Latest Green Jobs in Singapore [2 - 8 Jan 2012]
from Green Business Times
Berlayar Creek fishing check walkabout 08Jan2012
from sgbeachbum
Grey Pansy In Danger @ Seletar Wasteland
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature
Blue-tailed Bee-eater catching insects from a perch
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Signs of dugongs at Chek Jawa
from wild shores of singapore and TeamSeagrass
Four-lined Tree Frog
from Monday Morgue
R.S.N. Murali The Star 9 Jan 12;
MALACCA: Frequent hunting of Malacca’s giant monitor lizards, allegedly for their skin and meat as well as their body liquid for aphrodisiac purposes, could drive the reptile to extinction.
“Fifteen years ago, these reptiles could be easily spotted lazing along the river bank of scenic Malacca River. Now, they are hard to come by,” said city councillor Ronald Gan Yong Hoe.
“In some countries, monitor lizards are protected under Endangered Species Acts. We hope the state government will move to conserve our local reptiles,” the member of the Malacca Historic City Council said.
“If nothing is done, the extensive poaching of this reptile could lead to its extinction,” he said.
Gan said the local monitor lizards, known locally as biawak, are large water monitor species (varanussalvator) capable of growing up to three metres long and 25 kilos in weight.
He said that apart from their skin and meat, the reptlie was sought for a liquid from its body that was commonly believed to increase sexual prowess in both men and women.
Gan said the reptile’s thick and leathery skin was used for clothing accessories, such as bags and belts, while its meat was said to have healing powers for ailments such as asthma and pneumonia besides increasing sexual prowess.
He said that besides poaching, the reptiles were often exposed to other risks, such as being hit by vehicles when crossing roads.
On a more positive note, Gan said a father and daughter from Australia, who dubbed themselves as Biawak Dundees, were rescuing and treating injured monitor lizards here.
Gan added that following a proposal by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, the state government has made lizard- watching one of the features of the Malacca River cruise.
Meanwhile, mayor Zainal Abu said poaching activities along the river bank has declined due to continuous patrols by the council’s enforcement officers.
However, he added, there could still be some hunting upstream and it was up to the state Wildlife and National Parks Department to curtail such activity.
Ruben Sario The Star 9 Jan 12;
KOTA KINABALU: A captured female Sumatran rhinoceros has some bones on her front left foot missing.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Laurentius Ambu said this meant that Puntung was likely caught in an illegal wildlife trap when she was young.
“This makes her survival a true miracle,’’ he said, adding that Puntung was captured in late 2011 because years of monitoring revealed that no other rhino had come into her range.
“This is symptomatic of many other species of wildlife in Sabah as their habitats are fragmented and there is a lack of linkage between them.
“This increases the level of threats to wildlife as access to fragmented areas for poachers is not difficult,” he said.
In this regard, he said the department had been continually calling for corridors and linkages to be made between fragmented forest with significant wildlife.
“The state government is playing its part but what we need is action from the private sector now.
“We want them to put aside land for corridors or patches of forest,” he said.
Laurentius has been advocating a multi-stakeholder approach to conservation in the state, with governmental agencies working together with NGOs, universities and the private sector.
ECOS Magazine Science Alert 9 Jan 12;
Most humans love to interact with wildlife, especially with charismatic animals such as dolphins. While contact with these creatures is often a unique and incredible experience for us, it is important to realise that ‘watching’ activity can have an adverse effect on the dolphins themselves.
In cases where human–wildlife interactions turn into large-scale tourism industries, research shows that these activities can negatively impact wildlife by, for example, disrupting resting or feeding. Wildlife tourism therefore needs regulations aiming to ensure both a healthy wild population of animals and satisfactory wildlife encounters for humans.
The legislation for dolphin-watching in Australia is bound to a regulatory framework that addresses how boats must behave around pods of dolphins. For example, boats are required to remain a minimum distance away from dolphins; this varies depending on whether dolphin calves are in a pod. The regulations also dictate how boats may approach dolphins, e.g. boats must not cut dolphins off. However, management agencies responsible for a given area can adapt the boating regulations to their local circumstances.
My research as a PhD student at Macquarie University has focused on the impact of dolphin-watching vessels on the behaviour of a resident population of around 100 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park (PSGLMP), New South Wales. Commercial dolphin-watching tours started here in the early 1990s, and up to 15 boats can operate per day. The tours are restricted to the eastern embayment of the marine park (an area of around 50 km²). Around 70 per cent of the dolphin population live in this area, and so human-wildlife interactions are intensified for the majority of the dolphin population in the marine park.
In Port Stephens, industry had requested an exemption to allow closer approaches to dolphin pods. My aims were to investigate the impacts of dolphin-watching vessels on dolphin behaviour in the PSGLMP, how boat distance affected dolphin behavioural changes, and whether implemented speed restriction zones were an appropriate management tool.
My research showed that dolphins changed their behaviour dramatically when dolphin-watching vessels approached them. Dolphins stopped resting, and spent considerably less time feeding in the presence of dolphin-watching vessels. This may alter dolphins’ energy expenditure and in the long term may affect the health of individual animals, their reproductive success and ultimately the population.
The behavioural changes were exacerbated when boats approached closer, or when the number of boats increased. Dolphins used speed restriction zones less during intense boat traffic, which indicates that the zones as currently specified by the Marine Parks Authority NSW do not effectively minimise boating impacts.
The good news is, however, that a long-term study of abundance in Port Stephens by a fellow student at Macquarie University, Caroline Waring, does not indicate the population is declining.
Based on these findings, I recommended to the Marine Parks Authority NSW management that regulations in the PSGLMP should more closely cohere with national dolphin-watching regulations. The national regulations insist on a greater distance from the dolphins and include a stricter framework for the approach of dolphin-watching vessels. I also recommended that the location, size and accompanied regulations of speed restriction zones should be revised.
The findings of this study are not only important for the management of the local marine park, but will be relevant to all similar industries that must ensure benign and viable dolphin tourism activities. However, we have to keep in mind that we cannot expect to have a panacea regarding these issues. Each population of animals is likely to react differently to human interactions.
Resident populations of dolphins that depend on a limited home range and use only a small area as their habitat are most likely to be encountered by humans several times a day. Because of this, they may react completely differently to disturbance than migratory species, such as humpback whales, which on a single migration are unlikely to encounter more than one or two boats during their entire journey. Disturbance by tourism vessels may be very different for dolphins that have a much larger home range and might shift to different areas with similar resources.
Many people may now think, ‘Hang on, whenever I see dolphins in the wild, they are happily jumping and riding the waves around the boat! How can they be adversely affected by these encounters?’ This is a very legitimate question. For one thing, every individual dolphin is different – similar to humans, some of who are more curious or playful than others. And secondly, dolphin populations vary considerably. Some, such as the Port Stephens’ dolphins, are small and live in a very small area, in which case they may be subject to repeated interactions on a daily basis; others range in much larger areas, and so interactions with each individual in the population are much less frequent.
The research in the PSGLMP showed that dolphins actively avoided approaching dolphin-watching vessels. However, dolphins reacted very differently towards sailing or other recreational boats. This may be due to their ability to distinguish between different engine noises; thus, they may recognise dolphin-watching vessels by their sound.
More important, however, is that dolphin-watching vessels behave very differently towards dolphins. Recreational boaters may be on a straight line going from A to B. In this case, curious individuals of the pod travelling the same direction may join boats for a while, as they can reduce their energy expenditure by riding in the generated pressure wave of the boat. Dolphin-watching vessels instead try to approach the animals directly, and may approach them from angles that are perceived as threatening to dolphins, especially those caring for offspring. Dolphins may perceive such encounters similarly to predation risk and try to avoid them by horizontal or vertical movements away from the source of risk.
It is vitally important to have appropriate management procedures and legislation in place where interactions with wildlife are potential threats to animal populations, and is our responsibility to act accordingly during these interactions. The choice of the right tourism operator may play an important role in a satisfactory experience for the visitor. Operators who are knowledgeable and responsible while interacting with wildlife will respect regulations regarding those encounters, guaranteeing the sustainability of their industry and the viability of a healthy population of the targeted species.
Andre Steckenreuter is a PhD researcher at the Graduate School of Environment, Faculty of Science, at Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW. This article summarises key findings of three recent research papers:
Steckenreuter A, Harcourt R, Möller L (2011). Distance does matter: close approaches by boats impede feeding and resting behaviour of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins. Wildlife Research 38: 455-463.
Steckenreuter A, Harcourt R, Möller L. (2012). Are Speed Restriction Zones an effective management tool for minimising impacts of boats on dolphins in an Australian marine park? Marine Policy 36: 258-264.
Steckenreuter A, Möller L, Harcourt R. (In press). How does Australia’s largest dolphin-watching industry affect the behaviour of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins? Journal of Environmental Management.
Fran Blandy (AFP) Google News 8 Jan 12;
SAINT LOUIS, Senegal — Retired fisherman Sada Fall is upbeat. His two sons are returning from sea with a boatload of "gold", as he calls shark fins, whose value has near-obliterated the ocean's top predator in these seas.
Fall, 62, walks along the beach in this fishing village in the north of Senegal, his blue-grey boubou flapping in the dry, dusty wind, a bright red flowered umbrella shielding him from the scorching sun.
"This is the great shark cemetery," he says waving his hand dramatically across the beach where dried hunks of shark meat are piled up, filling the air with a musty, acrid odour as suffocating as the heat.
Colourful painted pirogues line the beach where children play and sheep wander around. A giant pelican is curiously tethered to one of the crumbling houses.
Saint Louis is one of the biggest shark landing sites in Senegal and one of scores along the west African coast where the predator is quickly disappearing.
Fall's sons have been gone for two weeks deep into Mauritanian waters for a voyage which, including food, water, fuel and salt to pack the fish, can cost more than 500,000 CFA (750 euros/$1,000).
Spurring these fishermen on is the insatiable Asian appetite for shark fins, which make their way onto ostentatious dinner tables in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan.
"The fins don't stay here, they are worth a lot of money," says Fall.
He explains that when a boat lands, amidst the chaos of bartering and buying shark meat to be dried, smoked and sold in the region, the fins are swept away by intermediaries to Dakar, and treated very carefully.
"The fins are gold, sometimes we keep them in our own living room - with the air conditioning on," he laughs.
Often the intermediaries will meet with Asian businessmen in a Dakar hotel to hand over the booty.
"You bring the bags, go into the hotel, hand over the bag, they hand over the money."
Mika Diop, a biologist and coordinator of the Sharks sub-regional Action Plan (SRPOA-Sharks) says that depending on the size and species of the fin involved, they sell for up to 100,000 CFA (150 euros) per kilogram (2.2 pounds).
But it is the men further up the chain who benefit the most, as many fishermen don't realise exactly how valuable their product is. Some restaurants charge more than $100 for a bowl of sharp fin soup.
"We catch them, but I couldn't afford a small bowl of soup," says Fall
Many fins are also exported fraudulently through normal channels classified as dried fish, says Diop.
In West Africa, shark fishing began in the 1970's, booming in the nineties due to rising demand from Asia for shark fins, according to a report entitled "30 Years of Shark Fishing in West Africa" co-authored by Diop in 2011.
Since 2003, shark catches have plummeted. This is not good news but a sign that there are less to catch.
These days fishermen can spend up to 20 days at sea, heading as far west as Cape Verde or south to Sierra Leone in search of their gold, with what Diop bemoans as an often "mercenary mindset".
Diop explains that sharks are particularly vulnerable because it can take more than 10 years for them to reach sexual maturity and their fertility rate is very low, making recovery from overfishing all year round near impossible.
"On average the weight of the fin represents only two percent of the total weight of the animal, so you can see the massacre needed to keep up with the demand for shark fins," he tells AFP.
In Saint Louis, Fall finally gets a phone call from his pirogue. Days of bad weather have hampered fishing and even the good days have yielded no sharks. The boat is now expected the following day.
A fisherman for more than 30 years, he has seen first hand the worrying drop in shark numbers.
"We are obliged to catch small sharks. We know its not good but if one person doesn't, the next will...
"It brings in a lot of money, so we don't see the importance of the shark. We earn and we will keep on earning until the sharks disappear," he says sadly.
The shark fishing report talks of days when hammerhead sharks up to six metres long (20 feet) and one-tonne sawfish were caught in these waters.
The sawfish -- printed on the back of Senegalese bank notes -- hasn't been seen since the early 1990s in coastal waters from Mauritania to Sierra Leone, except for Guinea-Bissau.
According to the report, the value of sharks landed annually in 2008 in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde is estimated at 8.5 million euros ($11 million).
Diop's shark project has published an identification guide for fishermen and has helped west African nations put legislation in place, most importantly to ban "finning". In Senegal this legislation is still in the pipeline.
Finning is the practice of cutting of the shark fin while at sea, and tossing the rest of the shark back into the ocean to face a cruel death by suffocation or blood loss. Despite the laws, it still continues.
If shark-hunting, in Senegal and the world over, is not brought under control, Diop and other experts predict dire results for a marine ecosystem regulated by the predator for some 400 million years.
A report by the Pew Environment Group in June 2011 estimates some 73 million sharks are caught annually and 30 percent of species are threatened with extinction.
The fisherman Sada Fall becomes anxious and harder to get hold of. The "big shark guy around here" -- his distributor -- has left back to Dakar after hearing the fishing trip has not gone well.
Three days after the boat was supposed to land it reaches shore just after midnight. With no sharks caught, it quickly refuels and heads out again for several more gruelling, and expensive, days in search of fisherman's gold.
Life History of the Malay Dartlet
from Butterflies of Singapore
120106 Kampong Chantek to Durian Loop
from Singapore Nature
Sunny Paddle to Kampong Jelutong on 7 Jan 2012
from Soaring c-eagle
Berlayar Creek - Bkt Chermin fishing 07Jan2012
by sgbeachbum
Berlayer / Bukit Chermin Broadwalk
from Fahrenheit minus 459
Seven Links Blog Project: A Milestone Year
from Lazy Lizard's Tales
The traditional delicacy has been falling out of favour, particularly among the younger generation, as concerns over cruelty grow
Jessica Lim and Siau Ming En Straits Times 8 Jan 12;
She reaches for a packet of dried shark's fin at the dried goods store in Queen Street. She's planning something special for the family dinner.
But she is stopped by her young daughter.
'Ma, don't buy that. It's very cruel,' the girl insists, referring to the practice of 'finning' - in which sharks are tossed overboard while still alive after their fins have been cut off.
The mother hesitates, then returns the packet of shark's fin to the shelves.
This is a true story related by a shop assistant, and staff at dried goods stores around Singapore say that such scenes are not uncommon here these days.
They reflect slowly changing attitudes towards eating shark's fin here. And it is not just individuals who are stepping up to the plate.
NTUC FairPrice, the largest supermarket chain here, recently said it will stop selling shark's fin products from April, following a public outcry.
Carrefour soon followed suit, affirming that it will stop selling the delicacy when its current stock runs out.
Last September, the Cold Storage chain was the first to pull shark's fin products from the shelves, at all of its 42 outlets.
Some restaurants and hotels have also taken it off their menus. They are receiving fewer orders too, and have started dissuading customers from ordering the dish.
And last month, hotels Grand Mercure Roxy and Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay - both operated by the Accor group - included a notice on their Chinese restaurant menus dissuading diners from ordering shark's fin.
Wedding planners attached to the hotels now offer clients alternatives like abalone and lobster soup.
'We want customers to think twice. Our aim is to eventually take it off our menus,' said Mr Kevin Bossino, a manager with the Accor group.
Demand for shark's fin for weddings at the two hotels, he said, has fallen by 20 per cent in the past year.
The drop is even greater for a la carte orders.
At Imperial Court Shark's Fin Restaurant in Ang Mo Kio, daily orders of shark's fin average out to about five tables out of the restaurant's 30. This is down from 10 tables ordering the dish two years ago.
But its service captain, Ms Lily Liau, said the drop is significant only for a la carte orders. Demand for the delicacy for catered functions remains strong because these customers are 'order regulars', said the 28-year-old.
Grand Hyatt Singapore saw a 5 per cent to 6 per cent increase last year in requests to replace shark's fin on wedding banquet menus.
Fairmont Singapore has stopped serving it altogether, while Resorts World Sentosa has taken it off its menu but will serve the dish on request.
A check with three shark's fin importers shows that demand has dipped by 10 to 15 per cent in the past two years.
Ms Eileen Mok, the owner of Mok Liang Lee Trading, a dried goods store in Queen Street, said there has even been a drop in the number of customers buying the delicacy for the coming Chinese New Year.
'They told me their children think the way sharks are treated is cruel, and do not want to eat them any more,' said the 53-year-old.
Figures on just how much shark's fin is consumed here each year are hard to estimate, given the nature of the trade: Importers buy the delicacy from overseas suppliers, but some stock is cleaned, packaged and re-exported.
Figures from the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore, however, show that over the past three years, about 8,200 tonnes of shark's fin were imported. In that same period, exports of shark's fin stood at approximately 6,900 tonnes.
While it has seemed to be an uphill fight to remove shark's fin from meals here in the past, Mr Bernd Schmitt, 54, executive director of the new Institute on Asian Consumer Insight, senses a sea-change, especially in the attitude of the younger generation. The delicacy is 'going out of tradition', he declares.
'The dish was popular because customers wanted to show their appreciation of their guests by ordering expensive items,' he said. 'But now there are other items like caviar and black truffles.'
'Values are changing and shark's fin is slowly falling out of fashion,' he said, adding that demand will keep falling as more retail outlets and restaurants stop serving it.
Activist groups have also raised public awareness, with even youngsters urging parents to stop eating shark's fin.
Most of all, this campaign is being won on the wedding dinner front.
Ms Joanne Tan, 22, who got married at a hotel here last month, served her guests fish maw soup instead of shark's fin.
'It was my decision but we had to persuade a few family members who had insisted on it,' said the student at the National University of Singapore.
Fellow NUS student Ong Say Lin, 24, showed his parents a shark finning video before they went to a wedding dinner last year.
'They didn't touch shark's fin soup that day,' he said with a triumphant grin.
Channel NewsAsia 7 Jan 12;
SINGAPORE: It will be Lunar New Year in a few weeks but fish markets in Geylang are not as busy as they have been in previous years.
The supply of fish from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand for the new year is expected to slip to half its usual volume.
Fishmongers say recent bad weather and rising oil prices have made fishermen reluctant to go out in their boats.
The lower supplies are driving up prices and overall, prices are up between 30 per cent and 50 per cent.
In contrast, the price of frozen fish is relatively stable.
In his blog, Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan said Singaporeans are eating more frozen fish than fresh fish because of changing lifestyles.
And he urged fishermen to take note of this trend as they formulate future business plans.
- CNA/fa
Frozen fish goes down well with Singaporeans
Amanda Tan & Huang Lijie Straits Times 7 Jan 12;
SINGAPOREANS are showing a greater appetite for frozen fish, doubling consumption over the past decade.
Citing figures from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said in a blog post yesterday that the consumption of frozen fish had increased from 17,150 tonnes in 2002 to 34,297 tonnes in 2010.
But demand for chilled fish - kept fresh by ice at a temperature close to 0 deg C - has dipped. Frozen fish is kept at temperatures below 0 deg C.
Mr Khaw wrote about his visit to Jurong Fishery Port last month, when he heard that business had dipped in previous years. This was despite the fact that Singaporeans were the second-largest consumers of fish per capita in Asia, after the Japanese.
He cited statistics from the AVA which showed that at Jurong Fishery Port, the amount of fish handled had dropped by 24 per cent in the last decade.
At Singapore's other fishery port in Senoko, the drop was 32 per cent.
'Within a decade, the market share of chilled/live fish has shrunk from about 80 per cent to 60 per cent. And the declining trend is likely to continue,' he wrote.
'This also explains why wet markets are losing market share to supermarkets. This reflects (the) modern lifestyle of nuclear families with working couples.'
At NTUC FairPrice, sales of both chilled and frozen fish have increased by about 10 to 15 per cent, while sales of live fish have remained relatively stable.
Mr Tng Ah Yiam, the chain's managing director for group purchasing, merchandising and international trading, said: 'We expect to increase our supply of frozen fish by about 15 per cent this year due to the limited supply of chilled and live fish.'
Similarly, daily sales of frozen fish at supermarket chain Sheng Siong had increased over the last four years by at least 50 per cent, while demand for fresh and chilled fish slipped by at least 20 per cent over the same period.
Mr Goh Thiam Chwee, vice-president of the Singapore Fish Merchant's General Association, said prices for frozen fish could be as much as 30 per cent cheaper because supplies, unlike those of fresh catches, were stable.
He added that advances in freezing techniques had made it possible for frozen fish to maintain much of the freshness and quality of fresh and chilled seafood.
Consultant chef Sam Leong said there is no discernible difference in taste between frozen and fresh fish when the fish is deep-fried or pan-fried.
He added, however, that frozen fish is significantly tougher in texture than fresh fish when steamed because the freezing process causes the fish to lose moisture.
With prices coming down and retailers stocking up on 'ethical' groceries, more Singaporeans are trying to be sustainable consumers. But some things could still be better
Cheow Xin Yi Today Online 8 Jan 12;
Out for a fine dinner with friends, one of them may order foie gras and tease her with: "You're sure you don't want?" She sticks to her guns and declines. And when Sarah Ong indulges in the occasional bag of potato chips, it has to come from Marks & Spencer.
It is not just a taste issue; she is a fan of the British retailer's efforts to source sustainably. "It is one of the prominent retailers who look at sustainability as the core of its business. In the United Kingdom, they support local produce and they communicate that very actively and advocate it to their customer," said Ms Ong, 35.
She admits, though, to the irony that its wares sold here are imported and hence exact a high carbon footprint.
Still, Ms Ong represents a growing segment of consumers who are embracing in their diets the principles of sustainability, minimal harm to the environment and to animals, and equitable trade for the producers. Once, ethical eating would have been considered niche - these days it commands a market share that is anything but.
Ethical consumers Today spoke to opt for one or more of several broad categories of food: Organic, free-range eggs and meat, seafood that is sourced or farmed sustainably, and local produce with minimal carbon footprint from source to plate.
Such consumers would also look out for fair trade products, which ensure decent wages and better living conditions for farmers. (Marks & Spencer, for one, sells fair trade coffee and tea; bakery chain Cedele serves its cuppas brewed from fair-trade coffee beans too.)
'NOT EASY, BUT GETTING BETTER'
In a sign that greater consumer awareness and pressure for sustainable consumption are gaining traction, NTUC FairPrice, Singapore's largest supermarket operator with more than 100 outlets, announced this week that it would cease the sale of shark's fin by the end of March. The move follows Cold Storage's trail-breaking pledge last October. Carrefour has since too followed suit.
Ms Ong, a Singaporean who lives in a five-room housing board flat with her parents, says she became more aware of environmental issues some five years ago while working for a logistics firm that was trying to reduce its global carbon footprint.
But the real turning point - when she made the conscious effort to change her lifestyle - occurred two and a half years ago, after volunteering at an organic farm in Japan. "Leading their lifestyle inspired me a lot. Being organic is also about your outlook in life. You want your way of life to be as natural as possible. So, the way you grow your crops and cultivate your food should respect the ecosystem and let it do its work," said Ms Ong, now a campaign manager with World Wide Fund for Nature (Singapore).
Still, only about 30 per cent of her food selections when she goes grocery shopping are organic - mainly because of budget and availability constraints. She admits that it is not easy going down the ethical eating route in Singapore, but things have definitely improved. "There are more options now compared to two to three years ago."
PRICES COMING DOWN AT SUPERMARKETS
Once available only at speciality stores and at a high premium, these days organic produce and products are within easy reach of heartlanders - thanks to FairPrice, which now stocks more than 800 varieties from cherries, greens and strawberries to wine, noodles and household cleaners.
Besides a dedicated "Just Organic" section at its nine FairPrice Finest stores, the retailer also carries organic products at more than 10 other outlets and organic fresh produce at more than 20.
A FairPrice spokesperson said prices for fresh produce under its household Pasar Organic brand, which the company sources through contract farming with Thai farmers, can be 50 per cent lower than those from other organic brands.
At Cold Storage, fresh organic fresh produce makes up less than 5 per cent of the retailer's selection (but up from less than 1 per cent five years ago). Prices tend to be at least 5 to 15 per cent higher than - sometimes even double - that of conventional stocks, depending on factors like supply availability or whether it is sea or air shipped, said a spokesperson.
Even so, the retailer said, the premium has come down by 30 to 40 per cent in recent years. "With the consistent demand put through to our partners, they are able to manage their crops and supply properly. Over the years, with the increased supply due to growing demand, prices have come down."
Even Sheng Siong supermarket, which caters to the more price-sensitive, said it is looking at bringing in organic vegetables and fruits. Its sales of the Elephant Brand of organic brown rice (S$5.10 for a 1kg pack or S$9.30 for two, compared to S$3.10 for their non-organic housebrand) have grown since it made the product available at all 25 outlets early last year.
PRODUCER WHO KEEPS IT CHEAP
Zenxin-Agri Organic Food - a wholesaler and retailer of organic products in Malaysia and Singapore, which also distributes to Cold Storage, Giant and Shop N Save - has been able to keep prices down because it controls the whole supply chain, said its executive director Tai Seng Yee.
At its retail store at Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre, which stocks more than 50 varieties of organic vegetables and fruits at prices similar to those in supermarkets, kang kong can go for as little as S$1.70 for a 250g-pack, while broccoli sells for a mere S$2.30 per kg (compared to $15 to $20 per kg at other speciality organic stores Today on Sunday visited).
The firm has nine organic farms in Malaysia and a compost factory to make organic fertilisers, all certified by Australia's leading organic certifier, The National Association for Sustainable Agriculture. It also has its own packing unit and logistics network.
"We do everything ourselves, so we don't, for example, have to go to the farmer and check their fertilisers. Or if you're a farmer and you try to sell to the retailer, the retailer will ask a very high price from you. Since we take the whole chain, we are able to make it more reasonable," said Mr Tai.
Sometimes, it also depends on what you buy, says Ms Natalia Angel, a vegetarian whose groceries are least 80 per cent organic. She opts for non-organic nuts because they are "way less expensive than organic ones". "They sell almonds at the shop near my place in a big bag for S$20, and you're paying that much for a tiny 100ml bag at the organic shop."
But for other items the price difference can be marginal, she says. At one supermarket, she found regular raspberries priced at S$3.50, "and two steps away, in the organic section, there were organic raspberries for S$3.95. It was an obvious choice".
SOURCING LOCALLY
For every consumer trying to walk the ethical path, priorities often come into conflict.
Four Seasons Organic Market owner Joe Tan put the conundrum thus: "If you want to have locally-produced strawberries, that's almost impossible: It must come from the US or New Zealand, a six- to 12-hour flight. There are strawberries from Indonesia, but it has a lot of pests, very hard to grow organic.
"Organic grapes must be air-flown because of shorter shelf life, and have the higher carbon footprint. Normal grapes can be sea-freighted."
Thankfully, there is plenty that can be locally produced. FairPrice taps local farms for eggs, mushrooms and vegetables such as Kai Lan, Chye Sim, Spinach, bean sprouts and Xiao Bai Chye.
Singapore consumers are "increasingly appreciating and demanding" the freshness of locally produced food, the supermarket said, with the shorter turnaround time from harvest to point of sale.
In fact, 10 per cent of fish offerings at FairPrice come from local fish farms, a partnership initiative which began three years ago. Local fishes on sale - which as of last month is now distinguished by the "SGfish" label - include grey mullet, golden pomfret and green mussels. Sales increased 50 per cent in 2011 from a year earlier.
Local speciality stores such as Four Seasons (with outlets at City Square Mall, Great World City and Parkway Parade) and Eat Organic at Bukit Timah also carry local organically-grown vegetables, such as those from Quan Fa Organic Farm.
While there are no lack of local farms in Singapore - Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority statistics show about 180 local farms producing fish, vegetables and eggs - Ms Angel said the most difficult thing about eating local is making the journey to the farms to stock up. "I haven't gone out there and bought local food exclusively," said the Canadian expat, who came here to Singapore about two years ago.
NOT-SO-FREE RANGE?
Free-range products are another story. Most consumers Today spoke to, and even retailers, cite price and bird flu concerns as major challenges in rearing livestock under more humane conditions where they are free to roam around.
While Cold Storage carries free-range pork from Australia, it does not stock free-range poultry "due to the issue with avian flu". A Sheng Siong spokesperson said: "To prevent 'interaction' with other poultry or birds and to better control hygiene issues related to their droppings, the chickens we obtain are mostly bred in a controlled and contained environment. We think these considerations outweigh market demand for 'free-range' eggs and chicken."
When contacted, an AVA spokesperson clarified that while all meat and egg products imported into Singapore must come from approved sources, the regulator does not differentiate whether the farm in question is free-range, organic or conventional in its assessment.
This means eggs brought in can be from chickens that roam outdoors, so long as the farm has "in place a bird-proof structure to prevent contact with wild birds", said the spokesperson. This applies to eggs produced for consumption on local farms as well.
But to entrepreneur Adrian Chong, the concept of bird-proofing itself "defeats the purpose of having (chickens) free-range".
Mr Chong took one year to set up Freedom Range Company two years ago, to plug what he sees as a gap in the local market for affordable free-range eggs - a common item in England where he grew up.
"Bird-proofing means having them under shelter, basically.
"We spoke to an AVA guy and he said that even if we let them out and have netting, the bird droppings can flow through the netting," he said.
In the end, Freedom Range settled for barn-laid chickens, which do not roam outdoors but are housed in a barn system with "lots of natural sunlight and cross ventilation". Selling for S$2.75 to $$3 for six, Mr Chong said the eggs are offered at a "price point accessible to people who care about how their chickens are treated".
Free-range chicken meat meanwhile at Four Season Organic Market comes at a hefty S$30 per kg (Eberly's brand), compared to about S$7 per kg for a normal chicken.
A FISHY TRAIL
In February 2010, WWF Singapore released a guide on how to choose seafood from sustainable sources, dividing fish species, and their origins, into "recommended", "think twice" and "avoid" categories.
But putting the advice to practical use has been difficult with fishes rarely coming labelled.
Cold Storage, which joined WWF Singapore's Sustainable Seafood Group last year, said it is working with the NGO and suppliers to source for items that are certified by Friends of the Sea or Marine Stewardship Council. The retailer said it also indicates country of origin on seafood stocks.
Today on Sunday found no such labels at the Parkway Parade outlet and staff who were asked were none the wiser. But WWF's Ms Ong said she had seen labelled seafood at some other Cold Storage outlets.
In general, Ms Ong said, it is a challenge tracing the origins of imported seafood here because of the multiple intermediaries before the stock gets to retailer shelves. "You have to trace right back down the supply chain," she said. The fishmongers at the wet market can only tell her that they get their fish "from Jurong Port".
Restaurants, however, have a different supply line, especially those that use better-grade seafood - and Ms Ong thinks consumers can do their bit to push for information when they order. "When more consumers ask (where the food comes from), it makes the business realise, 'we need to prepare that kind of information'.
"It is funny how they can be so specific when they put on the menu 'fish with oregano' or 'fries with truffles or rosemary'. Why provide such information? Because they think consumers want to know," she said, adding that this approach can be applied to origins of food as well. "As a consumer, we have a right to know what we are paying for."
What does 'organic' mean? The jury's out
by Cheow Xin Yi
Most consumers think of organic foods as being pesticide- and chemical-free, and non-genetically modified - but definitions set by various international bodies can confound, rather than enlighten, consumers.
In Singapore, supermarket Cold Storage, for one, depends on the North America-based Organic Trade Association's definition of organic products as "foods that are minimally processed without artificial ingredients, preservations, or irradiation to maintain the integrity of the food".
FairPrice, on the other hand, defines organic food as "grown, handled and processed using organic standards set by international bodies", which include ensuring no synthetic pesticides and fertilisers are used at farms; sustainable practices to enhance the farm environment and ensure balance in the ecosystem; and no genetic modification. Food retailers which handle food are also expected to follow organic handling practices, it added.
THE 'FREE OF' MYTH
The challenge is grasping exactly what these standards are, which are typically detailed in technical jargon on the websites of such international bodies.
A 2010 BBC article reported that it is a myth that organic food is free of pesticides, insecticides, fertilisers and additives. It cited a list of approved products that organic farmers can use, with up to 20 per cent of chicken feed and 10 per cent of cow feed allowed to be non-organic. A spokesman for Soil Association - the certifier of organic foods in UK - is quoted as saying organic food meant "a minimal amount" of pesticides.
FairPrice, meanwhile, has developed its own Organic Assurance Programme, with its Pasar Organic produce certified by the Organic Thailand Agriculture Standards Certification and audited by an independent third-party auditor, Agrifood Technologies, an Agri-food and Veterinary Authority subsidiary.
Several retailers Today on Sunday spoke to, including FairPrice, point to the misconception of what is "organic" and "organically-grown".
"'Organic' is a labelling term for produce grown by applying organic principles and farming practices. Audit trails are conducted throughout the organic supply chain to ensure that the organic status of the produce is maintained," said FairPrice.
"Organically-grown" refers to crops grown using organic farming practice with no audit trails and therefore no indication if the produce is truly organic, it added.
MUST BE CERTIFIED: AVA
But checks with the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) seem to clear things up a bit, as far as labelling is concerned.
"Regardless of whether a food is imported or locally produced, if the food product is labelled 'organic foods', 'organically produced' or words of similar meaning, they have to be certified by an organic food certification body that the products are 'organic', based on guidelines established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission," said an AVA spokesperson, referring to an intergovernmental body by the United Nations and World Health Organization to determine world food standards.
AVA added that importers and retailers of organic foods must produce original organic certificates for verification. False labelling of "organic" produce upon inspection will subject retailers to fines of up to S$5,000 for first conviction, and up to S$10,000 or a three-month jail-term, or both, for subsequent ones. Cheow Xin Yi
A Couple Of Tips
by Yu Pei Fern and Cheow Xin Yi
THE DIRTY DOZEN
An apple a day doesn't keep the doctor away , unless it is organic.
The fruit is on the 'Dirty Dozen' list of produce that consumers are advised to eat only if certified organic. Others on thedailygreen.com's 2011 list include all berries, celery, peaches, spinach, bell peppers, potatoes, lettuce, collard greens and imported grapes.
On such produce, it is not a simple matter of rinsing off the pesticides before eating, as these chemicals often penetrate deep beneath the skin. "Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries … because they're very porous and are among the fruits that get sprayed most with pesticides, they also absorb the chemicals more," entrepreneur Natalia Angel said.
There is, conversely, the 'safe dozen' for eating in non-organic form, such as onions, pineapples, avocados and mangoes.
HOW TO READ LABELS
It is standard practice for labels to list a product's ingredients in descending order, greenies note. "The first three ingredients are the ones most abundant in the product. So if these three are not good, what you are buying probably isn't very good," Ms Angel said. "If you are don't know what the ingredients listed are, then you probably shouldn't buy it."
Look out also for little numbered stickers. Price look up (PLU) codes are admninistered by The International Federation for Produce Standards, a global body of national produce association ( www.plucodes.com). For organically grown products, the number '9' is added to the front of the regular four-digit PLU code. Genetically engineered produce is distinguished with a number '8'.
Antara 6 Jan 12;
Pekanbaru, Riau Province (ANTARA News) - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 18 (NOAA 18) satellite of Singapore has detected at least 45 hot spots in Sumatra island, a meteorological agency spokesman said here on Friday.
"On Wednesday, January 5, 2012, the satellite of NOAA 18 detected at least 45 hot spots in the provinces of Jambi, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, Riau, and Aceh," Pekanbaru Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) spokesman Marzuki said.
Marzuki said that in Riau province alone a total of 22 hot spots at the districts of Pelalawan, Rokan Hilir, Kuantan Sengingi, Bengkalis, Indragiri Hulu, Kampar, Rokan Hulu, and Dumai city were detected by the Singapore`s satellite on Wednesday.
"The number of hot spots in Sumatra island tends to increase if the temperature remains above 33 Celsius degrees with less rain fall," Marzuki said.
According to him, Riau provincial capital of Pekanbaru since the past week has been hit by extreme weather with an average temperature of over 33 Celsius degrees both in the day time and at night.
(Uu.O001/H-NG)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
COPYRIGHT © 2012
(AFP) Google News 7 Jan 11;
MANILA — Whale sharks begging for food in the central Philippines have sparked a debate on whether feeding the giant fish may ultimately be hurting the creatures, officials said on Saturday.
While the mayor of the coastal town of Oslob insists that the practice of feeding the whale sharks does no harm and is good for tourism, environmentalists have recommended that it be halted.
Fishermen in Oslob in the central resort island of Cebu have been feeding whale sharks with baby shrimp since the 1980s and now use this feeding to make the creatures rise to the surface of the water for the amusement of tourists.
"This has been practised for a long time. When tourists come in, they want to see the whale sharks. So when they (the boatmen) spread these baby shrimps, these whale sharks would surface," said Oslob Mayor Ronald Guaren.
However Edmundo Arregadas, regional head of the coastal marine management division, said he had discouraged the mayor from continuing the practice of feeding the whale sharks, the world's largest fish.
"We told them it might have a negative effect on the natural way of life of the whale shark," he told AFP. By feeding the whale sharks, the giant fish might become dependent on handouts from people, he warned.
"They are feeding it so they can have more tourists. But whale sharks are now used to the feeding act."
Expecting food, whale sharks might approach other boats and risk colliding with them. They also might be more vulnerable to poachers who will catch and kill them, Arregadas said.
However Mayor Guaren said that even after years of feeding, no whale sharks had turned up dead and insisted that the animals were not dependent on feeding and could still find food on their own.
"If that would be harmful, the whale sharks would not have stayed in the waters of Oslob," he said.
Guaren said that the local government was regulating the feeding, ensuring that only a small number of boatmen would feed the whale sharks in a designated area only in the mornings.
Tourists are also barred from feeding or swimming with the whale sharks and the boatmen are required to use rowing boats and keep their distance to avoid hurting fish with their propellers or in collisions, Guaren said.
Arregadas said he had advised people in Oslob, which attracts many beach tourists, not to feed the whale sharks. But he could not impose rules on them.
"I hope they will come to understand that. We are not in a position to take sanctions against local government officials," he said.
Whale sharks measure as much as 12 metres (39 feet) long but are harmless to humans and feed on tiny marine animals. They are classified as "vulnerable" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN.)
The Philippines has banned the catching and killing of whale sharks and they have become popular tourist attractions in some towns.
ScienceDaily 7 Jan 12;
A Malagasy-German research team has discovered a new primate species in the Sahafina Forest in eastern Madagascar, a forest that has not been studied before. The name of the new species is Gerp's mouse lemur (Microcebus gerpi), chosen to honour the Malagasy research group GERP (Groupe d'Étude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar). Several researchers of GERP have visited the Sahafina Forest in 2008 and 2009 to create an inventory the local lemurs.
They captured several mouse lemurs, measured them, took photos and small biopsies for genetic studies, and released them again. Prof. Ute Radespiel, Institute of Zoology of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, analysed the samples and the morphological dataset, and confirmed that the animals from the Sahafina Forest belong to an undescribed species of the small nocturnal mouse lemurs.
„We were quite surprised by these findings. The Sahafina Forest is only 50km away from the Mantadia National Park in eastern Madagascar, which contains a different and much smaller species, the Goodman's mouse lemur," commented Prof. Radespiel. In contrast, the Gerp's mouse lemur belongs to the group of larger mouse lemurs, i.e. has a body mass of about 68g, and is therefore almost "a giant" compared to the Goodman's mouse lemur (ca. 44g body mass).
The distribution of the Gerp's mouse lemur is probably restricted to the remaining fragments of lowland evergreen rain forest of this region in eastern Madagascar. Continuing deforestation poses a serious threat for these animals. The researchers from Hanover/Germany, and Madagascar published their discovery together in the journal Primates.
Journal Reference:
Ute Radespiel, Jonah H. Ratsimbazafy, Solofonirina Rasoloharijaona, Herimalala Raveloson, Nicole Andriaholinirina, Romule Rakotondravony, Rose M. Randrianarison, Blanchard Randrianambinina. First indications of a highland specialist among mouse lemurs (Microcebus spp.) and evidence for a new mouse lemur species from eastern Madagascar. Primates, 2011; DOI: 10.1007/s10329-011-0290-2
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