Over the weekend, Hantu Blog divers were disappointed but curious at the baby blacktip reef shark that was fished out of the waters along Pulau Hantu’s reefs by a local recreational fisherman.

Blacktip reef sharks Carcharhinus melanopterus, can be found throughout tropical and warm temperate seas. None of the divers on our boat, including myself, have ever seen a blacktip shark while diving in local waters. They are swift in the water, and more camouflaged than they seem when looked at from within the water.

They are of the most common sharks found in shallow (sometimes as shallow as 30 cm) water around Indo-Pacific reefs and are found only in the ocean, not venturing into fresh water bodies such as lakes and rivers. They also prefer warm waters between 20-27degC.

According to the fisherman, he caught the young shark whilst fishing off the waterbreaks that form a perimeter around the two Hantu islands. Looking at the first photo (top left), its claspers are clearly visible, indicating it is a young male. Though they are rarely sighted by divers, blacktip reef sharks have been known to get entangled in discarded fishing nets around the Southern islands when the nets get snagged in the coral reef. Because there are no fishing laws or marine protection laws or policies in Singapore, anything caught in the sea is fair game, unregulated and unrecorded.

Blacktip reef sharks prey mainly on reef fish, but they will also feed on rays, crustaceans, cephalopods, and other molluscs.

When they are born, blacktip reef sharks are anywhere between 33-52cm so the individual in the picture probably hasn’t been around in this world for too long. Reproduction is viviparous (this means that the eggs are incubated inside the mother as opposed to laying eggs the way nurse sharks and bamboo sharks do). Before giving birth, female blacktip reef sharks will incubate their young for 16 months. 4-6 pups may be delivered in a litter.

This is the first time I’ve split a Blog Log into two. It was hard to decide which pictures to highlight and which to just leave in the gallery for you to explore on your own. I decided every critter plays an important part not just on the reef but their records are nearly all as important and it’s hard to guess how readers like yourself will be inspired by what you see here on the Blog. Above are 2 of several colourful fish on the reef and both very photogenic and less skittish then some of the fishes you saw in Part 1 of this Blog Log. Left-Right: Copper-banded butterflyfish and Tomato clown anemonefish.

Though they used to be common as recently as the late 80s, its hard to find large gorgonian corals (also known as seafans) in the reefs around Hantu (large seafans can still be found in the islands further south of Hantu). Whatever corals that remain are fighting hard to survive the challenging environmental conditions that are constantly changing. They provide unique habitats for specialised creatures and of course beautify the reef. Because of their intricate patterns, they were extensively harvested to supply the aquarium trade and also as curio items. Left-Right: Gorgonian coral and detail.

Icon seastar - the most beautiful seastar, to me anyways. On my very first dive in Hantu over 5 years ago, I was left unquided to wander intrepidly in the murky waters. I didn’t know what to look out for or where to go. The ONLY creature I saw was this seastar, which has for me, lived up to its name. Mesmerised by its beautiful mosaic outline, and also compounded by the fact that I’d never seen such a seastar anywhere in the world before, I felt our reefs possessed something unique, something worth educating others about, and definitely, was something worth exploring. Today, this seastar, like several species of corals, is threatened by the curio trade. Without marine protection laws in Singapore, anything is finders keepers.

Left-Right: Algae bloom and coral bleaching. Some parts of the reef are suffering algal blooms or bleaching. Though these are both natural processes, if they happen too fast or are accelerated by human-influenced environmental changes, they could have a severe impact on the reef. Algae, which grows very fast, competes with the coral for space and sunlight. Bleaching occurs when for various reasons, the zooxanthellae (a kind of algae living in the coral tissue that gives the coral it’s colour) leaves the transparent tissue of the coral, leaving us to only see the white colour of its skeleton. Without the zooxanthellae, the coral’s growth is reduced because its unable to get the extra sugars that are secreted by the zooxanthellae when they photosynthesize. When it’s unable to compete with faster growing organisms like algae, the reef structure begins to disintergrate. After a coral is bleached, it does not mean it is dead and if conditions become favourable the zooxanthellae can return to the coral’s tissue again.

Despite some areas tat have been damaged, most of the reef appears to have much healthy looking coral such as these Mushroom corals that are the largest coral polyps and which are also “free-living”. That means they can move themselves on the reef unlike other corals (such as those below) that remain fixed onto the reef.

Healthy submassive corals - Left-Right: Bubble coral and Goniopora coral

More pictures at The Hantu Blog Gallery

Toh Chay Hoon, Hantu Blog diver and nudibranch enthusiast

Pulling into the shallow reef of Hantu this Sunday during the low tide required some careful maneuvering by our skipper. Thankfully, we had Hup Heng at the helm, who’s only been navigating local waters for the past several decades! As soon as we plunged into the water, Chay Hoon (above photo) looks to me and exclaims that the water temperature (that’s usually between 27-29degC) was at a searing 33degC! We confirm this later when we check with another volunteer who’s computer also reads 33degC.


Wandering about the depths that actually weren’t as murky as they looked on the surface (or have I just got too used to the low visibility!?), the weekend began with tiny little critters such as this perfectly camouflaged crustacean on a whip coral (left). The photograph next to it shows a whip shrimp, another well camouflaged crustacean. The whip coral has its feeding tentacles extended and helps the shrimp seem more invisible.

There was also a massive crinoid perched right on top of a large boulder with its legs or feeding arms widely spread, taking in all the tiny little bits of yummy plankton. Crinoids are also known as featherstars or sea lilies.

Crinoids are capable of swimming (or walking!) about by undulating their “arms” and are sometimes found with a small crustacean known as a squat lobster. Though it’s called a “lobster”, they look more like crabs. Crinoids are a kind of echinoderm, related to sea cucumbers, sea urbins, and seastars (starfish). Other divers managed to spot a squat lobster during this dive but I was snooping around elsewhere so missed the action and the chance of photographing it!

What I initially thought was one sea slug turned out to be two sea slugs, resting close to each other along the side of a boulder. The lines and patterns on their bodies really do help to break the outline of its shape when they’re huddled together like that! The thumbnails show other Phyllidia seaslugs that were spotted during the dive.

Above are some shots of crinoids hanging out with other marinelife such as (from top left) a sea fan, black coral, and a juvenile on a whip coral. Crinoids can be found in an array of different colours but the variety most commonly spotted in our reefs are a maroon colour, which really makes them stand out! Come crinoids also like to hide in nooks and crannies within the reef during the day time and crawl out of their holes at night.

A detailed look at the polyps on a black coral. Black coral is a threatened species. It has for centuries been harvested for the manufacture of jewelery and other accessories. Unlike other corals it has a black skeleton.

We managed to spot a few Ceratosoma nudibranches. The most commonly encountered one in our reefs is the Slender ceratosoma. From the two above pictures you can see that their colours may vary slightly.

Certain individuals can get really large! Here, Chay Hoon photographs a Ceratosoma nudibanch. You may be able to estimate its size relative to her camera!

Just after I spotted the Ceratosoma nudibranch, Volunteer Dive Guide Pei Min pointed out this Giant Reef cuttlefish to me. It didn’t seem too bothered to be photographed and at a point even extended its arms. It might’ve looked like it was yawning or stretching but my guess it that it probably spotted a prey in the murky water and was about to snatch it out of the water but didn’t in the end. Cuttlefish, like squid, have both arms and tentacles. The tentacles are the two longer arms that you only see when it’s about to snatch its prey. Hidden beneath those arms is a pair of formidable beaks that resembles the beak of a parrot.

The first dive of the day ended with these two fish. On the left is a brightly-coloured and very dangerous though very beautiful Blue-spotted Ray, and on the left is a what I thought was a Kite butterflyfish Parachaetodon ocellatus, but was later informed it is a Golden-girdled or Orange-banded coralfish Coradion chrysozonus. Marine biologist and PhD Candidate Jeffrey Low informed me that it is one of just five butterflyfish that have been recorded in Singapore. And like the Parachaetodon, it is not as common as the copperbanded and 8-barred butterflyfish. This shy fish is usually found solitary or in pairs, over reefs and also in estuaries. It feeds on coral polyps and small invertebrates. Though is it a popular aquarium fish, they are less often sighted in in the reefs and are difficult to photograph due to their skittishness.

(To be continued)

Indonesia’s marine tourism revenue reached US$2 billion per year and the country earned around US$2.2 billion from fish exports in 2008, Indonesia’s Antara news agency quoted Alfred Nakatsuma, director of the Environment office of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as saying recently.

Oceans are the source of most rainfall, regulate the earth’s temperatures and wind patterns, clean the water the people drink, offer a pharmacopoeia of potential medicines, and generate most of the oxygen the people breathe.

Healthy and functioning oceans provide essential services to human communities that support economic well-being and human health to inlude providing food, shoreline protection, a source of non living resources for energy and trade, recreation and culture.

The world’s ocean and climate are inextricably linked: the ocean plays a crucial role in maintaining the Earth’s climate, and ocean life is vulnerable to climate change, which could among other things trigger sea-level rise.

“Likewise, in our interconnected world, the ocean affects us and we affect the ocean,” according to the Ocean Project in its press release observing the first World Ocean Day themed “one ocean, one climate, one future”, on June 8, 2009.

The world’s oceans and seas are now understood to be the biggest sink of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels.

Indeed experts now estimate that up to 40 per cent of the C02 entering the atmosphere is being cycled through the marine environment playing a crucial role in moderating climate change.

The oceans play a vast role in countering climate change - they are our ‘blue’ forests, according to Achim Steiner, executive director of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in his message prior to the implementation of the First World Ocean Conference held in Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, May 11-15, 2009.

However, the situation regarding oceans and coastal areas as well as marine biodiversity is worse than people thought.

Oceans which were very important, were very distressed among other things because of overfishing, over exploitation, pollution, and global warming as well as climate change.

“We have to improve the health of our oceans,” Steiner said.

“They have to be as fit and resilient as possible, so that they can cope with the climate change burden– so they can continue to provide us with food and the myriad of other economically-important services,” he stated.

This means governments have to urgently address the multiple challenges weakening oceans and seas, from land based pollution and discharges from ships up to over exploitation of the globe’s vital fisheries, fueled in large part by perverse and wasteful subsidies totaling up to $35 billion a year, he said.

Currently somewhere around 12 per cent of the land is held in protected areas, but less one per cent of the marine environment enjoys such status so this needs to change as soon as possible, the UNEP chief urged.

He also called for investments in adaptation, rehabilitation, rejuvenation and resilience of coastal ecosystems, from mangroves to coral reefs and wetlands, to generate significant returns in respect to climate-proofing economies.

These include protecting vulnerable communities against storms surges and sea level rise while also helping to soak up greenhouse gas emissions; filter pollution and improve the health of fisheries.

And perhaps, just over the horizon, there is an even bigger prize’a way to make the oceans part of the carbon market options. Rewarding countries that sustainable manage them to boost their climate combating role and productivity would seem well worth exploring,” he said.

Indonesia, as one of the world’s largest maritime countries with about 5.8 million square kilometers of marine territory, last May 11-15, 2009, organized the first World Ocean Conference (WOC), in Manado, North Sulawesi, bringing together experts and officials from over 70 countries.

The developing countries are hit worst by the impact of climate change because they depend more on natural resources, according to Nakatsuma, when speaking to journalists participating in the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) Workshop on “The Role of the Media in Preserving the Global Environment”, which was organized on the sidelines of the WOC.

The developed countries, however, depended more on industries and information services than on natural resources, he said.

Coastal communities, mainly in small island states, are deemed the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change, mainly due to rising sea levels. Indonesia has around 17,000 islands, and only five of them are big islands, while some of its small islands have already vanished or may disappear due to the human-induced sea level rise.

The WOC issued a Manado Declaration (MOD) which required countries to promote sustainable ocean management and ocean conservation. It also pushed ocean issues as an agenda at the United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen in December 2009.

The MOD also will strive to reduce pollution of ocean, coastal and land areas and to promote sustainable management of fisheries, as well as stress the need to promote affordable, environmentally sound, and renewable ocean technologies and know-how, particularly in developing countries.

As part of the WOC, a summit of Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) member countries — Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Island, and Timor Leste - was held and attended also by observer countries such as the US and Australia.

The countries agreed to launch a programme on the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Securities and Adaptation to Climate Change (CTI-CFFC).

Among the CTI countries expressing their commitment for the programme, were Indonesia with financial contribution amounting to US$5 million, PNG US$2 million, the Philippines US$5 million, and Malaysia US$1 million, the ministry said.

In addition to the above-mentioned commitments, there were also the USA with committed funds amounting to US$41.6 million (US$1.6 million, Global Environment Facilities (GEF) amounting US$63 million, and Australia amounting Aus$2 million.

Indonesian delegates attended the Bonn climate conference in Germany hosted by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) this week with a clear agenda of ensuring ocean issues are incorporated into climate talks to help save millions of coastal people from the brunt of global warming, in the upcoming Copenhagen climate conference.”

The world’s attentions and commitments to heal the oceans reflect the importance of the world’s oceans to Planet Earth’s health.

As a further step of Indonesia’s care for the oceans, an Indonesian delegation promoted the incorporation of ocean issues in an international meeting on climate change held in Bonn, Germany, June 1-12, 2009, which was undertaken by the United Nations Framework of Climate Change (UNFCCC) in preparing COP-15 UNFCCC in Copenhagen, December 2009.

Source

Sharks are vulnerable because they can take decades to mature and they produce few young. The scalloped hammerhead shark, which has declined by 99% over the past 30 years in some parts of the world, is particularly vulnerable and has been given globally endangered status on the red list, which means it is nearing extinction. In the Gulf of Mexico, the oceanic whitetip shark has declined by a similar amount.

Scientists estimate that shark populations in the northwest Atlantic Ocean have declined by an average of 50% since the early 1970s.

Announcing the red list of open-ocean or “pelagic” sharks and rays today, scientists called on governments to set limits for catching the animals on the high seas and to enforce strict bans on “finning” - the practice of catching sharks, cutting off their fins and throwing the bodies back in the water.

“Despite mounting threats, sharks remain virtually unprotected on the high seas,” said Sonja Fordham, deputy chair of the shark specialist group at the IUCN and policy director for the Shark Alliance. “The vulnerability and lengthy migrations of most open-ocean sharks call for coordinated, international conservation plans. Our report documents serious overfishing of these species in national and international waters, and demonstrates a clear need for immediate action on a global scale.”

Pelagic sharks are usually caught on the high seas in tuna or swordfish fisheries. In 2007, 21 shark-fishing nations reported catching more than 10,000 tons of shark. The top five - Indonesia, India, Taiwan, Spain and Mexico - accounted for 42%.

At one time, sharks were considered worthless bycatch, but they are increasingly being fished on purpose to serve emerging markets for their meat and fins, which are used in soups and can fetch more than £100 per kilogram. In places such as China, shark-fin soup could once only be afforded by the elite, but the growing numbers of middle-class people in the country has driven up demand.

To satisfy the growing market, some fishermen have taken to finning sharks. There are bans on this practice in operation around the world, but Fordham said the coverage is patchy and, in any case, enforcing the bans is difficult due to a lack of policing on the high seas.

“The overarching problem for sharks is that, for a variety of reasons, they’ve been considered low priority and they’re traditionally low value compared with something like the tuna,” said Fordham. “Also public image feeds into that - I don’t know if there are people clamoring for their conservation.”

Most species of pelagic shark take many years to mature and have relatively few young when they do reproduce. The IUCN’s report highlights a study by scientists in Canada which showed that the population of porbeagle sharks, classified as vulnerable in the red list, has been so affected by fishing that it will take at least 100 years to recover. Yet the government still allows the animal to be fished in its waters.

The global dusky shark popualtion, also classed as vulnerable by the IUCN, could take up to 400 years to recover because the animals are not sexually mature until around 20 years of age and usually raise only one offspring at a time.

Fordham said that because many of the sharks on the red list are at the top of the food chain, their extinction could also cause major local ecological problems. “We know that most of these species are top predators and we know that removing the top predators usually has negative consequences to the system as a whole.”

In 2007, Julia Baum, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California, who is also a member of IUCN shark specialist group, published a study showing how a major decline in the numbers of predatory sharks in the north Atlantic after 2000 had allowed populations of cownose rays, which are their prey, to explode. The rays in turn decimated the populations of bay scallop off North Carolina. “There was a fishery for bay scallops in North Carolina that lasted over a century uninterrupted and it was closed down in 2004 because of cownose rays,” she said last year.

Conserving threatened shark species might not be difficult. Last year, Peter Klimley, of the University of California, Davis, found that scalloped hammerhead sharks migrate along fixed “superhighways” in the oceans, speeding between a series of “stepping stone” sites near coastal islands ranging from Mexico to Ecuador. Focusing marine reserves around these hotspots might be a cost-effective way to conserve the species.

The IUCN sharks red list is published a few days before Spain is due to host an international meeting of the managers of tuna fisheries, where many of the sharks are caught. Scientists are also meeting in Denmark this week to produce advice for authorities on how to manage populations of Atlantic porbeagle sharks.

“The completion of this global assessment of pelagic sharks and rays will provide an important baseline for monitoring the status of these keystone species in our oceans,” said Roger McManus, vice-president for marine programs at Conservation International.

Source

This Giant Reef Cuttlefish was pointed out to me by volunteer dive guide Pei Min, I swam towards the direction her finger had indicated and continued to swim some more until a diver, stretched his hand towards me, with his camera just below my torso, fired off a snap, and I was thinking “What’s he shooting?” I tipped my head down and was really humoured by how well this HUGE cuttlefish was camouflaged! I was about to swim right over it! Aided by the murky waters of Hantu, (that were also unusually warm this weekend at 31deg C, 3deg up from the usual 28deg) this cuttlefish was practically INVISIBLE!

Shark market, Lombok, Indonesia - "Trafficking the fins of these shark species is not a harmless offense." John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. PHOTO: DEBBY NG

Mark L. Harrison, a resident of Southport, Fla., and Harrison International LLC, a Florida corporation, today pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Atlanta to violating the Lacey Act, a federal fish and wildlife trafficking law, by dealing in shark fins, the landing of which was not reported as required by law, the Justice Department announced today.

In addition, Mark Harrison pleaded guilty to a second charge related to his attempted export of shark fins of species that are prohibited to harvest under laws of the state of Florida. Harrison also pleaded guilty to a third charge related to trading in shark fins that had been prepared, packed or held under unsanitary conditions.

According to the charges and other information presented in court, Harrison allegedly represented himself to be the nation’s largest shark fin buyer, purchasing “millions” of shark fins since he had been in the business, beginning in 1989. According to the plea agreements, in February 2005, Harrison purchased shark fins in Florida from an individual fisherman and later resold them in interstate commerce. No report of the landing or sale of those fins was filed with any Florida authorities, as required by law. Accurate reporting statistics of shark harvests are crucial for managing and regulating the populations of the various shark species that occur in U.S. waters.

In August 2007, Harrison attempted to export through Atlanta a shipment of shark fins that included at least 211 fins from Caribbean sharp-nosed sharks, two fins from bignose sharks, and two fins from night sharks, all of which are protected by Florida and/or federal laws due to their low population levels.

Finally, the plea agreements reveal that for almost four years Harrison processed shark fins by drying them on open air racks and/or tarpaulins laid on the ground, outdoors, on his property in Southport. The fins were left out at all times until dry and were exposed to bird droppings and insects. Dogs ran freely among the drying racks. Harrison would then sell the dried fins and ship them in interstate commerce through the Northern District of Georgia.

“Trafficking the fins of these shark species is not a harmless offense,” said John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “These species are protected in order to ensure their continued sustainability. The Justice Department, along with our partner agencies, will continue to prosecute those who illegally trade in protected shark or other wildlife species.”

“We will not tolerate the illegal harvest and sale of protected shark species whose populations continue to diminish in our oceans,” said Hal Robbins, Special Agent in Charge for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Southeast Region. “We are pleased with the apprehension of Mr. Harrison, who is one of the country’s largest commercial shark fin buyers and I applaud the efforts of the prosecutors and Agents involved in this multi-agency federal investigation.”

The Lacey Act, enacted in 1900, is the first national wildlife law, and was passed to assist states in enforcing wildlife laws. It provides additional protection to fish, wildlife and plants that were taken, possessed, transported or sold in violation of state, tribal, foreign or U.S. law.

Since 1993, the NOAA Fisheries Service has managed, via federal fishery management plans, the commercial harvest and sale of sharks in or from federal waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. In 1998, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization finalized and adopted an “International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks,” recognizing the worldwide pressure being placed on declining shark populations by commercial fishing and the demand for shark fin soup. U.S. management of sharks has included prohibitions against retaining and/or selling particular species, including some in which Harrison was dealing, the populations of which are so reduced that further harvesting cannot be sustained.. There are currently 19 federally protected species of sharks.

David E. Nahmias, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia said, “There is an immense trade in wildlife products. Those who trade in wildlife must comply with federal and state wildlife statutes and regulations. We will support the investigative work of those agencies who identify violations of these laws, and commend the teamwork of the investigators who brought these wildlife violations to our attention.”

“We are proud of the coordinated investigative work of our agents with their colleagues from NOAA, Office of Law Enforcement and the Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations,” said James Gale, Special Agent in Charge, Southeast Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement. “This case is an excellent example of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s commitment to investigate and interdict the commercialization of protected wildlife species.”

Harrison is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 19, 2009, at 9:30 a.m., before U.S. Magistrate Judge Russell Vineyard of the Northern District of Georgia. Harrison faces up to one year in federal prison and a fine of up to $100,000. His company faces a fine of $200,000.

This case was investigated by Special Agents of the NOAA Office for Law Enforcement, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement and the Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations.

The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia and the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

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.

The Award Ceremony will be held in Singapore in conjunction with the ASEAN Conference on Biodiversity which will be held on 21-23 October 2009.

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

SEAI has made a representation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress general-secretary Rahul Gandhi, in this regard. At present, the aquaculture and farming operations of the seafood industry falls under the agriculture ministry, the financial aspect comes under the purview of the finance ministry, the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) operates under the commerce ministry, and the processing and other activities are part of the food processing ministry.

“A separate ministry will bring all these functions under one roof and help us improve the business potential,” Hashim said. For instance, he said, exporters had planned to set up an effluent treatment plant and a dedicated electrical sub-station at Aroor, but the proposal could not be taken forward in the past two years because of the complications in getting approvals from various ministries.

Source: FnBnews.com

Children along with residents and activists release sea turtles into the sea on Runduma island PHOTO: AFP

But four years ago the people of Runduma, population 500, decided to change their way of life and start protecting the endangered animals, which return year after year to lay their eggs on the surrounding islands.

Now environmentalists say turtle numbers are increasing in the seas off southeast Sulawesi, and the turtle hunters have become their guardians in the battle to save the marine reptiles from extinction.

“We used to have a long and unique tradition of organising the egg collection among the people here,” Runduma village chief La Brani told AFP.

“Families took turns every night to collect eggs and 30 out of around 100 eggs from each nest were set aside for the village’s petty cash.”

Most of the eggs were taken from nearby Anano, an uninhabited tropical paradise that lies in ancient turtle nesting grounds between the Pacific and Indian oceans.

Money from the sale of the community eggs financed public spending on things like a new water filtration system, and helped poorer families cover expenses such as school fees for their children.

“It was terribly difficult at the beginning to convince people not to collect eggs as it was a living for them,” the village chief said.

But the loss of this traditional source of income has not worried residents like Hatipa, 42, who would receive about 1,000 rupiah (nine cents) per egg — enough to put her two children through school.

“I stopped collecting eggs in 2005 because I was afraid that if it continued, future generations would never know what a turtle looked like,” she said.

“Since then I’ve been struggling to protect the turtles. If people are gathering for a chat I tell them how we have to live side by side with the turtles.”

Under a 2005 agreement with the local administration and environmental groups, the islanders pledged to stop their trade in eggs and turtle meat and instead protect the endangered creatures.

In exchange the government has sent teachers, topped up the remote community’s public coffers and organised visits from celebrities including pop singers and beauty queens.

“Nobody came here before but now we have celebrity visits. Turtles have given us their blessings,” Hatipa said.

To supplement the poor fishing village’s income, donors can “adopt” a baby turtle or nest for up to one million rupiah (96 dollars).

Purwanto, the coordinator of a turtle conservation programme run jointly by the Nature Conservancy and WWF, said the adoptions helped educate local people about their marine environment as well as raise money.

“We occasionally keep one to five baby turtles from a nest… and allow visitors to release them into the sea as a symbolic act to save the endangered species. We hope to raise awareness this way,” he said.

A short boat ride away on Anano, the evidence of rising turtle numbers is clear.

Hour-glass shaped nests full of egg shells are scattered along the pristine beach, each one marking a new generation of turtles safely dispatched into the sea.

“During the peak season from September to December, up to seven turtles will lay their eggs here every night,” Purwanto said.

Some 243 turtles laid an estimated 3,000 eggs on the island last year, compared to just 20 in 2006 and 77 in 2007, he said.

Endangered green and hawksbill turtles are the most common visitors. The WWF estimates that 203,000 breeding green turtle females exist in the wild, and only 8,000 of the more critically endangered hawksbills.

All seven marine turtle species are experiencing severe threats to their survival, especially from pollution and the destruction of habitats such as coral reefs, beds of seagrass, nesting beaches and mangrove forests.

Those hatchlings that survive the exhausting dash from their nests to the sea face the ever-increasing risk of drowning in fishing gear or waste such as plastic bags as they make their epic migrations to feeding grounds.

Anano is a success story but elsewhere in the vast Indonesian archipelago turtles are being killed and exploited with impunity, conservationists said.

Laws setting out fines of up to 10,000 dollars and jail terms of five years for anyone caught stealing eggs or poaching live turtles are rarely enforced.

“Egg collection occurrs in many parts of Indonesia, especially on Borneo and the western part of Sumatra island where turtle eggs are still commercialised,” said WWF’s national coordinator of marine species conservation Creusa Hitipeuw.

“Bali has been a main destination market of turtle meat which is illegally smuggled from the nearby islands of West Nusa Tenggara such as Lombok and Sumbawa.”

Located around 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) northeast of Jakarta, Anano and Runduma are among a cluster of islands in Wakatobi district on the southern tip of Sulawesi island.

They were declared a national park in 1996 and are among 11 zones the local government has set aside for marine and reef conservation.

“For the last three years we included environmental subjects in the school curriculum for elementary and junior high school,” said Wakatobi district chief Hugua, a former environmental activist.

“Wakatobi’s biggest development income will focus on eco-tourism, which will maintain, among other things, the sustainability of sea turtle conservation.”

Source: AFP

Mount Krakatau is one of Banten's tourism icons

An environmental study conducted by a group of Tirtayasa University (Untirta) students on coastal districts in Banten concluded that almost half of Banten’s coastline was suffering from erosion.

The students found the most serious damage caused by erosion occurred in Sumur district in Pandeglang regency, Bojonegara; Lontar, Pulau Dua and Puloampel districts in Serang regency; Kronjo, Mauk, Sukadiri, Pakuhaji, Teluknaga and Kosambi in Tangerang regency.

“Based our results, the sea has moved 60 to 70 meters inland in the past 20 years, Mulyana, one of the students said in Serang on Thursday.

According to the students, serious erosion occurred in those districts because there were no mangrove trees to protect the land from waves and no preventive measures put in place by local administrations.

To help prevent erosion, students from Untirta’s Schools of Maths and Agriculture planted a thousand mangrove trees at Karangantu beach in Serang while conducting the study.

“Illegal offshore sand digging is the main cause of coastline erosion,” he said.

Head of the Banten Maritime and Fisheries Agency Suyitno said Banten’s 509-kilometer coastline stretched from the western tip of Java to the eastern part of the province.

He said the coastline damage continued to increase each year, resulted from a number of activities such as coral reef theft and reclamation, offshore sand mining and untreated industrial waste dumping into the sea.

“So far, we strive to safeguard the coastline and the sea wealth, but we can’t stop illegal activities that also damage the marine ecosystem due to the lack of human resources and facilities,” he said.

He added transportation activities in the sea had also contributed to the environmental damage in Banten waters.

Tangerang regency administration claimed it was still seeking help to deal with devastating environmental problems, including severe river pollution caused by industrial waste and coastal erosion.

Regent Ismet Iskandar said he had once delivered a proposal to visiting representatives from the European Union Parliament in the hope of cooperating with individual EU member countries.

Source: The Jakarta Post

Coral Reef in Amambas PHOTO: DEBBY NG

Some 60 percent of the coral reefs off the northern coast of the province are categorized as damaged, a study conducted by the East Java Maritime and Fisheries Agency has showed.

Most of the damage is attributed to human activity, such as fishermen using illegal fishing methods, for example poison and fish bombs, and natural causes such as sedimentation.

Office head Kardani said last week that a large part of the damage was detected in the eastern coast of the province, in Gresik, Lamongan and Tuban, where the coasts were characterized as sandy. There are not as many coral reefs in the southern part of East Java because of its steep coasts and extensive cliffs.

The limited number of provincial administration officials assigned to monitor the coral reefs has also exacerbated the extent of the damage.

As part of its conservation drive, the office will continue its cultivation program by grafting coral reefs, as it has already done in Paiton, Probolinggo. However, results so far have been underwhelming due to a lack of adequately trained staff and time-consuming graft cultivation techniques.

“The coral reefs could only grow at only 1 centimeter per year despite us giving it all our attention,” said Erjono, head of coastal and cultivation observation affairs at the provincial fisheries and maritime affairs office.

The cultivation project is also aimed at reproducing coral for export, despite the government imposing a very strict policy toward coral exports.

Besides setting an export quota, the government only allows corals from the third generation to be exported, while the first and second generation corals must be returned to their natural habitat.

“At the time being, we are not focusing on exports but discouraging them because the profits *from exporting* do not cover the cost of fixing the damaged coral reefs,” said Erjono.

According to head of the East Java Coastal Operators Association Daniel Rasyid, to prevent further damage to coral reefs, the provincial administration should immediately issue an ordinance regulating coastal areas, which would later be categorized as fishing zones, coral areas and mangrove areas.

“The spatial ordinance should not only regulate inland areas, but also coastal areas,” said Rasyid.

To save the coral reefs, the government must do more than just chose a public figure like Nadine Candrawinata as a coral reef envoy, Rasyid said. It should also think about preventive measures, including raising fishermen’s sense of ownership of the coral as a valuable maritime resource for the sustainability of the marine ecosystem, he added.

Source: The Jakarta Post

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.

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Squat lobster and crinoid

Thanks to Hantu Blog diver (and hopefully soon to be volunteer!) Cindy Tan, I got to experience Pulau Hantu vicariously as I lay at home recovering from the flu bug over the weekend. This is the second time I’m seeing the pictures, but I’ve not yet set my eyes on a squat lobster in the flesh in Hantu’s waters. What a sight! Good to know that we’re finding more of these guys and that it wasn’t just a one of thing!

Gorgonian shrimp on coral whip

Another fascinating invertebrate on the reef that we thought to be seasonal, but it seems like the season lasts the entire year, is the Sawtooth or Gorgonian shrimp. The coral whips around the shallow reefs of Hantu are thin and it’s just amazing to see these critters trying their best to remain hidden against the whips! They have also been spotted in the red colour variation on our reefs.

Slender ceratosoma

Second in popularity after the Tigertail seahorse is probably the Slender Ceratosoma nudibranch on our reefs. These sea slugs can reach massive sizes and because of their size and colouration, it may seem ironic, but they are easily missed because they resemble a sponge or ascidian when on the reef. It seemed like over this weekend, several of these beautiful slugs were spotted and in a variety of sizes.

Winged pipefish

I literally jumped at my screen when I squinted against my monitor, trying to decipher what was in this image. You might have to do a little squinting too! This specimen here might just be a juvenile because it hasn’t developed it’s full “wings”. The Winged pipefish Halicampus macrorhynchus to me is one of the most beautiful pipefishes I have encountered. Their fascinating body appendages mimic corraline algae and I can just spent a whole dive following them about, awed at their amazing adaptation.

Tigertail seahorse

A star on the reef, the Tigertail seahorse sometimes seems to not prefer all the media attention. Some times they are shy but other times they may be quite comfortable staying put as you photograph them. This one looks like its found a little hiding spot in a recess between some rocks and corals.

Bullocki nudibranch

Another beauty on the reef and favourite amongst divers from pretty much all over the world is the Hypselodoris bullocki nudibranch. Their vivid colours are mesmerising.

Carpet eel-blenny

\They look potentially fierce but this Carpet eel-blenny is infinitely shy. Once they notice they’ve been spotted they try to either retreat into a rock crevice or make a quick getaway! It’s during the latter that we manage to get such shots of the gorgeous patterns along the length of their bodies. This fish has a diagnostic white mouth and is commonly spotted on our reefs.

Blue swimmer crab

To end it all off is a little feisty-ness from a little Blue swimmer crab. These guys are fast, very aggressive and can deliver a very painful pinch. You don’t have to do anything to aggravate them. It’s probably because they are actually very vulnerable. When they feel threatened, they flare both their pincers up along their sides of their body to make themselves appear larger.

Can’t wait to get back into the water next month.

At present, Vietnam - with 301 seafood exporter firms- is second in the world in terms of the number of seafood firms licensed to export to the European Union (EU), Nhan Dan reports.

An EU delegation that visited Vietnam last month had indicated they would consider adding a further 30 Vietnamese seafood producers to the current list of 301 producers that are licensed to export aquatic products to the EU. The additional 30 firms were added to the list just now.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development requested that Nafiqad and the Department of Aquaculture work with the Department of Fisheries Resources Exploitation and Protection to find solutions on how to fulfil EU aquaculture and fishing area standards.

Last month, Luong Le Phuong, deputy minister of Agriculture, advised domestic producers not to repeat the mistakes of neighbours Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The EU suspended seafood imports from Malaysia, decided to rigorously check Indonesia’s products and issued several warnings to Thailand.

The Ministry further recommended that seafood production and exporting firms abide by EU regulations in order to avoid possible rejection of their products.

As the biggest importer of Vietnamese seafood, the EU accounts for 25.4 per cent of its total fisheries export turnover. In 2008, 26 of 27 EU countries imported 350,000 tonnes of seafood worth over USD 1 billion from Vietnam last year.

Source: FIS