Best of our wild blogs: 27 Dec 10

Mei Lin, the explorer's last dives of 2010
from Psychedelic Nature

Rare mangroves at Kranji, with special find?
from wild shores of singapore

Search for Glowing Mushrooms
from Macro Photography in Singapore

Milky Stork乳白鹳@Japanese garden星和园
from PurpleMangrove

sentosa
from into the wild

Christmas Eve with Big Sister
from The Gal - Nicole and The annotated budak

Monday Morgue: 27th December 2010
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales

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For PR's sake, free the dolphins

Letter from Roger Chow Today Online 27 Dec 10;

I REFER to recent reports that two of the seven dolphins destined for Resorts World Sentosa's (RWS) Marine Life Park have died in captivity.

RWS has stated that its decision to exhibit the dolphins is a fulfilment of obligations in its winning bid to build one of Singapore's two integrated resorts. If it is therefore beholden to the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), then perhaps STB should instead take the initiative in changing course before a dreadful situation is made worse.

Ho Wai the killer whale died in Hong Kong's Ocean Park in 1997 after she lost too much blood in her intestine. She died aged about 22, compared to a natural lifespan of around 50 for those in the wild.

The nation mourned and many questioned the initial wisdom of placing such an elegant creature in captivity.

When more dolphins die prematurely or unnaturally in Singapore - and they surely will, as studies have shown that such marine creatures almost always fare poorly in captivity - a similar backlash will occur.

This will tarnish the image of STB, RWS and Singapore as an environmentally-enlightened nation. It makes commercial and ecological sense to avert the PR disaster before it happens.

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India: Olive Ridley nesting at peril

Satyasundar Barik The Hindu 27 Dec 10;

BHUBANESWAR: Will the spectacular sight of mass congregation of endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles for mating and nesting on the beaches of Gahirmatha become history?

The beaches coming under the Gahirmatha Marine Wildlife Sanctuary have shrunk considerably. A 32-km-long beach has shrunk to less than one kilometre in the past 35 years.

Gahirmatha is one of the first rookeries of turtles discovered along the Orissa coast.

A group of researchers from the Wildlife Institute of India and the Orissa Forest Department noticed the trend while studying the offshore distribution and migration pattern of Olive Ridleys along the country's east coast.

While presenting the outcome of the study spanning from 2007 to 2010 here recently, B. C. Choudhury, WII scientist and principal investigator of the study, said: “When as a researcher I worked in 1975, we used to walk a 32-km stretch beach where nesting used to take place. When the fragmentation occurred, at that point of time the nesting beach was six km long. And today it is about 950 metre.”

Fragmented space

In 2004, Islands of Nasi-I and Nasi II in Gahirmatha used to be continuous, but now the space was fragmented, Mr. Choudhury said. “Smaller patches of beach are often submerged. But when these are exposed, there is little space available for nesting by turtles.” The area available for nesting was 1,80,000 square metre in 2004.

Mr. Choudhury said that in 2009, all smaller patches went under water and a very small piece of extended sand bar got attached to the Wheeler Island, which was being used by the Defence Research Development Organisation for missile testing. The nesting took place on the sandbar which was about 78,300 square metre.

“In 2010, the total mass nesting area is about 1,000 metre long by 53 metre width. You can easily calculate what is the total area? And even by wildest stretch of imagination, can you believe that 4.5 lakh turtles will lay their eggs in that area,” the WII scientist asked.

“Nesting by four to five turtles in a square metre area is very high density. Imagine the scenario on one metre square area where the first turtle will lay eggs, the second turtle will probably dig out those eggs. When 1.5 lakh eggs are laid and covered, probably 50,000 eggs are taken out.”

Two other mass nesting beaches are on the mouth of rivers Rushikulya and Devi along the Orissa coast.

The study also said that nesting density (4 to5 turtles per square metre area) was high in Gahirmatha compared to Rushikulya (0.80 to one per square metre area) during the 2009-10 nesting season. Low erosion and sporadic nesting resulted in high hatching success at Devi.

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US shark fin restrictions carry little weight in HK

Joyce Woo Sun Yahoo News 26 Dec 10;

HONG KONG (AFP) – The US Senate's move to toughen laws on shark finning is unlikely to have much impact in Hong Kong, dubbed the "Grand Central Station" of the controversial trade, environmentalists say.

The new legislation passed last week is aimed at protecting the ancient fish which experts fear is on the brink of extinction due to growing demand in Chinese restaurants, which use the fins in a hugely popular soup.

Few places prize the gelatinous delicacy more than Hong Kong, where it is a staple at high-end restaurants and wedding banquets, a mark of affluence in a city that accounts for as much as 80 percent of the world trade in fins.

Hong Kong was the largest importer of shark fin globally in 2007, buying about 277 million US dollars worth of fins, or 10,209 tonnes, according to United Nations figures.

One kilogram (2.2 pounds) from certain species can sell for 120 US dollars or more in Hong Kong.

The appetite for shark fin seems unlikely to wane, despite growing criticism online and among some couples who refuse to serve the soup at their weddings.

Hong Kong-born action star Jackie Chan, NBA superstar Yao Ming and Taiwanese movie director Ang Lee have also campaigned for shark conservation.

But demand remains strong and tens of millions of sharks are killed each year, often by fishermen who slice off their fins before throwing them back in the water to die.

The US banned finning 10 years ago, but the new law closes a loophole that allowed it in the Pacific as long as sharks were not finned onboard a vessel and led to a booming clandestine industry.

The bill does not ban the sale of shark fin, which is readily available in many upscale Chinese restaurants in the US.

Silvy Pun, a spokeswoman for the conservation group WWF Hong Kong, told AFP the US move would have little impact on the trade in the southern Chinese city.

"More than 80 countries actively contribute to Hong Kong's shark fin imports and the US is only one of them," she said.

"A lot more could be done, especially in terms of banning shark-slaughtering or at least imposing a legal limit on how many sharks can be killed each year," she added.

Hong Kong's government said it abides by restrictions on the trade under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

But even the Hong Kong fisheries and conservation department serves shark's fin soup at official events and has no plans to change the policy, a spokeswoman told AFP.

Pun described Hong Kong's position as "disappointing" and said she wanted other countries to follow the US example.

Shark's fin shops are common in Hong Kong and dealers reacted angrily to the tougher US laws, accusing campaigners of attacking Chinese culinary culture.

"It's because green groups always go around telling people not to eat shark fin... They are brainwashing the public," said Mak Ching-po, chairman of the Hong Kong Dried Seafood and Grocery Merchants' Association.

"Why don't they go after the foods of other cultures like caviar or foie gras? They simply want us and the whole industry to die. It is turning Chinese culture upside down."

The issue made headlines again earlier this month when culinary bible Michelin Guide awarded its highest three-star rating to Sun Tung Lok, a Hong Kong restaurant which -- like many in the city -- serves shark's fin soup.

A restaurant spokesman said they respected the US decision but defended selling the soup.

"We are just doing our own thing -- serving food to our customers. It's important to remember that out of more than 100 dishes that we serve, only four to five dishes are shark fin. There's no need to magnify the issue," he said.

More than 50 local restaurants have signed on to a WWF campaign urging shark-fin free menus.

The WWF's Pun said she believed attitudes were turning against eating shark's fin, but urged the authorities to do more.

"The government should be taking a lead role in this. There's only so much civil groups can do -- we need legislation," she said.

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