Vegan streaker jailed in Japan for disrupting dolphin show

DutchNews, October 23, 2017

A Dutch animal rights activist known as the ‘vegan streaker’ has been jailed in Japan for disrupting a dolphin show. 

Peter Janssen, 32, and a Belgian woman reported jumped into the Adventure World pool during the show holding a placard protesting at the organised slaughter of hundreds of dolphins near the city of Taiji every year. 

Both Janssen and Belgium’s Kirsten De Kimpe were arrested and the show was halted, according to local news website Japan Today. According to Belgian media, both are members of animal rights campaign Vegan Strike Group. 

Japanese paper Japan Today said police officers were on alert at the park at the time ‘due to information that foreign activists opposed to dolphin hunting could obstruct the show’. 

Janssen, who was arrested in 2008 for releasing 2,500 mink on a fur farm, first hit the headlines in 2007 when he disrupted filming of the Paul de Leeuw tv show, wearing only underpants. That appearance gave rise to his nickname. 

He has also been caught streaking at the ABN Amro tennis tournament, a Champions Trophy hockey match and the Tilburg Ten Mile road race. In recent years he has turned his attention to bull fighting and has disrupted at least 22 tournaments.

World's deepest lake in peril, scientists warn

Yahoo – AFP, Maria ANTONOVA, 19 October 2017

Lake Baikal's high biodiversity includes over 3,600 plant and animal species,
such as this Spirogyra algae

Lake Baikal is undergoing its gravest crisis in recent history, experts say, as the government bans the catching of a signature fish that has lived in the world's deepest lake for centuries but is now under threat.

Holding one-fifth of the world's unfrozen fresh water, Baikal in Russia's Siberia is a natural wonder of "exceptional value to evolutionary science" meriting its listing as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Baikal's high biodiversity includes over 3,600 plant and animal species, most of which are endemic to the lake.

Over the past several years, however, the lake, a major international tourist attraction, has been crippled by a series of detrimental phenomena, some of which remain a mystery to scientists.

'Significant stress'

They include the disappearance of the omul fish, rapid growth of putrid algae and the death of endemic species of sponges across its vast 3.2 million-hectare (7.9 million-acre) area.

The shoreline of Lake Baikal is covered by rotting Spirogyra algae

Starting in October, the government introduced a ban on all commercial fishing of omul, a species of the salmon family only found in Baikal, fearing "irreversible consequences for its population", the Russian fisheries agency told AFP.

"The total biomass of omul in Baikal has more than halved since 15 years ago" from 25 million tonnes to just 10 million, the agency said.

Local fishery biologist Anatoly Mamontov said the decrease is likely caused by uncontrollable fish poaching, with extra pressure coming from the climate.

"Baikal water stock is tied to climate," he said. "Now there is a drought, rivers grow shallow, there are less nutrients. Baikal's surface heats up and omul does not like warm water."

UNESCO last month "noted with concern that the ecosystem of the lake is reported to be under significant stress" and a decrease in fish stocks is just one observable effect.

The Baikal omul, a well-known speciality, was for centuries the main local source of food, eaten salted or smoked, and especially important given the region has no farming.

'Not Baikal anymore'

Another peril to the lake's ecosystem is the explosion of algal blooms unnatural to Baikal with thick mats of rotting Spirogyra algae blanketing pristine sandy beaches, which some scientists say indicates that the lake can no longer absorb human pollution without consequence.

Baikal is the world's deepest lake with one-fifth of the world's unfrozen fresh water

"I am 150 percent sure that the reason is the wastewater runoff" from towns without proper sewage treatment, particularly of phosphate-containing detergents, said Oleg Timoshkin, biologist at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Limnological Institute in Irkutsk.

Fifteen years ago, some of the lake's picturesque villages had only two hours of electricity a day, but now improved power access means that "every babushka rents out rooms and has a washing machine," he said.

Indeed the lake, which is 1,700 metres (5,580 feet) deep, and its tourism now provide a livelihood for many residents to replace fishing.

Foreign visitors often spend time at Baikal while doing a trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway and in recent years more Chinese have been coming as Russia eased visa requirements.

Russians love the area, too, for its hiking trails, camping and spectacular scenery.

Timoshkin has travelled the length of Baikal testing for Spirogyra prevalence and said that in three critical zones near populated areas "the bottom does not look like Baikal anymore" and algae is pushing out oxygen-loving molluscs and crustaceans.

Near the town of Listvyanka, the tourist hub closest to regional centre Irkutsk, "there used to be underwater forests of sponges 15 years ago, now they are all dead," Timoshkin said.

Money 'stolen'

Last year, Timoshkin tested 170 types of sponges throughout Baikal's coast, and "only 11 percent looked healthy," he said. "When you take a dead sponge to the surface it smells like a corpse."

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently released young omul fish into Lake Baikal

If dumping polluted water into the lake doesn't stop, "shallow coastal zones will change severely," he said, calling for a ban on phosphate-containing substances in the region and building "the best sewage treatment plants in Russia."

President Vladimir Putin in August complained of "extremely high pollution" while visiting Lake Baikal, calling its preservation a "government priority".

A special 1999 law in Russia spells out protection measures for Lake Baikal. The government is also putting 26 billion rubles (about $452 million, 385 million euros) into a cleanup programme, which started in 2012, to fund treatment facilities, though local experts say much of the money gets wasted.

In one town, Babushkin, on Baikal's shore, millions of dollars were spent on a brand new treatment plant but bacteria meant to purify the water fail to work in the Siberian winter, local media said.

"As usual, the strictness of our laws is compensated by the fact that following them is optional," said Buryatia-based ecologist Sergei Shapkhayev. "Money is being allocated but it gets stolen."

Science funding has also grown thin at a time when studying Baikal is most vital, both Timoshkin and Mamontov said. "How can you cut funding during a crisis?" Timoshkin asked.

"That's like firing epidemiologists during a smallpox outbreak."

Chile penguins win battle in war against mine

Yahoo – AFP, Giovanna FLEITAS, 13 October 2017

They may be less than a meter tall but they have conquered a Goliath: Chile's vulnerable Humboldt penguins have thwarted -- for now at least -- a billion dollar mining project in one of the country's most depressed regions.

The rare species is only found on the coasts of Peru and Chile, which has created the National Humboldt Penguin Reserve -- but it's also an area rich in natural resources which has put the animals on a collision course with mining giant Andes Iron and their $2.5 billion project.

Conservationists jumped to their defense when the company unveiled plans to construct a huge open-cast mine and a port near the reserve, 600 kilometers (250 miles) north of Santiago.

The Dominga mine would have produced 12 million tonnes of iron ore a year, making it the biggest of its kind in the country, and 150,000 tonnes of copper.

For months it made headlines amid a bitter national debate over economic development and environmental conservation that was fought out on social media and split the socialist government of Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.

The project was rejected in March by an environmental commission but Andes Iron appealed the ruling.

In August, a special cabinet committee which included the energy and mines, health and environment ministers, finally vetoed the project citing of a lack of guarantees for the penguins.

Humboldts have been protected here since 1990, when the reserve was set up to encompass the islands of Dama, Choros and Gaviota, a stunning nature trail beloved of whale, sea-lion and penguin watchers.

Thousands of jobs

Rodrigo Flores, vice-president of the fisherman's union in nearby Punta Choros, a jumping off point for tours of the islands, welcomed the move.

"Dominga is an invasive project, for nature and for society," he told AFP. "It is incompatible with a place considered a hotspot of biodiversity at the global level."

But that's not everyone's view.

Joyce Aguirre is one of the project's staunch defenders in the local community of La Higuera.

"Every project has an impact," she said, arguing that the government had a duty to come down on the side of jobs.

"We want to be vigilant and watch what's going to happen. We are the ones who live here and we would never want to damage the area."

The region is among the most underdeveloped in Chile and many locals lament the loss of thousands of jobs promised under the plan.

Conservation NGO Oceana warned of the risks to the ecosystem from the mine, whose port terminal was set to be built only 30 kilometers away from the island of Choros.

The conservation group argued that increased shipping traffic, with its greater risk of oil spills, would do untold harm to a known cetacean migrant route and pristine waters that provide a rich food source to several vulnerable species including the sea otter.

"I've been diving in other areas and I've seen that residue from mining activity is noticeable on the ocean bottom, killing all existing life," said fisherman Mauricio Carrasco. "That's what we're afraid of."

Constant pressure on reserve

In Punta Choros, 160 families in the fishing community play an official role in watching over the penguin reserve, an area of 880 hectares which is home to 80 percent of the species.

Recent studies have shown the water to be pristine, largely due to conservation efforts.

But the reserve "is constantly under threat from mega-projects," warned Liliana Yanes, regional director of the National Forestry Office in Coquimbo.

French giant Suez was forced to pull out of a project to build a power plant in Barrancones, near Choros, in 2010. The then-president Sebastian Pinera demanded that the power plant be built elsewhere after thousands of people protested.

Around 60 kilometers away in the town of La Serena, part of the population has come out strongly against the U-turn on the Dominga project.

"We feel the disappointment, as Chileans, because the government is clipping our wings," said Marta Arancibia, adding that the region was one of the poorest in Chile.

She is a member of a residents association which signed an agreement with Andes Iron in which they promised to invest heavily in local education, healthcare and potable water projects.

"The state hasn't been present for us over the last 20 years, so we see these private enterprise projects as opportunities," said Aguirre, who also signed the agreement.

Andes Iron has signalled its intention to continue the battle in Chile's environmental court and if necessary, take it all the way to the Supreme Court.

Round one to the plucky penguins, though it seems the war has only started.

Chile's #Humboldt penguins win battle in war against mining giant pic.twitter.com/uy2lPQpRgV

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 13, 2017

Japanese fisheries giant casts net in Urk

DutchNews, October 13, 2017

Photo: Depositphotos.com 

The Japanese-based fisheries multinational Maruha Nichiro has strengthened its position in the Dutch fish market with the purchase of Weerstand Foods, one of the biggest fish processors in the country and based on the island of Urk in the IJsselmeer. 

Maruha Nichiro, the biggest fisheries concern in the world, bought Weerstand through its Dutch subsidiary Seafood Connection, the Financieele Dagblad has reported. Financial details were not disclosed. 

The new Dutch combine Seafood Weerstand will have annual revenues of €215m. The Urk firm was set up by the Weerstand family 30 years ago. It has a payroll of 112 and annual sales of €30m. 

‘The acquisition of Weerstand gives us access to new markets,’ Seafood Connection chief executive Jan Kaptijn said in a statement. ‘The future of trade in fishery products looks promising and at the same time we see an increasing demand for locally caught fish products such as plaice, sole and Norwegian lobster. Weerstand already has these products in its assortment.’ 

Seafood Connection was Maruha Nichiro’s first purchase in the Netherlands when most of its shares were acquired in 2013 by the Japanese group. Maruha Nichiro was formed in 2007 with the merger of two large Japanese fisheries groups with 170 working companies. The company is active worldwide. 

UN slaps global port ban on ships for North Korea sanctions violations

Yahoo – AFP, Philippe RATER, 10 October 2017

The UN has slapped a global port ban on four vessels found violating sanctions
against North Korea

The UN has slapped a global port ban on four vessels found violating sanctions against North Korea, the head of an expert panel said on Monday in what he described as an unprecedented move.

The United States led a drive at the Security Council to impose two recent sets of sanctions to punish Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile tests.

"There are four vessels that have been designated by the committee. The designation doesn't mean an assets freeze or travel ban. But it's a port ban," said Hugh Griffiths, coordinator of a UN Security Council panel on North Korea sanctions, adding the ships were found "transporting prohibited goods."

"It's a pretty swift and decisive action by the committee," he said, adding that the ban went into effect on October 5.

Griffiths was speaking at the conclusion of the second UN meeting on enforcing North Korea sanctions.

A source close to the matter said the four ships were found carrying coal, seafood and iron ore, exports banned by a UN resolution imposed in August.

The ban was expanded last month to include textiles and North Korean guest workers and also capped oil exports.

North Korean diplomats were present at the meeting but did not speak, according to diplomats.

According to a source, the listed ships were the Petrel 8, Hao Fan 6, Tong San 2 and Jie Shun. According to the MarineTraffic website, the first three fly the flags of Comoros, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and North Korea. The Jie Shun is not listed on the site.

'Enforcement crucial'

"It is crucial that resolutions are fully enforced," Inigo Lambertini, Italy's deputy representative to the UN said.

"Sanctions are not the final objective. Just a means. But of course, to be effective, sanctions must be applied by everybody," he added.

North Korea's UN envoy last week accused the US of working to block economic development and denounced sanctions imposed on poor countries as a bid to "destroy modern civilization."

Ambassador Ja Song Nam said North Korea will withstand the blow of sanctions and continue "along the road of building the socialist power by dint of the spirit of self-reliance and self-development."

The latest set of sanctions were in response to Pyongyang's sixth nuclear test -- the largest yet -- and the firing of two missiles over Japan.

North Korea's main economic partner China has signed up to the measures, as has Russia.

But the US has not ruled out the use of force to compel Pyongyang to halt its missile and nuclear tests, and President Donald Trump has threatened to destroy the country.

On Saturday, he said that diplomatic efforts have consistently failed and "only one thing will work," in what appeared to be a repetition of previous threats of force.