Fiji's Air Pacific bans 'unsustainable' shark fins

Yahoo – AFP, 24 June 2013

This file photo shows passengers looking through the windows of an Air Pacific

 aircraft featuring a mural of an idyllic tropical island, in Nadi, on November 11, 2003

Fiji's national carrier Air Pacific announced on Monday it will no longer carry shark fins that come from unsustainable or unverified sources.

The airline said it had carried out a month-long review of its freight policies and decided to only accept shark products from sustainable sources which did not involve threatened species.

"This is consistent with our overriding commitment to environmental protection and conservation efforts in Fiji," acting chief executive Aubrey Swift said in a statement.

The move comes after environmentalists had criticised the airline for flying shark fins to Hong Kong, where it is used in shark-fin soup, which is regarded as a delicacy.

Swift said the airline would closely monitor shipments of shark products from the Pacific nation, effective immediately.

"We will now work with conservation partners and the fishing industry to prepare and implement policies and processes that will ensure that future shipments are sustainably sourced," he said.

Shark-fin soup was once a luxury enjoyed just by China's elite, but as the country has grown wealthier demand has boomed, placing pressure on shark populations.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates humans kill about 100 million sharks each year, placing dozens of species under threat.

Last week South Korea's two largest airlines, Korean Air and Asiana, said they had both decided to ban shark fin from their cargo flights.

Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific stopped shipping shark fin as cargo last September.

Related Articles:

Korean Air Joins Cathay Pacific in Curbing Shark Fin Transport

EU tightens ban on shark finning

Korean Air Joins Cathay Pacific in Curbing Shark Fin Transport

Jakarta Globe, Jasmine Wang and Kyunghee Park, June 24, 2013

Shark fins dry in the sun on the roof of a factory building in Hong Kong
 (AFP Photo/Antony Dickson)

Shark fins’ ride in plane bellies is beginning to end.

Last week, Korean Air Lines Co. said since March it had stopped moving the delicacy used in soups. The Seoul-based company joined Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. and Air New Zealand Ltd. in saying no to transporting the commodity.

The airlines’ ban on carrying the cargo may aid steps by environment lobbies to protect sharks, whose fins can cost as much as $800 per kilogram ($364 per pound). Hong Kong is the transit point for about half of the global shark fin trade, which largely goes to the Chinese market, said Alex Hofford, executive director at MyOcean, a marine conservation group.

“The airlines know it’s good to be seen as doing the right thing as passengers become more environmentally aware,” Hofford said. “Economically speaking, it doesn’t affect them one bit as it’s so tiny compared to all the other things they carry, electronics, phones or other cargoes.”

About 10 percent of global shark-fin trade is freighted through air with the rest moving by ships, Hofford said. Hong Kong imports shark fins from all over the world including Africa, Europe, south Pacific, Indonesia, Japan and the Middle East, he said.

Fishermen obtain the fins by slicing them off sharks and leaving them back into the ocean, a process called “finning”, Korean Air said in a June 20 statement. More than 73 million sharks are finned around the world every year, it said, citing research data.

Higher-Value Goods

Korean Air’s decision came after a similar move by Air New Zealand last month and Cathay’s September announcement to only carry shark products from sustainable sources.

Asian airlines and airports are aiming to move to higher-value goods to counter a weak global air-freight market, which declined for a second straight year in 2012 amid a slump in demand across Europe.

Changi Airport, Southeast Asia’s largest freight airfield, plans to attract more gold bars, tuna and vaccines to Singapore as it seeks to increase handling of high-value cargo to make up for slowing trade.

Cathay Pacific, the world’s biggest international air-cargo carrier, aims to replicate its business-class strategy in a cargo trade upgrade. The airline said in February it wants to fly more diamonds and medicines rather than T-shirts.

Shark Rescue

Environmental groups, including Shark Rescue and MyOcean, last month also sent a letter to Fiji’s Air Pacific, urging it to stop the carriage of shark fins and related products from the south Pacific on flights to Hong Kong.

They plan to lobby Qantas Airways Ltd and Air France-KLM Group to urge them to stop carrying the fins, Hofford said.

Air New Zealand suspended the carriage of shark fins on May 21, while a review of this issue is underway, the carrier’s spokesman Andrew Aitken said in an e-mailed statement last week.

Cathay Pacific in September announced a restrictive policy that it will only accept independently verified sustainable shark and shark-related products. While the carrier is still working on the implementation of the policy, it has reduced the volume of shark fins carried to 3 tons in the six months ended March from about 300 annually before the announcement, according to an e-mailed statement from the carrier on June 20.

Wedding Banquet

“We will only ship from sustainable sources and will continue to do so,” its Chief Executive John Slosar said last week in Hong Kong.

Transport restrictions could make a soup, made with 76 grams of shark fins, pricier than the HK$1,320 ($170) it sells at the Fook Lam Moon Group restaurant in Hong Kong.

Shark fin consumption in Hong Kong is going down as young people have increased awareness of protecting endangered species, Hofford said. The older generation of people continues to consume shark fins, he said.

Cissy Ho, a 27-year-old who is getting married next month in Hong Kong, said she had to agree to her family members’ decision to include shark fin soup in the menu for her wedding banquet.

“I would choose bird’s nest dish over shark fin soup, but I failed to convince the elders,” said Ho, who works at a Hong Kong-based company. “They still think shark fin soup is a must-have item to show their generosity towards guests.”

Bloomberg

Related Articles:

Fiji's Air Pacific bans 'unsustainable' shark fins - New

EU tightens ban on shark finning

Australia in push to outlaw Japan whale hunt

Google – AFP, 23 June 2013

File picture shows Japan's whaling research ship the 'Nisshin Maru' leaving

the port in December 2012 (Junko Sakuma/AFP/File, Junko Sakuma)

SYDNEY — Australia's Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said Sunday he was hopeful the government would win its case against Japan's "scientific" whaling which begins this week in the International Court of Justice.

Dreyfus, who will be in The Hague to lead the case for the final stretch of the three-week hearing which begins on June 26, said both sides had filed very lengthy legal and factual arguments with the court.

"Australia's views on whaling are well established - we strongly oppose all commercial whaling, including so-called 'scientific' whale hunting by Japan," Dreyfus said.

"We believe Japan's so-called 'scientific' whaling is contrary to its international obligations and we want to see this practice brought to a halt once and for all."

The attorney-general said Australia and Japan, a key trading partner, remained friends despite their disagreement over whaling, which Tokyo says is carried out for scientific purposes.

"Australia and Japan agree the International Court of Justice is the best place to resolve differences between friends," Dreyfus said.

"Both countries value our strong bilateral relationship and the friendship forged between our nations over many years."

The upcoming hearings mark the final stage of proceedings initiated by Australia in 2010 and the government is hopeful of a decision before the start of the next southern hemisphere whaling season towards the end of the year.

"Of course we're hopeful of getting the result that we want," Dreyfus told reporters in Sydney.

"We're hopeful of a decision from the International Court of Justice before the end of the year, and certainly before the start of the next whale-hunting season that's part of Japan's so-called scientific whaling programme."

Dreyfus said it was inappropriate for him to go into the detail of the case but said the written submissions of both Japan and Australia, and the intervening submissions of New Zealand, will become available later in the week.

He said more than 10,000 whales have been killed since 1988 as a result of Japan's whaling programmes in the Southern Ocean.

The annual killing of the whales for research in the Southern Ocean has provoked anger from conservationists, with militant activists from the Sea Shepherd conservation group tailing the Japanese fleet each year and occasionally clashing with the harpoon and factory ships.

This year the whaling mission off Antarctica logged a "record low" catch of the mammals, with the Japanese government blaming "unforgivable sabotage" by activists.

Sea Shepherd Australia chairman Bob Brown said he expected the court in The Hague to find Japan was whaling for commercial reasons and therefore breaching international law.

"Sea Shepherd Australia has been upholding the law and providing the only direct protection for thousands of whales, who would have been slaughtered for profit by the Japanese fleet," he said.

Japan's whale hunts have long drawn criticism from activists and foreign governments, but Tokyo defends the practice saying eating whale is part of the country's culinary tradition.

It says whales are studied as part of a bid by Japan's whaling research institute to prove their populations can sustain commercial whaling.

Related Articles:

Japan whale 'research' a flashpoint in global dispute

"The Akashic System of Remembrance" - Sep 2010 (Kryon Channelling) - Reference to Whales/Dolphins/Animals > 28:00 min

Teen's biofuel invention turns algae into fuel

Tampa Bay Times, Sabrina Rocco, Times Staff Writer, June 15, 2013

Evie Sobczak, 16, a rising senior at Shorecrest Preparatory School in 

St. Petersburg, holds her Cellulose Blaster invention in her garage lab. 

The device extracts lipids from algae, turning the oils into biofuel without 

chemicals. Sobczak’s process uses very little energy. SCOTT KEELER

| Times

For a fifth-grade science fair, Evie Sobczak found that the acid in fruit could power clocks; she connected a cut-up orange to a clock with wire and watched it tick. In seventh grade, she generated power by engineering paddles that could harness wind. And in eighth grade, she started a project that eventually would become her passion: She wanted to grow algae and turn it into biofuel.

After four years of tinkering in her garage for about an hour each day, Sobczak (pronounced sob-chek) has finally figured it out. Her algae-to-fuel project won first place and best in category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, beating 1,600 other finalists from 70 countries. The Intel ISEF is one of the largest and most prestigious science fairs in the world.

"When I got there, I looked at all the projects and they were amazing, but I trusted that my project has a lot of capabilities to be used in the real world, so I thought I had a good chance of winning," said Sobczak, a rising senior at Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg.

The project's official title: Algae to Oil via Photoautotrophic Cultivation and Osmotic Sonication. In less dizzying terms, Sobczak cultivated, harvested and extracted algae oils and turned them into biofuel.

Biofuel is made by taking a mass — such as grass, sugarcane or corn — and converting it to fuel. The process leaves out harmful chemicals, like chloroform and hexane, which are used in making biodiesel and other types of fuel. Also, the use of algae biofuel reduces reliance on fossil fuels.

Some research shows that algae fuel could one day be a significant part of the nation's energy supply. But the cost of producing it remains high and scientists are working on ways to bring it down.

"All these Floridians think that algae is bad because it causes red tide, but it can be used as a positive to help our environment and our economy," Sobczak said.

Among a trove of awards and scholarships from the Intel ISEF, Sobczak was given the opportunity to visit NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, where workers control the Mars rover, for three days this month.

"(Sobczak) will get a behind-the-scenes experience of how JPL works: how we conceive and design missions, how we build and operate spacecraft, and then she'll meet scientists who will speak about how they use spacecraft to discover new science," said Larry Bergman, a program manager at the lab.

The world's attention has been on Mars because of the Curiosity rover landing and the Intel ISEF took that into consideration when selecting a prominent research lab to send a student to, Bergman said. In the past, students have gone to places like CERN, the nuclear research lab in Switzerland notable for having the world's largest particle accelerator.

"Going to the JPL is not something that everyone can experience, so I am very excited to be able to go," Sobczak said. "I can't wait to see them and talk to them about my project."

Also this summer, she will volunteer in the postpartum unit at St. Petersburg General Hospital and will be involved with a beach restoration project.

"She's motivated, she's driven, she's a grinder," said her mom, Lila Sobczak. "Until she finds the answer, she doesn't stop," she said.

Sobczak fell in love with science just by doing her schoolwork at Shorecrest. She says her teachers inspired her by getting her involved with science fairs early on.

"Evie has two things going for her," said David Hyink, her biology teacher. "She loves science and she has amazing enthusiasm for it. I think those are the two key ingredients to be able to do this."

Sobczak hopes to get into Columbia University or MIT to major in biochemical engineering. She's excited to work in a college lab where she can expand her algae project. Sobczak's dream job: working with other engineers to make algae a biofuel in the United States.

Between devoting countless hours to her algae project, keeping up with schoolwork and trying to hold on to her social life, Sobczak gets frazzled. But to that she simply says: "Stress means you're doing a lot of work, so it has to be a good thing."

Sabrina Rocco can be reached at srocco@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8862.

Oyster farmers in Brazil embrace sustainability

Deutsche Welle, 17 June 2013

Sustainable oyster farmers have turned Brazil's Bay of Guaratuba into a model of eco-friendly food production. They are producing some of the tastiest oysters in the world and educating locals about how to be green.

In the southern state of Paraná, a large inlet in the middle of dense Atlantic forest forms the Bay of Guaratuba. This is one of Brazil's most biologically rich ecosystems. On the calm waters of the vast bay, the tranquility is only broken by the occasional sound of human activity.

Nereu de Oliveira discovered this place about a decade ago. He liked the area so much that he decided to leave his job as a lawyer and open an oyster cultivation site on the bay. He built a restaurant and environment education center and started to get interested in new ways to protect the environment.

In 2005, he decided to partner with Cultimar, an initiative of the Federal University of Paraná. Cultimar's goal is to support sustainable aquaculture in Brazil.

Oliveira left his carreer as a lawyer
to pursue a life in aquaculture

Oliveira told DW that he farms oysters in a sustainable way, instead of extracting oysters from the wild population. This way, the shellfish continue to fill their place in the ecosystem.

In order to encourage oyter farmers to support sustainable practices, Cultimar has created a health certificate. This gives local oyster farmers - who are so proud of their world-famous oysters - an official standard to aim for.

Lab certification

Scientific testing of oyster quality is done at a university in Paraná's capital city Curitiba. Within the laboratories, water gurgles and bubbles in basins where ocean organisms are kept for examination. Researcher Karin Yamashiro explained how the oyster testing works.

"We open them up, collect the oyster as well as the intervulvar liquid, put it in sterile machines that homogenize the samples, then extract the liquid - one milliliter to test for E. coli and staphylococcus, another milliliter to identify salmonella," Yamashiro said.

Ostrensky says environmental education
has shifted thinking in this region

In addition to scientific monitoring, the Cultimar project works to distribute new knowledge and practices in local coastal communities. Antonio Ostrensky heads the university's aquaculture research institute. "The fact is, you can't just talk science to the oyster producers. They're not going to understand the science. You have to translate it for them. Simplify," Ostrensky told DW.

The health certificate is something any oyster farmer can understand and appreciate. The technical process adds value to the oyster and the certificate provides an easy tool for marketing sustainable practices.

And consumers like the extra safety measures. Oysters are ocean organisms that filter water and can carry disease. So consumers are willing to pay more for oysters they know are certified as safe for consumption.

Food security

As Brazil's economy expands, mariculture is becoming more important, especially because it has a lower impact on the environment than other food production activities. Communities involved in new sustainable oyster production also have an opportunity to generate stable income. They are also able to stay on their land. In nearby coastal regions, developers have looked to exapnd high-rise residential communities with waterfront views, instead of finding ways to preserve the environment and support local industry.

Small-scale production of oysters is a sustainable alternative to
traditional fishing

Oyster cultivation is a good alternative to the overfishing o that used to take place in Guaratuba before Cultimar came into the picture. Ostrensky says the project has shifted peoples' thinking.

"Nowadays if you go there, you see a culture that involves much more than production; it involves environmental education, restaurants, tourism," Ostrensky said. "I think the scale we've been working on has brought about a great transformation."

Guaratuba oysters are considered
some of the tastiest in the world

Oliveira says that a continued focus on oyster cultivation will help preserve the region, because healthy oysters demand water free from impurities. He agreed with Ostrensky that the project has transformed the region.

"You see an evolution in the people of the region. Altogether, it ends up improving the people's lives," Oliveira said. "The world needs protein for human consumption. Fish, oysters, shrimp and other seafood can all contribute to a healthy diet."

Oliveira even believes that sustainable fishing practices in Guaratuba could be replicated in other regions of Brazil, and around the world.

Study reveals ancient fossil fish had abs

Google – AFP, 14 June 2013

A scientist shows a fish fossil named Gogonasus, in Melbourne,

on October 19, 2006 (AFP/File, William West)

SYDNEY — Palaeontologists have made the surprising evolutionary discovery that ancient Australian fish may have had abdominal muscles, previously thought to have only developed in land animals.

Researchers mapping the oldest fossilised vertebrate muscles ever seen -- in Gogo fish thought to be 380 million years old -- worked out the position of the muscles and the orientation of the muscle fibres.

The fossil fish, found in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, are enclosed in limestone nodules and are known for their exceptional preservation.

"The muscles in the abdomen cavity that we found weren't expected because even in living fish their main mode of propulsion is of course to flap their tails to left and right so all the muscles are sitting on the side of the body," said Gavin Young from Australian National University's Research School of Earth Sciences.

"What's interesting is when we found these muscles and did some comparisons, the only comparable muscles are in... land animals," he added to AFP.

He said the question now was whether these muscles had the same function as abdominals seen in land animals.

In the study published in Science, the researchers prepared and analysed the muscles in a small number of specimens from three different species.

"(The ancient fish) have already revealed soft tissues such as nerve and muscle cells, the oldest known vertebrate embryos, and even a preserved umbilical cord," Young said.

The latest study went further and mapped the musculature of the ancient fish for the first time, possible after researchers realised that soft tissues had been preserved in some of the specimens, though it was being destroyed in the earlier process of acid etching the skeletons.

Curtin University associate professor Kate Trinajstic, a chief investigator on the ANU-based research into early vertebrate evolution, said the team had been "stunned to find that our ancient fossil fishes had abs!"

"Abdominal muscles were thought to be an invention of animals that first walked onto the land but this discovery shows that these muscles appeared much earlier in our evolutionary history," she said.

Abdominal muscles in humans serve a number of functions, including protecting the internal organs, providing postural support, and for movement.

The first Australian expedition to collect Gogo fossil fish in the Kimberley was conducted in 1970.

Duck tops the bill in farewell Hong Kong appearance

Google – AFP, 10 June 2013

Thousands of people crowd the waterfront on the last day to see a

giant duck in Hong Kong on June 9, 2013 (AFP, Richard A. Brooks)

HONG KONG — Thousands said farewell Sunday to a giant inflatable yellow rubber duck which has captivated Hong Kong, on its final day in the city's harbour before it heads to the United States.

The southern Chinese city has taken the 16.5 metre-tall (54-feet) duck, conceived by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, to its heart since it arrived under tow on May 2 to cheering crowds.

Duck mania has gripped the city -- and parts of the Chinese mainland -- since its arrival, with hundreds of thousands of locals and tourists in Hong Kong flooding the streets near where the giant replica bath toy is moored to catch a glimpse.

Stalls and shops sold replicas and merchandise ranging from T-shirts to three-dimensional duck tote bags. Restaurants created special duck dishes.

In mainland China, copies of the duck made an appearance in several cities -- prompting a rebuke from the communist party newspaper the People's Daily for what it called unoriginal copycat behaviour.

The duck was even embroiled in mainland politics, in the run-up to the 24th anniversary on June 4 of the Tiananmen suppression of pro-democracy activists by the army.

Internet searches on the mainland for "yellow duck" were banned after users circulated a mocked-up image of a famous 1989 photo, with tanks replaced by plastic ducks.

In Hong Kong thousands were seen taking their last look Sunday at the genuine duck, wishing it well for the journey ahead and thanking it for bringing joy to the Asian financial hub.

"I hope that it can bring happiness to the people in the different countries it visits," 30 year-old Sam Tsang told AFP.

"The rubber duck has brought us a lot of happiness...I hope it will come back," said 34 year-old teacher Tina Yip.

Shopping mall Harbour City, organisers of the exhibit, said in a statement the duck has "spread joy and positive energy to everyone in town and has received so much love and support from fans and media".

Since 2007 the duck has travelled to 13 different cities in nine countries ranging from Brazil to Australia.

Hofman said he hopes the duck, which will now travel to the US city of Pittsburgh, will act as a "catalyst" to connect people to public art.

The duck was to be deflated early Monday before being shipped out.

"Missing you already ducky! Must let you go to bring happiness to people around the world!!" Annie Hung wrote on Hofman's Facebook wall.

Related Articles:

Peking Inflatable Duck: Hofman's artwork served up as Chinese dishes

Chinese Imitators Copy Hong Kong’s Giant Duck

President welcomes Greenpeace activists

The Jakarta Post, Ina Parlina, June 08 2013

Welcome on board!: Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo (left)
 shows President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (right) the legendary Rainbow Warrior
ship at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta on Friday. (Antara/Prasetyo Utomo)

For years, Greenpeace has been viewed with suspicion by Indonesian officials and some local hard-line groups who accused the international environmental group of being a “foreign agent” trying to wreak havoc in the country.

But on Friday, it was President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono himself who came to meet and greet Greenpeace activists aboard their iconic sailing vessel, the Rainbow Warrior, which was moored at Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta.

The President called Greenpeace a “partner” in the country’s efforts to protect the environment.

“[Please do] criticize Indonesia over the things the country has to improve, and advise us how to maintain the environment. If Indonesia does good things, do not forget to tell the world that Indonesia has a strong commitment to protecting the environment,” Yudhoyono said, adding that he had asked Greenpeace to remain a partner of Indonesia.

Greenpeace, which has always been critical of the government, was more supportive of Yudhoyono during the meeting.

Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo said he hoped that Yudhoyono’s presence on board would be a symbol of environmental protection leading to greater protection for Indonesia’s incredible natural heritage.

“The President should be congratulated on the progress his government has made on forest protection since our first meeting last year,” Naidoo said. “There is still crucial work to be done but we at Greenpeace can assure him that we will do whatever we can to support Indonesia’s commitment to zero deforestation.”

While the meeting could boost Yudhoyono’s standing as a champion of green policies, it may also help Greenpeace’s operations in the country, which have been marred by several incidents.

 In 2011, Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven was denied entry into Indonesia at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, even though Sauven held an official visa issued by the Indonesian Embassy in London. A few days later, immigration officials tried to deport British Greenpeace campaigner Andrew Ross Tait.

In the same year, the Jakarta administration threatened to seal the organization’s office in Kemang, South Jakarta, for allegedly violating building regulations. In mid-2012, after months of intimidation from a hard-line group as well as opposition from residents living nearby, Greenpeace finally abandoned its headquarters in Kemang and moved to Tebet, South Jakarta. The protesters accused Greenpeace Indonesia of breaching regulations by accepting donations from gambling operations.

In a meeting with Naidoo in Jakarta on June 7 last year, Yudhoyono accepted Naidoo’s invitation to visit the ship; a far cry from 2010, when the Rainbow Warrior was escorted out of Indonesian waters after the government refused to let the ship dock in Jakarta. Yudhoyono said at that time that Greenpeace was a credible organization that played a major role in seeking environmental solutions through its criticisms and effort, pointing out that both of them “shared a similar dream”.

The crew of Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior sang

a song at a welcoming ceremony in Bali as part of its

tour. It stops in Jakarta on Monday at Tanjung Priok Port.

(JG Photo/Nadia Bintoro)

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Rainbow Warrior Visit Puts Focus On Environment


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Yudhoyono Eyes New Anti-Logging Policies Before End of Term

Timber Certification Pays Off for Indonesia With 114% Increase in Sales to EU

Indonesia Goes Green to the Dismay of Palm Oil Producers

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Indonesia Celebrates Coral Triangle Day With Conservation Events

Jakarta Globe, June 7, 2013

Coves and islets in Raja Ampat. (AFP Photo)

The Indonesian government hopes to raise awareness about the importance of marine resources this month by hosting a number of events in celebration of Coral Triangle Day on Sunday.

The Marine and Fishery Ministry, in a press release obtained in Jakarta on Friday, said that the celebrations were part of more than 50 international events to mark the day.

The Coral Triangle is believed to be home to 76 percent of the world’s coral and 37 percent of world’s fish. The area, comprised of six countries, provides the livelihood for more than 120 million people.

Indonesia, along with Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste, are members of the Coral Triangle Initiative on coral reefs, fisheries and food security.

The first event, a coral rehabilitation, featured the release of sea turtles and the planting of 5,000 mangrove seedlings in Minahasa, North Sulawesi, on Friday.

On Saturday, Bali will host a month-long photography exhibition on the coral triangle and the world’s oceans, jointly organized by the Coral Triangle Center, Body Shop Indonesia and the Marine Foundation.

Later that evening, Lombok’s Bintaro beach, located in Ampenan, will screen a film on corals and present a puppet show to raise awareness on the need to mitigate climate change and the destruction of coastal areas.

Marine and Fishery Minister Sharif Cicip Sutardjo and the head of the interim regional secretariat of the Coral Triangle Initiative will lead a beach cleanup in Lombok’s Bintaro and Loang Balok between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m.

Also on Sunday, the Coral Triangle Center will hold an open house for children between nine and 15 years old in Sanur, Bali, to teach them about maritime environments through participatory games.

Nicaragua gives Chinese firm contract to build alternative to Panama Canal

Project will reinforce China's growing influence on global trade and weaken US dominance over a key shipping route

guardian.co.uk, Jonathan Watts and agencies, Thursday 6 June 2013

Nicaragua's new waterway will be a higher-capacity alternative to the 99-year-old
 Panama Canal (pictured), which is currently being widened at the cost of $5.2bn.
Photograph: Danny Lehman/Corbis

Nicaragua has awarded a Chinese company a 100-year concession to build an alternative to the Panama Canal, in a step that looks set to have profound geopolitical ramifications.

The president of the country's national assembly, Rene Nuñez, announced the $40bn (£26bn) project, which will reinforce Beijing's growing influence on global trade and weaken US dominance over the key shipping route between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The name of the company and other details have yet to be released, but the opposition congressman Luis Callejas said the government planned to grant a 100-year lease to the Chinese operator.

The national assembly will debate two bills on the project, including an outline for an environmental impact assessment, on Friday.

Nicaragua's president, Daniel Ortega, said recently that the new channel would be built in the north of the country, through the waters of Lake Nicaragua.

The new route will be a higher-capacity alternative to the 99-year-old Panama Canal, which is currently being widened at the cost of $5.2bn.

Last year, the Nicaraguan government noted that the new canal should be able to allow passage for mega-container ships with a dead weight of up to 250,000 tonnes. This is more than double the size of the vessels that will be able to pass through the Panama Canal after its expansion, it said.

According to a bill submitted to congress last year, Nicaragua's canal will be 22 metres deep, 20 metres wide and 286 km (178 miles) long - bigger than Panama and Suez in all dimensions.

Under the initial plans for the project, the government was expected to be the majority shareholder, with construction taking 10 years and the first ship passing through the canal within six years. It is unclear if this is still the case.

Two former Colombian officials recently accused China of influencing the international court of justice to secure the territorial waters that Nicaragua needs for the project.

In an op-ed piece for the magazine Semana, Noemí Sanín, a former Colombian foreign secretary, and Miguel Ceballos, a former vice-minister of justice, said a Chinese judge had settled in Nicaragua's favour on a 13-year-old dispute over 75,000 square kilometres of sea.

They said this took place soon after Nicaraguan officials signed a memorandum of understanding last September with Wang Jing, the chairman of Xinwei Telecom and president of the newly established Hong Kong firm HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Company, to build and operate the canal.

Nicaragua has accused Colombia and Costa Rica, which also has a claim on territory likely to be used by the new canal, of trying to prevent the project going ahead.

Additional reporting by Gareth Richards

The planned rail line would run alongside the Panamanian border

Related Articles:

Nicaragua Congress approves ocean-to-ocean canal plan - New

China and Colombia announce 'alternative Panama Canal'

China in talks to build Colombian rail link to rival Panama Canal


Shipping industry faces rough economic waters

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version) 

“… The Illuminati

One more. "Kryon, what about the Illuminati?" OK, I'll tell you, for these things are already known by many.

Everything you thought about the Illuminati of the past is correct. This was not conspiracy, but fact. However, in the light of what I just said above, it could not sustain itself in an energy where everyone talks to everyone, and has since gone dormant.

The Illuminati was based in Greece, and it started by controlling the most potent economic attribute that could manipulate the strings of commerce on the earth - shipping. Once they had control of shipping, what followed was financial markets. This, then, worked its way to insurance, world stock markets and banking. This was prevalent for decades, right up to the mid '80s.

I have a question for the elders in the room. Look back in your lifetime, dear ones. What was the stock market like when you were younger? If you remember, you will say it had incremental changes up and down, except for occasional major shifts - which, by the way, were also controlled. It was steady, up or down. It didn't vacillate wildly, with hundreds of point-shifts from month to month. It never did. That's what a controlled market looks like. Now take a look at your current stock market. Does it look controlled? It is not! It is free-wheeling and it can go wherever it is driven by normal financial activity.

This should tell you something, dear ones. The Illuminati is no longer in control. It lost in banking, in tobacco, and it's about to lose in big pharma and insurance because awareness lets people know what is controlled and what is not. Awareness of truth will trump any other energy, and integrity will win some major battles.

So, did the Illuminate die? No. They simply lost their method of control. ...”

EU tightens ban on shark finning

BBC News, 6 June 2013

Related Stories

• MEPs close shark fin loopholes
• Call for shark loophole closure

These shark carcasses in Indonesia
have had their fins removed

The EU has agreed to tighten up an existing ban on "shark finning" - the practice of slicing off a shark's fins at sea for sale to Asian markets.

The ban for EU fishing crews has existed since 2003, but with special permits they were still allowed to remove the fins from shark carcasses.

Ministers have now agreed with MEPs to eliminate that legal loophole.

The Shark Trust campaign group says the EU exports 27% of the fins traded in Hong Kong - a major fin-trading centre.

Hong Kong accounts for more than half of all the fins traded worldwide, the group says. They are used in soups and traditional cures in Asia, where they are valued much more highly than the rest of the shark.

Finning is deemed cruel because the fins are often removed while the shark is still alive - it then drowns when it is thrown back into the sea.

A statement from the EU Council, which groups ministers from the 27 member states, said finning had contributed to a serious decline in shark populations.

It said that "with its policy of fins remaining attached, the EU will also be in a better position to push for shark protection at international level".

On a global level Indonesia lands the highest tonnage of sharks.

Conservationists argued that the issuing of Special Fishing Permits (SFPs) that allowed fins to be removed at sea prevented the EU ban from becoming fully effective.

According to European Parliament data, the largest number of SFPs issued were to Spanish and Portuguese vessels (1,266 and 145 respectively, in 2004-2010).

Portugal voted against the new controls, the Council said.

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)

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