It's far too early to claim this relocation of reptiles was a success

Moving 24,000 snakes, lizards and worms is a huge task, and their habitat is not protected
Jon Cranfield The Guardian 29 Mar 11;

My heart sank when I read your report that thousands of "adders, grass snakes, common lizards and slow worms" had been "transported from the east of England to nature reserves in Wiltshire" (24,000 reptiles moved to make way for £1.5bn port, 22 March).

I can see how the immediate harm or killing was prevented by removing the reptiles out of the development site. I just cannot see how the reptile relocation, "thought to be the UK's biggest artificial movement of animals", maintains the conservation status of reptiles around the area where they were based.

Throughout my career as a consultant herpetologist I have always worked with the idea that wholesale translocation of reptiles (and amphibians) over large distances should be avoided. It has been a challenge in my profession: working within legal constraints which only protect individual reptiles; balancing the needs of the client, who wants, quite rightly, to keep costs to a minimum; and actually getting conservation value from these projects.

Looking at the numbers of the different reptiles moved from the Essex oil refinery site – "290 adders, 400 grass snakes, 17,000 common lizards and 6,000 slow worms" – you can see the challenge that can face ecological consultants moving these animals. These figures though are naturally inflated through the young animals born each year. Newborn and younger animals will suffer naturally from high mortality over the winter, and this may be increased by movement to a new site.

You report that "Marcus Pearson, environmental manager for [port operator] DP World, said the move seemed to have been successful. Reptiles that had been moved and then recaptured to check their wellbeing seemed healthy and were doing well."

But how are the reptiles being monitored in their new homes? There was no mention of any form of data being collected (weights, lengths and photographs). The vast number of adult lizards may have made this unworkable, but the few hundred snakes could have easily been tagged, photographed, weighed and measured prior to release. This is what happened with water voles relocated from south Essex to mink-free habitats in Colchester under licence.

Relocation, habitat creation, management and monitoring for newts is strictly controlled through a licensing system maintained by Natural England. No such system exists for the more widespread reptile species. But evidence is emerging which shows that all these reptiles – particularly the adder – would benefit from legal protection of their habitat. Your article yesterday, on the population slump of Britain's only venomous snake, reinforced this (On the slide: adder project looks to halt snake's decline, 28 March).

I do take some comfort that the remaining oil refinery reptiles are being re-homed on the RSPB reserve at West Canvey Marshes. But it is certainly too early to judge whether, in terms of replacing lost habitat and sustaining the relocated reptile populations, the story in Essex has been a "success".

Essex reptiles settle into new Wiltshire home
24,000 adders, common lizards and other species moved from oil refinery site to reserves to make way for London Gateway
Steven Morris guardian.co.uk 21 Mar 11;

They had lived peacefully in their tens of thousands on an old refinery site in Essex.

Now after what is thought to be the UK's biggest artificial movement of animals, 24,000 adders, grass snakes, common lizards and slow worms are settling well into new homes 140 miles away.

The reptiles were transported from the east of England to reserves in Wiltshire to make way for the £1.5bn London Gateway container port and logistics park.

Since 1998 the creatures have been captured by hand and moved in vans – early in the morning so they did not dry out – around the M25 and down the M4 before being released into their new homes.

The reserves in Wiltshire have now been declared full and this year the relatively few remaining reptiles at the Essex site will be rehoused closer to another reserve closer to home.

Marcus Pearson, environmental manager for DP World, said the move seemed to have been successful. Reptiles that had been moved and then recaptured to check their wellbeing seemed healthy and doing well in their new home.

Construction is under way at London Gateway, 25 miles to the east of central London. Once complete the development will allow the world's biggest container ships to berth close to the capital.

But one of the challenges the developers faced was rehousing the animals that had moved on to the site after an oil refinery ceased operating in 1999.

Homes were found nearby for the carefully protected great crested newts.

But no new local habitat could be found for the reptiles so the decision was taken to move them to reserves managed by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.

DP World also bought a chunk of land to link areas owned by the trust.

It has moved 290 adders, 400 grass snakes, 17,000 common lizards and 6,000 slow worms.

Pearson said finding a new home was tricky because they could not be moved to places where they were already large populations of a particular creature.

The Wiltshire reserves are now judged to be full and the remaining reptiles found on the Gateway site this year will be moved to the RSPB reserve, West Canvey Marsh.

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Corals Moving North to Escape Warming

Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience.com Yahoo News 29 Mar 11;

Corals may be dying in tropical areas, but now it appears they are expanding their range poleward, scientists find.

Corals are critical to ocean life, forming reefs that are home to a dazzling array of species. Despite occupying less than 1 percent of the ocean floor — an area about half the size of France — temperate and tropical reefs provide a home for as much as 25 percent of the world's marine species. Only tropical rain forests can compete with the sheer concentration of biodiversity found in coral reefs.

Unfortunately, corals are especially vulnerable to changes in temperature. As the oceans warm due to Earth's changing climate, corals are dying in tropical areas where the warm waters cause them to expel the symbiotic algae that provide them with nutrients — a process called bleaching.

However, this warming could give corals opportunities as well. Scientists find that as temperatures in higher latitudes rise, coral are expanding poleward.

Geographer Hiroya Yamano, at the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba, Japan, and his colleagues investigated 80 years of national records from temperate areas around Japan. Wintertime sea surface temperatures rose by as much as 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit (2.4 degrees Celsius) in those sites during that period.

The scientists found that four of the nine coral species they studied in these areas in the Northern Hemisphere expanded their range northward since the 1930s as quickly as 8.7 miles (14 kilometers) per year. None of the coral species went south toward the tropics.

"I find the speed — 14 kilometers per year — is stunning," Yamano told OurAmazingPlanet.

These findings might be good news for corals, "but for corals only," Yamano said. Other research suggests that warming waters might spur exotic species to invade new areas, which could negatively impact native marine species.

"Further, even if range expansion of corals does occur, the amount of dying corals in tropical areas may be much greater than the new settlements in the temperate regions," Yamano added.

Yamano added this research only looked at occurrence of corals, not at their abundance. The team will launch a monitoring program to examine settlement and growth of corals at a number of sites to get a better picture of how corals are shifting, he said.

Yamano and his colleagues Kaoru Sugihara and Keiichi Nomura detailed their findings online Feb. 17 in the journal Geophysical Review Letters.

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Indonesia most ready to build nuclear power plant in ASEAN

Antara 29 Mar 11;

Pontianak, W.Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - Among the 10 ASEAN member countries, Indonesia is the most ready to build a nuclear power plant, a ministry official said.

"However, Indonesia still lags behind Malaysia which will start building a nuclear power plant by 2012," Sri Setiawati, a deputy to the research and technology minister said here Tuesday.

According to her, the preparedness is based on a review of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Indonesia has an adequate expertise, experts, materials and technology in the nuclear field, Sri Setiawati added.

"Not all countries have the things. For example Vietnam, they do not have experts in the nuclear field," Sri Setiawati noted.

Unfortunately, the Indonesian people tend to fear with nuclear technology. Currently, there are three nuclear reactors managed in Indonesia, namely in Yogyakarta, Bandung (West Java) and Serpong (Tangerang).

She asserted, in developed countries, the fear is the impetus to overcome the weaknesses to minimize the possibility of failure.

She pointed out, Japan, although there are earthquakes every day there has 50 more nuclear reactors.

"The events that occurred in Fukushima as the impact of the earthquake and tsunami were larger than predicted," Sri Setiawati said.

During an earthquake in Yogyakarta in 2006, the nuclear reactors in the region were in safe condition, even though the buildings around it were destroyed.

Sri Setiawati said, it showed that the nuclear reactor had been made by considering the condition of natural disasters.

"If there is any failure or disruption, this will be used for an evaluation for the next technology. In essence, how we seek to conquer failures through technology development," Sri Setiawati said.(*)

Editor: Heru

Indonesian experts ready to operate nuclear power plants
Antara 29 Mar 11;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (Bapeten) has confirmed that Indonesian personnel are ready to operate nuclear power plants as soon as those facilities are built in Indonesia.

"Let me emphasize here that Indonesian human resources will be ready by the time nuclear power plants are constructed in Indonesia," said Bapeten head As Natio Lasman to ANTARA News in an interview here on Tuesday.

Lasman added that the performance of Indonesian nuclear experts was already acknowledged by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). There are now seven Indonesian experts working as supervisors in IAEA.

Those seven nuclear supervisors were on IAEA missions in various countries, including one in Tokyo, Japan, doing his job, Lasman said.

He admitted there is a fear for the presence of nuclear power plants among the Indonesian communities, something that has arisen from lack of the correct information about how nuclear power plants are operated.

Lasman explained that nuclear energy is an energy that can replace fossil energy which is widely in use today provided the utilization is in accordance with strict regulation and control. Whereas fossil energy is depleting fast in the recent years.

Lasman said the most important thing for Indonesia in its plan to build nuclear power plants are connected to the correct choice of the locations as well as the supporting infrastructures. The aspects that are needed to be calculated include among other earthquake- and tsunami free.

The plan of Indonesia to operate nuclear power plants is not new, he said, because Indonesia was one of the initiators of the establishment of the IAEA.(*)

Editor: Heru

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Big Quakes Don't Trigger Global Chain: USGS

Peter Henderson PlanetArk 29 Mar 11;

Big earthquakes over the last 30 years have not triggered global chains of massive seismic activity, U.S. scientists reported on Monday.

But major quakes do trigger other big ones close by and smaller ones far away, researchers said.

The news is reassuring for California and other quake-prone areas wondering if the 9.0 earthquake which has done so much harm in Japan could hasten troubles outside the region.

U.S. Geological Survey and University of Texas at El Paso scientists looked at whether magnitude 7 and higher quakes were followed by magnitude 5 quakes and larger ones in other parts of the world.

"Based on the evidence we've seen in our research, we don't think that large, global earthquake clusters are anything more than coincidence," Tom Parsons, a USGS geophysicist and author of a study appearing in Nature Geoscience, said in a statement.

Big quakes were noted a distance of two times the length of the fault from a major shaking, although smaller quakes could be triggered at great distance, it said.

(Editing by Sandra Maler)

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UN report: Cities ignore climate change at their peril

Mark Kinver BBC News 29 Mar 11;

Urban areas are set to become the battleground in the global effort to curb climate change, the UN has warned.

The assessment by UN-Habitat said that the world's cities were responsible for about 70% of emissions, yet only occupied 2% of the planet's land cover.

While cities were energy intensive, the study also said that effective urban planning could deliver huge savings.

The authors warned of a "deadly collision between climate change and urbanisation" if no action was taken.

The Global Report on Human Settlements 2011, Cities and Climate Change: Policy Directions, said its goal was to improve knowledge of how cities contribute to climate change, and what adaptation measures are available.

Worrying trend

Joan Clos, executive director of UN-Habitat, said the global urbanisation trend was worrying as far as looking to curb emissions were concerned.

"We are seeing how urbanisation is growing - we have passed the threshold of 50% (of the world's population living in urban areas)," he told BBC News.

"There are no signs that we are going to diminish this path of growth, and we know that with urbanisation, energy consumption is higher.

According to UN data, an estimated 59% of the world's population will be living in urban areas by 2030.

Every year, the number of people who live in cities and town grows by 67 million each year - 91% of this figure is being added to urban populations in developing countries.

The main reasons why urban areas were energy intensive, the UN report observed, was a result of increased transport use, heating and cooling homes and offices, as well as economic activity to generate income.

The report added that as well as cities' contribution to climate change, towns and cities around the globe were also vulnerable to the potential consequences, such as:

Increase in the frequency of warm spells/heat waves over most land areas
Greater number of heavy downpours
Growing number of areas affected by drought
Increase in the incidence of extremely high sea levels in some parts of the world

The authors also said that as well as the physical risks posed by future climate change, some urban areas would face difficulties providing basic services.

"These changes will affect water supply, physical infrastructure, transport, ecosystem goods and services, energy provision and industrial production," they wrote.

"Local economies will be disrupted and populations will be stripped of their assets and livelihoods."

A recent assessment highlighted a number of regions where urban areas were at risk from climate-related hazards, such as droughts, landslides, cyclones and flooding.

These included sub-Saharan Africa, South and South East Asia, southern Europe, the east coast of South America and the west coast of the US.

Time to act

Dr Clos told BBC News that while climate change was a problem that affected the entire world, individual towns and cities could play a vital role in the global effort to curb emissions.

"The atmosphere is a common good, which we all depend upon - every emission is an addition to the problem," he explained.

But, he added: "Consumption is carried out at an individual level; energy consumption is also an individual choice.

"This is why local governments and communities can a big role, even when their national governments do not accept or acknowledge the challenges."

The report called on local urban planners to develop a vision for future development that considered climate change's impact on the local area.

It said that it was necessary to include mitigation measures (reducing energy demand and emissions) as well as adaptation plans, such as improving flood defences.

In order to achieve the most effective strategy, it was necessary for urban planners to seek the views of the local community, including businesses and residents.

However, the UN-Habitat authors said international and national policies also had a role to play in supporting urban areas.

These included financial support, reducing bureaucracy and improving awareness and knowledge of climate change and its possible impacts.

Dr Clos was launching the report on Monday evening at an event in central London, hosted by the London School of Economics.

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Best of our wild blogs: 29 Mar 11

St John's shore with TJC students
from wonderful creationhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Berry fruity CCNR
from Urban Forest

Can you resist these faces?
from Life's Indulgences

Is a Harvestman a Spider?
from Macro Photography in Singapore

三月华语导游 Mandarin guide walk@SBWR, March (XVII)
from PurpleMangrove

Dredging right next to Cyrene Reef until Jun 2011
from wild shores of singapore

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Drivers, beware that wild boar on NTU roads

Goh Kai Shi & Lim Yi Han Straits Times 29 Mar 11;

WILD boar are a common sight at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). As are snakes - and even endangered pangolins.

Hostel residents often come upon these wild animals roaming free and unmolested on the sprawling grounds of the university in Jurong.

So much so that NTU has recently put up signs warning drivers to be wary of animals crossing the street within the campus' network of roads.

At least two 'Caution! Animals Crossing' signs have been put up - both of them at the Jalan Bahar side entrance, where sightings are most common.

Mr Chan Keng Luck, acting chief building and infrastructure officer at NTU, said: 'As the greenest campus in Singapore, NTU is home to a rich biodiversity of flora and fauna. These signs are meant to alert road users to be careful.'

To wildlife enthusiast Ben Lee, 49, the signs are a necessity. He remembers picking up a dead pangolin from Jalan Bahar in 2008 to prevent it from being repeatedly run over. The pangolin is classified as a critically endangered animal in Singapore.

Mr Lee, who founded Nature Trekker Singapore - a non-profit nature organisation - in 2000, would like to see more of such signs around urban Singapore.

'These signs will go some way towards ensuring that future generations will get to see endangered animals like the pangolin,' he said.

Student hostelites along Nanyang Crescent said they have seen small herds of three or four wild boars from their windows.

The animals have even become something of a draw. University shuttle buses have stopped for those on board to admire them, said mari-time studies student Zhang Tianzhe, 22.

Ms Charmaine Yip, 20, an exchange student from Canada who has been at the hostel for three months, has had several sightings.

'The first time I saw them I was quite scared, but after that, I realised they are quite harmless,' she said.

School of Biological Sciences student Corinna Tan, 23, agreed: 'The wild boars seem quite docile and I don't think they pose any threat to us.'

'Wild boars are generally docile by nature, but can become aggressive when they are cornered,' said Mr Tony O'Dempsey, chairman of the Vertebrate Study Group of the Nature Society Singapore.

'The best thing to do when you come face-to-face with them is to avoid them, as with all wild animals,' he added.

It is not too much to ask of wildlife-loving NTU students.

Protect NTU students from roaming wildlife
Straits Times 31 Mar 11;

TUESDAY'S article ('Drivers, beware that wild boar on NTU roads') mentioned sightings of wildlife such as snakes and pangolins at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

NTU said signs were put up to warn drivers to be wary of animals crossing the street. However, I am more concerned about the safety of students who are staying in hostels located close to the forested areas. It can be dangerous if snakes or wild boars wander into the residential areas and attack them.

Frederick Ow

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Malaysia: Hawksbill sea turtle hatching success

The Star 29 Mar 11;

MALACCA has successfully managed to hatch an estimated 23,677 hawksbill eggs at the turtle hatchery and management centre in Padang Kemunting, Masjid Tanah near here in 2010.

Chairman of the State Industry, Commerce and Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Committee chairman Datuk Md Yunos Husin said the total eggs hatched last year was equivalent to 48.82% of the 48,503 eggs incubated at the centre while 137,097 turtle eggs were hatched for a five -year period.

“This totals to 56% of 242,992 eggs incubated at the centre since 2006“, he said after launching the agro-based entrepreneurs carnival at the Malacca International Trade Centre at Ayer Keroh, here. Md Yunos said that 2,031 hawksbill turtles landed on Malacca’s beaches since 2006.

He said the centre, established in 1997, also recorded 50 turtle deaths along the Malacca coastlines, where many of these reptiles werecaught mostly in fishing nets.

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Philippines forest turtle: pet trade demand surged when it was rediscovered

Local forest turtle getting extinct
Ellalyn B. De Vera Manila Bulletin 28 Mar 11;

MANILA, Philippines -- No wonder Pong Pagong is rarely seen these days.

The Philippine Forest Turtle (Siebenrockiella leytensis), commonly found in Palawan, is now among the 25 endangered tortoises and freshwater turtles in the world, with an extremely high risk of getting extinct, international experts said.

A new report from the Turtle Conservation Coalition, a global alliance of conservation groups, including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission's Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group (TFTSG) has named the world's 25 most endangered tortoises and freshwater turtles, which includes the Philippine Forest Turtle.

This is the third Top 25 listing of most endangered species of tortoises and freshwater turtles, which is in addition to the earlier listed species that are also at very high risk of extinction, according to Turtle Conservation Coalition.

As cited in the 58-page report, the Philippine Forest Turtle’s habitat is being threatened by slash-and-bur n farming practices, logging, agricultural encroachment, and associated habitat degradation, among others.

“Yet, the biggest threat to the Philippine Forest Turtle is its perceived rarity. The demand in the international pet trade surged when it was rediscovered,” it said.

“Sadly, it continues to be illegally exported from the Philippines in significant numbers, although the species is protected both locally under Philippine law, and its trade regulated internationally by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species),” it added.

However, the illegal trade of endangered forest turtles remains rampant with the series of confiscations locally and internationally.

“Additionally, evidence suggests that some populations of this species have declined in the recent past and that no adults larger than 30 centimeter in carapace length and no hatchlings can be found in some localities,” the report pointed out.

Scientists used to believe that the turtle thrives in Leyte where it was first discovered, however recent studies pointed out that the turtle may be found in Palawan.

“Today, all evidence suggests that the original description of this species (Siebenrockiella leytensis) as occurring in Leyte was erroneous, although it is possible that early traders had transported some to Leyte and sold them in the market where they were first discovered,” it pointed out.

Very little is known about the Philippine Forest Turtle, aside from it inhabits in creeks and small rivers with full canopy and is “crepuscular or nocturnal, hiding during the day under the rocks or in deep earthen burrows or natural limestone caves.”

The Turtle Conservation Coalition expressed alarm that even before the species can be studied further, it may become extinct, if it would not be protected.

“Effective conservation actions for this species will require greater knowledge of the species' natural history,” it said.

It also cited the importance of "community-based conservation programs need to be continued to provide effective long-term in-situ protection of the remaining population and their habitats."

In addition, the report highlighted that turtles in Asia have greatly suffered from decades of illegal and unsustainable trade, with 17 of the 25 most endangered turtles being found in Asia.

It noted that without turtles and tortoises the ecosystem and critically-important services to mankind and people's livelihoods would gradually suffer from the loss of biodiversity.

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Thousands of toads killed in annual Australian hunt

Yahoo News 28 Mar 11;

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia's annual cane toad cull was Monday declared a success by organisers who said that more than 14,000 of the noxious pests had perished as a result.

North Queensland's "Toad Day Out" saw volunteers in Townsville, Charters Towers and Cairns collect the pests in plastic bags on Saturday night, and bring them unharmed to designated areas to be euthanised.

"When we were kids we always got in trouble for something, but we never ever got in trouble for belting a cane toad -- we always felt we were doing society a favour," explained local MP Shane Knuth.

"But this is a completely different way of eliminating the cane toad."

The animals are gassed in their bags and their bodies sold for skins or to make fertiliser, or used for university research, added Knuth, one of the founders of the event which is now in its third year.

The cane toad, which carries a poisonous sac of venom on the back of its head toxic enough to kill snakes and crocodiles, is regarded as a pest in Australia because it wreaks havoc on the environment.

Knuth said by taking thousands of the prolific breeders out of the environment, Toad Day Out had prevented millions of toad births.

The Queensland politician, who lost a dog to a cane toad, said the biggest animal captured this year weighed about 500 grams (1.1 pounds) -- well above the average weight of 80 grams.

Recent floods in Queensland have apparently boosted cane toad numbers, with Townsville locals saying a single street light attracted up to 50 of the nocturnal creatures.

"It was shocking, like, just driving up to the street lights, the first one and just seeing how many were crowded round there," sixteen-year-old Townsville local Ryan Rains told ABC Radio.

The number of cane toads across Australia is estimated to have ballooned to more than 200 million since being introduced from Brazil in the 1930s to control scarab beetles infesting the country's sugar cane.

Previous cane toad elimination techniques have included driving cars over them and smashing them with cricket bats.

"If you talk to anybody, the young, the old, they will all have something in common: nobody likes the cane toad, there is nothing great about them," Knuth said.

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Blocking Ship-Borne Bioinvaders Before They Dock

ScienceDaily 25 Mar 11;

The global economy depends on marine transportation. But in addition to cargo, the world's 50,000-plus commercial ships carry tiny stowaways that can cause huge problems for the environment and economy. A new model created by Smithsonian scientists will facilitate accurate screening of vessels for dangerous species before they unload. The team's findings are published March 28 in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Ballast water taken up by ships in coastal waters teems with plankton and microbes. When discharged at the next port of call, these hitchhikers can wreak havoc on receiving ecosystems. Under current federal regulations, ships exchange their ballast water in the open ocean to flush out unwanted species. However, some survive the process, and not all ships travel across oceans. Environmental regulators have known about this problem for decades. But while regulators check ship records and can sometimes test salinity to verify compliance, unlike many pollutants, there are no federal requirements limiting the number of viable, potentially dangerous organisms.

That is about to change. The U.S. Coast Guard has proposed a new set of rules limiting the number of organisms allowed, in line with current International Maritime Organization standards. For larger zooplankton (length, width or height at least 50 microns, or one-half the thickness of a piece of paper), the number must be fewer than 10 viable organisms per cubic meter (264 gallons). On-board ballast water treatment technologies offer a promising solution, enabling ships to substantially cut the risk of delivering dangerous species. But while a few systems have entered the market, the challenge of testing the ballast water -- and the technology -- remains. A major stumbling block is simply understanding how such testing should occur and how much ballast water must be tested in order to count very sparse numbers of organisms.

To help regulators and engineers develop and test such treatment systems, and ultimately enforce these standards, a team of researchers developed a statistical model to see how to count small, scarce organisms in large volumes of water accurately. Led by Whitman Miller, research ecologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, the scientists took samples that exceeded the limit and ran them through various tests to see which violations would be spotted. Larger samples gave the best results: sampling only 0.1 cubic meter of water (26.4 gallons) made it difficult to detect concentrations even twice as high as the standard. By contrast, when they raised the volume to 7 cubic meters (1848 gallons), the test regularly picked up violations as low as 13 zooplankton per cubic meter.

Another innovation of the model is that it can pool sample results over time and possibly across ships, making it easier to determine if treatment systems function as advertised and thus whether ships are actually compliant or not. Since analyzing samples larger than 7 cubic meters is difficult for most cargo ships, by taking multiple 7-cubic-meter samples, regulators could effectively raise the volume without overburdening the ships.

"When trying to decide how to evaluate a treatment system, we need to balance scientific rigor with what is logistically feasible," said Miller. "Science can help inform regulatory efforts. However, in the end, it is necessary for regulators to determine the level of environmental protection that is acceptable in accordance with both scientific evidence and the needs and desires of society."

"The findings of this study will greatly assist the Coast Guard to develop and implement effective and economical procedures for approving treatment equipment and verifying compliance by ships in meeting discharge standards to minimize the risk of introducing potentially harmful organisms to U.S. aquatic ecosystems," said Richard Everett, an environmental scientist with the Coast Guard's Environmental Standards Division.

The Coast Guard proposal would require most ships arriving in U.S. waters to have ballast water-treatment systems that dramatically reduce the number of living organisms in their discharge. Under the proposed regulation, most existing ships would have until 2014 or 2016 to comply, but any ships built after Jan. 1, 2012, would need to comply immediately. The agency estimated in 2009 that the new regulation could cost as much as $168 million a year, largely for ships to install the new technologies necessary to comply. However, in terms of economic and environmental damage avoided, it could save anywhere from $165 to $585 million a year.

The Coast Guard is also considering implementing a second phase of regulations, which would be up to a thousand times more stringent than the International Maritime Organization standards, perhaps beginning in 2016, but subject to an assessment of practicability.

Journal Reference:

A. Whitman Miller, Melanie Frazier, George E. Smith, Elgin S. Perry, Gregory M. Ruiz, Mario N. Tamburri. Enumerating Sparse Organisms in Ships’ Ballast Water: Why Counting to 10 Is Not So Easy. Environmental Science & Technology, 2011; : 110324163436083 DOI: 10.1021/es102790d

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Latin American fisheries gain from Japan disaster

UPI 28 Mar 11;

BUENOS AIRES, March 28 (UPI) -- Latin American fisheries are set to benefit from the misfortunes of Japanese marine food industries in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, fisheries data indicated.

Argentine fisheries' response to Japan's troubles isn't yet clear but the decimation of Japanese fishing operations in regions worst hit by the earthquake and tsunami has pushed Chile's coho salmon producers in the forefront.

At least one-fifth of the salmon industry in Japan's worst-hit areas is either at a standstill or has been destroyed. Key fishing ports in at least six coastal provinces are shut, awaiting massive reconstruction.

This has created opportunities for Latin American fishing industries, the data indicated.

Chile is one of the world's largest salmon exporters but also is one the few countries outside Japan that produce and distribute coho salmon, the Pacific salmon known in North America as silver salmon.

Coho salmon breeds and thrives in salt water and is in great demand in Japan as well as along Latin America's Pacific coast.

Chilean fishing industry officials said Japanese consumers would likely turn to Chile to make up for their losses.

Japan produced 30,000 tons of the salmon last year but couldn't prevent a shortfall due to high demand. Of about 83,000 tons of salmon and 61 tons of trout exported by Chile in 2001, Japan received about 83 percent.

The current coho salmon season began in September and comes to a close this month.

Chilean fishing industry sources couldn't say if Japan would rely on frozen stocks or begin to order more from Chile in the near future.

The coho salmon prices were already on the rise before the catastrophic impact of the tsunami on Japan's coastal fishing industries.

"The Chilean industry is still unsure if Japan will wait till 2012 to begin importing," said The Santiago Times.

The industry also estimates a rise in salmon prices, which had begun this year before Japan's earthquake and tsunami.

Japan is also likely to increase trout imports from Latin America, the sources said.

Meanwhile, East Asian consumption of reef fish like snapper is creating a new conservation crisis in the Asia Pacific region that was highlighted at a meeting in Bali, Indonesia, earlier in March.

Experts said fishing crews were using cyanide and explosives to increases their catches way beyond the ocean's capacity, reducing prospects for the renewable resource.

Experts saw the largest threat in the Coral Triangle, a marine region that includes the waters of six nations between the Indian and Pacific oceans -- Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands -- and contains 37 percent of the world's reef fish species.

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