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The MAP News, 188th Ed., 19 August 2007
Dear Friends,
This is the 188th Edition of the Mangrove Action Project News - 19, August 2007. Please again consider sending in a donation to Mangrove Action Project. Our workload is racing ahead of our budget, but with your generous support, we can keep up, and then do the work that needs to get done!
For the Mangroves,
Alfredo Quarto
Mangrove Action Project
"Man did not weave the web of life. He is merely a strand within it, and whatever he does to the web he does to himself." (From Chief Seattle (Native American after whom Seattle was named))
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.
All news items and notices published in the MAP News can also be accessed directly from our home page www.mangroveactionproject.org, with links to the full story and the original source. New items are posted daily and are available as an RSS feed!
Contents for MAP NEWS, 188th Edition, 19 August 2007
FEATURE STORY
The New Wal-Mart Effect: Cleaner Thai Shrimp Farms
MAP WORKS
MAP Gets Kudos For Its Work With Ramsar
Check Out MAP's New Adopt A Program On MAP's New Website!!
New Ecological Mangrove Restoration Workshop In Florida
Nigeria
Nigeria: Rich in Oil, Dependent On Firewood
CHEVRON TO STAND TRIAL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN NIGERIA
Togo
Local NGO Works With Communities To Conserve Mangoves
Liberia
Shannon Attributes Sea Erosion to Sand Mining,
Ghana
What Makes a Project Work?--A comparison of two mangrove restoration projects in Ada, Ghana
Mauritius
'Our Sea And Lagoon Are Not for Sale'
Indonesia
Indonesia seeks clarification over China seafood ban
Vietnam
Vietnamese coastal wetlands facing environmental disaster
Coastlines under threat from tourism industry (Hanoi, Vietnam)
Brunei
Brunei holds international workshop on shrimp aquaculture
India
Indian State of Orissa plans to ban Greenpeace activities
Mangroves - Key to Coastal Protection
Bangladesh
Shrimp industries in southern Bangladesh hit by power shortage
Promoting eco-tourism in the Sundarbans
China
Is Wal-Mart to be blamed for this?:
Iran
Iran shrimp trade prospects not bright
LATIN AMERICA
Mangrove Action Day A Success in Latin America
Brazil
Letter from Social Organizations Concerning Aquaculture Certification
***ACTION ALERT!!!***
Ypioca attempts to intimidate and silence social movements
Following the peak in 2003, shrimp farming declines in Brazil
The Dark Side of Biofuels: Horror in the "Brazilian California"
The Bahamas
Guana Cay fight goes international Smith to speak at United Nations
Wetlands disappearing at alarming rate in The Bahamas
The Smoking Gun of Slave Labor Tears At The Heart of Bimini's Mangroves
EUROPE
General trends In Seafood Consumption
USA
US SEAFOOD CONSUMPTION INCREASES IN 2006
Wal-Mart Going Into Shrimp Farming Business in Thailand?
Wary diners ask: Is fish from China?
Researchers Demonstrate Shrimp Harvest
FDA failed to test Chinese seafood during 'import alert'
Shrimp dumping duties revoked
STORIES / ISSUES
Satellite survey gives big picture of world's coral reefs
Fish Imports Increase Risk of Overfishing and Contaminants
Globalization of Conservation: Conquering the Green Divide
The Warming Challenge
CONFERENCES / WORKSHOPS / PUBLICATIONS
Publications on Sea Level Rise Affecting Mangroves
The Proceedings of the "Mangroves as Fish Habitat"Symposium Available
Swimming in Circles--Aquaculture and the End of Wild Oceans
ANNOUNCEMENTS
New Film Documentary on Tsunami's Enviro Lessons
AQUACULTURE CORNER
Closed-containment fish farm project gets federal funding
Salmon sea lice "Caligus" outbreak confirmed in Chilean farms
Twenty-Six Year Veteran of Aquaculture Industry Joins WWF Team
Global aquaculture and fisheries market to exceed 123 mn tonnes by 2009, says new report
Study Looks At Implications Of Salmon Breeding
Note from Editor: The article below is quite faulty in its analysis, so please read my response below which I sent to the editor of the Wall Street Journal, hoping they will print my response. It is these kinds of misinformation articles that need our attention today!
The New Wal-Mart Effect: Cleaner Thai Shrimp Farms
By KRIS HUDSON and WILAWAN WATCHARASAKWET
July 24, 2007
Amid the fishing villages of Chanthaburi Province, bracketed by the Gulf of Thailand and the Khao Soi Dao mountains, the inherently messy trade of shrimp farming is undergoing an environmental overhaul spearheaded by Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
The destruction of mangrove swamps and the pollution of natural waterways with waste from shrimp ponds has long drawn the ire of environmentalists, but in the past two years, Rubicon Resources LLC, a Los Angeles-based supplier of farmed shrimp to Wal-Mart, has bought and upgraded roughly 150 Thai shrimp farms. Among Rubicon's changes: increasing the testing and documentation of what is in its ponds, planting mangrove elsewhere to make up for the trees destroyed by its farms and standardizing treatment of the water discharged from its ponds.
Rubicon is pushing to meet a year-end deadline that all phases of shrimp production adhere to environmental and social standards backed by Wal-Mart, Red Lobster operator Darden Restaurants Inc. and other big buyers. The U.S.-based industry group that drafted the standards, the Global Aquaculture Alliance, plans to unveil similar guidelines this year for farming of tilapia and catfish, with standards for salmon following later. Wal-Mart pledges to endorse those, too, and to require compliance from its suppliers.
But the new standards come with controversy. An estimated 80% of Thai shrimp farms -- most of them small operations run by families living on-site -- either lack the resources to make necessary upgrades or balk at the certification fees as costs they likely won't recover. That could widen the gap between the haves and have-nots in Thai shrimp farming and world aquaculture as a whole, providing a greater advantage to large, well-capitalized suppliers like Rubicon.
Shrimp is the largest seafood crop imported to the U.S., totaling 590,299 metric tons last year. And Thailand, home to one of Asia's most advanced aquaculture industries, is the largest exporter of shrimp to the U.S. -- $1.28 billion worth annually. Aquaculture -- the practice of raising fish, crustaceans or mollusks in captivity for human consumption -- is gaining importance as wild fish populations dwindle. If current consumption rates continue, a 2006 scientific study predicted, all wild aquatic species currently harvested for food will fall below a tenth of their largest historic population by 2050.
Roughly half of the seafood consumed globally is already farm-raised, and as that expands, Wal-Mart and others are seeking to reduce the environmental problems it often leaves in its wake.
The changes afoot in the Thai shrimp ponds reflect the world-spanning, industry-rattling reach of Wal-Mart's push for environmental sustainability. The Bentonville, Ark., retailer has prodded its suppliers to cut their packaging and pare their reliance on nonrenewable fuels. It has relentlessly promoted long-lasting but slow-selling compact-fluorescent light bulbs. It is the world's largest buyer of organic cotton, purchasing more than 10 million pounds a year. And it has pledged to eventually buy its wild-caught fish only from fisheries certified as environmentally sustainable.
Wal-Mart first threw its weight behind the aquaculture alliance's shrimp-farming standards in 2005, announcing that by the end of this year it would buy all its shrimp from farms certified as meeting the standards.
The endorsement drew attention; Wal-Mart buys more shrimp than any other U.S. company, importing 20,000 tons annually -- about 3.4% of U.S. shrimp imports. With Wal-Mart's nod, "we went from trying to convince individual facilities to become certified to having long waiting lines," says George Chamberlain, president of the aquaculture alliance.
Complying with the mandate isn't easy. Achieving certification takes three to six months on average, and rarely does a farm pass without needing to shore up aspects of its operations. Farming shrimp produces substantial pollution, from the waste generated by the crustaceans themselves to a range of water-borne contaminants. In extreme cases, farmers let their ponds flow untreated into the nearest river, souring the environment for native wildlife. Under the new standards, contaminants must be removed from the farms' discharge with filters, settling ponds and by infusing oxygen, usually with mechanized paddle wheels that churn the pond water. The quality of that discharge must be meticulously monitored.
Other requirements: Farmers must replace any mangroves cleared for their ponds by planting three times as many of the trees elsewhere. Applying antibiotics to the shrimp is prohibited because the drugs can seep out of the ponds and weaken the immune systems of wild species. The farms must pay workers the prevailing local wage.
Many small farmers in Thailand have disregarded the aquaculture alliance's standards, which, like the antibiotics ban, they say duplicate those already established by the Thai Department of Fisheries' Code of Conduct for aquaculture farms as well as standards imposed by European buyers. And some Thai farmers see little benefit in paying inspection fees -- amounting to a fraction of a penny per pound of shrimp produced -- or upgrading facilities where necessary because Wal-Mart won't reimburse them for their costs nor pay a premium for certified shrimp. Wal-Mart views those costs as the industry's responsibility.
"It duplicates the procedure, and it doubles the expense," says Pinyo Kiatpinyo, president of Thailand's Network of Shrimp Farmer Cooperatives, which comprises 2,000 small farmers nationwide.
Others see the standards fueling a continuing consolidation of the industry. Wal-Mart prefers to buy from fewer, stronger suppliers with control over all phases of production. Rubicon, for example, owns 14 seafood-processing plants, roughly 150 farms and importing and exporting operations. "Short term, [the costs of meeting the standards] are onerous," says Brian Wynn, Rubicon's president and chief executive. "Long term, they are beneficial because they set up barriers to entry to nonintegrated companies."
In the past two years, Rubicon spent more than $2 million amassing its portfolio of Thai farms and improving their operations to meet certification standards. "We have buffer canals, water-treatment processes, mangrove conservation, and [we] take care of public canals around our farms," says Chana Tanglertpanya, president of Rubicon's aquaculture division in Thailand. "We also make good relations with the local villagers."
Wal-Mart says it doesn't foresee needing to shift some of its shrimp buying out of Thailand because of farms failing to meet the standards, but it can if it must. "Proactive suppliers and farmers will see this opportunity and respond" by complying with the standards, said Peter Redmond, Wal-Mart's vice president of seafood and deli. "The rest of the [Thai production] will sell on the open marketplace, the same way it always has."
Meanwhile, some environmental groups criticize the aquaculture alliance's standards as too weak, alleging they stop short of significant environmental safeguards to instead allow producers a lower hurdle for gaining compliance. The World Wildlife Fund is overseeing the drafting of environmental standards for aquaculture production of 11 species in the hope that Wal-Mart will either adopt them or prod the aquaculture alliance to match them.
--James Hookway contributed to this article.
Write to Kris Hudson at kris.hudson@wsj.com
======
Response to Wall Street Journal:
Dear Editor,
I am responding with much concern to your article, "The New Wal-Mart Effect: Cleaner Thai Shrimp Farms." This is clearly an exaggeration based upon unfounded shrimp farm industry propaganda. In the Developing nations where shrimp production is most prominent and where these certification standards will apply, one discerns gaps between reality and these flawed standards developed without input from those most affected by shrimp aquaculture expansion -- the countless subsistence farming and fishing communities which lie in the path of industrial shrimp aquaculture, and whose members' lives and livelihoods are repeatedly disrupted by this same industry that now makes claims to certify itself via self-set "standards."
Now Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, intends to "begin certifying all of their imported farm-raised shrimp", but this wishful thinking will not ensure it "is grown in a sustainable way, with minimal impacts on the environment." For one thing, the certifying organization chosen for third-party review is the Aquaculture Certification Council (ACC), which is utilizing a description of Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) developed by the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA), itself a powerful shrimp industry consortium which set up the ACC in the first place to do its own bidding in certifying its shrimp production. This is a convoluted certification process, to say the least, and should not be looked at through rose tinted lenses as the article does.
These standards will not be effective in halting mangrove loss due to shrimp farming. Shrimp aquaculture is still considered by many scientific experts to be the largest contributing factor to present day loss of mangrove ecosystems.
From Alfredo Quarto mangroveap@olympus.net
MAP Gets Kudos For Its Work With Ramsar
Gland, Switzerland 7 May 2007
Ref.: The Wetlands for the Future Fund: A 10 Year Assessment
Greetings from the Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971). The Secretariat is pleased to announce that the report The Wetlands for the Future Fund: A Performance Review of the First Ten Years is now available, and can be downloaded at: RAMSAR.ORG. This review constitutes the first effort to better understand the Funds performance and effectiveness in the achievement of its objectives, and was made possible with the invaluable contribution of the Mangrove Action Project and the Earth Island Institute, which previously carried out project WFF/01-2/CAR/1, and recently submitted additional information to prepare this document. The Secretariat extends its deepest gratitude.
The Wetlands for The Future Fund has been praised by governments, NGOs, scientists, and other stakeholders as a highly useful tool to develop capacities through the exchange of information, the empowerment of local communities and the involvement of the public at the local, national and regional levels. We hope this assessment contributes to enhance the general public's understanding of the Fund, promote its wider diffusion and stimulate its continued improvement.
Yours sincerely,
Adrián Ruiz Carvajal
Interim Regional Affairs Officer
=========
Check Out MAP's New Adopt A Program On MAP's New Website!!
Adopt a Program Section
MAP's new Adopt-a-Program has been posted to the website. Please help MAP by forward the link to anyone who might be interested in donating!
www.mangroveactionproject.org/get-involved/donate/map-adopt-a-program
==========
New Ecological Mangrove Restoration Workshop In Florida Scheduled
The full announcement about the 6th "Mangrove Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration Training Course", March 3-6, 2008, Hollywood, Florida, is now available at www.mangroverestoration.com.
ANNOUNCEMENT: "Mangrove Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration" training workshop, March 3-6, 2008, Hollywood, Florida.
The sixth "Mangrove Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration" training workshop will be held at the Anne Kolb Nature Center, in Hollywood, Florida, USA, March 3-6, 2008. The training site is within a 500 ha mangrove restoration project at West Lake Park operated by Broward County. The award-winning project was designed by Roy R. "Robin" Lewis III, who will be teaching the course.
The workshop includes an introduction to mangrove forest ecology, management options and problems, and restoration design issues. The class programs are all given in a PowerPoint format, and each student is provided with a print out of the presentation and additional handouts including monitoring reports for typical restoration projects. Case studies of 5 successful mangrove restoration projects, and several unsuccessful projects, are discussed. Field trips are taken within the 500 ha West Lake Park mangrove restoration project (now 18 years old) and a new project just five years old, for a comparison.
The emphasis is on cost-effective successful mangrove management and restoration, and cost figures for typical projects are discussed and explained. The hydrologic restoration of mangroves is emphasized as the best approach to successful restoration at minimal cost (see Erftemeijer and Lewis 2000; Lewis 1999, 2000a, 2000b, 2005; Lewis and Marshall 1998; Lewis and Streever 2000; Lewis et al. 2005, Stevenson et al. 1999; and Turner and Lewis 1997, for further discussion about hydrologic restoration of mangroves). Planting of mangroves is discussed in light of the many failures of this alone to successfully restore mangroves.
Cost for the course not including travel to Ft. Lauderdale, lodging or food is $800, due by January 1, 2008 to Coastal Resources Group, Inc., P.O. Box 5430, Salt Springs, Florida, USA 32134-5430. Two qualified students will be allowed to attend for free, and can apply at any time for the two fee-waived positions. This course is organized by the Coastal Resources Group, Inc., and will be taught in conjunction with the Mangrove Action Project <www.mangroveactionproject.org>. Lodging close to the training site is available at the SleepInn in Dania Beach, Florida. Reservations need to be made early. Each participant is responsible for making their own reservations.
More information can be provided by Robin Lewis at
<LESRRL3@aol.com> and www.mangroverestoration.com.
Contents for MAP NEWS, 187th Edition, 23, July 2007
Nigeria
Nigeria: Rich in Oil, Dependent On Firewood
Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)
23 July 2007
Posted to the web 23 July 2007
Toye Olori
Lagos
It is a paradox of note: the fact that while Nigerians live in the world's sixth-largest oil producer, most of them still rely on wood for their fuel.
Of the country's population of over 140 million, about 70 percent live in rural areas and are directly or indirectly dependent on forest resources -- especially wood -- to meet their domestic energy needs, says Musa Amiebinomo of the national Department of Forestry.
This is leading to destruction of forest cover, a situation aggravated by illegal commercial logging.
Figures from the 2005 ' State of the World's Forests' report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) indicate that between 1990 and 2005, Nigeria lost 35.7 percent of its forest cover.
Boniface Egboka, an environmentalist and dean of the School of Postgraduate Studies at Anambra State University in south-eastern Nigeria, blames the continued use of firewood on corruption.
"Nigeria is still dependent of firewood when we have abundant oil and gas because our so-called leaders are fraudulent and corrupt. They care less about the welfare of the citizens and so they allow the forests to be mowed down," he told IPS.
"We have no reason to be using firewood. We have the financial and human resources to pipe gas into homes for domestic use We are deforesting the whole of the north through harvesting of wood for fire, and now we are shifting the savannah southwards into the rain forest through logging ."
From: "Kwon, Cheemin (FOEL)" <Cheemin.Kwon@fao.org>
========
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:Marco Simons, tmt@tvlegal.com
CHEVRON TO STAND TRIAL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN NIGERIA
Federal Judge Finds Evidence that Chevron Was Complicit In Murder of Nigerian Villagers
August 15, 2007, San Francisco, CA: In a series of rulings issued late yesterday, United States District Court Judge Susan Illston rejected Chevron Corporation's final attempts to avoid trial for its involvement in brutal attacks on Nigerian villagers.
Nine Nigerian plaintiffs are suing Chevron in federal court in San Francisco for deaths and other abuses in two incidents in 1998 and 1999, in which Nigerian military and police paid by Chevron and using Chevron helicopters and boats shot and tortured protestors and destroyed two villages allegedly associated with opposition to
Chevron's oil activities in the desperately poor Niger delta. The plaintiffs assert claims ranging from torture to wrongful death.
Judge Illston found "evidence that CNL [Chevron Nigeria Limited] personnel were directly involved in the attacks; CNL transported the GSF [Nigerian government security forces], CNL paid the GSF; and CNL knew that GSF were prone to use excessive force," concluding that the evidence would allow a jury to find not only that Chevron knew the attacks would happen and assisted in them, but also that Chevron actually agreed to the military's plan.
"We're pleased that our clients will finally get justice for Chevron's crimes," said plaintiffs' counsel Theresa Traber, partner at Traber & Voorhees. "Chevron conspired with and paid the notorious Nigerian military to attack our clients and their loved ones, murdering at least seven people, torturing others and burning two villages to the ground. The court correctly refused to let narrow legalistic excuses allow Chevron to escape responsibility for these brutal attacks" Rick Herz, Litigation Coordinator at EarthRights International, added, "The court's ruling reaffirms that corporations who are complicit in human rights abuses can be held accountable, regardless of where those abuses occur."
Trial in the case, Bowoto v. Chevron Corp., No. 99-2506, is expected within the year. In addition to ERI and Traber & Voorhees, the plaintiffs are represented by the private law firms of Hadsell & Stormer and Siegel & Yee; the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Electronic Frontier Foundation; and Paul Hoffman, Michael Sorgen, Robert Newman, Anthony DiCaprio, Elizabeth Guarnieri, and Richard Wiebe. More information on the case may be found at www.earthrights.org.
From: Cindy Cohn cindy@eff.org
=====
Togo
Local NGO Works With Communities To Conserve Mangoves
Since 2002, ANCE-Togo has stated small mangrove conservation projects in this region. On February 02, 2004, during the celebration of the World Wetlands Day, ANCE-Togo had organized several meetings of information on the necessity to protect the Togolese mangroves. The basic partners for these activities were the Communities Basic Organisation (CBO) of the villages located along the channel of Gbaga, mangroves zones in Togo (Zebe, Agokpame, Agouegan, Seko, Djeta, Zanve, and Agbananken) and other surrounding villages like Togodo, Azime and Adame, that is to say a total of 10 villages of the South-East of Togo.
Since this period, ANCE-Togo has built a fruitful relationship with the local populations of mangrove zones. In June 2003, five local communities approached ANCE-Togo to assist them to initiate several programs to plant mangroves in the degraded zones. Since this time, more than 12 hectares of mangrove are regenerated on a total of 3200 hectares degraded. In Togo, the situation of mangroves is very alarming. The surface of the mangroves which was 4000 hectares in 1988, passed to 2000 hectares in 1995 and to 800 hectares only in 2004, that is to say a disappearance of more than 4/5 of the total surface of mangroves. The mangrove's ecosystems are threatened of disappearance. It becomes urgent to undertake concrete actions of information, training, reforestation and lobbying/advocacy.
That is why, in May, 2006, ANCE had initiated in partnership with the aforementioned local communities a project which aims to promote a participatory approach for a sustainable management of mangrove resources in Togo and to rehabilitate one hectare of mangrove in Agouegan. in August 2006 and after 11 months of activities, the project has reached its expected results.
From: Ebeh Adayade Kodjo ebeh@cooperation.net
========
Liberia
Shannon Attributes Sea Erosion to Sand Mining, Building, Extracting Along Beaches
08/07/07 - FPA Staff Report
Monrovia -
As the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend surged into the cities of Buchanan in Grand Bassa County, Robertsport in Grand Cape County and the Mamba Point here in Monrovia, the Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy say as long as people continue to build houses along the beaches, sand mining and continue to take mangrove from the beaches, sea erosion will continue.
Dr. Eugene Shannon, himself an environmentalist, said sea erosion will continue to take place at varying degrees as a result of man's intrusion as well as natural disasters.
He said this situation is no different from what occurred last year or years before.
"The situation is going to get worse as people begin to impact the coastal front," Dr. Shannon said; adding, "If people continue to build houses on the beaches, as people continue to mine sand from the beaches and as people continue to take mangroves from the beaches which give stability to the sand on the beach, sea erosion will continue."
The Lands, Mines and Energy Minister, also a geologist, said the current trend of sea erosion, floods and other natural disasters is occurring all over the world as a result of global warming. "The earth is getting warmer and when the earth gets warmer the ice cap begins to melt. When the ice cap melts sea level rises and when this happens you have marine transgression and beach erosion," Dr. Shannon emphasized.
He said this will continue to happen as long as we have global warming which is natural as well as man induced aspects which he referred to as sand mining, building homes on the beach and taking vegetation from the beaches.
He said with Liberia's 43,000 square miles, people have to move back to Grand Bassa Grand Kru, Grand Cape Mount and other counties and change their live styles to other vocations including agriculture.
Dr. Shannon noted that it is disastrous to over impact the coastal front; noting that it's much safer to move into various landward areas .
He said his Ministry continues to run radio shows and host workshops to educate the populace on the consequences of mining sand in those areas that are prohibited "because when you deplete the amount of sand in a particular area and you cause a sand deficit which causes beach erosion."
Dr. Shannon said there are a number of measures that can be put in place to reduce coastal erosion. He named long sea barriers that can be projected into sea; or concretize the shore front parallel to the coastline so that it will keep the coastal front stable and there's less erosion. He warned that these ventures cost millions of United States dollars.
Another alternative he named is beach nourishment where sand is pumped from the middle of the sea back unto the coastline where the coastline is renourished. Again, he said it costs millions of United States dollars. "I just did that for Gambia when I was working for the African Development Bank. I spent about US$30 million on a small country like Gambia," he said; adding, "You have remedies, but remedies are expensive.
"We cannot afford this at this particular time so we ask our people, for long range stability, to move to the inner part of the country so that their lives may be spared," he concluded.
===================
Ghana
What Makes a Project Work?
A comparison of two mangrove restoration projects in Ada, Ghana
by Anuradha S. Rao, Gordon Foundation Global Youth Fellow
Two similar areas, two similar sets of problems, two similar approaches to solve them. What made one mangrove restoration project succeed and the other not?
Ada is a town on the western side of the Volta River estuary in Ghana, West Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea. The Department of Wildlife office responsible for the Ramsar site in this area initiated mangrove restoration projects in three villages in the area, two of which will be discussed here: Obane and Terkpekope. Both villages are situated slightly inland from the mouth of the Volta River, and were historically alongside tributaries that flowed into the Songor Lagoon.
In recent decades, people in these villages and others have noticed decreased water levels in the Volta, to the point where the tributaries ran dry. According to local Wildlife staff, reasons for this may have included the damming of the Volta River at Akosombo, reduced rainfall (due to climate change), increased water use for irrigation in upstream areas, and choking of waterways by reeds. Fortunately, the local people can use these reeds to weave mats. But women in Terkpekope now walk 2.5km to fetch water during the dry season, and 800 metres during the rainy season. Another effect of this loss of water has been the loss of mangrove forests.
Mangroves have also been depleted in Obane and Terkpekope because of wildfires, habitat alteration, ecological fragmentation and conversion of ecological sites into rice and sugar cane farms. Over-harvesting has contributed to depletion, but has not been the major factor.
When asked why mangroves are important to them, villagers in both communities stated that they provide them with fish and crabs. They also recognized that mangroves provide a home for other wildlife.
Seeing these potential benefits of mangrove habitat restoration, in addition to improved access to water, men and women from Obane and Terkpekope agreed to work on a restoration project in exchange for food, and basic equipment such as cutlasses and rubber boots. They cleared dense grasses by hand to open the waterways, and planted mangroves alongside their cleared water channels.
Obane's success is visible from a distance; two thick stands of mangroves are prominent on the otherwise altered landscape. The villagers cleared 8.5 km of a creek all the way from their village to the main river. Water is now flowing through the area, their mangroves are tall and dense, and fish and other wildlife have returned.
Unfortunately, Terkpekope's mangrove restoration project was not so successful. The manual labour was a real challenge; the grasses grew so quickly that by the time the villagers had cleared one area and moved on to a second, the first would start growing again. The project ran out of funds before the community could finish clearing the channel. What really did in their project, however, was a fire set by a neighbouring village to prepare land for farming. The dry weather, plus the runaway fire, did such damage to the plantation that very few trees remain. Community leader Doris Oger Bafloe has since spoken to the neighbouring villages, and they have stopped setting fires. For some time now, Terkpekope has been awaiting funding from the local District Assembly to dredge the creek and restore the water flow that both the people and the mangroves need, however at the time of writing, the District Assembly had yet to respond to their request.
In the same environmental context and the same working conditions, therefore, one group met with more success than the other. Key factors included the following: adequate funds from the outset to complete the project once started; awareness and cooperation from neighbouring communities; recognition of the limitations of manual labour; and cooperation of the local government.
From: Anuradha S. Rao, M.Sc.
Gordon Foundation Global Youth Fellow
St. John's, Canada
===============
Mauritius
'Our Sea And Lagoon Are Not for Sale'
Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)
1 August 2007
By Nasseem Ackbarally
Port Louis
"We are selling everything in this country: from our bodies to our land and now our sea and lagoons. Is there anything left for us?" asked Jack Bizlall, spokesperson for a nongovernmental network of organisations called Kalipso.
"I do not know how to tell my kids that they are selling the sea and the lagoon to private investors and that I am doing nothing to oppose them," insisted environmentalist Vassen Kauppaymuthoo.
Together with local fishermen and others who earn their living from the sea and the lagoon, they are struggling to stop the government from implementing the Aquatic Business Activities Bill, presently being circulated.
The government's idea is to provide a legal framework to regulate the exercise of business activities in and around the sea. Portions of sea and lagoon areas will be leased and therefore shall cease to be part of the public domain while a lease is in operation. Every lease will be effective for a maximum of 30 years.
Leases to private businesses for the exclusive occupation of portions of the sea, the lagoon and also land near coastal waters will be granted for the setting up of marinas, aquaculture and the extraction of sea water.
Any person entering such an area shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to a fine not exceeding 100,000 rupees (3,125 dollars).
The government is seeking private businesses with expertise, enough capital to pay the lease and licences and with up to 80 percent foreign ownership.
"If this bill is passed, the sea, the lagoon and the ocean around the island that belong to the public will be snatched away and given to investors for exclusive use," says Kauppaymuthoo, insisting that the government cannot sell or lease the sea as the country's constitution determines that it does not belong to the government.
According to him, aquaculture has negative consequences on the environment as the fish are fed with animal flour, toxic chemical products and other substances which will pollute the sea and the lagoon and cause diseases among people. Aquaculture pollutes the environment and also attracts sharks.
"The tourism industry that is earning lots of foreign exchange for the island will also suffer," he emphasised. Mauritius is fast developing its tourism industry, targeting about two million tourists annually in the short term.
From: scrist@seaweb.org
Indonesia
Aug. 7, 2007
Indonesia seeks clarification over China seafood ban
Indonesian authorities were to seek an explanation and further guidance from Beijing Monday over a sudden ban imposed by China on its seafood imports, an official said Monday.
"We drafted a letter demanding clarification on Saturday and it should be handed over to the Chinese government by our embassy in Beijing today (Monday)," fisheries ministry spokesman Saut Hutagalung told AFP.
China's State media reported the ban on Saturday, saying that bacteria and chemicals had been found in excessive amounts in some imports from here, including salmonella in Indonesian eel.
Hutagalung said the Indonesian government had not been told in advance of the move. "Usually, a notification of non-compliance is sent whenever there is a product that does not meet their standards, but this time, the announcement of the ban came suddenly, out of the blue," he said.
Indonesia wanted to see results of laboratory tests or other evidence used by China to support their decision to enact the ban, he said.
Fisheries minister Freddy Numberi told reporters separately that if the ban was really in effect, Indonesia wanted to know "which products are affected and which producers or exporters are concerned."
Indonesia exports 150 million US dollars worth of seafood products to China each year, Hutagalung said.
The Chinese move came after Indonesia's Food and Drug Agency said last week that it had found several Chinese products, including cosmetics and medicines, containing dangerous additives.
Hutagalung said that the fisheries, foreign affairs and trade ministries were meeting with the country's association for seafood businesses to discuss what steps to take next.
The safety of China's exports has sparked considerable global concern in recent months, following the discovery of health hazards in everything from toys to toothpaste made in China.
Source: Channel NewsAsia
From: icsf@icsf.net
========
Vietnam
May 9, 2007
Vietnamese coastal wetlands facing environmental disaster
By Luke Brocki
Powell River Peak reporter Luke Brocki travelled to Cambodia and Vietnam after winning a fellowship administered by the Jack Webster Foundation and funded by the Canadian International Development Agency.
The final installment in his series of development-related stories explores the impacts of aquaculture on coastal communities and mangrove forests in Vietnam's Xuan Thuy National Park in Giao Thuy district, Nam Dinh province, about 150 km southeast of Hanoi. The people of this coastal area, like much of the population of Vietnam, rely on the marine environment for food and livelihood, but a classic tragedy of the commons is leading to environmental degradation and exploitation of resources at speeds that outpace conservation efforts.
Women in conical hats scurry around the shoreline, sifting through sacks of clams they just hauled ashore. A large, green scale buckles under the weight of load after load of farmed bivalves. The women pile the weighed clams into a truck and take rafts back to the dykes that house their nets. The burdened truck heads northeast. If recent history is to be trusted, it's heading for China, Vietnam's main importer of shellfish. The second of two diurnal tides comes in, flooding sparse stands of baby mangroves in Vietnam's Xuan Thuy National Park.
The park, in the Giao Thuy district of Nam Dinh province, may house the country's first Ramsar site-a wetland of international importance based on a 1975 treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands-but it has also caught up with the country's economic reforms and is facing habitat degradation, environmental pollution and dangerous exploitation of resources.
The economic reforms began in 1986. Dubbed "doi moi", or renovation, by the Communist Party of Vietnam, the reforms permitted and encouraged free-market enterprises and abandoned the push to collectivize the industrial and agricultural operations of the country. They also resulted in rapid economic changes in the country's coastal areas and conflicts over the management of collective property.
Academics working in the area draw parallels to Garrett Hardin's 1968 Science essay The Tragedy of the Commons, which introduced a conflict over resources between individual interests and the common good. The tragedy unfolds thusly: A coastline is shared by local clam farmers. The farmers wish to maximize their yield and so will increase the size of their farm whenever possible. Of course, each farmer receives all the proceeds from each additional clam they harvest, while the coastline is slightly degraded by each additional clam. Since all farmers share the disadvantages, the sensible course of action seems to be the further addition of clams. Economically speaking, this seems rational no matter how degraded the coastline gets, since the gain is always greater to each farmer than the individual share of the distributed environmental costs.
Source: The Powell River Peak
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Coastlines under threat from tourism industry (Hanoi, Vietnam)
July 27 2007, Viet Nam News
With its striking coastline, Vietnam is quickly becoming a popular tourism destination, but at the cost of its eco-systems. Experts discuss ways to protect the ocean environment while aggressively developing the tourism industry with Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam (Vietnam Economic Times).
In the last few years, Vietnam's sea tourism has been developing at quite a good pace. The country's tourism industry is expected to attract between 7 and 7.5mil visitors and have an annual revenue of more than US$2bil per year by 2010, says Director of the Institute for Aquaculture Economics and Planning, Nguyen Chu Hoi. Sea tourism is expected to account for 80% of all tourists to the country and contribute 70% of the total tourism revenue.
Under the pressures of development and poor natural resource exploitation practices, the country's mangrove forests have shrunk to 155,290ha - 100,000ha less than in 1990 - and is still decreasing. Experts have also warned that 50% of coral is under threat of extinction. Seagrass faces the same danger. Because the ecosystem is so interdependent, if one element is disturbed, all the other elements are endangered.
Full story & source:
From: "Seagrass-Watch HQ" hq@seagrasswatch.org
===========
Brunei
14 August 2007
Brunei holds international workshop on shrimp aquaculture
By Asri Razak
LOCAL and international shrimp farmers from the region meet in the sultanate for a three-day International Workshop on Shrimp Health. The workshop is to discuss current findings, trends, and management of the global shrimp industry.
"Shrimp aquaculture is our target area," said Deputy Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, Dato Paduka Haji Hamdillah Hj Abd Wahab, in his speech during the launching, yesterday.
He said the results in the country's local shrimp production had been promising. However, Brunei farmers face global impacts, such as viral diseases outbreaks, decline of shrimp prices, and increasing demands of quality products (foods produced in a responsible manner), etc.
The workshop represents a timely initiative on the importance of aquaculture business, paved towards the nation's ambition to be self-sufficient domestically.
The deputy minister also spoke of positioning the country as a centre of excellence in aquaculture technology and services.
Director of Fisheries, Dayang Hjh Hasnah Ibrahim, said that the workshop was hoped would further enhance the participants' understanding on the latest findings on the diagnosis and management of shrimp diseases.
The capabilities of local producers in the shrimp industry can be strengthened in the fields of disease detection.
"Through active discussion, the workshop would alsocreate an avenue for exchange of expertise and experiences," she said.
It would further strengthen networking linkages between both local and international farmers, as well as scientists and experts of the field.
More than 80 registered participants, comprising of local shrimp operators and foreign experts from the Association of Sout-East Asian Nations, Asean, member countries, are attending the event.
The workshop is designed to give an understanding of shrimp diseases that farmers were facing and how to deal with them.
The workshop is conducted by world leading figures in the industry from the United States and Australia.
Today, participants will visit the Department of Fisheries' quarantine and breeding facilities, local shrimp hatchery and farm, and Telisai Phase II pond facility allocated for the development of the sultanate's aquaculture industry.
Source: The Brunei Times
From:"Elaine Corets" ecorets@gmail.com
India
July 31, 2007
Indian State of Orissa plans to ban Greenpeace activities
The government of the Indian State of Orissa has made a move to ban activities of Greenpeace in Orissa. The minister of state for commerce & transport, Jaynarayan Mishra, told the state Assembly on Friday that steps were being taken to ban activities of Greenpeace in Orissa. He said the state education department has been requested to take up the matter with the planning & co-ordination department for action against the NGO.
Greenpeace, a non-governmental organisation championing the cause of environment world over, is in the thick of a controversy over allegation of tampering of a scientific report. North Orissa University vice-chancellor Sudarsan Nanda has alleged that Greenpeace has tampered with the report, 'Rapid Biodiversity Assessment of Dhamra Estuary, Orissa, India', prepared by Dr Sushil Dutta of the university.
Greenpeace, however, has denied the allegation stating the report, 'Biodiversity Assessment of Dhamra Port site and surrounding areas, Orissa', was endorsed by Dr Dutta.
The issue was raised in the Assembly on Friday in the form of a calling attention motion. Replying to the motion by Congress' Ananta Sethi, BJP's Aswani Kumar Patra said there was no legal hurdles for construction of the Dhamra Port.
The port was accorded environment clearance by the Union shipping & transport ministry on January 4, 2000. The National Environment Appellate Authority rejected the objection of the Beach Protection Council on May 7, 2000.
Source: Financial Express
From: icsf@icsf.net
============
9 July 2007
Mangroves - Key to Coastal Protection
by Max Martin
KANNUR, Kerala - Against the deep grey monsoon clouds looming large over the sparkling greenery of northern Kerala, Kallan Pokkudan stood like a hero, bearing his canoe's oar, a pole and a water bottle. "I am going to inspect the mangrove, said the stocky, middle-aged farmer.
Monsoon is mangrove planting time and Pokkudan has planted 100,000 saplings with his own hands. Inspired by his work, the local youth and the forest department have coved several acres along the backwaters and estuaries here, making it the most lush stretch on this coastal belt -- and Pokkudan a celebrity.
There is a 22-species mangrove forest that grows over a man's height around Pokkudan's village nestled in a wetland. It is advancing now and even devouring unsown paddy fields, but nobody minds. "It protects the villages here from wind, storms and the water that gushes down from the mountains when it rains. And gives us enough fish, said Pokkudan.
Amid resort construction, sand mining and other assaults on the delicate coast, it is local conservation initiatives, such as restoring the mangrove forests, that offer any hope that the natural contours of Kerala, a rain-washed coastal strip, will stay intact.
Besides mangrove, locals are now recognising the value of sand bars that offer protection to the coasts against the ravages of man and nature, but these have fallen prey to sand miners who supply the construction industry.
In the southern district of Thiruvananthapuram, that houses the state capital with the same name, T. Peter, president of the state's independent fish workers' union, has been spending nights with his colleagues guarding a strip of sand between the Veli backwaters and the Arabian sea to save it from being carried away by sand miners and sold to the construction industry.
"Thanks to the thick sand bar that the waves have created there, our village was saved from the sea attacks this monsoon," Peter said. Last year, sea water had entered the village through a gouged out estuarine sand bar, devouring houses, flooding the churchyard famous for the annual feast of St Anthony and the open air theatre performances associated with it.
"This monsoon the sea attacked fishing hamlets all along the Kerala coast and possibly this fury is due to global warming," Peter said. "So we need to protect the coast even more."
Global warming is now increasingly being linked to extreme weather events. "Studies indicate that the warming of the troposphere (the lowest portion of the atmosphere) increases moisture content of the atmosphere and is associated with an increase in heavy rainfall events," V. Venugopal of the Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, told IPS.
The number of severe cyclone storms over the north Indian ocean has shown an increasing trend in the past three decades. A study published by Venugopal and colleagues in December 2006, based on rainfall data from central India, noted that extreme rainfall events were rising during the monsoon seasons from 1951 to 2000. The west coast trends are difficult to predict, but the scientists have warned about "enhanced risks associated with extreme rainfall over India in the coming decades".
When the climate changes it is the local events that enhance the disaster vulnerability. M. Baba, director of the Central for Earth Science Studies (CESS), Thiruvananthapuram, noted that population density, infrastructure development and destruction of environmental features along the coasts could worsen the impact of climate change.
Baba calls for an enhancement of all protective features against wave and tide attacks. "Coral reefs, mangroves, sand dunes, and sand bars -- they all stop the waves, cut their fury.
South of Thiruvananthapuram, in Kanyakumari district, India's southern cape, the local fisherfolk knew that much earth science all along. Giant dunes, wrapped up by the sand-binding ipomea (water spinach) creepers, guard several crowded hamlets here. The fisherfolk would rather walk around them to access the sea than spoiling them.
"When the (December 2004) Asian tsunami hit, these sand dunes protected the villages that stood behind them, considerably reducing the casualties," said Cletus, a veteran social worker based in the district.
For several years, there has been a conflict between those who protect the sand dunes and those who mine them for mineral industries. The beach sand here is rich in Ilmenite, the main ore of titanium oxide used in talcum powder and paints and monazite, a rich source of 'rare earth' metals and the radioactive thorium.
Recently, when a group of workers tried to dig out sand in and around Madala village they ran into stiff opposition from the local people and clashes broke out. "After the tsunami, the people here are more ardent in conservation efforts," Cletus said.
About 220 km south of Kannur is Chavakkad, a coastal village that has prospered through remittances from Gulf countries. In a surreal setting of decapitated coconut palms and the debris of brick mortar, Kumaran, a middle-aged labourer, is busy digging out powdery sand that the waves deposited in his red-tiled, plastered home right on the coast. "It was waves and water all over," said his son Madhu in his early 20s. "Last year also a lot of sand came in."
Parts of the beach road is also covered by sand as the sea slowly advances. "About 30 or 35 years back the sand dunes here could protect the villages," recalled C.F. George, a retired school headmaster. Then they all disappeared as concrete mansions sprouted up with money from the Gulf. "People were giving away sand for free from their plots around their houses levelled and then truckloads of sand went into more construction."
Stopping the sand miners is not easy as many have covert political patronage. In Kollam district, at the tsunami-torn Alappad village local youth are helpless in stopping bulldozers gouging out mineral sand from a thin strip of coast. "
"It is not that mangroves can check a major disaster like a tsunami, but they can definitely cushion the impact of waves and tides," says Mohandas, a mangrove expert and cultural ecologist who works with the Kerala State Science and Technology Museum in Thiruvananthapuram. "Mangroves were part of our culture," said Mohandas. "Studies show that Kerala had 1,700 sq km of mangrove decades ago, but it has shrunk to patches in 17 sq km by the time I did my PhD in 1994.
Coastal protection is no one-size-fits-all story, but rather part of a basket of options, scientists say. "You have to pick and choose measures appropriate for the local geography," said Baba. The state fisheries commissioner Sanjeevaghosh echoes his concern. "We need a comprehensive approach to protect coastal areas. The coast has to be seen as an ecosystem."
Source: Inter Press Service
=============
Bangladesh
May 8, 2007
Shrimp industries in southern Bangladesh hit by power shortage
Shrimp industries in the southern region of Bangladesh are facing threats due to shortage of electricity. Sources said work in 39 shrimp processing factories of Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira districts are being seriously hampered for power crisis. These factories have been incurring a loss of Tk 20 mn per day, they added.
Shrimp processing factories are not getting even half of the power against the demand, hampering the processing of shrimp for export. Besides, irrigation of land and production in other factories are also being hampered seriously.The power situation has become worse after power generation halt in 110 MW power units in Khalishpur area recently.
A source of PDB said, per day demand of power in 21 northern districts is 600 MW. As the two power units of 110 MW and 60 MW at Goalpara were halted only 230 MW power are being supplied. Besides, power supply from national grid is not adequate.
Bangladesh earned Tk 35 billion in foreign currency during 2005-06 fiscal year by exporting shrimp, known as "White Gold,", the sources said.
Source: UNB
From: icsf@icsf.net
=============
The Daily Star, Friday, August 17, 2007
Promoting eco-tourism in the Sundarbans
by Mohammad Asrafur Rahman
Mangrove is a peculiar type of ecosystem in the inter-tidal region. Because of its interesting environmental conditions, it offers a wide range of outdoor recreational opportunities. Naturally, mangroves can attract a large number of tourists and be a source of earning through
national and overseas tourism. In many countries, tourism in the mangrove environment has been developed. Revenue earned through eco-tourism from one hectare in a wildlife sanctuary in Kenya, exceeds many times the most optimistic projected return from agriculture.
There is also evidence that the economic benefits derived from forest-based eco-tourism surpass the revenue earned from timber harvesting. It is important to note that preservation of forests, specially mangroves can be compatible to tourism if well planned.
Eco-tourism is a sustainable form of land use, which contributes to environmental conservation, while providing accrued socio-economic benefits to the indigenous people through the non-consumptive uses and indirect values of the natural biological resources. Considering the vulnerable nature of our environment eco-tourism must be encouraged. Eco-tourism should be based on the following principles: (i) optimum multiple use of the resources; (ii) maximum sustainable use; and (iii) conservation and development of natural resources.
Obviously, tourist products should be used in such a way that they are not destroyed. Tourists, who unmindfully or without caring litter the spots leftovers cause damage to the local environment and eventually the earth.
One way to handle such problems is to regulate tourists visits to each place. Restrictions can be imposed on the number of tourists, and on how they undertake their visit, before a site becomes overcrowded. Without controls, it is obvious that the more tourists visit a place, the more its ecological balance may be threatened or degraded.
However, we do not restrict tourism. If we can apply the principles of sustainable development, tourism could be encouraged to grow. More forests could be declared as sanctuaries for tigers, deer, elephants and crocodiles to attract more tourists.
There are good laws in Bangladesh to protect the environment but these are rarely enforced. The goal of eco-tourism development in Bangladesh should be to capture a portion of the enormous global tourism market by attracting visitors and using the revenues to fund local conservation and fuel economic development.
The Sundarbans is a unique ecosystem. Its exceptional scenic beauty and rich wildlife can be source of attraction to different levels of people and is convenient for outdoor recreation. Eco-tourism may be developed without causing damage to vegetation and wildlife. Because of weather condition tourism may be limited to winter months when the climate is fabourable. The only way to visit the Sundarbans is by water transport. Adequate water transport and accommodation facilities inside the forests are to be created to attract local and foreign tourists. In fact the recreational potentiality of the Sundarbans has never been utilized. Facilities needed for the tourists have not been developed. There is immense potentiality of the Sundarbans for earning through tourism. Eco tourism spots in this World Heritage site can easily attract the tourist from everywhere. Some of these sites are as following:
Katka is an eye catching and quiet island located in the north-west part of Sundarbans. Katka is an excellent and favourable spot, where visitors can enjoy bird watching, wildlife especially Royal Bengal Tiger and deer, roaming around by country boat through small creeks and canals and also by walking through the forest. One can also enjoy swimming and sun bathing at Katka's desolate white sand beach.
Kachikhali is a roaming and breeding ground for the Royal Bengal Tiger and is also known as "Tiger Point". There is a Forest Department resort, which is used by the tourists. Visitors spend their time by walking around the tiger point, Katka-Kachikhali beach and visiting the Egg Island or Dimer Char, a small island close to Kachikhali.
Nilkamal is a beautiful place along the Bay of Bengal. The World Heritage plaque was unveiled at Hiron Point of Nilkamal. The combined beauty of sea and green mangroves Nilkamal must attract visitors from the watchtower of Keorasuthi another attractive spot there. Thousands of spotted deer, birds and sometimes a Royal Bengal Tiger can be seen from the tower.
Dublar Char is an island famous for drying fish during the month of November-February in the winter season. This place is also famous for religious festival of Hindu community popularly known as "Rashmela" that takes place at the end of November. Visitors come here to see the life of fisherman and their unique fish drying. These dry fish or 'sutki' is exported to domestic and foreign markets as a delicacy.
The Sundarbans comprises 45 percent of the total productive forest of the country, contributing about one-half of the forest related revenue. About 50 to 60 thousand people work regularly and continuously for about six months, while the number of people entering the forest in a year can be as high as 3.5 million for minor forest product collection and fishing. Of these about 25 thousand work for fish drying, 200 thousand get engaged in shrimp fry collection in the rivers and creeks around the Sundarbans. About 2.5 million people live in the villages surrounding the Sundarbans, while the number of people within 20km of the forest boundary is 3.14 million. The main forest products are timber, firewood, thatching material, newsprint raw material, honey and wax, fish and crabs, shrimp fry and miscellaneous items. Of all the products the fishery of Sundarban represents the most important non-wood component which constitutes 5 percent of the total fish harvest of Bangladesh. Eco-tourism is a major component of the Sundarban Biodiversity Conservation Project. It comprises a range of integrated activities.
Although generally it has been said that tourism in Bangladesh suffers from a poor image, but eco-tourism potential, on the contrary, is rated high. Presently it is in a very early but promising stage of development. The Sundarbans is unique of Bangladesh. This is because of its majestic beauty, richness of biodiversity and tranquillity. There are many aspects to learn and enjoy from this largest mangrove forest.
The Sundarbans represents a charming mystery. It is home of the Royal Bengal Tiger. It provides a peaceful and relaxing refuge from the population density of Bangladesh. Every year innumerable people visit this unique forest. But most of them do not have any sound knowledge about eco-tourism. Their actions often harm the environment in many different ways. Sound pollution is one of them. Many visitors like to enjoy music very loudly, which can be upsetting to the quiet and serene environment. The development of eco-tourism in the Sundarbans should be given top priority both by the Forest Department and the Sundarbans Biodiversity Conservation Project.
Mohammad Asrafur Rahman is with the Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Chittagong University.
From: "zakir kibria" zakir.kibria@gmail.com
China
Is Wal-Mart to be blamed for this?:
From: Seafood.com. Aug. 15, 2007
We note that China has boosted the tax rebates on value-added products from 5-11% to 13%. This is to encourage shrimp producers to expand further into value-added and even branded products. Also on China, we look at the pressures for 'cheap' which have driven many of the practices that have led to problems both in the seafood industry and the toy industry. Although the article focuses mostly on toys, we should remember that the epidemic of net weight cheating and seafood mislabeling is driven by the same dynamic: pressure to cut costs far below the margins on which companies can actually survive.
From: ecorets@gmail.com
Iran
May 9, 2007
Iran shrimp trade prospects not bright
More than 976 tons of shrimp from Iran bound for foreign States were sent back in the year to March 2007, Iran Daily reported.
New head of State Veterinary Organization has warned on Monday that the country may be unable to export shrimp in the year to March 2009. Addressing a press conference, Mojtaba Norouzi, who took over the job two months ago, said the future for shrimp export looked dim.
Elaborating his remarks, the official said, "The country cannot export the marine crustaceans in the next year. The government has to spend huge amount on protecting producers. If this sum had earlier been spent on upgrading the quality of shrimp, we could now have reaped its benefits."
According to him, more than 976 tons of shrimp bound for foreign states were sent back in the year to March 2007, the Persian daily Etemad wrote. "As a result, the country was excluded from shrimp exporting states."
Norouzi, the former head of Ilam Agricultural Jihad Department, contended that regaining the former status in the global shrimp market would be a difficult but not impossible.
Iran has sent results of laboratory tests on its shrimp to Europe (to prove that the consignments have no disease), he noted.
The organization has also negotiated with foreign customers and has dispatched a representative to Belgium, the official added. "It seems that it will take several years for Iran to return on the shrimp exporting list," he noted.
More than 6,000 tons of shrimp bound for EU-member states were sent back to the country due to discrepancy in export documents, director of the Public Relations Office of Iran's Fisheries Organization, Mehdi Shirazi, told ISNA in Tehran early April.
Source: IranMania
From: icsf@icsf.net
Mangrove Action Day A Success in Latin America
ECUADOR
Traditional communities associated with the mangrove ecosystem celebrate International Day in Defense of Mangrove Ecosystems
Clam and crab collectors, charcoal producers, and artisanal fisherfolk of the coastal marine provinces of the country, grouped together in the National Coordination for the Defense of the Mangrove Ecosystem (C-CONDEM), celebrated the International Day in Defense of the Mangrove Ecosystem with community activities.
One of the highlighted events was the International Workshop for the Recuperation and Conservation of the Black Cockle (Andara similis, A. tuberculosa) in Muisne, Esmeraldas Province. The context of this event is the urgent need to recuperate this resource, vital for the economy of traditional communities and whose reduction along the Pacific Coast is putting it in danger of extinction.
Specialist researchers from Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador participated, in addition to artisanal collectors who contributed with their traditional knowledge. The necessity to manage the mangrove ecosystem with an integral focus as an estuarine watershed was one of the most important outcomes; as well as agreements, such as: present the mangrove ecosystem emergency declaration to the governments of the participants and indicate the Black Cockle (piangua) as a threatened species; form a regional alliance with the objective of recuperating and conserving the mangrove ecosystem and its resources, especially the Black Cockle; demand that technical and scientific institutions exchange knowledge with the Traditional Mangrove Ecosystem Communities in order to attain recuperation, management, and conservation of the ecosystem.
EVENTS IN THE PROVINCES OF ECUADOR
Muisne - Esmeraldas Province
Activities focused on community mangrove reforestation in which 300 people from diverse communities participated.
Food Sovereignty Fair - with exhibits and sale of ecologically produced products, in addition to sporting events, and poetry and painting contests with the participation of children and youth. The event was closed with cultural artistic acts.
North of Esmeraldas Province
Meeting for an observational visit to the Ecological Mangrove Reserve Cayapas-Mataje (REMACAM), plan actions in defense of the ecosystem, and manage the dissemination of actions through local communication channels.
Manabi Province
Celebrations were based in San Jacinto - Manglares La Boca, where sporting events took place, toasting the day with a community meal, and a historical recounting was made of the actions in defense of the ecosystem and of the rights of the Traditional Mangrove Ecosystem Communities. The Ecological Mangrove Education Center of San Vicente was the site of a day of reflection on the destruction of the ecosystem.
Guayas Province
Celebrations took place on Puna Island, Santay Island, Cerrito de los Morrenos, Palmar, and in the capital of the province, Guayaquil. Parades, sporting events, and group meetings commemorated the day, culminating with the delivery of informative materials and demands to the offices of the Coastal Sub-secretary.
El Oro Province
In Puntilla, 200 representatives of Mangrove Ecosystem Traditional Communities, fisherfolk, and artisanal collectors met to reflect on their activities, plan the continuation of their community struggle, and to read the Declaration of Mangrove Ecosystem Traditional Communities.
Quito
At the central headquarters of C-CONDEM, authorities and delegates of the organization met with the objective of determining the responsibilities of the State in the Recuperation of the Lands of the Mangrove Ecosystem Traditional Communities. A result was the commitment to install a table of authorities and Mangrove Ecosystem Traditional Communities to deal with the not legalizing the shrimp farming industry and acknowledgment of the Lands of the Mangrove Communities. Accompanying this event was a Food Fair with typical dishes from the mangroves, and talks with students on the actions in defense of the ecosystem carried out by the C-CONDEM organizations.
Submitted by: Comunicacion C-CONDEM
===============
MEXICO
For the last 10 years, Bio Iguana has maintained a constant vigilance and struggle for the conservation of mangroves along the Pacific Coast of Mexico. They invite all to accompany them, along with fisherfolk and residents, in events in defense of the Mangroves:
26 July, 9am
Navidad Laguna
Cihuatlan, Jalisco
26 July, 5pm
Manzanillo, Colima
March and cultural party in defense of mangroves and the coastal lagunas of San Pedrito, Cuyutlan, Las Garzas, and Juluapan.
Submitted by: Bios Iguana A.C.
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BRAZIL
1st March of the Fortaleza Popular Ecological Front
26 July 12:59 pm
Real estate speculation in Fortaleza has destroyed communities, mangroves, and rivers. Magnates influence the State in the name of private interests, constructing roads through the middle of the Cocó Ecological Park, with the aim of making the land more valuable for sale. This is the logic of Capital!
On the International Day of Mangrove Protection, the People of Fortaleza are coming together in the Fortaleza Popular Ecological Front in order to protest against real estate speculation.
Join the cause in fighting in defense of the Cocó River and its Mangroves.
The Popular Front, at this time, is composed of:
BLCOC VERDE;
CMI - Centro de Mídia Independente;
MCP - Movimento dos Conselhos Populares
SOS-COCÓ;
Instituto Brasil Verde
Submitted by: Frente Popular Ecológica de Fortaleza
From Elaine Corets ecorets@gmal.com
========================================================
Brazil
Note from Elaine Corets, MAP's Latin America Coordinator: MAP collaborated with our Brazilian partner, Instituto Terramar, in the organization of a one-day workshop on 28 July to discuss the aquaculture certification process, bringing together representatives from various sectors and regions of Brazil in preparation of the FAO Workshop held in Fortaleza, Ceara State, from July 31-Aug. 3 . Below is the letter produced during the one-day workshop, which has already been signed by many international and Brazilian NGOs. This letter was presented to the plenary session of the FAO meeting in Fortaleza highlighting the issues surrounding shrimp aquaculture certification. The original letter, in Portuguese, is posted on Terramar's website , along with a list of signatories. To add your name to the list, please send your name, organization, and city and/or country to mapamericas@mangroveactionproject.org, and it will be passed on to our Brazilian partner.
Letter from Social Organizations Concerning Aquaculture Certification
In response to the Workshop on aquaculture certification organized by the Brazilian Government, FAO, and NACA to take place 31 July 3 August 2007 in Fortaleza, Brazil, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community associations, fisherfolk associations, fisherfolk, shellfish collectors, pastoral groups, indigenous and African-descendent associations, and university researchers met on 29 July in Prainha do Canto Verde, Beberibe, in the state of Ceara, in order to discuss this process. The following considerations are fruit of the deliberations.
Shrimp farming activities in the South have, in recent history, provoked significant alterations in the functions and environmental services provided by mangrove ecosystems, which are of relevant importance for society. They are being established in wetlands and watersheds without taking into account cumulative impacts and the lack of restoration of degraded areas after the abandonment of the activity.
The shrimp farming industry has been established, in large part, in apicum (salt flats, salt pans, salinas, etc.), characterized as a fundamental component of the mangrove ecosystem: areas of elevated biodiversity; essential for niche diversification; constituting expansion areas for mangrove forests; retainer of specific geo-environmental and eco-dynamic processes; and habitat for fish, migratory birds, crustaceans, and other vertebrates. The apicum is an integral part of the mangrove ecosystem; produces essential environmental resources for traditional communities; and makes available dietary, nutritional, and economic supplies necessary for the existence of fisherman, fisherwomen, shellfish collectors, and indigenous, slave-descendent, and rural peasant populations.
The negative impacts of shrimp farming extend to other spaces beyond where it has been established. Among these impacts are: the profound loss of identity/character of place; the reduction of areas for the carrying out of extractivist activities; and the salinization of subterranean aquifers. This situation, as a whole, puts at risk the communities source of food security, as well as the sovereignty to exercise their traditional activities and decide on the use and management of their lands, promoting a situation of violence and denial of historic rights of these communities.
The certification process cannot legitimize socio-environmental damage deriving from a development model markedly unsustainable and exclusionary. The current criteria and procedures for shrimp farming do not confront the multiple and serious environmental and social impacts resulting from the force of the shrimp farming industry in countries of the South and in Brazil. On the contrary, they do not assure the rights of local populations affected by the aquaculture industry, and do not consider the participation of these populations in consensus building, constituting a process which is anti-democratic and of minimal transparency.
As such, in our perspective shrimp farming represents profound damage to society and the environment, and this proposal of certification is an attempt to legitimize in watersheds and coastal ecosystems an activity which is not viable.
From: Elaine Corets ecorets@gmail.com
====================
29 July 2007
***ACTION ALERT!!!***
Ypioca attempts to intimidate and silence social movements
Read the letter below and sign-on with your support by sending an e-mail to baima.aline@gmail.com
{The letter is also in Portuguese and Spanish, along with a list of those who have already signed on to the protest letter }
Professor Jeovah Meireles of the Geography Department of the Federal University of Ceara (UFC) and the journalist Daniel Fonseca have been called by the justice system to respond to questions related to the fact that they divulged information, in the public domain, which was contrary to the business's interests of Ypioca Agroindustria[1]. The company's attitude was a reaction to the repercussion of an article by the German journalist, Nobert Suchanek (entitled "Hypocrisy in Bio-quality" with international repercussions), through a talk given by Jeovah Meireles during the 1st National Seminar on Environmental Racism (Rio de Janeiro, November 2005). The principle question refers to Ypioca's responsibility for environmental injustices and human rights violations of the Jenipapo-Kaninde indigenous people of Aquiraz, Ceara.
The motives for the legal action was the denouncement and disclosure of environmental damage caused by Ypioca to the Lagoa da Encantada[2] and their lack of respect for human rights of the indigenous Jenipapo-Kaninde people, facts already widely known by society, including the Federal Pubic Ministry, IBAMA (Brazilian Environmental Agency), and FUNAI (National Foundation of Indians).
Ypioca's conduct is motivated by the loss of Organic Certification on its cachaça by its certifier, the Biodynamic Institute - IBD (linked to the international certifier Demeter International). The company's response to the loss was the opening of a legal process to censure the journalistic material, and punishment of the journalist. This, despite the fact that the news can be found published in various international websites and in important networks of social movements and defense of human rights entities.
Nevertheless, Ypioca has been destroying the Lagoa da Encantada for more than 20 years, altering the water quality and the ecosystem traditionally used by the indigenous population. The Lagoa is a fundamental ecosystem for this ethnic group, related to its food security, cultural identity, and daily customs. The Jenipapo-Kaninde have traditionally inhabited the region, while the company indiscriminately degrades environmental systems with "permanent preservation" status. The fact of the matter is that this is only one of many conflicts that have occurred between the ethnic group and Ypioca.
In order to produce cachaça, the company also indiscriminately pumps water to irrigate the sugar cane monoculture (raw material for cachaça production); pollutes ground water; and threatens water storage, fisheries, and subsistence agriculture of the communities which live around the Lagoa, all in detriment to the environmental services of fundamental importance to the quality of life of the Janipapo-Kaninde people. The degradation has been caused, overall, by the release of effluents (vinhota) from the industrial process of cachaça production.
In the referred to legal action, the owners of Ypioca never recognize the existence of the ethnic group and affirm that no Indians exist, nor are there any indigenous lands, throughout the whole coastal zone of Ceara, contrary to the federal government's recognition in the Diario Oficial da Uniao nº 159, 18 August 2004, of this ethnic group and the delimiting of its lands.
Ypioca joins other businesses in the search for high profits, assaulting and selling off nature, degrading indigenous territories and traditional cultures, and disrespecting human rights, all within the logic of markets and capital, generally with the support of governments. True examples of this environmentally destructive practice and promoter of damage to society are shrimp farming and the construction of Tourist Resorts and Golf Courses along the coast; the Iguatemi Tower (14 story office building) along the margin of the Coco River, and other mega-developments in mangroves and sand dunes along the Ceara coastline. This occurs at the time that the crises of this model of development deepens globally, putting at risk the life of the planet, as found in the report on global warming by the Intergovenmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the UN.
Beyond the persecution with censure of journalists and independent researchers, there is a clamping down on free expression and the attempt at intimidation of those who denounce, protest, and act in solidarity with those who resist. In the case of Professor Jeovah Meireles, not only Ypioca is trying to criminalize him, but also the Nova Atlantida Ltda group, which has brought a series of actions against him. This group, which is trying to construct 42 resorts and hotels, 8 golf courses, and 5 marinas on indigenous lands of the Tremembe people of Sao Jose e Buriti, in the city of Itapipoca (130 km to the west of Fortaleza), had their installation license suspended by a civil action of the Federal Public Ministry in Ceara. Just one more case of social damage and environmental racism in an indigenous community.
The history of community struggles and resistance cannot be disrespected. The daily struggle of the Jenipapo-Kaninde has been adopted by a series of environmental entities, professors, students, and other defenders of human rights. We embrace the cause in defense of the environment and of the peoples! We defend freedom of expression, the professional exercise of journalists, and the autonomy and legitimacy of university scientific and technological research.
We are against any type of intimidation, coercion, or impediment to the affirmation and auto-determination of races, genders, and ages (children, youth, and senior citizens). We are in favor of all and any productive activity being always in search of the construction of a humanly diverse, socially equitable society, completely free and environmentally sustainable.
Therefore, in defense of the peoples, we are all Jenipapo-Kaninde and Tremembe of Sao Jose e Buriti! We are all Jeovah Meireles, Nobert Suchanek, and Daniel Fonseca. We all feel called upon by the legal system for questioning; we assume as our own all of the affirmations that have been target of the legal actions and we position ourselves:
In repudiation of the destructive and socio-environmentally damaging practices of the Ypioca company and the legal actions solicited by it with the goal of silencing the social movements;
For the immediate end of attempts to criminalize and intimidate researchers, journalists, indigenous and community leaders, independents and critics, fighting for human rights and for environmental justice and sustainability;
In defense of the preservation of nature, demarcation of all indigenous lands, for free expression, for the reaffirmation of the social function of public universities, and for a new society is possible and necessary!
That the Ceara judiciary does not serve private interests and it restricts itself to assuring the exercise of constitutional guarantees and the mechanisms prescribed in international instruments of human and socio-environmental rights, of which Brazil is a part.
[1] Company producing Cachaça (alcoholic beverage derived from sugar cane), paper and cardboard, PET and PVC bottles, bottler of mineral water, ranching, transportation and distribution of merchandise, and marketing. Headquartered in the city of Aquiraz, state of Ceará, Brazil. Exports products to Europe, principally to Germany.
[2] Lagoa da Encantada is a lacustrine (lake) ecosystem within indigenous lands of the Jenipapo-Kanindé people. Located in the municipality of Aquiraz, 50 km to the east of Fortaleza, it is associated with fixed dunes and mangrove ecosystems. There is a canal that links it to the sea and the coastal zone. It is the village's principle ecosystem and base of the people's traditional activities related to subsistence agriculture, fishing, and leisure. The ecosystem is fundamental for the continuity of activities of this indigenous group.
From ecorets@gmail.com
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Editor's Note: In 2000, I ventured to Brazil joining with Jorge Varela of CODDEFFAGOLF of Honduras in a short speaking tour to try to warn the Brazilian people that shrimp farming was coming their way with a vengeance. At that time, shrimp farming was just getting ready to accelerate its expansion with ambitious, but unsustainable enthusiasm. Only a few listened to us in the too short of time we were there, but the "cycle of poison" from the shrimp aquaculture industry rapidly dulled the sentiments of those in positions of power--the moneyed interests and politicians--who raced ahead full steam, inflicting the same bad investment plans and industry infrastructure they mimicked with less success than most other such "business" ventures in Asia or other parts of Latin America. As predicted, in just 7 short years, Brazil has developed the "itch" of farm disease, water pollution and costs overruns, and now its shrimp farm ventures are facing imminent disaster as described below:
31 July 2007
Following the peak in 2003, shrimp farming declines in Brazil
by Kamila Fernandes
The success of shrimp farming in the country didnt last very long: starting since the end of the 90s, shrimp farming had its peak in 2003, but since then it has been in decline, which has already caused the closing of businesses, abandonment of farms, and unemployment.
In only three years, exports have fallen from US$ 244.5 million in 2003, with 61,000 tons of shrimp, to US$ 154.4 million and 34,000 tons last year a drop of 37% in value.
On the one hand, the producers blame the exchange rate, which overvalues the Brazilian real against the dollar and results in unequal competition with other countries, such as Asians and Ecuador. On the other hand, environmentalists allege that diseases caused by shrimp farmers lack of care of the environment affect production.
One of the largest businesses in the sector in Brazil, Compescal, from Aracati, state of Ceara, earned as much as US$ 22 million in one year. The owner of the company, Expedito Ferreira da Posta, was elected mayor of the city in 2004.
With the crises, the company deactivated half of the 219 shrimp ponds at its headquarters, which occupy 620 hectares an area equivalent to around 870 soccer fields -, and fired 1200 employees. And it no longer exports. The remaining production will be directed to the domestic market.
According to Rodrigo Carvalho of ABCC (Brazilian Association of Shrimp Farmers), the sector is distressed because everything was geared toward exports. Its very different when your business has only one person for dealing with six, seven international clients that make large purchases, than to have a team to deal with a much wider range in the domestic market, and that buy in smaller volumes.
For the president of ABCC, Itamar Rocha, the product is going to have to change in order to be accepted in Brazil. The consumer wants everything easy, easy packaging, with little content. Not the big packages of many kilos that we ship outside the country, he said.
The ABCC, according to him, has already studied 30 different shrimp products for the Brazilian market, but still doesnt have a date set for making them available. Another idea is to certify production, as a guarantee of quality.
Viruses
In addition to the variation in the exchange rate, which has made the product rare outside the country, another problem that affected production was the incidence of viruses causing a high level of mortality in the shrimp ponds.
Compescal, for example, grew out 80 shrimp per m2-- during a time when the survival of the fragile crustaceans reached 75%. With the viruses, survivorship dropped to only 30%.
Now, we are down to 25 animals per m2--, and we have drained half of the shrimp ponds. Were going to wait out the results of the reseeding in order to see what we will do, said Adalmir Costa, administrative director of the company.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
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The Dark Side of Biofuels: Horror in the "Brazilian California"
By Raúl Zibechi
Brazil is staking its claim as a great emerging power thanks to the leadership it maintains in biofuel production. The price of this ambition is paid by the environment and by the cane cutters, who are the invisible characters in this story.
Behind the "politically correct" jargon lurks a reality poised to destroy the Amazon, a reality that destroys millions of young bodies and promises lucrative business to investors. The very name biofuels seems to be destined to foment the confusion, its opponents prefer to call it like it is and use the term "agrofuels" because the term refers to agriculturally produced energy.
Raúl Zibechi is a member of the editorial board of Montevideo's weekly Brecha, teacher and researcher on social movements in Latin America's Multiversidad Franciscana, and adviser to various social movements. He is a monthly contributor to the Americas Program ( www.americaspolicy.org ). Translated by Nalina Eggert and Sonja Wolf.
See new article online.
From: "Americas Program" communications@irc-online.org
The Bahamas
Guana Cay & Bimini Island
Guana Cay fight goes international Smith to speak at United Nations
By ANGELO ARMBRISTER
The fight to save Guana Cay is now gaining international exposure as Grand Bahama Human Rights Association (GBHRA) President Fred Smith and other "Save Guana Cay" representatives are set to address the United Nations Commission on sustainable development.
Smith will be accompanied by Thomas Goreau, president of the Global Coral Reef Alliance, and Troy Albury of the Save Guana Cay Reef Association, who also will make presentations at the summit, which will be broadcast live over the Internet at 1 p.m. today.
In an interview with the Freeport news before he left, Smith could hardly contain his excitement.
"I'm very proud to be representing The Bahamas and speaking on behalf of Save Guana Cay Reef Association and the Mangrove Action Project out of Bimini," he said. "We have been given a very rare and unique opportunity to speak before the United Nations Commission on sustainable development."
Smith explained that Goreau, who has been very active internationally in reef protection, arranged for the group to appear before the United Nations.
"We are going to speak about environmental protection, marsh land and mangrove protection and developments in so far as their impact on coastal zones," he said.
Noting that The Bahamas is an archipelago of 700 low-lying islands and cays, Smith said that climate change and global warming are things that Bahamians should be very much concerned about.
"In Grand Bahama we're only a couple of feet above the sea level so any little glacier that melts, we might be under water," he said. "So my speech is going to be focused on what laws exist in The Bahamas for environmental protection, the policies of the Bahamian government and the profile of development in The Bahamas."
The Human Rights activists said that his address will focus primarily on Save Guana Cay and how it mirrors what is happening generally in The Bahamas as it relates to foreign real estate developers, "who come here and are mainly interested in making a quick dollar and leaving.
"The reason these developers are coming here is because they keep finding these beautiful, untouched, pristine, virgin coastlines, coastal zones, so we want to keep them that way, because they don't have them in South Florida in the U.S. anymore," he said. "Bimini and Guana Cay have been very hard hit by this, and we are hoping to alert the international environmental community to the devastation and environmental rape that has gone on in The Bahamas, particularly under the PLP (Progressive Liberal Party) administration over the last five years."
Smith noted that former Pime Minister Perry Christie has declared April as coastal awareness month, but he has failed to appreciate the absolute and fundamental importance of mangroves.
"They provide fishery nurseries, they are the eco-system between the salt water and our land and they are the ones that act as a sponge and a filter for the growth of land in The Bahamas," Smith said. "The wetlands and mangroves creep and grow and actually build land."
If it were not for mangroves in The Bahamas, Smith said there would not probably ber very much Bahamas.
"They are the land growers of The Bahamas and at the same time provide the protection and the fishery resources for conch and lobster and shrimp and all kinds of small fish and in particular the lemon shark in Bimini," Smith said.
He noted that those same mangrove areas are sold to foreign developments as crown land that appears to be worthless.
The mangroves, he said, are given away to developer's and are dredged for mega yacht marinas, exclusive golf courses, exclusive second homes, small resort hotels and gated communities.
Smith said that he wants the new Free National Move-ment (FNM) government to be aware that, "we are going to be watching them every step of the way.
"We are hoping that this is the first international alarm raised at the beginning of the FNM, term so that they make good on their promises to protect the environment, promote respect of the environment," he said, adding that he is very keen on having Environmental Protection Act passed as soon as possible.
Smith invites any persons that maybe interested in environmental protection in The Bahamas to log on the United Nations website to hear his address live at 1 p.m. today.
Grant Johnson
South Bimini, Bahamas
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Wetlands disappearing at alarming rate in The Bahamas
Aug. 7, 2007
Wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate in The Bahamas, Eric Carey, Executive Director of the Bahamas National Trust (BNT), has warned. "Collectively private citizenry, the government, the BNT and other Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) have to harness our energies towards protecting what is left, not only for wildlife, but most importantly for people to have quality of life," Mr. Carey said.
He said wetlands are being filled in to accommodate rapid development, destroying not only habitats and wildlife, but also creating flooding nightmares, especially on New Providence. "A decision should be made that there be no more development on wetlands on this island, and developments on wetlands on other islands have to be carefully planned and monitored," Mr. Carey said.
Mr. Carey's comments were made during a courtesy call on Minister of Lands and Local Government the Hon. Sidney Collie on Wednesday, August 1, 2007. Also in attendance were Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Harrison Thompson; Administrative Officer (Public Relations), Bernadette Davis Smith; President of the BNT, Glenn Bannister; and Director of Parks and Science at the BNT Tamica Rahming
Mr. Carey said the Trust is also very concerned with expanding existing national parks in the country, increasing their numbers and getting more funding. He praised the government for its donation of $1 million to the Trust. "For many years, our donors have said to us, 'You have to get the government to really do more.' "They see this as a strong signal sent by government that it supports the BNT, and we believe this is going to encourage other persons to give the BNT funding and resources to do our work," Mr. Carey said. He said the Trust hopes to put in place $3 million worth of trails, visitors' centres, boardwalks and viewing towers at Harold and Wilson's Ponds National Park. Mr. Carey said the Trust wants Bahamians and visitors to have access to national parks. He said the director of Lands and Survey has been asked to grant the surrounding National Park to the Trust so it can properly upkeep the area as well as put in infrastructure to make it more accessible to the public .
Excerpted from Grand Bahama Infp Newsletter, Aug. 7, 2007
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Editor's Note: Is this not the "smoking gun" that points to the inherent corruption, deceit and graft that permeates the very core of this rotten mess of unsustainable development in the Bahamas? I wonder how much more of a public scandal Hilton and the Bimini Bay Resort developers need to get the message that their acts of subterfuge are not as well hidden now, while the true nature of their enterprise is becoming more apparent with the passing days? Will Hilton itself condone this use of slave labor as a last resort to build its last resort?
The Smoking Gun of Slave Labor Tears At The Heart of Bimini's Mangroves
Attached is a rough translation of an article that the recent Nassau Guardian references in concern of "Slave Like Conditions" in Bimini at Bimini Bay Resort.
The Mexican news organization referred to is El Universal
www.ElUniversal.com.mx
Drug trafficking ring explodes to Mexican in Bahamas
They trick them with deceit to toil 11 hours a day without payment and in conditions of slavery. Seven manage to escape; another 100 remain in the islands
Juan Jose Arreola
The Universal One News
Saturday 11 of August of 2007
QUERÉTARO, Qro. - A drug trafficking ring of people recruit people in Querétaro and other states with false promises to take them to work in conditions of slavery to the Bahamas islands.
Seven workers who managed to escape related to the "UNIVERSAL one" that 11 hours a day toiled, without receiving payment nor medical attention, only little food, and no communications (with the outside world).
Mauricio Santos de Vicente and David Alexander González related that during three months they were working on Bimini island, a part of the archipelago of the Bahamas, located to the east of Florida and the north of Cuba.
They indicated that there are at least another 100 Mexicans coming from Querétaro, Hidalgo, Chiapas, state of Mexico and Federal District working in conditions practically of slavery.
A person named Leonarda Olivera Torres hooked them with the promise to work for the company Arg Construction Limited, in Bimini Bay, with a pay of between 13 thousand and 16 thousand pesos monthly.
In Bahamas, they added, the contact for the Mexicans is Ramon Guapilla, who also is the head of the construction company.
Both said that when arriving in the Bahamas they handed over their documents to the company representatives, and in return they gave a "credential to them" with which they could walk around the island.
"They made us sign a contract written in English, without knowledge that in it we authorized the overseer to receive the wages in our name.
"When we had been a month working and without receiving any payment, we decided to no longer work, which resulted in their mistreating us; they insulted us and gave us only one meal a day. Also they threatened to us, saying if we continued in that attitude, they were going to send us to a jail", explained Mauricio Santos.
David Alexander González tells that he was able to get in contact with his relatives, when he suffered an accident after falling off a scaffold. He had been sent to a hospital in Nassau, the capital, where he was committed for 18 days.
Ana Isabel Mata, whose husband, Juan Gabriel Martinez, had also been recruited into the organization, mentions that she went to request for help from the Secretariat of Outer Relations in San Juan River, where the official, Martha Bravo Martinez, did not believe her story, and never took action on the request.
Juan Gabriel went the 12 of May in company of his brother-in-law René Mata Gutiérrez; one of his cousins, Mauricio Santos, and their friend Darío Chávez Molina.
"They enslaved us. The one in charge put us to work in the morning from 7:00 to the 5:30 in the afternoon. We only ate rice with frijoles, and up to 70 people who were brought in from many areas slept in a shed, or hacinado, he related.
The deputy Jaime Escobedo Rodriguez, who took part in the repatriation of the seven "queretanos," affirmed that the network of traffic of people continues operating with all impunity, without legal means to restrains it.
Editor's Note: Today this illegal ring of human traffic continues bringing more duped workers from Mexico to the same conditions of servitude in the Bahamas.
From: "Grant Johnson" grantjohnson86@gmail.com
FISH INFOnetwork Market Report on Shrimp (Feb 2007)
General trends
Europe's appetite for imported shrimp products continues to expand. Following growth in most key markets during 2005, figures for 2006 (10 months) are pointing to new import records in several markets. Last year was also noteworthy in that import values generally grew faster than volumes.
Spain, Europe's largest shrimp market, increased imports during the January-October period 2006 by 20% compared to the same period in 2005 and, at this rate, looks set to have reached a new record of over 180 000 tonnes for 2006 as a whole. French imports were static during 2005 but based on a 5-6% growth rate for the first ten months, 2006 should also see a new import record in the 100 to 110 000 tonne range. Among the bigger shrimp markets, the UK looks like being the exception with a flat import trend during 2006 - full year volumes are likely to have stagnated around the 90 000 tonne level, as in 2005.
China consolidates leading position in Spanish market
Spain's 20% import jump last year was based on stronger volumes from several countries. China, in number one position, consolidated the strong gains achieved during 2005 after the country re-entered EU markets with its farmed shrimp products. Volumes increased by 14% during the January-October period while imports for 2006 as a whole should easily exceed the 26 000 tonnes recorded for 2005. This increase was not enough to boost China's share of total imports which is somewhat lower than its 16% share in 2005 although significantly higher than the 1% share of 2004.
Latin America, rather than Asia, appears to have been the main impetus to Spain's import surge during 2006. The partial recovery of Argentina's wild Pleoticus muelleri fishery last year is reflected in a strong increase in sales. The leading supplier to Spain up to 2004, Argentina saw its exports collapse in 2005 following particularly poor fishing results. Last year's increase lifts the country back to second position as a volume exporter to Spain while in value terms, it is once again the top supplier with sales for the ten month period exceeding 160 million. Above average growth, +38%, is also evident for Ecuador in line with the impressive recovery of its aquaculture industry. Ecuador's share of total Spanish imports came to over 13% last year, up from around 10% during the previous year and from less than 7% in 2004.
However, the trend for Latin American exporters was not all one way with volumes from both Brazil and Columbia declining following a broadly upward trend in recent years. Brazilian sales dropped 24% while volumes from Colombia were down 7%. Farmed output in Brazil has suffered from disease and currency constraints in recent years and the industry now appears to be consolidating following strong expansion over the 2002 - 2004 period. Brazil's share of total imports fell last year, dropping from over 12% in 2005 to less than 8%.
Source: EuroFishUSA
7/12/07
US SEAFOOD CONSUMPTION INCREASES IN 2006
Americans ate 16.5 pounds of fish and shellfish per person in 2006, a two percent increase over the 2005 consumption figure of 16.2 pounds, according to a study released by NOAA Fisheries Service. The increase brings seafood consumption up to slightly under the 2004 record of 16.6 pounds.
Americans consumed a total of 4.9 billion pounds of seafood in 2006. The nation imports roughly 83 percent of its seafood and remains the third largest global consumer of fish and shellfish, behind Japan and China.
The United Nations is projecting a 40 million ton global seafood shortage by 2030, unless something is done .
Of the total 16.5 pounds consumed per person, Americans consumed a record 12.3 pounds of fresh and frozen finfish and shellfish, up 0.7 pounds from last year. Canned seafood consumption dropped 0.4 pounds to 3.9 pounds per capita. We cons