Karachi's defensive mangrove barrier faces triple threat

Yahoo – AFP, Ashraf Khan, 5 Jan 2015

A boat laden with chopped mangroves passes along an inlet close to

the Arabian Sea in Karachi (AFP Photo/Asif Hassan)

Thick mangroves have long protected Karachi, southern Pakistan's sprawling metropolis, from battering by the Arabian Sea, but pollution, badly managed irrigation and years of illegal logging have left this natural barrier in a parlous state.

Experts fear that loss of the natural barrier formed by the mangroves could put the city of nearly 20 million people at greater risk from violent storms and even tsunamis.

Talib Kacchi looks at a destroyed

 mangrove swamp along a beach on the

 Arabian Sea in Karachi (AFP Photo/

Asif Hassan)

Close to Karachi, the mighty Indus river ends its long journey from the Himalayas in the sea.

The river delta is home to the shimmering green mangrove, a delicate ecosystem that thrives in the mingled salt and fresh water.

Fisherman Talib Kacchi, 50, recalled taking shelter from monsoon storms in the mangroves as a young man.

"When there were storms, we would have tied as many as four boats together with the mangroves, and then we would sit, gossip and sing songs," he said.

But the mangrove is a shadow of its former self -- from 600,000 hectares in the early 20th century now barely 130,000 hectares remain, according to marine biologist Mohammad Moazzam Khan.

The rest has fallen victim to illegal loggers, pollution from nearby industry and changes to the river flow caused by irrigation upstream on the agricultural plains of Sindh and Punjab provinces.

The fishermen, who make a livelihood from the fish and shellfish that shelter in the mangroves, have warned about their decline for years.

But a short boat ride from Karachi's Ibrahim Haidri fish harbour finds plenty of locals cutting the mangrove and carrying it away.

A boat laden with chopped mangroves passes along an inlet close

to the Arabian Sea in Karachi (AFP Photo/Asif Hassan)

Some use foliage as fodder for cattle while others scrape a living by selling branches for fuel.

"I sell one bundle for 10 to 20 rupees (10 to 20 cents)," Haji Ibrahim, a frail old man who had just anchored his small boat at the shallow waters of the harbour told AFP.

Cutting the mangroves is illegal but the maximum punishment for cutting the mangroves is a 36,000 rupee ($360) fine, doubled for habitual offenders, and in any case, prosecutions are extremely rare.

Pollution

Karachi is Pakistan's biggest city and economic and industrial heart. The rapid growth of factories has contributed to pollution in the Indus delta.

Near a power plant to the east of the city, the mangroves are dry and withered, robbing fish of their spawning grounds and angering Kamal Shah of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum.

"I really cannot understand why you would attack the mangrove. It's stupid -- it's like emptying your neighbour's stomach to fill your own," Shah said.

"If we were in another country, the mangrove would be valued and protected."

A crow sits on a chopped mangrove in

 a mangrove swamp on a beach on the 

Arabian Sea in Karachi (AFP Photo/

Asif Hassan)

As well as dissipating the energy of tropical storms when they hit the coast, the mangrove also provides a line of defence in case of tsunamis.

The Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet at the Makran Trench, off the coast, and the boundary has the potential to create major earthquakes.

An undersea quake in 1945 generated a tsunami that hit Karachi, killing 4,000 people, and a recent UN simulation suggested the city could be wiped out if a big tremor hit again.

"It is a very important ecosystem... it is the first line of defence against cyclones, strong surges, tsunami and other natural calamities," said marine biologist Khan, who works for the WWF wildlife NGO.

But there is some hope. A drive to replant the mangroves in recent years has seen them slowly regain some of the losses.

"It (plantation) is going very well. There are very few areas in the world where the mangroves cover is increasing and Pakistan is one of them," Khan said.

Related Article:

Cultivating oysters to combat coastal erosion in Bangladesh

Bluefin Tuna Nets $37,000 in Tokyo New Year Auction

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Jan 05, 2015

The president of the sushi restaurant chain Sushi Zanmai, Kiyoshi Kimura, removes
 the fin of a bluefin tuna outside his main restaurant at the outer Tsukiji market, in
Tokyo on Jan. 5, 2015. (Reuters Photo/Thomas Peter)

Tokyo. A giant bluefin tuna sold for more than $37,000 in the first auction of the year at a Tokyo fish market on Monday, as Japan faces growing pressure to cut back on consumption of the threatened fish.

The 180.4-kilogram tuna, caught off Japan’s northern region of Aomori, fetched a winning bid of 4.51 million yen ($37,480), said an official at the Tsukiji fish market.

The bid marked the second consecutive decline at the annual new year sales, after a record 155.4 million yen was paid in 2013 — driven by a bidding war led by a Hong Kong restaurant chain — for a slightly larger fish of similar quality.

Monday’s winner, Kiyoshi Kimura, president of the firm behind the popular Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain, said he was “surprised to win the bid at such a low price.”

“But it’s the best quality,” he told local media. “I’m satisfied with buying the best one — it has a good shape and great fat.”

The price decline was due to a “lack of rival bids” and a higher number of bluefins in the waters off Japan’s northern coast, a prime spot for tuna fishing, reports said.

Bluefin is usually the most expensive fish available at Tsukiji, the biggest fish and wholesale seafood market in the world.

A piece of “otoro”, or the fish’s fatty underbelly, can cost up to several thousand yen at high-end Tokyo restaurants.

The growing popularity of Japanese sushi worldwide has also stoked demand.

The auction came as Japan, the world’s largest bluefin tuna consumer, faces growing calls for a trade ban on the fish, which environmentalists warn is on its way to extinction.

In November, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature updated its “red list” of threatened species, warning that surging global demand for the fish was placing “unsustainable pressure” on the species.

Agence France-Presse

Helicopters and lifeboats rescue 25 crew from stricken car carrier in Solent

• Transporter ship ran aground near the Isle of Wight
• Four lifeboats also involved in rescue effort

theguardian.com, Press Association, Sunday 4 January 2015

Coastguard helicopters scrambled to rescue the crew from the stricken car
carrier on Saturday 3 January. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/Guardian

All 25 crew members of a car carrier run aground in the Solent have been rescued by a coastguard helicopter and lifeboats.

The Singapore-registered Hoegh Osaka had just left Southampton for Germany when it became grounded on Bramble Bank near the Isle of Wight at around 9.20pm on Saturday and began listing to one side.

A 50-degree list is never good. Car carrier HOEGH OSAKA tonight in the Solent UK. https://t.co/FRiKhch85L pic.twitter.com/SCaHqbiEFm
— Chris Cavas (@CavasShips) January 4, 2015

HM Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said a helicopter mounted a rescue for the crew while RNLI lifeboats from Yarmouth, Calshot and Cowes were also sent to the scene.

National Maritime Operations Centre commander Steve Carson said: “All of the crew have been accounted for and other then a couple of non life-threatening injuries, everyone is safe and well.”

4 Lifeboats & Helo currently rescuing crew in Solent pic.twitter.com/nidCjquAha
— RNLI Girvan Lifeboat (@GirvanRNLI) January 4, 2015

A statement from the MCA added: “The crew who were on board the car carrier Hoegh Osaka have all now been accounted for. Some were airlifted off the ship by coastguard helicopter and others were rescued from the sea by the three lifeboats that were on scene.”

Three crew members who remained on board the vessel to assist with salvage operations have also been airlifted off the vessel.

A spokesman for the RNLI said: “Currently four RNLI lifeboats from Calshot, Cowes and Yarmouth are in attendance alongside the Solent coastguard helicopter, Southampton patrol and four tug boats, two from Esso and two from Southampton Docks.

“The ship’s crew are being rescued from the water and from on board the stricken vessel, which is at a list of 45 degrees.”

It is not yet clear how the 51,000-tonne vessel got into difficulty.

Carson told the BBC the ship, which was leaving Southampton bound for Germany, had started to list again during the rescue operation.

He added plans for salvage were under way and would not comment on how the ship ran aground.

“The salvage operations have commenced, not the removal of the vessel but the plans for its removal. We will have to wait until daylight to fully assess. The owners have appointed salvage operators and did so quite swiftly.”

Related Article:

Car carrier ran aground in Solent deliberately to prevent capsizing

Jiaolong sub collects perfect 'chimney vent' in Indian Ocean

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-01-04

The Jiaolong collecting the chimney vent, Jan. 2. (Photo/Xinhua)

China's deep sea manned submersible, the Jiaolong, collected a perfect "chimney vent" on the seabed of the southwest Indian Ocean on Saturday.

"Chimney vent," also known as hydrothermal sulfide, is one kind of seabed deposit containing copper, zinc and precious metal such as gold and silver. Those kinds of metal form sulfide after a chemical reaction and came to rest on the seabed as a chimney vent.

With several mussels and spiral shells living on it, the chimney vent that Jiaolong collected was about 40 cm high and 15 cm wide, said Li Xiangyang, assistant chief commander of the mission.

"This is a perfect chimney vent for biologists and I believe there are lots of microorganisms integrated with it," said Xiao Xiang, professor with Shanghai Jiaotong University. "I am so excited about it."

The study of microorganisms is the basis of researching ecosystems in hydrothermal areas, as microorganisms are sources of nutrition for advanced organisms, Xiao said.

This chimney vent is very important for studying organisms in hydrothermal areas, which live in a completely dark world with substances toxic to most forms of life, as well as high temperature and high pressure, Xiao said.

The special genes of these organisms have great economic and scientific value, Xiao said.

The temperature of hydrothermal fluid flowing out of the collected chimney vent is 145 degrees Celsius, said Tang Jialing, who piloted Jiaolong for the dive.

Jiaolong also gathered 4.7 kg of sulfide, 39 kg of basalt, 32 spiral shells and 37 mussels.

The Jiaolong, named after a mythical dragon, is on a 120-day expedition in the southwest Indian Ocean. It has planned to conduct 20 dives during the four-month period to research polymetallic sulfide, biological diversity, hydrothermal microbes and genetic resources in the area.

Related Article:

China's manned sub collects perfect "chimney vent" in Indian Ocean

ROC Navy shows off warship living quarters for servicewomen

Want China Times, CNA 2015-01-04

One of the women's bunk rooms on the
ROCS Ma Kong. (Photo/Chang Kuo-wei)

The tough life of serving on a military vessel has not deterred Taiwan's servicewomen, a small but growing minority in the armed forces, from joining the Navy.

The Navy has implemented new measures that ensure the safety of female sailors. Their life at sea was shown to reporters Thursday in a rare media tour of a Kidd-class destroyer.

On the ROCS Ma Kong, each women's bunk is located at the back of a passageway to give them privacy. The rooms have drinking water dispensers, washing machines and a sink. Surveillance cameras are installed in front of the door to each bunk room.

Asked by the local media whether it is more difficult for women to get used to life on a military vessel, Lt Yen Jih-lin, who serves on the Ma Kong, said there is not much difference. She said women in fact enjoy more privileges on board, referring to the above amenities.

Another facility on the Ma Kong shown to the media was a gym, a feature found only on the Kidd-class destroyers.

There are about 16,000 servicewomen in Taiwan's military, representing 10.51% of all military personnel, a record high, President Ma Ying-jeou said during a military promotion ceremony in late December.

Eight missing after cement freighter capsizes off coast of Scotland

Lifeboats crews are waiting to resume a search for the crew of an overturned cargo vessel spotted off the northeast coast of Scotland. Eight people were aboard the ship, which issued no distress call.

Deutsche Welle, 4 Jan 2015

Lifeboat crews called off their search for the crew late on Saturday, after the boat's predicament had been reported by a passing ferry.

Eight people were believed to be on board the Cypriot-registered Cemfjord when it capsized, although no mayday call was issued by the crew.

Brise of Hamburg, which operates the cement carrier, confirmed that the crew of eight - consisting of seven Poles and a Filipino mariner - was missing "following a severe accident."

"No distress call was received from the vessel," said a statement from the company. "Bad weather prevailed in the area at the time and conditions remain difficult at the scene, with storm force winds."

Brise said that it was in the process of informing the sailors' families. The 83-meter freighter was carrying 2,000 metric tons of cement from Alborg in Denmark to Runcorn in northwest England.

The ferry was reported capsized by the passing ferry crew at about 2.30 p.m. local time (1430 UTC).

Lack of mayday 'very strange'

Four lifeboats and two rescue helicopters were involved in the search, which was being coordinated by the Shetland Island coastguard and set to resume at first light on Sunday.

Bill Farquhar, from the local lifeboat station, told the BBC that the weather had been bad, but that the absence of a distress call was notable.

"It is very, very strange, especially with all the weather technology we have nowadays," he said. "Whatever happened, it happened very rapidly."

In a separate incident, the BBC reported early on Sunday that all 25 crew members of the car transporter Hoegh Osaka, which was heading from Southampton to Germany, were safe after the ship ran aground in the Solent, near to Southampton.

rc/bk (AFP, dpa)

Traffickers grossed over $1.0 mn on single 'ghost ship': IOM

Yahoo – AFP, January 3, 2015

Traffickers grossed over $1.0 mn on single ghost ship : IOM

Geneva (AFP) - People smugglers likely raked in more than $1.0 million from the hundreds of desperate migrants crammed into just one of the "ghost ships" abandoned off the coast of Italy this week, the International Organization for Migration said Friday.

"Our reports are of payments of $1,000 to 2,000 per person leaving Syria and attempting to sail from Turkey," IOM spokesman Joel Millman told AFP.

That means that traffickers likely took well above $1.0 million on each of the large, crewless ships crowded with migrants intercepted off Italy in recent days, he said.

That is "enough revenue to pay for a disposable craft, crew, vessels to evacuate the crew and, presumably, make any bribe payments that might have been useful in furthering the scheme," Millman added.

Italian sailors on Friday managed to take control of a crewless merchant ship drifting in rough seas with 450 migrants on board.

That was the second in two days after the Moldovan-registered Blue Sky M ship was abandoned Wednesday by smugglers who set it on autopilot toward Italy's rocky shores with nearly 800 migrants aboard.

More than 170,000 people have been rescued by Italy in the last 14 months and hundreds, possibly thousands, have perished trying to make the crossing.

Millman said the smugglers have recently begun using large cargo ships, rather than smaller boats, as well as turned to moving more "homogenous" groups of passengers, with the Blue Sky M filled almost exclusively with Syrians.

The UN refugee agency also voiced concern Friday at the move towards using large freighters and called on European governments to do more to help Italy respond to flood of migrants landing on its shores.

"We need urgent European concerted action in the Mediterranean Sea, increasing efforts to rescue people at sea and stepping up efforts to provide legal alternatives to dangerous voyages," Vincent Cochetel, head of UNHCR's European bureau, said in a statement.

But with entire villages and towns frantically trying to escape the bloody civil war in Syria, traffickers have found a particularly lucrative niche, Miller said.

The smugglers, Millman warned, could be "getting used to handling a flow of migrants they can predict will run into the thousands of individuals every month."

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Migrant ship Blue Sky M arrives in Italy

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Ezadeen 'ghost ship' migrants paid thousands for perilous trip - New

Smugglers abandon migrant ship off Italy in new tactic to force rescue

The Ezadeen off Crotone on Italy's heel. Photograph: AFP/

Getty Images

'Ghost ship' migrants arrive safety in Italy

'Ghost ship' migrants arrive safely in Italy

Pakistani boat blows self up after India navy chase

Yahoo – AFP, 2 Jan 2015

All four people on board the vessel from near the Pakistani port city of Karachi are

 believed to have been killed in the dramatic episode in the Arabian Sea on New 

Year's Eve, according to India's defence ministry

The crew of a Pakistani fishing boat blew up and sank their vessel after trying to evade capture at the hands of the Indian navy in a high-speed chase at sea, officials said Friday.

All four people on board the vessel from near the Pakistani port city of Karachi are believed to have been killed in the dramatic episode in the Arabian Sea on New Year's Eve, according to India's defence ministry.

Indian Coast Guard ships and aircraft tried to intercept the boat near the maritime border with Pakistan, around 365 kilometres (225 miles) from the coastal state of Gujarat, following an intelligence tip-off.

"However, the boat increased speed and tried to escape away from the Indian side of maritime boundary. The hot pursuit continued for nearly one hour," a defence ministry statement added.

Although the boat did eventually stop after warning shots were fired, the four-man crew then hid themselves below deck before setting the boat on fire which triggered a large explosion.

"Due to darkness, bad weather and strong winds, the boat and persons on board could not be saved or recovered. The boat burnt and sank in the same position, in early hours of January 1," said the statement.

Although the defence ministry would only say that the crew were planning "some illicit transaction", it also stated that the boat was carrying explosives.

The incident has evoked memories of the 2008 Mumbai attacks when Pakistani militants managed to sneak into India's financial capital by sea and then began a 60-hour siege of India's economic capital that left 166 people dead.

India reacted furiously last month to a Pakistani court's decision to grant bail to the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, although he has since been detained again.

AirAsia Search in Java Sea a Graveyard for WWII Naval Battle

Jakarta Globe – AFP,  Jan 02, 2015

An Indonesian helicopter searches for victims and debris during recovery
 operations on Jan. 1, 2015 for Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 that
crashed in the Java Sea. (AFP Photo/Adek Berry)

Jakarta. The Java Sea where a massive search operation is underway for Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 is also the graveyard for one of the largest naval engagements of World War II.

Old wrecks, whether from battles or peacetime disasters, have occasionally given false leads to modern searches.

Indonesian search and rescue agency official S.B. Supriyadi said on Friday the hunt for the AirAsia plane had detected a metal structure but it proved to be a false lead, “possibly a ship which sank”.

While it is unlikely to have been an old warship, the Java Sea was the scene of a disastrous defeat for the Allied navies by invading Imperial Japanese forces as they swept through the Dutch East Indies.

In the Battle of the Java Sea on Feb. 27, 1942, a combined force of Dutch, US, British and Australian ships was hopelessly outmatched, suffering the loss of five warships and 2,300 sailors against Japanese losses of one damaged destroyer and 36 dead.

A second engagement by British and US forces on March 1 resulted in the sinking of three Allied warships with one Japanese destroyer damaged.

Wrecks from these World War II battles remain at the bottom of the Java Sea and are popular with divers.

In August last year, US Navy archeologists, working with Indonesian navy divers, identified one as the cruiser USS Houston, which sank during the Battle of the Sunda Strait in 1942.

The US Navy said the ship, nicknamed “The Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast,” was the final resting place of about 650 sailors and Marines.

During the Battle of the Sunda Strait on March 1, 1942, the Houston and Australian cruiser HMAS Perth were sunk during an engagement with a vastly superior Japanese force.

The Houston’s captain received a posthumous Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism.

In November 2013 Indonesian researchers made a surprise discovery of what is believed to be a German submarine that was torpedoed off Java during World War II.

Researchers believe the wreck — which contained at least 17 human skeletons — is U-168, which succeeded in sinking several allied vessels before itself being torpedoed by a Dutch submarine in 1944.

“This is an extraordinary find that will certainly provide useful information about what took place in the Java Sea during World War II,” Bambang Budi Utomo, head of the research team at the National Archaeology Center that found the vessel, said at the time.

As well as the human skeletons, dinner plates bearing swastikas, batteries, binoculars and a bottle of hair oil were pulled from the wreck.

Japan occupied Indonesia during World War II, which was then still known by its colonial name of the Dutch East Indies. Tokyo and Berlin were allies during the war.

Agence France-Presse

Tropical Storm Leaves 54 Dead as It Exits Philippines

Jakarta Globe – AFP,  Jan 01, 2015

Philippine Airlines (PAL) planes are seen parked on tarmac in Manila International
Airport in Pasay city, metro Manila Sep. 9, 2014. (Reuters Photo/Romeo Ranoco)

Manila. Tropical storm Jiangmi exited the Philippines Thursday, leaving at least 54 dead and 13 missing from floods and landslides as officials admitted that more extensive warnings could have saved more lives.

The storm’s death toll was nearly triple that of the last major storm — Super Typhoon Hagupit, which hit the Philippines last month and wreaked less havoc than expected thanks to timely precautionary measures.

Jiangmi, which at one point packed winds of 80 kilometres per hour, weakened into a low pressure area as it moved west into the Sulu Sea with winds of about 30 kilometres per hour, the government weather station said.

Civil defence chief Alexander Pama admitted Thursday that more frequent warnings could have been aired in broadcast media.

“Probably we did not put [enough warnings] out in the media,” he told DZMM radio.

He said some people had ignored the warnings and refused to evacuate or went out to sea despite the storm.

“Maybe this will drive home the point to our countrymen that things are different now. Maybe now, when people are asked to evacuate, they will not resist,” he said.

Jiangmi hit the southern and central Philippines earlier this week, affecting areas that were once untouched by the frequent weather disturbances that batter the country.

The storm affected more than 120,000 people, more than 80,000 of whom were evacuated.

The Philippines is battered by about 20 storms every year, many of them deadly.

Last year Super Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest ever to hit the country, left 7,350 people dead or missing in central regions as it stirred up tsunami-like waves, wiping out entire towns.

Agence France-Presse

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"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Weather

Let's talk about the weather. We retreat to exactly what we told you before in this very chair. The water cycle is a cooling cycle, not a heating cycle. You're going to have more severe winters and storms. It's going to get colder. But it gets warmer before it gets colder. That is the cycle, and it has always been the cycle. You can see it in the rings of the trees and the cores of the ice. Don't let your scientists pull the political wool over your eyes for their own purposes. Start seeing these things for what they are. It's a recurring cycle based on four Earth alignment attributes, including the wobble (the precession). You're in this cycle. Prepare.

The beginnings of it will be with you from now at least until the end of the 2012 36-year window, and you can watch it work. The first thing that happens is that the ice melts at the poles, but not completely. It's the way it has happened before. As the redistribution of weight from the poles to the oceans of the earth takes place, the weight is redistributed to the crust, and that creates earthquakes. And the earthquakes that will be the most powerful are the ones that are closest to the poles. We told you that some time ago. So it's not a mystery that suddenly you have some of the most powerful earthquakes that you've ever had. Not only that, but a cooling ocean creates larger storms.

What do the conspiracists do with all this? "See? We're doomed. Here it comes," they say. "Here it comes! The end is here!" Twenty-two years ago, we gave you the information that is happening today. We told you about the weather. We told you to get ready for it, but we still haven't told you why the water cycle is needed. We've hinted at it since it is very controversial, and we'll lose many readers right here and now. Here's the prediction: The scientists are going to laugh and biologists are going to scratch their heads and roll their eyes.

The Refreshing of the Cycle of Life

When you change the temperature of the waters of the planet, it changes the life cycle of the ocean and it eventually renews itself. The life cycle of the planet has a limit to its viability over time. There has to be a refreshing of the very cycle of life, and this is what the water cycle does. Are there any places you've seen too many fish lately? Yes. Millions of salmon in the north. Odd that it was in Alaska, isn't it? Alaska is very close to the poles where the water temperature is being felt first. Oh, again the experts will tell you that this is not the reason. It's about hatcheries and rivers. But nobody predicted this, did they? Science is fast to give you reasons, but slow to give you logic in advance. They always seem to be surprised.

We are saying things we haven't said before. Again, watch for this, an actual change in the life cycle of the planet's oceans because of the water temperature shift. Biologists are going to have to start redesigning the paradigm of how everything works, including reefs, ocean bottoms, and how plankton survive and reproduce. Listen, this is not the first time that the life cycle has been refreshed! But again, this may take generations of humanity to complete. In the process, you may again lose species. This is normal. Gaia is slow, and Humans are impatient. Your textbooks may someday tell of how naive humanity was back in 2011 when they tried to blame weather changes on everything but a natural cycle. Now you know why there is a water cycle.

So what does that tell you about Gaia? Gaia is beginning the cycle of refreshing life on over-fished oceans. It tells you that in the cracks, there is love and caring about the Humans who live on the earth. There's a reason you're here. There's a plan here, and a benevolent Universe and quantum energy with intelligent design. All is there for you, precious, sacred Human Being. …”

British Columbia salmon return one of largest seen in region (Sep 2013)

Pink salmon, shown in a file photograph, 

have a lifespan of two years

AirAsia, Indonesia and Effective Crisis Management

Jakarta Globe, Bloomberg, Dec 31, 2014

President Joko Widodo on board a Hercules plane taking part in the
search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501, on Tuesday.(Antara Photo/Andika Wahyu)

In his run for president this year, Joko Widodo pledged to bring greater openness and accountability to Indonesia. As his administration faces its first international crisis, the mysterious crash of an AirAsia jet, he’s proving to be a man of his word.

You can tell a lot about a nation from its response to great tragedy, whether it’s Japan’s 2011 Fukushima crisis, Malaysia’s lost Boeing 777 in March or South Korea’s deadly ferry accident in April. So far, Joko has performed admirably.

Since news broke on Sunday that an Airbus A320 flying from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore vanished with 162 people on board, Joko has coordinated search-and-rescue efforts, demanded a review of air safety regulations and called on weather agencies to provide timelier information. His government is giving steady updates, and Joko has sought help from Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Australia and, remarkably, China and the US in finding Flight QZ8501.

In contrast, last spring, Malaysia was widely criticized for the secrecy and paranoia that surrounded its search for a Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared with 239 people aboard. Welcoming US and Chinese military ships into Indonesia’s orbit speaks to Joko’s confidence as a leader.

Let’s hope this is a harbinger of future competence. Joko is the fifth president since dictator Suharto was ousted in 1998 but the first true political outsider to run Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Because he’s not a member of a dynastic family or the military, he isn’t beholden to vested interests looking to siphon the benefits of Indonesia’s 5 percent growth. That gives him latitude to dismantle the kleptocracy that Suharto built during his 32-year reign and raise Indonesia’s competitiveness.

As governor of Jakarta, starting in 2012, Joko brought a surprising level of transparency. He moved budget procurement and tax collection processes online. He’s now working to make national government services electronic to reduce opportunities for graft and improve efficiency. Opening up the process of granting licenses for developing infrastructure, mines and plantations alone would do much to clean up the nation’s political and business climate.

Indonesia’s aviation industry also has long cried out for greater oversight. Its carriers, air traffic controllers and the skies around the archipelago of 250 million people are notorious for their regulatory laxity. As recently as 2009, state carrier Garuda was banned from European Union airspace. That laxity is a product of decades of cronyism and institutional neglect.

While Joko’s predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made inroads against graft, Indonesia’s still ranks behind Djibouti and Argentina and a sober 22 rungs below India in Transparency International’s latest corruption perceptions index. The daylight Joko wants to shine on the government is needed to attract more foreign investment and ensure that scarce revenues are spent on education, health care and poverty programs.

The openness and assertiveness with which Joko has responded to Flight QZ8501 gives me reason to hope that Indonesia will be prepared for whatever comes its way.

William Pesek is a Bloomberg View columnist based in Tokyo and writes on economics, markets and politics throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

President Joko Widodo, center, talks to the head of Indonesia’s national search
 and rescue agency, Soelistyo, left, and Chief of the Sea Security Coordinating
 Agency, Vice Admiral Desi Albert Mamahit, right, shortly before a news conference
 about missing Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ 8501 in Jakarta, on Dec. 29, 2014.
 (EPA Photo/Bagus Indahono)

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Four perish and one arrested after migrant cargo ship lands in Italy

Italian authorities have begun investigating what happened to a cargo ship intercepted with 900 migrants on board and no crew. At least four migrants have died, after apparently trying to escape to Europe from Syria.

Deutsche Welle, 31 Dec 2014

It was a disaster narrowly averted, according to the Italian Navy on Wednesday, that it intercepted a cargo ship with 900, mostly Syrian, refugees on board before the vessel completed its collision course with the rocky shoreline.

News agency Reuters, quoting an Italian Red Cross spokeswoman, said at least four of the migrants had died, and that one woman had gone into labor as the passengers began to be brought ashore in the southwestern Italian town of Gallipoli.

Having got into difficulties after heading up the rescue mission for the Norman Atlantic ferry disaster, the Moldovan-flagged Blue Sky M dispatched a distress signal on Tuesday, prompting Italy's coast guard to send helicopters.

A 'race against the clock'

Six officers boarded the ship, where they found no crew, but an engine locked on a course heading straight for the coast of Puglia, which is mostly rocks and cliffs. After some frantic moments on the bridge, the officers were able to unlock the engine and bring the boat under control just five miles (eight kilometers) from the mainland. They then guided the ship into the port of Gallipoli.

"It was a real race against the clock, " said coast guard spokesman Filippo Marini, adding that it was "a difficult and delicate operation, but they managed to do it." The coast guard's official Twitter account declared that a "massacre" had been avoided.

The Greek Coast Guard originally responded to the distress call, but after a very cursory check, allowed the Blue Sky M to continue on its way near the island of Corfu.

It is believed that the crew were human traffickers, who are known to jump ship when they suspect they will be intercepted by police or military. The origin and the final destination of the ship are still unknown as the Italian authorities begin the process of identifying the refugees, who are now being housed in public buildings.

One man suspected to have been involved with the traffickers was arrested in Gallipoli, according to Reuters.

The Italian Coast Guard has vast experience in rescuing scores of people fleeing conflict in their homeland via the Mediterranean Sea. More than 170,000 people have landed on Italy's shore in 2014 alone, and hundreds if not thousands more have perished in their attempt to make the crossing. That number is likely to increase as the conflicts in Libya and Syria show no sign of stopping.

es/tj (AFP, Reuters)

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