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The MAP News, 182nd Ed., 03 March 2007
Dear Friends,
This is the 182nd Edition of the Mangrove Action Project News. Due to recent travels and a burst of work flowing my way, this news has been delayed in coming. Nonetheless, it is packed full of interesting and relevant stories and still timely action alerts!
Alfredo Quarto,
Mangrove Action Project
MAP's Mission: Partnering with mangrove forest communities, grassroots NGOs, researchers and local governments to conserve and restore mangrove forests and related coastal ecosystems, while promoting community-based, sustainable management of coastal resources.
Back Issues available!
Note: The latest issues of the MAP News are available on MAP's Website.
Contents for MAP NEWS, 182nd Edition
FEATURE STORY
MAP Further Develops Its Six-Step Ecological Mangrove Restoration Method
MAP WORKS
MAP Completes Successful Ecological Mangrove Restoration Workshop In Sri Lanka
Some Comments From Workshop Participants
Entries Called For Next MAP 2008 Children’s Art Calendar Contest
MAP Co-Sponsors Ecological Mangrove Restoration Blog Group
MAP’s Website Wins Website Of the Month Recognition!
MAP Indonesia Publishes Three New Books
AFRICA
Fish farming spreads through Africa
Gambia
Taiwan-sponsored aquaculture project for Gambia to be ready soon
Nigeria
Nigeria’s mangrove going! - Minister
Thailand
First aerial survey to map dugong numbers (Bangkok, Thailand)†
Five-year plan for mangrove rehabilitation
Mangroves boosted to control erosion
Experts question report over mangrove forests Increase in forest cover doubted
President Clinton Hails Impressive Tsunami Recovery Effort
Indonesia
Japan relaxes standards for Indonesian shrimp
Malaysia
Malaysia expects $4.6-mn boost for aquaculture industry
India
Orissa villagers volunteer to give land for mangrove regeneration
Bangladesh
Global warming washes ashore
Women in shrimp processing units paid less than males
Sonadia forestland freed from grabbers
Mexico
Reforms to Wildlife Law published, protecting mangroves in Mexico
The Bahamas
Bullsharks not bulldozers in Bimini
***ACTION ALERT!!!*** Bimiini
Marine Protected Area Remains Unprotected
US group calls for project to be dumped
British Virgin Islands
British Virgin Islands Approves Luxury Resort Despite Strong Opposition
San Maarten, Netherlands Antiles
Last Stand For Mangroves On Sint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles
***ACTION ALERT!!!***
USA
Isle institute succeeds in shrimp breeding
US ups anti-dumping duty on Indian shrimp exports
National Fisheries Institute’s Statistics On US Seafood Consumption
Global Aquaculture Alliance “Me Think Protests Too Much!”
STORIES/ISSUES
The Hidden Costs of Mangrove Destruction
Deep-sea trawling neither green nor profitable
Tyre reef off Florida proves a disaster
Experts to share good news on adaptation to climate change in Africa and Asia
Commandments could save world fisheries, say scientists
CONFERENCES/ WORKSHOPS & PUBLICATIONS
Shrimp Farming, Certification and Awareness Raising
Suspicious Shrimp: The Health Risks
FAO's Committee on Fisheries meet opens in Rome
Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change
AQUACULTURE CORNER
Growing demand for seafood likely to pressure aquaculture
CHILE‚S SALMON INDUSTRY FACES NEW ACCUSATIONS
New study shows B.C. salmon farms producing BILLIONS of sea lice eggs
Open-ocean fish farmers form trade group
MAP Further Develops Its Six-Step Ecological Mangrove Restoration Method
Working in cooperation with mangrove ecologists, assorted organizations, and communities, MAP promotes a 6-step method of actual natural on-site mangrove rehabilitation that engages local public participation. The 6 steps MAP follows (and will use for this project) are: Work together with communities, organizations and local government to:
6 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL MANGROVE REHABILITATION
1. Understand both the autecology (individual species ecology) and community ecology of mangrove species at the site, paying particular attention to patterns of reproduction, propagule distribution, and successful seedling establishment;
2. Understand the normal hydrologic patterns that control the distribution and successful establishment and growth of targeted mangrove species;
3. Assess modifications of the previous mangrove environment that currently prevent natural secondary succession;
4. Select an appropriate mangrove restoration site through application of Steps 1-3, above, that is both technically likely to succeed in rehabilitating a healthy mangrove ecosystem, and also takes into consideration resolution of land ownership/use issues necessary for ensuring long-term access to and conservation of sites.
5. Design restoration programs at appropriate sites selected in Step 4, above, to initially restore the appropriate hydrology and take advantage of natural volunteer recruitment of mangrove propagules for plant establishment;
6. Utilize actual planting of propagules, collected seedlings, or cultivated seedlings only after determining through Steps 1-5, above, that natural recruitment will not provide the quantity of successfully established seedlings, rate of stabilization, or rate of growth of saplings established as quantitative goals for the restoration project.
(Note: Usually, the local community does plant some seedlings as a symbolic and educational exercise whether such planting is or is not necessary as part of the restoration regime to: feel physically engaged, raise attention to the area (on site activity) and promote growth of well liked species such as Rhizophora over regular natural colonizers such as Avicennia or Sonneratia.
Reaching far beyond just planting of seedlings, our program which restores natural water flows, greatly increases the overall success rate for restoring large areas of degraded mangrove forests. Our method has proven extremely successful in past endeavors, for example in West Lake, Florida (near Ft Lauderdale area), or at Tiwoho village in N. Sulawesi, Indonesia)
MAP Completes Successful Ecological Mangrove Restoration Workshop In Sri Lanka
MAP in co-sponsorship with the SewaLanka Foundation led successful two workshops in Sri Lanka entitled, “Community Based Ecological Mangrove Restoration Training Programme” whereby local mangrove restoration practitioners, local NGOs and community members participated in learning the basic principles of ecological mangrove restoration (EMR) techniques. MAP firmly believes only such a long-term, more holistic six-step approach to mangrove restoration will work. Otherwise, too often restoration projects will fail for lack of proper approach to restoration issues, including hydrology, siting and actual methods employed. As well, a community-based approach is imperative to a successful approach.
From Jim Enright
mapasia@loxinfo.co.th
===========
Note: The following is from Ben Brown, of MAP Indonesia who also helped coordinate the workshops with Jim Enright and Robin Lewis.
WORKSHOP #1 - TANGGALLE
Held at the NARA center with a beautiful view of Rekawa Lagoon, this first workshop brought together mangrove rehabilitation practitioners from Sri Lanka and abroad for a five day technical training on the “Ecological Mangrove Rehabilitation” method pioneered by Robin Lewis. Robin, armed with 710 powerpoint slides, led us through the six steps of successful mangrove rehabilitation with emphasis on case studies. Several other guest speakers delivered presentations from Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia. Participants spent a full day in the field, looking at restoration attempts in-situ and practicing survey techniques for determining mangrove zonation in a reference forest. Key concepts of this workshop are discussed in this report, as are plans for follow-up, formation of a Sri Lankan network for mangrove rehabilitation and a summarized table of participant evaluations of the workshop.
WORKSHOP #2 - AMPARA
This second workshop primarily involved fisherfolk leaders from local fisheries societies located along the Eastern coast of the island. These leaders are involved in mangrove restoration activities and desired additional techniques for mangrove rehabilitation. The group was also interested in developing integrated mangrove awareness and conservation programs, emphasizing the development of sustainable livelihood alternatives and nontimber forest product uses of mangroves as well as environmental education. The workshop was participatory in nature; and involved participants in much small-group work, interactive discussions, and field trips where participants gained hands-on field work experience. The workshop utilized sections of MAP’s action research-problem solving curriculum “Do Your Own Mangrove Action Project,” which has been translated and printed for participants along with other MAP resources such as the EMR Handbook, and a mangrove cookbook. Toward the end of the workshop, three small groups prepared action plans for disseminating the information they learned back in their own communities, an activity that will be supported by Sewalanka Foundation.
From Ben Brown
seagrassrooots@gmail.com
===========
EMR Workshops In Sri Lanka Successfully Completed-Some Comments From Workshop Participants
The two Ecological Mangrove Restoration Workshops that occurred last month in Sri Lanka were successfully completed. One participant from India, Dr. Oswin Deiva, made the following comments:
“Thank you very much for the opportunity provided to attend the Sri Lanka EMR program.
It went on very well and Robin’s presentations and site visit had given a new dimension of thinking about Mangroves, Conservation and restoration to the restoration practicers in lanka. Many of the community members understood how to and where to plant mangroves, and where we should allow nature recovery. The program was a great success…”
From: Dr. Oswin Deiva
oswinbaby@yahoo.com
===========
I was exposed to a vast pool of knowledge during the mangrove restoration project at Rakewa, Sri Lanka. I personally thank you for being a resource person...Looking forward to hear news on Mangroves from you constantly.
Suriyagoda Lalith, Lecturer,
Faculty of Agriculture, University Of Peradeniya,
Sri Lanka.
B M L D B Suriyagoda
laliths@pdn.ac.lk
===========
Entries Called For Next MAP 2008 Children’s Art Calendar Contest-Entry Deadline Extended till July 31, 2007
January 2007
Dear Friends of the Mangroves,
We are sponsoring our seventh international children's art competition and would like to invite children in your country to enter this contest and learn more about the important roles that mangrove forests play.
Specifically we would like you to contact schools and teachers in your area and provide them with information regarding this contest, and also to act as a liaison between MAP and the local schools as a resource person regarding mangrove and ecological information. In addition, we would ask you to collect the winners from each school participating within your country, and send the three best entries on to MAP at the above address for the final judging, and possible inclusion in the calendar. We must receive the artwork by July 31st, 2007
This provides an opportunity for participating NGOs to build relationships with teachers and to provide school children with environmental information. Educating children in the importance of mangrove and coastal ecosystems is critical to effecting long-term change. Without current information, current generations will grow up placing little value on the environment (as modeled by their parents) unless they are given new eyes with which to see coastal ecosystems and mangrove forests.
We have attached information that is ready to have your name added as the local contact representative and duplicated for distribution to teachers in your country. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance in helping you implement this exciting educational project in your country. We will send all student winners, participating NGOs and schools copies of our calendar as well.
Yours sincerely,
Monica Gutierrez-Quarto, , Calendar Project Coordinator
Please contact Monica Gutierrez-Quarto for more information at monicagquarto@olympus.net
==========
MAP Co-Sponsors Ecological Mangrove Restoration Blog Group
As I mentioned at the EMR training MAP has already established a "EMR e-group" and it can also be another tool for those interested in networking. The Ecological Mangrove Restoration (EMR) e-group has been established to share information amongst mangrove restoration practitioners in the Bay of Bengal Region. It was established following the Mangrove Action Project's IHOF # 11 "Ecological Mangrove Restoration" held in Vijayawada, AP India Nov.7-12, 2005. The group now has about 25 members
From: MAP / ASIA
mapasia@loxinfo.co.th
==========
MAP’s Website Wins Website Of the Month Recognition!
The Marine Section of SCB provides a home for Marine Conservation Biology in order to further marine conservation science, research and public policy. Unlike other SCB Sections, the Marine Section does not have a specifically regional focus as marine issues are global.
Marine Conservation Website of the Month
Each month we highlight a marine conservation website that offers important content, great links, opportunities to network or take action or all of the above.
This month's website is:
Mangrove Action Project
Have a website that you would like to see featured here? Email Amber Himes at with your suggestion. Nomination can be sent to amber_himes@fws.gov.
==========
MAP Indonesia Publishes Three New Books
Here are the titles of three books that MAP Indonesia is publishing this month in the Indonesian language:
1. Mangrove Curricullum (adopted from Robin Lewis's),
2. Mangrove Recepies, and
3. Research, Action & Participatory process of CCRC Development in Segara Anakan.
From: T. Lukmanul Hakim
tlhakim@indosat.net.id
Fish farming spreads through Africa
By Erik Hempel
Over the past few years, interest in aquaculture in Africa has increased. While there has been local interest in aquaculture for a long time, foreign investors are now showing their interest in several countries. The potential for developing aquaculture is there, but the continent still faces a number of challenges.
The total aquaculture production of Africa only amounts to 570,000 tonnes annually (2004), or a little less than 1.0 per cent of the global production. Until the mid-1990s production was relatively stable at around 50,000 to 100,000 tonnes, but developments since then have shown that there is both room and possibilities for growth. Growth in particularly Egypt's production has contributed to a five-fold increase in less than 10 years.
Egypt has been the largest producer in African aquaculture since as far back as 1950. In 2004, Egypt accounted for almost 83 per cent of the total African production. Nile tilapia is the dominating species in Egypt. In 2004 Egyptian farmed tilapia production amounted to some 200,000 tonnes, accounting for over 42 per cent of the total aquaculture production of the country. But in recent years aquaculture has been developed in other countries like Congo DR, Nigeria, Madagascar, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In Nigeria it is particularly catfish farming that has contributed to this development. In 2004, production of catfishes accounted for about 63 per cent of the total Nigerian aquaculture production.
By far the major part of African aquaculture is done in inland waters, - lakes, water reservoirs and rivers. In 2004, this accounted for 89 per cent of all African aquaculture. There is some marine aquaculture, mainly in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, while activities on the Atlantic coast have been very limited until now. The largest species in African aquaculture in terms of volume include tilapias, gray mullet, carps and catfishes. There is also some production of shrimp, mainly black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon), and in 2004, African farmed production of this species amounted to 7,600 tonnes.
African aquaculture is still facing a number of challenges that must be dealt with. Corruption and lack of infrastructure in some areas are major obstacles, but there are also other challenges, such as the lack of seed, lack of feed, lack of knowledge, and above all lack of financing. The lack of access to financing is caused mainly by the lack of knowledge and experience on the part of financial institutions in the region with regard to aquaculture. Both development banks and commercial banks in the region are reluctant to finance aquaculture projects because they do not know the sector, they do not understand it, and they do not see sufficient collateral available. Consequently, they tend to turn down applications for loans. However, the investors must also take part of the blame for this, as many do not know how to present their projects to financial institutions. Furthermore, many investors/initiators lack equity and ask for too large external financing shares for their projects.
Source:
GLOBEFISH/FAO/EUROFISH Magazine
From: icsf@icsf.net
==========
Gambia
Taiwan-sponsored aquaculture project for Gambia to be ready soon
By Assan Sallah
Kelvin Chen, a Taiwanese Aquaculture Specialist, has told the Daily Observer, that a freshwater fish farming project at Sapu in Central River Region of the Gambia, would be ready by June this year. The project was sponsored by the International Co-operation Development Fund in Taiwan.
In an interview with the Daily Observer, Mr Chen said the construction of the project was contracted to the Taiwanese Technical Mission (TTM) and this includes the construction of fish ponds. He disclosed that Gambians are currently being trained by TTM on aquacultural activities, for commercial purposes.
According to him, he discovered that aquacultural activities are very uncommon farming practices in The Gambia. "This is the reason of constructing the fish ponds in the aquacultural centre in Sapu", he said. He therefore called on all interested Gambian farmers to visit the site at Sapu in order to benefit from the training.
He expounded on the importance of aquaculture towards poverty reduction and ensuring food self-sufficiency. Mr Chen then appealed to the government of The Gambia to establish an aquacultural research centre, where students of the Gambia College and the University of The Gambia, can conduct research on aquacultural activities.
Source:
The Daily Observer
From: icsf@icsf.net
==========
Nigeria
Nigeria’s mangrove going! - Minister
Saturday, Feb 17, 2007
The Minister of Environment, Housing and Urban Development, Chief Helen Esuene, has raised an alarm that more than 60 per cent of the nation's mangrove forest have been depleted. Esuene who visited the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN), yesterday in Ibadan, said the depletion was caused by encroachment. Esuene said the deforestation of the mangrove forest had affected the aquatic lives in the country. “The mangrove forest is very important but it is disheartening that more than 60 per cent of the mangrove forest have been lost and this has actually affected the aquatic lives in return,” she said. She said: “If the mangrove forest has gone, then there will not be any aquatic life anymore, so there is need to re-afforest the mangrove area so that we can increase the aquatic lives.” FRIN, she said, should be strategically positioned to overlook the nation's forest. The Chairman of institute's Governing Council, Alhaji Hassan Kafayos, who received the minister thanked her for encouraging the institute to embark on reforms. Kafayos said some measures had been put in place to motivate staff and praised the institute for ensuring industrial harmony.
From: Kwon, Cheemin (FOEL)
Cheemin.Kwon@fao.org
Thailand
First aerial survey to map dugong numbers (Bangkok, Thailand)†
February 14, 2007, Bangkok Post
The first aerial survey of marine life along the Gulf of Thailand coast will begin next week. The 10-day operation will focus on the dugong population and the condition of the seagrass bed, the animal's only food, Marine and Coastal Resources Department chief Nisakorn Kositrat said.
The project, jointly implemented with the Foundation for Preservation and Development of Thai Aircraft, will last from Feb 19 until 28. The foundation will provide two aircraft along with senior pilots. The department will send marine experts to collect information. The operation will cover 350 kilometres of coastal area in Chon Buri, Rayong, Chanthaburi and Trat provinces, said Mrs Nisakorn. Information obtained from the survey would be used in the drafting of a national plan for marine species conservation.
In the first stage, the operation will focus on dugongs and the seagrass bed. If successful, the project will be expanded to other animal species and marine resources, including sea turtles, mangrove coverage and coastal erosion, said Samran Gesorn, the project's chief pilot.
There are few dugongs left in Thai waters, including the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea. A recent departmental survey found the number had increased from 126 in 2005 to 128 last year, a much-needed boost to efforts to preserve the rare creature and the seagrass bed. There are 500 square kilometres of seagrass bed in the Andaman Sea, and only 25 sq km in the Gulf of Thailand.........†more
From: Seagrass-Watch HQ
hq@seagrasswatch.org
==========
Bangkok Post Feb.21, 2007
Five-year plan for mangrove rehabilitation
APINYA WIPATAYOTIN
A five-year national plan to rehabilitate mangrove forests will be drafted in a bid to fight a sharp reduction in their coverage _ from over a million rai to less than 500,000 in forty years.
Spearheaded by the Marine and Coastal Resources Department, the plan aims to increase mangrove forest coverage by at least 50,000 rai by 2012. The country's top ecologists and agency representatives will work together to draft the plan.
The project, which is part of efforts of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to rehabilitate mangrove forests in South China Sea countries, centres on promoting sustainable use of mangroves among communities in the provinces where the forests exist.
"The most effective conservation method is to make villagers living near the mangroves realise their conservation efforts will eventually increase their income," said project chief Sonjai Havanond.
Mangrove forests provide breeding grounds for marine animals and are a major source of charcoal.
Mangrove protection topped conservation agendas in Thailand in the aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami, as it was found that scores of coastal villages survived the disaster thanks to the thick line of mangroves that acted as a "green wall" against the waves.
At least 50 communities along the Gulf of Thailand's coast will join the project. Locals will be taught environmentally-friendly shrimp farming, sustainable use of mangroves, and how to operate eco-tourism projects, Mr Sonjai said.
Mangrove management at Ban Pret Nai in Trat province will serve as a model for mangrove conservation.
Ban Pret Nai villagers have successfully restored their heavily-degraded mangroves by cooperating with forest rangers in cracking down on log poaching and illegal fishing. They have also set communal rules for mangrove protection and use.
The village's mangrove conservation efforts won international recognition after it was selected by UNEP as one of three demonstration sites on sustainable mangrove management in the South China Sea countries. The other two are Fengchengang in China and the Batu Ampar mangroves in Indonesia.
According to the department's latest survey, Thailand's mangrove coverage has shrunk from 1.14 million rai in 1961 to 446,062 rai in 2006.
Encroachment for shrimp farming, illegal logging and coastal erosion are the major causes of mangrove destruction.
==========
The NATION
Mangroves boosted to control erosion
Published on Oct 25, 2006
The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry is to spend Bt41million nurturing mangrove forests around five coastal provinces in the Gulf of Thailand to try and prevent coastal erosion, which has already eaten away some land.
"Studies have shown that mangrove forest is effective in preventing coastal erosion," Marine and Coastal Resources Department director-general Samran Rakchart said yesterday.
Samran said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Kasem Sanidwong Na Ayudhaya had assigned his ministry to tackle the coastal erosion problem, which was serious in the coastal provinces of Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkhram, Samut Prakan, Phetchaburi and Bangkok.
According to Samran, Thailand's mangrove forests have drastically shrunk from 2.3 million rai in 2003 to 1.5 million rai today.
On other policies, Samran said his department has been instructed to regulate marine tourism to ensure that the huge number of tourists who arrive during the high season do not cause problems to popular sites.
From: MAP / ASIA
mapasia@loxinfo.co.th
==========
Bangkok Post May 11, 2003
Experts question report over mangrove forests Increase in forest cover doubted
Kultida Samabuddhi
Mangrove experts yesterday expressed scepticism over the Forestry Department's claim that the mangrove forest cover has grown by half over the past four years.
A report the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry is planning to submit to cabinet soon shows that the mangrove cover in Thailand has expanded to around 1.5 million rai, an increase of some 500,000 rai over previous estimates of 1.04 million rai four years ago.
Prof Sanit Aksornkaew, a senior researcher at the Thailand Research Fund, urged relevant agencies to recheck the nation's mangrove cover to avoid misleading the public. Amid soaring destructive activities such as prawn farming, road construction and toxic waste discharges, it is hard to believe that mangrove forests have expanded from 1.04 million rai in 1996 to 1.5 million rai in 2000,'' Mr Sanit told a forum organised by the Thai Society of Environmental Journalists.
The 1.04-million-rai figure has been compiled by a team of forestry experts who have monitored the growth and decline of mangrove forests since 1961, when the mangrove cover stood at 2.3 million rai. Mr Sanit has suggested that the government verify the claim before endorsing the department's report.
The report was completed last year as demanded by former Forestry chief Plodprasop Suraswadi, who wanted information on Thailand's forest cover updated.
Forestry experts had earlier also questioned the department's report on the country's inland forest cover, which claimed that Thailand's forest cover had increased from 26% in 1996 to 33% in 2000.
Prof Sanit has recommended that the government set up a panel of experts representing the departments of Forestry, Fisheries, and Marine and Coastal Resources, and the Royal Thai Survey, to figure out the precise area of mangrove forest cover.
Paisarn Tanapermpool, director of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources' mangrove conservation office, admitted that the figure in the report may have been exaggerated.
Most people tend to believe that mangrove forests were continually in decline mainly because of a boom in shrimp farming and illegal logging, Mr Paisarn said.
It was no secret that at least half of the 500,000 rai of deteriorated mangroves were damaged by black tiger prawn farming....
From: MAP / ASIA
mapasia@loxinfo.co.th
==========
President Clinton Hails Impressive Tsunami Recovery Effort in Thailand and Launches Mangroves for the Future
Praises Collaboration Between Government, Affected Communities and International Community
Phuket , Thailand - Dec. 2006 : Former President Bill Clinton, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, was in Phuket , Thailand on Saturday, to view progress on home construction and livelihoods, and to launch Mangroves for the Future.
President Clinton visited Hin Look Dieu, a small Moken (sea gypsy) community that experienced substantial destruction in the tsunami.†
After the tsunami, the community reached an important agreement with the local government, allowing the residents to continue to live on the Sirinart National Park property where they had resided prior to the tsunami.
Mangoves for the Future, a long-term partnership for coastal conservation
Launched in September 2005, Mangroves for the Future is a multi-agency, multi-country initiative for the long-term conservation and sustainable management of coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, coral reefs, wetlands, forests, lagoons, estuaries, beaches and sandy shores. It covers twelve tsunami-affected countries in South and Southeast Asia and the Western Indian Ocean*. The initiative involves collaboration between multiple partners, including government agencies, non-governmental and community-based organisations, research institutes and universities, the World Conservation Union (IUCN), UN agencies and other multilateral bodies.
† Mangroves for the Future provides a platform, which brings together the efforts of different countries, sectors and agencies under a common goal - to conserve and restore ecosystems to sustain human livelihoods, increase resilience and reduce vulnerability among coastal communities in the Indian Ocean Region.
The initiative has received enthusiastic support from the many organizations involved in coastal management and post-tsunami reconstruction. As a result of this support and interest, a detailed process of consultation and dialogue has been undertaken in tsunami-affected countries and at the global level, in order to identify priorities, needs and partnership arrangements, and to establish a comprehensive strategy and programme document. These were presented to a donor roundtable in New York on 12 September 2006, where pledges of funding for the initiative were made.
Mangroves for the Future will commence implementation 1 January 2007. It will engage and directly involve a wide range of stakeholders from governments, international agencies, NGOs, CBOs, the private sector and local communities to work towards a common goal. At the regional level, implementation of the initiative will be supported and guided by a Regional Steering Committee co-chaired by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which will include representation from national governments, UN agencies (United Nations Environment Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization, in particular) and non-governmental organisations.
At the national level, Mangroves for the Future will be coordinated and steered through strengthening the existing mechanisms for coastal management which bring together different agencies, sectors and civil society groups. On the ground, the initiative will be implemented through a series of individual actions that are linked by a common goal and strategy, but are spread out geographically, temporally, and in terms of management and implementation responsibility. Many different agencies and organisations will take the lead in implementing these actions.
From: MAP / ASIA
mapasia@loxinfo.co.th
==========
Malaysia
Malaysia expects $4.6-mn boost for aquaculture industry
Malaysia's Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry aims to draw private-sector investments worth RM1.6 bn (US$4.6 m), including from overseas for the development of the aquaculture industry under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP).
Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the ministry had identified 25,000 ha of land that were suitable for the purpose. However, RM250 mn ($71.2 mn) was needed to provide the infrastructure and various basic facilities, he told reporters after chairing his ministry's post-cabinet meeting here, Wednesday. "Basically, the Economic Planning Unit has agreed to provide the fund," he said.
He said the government needed to get the private sector's involvement so that the country could produce 600,000 tonnes of aquaculture products annually compared to only 350,000 tonnes a year presently.
Muhyiddin said the ministry would appoint consultants to draw up plans including the aquaculture development model, business plan, financial plan and prospectus. "By year end, will be able to pick those interested whether local or foreign investors," he said.
Source:
Bernama
From: icsf@icsf.net
==========
Indonesia
Japan relaxes standards for Indonesian shrimp
Asia Pulse
Indonesia's National Shrimp Commission said Japan relaxed import regulations to allow more Indonesian shrimp to enter its market. With the relaxation of the regulation Indonesia could increase shrimp exports to Japan to 50,000 tons this year from 37,000 tons last year, after declining from 45,000 tons in the previous year, said Shidiq Moeslim, chairman of the commission.
The relaxation of the regulation will open an opportunity for Indonesia to regain lost market in Japan, Shidiq said.
Indonesia lost 15 percent of its market share in Japan after that country set a maximum limit of 1 milligram of antibiotic in content for every ton of shrimp last year, he said. The policy resulted in a decline in Japanese shrimp imports to 280,000 tons in 2006 from 294,000 tons in the previous year, he said.
Copyright 2007 Asia Pulse.
From: LESrrl3@aol.com
India
Note: This news article tells of an interesting twist where individuals living near Bhitarkanika wildlife sanctuary in Orissa are handing over their private land rights to the Mangrove Forest Division in order to establish greenbelts.†
Note it appears the word "afforestation" is being used incorrectly, as it means planting trees where there were none previously. Although it is not clearly stated, it appears mangrove forest was converted to shrimp aquaculture ponds in the past and the plan is now to do reforestation in order to rehabilitate the mangrove forest ecosystem to slow the serious coastal erosion.
Article: Kalinga Times
Orissa villagers volunteer to give land for mangrove regeneration
KalingaTimes Correspondent
Kendrapara: In an environment-friendly gesture, residents of the seaside villages on the fringe of Bhitarkanika wildlife sanctuary in Orissa's Kendrapara district have volunteered to hand over their ancestral land to the State forest department's mangrove regeneration programme.
Mangrove conservationists are happy over the spontaneous move on part of a section of landowners in coastal Satabhaya gram panchayat even as Rajnagar Mangrove Forest Division has gone ahead with a proposal to compensate the landowners through Central forest protection grants.
`This is a positive development with regard to ongoing mangrove conservation programme. The land that the villagers have proposed to hand over has immense potential for mangrove regeneration. And to encourage other villagers, we have requested the government for a monetary compensation package to land donors,' said a mangrove division official.
Earlier this month, a section of landowners, who have left the village to settle elsewhere, held discussions and expressed their desire to transfer the land records of rights to forest department for afforestation project.
The said patches of land measuring more than 500 hectares are being commercially exploited by way of environmentally damaging shrimp farming. With diminishing commercial dividends hitting them hard, the landowners thought it better to give up shrimp farming and give the land for creation of social forestry, forest officials said.
As the Mangrove Forest Division officials observed, the villagers' offer was a Godsend one to keep the dwindling mangrove cover intact. The matter was sincerely deliberated and it was decided that the land donors should be suitably compensated so that more landowners may come forward to give their land.
Lush green mangrove species may sprout up in this acquired land under prawn farming. But its conservation would face hindrance in the event the peripheral land territory does not come under forest department's territorial jurisdiction. Man-made intrusion would definitely pave the way for mangrove saplings to die young, told the forest officials.
Keeping these things in mind, a proposal for monetary compensation for the land donors has been sent to State forest department and Union Ministry of Environment and Forest. Once the proposal is accorded sanction, the process of acquisition of 500 hectares of land would commence.
More and more people were likely to transfer land to forest department as the entire region was severely hit by sea erosion.
Sea has been menacingly crawling towards the human habitations in the area and furious sea advanced 5 km into this gram panchayat during the past 15 years.
`The mangrove belt can act as natural barrier against the marauding sea and it's indeed heartening to note that at least some of the villagers though belatedly have realized the ground reality,' observed Divisional Forest Officer Ajay Kumar Nayak.
Apart from sending the proposal for land reclamation, the department has launched a campaign for awareness on mangrove regeneration.
Once the Satabhaya region is made human interference-free, sea erosion can be tamed considerably by mangroves and innumerable nullahs and water bodies crisscrossing the coastal pocket may serve as a congenial habitat for winged species. Avian species continue to throng this place in large number despite human interference.
Kalinga Times
Y. Giri Rao
Senior Programme Officer
VASUNDHARA
From: MAP / ASIA
mapasia@loxinfo.co.th
==========
Bangladesh
Global warming washes ashore
Source Artlcle
By Henry Chu
Los Angeles Times
BHAMIA, Bangladesh -
Global warming has a taste in this village. It is the taste of salt.
Only a few years ago, water from the local pond was fresh and sweet on Samit Biswas' tongue. It quenched his family's thirst and cleansed their bodies.
But drinking a cupful now leaves a briny flavor in his mouth. Tiny white crystals sprout on Biswas' skin after he bathes and in his clothes after his wife washes them.
The change, international scientists say, is the result of intensified flooding caused by shifting climate patterns. Warmer weather and rising oceans are sending seawater surging up Bangladesh's rivers in greater volume and frequency than ever before, experts say, overflowing and seeping into the soil and water supply of thousands of people.
Their lives are being squeezed by distant lands they have seen only on television - America, China and Russia at the top of the heap - whose carbon emissions are pushing temperatures and sea levels inexorably upward. Earlier this month, a long-awaited report by the United Nations said that global warming fueled by human activity could lift temperatures by 8 degrees and the ocean's surface by 23 inches by 2100.
Here in southwest Bangladesh, the bleak future forecast by the report is already becoming a reality, bringing misery along with it.
Heavier-than-usual floods have wiped out homes and paddy fields. They have increased the salinity of the water, which is contaminating wells, killing trees and slowly poisoning the mighty mangrove jungle that forms a natural barrier against the Bay of Bengal.
If sea levels continue to rise at their present rate, by the time Biswas, 35, retires from his job as a teacher, the only home he has known will be swamped. That, in turn, will trigger another kind of flood: millions of displaced residents desperate for a place to live….
…Bangladesh, a densely crowded and painfully poor nation, contributes only a minuscule amount to the greenhouse gases slowly smothering the planet. But a combination of geography and demography puts it among the countries experts predict will be hardest hit as the Earth heats up.
Nearly 150 million people, the equivalent of about half the U.S. population, live packed in an area the size of Iowa and about as flat. Home to where the mighty Brahmaputra, Ganges and Meghna rivers meet, most of Bangladesh is a vast delta of alluvial plains that are barely above sea level, making it prone to flooding from waterways swollen by rain, snowmelt from the Himalayas and increased infiltration by the ocean.
Global warming trends have already exacerbated that, and the situation will probably only get worse, scientists say.
"A little increase in temperature, a little climate change, has a magnified impact here," said A. Atiq Rahman, the director of the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies - the country's leading environmental-research group - based in Dhaka, the capital. "That's what makes the population here so vulnerable."
Other low-lying countries are also at risk, such as the Netherlands and tiny islands in the South Pacific that could eventually be swallowed up by the expanding oceans. But the population of those countries is only a fraction of that of Bangladesh.
If the sea here rises by a foot, which some researchers say could happen by 2040, up to 12 percent of the population would be made homeless.
A 3-foot rise by century's end - a possible scenario if polar ice caps melt at a more rapid pace - would wreak havoc in Bangladesh on an apocalyptic, Atlantis-like scale, according to scientific projections and models.
A quarter of the country would be submerged. Dhaka, now in the center of the nation, would sit within 60 miles of the coast, where boats would float over the drowned remnants of countless town squares, markets, houses and schools. As many as 30 million people would become refugees in their own land, many of them subsistence farmers with nothing to subsist on any longer….
….For folks in the West, Ahmed said, the onslaught of global warming may seem decades away. In Bangladesh, "the future has arrived."
Here in the coastal southwest, in an area called Munshiganj close to the Indian border and the famed Sundarbans mangrove forest, grizzled farmers describe the relentless encroachment of the sea.
Thirty years ago, an embankment built to hem in the tidal rivers around them was sufficient to protect villagers from inundation. Now they estimate that the high-tide mark has climbed by 10 feet, and breaches such as one that happened last September, which swamped hundreds of homes, have become common.
"The water came up to here," said Iman Ali Gain, sweeping his hand up to his chest as scores of men behind him hauled baskets of gloppy, gray soil to repair the dike. "We were afraid when we saw it."
Gain, 65, once grew rice to support himself and his family, but his harvests started shrinking as saline levels in the water went up. To cope, he followed the example of many of his neighbors and switched over to shrimp farming, a way to take advantage of the salty water washing over the fields.
For the first time, shrimp farming occupies more of the cultivable land than traditional crops in the area around Bhamia.
While the shift has enabled some villagers to survive, it has also created other headaches. Less labor-intensive, shrimp farming has wound up boosting unemployment. Thousands of residents have migrated to other parts of Bangladesh or India in search of work.
Worse yet, deliberately trapping so much briny water to raise shrimp has increased the sodium concentration in the soil, which aggravates the salinity creeping into drinking-water supplies.
"From ancient times, our people used [local] ponds for drinking water. Now they need to go four to five kilometers to collect sweet water," said Mohon Kumar Mondal, 31, a local environmental activist.
Residents report an increase in health problems such as diarrhea, skin diseases and dysentery. The salty water has also choked many of the palm and date trees that once lent a fecund beauty to the sun-baked landscape.
"I request people, please understand the situation of the Earth. Please make your decisions according to the situation," Mondal said. "And please think of poor people like us, who have not created greenhouse gases. Please think of our situation."
Copyright © The Seattle Times Company
From: Darlene Schanfald
darlenes@olympus.net
==========
Women in shrimp processing units paid less than males
Tapos Kanti Das. Khulna, NewAge, March 8, 2007
Women workers in the shrimp processing industries in Khulna are allegedly being discriminated against in pays although they take same workloads and serve for same duty hours as their male counterparts.
††Of about 24,000 workers in the region?s 56 shrimp processing plants, 20,000 are women. At present, 29 plants are in operation.
††Industry insiders said there is no minimum wage fixed by the government for the shrimp processing industry, the country?s second largest export earner.
††Allegations of discrimination between female and male workers are rampant here. Industry owners set their own wage structures, which vary from unit to unit.
††Wages for women workers range between Tk 1200 and Tk 2500 a month, depending on skill and experience. On the other hand, male workers get between Tk 1800 and Tk 3,500 a month.
††Labourers need to work for 12 to 18 hours a day and sometimes, they are to work for extra time without payment.
††Although they are denied overtime bills, they are paid less if there is less work, since the industry does not have fixed wage structure, workers said.
††They said their wages were not increased in several years, though prices of essential commodities rose significantly, making it difficult for them to live on the amount they earn.
††Rehena Begum, who lives in Rupsha slum in Khulna city and works at a shrimp processing unit, said men are paid higher than females in the processing unit, although both do the same job for same work hours.
††She demanded that the government should declare minimum wage structure for workers of the shrimp processing units.
††Quazi Belayet Hossain, president of Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association and managing director of a shrimp processing unit, said female workers are paid based on their skills and in some cases they get higher than male workers. ?So far I know fixation of minimum wages for shrimp processing workers is now under process,? he added.
From: BanglaPraxis
banglapraxis@gmail.com
==========
Sonadia forestland freed from grabbers
Muazzem Hossain Shakil, Cox's Bazar
The Daily Star Article
The joint forces and local administration yesterday recovered 1,486 acres of forestland from 15 land grabbers and demolished many illegal structures in Sonadia island in the district.
They made the recovery during a five-hour drive that began at 10:00am.
The illegal occupants were using those lands for more than five years for shrimp and salt farming, clearing mangrove forests, local forest department officials said.
Illegal occupation of government land and indiscriminate destruction of forests have become an order of the day in Cox's Bazar coastal areas, mainly for shrimp cultivation, they mentioned.
Many more forestlands in Sadar and Moheshkhali upazilas of the district occupied by land grabbers in the last five years are still to be recovered….
…Forest officials said they have so far filed 461 cases against 1,843 encroachers.
The courts at different times ordered recovery of 912 acres of forestland-- 320 acres in Dhalghata, 200 in Charandip, 10 in Matarbari, 350 in Siradia and 32 acres in Lemshikhali. But the matter virtually ended there.
"We are still filing cases but there has been little progress either in recovery of the lands or taking steps against the encroachers," a forest official said.
Encroachment on forestland continues in different coastal areas including Goldia island….The 'powerful' land grabbers, most of them political leaders, collect papers showing lease of land and then clear the forests for setting up shrimp enclosures. In some areas, mangrove forests have been destroyed this way, he mentioned.
The land grabbers whose illegal occupation was put to an end yesterday include former local lawmaker Alamgir Mohammed Mahfuz Ullah Farid-130 acres, Abdul Gafur-250 acres, Nurul Alam -75, Amin Sharif-90, Mohammed Ullah-100, Farruq Ahamed-20, Jalal Ahamed-20 , Habib Ullah-280, Mostafa Kamal-120, Aklas Mia-80, Amjad Hossain-80, Siraj Mia-5, Abdus Sukur-40, Nurul Amin-31 and Mohammed Syed-120 acres.
From: BanglaPraxis
banglapraxis@gmail.com
Mexico
Reforms to Wildlife Law published, protecting mangroves in Mexico
1 February 2007
In spite of strong opposition by the tourist industry, the reforms to the General Wildlife Law (Ley General de Vida Silvestre ˆ LGVS) approved by Congress during the past legislative session were approved on 1 February 2007 by the Executive branch. This decision is prudent, as with this measure, at last, the important and threatened mangrove ecosystem will become protected.
The ecological organizations Defenders of Wildlife ˆ Mexico, Conservation of Marine Mammals of Mexico (Comarino), the Mexican Environmental Law Center (Cemda), Ecologist Group of Mayab, the International Fund for Animal Wellbeing (IFAW), Teyeliz and Greenpeace Mexico approved the decision by President Felipe Calderon to publish these alterations. In addition, they congratulated the members of the current and past legislatures for approving the reforms.
The changes to the Wildlife Law were agreed upon by diverse sectors and organizations and were approved by senators and deputies with practically no votes against. Furthermore, last week more than 35 civil organizations from throughout the country sent a letter to Calderon and last Tuesday there was a citizens‚ march in Cancun, in order that Calderon would approve the changes, in addition to which research institutions declared themselves in favor.
It is worth pointing out that, with the exception of Yucatan (state), the other 17 coastal states, as well as the states in the tourist sector, represented by the Quintana Roo Group, the Association of Owners and Investors of the Riviera Maya (APIR), the Hotel Association of Cancun, the Vacation Club Association (Acluvac), the Centro Coordinador Empresarial y del Caribe (CCEyC) and the Mexican Association of Tourist Developers (Amdetur) demanded that the law be vetoed.
„The president recognized the importance of this ecosystem, fundamental for the economy of the country. Arguments that this reform to the LGVS will affect the growth and development of the country are contradictory; a lot of money is invested in the country but it can‚t be compared to the value of the services and benefits accrued by the conservation of our natural resources,‰ commented the president of Cemda, Gustavo Alanis.
With the modifications to the law, from now on it is prohibited the removal, filling in, transplant, pruning, or any project or activity that affects the integrity of the hydrological flux of mangroves; of the ecosystem and its zone of influence; of its natural productivity; of the natural carrying capacity of the ecosystem for tourist projects; of the nesting, reproduction, refuge, feeding, and schooling zones; or the balance of the interactions between mangroves, rivers, dunes, the adjacent maritime zone and corals, which provoke changes in the characteristics and ecological services; and extractive projects and activities which take place in the mangroves, should be subject to the dispositions outlined in article 28 of the General Law of Ecological Equilibrium and Environmental Protection.
„This is one of the rare occasions where everyone ends up winning. The Legislature is strengthened as its consensual reform was not vetoed; and the Executive wins by ratifying its commitment to environmental protection. Organized civil society and academia win as their long struggle to demonstrate the importance of mangroves was heard and the ecosystem finally will be protected. Coastal communities and fisherfolk win as they will be able to continue to enjoy the environmental services of the mangroves. Even tourist developers win, as their investments will remain protected by the mangroves, and the natural wonders sought by tourists, such as beaches and coral reefs, will not be lost. All of Mexico wins,‰ said Juan Carlos Cantu, program director of Defenders of Wildlife of Mexico.
„This does not signify that no more hotels will be constructed, only that this ecosystem will be respected. Hotels should view mangroves as a benefit for their environmental services and as a landscape element of added value. Not as trees that are impediments,‰ said Yolanda Alaniz, vice president of Comarino.
It is worth noting that Quintana Roo is a zone exposed to rising sea levels, a consequence of climate change. Mangroves also mitigate these effects, as they stabilize soils, are physical barriers against high waves, and create beaches, that is, they provide many benefits to the tourist sector.
„Felipe Calderon didn‚t place the interests of the tourist sector above that of natural resources. It gives us much pleasure that mangroves finally are protected after more than eight years of struggle. We hope that this type of public policy continues,‰ affirmed Alejandro Olivera, coordinator of the oceans campaign of Greenpeace Mexico.
The organizations also congratulated the Legislature and the governor of Yucatan, Patricio Patron Laviada, for approving these pro-Mexico reforms.
Source: Bulletin 0707, Greenpeace Mexico
www.greenpeace.org.mx
Translated by Elaine Corets From: Elaine Corets
manglar@comcast.net
The Bahamas
http://marinebio.org/blog/?p=116
Bullsharks not bulldozers in Biminib>
By Joni Lawrence
"Bullsharks not bulldozers." The bulldozers have already wreaked havoc in the area destroying mangrove forests, which are important nursing grounds for a number of shark species, particularly lemon sharks. Yet, once again money is prevailing as the Bahamian government allows Hilton Hotels Corporation and Capo Group to destroy this precious habitat and build yet still another golf course and another hotel. What will be the attraction in the area once all the natural beauty is destroyed and replaced by plastic, manufactured beauty?
"Bimini, Bahamas - As recently as 2002, plans were in motion to set aside five marine areas to preserve the economic and ecological lifeblood of the Bahamas, with Bimini rated as the highest priority. But a change in government put off the project, and there's been no movement toward protection, despite angry prodding and accusations of corruption. Instead, giant resorts such as the one being built on Bimini have grown up on several outer islands. "The government is selling off this environment, cheap," Gruber (a lemon shark researcher who runs a biological station in Bimini, website: click here ) says. A staffer at the Bahamas tourism office didn't exactly disagree. "We are a young country," said Leonard Stuart, referring to the Bahamas' 1973 independence from Britain. "We have to learn our own lessons about our environment, and we'll probably make mistakes."
The ramifications could be costly. Tourism accounts for nearly half the gross national product of the Bahamas. Diving is a multimillion-dollar industry here, and sharks are an ever increasing draw. By Gruber's back-of-the-envelope estimate, a single live shark in healthy habitat is worth as much as $200,000 in tourism revenue over its lifetime. And sharks' ecological value is inestimable. Not only do they weed out sick and weak fish, leaving the fittest to breed, but as top predators they also keep other carnivores in check, preventing them from depleting the algae-eating fish that keep coral reefs healthy. Studies in the Caribbean have shown that where sharks are keystone species, their depletion could topple ancient food hierarchies and ultimately destroy the reefs."
==========
***ACTION ALERT!!!***
Bimiini
The only thing that might stop this destruction from continuing is public pressure. To learn more about the issue, and make your voice heard, visit:
www.savebimini.org
www.restrictbiminibayresort.org
www.tourismconcern.org.uk/campaigns/bimini-hilton.htm
You can also contact the following people to protest the destruction:
The Rt. Hon. Perry Gladstone Christie - Prime Minister
The Office of the Prime Minister
Cecil Wallace - Whitfield Centre
Cable Beach
P.O. Box N 3217
Nassau, N.P. Bahamas
pmchristie@bahamas.gov.bs
242- 327-5826-9
The Hon. Obediah H. Wilchcombe - Minister of Tourism / Parliament Member West End & Bimini
Ministry of Tourism
Bay Street
P.O. Box N-3701
Nassau, N.P. Bahamas
242- 322 - 7500
Mr. Michael Braynen - Director of Fisheries
Department of Fisheries
East Bay Street
P.O. Box N 3208
Nassau, N.P. Bahamas
michaelbraynen@bahamas.gov.bs
242-393-1777
From: Jana Rajnohova
mangroves.jr@gmail.com
==========
March 2007
Marine Protected Area Remains Unprotected
Seven years after being declared the highest priority site in the Bahamas for a Marine Protected Area, Bimini still does not have an officially designated MPA. Local, national and international voices have supported the MPA since the idea was conceived, and no official explanation has ever been issued as to why Bimini’s MPA status still sits in limbo.
The only opposition to Bimini’s Marine Reserve lies in the plans of a mega-resort being constructed on North Bimini. The Bimini Bay Resort & Casino has alternate plans for what lies within Bimini’s proposed MPA boundaries, which encompass most of the viable mangrove habitat on the entire western Great Bahama Bank. A Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed golf course is now slated to consume a large portion of the land and water that was to be included in Bimini’s Marine Protected Area.
It is a plan that ignores the concept of sustainable development, and disregards Bimini’s history as the Big Game Fishing Capital of the World. The waters around Bimini are already feeling the effects of dredging and bulldozing, and without Bimini’s MPA status being implemented, little stands in the way of the island becoming ecologically comatose.
Local fishermen have complained about reduced catches, divers have noticed less wildlife on previously vibrant reefs, and tourists have complained about Bimini’s once pristine island backdrop now being fragmented by construction equipment.
The media has been following this issue for years, from the local Nassau Guardian newspaper’s recent articles, “Fears resort will harm fish stock” and
“Bimini Bay draws concerns” to National Geographic Magazine’s recent article
“An Eden For Sharks”
Just recently, a meeting held on North Bimini in February of 2007 declared implementing Bimini’s Marine Protected Area as one of the island’s top 5 priorities towards establishing economic viability in the future.
In addition to the widely know facts espousing the importance of mangroves as fish nurseries and life-saving storm barriers, a recent study advocated their role in dealing with climate change. Not only do mangroves help stabilize vulnerable shorelines from rising seas and more powerful storms, but mangrove trees actually process & sequester carbon dioxide at an almost unprecedented rate. This fact adds an enormous ecological benefit to preserving mangrove habitat in the Bahamas, and also creates the potential of incredible economic value to islands involved in emerging carbon-trading markets.
While the world sits at a tipping point, the opportunity to create economic and ecological wealth in tandem is being aggressively pursued by developing and industrial nations around the globe. The Bahamas has a chance to be positioned as a world leader in dealing with such issues as fisheries management, wetland preservation, and even global warming, all by following up on a promise made seven years ago.
From: Grant Johnson
grantjohnson86@gmail.com
==========
US group calls for project to be dumped
By KEVA LIGHTBOURNE, Guardian Senior Reporter
kdl@nasguard.com
A United States based environmental group is calling for the immediate stop to the Guana Cay development.
President of Global Coral Reef Alliance, Thomas J Goreau, PhD, said the massive destruction of mangrove forests in Guana Cay, by the Bakers Bay Development scheme to create a huge marina and golf course in mangroves and low-lying forest areas, should be stopped immediately before it destroys what is left of the coral reefs and fisheries in the region. "The Bahamas needs sound economic development that protects its environmental resources, but this is a classic case of the sort of developments that have been allowed to cause untold damage in the past and which should no longer be permitted, now that the cumulative damage is clearly visible, and will be made far worse by climate change in the near future," he said in a five-page release issued to The Guardian.
"Much stronger environmental laws and oversight are urgently needed because The Bahamas has permitted developments whose environmental costs have neither been recognized nor compensated for, and the accelerating pressures of global climate change make continuation of such policies a fool's paradise of profiting today and ignoring all the consequences that will strike tomorrow."
The Global Coral Reef Alliance is the latest group to voice its disapproval over the Passerine at Abaco Resort Community Development. In the past, the Save Guana Cay Association spoke out against the project, also Grand Bahama attorney Fred Smith and many others.
According to Dr Goreau an extensive area of crucial mangrove habitat on the site has already been bulldozed and burned in order to create a golf course, marina, hundreds of homes, along with hotel accommodations.
"These developments already have, or soon will, destroy critical nursery areas for many species of reef fish, conch, and lobster," he claimed. "Of critical importance are the coral reefs, lying just offshore from the areas being destroyed for this development, which rank among some of the best left in The Bahamas, and which are critical for the livelihood of Guana Cay residents."
Dr Goreau added:"These reefs are extremely vulnerable to any nutrients that will inevitably wash onto them from the adjacent fertilizers of the golf course and the inadequately treated sewage of the more than 400 houses and the residential units that will be constructed on this currently-uninhabited site."
He maintained that coral reefs are the most nutrient-sensitive ecosystem on earth. He asserted that his assessment of the site is based on personal observations of the algae and over 50 years of experience of studying the role of algae on coral reefs, and the impacts of nutrients on them.
Copyright © 2006 The Nassau Guardian. All rights reserved.
From: Pat Weatherford
guanaloverpat@yahoo.com
==========
British Virgin Islands
British Virgin Islands Approves Luxury Resort Despite Strong Opposition
February 20, 2007 ˜ By Associated Press
CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands -- The British Virgin Islands has approved construction of a high-end resort and golf course that would take up most of a largely uninhabited island, the territory's government announced.
Developers of the Beef Island Golf & Country Club Resort, a roughly 650-acre project, received government approval mid-February after months of sustained debate in the British Caribbean territory of some 22,000 people.
Chief Minister Orlando Smith championed the $80 million project, which government leaders approved in principle in 2005, as vital to the islands' tourism sector.
"Yes, we must protect our environment -- but we must also think about creating jobs, growing our economy and securing our tourism industry for the future," said Smith, the government leader in the territory. Biologists in a documentary commissioned by the British Virgin Islands Conservation and Fisheries Department said pollution and habitat destruction caused by the resort would damage important marine breeding grounds off an island famed for pristine reefs and mangrove forests.
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12252
From: Martin Keeley
mangrove@candw.ky
==========
Last Stand For Mangroves On Sint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles
Please join the Mullet Pond Coalition in our campaign to protect the mangroves and seagrass beds of Mullet Pond on Sint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles (Dutch West Indies). Mullet Pond forms a section of one of the largest lagoons in the Caribbean, the Simpson Lagoon.
Redevelopment plans for the hurricane damaged resort at Mullet Bay potentially include a 12,000 square foot yacht club and an 85 yacht marina, including mega yachts up to 300 feet and 32 yacht villas with private docks. Only about p of Sint Maarten‚s Simpson Lagoon mangroves remain and approximately 65% of them are in Mullet Pond. Ripping out mangroves and seagrass to build a marina in such an ecologically important area is unacceptable.
==========
***ACTION ALERT!!!*** Sint Maarten
To learn more please visit Epic Islands
Please sign the petition on the link below. Even more effective would be to write a letter to the Lieutenant Governor urging him to protect this locally rare habitat. Below is a sample letter you can edit. In the past, the Island Government has approved major building projects without public notice or review. Therefore, we must be proactive in protecting Mullet Pond.
* Sign the petition online
* Write the Governor but send it to
ncollier@epicislands.org
or
Mullet Pond Coalition
c/o Nature Foundation
P.O. Box 863
Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles.
We will print it out and make sure the government registers that the letter was received. If you are an organization or business, consider using your letterhead for more impact.
Thank you for your support and please pass on this message!
====
SAMPLE LETTER
Lt. Governor Franklyn E. Richards
Government Administration Building
Clem Labega Square
P.O. Box 943
Philipsburg
Sint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles
To Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards:
I strongly urge the government of Sint Maarten and Mullet Bay Resort to protect the few remaining mangroves and seagrass beds of Simpson Lagoon. Specifically, I support the zoning of Mullet Pond, located between Point Pirouette and Mullet Beach, as a protected area in which it is prohibited to remove and/or cut existing vegetation, including mangroves and seagrass, within 15 meters of the lagoon shoreline.
As one of the largest lagoons in the Caribbean, the Simpson Lagoon provides essential habitat for wildlife and plants; it forms the center of a food web which extends all the way to the ocean reefs. The lagoon also drives a significant portion of the economy by providing safe harbor, goods, and services to the maritime sector. In addition, this remarkable body of water adds to the beauty of the island.
Tragically, the lagoon continues to be polluted and destroyed. Each year, more mangrove trees are ripped from the coastline and more seagrass beds are smothered with fill dirt or dredged. The pace of development has left little behind in its devastating wake. Only about p of the coastline of Sint Maarten‚s lagoon is still populated by mangrove trees. Approximately 65% of these mangroves are found in Mullet Pond which also harbors the largest contiguous stand of mangroves in Sint Maarten.
Recent research out of the United Nations has valued mangrove forests at more than $900,000 per square kilometer per year. They serve as storm buffers, supply our fisheries, support birdlife, and provide aesthetic enjoyment.
Mangrove roots stabilize the coastal soil, especially important during hurricanes, and remove pollutants from the water. Our marine ecosystem is dependent upon mangroves, trees which form the basis for an entire food web. Ultimately we rely on mangroves for the fish we eat. Resident and migratory birds thrive in these coastal margins, where they roost, forage, and nest.
The economy of Sint Maarten is dependent upon tourists who want to visit a beautiful tropical island. It is the beaches, the coastal cliffs, the lagoon, the reefs and the mountains that visitors enjoy; the very resources which are being destroyed at a phenomenal rate. Development will continue, but it must be managed responsibly so that areas as important and unique as Mullet Pond are preserved. Sint Maarten can attract tourists without destroying important natural areas. Indeed, saving such places will only make it a more attractive destination.
Please ensure that the mangroves and seagrass beds of Mullet Pond are protected.
Sincerely,
From Natalia Collier, Environmental Protection In the Caribbean (EPIC)
ncollier@epicislands.org
USA
Isle institute succeeds in shrimp breeding
[2007-02-16]
USA ˆ Researchers at the Oceanic Institute at Makapuu are reporting dramatic success in breeding shrimp to increase their size and resistance to disease. The findings spell good news for Hawaii's $2.8 million shrimp farm business, and particularly for the highly popular penaeid family of shrimp, a $9.7 billion industry worldwide, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
The viability of seafood farms has assumed added urgency in the last 15 years with the decline of ocean fisheries. Shrimp researchers are now aiming for the same sort of success in selective breeding that was achieved with chickens and cattle during the last half-century.
The institute produces 120,000 Pacific white shrimp per year by raising 500 shrimp from each of 240 genetically distinct families, says program director Shaun Moss….
…Shrimp, the top-selling seafood in America, increasingly arrives on dinner plates from aquaculture farms, but not all farmers take the time and costly trouble to breed them for size and the ability to thrive in an artificial pond.
Moss's research indicates such efforts are worthwhile.
Historically, shrimp farmers have relied on the capture of wild shrimp to stock their ponds, but that might help deplete wild shrimp populations and also could introduce diseases.
Taura syndrome virus has proved particularly devastating to the Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei.
Researchers and commercial breeders selecting shrimp for resistance to the virus have developed families that show survival rates of greater than 90 percent when exposed to the infection through food, Moss says.
That has allowed Pacific white shrimp stocks to be designated as healthy or, in the parlance of the industry, "specific pathogen free."
As a result, white shrimp surpassed giant tiger prawns as the most commonly cultured shrimp species in the world. >From 2000 to 2004, farmed white shrimp increased 854 percent by metric ton while the farmed tiger prawn crop increased 14 percent, Moss reports.
"Hawaii has played quite a significant role in this shift," he says…
…The Oceanic Institute, a nonprofit organization affiliated with Hawaii Pacific University, specializes in marine aquaculture, coastal resource management and biotechnology. It offers surplus virus-resistant white shrimp to various farms around Hawaii, recently including Kona Bay Marine Resources in Kailua-Kona; Shrimp Production Hawaii in Kapalama; Ming Dynasty Fish & Shrimp Co. in Kahuku; High Health Hawaii Aquaculture in Kurtistown, Big Island; Molokai Sea Farms in Kaunakakai; and farms in Florida and on Guam.
Farmed shrimp used for food accounted for $2.8 million in sales in Hawaii in 2005, the latest year available, up from $2.25 million the year before, according to the state Department of Agriculture.
Source: starbulletin.com
From: Elaine Corets
manglar@comcast.net
==========
US ups anti-dumping duty on Indian shrimp exports
By Ajayan
In a major jolt to the marine sector, the anti-dumping duty on Indian shrimp exports to the United States has been raised from 10.17% to 10.54%. The rise in the duty was due to the higher duty fixed for Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) which went up from 15.56% to 24.52% in the preliminary determination of the first administrative review undertaken last year by the US Department of Commerce (DoC).
The preliminary determination also saw the Brazilian duty increase from 7.05% to 48.13%. The rates for China and Vietnam remain unchanged at 112.81% and 25.76% while that for Thailand has come down from 5.95% to 4.24% and Ecuador from 3.58% to 2.25%.
Indian exporters were shocked as they expected the rates to go down by at least 2-3%. In the initial move to impose anti-dumping duties, HLL which was a mandatory respondent had the highest duty of 13.42%. This margin was amended to 15.36%, resulting in Indian average rate fixed for all other to go up to 10.17% from 9.45%. The duty for some of the exporters who failed to respond to the DoC queries has now been fixed at 82.3%.
This time too HLL's duty was raised to 24.52% from 15.36%. In the first administrative review the duty for the other mandatory respondents Falcon Marine Exports Ltd and Liberty Group the duty fixed was 11.09% and 4.03%, respectively. The average of the three mandatory respondents would be the duty fixed for other exporters from the India.
Incidentally, the increase in the duty as a result of a higher duty fixed for HLL comes in the backdrop of HLL deciding to make its exit from marine business. It was only recently that the company board took the decision which would mean closure of three marine units.
The final determination on the first review is expected sometime in August. The process for the second review has just begun with 44 exporters seeking review after the close of the last date on February 28.
Source:
Financial Express
From: icsf@icsf.net
==========
National Fisheries Institute’s Statistics On US Seafood Consumption
The most popular species of seafood in the US, in pounds consumed per capita, based on 2005 data (the most recent available) from the National Fisheries Institute:
1. Shrimp 4.10
2. Canned tuna 3.10
3. Salmon 2.43
4. Pollock 1.47
5. Catfish 1.03
6. Tilapia 0.85
7. Crab 0.64
8. Cod 0.57
9. Clams 0.44
10. Flatfish 0.37
From Elaine Corets
manglar@comcast.net
==========
Global Aquaculture Alliance “Me Think Protests Too Much!”
The Global Aquaculture Alliance has responded to a National Geographic article on mangroves that again makes out dated charges against the shrimp industry. They claim that the article mis-represents the data it presents, and fails to acknowledge how much the industry has changed since the 1980‚s. According to the GAA, under the GAA‚s best aquaculture practices standard, mangrove protection and enhancement is fully integrated into shrimp farm development.
From manglar@comcast.net
The Hidden Costs of Mangrove Destruction
†4 June 2002 - Bali, Indonesia - The destruction of mangrove forests in SE Asia, primarily due to dig ponds for shrimp aquaculture and for wood chips for the rayon industry, is releasing as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year as 3 million cars.
†This staggering figure is a little known consequence of mangrove deforestation, better known for its problems of coastal erosion and loss of nursery grounds for fish.
†"Carbon stored over centuries in the rich mangrove mud is released as the greenhouse gas CO2 when exposed to the air," explains Prof Ong Jin Eong, from Malaysia’s Universiti Seins, speaking today at an International Media Roundtable organised by the major global environmental change programmes at PrepCom4 in Bali.
Mangroves are a dominant ecosystem of tropical and sub-tropical coasts. They not only provide valuable goods (e.g. wood and fish) but also vital ecological and other services (e.g. sequestration of carbon, navigable waterways and prevention of coastal erosion).
Some 63,000 km2, or about a third of the world’s mangrove, occurs in SE Asia, much of it in Indonesia. This is only about 2% of the total land area, which makes mangroves a scarce and very valuable resource. These mangroves are also the most luxuriant and most biologically diverse in the world. Yet, they are being destroyed at a very alarming rate: conservative estimates suggest that only half the area of mangrove exists today as compared to 50 years ago.
The driving force is two-fold: ‘There is a high demand for shrimps in developing countries, and gross undervaluation of mangroves by developing countries’ says Prof Ong Jin Eong,
However, sustainable forestry is possible. In fact, it has been carried out for 100 years in the Matang Mangroves in NW Malaysia. There, rotational felling for charcoal allows a patchwork of regeneration and a continual, sustainable supply of wood.
Removal of mangroves is just one of the ever-increasing range of stresses being put on the coastal zone. Occupying just 20% of the global land surface, it is home to more than half the world’s population, a figure that is rapidly increasing. Associated with this land-use change are problems of pollution, exploitation of coastal fisheries and degradation of coastal ecosystems.
For further information contact:
Prof. Ong Jin Eong, Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang,
Malaysia, Phone: +604 6577888 x 2371, Fax:+604-6572960, e-mail: jeong@usm.my †
==========
Deep-sea trawling neither green nor profitable, says international team of fisheries experts
By Catherine Brahic
Deep-sea trawling is neither environmentally nor even economically sound, says an international team of fisheries experts. They are calling for government fuel subsidies to be eliminated in order to end the practice.
The team, bringing together economists, biologists and ecologists, was speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on 17 February, in San Francisco, US.
Among them, Rashid Sumaila and Daniel Pauly of the University of British Columbia in Canada recently studied the subsidies paid to bottom trawl fleets around the world. They found that the fleets receive over $152 million each year and that without these funds, the deep-sea fisheries industry would operate at a $50 million annual loss.
"From an ecological perspective we cannot afford to destroy the deep-sea," says Sumaila. "From an economic perspective, deep-sea fisheries cannot occur without government subsidies. The bottom line is that current deep fisheries are not sustainable."
Pauly adds: "There is surely a better way for governments to spend money than by paying subsidies to a fleet that burns 1.1 billion litres of fuel annually to maintain paltry catches of old growth fish from highly vulnerable stocks, while destroying their habitat in the process."
According to Sumaila and Pauly, the governments who pay subsidies to their bottom trawl fleets are: Japan, South Korea, Russia, Spain, Australia, Ukraine, Faroe Islands, Estonia, Iceland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and France.
The team say the fishing industry has been driven to trawling the bottom of high seas because of depleted coastal fish stocks. There is concern that because they fish in international waters, their activities are largely unregulated. Moreover, the techniques used -- essentially dragging a heavy net across the sea floor more than a mile beneath the surface -- are destructive. Catches also tend to include old-growth fish, which only slowly replenish their stocks.
Source:
New Scientist
From: Samudra icsf@icsf.net
==========
Tyre reef off Florida proves a disaster
By Brian Skoloff
A mile offshore from the high-rise condos and spring-break bars of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, lie as many as 2 mn old tyres, strewn across the ocean floor - a white-walled, steel-belted monument to good intentions gone awry.
The tyres were unloaded there in 1972 to create an artificial reef that could attract a rich variety of marine life, and to free up space in clogged landfills. But decades later, the idea has proved a huge ecological blunder.
Little sea life has formed on the tires. Some of the tyres that were bundled together with nylon and steel have broken loose and are scouring the ocean floor across a swath the size of 31 football fields. Tyres are washing up on beaches. Thousands have wedged up against a nearby natural reef, blocking coral growth and devastating marine life.
"The really good idea was to provide habitat for marine critters so we could double or triple marine life in the area. It just didn't work that way," said Ray McAllister, a professor of ocean engineering at Florida Atlantic University who was instrumental in organizing the project. "I look back now and see it was a bad idea."
In fact, similar problems have been reported at tyre reefs worldwide.
"They're a constantly killing coral-destruction machine," said William Nuckols, coordinator for Coastal America, a federal group involved in organizing a cleanup effort that includes Broward County biologists, state scientists and Army and Navy salvage divers.
Indonesia and Malaysia mounted enormous tyre reef programs back in the 1980s and are just now seeing the consequences in littered beaches and reef damage, Sobel said.
Most States have stopped using tyres to create reefs, but they continue to wash up worldwide. In 2005, volunteers for the Ocean Conservancy's annual international coastal cleanup removed more than 11,000 tyres.
The tyres retrieved from the waters off Fort Lauderdale will be ground up for use in road projects and burned for fuel, among other uses.
"It's going to be a huge job bringing them all up," said Michael Sole, chief of the state Department of Environmental Protection. "It's vigorous work. You have to dig the tyres out of the sand."
Source:
Associated Press
From: Samudra
icsf@icsf.net
==========
Press release: International Institute for Environment and Development
Experts to share good news on adaptation to climate change in Africa and Asia
While rich governments make slow progress on climate change, poor people in the countries most at risk are providing rare good-news stories by taking charge of their destinies and preparing for the impacts ahead.
Their experiences will be shared on 24-28 February in Bangladesh at an international meeting at which policymakers will be urged to do more to support communities' efforts to adapt to climate change.
About 100 experts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), UN Food and Agriculture Organization, World Health Organization, Red Cross /Red Crescent, and organisations from Africa and Asia will attend the event.
"Communities in developing countries are already feeling the effects of climate change and are taking steps in response, based in part on their traditional knowledge of the environment," says Saleemul Huq, head of the climate change group at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). "They are in a race against time to understand their vulnerabilities to climate change and to adapt to its impacts."
The meeting in Dhaka, organised by IIED, the Bangladesh Centre of Advanced Studies (BCAS) and the RING Alliance, will be used to share the latest findings from adaptation programmes that are underway around the world.
It will include presentations on communities adapting to heat waves in mountainous areas of India; floods in Bangladesh and Nepal; drought in Kenya; soil salinity in Sri Lanka; and health problems in Zimbabwe.
"The international policy agenda needs to focus as much on adaptation to climate change as on reducing greenhouse gas emissions," says Huq. "Even if emissions stopped tomorrow, the Earth is already committed to some degree of dangerous climate change. Poor communities are not sitting on their hands but are designing and implementing strategies to limit the threats they face. Their efforts need greater support from the international community."
Huq, who is a lead author of a forthcoming IPPC report on adaptation to climate change, adds that the media has a key role to play in spreading accurate information about climate change and ways of minimising its impacts.
The meeting will include two days of visits to see how local communities in Bangladesh are learning about and adapting to climate change. These will include projects being run by nongovernmental organisations CARE and Practical Action, which are working communities at risk of coastal and river flooding.
"Bangladesh has much to teach other countries about coping with climate-related problems," says Atiq Rahman, executive director of BCAS. "Local people have developed traditional approaches to minimising their risks from floods and droughts, for instance. These are relevant to people in other parts of the world."
The meeting is being funded by the British High Commission in Dhaka; the Commonwealth Foundation; Practical Action; the Swedish International Development Agency; SouthSouthNorth; the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; and the UK Department for International Development.
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Mike Shanahan, Press Officer
International Institute for Environment and Development
Email: mike.shanahan@iied.org
http://www.iied.org
==========
Commandments could save world fisheries, say scientists
http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0218-fisheries.html
Global fisheries are in decline. Now a team of scientists have proposed a set of ten commandments to protect the world's marine fish populations while ensuring ongoing production of sea food in a sustainable manner. They presented their work Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco.
The commandments:
1. "Keep a perspective that is holistic, precautionary and adaptive" Mark Hixon, a professor of zoology at Oregon State University, explained: "We must consider whole systems, we must fish with more caution, and we must learn by testing new approaches. Instead of talking about ecosystem management, we refer to 'ecosystem-based' management, because it's misguided to think that we can totally understand or completely control entire marine ecosystems."
2. "Question every assumption, no matter how basic it is or what the conventional wisdom suggests." Hopkins says that some traditional fishery goals -- like "maximum sustainable yield" -- are based on flawed concepts.
3. Maintain an 'old growth' structure in fish populations, since big, old, fat, female fish have been shown to be the best spawners, but are also susceptible to overfishing.
4. Characterize and maintain the natural spatial structure of fish stocks, so that management boundaries match natural boundaries in the sea.
5. Monitor and maintain seafloor habitats to make sure fish have food and shelter.
6. Maintain resilient ecosystems which are able to withstand occasional shocks.
7. Identify and maintain critical food-web connections, including predators and forage species.
8. Adapt to ecosystem changes through time, both short-term and on longer cycles of decades or centuries, including global climate change.
9. Account for evolutionary changes caused by fishing, which tends to remove large, older fish.
10. Include the actions of humans and their social and economic systems in all ecological equations.
Hixon said that "nowhere in the world are all of these 'commandments' being followed perfectly." He noted that the most progress has been made in the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Its efforts have produced comparatively healthy fisheries in Alaska
Source:
mongabay
From: icsf@icsf.net
CONFERENCES/ WORKSHOPS & PUBLICATIONS
Shrimp Farming, Certification and Awareness Raising
NGO Workshop: 26th & 27th February
The Farringdon Room, St Bride Foundation, London
Introduction:
The cultivation of warm water shrimp in the coastal areas of tropical countries for export to Europe, the US and Japan is increasing despite ongoing sustainability concerns and evidence that it continues to damage local ecosystems and livelihoods. Growing awareness of the negative impacts of shrimp aquaculture has drawn attention to ‘certification’ and ‘best practice’ as a way to control and monitor these impacts, and a variety of shrimp certification standards and eco-labels have been and are being developed and implemented.
In September 2006, IUCN NL, Oxfam NOVIB, Mangrove Action Project (MAP) and the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) brought together NGO representatives from tropical shrimp producing and consuming countries for a 3-day meeting to discuss the risks, opportunities and implications of tropical shrimp certification. The meeting aimed at improving the knowledge-base amongst NGOs and other participants regarding international and national tropical shrimp certification initiatives, to provide a forum for discussion about certification, and to facilitate increased cooperation between diverse NGOs campaigning against and trying to find solutions to unsustainable shrimp farming.
Aims and Objectives:
The principal aim of this meeting in London is to continue the momentum gained in Bangkok, and to seek new ways in which we can raise public and corporate awareness about shrimp farming issues and solutions here in the north.
The key objectives are:
To update EU NGOs about southern NGO perception on current shrimp debates
To brief EU NGOs about the outcomes of the workshop held in Bangkok
To provide a forum to discuss current certification initiatives
To discuss ways to move awareness campaigns forward within Europe and to improve coordination between respective programs
Workshop participants will include European, Asian and Latin American NGOs and independent experts. †On Monday afternoon representatives from the standard setting organisations EurepGAP, the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA), and Naturland will give presentations and take part in a Q&A (and a representative of the Soil Association will also attend the meeting to learn more from the NGO community).
From: Juliette Williams, Director Environmental Justice Foundation
ejfoundation.org
Suspicious Shrimp: The Health Risks
New Report from Food and Water Watch: Suspicious Shrimp: The Health Risks of Industrialized Shrimp Production
For More Details, Contact: Food & Water Watch
fwwatch@mail.democracyinaction.org
==========
FAO's Committee on Fisheries meet opens in Rome
http://ftp://ftp.fao.org/FI/DOCUMENT/COFI/COFI_27/Default.htm
The 27th Session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) opens today in Rome, Italy.
The 5-day session, from 5 to 9 March 2007, is scheduled to discuss the following main issues:
* progress in the implementation of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries
* rehabilitation and reconstruction of livelihoods in the fisheries and aquaculture sector in countries affected by the tsunami in 2004
* social issues in small-scale fisheries
* combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing through monitoring, control and surveillance, port States measures and other means
* implementing the ecosystem approach to fisheries, including deep-sea fisheries, marine debris and lost and abandoned gear
* strengthening regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs) and their performances including the outcome of the 2007 tuna RFMOs meeting
FAO will also make a presentation of the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) 2006 before the official opening of the Session.
The Committee on Fisheries (COFI), a subsidiary body of the FAO Council, was established by the FAO Conference at its Thirteenth Session in 1965. The Committee presently constitutes the only global inter-governmental forum where major international fisheries and aquaculture problems and issues are examined and recommendations addressed to governments, regional fishery bodies, NGOs, fishworkers, FAO and international community, periodically on a world-wide basis. COFI has also been used as a forum in which global agreements and non-binding instruments were negotiated.
The two main functions of COFI are to review the programmes of work of FAO in the field of fisheries and aquaculture and their implementation, and to conduct periodic general reviews of fishery and aquaculture problems of an international character and appraise such problems and their possible solutions with a view to concerted action by nations, by FAO, inter-governmental bodies and the civil society.
Source:
FAO
From: icsf@icsf.net
==========
International Meeting on Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change Held in Dhaka, Bangladesh
More than 100 policymakers, researchers, NGO workers and others from around the world attended the meeting, which highlighted steps that poor communities in developing nations are taking to reduce their vulnerability to climate change.
Yesterday (4 March) the International Institute for Sustainable Development, in collaboration with the International Institute for Environment and Development, published an 11-page summary of what was said. This can be downloaded as a pdf
or viewed online.
The research papers presented at the meeting will be published later this year in a single volume.
From: Mike Shanahan
Email: mike.shanahan@iied.org
Growing demand for seafood likely to pressure aquaculture into new developments, says consultancy
The last three decades have seen the aquaculture industry develop into one of the fastest growing food producing sectors in the world. The industry today is extremely diverse and contains a wide variety of systems ranging from small ponds to large-scale commercial systems. The exponential rate at which the world population is expanding is contributing toward making culture fisheries more important than ever as a reliable source of food and resources.
Frost & Sullivan finds that "Aquaculture - Global Developments" provides a thorough examination of fish farming and aquaculture.
"The growth of the aquaculture industry is vital for meeting the world's growing appetite for fish and other seafood," says Frost & Sullivan Senior Research Analyst Kasturi Nadkarny. "If the aquaculture industry manages to overcome the environmental concerns and the social and economical challenges plaguing it, it could be instrumental in narrowing the widening gap between the demand and supply of seafood."
A recent report from Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reveals that by 2030, maintaining the present-day consumption levels will require an additional 40 million tons of fish. The wild fish populations will be incapable of meeting this demand, putting an onus on the aquaculture industry to boost its production to compensate for this gap in supply and demand.
On the flip side, intensive shrimp farming results in several tons of organic waste within a single shrimp-farming crop. Most of these wastes are in the form of stable organic compounds that are difficult to be broken down into simpler forms and cannot be put to use by the phytoplankton through photosynthesis. The oxidation of these compounds results in the depletion of the dissolved oxygen content in the shrimp ponds. Further, the generation of toxic metabolites such as nitrite, ammonia, methane and hydrogen sulphide makes the soil acidic, damages the gills and tails of the fish, affects their metabolism, causes blue shrimp syndrome owing to nutritional deficiency and disrupts the molting process.
"This is mainly responsible for the high mortality rates in aquaculture shrimp farming and to add to this issue, shrimp farms are always located in close proximity of each other, making it easy for diseases to spread from one farm to another and making it difficult to be controlled," explains Nadkarny. "In addition, although most nations have the scope to considerably enhance their aquaculture production for meeting the global demand for seafood, fish farmers lack sufficient technical information that is required to improve practices aimed at higher quality and yield."
Source:
PRNewswire
From: icsf@icsf.net
==========
Santiago Times, 2nd March 2007
CHILE‚S SALMON INDUSTRY FACES NEW ACCUSATIONS
British Authorities Detect Prohibited Chemical
(March 2, 2007) Chile‚s more than US$2 billion-a-year farmed salmon industry, already a frequent target of environmental groups, is currently facing a new challenge to its reputation.
Last December, authorities in Great Britain detected the presence of Crystal Violet in processed salmon being sold in England and Ireland. Crystal Violet, an anti-fungal substance, is believed to be carcinogenic and is prohibited in Europe.
The tainted salmon entered the United Kingdom via Thailand, but rumors circulated for the past few months that the fish may have been farmed in Chile.
In late February a group known as the Pure Salmon Campaign ˆ using information obtained under Great Britain‚s Freedom of Information act ˆ confirmed that rumor.
“The UK Government identifies Chile as the source of the contaminated farmed salmon,‰ according to a Pure Salmon Campaign letter dated Feb. 22. “ Information supplied by the UK Government on 19th February 2007 names the (British) retailer (Tesco), the supplier (Findus Ltd) and the exporter (Findus Ltd) but the name of any Chilean companies involved is blacked out….
….This is not the first time Chilean salmon has been discovered to contain prohibited substances. On several occasions between 2003 and 2004, authorities in Holland detected Malachite Green, another anti-fungal and -parasite chemical used to treat fish. A toxic found to cause respiratory problems, Malachite Green ˆ like Crystal Violet ˆ is prohibited in Europe (ST, July 10, Aug. 8, 2003 and Sept. 28, 2004).
Environmentalists have also complained for years that salmon farming practices place a tremendous strain on Mother Nature. Penned salmon and trout create huge quantities of toxic waste (feces), leaving dead zones in the bays and fjords where they are farmed. The fish are also overmedicated, say critics. Overuse of antibiotics has given rise to new resistant bacterial strains and hence illnesses that then threaten the world‚s diminishing wild salmon stocks.
SOURCE: LA NACION, EL MERCURIO
By Benjamin Witte
benwitte@santiagotimes.cl
From: Don Staniford
don_staniford@yahoo.co.uk
==========
March Newsletter
New study shows B.C. salmon farms producing BILLIONS of sea lice eggs
A new study might be the final indication that open-net cage salmon farms and wild salmon cannot coexist in the same environment.
The study, just published in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management, shows that salmon farms are the primary producers of sea lice that threaten the survival of wild salmon in the Broughton Archipelago.
"What's particularly revealing and disappointing is that our government agencies consistently ignore or dismiss these lessons, shifting the burden of proof from themselves onto conservationists and First Nations," states Dr. Craig Orr.
Using on-farm data provided by one of the industry's largest companies, Marine Harvest, Dr. Orr estimated that 12 active open net-cage farms produced billions of eggs over an 18-month period. In just two weeks, Orr calculated that 1.6 billion eggs were produced. Further analysis showed that when fewer farmed salmon are present, fewer eggs are produced, and fewer wild fish were infected. As prior research shows, sea lice infestations from salmon farms are responsible for major population crashes of wild salmon in the Broughton.
In British Columbia, there are approximately 85 active farms operating at one time which begs the question, if 12 farms produce billions of sea lice eggs, how many are 85 or more producing?
Read the full report at Watershed Watch.
From: "Shauna MacKinnon (Farmed and Dangerous)
farmed@mail.democracyinaction.org
==========
The Wave Newsletter - Friday, March 09, 2007
Featured column
Open-ocean fish farmers form trade group
Over 50 representatives from open-ocean aquaculture and supporting industries agreed to form the Ocean Stewards Institute (OSI) trade organization.
The decision to create the advocacy organization was made following a unanimous vote by a broad coalition of attendees at a meeting held last week at the World Aquaculture Society conference in Texas.