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The MAP News, 228th Ed., 11 January 2010
Dear Friends,
This is the 228th Edition of the Mangrove Action Project News, January 11, 2010.
For the Mangroves,
Alfredo Quarto
Mangrove Action Project
Sign up to receive the MAP News by sending an e-mail to: mapnews@mangroveactionproject.org.
MAP's Mission
Partnering with mangrove forest communities, grassroots NGOs, researchers and local governments to conserve and restore mangrove forests and related coastal ecosystems, while promoting community-based, sustainable management of coastal resources.
All news items and notices published in the MAP News can also be accessed directly from our home page www.mangroveactionproject.org, with links to the full story and the original source. New items are posted daily and are available as an RSS feed!
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SHRIMP LESS, THINK MORE:
Learn more about the affects of the shrimp industry on mangroves by visiting our blog.
Sign the Consumer's Pledge to avoid imported shrimp
MAP ACTIVITIES:
2010 MAP Calendar On Sale Now!
MAP’s Martin Keeley and Marvelous Mangroves go to China
Vote for the Worst Corporate Lobbyists in the Angry Mermaid Awards
Alien Mangroves in Florida Article
Join or Support the Mumbai Mangroves Group
MAP ANNOUNCEMENTS
Happy New Year
Dear Friend of the Mangroves,
Thank you for making 2009 an important and successful year in the protection and restoration of mangrove forests and communities that depend on hem worldwide.
I hope that 2010 will see continued awareness and protection for these important coastal forests. Please continue your support.
Cheers, Alfredo
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FEATURED NEWS:
UN opens Biodiversity Year with plea to save world's ecosystems
January 1, 2010 - In a bid to curb the unprecedented loss of the world's species due to human activity – at a rate some experts put at 1,000 times the natural progression – the United Nations is marking 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity, with a slew of events highlighting the vital role the phenomenon plays in maintaining the life support system on Planet Earth.“Humans are part of nature's rich diversity and have the power to protect or destroy it,” the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which is hosted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said in summarizing the Year's main message, with its focus on raising awareness to generate public pressure for action by the world's decision makers. Read MoreSource: UN.org 01/01/2010
AFRICA
Ghana nabs two trawlers for illegal fishing
GHANA - Two trawlers have been arrested and detained by the Ghana Nay in cape Coast and Tema for engaging in illegal fishing activities in the country’s territorial waters.In a move which underscored the Navy’s resolve to protect the country’s waters from illegal fishing and narcotic activities, the two vessels were intercepted in the country’s Inshore Exclusive Zone (IEZ) after causing extensive damage to the canoes and nets of local fishermen. Read MoreSource: Peace FM Online 12/29/2009
SE ASIA
Thailand revises shrimp standards
THAILAND- Shrimp welfare and social responsibility are among the important criteria in the revised Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) code drafted to secure Thailand's lucrative shrimp export industry.
The new GAP, revised from the 2003 version by the Fisheries Department, aims
to raise export standards and ensure shrimp meet freshness requirements demanded by foreign buyers in recent years, said Pradit Chonchuenchob, the director of the department. "Issues such as how to produce healthy shrimp with good welfare,
environmentally sound farming, as well as no employment of either child or forced labour are fresh requests from importers that Thai farmers have to comply with," he told about 200 participants at a seminar earlier this month. Read MoreSource: Bangkok Post 12/30/2009
Thai firm to invest in aquafeed production in the Philippines
THAILAND - Thailand’s largest agribusiness company Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Co. Ltd. is investing P2.36 billion for the production of aqua feeds in Capas, Tarlac, seen to boost the potential of the country’s shrimp production.The Board of Investments (BOI) has granted incentives to Charoen Pokphand Foods Philippines Corp. for its aqua feed mill plant located on an 8 to 10-hectare area along the town’s national highway. Comprising of four production lines for aquafeeds, the facility has existing power lines and abundant underground water.Charoen Pokphand Philippines will produce fish and shrimp feeds in various forms (pelletized, crumbled and extruded) by using the latest machineries and equipment acquired from China and Europe.The plant has a capacity of 114,000 metric tons per year. Read MoreSource: Business Insigt Malay 12/31/2009
MAP Asia Appeals For Funding
THAILAND - The MAP Asia office in Thailand is making a special funding appeal to our readers to support their first ever Coastal Community Resource Centre (CCRC) on the bio-diverse island of Phra Thong off Thailand's Andaman Sea coast. The island's communities were hard hit by the tsunami of 2004 and there is a great need for programs and activities that promote sustainable livelihoods, community-based resource management and environmental education. MAP in partnership with Naucrates, an Italian NGO have been very fortunate to receive the donation of two unused tsunami houses on the island which we hope to convert into a fully functional CCRC. Your support can provide MAP with a needed base to extend our conservation efforts on this unique island. Please read how your support can help MAP make a real long term difference. Read MoreSource: Business Insigt Malay 12/31/2009
SOUTH ASIA
Indian fishworkers' leader passes away
INDIA - The Chairperson of India's National Fishworkers Forum (NFF), Harekrishna Debnath, passed away in Kolkota at 11 am on 30 December 2009 at the age of 60.Harekrishna has been a great supporter of traditional fishing communities in India and outside. He has worked dauntlessly for over the past two decades to organize fishing communities in India under the banner of the NFF, and to give them a voice to project their aspirations and sufferings to concerned governments. Read MoreSource: NFF 12/30/2009
Bridge development in Kalimantan threatens rainforest, mangroves, and coral reef
INDONESIA - The bridge, known as Pulau Balang, would span the bay, splicing through Balang Island, cutting off the mangroves from the rainforest, and running the entire length of the western edge of the protected forest. While the direct impacts would be severe—deforestation for the road, splitting the mangrove from the rainforest, damage to the reef—researchers say that providing people easy access to the mangrove and forests will inevitably destroy them. Read MoreSource: mongabay.com 01/03/2010
Indonesia bans import of Vanamae shrimp to curb virus spread
INDONESIA - In a bid to prevent hazardous viruses in Penaeus Vanamae shrimps, also known as Pacific white shrimp, from spreading in the country, Indonesian government bans the import of such shrimps in the next six months. The decision to ban the shrimp import is legalized by decrees issued by trade minister and maritime and fishery minister on Dec.23."The issuance of the decrees are aimed at protecting people's health, national natural resources and preventing the spread of the hazardous viruses in Indonesia," Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu was quoted by the Kompas.com as saying. Read MoreSource: chinaview.cn 12/24/09
Indonesian businessmen welcome ban on shrimp imports
INDONESIA - Shrimp-breeders welcome the ban on the penaeus vannamei shrimp imports, which becomes effective as of December 23. "This is a pro-people policy," Shrimp Club Indonesia (SCI) chairman Iwan Sutanto told Tempo yesterday. He is optimistic that annual shrimp production can reach 400.000 tons by 2010.The regulation is valid for six months and can be extended for another six. The regulation was issued as an effort to anticipate the growing circulation of shrimps that have been infected by a dangerous virus in the international market. Read MoreSource: Tempo Interactive 12/31/09
Shrimp Farmer Cp Prima Works To Restore Output
INDONESIA - The world’s largest shrimp producer, PT Central Proteinaprima, is working to overhaul its production processes after a year in which output was blighted by the spread of a highly infectious virus and sales were hit by a trade spat with the United States. “We have taken gradual steps toward a recovery in shrimp production amid our multi-dimensional problems, including implementing prudent management in all aspects of the operations,” Erwin Sutanto, CP Prima’s president director, said at a public presentation on Thursday. Read MoreSource: Jakarta Globe 12/23/09
NORTH AMERICA
Volunteers to Plant Mangroves at Ibis Isle Jan. 23
Source: Source 12/11/2009
Aquaculturalists exploring use soybeans as alternative to fishmeal
PIKETON, OH - A new project that links Ohio’s No. 1 fish species with a key field crop could lead to greater sustainability of the state’s aquaculture industry while developing new, local agricultural markets.Ohio State University aquaculturists with OSU South Centers at Piketon are exploring the feasibility of using soybeans as an alternative to fishmeal, and plan to test the new fishfood product on yellow perch. Read MoreSource: farmanddairy.com 12/21/09
U.S. To Review Dumping Duty On Indian Shrimp
WASHINGTON DC - The United States Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission (ITC) will be initiating a sunset review of the anti-dumping duty on shrimp imports from India next month. While the US Commerce Department will examine whether dumping would continue or recur if the anti-dumping duties are revoked, the ITC in turn would examine whether injury would continue or recur to the US shrimp industry if the duties are revoked.While no official date when the sunset review will be initiated is available, the US laws states that the sunset review should commence 30 days before the completion of five years of the final findings of the original investigation are notified and published. As the findings of the original investigation were announced on February 1, 2005, the sunset review is likely to commence during the early part of the coming month, sources in the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) said. Read MoreSource: Hindu Business Line 12/29/09
EUROPE
Lice alert for Norwegian salmon
NORWAY -
Norwegian salmon is a must-have for many during the holidays, but the pink delicacy is increasingly threatened by a small parasite spreading rapidly among farmed salmon, and, more alarmingly, their wild cousins. Read More
Source: The Independent UK 12/28/2009
Copenhagen Climate Talks
Source: NY Times 12/26/2009
ISSUES ARTICLES
Establishing Marine and Coastal Community Conservation Areas
FROM THE DIRECTOR: After almost 18 years working with Mangrove Action Project, it is very encouraging to witness a unique global movement to protect and restore mangrove wetlands. This is vital if we are to combat climate change, conserve and restore our marine life, clean up our waterways, and halt erosion and storm damage which all result in loss of life and livelihoods for coastal communities. In India this movement to protect the remaining mangroves has advanced even further, it seems, via several actual purchases of mangrove areas to protect these mangroves from development harm. This is quite important in setting the example by making such protected mangrove areas working models to inspire others as well as a good start to what could one day manifest itself as important Mangrove Protected Areas, similar to the existent movement to create Marine Protected Areas. Such areas could include other vital ecosystems, such as mud flats and salt marshes, peat lands and sea grass meadows. A new term, Marine and Coastal Protected Areas, or MCPAs is recently being applied by some advocates to fit such a broader and much more significant designation. Nevertheless, such protected areas can and should involve the local communities in their on-going management and conservation. In fact, it would be better to call such areas “Marine and Coastal Community Conservation Areas" (MCCCAs) to distinguish these as areas where local communities are integrally involved in both the conservation/ restoration and resource management of the designated sites, thus allowing community regulated resource use by the same local communities charged with conserving the area's ecology and resources. We at MAP wish to encourage those involved in efforts to restore mangroves to consider utilizing the Ecological Mangrove Restoration (EMR) approach, which we strongly endorse as a more effective, long-term approach to mangrove restoration. The EMR process can be found on MAP's website: www.mangroveactionproject.org.
Towards a Future with Mangroves,
Alfredo Quarto,
Executive Director
Mangrove Action Project
12/21/2009
