Best of our wild blogs: 25 Jan 14

New Record of a 4th Prosotas species
from Butterflies of Singapore

New Articles in Nature in Singapore and Singapore Biodiversity Records from Raffles Museum News

Tiger Shrike eats Bridelia tomentosa fruit
from Bird Ecology Study Group

A stroll in Pasir Ris Park
from Rojak Librarian

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Licences of 6 offshore fish farms discontinued

Channel NewsAsia 21 Jan 14;

Six offshore fish farms in Singapore had their licences discontinued as their annual production fell short of the target set by authorities. Even though all the farms appealed with the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, only one succeeded in keeping its licence.



Transcript from the video:

Six offshore fish farms in Singapore had their licences discontinued as their annual production fell short of the target set by authorities. Even though all the farms appealed with the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, only one succeeded in keeping its licence.

The owner of this farm managed to keep his licence until July. He said he invested about $200,000 in his farm. But the other farms were demolished today.

Since the 1980's AVA has required all fish farms to meet the minimum production target of 17 tonnes of fish annually. But this fish farm has only produced about 1.1 tonne of fish annually since 2008. Its owner had lodged a police report. He was upset that authorities had come to his farm to spray paint on this property to ensure that it is disposed properly.

"Is very stressful lah. Firstly, you lost everything. Nothing is you going to have anything back. You invested everything, you don't get anything back. For us small farmer, of course I am very sad about it," said Sheik Zaini, Affected Fish Farmer.

"This farm is start since 1980. From a fisherman village we have developed to a world-class country, but it's not like a machine, you put in ingredients, tomorrow you have fish. You need patience, you need a lot of love, you need a lot of sweat and blood." said Philip Lim, Chairman, Singapore Marine Aquaculture Cooperative.

Also in the Chinese media

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Why did AVA mark my items with paint?

Shaffiq Alkhatib The New Paper 24 Jan 14;

TNP PHOTO: GARY GOH

He returned to his kelong after a trip to the mainland and found many of his items marked with paint.

Mr Salim Sarjo, 52, said even though he did not see any Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) officers painting them, he saw a boat from the agency leaving the kelong. He recalled there were about four AVA officers on it.

His friend and business partner, Mr Sheikh Zaini Shahar, 49, filed a police report to take action against the AVA.

Responding to TNP’s queries as to why its officers had spray-painted items on the farm, the AVA said it had received public complaints that items from coastal fish farms were found drifting in the sea or washed up ashore. It added that any loose items and structures on farms were marked for identification purposes to ensure traceability.

Fish farmer files police report against AVA
Shaffiq Alkhatib The New Paper AsiaOne 26 Jan 14;

SINGAPORE- He had just attended a briefing on local farming by the Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) at its Veterinary Public Health Centre at Perahu Road off Lim Chu Kang Road.

And when he returned to his kelong, which is a 10-minute speedboat ride from Changi Point, he found many of his items marked with paint.

Mr Salim Sarjo, 52, told The New Paper on Jan 10 that even though he did not see any AVA officers painting them, he saw a boat from the agency leaving the farm at the Pulau Ubin Coastal Area at around 12.30pm on Oct 23 last year.

He recalled there were about four AVA officers on it.

Mr Salim, who also works as a senior technician for an aviation company, added: "I did not suspect anything at first. But I went up to the kelong and was shocked to see many items there defaced with spray paint.

"Things like barrels, my fridge, cabinet and some pieces of furniture were marked with silver paint. They are now marked with the number '90'.

"I think this is because we are fish farm number 'FC90E'."

The father of three boys and two girls aged between 13 and 25 years old also said the ends of some wooden planks were marked with orange paint.

His friend and business partner, Mr Sheikh Zaini Shahar, 49, filed a police report on Jan 1 to take action against the AVA. The police confirmed with TNP that a report was made and investigations were ongoing.

Speaking in Malay, Mr Sheikh Zaini, who is the father of two boys and four girls aged between nine and 35 years old, said he has known Mr Salim for 18 years through fishing. Both of them had decided to run a fish farm together as an investment for their old age.

RECEIVED LICENCE

In 2004, the two men received their licence to run the 5,000 sq m farm, about the size of a football field. Since then, he claims that they have invested a total of more than $300,000 on the venture.

Mr Sheikh Zaini, who also works as a production supervisor, added: "The items that had been spray painted cost us about $20,000 in all plus transportation costs. It costs money to take them from the mainland."

He said two days later, they received a letter from the AVA stating that it had revoked their licence to run the fish farm.

Among other things, it stated that the farm was not properly maintained and that it had not attained the minimum production of at least 17 tonnes of fish per annum per 5,000 sq m of sea space - a licensing condition of fish culture farms.

In the same letter, the AVA also said the men had to completely remove the farm from its allocated site by Dec 25 last year and that all of its structures have to be removed and properly disposed of on land.

Responding to TNP's queries as to why its officers had spray-painted items on the farm, the AVA said it had received public complaints that items from coastal fish farms were found drifting in the sea or washed up ashore.

It added that any loose items and structures on farms were then marked for identification purposes to ensure traceability. (See report on facing page.)

Mr Sheikh Zaini said that after an appeal, they were granted an extension to remove the entire fish farm structure by the end of this month. If they fail to do so, their security bond of $5,000 will be forfeited.

He added that even before they received the letter informing them of the licence revocation, the men had worked hard to repair the farm and had even bought new planks to replace old ones.

But he said it was challenging to produce at least 17 tonnes of fish a year.

He said: "Fish are living things. We can start with lots of fish fry at first, but not all can survive... We have problems to even break even now.

"It will take about a month to dismantle our kelong. But all we want is our licence back."

POOR CATCH

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said that between 2008 and last year, the men's farm produced less than its minimum production target of 17 tonnes of fish per year.

2008 : 0

2009 : About 600kg

2010 : 0

2011 : 0

2012 : About 1.1 tonnes

2013 : About 900 kg

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Public dialogues on environment to be held

Today Online 25 Jan 14;

SINGAPORE — A series of dialogues aimed at crafting a common vision for the environment will take place over the next two months, as part of a national exercise to review Singapore’s approach towards the environment.

The Singapore Environment Council (SEC), a non-governmental organisation, intends to hold at least 10 dialogue sessions and reach out to about 800 people.

Mr Jose Raymond, the council’s Executive Director, said a ground-up approach is needed to allow Singaporeans to come forward and take more ownership of the space in which they live.

“You can’t have a vision or a blueprint which does not incorporate what the people want or what they hope as their vision for the future.

“It’s something which they need to feel very strongly for. It’s something which they need to really take ownership of,” he told reporters yesterday.

Earlier this month, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan announced that Singapore would embark on a national exercise to review how the country takes care of its environment.

The findings will be shaped into plans in the second half of the year, before being used to revise the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint, which outlines strategies to achieve the twin objectives of economic growth and a good living environment.

The SEC hopes to reach out to a wide range of people, including those in other NGOs, schools, as well as members of the public and the businesses community in its dialogues.

This will allow many more issues and challenges that are relevant to each sector to be raised, Mr Raymond said.

The SEC hopes to consolidate the feedback in April and submit a report to the Government in May. Those who wish to participate in the dialogue sessions can sign up through the SEC’s website from Feb 3.

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Malaysia: Give a clearer explanation for cold spell, Met Dept told

Rashvinjeet S. Bedi The Star 25 Jan 14;

PETALING JAYA: An environmentalist has demanded for a better explanation from the Meteorological Department for the cold spell that is engulfing the country.

Centre for Environment, Development and Technology Malaysia chairman Gurmit Singh said that while there was a possibility that cold winds from China could be causing the current cold spell, he believed climate change also played a part.

“They have not made it clear why the winds are blowing here from China. I have never heard of this in the past,” he said adding that the current cold weather in China was abnormal.

“The Meteorological Department have to come up with better explanations,” he added.

The department reportedly said that many parts of the east coast, northern and central regions of Malaysa are experiencing cold weather due to the north-easterly winds from China. The cold spell can be expected to last over the next few weeks.

One of the lowest temperatures recorded for a lowland area was in Kuala Krai, Kelantan when temperatures dropped to 17.2°C on Thursday.

Elsewhere, Malaysians have been talking about the colder weather.

Gurmit said in the past, the weather during the Chinese New Year period has usually been hot.

“The weather changes could be due to climate change. China’s extreme cold weather is related to climate change,” he said.

He explained that climate change was related to the increase in frequency of weather extremes, whether dry or wet.

Elsewhere, unusual weather has occurred in Washington where snowstorms are hitting the American capital with floods hitting parts of United Kingdom.

In Thailand, it was reported that the cold spell in the north, northeast and central regions has killed 63 people in the past three months. Bangkok itself suffered its coldest night in three decades with temperatures of 15.6°C on Thursday night.

In December last year, Egypt and Northern Vietnam experienced rare snowfall.

Don’t blame climate change for cooler weather
The Star 25 Jan 14;

PETALING JAYA: The current cooler weather in Malaysia cannot be blamed solely on climate change, said the Metrological Department.

Its National Weather Forecast Centre director Muhammad Helmi Abdullah said natural climate variability was also a huge factor.

“Extreme weather events could be caused by climate change. However, it is hard to attribute any one weather event to just climate change,” he said.

Many Malaysians believe that the current weather is a result of climate change.

Helmi explained that the weather currently experienced by Malaysia was caused by the cold and dry northeasterlies from China and Siberia, where it is winter at the moment.

These dry winds and cloudless nights have contributed to the cooler weather at night and in the early mornings, he said.

One of the lowest temperatures recorded for a lowland area was in Kuala Krai, Kelantan, where temperatures dropped to 17.2°C on Thursday.

He said the earth has its own natural weather cycle that was not due to human activities.

He cited the El Nino and La Nina phenomena as natural climate variabilities that cause extreme weather patterns.

“These natural patterns can occur every few years and have nothing to do with human activity,” he said.

Did it snow on the summit of Mount Kinabalu?
The Star 25 Jan 14;

KOTA KINABALU: Did it snow at Mount Kinabalu just before dawn on Jan 17 when temperatures dipped to -3°C?

A report submitted to Sabah Parks by their head ranger Martin Mogurin indicated that there were signs of snow at the summit area of the 4,101m-high mountain along the Crocker Range around 4am.

Martin said guides at the mountain submitted a report but were unable to back it up with pictures as it was dark. Sabah Parks officials are trying to verify the report.

Sabah Parks chairman Tengku Zainal Adlin, who has climbed every face of Mount Kinabalu in the last five decades, is not surprised over the snow report.

Zainal said that ice on the mountain was common, especially in the early hours of the morning.

Sabah Parks director Paul Basintal said he was gathering information but he has his doubts about the snow.

Sabah meteorologists, however, are firm in dismissing any possibility of snow on Mount Kinabalu as it was too close to the Equator.

“Ice occurrence, yes, but snow? Not possible,’’ said Sabah Meteo­rological Department director Abdul Malik Tussin.

He said Sabah has been experiencing cold weather due to the annual Siberian winds coupled with high amount of rain due to the usually wet northeast monsoon season and a low atmospheric pressure over Sabah.

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