Malacca: Frequent hunting of Malacca's giant monitor lizards, allegedly for their skin and meat as well as their body liquid for aphrodisiac purposes, could drive the reptile to extinction.
"Fifteen years ago, these reptiles could be easily spotted lazing along the river bank of scenic Malacca River. Now, they are hard to come by," said city councillor Ronald Gan Yong Hoe.
"In some countries, monitor lizards are protected under Endangered Species Acts. We hope the state government will move to conserve our local reptiles," the member of the Malacca Historic City Council said.
"If nothing is done, the extensive poaching of this reptile could lead to its extinction," he said.
Gan said the local monitor lizards, known locally as biawak, are large water monitor species (varanus salvator) capable of growing up to three metres long and 25 kilos in weight.
He said that apart from their skin and meat, the reptlie was sought for a liquid from its body that was commonly believed to increase sexual prowess in both men and women.
Gan said the reptile's thick and leathery skin was used for clothing accessories, such as bags and belts, while its meat was said to have healing powers for ailments such as asthma and pneumonia besides increasing sexual prowess.
He said that besides poaching, the reptiles were often exposed to other risks, such as being hit by vehicles when crossing roads.
On a more positive note, Gan said a father and daughter from Australia, who dubbed themselves as Biawak Dundees, were rescuing and treating injured monitor lizards here.
Gan added that following a proposal by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, the state government has made lizard- watching one of the features of the Malacca River cruise.
Meanwhile, mayor Zainal Abu said poaching activities along the river bank has declined due to continuous patrols by the council's enforcement officers.
However, he added, there could still be some hunting upstream and it was up to the state Wildlife and National Parks Department to curtail such activity.
Showing posts with label extinction threat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label extinction threat. Show all posts
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Summit hears that wild salmon are dying in “alarming numbers,”
A SALMON summit in La Rochelle this week has seen scientists confirming that wild Atlantic salmon are dying at sea in alarming numbers, it emerged today.
Southern stocks, including some in North America and Europe, are threatened with extinction, the summit also heard.
The summit, a major international symposium co-convened by the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO) and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (www.ices.dk), and entitled 'Salmon at Sea: Scientific Advances and their Implications for Management,' was held at L'Aquarium, La Rochelle, from October 11-13.
As many as 130 scientists and managers involved in research and management of salmon in the North Atlantic, North Pacific and Baltic Sea participated.
The Atlantic salmon is seen as a unique iconic species and an indicator of healthy environments from pristine upland streams to vast oceanic feeding grounds in the North Atlantic.
And utilising new technologies, scientists are starting to unravel the mysteries of salmon in the ocean and providing managers with management options to save this fish.
But Dr Malcolm Windsor, Secretary of NASCO warned: “Unless we adopt conservation measures identified during the summit there is a real risk that Southern stocks will become extinct by 2040.”
Dr Windsor said, the goal of the SALSEA Programme, a unique collaboration between international scientists, is to increase understanding of how salmon use the ocean, where they go, how they utilise currents and the oceans, food resources and what factors influence their migration and distribution at sea.
This Programme used innovative new technologies, including genetic fingerprinting, to map the domain of salmon and identify factors affecting its survival. This has revealed, for instance, that some of the food chain of salmon is moving further North, seemingly in response to a warming ocean.
And because we now know where salmon are at sea, management measures could be implemented to limit impacts on them, such as fisheries for other species.
A clear message to managers in this challenging global environment was to ensure the maximum number of healthy wild salmon go to sea from their rivers.
Keeping salmon populations abundant involved addressing impact factors in freshwater, estuarine and coastal waters. These include degraded freshwater habitat, barriers to migration, over-exploitation and salmon farming.
Friday, September 16, 2011
New Bolivian bird species on the edge
Protecting a subspecies before it becomes an extinct species: The Palkachupa Cotinga in Bolivia September 2011. The Bolivian subspecies of the Swallow-tailed Cotinga Phibalura flavirostris merits recognition as a species, says Bennett Hennessey, Executive Director of BirdLife's Bolivian Partner Asociación Armonía, in a paper just published in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology.
Fewer than 600 birds
Now reduced to fewer than 600 individuals in a few fragments of forest within an area of just over 1,000 km2, the "Palkachupa Cotinga" will be a candidate for a high threat category in the 2012 Red List update by BirdLife International.
Rediscovered in 2000
Unrecorded for 98 years, P. f. boliviana was rediscovered at the edge of a small (2-4 km2) forest fragment near Pata, north-west of the municipality of Apolo in Bolivia's Madidi National Park, in September 2000.
Bennett Hennessey rediscovered the bird, and is now leading Armonía's efforts to conserve it. It is still relatively common in patches of good habitat, but with so little good habitat remaining the population is very low. A stronghold of the population has been found at the original collection site, near the village of Aten.
"Without more support, we have another dry season on the horizon, during which more of Palkachupa's habitat will be cut and burnt for pasture land," says Bennett Hennessey. Armonía is seeking donations of $3000 to $5000 to protect the Palkachupa Cotinga (see end of story for details on how you can help).
59 hectares published
In June 2010, Armonía achieved the first step toward the creation of a Palkachupa Nature Reserve with the purchase of 59 ha near Aten. Negotiations with landowners continue, and they hope to purchase additional land. "The area requires complete boundary fencing to prevent further cattle grazing, and to allow reforestation. Restoration of savannah breeding habitat is needed, and for this we will first need to work with neighbouring landowners on fire management. Isolated trees will be planted to improve nesting habitat" said Bennet Hennessey.
"We will initiate a programme of protecting Palkachupa Cotinga nesting trees in the Aten area by purchasing the protection rights of important trees. These trees will be fenced off, and signs will be placed declaring these small areas as sanctuaries for nesting Palkachupa."
It would not be possible to protect the Palkachupa's habitat without the support and cooperation of the people of Aten. Armonía is working with a former Madidi park guard and Aten native, William Ferufino, to coordinate research and outreach activities with the local communities.
Local people have responded enthusiastically, and images of Palkachupa play a prominent role in annual Independence Day celebrations. Four high school students are working with William Ferufino as volunteer field assistants. In recognition of this important support, and to build greater local participation, Armonía provided assistance for improvements to the Aten school, including construction of three additional classrooms.
Swallow-tailed Cotinga
The Near Threatened Swallow-tailed Cotinga has traditionally been considered to consist of two subspecies with disjunct ranges. The nominate race is found in south-eastern Brazil, and also perhaps in northeast Argentina and east Paraguay, though with no records from these countries since 1977. 2,500 km separate the nearest known population of the nominate race from the area in central-western Bolivia where three specimens of the taxon known as P. f. boliviana were collected in 1845 and 1902.
Evidence presented by Hennessey in The Wilson Journal (123(3):454-458, 2011) indicated that the Bolivian population should be treated as a separate species, Phibalura boliviana. The plumage is distinctly different: boliviana males have longer tails than flavirostris, and their body plumage is significantly less sexually dimorphic. The iris of boliviana is mustard yellow, distinct from the blood red iris of flavirostris, andboliviana has orange-yellow feet while those of flavirostris are pink. Only one vocalisation type is recorded for flavirostris, whereas at least five calls and a song are known for boliviana, which vocalises significantly more often. The Brazilian flavirostris has strong seasonal movements, whereas boliviana is sedentary.
The proposed common name proposed for the species comes from the indigenous Quechua language: "palka" meaning fork and "chupa" meaning tail.
"On first speaking with the people of Aten, their comment was that they did not know Palkachupa was so rare" says Bennett Hennessey. "Being so common in their village they assumed it was found everywhere."
Armonía is seeking donations of $3000 to $5000 to protect the Palkachupa Cotinga. Please contact abhennessey@armonia-bo.org if you wish to help efforts to save the species from extinction.
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/Palkachupa-Cotinga.html
Fewer than 600 birds
Now reduced to fewer than 600 individuals in a few fragments of forest within an area of just over 1,000 km2, the "Palkachupa Cotinga" will be a candidate for a high threat category in the 2012 Red List update by BirdLife International.
Rediscovered in 2000
Unrecorded for 98 years, P. f. boliviana was rediscovered at the edge of a small (2-4 km2) forest fragment near Pata, north-west of the municipality of Apolo in Bolivia's Madidi National Park, in September 2000.
Bennett Hennessey rediscovered the bird, and is now leading Armonía's efforts to conserve it. It is still relatively common in patches of good habitat, but with so little good habitat remaining the population is very low. A stronghold of the population has been found at the original collection site, near the village of Aten.
"Without more support, we have another dry season on the horizon, during which more of Palkachupa's habitat will be cut and burnt for pasture land," says Bennett Hennessey. Armonía is seeking donations of $3000 to $5000 to protect the Palkachupa Cotinga (see end of story for details on how you can help).
59 hectares published
In June 2010, Armonía achieved the first step toward the creation of a Palkachupa Nature Reserve with the purchase of 59 ha near Aten. Negotiations with landowners continue, and they hope to purchase additional land. "The area requires complete boundary fencing to prevent further cattle grazing, and to allow reforestation. Restoration of savannah breeding habitat is needed, and for this we will first need to work with neighbouring landowners on fire management. Isolated trees will be planted to improve nesting habitat" said Bennet Hennessey.
"We will initiate a programme of protecting Palkachupa Cotinga nesting trees in the Aten area by purchasing the protection rights of important trees. These trees will be fenced off, and signs will be placed declaring these small areas as sanctuaries for nesting Palkachupa."
It would not be possible to protect the Palkachupa's habitat without the support and cooperation of the people of Aten. Armonía is working with a former Madidi park guard and Aten native, William Ferufino, to coordinate research and outreach activities with the local communities.
Local people have responded enthusiastically, and images of Palkachupa play a prominent role in annual Independence Day celebrations. Four high school students are working with William Ferufino as volunteer field assistants. In recognition of this important support, and to build greater local participation, Armonía provided assistance for improvements to the Aten school, including construction of three additional classrooms.
Swallow-tailed Cotinga
The Near Threatened Swallow-tailed Cotinga has traditionally been considered to consist of two subspecies with disjunct ranges. The nominate race is found in south-eastern Brazil, and also perhaps in northeast Argentina and east Paraguay, though with no records from these countries since 1977. 2,500 km separate the nearest known population of the nominate race from the area in central-western Bolivia where three specimens of the taxon known as P. f. boliviana were collected in 1845 and 1902.
Evidence presented by Hennessey in The Wilson Journal (123(3):454-458, 2011) indicated that the Bolivian population should be treated as a separate species, Phibalura boliviana. The plumage is distinctly different: boliviana males have longer tails than flavirostris, and their body plumage is significantly less sexually dimorphic. The iris of boliviana is mustard yellow, distinct from the blood red iris of flavirostris, andboliviana has orange-yellow feet while those of flavirostris are pink. Only one vocalisation type is recorded for flavirostris, whereas at least five calls and a song are known for boliviana, which vocalises significantly more often. The Brazilian flavirostris has strong seasonal movements, whereas boliviana is sedentary.
The proposed common name proposed for the species comes from the indigenous Quechua language: "palka" meaning fork and "chupa" meaning tail.
"On first speaking with the people of Aten, their comment was that they did not know Palkachupa was so rare" says Bennett Hennessey. "Being so common in their village they assumed it was found everywhere."
Armonía is seeking donations of $3000 to $5000 to protect the Palkachupa Cotinga. Please contact abhennessey@armonia-bo.org if you wish to help efforts to save the species from extinction.
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/Palkachupa-Cotinga.html
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Bid to save sandpiper at risk of extinction in Russia
 |
| Will this spoon-billed sandpiper chick make it to adulthood? |
By Matt Walker
Editor, BBC Nature
Conservationists have embarked on a mission to save one of the world's rarest birds, the spoon-billed sandpiper, from extinction.
Fewer than 200 pairs of spoon-billed sandpipers were thought to exist in 2009, and since then, the population has thought to have declined by a quarter each year.
So a specialist team of bird experts are flying to the sandpiper's home in northeast Russia to collect and incubate eggs and set up a captive breeding population.
The captive population of spoon-billed sandpipers will be housed in Moscow Zoo for quarantine purposes, then moved to a specially built unit at the headquarters of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, UK.
The emergency mission is being undertaken by the WWT and Birds Russia, working with colleagues from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), BirdLife International, ArcCona, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Task Force and Moscow Zoo.
Experts fear that, without intervention, the spoon-billed sandpiper could be extinct within ten years.
The count of 200 pairs in 2009 is an upper estimate and there may have been as few as 120 pairs at that time.
Surveys since suggest that the counted population is falling by 26% a year, with juveniles having a particularly low rate of survival.
Spoon-billed sandpipers (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus) are a small Arctic wading bird, sporting a bill shaped like a spoon.
"This adaptation, entirely unique to its family, makes it one of the most weird and wonderful bird species on the planet," says Dr Geoff Hilton, Head of Species Research at the WWT.
The BTO's shorebird expert, Dr Nigel Clark, agrees: "There is only one wader that eats with a spoon and we need to try everything we can to save it from extinction."
The bird divides its time between northeast Russia and the Bay of Bay of Martaban, Myanmar (Burma) and the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh.
Travelling between, they migrate over 8,000km (4,970 miles) on a journey that may pass through Japan, North Korea, the Republic of Korea, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh and India.
Unsustainable levels of subsistence hunting, particularly within the wintering areas in Myanmar and Bangladesh, are thought to be driving the species's decline.
Degradation and reclamation of the inter-tidal mudflats along many countries in Asia is exacerbating the problem.
No spoon-billed sandpipers currently exist in captivity.
Currently the team are in Russia waiting to locate and collect eggs from the breeding grounds.
They will construct an incubation facility out on the tundra where they will hatch the chicks before transferring the fledged young via sea and air back to Moscow Zoo for quarantine.
"It is absolutely clear that the spoon-billed sandpiper cannot be saved without action to reduce the threats to the wild population, but it is going to be difficult to achieve a turnaround quickly enough to avert extinction. Creating a captive population now may buy us some time," says Dr Hilton.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/13627796
Friday, May 20, 2011
Why are chimps hunting red colubus monkeys to death?
According to census data collected between 1975 and 2007, the Ugandan red colubus monkey has seen an 89% population drop, and the hunting habits of common chimpanzees are almost entirely to blame. Disease and competition with similar monkey species have also been cited as factors, but the researchers say these still just pale in significance when compared to the effects of chimp hunting.
Indeed, these chimps seem to be actively trying to wipe out their primate brethren. The chimps generally target younger monkeys that haven't yet reached reproductive age, which means there are far fewer red colubus monkeys around who can help bring the population back. Chimpanzees have been doing very well during all this, as their population has increased by 53% over the same time period that the monkeys have nearly disappeared.
It's a good reminder that overhunting is not a strictly human practice, although we tend to be particularly adept at wiping out other species through excessive hunting. The researchers aren't sure what is driving the chimps to kill so many colubus monkeys - it's possible that other food sources decreased or that environmental shifts could have made increased hunting the most effective option.
There is a bit of good news, though - the chimpanzees seem to have seriously cut back on their hunting in recent years, which might mean the red colubus monkeys can survive after all. This means that fewer adult chimps are passing on their hunting skills to their young, which is creating generations of poor hunters, which can only help the colubus monkeys. No one is quite sure why the chimps changed their hunting patterns, but I'd like to think this is our first evidence of chimp conservationism.
American Journal of Primatology via Scientific American. Image via.
http://io9.com/monkeynews/
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Oldest Albatross Survives Tsunami Damage to Midway Atoll Read more at Suite101: Oldest Albatross Survives Tsunami Damage to Midway Atoll
 |
| hoto of a Laysan Albatross pair at nest on Midway Atoll. John Klavitter (US Fish and Wildlife Service) |
Last Updated Mar 14, 2011,
Published Mar 13, 2011
The Laysan Albatross, Wisdom, one of the world's oldest known birds, and her newly hatched chick, have survived a tsunami at Midway Atoll.
14th March 2011 - Among the terrible human tragedy of the Japan earthquakes and the tsunami waves that have swept the Japanese coastline and across the Pacific ocean, comes a good news bird story.
Last week, news sources around the world celebrated Wisdom’s efforts to raise another chick when she is reported to be the oldest known albatross, at more than 60 years old.
Wisdom had returned safely to her nest on Sand Island to raise another chick in the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Pacific Islands.
Last Saturday, one of the tidal waves from Japan’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit Midway Atoll.
The islands of Midway Atoll include a large colony of Laysan Albatross and the second largest breeding population of Black-footed Albatross and these were nesting on the ground with eggs and chicks in the nests this week when the tsunami waves struck.
Tsunami washes away nests and chicks
Staff on Midway Atoll reported that the tsunami that hit Midway Atoll was about 1.4 metres high and flooded some parts of the island. At least some chicks and adult Laysan Albatross were killed and hundreds of chicks were washed away from their nests onto roadways and under bushes. The nests inland were not affected, and by the morning both the adults and chicks there were going about their business as usual, according to one report.Volunteers and visitors to the island spent the afternoon freeing dozens of albatross chicks that had been washed into and caught inside thickets of naupaka. This often required hacking through the bushes with large clippers and small saws, and either crawling through the spaces or climbing on top of the branches to perch suspended over the ground. Visitors also dug out many petrels who had been trapped and buried in their burrows.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Amur tigers in population crisis
Monday, 28 February 2011
By Victoria Gill
Science and nature reporter, BBC News
The effective population of the critically endangered Amur tiger is now fewer than 14 animals, say scientists.
Approximately 500 Amur tigers actually survive in the wild, but the effective population is a measure of the genetic diversity of the world's largest cat.
Very low diversity means any vulnerability to disease or rare genetic disorders is likely to be passed on to the next generation.
So these results paint a grim picture for the tiger's chance of survival.
The findings are reported in the journal Mammalian Biology.
The Amur tiger, or Siberian tiger as it is also known, once lived across a large portion of northern China, the Korean peninsula, and the southernmost regions of eastern Russia.
During the early 20th Century, the Amur tiger was almost driven to extinction, as expanding human settlements, habitat loss and poaching wiped out this biggest of cats from over 90% of its range.
By the 1940s, just 20 to 30 individuals survived in the wild. The new study has identified that this recent "genetic bottleneck" - when the breeding population of tigers was so critically low - has decimated the Amur tiger gene pool.
A more genetically diverse population of animals has a much better chance of survival; it is more likely, for example, to contain the genetic resistance to a variety of diseases and less likely to succumb to rare genetic disorders, which can be "cancelled out" by healthy genes.
'Worryingly low'
Scientists in Russia, Spain and Germany worked together to analyse DNA samples from 15 wild Amur tigers in the Russian Far East.
They took blood samples from the animals and screened them for certain "markers" - points in the DNA code that show that an animal had parents that were genetically very different from each other.
The results revealed evidence of the genetic bottleneck during the tigers' recent history, when the variety of genes being passed on dramatically reduced.
Genetically speaking, the Amur tiger has not recovered from this.
"Our results are the first to demonstrate a quite recent genetic bottleneck in Siberian tigers, a result that matches the well-documented severe demographic decline of the Siberian tiger population in the 1940s," the researchers wrote in the paper.
"The worryingly low effective population size challenges the optimism for the recovery of the huge Siberian cat."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9407000/9407744.stm
(Submitted by Dawn Holloway)
By Victoria Gill
Science and nature reporter, BBC News
The effective population of the critically endangered Amur tiger is now fewer than 14 animals, say scientists.
Approximately 500 Amur tigers actually survive in the wild, but the effective population is a measure of the genetic diversity of the world's largest cat.
Very low diversity means any vulnerability to disease or rare genetic disorders is likely to be passed on to the next generation.
So these results paint a grim picture for the tiger's chance of survival.
The findings are reported in the journal Mammalian Biology.
The Amur tiger, or Siberian tiger as it is also known, once lived across a large portion of northern China, the Korean peninsula, and the southernmost regions of eastern Russia.
During the early 20th Century, the Amur tiger was almost driven to extinction, as expanding human settlements, habitat loss and poaching wiped out this biggest of cats from over 90% of its range.
By the 1940s, just 20 to 30 individuals survived in the wild. The new study has identified that this recent "genetic bottleneck" - when the breeding population of tigers was so critically low - has decimated the Amur tiger gene pool.
A more genetically diverse population of animals has a much better chance of survival; it is more likely, for example, to contain the genetic resistance to a variety of diseases and less likely to succumb to rare genetic disorders, which can be "cancelled out" by healthy genes.
'Worryingly low'
Scientists in Russia, Spain and Germany worked together to analyse DNA samples from 15 wild Amur tigers in the Russian Far East.
They took blood samples from the animals and screened them for certain "markers" - points in the DNA code that show that an animal had parents that were genetically very different from each other.
The results revealed evidence of the genetic bottleneck during the tigers' recent history, when the variety of genes being passed on dramatically reduced.
Genetically speaking, the Amur tiger has not recovered from this.
"Our results are the first to demonstrate a quite recent genetic bottleneck in Siberian tigers, a result that matches the well-documented severe demographic decline of the Siberian tiger population in the 1940s," the researchers wrote in the paper.
"The worryingly low effective population size challenges the optimism for the recovery of the huge Siberian cat."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9407000/9407744.stm
(Submitted by Dawn Holloway)
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Chinese pandas leave for Japan
 |
| Female panda Xian Nu looks out of the cage at Shanghai Pudong Airport in Shanghai, east China, Feb. 21, 2011. A pair of giant pandas left their home in southwest China's Sichuan Province Monday for a 10-year stay in Japan, under a joint research agreement on the endangered species. Female panda Xian Nu and male Bi Li, accompanied by two keepers from the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Wolong, stopped in Shanghai before heading to Tokyo's Narita International Airport. They are scheduled to arrive Ueno Zoo at around 9 p.m.. (Xinhua/Chen Fei) |
Female panda Xian Nu and male Bi Li left Chengdu, Sichuan's capital, on board a Sichuan Airlines passenger flight at 7:50 a.m., said a spokesman with the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Wolong.
The pandas, accompanied by two keepers from Wolong, stopped in Shanghai before heading to Tokyo's Narita International Airport. They are scheduled to arrive Ueno Zoo at around 9 p.m., the spokesman said.
Panda keepers prepared 80 kg of fresh bamboo and 8 kg of dim sum for the animals to eat on the 13-hour journey.
Xian Nu and Bi Li are both aged 5 years. Pandas born in captivity can live up to 25 years.
Tokyo is rolling out the red carpet for the pair's arrival.
The Ueno Zoo was closed Monday, but a giant panda poster at its entrance caught the attention of many locals.
Read more at:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-02/21/c_13741684.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-02/21/c_13741684_2.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-02/21/c_13741684_3.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-02/21/c_13741684_4.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-02/21/c_13741684_5.htm
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Shark-Catching Nations Fail To Protect Threatened Species
NICOLE WINFIELD
01/27/11 03:10 PM
ROME — Two environmental groups on Thursday accused the 20 countries that catch the most sharks of failing to fulfill promises made to the U.N. to better conserve the animals that are increasingly threatened with extinction.
In 1999, more than 100 governments adopted a plan of action at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to try to stem overfishing of sharks, pledging, among other things, to develop national action plans to ensure that shark catches are sustainable.
The non-governmental groups Traffic and the Pew Environment Group said Thursday that only 13 of the top 20 shark catching countries had developed national plans, and that it was unclear if such plans had done any good where they were adopted.
They issued their report ahead of a meeting next week of government members of the FAO's fisheries committee, which will discuss the state of the world's fisheries in detail.
Some 73 million sharks are killed annually, primarily to meet the high demand in Asia for fins which are used in shark fin soup.
Because sharks are slow growing, late to mature and produce few young, they are unable to replenish their populations as quickly when they are caught. As a result, some 30 percent of all shark species are now threatened or nearly threatened with extinction.
Traffic and Pew analyzed fisheries data and made a list of the top 20 shark catchers which account for nearly 80 percent of the total shark catch reported globally. In order, the top 10 are Indonesia, India, Spain, Taiwan, Argentina, Mexico, Pakistan, United States, Japan, and Malaysia. Yet according to the two groups, Indonesia has only made a draft national plan and India is developing one. Other countries have adopted them but, because reporting is voluntary, it's not clear if they've been implemented or have done any good.
The groups urged governments at the FAO meeting next week to have the U.N. agency complete a thorough review to determine what countries have and haven't done to comply with their pledges to manage their fisheries.
"The fate of the world's sharks is in the hands of the top 20 shark catchers, most of whom have failed to demonstrate what, if anything, they are doing to save these imperiled species," said Glenn Sant, Traffic's global marine program leader.
Jill Hepp, manager of shark conservation for Pew, said sharks play a critical role in the ocean environment.
"Where shark populations are healthy, marine life thrives; but where they have been overfished, ecosystems fall out of balance," she said.
The report suggests that national action plans with lofty goals that are never implemented might not be the answer to saving sharks. Rather, countries that take smaller, incremental steps toward conservation might achieve better results.
It noted that Palau had announced in 2009 it would create the world's first shark sanctuary by banning all commercial shark fishing in its territorial waters and that Honduras had announced a moratorium on shark fishing last year.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/30/sharkcatching-nations-fai_n_815064.html
01/27/11 03:10 PM
ROME — Two environmental groups on Thursday accused the 20 countries that catch the most sharks of failing to fulfill promises made to the U.N. to better conserve the animals that are increasingly threatened with extinction.
In 1999, more than 100 governments adopted a plan of action at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to try to stem overfishing of sharks, pledging, among other things, to develop national action plans to ensure that shark catches are sustainable.
The non-governmental groups Traffic and the Pew Environment Group said Thursday that only 13 of the top 20 shark catching countries had developed national plans, and that it was unclear if such plans had done any good where they were adopted.
They issued their report ahead of a meeting next week of government members of the FAO's fisheries committee, which will discuss the state of the world's fisheries in detail.
Some 73 million sharks are killed annually, primarily to meet the high demand in Asia for fins which are used in shark fin soup.
Because sharks are slow growing, late to mature and produce few young, they are unable to replenish their populations as quickly when they are caught. As a result, some 30 percent of all shark species are now threatened or nearly threatened with extinction.
Traffic and Pew analyzed fisheries data and made a list of the top 20 shark catchers which account for nearly 80 percent of the total shark catch reported globally. In order, the top 10 are Indonesia, India, Spain, Taiwan, Argentina, Mexico, Pakistan, United States, Japan, and Malaysia. Yet according to the two groups, Indonesia has only made a draft national plan and India is developing one. Other countries have adopted them but, because reporting is voluntary, it's not clear if they've been implemented or have done any good.
The groups urged governments at the FAO meeting next week to have the U.N. agency complete a thorough review to determine what countries have and haven't done to comply with their pledges to manage their fisheries.
"The fate of the world's sharks is in the hands of the top 20 shark catchers, most of whom have failed to demonstrate what, if anything, they are doing to save these imperiled species," said Glenn Sant, Traffic's global marine program leader.
Jill Hepp, manager of shark conservation for Pew, said sharks play a critical role in the ocean environment.
"Where shark populations are healthy, marine life thrives; but where they have been overfished, ecosystems fall out of balance," she said.
The report suggests that national action plans with lofty goals that are never implemented might not be the answer to saving sharks. Rather, countries that take smaller, incremental steps toward conservation might achieve better results.
It noted that Palau had announced in 2009 it would create the world's first shark sanctuary by banning all commercial shark fishing in its territorial waters and that Honduras had announced a moratorium on shark fishing last year.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/30/sharkcatching-nations-fai_n_815064.html
More Sea Turtles Died Following Gulf Oil Spill Than Any Similar Period In Past Two Decades
MATT SEDENSKY
01/26/11 05:36 PM
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — More sea turtles were killed or injured in the Gulf of Mexico in the months following the BP oil spill than in any similar period during the past two decades, a report released Wednesday found.
While the report suggested many of the 600 turtles were hurt by the spill, it's still not clear exactly how many died from ingesting the crude or how many drowned in fishing nets in the scramble to catch shrimp and fish before the oil ruined them. The sea turtles could have also been killed by cold weather or other factors unrelated to the spill.
The report said the rate of dead, disabled and diseased sea turtles discovered in the months following the massive April 20 spill was four to six times above average. The analysis – by the National Wildlife Federation, the Sea Turtle Conservancy and the Florida Wildlife Federation – was conservative and only took into account turtles found on shore, not those rescued or recovered at sea.
Researchers with the federal government said it would take years to determine the full impact of the spill on sea turtles. Necropsies have been done on more than half of 600 turtle carcasses, and while some may have died from oil, most of the turtles drowned in fishing gear, said Monica Allen, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association spokeswoman.
Unseasonably cold temperatures last winter were also detrimental to sea turtles, most of which are considered endangered, said Gary Appelson, policy coordinator for the Sea Turtle Conservancy.
"Sea turtles have had a tough year," Appelson said.
Doug Inkley, senior scientist at the National Wildlife Federation and a co-author of the report, said while some of the turtles' deaths could not be linked to the spill, the much higher-than-usual number indicated the disaster was at least partially responsible.
He said turtles suffered more than other species because their populations are already low and face long odds of reaching adulthood. It takes turtles 10 to 30 years to reach maturity, meaning it could take decades to restore the damage to their population, Inkley said.
"Of all the species affected by the oil spill, those for which I have the greatest concern are the sea turtles," he said.
Wildlife officials undertook Herculean efforts to try to save turtles during the oil spill. All told, hundreds of loggerhead nests containing nearly 15,000 hatchlings were successfully transported and later released along the Atlantic.
Besides urging lawmakers to uphold funding for beach conservation, the report's authors urged the elimination of subsidies for construction projects along coastlines and the protection of less developed areas of the shore.
More than 90 percent of North American sea turtle nesting happens on Florida's beaches. Five of the planet's seven species of sea turtles are found in the state. Four of those – green, hawksbill, leatherback and Kemp's ridley – are considered endangered, or at risk of becoming extinct.
The fourth, loggerheads, is listed as threatened, or likely to become endangered.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/28/gulf-oil-spill-turtles-di_n_814732.html
01/26/11 05:36 PM
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — More sea turtles were killed or injured in the Gulf of Mexico in the months following the BP oil spill than in any similar period during the past two decades, a report released Wednesday found.
While the report suggested many of the 600 turtles were hurt by the spill, it's still not clear exactly how many died from ingesting the crude or how many drowned in fishing nets in the scramble to catch shrimp and fish before the oil ruined them. The sea turtles could have also been killed by cold weather or other factors unrelated to the spill.
The report said the rate of dead, disabled and diseased sea turtles discovered in the months following the massive April 20 spill was four to six times above average. The analysis – by the National Wildlife Federation, the Sea Turtle Conservancy and the Florida Wildlife Federation – was conservative and only took into account turtles found on shore, not those rescued or recovered at sea.
Researchers with the federal government said it would take years to determine the full impact of the spill on sea turtles. Necropsies have been done on more than half of 600 turtle carcasses, and while some may have died from oil, most of the turtles drowned in fishing gear, said Monica Allen, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association spokeswoman.
Unseasonably cold temperatures last winter were also detrimental to sea turtles, most of which are considered endangered, said Gary Appelson, policy coordinator for the Sea Turtle Conservancy.
"Sea turtles have had a tough year," Appelson said.
Doug Inkley, senior scientist at the National Wildlife Federation and a co-author of the report, said while some of the turtles' deaths could not be linked to the spill, the much higher-than-usual number indicated the disaster was at least partially responsible.
He said turtles suffered more than other species because their populations are already low and face long odds of reaching adulthood. It takes turtles 10 to 30 years to reach maturity, meaning it could take decades to restore the damage to their population, Inkley said.
"Of all the species affected by the oil spill, those for which I have the greatest concern are the sea turtles," he said.
Wildlife officials undertook Herculean efforts to try to save turtles during the oil spill. All told, hundreds of loggerhead nests containing nearly 15,000 hatchlings were successfully transported and later released along the Atlantic.
Besides urging lawmakers to uphold funding for beach conservation, the report's authors urged the elimination of subsidies for construction projects along coastlines and the protection of less developed areas of the shore.
More than 90 percent of North American sea turtle nesting happens on Florida's beaches. Five of the planet's seven species of sea turtles are found in the state. Four of those – green, hawksbill, leatherback and Kemp's ridley – are considered endangered, or at risk of becoming extinct.
The fourth, loggerheads, is listed as threatened, or likely to become endangered.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/28/gulf-oil-spill-turtles-di_n_814732.html
Sunday, December 5, 2010
One fifth of vertebrates face extinction – But conservation does work
Study of more than 25,000 threatened species says it's not all bad news
December 2010: One fifth of all vertebrates are at risk of extinction. It is a shocking statistic, but one that is masking the encouraging news that conservation work worldwide is drastically slowing the decline of many species, according to a new wide-ranging report.
The Impact Of Conservation On The Status Of The World's Vertebrates, one of the largest ever collaborative studies into biological conservation, says: ‘One-fifth of species are classified as Threatened, and we show that this figure is increasing. On average, 52 species of mammals, birds and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year. However, this overall pattern conceals the impact of conservation successes, and we show that the rate of deterioration would have been at least one-fifth as much again in the absence of these.'
Inadequate against threats to biodiversity
The study also concludes that current conservation efforts are inadequate to counteract agricultural expansion, logging, overexploitation, and invasive species - the main causes of biodiversity loss.
‘History has shown us that conservation can achieve the impossible, as anyone who knows the story of the white rhinoceros in southern Africa is aware,' says Dr Simon Stuart, Chair of IUCN's Species Survival Commission and an author on the study. ‘But this is the first time we can demonstrate the aggregated positive impact of these successes on the state of the environment.'
Also among the 174 authors of the report was Professor H. Resit Akçakaya, who, as chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List Standards and Petitions Subcommittee, helped develop guidelines for the applying rules while assessing threatened species.
The article pulls on data from 25,780 verterbrate species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Regarding his work, Dr Akçakaya commented: ‘I contributed to the development of guidelines for assessing threatened species. This paper is a synthesis of these kinds of assessments for the world's vertebrates.'
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/conservation-success.html
December 2010: One fifth of all vertebrates are at risk of extinction. It is a shocking statistic, but one that is masking the encouraging news that conservation work worldwide is drastically slowing the decline of many species, according to a new wide-ranging report.
The Impact Of Conservation On The Status Of The World's Vertebrates, one of the largest ever collaborative studies into biological conservation, says: ‘One-fifth of species are classified as Threatened, and we show that this figure is increasing. On average, 52 species of mammals, birds and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year. However, this overall pattern conceals the impact of conservation successes, and we show that the rate of deterioration would have been at least one-fifth as much again in the absence of these.'
Inadequate against threats to biodiversity
The study also concludes that current conservation efforts are inadequate to counteract agricultural expansion, logging, overexploitation, and invasive species - the main causes of biodiversity loss.
‘History has shown us that conservation can achieve the impossible, as anyone who knows the story of the white rhinoceros in southern Africa is aware,' says Dr Simon Stuart, Chair of IUCN's Species Survival Commission and an author on the study. ‘But this is the first time we can demonstrate the aggregated positive impact of these successes on the state of the environment.'
Also among the 174 authors of the report was Professor H. Resit Akçakaya, who, as chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List Standards and Petitions Subcommittee, helped develop guidelines for the applying rules while assessing threatened species.
The article pulls on data from 25,780 verterbrate species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Regarding his work, Dr Akçakaya commented: ‘I contributed to the development of guidelines for assessing threatened species. This paper is a synthesis of these kinds of assessments for the world's vertebrates.'
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/conservation-success.html
One fifth of vertebrates face extinction – But conservation does work
Study of more than 25,000 threatened species says it's not all bad news
December 2010: One fifth of all vertebrates are at risk of extinction. It is a shocking statistic, but one that is masking the encouraging news that conservation work worldwide is drastically slowing the decline of many species, according to a new wide-ranging report.
The Impact Of Conservation On The Status Of The World's Vertebrates, one of the largest ever collaborative studies into biological conservation, says: ‘One-fifth of species are classified as Threatened, and we show that this figure is increasing. On average, 52 species of mammals, birds and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year. However, this overall pattern conceals the impact of conservation successes, and we show that the rate of deterioration would have been at least one-fifth as much again in the absence of these.'
Inadequate against threats to biodiversity
The study also concludes that current conservation efforts are inadequate to counteract agricultural expansion, logging, overexploitation, and invasive species - the main causes of biodiversity loss.
‘History has shown us that conservation can achieve the impossible, as anyone who knows the story of the white rhinoceros in southern Africa is aware,' says Dr Simon Stuart, Chair of IUCN's Species Survival Commission and an author on the study. ‘But this is the first time we can demonstrate the aggregated positive impact of these successes on the state of the environment.'
Also among the 174 authors of the report was Professor H. Resit Akçakaya, who, as chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List Standards and Petitions Subcommittee, helped develop guidelines for the applying rules while assessing threatened species.
The article pulls on data from 25,780 verterbrate species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Regarding his work, Dr Akçakaya commented: ‘I contributed to the development of guidelines for assessing threatened species. This paper is a synthesis of these kinds of assessments for the world's vertebrates.'
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/conservation-success.html
December 2010: One fifth of all vertebrates are at risk of extinction. It is a shocking statistic, but one that is masking the encouraging news that conservation work worldwide is drastically slowing the decline of many species, according to a new wide-ranging report.
The Impact Of Conservation On The Status Of The World's Vertebrates, one of the largest ever collaborative studies into biological conservation, says: ‘One-fifth of species are classified as Threatened, and we show that this figure is increasing. On average, 52 species of mammals, birds and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year. However, this overall pattern conceals the impact of conservation successes, and we show that the rate of deterioration would have been at least one-fifth as much again in the absence of these.'
Inadequate against threats to biodiversity
The study also concludes that current conservation efforts are inadequate to counteract agricultural expansion, logging, overexploitation, and invasive species - the main causes of biodiversity loss.
‘History has shown us that conservation can achieve the impossible, as anyone who knows the story of the white rhinoceros in southern Africa is aware,' says Dr Simon Stuart, Chair of IUCN's Species Survival Commission and an author on the study. ‘But this is the first time we can demonstrate the aggregated positive impact of these successes on the state of the environment.'
Also among the 174 authors of the report was Professor H. Resit Akçakaya, who, as chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List Standards and Petitions Subcommittee, helped develop guidelines for the applying rules while assessing threatened species.
The article pulls on data from 25,780 verterbrate species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Regarding his work, Dr Akçakaya commented: ‘I contributed to the development of guidelines for assessing threatened species. This paper is a synthesis of these kinds of assessments for the world's vertebrates.'
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/conservation-success.html
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Is South China's rare tiger fighting back?
Photos of what could be an extremely rare South China tiger shot by tourists at Sanqing Mountain Jiangxi Province on October 15, 2010, and published by Chinese media, have reignited debate about whether the animal still thrives in the wild.
Tourist Bao Shuguang was visiting Sanqing Mountain with friends when he spotted the yellow animal about 100m away. Yelling "Tiger!", he took four vague photographs (two of which are reproduced below) of the animal in a tree, but later said he could not be sure that it was a tiger. Two or three minutes later, the animal walked into the woods.
Li Hua, an official from Sanqing Mountain Administration Committee, said she could not confirm if the cat was a tiger, but said an expert from Zhongshan University said it looked very much like a South China tiger after he saw the photo.
The South China Tiger is teetering on the verge of extinction. It has not been seen for more than 10 years, and experts believe there are only 10-30 of the big cats left in the wild. The species is only being sustained by breeding programs carried out in zoos. Conservationists believe tigers worldwide could become extinct within the next decade due to poaching, demand for Chinese medicine utilising tiger body parts, and shrinking habitats.
The South China tiger is listed as animal under first-class state protection and considered one of 10 critically endangered creatures by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90782/90872/7184027.html
Tourist Bao Shuguang was visiting Sanqing Mountain with friends when he spotted the yellow animal about 100m away. Yelling "Tiger!", he took four vague photographs (two of which are reproduced below) of the animal in a tree, but later said he could not be sure that it was a tiger. Two or three minutes later, the animal walked into the woods.
Li Hua, an official from Sanqing Mountain Administration Committee, said she could not confirm if the cat was a tiger, but said an expert from Zhongshan University said it looked very much like a South China tiger after he saw the photo.
The South China Tiger is teetering on the verge of extinction. It has not been seen for more than 10 years, and experts believe there are only 10-30 of the big cats left in the wild. The species is only being sustained by breeding programs carried out in zoos. Conservationists believe tigers worldwide could become extinct within the next decade due to poaching, demand for Chinese medicine utilising tiger body parts, and shrinking habitats.
The South China tiger is listed as animal under first-class state protection and considered one of 10 critically endangered creatures by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90782/90872/7184027.html
Is South China's rare tiger fighting back?
Photos of what could be an extremely rare South China tiger shot by tourists at Sanqing Mountain Jiangxi Province on October 15, 2010, and published by Chinese media, have reignited debate about whether the animal still thrives in the wild.
Tourist Bao Shuguang was visiting Sanqing Mountain with friends when he spotted the yellow animal about 100m away. Yelling "Tiger!", he took four vague photographs (two of which are reproduced below) of the animal in a tree, but later said he could not be sure that it was a tiger. Two or three minutes later, the animal walked into the woods.
Li Hua, an official from Sanqing Mountain Administration Committee, said she could not confirm if the cat was a tiger, but said an expert from Zhongshan University said it looked very much like a South China tiger after he saw the photo.
The South China Tiger is teetering on the verge of extinction. It has not been seen for more than 10 years, and experts believe there are only 10-30 of the big cats left in the wild. The species is only being sustained by breeding programs carried out in zoos. Conservationists believe tigers worldwide could become extinct within the next decade due to poaching, demand for Chinese medicine utilising tiger body parts, and shrinking habitats.
The South China tiger is listed as animal under first-class state protection and considered one of 10 critically endangered creatures by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90782/90872/7184027.html
Tourist Bao Shuguang was visiting Sanqing Mountain with friends when he spotted the yellow animal about 100m away. Yelling "Tiger!", he took four vague photographs (two of which are reproduced below) of the animal in a tree, but later said he could not be sure that it was a tiger. Two or three minutes later, the animal walked into the woods.
Li Hua, an official from Sanqing Mountain Administration Committee, said she could not confirm if the cat was a tiger, but said an expert from Zhongshan University said it looked very much like a South China tiger after he saw the photo.
The South China Tiger is teetering on the verge of extinction. It has not been seen for more than 10 years, and experts believe there are only 10-30 of the big cats left in the wild. The species is only being sustained by breeding programs carried out in zoos. Conservationists believe tigers worldwide could become extinct within the next decade due to poaching, demand for Chinese medicine utilising tiger body parts, and shrinking habitats.
The South China tiger is listed as animal under first-class state protection and considered one of 10 critically endangered creatures by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90782/90872/7184027.html
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Rats killing off Pitcairn's rare Henderson petrel
One of the world's rarest birds could face extinction, unless conservationists succeed in their mission to eradicate rats from Henderson Island in the Pitcairn UK Overseas Territory.
The Henderson petrel is found nowhere else on the planet, but it's under threat from rats that are eating 25,000 seabird chicks alive every year.
The British-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is seeking to raise around one million U-S dollars to fund the eradication programmme.
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201010/s3043113.htm
The Henderson petrel is found nowhere else on the planet, but it's under threat from rats that are eating 25,000 seabird chicks alive every year.
The British-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is seeking to raise around one million U-S dollars to fund the eradication programmme.
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201010/s3043113.htm
Rats killing off Pitcairn's rare Henderson petrel
One of the world's rarest birds could face extinction, unless conservationists succeed in their mission to eradicate rats from Henderson Island in the Pitcairn UK Overseas Territory.
The Henderson petrel is found nowhere else on the planet, but it's under threat from rats that are eating 25,000 seabird chicks alive every year.
The British-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is seeking to raise around one million U-S dollars to fund the eradication programmme.
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201010/s3043113.htm
The Henderson petrel is found nowhere else on the planet, but it's under threat from rats that are eating 25,000 seabird chicks alive every year.
The British-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is seeking to raise around one million U-S dollars to fund the eradication programmme.
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201010/s3043113.htm
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