UN states agree 'historic' deal to protect high seas

Yahoo – AFP, Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS,  5 March 2023 

UN member states finally agreed Saturday to a text on the first international treaty after years of negotiations to protect the high seas, a fragile and vital treasure that covers nearly half the planet. 

"The ship has reached the shore," conference chair Rena Lee announced at the UN headquarters in New York shortly before 9:30 pm (0230 GMT Sunday), to loud and lengthy applause from delegates.

The exact wording of the text was not immediately released but activists hailed it as a breakthrough moment for the protection of biodiversity after more than 15 years of discussions. 

The treaty is seen as essential to conserving 30 percent of the world's land and ocean by 2030, as agreed by world governments in a historic accord signed in Montreal in December. 

"This is a historic day for conservation and a sign that in a divided world, protecting nature and people can triumph over geopolitics," said Greenpeace's Laura Meller. 

EU environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius on Sunday called the treaty "a crucial step forward to preserve the marine life and biodiversity that are essential for us and the generations to come." 

Following two weeks of intense talks, including a marathon overnight session Friday into Saturday, delegates finalized a text that now cannot be significantly altered. 

"There will be no reopening or discussions of substance," Lee told negotiators. 

The agreement will be formally adopted at a later date once it has been vetted by lawyers and translated into the United Nations' six official languages, she announced. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres commended the delegates, according to a spokesperson who said the agreement was a "victory for multilateralism and for global efforts to counter the destructive trends facing ocean health, now and for generations to come." 

'Critical role' 

The high seas begin at the border of countries' exclusive economic zones, which extend up to 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from coastlines. They thus fall under the jurisdiction of no country. 

Even though the high seas comprise more than 60 percent of the world's oceans and nearly half the planet's surface, they have long drawn far less attention than coastal waters and a few iconic species.

 Ocean ecosystems create half the oxygen humans breathe and limit global warming by absorbing much of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities. 

But they are threatened by climate change, pollution and overfishing. 

Only about one percent of the high seas are currently protected. 

When the new treaty comes into force it will allow the creation of marine protected areas in these international waters. 

"High seas marine protected areas can play a critical role in building resilience to the impact of climate change," said Liz Karan of The Pew Charitable Trusts, which called the agreement a "momentous achievement." 

The treaty will also oblige countries to conduct environmental impact assessments of proposed activities on the high seas. 

A highly sensitive chapter on the sharing of potential benefits of newly discovered marine resources was one of the focal points of tensions before it was finally overcome as the scheduled talks, due to end Friday, overran by a day. 

'Profits' 

Developing countries, without the means to afford costly research, had fought not to be excluded from the expected windfall from the commercialization of potential substances discovered in the international waters. 

Eventual profits are likely from the pharmaceutical, chemical or cosmetic use of newly discovered marine substances that belong to no one. 

As in other international forums, notably climate negotiations, the debate ended up being a question of ensuring equity between the poorer global South and richer North, observers noted. 

In a move seen as an attempt to build trust between rich and poor countries, the European Union pledged 40 million euros ($42 million) in New York to facilitate the ratification of the treaty and its early implementation. 

The EU also announced $860 million for research, monitoring and conservation of oceans in 2023 at the Our Ocean conference in Panama that ended Friday. Panama said a total of $19 billion was pledged by countries. 

In 2017, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on nations to establish a high seas treaty. 

It originally planned four negotiating sessions but had to pass two resolutions to ensure two additional sessions. 

"We can now finally move from talk to real change at sea," said Greenpeace's Meller.

Mass stranding kills 14 whales in Australia

Yahoo – AFP, 21 September 2022 

Australian wildlife investigators were on Wednesday trying to piece together why more than a dozen young male sperm whales died in a mass stranding on a remote beach in the state of Tasmania. 

The 14 whales were discovered beached on King Island earlier this week, off Tasmania's north coast. 

Biologists and a veterinarian from the state's conservation agency have travelled to the small island to investigate, with an aerial survey finding no other stranded whales. 

The young whales' deaths may be a case of "misadventure", wildlife biologist Kris Carlyon from the state government conservation agency told the local Mercury newspaper. 

"The most common reason for stranding events is misadventure, they might have been foraging close to shore, there might have been food and possibly they were caught on a low tide," Carlyon said. 

"That's the theory at the moment." 

He said the whales likely beached themselves on Sunday, before being found dead on Monday. 

Mass strandings of whales were "infrequent but certainly not unexpected" in the region, Carlyon told The Mercury. 

In 2020, Tasmania experienced Australia's largest-ever mass stranding when 470 whales became stuck in the state's west. 

More than 300 pilot whales died during that stranding, despite the efforts of dozens of volunteers who toiled for days in Tasmania's freezing waters to free them. 

The reason for mass whale strandings remains mysterious, but some experts theorised the 2020 pod may have gotten lost after feeding close to the shoreline or by following one or two whales that strayed.

A zoo soap opera: Gay penguins steal nest with eggs from lesbian couple

DutchNews, October 20, 2020 

The would-be fathers. Photo: Dierenpark Amersfoort

A gay penguin couple at Amersfoort’s Dierenpark zoo, who hit the international headlines last year when they stole an egg to hatch, have gone a step further this year by stealing the complete nest of another couple – who happen to be a lesbian duo. 

Last year the same African penguin couple stole an egg from another penguin family, ‘acquiring’ it at a moment when no-one was looking.That egg failed to hatch and the couple remained childless – and are likely to remain so, for now at least. 

The couple are taking in it in turns to sit on the eggs and keep them warm, while the other forages for food. However, the eggs are unlikely to hatch because they have probably not been fertilised, given they were laid by the lesbian couple, says zoo keeper Sander Drost. 

Drost says the would-be fathers are a dominant couple within the 17-strong group in penguin enclosure. ‘Each couple in the enclosure have their own shelter but this couple has commandeered two,’ he told RTV Utrecht earlier this year. 

Penguins breed twice a year and the ousted females will probably build a new nest shortly, the zoo told DutchNews.nl. Homosexuality is fairly common in penguins and there have been various other reports of them fostering chicks.

Polar bear kills man in Arctic Svalbard

Yahoo – AFP, Line NAGEN-YLVISAKER, August 28, 2020

The campsite near Longyearbyen where the polar bear attack took place

A polar bear has killed a Dutch man on Norway's Arctic Svalbard archipelago, local officials said Friday, the sixth fatal attack in almost 50 years in the region.

According to experts, the shrinking icecap has reduced the polar bears' preferred seal hunting grounds, pushing them to approach populated areas in their search for food.

The incident took place overnight in a camping area near Svalbard's main town of Longyearbyen, located 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) from the North Pole.

The 38-year-old victim was found seriously injured in his tent and died shortly afterwards, the local governor's office said in a statement.

He had been working at the campsite, according to the local Svalbardposte newspaper.

Other people at the scene shot at the bear, which was later found dead in the parking lot of the local airport.

In Svalbard, which is also known as Spitzberg, people are advised to carry a weapon when outside urban areas.

"The bears generally stay away from humans. We are not at the top of their menu, as they prefer to feed on seals," Jon Aars, a researcher at the Norwegian Polar Institute, told AFP.

"But they are also opportunistic animals, and if they are hungry and are desperate enough, we can become their prey," he added.

There are an estimated 1,000 polar bears in the Svalbard archipelago

According to a 2015 tally, the archipelago is home to about 1,000 polar bears, a protected species since 1973.

Around 300 of them live year-round in the archipelago, with some concentrated in the west of the territory near human settlements. The area was free of polar bears while it was still legal to hunt them.

The campsite worker's death was "a tragic event," Svalbard's deputy governor Soelvi Elvedah said in a statement.

"But this is also a strong reminder that we are in polar bear country and must take the precautions to defend ourselves."

Five deadly attacks on people had previously been recorded since 1971.

The most recent previous fatality occurred in 2011 when a bear attacked a group of British campers on a school trip.

A 17-year-old student was killed and four others were injured before the animal was killed.

Last month the Svalbard archipelago recorded its highest temperature for over 40 years, 21.2 degrees Celsius (70.2 Fahrenheit), almost equal to the all-time record, Sweden's meteorological institute reported.

According to scientific studies, global warming in the Arctic is happening twice as fast as the rest of the planet.

Revenge of the albatross: seabirds expose illicit fishing

Yahoo – AFP, Marlowe HOOD, January 27, 2020

Snagged by longlines, tangled in nets, and shot at by sailors, the world's largest
flying seabird is today a front-line agent in the fight against illegal fishing (AFP Photo/STR)

Paris (AFP) - For the magnificent but maligned albatross, it was time for a little payback after centuries of insult and injury.

Snagged by longlines, tangled in nets, shot at by sailors, and scorned by poets as lazy or a bad omen, the world's largest flying seabird is today a front-line agent in the fight against illegal fishing, according to a study published Monday.

Indeed, a squadron of 169 albatross fitted with cutting-edge communications gear revealed that a third of the vessels plying Antarctic waters below the Indian Ocean are very likely filling their hulls unlawfully with toothfish, ice fish, krill and other bounty from the icy waters.

On the high seas beyond national economic zones, anything goes.

But some of the choicest hunting grounds in that region lie within the territorial waters of South Africa around Prince Edward and Marion Islands, and France, near the Crozet and Kerguelen Islands.

"It's the first time we've had an estimate like this for detecting illegal fishing ships," said Henri Weimerskirch, a marine biologist at France's National Centre for Scientific Research and lead author of the study, in the journal PNAS.

For six months starting in November 2018, the albatross -- which have the wingspan of a small car -- patrolled more than 47 million square kilometres (18 million square miles) of open ocean.

The birds are perfectly adapted for the mission, Weimerskirch told AFP.

They cover great distances and are particularly attracted to fishing boats -- especially the fish or fish parts thrown overboard.

To turn the albatross into high-flying spies, a team of scientists designed a light-weight device with a GPS antenna to track location, another antenna to detect ship radar, a third one to send the data back to headquarters -- and a solar panel to power them all.

The units were mounted on the backs of the birds, which seemed unperturbed by the extra cargo.

All registered fishing vessels have an automated identification system (AIS) that is supposed to remain activated.

Albatrosses fly great distances and are particularly attracted to fishing boats

(AFP Photo/ROBERT BRYSON)

'Like drones, only intelligent'

"On certain Chinese or Spanish ships the signal suddenly goes silent when they approach an economic zone," Weimerskirch said. "That means they're fishing in the boundary area."

That's a problem for out-gunned enforcement forces and conservationists trying to prevent rogue commercial ships from emptying the oceans of edible lifeforms.

Most alternative monitoring systems are impracticable.

Flying is too costly and hit-or-miss. Satellite-based radars that detect metal mass are also expensive, and only work when the probe happens to be in orbit overhead. They can also be thrown off by choppy seas.

But even when a ship turns off the AIS system, it still needs radar to navigate and avoid collisions, which gave researchers something else to home in on.

Airborne albatross can spot a vessel from 30 kilometres away, and will consistently come in for a closer look once they do.

"They're like drones, only intelligent," said Weimerskirch.

When a bird zeros in on a boat, its logger detects the radar signal and sends the coordinates back to the scientists.

Of 353 radar contacts made, about 30 percent were from vessels that had turned off their AIS systems. If they were in national waters, that is a likely sign of illegal activity, the researchers reported.

Reviled in Coleridge's 1798 epic "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," and mocked by French poet Baudelaire as ungainly on a ship's deck, the albatross, it seems, has finally turned the tables.

Called Ocean Sentinel, the "proof of concept" mission is part of a larger programme exploring the use of animals in the gathering of data for conservation aims.

Also being tested in New Zealand and Hawaii, the technology could be adapted for other marine creatures such as sharks and sea turtles.

Rare albino seal returned to the wild has good chance of survival

DutchNews, January 16, 2020 - By Hanneke Sanou 

The albino seal with transmitter. Photo: Ecomare

The albino seal that was returned to the wild on Wednesday stands a good chance of survival, seal sanctuary Ecomare has told Dutchnews.nl. 

The seal, the first albino ever treated at Ecomare, was brought into the centre on Texel in October. The animal was emaciated and was suffering from a lungworm infection. 

Mariette Smit, head of the animal care department at Ecomare said albinism in wild seals happens occasionally but that very little is known about it. 

‘We have no reason to doubt that he will not survive,’ Smit told Dutchnews.nl. ‘Seals are top predators, they have no natural enemies in the Wadden Sea, and we don’t expect any social problems in his relationship with other seals. They are solitary animals in general even though they cluster on the same sandbanks.’ 

The only problem the seal may have is with its eyes, which are very sensitive to light. ‘It will adapt by narrowing his eyes to keep out the brightness’, Smit said. 

The seal has been fitted with a transmitter so Ecomare can keep track of the seal’s journey through the Wadden Sea as well  as collect other data, for instance how long it rests and how deep it dives. Ecomare also wants to know how seals that have spent time at the centre interact with other seals.

Israeli fish farmers give peckish pelicans free lunch

Yahoo – AFP, Jonah Mandel, December 8, 2019

Great white pelicans eat fish provided by Israeli farmers at a water reservoir in
the Emek Hefer valley north of Tel Aviv (AFP Photo/MENAHEM KAHANA)

Beit Alfa (Israel) (AFP) - Migratory pelicans have long raided Israeli fish farms, which try to deter them with loudspeakers, laser beams and by firing blank rounds from rifles.

In their desperation, they have come up with another way: offering the birds a free lunch.

An estimated 50,000 pelicans stop off in Israel during their annual migration from the Balkans to Africa, where they enjoy a mild winter before returning to Europe.

They rest and feed in the Middle Eastern country for weeks, causing chaos for fish farmers, whose outdoor commercial pools and reservoirs provide rich pickings.

Before the pelicans reach Israel, "they have nowhere to stop and eat", said Eli Sharir, general manager of the Israel Fish Breeders Association.

The impact on the fish farms is enormous.

"We're talking millions of shekels a year," he said.

So six years ago Israeli fisherman came up with a solution -- providing alternative feed with unmarketable fish to try to keep pelicans away from the commercial pools.

An Israeli Nature and Parks Authority employee feeds fish to pelicans so they

don't raid commercial fish pools instead (AFP Photo/MENAHEM KAHANA)

One recent day on a reservoir in northern Israel, hundreds of great white pelicans swooped down to position themselves in the shallow waters, eyeing a truck backing up to the water's edge.

Then the truck dropped its cargo of thousands of small, live, flapping fish into the water, where they were almost instantly scooped up by the pelicans' nimble beaks.

Luxury stop-over

Pisciculture is limited in Israel, producing just 10 percent of the fish consumed domestically.

But it is vital for the small agricultural communities of Emek Hamaayanot, the lush area below the Gilboa mountain range in northeastern Israel often dubbed the "valley of the springs."

So to protect their livelihoods, the farmers in the Sharon region, north of Tel Aviv, and Hula valley, near Israel's eastern border with Lebanon, have joined forces with the Nature and Parks Authority to create the alternative feeding sites.

But not everyone believes it's a good idea. Critics say the birds may get used to making the luxurious stop-over in Israel -- and may even be enticed to stay the entire winter.

Great white pelicans at a reservoir in Mishmar HaSharon, north of the Israeli 

city of Tel Aviv (AFP Photo/JACK GUEZ)

So fish farmers still rely on a toolkit of other ways to scare off the birds -- without harming them, as pelicans are protected under international conventions.

Dor Maimon, who works for the area's farmers in protecting produce from wild animals, uses a remote-controlled, 1.5 metre (five foot) long motorboat to buzz groups of pelicans in a reservoir near Beit Alfa, sending the birds spiralling into the sky.

Nitzan Nadan, who manages the Gilboa Fish cooperative, said he spends around 600,000 shekels ($172,000) a year on measures including vehicle-mounted loudspeakers and firing blank rifle rounds.

At night, projectors and laser beams are used to keep the birds away.

"The pelicans have to eat and eat in our pools," he said. "They cause damage you can't even begin to estimate."

Ecological causes

In the past pelican sightings close to Israeli fish pools were rare, but more have come because of ecological problems elsewhere, say experts.

Thousands of migratory pelicans pass though Israel on their way from 

Europe to Africa and back (AFP Photo/JACK GUEZ)

Marshlands and lakes in nearby Turkey, Lebanon and Syria have dried out in recent decades, and even Israeli fishing pools have diminished in number for economic reasons, said Amit Dolev, chief ecologist of the northern district of Israel's Nature and Parks Authority.

"This means that the remaining (water bodies) are nearly the only spots available," he said.

What makes things worse for Israel is the fact that shooting the birds is accepted in neighbouring countries, causing the pelicans to avoid pit stops there.

"Israel is something of an island of nature preservation in the Middle East in many aspects, including this one," Dolev said.

To Dolev, broader global cooperation in monitoring the pelicans could help find a solution that would aid the struggling Israeli farmers.

"The issue is certainly global," he said, noting the pelicans' Balkan origins and African destination. "We're basically dealing with it on our own."

The fish farmers said they received no regular help from the state in footing the expenses of the alternative feedings and deterrents.

"We expect help from the world, from Europe, to finance the high costs," Sharir said.

Aussie boy battles to save croc 'friend'

Yahoo – AFP, 10 September 2019

Officials in Queensland have set a trap to catch the saltwater crocodile,
who residents have nicknamed Howard

A crocodile living in a creek in northwestern Australia is at the centre of a battle between authorities who want to remove it, and locals who have grown fond of the massive reptile.

Officials in the state of Queensland have set a trap to catch the saltwater croc, who residents have nicknamed Howard, saying he is a danger to humans.

One schoolboy is so distraught by the decision he has written a letter to state environment minister Leeanne Enoch begging her to let the creature stay.

"I lived at Bamboo Creek Road for five years and I loved watching Howard sunbake and seeing him from the bridge every afternoon," wrote 10-year-old Elroy Woods, from the small locality of Miallo.

David White, who owns a local crocodile-cruise business, said there had been 300 emails sent in support of keeping the four-metre-long animal where it is, and just one complaint.

Even Queensland's Australia Zoo, run by the widow of late celebrity "crocodile hunter" Steve Irwin, has pitched in.

The zoo said in a tweet it was "so proud" of Elroy's efforts to protect Howard, adding that predators at the top of the food chain were "the most important in any ecosystem".

However the government has indicated the trap will remain in place, saying the crocodile will not be destroyed when caught.

A balance "between the need to protect public safety, and the need to conserve estuarine crocodile populations in the wild" must be found, said an environment department official.

Beloved baby dugong 'Mariam' dies in Thailand with plastic in stomach

Yahoo – AFP, August 17, 2019

Mariam washed up in shallow waters off southwestern Thailand months ago
and photos of her quickly went viral (AFP Photo/Sirachai ARUNRUGSTICHAI)

A sick baby dugong whose fight for recovery won hearts in Thailand and cast a spotlight on ocean conservation has died from an infection exacerbated by bits of plastic lining her stomach, officials said Saturday.

Mariam washed up in shallow waters off southwestern Thailand months ago and photos of her nuzzling playfully next to rescuers quickly went viral.

The discovery soon after of another orphaned dugong brought the sea cows celebrity status, the attention of a Thai princess -- who named the second one "Jamil" -- and round-the-clock webcasts giving viewers a front-row seat to feedings and treatment.

But Mariam died just after midnight after going into shock and efforts to resuscitate her failed, Chaiyapruk Werawong, head of Trang province marine park, told AFP.

"She died from a blood infection and pus in her stomach," he said, adding they found small amounts of plastic waste in her intestinal tract.

Footage released by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) showed vets attempting to revive Mariam using CPR.

Several pieces of plastic were found in her intestine, with one measuring up to 20 centimetres (eight inches).

The plastic had caused obstructions in the animal's stomach, leading to inflammation and gas build-up, veterinarian Nantarika Chansue posted on Facebook.

Several pieces of plastic were found in her intestine, 

with one measuring up to 20 cm (AFP Photo/Handout)d.

"We could partially treat the respiratory infection but the obstruction of plastic rubbish... could not be cured," she said in the post, calling for the young animal's death to serve as a lesson.

"She taught us how to love and then went away as if saying please tell everyone to look after us and conserve her species."

The dugongs are the latest marine creatures to make headlines in Thailand, whose plastic-choked waters are also a threat to habitats.

Both the animals were found in southern Thailand, home to about 250 of the sea cows, which are closely related to the manatee and classified as vulnerable.

Jamil, whose name translates to "handsome sea prince", is being cared for separately in Phuket.

Mariam's death was also announced on the Facebook page of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources.

The post quickly garnered more than 11,000 shares and thousands of comments mourning the loss, while a meme with a picture of Mariam and "RIP" circulated online.

"It's a pity for those who fed her milk and collected sea grass for their little daughter that we have to lose Mariam because of plastic waste," one commenter said.

'Russian' whale leads to espionage speculations in Norway

Yahoo – AFP, Pierre-Henry DESHAYES, May 3, 2019

The origin of the whale remains unknown more than a week after it was first spotted
(AFP Photo/Jorgen REE WIIG)

Oslo (AFP) - A spy, a far away visitor or a fugitive on the run? A mysterious Beluga whale, caught wearing a suspicious harness, has ignited the imaginations of Norwegians who have yet to receive answers.

The whale has been delighting locals in the area of Finnmark in the far north of Norway for the last week.

But more than a week after it was first spotted by fishermen in the Arctic waters off the coast of northern Norway its origin remains unknown.

When Jorgen Ree Wiig, a marine biologist working with the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries tracked down the mammal with the help of a fisherman and two colleagues on April 26, they managed to remove an obviously man-made harness attached to it.

The harness had a mount suited for an action camera and the text "Equipment St. Petersburg" printed on the plastic clasps.

Wiig told AFP on Friday he believed the whale could have come from neighbouring Russia, where he believed it might have escaped an enclosure.

"The whale is so calm around humans and goes up to boats so it seems to have been accustomed to humans," Wiig said.

Hidden agenda?

Another theory supported by Wiig was that the whale could have been trained by the Russian navy as "they have been known to do so before."

Its ease with humans, the markings on the harness together with reports of the Russian Navy training Beluga whales has led many Norwegians to speculate that it could be a "Russian spy."

Moscow has not issued any official reaction but an officer quoted by the media has mocked the idea, arguing that the military would not be stupid enough to "leave their phone number" on an animal trained for clandestine activities.

The Barents Sea is a strategic geopolitical area where Western and Russian submarine movements are monitored.

It is also the gateway to the Northern Route that shortens maritime routes between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Dmitry Glazov, a scientist working at the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Russian news agency Interfax that the Russian Navy had programmes involving whales and that they were in part operating out of Murmansk.

"It is a fact that the military has these animals. Among other things, they used them during the Sochi Olympics," Glazov said Monday.

There are also private travel agents around Murmansk advertising tours that involve meeting or diving with Belugas kept in enclosures in the White Sea south of the Kola peninsula.

AFP has reached out to two of these agents but has been unable to get a response, as it was a public holiday in the country.

The harness itself has been transferred to the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST), but Martin Bernsen, communications officer at PST, said it was unclear whether they would find anything.

"We must admit that examining technical equipment attached to whales is not a daily occurrence for PST," he told AFP.

"The whale is not a suspect in our investigation, for now," he added.

Possible Western connection

Another theory on the origin of the whale is that the "Equipment St. Petersburg," since it's written in English, might refer to the St. Petersburg in the US state of Florida, where there are water parks with Beluga whales, such as Seaworld in Orlando.

According to Jorgen Ree Wiig it wouldn't be inconceivable for the whale to have travelled from there.

"They can swim quite far and especially young males have been known to travel very far," Wiig said.

This hypothesis is supported by videos showing local residents throwing plastic rings in the water which the whale brings back.

Its path would then be reminiscent to that of the famous killer whale Keiko, star of the film "Free Willy" (1993), who once released into the wild outside Iceland swam to the coastal waters of Norway.

No water park has however yet reported the disappearance of a Beluga whale.

Wherever it's from, the whale has become quite the celebrity, and a poll to name it was conducted online by Norwegian broadcaster NRK and gathered 25,000 votes.

Thirty percent of the votes went to the name "Hvaldimir", a pun on the word whale in Norwegian and a nod to its alleged association to Russia.

Beluga whales, which can reach a size of 6 metres and live to between 40 and 60 years of age generally habitate the icy waters around Greenland and northern Norway and Russia.

A sociable species related to dolphins, it travels in pods and the observation of an isolated individual is rare.

Dog pulled from ruff seas 220 kms off Thai coast to be adopted by rescuer

Yahoo – AFP, April 16, 2019

Local charity Smile Dog House has been caring for the dog, who will be adopted
by the oil rig worker who found him at sea (AFP Photo/Handout)

An exhausted dog found paddling 220 kilometres (135 miles) off the Thai coast is set for a new lease on life after an oil rig worker who rescued him promised to adopt the plucky pooch.

The tan-coloured dog, named Boonrod by his rescuers -- Thai for "survivor from karma" -- was fished from the ocean on Friday by rig workers who spotted his head bobbing between the waves in the Gulf of Thailand.

There was no indication of how he got there, or how long he had been lost at sea.

But local media speculated he may have fallen off a fishing vessel and paddled towards the rig.

Boonrod the dog was welcomed on the shore with a lei of

 yellow flowers and lots of neck scratches from port workers 

(AFP Photo/Handout)

Boonrod is recovering in Songkhla province under the care of a vet, an animal charity group told AFP Tuesday.

"Since he came onto the platform, he didn't cry or bark at all," Chevron worker Vitisak Payalaw said in a Facebook post chronicling the dog's rescue.

"He likely lost a lot of body water from the sea water."

Vitisak told AFP in a message Tuesday he plans to adopt the now-famous canine once he returns to shore at the end of the month.

Boonrod stayed on the rig for two nights before another vessel picked the pooch up on its way back to shore, arriving at a port in Songkhla province on Monday morning.

Local charity Smile Dog House has been caring for 

the dog, who will be adopted by the oil rig worker who 

found him at sea (AFP Photo/Handout)

In a video posted by animal rights group Watchdog Thailand, Boonrod was welcomed on the shore with a lei of yellow flowers and lots of neck scratches from port workers.

"Thank you for seeing the value of a little life that floats so far," said Facebooker Wanna Wongvorakul.

Boonrod was placed in the care of local charity group Smile Dog House.

"So far his health is ok... it's only skin problems that he's suffering from now," a Smile Dog House staff told AFP.

Plastic microparticles threaten unique Galapagos fauna

Yahoo – AFP, Rodrigo BUENDÍA, March 22, 2019

Iguanas are among the unique creatures inhabiting the Galapagos Islands
whose existence is threatened by plastic waste (AFP Photo/RODRIGO BUENDIA)

Galapagos (Ecuador) (AFP) - Armed only with gloves and large sacks, park rangers and volunteers are battling the scourge of plastic waste blighting the idyllic Galapagos Islands and their unique creatures.

Tons of plastic waste wash up on the shores of the Galapagos islands where microparticles end up in the stomachs of species found only in the Pacific archipelago 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) west of mainland Ecuador.

Those microparticles, often from waste discarded in big cities from other countries and even continents, are perhaps one of the greatest threats to the iguanas, tortoises, birds and fish of the Galapagos.

The tiny plastic pieces become part of the food chain "that we may later feed on," biologist Jennifer Suarez, a marine ecosystems expert with the Galapagos National Parks (PNG), told AFP.

Sun rays and the ocean's saltwater break down bottles, bags, lids, containers and fishing nets.

Factfile on marine iguanas in the Galapagos (AFP Photo/Adrian Leung/

John Saeki)

Yet while those objects may appear solid to the naked eye, when battered against rocks or by the force of waves, microparticles splinter off, which are subsequently ingested by animals.

Every year, and despite the punishing heat and sun, expeditionary groups arrive at Galapagos beaches to survey the damage caused by man.

Sex toys, shoes, lighters, pens and tin cans are amongst the waste found in areas used by animals, including some in danger of extinction.

In uninhabited zones such as Punta Albemarle, in the far north of Isabela Island, where AFP joined a team of cleaners, waste from far and wide was discovered.

"More than 90 percent of the waste gathered doesn't come from Galapagos activities, but rather from South America, Central America and even a great deal of waste with Asian branding," said PNG director Jorge Carrion.

With a population of around 25,000, the archipelago, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has tightened its rules regarding plastics use in recent years.

A volunteer shows a green tea label collected on Isabela Island in the 

Galapagos archipelago (AFP Photo/RODRIGO BUENDIA)

'Chinese brands'

Most of the plastic waste washing up on the Galapagos shores are bottles of Peruvian, Colombian or Panamanian products, and containers with Chinese branding.

That waste "probably comes from the fishing fleets from Asia just outside the Galapagos' exclusive economic area," said Carrion, speaking from the PNG dock in Puerto Ayora, the capital of Santa Cruz Island.

Since 1996, local fishermen have been cleaning the remotest islands and for the last three years, they've been keeping a register.

"This lets us identify the origin of waste on unpopulated coasts," said Suarez.

"Over the last two years of monitoring, we've noticed that the largest number of brands are Peruvian and Chinese."

While currently there is no such legislation, the hope is that this register can be used in the future to make compensation claims against those responsible for environmental harm.

A cormorant sits on her nest surrounded by garbage on the shore of Isabela 

Island in the Galapagos archipelago (AFP Photo/RODRIGO BUENDIA)

Already in 2019, eight tons of waste has been collected, compared to 24 in the whole of 2018 and just under 6.5 tons the year before.

Park rangers also keep a register, but theirs is of the animals affected by the waste, such as the cormorant that builds its nests using used diapers and plastic bags, or the body of a booby found buried in a pile of rubbish.

'Appeal to consciences'

Another shocking discovery is plastic bags that have been bitten by sea turtles that mistake them for jellyfish, an important part of their diet.

"We have indiscriminately thrown so much waste into the sea that it has turned up at coasts where there are no people, but already there is garbage," Sharlyn Zuniga told AFP.

The 24-year-old clean-up volunteer said she came across pristine beaches with fine white sand, but spoilt by rubbish.

Since the start of the year, eight tons of garbage has been collected by volunteers 

on the Galapagos Islands (AFP Photo/Rodrigo BUENDIA)

"What I saw was very hard (to take). We're used to seeing the best part of the Galapagos in pictures and postcards," she said.

Large bags of plastic waste collected on the archipelago are sent to mainland Ecuador to be incinerated.

"We're getting rid of the waste that accumulates in these places, to avoid it breaking down and turning into microparticles," said Suarez.

Over time Carrion hopes less and less waste will be collected but 2019 is expected to turn up as much as 2018.

"We need to go beyond just collecting waste. We need to appeal to consciences on a global level, so people stop throwing waste into the sea," said Carrion.