Australia Creates World's Largest Expanse of Marine Reserves

Environment News Service 14 Jun 12;

CANBERRA, Australia, June 14, 2012 (ENS) - Australia is poised to safeguard the largest network of marine reserves anywhere in the world, covering 40 percent of Commonwealth waters.

The Gillard Government today released the final marine reserve map, drawn after 12 months of public consultations with marine and tourism business representatives, environmental groups and members of the public through 250 meetings across the country.

Once proclaimed under national environmental law, the conservation measure will increase Australia's marine reserves from 27 to 60, expanding the national network to cover 3.1 million square kilometres (1.2 million square miles), by far the largest representative network of marine protected areas in the world.

The designated reserves are inhabited by 45 of the world's 78 whale and dolphin species, six of the seven known species of marine turtle, and 4,000 fish species.

"Our aim is to protect our unique marine environment, while supporting coastal communities and marine industries around the country," said Environment Minister Tony Burke today. "Australia can lead the world in marine protection."

The final reserve network map was published just ahead of the UN's sustainable development summit, Rio+20, in Brazil, which Burke will attend with Prime Minister Julia Gillard next week.

"The maps I have released today are most comprehensive network of marine protected areas in the world and represent the largest addition to the conservation estate in Australia's history," said Burke. "This new network of marine reserves will help ensure that Australia's diverse marine environment, and the life it supports, remain healthy, productive and resilient for future generations."

Together the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and the Coral Sea Commonwealth marine reserve will become the largest adjoining marine protected area in the world, covering 1.3 million square kilometres.

Australian Marine Conservation Society Director Darren Kindleysides said Australians can be proud of this protective action. "As a nation we've come a long way since coral mining was proposed for the Great Barrier Reef and commercial whaling occurred in our waters," he said. "The progress made today shows that as a country we've continued to act to protect what is most special about our oceans. Australia's marine life needs real respite from overfishing and industrial development."

"Some critically important areas like the Coral Sea, the 'Serengeti of the Seas,' will be safeguarded from damaging activities like bottom trawling, oil and gas exploration and seabed mining," said Kindleysides.

"The near-pristine wilderness of our tropical Coral Sea is one of the last remaining places on Earth where populations of large ocean fish and healthy coral reefs still thrive. We can be proud that future generations will be able look back and realise that we protected such globally important seas while we had the chance," he said.

The Australian Conservation Foundation praised the government's move. "This world class network of marine reserves is a historic conservation achievement that makes Australia a global leader in ocean protection," said ACF chief executive Don Henry.

But Henry warned that the Coral Sea is not completely protected from oil and gas exploration. "Although the reserve network bans oil and gas exploration in the Coral Sea, the north west region has been left vulnerable to these threats," he said.

"With Australia's magnificent natural endowment of unique marine biodiversity comes a responsibility to protect our oceans from the risks of bottom trawling and oil and gas exploration," said Henry.

Burke said today that the government has been responsive to public concerns. Following "the huge number of submissions received," he said, "protection has been increased for a number of iconic reefs in the Coral Sea Marine Reserve that are important for marine turtles and large ocean predators."

Australia's new national marine network will feature:

The Coral Sea Region, an area of more than half the size of Queensland, that supports critical nesting sites for the green turtle and is renowned for its diversity of big predatory fish and sharks. The network includes protection for all reefs in the Coral Sea with the final proposal adding iconic reefs such as Osprey Reef, Marion Reef, Bougainville Reef, Vema Reef, and Shark Reef included as marine national parks.

The South-West Marine Region extends from the eastern end of Kangaroo Island in South Australia to Shark Bay in Western Australia. It is of global significance as a breeding and feeding ground for southern right whales, blue whales and the Australian sea lion. Features in the South-West region include the Perth Canyon - an underwater area bigger than the Grand Canyon and the Diamantina Fracture Zone, a large underwater mountain chain which includes Australia's deepest water.

The Temperate East Marine Region runs from the southern boundary of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park to Bermagui in southern New South Wales, and includes the waters surrounding Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands. It is home to the critically endangered east coast population of grey nurse shark, the vulnerable white shark and has important offshore reef habitat at Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs and Lord Howe Island that support the threatened black cod.

The North Marine Region includes only the Commonwealth waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Arafura Sea and the Timor Sea extending as far west as the Northern Territory-Western Australian border. Globally important nesting and resting areas for threatened marine turtle species including flatback, hawksbill, green and olive ridley turtles will be protected, as will foraging areas for breeding colonies of migratory seabirds and large aggregations of dugongs.

The North-west Marine Region, stretching from the Western Australian - Northern Territory border through to Kalbarri, south of Shark Bay in Western Australia, is inhabited by the whale shark, the world's largest fish. This area provides protection to the world's largest population of humpback whales that migrate annually from Antarctica to give birth in the water off the Kimberley.

It is expected that the final marine reserves will be declared before the end of the 2012. Over the coming months, the Gillard Government will consult the fishing industry and fisheries management agencies on the design and implementation of a fisheries adjustment assistance package, said Burke.

Large parts of the new marine reserves will be zoned to allow a range of uses to continue as long as they are consistent with the primary objective of protecting the conservation values of the reserves, the government says. Highly protected zones will be included in the network of new marine reserves. These zones will be managed to preserve the area in an undisturbed and unmodified condition, so extractive activities will not be permitted in these zones.

Henry and Kindleysides both said their organizations will continue to work with governments, the community and other stakeholders to improve protection for important areas that have been left vulnerable to fishing or mining, including critical turtle and dugong habitat in the Gulf of Carpentaria, blue whale feeding grounds off Kangaroo Island, coral reefs off the Kimberley coast, as well as the Albany Canyons and Rowley Shoals off Western Australia.

But the minister said it is now too late to change the marine reserve boundaries.

"We now go through one final 60 day consultation period," Burke said. "It's too late for people to say I want this line shifted or I want this zone painted a different colour. The question now is very straightforward. Do we go ahead with the most comprehensive marine park network in the world or do we not?"

Plan for biggest marine park draws fire
Fishermen say it will cost jobs, hike prices; area about the size of India
Jonathan Pearlman Straits Times 15 Jun 12;

SYDNEY - Australia has unveiled plans for the world's biggest marine park but the move has angered fishermen and raised concerns about rising seafood prices.

The series of 60 reserves will cover more than 3 million sq km and limit fishing and oil and gas exploration in waters around the continent. It will include the Coral Sea, surrounding the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef in the country's north-east, and provide enhanced protection of threatened species like the green turtle, dugong and blue whale.

Australia's Environment Minister Tony Burke said he wanted the reserves to set a global benchmark for environmental protection and ensure food security. The reserves cover about a third of Australia's marine territory - an area about the size of India.

'This is the biggest step forward the globe has ever seen,' he said. 'This new network of marine reserves will help ensure that Australia's diverse marine environment, and the life it supports, remains healthy, productive and resilient for future generations.'

But the move drew an angry response from commercial and sports fishermen, who claimed it would cost jobs and lead to price hikes. The area is home to large catches of tuna and lobster - much of which ends up in Singapore, one of the biggest importers of Australian seafood.

A commercial fishing group, the Gulf of Carpentaria Commercial Fishermen's Organisation, said Australia had a plentiful supply of fish and would now have to rely on imported seafood.

'I can't understand it at all and I can't understand the public wanting to eat imported fish over local fish,' said the group's chairman Gary Ward. He said the fisheries 'are the most sustainable fisheries in the world'.

Singaporeans are big eaters of Australian seafood, especially abalone, rock lobster and scallops. A 2010 official Australian report showed Singapore was the fifth biggest importer. It imported A$44 million (S$56 million) of seafood in 2008, slightly less than Taiwan (A$54 million), but well behind China and Hong Kong combined (A$525 million).

The Australian Marine Alliance, which represents commercial and recreational fishermen, said the plan was 'devastating' and would place a heavy burden on coastal communities. It warned the reserves could cost up to 36,000 jobs.

But the Australian Conservation Foundation said the reserves could actually boost fish stocks, pointing to restricted zones in the Great Barrier Reef where marine life has flourished.

'There's plenty of science around that shows that protecting areas of oceans works,' said spokesman Chris Smyth.

As part of the plan, the government has flagged a A$100 million compensation package for commercial fishermen. Responding to concerns about the impact on recreational fishing, Prime Minister Julia Gillard told ABC Radio that 'people will still be able to go and take their young son fishing'.

Australia is surrounded by the world's third-largest ocean territory and has come under heavy international pressure to protect its vulnerable populations of whales, sharks and turtles and its coral reefs. A scathing United Nations report last month warned the Great Barrier Reef's heritage listing could be restated as 'at risk' unless greater care was taken to protect the area, particularly from the gas and mining boom.

Read more!

Scientists urge Rio moves on population and consumption

Richard Black BBC News 13 Jun 12;

More than 100 science academies around the world have called on world leaders to take action on population and consumption at the Rio+20 summit.

They say past failures on these issues threaten the natural world and prospects for future generations.

The science academies include the UK's Royal Society as well as its peers in countries at all stages of development.

Preparatory talks for next week's summit have opened but sources report slow progress on unresolved issues.

The science academies' public declaration is particularly notable as experts in both developed and developing countries have joined forces on what used to be a divisive topic.

"The overall message is that we need a renewed focus on both population and consumption - it's not enough to look at one or the other," said Prof Charles Godray from the Martin School at the University of Oxford, who chaired the process of writing the declaration.

"We need to look at both, because together they determine the footprint on the world."
'All time high'

The footprint is getting heavier and heavier, the academies warn.

"The global population is currently around seven billion, and most projections suggest that it will probably lie between eight and 11 billion by 2050," their declaration says.

"Global consumption levels are at an all time high, largely because of the high per-capita consumption of developed countries."

If the billion poorest people are to have adequate access to food, water and energy, the academies say, developed countries will have to reduce their own consumption of natural resources.

They say this can be done without reducing prosperity so long as different economic models are followed.

Failing to make these changes "will put us on track to alternative futures with severe and potentially catastrophic implications for human well-being".

The declaration builds on a recent report from the Royal Society.

The topics of population and consumption are both mentioned in the draft agreement that negotiators are discussing in Rio.

But both crop up in a far weaker form than many observers would like.

As of now, governments are set to agree to "commit to systematically consider population trends and projections in our national, rural and urban development strategies and policies".

But the clause in the draft agreement pledging to "change unsustainable consumption and production patterns" is so far being vetoed by the US and the EU.
Change in thinking

The new report is an indication of how things have changed on the population question.

In decades gone by, developing nations tended to see the issue as a ploy by rich countries to avoid talking about unsustainable consumption.

But Eliya Zulu, executive director of the African Institute for Development Policy in Nairobi who worked on the recent Royal Society report, said perceptions were changing.

"Many African countries are feeling the effects of population growth, and are finding they'll need to deal with it in order to continue developing as well as to address their environmental issues," he told BBC News.

"If you look at a country like Rwanda, it's one of the most densely populated in Africa and the government believes one of the reasons behind the genocide was high population density and competition for resources.

"And the economic downturn that started in the late 1980s made people realise that in order to reach the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs], you can't do it if your population is growing rapidly."
Talks extension

Dr Zulu also said that evidence accumulated over the last decade showed that overall, African women were having more children than they wanted - which gave politicians an incentive to increase family planning provision.

In the formal negotiations, government delegates convened on Wednesday for intensive talks aimed at securing consensus on key themes.

Currently only about 20% of the draft outcome document here has been agreed.

Preparatory talks had been scheduled to end on Friday this week, but are now set to continue through the weekend and probably up to the point where heads of government arrive for the summit next Wednesday.

Sha Zukang, the chairman of the talks, was optimistic that differences would be resolved in time.

"The determination to work for the common good is encouraging... the whole world is watching us and we cannot afford to let them down," he told reporters.

Rio+20 Earth summit: scientists call for action on population
Joint report by 105 institutions urges negotiators to drop political inhibitions and confront rising global population and consumption
Jonathan Watts The Guardian 14 Jun 12;

The Rio+20 Earth summit must take decisive action on population and consumption regardless of political taboos or it will struggle to tackle the alarming decline of the global environment, the world's leading scientific academies warned on Thursday.

Rich countries need to reduce or radically transform unsustainable lifestyles, while greater efforts should be made to provide contraception to those who want it in the developing world, the coalition of 105 institutions, including the Royal Society, urged in a joint report.

It's a wake-up call for negotiators meeting in Rio for the UN conference on sustainable development.

The authors point out that while the Rio summit aims to reduce poverty and reverse the degradation of the environment, it barely mentions the two solutions that could ease pressure on increasingly scarce resources.

Many in the scientific community believe it is time to confront these elephants in the room. "For too long population and consumption have been left off the table due to political and ethical sensitivities. These are issues that affect developed and developing nations alike, and we must take responsibility for them together," said Charles Godfray, a fellow of the Royal Society and chair of the working group of IAP, the global network of science academies.

In a joint statement, the scientists said they wanted to remind policymakers at Rio+20 that population and consumption determine the rates at which natural resources are exploited and Earth's ability to meet the demand for food, water, energy and other needs now and in the future. The current patterns of consumption in some parts of the world were unsustainable. A sharp rise in human numbers can have negative social and economic implications, and a combination of the two causes extensive loss of biodiversity.

The statement follows a hard-hitting report by the Royal Society in April that called for rebalancing of resources to reduce poverty and ease environmental pressures that are leading to a more unequal and inhospitable future.

By 2050, the world's population is projected to rise from seven billion to between eight and 11 billion. Meanwhile consumption of resources is rising rapidly as a result of a growing middle class in developed countries and the lavish lifestyles of the very rich across the planet.

"We are living beyond the planet's means. That's scientifically proven," said Gisbet Glaser of the International Council for Science, who cited research on ocean acidification, climate change and biodiversity loss. "We're now at a point in human history where we risk degrading the life support system for human development."

The scientific academies stressed that poverty reduction remain a priority, but said action to promote voluntary family planning through education, better healthcare and contraception can aid that process.

"The P-word is not talked about because people are scared of being politically incorrect or alarmist. Even so, the the population dialogue should not just be about sheer numbers of people – that type of dialogue leads to finger pointing," said Lori Hunter, a demographer who was in Rio for a side-event. She said the picture was more complex and touched upon the need to consider factors that shape fertility decision-making. She mentioned that in some areas, scarcity of natural resources leads to larger families as families need labor. There are also high levels of unmet demand for contraception in many regions of the world.

"You need to push the levers that are shaping family size," said Hunter. "Basically, you can't save the environment without reproductive health policies and programmes." She also mentioned that processes such as migration, urbanisation, aging are important in considering the environmental impacts of future consumption.

The draft negotiating text of Rio+20 mentions the need to change "unsustainable patterns of production and consumption" but the US wants to delete passages that suggest developed countries should take the lead.

There is also little recognition in the text that economic growth might be limited by ecological factors. This is partly because although scientists talk about "global boundaries", there is no agreement on where they might lie.

The stock taking of global inventory is still a work in progress, but it may speed up after the launch on Thursday of a new scientific initiative – Future Earth – that brings together academies, funds and international institutions to co-design research related to sustainable food production and changes to the climate, geosphere and biosphere.

The picture might become clearer if proposals at Rio+20 to beef up the UN environment programme are accepted, along with a plan for a "regular review of the state of the planet."

Glaser, who is the lead negotiator for the scientific community at Rio+20, said there was still no agreement on the 80-page text.

"They're negotiating words rather than the issues behind the words. I'm afraid that if there's no miracle, there'll be a relatively low common denominator that just drops all the main areas of contention."

Read more!

Experts lament poor ocean progress in 20 years

(AFP) Google News 14 Jun 12;

WASHINGTON — World governments have made little progress in the past 20 years when it comes to their pledges to protect marine life and reduce overfishing, experts said on Thursday.

With ocean health among the top 10 issues at the Rio 20 summit on sustainable development June 20-22, international experts called for concrete action to avoid "empty ocean commitments."

Targets set at UN summits in 1992 and 2002 have largely gone unmet, and implementation "has been difficult, ineffective or practically nonexistent," the authors wrote in the US journal Science.

Contributors came from the Zoological Society of London, Simon Fraser University in Canada, the Pew Environment Group in the United States, the University of British Columbia and the University of Oxford.

"Our analysis shows that almost every commitment made by governments to protect the oceans has not been achieved," said Jonathan Baillie, director of conservation at ZSL.

"If these international processes are to be taken seriously, governments must be held accountable and any future commitments must come with clear plans for implementation and a process to evaluate success or failure."

An international action plan to end illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing remains voluntary and has not put a stop to the $23 billion per year industry, the article said.

While local level protections of marine biodiversity have improved in some places, the global picture is "bleak" for many forms of sea life, it said.

"Even the most closely watched species -- such as turtles, sharks, and coral reef fisheries -- are not safe."

Problems and politics have complicated efforts to meet the goals that world leaders have set in the past, and so future efforts should be "more nuanced and context-specific to be realistic and achievable," the authors said.

The team made three recommendations: to bring global fishing in line with resources in domestic and international waters, redirect harmful subsidies and instead use the money to fund efforts to halt illegal fishing, and implement "even a minimal" ecosystems approach to protect vulnerable species.

"Rio+20 is a unique opportunity for governments to collectively show courage and leadership to reverse the worsening state of the world's ocean, and to take action to protect the largest reservoir of biodiversity left on our planet," said Susan Lieberman, deputy director of Pew Environment Group's International Policy team.

Read more!

Planet Sees Second Warmest May on Record

Wynne Parry LiveScience Yahoo News 15 Jun 12;

Last month, the global average temperature climbed to the second highest for May on record since 1880, according to U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) records.

Much of the world, including nearly all of Europe, Asia, northern Africa, most of North America and southern Greenland experienced above average May temperatures. In fact, last month wrapped up the warmest spring on record for the continental U.S., NOAA records show.

The global May record included the combined global land and ocean average surface temperatures for the month, which 1.19 degrees Fahrenheit (0.66 degrees Celsius) above the 20th-century average of 58.5 F (14.8 C). This record was beat only in 2010, when the global average was 1.24 F (0.69 C) above the 20th-century average.

The Northern Hemisphere saw its warmest May on record — 1.53 F, or 0.85 C above average — while the Southern Hemisphere's May ranked ninth warmest among all Mays on record, at 0.85 F (0.47 C) above average.

Of course, it wasn't unusually warm everywhere. Australia, Alaska and parts of the western U.S.-Canadian border were notably cooler than average.

Snow cover on the Northern Hemisphere was significantly below average in May, according to NOAA records.

Globally, this spring ranked as the fourth warmest. Meanwhile, May brought a slew of temperature records to the continental U.S. after an unusually warm spring and mild winter. [10 Weird Weather Events]

Because of natural fluctuations in weather, climate scientists are loath to connect events that occur over a short-time frame, from a strong storm to an unusual warm spring, to climate change. However, the warming effect of humans' greenhouse gas emissions forms a backdrop for the weather the world is experiencing and shows up as a longer-term trend. It is not a coincidence that the first decade of this century was the warmest on record, according to NOAA's State of Climate in 2010 report.

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Best of our wild blogs: 14 Jun 12

Piece of croack
from The annotated budak

Boggled by bivalves? Come for the Bivalve Workshop 23-27 Jul
from wild shores of singapore

The Semakau Book is launched!
from wild shores of singapore

Read more!

New cable car system will ease Sentosa congestion

It may even be an attraction in itself, say tourism experts
Jessica Lim Straits Times 14 Jun 12;

A NEW cable car system in Sentosa will help ease congestion on the island and may even become a tourist attraction in its own right, say travel agents and tour guides.

Sentosa Development Corporation, which manages the island, has not decided if it will charge for rides on the new intra-island transport system to be built by 2015.

Rides on the monorail and buses within the island are free.

"Sentosa has become more crowded over the years and sometimes the roads are quite congested," said Ms Alicia Seah, CTC Travel?s senior vice-president for marketing and public relations.

"With more connections between attractions, people will be more open to the idea of leaving their cars at home. It may also become a tourist attraction in itself," she said, adding that cities like Sydney also have cable-car rides within major tourist attractions.

Tour guide M. Loganathan, 52, who takes one tour group to Sentosa a week, said there is often a bottleneck at certain venues on the island.

He and his group have to wait about 10 minutes to exit the coach bay after popular shows like Songs Of The Sea end in the evenings.

"Things will just get worse when more people come," he said, noting that Sentosa is already experiencing a surge in visitor numbers.

"This also opens up the possibility for us to drop tourists off at a cable-car station and then let them take a ride to the attraction," he added. "This way, the coach doesn't have to move around on the island at all."

Currently, private vehicles, coaches and taxis account for 56 per cent of inbound arrivals while the monorail, cable car from Mount Faber and boardwalk make up the rest.

Industry watchers like Ngee Ann Polytechnic senior lecturer in tourism Michael Chiam said the new system would help to ease congestion at the three areas where the stations will be located - Merlion Plaza, Imbiah Lookout and Siloso Point.

The new cable system will also help rejuvenate the island and preserve its allure as a tourist destination.

Said Mr Chiam: "Tourist attractions like Sentosa need to constantly stay attractive and renew themselves to attract repeat visitors."

Sentosa, which opened as an island resort in 1972, turns 40 this year.

To celebrate, Singaporeans born in 1972 will be given free island admission via the Sentosa Express monorail and Sentosa Boardwalk in August and September.

Sentosa to build new cable car line
Jessica Lim Straits Times 14 Jun 12;

SENTOSA is rolling out another cable car service in 2015 to make it easier for the growing number of visitors to get around the island.

The 860m-long link - half the length of the current cableway linking Sentosa to Mount Faber - will transport visitors within the island between the three main clusters of attractions at Merlion Plaza, Imbiah Lookout and Siloso Point.

The new line will be able to hold up to 38 cabins.

The current three-station link, at 1.72km, holds 68. It was opened in 1974, but has been upgraded four times since.

The shape and design of the cabins have yet to be determined, but they will seat eight passengers each and be enclosed, not unlike those in the current system.

Work is expected to start next year and be completed by 2015.

Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC), which manages the island, is unable to reveal the cost as the tender, which closed recently, has not been awarded to a contractor yet.

The new three-station transport link will complement the current free intra-island monorail and bus service. The system will help handle the surge in visitor numbers, said SDC.

By the end of the month, the island will welcome its 150 millionth guest since it first opened as an island resort in 1972.

Numbers have jumped from 6.2 million in 2009 to 19 million last year, on the back of the opening of Resorts World Sentosa and Universal Studios theme park.

Even more visitors are expected in the next few years, with the opening of attractions like KidZania - Singapore's first theme park targeted at children - in 2014.

SDC chief executive Mike Barclay said the cableway will be a key addition to the island's transport network and will help meet Sentosa's future transport demand.

'The aim is for guests to spend as little time as possible in queue lines while they move about the island,' he said, noting that the highest point of the cableway will be 80m above sea level.

The new system will be able to move about 1,600 people per hour in one direction.

The waiting times will also be shorter - 18 seconds, compared with the three minutes for the monorail and 15 minutes for the bus.

The current cable car system - operated by Mount Faber Leisure Group, a fully owned subsidiary of SDC - goes up to 120m above sea level at its highest point, to allow ships to pass under it.

It has a capacity of 2,000 guests per hour per direction, while the monorail can take up to 4,000 guests per hour per direction.

SDC will issue a tender for building the stations soon and has not ruled out extending the system to the rest of the island.

The idea of building a cable car system on the island itself was first mooted in 2009, when SDC conducted a feasibility study on the project.

The new system is part of the statutory board's $250 million transport plan, which included the Sentosa Boardwalk that opened early last year.

By 2015, a road tunnel by the Land Transport Authority - connecting outbound traffic from Sentosa to Kampong Bahru and Keppel roads - is also expected to be ready.

Read more!

Shark's fin: Different findings on mercury

Straits Times Forum 14 Jun 12;

BEING at the apex of the food chain, sharks accumulate vast amounts of toxic materials that have either been washed into the oceans or dumped there by man.

As confirmed by Singapore's Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA), the bulk of toxic materials is found in fish muscle ('Shark's fin not 'impregnated with mercury' ' by Mr Tan Keng Tat; last Saturday).

Nevertheless, no organ is spared, even if some selectively accumulate more toxins than others.

We cannot get too little of a bad thing, especially considering how little nutrient or nourishment value there is in shark's fin.

In contrast to the AVA's findings, in 2001, 70 per cent of shark's fin samples sent by conservation group WildAid to the Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research were found to have extremely high levels of mercury.

The discrepancy between this finding and the AVA's was explained thus: The Thai shark's fin samples were imported from Hong Kong, whereas Singapore gets shark's fin from more than 20 countries, of which only 10 per cent come from Hong Kong and 1.4 per cent from Thailand.

This begs the following questions: Do sharks respect national borders? More importantly, do shark's fin aficionados inquire about the provenance of the shark cartilage they are devouring? And in the interim period of the last 11 years, just how has the situation evolved?

It would be edifying to get some answers from the AVA.

Dr Yik Keng Yeong

Shark's fin not 'impregnated with mercury'
Straits Times Forum 9 Jun 12;

DR YIK Keng Yeong's claim that shark's fin is 'impregnated with mercury, a neurotoxin' has no merit ('Shark's fin delight: The end doesn't justify the means'; Thursday).

The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) found that 'tests done on the shark's fin products have shown that mercury was either not detected or was at levels well below the permitted level of five parts per million' ('Products sold in Singapore 'safe''; July 5, 2001).

According to the AVA, the toxic mercury is found mainly in fish muscles, and there is very little muscle in shark's fin.

This was corroborated by the United States Food and Drug Administration, which warned that eating shark meat may expose people to potentially dangerous, high levels of mercury.

And new research done at Rutgers University in 2010 showed that mercury levels are even higher in some species of tuna like the bluefin, bigeye and yellowfin - levels that exceed or approach those permissible by Canada, the European Union, Japan, the US and the World Health Organisation.

Millions of sharks will continue to be caught unintentionally in longlines and killed by the industrial-scale fisheries in the West, unless legislation is in place to regulate them. And millions more will be served up in fish and chip dishes in the US and EU, even if we stop eating shark's fin soup.

Tan Keng Tat

Read more!

NTU researchers studying structure of mantis shrimp claw

Sharon See Channel NewsAsia 13 Jun 12;

SINGAPORE: The mantis shrimp may look like a lobster, but one weapon it has sets it apart from its cousins.

Its claw is capable of unleashing a force of more than 50 kilogrammes, which is a hundred times its own weight.

And researchers at the Nanyang Technological University are on their way to finding out the secret behind this weapon.

They have generally divided it into three components - a common bone material found in humans, calcium carbonate which is commonly found in shell fish and chitin, which is a natural polymer fibre that resembles cellulose in plants.

Assistant Professor Ali Miserez, who is from the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, said: "There is a combination of factors but mostly, it's the fact that you have a building block which is arranged together in a very specific manner. If you take each individual building block, it is not that impressive actually. What makes it very unique is how the blocks, the minerals and the natural polymer are arranged together and form the entire structure."

This unique structure allows the mantis shrimp to smash its prey without damaging its own claw.

The next step is to better understand how the components can be put together so that the material can be replicated in the lab.

Asst Prof Miserez said: "We can use the exact same component... and try to reorganise it at the nanoscale. The other thing is we can actually use the concept and design that we see in the structure so that we can have different materials and try to arrange them in the same way that we see in these natural materials."

It may take five to 10 years before the structure of the mantis shrimp club can be replicated but Asst Prof Miserez believes there are many potential biomedical uses for such a tough material.

"If we can fully mimic this, we can make new implants that don't suffer wear and damage. For instance, an artificial hip will wear off over time. With this system, we could prevent abrasion. That will be a huge breakthrough because this is a big problem with biomedical and orthopaedic implants."

He added the material may potentially be used to make bullet-proof vests or even aircraft components.

- CNA/fa

Shrimp power to boost medical implants
Straits Times 15 Jun 12;

THE Mantis shrimp may weigh 400g on average but it can knock out prey with force and at great speed.

A research team's finding of why the creature's 'arms' can withstand impact and abrasion could now be applied to making medical implants that are lighter and up to 500 times stronger than existing models.

Assistant Professor Ali Miserez from Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) School of Materials Science and Engineering and its School of Biological Sciences, his PhD student Shahrouz Amini and Harvard University's Dr James Weaver collaborated on the study of the shrimps' dactyl clubs.

These 'arms' allow it to generate a force exceeding 500 newtons and strike prey in 2.7 milliseconds, 37 times faster than the blink of an eye.

The team discovered that each club comprises many alternating stiff and flexible layers in a spiral structure. This highly damage-resistant property could prove useful in medical products like hip and joint implants, where the wear and tear of metal components may cause complications.

The team will now focus on developing a new bio-compatible material which would reduce known risks associated with these implants, like bone loss and disability.

Said Prof Miserez: 'Using a nature-inspired blueprint to design biocompatible implants is actually a 'shrimple' solution.'

The new material is expected to be lighter and more impact-resistant than existing products.

It could also be used in military armour, vehicles and aircraft components.

Prof Miserez said: 'I want to inspire young people to take up science research, by giving them a chance to participate in cutting-edge research, just like how I was inspired by my professors when I was a student.'

SHERRI LEE

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Malaysia: The Pengerang story

My Sin Chew 1 Jun 12;

With the petrochemical complex of Petronas now in the active phase of development and with the Kuokuang petrochemical hub project in the pipeline, public outcry continues to be heard.

Pengerang-born chairman of JB Newspaper Distributors Association Mr Zhu Suiling told me, "I'm afraid my hometown will soon become uninhabitable."

I was not able to see the fury planted deep inside his heart, but from his face I could perceive a deep sense of melancholy.

His narration just yesterday morning transported me back in time to the rustic fishing village of his childhood.

In late 1940, Zhu, a 10-year-old boy then, woke up about seven every morning, and later walked with seven or eight companions to school from his house.

The almost 1-hour journey was made along an extended stretch of white sandy beach bisected by a stream where the boys had to take off their shoes and wade cautiously across the water with their shoes in their hands, watching out for the crocodiles rumoured to be present in the water.

Zhu said he could not forget the turtle egg-laying season, when one or two giant sea turtles could be spotted laying eggs on the quiet beach as the first ray of sunlight broke the darkened sky.

"We were still very young at that time, knowing nothing about the need to protect the endangered species. Sometimes we would dash forward and mischievously turn the turtles on their backs, and laughed our way home.

"By the time we finished school at five, the tortured turtles had died, and again we yelled jubilantly and tossed the dead reptiles into the boundless sea.

"Sometimes we would catch little crabs on the beach, or played with turtle eggs as if they were footballs."

Zhu recalled that the Japanese troops built a trunk road and a rail line across Pengerang during the Occupation, and started mining for aluminium. However, the Japs surrendered before they could even afford to freight away the ore.

Zhu could not quite remember when aluminium mining operations were revived after the war, but he could remember very well that the water which had been used to rinse the ore was drained straight into the sea, contaminating the giant sea turtles' habitat. Before long, sea turtles were out of sight on the beach of Pengerang.

"Later, probably because of a government directive, the water used to rinse the ore was diverted to a nearby low-lying swamp, and very soon the trees there were all killed.

"No one knew anything about environmental preservation back in those years. We didn't know how to protect. We only had to accept things quietly and in resignation."

To older generation of Pengerang residents like Zhu, what is closest to their hearts is an inborn affinity to their homeland.

Time has changed. What young Malaysians today want is a green home. They won't keep their mouths shut like their fathers and grandfathers. They insist on their entitlement, and would fight to this end.

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Indonesia: Aceh Peat Clearing Was ‘Illegal’

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 13 Jun 12;

A formal government investigation into the clearing of a vast tract of protected peat forest in Aceh has concluded that only one of the two companies involved was at fault, while exonerating a second company of any wrongdoing.

Sudariyono, the deputy for legal compliance at the Environment Ministry, said on Monday that palm oil plantation company Surya Panen Subur 2 “was suspected of burning some 1,183 hectares” of land inside the Tripa peat swamp from March 19 to 24 this year.

“Our suspicion is that a really wide swath of land [was burned] in such a short time, and this indicates that it was systematic, meaning there was an element of intent,” he said.

He added that a second company, Kallista Alam, was believed to have burned some 30 hectares of its 1,605-hectare concession in the peat swamp, but that it was the victim of a bureaucratic foul-up.

“Its permit is suspected to be the problem, because it was issued after the [deforestation] moratorium was implemented,” Sudariyono said.

He added that while the law prohibited the issuance of new concessions on land with peat layers more than three meters deep, the two companies were given concessions for just such an area.

Kallista’s permit, issued by former Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf, is currently the subject of a legal challenge by activists, who point out that it was granted after a moratorium map was published that clearly identified Tripa as a protected area.

The Tripa swamp is a key habitat of the Sumatran orangutan, a critically endangered species, with 200 individuals believed to be living in the area.

Sudariyono said the ministry’s investigation team had not found any indications that orangutans might have been killed in the forest fires.

“We have not found any orangutans in the cleared areas, possibly because they ran away,” he said.

Basuki Wasis, a forestry expert from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), also said there were no indications of any orangutans being killed.

“However, there were six orangutans captured by an NGO, the Leuser Ecosystem Foundation,” he said.

“Four of them have been returned to the forest, while the rest are now at the local nature conservation office.”

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Culling bats does not halt rabies, says report

Mark Kinver BBC News 13 Jun 12;
Common vampire bat caught in a net, Brazil (Image: AP) Common vampire bats are a natural reservoir for the rabies virus

Culling vampire bats in South American nations does not curb the spread of rabies, in fact it could actually be counterproductive, a study suggests.

Until now, it had been assumed that controlling bat numbers would, in turn, control the spread of the rabies virus.

Researchers say rabies is found in most bat populations, but vampire bats - which feed on mammals' blood - are responsible for most infections.

The findings have been published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

"We found that rabies is there no matter what," said co-author Daniel Streicker, an ecologist at the University of Georgia, US.

"The size of the bat colony didn't predict the proportion of bats that were exposed to the virus.

"That's important because if there is no relationship between bat population density and rabies, then reducing the bat population won't reduce rabies transmission within bats."

For about three decades, the main focus in Peru to halt the spread of the virus - which is transmitted from animals to humans or livestock, and results in death if left untreated - has been to cull common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) using poisons, or even explosives.

The researchers, writing in their paper, explained that the data they collected over a 40-month period from 20 sampling sites revealed that culling was not having the desired effect.

In fact, Dr Streicker explained, the findings suggested that culling had a potentially counterproductive impact.

"In areas that were sporadically culled during the course of the study, we saw an increase in the proportion of bats exposed to rabies," he said.

Colonies that were frequently culled had slightly lower rates, the study showed, yet the ones that had never been culled had the lowest rates of all.

It is suggested that increasing levels of human encroachment into areas with vampire bat populations has exacerbated the problem.

Dr Streicker and the team said the study would continue for another two years, with the goal of developing a scientific-based solution.

The researchers hope the findings will help deliver a more effective method to protect public health and agricultural interests from the virus.

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EU fish discard ban agreed -- for 2019

AFP Yahoo News 13 Jun 12;

After 20 hours of talks into the early hours Wednesday, Europe's fisheries ministers finally struck a compromise deal to save the oceans from overfishing -- but failed to satisfy environmentalists.

The deal for a 2014 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy notably will ban the contested practice of discarding dead fish caught by accident, however not before 2019.

Ministers agreed that the European Union, the world's third fishing power, would tackle the problem of shrinking fish stocks in its oceans by limiting over-fishing by 2015 for some stocks, and 2020 at the latest.

Scientists say 80 percent of Mediterranean stocks are overfished -- meaning fish cannot reproduce quickly enough -- although the situation has improved in Atlantic waters.

Though the deal outraged environmentalists as too little too late, the EU's Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki, who had lobbied for more far-reaching reform, welcomed backing for "a real discard ban with clear end dates".

She also said the ministers made "a real step forward" by endorsing proposals to set so-called Maximum Sustainable Yields (MSY) -- the maximum amount of fish that can be caught without compromising ability to reproduce.

"These are great achievements," she said while adding that "it is a fact that the Commission proposal is more ambitious".

Damanaki, along with green groups, urged the European parliament to toughen up the ministerial compromise when the accord comes before it for debate.

"Governments choose to perpetrate the status quo, wasting the once-in-a-decade opportunity to put the fisheries sector on the road to recovery," said the World Wildlife Fund. "We call on MEPs to keep working towards sustainable fisheries."

Dubbing the deal "highly disappointing", Ocean protection group Oceana said "ministers did not question the need to change fisheries management, they just admitted they are not ready to do it now.

"It is now up to the parliament to lead and make the necessary and immediate changes required."

Environmental groups say discards waste 1.3 million tonnes of fish a year and wanted an immediate ban on the practice.

Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavian nations favoured forcing fishermen to bring all catches to port and deduct discards from their quotas.

But France and Spain notably argued for a "realistic, progressive" ban.

The ministers also ditched the Commission's proposal to stop subsidies to the fishing fleet by 2013.

The Netherlands and Sweden were unhappy with the final outcome, saying it failed to protect the oceans while Malta, Portugal and Slovenia thought it too pro-environmental.

Britain and France deemed the compromise a step in the right direction.

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