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The MAP News, 197th Ed., 11 April 2008
Dear Friends,
This is the 197th Edition of the Mangrove Action Project News, 11 April, 2008.
For the Mangroves,
Alfredo Quarto
Mangrove Action Project
"I say that those who eat shrimp - and only the rich people from the industrialized countries eat shrimp - I say that they are eating at the same time blood, sweat and livelihood of the poor people of the Third World."
--- Banka Behary Das, Indian activist
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Contents for MAP NEWS, 197th Edition, 11 April 2008
FEATURE STORIES
Prawn sandwich destroys Philippines fish nurseries: expert
MAP WORKS
MAP Presents At Seattle Green Festival
Mangrove Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration" training workshop, March 2-5, 2009
Next Calendar Children’s Art Contest for 2009 Open For New Submissions
Film on Shrimp Farming at Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival - May 4
Youth Group Environmental Camp - Learning About Nature, in Nature
AFRICA
Nigeria
FAO Supports Shrimps Farming in Country
Niger Delta Risks Being Lost, Submerged - Foreign Experts
Environmental Group Protests Shrimp Farming in Nigeria
S.E. ASIA
Thailand
In Thailand, pollution from shrimp farms threatens a fragile environment
Organic certification for shrimp begins
Thai temple fights off encroaching tide as world sea levels rise
Vietnam
Shrimp dying in Cuu Long River Delta
New rush to dam Mekong alarms environmentalists
DOC to reconsider anti-dumping taxes on Vietnamese shrimp companies
The Philippines
Fisherfolk group warns of worsening deficit in food fish
S. ASIA
India
Leading Scientists call on Tata's to reconsider Orissa port
Halt Dhamra port work to save turtles
While mangrove plundering bothers villagers, officials say green cover increasing
Bangladesh
Tigers kill six Bangladeshis near Sundarbans
Pakistan
Mai Kolachi mangrove drama continues unchecked
E. ASIA
China
Cold disaster situation of coastal mangrove in Southern China
LATIN AMERICA
Ecuador
Shellfish Gatherer Murdered Near Shrimp Fatm
OCEANIA
Fiji
Building a Million Dollar Industry
THE CARIBBEAN
U.S. Virgin Islands
Fourth Virgin Islands Mangrove Cleanup Planned
NORTH AMERICA
USA
Recession May Slow Down Shrimp Consumption In U.S.
Canada
Shrimp thriving in Strathmore
EUROPE
Norway
Norway developing eco-friendly trawl technology
STORIES / ISSUES
New Rules Will Reduce Destructive Bycatch from Shrimp Trawl Nets
How the Monterey Bay Aquarium makes its safe-seafood list -- plus a seafood recipe you can feel good about|
Investor puts his money into the rainforest
Salmon Virus Indicts Chile’s Fishing Methods
Calculating the true cost of salmon farming
Fish farm plans under scrutiny
Prawn sandwich destroys Philippines fish nurseries: expert
11 April 2008
CALATAGAN, Philippines (AFP) ˜ She helped turn many of the world's prawn farmers into millionaires, but Jurgenne Primavera now worries that her life's work might have indirectly accelerated the destruction of fish nurseries.
The Filipina zoologist, whose research on breeding the black tiger prawn became a manual that revolutionised the aquaculture industry, pointed at 66 hectares (163 acres) of brackish water fishponds at the bottom of a windy bluff in this seaside town south of Manila.
Local conservationists have filed a landmark suit against the owner, a wealthy lawyer accused of killing off mangroves -- trees that grow on marshy coasts and serve as vital nurseries for the young of open-sea fish species.
"The law bans cutting of mangroves, but he (the fishpond owner) skirted that by building dikes that cut off the seawater, until the trees eventually died," said Jessie de los Reyes, a local marine ecology advocate.
"Now the community is suffering because their ground water has turned salty and their access to fishing areas has been cut," de los Reyes added. The case is pending.
Despite cheap government loans and generous land leases in the 1970s, prawn culture failed to reach its full potential in the Philippines, where the ponds turned out to be better suited for growing milkfish, said Primavera of the Philippines-based Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Centre.
But the industry took off elsewhere, creating new wealth for many of the pioneers who fed the world's acquired taste for prawn sandwiches.
"Mangroves were cleared for prawn farming in countries that did not have a long tradition in aquaculture, such as Thailand, Vietnam and Ecuador," said Primavera.
Thriving at or near the mouths of silt-laden rivers and estuaries, the trees feature grotesque-shaped prop roots that serve as lungs allowing them to thrive in saline and waterlogged soils.
They serve as nutrient-rich marine nurseries for juvenile fish, shrimp and other wildlife and as habitats or wintering areas for coastal and migratory birds, and they protect shores against storms and large waves.
Over the past 50 years aquaculture, or commercial fish farming, has wiped out a third of the world's mangrove forests. In some areas such as the Philippines the loss has been up to 80 percent, said Norman Duke, a University of Queensland marine biologist who is one of the world's foremost experts on mangrove forest ecosystems.
"The simple story is: no mangroves, no fish," Duke said.
Subject to volatile market prices and ecosystem degradation, prawn farms last only for a few years and abandoned farms are virtual wastelands, said Nico Koedam, a University of Brussels botanist who has done extensive research in Sri Lanka, India and Kenya.
"This is happening mostly in Southeast Asia," said Koedam. "You also lose a lot of mangrove forests from fishponds in India and Sri Lanka as well."
Adds Duke: "Conversion is final. Once the soil dries out nothing will grow on it."
The Food and Agriculture Organisation projects marine capture of fish flattening out at 86-87 million tonnes annually between 2004 and 2030, and with aquaculture accounting for a progressively rising share in total fish production to 74 million tonnes in 2015 from 45.5 million tonnes in 2004.
Despite the rapid loss of mangroves, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) denotes the Philippines as the "centre of the centre" of marine ecosystem diversity.
Primavera said the Southeast Asian archipelago remains one of the world's top 15 nations in terms of fish production.
However, this was unlikely to be sustained with the permanent loss of natural fish nurseries.
The Philippines is home to about half the world's mangrove species, but Primavera said up to two varieties are in the IUCN's "red list" of critically endangered species.
At least two more Philippine species could join the list this year, said Kent Carpenter, the IUCN's global marine species assessment coordinator.
"The experts have determined that there are a number of (mangrove) species globally that are threatened with extinction," said Carpenter.
According to Primavera, a healthy coastal ecosystem needs four hectares of mangroves for every a hectare of fishpond.
She estimates the Philippines mangrove cover at about 115,000 hectares, compared to 230,000 hectares of fishponds.
Despite Philippine laws that since 1975 have banned mangrove clearing, she said enforcement has been virtually nil.
Source: AFP
via the FishSite www.thefishsite.com
MAP Presents At Seattle Green Festival
Join us for this 2-day party with a purpose!
Come celebrate what’s working in our communities - for people, for business and for the environment. You’ll enjoy more than 150 visionary speakers, great how-to workshops, interactive kids‚ activities, delicious organic cuisine and diverse live music. Shop in our extensive green marketplace of more than 300 exhibits - everything from all-natural cleaning products and Fair Trade gifts to solar panels, eco-cars and socially-responsible investing. You’ll find inspirational and practical ideas for healthy, earth-friendly living at Green Festival.
Panel - Sustainable Seafood: Healthier for Everyone (April 12 at noon)
Unsustainable fishing practices threaten fish populations and their habitat, and the entire food chain as a result. Fortunately, as consumers, we can choose seafood products that keep habitats healthy and productive through responsible management and harvesting practices. This panel of experts (including MAP'’s Executive Director, Alfredo Quarto) consisting of an environmentalist, a fisherwoman/advocate, and a local fisherman, will show you ways you can make seafood choices that help protect marine ecosystems.
Volunteer at the MAP Booth and get free admission!
Help promote MAP at the Green Festival and get free admission to the festival. Sign up to volunteer at MAP's booth on April 12 (10am-8pm) or April 13 (11am-6pm) by emailing Eli Penberthy, eli@mangroveactionproject.org.
Event Location: Washington State Convention & Trade Center, 7th & Pike in Downtown Seattle
Admission: $15
More info: http://www.greenfestivals.org
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ANNOUNCEMENT: “Mangrove Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration" training workshop, March 2-5, 2009, Hollywood, Florida, USA.
The seventh "Mangrove Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration" training workshop will be held at the Anne Kolb Nature Center, in Hollywood, Florida, USA, March 2-5, 2009. 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. Mr. Lewis has taught this very successful course in Cuba, Nigeria, Thailand, Vietnam, India and Sri Lanka.
More details at mangroverestoration.com or contact me at lesrrl3@aol.com.
Robin Lewis
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Next Calendar Children’s Art Contest For 2009 - Open For New Submissions
Feb. 2008
Dear Friends of the Mangroves,
We are sponsoring our 9th international children's art competition and would like to invite children in your country to enter this contest and learn more about the important role that mangrove forests play in the lives of the coastal communities in particular and for marine life in general.
Specifically we would like you to contact schools and teachers in your area and provide them with information regarding this contest, and also to act as a liaison between MAP and the local schools as a resource person regarding mangrove and ecological information. In addition, we would ask you to collect the winners from each school participating within your country, and send the three best entries on to MAP at the above address for the final judging, and possible inclusion in the calendar. We must receive the art work by July 31, 2008 for the 2009 Art Calendar.
This provides an opportunity for participating NGOs to build relationships with teachers and to provide school children with environmental information. Educating children on the importance of mangrove and coastal ecosystems is critical to effecting long term change. Without this information, current generations will grow up placing little value on the environment (as modeled by their parents) unless they are given new eyes with which to see coastal ecosystems and mangrove forests.
See MAP’s website for more information and downloadable material that is ready to have your name added as the local contact representative and duplicated for distribution to teachers in your country.
Please let us know if we can be of further assistance in helping you implement this exciting educational project in your country. We will send all student winners, participating NGOs and schools copies of our calendar as well. And, the winning students will receive a signed official certificate announcing their great achievement in the 2009 Children’s Mangrove Art Contest.
Yours sincerely,
Monica Alicia Paz Gutierrez-Quarto,
Calendar Project Coordinator
Mangrove Action Project
tel. (360) 452-5866
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Senora Gutierrez-Quarto: the Children's Mangrove Calendar organizes my chaotic life and is pinned securely to the back of my office door.... I eagerly await the 2009 Edition.
Senectitudinally,
D. Reid Wiseman who is teetering on fragile prop roots
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Film on Shrimp Farming at Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival - May 4
It’s All a Lie (10 min, UK)
In September, 2007, Environmental Justice Foundation investigators visited Caravelas, Bahia State, on the NE coast of Brazil where a proposal for a shrimp farm the size of London’s Heathrow airport would turn coastal forests into a virtual wasteland, destroying sustainable livelihoods and threatening marine habitats. The film illustrates the delusion of local residents due to false promises made by the shrimp farming industry for jobs and a better life, and shows the devastation caused to alert Caravela’s residents of the activity’s reality. (Environmental Justice Foundation, 2007)
Date: Sunday, May 4
Time: 1pm
Location: Room 175, Johnson Hall, University of Washington, Seattle
Purchase Ticket for this event.
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8 April 2008
Youth Group Environmental Camp - Learning About Nature, in Nature
Twenty-one members of the Ban Talae Nok Youth Group took part in an environmental camp, organized in cooperation with Andaman Discoveries, the Mangrove Action Project (MAP) and Laemson National Park. The objective of the camp was to sensitize the youths to their environment and ways to help conserve it, and to prepare them for their upcoming environmental study trip. The young adults participated and showed great enthusiasm and motivation throughout the weekend, sharing in various activities such as tree observation, bird watching, and partaking in an obstacle course whilst blindfolded (to simulate the challenges faced by newly-hatched sea turtles as they make their way to the ocean).
Spirits were high amongst both participants and staff, and feedback positive, "I am happy to be here and know a lot more about national resources," beamed Asaman, aged 18. "I liked the activity about the life of a sea turtle best and realized how their lives are difficult and that they have to survive many problems." A guest, Chris Dunbar of USAID, witnessed some of the weekend’s events and was highly impressed: "This is the culmination of so much work coming to fruition in an exceptional environment." The Youth Group will take part in more environmental camps before their study trip which will take place soon after.
Source: Andaman Discoveries
Nigeria
FAO Supports Shrimps Farming in Country
19 March 2008
By Adelanwa Bamgboye
(Abuja) The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Rome has thrown its weight behind shrimps farming in Nigeria.
This, according to FAO, would enable unemployed youths who take to Okada riding and other tedious manual labour to avail themselves the opportunity of the new technique for shrimps farming being taught by the FAO.
FAO Aquatic Resource Manager, Jim Miller and one of the fisheries experts who gathered at a workshop in Lagos to draw regulations to guide investors on shrimps farming in Nigeria said that the shrimps farming worth $200 million investment will kick start with about 20 farmers cutting across the country by June.
The aim of the workshop was to get a working paper that can allow the implementation of an environmentally friendly and sustainable shrimp farming industry in Nigeria. The Three-Day workshop on Shrimp Aquaculture Programme in Nigeria was organized by the Sulalanka Nigeria Ltd. in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Rome, to produce a National Guideline for Shrimp Farming Development in the country.
The workshop theme is "shrimp aquaculture Program in Nigeria: Inland farming of Marine Black Tiger shrimp." Mr. Upali Karunaratna, CEO, Sulalanka Nig Ltd said the major issue is to form guidelines and regulations to monitor the Industry "No matter what knowledge you have with limits of financial and management resources to the sky high, if no regulations are stipulated and made mandatory, its inevitable that the industry will perish sooner than later," he said.
According to him, the aim of having fisheries expert, NGOs, Farmers across the globe to attend the workshop was to identify the appropriate technology to adopt that would be suitable, environmental friendly and sustainability.
Other issues include marketing aspects and hints for high profitability, which is the back-bone of the survival of any venture.
Source: Daily Trust (Abuja)
http://www.dailytrust.com/
Via: www.TheFishSite.com
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Niger Delta Risks Being Lost, Submerged - Foreign Experts
27 March 2008
By Osa Okhomina
Yenagoa
Foreign experts and other specialised agencies on Tuesday concluded,after a three-day deliberation on the large scale environmental degradation taking place in the Niger Delta, that the region stood the risk of being lost except a stop was put to further destruction of the mangrove forests.
According to the experts drawn from the United States and the United Kingdom, development agencies, including the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Research Institutes, National Space Research Development Agency (NARSDA), National Universities Commission (NUC), Alliance for Earth Science, Engineering and Development in Africa (AESEDA), Pennsylvania State University, U. S.A; Center for Applied Environmental Research, (CAER) University of Missouri-Kansas, U.S.A, traditional rulers, civil society organisations, community based organisations (CBOs), non governmental organisations, and the Bayelsa State government, as well as scholars from over 45 universities in Nigeria, the Niger Delta region, the third largest wetland in the world, stood the risk of being lost unless all stake holders wake up to their responsibilities.
Their position was made known in Yenagoa after the just concluded three-day international conference tagged "The Nigerian State, Oil Industry and the Niger Delta," held in Bayelsa State. They warned that the Niger Delta region cannot boast of commensurate benefits from the activities of the oil multinationals, while its mangrove forests which provide life support system are on the throes of extinction.
The participants, however, blamed the leaders of the region over what they described as dereliction of duty, as well as the lack of political will by the Nigerian state to develop the Niger Delta. They stressed that corruption a all tiers of government was partly responsible for the escalating crisis in the region.
The conference warned that if the fragile region is to be preserved for generations yet unborn, then the oil multinationals, federal and state governments should stop further destruction of the mangrove forests in the Delta. It called on stakeholders to embark on joint implementation of environmental accounting on a regular basis.
In a communiqué signed by Dr. Ambily Etekpe and Dr. Samuel Ibaba, Chairman, Communiqué Committee and Secretary, Local Conference Organising Committee respectively, the conference also decried the low level of infrastructural development in the Niger Delta.
The federal government, the forum noted, should properly enforce all laws concerning oil, gas and environmental management to ensure compliance with internationally acceptable environmental standards, adding that "the transfer of ownership rights on environment to the people is a sure way to guarantee compliance with environmental protection regulations while the gas laws should be reviewed to eliminate the flaring of gas."
"The ending of gas flaring is predicated on the provision of the necessary infrastructure and policy framework that will facilitate the utilisation of gas.
"The policy on ending gas flaring in the Niger Delta should, therefore, note this point of fact; Early warning systems should be established in the Region to detect impending environmental disasters.
"A documentary on the impact of oil exploration and exploitation on the Niger Delta should be produced and made available to local and international media organisations. In corollary, there should be concerted efforts to place issues of the Niger Delta in the front burner of world environmental movements, including the United Nations General Ledger on development, and International Heritage Sites", it stated.
Source: Leadership (Abuja)
http://allafrica.com/stories/200803270824.html
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8 April 2008
PRESS RELEASE
Environmental Group Protests Shrimp Farming in Nigeria
The Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), a rural-based, non-profit making organization working in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria decries the plan by Sulalanka Nigeria Limited to commence industrial shrimp farming in Southern Nigeria.
The consortium (Sulalanka) in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, organized a workshop tagged "Shrimps Aquaculture Programme in Nigeria: Farming of Marine Black Tiger Shrimp", and concluded that shrimp farming remains a veritable way of diversifying prevailing mono product economy in the country.
Representatives of the would-be host communities of the shrimp culture facilities were conspicuously excluded from the purported "Stakeholders" workshop; the rural people are the primary stakeholders. Like her counterparts operating in Asia and Latin America, Sulakanka Nigeria Limited has by this pioneering act, showcased the inevitable disregard and disrespect it has in store for the rural communities. It is indeed an early warning signal.
CEHRD, therefore, challenges the duo of the federal Ministry of Agriculture and the FAO to provide the Nigerian public with global case studies - if any exist - to support their claim that shrimp farming is sustainable and translates to economic gains for the local communities. On the contrary, however, available records and CEHRD's field visits to shrimp farms in Asia reveal that industrial shrimp culture degrades coastal environment, erodes age-old livelihood structures of rural inhabitants and deepen poverty by the replacement of diverse life-support wetlands like mangrove with monoculture shrimp production.
Moreover, farmed shrimps are exported to the developed world and do not in any way enhance the food security of the local people.
Shrimps are generally susceptible to poor water quality and prone to diseases epidemics. Commercial shrimp culture, therefore, relies on routine application of antibiotics and other toxicants to forestall parasites and diseases infestation. Pond water is renewed regularly, resulting in the discharge of contaminated wastewater to surrounding river basin. This causes pollution of the receiving water and bioaccumulation of persistent toxicants in wild food organisms. Worse still, large expanses of mangrove, oftentimes, are cleared for shrimp pond construction.
For instance, 269,000ha of mangrove in Indonesia have been converted to shrimp ponds. Shrimp ponds are not sustainable and often are abandoned without re-vegetation schemes to restore the hitherto mangrove community. Nigeria cannot afford to loose the shrinking remnants of her mangrove area to unsustainable shrimp culture. The mangrove of the Niger Delta is the largest in Africa and the fourth largest in the world, and has been adjudged a key zone for the conservation of the western coast of Africa due to its extraordinary biodiversity. Studies have shown that 60% of the fishes in the Gulf of Guinea breed in the mangrove of the Niger Delta. Already the mangrove of the Niger Delta is threatened and shrinking by the synergistic effects of oil spill toxicity, over-logging, spread of nypa palm, and clearance for the passage of oil pipes and seismic lines, swamp reclamation for urban development, etc.
If commercial shrimp farming cannot be regulated in countries like Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Ecuador, India, Peru, etc, where shrimp culture has been practiced for decades, CEHRD wonders what would be the Nigerian experience especially given the blatant disrespect for regulatory laws and policies in the land by corporations with impunity. A case in point is gas flaring whereby several termination dates had been fixed by the federal government but repeatedly, were ignored by the multinational oil companies.
Secondly, industrial shrimping vessels operating along the Nigerian coastal shelf line continue to trawl within the 5-nautical miles non-trawling zone unchecked, and the problem of huge by-catch and discards associated with industrial shrimp fisheries which affect artisanal inland fisheries is yet to be addressed.
In CEHRD's opinion, the acquisition of requisite stock assessment data (which are lacking) that will aid in the ecosystem-based management of wild shrimp fisheries remains the most viable and sustainable option for Nigerian shrimp production and export to the North.
CEHRD, therefore, is calling on the Civil Society especially African Mangrove Network (AMN), coastal communities and the Nigerian people to reject in totality the Sulalanka shrimp farming proposal.
Submitted by: Nenibarini Zabbey
Head, Conservation and Environment Programme
CEHRD (0803- 7504608)
E-mail; zabbey1@yahoo.com
Thailand
In Thailand, pollution from shrimp farms threatens a fragile environment
20 March 2008
By Ioannis Gatsiounis
TRANG CITY, Thailand: Sunton Chantong, a local villager and environmental advocate, gestured toward the Taseh river shore. Two years ago, dolphins swam up from the sea, but as a result of industrial shrimp farming, he said, fewer big fish, crabs and jellyfish can be seen in the area.
Shrimp ponds have become the most recognizable symbol of coastal degradation in Trang, a southwestern Thai province bordering the Andaman Sea. Shrimp thrive in brackish waters that are also home to mangroves, or "rainforests by the sea."
Villagers in the area have depended on the mangroves' rich biodiversity - including crabs, mollusks, numerous fish species and shrimp - for centuries. But during the 1990s, government subsidies and rising world prices for tiger prawn spurred a boom that some locals called "shrimp fever." Environmental concerns became overshadowed by the prospect of getting rich quick.
Villagers tell of a time when literally every second family was digging a pond, and there was a new pickup truck in every driveway.
But many farmers released polluted pond water into the Andaman Sea and, as the number of farms rose, polluted water migrated back to the ponds, contaminating future harvests and the mangroves. Now, according to Earth Island Journal, an estimated half of Thailand's mangroves on the eastern and southern coasts have been destroyed.
Many villagers say shrimp fever has taught them a lesson - more shrimp ponds in and near mangroves mean fewer crabs and fish for local consumption. Even those who choose to ignore the consequences are often dissuaded by rising production costs, including higher prices of feed, biodiesel, and antibiotics, and falling world shrimp prices.
Yadfon, an environmental group started in 1985, is working with Sunton to wean the villagers off shrimp production by introducing sustainable forms of agriculture and small fisheries. To restore the coastal ecosystem, Yadfon - whose name means raindrop in Thai - has encouraged converting shrimp ponds back to mangrove and reintroducing plants like nipa and sago, palm species naturally found in and around mangroves that shelter the life forms that small fisherman depend on for survival.
Nipa stems can be used to make household wares like baskets, while Sago meal is part of the traditional local diet. In the mangroves near Pakron, a local village, 50 percent of the former shrimp farms have been restored to Nipa, sheltering fish that Yadfon is trying to persuade the government to buy.
Yadfon is also assisting villagers in organizing and protecting their rights. As local fishermen have pulled back from shrimp farming, large-scale conglomerates have filled the void. Behind the small concrete houses in the one-road village of Bat Hoi Lok, backhoes are digging out shrimp ponds as far as the eye can see. Villagers say there will be 100 ponds in total, owned by industrial conglomerates based in Bangkok, and operated by mainly imported labor.
Jeit Libmud, the village leader, worries about how the ponds will affect villagers' livelihoods once they begin operating this year. He makes 6,000 baht, or $190, a month from harvesting nipa palm and fish from local canals, enough to support his wife and three children. Pollution from the ponds could destroy that income.
Another threat to the coastal environment comes from expanding oil palm plantations. As palm oil prices soar and the industry anticipates growing demand for biodiesel, shrimp ponds are being converted to oil palm, which flourishes in the sandy soils near rivers and sea. "Fifteen years ago shrimp farmers were heroes in the village," said Suwan Kungkangamamee, who has been farming shrimp for 17 years. "But everyone sees it as a gamble now. In towns, talk is whether to get into palm. It's steady and predictable."
The Thai government is promoting biodiesel fuel and wants farmers take advantage of the oil palm boom. In October, the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives agreed to lend money to farmers to plant 400,000 acres, or 161,000 hectares, with oil palm and the government's five-year plan through 2012 calls for the conversion of an additional 200,000 acres a year for palm oil production.
In Trang Province, about 40,000 acres are planted with oil palm, bringing in annual revenue of 720 million baht, said Manit Wongsureerat, the plant manager with Trang Oil Palm, a local processing company. Conservationists say oil palm plantations contribute to global warming through deforestation, while irrigation and the use of herbicides and pesticides affect water flows and quality. But improving irrigation requires more money and so, Manit said, "it's not being done."
Yadfon's director, Pisit Charnsnoh, says the challenge is to get farmers to see past short-term gains.
"Once you have money, you think you have everything," he said. But water is the most valuable and most vulnerable long-term resource in the region, he said, adding, "I think water will become an even bigger problem in the very near future."
Source: International Herald Tribune
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Organic certification for shrimp begins
26 March 2008
Boost for Thailand in export markets
by WALAILAK KEERATIPIPATPONG
The establishment of an organic certification body has moved Thailand a step closer to becoming one of the world's leading production and exporting countries for premium-grade shrimp.
Officially opened yesterday at the Fisheries Department, the Organic Agricultural and Farm Products Certification Office will be the national body to accredit organic farm products for export. It operates under the criteria outlined by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM).
Although Thailand is already the world's largest shrimp exporter, with a target to export as many as 340,000 tonnes of shrimp this year, the volume of organic shipments remain far too small to serve growing demand from the developed world, especially European countries, where organic food grows about 10-20% a year.
Somying Piumsomboon, director-general of the Fisheries Department, said to increase the volume, the department and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GTZ), or the German Agency for Technical Co-operation, have worked to promote organic prawn farming to meet international standards while preserving the environment.
A pilot farm, Sureerath Farm in Chanthaburi, has proved a success. It has produced organic black tiger prawns for export to Switzerland and Germany that could fetch prices that were about 30% higher than for normal shrimp.
The success prompted the department and the GTZ to encourage more farmers to apply organic methods. Now there are five groups that are ready to produce a combined 1,073 tonnes of shrimp per year.
The participants include Eastern Organic Prawn Alliance in Chanthaburi, Kungkrabaen Bay Royal Development Study Center in Chanthaburi, Laemfapha Shrimp Aquaculture Community Enterprise Group in Samut Prakan, Black Tiger Trang Group Farm in Trang, and Dumrong Farm in Songkhla.
The first two groups have already received organic certifications from the department and would be subject to an annual review to maintain the standards.
Prayoon Hongrat, the president of Sureerath Farm and chief of the Eastern Organic Prawn Alliance, said raising premium-grade shrimp would not only catapult Thai shrimp ahead of the competition from rival exporting countries but also follow the global trend where chemical-free products are increasingly popular.
''There are a large number of organic grocery shops in Switzerland and Germany, reflecting strong health consciousness among consumers,'' Mr Prayoon said.
His Sureerath farm is Thailand's first organic shrimp farm to receive the Naturland certificate, which is widely known and accepted in European countries.
This year, he plans to ship about 60 tonnes of the shrimp to Switzerland and Germany and the volume would increase to 100 tonnes next year.
According to Mr Prayoon, higher production costs and lengthy farming processes are the major obstacles deterring farmers from raising organic shrimp.
The production has to adhere to the principles of organic agriculture, which prioritises health, ecology and good management. The use of hazardous chemical substances including fertilisers and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are not allowed while use of organic shrimp feed is essential. The entire production must also be traceable.
He said the requirements resulted in lengthy breeding seasons, up to six or seven months each, compared with three or four months for normal output. However, the much more attractive prices could be a big draw, encouraging nearly 20 farmers to join his group, which aims to harvest about 500 tonnes of organic black tiger shrimp in the next five years.
Source: Bangkok Post
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Thai temple fights off encroaching tide as world sea levels rise
30 March 2008
Crabs scuttle across the wet floor of the near-deserted Khun Samut temple, the only building left in a Thai village that has disappeared beneath the rising and advancing sea.
Waging a battle against an encroaching tide that has sent all the villagers fleeing inland, a monk in orange robes and faded tattoos meant to ward off evil spirits stalks the newly-built sea wall, planting mangrove shoots.
Somnuek Atipanya points 20 metres (65 feet) out to sea, where electricity pylons poke out of the water, now useful only for resting marine birds.
"The waves attacked here and they will destroy everything," says Somnuek, chief abbot of this Buddhist temple south of Bangkok which is surrounded by water and accessible only by a concrete walkway.
"I don't know what happened, but when the experts came they told me it was global warning and melting ice in the North Pole."
Over 30 years, the sea around Khun Samut Chin village has engulfed more than one kilometre (0.6 miles) of land, World Bank figures show, mostly because fishermen have cut down mangrove forests -- the Earth's natural sea barrier.
Tourism development, sand mining and damming rivers upstream have also taken their toll in an area naturally prone to coastal erosion.
The community have realised their errors and are trying to replant the mangroves, but the situation may soon be out of their hands as global warming sends sea levels rising and powerful storms lashing the coast.
"The process has been occurring over some time and accelerating with land use changes and local human activity," says Jitendra Shah, the World Bank's environmental coordinator in Thailand.
"Climate change impacts are likely to accelerate the pace and make things worse in the future."
Coastal erosion of varying degrees affects 21 percent of Thailand's coastline, says Greenpeace climate campaigner Tara Buakamsri, citing figures from Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.
Along the Gulf of Thailand, seaside areas seriously affected by erosion are receding at a rate of five to 20 metres per year.
Climate scientists say that as global warming heats the Earth up, glaciers and polar ice caps will melt and sea waters will expand, sending oceans rising by at least 18 centimetres (7.2 inches), or possibly a great deal more by 2100.
World sea levels rose 3.1 millimetres per year from 1993 to 2003, the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says.
This is not good news for the five monks who remain at Khun Samut temple. Despite their best efforts, they may not be able to save the site from the same fate that befell Khun Samut Chin's sunken school and homes.
Visanu Kengsamut, 26, has already moved three times in his life, while his mother -- the village chief -- has fled the crumbling coast and rebuilt her home eight times, and each time the village has paid for its own relocation.
Khun Samut Chin now sits about one kilometre inland from the temple.
"We know that the cause of this is the effects of global warming," says Visanu.
"This problem, everybody should take responsibility and the government should help. If possible, the international community should come to help because they started the problem."
As the world tries to work out a new pact to battle the threat posed by global warming, poorer countries -- who the IPCC says will suffer the most from climate change -- are battling to have their voices heard.
They argue that because the industrialised world was historically most responsible for global warming, they should contribute generously to a fund to help poor countries adapt to the changing world.
The so-called adaptation and mitigation fund will likely be discussed at key United Nations climate change talks in Bangkok from March 31 to April 4.
"Whether or not it is a small contribution or major contribution related to climate change in the past, this community needs to be taken into account when they discuss about the mitigation measure or adaptation fund," says Greenpeace's Tara.
"Because they are facing the impact -- they are one of the first groups in Thailand that is facing the impact."
Source: Agence France Press
====================================
Vietnam
Shrimp dying in Cuu Long River Delta
24 March 2008
By Han Son Dinh
VietNamNet Bridge – Thousands of farmers in the Cuu Long River Delta are losing sleep as their 1-2-month-old shrimp are dying on a large scale. Many of them have become penniless as a result.
In 2007, Sau Su in Phuoc Long Commune in Phuoc Long district, Bac Lieu province, earned nearly VND10mil from shrimp hatching. Encouraged by the high profit, Su decided to turn 3ha of land near Bon Ngan canal into shrimp ponds, in which he put 72,000 breeder shrimp. However, what he got from the two months of work was … shrimp carcasses.
Ponds red with dead shrimp
Not discouraged, Su decided to start again. He drove to Nha Mat ward in Bac Lieu town to buy 50,000 breeder shrimp and put them into the pond. However, these shrimp died just a short time later.
Su breathed a sigh, saying that he lost all the VND10mil he earned last year
Many other extensive farming ponds in Phuoc Long, Gia Rai and Dong Hai also have seen massive numbers of shrimp die. Industrial ponds in Bac Lieu town, Vinh Chau, My Xuyen and Long Phu districts are also facing risks of epidemic attacks due to the changing weather.
Hua Tan Phong in ward 5, Bac Lieu town, who had three shrimp ponds, complained that he had to collect … dead shrimp. Phong said he has lost nearly one hundred million VND.
Farmers in shrimp-hatchery areas said that the PH concentration in shrimp ponds has been overly high, thus killing the shrimp. Farmers now have to tackle the problematic shrimp ponds with lime and chemicals before they start the next shrimp hatchery crop. However, they fear that banks will not lend them money, while the prices of breeder shrimp have soared from VND32,000 /1,000 units to VND40,000 /1,000 units.
Meanwhile, the prices of food for shrimp have also increased, and those who buy food under deferred payments will have to pay VND40-60,000/50 kg pack more. As farmers cannot access bank loans, they have to borrow money from ‘black credit sources’ at exorbitant interest rates.
44,000 ha of shrimp ponds lost
According to local authorities, Soc Trang and Bac Lieu provinces have 600 ha with dead shrimp.
Meanwhile, the problem in Ca Mau province is more serious with 33,850 ha of ponds with dead shrimp. Shrimp are dying extensively in ponds in Tran Van Thoi, U Minh and Dam Doi districts. Kien Giang province also has 9,000 ha of shrimp ponds affected.
As of March 21, 44,000 ha of shrimp ponds in the Cuu Long River Delta had been affected.
Nguyen Van Luan, a farmer in An Lac commune in Tran Van Thoi district in Ca Mau province, said that his shrimp, which he had been breeding for two months (70 units/kg), suddenly turned red like cooked shrimp, and died.
Luan related that farmers have to eat dead shrimp because they cannot sell them. Other farmers have tried to suck the water from the ponds into the canal to treat the ponds with chemicals. However, experts say that it is a foolish move as the water will bring germs everywhere.
According to Su Van Minh, Head of the Agriculture Division under Tran Van Thoi district’s People’s Committee, shrimp are dying because farmers do not follow the aquaculture schedule. However, Phan Van Sa, Director of the Bac Lieu Hydrometeorology Centre, said that it was because of the unseasonal rains on Ca Mau peninsula, which caused the water conditions of shrimp ponds to unexpectedly change. The wide gap in the temperatures (33oC in day and 22oC at night) was also cited as a reason.
Farmers worried, local authorities react slowly
The massive number of shrimp deaths has been making farmers miserable. However, in a meeting with VietNamNet reporters on March 20, an official of the Bac Lieu Fisheries Promotion Centre said that he had not heard about the dying shrimp. Meanwhile, Deputy General Director of Bac Lieu Seafood Department Ta Minh Phu said that it is just ‘petty trouble’.
Phu said that only several hundreds of hectares have been affected, while Bac Lieu has 125,000 ha of shrimp. Therefore, the local authorities have not considered helping farmers to tackle difficulties.
Phan Van Ut, Chief of the Secretariat of the Ca Mau Seafood Department, also said that the 33,000 ha of damaged shrimp cultivation area just accounts for 13% of total shrimp hatchery area of the province, and the figure proves to be lower than the damages last year.
Ut said that the department has sent experts to localities to show farmers how to tackle the problems, but will not give them financial support.
He added that the local department has advised farmers to diversify the types of aquatic products (fish, crab) in order to minimise risks.
Source VietnamNet Bridge
====================================
New rush to dam Mekong alarms environmentalists
27 March 2008
Hanoi (AFP). The Mekong River, the world's 12th largest waterway crossing six countries, may soon be tamed by a cascade of mega dams, but critics say the plan will harm the fish stocks millions of people rely on.
Plans for a series of Mekong mainstream dams have been made and scrapped several times since the 1960s, but now, with oil above 100 dollars a barrel, the projects look more appealing than ever to their proponents.
The river's future will be a key issue when prime ministers of the Mekong countries meet Sunday and Monday in the Lao capital Vientiane for a summit of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), with the Asian Development Bank.
The 4,800-kilometre (3,000-mile) river originates in the Tibetan plateau of China, where it is called the Lancang, before running through Yunnan province, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam to the South China Sea.
To the pro-development lobby, the Mekong is a dream of hydropower potential for an energy-hungry region. To environmentalists, it's a nightmare.
Laos, Cambodia and Thailand have all allowed Chinese, Malaysian, Thai and Vietnamese companies to study at least seven mainstream hydropower projects.
The new projects on the drawing board are "a serious threat to the river's ecology" and the millions who depend on it for water, food, income and transport, said Carl Middleton of environmental watchdog International Rivers.
"By changing the river's hydrology, blocking fish migration and affecting the river's ecology, the construction of dams on the Lower Mekong mainstream will have repercussions throughout the entire basin."
Many of its tributaries have already been dammed, including several in Laos, Southeast Asia's poorest country, which plans to ramp up hydropower exports to its more industrialised neighbours Thailand and Vietnam.
But so far most of the Mekong itself remains relatively untouched and clean, in part due to its isolation during decades of revolution and war.
Only China has so far dammed the mainstream, at Manwan and Dachaoshan in Yunnan, and is building three more dams while planning another three.
The largest Chinese Mekong dam under construction is the Xiaowan, which will be second in size only to the Yangtze's Three Gorges Dam, with a reservoir over 160 kilometres long that will displace about 35,000 people.
China's existing dams, along with the blasting of rapids to allow all-year navigation, have angered Thai and Lao villagers who claim they have suffered declining fisheries and unnatural fluctuation in water levels.
Downstream, the seven main new projects under consideration are in Laos at Don Sahong, Pak Beng, Xayabouri, Pak Lay and Luang Prabang, at Ban Koum on the Thai-Lao border, and at Sambor in Cambodia.
The Don Sahong dam site, at the most advanced stage of planning, is at the Khone Falls of Laos, a scenic area home to endangered freshwater dolphins and just upstream from Cambodia.
Mekong expert Milton Osborne says the new dams would be "almost certain to have serious effects on fish catches taken out of the river."
"These catches are vital for the populations of Laos and Cambodia but also for Vietnam," said Osborne, the Australian author of the book "The Mekong -- Turbulent Past, Uncertain Future."
In the Mekong delta, Vietnam's main rice basket, officials say upstream water extraction for farm irrigation has already caused oceanic salt water intrusion that has destroyed fields.
Osborne said there is evidence Chinese dams have already reduced fish stocks in Yunnan and warned that the Xiaowan's blocking of nutrient-rich sediments will likely reduce silt deposits over a large section of the river.
China's Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei said Wednesday that, on Southeast Asia's largest waterway, "China, as an upstream country, will never do anything that will harm the interests of downstream countries."
The Mekong system boasts over 1,000 fish species, a biodiversity second only to the Amazon, and it feeds Cambodia's giant Tonle Sap lake, whose fish stocks are the nation's main protein source.
Some 40 million people are active in Lower Mekong fisheries, says the UN.
The economic worth of Lower Mekong fisheries has been estimated at over two billion dollars per year by the Mekong River Commission, a four-nation forum that China and Myanmar have refused to join.
"This natural resource, which is threatened by dam development, is renewable and comes for free," said Middleton, "yet its value is largely unrecognized in regional infrastructure development plans."
Source: Agence France Presse
=================================
9 April 2008
DOC to reconsider anti-dumping taxes on Vietnamese shrimp companies
By H. Phuong
VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), quoting Intrafish, has announced that hundreds of Vietnamese shrimp suppliers have been named on the list of companies subject to tax reconsideration by the US Department of Commerce (DOC).
The shrimp association of Louisiana state of the US and private owned companies have asked DOC to reconsider the tax rates imposed on shrimp suppliers from Vietnam, China, India, Thailand, Ecuador and Brazil.
DOC will first reconsider the tax rates imposed on Chinese and Vietnamese shrimp export companies, and then 366 Indian, 165 Thai, 81 Ecuadorian and 43 Brazilian suppliers.
It remains unclear about the number of Vietnamese companies and the names of the companies on the list.
The said numbers of companies subject to the administrative review are not the final as DOC has the right to limit the number of companies for review.
DOC will check the imports from countries in the period of between February 1, 2007 and January 31, 2008. As for Ecuador, the review time will be between February 1, 2007 and August 14, 2007.
Listed companies will have 30 days to prove to DOC that they did not export shrimp at dumping prices in the said review period.
Prior to that, DOC released a preliminary conclusion on the administrative review of the anti-dumping tax on Vietnam’s warm-water frozen shrimp during the period between February 1, 2006 and January 31, 2007. The tax rate on 28 Vietnamese companies was slashed to 0% in the second administrative review.
Source: VietNamNet Bridge
Via ICSF www.iscf.net
=================================
The Philippines
7 April 2008
Fisherfolk group warns of worsening deficit in food fish
MANILA (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) -- -- A group of fisherfolk in the country has warned of a worsening deficit in domestic fisheries production because of the problems of overfishing and unsustainable aquaculture practices that have pushed the local fisheries sector on the verge of resource collapse.
The Kilusang Mangingisda, a national coalition of 14 fisherfolk federations, said that the deficit has existed since 2005 and that the countrys fisheries production could not keep up with further increases in the demand for food fish due to a growing Philippine population.
Ruperto Aleroza, chairperson of Kilusang Mangingisda, cited data from the Comprehensive National Fishery Industry Development Plan (CNFIDP) that showed an expected increase in the demand for food fish from 2.6 million metric tons (mt) in 2005 to 4.2 million mt by 2025. This increase is based on the individual Filipinos average yearly fish consumption of 31.4 kilos multiplied by 135 million Filipinos, the expected population by 2025 at a yearly growth rate of 2.36 percent, he explained. The CNFIDP is a strategic fisheries development plan prepared jointly by the government and various stakeholders in the domestic fisheries sector.
Aleroza noted that based on the CNFIDP projection, the food-fish deficit of 205,159 mt in 2005 would increase to 585,000 mt in 2025, averaging in a yearly deficit of 403,000 mt. This deficit is primarily due to overfishing which has gone unchecked since the 1970s. Overfishing has pushed capture fisheries production beyond the maximum sustainable yield since the 1980s. Now local fisheries are on the verge of collapse. Fish stocks are only about 10-30 percent of their levels in the 1940s and 1950s. The average fish catch has declined to only a sixth of the rate in the 1950s, he pointed out.
Aleroza disputed governments claim that aquaculture is a better alternative to capture fisheries. As a source of food, aquaculture is presently inferior to capture fisheries since 70 percent of aquacultures yearly production is composed of seaweeds that is used primarily for industrial purposes and not consumed as food. Also, in its present form, aquaculture remains unregulated and saddled with unsustainable practices. Mangrove conversions to fishponds, although illegal, persist to this day. Excess feeds and organic wastes in fish cages pollute coastal waters and continue to cause fish kills, Aleroza said.
The Kilusang Mangingisda blamed governments market-driven policies in fisheries production for the neglect of fisheries and aquaculture management and the lack of support for municipal fishers, despite the fact that they make up about 90 percent of the fisheries labor force and contribute a third of total fisheries production.
The Arroyo government continues to equate development with private investments, market access and export-oriented production, while ignoring worsening issues of weak management, socio-environmental costs and resource depletion. It has not provided support for small producers like the municipal fishers who play an important role in ensuring food security and livelihoods in coastal communities, Aleroza argued.
To address the food fish deficit and related issues, Kilusang Mangingisda is proposing the following measures:
Rationalize fishing effort not to exceed the maximum sustainable yield of 1.9 million mt.
Develop and expand commercial fisheries in the waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone since these are relatively unexploited.
Develop standards for responsible aquaculture to mitigate or prevent adverse socio-environmental impacts in aquaculture production.
Provide capital loans and technical assistance to small-scale and sustainable aquaculture initiatives of municipal fishers.
Provide adequate post-harvest facilities (e.g. refrigeration, freezers and cold storage) to minimize fish losses due to spoilage.
Source: Trading Markets
India
5 April 2008
Leading Scientists call on Tata's to reconsider Orissa port
Endangered sea turtles and environment at risk
New Delhi: Over 100 leading scientists from India and across the world have called on Tata Steel, the Joint Promoters of the Dhamra Deepwater Port, to halt the project in light of potential impacts on sea turtles and the environment, through a petition campaign[1]. The list includes over 20 scientists from the Marine Turtle Specialist Group, of the Species Survival Commission of the IUCN, besides other renowned conservationists and researchers.
In a press conference today, representatives of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), the Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO) and Greenpeace India, released this petition[2] on behalf of a coalition of Indian and international groups who have been calling on the Tata group, to re-examine their role in the controversial project [3], and on the Orissa state government to protect the Dhamra area.
Speaking to the media, Belinda Wright, Executive Director, WPSI said "The Dhamra port is coming up adjacent to the Bhitarkanika and Gahirmatha protected areas, one of the most important areas for the olive ridley turtle in the world, a species that enjoys the same legal protection as the tiger. If the Tata's are truly environmentally friendly, they must shift their port to another location further away from the turtle nesting grounds, rather than seeking to hide behind mitigation plans that can never be a proper safeguard against all impacts."
The Dhamra Port is coming up less than 15 km. from one of the last remaining mass nesting grounds for the Olive Ridley turtle in Gahirmatha. Interestingly, the Dhamra area has repeatedly been denied "protected status" in spite of its inherent ecological significance [4]. Ever since the port was first proposed in the 1990s, conservationists have cautioned about potential environmental impacts. The Central Empowered Committee, constituted by the Supreme Court of India, had recommended that the Dhamra Port be relocated, in their report of April 2004.
"There are alternatives to Dhamra that the TATAs must explore. A study commissioned by the Government of Orissa and conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, identified potential port sites, which included Dhamra [5]. Till date, alternatives exist, especially north of Dhamra" said Biswajit Mohanty, Secretary of WSO, and a member of the National Board for Wildlife. "The ongoing expansion of the Paradip Port will also provide the state with an additional capacity." he further added.
There is to date no comprehensive, independent and credible environment impact assessment for this project. Greenpeace has also launched a cyber campaign to provide a platform to the public to voice their concerns on this issue, at www.greenpeace.org/india/turtles [6]
"The facts are clear. There is proof of the presence of turtles and other rare species in the area. There is also now a groundswell of scientific opinion against this project, given the value of the area and the damage that would be caused by a construction project such as this. The demand is simple - The TATAs had promised to re-examine this project if there is evidence of environmental risk, they must now live up to their promise, and show that they deserve their reputation of a socially and environmentally responsible corporation", said Ashish Fernandes, Oceans Campaigner, Greenpeace India.
NOTES:
[1] The Dhamra Port Company Ltd is a 50:50 JV between Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro.
[2] For the petition and a list of signatories, visit democracyinaction.org
[3] Organisations include:
Wildlife Protection Society of India www.wpsi-india.org
Wildlife Society of Orissa http://www.wildlifeorissa.org/
Sanctuary Asia www.sanctuaryasia.com
Global Response www.globalresponse.org
WILD Foundation www.wild.org
Oceans and Communities www.oceansandcommunities.org
Mangrove Action Project http://www.mangroveactionproject.org
[4] The Orissa State Govt. in December, 1997 issued a fresh proclamation under Section 21 of WPA ,1972 in order to exclude the proposed port area from the area of Bhitarkanika. When the final notification for Bhitarkanika was issued in September 1998, the area was reduced from 367.00 sq. km to 145.00 sq. km. Further, when the proposal for the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary was being drawn up by the Wildlife Department in 1997, the Orissa state government ordered vide letter 11693 dated 20/6/97 that the proposed Dhamra port area be excluded from the draft notification of the sanctuary.
[5] Identification of Potential Sites for Development of Ports along the Orissa Coast - A report by the Ocean Engineering Centre of the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, May 1996.
[6] Log onto www.greenpeace.org/india/turtles for more information.
==============================
5 April 2008
Massive port in India threatens rare turtle nesting ground, activists charge
The Associated Press
NEW DELHI: The construction of a major port in eastern India threatens one of the world's largest mass nesting sites for endangered sea turtles, environmental activists said Saturday as they called for authorities to halt the project immediately.
The massive port, which will be the deepest in India, is less than 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Gahirmatha, a beach in the state of Orissa where hundreds of thousands of Olive ridley turtles come to make their nests in the sand.
Wildlife experts say there are only a few mass nesting beaches anywhere in the world, and losing the Gahirmatha beach would be catastrophic to the already fragile turtle population.
"This is India's most critical sea turtle habitat," said Belinda Wright, director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India. The mass nesting "is an extraordinary phenomenon that cannot be reproduced. If it's lost, it's gone forever."
The Dhamra port site does not overlap directly with the nesting beach, but its construction, along with the dredging and increased traffic in the area, would dramatically affect the offshore waters where the turtles breed, activists said.
The Dhamra port is a joint venture being built by Tata Steel, a subsidiary of Tata Group, the country's largest conglomerate, and the construction firm Larsen & Toubro Ltd. The port will handle shipments of coal, iron ore and limestone. The first phase of construction began last year and is expected to be finished in 2010.
Tata and the directors of the port say the project will not affect the turtle population, pointing to environmental impact studies conducted before construction began that support their claim.
Ashish Fernandes of Greenpeace dismissed those environmental reports as "shoddy" and said a 2007 survey commissioned by his group found rare amphibians and turtles at the port site.
"Tata needs to show that its commitment to the environment goes beyond mere lip service by halting the work immediately," said Fernandes.
The turtles did not nest in Orissa this year - likely because of the port construction, said Biswajit Mohanty of the Wildlife Society of Orissa.
Tata officials and Dhamra Port Company Ltd. did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Source: Associated Press
==============================
6 April 2008
Halt Dhamra port work to save turtles
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Environmentalists have appealed to the Tatas to reconsider their Dhamra Deepwater Port project in Orissa, citing the threat it posed to endangered sea turtles.
Talking to reporters here on Saturday, representatives of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), the Wildlife Society of Orissa and Greenpeace India said the port was coming up less than 5 km from the Bhitarkanika sanctuary and less than 15 km from Gahirmatha's beaches, one of the largest mass nesting sites for the Olive Ridley turtle in the world.
Belinda Wright, executive director of WPSI, said the turtle was a species that enjoyed the same legal protection as the tiger.
Yet, despite its ecological significance, the Dhamra area was purposely excluded from the Bhitarkanika and Gahirmatha sanctuaries to facilitate the project.
It is amazing that while trawling was rightly banned to protect the turtles, the Orissa government was bending to assist the huge industrial project in the same area which would probably drive the turtles away for good.
Over 100 leading scientists from India and across the world appealed to Tata Steel, the joint promoters of the Dhamra project, to halt the project in the light to potential impact on sea turtles and the environment, through a petition campaign hosted by a coalition of conservation groups.
The list includes over 20 scientists from the Maritime Turtles Specialists Group of the Species Survival Commission of the IUCN.
The petition also urged the Orissa government to protect the Dhamra area.
Source: The Hindu
==============================
8 April 2008
While mangrove plundering bothers villagers, officials say green cover increasing
DP Bhattacharya
Bhadreshwar(Kutch). Mundra, the greenest taluka of Kutch district, is all set to face a major water crisis and salinity ingress. Thanks to the ruthless plundering of mangroves, the taluka is fast losing its coastal green cover at an alarming rate.
While the fishing community in the taluka complains of fast receding volume of their catch, the farmers of chiku and date palm are being forced to give up their cultivation due to increased salinity ingress.
The taluka had earned the reputation of the greenest in the arid Kutch district due to its mangrove cover. It was a leading producer of chiku and date palm. "The semi arid climate used to be excellent for farming of both chiku and dates," said Mahendra Gadvi, Sarpanch, Bhujpara village. "Mundra and Mandavi were the only talukas in the district, which had abundant supply of drinking water, a sine-qua-non for chiku farming," he added.
He said the plundering of mangrove began in the 1990s and by 2005, the water turned saline, forcing many of the farmers to stop farming, as the increased salinity resulted into lowering the output. "Many farmers are now cutting the chiku plants off," he added.
The fishing communities too are now bearing the brunt of the plunder. "Our boys are now being forced to venture deeper in the sea as most of the fish species, which used to breed in the shallow backwaters of mangrove have already vanished. Our catch has gone down by at least 50 per cent," said Kasam Hasam Jam, a leader of the fishing community at Mundra.
The taluka has a population of over 1,000 families with more than 10,000 people dependant on fishing. "Although we have been struggling for our rights with the SEZ authorities for quite some time now, but this is an issue, which needs an immediate attention. Otherwise, we will be lose our livelihood completely," he added.
Mangroves serve as a natural barrier for saline and sweet water with sweet water always floating over saline water due to its less specific gravity, said Yogesh Jadeja, a Bhuj-based researcher on water issues.
"While the plant itself digests water, it also collects silt through its roots, which helps the percolation of sweet water to the ground, recharging the ground water," he said. He added: "In Mundra, while on the one hand a huge amount of groundwater has been exploited by the upcoming power plant there, the plundering of mangroves is only worsening the situation," he added.
He warned that with the barrier between sweet and salt water breaking down, the impacts would be much drastic and quick.
The state forest department has, meanwhile, agreed to give 1,840 hectares of mangrove area to the Adani group for the SEZ out of its remaining 5,333 hectares of mangrove-covered area for 'non forest use'.
"The decision on principle was cleared by the Government of India in 2004," said P R Sakarvadia, the range forest officer posted at Mundra. "So far, the plundering of mangroves has taken place on revenue land. We had drawn the attention of the local mamlatdar towards this issue, but to no result. But now as it concerns the forest land, we have asked them not to touch the mangroves," he added.
Gujarat Principal Secretary Forests and Environment PN Roy Chowdhuri, however, denied the plundering issue. He said that between 2003 and 2005, Gujarat is the only state to have increased its mangrove cover.
"We have gone up from 1940 to 1960 sq km of mangrove area, most of which is in the Gulf of Kutch," he said, adding that no other state could add a single km to their existing mangrove cover within this period. The quality has also bettered over the time, he claimed.
Admitting to the fact that some damage to mangrove might have taken place in small areas where intensive development is taking place, he, however, said the impact could not be so big as to make the land infertile.
Source: Express India
==============================
Bangladesh
Tigers kill six Bangladeshis near Sundarbans
18 March 2008
KHULNA, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Tigers stalking into Bangladesh villages around Sundarbans mangrove forests have killed six people and mauled 12 others over the last two months, forest officials said on Tuesday.
In the latest incident a fisherman was killed on Monday at Satkhali village near the vast swampy forest some 500 km (312 miles) southwest of the capital Dhaka.
The Sundarbans is a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to the Royal Bengal tiger.
The victims were attacked while they were either fishing or farming near the forests.
A tiger was trapped alive by people at Goripur village and handed over to Forest Department to return it to the swampy forest.
In December a Royal Bengal tiger, an endangered species, was killed in a confrontation with villagers at a village. Four people were also injured in the confrontation.
Forest officials said tigers sneaking into villages mainly at night has increased following the deadly cyclone that hit Bangladesh coasts late last year.
"The straying of tigers has increased in recent months. Maybe they are coming out of forests in search of food," a senior forest official said.
The forest was depleted of food by Cyclone Sidr, which struck the Bangladesh coast on November 15 with winds of 250 kph (155 mph) and killed about 3,500 people and made millions homeless.
At least 60 percent of the 6,000 sq km (2,320 sq mile) mangrove swamps within Bangladesh, home for more than 400 Royal Bengal tigers, was devastated by the cyclone, officials then said.
The Sundarbans stretch for a further 4,000 sq km (1,545 sq miles) into India's eastern state of West Bengal.
(Reporting by Enamul Haque; Writing by Nizam Ahmed; Editing by Jerry Norton)
Source: Reuters
=====================================
Pakistan
Mai Kolachi mangrove drama continues unchecked
29 March 2008
By Jan Khaskheli
Karachi. After destroying the mangroves on one side of Mai Kolachi Bypass with the establishment of the controversial KPT officers colony, the other side of the mangrove swamp, which borders the NLC depot and a katchi abadi, is also being filled up by land-grabbers under a well-thought out plan.
The city’s environmentalists are crying themselves hoarse while the city government and the other stakeholders concerned have decided to turn a blind eye to this ongoing drama that unfolds before the very eyes of the people. “Gradually,” say observers, “the mangrove swamp is being filled with solid waste.” This, they maintain, is the “beginning of the end.”
The move to drain mangroves and turn them into reclaimed land for commercial or residential purposes comes at a heavy price.
Environmentalists fear that due to global climatic change, Karachi is under threat of disaster as the process of land reclamation after cutting mangroves is going on without any check.
“Citizens residing in Clifton, Defence Housing Authority and other areas close to the coast cannot imagine how they are being placed in danger by cutting mangroves which are the only protection wall to avert floods and disasters,” commented Dr Tahir Qureshi of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), while talking to The News.
“Cyclones, such as the one which affected Balochistan’s coastline last year, can hit the city because rapid climate change is increasing the chances of disasters, cyclones and tsunamis all over the world. Hence the Karachi coast is not safe. We should be aware of this and take effective steps by avoiding cutting more mangroves,” Dr Qureshi warned.
Other countries have learnt the lesson from the wide destruction of tsunamis and cyclones and are now initiating projects for mangrove plantation on their coasts to avert this threat. In Pakistan, the authorities concerned are looking at things differently. The clueless authorities are cutting mangroves for land reclamation and initiating projects of high-rises and commercial centers instead of planning more mangroves along the Karachi Coast.
They have already destroyed wide area of mangroves forest and developed commercial and residential areas near the city’s coast. Now they are wiping out the remaining plants near Mai Kolachi and Boat Basin, which may create more threats for the people any time in future, warned Dr Qureshi.
These mangroves are also breeding grounds for fish species which provide livelihood to the local fishermen, who may be deprived of their only source of earning by this activity.
Dr Qureshi said the land reclamation will cause more sea erosion, which may cause further displacement in Thatta and Badin districts. He said due to receding River Indus water the sea is eroding more land and reached Ghora Bari, Thatta district after eroding 54 km fertile land. It will cause further sea intrusion if authorities and policy makers fail to address these issues and do not design environment-friendly policies.
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) chairman, Muhammad Ali Shah, said: “We had warned against the KPT plan of land reclamation long ago but the authorities did not listen.” He also spoke about local fishermen who collect fodder from mangrove forests near their localities. “They are aware of their natural resources. They get fodder for their cattle from these forests, but they never destroyed the plants,” Shah said.
“The community people and their animals are not threats to mangroves. Marine pollution and unplanned urbanization are real threats to these plants, which may create uncertainty for the residents.”
These plants absorb port waste and provide oxygen to the marine life. They also absorb smoke and carbon dioxides of vehicles and factories.
Mangroves have acted as protective walls around the city to avert threats of disasters in the past. But since the illegal settlements were developed near the coast by earth-filling it has become dangerous for the ecosystem.
Shah said since the government has awarded contracts to UAE-based investors to establish waterfront projects along the entire 129-km-long city coast it would affect the environment and destroy the ecosystem. These are manmade threats. “We should learn something from the effects of tsunamis and cyclones and we should withdraw these projects and stop the destruction of these plants,” the PFF chairman maintained.
Source: The International News
China
9 April 2008
Cold disaster situation of coastal mangrove in Southern China
by Liao Baowen
According to the field survey in Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Nansha District in Guangzhou and in Guangdong Province and telephone interview to Hainan, Zhanjiang, Miaoming, Xiamen and Guangxi, the situation of frozen mangrove is as follows:
1. Mangroves in Southern China were seriously destroyed in the recent snow storm. The most seriously affected mangrove species are Sonneratia caseolaris, Laguncularia racemosa, Rhizophora stylosa and Thespesia populnea. Mangrove plantation forests planted in the coastal mud flat in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian including experimental forest were near totally destroyed. The affected mangrove area reached to more than 5000 ha with more than 1000 ha dead, most of which were planted forests. More serious disaster regions were northern coastal regions of Zhanjiang, Guangdong including Yangjiang, Jiangmen, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shantou, Fujian and Guangxi.
2. Mangrove seedlings in all mangrove nurseries were affected. More than 3 million seedlings died. The most seriously affected species among the dead seedlings were Sonneratia caseolaris, Laguncularia racemosa, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Rhizophora stylosa, Thespesia populnea and Sonneratia apetala (some).
3. Hypocotyls and flowers of Bruguiera gymnorrhiza in native mangrove forests in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province were almost frozen and fell off and flowers of Rhizophora stylosa were mostly frozen. It will be difficult to collect hypocotyls of those mangrove species this year.
4. Introduced species, Sonneratia apetala, were frozen and lost leaves or died away. Some seedlings also died.
More symptoms of the frozen mangroves are appearing gradually as temperature rises. Monitoring is needed to observe weather those destroyed mangroves can restore by themselves, how they recover and whether they will suffer from insect pests etc. and then immediate measurement and restoration can take place.
Mangrove are of special importance for the coastal ecosystem. Attention should be attracted from global scale on this serious cold disaster in the southern part of China. Technical and financial supports are needed from all fields such as governments, NGOs, international foundations, research organizations etc.
Photos of Southern Chinese mangroves have been posted to MAP’s website.
Submitted by: Liao Baowen
Baowenliao@ritf.ac.cn
The Research Institute of Tropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry
Guangzhou 510520, China
Tel: +86 20-87028494
Fax: +86 20-87031622
Ecuador
26 March 2008
Shellfish Gatherer Murdered Near Shrimp Fatm
PRESS RELEASE
Contact: C-CONDEM, E-mail: manglares@ccondem.org.ec
A security guard at the Posa Linda shrimp farm, in the province of El Oro, Ecuador, owned by Mr. Jorge Criollo, murdered a young shellfish collector, Olger Ivan Jaramillo Cabrera.
While he traveled in his canoe upon finishing his days work collecting conchas (a type of clam), Olger Jaramillo was shot in the back and killed. His co-workers indicated that the shot came from a guard of the Posa Linda shrimp farm. The event occurred on 26 March 2008. Found along with the body, which was abandoned in the swamp, were 170 conchas collected that day.
This isn’t the first death to be mourned by the concha collectors of El Oro province. In the last two years at least 4 coworkers have died, victims of the violence of industrial shrimp farming, which has illegally privatized the mangrove ecosystem. The heavily armed security guards of the shrimp ponds impede free transit through the wetlands and access to the mangrove remnants, where one can still acquire resources for commercialization. They maintain the population of fisherfolk and concha collectors terrorized, imposing their law in the zone.
Arguing that the collectors and fishfolk enter and rob shrimp from the ponds, serious human rights violations against the Traditional Communities of the Mangrove Ecosystem have been registered in all coastal provinces. Women and children beaten, concha collector dead, these are the results of an activity that says that it generates wealth for the country. Nevertheless, this activity is constantly subsidized by whatever government is in power, and it has been proved that the generation of employment is minimal and that the working conditions are truly conditions of slavery.
The mangrove ecosystem in Ecuador is a National Public Use Good, declared as a Protective Forest and State Heritage Forest, and as such, under no circumstance may be privatized. With the complicity of government officials, the mangrove ecosystem in Ecuador has disappeared by 70% in order to favor, principally, the industrial production of farmed shrimp, displacing thousands of families which live from shellfish collecting and artisanal fishing.
During the last 10 years C-CONDEM (La Corporación Coordinadora Nacional para la Defensa del Ecosistema Manglar) has been denouncing these facts, while no authority has responded to these complaints and instead this illegal and criminal industry has continued to be supported.
Two children, 8 and 6 years, respectively, are the sons of the shellfish collected murdered in El Oro province on Saturday. “They also sometimes accompanied their father in the collection of concha, they are completely abandoned. The day of the murder the coworker collectors of the region reacted against the perpetrators, we are afraid that they will continue be a source of more violence,” commented one of the collectors of the region.
translated by Elaine Corets, Mangrove Action Project (MAP)
Source: C-CONDEM
Fiji
Building a Million Dollar Industry
31 March 2008
FIJI - Prawn farming is a million dollar industry that people should venture into, according to the Fijian Interim Agriculture Minister Joketani Cokanasiga.
The fisheries department says that as prawns are a four month crop, this is the length of time farmers will have to wait before they start to see returns.
Reported in Fiji Village, the Fisheries Department says that under the Prawn Farmers Government Assistance Program farmers will only have to fork out one third of the total cost needed for starting.
If a farmer was interested in starting a 1,000 square metre pond, costs associated would include 20,000 to 30,000 prawns at $ 25 for a kilogram of prawns.
The success of a prawn farm depends on having a clean water supply and proper management, told Fiji Village.
Source: TheFishSite News Desk
U.S. Virgin Islands
Fourth Virgin Islands Mangrove Cleanup Planned
The Virgin Islands Mangrove Cleanup will hold its fourth cleanup at the Cas Cay Marine Sanctuary April 19 from 8 am until 2pm. Our previous efforts to restore and monitor this habitat have been very successful; thank you for all your help! This project will be continued April 19 in a water based cleanup that will focus on removing small debris. We are welcoming all community members to participate in this event. Please wear clothes and shoes that can get wet/muddy, water, and sun protection. We will provide lunch, water, and cleanup equipment. Kayaks will be provided by VI Ecotours. Hope to see you there!
Questions? Contact Sophia McKenzie (coordinator)
sophia.mckenzie@yahoo.com
(817) 300-0828
USA
7 April 2008
Minnesota shoppers have cut back on shrimp purchases by 3.5% over the past year in the face of rising food inflation, which is causing a reevaluation of non-essential items. Seafood prices, which have been rising strongly based on lower supplies and good demand, may be vulnerable to more of this consumer behavior if the recession gets
worse.
Source: Seafood News
http://www.seafoodnews.com/
==================================
Canada
28 March 2008
Shrimp thriving in Strathmore
'It's just using technology,' say father and son
by Cailynn Klingbeil
In the heart of cattle country, John Tremblay and his father Robert are wrangling a new kind of stock. "The neighbours think we're crazy. People can't believe we're doing this in Alberta," says John, 41.
John and Robert, 74, are farming Pacific white-legged shrimp in an above-ground plastic tank set up in a greenhouse near Strathmore.
It's not the only shrimp farming venture in the world, but it is unique.
San Diego's Bob Rosenberry, owner of a website about shrimp farming, says the Alberta farm is the most northern, as far as he knows.
"It's surprising. One doesn't associate shrimp farming with Canada," says Rosenberry, owner of Shrimp News International.
Rosenberry says about 25 shrimp farming projects exist in the United States. He knows of one other project in Canada, located in B.C.
"It sounds a little crazy," says Rosenberry, "but I think that's true of all shrimp farmers."
Back in Strathmore, visitors who peek into the eye-level observation hole of a 50,000-litre tank will see 500 saltwater shrimp swimming about the enclosure. They are 30 to 40 days old, measuring six centimetres in length.
"It's just using technology, that's it," says Robert of the system he and John designed and engineered. An ocean-like environment was created by using an enclosed recirculation process with a highly oxygenated water system.
"If the environment is not there, you can create it," adds John.
The shrimp came from Florida as post-larvae and lived in nursery tanks for about three weeks before moving to their current home. They will take about three months to reach their market size of 17 to 25 centimetres in length.
Scott Jones, a senior sales representative at the Fisherman's Market in Halifax, says he wouldn't hesitate to eat shrimp from the Prairies.
"You eat our lobster and we could be eating your shrimp and beef. Why not?" says Jones.
The Tremblays' involvement with shrimp farming came through previous jobs in the water treatment business. In 1999, they were asked to help with water treatment at shrimp farms in southeast Asia, which were being plagued by disease.
That initial exposure sparked an interest, and John and Robert began to research the possibility of shrimp farming elsewhere.
John has been working on the project full-time for six months. He drives out to Strathmore daily to maintain the system and reload the auto feeders, which feed the shrimp five times a day.
The shrimp growing right now are intended for testing purposes, but John is optimistic they will be tasty, too.
"You can't get fresher than this," he says.
John and Robert are confident their crustaceans raised on the Prairies will find success in a niche market, including high-end restaurants and farmer's markets.
John says experimenting with this type of bio-secure, inland agriculture opens up many more possibilities.
"If you can grow shrimp in the prairies of Alberta, you can grow anything pretty much anywhere," he says.
The next step for the project will be for the shrimp to pass food agency regulations. John and Robert hope to eventually expand production into a profitable operation, potentially producing 600,000 shrimp per hectare annually.
"The potential is huge," says John.
Source: The Calgary Herald
Norway
7 April 2008
Norway developing eco-friendly trawl technology
The Norwegian fisheries magnate Kjell Inge Røkke and the industry have lately spent around NOK 10 million (EUR 1.25 million) on developing eco-friendlier trawls. One trawler operating off the West coast of Norway and a shrimp trawler fishing in the Oslo fjord in Eastern Norway are helping to develop the new trawl technology.
According to the Norwegian press, one unnamed marine scientist been recruited to assist in the development of the technology.
Through the company Aker Biomarine, Røkke funded the development of a technology in which krill is pumped directly from the trawl to the vessel factory. A hose goes from the vessel down to the trawl. Through a small hose, air is pumped down and mixed in with the catch. The air then pushes the catch up through the pipe. The system has revolutionized krill fishing.
Røkke is now aiming to develop a trawling system that is more selective in terms of what is kept and what parts of the catch should be released unharmed through the assistance of electronic devices. Today, the global fishing fleet kills millions of tonnes of unwanted by-catch by emptying the trawl on the deck and throwing back the unwanted catch - often already dead - to the sea. The new technology will reduce by-catch, and then apply the system used for air pumping krill in fish and shrimp trawling.
Although it has not yet been mentioned in the reports, if pelagic trawlers pump the catch directly from the trawl net this will reduce fuel consumption substantially. A pelagic trawler today has to empty the trawl net every time the catch is large enough or trawling for a maximum period of time. The new technology will allow trawlers to operate non-stop until the desired volume has been caught. This will save both fuel and time.
If successfully developed, the selection process will prove valuable for bottom fish trawlers looking to automatically release small fish unharmed. Today the trawlers either discontinue fishing if they are catching too many undersized fish, or throw the by-catch back to the sea.
The new technology is also supposed to identify both the size and species of the fish yet nothing is known on how this can be done. By identifying the mix of species, it is possible to optimise fishing. For example, as different schools of species are identified, which often swim at different heights from the sea floor, trawl fishing can target different schools depending on the height from the sea bottom. If a sensitivity to the right size is added to this, trawl fishing may become highly eco-friendly if Røkke succeeds.
The trials and development of the new system are expected to take at least a couple of years.
Source: FIS
New Rules Will Reduce Destructive Bycatch from Shrimp Trawl Nets
26 March 2008
In February, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) approved a final rule that will ensure development and usage of the most effective bycatch reduction devices (BRDs) in the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery.
Bycatch refers to fish and other marine life caught "incidentally" in the pursuit of another species usually discarded dead or dying.
The wild shrimp fishery in the Southeast region of the United States has a bycatch ratio of roughly four pounds of other marine life for every one pound of shrimp caught giving it the highest ratio and amount of bycatch of any fishery in this country. In the Gulf of Mexico, this bycatch is substantial, consisting of over 450 types of marine life including commercially and recreationally important species such as red snapper. The new rules will ensure that only the most effective BRDs can be utilized in the fishery, resulting in greater reductions in the amount of bycatch from shrimp fishing.
To find out more about Ocean Conservancy's work to restore sustainable fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico, visit their website.
Source: Shrimp Suck Blog
=====================================
How the Monterey Bay Aquarium makes its safe-seafood list -- plus a seafood recipe you can feel good about
27 March 2008
By Roz Cummins
Back in the late 1990s, I happened to attend an exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California called "Fishing for Solutions." The experience profoundly changed my attitude toward seafood and the supposedly limitless abundance of the sea.
The exhibit focused not only on the precariousness of the fish stocks that have been reduced by overfishing, but also on the environmental degradation caused by using heavy-handed harvesting techniques and slapdash fish farming. I remember feeling stunned and shell-shocked after seeing the exhibit -- and my mood sunk even deeper when I walked out of the aquarium and back into the daylight and the first thing I saw was a Bubba Gump seafood restaurant. Ouch.
Turns out I wasn't the only one dramatically affected by the exhibit.
Sheila Bowman, Seafood Watch outreach manager at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, told me in a recent interview that "Fishing for Solutions" jolted the aquarium staff to think hard about the oceans' limitations. Aquarium visitors, too, took the message of the exhibit to heart and started asking questions about what fish were better choices for eating, even within the aquarium's own café.
All of these combined forces led the aquarium to create the Seafood Watch Program -- producer of those influential wallet cards that tell us which fish varieties are OK to eat. The aquarium started by making a card that covered the West Coast, and now they have versions for all of the regions of the continental U.S. as well as Hawaii. The aquarium has given away 23 million hard copies to date and there have been many million more downloads from its website. The cards are updated every six months. (I make sure that I have the current version by downloading one at each equinox.)
At this point, you don't even need a literal card in your wallet. When you're out and about, you can also use Fishphone, a cellphone texting service provided by the Blue Oceans Institute, or the Monterey Bay Aquarium's mobile website.
A fine kettle of fish
The Seafood Watch Program exerts considerable influence over sustainable-minded consumers and chefs. So how do they figure out which of our choices tread lightly on fish stocks -- and which are leading to fishery collapse?
I asked Bowman. Turns out aquarium staff members don't do the scientific analysis themselves; rather, they use data provided by government and other private and published sources. They then run it through a set of five criteria -- separate ones for wild and farmed fish. (Some of the data for farmed fish is self-reported.)
The website lists the criteria in detail (which describes the recommendation process as a whole). However, the descriptions are somewhat technical. To get a handle on exactly how Monterey evaluates the sustainability level of fish choices, I asked Bowman to explain the criteria to me in layperson's terms. Here's what I found out.
For wild-caught fish, Monterey uses the following criteria. Bowman emphasizes that to gain "best choices" status, a given species has to score well on all criteria.
Biology. How vulnerable to fishing pressure is the species? Fish that reproduce quickly and in large numbers, such as anchovies, sardines, and Mahi Mahi, get a favorable ranking. Fish that reproduce slowly, later in life, and with only a few offspring at a time -- think sharks, red snapper, and rockfish -- score lower.
General stock structure and abundance. This one measures how populations fare in the wild. For example, Atlantic cod stocks stand at just 1 percent of their level 200 years ago. But the Pacific cod population is healthy and part of a well-managed fishery.
Capture techniques. In the process of harvesting a particular fish, do large numbers of untargeted fish -- known as a bycatch -- get caught as well? Does the fishing technique harvest only fish of a certain age? (The latter is important in the reproductive cycle.)
Habitat damage. If harvesting a certain fish entails dragging a net across the ocean bottom, for example, it will disrupt habitats for other varieties and score low on this criterion.
Management regime. Are there policies and laws in place to protect the fishery? Are they being followed and enforced?
For farmed fish, here's what Monterey looks at:
Feed. Ideally, farmed fish eat like so many Grist readers: strictly vegetarian. If the species needs to eat other fish, then the farming practice isn't really taking pressure off the wild populations of fish that will be caught and turned into feed. Also, some fish require a lot more protein to grow than others do. For example, farmed bluefin tuna require 15 pounds of ocean fish to produce only one pound of meat.
Effect of the farm on the species' wild counterpart. Atlantic salmon are being farmed in the Pacific Northwest -- and have escaped from these farms by the millions. The Atlantic salmon are tough and, like any invasive species, compete with the native salmon for food and space. It's not an interactive kind of fight -- they don't go fin-à-fin -- just competition for resources. Also, captive and wild populations can interbreed, resulting in a weaker hybrid that is less able to survive in the ocean.
Diseases and parasites. Fish farms, which often produce year-round, can provide ideal habitats for parasites -- which can then attack wild populations. Both farmed and wild salmon, for example, are often beset by a charming-sounding parasite called sea lice. Wild salmon have evolved forever in rough balance with sea lice, but the existence of salmon farms threatens to tip the scales (ha!) in favor of the parasite.
Waste. Aquaculture concentrates all manner of wastes. Pesticides used to treat parasites can harm other forms of sea life. Farm operations often overuse feed; the excess decays and pulls oxygen out of the water, creating a dead zone that smothers out other sea life. Then there's good old-fashioned poo. According to Bowman, "even industry insiders concede that a typical 200,000-fish salmon farm releases nitrogen equal to 20,000 humans, phosphorus equal to 25,000 humans, and fecal matter roughly equivalent to a city of 65,000 people." She added, though, that farms had made good progress in minimizing this problem.
Effective management regime. The aquarium staff looks at whether the farm management is implementing and enforcing local, national, and international laws and customs, and whether they are functioning in a way that could be described as precautionary. Benchmarks include compliance with regulations regarding the prevention and treatment of disease, as well as the use of antibiotics, biocides, and herbicides.
Sink or Swim?
After hearing in detail how the aquarium comes up with its list, I feel pretty comfortable enjoying fish types that make the group's "best choices" list -- in moderation, of course. I told Bowman how in light of the solid information that consumers can now access, I'm surprised at how many sustainable-minded consumers -- many Grist readers among them -- insist on completely giving up fish on environmental grounds. Why would people who would otherwise eat seafood stay away from species with "best choices" status? I can only imagine that they don't have confidence in the lists developed and published by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and other sources.
I tried that explanation out on Bowman. "We try to keep the process as transparent as possible," she replied. "The aquarium doesn't take any funding from anyone in the fishing industry. Our mission and goal is the stewardship of the oceans and I would hope people would take that into consideration when they are looking for information they can trust."
It's easy enough to make broad statements like "there aren't any fish that can be harvested sustainably." But the truth is that the health of the world's fi