4 Feb (Sat): Celebrating World Wetlands Day with R.U.M.'s free Ubin mangrove walk
Restore Ubin Mangroves (R.U.M.) Initiative
2017 schedule - Naked Hermit Crabs turn 10!
Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs
Return to Terumbu Selegie
wild shores of singapore
Driftnet at Semakau
Peiyan.Photography
Semakau South in the year of the Rooster
Peiyan.Photography
Button Snails (Umbonium vestiarium) @ Changi
Monday Morgue
Photographers who use illegal methods to take shots may face fines of up to $50,000
Audrey Tan, Straits Times AsiaOne 30 jan 17;
It is the time of the year when photographers flock to immortalise migratory birds in Singapore to escape the winter chill of the Northern Hemisphere. But some resort to questionable practices to get good shots, with reports of photographers going off trail or baiting birds, said the National Parks Board (NParks), custodian of Singapore's nature areas.
Following its own observations, NParks put up signboards earlier this month in Venus Drive near the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, to remind people to remain on trails and not feed the birds.
Photographers go to the forested area near Upper Thomson Road to catch a glimpse of wintering visitors such as the Siberian blue robin.
When people go off trail, they damage the forest floor, and feeding wild animals may be a source of diseases and parasites, said NParks director for conservation Sharon Chan.
NParks' latest move follows two high-profile cases.
Orthopaedic surgeon Lee Soon Tai, 63, was fined $2,000 last October for littering and feeding live fish injected with air to endangered grey-headed fish eagles. He and his companions apparently did this to get a shot of the bird swooping down on its prey, which would be near the surface of the water.
In December 2014, another photographer who had tethered a tern chick's legs to a bush for a photograph was found guilty of animal cruelty and fined $500.
NParks officers have advised photography groups at popular bird- watching locations on proper photography etiquette, said Ms Chan. It also supports nature and photography communities in organising talks and participating in panel discussions on field ethics at workshops.
Earlier this month, the Nature Photographic Society (Singapore) launched a unique photo competition requiring participants to submit a short write-up on the subject in the photograph. This prompts photographers to consider other aspects of the bird's ecology, said society president Fong Chee Wai.
NParks is supporting the competition, and winning entries will be exhibited at one of its parks.
Those who go off trail in nature reserves may be fined up to $2,000. For offences relating to the unauthorised capture, disturbance and manipulation of any plant or animal, the penalties range from a maximum fine of $5,000 (if committed in public parks) to $50,000 (if committed in national parks or nature reserves).
• For more information on the NPSS photo contest, visit npss.org.sg/snpy2017/
Jalelah Abu Baker, Straits Times AsiaOne 29 Jan 17;
Singapore - A 19-year-old fish farmer is believed to have fallen into the sea off Changi Beach on Friday (Jan 27)and drowned.
The Myanmar national was brought to shore by passers-by at about 6pm the next day.
Fish farm owner Phillip Lim, who happened to be in the area, said he saw the man on a pontoon with three of his colleagues when he left his farm at about 10am on Friday.
When he returned, Mr Lim, 55, found out that the man, who works at a neighbouring farm, had fallen into the water.
Mr Lim told The Straits Times: "I immediately got my diving gear and started to look for him. I spotted him, but the current was getting strong and I couldn't get to him. I ran out of oxygen."
Mr Lim stopped his search at noon, after an hour. He said that by the time professional divers arrived, it was about 3pm.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it received a call at 11.20am on Friday about a person believed to be missing in the waters off Pulau Ubin. It dispatched a marine fire vessel, which arrived at noon, and conducted a surface search in the area till about 4pm.
Mr Lim said: "I felt so helpless. This is somebody's child we are talking about."
He activated 10 fellow members of a volunteer search team called Sea Angels and they searched for the man till 8pm on Saturday.
According to beach-goer Rohana M. D., a passer-by spotted the victim's body floating in the water on Saturday. Two other passers-by then pulled the body to shore. The police were alerted at about 6pm and the victim was pronounced dead by paramedics shortly after.
Body of man 'with no eyes' found at Changi Beach
Shazalina Salim, Straits Times AsiaOne 29 Jan 17;
Many families chose to spend their long weekend with a picnic by the sea.
But for a handful of beachgoers, their picnic was interrupted on Saturday (Jan 28) when a body was fished out of the water at Changi Beach.
According to housewife Rohana MD, a man had spotted the body floating and he alerted another man who was fishing with a net.
The man with the net pulled the floating body to shore and a passer-by helped him drag the body to the beach.
"It looked like the dead man was missing his eyes," Madam Rohana told The Straits Times.
The police confirmed receiving a call from a member of the public at 6pm on Saturday, alerting them to the body found near Changi Beach Carpark 6.
Facebook user Indra Eth, who was also at the beach at the time, posted a picture of the body and recounted how he was approached by two men who had spotted the floating body.
As at 9.15pm, the body had yet to be removed by the authorities, said Madam Rohana. She added that the police had been talking to the people on the beach.
Chew Hui Min, The Straits Times AsiaOne 29 Jan 17;
A pre-Chinese New Year dinner turned dramatic for a family of otters in Kallang Basin on Thursday.
When an otter pup was separated from its parents while frolicking in the waters, a group of otter watchers including Mr N. Sivasothi, a biological science lecturer at the National University of Singapore, grew concerned.
They scanned the area, increasingly worried.
Mr Sivasothi said the pup would not be able to fish for itself and, at an estimated 21/2 months old, would be vulnerable to predators such as large fish, herons and snakes.
One of the watchers, Mr Nick Soo, located the pup circling in the water and alerted the otter-watching community.
The 15 otter watchers rushed over with torchlights, a laundry basket and a blanket.
The pup could not, well, otter its own rescue.
Using the laundry basket and the blanket, the rescuers took the pup back to its holt by 9.30pm.
The drama was too much for the little one and it went to sleep immediately.
The incident highlights what can happen when parents are distracted around bodies of water.
The 13 members of the koi-gorging Bishan otter family had made their way to Kallang Basin for their reunion meal and were busy munching the obligatory fish when two pups, each about 21/2 months old, wandered off.
Although one made its way back, the other went missing.
Mr Sivasothi said: "It was an unusual situation where the family was spread out quite far apart."
The otter watchers checked on the animals early yesterday morning and saw that the pup was reunited with its parents.
Last May, otter watchers saved a six-week-old smooth-coated otter pup named Toby that had fallen off a ledge into a canal near Fort Road.
Toby was sent to Wildlife Reserves Singapore for treatment and reunited with its family 10 days later.
Mr Sivasothi said: "It's nice to see how the otters have brought the kampung spirit back."
The smooth-coated otter, formerly thought to be extinct in Singapore, returned in 1998 as the island's waterways became cleaner.
There are estimated to be 50 such otters in Singapore now.
They are distinct from the oriental small- clawed otters that can be found on Pulau Ubin.
BERNAMA New Straits Times 29 Jan 17;
KOTA BARU: The situation in KELANTAN returned to normal this evening as remaining floodwaters receded, and the last relief centre housing 14 evacuees in Kuala Krai was closed.
According to the ebanjir.kelantan.gov.my website, water levels of most of Kelantan’s main rivers have subsided to the alert or normal level, with the exception of Sungai Golok at Rantau Panjang, which had a reading of 9.26 metres, which is above the danger level of 9.00 metres.
Conversely, in worst-hit PAHANG, the number of flood evacuees stands at 6,187 people (from 1,633 families), being housed at 95 relief centres as of 5pm – although this is a drop from the 6,698 people taking shelter at 98 evacuation centres at noon.
The breakdown of affected districts and victims follows: Temerloh, 2,752 people (from 695 families); Pekan, 1,022 people (from 262 families); Bera, 767 people (from 179 families); Maran, 766 people (from 224 families); Jerantut, 550 people (from 190 families); Lipis, 238 people (from 59 families); and Rompin, 92 victims (from 24 families).
Badly-hit JOHOR has also seen a decrease in the number of victims, with flood evacuees dropping to 1,908 people from 530 families as of 4pm, from 2,304 people at noon. The victims are housed at 30 relief centres in three affected districts - Segamat, Tangkak and Muar.
Meanwhile, seven stretches of roads – encompassing Jalan Pogoh-Tekam, Section 5.2-5.9, Jalan Kuala Paya-Balai Badang, Tumang Batu Anam-plantation area, and Lubuk Lanjut in Segamat – are still closed to traffic.
In Pontian, Jalan Kampung Sungai Pinggan bridge; and in Muar, Km61 of Jalan Muar-Labis and Jalan Pagoh Tekam are still impassable to traffic.
In SELANGOR, the number of flood victims housed at three relief centres in Sabak Bernam dropped to 113 as of 5pm, from 210 at noon.
A Sabak Bernam District Disaster Operations Room spokesman said 43 evacuees (from 12 families) are still housed at Dewan Sri Bernam, Sungai Besar; 41 (from 15 families) are at Dewan Parit Baru, Sungai Air Tawar; and 29 (from eight families) are at Dewan Seri Nakhoda, Bagan Nakhoda Omar.
In PERAK, the number of flood evacuees dropped to 436 as of 5pm, from 467 at noon.
In Hilir Perak, the relief centre at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Sungai Ara was closed, while 97 evacuees are still at SK Sungai Kerawai, and another 100 are at SK Changkat Jong Batu 8.
In Manjung, 208 evacuees are taking shelter at Sekolah Rendah Agama Rakyat Padang Serai, and 10 are at Dewan Kampung Tanjung Ara.
Finally, 21 evacuees are still being housed at Padang Serai Dalam surau in Larut.
Schools suffer RM10mil in damage from floods
The Star 30 Jan 17;
PADANG TERAP: The damage to school property during the first wave of floods in Kelantan, Terengganu and Sabah in December is estimated to be RM10mil.
The damage caused by the second wave of floods – which affected schools in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Johor, Perak and Sabah earlier this month – is still not known, said Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.
He said this was because he had yet to receive a full report on the damage caused by the second wave.
“We expect the total value of damage to be higher for the second wave of floods compared with the first and will take immediate action to repair the affected schools.
“However, we are still unable to repair the damage caused by the first wave although we have sent out allocation warrants to the respective states,” he told reporters after launching the Felda Lubuk Merbau's golden jubilee celebration here yesterday.
Dozens of schools were closed and more than 15,000 students in Kelantan and Terengganu were affected by the recent floods.
Mahdzir, who is also Padang Terap MP, also suggested that a piece of land allocated for teachers’ quarters at Sekolah Kebangsaan Lubuk Merbau, be handed over to Felda.
This, he said, would be for building houses for second generation Felda Lubuk Merbau settlers.
“The quarters were built for the placement of teachers in the 1970s, but with today’s increasingly modern infrastructure many teachers have opted to live outside and it is only occupied by one or two tenants,” he said. — Bernama
Pulau Semakau with 600m-long fishing net
wild shores of singapore
Butterfly Photography 101 - Part 4
Butterflies of Singapore
600m fishing net seen on Pulau Semakau (South), 28 Jan 2017
Project Driftnet Singapore
New series The Trash Trail investigates and discovers that discarded household refrigerators are handled in ways unsafe for workers and the environment.
Steffi Koh Channel NewsAsia 29 Jan 17;
SINGAPORE - More than 300,000 refrigerators are thrown out in Singapore every year – including during the annual Chinese New Year spring-cleaning.
What’s not widely known, is that many of the waste disposal companies that handle them do not have the know-how to safely extract and recycle the toxic gases in this common household appliance, despite guidelines from the National Environment Agency.
This is revealed in an investigation by Channel NewsAsia’s new documentary The Trash Trail, which premieres on Monday, Jan 30.
Household appliances that are to be incinerated must be stripped of all recyclable materials, including compressors, which contain toxic refrigerant gases like Freon, which are harmful to one’s health and to the environment.
But when Trash Trail observed the situation at a neighbourhood bin centre, as well as at a facility run by one of Singapore’s largest public waste collectors, it found that discarded refrigerators were simply dismantled or crushed. This destroys the compressors, and causes refrigerant gas to be vented into the atmosphere.
Each discarded refrigerator contains the same amount of toxic greenhouse gases produced by a car being driven from Singapore to Johor Bahru.
Trash Trail also observed that the workers at a bin centre do not wear respirator masks or other forms of protection when dismantling the refrigerators.
Electronics waste consultant and managing director of Vans Chemistry, Mr Venkatesha Murthy, said: “It has to be properly extracted from the compressor and it has to be incinerated or recovered back in an enclosed manner.”
Over time, direct exposure to the gases can cause asthmatic symptoms, skin allergies and mental disorders, he warned.
When asked how they dealt with the compressors, Mr Phillip Lim, operations director of environmental services provider 800 Super, said: “Once we crush it, they would release the gas, but it’s not harmful anyway.”
Mr Murthy blames the industry’s callous treatment of refrigerant gases on the lack of awareness.
“They (waste collectors) are only interested to take out the good parts, as long as they are able to sell, they are happy about it,” he said. “The key problem is that they are not aware of what is inside this electronic stuff, like toxic metals and chemicals.”
FOLLOWING THE MURKY TRAIL
According to NEA’s list of more than 50 private companies that run recycling facilities, only one, Vemac Services, offers refrigerant gas removal services, as of the time of this report.
Vemac Services, which claims to be Singapore’s only facility that owns a specialised refrigerant gas extraction machine, said they only extract refrigerant gases from industrial cooling units, as household refrigerators do not contain enough gas to justify the operation costs.
But what if your old refrigerator is removed by the retailer you bought your new replacement from – where does it end up? According to a survey of 1,000 people that Trash Trail commissioned, 40 per cent hand off their old refrigerators to retailers when they purchase a newer model.
One retailer, Parisilk, said that they receive up to 200 old appliances in a month, including refrigerators. They said that in recent years, they have had difficulty finding a waste collector that will accept the white goods.
Mr Murthy said that many discarded refrigerators also end up being removed by the informal sector - that is, unlicensed waste collectors - and few know how the Freon and toxic gases are being handled or disposed of.
Trash Trail investigated by tagging 30 old refrigerators with GPS trackers – and found that a number made their way out of Singapore, in what one expert is concerned constitutes e-waste dumping.
NEA CONDUCTING STUDY TO DEVELOP OPTIONS FOR E-EWASTE
When contacted, NEA said that “bulky home appliance like refrigerators and washing machines, are mostly sent to second-hand dealers or facilities to recover the constituent metals”.
On refrigerant gases, NEA added: “While there is no obligation under the international treaty to prevent venting of refrigerant gases, Singapore encourages the recycling and re-use of the refrigerants used in industrial and commercial systems.”
When released into the atmosphere, refrigerant gases like Freon and its newer counterpart hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) can exacerbate climate change.
Mr Murthy stressed the need for formal regulations in the e-waste recycling industry, aside from general policies like the Environmental Protection Act.
In a response to Trash Trail’s findings, NEA said it is currently conducting a study to develop options for an e-waste management system. It cited the examples of Taiwan, South Korea, Europe and the United States, which “ensure that the costs of proper end-of-life management of electrical and electronic products are borne by the appropriate stakeholders”.
A recent United Nations study highlighted Singapore as one of Asia’s biggest producers of e-waste per capita, at 19 kg per person in 2015. The report also urged countries to improve recycling and disposal methods.
The Trash Trail premieres on Monday, Jan 30, at 7.30pm (SG/HK) with two episodes back to back about what happens to discarded refrigerators and disposable cups.
The series is part of the CNA Signatures belt showcasing innovative programmes.
BERNAMA New Straits Times 28 Jan 17;
KUANTAN: Pahang is now the state worst-affected by flooding, with its Civil Defence Force director Zainal Yusoff revealing that the number of flood evacuees in several district rose to 7,130 people as of 8am today, compared to 6,728 last night.
Lipis has the highest number of evacuees at 2,000 people, followed by Temerloh (1,996), Jerantut (1,078), Rompin (1,033), Bera (417), Maran (362), Pekan (205) and Raub (39).
In Kuantan, however, all flood relief centres were closed after flood waters subsided and the weather remained fine.
As a precaution, twenty-five sub-stations were shut down across the state.
Tenaga Nasional Bhd's general manager for Pahang, Datuk Sharuddin Mohd Simin, said the sub-stations, eight in Jerantut and 18 in Lipis, were shut down in stages since Wednesday.
"The move was taken to avoid any untoward incident because of the floods," he said.
He said the shutdown has affected 2,253 consumers in Lipis and 229 in Jerantut.
In JOHOR, the number of flood evacuees dropped to 4,301 people this morning, compared to 4,834 people last night.
State Health and Environment Committee chairman Datuk Ayub Rahmat said the victims, from 1,137 families, are at 55 flood relief centres in Segamat, Tangkak, Kluang and Muar.
There are now 2,403 evacuees in Segamat; Tangkak (1,473); Muar (416) and Kluang (nine).
Seven roads are still not passable to vehicles here, namely Jalan Pogoh-Tekam; Seksyen 5.2-5.9 Jalan Kuala Paya-Balai Badang; Tumang Batu Anam-Kawasan Ladang and Jalan Felda Kemelah in Segamat; the Jalan Kampung Sungai Pinggan Bridge in Pontian; and Kilometer 61 of Jalan Muar-Labis; Jalan Pagoh Terkam and Jalan Renang Gombang-Liang Batu in Muar.
In KELANTAN, the Social Welfare Department's flood portal said there has been much improvement in the flooding situation, with the number of evacuees dropping to 410 people as of 8am today, compared to 1,163 people last night.
Fifteen flood relief centres are still in operation in Jeli, Kuala Krai, Gua Musang, Tanah Merah and Pasir Puteh.
However, the water levels of Sungai Kelantan and Sungai Golok are still reported to be above the danger mark.
In PERAK, the Social Welfare Department's flood portal said 538 flood victims are still at nine flood relief centres state-wide.
Hilir Perak has the highest number of victims at 264 people, Manjung (217), Larut Matang (41) and Tanjung Tualang (eight).
Twenty-two families in Kampung Selat Manggis here were forced to evacuate today after several river bunds near the village broke due to strong water pressure in Sungai Bidor.
Hilir Perak Civil Defence Force officer Mohd Fazly Mohamad Zawawi said the rescue team had to use boats to relocate the villagers to a relief centre at SK Sungai Kerawaim, as the road leading to the village was inundated with one-metre deep flood waters.
"The evacuation process began at 10am. We even had to persuade them to leave their houses, as we were worried that the situation would get worse due to cloudy weather," he told reporters here.
A villager, Sarimah Ibrahim, 40, said she woke up to the screams of her neighbour this morning, before realising that her house was already inundated with water which rose to thigh-level.
In SELANGOR, 346 people were reported to still be at flood relief centres in the Sabak Bernam district.
In SARAWAK, the State Disaster Management Committee secretariat spokesman Maj Ismail Mahedin said 1,762 packs of food will be despatched to Beluru near here by express boat tomorrow to be distributed to a primary school and 15 longhouses there.
He said that as of 6pm yesterday, 5,818 people from 894 families were affected by floods in the Beluru district.
However, no evacuation centres were opened, as the longhouses affected are on stilts, and above the water, with only the roads leading to them inundated, thus cutting off access. -- BERNAMA
2nd wave floods: Damages on schools could reach millions of ringgit
ADIE SURI ZULKEFLI New Straits Times 28 Jan 17;
PADANG TERAP: The Education Ministry believed that the losses incurred on school properties during the second wave of floods could easily reach tens of millions of ringgit.
Its Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said this was based on the estimated damage of RM10 million in the first wave of floods in Kelantan, Terengganu and Sabah last December.
He said he had not received a full report on the damage caused by the second wave of floods on schools in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Johor, Perak and Sabah earlier this month but expected it to be higher than the first wave. "We are still carrying out assessment on the actual damages suffered by all schools that were hit by the second wave of floods in the states concerned and the ministry will take necessary action once we done compiling the reports.
"As for the first wave of floods, the amount of damages was reported at about RM10 million and we have issued allocation warrants to the affected schools.
But, the repair works have yet to start following the second wave of floods," he told reporters after opening the golden jubilee celebration of Lubok Merbau Felda settlement here today.
On a separate matter, Mahdzir, who is also Padang Terap MP said the ministry has allowed the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) to develop SK Lubok Merbau quarters area into a housing scheme for the second generation of Felda settlers.
He said besides two units, the rest of the quarters, which were built in the 1970s were no longer occupied by teachers, so it would be wiser for the area to be used to build houses for the Felda Lubok Merbau second generation.
Sea desertification is a problem that is becoming more severe around the globe, including in Vietnam.
Vietnam Net 29 Jan 17;
It greatly affects the livelihoods of coastal communities but also sustainable development, environmental security, and sea and island sovereignty.
Dr Du Van Toan from the Institute for Sea and Island Research at the Vietnam Administration of Seas and Islands said sea desertification is an urgent issue.
He cited international experts as saying that preventing desertification is a task for the entire world, requiring long-term international cooperation.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) defines a marine desert as an area where all marine species die or are unable to live in due to poor natural conditions, water quality or landscapes.
The first cause of sea desertification is climate change which heats up air and sea water and lowers the concentration of nutrients and dissolved oxygen. In oxygen-deficient areas, marine species usually swim away to seek oxygen-rich zones while others such as bivalve mollucs suspend activities and go into hibernation. These shellfish will die if the oxygen deficiency lasts too long.
Another major cause of sea desertification is the mushrooming of coastal cities and industrial parks which generate a huge volume of solid waste, wastewater and fumes that impact air and seawater quality.
Most marine deserts appear near the coast, cities and industrial zones whose activities fuel greenhouse gas emissions, increase acidification, and interrupt nutrient supply along with oxygen, nitrogen and phosphorous cycles. Ocean acidification will lead to coral bleaching and habitat degradation.
Destructive fishing practices such as using explosives or hazardous chemicals damage important marine ecosystems such as coral reefs, submerged forests, and sea grass. In addition, land reclamation activities also destroy coastal forests and coral reefs.
The surge of nutrients as a result of waste release from human activities also leads to a bloom of toxic red dinoflagellates, also known as red tide, which kills marine species.
It takes decades, huge efforts and a lot of money to recover coral ecosystems.
Too many shipping activities in one small area such as those near seaports or river mouths also wipe out animals there.
US scientists found that regions with low chlorophyll, or marine deserts, are spreading around the globe, particularly in the northern hemisphere.
In Vietnam, mass fish deaths have been recorded along the coast of the central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue, as well as at fish farms in other localities.
Vietnam, like many countries in the world, is influenced by climate change and waste release from cities and industrial activities which have polluted the marine environment.
That fact shows Vietnam is likely to face sea desertification.
To sustainably develop and protect the maritime environment, it is necessary to study the causes and expansion of marine deserts in the waters off the coast of Vietnam. Marine deserts also need to be classified and shown on maps.
Authorised agencies should have thorough assessments of the impacts of socio-economic activities and security problems on the marine environment.
Additionally, they should set up special monitoring systems for areas at risk of desertification, and enhance international cooperation on tackling sea desertification.
It is important to disseminate information about this phenomenon among coastal communities and relevant organisations so that they are aware of the problem and join efforts to prevent sea desertification.
Vietnam now has 16 marine protection areas (MPAs). Though they cover a small area, just 0.3 percent of total waters, they still can help maintain ecological balance if they can be managed well.
Marine protection areas are believed to create a restoration effect after five years, and later create a spillover effect which helps disperse nutrients to the surrounding areas.
VNA
Channel NewsAsia 28 Jan 17;
SINGAPORE: China will spend 252 billion yuan (almost US$37 billion) through 2020 to tackle the country's growing waste problem.
According to a Caixin report, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) plans to allocate two-thirds of the money towards "non-harmful" methods of disposing household waste including incineration, landfills and recycling.
This is aimed at reducing soil and water pollution caused by such waste, it said in a statement on Sunday (Jan 22).
An unnamed NDRC official also said that in the next few weeks, a regulation will be announced making it compulsory for households and businesses to sort waste, according to the report.
The commission had said in its statement that systems will be established by 2020 for the sorting of household garbage in parts of China such as Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai and Tianjin, as well as in the provincial capitals, before the waste is sent to landfills.
This will allow all organic substances to be incinerated, reducing landfill waste.
According to Caixin, about US$1.4 billion has been earmarked for waste-sorting pilot programmes aimed at a pre-2020 launch.
The NDRC said that it wants to reduce the amount of household waste dumped in landfills each day from 501,500 tonnes in 2015 to 477,100 tonnes by 2020.
China, which has been hit by smog, introduced industry-specific environmental protection taxes in December 2016, levying among others - companies that emit exceeding levels of coal and "hazardous waste".
- CNA/hs
Matt McGrath BBC 28 Jan 17;
There have been concerns over the levels of mercury in fish for many years
Rising temperatures could boost mercury levels in fish by up to seven times the current rates, say Swedish researchers.
They've discovered a new way in which warming increases levels of the toxin in sea creatures.
In experiments, they found that extra rainfall drives up the amount of organic material flowing into the seas.
This alters the food chain, adding another layer of complex organisms which boosts the concentrations of mercury up the line.
The study has been published in the journal, Science Advances.
Toxic form
Mercury is one of the world's most toxic metals, and according to the World Health Organization, is one of the top ten threats to public health. The substance at high levels has been linked to damage to the nervous system, paralysis and mental impairment in children.
The most common form of exposure to mercury is by eating fish containing methylmercury, an organic form of the chemical which forms when bacteria react with mercury in water, soil or plants.
Levels of mercury in the world's ecosystems have increased by between 200 and 500%, since the industrial revolution say experts, driven up by the use of fossil fuels such as coal.
In recent years there are have been concentrated efforts to limit the amount of mercury entering the environment, with an international treaty, called the Minamata Convention, signed by 136 countries in place since 2013.
But this new study suggests that climate change could be driving up levels of methylmercury in a manner not previously recognised.
In a large laboratory, Swedish researchers recreated the conditions found in the Bothnian sea estuary. They discovered that as temperatures increase, there is an increased run-off of organic matter into the world's oceans and lakes. This encourages the growth of bacteria at the expense of phytoplankton.
"When bacteria become abundant in the water there is also a growth of a new type of predators that feed on bacteria," lead author Dr Erik Bjorn from Umea University in Sweden told BBC News.
"You basically get one extra step in the food chain and methylmercury is enriched by about a factor of ten in each such step in the food web."
Under the warmest climate scenario suggested by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, there would be an increase in organic matter run-off of 15-20% by the end of this century. This in turn would see levels of methylmercury in zooplankton, the bottom link in the food chain, grow by between two and seven fold.
Different parts of the world will suffer different impacts say the researchers, with lakes and coastal waters in the northern hemisphere being the most likely to have significant increases in methylmercury levels in fish, while the Mediterranean, the central US and Southern Africa will likely see reductions.
Researchers hope that the Minamata treaty will be successful and countries reduce the amount of mercury that is being produced. Otherwise this discovery of a previously unknown source could have impacts for human health.
"If we reduce mercury emissions, then we need to know how fast will ecosystems recover," said Dr Bjorn.
"If we don't do anything and mercury doesn't decrease, and we add this on top then the implications would be severe."
Other researchers in the field say that the new study highlights important issues that have previously been little known.
"This work experimentally proves that climate change will have a significant effect of methylmercury budgets in coastal waters and its concentrations in fish," said Milena Horvat from the Jozef Stefan Institute in Slovenia.
"This work will also have an important impact on future scenario simulations on the presence of mercury in fish in response to global mercury reductions from emission sources (primarily industrial)."
Joyful January at the Sisters Islands Marine Park
Sisters' Island Marine Park
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