Photo from Mei Lin's blog

“Once a year, four days after the full moon on the fourth month, our corals spawn” said Jeff during a recent briefing. Wow!

We were afraid that our corals wouldn’t be up to it due to the massive coral bleaching last year. But our corals did mass spawn again! Thanks to Mei Lin and Jeffrey Low for sharing photos and stories and video clips, we get a glimpse of what went on.

Read the rest of this blog.

Image: Tamara Shopsin and Jason Fulford

December 26, 2009
The New York Times

For the many disappointments of the recent climate talks in Copenhagen, there was at least one clear positive outcome, and that was the progress made on a program called Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Forest Degradation. Under this program, key elements of which were agreed on at Copenhagen, developing countries would be compensated for preserving forests, peat soils, swamps and fields that are efficient absorbers of carbon dioxide, the primary heat-trapping gas linked to global warming.

This approach, which takes advantage of the power of nature itself, is an economical way to store large amounts of carbon. But the program is limited in that it includes only those carbon sinks found on land. We now need to look for similar opportunities to curb climate change in the oceans.

Few people may realize it, but in addition to producing most of the oxygen we breathe, the ocean absorbs some 25 percent of current annual carbon dioxide emissions. Half the world’s carbon stocks are held in plankton, mangroves, salt marshes and other marine life. So it is at least as important to preserve this ocean life as it is to preserve forests, to secure its role in helping us adapt to and mitigate climate change.

Sea-grass meadows, for example, which flourish in shallow coastal waters, account for 15 percent of the ocean’s total carbon storage, and underwater forests of kelp store huge amounts of carbon, just as forests do on land. The most efficient natural carbon sink of all is not on land, but in the ocean, in the form of Posidonia oceanica, a species of sea grass that forms vast underwater meadows that wave in the currents just as fields of grass on land sway in the wind.

Worldwide, coastal habitats like these are being lost because of human activity. Extensive areas have been altered by land reclamation and fish farming, while coastal pollution and overfishing have further damaged habitats and reduced the variety of species. It is now clear that such degradation has not only affected the livelihoods and well-being of more than two billion people dependent on coastal ecosystems for food, it has also reduced the capacity of these ecosystems to store carbon.

The case for better management of oceans and coasts is twofold. These healthy plant habitats help meet the needs of people adapting to climate change, and they also reduce greenhouse gases by storing carbon dioxide. Countries should be encouraged to establish marine protected areas — that is, set aside parts of the coast and sea where nature is allowed to thrive without undue human interference — and do what they can to restore habitats like salt marshes, kelp forests and sea-grass meadows.

Managing these habitats is far less expensive than trying to shore up coastlines after the damage has been done. Maintaining healthy stands of mangroves in Asia through careful management, for example, has proved to cost only one-seventh of what it would cost to erect manmade coastal defenses against storms, waves and tidal surges.

The discussions in Copenhagen have opened the way for all countries to improve the management of oceans and coasts to harness their immense potential to mitigate climate change — especially over the next decade, while the world’s politicians, scientists and engineers develop longer-term strategies for stabilizing the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases.

In their continuing negotiations on climate change, nations should now make it a priority to produce a single map of the world that documents all the different types of coastal carbon sinks, and identify the ones that are in most immediate need of preservation. New studies should be undertaken to better understand how best to manage these areas to increase carbon sequestration. Then, following the example of the forests program, it will be possible to establish formulas for compensating countries that preserve essential carbon sinks in the oceans.

We urgently need to bring the ocean into the agenda alongside forests so that, as soon as possible, we can help the oceans to help us.

Last month, the Hantu Blog was invited to attend the Green Singapore 2050 Summit by the Singapore Environmental Council, to give a talk about Singapore’s coral reefs and why they should be protected. About 300 students from various primary and secondary schools in Singapore attended the 4-hr talk, and learned about a variety of issues like climate change, consumerist habits, waste management, and of course threats to coral reefs. It was a lot of stuff for 4-hrs!

The event was organised by Singapore’s Northwest Community Development Council. Apart from the Hantu Blog, other speakers present at the talk were Howard Shaw (above: left) from SEC, Ang Jian Zhong (above: right) from the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, and the founder of Green Kampong Nadya Hutagalung. Because of the diverse backgrounds each of the speakers were from, students got a nice grasp of all the little things that comprise the environment – from big things like air and water pollution, to the waste each of us generates, to the tinsy details about how each and every person can make a difference. Jian Zhong started off by giving a brief history of the Singapore environmental movement. He talked about the challenges a land scarce nation like Singapore is up against, and the technology and ideas that spawn from being confronted with such challenges.

Howard sproke briefly about brown issues in Singapore and his experience in the field of waste management. He encouraged the students to consider and pursue careers in environmental management, saying it is the industry of the future as many challenges lie ahead of us where the environment is concerned.

Nadya (left) gave a broader picture of environmental issues and how Singaporeans can relate to things that are happening on a global scale and how our efforts can have a universal impact. She spoke about her latest mission to inspire and educate people in Singapore about how it is possible to live a sustainable lifestyle within a highly consumerist society like ours, where cars are scrapped after 10 years and everything is served in disposable packaging.

She illustrated examples of how ordinary people from all walks of life can make big differences by changing the little things that they do on a daily basis.

The students were excited and had many questions for her during the question and answer session at the end of the 4 presentations.

Then my turn came along. I was the last speaker (below). Not only that, I was the 1st speaker after the tea break so everyone was buzzing and full of tea and sandwiches. Thankfully, because corals and naturally colourful and beautiful, and sea creatures are naturally curious-looking or cute, it wasn’t difficult to keep the students awake and listening. Students and teachers got a crash course on corals, reefs, and marine life in Singapore. It fascinated many students and teachers, who later got very excited at the possibility of watching some videos of marine life in Singapore, which Howard kindly made extra time for before the Q&A session. While fascinated, the reality and severity of the threats our reefs are faced with obviously rang some alarm bells amongst the students because a lot of questions were asked about what can be done to halt or prevent our reefs from disappearing, and how marine life can be protected from harm! It was delightful to have the students voicing out their concerns, and it’s very apparent that everyone wants to live in a future Singapore that is not only clean and beautiful, but at least still a little bit “wild”.

Event title: Nature is Changing: Copenhagen & Beyond – What does it mean for Asia?
Date/Time: 11 Nov 2009, 5-7pm
Venue: Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Auditorium, Level 3 Blk B, Faculty of Law, NUS Bukit Timah Campus, 469G Bukit Timah Road Singapore 259772
RSVP: Admission is free, but registration is required. To enable us to gauge attendance, do register online at http://www.siiaonline.org, or contact us 65164202/6134 or lkyspppl@nus.edu.sg.

SYNOPSIS
Nature is changing – more frequent and unpredictable violent storms, heat waves, forest fires, floods, droughts, retreating glaciers and ice sheets, rising sea levels – these are just a few examples of the impacts of Climate Change on the world today. As world leaders meet at the Conference of Parties in Copenhagen to agree on a global response to the problem, the whole world is grappling to understand what Climate Change means to us, and what we can do about it.

In this dialogue, experts from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) will explore the impacts of Climate Change on Asia’s people, economies and states. We will discuss issues affecting our environments from the Himalayas to the oceans. We will talk about the role of policy at global and national levels and its effectiveness in addressing these issues. Finally, we discuss the opportunities of nature-based solutions, and the positive actions Asian policy makers and the business community can take to improve Asia’s resilience to the impacts of Climate Change. Please come and discuss these topics with IUCN, raise your own concerns and explore possible responses to one of the most important issues affecting our lives today.

PROGRAMME
5.00-5.30 Registration
5.30-6.15 In Conversation with guests from the International Union for Conservation of Nature
Moderated by Assoc. Prof. Simon Tay, Chairman, Singapore Institute of International Affairs,
and Schwartz Fellow, Asia Society
6.15-7.00 Q&A session
Speaker(s):

Ms. Aban Marker Kabraji
IUCN Asia Regional Director

Ms. Aban Marker Kabraji has dedicated 20 years of her professional career to IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). Aban first joined IUCN as the Country Representative for Pakistan in 1988 for 11 years before initiating the establishment of an IUCN Asia Regional Office in Bangkok. Today, as the Director of IUCN Asia Regional Office she provides strategic leadership across ten countries and two expert groups covering a wide spectrum of thematic environmental programmes. Throughout her career, she has been actively involved in negotiating with governments in implementing international treaties and conventions (CBD, CITES, and Ramsar). She maintains a special interest in gender, social equity and security, to the extent of undertaking programme activities in politically less secure areas where other environmental organizations have found it difficult to work.

Dr. T. P. Singh, Ph.D
Regional Group Head, Ecosystems and Livelihoods, Bangkok

Dr. Singh is responsible for the development and management of IUCN’s regional programmes related to the areas of Forests, Wetlands & Water, Environmental law, Protected Areas, Business & Biodiversity, Climate Change and Energy. He is also involved in developing IUCN’s new country programmes in India and Indonesia. Dr. Singh has three decades of experience in the natural resource management sector. Trained initially in botany and forestry, Dr. Singh’s technical and research skills are interdisciplinary in nature covering sustainable development, community based natural resource management, rural livelihood systems, watershed management, forestry and climate change and policy analysis.

Mr. Ganesh Pangare
Water and Wetlands Programme Coordinator, IUCN Asia

Ganesh Pangare is the Coordinator for the Water and Wetlands Program, IUCN, Asia Regional Office. His main area of work during the past twenty years has been in people‐centered water interventions, such as indigenous water harvesting systems, micro‐watershed management, participatory irrigation management, urban water bodies, and wastewater management. Currently his main thrust of work is in the area of pro‐poor water sector reforms and policy at local, national, regional and global levels for livelihood and food security, with a focus on primary stakeholder participation.

Mr. Donald J. Macintosh, Ph.D.
Coordinator Mangroves for the Future (MFF), IUCN Asia Regional Office

Don Macintosh has more than 35 years experience in education, research and international development, including working experience in about 30 countries, plus teaching and research supervision of university post‐graduate students from countries in the Caribbean, African, Asian and Pacific regions. As Coordinator of MFF, Don Macintosh oversees management of the MFF Regional Secretariat and implementation of the initiative. MFF is a partnership-based and people-centered initiative to promote the health, well-being and security of the coastal communities living in the Greater Indian Ocean region. MFF involves more than 10 countries: Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Kenya, Maldives, Pakistan, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tanzania, Viet Nam.

Synopsis:
Global climate change is the biggest issue facing resource managers and poses a great challenge to businesses. Unless business adapts to changing resources, gives greater attention to sustainable behaviour and reduces the use of fossil fuel then there are risks. Here I review physical changes that are predicted to happen over the next 100 years, the impact of change on marine ecosystems, challenges to fisheries managers and novel approaches to dealing with climate change. Ocean pH, water temperature, currents, nutrient levels, strength of storms and sea levels are all projected to change over the next 100 years as a result of global warming. The impact of these physical stressors will vary by region and among types of organisms. Plants and animals are affected from the level of cell to entire ecosystems. I will present data from temperate and tropical waters of the Pacific on how patterns of growth of fishes and ranges will change. Even fishes that appear resistant to change can be affected by the collapse of key ecosystem functions. Coral reefs, the foundation of fisheries throughout the Pacific, are vulnerable to change and experiments demonstrate that the risk to reefs is greatest where exploitation of fishes is at a high level. Risk is not limited to the coastal belt, many islands of the Pacific are dependent on tuna for protein – changing oceanic currents can take fish away from traditional fishing grounds and nearby infrastructure for processing (e.g., canneries). Control of CO2 is still the biggest issue to reduce climate change. Innovative ways of making carbon neutral fuels and reducing methane emissions is working toward a solution and generating opportunity.

Bio: Michael J Kingsford
Michael is the Head of the School of Marine and Tropical Biology at James Cook University. The School is a recognized world leader in tropical marine science. He has been President of the Australian Coral Reef Society and Director of One Tree Island Research Station. He has published extensively on the ecology of reef fishes, jellyfishes, biological oceanography and climate change. His projects have encompassed a range of latitudes and he has edited two books on tropical and temperate ecology. A major focus of his research has been on connectivity of reef fish populations, environmental records in corals and fishes and deadly irukandji jellyfishes. In addition to research and leadership, he teaches undergraduate students and supervises many postgraduate students.

When: 29th October 2009, 07.00pm to 08.30pm
Where: Block A01-01
James Cook University Australia, Singapore Campus
600 Upper Thomson Road, Singapore 577421
Admission is Free! Light refreshments will be served.

What’s your oceans IQ?
Test your smarts on ocean science, fishing, climate change effects and more.

Know Your Marine Life?
How much do you know about what’s living in our oceans?

The ocean surface temperature was the warmest on record for July, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the US.

Incidentally, on 28 June 2009, the Hantu Blog recorded an underwater temperature of 31 degrees C, up from an average of 27.5 degrees C measured over the past 5 years.

Global ocean surface temperatures reached 17 degrees C in July 2009, just over 1 degree C higher than the 20th century average of 16.4 degrees C.

Land surface temperatures across the world were tied with 2003 as the ninth-warmest July on record, just under 1 degree F above the 20th century average of 57.8 degrees F (14.3 degree C).

The combined land and ocean surface temperatures for the month were the fifth-warmest since world-wide records began in 1880.

NOAA data also showed that the Arctic sea ice coverage was 12.7 per cent below the 1979-2000 average in July 2009. This is the third lowest July sea ice extent on record after 2007 and 2006.

Antarctic sea ice coverage in the same month was 1.5 per cent above the 199-2000 average.

The NOAA said July Arctic sea ice extent had decreased by 6.1 percent per decade since 1979, while July Antarctic sea ice extent had increased by 0.8 percent per decade over the same period.

SOURCE

This coral triangle covers 3.4 million square miles of ocean space stretching from the sea in the Philippines to Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and Solomon Islands. It is home to 75% of all known coral species and more than 3,000 species of fish. Without these coral reefs, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature says “the fish will eventually die” and the entire ocean ecosystem that some 120 million people in the region depend on “could collapse”.

Malaysia’s contribution to the fund is the most fitting gift to the world that celebrates the “World Oceans Day” that falls on June 8 each year. The WOD was first proposed by Canada during the Earth Summit in Rio Janeiro in 1992.

The theme for this year’s WOD celebration of “one ocean, one climate, one future” is very apt. It may sound semantic but contrary to geopolitical considerations, there is only one large ocean (not oceans). The concept of one ocean is similar to Najib’s 1Malaysia in terms of policy approach.

While the former treats the ocean as an integrated global common where everyone has a stake; the latter emphasises total commitment to nation building that promises a future for the rakyat regardless of race, colour, creed and ideological inclination.

For much of history, humanity has taken the ocean for granted, polluting the sea and treating its resources as inexhaustible. By pushing the natural limits of the ocean’s carrying capacity for far too long, the ocean has reached a stressful level. Large areas are deficient in oxygen and nutrients as a result of, among other things, overfishing, pollution, habitat degradation and ocean acidification.

Ignoring the importance of the ocean can be a great mistake. Not only does the ocean cover more than 70% of the planet on which we depend for security, medicines, food, resources, trade, jobs, and recreation, it also serves as a vast highway for commerce, logistics and communication.

The ocean also helps to mitigate global warming. Its currents circulate the energy and water that regulate the earth’s climate. The ocean is the world’s biggest carbon sink absorbing carbon dioxide and at the same time it helps with photosynthesis whereby the phytoplankton releases oxygen into the water. Half of the world’s oxygen is produced via phytoplankton photosynthesis.

In short, the ocean plays a critical role for life on the planet. Human activities are choking the sea and destroying the life-support system critical to their very survival. The strangulation of the ocean has crippled its invaluable services (estimated at a few trillion dollars annually). Without the ocean, one scientist laments, “Life as we know it would cease to exist.”

Many Malaysians take the sea for granted. Few realise that the sea is larger than its land mass by 1.4 times and it contributes around 20% of Malaysia’s Gross National Product. We consume fish that comes mainly from the sea (10% of world protein comes from marine fish); Petronas extracts oil and gas from the continental shelf (more than 20% of global supply of oil and gas is in offshore areas). More than 90% of our export (by volume) goes by sea and, the sea bridges the peninsula with Sabah and Sarawak.

More than 60% of Malaysians live within 30 miles of the coast; and, almost all the major tourist centres in Malaysia are by the seaside.

The military keeps reminding us that the sea is our first line of defence. The border is so porous that we need to remain extra vigilant to stop, for example, illegal immigrants, illegal fishing and other forms of intruders.

The Strait of Malacca, our strategic lifeline, is not only polluted (mainly from land sources), it is also getting very congested (mainly foreign vessels that use the strait to bypass the straits of Lombok and Makassar). According to a 2008 study by the Japan Institute of International Transport, the number of vessels passing through the Strait of Malacca in 2020 will exceed 113,000 vessels a year; 93,000 in 2007. The sheer number and density will interfere directly with our legitimate activities in the strait like fishing and recreation.

The cost to keep the strait open and safe will rise to billions of ringgit. The probability of accidents in the shallow parts of the strait is high as traffic density increases. Besides not all vessels that ply the strait use the 150 mile Vessels Traffic Separation Scheme from One Fathom Bank, off Port Klang, to Tg Piai, off Kukup in Johor waters.

The sea poses another security problem. While likelihood of conflicts from overlapping claims in the Spratlys is low, the nation needs to be ready to deal with the unexpected threats from non-traditional sources like the 2005 Tsunami that destroyed Aceh, maritime terrorism and piracy.

Regional mechanisms to deal with maritime threats from non-traditional sources need to be upgraded as a matter of urgency.

Yet despite a strong maritime heritage, its strategic significance and substantial economic value, Malaysia does not have a comprehensive national ocean policy. The need for a single national maritime governance agency for Malaysia is both compelling and pressing. Such an institution can help coordinate more efficiently the diverse activities that affect the sea. It can also help optimise the productivity of ocean resources and services. It can also help reduce the costly intra-agency conflicts (13 government maritime agencies).

Reorganising the administration system of the sea can reinforce Najib’s 1Malaysia programme.

Restructuring the governance mechanisms will not, in my view, result in political fallouts as the sea is politically neutral.

Malaysia should emulate Canada, Australia, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, US, Japan and South Korea, to name a few countries, which have special ocean laws and a single national maritime authority. The time is now for Malaysia to discard the label of a reluctant maritime nation. We should instead capitalise on our maritime attributes and heritage for a more assertive ocean governance policy.

Living in a global village, interconnected and held together by the sea, the poor state of health of the ocean must be a common concern. The challenge is how to make the sea more productive to reduce humanity’s vulnerability to climate change.

The Philippines is one of six countries comprising the Coral Triangle, which is the global epicenter of marine species diversity. PHOTO: DEBBY NG

Dubbed as “Puno ko, Sagip-Buhay Mo,” the project was spearheaded by the department of Agriculture (DA) through the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in support of the observance of the Farmers and Fisherfolk Month.

President Arroyo planted “bani” – a local term for a beach tree species —- in a reclaimed area in Dapitan City along with 2,000 fisherfolk, students, local officials, and members of various organizations.

Mrs. Arroyo stressed the importance of planting trees and solid waste disposal in mitigating climate change.

“Trees give off oxygen while breathing in carbon dioxide. Decaying waste produces methane which contributes more to global warming than carbon dioxide,” she stressed.

The Philippines is one of six countries comprising the Coral Triangle, which is the global epicenter of marine species diversity. The other countries are East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia (Sabah), Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.

Mangrove areas are considered a bridge between terrestrial and marine environments since they form the base of many marine food webs and serves as home to a wide variety of marine and terrestrial life. They help protect coral reefs by trapping sediments that otherwise would smother and kill the corals.

The Philippines and Indonesia together hold a massive 77 percent of the Coral Triangle’s coral reefs. Studies show that sedimentation and pollution associated with coastal development and changes in land use puts 37 percent of the region’s reefs and marine habitat at risk.

BFAR director Malcolm I. Sarmiento, Jr. said for this year, the collaborative undertaking aims to plant some 300,000 mangrove propagules and 100,000 tree saplings in at least 30 coastal and watershed areas across the country.

Sarmiento said in Quezon alone, at least 10 coastal municipalities had joined the bandwagon targeting to plant 50,000 propagules along the southern part of Lamon Bay (Atimonan, Calauag, Gumaca, Lopez, Perez, Plaridel, Quezon and Alabat), Tayabas Bay (Sariaya) and Ragay Gulf (Tagkawayan).

Mangroves are also man’s first line of defense against tsunamis, the occurrence of which are now becoming more frequent due to climate change. Tsunamis do not only threaten the lives of coastal communities but also wreak havoc on properties and livelihood among the coastal dwellers mostly fisherfolk, he said.

“Considering the current state of atmospheric changes in the planet due to climate change, mangrove helps in reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that results to global warming. As such, mangrove, next to rainforest is considered a major carbon sink of the planet,” Sarmiento said.

May is also considered Farmers’ and Fisherfolk’s Month in recognition of and as tribute to the important contribution of these basic sectors to our economy, he added.

PHOTO: DEBBY NG

WASHINGTON – A new research by scientists has determined that the Pacific Ocean, occupying a third of the planet’s area, faces threats that will render some coastal areas uninhabitable.

According to a report in ENN (Environmental News Network), pollution such as sewage, runoff from land and toxic waste; habitat destruction; over-fishing; and climate change leading to sea level rise, ocean acidification and warming will all interact to damage the ocean’s ecology and coastal economies.

These are among the findings of ‘Pacific Ocean Synthesis,’ a report by the US-based Center for Ocean Solutions (COS) that reviewed more than 3,400 scientific articles and reports from 50 countries in the Pacific basin.

The study divided the Pacific Ocean into seven regions, revealing threats and potential solutions for each.

Widely applicable solutions include capacity building in ocean management, efforts to adapt to climate change and reduce over fishing, and using information technologies to monitor and share information, according to Noah Idechong, a COS researcher from the Pacific Island of Palau.

“All should be high priority,” he said.

“Synthesizing information gives us a good idea of what is happening (in the Pacific Ocean). I think one of the most important findings is that so much (research) has been done,” he added.

The report also summarizes various gaps in research, such as insufficient information about different pollution effects, the need for standardized biodiversity and water quality monitoring and poor information about the socioeconomic effects of sea surface temperature rises.The capacity to analyze and communicate information, and to make use of monitoring systems to network and share solutions, is one of the gaps that nations should work on,” said Idechong.

According to Meg Caldwell, COS executive director, the report is an important tool for policymakers.

“This (report) represents a vast information resource about what is occurring in the individual countries,” she said.

Hundreds of scientists have already signed a consensus statement, ‘Ecosystems and people of the Pacific Ocean – Threats and opportunities for action’.

It warns that, left unchecked, the threats could have “devastating consequences for coastal economies, food supplies, public health and political stability”.

Source: The Gaea News

As a part of the campaign, four Not-For-Profit organisation will be featured in the homepage of Lead The Action website ,for its contribution on environmental conservation, for 30 days effective from 5th June 2009. We would also feature two best campaigns and four photos on global warming in our featured campaign and photos.

Featured Not-For-Profit
To feature your organisation, kindly register your organisation in Lead The Action with its complete profile including your organisations logo, functionaries, operational area and complete contact details. Also please send us a write up of not more than 300 words on why your organisation should be featured.

Featured Campaign
To feature your campaign, register as a member in Lead The Action and upload an image and a brief description on ‘What best you can do to save our planet from global warming’. The featured campaign on global warming is open for participation to both individuals and organisations.

Featured Photos
To feature your photo, register as a member in Lead The Action and upload images depicting global warming .Best featured photograph is open for participation to both individuals and organisations.

There are no charges for registration. Organisations participating in the featured Not-For-Profit, can email their write up of not more than 300 words to rebika@leadtheaction.com. Last date for entry is 3 June 2009.

A diver swims near coral reefs teeming with fishes in Komodo islands, Indonesia, on April 30. About 100 million people risk losing homes and livelihoods unless drastic steps are taken to protect Southeast Asia’s biologically diverse coral reefs, which could be wiped out in coming decades because of climate change, a World Wildlife Fund report said May 13.

MANADO, Indonesia – About 100 million people risk losing their homes and livelihoods unless drastic steps are taken to protect Southeast Asia’s coral reefs, which could be wiped out in coming decades because of climate change, a report says.

The Coral Triangle – which spans Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East Timor – accounts for a third of the world’s coral reefs and 35 percent of coral reef fish species.

If carbon emissions are not cut by 25 to 40 percent by the year 2020, higher ocean temperatures could kill off vast marine ecosystems and half the fish in them, according to the World Wildlife Fund, which warned that 100 million people earning a living off the sea could be forced to leave inundated coastlines and find new jobs.

The group, which presented its 220-page study at the World Ocean Conference in mid-May, cited 300 published scientific studies and 20 climate change experts.

“Decisive action must be taken immediately, or a major crisis will develop,” the report said.

“Hundreds of thousands of unique species, entire communities and societies will be in jeopardy,” it said.

Scientists have long warned that higher temperatures will melt polar ice and cause sea levels to rise, wiping out island communities and coastal ecosystems. Increasing carbon dioxide is also making oceans increasingly acidic, eroding sea shells, bleaching coral and killing other marine life.

But many questions remain about oceans – which also can play an important part in absorbing carbon – partly because the technology to study them is relatively new.

“We are looking to promote better understanding of the role of the ocean in the climate system,” said Mary M. Glackin, U.S. deputy undersecretary for oceans and atmosphere. “It’s really a web of life. So you need to be concerned about the very smallest thing up to the very high predators.”

“The acidity that will be impacting some of those species could really have ripple-through effects,” she added.

Fish living in the coral reefs, mangroves and sea grass ecosystems in Southeast Asia generate $3 billion in annual income through commercial fishing, provide coastal protection from high waves and give food security to millions of the world’s poorest families.

In addition to climate change, marine ecosystems are being eroded by pollution, declining water quality, overfishing and destructive fishing techniques.

Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago, said it isn’t going to stand by and wait for disaster.

It has officially launched a new, protected marine park in the Coral Triangle with a unique and varied ecosystem that is considered to be especially resilient to rising sea temperatures.

The park, an area about the size of the Netherlands, is a major migratory corridor and home to 14 whale species, as well as dolphins, dugongs, manta rays and sea turtles. It also has a high concentration of iridescent coral, fish, crustaceans, mollusks and plants.

“If well-managed, this park has the capability to support sustainable fisheries and to ensure food security” for up to 2 million people in the region, said Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Freddy Numberi.

The five-day oceans conference in Manado was aimed at shaping scientific debate about the role of oceans ahead of a U.N. climate change meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December.

That meeting will discuss a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

Source: The Durango Herald

Fishermen unloading a tuna catch at Bali's Jimbaran fishing village. Overfishing and abuse of the marine ecosystem are adversely affecting a vast region in South-east Asia known as the Coral Triangle. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Marine world faces collapse due to unbridled and destructive fishing

BANGKOK: – In the humid tropical dawn, the boats begin to arrive, unloading their plastic baskets of fish, shrimp, squid and crabs.

Wiry tattooed men sort them, working among slabs of gleaming ice. Many of the fish are still flipping about; the crabs are tightly bound with plastic string. They have been caught by the fishermen – or have come from trawlers lying offshore.

Steel hooks are used to drag the baskets up to the Mahachai market, where they join fat prawns from farms along the coast. Much of the landed catch is bought by seafood processors and restaurant owners; Mahachai feeds Thailand’s seafood industry and the voracious Bangkok market. Thailand is the world’s largest producer of canned seafood.

Sitting on his boat after unloading two baskets of fish, squid and shrimp – the product of two whole days at sea – 46-year-old father of four Sayan Taengpoo, a fisherman for more than 20 years, says industrial development in the region has worsened water quality, and catches are down from 10 years ago.

An increase in market prices of seafood had been offset by higher increases in the cost of fuel and maintenance. It all combined to make his job harder, he said.

Mr Viroj Limsnit, managing director of major exporter Narong Seafood, whose office is near the market, said the catch has been declining.

‘The simple reason is overcatching in the past and lack of control over natural resources in Thai waters,’ he said.

The relatively shallow Gulf of Thailand is one of the most heavily fished seas in the world. Thai fishermen have, over the last 15 years, had to venture to Oman, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia and Vietnam under fishing rights licences.

‘Fees keep on increasing, and implementation of strict rules and regulation makes our foreign fishing more difficult,’ said Mr Viroj. ‘In 2007, Indonesia stopped issuing fishing licences to foreign vessels.’

The problem cuts across the region – and indeed the world. Across the planet’s seas, mechanised fishing vessels are now estimated to number about 2.1 million, the nationality of many thousands of them listed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as ‘unknown’.

Industrial-scale trawlers have devastated the seas, severely affecting the livelihood of tens of millions of local small-scale fishermen.

In parts of the Philippines whose seas have been overfished by both Filipinos and foreigners, these fishermen bring in a paltry 3,000 pesos (S$92) a month.

Across the world, trawlers are chasing fewer and fewer fish. And as the large in-demand marketable fish disappear, sea creatures lower down the food chain initially thrive because of fewer predators.

But long lines and nets, often hauled by several ships, rake the seabed indiscriminately, scooping up every living creature.

For every kilo that reaches markets like Thailand’s Mahachai, more than 10kg – and sometimes up to 100kg – has been thrown away as unmarketable ‘bycatch’.

‘The sea bottom has probably suffered considerable damage, made even worse by the disposal of large quantities of unwanted catch,’ a recently released report on Indonesia’s Arafura sea noted.

Shallow tropical waters suffer from the twin pressures of a large and growing population of local fishermen, and industrial-scale fishing, much of it unregulated.

Indonesia loses an estimated US$2 billion (S$3 billion) a year to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

The most recent State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report of the FAO estimates that over half a billion people are involved in the fishing and aquaculture industries, mostly in Asia.

Worldwide, fish provides around 15 per cent of average per capita animal protein intake. In many small developing nations as well as in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Equatorial Guinea, French Guiana, the Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Indonesia, it is as high as 50 per cent.

But scientific studies have determined that the marine environment is in a state of collapse. If immediate measures are not taken, within about 50 years – the lifetime of today’s children and teenagers – the seafood spreads we are used to will be reduced to a few artificially farmed species and lots of jellyfish.

In 2006, Dr Sylvia Earle, who this month won the coveted Rachel Carson award honouring pioneering conservationists, warned of an unfolding ‘conservation tragedy of epic proportions’.

‘We have turned to the deep oceans in our increasingly relentless and destructive pursuit of the dwindling supply of seafood,’ she wrote.

In February this year, she said: ‘In 50 years, we have eaten more than 90 per cent of the big fish in the sea. Nearly half of the coral reefs have disappeared.’

European seas are worse off than those in Asia. And just as Taiwanese, Japanese and Chinese trawlers plunder the open ocean as their own seas lie empty, Europe has been exporting the destruction of bottom-trawling fishing to African waters.

Stockholm-based Isabella Loevin, author of the book Silent Sea – who is running for election to the European Parliament next month under the Green Party banner, told The Straits Times on the phone: ‘Twenty per cent of the European Union’s subsidies for fishermen goes to buying fishing rights in Third World countries, for instance in Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Senegal.

‘We used to have a fisheries agreement with Senegal up to 2006, and stopped because the waters were overfished, there was no fish left to catch.

‘The root of the fisheries agreements is the fact that we have been overfishing our own waters for decades. At the same time, you have a growing appetite for fish in Europe. Now, one quarter of the fish that comes to Europe, comes from these agreements.

‘There is legal fishing, but who knows how many are fishing illegally, because these countries have no capacity in terms of coast guard or surveillance.’

Bangkok-based coastal ecologist Gaya Sriskanthan said: ‘It’s all down to governments, enforcement and political will; we need some sort of rigorous global fisheries mechanism.’

It is not just an overfishing catastrophe. The oceans are littered with discarded nets and garbage; in one place in the Pacific floats a mass of plastic waste 10m deep and larger than France.

Pollution and global warming are acidifying the sea, killing corals.

And as the fish die out, the seafood industry, in an increasingly vicious circle, turns to the coast to cultivate prawns – in the process destroying mangroves which, together with coral reefs, are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth.

‘Our fate and (that of) the ocean, are one,’ said Dr Earle.

‘Nothing else will matter if we fail to protect the ocean. For the children of today, for tomorrow’s child, as never again, now is the time.’

Source: The Straits Times 30 May 2009

SW Pacific 2009 photographic evidence clearly shows algae in a green line between dead and healthy coral. (Source: John C Fairfax)

World Ocean Conference and Coral Triangle Initiative participants should urgently consider nutrient pollution is killing coral as photographic evidence indicates, not CO2 induced climate change. Wrong diagnosis can be fatal.

World Wildlife Fund and recent Indonesia CTI conference effort must focus on sanitation and proper sewage treatment to overcome nutrient pollution that is feeding algae that in turn is suffocating coral polyps.

Raw sewage is categorically being dumped in uncontrolled and unprecedented quantity into ocean food web nursery waters. Human sewage nutrients are adding to natural nutrient load, the total sometimes forming destructive nutrient pollution. Nutrients are bonded to fresh water that as fresher salt water is being transported in streaming patches within wind-driven ocean surface current. Coastal alongshore current is concentrating and streaming the dumped nutrients over vast distance to other waters, then sometimes nation to nation. Streams and clouds of fresher water with bonded nutrients in the ocean are travelling similar to how moisture clings together in streaks and patches of clouds blown by wind in the sky. The nutrients, like rain, are not always a problem. When heavily polluted fresher salt water saturates an area the over-supply of nutrients feeds and proliferate algae that smothers and kills coral and seagrass food web nursery.

Whole reefs are being smothered with invasive algae killing numerous corals in a single event. Nutrient pollution is also killing individual coral amongst healthy coral that survives until more pollution arrives. New coral sometimes grows in previously devastated areas. Destructive algae growth appears to switch on and off according to nutrient load presence.

Alga thrives in warm water. Without knowledge of nutrient pollution, some scientists see coral bleaching or whitening a result of global warming.

News about coral thriving in one area can be confusing but explained by understanding different water currents, natural nutrient runoff and human population density locations. Coral generally worldwide is not thriving. An estimated 80% of coral has already been lost from the Caribbean, 40% in the ‘triangle’, and considerable remaining coral looks very sick.

For some unexplained reason the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef and damage there is not included in the CTI. Australian interim conservation status for the GBR is not enough. There is need for whole-of-ecosystem science and solutions. Triangles involve geometry, not biology. Politics involves lack of common sense however the CTI is a brilliant initiative.

SW Pacific 2009 photographic evidence clearly shows algae in a green line between dead and healthy coral (photo attached). When algae moves further into live polyps or dies, bacteria takes over until only lime skeleton remains. Photographs of algae on coral need to be closely examined like a doctor examines an x-ray. Close examination shows green or red algae or bacteria or dead coral where healthy polyps with zooanthellae alga should live. Invasive algae appears to smother and quickly suffocate the essential zooanthellae algae that feeds the coral building animal.

Nutrient pollution is also proliferating algae and epiphyte growth that is smothering absolutely vital estuary and bay and lagoon seagrass on which baitfish and other ocean animals depend. Older people can indicate where seagrass no longer exists amongst mangroves and in bays. Once thriving long seagrass habitat area is now just mud. Seagrass generally is devastated. Seagrass and the devastation and baitfish have been virtually ignored however some studies in the Mediterranean have indicated 400 square meters of seagrass can support 2,000 tonnes of fish annually. Some ‘seagrass watching’ is now occurring but the science is years behind. Seagrass often depends on coral for sheltered lagoon habitat.

Baitfish are seagrass dependent. Baitfish catches for indigenous islander staple food consumption and for commercial fishing bait have not been measured, recorded or managed. Baitfish are vitally important but do not even appear on government agency fish species posters. Knowledge is essential but relevant resources are lacking.

Seagrass and coral is naturally rare considering size of the entire world ocean. Seagrass is found only in estuaries bays and lagoons. Seagrass is absolutely important like lining in a womb supplying a placenta to feed life. Pilchards, herring, anchovies and other baitfish including some squid depend on seagrass. Seagrass is the nursery for post-larval baitfish. Tuna and even baleen plankton-feeding whales and other ocean animals depend on baitfish. Unprecedented mass starvation of seabirds has been occurring. Evidence indicates some whale stranding may be due to primary starvation, weakness, a mammal’s fear of drowning and instinct to find shallower water. Only one or a few may be weak but panic and cry brings in the pod.

Evidence of nutrient pollution feeding algae already killing and devastating coral and seagrass is substantiated with stronger evidence than evidence of CO2 causing climate change. Priority is apparent and becomes obvious with consideration of already occurring and rapidly worsening impact of world ocean protein food devastation.

In Solomon Islands there has been a recent 69% increase in maternal mortality and the modern day increase coincides with development of traditional fish staple depletion and impact including chronic poverty, malnutrition and anaemia. Many people who used to eat free fresh fish 3 times daily every day if desired, now eat fish only 3-4 times monthly. Many people worldwide can no longer afford fish. Cost of fish has increased due to depletion. Fish depletion is an unacknowledged cause of inflation worldwide.

Empirical fact evidence indicates traditional available fish resource devastation in Solomon Islands has resulted in fundamental collapse of subsistence barter trade leading to anger, argument, fights, recrimination, civil unrest, coup and riot. Fiji political problems are linked to fish depletion and associated poverty. Fish devastation-linked malnutrition amongst river and coastal people in PNG, Philippines and throughout Asia Pacific islands has consequences that burden people and government. Amongst it all, Solomon Islands is one of only two nations with the most diverse marine species that even form a last natural ecotourism attraction of the world.

United States of America security intelligence and/or other lead nations must embrace nutrient pollution impact and consequences involving world food supply unrest that is threatening peace. Urgent solutions are essential. Hunger drives anger that drives unrest and even terrorism. Prosperity preventing unrest is obviously better than war. Economists must consider and realize there is not enough spare arable land to grow food to feed aquaculture to replace economically available, entire ocean fish supply. Aquaculture can not viably sustain supply of large quantities of low cost food the majority of people need.

The United Nations must embrace education about the whole marine environment and associated economics of world food supply solutions, including worldwide sanitation and proper sewage treatment.

Dynamite and logging and ‘overfishing’ are not the problem because when these activities stop the fish stocks do not usually recover. American Indian Billy Frank Jr knows well about importance of water habitat, his non scientific but indigenous insistence helping recovery of north Pacific salmon. This man could inspire sustainability of SI and world ocean fisheries.

Priority of problems and solutions must be urgently assessed. CO2 aggravated global warming is not the cause of coral or seagrass or fish devastation and History must never record otherwise. The Hokkaido herring fishery collapsed by the early 1920′s and the Californian sardine fishery finished by 1962.

Coral devastation must be urgently seen as a symptom of catastrophe involving entire ocean food devastation that must be reversed immediately to prevent protein famine and disease and unrest and war. Consequence of food and land shortage is known.

Source: Solomon Times