decision whether to issue photos by Atlantis is in the hands of higher-ups at the $1.5 billion (Dh5.51 billion) Atlantis hotel and is not his to make, he said. An official media request through Kaiser to Atlantis executives for photographs or video went unanswered by press time.
Kaiser said the operation was top secret from the beginning, given months of bad press, public concern about the animal's continued captivity and fears that rubberneckers would swamp the hotel area and possibly compromise the effort.
"We didn't make this a media event. If we announced this, we would have 50 boats offshore," Kaiser said, adding hundreds of curious onlookers could have also gathered on shore. "It could go off the rails. We put our animals first."
Kaiser said an elaborate operation involved two large cranes, the first to lift the shark out of the hotel's 45-million litre aquarium facilities and place it on a truck for transport to the second crane tasked to lower the whale into the Gulf along the sea wall.
According to Kaiser, the operation was carried out in darkness and cooler temperatures to reduce stress on the animal. In the five days leading up to the top-secret operation, the aquarium temperature was raised from its usual 23C closer towards the 35C Gulf water temperature to help the whale adjust to natural waters when released, he said.
"We didn't want her to go into thermal shock," said Kaiser, an American who has worked in the marine field since 1974.
Kaiser's account of the Dubai release was corroborated by Al Faris Equipment Rental senior officials who confirmed that the shark was freed some time after 5am on March 18.
As per plan
Al Faris Operations Manager Charles Govias said "all went as planned" after crane operators and Atlantis staff conducted a "dry run first" a few hours before the real operation was carried out.
Al Faris' Technical Manager Brian Green said they prepped two Liebherr cranes - a 500 tonne one and a 1,200 tonne one - the day before to get a fresh start right after midnight.
Green said when the shark was lowered into Gulf waters "it was still dark and we had spotlights on her". A team of eight divers waited in the water to help free the shark from her plastic container. "They undid one end and she swam out peacefully and off she went," Green said, noting that not a single detail was overlooked to keep the shark safe at all times during transport. "This was planned for months and months. It was an operation straight out of James Bond."
Green said freeing the shark privately proved a wise choice.
"This way it was less likely to draw people and end up like the end of a circus," he said.
After a year of brickbats being thrown at Atlantis for not releasing the creature sooner, Kaiser defended the decision noting that it was set for release a year ago during the migratory transit season for the species in the region. Those plans, however, were dashed amid the red tide bloom here in early 2009 which lessened the shark's chances of a solid return to the deeps.
"It would be completely irresponsible to release her in the middle of the red tide," said Kaiser, who waited for the migratory season to roll around once more before her release. The bad timing led to a string of less-than-favourable media reports throughout last year that Atlantis was planning on keeping the shark as a tourist attraction, he said.
The irony is that even after Atlantis announced her release, people remain ever sceptical.
"Lots of people said we would never release her. Now they say we didn't release her," Kaiser said.
Recovery time
Contrary to reports that wide-roaming sharks don't do well in captivity, he said the whale shark recovered well from the time her listless frame was found by rescuers in August 2008 off Jebel Ali. The shark was discovered in 39C water, with higher-than-normal salinity levels and was suffering from what Kaiser called a serious "heat stroke" before she was taken back to the $3 million (Dh11 million) marine rescue centre at Atlantis for recovery.
Estimated at 1.5 tonnes and between the age of 6-8 years, the shark measured 3.8 metres long when first rescued, Kaiser said, but when released it had grown by 60 centimetres.
As she slipped out of her custom cradle into the sea late last week, the shark was fitted with a tracking tag to monitor her movements for 90 days. In partnership with shark research organisation Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida, Kaiser and staff have pre-set the electronic tag to detach itself from the shark and float to the surface where the device will transmit its data to satellite.
"We have made Mote Marine the recipient of that data," he said, noting the information may help marine scientists better understand the whale shark for future conservationist efforts.
The cloak-and-dagger-style release of the Atlantis whale shark is in stark contrast to other Atlantis releases of sea creatures into the wild, according to media reports.
In early 2008, for example, American network giant NBC featured on its Today Show the release of a large manta ray from Atlantis, Paradise Island resort, Bahamas.
After living at the Atlantis aquariums for roughly three years, the giant relative of the shark was shown being tagged with a satellite tag to track its movements in the Caribbean seas.
The manta ray was put in a large sling and flown by helicopter to its release location and then released into waters offshore.
Rescue was in the bag...
If you've ever tried to scoop a goldfish out of a home-variety fish tank, you can appreciate the difficulty Atlantis faced in scooping a 1.5 tonne shark out of a behemoth indoor aquarium.
Those who watched the lift-out were amazed when a team of divers plunged into the waters and manoeuvred a six-metre-long plastic bag of sorts into place directly in front of the slowly-swimming whale shark.
"She swam herself right into the bag on the first attempt," said one of those watching the spectacle. "The divers were fantastic, they just guided her right in."
Divers then moved to close the bag and, with a thumbs-up, the water-filled bag was lifted up and out of the tank, over part of the Atlantis hotel rooftop and onto a waiting support frame on a truck waiting in the car park nearby.
Divers simply repeated their aquarium efforts in reverse when the shark was released into the Gulf waters.
Jaws are still working after whale shark's alleged release
Jonathan Gornall, The National 26 Mar 10;
There is, as any fan of police dramas knows, no murder without a body. On the other hand, there is also no resolution of a kidnap stand-off without proof of life.
This week neither was on offer as the management of the Atlantis hotel, on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah, contrived to make a bad public relations situation rather worse.
For the past 18 months the resort has been criticised for what has widely been perceived as the seizure in 2008 of a young female whale shark as a star turn for its Lost Chambers aquarium.
The four-metre long animal was “rescued” at the end of August 2008, shortly before the Atlantis opened its doors to guests. The timing fuelled scepticism about the Atlantis’s claims that the animal was found in distress and needed looking after.
As soon as the hotel announced it had captured the animal, a succinctly entitled Facebook page surfaced: “Set the whale shark free from the Atlantis aquarium Dubai”.
Now, the Atlantis says, the animal has been released. Local press reports say the shark was put back into the sea on the eastern end of The Palm along the sea wall boulders in a clandestine pre-dawn operation to ensure the area was free of boats whose propellers could harm it.
But without the testimony of independent witnesses or photographic proof this latest twist in the story has merely added to conspiracy theories.
“I was initially overjoyed to hear of [the] alleged release,” wrote one poster on the travel website Trip Advisor this week, “but I now think it seems so unlikely that Atlantis would have done it in such a cloak-and-dagger fashion if they had nothing to hide.”
Another posting read: “Strong rumours whale shark died – any info?”.
Yet, despite the potentially positive PR that might have been generated, the Atlantis has still not produced any pictures of the release.
Lisa Perry, of the Emirates Wildlife Society – World Wildlife Fund (EWS), said the attitude of the Atlantis throughout the 18-month episode had been “disappointing”. All approaches by her organisation had been ignored.
“From the very beginning when the whale shark was captured, the EWS has been requesting the release of the animal, because of its chances of survival in the wild being greater than in a hotel aquarium,” she said.
The welfare of captive whale sharks has been a matter for concern since two died in the US in 2007. Other than the Atlantis in Dubai, Georgia Aquarium was the only aquarium outside Asia to house whale sharks, the world’s biggest fish. The cause of both deaths remains unclear.
In a written statement issued earlier this week, Steve Kaiser, Atlantis vice president of marine and science engineering, said “outsiders” had not been invited to witness the release to ensure the shark’s safety. The animal, he added, was in good health and had been tagged for research purposes and released off the east side of the Palm on Thursday last week.
The time was right for the release because conditions had been perfect. “The health and well-being of the animal has always been our number one priority,” he added.
Yet Kerzner International Holdings, the owner of the Atlantis, has not always been so protective about the privacy of animals during releases. In May 2008, invited press were on hand to document the release of Zeus, a giant manta ray that had spent three years at the Atlantis’s Paradise Island resort in the Bahamas. The 1,000lb creature, suspended in a cargo net, was airlifted by helicopter and dangled for a photo op in front of the resort’s fake Mayan temple.
Confused whale sharks have turned up off Dubai before. Dubai Marina has had at least three unexpected visitors, the most recent last year. In 2005, members of the Emirates Diving Association worked with Emaar and the police to stop boat traffic and shepherd a young shark to safety.
Ibrahim al Zu’bi, the director of environment and research for the EDA, who has worked on a programme tagging whale sharks in the Seychelles, said the association had contacted the Atlantis when the animal was captured.
“We talked to the Atlantis people at the beginning and the agreement was that the shark would be tagged and released,” he said. “The difference was about when she should be released; we wanted it to be immediately. This is when the communications stopped.”
According to the statement from the Atlantis, the whale shark was fitted with a tracking device that in about three months will automatically free itself, float to the surface and transmit information via satellite.
If all goes well, data from the Mk10-PAT “pop-up archival transmitting tag”, will allow shark researchers to reconstruct the animal’s tracks and the depths and water temperatures in which it has been swimming.
All whale shark enthusiasts around the world, said Mr al Zu’bi, would be watching for the data and he urged Atlantis to make sure it was made available on a website.
“I love whale sharks,” he said. “I am so glad she is out and safe. The whole marine community is happy and I am sure plenty of people in Atlantis feel the same.
“Hopefully, in three months we will have some good news that she is on the migration schedule. In October, I am going to Djibouti to spot whale sharks; I hope I can meet her there.”
Surprisingly little is known about the world’s largest fish, a gentle giant that can grow up to 40ft in length yet is harmless to humans – though not to plankton or krill, which it hoovers up through a mouth that can grow up to four feet across. Estimates of its lifespan range from 70 to 150 years.
While there were apparently no independent witnesses to the Atlantis whale shark’s tagging and release, Dr Robert Hueter, the lead shark researcher from the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, had advised and trained Atlantis staff in the fitting of tracking devices. The National has learnt, however, that no one from the organisation was present during last week’s release.
“Dr Hueter has told me he can’t comment on its condition when it was released, simply because he wasn’t present during the release,” said Hayley Rutger, a spokesman for the laboratory, whose shark researchers will analyse any data received from the tracking device.
“Atlantis staff informed him that the shark was healthy, heavy and had grown 0.6 metres in length in the 18 months it was housed at Atlantis. Dr Hueter said this growth rate was similar to the rate for wild sharks, indicating that it was in good condition.”
On Thursday, a week after the whale shark’s release, the Atlantis issued a statement.
It included an account of how the animal had come into its possession on August 28, 2008, and a description of its condition.
“Found in the shallows, the whale shark was clearly under duress when it was sighted by a local fisherman … The temperature of the water was approximately 37°C to 42°C with salinities of 47ppt to 52ppt. The temperature and salinity would put incredible stress on almost all fish species.”
Although the animals were seen during all months of the year in the Arabian Gulf, “off Dubai, whale sharks normally occur from January to June with a peak March-May. A whale shark in August is not typical.”
The animal was found to be “very thin … her body mass was well below average. On arrival, some of her fins were observed to have been damaged, which we believe was caused by her struggles in the shallow water where she was found.”
The statement added that the animal’s release had been documented by photography and video, but the Atlantis has so far failed to respond to requests to release images or footage.
It remains to be seen whether the statement will appease Kerzner’s critics.
WWF 25 Mar 10;
A new population of rare giant mouse lemurs was discovered in southwestern Madagascar’s Ranobe forest, WWF said.
Last year during a night survey monitoring biodiversity along the gallery forest of Ranobe near Toliara while on a mission for WWF, Charlie Gardner, and Louise Jasper, came across a giant mouse-lemur (Mirza), foraging within fruiting Ficus spp.
Two species of Mirza are currently known; Mirza coquereli and M. zaza. Mirza coquereli (Coquerel's Mouse-lemur) is found in the southwestern spiny forest eco region, but has never been seen in this particular area before.
Coquerel's Mouse-lemurs are “near threatened” according to IUCN which means that they might qualify for vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered in the near future. Their population trend is decreasing. The discovery of a new population is exciting as it raises hopes for the species’ survival.
The observed species from the Ranobe gallery forest, according to the researcher Charlie Gardner exhibits “significant differences in the coloration of its coat from the other two species. “
“The specimen that we observed appears to have a lighter dorsal coloration than is noted for M. coquereli, and has conspicuous reddish or rusty patches on the dorsal surface of the distal ends of both fore- and hind-limbs. The ventral pelage is also conspicuously light in color, and the animal possesses a strikingly red tail, also becoming darker at the end.”
“This is to suggest that it may not only be a new population, but a new species or subspecies”. However, Gardner says that the animal has to be trapped, examined and tested before it can be officially described as a new species.
These findings not only highlight the biological importance of the area, but also emphasise how little we know about these rapidly disappearing forests. Without the creation of new protected areas, we would risk losing species to extinction before they have even been discovered or described.
These animals, in turn, can attract tourism and conservation revenue to the site which can help local communities to find less destructive ways to meet their development needs.
This new lemur population is not the first exciting discovery from Ranobe in recent years. In 2005, scientists described the rediscovery of Mungotictis decemlineata lineata, a subspecies of the narrow-striped mongoose that had not been observed since 1915, and which was only ever known from a single specimen. This subspecies may be entirely restricted to the new protected area.
The representative of the new Mirza population was discovered just outside the limits of the protected area. It highlights the critical need to extend the limits of this protected area.
This area PK32-Ranobe, which is co-managed by WWF and the inter-communal association MITOIMAFI, received temporary protection status in December 2008. However, due to the presence of mining concessions, the limits of the protected area did not extend to include the gallery forests of Ranobe.
“It is a hotspot of biodiversity clamped on almost all sides by mining concessions. WWF is currently applying for the extension of the PA to include more key habitats within the decree of definitive protection,“ Malika Virah-Sawmy, WWF’s Terrestrial Programme Coordinator in Madagascar said.
Every year, large areas of Ranobe forests are felled by charcoal sellers, and in the past, much of the region was granted for mining concessions for the various minerals deposited in its rich sand soils. Meagre crops of maize are also planted on the calcareous soils, after felling and burning the forests.
The new protected area is part of a new philosophy promoted by WWF for the Durban Vision which aims to triple the surface area of Madagascar protected areas. WWF aims to empower communities to co-manage PA and to find ways for communities to benefit economically protecting their environment.
Gardner’s research, based at the University of Kent, is focused on reconciling conservation and sustainable rural development within new protected areas. This research will inform the management of PK32-Ranobe, allowing the identification of win-win scenarios that benefit all stakeholders.
“We hope the area will not only represent the single most important conservation area within the Spiny forest, but also a place where communities are benefiting from conservation through ecotourism and other sustainable livelihoods”. says Virah-Sawmy
The Star 26 Mar 10;
PETALING JAYA: The proposal to repeal the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and replace it with a new act for greater protection of wildlife will presented to the Cabinet for approval today.
Natural Resources and Environ-ment Minister Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas said once it was approved, the Wildlife Conservation Bill would be tabled in Parliament.
“The proposed act has taken feedback and recommendations from relevant parties in the Government and non-governmental organisations, into consideration,” he said in a statement after the launch of the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) research gallery in Kepong yesterday.
He said under the Bill, the penalties provided for crimes have been increased by between 10 to 30 times besides mandatory jail sentences for serious offences.
The new act, he said would also provide better enforcement on wildlife derivatives to prevent them from being used for traditional medicine.
“Under the existing Act, protection is limited to mammalians, reptiles, birds and insects while the new act will also provide protection to amphibians (frogs), arachnids (spiders) and gastropods (snails).
“It will also provide wider powers on new activities such as circuses and exhibition of wildlife,” he said.
He added that the new act would also cover the issue of invasive alien species which contribute to the extinction of local wildlife. The existing act was last amended in 1998.
Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 25 Mar 10;
DOHA (AFP) – Commerce beat out conservation at a UN wildlife trade forum on Thursday, with Japan, China and pro-fisheries interests scoring a clean sweep in defeating proposals to protect high-value marine species.
At its final session in Doha, the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) reversed the only decision it had taken in 13 days to list an endangered ocean animal of commercial value, the porbeagle shark.
Lobbied aggressively by Tokyo, the 175-nation CITES last week massively rejected a so-called Appendix I ban on cross-border commerce in Atlantic bluefin tuna, a sushi mainstay.
Industrial-scale fishing has depleted populations of the gleaming, fatty fish by 80 to 90 percent in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, the regions covered by the failed bid.
Two other sharks fished to satisfy a burgeoning demand for fins -- a prestige food in Chinese communities worldwide -- were barred from Appendix II, which requires export monitoring and proof that fishing is sustainable.
The slow-maturing scalloped hammerhead and the oceanic whitetip, harvested by the millions every year, are listed as globally "endangered" and "vulnerable" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Japan also led opposition to CITES oversight of precious red and pink corals, mined from deep seas in the Mediterranean and the Pacific Ocean to make jewellery, mainly in Italy.
All told, seven such proposals -- all supported by the United States -- were rebuffed.
US and European delegates expressed deep disappointment in the conference, which also took trade-related decisions on African elephants, polar bears, tigers and several reptiles and smaller fauna teetering on the edge of extinction.
"I am disappointed that our proposals were not adopted," said Julius Langendorf for the European Commission.
"It is a significant setback for species," said Jane Lyder, head of the US delegation. "At least it brought a shining light on the status of marine species."
Japan's top negotiator Masanori Miyahara said he was satisfied with the outcome, but added that he "felt a very big responsibility for the future" of high-value marine fauna.
At the same time, he was sharply critical of the way CITES functions, suggesting that the UN body discouraged collective action.
"This organisation is only talking about winning and losing," he said, referring to the system of up-or-down votes requiring a two-thirds majority to pass.
"It is too much. We must work hard together to reach some consensus action," he told journalists.
The job of keeping tuna from tipping beyond the threshold of viability remains with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), whose representative said the body was ready to "assume its responsibilities."
Critics point out that the body has for decades been unable or unwilling to respect its own quotas.
Japan acknowledges that tuna and other marine species are in trouble, but argued that CITES -- the only global body with the power to regulate wildlife trade -- was not the solution.
CITES: tuna, sharks still on the hook, ban on tuskers holds
CITES Secretary General Willem Wijnstekers disagreed.
"Japan thinks that CITES should keep its hands off of commercial species. I think that is wrong," Wijnstekers said, pointing out that the reach of regional fisheries such as ICCAT stops at national borders.
"If species cross borders both legally and illegally -- and unsustainably -- then CITES can have important added value, and should be used for commercial species as well."
Environmental groups slammed the decisions, warning that the consequences could be severe, perhaps irreversible.
"This is a very sad day for conservation," said Sue Lieberman, policy director for the Washington-based Pew Environment Group.
"Japan and China pushed countries to vote against conservation. We put the endangerment of these species at their feet," she said.
Many campaigners questioned the ability of CITES to carry out its mandate.
"It appears that money can buy you anything -- just ask Japan," said David Allison of Oceana, a marine conservation group based in the United States.
"The very foundation of CITES is threatened with collapse."
Lieberman said: "CITES has always been a treaty that restricts trade for conservation. Now it restricts conservation for the sake of trade."
Trade Beats Conservation At U.N. Wildlife Talks
Regan Doherty, PlanetArk 25 Mar 10;
Trade interests trumped conservation at a U.N. wildlife conference at which proposals to step up protection for polar bears, bluefin tuna, coral and sharks all fell flat, delegates said.
Short-term economic concerns hampered efforts to restrict trade in several lucrative marine species at the 175-nation Convention on International trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which wrapped up a two-week meeting in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday.
"As soon as big money gets involved, the 's' of science is crossed out by two vertical stripes," CITES Secretary General Willem Wijnstekers told reporters, meaning it becomes "$cience" spelt with a dollar sign.
"There is an enormous economic interest in catching and trading these species, and a CITES piece of paper is really a nuisance (for traders)."
Resistance from Asian countries, particularly Japan, to ban trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna received most attention. The fish is prized as sushi but stocks have plunged more than 80 percent since 1970, according to CITES.
Japan imports about 80 percent of the catch, mostly from the European Union. Delegates rejected the proposed ban after Tokyo argued that lax regulation of catches is the main problem.
"It's been a difficult conference from a conservation standpoint, perhaps because of the economic environment," U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks Tom Strickland told Reuters. CITES meets once every 2-1/2 years.
SHARK SOUP
After a conference that denied protection for many marine species, delegates on the final day even overturned a decision to step up trade restrictions for Porbeagle sharks, hit by overfishing in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Calls to step up trade curbs on seven other types of shark, including hammerheads caught as ingredients in shark fin soup in Asia, had already failed earlier in the talks.
"It is shameful that many CITES governments ignored science in favor of political gain," said Carlos Drews, head of WWF's Species Program.
Susan Lieberman, director of international policy at the Pew Environment Group, said: "We cannot continue to empty our oceans without consequence."
Amid the disappointments for conservation advocates, there were some successes. Kenya scored a victory with its proposal to combat the escalation of rhino poaching by placing the animals on a protective list.
Rhinos in countries such as India, South Africa, Nepal and Zimbabwe are killed by organized crime groups that control the smuggling of rhino horns to the far east of Asia, where they are sold on the black market for thousands of dollars, CITES says.
Calls by Zambia and Tanzania to relax a trade ban on elephant ivory were rejected. But a U.S. proposal to protect polar bears, which thrust the issue of climate change onto the agenda of the conference for the first time, was defeated.
(Editing by Alister Doyle and Noah Barkin)
Factbox: Trade decisions by U.N. wildlife talks
Reuters 25 Mar 10;
(Reuters) - Following are major decisions at a conferencem of the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Doha from March 13-25.
Many proposals to step up protection for commercial species failed to win support, with many delegates saying economic interests won over long-term conservation.
MARINE SPECIES
BLUEFIN TUNA - Delegates rejected a proposal, backed by the United States and the European Union, to ban trade in bluefin tuna that is prized as sushi in Japan. Stocks have fallen by more than 80 percent in the main fishing grounds in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean since the 1970s, CITES says. Japan says poorly regulated fishing, not trade, is the main threat. A single fish can sell for more than $100,000 in Tokyo.
SHARKS - Proposals to step up protection for eight types of shark -- at risk from rising demand for shark fin soup in Asia -- were voted down. The oceanic whitetip, scalloped hammerhead, great, smooth and dusky hammerhead, sandbar and spiny dogfish sharks failed to win extra protection. A vote to set trade limits on the porbeagle shark was overturned on the final day.
RED AND PINK CORALS - The conference rejected a proposal to restrict trade in 31 species of red and pink corals used in jewelry. Catches have fallen to about 50 metric tons a year in the main coral grounds in the Pacific and the Mediterranean from 450 in the mid-1980s. The proposal would have made exporters ensure that harvests were sustainable.
MAMMALS
POLAR BEARS - A U.S. proposal to ban trade in polar bears, mainly from Canada which exported about 300 a year from 2004-08 as rugs or trophies, was rejected. Washington argues that climate change will melt the bears' icy Arctic habitat. But even some environmentalists opposed the U.S. plan, saying trade was a distraction and that the focus should be on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
RHINOS - Kenya scored a victory with a proposal to combat the escalation of rhino poaching by placing rhinos on a protective list.
ELEPHANTS - The conference voted against calls by Zambia and Tanzania to relax a trade ban on their elephants that could allow a sale of their stockpiled ivory. The two countries say elephant numbers have risen in their countries and are a threat to people in rural areas.
OTHER
HOLYWOOD, BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD - Delegates imposed trade controls on the two trees used in the cosmetics industry after decades of over-harvesting. The Holywood, found in South America, is used for products ranging from flooring to perfumes. Oils from the Brazilian rosewood are used as fragrance in perfumes.
KAISER'S SPOTTED NEWT - The conference approved a trade ban on Kaiser's spotted newt, a type of salamander from Iran. The newt is under threat from trade agreed over the Internet by collectors.
(Compiled by Alister Doyle in Oslo, editing by Noah Barkin)
Brian Skoloff, Associated Press Yahoo News 25 Mar 10;
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Coral reefs are dying, and scientists and governments around the world are contemplating what will happen if they disappear altogether.
The idea positively scares them.
Coral reefs are part of the foundation of the ocean food chain. Nearly half the fish the world eats make their homes around them. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide — by some estimates, 1 billion across Asia alone — depend on them for their food and their livelihoods.
If the reefs vanished, experts say, hunger, poverty and political instability could ensue.
"Whole nations will be threatened in terms of their existence," said Carl Gustaf Lundin of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Numerous studies predict coral reefs are headed for extinction worldwide, largely because of global warming, pollution and coastal development, but also because of damage from bottom-dragging fishing boats and the international trade in jewelry and souvenirs made of coral.
At least 19 percent of the world's coral reefs are already gone, including some 50 percent of those in the Caribbean. An additional 15 percent could be dead within 20 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Old Dominion University professor Kent Carpenter, director of a worldwide census of marine species, warned that if global warming continues unchecked, all corals could be extinct within 100 years.
"You could argue that a complete collapse of the marine ecosystem would be one of the consequences of losing corals," Carpenter said. "You're going to have a tremendous cascade effect for all life in the oceans."
Exotic and colorful, coral reefs aren't lifeless rocks; they are made up of living creatures that excrete a hard calcium carbonate exoskeleton. Once the animals die, the rocky structures erode, depriving fish of vital spawning and feeding grounds.
Experts say cutting back on carbon emissions to arrest rising sea temperatures and acidification of the water, declaring some reefs off limits to fishing and diving, and controlling coastal development and pollution could help reverse, or at least stall, the tide.
Florida, for instance, has the largest unbroken "no-take" zone in the continental U.S. — about 140 square miles off limits to fishing in and around Dry Tortugas National Park, a cluster of islands and reefs teeming with marine life about 70 miles off Key West.
Many fishermen oppose such restrictions. And other environmental measures have run into resistance at the state, local, national and international level. On Sunday, during a gathering of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, restrictions proposed by the U.S. and Sweden on the trade of some coral species were rejected.
If reefs were to disappear, commonly consumed species of grouper and snapper could become just memories. Oysters, clams and other creatures that are vital to many people's diets would also suffer. And experts say commercial fisheries would fail miserably at meeting demand for seafood.
"Fish will become a luxury good," said Cassandra deYoung of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. "You already have a billion people who are facing hunger, and this is just going to aggravate the situation," she added. "We will not be able to maintain food security around the world."
The economic damage could be enormous. Ocean fisheries provide direct employment to at least 38 million people worldwide, with an additional 162 million people indirectly involved in the industry, according to the U.N.
Coral reefs draw scuba divers, snorkelers and other tourists to seaside resorts in Florida, Hawaii, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean and help maintain some of the world's finest sandy beaches by absorbing energy from waves. Without the reefs, hotels, restaurants and other businesses that cater to tourists could suffer financially.
Many Caribbean countries get nearly half their gross national product from visitors seeking tropical underwater experiences.
People all over the world could pay the price if reefs were to disappear, since some types of coral and marine species that rely on reefs are being used by the pharmaceutical industry to develop possible cures for cancer, arthritis and viruses.
"A world without coral reefs is unimaginable," said Jane Lubchenco, a marine biologist who heads NOAA. "Reefs are precious sources of food, medicine and livelihoods for hundreds of thousands around the world. They are also special places of renewal and recreation for thousands more. Their exotic beauty and diverse bounty are global treasures."
___
Associated Press Science Writer Seth Borenstein contributed to this report from Washington.
Disappearance of species points to catastrophic environmental damage, says Sir David. Michael McCarthy reports, The Independent 26 Mar 10;
Butterfly numbers are declining rapidly all around the world, Britain's leading conservationist, Sir David Attenborough, warns today. The celebrated television presenter is sounding the alarm that butterfly loss, a concern in Britain for decades, has become a global problem, with species disappearing in every continent.
They range from the giant swallowtail of Jamaica to the Atewa dotted border from the Atewa mountains of Ghana, from the Oregon silverspot of America's Pacific coast to the Apollo butterfly of the Alps. And their disappearance is a clear indication, Sir David says, of something going very wrong in the background environment.
He is signalling the threat in a speech to the largest-ever gathering of butterfly experts, who come together today for a three-day symposium in Reading.
"Butterflies are sensitive indicators," Sir David said. "They decline when habitats are destroyed and when man harms the environment. We have known about butterfly losses in Britain for over 50 years. Now there is mounting evidence that it is a global problem."
The symposium, attended by 300 scientists and organised by the British charity Butterfly Conservation, has been called to assess the success of efforts around the world in meeting the United Nations target of halting biodiversity declines by 2010. However, the agenda reflects fears in countries throughout Europe and as far apart as Japan and the United States that there is still a long way to go to achieve this.
"Halting biodiversity loss is the coming decade's great challenge," Sir David said. "It's on a par with getting a man on the moon. An increase in butterfly numbers around the world could be the first indication that we've achieved this goal. Like that first step on the moon, it would be a giant leap for mankind."
Dr Martin Warren, Butterfly Conservation's chief executive, said there was increasing evidence that the problem was a global one. "We have just published a new "red list" of European butterflies showing that around 10 per cent of European butterfly species are facing possible extinction," he said. "We are getting the same message from elsewhere. Symposium delegates come from all six continents and they are all saying the same. Declines on the scale of those occurring in Britain and in Europe are happening in their part of the world too. Habitats are being destroyed; butterflies and other wildlife are in decline."
Dr Warren said that it was already apparent that the 2010 deadline for halting biodiversity loss had not been met. But he added that trying to achieve it had been important. "I think we now know the enormity of the challenge. We must make it a top priority in the coming decade."
Monitoring of butterfly numbers started in the UK in 1976 and has spread around the world. The "red list" of European butterflies, published last week, stated that one species, the Madeiran large white, had already probably become extinct in recent years. Other endangered European butterflies include the Danube clouded yellow, now confined to a few sites in Romania, and the violet copper, a beautiful wetland species that has undergone drastic declines in many countries.
Four British butterflies that are in serious decline at a European level are the large blue (reintroduced after going extinct in the late 1970s), the large heath, the Duke of Burgundy and the Lulworth skipper.
The latter two had their worst ever year in Britain last year, and have declined by 65 per cent and 87 per cent respectively since 2000.
Martin Hickman, The Independent 26 Mar 10;
Wild animals are to be banned from circuses, ending hundreds of years of performing elephants, tigers and lions in the big top, the Government will say today.
In response to a public consultation. Environment minister Jim Fitpatrick said he was ‘minded’ to bring in a ban after 94 per cent of people backed the idea.
“I agree with the clear view emerging from the huge response to the Government’s consultation that keeping wild animals to perform in travelling circuses is no longer acceptable. So, I am minded to pursue a ban on the use of these animals in circuses,” said Mr Fitzpatrick, a minister in the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
He added he wanted to make sure animals no longer able to perform were well looked after. “Nobody wants to see them simply destroyed, and we will work with all concerned to secure a future for these animals,” said Mr Fitzpatrick.
Campaigners have been calling for a ban on performing animals in circuses for decades and their appearance has become less and less popular with the public.
Four British circuses currently use wild animals, the biggest of which is the Great British Circus, which entertains crowds with tigers, lions, camels, and zebras.
The others are: Peter Jolly’s Circus (camels, zebras, snakes and crocodiles); Circus Mondao (camels and zebras); and Bobby Roberts Circus (camel and elephant.)
The British Veterinary Association (BVA) said it was “delighted” at the prospect of a ban, which is not scheduled to come into force before the general election.
Professor Bill Reilly, BVA President, said: “Although it only affects a small number of animals at present our ethics and welfare group felt that their needs and the needs of future animals could not be adequately met by the environmental conditions of a travelling circus.”
He added: “If the Government goes ahead with a ban it is vital each animal is individually assessed so that appropriate action can be taken. This could include re-homing to a zoo or sanctuary, living out the rest of its life with existing owners, or other options that can meet its needs.”
The Captive Animals' Protection Society, which has been campaigning for a ban since 1957, said it was “no surprise” that it was so strongly supported by respondents.
“Opinion polls always show a majority oppose animal circuses and political support for prohibition is strong too,” said the CAPS’ campaigns manager Craig Redmond.
“A Bristol University study last year found that circuses fail to provide some of the most basic welfare needs of wild animals, such as space and social groups. It is obvious to most people that carting an elderly arthritic elephant and caged tigers from town to town is an outdated form of entertainment.”
He said the Government should also extend the circus ban to horses, dogs and other animals.
Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 25 Mar 10;
DOHA (AFP) – DNA analysis has become a potent weapon against the multi-billion-dollar traffic in wild animals and by-products, from ivory to tiger-bone wine to turtles cooked alive in top Asian restaurants, experts said.
The black market in endangered fauna and flora is driven by a global demand for exotic pets, precious jewellery, forbidden foods and potions with alleged curative and sex-boosting powers, the experts told a UN conference.
In the last decade, organised criminal networks drawn by a low-risk, high-profit business -- especially in Asia, where much of the trade is centered -- have made things worse.
But new gene-based investigative methods are helping resource-starved wildlife police even the playing field, at least a bit.
They have led to arrests, and can put the lie to claims by some vendors that the illicit wildlife they openly peddle is farm-raised or from non-endangered species.
"There is a lot of laundering of animals taken from the wild through captive breeding facilities," said John Sellar, the top enforcement official at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Meeting in Doha during the past 13 days, CITES is the only convention with the power to ban or restrict cross-border commerce in animals, plants and their derivatives.
Until recently, it was often impossible to determine whether an ivory carving purchased in, say, Bangkok was made from legally from the tusk of a domesticated Asian elephant or illegally from its African cousin.
But today a simple DNA test costing a couple of hundred dollars can spot the contraband.
In November, it uncovered a major cache of African ivory in Thailand and led to the arrest of two men.
The evidence for that and other busts was processed at a forensics lab in Ashland, Oregon run by the US government and frequently used for CITES-related cases.
"It is the only one in the world dedicated to serving wildlife crime," explained Benito Perez, chief law enforcement officer for the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
The same methods were applied in a recent case involving sea turtles, he said.
"We bought products that we suspected were made of protected sea turtle skin, and all we had to do is determine what species it came from," he said.
But matching requires a reference library of genetic information, which only exists today for a handful of species.
"We have a large database of DNA profiles for elephants, tigers and sturgeon," the source of caviar, said Sellar.
But for hundreds of other species the database-building groundwork has yet to be done.
In the case of African elephants, which spurred acrimonious debate in Doha and at every CITES meeting in the three decades, DNA fingerprinting has already moved to the next level.
A nugget of ivory can tell University of Washington professor Steve Wasser not only which species of elephant it came from but where in Africa the animal once roamed.
"To track elephants genetically, you have to develop a genetic map of across the entire continent," Wasser said in an interview.
The least invasive way to do so was by collect dung samples, a project that took nearly a decade.
But two problems remained: genetic variation linked to region was limited, and the standard method for extracting DNA heat damaged its molecular structure.
Wasser looked at so-called "junk DNA," the 99 percent of genetic material that is not genes. Because these regions are more subject to mutation, he reasoned correctly, minor differences within herds were likely to show up.
Using a liquid nitrogen as a medium, he also found a way to crush the ivory without heating it.
The method revealed recent multi-tonne seizures of ivory in Asia came in significant measure from Tanzania and Zambia.
The findings helped sink proposals in Doha by both countries to carry out one-time sales of ivory stocks, bids based in part on the contention their populations were well managed.
They also showed poaching was concentrated geographically, suggesting the involvement of highly-organised crime networks able to execute large-scale raids.
Still, it may be years before DNA testing becomes routine, experts say.
"DNA analysis has major potential, but has not yet had a significant impact -- it is difficult to use as a tool a remains pretty costly," said Holly Dublin, head of the Elephants Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
The Star 26 Mar 10;
WHEN we talk about turtle conservation, the vision in our mind is either the turtles in the sea or laying eggs on the beach. And when there is a request for volunteers to help in turtle conservation, we would think of going to the beach, guard their nests or collect their eggs and relocate them at a man-made nest at a turtle conservation hatchery. But in truth, everyone can help in turtle conservation without even going to the beach or the sea.
We all know that all waterways, rivers and drains end up in the sea and eventually the ocean. This means that everything that goes into these waterways end up in the sea – all the toxic waste, plastic bags, plastic bottles, construction and domestic garbage, and even dead animals .
Yes, I have seen a floating dead cat in the sea and I have seen my neighbour’s maid put a dead cat into the trash bin!
How many of us would give a dead animal a burial? Not only is it a respectable thing to do but it is also a hygienic way to do it. A dead animal left to decompose on the road or anywhere is going to release zillions of bacteria onto the ground and the air will stink.
So, the very first step towards turtle conservation is taking care of what goes into our drains, waterways and rivers. A polluted sea is not going to sustain marine life, be it seaweeds, sea grasses, corals, fishes, turtles and everything else the ocean holds. Ocean “dead zones” have been linked to agricultural run-off and other pollution coming down major rivers and drains.
Shoreline development must be stopped. Any development along coastlines must meet perimeter limitations, if we really do care about our sea’s state of health which is at quite a critical level.
Corals are dying from pollution and slowly disappearing because of illegal harvesting. Corals have also been destroyed by over-excited tourists who step on them. Shoreline resorts are not educating their visitors on the do’s and don’ts of sea sports and recreation when they themselves are making money out of nature and its treasures.
Beach resorts should set themselves as examples of guardians of the beach and the sea and then it will be easier for the rest to follow. There are currently quite a number of turtle sanctuaries in Malaysia but the problem is there aren’t many turtle eggs to save any more. There isn’t even enough beach area for the turtles to lay their eggs, so much so that some turtles are digging pits on existing nests. How sad and critical!
I have just returned from beautiful Tioman island and hope real hard that this precious pearl of Malaysia will be preserved and taken good care of.
DATIN ROSSITI AISHAH RASHIDI,
Founder of Green Hopes Eco Warriors @ Facebook, Shah Alam.
David Derbyshire, The Daily Mail 26 Mar 10;
Some of Britain's best-loved beaches are drowning under a tide of plastic, a survey has revealed.
The annual Marine Conservation Society study found the amount of plastic waste littering the coast - including bags, bottles, wrappers and rope - has soared by 121 per cent over the past 15 years.
Nearly half the litter is dumped on beaches by visitors, the survey found, while 15 per cent comes from fishing boats.
Small percentages come from sewage, shipping and fly tipping, but the sources of more than a third of the rubbish, including small plastic pieces, could not be identified.
The menace of plastic waste has been highlighted by the Daily Mail's Banish the Bags campaign.
It revealed how some of the 13billion free carrier bags handed out each year end up in the oceans where they are swallowed by whales and turtles.
The creatures' stomachs become so full of plastic that they eventually die of starvation. More than a third of stranded leatherback turtles have plastic in their stomachs.
Other species - from seals to birds - are killed after becoming tangled up in netting, bags and ropes.
The annual litter pick, carried out in September with help from more than 4,600 volunteers, found that overall levels of rubbish had fallen by 16 per cent compared with 2008.
However, litter levels were still far higher than when the survey began in 1994. Over 15 years, the amount of rubbish dumped on beaches has gone up 77 per cent.
Plastic, from small shreds to carrier bags, made up nearly two thirds of all litter found - a much higher proportion than in previous surveys.
Fragments of the material attract toxic chemicals and are then eaten by marine animals, potentially providing a path for the toxins up the food chain to humans.
Scientists say it stays in the environment for hundreds of years. It never fully degrades, but just breaks down into smaller pieces.
In some parts of the ocean there are six times as many fragments of the material as there are plankton - the tiny organisms that form the bottom of the food chain.
Rachel Bailey, of the Marine Conservation Society, said: 'Our seas and beaches are becoming overwhelmed with plastic litter which not only looks horrible, but kills and injures many of our fantastic marine animals every year.
'Over 260 species of marine wildlife become entangled in litter or mistake it for food.'
The list of most commonly picked up items from UK beaches was topped by tiny fragments of plastic, which accounted for a fifth of the items gathered.
Food wrappers, plastic rope, plastic caps and lids, drinks bottles, fishing nets and cotton buds - which are often flushed down the toilet and not caught by sewage works - were also among the top ten.
Litter pickers found 16,243 drinks bottles, 7,393 plastic bags and 7,025 pieces of plastic cutlery, trays, straws and cups in the 115 miles of beach surveyed. Stranger items collected included a laboratory incubator and a pile of spring onions.
Beach litter survey reveals plastics toll
Emily Beament, Press Association, The Independent 26 Mar 10;
Piles of plastic rubbish, ranging from thousands of drinks bottles and carrier bags to a joke severed finger and a set of vampire teeth, were collected in the latest annual survey of beach litter.
Overall levels of rubbish on UK beaches last year fell by 16 per cent on 2008 figures, according to the Marine Conservation Society which organises the annual litter pick.
But the conservation organisation is concerned about the continuing problem of plastic waste, which it says is overwhelming UK beaches and harming wildlife.
The MCS Beachwatch Big Weekend 2009, which saw volunteers out on almost 400 beaches collecting and recording rubbish, picked up some 1,849 items of litter per kilometre - compared to 2,195 items in 2008.
But litter levels are significantly higher than when the survey started in 1994, with the amount of overall rubbish picked up increasing by 77 per cent and plastic debris rising by 121 per cent, the MCS said.
Plastic, from small shreds to carrier bags, made up almost two thirds (64 per cent) of the litter found, making up a higher percentage of the overall total than in previous years of the survey.
The conservation group is particularly concerned about plastic rubbish because of its damaging impact on wildlife.
From seals entangled in fishing nets and lines to leatherback turtles which have swallowed plastic, the rubbish kills and injures many marine animals every year, the MCS warned.
And instead of biodegrading, plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces - and in some parts of the ocean there are now six times as many of these particles than there are plankton, the tiny organisms that form the bottom of the food chain.
The conservation group warned plastic fragments also attract toxic chemicals and then are eaten by marine animals, potentially providing a path for the toxins up the food chain to humans.
The list of most commonly picked up items from UK beaches was topped by small and larger pieces of plastic, which together accounted for a fifth of the items gathered up.
Food wrappers, plastic rope, plastic caps and lids, drinks bottles, fishing nets and cotton bud sticks - which are often flushed down the toilet and not caught by sewage works - were all among the top 10 most frequently found items.
Litter pickers found 16,243 drinks bottles, 7,393 plastic bags and 7,025 pieces of plastic cutlery, trays, straws and cups in the 185 kilometres (115 miles) of beach surveyed.
Volunteers also picked up some 11,670 cigarette butts, 9,662 pieces of glass and 8,890 metal drinks cans.
Stranger items collected included a laboratory incubator, a message in a bottle from "Sly Sally", half a boomerang and a pile of spring onions.
In total more than 2,700 bags of rubbish were collected - and the public was the biggest culprit for dropping rubbish, the MCS said.
More than two fifths of rubbish comes from people dropping litter on beaches, or inland where it gets washed to the sea by rivers and drains.
Debris from fishing, including ropes, fishing nets and lines from anglers, is the second biggest identifiable source of rubbish on beaches, while small percentages come from sewage, shipping and fly tipping.
The sources of more than a third of the rubbish, including small plastic pieces, could not be identified.
MCS litter projects officer Rachel Bailey said: "Our seas and beaches are becoming overwhelmed with plastic litter, which not only looks horrible, but kills and injures many of our fantastic marine animals.
"Over 260 species of marine wildlife become entangled in litter or mistake it for food."
Levels of litter in 2009 dropped in the north-east and across the south of England compared to 2008, but rose in the north-west, while Scotland and the Channel Islands both saw amounts of rubbish on their beaches fall.
Wales saw a rise in litter, while in Northern Ireland, the number of items of rubbish per kilometre had almost doubled on the previous year.
The UK's main political parties have all pledged to take action on tackling litter in the seas.
Environment Minister Huw Irranca-Davies said: "Britain's coastlines, beaches, and seas deserve better than to be treated as a dustbin.
"The mountains of waste which people leave behind are a risk to the health of both people and marine wildlife.
"MCS does fantastic work cleaning up our beaches but the best thing people can do to help is not leave their rubbish there in the first place."
Britain's beaches 'drowning in plastic'
Piles of plastic rubbish, ranging from thousands of drinks bottles and carrier bags to a joke severed finger and a set of vampire teeth, have been collected in the latest annual survey of beach litter.
Louise Gray, The Telegraph 26 Mar 10;
Thousands of volunteers from the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) picked up 2,742 bags of litter from 400 beaches. On average some 1,849 items of litter were found for every 0.6 miles (1km) of beach.
Although this is a slight fall since last year it is a up 77 per cent since the annual litter pick began in 1994.
The main problem is plastic, which made up more than 60 per cent of the litter retrieved for the first time.
The list of most commonly picked up items from UK beaches was topped by small and larger pieces of plastic, which together accounted for a fifth of the items gathered up.
Food wrappers, plastic rope, plastic caps and lids, plastic bags, plastic cutlery, trays, straws and cups, drinks bottles, fishing nets and cotton bud sticks – which are often flushed down the lavatory and not caught by sewage works – were all among the top 10 most frequently found items.
Stranger items collected included a laboratory incubator, a message in a bottle from "Sly Sally", half a boomerang, a joke severed finger and a set of vampire teeth.
Rachel Bailey, MCS litter projects officer, said plastic was a particular problem for wildlife. For example seals entangled in fishing nets and leatherback turtles which have swallowed plastic.
She explained that plastic does not biodegrade but breaks down in to smaller and smaller pieces. In some parts of the ocean there are now six times as many of of these particles than there are plankton, the tiny organisms that form the bottom of the food chain, she said.
"Our seas and beaches are becoming overwhelmed with plastic litter, which not only looks horrible, but kills and injures many of our fantastic marine animals," she said.
"Over 260 species of marine wildlife become entangled in litter or mistake it for food."
Yahoo News 26 Mar 10;
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States has moved to formally ban the import of Mexican shrimp caught with trawl fishing methods that may affect sea turtles, the State Department said on Thursday.
The ban, which will come into effect in April, concerns slightly more than half of all Mexican shrimp exports to the United States.
"Wild-harvest shrimp from Mexico's commercial trawl fisheries may not be imported into the United States effective April 20, 2010," after the shrimping season has ended, a statement said on Thursday.
The State Department notified Congress of the decision on Wednesday.
US officials have provided technical recommendations to Mexico and will seek to help reinstate the shrimp certification "within the shortest period of time," the statement said.
Mexico's fishing authorities said at the start of March that they had been informed of the decision but that it would have a "minor impact" on shrimp exports.
They said they hoped to renew the affected exports for the new season in mid-September after showing that they met sea turtle protection standards.
Mexico last year exported more than 40,000 metric tons of shrimp to the United States, at an estimated value of 332 million dollars.
Yahoo News 25 Mar 10;
JAKARTA (AFP) – US food company Cargill has become the latest multinational to demand answers from Indonesian palm oil giant Sinar Mas about claims it is devastating forests rich in carbon and wildlife.
Sinar Mas rejects claims of environmental vandalism but has been hit hard by image-conscious buyers Unilever and Nestle deciding to drop the company as a supplier in recent months in response to protests by Greenpeace.
Cargill said it had asked Sinar Mas to respond to Greenpeace's allegations and had sought an investigation by the industry body, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
"Cargill is keenly aware about the allegations made in December 2009 by Greenpeace about illegal forest clearance and the Indonesian palm oil company, Sinar Mas," it said on its website.
"When we became aware of the Greenpeace report we contacted Sinar Mas?s senior management and we have communicated to them that we are looking to them to address the issues in the Greenpeace report.
"Additionally, we urged the RSPO board to review this issue. We are pleased the RSPO Board has instructed the RSPO secretariat to get a response from Sinar Mas to the allegations in the Greenpeace report."
It said it expected answers from the company "by the end of April, 2010".
"If the RSPO validates the allegations of improper land conversion or illegal planting in deep peat land as alleged in the Greenpeace report and Sinar Mas does not take corrective action, we will delist them as a supplier," it added.
Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology (SMART) president director Daud Dharsono said the company was trying to "verify" Greenpeace's report.
"We are in touch with Cargill to assure them that we do not develop on high carbon stock and high conservation value areas," he said.
Clearing for palm oil plantations is contributing to the rapid destruction of vast tracts of Indonesian jungle, making the country one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world.
Pete Harrison and Charlie Dunmore Reuters 25 Mar 10;
* EU biofuels paper assumes 5.6 percent target in 2020
* Environmental risk seen above that target level
BRUSSELS, March 25 (Reuters) - The European Union appears to be backtracking on its biofuels policy with a new study showing that more than 5.6 percent of biofuel in road fuels can damage the environment.
EU leaders agreed in 2008 that 10 percent of transport fuels should come from renewable sources by 2020 -- mostly biofuels as electric cars would still be in their infancy.
But environmentalists criticised the target, saying it would affect the way land is used around the world, forcing up food prices and encouraging deforestation.
The EU's most comprehensive biofuels modelling exercise yet was made public on Thursday, but is based on having just 5.6 percent of biofuel in road fuels.
Experts say the 10 percent figure was shaved to 5.6 percent partly by exaggerating the contribution of electric cars in 2020, forecasting they will represent 20 percent of new car sales. That figure is between two and six times the car industry's own estimate.
They also say the study exaggerates to around 45 percent the contribution of bioethanol -- the greenest of all biofuels -- and consequently downplays the worst impacts of biodiesel.
Bioethanol's contribution is around 19 percent today.
But it was not clear if the Commission had intentionally given unrealistic data to the consultancy that handled the project, or whether it was preparing for a policy change.
"The 5.6 percent figure is not based on an honest reflection of reality, or else the Commission is preparing to backtrack on its target," one EU official said.
POLICY REVIEW
At the centre of the debate is an issue dryly referred to as "indirect land use change", which has put palm oil producers in Malaysia and Indonesia in the cross-hairs of environmentalists.
Critics say that regardless of where they are grown, biofuels compete for land with food crops, forcing farmers worldwide to expand into areas never farmed before -- sometimes by hacking into tropical rainforest or draining peatlands.
Burning forests and draining wetlands can pump vast quantities of climate-warming emissions into the atmosphere, cancelling out any theoretical climate benefit from the fuel.
But the study found the effects were not significant until EU biofuel use reached a certain point.
"Indirect land use change effects do indeed offset part of the emission benefits, but are not a threat at the currently estimated volume of 5.6 percent of road transport fuels required," a European Commission statement said.
The report said that if the amount of biofuels were raised above 5.6 percent, "there is a real risk that indirect land use change could undermine the environmental viability of biofuels".
"The EU is gambling with the future of tropical forests and with climate-damaging greenhouse gases," said campaigner Adrian Bebb of Friends of the Earth Europe. "This demands an urgent review of EU biofuels policy."
Vegetable oils can be used in biodiesel, which has led to worries of increasing food prices as food crops get diverted to feed Europe's growing car fleet. But the study found little impact at 5.6 percent.
"The effect of EU biofuels policies on food prices will remain very limited, with a maximum price change on the food bundle of plus 0.5 percent in Brazil and plus 0.14 percent in Europe," it said. This finding contradicts other studies by the Commission, which showed that EU biofuel targets could raise the price of cereals and vegetable oils by 10 percent and 35 percent respectively, creating food shortages in the developing world. [ID:nLDE6241OC]
The European Biodiesel Board said its members faced tougher scrutiny than other vegetable oil buyers in the food industry, power generation or oleochemicals.
"Once this directive is in place, EU biofuels will be the most monitored and scrutinised product in the world," said secretary general Raffaello Garofalo. (Reporting by Pete Harrison, editing by Dale Hudson and Anthony Barker)
Ahmad Fairuz Othman and Ben Tan, The New Straits Times 25 Mar 10;
JOHOR BARU: Despite the relief from short rainy spells in several districts here, no end is in sight for the water shortage in the state.
Even the cloud-seeding exercises were halted between March 15 and 21 due to the absence of cumulus clouds.
State International Trade and Industry, Energy, Water, Communication and Environment Committee chairman Tan Kok Hong said without the clouds, the cloud- seeding exercise which was being done following the dry spell in central Johor, would be rendered useless.
Tan said cloud-seeding exercises were carried out on Monday and Tuesday and they were still waiting for positive results.
"We will continue with the cloud-seeding exercises whenever the clouds reappear."
The exercise, which is costing the state RM500,000, is being jointly carried out by the Bahagian Kawalselia Air Johor (Bakaj) which coordinates the water resources in the state, the Meteorological Department and Department of Irrigation and Drainage.
Tan said the state was waiting for the green light from the Meteorological Department to resume the cloud-seeding exercise.
Though the cloud-seeding exercises had shown minor improvements last week, the situation had not improved this week as the water levels at dams and rivers in the state, especially in central Johor, were still at unstable levels.
Yesterday, it was announced that the latest drought-hit district, Batu Pahat, would join Kluang in the state's water rationing exercise, as the Bekok dam's level has dipped below its critical level.
The state water management company SAJ Holdings Sdn Bhd said a month-long water rationing exercise for Batu Pahat would begin on March 29.
Rationing exercise is being carried out in an effort to halt further decline of the water level in the Bekok river and dam which supplies most of its water to Batu Pahat.
SAJ's corporate communications head Jamaluddin Jamil said water levels at the Bekok dam registered 9.3 metres, which is below the 10m critical mark.
He also pointed out that due to the low levels of water there was high levels of aluminium, ammonia and chloride in the water.
"There is, however, nothing to worry about as the water is treated before reaching households.
Nevertheless, he urged people in Batu Pahat and Kluang to use water sparingly until the current dry spell ends.
"We also have several water tankers on standby at the two districts to supply water to remote areas as part of our contingency plan," he said.
pix_middle
On the overall water situation in central Johor, Jamaluddin said it was still manageable and there had been slight improvement in Kluang and Mersing due to the rains brought by the cloud-seeding exercises.
Camelia Pasandaran, Jakarta Globe 25 Mar 10;
The government on Wednesday maintained that flooding in Karawang, West Java, was not a national disaster but was a local one, despite thousands of homes having been partially inundated for days after the Citarum River overflowed its banks.
Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Agung Laksono described the Karawang flooding, which has seen more than 6,000 houses partially submerged under up to four meters of water, as “a local disaster, not a national one.”
“But President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has asked the central government to give more attention to the disaster,” Agung said in a statement on the ministry’s Web site.
The Karawang flooding resulted in more than 50,000 people being relocated to drier ground in trucks and rubber boats.
Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al’Jufrie said the government had already provided aid and would provide more.
“Today [Thursday] we gave them Rp 500 million [$55,000],” he said.
This was in addition to Rp 200 million that had been given several days ago, Salim said. The amount of monetary aid would eventually total about Rp 1 billion and items such as tents, food and blankets would also be provided, he said.
The rest of the aid is expected to be disbursed over the next few days, he said.
“We will reconstruct the destroyed houses,” Salim said. “The local government will help.”
He added that the funding would come from the regional budget.
Salim blamed the floods on torrential rains over the past two months, which have swollen the rivers in the area.
“I hope that the rainfall and the reservoir levels will decrease,” he said.
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