UAE's corals suffer 'catastrophic' damage in record summer heat

The future of eight reefs in the Arabian Gulf is in doubt after high temperatures and low winds leave corals dying
Daniel Bardsley The National 2 Feb 19;

Scientists fear the future of the UAE’s reefs is in doubt after research found rising temperatures killed almost three quarters of Abu Dhabi’s coral.

Record temperatures in the summer of 2017 left more than 90 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s coral cover bleached and struggling to survive, New York University Abu Dhabi found.

Dr John Burt, associate professor of biology, said there was a remarkable amount of damage.

“The results were catastrophic,” Dr Burt told The National. “I had never seen anything like it in my career.”

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Hong Kong customs seize record haul of pangolin scales bound for Vietnam

Reuters 1 Feb 19;

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong customs busted a massive endangered species smuggling operation from Africa, seizing a record quantity of pangolin scales along with more than 1,000 ivory tusks, as authorities step up the fight against illegal wildlife trafficking.

The value of the seized goods - which equates to around 500 elephants and up to 13,000 pangolins - was over HK$62 million, ($7.90 million) officials said on Friday. Originating in Nigeria, the shipment was bound for Vietnam, they added.

In a separate incident, customs officials in the northern Vietnamese port of Hai Phong discovered another 1.4 tonnes of pangolin scales in a shipping container sent from Nigeria, the state-run Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday.

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'No malice or cruelty': Pest control company Anticimex rejects claims of mishandling snake at Tang Plaza

Channel NewsAsia 31 Jan 19;

SINGAPORE: There was no malice or cruelty towards the snake outside Tang Plaza during its capture, said pest control firm Anticimex on Thursday (Jan 31) after the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) said it was investigating claims that the animal was mishandled.

AVA announced on Tuesday that it was investigating the case after a video on social media showed an Anticimex employee stepping on a 3m-long python while attempting to capture the struggling animal.

The authority previously said: "Cruelty to animals is an offence under the Animals and Birds Act. AVA has issued a set of guidelines on the proper handling of snakes to all pest control and wildlife management agencies in Singapore."

In response to this, Anticimex told Channel NewsAsia that the workers involved "used all necessary parts of their bodies to safely relocate a very large snake in a public place".

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Malaysia: MMEA saves 12 after oil tanker sinks off Tanjung Penyusop in Johor waters

Malay Mail Yahoo News 31 Jan 19;

KOTA TINGGI, Jan 31 — The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) today rescued 12 crew members after their vessel sank near Tanjung Penyusop here last night.

All 12 male survivors, including a Malaysian technical passenger, had earlier been stranded at sea after their tanker met with problems at about two nautical miles east of Tanjung Penyusop.

Johor MMEA deputy director (operations) Maritime Captain Sanifah Yusof said the Sea Frontier motor tanker, registered in Saint Kitts and Nevis, was about 75 per cent submerged at about 9.15pm last night.

He said checks revealed that the vessel had hit rocks while attempting to dock, causing hull damage that allowed water into the ship.

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Indonesia: Why burn it? Government studies peatland conservation, management

Yuli Savitri The Jakarta Post 31 Jan 19;

The government has started research into developing peatlands as agricultural lands and conservation areas, following years of plantation companies and farmers using the slash-and-burn method in an attempt to cultivate peatlands.

The South Sumatra Peatland Restoration Team (TRGD) has focused on four areas in the province for developing as peat management and research centers.

TRGD chairman Najib Asmani said that the four areas were mapped on their individual characteristics for researchers to conduct a variety of peatland studies.

The four areas include Sembilang National Park, which UNESCO designated last year as a Biosphere Reserve.

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UK fish and chip shops are selling endangered sharks, DNA tests prove

People buying generic fish such as rock could in fact be eating a range of shark species
Patrick Barkham The Guardian 31 Jan 19;

Fish and chip shops and fishmongers are selling endangered sharks to an unwitting public, according to researchers who used DNA barcoding to identify species on sale.

Most chip shop fish sold under generic names such as huss, rock, flake and rock salmon turned out to be spiny dogfish, a shark species classified as endangered in Europe by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s red list.

Researchers at the University of Exeter also found fins of shark species unknowingly sold by a British wholesaler included scalloped hammerheads, which are endangered globally, as well as shortfin mako and smalleye hammerhead sharks.

Other species sold in fish and chip shops and fishmongers included starry smooth-hounds, nursehounds and blue sharks.

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Best of our wild blogs: 31 Jan 19

Singapore Bird Report – December 2018
Singapore Bird Group

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Hotels, F&B businesses join Pact to cut back on plastic use

CYNTHIA CHOO Today Online 30 Jan 19;

SINGAPORE — Nine companies, including large hotel chains and popular food establishments, are teaming up to relook their plastic use under a new initiative by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Through the initiative called Pact — short for Plastic ACTion — the businesses will set targets and take measures to reduce their plastic production and use by 2030.

These include taking long- and short-term measures to remove from their operations certain plastic items that are deemed unnecessary, WWF said at the project’s launch on Wednesday (Jan 30).

For a start, this may include removing plastic bags and straws, but the WWF stressed that the initiative will go further than just these measures.

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Wolbachia mosquito project expanded to larger area

Lek Wan Zhen Channel NewsAsia 31 Jan 19;

SINGAPORE: More than 140 blocks of Housing Board flats in Nee Soon East and Tampines West will be participating in the next phase of a study by the National Environment Agency (NEA) to reduce the Aedes mosquito population and fight dengue.

Male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes, which have been infected with the Wolbachia bacterium, will be released into the expanded test sites at the two estates in phase three of the Project Wolbachia.

When they mate with female Aedes mosquitoes, the eggs the females lay will not hatch, said NEA.

The expansion in study sites follows the success of phase two of the study, which was conducted between April 2018 and January 2019, at smaller areas in Nee Soon East and Tampines West.

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NUS launches building with net-zero energy consumption

Alif Amsyar Channel NewsAsia 30 Jan 19;

SINGAPORE: The National University of Singapore (NUS) on Wednesday (Jan 30) unveiled a new building at the School of Design and Environment that has net-zero energy consumption.

This means the building consumes only as much energy as it produces on site, such as by harnessing solar energy. Named SDE4, it is said to be the first net-zero energy building in Singapore that was built from scratch.

The six-storey building features several sustainable designs such as solar roof installations, a hybrid cooling system and a large overhanging roof.

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Thailand: Hundreds of schools to shut as toxic smog chokes Bangkok

AFP 30 Jan 19;

Bangkok has been shrouded in murky haze for weeks, sparking social media criticism of the uneven response by the government
Toxic smog forced hundreds of Bangkok schools to close Wednesday, as authorities struggle to manage a pollution crisis that has stirred widespread health fears and taken on a political edge just weeks before elections.

The Thai capital has been shrouded in murky haze for weeks, sparking social media criticism of the uneven response by the government and prompting rare scenes of residents donning masks on streets and on public transport.

Reasons given for the lingering pall include exhaust from traffic, unfettered construction, the burning of crop stubble, and pollution from factories getting trapped in the city.

Authorities have seeded clouds to provoke rain, sprayed overpasses with water to catch micro-pollutants and even asked people not to burn incense sticks and paper during Chinese New Year celebrations.

The measures so far have drawn derision from many Bangkok residents, while stocks of pollution masks have run out in many shops.

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Indonesia: Rampant deforestation in Leuser triggers floods, landslides

Hotli Simanjuntak The Jakarta Post 30 Jan 19;

The rampant destruction of forests in the Leuser ecosystem, a major water source for Aceh, has led to frequent flooding in the province.

A team from the Leuser Conservation Forum (FKL) performed a ground check on damaged areas in the ecosystem and found that, in 2018, about 5,685 hectares of the ecosystem were deforested, with the most serious damage found in Gayo Lues with 1,063 ha of deforested area.

The ecosystem, located across several regencies in the province, also saw 889 ha damaged in Nagan Raya and another 863 ha in East Aceh. As of December 2018, 1.7 ha of forest remained in the Leuser ecosystem.

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