Dutch MPs agree to troops on merchant ships

RNW, 23 March 2011

The Dutch parliament has agreed to deploy Dutch troops on board a number of Dutch merchant ships to protect them against piracy in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. The only party to vote against the measure was the Socialist Party, which said too many things about the mission were unclear.

The first Dutch sailors will embark in the Indian city of Mumbai on Wednesday. Thirty sailors will join two tow boats sailing under the Dutch flag and a crane ship sailing under the Panamanian flag. The convoy will sail to the United Arab Emirates. Later this month 20 other sailors will sail with a Dutch ship sailing from China to the Netherlands - the troops will join the ship for 22 days at Singapore and disembark in the Republic Djibouti on the Horn of Africa.

The operation will cost 1 million euros altogether and the costs will be shared between the Ministry of Defence and the shipping companies. Most of the costs will be for the ministry as it covers the costs of transporting troop and military hardware. The cabinet has promised to take another look at how the costs are divided as MPs are reluctant to approve such high spending.

Defence Minister Hans Hillen expects this kind of operation to be an exception rather than the rule. The minister declined to say what material will be on board to prevent attacks by pirates. This is the first time military personnel will be on board merchant ships to protect them for piracy.

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Navy to axe 'Fukushima type' nuclear reactors from submarines

Reactors sharing similar design to ones at Japanese plant to be dropped because they fail to meet safety standards

guardian.co.uk, Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent, Wednesday 23 March 2011

Trident submarines based at Faslane, Scotland, and six Trafalgar-class
subs have reactors similar to the ones involved in Japan's nuclear
crisis. Photograph: Corbis

The Royal Navy is to drop a dangerous type of reactor used in its existing nuclear submarines because it fails to meet modern safety standards, defence ministers have disclosed.

A safer type of reactor is expected to be used in the submarines that will replace the Trident fleet, as the existing design shares very similar features to the nuclear reactors involved in the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan.

Liam Fox, the defence secretary, told MPs there was a "very clear-cut" case to use the new type of reactor because it has "improved nuclear safety" and would give "a better safety outlook".

A heavily censored Ministry of Defence report disclosed earlier this month by the Guardian and Channel 4 News said the current reactors are "potentially vulnerable" to fatal accidents, which could cause "multiple fatalities" among submarine crews.

The report, written by a senior MoD nuclear safety expert, Commodore Andrew McFarlane, said the existing type compared "poorly" with those in the most modern nuclear power stations because it relied on a vulnerable type of cooling system, falling "significantly short" of modern best practice for nuclear reactors.

McFarlane warned that the naval reactors are "potentially vulnerable to a structural failure of the primary circuit". An accident could release "highly radioactive fission products", posing "a significant risk to life to those in close proximity and a public safety hazard out to 1.5km [1 mile] from the submarine".

Known as the PWR2, this type is used in the four Trident submarines based at Faslane, near Glasgow, and six Trafalgar-class ones now being taken out of service. Like the Fukushima power station north of Tokyo, the PWR2 relies entirely on back-up power supplies to provide emergency cooling in the event of an accident.

Despite the anxieties about its safety, PWR2s are also being fitted in the seven Astute-class submarines being built. These vessels will also be based at Faslane.

There have been debates within the MoD and the navy about whether the PWR2 should be used if a replacement to Trident is finally approved – or if a safer type, PWR3, should replace it. The PWR3 uses "passive" cooling, which makes it far less reliant on back-up power, and has additional methods of injecting coolant into a reactor.

The PWR3 is widely used in modern US nuclear submarines. The debate has delayed a decision on what type of reactor to install by 18 months, McFarlane's report disclosed, and has cost a further £261m.

Fox was questioned in the Commons on the reactor's safety by Angus Robertson, the Scottish National party's defence spokesman, after the disclosure of the report. Fox said: "The government's view is that that is the preferred option, because those reactors give us a better safety outlook. That is a debate on both sides of the Atlantic, but we believe that in terms of safety, the case is very clear-cut."

Robertson said: "This still raises concerns about the currently operational and incoming nuclear submarines, which don't satisfy acceptable safety standards. The UK should give up its nuclear obsession."

John Ainslie, from the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, who uncovered the original McFarlane report, said the new reactor would push up costs for the Trident replacement fleet by billions of pounds, since it would need designing and testing.

"There is another option: they should completely abandon their plan to squander billions on new nuclear submarines," he said.

Navy Vessel runs into Tsunami on Ocean near Eathquake Center (Video)

Skip to 4:20 (1st wave) 6:20 (2nd wave) if you are impatient. This movie was caught by a Patrol Vessel Matsushima, belongs to Japan Coast Guard, off the coast of Fukushima and opened to the public.

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30 whales stranded on Bruny Island

News.com.au, AFP, March 17, 2011

A POD of about 30 pilot whales have become stranded on Bruny Island, south of the Tasmanian state capital Hobart, wildlife authorities say.

Department of Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Liz Wren told the Hobart Mercury newspaper that 12 of the whales were still alive with people on the beach trying to move them back into the water.

"Preliminary reports indicate around 30 whales have stranded with some believed to be still alive," a statement from the department said.

Initial reports indicated they were pilot whales.

Whale strandings happen periodically in Tasmania, but scientists do not know why they happen.

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"The whales beached themselves because the magnetics of the earth shifted so greatly that their navigational system [the magnetite in their biology, which is their migration compass] steered them right into the land. The land didn't move; the magnetics did. Therefore, you might say their internal inherited migration map was flawed. The reason it's not happening now is because the calves, the generation beyond the one that beached themselves, figured it out and rewrote the maps. Nature [Gaia] does this. So the next generation didn't repeat it. Instead, it realigned itself to the migratory lay lines and now whales don't beach themselves nearly as often."

Up to 50 Somali Pirates Seize Indonesian Ship: EU

Jakarta Globe, March 17, 2011

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An unusually large group of 30 to 50 Somali pirates seized an Indonesian vessel and used it in a failed bid to hijack a second ship on Thursday, the EU naval mission said.

The pirates hijacked the bulk carrier Sinar Kudus about 320 nautical miles northeast of the island of Socotra on Wednesday morning, the EU anti-piracy mission said. It has 20 Indonesian sailors on board.

“Details of the attack are not known at this time but initial reports from the crew stated that 30 to 50 pirates had boarded and taken control of the vessel,” the EU Navfor force said in a statement.

The Indonesian flagged and owned ship was on its way to Suez, Egypt, from Singapore when it was attacked.

The Indonesia ship was then used on Thursday to attack the Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Emperor but the pirates were repelled by an armed security crew after “an exchange of fire,” Navfor spokesman Paddy O’Kennedy told AFP.

The Emperor was reported safe.

News of the hijacking came at the same time that Tunisia’s transport ministry announced Somali pirates had released a chemical tanker hijacked in November after payment of a ransom of $2 million.

The Hannibal II, with a mostly Tunisian crew of 31, is currently on its way to Djibouti in the Red Sea, the ministry said.

Tunisia’s official TAP news agency, which quoted the ministry, did not say who paid the ransom, or how.

Agence France-Presse

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Japan tsunami: Albatrosses, petrels and fish killed

BBC News, 16 March 2011

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Thousands of albatrosses and other endangered species at a wildlife sanctuary north-west of Hawaii were killed by the tsunami which devastated Japan, US officials say.

Some birds survived the tsunami running
from Japan to Hawaii

Thousands of petrels and fish were also killed as the waves swept over parts of Midway atoll.

One lucky survivor was Wisdom, an albatross about 60 years of age, who is the oldest-known bird in the US.

The sanctuary is home to more than two million birds.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service reported that 1,000 adult and adolescent Laysan albatross died when the tsunami generated by last week's powerful earthquake off the coast of Japan struck Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.

Tens of thousands of chicks were also killed.

The tsunami hit just before midnight local time on 10 March and continued for the next few hours, the sanctuary's website said.

The waves washed over 60% of Eastern Island, an islet of nearly 150 hectares (370 acres) inside the refuge.

Residents at the atoll had four hours' warning and were able to take precautions.

From bullets to birds

Two live green turtles were rescued.

One chick in a short-tailed albatross nest was found unharmed about 35m (38 yards) away after its nest was washed over.

Other birds were less lucky - thousands of Bonin petrels were buried alive.

Thousands of dead fish were found in the interior of Eastern Island and the impact on laysan ducks and monk seals is unknown, the wildlife service said.

Midway is one of the most remote coral atolls on earth, developed as a wildlife sanctuary after the US Naval Air facility on Midway Island closed in 1993.

It had already been an "overlay" refuge for migrating birds since 1988 before becoming a focused conservation facility.

Its lagoon attracts Hawaiian monk seals, green sea turtles and spinner dolphins.

Midway was a key military base for the US during WWII, as well as during the Korean, Cold and Vietnam wars.

Forty percent of coral reefs in Gorontalo waters damaged

Antara News, Tue, March 15 2011

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Gorontalo, Northen Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - About 40 percent of coral reefs in the Gulf of Tomini in Gorontalo province waters is believed to have been damaged by blast fishing, a local environmental affairs official said.

Rugaya Biuki, head of the environmental management section at Gorontalo province`s environment office, said here Tuesday , the damage had mainly occurred to coral reefs in coastal areas, adjacent to the mainland.

Generally, the value of coral reef covers spread along the coast and local islands, had begun to shrink and become eroded due to human activities.

"Coral reefs at some islands such as in Asiangi, Lamua Daa, Raja and Popaya islands, still have relatively good covers which range from 50 to 80 percent," Rugaya said.

Coral reefs in the Gulf of Tomini, especially in Gorontalo province. consist of two types, namely ring coral reefs (atoll) and edge coral reef (fringing reef).

Coral reefs function as a protective coastal ecosystems to arrest and break up the energy of sea waves and thus prevents abrasion and damage to the coastal environment.

In addition, coral reefs also serve as home to many kinds of marine biota.

Editor: Priyambodo RH

Four Indonesians Feared Dead in Japan Disaster

Jakarta Globe, Dessy Sagita, March 13, 2011

Black smoke rising from an industrial complex in Shiogama, Miyagi prefecture,
northern Japan, on Sunday, two days after a powerful earthquake and tsunami
hit the the country's northeastern coast. Four Indonesian fishermen aboard a
tuna boat in the port city when the tsunami struck are missing feared dead.
(AP Photo/Kyodo News)

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Four Indonesian fishermen have been confirmed as being among the missing in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disaster.

Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa, speaking during a news conference on Sunday, identified said the men ranged in age from 27 to 31 years.

Marty said the men had been aboard a tuna boat anchored in the port city of Shiogama in Miyagi prefecture when the tsunami struck.

The boat had been located 2.5 kilometers from shore but rescue personnel had found no trace of the crew, he said.

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Japanese Man Found Alive 15 Kilometers Out to Sea

Jakarta Globe, March 13, 2011

Hiromitsu Shinkawa waves to rescuers as they find the 60-year-old man
floating off the coast of Fukushima's Futaba town on the roof of his house
after being swept away in a tsunami. Picture: AP/Defense Ministry

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A Japanese man who was swept 15 kilometers out to sea by Japan’s deadly tsunami was plucked to safety Sunday after being spotted clinging to a piece of wreckage, officials said.

A Maritime Self-Defence Force destroyer rescued 60-year-old Hiromitsu Shinkawa after discovering him floating on a piece of roof in waters off Fukushima Prefecture, two days after the disaster struck.

The man, from the city of Minamisoma which has been virtually obliterated, was swept out along with his house after the massive tsunami tore into Japan’s northeast following a 8.9-magnitude earthquake on Friday.

He is conscious and in “good condition” after his rescue which took place around 12:40 pm (0340 GMT), ministry officials said, adding that he was transported to hospital by helicopter.

“I ran away after learning that the tsunami was coming,” Shinkawa told rescuers according to Jiji Press.

Hiromitsu Shinkawa, wrapped in a blanket, is lifted to a
Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer following his
rescue on Sunday March 13. Picture: AP/Defense
Ministry

“But I turned back to pick up something at home, when I was washed away. I was rescued while I was hanging to the roof from my house.”

The government has said that at least 1,000 people are believed to have lost their lives in the disaster, and police estimate more than 215,000 people are huddled in emergency shelters.

However, the police chief of badly-hit Miyagi prefecture, which lies north of Fukushima, said that the death toll was certain to exceed 10,000 in his district alone.

Agence France-Presse

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A four-month-old baby girl is rescued in Ishinomaki, northern Japan, three days the initial tsunami

A Japan Self-Defense Force member reacts after rescuing a four-month-old
baby girl in Ishinomaki, northern Japan, Monday, March 14, 2011, three days
after a powerful earthquake-triggered tsunami hit the country’s east coast.
(AP Photo/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Hiroto Sekiguchi)

A beautiful, and much needed moment of joy.

Incredible swarms of fish form off coast of Acapulco: But was surge caused by tsunami thousands of miles away?

Daily Mail, By DAILY MAIL REPORTER, 12th March 2011

The shores of Acapulco's beaches were this weekend teeming with masses of fish packed so tightly they looked like an oil slick from above.

Thousands of sardines, anchovies, stripped bass and mackerel surged along the coast of the Mexican resort in an event believed to be linked to the devastating Japanese tsunami.

Delighted fishermen rushed out in wooden motor boats, abandoning their rods and nets and simply scooping the fish up with buckets.

A man photographs a shoal of sardines off the shore of Acapulco

Fishermen flocked to the water to take advantage of the surge

Some experts believe the phenomenon is directly related to
the Japanese tsunami

'There were about 20 or 30 fishermen and there were people who came with their kids to take advantage of it,' Carlos Morales said.

The fishermen attributed the strange phenomenon to the unusual currents unleashed by tsunami that followed the earthquake in Japan.

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Experts couldn't be sure.

'It would fall into that category where you would love to make the connection, but who knows?' said Rich Briggs, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

'Tsunamis can change local currents, but it's hard to make a firm connection.'

Fishermen in Acapulco say they have never see such large schools
of fish so close to the coast

The fish were so tightly packed they looked like an oil slick from above

Some bathers steered clear of the mysterious event and kept out of the water

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RI, Australia agree to fight illegal fishing

Antara News, Thu, March 10 2011 

Jakarta  (ANTARA News) - Indonesia and Australia have agreed to step up cooperation in marine patrols to reduce illegal fishing in their territorial waters.

Indonesia-Australia (istimewa)

"Illegal fishing poses a serious threat to the preservation of marine resources so such a cooperation is believed to reduce the number of unlawful activities in the two countries," minister of fisheries and marine resources Fadel Muhammad said at his office after a meeting with his Australian counterpart Joe Ludwig on Wednesday.

In dealing with illegal fishermen of the two countries, Australia has proposed that a cooperation document be made between Indonesian representative in Australia and the country`s related institution for the fishermen`s legal process in the country.

The document is relevant to "Consular Notification and Assistance" which was signed by Indonesia and Australia in 2010, but Fadel requested that some 236 Indonesian fishermen detained in Australia be repatriated immediately.

Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry and Australian Home Affairs Ministry also signed a Letter of Intent on July 17, 2009 in a bid to formalize a coordinated patrol cooperation along the two countries border.

The implementation of the coordinated patrol cooperation was started in 2008 and it has yielded a positive result of being able to significantly reduce the number of Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing.

In regard to a research, the two countries have agreed to further a cooperation which is focused on "fishing stocks and their interaction with fisheries aggregation devices and purse-seiners on the sustainability of tuna stocks in Indian Ocean".

It is also intended to increase the capacity building of the institution through a joint research in the field of stock assessment and case study on the management of sardine fish, lobsters, and red snapper in Indonesia, as well as bioeconomic modeling and risk management.

While in an effort to protect marine environment and biodiversity conservation, the two countries have agreed to form a new sub-working group by identifying priority issues in order to avoid overlapping issue which has been existed already in the Working Group on Marine Affairs and Fisheries (WGMAF).

Australia has submitted a discussion about species conservation including herbivorous fish or mainly reef-grazing fish which are in the list of CITIES.

While in the group, Indonesia is cooperating in marine environmental cases including marine debris, oil spill, and marine pollution.

Besides those cooperations, the two countries have also implemented a number of joint cooperations among others joint research with Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organization (CSIRO) and Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), coordinated patrol of Indonesia-Australia Surveillance Forum (IASF), Public Information Campaign, trainings and program development at the marine and fisheries resources ministry with AUSAID.

Even Australia gives facility assistance to Indonesia to arrange Coordination mechanism and financial resources so that the Regional Secretariat CTI-CFF can run well.

Meanwhile, Indonesia is of the opinion that Australia is a potential market of fisheries and marine products. Trade balance in 2008-2010 continued to increase.

Export of fisheries product from Indonesia to Australia in 2009 was recorded at US$39,311 million or rose from US$29,743 million in the previous year.

While the fisheries export of shrimp, tuna fish, pearl, and seaweed from Indonesia to Australia up to November 2010 reached US$31,33 million.

Editor: Priyambodo RH

Malaysia Nabs 7 Indonesians After Attack on Tanker

Jakarta Globe, March 10, 2011

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) enforcement officers
 on Wednesday keep watch on detained Indonesian pirates in Johor,
 southern Malaysia. Authorities have arrested the seven men who
 allegedly tried to rob a tanker off southern Malaysia. (AP Photo)   

    

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Kuala Lumpur. Malaysian authorities have arrested seven Indonesians who allegedly tried to rob a tanker off southern Malaysia.

First Adm. Zulkifli Abu Bakar of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency says the men, who were armed with weapons including an ax and a bayonet, boarded the Majuro-registered vessel anchored off Johor state before dawn on Wednesday.

But the crew, led by a Russian captain, managed to sound the alarm. Patrol boats rushed to the scene, and authorities caught the suspects and confiscated their wooden boat.

Zulkifli said on Thursday that police were investigating whether the men were involved in any of the 10 other attacks off Johor so far this year.

Authorities have stepped up patrols following the string of attacks. 

Associated Press

Thousands of dead fish have been washing up on WA beaches, Australia

PerthNow, March 09, 2011

EXPERTS say that record temperatures and low oxygen levels are to blame for dead fish being washed up on riverbanks and beaches across WA.

Dead fish, eels and crayfish have been found on shores - with the coastline of Green Head, some 290km north of Perth, covered in now-rotting carcasses.

Green Head resident Rod Wilson said: "It's very heartbreaking. I've been here for 28 years and I've never seen anything like it. To us it's a local ecological disaster."

Reports state that in a cleanup operation at Green Head, 20km north of Jurien Bay, more than 15,000 dead fish were collected.

"Our biggest concern is how long is this going to take to right itself," Mr Wilson added.

With fish carcasses washing up for more than a week, local residents are being urged to stay out of the water for fears of harmful bacteria.

Experts say WA's coastal waters have seen the highest rise in temperature in the world with up to 4C rise than normally seen this summer.

Dr Brian Jones from the Department of Fisheries said: "Anybody who as sat in Perth for the last few months without airconditioning knows what heat does.

"Fish are the same. They are cold blooded so they feel the heat."

It follows a similar case in the US where millions of dead anchovies were found floating in a Los Angeles marina.

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Millions of dead fish at King Harbor in Redondo Beach

Millions of dead fish at King Harbor in Redondo Beach

Los Angeles Times, March 8, 2011

Authorities in Redondo Beach are investigating what killed millions of fish over the last day at King Harbor Marina.

Fish, including anchovies, sardines and mackerel were floating lifeless in Basins 1 and 2 of the north side of King Harbor Marina.

"There’s basically fish everywhere you go in the harbor," said the harbor's assistant manager, Jason McMullin, who added that there were reports that a red tide may have driven the fish into the harbor in massive numbers where they died because of limited oxygen.

Redondo Beach public works officials were dispatched to the harbor to investigate further but did not have immediate comment.

The fish were attracting huge flocks of seagulls and other birds.

[Updated at 12:15 p.m.: Redondo Beach officials said initial assessments suggest oxygen depletion in the King Harbor basins caused the massive fish die-off.

City Manager Bill Workman said city officials with the help of marine experts would help determine if there was any environmental issue involved. Tests are now being performed on the water as officials begin removing the dead fish, which city officials estimated to be in the millions.

“There are no visible signs of any toxins that might have caused [the die-off] and our early assessment is that this was oxygen depletion,” Workman said. “This is similar to what we experienced five years ago but that was distinctly a red tide event but there’s no discoloration of the water, no associated foaming in the waves, Workman said. “There are no oil slicks or leaking of substances into the water.”

Workman noted that the harbor had been teeming in recent weeks with bait fish that even after their deaths “had no signs of degradation.”]

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Nusa Tenggara Fishermen Catch Whale Shark

Jakarta Globe, March 07, 2011

Locals surround the whale shark in Sape, Bima, West Nusa Tenggara
after the one-ton fish was caught in fishermen's net. (Photo Source SCTV)

West Nusa Tenggara fisherman caught a whale shark in their nets on Sunday as they were fishing off the coast of Sape, Bima district.

The locals killed the shark, which is considered to be a delicacy, SCTV reported.

The fishermen said the 8 meter shark, which weighed 1 ton, was the biggest fish they had caught in the last few years. They said that four sharks had approached their boat, but the other three escaped.

It is not the first time for a whale shark to become trapped in fishermen’s net in Indonesia.

In January, a 15 meter whale shark weighing two tons was stranded on the beach of Pangandaran, West Java. Local fishermen dragged the shark from the water to the shore and killed it for its meat.

In March 2009, a 6 meter whale shark was caught in Palu, Central Sulawesi.

The whale shark is the largest living fish species and is found in tropical and warm oceans. It lives in the open sea and has a lifespan of about 70 years.

Whale sharks feed mainly on plankton, microscopic plants and small animals.

Rp 950b targeted for Maluku fish export project

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 03/01/2011

The government is targeting to invest Rp 950 billion (US$108.3 million) in efforts to make Maluku province the world’s biggest seafood exporter by 2015.

Previously, the Maluku governor requested Rp 16 trillion for the purpose, but the amount was declined.

Up to Rp 120 billion will be channeled toward fish farming.

Fishing from the ocean dominated 2009’s fish production, Fadel said.

“This catching method will be changed to an industry more focused on farming,” he said.

The government is planning to build fish ports to support the export activity. Up to 12 areas in region are likely to be developed for this purpose, he said.

The government will allocate Rp 2 billion to build ports, but its plan will also need at least Rp 2 trillion in investment.

According to the government, Maluku has the potential to produce 1.6 million tons of fish a year.

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