19-Year-Old Develops Ocean Cleanup Array That Could Remove 7,250,000 Tons Of Plastic From the World's Oceans

Inhabitat, Timon Singh, 03/26/13

19-year-old Boyan Slat has unveiled plans to create an Ocean Cleanup Array that could remove 7,250,000 tons of plastic waste from the world’s oceans. The device consists of an anchored network of floating booms and processing platforms that could be dispatched to garbage patches around the world. Instead of moving through the ocean, the array would span the radius of a garbage patch, acting as a giant funnel. The angle of the booms would force plastic in the direction of the platforms, where it would be separated from plankton, filtered and stored for recycling.

At school, Boyan Slat launched a project that analyzed the size and amount of plastic particles in the ocean’s garbage patches. His final paper went on to win several prizes, including Best Technical Design 2012 at the Delft University of Technology. Boyan continued to develop his concept during the summer of 2012, and he revealed it several months later at TEDxDelft 2012.

Slat went on to found The Ocean Cleanup Foundation, a non-profit organization which is responsible for the development of his proposed technologies. His ingenious solution could potentially save hundreds of thousands of aquatic animals annually, and reduce pollutants (including PCB and DDT) from building up in the food chain. It could also save millions per year, both in clean-up costs, lost tourism and damage to marine vessels.

It is estimated that the clean-up process would take about five years, and it could greatly increase awareness about the world’s plastic garbage patches. On his site Slat says, “One of the problems with preventive work is that there isn’t any imagery of these ‘garbage patches’, because the debris is dispersed over millions of square kilometres. By placing our arrays however, it will accumulate along the booms, making it suddenly possible to actually visualize the oceanic garbage patches. We need to stress the importance of recycling, and reducing our consumption of plastic packaging.” To find out more about the project and to contribute, click here.

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Ecover to turn sea plastic into bottles in pioneering recycling scheme

World's biggest creature tracked by its song

Google – AFP, Madeleine Coorey (AFP), 27 March 2013 

A blue whale is spotted off Sri Lanka on January 21, 2012 (AFP/File,

Ishara S.Kodikara)

SYDNEY — An Australian-led group of scientists has for the first time tracked down and tagged Antarctic blue whales by using acoustic technology to follow their songs, the government said Wednesday.

The blue whale, the largest animal on the planet, is rarely spotted in the Southern Ocean but a group of intrepid researchers were able to locate and tag some of the mammals after picking up on their deep and complex vocals.

Researcher Virginia Andrews-Goff said it was the first time acoustics have been used to lead researchers to the whales in real time, with those monitoring the whale noises working around the clock to pinpoint them.

"The acoustics led us to the whales," she told AFP.

"They are quite, almost alien-like, deep resonating sounds. They are quite intense. Very interesting to listen to."

Environment Minister Tony Burke said the researchers, who spent seven weeks working from small boats in freezing Antarctic conditions, were captivated by the remarkable behaviour of the whales they saw.

A blue whale's fluke is photographed in the

waters  off the southern Sri Lankan town 

of Mirissa on January 21, 2012 (AFP/File,

Ishara S.Kodikara)

"The Antarctic blue whale can grow to over 30 metres in length and weigh up to 180 tonnes, its tongue alone is heavier than an elephant and its heart is as big as a small car," Burke said.

"Even the largest dinosaur was smaller than the blue whale."

Andrews-Goff said the scientists were often out in boats only six metres in length, sitting alongside the 30-metre giants.

"I felt like an ant next to one of these massive whales. They are huge," she said.

The scientists collected 23 biopsy samples and attached satellite tags to two of the whales, giving them never-before obtained data on the animals' movements during their summer feeding season and their foraging behaviour.

"This method of studying Antarctic blue whales has been so successful it will now become the blueprint for other whale researchers across the world," Andrews-Goff predicted.

She said while one tag stopped working after 17 days, the second was still working after two weeks, although erratically.

"We know very little about Antarctic blue whales' movement, we don't really know migration patterns, we don't really know if some animals migrate and some animals don't," she said.

"We can assume that we know where the whales feed but by using these satellite tags we can actually see where they are spending a lot of their time and if that's associated with environmental features like the sea ice edge.

"So the information that we can get from these tags is really useful."

The inaugural Southern Ocean trip of the Antarctic Blue Whale Project involved deploying acoustic buoys west of the Ross Sea to pick up blue whale songs, which can be detected from hundreds of kilometres (miles) away.

They recorded 626 hours of songs, with 26,545 calls from Antarctic blue whales analysed in real time, said lead acoustician Brian Miller.

A blue whale is spotted in the waters off 

the southern Sri Lankan town of Mirissa

 on January 21, 2012 (AFP/File, Ishara

S.Kodikara)

"The researchers were then able to triangulate the position of the whales from their vocalisations and direct the ship to the target area," he added.

Burke said the study proved it was not necessary to kill whales to conduct scientific research, a reference to Japan's annual whale hunt in the Antarctic, which is conducted in the name of scientific research.

"The Antarctic blue whale barely escaped extinction during the industrial whaling era in the 1900s when around 340,000 whales were slaughtered," Burke said in a statement.

"This research reinforces Australia's commitment to non-lethal research of whales."

Scientists on the voyage made 720 whale sightings, including of humpback, minke, fin and bottle-nosed species.

The whale project aims to estimate the abundance, distribution and behaviour of the species. Andrews-Goff said estimates suggested there were only a "couple of thousands" left.

Tainted Turtle Meat Kills at Least Three Kids, Poisons Hundreds in West Sumatra

Jakarta Globe, March 27, 2013

Indonesian activists wear turtle costumes during a rally against illegal sea turtle
 trade at a main road in Denpasar, Bali, in this February 2012 file photo. (EPA
Photo/Made Nagi) 

      

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At least three people have died and hundreds more were sickened after consuming toxic turtle meat in Mentawai Island, West Sumatra, a local news portal reported on Wednesday.

Rijel Samaloisa, deputy mayor of Mentawai, told news portal Vivanews.com that three children — a 3-year-old, an 8-year-old and an 11-month-old – died after eating the tainted meat on Tuesday night.

“The first victim died this morning [Tuesday] and the other two passed away in the afternoon. The latest information, a child aged 7 years old, is in critical condition at the Tuapejat Regional Hospital,” Rijel said.

He said residents of a fisherman’s community in the Sao hamlet of Bosua village, South Sipora, ate turtle that had been caught on Sunday. The deputy mayor added that some victims died because their families could not seek treatment in time.

“People were [sick] on Sunday but they were not directly taken to get medication,” he said.

All of the poisoned survivors have since received medical treatment, Rijel said, adding that they were admitted to Tuapeijat Hospital and Sioban community health center.

Sindonews.com reported that limited access to the village hindered the ability to seek treatment for the sickened villagers, as the only means of transportation which can accommodate many people at once is a boat with an outboard engine. Soa hamlet is located at the southern part of Sipora island and it can take up to two hours in good weather to reach the district health facilities. The regional hospital could take up to four hours to reach from the village, which has no mobile phone coverage, according to the portal.

Rijel said this was not the first time Mentawai people were sickened after consuming turtle meat.

“People have never learned, there were similar cases like this in the past,” he said.

Vivanews.com reported that 36 people on the island were poisoned from turtle meat on March 16.

Mentawai Island Health Office head Warta Siritoitet said there were four cases of poisoning from turtle meat in the past year in Mentawai.

Rijel said that the Mentawai administration would issue a mandate to prohibit the consumption of turtle.

“People will be prohibited to eat any kinds of turtle. We will distribute [a circular about the ban] in the mosques, churches, governments offices and other places,” he said.

Israel must ease new Gaza restrictions: rights groups

The Daily Star, March 24, 2013

A Palestinian fisherman prepares his net at the seaport of Gaza City March 22,
2013. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

                             

JERUSALEM: Two Israeli rights groups demanded on Sunday that Israel lift fishing restrictions imposed on Gaza after militants fired two rockets across the border, slamming them as "collective punishment."

Israel on Thursday halved the area in which Palestinian fishermen are permitted to work, closed the Kerem Shalom goods terminal and imposed restrictions on people wanting to leave the territory after two rockets hit southern Israel, causing damage but no casualties.

The move, which saw the fishing zone cut from six nautical miles to three, was condemned by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem as well as by Gisha, which campaigns for Palestinian freedom of movement.

"The decision to once again reduce the fishing range in response to missile fire by armed groups constitutes collective punishment imposed on fishermen for the actions of others," said a statement from B'Tselem.

It said Israel's duty to protect its citizens "cannot justify the harsh damage to fishermen who have done nothing wrong".

"B'Tselem calls on the military to rescind its latest decision and the restrictions imposed on fishermen in the Gaza Strip in the past years, and to permit fishing in the 20 (nautical) miles range, as was set under the Oslo agreements."

In a letter to Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon, Gisha director Sari Bashi said it was "the second time in less than a month" Israel had blocked civilian travel and goods transfer in response to rocket fire and urged him to lift the restrictions.

"In the last month, there appears to be a new policy toward the Gaza Strip, in which Israel is openly restricting civilian movement to and from Gaza, not because of a concrete security necessity, but rather as a punitive step taken against the civilian population in direct response to fire by combatants," she wrote.

The group condemned the rocket fire as "a blatant violation" of international law, but also noted Israel's obligation to avoid harming civilians, saying the recent steps were "entirely unacceptable."

Israel on Friday resumed full diplomatic ties with Turkey after apologising for a deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza aid flotilla which left nine Turkish activists dead.

As part of the deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged "to work on improving the humanitarian situation" in the Palestinian territories in a phonecall with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan brokered by US President Barack Obama on a landmark visit.

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Our reporters experience first hand Israeli efforts to intimidate Gaza fishermen and keep their fishing trips ever closer to shore

guardian.co.uk, Harriet Sherwood and Mat Heywood, Sunday 24 July 2011

US backs Antarctic reserve amid calls for fishing ban

Google – AFP,  Jo Biddle (AFP), 19 March 2013 

This undated image, provided by the Antarctic Ocean Alliance on November 1,

2011, shows Antarctic ice bergs (Antarctic Ocean Alliance/AFP/File)

WASHINGTON — Hailing the waters of Antarctica as a living laboratory, the United States has joined Australia and New Zealand in appealing for the creation of marine sanctuaries in the most remote and pristine part of the world.

US Secretary of State John Kerry (R)

 and Australian Foreign Minister Bob

 Carr at a press conference on March 18,

2013 (AFP, Paul J. Richards)

The United States and New Zealand have drawn up a proposal for a marine sanctuary covering 1.6 million square kilometers (640,000 square miles) of the Ross Sea, which would be the world's largest reserve.

Nations led by Australia, France and the European Union also want to protect 1.9 million square kilometers of critical coastal area in the East Antarctic.

But the proposals were blocked when talks in November at the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) -- comprising 24 countries and the European Union -- ended without resolution amid concerns from Russia and China.

Now the nations in favour are boosting their efforts to get the two sanctuaries approved at a special meeting of the group in Germany in July.

"Antarctica is a collection of superlatives. It's the highest, coldest, the windiest, the driest, the most pristine and the most remote place on Earth," US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday at a gathering organized by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Ross Sea protection plan (AFP/Graphic)

"And it has beguiled humankind for centuries as people have sought to understand it," he added, arguing that the waters of the Southern Ocean, home to 16,000 species, are a "living laboratory."

Kerry told the gathering at the National Geographic Society he believed the world can "work together to ensure that Antarctica remains a place devoted to peace and devoted to expanding human understanding of this fragile planet."

"This is one of the last places we could do this, and I think we owe it to ourselves to make it happen."

But conservationists argue the proposals do not go far enough to protect marine life -- notably the Antarctic toothfish, which is fished in huge quantities and served as Chilean sea bass on restaurant tables around the world.

The Ross Sea proposal, while creating a reserve to protect Adelie and emperor penguins, as well as killer whales and Weddell seals, would still allow some 3,000 tonnes of toothfish to be commercially caught each year.

Image provided by Antarctic Ocean Alliance

on  November 1, 2011 shows a diver taking

 photos of a seal in Antarctic waters

(Antarctic Ocean Alliance/AFP/File)

"We wanted New Zealand to come up with a much stronger proposal, and they just didn't, and they dug their heels in, and basically the US had to go for New Zealand's proposal," documentary film-maker Peter Young said.

"It doesn't matter how sustainable this quota is, we shouldn't be in the last place. We don't take buffalo from Yellowstone. We don't take kiwi from the forests in New Zealand. We should not fish from the Ross Sea."

The Pew trust, which organized Monday's event, is also calling for the Ross Sea zone "to be designated a no-fishing area so that the integrity of the entire ecosystem can be maintained."

Young's film "The Last Ocean," about the Ross Sea, was screened at the event attended by Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr and former New Zealand prime minister Mike Moore.

Kerry told the audience how as a child growing up around Cape Cod in Massachusetts he was taught early on about the wonders of the seas and how to find mussels and clams. "I am a child of the ocean in many ways," he said.

"The Ross Seas is a natural laboratory, and we disrespect it at our peril, as we do the rest of the ocean."

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"Around the Horn" - (a message from Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

“… Now, in the process of all of this, there's going to be renewed interest in Antarctica, and you're going to find some interesting things about the land under the ice. The topography of the land under the ice does not match the topography of the ice above. Some astonishing shapes will be revealed when you map the actual land under the ice. Points of mountains are going to be revealed, giving an entire different idea of what Antarctica might have been and what its purpose really is. The continent that is uninhabitable by Human Beings may very well be the engine of life for Human Beings. And I will leave it at that. …”

New restrictions bite Hong Kong shark fin traders

Google – AFP, Beh Lih Yi (AFP), 17 March 2013

Image taken on January 2, 2013 shows shark fins drying in the sun on the

roof of a factory building in Hong Kong (AFP/File, Antony Dickson)

HONG KONG — A conservation victory restricting global trade in more shark species will take a fresh bite at Hong Kong's market in fins, which has already been hit hard by persistent attacks from anti-fin campaigners.

Defiant fin merchants insisted the impact of the restrictions would be minimal as they would continue to import other species not covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) agreement.

And a local anti-fin lobby group warned the measures, which aim to protect the oceanic whitetip shark, the porbeagle and three types of hammerhead, would be hard to enforce.

Sharks endangered (AFP/Graphics)

But traders in the southern Chinese city, one of the world's biggest markets for shark fins, which are used to make an expensive gelatinous soup, have already suffered from successful environmental campaigning.

New figures show shark fin imports dropped off dramatically last year to 3,351 tonnes from 10,340 tonnes in 2011, after some prominent Hong Kong hotels and restaurants struck it from their menus.

Hong Kong has traditionally handled around half of all global trade, exporting most fins to mainland China where they are considered a rare delicacy.

On "Dried Seafood Street", a pungent thoroughfare at the centre of the city's shark fin trade, dozens of shops show off their goods, from lower-quality fins wrapped in plastic to the premium variety displayed behind glass that fetch up to HK$10,000 ($1,300) per kilogram (two pounds).

"More and more young people think having shark fin soup is cruel," trader Frederick Yu said.

"For Chinese, the only two delicacies we have are abalone and shark fins. The Westerners eat caviar and foie gras, is that not cruel? Why do they stop us from eating shark fins?"

But Yu, who has been in the business for over 10 years, said he supported the sustainability of shark populations, adding that environmentalists were unfair to target traders.

Despite opposition from China and Japan, the 178-member CITES conference in Bangkok approved a deal that requires countries to issue export permits to ensure the sustainability of the sharks in the wild, otherwise they could face sanctions.

But Ho Siu-chai, the chairman of the Hong Kong Shark Fin Trade Merchants Association said the restrictions would only affect one-tenth of current business.

"It's not an issue for us -- we have about 400 shark species, we can always import other species," he told AFP.

"We see it positively. We don't oppose the new restrictions."

Image taken on September 5, 2012 shows a customer talking to a shopkeeper

in a store selling shark fins in Hong Kong (AFP/File, Philippe Lopez)

Humans kill about 100 million sharks each year, mostly for their fins, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which says 90 percent of the marine predators have disappeared over the past 100 years.

The brutality of the practice sees fishermen slice off the fins before throwing sharks back in the water to die, campaigners say.

Hong Kong director for US-based Shark Savers, Silvy Pun, said while the three species already under CITES protection -- the great white, whale shark and basking shark -- are larger in size and more easily identified, the newly-listed species were hard to differentiate.

"The next step for Hong Kong will be very, very challenging," she said.

"The only way you can identify them correctly is DNA identification but as far as I know, this is not very well-developed yet (in Hong Kong)."

The government's conservation department said it would abide by the CITES restrictions, which must be introduced within 18 months, but would not elaborate on how it was planning to step up enforcement.

In the face of public distaste, some traders have stopped drying fins in the open on the pavement, moving them instead to rooftop locations.

And Pun was hopeful that the tide is turning.

"Hong Kong as a shark capital has the responsibility to conserve the shark population. Now we can take bigger steps to conserve sharks -- we can start and we can change," she said.

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The word is out: Shell 'screwed up' in 2012

Greenpeace, Aaron Gray-Block, March 15, 2013

No truer words were said than US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar when he bluntly pointed out on Thursday that Shell "screwed up in 2012" during its chaotic attempt to drill for Arctic oil.

In a damning assessment of Shell's embarrassingly inept operations in Alaska, Salazar said the company will not be allowed to return without a comprehensive overhaul of its plans to avoid the same kind of mishaps that plagued its 2012 operations.

An Obama government review found that Shell, a massive company with profits in excess of $26 billion last year, was not prepared for the extreme conditions in the Arctic. Shell's ill-preparedness resulted in a series of accidents and the New Year's Eve grounding of its drill rig the Kulluk.

The review was harshly critical of Shell management and said the company had failed to plan for the short drilling season in the Arctic and the region's extreme weather conditions. Its equipment, in particular, did not stand up to the harsh environment.

Clearly, despite its promises, Shell is not Arctic ready, and the US government should be embarrassed for granting Shell the operating permits that it did, but President Obama now has solid evidence to justify a ban.

Even Shell announced a "pause" in its Arctic drilling last month and any oil company reckless enough to believe it can operate safely in the fragile Arctic ocean should stop and learn from Shell's mistakes.

Like the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, an accident in the unforgiving Arctic could result in devastating consequences for a fragile, pristine region. Rather than tap the oil that is leading to the Arctic ice melt, it's time to turn back from the frontier.

Shell clearly can't be trusted there.

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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….”

Obama renews call for investment in efficient energy - New

China's State Grid to boost small-scale power generation

Green energy revolution in the Gulf?

Energy revolution promises to transform East Africa

BRAZIL: Thousands of Dead Fish Wash Up on Lagoon Shore

Latino Daily News, March 14, 2013

Photo: BRAZIL: Thousands of Dead Fish Wash Up on Lagoon Shore

Thousands of dead fish washed up on the shores of the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, a Rio de Janeiro tourist attraction, Brazilian authorities said Wednesday.

A large amount of organic matter that entered the lagoon as a result of two recent large storms consumed oxygen and brought it down to critically low levels, Carlos Alberto Muniz, the municipal environment secretary, told Efe.

This situation caused a massive die-off of shad, whose number had risen since mid-February after the fish had entered the lagoon to spawn, Muniz said.

The city government now is working to remove the rotting fish and the strong odor associated with them and had collected 12 tons of dead shad as of Wednesday, the official said.

The lagoon is connected to the Atlantic Ocean via a canal that splits the beaches of Ipanema and Leblon, and that feeding-in of seawater on Wednesday helped improve oxygen levels, Muniz said.

A 65-year-old fisherman named Walter told Efe on the shores of Rodrigo de Freitas, which is to be cleaned up and used for aquatic events such as rowing in the 2016 Olympics, that he believes the large fish die-off occurred because the water in the lagoon is not renewed.

Related:

Falling Birds & Death Fish (Water Cycle - New Mini Ice Age) - (“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why) - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

The second thing the melting ice caps give you is about ecology. I'll give you this prediction in a moment. There is a Human 3D paradigm that says everything gets "used" and then goes away. But nature doesn't work that way, and our prediction is going to go against everything you have been told. I'm going to give you a parable and the prediction in a moment, but before that, I'm going to give you the explanation of the birds and the fish.

In the last few weeks, fish have been washing up dead in certain lakes by the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Birds have been falling from the sky. I'm going to make a statement way in advance of what science is going to tell you. All of it can be traced to the water cycle - all of it. It's always about the weather, a cycle of weather you've not seen before. Do you remember a few years ago when whales were beaching themselves? Did you notice that this attribute stopped? But while they were beaching themselves every year, many Human Beings were in fear, saying, "It's the end of the world. They're committing suicide."

The whales beached themselves because the magnetics of the earth shifted so greatly that their navigational system [the magnetite in their biology, which is their migration compass] steered them right into the land. The land didn't move; the magnetics did. Therefore, you might say their internal inherited migration map was flawed. The reason it's not happening now is because the calves, the generation beyond the one that beached themselves, figured it out and rewrote the maps. Nature [Gaia] does this. So the next generation didn't repeat it. Instead, it realigned itself to the migratory lay lines and now whales don't beach themselves nearly as often.

The magnetics of the planet continue to shift and the birds are unaware. Like the whales, many of the birds have migrated themselves right into a high place in the atmosphere, which pummeled them to death by freezing rain and hail. Then they fall from the sky. It's the weather cycle. Will they continue to do this? Some will, for awhile, and then they will figure it out and recalibrate. That's what nature does.

You might say, "Well, nature's way is severe." It is not severe. It is a positive learning system that allows generations of birds to be around next time. The few deaths allow for the many to continue their life cycle and their lineage on the earth.

I want you to analyze the fish that have washed up. Let science reveal this as well. I want you to analyze the fish. They have something in common. They're all juveniles. And why is that? What do you know about the water cycle? What do you know about cold water and the life cycle of certain fish and their habits of reproduction? I will tell you the layers of water are changing in temperature and that is going to change the life cycle of the oceans and lakes. The juvenile fish are the most susceptible to death by becoming too cold, especially the ones of the kind that washed up dead. By the tens of thousands, the cold killed them. It is the water cycle. Will it continue? For awhile, until they acclimate, until they recalibrate for the cold - and they will. Nature does that.  

Opponents fail to overturn shark-protection deal

Google – AFP, Daniel Rook (AFP), 14 March 2013 

A visitor takes pictures of a whitetip shark at an aquarium in California on

April 26, 2012 (AFP/File, Joe Klamar)

BANGKOK — Japan, China and other nations that support shark fishing lost a bid to overturn a landmark deal that offers global trade protection for several species of the ocean's oldest predator.

A decision to restrict exports in the oceanic whitetip shark, the porbeagle, three types of hammerheads and the manta ray won final approval by the 178-member Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

"This is an historic day for marine conservation," Glenn Sant of wildlife trade protection group Traffic said after the decision at a major wildlife conference in Bangkok.

"Sharks populations are in freefall, but have been thrown a lifeline today -- CITES has finally listened to the scientists."

Rather than a complete ban, countries will be required to regulate trade by issuing export permits to ensure the sharks' sustainability in the wild, otherwise they could face sanctions by members of CITES, a global treaty which protects some 35,000 species.

The United States hailed the agreement as a "historic moment in shark and ray conservation".

"The decline of these commercially exploited species is a global challenge that must be met with global solutions," said the head of the US delegation, Bryan Arroyo.

The move was agreed by member states on Monday but required final approval at the meeting's plenary session.

Opponents including Japan, China and India failed to garner enough support to challenge the earlier decision on the oceanic whitetip and the hammerheads.

Japan has a long history of shark fishing and its fishermen fear that moves to control the trade could hit an industry still recovering from the impact of a devastating tsunami that hit the country's northeast coast in March 2011.

Along with China, Japan argued that national and regional fishing bodies should be left to regulate shark exports. Each country supported different motions aimed at reopening the debate at CITES.

Hailing the meeting's refusal to heed their call, Susan Lieberman of The Pew Charitable Trusts described it as "the most significant day for the ocean in the 40-year history of CITES".

Endangered species (AFP Graphic)

The species now join the great white shark, the whale shark and the basking shark, which already enjoy international trade controls. Members have 18 months to introduce the new measures.

"This is a historic moment, where science has prevailed over politics, as sharks and manta rays are being obliterated from our oceans," said Carlos Drews of WWF.

"This decision will put a major dent in the uncontrolled trade in shark meat and fins, which is rapidly destroying populations of these precious animals to feed the growing demand for luxury goods."

Humans kill about 100 million sharks each year, mostly for their fins, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and conservationists are warning that dozens of species are under threat.

Ninety percent of the world's sharks have disappeared over the past 100 years, mostly because of overfishing in countries such as Indonesia, the FAO says.

Shark-fin soup was once a luxury enjoyed by China's elite, but shark populations have been decimated around the world as the country's 1.3 billion people have grown wealthier and incorporated it into their festivities.

While the Chinese government has banned shark-fin soup from state banquets, and some five-star hotels in Hong Kong and Singapore have dropped it from their menus, the burgeoning middle-class in China continues to stoke demand.

Related Articles:

Four Shark Species Win International Trade Protection

Shark Fin-Hungry China Drives ‘Chaotic’ Fishing in Indonesia