Pope praises fishermen who clean up polluted seas

MSN – AFP, 18 January 2020

Pope Francis on Saturday praised fishermen cleaning up polluted seas by collecting the rubbish caught in their nets and bringing it back to land to dispose of it.

It is estimated that 80 percent of waste in the sea comes from land and 20 

percent from boats and the fishing industry (Filippo MONTEFORTE)

Fishermen from San Benedetto del Tronto in Italy, who voluntarily collect around a tonne of litter a week and then sort it to be recycled where possible, met Francis at the Vatican.

"I would like to express my particular appreciation for the seabed clean-up," Francis told them.

"This initiative is very important, both for the large amount of waste, especially plastic waste, that you have recovered, and -- and I would say above all -- because it can and is already becoming a repeatable model in other areas of Italy and abroad".

Fishermen say they get so much plastic in their nets that it stops 

them being able to catch fish (Filippo MONTEFORTE)

Some 60 percent of the waste the fishermen collect is plastic.

The pope said the project was a great example of how civil society could to its part to help fix global problems -- and hoped it would inspire institutions to step up and shoulder their own responsibilities.

It is estimated that 80 percent of waste in the sea comes from land and 20 percent from boats and the fishing industry.

A study by the peer-reviewed Public Library of Science (PLOS) published in 2015 estimated that the Mediterranean contains 1,000-3,000 tonnes of floating plastic, with an unknown quantity on the seabed.

The Nile river delivers at least 1,500 tonnes of plastic into the Med annually, according to the PLOS study.

Sperm whales wash up regularly on Italian beaches, their stomachs full of plastic, and fishermen tell of getting so much plastic in their nets that it stops them being able to catch fish.

Much of the rubbish is single-use, such as bottles, plates and cutlery, but also includes old nets from fishing or mussel farming and assorted random plastic objects, from medical products to fax machine parts.

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.

Nemo's garden off Italy offers hope for seabed crops

Yahoo – AFP, Olivier Morin, and Angus MacKinnon in Rome, 1 July 2015

Project coordinator of Nemo's Garden, Gianni Fontanesi, checks condensation

inside immerged Biosphere (AFP Photo/Olivier Morin)

Noli (Italy) (AFP) - In the homeland of pesto, a group of diving enthusiasts have come up with a way of growing basil beneath the sea that could revolutionise crop production in arid coastal areas around the world.

The pungent green herb has long been synonymous with the steep, terraced cliff-sides of Liguria, the northern Italian region known for its spectacular Riviera coastline and for producing one of the world's best-loved pasta sauces.

Those two standout features of the region could now become even more intimately associated thanks to the pioneering efforts of Sergio Gamberini.

A diving nut and specialist in under-water communications, Gamberini has begun growing basil in large plastic spheres anchored to the sea bed 100 metres off shore and eight metres below the surface in an experiment he has dubbed "Nemo's garden".

"The idea came to me because I wanted to create more interaction between the surface and the diving activity," Gamberini told AFPTV.

Having started with a simple plastic ball into which he place a tub with herb seeds planted in compost, he is now in his fourth season of production from an under-water garden comprised of three "biospheres" which he is allowed to keep in the water for three months a year.

Project coordinator of Nemo's Garden, Gianni Fontanesi, checks immerged

Biospheres, in Noli (AFP Photo/Olivier Morin)

"I chose a typical activity of farmers, and I said 'why not bring it under water?'" he said. "I realised that there was an opportunity to create a new site to grow vegetables."

Evaporation ensures humidity between 80 and 90 percent inside the spheres, the condensation provides the necessary moisture and, even well below the waves, there is enough light in this sunny corner of Europe to ensure the plants themselves regenerate their oxygen supply via photosynthesis.

Having proved the system works, Gamberini's challenge now is to prove that it can produce herbs and vegetables in a cost-efficient way.

"I don't know if it will be the future because we have to prove that it can be self-supportable," he said. "If a pound of lettuce (grown underwater) costs too much, it won't have a future."

Parasite-free zone

The primary advantage of underwater growing is the stability of thermal conditions.

"The sea maintains the temperature without a great difference between day and night," said Gianni Fontanesi, who is in charge of running the project.

In late June, at the start of the European summer, the water on the coastal shelf of the northern Mediterranean is 25 degrees C (77 degrees F), while inside the spheres the temperature reaches 29 degrees C.

Ocean Reef CEO Sergio Gamberini, head

 of Nemo's Garden project, pictured in Noli 

(AFP Photo/Olivier Morin)

The plants are thriving in an environment where they are protected from the insects and parasites that would normally be giving a basil grower headaches at this time of year.

The results so far have have been encouraging, with the spheres producing more densely-leafed plants than is usual -- perfect for being ground up with pine nuts, parmesan and olive oil to produce authentic Ligurian pesto.

An experiment with lettuce is already underway and mushrooms, tomatoes, tomatoes and green beans will all be given a go this summer.

"In the longer term, this could be a solution for arid regions next to the sea," said Gamberini, who admits there is still much work to be done to work out how to apply his principles on a larger scale.

But he is not the only one to have faith in his idea: under-water basil was one of the 20 food-related innovations chosen to represent Italy at the ongoing World Expo in Milan which has "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life" as its theme.

High levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in Asian farmed fish

DutchNews.nl, Friday 07 November 2014

(NOS)

Spot checks of fish and prawns which have been farmed in Asia found that half contain bacteria which is resistant to antibiotics, according to animal rights organisation Wakker Dier.

The foundation had 43 samples of Asian fish and prawns tested for bacteria. One prawn sample was even found to have ESBL, an enzyme which prevents many antibiotics from working. It has previously been detected in meat but never before in fish, Wakker Dier said.

Campaign leader Hanneke van Ormondt says fish such as tilapia and pangasius are raised in giant tanks in Vietnam and Thailand and given huge amounts of antibiotics to combat illness. Antibiotics are also used to stimulate the fish to grow more quickly, she said.

Checks

If the fish is not properly cooked, the bacteria can also have an impact on human health by stopping antibiotics from working.

The Dutch food safety body NVWA said in 2009 there should be a proper system of checks on fish but this has not yet been developed, broadcaster Nos says.

A spokesman for the food retailers' association CBL said this is now a priority. ‘We are going to increase our checks on fish farms and make it clear they should use fewer antibiotics,’ a spokesman told Nos.

Israel said to ease restictions on Gaza fishing and farming

The Daily Star, Reuters, Nidal al-Mughrabi, November 24, 2012

A Palestinian school girl writes on the blackboard of a classroom, damaged
 during last week's Israeli offensive, at a school in Gaza City, on November 24,
2012,  three days after a truce was declared between Israel and Hamas.
AFP PHOTO/MOHAMMED ABED

                              

GAZA: Israel eased restrictions on Gaza fishermen on Saturday, further implementing a three-day-old truce brokered by Egypt after a week of fierce fighting, Palestinian officials said.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children headed back to school for the first time in 10 days, in another indication normal life was returning after cross-border violence in which 166 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed.

A statement from the office of Hamas Islamist Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Egypt had notified them that "Israel has allowed Palestinian fishermen to fish in Gaza's waters at a distance of six miles (6.9 km), up from three miles (4.8 km)".

Israel had no immediate comment.

A text of the truce deal agreed on Wednesday calls on Israel to ease curbs on the coastal Gaza territory, which it has largely blockaded since Hamas, which rejects the Jewish state's right to exist, took power there in 2007.

The sides had disagreed on exactly when and how the restrictions would actually be lifted.

Israel had formally barred Gaza fishermen from heading more than three miles out into the Mediterranean Sea for about three years, its gunboats often enforcing the rule. It said its blockade was a measure to prevent weapons smuggling.

Murad Al-Issi, a member of a local fishermens' group, told Reuters his colleagues had already ventured out to the six-mile limit on Saturday, undisturbed by Israel.

"The Israeli army naval boat which used to fire and torch Palestinian boats that sailed beyond a three-mile distance watched without doing anything to prevent them," Issi said.

Palestinians say the Israeli restrictions had hampered the amount and variety of fish they could catch.

"This is a good step," Issi said, adding it would be best to be permitted double the distance.

In another apparent Israeli step to ease restrictions, Palestinian farmers tended land along the testy frontier with the Jewish state without incident, a day after Israeli troops killed a Palestinian man at a border fence.

Palestinians denounced the shooting as a violation of the ceasefire and Egypt intervened to restore calm.

On Saturday, a Reuters photographer saw farmers in the Khan Younis area working close to the Israeli frontier fence.

Hamas security officials were on patrol and Israeli soldiers looked on without interfering, but for a brief verbal exchange between one soldier and a Hamas guard, witnesses said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Israel had barred Palestinians from coming within 300 metres of the border since 2009, citing security concerns.

Related Articles:

Fishermen from Gaza risk their lives at work

Our reporters experience first hand Israeli efforts to intimidate Gaza fishermen and keep their fishing trips ever closer to shore

guardian.co.uk, Harriet Sherwood and Mat Heywood, Sunday 24 July 2011

Seaweed to be Lampung`s leading commodity

Antara News, Friday, October 22, 2010 16:27 WIB

Kalianda, Lampung Selatan (ANTARA News) - Lampung Selatan district administration will increase seaweed product as one of leading commodity.

Local district government spokesman Sutono said here on Friday that Lampung Selatan has an extensive area for seaweed cultivation because such a commodity has a high economic value.

Sutono said that with its high economic value, seaweed would be one of leading commodity that could improve the welfare of the people at coastal areas in Lampung Selatan district.

According to him, Lampung Selatan has wide seaweed cultivation area to step up the amount of the commodity for local consumption and for export.

In addition, he said the district also needed investors to develop the seaweed cultivation potential, because the business of that commodity was run by local businessmen with limited capital.

Therefore the seaweed produced by the local farmers would be unable to meet the market demand.

Meanwhile, a Lampung Selatan investment office spokesman said that most of seaweed cultivation operation in the district`s coastal area was small in scale because it was managed with traditional method and supported by limited capital.

He said the market demand for seaweed from Lampung Selatan was high enough and with modern cultivation methods and sufficient capital it would be even higher.

Shrimp farmers protest long-stalled refit program

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandar lampung | Thu, 09/30/2010 9:37 AM

Hundreds of shrimp farmers staged a protest outside Lampung provincial administration Wednesday demanding an explanation for farm revitalization development that has not been completed on schedule.

The farmers, who are affiliated with the Windu Shrimp Plasma Farmers Association (PPPUW) of PT Aruna Wijaya Sakti (PT AWS), the company carrying out the project, disclosed that the joint venture agreement cited the revitalization project would be completed in 12 months ending May 2009.

However, the company requested the project be postponed until September 2009, but was still unable to meet the deadline.

PPPUW deputy leader Thowilun said the project had not shown progress since it was taken over by the company in July 2007.

He said the lack of progress has meant many shrimp farmers have not been able to earn a living since the ponds were not in operation while their debts had built up.

He said the farmers had initially welcomed the company that won the tender to carry out the project.

The company had then promised to revitalize the ponds owned by plasma farmers, including its supporting facilities. The move aimed at improving the welfare of farmers, employees and residents.

“However, PT AWS has never fulfilled its promises. Consequently, the shrimp farmers have become miserable,” Thowilun said.

“Now, each of us owe the company between Rp 80 million [US$9,000] and Rp 100 million. The debts will increase if the revitalization project is stalled and farmers cannot work.”

He said that during the management transfer to PT Central Proteinaprima (CP Prima), PT AWS’s parent company, thousands of plasma farmers had hoped for change.

“CP Prima had initially promised to revitalize 16 blocks of shrimp ponds in eight villages but failed

to deliver as only five blocks were completed.”

Thowilun said that farmers had expected an explanation from the company regarding on the revitalization program’s progress.

“When Maritime Affairs and Fishery Minister Fadel Muhammad visited Lampung three months ago, he even emphasized that PT AWS [and CP Prima] should stop operating there if they fail to complete the project,” he said.

During a hearing with a number of Lampung legislators and officials from the provincial administration, the farmers urged the legislature and governor to demand that PT AWS immediately complete the project.

“If necessary, the administration should take over PT AWS and replace it with other companies that have good intentions to improve people’s lives,” said legislator Syukri.

“We demand every debt burdened on farmers due to the delay be fully covered by PY AWS, as the core company,” he added.

Responding to the protest, CP Prima spokesman George Basuki denied the revitalization program had stalled. “So far, the program is still running on schedule,” he said.

Basuki also denied the delayed distribution of shrimp fry. He said the delay only took place in January due to the rainy season.

In response to the revitalization program, Basuki said the company management remained committed to complete it on schedule.

For farmers, fishermen, climate change already close to home

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 04/23/2010 9:22 AM

For some, climate change is something on the horizon not requiring immediate attention, while for others it has hit close to home and adaptation is an urgent issue.

Local communities living in coastal areas in Bengkulu, for example, once predicted weather patterns from the position of the stars, which they used to determine times for fishing and when to begin planting crops.

Before 2000, such traditional knowledge had been used for generations of fishermen and farmers, including in Sukamenanti, Waihawang, Linau and Tanjung Beringin villages in Kaur regency around 360 kilometers from the capital of Bengkulu.

But the story has changed now. And they can no longer tell how big the waves will be when they go out to sea.

“Erratic rains and waves have inflicted serious damage to local communities in Bengkulu,” activist Zenzi Aekido from Bengkulu told a dialog held to commemorate Earth Day, in Jakarta on Thursday. The Earth Day falls on April 22 every year.

Zenzi, who is also the executive director of the Bengkulu chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said many of the people in these communities had changed jobs as a result.

“To adapt to unexpected weather conditions, communities have three options: to migrate to new areas, to change jobs or to continue with their existing condition,” he said.

Migrating could also mean they cleared forested areas, he said.

Some farmers had also shifted to sand or coal mining.

The People’s Coalition for Equal Fisheries (Kiara) found that many fishermen in Jakarta could no longer go to sea because of the unpredictable tides.

The government said farmers and people living in coastal areas were most prone to impacts of climate change.

The Central Bureau of Statistic (BPS) says there were 46.7 million farmers in Indonesia as of 2009.

Activists commemorating Earth Day called on the government to change its priority to adaptation measures, to help local people adjust to the impacts of climate change.

The activists said the government needed to start thinking about adaptation, not just mitigation.

“Local communities have been seriously affected by unpredictable weather, but the government is still busy seeking funds to mitigate climate change,” Nadia Hadad from the Bank Information Center said.

“Now is the time for the government to take real action to help people who have [already] suffered from climate change.”

The international climate talks so far have focused more on mitigation measures with a number of wealthier nations promising to provide funds to Indonesia to mitigate climate change.

The UN Adaptation Board, for the first time, opened the application for developing countries to apply adaptation funds.

But all the money stored at the UN adaptation board was collected from 2 percent of proceeds of carbon sales by developing countries.

On several occasions the government has said there was a shortage of funding allocated to adaptation measures.

NTB`s 2009 seaweed production reaches 100,000 tons

Antara News, Sunday, December 13, 2009

Mataram, W Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA News) - West Nusa Tenggara or NTB province produced a total of 100,000 tons of dried seaweed from January to November 2009, a maritime and fisheries official said.

"Actually NTB can increase its dried seaweed production because out of its 23,000 hectares of potential seaweed production area, only 6,700 hectares have so far been developed," head of the provincial maritime and fisheries office, H.M. Ali Syahdan said here Saturday.

Syahdan said NTB seaweed farmers became more motivated to produce seaweed after learning that the fisheries and marine commodity was exported to many countries.

In fact, seaweed was now one of Indonesia`s premier marine export commodities.

Therefore, it was not surprising that national seaweed production increased from 32,000 tons in 2006 to over 36,000 tons in 2007 and to nearly 70,000 tons in 2008 and 100,000 tons in 2009, he said.

NTB`s provincial government had launched a movement for coastal communities with a dried seaweed-based production target in the year 2013 totaling 546,626.40 tons of seaweed export standard quality.

According to Syahdan, NTB has the potential to produce 800,000 tons of seaweed in a producing area of about 41,000 hectares.

Seaweed production in this area was expected to continue to rise to the maximum target of 800,000 tons, Syahdan said, without mentioning the value of the exported seaweed.

Syahdan said, seaweed production centers were spread in the districts of East Lombok, Central Lombok, West Lombok, and other districts which have coastal area.

The number of seaweed farmers in the province had reached 6,000, he added.

Rising sea temperatures bad news for seaweed farmers

Desy Nurhayati, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali | Tue, 10/27/2009 10:45 PM

Seaweed farmers in Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan islands, Bali, are suffering from changing sea conditions as a result of climate change.

Community development group Kalimajari, which assist seaweed farmers in Nusa Penida, said sea temperatures had increased by between 2 and 3 degrees Celsius in the last two years, causing the outbreak of a disease locally known as ice-ice, a condition that causes seaweed to decay.

“Farmers have been complaining about sea temperatures getting hotter, and have found the outbreak occurs every planting cycle,” I Gusti Agung Ayu Widiastuti, from Kalimajari, told a seminar on adaptation to climate change in coastal areas, in Sanur, Bali, on Tuesday.

She said the extreme changes in sea conditions had depleted stocks of Euchema seaweed, previously the most profitable species for farmers.

Seaweed production decreased from 500 tons in 2007 to 200 tons in 2008.

Seaweed farming is the main livelihood of people on the two islands.

Normally, they earn between Rp 1.5 and 2 million each harvest period, but now they struggle to make ends meet.

Algae farming

Bali’s fishing community adapts to looming climate change.

The Star online

By ANNE CHAON

AS COUNTRIES from around the world met in Bali, Indonesia recently to thrash out a new framework on fighting global warming, the fishing community there is adapting to the looming impact of climate change.

Many are turning away from fishing to a small but innovative scheme aimed at reviving the tropical island’s coral reef, which is threatened by rising temperatures and over-exploitation.

The scheme, run by environment group WWF, encourages people to give up damaging fishing practices and turn instead to the more sustainable – and lucrative – practice of seaweed farming.

Sustainable practice: A woman harvesting seaweed at her farm in Nusa Dua, Bali.

The algae farms, launched in 2001 in the village of Sumber Kima and the surrounding coast, support 200 households. This year, the fishermen will harvest 29 tonnes of seaweed, mostly to be sold to the United States and Japan.

WWF coral expert Lida Pet-Soede said the project was aimed at “reducing human pressure on this reef, which is so rich in biodiversity and in its variety of fish.”

“The local population who live here on fishing and tourism can continue to benefit from it in the future while at the same time being less dependent,” she said.

Many of the tiny bouquets of brownish algae being harvested from the reef come from the nets of fishermen who, in the past, used grenades to blast fish to the surface or captured fish for the lucrative foreign trade in tropical aquariums. Both practices have been hugely destructive on both the coral and populations of rare fish species.

Ria Fitriana, who runs the programme for the WWF, said the scheme offered fishermen the chance to earn about 750,000 rupiah (RM300) a month, almost double what they made before.

“For the first time I have enough money for my family. One day I’ll send my children on to higher education,” said Khairiyah, a 30-year-old woman who is part of the project and whose husband has now given up fishing.

“He had to go off for longer distances and longer times and petrol is getting more and more costly,” she said.

A warming of the seas caused by a severe El Nino in 1998 ravaged Bali’s coral reef. Some 16% of the ornate undersea flora was killed off and the remainder is still suffering a decade later. Scientists anticipate that temperatures are rising in Indonesia by 0.3°C per decade, raising fears that the reef’s rich biodiversity will be wrecked for future generations.

Women in particular have cashed in on the new business, using the protein-rich seaweed to make sweets, chips and crackers that they can sell.

The project receives small amounts of funding from the local government and from Australia, which contributed about US$2,000 (RM6,800). – AFP