Butterfly of the Month - January 2014
from Butterflies of Singapore
A Few Critters Along Mandai Track 15
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature
Night Walk At MacRitchie Reservoir (10 Jan 2014)
from Beetles@SG BLOG
Giant African Snails mating
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Feng Zengkun The Straits Times 11 Jan 14;
THE Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday defended its land-use draft masterplan's commitment to conserving Singapore's plants and animals.
Answering a charge by the Nature Society (NSS) that the plan's commitment to biodiversity was "embarrassingly negligible", the URA said: "Despite land constraints, parks and nature reserves are and have always been accorded importance..."
The draft of the masterplan, which guides land use over the next 10 to 15 years, was unveiled last November. It will be finalised by June after taking in the public's feedback.
The URA said that "unlike countries with the luxury of land outside their cities for defence, utilities, and nature areas, Singapore has to accommodate all these uses in our small island".
Despite this, 9 per cent of the planned 76,600ha land area in 2030 has been set aside for parks and nature reserves. "This compares very favourably to land allocated to other major uses", such as 17 per cent each for housing as well as industry and commerce.
NSS noted in its 24-page document on the masterplan that parks should not be included as serious conservation efforts as they were mainly meant for people. It said only 4.4 per cent of land in 2030 was seriously committed to preserving flora and fauna.
This proportion includes nature reserves, but excludes reservoirs and previously announced "nature areas", such as a 20ha greenery patch in Admiralty Park, which are only left alone if there is no need for development.
"Singapore has perhaps the most difficult land use balancing act of all countries, and we have done remarkably well," NSS president Shawn Lum said yesterday. "But I think we have the expertise, ideas and ingenuity to make the country greener and richer in nature areas. They are not mutually exclusive with a robust economy and desirable quality of life."
Parks, nature reserves important: URA
Straits Times Forum 11 Jab 14;
LAND is a scarce resource in Singapore, and drafting the Master Plan for land use requires a balanced accommodation of the many competing needs that Singapore has, both as a country and as a city ("Nature Society slams land-use plan"; Wednesday). Above all, we need to ensure that the fundamental and basic needs of our citizens are met first.
Unlike countries with the luxury of land outside their cities for defence, utilities and nature areas, Singapore has to accommodate all these uses in our small island.
Our planning intention is to create a high-quality living environment for our people, and this includes housing, jobs, recreation, schools, hospitals and transport systems for both domestic and international connectivity.
Despite the land constraints, parks and nature reserves are and have always been accorded importance in our plans.
In the Draft Master Plan 2013, we allocated 9 per cent of land for parks and nature reserves. This compares very favourably to land allocated to other major uses, as shown in the table (attached).
In addition, a large proportion of the land allocated for defence is forested and contributes to our biodiversity.
Given our land constraints, we have sought practical and innovative solutions to integrate greenery and biodiversity into our urban environment, through our parks, park connectors, streetside planting, water networks and sky-rise greenery. In this way, we also improve the quality of our living environment.
Likewise, while we are not able to regard and legislate every wooded area as a protected nature area, we have selectively conserved representative eco-systems in our gazetted nature reserves.
We have also designated 20 nature areas with significant biodiversity that will be retained for as long as development is not needed. Most of these areas are, in fact, part of our larger public parks, such as Bukit Batok Nature Park and Kent Ridge Park.
When Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf, the former executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, visited Singapore in 2008, he endorsed our approach and even thought Singapore could serve as a model of how cities can overcome their land constraints to conserve biodiversity in an urban setting.
At his invitation, Singapore subsequently partnered the Convention on Biological Diversity to set up the Singapore Index on Cities' Biodiversity, as a tool for cities to benchmark and guide their conservation efforts. This is an achievement Singapore can be proud of, and which we hope to advance through our Master Plan.
We are currently assessing the suggestions from the drafters of the Nature Society's submission. We hope to find opportunities to respond and engage constructively, so as to explore useful suggestions in due course.
Hwang Yu Ning (Ms)
Group Director (Physical Planning)
Urban Redevelopment Authority
R.S.N. Murali The Star 12 Jan 14;
MALACCA: Denmark has renewed the Malacca government’s enthusiasm to revive the controversial 48.69km-long Malacca-Dumai bridge project across the Straits of Malacca.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron said there was a possibility the project would go ahead.
“As I have stated earlier, the ambitious project could go on as planned. I am not discounting the possibility,” he said yesterday.
On Friday, Idris met Danish ambassador Nicolai Ruge at his office in Seri Negeri where the project was discussed, besides sharing know-how on renewable energy and green technology.
Ruge, when met, said Denmark had the expertise and engineering feats to embark on such a mega project.
Danish engineers had constructed many such bridges in Denmark, he said.
“We could work on the financing aspect of the project as the bridge could impact the fiscal growth of this region,” he said.
However, Idris said the finer details of the project could only be unveiled after the viability study and engineering analysis had been completed.
Talk of the bridge construction surfaced in October last year.
The 48.69km-bridge is expected to link Teluk Gong in Malacca with the port of Dumai in Sumatra.
The project was discussed during the 10th Chief Ministers and Governors’ Forum of the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) held in Thailand on Sept 12.
Insights on a feasibility study on the bridge undertaken by Strait of Malacca Partners Sdn Bhd were given during the meeting.
The company had earlier appointed the Hunan Provincial Communications Planning, Survey and Design Institute of China to prepare documents pertaining to the study.
The idea of the bridge was first mooted in 1995 to foster economic opportunities, especially in trade and tourism, between the two countries but it died down during the Asian financial crisis in 1997.
In 2006, then Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam resumed interest in the project by saying that the groundwork for it had started and that studies showed that the bridge was technically feasible.
He also announced that the Export-Import (Exim) Bank of China had agreed to finance 85% of the link’s total cost, then estimated at RM44.3bil.
Stephanie Lee The Star 12 Jan 14;
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is looking at limiting the number of tourists into islands in the state to prevent the destruction of their ecosystems.
However, state Tourism, Culture, and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said they are not rushing into making any decision as the commercial aspects must be considered.
Masidi said a special committee under the chairmanship of the state permanent secretary was set up around November last year to discuss the matter. The committee involved various tourism agencies and departments.
“We are getting more and more visitors to Sabah, especially to our islands, and this would sooner or later take a toll on our environment,” he said, after launching a coral seedling planting programme by the Malaysia Inland Revenue Board, together with Sabah Parks at the Manukan Island, here, on Saturday.
“The number of visitors to the Manukan Island itself last year was about 400,000, and this shows how much tourists love coming to Sabah and our islands,” he added.
“We are still discussing this and are in no rush to make any decision as yet,” he reiterated.
Sabah to uphold its policy on islands
New Straits Times 12 Jan 14;
KOTA KINABALU: Despite being unpopular with tour operators, the government will uphold its policy of preventing islands in Sabah from being overcrowded by visitors.
State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the controls were required in order to ensure the state's natural wonders remained pristine.
He said a special committee under the chairmanship of the state permanent secretary was already looking into the possibility of limiting the carrying capacity of each island.
"This may not be favoured by tour agencies, but we need to look ahead and find ways to sustain our tourism products," he said yesterday.
Meanwhile, he stressed that there would be no development within or around Sipadan, which is well-known as one of the top diving destinations in the world.
Masidi was commenting on reports about an investment project said to be focused in Sipadan involving China's Diving Best, a Chinese company.
"To my understanding, they are talking about the Sipadan Mangrove Resort in Kalumpang, which is located near Tawau and is already in operation, and not Sipadan (Island).
"I assume that they are talking about an expansion.
"Everyone knows Sipadan is a highly protected area. No one is allowed to put up a structure, either on the island or around it."
Yesterday, Masidi launched a coral planting campaign organised by the Inland Revenue Board in collaboration with Sabah Parks at Manukan Island off here.
As part of the board's corporate social responsibility programme, 129 divers planted 3,040 individual corals and created a new Malaysian record.
Tourism project to take shape in Semporna
Avila Geraldine New Straits Times 15 Jan 14;
CLEARING CONFUSION: Sipadan Island off-limits to any development, says state govt's investment arm
KOTA KINABALU: THE state government yesterday cleared the air over a RM2.5 billion project by a China-based company said to be carried out on Sipadan Island.
Known as the Sipadan Mangrove Resort, the integrated tourism development project will be carried out in Semporna.
Yesterday, the state government's investment arm, Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (Sedia), issued a statement to clear the air on the project's location.
Stating that Sipadan Island was off-limits to any development, Sedia said it acknowledged the significance of preserving the island in its natural state.
It also expressed regret over a previous statement, which had created confusion.
Sedia chief executive officer Dr Mohd Yaakub Johari had been quoted as saying a China-based group had expressed interest in developing a large area in Sipadan into a tourism-based resort and commercial and high-end residential areas, with a focus on marine activities.
Yaakub said under the company's proposal, the project would be developed under five zones -- a residential area, commercial development, high-end resort, diving school and an administrative centre.
He said Sabah was well known in China as an eco- and marine-based tourism destination, which piqued the group's interest.
In its statement, Sedia said the project with the company, Diving Best, was an expansion of the existing Sipadan Mangrove Resort (SMR), an entry point project listed under the state's regional cities and corridors programme, with an estimated investment value of RM491 million and set to generate RM114.9 million in gross national income by 2020.
"The collaboration between Diving Best and SMR is the result of a match between investors from China and a local business partner after their first meeting recently, which was attended by Sedia officials."
The project will be carried out on a 112ha private land belonging to SMR.
Sedia said the location in Sungai Kalumpang was chosen because of its proximity to Sipadan Island, which is a 35-minute boat ride from the mainland.
Under the project, Diving Best expects to attract one million tourists annually, create 4,000 jobs and house a population of 12,000 within the project location.
"As listed in the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) blueprint, Sedia is one of the three key principles underpinning SDC activities to ensure sustainable growth via environmental conservation.
"The other principles are capturing higher-value economic activities and promoting a balanced economic growth, with fair distribution."
State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun stressed that Sipadan was a highly protected area and no structure was allowed to be constructed either on the island or around it.
Diving Best is best known for its Sanya Diving Training Centre in Sanya City, Hainan Province, in China.
Specialist restaurants in Beijing are changing their menus or closing down as the Far East begins to share world revulsion at cutting off shark fins to make a gourmet soup
John Vidal, The Observer The Guardian 11 Jan 14;
The gruesome practice of shark finning – sawing the fins off live sharks in order to make a gourmet soup – appears to be declining following growing western revulsion and a Chinese government crackdown on corruption and extravagant consumption.
Six months after China banned the soup from all official banquets, the price of fins has fallen by 20-30% in Hong Kong, Macau and other major fishing markets. Some specialist restaurants in Beijing have changed their menus or closed down, and airlines and hotel chains have stopped serving the soup. Meanwhile, in Europe, California and elsewhere, loopholes that allowed shark finning to continue have been closed.
About 75m-100m sharks are thought to be killed each year for their fins, which are prized in Chinese culture for making the gelatinous yellow soup. The sharks are caught, their fins are sliced off and they are often thrown back into the ocean, where they die slowly.
The mass slaughter has led to some shark populations declining by up to 98% in the last 15 years, and nearly one third of all ocean-going sharks are now on the internationally recognised red list of threatened species.
The statistics are unreliable, but the latest Chinese ministry of commerce figures suggest a 70% fall in the consumption of shark fins in China in 2012-2013 and a 30% drop in exports to the Chinese mainland from Hong Kong in 2013. In addition, market prices for fins in Macau and other eastern ports that supply China with fish are 20-30% down on last year, according to the US conservation group WildAid.
"The tide may at last be turning," said Peter Knight, director of WildAid. "We are getting lots of signals that attitudes are changing and prices are dropping because people no longer want to eat shark fin soup.
"At the same time there have been increased attempts by the Chinese government to combat the worst excesses of the exploding economic and industrial development."
The global slaughter of sharks grew hugely in the 1990s as China's new middle classes developed a taste for what used to be a luxury soup served only to elites or at weddings and special occasions. At the peak of the mass slaughter, a bowl of shark fin soup cost up to $300 (£180) and a pair of shark fins could be sold for more than $700 a kilo – enough to encourage fishermen as far afield as Europe and Latin America to target the species. Nearly all shark fins end up in mainland China, Hong Kong or Taiwan.
"Biologically, sharks simply can't keep up with the current rate of exploitation and demand. Protective measures must be scaled up significantly in order to avoid further depletion and the possible extinction of many shark species," said Boris Worm, a marine biologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
He estimated last year that up to 100 million sharks were being killed a year. Sharks, which can live for 70 years, play a crucial ecological role in the world's oceans. As "apex predators", they are at the top of the food pyramid. Without sharks to hunt second-level predators, it is thought that he whole ecosystem would become imbalanced, leading to the decline of fish stocks and even of coral reefs.
Revulsion at the practice of finning has been steadily growing since China's best-known sports star, the basketball player Yao Ming, said on film in 2009 that he would no longer eat the soup. Yao used the slogan "Mei yu mai mai, jiu mei yu sha hai", meaning "when the buying stops, the killing can too".
Campaigners report a generational divide emerging in China, with young people rejecting their parents' symbols of success and status.
A recent social media campaign in China attracted more than 350,000 pledges not to eat shark fin soup, mainly from young people.
Yao's campaign is said to have helped to reduce consumption of shark fin soup and contributed to the Chinese government's decision to formally ban the soup from all state banquets, along with birds' nests, other wild animal products, expensive cigarettes and alcohol.
The new rules are intended "to promote frugality, oppose extravagance and enhance the anti-corruption efforts among party and governmental authorities", said the official news agency, Xinhua.
Global efforts to reduce rampant shark killing have included setting up marine parks and sanctuaries. Mexico, Honduras, the Maldives, the Marshall islands and other Pacific countries are in the process of establishing, or have already set up, large protected areas, and Britain has created the world's largest marine reserve around the Chagos islands.
Last year the European Union brought in a regulation ending the practice of shark finning; in future, all EU boats will have to land sharks with their fins still attached. California last year banned the sale, possession, trade or distribution of shark fins. And New Zealand last week brought forward to October 2014 a complete ban on shark finning in its waters.
But the Chinese official disapproval is expected to have the greatest effect on prices and consumption.
Last week environmental groups said that they hoped that it marked a change in broader environmental attitudes.
"The regulation stems from a crackdown on corruption and lavish spending, but language in the notice acknowledges the importance of promoting green, eco-friendly and low-carbon consumption habits," said Joshua Reinhart, a vice-president of the Pew charitable trusts.
"China has the potential to play a key role in helping to solve the problems of climate change, overfishing, pollution and conservation. The new shark-fin diplomacy may be a pivotal event."
Channel NewsAsia 10 Jan 14;
JAKARTA: Indonesian officials said on Friday they have rescued more than 8,000 baby pig-nosed turtles hidden in suitcases and thought to be destined for China and Singapore.
A total of 2,968 were discovered in four suitcases at the airport serving the capital Jakarta after arriving from the remote eastern Papua region, said Zaenal Abidi, quarantine official.
"The suitcases were full of plastic boxes holding 15 to 20 turtles each. Sadly, 14 of them were dead on arrival," he said.
Airport officials were asked Thursday to be on the look-out for pig-nosed turtles -- classified as vulnerable -- after 5,400 of the creatures were discovered in seven suitcases in Papua, he said.
Abidi said that pig-nosed turtles smuggled through Jakarta are usually sent to Singapore or China, where they are sold as exotic pets and sometimes end up in food markets.
All the turtles would be returned to their natural habitat in Papua, Abidi said.
He added that police knew who had checked in the luggage but their whereabouts were now unknown.
The pig-nosed turtle is only found in Australia and New Guinea, an island shared between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, and is protected under Indonesian conservation laws.
It has a distinctive snout-like nose and webbed feet.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the pig-nosed turtle as vulnerable and trade of the species is restricted.
- AFP/nd
New Straits Times 11 Jan 14;
KUALA LUMPUR: Winds up to 60km per hour and waves more than 5.5m high are expected in several areas of the South China Sea until Jan 20, the Meteorological Department said yesterday.
It said in a statement that the waters off Kelantan and Terengganu would face similar weather conditions and were also exposed to a rise in the sea level.
It also said high winds of between 50km and 60km per hour, with waves reaching as high as 4.5m were reported in the waters off Pahang, eastern Johor, Sabah (the interior, West Coast, Kudat and Sandakan divisions), Labuan and Sarawak.
The coastal areas of Pahang and eastern Johor were also exposed to a rise in the sea level during this period, a phenomenon dangerous to all shipping and beach activities, including fishing and ferry services, said the statement.
In the waters off Sabah (Tawau, Semporna and Lahad Datu), high winds of between 40km and 50km per hour were forecast and the condition was dangerous for small boats as well as sea sports and recreational activities. Bernama
Interpretation of Red Junglefowl Crow And Its Sound Analysis from Bird Ecology Study Group
Nur Isyana Isaman and Shahidah Adriana Channel NewsAsia 9 Jan 14;
SINGAPORE: Republic Polytechnic has opened an aquaculture centre, the first of its kind at a polytechnic in Singapore.
The Aquaria, as it is called, is a technologically-advanced learning facility for students in the new Diploma in Marine Science and Aquaculture course, where they will conduct research in outdoor and indoor laboratories.
The centre will also support research in marine science and aquaculture technologies, supporting Singapore's goal to boost the local food fish production.
Three agreements were also signed with industry partners to conduct collaborations on research projects and student internships.
Ashley Chua, deputy director of School of Applied Science at Republic Polytechnic, said: "We also have a long, 16-week internship programme where they (the students) will be sent out to the farms to be exposed to farm operations."
Minister of State for National Development Dr Maliki Osman said: "The new course -- the Marine Science and Aquaculture course -- is a move in the right direction. We are supportive of this because it meets the needs of the country. It provides opportunities for the industry to work with educational institutions like Republic Poly to develop R&D (research and development) capabilities."
- CNA/gn
Aquaculture centre opens at Republic Poly
Today Online 10 Jan 14;
SINGAPORE — An aquaculture centre has opened for Republic Polytechnic students in its new Marine Science and Aquaculture diploma programme, which aims to take in 50 students this year.
The centre will conduct research in areas such as fish-feed formulation and identifying more cost-effective fish-health management methods in aquaculture facilities.
The Government aims to increase the local production of fish from about 7 per cent to 15 per cent of local consumption. Approximately half the fish and shellfish consumed around the world are produced through aquaculture, also known as aquafarming.
The 180-sq-m facility on the polytechnic’s premises has five outdoor circular fibreglass tanks for a wide array of fresh and saltwater fishes. It also has 48 experimental tanks indoors with ultraviolet light and temperature-control capabilities for sea and freshwater teleost and crustaceans, as well as another tank for coral conservation studies and research.
Polytechnic Principal and Chief Executive Officer Yeo Li Pheow said: “It is important to ensure that our students are kept abreast of modern aquaculture technologies so that they can act as conduits, translating advanced techniques and technologies into the industry, thus accelerating the growth of our local aquaculture industry.
Speaking at the launch event yesterday, guest of honour Maliki Osman, who is Minister of State for National Development, said the government is supportive of the new diploma course because it meets the needs of the country.
“It provides opportunities for the industry to work with educational institutions such as Republic Polytechnic to develop research and development capabilities,” he said.
Three agreements were also signed with industry partners to conduct collaborations on research projects and student internships.
Mr Ashley Chua, Deputy Director of the School of Applied Science at the polytechnic, said: “We also have a long 16-week internship programme where (the students) will be sent to the farms to be exposed to farm operations.” Nur Isyana Isaman and Shahidah Adriana
Speech by MOS Maliki Osman at the opening ceremony of Republic Polytechnic Aquaculture Centre
Ministry of National Development 9 Jan 14;
1 It is my pleasure to be here this morning at the opening of The Aquaria, Republic Polytechnic’s Aquaculture Centre.
2 Today is also Republic Polytechnic’s Open House 2014, which will showcase a new Diploma in Marine Science and Aquaculture. I believe these new developments will help support, nurture and grow Singapore’s aquaculture industry.
Ensuring food supply resilience
3 Singapore imports more than 90% of its food supply. Hence, our key strategy to ensure our food supply resilience is to diversify our overseas sources of food. We import various food items, be they fresh, chilled or frozen, from more than 100 countries. In the case of food fish, we import from more than 60 countries, and as far as Norway.
4 At the same time, we complement our source diversification strategy by locally producing key food items, namely, leafy vegetables, food fish and eggs. As we are not an agricultural country, and with limited land for farming, local production is expectantly on a small scale. Nevertheless, during supply disruptions, our local produce can help meet our local demand to some extent.
5 Today, our consumption of live and chilled fish is 52,000 tonnes, of which 3,200 tonnes, or 6% of the total fish consumption is produced by our food fish farming industry. The rest is imported.
6 Currently, our local supply comes mainly from coastal fish farms in north-east and north-west of Singapore. They produce marine food fish species like seabass, grouper, and snapper as well as green mussel and crustacean. There are also freshwater food fish farms producing tilapia, snakehead, catfish and carp. The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has set a target of 15% of fish to be produced locally. At the farm level, there is also a minimum production level of 17 tonnes of fish per half-hectare space per year
Challenges ahead
7 To meet these ambitious targets of increasing local food fish production, our local fish farming industry faces significant challenges. For a start, both land and sea space for farming is limited in Singapore due to many other competing uses such as housing, industry, defence, transport, port and maritime activities. The farms also face a shortage of manpower, and in particular, there are not many Singaporeans who are keen to work in this sector. Third and not the least, there are also high risks of fish and seafood related disease outbreaks at the farms, especially in the coastal fish farms.
8 To address these challenges, AVA is actively collaborating with various stakeholders, namely, the farms, educational and research institutions. Let me briefly elaborate three broad areas.
9 First, there is scope for more research and development (R&D) in the field of aquaculture. In 2003, AVA set up its Marine Aquaculture Centre to develop and harness technology to facilitate the development and expansion of large-scale hatchery and fish farming production in Singapore and the region. AVA’s Aquaculture Centre, in collaboration with Rong-Yao Fisheries Pte Ltd, was successful in spawning pompano, or golden pomfret, fry in tropical waters on a commercially viable scale. I visited the Rong-Yao Fisheries facilities recently and was very impressed at their clear vision and passion to succeed in this field. I encourage companies to also invest in aquaculture R&D. There are many areas of research focus, including stock enhancement, selective breeding for faster growth or disease resistance, fish nutrition and feeding. Such R&D will help boost our local food fish production.
10 Second, we must take bold steps to boost the productivity of our fish farms. To this end, AVA has been working closely with fish farmers to develop farm productivity improvement plans, conducting R&D and technology transfer, and advising them on good farm management practices like fish health and feed management protocols. Farmers are encouraged to leverage on AVA’s Food Fund, which is now in its third tranche of $10 million. The Fund supports R&D of farming technology with direct practical industry application, so as to maximise local farm productivity to help ensure food supply resilience. For example, one fish farm off the coast of Lim Chu Kang tapped on the Food Fund to purchase a water quality monitoring system that can monitor the dissolved oxygen levels in the fish nets and alert the farmer through SMS when low levels are detected.
11 Third, we should aim towards attracting and nurturing more younger Singaporeans to join the sector. It is important to develop the manpower capability to help transform the industry and achieve higher productivity. I am glad that Republic Polytechnic supports and nurtures the aquaculture industry by training a pool of skilled professionals for the future. The polytechnic’s Aquaculture Centre as well as its new Diploma in Marine Science and Aquaculture offer an excellent opportunity to attract and train young Singaporeans. As the Principal and CEO of Republic Polytechnic has earlier mentioned, this new centre will not only train students, but also facilitate collaborative projects with Republic Polytechnic’s partners. The MOUs that Republic Polytechnic is signing with Temasek Lifesciences Laboratory (TLL), the Tropical Marine Science Institute (TMSI) and Resorts World Sentosa Marine Life Park (MLP) today, as well as the Joint Lab Agreement with James Cook University (JCU), will value add to the students’ learning experience by opening up more opportunities in areas such as internships, scholarships and industry related final-year projects. The staff exchanges and joint R&D projects will also forge closer ties with the players in this sector. The joint laboratory with James Cook University on marine research and conservation is a case in point. We must continuously develop new aquaculture technologies and ensure a sustained pipeline of skilled manpower to support the growth of the sector.
12 AVA also supports the industry in capability development. I understand that there are currently two students from Republic Polytechnic on internship at AVA who are involved in projects to study parasites in locally farmed food fish as well as feed nutrition for guppy growth and maturity. I am confident that their project findings would come in handy for the industry.
Conclusion
13 Let me conclude by saying that for Singapore’s food security, ensuring a sustainable supply of food for Singaporeans, all of us – the industry, educational and research institutions, and the Government – must work hand-in-hand to raise farm productivity with more R&D and technology adoption. Each of us cannot achieve this on our own. I look forward to greater collaboration amongst all the stakeholders in the years ahead.
14 On this note, let me congratulate Republic Polytechnic on the opening of the new Aquaculture Centre and launching the new Diploma in Marine Science and Aquaculture. I look forward to seeing your graduates infuse new and exciting ideas and innovation into the aquaculture industry. All the very best. Thank you.
New Straits Times 10 Jan 14;
KUCHING: The carcass of a sea creature that washed ashore at Pasir Panjang in Santubong two weeks ago has been identified as a short-finned pilot whale (globicephalamacrohynchus).
Sarawak Forestry managing director Datuk Ali Yusop said they had confirmed with the National Task Force for Marine Mammal Stranding Network that this was the first discovery of a short-finned pilot whale here.
"The discovery marks the 16th species of marine mammals found in Sarawak."
Earlier, the 3m-long carcass was misidentified as a Bryde's whale (balaenopteraeden) because of the poor-resolution photographs.
The correct identification was made after an examination on the skull by experts from Sarawak Forestry, as well as the Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.
"The species identification was based on the presence of tooth sockets on the upper rostrum of the skull and the number of socket counts.
"The pronounced tooth sockets and wear-and-tear on the rostrum indicate that it was an adult whale," Ali said, adding that the short-finned pilot whale was a marine mammal commonly found in tropical marine waters.
"Although the carcass was too decomposed to determine the cause of death, accidental entanglement in fishing gear is one of the main human-related causes of mortality in marine mammals worldwide."
Ali said they had also examined carcasses of finless porpoises and Irrawaddy dolphins that were trapped in fishing gear here.
"It is important that fishermen know how to respond when they find dolphins trapped in their nets."
All marine mammals are listed as totally protected species under the Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998. The local community, especially those living near water bodies, plays an important role in ensuring the safety of marine mammals.
The Marine Mammals Stranding Network, launched in Sarawak last October, is aimed at providing quick and effective response to rescue stranded or trapped marine mammals and carrying out research on the causes of marine mammal stranding. The task force is also responsible for enhancing public awareness about marine mammal conservation.
The final four of the total 11 Marine Mammal Rescue Zones in Malaysia have been assigned to Sarawak, namely Zone 8 (Kuching, Samarahan and SriAman); Zone 9 (Sibu, Sarikei, Betong and Mukah); Zone 10 (Bintulu and Kapit); and Zone 11 (Miri and Limbang).
Nurdin Hasan Jakarta Globe 9 Jan 14;
A court in the Aceh district of Meulaboh has declared palm oil company Kalista Alam guilty of clearing Rawa Tripa peat forests in Aceh by burning land.
“Based on trial evidence, we declare PT Kalista Alam guilty of having burned peatlands in Rawa Trip forest, which has caused environmental damages,” chief judge Rahmawati said, during a seven-hour reading of the verdict that ended on Wednesday night.
The Meulaboh District Court also ordered for the confiscation of 5,769-hectare land run by Kalista Alam in Aceh, and for the company to pay fines and restoration fees.
“We order PT Kalista Alam to compensate material losses worth Rp 114 billion ($9.45 million) and pay environment restoration fees totaling Rp 251 billion.”
The ruling also sets a Rp 5 million daily fine for each day the company delays paying the compensation and restoration costs.
The panel of judges at the court rejected all the company’s defense arguments. They said Kalista Alam’s activities in Rawa Tripa destroyed as many as 1,000 hectares of land in the peat forest, more specifically the sections situated in Darul Makmur subdistrict in the Aceh district of Nagan Raya.
The civic lawsuit was filed by Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment in 2012, following intense protests from environmental activists against the company’s activities in the peatland forest.
The ministry originally demanded that Kalista Alam pay Rp 300 billion in compensation.
The Banda Aceh Administrative Court in May last year ruled in favor of Kalista Alam in its lawsuit against the Aceh governor’s revocation of its permit to clear and operate on a 1,605-hectare land in Rawa Tripa, a forest and peatland region in the province’s Nagan Raya district.
Kalista Alam obtained the permit to open the plantation from then-Governor Irwandi Yusuf in August, 2011. But the governor’s decision was met with protests by environmental activists who said that the area was the habitat of critically endangered Sumatran orangutans and other rare animals.
The Aceh chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) attempted to drag the governor to the Aceh state administrative court, but the court rejected Walhi’s suit on April 3, 2012. Walhi then appealed the ruling to the Medan High Court. On Aug. 30, 2012, the Medan High Court ordered the governor, now Zainal Abdullah, who was elected in April 2012, to revoke the permit.
Kalista Alam’s lawyer, Alfian C. Sarumaha, told journalists after the hearing that his client would appeal the case.
“The judges [based the verdict] merely on several samples, and didn’t examine all the 1,000-hectare land allegedly [destroyed],” he said.
Kalista earlier argued that its burning of land in Rawa Tripa was already in line with existing regulations.
A director of Kalista Alam, identified only as S. R., and a subordinate are standing a separate trial in the same court in Meulaboh over a criminal lawsuit concerning the same case.
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