COASTAL ALERT

Philippines
Baselines bill signed
Protected areas rules simplified
Climate change felt in richest fishing ground
Fisheries expected to grow by 7%
Fisheries group criticizes govt's "pro-rich" fisheries package
Dwindling tuna catch in Mindanao linked to global warming
Small fishermen deliver best tuna catch
RP dealers to cut reef fish exports -- WWF
Fishers fear proposed tourism law will displace them
Philippines fishery official calls for mangrove reforestation
Fishermen, residents oppose demolition of houses around Manila Bay
Crab trader leads protection effort in one of country’s richest fishing grounds
RP, Papua New Guinea sign MoU on fisheries
Philippines sardine canner seeks to double production
Rare shark killed and eaten by fishermen
106 Filipino fishermen detained in Indonesia
Philippines marine reserve could mitigate climate change effects
Proposed coal plant in Sarangani opposed
Spain to fund coastal management project
Fishers in Negros Occ protest against new rules on local delicacy harvest
First agri-fishery training center to rise in ARMM
RP, Bahrain create panel for joint agro-fisheries projects
Coastal Cleanup 2008 collects more than 1M trash items from Philippine coasts
First baby whale shark found in Donsol --WWF
Stranded melon-headed whales rescued in Manila Bay

World
Climate change to have a big impact on marine fisheries
New study estimates illegal fishing at USD10-24 bn per year
World's major fishing nations failing on sustainability, says new study
Beating poverty could save fish, researchers say
Planned treaty will close ports to fish pirates
Little scope for increasing fisheries output, says FAO
WWF estimates 40% of global fisheries catch is wasted or unmanaged
Overfishing imperils ocean life, says study
Sea fishing 'the most dangerous job in the world', says FAO
Biomass of the world's fish estimated
UN chief urges leaders at Davos to forge “green new deal” to fight world recession
UN body provokes outrage with call for more fish farming
Shrimp fisheries under scrutiny -- FAO
Tuna will be wiped out by 2012 if overfishing is not stopped, say environmental groups
UN sets gold standard for reducing seabird bycatch
Group to formalize community-based adaptation to climate change
UN agencies, corporations to fight alien species in ships’ ballast tanks
Leading scientists at UN forum call for action to halt rising acidity of world’s oceans
Manado Ocean Declaration will be non-binding, says Indonesian Government
Hope for Coral Triangle fishermen in Southeast Asia
Tuna industry launches new organization to save tuna from itself
Overfishing threatens stocks of sea cucumbers – UN report
Penguins marching into trouble, partly due to overfishing
US scientists turn beer waste into fish food
Tanzania govt to install hidden cameras to nab illegal fishing vessels
Global warming spurs commercial fishing moratorium in US Arctic
Egypt: New fish farm plan threatens environment, livelihoods – NGO
World fisheries must prepare for climate change -- FAO
Shark fin out of vogue among young Asians
US blocks formation of WTO panel on Mexican tuna
Mexico's fish export problems reflect global crisis, says official
Argentina's artisanal fishers want coastal fishery to be shut down
Brazil signs on to high seas fishing agreement
Regional common fisheries policy to be established in Carribean
Mozambique: Africa losing over 1 billion dollars to illegal fishing
Critics condemn ministry plan to permit trawling off central Java

Resources
FAO Fishery and Aquaculture Statistics Yearbook
Global study of shrimp fisheries
Building an Ecosystem Approach to Aquaculture
Strategy and Outline Plan for Improving Information on Status and Trends of Aquaculture
Online Regional Aquaculture Information System (RAIS)
Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2008
Online GIS: Annual / December 2008 NOAA Coral Reef Watch's Satellite Monitoring Products
New edition of Sharks and Rays of Australia launched

Events
World Ocean Conference
2^nd Conference of Coastal Municipalities in the Philippines

Philippines

Baselines bill signed
MANILA, 11 Mar 2009 (J Guinto/Inquirer.net) –President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed into law Republic Act 9522 or the baselines bill, which defines the country's territorial waters, Malacañang said.

Arroyo signed on Tuesday the measure, which treats the disputed Spratlys Islands and Scarborough Shoal, as a "regime of islands" under the Republic of the Philippines, despite the strong protest lodged by China, one of several claimants, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said.

According to marine policy expert Jay Batongbacal, “The establishment of the regime of islands over the KIG means that each natural island capable of human habitation and an economic life of its own generates the full suite of maritime zones,” including an exclusive economic zone (EEZ). (The Philippines’ fisheries jurisdiction extends throughout its EEZ up to a maximum of 200 nautical miles from the baselines.)

Beijing said the provision on the “regime of islands” violated its sovereignty.

Ermita said with the signing of the baselines bill, "We are sending the message to the whole world that we are affirming our national sovereignty. We are affirming our national interest."

Ermita said Manila was asserting its sovereignty "because it was the right thing to do."

"Whatever problems we may have, whatever action will have to be contested, will have to be done with the code of conduct agreed upon with ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] and China," he added. (with additional report from FISH Project) Full story

Protected areas rules simplified
21 Jan 2009 (J Mayuga/Business Mirror in ICSF) -- The government has completed the revised rules for the selection and protection of nature preserves that it says would “rationalize and simplify” setting up protected areas, and allow natural flora and fauna in the selected areas to flourish for the benefit of both present and future generations.

Environment Secretary Lito Atienza said the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS), revised by his department, does away with the “tedious processes” for the creation of protected areas by providing streamlined management zones.

The new IRR is also aimed at clearing up all gray areas in the jurisdictional areas of the different government agencies, allow for the direct use of the Integrated Protected Areas Fund and greater participation of the local government units and other stakeholders in the decision-making process in the establishing and planning of management zones. Full story

Climate change felt in richest fishing ground
MANILA, 29 March 2009 (P Tubeza/Philippine Daily Inquirer) -- Ariel Domiguez, 42, has been fishing for 16 years in waters off Verde Island in Batangas province, considered to have the most diverse marine life on the planet.

But because of climate change and its threat of rising sea levels and lower fish yields, Dominguez is thinking about the possibility that he might eventually have to quit his job, pack up his belongings and transfer to higher ground.

The Verde Island Passage has been called the “center of the center” of the world’s marine biodiversity. But even here, the effects of global warming are starting to be felt.

“We no longer stay for long at sea because of the scorching heat. It’s really hotter now. We are afraid of having a heat stroke,” said Domiquez, who hails from Nasugbu town.

According to a recent international study of seven countries in Southeast Asia, the entire Philippines is considered to be among the areas in the region that are “most vulnerable” to climate change. Full story

Fisheries expected to grow by 7%
3 Feb 2009 (NJC Morales/BusinessWorld) – The government expects fisheries production to grow faster this year than in the past two years, the head of the fisheries bureau said.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) projects a 7% fisheries output growth this year, up from the 5.78% increase recorded last year and the 6.8% growth in 2007. Source

Fisheries group criticizes govt's "pro-rich" fisheries package
24 Feb 2009 (Kilusang Mangingisda in ICSF) – A national coalition of fisherfolk federations criticized the government stimulus package for fisheries as being pro-rich and giving only dole-outs to small fishers.

In a statement, the Kilusang Mangingisda (KM) took exception to a stimulus fund intended for the production of tilapia and milkfish in fish cages and the acquisition of motorized boats for fishing communities. It is part of a Php10 billion economic stimulus fund contained in the government’s Php1.4-trillion budget for 2009 that Congress approved this year.

KM Chair Ruperto Aleroza said that it takes at least Php1 million (USD20,720) to run a single production cycle using a fish cage, way beyond the means of small fishers. Neither will motorized boats bring more food or income to their households, he said.

“As it is, the stimulus fund will not benefit small fishers in this time of economic and financial crisis. Motorized boats will only result in more overfishing and dwindling fish stocks due to poor fisheries management in most nearshore fishing grounds. What fishing communities need are livelihood programs that complement fishing activities while fishery regulations are implemented to allow fishery resources to recover,” he explained.

Aleroza noted that funding small-scale sustainable aquaculture and fish processing for fishing communities would be more beneficial.

The Agriculture Department and the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) got Php48 billion on top of Php2.5 billion from the economic stimulus fund. Full story

Dwindling tuna catch in Mindanao linked to global warming
GENERAL SANTOS, 3 Mar 2009 (IRIN) – Tuna catch landed at General Santos City, the country’s tuna capital, has reportedly declined in recent months, and a drop in orders from the US last year due to the financial crisis has added to the city’s concerns.

Local fishermen told IRIN the tuna have migrated beyond the reach of the pamariles, a wooden-hulled vessel commonly used here for tuna fishing.

"We've travelled as far as 300km from our shores, and the great fish is still difficult to find," Captain Eric Inong said. "We caught fewer than 40 tuna, and we have to share the profits after deducting our expenses."

"I do not know what global warming is, but what I know is that it suddenly rains and the weather changes quickly. When that happens, the tuna swim deep and migrate to other parts, making it difficult for us to chase after them," said Inong, a 36-year-old father of three and third-generation tuna fisherman. His boat, the Lenneth-Jane, is the family lifeline.

The tuna industry contributes about 60% to the economy of General Santos City, generating employment for nearly 100,000 people. Average daily storage capacity of tuna has topped 750T, and the government, with official development assistance from Japan, in 1999 built a 32-ha fish port that is now the Philippines' second largest.

While ships laden with tuna continue to arrive at the port, the catch has been dwindling and the city is beginning to feel the pinch. Mayor Pedro Acharon said the Philippines used to be the fourth largest tuna producer in the world, averaging 500,000T, or 8% of the total annual catch in 2006. As of last year, the Philippines ranked seventh, reflecting the marked slowdown in local tuna production.

"I would like to believe this is seasonal, and they will come back to our rich fishing grounds," Acharon said. "These are very mobile fish. They are also affected by the weather; if it becomes too hot on the surface they dive to depths that are difficult to reach, and if it is cool they normally surface, but that also means it is difficult to catch them because of storms and heavy rain."

A major factor in the decline in the catch may be depleted stocks.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization's annual report for 2008, the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report released on 2 March, noted “considerable degradation and overfishing of coastal [tuna] stocks” in the region (Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam), “most dramatically in the Gulf of Thailand and along the east coast of Malaysia."

Acharon said many tuna fishermen have had to chase the fish to boundaries near Indonesia and some had been detained there for illegal fishing.

Bayani Fredeluces, executive director of the Socksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries, and an expert in tuna migration patterns, said the fish were increasingly seeking cooler seas away from the Philippine territorial waters. He said global warning affected ocean currents, and the tuna would naturally follow temperatures that best suited them. Full story

Small fishermen deliver best tuna catch
GENERAL SANTOS CITY, 29 Jan 2009 (RS Sarmiento/BusinessWorld)— Theirs may be small boats but this group of fishermen is responsible for delivering the premium yellowfin tuna catches that ironically would not be available to most Filipinos.

"It’s not anymore the big fishing boats that bring in the best tuna catch but the small ones owned by poor fishermen," Rolly Puno, a fish classifier from TSP Marine Ventures, Inc., told BusinessWorld.

Normally confined to the "sentro," these small boats stay out in the sea for only a few days, Puno said, so their catch is considered "fresher" than that of bigger boats.

Sentro is the fishing area covering the seas off Maasim and Kiamba, Glan in Sarangani province and Tawi-Tawi, among others within the Philippine territorial limit.

Small fishermen often have a starting capital of P3,000 to P5,000 for a fishing expedition that would last two or three days.

Unlike small boats, bigger hand-line fishing boats that have the capacity to hold approximately 150 pieces of mature tuna need to stay in the high seas for around a month to recover their starting capital of anywhere from P300,000 to P500,000.

Based on a study of his company, Puno said that only 7% of the catch of the bigger boats is qualified for fresh export because of the longer period of time they spend at sea. Full story

RP dealers to cut reef fish exports -- WWF
MANILA, 26 Feb 2009 (AFP) -- Live fish traders have accepted a quota plan designed to cut the coral trout catch and prevent a collapse of the reef fish industry, the World Wildlife Fund said.

The agreement, signed on the western island of Palawan, would cut the live reef fish catch by 27%, or around 200 tons a year.

It aims to arrest the serious decline in the resource, which the international conservation group estimates could disappear by 2020 if current fishing practices and international demand continue.

The Philippines is the biggest supplier of coral trout, the most highly valued live reef fish, to seafood hubs such as Hong Kong and China.

Palawan supplies around 60% of all Philippine fish, it added. Full story

Fishers fear proposed tourism law will displace them
15 Mar 2009 (J Guste/Ibon Features in PinoyPress.net) – Fisherfolk representatives have expressed fear that the passage of a proposed Tourism Act of 2009 could intensify the conversion of lands and privatization of coastal areas, and ultimately lead to large-scale physical and economic displacement of farmers and fishers.

The proposed law will create the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) and Tourism Economic Zones (TEZ) in “any geographic area that is capable of being defined into one contiguous territory; has historical and cultural significance, environmental beauty, or existing or potential integrated leisure facilities within its bounds or within reasonable distances from it.”

The fisherfolk network Pambansang Lakas ng mga Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas also scored the recent declaration (through Executive Order 647) of 21 barangays in Nasugbu, Batangas as a major tourism destination. They said this effectively converts 21 farming and fishing villages covering 14,000ha or half of Nasugbu’s total land area into tourism areas, and displace 63,000 farmers and fishers from their sources of livelihood. Full story

Philippines fishery official calls for mangrove reforestation
2 Feb 2009 (R. Alluad/Business Mirror in ICSF) -- Fishery officials have revived a campaign to reforest mangrove and watershed areas in the coastal towns of Cagayan Valley.

Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources regional director Jovita Ayson said the campaign would focus on rehabilitating the mangroves around the municipal waters of the region’s coastal towns of Palanan, Maconacon, Divilacan and Dinapigue in Isabela and Aparri, as well as Buguey, Pamplona, Sanchez Mira, Claveria, Ballesteros and Santa Ana in Cagayan. Coastal residents in these towns would be tapped to help manage and protect the mangroves. Full story

Fishermen, residents oppose demolition of houses around Manila Bay
23 Feb 2009 (J San Juan/Business Mirror in ICSF) -- Several groups of fishermen and individuals have asked the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) from using the Court’s December 18, 2008 ruling to justify the demolition of their houses along the coastal towns of Manila Bay.

In its December 18 ruling, the Court directed the DENR, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), local governments and other government agencies to undertake joint efforts to clean up Manila Bay so that it would be fit for swimming, skin diving and other forms of recreation.

The petitioners led by Pambansang Lakas ng mga Mamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) and Anakpawis Partylist Group asked the Court, through their lawyer Jobert Pahilga, to order the DENR to stop dismantling their houses and destroying their fish pens on Manila Bay.

“The decision of the Honorable Court dated December 18, 2008 does not warrant or suggest that the rights of small fishermen on Manila Bay be trampled upon. Nothing in the decision gives the respondents, especially the DENR, the authority to demolish and destroy the houses and source of livelihood of the movants,” the petitioners said.

They insisted that the structures they have put up on Manila Bay were not the source of pollution or contamination of its waters but the source of their livelihood. The majority of the toxic chemicals polluting the Manila Bay, according to the petitioners, were coming from factories and companies surrounding it.

The petitioners said almost 60% of pollution entering Manila Bay comes through the Pasig River, and 80% of the pollution comes from industries and commercial establishments along the river. Another 15% of the pollution that gets into Manila Bay comes from Pampanga River, which is colonized by big and small polluting factories. Full story

Crab trader leads protection effort in one of country’s richest fishing grounds
CAWAYAN, Masbate, 1 Mar 2009 (DO Calleja/Business Mirror) – A campaign to stop illegal fishing in Asid Gulf between the Bicol Region and Western Visayas is being spearheaded by a man known as the “crab king” of Bicol.

Arturo Marcaida Jr, who owns and runs a multi-million peso crabmeat processing facility in this town, is his community’s leading advocate of non-destructive fishing and the protection of mangroves. As president of Peña Fisherfolks Association (PEFA), he not only heads the local sea patrol group that actively runs after illegal fishers, but also tries to influence other fellow fishers to practice sustainable fishing.

Marcaida, for example, instructs fishers that supply crabs for his processing plant to avoid harvesting berried crabs or those that are about to spawn, as well as endangered marine species. Those are accidentally caught are returned to the sea or placed in a special hatchery.

Marcaida has mastered the peculiarities of the sea and fish and crab behavior in relation to water temperature, wind direction, lunar and tidal cycles. He and his group have adopted catch-location testing that enables them to determine what time and where the fish usually gather.

“They know when to drop their nets and when to haul them,” observed Dr. Jose Dayao of Department of Agriculture’s Regional Fisheries Unit in Bicol.

Marcaida had also instilled among his fellow fishermen that fishing should be a team effort and the bounty of the sea generously shared. Thus, when a group of fishermen chances upon a school of fish, they would signal another group nearby to join them.

His efforts appear to be paying off: Asid Gulf has maintained its classification as one of the few remaining seawaters in the country which has not been overfished and whose production capacity has not been depleted to an alarming level, said Dayao. Full story

RP, Papua New Guinea sign MoU on fisheries
MANILA, 30 Mar 2009 (J Guinto/Inquirer.net) – The Philippines and Papua New Guinea entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would enhance the cooperation between the two countries on the development of fisheries, Malacañang said.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and Papua New Guinea Fisheries Minister Ben Semri signed the MoU at the Shangri-La Resort and Spa in Boracay Island on Monday, following a bilateral meeting between President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Michael Somare, the Palace said.

The MoU will facilitate technology transfer in aquaculture development, promotion of shipping ventures, investments, technical training, joint research, and “strategic complementation” of each country’s plans in the “Coral Triangle” – or the waters between the Philippines, Indonesia, and the Pacific Islands, according to a statement released by Malacañang. Full story

Philippines sardine canner seeks to double production
2 Mar 2009 (DT Wee/Business World) – Sardine maker Mega Fishing Corp. is building a Php400-million (US$8.2-million) manufacturing plant in Zamboanga City, Philippines, that will allow it to double its daily production capacity to 1.2 million cans of sardines.

Company President William Tiu Lim said the new plant seeks to meet the growing demand for canned sardines both from the domestic and export markets.

"With this new plant we can fill the orders coming in," he said, adding that the present production capacity is not enough to respond to huge orders particularly from clients abroad.

Manufacturers of canned sardines in this city control almost 90% of the country’s canned sardine market.

Mr. Lim said they were in the process of buying new machineries such as coal-fired broilers, power generator sets and wastewater facilities from their suppliers abroad. "Based on our timetable, we expect the new plant to be fully operational by October this year," he told BusinessWorld. With the expansion, Mr. Lim said, they expect to widen their foothold in the local market by 70% in the next five years, while augmenting export production by half.

Mega Fishing, which is behind the Mega brand of sardines, is one of the three out of 10 sardine makers here that are into exports. Its products are sold in at least 45 countries. Full story

Rare shark killed and eaten by fishermen
07 Apr 2009 – Fishers in Donsol have accidentally caught and then eaten one of the rarest sharks in the world, environmental group WWF has said.

The megamouth shark is one of the most elusive species in the world - so rare that the one devoured by the fishermen was only the 41st ever to be spotted.

The four-meter, half-ton fish was accidentally snared by fishermen trawling for mackerel off the coast of Donsol.

A WWF representative said the shark was butchered and its meat sautéed in coconut milk as a local delicacy, against the organization's advice.

Ironically, the coastal town of Donsol has earned a global reputation for marine conservation.Full story

106 Filipino fishermen detained in Indonesia
26 Feb 2009 (E Regalado/Philippine Star) – At least 106 Filipino fishermen are now detained in various prison cells in East Indonesia for reportedly fishing illegally in that country's territorial waters.

Cresente Relacion, Philippine Consul General based here in Manado, said the fishermen were caught in different parts of East Indonesia on separate occasions starting October last year.

Aside from those presently detained, there were 138 others who were already repatriated back into the country two months ago, Relacion said.

Filipino fishermen detained here are usually sent home aboard either a commercial flight or on a Philippine Navy vessel because Indonesian authorities also seize their fishing boats upon arrest. Relacion said that most of the detained fishermen were already due for repatriation. He explained that the consulate assists the imprisoned fishermen by helping them in processing their repatriation. Full story

Philippines marine reserve could mitigate climate change effects
16 Feb 2009 (PIA) -- The Sagay Marine Reserve (SMR) in Sagay City, Negros Occidental, the Philippines, could help reduce the effects of climate change by moving beyond the usual conventional monitoring programs into adopting a holistic approach to the problem.

Michelle Reyes of SMR said the program is incorporating mitigation measures into management plans to protect the 32,000 hectare marine area.

Reyes said that they are drawing up action plans to address threats to the marine reserve, including protection of its 500-ha natural and man-made mangroves and coral reefs.

The Sagay Marine Reserve was established in 2001 through Republic Act 9106 and has since been protected by the government. Full story

Proposed coal plant in Sarangani opposed
DAVAO CITY, 19 Feb 2009 (LRC-KsK/FoE Phils) -- The world-renowned "Tinoto-Tampuan Reef" in Maasim, Saranggani Province is under threat with the construction of the 200MW Kamanga Power Plant (KPP), environmental groups said.

The Alcantara-controlled Conal Holdings Corporation (CHC) plans to build the KPP – a coal-fired power plant (CFPP) – in a 55 hectare area along the coast of Sitio Tampuan in the municipality of Maasim, close to the Kamanga Marine Protected Area (MPA).

The 140-ha Kamanga MPA, established sometime in 2006, is home to various fish species including the Napoleon wrasse, Eagle ray, jacks, unicorn fish, trigger fish, sweetlips, snappers and others, as well as pristine coral reefs. It is a habitat for many endangered species protected by international and Philippine laws including the Green turtle, Hawksbill turtle, Dugong and Napoleon wrasse.

“We will continue to oppose the project and there will be no let up in our campaign until they abandon the plan of putting up the CFPP anywhere in the region" said Fr. Romy Catedral of the Social Action Center –Diocese of Marbel.

CHC is a joint venture company of Alsons (or Alcantara and sons) Consolidated Resources or ACR (60%) and EGCO International (BVI) Limited (40%), a company based in Thailand.

Spain to fund coastal management project
PALAWAN, 2 Feb 2009 (R Anda/Inquirer.net>– The Spanish government will extend a grant to fund a coastal resource management project in Narra, southern Palawan, according to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatiac Resources.

BFAR director Malcolm Sarmiento said the project will include assessments of reef and marine conditions, trainings in enforcement of environmental laws and development of alternative livelihood projects. Source

Fishers in Negros Occ protest against new rules on local delicacy harvest
28 Jan 2009 (RM Tano-Arellano/ABS-CBN News) – The government of Valladolid town in Negros Occidental, has issued an order to help arrest the decline of supply of local seafood delicacy angel wings, despite opposition from local fishers.

Angel wings shellfish, locally known as "diwal," is an expensive delicacy and harvesting Diwal has become a livelihood for Valladolid fishers. Mayor Rommel Yogore recently issued an executive order limiting harvest between 5am and 10am.

Fishers opposed the new rule, saying harvest is better between 1pm and 3pm “because it is high tide,” said village chief Roy Tuale.

Yogore, however, wants that the latest order to be enforced to prevent the further depletion of diwal. "This is a temporary measure,” he said. ABS-CBN News Bacolod

First agri-fishery training center to rise in ARMM
COTABATO CITY, 2 Feb 2009 (PIA) -- The first Agriculture and Fisherfolks Training Center in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao will be constructed in Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

The facility, to be built with support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will serve as a venue for various agricultural & fishery trainings in the region. Full story

RP, Bahrain create panel for joint agro-fisheries projects
MANILA, 16 Feb 2009 (GMANews TV) – The Philippines and Bahrain have formed a joint committee to oversee the implementation of a newly sealed accord that aims to establish a general framework for cooperation for the two countries in the fields of agriculture and fisheries.

Agriculture Undersecretary Berna Romulo Puyat and Marriz Agbon, the president of the Philippine Agriculture Development and Commercial Corporation (PADCC) will represent the country in the said panel.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap on behalf of the Philippines and Minister Hassan A. Fakhro of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Bahrain signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU).

The joint committee will meet twice a year—one meeting to be held in Manama and the other in Manila—to study and come up with detailed programs for cooperation in the areas of agriculture and fisheries between the two countries.

Under the MOU, the Philippines and Bahrain have committed to reinforce bilateral cooperation in the areas of plant science, crop technology, vegetable and fruit preservation, biotechnology, post-harvest technology, livestock and fisheries, organic agriculture, aquaculture, coastal and deep-sea fishing management, irrigation and water resources, and the halal industry. Full story

Coastal Cleanup 2008 collects more than 1M trash items from Philippine coasts
MANILA, 14 Mar 2009 (A Papa/Philippine Daily Inquirer) -- The Philippines ranks second in the world for most trash recovered from its oceans, an international conservation group has revealed.

The US-based Ocean Conservancy reported that 1,355,236 items of trash were recovered from the country’s shorelines, ocean surface and underwater during the International Coastal Cleanup conducted by the group in September 2008, which involved nearly 400,000 volunteers around the world.

The results of the cleanup were presented in a report by the group titled “A Rising Tide of Ocean Debris” was released on March 10 and available on the group's website.

Topping the list of trash items were plastic bags (679,957 pieces), paper bags (253,013) and food wrappers (103,226). Also recovered were 38,394 pieces of clothing and shoes, 55,814 tobacco-related items including cigarette butts (34,154), lighters and wrappers, and 11,077 diapers.

The United States topped the list of countries with the most trash recovered, with 3,945,855 items. In third place was Costa Rica with 1,017,621 items.

Ocean Conservancy said it collected 11.4 million pieces of trash from 6,485 sites in 104 countries, including the Philippines. Full story

First baby whale shark found in Donsol --WWF
MANILA, 9 Mar 2009 (AFP) -- A baby whale shark has been found in waters off the eastern Philippines, raising hopes the world's first breeding ground for the creature may have been discovered, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said.

The whale shark, measuring just 15 inches (38 centimeters), was found in shallow water off Donsol in Sorsogon province.

Donsol is known for its large adult whale shark population but it is not known to be a breeding ground, Elson Aca of the WWF said in a statement.

In spite of all the research being done worldwide on whale sharks, to this date no one knows where they breed or give birth, the statement said. Full story

Stranded melon-headed whales rescued in Manila Bay
ORION, 10 Feb 2009 (AP in GMA News.TV) – At least 200 melon-headed whales flocked to shallow waters of Manila Bay, prompting a massive rescue by hundreds of volunteers and fishermen who used their boats and hands to drive them back to deep seas.

The unusual occurrence may have been triggered by a sea quake that could have damaged the whales' eardrums and disoriented them, or the pod could have been following a sick or injured leader, Malcolm Sarmiento, director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, said in a telephone interview.

Fishermen and villagers trooped to the beach and waded into the chest-deep water, clapping their hands and hitting the surface to drive the whales away. More than 20 boats with their engines shut guided the animals to the open sea. Full story

World

Climate change to have a big impact on marine fisheries
17 Feb 2009 (Mongabay.com>Climate change will have a big impact on marine fisheries, report scientists writing in the journal Fish and Fisheries.

A team led by William Cheung of University of East Anglia's School of Environmental Sciences developed a model that predicts the impact of changes in temperatures and currents on the distribution of more than 1,000 fish species. They found that on average, fish are likely to shift their distribution by more than 40 km (25 miles) per decade. The shift will have a substantial impact on global fisheries, especially in the tropics, which will suffer the largest loss in catch. Some countries — especially at northern latitudes — may see an increase in fish landings. Some fish species may go extinct. Full story

New study estimates illegal fishing at USD10-24 bn per year
26 Feb 2009 (RA Butler/Mongabay.com) – Global losses from illegal and unreported fishing are estimated at $10-23.5 billion per year, according to a new study published in PLoS ONE.

Analyzing fishing data from 54 countries, David J. Agnew of Imperial College London and colleagues estimate the "Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated" (IUU) fish catch at 11 to 26 million tons per each year. The authors found a strong link between governance and illegal fishing — illicit practices were most widespread in developing countries with poor monitoring and law enforcement. Estimated catches in West Africa were 40% higher than reported catches.

“This is the first time, to our knowledge, that a significant relationship has been demonstrated on a global scale between the level of illegal and unreported fishing and indices of governance, and it points to the benefits of improving governance,” the authors write. “This is not to say that developing countries with poor governance records are necessarily to blame for illegal fishing, but that they are more vulnerable to illegal activities, conducted by both their own fishers and vessels from distant water fishing nations.”

The authors note that illegal fishing is an important driver of overfishing, which depletes the marine resource base and has ecological impacts. Full story

World's major fishing nations failing on sustainability, says new study
4 Feb 2009 (The Guardian) – More than 40% of the world's fishing is carried out unsustainably and largely in defiance of international codes of conduct, according to a new study. The team that carried out the research said that voluntary schemes to prevent overfishing should be replaced with binding international laws that can better protect marine ecosystems.

Scientists graded the 53 major fishing nations -- those that take 96% of the world's marine catch -- on how their intentions matched actions in complying with the UN's code, a voluntary measure developed in 1995 as a potential way to tackle overfishing.

The code sets out criteria on how countries should implement the right type of equipment for how fish are caught and how to minimize ecosystem impacts such as catching unwanted fish species that have to be thrown back into the sea and minimizing effects on dolphins and other mammals.

Norway comes top of the list with a compliance rate of 60%, followed by the United States, Canada, Australia, Iceland and Namibia.

In the bottom 28 countries, representing more than 40% of the world's marine fish catch, the compliance rates were so poor that the authors gave them "fail" grades, meaning they complied with less than 40% of the UN code of conduct. Twelve countries in this category also failed in all or most sections of the compliance analysis.

“What is most surprising is the spread of the European Union nations 10th to 31st when all are supposed to be following a 'common fisheries policy',” said independent fisheries biologist Doug Herdson. “It can certainly be argued that things have been changing in the four years since the majority of this study was carried out; most notably the EU's maritime strategy, its discards policy, and the UK's marine bill, though none of these is yet in effect.”

He added: “The global problem is the mindset that economic necessity must override everything else, and consequent failure to recognize that no economic measure can succeed if it is not supported by a sustainable environment.”

The work, carried out by Tony Pitcher and Ganapathiraju Pramod of the fisheries centre at the University of British Columbia in Canada, Daniela Kalikoski at the Federal University of Rio Grande in Brazil and Katherine Short at WWF International in Switzerland, is published in the journal Nature. Full story

Beating poverty could save fish, researchers say
10 Feb 2009 (Arc Centre for Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in ScienceAlert) – An international team of researchers has proposed a revolutionary strategy for ending the plunder of the world’s coral reefs and destruction of their fish stocks – beating poverty.

In a major study released today of the western Indian Ocean the team shows that reef fisheries are in far better condition where the society is more highly developed or where there is little or no development – than in places where the society is developing.

Most studies about the human impacts on reefs focus on the negative role of human populations. This novel study went a step further, exploring how socioeconomic development can actually play a positive role in sustaining coral reefs.

“We found that fisheries were in good shape where traditional village fishing rules still prevailed or where the society was developed enough for national governments to properly regulate reef fisheries” says lead author Dr Josh Cinner of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University. “But reef fisheries tend to be in the worst condition in places that are part-way up the development ladder, where they have the technology to plunder them but not the institutions to protect them.”

“Many fishermen in these places are caught in a ‘poverty trap’ where, despite declining catches, they are too poor to be able to get out of the fishery and sometimes resort to using highly destructive gear to make ends meet. This, of course, further damages the fishery and leads to a cycle of poverty and reef destruction.”

“When we only looked at human population, we found the same depressing results as most other studies - that reef fisheries tended to be in the worst shape where populations were highest. But when we included socioeconomic development, we found something novel -- that development was much more influential than population in the condition of reef fisheries.

Dr Cinner says the news is encouraging because it suggests that, with a combination of approaches, a society can make it through the development phase without ruining its coral reef fisheries. Full story

Planned treaty will close ports to fish pirates
ROME, 3 Feb 2009 (FAO) – Representatives of over 60 countries have made significant progress in negotiating a binding international agreement aimed at closing ports to ships involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Following five days of talks chaired by Brazil's Fabio Hazim last week at the headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the general outlines for an international agreement or treaty on "port State measures" that would deny vessels engaged in IUU fishing access to fishing ports are largely in place.

After the agreement becomes active, fishing vessels that wish to land will be required to request permission from specially designated ports ahead of time, transmitting information on their activities and the fish they have on board -- this will give authorities an opportunity to assess and detect possible problems prior to docking.

Information-sharing networks will enable countries to deny port access to any vessel previously reported as involved in IUU fishing by other agreement participants or by regional fisheries management organizations. And the designated landing ports will be equipped to undertake inspections of boats in order to monitor for evidence of IUU fishing activities.

However, final details of the agreement still need to be ironed out in a future round of talks, whose date has yet to be determined.

Port State measures are widely viewed as one of the best and most efficient ways to fight IUU fishing. Operating without proper authorizations, catching protected species, using outlawed types of gear or disregarding catch quotas are among the most common IUU fishing offences.

While there are ways to combat IUU fishing at sea, they are often expensive and for developing countries in particular can be difficult to implement, given the large ocean spaces that need to be covered and the costs of the required technology.

"Strong oversight of fishing vessels at the ports where they land fish and refuel, take on supplies or make repairs will allow countries to cast a wider and more tightly woven anti-IUU net," said FAO's David Doulman. Full story

Little scope for increasing fisheries output, says FAO
9 Mar 2009 (Business Standard) -- Fisheries production potential of the oceans has been fully exploited, leaving little scope for increasing marine catches any further. The growth in fisheries output in future will come largely from aquaculture (fish rearing), the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) indicated in the latest edition of the ‘State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture.’

This will have significant implications on livelihood of fishing communities as well as on the nutrition pattern of people, especially those living in small island nations, which depend on marine produce for both livelihood and food, the report said.

The report points to over-exploitation of marine fisheries resources in several regions, jeopardizing sustainability of capture fisheries. More than half (52%) of the wild fish stocks are fully exploited and are producing fish catches that are close to their maximum sustainable limits.

“Nearly 19 per cent of the major commercial marine fish stocks monitored by the FAO are overexploited, 8 per cent are depleted and 1 per cent is ranked as recovering from depletion,” said the report.

Areas with the highest proportions of fully-exploited stocks are the Western Indian Ocean, the Northeast Atlantic and the Northwest Pacific.

The report attributes this to over capacity in the capture fishing sector due to deployment of too many fishing boats and highly effective fishing technologies, besides illegal fishing. There are around 2.1 million motorized fishing fleets in the world. Of them, some 23,000 are large-tonnage industrialized vessels. Full story

WWF estimates 40% of global fisheries catch is wasted or unmanaged
15 Apr 2009 (WWF in Science Centric) -- Nearly half of the world's recorded fish catch is unused, wasted or not accounted for, according to estimates in a new scientific paper co-authored by WWF, the global conservation organization.

The paper, "Defining and estimating global marine fisheries bycatch", estimates that each year at least 38 million tons of fish, constituting at least 40% of what is taken from our oceans by fishing activities, is unmanaged or unused and should be considered bycatch.

“The health of our oceans cannot be restored and fisheries sustainably managed if 40% of the global fishing catch is unused or unmanaged,” says James P. Leape, Director General, WWF International.

When fishing vessels go to sea, they go after their so called ‘target’ catch, but as most fishing gear is unselective, fishing fleets also catch millions of tonnes of other marine life, commonly known as bycatch. The catch of so called ‘non-target’ fish and marine creatures often occurs with no oversight or management.

In redefining bycatch as anything fishers take from our oceans that is ‘unused or unmanaged,’ the paper's estimates go well beyond previous global estimates, which focus mainly on catch which is thrown away and vary from 7 to 27 million tons a year. Full story

Overfishing imperils ocean life, says study
3 Mar 2009 (J Kay/SFGate) – The stars of the ocean - bluefin tuna, salmon, whales and seabirds - suffer from dwindling food supplies as a result of heavy fishing driven by the demands of fish farms and climate change, according to a study released Monday.

Seven of the world's 10 largest commercial fisheries include small fish such as herring, anchovy, pollock, mackerel and whiting, which support the vast ocean web of big fish, marine mammals and birds, said the study by Oceana, a worldwide environmental group.

The loss of food at the bottom of the ocean food chain harms a range of species, resulting in malnutrition, death of offspring or disruption in migration and breeding patterns, Margot Stiles, lead author and Oceana marine biologist, said Monday.

“These fish may be small. They're not glamorous. But they do all of the work in the ocean,” Stiles said. “They're the foundation of the food web. Without them, we would lose the things we really care about -- the seabirds, whales, tuna and salmon.”

Most small prey, or forage fish, are being caught at maximum levels or are currently overexploited, the study said.

Oceana and another group, Ocean Conservancy, are asking for catch limits that would protect existing fisheries. They also want prohibitions on starting new fisheries of prey species. Full story

Sea fishing 'the most dangerous job in the world', says FAO
3 Mar 2009 (Morningstaronline.co.uk) – A United Nations agency reported on Monday that fishing at sea is the most dangerous job in the world. The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said that around 24,000 people die every year out of a total of about 15 million workers engaged in full-time marine fishing.

The death rate is higher than the average rate for other dangerous jobs such as quarrying, logging and coal mining. The FAO blamed cost-cutting and the poor quality of many fishing vessels. Full story

Biomass of the world's fish estimated
VANCOUVER, 15 Jan 2009 (T Carman/Vancouver Sun) -- We’re often told that there are plenty of fish in the sea, but just how much is plenty? Two billion tons, according to a University of B.C. researcher.

Associate professor Villy Christensen from the UBC Fisheries Centre, along with a team of scientists from the U.S. and U.K., has published the first estimates of the total biomass of fish in the world in today’s edition of the journal Science.

They also uncovered a previously unrecognized role of fish as a buffer against climate change. Fish excrete the calcium as pellets of a chalk-like substance, calcium carbonate, called “gut rocks,” This process is separate from food digestion.

The carbon dioxide emissions linked to global warming also make the oceans more acidic. Oceans that are too acidic kill coral, dissolve animal shells and harm zooplankton, the tiny animals near the bottom of the food chain, Christensen explained in an interview. The “gut rocks” produced by fish raise the pH of the ocean, making it less acidic.

“The oceans are a big buffer against climate change,” Christensen said. “If we had only land, we would have been fried by now. It’s the oceans that keep the planet going.”

Two billion tons of fish in the world is enough to sustain fisheries and play this important role in the carbon cycle, Christensen said. But, there are big differences between the health of fish stocks in the open ocean and those on the coast, which he said researchers have cause to be concerned about.

Fisheries, like forests, need to be managed. If fishing were to cease altogether, the ocean would be full of older fish that don’t process calcium as efficiently, Christensen said. At the same time, overfishing can upset the entire food chain.

“Fisheries are good. Clear-cutting is bad,” he said. Full story

UN chief urges leaders at Davos to forge “green new deal” to fight world recession
NEW YORK, 29 Jan 2009 -- Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the world’s business and other leaders to use the current economic crisis to launch a global “Green New Deal” that creates jobs and fights climate change by investing in renewable energy and technological development.

“Climate change threatens all our goals for development and social progress. Indeed, it is the one true existential threat to the planet,” he told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in a speech that drew parallels from the Global Compact of corporate responsibility launched 10 years ago by then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the same hall.

“On the other hand, it also presents us with a gilt-edged opportunity. By tackling climate change head-on we can solve many of our current troubles, including the threat of global recession. We stand at a crossroads. It is important that we realize we have a choice. We can choose short-sighted unilateralism and business as usual. Or we can grasp global cooperation and partnership on a scale never before seen.”

Just as Annan had launched a Compact that sought to give a human face to the global market, challenging business to embrace universal principles and partner with the UN on big issues, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that seek to slash poverty, hunger, lack of access to health care and education and a host of other social ills by 2015, so now the time has came for what Ban called “Global Compact 2.0.”

“We live in a new era. Its challenges can all be solved by cooperation – and only by cooperation,” he said, stressing how the earlier compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, involves over 6,000 business participants in more than 130 countries, pioneering new standards of “best practice” in human rights and labor law, helping to protect the environment, fight against corruption and promote health, education and infrastructure.” Full story

UN body provokes outrage with call for more fish farming
2 Mar 2009 (F Pope/Times Online) – Environmentalists reacted with fury last night after a United Nations body recommended a big increase in fish farming to meet rising global demand.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said that increasing global demand for fish should be met through intensive fish farming amid falling wild populations.

“If overall production is to keep pace with an expanding world population, and given the strong likelihood that capture fisheries will remain stagnant, future growth will have to come from aquaculture,” it said in a report.

World aquaculture has grown dramatically in the past 50 years. In the early 1950s less than a million tons was produced. By 2006 this had risen to 51.7million tons, with a value of $78.8billion (£55billion) — approaching half the total global fish consumption of 110.4 million tons.

China accounts for much of the rise, consuming 33.6 million tons in 2005, or 26.1kg per person. China has also had a boom in aquaculture: almost six out of ten farmed fish globally were reared in China.

Differences in feeding habits, though, could present a stumbling block to bringing Asian-style aquaculture to the West. Cod and salmon — two of the most popular fish in Britain — are both predators, unlike the herbivorous carp that is favored in the East. Rather than feeding on aquatic plants, cod and salmon must be fed on other fish that are sourced from the wild. Between 1992 and 2006 the amount of fishmeal used to feed farmed fish grew by almost 300 per cent.

The FAO recommendations provoked a backlash from pressure groups. Willie Mackenzie, of Greenpeace, said: “We've totally trashed our wild fish populations so now we need to farm them. It just doesn't make sense to catch fish to feed to fish — you lose four to five times the weight and that's without all the problems of infestations, escapes and pollution from the farms.” Full story

Shrimp fisheries under scrutiny -- FAO
16 Feb 2009 (TheFishSite.com) -- Reducing fishing capacity and limiting access to shrimp fisheries is likely to mitigate overfishing, bycatch and seabed destruction, some of the major economic and environmental side-effects of shrimp fishing, according to a new report published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The Global study of shrimp fisheries reviews current problems and solutions of shrimp fishing in ten selected countries: Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Kuwait, Madagascar, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States.

“For millions of poor vulnerable households, shrimp fishing is an important source of cash and employment,” said Jeremy Turner, Chief of the FAO Fishing Technology Service.

“But shrimp fishing is also associated with overfishing, capture of juveniles of ecologically important and economically valuable species, coastal habitat degradation, illegal trawling, the destruction of seagrass beds and conflicts between artisanal and industrial fisheries,” Turner said. "With a precautionary and ecosystem approach, many of the problems caused by shrimp fishing can be mitigated - shrimp fishing, including shrimp trawling, is certainly manageable. Promoting sustainable shrimp fishing management schemes, reducing fishing capacity and addressing the issue of open access are crucial to offer shrimp fisheries a secure future. In restricted access regimes with secure tenure, there is a long-term relationship between fishers and the fishery resource, hence a powerful incentive for conserving shrimp resources for the future."

The report cites Australia's prawn fisheries and some cold-water shrimp fisheries as some of the best managed fisheries in the world, based on fishers' participation, managed bycatch, reduced discards and the use of property rights in management. Full story

Tuna will be wiped out by 2012 if overfishing is not stopped, say environmental groups
15 Apr 2009 (Mail Online) – Tuna will be wiped out by 2012 unless overfishing is stopped, environmental groups have warned. If current quotas are maintained, the breeding population of Atlantic bluefin tuna will have disappeared in three years, it is claimed.

The population can only be saved by a complete halt to fishing in May and June, when the fish swim to the Mediterranean to spawn, the WWF says.

The call comes as the two month tuna fishing season begins. “Bluefin tuna is collapsing as we speak and yet the fishery will kick off for business as usual,' said Sergi Tudela, of WWF. 'It is absurd and inexcusable to open a fishing season when stocks of the target species are collapsing.”

Demand from Japan, where the fish is served as sushi, has seen the Mediterranean fishing fleet increase over the past decade. Full story

UN sets gold standard for reducing seabird bycatch
3 Mar 2009 (Birdlife.org) -- The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has agreed on a ground-breaking set of best practice guidelines to reduce the accidental deaths of seabirds in fisheries. The new guidelines extend the scope of the FAO’s seabird action plan from just longline fisheries, to also include trawling gear and gill-nets.

Welcoming the new guidelines, Dr Ben Sullivan, Coordinator of BirdLife International’s Global Seabird Programme said: “These Best Practice Technical Guidelines set the gold standard for how fishing nations around the world should take simple, practical steps to halt the appalling loss of seabirds in fishing gear.” Up till now, the FAO’s seabird action plan has only addressed longline fisheries, in which seabirds get caught and drowned while trying to snatch bait from hooks on lines targeting tuna, swordfish, toothfish and other high value stocks.

The new guidelines extend the scope to address what countries can and should do to also reduce bycatch of seabirds in trawling gear and gill-nets. The scope is also extended from fishing nations to the Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) which govern fisheries on the high seas. New standards are set for research and data collection, education, and observer programs. Full story

Group to formalize community-based adaptation to climate change
JOHANNESBURG, 2 Mar 2009 (IRIN) - The impact of climate change is going to affect the poorest communities the most, so the focus has shifted to formalizing community-based adaptation (CBA) to climate change, which will help the poorest and most vulnerable” to access funding and information.

“Even with the best of intentions and lots of money being made available by the international community towards adaptation to climate change, it will only trickle down to the poorest and most vulnerable (as is our experience of development funding in general in the past),” said Saleemul Huq, head of the climate change group at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

Huq explained by email that CBA is “still an ‘aspirational’ term that (we hope) will describe the universe of adaptation to climate change activities being done by very vulnerable and poor communities (mostly in developing countries but not necessarily only there) over time. We are still at a very early stage of developing the methodology and definitions.”

Many such activities are taking place in Bangladesh, identified as among the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, such as sea level rise, increased flooding, salinity, and frequent droughts in some areas.

As the rains have become more intense and frequent over the years, villagers struggling with waterlogged fields in parts of southern Bangladesh have been growing food on floating islands of paddy straw, water hyacinths and other aquatic plants; hydroponics, or soil-less agriculture, is another way of adapting to "climate variability", as Huq put it.

The distinction between adaptation to climate change and adaptation to climate variation is often blurred. Climate variability refers to the variations in the mean climate statistics, while climate change refers to long-term significant change in average weather, including climate variability.

The focus is now on “clubbing” all community-based adaptation activities under the term "community-based adaptation (CBA) to climate change", said Huq. “So it is still a work-in-progress to define CBA to Climate Change (as opposed to CBA to Climate Variability).”

The UK-based Institute for Development Studies has set up a website for exchanging information () on CBA to inform NGOs and communities. Google Earth is also working with governments to map adaptation projects globally. Full story

UN agencies, corporations to fight alien species in ships’ ballast tanks
NEW YORK, 2 Mar 2009 -- The threats of marine bio-invasions, caused by the transfer of alien plants and animals in ships’ ballast tanks, will be fought by United Nations agencies partnered with shipping corporations, the UN International Maritime Agency (IMO) said.

According to IMO’s findings, an estimated 10 billion tons of ballast water are being carried around the globe each year, and more than 3,000 species of plants and animals are being transferred daily.

As a result, a serious environmental threat has developed, caused by the introduction of alien aquatic plants and animals to new ecosystems, which may not be able to deal with the imported species.

In many areas of the world, the effects have been devastating, since, once these invasive species are established, they are extremely difficult to eradicate, IMO said.

The introduction of the comb jelly (mnemiopsis leidyi) to the Black and Azov Seas caused a near extinction of anchovy and sprat fisheries and the introduction of the zebra mussel (dreissena polymorpha) in the Great Lakes required multibillion dollar controls and the cleaning of underwater structures and pipelines.

The Global Industry Alliance (GIA), launched today at IMO’s headquarters in London to tackle this global environmental problem, is an innovative partnership between IMO, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and four major private shipping corporations.

The international community has developed a regulatory framework for ballast water management, culminating in the adoption by IMO Member States, in 2004, of the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments.

The Alliance will assist the development of cost-effective ballast water treatment technologies that can be fitted onboard ships, and will help design new ship design options such as 'flow thru' ballast tanks and ballast-free ships.

It also aims to promote the dissemination of technology within the industry by creating ballast-water information mechanisms and developing training tools targeted at the maritime industry. Source

Leading scientists at UN forum call for action to halt rising acidity of world’s oceans
NEW YORK, 30 Jan 2009 (UN News) -- Greenhouse gases are putting the world’s oceans at risk of becoming too acidic to support coral reefs and marine life, warned over 150 scientists who today called on governments to take immediate action to sharply reduce carbon dioxide emissions in a declaration drafted as a result of a United Nations conference.

The leading marine scientists noted in the Monaco Declaration on Ocean Acidification that levels of acidity were accelerating and that its negative socio-economic impacts can only be limited by cutting back on the amounts of greenhouse gases released to the atmosphere.

The Declaration is based on a report outlining the most important areas of research related to oceanic pollution, which was developed by participants attending a UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) symposium last year called “The Ocean in a High-CO2 World.” Full story

Manado Ocean Declaration will be non-binding, says Indonesian Government
18 Mar 2009 (AP Simamora/The Jakarta Post) -- The draft for the Manado Ocean Declaration, calling for mitigation and adaptation to climate change in oceans and marine life, will be tabled at a United Nations plenary meeting in New York this November.

Indonesia, which will host the first international ocean conference in Manado, North Sulawesi, said the declaration would, however, be non-binding for participating countries. “It is a non-binding output. For us, it is a big achievement if all invited countries agree with the Manado declaration,” Indroyono Soesilo, secretary of the national organizing committee, said at a press conference Tuesday.

The UN plans to hold a plenary meeting on Nov. 11-15 with one session allocated to discuss ocean issues. “We have received positive input from all over the world about the conference,” said Indroyono, who is also a technical adviser to Coordinating Minister for the People’s Welfare Aburizal Bakrie.

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi earlier expressed hope the UN would accept the declaration and make it legally binding. In a meeting with the House of Representatives, Freddy said he hoped the UN would organize a Conference of Parties (COP) to follow up on the Manado declaration.

The World Ocean Conference from May 11 to May 15 aims to raise global awareness of the need to save small islands and coastal areas, protect and conserve fish stocks and increase preparedness to manage disasters caused by climate change. Overfishing and pollution problems in the Coral Triangle area — bordered by Indonesia, Timor Leste, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands — will also be discussed. Full story

Hope for Coral Triangle fishermen in Southeast Asia
14 Apr 2009 (IRIN) -- In the coastal areas of Riau Province on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, fishermen who once saw their livelihoods hit by declining fish stocks are beginning to see their catch increase again. According to the oceanography research centre of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, this is the result of community-based efforts to protect the area’s coral reefs and keep the waters safe from illegal fishing.

The Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI), which covers maritime areas around the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, hopes to replicate efforts like these, and bring hope to fishing communities. The triangle contains more than a third of all known coral species on earth, 53% of the world's coral reefs, more than 3,000 fish species, the greatest extent of mangrove forests of any region in the world, and the spawning grounds for the largest tuna fishery in the world, according to data from the CTI Secretariat. However, the triangle is under threat from overfishing, illegal fishing methods and climate change.

The destruction of the coral reefs in the triangle poses a threat to some 120 million people who depend on its marine resources, and to global tuna supplies.

Less than two years after CTI was first proposed in August 2007, a plan of action is expected to be signed by the leaders of all six participating countries during a summit on 15 May.

The plan includes commitments to effectively manage priority seascapes and marine protected areas, adopt climate change adaptation measures, and improve the status of threatened species, as well as the livelihoods and incomes of millions of people living in coastal areas within the triangle. Full story

Tuna industry launches new organization to save tuna from itself
16 Mar 2009 (J Hance/Mongabay.com) – A new group launched March 15 will focus on ensuring that tuna populations are preserved from overfishing. Called the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), the organization is composed of scientists, environmental organizations, and the tuna industry.

Greenpeace, an environmental organization not involved with ISSF, has welcomed its creation. “So far those organizations mandated to manage tuna stocks have failed to do much more than push the species to the brink of extinction,”said Sari Tolvanen, Greenpeace International oceans campaigner. “With the fishing industry clearly willing to fish itself to death, it’s great to see processors finally taking a stand. Now we need the fine words of the ISSF to be translated into real action.”

Tuna are in crisis. The large-scale failure of tuna fisheries to manage the populations has created a situation where every species and nearly all populations are in decline. Some such as Southern bluefin tuna have been classified as critically endangered in the IUCN's Redlist, but are still being fished. According to a recent study by Jeremy Jackson populations of predatory fish, including tuna, have dropped 90 percent since the 1950s. Full story

Overfishing threatens stocks of sea cucumbers – UN report
NEW YORK, 1 Apr 2009 – Stocks of sea cucumbers, found on the ocean bed worldwide and a staple in diets across Asia, are increasingly in trouble from overfishing, according to a new United Nations report released today.

Sea cucumbers, known as bêche-de-mer in French, have long been a popular ingredient in Asian cuisine and are fast gaining recognition among European chefs, helping countries like Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines export large quantities to China and other markets.

Asia and the Pacific are the top sea cucumber producing regions, generating some 20,000 to 40,000 tons per year. However, Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands, the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean and Newfoundland in Canada are also hotspots for the undersea animal.

“The fast pace of development of sea cucumber fisheries to supply growing international demand is placing most fisheries and many sea cucumber species at risk,” said the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) study. Full story

Penguins marching into trouble, partly due to overfishing
12 Feb 2009 (Wildlife Conservation Society in Eureka.org) -- A combination of changing weather patterns, overfishing, pollution, and other factors have conspired to drive penguin populations into a precipitous decline, according to long-term research funded by the Wildlife Conservation Society.

The findings were presented by University of Washington professor and WCS scientific fellow Dr. P. Dee Boersma at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Chicago. Boersma has studied Magellanic penguins in Argentina for WCS since 1982.

Boersma's data reveal that penguins at Punta Tombo are traveling farther to find food than they did just a decade ago due to changing ocean conditions and overfishing—particularly of anchovies, a favorite penguin food. This has forced some penguins to attempt to nest outside of protected areas where they often fall prey to predators. Meanwhile, changing weather patterns have also led to increased instances of heavy rains, which have caused high mortality of penguin chicks in five of the last 25 years. Full story

US scientists turn beer waste into fish food
2 Feb 2009 (W Lucas/KUSA TV) – An unlikely alliance between two former Colorado School of Mines students and the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, United States, could someday end up saving fisheries all over the world. At least that's the vision of a handful of entrepreneurs working in a sludge treatment warehouse about a quarter mile in back of the famous brewery.

Andy Logan, who has a PhD in water treatment, explains that fisheries around the world are in a state of collapse. Even replacing dying fisheries with commercial aquaculture has a way of backfiring, because lower grade fish have to be harvested from the oceans to feed to artificially grown fish.

"Fish eat other fish," Logan said."The fish meal industry sends ships out to catch non-food grade fish species and those are ground up into fish meal. But this source of fish meal is more and more limited. The production is maxed out."

"What we've done is come up with a way to make a high protein fish meal using sludge that comes from breweries," he added.

Breweries have long faced a problem in properly disposing of waste materials that come from brewing hops and barley. Much like a sewage plant, breweries have to have large settling ponds to treat the sludge.

"Large brewers spend $200 a ton to dispose of this material. We can get that material for free, and using a new bacterial process, we can process 18,000 tons a year of fish food," Logan said. "Regular fish feed has 25 to 50 percent protein. Our ingredient has 65 percent protein." Full story

Tanzania govt to install hidden cameras to nab illegal fishing vessels
11 Feb 2009 (The Zimbabwean) – In a move to curb illegal fishing, the Tanzanian government plans to install special cameras in the country's territorial waters in the Indian Ocean which would enable officials to detect unlicensed fishing vessels.

Minister for Livestock Development and Fisheries John Magufuli said the cameras would enable fisheries officials to nab vessels which fish marine products illegally and those which were not licensed by authorities.

Minister Magufuli said the number of unlicensed vessels fishing in the country's Indian Ocean waters was growing. He said according to records vessels licensed to fish in the water did not exceed 90, but currently there were over 500 vessels operating in the Indian Ocean. "These 500 vessels are robbing us of our natural resources making the government lose its income,'' he said. Full story

Global warming spurs commercial fishing moratorium in US Arctic
5 Feb 2009 (H Bernton/Seattle Times) – Spurred by global warming concerns in the United States Arctic, a federal fishery council on Thursday established a moratorium on commercial seafood harvests in a vast zone off Alaska's northern coast.

In a unanimous vote in Seattle, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council approved the plan in response to the dramatic retreat of summertime ice in Arctic waters.

The plan covers a nearly 200,000-square-mile area stretching from the Bering Strait waters near Russia to the U.S. maritime boundary with the Canadian Arctic. The plan will be forwarded to the U.S. Commerce Department for final approval, and would be a boost to State Department efforts to negotiate similar fishing closures off the Arctic coasts of Canada and the Russian Far East.

There are currently no commercial harvests in the federal waters of the U.S. Arctic, which stretch from 3 to as far as 200 miles offshore through the Chukchi and Beaufort seas.

But many believe that pressures to fish those areas will increase in the years ahead if warming waters cause a migration there of pollock and other species that now sustain major harvests farther south in the Bering Sea. Full story

Egypt: New fish farm plan threatens environment, livelihoods – NGO
DUBAI, 3 Feb 2009 (IRIN) - The northern Egyptian governorate of Kafr Al-Sheikh is planning to establish fish farms in northern parts of Lake Burullus, but a local NGO says the farms would threaten the environment and the livelihoods of local fishermen.

“We know their intentions are good. They want to create job opportunities for young people, but the negative impact of such a project on the lake and the fishermen was not considered," Mohamed Al-Feky, chairman of the General Aquatic Resources' Cooperatives Union (GARCU), a local NGO, told IRIN from his office in Cairo.

The suggested area of the farms is 772.8 hectares. “The project is designed to help local people,” said Zakaria Abu Omar, a project consultant in the governorate. “When executed, the project will increase fish production, improve the income of the people and create job opportunities.”

Experts say the lake is an important resource in the northwestern part of the Nile Delta for several thousand fishermen but they fear the project will reduce fishing areas for local fishermen. "About 50,000 fishermen depend solely on the lake for their livelihoods," Al-Feky said.

“The lake already receives large amounts of sewage, agricultural and industrial run-off - about seven million cubic metres per day,” Izzat Awadh, adviser to the agriculture minister for fishing resources, told IRIN.

Discharges from the planned farms will add to pollution, he said. “The discharged water will hold fish waste and unconsumed fodder.” Full story

World fisheries must prepare for climate change -- FAO
2 Mar 2009 (FAO) -- The fishing industry and national fisheries authorities must do more to understand and prepare for the impacts that climate change will have on world fisheries, says a new Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) report published today.

According to the latest edition of the UN agency's The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA), existing responsible fishing practices need to be more widely implemented and current management plans should be expanded to include strategies for coping with climate change.

"Best practices that are already on the books but not always implemented offer clear, established tools towards making fisheries more resilient to climate change," said Kevern Cochrane, one of SOFIA's authors. "So the message to fishers and fisheries authorities is clear: get in line with current best practices, like those contained in FAO's Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, and you've already taken important strides towards mitigating the effects of climate change."

Climate change is already modifying the distribution of both marine and freshwater species. Warmer-water species are being pushed towards the poles and experiencing changes in habitat size and productivity.

And climate change is affecting the seasonality of biological processes, altering marine and freshwater food webs, with unpredictable consequences for fish production.

For communities who heavily rely on fisheries, any decreases in the local availability of fish or increases in the instability in their livelihoods will pose serious problems.

“Many fisheries are being exploited at the top range of their productive capacity. When you look at the impacts that climate change might have on ocean ecosystems, that raises concerns as to how they'll hold up," said Cochrane.

Urgent efforts are needed to help fishery and aquaculture dependent communities to strengthen their resilience to climate change, especially those most vulnerable, he added. Full story

Shark fin out of vogue among young Asians
29 Mar 2009 (R Jennings, CK Shin/Reuters) -- Singaporean groom Han Songguang took his campaign to stop consumption of one of Asia's top delicacies to a new level when he placed postcards of a dead shark on each guest's seat at his own wedding banquet.

Instead of shark's fin soup, a must at many ethnic Chinese wedding banquets, Han offered his guests lobster soup. "If we can do our part to save 'X' number of sharks ... why not?" said Han, a geography teacher, who married a diving enthusiast in December.

Wildlife conservationists, who have long railed against the popularity of shark fin soup, are finally seeing signs that consumption is dropping as young Asians become aware of the environmental impact of this much prized dish.

Added to that is the global financial crisis, which is causing Asians to tighten their belts and either cut down on visits to restaurants or order more frugally from menus. Full story

US blocks formation of WTO panel on Mexican tuna
24 March 2009 (A Murias/FIS.com) -- The United States on Friday blocked the formation of a World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel intended to examine a suit filed by Mexico for what it considers to be the unjust closure of the US market to Mexican tuna.

In the weeks to come, the Mexican government will be able to file another complaint against the US before the WTO, one that Washington will not be able to veto, it announced.

Mexico accused the United States of "impeding the effective commercialization of Mexican tuna" in its market by not allowing exporters to use the "Dolphin Safe" label approved by the International Dolphin Conservation Programme (AIDCP).

Likewise, the US insists Mexican tuna complies with dolphin protection regulations out of a belief that Mexican methods do not ensure the survival of the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) species. Full story

Mexico's fish export problems reflect global crisis, says official
17 Mar 2009 (FIS) -- Mexican exporters are facing obstacles in exporting seafood products to markets weakened by the global crisis, said the head of the National Aquaculture and Fishing Commission (CONAPESCA), Ramon Corral Avila.

“We are self-sufficient and have a positive balance of more than USD 400 million. We are not going to have a problem with flight of capital, because we have always had more income coming in than the other way around. We are in a surplus when it comes to seafood exports,” the official contended.

At the same time, the bluefin tuna, one of Mexico's main products exported to the Japanese market, is also one of the most affected by the world crisis, Corral Avila explained. It is also becoming increasingly difficult to place Mexican abalone on the international market, despite it not being a resource that sells in large quantities. “We are producing 20,000 cased of abalone annually in Baja California, and currently there are problems placing 5,000 cases,” Corral Avila said.

“The problem we are seeing now, the most serious one, is the market; it’s because of the crisis and it is solely affecting the international market. Asia is giving us trouble, it is where we are feeling the effects the most: Japan, China, Taiwan,” said the head of CONAPESCA. Full story

Argentina's artisanal fishers want coastal fishery to be shut down
4 Mar 2009 (FIS) -- Artisanal fishers from Buenos Aires, Argentina, have called for the annulment of a temporary trawl fishing season set to take place in a three nautical-mile strip off the coast. Fishers argue the measure "is a license to wipe out coastal species and the habitat in which they breed and feed.”

The area in dispute covers the first three miles of the marine zone, where the Directorate of Maritime and River Development of the Buenos Aires Province recently authorized trawler fishing on a temporary and limited basis. Full story

Brazil signs on to high seas fishing agreement
2 Mar 2009, Rome -- Brazil today became the thirty-eighth country to become a Party to the FAO Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the High Seas.

The Compliance Agreement is one of the few international legally binding instruments that addresses fishing activities in "high seas" areas occurring outside countries' exclusive economic zones. Parties to the Agreement must actively ensure that fishing vessels flying their flag adhere to responsible fishing practices when operating on the high seas.

The Compliance Agreement is open to acceptance by any Member or Associate Member of FAO, and to any non-member State that is a member of the United Nations or of any of the specialized agencies of the United Nations or of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

It entered into force on 24 April 2003 when the twenty-fifth FAO Member, the Republic of Korea, deposited its instrument of acceptance with FAO's Director General.

The present Parties to the FAO Compliance Agreement are: Albania, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Cook Islands, Cyprus, Egypt, the European Community, Georgia, Ghana, Japan, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Peru, the Republic of Korea, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia , Seychelles, Sweden, Syrian Arab Republic, Tanzania, the United States of America, and Uruguay. Full story

Regional common fisheries policy to be established in Carribean
21 Jan 2009 (Carribeanpressreleases.com) -- Caribbean Government Ministers with responsibility for Marine Resources accompanied by technocrats from respective Fishery Departments met in conclave in Kingstown St Vincent and the Grenadines last Friday.

The Ministerial conference agreed to move forward with the establishment of a common Fisheries Policy upon which a regime would be built.

The Ministers underscored that illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is a serious threat to the region’s fisheries. The declaration is a statement of the intent by the member states to prevent and eradicate this scourge.

The Common Fisheries Policy and Regime, the draft CRFM Medium Term Plan, the draft declaration on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, the draft CRFM Operations Manual, Member State contributions, and resource mobilization were discussed. Full story

Mozambique: Africa losing over 1 billion dollars to illegal fishing
MAPUTO, 21 Jan 2009 (Earth Times) -- Sub-Saharian African countries are currently losing more than 1 billion dollars yearly due to illegal fishing in their waters, a senior government official in Mozambique revealed this week. Mozambique Deputy Fisheries Minister Victor Borges said that foreign fishing vessels were regularly spotted fishing illegally in African waters, depleting fish stocks.

“Our countries are witnessing without acting on the destruction of fisheries in the region. Every year, we estimate that we lose over one billion dollars to illegal fishing.”

For Borges, the main cause was the weak monitoring capacity of African states.

“The illegal vessels are constantly moving down to our region to fish as monitoring is strong in the north (northern hemisphere),” he said, calling for regional cooperation to stem poaching.

The Mozambique government is currently in discussions with international partners about obtaining 80 million dollars to purchase specialized vessels and aircraft to monitor its 2,500-kilometre coastline. Full story

Critics condemn ministry plan to permit trawling off central Java
15 Jan 2009 (A Ekawati/The Jakarta Globe) – Ignoring the outrage of small-scale fishermen and environmentalists, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries is now considering expanding areas zoned for commercial trawling to the Pekalongan Sea off the northern coast of Central Java Province.

The move comes on the heels of the ministry’s decision on Tuesday to increase the number of fishing licenses allowing the use of large trawl nets from 1,219 to 1,419.

The ministry decided on Jan. 7 to issue trawling rights for commercial vessels in the waters north of East Kalimantan Province, the first time the practice has been allowed in the country for 28 years.

Ali Supardan, the ministry’s general director of fisheries, said on Wednesday that the ministry had already received official letters from the Central Java provincial administration asking that trawling be permitted in the Pekalongan Sea. “We will consider the letter,” he said.

In the letter applying for the permits, Ali said, the provincial administration noted that fish populations in the Pekalongan Sea were on the verge of being overfished. The reduction in the number of fish in the area, the letter continued, meant that fishermen using small nets were bringing in meager catches.

“It is for the purpose of increasing fishermen’s income that the administration sent us the letter asking that we consider trawling in the Pekalongan Sea,” Ali said.

But many fishermen’s groups and environmentalists have criticized the move, saying it would further strain an already overexploited resource and benefit large companies more than small-scale fishermen. Full story

Resources 

Global study of shrimp fisheries
A recently-published FAO Fisheries Technical Paper presents the results of a global study on the development and status of shrimp fisheries, with a focus on direct and indirect social, economic and environmental impacts. The Global study of shrimp fisheries, now available online, reviews the current situation, problems and issues, as well as the solutions found and the trade-offs in shrimp fisheries and includes ten country case studies.

Building an Ecosystem Approach to Aquaculture
Aquaculture growth worldwide involves the expansion of cultivated areas, an increasing number of farms (all sizes), higher density of aquaculture installations and farmed individuals, and greater use of feed resources produced outside the immediate culture area. Recently-published FAO proceedings, Building an Ecosystem Approach to Aquaculture, present the output of an expert workshop organized by FAO and the Univesitat de les Balears from 7-11 May 2007 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. It includes contributed papers on definitions, principles, scales and management measures, human dimensions, economic implications and legal implications that are relevant for an ecosystem-based management in aquaculture.

Strategy and Outline Plan for Improving Information on Status and Trends of Aquaculture
The Strategy and Outline Plan for Improving Information on Status and Trends of Aquaculture, published by the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, is a voluntary instrument that applies to all States and entities. Its overall objective is to provide a framework, strategy and plan for the improvement of knowledge and understanding of status and trends of aquaculture as a basis for policy-making and management. Required actions are specified, with a primary emphasis on the need for capacity building in developing countries.

Online Regional Aquaculture Information System (RAIS)
The Regional Aquaculture Information System (RAIS) Web site, created by the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department under the aegis of the Regional Commission for Fisheries (RECOFI), is now online. RAIS aims to facilitate the exchange of aquaculture information in the Gulf area among regional experts and stakeholders and to promote and develop a sustainable aquaculture industry.

Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2008
This Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2008 report is the 5th global report since the GCRMN (Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network), was formed in 1996 as an operational network of the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI). The catalyst for GCRMN was the inability of international agencies to report objectively on the health or otherwise of the world's coral reefs. The US government then provided initial funding to set up a global network of coral reef workers to facilitate reporting on reef status; and has continued to be the major supporter of GCRMN and ICRI since the first strategies and action plans were developed in 1995.

Online GIS: Annual / December 2008 NOAA Coral Reef Watch's Satellite Monitoring Products
This map shows the global observations of coral bleaching occurrences combined with NOAA Coral Reef Watch's satellite monitoring products including Sea Surface Temperature, Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly, Bleaching HotSpot and Degree Heating Weeks. These datasets are added into ReefBase Online GIS each month.

To view the latest Annual / December 2008 maps, click here

New edition of Sharks and Rays of Australia launched
Spookfish, numbfish, stingarees, fiddler rays and cookie-cutter sharks are just some of the 322 shark, ray and chimaerid species illustrated in the latest edition of Sharks and Rays of Australia – a definitive reference by Peter Last and John Stevens of CSIRO’s Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship. Their new descriptions, and their striking portraits by watercolourist Roger Swainston, will help to guide the identification and conservation of these diverse species.

The first edition of Sharks and Rays of Australia was produced in 1994. Since then, 29 species have been discovered in Australian seas and more than 100 species have been named and formally described. As well as documenting these advances, the new edition – published by CSIRO Publishing – includes updated species classifications and descriptions, distribution maps, line illustrations by Georgina Davis, family keys and outlines of Chondrichthyan biology and interactions with humans.

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Events 

World Ocean Conference
The World Ocean Conference (WOC) 2009 is forum for the world community to discuss current issues in the marine field which are related to climate change, in order to achieve an international agreement and draw up an adaptive strategy to use of marine resources wisely for the benefit of humanity. Alongside the main WOC2009 event, there will be opportunities for scientists and experts, NGO members, and journalists to discuss the results of research and the latest developments in science and technology, and establish measures for resolving climate change related problems in the marine and coastal environment, through holding of a number of side events organized within the framework of the WOC2009.

This international conference is set to take place in Manado, North Sulawesi of Indonesia from 11-15 May 2009. For more details, please log on to the official website

2^nd Conference of Coastal Municipalities in the Philippines
The League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) has scheduled the 2nd Conference of Coastal Municipalities (2CCM) for June 24-28, 2009 in Cebu City. The 2CCM will evaluate how well the objectives and goals of LMP Resolution No.01 Series of 1999, which was adopted during the 1^st Conference of Coastal Municipalities, have been met. Also up for discusion are emerging trends in the fishery sector, such as the National Plan of Action for the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI), Mindanao 2020 and Climate Change.

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