Lapang Islanders in Indonesia

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."

(Live Kryon Channelings was given 7 times within the United Nations building.)


Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.

Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.

(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."

(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.

(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.

Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.

Japan's Antarctic whaling hunt ruled 'not scientific'

Japan's Antarctic whaling hunt ruled 'not scientific'
Representatives of Japan and Australia shake hands at the court in The Hague. (NOS/ANP) - 31 March 2014
"Fast-Tracking" - Feb 8, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Fukushima / H-bomb nuclear pollution and a warning about nuclear > 20 Min)

China calls for peaceful settlement of maritime disputes

China calls for peaceful settlement of maritime disputes
Wang Min, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, speaks during a meeting to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the enforcement of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, at the UN headquarters in New York, on June 9, 2014. The Chinese envoy on Monday called for a harmonious maritime order, saying that maritime disputes should be settled through negotiation between the parties directly involved. (Xinhua/Niu Xiaolei)

UNCLOS 200 nautical miles vs China claimed territorial waters

UNCLOS 200 nautical miles vs China claimed territorial waters

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

China officials dine on endangered salamander: reports

Yahoo – AFP, 27 Jan 2015

File photo of a Chinese giant salamander in a glass tank during the China International
Conservation festival in Zhangjiajie, central China's Hunan province, in 2005 (AFP Photo)

Beijing (AFP) - Chinese officials feasted on a critically endangered giant salamander and turned violent when journalists photographed the luxury banquet, according to media reports Tuesday on the event which appeared to flout Beijing's austerity campaign.

The 28 diners included senior police officials from the southern city of Shenzhen, the Global Times said.

"In my territory, it is my treat," it quoted a man in the room as saying.

The giant salamander is believed by some Chinese to have anti-ageing properties, but there is no orthodox evidence to back the claim.

A waitress serves shark fin's soup at a 
restaurant in Guangzhou, southern China's 
Guangdong province, on August 10, 2014
(AFP Photo/Johannes Eisele)
The species is classed as "critically endangered" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of threatened species, which says the population has "declined catastrophically over the last 30 years".

"Commercial over-exploitation for human consumption is the main threat to this species," the IUCN said.

The Global Times cited the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily, which said its journalists were beaten up when their identities were discovered by the diners.

One was kicked and slapped, another had his mobile phone forcibly taken, while the photographer was choked, beaten up and had his camera smashed, the reports said.

A total of 14 police have been suspended and an investigation launched into the incident, added the Global Times.

One of the Shenzhen diners provided the salamander and said it had been captive-bred, according to the report.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has launched a much-publicised austerity drive for the ruling classes, including a campaign for simple meals with the catchphrase “four dishes and one soup”.

The ruling Communist Party also says it is cracking down on the consumption of endangered species, including shark's fin.

China's legislature last April approved a law including prison sentences for people caught eating rare wild animals.

The Chinese government considers 420 wild animal species as rare or endangered, state media previously said.

A chef prepares shark fins for cooking, Aug. 6. (File photo/CNS)

Related Articles:




Payouts promised to Fijian veterans of British nuclear testing

Fijian victims of British nuclear testing in 1958 are to get compensation, according to Fiji's government. Seventy military personnel were taken to Christmas Island, a test site in the Pacific, more than 50 years ago.

Deutsche Welle, 27 Jan 2015


Fiji's government said on Tuesday that military veterans exposed to radiation 56 years ago or their families are to get compensation for subsequent health problems, including cancer of the blood.

The Fiji Sun newspaper quoted the country's National Security and Defense Minister Timoci Natuva as saying Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama would outline compensation details on Friday.

Maleli Naigulegu, now aged 80 and one of the surviving veterans who has campaigned for decades for assistance, told the Fiji Sun it was "the greatest news."

"At last my group has been recognized," the former laboratory technician said.

During British Cold War nuclear testing in 1957 and 1958, some 70 Fijian military personnel were sent to Christmas Island on board New Zealand naval ships.

The island is now part of the Pacific nation of Kiribati.

Naigulegu said the Fijian personnel were not briefed on the purpose of their deployment to the test zone.

Several Pacific test zones

Last year, a lawsuit was filed at the International Court of Justice by another Pacific nation, the Marshall Islands, where the US conducted 60 nuclear tests between 1946 and 1958.

The Marshalls, with a population of 70,000, became fully independent in 1986 after being administered in the past by the United States.

The lawsuit seeks to hold the US and eight other nuclear-weapon nations accountable for breaching or allowing violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Nuclear weapons have been used twice - at Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan by the US, near the close of World War Two in the Pacific region.

Several thousand tests

From 1946 until the 1990s nuclear powers conducted more than 2,000 nuclear tests worldwide.

A French 'test' over Mururoa in 1971
The United State's largest was at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in 1954. The former Soviet Union's largest test "Tsar Bomba" took place in 1961.

France conducted tests in French Polynesia in the 1970s and 1990s, prompting strong protests from New Zealand, Australia and environmental rights group Greenpeace.

Last year, remote southern Australian land used by Britain to test atomic bombs in the 1950s and 1960s was handed back to its Aboriginal owners, the Maralinga Tjarutja, after attempts to decontaminate it.

Around 16,300 atomic bombs remain, held mainly by the US and Russia, despite the various versions of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).

Some 70,000 to 80,000 had existed at the height of the Cold War.

ipj/jlw (AFP, IPS)

A huge dome is shown in 1980 covering a crater left by one of the 43
nuclear blasts on Runit Island, in the Marshall Islands, the fallout from
which is expected to last 25,000 years (US Defence Nuclear Agency/AFP)

Related Articles:

Islanders afraid to go home 60 years after Bikini Atoll H-bomb


"Fast-Tracking" - Feb 8, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Fukushima / H-bomb nuclear pollution and a warning about nuclear  (> 20 Min)


Tuesday, January 20, 2015

EU bans sea bass trawling to save species

Yahoo – AFP,  19 Jan 2015

Pelagic trawling of sea bass in European waters will be banned during
spawning season which runs until the end of April (AFP)

The EU said Monday it will ban open water trawling of sea bass during the spawning season through April in order to ensure the stock's survival.

The European Commission, the EU executive arm, said it is working with Britain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands to implement the ban which should take effect at the end of January.

"Emergency measures will be implemented to ban pelagic trawling of sea bass during spawning season which runs until the end of April," it said in a statement.

It said pelagic, or open sea, trawlers operating during spawning season "make up 25 percent of the impact on the stock" when the stock is at "its most vulnerable."

The European Union said it had resorted to its right to impose emergency measures to protect threatened species after member states failed to agree to act on warnings from experts.

The commission said it is also working with the countries involved on measures alongside the ban, such as managing recreational fishing and limiting catches of all other commercial fisheries.

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea recommended for 2015 an 80 percent decrease in catches in the English Channel and the North Sea.

French fisherman account for 70 percent of the haul.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Pope braves storm for emotional Philippine typhoon memorial

Yahoo – AFP, Jean-Louis de la Vaissiere, 17 Jan 2015

Pope Francis, wearing a plastic raincoat, waves to well-wishers after
a mass in Tacloban, on January 17, 2015 (AFP Photo/Johannes Eisele)

Tacloban (Philippines) (AFP) - Pope Francis braved heavy rain Saturday to celebrate an emotional mass with a sea of weeping survivors of a super typhoon in the Philippines that killed thousands, saying their pain silenced his heart.

Francis flew in from the national capital of Manila to Tacloban, one of the cities devastated 14 months ago, to be greeted by hundreds of thousands of people but also another severe tropical storm.

"Long live the pope," the crowd chanted as he walked off the plane to be immediately buffeted by strong winds and intense rain, which later in the day forced him to cut short his trip to other typhoon-hit areas.

Devotees pray during a mass held by Pope
 Francis, in Tacloban, central Philippines, on
 January 17, 2015 (AFP Photo/Johannes 
Eisele)
His welcome echoed the rapturous reception that millions gave the pontiff during the first two days of his trip to the Philippines, reinforcing its status as the Catholic Church's bastion in Asia.

Most of the people in the crowd at Tacloban wore thin yellow plastic ponchos handed out by organisers, and the pope also put one on before walking on to a nearby stage to celebrate mass in heavy rain.

"I would like to tell you something close to my heart," the pope said as many in the crowd clutched crucifixes and cried.

"When I saw in Rome that catastrophe, I felt I had to be here. And on those very days, I decided to come here. I'm here to be with you."

Super Typhoon Haiyan, the most powerful storm ever recorded on land, left 7,350 people dead or missing in November 2013 as it devastated fishing and farming towns on central islands that were already among the Philippines' poorest.

Many of those communities are still struggling to recover, with the rubble of destroyed buildings lying in piles and millions of felled coconut trees strewn across idle farmland.

The 78-year-old pontiff acknowledged the enduring pain being experienced by the survivors.

"Some of you have lost part of your families. All I can do is keep silent. And I walk with you all with my silent heart," he said.

The pope sought to reassure his audience, declaring Jesus would never let them down.

Francis's five-day visit to the Philippines is partly aimed at helping the Church expand its influence in Asia, but he had repeatedly said giving comfort to typhoon survivors was his top priority.

Renewed hope

"I can't explain how I feel. I am filled with gratitude. Never in my life did I think that I'd see a pope," 68-year-old housewife Virginia Torres told AFP, wiping tears and raindrops from her face after the pontiff left the mass venue.

Torres, whose house two hours' drive from Tacloban was wiped out by storm surges, said the pope's address had given her "renewed hope" even while filling her with pain.

"I was overwhelmed with emotion, especially when he mentioned that he can relate to our suffering... everything that we went through came back."

The pope was due to spend the entire day in Tacloban and nearby areas that had also been destroyed by Haiyan.

However Tropical Storm Mekkhala, which was expected to bring much more intense rain to the region in the afternoon, forced the pope to cut short his trip.

In the town of Palo, about 12 kilometres (seven miles) from Tacloban, he told a crowd of thousands who had gathered at the main church that he needed to leave quickly to avoid the storm.

Pope Francis (C) holds a holy mass in Tacloban, on January 17, 2015 (AFP
Photo/Johannes Eisele)

"So I apologise to you all. I'm sad about this, truly saddened. Because I had something prepared especially for you," he said.

His motorcade then raced back to the airport and he departed shortly after 1:00 pm (0500 GMT), four hours earlier than scheduled. However the main event of the day was the morning mass.

The Philippines endures an average of about 20 major storms a year, many of them deadly.

But the unprecedented strength of Haiyan, with winds of 315 kilometres an hour, was an extreme weather event consistent with man-made climate change, the United Nations' weather agency and scientists have said.

Huge crowds

The Philippines has long been the Church's stronghold in the region, with Catholics accounting for 80 percent of the former Spanish colony's population.

Massive crowds gathered along the pontiff's motorcade routes during his first two days in the Philippines.

Pope-mania was expected to reach a peak on Sunday, with organisers expecting him to attract as many as six million people for mass at a Manila park.

If as big as expected, the crowd will surpass the previous record for a papal gathering of five million during a mass by John Paul II at the same venue in 1995.

Related Article:



(Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Weather

Let's talk about the weather. We retreat to exactly what we told you before in this very chair. The water cycle is a cooling cycle, not a heating cycle. You're going to have more severe winters and storms. It's going to get colder. But it gets warmer before it gets colder. That is the cycle, and it has always been the cycle. You can see it in the rings of the trees and the cores of the ice. Don't let your scientists pull the political wool over your eyes for their own purposes. Start seeing these things for what they are. It's a recurring cycle based on four Earth alignment attributes, including the wobble (the precession). You're in this cycle. Prepare.

The beginnings of it will be with you from now at least until the end of the 2012 36-year window, and you can watch it work. The first thing that happens is that the ice melts at the poles, but not completely. It's the way it has happened before. As the redistribution of weight from the poles to the oceans of the earth takes place, the weight is redistributed to the crust, and that creates earthquakes. And the earthquakes that will be the most powerful are the ones that are closest to the poles. We told you that some time ago. So it's not a mystery that suddenly you have some of the most powerful earthquakes that you've ever had. Not only that, but a cooling ocean creates larger storms.

What do the conspiracists do with all this? "See? We're doomed. Here it comes," they say. "Here it comes! The end is here!" Twenty-two years ago, we gave you the information that is happening today. We told you about the weather. We told you to get ready for it, but we still haven't told you why the water cycle is needed. We've hinted at it since it is very controversial, and we'll lose many readers right here and now. Here's the prediction: The scientists are going to laugh and biologists are going to scratch their heads and roll their eyes.

The Refreshing of the Cycle of Life

When you change the temperature of the waters of the planet, it changes the life cycle of the ocean and it eventually renews itself. The life cycle of the planet has a limit to its viability over time. There has to be a refreshing of the very cycle of life, and this is what the water cycle does. Are there any places you've seen too many fish lately? Yes. Millions of salmon in the north. Odd that it was in Alaska, isn't it? Alaska is very close to the poles where the water temperature is being felt first. Oh, again the experts will tell you that this is not the reason. It's about hatcheries and rivers. But nobody predicted this, did they? Science is fast to give you reasons, but slow to give you logic in advance. They always seem to be surprised.

We are saying things we haven't said before. Again, watch for this, an actual change in the life cycle of the planet's oceans because of the water temperature shift. Biologists are going to have to start redesigning the paradigm of how everything works, including reefs, ocean bottoms, and how plankton survive and reproduce. Listen, this is not the first time that the life cycle has been refreshed! But again, this may take generations of humanity to complete. In the process, you may again lose species. This is normal. Gaia is slow, and Humans are impatient. Your textbooks may someday tell of how naive humanity was back in 2011 when they tried to blame weather changes on everything but a natural cycle. Now you know why there is a water cycle.

So what does that tell you about Gaia? Gaia is beginning the cycle of refreshing life on over-fished oceans. It tells you that in the cracks, there is love and caring about the Humans who live on the earth. There's a reason you're here. There's a plan here, and a benevolent Universe and quantum energy with intelligent design. All is there for you, precious, sacred Human Being. …”



Pink salmon, shown in a file photograph, 
have a lifespan of two years
.

Over 20 people dead after tug boat capsize on China's Yangtze River

At least 21 people have died and one is missing after a tugboat capsized whilst undergoing sea trials in the Yangtze River. Rapid currents have hampered the rescue effort.

Deutsche Welle, 17 Jan 2015


China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported Saturday that the 30-meter (98-feet) vessel had had 25 people on board, including eight foreign nationals, when it sank on Thursday.

Rescuers dragged the 368-tonne ship Saturday to shallow water before searching it for those still unaccounted for.

Three people, all Chinese, were rescued, with one person still missing as authorities continue to search the vessel's cockpit and nearby areas of the Yangtze River in the Jiangsu province, Xinhua reported.

The newly built, Wanshenzhou 67, was making its maiden test voyage Thursday in the Fubei Channel when it capsized.

Sembcorp Marine Ltd, a Singapore-based shipbuilder, said Friday the tugboat sank during a sea trial. The ship's owner, parts suppliers and engineers were among those on board.

Rapid currents hampered the rescue effort, and it was not until Saturday morning when rescue teams were able to surface the vessel and tow it to shallow waters to undertake a more thorough search.

jlw/sb (AP, Reuters)

Gruesome images of shark attack on dolphin as beaches in Australia closed for record seventh day

Beaches remain closed as great white is joined by new group of sharks around the city of Newcastle, apparently attracted by warmer waters

The TelegraphJonathan Pearlman, Sydney, 16 Jan 2015

The 17-year-old, named in local media as Sam Smith, was taken to hospital after
a suspected shark attack off Australia's east coast Photo: EPA/Helmut Fohringer

A dolphin with a chunk of its body missing after an attack by an eleven-foot shark has been captured in graphic photographs in the Australian city of Newcastle, where beaches remain closed for a record seventh due to continued sightings of a growing group of deadly sharks.

The attack occurred just 60 yards from shore and came as the council admitted that there was not merely one shark – “the biggest we've ever had” - lurking around the city’s beaches, but several of different species.

The attack on the dolphin was by a tiger shark, which took a chunk from the dolphin’s back and then lunged forward for a second bite to take a chunk out of its tale. The shark then reportedly hung back and waited for the dolphin to die before feeding on it.

But the main concern, which led to the closure of the city’s seven beaches, has been the presence of a 15-foot, 1.7-ton great white shark.

Rachel Kulk, a 22-year-old local surfer told The Newcastle Herald the shark was ‘‘as round as a car’’ with a fin ‘‘more than half the size of my surfboard’’.

Several additional sharks have since been spotted and at least two dolphin carcasses have been found around the city, which is about 100 miles north of Sydney.

“It is now confirmed that [several] sharks are being sighted,” a Newcastle council spokeswoman said.

It is believed the sharks may be coming closer to shores across Australia this summer due to warmer water temperatures.

The government in the state of New South Wales has indicated it would only consider a cull if public safety is at risk.

Experts said a cull is probably unnecessary because large sharks need to move around to find new sources of food and are unlikely to remain in the same stretch of coast for an extended period.

“If you’ve got a shark that is a real and imminent danger and doesn’t want to leave an area, there might be a case for targeting that individual shark,” Dr Daniel Bucher, a marine biologist at Southern Cross University, told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

“But it’s such a rare event. If a shark is hanging around one particular area, yes it is a possibility that once it finds it can eat people it might start to hang around and shift its habits to take on a new reliable food source.”

Shark attacks and kills dolphin off Burwood Beach, Newcastle,
New South Wales  Photo: Peter Lorimer/Newspix/REX

Dr Bucher said that chasing a shark out of an area by boat will often help to keep it away – but this has not happened with the sharks around Newcastle.

Barry Bruce, a marine scientist with the CSIRO, the national science agency, said the presence of a great white shark in Newcastle was not unusual because the area was “a well-known and well-published white shark nursery”.

Shark attacks and kills dolphin off Burwood Beach, Newcastle,
New South Wales  Photo: Peter Lorimer/Newspix/REX

"We've done a lot of surveys up there and occasionally see sharks up to three-and-a-half metres [eleven feet]," he told ABC News.

Australia has had a spate of serious shark attacks in recent years, mainly on the west coast. But there have been an unusually high number of beach closures during the current summer, including at popular beaches such as Bondi in Sydney.

Shark attacks and kills dolphin off Burwood Beach, Newcastle,
New South Wales  Photo: Peter Lorimer/Newspix/REX

The latest attack occurred at a beach south of Sydney when Sam Smith, a 17-year-old, was bitten on the hand after he dived down to try to film a five-foot shark while spearfishing.

Smith was fishing with Luke Sisinni, who described the attack to the local Milton Ulladulla Times: “It spun around and started coming for him, so he stabbed it with his spear to try and scare it off, but it just went ballistic and bit him…. He came up screaming saying, ‘I got bit by a shark’.”

Related Article:

Question (2002): Dear Kryon, A friend and I are meditating on the recent shark attacks and feel that it has to do with the planetary changes. We just can’t understand why they have become aggressive. What is the message the sharks are bringing? Why is this happening?
—Thank you,
Maryann

Answer: Indeed there are changes with the environment and also with biology regarding the 12-year grid change. I will first give you what was happening in general: What you are seeing are mammals, amphibians, insects, and even fish that are in areas that are new to them. Every life-form that migrates is effected by magnetics. All life forms that follows certain feeding scenarios and are “following the food” have the potential to be affected. This is due to the changing of the magnetic ley lines of the earth as we have stated before.

The areas where you can see in the ocean most clearly are within those migration patterns closest to the land. Where the ocean interfaces with the land, there are challenges for all these creatures for at least one of their generations. Whales will beach themselves by following old magnetics headings that now “drive” them into peninsula’s and other land areas that were marginally on the edge of their old paths. Birds, amphibians, and insects will be seen to do odd things for awhile.

So these shark fish may be in greater numbers in these coastal areas than in the past, but the increased aggressive behavior was actually something else: There was a tremendous “release” of energy due to the Sept. 11 event. Much like the energy of earthquakes and other earth movement, much of the environment “feels it” coming. We have spoken about how the Sept. 11 event was not a surprise to the earth. [See Lee’s article “Did Kryon give us hints”] So, some of the new actions of these fish were due to an actual energy buildup of coming events... of which you now understand.

If you are paying attention, therefore, you might ask, “Does this mean that Human consciousness issues affect the actual earth?” Yes they do! Finally you may begin to see how global consciousness is tied into the environment, and even to basic physics and reality. They are not separate, and never were. The indigenous knew it, and now the “modern” world is beginning to wonder.


Blessed is the Human Being who understands that what they think, do, and intend, actually drives the reality of the dirt of the planet!


Thursday, January 15, 2015

Jiaolong divers find new deep-sea organisms, break them

Want China Times, Xinhua and Staff Reporter 2015-01-15

Organisms collected by the Jiaolong scientists in the Indian Ocean,
Jan. 11. (Photo/Xinhua)

China's manned deep sea submersible Jiaolong collected 17 samples of deep-sea organisms from the seabed of the southwestern Indian Ocean on Wednesday, of which two were unknown to scientists aboard the vessel.

With a size similar to a regular sea cucumber, the first mysterious creature broke into three parts when it was taken to the vessel.

Since the organism was transparent, scientists could see its blue and brown viscera clearly.

"This might be a special kind of sea cucumber, but we need to make sure after further analysis in labs," said Lu Bo, a scientist with the Second Institute of Oceanography of the State Oceanic Administration.

Looking like a small pink snake, the second strange creature, 330 centimeters long and three centimeters wide, was completely unknown to the scientists. Two bubbles appeared in its body due to pressure change, said the scientists.

"These two organisms might be new species but we can't be certain with limited tools and data on the ship," Lu Bo said.

Additionally, the Jiaolong gathered 15 deep-sea shrimps, water and sulfide weighing 6.9 kilograms.

The Jiaolong, which made a dive of 7,062 meters in the Mariana Trench in June 2012, is on a 120-day expedition to study polymetallic sulfide, biological diversity, hydrothermal microbes and genetic resources in the southwest Indian Ocean.

Related Article:


Monday, January 12, 2015

Indonesia Steps Up Fight Against Illegal Fishing With 4 New Ships

Jakarta Globe, Jan 12, 2015



Jakarta. Indonesia will have four new surveillance vessels at its disposal this year to fight illegal fishing in the country’s waters, an official with the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry said on Monday.

“This year, the ministry will strengthen its surveillance force by adding four 60-meter vessels made by the Indonesian Fisheries Inspection Vessel System [SKIPI],” Asep Burhanuddin, the director of the ministry’s Maritime and Fisheries Resources Monitoring Task Force (PSDKP), said on Monday in Jakarta, as quoted by state-run news agency Antara.com.

Asep said that the plan was part of the government’s push to eradicate illegal fishing and other activities threatening the country’s maritime resources.

According to Asep, the four new surveillance vessels will operate in various parts of the archipelago.

“Two will operate in the western region, while the other two will watch over the eastern area —  likely in the Arafura Sea, North Sulawesi waters [both in the east], Natuna Islands and Malacca Strait [in the west of the archipelago],” he said.

According to Asep, the four vessels cost about Rp 238 billion ($18.8 million).

Previously, the Indonesian Air Force said it would buy Russian-designed multipurpose amphibious aircraft to help prevent illegal fishing.

“This Beriev Be-200 Altair is very reliable to monitor aquatic areas. The amphibious aircraft can land on the sea so it can help us catch illegal fishermen,” Marshall Ida Bagus Putu Dunia, the chief of the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU), told reporters in December.

Indonesia has recently also scuttled a number of foreign fishing vessels caught in its waters.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Shell agrees €70m compensation deal for Nigerian village hit by oil spills

DutchNews.nl, January 7, 2015

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell has agreed to a $84m (€70m) out of court settlement with a village in the Niger Delta as compensation for oil spills in 2008 and 2009.

Lawyers for 15,600 Nigerian fishermen whose livelihoods were ruined by the spills say their clients will receive $3,300 each.

The remaining $30m will go to the community. Thousands of hectares of mangrove swamp were polluted by the spills, ruining drink water supplies and forcing the fishermen to find other jobs.

‘From the outset, we’ve accepted responsibility for the two deeply regrettable operational spills in Bodo,’ Mutiu Sunmonu, managing director of the company’s Nigerian subsidiary SPDC said in a statement. 

Shell says that both spills were caused by operational failure of the pipelines. 

More on this

An oil spill on the shores of the Niger Delta swamps. Shell has
said the recent oil spill is likely to be worst in a decade.
Photograph: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images


Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Harpoonless Japanese whalers heading for Antarctic: govt

Yahoo – AFP, 6 Jan 2015

Photo released by the Instutute of Cetacean Research on November 18, 2014
 shows a minke whale on the deck of a whaling ship for research whaling at 
Antarctic Ocean (Instutute of Cetacean Research/AFP/File)

Japanese whalers will set out for the Antarctic this week, but will leave their harpoons at home after the United Nations' top court last year ruled their annual hunt was illegal, the government said Tuesday.

The Japanese Fisheries Agency said the Institute of Cetacean Research plans to conduct non-lethal research on whales until March 28.

As the research does not involve catching whales, harpoons have been removed from the vessels, the agency said.

Two boats, which will set sail on Thursday, will carry out "sighting surveys" and take skin samples from the huge marine mammals. A third boat will sail in support.

The International Court of Justice -- the highest court of the United Nations -- ruled in March that Tokyo was abusing a scientific exemption set out in the 1986 moratorium on whaling, and was carrying out a commercial hunt under a veneer of research.

After the ruling, Japan has said it would cancel this winter's Antarctic mission.

But Tokyo has also expressed its intention to resume "research whaling" in 2015-16.

In a new plan submitted to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and its Scientific Committee, Japan set an annual target of 333 minke whales for future hunts, down from some 900 under the previous programme.

Tokyo also defined the research period as 12 years from fiscal 2015 in response to the court's criticism of the programme's open-ended nature.

Japan killed 251 minke whales in the Antarctic in the 2013-14 season and 103 the previous year, far below its target because of direct action by conservationist group Sea Shepherd.

Tokyo also conducts hunts in the name of science in the Northwest Pacific, where it killed 132 whales in 2013, and off the Japanese coast, where it caught 92.

Despite widespread international opprobrium, Japan has continued to hunt whales using the scientific exemption, although it makes no secret of the fact that the meat from the creatures caught by taxpayer-funded ships ends up on dinner tables.

Dutch firm wins Bangladesh coastal protection contract

DutchNews.nl, January 5, 2015

Volkskrant
Dutch civil engineering group Royal HaskoningDHV has won a contract to develop and oversee the construction of a major coastal protection plan in Bangladesh.

The six-year contract has a value of €10.5m and will protect the low-lying country against nature disasters and the impact of climate change.

The total project, which is funded by the World Bank, covers some 1,000 square kilometres.

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