Noord-Holland province sees gold in growing seaweed

DutchNews, January 30, 2017

Noord-Holland province is investing €300,000 into research about the economic opportunities seaweed can offer the area. 

Demand for seaweed is rising worldwide: it can be used as food and also has applications for the pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, sustainable chemicals and energy distribution sectors, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Monday. 

The province wants to determine how the region can attract investment and other economic activities related to seaweed. The research is being carried out by the Dutch energy research centre ECN, the royal institute for ocean research NIOZ and Wageningen university’s marine research unit WMR. 

Well-positioned

Noord-Holland’s position on the North and Wadden seas make the area ideal for pilot projects, the FD said. In addition, there are a number of companies and institutions which can contribute to seaweed ‘s potential. 

The research project will take 18 months. Expectations related to seaweed and algae are high in the fisheries industry. The Dutch institute for applied research TNO is currently conducting experiments into algae which can produce protein for the foods industry, pigment for the coatings industry or fuel for cars. 

Pioneering Dutch enterprise sets out to put seaweed on the table

Hoping for a fresh sea breeze aboard a cruise ship? Better hold your nose!

French TV journalists have secretly measured the air quality on a cruise ship. The results are devastating: The air is significantly worse polluted than it would be in thick urban traffic.

Deutsche Welle, 26 January 2017

Cruises are increasingly popular among today's tourists. They offer relaxation with 24-hour service for stressed out office workers.

Forget about searching for the perfect, pristine beach - which most people will never find, anyhow. Instead, just go to the pool on the upper deck, enjoy some tasty drinks and take in breathtaking views of the ocean from high above. For people who need less contemplation, cruises offer theater and show performances, generous meals, bars and shopping opportunities.

That doesn't mean you're in for a boring vacation: Adventure comes as part of the risk free deal. Even frail seniors can now feel like mystic characters such as Long John Silver from Treasure Island or real explorers like Roald Amundsen - be it by cruising the romantic Carribean, visiting savage South Sea islands or admiring polar bears on impenetrable arctic shores. Finally you can do something for your health by going to the ship's gym and getting a good work out.

Tourists want to enjoy themselves - and the fresh sea breeze.

But you better think twice about taking a deep breath. The German Environmental Association "Naturschutzbund Deutschland"(NABU) now warns that it is more likely you inhale polluted air than a fresh breeze. NABU says that it cannot recommend any of the large European cruise ships.

"Pamphlets lead you to believe that there are blue skies and white ships - a dream-like setting," Daniel Rieger, who is in charge of transportation policies at NABU, said. "The truth is that clouds of black soot are emitted from the funnels."

Measuring results are worse than expected

Recent measurements of actual air quality onboard a cruise ship seem to support NABU's view. French TV journalists from broadcaster France 3 conducted covert measurements while on a cruise. They boarded a ship in Marseille for a cruise of the Mediterranean.

Results show that "the shipping companies are exposing their travelers to high concentrations of harmful substances," NABU managing director Leif Miller concluded.

Even environmentalists were surprised by the high concentrations that the journalists detected. Right after leaving Marseille, air pollution was roughly 200 times that of a heavily trafficked urban street.

Besides fine dust and soot, the combustion of marine diesel fuel and heavy oil also set free other harmful substances such as nitrogen oxides and heavy metals.

Former captain and ship broker Helge Grammerstorf, who is the German national director of the Cruise Lines International Association CLIA, defends his industry. He told the daily "Hamburger Abendblatt:" "We don't know these measurements. The claim is completely unsubstantiated."

Grammerstorf argues that the measurements were taken only selectively and that one would need to run a more systematic test to collect data over a longer time period.

Hardly noticeable for passengers

"The passengers can only smell or see the particles before they get mixed up with the ambient air," NABU spokesman Rieger said after the France 3 test results were published.

He argued that it wouldn't take the shipping companies much to change the pollution and to increase comfort. "Even switching from marine diesel fuel or heavy oil to regular road diesel fuel would make a big difference," he said.

In addition, it wouldn't be too hard to install effective exhaust cleaning systems, according to NABU. Such systems have long existed with established standards for trucks and trains.

"The question is whether the industry deliberately looks the other way," Dietmar Oellinger - NABU's transport expert - said.

He suggested that the tests taken by the French journalists were merely an example and could possibly be representative for the entire cruise ship industry.

"The reality is black soot from the chimneys," NABU environmentalists say.

"We should ask how much more proof the industry needs before they finally take action," Oellinger said.

Some cruise lines have pledged to install particle filters, but so far, there are none in use.

Covert measuring only in the harbor

Previously, NABU has only had the opportunity to measure harmful ultra fine dust particles in the air around cruise ships in harbors. They have done so in Hamburg, Venice and the north-eastern German city of Rostock-Warnemünde. The ship owners did not allow the environment agency to take measurements on board, Daniel Rieger said.

The results were devastating nonetheless: In all cases the ships were burning off heavy oil. Four of five ships were not equipped with any exhaust gas cleaning or they were only fulfilling the lowest legal standard for northern Europe - a system that only reduces sulfur oxide emissions.

Technical solutions to reduce particle and nitrogen oxide emissions have long been on the market, though. Therefore, NABU argues, not implementing them is largely due to greed. It would cost money to install the system and furthermore require the companies to use more expensive types of fuel.

Almost as dangerous as asbestos

The German Lung Foundation already recommended several years ago that people with chronic respiratory diseases only stay on certain parts of the deck when on a cruise ship and thus avoide breathing in the ship's exhaust.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has concluded that diesel exhaust is just as carcinogenic as asbestos. The ultrafine particles, which are smaller than 0.1 micrometer can get into the smallest pulmonary alveoli and from there into the blood stream and other organs.

NABU manager Leif Miller argues it's cynical that the cruise ship companies "pay huge sums to improve entertainment and gastronomical services on board, but save as much as they can when it comes to environmental protection."

Meanwhile, in Germany the cruise ship industry is getting ready for the next season: In Warnemünde, Hamburg and Kiel alone, more than two million passengers are expected to board the giants of the seas in 2017.

Related Articles:

Maritime countries agree first ever shipping emissions regulation

Dutch ports to reward environmentally ‘clean’ ships

Shipping to steer cleaner carbon course

Antarctic nations plan tough new shipping controls

Proposal mandates stricter pollution controls for ships

The 16 Ships Create As Much Pollution As All Cars in The World

Multinationals act on ocean-clogging plastics

Yahoo – AFP, January 16, 2017

The planet's dangerously polluted oceans will contain more plastic waste than fish
by 2050 if urgent action isn't taken, the companies warned (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) - Forty of the world's biggest companies assembled in Davos agreed on Monday to come up with cleaner ways to make and consume plastic as waste threatens the global eco-system, especially in oceans.

The plan was announced at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort, where powerful executives are gathering just days ahead of the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president, who views concern about such environmental issues with suspicion.

The planet's dangerously polluted oceans will contain more plastic waste than fish by 2050 if urgent action isn't taken, the companies warned.

Answering a call by British sailor and philanthropist Ellen MacArthur, multinationals such as Unilever and Procter and Gamble made a commitment to increase recycling and cut back overall use.

Food-to-detergents giant Unilever said it would ensure that all of its plastic packaging "is fully reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025".

The Davos initiative said 20 percent of the world's plastic production could be profitably re-used and a further 50 percent recycled instead of infesting landfills and killing wildlife in the ocean.

But even then, "without fundamental redesign and innovation, the remaining 30 percent of plastic packaging (by weight) will never be recycled and the equivalent of 10 billion garbage bags per year will be destined to landfill or incineration", the WEF said.

"The 'New Plastics Economy' initiative has attracted widespread support, and across the industry we are seeing strong initial momentum and alignment on the direction to take," said MacArthur, who is a regular Davos presence along with celebrities such as Matt Damon.

Other companies backing the initiative include Coca-Cola, Danone and Dow Chemical.

"Plastics are the workhorse material of the modern economy -– with unbeaten properties," said Martin Stuchtey, a professor for resource management at Innsbruck University in Austria who is working on the programme.

"Minor changes in material, format and treatment ... can make the economics of recycling viable and take us into a positive spiral of ... lower costs and better design," he said.

Related Articles:

Rotterdam takes action to stem flow of plastic waste into the sea - New
Delft student raises $2m through crowdfunding for plastic soup plan

Sea Shepherd finds Japanese ship 'with slaughtered whale'

Yahoo – AFP, January 15, 2017

A photo released by activist group Sea Shepherd on January 15, 2017 purportedly
shows a dead minke whale onboard Japanese ship the Nisshin Maru in Antarctic
waters (AFP Photo/Glenn LOCKITCH)

A Japanese ship has been caught with a slaughtered whale in the Antarctic in defiance of an international court decision against Tokyo's hunts, activist group Sea Shepherd said Sunday.

The conservationist organisation -- whose two vessels departed Australia last month for the Southern Ocean to disrupt the hunt -- said it spotted the Nisshin Maru in the Australian whale sanctuary around the nation's Antarctic territory.

The Japanese fleet set sail on November 18 last year in defiance of a worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling and international opposition.

Sea Shepherd released photographs of a dead minke whale on the deck of the Nisshin Maru, a factory ship, adding that the vessel's crew covered the carcass with a tarp when its helicopter approached.

The dead whale is the first to be documented since the ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), said Sea Shepherd. It has spent more than a decade harassing Japanese harpoon ships during the Southern Hemisphere summer.

"The fact that the Japanese crew went to cover up their harpoons and the dead minke whale on deck just shows that they know what they're doing is wrong," the captain of Sea Shepherd's MY Steve Irwin, Wyanda Lublink, said in a statement.

A photo released by activist group Sea Shepherd on January 15, 2017 purportedly

 shows a covered dead minke whale onboard Japanese ship the Nisshin Maru in

Antarctic waters (AFP Photo/Glenn LOCKITCH, Glenn LOCKITCH)

The news came a day after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull in Sydney, with their talks focusing on trade and defence.

Japan is a signatory to the International Whaling Commission's moratorium on whaling in force since 1986. But it exploits a loophole allowing whales to be killed for the purposes of "scientific research".

Australia's Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said in a statement his government was "deeply disappointed" Japan had returned to whaling in the Southern Ocean this summer.

"We will continue our efforts in the International Whaling Commission to strongly oppose commercial whaling and so-called 'scientific' whaling, uphold the moratorium on commercial whaling and promote whale conservation," he added.

In 2014 the United Nations' ICJ ordered Tokyo to end the Antarctic hunt, saying it found permits issued by Japan were "not for purposes of scientific research".

Japan cancelled its 2014-15 hunt after the ruling, but restarted it the following year under a new programme with a two-thirds cut in the target catch number -- saying the fresh plan was genuinely scientific.

Tokyo claims it is trying to prove the whale population is large enough to sustain a return to commercial hunting. But the meat from what it calls scientific research often ends up on dinner tables.

No one was available for comment at Japan's Fisheries Agency.

SeaWorld's whale-turned-killer Tilikum dies

Yahoo – AFP, January 6, 2017

Tilikum, an orca whale made famous by the US documentary "Blackfish",
died at the age of 36 on January 6, 2017 (AFP Photo/Gerardo Mora)

Miami (AFP) - Tilikum, the killer whale linked to the deaths of three people and made famous by the 2013 documentary "Blackfish" -- which criticized the captivity of orcas -- died Friday, according to SeaWorld.

One of SeaWorld's most prominent orcas, Tilikum had been fighting a bacterial lung infection since March when he died at the marine theme park in Orlando, Florida.

SeaWorld, which owns several entertainment parks in the United States, said the approximately 36-year-old killer whale had spent years with the company.

"Tilikum passed away early this morning, January 6, surrounded by the trainers, care staff and veterinarians that provided him around-the-clock world-class care," SeaWorld announced on its website.

"Tilikum had, and will continue to have, a special place in the hearts of the SeaWorld family, as well as the millions of people all over the world that he inspired," SeaWorld president and chief executive Joel Manby said.

The official cause of death will not be announced until the completion of a necropsy, the company said.

It noted that Tilikum was near the upper end of the average life expectancy for a killer whale, and faced "some very serious health issues," it said.

The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) tweeted a photo of Tilikum on Friday along with the message: "R.I.P. Tilikum Dead after three decades of misery."

Tilikum's name means "friend" in the Chinook Jargon language spoken among Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest.

The black-and-white five-tonne bull orca, the largest killer whale in captivity, had been linked to the deaths of three people.

In 2010, Tilikum grabbed the ponytail of Dawn Brancheau, a SeaWorld trainer, and dragged her underwater to her death in front of horrified onlookers at the end of a show at SeaWorld Orlando.

The whale, nicknamed "Tilly," was involved in the death of a part-time trainer at the Sealand of the Pacific facility in Canada in 1991 and that of a man who died in 1999 after he sneaked into SeaWorld to swim with the mammals after the park closed.

CNN featured Tilikum in a 2013 documentary "Blackfish" that covered those fatalities and also sought to show the impact of captivity on these giant sea creatures.

Animal rights groups charge that orcas were kept in tanks that are too small, fed improper diets and forced to perform tricks.

Under public pressure, SeaWorld last March announced it would stop breeding killer whales, and would no longer keep any of them in captivity after its current generation dies.

With the death of Tilikum, SeaWorld now has a total of 22 orcas at its three facilities -- in Orlando; San Antonio, Texas; and San Diego, California.

Related Articles:

SeaWorld to stop breeding killer whales

SeaWorld lawsuit alleges orcas are drugged and confined in 'chemical tubs'