A New Foundation to Help Conservation and Development on an African Island in the Indian Ocean

By Carl Safina

Television documentary producer John Angier and I not long ago visited an island off the coast of Tanzania called Pemba. We were filming a pilot for a possible television series called Saving the Ocean. We went to see how local fishers and mosques were working to conserve coral reefs, mangroves, and other aspects of their natural environment. No small task in a poor place with burgeoning population. Most of the people have no electricity; many homes are made of mud, and opportunities are nearly non-existent. Yet we were moved by both the acuteness of their needs and the sincerity of the people. (see my blog post from that trip at: http://bit.ly/cOMlJf

Subsequently, John Angier helped put a young man we met there through computer training, and now he has landed a good job as a secretary for an Australian company that is rebuilding a terrible road between two villages called Chake Chake and Wete. That’s one life totally changed. (That young man, named Nassor, was an obvious go-getter, taking every opportunity to hang around with us. His mother even baked us a cake. But he had zero money and zero opportunities, and it was John’s follow-up correspondence and assistance that really changed his life.)

Angier has also been corresponding with the people working to protect their coral reefs, about projects to benefit their 36 fishing villages. Now he is setting up a non-profit called the Pemba Foundation through which to raise funds for further assistance. The foundation’s work will not be aimed exclusively at coastal issues, but the first focus will be working to improve life in Pemba’s fishing communities.

Angier’s been kind enough to ask me to be on his founding board. He says, “If we do this right we can help marine conservation at the same time.” It’s the beginning of a process,” John says, adding with prudent caution, “but I think I can see that it might work.”

Obviously this kind of thing is nothing without local contacts, and we had a good feeling about the MICA guys from the first time we met them. In all our dealings with them, they’ve seemed honest and well-intentioned, two qualities in short supply in many better-endowed quarters.

This was just forwarded to me and is sufficiently disturbing that I am posting it in its entirety here.

Please send those letters to Walmart!

—Carl Safina

TortoiseAid International Action Alert CRUELTY AT WAL-MART In many North American Wal-Mart stores, “pet supply” sections have an area where photos and information about animals in need of adoption by loving families are posted. The Wal-Mart website (http://walmart.com) boasts a large “pet section,” offering everything from pet strollers to dog clothing.  In addition, American pet search and adoption services are available through Wal-Mart’s “Very Best Pet Network.” (http://www.verybestpetnetwork.com) Unfortunately, Wal-Mart operates differently in China.  While giving North American customers the impression that Wal-Mart cares about animals, they sell others for slaughter out of the sight of Western customers. Live turtles and frogs are available for purchase at Chinese Wal-Mart stores.  These animals are slaughtered while fully conscious, to satisfy consumers need for “fresh” food items. “The last things the turtles see in the Wal-Mart megastore in northern Beijing are bright fluorescent lights, masked shop assistants and, if they crane their necks over the edge of their plastic container, a chalk board offering them for sale at the bargain price of 39,8 yuan (about $5) each. Once that sum is paid, even their shells cannot protect them. They are whisked off to the in-store slaughter counter, where their necks are cut, their blood is drained and they are bagged and tagged ready for the checkout counter. According to the shop assistant, a small minority of the 100 turtles sold every day could also expect a brief respite. “A few customers like to take them home alive so they can play with them for a few days before making them into soup,” she said.” (1) We are saddened and horrified that Wal-Mart would employ such barbaric and inhumane practices.  Many species of turtles have become critically endangered in Asia due to over-collection and human consumption. Please see the following links for more information regarding the Asian Turtle Crisis: http://tortoise-aid.org/asianturtles.html http://www.traffic.org/news/turtles.html http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/asia.html http://nytts.org/asianturtlecrisis.html Please also see a report to the California Department of Fish and Game regarding the sale of live turtles and amphibians in San Francisco, California. http://www.tortoisetrust.org/activities/foodmarket.html Until Wal-Mart ceases this environmentally and ethically unacceptable practice, we are asking for a world-wide boycott of Wal-Mart, and all Wal-Mart divisions.  These businesses include: Sam’s Club: USA, Canada: http://www.samsclub.com Amigo Supermarkets:  Puerto Rico: http://www.amigo.com ASDA:  United Kingdom: http://www.adsa.co.uk Seiyou:Japan: http://www.seiyu.co.jp/english/ Walmex: (Wal-Mart in Mexico) George Apparel Stores: United Kingdom For a complete list of Wal-Mart owned businesses, please go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_Wal-Mart_Stores,_Inc . We kindly ask that all individuals, humane organizations and businesses objecting to Wal-Mart’s cruel practices, and who support this boycott and voice your concerns to: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. 702 S.W. 8th Street Bentonville, AR 72716-8611 USA You may contact Wal-Mart via e-mail at its corporate web site: http://walmartstores.com/GlobalWMStoresWeb/navigate.do?catg=221 More information will soon follow at our web site. Annie Lancaster Director TortoiseAid International Inc. Post Office Box 260 Apple Valley, CA  92307-0005 USA http://tortoise-aid.org

The following OpEd by Carl Safina appeared in Newsday on January 14, 2010:

Newsday (New York)

January 14, 2010

Taking too much out; putting too much in; That’s the classic problem with how we treat our oceans; a unified policy will help

BYLINE: BY CARL SAFINA. Carl Safina, author of several books on the ocean, is an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University.

SECTION: OPINION; Pg. A33

LENGTH: 641 words

I grew up a Brooklyn boy, drawn to my coastline from the very start. Out with my dad on the boats of Sheepshead Bay. Catching snappers or nighttime crabbing from the Cross Bay Boulevard bridge. Surfcasting with my father at dawn at Jones Beach. Trolling aboard my uncles’ boat off Coney Island or battling astonishing bluefin tuna off Sandy Hook. All of these, heaven for a kid in my single-digit years and early teens.

Later we moved to Long Island and I fished the shores and bays. Later still I did my graduate studies in New York waters, studying seabirds – and still fishing. That’s when it hit me: The ocean was the last buffalo hunt; all the fish, year after year, were declining.

Right here on Long Island, we’ve had severe declines in fish and shellfish populations, including some of the most valuable species caught in New York. Some are recovering, others continue declining.

Part of the reason so many of our country’s fisheries – from Maine to Hawaii – are in turmoil is the confusing tangle of management hurled their way. It’s not just overfishing or rates of unwanted fish discarded. It’s also damaged seafloor. Lost fishing gear. Trash. Sewage. Chemical pollution. Eroding shores. Shrinking wetlands. It’s taking too much out while putting too much in.

Right now, our oceans and coasts are governed by more than 140 laws and 20 different agencies, each with different goals and often conflicting mandates. There’s no unifying policy or coordination. Instead, we are managing fishing one species at a time, treating fish as if they exist in a vacuum – just them and the water – when in reality fish and fishing communities rely on their ecosystem, other species, healthy habitats and clean water.

In order to value each piece of the puzzle, we need to have the big picture in mind. You can’t do that if agencies responsible for certain pieces are assembling their portion of the jigsaw puzzle on separate tables.

Fortunately, the Obama administration is working to change that. It’s creating a national policy that will offer landmark (seamark?) protection for our oceans. A national ocean policy will help protect our seas and the people who depend on them – which happens to include everyone; half the oxygen you breathe is produced by ocean plankton. From collapsing fish populations and pollution, to warming temperatures and rising acidity – a national ocean policy strengthens the country’s ability to tackle these challenges. This will help us rebuild struggling fisheries and keep fishermen on the water for years to come.

We require a lot from our seas – fishing, shipping, recreation, energy development, wildlife habitat. That’s why, within this policy, the administration is also working to create a process to help us plan ahead. Without a system of coordination like this, we’ll see escalating ocean sprawl and people at cross-purposes, with little thought given to selecting the best places for particular uses. Further stressing our already-imperiled seas jeopardizes the future of the food, jobs, and recreation they now provide.

The oceans are a huge part of our lives and our economies. New York’s ocean sector industries contribute more than $24.6 billion to the state’s gross domestic product. Long Island Sound businesses alone contribute roughly $8.5 billion a year to the regional economy through boating, fishing, swimming and tourism. As a saltwater fisherman and ocean scientist, I know firsthand that the stakes are high if we don’t address the problems facing our oceans.

The Obama administration is charting the course for healthy oceans and abundant fish populations. This focus on our seas is unprecedented, and it is crucially needed. For our future, the future of our children and our grandchildren, let’s all urge the administration to adopt a strong ocean policy in an executive order from the president.

Reality: The atmosphere is as thin as shellac on the globe. Where does all the exhaust go? Into that thin, thin layer. We measure carbon dioxide from the exhaust, and find it climbing every year. Physicists have learned that it traps heat. We measure the temperatures worldwide and find them warming. If we’re wrong about all of that, we can look at satellite photos of the polar seas and see how much ice has melted in recent years. Same with almost all the glaciers. In the tropics, reefs have started dying due to excess heat and due to water turning acid from carbon dioxide only since the 1980s. I’ve seen this all with my own eyes.

Stupidity: The idea that the climate scientists in the world are in a conspiracy to lie is just insane. People who think that are either nuts or are being manipulated by the greed of those whose ox will be gored. Even in the days of big tobacco, they never raised such a ridiculous claim against all of science.

Morality: Consider the last energy conversion: Slavery to oil. Slaves are much cheaper. They create a very nice life-style. The economy would collapse without our freedom to have slaves. Obviously, this moral rot is an absurd argument. And this absurdity was vehemently held, and viciously, bloodily defended. Pretty much like today.

Practicality: The world is warming and we’re warming it. That is indisputable. It will have great negative consequences; that’s also indisputable. Denying it won’t change it.

And–no one needs to give up energy. We only need to convert from caveman energy (burning something every time we need energy) to clean energy that powers the whole planet (sun, wind, the energy in the ground, with nuclear as a possible bridge). No one cares whether the energy comes from oil, coal, slaves, sunlight, or wind, as long as the light goes on when you flick the switch and the car goes when you step on the pedal. Except that, wait, we do care if it comes from slaves because that’s immoral. Well, wrecking the future is also immoral. Today’s slaves are our own children whose options are closing because we’re dictating the world they’ll be stuck with.

Patriotism: As China and Germany and Denmark know, far from wrecking the economy, building and exporting the high-tech technology for capturing clean, free-flowing energy and the grids for distributing it will involve tremendous investment and job opportunities.

The United States is falling farther behind in developing these technologies; other countries are positioning to leave us in the dust. The unpatriotic people are not the ones who want the U.S. to lead in developing clean energy. It’s the ones who don’t.

- Carl Safina

Photo by Carl Safina

Getting hooked and drowned on fishing gear has been the greatest causes of death for adult albatrosses for several decades. The main problem is lines dozens of miles long with thousands of baited hooks, called long-lines. For a decade, conservation groups including Blue Ocean Institute and Birdlife International’s Global Seabird Program and others have worked with fishing boat owners and with governments, partly through an international treaty called the Agreement of the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels.

photo by Carl Safina

Positive results have been dramatic. For instance, from 2007-2008, measures taken by predominantly Japanese fishing boats reduced albatross mortality by 85% off of South African waters. This is a huge success and an important step toward seabird conservation for a country with an enormous longline fleet. Other areas with great reductions in albatross fishing deaths in recent years include waters around Hawaii, Alaska, the Falkland Islands, Australia, New Zealand and some other places.

photo by Carl Safina

In the mid-1990s, many people feared this problem would cause the extinction of many albatross species (more than 20 species exist). Now, there is definitely hope.

-Carl Safina

 

 

 

 

Yesterday the Associated Press ran a story about the Western Pacific nation of Palau, who announced today at the United Nations its ban of shark fishing.

Carl Safina reflects on how shark populations have plummeted over the years and that Palau is making groundbreaking efforts to reverse this tragic trend:

I and everyone I’ve ever spoken to in any ocean can tell you that sharks are much scarcer than in the 1980s, and that catch rates are much lower. In fact, some species have virtually vanished from large areas.
 
Many older fishermen can tell you that sharks were abundant swimming near the surface in the 1960s, and that they’d usually see 50 or more over the course of a day. In those days, “finning” meant swimming along the surface with their fins sticking out of the water. 
 
Most impressive to talk with, in my experience, are people who used to be aerial swordfish spotters here in the Northeast US.  They can tell you there were so many sharks through the 1970s that the hardest thing about finding a swordfish (which were common then, too) was to spot one amidst all the sharks.

photo courtesy of Dan Klotz

While diving in Palau earlier this year, I had the impression that sharks remain common but not as abundant as in the mid-1990s.

Some sharks range large areas, so even shark fishing hundreds of miles away could greatly affect shark numbers in another area. However, this shark sanctuary is very welcome news. It’s big enough that if it can be patrolled effectively—and that’s a big ‘if’—it could make a real difference for the shark population of Palau.
 
Palau has continually done an outstanding job of turning living fish into sustainable cash. Early on, Palau banned the export of reef fishes, and as a result it has some of the best reef fish populations remaining in the world.
 
As reefs deteriorate and get stripped of fish elsewhere, Palau becomes increasingly valuable not just biologically but as a tourist destination, an ongoing cash cow for Palau itself. It is perhaps the best place in the world to see large humphead or Napoleon wrasse, now rare elsewhere. And because certain fish graze algae from coral reefs, overfished reefs elsewhere are overrun with coral-smothering algae. 
 

photo courtesy of Dan Klotz

By contrast, Palau’s reefs are not only healthy but actually have recovered from widespread coral bleaching in the late 1990s. The bleaching was caused by abnormally hot water related to global warming. In most places, a reef with so many dead corals would have been quickly overrun by algae that would have prevented corals from regaining their foothold. That means the end of coral reefs in some areas.  But in Palau, the still-abundant fishes suppressed the algae, allowing reefs to recover.
 
Palau’s visionary protection of reefs and the banning of shark fishing are policies of very high value not just to Palau itself, but increasingly, for the rest of the world as well.

 Help Us Work to Establish a Protective,

National Policy for Our Oceans
 

Our oceans are not just places of wonder and beauty – they are economic engines providing valuable jobs, food, energy resources, and recreation and tourism opportunities. But they are under enormous strain as a result of overexploitation, habitat degradation, coastal pollution, and climate change.
 
One obstacle to protecting our oceans is the fact that they are currently governed by a mix of more than 140 laws and 20 different agencies, each with different goals and with no single unifying conservation mandate. We have a Clean Water Act for our water and a Clean Air Act for our air; we need a national policy to similarly protect our oceans.
 
On June 12th, President Obama called together an interagency Ocean Policy Task Force to fix this problem; the 23-member federal Task Force is directed to create a unifying oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes policy and design an effective marine spatial planning framework in 180 days.

This Task Force is holding a public meeting next Thursday, Sept. 24 in Providence, Rhode Island from 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. The meeting is at the Rhode Island Convention Center, Ballrooms D & E.

Please consider attending this meeting and ask that President Obama issue an executive order to formally establish a national policy to protect, maintain and restore the health of our oceans, coasts and Great Lakes. Protecting, maintaining, and restoring the health of these natural systems must be the core focus of a national policy if we intend to meet the needs of present and future generations.

Other upcoming public meeting locations include:

• Honolulu, Hawaii:                    September 29^th
• New Orleans, Louisiana:        October 19^th
• Cleveland, Ohio:                     October 29^th

More information on these events and this effort are available at: https://sites.google.com/site/healthyoceansandlakes/home

 

Please contact Sean Cosgrove (scosgrove@clf.org) or Megan Mackey (megan_mackey@speakeasy.net) with any questions.

Thank you for all that you do to help protect and restore our

shared oceans and waterways!

The following video and text originally appeared on filmmaker David Conover’s blog http://www.beholdtheearth.com/blog/scientists/1146/safina-on-the-word-creation/.

Words matter. Learning to say hello in the native language of a country that you visit matters. A matter of connection, of civility, of grace. Sometimes the word environment suffers from misuse, and may not be the best word of hello among scientists and people of faith. I remember an older Russian fellow and his translator who I once traveled with in Kamchatka. We were part of the first western expedition allowed into this formerly restricted land. After lunch one day, we were sitting on the hot stones of a remote riverbed, amidst resting monarch butterflies. We got into one of those conversations about language that happens when alert translators are around. Together, the Russian and his translator remarked that the word environment is very different from the world wilderness, because environment refers exclusively to what surrounds humanity (environs). Wilderness is more boundless, untied to us. This difference in meaning exposes how environment measures the world on the basis of people. As Carl eloquently expands upon in the video clip below, creation has bigness and mystery. Perhaps creation captures more of the world beyond man’s measure? Perhaps it is a graceful way of saying hello amidst fellow travelers?

For more information about this unique film that explores human’s relationship with the natural world, please visit Behold the Earth’s home page: http://www.beholdtheearth.com/about-the-film/

The following video and text originally appeared on filmmaker David Conover’s blog http://www.beholdtheearth.com/blog/1104/carl-safina-matters-of-morality/. 

Simply noticing and recording the disturbing trends of a degraded world is a virtue of science and all those practicing it. The process reveals a lot of information about the world around us. But information alone is not enough to mobilize action on the scale required to make that world a healthier and more desirable place for our children. A set of political relationships with this, that, or the other political party is not enough. Nor are relationships in the marketplace. Nor a broad appeal to beauty. In the video clip below, the writer Carl Safina speaks about the kind of relationship he believes is required.

For more information about this unique film that explores human’s relationship with the natural world, please visit Behold the Earth’s home page: http://www.beholdtheearth.com/about-the-film/

The following op-ed appeared in LaNacion, on September 2, 2009. For the spanish version click here!

Editor, La Nacion

To the Editor,

Many international conservationists are disturbed by news that Costa Rica’s Congress is considering a bill to do away with Las Baulas National Park. Baulas is not only absolutely vital to the existence of Costa Rica’s Pacific leatherback sea turtles. It is the most important remaining nesting ground of this critically endangered turtle in the entire east Pacific Ocean.

These turtles are extraordinary; they can weigh up to one ton. A few years ago, I traveled throughout the Atlantic and Pacific while researching a book I wrote on these creatures. I saw many of their sites and former sites, and came to understand what is needed for their survival, and how, in well-managed sites in the Caribbean, especially Trinidad, these turtles draw many tourists.

Their Pacific population is in great trouble due mainly to beach disturbance. They have declined by about 98 percent since the early 1980s. Former large nesting populations in Mexico are a tiny fraction of earlier numbers. In the west Pacific, the leatherback turtle’s largest population has apparently gone extinct in the last few years. These creatures, and the world, need Costa Rica to do what it can to protect the remaining Pacific leatherbacks and promote their recovery.

And so little is required. All that is needed is darkness on the beach at night and protection of nests. The beach at Las Baulas Park that is currently without houses should remain so, and the Park should be reaffirmed by Costa Rica’s Congress. Existing homeowners should keeps lights low and use yellow bulbs outside at night. For this little investment, Costa Rica and cooperating local homeowners would make a significant contribution to world conservation.

Carl Safina, PhD

Blue Ocean Institute

Stony Brook University, New York, USA