SANDAKAN, Aug 27 (Bernama) -- The Sandakan Marine Operations Force arrested four foreign nationals, including three women, and seized 1,250 turtle eggs from a boat off the Mile 7 Beach here on Wednesday.
Its commanding officer, ASP Muhammad Sallam Spawi said the eggs were believed to be taken from islands off Sabah near the Philippine border.
Those arrested aged between 12 and 61 were arrested under the Immigration Act 1959/1963 and the Wildlife Conservation Act 1997, he said in a statement today.
Muhammad Sallam said turtle eggs were sold illegally here between RM1.20 and RM2 each.
-- BERNAMA
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Mangrove Salvaging
We put aside our busy schedules to head to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve in the morning to do some Mangrove Salvaging! This event which saw Scouts from different groups coming together to do some good work for nature. We had scouts from St Joseph's, Beatty Secondary, Raffles Instituion and Bishan Park coming to give a hand.
The task was to root out the mangroves and put them in a separate black bags filled with soil. For some of them, it was their first time using tools spades to root out the mangroves. All in all, the scouts had a blast and some of them were even talking about the next upcoming event of replanting the mangroves! The scouts had loads of fun and also learn new things on nature which they can use for their World Scout Environment Programme.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Ruling on Longline Fishing Aids Turtles
Cornelia Dean, The New York Times 19 Aug 09;
When a federal panel that regulates fishing in the Gulf of Mexico voted last week to limit the use of longlines to catch grouper because the lines can snag and drown threatened loggerhead sea turtles, no one was completely satisfied with the decision.
But some people close to the issue say the dissatisfaction is a positive sign, an indicator of the growing efforts among fishermen, conservationists and regulators to seek consensus and abandon the rancor that for decades has marked their interactions.
“Nobody got exactly what they wanted,” said Roy Crabtree, Southeast regional administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the panel, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. “But everyone felt we had come up with a reasonable compromise.”
Longlines are miles of metal cable strung with thousands of baited hooks, which fishermen deploy along the ocean bottom, including on coral reefs and rocky “hardbottoms” where red and black grouper forage. Loggerhead sea turtles forage there, too, and if they are snagged on the hooks, they may drown before the lines are hauled back to the surface.
The council, which regulates fishing in federal waters from Texas to the west coast of Florida, voted to close some areas to longlining, and only about half of the approximately 125 boats now using the gear will be allowed to continue. Fishermen will be allowed to catch grouper using vertical lines, which are dropped overboard.
In general, experts say, fishermen bring in bigger catches using longline gear, and some add that it is somewhat easier to use at sea.
Glen Brooks, president of the Gulf Fishermen’s Association and a participant in the rule making, said the process was “stressful.” But, Mr. Brooks said, “years ago the commercial fishermen did not talk to the environmentalists, we did not talk to the recreational fishermen and the council members kind of looked down on us. Now we have a pretty good relationship with the environmental groups, the recreational sectors, and we have a pretty good rapport with the council members.”
Dave Allison, who manages turtle conservation efforts for Oceana, an environmental group that also participated in the rule making, called the new ruling “probably the best that the sea turtles could have hoped for from an organization called the fishery management council.” But “it’s a good start,” Mr. Allison said. According to Dr. Crabtree, recent research suggests that the lines snag far more loggerhead sea turtles than had been thought, perhaps 600 a year, and that most of them die. Conservationists say longline gear also damages corals and other important habitat on the sea bottom, threatening both the turtles and the fish.
Dr. Crabtree said that turtles sometimes snagged on vertical line hooks, too, but that because those lines were usually hauled up relatively quickly few of them died as a result. Loggerhead turtles can stay underwater for up to an hour.
The Gulf of Mexico supplies much of the grouper served on American tables. Dr. Crabtree said it was too soon to know if the rule change would significantly affect prices for the fish.
Adult loggerheads typically have shells about three feet long — “bigger than a wheelbarrow but smaller than a Volkswagen,” as Mr. Allison put it. Though females may lay 100 eggs or more on the region’s sandy beaches, scientists estimate that fewer than one in 1,000 of the tiny turtles who hatch and crawl into the waves live to age 30 or 35, when they are ready to reproduce. NOAA scientists are studying whether still more restrictions may be needed to protect loggerhead sea turtles, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Though he is among those who think more must be done to safeguard the turtles, Mr. Allison praised council members, who, he said, “showed a great deal of courage” in pushing for fishing restrictions sure to be unpopular in some quarters.
In a way, Mr. Brooks said the same thing.
The ruling “has its pros and it’s got its cons,” he said. “We did not get everything we wanted; the environmental groups, the agency, they did not get everything they wanted. But we all walked away with something.”
Cornelia Dean, The New York Times 19 Aug 09;
When a federal panel that regulates fishing in the Gulf of Mexico voted last week to limit the use of longlines to catch grouper because the lines can snag and drown threatened loggerhead sea turtles, no one was completely satisfied with the decision.
But some people close to the issue say the dissatisfaction is a positive sign, an indicator of the growing efforts among fishermen, conservationists and regulators to seek consensus and abandon the rancor that for decades has marked their interactions.
“Nobody got exactly what they wanted,” said Roy Crabtree, Southeast regional administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the panel, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. “But everyone felt we had come up with a reasonable compromise.”
Longlines are miles of metal cable strung with thousands of baited hooks, which fishermen deploy along the ocean bottom, including on coral reefs and rocky “hardbottoms” where red and black grouper forage. Loggerhead sea turtles forage there, too, and if they are snagged on the hooks, they may drown before the lines are hauled back to the surface.
The council, which regulates fishing in federal waters from Texas to the west coast of Florida, voted to close some areas to longlining, and only about half of the approximately 125 boats now using the gear will be allowed to continue. Fishermen will be allowed to catch grouper using vertical lines, which are dropped overboard.
In general, experts say, fishermen bring in bigger catches using longline gear, and some add that it is somewhat easier to use at sea.
Glen Brooks, president of the Gulf Fishermen’s Association and a participant in the rule making, said the process was “stressful.” But, Mr. Brooks said, “years ago the commercial fishermen did not talk to the environmentalists, we did not talk to the recreational fishermen and the council members kind of looked down on us. Now we have a pretty good relationship with the environmental groups, the recreational sectors, and we have a pretty good rapport with the council members.”
Dave Allison, who manages turtle conservation efforts for Oceana, an environmental group that also participated in the rule making, called the new ruling “probably the best that the sea turtles could have hoped for from an organization called the fishery management council.” But “it’s a good start,” Mr. Allison said. According to Dr. Crabtree, recent research suggests that the lines snag far more loggerhead sea turtles than had been thought, perhaps 600 a year, and that most of them die. Conservationists say longline gear also damages corals and other important habitat on the sea bottom, threatening both the turtles and the fish.
Dr. Crabtree said that turtles sometimes snagged on vertical line hooks, too, but that because those lines were usually hauled up relatively quickly few of them died as a result. Loggerhead turtles can stay underwater for up to an hour.
The Gulf of Mexico supplies much of the grouper served on American tables. Dr. Crabtree said it was too soon to know if the rule change would significantly affect prices for the fish.
Adult loggerheads typically have shells about three feet long — “bigger than a wheelbarrow but smaller than a Volkswagen,” as Mr. Allison put it. Though females may lay 100 eggs or more on the region’s sandy beaches, scientists estimate that fewer than one in 1,000 of the tiny turtles who hatch and crawl into the waves live to age 30 or 35, when they are ready to reproduce. NOAA scientists are studying whether still more restrictions may be needed to protect loggerhead sea turtles, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Though he is among those who think more must be done to safeguard the turtles, Mr. Allison praised council members, who, he said, “showed a great deal of courage” in pushing for fishing restrictions sure to be unpopular in some quarters.
In a way, Mr. Brooks said the same thing.
The ruling “has its pros and it’s got its cons,” he said. “We did not get everything we wanted; the environmental groups, the agency, they did not get everything they wanted. But we all walked away with something.”
Friday, August 7, 2009
TURTLE
Who would be a turtle who could help it?
A barely mobile hard roll, a four-oared helmet,
she can ill afford the chances she must take
in rowing toward the grasses that she eats.
Her track is graceless, like dragging
a packing-case places, and almost any slope
defeats her modest hopes. Even bring practical,
she is often stuck up to the axle on the way
to something edible. With everything optimal,
she skirts the ditch which would convert
her shell into a serving dish. She lives
below luck-level, never imagining to some lottery
will change her load of pottery to wings.
Her only levity is patience,
the sport of truly chastened things.
Who would be a turtle who could help it?
A barely mobile hard roll, a four-oared helmet,
she can ill afford the chances she must take
in rowing toward the grasses that she eats.
Her track is graceless, like dragging
a packing-case places, and almost any slope
defeats her modest hopes. Even bring practical,
she is often stuck up to the axle on the way
to something edible. With everything optimal,
she skirts the ditch which would convert
her shell into a serving dish. She lives
below luck-level, never imagining to some lottery
will change her load of pottery to wings.
Her only levity is patience,
the sport of truly chastened things.
Kay Ryan
(extracted from Reader's Digest; August Issue)
(extracted from Reader's Digest; August Issue)
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Project Orion on Strait Times Papers!!- Home page section
Group earns high marks for volunteer work in poor district
Victoria Vaughan, Straits Times 1 Aug 09;
REPAIRING houses, planting trees and conserving turtle eggs were just a few of the accomplishments of a group of Singapore scouts in Setiu, Terengganu - and they have now set the standard for future projects there.
Eight rover scouts - that is, the senior section for those aged 17 to 26 - assisted WWF conservationists in their turtle and community projects in the Malaysian east coast state and impressed them with their pro-active approach.
Team adviser Tan Sijie, 26, led the group to Setiu, one of Terengganu state's poorest districts in terms of revenue generation, for their first Orion Turtle Project that they hope to turn into an annual event.
Mr Tan came to know about the project after a friend volunteered to join it three years ago. But it took many e-mail exchanges and two visits for him to convince the WWF in Setiu to give the green light for the trip as the organisation was not equipped to take on such a large group.
'As scouts, we leave the place a little better than when we first found it, and that's what we aimed to do in Setiu,' said Mr Tan, who has been a scout for 15 years.
WWF's Mr River Foo, the Setiu community project liaison officer, said: 'The amount this group did was immense. The standard of these kids is a benchmark for other volunteers that come out.
'We do not really take on volunteer groups as we are too busy with our day-to-day jobs, but we did not have to babysit them. They were so independent and got around on their bikes cycling to areas up to 8km away. They were really passionate about everything they did.'
The group, consisting mostly of students, organised its activities, including patrolling the beaches at night to spot turtles laying eggs. The eggs were then dug up and reburied in the WWF hatchery to protect them from predators and people who believe the leathery-shell eggs are aphrodisiacs.
After talking with a women's group in Setiu that the WWF helps to educate, the scouts identified two building projects in the town: constructing a toilet for a man on kidney dialysis and replacing the crumbling wall of a home in the village. The divorcee who lived in the home was so grateful she cried when they left at the end of their two-week trip.
The group also planted 1,000 mangrove trees from the WWF nursery in four areas along the banks of the Setiu River over two days.
All the hard work has earned the group a Scouts of the World Award - a badge currently held by only seven scouts in Singapore. It requires the scouts to go on a community project for 14 days.
There are 20 registered rover crews and about 250 rover scouts in Singapore. Next year will mark 100 years of scout presence in Singapore.
Also featured on:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=56716679962&ref=mf
http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.com/2009/08/scouts-pitch-in-to-save-turtles.html
http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2009/08/sijie-scouts-and-sea-turtles-at-setia.html
Victoria Vaughan, Straits Times 1 Aug 09;
REPAIRING houses, planting trees and conserving turtle eggs were just a few of the accomplishments of a group of Singapore scouts in Setiu, Terengganu - and they have now set the standard for future projects there.
Eight rover scouts - that is, the senior section for those aged 17 to 26 - assisted WWF conservationists in their turtle and community projects in the Malaysian east coast state and impressed them with their pro-active approach.
Team adviser Tan Sijie, 26, led the group to Setiu, one of Terengganu state's poorest districts in terms of revenue generation, for their first Orion Turtle Project that they hope to turn into an annual event.
Mr Tan came to know about the project after a friend volunteered to join it three years ago. But it took many e-mail exchanges and two visits for him to convince the WWF in Setiu to give the green light for the trip as the organisation was not equipped to take on such a large group.
'As scouts, we leave the place a little better than when we first found it, and that's what we aimed to do in Setiu,' said Mr Tan, who has been a scout for 15 years.
WWF's Mr River Foo, the Setiu community project liaison officer, said: 'The amount this group did was immense. The standard of these kids is a benchmark for other volunteers that come out.
'We do not really take on volunteer groups as we are too busy with our day-to-day jobs, but we did not have to babysit them. They were so independent and got around on their bikes cycling to areas up to 8km away. They were really passionate about everything they did.'
The group, consisting mostly of students, organised its activities, including patrolling the beaches at night to spot turtles laying eggs. The eggs were then dug up and reburied in the WWF hatchery to protect them from predators and people who believe the leathery-shell eggs are aphrodisiacs.
After talking with a women's group in Setiu that the WWF helps to educate, the scouts identified two building projects in the town: constructing a toilet for a man on kidney dialysis and replacing the crumbling wall of a home in the village. The divorcee who lived in the home was so grateful she cried when they left at the end of their two-week trip.
The group also planted 1,000 mangrove trees from the WWF nursery in four areas along the banks of the Setiu River over two days.
All the hard work has earned the group a Scouts of the World Award - a badge currently held by only seven scouts in Singapore. It requires the scouts to go on a community project for 14 days.
There are 20 registered rover crews and about 250 rover scouts in Singapore. Next year will mark 100 years of scout presence in Singapore.
Also featured on:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=56716679962&ref=mf
http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.com/2009/08/scouts-pitch-in-to-save-turtles.html
http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2009/08/sijie-scouts-and-sea-turtles-at-setia.html
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