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The MAP News, 200th Ed., 23 June 2008
Dear Friends,
This is the 200th Edition of the Mangrove Action Project News, 23 June 2008.
"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
For the Mangroves,
Alfredo Quarto
Mangrove Action Project
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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.
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Contents for MAP NEWS, 200th Edition, 23 June 2008
FEATURE STORIES
Supermarkets Failing to Adopt Sustainable Seafood Buying Practices: Report
MAP WORKS
Local Educator Wins National Marine Education Award
Shrimpless Blog
Mangrove Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration" training workshop, March 2-5, 2009
Next Calendar Children's Art Contest for 2009 Open for New Submissions
Mangrove forest buffer zones will save Phuket lives
Burma: Cyclone proved the failure of "development" based on mangrove destruction
Group slams environmental impact of dam projects
Myanmar needs 32 million dollars in emergency agro-aid, says FAO
Myanmar stresses mangrove preservation to mitigate cyclone impact
Cambodia
Saving Cambodia's Great Lake
Managing Cambodia's mangroves
Indonesian
Japan plans to liberalize shrimp imports from Indonesia
Malaysia
Status in Malaysia
The Philippines
Angara: Shrimp growers should strengthen R&D to survive
Thailand
Sludge Surfing
Shrimpers pleading for help
Labour report hits shrimp orders in US
Krabi shrimp farmers call for government support as they face high production costs with low market prices of production
Shrimp farmers in South threaten to blockade roads
Shrimp farmers disperse after govt announces price guarantee
Thai government responds to allegations
Seafood prices ready to soar?
Timor Leste
Mangrove Devastation in Metinaru - What are the issues?
Vietnam
Restored mangroves breathe life into Mekong Delta
S. ASIA
Bangladesh
Bangladesh to plant 100 mln trees to fight floods, cyclones
Bangladeshi shrimp plants fully compliant, visiting high-powered team tells US FDA
India
Dollar fluctuations eat into Indian shrimp exports
Pakistan
Campaign launched to protect Indus Delta mangroves
E. ASIA
China
China still faces severe inshore pollution
LATIN AMERICA
Chile
Antibiotics will be "forbidden" in aquaculture
THE CARIBBEAN
Bahamas
Gauging the effects of tourism
Environmentalist: Bimini Bay Project a "Catastrophe"
Trinidad and Tobago
***ACTION ALERT!!!*** U.S. Steel Mill Threatens Trinidad Coastal Zone, Mangroves Slated for Removal
U.S. Virgin Islands
Coastal Mangrove Forests in Danger
NORTH AMERICA
USA
Sea Turtle Conservation
Food testing laboratories not reporting negative findings to the FDA?
The Price of Imported Shrimp
Craving shrimp? Buy local, new campaign urges
STORIES / ISSUES
Why a Gulf wetlands may become a city
Vast bounty at risk from under protected oceans
Report: The Economic Costs of Deteriorating Ecosystems
A fish called… what?
Coastal Management Cooperation And Enforcement Key To Avoid Pending Crisis For Millions
Disaster-Prone Deltas Next Climate Risk - Ecologist
CONFERENCES / WORKSHOPS / PUBLICATIONS
Wetland Management Planning - a Guide for Site Managers
International Workshop on Mangrove Ecosystem: Community Participation in Preserving Ecosystem Services, Dec 8-10, Orissa, India
Wetlands and Global Climate Change, Sept 16-18, Portland, Oregon, USA
Special Issue of Aquatic Botany on 'Mangrove ecology - applications in forestry and coastal zone management' dedicated to the memory of Samuel C. Snedaker.
Declaration of Fortaleza, II International Seminar on Sustainable Tourism (12-15 May 2008)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Community Alliance for Global Justice presents 2nd Annual 'Strengthening Local Economies, Everywhere' Dinner & Fair!
AQUACULTURE CORNER
Aquaculture Operations Seek Organic Certification
Down on the Farm
Chile: Antibiotics will be "forbidden" in aquaculture
Aquaculture Holds Ocean of Opportunity for Soy
US aquaculture industry eyes growth in soybean meal
Fishmeal: Major Limiter of Aquaculture Growth
No Extension of Certification to Farmed Salmon
State quarantines shrimp farm (Hawaii)
8 June 2008
Supermarkets Failing to Adopt Sustainable Seafood Buying Practices: Report
By GreenBiz Staff
Grocery stores across the U.S. are contributing to the demise of global fisheries by stocking shelves with fragile fish varieties and failing to develop sustainable purchasing strategies, according to a new report.
Even the grocers that ranked at the top of the heap -- such as Whole Foods, Ahold USA and Harris Teeter -- failed to score more than four out of 10 possible points in Greenpeace's "Carting Away the Oceans: How Grocery Stores are Emptying the Seas."
The report graded 20 of the country's top supermarket chains on seafood procurement policies, labeling and transparency, support for sustainability initiatives and the number of products for sale from the "Red List," a compilation of 22 fished and farmed species with the most significant environmental impacts.
Whole Foods, Ahold USA and Harris Teeter toped the list with four out of 10 points. Wegmans, Wal-Mart and Target followed with three out of 10 points. Safeway, Aldi, Kroger and Costco rounded out the top 10 supermarkets by scoring two out of 10 points. The remaining grocers scored a single point out of 10, including Trader Joe's and Publix.
All grocers surveyed sold fish from the Red List, which includes certain tuna varieties, Atlantic halibut, orange roughy and Chilean Sea Bass.
"Those with the highest scores are doing the most to work toward seafood sustainability by developing comprehensive, transparent policies to procure sustainable seafood," the report said. "Supermarkets in the second tier have demonstrated support for seafood sustainability, but fall short on developing policies to ensure long-term commitment to sustainability."
Yet the authors predict that the state of seafood sustainability in supermarkets will improve because several large retailers are in the process of creating more sustainable practices. Supermarkets are well-positioned to take advantage of the current drive toward sustainability, and the issue will likely offers a competitive edge for those that embrace it.
The market for supermarket seafood is huge -- and growing. The domestic seafood market generates some $16 billion in annual sales with an average 32 percent gross margin, the report said. Supermarket seafood sales increased 7 percent between 2006 and 2007.
But the demand for seafood has led scientists and conservationists to sound the alarm about the future of global fish stocks. In late 2006, a group of scientists from around the world warned that the world's seafood supply would run out by 2048 due to overfishing, pollution and other environmental factors.
Source:GreenBiz.com
Local Educator Wins National Marine Education Award
Mr. Martin Keeley, Cayman Island teacher and Education Director of the Mangrove Action Project, has been selected to receive the National Marine Educators Association's Outstanding Teacher Award for 2008. This award honors effective and innovative marine science education in the classroom. Mr. Keeley was recognized for his history of outstanding performance as a marine science educator in the Pacific Northwest and the Cayman Islands.
Mr. Keeley will be honored on July 23, 2008 at a ceremony during the National Marine Educators Association's annual conference in Savannah, Georgia, hosted by the Georgia Association of Marine Education. NMEA is a national professional organization founded in 1976 for all educators of marine and aquatic science and represents several thousand educators in North America, the Atlantic, Caribbean and Paciric regions.
The NMEA brings together those interested in the study and enjoyment of both fresh and salt water and provides a focus for marine and aquatic studies all over the world. Visit marine-ed.org/ to learn more about NMEA.
Only NMEA members are eligible for the "Outstanding Teacher of the Year" and great consideration is given to participants involvement in the NMEA. The Awards Committee considers a candidate's classroom environment, innovative materials and activities used and/or developed, integration of marine topics into various subject areas, and evidence of superior performance by the candidate's students.
For more information on NMEA or the awards program, contact Vicki Clark, NMEA Awards Committee Chair, vclark@vims.edu, tel: 804-684-7169.
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MAP Shrimp Less Blog
As part of its new campaign, "Shrimp Less, Think More," MAP recently launched a new blog. The blog is a source of information about the destruction caused by imported shrimp, and includes frequent news updates, facts, consumer tips, reports, and other resources. It also is intended to build a network and community of people concerned about the issues--so we invite the comments and input from readers!
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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
monicagquarto@olympus.net
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
Burma
24 May 2008
Mangrove forest buffer zones will save Phuket lives
By Alfredo Quarto
Alfredo Quarto is the executive director of Mangrove Action Project, a group whose mission is to assist and educate in methods for protecting mangrove forests. He says that the tsunami in 2004 and Cyclone Nargis in Burma highlight the need to re-establish mangrove forests to act as buffer zones to soften the blow of future large-scale natural disasters. Alfredo outlines why re-establishment is so important and how Phuket can put the wheels in motion.
This month, another natural disaster tragically struck the Irrawaddy Delta in Burma. In the wake of the destruction and rising death toll caused by Cyclone Nargis, we at Mangrove Action Project (MAP) are again calling for the re-establishment of mangrove buffer zones to serve as coastal greenbelts along affected coastal zones to mitigate the effects of future disasters.
The force of the cyclone could have been greatly lessened. Loss of life and property damage could have been somewhat averted if healthy mangrove forests had been conserved and restored along the coastline of the Irrawaddy Delta.
I have heard that the Irrawaddy Delta was formerly a lush, biodiverse wetland of extensive inter-tidal forests. Much mangrove loss initially occurred under British colonial rule in order to clear space for rice production.
The Delta was once called "the rice bowl of the world". Since that time, mangrove loss has continued - during World War II to satisfy military demands and, more recently, for fuel and unsustainable development, such as industrial shrimp-and-fish aquaculture and urban expansion.
The result is that these natural protective buffers have been removed, leaving the areas exposed and vulnerable to the waves and wind.
One news report I read stated that, according to Burmese researchers, during a period of 75 years (1924-1999), 83% of the mangroves of the Irrawaddy were destroyed.
Today, nearly half the world's human population is concentrated along coastal areas. These important zones support an array of other life dependent upon healthy coastal wetlands. With climate change affecting the rate of sea-level rise, coastal wetlands, such as mangroves, play a pivotal role in protecting coastline from erosion and acting as buffers against hurricane winds and storm surges.
When mangroves are removed or degraded, the coastlines become vulnerable to Nature and are made more so by climate change and the subsequent virulent storms.
Although the tsunami of 2004 resulted from an immense earthquake off the north coast of Sumatra, the high death toll can be partially attributed to a manmade disaster.
This unnatural disaster preceded the tsunami and was created partially by ignorance, yet also by greed and naivety, resulting in the clearing of the natural buffer zones once present along the same coastlines that were hardest hit by the tsunami.
Extensive mangrove forests, coral reefs, seagrass beds, sand dunes, peatlands and other natural features were once effective barriers to wind and waves. These natural protective buffers were removed and the full force of the tsunami lashed the coastline, resulting in the high death tolls in Asia and East Africa.
Though no early warnings were issued for the 2004 tsunami or Cyclone Nargis, there had been cries of concern from mangrove ecologists, local communities and non-government organizations about the expansion of shrimp aquaculture, agriculture, tourism, charcoal production and other unsustainable industries along coastlines.
More than half the world's mangrove forests have been destroyed, leaving only about 15 million hectares. It is estimated that 150,000ha are lost each year.
We must re-establish the mangrove buffer zones that previously protected people and property from storms and tsunamis. Much time, effort and money has been spent by planting seedlings in the wrong places at the wrong times.
In many instances, seedlings raised in nurseries to be hand-planted in neat, regularly spaced rows, are often placed in inappropriate locations, such as mud flats or salt flats, where the present hydrology and soil conditions are all wrong and mangroves do not belong.
Such large-scale mangrove plantings are actually afforestation efforts, not restoration, and high failure rates ensue. Most of these mangrove "restoration" projects are planting only one species, usually the rhizophora, or red mangrove, which is easy to plant and more commercially valuable for wood products. Those few projects that do succeed in establishing mangroves are more of a monoculture, rather than a healthy multi-species mangrove forest as naturally occurs in the tropics.
We at MAP believe that the most effective method for successful, large-scale mangrove restoration is through ecological mangrove restoration (EMR), a six-step process that considers local hydrology and results in biodiverse, ecologically functioning ecosystems.
In Southeast Asia, there are huge areas of abandoned shrimp ponds that could be returned to mangroves by restoring the natural hydrology.
In promoting EMR, MAP staff, advisors and partners are aware of the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach with full community involvement in the entire process to ensure sustainability.
Six steps to mangrove reforestation success
Work together with communities, organizations and local government to:
1. Understand the individual and community species' ecology of the naturally occurring mangrove species at the site, paying particular attention to patterns of reproduction, distribution and successful seedling establishment.
2. Understand the normal hydrology that controls the distribution, successful establishment and growth of targeted mangrove species.
3. Assess the modifications of the mangrove environment that occurred and that currently prevent natural secondary succession.
4. Select appropriate restoration areas, through application of steps 1 to 3, that are likely to succeed in rehabilitating a forest ecosystem and are cost effective. Consider the available labor to carry out the projects, including adequate monitoring of their progress towards meeting quantitative goals established before restoration. This step includes resolving land-ownership and land-use issues necessary for ensuring long-term access to, and conservation of, the site.
5. Design the restoration program at suitable sites, selected in step 4, to restore the appropriate hydrology and use natural volunteer mangrove recruitment for natural plant establishment.
6. Use actual planting of propagules or seedlings only after determining through steps 1 to 5 that natural recruitment will not provide the quantity of successfully established seedlings, rate of stabilization or rate of growth as required for project success.
Source:Phuket Gazette
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29 May 2008
Burma: Cyclone proved the failure of "development" based on mangrove destruction
In the first weekend of May, a cyclone ravaged Burma. Cyclone Nagris hit the Irrawaddy delta with winds reaching 190km/h. However, most havoc was played by a sea surge that came with the storm: a wave up to 3.5m high swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages. People couldn't flee and figures of dead people are estimated at more than 100,000.
The storm was strong indeed, but the root of such an enhanced devastation can be traced back in the country's so called "development programmes" in the industries of tourism and shrimp farming, that implied the destruction of formerly lush mangroves.
The importance of mangroves as buffering zones that protect inhabited areas from storms and big waves is widely acknowledged. Mangroves are salt-tolerant and grow along coastlines, rivers and deltas where the saltwater and freshwater meet, often covering a few kilometers inland. They form a dense protection barrier of intertwining roots, branches, and trunks that dissipate the force of storm surges.
Whenever coastal zones are being deprived of their mangrove protection, the damage of big waves is much more dramatic. The BBC reported several studies that reveal the importance of mangroves to human lives and settlements: a study of the 2004 Asian tsunami found that areas near healthy mangroves suffered less damage and fewer deaths. Also a study published in December 2005 said healthy mangrove forests helped save Sri Lankan villagers during the Asian tsunami disaster, which claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people. Researchers from IUCN compared the death toll from two villages in Sri Lanka that were hit by the devastating giant waves --while two people died in the settlement with dense mangrove and scrub forest, up to 6,000 people lost their lives in a nearby village without similar vegetation (1).
According to Mangove Action Project (MAP), the loss of mangroves started in Burma under British colonial rule, "in order to clear space for rice production. Since that time, mangrove loss has continued; during WWII [Second World War] to satisfy military demands, and more recently, for fuel wood and unsustainable developments, such as industrial shrimp aquaculture and urban expansion." MAP reports Burmese researchers revealing that "during a period of 75 years (1924-1999), 82.76% of the mangroves of the Irrawady were destroyed."
"The conversion to large-scale shrimp and fish farms is the most significant threat to mangroves world wide, and other pressures include tourism developments and rising populations. This is worrisome to those who believe that global warming and rising sea levels will cause more frequent and intense storms, and that the loss of mangroves will make the coastlines more susceptible to damage." (2)
The December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that ravaged several Asian coasts, the 1999 Super Cyclone that hit the coast of Orissa (India) killing more than 10,000 people are sad memories recalled by the recent disaster in Burma, especially because they could have been "greatly lessened and much loss in life and property damage could have been averted if healthy mangrove forests had been conserved along the coastlines of the Irawaddy Delta," said Alfredo Quarto, MAP's executive director.
The cause of the evil is well known by national and international authorities. An FAO officer has acknowledged that "There are very limited areas that you would describe as pristine or densely covered mangrove in the Irrawaddy area" and though there are some efforts to rehabilitate and replant mangroves, the loss rate is quite substantial still. The officer said that "During the 1990s, they lost something like 2,000 hectares each year, which is about 0.3% being lost annually. But that does not give you the whole picture because the majority of these tidal habitats are being degraded, even if they are not being completely destroyed." (1)
How many other lives should be lost in order to gain the political will to change the present "development" policies that have so dramatically proved to be unsuccessful? No development is possible on the long run when it implies destroying our home, our nature. Burma's people can sadly tell you that.
Article based on information from: (1) "Mangrove loss 'put Burma at risk'", Mark Kinver, BBC News; (2) Press Release: "Destruction of Mangrove Forests Increased Devastating Impact of Cyclone Nagris", MAP.
Source:World Rainforest Movement
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Editor's Note:
6 June 2008
Group slams environmental impact of dam projects
by Naw Say Phaw
The Burma Rivers Network has urged foreign companies to reconsider their investments in dam and gas projects in Burma due to the devastating impact on the local environment.
In a statement released to mark World Environment Day yesterday, the group called on companies involved in dam building and extraction of natural gas in Burma to withdraw their investments.
The secretary of the Burma Rivers Network, U Aung Nge, said steps needed to be taken to protect against deforestation and air pollution in Burma.
"There are about 25 massive dams in Burma built by Chinese and Thai state companies and there has been large-scale deforestation around the dam sites," Aung Nge said.
"Eighteen percent of Burma's forests have been wiped out, and that's higher than anywhere in the world."
Aung Nge said that companies investing the dam building and natural gas projects in Burma needed to be aware of their impact on the local population.
"It is the Burmese people who are going to have to suffer the detrimental social and environmental consequences of these investments," he said.
"So we urge the Thai and Chinese governments and Thai companies who are involved in these investments to think hard about these consequences and reconsider their investments."
The group also pointed out how the loss of mangrove to deforestation exacerbated the impact of Cyclone Nargis, and warned that such disasters could become more frequent or more devastating in future if the problem is not addressed.
Aung Nge said the Burma Rivers Network would continue to advocate for environmental issues.
"Climate change and global warming issues are major concerns for people all over the world," Aung Nge said.
"We are going to keep releasing statements for as long as there are countries and individuals who don't protect the environment," he said.
"And we will work with those who have influence over them to convince them to change their ways."
Source:Democratic Voice of Burma
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18 June 2008
Myanmar needs 32 million dollars in emergency agro-aid, says FAO
By DPA
Bangkok - Cyclone-damaged Myanmar needs an estimated 32 million dollars in immediate emergency aid to help 52,000 farming families plant their rice this rainy season, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Wednesday.
'Time is not on our side,' said Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO Regional director for Asia-Pacific. 'The window is narrow to meet the seasonal deadline for the monsoon season cropping.'
Myanmar's fertile Irrawaddy Delta, the country's traditional rice bowl, was hit by Cyclone Nargis on May 2-3, which brought with it tidal waves that submerged up to 780,000 hectares of land and left at least 130,000 dead or missing.
An accurate estimate of the cyclone's damage to Myanmar's rice crop has been provided this week by the FAO, which recently concluded a needs assessment mission to the Irrawaddy delta with eight FAO experts accompanied by counterparts from the Myanmar government.
'We are talking roughly about 183,000 hectares of paddy land that could be lost for this production season, or roughly half a million metric tons of paddy,' said Albert Lieberg, who headed the FAO needs assessment team.
The estimated shortfall is considerably lower than the government's initial estimate of 3 million tons. The Irrawaddy delta provides about 65 per cent of Myanmar's rice needs.
Should the international community fail to supply funding for the emergency package designed by FAO to assist the 52,000 farming families who own the 183,000 hectares of paddy land, a production shortfall of 500,000 tons of paddy can be anticipated in 2008 which could lead to severe food shortages or reliance on foreign food aid, Lieberg warned.
'But if the programme is implemented, then we will be able to make it,' he told a press conference in Bangkok.
The FAO has pinpointed another 100,000 landless farmers in the cyclone-affected areas of the Irrawaddy who will also need emergency assistance as they have lost their means of employment.
The United Nations agency estimates that another 51 million dollars in disaster aid will be needed from the international community to go toward rehabilitation of agriculture, fisheries and forestry in the Irrawaddy over the next two years.
Cyclone Nargis, the worst natural disaster to hit Myanmar in recent history, killed an estimated 30,000 people working in the fisheries sector and destroyed thousands of fishing boats, said the FAO.
New boats will need to be brought in as part of an emergency package, and the boat-building industry will need to be rehabilitated as part of the long-term package.
The cyclone also destroyed about 14,000 hectares of mangrove forest, although mangrove destruction has gone unmonitored in the delta for the past 40 years, making a proper assessment of the environmental damage of the cyclone difficult, said Lieberg.
The FAO expert claimed to have faced no restrictions in carrying out their assessment mission, which took them to many remoter areas in the Irrawaddy.
'During our work...we had total freedom of manoeuvre,' claimed Lieberg.
Myanmar's ruling junta was heavily criticized for restricting the entry of foreign disaster experts to the cyclone-struck areas in the Irrawaddy during the first weeks of the catastrophe, but they appeared to loosen up after a national referendum was held on May 25. The vote had preoccupied the generals and apparently taken priority over relief activities.
Source:Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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17 June 2008
Myanmar stresses mangrove preservation to mitigate cyclone impact
YANGON (Xinhua) -- Myanmar local private media have stressed the preservation of mangrove to mitigate the impact of cyclone storm, calling on people to place emphasis to regrow the plantation after disaster.
Despite destruction of some mangrove in Myanmar's Ayeyawaddy delta region during a recent cyclone storm early last month, it had been able to prevent some villages from inflicting casualties, said the Weekly Eleven News Tuesday.
The report cited donors, who visited a village called Thantheikin Dedaye township in the Ayeyawaddy division, as saying that although the 1,300-population village lies at a point where rivers meet, no one died in the cyclone.
The mangrove had been able to bring down the speed of the tidal wave, enabling villagers there to escape from deaths, it said.
Similar instances also show that no one was killed also in Meinmahlagyun village in the division's Bogalay exceptionally.
Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, hit five divisions and states -- Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago,Mon and Kayin -- on May 2-3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructural damage.
The storm has killed 77,738 people and left 55,917 missing and 19,359 injured according to official-released death toll.
Source:Xinhua
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Cambodia
29 May 2008
Saving Cambodia's Great Lake
By Philippa Fogarty
Cambodia's Tonle Sap lake is threatened by overfishing, development and dams.
Every May, when the rains come, water levels in the Mekong start to rise.
When the river flows into Phnom Penh it meets another river that drains from a lake in central Cambodia.
So full is the Mekong that it reverses that river's flow, forcing water back upstream and expanding the lake more than five-fold.
This is the Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia. Cambodians call it the Great Lake.
It is an area of extraordinarily rich biodiversity and a key breeding ground for fish, which migrate upstream from the Mekong to spawn in seasonally-flooded forest areas.
The lake is vital to Cambodia. It provides two-thirds of the country's protein and more than one million people depend on it directly for their livelihoods.
But the lake faces serious threats.
Cambodia's population has risen rapidly and pressure on resources has increased. Fish stocks are threatened by over-exploitation and illegal fishing methods.
Farmers and developers have taken advantage of weak governance to seize and drain land in the flooded forest, destroying key wildlife habitats and polluting the lake.
More trees have been felled for domestic use by local people, some of whom have been hunting rare wildlife to compensate for smaller fish catches.
Last year, Prime Minister Hun Sen warned of a "serious environmental disaster" if the problems were not addressed.
Fish sanctuary
The Asian Development Bank-financed Tonle Sap Environmental Management Project (TSEMP) is leading efforts to do that.
Eight years ago, more than half the lots on the lake allocated to commercial fishing were released to local communities.
Part of TSEMP's work is helping villages create legally-recognised community fisheries to protect and preserve their own resources. More than 170 of these groups have now been set up.
Soer Tao is deputy head of the community fishery in Kampong Klaeng, on the lake's northeast shore.
The village is home to about 10,000 people living in stilted houses to cope with the seasonal flooding. Some 85% of residents depend on fishing for their livelihoods.
Ten years ago, Soer Tao says, illegal fishing and destruction of the forest were causing serious problems to villagers. But local management of resources is bringing benefits.
The village boundaries have been formally set. Residents patrol the area and if people are fishing illegally or if developers are trying to encroach into the flooded forest, they should now be better positioned to tackle the problem.
The village has also established a fish sanctuary, 300 metres by 30 metres, where fish can spawn during the dry season. It is marked by red flags and guarded at each end.
When the flooding comes, the fish will swim out - hopefully in greater numbers every year.
"The fish sanctuary will protect the fish as livelihoods for everyone," Soer Tao said.
New projects
But it is not just about protecting fisheries.
Preak Toal is a floating village. Everything floats, even the school and the petrol station, and everyone depends on the lake to live.
Now projects are being set up to help families diversify their livelihoods away from the lake in a bid to reduce pressure on resources.
Former poachers patrol a biosphere reserve, guarding the rare water birds that they used to hunt. Tourists pay to enter and local families use pedalos to show the day-trippers around.
Some residents have built floating gardens for fruit and vegetables, while others are growing mushrooms in their floating houses. One group is trying to turn water hyacinth into charcoal-like fuel.
But the initiatives are, of course, not perfect. It is still much simpler for villagers to get firewood from the forests and to sell fish for quick profit.
'Turning point'
Dr Neou Bonheur, director of TSEMP, admits that trying to promote environmental awareness to those struggling to make a living can be difficult.
"It is hard," he says, "but when we teach them not to cut the forest because it is a breeding ground for the fish, they see the benefits of that."
The villagers, he says, are not the greatest challenge.
"Now we are at a turning point - rice and fuel prices are up and there is a tendency to look for resources such as land, not from the communities but from outside groups who want to claim areas for development.
"That's the most difficult thing for us, the people who damage the communities and fisheries in that way."
Community resource management was put in place at the right time, he says, but it must be strengthened to ensure local people have a permanent voice.
He describes efforts to date as "so far, so good", but says they must be sustained.
"We cannot say it is now enough - we have to continue to work hard on many areas."
But there is one key issue Cambodia cannot control.
China, Thailand and Laos all want to dam the Mekong for hydropower, something experts say could have a serious effect on the seasonal influx of water and wildlife into the lake.
"We are a downstream country and less powerful compared to upstream countries," says Dr Bonheur. "We can only hope that through dialogue, Cambodia can voice its concern."
"The Tonle Sap is a great asset for Cambodia. We must protect it at all cost."
Story:BBC NEWS
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5 June 2008
Managing Cambodia's mangroves
by Dave Kattenburg
Beyond the bustling town of Koh Kong, off the coast of southern Cambodia, lie 45,000 hectares of mangrove forest. They're among the most pristine in Southeast Asia and, like others around the world, they're under threat.
Mangroves form a transition zone between land and sea. Like all transitional ecosystems, they are diverse. Mangrove foliage provides rich bird habitat. Fish, crabs and molluscs hide and breed in their dense, aerial root system, which is adapted to salty water.
As if these ecosystem services weren't enough, mangroves stabilise soil, moderate the force of wind and waves, recycle nutrients and sequester carbon.
Khmer Rouge
Ironically, Cambodian mangroves prospered under the Khmer Rouge, which preferred to herd its citizens into the middle of the country. With their downfall, and the emergence of a market economy in the 1990s, powerful entrepreneurs - with military or government links - began clearing the mangroves for shrimp farms and charcoal. Local middlemen joined in, along with inland Cambodians and foreign fishermen attracted to the region's rich mangroves.
Alarmed by resource decline - and encouraged by international NGOs - the Cambodian government began cracking down. Conservation and poverty reduction could both be promoted, the government reasoned, by empowering local communities. Commune elections were held for the first time in 2002, followed by a community fisheries law. For the first time, mangrove communities began managing their own resources.
Management committees
With help from the UN Development Program and Canada's International Development Research Center, Cambodia' Environment Ministry launched its Participatory Management of Coastal Resources Project in 1997. Community workshops were held on mangrove ecology and management.
In 2001, the first village management committees were formed within the boundaries of Peam Krasaop Wildlife Sanctuary, deep in Koh Kong's mangroves. Villages outside the sanctuary, around Chrouy Pros Bay, have been invited to participate, in order to reduce fishing conflicts.
Success
Community management has been a success. Villagers have protected local sea grass beds, which are linked to the mangrove ecosystem and add fish spawning habitat. In the mangroves themselves, community patrols do their best to control illegal cutting and fishing practices. Mangroves have been successfully regenerated.
On the down side, government support for enforcement is limited and inconsistent and, outside the confines of community areas, illegal practices continue, such as the use of "light" boats armed with powerful lamps that attract fish. Some fear that commercial dredging of the Koh Kong River - led by powerful Cambodian interests - will damage the mangroves.
As elsewhere in the world, mangrove villagers and their international supporters realize that tourism may be the greatest force for mangrove protection. At least one villager in the area is planning an ecotourism initiative.
Source:Radio Netherlands
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Indonesian
13 June 2008
Japan plans to liberalize shrimp imports from Indonesia
Jakarta, (ANTARA News) - Japan plans to liberalize its shrimp imports from Indonesia starting July 2008, an official said.
"The expected drop in duty on shrimp imports to nil percent from one percent is expected to take effect as of July 2008. We hope Indonesian shrimp exporters will benefit from the good chance to increase their exports," Director of Foreign Marketing at the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Saut Hutagalung said on Thursday.
A key to increasing the export of aquatic products actually lies in their quality that met food security standards and market demand, he said.
Good quality would improve consumer confidence and product image so that the market for Indonesian aquatic products would become increasingly wider, he said.
"The good image has enabled us to improve our access to the export market through negotiations on reduction of bilateral trade barriers," he said.
He said the government was also cooperating with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in improving the competitive edge of Indonesia`s aquatic products and increasing their access to the export market.
The government has set the target of aquatic exports for 2008 at US$2.6 billion with shrimp and tuna expected to be the main foreign exchange earners.
Last year, Indonesia exported US$2.3 billion worth of aquatic products, nearly 50 percent of which came from shrimp exports and 15 percent from tuna exports.
Source:Antara
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Malaysia
10 June 2008
Status in Malaysia
By Hilary Chiew
THE extensive Malaysian coastline, 4,675km in total, forms a vital link in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF) but this may not be the case for long.
Reclamation of mangrove forest and mudflats for aquaculture, agriculture, industry, housing and recreational purposes is destroying and fragmenting these waterbird habitats - a contributing factor to the overall 75% drop in the populations of migratory birds in the EAAF.
According to the latest survey led by Wetlands International, comparisons of results from the surveys of 1983-1986 and 2004-2006 show a 22.4% decline of shorebird numbers. Shorebirds constitute the largest and most diverse waterbirds group in the survey with a total of 41 species. The highest counts were 42,855 in 2005 and 56,618 in 2006. Although data on other waterbirds are lacking, it is believed the status will be the same because the major cause of decline is habitat loss.
Since the late 1980s, no large scale coastal waterbirds surveys have been conducted in Malaysia apart from those carried out for the annual Asian Waterbirds Census (AWC) from 1989 to 2004. The surveys showed a co-relation between coastal alterations with waterbirds population in all the west coast states in the peninsula. The west coast with its sprawling mudflats and mangrove forests are excellent stopover sites for migratory birds.
Matang mangrove forests from Kuala Gula to Kuala Kurau and Tanjung Piandang on the Penang state boundary suffered catastrophic decline of 75 to 95% in the overall wintering waterbirds population. Between 1989 and 1992, this stretch of coast supported 16,872 to 29,154 waterbirds but between 2005 and 2006, figures plummeted to 624 and 1,245 respectively.
Although the Klang islands remain one of the key waterbirds wintering sites along the north-central coast of Selangor, the figures have also declined drastically from 18,000 in 1994 to 912 in 2006.
Overall, the Selangor coast is estimated to support about 37,550 waterbirds, including 27,434 shorebirds. The latter have declined 26% compared to a 1986 AWC count that recorded 36,988 birds.
Nevertheles, David Li, co-author of the survey report The Status of Coastal Waterbirds and Wetlands in South-East Asia said the record of over 100,000 waterbirds shows the importance of Malaysia in the flyway, particularly the coasts of Selangor and Sarawak which support over 30,000 waterbirds each.
The AWC 2006 survey of the south-west coast of Sarawak showed encouraging results. The number of waterbirds utilising the coastal zone have remained stable for the last 20 years, with 32,551 waterbirds recorded.
Li cautioned that the situation in Sarawak could change as the state progresses with economic development activities.
The AWC survey recorded 87 species of waterbirds and 20 wetland-dependent species. Herons and egrets, shorebirds, and gulls and terns were the three major waterbird species groups recorded.
Seven globally threatened species were recorded: Storms' stork and Nordmann's greenshank, spot-billed pelican, Chinese egret, milky stork, lesser adjutant and greater spotted eagle. Six near-threatened species were recorded: Oriental darter, black-headed ibis, Malaysian plover, Asian dowitcher, black-tailed godwit and brown-winged kingfisher.
The findings recommended that 16 sites that were identified as being of international importance be nominated as Ramsar sites and EAAF migratory waterbirds network sites.
Source:The Star
==============================
The Philippines
30 May 2008
Angara: Shrimp growers should strengthen R&D to survive
By YASMIN PASCUAL-DORMIDO
Senate Committee on Agriculture Chair Sen. Edgardo Angara stressed the need for further research and development for more improved technology to enable the shrimp industry to survive in a global economy.
In the opening of the 6th Philippine Shrimp Congress in Bacolod City Wednesday Angara urged players in the industry to be more aggressive in conducting research for a formula that will enhance shrimp farming as he said traditional farming methods no longer suffice.
Angara said the shrimp industry earned around P34 million in 2007. The country's main markets are Japan and Korea.
He noted that with the increasing fuel costs the shrimp industry's export earnings has dropped as the cost of production increased.
Among the major solutions Angara cited that could achieve long-term viability and increased productivity are: tapping into about 106,000 hectares of brackish water ponds that are not currently utilized; introducing cost-effective and environment-friendly farming practices; adopting a sound biosecurity program and genetically improving various shrimp species.
Alternatives to imported inputs
The senator also challenged sugar planters to help in finding alternatives to imported fertilizer.
Earlier, small planters sought government intervention amid the very high cost of imported fertilizer.
The price of fertilizer doubled recently. From P900 per bag, the price of fertilizer commonly-used in sugarcane is P1,800 now.
"I'm very keen on technology. Maybe through technology we can discover cheaper fertilizer, modern technology and better farm management," Angara said.
Source: ABS-CBN News Online
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Thailand
15 May 2008
Mangrove Rehabilitation Project & Honestay at Phra Thong Island, S. Thailand
Volunteers Needed: 10 days working in the mangrove forest learning about its ecology and restoration, 20 - 30 July 2008
Naucrates is searching for volunteers that will help during 10 days of mangrove rehabilitation activities in July 2008. It is a great opportunity to learn about mangrove forest ecology and restoration and to experience life in a Thai fishing village where you will stay. In addition, a Thai - teacher (Naucrates staff) will conduct conservation lessons in the local school and you will have the opportunity to join them.
Volunteer Activities
One of the main activities consists of planting new seedlings and seeds in the area damaged by the tsunami and in the nearby a village. You will walk long distances to collect seeds and seedling of native plants. You will learn how to identify the main species. A green house mangrove nursery (made of wood and green net) will be built where seeds and seedlings can grow in to plants before being placed in the field. The old green houses will be repaired.
An area, suitable for guided visits, will be selected near Lion Village. An educational path will be developed with signs, informative panels, and a wooden path. Training materials and informative leaflets will be produced.
You will assist a Naucrates teacher during the lessons about conservation in the local school.
Target Area:
Tidal creek (about ~1.5 km long), badly affected by the tsunami, on the West coast of Phra Thong Island and mangrove forest near Lion Village on the North coast of Phra Thong Island.
Requirements
No experience is needed, however you must be willing to work hard as the campaign requires walks into the mangroves in warm and humid conditions.
Volunteers are expected to be physically fit and to be able to work in a team in a remote place, during the rainy season. You also need to be friendly and communicative, be able to work in a group and live in a small Thai community.
You will be on a remote tropical island, and need to be prepared to live without night life, shops, television, etc. You will have a lot of free time during the day to walk and explore the beauty of the island or to read a book. Any health issues must be communicated to Naucrates before booking.
Accommodation
You will live with a Thai family (home-stay) in different homes but houses are very close to each other. You may have to share a room with another volunteer depending on availability.
Volunteer contribution
The contribution required to take part in the project is 400 Euro for 10 days. This will include food, accommodation, boat to and from the island on the arrival/departure date, training, informative material, one year membership to Naucrates. You must have your own insurance and support your travel expenses.
Special rates are available for Thai Volunteers. Please contact Monica Aureggi for more details about it, naucrates12@tiscali.it
How to Book
Before booking, contact Naucrates (naucrates12@hotmail.com; naucrates12@tiscali.it) to find out if there is availability. Then, download the booking form at www.naucrates.org or write to Naucrates directly.
Submitted by: Monica Aureggi
naucrates12@hotmail.com
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22 May 2008
Sludge Surfing
Touring cockle farms is a messy affair but it is proving a welcome diversion for tourists visiting Thailand's smallest province
By Karnjana Karnjanatawe
Higher fuel prices might make you think twice before setting out on a long journey, but what if the trip is only an hour's drive from Bangkok? When you get there you can enjoy sea breeze, delicious seafood as well as a good night's sleep under open skies in natural, coastal surroundings.
We are talking of Samut Songkhram, 65 kilometres south of Bangkok. Bordering the Gulf of Thailand and covering an area of 416 square kilometres, it is the country's smallest province, but rich in nature and full of friendly people who still preserve their old lifestyle.
We visited Ban Khlong Chong, a fishing village in Khlong Khon sub-district of the province. A wetland like Don Hoi Lod, it is big on cockle farming boasting an annual production of 10,000 tons from its 1,600 rai of cultivating area.
"Our cockle is safe for consumption," said Janhom Suphab, owner of one such farm in Khlong Khon who also works in the Tambon Administration Office, before pointing out that there were no factories along the Khlong Khon coastline.
In the past the cockle farms of Samut Songkhram have often been at the mercy of contaminated water discharged by factories in Phetchaburi, usually with the arrival of monsoon rain. When that happens the entire cockle population gets wiped out resulting in huge losses to farmers.
But that hasn't happened this year and Janhom, whose harvest is one ton of cockle daily, hopes that he will be able to recoup his investment before waste released by factories is swept downstream from Phetchaburi. Besides cockle, he also looks for precious stone shell, moon shell which fetch good price in China, slipper shell, poker-chip venus, murex shell, sheatfish and horseshoe crab.
Khlong Khon residents set up their farms within a radius of two kilometres from the shore. Each farm is marked out by bamboo fence. There is also a public area where anyone can harvest cockle that thrive naturally in those conditions.
Harvest starts at low tide using a wooden plank the length of a surf board. Sitting on it on one knee, they use the other foot to push through the mud and search for cockle with their hands. Some sit on the board and use their feet to propel them forward or sideways. Still others use phong , which is a mesh with a round mouth, with which they scour for cockle. Small cockle are kept for further nurturing while the bigger ones are sold in the market for around 8-12 baht a kilogramme.
"We farm cockle because they are easy to raise," said fisherman Ding who operates a long-tailed boat and also acts as a tourist guide. "We don't need to feed them because they live off plankton which abound under the conditions. They reproduce quickly, growing to about one inch in diameter in a year - just the right size - when they are ready for eating or sale."
Cockle escape heat by hiding under mud and can survive in shallow water, unlike green mussel and oyster shell that live in deeper water.
There are an estimated one thousand families in Khlong Chong indulging in cockle farming, but only a few of them operate tours for outsiders and provide homestay. One of them is Watchirapong Kwanoanweerakul's which joined 12 others three years ago to start a community enterprise.
"Our family has been in the business for more than 80 years. There wasn't much activity around here except for waiting for the cockle to grow to proper size," said Chuen, Watchirapong's wife, which prompted them to introduce homestay and tours for tourists.
Our tour began at nine in the morning with Ding leading us to a mangrove forest to feed crab-eating monkeys.
"We have been feeding them long before tourists started arriving here," he said. "Sometimes I buy fruit in big baskets to feed them. It's fun and I've been doing it for more than a decade.
"But some of my colleagues may have other reasons. For example, a fisherman may wish for a big catch before setting sail and, if he is rewarded so, he will return here and feed the monkeys," he explained. "They are used to being fed but they can also look after themselves." It was then that we spotted a monkey holding a horseshoe crab between its palms staring at our boat.
Noise from the boat was a signal for the monkeys as they turned up from the mangrove in hordes. Ding urged us to throw them banana and orange we had brought with us, cautioning us not to hand-feed them. That would be a bad precedent and could prove a liability for tourists some day, he warned. In next to no time we had emptied two big baskets of fruit, and they still kept coming.
As our boat sailed further from the shore, we noticed that the sea wasn't clear but murky. Along the way we saw locals trapping krill to make shrimp paste. One of them even showed us her two-hour old catch that she kept in a plastic basket, half full.
Shrimp paste is a famous product of Khlong Chong. It takes around 15 days to make it. Krill is washed and dried in the sun. Then it's mixed with salt and left to dry again before packaging. A kilogramme of krill can produce half a kilo of shrimp paste.
Our lunch was laid out in a hut around 10 minutes' ride from the shore. The hut, or krataeng in Thai, was made from bamboo and had a thatched roof, complete with a toilet and veranda. It is in these huts that fishermen spend the night guarding their cockle farms.
By the time we arrived at another krataeng, the tide had receded, but our long-tailed boat still managed to plough through the muddy sea. The wind was fresh and pleasant. We surfed the mud in search of cockle.
Initially, the going was tough but after a time we got used to pushing the board through mud and after a series of misses even succeeded in finding a few cockle hiding in the sludge. By then our clothes were thoroughly soiled, but it was fun nonetheless. When night fell it turned pitch dark and an eerie calm descended on our hut. It was bedtime.
MORE INFO
The Thon Buri-Pak Tho Road (Highway No 35) is now in a good condition, although you might encounter some construction work on the return leg to Bangkok.
- From Bangkok drive on the highway until you reach the Km 72 marker and turn left after the PTT gas station. From there drive along the dirt road for around seven kilometres to Khlong Khon village.
- The Transport Company (02-936-2841 to 8) operates daily bus service between Bangkok and Samut Songkhram. Buses leave every 40 minutes starting 4am to 7pm from the Southern Bus Terminal on Boromratchonnanee Road.
- Home Krataeng offers an option of one-day tours or overnight stay for 600 or 900 baht per person respectively. For more information, call 034-731-221, 089-941-9152 and 087-828-5420, or Khun Peenithi at 034-731-188 and 086-177-7942.
Home Krataeng only serves seafood cooked in traditional Thai style. If mud surfing is your wont, carry some old clothes and be prepared to get soiled.
Source:Bangkok Post
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30 May 2008
Shrimpers pleading for help
Local shrimpers yesterday called on Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to help shore up shrimp prices.
They said shrimp farmers all over the country were ready to make some ''movements'' if their plea for help was not answered within the month.
Shrimp farmers were being severely affected by a price slump on top of other problems including the higher cost of living and rising costs, especially for gasoline and raw materials, said Ekapoj Yodpinij, a representative of the Thai Marine Shrimp Farmers Association (TSA) and president of the Surat Thani Shrimp Farmers Club
According to Mr Ekapoj, shrimp prices are not realistic or sustainable compared with the increased prices of other protein sources such as pork, chicken and fish.
The shrimpers are calling for the government to help design a shrimp mortgage scheme, similar to the programme used to help paddy rice farmers, to shore up prices.
Vannamei shrimp yesterday was being quoted at 100 baht for a kilogramme containing 60 shrimp, compared with 98 baht last year, 121 baht in 2006 and 114 baht in 2005.
However, the shrimpers noted while current prices were marginally higher than they were a year ago, the situation of farmers was not comparable given the surge in oil prices, the higher cost of living and product costs.
Source: Bangkok Post
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3 June 2008
Labour report hits shrimp orders in US
by PHUSADEE ARUNMAS
Shrimp orders from the United States be delayed in the future, as US importers are likely to wait until US officials and activists conclude their findings on alleged forced labour in the Thai shrimp industry, warn Thai exporters.
Officials from the Homeland Security Department, and representatives from International Labor Organisation (ILO) and non-governmental organisations yesterday began a 12-day investigation if working conditions in the Thai shrimp industry.
The trip will include visits to selected shrimp processing plants and peeling factories in Samut Sakhon, Samut Prakan and Rayong. The results of the investigation are expected to be released shortly afterward.
Poj Aramwattananont, president of the Thai Frozen Foods Association, said that following allegations of abuses of foreign workers by the Thai shrimp industry, US importers had been delaying their orders for Thai shrimp, leading to a price slump.
Vannamei shrimp yesterday were being quoted at 108 baht for a kilogramme containing 50 shrimp, a sharp drop from 130 baht last month.Adirek Sripratak, the president and chief executive officer of Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc (CPF), Thailand's largest food exporter, met with Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej yesterday and urged him to explain Thailand's position clearly to US officials, foreign embassies and NGOs.
A report released in April by the US NGO Solidarity Center, titled ''The True Cost of Shrimp,'' interviewed workers in the shrimp-processing industry in Thailand and Bangladesh. It said it had discovered child labour, human trafficking, debt bondage and forced labour.
The Thai shrimp industry was rife with abuse by brokers and smugglers of migrant workers, mostly from Burma, Laos and Cambodia, it said.
Thailand is the world's top shrimp producer and the number-one source of shrimp for the United States. Shipments to the US represent 50% of Thailand's exports estimated at about 300,000 tonnes this year compared with 320,000 tonnes in 2007.
Source: Bangkok Post
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5 June 2008
Krabi shrimp farmers call for government support as they face high production costs with low market prices of production
Andaman News NBT (VHF dial) at 8.30am & local Cable TV channel 1 + maybe FM90.5 Radio Thailand 6pm, broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces, & possibly FM108 Mazz Radio 7.30pm in Phuket, Thursday 5 June 2008
The continued fuel price hikes, but declines in market shrimp prices are forcing the Krabi shrimp farmers to cry out for government assistance. The provincial Shrimp farmers' Club chairman Pokklong Koedsuk states that the farmers are now facing big loss due to production costs of fuel and other materials while the shrimp prices are low. The factors forced 50% of the farmers to cease their operations. He stressed that there are only 250 shrimp farms out of 500 now and foresees the Krabi shrimp export amount to decline to 20,000 million tons this year, from 25,000 million tons from the previous year. This would result in a decrease of revenue from 4,000 million baht to around 2,000 million baht. The market price for 60 per kilogram shrimp compared to cost at 90 baht per kilo which the farmers cannot shoulder, he said. The local shrimp farmers then called for government support in terms of soft loan programs to ease their burdens.
Source:Andaman News.
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6 June 2008
Shrimp farmers in South threaten to blockade roads
BANGKOK (TNA) - Shrimp farmers in Thailand's six southern provinces are threatening a protest including blocking a major roadway unless the government is able to provide measures to address the shrimp price slump.
Speaking on Modernnine TV's Morning News Programme, Kardbandit Rammak, core member of the shrimp farmers' group, said should the government fail to conclude relief measures on Friday, the farmers would gather to block Tinsulanond Bridge in Songkhla province.
In the past, he said, previous governments had come up with short term measures, but none had ever provided a long-term plan.
"Shrimp farmers do need to come out to keep the government informed of their great suffering," Mr. Kardbundit said. "Actually, we don't want to stage any rally that inconveniences the public."
"What the farmers want the government to help with as a matter of urgency is to implement a shrimp-pledging scheme or intervene in the shrimp prices," said Mr. Kardbundit.
Asked whether the farmers would come to Bangkok to press their demands, Mr. Kardbundit said he must discuss with other core members first to assess the government's position before coming to any decision. (TNA)
Source:Thai News Agency
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6 June 2008
Shrimp farmers disperse after govt announces price guarantee
BANGKOK - Protesting shrimp farmers in Thailand's six southern provinces dispersed after the government announced a short-term plan to alleviate the shrimp price slump.
Hundreds of shrimp farmers had blocked one lane of the Tinasulanond bridge in Songkhla province, demanding the government provide measures to address the shrimp price slump.
Internal Trade Department Director-General Yanyong Puangraj said the committee chaired by Commerce and Deputy Prime Minister Mingkwan Saengsuwan to oversee the farmers' problems, promised to guarantee shrimp price at 120 baht per kilogrammes.
The short-term price guarantee measure for 10,000 tonnes of shrimps nationwide was to take effect within 15 days.
"The guaranteed amount of assistance would be sufficient to alleviate the shrimp price crisis at the moment," said Mr. Yanyong.
In the past, a shrimp farmer representative said, previous governments had come up with short term measures, but none had ever provided a long-term plan. He added farmers did not stage a rally that inconvenienced the public, however, they wanted to keep the government informed of their suffering.
Source:Thai News Agency
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11 June 2008
Seafood prices ready to soar?
PHUKET: Royal Thai Navy Chief Adm Narong Yutthawong, who once served as Supreme Commander of the Thai Armed Forces, has met leading local fishing industry figures as part of his senatorial fact-finding tour into the impact of rising fuel prices on the nation's fishing industry.
At a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall on June 4, Adm Narong said that his tour had taken him to many other key fishing centers, including Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkram, Songkhla, Pattani, Ranong, Krabi and Maha Sarakam.
Committee chairman Adm Narong said, "Our fishing industry is suffering from many problems, such as the price of fuel, depleted fishing grounds and foreign competition. We need to know exactly which problems our fishing industry is facing and we need to collect information to find ways to solve them."
"We will report our findings to the Senate first and pass on what we have learned to the government," he added.
Chief of Phuket Provincial Fishery Office, Pairoh Sutthakorn, reported to the committee, "We have the same problem as other provinces: the high price of fuel, depleted fishing areas, foreign labor and low market prices."
Phuket Fishermen Association Chairman Somyot Wongboonyakul said that he had asked the director-general of the Department of Fishery Office for suggestions on how to cope with the impact of rising fuel prices, and even suggested that Phuket's fishing fleet convert to bio-diesel.
Sutha Prateep Na Thalang, representing the Ao Chalong Fishermen's Association, said, "We have problems with the negative impact on the environment, especially polluted water brought on by coastal development, which is being driven by tourism."
Source:Phuket Gazette
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11 June 2008
Thai government responds to allegations
The government of Thailand has responded to allegations of human trafficking and labor abuse in shrimp plants. They say that the government is "making a concerted and proactive effort to prevent abuses and combat incidents swiftly whenever they may occur." There are about 700,000 workers, including shrimp farmers, in the entire shrimp industry and 1415 plants. In total there are over 500,000 legal foreign workers in the country in all industries, and perhaps a million illegal migrants. Weeks prior to Soliarity's allegations, the government had created a special task force with the International Labor Org. (ILO) to provide a coordinated response and rescue of workers where trafficking is suspected.
Source:Seafood.com
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Timor Leste
5 May 2008
Mangrove Devastation in Metinaru - What are the issues?
Mangrove felling for firewood and building material is out of control in Metinaro. Each day approximately 10 trucks, each fully loaded with 4 tons of illegally harvested wood are leaving the mangrove forests around Metinaro. Should we care?
- The immediate benefits of the felling are financially positive and may be important for some members of the locally based IDP community
Will this short-term gain justify the disastrous long-term effects that felling mangroves will have across both the local and wider fishing communities?
- Revenue from selling the wood is one of the few income sources available to a jobless and effectively landless, marginalised community.
Mangrove felling is also directly jeopardising livelihoods and Dili's access to an affordable, first-class protein source for years to come.
Timor Leste needs a healthy mangrove resource for its fishing industry, food security, coral reef resource and a future lucrative tourism industry - The current extraction is the epitome of unsustainable resource use!
What is the answer?
Many people in Dili adhere to the conventional wisdom that the 'sustainable environment is only an issue for Timor Leste in the future, once the more obvious and acute humanitarian problems have been addressed adequately.
Unfortunately it is very difficult to redress issues such as a lack of livelihood opportunities, access to first-class protein and good household food-security after the serious degradation to the environment that provides those services, has already occurred.
To begin the search for an answer to these problems that lie in wait for Timor Leste tomorrow, we must first generate awareness of their causes through informing all stakeholders about the strongly unsustainable practices that are occurring today.
A paradigm shift in environmental perception is essential to the future of this country, and the Haburas Foundation is leading the way. However we can only achieve a sustainable Timor Leste if this environmental responsibility is shared across all sectors of society and disciplines of development.
Bottom-line facts:
- Mangrove forests are a key nursery habitat to the juvenile lifestages of many commercially and ecologically important fish and crustacean species(Mumby et al. 2004, Laegdsgaard & Johnson.2001).
- Coral reef's species abundance and biomass has been shown to be severely reduced in mangrove absent areas (Nagelkerken et al. 2001) .
- In Dili, important food fish such as snapper (Lutjanus. sp) jack and even barracuda species (all of which support the livelihoods of the local fishing community) utilise the mangrove forest's ecosystem services throughout their lives.
- The mangrove forests near Metinaru are being cut down at an observed rate of approximately 40 tons per day.
- Mangrove areas also protect coral reef from the damaging properties of turbid run-off from the already degraded terrestrial environment ie. soil erosion (EDF. 2004).
- If unregulated felling continues evidence from a plethora of studies under similar conditions suggests exacerbation of the problems will occur, seriously threatening fish stocks and livelihoods (see Mumby. 2006, Alongi & Carvalho. 2007).
There is a strong economic rationale for protecting mangroves since coral reef fisheries have an estimated annual value of $5.7 billion and many people also depend on them for subsistence." (EDF, 2004)
These issues need to be addressed at both a local and national level by the Timorese government, but also by associated NGOs and other relevant changeagents. NGOs with influence over IDP livelihood practices should aim to address this issue on the ground. These actions will help to raise awareness and stress the importance of protection of the remaining mangrove areas, particularly with respect to harmonising IDP camp and local community's relationships. The formulation of the State of the Nation document by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is currently in progress and should also include mangrove destruction in its proceedings (with particular reference to the Coral Triangle Initiative that Timor Leste has agreed to implement - relating to coral-reef conservation). The current extraction is illegal under Timorese national laws according to:
· Article 6 of the Constitution of RDTL, section (F) pertaining to environmental protection of native resources for their continued existence,
· Articles 61 & 139 related to environmental rights,
· Regulation No19/UNTAET/2000 relating to protected areas, and also contravenes other ratified international agreements with UNFCCC, UNCCD UNCBD
For further information, assistance or to share your comments with the Haburas Foundation please contact:
Tel +670 331 01 03
Or e-mail:
haburaslorosae@yahoo.com
nicholas@molyneux.eu
References:
Alongi, D. M., Carvalho, N. A., 2007. The effects of small scale logging on stand characteristics and soil biochemistry in mangrove forests of Timor Leste. AIMS, Queensland, Australia.
Ministeris de Agricultura, Dili. TL.
Environmental Defense Fund. Publications Archive, 2004, New York. EDF.org
Laegdsgaard, P., Johnson, C., 2001. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology Vol 257, 229-253
Mumby et al. 2004. Nature, Vol 427.
Mumby, 2006. Connectivity of reef fish between mangroves and coral reefs: Algorithms for the design of marine reserves at seascape scales. Biological Conservation Vol 128 (215-222)
Nagelkerken, I. et al. 2001. Dependence of Caribbean reef fishes on mangroves and seagrass beds as nursery habitats: a comparison of fish faunas between bays with and without mangroves/seagrass beds. Mar.Ecol. Vol 214, 225-235
Source: The Haburas Foundation, Critical Issue Series (English Edition)
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Vietnam
10 June 2008
Restored mangroves breathe life into Mekong Delta
Posted by Kenneth Kaplan
By safeguarding the forests, communities protect themselves and their environment
Andrea Perera, a resident of Roslindale, is a writer for Oxfam America, an international relief and development agency. Together with a small team from the organization's communications and programs departments, she is traveling throughout Cambodia and Vietnam to collect stories about Oxfam's work in the region.
By Andrea Perera
TRA VINH, Vietnam -- I'm riding side saddle on the back of a moto bike, regretting my decision this morning to wear a skirt. We're zipping across a rare strip of concrete on this muddy sandbar, a sliver of land surrounded by the brackish waters of the Bassac River.
My colleagues and I have come -- by plane, van, ferry boat, and now moto -- to Long Hoa village to learn about an Oxfam America-funded conservation project. Our local partner organization, Can Tho University, or CTU, is teaching communities living on the Mekong Delta how to preserve the mangroves growing along the sea shore.
Thriving in a swirl of fresh and salty water, mangroves weave their roots together above the surface, creating what is both a protective barrier during typhoons and floods as well as the perfect breeding ground for a variety of fish, shrimp, and crab. These hardy trees once dominated Vietnam's coastline. But population growth, illegal logging, and aggressive fishing and shrimp farming have devastated the mangroves. Many never recovered from the US military's use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.
So about three years ago, CTU set out to help rebuild the mangrove forests. They made a pact with the villagers in Long Hoa: If they would replant the mangroves and then hold off on fishing, shrimping, and felling the trees, CTU would train them to use the resulting enhanced biodiversity to their advantage. Rather than fish from the coastal waters itself, they would learn they best ways to use spillover water from the replenished forests to raise more and better fish, shrimp, and crabs in the ponds they had already constructed in their backyards.
"We would like to help you develop your livelihoods," Chiem Nguyen Huu, head of the department of environment and natural resources management at CTU, told the villagers. "We would like to help increase your incomes."
To make his case, Chiem told the community members about a trip he once took to Thailand. There, he saw how intensive shrimp farming had damaged the mangrove forests, and worse yet, how this type of shrimping was sustainable for only about three years. In other words, every three years a new stretch of forest was being destroyed by the Thai shrimp trade. And as a result, the deforested shorelines -- and the people living nearby -- were at a greater risk of natural disasters.
The Vietnamese fish farmers were skeptical of the outsiders at first. Tran Huu Tri, 51, for one, wasn't convinced that the new methods held promise. But he agreed to give it a go. He learned to properly test the pH level in his pond, and he discovered that the tidal water from the mangroves was so rich with shrimp, crab, and fish that he no longer had to pay for fish to stock his pond. The reforested coastal area was providing all he needed. "Now I don't stock the shrimp. I get it from the natural environment," he says.
Tran estimates that he doubled both his shrimp harvest and his income over the past two years. Like any businessman, he puts most of the extra money back into his operation, improving and expanding his fish pond.
But not all community members have their own land, let alone fish ponds. CTU gave these villagers cows to breed, so that they wouldn't feel pressured to exploit the natural resources in the mangrove forests.
"Every morning before I go to work, I take my cow out to graze and I cut the grass to feed it at night," Tran Ngoc Anh, 32, said. One day she hopes to quit her job working in construction to raise cattle full time, while staying at home with her children. Who knows? With the extra money from the cattle, she said, she might even buy some land for her own pond.
In the end, it's these sort of options that have become available to community members. CTU staff have even encouraged the villagers to replace the mangroves as a fuel source, by converting their animal and household manure into biogas. They can use this gas to power stoves for cooking, and even as a type of nutrient for their fish.
All the while, the mangroves remain untouched and the community thrives, a development that nicely summarizes the conservation project: For everything the villagers give up, they gain much more in return.
Source:Boston.com
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14 June 2008
Diseases shrink shrimp farms
HCM CITY - Shrimp output this year will fall as a result of a reduction in breeding farms and outbreaks of serious diseases, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
An estimated 420,000 ha in the southern provinces of Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang are being used to raise shrimp, 80,000 ha fewer than last year.
According to Tra Vinh's Agriculture and Rural Development Department, 13,600 ha of shrimp farms have been infected with disease.
The situation is the same in Kien Giang Province, where 43,000 ha of shrimp ponds are similarly afflicted.
There has been a decrease of nearly 3,000 ha of shrimp breeding farms in Quang Nam and Thua Thien-Hue provinces.
Large numbers of shrimp continue to die every day because of diseases such as the MBV virus, commonly known as white-dot disease.
Trinh Tai Mon, deputy head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Vinh Thuan District, Kien Giang Province, said the disease had appeared in all districts, creating heavy losses to farmers.
Vo Hong Thai, a shrimp breeder in Quang Ngai, said he borrowed money from the bank to rent two shrimp-breeding ponds.
His shrimp became ill and died after one month of breeding. His losses were estimated at over VND120 million (US$7,500).
Tran Nhu Hiep, deputy chairman of Duc Minh Commune's People's Committee, said he had incurred VND120 million in losses after losing two breeding batches.
An official of Quang Ngai's aquaculture department said untreated waste water from the agriculture and industry sectors had contaminated the water used in shrimp breeding.
The lack of a co-ordinated zoning plan for shrimp breeding caused the virus to spread quickly.
Farmers in recent years have rushed into the lucrative breeding business without any thought to the environmental consequences of breeding ponds on local water, a source of contamination.
The lack of a co-ordinated zoning plan in shrimp breeding and little knowledge about diseases that affect shrimp have contributed to the problem.
Using unquarantined shrimp for breeding has also led to disease.
To control the disease, Quang Nam's Fisheries Extension and Aquaculture Breeds Development Centre recommends that breeders treat their water before discharging it into the environment.
The provinces' processing plants have been operating at 50-70 per cent of their capacity due to a lack of raw material.
Some shrimp breeders have shifted to rice cultivation.
Source:Vietnam News
Bangladesh
24 May 2008
Bangladesh to plant 100 mln trees to fight floods, cyclones
by Shafiq Alam
Disaster-prone Bangladesh announced on Saturday that it would plant 100 million trees to create a "natural fence" against frequent floods and cyclones.
The head of the country's military-backed government Fakhruddin Ahmed launched the project in the capital, Dhaka, saying the trees would "fight storms, tidal surges, floods and droughts" in a "natural way."
He appealed to all Bangladeshis to build "a wall of trees in the coastal belt as a strong deterrent to disaster."
"Our main weapon to face these disasters is tree plantation," he said.
Impoverished Bangladesh has suffered numerous natural calamities that have been occurring more frequently in recent years due to global warming, environmentalists say.
The intensity of the storms have also risen in the low-country country where 40 percent of its 144 million people live below poverty level.
The trees will be planted over the next three months during the rainy season, deputy environment minister Raja Debashish Roy told AFP.
"It's the country's biggest-ever planting programme. We've undertaken it to protect our natural calamity-prone country from frequent cyclones and floods that has been exacerbated by climate change," he said.
Last summer the country was hit by two major floods while a cyclone tore through its coastal districts in November, killing at least 5,000 people and leaving tens of millions homeless and desperately short of food.
Environmentalists said the deaths in the storm would have been even greater had not the world's largest mangrove forest stood as a "green bastion" against the cyclone.
Some 1,500 square kilometres (600 square miles) of the 10,000-square-kilometre Sunderbans forest, which straddles Bangladesh and India and is home to the famed Royal Bengal tigers, were badly damaged.
"We will be planting 100 million saplings and we have an estimated 180 million saplings in the nurseries so we won't run short," said forest ministry secretary Rezaul Kabir.
The sapling planting programme is double last year's level, he said.
Kabir said most of the saplings would be planted in the coastal areas to build a "green belt" in the southern districts.
"Like in the Sunderbans, these trees will work as a natural fence against regular storms and tidal surge. It will reduce the number of casualties in natural disasters," he said.
Some 14 percent of the country is covered by forest and trees and the government aims to increase that figure to 20 percent.
Bangladesh has been under emergency rule since January 2007 when the military- backed government took power after elections were cancelled following vote-rigging allegations.
Source:AFP
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19 June 2008
Bangladeshi shrimp plants fully compliant, Visiting high-powered team tells US FDA
by Jasim Uddin Khan
A high-powered Bangladeshi team, now on a visit to the US, on Tuesday told US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials that local shrimp processing plants fully comply with US FDA requirements.
The visit by the officials begins on hot heels of allegations by AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) that Bangladesh shrimp plants use child labour and lack standards.
According to officials in Dhaka yesterday, the Bangladesh team led by Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Syed Ataur Rahman met AFL-CIO officials, telling them the local shrimp industry is now fully free from child labour.
Following the AFL-CIO allegations in May this year, the government found the AFL-CIO report was prepared on the basis of field visits made around two years back. The situation of the industry has improved dramatically since then.
The Bangladesh team will also invite the US officials to inspect shrimp processing plants in Bangladesh again.
The team will also make presentation before the United State Trade Representative (USTR) officials and congressmen to tell them the shrimp industry in Bangladesh creates huge numbers of employment.
Other members of the team are Joint Secretary (Ministry of Commerce) Golam Hossain¸ Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation Chairman Syed Mahmudul Haque, Bangladesh Frozen Foods Association Member SM Amzad Hossain.
Earlier, the AFL-CIO filed a petition with the US Trade Representative against Bangladesh alleging serious violations of the labour laws in the country's garment and frozen food industries. Subsequently, a hearing was held at the USTR in Washington, DC in October 2007. Upon hearing the foundation's testimony, the USTR did not impose any sanctions but decided to keep Bangladesh under observation until June 2008.
Bangladesh earned $449 million in the first ten months of the outgoing fiscal year from frozen foods exports despite external and domestic odds.
The association is now trying to boost export to the EU market, which consumes 48-50 percent of Bangladesh's total export of frozen foods.
Shrimps and fish export, now the second largest foreign exchange earner for Bangladesh, employ more than 7.5 lakh people. Around 1.4 lakh farmers using 2.5 lakh hectares of land in southeastern and southwestern coastal areas of Cox's Bazaar, Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira now produce more than 50,000 tonnes of shrimps annually, mostly by using traditional methods.
Source:The Daily Star
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India
30 May 2008
Dollar fluctuations eat into Indian shrimp exports
Kochi, The rapid changes in the value of the dollar against the Indian currency have been negatively affecting Indian shrimp exports. According to representatives of the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI), Indian exports of shrimp had been seriously hit by the appreciating value of the rupee and exports have slumped by approximately 20 per cent in rupee value.
The shrimp industry has also been affected by the sharp spike in oil prices, the anti-dumping measures applied by the US and the increasing competition by other producing countries in the region that harvests vannamei shrimp with lower production costs, unlike the Indian black tiger shrimp with its inherently higher production costs, the SEAI pointed out.
This bad news comes at a time when the US, one of India's major traditional shrimp export destination, has declared that global shrimp imports into that country have fallen for the first time in the last 10 years.
US imports down
After 10 years of steady growth, shrimp imports into the US markets have fallen by 5.7 per cent in volume and 5.1 per cent in value during 2007. However, with the exclusion of countries such as India and Brazil which have been beset with anti-dumping duties, the six major exporters to the US - Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico, Ecuador and China - have further consolidated their position in the US markets and accounted for 78 per cent in volume of US imports.
Though handicapped by anti-dumping duties, India remained the seventh largest shrimp exporter to the US although its volume fell by 24 per cent in 2007.
The decline in imports is also reflected in a decrease in per capita consumption of shrimp by the US population. Shrimp landings in the US are estimated to have fallen by almost 45 per cent.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
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Pakistan
8 June 2008
Campaign launched to protect Indus Delta mangroves
KARACHI. In what is being viewed as a significant move, the government in Pakistan's Sindh province has decided, in principle, to declare all mangroves in the Indus Delta protected under reference of a 1958 notification on mangrove forests without changing their ownership.
After a notification expected to be issued in a few weeks, the forest department will manage and work for the rehabilitation of mangroves that come under various organizations, including the Board of Revenue (BoR), Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and Karachi Port Trust (KPT).
Environmentalists have termed the decision a major step towards the conservation of mangrove forests, fast depleting due to various pressures, including salinisation of land caused by reduced flow of fresh water into the river and the sea, land reclamation, encroachments, heavy metal pollution and expansion of economic activities.
In a recent meeting presided over by chief secretary Fazlur Rehman, it was decided that the mangrove area in the Indus delta falling under the jurisdictions of different organisations would be declared protected and managed by the forest department while a committee comprising all stakeholders would be set up to suggest and develop strategies for conservation of mangroves.
The meeting, attended by all stakeholders including the officials of the KPT, Port Qasim Authority, DHA, Manora Cantonment Board, BoR and members of different NGOs working for the cause of conservation of nature, followed a visit of members of the senate's standing committee on environment to the area, which recommended that mangroves in the Indus delta be declared protected. Another follow-up meeting would be held in the next few weeks.
Commenting on the development, forest secretary Mushtaq Ali Memon said it was a significant initiative considering the importance of mangroves that served as nurseries for fish and shrimps and acted as natural barriers against storms and tsunamis.
Shedding light on the Sindh government's decision, WWF-Karachi head Dr Ghulam Akbar said the decision was a good omen. "The mangrove forest cover in the Indus delta has greatly decreased over the decades and one of the major reasons has been the lack of expertise and management on part of the different organisations that own the land.
The forest department has been keeping a fine record in the management of mangroves and it's a fact that mangroves are thriving only at places which are under the control of the forest department."
However, he said, the WWF had been pursuing the cause to have the entire area of Hawks Bay and Sandspit declared as 'nature reserve'.
"The whole area is a treasure trove of biodiversity. This includes 400 hectares of mangroves, swamps, saltpans, fishing grounds and nesting sites for two species of marine turtles that have been declared protected under the Sindh Wildlife Ordinance 1972.
These sites are also breeding grounds for several marine fish species and wintering grounds for thousands of migratory birds, besides home to coral species and a number of endemic plant species, including Acacia nilotica ssp hemispherica, which exists nowhere except along the Karachi coast."
Syed Ghulam Qadir Shah, manager for conservation, Sindh, WWF, who was also one of the participants of the meeting, say their organisation had been working for the declaration of Hawks Bay/Sandspit as nature reserve for many years and the recent development was the result of the continued struggle on part of the bodies working for the conservation of nature.
"The first step was taken when the proposal of declaring Hawks Bay/Sandspit area as nature reserve was presented to the Sindh governor in 2003. The major outcome of this decision would be the legal protection of the mangrove area that comes under the KPT, BoR and DHA. The rest of the area is already under the forest department and hence protected."
According to the Final Report of Vegetation Assessment 2008 by the WWF conducted under the Indus for All Programme, the most characteristic features of the delta are the mangrove swamps on vast mud flats formed by sediment deposited by the Indus river.
Source:The Peninsula (Qatar)
China
8 June 2008
China still faces severe inshore pollution
BEIJING -- One of China's top experts in marine economic geography has warned that pollution of China's seas is still serious despite slightly improved offshore water quality.
"Over the past 20 years or so, China's marine economy has been developing at a staggeringly rapid pace and marine resources are being widely tapped. As a result, the condition of China's inshore environment is deteriorating and the ocean ecology has been seriously damaged," said Professor Luan Weixin, of the Economics and Management College at Dalian Maritime University.
A total of 145,000 square kilometers of shallow waters along China's vast coast failed to meet quality standards for clean oceanic water, of which 29,000 square kilometers of seawater were seriously polluted.
These severely-polluted water areas included East Liaoning, Bohai and Hangzhou bays, and the estuaries of Yellow, Yangtze and Zhujiang rivers, as well as inshore areas of major coastal cities, he said.
"Content of major pollutants, such as inorganic nitrogen and phosphate, remains high in contaminated seawater," Luan told a seminar on marine function zoning, in the northern Chinese coastal city of Tianjin.
During the past 50 years or so, the inshore ecosystem had seen 50 percent of coastal wetlands disappear in excessive reclamation and 80 percent of coral reefs and mangroves destroyed, Luan said.
China's marine economy had been soaring annually at more than 20 percent since the 1980s and the total output reached 2.5 trillion yuan (359 billion US dollars) last year, 266 times more than that of 1979.
China's mainland coastline is about 18,000 kilometers long. Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, China boasts about 350,000 square kilometers of coastal and inland water areas, and the area of China's exclusive economic zone is about 3 million square kilometers.
Source:Xinhua
Chile
4 June 2008
Antibiotics will be "forbidden" in aquaculture
A VAST international campaign aimed at banning the use of antibiotics in aquaculture was launched yesterday in Chile.
The project also demands that all sanitary standards regarding antibiotics for Chilean salmon consumers be brought in line with international standards, such as the United States' FDA rules or those of the European Union.
Chile proposes a sole State agency, which would regulate and monitor the use of antibiotics both in human use and animal health.
Another of the issues demanded is free access to historic information on the volumes and types of antibiotics currently imported and used by the salmon industry.
For years, environmental organisations have requested information from Chilean health organisations such as the National Fisheries Service, Sernapesca, but have never received an answer.
This campaign is aimed at controlling the use of antibiotics within the bacterial resistance study launched by the World Health Organisation.
Source:FishUpdate
Bahamas
17 May 2008
Gauging the effects of tourism
by DAN ABEL
Tourist season is here, and many of us (me included) owe our livelihoods to the presence of tourists. They infuse our area with new ideas and perspectives, and the recreational enterprises and restaurants built to serve them are available to locals as well.
But tourists also impose an environmental impact as the Grand Strand population swells during the season, including stresses on utilities to produce clean water and electricity and to remove solid waste and wastewater; additional pollution (air, water, noise and light); demand for new roads; and habitat destruction.
We can reduce the impacts of tourism by providing reliable public transportation; requiring all businesses, especially restaurants and hotels, to recycle; and enacting building codes that specify energy efficiency and environmentally benign materials.
Ecotourism may also be an antidote to the environmental impact of conventional tourism, depending on how ecotourism is defined and implemented, and the scale on which it is conducted.
As this column is published, I am in Bimini, Bahamas, teaching a shark biology course to Coastal Carolina University students.
Bimini, a 25-minute flight from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is also an attractive tourist destination, with a tropical climate and pristine waters with hues that cover the entire palate of blue.
It was a favorite destination of Ernest Hemingway, whose novel "Islands in the Stream" is set there. The sportfishing community has taken advantage of the productive Gulf Stream waters just off Bimini since the 1930s, and scuba diving and snorkeling are almost as popular.
Although sportfishing and diving have their own environmental impacts, some of them quite severe, the islands have largely made peace with sportfishers and divers, and these support the local economy.
Bimini is changing now, and how this change affects the environment, character and residents makes this a microcosm of the impacts of development throughout the rest of the tropics, and perhaps in Myrtle Beach as well.
The agent of change is the Bimini Bay Resort and Casino, a development of the Hilton Hotel Corp. and the Capo Group, which includes condos, a marina, a casino and a golf course, some already built and the rest under way.
Bimini and its surrounding waters are biological gems. Before ground was broken for the development, the government of the Bahamas listed the area as the highest priority for designation as a marine reserve in recognition of its economic and ecological importance, as well as its sensitivity to development.
Unfortunately, a change in government leadership stanched that plan.
Bimini is home to a dazzling array of wildlife, including many endangered species such as the Bimini boa, smalltooth sawfish, West Indian flamingo and sea turtles. The islands are fringed by mangroves, salt-tolerant trees that may be among the most important and threatened large plants on the planet. And coral ecosystems are one of nature's most overwhelmingly beautiful (and disappearing) natural features.
In classic displays of greenwash (misrepresenting harmful actions as environmentally positive), the triumph of marketing over reality and outright lies, the Bimini Bay Web site proclaims: "In order to preserve this natural wonder and to protect the food source that makes this a fishing paradise, Bimini Bay Resort is engaging in a habitat creation and restoration program that will maintain the surrounding mangrove wetlands."
So far, the development has removed significant stands of mangroves (which makes Alice Town vulnerable to catastrophic hurricane damage) and has destroyed a large part of the North Sound, an important nursery ground for newborn and juvenile lemon sharks. Bonefishing and the conch fishery are also showing signs of being affected by the development.
Biminites are unified in opposing the development. Perhaps locally we could learn a lesson from their wisdom.
They recognize the lasting value of an undisturbed natural environment, and they know that it is a bad idea to trade long-term stability for short-term economic gain.
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DAN ABEL is an associate professor of marine science at Coastal Carolina University and director of the CCU Campus and Community Sustainability Initiative.
Contact him at 349-2257 or by e-mail at dabel@coastal.edu.
Source:The Sun News
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1 June 2008
Environmentalist: Bimini Bay Project a "Catastrophe"
By ROGAN M. SMITH rogan@nasguard.com
An international environmentalist has slammed the Bimini Bay development, calling it a "catastrophe" that has left a "devastating scar" on the land where the project's first phase is being built.
French explorer, environmentalist and film maker Jean-Michel Cousteau, in an internationally published article, said nothing about the Bimini Bay project suggests environmental sustainability as the developers claim, or that they're even respectful of the surroundings.
Cousteau said if Bimini is to be saved, phase II must be stopped.
According to him, garbage is incinerated on the grounds, and human and non-biological waste leaches into the bay and the ocean.
"It is simply a catastrophe," he said. "Dredging the channel and building artificial islands has created a major siltation problem that is disrupting currents and water clarity."
"This also kills off sea grasses and organisms in the bay, seriously impacting species. It makes no sense to destroy the mangrove forests that give life to Bimini and the surrounding Bahamian flats, in favor of dredging to create new land for even more high impact development."
Cousteau said Bimini is now in a battle to survive.
He said the mangrove forests that give life to the land and sea are under assault from heavy, earth-moving equipment and construction.
The environmentalist added that a proposed marine protected area (MPA) would encompass what's considered the most vital mangrove forest in The Bahamas.
"Unless something is done soon to develop a more sustainable plan that safeguards this habitat, it will soon be bulldozed forever. The Capo Group's plan is to expand Bimini Bay in favor of more condos and a golf course in phase II," he said.