Best of our wild blogs: 18 Jan 09

Jane Goodall Institute (Singapore)
JGIS looking for new General Manager on the wild shores of singapore blog

Sunny mangroves of Pulau Semakau
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Butterfly of the Month - The Cornelian
on the Butterflies of Singapore blog

Catty days
on talfryn.net

Giant Clam @ Jong
videoclip on the sgbeachbum blog

Sand mining off the East Coast for dumping at Labrador
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Orange-bellied Leafbird taking fruits
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Birds of Sungei Balang, Peninsular Malaysia
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

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Scientists find new creatures of Australian deep

Amy Coopes Yahoo News 17 Jan 09;

SYDNEY (AFP) – Scientists said Sunday they had uncovered new marine animals in their search of previously unexplored Australian waters, along with a bizarre carnivorous sea squirt and ocean-dwelling spiders.

A joint US-Australian team spent a month in deep waters off the coast of the southern island of Tasmania to "search for life deeper than any previous voyage in Australian waters," lead researcher Ron Thresher said.

What they found were not only species new to science -- including previously undescribed soft corals -- but fresh indications of global warming's threat to the country's unique marine life.
One of Australia's deepest residents a carnivorous sea squirt, or ascidian, standing half a meter tall on the seafloor on the Tasman Fracture Zone at a depth of 4006 metres. (Photos AFP/HO/Ho)
"Our sampling documented the deepest known Australian fauna, including a bizarre carnivorous sea squirt, sea spiders and giant sponges, and previously unknown marine communities dominated by gooseneck barnacles and millions of round, purple-spotted sea anemones," Thresher said.

Using a submersible car-sized robot named Jason, the team explored a rift in the earth's crust known as the Tasman Fracture Zone, a sheer two kilometre (1.24 mile) drop to 4,000 metres (13,200 feet) below the ocean's surface.

Blogging on board the ship, researcher Adam Subhas said the team witnessed some "cool biology" as they descended the fracture, including the sea squirt, which he described as "basically an underwater Venus fly trap, but much bigger."

The sea squirt, also known as an ascidian, stands 50 centimetres tall on the sea floor at a depth of just over 4,000 metres. It traps prey in its funnel-like front section if they touch it when they swim past.

"The geology was fascinating too -- the sediment was incredibly fine and lightly packed; it made me think of powder snow," Subhas wrote.

Fossil coral fields were found, dating back more than 10,000 years. Thresher said samples taken would provide ancient climate data for use in global warming projections.

"Modern-day deep-water coral reefs were also found, however, there is strong evidence that this reef system is dying, with most reef-forming coral deeper than 1,300 metres newly dead," he said.

Though close analysis of samples was still required, Thresher said modelling suggested ocean acidification could be responsible.

"If our analysis identifies this phenomenon as the cause of the reef system's demise, then the impact we are seeing now below 1,300 metres might extend to the shallower portions of the deep-reefs over the next 50 years, threatening this entire community," he said.

Rising sea temperatures are blamed on global warming caused by the build-up in the atmosphere of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide -- which is also blamed for higher acidity in sea water.

A UN report warned in 2007 that Australia's Great Barrier Reef, described as the world's largest living organism, could be killed by climate change within decades.

The World Heritage site and major tourist attraction, stretching over more than 345,000 square kilometres (133,000 square miles) off Australia's east coast, could become "functionally extinct", the report said.

Deep-sea sub discovers new animals off Australia
Michael Perry, Reuters 17 Jan 09;

SYDNEY, Jan 18 (Reuters) - A deep sea submarine exploration off Australia's southern coast has discovered new species of animals and more evidence of the destructive impact of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide on deep-sea corals.

The scientific voyage by U.S. and Australian researchers explored a near vertical slice in the earth's crust known as the Tasman Fracture Zone, which drops from approximately 2 km (1.2 miles) to more than 4 km (2.5 miles) deep.

"We set out to search for life deeper than any previous voyage in Australian waters," said Ron Thresher from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

"Our sampling documented the deepest known Australian fauna, including a bizarre carnivorous sea squirt, sea spiders and giant sponges, and previously unknown marine communities dominated by gooseneck barnacles and millions of round, purple-spotted sea anemones," Thresher said in a statement on Sunday.

Vast fields of deep-sea fossil corals were also discovered below 1.4 km (1 mile) and dated more than 10,000 years old.

The four-week expedition deployed a deep-diving, remotely operated, submarine named Jason, which belongs to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the United States.

Jason is about the size of a small car and was capable of collecting samples, and photographing and filming areas as deep as 6 km (4 miles). Jason made 14 dives lasting up to 48 hours each and reaching a maximum depth of more than 4 km (2.5 miles).

The researchers, from the California Institute of Technology and CSIRO, said some of the deep-sea coral discovered was dying and they had gathered data to assess the threat of ocean acidification and climate change on Australia's unique deep-water coral reefs.

"We need to closely analyse the samples and measurements we collected before we can determine what's caused this, as it could be the result of several factors, such as ocean warming, disease or increasing ocean acidity," said Thresher.

Carbon dioxide spewing into the atmosphere by factories, cars and power plants is not just raising temperatures, but also causing what scientists call "ocean acidification" as around 25 percent of the excess CO2 is absorbed by the seas.

Australian scientists have already warned that rising carbon dioxide levels in the world's oceans due to climate change, combined with rising sea temperatures, could accelerate coral bleaching, destroying some reefs before 2050. (Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

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Baby manatee deaths are baffling to Florida state authorities

Carcasses of babies are up dramatically; explanation a mystery
David Fleshler, South Florida Sun-Sentinel 18 Jan 09;

A record number of baby manatees were found dead last year, despite strenuous public and private efforts to restore a species that ranks with the panther and alligator as a symbol of wild Florida.

State wildlife officers recovered 101 infant manatee carcasses in 2008, up from 59 the previous year. The young manatees died from a variety of natural causes — although decomposition was too far advanced to tell what killed many of them — and no one knows the reason for the sudden increase or whether it indicates any new threat to the species.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which tracks manatee deaths, says the high number may simply be a result of more manatee births or more success in finding carcasses. But The Save the Manatee Club said it could be an indirect result of boat strikes, habitat loss and other threats that have shortened the endangered mammals' life spans, reducing the number of experienced mothers bearing calves.

In Palm Beach County, no dead babies turned up last year, although collisions with boats took a toll on adults. In Broward County Click here for restaurant inspection reports, authorities found three and are concerned about the fate of a fourth.

Last month, a female manatee with a calf was spotted in Hollywood, suffering from severe injuries from a boat collision. Wildlife officials have tried to rescue them, without success, said Pat Quinn, the county's manatee protection supervisor. If the calf is still nursing, he said it likely will die if the mother dies.

Statewide, the calves' causes of death varied: 26 were stillborn, eight orphaned or abandoned, five died from cold and the rest from various natural or undetermined causes, said Martine DeWitt, a scientist with the wildlife commission. The significance of the increase is unclear, she said.

"It's possible that a relatively high percentage of calves died," she said. "But it's always possible that more calves had been born, which is a good thing."

Katie Tripp, director of science and conservation for The Save the Manatee Club, said the state should consider whether the increase represents an emerging threat. In the difficult environment of America's fourth-largest state, she said manatees rarely reach their full 60-year life span. This means there are fewer experienced mothers.

"We know manatees are dying young," she said. "We know first-time mothers tend to be less successful."

No one knows how many manatees live in Florida, but aerial surveys generally count about 3,000.

Enormous resources have been devoted to protecting them, as scientists research red tide, police patrol for speeding boats and government agencies protect coastal habitats. Tripp said the 30-year protection effort preserves many of the environmental assets that originally drew people to Florida.

"When you protect manatees, you protect seagrass flats," she said. "When you protect manatees, you protect water quality. When you protect manatees, you protect springs. When you protect manatees, you protect all of coastal Florida."

The number of manatees killed by watercraft is a closely watched figure, invoked in debates over boating, environmental regulation and the impact of waterfront development. Last year watercraft killed 90, up from 73 the previous year but short of the record of 95 in 2002. In Broward County, they killed three, which is about average. But Palm Beach County saw six, a tie for the record.

Paul Davis, Palm Beach County's manatee coordinator, said he was surprised by the increase since the recession cut boat traffic, police increased water patrols and no manatees were killed by boats in the previous two years. He urged boaters to slow down, particularly in three manatee hot spots: the Loxahatchee-Jupiter Inlet, the Lake Worth Lagoon and Lake Wyman, in Boca Raton.

"We need to be concerned," he said. "We need to continue to monitor our enforcement and education efforts and hope it doesn't repeat the following year. If it does, then we're going to reevaluate what we're doing and see if we can do it better."

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Leatherback sea turtle on Australia's endangered list

Garrett wants to save the turtles
Kerry-Anne Walsh, The Sydney Morning Herald 18 Jan 09;

THE world's largest sea turtle today will be placed on the threatened species list by the Federal Government.

The leatherback turtle will now be classed as endangered. Any coastal or marine development or activity that could affect the turtle will be assessed by Environment Minister Peter Garrett under national environmental protection legislation. Mr Garrett would need to be convinced that the development or activity would not threaten the turtle or measures have been taken to protect it, before approving a project.

The leatherback turtle, weighing in about 500 kilograms, is found in tropical and temperate waters off the south Queensland and NSW coasts and off West Australia's coast south of Geraldton. The species is believed to be about 100 million years old but it is estimated there are only around 34,000 adult females alive.

Mr Garrett said the Government was reviewing its recovery plan for marine turtles in Australia.

"Where appropriate, the revised plan will include more stringent measures to reflect the changes to the turtle's conservation status," he said.

Along with the turtle, Mr Garrett has added the alpine Sphagnum bog and associated fens to the national threatened species list.

A further 18 new species and four more ecological communities, including nine snail species, will now be classified endangered.

Australia lists world's largest sea turtle as endangered
Yahoo News 17 Jan 09;

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia on Sunday listed the world's largest sea turtle, the leatherback, as endangered due to the threats posed by overfishing and the unsustainable harvesting of its eggs and meat.

The leatherback turtle, previously listed only as vulnerable, was one of a group of plants and animals registered as endangered by Environment Minister Peter Garrett.

The turtle, which averages about 1.6 metres (5.2 feet) in length and weighs between 250 and 700 kilograms (550 and 1,540 pounds), is found in tropical and temperate waters around Australia.

"The uplisting is mainly due to the ongoing threats the turtle faces from unsustainable harvesting of egg and meat and pressures from commercial fishing outside Australian waters," Garrett said.

Also upgraded to critically endangered were nine species of snails, Bornemissza's stag beetle, which is found on the southern island of Tasmanian, three types of orchids and five other plants.

Garrett said these species would have increased protection, "ensuring that certain projects or activities which could significantly impact on them will now need to be thoroughly assessed and approved before they can go ahead."

Endangered list grows as slow and steady lose the race
Deborah Smith, Sydney Morning Herald 19 Jan 09;

AFTER surviving for more than 100 million years, the world's largest sea turtle has been placed on the national threatened species.

Leatherback turtles, which are found in waters off NSW as well as south Queensland and Western Australia, can grow up to 1.6 metres in length and 700 kilograms.

The Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, said yesterday that the turtles, which had previously been classified as vulnerable, were now considered an endangered species.

"The uplisting is mainly due to the ongoing threat the turtle faces from unsustainable harvesting of egg and meat, and pressures from commercial fishing outside Australian waters," he said.

The move meant that any projects or activities that could have an effect on the reptiles would need to be assessed and approved by the Federal Government before they could go ahead.

It is estimated that only about 2800 adult female turtles remain in the western Pacific region, and their numbers are expected to decline due to other risks, including boat strikes and choking on plastic bags and other marine debris.

A NSW orchid and a Bankstown shrub, as well as alpine bogs, grasslands and woodlands across the state, were also among the 19 species and five ecological communities that the Department of Environment listed as critically endangered or endangered.

The critically endangered kangaloon sun orchid, which has dark blue flowers, is found in only three locations near Robertson in the Southern Highlands, and fewer than 50 mature plants of the critically endangered Hibbertia shrub remain near Bankstown Airport.

The survival of five species of snail on Norfolk Island and four on Lord Howe Island is also threatened by factors including the invasion of weeds into their habitats and predation by introduced rats, birds and ants.

Mr Garrett said alpine peat moss bogs, which occurred along streams and wet valley edges and floors in NSW, the ACT and Tasmania, also needed to be protected. "This ecological community provides essential habitat for several species of nationally threatened plants and animals, in particular the southern corroboree frog and the baw baw frog, which breed in Sphagnum moss."

The bogs were also an important water source for rivers including the Murray and Murrumbidgee, but would be put under more pressure as temperatures climbed due to climate change.

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Olive Ridleys to get trash-free homes

Mahathi R Arjun , The Times of India 18 Jan 09;

CHENNAI: With a glove in one hand and a huge sack in the other, a bunch of youngsters diligently picked up trash at Elliots Beach on Saturday evening. Their purpose: to make sure the shores were clean enough for the endangered Olive Ridley turtles that come to nest along Chennai's coast.

A few young people have formed The Waste Committee' to clean up the beach. "My friends and I visit the beach often and it's always so dirty. We decided something needed to be done, and decided to do it," says Rupesh Kumar (25), one of the organisers and a member of the committee.

Emails, text messages, a social networking site and word-of-mouth spread the word. "We are planning to do this every Saturday, covering Kottivakkam, Thiruvanmiyur and Neelangarai beaches. This is the first time we are cleaning, and will continue every week. We are just cleaning upto 50 metres from the shore, where the turtles lay the eggs," says Sidharth Hande, a member of the committee.

Considered one of the smallest species of sea turtle, Olive Ridley turtles frequent the coast of Bay of Bengal, especially Orissa and Tamil Nadu. Their nesting period is from January to March, during which turtle walks are popular. Students' Sea Turtle Conservation Network (SSTCN), which has been working to conserve these turtles since 1988, is also taking part in the cleaning. SSTCN organises walks where volunteers collect turtle eggs and take them to a hatchery. After about 45 days, the young turtles are released back into the sea.

"We usually cover a seven-km stretch from Theosophical Society beach to Neelangarai. Every year, about 70-100 turtles nest on this stretch, and we collect about 70 nests. Many youngsters take part in these walks every Friday and Saturday night. And it is nice to see that they are trying to clean up the place. Especially after cyclone Nisha, there is more garbage, which can hamper the nesting process," says V Arun, an SSTCN member who has been involved in turtle walks for 12 years.

The garbage, however, is not going to end up in Pallikaranai marsh again but as an arch in Kalakshetra colony. "We will be putting up an arch at the entrance of the colony to create an awareness about the amount of garbage we produce and how we need to reduce it," says Shanthi Krishnan, 53, vice-president of Kalakshetra welfare association.

For the 30-odd youngsters who turned up to do their bit for the society, it is not all work and no play. After the cleaning, the group was entertained by a band Substance', who performed to create awareness about the environment.

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Adventurer’s bottle boat to sail plastic sea

Maurice Chittenden, Times Online 18 Jan 09;

IT is an unmistakable message in a bottle. David de Rothschild, a British millionaire adventurer and scion of the banking dynasty, is to sail a 60ft raft made from empty mineral water bottles to the centre of the Earth’s plastic sea.

He will set out from San Francisco in April to alert the world to the pollution threat from a massive waste dump known as the great Pacific garbage patch.
The plastic waste covers an area of the Pacific which is five times the size of Britain

A sea of trash five times the size of Britain sits just below the surface between California and Hawaii in a becalmed area of ocean known as the north Pacific gyre. There, plastic waste is deposited in a slowly twisting, soupy mass by the circular pattern of the world’s sea currents.

Rothschild, 30, a 6ft 4in ecologist, has traversed both the Arctic and Antarctic. He is calling his vessel the Plastiki in homage to Kon-Tiki, the timber and hemp raft used by Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian explorer and writer, to demonstrate that South American Indians could have settled in Polynesia.

The Plastiki is being constructed from plastic bottles tied together to form two hulls and covered in a plastic skin.

Rothschild, the founder of Adventure Ecology, plans to set out on April 28, the 62nd anniversary of the start of the 101-day Kon-Tiki expedition.

He and his five-man crew will sail 7,500 miles to Sydney, Australia, but the main purpose is to chart a course through the sea of plastic and draw attention to the threat it poses.

The United Nations estimates there are 46,000 pieces of plastic, most no bigger than a 1p piece, floating on every square mile of the world’s oceans and devastating marine life.

The Pacific patch is the biggest concentration, with a plastic mass estimated at 3½ tons.

Because most plastic is not biodegradable, almost every piece ever made is still somewhere on Earth. Researchers estimate that, out of about 100m tons of plastic produced each year, 10% ends up in the oceans.

Message In A Bottle
Explorer David de Rothschild promotes ocean cleanup on a plastic-bottle raft
Arnie Cooper, www.popsci.com 23 Jan 09;

Given the choice, you probably wouldn't risk sailing 11,500 miles from San Francisco to Sydney in a boat handmade of 20,000 plastic water bottles. But David de Rothschild, the founder of the nonprofit educational organization Adventure Ecology, sees such a vessel as the perfect way to "beat waste" by promoting new uses for recycled plastic while dramatizing the problem of ocean debris. Next month, de Rothschild and a crew of scientists will sail the Plastiki, a 60-foot catamaran, to environmental hotspots including Bikini Atoll, the former atomic-bomb testing site, and Tuvalu, an island rapidly disappearing under rising seas. He will also swing by the northern reaches of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the Canada-size, 100-million-ton accumulation of mostly plastic refuse trapped in a vortex of ocean currents in the middle of the Pacific. This toxic stew, made up of everything from decomposing Lego blocks to supermarket bags, kills more than a million seabirds and 100,000 mammals a year. We talked to de Rothschild about coming face-to-face with the refuse and his plan to help clean it up.

Q: How bad is plastic pollution in the oceans?
A: The National Academy of Sciences estimates that five million tons of plastic enter the ocean each year. Some large pieces float on the surface; plankton and fish ingest microscopic fragments. It concentrates wherever ocean currents converge, the most notorious of which is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which extends from about 500 miles west of California into the Sea of Japan. There's also one off the western coast of Antarctica, and scientists have just found a huge patch off the coast of Chile.

Q: You're planning a difficult journey -- so why a boat made of plastic bottles?
A: We needed a pinup to draw attention to the problem, and for me the emblem of a cradle-to-grave society is the plastic water bottle. On average, people in the U.S. use 157 bottles of water every year. Most of that trash ends up in landfills and the ocean. We're really hoping people might say, "Hey, if you can build a boat out of recycled plastic, why not a TV?" We want to inspire industry to find more-innovative ways to reuse plastic.

Q: How do you make 20,000 plastic bottles into a seaworthy boat?
A: We originally wanted to make the Plastiki entirely out of these bottles, but it kept twisting like a piece of licorice. So we built a frame by sandwiching plastic foam between "cloth" sheets made by a Danish company from recycled plastic. We injected CO2 into each bottle, sealed it, and packed it into one of two pontoons. Then we strapped each pontoon to a rigid plastic tube running the length of the hull. We've assembled the whole thing without glues or resins, so when the trip is over in June, we'll be able to recycle the entire boat.

Q: Besides boats, how can we reuse plastic?
A: I came across two promising technologies while building my boat. There's an inventor in New Zealand who has a machine that converts various types of plastic into building bricks. There's also a Japanese company that transforms waste plastic into diesel. Tuvalu produces 450,000 pounds of plastic waste per year and imports 265,000 gallons of fuel. With a machine like this, it could cut fuel imports by 20 percent.

Q: How is your expedition going to help clean up the oceans?
A: At Adventure Ecology, we take an issue and find a hook to inspire children and adults to get directly involved. We'll stop during our expedition to do beach cleanups and talk at schools, and post videos of our experiences on our blog, theplastiki.com. We're also carrying four scientists from the Scripps Research Institute who will study marine debris, ocean acidification, coral bleaching, and overfishing, and publish their findings when the voyage wraps up.

Q: You've said you get seasick in a bathtub. How are you psyching yourself up for an 11,500-mile ocean voyage in an unproven vessel?
A: Ignorance is bliss. Of course, something sharp in the vortex could pierce the bottles and damage the pontoons. But even if we never make it past Hawaii, I feel that we'll make a huge impact by raising awareness about plastics in the ocean and using waste as a resource.

Read more!

Beekeepers fear sting of imported Australian hives

Garance Burke, Associated Press Yahoo News 17 Jan 09;

ATWATER, Calif. – Beekeepers who are battling a mysterious ailment that led to the disappearance of millions of honeybees now fear the sting of imported Australian bees that they worry could outcompete their hives and might carry a deadly parasite unseen in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has allowed shipments of Australian bees to resume despite concerns by some of its own scientists.

Australia had been airfreighting the insects across the Pacific for four years to replace hives devastated by the perplexing colony collapse disorder. But six weeks ago the Australian government abruptly stopped the shipments, saying it could no longer be certain the country was free of a smaller, aggressive bee that has infested areas near the Great Barrier Reef, U.S. officials said.

Early this month, the USDA decided to permit the bee shipments to resume with some precautions, and the first planeloads arrived in San Francisco last Monday.

Beekeeper Ken Haff of Mandan, N.D., says he fears the foreign hives could kill off his apiary.

"We've got enough problems with our own bee diseases that we don't know how to treat, and they open the border to a whole new species that could carry God knows what," said Haff, a vice president of the American Honey Producers Association. "That's a total slap in the face for us."

Shad Sullivan, a bee wholesaler in California's Central Valley, said that in the four years he has imported bees from Australia, he has found that the hearty imports outlive domestic bees that have been weakened by pesticides, pests and diseases.

"If the bees were truly carrying something that bad, I would have been the first to get it," Sullivan said as a thick cloud of the buzzing insects flew overhead. "I just haven't seen those kinds of devastation."

Domestic honeybees feed on most flowering plants, and are vital pollinators for many food crops.

However, domestic bee stocks have been waning since 2004, when scientists first got reports of the puzzling illness that has claimed up to 90 percent of commercial hives and has been labeled colony collapse disorder.

That's also the year the USDA allowed imports of Australian hives, and scientists have been investigating whether Australia was a source of a virus tied to the bee die-off.

Entomologists also fear that the aggressive bee species found near Australia's Great Barrier Reef could carry a deadly mite, said Jeff Pettis, the USDA's top bee scientist.

"This could be a threat worldwide, because if those bees are moving around the chances are this mite would move with it," Pettis said. "We just don't need another species causing problems."

The Australian government has adopted emergency controls to quarantine and destroy the aggressive bees and has never detected that mite, according to materials provided by Chelsey Martin, counselor for public affairs at the Australian Embassy in Washington.

U.S. agriculture officials say they also are taking precautions.

Agricultural officials started sampling Australian bees last week after they were released in the Central Valley.

"Bees from Australia make great sense," said Wayne Wehling, a senior entomologist in the USDA's permit unit. "But we certainly don't want to bring any economic impacts onto our honeybees that we don't already have or introduce any new pests or disease."

Government officials said they do not know how many Australian bees have been imported, but hive importer Sullivan estimates that he has sold 110,000 hives since 2005.

On Wednesday, a USDA inspector in a protective suit collected samples of bees at Sullivan's operation.

"Hopefully this will ease the minds of people who have their own hives here," said inspector John Iniguez. "We're trusting Australia that they're clean. Now we just want to confirm that."

Read more!

Last year ranked in top 10 for heat

Yahoo News 16 Nov 08;

WASHINGTON – Last year was the eighth warmest year on record, according to the National Climatic Data Center. The world's temperature in 2008 tied that of 2001 according to the center, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Preliminary calculations show the world's average temperature for 2008 was 0.88 degree Fahrenheit above the 20th Century average of 57.0 degrees F.

The ranking means that all of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1997.

Climate scientists around the world have raised concerns about global warming caused by the so-called greenhouse effect in which chemicals, largely generated by human activity, trap solar radiation.

Researchers fear far-reaching effects ranging from changing storm patterns, damage to crops and wildlife, droughts to spread of disease.

The climate center noted that since 1880, the annual combined global land and ocean surface temperature has increased at a rate of 0.09 degree F (0.05 degree C) per decade and the rate has increased over the past 30 years.

NASA, which uses a slightly different method of calculating temperatures, has rated 2008 as the ninth warmest on record.

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 17 Jan 09

“Race to Save the Environment” event
on the hantu blog and on the wild shores of singapore blog and teamseagrass blog

Ocean Conference at ADEX Singapore 3-4 Apr 09
on the Singapore Celebrates our Reefs! blog

Windy at Chek Jawa
on the wonderful creation blog with more about the wind

Mysterious bubbling sand at Changi
on the wonderful creation blog

Olive-backed Sunbird robbing hibiscus nectar
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Once Upon a Tree: Tides and Coastlines
an excerpt on the Pulau Hantu blog

Last waltz with a noisy pitta
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Training Session at Semakau
on the Urban Forest blog

New 'Product' on St John's Island
on the Psychedelic Nature blog

Halus ebook!
on the Aesthetic Voyager blog

Read more!

Sport fishing in Malaysia: still some way to go

Reflecting on 2008
Anthony Geoffrey, The Star 17 Jan 09;

Fishing as a sport in Malaysia still has some way to go, especially in terms of protecting fish species and numbers. When I look back on fishing in 2008, I am struck by both trepidation and awe as to what is happening in Malaysia and the region.

The trepidation stems primarily from concerns over our freshwater fisheries.

Tasik Chini was in the news again recently with the Pahang state government seeking Federal help to rehabilitate the lake and its surrounding area, and spruce up the accommodation and facilities.

Our other major freshwater angling destinations fare little better.

In Temenggor, Chenderoh (Perak) and Kenyir (Terengganu), fish stocks have declined so much that anglers feel lucky if they get a couple of fish a day — and then they tend to be juveniles. The cause of this situation is uncontrolled netting of the larger fish and the removal of millions of fry for the aquarium trade.

Species such as kelah (Red Mahseer), toman (giant snakehead), sebarau (Hampala barb), temoleh (Jullien Barb), belida (giant featherback) and kelisa (Malaysian bonytongue), also known as the arowana, are caught in the tens of thousands to feed the aquarium trade. This is a double-edged sword.

Fish large enough to breed are caught in nets and supplied to restaurants and aquariums, while fish that are not large enough to breed are caught before they have a chance to breed. Rules and regulations need to be introduced in each and every state — and enforced properly.

I agree that the Orang Asli should be allowed to catch their food but not be allowed to trade in live fish. The great majority of freshwater anglers release at least 95% of their catch and, therefore, do not have a negative impact on fish stocks.

Our rivers, according to my fishing buddies, are not faring much better. The introduction of the Tagal system in Sabah and Sarawak has helped save rivers, and the two Kelah sanctuaries in the country are also helping somewhat.

But going into a river and feeding Kelah with pellets is not the answer. A proper close season and proper enforcement are what’s required. In the lakes especially, there must be limited points from which boats can be launched.

Check every boat on return and fine people who exceed the catch limit. The message will soon get out if consistent enforcement and regular patrols are maintained.

The awe I feel is mainly because of the consistency of the fishing at Kuala Rompin, Pahang especially the number of sailfish and species in the Spratlys. And this is in spite of commercial fishing. This does not mean, however, that we should rest on our laurels.

The ikan bilis (anchovy) trawlers kill thousands of sailfish every year in the Kuala Rompin waters, and beam trawlers, even though illegal, are still common. Also common are trawlers fishing within restricted areas.

Again, there is a need for enforcement. I remember many years ago how I informed a group from Scandinavia that angling was not allowed within two nautical miles of marine parks, only for us to find nets spread across the narrow straits between Pulau Aur and Pulau Dayang — and there was a marine police boat parked close by, apparently oblivious of it all.

What does that convey to our overseas visitors?

We have mentioned many times to the relevant authorities, directly and through PeMM (Malaysian Angling Association), of the need to declare certain areas for recreational fishing only and others for commercial fishing. This needs to be done in consultation and with the likes of PeMM and the angling boat operators, and not just declared willy nilly.

Anglers spend big money, which goes directly to the people where recreational fishing exists — not to multinational beach resorts or city hotels. At least RM5mil a year goes into the Kuala Rompin economy from angling alone.

Our recreational fisheries, both freshwater and marine, must be protected and conserved. Enforcement must be maintained each and every day.

Angling is allowed in most national and marine parks in the world. However, commercial fishing is not. Vision 2020 is not just about industrialisation and development — nurturing what we have must also be part and parcel of what Vision 2020 is about.

Recreation and conservation must go hand in hand.

Tasik Chini

The problem with Lake Chini has been highlighted many times over the past decade. The dilapidated state of the accommodation, for example, has been the subject of articles and letters to the press on numerous occasions.

Why has nothing been done?

This was a place local tourists, as well as foreigners in the hundreds from cruise ships docking in Kuantan, used to visit on a regular basis. It provided revenue to the local populace through the hire of boats, the purchase of handicraft and food and drinks.

It is time to bring Chini back to its original state. By all means, clean it up, get rid of the dam, rebuild the accommodation and restaurant facilities and franchise them to someone who can run them properly. Above all, maintain the place properly.

Have staff conduct checks on a regular basis.

Chini was once a fantastic fishery as well as a top tourist destination. As Malaysia’s second largest natural body of water, the lake and its surroundings should be declared a state park.

Fishing in the lake should be strictly on a catch-and-release basis, with exception made only for the Orang Asli of the Jakun group (for their subsistence and not for trade in live fish).

All anglers should board a boat at only one place; all must be checked on returning. A daily or weekly fishing permit scheme must be introduced. Charges should be reasonable, say RM30 per angler per day.

The Pahang authorities have done a reasonably good job with Fraser’s Hill, why not Tasik Chini?

Lakes of Malaysia
The Star 17 Jan 09;

The National Lakes Information Database of Malaysia lists 90 lakes in Malaysia, both natural and man-made, with the objective of providing relevant information to support the sustainable management of all lakes in Malaysia.

This is a noble cause indeed.

Developed by the National Hydraulics Research Institute of Malaysia (Nahrim), the database (http://lakes.mcthosting.net) welcomes all those who have information on the country’s lakes to register as data contributors.

The database is both interesting and informative, encompassing also the river systems that feed the lakes. It is reasonably up-to-date (last edited June 2008), and details the uses of a lake (i.e. hydropower, flood mitigation, irrigation, etc). Also included is information on water quality, geographical regions and lake status.

You may, however, get a little confused as to the type of fish species included in the various classification by Trophic State Index. Seeing species like salmonoids, walleye and bass mentioned does make one wonder — that is, until you read what the indices really mean.

However, there are many lakes that are not included. One of the problems may be the definition of a lake. Neither this website nor the Oxford or Chambers dictionaries give a clear definition of what constitutes a “lake”.

A lake is defined as a substantial body of water and can be natural or man-made. A pond is referred to as a small body of water, usually man-made. But what exactly constitutes small and what qualifies as substantial is not clear-cut.

We have Kundang Lakes Golf Club, which has numerous bodies of water, with Tow Foo Pond at the edge of the golf course being the largest body of water. Is it large enough to be considered a lake? Close by is Tasik Biru, which is often referred to as a mining pond but considered by some to be a lake.

For the sake of argument, let’s say a lake is a body of water covering more than an area of 0.5ha. That would leave hundreds, if not thousands, of lakes in Malaysia, that have yet to be included in the database. How many are there in the Kinta Valley alone?

I would ask all anglers to check out this database and add to it where you can. With so many bodies of water, this country should be a freshwater angling paradise. A dozen or so medium-sized lakes, managed properly, could attract anglers from all over the world.

The redeeming feature of my freshwater fishing last year — apart from our own Tow Foo Pond, that is — was in Krabi, southern Thailand. Well-managed, practising catch-and-release, superbly maintained, it is the epitome of what freshwater angling is about.

If only something like that could be developed in an existing body of water in Malaysia — in the Kinta Valley, say, or somewhere, anywhere.

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Growing US Bird Populations Show Conservation Successes

Jeanna Bryner, livescience.com 16 Jan 09;

At a time when scientists are sounding ever more frequent alarms on the potential extinction of this creature or that, yesterday's collision with a flock of geese that put an airliner in the Hudson River is a reminder that some species are doing just fine.

Many birds have been faring well in the United States, even in urban environments (and in some cases especially in them), over the past few decades, say two bird experts and conservationists.

"Birds are increasing and that's good," said Kevin McGowan of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology in New York. "People have worked hard to do that kind of thing. Most people like it. We don't always hear enough about the fact that a lot of things are doing well."

McGowan notes that on an individual species basis, some bird numbers are going up and of course some are going down. Resident Canada geese, one of the species that is more likely to be involved in so-called bird strikes with aircraft, are particularly thriving, he said today, which is in part due to conservation efforts.

And the same has been seen with bald eagles. The number of breeding pairs in the lower 48 states increased from nearly 500 in 1963 to nearly 10,000 in 2006, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which attributes the comeback to the U.S. ban in 1972 of the pesticide DDT, along with the bird's protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Migrating vs. staying put

While most of the 11 subspecies of Canada geese migrate to the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions to nest, the resident Canada geese usually stick around in the lower 48 states.

The total number of resident Canada geese in the United States is about 3.2 million and has increased dramatically during the past several decades, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Any golfer could tell you this, as some golf courses have become a favorite place for Canada geese and other water fowl. Even at a desert course, such as in the Phoenix metro area, manmade lakes help attract hundred of birds that, annoyingly for some who tire of their droppings, never leave.

"A lot of it is from our conservation efforts. We've put in a lot of effort into making things better for birds," McGowan told LiveScience. "And [Canada geese] are very good at dealing with urban situations. Birds are adapting to it, and people are helping them along the way, which again is a good thing."

Terry Liddick, a Fish and Wildlife Service flyway biologist, said over the past 10 years the resident Canada goose population has slightly increased, at least by a few percent.

Geese and other birds living in urban areas of course puts them potentially in the path of low-flying aircraft.

"Airports have all kinds of programs to try to alleviate bird hazards around runways," said Dale Oderman, associate professor of aviation technology at Purdue University in Indiana. "They try to make the habitat unfriendly for birds. So that's why you don't see lots of trees around airports, because trees are nesting places for birds." He added that at some airports, dogs are used to chase away birds or blank weapons are fired to scare birds away.

Comeback era

After the industrial revolution when vast swaths of trees east of the Mississippi were cut down, the environment saw an uptick as trees were planted, laws to protect birds such as the Migratory Bird Treaty Act came online, and bird-conservation organizations such as the Audubon Society were established.

McGowan just finished co-authoring "The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State" (Cornell University Press, 2008), in which scientists compare bird populations from 20 years ago with their numbers now. About half of the bird species showed a change in numbers, and of those, more showed an increase rather than a decrease, he said.

Birds that are thriving in the New York area and in some cases elsewhere in the United States, he said, include resident Canada geese, eagles, peregrine falcons, Cooper's hawk, great blue herons, wood ducks and osprey.

Of course, not all birds are thriving. Since 1967, the average population of some of the most common North American birds has fallen, according to the Audubon Society. For instance, since 1967, the Northern Bobwhite population has decreased by 82 percent, while the robin-sized Evening Grosbeak has taken a 78 percent nosedive.

And following the introduction of the West Nile Virus in North America, several bird species, including the American robin and the Eastern bluebird, suffered significant declines, according to the Smithsonian's Migratory Bird Center.

McGowan does note that for those soaring bird populations, more birds could mean more hazards to humans. But he thinks of yesterday's incident as a random event, not as a result of growing bird populations. The ditch landing reportedly was the result of birds striking the Airbus 320's two engines, although the details are still under investigation.

"There are some costs that come along with it," he said, referring to growing numbers.
"The populations are increasing for a bunch of birds, but that probably has nothing to do with this air strike. I don't want to speculate on what's going on before all the facts are in."

Birds have long been a known and common hazard for airplanes. In fact, the first such strike was reported by the Wright brothers. Nowadays, bird strikes are more common. From 1990 to 2007, 82,057 wildlife strikes with civil aircraft were reported to the Federal Aviation Administration, with nearly 98 percent due to birds. The number of such strikes annually has more than quadrupled from 1,759 in 1990 to a record 7,666 in 2007, according to the FAA.

McGowan added, "There are lots and lots of birds out there and they're a known hazard to aircraft; the government spends a lot of time trying to avoid them as best they can. This is a freak accident and it may never happen like this again. It's not like necessarily you can point to 'There are too many geese.' It's one of those rare fluke events."

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Sunderbans study links straying tigers with vanishing greens

Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay, The Times of India 17 Jan 09;

KOLKATA: Why are incidents of man-tiger conflict on the rise in the Sunderbans? Rising sea levels, a diminishing prey base and the vanishing
Hetal (Phoenix paludosa) are the most likely reasons why tigers are straying into human habitat in the only mangrove habitat for the big cats.

A Botanical Survey of India (BSI) study finds that in the Sunderbans, Hetal is increasingly being replaced by Chhat Garan (Ceriops). "Sunderbans tigers love Hetal bushes, as they find them ideal not only for camouflaging, but also for their smell and thickness," said a BSI official.

Repeated incidents of tigers straying into villages in the Sunderbans led experts to hold a brainstorming meeting on Thursday. The meeting witnessed heated arguments on the methodology adopted in replenishing the prey base by releasing 100 deer in the Sunderbans. Experts suspect that all the deer released had died, as they were not acclimatized to the new terrain. "Ideally, deer should have been bred. Only the next generation of deer could have been released in the forest," said an expert.

The meeting, convened by chief wildlife warden S B Mondal, decided on conducting an in-depth month-long survey by an expert committee to decide on remedial measures to be adopted by the forest department.

"The expert committee will study the prey base by WWF (World Wildlife Fund for Nature) and change of habitat vegetation by BSI. We will again meet to discuss the recommendation for an effective implementation methodology," said Sundarban Tiger Reserve (STR) field director Subrata Mukherjee. The meeting was attended by senior officers of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), BSI, and faculty of the department of zoology and oceanography, Calcutta University.

"We will have an in-depth study on how the vegetation is undergoing rapid changes in the Sunderbans, one of the most biodiversity-sensitive zones in the world," said Dr H K Debnath, principal investigator of BSI's Lead Institute. "Tigers in the Sunderbans consider Hetal bushes their homes. If suddenly these bushes are not there, they might feel homeless. We need to study that. If necessary, we need to undertake plantation drive of certain species of mangroves to maintain biodiversity."

The oceanography experts will assess the impact of rising sea level. "The rising sea level might have badly affected tiger habitat. The tigers might be forced to leave the islands," said a forest department officer.

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