Ocean heat hits record high: UN

Yahoo – AFP, March 28, 2019

The report said the highest rates of ocean warming are occuring in the southern
ocean, where warming has also reached the deepest layers (AFP Photo/Brian Bielmann)

Geneva (AFP) - Ocean heat hit a record high in 2018, the United Nations said Thursday, raising urgent new concerns about the threat global warming is posing to marine life.

In its latest State of the Climate overview, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reaffirmed that the last four years had been the hottest on record -- figures previously announced in provisional drafts of the flagship report.

But the final version of the report highlighted worrying developments in other climate indicators beyond surface temperature.

"2018 saw new records for ocean heat content in the upper 700 metres," a WMO statement said.

The agency said the UN had data for heat content in the upper 700 metres (2,290 feet) of the ocean dating back to 1955.

Last year also saw new heat records for the ocean's upper 2,000 metres, but data for that range only goes back to 2005.

The previous records for both ranges were set in 2017.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the latest findings as "another strong wake-up call" for governments, cities and businesses to take action.

"It proves what we have been saying that climate change is moving faster than our efforts to address it," he said at UN headquarters in New York.

The United Nations is hosting a major summit on September 23 that is billed as a last-chance opportunity for leaders to tackle climate change, which Guterres has described as the defining issue of our time.

The UN chief has urged world leaders to come to the summit with concrete plans, instead of speeches, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent over the next decade and to net zero by 2050.

Warming oceans

About 93 percent of excess heat -- trapped around the Earth by greenhouse gases that come from the burning of fossil fuels -- accumulates in the world's oceans.

Research published earlier this year in the US journal Science showed that warming in the oceans is on pace with measurements of rising air temperature.

Some models predict the temperature of the top 2,000 metres of the world's oceans will rise nearly 0.8 degrees Celsius by the end of the century if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to Science.

Oceans are also not warming evenly across the planet.

The WMO report said the highest rates of ocean warming are occurring in the southern ocean, where warming has also reached the deepest layers.

This could result in sea levels being substantially different in different places, experts have previously said.

The thermal expansion -- water swelling as it warms -- is expected to raise sea levels 12 inches (30 centimetres), above any sea level rise from melting glaciers and ice sheets, according to the research published in Science.

New Japan volcano island 'natural lab' for life

Yahoo – AFP, Kyoko Hasegawa, 17 May 2015

The newly-created Nishinoshima island at the Ogasawara island chain, 

1,000 kilometres south of Tokyo, pictured on March 25, 2015 (AFP Photo)

Tokyo (AFP) - A brand new island emerging off the coast of Japan offers scientists a rare opportunity to study how life begins to colonise barren land -- helped by rotting bird poo and hatchling vomit.

Researchers say bird waste will be the secret ingredient to kickstart Mother Nature's grand experiment on what is a still active volcano that only poked its head above the waves in November 2013.

That speck of land, some 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) south of Tokyo, has grown to engulf its once larger neighbour, Nishinoshima, a part of Japan's Ogasawara island chain known for the wealth and variety of its ecosystem.

The new Nishinoshima, a respectable 2.46 square kilometres (0.95 square miles), the Japan Coast Guard said in February -- roughly the size of 345 football pitches -- is currently almost all bare rock, formed from cooling lava.

But scientists say it will one day be humming with plant -- and possibly animal -- life, as nature moves in to what is being called a "natural laboratory" on one of the latest bits of real estate in the Pacific Ocean.

"We biologists are very much focusing on the new island because we'll be able to observe the starting point of evolutionary processes," said Naoki Kachi, professor and leader of Tokyo Metropolitan University's Ogasawara Research Committee.

After the volcanic activity calms down, "what will probably happen first will be the arrival of plants brought by ocean currents and attached to birds' feet," he said.

Those seabirds, who could use the remote rock as a temporary resting place, could eventually set up home there.

Their excreta -- along with their dropped feathers, regurgitated bits of food and rotting corpses -- will eventually form a nutrient-rich soil that offers fertile ground for seeds carried by the wind, or brought in the digestive systems of overflying birds.

"I am most interested in the effects of birds on the plants' ecosystem -- how their bodily wastes-turned-organic fertilisers enrich the vegetation and how their activities disturb it," Kachi told AFP.

The old Nishinoshima, measuring just 0.22 square kilometres, was home to bird colonies until the eruptions scared the creatures away.

A small number have clung on to the only patch of the old island that is still visible, making their nests among ash-covered plants.

Pristine

Japan, which sits at the junction of several tectonic plates, is home to more than 100 active volcanoes.

The newly-created Nishinoshima island at the Ogasawara island chain, 

1,000 kilometres south of Tokyo, pictured on April 27, 2015 (AFP Photo/)

Scientists have no idea when Nishinoshima will stop spewing lava, but its expansion is being offset by erosion around the edges.

The island is expected to follow a route laid out by Surtsey, an island that emerged from the sea in 1963, around 30 kilometres from the coast of Iceland.

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage spot is known globally as an outstanding example of a pristine natural laboratory where researchers have been able to trace the evolution of a habitat.

"Since they began studying the island in 1964, scientists have observed the arrival of seeds carried by ocean currents, the appearance of moulds, bacteria and fungi, followed in 1965 by the first vascular plant," UNESCO says on its website.

"By 2004, (vascular plants) numbered 60, together with 75 bryophytes, 71 lichens and 24 fungi. Eighty-nine species of birds have been recorded on Surtsey, 57 of which breed elsewhere in Iceland. The 141 hectare island is also home to 335 species of invertebrates."

Not bad for somewhere that has only existed for half a century.

Nishinoshima might not be quite as quick as Surtsey to establish itself as a teeming wildlife haven -- it is a long way from mainland Japan and not too close to its neighbours in the Ogasawara island chain, which limits the number of species of birds and seeds that will make it that far.

Nonetheless, it is an exciting blank canvas, said Kachi, and needs to be treated with respect -- which means keeping out foreign invaders that would not naturally drift or fly in.

"I'd like to call on anyone who lands on the island to pay special attention to keeping it the way it is -- not to take external species there," he warned.

He said when he conducted a field study on another island in the chain in 2007, his team prepared a fumigated clean room where they packed all research equipment, after making sure everything they had was either brand new or scrupulously clean.

While Nishinoshima is currently only being monitored from the air, the first field researchers will need to take similar precautions.

"Biologists know the business, but probably the first batch of scientists who will land on the island will be geologists and vulcanologists -- who may not be familiar with the problems," he said.

"I'd be pleased to offer advice on this to scientists in other fields."

US, Indonesia Explore Uncharted Deep Sea

Jakarta Globe, Foster Klug, June 22, 2010

Scientists aboard the United States research vessel Okeanos Explorer, pictured, and their Indonesian counterparts on Thursday begin the first joint deep-sea exploration by both nations.

Washington. A deep-sea expedition by the United States and Indonesia sets off this week to explore one of the world's last frontiers, an adventure that researchers hope could lead to cures for diseases and help in predicting deadly tsunamis.

Scientists portray the trip to Indonesian waters as a throwback to a time when explorers blazed new trails into unknown territory.The expedition, which is set to begin Thursday and wrap up in early August, is the maiden voyage for a high-tech US science ship and the first joint deep-sea exploration by Indonesia and the United States.

Scientists will use a powerful sonar mapping system and a robotic vehicle equipped with high-definition video cameras to explore hundreds of square miles north of the Indonesian archipelago, providing an extraordinary glimpse of one of the globe's most diverse, complex and little-known marine ecosystems.

"The world's oceans are great mysteries to us, but there are few greater mysteries than this area in Indonesia that we're going to be exploring," Craig McLean, who oversees oceanic exploration for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said in an interview.

Indeed, while a dozen men have been to the moon and back, only two have explored the deepest ocean and returned to tell the tale. This voyage won't be adding to that list; an unmanned, remote-controlled vessel will be exploring the deep sea.

Probing the ocean's depths is a potentially dangerous affair, with only a small number of countries and research centers investing in the effort. NOAA takes part in several international missions a year, but officials describe this one as its most complex.

A major goal is to create a high-resolution map of the ocean floor that will help scientists better understand how tsunamis form and make more accurate models to forecast the earthquake-spawned waves in the future. The region straddles a series of fault lines, making it very seismically active. In 2004, an earthquake off western Indonesia triggered tsunamis that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

Indonesia's Minister for Marine Affairs and Fisheries Fadel Muhammad said scientists also want to explore ecosystems living around underwater volcanoes, some of which remain active.

Oceans cover about 70 percent of the earth's surface, but little is known about the sea floor. And not just remote parts of the Pacific; US officials say they've only mapped a small part of the exclusive economic zone that extends into waters off the American shore.

"There actually is a reasonable degree of artistic fiction included in most world maps that portray the ocean," McLean said. "Our job, among many, is to fill in those blanks."

The exploration might even point the way to cures for human diseases. Though the mission is not primarily designed to snap up thousands of samples of plants and sea animals, Indonesian scientists will collect specimens that could have medicinal qualities, such as attacking harmful bacteria or fighting the spread of cancer cells. An example of such a compound is discodermolide, a potential cancer drug extracted from a deep-water sponge.

Scientists from both countries say this venture is mostly about exploration, meaning they will allow their curiosity to guide them.The United States will send scientists and a converted US Navy ship, the Okeanos Explorer, to Indonesian waters. Indonesia's contribution is a research vessel, the Baruna Jaya IV, which will collect specimens that, together with all rights for future use, will remain in the country. The United States hopes to join in collections at a future date.

The Okeanos comes equipped with a multi-beam sonar mapping system that can generate high-resolution, wide-angle images in very deep water.It also has a remote-controlled robotic vehicle, about as big as a small sports utility vehicle, that's attached to the ship by a cable and capable of operating at depths more than twice the mile-deep oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It has chemical sensors, movable arms, high-definition video cameras and a strong lighting system. Images will be transmitted to the ship by fiber-optic cables, beamed to a satellite and then sent to scientists on shore.

John McDonough, deputy director of the NOAA office of ocean exploration and research, said these scientists can contribute to the expedition by asking the pilot on the ship steering the robotic vehicle to pursue whatever strikes their fancy.

"The real objective here is to find something of interest that the science communities will want to come back to," McDonough said. "It's really establishing a sense of place." 

Associated Press

New Zealand: 125 pilot whales die on beaches

NDTV, Associated Press, Monday December 28, 2009, Coromandel peninsula, New Zealand

Some 125 pilot whales died in New Zealand after getting stranded on the beach over the weekend, but vacationers and conservation workers on Sunday managed to coax 43 others back out to sea.

Rescuers monitored the survivors as they swam away from Colville Beach on North Island's Coromandel peninsula, and by Monday morning they were reported well out to sea.

Department of Conservation workers and hundreds of volunteers helped re-float the 43 whales at high tide. The volunteers covered the stranded mammals in sheets and kept them wet through the day.

"We've been here probably about three and a half, four hours and we've been just listening to instructions and yeah, trying to keep them as wet as possible and comfortable," volunteer Deanna Pandy told New Zealand television.

Conservation officials said one of the whales may have been sick, or their sonar may have led them into the shallow harbour and they couldn't find their way out again.

On Monday, more than 20 whales were buried by local Coromandel Maori. Meanwhile on South Island, 105 long-finned pilot whales that stranded died on Saturday, conservation officials said on Monday.

Officials said they were discovered by a tourist plane pilot and only 30 were alive when conservation workers arrived. Because the site is part of a nature reserve, the 105 whale carcasses were left to decompose where they stranded, officials said.

Large numbers of whales become stranded on New Zealand's beaches each summer as they pass by on their way to breeding grounds from Antarctic waters. Scientists so far have been unable to explain why whales become stranded.

20 pilot whales die on New Zealand beach, 43 saved

The Jakarta Post, The Associated Press | Sun, 12/27/2009 3:12 PM | World

Twenty pilot whales died on a New Zealand beach after stranding bt holiday-makers and conservation workers Sunday managed to coax 43 others back out to sea.

Rescuers monitored the survivors as night fell as they swam away from Colville Beach on North Island's Coromandel peninsula, hoping they would not turn back to the beach.

Department of Conservation workers and hundreds of volunteers helped refloat the 43 whales at high tide. The volunteers covered the stranded mammals in sheets and kept them wet through the day.

"Some 63 pilot whales stranded ... but it looks pretty good, we've got 43 live ones," Department of Conservation ranger Steve Bolten said as the pod swam out to sea.

Bolten said one of the whales may have been sick, or their sonar may have led them into the shallow harbor and they couldn't find their way out again.

Camper Deanna Paddy and her family spent hours in the sea helping the whales, "trying to keep them as wet as possible and comfortable," she told Television New Zealand's One News.

One of the whales she helped died on the beach. "That's nature but we've still got others to try and help. We're just going to give them the best chance we can and hope for the best."

New Zealand has several mass whale strandings around its coastline each summer as they pass by on their way to breeding grounds from Antarctic waters. Scientists so far have been unable to explain why whales become stranded.

Moving toward marine based development

The Jakarta Post, Sukristijono Sukardjo, Jakarta | Thu, 12/24/2009 9:08 AM | Opinion

Few other nations should be more concerned about the ocean and oceanographic research than Indonesia. Being located in between two oceans, the Pacific and the Indian, the waters around 17,504 islands greatly influences the climate, economy and health of the people of this Republic.

The industrialization during late eighties brought in agriculture and financial services to reinforce an Indonesian economy entirely based up until then on forestry-cultivation and fun-filled beach-centered tourism. However, despite having a 2.7 million square kilometer Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the ocean based economic activities contributing to the GNP of Indonesia have been unfortunately insignificant.

Considering the fact that Indonesia has one of the highest populations in the world with access to renewable and non-renewable resources, exploitation of oceanic resources will probably follow as the next phase of the nation’s industrial development. There is a great need for an integrated approach in scientific planning, formulation, implementation and overall management of ocean related activities in Indonesia.

The coastal zone is the prime frontier area to study, as it impacts the livelihood of 60 percent of Indonesians in one-way or another. Monitoring change in the 95,181 km shoreline is an important task for the concerned ministries and research institutions. A GIS-based mapping of the coastline using satellite, aerial photography and real-time ground-truthing is taken up to estimate coastal vulnerability against geological, climatological, biological, chemical and physical extremes.

There is a proposal to set-up a few time-series stations around some major islands and outer islands (e.g. Tual, Kai Kecil islands, etc.). Such marine research stations selected on strong scientific rationale would collect data on all possible oceanographic parameters at regular intervals over a stipulated period. Modeling such data would help develop strategies to effectively mitigate coastal problems.

The livelihoods of a large majority of the Indonesian people depend on fishing and the fisheries industry. Complete biomass evaluation and detailed maps of mangroves, seagrass beds, coral reef and fish stock are still insufficient, some not available.

Mangroves

To overcome this shortfall, efforts are now on to identify new fishing banks through bathymetric survey and satellite information. Construction of artificial reefs, mariculture and mangrove rehabilitation and/or restoration are encouraged.

Continuous monitoring of chlorophyll content, sea surface temperature and current pattern are studied to maximize the resource products. Setting up of an integrated coastal zone management framework involving impact assessment certification mechanism and an efficient hazard and crisis mitigation group are being actively considered.

A substantial part of the protein needs of Indonesia come from the sea through captured fisheries — 2,500 fish species have been identified and some of these of commercial value worldwide. A good demand for filleted and other value-added forms of fish should excite the fishing industry and home industry.

Biotechnology and sea ranching mechanism can ensure high food quality and add value to the product. Grounds for deep-water shrimp trawling and possibilities to develop technology for better fish preservation are now explored. The seafood technology arena, in particular, can create a lot of job opportunities. Extracts from marine organisms can also contribute a substantial part of the country’s drug needs.

Indonesia is insisting on well-equipped laboratories and trained human resources to capture the intellectual property rights and other commercial possibilities in the field of bio-prospecting. Indonesian marine invertebrate biotechnology products have a potential value of US$340-780 million per year, and would constitute 5 percent of the world’s total output.

As a fundamental measure, the vast EEZ and the Sunda and Sahul shelf need to be explored in detail to complete geological, chemical, biological and physical mapping. Understanding the submarine landslides, sea floor tectonics and its effect on stability of islands coastlines are of great significance.

Indonesia straddles the ring of fire, has vast continental shelves, and in consonance with Article 76 of the Unclos Convention, geological and geophysical data is necessary for demarcate extension of legal continental shelves. An intensive exploration to identify maritime resources within the EEZ for hydrocarbon potential, seamount cobalt rich crust and phosphorus, hydrothermal metal deposits of the mid-oceanic ridge and associated bioactive compounds is necessary.

Another area in which Indonesia is interested to harvest renewable energy from wind, waves, currents, tides, and from large temperature difference that exist in the water le-vels within a short distance from the shore. The Indian Ocean, stretching from east of Sumatera to south of Java going to West part of Indonesia holds great promise.

Indonesia is lucky to have the Wallace Line which runs from Lombok strait between Borneo and Sulawesi to the Sulu Sea in the Philippines, marking the boundary between the Asian and Australasian faunas of Laurasian and Gondwanan ancestry. Marine creatures (e.g. Coelacanth fish) and pelagic fish e.g. Spermonde islands, are phenomenal to science. Understanding the processes of generation of new oceanic crust at the Central Indian Ridge would be interesting to obtain fundamental information on mantle melt behavior and high-grade sulphide metal deposits.

A host of worms and colorful tubes amazingly occur at this extremely hot (>200o C) deep-sea environment. The genetic adaptations of these organisms biologically in the laboratory may prove commercially potential and academically significant. Studying various dimensions and dynamics of the Central Indian Ridge-Indian Oceans should prove rewarding e.g. the discovery of giant, deep-sea -volcano in the offshore Bengkulu. Oceans regulates climate by absorbing much of the atmospheric carbon.

Hence understanding the biogeochemical environment that controls and relates oceanic productivity and atmospheric composition can help climate prediction. Increased research on air-sea interaction processes and stimulation of ocean-atmosphere coupling would contribute substantially to enhance weather and climate prediction ability.

To this end, Indonesia is now integrated with an international campaign to understand the above delicate aspects. WOC2009 is the milestone of Indonesian contribution to ocean-climate change issues.

By deploying argo floats, data-buoys, tide gauges and sediment traps, Indonesia is poised to generate a wealth of information from her waters. It is proposed to study the Sunda and Sahul shelf and Wallace’s Line seas in detail as the oceanographic parameters of this area greatly influence the tropical climate, the two oceans: Pacific and Indian, and the resultant economy.

From social points also, Indonesian waters are expected to have a wealth of history submerged, myth and legendary. Scientific investigation to catalogue marine archaeological sites of Indonesian waters and trace maritime history through research may bring out unsung pages of culture and commerce in the past.

In order to make use of the ocean in a sustainable way, ministries and institutions in Indonesia should take much interest on the issue, said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the address on the Coral Triangle Initiative Summit 2009. Dewan Kelautan Indonesia (The Indonesian Maritime Council), as a national coordination committee in ocean sciences is being set up by presidential decree for this purpose. Being a responsible contributor to global ocean research campaigns (e.g. Manado Ocean Declaration 2009), Indonesia is on the cusp of qualifying as a hub of marine research activities in the Indonesia waters, between Indian and Pacific oceans.

It is believed that only through visible, rational and responsible marine scientific activities; Indonesia can take advantage of her enormous geographical and strategic potential. If approached judiciously, oceanic activities could become a pillar of Indonesia economy in near future, following the success of Japan, Australia, South Korea, Maldives, and Mauritius that use ocean life to fuel their economy.

The writer is a Professor of Mangrove Ecology at the Center for Oceanological Research and Development, Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI).

Related Article:

Download WOC 2009 report: "Protecting the World's From Vision to Action" (PDF)

57 Percent of RI`s beaches vulnerable to tsunami

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Some 57 percent of Indonesia's coastline, or 46,170 km, of the total length of 81,000 km, are prone to a tsunami attack.

 

The data came from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency during the inaguration of a Tsunami Early Warning System (TEWS) at the BMG office here Tuesday.

 

After an earthquake followed by a tsunami in Aceh on December 26, 2004, the need for an early warning system had become increasingly urgent.

 

Therefore, on November 11, 2008, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono launched a TEWS which was built under a cooperation between the Indonesian government and 18 state enterprises.

 

The financial and technological aspects of the project were taken care of by Germany, China, Japan, the US and France.

Leatherback turtle swims from Indonesia to Oregon in epic journey

The Jakarta Post

BANGKOK (AP): Scientists tracked a leatherback turtle that swam from Indonesia to the U.S. in an epic 20,000-kilometer journey as it searched for food - research they hope will boost international efforts to save the endangered species.

Leatherbacks, which can grow up to 2.75 meters (9 feet) in length, have roamed the oceans for 100 million years. But researchers at the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service in California say commercial fishing makes the oceans too dangerous for the globe-trotting sea turtles, which face extinction if no action is taken.

"Migrations of this magnitude expose animals to a multitude of risks from fisheries on the high seas," Scott Benson and Peter Dutton, scientists with the service, co-wrote in a paper that appeared last month in the peer-reviewed Chelonian Conservation and Biology.

"Effective conservation requires a better understanding of migratory routes and destinations to understand and mitigate the risks at sea," they wrote.

The leatherback is the world's most endangered sea turtle. In a telephone interview Friday, Benson estimated that less than 5,000 adult females now live in the Pacific region. Males cannot be easily counted because they don't come ashore. Conservationists estimate the breed could become extinct within 30 years.

Turtles "face a myriad of risks from things like ingesting debris like plastic, to traveling through areas that are used by multinational fisheries - fisheries that would catch (the turtles) in the course of trying to catch fish," Benson said.

Benson and Dutton went to Indonesia in 2001 hoping to track some turtles using satellite transmitters, confirm their trans-Pacific route and prompt action to prevent their extinction. Their research showed the animals ranged from the South China Sea to the Sea of Japan to the North Pacific.

One adult female began her journey in 2003 on a nesting beach in Jamursbamedi in Papua province, Benson said. He and Dutton tracked the leatherback and her hunt for food for 647 days until the transmitter's battery ran out just off Hawaii. During her travels she swam as far north as the state of Oregon.



"It's the old adage of not putting all your eggs in one basket," Benson said. "If a foraging ground was bad one year,maybe another foraging ground would be good. Some portion of the population would always be able to find food."

Peter C. H. Pritchard, a turtle expert and director of the Chelonian Research Institute in Florida, said he wasn't surprised to learn how far the turtle traveled.

"It's possible and only limited by the geography of the world," Pritchard said Friday. "They are masters of the ocean. There is a tremendous amount of muscle in the front. This is a powerful fishing machine and remarkable diving machine."

Benson called for action to protect leatherback turtles as they roam the seas.

"It will be the responsibility of many countries to ensure the species survives in the Pacific Ocean for future generations," he said. "It's an animal that doesn't recognize international boundaries. You can protect the nesting beaches but if you can't protect the animal in the water, you haven't done anything."

RI to bring up marine resources` carbon-absorbing capacity at UNFCCC

Nusa Dua (ANTARA News) - Marine resources are believed to have a potential carbon-absorbing capacity many times the capacity of forests and therefore the Indonesian delegation to the United Nations climate change conference here will draw the conference`s attention to the matter so that it can be taken up in discussions on efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

"The sea has a carbon-absorbing capacity many times the capacity of forests. With the amount of biomass phytoplankton on earth reaching only 0.05 percent compared to all plants on land, the sea has the same carbon-absorbing capacity as forests," Jana T Anggadiredja, chairman of the climate change conference`s Working Group on Technology Transfer, who is also a member of the Indonesian delegation, said here on Saturday.

Marine resources such as algae, coral reefs and mangrove trees need nutrition in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2) to grow, he said.

Actually, the Indonesian delegation had already discussed the matter with at least 12 other countries taking part in the 12-day conference and would try to get it included in the agenda of the Conference of Parties (CoP), he said.

The countries to initiate the inclusion of the issue in the agenda of the CoP to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) included Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, China, India, Australia and New Zealand.

He said marine resource scientists were in the middle of preparing a methodology for calculating the capacity of marine resources to absorb carbon.

"In our rough scheme, global forests have a capacity of absorbing 5 billion tons of carbon and marine resources at least 6 billion tons of carbon per year. Meanwhile, fossil fuels emit up to 23 billion tons of carbon per year," he said.

Fugro receives Australia, Indonesia seismic work

Energycurrent.com, Filed from Aberdeen 11/6/2007 1:52:04 PM GMT

NETHERLANDS: Netherlands-based Fugro has been awarded two contracts for 3-D marine seismic surveys in Australia and Indonesia and received a letter of intent for another seismic contract in Indonesia. The total contract value is US$68.5 million.

Fugro has been awarded a 1,700 square kilometre (656 square mile) 3-D seismic survey for ConocoPhilips in Australia. Fugro's seismic vessel Geo Atlantic will undertake the two-month project offshore northwestern Australia beginning later this month.

In addition, a further letter of award was agreed upon with ConocoPhilips, and a letter of intent was received from StatoilHydro, each for a 3-D seismic survey in Indonesia.

These contracts cover two neighbouring blocks with a total area of 3,500 square kilometres (1,351 square miles). The vessel Geo Atlantic will take on the work after the Australian survey. All the surveys will be undertaken with a 10 streamer spread.

RI succeeds in saving coral reefs, says researcher

Desy Nurhayati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia's efforts to preserve its marine and coastal resources has seen a decline in the number of damaged coral reefs across the country's oceans this year, a researcher said Friday.

Indonesian Institute of Science's (LIPI) oceanography researcher Suharsono said recent data had revealed a decreased percentage of damaged coral reefs -- down to 32.05 percent from 33.17 percent in 2006.

"The declining number of coral reef destruction in Indonesia shows that people's awareness to preserve our abundant ocean resources has improved, thanks to support from the government and the public," Suharsono said.

The research divided the condition of coral reefs into four categories: poor, fair, good and excellent, with the country's areas divided into three regions: west, central and east.

According to research conducted from 908 observation sites across the country's waters, the number of "excellent" and "good" coral reefs had increased to 5.51 and 25.11 percent, respectively, from 2006 figures which sat at 5.23 and 24.26 percent.

Suharsono said the worst destruction had occurred in the western region, while the central region showed the highest number of coral reefs in good condition.

Despite the decline in damaged coral reefs, Suharsono said the reefs were still faced with threats, including natural disasters, global climate change, overfishing and destructive fishing.

Indonesia has the richest coral reefs in the world in terms of quantity and diversity.

The country initiated a multilateral partnership called the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) during APEC's meeting in September in Australia.

The initiative has been lauded as a positive political move by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and a good step toward saving marine resources.

The CTI includes five Asia-Pacific countries -- the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East Timor -- and a joint effort to preserve marine resources in the Coral Triangle Area, a region stretching from the central part of Indonesia to the Solomon Islands, and up from the Indian Ocean across the Philippines to the Pacific Ocean.

The 5.7-million-square-kilometer area is the global center of marine biodiversity with more than 600 coral species and 3,000 fish species, many of which are endemic.

The triangle is home to 76 percent of the world's total coral species and 50 percent of the world's reef fish species.

Syamsul Maarif, director general of coasts and small islands in the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, said coral reefs and species has significantly contributed to the livelihood of millions of people living in coastal areas.

He said efforts still needed to be improved to increase public awareness about the importance of preserving marine biological resources, while at the same time protecting resources needed for people's livelihoods.

The Constitution of the Oceans

The Jakarta Post

I Made Andi Arsana, New York City

Attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York was an interesting experience. Being an observer, it was exciting for me to see how a negotiation and consultation went. The day I attended an informal consultation of the law of the sea was taking place. The moment reminded me that the future of ocean affairs and the law of the sea was being discussed in the room.

This year, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is 25 years old. People refer to it as the "Constitution of the Oceans", being the most comprehensive codified law of the sea in human history.

The road to establish the convention was long and winding, and it took nine years to finish before it was ratified by the majority of coastal states around the globe. To date, it has been signed by 154 coastal states and the European Union, including Indonesia, with the Law No. 17/1985.

The convention also deals with international maritime boundaries. In this regard, Indonesia has 10 neighboring states, namely India, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Australia and Timor Leste, with which maritime boundaries need to be settled. To date, 18 agreements have been established making Indonesia one of the most productive in this regard. However, Indonesia still has work to do.

It has to be admitted that the journey of Indonesia remains colored in inconveniences concerning maritime boundary disputes. The Ambalat case, outer-island issues and pending maritime boundaries with Singapore are examples we see in the news even now. The story of Sipadan and Ligitan islands is a legend that keeps being retold.

Now it is worth remembering all those issues and learn some lessons from them to build a better story for the future.

Most of the people in Indonesia believe that Sipadan and Ligitan islands were taken by Malaysia from Indonesia. This is a mistake. Sipadan and Ligitan were owned by no state. Indonesia and Malaysia tried to claim them and Malaysia won sovereignty due to reasons of effectivity (effective occupation).

The "victory" was not only due to the efforts of Malaysia but also what the British did in the past. It was the British that implemented law and established lighthouses on the islands. It is also worth noting that the effective occupation had nothing to do with the tourism resorts Malaysia had on those two islands, as anything after 1969 was not considered. The two states agreed to consider only events taking place before 1969.

There are at least three things we should do.

First, we need to devote our energy and time to settling pending maritime boundaries with neighbors. I believe the government has been making its best efforts in this. Negotiations with Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines are taking place, as well as a preliminary approach with Palau. In addition, Indonesia is currently preparing a submission to the UN concerning outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.

Second, maintenance and socialization of existing maritime boundaries is inevitable. Visualizing maritime boundaries on a chart with adequate specifications, and informing relevant parties (e.g. fishermen, coastal communities, etc.) of the status and location of the boundaries is a must.

Without proper socialization and understanding, the seizure of Indonesian fishermen crossing maritime boundaries will continue. It is time to learn and care for our territory and borders.

Third, it is necessary to enhance expertise in maritime boundaries, concerning legal, political and technical aspects. It is undisputable that maritime boundary issues deal with law and politics. However, few of us are aware how much technical aspects are involved. Not much news concerns the importance of coordinating definitions using proper geodetic datum, for instance. No wonder, people tend to see maritime boundary issues only as a matter of law and politics.

Indonesia, undoubtedly, has many legal experts but more people with technical expertise are required. We need more geoscientists (e.g geodesy, geophysics, geology and hydrography) who are focused on technical aspects of the law of the sea. It is not to say that the existing experts are unqualified, just that there need to be more.

The writer is a lecturer in the Department of Geodetic and Geomatic Engineering, Gadjah Mada University. He is currently a UN-Nippon Foundation Fellow in the Division for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea, UN, New York.

Scientists bring back potentially new species from Philippine waters

The Jakarta Post

MANILA (AP): U.S. and Philippine scientists may have discovered new marine species in the world's most biologically diverse region, their expedition leader said Tuesday.

Dr. Larry Madin, who led the Inner Space Speciation Project in the Celebes Sea south of the Philippines, said scientists had been to one of the world's deep ocean basins in search of organisms that may have been isolated there for millions of years.

Madin, of the Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, or WHOI, said the Celebes Sea is at the heart of the "coral triangle" bordered by the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia - a region recognized by scientists as having the greatest degree of biological diversity of the coral reef community of fish and other marine life.

The deepest part of the Celebes Sea is 5,000 meters. The team was able to explore to a depth of 2,800 meters using a remotely operated camera.

"This is probably the center where many of the species evolved and spread to other parts of the ocean, so it's going back to the source in many ways," he told a group of journalists, government officials, students and U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney and her staff.

Madin led the project that involved WHOI and National Geographic Magazine in cooperation with the Philippine government, which also provided the exploration ship.

The expedition included over two dozen U.S. and Philippine Scientists and a group from National Geographic, including underwater photographer Emory Kristof who teamed with noted underwater explorer Robert Ballard of WHOI in 1985 to find the wreckage of the Titanic.

The team returned to Manila on Tuesday after spending about two weeks in the Celebes Sea off Tawi-Tawi, the Philippines southernmost provincial archipelago, about 1,100 kilometers south of Manila.

Madin said they had collected about 100 different specimens, including several possibly newly discovered species. One was a sea cucumber that is nearly transparent which could swim by bending its elongated body. Another was an unusually black jellyfish that was found near the bottom of the sea. But the most striking creature they found was a spiny orange-colored worm that had 10 tentacles like a squid, he said.

"We don't know what it is ... it might be something new," he said.

He said it would take "a few more weeks" of research in the United States to determine whether the species they have brought back are newly discovered. He expects to release a report by early next month.

Madin said the Celebes Sea, being surrounded by islands and shallow reefs, is partially isolated from the rest of the world's oceans and may have been more isolated millions of years ago, leading scientists to believe that "there may be groups of organisms that have been contained and kept within" the basin since then.

"That makes it an interesting place to go and look to see what we might find," he said.

Endangered Sea Turtles Receive Vital Protection From Drift Gillnets Off California and Oregon Coasts

By: Center for Biological Diversity

Yubanet.com, Jun 16, 2007 at 08:45

Under pressure from scientists and conservation groups, the National Marine Fisheries Service denied a proposal to allow drift gillnet vessels to operate in an area off the California and Oregon coasts where such fishing is seasonally banned to protect the critically endangered Pacific leatherback sea turtle. The drift gillnet fishery, which targets swordfish, tuna and sharks, also kills not just endangered sea turtles, but humpback, fin, gray and sperm whales, and several species of dolphins and other marine mammals.

Last week the National Marine Fisheries Service notified the regional fishery management body, the Pacific Fishery Management Council, that a proposed exempted fishing permit that would have allowed the use of mile-long drift nets in the Pacific Leatherback Conservation Area (an offshore area reaching from south of Monterey Bay, California to Lincoln City, Oregon), would not be issued.

"We commend NMFS for affirming the protection of Pacific leatherback sea turtles," said Ben Enticknap, Pacific project manager for Oceana, an international organization dedicated to protecting the world's oceans. "We have reached the point where every leatherback sea turtle counts - these majestic and critically endangered animals will go extinct within our lifetimes if we do not act to protect them now."

"The Leatherback Conservation Area has provided role-model protection in much needed efforts to reverse the path towards extinction for the Pacific leatherback," said Karen Steele, campaign coordinator for the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, an international organization dedicated to protection of sea turtles. "The goal should now be an international effort to duplicate this successful protection measure in other critical areas for the leatherback throughout the Pacific."

The Pacific Leatherback Conservation Area was established in 2001 to protect leatherback turtles as they migrate along the west coast of the United States. Since the closure was established, not one leatherback has been reported killed in the drift gillnet fishery. Despite this remarkable success, the Pacific Fishery Management Council last November approved a permit that would have reopened the Conservation Area to drift gillnets during the critical months when turtles are foraging off California and Oregon. In denying the permit, the Fisheries Service cited a recent scientific study that underscores the importance of nearshore waters off the U.S. west coast as critical foraging habitat for migrating leatherback turtles.

Pacific leatherback sea turtles remain in serious trouble, having declined by more than 95 percent in the past 25 years. These champion travelers migrate 6,000 miles from Indonesia and New Guinea to feed off the U.S. coast, dealing with significant obstacles along the way. The decision helps to remove one of those deadly obstacles, giving these ancient and majestic turtles a better chance at surviving for the future.

However, the drift gillnet fishery continues to operate outside the Pacific Leatherback Conservation Area, killing other species of imperiled sea turtles as well as endangered whales and other marine mammals. Moreover, the National Marine Fisheries Service is also currently considering a separate permit, also approved by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, which would allow an experimental pelagic longline fishery in the Pacific Leatherback Conservation Area this fall. Pelagic longline fishing, in which thousands of baited hooks are strung on lines in excess of 40 miles long, is considered a primary cause of the decline of Pacific leatherbacks, which become entangled and drown in the gear.

"While denying the drift gillnet permit is an essential step toward leatherback recovery, allowing pelagic longline fishing along the west coast would undermine these conservations gains," said Brendan Cummings, ocean program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "We look forward to the day that the ocean waters off California and Oregon are true marine sanctuaries, not killing fields for endangered sea turtles and marine mammals."