‘A bridge too far’: local anger at dismantling of historic bridge for Bezos boat

DutchNews, February 3, 2022, Senay Boztas

The Hef is an iconic part of Rotterdam’s skyline. Photo: elm3r via Wikimedia Commons

The Rotterdam branch of political party GroenLinks has called an emergency council debate over the fact that an iconic bridge will be temporarily taken apart to allow passage for a mega-yacht for Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos. 

The news that a section of national monument De Hef would be dismantled (and then put together again) to allow passage for the 127m long, three-masted, aluminium and steel schooner swiftly voyaged the world. 

But the story, broken on Wednesday by local broadcaster Rijnmond, sparked fury amongst history lovers, the Dutch public and some local councillors. 

GroenLinks councillor Stephan Leewis told Rijnmond that he took a dim view of the permission, particularly in the light of Amazon personnel policies and tax andregulation avoidance battles. 

‘Now, we have to break apart our beautiful listed monument?’ he reportedly said, in calling an emergency debate. ‘This really is a bridge too far.’ 

Heritage 

According to Dutch media, next week Rotterdam city council will debate the planning permission given to dismantle the middle section of the 1927 bridge, and reconstruct it – reportedly, at the cost of shipbuilder Oceanco and Bezos. 

Project leader at Rotterdam city council Marcel Walravens previously defended the decision as a pragmatic one. ‘It is about a ship with high masts which cannot pass through the bridge. The only alternative is to take out the middle section,’ he told Rijnmond. 

Walravens hoped that with proper preparation, the middle section of the bridge would only be removed for a day and pointed out the economic and jobs benefit to the region, plus the boost to its international shipbuilding reputation. 

However, some history experts were unimpressed. ‘Jobs are important, but there are limits with what you can and should do with our industrial heritage,’ said Ton Wesselink of the local history society Historisch Genootschap Roterodamum to Rijnmond. 

‘Inequality’ 

On social media, commentators also pointed out the apparent inconsistency in strict, Dutch listed building policy and the privilege apparently afforded to an American billionaire to take apart a bridge which the council had previously promised would no longer be touched. 

On social media, the story inspired humorous comment as well as outrage, particularly in the light of the bridge’s historical destruction during the 1940 Nazi bombardment. A commenter called ‘Marky Mark’ suggested: ‘Can’t we simply dismantle Jeff Bezos and have Rotterdam pass through him?’ 

Jeroen Stet commented: ‘Mega-yachts are a symbol of greed, inequality, and all that is bad about capitalism and the impact it has on the world. If you think you need something like this, it says a lot about you.’ 

Ophef 

Others pointed out that the bridge would be repaired again, and that the shipyard was a huge local employer. Meanwhile, Paul Peeters, podcast host at DutchNews.nl, noted that this was a scandal, or ophef, with a ring about it: ‘De Hef/Jeff-ophef.’ 

At 127 metres long, Bezos’ yacht is set to be the largest sailing yacht in the world when delivered at some point this year, according to Boat International. It is reportedly being moved from one shipyard to another for final fitting. 

A spokesman for Rotterdam council told DutchNews.nl. ‘The municipality of Rotterdam only gives permission to the maritime sector to take a ship to sea. The municipality does not build ships, so we have no further information about this.’

King opens largest sea sluice in the world at IJmuiden

 DutchNews, January 26, 2022

Zeesluis IJmuiden is open for shipping. Photo: ANP/Robin van Lonkhuijsen

King Willem-Alexander opened the largest sea sluice in the world at IJmuiden on Wednesday afternoon, concluding a project that finished over time and over budget. 

The new sluice replaces the smaller Noordersluis which was built in 1929. The construction of the new sluice, which was started in 2016 and expected to be finished in 2019, was plagued by mishaps, causing delays and rising costs. 

A construction error made by builders BAM and VolkerWessels cost the companies hundreds of millions of euros to rectify. 

A public contest to name the new landmark sparked hilarity online when Velsen municipality sifted through 5,000 entries before opting for the prosaic ‘Zeesluis IJmuiden’. Infrastructure minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen said: ‘The name Zeesluis IJmuiden is exactly what it is.’

 Alternative suggestions included De Irma Sluis, after the sign language interpreter who became a household name during the coronavirus press conferences, but the idea was rejected because public infrastructure projects cannot be named after living people, except for royalty. 

The sluice, which is 500 metres long, 70 metres wide and 18 metres deep, has been put through its paces since the summer and is now ready to accommodate today’s ever-larger sea vessels, waterways agency Rijkswaterstaatsaid.

‘Amsterdam has just been given a bigger front door,’ Jaap Zeilmaker of Rijkswaterstaat said. ‘The new sluice will not just benefit the economy but thanks to the technical expertise involved sea level rise and the influx of salt water have also been taken into account.’ 

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

DutchNews, October 20, 2020 

The would-be fathers. Photo: Dierenpark Amersfoort

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

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

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

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

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

Polar bear kills man in Arctic Svalbard

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

The campsite near Longyearbyen where the polar bear attack took place

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Investigators look into role of sea foam in surfer deaths

DutchNews, May 13, 2020 

Friends and family of the dead surfers have been placing flowers on the beach.
Photo: Robin Utrecht HH

Dutch sea research institute NIOZ is investigating the possible role of a thick layer of sea foam in the death of five surfers off the coast of Scheveningen on Monday evening. 

Several experts have suggested the surfers may have become disorientated in the foam, which according to some eyewitnesses was over two metres high as it approached the harbour wall. 

Sea foam is formed when sea water has a high concentration of dissolved organic matter from algal blooms and is whipped up by the wind. 

‘There was a lot of foam and this may be due to the large quantity of algae,’ researcher Katja Philippart told broadcaster NOS. ‘This might be due to the good weather of recent days, combined with the strong winds.’ 

However, Philippart told NOS she is not aware of any cases in which people have been suffocated by sea foam. 

One body has not yet been recovered and the search resumed on Wednesday morning. Two other bodies were found earlier on Tuesday morning and two others died after being pulled from the sea on Monday evening. Three of the men who died came from The Hague, the other two from Delft. 

The Hague mayor Johan Remkes told reporters at a press conference that a thorough investigation into what happened would now take place. ‘How can it be that people with so much experience and who knew this place so well came to die,’ Remkes said. 

In total, 10 people are thought to have been in the water at the time, a group of six, a group of three and one single surfer. 

Community 

Friends and family of the dead have been flocking to the location where the five men died, to leave flowers and comfort one another. The deaths have caused shock throughout the Netherlands’ surfing scene. 

‘These were very experienced surfers and swimmers, with a great love for the sea and their sport,’ the Holland Surfing Association said. ‘They were caught up in extraordinary circumstances and lost their lives in such a tragic way.’

Dolphin Zafar, which followed ship to Amsterdam, is found dead

DutchNews, May 13, 2020

Dolphin Zafar in the port of Amsterdam . Photo: Jeroen Hoekendijk

The dolphin which followed a Dutch sailing boat into Amsterdam harbour before being led back to sea has been found dead on the beach at Wijk aan Zee. 

The dead animal, known as Zafar, was found by a man out walking his dog lying in the surf. 

The body has been taken to Utrecht University for a post mortem, animal welfare group SOS Dolfijn said. The animal appears to have died fairly recently and its tail is missing, the organisation said. 

The bottlenosed dolphin was healthy when it returned to the sea and had been catching fish, a spokesman told broadcaster NOS. 

The dolphin was given its name after it was first spotted on the coast of France in 2018 where it was observed to interact with divers.

Het is gelukt!
De dolfijn is de sluis van IJmuiden doorgezwommen en begeleidt richting zee. Tussen de pieren in de havenmonding bleef de dolfijn nog wat rondhangen bij boeien. Maar vanaf dat punt is de toegang naar zee vrij voor het dier. pic.twitter.com/nb8DiWxGE7

— SOSDolfijn (@SOSDolfijn) May 3, 2020

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Amsterdam port’s dolphin follows sailing ship back to the sea

Dolphin spotted in port of Amsterdam is reluctant to leave

DutchNews, May 3, 2020

A lone dolphin has followed a sailing boat carrying a cargo of fair trade coffee and rum from the French coast to Amsterdam’s port and seems reluctant to leave the ship, experts said on Sunday. 

The animal is fit and healthy but rescue organisation SOS Dolfijn said the brackish water is not good for the animal and it may not be able to find enough food. 

‘The animal seems to have developed a close connection with the ship and stayed swimming with it through the sluice gates and now it is in the port,’ said spokesman Eligius Everaarts. 

Attempts to lure the animal back to the open sea are being hindered by the fact that it will have to swim though the sluices at IJmuiden, which means the rescue operation can only happen when the gates are open. 

SOS Dolfijn tried to make the animal follow their boat but after a while it turned and went back to the ship. The schooner which it followed cannot be used to guide the animal back because it must be unloaded first. 

Catching the animal is not option either, the organisation said, because the port is a large area and the manoeuvre could put the animal’s life in danger. 

‘It may make it out on its own bit that will depend on the sluices,’ a spokesperson for the organisation said. 

The adult bottle nose dolphin has been identified as Zafar, a dolphin which has been spotted on the coast of France in 2018 where it was observed to interact with divers. 

The organisation said it will continue to monitor the situation. 

Update Sunday evening: According to broadcaster NOS, the dolphin was successfully encouraged to return to the sea on Sunday afternoon.

The dolphin next to the sailing ship on his way back to the ocean. Photo: Olaf Kraak ANP

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Amsterdam port’s dolphin follows sailing ship back to the sea

Dutch mega dam scheme raises awareness of climate crisis

Dutchews, February 13, 2020 

The Afsluitdijk had a major impact on the marine environment. Photo: Roobit
via Wikimedia Commons

A scheme to build two giant dams in the North Sea to ward of rising sea levels caused by global warming could protect some 25 million Europeans from devastating floods, Dutch-Swedish research shows. 

Although the project would be technically feasible and would ‘only’ costs 0.1% of the countries protected by the dams GDP over 20 years, it is intended as ‘a doom scenario, a warning of what we are heading for,’ oceanographer Sjoerd Groeskam said. 

‘It’s the last thing we actually want to do because of the immense consequences for nature, the maritime industry and many other things,’ he said. ‘The best thing is to reduce climate change to a minimum.’ 

However, should the worst come to the worst, Groeskam and his Swedish colleague Joakim Kjellson have calculated the Northern European Enclosure Dam could be instrumental in saving the lives, but not the livelihoods of Europeans. 

‘The dams, one between Scotland and Norway and one between France and the southwest of England, would make the tides disappear and eventually turn the North Sea into a fresh water lake and nature and the fishery industry would undergo a major change,’ Groeskamp said. 

The technical side would be patterned on technology used to build oil platforms at great depths, the scientists said. To get to an estimate of the costs – between €250bn and €500bn – they looked at the finance involved in huge dam building projects in South Korea. ‘You also have to take into account the cost of revenue loss from fishing and shipping and costs for pumping out river water,’ Groeskamp said. 

The project, which will be published in the American Meterological Journal next month, is a serious warning to make sure it never has to come to this, Groeskamp said. 

‘The cost and the consequences of a project like this are huge. But the costs of doing nothing will be higher still. This dam shows what the consequences of the most pessimistic forecasts about rising sea levels will be: 10 metres by 2500. This dam is a call to action. If we do not stop climate change now we may well have to build the dam after all.’ 

So far the attempt by the scientists to raise awareness has resulted in a flurry of international press attention, including the Guardian and the Daily Mail.

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

DutchNews, January 16, 2020 - By Hanneke Sanou 

The albino seal with transmitter. Photo: Ecomare

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dutch seaweed-based fuel powers car to 80 kph in Danish trial

DutchNews, November 14, 2019 

Researchers in Denmark have achieved speeds of up to 80 kph using a car powered by Dutch biofuel made from seaweed. 

The seaweed fuel was produced by scientists at the TNO research centre in Petten and at Wageningen University and is part of an EU-funded project to develop new fuels using seaweed and algae. 

‘We’ve looked to see if seaweed fuel works in the same way as ordinary fuel and what its effect is on the motor,’ researcher Jaap van Hal told local newspaper Noordhollands Dagblad.  ‘This means that this fuel could be used for private cars in the future but seaweed fuel is also interesting for aviation and shipping.’ 

Seaweed is quick and easy to grow, making it highly suitable for biofuels, as well as food and bioplastics.

Gay penguins at Amersfoort zoo steal egg and and try to hatch it

DutchNews, November 14, 2019 

A file photo of African penguins. Photo: Depositphotos.com

A gay penguin couple in Amersfoort’s DierenPark zoo have stolen an egg from another penguin family and are now trying to hatch it, the zoo said on Thursday. 

The two African penguins ‘acquired’ the egg at a moment when no-one was looking, the zoo said. 

No-one knows if the egg they stole has been fertilised, but the hatching season is now in full swing. ‘The gay couple are looking after the egg very well and take turns in keeping it warm,’ zoo keeper Marc Belt said.

‘Homosexuality is fairly common in penguins, but what makes this couple remarkable is that they have gotten hold of an egg.’ 

The couple whose egg was stolen have since produced a new one, Belt said. 

This summer, officials at Berlin zoo gave a gay couple of King penguins an egg to hatch after they tried it earlier with a stone and a dead fish.

Dutch home-grown coral colonies shipped off to Germany and Croatia

DutchNews, November 5, 2019 

Photo: Burgers’ Zoo

Over a hundred coral colonies spawned and raised at the Burgers’ Ocean aquarium at Burgers’ Zoo are starting out on a journey on Tuesday to aquariums in Düsseldorf in Germany and Pula in Croatia, the zoo said. 

The Arnhem zoo, which has been exceptionally successful at growing coral in its tanks, has been supplying tropical coral to other European aquariums for a number of years. Burgers’ Ocean boosts the biggest living coral reef in an aquarium in Europe which lives in a tank filled with 750,000 litres of water.

In January this year it shipped over 300 corals, sea anemones and coral reef fish to zoos in England. 

Tuesday’s transports will see 75 coral colonies and three bubble tip anemones travel to Düsselforf and 39 coral colonies and 15 Banggai Cardinal fish to Pula. 

Corals can be divided into two main groups: soft corals without an exoskeleton sand stone corals which are capable of building a stone coral. 

Burger’s Ocean has been so successful at raising both that the coral needs to be ‘pruned’ every once in a while. This makes sure the corals don’t poison their nearest neighbour or simply digest it by enveloping it with its intestine as a reaction to overcrowding.

New Dutch trawler aims to cut fish suffering with electric shocks

DutchNews, November 1, 2019 

Photo:Depositphotos.com 

A new type of trawler fitted with equipment that stuns fish using electric currents when caught joins the Dutch fleet on Friday. 

The UK 205 Spes Nova is the brainchild of the Ekofish Groep and will ‘contribute to efficient fishing with a low ecological footprint,’ company director Jacob Kramer says in the invitation to Friday’s launch ceremony. 

The trawler is 32 metres long and costs €7.5m. Fish are cooled in a water tank, stunned with an electric shock and then stripped for processing automatically. 

Femie Smit of animal rights group Dierenbescherming says she hopes more fishermen will switch to the new vessel on a voluntary basis. 

Mooi dat er weer nieuwe schepen bijkomen op Urk #Moed #Vertrouwen #Visserij #UK205 #LT295 pic.twitter.com/8YYAh9Hmkh

— Albert Hartman (@AlbertVCU) 10 september 2019

Currently fish are left to suffer for minutes, even hours, before they die, but some are processed while still alive, she said. ‘We don’t cut open live chickens to take out the fillets, but we do it to fish,’ she said. ‘This apparatus stops that, so make use of it.’ 

The boat’s owner Louwe de Boer told local broadcaster Omroep Flevoland he believed that this sort of equipment ‘is the future’ and will become law within a few years. 

The trawler was built by Damen Maaskant Shipyards.

Dutch inventors roll out river plastic clean-up barge

Yahoo – AFP, October 26, 2019

The model on display was the fourth to be built and is due to be sent to
the Dominican Republic (AFP Photo/Robin UTRECHT)

The Hague (AFP) - A Dutch non-profit group committed to ridding the world's waters of plastic, Saturday unveiled their latest invention, a floating garbage-collection barge called "The Interceptor".

It is built by The Ocean Cleanup, who say it will "close the tap" on the greatest source of garbage reaching the oceans: rivers.

The barge, which will be anchored in polluted rivers, is capable of scooping up to 50 tonnes of garbage per day floating downstream, said its inventor, 25-year-old Boyan Slat.

"Under the right conditions we think it could even achieve double that," said Slat, who is the CEO and founder of The Ocean Cleanup.

"The Interceptor" resembles a large houseboat attached to a curved barrier. It is 24 metres (78 feet) long, solar-driven, fully autonomous and able to collect plastic in rivers around the clock, Slat said.

Placed at strategic positions in a river system, its barrier directs plastic to the waiting "mouth" of the barge, from where it rolls up a conveyor belt and is dumped into one of six dumpsters.

The barge has a capacity to carry 50 cubic metres of waste plastic, the equivalent of 271,000 Rubik's cubes, said Slat.

Once full, an onboard computer sends a message to local operators to pull out the dumpsters and empty them "as easily as you would clean your vacuum," Slat said at the unveiling of the machine.

The project will tackle 1,000 of the most polluting rivers in the world "within five years", which contribute to 80 percent of global plastic pollution, he added.

Two of the machines are already up and running: one in Jakarta, Indonesia, and another in Malaysia. A third is being prepared for deployment in Vietnam.

Slat used a fourth Interceptor for the presentation in the port city of Rotterdam's harbour on Saturday. This one will be sent to the Dominican Republic, he said.

Earlier this month, The Ocean Cleanup announced that a special ship designed to clean the world's oceans had harvested its first plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The Interceptor at work in Malaysia. Photo: The Ocean CleanUp

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• Stagnation of the current US Politics: Compassioned (US) leaders will arise in the future
• Shortage of fresh/drinking water: Invention to make salt from salt water magnetic and remove it with water desalination process in high volumes
• Pollution on Earth: 1 - Stop killing the environment! / 2 - The rise of temperature on Earth is “temporary” and is part of the "regular" Watercycle.
• Replacement of current fossil energy source: Use of magnetics based (small/big) engines to produces electricity / free energy
• Plastic pollution in the oceans: Invention to remove the plastics gradually from the oceans

Ocean Cleanup move to the Pacific, ‘a milestone’ says Dutch inventor

Photo: The Ocean Cleanup

The Netherlands calls on Shell to clean up North Sea oil rigs

DutchNews, October 10, 2019

The four Brent platforms: Photo: Shell 

The Dutch government wants Shell to clean up the foundations of three oil and gas platforms in the British part of the North Sea, infrastructure minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen has told MPs. 

The minister’s comments follow the publication of a report on the decommissioning operation which recommends the clean up be carried out as agreed over 20 years ago in international treaties. 

The licence request ‘does not sufficiently support’ the claim that leaving the foundations and storage units, which contain polluted material, is the best option from an environmental or safety point of view, the minister told MPs. 

The Netherlands, she said, will join Germany in making a formal protest about the plan. 

The clean-up was agreed in a special treaty known as Ospar which was adopted in 1992. The Ospar treaty states that rigs, including their contents and pipelines, must be removed from the sea after decommissioning. 

Shell, however, wants to leave the foundations of three of the four Brent platforms – Brent Bravo, Brent Charlie and Brent Delta – in the North Sea. It argues that removing the three concrete constructions would be risky and expensive. 

Risks 

‘Constructed nearly half a century ago, they were not designed to be removed,’ Shell said when submitting the decommissioning plans in 2017.  ‘We have to consider the safety of those who will work offshore to deliver this project. The safety risks associated with trying to remove them outweigh minimal environmental benefit.’ 

The final decision is up to Britain and it is keen to make an exception for the three platforms. Germany and the Netherlands, which only have an advisory role, are opposed, fearing the impact of leaks of polluted oil in the concrete bases on marine life. 

The topside of the Brent Bravo platform was taken to Britain for scrapping in June this year. 

The Brent field was discovered in 1971 and started production five years later.

Britain's 'regret' at Maori killings when Cook landed

Yahoo – AFP, October 2, 2019

A statue of Captain Cook stands in Sydney's Hyde Park (AFP Photo/WILLIAM WEST)

Britain's top diplomat in New Zealand made a low-key "expression of regret" to Maori on Wednesday over deadly clashes that occurred when Captain James Cook's arrived in New Zealand 250 years ago.

British High Commissioner Laura Clarke travelled to the North Island town of Gisborne for a ceremony with the Maori iwi, or tribes, who Cook met when he landed in October 1769.

The explorer's arrival sparked a series of skirmishes in the following days that resulted in nine deaths and is still recalled with anger by locals.

In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the Rongowhakaata Iwi Trust said the ceremony with Clarke was to acknowledge the hara, or atrocities, committed 250 years ago.

"Cook and his crew landed on the banks of the Turanganui river at 4pm, within 30 minutes they had opened fire and (local chieftain) Te Maro was dead," it said.

"Our whanaunga (relative) was the first casualty of The Collision."

It added: "After only being here for two hours, Cook and his crew had trespassed, terrorised, killed and stolen from us."

The British High Commission issued a brief statement about the event but refused to provide further details, saying it was a "private dialogue between the envoy and the iwi.

"The expression of regret responds to a request from the local iwi for this history to be heard and acknowledged," the statement said.

"The British High Commissioner will acknowledge the pain of those first encounters, acknowledge that the pain does not diminish over time, and extend her sympathy to the descendants of those killed."

Local media reported British officials had "sworn the iwi involved to secrecy" and carefully avoided framing the statement as an apology.

However, New Zealand's race relations commissioner Meng Foon, a former Gisborne mayor, had no such qualms.

"It's a significant day today... I hope that the apology or message will acknowledge the murder of nine Maori from Turanganui-a-Kiwa (Gisborne)," he told Radio New Zealand.

"I hope they both can move forward and tell our history."

On three epic voyages, Cook helped chart the vast Pacific Ocean more than any other, making him one of the most celebrated explorers of his era.

But his legacy has been questioned by many modern scholars amid accusations that his "discoveries" led to colonialism and the devastation of the traditional societies he encountered.

New prototype plastic catcher works, Ocean Clean Up group says

DutchNews, October 2, 2019

Photo: Ocean Clean-up

The latest prototype of a Dutch invention to catch plastic floating in the ocean is working, say researchers with The Ocean Cleanup, which has been testing the device some 2,000 kilometres off the Californian coast. 

The new prototype is successfully catching and keeping plastic in all shapes and sizes, the organisation said on Tuesday. 

Earlier versions of the plastic catcher did not manage to hold on to the plastic,  the organisation’s spokesman Joost Dubois told broadcaster NOS. ‘The problem was that we couldn’t control the difference in speed of the plastic and the device. You need a big difference in speed in order to keep hold of the plastic,’ he said. 

The solution to the problem was to use a sea anchor in the shape of a parachute which made the plastic catcher move more slowly than the plastic. Smaller plastic pieces could then be caught in the device more easily, including micro plastics of a millimetre in size. 

The Ocean Cleanup is planning a second version of the new plastic catcher next year which will be able to collect more plastic over a longer period of time. Inventor Boyan Slat and his team aim to eventually halve the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, some 1.6 million square kilometers in size, between California and Hawaii. 

Slat came up with his Ocean Cleanup project in 2012 and spent the next five years developing it, for which he has collected over €30m in funding.

VIDEO: Boyan Slat, the 25-year-old Dutch founder of @TheOceanCleanup, explains how the ship was able to harvest a range of plastics from the ocean pic.twitter.com/EjEfMOIjqS

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 2 oktober 2019

#UPDATE A special ship designed to clean the oceans has harvested its first plastic from the #GreatPacificGarbagePatch since setting sail from San Francisco last month, its Dutch inventor says https://t.co/yFNZwykhJZ #TheOceanCleanup

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 2 oktober 2019

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“Afraid of Love” + “What’s Wrong Today”, Laguna Hills, California, US(2), Dec 9, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

• Stagnation of the current US Politics: Compassioned (US) leaders will arise in the future
• Shortage of fresh/drinking water: Invention to make salt from salt water magnetic and remove it with water desalination process in high volumes
• Pollution on Earth: 1 - Stop killing the environment! / 2 - The rise of temperature on Earth is “temporary” and is part of the "regular" Watercycle.
• Replacement of current fossil energy source: Use of magnetics based (small/big) engines to produces electricity / free energy
• Plastic pollution in the oceans: Invention to remove the plastics gradually from the oceans

Ocean Cleanup move to the Pacific, ‘a milestone’ says Dutch inventor

Photo: The Ocean Cleanup