Dear Friends,

This is the 219th Edition of the Mangrove Action Project News, August  28, 2009.

For the Mangroves,

Alfredo Quarto
Mangrove Action Project

Sign up to receive the MAP News by sending an e-mail to: mapnews@mangroveactionproject.org.

MAP's Mission

Partnering with mangrove forest communities, grassroots NGOs, researchers and local governments to conserve and restore mangrove forests and related coastal ecosystems, while promoting community-based, sustainable management of coastal resources.

All news items and notices published in the MAP News can also be accessed directly from our home page www.mangroveactionproject.org, with links to the full story and the original source. New items are posted daily and are available as an RSS feed!

Visit the MAP News Archive

DONATE TO MAP

MAP depends on your support in order to produce this e-bulletin and all that we do. Please visit our website and consider donating to MAP today. It is easy to give a one-time donation, or to set up monthly recurring donations via PayPal or Network for Good!

AFRICA

Seeing the Forest for the Trees
BENIN - Growing up in Cotonou, Benin, JPL environmental scientist Lola Fatoyinbo passed polluted mangroves daily. Inspired to help save these endangered forests, she began a mission as a graduate student in the United States to gain more insight about African mangroves.   Read More
Source:  NASA JPL News  8/20/2009

SE ASIA

Abu Wenna: Holding Back the Tide
INDONESIA - When Abu Wenna set out to do something about erosion along the coast of Bone Gulf in South Sulawesi 15 years ago, he never imagined it would bring him face to face with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. “I never thought or imagined my years of steady mangrove planting could eventually take me to Jakarta for a Kalpataru award from President SBY.”   Read More
Source:  Jakarta Post  9/15/2009


Probe up on Destruction of Mangroves Plantation along Dungon Creek
PHILIPPINES - The subcontractor of the P50 million dredging of Dungon Creek inconsiderately uprooted four species of mangroves and 38 different species of nipa along the riverbanks of Bolilao, in Mandurriao.   Read More
Source:  The News Today  9/14/2009


Bohol Provincial Board Tackles 'Thinning' Banacon
PHILIPPINES - After learning of the massive cutting down of mangroves at the Banacon Mangrove Forest, the Provincial Board of Bohol during a joint committee hearing last Friday pushed that all those caught inflicting any more damage to the said coastal forest shall be dealt with according to the existing applicable environmental laws.   Read More
Source:  PhilStar News  9/16/2009


ICCS Pandan Mangroves Cleanup: Registration for BioD Crew
SINGAPORE - Pandan mangroves is a remnant strip mangrove in the south-west of Singapore. As it is not looked after, there is a trash build up that is detrimental to the site. The Raffles Museum Toddycats and the BioD Crew (NUS) and Wildlife Reserve Singapore are conducting a cleanup for the second year under the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore.   Read More
Source:  NUS Biodiversity  9/5/2009


Fish Farms Struggle after Morakot
TAIWAN - With shrimp and eel farming becoming less competitive, the nation’s aquaculture industry is turning toward grouper, and the Council of Agricultural Affairs launched a program this year to increase the value of grouper farming by NT$10 billion (US$306 million) in four years. But Typhoon Morakot changed everything.   Read More
Source:  Taipei Times  9/14/2009

SOUTH ASIA

Post-Aila, Sunderbans Locals Rediscover Mangrove’s Virtues
BANGLADESH - Four months after Cyclone Aila ravaged these islands, the importance of mangroves seems to have dawned on locals in the Sunderbans, where adults and children alike have taken to planting seeds without waiting for the state government’s initiative.   Read More
Source:  Express India  9/15/2009
 
Villagers Plant Trees to Save Sunderban Dykes

BANGLADESH - Cyclone Aila, which devastated several islands in the Sunderbans and rendered thousands homeless, has taught an invaluable lesson to villagers. Disillusioned with inadequate government aid, villagers have learnt they have to be self-reliant and equip themselves better to face such calamities.   Read More
Source:  Times of India  9/17/2009

LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN

Are Bonaire’s Mangroves Slipping Away? Can they be Restored?
NETHERLANDS ANTILLES - Roy “Robin” Lewis, wetland ecologist, offered a frank assessment of the condition of the mangrove forest at Lac Bay recently “It is in big trouble. Many mangroves have died because of the impact of animals (mostly goats) and humans. Left alone it will die. It needs recovery yesterday!”   Read More
Source:  Bonaire Reporter (pg. 16)  9/4/2009
 
Punta Carey Endangers Sea Turtles and Wetlands at Xcacel
MEXICO - In the 1990's the Melia hotel group bought 3 of the 5 lots at Xcacel however, after the public outcry, Melia donated the land to the University of Quintana Roo. Now (2009) two different Mexican developers have bought the lots overlapping the Northern and Southern limits of Xcacel.   Read More
Source:  Xcacel.org

NORTH AMERICA

UNITED STATES
Just days after commercial fishermen accused them of price fixing during a protest at the State Capitol, shrimp processors began meeting with members of Louisiana’s congressional delegation to tell their side of the story.   Read More
Source:  Daily Comet  9/1/2009 

Habitat Restoration Commences on Pine Island
UNITED STATES - After a seven-year wait, a tract of land in St. James City on Pine Island is undergoing an extreme habitat makeover. The property, known as the Galt Preserve, just north of St. James City near mile marker 2, is being cleared of all exotic vegetation to encourage the growth of native trees, plants and underbrush.   Read More
Source:  Cape Coral Daily Breeze  9/4/2009
 
Sides Being Drawn on Offshore Fish Farming
UNITED STATES - President Barack Obama has given the green light to commercial deepwater fish farms and the federal agency charged with regulating ocean waters is already developing a comprehensive policy. Obama’s decision was announced Thursday after months of emotionally-charged public hearings in coastal communities and immediately drew scorn from members of Louisiana’s congressional delegation and statewide elected officials.   Read More
Source:  Daily Comet  9/5/2009
 
Sustainable Seafood: Northeast Seafood Recommendations
UNITED STATES - The Monterey Bay Aquarium issued a sustainable seafood guide this summer. Here are the recommendations for the Northeast of seafood to enjoy — and to avoid.   Read More
Source:  Burlington Free Press  9/13/2009
 
Head of Native Aquaculture Group Barred from Federal Meeting
CANADA - A Vancouver Island First Nations leader, who heads a province wide aboriginal aquaculture committee, was turned away from a meeting in Vancouver with federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea yesterday.   Read More
Source:  Times Colonist  9/12/2009

 

EUROPE

Save Forests, Wetlands to Fight Climate Change: Study
GERMANY - Governments can help combat climate change by investing more in natural areas, including forests and mangroves, a European study said on Wednesday.   Read More
Source:  Reuters  9/2/2009

AUSTRALIA/OCEANIA

River Bank Mangroves Slashed
AUSTRALIA - The State Government is investigating whether mangrove trees along the Brisbane River have been deliberately cut down to improve the view and value of nearby homes.   Read More
Source:  CourierMail  8/16/2009
 
Drought Causes Mangrove Die-Back

AUSTRALIA - If you’re wondering what is causing Moreton Bay’s mangrove die-back, Professor Norm Duke of the University of Queensland Centre for Marine Study says drought is the culprit, not pollution.   Read More
Source:  Wynnum Herald  9/10/2009


ISSUES ARTICLES

Oceans Show Damage from Global Warming, Experts Say
In Washington state, oysters in some areas haven’t reproduced for four years, and preliminary evidence suggests that the increasing acidity of the ocean could be the cause. In the Gulf of Mexico, falling oxygen levels in the water have forced shrimp to migrate elsewhere.   Read More
Source:  EPOCA  6/14/2009
 
Scientist Warns that Farmed Fish Could be a Source of Mad Cow Disease
In a paper that shows just how strange our modern world has become, Robert P. Friedland, neurologist from the University of Louisville, warns that farmed fish could be at risk of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease, or mad cow disease.   Read More
Source:  Organic Consumers Association  6/17/2009
 
Aquaculture Imposing Heavy Burden on Marine Resources
Aquaculture, accounting for half the fish consumed globally, is imposing a heavy burden on marine resources, says a new report. The report attributes the burden to consumption of large amounts of feed derived from wild sea fish.   Read More
Source:  Thaindian News  9/8/2009
 
Conservationists Say Consumers Should Give Up Some Seafood Temporarily or Risk Losing it Forever
Seafood lovers turned out in record numbers for the Colonial Park Rotary Club's Crab Fest recently. Diners take it for granted that the seafood festivals, long a summer tradition, will be here next year. Just as they expect that as long as there is summer and a craving for seafood, there will be crab fests. But will there?   Read More
Source:  Trading Markets  9/8/2009