Dear Friends,

This is the 238th Edition of the Mangrove Action Project News, May 28, 2010.

For the Mangroves,

Alfredo Quarto
Mangrove Action Project

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

MAP's Mission

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

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

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!

SHRIMP LESS, THINK MORE campaign has changed it's name to QUESTION YOUR SHRIMP:
Learn more about the affects of the shrimp industry on mangroves by visiting our blog.
Join MAP on Facebook
Sign the Consumer's Pledge to avoid imported shrimp

Volunteers Needed In Seattle
Help needed for upcoming events in Seattle Seattle Green Festival June 5
Freemont Fair June 19, 20
Ballard Seafood Festival July 10, 11
Contact Cara Cruickshank 206-842-8505......or write to- mangroveactioncara@gmail.com  if you can help. EVENT DETAILS

Save the Uran
Even if this battle is lost strong public protest will warn the government that the destruction of important wetland is being watched and in the future the environment must be given a much higher priority.  Only when the public voice because so loud that the government can't ignore it will we see change in government policy. SIGN OUR PETITION

Please call Taco Bell's Customer Service at 1-800-TACO-BELL to make your request that they do not serve imported shrimp in their tacos, but serve only shrimp produced in N. America! READ MORE

This is a petition needing your supportive signature to 'draft' Daryl Hannah into being the voice of the mangroves! Ms. Hannah as the mermaid from the movie "Splash" has that coastal wetland connection making her the ideal candidate to speak for the mangroves.

FONT HILL Save Font Hill Nature Preserve from development. Please Sign our Petition

STOP MEXICO'S DEVELOPMENT OF CRITICAL TURTLE HABITAT Sign Letter Here

GROWING OPPOSITION TO ROUND TABLE ON RESPONSIBLE SOY
CoporateEurope.org is urging all organisations to sign their Open Letter opposing the 'responsible' label for monoculture soy (including GM soy), developed by the industry's Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS). Please find the text of the letter on googledocs here.  Please send the name of your organisation (and country, if relevant) *before Friday June 4th, 4 o'clockEuropean time, to nina [at] corporateeurope.org

BIMINI'S MARINE PROTECTED AREA
In December of 2008, the Honorable Dr. Earl Deveaux proclaimed that Bimini's long-awaited Marine Protected Area had been made official. Local Biminites, as well as legions of people around the globe who care about Bimini, were elated with the news.

PUNTA CAREY ENDANGERS SEA TURTLES AND WETLANDSAT XCACEL
Punta Carey Business Trust wants to build a development at Xcacel that would affect the adjoining sea turtle sanctuary, because the project does not have any beach access except the protected beaches inside the sanctuary, and wetlands.

MANGROVE ACTION DAY IS JULY 26TH
Join MAP in celebrating Mangrove Action Day on July 26th.

RESOURCES  
NOAA report: "Oil Spills in Mangroves: Planning and Responses Considerations"?  Oil Spills in Mangroves: Planning & Response Considerations

From the Editor
The crisis in the Gulf of Mexico is having global impacts as the world braces itself to deal with the largest oil spill in history. Not only will the Gulf of Mexico reel from the sheer volume of oil released, but this is the first of its kind. Never before has so much oil been released so deeply into an environment so unfamiliar to science, and scientists are at a loss as to predict what the long term impact may be. Even the best case scenario is not expected to be good. This oilspill impacts mangroves, not only via direct contamination, but indirectly as repercussions from the spill tie into seafood supply & demand, fisheries resources, and the planets food chain. MAP's Director, Alfredo Quarto is already working to help raise awareness that as the shrimp industry struggles with this oil spill, many are turning to farmed shrimp overseas to fill the demand.

MAPS Exec Dir responds to SeattleTimes
In response to May 21^st article "Local business owners planning for fallout from Gulf oil disaster," by Mellisa Allison and Amy Martinez, Alfredo Quarto urges readers not to turn to farmed shrimp during the Gulf Of Mexico oil crisis.
READ MORE

FEATURED NEWS

Despite Leak, Louisiana Is Still Devoted to Oil

MORGAN CITY, La. — In some parts of the country, the sight of oil drifting toward the Louisiana coast, oozing into the fragile marshlands and bringing large parts of the state’s economy to a halt, has prompted calls to stop offshore drilling indefinitely, if not altogether.
READ MORE

NEWS

AFRICA

Protected Corals Increase Fishing Profits

A new study shows that fishers in Kenya are benefiting from protected coral reefs with larger, more profitable catches. Credit: JoshCinnerARCCenterof Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. READ MORE

EUROPE

EU relaxes ban on Asian seafood
The European Union is rejecting much less fish and seafood from South East Asiathan a year ago, according to reports from the region. Less than half of Malaysian seafood exporters barred from selling to Europe in 2008 have complied with the rules and resumed exports, said the European Union ambassador Vincent Piket. Out of the 26 companies disallowed, only five are back on the list and another two in the process of being re-listed, he said. READ MORE

Failing to save global fisheries could cost over 20 mn jobs, says UN
In order to prevent the collapse of global fisheries by 2050, some 15-22 million fishermen worldwide would have to find another line of work, according to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). That sobering statistic is included in a preview of UNEP’s wide-reaching Green Economy report due out later this year.  READ MORE

ASIA
A learning centre in Prachuap Khiri Khan province is in the middle of a man-made forest

THAILAND: The Sirinat-Rajini Mangrove Ecosystem Learning Centre is a man-made forest with much to educate and entertain visitors of all ages. Under a royal initiative, it opened its doors to the public two years ago, and today it carries out research in all areas of the rehabilitation of mangrove ecosystems. The learning centre is in the Paknam Pran sub-districtof Pran Buri, Prachuap Khiri Khan. Once a barren shrimp farm, the task of preparing the land for the new mangrove forest started in 1998. After a site survey, dykes were built to channel the sea water. Then the land was ploughed and a number of plants were selected and planting began. READ MORE

Bangladesh Fish Foundation signs agreement with Maryland University on quality shrimp production
The University of Maryland and Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation has signed an Agreement of Cooperation for development of production and import of quality shrimps.
The agreement was signed between Dr CD Mote, Jr., President of University of Maryland and Syed Mahmudul Huq of Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation on behalf of their respective organizations during the visit of a Bangladeshdelegation last week in USA. READ MORE

Climate change to hit Viet Nam's mangrove forests
The impacts of climate change would severely affect the biodiversity of mangrove forests across the country, experts have said. READ MORE

STRATEGIES FOR MANGROVE REHABILITATION IN AN ERODED COASTLINE OF SELANGOR, PENINSULAR MALAYSIA.   
There has been a huge amount of time, effort, and money put into trying to establish mangroves on high energy coasts and often in locations that are too low & wet (i.e mudflats) and they seldom succeed.  This paper is about such a project in Malaysia, which attempted to use several types of hard and soft engineering techniques.  In simple terms they tried to make mangrove grow where they don't belong and failed to observe where they were naturally growing near by. READ MORE

NORTH AMERICA

SEATTLE TO HOST THIRD ANNUAL GREEN FESTIVAL Nation’s Premier Green Living Event this June 5 & 6, 2010, Seattle
SEATTLE, WA (JUNE 2010):  Celebrating its 3rd year, Seattle Green Festival is an energetic weekend of eco-innovations and hands-on demonstrations focusing on putting green into daily routines.  Seattle Green Festival, held at the WashingtonStateConvention Center, will feature renowned authors, leaders and educators, green businesses, workshops, fashion show, and kids’ activities. READ MORE

US declares fishery disaster in 3 Gulf states
The United States government has declared a "fishery disaster" in the seafood-producing states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama due to an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, making them eligible for federal funds, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Monday. "We are taking this action today because of the potentially significant economic hardship this spill may cause fishermen and the businesses and communities that depend on those fisheries," Locke said in a statement. READ MORE

A Letter to Mexico's President
Alfredo Quarto, Executive Director of Mangrove Action Project urged President Calderoni  to stop the development of critical turtle habitat along the Yucatan. READ MORE:

Concerns up and down the food chain in wake of US oil spill
 As the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon spreads across the United States' Gulf of Mexico, environmentalists and government officials have been working frantically to protect shoreline habitat like this island in the Breton National Wildlife Refuge, eight miles off the coast of Louisiana. BretonIsland, with its hundreds of nesting birds, has been protected by orange booms, as have many other areas of delicate estuaries and wetlands. READ MORE

INDIA

Many Species, One Planet, One Future
NEW DELHI: Addressing a national seminar on International Biodiversity Day in New Delhi-- on biodiversity, development and poverty alleviation in the context of climate change - minister of state for environment and forests, Jairam Ramesh said: "We need to bring about convergence between biodiversity and climate change as each affects the other; it's a two-way relationship." At meetings both at Nagoya, Japan, in October this year and in Cancun, Mexiconext year, Indiawould push for a 31-article negotiating text that would help converge talks on biodiversity and climate change. READ MORE

Planting mangroves can harm Sri Lanka's lagoons

SRI LANKA Planting mangroves can disturb the natural flow of water in estuaries and lagoons and rapidly clog them with sediments, a study in Sri Lankashows. The December 2004 Asian tsunami which devastated coastal Sri Lankawas followed by a mangrove-planting drive as the best protection against similar catastrophes in the future. READ MORE

Additional Reading
Please find below the link to the latest CEESP-IUCN Newsletter. You will
find the last article from Jorge and other important information READ MORE

FINAL NOTE:
A READER SUBMITS HER POETRY

People don't notice the mangroves,
They are blind to the fish that swim between their roots,
To the birds that perch on their branches,
And to the clean blue water that surrounds the trees.
 
People don't notice the mangroves,
They see a "wasteland" to develop,
A useless swamp to turn into a road, 
A place to farm shrimp and then to abandon.
 
People don't notice the mangroves,
Gone are the mangroves of Uran,
They cut down the trees and the fishing villages died,
The birds are silent and the water is dirtied,
The soil erodes and CO2 is released to poison the sky.
 
People should notice the mangroves,
They should protect the trees, not kill them,
Before there are no mangroves left not to notice.
READ MORE