Female protesters climb London's Shard skyscraper

Google – AFP, 11 July 2013

Liesbeth Debbens, one of six climbers, gestures as she climbs the Shard

skyscraper in London on July 11, 2013 (Greenpeace/AFP, David Sandison)

LONDON — Six female Greenpeace activists were attempting on Thursday to scale the Shard skyscraper in London, western Europe's tallest building, in a protest over Arctic oil drilling, the environmental group and police said.

The protesters evaded security guards just before dawn to begin the unauthorised bid to climb the 72-storey glass-fronted building, which towers 301 metres (1,017 feet) over the British capital.

Greenpeace said the six "artists and activists" had targeted the Shard to highlight the work of Shell and other oil companies and intended to hang an artwork from the top if they managed to reach it.

"They chose to climb the Shard because it towers over Shell's three London offices," it said in a statement.

Six climbers begin their ascent of the Shard 

skyscraper in London on July 11, 2013,

 in a photo received from Greenpeace

(Greenpeace/AFP, David Sandison)

"Shell is leading the oil companies' drive into the Arctic, investing billions in its Alaskan and Russian drilling programmes."

Greenpeace said they were "free climbing" without assistance but would attach safety ropes as they progressed, while a live video feed of the climb was being broadcast online.

The group named the climbers as "Sabine, Sandra, Victo, Ali, Wiola and Liesbeth" and posted a photo of them before the climb.

It quoted climber Victoria Henry, a Canadian woman living in London as saying before the climb: "It's going to be really hard work, it's going to be nerve-shredding for all of us and we may not succeed, but we're going to do everything we can to pull it off."

A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said, "We were called at twenty past four this morning. We have six protesters attempting to scale the outside of the Shard.

"We have officers down there, monitoring the situation. The event is still ongoing."

A Shard spokesman said they were working to ensure the safety of the climbers as well as that of workers and visitors to the centre.

The Shard opened to the public in February and contains office space, a five-star hotel, restaurants and luxury apartments.

It was designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano and financed by the Qatari government.

Oil giant Shell has been involved in oil extraction in Alaska since the 1950s, and said in 2012 it had completed top-hole drilling for two wells in the Arctic, the first drilling in the region in more than a decade.

But in February it put its controversial oil drilling plans for the Alaskan Arctic on hold through 2013, following problems with its two drilling rigs there.

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The word is out: Shell 'screwed up' in 2012
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Congress wants probe into Shell's Arctic drilling

Ministers' oil industry ties prop up high-carbon policy, report alleges


"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much….”

Antarctic Lake Vostok 'might have fish'

BBC News, 8 July 2013

Researchers have to drill through thousands of metres of ice to reach the
surface of Lake Vostok

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• Antarctic lake yields 'new life'
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There could be some complex animals living in Lake Vostok, which lies close to 4km below Antarctica's ice sheet.

The possibility is raised by scientists who have sifted genetic material in ice drilled from close to Vostok's surface.

They found signatures for organisms such as bacteria that are often associated with marine molluscs, crustaceans and even fish.

But the team cautions in the PLoS One journal that this material may also represent past contamination.

Scientists now recognise that Antarctica is underlain by a complex network of rivers, and many of the identified organisms, or their traces, could perhaps have been delivered to Vostok from the ocean. The lake is 200m below sea level.

It is, nonetheless, another fascinating twist in the story of this deeply buried lake.

First identified in 1956 by the Russians and mapped in the 1990s by the British, Vostok covers an area of 15,000 square km, and in places is 800m deep.

Researchers believe it has not been open to the atmosphere for many millions of years, and a drilling effort has recently tried to sample its waters.

The new PLoS study examined genetic material - stretches of RNA - isolated from ice that froze on to the ice sheet as it moved above the lake. The supposition was that this content might hint at the type of life present in Vostok.

Thousands of unique matches were identified with sequences already listed in public databases.

The vast majority (94%) of these matches were with bacteria, while a smaller group (6%) were with more complex, multi-cellular organisms (eukaryotes). A handful of links were made also to archaea - very primitive, single-celled microbes.

A large number of bacterial sequences, reports the team, were from "animal commensals, mutualists and pathogens… including those associated with annelids, sea anemones, brachiopods, tardigrades and fish."

The team also found matches to types of bacteria that thrive in hot environments, such as around volcanic hydrothermal vents on the sea floor. If such vents existed in Vostok, they could "provide sources of energy and nutrients vital for organisms living in the lake", the team writes in PloS One.

Lake Vostok is the largest of about 375 sub-glacial bodies of water now mapped under Antarctica's ice sheet.

These "ghost" lakes are kept in a liquid state by heat rising from the rockbed below and from the pressure of all the ice pushing down from above.

Astrobiologists have a particular interest in the lakes.

Conditions in them may not be that different from those in the liquid water bodies thought to exist under the surfaces of icy moons in the outer Solar System.

Places like Europa, which orbits Jupiter, and Enceladus, which circles Saturn, may be among the best places beyond Earth to go to look for alien organisms.

Concerted efforts have been made recently to drill into lakes Vostok,
Whillans and Ellsworth

Related Articles:

Antarctica Researchers Seek Life in Lake 2 Miles Under Ice

Drilling Discovers Ancient Antarctic Rainforest

"Around the Horn" - (a message from Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

“… Now, in the process of all of this, there's going to be renewed interest in Antarctica, and you're going to find some interesting things about the land under the ice. The topography of the land under the ice does not match the topography of the ice above. Some astonishing shapes will be revealed when you map the actual land under the ice. Points of mountains are going to be revealed, giving an entire different idea of what Antarctica might have been and what its purpose really is. The continent that is uninhabitable by Human Beings may very well be the engine of life for Human Beings. And I will leave it at that. …”

Surfer knocked out by whale at Bondi Beach

The Daily Telegraph, Peter Bodkin, July 8, 2013

Bishan Rajapakse in St Vincents Hospital after he was knocked unconscious 

by a whale while surfing at South Bondi Beach, Sydney. Picture: Gregg Porteous

Source: The Daily Telegraph

TALK about a sting in the tail. Surfer Bishan Rajapakse was lucky to be pulled from the waves with only a headache and sore shoulder after he was knocked unconscious by a southern right whale yesterday.

The 38-year-old hospital emergency unit doctor was heading back to the beach at Bondi about 10.30am when he saw "a big, black shadow" as the whale surfaced near him.

"Some other surfers were quite close to it and I remember wondering to myself about that tail - I thought 'Wow, this could just go and knock us all out'," he said.

The next thing Dr Rajapakse remembers is lifeguards treating him on the sand. Lifeguard Anthony "Harries" Carroll said: "The whale has lifted his tail and it's come down and struck the (surfer) on the head and knocked him out."

Mr Carroll said the force of the impact had punched a "large-sized ding" in Dr Rajapakse's surfboard.

"This could have been a major incident, a fatality, so for this guy to walk away with minimal injuries ... he's probably the luckiest emergency doctor to end up in emergency," he said.

Surfer Tony Spanos said the whale had made a "huge turn" and come out of the water directly underneath a group of surfers, knocking him off his board. He saw Dr Rajapakse get knocked out.

"I had to go under and quickly pull him out from underneath, from going down," he said.

A whale surfaces near surfers at Bondi Beach. Picture: John Brawley
Source: Supplied

St Vincent's head of emergency Gordian Fulde said Dr Rajapakse - who works at Wollongong Hospital - was fortunate not to have any broken bones but he remains in hospital for observation to see if he had suffered any underlying damage from the "unbelievable accident".

National Parks and Wildlife whale expert Geoff Ross said southern right whales were known for liking shallower water - and for their unpredictable behaviour.

"Whales are generally not aggressive animals but they will defend themselves - they can see people in the water as a potential predator," he said. "Like all wild animals, you need to respect them and their position in the ocean."

Swimmers and surfers are banned from going closer than 30m from whales in NSW waters.

Girlfriend Sanna Lundmark had been waiting on the beach when she saw people huddled around Dr Rajapakse. "I saw his feet and they didn't move. I was really worried ... then I saw him talking," she said.

Dr Rajapakse said the incident would not put him off surfing. "I think if I saw a whale again I'd probably tell other people just to hold back. I guess I've got the evidence to say things can go wrong."

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"The Akashic System of Remembrance" - Sep 2010 (Kryon Channelling) - Reference to Whales/Dolphins/Animals > 28:00 min

"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.) 

Matthew preparing us for the Golden Age – Jan 19, 2012 (Matthew Channelling by Suzy Ward)

“… The cetaceans’ spiritual mission, to embody in huge bulk and inhabit your oceans where they absorb and anchor the light beamed to the planet from distant civilizations, soon will have been fulfilled.  These whale and dolphin souls, which species-wide are the most highly evolved spiritually and intellectually on your planet, will soar to their original light stations when they leave physically, but they will continue to grace your planet with their love energy. ”

Chinese submarines are the targets of US 'aquatic PRISM:' Xinhua

Want ChinaTimes, Staff Reporter 2013-07-07

The USNS Impeccable. (Photo Courtesy of USN)

Edward Snowden and the private information of citizens across the world might not be the only thing the United States is monitoring behind the scenes. China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reports that PLA submarines are being closely watched by China's cross-Pacific neighbor.

By providing sensitive information regarding the PRISM surveillance program to Western media, Edward Snowden has damaged the reputation of the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency. Not only does PRISM snatch information from the communications of US citizens, but it trespasses on the rights of internet users around the world, if such a right can be claimed.

US intelligence networks are, obviously or not, widespread and not restricted to the public sector. According to Xinhua, every movement of China's submarine fleet — and for that matter, the fleets of submarines around the world's oceans — are monitored by the US, through the deployment five ocean surveillance ships, including USNS Impeccable. All five vessels had been expelled by Chinese maritime surveillance vessels from the territorial waters of China.

A huge surveillance network has been established by the US Navy beneath the waters of East China Sea, South China Sea and the Yellow Sea, reported Xinhua. With any luck, there will be an aquatic version of Edward Snowden to bare the spotlight on this instrusive US monitoring program.

Blue and beaked whales affected by simulated navy sonar

BBC News, Victoria Gill, Science reporter, 3 July 2013

One research team fitted tracking tags to 17 blue whales

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Blue and beaked whales' behaviour is disturbed by simulated navy sonar, according to two published studies.

In two experiments, teams of researchers managed to attach tracking and sound-recording tags to 17 blue whales and two beaked whales.

They then played simulated sonar sound through an underwater speaker and measured the animals' responses.

The findings are reported in two Royal Society journals, Proceedings B and BiologyLetters.

Researchers have previously linked mass strandings and deaths of beaked whales around the world to military exercises using what is known as mid-frequency sonar. So scientists have been keen to understand if the sound harmed the animals.

The new study does not explain those strandings - the chain of events that leads to these remains unclear.

But marine mammal expert Patrick Miller, from the University of St Andrews' Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU), who was not involved with the new study, said the results showed it would be wise for naval exercises to "avoid critical habitat areas".

Deep divers

The beaked whale study was led by scientists also from the SMRU.

Naval sonar has been blamed for
beaked whale strandings

It revealed what researchers had long suspected, that man-made sound had a negative effect on these deep-diving whales. Beaked whales use sound to hunt as well as to communicate. They produce echolocation clicks as they dive up to a mile in depth, picking up echoes that bounce of the bodies of the squid they are hunting.

When the scientists played the sonar sound during their experiment, both of the tagged Cuvier's beaked whales stopped hunting and "swam rapidly, silently away".

Perhaps more surprising was that, in the other study, led by Jeremy Goldbogen from the Cascadia Research Collective in Washington State, several blue whales also responded to the sound.

Blue whales communicate with very low frequency sound - far below that of naval sonar. And because they do not use sound to hunt, the scientists thought they would not be affected.

The whales' responses did vary.

Animals that were feeding close to the surface showed almost no response, but animals that were diving for krill - rather than sifting the surface waters - reacted very differently.

"One animal was diving and feeding repeatedly all throughout the day," recalled Dr Goldbogen.

"And as soon as the sound started, the animal stopped feeding and maintained a directed heading and moved away from the sound source.

These vast animals can scoop up half a million calories worth of krill in one gulp as they dive, so disturbing their feeding deprives them of large amounts of energy.

"I calculated that in that time, the animal lost a metric tonne of krill," said Dr Goldbogen.

"So if this happens a lot in these feeding hotspots, that could have real consequences."

And currently, naval exercises are carried out in these "hotspots".

The blue whales in this study, for example, were feeding in the in-shore waters of California during the summer and autumn of 2010. The study area is where the US Navy carries out regular exercises and where the whales come to build up fat stores for the long migration to their breeding grounds.

Even subtle disturbance to this vital pre-migration gorge, said Dr Goldbogen, "could have real consequences for the population health."

"These are the biggest animals that have ever lived, so they need a huge amount of food," he added.

'Smart phone tags'

The detailed examination of the whales' behaviour was made possible by the technology contained within the tracking tags.

"A lot of the same sensors that are in our smart phones are in the tags we attached to these whales," said Dr Goldbogen.

"When you rotate your phone and the screen moves with you. That's because there are these sensors called accelerometers and magnetometers.

"That's how we get the information about the position of the whale.

This resulted in detailed animations of each whales' position, speed and movement.

But to actually put a tag onto one of these giant mammals involved a chase.

The tags are attached using suction cups, so the researchers had to use a small boat to move alongside each whale, while one member of the team used a long carbon fibre pole to "tap" the tag onto the animal's back.

"It's a lot easier in blue whales than some other whales, because they're so big," said Dr Goldbogen.

"We can programme the tag to release, so we find the tag and download the data."

This is a far trickier exercise with beaked whales, which are smaller and dive for an hour at a time.

"If you see a beaked whale and if you don't get the tag on it, you might never see it again," said Dr Goldbogen.

Although both studies provide clear evidence that sonar affects these rare marine mammals, the scientists say much more research is needed into the specific impacts of human activity on their environment.

Dr Miller commented: "Further research on the possible long-term impacts of these effects are needed, to evaluate whether more protection measures are required."

Dr Goldbogen concluded: "We didn't expect blue whales to have a strong response, so there's clearly a dearth of basic data on how animals respond to man-made sound.

"These animals have evolved in a very different environment to the one they're living in today."

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“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by LeeCarroll) (Text version)

" .. 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.

The magnetics of the planet continue to shift and the birds are unaware. Like the whales, many of the birds have migrated themselves right into a high place in the atmosphere, which pummeled them to death by freezing rain and hail. Then they fall from the sky. It's the weather cycle. Will they continue to do this? Some will, for awhile, and then they will figure it out and recalibrate. That's what nature does. .."

Gulls feasting on whales in Argentina

News24 – AFP, 2013-07-01

(Ana Fazio, AFP)

Valdes Peninsula, Argentina – It's a weird, lopsided fight if ever there was one: seagulls dive-bombing to attack and feed on the fat of 50 tons whales and their babies. And the birds are winning.

The battle, new in recent years, is playing out in the South Atlantic off the coast of Argentina's Patagonia region, and is not known to be happening in waters elsewhere in the world that are home to the mighty mammals.

The effect of all the relentless nibbling is a pernicious disruption of an eco-system. One theory as to why it is happening is there is an overpopulation of seagulls – in this case, the kelp gull.

Whales use these Argentine waters to mate, give birth and nurse their young, and what with all the airborne harassment, whales are taking new evasive measures as they swim, separating mothers from their calves and denying them nourishment.

Whales do not have lips for sucking, so mothers expel a thick milk in the water for their calves to ingest. The babies need more than 100l of it per day.

"With each attack this process is interrupted, and it is a crucial moment for the growth of the whales," said Mariano Sironi, director of studies at Argentina's Institute for Whale Conservation.

In 2012, Sironi tallied 116 whales found dead in these waters, and all but three of them were calves. That mortality rate was up 100% from the previous year.

Every year, for six months starting in June, hundreds of whales – their formal name is the southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) – come to waters off the Valdes Peninsula to reproduce. The area has been declared a UN World Heritage site, and every year more than 100 000 tourists come to watch the spectacle.

Dodging attacks

It is estimated that 1 500 to 2 000 whales, who like the cold waters of the South Atlantic, come for the annual mating fest. The species also live in the Antarctic, South Pacific and southern Indian Ocean.

Adults measure 13 to 16m, while the calves are 3 to 5m at birth.

"The lack of nursing causes serious nutrition problems for the calves. Post-mortem studies have shown evidence of malnutrition, and this is a working hypothesis that needs to be confirmed with several studies," Sironi said.

Indeed, in recent years the gulls have been wreaking havoc. They used to feed on refuse tossed overboard by fishing boats. Now, they have added whales to their menu in frenzied waves of pecking.

"The seagulls attack the skin first, and then the fat of the whales. They peck several times in each attack. Then the whale submerges, and when it comes back to the surface, the gull is there waiting," said Jose Anibal Cepeda, a guide who takes tourists out on the ocean to see the whales.

The calves are a riper target because they have less lung capacity than adults and thus have to come up for air more often, he added.

Seagulls may be small but their beaks leave a grisly toll: gashes up to 10cm deep and scabs up to 1.5m long.

Biologist Ana Fazio of the Patagonia National Center says whales have even changed the way they swim so as to dodge the birds.

"They arch as they swim to avoid exposing their backs. You can only see their head and their tail. They swim deeper. They are constantly fleeing. They spend an enormous amount of energy reacting to the seagull attacks," Fazio said.

Last year the center's director Marcelo Bertoletti hired professional hunters to cull gulls. They downed 140 of them.

About 10km from the fishing port of Puerto Madryn, Bertoletti looks on as a monstrous flock of up to 8 000 gulls feed madly on rotting fish remains at a landfill. The stench is nauseating.

Those remains are supposed to be buried, but companies rarely do that, so the gulls gorge themselves on fish heads, tails and guts that helps their numbers multiply.

"This is like a McDonald's for seagulls," Bertoletti said.

He said there is also the fear that the gulls carry viruses or bacteria that can infect whales.

Whales of the same species in waters off South Africa or Australia have no seagull problem, so scientists reckon the Argentine phenomenon is caused by seagull overpopulation.

Experts discard whales beaching themselves or falling victim to solar radiation as an explanation for the increased mortality rate.

Authorities in southern Chubut province plan another seagull cull in July to try to keep the peace for the whales, which are the main tourist attraction in the Valdes Peninsula.

Scientists urge New Zealand to save 'sea hobbit'

Google – AFP, Neil Sands (AFP), 1 July 2013

Maui's dolphins off the west coast of New Zealand's North Island on

June 5, 2013 (DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION/AFP/File, Department

Of Conservation)

WELLINGTON — Marine scientists have called on New Zealand immediately to ban fishing in waters inhabited by the world's rarest dolphin, saying that losing just one more of the creatures will threaten the species' existence.

The Maui's dolphin is one of the world's smallest, with a maximum length of 1.7 metres (5.5 feet), prompting conservationists to call it "the hobbit of the sea".

Found only in shallow waters off the North Island's west coast, it is listed as critically endangered with just 55 adults remaining and there are fears it will disappear by 2030 unless urgent action is taken.

The International Whaling Commission's (IWC) scientific committee said it was extremely concerned about the dolphin's plight, adding: "The human-caused death of even one dolphin in such a small population would increase the extinction risk for this sub-species."

While the New Zealand government has previously said it would consider both the risks facing the dolphins and the impact on the local fishing industry before implementing a management plan, the IWC said there was no room for delay.

Campaigners protest to protect the Maui's

 dolphin, in front of Parliament House in

 Wellington, on May 2, 2012 (AFP/File,

Marty Melville)

"Rather than seeking further scientific evidence, the priority should be given to immediate management actions that will lead to the elimination of bycatch of Maui's dolphins," it said.

"This includes full closures of any fisheries within the range of Maui's dolphins that are known to pose a risk."

The organisation, which made a similar plea to ban fishing last year, noted that proposals for seabed mining, including seismic surveying, also represented a potential threat.

The call for action was contained in a report published over the weekend which revealed for the first time the recommendations of the IWC's annual meeting in South Korea last month.

Barbara Maas, an endangered species specialist at Germany-based conservation group NABU who attended the meeting, said there could be no more stalling if New Zealand wanted to save the dolphin.

She told AFP on Monday that the country was willing to spend tens of millions of dollars promoting itself as the home of "Middle Earth" and "clean and green" but needed to back up the marketing with action or risk tarnishing its image.

"There's no time to lose here, we're already down to 15 adult females, we're losing them," she said.

"We're looking at a species of dolphin going extinct in a country that advertises itself as 100 percent pure... it's all very well faffing around with a fictitious hobbit, but here you have the hobbit of the sea, the smallest dolphin in the world, that needs saving."

Three movies featuring J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional characters have been filmed in New Zealand, with one released so far. Tourism officials launched a major promotion on the back of the movies.

The local fishing industry disputes allegations it is to blame for the dolphin's demise, saying it has become a scapegoat while other explanations such as the parasitic disease toxoplasmosis are ignored.

Greenpeace oceans campaigner Karli Thomas said the Maui's dolphin risked joining the Yangtze River's Baiji, a freshwater dolphin that was declared extinct in 2006.

"If Maui's dolphin disappears because of this government's inaction, it will make New Zealand only the second country in the world, after China, to drive a dolphin species to extinction," she said.

Maas said the issue boiled down to money, with the fishing industry keen to continue and the government reluctant to pay compensation if it was forced to close.

"They're trying to kick this down the path until there's nothing left to save," she said.

Conservation Minister Nick Smith said the government hoped to release a management plan next month and wanted to "take all practical actions to ensure the survival of this very special species".

"(The IWC) wish to have the range of Maui's dolphin closed to fishing, the question is what is the range of the Maui's dolphin?" he said.

Fiji's Air Pacific bans 'unsustainable' shark fins

Yahoo – AFP, 24 June 2013

This file photo shows passengers looking through the windows of an Air Pacific

 aircraft featuring a mural of an idyllic tropical island, in Nadi, on November 11, 2003

Fiji's national carrier Air Pacific announced on Monday it will no longer carry shark fins that come from unsustainable or unverified sources.

The airline said it had carried out a month-long review of its freight policies and decided to only accept shark products from sustainable sources which did not involve threatened species.

"This is consistent with our overriding commitment to environmental protection and conservation efforts in Fiji," acting chief executive Aubrey Swift said in a statement.

The move comes after environmentalists had criticised the airline for flying shark fins to Hong Kong, where it is used in shark-fin soup, which is regarded as a delicacy.

Swift said the airline would closely monitor shipments of shark products from the Pacific nation, effective immediately.

"We will now work with conservation partners and the fishing industry to prepare and implement policies and processes that will ensure that future shipments are sustainably sourced," he said.

Shark-fin soup was once a luxury enjoyed just by China's elite, but as the country has grown wealthier demand has boomed, placing pressure on shark populations.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates humans kill about 100 million sharks each year, placing dozens of species under threat.

Last week South Korea's two largest airlines, Korean Air and Asiana, said they had both decided to ban shark fin from their cargo flights.

Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific stopped shipping shark fin as cargo last September.

Related Articles:

Korean Air Joins Cathay Pacific in Curbing Shark Fin Transport

EU tightens ban on shark finning

Korean Air Joins Cathay Pacific in Curbing Shark Fin Transport

Jakarta Globe, Jasmine Wang and Kyunghee Park, June 24, 2013

Shark fins dry in the sun on the roof of a factory building in Hong Kong
 (AFP Photo/Antony Dickson)

Shark fins’ ride in plane bellies is beginning to end.

Last week, Korean Air Lines Co. said since March it had stopped moving the delicacy used in soups. The Seoul-based company joined Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. and Air New Zealand Ltd. in saying no to transporting the commodity.

The airlines’ ban on carrying the cargo may aid steps by environment lobbies to protect sharks, whose fins can cost as much as $800 per kilogram ($364 per pound). Hong Kong is the transit point for about half of the global shark fin trade, which largely goes to the Chinese market, said Alex Hofford, executive director at MyOcean, a marine conservation group.

“The airlines know it’s good to be seen as doing the right thing as passengers become more environmentally aware,” Hofford said. “Economically speaking, it doesn’t affect them one bit as it’s so tiny compared to all the other things they carry, electronics, phones or other cargoes.”

About 10 percent of global shark-fin trade is freighted through air with the rest moving by ships, Hofford said. Hong Kong imports shark fins from all over the world including Africa, Europe, south Pacific, Indonesia, Japan and the Middle East, he said.

Fishermen obtain the fins by slicing them off sharks and leaving them back into the ocean, a process called “finning”, Korean Air said in a June 20 statement. More than 73 million sharks are finned around the world every year, it said, citing research data.

Higher-Value Goods

Korean Air’s decision came after a similar move by Air New Zealand last month and Cathay’s September announcement to only carry shark products from sustainable sources.

Asian airlines and airports are aiming to move to higher-value goods to counter a weak global air-freight market, which declined for a second straight year in 2012 amid a slump in demand across Europe.

Changi Airport, Southeast Asia’s largest freight airfield, plans to attract more gold bars, tuna and vaccines to Singapore as it seeks to increase handling of high-value cargo to make up for slowing trade.

Cathay Pacific, the world’s biggest international air-cargo carrier, aims to replicate its business-class strategy in a cargo trade upgrade. The airline said in February it wants to fly more diamonds and medicines rather than T-shirts.

Shark Rescue

Environmental groups, including Shark Rescue and MyOcean, last month also sent a letter to Fiji’s Air Pacific, urging it to stop the carriage of shark fins and related products from the south Pacific on flights to Hong Kong.

They plan to lobby Qantas Airways Ltd and Air France-KLM Group to urge them to stop carrying the fins, Hofford said.

Air New Zealand suspended the carriage of shark fins on May 21, while a review of this issue is underway, the carrier’s spokesman Andrew Aitken said in an e-mailed statement last week.

Cathay Pacific in September announced a restrictive policy that it will only accept independently verified sustainable shark and shark-related products. While the carrier is still working on the implementation of the policy, it has reduced the volume of shark fins carried to 3 tons in the six months ended March from about 300 annually before the announcement, according to an e-mailed statement from the carrier on June 20.

Wedding Banquet

“We will only ship from sustainable sources and will continue to do so,” its Chief Executive John Slosar said last week in Hong Kong.

Transport restrictions could make a soup, made with 76 grams of shark fins, pricier than the HK$1,320 ($170) it sells at the Fook Lam Moon Group restaurant in Hong Kong.

Shark fin consumption in Hong Kong is going down as young people have increased awareness of protecting endangered species, Hofford said. The older generation of people continues to consume shark fins, he said.

Cissy Ho, a 27-year-old who is getting married next month in Hong Kong, said she had to agree to her family members’ decision to include shark fin soup in the menu for her wedding banquet.

“I would choose bird’s nest dish over shark fin soup, but I failed to convince the elders,” said Ho, who works at a Hong Kong-based company. “They still think shark fin soup is a must-have item to show their generosity towards guests.”

Bloomberg

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Australia in push to outlaw Japan whale hunt

Google – AFP, 23 June 2013

File picture shows Japan's whaling research ship the 'Nisshin Maru' leaving

the port in December 2012 (Junko Sakuma/AFP/File, Junko Sakuma)

SYDNEY — Australia's Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said Sunday he was hopeful the government would win its case against Japan's "scientific" whaling which begins this week in the International Court of Justice.

Dreyfus, who will be in The Hague to lead the case for the final stretch of the three-week hearing which begins on June 26, said both sides had filed very lengthy legal and factual arguments with the court.

"Australia's views on whaling are well established - we strongly oppose all commercial whaling, including so-called 'scientific' whale hunting by Japan," Dreyfus said.

"We believe Japan's so-called 'scientific' whaling is contrary to its international obligations and we want to see this practice brought to a halt once and for all."

The attorney-general said Australia and Japan, a key trading partner, remained friends despite their disagreement over whaling, which Tokyo says is carried out for scientific purposes.

"Australia and Japan agree the International Court of Justice is the best place to resolve differences between friends," Dreyfus said.

"Both countries value our strong bilateral relationship and the friendship forged between our nations over many years."

The upcoming hearings mark the final stage of proceedings initiated by Australia in 2010 and the government is hopeful of a decision before the start of the next southern hemisphere whaling season towards the end of the year.

"Of course we're hopeful of getting the result that we want," Dreyfus told reporters in Sydney.

"We're hopeful of a decision from the International Court of Justice before the end of the year, and certainly before the start of the next whale-hunting season that's part of Japan's so-called scientific whaling programme."

Dreyfus said it was inappropriate for him to go into the detail of the case but said the written submissions of both Japan and Australia, and the intervening submissions of New Zealand, will become available later in the week.

He said more than 10,000 whales have been killed since 1988 as a result of Japan's whaling programmes in the Southern Ocean.

The annual killing of the whales for research in the Southern Ocean has provoked anger from conservationists, with militant activists from the Sea Shepherd conservation group tailing the Japanese fleet each year and occasionally clashing with the harpoon and factory ships.

This year the whaling mission off Antarctica logged a "record low" catch of the mammals, with the Japanese government blaming "unforgivable sabotage" by activists.

Sea Shepherd Australia chairman Bob Brown said he expected the court in The Hague to find Japan was whaling for commercial reasons and therefore breaching international law.

"Sea Shepherd Australia has been upholding the law and providing the only direct protection for thousands of whales, who would have been slaughtered for profit by the Japanese fleet," he said.

Japan's whale hunts have long drawn criticism from activists and foreign governments, but Tokyo defends the practice saying eating whale is part of the country's culinary tradition.

It says whales are studied as part of a bid by Japan's whaling research institute to prove their populations can sustain commercial whaling.

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"The Akashic System of Remembrance" - Sep 2010 (Kryon Channelling) - Reference to Whales/Dolphins/Animals > 28:00 min