Fishermen Successfully Revive Coral Reefs in Bali

Jakarta Globe, May 31, 2012

A handout photograph released by The Nature Conservancy shows a view
 of the coral reef in Amed, Bali, Indonesia in 2011. Two hectares of damaged
coral  reefs off Serangan beach in Denpasar, Bali, have been successfully
rehabilitated  over the last nine years because of the efforts of Pesisir Karya
 Segara, a group formed by local fishermen. (EPA/The Nature Conservancy/
Joanne Wilson)

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Denpasar. Two hectares of damaged coral reefs off Serangan beach in Denpasar, Bali, have been successfully rehabilitated over the last nine years because of the efforts of Pesisir Karya Segara, a group formed by local fishermen.

“The rehabilitation was targeted for an area of five hectares. However, since 2003, we have managed to revive only two hectares by planting coral seeds,” Pesisir Karya Segara member I Wayan Patut said on Thursday.

He added the rehabilitation effort was in collaboration with the private sector, which involved the planting of 32 seedlings of branched coral reefs.

“In addition to planting the seeds, we also released 36 seahorses, which will likely attract more marine species,” Patut said.

He explained the gradual rehabilitation of the reefs over five hectares was part of a 15-year plan expected to finish in 2018.

However, Patut added, the process was not easy, particularly because of the difficulties involved in procuring planting equipment and seeds.

“We are grateful to the government and private institutions that are concerned about the preservation of coral reefs near Serangan beach,” he said.

Antara

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US provides US$7 million to Bunaken Sea Park

Radioactive bluefin tuna crossed the Pacific to US

Associated Press, Alicia Chang,  AP Science Writer, May 28, 2012

FILE - This March 5, 2007 file photo shows workers harvesting bluefin tuna 

from Maricultura's tuna pens near Ensenada, Mexico. New research found

 increased levels of radiation in Pacific bluefin tuna caught off the coast of

 Southern California. Scientists said the radiation found in the fish came from

 Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant that was crippled by the 2011 earthquake

and tsunami. (AP Photo/Chris Park, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Across the vast Pacific, the mighty bluefin tuna carried radioactive contamination that leaked from Japan's crippled nuclear plant to the shores of the United States 6,000 miles away - the first time a huge migrating fish has been shown to carry radioactivity such a distance.

"We were frankly kind of startled," said Nicholas Fisher, one of the researchers reporting the findings online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The levels of radioactive cesium were 10 times higher than the amount measured in tuna off the California coast in previous years. But even so, that's still far below safe-to-eat limits set by the U.S. and Japanese governments.

Previously, smaller fish and plankton were found with elevated levels of radiation in Japanese waters after a magnitude-9 earthquake in March 2011 triggered a tsunami that badly damaged the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors.

But scientists did not expect the nuclear fallout to linger in huge fish that sail the world because such fish can metabolize and shed radioactive substances.

One of the largest and speediest fish, Pacific bluefin tuna can grow to 10 feet and weigh more than 1,000 pounds. They spawn off the Japan coast and swim east at breakneck speed to school in waters off California and the tip of Baja California, Mexico.

Five months after the Fukushima disaster, Fisher of Stony Brook University in New York and a team decided to test Pacific bluefin that were caught off the coast of San Diego. To their surprise, tissue samples from all 15 tuna captured contained levels of two radioactive substances - ceisum-134 and cesium-137 - that were higher than in previous catches.

To rule out the possibility that the radiation was carried by ocean currents or deposited in the sea through the atmosphere, the team also analyzed yellowfin tuna, found in the eastern Pacific, and bluefin that migrated to Southern California before the nuclear crisis. They found no trace of cesium-134 and only background levels of cesium-137 left over from nuclear weapons testing in the 1960s.

The results "are unequivocal. Fukushima was the source," said Ken Buesseler of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who had no role in the research.

Bluefin tuna absorbed radioactive cesium from swimming in contaminated waters and feeding on contaminated prey such as krill and squid, the scientists said. As the predators made the journey east, they shed some of the radiation through metabolism and as they grew larger. Even so, they weren't able to completely flush out all the contamination from their system.

"That's a big ocean. To swim across it and still retain these radionuclides is pretty amazing," Fisher said.

Pacific bluefin tuna are prized in Japan where a thin slice of the tender red meat prepared as sushi can fetch $24 per piece at top Tokyo restaurants. Japanese consume 80 percent of the world's Pacific and Atlantic bluefin tuna.

The real test of how radioactivity affects tuna populations comes this summer when researchers planned to repeat the study with a larger number of samples. Bluefin tuna that journeyed last year were exposed to radiation for about a month. The upcoming travelers have been swimming in radioactive waters for a longer period. How this will affect concentrations of contamination remains to be seen.

Now that scientists know that bluefin tuna can transport radiation, they also want to track the movements of other migratory species including sea turtles, sharks and seabirds.

Online:

Journal: http://www.pnas.org/

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Fishing ban to start in South China Sea

English.news.cn   2012-05-16

Vessels anchor in Batou Township of Denghai District in Shantou, south
China's Guangdong Province, May 15, 2012. China will soon impose a routine
 fishing ban in northern parts of the South China Sea, authorities announced
 Monday. The fishing ban will last from May 16 to August 1, covering areas
north of the 12th parallel of north latitude, including Huangyan Island but
excluding most of the Nansha Islands, according to a spokesman from the
 South China Fishery Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture.
 (Xinhua/Yao Jun)

           

GUANGZHOU, May 16 (Xinhua) -- A two-and-a half month fishing ban began at noon on Wednesday in most parts of the South China Sea, marking efforts to rehabilitate marine resources, according to fishery authorities.

The Hainan provincial marine and fishing department said all 8,994 locally-registered fishing vessels have been moored, affecting 35,611 people.

The annual fishing ban, which has been in place since 1999, will last from May 16 to August 1 this year, covering areas north of the 12th parallel of north latitude, including Huangyan Island but excluding most of the Nansha Islands.

The fishing ban was adopted to promote the sustainable development of the fishing industry in the South China Sea and protect the fundamental interests of fishermen, said officials with the South China Fishery Administration Bureau under the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA).

Violators will face punishments such as fines, license revocations, catch and vessel confiscations and even legal consequences, according to a statement issued by the fishery bureau under the MOA.

The provincial fishing authority said fishing vessels with Nansha Islands fishing permits are required to install and switch on vessel positioning equipment so they will not accidentally enter banned water areas.

The fishing ban is also applicable to foreign ships.

A spokesman from the fishery bureau under the MOA said earlier this week that the fishing activity of foreign ships in the banned areas will be seen as a "blatant encroachment on China's fishery resources."

Two law enforcement vessels, "Yuzheng 310" and "Yuzheng 303," or "Fishery Administration 310" and "Fishery Administration 303," were sent by the MOA on Tuesday to patrol the region.

Editor: Luan

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Giant tidal turbine 'performing well' in tests off Orkney

BBC News, 17 May 2012

The BBC's David Shukman says installing the giant turbine beneath the
stromy waters was an "extraordinary" operation

Related Stories 

• Giant tidal device set for tests

A subsea turbine which uses tidal power to generate electricity has successfully completed initial tests off Orkney.

The turbine was lowered into position during winter storms and Scottish Power Renewables said it was performing well.

The 100ft-high 1MW (megawatt) Hammerfest Strom HS1000 device is already powering homes and businesses on the island of Eday.

There are plans to create a 10MW tidal power array in the Sound of Islay.

Testing began in December and has been designed to finalise the timetable for the Islay project, with machines being installed "as early as feasible" between 2013 and 2015.

Keith Anderson, SPR chief executive, said: "The performance of the first HS1000 device has given us great confidence so far. Engineers were able install the device during atrocious weather conditions, and it has been operating to a very high standard ever since.

"We have already greatly developed our understanding of tidal power generation, and this gives us confidence ahead of implementing larger scale projects in Islay and the Pentland Firth.

"Scotland has the best tidal power resources in Europe, and that's why we are seeing world leading technologies tested here."

The turbine can be monitored from the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) base in Eday, but engineers can also operate and inspect the device from Glasgow using mobile connections and an on-board camera.

The turbines are placed on the seabed

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much.

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet.

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four. ….”

Iceland’s lone fin whaler hangs up harpoon

IceNews, 17 May 2012.

Environmental groups have welcomed the news that Iceland’s lone fin whaler is abandoning the hunt this year. Kristjan Loftsson, who has harpooned 280 of the gentle giants over the past six years, told the local media that he will not be participating in this year’s season.

Loftsson’s commercial whaling activities have put Iceland in Barack Obama’s bad books, with the US president announcing last year that the country could face numerous diplomatic measures if it continued with the cruel practice. Earlier in the year the Pelly Amendment was invoked by US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, who condemned Iceland for disregarding the global ban on commercial whaling.

Loftsson, who exports the meat to his own company in Japan, apparently made his decision after failing to agree with the Association of Icelandic Fishermen about conditions and salaries for deckhands working onboard his ship. According to media reports, he also claims the Japanese demand for whale meat has not recovered after the 2011 tsunami.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has welcomed the news, but pointed out that minke whales are still being slaughtered in Iceland.  Last year, the two Icelandic companies that hunt the whales caught 58 minke, while the first victims of this whaling season were harpooned in recent weeks.

IFAW last year launched a ‘Meet Us Don’t Eat Us’ campaign in Iceland, aimed at encouraging tourists to avoid eating whale meat and to support whale watching and conservation schemes. It also hopes to convince whalers that conservation activities are a profitable and sustainable alternative to hunting.

Robbie Marsland, UK Director of IFAW, said, “We are delighted to hear that no more fin whales will be cruelly and needlessly slaughtered in Iceland. We are also pleased to hear Mr Loftsson acknowledge that this outdated industry is uneconomic. This is exactly what IFAW-commissioned research has shown over recent years; it is just a shame that 280 fin whales had to die in this failed commercial experiment.”

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Hvalur boat on the western coast of Iceland in 2009 (AFP/File,

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In Indonesia, Community Patrol Shuts Down Shark Crimes

The Huffington Post, Greg Stone,  May 11, 2012

Nestled to the northwest of the Island of New Guinea, within Indonesia's West Papua Province, there is a 46,000 square kilometer stretch of ocean spotted with a stunning chain of small islands named Raja Ampat (the Four Kings). Sitting at the center of the Coral Triangle, Raja Ampat is famous for its unparalleled marine biodiversity-there are more marine species recorded there than any other place on Earth of that size.

Recognizing Raja Ampat's natural beauty and the value its intact ecosystems provide for local communities in the form of food, coastal protection, and tourism revenue, the communities and government of Raja Ampat have established a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) throughout its borders and further designated the entire area a shark sanctuary. These efforts are starting to pay off, with fish -- especially higher predators like sharks -- starting to rebound inside the MPAs.

Unfortunately, these increases make the area a target for illegal activity. In an incident last week, that was reported on by the Washington Post and Jakarta Post, 33 poachers were caught red-handed within the borders of the Kawe MPA, one of the MPAs within Raja Ampat, an area which is under local, regional, and national protection and over 97 percent of which is entirely closed to fishing. Tragically, they had already caused substantial damage by killing large quantities of sharks and other marine life.

Fishing vessels tethered together after being apprehended by the
Kawe joint patrol team.

  

What makes this story unique is not what the poachers took out of the water -- an estimated market value of $160,000 USD of shark fins, shark and ray carcasses and sea cucumbers. No, the exceptional part of this story is that these fishermen were intercepted and stopped by a local community patrol led by the rightful custodians of this area, the Kawe tribe.

Up through the beginning of this century, the region had been notorious for illegal fishing activities like blast fishing and shark finning, mostly conducted by outside fishermen who had come to Raja Ampat after depleting their own waters. In 2006 however, the Kawe people, whose lives depend on the natural resources of the sea decided to take action. They declared a 383,000 acre MPA, eventually recognized by the regional and national governments, and took back control and protection of their own resources.

While Raja Ampat police officer reviews the vessels documents, a staff
 member from Conservation International, Abraham Goram, that supports
the  local communities and governments in their managment of the MPA,
exaplained the protected area status of Kawe to three of the fishermen.

  

Managed and patrolled by the local villagers for six years, the Kawe MPA began to see results as reefs damaged by explosive fishing started to grow new coral and the shark population began to rise. In this part of the world, that rebound in the shark population can bring a lot of value. Marine tourism is one of the most important and fastest growing industries in Raja Ampat and is already bringing significant revenue and livelihood opportunities to the local communities and government. The revenues generated from tourist fees alone contribute an additional $380,000 per year for social programs and conservation actions that directly benefit the local communities, on top of the jobs and revenues created through tourism businesses.

Unfortunately a resurging shark population is also a strong motivator for fishermen to risk entering protected areas like the Kawe MPA.

The Kawe tribe protects the area for the benefit of their children, so they guard it bravely and passionately. When reports came in, late on a Sunday evening, that seven fishing vessels were in their no-take waters, they rushed into action -- quickly getting support from the regency government of Raja Ampat and the Indonesian Navy for a mission to intercept the poachers the following day.

Fresh shark fins drying on the deck of one of the apprehended vessels.

  

Thankfully for all involved, the tense situation when the patrol boat stopped the seven fishing vessels and the patrol members boarded the ships did not erupt into violence. They seized all of the poacher's catch, their documentation, and all of their illegal long-line fishing gear (used to catch sharks) and compressors (used to harvest sea cucumbers).

Unfortunately the patrol was unable to bring the poachers into custody due to the difficulty of controlling a large number of now angry poachers on seven different boats with only a small patrol team. The boats fled and unfortunately still remain at large. Action must now be taken to bring them to justice; the chase is on to recapture them.

When their territory was under attack, the rightful custodians of this natural wonder, the Kawe tribe, took action to fight for the resources that they depend upon for survival -- with support from government, the navy, and conservation organizations.

While the people of Raja Ampat still have many challenges ahead, their story is proof that communities can be empowered to protect their own resources, and an inspiration to the thousands of community groups and governments around the world who are working to protect their marine ecosystems from similar threats. The ocean and the life within it are too valuable to give up without a fight.

Photos by Abraham Goram, courtesy of Conservation International.

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Coconuts, wind and sun to power Pacific nations

Jakarta Globe, May 10, 2012

Now instead of finding ways to escape the heat, like this schoolboy
in Tuvalu, islanders will use it to create energy

Tiny Pacific nations which are most at threat from rising seas have vowed to dump diesel and other dirty expensive fuels blamed for causing global warming and replace them with clean sources.

Using coconut biofuel and solar panels, Tokelau -- which consists of three island dots half way between New Zealand and Hawaii -- plans to become self-sufficient in energy this year.

The leaders of other so-called small island states around the world made commitments at a meeting this week organized by the UN Development Program and the Barbados government.

The Cook Islands and Tuvalu in the Pacific are aiming to get all of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020, while St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean is aiming for 60 percent from renewables by 2020.

And East Timor's government vowed that no family in its capital, Dili, would be using firewood for cooking by 2015 and said half the country's electricity would be from renewable sources by the end of the decade.

"I know we set ambitious targets, but it is actually exciting," Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna told AFP.

"We don't see those targets as being difficult. It is very inspiring and that is what is motivating us to get going."

Puna said about 15 percent of the New Zealand-dependency country's budget is spent on importing diesel oil. He has called it a "crippling dependence".

He wants those tens of millions of dollars spent on health and social services and education for the approximately 20,000 inhabitants of 15 islands spread over 2.2 million square kilometers (850,000 square miles) in the Pacific.

The government plans to start converting to solar panels and wind turbines. Already nearly all houses have solar water heaters.

Work will start on Rakahanga in the northern group of islands next year with help from Japan. New Zealand is to fund the energy revolution in the southern islands.

Puna said the energy change was proposed while campaigning for a 2010 election. "We didn't realize, it but we were tapping into a reservoir of environmental consciousness among our people. The reaction has been fantastic.

"Somewhere in our makeup we are environmentally conscious people, because we have learned to live off the land and off the sea, that is our heritage, that is our tradition and we are just tapping into that again."

In North America and many European countries there has been resistance to wind turbines sprouting up on land and sea.

"There may well be some in the Cook islands," said Puna. "But I think once people realize and see the benefits from these instruments there will not be too many problems."

UN studies show that oil imports account for up to 30 percent of gross domestic product in some Pacific countries, with prices bolstered by the huge distances it has to be carried.

Ministers at this week's meeting complained in a statement that despite their "significant actions" to help ease global climate change, international action has been "slow and grossly inadequate," given the increasing threat to island nations from rising seas.

Their declaration -- adopted ahead of next month's UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro -- called for the new energy sources to be made "accessible, affordable and adaptable," so all threatened island states can take steps to adapt.

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Hawaiian surfer breaks wave-riding record

BBC News, 11 May 2012

A 44-year-old Hawaiian surfer has entered the Guinness Book of Records for riding the biggest wave ever thought to have been ridden.

Last November Garrett McNamara caught a 78ft wave off the coast of Portugal, beating the previous 2008 record by more than a foot.

McNamara began surfing at age 11 and became professional six years later.

He has described his achievement as a stroke of luck and has used his feat to urge people to follow their passions.

The giant wave was located above an underwater canyon famous for being the world's biggest wave generator.

McNamara has said that on the day he broke the record, he at first had not wanted to take a ride but his friends urged him to catch a few waves.

"Everything came together. Everything felt right", he said.

Close scrutiny

Hundreds of thousands have viewed the video and photographs of McNamara's ride. They show his figure dwarfed by a giant wall of water.

"I knew it was big, but I didn't know how big," he said.

He later sent the footage and pictures to surfing expert Sean Collins, who guessed the wave was 85-90ft tall. Collins died in December.

Last week, McNamara was awarded $15,000 (11,600 euros) for the ride at the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards in California.

Judges for the awards examined the footage and pictures from different angles.

They also compared McNamara's height in a crouch and the length of his shin bone with the wave's top and bottom before reaching a verdict, event director Bill Sharp told the Associated Press.

Commenting on the record, McNamara said: "The world would be a much better place if everyone was doing what they wanted to do".

However, the UK Guardian newspaper quoted him as saying: "I'm not sure I want to ride that peak again".

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UNESCO declares Wakatobi world biosphere reserve

Antara News, Thu, May 10 2012

Wakatobi Beach

Wangiwangi, S.E.Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has declared the Wakatobi Marine National Park of Southeast Sulawesi province as a world biosphere reserve area unconditionally.

"The UNESCO has declared the Wakatobi national park, which covers an area of 1.3 million hectares, to be a world biosphere reserve, along with 12 other biosphere reserves in the world," Wakatobi Regent Hugua said here on Thursday.

According to Hugua, the decision to make Wakatobi a world biosphere reserve was reached at the 18th meeting of International Advisory Committee for UNESCO MAB Biosphere Reserve Program in Paris during April 2-4, 2012.

"At the meeting 26 areas were considered for world biosphere reserve status, but only 13 were approved, including Wakatobi. Five areas were given conditions and five other regions were declined," he explained.

Hugua said, with Wakatobi becoming a world biosphere reserve in July 2012, Indonesia would have eight areas with the same status.

He explained UNESCO wanted to protect three interests while establishing the Wakatobi National Park as a centre of the world biosphere reserve: local knowledge, environmental sustainability, and sustainable economic interests of the local society.

"Local knowledge is related to the cultural traditions of communities," Hugua said.

Environmental sustainability needs to be protected because waters of the Wakatobi National Park feature a diversity of coral reefs and marine life, which is comparatively higher than other regions in the world.

"The Wakatobi waters boast 750 species of coral reefs, out of a total of 850 species worldwide. Even the Caribbean Sea, which is very popular among tourists, especially divers, has only 50 species of coral, while the Red Sea has 300 species," Hugua noted.

"With regard to economic interests of the local society, people in the Wakatobi should be able to exploit the potential of existing natural resources in a sustainable manner without disturbing the environmental balance," he added.

"These are the three reasons why UNESCO made the Wakatobi Marine National Park a biosphere reserve centre of the world," Hugua said.

Editor: Heru

Japanese town to build dolphin zoo near site of annual cull

Taiji defies international criticism over cull and plans to populate 69-acre mammal park with dolphins and whales captured nearby

guardian.co.uk, Justin McCurry in Tokyo, Wednesday 9 May 2012

Japanese fishermen aboard a boat loaded with dolphins slaughtered
at a cove in Taiji harbour. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

It sounds like it ought to be a sick joke. But in the town made infamous for its annual slaughter of hundreds of dolphins, tourists will now be able to swim and play with the mammals in a zoo near where the cull takes place.

Taiji, featured in the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, is to build a whale zoo. Yet despite the move, officials say the cull will continue.

Local media reports say the picturesque town on Japan's Pacific coast plans to populate the proposed 69-acre marine mammal park with bottlenose dolphins and pilot and other small whales caught nearby.

The town, in the Higashimuro district of Wakayama, has been the target of international criticism for almost a decade over the hunt, in which up to 2,000 animals are killed for their meat or sold to aquariums and marine parks.

The meat from a single animal can fetch up to 50,000 yen (£390), but aquariums have paid more than 10m yen for certain types.

Pressure to end the cull intensified after the 2009 release of The Cove. In order to make the film, directed by Louie Psihoyos, the crew broke into the fenced-off bay and installed hidden cameras to capture footage of the hunt.

Taiji is one of four Japanese towns that hunts small cetaceans in coastal waters, but has been the focus of criticism because of the way fishermen capture and kill their prey. Hunters confuse the animals by banging metal poles on the side of their boats and then herd them into a cove before attacking them with spears and knives.

Many of the residents who proposed the whale park realise the mammals are more valuable to the town's economy alive than dead, and only a handful of fishermen in Taiji, a town of 3,500, are involved in the slaughter.

During the most recent cull season, which ran from September to March, 928 dolphins were caught, according to the local fisheries authorities.

Outside a small number of coastal communities, few Japanese people eat dolphin meat, which tests have shown contains high levels of mercury.The government, which allows about 20,000 dolphins to be killed each year, acknowledges that the meat is contaminated but says it is not dangerous unless consumed in large quantities.

Construction of the zoo is not expected to begin for three to five years while authorities try to secure funding and settle rights issues with fishermen who cultivate pearls and other marine products in the area. The zoo will feature beaches and mudflats, with its oceanside entrance in Moriura Bay closed off by a 430-metre net. "We want to send out the message that the town is living together with whales," Jiji Press quoted Taiji's mayor, Kazutaka Sangen, as saying.

He said the construction of the zoo would not coincide with an end to the dolphin hunt. "We will continue hunting dolphins and establish Taiji as a town of whales, however much criticism we get from abroad," he told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

While The Cove drew international praise for its daring attempt to expose the bloody reality of Taiji's dolphin hunt, fishermen and officials said the film was deliberately misleading and ignored the town's historical and cultural attachment to whaling.

The movie made its Japanese debut at the 2011 Tokyo international film festival before going on general release. Several cinemas in Japan decided not to show it, however, after ultra-nationalists threatened to disrupt screenings.

Psihoyos later sent Japanese-language copies of the movie to every household in Taiji with the help of a local ocean conservation group. The American director said the film was intended as a "love letter to the people of Taiji".

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"Sacred Animal Kingdom - Healing Divine Love" - FEB 16, 2012 (Metraton channelled by Tyberonn)

Dolphin Assisted Fishing

I do NOT own this clip in any way or fashion. All credit goes to the BBC. This clip was taken from the Human Planet episode "Oceans - Into The Blue".

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Study finds even polar bear cubs can swim huge distances in open water

GPS tracking of 52 female adult polar bears by US Geological Survey reveals average swim of 96 miles and one of 220 miles

guardian.co.uk, Reuters in Anchorage, Alaska, Wednesday 2 May 2012

A mother polar bear sleeps on the tundra with her cub. The bears have to
 swim longer distances as summer sea ice disappears. Photograph:
Paul Richards/AFP

Polar bears are capable of swimming vast distances – a survival skill potentially needed in an Arctic environment where summer sea ice is vanishing, a study led by the US Geological Survey (USGS) has found.

The study, published in the Canadian Journal of Zoology, tracked 52 female polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea off Alaska. Between 2004 and 2009, a period of extreme summer-ice retreat, about a third of those bears made swims exceeding 30 miles, according to the study. The 50 recorded swims averaged 96 miles, and one bear was able to swim nearly 220 miles (354 km), according to the study results. The duration of the long-distance swims lasted from most of a day to nearly 10 days, according to the study.

The bears' movements were tracked using global positioning system collars. All the animals in the study were females because male polar bear necks are too thick for GPS-equipped collars, said Karen Oakley, a supervising biologist at the USGS Alaska Science Centre.

Many of the polar bears in the study had young cubs with them, and it appears that at least some of the cubs – which were not collared – might have been able to keep up with their mothers in the water, USGS officials said.

The scientists were able to track 10 of the studied bears within a year of collaring and found that six still had their cubs, the lead scientist said.

"These observations suggest that some cubs are also capable of swimming long distances. For the other four females with cubs, we don't know if they lost their cubs before, during or at some point after their long swims," Anthony Pagano, a USGS scientist and lead author of the study, said.

While the demonstrated long-distance swimming ability is probably a good thing for polar bears, scientists were concerned about the animals expending too much energy in their efforts to travel across open water, the USGS said.

Oakley said the study sample was too small to draw conclusions about the fate of the entire polar bear population, which in 2008 was designated as threatened and granted protection under the US Endangered Species Act because of rapid warming in their Arctic habitat.

The study simply describes behaviour that was observed, Oakley said. "It's just very interesting that in fact they can swim long distances, and cubs can swim long distances," she said. "Do all the cubs that attempt to swim these long distances survive? We don't know."

Scientists do not know whether such long-distance swimming is a new behaviour, USGS officials said. The technology to track long-distance bear swims accurately was not available in the past, Oakley told Reuters. "The GPS technology, which is relatively new, is what allowed us to really do the actual in-depth analysis of this," she said.

But polar bears probably lacked the opportunity or need to make such long swims in that part of the Arctic in the past. In past decades, polar bears were always able to rest on available floating summer sea ice, she said.

"These long distances of open water didn't use to exist in the southern Beaufort Sea," she said. "Did they swim these really long distances? Well, they didn't have to because they weren't there."

Indian ferry capsizes, killing over 100

Deutsche Welle, 1 May 2012

Hopes have dimmed of finding further survivors of a ferry accident in north-eastern India. The overcrowded boat capsized after hitting a storm in one of the worst such accidents in recent years.

Rescue workers continued searching for over 100 people still missing on Tuesday after an overloaded ferry capsized in heavy wind and rain in the Brahmaputra River in India's Assam state.

Officials said 103 bodies had been recovered from the river. Strong wind and rain were hampering the rescue efforts for the remaining passengers.

"I will be ordering an inquiry into the cause of the accident, but right now our priority is to account for every person who was on the ferry," said Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Assam's top elected official.

About 350 people were thought to have been on the two-deck ferry, which had a capacity of 225, when it broke into two pieces late Monday. Around 150 people were rescued or swam to safety. The ferry had neither life boats not life vests.

It was one of the worst ferry accidents in India in recent years.

ncy/pfd (AP, dpa, AFP)