Hawaiian canoe comes home after epic round-the-world odyssey

Yahoo – AFP, 18 June 2017

Hawaiian canoe comes home after epic round-the-world odyssey

Los Angeles (AFP) - A traditional double-hulled canoe has returned to Hawaii after concluding a three-year epic journey around the globe, the first trip of its kind by such a boat.

The Hokule'a vessel and its crew entered the marina at Honolulu's Magic Island peninsula on Saturday after sailing more than 40,000 nautical miles (74,000 kilometres) since its departure from the island of Oahu in 2014.

Large crowds gathered for the homecoming celebration to commemorate the end of the odyssey, which intended to "weave a lei of hope around the world through sharing indigenous wisdom, groundbreaking conservation and preservation initiatives," according to voyage organisers.

The goal was to use only ancient methods of wayfinding -- reading the stars, winds and waves -- to guide the journey, just as the first Polynesian settlers who reached the archipelago did hundreds of years ago.

The Hokule'a -- the Hawaiian name for "star of gladness" -- was the first traditional double-hulled Polynesian voyaging canoe built in 600 years, according to the Polynesian Voyaging Society.

The canoe's maiden voyage in 1976 was to Tahiti in French Polynesia.

Crews of some dozen people rotated at major ports of call throughout the round-the-world journey after undergoing training.

The homecoming celebration kicked off a three-day summit to celebrate the journey and discuss future sailing plans.

"Through her voyages, Hokule'a has sparked a reawakening of Hawaiian culture, language, identity and revitalised voyaging and navigation traditions throughout the Pacific Ocean," voyage organisers said.

Celebrate Amsterdam’s maritime past at SAIL 2015

DutchNews, August 14, 2015

The arrival of the tall ships. Photo: Wim Haze

SAIL is one of the city’s biggest and most unique festivals but it only happens once every five years. Brandon Hartley checks out what is on offer for the 2015 edition. 

Amsterdam and boats have gone hand in hand since it consisted of little more than a few cottages and a bridge over the Amstel. Needless to say, the city has come a long way since its humble beginnings in the Middle Ages. During the Dutch Golden Age, Amsterdam’s ports helped it become one of the wealthiest places on the planet. 

Flash forward to the early ‘70s when Amsterdam officials were looking for a way to celebrate the city’s 700th anniversary. What they came up with was SAIL Amsterdam, a nautical event in the summer of 1975 devoted to the history of the city’s maritime industry and its culture. 

The five-day extravaganza featured ‘tall ships’ from all across Europe, around 500 modern vessels and over 700,000 visitors. By all accounts, it was a huge success; so much so that the organisers decided to host the event again in 1980 

Sailing Into the Present Day 

Now in its ninth edition, SAIL Amsterdam is held every five years and it’s grown into the largest free maritime event in the world. It’s now a tradition for thousands of spectators line the banks of the river IJ to watch the ships arrive on the first day of the festival. 

The 2015 celebration will take place from Wednesday 19 until Sunday 23 August. The fun will begin with the Sail-In Parade, which organisers promise will be the biggest opening event in SAIL Amsterdam’s history. Over 43 tall ships along with five Dutch Marine boats and hundreds more vessels are scheduled to sail in file down the North Sea Canal into central Amsterdam.

If you can’t make it to the shores of the IJ to watch the fleet arrive, you can always tune in from home. The Sail-In Parade will be broadcast live on national television on the 19th. The ships will set sail for Amsterdam at 10:00 and are due to arrive in the city around 15:00. 

While the parade itself is a spectacle, what traditionally happens afterwards can be, well, a little less so. Getting all of those boats into the correct spots along the IJ’s quays tends to make the average rush hour traffic jam in Los Angeles look downright orderly by comparison. 

Tall ships

SAIL Amsterdam will feature countless boats and numerous events but, as with prior editions, the main draw will likely be the tall ships travelling to the city from ports all across the world. These gorgeous vessels and their photogenic masts harken back to the classic era of seafaring. 

The STS Young Endeavour is just one of the dozens that will appear at the 2015 festival. This tall ship hails from Australia and is currently in the middle of a year-long voyage around the world. A replica of the legendary Nao Victoria will also appear. The original ship was one of the first vessels to circumnavigate the globe back in the 16th century. 

The Biggest SAIL of All Time 

‘1.7 million people visited SAIL Amsterdam 2010,’ SAIL spokesperson Jan Driessen told DutchNews. ‘This year we expect even more visitors because we have an extra (fifth) day.’ 

In addition to giving the schedule a boost, Driessen and his colleagues have done their best to make this year’s event the biggest and best SAIL Amsterdam thus far. The festival’s grounds have been expanded to cover a wider portion of the city. It’s been divided into five areas dubbed ‘Oceans,’ each with its own unique theme and colour. 

Those eager to have a look at the tall ships can head to ‘Orange Ocean’, the spot where they’ll be moored along the IJ. The ships will be joined by a full programme of live music at the nearby SAIL Music Marina and a nightly fireworks display.

In search of calmer seas? Then aim for the ‘Red Ocean’, which will feature educational exhibitions and lectures at various locations across the city centre. 

SAIL at night. Photo: Wim Haze

Over at the NDSM Wharf visitors can enjoy exhibits that focus on technology, sustainable shipbuilding and innovation in the ‘Green Ocean’. The centrepiece of this area is sure to be the Volvo Ocean Race Team’s Brunel yacht. Crew members will be on hand to tell attendees about their experiences during their races on the high seas and what everyday life is like on board the ship.

‘White Ocean’, located near the EYE Film Museum, will serve as the home of the Northwave Festival. It offers a relaxing departure from the hustle and bustle of central Amsterdam with food and live music. Finally, ‘Blue Ocean’, over by the National Maritime Museum, will host a series of corporate events and a private ‘Captain’s Dinner’ with the commanders of the event’s tall ships. 

The full programme for SAIL Amsterdam 2015 can be found online.

Spanish tuna tradition, a Japanese gourmet delight

Yahoo – AFP, Elodie Cuzin, May 31, 2015

Spanish fishermen in the Strait of Gibraltar have kept alive a 3,000-year-old netting
tradition that brings in tuna so tasty, buyers come for it all the way from Japan
(AFP/Cristina Quicler)

Spanish fishermen in the Strait of Gibraltar have kept alive a 3,000-year-old netting tradition that brings in tuna so tasty, buyers come for it all the way from Japan.

Silence falls as the fishermen on board their orange and blue boats stop calling out to each other and switch their engines off, to examine the surface of the water.

Four divers jump in. Their mission is to alert the boat crews when the 200-kilo (440-pound) bluefin tuna swim into the nets.

The fishermen wait to trap their prey in an "almadraba", a system of nets stretched across the water off a beach in Zahara de los Atunes, on the southern tip of Spain.

The tiny resort is named after the tuna that have been caught here in this stretch of water since the Phoenicians ruled the Mediterranean from around 1200 BC.

The tradition survives, despite the threat from overfishing by industrial trawlers.

Each year, bluefin tuna swim through the strait from the bitter cold of the Atlantic into the warmer Mediterranean to lay their eggs.

Fishermen lay the almadraba to create a submarine system of chambers that trap the biggest of the migrant fish.

Bloody yet sustainable

At last a diver pulls at the rope and cries out: "Haul it up!"

With pulleys they draw the tight mesh up to the surface of the waves, the silver-red scales of dozens of giant tuna fish glittering in the sunshine.

Several men jump into the nets and kill the fish with knives, turning the blue waves red.

"We bleed the tuna to stop them suffering and to get the best quality possible," said Rafael Marquez, a 45-year-old almadraba fisherman.

If the fish feel fear, he says, "they give off a substance that spoils the flesh".

This fish bloodbath has prompted shock and criticism, but the Almadraba Producers' and Fishermen's Organisation insists the tradition respects the environment.

"We were the ones who raised the alarm, along with the environmentalists" in the early 2000s about the harm done to tuna stocks by mass trawling, said Marta Crespo, the organisation's deputy leader.

"If the fishing were done only using almadraba, there would be as much tuna in the sea as sand on the beach."

The Spanish biologists' and naturalists' association Hombre y Territorio says it considers the almadraba a form of "sustainable fishing".

"Its 3,000-year history shows that the almadraba is sustainable," said Crespo. "It is the most ancient fishing art in the West."

An international plan launched in 2006 has saved the bluefin tuna from overfishing for the time being and stocks have recovered, she said.

That led countries to raise quotas for fishing in the Mediterranean and Atlantic this year for the first time since 2007, to about 16,000 tonnes -- of which 700 tonnes are for the almadrabas.

Best tuna in the world

At the Frialba factory on the waterfront in Barbate, a dozen employees await, armed with hooks and knives as the boats come back with 60 tonnes of tuna on board.

With swift strokes they slice off a tuna's head and tail and part it into four huge fillets of deep red, for storing at minus 60 degrees Celsius.

Japanese buyers run from one fish to another, choosing the fillets they want to send back home.

Bluefin tuna from the almadrabas is "number one in the world for quality", says Hori Mi-Zu Yosuke, director of the Japanese tuna company Sirius Ocean.

In the 1980s more than 90 percent of the tuna caught by the three fishing companies in the organisation was sold in Japan.

But now young local companies are selling a bigger share -- some 30 percent of the catch -- in Spain itself.

"Tuna is everything to us, to this area. It creates lots of jobs," said Andres Jordan, head of one such company, Gadira. "It is the cream of the ocean."

The wholesale price is about 12 to 14 euros a kilogram (about $7.00 a pound) but the retail customer will pay up to 45 euros per kilo for the prized tuna belly.

When salted and dried, it retails for up to 100 euros ($110) a kilogram.

Slicing in the Frialbad factory gives Jesus Cota, 38, an appetite. After work he orders a serving, straight up in the Japanese style.

"I love fresh raw tuna," he says. "It is red gold."

Related Articles:

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.

Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.

(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."

(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.

(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.

Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.

Uphill battle to tackle Indonesian shark fishing

Yahoo – AFP, Olivia Rondonuwu, 17 Dec 2014

A man removes the fins from sharks at a traditional market in Tanjung Luar in

Lombok, West Nusa Teggara, November 9, 2014 (AFP Photo/Sonny Tumbelaka)

Tanjung Luar (Indonesia) (AFP) - Sharks are hauled ashore every day at a busy market on the central Indonesian island of Lombok, the hub of a booming trade that provides a livelihood for local fishermen but is increasingly alarming environmentalists.

Now a Singaporean is luring the fishermen away from Tanjung Luar market, where an array of other sea creatures including manta rays and moray eels are also sold, by offering them jobs as local guides for the growing number of tourists visiting the island.

"The whole dream is that there's enough tourists coming, not on a daily basis because the corals would be affected, but maybe on a weekly basis," said Kathy Xu, a former teacher who gave up her job to focus on the project.

Vendors sell freshly caught sharks at a

 traditional market in Tanjung Luar in Lombok,

 West Nusa Teggara, November 9, 2014

(AFP Photo/Sonny Tumbelaka)

"Hopefully I can engage more fishermen to do this."

But Xu recognises that she faces an uphill battle to tackle a lucrative industry, which is fuelled by demand for fins, particularly from China, and has transformed the vast Indonesian archipelago into the world's biggest shark fishery.

On a recent visit by AFP to Tanjung Luar, 10 sharks were laid out on the dirty tiled floor before being auctioned off, but an environmental group said on a busy day up to 300 are brought to the market.

"Sometimes there are so many sharks we can't fit them all in here," Ismail, a businessmen who finances local shark fishermen and goes by one name, told AFP.

So far Xu has persuaded a handful of fishermen to work with tourists, mostly from Singapore, taking them snorkelling on beautiful coral reefs and to secluded white-sand beaches, on average twice a month.

She also takes visitors to the market to raise awareness about the impact of shark-fishing in Indonesia, where 110,000 tonnes are caught a year, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

During a recent tour, 25 Singaporean students aged 13 to 15 watched women transfer fish from colourful baskets into buckets, workers sharpen their machetes and porters haul sharks hung over their shoulders.

“Normally you find out these problems from picture books, saying killing sharks for their fins is bad, but they don't really go further than that and you don’t really think about it anyway,” said 14-year-old Ray Chua.

World's biggest shark fishery

A man cuts off the fins of a shark at a

 traditional market in Tanjung Luar in

Lombok, West Nusa Teggara, November

9, 2014 (AFP Photo/Sonny Tumbelaka)

Despite Xu's efforts, hunting sharks remains a better option for many local fishermen.

"We get much more money from hunting sharks than taking tourists to swim. On a lucky day, I can get 10 times more for catching sharks," said Sulaiman, who goes by one name.

While the fins are sold on to China and other countries where they are considered a delicacy, the rest of the shark is sliced up and its meat and skin made into meatball soup and snacks that have become part of the local diet.

There has even been a recent trend towards eating shark pups, which are being sold in major grocery chains on the main island of Java, said shark protection campaigner Riyanni Djangkaru.

Conservationists have long been raising the alarm about shark-fishing in Indonesia, and point to signs that populations have been declining around Tanjung Luar and across the whole archipelago, which consists of over 17,000 islands.

The Lombok market is one of the few where sharks are openly landed. In other parts of country, fishermen hunt sharks in the open sea, slicing off their fins and dumping them back in the water to die.

Sharks for sale at a traditional market in

 Tanjung Luar in Lombok, West Nusa

 Teggara, November 9, 2014 (AFP Photo/

Sonny Tumbelaka)

However, protection groups point out that careless fishing by tuna trawlers is the biggest killer of sharks.

Far more of the creatures die when they are accidentally caught in trawlers' nets in places such as Bali, central Sulawesi island and in the south of Java, than by fishing, they say.

They say the responsibility to protect the creatures should lie with the government. Only one species of shark, the whale shark, currently enjoys full protection in Indonesia and the few regulations that exist are not properly enforced, they say.

At the moment, it is left to conservationists and others such as Xu to help the world's oldest predator. And while she recognises that her effort alone will not be enough, the Singaporean is happy to do what she can.

"The more I dived the more I got to see the sharks and they just grew on me," she said. "It is just too beautiful, and I don't want my grandchildren to not get this experience."

Disquieting times for Malaysia's 'fish listener'

Yahoo  – AFP, Shannon Teoh, 19 Aug 2014

Fish listener Harun Muhammad clings onto his fishing boat at sea near

 Setiu lagoons on June 8, 2014 (AFP Photo/Manan Vatsyayana)

One hand clinging to his boat's gunwale, Harun Muhammad submerges himself, eyes and ears wide open underwater as he "listens" for fish sounds emanating from the blue depths.

Harun is one of Malaysia's last "fish listeners," and he and his apprentice son Zuraini are believed to be the only active practitioners of this mysterious and dying local art.

"When you listen, it is like through a looking glass -- you can see mackerel, sardine," said Harun, 68, who has fished the Setiu lagoons on Malaysia's rural east coast his whole life.

Fish listener Harun Muhammad clings onto

 his fishing boat at sea near Setiu lagoons

on June 8, 2014 (AFP Photo/Manan

Vatsyayana)

"For us, we only look for gelama (a type of croaker). But in the schools of gelama, there will be other fish. The gelama is the king of fish."

Other fish listeners have passed away, retired or turned to modern fish-detection technology as the traditional practice has retreated in the face of dwindling catches and proliferating undersea noise.

Studies show Malaysian waters lost 92 percent of fishery resources between 1971 to 2007 due to overfishing.

"You can't copy our technique. You must gain the skill and learn the lay of the waters," said Harun.

"The wholesalers tell me, 'if you're gone, there will be no more gelama'," which fetches up to 10 times the price of similarly sized fish.

Sounds fishy

"Pak Harun", as he is known locally -- "Pak" is a Malay honorific similar to "Uncle" -- finds it hard to describe exactly how fish sound, but likens it to pebbles being dropped into water.

"They have a voice. This sound is this fish, that sound is another. When someone is new, they can't tell one fish song from another."

Harun and his crew of a dozen can go nearly a week without hearing gelama -- which invites scepticism about the claimed fish-listening ability.

But experts in sonifery (fish sounds) say sailors have long heard sounds of whales and fish through boat hulls.

"Scuba divers often do not hear anything because their breathing and bubble exhaust makes so much noise. However free divers, or divers using quiet re-breathers, can hear much better," said US-based marine ecologist Rodney Rountree.

Former fish listeners describe a range of techniques. Some claim they can feel changes in water temperature.

Fish listener Harun Muhammad (L) mans his fishing boat at sea near Setiu

lagoons with his son Zuraini on June 8, 2014 (AFP Photo/Manan Vatsyayana)

For Harun, it is a multi-sensory experience requiring eyes wide open.

"After a while, it is as if you can see. Even though the fish is very far, you can sense it in that direction and you go there. Only when you get close, you can hear the fish clearly," he said.

Though he sports a slight paunch on his sun-darkened frame under a spiky white head of hair, Harun remains sprightly despite his years, deftly clambering in and out of his boat in search of fish sounds.

Once he pinpoints a school of gelama, his crew -- who have hung back with engines off -- motor forward, drop their nets and strike the sides of their boats to spook the fish into the mesh trap.

"You think it's just stupid fish but they can see you coming. When they hear the sound of the boat, they run. The fish cry or shout and then their friends swim away," he said.

Listening in vain

Landing a rich catch was easy when stocks were abundant, Harun said.

But after decades of overfishing, he now "listens" up to several dozen times under the scorching equatorial sun before catching a snippet of gelama song.

Modernisation, including sand dredging, aquaculture, factories and fishing trawlers have transformed the Setiu wetlands, a rich but threatened coastal ecosystem centering on a 14-kilometre (9 mile) long lagoon along the South China Sea.

The state of Terengganu is seeking to make it a protected park.

But Harun's catch is increasingly unpredictable, averaging about $2,000 per week gross, leaving little left over after all crew are paid, and fuel, maintenance, and other costs are deducted.

Fish listener Harun Muhammad (L) mans

 his fishing boat at sea near Setiu lagoons

 with his son Zuraini on June 8, 2014 (AFP

Photo/Manan Vatsyayana)

"Each year, the catch has reduced. But I'm not good at anything else, so I still have to do this," said his son and apprentice Zuraini.

Malaysia ranks among the top consumers of seafood in the world.

Intergovernmental industry researchers Infofish say Malaysians eat an average of 56.5 kilogrammes of seafood per person annually, more even than Japanese.

The global average is 20 kilos.

WWF-Malaysia chief Dionysius Sharma said overfishing threatens to leave Malaysian waters "vast and barren".

The organisation warns Malaysia's waters could run out of seafood by 2048.

Despite the long odds, Zuraini, 44, said someday he will train one of his own sons.

"I don't want to see this practice die off," he said.

China graft crackdown hits Hong Kong's 'Dried Seafood Street'

Google – AFP, Celine Ge (AFP), 25 August 2013

A customer talks to a shopkeeper at a store selling shark fin in

Hong Kong, September 5, 2012 (AFP/File, Philippe Lopez)

HONG KONG — In a narrow Hong Kong street filled with the tang of dried sea creatures, shopkeepers are blaming China's recent corruption crackdown for falling sales of expensive banquet foods such as shark fin and abalone.

Such items have fallen off the menu since China's new leadership came to power demanding austerity from Communist Party and military officials as a means of reigning in graft and dampening public anger over corruption.

Suppliers, restaurants, and hotels in the trading hub of Hong Kong all say the loss of appetite from the mainland has thinned out sales in a market looking for a portion of China's estimated annual 300 billion yuan (US$49 billion) expenditure on state-funded banquets.

On Hong Kong's "Dried Seafood Street", the centre of trade in dried delicacies, shopkeeper Leung Wing-chiu told AFP sales were down 20 percent at a time when increased ethical awareness over shark fin and rising rents are pressuring business.

"Beijing's frugality campaign has driven money out of my pocket," said the 94-year-old, who is also the Dried Sea Food & Grocery Merchants Association president.

A man works in a shop selling shark fin and

 dried seafood in Hong Kong, September 5,

2012 (AFP/File, Philippe Lopez)

"Demand from mainland buyers, especially hotels and restaurants, has shrunk a lot. This is particularly true for high-end goods such as dried abalone, shark fins and bird's nest."

Two catering companies listed on the southern Chinese city's stock exchange even cited the government's emphasis on frugality as they issued profit warnings to shareholders last month.

Leung said China's state-funded banquet culture was a key source of revenue, and while the economic slowdown had affected business over the past few years, "the situation has got a lot worse since the new leadership ascended to power".

Chinese officials have long held lavish liquor-drenched receptions as a way of building business relationships, greasing the wheels of power, and showing off wealth and status.

The Jiu San Society, one of China's eight legally-recognised non-Communist political parties, last year called for a curb on government spending on such banquets, which it estimated at $300 billion a year. Other scholars put the figure even higher.

And in June, President Xi Jinping launched a "thorough cleanup" of the ruling Communist Party, vowing to target extravagance and waste.

The Central Military Commission had already banned lavish banquets for high-ranking officers at the end of last year, while party officials were handed similar new rules.

Former high-flying Chinese politician Bo Xilai is currently on trial for corruption and revelations about private jet flights and rare animal meats have held Chinese readers spellbound.

Zhu Jiangnan, China Studies coordinator at the University of Hong Kong, said banquets were in a "grey area" of corruption.

"Actually, in China, the word 'corruption' (fubai) is linked not only with... graft, bribery, and embezzlement, but also unhealthy tendencies... such as extravagance and waste," she told AFP in an email.

Wong Hiu-wan, a shopkeeper selling bird's nests, which have been used in Chinese cooking for centuries, blamed the directives from Beijing for a slowdown in business.

"Now, we have to count more on local consumers, because orders from mainland hotels and restaurants have gone down dramatically," he said.

And Yeung Wai-sing, the chairman of the Association of Hong Kong Catering Services Management Ltd, also had reason to regret China's newfound abstemiousness.

"For years, this traditional business has been fuelled by orders from mainlanders, who consider dried seafood from Hong Kong to be premium in quality," said Yeung.

"But things didn't turn out well this year."

Two Hong Kong-listed catering giants, Tang Palace (China) Holdings and Xiao Nan Guo Restaurants Holdings Ltd, both issued profit warnings in July linked to the crackdown.

A waiter walks past a display of dried

abalone available on the menu of a

restaurant in Hong Kong, August 23,

2013 (AFP, Philippe Lopez)

Tang Palace largely blamed "the issuance of a set of regulations and restrictions to promote frugality and curb waste by the Chinese government, casting an impact on certain customer groups' expenditure".

Xiao Nan Guo said its first-half profit was hit by "the prolonged austerity campaign launched by the Chinese government to curb lavish spending and entertainment".

Others say traditional foods were already losing their attraction.

"The Chinese are turning their eyes towards Western and environmentally-friendly food rather than traditional banquet favourites like abalone and shark fin," said Ren Guoqiang of consultancy Roland Berger & Partner.

Bruce Shou, a student and food enthusiast who routinely visits Hong Kong from Hangzhou to dine at high-end restaurants, agreed.

"Sashimi, beefsteaks and foie gras look fancier to me, whereas abalones remind me of something old-fashioned and bureaucratic," he said.

On top of environmental campaigning against products such as shark fin and Hong Kong's eye-watering rents, the graft crackdown is adding to the pressure on businesses along "Dried Seafood Street".

"2013 is a tough year for us," Leung said.

Tall ships head for Holland

RNW, 11 August 2010 - 2:22pm

Tall ships head for Holland (Photo: ANP)

More than 30 tall ships are setting off for Holland this afternoon as they take part in the North Sea Tall Ships Regatta. The race is from Hartlepool in England to the Dutch coastal town of IJmuiden.

The race is not to see which is the fastest boat but who can sail the furthest in 120 hours. It is up to the crew which course they take.

The tall ships are due to arrive in the Netherlands next Tuesday. On Thursday next week, they will sail together to the Dutch capital Amsterdam via the North Sea Canal for the nautical event Sail.

Sail is held every five years. Many of the tall ships can be visited while they are moored in Amsterdam's harbour for five days.

Sail 2006 (Telegraaf)

Related Article:

Sail Amsterdam 2010

Freighters take sail in Friesland

RNW, 24 July 2010 - 7:49pm

skûtsjes in competition (Photo: LC)

The annual skûtsje competition has started on the lakes of Friesland, a province in the northern Netherlands.

A skûtsje is a flat-bottomed sailing boat built for transporting freight in the shallow inland waters of the Netherlands. In use throughout the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, they were rendered obsolete by the arrival of road transport. Despite this, such sailing competitions have never gone out of fashion and, in the last few years, have become increasingly popular among the public.

Weather permitting, the Friesland competition will last 14 days. During this time, 14 skûtsjes will take part in 11 stages. More than 150,000 spectators are expected to watch from the lakes’ shores.

Related Articles:

Skutsjesilen.nl - (Official website)

Amsterdam ring of canals on UNESCO World Heritage List

Amsterdam residents concerned about World Heritage status

Frisia

Frisian settlement area (Frisian Coast)

Torres Strait islanders win marine rights battle

BBC News, By Phil Mercer, 5 July 2010

Indigenous islanders in the Torres Strait are celebrating Australia's largest ever marine rights victory.

Community elders say it will help to
maintain their unique maritime culture

Communities there have secured ownership of more than 40,000 sq km of sea between the tip of northern Queensland and Papua New Guinea.

Ships, fishermen and other businesses will still be able to operate in the waters, but indigenous groups must be consulted about future development.

Australia's Federal Court made the ruling after a nine-year legal battle.

There has been jubilation across the Torres Strait as indigenous islanders celebrate a historic decision.

Community elders say it will help to maintain their unique maritime culture and provide economic opportunity.

At the heart of their claim was a call for their spiritual ties to the sea to be formally recognised.

The court's ruling does not grant islanders exclusive rights over the vast area of ocean, nor were they claimed.

More than 200 islands are peppered throughout the Torres Strait.

Its people speak two distinct languages. Their traditional beliefs are based on the sea, the land and the sky, which have been portrayed over thousands of years in a rich array of stories, songs and dances.