Threatened Cambodia river dolphins making 'historic' rebound

Yahoo – AFP, 23 April 2018

Conservationists have fresh hope for the future of the critically endangered

Irrawaddy dolphin

The population of Cambodia's critically endangered river dolphin is growing for the first time in decades, conservations said Monday, hailing a major turnaround for the freshwater species.

The Irrawaddy dolphins, known for their bulging foreheads and short beaks, once swam through much of the Mekong river but in recent decades have been limited to a 190 km (118 mile) stretch from central Cambodia to its northern border with Laos.

The population has been in steady decline since the first census was taken in 1997, dropping from 200 that year to 80 in 2015 due to habitat loss and destructive fishing practices.

But new births -- including three calves in 2018 -- and a decline in deaths has put the species on the path to recovery.

The number of dolphins in the Mekong has increased from 80 to 92 in the past two years, according to a survey by Cambodian authorities and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which called the rebound a "historic increase".

"After years of hard work, we finally have reason to believe that these iconic dolphins can be protected against extinction," said Seng Teak from WWF-Cambodia.

The group attributed the turnaround to the work of river patrol teams and the removal of illegal gillnets -- vertical mesh fishing nets that are left in the water for long periods and can trap and drown dolphins.

Tourist boat operators were also hailed as a "secret ingredient" for their help in reporting poaching and illegal gillnets to authorities.

But conservationists and officials warn that significant threats remain, including other illegal fishing practices involving grenades, electronic gear and poisonous bait.

Major infrastructure projects, such as dams in Laos, also endanger the animals' fragile recovery.

Eng Cheasan, the director of Cambodia's fisheries administration, hailed the dolphins as a "national treasure" and said the government was committed to "eliminating all threats to the survival of this species".

Cambodia is home to the largest population of Irrawaddy dolphins, which can also be found in rivers and lakes in Myanmar, Indonesia, India and Thailand.

More than 150 new species found in Greater Mekong region

The World Wide Fund for Nature in Greater Mekong recently discovered 163 new species. The discoveries included plants and a frog so small it can sit on one's fingertip.

Deutsche Welle, 19 December 2016

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) researchers in the ecologically diverse tract of Southeast Asia known as the Greater Mekong region announced on Monday that they had discovered 163 new species there in 2015.

"The Greater Mekong region keeps reminding us that there are many incredible, unexplored areas, leading to new discoveries happening every year, and it is crucial that we protect them before they are lost," said Jimmy Borah of WWF's Greater Mekong team.

The Greater Mekong region includes parts of southwestern China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar. Though the area is ecologically diverse, wildlife in the area is threatened by dam and road building and the illegal trade of rare and endangered species. Some of the traded commodities are used as collector's items and others in traditional medicine.

The Greater Mekong region in southeast
 Asia has seen more than 2,000 new
species discovered since 1997

"Many collectors are willing to pay thousands of dollars or more for the rarest, most unique and most endangered species, often buying them at the region's illegal wildlife markets," said Borah.

From critters to bananas

Of the 163 species discovered, 126 were plants. There were also 14 reptiles, 11 fish, nine amphibians and three mammals that were discovered.

In northern Vietnam, researchers found a rare species of banana that was endangered by increasing deforestation in the area. A species of frog that can fit on a fingertip, the leptolalax isos, was discovered in Cambodia and Vietnam.

Between 1997 and 2015, 2,409 new species were discovered in the Greater Mekong region, a rate of about two new discoveries per week.

kbd/tj (AFP, Reuters)

Related Article:

"The Timing of Creation"– Aug  12, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version)

“…. The First Look

About 200,000 years ago is when it literally began. The concept of the "divine seeding" of planet Earth happened at that point, and the fields metaphorically started to be ploughed. There is an issue and we're going to call it the way species work with Gaia. This is something that happened simultaneously with the grid creation of Gaia. For now we give you something that no one has thought about. When we speak of the grids of the planet, you make an assumption that these grids always existed on the planet. For the planet is old and you might say, "Well the grids have always been there." But I'm here to tell you that only one was always there, and that's the magnetic grid. But it was spiritually void. That is to say, it only had that which was created from the Earth's core movement. Today, when we talk about the grids of the planet, our conversation involves the consciousness of humanity, which is imbued upon the magnetic grid. We also tell you about the Crystalline Grid and about the Grid of Gaia consciousness. Both of these react to Human compassion.

Now, here is the puzzle: If you don't have divine Human consciousness, then what about the grids? Do they exist without the Human Being? The answer is that they needed to be created simultaneously with the seeding of divine DNA. So what the Pleiadians did was not only to start the seeds of humanity's change into divine DNA, but they created the conscious grids of Gaia as well. They had to, for the conscious grids of Gaia are a confluence of humanity's decisions brought to Gaia's energy. The consciousness that we are talking about is the spiritually sanctioned Human Being that exists with a piece of God inside him, and with DNA that has 23 chromosomes instead of the common 24 that all the others have through biological evolution.

Let us back up and say it again and make it simpler, my partner [admonition to Lee to speak more plainly]. The triad of grids on this planet that we have spoken of over and over are the consciousness grids of Gaia, and were created at the same time as the seeding of humanity with Pleiadian DNA. For all the teachings we've been giving, especially about the Crystalline Grid, these grids have been reacting to Human consciousness and compassion. Therefore, the very essence of the current Gaia energy is also related to the creation of humanity.

These are the attributes of the Pleiadians work 200,000 years ago, and it was done quantumly in ways that you have no conscious awareness of at the moment. For these things are beyond your ability to understand right now, since you are still in a single-digit dimensionality. But the result back then was "a conscious Gaia." So you might say Gaia itself was actually created quantumly from the Seven Sisters energy, just like you.

The Gaia that existed before then was still Gaia, but not as it is now. It was a Gaia that was creating the dirt on the earth and the energy of biological life of the earth. It was the mother of all life on the planet, but not a Gaia that responded to Human consciousness. That's very different. So Gaia greatly expanded when the Pleiadians came, and that was by design.

It took 110,000 years for this to settle itself, and for the ground to be ready for more than 16 species of Human Beings to leave so that only one was left. When that occurred at approximately 90,000 years ago is when you can start calibrating who Humans were and who they became.

The Others

Now, what about all of those other types of Humans, and how did they leave? I'm  going to give you an attribute of something that exists even today. This is difficult for my partner, for he has not heard this before. This information has not been brought in this fashion before. Go slowly, my partner.

The variety of species on this planet comes and goes accordingly as they are needed for the energy they create. So one of the tasks of Gaia is to create and eliminate species. When they are no longer needed for the purpose of Gaia's development, they cease to exist and they die out. If new life is necessary, if new concepts of life are needed, Gaia is cooperative and they are then created. The actual creation of species is something that environmentalists have not clearly seen. That is to say the mechanics of how it works is not fully recognized as something that is strongly coordinated with your weather. But you have already seen the mechanics of some of this in your long-term studies, for you have already noted the coming and going of many species through the ages. It's ongoing.

The Appropriateness of the Elimination of Species

Now, along come Humans and they see all this coming and going of living things, but they want to save them all - all the species that exist. For in their linear mind, all species should remain and exist, since they are here. The attribute of Gaia, however, is to eliminate them, cull them out, to bring in new ones. I just gave you the mechanics of the reasons species come and go. It's appropriate and is a natural building process for new species.

When the Pleiadians started to create the grids of the planet, Gaia cooperated in what was to come, knew the purpose, and what was needed for survival of this new spiritual Human. Gaia knew this since the energy of Gaia had seen it before [reason given below]. So the old attribute, which needed many kinds of Human Beings, slowly died out. It was natural. There was not a war. There were no horrible plagues. There were no volcanoes or tsunamis that consumed them. Through attrition, appropriateness, and 110,000 years, they disappeared.

So approximately 110,000 years ago, there was only one kind left, and this is science, for everything that you study will bear this out, and anthropologists have already seen it and have asked, "What happened back then at this time that would have eliminated these other kinds of Human variety?" It's a puzzle in science that I have just answered, for science looks only for physical events as triggers. But instead, it's the marriage of Gaia consciousness that you call "Mother Nature," which facilitated this. It's the same today when you see a variety of species diminish as Humans take over a greater portion of the earth. I'll call this "the appropriate elimination of unique life forms, which allow for the growth of global awareness and quantum evolution." Some species only exist to allow others to climb the ladder of nature, then they disappear. Gaia knows what the ladder looks like. You don't. ... ”

Thai crackdown on rogue fishing as fears grow over EU ban

Yahoo – AFP, Preeti Jha, 1 July 2015

Migrant workers sort fish in a port in Mahachai on the outskirts of Bangkok (AFP

Photo/Nicolas Asfouri)

Mahachai (Thailand) (AFP) - A belated Thai clampdown on illegal fishing is forcing unlicensed vessels ashore, threatening to paralyse a key industry as the kingdom desperately tries to avoid a European Union ban on exports worth $1 billion a year.

Barrels of fish packed in ice are usually rolled off boats at a bustling port in Samut Sakhon, a coastal province near Bangkok, by Myanmar and Cambodia migrant workers who prop up the world's third largest seafood producer.

A migrant worker sits on a fishing boat

 in a port in Mahachai on the outskirts of

Bangkok (AFP Photo/Nicolas Asfouri)

But many will sit idle from Wednesday, say their Thai employers, who have failed to obtain necessary fishing permits under a raft of new government rules aimed at cleaning up the shadowy industry.

Next to buckets of red snapper destined to become fish balls for the local market and fishmeal to rear shrimp marked for Europe, a Thai vessel owner says there are "too many rules and too little time".

"We will have to keep paying bills with no income," said the worried 59-year-old, who withheld his name, as he prepares to cease operations until he can meet the conditions for a new permit.

The Wednesday deadline to register boats with authorities and acquire permits under revised standards, including installing equipment such as tracking devices, comes after the European Union threatened to ban fish imports from the kingdom unless it combats illegal fishing.

In April Brussels issued Thailand with a "yellow card" for inadequate fisheries monitoring, controls and punishment, warning that a "red card" and eventual import ban would follow if it failed to improve within six months.

The spectre of losing $1 billion in European sales is a shortfall the ruling military can ill-afford in an already sluggish economy.

Thailand saw only 0.3 percent growth in the first quarter and exports have been slowing in part, says the World Bank, due to an erosion in competitiveness.

Aphisit Techanitisawad, president of The Thai Overseas Fisheries Association, estimates around 3,000 fishing vessels nationwide will forsake the seas from Wednesday.

A worker checks canned fish at the 

Anusorn Group factory in Tasai, on the

 outskirts of Bangkok (AFP Photo/

Nicolas Asfouri)

"About 80 percent of all the fishermen, they're coming back to shore" to seek permits, he told AFP at his fisheries factory in Samut Sakhon.

Thailand's image battered

A recent shortage in fresh fish has already seen his workers stop processing crab sticks for French export, instead focussing on canning sardines and mackerel from frozen supplies for the Myanmar and Cambodian markets.

A labour ministry spokeswoman said around 80,000 migrants were working in Thai fisheries since the deadline for compulsory migrant registrations closed Tuesday.

Aphisit thinks the government could have imposed a more lenient timeframe for changes.

But premier Prayut Chan-O-Cha has remained adamant the industry has been left unchecked for too long.

"Don't put any more pressure on government," he said when asked about rising anger within the fishing industry.

"If we don't pass these measures a 200 billion baht ($6 billion) industry could be wiped out so everybody should cooperate," he said.

Thailand's image has been battered in recent years by a series of fishing abuse allegations from prominent rights groups of ships using slave and child labour as well as trafficking victims.

Migrant workers at work in a port in 

Mahachai, on the outskirts of Bangkok

(AFP Photo/Nicolas Asfouri)

And last year the US downgraded the kingdom to its lowest ranking on human trafficking, a designation that can trigger sanctions.

Bangkok is desperate to improve its standing, while sanctions have not yet been imposed, laying out new measures including a ban on fishing workers under 18 in the months since. The latest Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report is due for imminent publication.

Observers say that while the latest threat of an EU ban has triggered a renewed sense of urgency in authorities, rushed actions will fail to combat illegal fishing in the long-term.

Improving "monitoring, control and surveillance" will help to tackle longstanding problems of pirate fishing, slavery and trafficking in Thailand's fisheries industry, said Daniel Murphy, a Bangkok-based campaigner for the Environmental Justice Foundation.

But by rapidly regulating the neglected sector the government "risks regularising more vessels than Thailand's exhausted waters can support as well a significant number of vessels which have spent years openly flouting fishing laws", he said.

In this handout photograph released by Indonesia’s Ministry of Fishery on

 April 8, 2015, hundreds of rescued foreign fishermen mostly from Myanmar and

Thailand are gathered during an operation at the private Indonesian fishing firm

 Pusaka Benjina Resources located in remote Benjina island of Maluku

province. (AFP Photo/Ugeng Nugroho/Ministry of Fishery)

Related Articles:

Thailand Faces EU Threat of Seafood Ban Over Lax Fishing Rules

Thailand Tells Indonesia It Will Tackle Illegal Fishing

Joko praises Minister Susi’s Work on Combating Illegal Fishing

A fisherman formerly held in slave-like conditions by a Thai-owned fishing firm in

Benjina, Maluku, shows evidence of abuse. (Antara Foto/Humas Kementerian

Kelautan)

Thailand Faces EU Threat of Seafood Ban Over Lax Fishing Rules

Jakarta Globe, Jonathan Stearns, Apr 21, 2015 

In this handout photograph released by Indonesia’s Ministry of Fishery on
 April 8, 2015, hundreds of rescued foreign fishermen mostly from Myanmar and
Thailand are gathered during an operation at the private Indonesian fishing firm
 Pusaka Benjina Resources located in remote Benjina island of Maluku
province. (AFP Photo/Ugeng Nugroho/Ministry of Fishery)

The European Union threatened to ban imports of seafood from Thailand because of concerns about illegal fishing, a step that would curb trade of more than 600 million euros ($641 million) a year.

The European Commission said Thailand has been too lax in the international fight against unlawful, unregulated and unreported fishing. Thai authorities have six months to enact “a corrective tailor-made action plan” or risk an EU trade ban, said the commission, the 28-nation bloc’s regulatory arm.

“Failure to take strong action against illegal fishing will carry consequences,” EU Fisheries Commissioner Karmenu Vella said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday in Brussels. “Should the situation not improve, the EU could resort to banning fisheries imports from Thailand.”

The EU is seeking to use the size of its seafood market to prod exporting countries around the world to promote sustainable fisheries. The total value of EU imports of fish products last year was 20.7 billion euros, of which Thailand accounted for 642 million euros, according to the commission.

The EU already prohibits imports of seafood from Guinea, Cambodia and Sri Lanka because those three countries allegedly haven’t done enough to tackle illegal fishing. The bloc last year added Belize to the European fisheries blacklist before lifting the curbs on that nation following “reforming efforts” by authorities there.

In its statement today, the commission withdrew warnings it had issued against South Korea and the Philippines about illegal fishing. Both countries have since improved their legal systems and are “now equipped to tackle illegal fishing,” the commission said.

Bloomberg

A fisherman formerly held in slave-like conditions by a Thai-owned fishing firm in

Benjina, Maluku, shows evidence of abuse. (Antara Foto/Humas Kementerian

Kelautan)

Related Article:

Joko praises Minister Susi’s Work on Combating Illegal Fishing

Joko Praises Minister Susi’s Work on Combating Illegal Fishing

Jakarta Globe, Novy Lumanauw, Apr 07, 2015

A fisherman formerly held in slave-like conditions by a Thai-owned fishing firm in
Benjina, Maluku, shows evidence of abuse. (Antara Foto/Humas Kementerian
Kelautan)

Jakarta. President Joko Widodo on Tuesday expressed support for Maritime and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti and called on her to continue tackling illegal fishing in Indonesian waters.

Joko was speaking in response to a year-long Associated Press investigation that revealed the use of slave labor by at least one company operating in Benjina in Maluku’s Aru Islands district. A Thai-owned fishing company based in Benjina was recently discovered to have confined and exploited fishermen, mostly from Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, in slavery conditions.

“This is an international issue and I want thorough reporting on it,” Joko said.

Susi said she was disturbed to learn that Pusaka Benjina Resources had been keeping at least 327 slaves in captivity, working under the threat of torture or even death. The ministry has since shut down the company.

The revelation has prompted the ministry to pledge closer monitoring of fishing companies operating throughout Indonesia.

Susi said her office quickly inspected other companies operating in Benjina and found a further 1,185 fishermen living in similar conditions.

The minister said there was evidence other firms in the area were using slave labor — and had been doing so for years.

The director general for monitoring of maritime resources, Asep Burhanuddin, said the ministry had formed a task force with local prosecutors, immigration officials, the Navy and the National Police.

On Friday, days after the story broke, the task force was deployed to Benjina. The workers, some of whom had been enslaved for nine years, were taken to Tual, an island around 100 kilometers west of Aru, from where they were repatriated.

Company officials have been charged with human trafficking and violating the Manpower Law.

Meanwhile, Joko also asked the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) to monitor the flow of funds to illegal fishing vessels to aid Susi in her crackdown.

“She’s done good work and the ministry needs to keep it up,” Joko said in a discussion about illegal fishing. “All ministries and the PPATK need to continue working together so we can find out everything about illegal fishing,” he added.

“The Maritime and Fisheries Ministry needs this knowledge so that it can act accordingly and based on the facts.”

Related Article:

Scores of Seafood Slaves in Indonesia, Officials Turned Blind Eye: Report

Scores of Seafood Slaves in Indonesia, Officials Turned Blind Eye: Report

Jakarta Globe, Tri Listiyarini, Apr 05, 2015

Maritime and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti says she will closely monitor
 fishing companies operating in Indonesia to prevent slave labor. (Reuters
Photo/Tim Wimborne)

Jakarta. Maritime and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti pledged to closely monitor fishing companies operating in Indonesia after a year-long Associated Press investigation revealed at least one Indonesian firm — and likely many more — using slave labor.

Susi said she was disturbed to learn Pusaka Benjina Resources had been keeping 327 workers, mainly from Myanmar, working in captivity without pay, on pain of torture or even death.

Her office has since shut down the company, based in Benjina, in Maluku’s Aru Islands district.

“We will launch an investigation; we will sanction [those involved],” the minister said on the sidelines of her visit to a fishing village in Pangandaran, West Java.

“In Benjina, even though the victims are foreigners, Indonesia felt it must take action because [the case] happened within Indonesia’s jurisdiction,” she said.

Susi said her office quickly inspected other fishing companies operating in Benjina and found 1,185 fishermen working there, mostly from Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar, in slave-like conditions.

The minister said there was rampant evidence that other firms in the area were using slave labor — and had been for years.

With the help of sympathetic locals, the AP interviewed the Myanmar workers, who said they were forced to work 22 hours a day, whipped with toxic stingray tails, denied any pay, and barred from returning to their home country or tell anyone about their plight. Some were put in cages.

The director general for monitoring maritime resources, Asep Burhanuddin,  said the ministry formed a task force with the local prosecutors, immigration offices, the Indonesian Navy and National Police.

On Friday, days after the story broke, task force officials deployed to Benjina for a crackdown.

“We were able to confirm that there are slavery practices [at PBR],” Asep told Detik on Sunday. “Some were electrocuted for the tiniest mistake like falling to sleep. This is inhumane.”

The workers, some of whom have been slaves for nine years, were taken to the Tual, some 100 kilometers west of Aru Islands, where they were repatriated.

Company officials have been charged with human trafficking and violating the Manpower Law while the task force investigates who else may have been involved.

Nations vote against Japanese whaling, agree to tighten scrutiny

Countries at an international whaling conference have voted against Japan's plans to resume scientific whaling, and increase their scrutiny of the controversial practice. Japan plans to go ahead despite the backlash.

Deutsche Welle, 18 Sep 2014

Nations meeting on the closing day of the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) meeting in Portoroz, Slovenia agreed to tighten the review process over Japan's whaling program.

In a 35-20 vote, with five abstentions, the nations said Japan should abide by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that found Japan's government-sanctioned whaling to be illegal because it is not for scientific purposes.

Thursday's meeting IWC meeting was the first since the ruling by the UN's highest court in March.

Immediately after the IWC's resolution was adopted, Japan said it would begin a new "scientific" whale hunting program in the Antarctic in 2015.

The IWC's scientific committee investigates all proposals for scientific whaling, but Japan does not require its approval to conduct its own missions.

Japan killed more than 250 minke whales in the Antarctic during the 2013-14 season, and 103 the year before that. It also killed 132 whales on "scientific" hunts in 2013 in the Pacific Northwest, and 92 off the Japanese coast.

Countries voting in favor of Thursday's resolution included Britain, the United States, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and New Zealand. Along with Japan, those against it included Russia, Cambodia, Colombia, Guinea and Iceland, which also conducts whaling missions.

dr/sb (AFP, AP)

Laos dam plan threatens existence of rare dolphin

Google – AFP, 20 February 2014

A dolphin is seen swimming in the Mekong River, in Kratie province, some 300 km

northeast of Phnom Penh, on March 24, 2012 (WWF-Cambodia/AFP/File, Gerry Ryan)

Phnom Penh — A dam which Laos plans to build across the Mekong River could wipe out critically endangered dolphins in downstream Cambodia, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) warned on Thursday.

If built, the controversial Don Sahong dam in southern Laos would be just a kilometre upstream of the main stretch of water favoured by the rare freshwater Irrawaddy dolphin, WWF said in a statement.

With an estimated 85 adults, Cambodia hosts one of the largest populations of the species -- which is recognisable by its bulging forehead and distinctive blunt beak.

Conservationists have called for the suspension of the hydropower scheme, saying any restriction of the waterway will curb the number of fish swimming downstream and cut off the dolphins' main food source.

"If the Don Sahong dam is built, it will lead to the extinction of Mekong (Irrawaddy) dolphins," Chhith Sam Ath, WWF-Cambodia's country director, told reporters.

"Dolphins are very important for Cambodia. They attract tourists, they are a national treasure."

The dolphins face several other threats from the dam, the conservation group added, explaining explosives used in its construction could damage their highly sensitive hearing which they use to navigate.

The likely worsening in water quality, an increase in boats using the river and wider habitat degradation would further pressure the population, WWF said in a statement.

A man is seen handling a net tangled on the tail of a dead dolphin, along the Mekong

 river, in Kratie province, some 300 km northeast of Phnom Penh, on December 16,

2005 (WWF Cambodia/WWF Canon/AFP/File)

Landlocked communist Laos agreed in January to hold further consultations with neighbouring countries before it starts building the dam.

Apart from the threat to the dolphins, wider fears for the livelihoods of tens of thousands of downstream fishermen and warnings of major environmental damage have also been raised.

WWF has urged Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to call for a moratorium on the dam at the Mekong River Commission's summit in April.

The Cambodian government in 2012 approved a dolphin protection zone in a 180-kilometre-long (110 mile) river stretch from eastern Kratie to the border with Laos.

Freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins exist in three river systems in Southeast Asia, with Cambodia hosting the largest population.

Greenpeace Catches 'Black Market' Fish

Jakarta Globe, November 15, 2012

Greenpeace activists hold up a banner in the hold of the Chinese ship 'Heng Xing 1'
 in International waters near the exclusive economic zone of Indonesia on
 November 14, 2012. The mainland Chinese-owned vessel, which is Hong Kong-registered
 and Cambodian-flagged, was caught illegally transhipping frozen tuna from a Philippine
fishing vessel and two other Indonesian vessels in the Pacific high seas, where none
of the ships have licenses to operate. (AFP Photo/Greenpeace)

               

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Manila. Fishing vessels registered in the Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia have been filmed “laundering” illegally caught tuna, environment activist group Greenpeace International said Thursday.

Greenpeace said it recorded the transferring of skipjack and yellowfin involving four ships just outside Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone in the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, with the tuna likely meant for the canned market.

Two Indonesian vessels and one Philippine ship were transferring their hauls on to the Cambodian boat so that the location of their catches would remain secret, according to Greenpeace oceans campaigner Farah Obaidullah.

“This is a huge trans-shipment, the hold [of the Cambodian vessel] was the size of a basketball court and it was knee-deep in tuna,” Obaidullah told AFP.

Obaidullah was speaking by telephone from aboard Greenpeace’s MY Esperanza, which has been sailing through the Pacific looking for illegal fishing activities and is continuing to follow the Cambodian-registered ship.

Obaidullah said the practice of transferring tuna from one vessel to another in international waters was a common way for companies to hide their illegal fishing in various countries’ exclusive economic zones.

“They skirt in and out of the national waters into the high seas (international waters) to launder the fish,” Obaidullah said.

“No-one knows where the tuna was caught and how much was caught.”

She said foreign vessels typically went into the waters of a small Pacific island country and illegally fished there.

In the case documented by Greenpeace, the captain and crew of the Cambodian-registered vessel allowed them on to their boat but said they had no log books to show where the fish came from.

By transferring the fish onto one vessel, it is easier to transport the illegal catch to a port and avoid scrutiny.

Obaidullah said one way to combat the problem was to ban fishing and transferring of catches in the so-called high-seas pockets of the Pacific Ocean, and for governments to set up enforcement activities in those waters.

Greenpeace will be lobbying government to agree to close the high-seas pockets at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission’s annual summit in Manila next month.

More than half of the tuna eaten around the world is caught in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, with rampant overfishing destroying the stocks, according to Greenpeace.

Agence France-Presse

Cambodia Creates Safe Zones for Mekong Dolphins

Jakarta Globe, August 24, 2012

The tail of a critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin is shown off the coast
 of West Kalimantan in this undated photo released by WWF-Indonesia
on Feb. 7, 2012. (AFP Photo/WWF-Indonesia/Syahirsyah)

Phnom Penh. The Cambodian government on Friday said it would limit fishing in a zone in the Mekong River to protect critically endangered freshwater dolphins.

The Irrawaddy dolphin conservation area will cover a 180-kilometer-long stretch of river from eastern Kratie province to the border with Laos, the government said after the measure was approved in the weekly cabinet meeting.

Fishing will still be allowed inside the zone but the use of floating houses, fish cages and gill nets will be banned as they risk endangering the dolphins.

The government estimates there are between 155 and 175 Irrawaddy dolphins left in Cambodia’s stretch of the Mekong River, while WWF last year put the figure at just 85.

The newly created zone “will serve the eco-tourism sector and sustainably preserve dolphins,” the statement said.

Entanglement in gill nets is seen as the leading cause of death in adult Irrawaddy dolphins, according to conservation group WWF. The animals also suffer from high calf mortality rates, the cause of which remains unclear, and from habitat degradation.

Acting WWF-Cambodia country director Michelle Owen said the creation of the protection zone was “welcome news” that “demonstrates the commitment of the Cambodian government to conserve this iconic and endangered species.”

The Mekong River Irrawaddy dolphin has been listed as critically endangered since 2004, according to WWF.

Irrawaddy dolphins are also found in coastal areas in South Asia and Southeast Asia, in the Irrawaddy river in Myanmar and in the Mahakam river in Indonesia.

Agence France-Presse

An Indonesian body found in Yellow Sea

Antara News, Sunday, April 4, 2010 03:22 WIB

Seoul/Incheon (ANTARA News) - South Korea`s Coast Guard on Saturday discovered the body of a second crew member from a fishing boat that sank in the Yellow Sea while returning from a search for clues to last week`s naval disaster.

The body, found floating 50 kilometers southwest of Daecheong Island, has been identified as that of 35-year-old Yusuf Haaefa of Indonesia, a crew member aboard the 99-ton Kumyang 98 fishing boat that sank late Friday, the Incheon Coast Guard said.

The fishing boat, with a crew of nine including two Indonesian nationals, was one of several vessels employed by authorities to help search for evidence that could shed light on why the 1,200-ton Navy corvette Cheonan sank on March 26 near the maritime border with North Korea.

The Taiyo-1 -- a Cambodian-registered freighter -- has been detained by authorities in relation to the sinking of the South Korean fishing boat. Earlier in the day, the Coast Guard found the body of 55-year-old crew Kim Jong-pyong not far from where the latest recovery was made.

The Coast Guard is currently using helicopters and patrol boats to search for the other members of the Kumyang 98 crew, with the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to pitch in with three fishing control vessels.

The Navy, meanwhile, said it discovered the hull of the ill-fated fishing boat 48 kilometers southwest of Daecheong and attached a marker buoy to identify it location.

RP among most at risk from climate change

Businessmirror.com.ph, Imelda V. Abaño / Correspondent, SUNDAY, 08 MARCH 2009 22:05

International Development Research Centre’s Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA)

THE picture of how global warming affects our country has become increasingly clear. In the new climate- change vulnerability map released on Friday by the International Development Research Centre’s Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), the Philippines was pinpointed as one of the areas most vulnerable to climate change in Southeast Asia.

The study revealed that the Philippines, unlike other countries in Southeast Asia, is not only exposed to tropical cyclones, especially in the northern and eastern parts of the country, but also to many other climate-related hazards—especially floods such as in Central Luzon and Southern Mindanao, landslides due to the terrain of the country, and drought.

Of the 530 cities and provinces assessed, Metro Manila was ranked seventh. Other climate hotspots identified in the Philippines which are susceptible to multiple climate hazards are Northern Samar, Benguet, Masbate, Batanes, Zamboanga del Norte, Ilocos Sur, Western Samar, Albay, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Rizal, Batangas and Mountain Province.

“Climate change is the most significant challenge facing public policy-makers today,” said Dr. Herminia Francisco, director of EEPSEA. “The map highlights areas in the region that have recently experienced climate-related risks such as tropical cyclones, floods, landslides, droughts and sea-level rise. The map could be useful for climate-change policy.”

Jakarta in Indonesia came out as the most vulnerable region in Southeast Asia. Other countries identified are Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Indonesia.

“The challenge for us is on how policymakers find ways to boost the resilience of populations in these climate-change hotspots. By helping people to understand what climate change means and on how to adapt, we can avoid the worst effects by taking a swift action,” said Richard Fuchs, IDRC regional director for Southeast and East Asia.

Moment of truth for state officials

Former senator Leticia Ramos-Shahani, who was at the launching of the vulnerability map, said today’s leaders have “a moral responsibility to future generations to take meaningful action.”

“This is a moment of truth for us and for the government officials. Climate-change action is a local demand for our survival. We are good in planning and research, but when it comes to implementation we are very weak,” Shahani lamented.

Shahani said the bigger problem is likely to be the decreasing capacity of vulnerable people to cope with disasters, coupled with the inaction of their governments.

“Climate change is a test for all of us. It’s not the elite but it’s the poor people who will be affected. Let us avoid internationalizing this issue too much, we have to be patriotic and local actions are urgently needed.”

Sen. Loren Legarda said in her speech that policymakers should devise ways to prepare vulnerable people for the impact of climate change by mainstreaming the issue in various phases of policy formulation, development plans, poverty- reduction strategies and other development tools and techniques by all state agencies and instrumentalities.

Legarda, who batted for the creation of the Climate Change Commission, said this body will help the country focus on reversing climate change and undertake climate-change adaptation and mitigating work.

“Looking at the map with the Philippines in a red alert color, it is sad and difficult because it means there’s so much work to be done. With the creation of the climate-change commission, we can expect leadership from the government to tackle climate change and reduce disaster,” Legarda said.

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes emphasized the importance of preparedness in the face of extreme weather changes. He said mainstreaming climate change mitigation and adaptation is the government’s priority.

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International Development Research Centre’s Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA)