Endangered coral reef fish seized in Indonesia

Airport Indonesian authorities have seized 36 humphead wrasse, the third seizure of this endangered fish species in the country this year. Live fish, harvested in Indonesia, were destined for Hong Kong.

"Indonesia remains a major supplier of Hong Kong and other end-use markets, driving the demand for this valuable fish," said TRAFFIC Southeast Asia Regional Director James Compton.

Prisé as a delicacy and served in high-end restaurants, Napoleon may sell for more than U.S. $ 100 per kilogram on the market. Hong Kong is the largest consumer market for this species, although high-end restaurants in Malaysia, Singapore and mainland China are also known to offer servings of fish electric blue.

It is found among the coral reefs across Southeast Asia, Western Pacific and Indian Ocean, the humphead wrasse can reach more than two metres long, weigh up to 190 kg and live more than 30 years. The trade in this case, however, is selective, with smaller sizes people, including many young people preferred full-grown adults because the flesh is considered more tender. Small fish are better suited to the restoration which prefers to serve whole fish. The species is typically traded live.

Indonesia allows an annual catch of 8000 individual Napoleon - none for local consumption, all for export - and the fish harvest is allowed only in specific sectors, particularly in Papua, Maluku, Nusa Tenggara and East West Nusa Tenggara.

"The challenge for Indonesia is to develop a viable strategy for the monitoring of trade and improving law enforcement," Compton said, "otherwise the fishery can not be managed long-term local and national interests. "

Indonesian recently joined representatives from Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines to discuss the humphead wrasse trade. Participants at the workshop - co-organized by WWF, TRAFFIC and IUCN - have agreed to develop science-based guidelines for sustainable use of resources of the humphead wrasse, as well as promoting regional cooperation and awareness Increased trade between the fishing industry and consumers.

"Cooperation between countries and fisheries and management authorities in the countries of origin is the key to successful implementation of a CITES listing for the humphead wrasse," said Dr. Yvonne Sadovy of University of Hong Kong and chairman of IUCN Groupers and Wrasses Specialist Group.

The humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulates) is included in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This means that international trade in species is possible only with valid CITES permit. The CITES Appendix II contributes to provide the list and consumer countries to ensure that trade in this species is both legal and sustainable.

At present, Hong Kong has not implemented Appendix II list of Napoleon and, therefore, the species of fish can be legally imported. New legislation, however, would require both import and possession permits in Hong Kong, in addition to the CITES permit to be issued by exporting countries.

"If the species is sustainably managed and exchanges, the situation is win-win," said Sadovy. "Operators can continue their activity, consumers can eat fish, fish populations and can again be in good health for everyone can enjoy."

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El Nino, who are you ...?

When the 1997 Indonesian fires broke out in mid-May of that year, no one took too much notice, as it was the beginning of the dry season. When the monsoons that carried precious rain to douse the flames and for crop growing did not arrive, the fires soon burned out of control into firestorms. The burning was most severe in East Kalimantan, a section of Indonesian part of Borneo, and the island of Sumatra, where an estimated total of 10,000,000 hectares was either totally burned or badly ravaged by the fires. Haze and smoke from the fires spread across Indonesia and Southeast Asia. At its worst the haze spread halfway across the Indian Ocean to the Maldives, north to the Philippines and Thailand, east to Papua New Guinea, and across northern Australia (Appendix #1). The widespread haze caused numerous health problems, affecting approximately 70 million people and causing 20 million of them to become sick. When neighboring countries complained about the deadly haze, President Suharto made a rare public apology, referring to the poisonous haze from the fires as "an act of God."2 The latest estimate of the damages of the fires was about US$4.5 billion, although when added with the value of lost timber and crops, this total skyrocketed to almost $9 billion. As further analyses of the fire's damages are being conducted, this estimate might rise. But most of the costs were probably impossible to calculate, as the damage the fires and resulting haze had on the environment and ecosystem were priceless and irreplaceable. The new Environmental Minister Juwono Sudarsono under the new President B.J. Habibie estimated that it might cost $2 billion to effectively respond to the fires.3

an image of normal ocean temperature

an image of el nino

Global map of: 1) normal ocean temperature, 2) el nino

The normal fires and the haze from it were significantly enhanced by El Nino, a weather phenomenon where the abnormally warm sea surface temperatures cause global weather patterns to change, resulting in abnormal weather effects around the world. In Indonesia, El Nino caused a drought because the monsoon season was pushed back from September to mid-November, and a delayed and shortened monsoon season caused a second drought in Indonesia. Usually undisturbed rain forests are highly resistant to fire because of their moisture, but will burn in extreme droughts. Drought and millions of dead biomass on the forest floor from selective logging made entire forests extremely prone to fire. As a result, instead of the normal flames being doused by the monsoon rains, the flames were left to ignite whole forests into an inferno. In addition, regulated fires set by timber and agribusiness firms were left to burn to clear more land for profit. Taking advantage of the extra months of the dry season, peasants who burned small amounts of land each year for subsistence farming increased their plot to grow more food. When the delayed monsoon rains arrived in Indonesia in November 1997, an estimated 2 million hectares of lush rain forest, brush and grasslands were already decimated in Kalimantan and Sumatra alone, and when the inter-monsoon season began in January, fires were spotted again all across Sumatra and Kalimantan. The same deadly cycle of the 1997 fires arose again, with thick haze from the fires spreading throughout Indonesia, until this second round of conflagrations ended in late April when rains arrived, but Indonesian officials stated that the fires had been expunged because "there was nothing left to burn."4 In fact, El Nino and La Nina were predicted well before they had any effect on Indonesia, but many parties ignored the warning and continued their usual burning of the forest. (source ...>>)

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Ocean Wave Energy

Ocean wave energy is captured directly from surface waves or from pressure fluctuations below the surface.

Waves are caused by the wind blowing over the surface of the ocean. In many areas of the world, the wind blows with enough consistency and force to provide continuous waves. There is tremendous energy in the ocean waves. Wave power devices extract energy directly from the surface motion of ocean waves or from pressure fluctuations below the surface.

Wave power varies considerably in different parts of the world, and wave energy can't be harnessed effectively everywhere. Wave-power rich areas of the world include the western coasts of Scotland, northern Canada, southern Africa, Australia, and the northwestern coasts of the United States.

Ocean Wave Energy Technologies

A variety of technologies have been proposed to capture the energy from waves. Some of the more promising designs are undergoing demonstration testing at commercial scales.

Wave technologies have been designed to be installed in nearshore, offshore, and far offshore locations. The OCS Alternative Energy Programmatic EIS is concerned primarily with offshore and far offshore wave technologies. Offshore systems are situated in deep water, typically of more than 40 meters (131 feet).

While all wave energy technologies are intended to be installed at or near the water's surface,they differ in their orientation to the waves with which they are interacting and in the manner in which they convert the energy of the waves into other energy forms, usually electricity. The following wave technologies have been the target of recent development.

Terminator devices extend perpendicular to the direction of wave travel and capture or reflect the power of the wave. These devices are typically onshore or nearshore; however, floating versions have been designed for offshore applications. The oscillating water column is a form of terminator in which water enters through a subsurface opening into a chamber with air trapped above it. The wave action causes the captured water column to move up and down like a piston to force the air though an opening connected to a turbine.

A point absorber is a floating structure with components that move relative to each other due towave action (e.g., a floating buoy inside a fixed cylinder). The relative motion is used to drive electromechanical or hydraulic energy converters.

1) Rendition of a Wave Farm Made Up of Permanent Magnet Linear Generator Buoys; 2)Point Absorber Wave Energy Farm; 3); Animation of Point Absorber Operation

Attenuators are long multisegment floating structures oriented parallel to the direction of the waves. The differing heights of waves along the length of the device causes flexing where the segments connect, and this flexing is connected to hydraulic pumps or other converters.

Overtopping devices have reservoirs that are filled by incomingwaves o levels above the average surrounding ocean. The water is then released, and gravity causes it to fall back toward the ocean surface. The energy of the falling water is used to turn hydro turbines. Specially built seagoing vessels can also capture the energy of offshore waves. These floating platforms create electricity by funneling waves through internal turbines and then back into the sea.

Environmental Considerations

Potential environmental considerations for the development of wave energy include the following:

# Positive or negative impacts on marine habitat (depending on the nature of additional submerged surfaces, above-water platforms, and changes in the seafloor);

# Toxic releases from leaks or accidental spills of liquids used in those systems with working hydraulic fluids;

# Visual and noise impacts (device-specific, with considerable variability in visible freeboard height and noise generation above and below the water surface);

# Conflict with other sea space users, such as commercial shipping and recreational boating; (source ...>>)

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