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The MAP News, 193rd Ed., 06 January 2008
This is the 193rd Edition of the Mangrove Action Project News, Jan. 5, 2008.
Happy New Year!
For the Mangroves,
Alfredo Quarto
Mangrove Action Project
MAP's Mission:
Partnering with mangrove forest communities, grassroots NGOs, researchers and local governments to conserve and restore mangrove forests and related coastal ecosystems, while promoting community-based, sustainable management of coastal resources.
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!
On the Ground and in the Water, Tracing a Giant Wave's Path
MAP WORKS
Order Your 2008 MAP Children's Art Calendar
MAP Kayaking & Whale Watching Tour - Baja California
New Ecological Mangrove Restoration Workshop In Florida Feature: Send a MAP eCard
AFRICA
Nigeria
***ACTION ALERT!!!***
Emergency Action: Stop Gas Flaring / Nigeria
Nigeria risks loss of $10 bn from sea-level rise
Nigeria: 40km of Niger-Delta Land May Be Extinct in 20 Years - Don
ASIA
S.E. ASIA
Thailand
Thailand To Cut Shrimp Production 20%
Shrimp Markets In Thailand Saturated
Malaysia
Save the mangrove forests, say NGOs
Indonesia
Indonesian mangroves and global warming
Vietnam
Expensive tiger shrimp producers must lower costs to compete
The Philippines
Philippines Ramping Up White Shrimp Farming
54,000 mangroves planted along the Iloilo River in the Philippines
S. ASIA
India
Exporters threaten not to source shrimp from farms
First Human Climate Change Refugees
India's tigers need miracle to survive
Hundreds of dead turtles litter beach of Orissa
White Shrimp Replacing Tigers In Ponds
Cyclone shield depleting slowly but surely
Bangladesh
Sundarbans After Sidr Foresters' trick to finish it off
Sundarbans' Phoenix of recovery
Sidr-hit Sundarbans healing itself fast
Point Counterpoint: Sunderban and our survival
Soil Association organic fish-farming standards
Sri Lanka
A "second tsunami" of indifference hits Sri Lankan fishermen
Pakistan
Killing mangroves
E. ASIA
China
In China, Farming Fish In Toxic Waters
China Struggling To Improve Image Of Food Production
China Offers Production Guidelines for Seafood
MIDEAST
UAE
Endangered dugongs found dead in Abu Dhabi
OCEANIA
Australia
Wild Tasmanian fisheries reportedly at risk from farmed fish
LATIN AMERICA
Ecuador
Ecuador Gets Low Prices For Shrimp, But European Market Demand On Rise Now
Ecuador's Shrimp Pond Area Greater Than Reported
Guyana
$5B sea defence pact signed - mangroves to get special attention
Honduras
PROTEST OF TRADITIONAL FISHER WORKERS IN THE GULF OF FONSECA
THE CARIBBEAN
The Bahamas
Guana Cay
New Government Reverses Itself On Bakers Bay
Bimini Island
WE NEED YOUR HELP…………TIME IS RUNNING OUT.
NORTH AMERICA
USA
The China problem
Fish farming proposal assailed: Foes pack hearing on Gulf aquaculture
Unlikely allies oppose gulf fish farming.
Eat, Drink, and Buy Local
Florida Editorial: Get tough on mangrove butchers
Keep Alabama, U.S. shrimp in festival
STORIES/ISSUES
ECOLOGY/EVOLUTION: Disturbing Patterns
Human Impacts on Fish and Frogs
Coral Reefs Under Rapid Climate Change and Ocean Acidification
Oceans' Growing Acidity Alarms Scientists
Scientists study mangrove mutations at different elevations
Nypa & Icecream
CONFERENCES/ WORKSHOPS/ PUBLICATIONS
Increasing Capacity for Stewardship of Oceans and Coasts: A Priority for the 21st Century
Book: Sunderbans-The mystic mangroves
New Asian book revisits Tsunami's communication lessons
AQUACULTURE CORNER
Aquaculture Getting Bad Name For Widespread Contamnants
Salmon Farming May Doom Wild Populations, Study Says
DEP. ESPINOZA: "CHILE SALMON INDUSTRY IS HARMFUL TO CHILDREN"
Norwegian Official Expects open hand from the salmon industry
Soil Association organic fish-farming standards
On the Ground and in the Water, Tracing a Giant Wave's Path
25 December 2007
By Claudia Dreigus
A Conversation With Harindra Joseph S. Fernando
TEMPE, Ariz. - Next to the office of Harindra Joseph S. Fernando at Arizona State University is a 107-foot-long wave tank that can mimic oceanic motions.
"This tank is one of the most wonderful pieces of equipment I have," said Dr. Fernando, 52, the director of the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Program at Arizona State. "It's amazing."
After a tsunami swept across the Indian Ocean in 2004 and killed an estimated 300,000 people in Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka, Dr. Fernando used his amazing piece of equipment to determine why the wave was so lethal.
He and colleagues confirmed that human activities at southern Asian seashores - like coral poaching, dune destruction and mangrove harvesting - had made a natural disaster even more deadly.
As the anniversary of the Dec. 26 tsunami neared, Dr. Fernando, an American born in Sri Lanka who goes by the name Joe, described using a combination of science and local reporting to create a clearer picture of the disaster. An edited version of a three-hour conversation follows.
Q. Where did you go for your vacation in the summer of 2004?
A. I took my wife and kids to a seaside resort in the southeastern part of Sri Lanka, to a place called Yala. At the end of the holiday, we took a hired car back to Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital. As we drove along the coastal road, we found ourselves stuck behind two trucks hauling tons of coral, taken, apparently, from nearby reefs.
When my wife asked our driver about this, he explained that dynamiting the reefs was a cottage industry in the region. He said that local people mined the reefs and sold the coral to be ground up and used as an ingredient in house paint. "Blasting the reefs is not legal," he said. "But people do it."
This was disturbing. But I didn't think long about it.
Q. When did you think about it again?
A. Six months later. Right after the tsunami. Immediately afterward, Dr. Philip Liu of Cornell asked me to join an international team traveling to Sri Lanka to gather scientific information on the height and reach of the wave.
The region I was assigned to study, coincidentally, was the same part of the island the family had vacationed in during the summer.
Q. What did you see there?
A. Severe damage, though inconsistent damage. At Peraliya, near to where the family had encountered those trucks with coral, the tsunami had swelled to a height of 30 feet and surged inland for more than a mile. There, it inundated a passenger train, the Ocean Queen, killing about 1,700 people. Yet, only three miles away, in Hikkaduwa, the wave came ashore with a height of about nine feet and barely grazed the beach. Why such differences?
I asked a fisherman at Peraliya, "Why was the inundation so severe right here?" He said, "Possibly the coral might be the issue, because this is largely a coral-mining area."
From my fluid dynamics background, I knew he was making sense. If you take friction from a flow, it moves faster.
At Yala, where we'd stayed, I saw evidence of another type of beach-barrier destruction. The resort had been flattened to rubble; 175 people died there, including two friends from California. The owner told us how they'd taken down a sand dune so that all rooms could have an unobstructed view of the ocean. I returned to Arizona, convinced that human activity had magnified the disaster.
Q. So now you had a working theory. How did you prove it?
A. By employing a mixture of science and, believe it or not, journalism. A few weeks after I returned, the BBC asked me to consult on a documentary on the tsunami. With their funding, we hired divers to go underwater at eight different sites around the island, including Peraliya.
Q. In other words, you used this remarkable research technique - you looked!
A. Exactly. And the divers came back with pictures that were very clear. In the areas where there'd been a lot of inundation, there were no, or few, corals left.
Here at my lab at Arizona State, we have our very nice wave tank, which permits us to run waves at different speeds and heights and then measure the effects under controlled conditions.
So we made tsunami models with simulated coral reefs and then without them. What we saw was that where the coral was gone, the surging water increased by a factor of three or more.
At Princeton, Michael Oppenheimer's research group took the idea further with sophisticated computer models, which substantiated my laboratory experiment. The research together has shown that when you cut down the coral reefs, or dunes or mangrove forests, you make a jetway for waves, because you have less bottom friction, and that lets the water through.
Q. Would you advocate a ban on coral mining?
A. Absolutely. Everywhere, not only in Sri Lanka. Once you start mining corals, you reduce beach defenses. If you have a tsunami or the more common event, a storm surge, the reef will help protect the land.
Q. Are you saying that a lot of the deaths in the tsunami were preventable?
A. In Sri Lanka, some of them. In Indonesia, you couldn't have done much, because the tsunami was triggered by a 9.3 underwater earthquake near Sumatra. The quake was so close and so overwhelmingly powerful that beach defenses wouldn't have mattered. But in Sri Lanka, manmade problems made things worse.
Q. Have there been reforms because of your research?
A. My studies became very popular. Sri Lankans became very interested. A 1981 law against coral poaching is now being stringently enforced.
Before the tsunami, there was a lot of toleration of coral poaching. It was almost thought of as a legitimate economic activity. Since the research, when people poach, citizens will catch them and call the police. When I went to Sri Lanka last year, I saw a billboard near Peraliya that read, "Let's refrain from mining corals that control beach erosion."
I never thought people would take this seriously.
Q. Few scientists ever get to see their work have a direct impact on policy. What does that feel like?
A. I was born in Sri Lanka and I never thought I could make a contribution this way. I didn't think I could do science that changed policy. Till the tsunami, I thought all I could do was to train students, which I did.
Of course, the research was associated with natural disaster, which is sad. But these are the types of problems that scientists should be helping with. Right now, I'm working a lot on the "heat island" effect, asking why air temperatures in cities like Phoenix and Colombo are about 8 degrees warmer than in surrounding areas. On a different project, funded by the U.S. Navy, we're figuring out how wave action contributes to how land mines get buried in conflict areas. This can save a lot of lives. These are important questions, though they are also practical.
Many scientists are so engulfed in their own little area of fundamental research that they don't want to directly embrace practical knowledge. That's one barrier that I was able to break.
Source: NY Times
Order Your 2008 MAP Children's Art Calendar
Dear Friends,
I wanted to take this opportunity to request your help with one of our long-time projects which involves our 7th annual production of the MAP Children's Mangrove Art Calendar for 2008. The calendars make great gifts and a great project to support. Please order your 2008 calendar now at $12 per calendar plus shipping. If you order 20 or more calendars, we ask $8 per calendar plus shipping. If you order now, we can have the printer ship directly to your street address (not PO Box). This will save MAP an extra shipping fee if the printer ships directly to you. Please help support both MAP and the calendar program now!
Following our own environmentally sound ethic, the Calendar is being printed on recycled paper using soy ink.
The Calendar has in the past paid for itself and raised around $3000 above its costs. More importantly, the Calendar Art Contest and the distribution of the printed calendars have been a great educational incentive for the NGOs, schools and children participating from around the globe. This year's calendar competition was no exception. Over 1500 kids from 12 nations participated, and new NGOs from new nations are contacting us to be involved.
Please let me know the number of calendars that you want to order! You can also go onto MAP's website to donate via PayPal or Network For Good using your credit card!
For the Mangroves and Mangrove Communities,
Monica Gutierrez-Quarto
MAP Calendar Coordinator
monicagquarto@olympus.net
Note: Postage rates vary according to the following list of options:
US & Canada - $2/calendar
Mexico - $2.50/calendar
Elsewhere - $4.50/calendar
For anywhere in the world: for 3 or more calendars, contact MAP for possible volume discount and shipping rates.
See the USPS website for rates for multiple calendars for each country. Scroll down for 1st Class International.
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MAP Kayaking & Whale Watching Tour - Baja California
Mangrove Action Project
6-Day Mangrove Kayaking & Whale Watching Tour_Benefit Paddle in Baja
7-12 February 2008
Join MAP's Latin American Coordinator on a trip that promises to remind us_why we do this work!
Join the Mangrove Action Project for our first journey to the mangrove estuary in Magdalena Bay, a Gray Whale Nursery in Baja. This year, thanks to our friends at Blue Waters Kayaking, we'll camp three days and two nights at an exclusive island camp in the heart of the whale nursery, where the Gray Whales are born. From camp you will experience whales spouting and playing, dolphins swimming by, pelicans visiting on the beach next door and coyotes howling at night-a nature lover's dream. Mornings will be spent visiting the whales by motorboat and in great amazement these enormous mammals approach us to introduce their newly born young. We will kayak the mangrove labyrinth as flocks of white pelicans fly overhead and yellow crowned night herons stare at us at eye level between mangrove leaves. The trip begins and ends in the charming town of Loreto, where we will stay in a hotel on the Sea of Cortez.
Our exclusive beach camp is ready to serve you with hot showers, and the best kitchen this side of the border, solar electricity to charge your cameras, large tents with plush sleeping pads and wall tents with elevated cots, plenty of fresh water, a large community dome, and chairs & sun umbrellas for lounging and reading.
Mangrove Action Project Benefit Paddle in Baja
February 7th - 12th, 2008
$1280
(does not include airfare)
Kayaking in the bird-filled mangroves will be available * No prior kayaking experience is necessary * Kayaking is not required, however, it is offered as part of this trip.
Each trip limited to 14 participants
For More Information Contact: Blue Waters Kayaking 415/669-2600
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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 .
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New MAP Website Feature: Send a MAP eCard!
Sending free eCards to friends, family, and colleagues is a unique way to spread the word about MAP’s work, as well as about the threats faced by mangrove ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.
Choose from a selection of beautiful and thought-provoking images (new images added every month), then add your own message to personalize your eCard.
It's easy and free! Just follow the instructions on MAP’s website.
From: ecorets@gmail.com
Nigeria
***ACTION ALERT!!!***
Emergency Action: Stop Gas Flaring / Nigeria
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network,"
Since 1979 - almost 30 years ago -- the government of Nigeria has been setting deadlines for oil companies to stop their wasteful and toxic practice of gas flaring.
The current deadline to stop gas flaring is January 1, 2008. But Shell and other oil companies say they will just pay the fines and continue the gas flaring. The multinationals - who save money while Nigeria's people, environment and economy suffer from gas flaring - want to postpone the deadline yet again to 2011.
Nigerian communities and environmental organizations in the Niger Delta region are demanding enforcement of the January 1 deadline - and they are asking the international community to raise a global clamor to force the oil companies to stop this very destruction practice now.
Please add your voice to this campaign today. See the model letter below.
Gas flaring is the burning off of gas, which sends a cocktail of poisons into the atmosphere. In the mix are carbon dioxide and methane that are major causes of global warming. Gas flaring causes acid rain which acidifies the lakes and streams and damages crops and vegetation. It reduces farm yields and affects human health, lives and livelihoods. Gas flaring increases the risk of respiratory illnesses, asthma and cancer. It often causes painful breathing, chronic bronchitis, decreased lung function, body itching, blindness, impotency, miscarriages and premature deaths.
World Bank research conducted in 2005 showed that Nigeria loses about $2.5 billion yearly to gas flaring.
More recent research showed that if gas flared in Nigeria were harnessed and utilized, it would solve almost 75 % of Africa's energy needs (excepting South Africa).
Since 1979, the multinational oil companies have simply ignored government deadlines and court orders to end gas flaring. In a lawsuit brought by the Iwerekhan community of Delta State, the judge ruled that gas flaring "is a gross violation of their fundamental right to life, including healthy environment and dignity of the human person."
Nnimmo Bassey, director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth said, "Time has come for the lives of Niger Deltans to be weightier than petrodollars. Gas flaring is a monumental waste of our natural resources, an assault on the lives and health of the people of Niger Delta and a mark of unacceptable double standards by the oil companies."
Requested Action:
Please write to the President of Nigeria, with copies to other government officials listed below.
Note: send your letter by email to stopgasflaring@eraction.org
or by fax to 1-509-752-0664 (a US number).
The letters will be collected and hand-delivered to the president by Environmental Rights Action / Friends of the Earth Nigeria.
Address:
President Musa Yar'adua
The Presidency, Federal Secretariat Phase 2
Shehu Shagari Way Abuja
Nigeria
Salutation: His Excellency Sir,
Main points: Ask him to enforce the January 1, 2008 deadline for stopping gas flaring.
Model letter:
President Musa Yar'adua
The Presidency, Federal Secretariat Phase 2
Shehu Shagari Way Abuja
Nigeria
His Excellency Sir,
STOP GAS FLARING IN THE NIGER DELTA
I am very concerned that the multinational oil companies operating in Nigeria may ignore the Nigerian government's deadline of January 1, 2008, to stop gas flaring.
Gas flaring is the burning off of gas, which sends a cocktail of poisons into the atmosphere. In the mix are carbon dioxide and methane that are major causes of global warming. Gas flaring causes acid rain, which acidifies the lakes and streams and damages crops and vegetation. It reduces farm yields and affects human health, lives and livelihoods. Gas flaring increases the risk of respiratory illnesses, asthma and cancer. It often causes painful breathing, chronic bronchitis, decreased lung function, body itching, blindness, impotency, miscarriages and premature deaths.
World Bank research conducted in 2005 showed that Nigeria loses about $2.5 billion yearly to gas flaring.
More recent research showed that if gas flared in Nigeria were harnessed and utilized, it would solve almost 75 % of Africa's energy needs (excepting South Africa).
Since 1979, the multinational oil companies have simply ignored government deadlines and court orders to end gas flaring. In a lawsuit brought by the Iwerekhan community of Delta State, the judge ruled that gas flaring "is a gross violation of their fundamental right to life, including healthy environment and dignity of the human person."
Since gas flaring contributes to global warming and the climate change crisis, it is of concern to citizens around the world. As fellow human beings, we also demand the end to suffering of the Niger Delta people whose lives, health and livelihoods are harmed for the benefit of greedy multinational corporations.
These companies are now calling for a 2010 deadline, but this should be rejected outright. Calling for higher fines from defaulting oil corporations merely provides cover for the industry to continue an environmentally unacceptable activity. It may add money to your national coffers, but money cannot pay for the lives and dignity of the Niger Delta people.
I respectfully urge you to use your good offices to ensure that gas flaring is brought to an end unequivocally by the 1st day of January, 2008.
Sincerely yours,
Cc:
The Senate President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
The Speaker, House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Federal Republic of Nigeria
The Hon. Minister for Environment, Housing and Urban Development
From: Global Response info@globalresponse.org
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Nigeria risks loss of $10 bn from sea-level rise
By Pamela Sombo
Nigeria risks losing over US$10 billion from its oil installations concentrated along the coastal zones which harbors most of the country's economic activities.
This is as a result of the projected accelerated sea level rise of about 0.5 meters that is predicted to cause many low lying coastline areas to be inundated with flood and storm surge. The implication of this is that, up to 35 per cent of the Niger Delta region of the country could be lost as an accelerated sea level rise of 1.0 meter would mean that up to 75 per cent of the Niger Delta could go underwater.
Also, a total of 32 million people, which sums up to over 22.6 per cent of Nigerians population of over 140 million who live along the coastal zones are at risk of becoming environmental refugees. Such forced movements could result in social friction, attendant human calamities and irreparable damage to Nigerian 's oil installations at the coastal zones, said the minister for national planning commission, Senator Sanusi Daggash.
The minister said climate change is known to affect offshore and onshore areas, estuaries and lagoons, artisinal and industrial fisheries which amount to more than 75 per cent of fishery landings in the country as there will be fish and food shortage and job losses.
In the area of health, climate change is identified as one of the fundamental causes of the poor state of human health in the tropical region such as malaria, filariasis and yellow fever, while cerebro spinal meningitis, measles and small pox are prevalent in the arid zones of the continent.
According to him, in the area of industrial acceleration, climate change spells disaster as insufficient rainfall and low ground water recharge rate especially lower volume of water in the rivers and dams would impair hydroelectricity generation. "This source of water accounts for about 36 per cent of Nigeria's electricity energy source. Inadequacy of such supply of power has caused the closure of many industries which led to job loss and has also increased the cost of doing business in the country."
Senator Daggash explained further that Nigeria as an oil producing country and party to the climate change convention and protocol, has adopted a policy of economic diversification which will save the Nigerian economy from hazards of a mono economy, saying that energy and food security that are climate dependent are on the priority list of the Nigerian government's seven point agenda.
"Any change in climate conditions would affect the implementation of these two as well as limit the achievement of the millennium development goals (MDGs) on environmental protection and poverty reduction, as the country has also adopted and embarked on policies geared towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as part of its mitigation measures", he stated.
In addition to this, Nigeria's oil and gas industry has constructed liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants, massive associated gas gathering projects (AGG), gas driven plants and domestic gas networks for industries and houses.
Source: allAfrica
From: icsf@icsf.net , Dec. 21, 2007
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Nigeria: 40km of Niger-Delta Land May Be Extinct in 20 Years - Don
24 December 2007
by Chris Agabi, Niger Delta
About 40-kilometre wide strip of land in the Niger Delta is on the verge of being submerged following an accelerated sea level rise as a result of global warming, Professor Dagogo M.J. Fubara has said.
Fubara, a professor of geodesy, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said this in Abuja weekend at the occasion of the Niger-Delta Outstanding Leaders Award (NDOLA 2007).
He said: "There is global warming due to greenhouse effects arising from global industrial pollution, destruction of tropical forest ecosystems such as the Niger-Delta mangrove forests, gas flaring and human activities; there may be an accelerated sea level rise of 30cm in the next three decades and about 110cm within the next century."
He said the Niger Delta was subsiding rapidly because of oil and gas extraction.
"Preliminary available data on the rate of subsidence at Bonny is about 7cm to 9cm in the past 10 years, and based on facts, young sedimentary basins of the Niger-Delta type and where oil and gas is extracted, there is rapid subsidence."
Using the Lake Maraca Ibo in Venezuela, where oil platforms have subsided by 500cm in 50 years, that is, 10cm per year, Professor Fubara said: "If we superimpose the predicted subsided sea level rise on the gradually subsiding Niger Delta, the net effect is that within the next two decades, about 40 kilometre wide strip of the Niger Delta and their people would be submerged and rendered extinct."
He called on the federal government to put more serious attention to the ecological problems of the region.
Source: Daily Trust (Abuja)
Thailand
Thailand To Cut Shrimp Production 20%
Intra Fish reports that shrimp production in Thailand will fall 20% from earlier set projections for 2007. Because of rising production costs which mainly result from rising oil costs, Thai producers will decrease their production. Instead, they will try to boost the quality rather than quantity of their farmed shrimp. This attempt to improve quality comes on the heels of the Japan-Thailand trade agreement and with expectations that the US anti-dumping provision will soon be lifted for Thai shrimp products.
From: Intra Fish Media 12/17/07
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Shrimp Markets In Thailand Saturated
In Thailand, as we have reported before, there is a continuing push on the part of shrimp growers associations to restrict growth, as local markets are saturated, and competition is pushing down export prices. The growers would like to shave about 7% off the expected 2008 production.
From: "Seafood.com News"
seafoodnews@seafood.com
Jan. 4, 2008
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Malaysia
27 December 2007
Save the mangrove forests, say NGOs
By NIK KHUSAIRI IBRAHIM
PENANG: Environment-conscious groups are calling on the Government to review the implementation of aquaculture industrial zone and petrochemical projects.
They claim that such projects would have an adverse impact on mangrove forests.
Sahabat Alam Malaysia, Penang Inshore Fishermen Welfare Association, Consumers' Association of Penang and the Malaysian Inshore Fisherman Action Network said such high-impact projects that threatened the mangrove were not in line with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's wishes.
"The Government has announced the high-impact projects covering 36,905ha. The Government is also proceeding with a petrochemical project in Sungai Pulau in Johor.
"The project posed a threat to the 913ha of mangrove forest in that particular area," the non-government organisations (NGOs) said in a joint statement.
They claimed the destruction of the mangrove forest would have far-reaching implications on the livelihood of people living along the coastline.
The NGOs also urged the authorities to gazette coastal mangrove areas as forest reserves to stop the alarming rate of depletion.
"We only have 566,856ha of swamp forests left in Malaysia, and about 130,142ha of the forest is yet to be gazetted as forest reserves.
"We have learnt an important lesson from the tsunami tragedy, which taught us the importance of mangroves (in protecting properties and lives in coastal areas)," they said.
Source: The Star
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Indonesia
Indonesian mangroves and global warming
Sukristijono Sukardjo, Jakarta Post
Straddling two environments -- land and sea -- the frontal edge of the mangrove stand is characterized by thick vegetation, tangled roots and glutinous mud.
The soil is periodically waterlogged, rich in organic matter and therefore low in oxygen. Water and nutrients are abundant, but the water is salty. It is called the waterlogged forest.
The environment in which mangroves grow is harsh. Only a few of the mangrove species are normally seen at or close to the water's edge and that is why most people seem to find these forests somewhat monotonous.
The other members of the group tend to be hidden from view by those at the front, but nonetheless often cover large areas and are important in the general ecology.
Rarely are all species found in any one estuary. It is true to say, in fact, that no two estuaries are exactly alike. Like any other plant, each mangrove has its particular environmental preferences.
To the experienced eye, therefore, mangrove forests display far greater diversity than one might imagine and it is beginning to appear these differences may affect such things as fishing.
Only careful research will tell whether or not this is so.
To date, approximately 110 to 204 plants species being found associated with Indonesian mangroves and numerous species of micro flora (fungi, lichens, diatoms and algal), the associated fauna and the microbial species of the soils, waters and air. Some are still waiting a proper identification.
Walking in an Avicennia forest is hampered by a dense growth of short, woody pegs projecting from the soil. These are pneumatophores -- aerial extensions of the mangrove's roots. The prop-roots of Rhizophora spp stabilize the mangrove in soft mud and hold it against currents.
The roots of the living trees serve as hiding places for fish and as substrate for much-desired oysters. The seeds within the fruits will germinate before falling from the tree.
Viviparity, as this phenomenon is called, enables the young mangroves to root quickly.
Tidal forests contain distinctive vegetation zones, reflecting differences in the duration of inundation, the input of freshwater from the hinterland, salinity, geomorphology, human interference and other factors.
Indonesian mangroves grow in areas of high solar radiation and have the ability to take up fresh water from salt, so they are in an excellent position to achieve high primary productivity. Mangroves provide an interesting natural laboratory for ecologists and biologists.
Mangroves are also valuable outdoor classrooms and in the Suwung in Bali for example, boardwalks have been built allowing easy public access. The mangroves of Indonesia's coast are exhilarating to view and exciting to explore.
The republic's mangroves are one of the most important parts of the country's estuaries (as a major component of river-basin or river catchment) and a source of conflicts in terms of tropical ecosystems for the direct and indirect benefits it produces.
The mangrove forest plays many roles including a coastal stabilizer, dispersant of the energy of storms, tidal bores and winds.
This is a considerable challenge, which, if effectively pursued, could prove the only long-term means of sustaining an economically viable fishery.
Mangroves along the coasts of Indonesia are vital for global climate changes and also to South China Sea fishing, ecologists say.
The destruction of Indonesian mangroves by mankind, however, is progressing extensively and intensively in a massive manner. Also, the natural calamities at the present day play a significant role too. We should pay attention to the coastal environment, especially in Aceh, Sumatra Utara and Nias.
Conservation of the mangrove ecosystem is a way for "real lasting development. Because the mangrove forest grows at the interface between land and sea, the destruction of this ecosystem causes severe damage to both terrestrial and aquatic neighboring ecosystems.
The majority of the world's mangroves lie in Indonesia and Indonesian mangroves contribute 27 percent of the world's mangrove area. The time has come for Indonesia to establish a National Strategy for Mangrove Ecosystem Management in Indonesia (NSMEMI) that clearly states the values of mangroves resources to the nation, takes steps to keep our remaining mangrove forests and initiates the process of restoring the mangrove environment for the future.
A national policy must increase the role of resource management agencies in development projects and require that all development agencies prevent mangrove forest loss or fully mitigate such loss when it is unavoidable.
As a national policy develops and is implemented we will see significant changes that not only slow, and eventually stop, mangrove forests loss, but ultimately result in a reversal of mangrove loss.
The establishment and implementation of a national policy (e.g., for green belt, national parks, nature reserve, wildlife sanctuaries) on coastal resources in general and the mangrove ecosystem in particular, will not be easy task, but it is necessary one.
Mangroves mean too much to the national interest to be squandered for quick profits or political expediency. Instead, these tidal wetlands should be declared endangered habitats and given national recognition as a critical resource. The question is do we Indonesians have the will?
The writer is professor of mangrove ecology at the Center for Oceanological Research and Development, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Jakarta, Indonesia.
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Vietnam
Expensive tiger shrimp producers must lower costs to compete
20 December 2007
Experts have warned that the popularity of Vietnam's tiger shrimp on the global market has been challenged by white shrimp and the only way of improving its competitiveness is by lowering the production cost.
In 2007, Vietnam is expected to export $3.6bil worth of seafood, including $1.5bil from shrimp exports, an increase of 12% over the same period last year. However, Vietnam may not maintain this high growth rate next year, as Vietnam’s tiger shrimp is competing with increasingly popular white shrimp.
In previous years, tiger shrimp prices always increased by 10-20% in the final months of the year, especially right before Christmas. However, tiger shrimp prices have been decreasing this year. Importers nowadays prefer the cheaper white shrimp to Vietnam's more expensive tiger shrimp.
On the US market, the white shrimp price is $1-1.5/kg earning it 80% of the market share, while Vietnam's higher cost tiger shrimp retains only 20%.
Le Van Quang, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said that in order to make tiger shrimp more competitive Vietnam has no other choice than to lower the production cost.
Mr Quang stressed production cost must be reduced to VND50,000/kg to compete with white shrimp. In order to reduce the production cost, they have to implement the latest shrimp hatchery technologies.
Pham Minh Tien, Director of the Seafood Department of Soc Trang, a province boasting 49,000ha of tiger shrimp hatcheries, said there are three major shrimp production responsibilities and challenges.
The first is quality and hygiene. The second is environmental pollution caused by massive development of shrimp and catfish fields. The third is high production cost.
Mr Quang said pollution is not of great concern, since modern biological methods has been applied in aquaculture in the last three years. He said that the biggest problem is to get enough adult shrimp capable of breeding because that is what productivity and quality is hinged on.
According to Mr Quang, Vietnam still cannot produce shrimp capable of reproduction but must catch them in the wild. Meanwhile, when the weather is bad, fishermen cannot go out far enough out to sea to catch shrimp able to breed.
Knowing the essentiality of producing parent shrimp, Hung Phu Company has kicked off a project that will develop a method for producing disease-free parent shrimp. The company's researchers believe that if tiger shrimp productivity can be increased to 15-20 tons/ha, this will help reduce production costs.
Source: Vietnam Economic Times
From ecorets@gmail.com
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The Philippines
Editor's Note: It is serious folly for the Asian shrimp farm industry to again put all of its "shrimp eggs" in one basket, foolishly believing that vannamei will somehow be without the disease problems that continually plague the shrimp farm industry. Considering the serious and rather frequent disease outbreaks with vannamei in Latin America's three decades of shrimp farming, why is vannamei looked at now in Asia as the magic bullet in shrimp rearing?
Philippines Ramping Up White Shrimp Farming
According to Intrafish, the Philippines shrimp aquaculture industry is preparing to convert the majority of its former tiger prawn culture to white (p. vannamei) prawn culture.
Vannamei is expected to be one of the top aquaculture commodities in the country in the next fve years. Ninety percent of tiger prawn growers in the country have shifted to vannamei, and an expected production of 100,000 metric tons of shrimp is their object.
320 Filippino fishermen recently underwent training in vannamei farming to prepare them to commence this new industry in the Philippines.
Source: Intrafish 12-7-07
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54,000 mangroves planted along the Iloilo River in the Philippines
The city government has planted more than 50,000 mangroves along the Iloilo River over the last two months under the Iloilo City Mangrove Reforestation Project.
City agriculturist Jose Gil Parreñas, who oversaw the planting, said that there were seven species of mangroves planted at various portions along Carpenters Bridge and towards upstream areas. They are A. marina, A. officinalis, S. caseolaris, R. mucronata, R. styloza, R. apiculata and N. frutirans, which are identified as existing species within the river.
Parreñas said the planting is part of the environmental component of the Iloilo Flood Control Project (IFCP) and is done in partnership with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and China International Water and Electric Corporation, a contractor for the IFCP.
The mayor said the mangrove planting project must be supported because once the mangrove thrives, they become home to several species of marine life, which in turn will become beneficial to fisherfolks living along the area.
Source: The News Today
From: icsf@icsf.net Dec. 25, 2007
India
Wall Street Journal (Live Mint), 21st November 2007
Exporters threaten not to source shrimp from farms
- It is the aquaculture farmers who should be blamed for antibiotic residues in shrimp, exporters say
Ajayan
An effort of the government's trade promotion body Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) to clamp down on a practice of shipping out shrimp with antibiotic residues which threatens India's global shrimp trade has resulted in exporters threatening to stop sourcing shrimp from aquaculture farms.
One of the exporters said it was aquaculture farmers, and not processors or exporters who were to blame for antibiotic residues in shrimp.
In a letter to six major exporters, whose shipments were either detained or rejected by authorities in the European Union because their shrimp had antibiotic residues, MPEDA said it would be constrained to withdraw the registration granted to their processing plants and scrap their export licences if more of their shipments were rejected for the same reason.
The notices were sent to six companies in Andhra Pradesh earlier this month by MPEDA. The companies are Devi Fisheries Ltd, Devi Seafoods Ltd, Wellcome Fisheries Ltd, Surya Mitra Eximps Pvt. Ltd, Satya Sea Foods Ltd and Jagadeesh Marine Exports.
According to MPEDA's letter, the use of antibiotics doesn't just result in a loss for exporters ''it also damages the very name and image of the country.''
Europe accounted for 33% of India's marine exports of $1.8 billion (Rs7,074 crore) in 2006-07. There have been reports of rampant use of antibiotics such as chloramphenicol and nitrofuran in aquaculture farms, which account for almost half the shrimp India exports. MPEDA said exporters have been warned to source aquaculture produce for processing and export only after testing for antibiotics because of strict legislation in Europe and other parts of the world.
A couple of recent rejections have been owing to the processors and exporters ''not paying importance to our repeated instruction,'' wrote MPEDA.
Y. Surya Rao, chief executive officer of Devi Fisheries, one of the companies that has been issued the notice, said exporters have written to MPEDA clarifying that they were not responsible for the presence of antibiotics.
''There is little exporters or processors can do in this matter since the use of antibiotics is at the farm level and we cannot be penalized for this. As exporters, we do not like to lose our reputation with our buyers and also do not like to incur huge financial losses on account of exports, more than anybody else,'' he added.
MPEDA is the apex authority in charge of monitoring aquaculture farms, hatcheries and feed plants. The body, which acts as a coordinating agency with different Central and state government establishments, is also expected to check samples for antibiotic residue.
While most importing countries have the most modern testing methods such as high- performance liquid chromatography to check shrimp for antibiotic residues, MPEDA and the government's Export Inspection Agency, which also does such tests, should set up more such testing laboratories to help processors and exporters source products without antibiotics, Rao added.
It is for the government authorities to take action against farms producing contaminated products since farms and hatcheries are not registered with the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI).
''If MPEDA does not withdraw its notices to the processors and exporters and does not take steps to ensure supply of antibiotic-free material from the farms, the SEAI will be forced to stop the sourcing of shrimp from the farms,'' Rao said, after a meeting of exporters on Tuesday. Executives at MPEDA said they would look into this issue.
Source: LiveMint
From: Don Staniford Pure Salmon Campaign
Email: dstaniford@puresalmon.org
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First Human Climate Change Refugees
Grist
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Editor's Note: The Sundarban is one of the last strongholds for the Royal Bengal Tiger. But this last stand for the tiger is intimately tied to the health of its mangrove habit, which along with the tiger itself is threatened by unsustainable development, poaching, illegal wildlife trade and massive mismanagement. Perhaps, creating an international body that can co-manage such habitat of international importance might make a difference?
India's tigers need miracle to survive
Wed Sep 26, 2007 2:47pm BST
By Nita Bhalla
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's dwindling tiger population will never recover and it will take a miracle to save those left from habitat destruction and poaching, a renowned expert said on Wednesday.
Failure by authorities to understand the needs of tigers and provide protection has led to numbers falling to 1,300 now from around 3,700 in 2001/02, Valmik Thapar told Reuters ahead of the Reuters Environment Summit next week.
"I believe that the government of the day failed the tigers of India and we cannot recover this population ever again," said Thapar, who has spent the past three decades documenting the behaviour of tigers and crusading for their survival.
"A miracle is required to save the Indian tiger. But I don't believe in miracles, as the commitment to save tigers is non-existent."
India has half the world's surviving tigers, but their populations have suffered, driven by a demand for tiger skins and bones in China for traditional medicines.
Thapar, 55, has written 15 books about tigers and presented around 20 documentaries for broadcasters and channels such as the BBC, National Geographic, Discovery and Animal Planet.
His close relationship over six or seven years with a tigress called "Macchli" -- meaning fish in Hindi due to a fish-like marking on her cheek -- is widely documented in his films.
Thapar, also known as India's "Tiger man", was also the first to document how male tigers behave in a family unit.
"What is happening now is a great tragedy," he said. "No one understands the needs of tigers. Committees set up to look after tigers are filled with people who know nothing about the tiger."
CO-EXISTENCE?
The bushy-bearded conservationist said government initiatives like the setting up of a Tiger Conservation Authority and a Wildlife Crime Bureau were just "lip service" and "rhetoric".
He said the tiger's survival was dependent on rapid action, reform and strong protection of the animals and their habitat.
But instead, Thapar said, the government was placing the animals under greater risk with a new law giving people rights over forest resources and advocating the co-existence of tigers and man.
"Lions don't co-exist with people in Africa, jaguars don't co-exist with people in South America and tigers and leopards have never co-existed with people in India," he said.
"It's a myth. It's an illusion. It's the biggest disaster that the present government has started to believe."
The Recognition of Forest Rights Act, passed last year and expected to formally become law in the coming months, grants some of India's most impoverished and marginalised communities the right to own and live off resource-rich forests.
But it has sparked debate amongst conservationists and the government who disagree on whether it will help save or further threaten tigers.
Thapar said from 1850 to 1950 at least 100,000 tigers were killed by man, 25,000 people were killed by tigers and around one million livestock were killed by tigers, proving that there was a huge amount of conflict between man and tigers.
"But our politicians have not understood this," said Thapar. "They think you can cuddle tigers."
He said there would be no legal cover for national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, leaving them open to exploitation by forest dwellers as well as by timber and poaching mafias.
"This is the end of forest India. It's like opening a bank and saying to the public come and loot."
Despite his distinguished career which was filled with thousands of memorable moments, Thapar said his life was a failure as he had failed in the battle to save India's tigers.
"The most moving and memorable time was with a tigress and her three tiny cubs. I watched her in the early morning sun for two hours, it brought tears to my eyes. I wept in joy -- the joy of the devotion of a mother to her little ones," he said.
"But if you look at it today, those mothers are being killed and the cubs are dying as the mothers don't return home."
Reuters UK
From: Ashish Kothari ashishkothari@vsnl.com
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Hundreds of dead turtles litter beach of Indian State of Orissa
Hundreds of endangered olive ridley turtles have been found dead over the past
one-and-a-half months in the Gahiramatha beach of Orissa, India, a non-governmental organisation in Kendrapada said on Thursday.
"We have been conducting survey of turtles on the 35 km shoreline from Hukitola to Nasi Island of Gahirmatha, nearly 174 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar, since Nov 1," said Bijay Kabi, director of the NGO Action for Protection of Wild Animal (APOWA). "We found carcasses of at least 400 turtles on the beach," he said, adding, "Many of them might have been killed by fishing trawlers that are operating illegally in the vicinity".
Gahirmatha is considered the world's largest nesting site of olive ridley turtles. "Every year during winter, nearly 800,000 turtles come to this beach for mass nesting," Kabi said.
Forest and police officials have seized at least 12 trawlers and detained 20 fishermen within a month for illegal fishing in Gahiramatha marine sanctuary. Apart from Gahirmatha, the State has two other nesting sites -- Devi river mouth in Puri district and Rusikulya river mouth in Ganjam district.
At least 120 dead turtles were washed away from the beach near Devi river mouth, said Bichitra Biswal of another NGO, Orissa Turtle Trust. "Forest and wildlife officials are hoodwinking the government and the people by providing wrong figures of dead turtles to the authorities to save their skin," alleged Biswajit Mohanty of the Operation Kachhapa, a voluntary organisation. "The death of nearly 130,000 turtles over the past 13 years will adversely affect the numbers of Olive Ridleys," added Mohanty.
"The government and forest department are taking strict measures to save the olive ridleys," said Durgacharan Sahoo, the range officer of Bhitarakanika national park. The rookery at Gahirmatha was declared a marine sanctuary in 1997 by the State government. The Indian Coast Guard and the forest department have set up 17 camps to guard the turtles and prevent entry of fishing vessels in the sanctuary.
"The forest staff have also spotted dead turtles, but the exact number would be only known later," Sahoo said. "Besides preventing fishing in the prohibited zones, surprise raids are also being carried in the vicinity," he said.
Turtle causalities have also been reported from Devi river mouth, although in Rusikulya the turtles are in small numbers, the NGOs said.
Source: Indo-Asian News Service
From: icsf@icsf.net
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Editor's Note: It seems ironic that in Asia, the variety of shrimp known as "white shrimp", or vannamei, are viewed as "disease resistant, when this same variety has suffered from serious disease infestations in Latin America throughout the history of shrimp farming with vannemei in that region where these shrimp originate. Devastating losses of farmed vannamei have occurred over the years in Ecuador, Honduras, Brazil and Mexico, but there seems to be this ongoing mystique about this introduced variety in Asia as possessing some magic bullet against disease, which this editor doubts will sustain itself against the vagaries of through-put system shrimp farming which predominates the industry there. Serious disease outbreaks will inevitably affect the Asian vannemei, as has happened in Latin America. The long-term effects of intensive monoculture of this non-native shrimp species will eventually catch up with Asia's latest industry craze.
White Shrimp Replacing Tigers In Ponds
21 December 2007
KOCHI: Indian aquaculture farmers should increasingly shift from the traditional shrimp products to vannamei, according to the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI).
Introduction of vannamei species of shrimp will help the aquaculture farmers and the exporters to compete with other Asian countries, it was pointed out at the 37th AGM of SEAI. The AGM elected Anwar Hashim, MD of the Abad Group, as the national president of SEAI.
The demand for the Indian black tiger variety is declining while the price has also declined, AJ Tharakan, former national president of SEAI said. It is in this context that the switch to vannamei is advocated. Vannamei, a shrimp variety that is widely farmed in Thailand, Vietnam and China is high yielding and disease resistant.
Mr Tharakan said the seafood export industry is facing a crisis due to the shortage of raw material, appreciation of rupee and the antidumping duty announced by the US. Due to the efforts of SEAI, the DEPB rates have been enhanced while the anti-dumping duty has been reduced, he said.
Source: The Economic Times
mercapesca.net
Cyclone shield depleting slowly but surely
1 January 2007
by Tirthankar Mitra
KOLKATA: Many Kolkatans perhaps believe they would have enjoyed the year-end parties better in a warmer clime as they shivered in their woollens as the city passed through the coldest day in a decade yesterday.
But most of them would have felt a chill in their bones had they known that a cyclone may lash the city and raze their homes, seeping in through the increasing gaps of a mangrove rampart in the Sunderbans which stood between the city and disaster when Cyclone Sidr lashed the Indo-Bangladesh coast in November.
The mangrove cover along 9,000-odd sqkm of the Sunderbans Biosphere is depleting rapidly, an alarming piece of news for the city slickers and those living in extensive parts of North and South-24-Parganas. Salt water inflow from the Bay of Bengal, coupled with deforestation, are daily picking holes in the green rampart.
As the sea water laps into the roots of those mangroves which thrive on sweet water, portions of this natural barrier are weakened, a state forest department official said. The efforts of different state government departments to bolster the mud embankment is hampered by the high and low tides twice daily. Planting mangrove saplings in increasing number is hardly of any help to rebuild the storm barrier. The fact remains that the continual dragging of the fishing nets for tiger prawn “seeds” collection uproots mangrove saplings, Dr Abhijit Mitra, faculty member, department of Marine Science, Calcutta University said.
Increasing mangrove plantation along embankments, prevention of local residents from uprooting mangrove saplings are the qualities of a project to be implemented by the Nature Environment Wildlife Society, a voluntary organisation, soon. Funded by ABN-Amro, the project is scheduled to be completed in three years.
Local residents will be offered alternative livelihood in the form of cultivating fresh water prawns in ponds, a NEWS spokesman said. As soon as the mangrove saplings are not uprooted by the dragging of fishing nets on the muddy banks, the green rampart will grow tall and strong, he believes.
Zari embroidery work, poultry farming and tailoring are vocations to be offered to local residents to dissuade them from catching tiger prawn “seeds” with fishing nets and uprooting mangrove saplings in the process, it was learnt. Three villages, namely Dulki, Tridibnagar and Debipur have been chosen for the pilot project to take off. The effort would be replicated elsewhere once it is successfully implemented in these villages.
Source: Kolkata Plus. The Statesman
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Bangladesh
Sundarbans After Sidr Foresters' trick to finish it off
Staff Correspondent
The government ban on cutting trees in the Sidr-ravaged Sundarbans has apparently saved the forest as a section of forest officials were ready to sell the damaged trees for their own benefit, witnesses and experts said.
The forest officials had already started marking the damaged trees to chop off and sell those before the ban was imposed last week, the witnesses added.
Experts said the affected mangrove forest of the Sundarbans will naturally regenerate itself if it is left untouched.
Yet, the guardians of the World Heritage Site -- the forest department -- wasted no time in deploying local people in Sharankhola and Chandpai ranges to mark the "trees to be sold" even before completion of a damage assessment, they added.
"Fortunately, the government order came and the forest department's move to sweep clean a quarter of the Sundarbans has stopped," an environmentalist said.
The environmentalist who declined to be named has just returned from the forest after a weeklong visit to see the damage caused by Cyclone Sidr last month.
From the general impression, forest department high officials had earlier told the press Sidr has damaged at least one-fourth of the Sundarbans, 10 percent severely.
The 600,000-hectare Sundarbans offers more than 400,000 hectares of forest, the remaining part comprising water bodies.
However, a leading environmentalist speaking anonymously told The Daily Star the forest department might inflate the damage assessment so that an unscrupulous section can benefit from selling trees.
The forest department is perceived to be one of the most corrupt departments of the country and often accused of damaging forestry and wildlife instead of protecting them.
The environmentalist explained to The Daily Star why regeneration of the forest is the best when it is left alone. "The decaying trees provide good nutrients for the soil. If the forest floor is swept clean, it will become difficult for regeneration as direct sunlight may dry up the sub-soil.
"In addition, the logging activities will bring in hundreds of wood cutters. It will be a living hell for the wildlife that already lost their habitats in the cyclone.
"The animals should also be left alone to help them find their new homes and settle down," he added.
The forest department usually works on its own as there is no agency to monitor its activities. Allegations are rife that unscrupulous officials thrive on selling trees illegally.
"They illegally lease out parts of the forest to woodcutters, even to outlaws, and make quick cash," said another environmentalist. "This was exactly what was about to happen there."
"My impression of the real damage is that the forest has lost about 10 percent trees. Judging from the nature of the Sundarbans, it will take about five years to regenerate and make up for this loss," he noted,
"Already I have seen new sprouts coming out in the damaged areas."
From: "zakir kibria"
zakir.kibria@gmail.com
====================================
Sundarbans' Phoenix of recovery
30 December 2007
Nature tries to catch up as quickly as possible to regenerate what has been destroyed of the Sundarbans in Cyclone Sidr six weeks ago, with signs of thriving flora and fauna.
The trees in vast areas of the world's largest mangrove forest seemed to be dead after the cyclone. Their leaves turned brown, giving a sad image of devastation.
However, a visit to badly hit areas showed that most Keora trees, which thanks to their flexibility suffered less damage than others, are now back in fresh green. Also Gewa, the so-called Blinding Mangrove, is getting green again. As a fast growing soft wood, this species will be among the first ones starting to fill up the holes in the forest caused by the cyclone.
Most trees, which turned brown, were not killed as it seemed at first. They probably suffered from unusually high salinity caused by the cyclone's heavy tidal wave that drove vast amount of salt water deep into the forest, explained Elisabeth Fahrni Mansur, an environmentalist and CEO of The Guide Tours Ltd on a visit to southeast Sundarbans.
Mansur had just returned from distributing relief materials among the Sidr victims. "It is encouraging to see how strong people are, they get up again, build a new house, a new life," she said.
At Katka, where Sidr hit the coast, fishermen came back for 'char pata' fishing. They were putting out their nets along the riverbank waiting for the tide to rise and carry the fish into the trap. On the shore, where the cyclone destroyed the Forest Department premises, the staffs were busy rebuilding a cottage.
Wildlife of the forest is also getting back to normal recovering from the shock Cyclone Sidr imposed on them. The animals found new territories or reclaimed the old ones. 'Look here, a tiger,' Abdul Kuddus, a forest guard said excitedly, pointing towards paw prints of tiger on sand, probably a day old. Kuddus was accompanying a group of visitors.
The Royal Bengal Tiger usually claims an area of 15 square kilometres. Fresh tiger tracks were also found along the Badamtola beach, where Cyclone Sidr cracked trees as if they were matchsticks.
The fauna is busily trying to make up the losses to the brood in the remaining winter months. In a nearby forest, a white-bellied sea-eagle couple could be seen collecting twigs for a new nest. This endangered raptor with a wingspan of about two metres breeds once a year, raising a sole chicken.
Meanwhile, a monkey was seen teaching its baby how to collect food while monitor lizards were taking a lazy sunbath on undamaged tree branches. A wild boar with young pigs was strolling peacefully through the forest and a deer family grazing on a riverbank.
There are prospects of more liveliness with the harvest of Golpata beginning soon. The locals use the dried leaves of this tree, also known as Nipah Palm, for thatching the roofs of their huts.
However, the grass cutters who collect straws for betel leaf plantations, were yet to return to the meadows of Katka island. Many of their colleagues lost their lives in the cyclone.
Source: The Daily Star
From: "zakir kibria"
zakir.kibria@gmail.com
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Sidr-hit Sundarbans healing itself fast
Pinaki Roy back from the Sundarbans
New leaves are growing on the trees in the Sidr-hit Sundarbans as the mangrove forest is healing fast from the devastation caused by the cyclone. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain
With awe inspiring swiftness nature has already started regenerating Sidr affected Sundarbans, attracting local and foreign tourists again.
No less than 25 percent of the Sundarbans was completely destroyed by Cyclone Sidr, forest officials and experts said in their primary assessment. Initially the experts said it would take years to recover from the losses.
In a recent visit to the Sundarbans new buds on broken trees and saplings from seeds were seen sprouting, bringing the much needed hope back to the destroyed patch of the mangrove forest. The colour of the evergreen forest was however brownish with many trees along the rivers and canals not having even a single leaf on them.
"The natural process of regeneration has started already and I have seen a good number of wildlife in the forest," said Khasru Chowdhury, an expert on the Sundarbans.
"The forest is recovering from the damage by itself much faster than it was thought," he added.
At Hiron Point, Kotka and Kochikhali areas new saplings of wild rice was seen on the ground where few inches of thick mud and sand were still remaining. Deer and monkeys were seen eating new leaves of wild paddy or uri grass by Nilkamal canal at Hiron Point.
"This is really very significant that the deer and monkeys, the major wildlife in the Sundarbans, are getting food supplies as initially in many areas their food were also destroyed," said Khasru, who was also visiting the Sundarbans.
At Hiron Point and Kotka new buds were seen on many half broken or uprooted keora trees. New leaves have also started to sprout on nypah and pine trees while reeds and sedges have started regenerating themselves too.
"It was a wise decision not to cut down the broken trees. The broken trees should be left as they are." said Dr Ali Reza Khan, an eminent wildlife expert.
"Let the nature take its decision about them," he added.
Following the cyclone, the officials assessed that more than Tk 1,000 crore worth of forest resources had been lost with an additional Tk 20 crore in infrastructure damage.
Although nature has started regenerating the world's largest mangrove forest, the destroyed forest offices and its staff quarters are yet to be rebuilt. During the visit the forest officials were seen carrying out their duties with immense difficulties as at some places the lone source of drinking water, the pond, has become saline due to tidal surges from the sea.
Meanwhile, the Sundarbans has started attracting foreign and local tourists again over the last two weeks.
Every year 15,000 to 20,000 local and foreign tourists usually visit the Sundarbans, the main tourist attraction in the country.
"But this year the number of tourists is likely not to exceed five thousand," said Masud Hossain, executive director of Bengal Tours Ltd.
"This is really a matter of great hope for the country that the forest has started recovering from the damage itself," he added.
From: "zakir kibria"
zakir.kibria@gmail.com
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28 December 2007
Point Counterpoint: Sunderban and our survival
by Zulfiquer Ahmed Amin
Sundarban, a large block of littoral forests with thousands of meandering streams, creeks, rivers and estuaries that have enhanced its charm, was devastated by Cyclone Sidr leaving 30 percent of it severely damaged and another 30 percent partially spoiled.
According to the forest department's preliminary estimate, the financial loss caused by Sidr to the mangroves would top $145 million. It saved many lives at a cost of its own death.
Of almost 10,107 square km of Sunderban, roughly 60% is situated in Bangladesh, while the rest lies in the state of West Bengal in India. At its maximum extent, the forest is about 70 miles wide from north to south and about 180 miles long from east to west.
Located at the mouth of the wide Ganges system, the forest thrives in a delicate balance of fresh water brought in by the Ganges and its distributing branches and the saline water brought by the diurnal tides that pass through the maze of creeks and estuaries that criss-cross the forest and cover nearly a quarter of its area.
The forest, as well as the tides, determines the environment and ecology of the adjacent upstream areas to a great extent.
The forest, that covers a large portion of the coastline of the Ganges delta, acts as a buffer against erosion of the coast by sea waves, as well as against the cyclone-generated tidal surges, which can and do cause massive destruction of life and property.
The forest also produces about 3.5 million tons of detritus, which, falling in the water, is carried to the farthest reaches of the tidal prism, and decomposed in the water, produces nutritious organic food for all species of aquatic animals. This decomposed organic matter, when deposited along with silt on the low-lying tidal flood plains immediately upstream of the Sundarbans, enriches the soil and restores its fertility. As a result, the inland waters is a favourite feeding ground for all species of aquatic animals, as well as protected breeding ground for many varieties of fish and shrimp.
The jungle is also a magnet for over 200,000 impoverished villagers who live along its boundaries and work there as fishermen, or collect honey or wood. The annual economic value of mangroves, estimated by the cost of the products and services they provide, has been estimated to be $200,000-$900,000 per hectare (Wells et al. 2006).
During the 1950s, Sundarbans, by and large, was not inhabited at all, and most forest areas were virtually inaccessible. However, mass destruction of the forest environment by humans began during the early 1960s.
Unfortunately, we have lost more than one-third of its area during the recent past. A major recent change in the physical environment of the Sunderbans was a reduction in the amount of fresh water flowing into the area, which resulted in a considerable increase in salinity level. This is due to natural changes, river diversions, construction of dams and withdrawal of freshwater for irrigation.
The problem is likely to be aggravated by the rise in the sea level caused by global warming. Plundering and unscrupulous exploitation of the forest resources are said to be the main causes of the forest loss in Bangladesh and, consequently, a threat to the biodiversity. Added to it, repeated cyclones and tidal surges continuously cause utter damage.
Research indicates that a network of coastal defences, specially a belt of mangroves, is capable of absorbing 70-90 percent of the energy of a normal wave and 30-40 percent of the total force of a tsunami or typhoon generated waves before they swirl over inhabited areas by the shore.
The monstrous tsunami 2004 killed 174,000 people and destroyed tens of thousands of buildings in Thailand, Indonesia, India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. It has been reported that damage in terms of loss of lives and properties in the villages which were behind mangrove wetlands and shelterbelt plantations, was limited as the intensity of the tsunami was reduced by these bio-barriers. Thailand's Ranong areas is an example, which was almost unaffected by the tsunami due to the resistance provided by luxuriant offshore mangrove forests.
Kapuhenwala and Wanduruppa, two villages in the lagoon of southern Sri Lanka, show the importance of mangroves in saving lives. In Kapuhenwala, surrounded by 200 hectares of dense mangroves and scrub forest, the tsunami 2004 killed only two people --the lowest number of tsunami related fatalities in a Sri Lankan village.
The first few rows of the mangrove trees alone bore the brunt of the tsunami waves, and the friction created by these trees and the trees of subsequent rows reduced the speed of the water. Wanduruppa, surrounded by degraded mangroves, was severely affected, with 5,000 to 6,000 people killed.
The powerful cyclone that hit India's Orissa coast in October 1999 provided another powerful example of deforestation and disaster vulnerability. Much of the damage caused by the cyclone occurred in the new, extensively deforested, settlement areas along Orissa's coast as the storm surge ripped through a 100-km long denuded stretch, the Ersama block, killing thousands of people within minutes.
In 1996, the Leizhou Peninsula, located near South China's Hainan province, was hit by a violent typhoon, causing economic losses of more than $ 1.2 billion. The counties of Doulun and Jinbang were unaffected because a mangrove belt that measures 4 to 160 meter across sheltered them.
The raging Cyclone Sidr, with a diameter of about 500 km and a wall of clouds about 200 km tall, seen in satellite images as a colossal swirling white mass bearing north from the Bay of Bengal, smashed into the south-western coast of Bangladesh. The fury of the cyclone can only be comprehended by one of many evidences in Charkhali ferry ghat in Pirojpur district, where two ferries had been blown off like toys, one landing in Vekutia almost two miles away, the other in Togra almost one mile away from the place of impact.
The uprooted, torn-headed and twisted trees along the whole coastal and adjacent areas of Bagerhat, Pirojpur, Jhalokathi, Patualkali and Bhola are a vivid evidence of its utter destruction.
The monstrous strength of the cyclone was like that of the 1991 cyclone, but our coastal vanguard, the Sunderban, applied the brake to the advancing slayer, resisting its killing power but bearing the massive brunt, with one-third of it badly mauled.
Better preparedness and an advance warning system helped save many people this time, but the vast mangrove forest had also largely offset the impact of the cyclone.
Forest ecosystems play a dominant role in reducing the vulnerability of communities to disasters, both in terms of reducing their physical exposure to natural hazards and providing them the livelihood resources to withstand and recover from crises. A comprehensive measure to restore and protect our mangrove forest is vital for our existence.
A scientific, planned approach, supported by strict compliance, is the need of the time. So long as rich countries violate the environment, there is no alternative to a mangrove swamp around the coastal belt for our survival.
Dr. Zulfiquer Ahmed Amin is a physician and specialist in Public Health Administration and Health Economics
Source: The Daily Star
From: "zakir kibria"
zakir.kibria@gmail.com
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Sri Lanka
A "second tsunami" of indifference hits Sri Lankan fishermen
By Melani Manel Perera
A "second tsunami" has hit small fishermen in Sri Lanka, one of the country's most marginalised social groups. Since 26 December 2004 when the tsunami struck the coastline of the country, another tsunami-like tragedy has hit them; it involves official indifference, red tape, multinational fishing interests and the tourist industry. Three years after the disaster thousands of people are in fact still living in ramshackle conditions, whilst the government is building highways and hotels and planning commercial fishing harbours.
Various NGOs and the Catholic Church have denounced the tragic situation, but many have already given up the struggle. Even many of those involved in reconstruction have had to leave over the past year for lack of building permits and land.
But the National Fisheries Solidarity Organisation (NAFSO) and the World Forum of Fisher People (WFFP) are among the groups that continue to voice the concerns of Sri Lanka's fishermen at the national and international levels respectively.
Post-tsunami programmes elaborated in Colombo expect free market forces to take care of reconstruction. They tend to promote the tourist industry at the expense of coastal communities who now find themselves displaced once again.
Under current rules housing cannot be built in a 300-metre buffer zone along the coast. This has imposed heavy costs on local fishermen in terms of transportation, fuel and equipment. They received what is tantamount to a coup de grace when foreign fishing fleets were authorised to exploit Sri Lankan waters through joint ventures with the government.
On top of that the government has increased the size of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) where the state can exercise special rights in exploration and marine resource use. Last but not least, fish imports from the region have cut prices so much that many local fishermen can't sustain the competition.
In addition to the marine fisheries, Sri Lanka's fishing industry includes coastal and inland aquaculture. Together they employ some 200,000 fishermen and their families in the country. Out of these some 150,000 are small-scale fishermen. Another 30,000 work in deep sea fishing vessels as crew members. The other 20,000 are inland fresh water fishermen. Over all some 700,000 people depend on the fishery sector for their livelihood in a country where the annual per capita consumption of fish is around 14 kilograms.
Meanwhile in the capital Colombo alone some 1,300 families are still living in the temporary shelters after losing everything in the 2004 tsunami. On the east coast, the situation is even worse since the government has failed to grant land to build new housing. After years waiting, many NGOs have thus been forced to leave without completing their plans.
Source: AsiaNews.it
From: icsf@icsf.net
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Pakistan
December 4, 2007
Killing mangroves
We visited the mangrove site near Keenjhar Lake recently and were shocked to see that a significant portion of the area has been cleared off the vegetation due to the ongoing repair and construction of a road adjacent to the lake. It is located far inland from the sea shore and probably constitutes the only basin mangrove stand of the Indus delta.
The mangroves, belonging to the species Avicennia marina, commonly called grey mangrove, grow in a small area of about twelve acres and have been subjected to severe grazing and cutting by the local dwellers. Earlier many tall trees and shrubs of this species grew in the area but not any more. Exactly two years ago we were lucky enough to see the last fully grown tree but that too was soon cut away and now what is left are only the shrubs of the young plants of this species.
In view of the unique location and vulnerable small size of the mangrove stand it is requested that the Sindh Forest Department, IUCN and WWF take immediate steps to prevent any further reclamation of the area and deterioration of the mangroves.
Its ideal location near the recreation centre and guest house of the lake may invite investors to build a hotel or other structures for tourist attraction and entertainment in future thereby eliminating all the mangroves present in the area forever.
It may be interesting to point out that the University of Karachi already requested the government as early as of July 2003 to declare this area protected. Besides, if this area is properly managed and conserved, it will encourage ecotourism because of its unique location and biodiversity.
S.M. SAIFULLAH and FAYYAZ RASOOL
Karachi
From: Prof. Syed Saifullah
smsaifullah2001@yahoo.com
China
Editor's Note: It would seem we have enough evidence accumulating to cast strong doubts on the health issues surrounding farmed fish and shrimp. The following story about aquaculture products from China should raise some concerns for all consumers. And, the fact that so few US food inspections are actually conducted, with only around 1% inspections occurring in the US, points to the danger of fouled shrimp or fish making it through the tin veneer of inspections and reaching the dinner tables of countless consumers. The problem of mislabeling and "trans-shipments further signifies that shrimp grown in China can easily be sold with a label from another country, such a Thailand, where fewer targeted inspections occur based on prior "good behavior" of certain producer nations. This makes it particularly difficult to regulate the industry in any kind of practical way.
In China, Farming Fish In Toxic Waters
Published: December 15, 2007
FUQING, China -- Here in southern China, beneath the looming mountains of Fujian Province, lie dozens of enormous ponds filled with murky brown water and teeming with eels, shrimp and tilapia, much of it destined for markets in Japan and the West.
Fuqing is one of the centers of a booming industry that over two decades has transformed this country into the biggest producer and exporter of seafood in the world, and the fastest-growing supplier to the United States.
But that growth is threatened by the two most glaring environmental weaknesses in China: acute water shortages and water supplies contaminated by sewage, industrial waste and agricultural runoff that includes pesticides. The fish farms, in turn, are discharging wastewater that further pollutes the water supply.
"Our waters here are filthy," said Ye Chao, an eel and shrimp farmer who has 20 giant ponds in western Fuqing. "There are simply too many aquaculture farms in this area. They're all discharging water here, fouling up other farms."
Farmers have coped with the toxic waters by mixing illegal veterinary drugs and pesticides into fish feed, which helps keep their stocks alive yet leaves poisonous and carcinogenic residues in seafood, posing health threats to consumers.
Environmental degradation, in other words, has become a food safety problem, and scientists say the long-term risks of consuming contaminated seafood could lead to higher rates of cancer and liver disease and other afflictions.
No one is more vulnerable to these health risks than the Chinese, because most of the seafood in China stays at home. But foreign importers are also worried. In recent years, the European Union and Japan have imposed temporary bans on Chinese seafood because of illegal drug residues. The United States blocked imports of several types of fish this year after inspectors detected traces of illegal drugs linked to cancer.
This week, officials from the United States and China signed an agreement in Beijing to improve oversight of Chinese fish farms as part of a larger deal on food and drug safety.
Yet regulators in both countries are struggling to keep contaminated seafood out of the market. China has shut down seafood companies accused of violating the law and blacklisted others, while United States regulators are concentrating on Chinese seafood for special inspections.
Fuqing (pronounced foo-CHING) is at the top of the list this year for refused shipments of seafood from China, with 43 rejections through November, according to records kept by the United States Food and Drug Administration. All of those rejections involved the use of illegal veterinary drugs.
By comparison, Thailand, also a major exporter of seafood to the United States, had only two refusals related to illegal veterinary drugs. China as a whole had 210 refusals for illegal drugs.
"For 50 years," said Wang Wu, a professor at Shanghai Fisheries University, "we've blindly emphasized economic growth. The only pursuit has been G.D.P., and now we can see that the water turns dirty and the seafood gets dangerous. Every year, there are food safety and environmental pollution accidents."
Environmental problems plaguing seafood would appear to be a bad omen for the industry. But with fish stocks in the oceans steadily declining and global demand for seafood soaring, farmed seafood, or aquaculture, is the future. And no country does more of it than China, which produced about 115 billion pounds of seafood last year.
China produces about 70 percent of the farmed fish in the world, harvested at thousands of giant factory-style farms that extend along the entire eastern seaboard of the country. Farmers mass-produce seafood just offshore, but mostly on land, and in lakes, ponds, rivers and reservoirs, or in huge rectangular fish ponds dug into the earth.
"They'll be a major supplier not just to the U.S., but to the world," said Richard Stavis, the chairman of Stavis Seafoods, an American company that imports Chinese catfish, tilapia and frog legs.
China began emerging as a seafood power in the 1990s as rapid economic growth became the top priority in the country. But environmental experts say that headlong pursuit of higher gross domestic product has devastated Chinese water quality and endangered the country's food supply. In Guangdong Province in southern China, fish contaminated with toxic chemicals like DDT are already creating health problems.
Chen Yang contributed research from Shanghai and Fuqing.
From: Darlene Schanfald darlenes@olympus.net
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Note: China is trying to to get control of its seafood safety, but with about 14 million fish farms to look after, the scale of the challenge facing the government is daunting, to say the least.
China Struggling To Improve Image Of Food Production
China moves to improve quality of its seafood. Responding to growing global concerns about the quality and safety of its seafood, China said it would introduce an array of production standards to improve safety and guard against illegal veterinary drugs. New York Times [Registration Required]
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27 December 2007
China Offers Production Guidelines for Seafood
By DAVID BARBOZA
SHANGHAI ˜ Responding to growing concerns about the quality and safety of its seafood, China said this week that it would introduce production standards, including several measures intended to improve product safety and guard against the use of illegal veterinary drugs.
The Ministry of Agriculture said the standards would cover more than 100 categories, everything from breeding fish and seafood products to disease prevention and drug controls, according to a speech released Thursday by the ministry.
The move, which was first announced on Monday, is the latest food safety initiative to come out of Beijing, which is pushing aggressively to ensure Chinese consumers and importers of Chinese food that the country‚s products are safe and healthy.
Earlier this year, China was hit by a wave of product safety recalls involving everything from tainted toothpaste and contaminated pet food ingredients to toys coated with toxic lead paint.
China's seafood industry was also damaged in June after the United States blocked the import of several different types of fish, including eel and tilapia, after the Food and Drug Administration said that a growing amount of Chinese seafood was found to contain residues of illegal veterinary drugs.
The Chinese government responded by blacklisting some seafood exporters, closing others and conducting nationwide inspections of seafood processors.
Many farmers admit that they have used illegal drugs, but government and industry officials have complained that the United States and Japan have imposed tighter import controls to safeguard their own seafood industries.
China is the world‚s largest producer and exporter of seafood and its shipments to the United States have grown significantly over the last decade. The country produced about 54 million tons of seafood this year, more than the world‚s next nine largest seafood producers combined. By comparison, the United States produces about 5 million tons of seafood a year.
But this year, the Chinese government said seafood export growth slowed to its lowest level since 1999, despite hitting a record high.
The country's massive seafood industry is dominated by aquaculture farms that mass produce seafood, some using water from ponds, rivers and reservoirs, others using underground water or operating in coastal waters close to shore.
Because large portions of the country's waterways are heavily polluted with household sewage, agricultural runoff and factory waste, seafood producers often turn to illegal veterinary drugs, which can be mixed into fish feed in the hopes of helping the fish cope with the stress that comes from overcrowding or polluted water.
Specialists say the country‚s environmental problems are closely entwined with its seafood safety problems. "The dirtier the water and the more pollution there is, the more drugs are used, there's no question about that, says Lai Zini, a researcher at the Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute.
Some experts have complained that China‚s aquaculture industry is too loosely regulated. But the Ministry of Agriculture said this week that the agency would strengthen law enforcement in the industry with certificates, drug usage sales and production licenses.
The government also said it would work to produce a more environmentally friendly mode of seafood production.
Source: NY Times
UAE
Endangered dugongs found dead in Abu Dhabi
A team of field scientists from the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD) this month came across two dugongs trapped in an abandoned drift Gillnet (Al Hayali), close to Abu Al Abyad Island.
"This discovery clearly demonstrates once again the vulnerability of these majestic animals to human threats. We call on the community once again to help support our efforts in protecting this endangered treasure," said Majid Al Mansouri, Secretary General of EAD. The dugong is listed as 'Vulnerable to Extinction' internationally and is protected locally under UAE Federal Law No. 23 (By-Laws 2001).
The law aims to fully protect dugongs and other marine wildlife, including sea turtles, from any commercial and recreational utilization of species within its range in UAE waters. Gillnets, particularly drift gillnets locally known as Al Hayali, constitute one of the major threats to the Dugong populations within the UAE and globally.
Studies conducted by EAD experts have indicated that the two dugongs suffocated to death in gill-nets. Drift nets (Al Hayali) and Encircling gill nets
(Al Halaq) are banned by Law in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, however, abandoned nets and illegal use of banned nets continue to be a major cause of dugong mortality in the area.
Moreover, Dugongs are at risk from boat strikes and disturbances in areas, where high boating traffic coincides with dugong habitat. Dugongs are also indirectly at risk due to the destruction of their main habitat, the seagrass.
Seagrass, which occur in coastal and shallow water areas and require light for their growth, are particularly vulnerable from increasing developmental activities along the coast such as dredging, land filling, coastal clearing and land reclamation as well as eutrophication (an increase in chemical nutrients) from sewage and other effluents.
Source: Middle East Online
From: icsf@icsf.net
Wild Tasmanian fisheries reportedly at risk from farmed fish
By Kim Booth
The Tasmanian Greens today called on Australia's Minister Llewellyn to investigate the risk of contamination of Tasmania's wild fishery and ecosystems from diseases or parasites that might infest farmed or penned fish in light of a report in the international journal Science published last week.
Greens Shadow Primary Industry spokesperson Kim Booth said that he had been contacted by the 'Pure Salmon' campaign group and alerted to the findings of the report which found that in British Columbia, Canada, wild salmon populations are collapsing after being infested with sea lice that have grown on penned fish, however there were wider implications for wild fish and the net pen aquaculture industry.
"It is alarming to see that overseas it can now be proven that net pen aquaculture is impacting on wild fish populations and I believe it is imperative that Minister Llewellyn investigate whether there are ramifications for the Tasmanian wild fishery, ecosystems, and also the aquaculture industry.
"It should be noted that Professor Ray Hilborn, a fisheries biologist at the University of Washington says the following on the situation, "This paper is really about a lot more than salmon. It is about the impacts of net pen aquaculture on wild fish. This is the first study where we can evaluate these interactions and it certainly raises serious concerns about proposed aquaculture for other species such as cod, halibut and sablefish."
"Although these same species may not occur in Tasmanian waters it is critical that the health of our wild fishery and ecosystems is paramount and that also the local aquaculture industry is made aware of what scenarios are playing out overseas with regard to their industry and make sure they are forewarned of any steps they made need to take to safeguard both their own stocks and the wild stocks that live in the waters around their farms."
Source: The Greens
From: icsf@icsf.net
Ecuador Gets Low Prices For Shrimp, But European Market Demand On Rise Now
Ecuador has a banner shrimp year in 2007 - but industry spokesmen are concerned about flat prices in 2008. Also, they are increasingly turning to Europe rather than the U.S. attracted by higher prices due to dollar weakness and growing European demand for shrimp.
From: "Seafood.com News"
seafoodnews@seafood.com
Jan. 2, 2008
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Ecuador's Shrimp Pond Area Greater Than Reported
Note from FUNDECOL:
The article and the news about the number of "recognized" illegal shrimp-ponds in Ecuador appeared in all our newspapers, therefore seafood shared this information.
According to this new report from the DIGMER (General Merchant Marine Division) 48 649 mangrove hectares turned into shrimp ponds and the total number of shrimp ponds in the country is of 175 253 ha . This responds to the original legal documentation used by the Marine Division, however this numbers are completely different to those from the agricultural census. The total of shrimp ponds according to this research and census that was actually verified in the land, and not just looked after the legal documentation, the total hectares of shrimp ponds is of 234 359 hectares corresponding to 2 472 shrimp ponds.
The numbers and information of this III Agricultural Census can be dowloaded at SICA website.
And this data, actually verifies what we have always stated and what is in our report "Certifying the Destruction", that there are more than 3 different governmental divisions that act withiin the mangroves: the Ministry of Defense through the DIGMER, Ministry of Enrivonment and Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries through the SICA.
From: Verónica Yépez veroy@ccondem.org.ec
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Guyana
$5B sea defence pact signed - mangroves to get special attention
20 December 2007
The European Union (EU) is pumping an additional $5 billion into Guyana's sea defences with special emphasis on shoring up the mangrove bulwark and it has also underlined the importance of a sector policy.
Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh and Head of the EU Delegation Ambassador Geert Heikens signed the agreement for the $5 billion sea defence project yesterday. Earlier this year, in March, a similar agreement worth 900,000 euros had been signed.
The new agreement, Heikens pointed out in brief remarks, provides for preventative maintenance and reconstruction as the main components as well as the institutional capacity building components, including the expansion of the already established Shore Zone Manage-ment System.
He said the EU was happy to assist Guyana in the long-term development of the sea defence sector.
Mangroves, which are the first line of sea defence are an additional element being catered for under the programme. Head of the Sea and River Defence Division of the Public Works Ministry George Howard, who was on hand for the signing, explained that the financial assistance will cover reconstruction and rehabilitation of Sea Defence works in Ann's Grove and Clonbrook in Region Four and Number 66 Village in Region Six. Work will also be done on the sea defence in Regions Two and Three, including Wakenaam, Howard said….
…Regarding the mangrove management programme, Howard said the department intended to improve this. He said there were some areas where this would be sufficient in terms of defence from sea encroachment. He noted that expensive structures were not always necessary and in some instances, earthen embankments would suffice.
However, the re-planting and maintenance of mangroves could