Concerns raised over Marine Stewardship Council’s fish label

Frank Pope, Times Online 9 Nov 09;

An eco-labelling scheme intended to encourage people to eat fish from sustainable sources is being criticised by conservationists.

The collaboration between the conservation group WWF and Unilever, one of the world’s biggest seafood retailers, now gives its stamp of approval to $1.5 billion (£900 million) of business every year.

There is concern, however, that the scheme’s blue label, which is put on packaging, is being awarded to fisheries whose stocks are not properly managed or where the ecosystem is being damaged.

The scheme was established ten years ago by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), based in London. There are 58 certified fisheries, with a further 114 in the process of being assessed. It is intended to benefit fishermen by ensuring long-term sustainability of their livelihood and boosting the price of their catch.

The source of the New Zealand hoki — a bug-eyed, deep-water fish once used for McDonald’s Filet O’Fish — was one of the first fisheries to be certified in 2001. Stocks promptly crashed and quotas were slashed from 250,000 tonnes to just 90,000 tonnes by 2007.

While the hoki industry cites the reduced quotas as a sign of pre-emptive good management, conservationists say that they are a sign of underlying problems with the science of how stocks are judged sustainable.

At the other end of the Pacific, the same argument rages over the pollock used to make many of Britain’s fish fingers. The MSC-certified Alaskan pollock fishery is worth nearly $1 billion a year, but despite being rigorously managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service the stock’s assessments are controversial. Populations appear to have halved since 2004, and last year quotas were cut by nearly 20 per cent. Jeremy Jackson, of Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, California, said: “Economic pressures to keep on fishing at such high levels have overwhelmed common sense.”

The MSC prides itself on its transparency and well-regulated objections process, but there are signs that it is not fulfilling its function. Southeast of the pollock grounds, the Pacific hake fishery was in the closing stages of certification earlier this year. The Monterey Bay Aquarium and Oceana, a marine conservation group, filed an objection, pointing out that the stock was at the lowest level ever observed, down nearly 90 per cent from the 1980s. The claim was dismissed.

To date, no objections have resulted in a rejected application. Only one fishery — for lobsters, in British waters — has been turned down after an assessment has been paid for The MSC uses independent companies to assess fisheries, which critics say leaves the door open to “special arrangements” between them and the fishing companies which pay to be evaluated. The fees are typically between £9,000 and £72,000.

Moody Marine International does about half of all MSC certifications around the world. Like the other certifiers, Moody will provide fisheries with a pre-assessment to assess their likelihood of being accepted. But as Andrew Hough, one of Moody’s lead assessors, admits, “as the market has increased, far more enquiries we get now lead to pre-assessment, and most of those lead to full certification”.

“I wouldn’t say they’ve all come out smelling of roses ... Each fishery has some area of weakness,” he said.

A report by Consumer Focus, formerly the National Consumer Council, adds to criticism of the scheme today, saying it is not convinced supermarkets give the information shoppers need to decide whether fish are from sustainable stocks.

“In theory certification is a great idea, but this scheme has never fulfilled its potential,” said Barry Weeber, of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. “The bar has always been set far too low.”

Rupert Howes, CEO of the MSC, said: “Fisheries science is an evolving business. At some stage in the future standards will be reviewed. In the interim, don’t let expectations of perfection obscure the significant progress that is being delivered.”

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Is Asia Taking Corporate Social Responsibility Seriously?

Chris Tobias, Reuters 7 Nov 09;

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a critical issue across Asia. From local companies to multi-national conglomerates, how successfully business interacts with its environs and community is of supreme importance.

The recent CSR-Asia Conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia gave some worthwhile perspectives in a region home to roughly 60% of the world's population. But how many of the case studies demonstrated a genuine portrayal of companies doing good work, and how much was at best blatant greenwash? What countries, industries, and companies are emerging as leaders? What are they key issues facing the region?

Aviation Industry's Climate Woes

One of the bright spots included a refreshingly honest account from Cathay Pacific's Mark Watson. Working in the area of environmental management and CSR, Watson detailed the airline's efforts in many areas like improving fuel efficiency (23% improvement over the last decade), investigation of biofuels, and redesigning their jet fleet with suppliers like Boeing and Rolls Royce.

Cathay is also proactively working with industry groups like IATA to set clear carbon related policies for the aviation industry leading up to Copenhagen's climate negotiations later this year. Watson was frank in his admission that, "Airlines do not have the abatement options of other industries. There is no silver bullet for aviation emissions."

While aviation emissions are around 2-3% of the global total, due to the altitude at which they occur, they pose a disproportionate effect on the climate as they affect the complex chemistry of Earth's upper atmosphere. Watson outlined Cathay's attempts make a clear, level playing field for airlines to take responsibility for their carbon emissions, and noted that the upcoming climate negotiations in Copenhagen later this year would be difficult.

Developing Nations, Climate Negotiations, and CDM

"Countries like Brazil, India, and China are against the equal treatment of emissions across countries and industries worldwide," Watson said. "Instead, they push for the common but differentiated responsibility treatment." Within United Nations negotiations, this essentially means that so-called developing nations get different treatment and are not liable in many of the same ways as developed nations. This is a likely sticking point for many countries coming to a cohesive agreement, and with carbon atmospheric levels already over 380ppm, timing is critical to correct the problem.

Countries taking this position on emissions has knock on effects for their national industries, such as aviation. Some countries such as Singapore are crafty in how they straddle both sides of the fence: for business and investment, they position themselves as developed nations; on climate and carbon issues, they wish to be seen as developing countries to avoid major emissions liability.

Recently, Singapore has been especially vocal on avoiding emissions cuts , rather than taking a critical leadership role in Southeast Asia- to much disapproval from more informed citizens. [Side note: with such national tactics afoot, it's not surprising that Singaporean companies rank low on CSR-Asia's Sustainability Rating, near the bottom of the list with countries like Pakistan.]

While Cathay Pacific seemed to be toe-to-toe with other aviation leaders like Air New Zealand and Continental, Watson noted that the bulk of the industry were laggards on many climate and environmental issues. "Because aviation survives on very low margins, any company not taking the cost of carbon emissions, fuel costs, and efficiency into serious account faces massive risk," he said. On the fuel and climate change fronts, the aviation industry seems set for a continued shakeout of poorly managed companies in the years ahead.

The good news is, on the subject of carbon trading and CDM projects [clean development mechanism], Business Development Manager Richard Mao from First Climate shared some promising information. "According to recent research, carbon markets are rapidly developing. The 2009 volume is expected to double that of 2008, and countries with the greatest number of CDM projects are topped by developing nations like China, India, and Malaysia," he said. So while at one level, big developing nations might be swatting off responsibility, on the ground level there is a lot going on to reduce emissions.

Regardless of whatever happens in Copenhagen climate negotiations, Mao noted that the EU was prepared to take a leadership role, and aim for 20% reduction emissions targets if no international agreement took shape. If other countries worldwide got on board with sweeping cuts, the EU was going to commit to a 30% reduction against their 1990 emissions levels.

The Thrust for Transparency and Better CSR Policy in Asia

The Malaysian Bursa Stock Exchange is trying to foster better CSR in Malaysia. In terms of policy and governance issues, Bursa is taking a lead by requiring that all listed companies have at least a basic CSR policy.

While specific criteria around what is contained in the policy has not yet been established, CEO Yusli Mohamed Yosef has publicly stated that companies need to include CSR criteria in their operations as "the new business as usual."

Coupled with the Malaysian government's recent announcement of a 100 million Ringgit fund to support CSR development in companies across the country, these are promising developments in Southeast Asia, and indeed the larger global context.

Summing up the state-of-play, CSR-Asia Chairman Richard Welford indicated that one year ago as the financial crisis was in full effect, he was concerned for the future of CSR in Asia.

However, he stated "That due to the financial meltdown, CSR has been pushed to the forefront as a part of the serious debate and discussion around the irresponsibility of business." He highlighted that trust, governance, transparency, accountability, communication, and disclosure will need the utmost attention going forward to rebuild public trust in business. It is likely CSR will become more deeply imbedded in the business landscape as a result.

Has the Financial Industry Learned Anything?

Speaking of the financial meltdown, while the recent crisis has meant some advancement for CSR, has the attitude of financial institutions actually changed? Are any of the underlying attitudes and causes for the crisis being addressed? If the rhetoric from Chief Risk Credit Officer Paul Norton at HSBC is any indication, there is still a lot to be desired.

While glossy overview was given on HSBC's environmental and social policy, very little emerged when boiled down to the details. Citing client confidentiality, Mr. Norton declined to answer several questions around HSBC's dealings with several forestry related projects and remained vague overall in terms of how policy was actually executed.

From the point of view of external scrutiny, here wouldn't be much to examine; again the issue of transparency and open disclosure remains elusive. This was in spite of him talking at length about the strength of their policies towards responsible forestry. While policy might put HSBC ahead of some other banks on irresponsible lending practices, the exercise came across more as a slick PR exercise than CSR initiative.

What was also concerning about his talk was an air of overconfidence, the candor of banking business as usual, the same pre-crisis rhetoric. Interestingly, a lunchtime keynote speech by Irene Dorner, Deputy Chairman and CEO of HSBC Malaysia maintained the same self-assured, all knowing tenor.

With the banking industry having gone through the throes of major crisis, one might expect something more humble and transparent. As with the Wilmar case, perhaps HSBC can be given some points for effort, but the proof is in the pudding.

In many ways, these case studies reveal the complex nature of the global issues facing us as a human race. Most of these examples demonstrate the need to look at issues in terms of larger context, not quick fix solutions or short-term profit motives. If we are going to get anywhere on issues like climate change, we will need to adopt this sort of thinking and design in all of our solutions. CSR or no CSR, there is literally a world of work left to do.

Chris Tobias is Celsias Editor-at-Large and Lead Strategist at Forward

Reprinted from Celsias.com

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Not ready for REDD?

Esteve Corbera and Manuel Estrada, Science Alert 9 Nov 09;

It is clear that any effective international 'deal' on climate change must decrease emissions from deforestation and land-use change that represent about a fifth of all emissions. An international mechanism to fund such reductions, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), is emerging as a global blueprint to achieve this, and expectations are high.

Many developing countries are keen to participate because entering the regulated carbon market, which represented US$126 billion in 2008, raises hopes of long-term income.

Developed countries are similarly enthusiastic. REDD offers them a relatively cheap way to meet their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol (or any new climate change treaty) and could also encourage developing countries to sign up to voluntary emission reduction commitments at a sectoral level in the next round of climate negotiations.

But designing a framework that will live up to everyone's expectations will be hard, given the divergent political, institutional, technical and governance capacities within the developing world.

Permanent commitment

One immediate problem is that current proposals are for payment after emissions have been reduced. So countries would have to design and implement carbon reduction policies with their own resources — an unlikely course for those already facing significant budgetary constraints and other more pressing issues, such as poverty, health and education.

Even if the carbon market could deliver up-front funding through innovative financial mechanisms, whether it can ensure deforestation is kept low in the long-term is debatable.

Put simply, the carbon stored in forests can only be counted as emitted to the atmosphere once — so avoiding these emissions can only be sold and used against emissions reduction targets once. Developing countries are essentially being asked to accept a one-off payment for the carbon in their forests, in exchange for permanently committing to avoiding land-use change.

Indeed, if a 'seller's liability' approach is used to define the rules for REDD, this commitment could even become a financial obligation for developing countries — that is, they would have to pay up for any carbon loss for which credits have already been issued and sold.

Checks and balances

An even bigger problem for developing countries is certification. To enter the carbon market, REDD initiatives must generate real, measurable, long-term and additional emissions reductions that are certifiable by a third party. But few developing countries have the resources or expertise to collect enough data on land-use change or carbon storage to fulfill such criteria.

Sure, some individual projects have been successful — emissions reductions from the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park in Bolivia, for example, have been certified by the verification company SGS. But national emissions inventories in most developing countries do not meet the Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM) standards. For example, Mexico's reported emissions for the land-use sector over the period 1993-2002 had different degrees of uncertainty depending on the data collection methods and the reporting source, with uncertainty ranging between 4 and 34 per cent.

Equally problematic is ensuring that individual REDD credits in the carbon market are properly equivalent to each other (i.e. are fully fungible). Regulations to ensure this, set by buyer countries, could limit demand for credits and so reduce funding for REDD activities.

The European Emissions Trading Scheme's exclusion of credits from afforestation and reforestation CDM projects is a good example of how a potentially large mitigation option can be effectively nullified by regulation in buyer countries (see Climate deals should reward wider forest management and Africa needs agroforestry to cut forest emissions). If REDD is to be successful, national regulations in buyer countries will have to meet rules agreed under the UNFCCC.

Essential groundwork

So it seems unlikely that large numbers of tradable REDD credits will be generated in the short term. Pilot activities, but also massive capacity building, will be needed within the next few years if countries are to pave the way for significant emissions reductions. For example, specific and detailed assessments of what drives deforestation at national and regional levels will be required to show where REDD is most needed, how deforestation and degradation should be tackled and who should be involved in conservation efforts.

Meanwhile, governments and research organisations should be building scientific and technical expertise so that REDD's future architecture does not rely on developed countries' consultants and private organisations, as has often been the case for CDM projects.

Even assuming that the funding issues and technical problems are solved, there are still significant management and governance hurdles to overcome. For example, forest management programmes often fail due to limited staff, equipment and training, corruption among government officers, and misunderstandings about existing property and benefit-sharing arrangements with rural communities.

Informal and customary tenure makes it difficult to set formal contracts with rural stakeholders, and particularly with the most disenfranchised. This means that as well as building scientific and technological capacity to measure, report and verify emission reduction projects, REDD must help improve governance and fairly reward indigenous peoples and communities.

Identifying all the stakeholders, raising awareness about REDD and consulting on how the scheme can or should work are crucial to a successful mechanism for reducing forest emissions. All of these require time and must not be rushed, simply to match the starting date of a post-2012 climate policy regime, or the agenda of supporting organisations.

Esteve Corbera is a researcher at the School of International Development, University of East Anglia, and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in the United Kingdom.

Manuel Estrada is an independent senior consultant on climate change, Mexico.

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Japan eyes solar station in space

Karyn Poupee Yahoo News 8 Nov 09;

TOKYO (AFP) – It may sound like a sci-fi vision, but Japan's space agency is dead serious: by 2030 it wants to collect solar power in space and zap it down to Earth, using laser beams or microwaves.

The government has just picked a group of companies and a team of researchers tasked with turning the ambitious, multi-billion-dollar dream of unlimited clean energy into reality in coming decades.

With few energy resources of its own and heavily reliant on oil imports, Japan has long been a leader in solar and other renewable energies and this year set ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets.

But Japan's boldest plan to date is the Space Solar Power System (SSPS), in which arrays of photovoltaic dishes several square kilometres (square miles) in size would hover in geostationary orbit outside the Earth's atmosphere.

"Since solar power is a clean and inexhaustible energy source, we believe that this system will be able to help solve the problems of energy shortage and global warming," researchers at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, one of the project participants, wrote in a report.

"The sun's rays abound in space."

The solar cells would capture the solar energy, which is at least five times stronger in space than on Earth, and beam it down to the ground through clusters of lasers or microwaves.

These would be collected by gigantic parabolic antennae, likely to be located in restricted areas at sea or on dam reservoirs, said Tadashige Takiya, a spokesman at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The researchers are targeting a one gigawatt system, equivalent to a medium-sized atomic power plant, that would produce electricity at eight yen (cents) per kilowatt-hour, six times cheaper than its current cost in Japan.

The challenge -- including transporting the components to space -- may appear gigantic, but Japan has been pursuing the project since 1998, with some 130 researchers studying it under JAXA's oversight.

Last month Japan's Economy and Trade Ministry and the Science Ministry took another step toward making the project a reality, by selecting several Japanese high-tech giants as participants in the project.

The consortium, named the Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer, also includes Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Fujitsu and Sharp.

The project's roadmap outlined several steps that would need to be taken before a full-blown launch in 2030.

Within several years, "a satellite designed to test the transmission by microwave should be put into low orbit with a Japanese rocket," said Tatsuhito Fujita, one of the JAXA researchers heading the project.

The next step, expected around 2020, would be to launch and test a large flexible photovoltaic structure with 10 megawatt power capacity, to be followed by a 250 megawatt prototype.

This would help evaluate the project's financial viability, say officials. The final aim is to produce electricity cheap enough to compete with other alternative energy sources.

JAXA says the transmission technology would be safe but concedes it would have to convince the public, which may harbour images of laser beams shooting down from the sky, roasting birds or slicing up aircraft in mid-air.

According to a 2004 study by JAXA, the words 'laser' and 'microwave' caused the most concern among the 1,000 people questioned.

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Best of our wild blogs: 8 Nov 09

Life History of the Large Four-Line Blue
from Butterflies of Singapore

Getting high at Hantu
from wonderful creation and singapore nature and wild shores of singapore and psychedelic nature

Collared Kingfisher eats pufferfish
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Smooth Otters & Water Monitors Part II
from Life's Indulgences

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Singapore studying vulnerability to climate change

Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia 7 Nov 09;

SINGAPORE : Singapore is studying in detail its vulnerability to climate change, so that it can identify how to respond to the challenge.

Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said Singapore's development of desalination and water recycling has allowed it to diversify its water supply.

It has also helped the country buffet against the effects of extreme weather events.

Dr Yaacob added that despite signs of economic recovery, countries may find it a challenge to carry out expensive water infrastructure projects.

That is why there is a need to find practical water solutions that are both energy-efficient and cost-effective.

Dr Yaacob was speaking at the opening of the International Desalination Association World Congress in Dubai. - CNA /ls

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Johor plans new dam as water woes continue

The Star 8 Nov 09;

JOHOR BARU: The Johor Government is studying the possibility of building a new dam in Kahang as an alternative water source for the state.

State International Trade and Industry, Energy, Water, Communications and Envi­ronment Committee chairman Tan Kok Hong said the suggestion was made after several of the state’s dams showed low water levels even during the monsoon.

“We face this problem yearly and it is quite alarming especially at the Sembrong dam in Kluang,” he said.

He added that the issue was brought up during the State Water Resource committee meeting chaired by Mentri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman.

“We anticipated the problem at the beginning of the year and raised the dam’s capacity.

“This however, has not helped to solve the problem as the water level at the dam is still quite low.”

Tan said the other dams had not reached critical level and gave an assurance the state would be able to provide water for at least two additional months before running dry.

Tan is chairman for the newly formed integrated river basin management committee that monitors the water levels at rivers to reduce the possibility of floods.

“We had our first meeting on Wednesday with experts from the Malaysian Nature Society and other non-governmental organisations to find the best solution to the problem,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters after attending the 10th anniversary of BASF Southeast Asia Pte Ltd, an engineering plastics compounding plant, in Pasir Gudang here on Thursday.

“Floods are a major problem in the state and we need to find a solution that will also be environmentally friendly,” he said.

There are over 400 rivers in Johor.

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Are we ready for a Malaysia without oil palm?

NGO vs CPO
Optimistically Cautious by Errol Oh, The Star 7 Nov 09;

The campaign against palm oil’s growth in Borneo and Sumatra may come to a climax soon. Must there be losers?

ARE we ready for a Malaysia without oil palm? That sounds far-fetched and overly dramatic, doesn’t it? For that to happen, plantation companies and smallholders would have to stop cultivating the crop because it’s no longer worthwhile doing so. What are the chances of that happening?

Exceedingly slim at the moment, but the domestic plantation industry now has to acknowledge that perhaps more than ever, it’s getting harder to cling to the status quo.

There are several forces at work here. The option of developing new estates in Malaysia, particularly in the peninsula, is fast fading. So there’s the limitation of land scarcity, coupled with the slow rise in yields.

This means it’s tough for oil palm growers operating here to increase output significantly unless they can expand their landbank, which is often an expensive step. Add to that the mounting costs of labour, fertiliser, pesticide and fuel, and you have a challenging operating environment.

On the plus side, demand for palm oil is climbing steadily, driven by the economic strength of major importers such as China, India and the Middle East, and by the world population growth in general.

Also, the food industry’s shift from edible oils that contain trans fatty acids, and the biofuel frenzy triggered by the surging oil prices, have boosted the United States’ and Europe’s demand for palm oil.

Many Malaysian planters have responded to this tangle of factors by venturing into Indonesia, specifically Kalimantan and Sumatra, and to some extent, by opening plantations in Sabah and Sarawak.

The oil palm rush in Borneo and Sumatra – Indonesian companies too have been aggressively increasing their acreage – has led to another shift in the dynamics of the palm oil industry.

As the producers of crude palm oil (CPO) turn tracts of land into oil palm estates, people began questioning the environmental and social impact. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the media in the West have become vociferous opponents of oil palm expansion.

With bodies such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth at the forefront, the NGOs are often relentless and clever in swaying public opinion and political will, so as to apply pressure on the palm oil industry.

Different NGOs have different causes. Together, they link the oil palm industry’s rapid growth to deforestation and peatland degradation, which in turn is blamed for species extinction, worsening climate change and the displacement of indigenous people.

Nobody can deny that many of these NGOs are good at staging in-your-face campaigns that grab attention and influence consumers, businesses and politicians.

It helps too that these organisations operate on altruistic platforms, which also makes it easier for the media to support their fights.

The titles of Greenpeace reports on the oil palm industry, for example, scream that the industry is “cooking the climate” and “burning up Borneo”. NGO members take part in loud, theatrical demonstrations to highlight their protest against the development of oil palm plantations in Borneo and Sumatra.

The use of the orang utan as a symbol of what we stand to lose amid the oil palm boom, is inspired and effective.

The NGOs also target the big buyers of palm oil – among them are household names such as Unilever, Cadbury, Ferrero and Nestle – by urging consumers to boycott products that contain palm oil.

The attacks on the palm oil industry has intensified as the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen next month approaches. Essentially, the NGOs want to halt the surge in oil palm cultivation in Borneo and Sumatra.

Says Greenpeace UK in its website, “We want to see the Indonesian government establish a moratorium on clearing forest and peatland areas and to help achieve that, we’re asking supermarkets and food companies to cease trading with palm oil suppliers that are involved in this environmental destruction.

“We also want to see deforested and degraded peatlands being restored, preventing yet more emissions from these areas.”

In the lead-up to the Copenhagen conference, Unilever and Greenpeace are leading a campaign to persuade the Indonesian government to impose a moratorium on deforestation for two to three years.

Clearly, the palm oil industry can’t ignore the NGOs. It’s not entirely bad, of course, that the industry is compelled to examine its practices and attitude towards sustainability issues.

And they have taken a step in this direction by being a part of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which incidentally counts Unilever as a founding member. It’s an indication that the industry recognises the need for engagement with stakeholders.

However, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are not RSPO members, apparently by choice. It’s an example of how difficult it can be to reconcile the objectives on the NGOs with the raison d’etre of businesses and industries.

The detractors frequently describe palm oil as cheap as if it’s a commodity you sell out of the back of a van. Yet, it’s the crop that produces the most oil per hectare, making it the most efficient in land use, and thus the the lowest-cost option for food use. In addition, the palm oil industry are pivotal in the Malaysian and Indonesian economies.

These are arguments you hear all the time from the industry. Of course, these are not the only facts that matter, but they ought to be a huge consideration in assessing the worth and impact of the oil palm industry. The NGOs may have their hearts in the right place, but demonising the oil palm growers is more about strategy than fairness. Is stalling an industry’s growth truly an all-round superior alternative to engagement via the RSPO?

l Deputy business editor Errol Oh reckons that living in a world operated purely for profit is no better and no worse than living in a world run by NGOs alone.

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Southeast Sulawesi deer population dwindles

The Jakarta Post 7 Nov 09;

The population of deer (Cervus timorensis) in the Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park (TNRAW) in Southeast Sulawesi has declined significantly in the last 16 years, a member of park management staff says.

The number of deer at the park was now less than 1,000 from around 33,000 in 1993, according to Budi Prasetyo, an officer of the TNRAW, told Antara state news agency in Kendari on Saturday.

Illegal logging and poaching activities in 2001 especially, were the main factors which caused the deer population to fall sharply, he said.

The 105,194-hectare national park is the habitat of various flora and fauna such as 155 species of birds, including 32 species of endangered birds, anoa, 'digo' monkey (Macaca ochreata) and brown civet.

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Sea lions killed, but Columbia salmon toll rises

Jeff Barnard, Associated Press 7 Nov 09;

Killing or removing 25 California sea lions over the past two years has not reduced the toll on salmon at the base of Bonneville Dam in the Columbia River.

A new report from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates sea lions ate 4,960 salmon and steelhead during the spring of 2009 — 2.4 percent of the fish passing the dam located near Cascade Locks, Ore. That compares to an adjusted estimate of 4,927, or 2.9 percent of the run, in 2008.

And while the number of California sea lions was down — 54 this year compared to 82 in 2008 — the average number of salmon eaten by each one was up, along with the number of Stellar sea lions — 26 this year compared to 17 last year.

Sharon Young of the Humane Society of the United States said the numbers show that trying to restore salmon by killing predators does not work at a place like Bonneville Dam.

"You have to address the root issues causing problems for the salmon," such as the dams, fishing, habitat loss and irrigation withdrawals, she said. "Obviously, if predation were the primary issue in the recovery of salmon, we wouldn't be seeing the run size fluctuating like this. The run size fluctuates due to oceanic variables to which the animals are exposed."

The report showed spring runs steadily increasing from 88,474 in 2007 to 186,060 in 2009, while the numbers of salmon eaten by sea lions stayed about the same — 4,335 in 2007 when no sea lions were removed and 4,960 this year after 25 were trapped and killed or sent to aquariums.

A companion report from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates that removing the sea lions doing the most damage saved some 1,655 salmon.

Department spokesman Rick Hargrave said the hazing and removal of California sea lions will continue next year with few changes. One difference will be trying to block areas near the dam where the sea lions can get out of the water to rest.

California sea lions are normally protected by federal law. But since some have discovered that salmon — including threatened and endangered species — are easy pickings at the dam, NOAA Fisheries Service has given authority to the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho to kill up to 85 a year. This was the first year sea lions were killed as well as trapped and sent to aquariums.

Meanwhile the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals heard arguments in Portland, Ore., Friday on the Human Society's lawsuit trying to stop the program. A trial judge rejected the organization's arguments that dams and fishermen kill more fish than the sea lions, and the appeals court has refused to halt the trapping while the case is in the court.

The Army Corps report also found that a few sea lions were hanging around the dam in the fall for the first time, raising concerns they could start feeding on fall and winter salmon runs. It also found the numbers of white sturgeon eaten, particularly by the Stellar sea lions, continued to increase, hitting an estimated 1,710 this year.

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Prized mushroom collection returns to China

David Wivell, Associated Press Yahoo News 7 Nov 09;

BEIJING – A Chinese scholar persecuted during the Cultural Revolution for smuggling a rare collection of mushrooms out of China before World War II was honored Saturday when the collection was returned more than 70 years later.

At a ceremony at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Cornell University President David Skorton handed over the collection that had been meticulously gathered by scholar Shu Chun Teng.

Teng studied mycology at Cornell University in the 1920s, then spent the next decade traveling on horseback gathering molds, lichens, yeasts, rusts and morels in the forests, fields and marshes of his homeland.

"I think the most important part about what we're doing here today is really returning a hand to the Chinese people that was outstretched three quarters of a century ago," Skorton said.

During the Japanese invasion in 1937, Teng arranged for his best specimens to be removed from a national botany institute he directed to save them from destruction. During World War II, they were smuggled by ox cart to Indochina and then by sea to the United States, and 2,278 of the specimen packets ended up at Teng's alma mater.

But that action meant Teng became a target during the devastating 1966-76 Cultural Revolution. Discharged from his lab, he was subjected to daily beatings and mental prosecution that ruined his health and career. He died in 1970 at age 67.

Teng's daughter, Deng Yi, said she felt many emotions at the ceremony.

"During that time my father was classified as a counterrevolutionary and labeled with many different crimes. The main crime he was blamed for was maintaining illicit relations with foreign countries — selling out our heritage. The reason was this collection," she said.

"So now that these specimens have returned to their home country, my father up in heaven would feel a great happiness in his heart," Deng said.

At Cornell's initiative, the university divided up and is sharing its Fungi of China Collection with the academy's Institute of Microbiology.

Zhuang Wenying, a mycologist at the Institute of Microbiology, praised Teng's action.

"I think that his motivation and his actions were great things, because he saved this treasure so that we can still see and research with them today. Some of these samples do not exist anywhere else," she said.

During his travels to all corners of China, Teng made meticulous notes and drawings of the fungi he found — and frequently mailed duplicates to Cornell. He returned to teaching after the war, restored a national mycology laboratory and published a 1963 book that remains an indispensable source of information on his country's fungi in the first half of the 20th century.

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Protected zones will help to save Britain's marine wildlife

Harmful fishing practices will be banned from UK coastal waters under new legislation to protect endangered species
Lisa Bachelor, The Observer The Guardian 8 Nov 09;

An exotic underwater world of seahorses, sharks and corals that surrounds the coast of Britain is to be given greater protection under new legislation coming into force this week.

The long-awaited Marine Act will allow conservation groups to map sites of nature preservation for the first time. Future legislation to be enforced in these marine conservation zones will see an end to damaging practices such as scallop dredging and trawler fishing.

Currently there is only one small piece of coastline in Britain that is heavily protected – the sea around Lundy Island, off Devon. As a result, species such as spiny sea-horses, found in Studland Bay in Dorset, and basking sharks, seen in Britain's coastal waters in the summer, have been under serious threat.

"This is a truly momentous event for our marine wildlife," said Joan Edwards, head of living seas for the Wildlife Trusts. "We have campaigned for many years for new laws to provide better protection of marine habitats and wildlife, as well as improved management of activities at sea. Numbers of basking sharks have dropped by more than 95% and corals, seahorses, whales, dolphins and seals have all been affected. The Marine and Coastal Access Bill, if effectively implemented, will provide the chance to conserve the thousands of species which inhabit UK waters."

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds hopes the act will also offer greater protection to Britain's seabirds, which are vulnerable to destructive fishing methods and marine pollution. "In recent years we have seen frightening declines in kittiwakes and other seabirds," said Dr Mark Avery, the RSPB's director of conservation. "Climate change has been warming our seas and the food chain on which they rely is in danger of collapse. While this act can't stop climate change, it can help reduce other pressures on these vulnerable populations."

Part of the act's purpose is to safeguard Britain's vast network of brightly coloured, delicate corals. These include rarities such as the sunset cup coral, only found at a small number of isolated sites in the south-west of England and Wales. It is a slow-growing, long-lived species, making it particularly vulnerable. "Bottom trawling is like taking a plough along the sea bed," said Callum Roberts, professor of marine conservation at York University. "That is not conducive to sustaining healthy populations of fish."

The wildlife charity WWF has identified six "flagship species" that are under threat or in decline, which it believes will benefit from the act. These are the Atlantic salmon, whose numbers have been falling for 30 years; the pink sea fan, an exotic-looking horny coral; the harbour porpoise, usually seen in summer along the Welsh and Scottish coasts; sea-grass beds, a vital sea-horse habitat; deep-water coral reefs and horse mussel beds.

The establishment of the marine conservation zones will take place over the next two years, and the rules that govern each zone will be different, depending upon the needs of the species that are identified within them.

"If the Marine Act produces another feel-good exercise, it will have failed. My feeling is that it won't and that it will offer real protection to marine species," said Roberts.

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