Miss Universe criticised for whale shark swim in Philippines

Yahoo – AFP, December 13, 2016

Tourists swimming with whale sharks is strongly discouraged by
environmental groups (AFP Photo/Aqua Planet Jeju)

Environmentalists have hit out at organisers of the Miss Universe beauty pageant in the Philippines, calling them "irresponsible" for letting contestants swim with endangered whale sharks.

A group of bikini-clad Miss Universe candidates were photographed smiling and waving from boats on their way to swim with the world's largest living fish in waters off the island of Cebu on Tuesday, ahead of January's contest.

Tourists swimming with the creatures is strongly discouraged by environmental groups, who say feeding whale sharks makes them dependent and also leaves them vulnerable to poaching or injuries from boat propellers.

"We are afraid because with Miss Universe going there, the Philippines is promoting a bad tourism practice," Vince Cinches of Greenpeace Southeast Asia told AFP.

"We are telling the world it's okay to do this, aggravating this kind of behaviour."

The Philippines is hosting Miss Universe next year and the tourism department said the trip was part of an inspection of potential competition sites.

The whale shark visit was coordinated with the help of the local municipality "which promised a well managed marine interaction experience", tourism undersecretary Kat De Castro told AFP.

Wildlife conservation groups in the Philippines have for years opposed whale shark tourism in Cebu's Oslob city, but local officials say the practice is a source of livelihood for the community.

Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines opposes this.

"It's irresponsible and unsustainable. It's not even ecotourism. You sacrifice the environment just for a selfie," the group's director AA Yaptinchay told AFP.

A veterinarian and aquatic ecologist, Yaptinchay urged the government to enforce guidelines including maintaining a three-metre distance from the whale sharks and prohibiting swimmers from touching them.

Internet users in the social media-obsessed nation expressed outrage online.

"Miss Universe, please don't be a bitch to the environment", Gabriel Yap wrote on Facebook.

Besides environmental issues, security has been a concern for the Miss Universe competition.

In August, authorities said they were looking into a "serious" threat by an Islamic State-related group to bomb the pageant.

Australian couple to raffle tropical island resort

Yahoo – AFP, July 25, 2016

An Australian couple are raffling their tropical resort on a remote Micronesian island,
hoping whoever holds the winning US$49 ticket loves warm weather (AFP Photo/
Claudine Wery)

Sydney (AFP) - An Australian couple are raffling their tropical island resort and say they hope whoever holds the winning US$49 ticket loves warm weather.

Doug and Sally Beitz moved to the remote Micronesian island of Kosrae in the 1990s, but now want to return to Australia to enjoy being grandparents.

Instead of selling their 16-room Kosrae Nautilus Resort to a corporate bidder, they have made it the first prize in a raffle -- to be drawn on Tuesday with tickets at US$49 each.

"We've tried to market it in a way where we are attracting people like ourselves," Doug Beitz told AFP on Monday.

The former firefighter said he was hoping the winner would be "someone who likes warm weather, likes meeting new people from around the world, is adventurous".

"It's a big life change," he admits of living on the tropical island, which lies north of the Solomon Islands and southwest of Hawaii and is home to about 6,500 people.

The competition website says the resort, which is popular for diving and fishing, is debt-free and profitable, and has US$10,000 cash in the business bank account.

The prize includes the manager's four-bedroom residence, five rental cars, two 10-seater vans, a pick-up truck and the resort restaurant, it adds.

The Beitz family originally said a minimum of 50,000 tickets would need to be sold for the contest to go ahead but they removed this requirement after the raffle began attracting global interest.

Doug and Sally's son Adam said it was his idea to stage a raffle to allow someone else the chance to live in paradise and run their own business.

"Everyone has crazy ideas, this one just wouldn't leave me alone," he told Australia's Channel 7 earlier this month.

"The thought of selling it in a traditional way is really boring."

Coral gardening beckons ecotourists to restore reefs

Yahoo – AFP, Kerry Sheridan, 30 June 2015

Diving instructor Patti Gross plants coral and scrubs algae off coral as part of a

 gardening project at Alligator Reef in the Florida Keys on May 23, 2015 

(AFP Photo/David Gross)

Miami (AFP) - Coral reefs are fragile and in danger worldwide, but a growing movement to restore them is based on the science of breaking off pieces in order to grow more, known as coral gardening.

It works like this: marine biologists cut off the tips of live branching corals, hang the pieces on man-made underwater trees where they grow, and later "outplant" them on real reefs on the ocean floor.

After years of trial and error, scientists in Florida are now bringing their methods to the public -- via diving trips, ecotourism outings and summer camps for teens -- to counter the harmful effects of climate change, pollution and industrial development.

Scientist Diego Lirman (R) from the 

University of Miami, shows a volunteer

 how to make coral cookies, which will

 be nailed onto the ocean floor in 

Biscayne Bay, Forida on May 23, 2015

(AFP Photo/Kerry Sheridan)

"It is just like if you had a rosebush in your garden. As you prune that rosebush back, it grows back healthier, bushier, a little more lively," explains Stephanie Schopmeyer, senior research associate at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine Science, which runs a program called Rescue a Reef that allows citizen scientists to join the project.

"Corals that are fragmented actually grow back faster and with more branches," she said.

On a recent outing, Schopmeyer and about a dozen other divers and snorkelers spent a sunny spring morning on the water, traveling first by boat to an underwater nursery in Biscayne Bay where they scrubbed algae off the man-made trees on which Staghorn corals hang, and later to another area where they planted nursery-grown bits of coral on an existing reef.

Certified scuba divers did the underwater work, while a handful of tourists and students helped make cookies -- small discs on which they use epoxy to affix finger-sized pieces of coral. Then, the volunteers snorkeled, watching the divers nail their handiwork on the ocean floor.

Nicole Besemer, a graduate student at the University of Miami, says she was surprised to learn that corals can survive and thrive after being cut and nailed in a new place.

"As a diver in south Florida, I want to make sure that my reefs are as healthy as they can be," Besemer says.

"I know they are not what they used to be."

Reefs in danger

Corals may look like rocks or plants but they are actually animals in the same family as jellyfish and anemones. Each individual coral is called a polyp, and the reef grows as polyps grow copies of themselves. Most corals reproduce by releasing eggs and sperm into the water.

Coral reefs are important because they provide habitat and food for fish, turtles, seahorses, sea urchins and other creatures.

But the reefs are struggling, with their numbers down 50-95 percent in some parts of the world.

Pollution cuts off their light and food supply, overfishing removes the creatures that keep them clean and healthy, development and dredging cause sediment to smother them, and ocean acidification makes it harder for them to grow.

Storms can also kill them. Diego Lirman, an associate professor of marine biology and ecology at the University of Miami, did his dissertation some 30 years ago on the impact of hurricanes on a place nearby called Elkhorn Reef.

Now, he says, there are no Elkhorn corals left there.

"It got to the point where I was getting tired of just watching things die and learning about them in the process. I wanted to be able to do something to recover them," says Lirman.

He credits scientists in nations like Israel, Fiji, Indonesia and the Philippines for coming up with the coral gardening techniques that Florida researchers are now using, and says sharing knowledge across borders helped everyone perfect their techniques.

"We are now reaching ecologically meaningful scales," Lirman says.

"We realized it is all about the numbers -- the numbers you can grow, the numbers you can put back."

Explosive growth

A major part of the movement in Florida and the Caribbean is led by the Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF), which employs about 10 staff and leads an army of volunteers on regular expeditions.

CRF and the University of Miami's reef programs were initially funded in large part by the Recovery Act of 2009, a White House initiative to kickstart the US economy following the global financial crisis. Donations have poured in as well.

Volunteers prepare to make a dive to plant coral as part of the University of 

Miami Rosentiel School’s Rescue a Reef program, in Biscayne Bay, Forida

on May 23, 2015 (AFP Photo/Kerry Sheridan)

"We are kind of at the explosive growth stage," says CRF president Ken Nedimyer.

A few years ago, the foundation planted a few thousand corals per year. Now they have 500 underwater trees in Florida that are growing 40,000-50,000 corals at any one time, he says.

For those who want special training, the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) offers courses and certifications in coral reef restoration.

Scuba divers must be aged 14 or older, and must be able to control their buoyancy underwater so as not to harm the reefs, says Patti Gross, a master diving instructor with PADI who says she has certified around 250 people in coral restoration in the past four years.

"This is way harder than it appears on land," she says.

"But it is very rewarding in the end."

Protecting the ocean could boost economy by $900 bn, says WWF

Yahoo – AFP, 4 June 2015

More than $920 billion could be generated by 2050 and 180,000 jobs created
by expanding the ocean's protected zones, according to a study published
Thursday by conservation group WWF (AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad)

Lisbon (AFP) - More than $920 billion could be generated by 2050 and 180,000 jobs created by expanding the ocean's protected zones, according to a study published Thursday by conservation group WWF.

"Every dollar invested to create marine protected areas –- commonly known as MPAs –- is expected to be at least tripled in benefits returned through factors like employment, coastal protection, and fisheries," the campaign group said in a press release.

Research by Amsterdam's VU University, commissioned by the WWF, said the economic benefits of protecting more of the oceans would greatly exceed the costs, by easing the damage from overfishing, pollution and other environmental factors.

The researchers estimated that between $490 billion and $920 could be generated in the next 35 years by expanding protected marine areas, a process that could also create between 150,000 and 180,000 jobs.

The WWF report was released Thursday to coincide with an international conference in Portugal on the future of the oceans.

The WWF is pushing for 10 percent of the earth's oceans to be listed as protected by 2020 and 30 percent by 2030. At present, less than four percent of the oceans are designated for protection.

"MPAs are known to attract and sustain coastal tourism and recreation, supporting growth of employment and commerce," the group argued in its report.

"Globally, MPAs have been shown to increase fish size, density, biomass as well as species richness."

It added that coastal ecosystems play an important role in fighting climate change by capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

"Existing protected areas in regions like the Mediterranean, the Coral Triangle and coastal Africa, demonstrate how people can benefit from increased ocean protection," the report said.

The WWF called on the world's governments to "include strong targets and indicators for the ocean" when they meet in September to agree on an international agenda for sustainable development.

It added that the international climate talks due in Paris at the end of the year would be another "critical opportunity" for world leaders to act to protect the oceans.

Leave the Kids, Take the Bikini

Discovering a luxury holiday utopia nestled on the crystal clear waters of the Indian Ocean

Jakarta Globe, Christabelle Palar,Feb 24, 2015

Club Med Finolhu offers couples and weary city travelers a luxurious holiday
gateway on the azure blue waters of the stunning Maldives islands. (Photo
courtesy of Club Med Finolhu)

It was every shade of blue glimmering under the golden sun. As far as the eye can see, waters so crystal clear one can easily spot baby sharks swimming around among schools of fish.

On a table in the corner was breakfast — a Japanese breakfast menu consisting of freshly baked salmon, rice, soy sauce, seaweed and a bowl of miso soup, with a fruit platter and a bread basket on the side — delivered by a butler whose phone call had woken me up that morning to tell me he had set up my morning meal on the patio while I was asleep. He hoped I didn’t mind.

I set a portable speaker — provided by the hotel — on the table and connected it with my music player so that the tunes of my choice became the soundtrack to the exquisite morning view before me.

Such was the typical morning for guests at Club Med Finolhu, the French resort chain’s newest and first adult-only resort, located in the Maldives.

Known back in the ’80s for its wild, non-stop partying and youthful flare, Club Med today has taken on an almost completely different form, with most of its resort, including those in Indonesia’s islands of Bali and Bintan, catering more and more to families and businesses.

But the establishment of Club Med Finolhu, the resort’s second chain in the Maldives, marks its foray into even newer territories.

Its first Maldives resort, Club Med Kani, located a short five-minute boat ride away from Finolhu, boasts 260 rooms and villas in total, and still has a touch of the Club Med holiday-goers are more acquainted with. Various forms of entertainment — ranging from comedy performances to musicals — is a nightly affair, and both guests and Club Med staff blend together in the parties that typically follow these shows.

The Sunrise Lagoon Villa, with direct access to the shallow waters.
(Photo courtesy of Club Med Finolhu)

At Finolhu, however, the number of rooms is cut down quite significantly. Home to only 52 villas, guests, most of whom are couples on their honeymoon or those taking a break from their daily grind, are guaranteed premium, uninterrupted tranquility and privacy. Every villa is assigned its own butler, who would readily cater to room service requests.

A pathway divides the island into two. One part, which hosts the Sunrise Lagoon Villas and the Sunrise Beach Villas, looks out to where the sun rises every morning — a treat for the early risers.

The other, upon which the Sunset Lagoon Villas and Sunset Beach Villas are located, is where guests can enjoy the crimson Maldivian sunset.

Each villa boasts a spacious bedroom, living room, and shower room, and a private pool with a view of the sea. For guests occupying a lagoon villa, a staircase next to the pool leads right into the shallow water, calling for a dip.

In the resort’s main area, absent is the sound of upbeat, dance music blaring from the speakers I remember from a visit to Club Med Bali last year. All around at the main pool that overlooks the pristine blue waters and a beach, guests are free to sunbathe and relax to soothing, down-tempo music playing. A bar is located just right next to the pool, so that guests are able to maximize on the all-inclusive policy — drinks, food, and activities are covered for in the nightly rate — which Club Med pioneered.

View from the shower room of the resort’s Sunset Lagoon Villa.
(Photo courtesy of Club Med Finolhu)

Going green

The resort’s adult-exclusive policy is not the only thing that sets it apart from its predecessors. Upon reaching the island and walking on the jetty, guests would easily notice solar panels neatly attached on the roof.

“All of the electricity in Finolhu is solar-powered,” Club Med’s country manager for Indonesia Bruno Courbet explains. “There is a lot of sun, although on days when it’s raining and there isn’t enough power, we have a generator to use as backup.”

While popular as a holiday destination, especially among honeymooners, the mention of Maldives over the past few years have not only included tales of its natural beauty, but also its potential to be one of the countries in the world most geographically prone to be affected by climate change and rising water levels.

In December 2004, the Maldives was also one of the countries that had to bear the brunt of the Indian Ocean tsunami, which in the Indonesian province of Aceh saw hundreds of thousands of people killed and missing.

“It was not as bad as Aceh, we did not have a big wave wash over the islands, but the tide was very, very low, my sailing instructor recalled one afternoon as we were slowly leaving the shore on our small sailing boat for four.

“All of these areas were dry, you could see lots of fish jumping around because there was no water,” he says pointing at the waters around us. “After a while, water suddenly kept rising and rising and before you know it our lands were flooded.”

Club Med Kani, built in 2000, was among the holiday destinations affected by this natural disaster.

“All the over-water bungalows were damaged. We closed the village for a few months and rebuilt them,” Bruno says. “We reinforced their structures with concrete [as part of our] prevention [efforts].”

No guests and staffs of the resort were hurt, although electricity was cut off for a while, Bruno explained, adding that sufficient food and water was provided and everyone was evacuated within on week.

A bird's-eye view of the resort. (Photo courtesy of Club Med Finolhu)

With the establishment of Finolhu and its strict use of solar power, Club Med aims to contribute to the environment and the nature that surrounds and sustains both of its Maldives resorts.

“The use of solar-powered electricity is one example of how we can pursue this [as part of our] corporate social responsibility’s direction, particularly so in the Maldives, given its strategic importance in resort destinations,” Bruno adds.

“We hope it will set the benchmark on further development in the Maldives as this country has to be the pioneer of sustainability.”

A snorkeling excursion to several nearby reefs with guests from the resort made it clear just how valuable the surrounding ecosystem was, not only to Club Med, but to the Maldives and its busy tourism industry.

In these deeper waters, colorful fishes I’ve never seen during previous snorkeling trips, swim about in large numbers and feed from the seemingly endless corals. If lucky, one would meet sea turtles, seahorses, and even manta rays. An attempt to count all the different types of fish with my fingers failed, not because my goggles were fogging up, but because one would simply lose track.

Maldives and all of its beauty, above and underwater, proves itself a gem.

Related Article:

Maldives faces challenges as Chinese tourists slow

Easter Island’s Carnival Magic Seduces Tourists

Jakarta Globe, Mike Leyral, Feb 22, 2015

People take part in dance contest in Hanga Roa on Chile's Easter Island (or Rapa
 Nui as its inhabitants call it) in the Pacific Ocean on Feb. 10, 2015 as part of the 47th
 edition of Tapati, an all-out 15-day contest between rival teams to crown a new monarch.
(AFP Photo/Gregory Boissy)

Far from home on Chile’s Easter Island for Carnival festivities, one middle-aged American woman throws caution to the wind. Stripped down to a thong, she lets a local reveler paint her chest.

“If someone had told me I would end up walking down the street almost naked, I would never have believed it,” the woman, who only gave her first name Susan, said.

Susan is one of a few thousand tourists who joined the Pacific island’s 9,000 residents for Tapati, an exuberant mix of music, dance and traditional sports that takes place for two weeks every February.

In the island’s only town Hanga Roa, revelers wait in a long line under the blistering tropical summer sun to take part in a time-honored ritual — a plunge in an old tub filled with clay.

A man known as Ale then spreads with his hand this reddish-brown natural paint on the bodies of other locals — and any tourist ready to participate.

Then, other lines form in front of tubs filled with white and yellow paint.

It’s time for the Rapa Nui — the Polynesian word for both the island and its residents — to paint symbols, inspired by the local Birdman legend, or characters from the long-lost Rongorongo system of writing.

Shortly after 5:00 p.m., a warrior blows into an enormous shell, signaling the start of the nightly parade, which features colorful floats and dancers in elaborate costumes, not unlike the massive Carnival celebrations in Rio de Janeiro.

The Tapati festival is at once a test of masculine strength and feminine grace celebrating Polynesian pride.

Easter Island is at the southernmost point of the so-called Polynesian Triangle — a Pacific region with Hawaii and New Zealand at the other corners.

The Unesco World Heritage Site is famous for its nearly 900 massive stone monuments — the Moai, carved by the Rapa Nui hundreds of years ago.

Rival teams are locked in an all-out contest to crown a new Tapati queen, who reigns for a year.

Numerous races and other contests take place — including reed board surfing, underwater fishing, fruit-carrying, a triathlon and horse races — but the nightly parades and dance competitions are the highlight.

Locals spend months carving out large wooden statues for the parade floats from Eucalyptus trees representing deified ancestors, such as the mystical Moai stone giants or the Birdman.

One night, a man draped in animal skins leads the way on his motorcycle, featuring a bull’s skull on the steering wheel.

Behind him, a woman dressed as a mermaid — her costume made of all-natural materials including a tail taken from a tuna caught just that morning — poses on a float decorated with huge wooden octopuses.

People originally from the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia play large pahu drums, while the Rapa Nui prefer horse jaws that make a light sound close to maracas when the teeth hit one another.

Some of the Tapati activities reflect a more Latin vibe taken from Chile — the elderly do battle to be the accordion king, as young people display their tango skills.

But the Polynesian dance competitions are fierce.

At the Hanga Vare Vare, the main festival stage in Hanga Roa, dancers sway sensually to the Polynesian drum rhythms.

Agence France-Presse

Related Article:

The Mysteries Revealed of Rapa Nui (5) - Oct 18-21, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"The Timing of Creation" – Aug 12, 2012 (a message from Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

Preserving Yogyakarta’s Sea Turtle Nest Sites

Aside from beach erosion, poaching and garbage are said to be contributing to dwindling turtle populations

Jakarta Globe, Ari Susanto, Nov 16, 2014

Sea-turtle preservation has led to an ecotourism boom in the Yogyakarta area as
volunteers, keen to prevent extinction, flock to the area. (JG Photo/Ari Susanto)

Yogyakarta. Relentless erosion, tourist’s litter, and poaching continue to reduce the sea turtle population on Yogyakarta’s sandy beaches. Only the Oliver Ridley species still shows up in small numbers to lay eggs, while three others previously found nesting on the coastline — Green turtles, Leatherbacks and Hawksbills — have not appeared there in the past few years.

The Bantul Turtle Conservation Forum (FKPB), a community-based organization founded under supervision of the Natural Resource Conservation Agency to increase turtle populations, has noticed a significant decrease in the number of turtles emerging to lay eggs on Samas beach during nesting season between April and September each year. Wave erosion of beaches is the biggest cause as it limits the turtle’s nesting zones.

“Samas was once a favorite place for the turtles to lay eggs, but continuous waves eroding coastal land is reducing the sandy area every year. It is a serious problem to solve in turtle conservation,” FKPB coordinator Rujito told the Jakarta Globe.

Rampant tides have also ruined turtle conservation sites in Samas that were built to protect hatchlings from poachers and animal predators before they are released into the ocean. The forum has moved the site into a more protected sandy area covered by coastal-oak woodland and built new pools and hatching pots.

In addition to beach erosion, Rujito said poaching and garbage are contributing to dwindling turtle populations.

Some fishermen continue to hunt the turtles illegally and sell them on the black market for their carapaces and organs.

Garbage left by tourists also worsens the coastal environment for the reptiles as many turtles are found dead after swallowing plastic.

In Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta’s district with some of the most attractive beaches, the turtle population has also declined due to increased tourism. Gunungkidul’s Sea and Fishery Office conducts research on each beach with turtle nesting spots so that the government can limit access by large groups of tourists to those areas.

“We’re doing field research at around 35 beaches and also hearing from fishermen and local residents to collect data. Seven of the areas are confirmed as turtle nesting grounds,” the office’s head Agus Priyanto said.

Some beaches, such as Drini beach, are also identified as abandoned nesting spots, because turtles no longer visit due to tourist overcrowding. Agus recommends that the beaches with existing nesting grounds are open only for ecotourism aimed at turtle conservation, and that it should not be open to the general public.

In Bantul area, the Turtle Conservation Volunteers Network promotes ecotourism by asking people to participate in the release of baby turtles on some beaches, usually during July and August.

Through the Save Our Turtles program, the volunteers lead campaigns to attract people to join in protecting turtles from extinction.

“We want to help turtle conservation by preserving the population and also support ecotourism in Bantul,” volunteer coordinator Ferry Munandar said.

UN: 'Time to take the heat off turtles'

At a UN-organized meeting in Bonn, experts are discussing the plight of endangered sea turtles. Expert Colin Limpus told DW climate change is just the latest human-made factor making life tough for turtles.

Deutsche Welle, 17 Sep 2014

DW: Why are turtles on the agenda?

Marine turtles have a number of very critical issues related to climate change. The first is ‘temperature dependent sex determination’. The sex of the hatchlings is determined by the temperature of the nest half-way through incubation. And a warm beach creates mostly females, and a cool beach creates mostly males. One of the concerns with rising global temperatures is that we will shift potentially into an all-female producing population in a number of places. So this is a concern of the effect of rising temperatures.

The second big issue is that turtles nest on sandy beaches. That's the only place they can lay their eggs. And sea levels rise, then nesting areas could potentially see a rise in the water table, flooding of the nesting sites and loss of eggs as a result.

Limpus is a special UN advisor on turtles

Additionally, the increasing the intensity of hurricanes or cyclones: the more intense a cyclonic disturbance, the greater the destructive effect when the cyclone crosses coastal waters. So this leads to dramatic changes and the loss of critical habitat in coastal areas and the feeding areas for sea turtles. And major damage to a feeding area, may take years to recover. So any change in the frequency and intensity of these events is going to be detrimental.

Are we already seeing signs of these things already happening?

Yes, we can see the effects of major floods and cyclones. Part of the problem is judging which way this could go with our turtle population. A lot of studies try to predict on the basis that the population is static and will not shift. But if we look at what has happened over the last 10 to 12,000 years in Australia, for example, today, nesting beaches have multiple species nesting in places where 10,000 years ago it was dry land, and the nearest beaches would have been 900 kilometers away. We've gone through a major climate change from the ice ages through to the present, and sea turtles survived that. They did it by changing where they breed. So it's a challenge for how the turtles will respond. Will they stay where they are right now and suffer the consequences? Or can the population shift to areas that are suitable for them as change occurs? We have to consider how fast they can adapt with a rapid change in climate compared to what they went through in the past.

So we are probably talking about a faster climate change than what we have seen to date?

That's what some people are saying. If that's the case, it may challenge the capacity of turtles to do adapt. On the other hand, there are areas of their biology that we have not really investigated very well. A turtle comes back to the area where it's born. Recent research suggests that they don’t necessarily go back to the same beach where they were born, but go back to the region. So that suggests that as a turtle grows up, it choosing where it wants to breed. It may be able to make choices and may respond to changes, and choose a different site maybe within hundreds of kilometers of where it was born. So it could choose a beach with the right temperatures and stability.

But we don't know? And what can we do about it?

No but I guess I have some confidence that these animals, which have survived the past millions of years, have come through many climate change events. They’ve survived the catastrophic events that caused the demise of the dinosaurs. But in the past they didn't have to deal with human impacts. All of our sea turtles are listed as threatened species. It's going to depend on how we help them. Obviously the broader community has to address the issue of climate change. We need to start looking at how we manage temperatures of beaches, how we tackle the recovery of foraging areas, sea grass pastures, coral reefs. We need to keep them viable. We have to look at the sediment runoff that comes with floods, because that has a very big negative impact. How do you stop that soil eroding from your farmlands? These are all things we can do to soften the impact on turtles.

Why should we be worried about marine turtles in general, what role do they play in the ecosystem?

That depends on in which society you ask that question. A person living in Berlin might say “can't see much point in it.” If you were talking to an indigenous person in northern Australia, they would talk about the iconic value of the turtles in terms of totemic animals that are an integral part of their religious culture. And there are areas where it is the primary source of red meat for the community, so for them as a food resource and a cultural thing, very important. In the area where I grew up, the eco-tourism around turtles is the primary cash flow for the district economy for about five months of the year. Tourists come to look at nesting turtles. So the people in the business community would see it as an important economic component. As a biologist I see them as an integral part of the ecosystem. The loggerhead turtles have a function in the regulation of the density of shellfish in some areas, they feed on them. The green turtles are herbivores feeding on sea grass and their activity promotes the turnover of nutrients in a sea grass pasture. So turtles have lots of significance to different parts of the world.

Related Article:

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Weather

Let's talk about the weather. We retreat to exactly what we told you before in this very chair. The water cycle is a cooling cycle, not a heating cycle. You're going to have more severe winters and storms. It's going to get colder. But it gets warmer before it gets colder. That is the cycle, and it has always been the cycle. You can see it in the rings of the trees and the cores of the ice. Don't let your scientists pull the political wool over your eyes for their own purposes. Start seeing these things for what they are. It's a recurring cycle based on four Earth alignment attributes, including the wobble (the precession). You're in this cycle. Prepare.

The beginnings of it will be with you from now at least until the end of the 2012 36-year window, and you can watch it work. The first thing that happens is that the ice melts at the poles, but not completely. It's the way it has happened before. As the redistribution of weight from the poles to the oceans of the earth takes place, the weight is redistributed to the crust, and that creates earthquakes. And the earthquakes that will be the most powerful are the ones that are closest to the poles. We told you that some time ago. So it's not a mystery that suddenly you have some of the most powerful earthquakes that you've ever had. Not only that, but a cooling ocean creates larger storms.

What do the conspiracists do with all this? "See? We're doomed. Here it comes," they say. "Here it comes! The end is here!" Twenty-two years ago, we gave you the information that is happening today. We told you about the weather. We told you to get ready for it, but we still haven't told you why the water cycle is needed. We've hinted at it since it is very controversial, and we'll lose many readers right here and now. Here's the prediction: The scientists are going to laugh and biologists are going to scratch their heads and roll their eyes.

The Refreshing of the Cycle of Life

When you change the temperature of the waters of the planet, it changes the life cycle of the ocean and it eventually renews itself. The life cycle of the planet has a limit to its viability over time. There has to be a refreshing of the very cycle of life, and this is what the water cycle does. Are there any places you've seen too many fish lately? Yes. Millions of salmon in the north. Odd that it was in Alaska, isn't it? Alaska is very close to the poles where the water temperature is being felt first. Oh, again the experts will tell you that this is not the reason. It's about hatcheries and rivers. But nobody predicted this, did they? Science is fast to give you reasons, but slow to give you logic in advance. They always seem to be surprised.

We are saying things we haven't said before. Again, watch for this, an actual change in the life cycle of the planet's oceans because of the water temperature shift. Biologists are going to have to start redesigning the paradigm of how everything works, including reefs, ocean bottoms, and how plankton survive and reproduce. Listen, this is not the first time that the life cycle has been refreshed! But again, this may take generations of humanity to complete. In the process, you may again lose species. This is normal. Gaia is slow, and Humans are impatient. Your textbooks may someday tell of how naive humanity was back in 2011 when they tried to blame weather changes on everything but a natural cycle. Now you know why there is a water cycle.

So what does that tell you about Gaia? Gaia is beginning the cycle of refreshing life on over-fished oceans. It tells you that in the cracks, there is love and caring about the Humans who live on the earth. There's a reason you're here. There's a plan here, and a benevolent Universe and quantum energy with intelligent design. All is there for you, precious, sacred Human Being. …”

Caribbean coral reefs could disappear 'in 20 years'

A UN-backed environmental study has warned that the Caribbean's coral reefs could disappear in 20 years. While it's not too late to reverse the damage, the report said, nations must act now.

Deutsche Welle, 2 July 2014

Within the next two decades, the remaining coral reefs in the Caribbean - currently only about one-sixth of its original coverage - could vanish, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said in a report on Wednesday. 

"Caribbean coral reefs have suffered massive losses of coral since the early 1980s due to a wide range of human impacts," the report said.

Since then, factors "such as overfishing, pollution and global warming" had caused the drastic decline.

Climate change has long been thought to be the main reason for the damage, but the report released on Wednesday cited an even great threat: the loss of sea life responsible for eating coral-killing algae.

"The loss of these species breaks the delicate balance of coral ecosystems," the experts found. "Most Caribbean coral reefs may disappear in the next 20 years, primarily due to the loss of grazers in the region."

An unidentified disease in 1983 killed many of the urchins which normally keep algae from choking the polyps, the tiny animals whose stony skeletons build the reefs. Combined with overfishing of parrot fish, the report said, the extinction of Caribbean coral was imminent.

'Not a lost cause'

"The rate at which Caribbean corals have been declining is truly alarming," Carl Gustaf Lundin, director of the global marine and polar programme of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said.

However, he added: "Caribbean reefs are not a lost cause."

Examples of reversing this trend already existed in the northern Gulf of Mexico and the waters around Bermuda and Bonaire, the report said.

These areas had: "restricted or banned fishing practices that harm parrotfish, such as fish traps and spearfishing. Other countries are following suit."

The report recommended other concrete steps, such as better pollution control, zoning laws and blocking the construction of tourist hotels too close to the shore.

Roughly 14 percent of the Caribbean nations' GDP is derived from tourism.

kms/rc (AFP, Reuters)

Related Articles:

'If we don't change now we will lose the reefs'

Some corals adjusting to rising ocean temperatures

What's behind a coral reef's beauty? You'll never guess

“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

"....Let us just talk about the ocean for a moment. We won't even get to what's happening in the air and what mammals might experience. Let's just speak of the ocean. Have you heard about the salmon? What has your science warned you against? You're overfishing! The sea is dying. The coral is dying. The reefs are going away. You're not seeing the food chain that used to be there. You've overfished everything. Fishing quotas have been set up to help this. Oh, all those little people in the red room - they don't know about the purple. Red people only know about the red paradigm.

Did you hear about the salmon recently? There's too many of them! In the very place where quotas are in place so you won't overfish, they're jumping in the boats! Against all odds and any projections from environmentalists or biologists, they're overrunning the oceans in Alaska - way too many fish.

What does that tell you? Is it possible that Gaia takes care of itself? That's what it tells you! Perhaps this alignment is going to keep humanity fed. Did anybody think of this? What if Gaia is in alliance with you? What if the increase in consciousness that raised your DNA vibration has alerted Gaia to change the weather cycle and get ready to feed humanity? Are you looking at the ocean where the oil spill occurred? It's recovering in a way that was not predicted. What's happening?

The life cycle itself is being altered by the temperature change of the ocean and much of what you have believed is the paradigm of life in the sea is slowly changing. A new system of life is appearing, as it has before, and is upon you in your lifetime. It will compliment what you know and expose you to a new concept: Gaia regularly refreshes the life cycle on Earth. ...."