Malaysia : Widespread Coral Bleaching In Sepanggar Bay Serves As Reminder

Newmond Tibin Bernama 11 Sep 10;

KOTA KINABALU, Sept 11 (Bernama) -- The recent discovery of widespread coral bleaching off Sepanggar Bay should serve as a reminder that the marine ecosystem demands attention, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Director of Borneo Marine Research Institute Prof Dr Saleem Mustafa said.

He also said that carbon emissions had serious implications to the oceans.

"Oceans take up almost half of the carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels. Absorption of more of carbon dioxide results in acidification of seawater.

"This interferes with the calcifying activity of corals, thereby weakening their calcium carbonate skeletons. Coupled with this stress is the rise in sea water temperature that effectively disrupts the symbiotic relationship between corals and the nutrient gathering zooxanthellae... this manifests in whitening of corals called 'bleaching'," he told Bernama, here.

On July 29, this year, Saleem disclosed that UMS scientists, among them M. Ali, Aw Soo Ling and Dr Abentin Estim noticed bleaching in some areas of Sepanggar Bay.

"We cannot ignore that there are some 4,000 species of fish that live in or around coral reefs in the world.

"The reef fisheries provide sustenance to 200 million people worldwide. Sabah is home to 70 to 75 per cent of coral reefs found in Malaysia and the live reef fish trade earns millions of dollars annually that accounts for a major share of the total earnings of artisanal fishermen," he said.

Saleem said the Sabah part of the Sulu and Sulawesi seas were biodiversity hotspots.

He said marine biodiversity supported the functioning of the ocean ecosystem which in turn provided more goods and services to human beings.

The diversity also strengthened the ecosystem's resilience needed in the face of growing human footprint in the oceans, he said.

"Climate change is a global environmental phenomenon and combating it requires global efforts.

"However, its effects are more severe when the resilience of marine habitats and inhabitants is low," he added.

Saleem said building such resilience needed action plans that could be implemented locally and done collectively.

"The time has come for us to do valuation of our marine resources as an essential component of integrated coastal zone management, and to develop ecologically compatible and socially acceptable programmes of action," he said.

-- BERNAMA

Read more!

Endangered Hawksbill sea turtle numbers show signs of hope

New paper in the journal Oryx shows 'comparatively optimistic' number of hawksbill nests were found between 2007 and 2009
David Malakoff for Conservation Magazine, part of the Guardian Environment Network
guardian.co.uk 10 Sep 10;

Things may not be as bleak as they once seemed for one endangered sea turtle. A new survey finds that hawksbill turtles are more widespread in the eastern Pacific than earlier studies had suggested. Still, the "comparatively optimistic" findings still show that the turtle continues to be highly endangered and will need help to survive.

The hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricate) is found around the world in tropical seas, but is deemed "critically endangered" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. In part, that's because the turtle has been heavily hunted for its elaborately colored shell, which is prized by jewelry and crafts makers. Whole turtles are also killed, stuffed, and sold as curios. By the 1980s, biologists feared the species was essentially extinct in the eastern Pacific, where it was once common from Mexico to Ecuador. It is now considered the rarest marine turtle in the region.

To get a better picture of how the hawksbill was faring, in June 2008 sea turtle experts gathered in El Salvador to share data and identify possible conservation strategies. Now, in the journal Oryx, the multinational team presents some encouraging news: Surveys conducted between January 2007 and May 2009 found hawksbills nesting on beaches in 6 nations in the eastern Pacific, and swimming in coastal waters off 7 nations. Overall, researchers spotted 540 nests, with nearly 80% in El Salvador. Mexico ranked first in swimming turtles, with about 60% of the 73 animals recorded, according to the study, which was published online on August 27.

The numbers are preliminary, in part because the surveys were limited and the animals tend to use remote beaches for nesting. Still, they suggest that El Salvador "hosts the largest known remaining hawksbill turtle rookeries in the eastern Pacific, highlighting the urgent need to consolidate protection, conservation and research for the species there." One continuing threat is "bomb fishing," or the use of explosives to kill or stun fish and force them to the surface. The number of turtles found off Mexico, meanwhile, underscores "the importance of the country's waters as a foraging and nursery area." But it also poses a puzzle, since the turtles don't seem to be nesting in Mexico. One possibility is that Mexican waters serve as "an important migratory pathway or developmental area."

Overall, the findings suggest just a few hundred turtles reproduce annually along more than 15,000 kilometers of coastline. Still, "the pervasiveness of the species in the region suggests potential for conservation and recovery," the authors conclude. So far, they add, the hawksbill has gotten relatively little attention from conservationists in the region, so even a modest increase in effort might bring significant gains.

Source: Gaos, A., Abreu-Grobois, F., Alfaro-Shigueto, J., Amorocho, D., Arauz, R., Baquero, A., Briseño, R., Chacón, D., Dueñas, C., Hasbún, C., Liles, M., Mariona, G., Muccio, C., Muñoz, J., Nichols, W., Peña, M., Seminoff, J., Vásquez, M., Urteaga, J., Wallace, B., Yañez, I., & Zárate, P. (2010). Signs of hope in the eastern Pacific: international collaboration reveals encouraging status for the severely depleted population of hawksbill turtles Eretmochelys imbricata. Oryx, 1-7 DOI: 10.1017/S0030605310000773

Read more!

Freshwater turtles face 'bleak future'

Jonathan Amos BBC News 10 Sep 10;

Freshwater turtles are in catastrophic decline, according to a new analysis by Conservation International (CI).

The group says more than a third of the estimated 280 species around the world are now threatened with extinction.

The unsustainable collection of turtles for food and to supply a lucrative pet trade are the key drivers behind the fall in numbers.

Habitat loss as a result of river-damming for hydro-electricity is another major concern.

Dr Peter Paul van Dijk, the director of Conservation International's Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Conservation Programme, said the outlook was bleak.

"These are animals that take 15-20 years to reach maturity and then live for another 30-40 years, putting a clutch of eggs in the ground every year. They play the odds, hoping that in that 50-year lifetime, some of their hatchlings will somehow evade predators and go on to breed themselves.

"But if you take these animals out before they've reached 15 and can reproduce, it all ends there," he told BBC News.
'Eco-warning'

Unlike their ocean counterparts, freshwater turtles are adapted to live far up river systems, even into small foothill streams. They populate lakes, rivers, estuaries; there are also some species that will tolerate saltmarshes and mangroves.

But the 11 families that comprise this collection of shelled creatures have seen their numbers fall relentlessly over the past two decades.

The turtles are highly prized across Asia, particularly in China, where their consumption is perceived to have medicinal benefits.

The market is so large it is now also being supplied by farms.

On top of this exploitation, some of their river habitats are being degraded.

"They need to have natural flow patterns in rivers otherwise their nests on the sandbank high up get flooded at the wrong time of year," explained Dr van Dijk.

"They need clear water so they can see what they're eating. They need underwater plants which can only grow if the water isn't too turbid. So, to some extent they can be seen as a proxy for the health of river systems."
Farming solution

The species in deepest trouble is probably the red river giant softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei). There are only four individuals remaining alive in the world. Efforts to get two long-term captive animals in China to breed have not met with success.

Two batagur species - the red-crowned river turtle and the Myanmar river turtle - have been hit particularly hard by collectors.

The red-crowned species was once widespread throughout the great rivers of northern India, Bangladesh and Nepal, but it has now been reduced to a single viable population in the "unholy" Chambal River of central India.

The Myanmar species was actually thought to be extinct for much of the last century. Once abundant in the Irrawaddy river system of Myanmar (Burma), its populations have dwindled to under a dozen mature animals in the upper Chindwin river.

Egg collection, hunting and habitat loss as a result of dams and gold mining are blamed. A captive population is being built up for re-introduction programme.

"All the tonnage of turtle that people want to consume can be satisfied by farming," Dr van Dijk said. "If we can eliminate the unsustainable collection from the wild, we have 80% of the battle won. Beyond that, it's a matter of habitat management for minimal impact on turtles and all the other wildlife in those habitats."

Read more!

Scientists Find Thick Layer Of Oil On Gulf Seafloor

Richard Harris NPR 10 Sep 10;

Scientists on a research vessel in the Gulf of Mexico are finding a substantial layer of oily sediment stretching for dozens of miles in all directions. Their discovery suggests that a lot of oil from the Deepwater Horizon didn't simply evaporate or dissipate into the water — it has settled to the seafloor.

The Research Vessel Oceanus sailed on Aug. 21 on a mission to figure out what happened to the more than 4 million barrels of oil that gushed into the water. Onboard, Samantha Joye, a professor in the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Georgia, says she suddenly has a pretty good idea about where a lot of it ended up. It's showing up in samples of the seafloor, between the well site and the coast.

"I've collected literally hundreds of sediment cores from the Gulf of Mexico, including around this area. And I've never seen anything like this," she said in an interview via satellite phone from the boat.

Joye describes seeing layers of oily material — in some places more than 2 inches thick — covering the bottom of the seafloor.

"It's very fluffy and porous. And there are little tar balls in there you can see that look like microscopic cauliflower heads," she says.

It's very clearly a fresh layer. Right below it she finds much more typical seafloor mud. And in that layer, she finds recently dead shrimp, worms and other invertebrates.

'A Slime Highway'

How did the oily sediment get there? Joye says it's possible that chemical dispersants might have sunk some oil, but it's also likely that natural systems are playing an important role.

"The organisms that break down oil excrete mucus — copious amounts of mucus," Joye says. "So it's kind of like a slime highway from the surface to the bottom. Because eventually the slime gets heavy and it sinks."

That sticky material can pick up oil particles as it sinks. Joye can't yet say with certainty that the oily layer is from BP's blown-out well.

"We have to [chemically] fingerprint it and link it to the Deepwater Horizon," she says. "But the sheer coverage here is leading us all to come to the conclusion that it has to be sedimented oil from the oil spill, because it's all over the place."

So far, the research vessel has traveled in a large "X" across the Gulf within a few dozen miles of the well. Scientists have taken eight sets of samples, and Joye says they all contain this layer. It's thin in some places, inches thick in others. Eventually, scientists hope to collect enough samples to figure out how much oil is now settling to the seafloor.

"It's starting to sound like a tremendous amount of oil. And we haven't even sampled close to the wellhead yet," she says.

A Blizzard Of Oil

Last month, another research group also reported finding oil on the seafloor. Researchers at the University of South Florida say they saw oil particles sprinkled on top of the mud. These new findings strongly suggest that it didn't just drizzle oil — in some places it was a blizzard.

David Hollander, from the University of South Florida, says the government's original attempt to figure out what happened to the oil toted up how much washed ashore, how much evaporated and how much might have stayed under the waves. But it didn't consider that oil could also end up on the seafloor.

"And so now the bottom really is turning out to be an important sink for the oil," Hollander says.

But the ecological impacts of oil on the seafloor depend on the depth of the ocean where it lies. Joye's findings so far have found oil in depths ranging from 300 to 4,000 feet. Shallower waters, in particular, are potentially important not just for life on the bottom but for the entire marine ecosystem.

"A lot of fish go down to the bottom and eat and then come back up," Hollander says. "And if all their food sources are derived from the bottom, then indeed you could have this impact."

Figuring all that out though, will probably take many years.

Where's the oil? On the Gulf floor, scientists say
Cain Burdeau And Seth Borenstein, Associated Press Yahoo News 13 Sep 10;

NEW ORLEANS – Far beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, deeper than divers can go, scientists say they are finding oil from the busted BP well on the sea's muddy and mysterious bottom.

Oil at least two inches thick was found Sunday night and Monday morning about a mile beneath the surface. Under it was a layer of dead shrimp and other small animals, said University of Georgia researcher Samantha Joye, speaking from the helm of a research vessel in the Gulf.

The latest findings show that while the federal government initially proclaimed much of the spilled oil gone, now it's not so clear.

At these depths, the ocean is a cold and dark world. Yet scientists say that even though it may be out of sight, oil found there could do significant harm to the strange creatures that dwell in the depths — tube worms, tiny crustaceans and mollusks, single-cell organisms and Halloween-scary fish with bulging eyes and skeletal frames.

"I expected to find oil on the sea floor," Joye said Monday morning in a ship-to-shore telephone interview. "I did not expect to find this much. I didn't expect to find layers two inches thick. It's weird the stuff we found last night. Some of it was really dense and thick."

Joye said 10 of her 14 samples showed visible oil, including all the ones taken north of the busted well. She found oil on the sea floor as far as 80 miles away from the site of the spill.

"It's kind of like having a blizzard where the snow comes in and covers everything," Joye said.

And the look of the oil, its state of degradation, the way it settled on freshly dead animals all made it unlikely that the crude was from the millions of gallons of oil that naturally seep into the Gulf from the sea bottom each year, she said. Later this week, the oil will be tested for the chemical fingerprints that would conclusively link it to the BP spill.

"It has to be a recent event," Joye said. "There's still pieces of warm bodies there."

Since the well was capped on July 15 after some 200 million gallons flowed into the Gulf, there have been signs of resilience on the surface and the shore. Sheens have disappeared, while some marshlands have shoots of green. This seeming recovery is likely a result of massive amounts of chemical dispersants, warm waters and a Gulf that is used to degrading massive amounts of oil, scientists say.

Animal deaths also are far short of worst-case scenarios. But at the same time, a massive invisible plume of oil has been found under the surface, shifting scientists' concerns from what can be easily seen to what can't be.

For Ian MacDonald, a Florida State University biological oceanographer who wasn't part of Joye's team, the latest findings confirm that government assessments about how much oil remains — especially a report on the subject by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in August — were too optimistic.

The oil "did not disappear," he said. "It sank."

Not all scientists agree with this assessment.

Ed Overton, a Louisiana State University chemist who has analyzed the spill for NOAA, doubted much oil was resting on the bottom. He said the heavier components in oil — the asphalts — make up only about 1 percent of the oil that was spilled.

And Roger Sassen, an organic geochemist at Texas A&M University who has studied natural oil seeps, said so much oil seeps naturally into the Gulf each year that it's hard to argue that the BP spill will make a significant difference.

Nonetheless, the big questions now are exactly how much oil is at the bottom and how many organisms are being exposed to it, said Robert Carney, an oceanographer and deep-sea expert at Louisiana State University. The answers to those questions could shed some light on the unseen damage to wildlife from the oil spill.

"Deep-sea animals, in general, tend to produce fewer offspring than shallower water animals, so if they are going to have a population impact, it may be more sensitive in deep water," he said. "There is also some evidence that deep-sea animals live longer than shallower water species, so the impact may stay around longer."

At first, scientists, the media and the federal government focused their attention on tracking rainbow sheens approaching land, tar balls hitting beaches, measuring oil in marshes and scouting for oiled birds and sea turtles. But a spate of recent studies increasingly points to the deep.

NOAA's Aug. 4 pronouncement that the oil was mostly gone also indicated that some 53 million gallons remained in the Gulf. At the time, federal officials said some of that could be on the sea floor, adding that the rest was mostly broken down naturally or by the widespread use of chemical dispersants.

"As we get into weathered oil, there is more likelihood that it will get into the sediment," said Steve Murawski, chief scientist at the National Marine Fisheries Service, a division of NOAA.

Getting a handle on where the oil is at extreme depths will not be easy. Scientists will have to use expensive 1,000-pound devices that look like moon landers. The spindly legged machines land on the bottom and shoot tubes into the sea floor to collect 20-inch-long samples.

The terrain is exceedingly difficult. The area where the busted BP well sits is on the continental slope, formed by millions of years of deposits from the Mississippi River. It's a region of bumps and valleys, salt domes, canyons and slopes.

Government scientists acknowledge they've not done enough to look for oil in the obscure corners of the Gulf's bottom, but promise to do a better job.

"There are plans to do a considerable amount of that" sampling, said Debbie Payton, an oceanographer with NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration. In the coming weeks, NOAA and BP vessels will sample the deep bottoms, she said.

Joye's latest discovery backs up the findings of a University of South Florida crew that reported pulling up oily sediment in August.

"What we saw were flecks, little discontinued droplets, or spots" of oil on the sediment, said John H. Paul, a biological oceanographer on the USF survey. The oiled sediment was found about 1.4 miles down in the De Soto Canyon, an underwater canyon east of the blown-out well.

Sediment brought up still needs to undergo laboratory testing to verify that the oil found on the bottom comes from the BP oil spill.

For oil to sink, it must attach itself to materials that are heavier than water, such as detritus, flecks of mud, sands and other particles. Such materials are abundant in the Gulf in places where rivers, especially the Mississippi, flush mud and sand into the open sea. Oil also can sink as it ages and becomes more tar-like in a process known as weathering.

Scientists also say the oil may be sinking because it was broken up into tiny droplets by dispersants, making the oil so small that it wasn't buoyant enough to rise. One problem with oil at the sea floor is that it will take longer to degrade because of cold temperatures in the deep.

Borenstein reported from Washington, D.C.

Online: http://gulfblog.uga.edu

Read more!

Sea temperatures around Japan hit record high

Yahoo News 10 Sep 10;

TOKYO (AFP) – Japan, which has just endured its hottest summer on record, said Friday it had also last month recorded the warmest sea temperatures since it started gathering comparable data 25 years ago.

Ocean surface temperatures in much of the archipelago's Pacific Ocean and Sea of Japan waters reached more than 25 degrees centigrade (77 degrees Fahrenheit) in August, said the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The average sea temperature was the hottest recorded since 1985 when the agency started a new measuring system, and was also a record 1.2 degrees centigrade above the average for the 1971-2000 period.

"When examining the earlier data also, I would say global warming is one of the factors behind the warmest recorded sea waters," said an agency official.

Scientists warn that the greenhouse effect caused by heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere is raising global temperatures, melting the planet's ice caps and triggering more severe weather events such as storms and floods.

Japan this year experienced its hottest summer since records began in 1898, with thousands of people taken to hospital with heatstroke. The average temperature for June to August was 1.64 degrees centigrade above average.

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 10 Sep 10

Hot day in Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve!
from Project Orion II

Last morning trip at Sentosa
from wonderful creation

Oil-spill check on Tanah Merah
from wild shores of singapore

Fantastic Changi!
from Psychedelic Nature

Feeding Spotted Dove: 8. Aggression
from Bird Ecology Study Group

the flying blue pansy
from into the wild

Sentosa's Dolphin Lagoon is too small: SPCA
from wild shores of singapore

Read more!

Dolphin Lagoon is too small: SPCA

Facility doesn't allow space for 6 dolphins; Underwater World says area exceeds guidelines
Grace Chua Straits Times 10 Sep 10;


The main pool (above) of the new Dolphin Lagoon houses two adult females and an eight-year-old male, while another adult male, an adult female and her two-year-old calf are housed in two smaller adjacent holding pools. -- ST PHOTO: MARYANNE TAN

THE Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has raised concerns that the Underwater World's new Dolphin Lagoon is too small for its six dolphins.

In June, it paid a visit to the new facility next to Underwater World's premises at Sentosa's Siloso Point, and wrote to the attraction's management about the pool.

'The new pool is no longer in a 'natural' setting - instead, it is now a concrete swimming pool,' the SPCA website said.

SPCA executive officer Deirdre Moss pointed out that individual pink dolphins in the wild have a home range of 30 sq km to 400 sq km.

But Underwater World's trainers and vets noted that the wild animals swim great distances to look for food, a resource provided for in captivity.

The $10.5 million Dolphin Lagoon, completed last November, houses six endangered Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, often called pink dolphins due to their distinctive skin colour.

It was built as a replacement for the previous Dolphin Lagoon at the other end of Sentosa on Tanjong Beach, which saw its lease expire last year.

The previous lagoon had a surface area of 1ha and held 30,000 cubic m of water, or enough water to fill 12 Olympic-size swimming pools.

Underwater World did not give the dimensions of the new pool, but said it exceeded international guidelines and safety standards. It has also been approved by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).

Eight-year-old male Splash, the world's first pink dolphin to be born in captivity, and two adult female dolphins are in the main pool, while another adult male, an adult female and her two-year-old calf are housed in two smaller adjacent holding pools.

And where the old Dolphin Lagoon had shores made of natural rock, the walls of the new one are smooth and man-made.

Pool size is not everything, said Dr Frederic Chua, a veterinary consultant to Underwater World and a former curator there.

The pool design took into account factors like water quality and social interaction.

The new pool also allows vets and trainers to see the animals more clearly, as it does not have a sandy, rocky bottom and is brighter, making it easier to treat the dolphins when they get injured or ill. The old pool was also prone to algae, bacteria and jellyfish.

A National University of Singapore duo, comprising a student and a researcher, is currently studying the dolphins' behaviour in captivity to find out whether the animals act differently before and after shows, which take place three times a day.

When dolphins are stressed, they stop eating, lose weight and may swim repeatedly in circles or injure themselves.

'If new information becomes available, we will apply it and redesign the pool and activities, but it needs to be evidence-based, not emotion-based,' Dr Chua said.

AVA spokesman Goh Shih Yong said the space provided for the animals surpasses international recommendations for space, water quality and animal husbandry.

'(It) exceeds the standards set by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, which safeguards animal welfare in the United States, as well as the European Association for Aquatic Mammals (EAAM),' he said in an e-mail.

The EAAM standards for total space for up to five animals, including hospitalisation or isolation areas, are: a minimum water surface area of 275 sq m with a minimum depth of 3.5m, and a minimum water volume of 1,000 cubic m.

For an extra animal, there must be an extra 75 sq m of surface area and 200 cubic m of water.

The SPCA letter is not the first time local animal groups have raised concerns about dolphins in captivity.

In 2003, the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society campaigned against dolphin performances, saying they put undue stress on the animals. It also added that the previous Dolphin Lagoon was too small.

Read more!

Dolphin innovators hunt fish by collecting conch shells

Matt Walker BBC News 8 Sep 10;

Dolphins living in Shark Bay, Australia have developed a rare, and extraordinary new behaviour.
The dolphins have become shell-collectors, using their snouts to pick up and transport large conchs.

The dolphins seek out the shells to hunt fish that are sheltering within.

It is likely that the dolphins originally chased the fish into the conchs, and have now learnt to bring the shells to the surface, where they can flush out and eat their prey.

The foraging tactic is "quite spectacular", say researchers, who have published photographs and details of the behaviour in the journal Marine Mammal Science.

The dolphins of Shark Bay, Western Australia are well known to scientists, as they are one of the best studied dolphin populations in the world.

"Shark Bay dolphins are known as clever inventors, showing a remarkable range of foraging tactics, which are unprecedented in other cetacean populations," says biologist Dr Michael Krützen of the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

For example, these dolphins have developed a number of novel ways to catch fish.

Sometimes the dolphins 'hydroplane' into extreme shallow water, beating their tails furiously to pursue fish into the shallows where they are more easily caught.

In doing so, the dolphins can beach themselves in pursuit of the fish, wriggling their way back into the sea.

They use another trick called 'kerplunking', whereby the dolphins slap their tails over beds of seagrass, creating bubbles that flush out fish hiding within.

Most remarkable, perhaps, is the technique known as 'sponging'.

Some dolphins intentionally pick up marine sponges with their snouts (known as a rostrum), and use them as 'gloves' or 'shields' to protect their sensitive snouts when rubbing them into the sandy seabed to forage.

This is a cultural trait passed down from mother to offspring, the only known example of culturally transmitted tool use among cetaceans.

Shake it out

Now Dr Krützen and colleagues Mr Simon Allen and Dr Lars Bejder of the Cetacean Research Unit at Murdoch University, Western Australia describe another extraordinary innovation by the same group of dolphins.

An individual dolphin inserts its snout into a sizable conch, then lifts the shell up from the sea floor, carrying it to the surface.

Although rarely observed, this behaviour has been spotted by a number of researchers working in Shark Bay.

Now the marine biologists have obtained a series of photographs of the dolphins collecting shells, that reveal why they do it.

The dolphins appear to be hunting fish that have taken refuge inside the shells, as evidenced by photographs showing a relatively large fish falling from a conch being shaken by one dolphin (see above).

"We don't know whether the dolphins go searching in otherwise vacant conch shells for fish and just 'happen' to find prey therein, or whether they actively pursue fish into the vacant conch shells and then lift them to the surface, shaking them about to drain the water and the hapless fish into the waiting jaws of death," Mr Allen told the BBC.

The researchers suspect the dolphins are pursuing fish into the shells, due to the dolphins' erratic swimming before reaching the conchs and rapid surfacing once they have located the shells.

Once they reach the surface, the dolphins shake the shells to make the water and fish spill out.

"It's quite surprising that they are apparently manipulating such large, heavy, cumbersome objects in such a way as to secure a meal," says Mr Allen.

"I think the behaviour is quite unusual, otherwise it would presumably have been seen more often."

As yet, there is no evidence that the behaviour is being culturally transmitted between dolphins, but "I'd say we were lucky enough to witness a dolphin being innovative," says Mr Allen.

Read more!

Polar bears at the Singapore Zoo: Keep Sheba and Inuka here but...

Straits Times Forum 10 Sep 10;

I REFER to Wednesday's letters ('How zoo is ensuring survival of endangered animals' and 'Sheba and Inuka thriving well in Singapore') in response to our letter ('Polar bears and zoo's green contradiction'; Sept 1).

Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) would like to clarify that we are not requesting for the polar bears Sheba and Inuka to be moved out of Singapore, nor are we requesting for them to be released into the wild.

The current conditions for both polar bears are far from optimal, and the current enclosure fails to meet the minimum standards laid out in the Polar Bear Protection Act, which was made law by the government of Manitoba, Canada, in 2003.

The Singapore Zoo enclosure fails both in terms of size and design.

In 2007, Acres publicly stated that 'if Inuka is to remain in tropical Singapore, we strongly urge the zoo to consider drastically improving the living conditions and raising them to meet international standards'.

We once again congratulate the zoo for building a new enclosure for the polar bears and meeting our recommendations.

We, however, sincerely hope that the zoo remains committed to its stand on not importing any more Arctic animals and focuses its efforts on fighting climate change and being a tropical zoo.

Louis Ng
Executive Director
Acres (Animal Concerns Research
and Education Society)

Read more!

Move to have zero vehicular growth in Singapore to tackle road jams "imminent"

Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid Channel NewsAsia 9 Sep 10;

SINGAPORE: Congestion on Singapore's roads has renewed calls for more aggressive measures to curb the vehicle population.

One solution is to have zero vehicular growth, a point raised by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong at a dialogue with grassroots leaders recently.

Observers said implementing such a move is imminent as Singapore roads are nearing maximum capacity.

Singapore's vehicle population has grown to about one million. With limited land, vehicle growth rate has been set at 1.5% for the next two years.

But, is this sustainable?

Dr Lim Wee Kiak, chairman of Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, said: "We should maintain our current fleet of vehicles, not to increase further. Perhaps, given a chance, Ministry of Transport should consider a reduction in vehicle number rather than (an) increase.

"We are looking at a reduction in growth, but what I will like to see is to reach the zero (growth) faster. In Parliament, we have been pushing for some sort of a zero growth, if not, even a negative growth to counteract the excess over the last few years.

"They should release (fewer) COEs compared to the number of vehicles taken off the roads so that there is actually a reduction in the number of vehicles in Singapore."

The reduction in COEs will mean higher car prices. Is this likely to get more people on public transport?

"I will still strive to get a car, even if the price is high," said a member of the public.

"I still want to own a car," said another.

"If you are holding a certain position, you may need it (car) for the image," said a third.

"I will give up my car, if the transport in Singapore is able to achieve the coverage.....(such that) we can go anywhere conveniently," said a fourth.

Such reasons are why many say aggressive measures are needed to convince people to take public transport.

One suggestion has been for public transport operators to offer fare discounts for travel during off-peak hours, as this is likely to tackle the problem of overcrowding in trains.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak said that with discounts, more people would consider spreading out their travel. "So there would be spaces for everyone," he said.

Buses must also become a more reliable alternative, said Associate Professor Lee Der Horng from the Department of Civil Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

He said: "We must take some very aggressive approach. What we have to do is, other than the MRT, we have to pay more attention to the buses.

"Can we provide more full-day bus lanes? Can we give higher priority to public transportation vehicle like the bus? Can we improve the level of bus service, have cleaner buses, newer buses, faster buses, safer and more comfortable (bus travel)?"

Meanwhile, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it will conduct a review in 2012 to determine an allowable vehicular growth rate. It also said that even if the growth rate is reduced to zero, there will still be a need for usage measures to effectively manage demand for roads.

- CNA/ir

Zero vehicular growth to curb congestion?
Experts and drivers say public transport needs to up its game first
Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid Today Online 10 Sep 10;

SINGAPORE - The congestion on the roads has renewed calls for more aggressive measures to curb the vehicle population.

One solution is to have zero vehicular growth, a point suggested by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong at a recent dialogue with grassroots leaders.

Observers said implementing such a move is imminent as Singapore roads are nearing maximum capacity. Singapore's vehicle population has grown to about one million. With limited land, the vehicle growth rate has been set at 1.5 per cent for the next two years.

But some observers wonder if the growth rate is sustainable.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, said: "We should maintain our current fleet of vehicles, not to increase further ... We are looking at a reduction in growth, but what I will like to see is to reach the zero (growth) faster."

Fewer COEs should be released compared to the number of vehicles taken off the roads, he added.

The reduction in COEs will mean higher car prices. But whether that will translate to more people taking public transport remains to be seen. Some of those interviewed told MediaCorp that they would still try to buy a car even if the price is high.

One driver said: "I will give up my car if public transport in Singapore is able to achieve coverage such that we can go anywhere, conveniently."

Given Singaporeans' well-documented desire to own a car, many observers believe that aggressive measures are needed to convince people to take public transport.

One suggestion has been for public transport operators to offer fare discounts for travel during off-peak hours, as this is likely to tackle the problem of overcrowding.

Dr Lim said that with discounts, more people would consider spreading out their travel.

Buses must also become a more reliable alternative, said associate professor Lee Der Horng, from the National University of Singapore's Department of Civil Engineering.

"Can we improve the level of service for our buses, and have cleaner, newer, faster, safer and more comfortable buses? If that is what we can provide in our bus service, together with our MRT system, I believe people will respond and use public transportation," he said.

The Land Transport Authority said it will conduct a review in 2012 to determine an allowable vehicle growth rate.

Even if the vehicular growth rate is reduced to zero, there will still be a need for usage measures to effectively manage demand for roads, it added.

Read more!

Sustainable transport options for Singapore

Howard Shaw Today Online 10 Sep 10;

As our community grows, and our personal needs grow in a society that is still dominated by material goods and getting more out of every hour of every day, we are learning even more about our effects on the environment, and it is disturbing to all of us.

When thinking about alternative modes of transportation, various options need to be taken into consideration. Do we really need a personal car?

In a small island state like Singapore, the answer is no.

Yet most people who own a car would claim that their main motive is for convenience. This raises a different question: What can be done to improve convenience and encourage the population to rely more on public and alternative modes of transportation?

There are several improvements which could be made in Singapore to have people adopt more sustainable modes of transportation.

First of all, the public transport system is fast reaching saturation point. As the population increases, the public transport network must keep up at the same rate. A lot of effort can be put into improving the network by expanding the number of routes and increasing the frequency of buses and MRT trains. Many people own a car for the simple reason that the area they live in or want to access is not serviced or easily accessible by public transport.

The bicycle and pedestrian tracks remain undeveloped in Singapore. It remains difficult to go from point A to B without having to ride along the busy roads. A lot of effort could therefore be invested into developing a proper network of safe tracks for bicycles and pedestrians.

The cost of buying a hybrid vehicle remains much higher than that of a normal car. In order to have people purchase this type of vehicle which have lesser emissions, the government would need to provide a range of incentives.

Electric vehicles have recently been introduced to Singapore, and they have the advantage of having zero emissions during their usage. However, we must keep in mind that almost all of the energy in Singapore is derived from the burning of fossil fuel from natural gas. Therefore, in order for such cars to have a positive impact on reducing emissions, the energy grid powering these cars would need to be from a sustainable source (for example, solar or wind).

From the angle of transport for our daily activities, we could look at the necessity of most people needing to move twice a day in order to get to and from work. As society is changing, so should our daily behaviours. An increasing number of companies in Europe and North America adopt a work from home concept. Employees are no longer required to physically be at the office for work but are assessed on work output and deliverables which can all be done from home. Such a model applied on a large scale can have very significant impacts on reducing unnecessary transportation.

The end message is this: In order to make significant changes in mitigating emissions from the transportation sector, we would need to rethink our daily behaviour and activities. Last but not least, a lot of effort can be done to raise awareness on the need to shift to sustainable modes of transportation and highlight the issue of global warming.

The Singapore Environment Council (SEC) believes in education and outreach to the public on such issues and is organising the Singapore G1 for this reason. The Singapore G1 is an event featuring races like the Soap Box Derby, Eco Car Race, Buggy Race, Trishaw Race and other activities like walking and cycling.

SEC aims to raise awareness and encourage the development and use of green technologies in transportation, and more cost-effective modes of transportation like public transport. At the same time, Singapore G1 promotes simple lifestyle changes like walking and cycling.

The writer is the executive director of the Singapore Environment Council (SEC). The Singapore G1 green event is supported by Today as part of the newspaper's 10th anniversary celebrations.

Members of the public can head down to the Float @ Marina Bay on Sept 19, between 2pm and 8pm to watch Asia's first Soap Box Derby. For more information, please visit www.singaporeg1.sg or call SEC on 6337 6062.

Read more!

Planned Singapore pig farm in China breaks new ground

Straits Times 10 Sep 10;

JILIN: Singapore yesterday took a big step forward in developing its first food zone in China by breaking ground on a new pig farm here.

The integrated pig farm, which aims to produce one million pigs annually, was an investment by Singapore Food Industries (SFI) and its joint venture partners. It spans more than 100,000 sq m and will cover all aspects of the pork supply chain, from feed milling to breeding and processing.

Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan officiated at the ground-breaking ceremony here yesterday. At the ceremony, Mr Mah said the project 'signifies a new dimension of collaboration between Singapore and Jilin province', according to a Ministry of National Development release.

'This ground-breaking ceremony is particularly meaningful as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Singapore this year,' he added.

The pig farm is part of the proposed Jilin-Singapore Agriculture and Food Zone, which aims to provide Singaporeans with a ready supply of healthy vegetables, fruit and meat for decades to come.

It should be completed in about nine months, said SFI yesterday in a joint statement with its partners - a Jilin-Singapore joint venture company and Taiwan's DaChan Food (Asia). They aim to create China's first foot-and-mouth disease-free pig farm, certified by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and the World Organisation for Animal Health.

Read more!