Too late to save coral species: researchers

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Australia’s leading researchers on coral say many species will become extinct over the next 50 years.

A conference in Fremantle has looked at the effects of global warming on marine life, and specifically the effects of rising sea temperatures and acid levels.

Conference participant Doctor Bruce Russell from the Northern Territory’s Department of Natural Resources says the impact of global warming on coral is now irreversible.

“There’s not a lot we can do, but we can mitigate the effects by reducing other impacts that are likely to affect coral – for example coastal development, increased sediment loads, and the like.”

Right Whales Remain Rare and Elusive

Associated Press – Mary Pemberton

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Scientists searching for what is likely the world’s most endangered whale came up empty-handed this summer during a one-month tour of an area in the Bering Sea where Pacific right whales like to feed.

From July 31 to Aug. 28, an international team of scientists surveyed an area almost the size of New York in search of Pacific right whales, which have been teetering on extinction for decades.

“We did not see a single whale the entire time,” said Phil Clapham, team leader and chief scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. “The bottom line, they were not in the places they had traditionally been in the last six or seven years.”

This summer’s survey where scientists used high-powered binoculars and underwater listening devices is part of a larger four-year project to assess the seasonal distribution of the whales, their numbers and where they travel in the Bering Sea.

The Minerals Management Service is paying for the surveys at an annual cost of about $1 million. The research is required under the federal Endangered Species Act because the area where the whales like to spend summers overlaps an area the federal government this year approved for oil and gas development. Lease sales could begin by 2011.

The whales weren’t found this summer because it is a “cold pool year” in the Bering Sea, Clapham said. That means the water is colder than normal. The colder water likely affected the distribution of plankton, which is what the large whales feed on, he said.

Many scientists considered right whales a lost cause until a few years ago when 23 were spotted, including two with calves, in an area of the Bering Sea where they like to feed.

However, numbers remain exceedingly small, making it difficult to find them, Clapham said.

“It is very much like a needle in a haystack given there are so few animals,” he said.

Right whales have been listed as endangered since the early 1970s.

Scientists spent two weeks aboard a NOAA research vessel that departed from Dutch Harbor in late July. Scientists from Russia, the Dominican Republic, Brazil and South America joined the NOAA scientists.

For the last two weeks of the survey, the team took up the search in a 155-foot crab boat.

“We had a lot of humpbacks,” said Clapham, who for 20 years has hoped to see a right whale. “We saw a lot of fur seals. You kind of get sick of fur seals.”

The Bering Sea is changing as rapidly as any ocean on the planet because of global warming, said Brendan Cummings, ocean programs director for the Center for Biological Diversity, which successfully sued the federal government to get critical habitat designated for the whales. Those changes have affected where animals go, he said.

While it will take a longer, wider look to find out what is happening with right whales, some things are apparent now, he said.

“We know … for the past decade that the southeastern Bering Sea is the most important spot on the planet for North Pacific right whales. We need to not open it up for oil drilling,” he said.

The whales, which can grow to more than 60 feet long and weigh 100 tons, have been protected since 1935.

Clapham said this is the first time that there has been dedicated funding to survey the whales, which he described as “arguably the most endangered population in the world.”

He said scientists will go out again next year.

“It is very important for a lot of reasons to keep up with them,” he said.

On the Net:

• http://www.biologicaldiversity.org
• http://www.fakr.noaa.gov
• http://www.afsc.noaa.gov

West Africa’s sharks risk extinction

Afriquenligne 

Dakar, Senegal – The uncontrolled catching of sharks in West Africa may cause the extinction of some of the species, according to Mika Diop, Fisheries Biologist and Co-ordinator of the Sharks Sub-regional Action Plan (PSRA-Sharks).

“As there has been a strong development of fisheries for these species in the last 20 years for fins exported to Asia and for the meat consumed in Ghana and Nigeria, there are significant catches threatening the stocks,” Diop said here Tuesday, at the opening of a training workshop for technicians from eight African countries in Dakar.

According to the scientist, sharks capture has dropped since 2002 due to the development of traditional fisheries but also due to “the very particular biology of these species, marked by an extraordinary longevity, a very low fecundity and a very slow growth”.

He said about 100, 000 tonnes of sharks were captured annually in the West African sub-region, noting however there had been a reduction in catches.

“Lower captures stand now at 50% in West Africa, against the 90s figures.” Diop said, explaining for instance that catches in Senegal fell from 10, 000 tonnes to 7, 400 tonnes between 2001 and 2002.

On his part, Bernard Seret, Researcher at the Institute of Research for Development (IRD), said the development of sharks fisheries in West Africa was boosted by Asia’s growing demand for fins.

Denouncing the poor management of the resource, Seret called for harmonised rules in the sub-region.

“We can no longer allow the uncontrolled use of the resources because they do not only belong to the fishermen but also to humanity,” he warned.

Sharks are described as the sea policemen as they don’t have any predators and are only threatened by fishing activities.

Even though there is a sub-regional action plan on the conservation and sustainable management of sharks species, experts said only Senegal and Guinea had so far adopted them.

Polar Bear Endangered Status Likely

Environmental News network

LONDON – An accelerating melt of Arctic sea ice is likely to make the polar bear officially “endangered” in the very near future, the head of a global wildlife conservation network said on Wednesday.

“They’re running out of ice to be on,” said Julia Marton-Lefevre, the director general of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) which publishes an annual “Red List” of threatened species.

The IUCN, grouping 83 states and hundreds of conservation organizations, currently lists the polar bear as “vulnerable”.

“It’s likely to be increased to endangered… in the very near future, unfortunately,” Marton-Lefevre told the Reuters Environment Summit of the giant Arctic carnivore that is an emblem of manmade global warming for conservationists.

The Arctic saw record melting of sea ice this summer, a 30-year satellite record shows, prompting some scientists to predict an ice-free North Pole by the summer of 2050 or sooner.

Placing the polar bear on the second highest alert, below critically endangered, would underscore how manmade climate change has arrived and could even bring political fallout.

President George W. Bush’s administration will separately decide by year-end whether to add polar bears to its own threatened list, a move which would bar the government from jeopardizing their existence.

PANDORA’S BOX

That could open a pandora’s box given that the United States is one of the world’s top two emitters of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, alongside China.

Marton-Lefevre said the polar bear was a sign of a global “extinction crisis” which she said threatened, for example, half of all turtles and a quarter of mammals.

Extinctions could be the next global threat to hit the public eye, she said.

“All indications are exactly like the climate issue ten years ago. It looks bad. The climate issue was ignored for so long because scientists were very prudent.”

Preserving animals and plants could help protect mankind, she said. “When the tsunami hit we now know the parts of coastline without mangroves were worst affected,” she said of the Indian Ocean disaster of 2004.

The IUCN estimates that 16,000 species are threatened with extinction, not including those unknown or little understood.

Success stories are thin on the ground but include the Echo Parakeet, the only species that the IUCN this year downgraded, to endangered from critical, thanks to protection in a wooded corner of Mauritius.

“That’s a good story… There aren’t too many, this is the problem. This is a tiny little example to show that conservation can work.”

The polar bear’s main hunting trick is to use its snowy coats to blend in with a white background and so sneak up on seals, its main prey. In other words — no ice, no food.

– Additional reporting by Deborah Zabarenko in Washington

© Reuters2007All rights reserved

Endangered turtles wash ashore Malaysia after Indonesia earthquakes

Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: About 50 endangered sea turtles have washed ashore with logs and debris in Malaysia, possibly due to strong currents after recent earthquakes in Indonesia, an official said Monday.

Two of the hawksbill turtles, which landed Saturday on muddy Kuala Tunjang beach in the northwestern state of Kedah, were found dead, while four others were injured and being treated, said state fisheries director Sani Mohamad Isa.

The rest of the turtles have been released into the sea, Sani said.

He said that the logs and bamboo washed ashore with the turtles were not found in Malaysia, and that plastic water bottles and shampoo containers in the debris had Indonesian labels.

“We believe the logs are from Indonesia” and washed over to Kedah by strong currents following recent tremors in Indonesia, he said.

Indonesia’s Sumatra island, separated from peninsular Malaysia’s west coast by the narrow Strait of Malacca, has been rattled by a series of strong earthquakes that killed nearly two dozen people last month.

Sani said this was the first time hawksbill turtles have been found in Kuala Tunjang, although some had nested in other parts of the state some years ago. He said he could not tell if the turtles came from Indonesia.

Malaysia and Indonesian shores are popular nesting sites for the hawksbill, a critically endangered tropical sea turtle with a sharp beak. The animals are hunted for their flesh and attractive shell.

Habitat Protection Sought for World’s Largest Turtle, Endangered Leatherback, Off California and Oregon Coast

Ewire SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, Sep. 29 -/E-Wire/– A coalition of environmental organizations formally petitioned the federal government on September 26th to designate critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act for the Pacific leatherback sea turtle, a species whose frequent and deadly encounters with longline and gillnet fishing gear meant to catch swordfish have put it on a steep slide toward extinction.

The last members of an ancient lineage that has outlived the dinosaurs, leatherbacks are ocean giants that grow to the size of a small car, dive half a mile deep, and migrate across the entire Pacific Ocean basin from their nesting grounds in New Guinea and Indonesia to feed in the rich waters off California and Oregon. Leatherbacks swim more than 6,000 miles within a single year – the largest geographic range of any living marine reptile and one of the longest known migrations for any species in the world.

Leatherbacks in the Pacific Ocean have declined by more than 90 percent over the past three decades, primarily as a result of drowning in industrial longline and gillnet fisheries aiming to catch swordfish, sharks, and tunas. Marine debris and loss of nesting beaches due to sea-level rise also threaten the species, predicted to go extinct within the next few decades.

“Leatherback sea turtles survived the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs, but they are unlikely to survive our appetite for swordfish,” said Brendan Cummings, oceans program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “If leatherbacks are to survive the coming decades, we must turn the waters off California and Oregon into a true sanctuary for these imperiled creatures. Designating critical habitat is a vital step toward that end.”

The petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana, and Turtle Island Restoration Network asks the National Marine Fisheries Service to designate as critical habitat an area of ocean spanning Big Sur, California to central Oregon. The proposed area, comprising roughly 200,000 square miles, is a food-rich upwelling region favored by many marine species, including the leatherback.

Areas designated as critical habitat must be managed for species recovery recent studies have shown that species with critical habitat are twice as likely to have improving population trends as species without it.

“Sea turtles have been able to survive for millions of years with only their shells for protection. To survive the challenges of today, however, they will need more than that – they need help from all of us,” said Ben Enticknap of Oceana. “We know when and where leatherbacks are along our coastlines, and we know what the threats are to them while they are here. Designating this important area as critical habitat will ensure that no activities occur along our shores that would push these ancient and extraordinary animals further toward extinction.”

The proposed critical habitat area is currently designated as the Pacific Leatherback Conservation Area by the National Marine Fisheries Service. It is closed to drift-gillnet fishing for swordfish during a three-month period during the summer and fall when leatherbacks gather here to feed on jellyfish. But the Fisheries Service has recently proposed to re-open the area to drift-gillnet and pelagic longline fishing.

“If we don’t want one of the ocean’s most inspiring species to go extinct on our watch, permanent habitat protection for the giant leatherback must be put into place. Right now, we’re continually having to fight another proposal to allow destructive fishing technologies inside the already designated Pacific Leatherback Conservation Area,” said Todd Steiner, biologist and executive director of Turtle Island Restoration Network.

The Endangered Species Act requires the National Marine Fisheries Service to respond to the petition within 90 days. Contact Info:

Brendan Cummings

Center for Biological Diversity

Tel : 760-366-2232 x 304

Ben Enticknap

Oceana

Tel : 503-235-0278

Karen Steele

Turtle Island Restoration Network

Tel : 415-686-0869 Website : the Center for Biological Diversity

	/SOURCE:	the Center for Biological Diversity
	-0-	09-29-2007
	/CONTACT:	Brendan Cummings Center for Biological Diversity Tel : 760-366-2232 x 304 Ben Enticknap Oceana Tel : 503-235-0278 Karen Steele Turtle Island Restoration Network Tel : 415-686-0869
	/WEB SITE:	http://www.biologicaldiversity.org

U.S. Report Shows Decline in Loggerhead Sea Turtles

New York Times (AP)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (AP) — After encouraging gains in the 1990s, a federal report now shows populations of loggerhead sea turtles dropping, possibly as a result of commercial fishing.

The report, a five-year status update required under the Endangered Species Act, did not change the turtles’ status to endangered from threatened, but scientists and environmentalists said it was a cause for concern.

“As a biologist you’re always trying to find that point at which we really have to start doing something drastic if we want to maintain loggerhead populations on our beaches,” said Mark Dodd, a state biologist in Georgia, where the loggerhead nesting count in 2006 was the third lowest since daily monitoring began in 1989.

The Southeast, particularly Florida, is one of the two largest loggerhead nesting areas in the world — with eggs laid and hatched along beaches from Texas to North Carolina. Oman is the other major nesting area.

The report showed nestings in the United States dropping about 7 percent a year on the Gulf of Mexico. In southern Florida, nestings were down about 4 percent a year, and populations in the Carolinas and Georgia have dropped about 2 percent a year.

The decline among the loggerheads was a turnaround from the 1990s. In South Florida, nesting studies had shown gains of about 4 percent per year from 1989 to 1998.

Researchers were puzzled by the change, but some said it might be a result of expanded commercial fishing operations. The federal report called fisheries the “most significant man-made factor affecting the conservation and recovery of the loggerhead.”

The loggerhead, believed to be one of the world’s oldest species, can grow to more than 300 pounds and lives most of its life in the sea, migrating vast distances.

Females leave the water only to dig nests on the beach, lay their small white, leathery eggs, and cover them with sand. Then they return to the sea. In nesting season, they can lay hundreds of eggs.

The eggs hatch after about two months, and the young turtles crawl to the ocean.

Environmental groups and government agencies have worked to raise awareness of the nests, opposing the construction of sea walls and other beachfront obstructions and urging property owners during nesting season to reduce or eliminate beachfront lights, which can disorient the hatchlings.

The report was compiled from various sources by the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service, which jointly have jurisdiction over protecting the turtles. The agencies also issued updates on five other sea turtles from around the world, with mixed results.

Endangered coral’s wake up call

City News

THIS year’s “Red List of Threatened Species” features corals as endangered for the first time.The annual list of threatened species, produced by IUCN (the World Conservation Union), includes 16,306 species threatened with extinction.

Vice-President of IUCN, Greens Senator Christine Milne, said the inclusion of corals on this list, and specific reference to climate change as a threat to their survival, should serve as a wake up call to all Australians.

“The direct threat to the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo Reef, which hold special places in our hearts, should be a wake up call to Australians that the global extinction crisis will hit our country hard,” she said.

Australia holds particularly large numbers of threatened species, with 2027 animals listed as under threat, including 38 extinct species, and 61critically endangered. A further 507 are endangered or vulnerable. And a total of 171 plants are under threat.

Worldwide, one in four mammals, one in eight birds, and one third of all amphibians and 70 per cent of the world’s assessed plants are in jeopardy.

“Ninety nine per cent of threatened species are at risk due to human activities. We are causing this crisis and we are the ones who can stop it. But it is clear that, despite growing concern and the existing local, regional and global work to save biodiversity, far more concerted action is needed if we are to stem the loss of species around the globe,” said Senator Milne.

In Canberra, habitat destruction is threatening a number of endangered plants and animals. The proposal to develop parts of the Molongolo Valley for housing may destroy 600 hectares of Yellow Box Woodland and take with it the hunting grounds for myriad animals, many of them threatened, rare or regionally declining species, including the Diamond Firetail, the Crested Flame Robin and the Little Eagle.

The valley links to the open lands and woodland corridors to the west and south of Canberra, as well as to the larger Murrumbidgee River corridor, and on into the rural Naas Valley and the Brindabella Ranges. These corridors provide vital connectivity for migrating birds and other animals, and for fish spawning upstream. The riverine areas also provide an important winter refuge for birds and animals from the more exposed, open treeless grasslands and grassy woodlands.

Trish Harrup, director of the Conservation Council, explains that the mosaic mix of the different habitats also allows a unique range of birds of prey to occur very close to a major city.

Sub-coastal south-east Australia has less than 10 per cent of its original woodlands left. In the ACT, we have more left than most, and their proximity to our city means we also have more opportunity than many Australians to connect with our natural environment.

Ms Harrup believes that as Australia’s bush capital we have a responsibility to uphold Australia’s heritage.

“Many people in Canberra know what a treasure we have there, but some do not. I’d advise them to go and see for themselves,” she said.

She also suggested contacting the Minister for Planning or the Conservation Council to protest the area of the development that would encroach upon these lands.

Greens MP for Molongolo Dr Deb Foskey recently called for a statue of the Grassland Earless Dragon on Northbourne Avenue, as a reminder of another threatened species. The lizard, which is only found in the ACT, has only two habitat areas left. A portion of one of these areas, in Symonston, is being handed over to a property developer in a land swap for the Narrabundah Long Stay Park.

Dr Foskey said: “The statue will either mourn a lost species or celebrate our ability to care for the grasslands this unique creature lives in.”

Preferably the latter, because, as Senator Milne points out, extinction and localised loss of species is not simply about the tragedy of that loss.

“Loss of biodiversity has a tremendous impact on our human societies that we cannot ignore,” she said.

NZers asked to help Stop Dolphin Extinction

 Scoop NZ

 WWF-New Zealand is calling on New Zealanders to help save Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins from extinction by backing their online petition at http://www.stoptheirextinction.org.nz

The global conservation organisation is today launching the Stop Their Extinction campaign asking kiwis to seize this unique opportunity to save Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins, which only live in New Zealand, by signing the petition by 22 October 2007.

Chris Howe, WWF-New Zealand Executive Director explains the need for urgency: “Right now, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to tell the government that as a nation we want them to save Hector’s and Maui’s from extinction.

“After three years of delays, the New Zealand government finally released its draft threat management plan for Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins, and New Zealanders now have one month to have their say. As it stands, the plan is simply not enough to save the dolphins. We are facing a fork in the road for Hector’s and Maui’s, and that’s why we are calling on all New Zealanders to go online now and sign the petition at http://www.stoptheirextinction.org.nz. We will present the petition to Helen Clark to show her it’s the will of the nation to save our dolphins.”

Without total protection, Maui’s could be extinct within a generation: “Years of human activity have pushed Maui’s to the brink. Now, the situation is so critical that only by removing all human threats will we stop their extinction.” But in a worrying move, even the strongest of the three options in the government’s draft threat management plan falls well short of what WWF and Hector’s dolphin scientists believe is necessary to save the dolphins from extinction, and allow them to recover.

“The strongest option – option three – is the only one worth considering, but still does not go far enough to give Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins a chance of long term survival and recovery. Maui’s dolphins are already on the verge of extinction. With such a tiny fragile population, the only way we can give them the best chance of survival is to remove all human threats to their existence. We urge everyone who cares for the future of Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins to sign our online petition at http://www.stoptheirextinction.org.nz.”;

Stop Their Extinction launches today (Friday 21 September) with a national day of action, when teams of WWF volunteers and students from university environmental campaign network SANE (Students of Aotearoa Network for our Earth) will take to the streets in Auckland, Dunedin, Hamilton, Palmerston North and Wellington asking New Zealanders to sign the Stop Their Extinction petition.

Marie Haley, Marine Coordinator for SANE said: “This is our opportunity to tell the government what we want for Hector’s and Maui’s. So, it’s in our hands – right now we all have a chance to stop our dolphins from becoming extinct, which is incredible. Would we as a nation say no to the protection of the kiwi or the kakapo?

We’re just asking New Zealanders to come together and do the right thing in speaking out for our dolphins. The consultation period ends in a month, so the dolphins are facing a real deadline. That’s why it’s so urgent and why we hope that on Friday we get the support of as many people as possible.”

Stop Their Extinction activities are happening across the country, in Wellington, Auckland, Dunedin, Palmerston North, Hamilton, Kaikoura and Akaroa on Friday 21 September, with petition stands on the streets and university campuses.

“Our message to New Zealanders is simple – if you want to stop Hector’s and Maui’s from becoming extinct, sign the petition. Every person’s voice counts.” states Marie.

The campaign is being backed by six of New Zealand’s leading illustrators who have each created an individual compelling Stop Their Extinction illustration. Ranging from the dark graphic novel style of Blair Sayer – a menacing hand reaching to grasp a dolphin – to the bold and vibrant expressionistic illustration from Ali Teo – a leaping dolphin graphic against a background of native foliage – the illustrations each send a powerful message to the New Zealand public to join the battle for Hector’s and Maui’s and help Stop Their Extinction. A month-long national campaign will see the illustrations go nationwide across posters, postcards, outdoor ads and billboards and online.

Along with the illustrators themselves – Stephen Fuller, Dean Proudfoot (Watermark), Blair Sayer, Simon Shaw (Watermark), Stephen Templar and Ali Teo – the campaign has been made possible thanks to donations and support of all kinds from a diverse range of partners, led by Ocean Design.

Blair Manwairing, co-owner of Ocean Design and creative director of the Stop Their Extincion campaign explains why the cause has gathered such broad support: “The fate of the smallest and rarest marine dolphins in the world has really touched us. The tragic thing is simply how little action there has been from the government to try and save the Maui’s and Hector’s dolphins from extinction. This really is our last chance to help. That’s why we’ve worked with WWF and a range of creative people and companies, who have all opened their hearts and their wallets to create and support this campaign. It’s been a massive undertaking, and while we are very proud of the part we’ve played, it simply had to be done.”

Illustrator Ali Teo added: “I have complete support for the campaign. I feel very strongly about the way humanity treats the marine environment – like it is some endless resource we can just keep on taking from, and at the same time a dumping ground where we can get rid of anything we don’t want. Of course it’s obvious that Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins should be saved if for no other reason than they have every right to live. But also I think they are a very visible symbol that enable all other issues surrounding the way we treat our oceans to be brought to light, and for that reason too, preventing their extinction is important.”
Notes to editors Stop Their Extinction

* Stop Their Extinction illustrations will be run across a national poster and postcard campaign from 21 September, thanks to donations from Spicers Paper, GEON Group, Colourcraft and Phantom Billboards and the illustrators themselves. * Interislander has donated space in its terminals and ferries carrying 30 A0 posters. * Adshel and Oggi have donated advertising space in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch.

* The campaign website http://www.stoptheirextinction.org.nz and banner ads were created by Salted Herring in partnership with Thinkbox * Banner ads running on stuff.co.nz are thanks to donations of media space from Fairfax Media.

* WWF thanks all of the above partners along with DPOD Ltd, Ocean Design, SANE, Saatchi & Saatchi, Starcom and The PR Department who have all made this campaign possible. About Hector’s and Maui’s dolphin * Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins are found only in New Zealand. They are closely related – in fact Maui’s dolphin is a sub-species of Hector’s dolphin.

* Today, there are just over 7,000 Hector’s dolphin left, down from over 26,000 in 1970, and they are endangered. Maui’s dolphin is regarded as critically endangered, with just 111 animals left. * The once wide-ranging Hector’s dolphins are increasingly scarce around the coast of the South Island, and Maui’s are found only on the West Coast of the North Island.
* Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins have a rounded, “Mickey Mouse-ear” shaped dorsal fin, and are around 1.4m long when fully grown. They breed slowly, the females producing just a handful of calves during their lifetimes. * Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins are seriously threatened. Every year more than 100 die from either being caught in, or affected in some other way by, fishing nets.

* If action is not taken to protect them, they could become effectively extinct – meaning that even though there are still dolphins living around New Zealand, there are so few of them, in small isolated groups, that they cannot find mates and breed.

Maui’s dolphins are already on the verge of extinction. With such a tiny fragile population, the only way we can give them the best chance of survival is to remove all human-threats to their existence.

About the petition WWF’s petition calls for the government to: * Implement an effective action plan for the recovery of the species * Introduce a total ban on set nets within New Zealand territorial waters (out to 12 nautical miles)

* Introduce a total ban on trawling in nearshore waters shallower than 100 meters in depth

* Identify, manage and mitigate all other potential threats to Hector’s and Maui’s to ensure their future survival and recovery For more information, and to sign WWF’s petition go to http://www.stoptheirextinction.org.nz

Turtles, iconic species but going extinct

The Fiji Times

ONE could easily turn a blind eye to the slaughter of these 84 turtles as the Methodist Church and Ministry of Fisheries have done and pretend that the loss of these turtles means nothing.

But this would be like condoning the equivalent mass culling of whales in the Southern Ocean or the annihilation of Africa’s elephants.

These marine turtles are endangered for a reason and for the Methodist Church and Ministry of Fisheries to not take any action over this tragic event is inexcusable.

There are now 41,415 species on the IUCN (The World Conservation Union) Red List and 16,306 of them are threatened with extinction, up from 16,118 last year.

The total number of extinct species has reached 785 and a further 65 are only found in captivity or in cultivation.

One in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70 per cent of the world’s assessed plants on the 2007 IUCN Red List are in jeopardy.

The slaughter of turtles in Fiji is happening at an unabated rate as there is no real enforcement or action by the authorities.

Furthermore, who in the villages will report their relatives or friends for killing these turtles because this is deemed even worse than killing the turtles?

I recently heard someone in Fiji say “why should we care, they are just turtles and besides this is our customary right?”

Moreover, Joketani Cokanasiga, the interim Fisheries Minister, was quoted as saying, “if it is their traditional fishing grounds, they can harvest them”.

He also said “it is a very sensitive matter and if anything harsh is done, they might just go around and cancel the moratorium.”

With these few words, the interim Minister has virtually said people can continue killing turtles and that the turtle moratorium is worthless because if anyone is punished, then they will then take the law into their own hands.

This is a worrying response from a person that is supposed to uphold the law and prevent the overexploitation of our fisheries.

The indifference shown by the authorities will spell the end for these animals if they do not act on this issue.

However, the minister is right about one thing this is a sensitive issue.

The mass killing of any animal for whatever reason is very sensitive and not for the reasons he thinks.

Many people around the world spend a considerable amount of money, effort, and time in conserving threatened species like turtles and this action was a huge blow to marine conservation efforts around the world.

In Hawaii, if observers on the fishing boats find more than three turtles in their nets in a season they can close the whole fishing industry down.

Some countries (and people) take the conservation of turtles seriously and it is a pity that Fiji does not.

Turtles are becoming ever increasingly rare due to overharvesting by people consuming their eggs and/or through eating them as juveniles and adults.

Traditionally, turtles were only ever eaten on ceremonial occasions.

In the past, turtles were relatively common and people used traditional methods to harvest them so the numbers consumed were relatively low.

However, this is no longer true as anyone with a boat and an outboard motor can catch a turtle and unfortunately this is what is happening all over Fiji.

The “rules” are not the same as before. If they harvested the turtles using traditional methods, then I think they could use the argument that this is a customary right but now that they have modern equipment to do this, this is not tradition, this is exploitation.

Let’s face it, these turtles would not have been slaughtered like this had it not been for this church conference.

One of the problems many parishioners face is that feel obliged to contribute to the church and if they cannot give any money (as many people cannot), then they will exploit their natural resources to “impress their guests”.

I thought that the church was a responsible organisation interested in the welfare of all God’s creatures but clearly it is not.

Instead of promoting such activities the church should be actively campaigning against such barbarism.

It is not just the killing of these turtles that is the problem; it is also the way the turtles are killed. Most turtles are inhumanely killed and strangely the SPCA (Society for the Protection of Animals) has been very silent on this practice. The church help rid Fiji of cannibalism (which was once a cultural and traditional practice) and they should now stop people from harvesting endangered species. They have to accept their responsibility in all this. They can blame the Ministry of Fisheries and even the interim Government but at the end of the day these turtles were harvested for a church conference and I think people are forgetting this.

People often blame a lack of awareness for the problem but when you speak to the people concerned they know exactly what they are doing and the ramifications of their actions.

They know they will get fined if they sell a turtle shell and they also know they should not be catching these animals but they do it anyway they cannot help themselves.

What the Fijian people fail to appreciate is that these animals will go extinct if their attitude and behaviour do not change.

These iconic species (just as China has its pandas and India has its tigers) are disappearing and their populations are dwindling fast.

Just because we do not know exactly how many we have (just as we don’t know how many people live in Fiji) does not mean we should continue harvesting them as happened in Macuata. In the past, several fishing industries around the world have collapsed due to over harvesting and with this collapse came job losses and huge social problems.

The church and the ministry need to look at the big picture and the future not just at the short-term.

If turtles go extinct, and at this rate they will, we will all be very much poorer for it.

The world will miss an oceanic icon and I’d like it put on record that the Methodist Church of Fiji and the interim Minister of Fisheries had a big hand in their decline.

This slaughter, however, is just the tip of the iceberg because people throughout Fiji regularly take turtles.

People like eating turtles and this is the problem.

However, if this is the case, then perhaps the Ministry of Fisheries could establish a turtle breeding and rearing facility like people do in other aquaculture industries.

It is these animals that could be consumed for their meat and for customary practices rather than the wild turtles.

However, we should all take heed and learn some valuable lessons from the killing of the turtles in Macuata.

While there are many scapegoats for the slaughter of these turtles, the fact of the matter is that this despicable and unwarranted act has happened and so what we need to do now is learn from this so it never happens again.

The way forward from this is to get the people responsible to say they will not do this again and we also need to get the church and Ministry of Fisheries even more involved in conservation.

Let’s turn this disaster into something positive.

One way the church could contribute towards conservation is to donate some of the money raised during the conference to pay for some staff to patrol the villages and to educate people about not harvesting turtles.

They could also get their youth involved in conservation programs and preach from the pulpit that we should not abuse our natural resources.

If an individual or fishing organisation and not the church had killed these many turtles then they would have been punished to the full extent of the law. We simply can not have rules for some and not for others.

Let us learn from this but not ignore what has happened and look towards the future so everyone can share and experience the natural wonders we have in our amazing world.

The author is a Conservation Biologist at the University of the South Pacific and the views expressed here are his own and not necessarily those of the organisation he works for.