News

Here is a selection of outside news that we think may be of interest to our readers. If you have a newsfeed you think would be relevant for this page please let us know. Don't forget we have our own news in the forum which is available as a newsfeed and is open for use by all members of the underwater community.

UnderwaterTimes.com

Researchers: Cleaner Fish Calms Predators With Caresses

Project Lilypad: Floating Cities Envisioned To House Climate Change Refugees

Sea Lovers Say Coral Is Too Precious To Wear; 'It's Like Ivory'

Indian Fisherman Survives Tiger Attack; 'I Didn't Know What Had Hit Me'

Rubber 'snake' could help wave power get a bite of energy market

Aussie shark attack hero gets bravery award; 'she battled the sharks'

Aquarium saves lucky lobster from Aussie restaurant; 'as happy as a lobster can get'

Researchers discover new pathway for methane production in the oceans; 'a harbinger of many new insights'

Scientists: Acidifying oceans add urgency to CO2 cuts; 'may mean the end of coral reefs'

Seven dead in Slovenia kayak accident after group smashes into dam

Swordfish washes up on Brit cost; rare visitor a 'tiddler in global terms'

Research: Ancient marine invertebrate diversity less explosive than thought

Sonar enters the third dimension; new style of 3-D sensors lets ships avoid hidden obstacles

30,000 farmed salmon flee pen in Canada; escapes of this magnitude 'a thing of the past'

DiverWire

Dive Antarctica with Amos Nachoum

Join Amos on his 10th anniversary voyage to the incredible waters of Antarctica

SCUBA Show 2008 A Massive Success With An Attendance of 11,195

The show had the largest two-day turnout in the history of the show & largest single day attendance ever.

UNEXSO and Diveheart Team Up for Training Programs

UNEXSO AND DIVEHEART ANNOUNCES DISABLED DIVE TRAINING FOR INSTRUCTORS & DIVE BUDDIES ON GRAND BAHAMA ISLAND

Lisa Mitchell Named New Executive Director of REEF

Lisa Mitchell, SSI Caribbean Business Consultant Changing Roles

Scuba Schools International Announces Agreement With Aggressor Fleet

SSI AND AGGRESSOR FLEET WORLWIDE FORM A BOLD NEW PARTNERSHIP

Introducing MISS-SCUBA.com

New website designed exclusively for FEMALE divers

2 for 1 Diving is back...at the Plaza Resort Bonaire!

You asked for it...We listened!

New Book on Northern California Diving Released

Incredible WONDERS OF THE SEA explores North Central California's Living Marine Riches in vibrant, living color.

Singles Week Announced at Bay Islands Beach Resort Roatan

SingleDivers.com and Bay Island Beach Resort in Roatan Capitalize on Successful Divi Flamingo Bonaire May Single’s Week and are looking to repeat in September!

Photographers Invited to Compete in Marine Environment Photo Contest

Scuba divers and other ocean enthusiasts giving it their best eco shot

DiveNews.Com

Undersea Video Challenge at Stuart's Cove

Newly designed website for Lady Divers: Miss Scuba.com

Loggerhead Turtles Returned to the Sea After Washing Ashore

New Book Release: Wonders of the Sea

The British Splash-In Championship - 2008

Decision to be Made on Captured White Shark

15 Million Dollar Donation Given to Smithsonian Ocean Hall

Scuba Rangers Play Checkers for Charity

Invisible Waves Shape Continental Slope

Grand Travers Bay Designated as State Underwater Preserve

WWF-Australia Latest News

Back Garnaut or back off, WWF tells Opposition

WWF has urged the Federal Opposition to end the cheap, political point-scoring and adopt a bipartisan approach to tackling the serious threat of climate change.

The conservation organisation today welcomed Professor Garnaut's report on Climate Change and applauded the Rudd Government for pushing ahead in the fight against global warming.

"The report's proposed economic reforms are the most important for 20 years and it is essential all of our leaders work together to tackle climate change," WWF CEO Greg Bourne said.

"Australia's response to this enormous challenge is at a critical juncture, and we cannot afford to have the Opposition undermine the emissions trading scheme for its own political ends.

"Our economy is strong so the responsible thing to do is act now while it is affordable. Any delay will result in irreversible damage to the environment and future economy."

WWF believes the Garnaut report got it right on key factors, such as the auctioning of pollution permits, including transport in an emissions trading scheme and a massive increase in funding for research and development and commercialisation of new low emission technologies including carbon capture and storage.

"Auctioning all permits is the only fair and transparent way to allocate carbon credits," Mr Bourne said. "Giving away free permits would shift the cost to families and small business.

"The public should not be expected to pay for unwise business decisions by electricity generators and other big polluters who have known they needed to act for nearly 20 years."

To ensure the integrity of the emissions trading scheme it must include petrol as 14 per cent of national emissions come from the transport industry.

"We're better off softening the impact by compensating low income earners and business through money raised from the emissions trading scheme," Mr Bourne said.

The increased cost of including petrol will be 4-8 cents a litre on bowser price, but leaving it out will increase costs elsewhere in the economy and the hip pocket.

"WWF believes we must give consumers the choice on where to spend their money while encouraging a shift towards low emission transport alternatives."

For more information

Charles Stevens, WWF-Australia Press Office
02 8202 1274, 0424 649 689

Paul Toni, Program Leader - Development and Sustainability
0410 086 986

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No compensation for electricity generators under ETS

Electricity generators and other big polluters have known for nearly 20 years that they would have to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and they should not receive favourable treatment under an emissions trading scheme, WWF said today.

The conservation organisation said money proposed for compensation of electricity generators and other big polluters would be better spent on improving household, commercial and industrial energy efficiency, which would cut carbon emissions and reduce energy costs for the consumer.

As the Council of Australian Governments tomorrow considers the way forward under an ETS, WWF is calling for a fair and transparent scheme that auctions all pollution permits.

"Auctioning all permits is the only fair and transparent way to allocate carbon credits under the scheme," WWF-Australia CEO Greg Bourne said today.

"Prudent businesses will have long factored an emissions trading scheme into their business decisions. Some businesses may have exercised poor judgment or deliberately accepted risk for short term profit and not factored a carbon price into their business costs. The Australian public should not now be expected to pay for unwise business decisions."

Electricity generators and other big polluters are attempting to get favourable treatment under Australia's ETS in the form of free permits or compensation despite knowing for nearly 20 years that greenhouse gas pollution would need to be dramatically reduced.

"We're seeing a lot of scare-mongering by electricity generators about disruptions to electricity supplies if heavily polluting coal-fired power stations are made commercially unviable under a scheme to address climate change," said Mr Bourne.

"The lights are not about to go out under an emissions trading scheme. The worst that will happen is that some of the big polluters will have to sell the power stations to new owners to clear their debts and the new owners will run the power stations instead. No one is going to shut a fully functioning, fully built power station."

"But even this is not likely as all economic studies have shown that the Australian economy will continue to grow strongly as long as action is taken to address climate change."

WWF today reminded political leaders attending the COAG meeting of the costs of inaction and of the strong link between environmental impacts and economic impacts. Some of these costs (at about a 3oC temperature rise) include:

• Destruction of Great Barrier Reef (and therefore the loss of $6 billion per year tourism industry employing about 50,000 people);
• At least 40% decrease in cattle and sheep carrying capacity;
• 100% increase in number of people exposed to flooding in Australia;
• 1,200-1,400 more heat-related deaths a year;
• 7-35% decrease in Melbourne's water supply;
• Up to 25% decrease in rivers flows in Murray Darling Basin (Allens Consulting (2005) - a 15% reduction in MDB flow would translate to a loss of $750 million in 2009-2010);
• Peak electricity demand in Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne increases 5%-20%, leading to need for additional electricity infrastructure and higher electricity bills;
• 5%-10% increase in tropical cyclone wind speeds - leading to higher insurance costs (if cover available);
• 20%-30% increase in tropical cyclone rainfall - leading to higher insurance costs (if cover available);
• About 15% increase in 100 year storm tides along eastern Victorian coast - leading to higher insurance costs (if cover available);
• Millions of people displaced from low lying river deltas in Asia;

(all taken from CSIRO The Heat Is One (2006))

• 20% more droughts in Australia by 2030;

(Australian Climate Group Climate Change Solutions for Australia (2008))

"The introduction of an emissions trading scheme is the biggest economic reform in last 20 years since those undertaken by the Hawke-Keating Government, and the Rudd Government is to be congratulated for pressing ahead.

"The Hawke-Keating reforms involved short-term pain for a long-term healthy economy. We are going through the same process now and the Australian public deserves bipartisan support for such an important scheme," said Mr Bourne.

Time line of events providing notice of an emissions trading scheme

By 2010 when the scheme is proposed to commence, generators will have been on notice for nearly twenty years that Governments would need to implement some form of carbon pricing. There have been numerous signals.

• In 1990, the international climate change negotiations commenced, with Australia playing an active and prominent role (including ongoing consultation with industry on Australia's position).
• In 1992, Australia signed (with bipartisan support) the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which both committed the country to limit its emissions and foreshadowed the use of economic instruments.
• In 1994, the Commonwealth Government proposed a small levy on greenhouse emissions, which was withdrawn to give industry more time for adjustment and to trial voluntary approaches.
• In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was agreed with Australia strongly supporting the inclusion of emissions trading as a key mechanism.
• During 1999, the Commonwealth Government released four discussion papers on the development of a national greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme.
• In 2002, the Commonwealth Government signaled that companies taking early action to reduce emissions would not be disadvantaged in a future emissions trading scheme (the so called "no disadvantage" principle).
• During 2002-03, the Commonwealth Government conducted a dialogue on climate change with generators and other major business interests that included a major focus on carbon pricing options.
• In 1996, NSW adopted greenhouse benchmarks for the electricity industry which from 2003 became the mandatory Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme.
• In 2004, the State and Territory leaders established the National Emissions Trading Taskforce.
• In 2006, Prime Minister Howard established a government-business Emissions Trading Task Group.

Generators that have developed or acquired carbon-intensive assets since 1990 have done so in the knowledge that governments would need to implement some form of carbon pricing within the lifetime of those assets.

For more information

Charlie Stevens, WWF-Australia Press Office
02 8202 1274, 0424 649 689

Paul Toni, Program Leader - Development & Sustainability
0410 086 986

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Whales set to chase shrinking feed zones as Southern Ocean warms

Endangered migratory whales will be faced with shrinking crucial Antarctic foraging zones which will contain less food and will be further away, a new analysis of the impacts of climate change on Southern Ocean whales has found.

Ice breaker: Pushing the boundaries for whales, released just ahead of the opening of a crucial International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting, summarises WWF research showing that levels of global warming predicted over the next 40 years will lead to winter sea-ice coverage of the Southern Ocean declining by up to 30 per cent in some key areas.

"Essentially, what we are seeing is that ice-associated whales such as the Antarctic minke whale will face dramatic changes to their habitat over little more than the lifespan of an individual whale," said Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF International's Species Programme and head of the WWF delegation to the IWC meeting.

Migratory whales meanwhile may need to travel 200-500 kilometres further south to find the "frontal" zones which are their crucial foraging areas. Migratory whale species which will be affected include the Blue Whale, earth's largest living creature, and the humpback whales which are only now coming back from the brink of extinction after populations were decimated by commercial whaling, mainly during the first half of the 20th century.

Both species build up the reserves that sustain them throughout the year in the frontal zones, which host large populations of their primary food source - krill.

"As frontal zones move southward, they also move closer together, reducing the overall area of foraging habitat available," the research notes. As the krill is dependent on sea ice, less sea ice is also expected to reduce the abundance of food for whales in the feeding areas.

"The impact on whales is one more imperative for the world to take decisive action to reduce the risk of catastrophic climate change," Dr Lieberman said. "However, the IWC must also take the opportunity of this southern hemisphere meeting to look at every possible way to increase the resilience of whale populations to climate change.

"For Antarctica's whales, the best way to do this would be to reduce all other threats - such as the unregulated and unjustified so-called 'scientific whaling' of these species conducted by Japan." WWF is recommending the protection of critical habitats and for also limiting other non-climate stresses to whale populations such as fishing, pollution and ocean noise.

Notes

• The IWC will hold its 60th annual meeting in Santiago, Chile from 23-27 June. This is the first time the IWC has met in South America in almost a quarter century.
• Ice breaker: Pushing the boundaries for whales summarises research commissioned by WWF from scientists Dr. Cynthia Tynan and Dr. Joellen Russell which was presented to the IWC Scientific Committee in the following paper: Tynan, C. T. and Russell, J.L. 2008. Assessing the impacts of future 2°C global warming on Southern Ocean cetaceans. International Whaling Commission, Scientific Committee document SC/60/E3.
• Current projections have 2°C of average global warming over pre-industrial levels - widely regarded as a threshold level for unacceptable risks of runaway climate change - arriving on average in 2042, with impacts going furthest and fastest in polar regions.
• Warming of 2°C will reduce winter sea-ice coverage by 10-15 per cent overall and up to 30 percent in some key areas.
• Shrinking ice covered areas affect krill production in two ways - sea ice is a refuge for krill larvae in winter, and an area of intense algal blooms in summer on which the krill feed. Krill is so fundamental to the Southern Ocean ecosystem that the impacts will not be confined to whales but also to seals, seabirds and penguins, and to fisheries productivity.
• "Frontal zones" are where water masses of different temperatures meet. They are associated with upwelling of nutrients supporting large plankton populations on which species such as Antarctic krill feed.

For further information:

Dr Susan Lieberman, Director, Species Programme, WWF-International, IWC Head of Delegation, Chile cell phone (16 - 28 June) +56 9 88344856, slieberman@wwfint.org,

Wendy Elliott, Species Programme, WWF-International, English/some French, Chile cell phone +56 9 77041514, welliott@wwfint.org

Download

Mean global temperature could reach 2°C above pre- industrial levels by 2042, leading to significant impacts on Southern Ocean whales. According to state-of-the-art climate models, under 2°C global warming, the area of the Southern Ocean covered by sea ice is projected to shrink by an average of 10-15%. This reduction could be up to 30% in some regions, meaning that species that are heavily dependent on sea ice, such as the Antarctic minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) are projected to lose between 5-30% of ice-associated habitat within 40 years - little more than the life time of an individual whale.

Download (PDF 3.76 MB)

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Progress at Bonn Climate Talks is not good enough

Bonn, Germany – With only 536 days remaining until the Copenhagen Climate Summit, governments are making too little progress in developing the future system for reducing climate-damaging emissions, WWF says.

"Progress at the end of this second round in a series of UN climate negotiations was considered 'feeble', according to WWF's negotiating team. "The ideas put on the table are only translated into shopping lists rather than blueprints for negotiations," says Kathrin Gutmann, WWF Climate Policy Coordinator.

The EU, in particular, has not shown any substantial initiative or move forward at the Bonn talks. Other Europeans do better, in WWF's view: Norway and Switzerland have both produced concrete proposals on finance, detailing possible mechanisms for raising funds. And a number of developing countries have tabled proposals on adaptation, finance and technology transfer. Such initiatives provide the necessary political signal and substance for a constructive way forward in the negotiations.

"The EU seems to be sitting on the fence, basking in the glory of yesterday's leadership but not showing much substance when it comes to moving forward," says Kathrin Gutmann. "Now that many developing countries are engaging the EU needs to step up to the challenge now, even in the remaining hours of the Bonn meeting."

Australia and Canada drew criticism trying to obtain more loopholes in the talks about forest and agricultural emissions, to escape from implementing strong emission reduction targets.

"The science tells us that governments need to think at a much larger scale of action than ever before to get climate change under control," says Kathrin Gutmann. "Parties in the talks need to focus on the outcome the world needs – a high priority is for industrialized countries to commit to new ways of raising adequate levels of funds for low carbon development in developing countries through direct transfers as well as new innovative mechanisms."

At the upcoming G8+5 Summit, progressive countries must persuade their colleagues to return to the UN talks armed with commitments commensurate with the problems the world is facing.

"Japan has a huge responsibility to deliver momentum for the UN negotiations at its G8 Summit in Hokkaido," says Kim Carstensen, Director of the WWF Global Climate Initiative. "The formal UN process would benefit from a burst of adrenalin delivered by the G8+5 heads of state."

For further information:

Spokespeople

Kathrin Gutmann, WWF Climate Policy Coordinator, +49 162 29 144 28, kathrin.gutmann@wwf.de

Kim Carstensen, Director, WWF Global Climate Initiative, +45 40 34 36 35, k.carstensen@wwf.dk

Media

Martin Hiller, Head of communications, WWF Global Climate Initiative (English, German, French) t +41 79 347 2256, mhiller@wwfint.org

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World's rarest rhinos make first video trap appearance - then toss camera

JAKARTA--After just a month in operation, specially designed video cameras installed to capture wildlife footage in the jungles of South East Asia have twice recorded remarkable images of the world's rarest rhino accompanied by a calf.

But the success was not without incident as after a short inspection, the rhino mother charged the camera and sent it flying on one of the occasion in Ujung Kulon National Park in Java, Indonesia. Javan rhinos occur only in that park and one in Vietnam.

"With fewer than 60 Javan rhinos left in the wild, we believe this footage was well worth the risk to our equipment," said Adhi Rachmat Hariyadi, who leads WWF-Indonesia's project in Ujung Kulon National Park. "It's very unusual to catch a glimpse of the Javan rhinos deep inside the rain forest. The motion triggered infrared video traps are a useful way to observe them and the ways they use their habitat in a more detailed way."

Recordings of the Javan rhino are the highlight so far of the installation over recent months of improved video-based wildlife recording equipment, which in its pioneering phase in Malaysia has already provided footages of rare Malayan tigers in the wild and a Sumatran Rhino in Borneo.

"Setting cameras such as these is always a challenge, especially with animals as rare and elusive as the Javan rhino," said WWF Malaysia photographer Stephen Hogg, who designed the video-traps. "The assault on the camera still has us baffled because we specifically use Infra Red (IR) lights as the source of illumination when we designed and built these units so as to not scare animals away when the camera activates."

The use of video traps over camera traps is yielding valuable insights into the behaviour of target and other species which will aid in their conservation.

In the case of Javan rhinos, the new video traps replace wooden bamboo platforms nearly 10 metres off the ground at wallowing sites, which were difficult and time-consuming to construct, required safety training and precautions for users and offered limited viewing angles. From a scientific viewpoint, adverse angles and larger distances meant it was often impossible to identify particular rhinos.

By contrast, the video traps are readily relocated, generally safe to operate and surprisingly robust. "The camera tossed in our footage was relocated by a survey team and put back on its stand next day and hasn't suffered molestation by a rhino since," said Adhi Rachmat, WWF team leader in Ujung Kulon.

"We are proposing a test translocation of a few Javan rhinos in the near future to establish a new population in a new area. This requires hard data and reliable science and settting up video traps allows us to do that without stop sending researchers to spend the night on rickety bamboo platforms trying to observe these highly endangered rhinos," said Adhi. "Since the video traps don't have any moving parts and are very silent, they can be placed much closer than humans along the favourite haunts of the Javan rhinos, like salt licks, trails and mud wallows."

"We are encouraged by the initial results from these video trap, and hope this data will help the park authorities to understand the population dynamics and behaviour of Javan rhinos better and help manage the threats to this population in a more scientific manner", said Agus Priambudi, Head of Ujung Kulon National Park.

Javan rhinos are found only in two locations in the world with Ujung Kulong NP in Java, Indonesia estimated to have around 60 rhinos -- more than 90 percent of the global population. To prevent the rhino population from going extinct from a sudden catastrophe like a diseases or other natural disasters, the Government of Indonesia recently launched rhino conservation strategy titled "Project Rhino Century (Proyek Abad Badak) in partnership with WWF, International Rhino Foundation (IRF), Yayasan Badak Indonesia (YABI), dan US Fish and Wildlife Service to create additional Javan rhino populations by translocating a few individuals from Ujung Kulon to another suitable site.

"The use of such cutting edge technologies for studying Javan rhinos should be encouraged more. We believe that the data generated from these video traps in the coming year or so will be of immense help in planning the test translocation of a few Javan rhinos to another suitable habitat – an effort IRF is planning to support," said Susie Ellis, Executive Director of International Rhino Foundation. "Identification of individual rhinos and insights into their roles in the population will be invaluable in carrying out a successful relocation."

The video trap instalment was done and monitored by a survey team consisting of biologists, including Ujung Kulon park rangers, WWF, and local people.

More information

Phil Dickie, Media Relations Consultant, WWF International, wwfint.org, +41 79 7031952

Adhi Rahmat Hariyadi, Site Manager of WWF-Indonesia in Ujung Kulon National Park, m +62 818134178, email: ahariyadi@wwf.or.id

Susie Ellis, PhD, Executive Director, International Rhino Foundation, m 1-540-660-4152, email s.ellis@rhinos-irf.org

Notes for editors

Footage from the Javan rhino video trap and still photos from the footage can be downloaded from the WWF Press Room drop box (panda.org)

Javan rhinos are the rarest of the world's five rhino species and are critically endangered. It is estimated that not more than 60 individuals live in Ujung Kulon. About 37 of these individuals have been identified through camera traps, a critical part of WWF research of these rhinos.

The video camera trap that made this glimpse of rhinos in the wild possible is the creation of WWF-Malaysia photographer Stephen Hogg, who perfected a video camera trap that works in dense, humid jungles. Recent footage from Hogg's video trap of a rare Malayan tiger is also available in the drop box.

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Report values healthy oceans at $US21 trillion

Bonn, May 26, 2008: Oceans offer a vast bounty to humanity in terms of food, climate and coastal protection, medicine and new technologies but these assets are at risk due to very low levels of protection and over-exploitation, a new WWF-Germany study has found.

WWF is urging the 190 Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, now meeting in Bonn, Germany, to conserve the wealth of our oceans.

"Countries have committed themselves to establishing networks of Marine Protected Areas by 2012 under the Convention on Biological Diversity, but only 0.5 per cent of the oceans are currently protected, which is a poor start towards that very essential goal," said Christian Neumann, Conservation Officer for WWF's Centre for Marine Conservation and co-author of the study.

The value of our oceans shows the economic value of a wide range of goods and services from the oceans. Scientists have put their overall value at some $US21 trillion annually, a dramatic contrast with the 0.5 per cent of ocean area currently covered by marine protected areas.

"Not only do we have the moral obligation to secure the biological diversity of the seas but mankind is also dependent on intact marine ecosystems," said Neumann. "They are a cornerstone of our economic well-being. Protecting them is much cheaper than losing them."

The wealth of the seas is particularly apparent in medicine, as many new compounds from pharmaceutical research activities originate from the oceans. Sponges and other invertebrates have emerged as a particularly fruitful source of new antibiotics and pharmaceutically active substances to fight cancer and Alzheimer's. Hotspot areas of high biodiversity are valued at US$6000 per hectare for medicinal aspects alone.

"We just don't know what potential is lying in the seas, waiting to be discovered by medicine and technology. The economic value is enormous, while very difficult to assess. At the same time, we're at risk of losing numerous species before we have the chance to unveil their potential," Neumann said.

The first-sale value of global fisheries was estimated at $US85 billion in 2004, supporting some 40 million workers.

"If we continue overfishing at current levels, fish stocks will collapse by the middle of the century and that means millions of jobs will be lost," Neumann said.

Coastal protection from tsunamis and other natural disasters is among the most important benefits of a healthy marine ecosystem, of which intact protected coral reefs contribute a significant proportion. This service has been valued at $US9 billion each year.

The oceans are also carbon sinks and therefore contribute to stabilising the planet's climate. Without the oceans' biological activity, the carbon concentration in the atmosphere would be 50 per cent higher. This service is valued at between $US0.66 trillion to $US13.5 trillion per annum.

The report shows it makes much better economic sense to protect the seas than to destroy them. In Bunaken National Park in Sulawesi, Indonesia, for example, employees in the parks' important tourism sector earn $US144 a month compared to fishermen on only US$44 a month.

In addition, a comparison of 18 case studies in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans shows that turtle watching generated three times more income than a consumptive use of the animals.

For more information:

Christian Neumann, Marine Conservation Officer
WWF International Centre for Marine Conservation, Hamburg, Germany
Tel. +49 162-2914469

Ralph Kampwirth, Press Officer WWF Germany
Tel. +49 162-2914473

Download

The Value of our Oceans: The Economic Benefits of Marine Biodiversity and Healthy Ecosystems was released at 11am on 26 May 2008 at the 9th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn, Germany.

The Value of our Oceans: The Economic Benefits of Marine Biodiversity and Healthy Ecosystems

With this report we want to take an economic angle in shedding light on the values we receive from the oceans and the life therein, but which we usually take for granted. The marine environment, its habitats and species have shaped and are still shaping our world, our culture and many people’s daily lives. We want to show what the loss of healthy oceans will mean to our economies and individual people’s incomes and livelihoods. We want to show what we loose if we don’t change.

Download (PDF 1.45 MB)

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Coral Sea sharks could be "wiped out"

Healthy but isolated shark populations and other marine species in Australia's Coral Sea are particularly vulnerable and could be wiped out by future fishing operations unless the area receives adequate protection, two new pieces of research released today have warned.

On World Biodiversity Day, and with governments meeting in Bonn to discuss the protection of vulnerable species and areas where they are abundant, WWF-Australia has reiterated its call to the Federal Minister for the Environment, Peter Garrett, to declare the entire Coral Sea a Marine Protected Area.

The Coral Sea Biodiversity Review: Sharks and Fish, compiled by Queensland marine biologist Andy Dunstan for WWF-Australia, and early research findings on the Coral Sea's shark populations by shark expert Richard Fitzpatrick reveal that marine species in the area are isolated and extremely vulnerable to over-fishing.

"The Coral Sea is one of the last marine wilderness areas left on the planet. It is one of the few places in the tropics where you can see healthy populations of whitetip and grey reef sharks, nautilus, maori wrasse and other unique fish species – which have been decimated in similar habitats around the world," said Dr Gilly Llewellyn, WWF's Oceans Program Leader.

"For this reason alone, we are renewing our calls to the Federal Government to declare the entire Coral Sea a Marine Protected Area. Without protection, these species are highly vulnerable to human impacts which could easily and quickly wipe them out," Dr Llewellyn said.

According to marine biologist and report author Andy Dunstan, the vulnerability of these populations is exacerbated by the fact that many Coral Sea shark, mollusc and fish species are real homebodies, living in close association with individual reefs, with minimal home range and little or no movement to surrounding reefs.

"The restricted movement of these animals makes their populations highly susceptible to human impacts. If a population of a species is overfished in a specific area and reduced below a critical level, regeneration of that species will not occur," he said.

A recent satellite tagging and listening array research expedition to the Coral Sea, led by leading Australian marine biologist and shark researcher Richard Fitzpatrick, also revealed that the home range of endangered local whitetip, silvertip and grey reef sharks was restricted to between one and three kilometres around Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea.

Thirty-two listening array devices and three tagging stations were deployed in different areas of the Coral Sea, targeting 21 whitetip and 20 grey reef sharks.

"In its untouched state, the Coral Sea provides us with a research haven for producing baseline data for the marine world's apex predators. Whitetip, silvertip and grey reef sharks are Kings of the Ocean in the Coral Sea, yet are remarkably endangered – even listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species," said Mr Fitzpatrick.

"Australia has a unique opportunity and global responsibility to ensure oceanic reefs and inhabiting marine life within its jurisdiction are given the protection they deserve.

"This may also give these unique and vulnerable species at least one last stronghold for viable populations."

Full copy of Coral Sea Biodiversity Review: Sharks and Fish, PDF (500kb)

More information

Rachael Hoy, Press Office, WWF-Australia
Phone: 02 8202 1242
Mobile: 0407 204 594

Julian Murphy, Press Office, WWF-Australia
Phone: 0 3211 2019
Mobile: 0418 970 778

Notes

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) currently exists in the Coral Sea, with commercial fishing operators agreeing on the need to protect certain areas of the region that are important for tourism, conservation and research.

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Missing biodiversity target puts people at risk

Gland, Switzerland: Future generations face hunger, thirst, disease and disaster if we carry on trashing the environment, the conservation organization WWF cautioned today.

The stark warning comes as WWF launches its 2010 and Beyond: Rising to the Biodiversity Challenge report which contains the latest Living Planet index – the internationally agreed way to measure progress towards the global target of reducing biodiversity loss by 2010– and which reveals a continuing decline in biodiversity.

Food, clean water, medicines and protection from natural hazards are important ingredients in maintaining our security and quality of life. If they are to be maintained then the species, natural habitats and ecosystems that support them need to be protected. In 2002 the world's governments set themselves a target to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, but WWF's report shows that they are clearly not on track.

"Biodiversity underpins the health of the planet and has a direct impact on all our lives. Put simply, reduced biodiversity means millions of people face a future where food supplies are more vulnerable to pests and disease and where water is in irregular or short supply," said James Leape, WWF International's Director General.

"No one can escape the impact of biodiversity loss because reduced global diversity translates quite clearly into fewer new medicines, greater vulnerability to natural disasters and greater effects from global warming."

In 2002 the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity set clear targets to achieve a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at global, regional and national levels. However, the 2010 and Beyond: Rising to the Biodiversity Challenge report shows governments are not on track to meet the 2010 target and that environment ministries cannot reverse this trend without integrated support at the highest level.

Calling on governments during the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Ninth Meeting (CBD COP 9) in Bonn, 19-30 May 2008, to make the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity a political priority, WWF is asking governments to:

• develop joint implementation plans between environment, agriculture, food, water, finance, and health in order to take urgent action to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.
• live up to their commitment to put in place effective protected area systems, with the full and effective participation of indigenous and local communities and promoting equity and benefit sharing.
• to adopt a target to achieve zero net annual deforestation by 2020 and initiate collaboration between the CBD and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to reduce green house gas emissions from deforestation and degradation.

WWF's International Policy Director, Gordon Shepherd, added: "This is not rocket science. The reason governments are failing to meet their biodiversity targets is because they haven't provided adequate financial and technical resources and have failed to develop economic incentives and other measures to preserve biodiversity. In particular environment ministries must work for the active support and involvement of ministers with a mutual interest in saving biodiversity such as those responsible for development, finance, agriculture, fisheries and climate.

"WWF is calling on all the governments that signed the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2002 to do what they gave their word they would do: implement the Strategic Plan by establishing national targets and allocating sufficient financial, human and technical resources."

For further information:

Allison Witts, Media Relations Consultant, WWF International, +41 79 814 4466

Download the Report

At the start of the millennium the United Nations set a clear, measurable objective for biodiversity conservation. We are now only two years away from reporting on the target agreed by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2002: to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at global, regional and national levels as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth. The EU countries also agreed in 2002 to a more ambitious target - to halt biodiversity loss by 2010.

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Environment spending welcomed but action required

WWF-Australia today welcomed the Rudd Government's first budget, applauding new budget measures for protected areas, Indigenous conservation, water buyback, and the Great Barrier Reef – key elements of a national climate rescue package for Australia's irreplaceable natural heritage.

But the organisation said the timeframe identified in the budget for implementing carbon capture and storage technology was vastly inadequate to get demonstration projects up and running in the next few years.

"This is a very good budget for the environment but we do need to accelerate the development of carbon capture and storage technology so we can know immediately if this will play a role in the fight against climate change," said WWF-Australia CEO Greg Bourne.

However, Mr Bourne said the new Government had delivered on everything it said it would and now needed to take this money and turn it into significant action.

Many of the Federal Government's environmental initiatives announced in the lead-up to the budget addressed recommendations in WWF's 2007 report, Priorities for a Living Australia.

These included making $200 million available to protect the Great Barrier Reef, spending $180 million for new protected areas, $150 million for Indigenous conservation and $3 billion for water buybacks.

Mr Bourne said the announcement of a $500 million fund to develop and deploy of clean coal technologies was welcome but said the eight-year time frame for allocation of the funds did not reflect the urgency needed to develop CCS technology.

"Allocating $500 million for CCS over eight years is simply playing lip service to the scale of the climate change problem. We need $500 million over one year, not eight years," he said.

"The Government must ensure carbon capture and storage demonstration plants and renewable energy plants are built within the next few years."

Mr Bourne added that the Government had missed an opportunity to begin reforming the carbon market in Australia.

"The Clean Coal Fund is extremely important but we would urge the Federal Government to consider implementing tax reform to further support this investment," Mr Bourne said.

In relation to the $20 billion Building Australia Fund, WWF said any money being spent on building Australia's future must also take into consideration the kinds of infrastructure needed to reduce the impacts of climate change.

WWF also expressed disappointment at the lack of re-funding for the Threatened Species Network, a priority for the $2.2b Caring for Our Country program, particularly after the National Audit Office last year found threatened species management was desperately underfunded.

"This is a significant blow to ensuring the recovery of our nation's threatened marine and terrestrial species," Mr Bourne said.

"That said, we do recognise that this budget represents progress in turning the tanker of environmental degradation around through incentives to transform energy and water markets," Mr Bourne said. "WWF looks forward to working with the Government on further environmental programs to secure our future for generations to come."

For more information:

For more information, or interviews with Greg Bourne, WWF CEO, please contact:

Rachael Hoy, WWF-Australia Press Office, 02 8202 1242, 0407 204 594

Charles Stevens, WWF-Australia Press Office, 02 8202 1274, 0424 649 689

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$15m for weeds research a winner

WWF-Australia today welcomed the Australian Government's announcement to spend $15 million on a new National Weeds and Productivity Research Program in its budget next week, and warned of a new wave of invasive weeds threatening to jump the garden fence and take hold in Australian bushland.

WWF-Australia's Biodiversity Policy Manager, Averil Bones praised the Australian Government's commitment to the research centre as far-sighted and essential in ensuring the cost-effective management of existing weeds and the prevention of new weeds.

"Weeds are second only to landclearing as the biggest existing threat to Australia's biodiversity and they cost Australian farmers hundreds of millions of dollars every year," Ms Bones said.

"What's worse is that the threat of weeds is only expected to increase with climate change, as warmer temperatures break down the resilience of existing ecosystems and speed the spread of weeds into new areas," she said.

Most of Australia's agricultural and environmental weeds are garden escapees. Just one escaped invasive garden plant - Lantana - now degrades more than four million hectares of Australia's environment.

WWF hopes the research centre will be independently managed, that priorities will be drawn from the National Weed Spread Prevention Action Plan, and that its focus will be on protecting both the environment and Australia's agriculture from weed invasion.

A report released in November last year by WWF-Australia and the Australian Association of Bush Regenerators NSW documents the emergence of new invasive plants in NSW as well as the spread of established problem species into new areas of the State.

The report identified 171 escaped garden plants that had invaded remnant native bush areas, and confirmed that many of the invasive weeds ravaging NSW are not declared under the State's Noxious Weeds Act.

Ms Bones said the situation was similar in other State's around the country, with many known invasive plants still available for sale in nurseries despite the risk they pose to the environment.

"The fact that many of these species have not been declared as Noxious Weeds means the vast majority of them can still be promoted and sold as garden plants, which raises the threat of a new wave of invasive plants."

Last year the CRC for Australian Weed Management released a report on the impacts of weeds on Australia's biodiversity, which found that invasive plants were the biggest threat to the survival of native species after land clearing.

For more information:

Charlie Stevens, WWF-Australia Press Office, 02 8202 1274, 0424 649 689

Averil Bones, WWF-Australia Biodiversity Policy Manager, 02 8202 1289, 0437 864 153

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