It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.
 
—Mahatma Gandhi

FEATURED STORY
Exclusive Interview with Alfredo Quarto, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Mangrove Action Project
 
USA – Mangrove deforestation, due to the shrimp industry, tourism development and other human-caused factors, has resulted in countless deaths around the globe when ocean-borne natural disasters strike. Alfredo Quarto is on a mission to save these unique life-saving trees. Growing in intertidal areas between land and sea, mangroves live in two worlds at once. They are known as the “rainforests of the sea,” and once called the “roots of the sea” by a Thai fisherman. From providing coastal protection from erosion to serving as important fish nurseries and providing wood to local communities to sequestering CO2 and storing massive amounts of carbon, mangroves provide numerous vital ecosystem services. In particular, mangrove forests—which grow along shorelines and up to a few miles inland—provide a natural barrier against giant waves and water incursions from storms, tsunamis and hurricanes. But unfortunately, they are being destroyed around the world at an alarming rate due to rampant coastal development. READ MORE
 
ASIA
 
Rehabilitating Mangroves in the Philippines
 
PHILIPPINES – Global mangrove coverage fell by about 20% from 1980 to 2000, with the greatest reduction in Asia. Clearing has occurred for reasons such as property development and waste dumping. Around 50% of mangrove loss, however, has been to fish ponds for commercial shrimp farming. ZSL’s mangrove rehabilitation project will ensure greater food security, lower risk from natural disasters and increased household income for local communities, as well as many environmental benefits, such as increased biodiversity in the region. ZSL collaborated with Philippine governmental organizations to set up a Community-based Rehabilitation Project in 2008, that will regenerate lost coastal mangrove forest. More mangrove forests will provide better livelihoods and protection for coastal communities. Hundreds of fish ponds are left abandoned, but if they are still under lease they cannot be rehabilitated. ZSL has been working get Fishpond Lease Agreements (FLAs) cancelled so that new healthy mangrove forests can be cultivated. Over 55 hectares are being converted. READ MORE
 
Locals win over Chevron's deep sea port
THAILAND – “If we allow heavy industries to build here, there will be no fresh and delicious seafood dishes like this” said a local fisherman of Sa Bua village in Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Tha Sala district. Sa Bua villagers have joined their fellow fisherfolk from several villages in Tha Sala district to protect marine resources and the locals livelihoods from destructive activities over the past decade. They fought their most recent battle against the US company Chevron’s port and chemical storage site in tambon Klai of Tha Sala. The project was intended to support the company’s oil drilling and exploration work in the Gulf of Thailand. Undeterred by the influence of the oil giant, Tha Sala fisherfolk came up with campaigns to convince policymakers and the public that their locality is one of the country’s most abundant food sources.  They argued that turning this land into Chevron’s shore base would destroy marine resources and the livelihoods of thousands of people, most of them making a living from the fishery and related businesses. READ MORE
 
Why the Andaman Islands Are Headed for Disaster
THAILAND – From poaching animals to illegal logging, from sexually exploiting the local tribes to getting them addicted to alcohol, the Andaman & Nicobar Islands are facing a crisis that few on the Indian mainland are noticing. Unwilling to halt the ecological and human disaster, the administration is instead now trying to intimidate a senior journalist who has doggedly reported the local corruption and the plight of the tribes. When Denis Giles, editor of the newspaper Andaman Chronicle, publicized a shocking complaint by a man from the Jarawa tribe on February 1, he expected to get a great many people into trouble. In the audio clip, the Jarawa man named 18 settlers who habitually visit the Jarawa Reserve to poach animals and have sex with indigenous women, offering in return alcohol, marijuana and other enticements. Such interactions are illegal on multiple counts because the Jarawa are one of the most vulnerable tribes in the world – they number about 420 and a single virus, such as HIV, could wipe them out. What Giles did not expect was that he himself would become a person of interest to the police. READ MORE
 
Aquaculture Project Threatens Mangroves and Fishers Livelihood
THAILAND – The Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) urges the Perak state government to investigate and take immediate action to resolve the problem faced by about 500 small fishers in Kampung Sungai Tuntung, Panchor and Pengkalan Bharu near Pantai Remis whose livelihood have been threatened by aquaculture projects in this area. Besides threatening fishery resource and income of fishers, the shrimp and crab culture projects have also destroyed hundreds of hectares of mangroves in this area and have polluted the river and sea by discharging effluents from the ponds. From a survey done by CAP, we understand from fishers that part of the mangroves that were destroyed to make way for aquaculture projects were originally permanent reserved forest i.e. Tanjung Burung Forest Reserve that should be protected and conserved.  However what is happening now is that our natural heritage is being destroyed for aquaculture projects. READ MORE
 
Students practice hands-on activities on mangrove ecosystem
  
BANGLADESH – Mangrove plays a vital role to protect lives and livelihoods of coastal people and biodiversity. Mangrove trees help in adaptation by non-timber economic products and protecting winds of cyclone. It also contributes in climate mitigation by sequestrating excessive carbon from the atmosphere. Considering the importance of mangroves for the civilization, CLEAN and Humanitywatch have been implementing Marvelous Mangroves Curriculum in the coastal schools to form a children and youth conservation activists in Bangladesh. As one of the activities under the program, a team of 10 school-students, three teachers and 5 activists visited Karamjal Tourist point of the Sundarbans on 30 January 2014 and practiced a number of hands-on activities their as a part of conservation education. Teachers and students of Laudob Secondary School helped the team to organize the program. Independent consultant Mafruza Khan, CLEAN facilitator Hasan Mehedi, Humanitywatch programme coordinator Shariful Islam Salim, campaign officer Nasim Rahman Kiron, environmentalist Rezaul Karim Zitu, Laudob School teacher Tarun Kanti Mondal and Shachindranath Sardar participated with the children among others. READ MORE
 
Mangrove forest set to become Ramsar site
MALAYSIA – A remaining patch of mangrove forest located close to the city’s downtown area is set to become Sabah’s second Ramsar site. Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Yahya Hussin said the Ramsar designation for the 24ha Kota Kinabalu Wetlands Centre (KKWC) would help draw international recognition of the mangrove forest’s ecological importance. “This is certainly good news for Sabah,” he said after launching the International Weltands Day Cele-bration at the KKWC. Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance, designated under the Ramsar Convention. Sabah’s first Ramsar site is the 79,000ha bio-diversity rich Lower Kinabatangan-Segama wetlands in the east coast. Yahya said the designation of KKWC as the state’s second Ramsar site would help the conservation or careful use of remaining wetlands. READ MORE
 
AFRICA
 
Valuing Africa's Mangrove Forests
 
SOUTH AFRICA – Despite the well-researched and recognized socio-economic and ecological values of mangroves worldwide, mangrove ecosystems are among the world's most threatened vegetation types. More than half of all original forests have already been lost. This depletion is cause for serious environmental and economic concern in many developing countries. Mangroves, located between the sea and the land, play a pivotal role in moderating monsoonal tidal floods and in coastal protection. They also support numerous forms of fauna and flora, as well as fisheries. In addition, mangroves have the ability to sequester large amounts of carbon dioxide and therefore act as important tools for climate change mitigation. The continuing degradation and depletion of mangroves therefore severely threatens the livelihoods of people dependent on mangrove ecosystem services and functions. READ MORE
 
Mangroves in Africa
MOZAMBIQUE – Mangroves are invaluable for fuel, fishing, climate change, disaster protection and tourism, but are rarely valued and protected appropriately. We spoke to Romy Chevallier, a researcher with SAIIA's Governance of Africa's Resources Programme who has recently been to Mozambique to conduct field research on mangroves, about this rare and misunderstood resource.We asked her:

1. What are mangrove forests and why are they important?
2. How do local communities in mangrove areas benefit from them?
3. Why are mangroves under threat, and how might we protect and conserve them? READ MORE

AMERICAS
 
Farmed Shrimp Are Killing the Ocean
 
USA – I’ll be the first to tell you that I love a good shrimp alfredo, shrimp pad thai, or tempura shrimp. Unfortunately, we all may need to evaluate our love for these tasty crustaceans in the future, because there’s some ominous news emerging about shrimp farms — approximately 30% of the seafood we import is shrimp — and it’s time to get serious about whether we want to eat good seafood…or bad. And I’m not talking about the seafood that makes you crouch over the toilet all night versus the kind that’s been handled right. Sustainability is a growing concern with seafood as the industry gets larger and consumers eat more. The world’s oceans provide a bounty of food, but fisheries as well as fish farms need to be managed responsibly to ensure that future generations will be able to take advantage of them, and to protect the environment. Some fish are so unsustainable that wild-caught specimens aren’t good choices if you care about the environment (such as the orange roughy) and farmed shrimp is among the farmed specimens that isn’t a good idea to eat because of the environmental costs. READ MORE
 
To Save Fish and Birds
USA – One of the few bright spots in the struggle to protect the world’s fragile oceans has been the rapidly increasing number of “marine-protected areas,” places where fishing is limited or banned and where, presumably, depleted species can recover by simply being left to themselves. The benefits of hands-off environmental protection may seem self-evident. But creating a preserve and rebuilding a healthy ecosystem are not necessarily the same thing. A recent study published in Nature found that, more often than not, marine-protected areas don’t work as well as they could. Researchers with the University of Tasmania studied 87 marine-protected areas in 40 countries worldwide, and found that 59 percent of the areas were no better off than areas where fishing was allowed. The reasons for failure varied, but they boiled down to this: Not all marine-protected areas are alike. Some allow fishing; others forbid it. Some are managed well; others are managed badly. Some are relatively intact; others have been left barren by generations of overfishing. READ MORE
 
County acts on mangrove destruction
USA – Following a story we brought you earlier, the property owner who damaged a mangrove swamp on Manasota Key has been given a notice of violation and a strict plan as to how to correct the damage. It happened Saturday along Manasota Key Road. Dozens of mangroves were chopped down and a lagoon was starting to be filled in. Amy Meese, general manager of Sarasota County Natural Resources, is thankful destruction like that doesn't happen very often. "A habitat level impact like this is pretty rare." Sarasota County and the State of Florida, both of which designate the plant as protected, say it keeps shorelines from eroding and provides protection for the youngest of some species. “Mangroves are the nursery of our costal organisms. They go out into our coastal waters and represent the adult population.” READ MORE
 
The Prawn Goodbye
USA – Despite what hackneyed reality shows like Big Shrimpin’ and Ragin’ Cajuns would have you believe, the majority of our shrimp aren’t caught in the wild by mono-toothed shrimpers with names like Blimp and Pecker Head. They’re farm-raised in big, boring aquaculture ponds. For better or worse—probably worse, considering the system’s brutal environmental impact—this type of industrial shrimp farming has managed to sustain our growing craving for crustaceans over the past quarter century. But there’s something in the water: A mysterious, untreatable disease is laying waste to shrimp farms around the world, driving up prices and threatening your next scampi.Between Costco’s colossal cocktail platters, the Outback Steakhouse’s all-you-can-eat deals, and Red Lobster’s Shrimp Lover’s Tuesday, an average American consumes almost four pounds of shrimp a year—three times as much as they did 30 years ago and far more than any other seafood product. That translates into 1.2 billion pounds of delicious shrimp eaten in the United States every year, over 90 percent of which is imported. Increasingly, those shrimp are raised in aquaculture farms located in tropical parts of the world like Thailand, Indonesia, China, India, Mexico and Ecuador. READ MORE

LAST WORD
 
WHAT? No Last Word? We welocme your comments and letter.

~ WE WELOCME YOUR LETTERS – If you’d like to have the last word on this or any other mangrove related topic, please send us your submission for upcoming newsletters. We’ll choose one per issue to have “the last word”. While we can’t promise to publish everyone’s letter, we do encourage anyone to post comments on our Blog at www. mangroveactionproject.blogspot.com

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