Colugo baby
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Stumped
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National Day Outing to Lornie Trail
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature
Sea turtle release at Big Sisters: will they make it?
from wild shores of singapore and Project Orion II
Milton Sau Channel NewsAsia 24 Aug 10;
SINGAPORE : The waters around Singapore's southern Big Sister's Island are the study grounds for a project to protect endangered turtles.
Thirteen second-generation Hawksbill turtles have been released as part of the project.
The project is a collaboration by Singapore's Underwater World, Japan's Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium and an American marine agency, the National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration.
As part of Underwater World Singapore's conservation education programme, over 100 observers were present to witness the release. They include 20 students from CHIJ Kellock and representatives from groups such as Life Sciences Society of the National University of Singapore, PadiAware, Scouts and Wild Singapore.
Satellite trackers have been attached to the turtles to give researchers a better idea of how they behave.
Professor Peter Ng Kee Lin, director, Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, said: "One of the things about turtles is that we know very little about what they are doing out there in the wild...how far they go, where they are heading, do they go far from where they are released.
"I think the basic belief right now is, the more we know how they are moving out there, the more we can devise good conservation management."
Anthony Chang, curator, Underwater World Singapore, said: "We have decided that perhaps the Big Sister's island is the most ideal one, given the profile of the beach as well the lesser boat traffic around this area. Obviously, we would not want to release the turtles and have a boat hit them." - CNA/ms
Turtles make a splash for science
Conservation bid sees 8 of 18 hawksbill turtles freed fitted with tracking devices
Victoria Vaughan Straits Times 25 Aug 10;
EIGHTEEN critically endangered hawksbill turtles, eight of them fitted with tracking devices, raced to the sea yesterday at Big Sister Island (Pulau Subar Laut), south of Sentosa.
The event is thought to be the first tagging and release of captive-bred hawksbill turtles in the world, according to experts The Straits Times spoke to. Globally, only about 60 to 80 nesting hawksbill turtles have been tagged.
Of those released yesterday, 13 were young turtles from the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium in Japan. They had been bred in captivity from parents donated by Underwater World Singapore (UWS) in 1997 and 2002.
In a collaboration between the aquariums and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Hawaii, eight of the turtles, all aged three, were fitted with satellite-linked tags, which will beam location information to the aquariums via France and the United States.
Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research director Peter Ng said: 'Five of the seven species of sea turtles can be found locally, with sightings of the hawksbill occurring frequently, making it a very important focal point for conservation.
'We must learn their idiosyncrasies before we can plan to protect them.'
Hawksbill turtles are threatened by fishing practices, and are also caught for food and to make items such as combs from their shells.
Each tracking device, which costs around US$2,000 (S$2,700), transmits every 45 seconds when the turtle is on the ocean's surface. It is hoped that six months of data will be collected before the devices run out of battery, or drop off as the turtles grow.
Five 1 1/2-year-old turtles, with shells measuring 30cm across, were too small to be tagged. The remaining five adult turtles - two males and three females - were resident at UWS for about 16 years, and were picked from the 19 such turtles there for release due to their good health and chances of survival.
Although the turtles have spent their lives in captivity, the experts are confident of their survival in the wild.
Said NOAA turtle expert George Balazs: 'Turtles are not highly evolved and are more inclined to their survival instincts than any intellectual thought process, so they are more likely to adapt well to the wild, unlike captive-bred dolphins, for example.'
UWS curator Anthony Chang added: 'The turtles have undergone conditioning for the wild. We created something that looks like a shallow reef and put food under rocks to get them used to searching for food.'
Turtle power
Victoria Vaughan Straits Times 24 Aug 10;
CRITICALLY endangered captive bred turtles tagged with tracking devices sped to the sea, the first release of its kind on these shores.
A total of 18 hawksbill turtles, eight of which were fitted with a tracking device, were returned to the sea on Tuesday at Big Sister Island (Pulau Subar Laut).
Globally only about 60 to 80 nesting hawksbill turtles have been tagged and this is thought to be the first release and tagging of captive bred hawksbill turtles.
Turtles are threatened by fishing practices as well as direct catching for food and crafts made from their shells. Thirteen young turtles came from Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium having been bred in captivity from parents donated from Underwater World Singapore (UWS) in 1997 and 2002.
In a collaboration between the two aquariums and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) eight of these turtles, aged three, were fitted with satellite tags which will beam back location information. Five one-and-half year old turtles, with shells measuring 30cms, were too small to tag.
The remaining five adult turtles released, two male three female, were resident at Underwater World Singapore for about 16 years. They were picked from the 19 such turtles for release due to their good health and chance of survival.
Endangered Hawksbill turtles released off Singapore
(AFP) Google News 24 Aug 10;
SINGAPORE — Thirteen endangered sea turtles born and bred in Japan were released off Singapore waters Tuesday as part of efforts to conserve the species.
The five one-year-olds and eight three-year-olds are the offspring of Hawksbill turtles donated by the Underwater World Singapore aquarium to the Port of Nagoya aquarium in 1997 and 2002.
They were brought to Singapore earlier this year and kept at the Underwater World aquarium before the eventual release into their natural habitat.
"I feel a sense of great relief because the turtles are where they belong,' George Balazs, biologist and leader of marine turtle research at the Hawaii-based Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center.
"Sea turtles in the sea," the scientist said after the last turtle swam into the water.
The three-year-olds were fitted with satellite tracking devices so that scientists can follow their progress.
The turtles were first transported in boxes from nearby Sentosa island and then released on a stretch of beach on Big Sister's Island.
They crawled down the beach to the water's edge and disappeared into the sea as conservationists, scientists, students and the media erupted into cheers and applause.
"This release project has our strong desire that we want to return those Japanese-born turtles to Singaporean sea (which is) the native place of their parents," said Makoto Soichi, director with the Nagoya aquarium.
Underwater World Singapore said cooperation was key to efforts to conserve turtles which are regarded as a delicacy in parts of Asia.
"We hope that our integrated and collaborative efforts will contribute to our better understanding of Hawksbill turtle behaviour and improve turtle conservation efforts," said Peter chew, deputy general manager of the Singapore aquarium.
Turtle soup is a delicacy in parts of Asia and turtle shells are crushed into powder for use in a jelly dessert.
The Hawksbill shell is also used to make products like combs, ornamental hairpins and glasses frames.
Speech from Hawksbill turtle tag and release event
AsiaOne 24 Aug 10;
Full text of speech by Dr Mohamad Maliki bin Osman, Parliamentary Secretary for National Development:
Mr Chng Hwee Hong, Executive Director, Haw Par Corporation and Deputy Chairman, Underwater World Singapore,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Students and Teachers,
Good afternoon. I am happy to join you today at Big Sister's Island for the Hawksbill Turtle Tag and Release event. I note that the event, hosted by the Underwater World Singapore, has been organised in commemoration of the International Year of Biodiversity.
The United Nations has declared 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity. It is a celebration of the variety of life on Earth and of the value of biodiversity for our lives. As we learn to appreciate the wonders of nature, it is important that we also understand that everyone is dependent on nature and the natural ecosystems that support biodiversity. It is important that all parties come together to share their knowledge and experience on how best to safeguard the Earth's biodiversity.
Singapore, despite being a small country with competing needs for limited resources, has strived to balance economic development and biodiversity conservation. We are also committed to contributing to biodiversity conservation at the international level. In fact, Singapore is working with the Convention on Biological Diversity (or CBD) Secretariat on developing the CBD-led Cities' Biodiversity Index. This is being done in partnership with the Global Partnership on Cities and Biodiversity . There is currently a lack of self-assessment tools that cities can use in measuring their conservation efforts. The Cities' Biodiversity Index will hence go towards helping cities benchmark their biodiversity conservation efforts over time.
I would like to applaud the joint collaborative effort of Underwater World Singapore (UWS), the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium of Japan (PNPA), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of USA (NOAA) to conserve the Hawksbill turtle. This species of turtle is internationally acknowledged as endangered and is listed as "critically endangered" in The Singapore Red Data Book - a source of reference for conservation plans and efforts of various governmental and non-governmental organisations published by Nature Society, Singapore.
I understand that satellite-tracking devices will be fitted on the turtles that will be released today to study their migratory behaviour, and the results would be shared at various international scientific forums this year. This study will help us to better understand the behaviour of Hawksbill turtles and improve turtle conservation efforts.
I am pleased to see that students and forum participants from this morning's multidisciplinary forum on turtle conservation have joined us for the turtle release. With concerted and coordinated efforts by scientists, and the passionate support of individuals like you, our biodiversity conservation efforts will continue to be strengthened. If we work hard today, our children and grandchildren will also get their chance to enjoy the richness of nature that we today enjoy. Thank you.
Related links
Sea turtle release at Big Sisters: will they make it? on wild shores of singapore.
Island adventure teaches young Olympians value of communication, teamwork
English.news.cn 24 Aug 10;
SINGAPORE, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) athletes were met with challenges in their island adventure and found teamwork and communication the solution to beat them.
The full-day adventure at Pulau Ubin is part of the 50-event Culture and Education Program that has been running parallel with the sporting events in the inaugural YOG here and athletes would be faced with several challenges, including a high-rope obstacle course and building a seaworthy raft.
Activities deputy director Siva Machap from Singapore said on Tuesday that the popularity of the Outward Bound program stems from its combination of fun activities and meaningful messages.
"This is meant to prepare them for life outside the competitive arena and to experience the Olympic values in action," he said. "They like working with people across national boundaries instead of competing against them."
The activity is so heavily over-subscribed that initial plans to limit the island journey to 144 athletes each day have been scrapped and now 200 are jumping on the ferries to participate.
The British athletic team made this trip right after their competition.
"We booked it straight away because we were really looking forward to it," said Jo Jennings. "Our athletes didn't finish until Monday so Pulau Ubin is our first culture and education activity."
Lebanese swimmer Abbas Raad said the activity day was just one more way for the Games to connect him to people around the world.
"Today is pretty cool," he said. "It opens your mind to the world and connects you to other people. We're all mixed and now we are all on the same team. We are all one, working together. You need others who are not from your country."
Athletes loving island life
Straits Times 26 Aug 10;
WHEN the idea of taking athletes to Pulau Ubin was mooted, there were worries that it would be too far away, that athletes would refuse to sacrifice a whole day, or would rather avoid the risk of injury.
But the programme at Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) has been a hit.
Just ask Chinese swimmer Tang Yi, the Games' most successful athlete.
'I took part in an activity called Island Adventure. which included climbing, rowing and diving. Athletes from different countries participated together,' said the winner of six gold medals.
'Everyone felt great! What I feared most was climbing, because I am afraid of heights. However, with the encouragement from the rest, I finally climbed over a 4m wall. It was incredible.'
Over 1,000 athletes from 122 National Olympic Committees have taken part and OBS activities deputy director Siva Machap said 80 per cent of participants rated their experience as 'awesome'.
'I want them to carry that spirit of camaraderie home with them,' he added.
XINHUA, YOUTH OLYMPIC NEWS SERVICE
Bernama 24 Aug 10;
HO CHI MINH CITY, Aug 24 (Bernama) -- The General Department of Aquaculture will work with the Customs to enforce a ban on the import of the red-eared slider, a turtle that is considered an invasive species and harmful to local ecosystems, according to Vietnam news agency.
The turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans) is semi-aquatic and eats a variety of animals and plants including fish, crayfish, carrion, snails, crickets and numerous aquatic plant species. Red-eared sliders have been imported into Vietnam during the past several years.
Vu Van Tam, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development said the ministry would also ban breeding of red-eared sliders.
The General Department of Aquaculture is conducting a nationwide inspection on imports of aquatic animals including the red-eared slider, and will issue a full list by the end of the year on aquatic animals that pose substantial threats to the country's ecosystems.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will then draft new regulations on the management of imported aquatic animals.
Under these regulations, violators that breed or set free any creature that damages the environment will be fined up to VND20 million (US$1,050).
The ministry has asked the General Department of Aquaculture to work with the Can Tho aquaculture import-export joint-stock company to re-export thousands of red-eared turtles the company imported several months ago.
These turtles are sold at many shops in major cities, making their trade difficult to control, according to PhD Le Xuan Canh from the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources.
The ministry has asked the aquaculture department to offer guidance to local authorities in efforts to eliminate the turtles from local rivers, ponds and rice fields.
-- BERNAMA
We’ll nab rogue elephant soon, says wildlife department
Ruben Sario The Star 25 Aug 10;
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah wildlife department, which has been trekking two rampaging elephants over the past two weeks in the Felda Umas Umas area, is confident it will corner them by this weekend.
The two adult male elephants have damaged a lot of crops and caused fear among the 700 families there.
Land settlers at Umas Umas said they had been worried for their safety since the appearance of the elephants sometime in mid-August.
Settler Madri Jamin, 34, said the elephants first destroyed ornamental plants at the entrance of the settlement before moving in to damage their crops.
“Since the elephants appeared, we have been afraid of stepping out of our houses after dark,” he said.
The settlers recalled an incident last year when some elephants almost destroyed a workers’ quarters.
Department director Laurentius Ambu said the elephants had likely wandered off from the patches of forests in Tingkayu into the Umas Umas land development scheme.
“The elephants have found themselves in a limited habitat,” he said, adding it was a classic case of human-elephant conflict.
Laurentius said the department has to spend about two days to make repairs to its specially-equipped lorry in Kota Kinabalu before despatching it to Tawau to transport the elephants.
Once tranquilised, the elephants would be sent to either the Tabin wildlife reserve or the Ulu Segama forest reserve in nearby Lahad Datu, he said.
Antara 24 Aug 10;
Liwa, W Lampung (ANTARA News) - Illegal hunting has partly pushed deer to the brink of extinction in West Lampung district, authorities and local residents said.
Therefore, Head of West Lampung district Mukhlis Basri urged local deer hunters to stop their activity because they had evidently contributed to the damage of the deer population and their food sources.
"Local residents activity to hunt deer must stop because it has contributed to the damage of the animals` food resources and pushed the animal to the brink of extinction," he said.
The illegal hunting activity did not only threaten the deer and other endangered animals population but also people living in forest areas due to the increasing conflicts between humans and animals, Basri said.
The same concerns were also echoed by Edi Susanto, 41, a resident of Badardalam village, Bengkunat Belimbing sub-district, West Lampung district, Lampung province.
He said he was deeply concerned about the shrinking population of deer and other animals in West Lampung district due to the continuing hunting activity.
"Local hunters do that every day. In the coming years, the deer will become endangered," he said adding that the extinction of deer had instigated the conflict between human beings and wild animals such as tigers.
"Local hunters are the main factor behind the extinction of deer in our area. This situation needs to be responded to by the related authorities so that the deer population can be preserved," he said.
The illegal hunting activity had also become a serious threat to such endangered animals as Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris Sumatrae).
Spokesman of Bengkulu Province`s Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), Supatono, for instance, acknowledged that.
Supatono recently said that the hunting had even threatened the government`s efforts to increase the population of Sumatran tigers from 400 to 800 by 2012.
Poor surveillance of illegal hunting activities were one of the challenging factors besides poor habitat and insufficient food, he said.
In handling those illegal hunters, a comprehensive task force involving forest rangers, police and military apparatuses, environmentalists, and conservationists, was needed, he said.
The illegal hunters remained serious threats to the government`s efforts to save the Sumatran tigers.
At the same time, the growth of this big cat`s population was much slower than that of other wild animals, such as forest pigs, he said.
All stake holders need to work together to deal with all hampering factors so that the number of Sumatran tigers could be increased up to 800 by 2012 as expected, he said.(*)
Yahoo News 24 Aug 10;
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Malaysian activists on Tuesday applauded a decision by Norway's state pension fund to blacklist timber firm Samling Global, which is accused of rampant environmental destruction in Borneo.
Rights campaigners have also accused Samling of trampling on the rights of indigenous people, particularly the Penan tribe in Malaysian Borneo, who have mounted blockades against the firm to protect their ancestral land.
Norway's state pension fund, one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, accused Samling Global of "extensive and repeated breaches" of regulations in Sarawak state.
"The Council on Ethics has assessed Samling Global, and concluded that the company's forest operations in the rainforests of Sarawak and Guyana contribute to illegal logging and severe environmental damage," it said.
Sarawak and neighbouring Sabah state make up the Malaysian half of Borneo, a huge resource-rich island shared with Indonesia.
At the end of 2009, the Norwegian fund, which contains nearly all state revenues from the country's prosperous oil and gas industry, held 8.1 million kroner (1.3 million dollars) in stock in Samling, which has now been sold.
The corruption watchdog Transparency International Malaysia, which has linked illegal logging with timber firms' big donations to political parties, said the blacklist was a wake-up call.
"I hope this will be a deterrent to other timber firms that while they are trying to maximise their profits, they must consider the environmental balance and protection," said deputy president Mohamad Ali Hasan.
Norwegian authorities "have done it right. They are not only protecting the forest but also the indigenous population. They deserve a better environment, their peace and the right to live," he told AFP.
There was no immediate comment from the Malaysian government, and Mohamad Ali challenged the authorities to prove the Norwegian findings wrong if they disagreed with the move.
Samling said it was "disappointed" by the decision.
"Their public characterisation of us is inaccurate and not based on complete information," it said in a statement. "The company remains committed to continual improvement in our sustainable forest management efforts."
However, Jok Jau Evong, coordinator for Friends of the Earth Malaysia and a leading campaigner for the rights of rainforest people, said Samling's exclusion would force Malaysian authorities to finally address the issue.
"As far as our people are concerned, especially the Penan, they have long suffered at the hands of the logging operations by Samling," he said.
"And it's not only logging -- now they are also bringing this monoculture tree plantation project into Sarawak," he said of the vast stands of foreign timber species which have levelled swathes of Borneo forest.
"This decision sets a precedent... it forces the Malaysian government to be serious about the problem faced by the Penan."
Sofiah Jamil Jakarta Post 24 Aug 10;
The recent episode of heatwaves and the resulting fires in West and Central Russia are said to be the worst in Russian history.
Indeed, this event corresponds with the fact that the global temperature recorded for 2010 is the warmest to date, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
However, closer examination reveals that the outbreak of fires in Russia is similar to the Indonesian experience — particularly in 1998 and 2006 — when peatland fires caused incidents of transboundary haze which affected other ASEAN countries.
Moreover, Russia and Indonesia show similarities in the cause and impacts of the fires and to a lesser extent, the responses to address the problem.
According to Wetlands International, 80 to 90 percent of the thick smog covering Moscow was caused by fires in peatland areas, as was the case for the Southeast Asian transboundary haze that stemmed mainly from Sumatra, Indonesia.
It should come as no surprise then that Russia and Indonesia are amongst the top three countries worldwide with the largest peatland occurrences (i.e. drained peatlands).
The socio-economic impact of the fires show a transnational reach. The smog and haze that engulfed Moscow and Southeast Asia (mainly Singapore and Malaysia) respectively have caused a dip in economic activity, especially in trade and tourism, due to poor visibility.
Adverse health implications have also been a concern in both countries, with advisories given to the elderly, children and those pregnant or suffering from respiratory ailments to avoid the outdoors.
The Russian fires have also an added dimension to adverse health effects, given the spread of fires to neighboring Ukraine, and in particular to areas affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
This may increase the potency of radioactive particles that still remain, thereby affecting residents in the area. In Russia itself, concern looms with news of fires spreading close to Russia’s leading nuclear research center in Sarov.
To make matters worse, such adverse consequences have not even taken into account the effects from higher temperatures. For instance, Russia and Indonesia have both experienced losses in agricultural output due to the lack of rainfall for crops.
This has threatened their sufficiency in wheat and rice respectively. As a result, Russia has imposed a ban on wheat exports to safeguard domestic food prices.
Even so, recent news reports have suggested that the ban has not stopped the price of bread in Moscow increasing by 20 percent. The situation was much grimmer in Indonesia in 1998 as the reduced rice production coupled with the fall of Soeharto sent the price of rice skyrocketing by 300 percent.
In terms of responses to the fires, national efforts have for the most part been inefficient. In the case of Indonesia, it was faced with socio-political upheavals immediately after the fall of Soeharto and hence issues pertaining to the environment were put on the backburner.
Moreover, decentralization in Indonesia in subsequent years meant that not only did local and provincial governments enjoy greater political power, it also allowed them to behave like authoritarian leaders in their own right.
In a bid for a quick buck, many local leaders gave concessions to private firms rather freely. These firms often adopted the slash and burn method for land clearing thereby contributing to the transboundary haze even till 2006.
In Russia’s case, Prime Minister Vladmir Putin displayed a highly active response in mobilizing available resources to mitigate the spread of the fires. Nevertheless, Russia does seem to experience some obstacles, which Indonesia had initially experienced. The main ones are the lack of resources dedicated to the forestry sector — exacerbated by corruption — and difficulties in reaching remote villages affected by the fires.
This does not suggest that Indonesia is now free from these obstacles; rather the Indonesian government is pressured to act due to increased criticism from the media and civil society.
Given the lack of capacity at the national level to address the vast spread of fires, regional/ international assistance has been crucial. Russia received aid from European countries and the United States, particularly fire-fighting equipment and manpower.
However such efforts are only the tip of the iceberg, as the dried peatlands may continue to burn underground. Investments thus need to be made in irrigating the drained peatlands, thereby moistening the peat and even providing the basis of more sustainable development.
Indonesia has realized this and has engaged various international players, such as funding from Japan and the Netherlands to introduce peatland irrigation initiatives. Furthermore, it maintains regional cooperation, particularly with Malaysia and Singapore, in strengthening regional capacity.
ASEAN can thus play a significant role in Russia’s current plight, by sharing its transboundary haze experiences with Russia.
Such an opportunity is not too far on the horizon, given the upcoming Second ASEAN-Russia Summit, which will take place alongside the 17th ASEAN Summit in late October 2010.
Initiatives to address peatland fires should therefore be tabled for discussion during the summit, which would indeed deepen ASEAN-Russia ties.
Missing such as opportunity would not help ASEAN’s efforts of positioning itself as a significant regional player.
The writer is Associate Research Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 24 Aug 10;
The government says it will file an official claim on Wednesday with Thai oil and gas company PTTEP Australasia for environmental damage caused by an oil spill in the Timor Sea.
Rote Ndao Regent Leonard Haning said he wanted more than Rp 7 trillion (US$784 million) in compensation for environmental damage of and economic losses to the regency, which has been the region most greatly affected by the disaster.
Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said that negotiators from Indonesia and PTTEP Australasia would meet on Aug. 25 in Perth.
It will be the second meeting after the PTTEP Australasia oil platform exploded in the Montara field off Australia’s north coast in August 2009. The first meeting was held last month, also in Perth.
“The Indonesian negotiating team will mention a sum for financial compensation, which will be based on estimated environmental, social and economic losses from the oil spill,” he told reporters on Monday.
Gusti declined to say what sum Indonesian negotiators would propose.
A source who declined to be named said Indonesia would likely demand Rp 19 trillion in reparations, which would include Rp 7 trillion for Rote Ndao.
Chief Indonesian negotiator Masnellyarti Hilman also declined to comment on the proposed amount for compensation.
Masnellyarti said that the total area affected by the oil spill has continued to increase.
“Satellite imaging shows the impacted area is only 28,662 square kilometers but our field findings indicate the spill has spread to over 70,341 square kilometers,” she said.
Masnellyarti said that Indonesia has spent Rp 1.9 billion to date on operational costs such as surveys, meetings and visits to Perth.
The proposal that PTTEP will receive includes a calculation of the damage to the ecosystem, she said.
“We have computed the need for restoration of ecosystems such as mangrove, coral reefs, sea grass and seaweed,” she said.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) said it would take 10 years for the coral reef and mangrove ecosystems to recover while marine life would require two years.
The Rote Ndao regent said that he would ask for Rp 7.9 trillion in financial compensation.
“The oil spill disaster has affected the livelihoods of more than 21,000 fishermen in 48 villages in Rote Ndao regency,” Leonard said.
“The figure includes the cost of restoring the damaged coastal ecosystem and other social effects, such as transportation and education,” he told reporters.
Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi, who is also Ocean Oil Spill Emergency Situations National Team head, previously said the government would seek initial compensation of Rp 500 billion for direct losses.
Samples collected by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry indicate that the hydrocarbons it found in the Timor Sea were similar to samples taken from the Montara platform, as previously reported.
The Environment Ministry said its analysis showed the quality of sea water in Timor Sea failed to meet tolerable levels set by Indonesian government.
Indonesia Claims Trillions of Rupiah for Environmental Damage in Timor Sea
TEMPO Interactive 24 Aug 10;
Jakarta:Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi said Indonesia’s claim to the Montara Well Head Platform, in relation to the oil slicks from the Montara Refinery in the Timor Sea, East Nusa Tenggara, will amount to trillions of rupiah.
However, Freddy refused to give details on the exact amount. His office said a study has been completed on related data needed. He said the data can be scientifically tested by the company.
“The company can send a consultant to check the data’s validity,” Freddy said after meeting with the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs and a few other ministers to discuss the arrest of Maritime and Fishery Ministry’s officials in Bintan Bay, yesterday.
He said a team of attorneys from Indonesia will negotiate the data again before it is handed to Montara, today. “We worked overtime to prepare this,” he added.
According to Freddy, the claim is addressed to Montara and not to Australia because Australian fishermen are also impacted by the oil slicks. “Australia will also sue the company and Montara must pay the compensation,” he said.
Freddy said the format of the claim for the Montara case is the same as that for similar cases in Batam.
Montara Refinery exploded in August 2009, polluting the Timor Sea. The pollution spread to the regencies of Rote Ndao, Laut Sawu, Sabu Raijua, and Timor Island’s southern coast. The oil slicks from the Australian company have brought disadvantages to the local people.
SUTJI DECILYA
Indonesia to seek $2.2 bln oil spill claim - source
* PTTEP says not enough evidence to pay Timor Sea spill claim
* Claim to be watched by industry after Gulf of Mexico spill
* PTTEP, Indonesian government officials to meet in Perth
* PTTEP shares reverse gains to be down 0.4 pct (Adds reversal in PTTEP's stock price)
Olivia Rondonuwu and Wilawan Pongpitak Reuters AlertNet 25 Aug 10;
JAKARTA/BANGKOK, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Indonesia plans to seek at least $2.2 billion in compensation from Thailand's state-controlled PTT Exploration and Production Plc
But PTTEP chief executive Anon Sirisaengtaksin said the claim was not backed by evidence of economic damage from the oil that spilled into Indonesian and Australian waters after a rig operated by PTTEP Australasia caught fire in August 2009.
The size of compensation, if any, from one of the worst oil spills in Australian history is likely to be watched closely during the massive cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico from BP Plc's
"We have the final claim now and it will be above 20 trillion rupiah ($2.2 billion), roughly," said the Indonesian source, who declined to be identified because the negotiations are private. "That is what we will put on the table. We understand that we will need to prove the claim based on scientific argumentation."
The impasse comes as PTTEP officials and Indonesian government representatives plan to meet in the Western Australia city of Perth to discuss compensation for the two-month spill.
Indonesia's claim is higher than analysts had expected.
The Jakarta Post newspaper reported on Tuesday that Indonesia's claim would amount to $784 million. That itself is higher than the $55 million Indonesia initially asked PTTEP to pay in damages to local people and fisherman in the area.
PTTEP's Anon said the Thai company had conducted its own studies and found there was not enough evidence of damage to justify paying compensation claims proposed by Indonesia.
"I believe there's not enough," he told Reuters. "We have gathered all evidence from the site.... There should be facts to support the claim."
CONCERN OVER PROFIT FORECAST
The Jakarta Post report knocked PTTEP's stock price down 3 percent on Tuesday and raised speculation that analysts' forecasts for PTTEP's 2010 profit would need to be scaled back.
"If PTTEP needs to immediately book the $784 million as a fine it would lower our 2010 net profit estimate by 28 percent," brokers Kasikorn Securities said in a note to clients.
The stock was down 0.4 percent at 143.00 baht at 0750 GMT on Wednesday, reversing an earlier 0.7 percent rise. It has fallen 2.4 percent this year, compared to the Thai stock market's <.SETI> 21 percent rise.
PTTEP Australasia's West Atlas rig about 250 km (155 miles) offshore spilled about 400 barrels of oil per day into an area known for diverse sea life, drawing calls in Australia for a suspension on new projects and tighter industry regulations.
The rig is located in PTTEP's Montara development, where the start of production was delayed to the middle of next year from late 2009. The rig is owned by Norway's SeaDrill Ltd
PTTEP has said it is conducting safety tests before demolishing West Atlas and removing the wellhead platform. It plans to install a new platform and processing system. ($1=8975 Rupiah) (Additional reporting by Khettiya Jittapong. Writing by Jason Szep; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
New research suggests bacteria in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico may be eating oil plumes quickly
David Biello Scientific American 24 Aug 10;
These are boom times for oil-eating microbes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, thanks to BP's Deepwater Horizon accident that has added some 600 million liters of hydrocarbons to those waters. And now research published online in Science on August 24 shows that an array of new and unclassified oil-eating bacteria are feasting on the newly rich resource of hydrocarbons.
Microbial ecologist Terry Hazen of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and his colleagues used two ships to collect 200 samples from 17 deep water locations between May 25 and June 2. The samples revealed a broad array of microbes, closely related to those of the Oceanospirillales family that includes such oil eaters as Oleispirea antarctica, Oceaniserpentilla haliotis and Thalassolituus oleivorans. These new microbes—led by one particular unusually long (20 microns), yet to be named species that made up more roughly 95 percent of the community responding to the spill—had consumed roughly 8 percent of the available oxygen in these cold, deep waters as they busily converted hydrocarbons into more microbial cells, limited only by a lack of iron. As a result, oxygen saturation at depth dropped from an average of 67 percent to 59 percent while microbial cell concentrations doubled to 5,510 cells per milliliter compared with just 2,730 cells per milliliter outside the plume. So far, no one has measured an impact on other ocean life from the drop in oxygen, which is unexpectedly small, a fact that Hazen ascribes to the dispersed nature of the oil plume. "Concentrations of oil in this deep plume are so low that we don't see oxygen depletion," he explains.
The microbes did this at extremely low temperatures—4.7 degrees Celsius—that slow ordinary bacterium's metabolism as well as under high pressures. And it was a group of roughly 16 gamma-Proteobacteria species doing the bulk of the work. Genetic testing revealed these microbes engaged the same cellular equipment as known oil-eaters, such as Alcanivorax borkumensis from the Oceanospirillales order, to break down the hydrocarbons. Large quantities of the various genes necessary to such oil-eating work were found in hydrocarbon-contaminated waters compared to untainted waters.
The scientists also found that the microbes were making quick work of many of the hydrocarbons in the deep sea plumes. Alkanes, for instance—a hydrocarbon easily digested by such bacteria—could be consumed in as little as a day. In fact, the alkanes in these samples lasted, at best, roughly six days in the presence of microbes. Hazen and his colleagues attribute that quick work to the large contingent of such volatile hydrocarbons that are readily biodegradeable in the Louisiana light sweet crude spilled as well as the breaking up of the oil into small particles by chemical dispersants.
"Microbes eat [hydrocarbons] like we eat at a buffet: they like some compounds better than others," explained marine chemist Chris Reddy of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution during an August 19 press conference announcing the existence of such oil plumes—though their findings also published in Science suggested microbes were consuming the plume slowly in late June due to low levels of oxygen depletion. "They leave behind a fingerprint of what they chose to eat," Reddy explained.
In fact, some scientists disagree with the analysis of the biodegradation rates by Hazen and his colleagues. "The microbiology is very convincing," but the extrapolation to the rate of hydrocarbon consumption "is potentially flawed and gives the wrong impression," says biogeochemist David Valentine of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who is also attempting to characterize the microbial response to the oil spewing from BP's Macondo 252 well in the Gulf of Mexico. "They are probably measuring the dilution time for the early plume, more so than the biodegradation rate." In other words, the microbes don't eat the alkanes in the hydrocarbon plume in less than a week; rather these compounds get diluted among all the trillions of gallons of seawater in the Gulf.
Hazen agrees that dilution is a factor. But "there's a lot of biodegradation going on. Clearly we've shown that in the changes in the hydrocarbon ratios," he argues. "The only way that can change is by biodegradation."
Hazen's work on the oil spill sprang from techniques developed as part of BP's $500 million grant to the Energy Biosciences Institute—a research and development joint effort between LBNL, University of California, Berkeley and the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign. "This is what enabled us to immediately tell BP we have this whole program, do you want us to come down and help," Hazen says. "They invited us down."
Continued sampling by Hazen and his team—who have been taking samples since late May and will continue to do so in coming weeks, including sediment cores near the well itself—reveals that the plume may now be gone, thanks to the microbes' work and dilution. "For the last three weeks, we haven't been able to find anything in the deep water," he says. "We can't detect anything. It's mostly biodegradation probably."
And scientists agree that one thing is clear: the microbes of the deep Gulf of Mexico were ready to handle an oil spill. Hazen, who has studied previous oil spill sites, notes that natural oil seeps in the region ensure a constant presence of such cold-loving oil-eaters. "There's the equivalent of an Exxon-Valdez worth of oil going into the Gulf every year and that's been going on for millions of years," Hazen says. "These microbes have evolved to take advantage of that and outcompete everybody else."
New bacteria degrades oil faster, in deep, cold water: study
Yahoo News 25 Aug 10;
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A new species of bacteria found in the Gulf of Mexico degrades oil faster at deeper and colder depths than expected, scientists said Tuesday in a study that could explain how the BP oil spill has mostly disappeared.
The bacteria not only speeds up the bio-degradation of crude oil, but does it without depleting vital oxygen levels in the water, said the scientists who analyzed in May a plume of oil at a depth of 1,000-1,200 meters (3,600-4,000 feet), extending 16 kilometers (10 miles) out from the broken BP wellhead.
"Our findings, which provide the first data ever on microbial activity from a deepwater dispersed oil plume, suggest that a great potential for intrinsic bioremediation of oil plumes exists in the deep-sea," said Terry Hazen, a microbial ecologist with Berkeley Lab's Earth Sciences Division and lead author of the study.
"These findings also show that psychrophilic (cold temperature) oil-degrading microbial populations and their associated microbial communities play a significant role in controlling the ultimate fates and consequences of deep-sea oil plumes in the Gulf of Mexico," he added.
The bacteria live in waters as cold as five degrees Celsius (41 Fahrenheit) in a relatively unexplored microbial habitat in the Gulf of Mexico, where the pressure is enormous and there is normally little carbon present.
Once the BP wellhead was plugged on July 15, nearly three months after an explosion unleashed the worst oil spill in US history, US government investigators said 74 percent of the more than four million barrels of oil that leaked had evaporated, biodegraded or was recovered by mechanical means.
The Berkeley study attributed the faster than expected oil degradation in such cold water, in part, to "the nature of Gulf light crude, which contains a large volatile component that is more biodegradable."
Other accelerating factors, the scientists added, may have been the chemical dispersant Corexit used by BP at the source of the leak -- at 1,500 meters (nearly 5,000 feet) -- which broke up the oil into smaller particles, as well as the low overall concentrations of oil in the plume studied.
"In addition, frequent episodic oil leaks from natural seeps in the Gulf seabed may have led to adaptations over long periods of time by the deep-sea microbial community that speed up hydrocarbon degradation rates," they said.
The study also dispelled some oceanographers' fear that the oil bio-degradation would deplete oxygen levels in the water, creating so-called "dead-zones" where life cannot be sustained.
The Berkeley study found that oxygen saturation outside the plume was 67-percent while within the plume it was 59-percent.
The study published in the online edition of Science magazine contradicts the results of a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution research published Friday by the same magazine that said oil degradation would be slower in the cold depths of the Gulf.
It also appears to refute a University of Georgia study from a week ago that said 80 percent the oil leaked into the Gulf was still drifting beneath the surface of the Gulf posing and slowly decomposing, posing a significant threat to ecosystems in the area.
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