Dear Friends,
News of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to dominate this weeks MAP News edition, as the oil has begun to encroach on the shores of the Gulf. Fisheries, mangroves and coastal wetlands are threatened like never before. MAP is monitoring the situation closely and has already began putting wheels in motion to help with the aftermath of one of the largest oil spills to hit the Gulf states.
Alfredo
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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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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.
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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
EVENT DETAILS AND HOW TO VOLUNTEER
Volunteer in Thailand
MAP Asia is seeking a temporary intern to work in Trang Thailand.
VIEW DESCRIPTION AND HOW TO APPLY HERE
Action Alert
Help Stop development of RAMSAR site in Jamaica READ MORE
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
Kenya Stills Needs Your Support
6,000 families are likely to be displaced by the project but this figure barely scratches the surface of the much larger impact the port is likely to have. Please take action to save the Lamu Archipelago. Send the action letter to the Prime Minister of Kenya expressing your concerns to Stop The Ports
Draft Daryl Hannah as Mangroves Spokesperson
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.
MAP ISSUES
The bite is on… We heard it on the radio: “All you can eat shrimp. Come and get em!” And so, mouths watering in anticipation, we stampede across the floor and out the door for… But wait… How can they afford to feed us all-we-can-eat shrimp?
LISTEN NOW
FEATURED STORY
Oil spill could ravage precious Gulf Coast mangroves
May 9, 2010
LOISIANA The BP oil slick menacing the US Gulf Coast poses a direct threat to vast expanses of mangrove forest critical to many of the region's fragile ecosystems, experts say. Some 2,000 square kilometres (800 square miles) of US coastal mangrove habitat are concentrated in three states most threatened by the estimated 5,000 barrels-a-day of crude oozing into the Gulf: Louisiana, Texas and the southern tip of Florida. "The oil will basically kill the trees," said Jerry Lorenz, a marine biologist and head of research at Audubon of Florida. Found in both tropical and subtropical zones, mangrove swamps are a thick tangle of salt-tolerant trees and shrubs that thrive in brackish tidal waters.
READ MORE
NEWS STORIES
USA
Concerns up and down the food chain in wake of US oil spill
May 4, 2010
LOUISIANA - 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. Breton Island, with its hundreds of nesting birds, has been protected by orange booms, as have many other areas of delicate estuaries and wetlands. But biologists are increasingly alarmed for wildlife offshore, where the damage from a spill can be invisible but still deadly.
US Gulf of Mexico oil spill closes more oyster beds, forces shrimping restrictions
May 8, 2010
The massive BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico has forced state officials to close additional oyster beds and cancel the central coast of Louisiana's shrimp season. Alan Levine, secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals, and Dr. Jimmy Guidry, the state health officer, on Saturday signed an order to close molluscan shellfish harvesting areas 14 and 15, west of the Mississippi River in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes. The measure was designed as a precaution protecting oyster meat from contamination, according to a DHH announcement. DHH's Office of Public Health continues testing oyster beds along Louisiana's 8-million acre shoreline. Meanwhile, scientists and engineers are regularly testing oyster meat from closed beds as part of a process to determine when oysters from beds affected by the oil slick are safe to eat.
READ MORE
Cambodian, Vietnamese fishermen in US seek help as their livelihood crumbles after oil spill
MAY 6, 2010
LOUISIANA - About 2,000 Cambodian and Vietnamese immigrants in this remote bayou community - mostly families that have staked their American livelihoods on shrimping and fishing - have found themselves isolated by more than just vast stretches of swampland since the Gulf oil spill disaster. Language barriers have made it even more difficult for them to be plugged into the latest information about temporary jobs offered by BP after thousands of fishermen like themselves have been put out of work by the spill. About two hundred of them gathered Thursday in a sweltering bayou restaurant, trying to contain their frustrations as a BP representative, flanked by translators, urged them to enroll in his company's paid cleanup programs.
Governments must act swiftly to salvage biodiversity, UN report finds
May 5, 2010
A new biodiversity report released today by two United Nations environmental bodies concluded that unless radical and creative action is taken quickly to conserve the variety of life on Earth, natural systems that support lives and livelihoods are at risk of collapsing. “We need a new vision for biological diversity for a healthy planet and a sustainable future for humankind,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon writes in the forward of the report produced by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). “To tackle the root causes of biodiversity loss, we must give it higher priority in all areas of decision-making and in all economic sectors.”
Seafood Solutions: A Chef's Guide to Sourcing Sustainable Seafood
Published by the Chef's Collaboration the guide offers helpful hints to securing sustainable seafood including a discussion about shrimp and shrimp farming
Gulf Shrimpers Had Economic Interests, Too
May 13, 2010
A pile of beautiful Gulf shrimp beckoned from the fish counter, and I thought, better buy them soon. Louisiana shrimpers are now trying to grab all they can get before the oil takes over. A lot of pleasure is dying in the Gulf of Mexico -- but economic activity, too. Only lawyers seem to be prospering as the suits begin to fly. Why did fisheries and tourism spanning from Texas to the west coast of Florida take second economic billing to the oil drillers? Even the Obama administration wanted to open the eastern Gulf, much of the Atlantic Coast and Alaska's north coast to oil and gas development. Objections from non-energy interests in Florida, Alabama and elsewhere were brushed aside. The first answer is that oil is where the bigger bucks are, and not just for private enterprise.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Approves Release of GE Trees
May 13, 2010
USDA Approves ArborGen's Request to Plant 260,000 Genetically Engineered Eucalyptus Trees Across U.S. South Yesterday the USDA's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service issued its decision to approve the mass-release of over a quarter of a million GE eucalyptus trees across seven states in the U.S. South (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina), despite overwhelming public opposition. "We are very disappointed but not surprised by the USDA's decision, which is likely to have severe social and environmental impacts," stated Anne Petermann, Executive Director of Global Justice Ecology Project and Coordinator of the STOP GE Trees Campaign. For background on the work of the STOP GE Trees Campaign and the threats of GE eucalyptus trees and other GMO trees, go to
http://www.nogetrees.org
INDIA
Kutch Coast - People, Environment and Livelihoods
CNN IBN has telecast a story on the destruction of Mangroves and
threat to fisherfolk on the Mundra coast. The story can be seen on the
Plea to conserve mangrove forests
May 9, 2010
KOCHI: A call has been made to preserve the mangrove forests which are being destroyed extensively for development projects. In a representation made before the District Collector, an executive member of District Tourism Promotion Council and director of Kerala Homestay and Tourism Society M. P. Sivadathan , said that mangroves are being destroyed across the district in gross violation of the Kerala Paddy Land and Wetland Conservation Act 2008. In an effort to preserve the remaining mangrove forests, Mr. Sivadathan has sought the creation of a list of the regions having mangroves after conducting a detailed survey.
The following alert was sent to us regarding development in India encroaching on mangrove forests near Mumbai.
Blatant destruction of Mangroves
May 13
Mumbai - Approximately 50 acres of Mangroves are being destroyed currently by the construction of a road that will completely surround this area. Another 400 odd acres are under threat in Dahisar a western suburb of Mumbai.
ASIA
Andaman Sea coral reefs hit by bleaching
May 5, 2010
THAILAND - Marine scientists have been closely watching massive coral bleaching in the Andaman Sea, believed to be the worst case in Thai waters for 20 years. Coral reefs in the Andaman Sea off Phangnga, Krabi and Phuket, including popular diving sites such as the Similan, Phi Phi and Surin islands, have been damaged by the phenomenon. The bleaching is likely to extend as far as Satun province, and could get worse if sea temperatures continue to rise, said Niphon Phongsuwan, a marine biologist at the Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC).
BFAR to impose the use of circle hooks in tuna fishing
May 13, 2010
PHILIPPINES - In keeping with the stakeholders’ agreements to reduce the impact of fishing on the Coral Triangle, the world’s most important marine region, the Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources will require the use of circle hooks in catching tuna. A Fisheries Administrative Order is already being drafted and by this month or March, we will be requiring long-line tune fishing fleets to use the circle hooks and by April or May, all long-line tuna fishers including the small ones will be required to use the new fishing hook, BFAR Director Malcolm Sarmiento, Jr. said.
Thai shrimp exports set to surge
May 14, 2010
THAILAND- Thai shrimp shipments are expected to rise by at least 8% this year, spurred by the outbreak of infectious myonecrosis virus in shrimp farms in Indonesia and Brazil and a lower catch in the United States due to an oil spill off Louisiana. The export prospects of frozen shrimp are promising this year given higher purchase orders in the first quarter, said Panisuan Jamnarnwej, president of the Thai Frozen Foods Association. In the first three months of this year, Thailand exported frozen shrimp worth US$587 million, a rise of 34% over the same period last year.
CARIBBEAN
Last remaining mangrove wetland in Barbados disappearing due to unchecked pollution and government inaction
May 6, 2010
BARBADOS - A new environmental study sharply critical of the Government of Barbados shows the key Graeme Hall mangrove wetland is disappearing due to outside pollution and poor water quality. The Graeme Hall wetland is the last remaining mangrove in Barbados - a red mangrove forest that has existed for no less than 1,300 years. It is the only wetland in Barbados recognized internationally under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar). It acts as a Caribbean flyway stop for migratory birds between North and South America.
AFRICA
The Gas Flares of Nigeria
April 27, 2010
Nigeria - There is an ominous new arrival in the tropical forest outside Yenagoa in the southern Nigerian state of Bayelsa. It travels on black metal stilts above the green canopy before sinking into a
concrete bunker where, when the bulldozers and cranes have finished work, millions of cubic feet of natural gas will be pumped before going up in smoke. Shell's Opolo-Epie facility is the newest gas flare in the Niger Delta. And it gives the lie to claims from oil multinationals and the Nigerian government that they are close to bringing an end to the destructive and wasteful practice of gas flaring.
READ MORE
Water and food security threatened by escalating wetland loss
May 14, 2010
NIGERIA - The world’s wetlands such as rivers, mangroves, deltas and lakes are degrading faster than any other ecosystem type. Increasingly many are reaching the critical stage where damage will be irreversible which has serious repercussions for the water and food security of poor people. This is revealed in the in-depth review on inland waters (wetlands) which is being discussed at the technical meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which kicked off Monday in Nairobi. Wetlands International calls for rapid action by the CBD to reduce the disastrous consequences for the world’s poorest communities.
READ MORE
