30,313 people say "Save the Dugong"!

Posted by Dave at 10:45 AM




Thanks to all 30,313 of you, from 155 countries who took part in recent our "Save the Dugong" capaign. Last week, the Japanese Defense Ministry in Naha, Okinawa, received 30,313 letters from you, delivered by Greenpeace Japan and the crew of the Esperanza (some of whom dressed up as dugong!).

They also took part in a sit-in by local activists which has been taking place for more than three years now, and the messaeges were also delivered to the Ministry of Environment in Tokyo.

The above video shows the sit-in and delivery - even if you don't speak Japanese, you can still understand what's going on!

The Esperanza also sailed to Henoko, the area threatened by the airbase expansion, and where the dugongs live. About 30 fishing boats and kayaks welcomed the crew. While the Esperanza was at Henoko, one construction worker told local people that "while Greenpeace is in Henoko, we will not do any construction" - proving that sometimes, just showing up can have the desire effect.

Jun Hoshikawa, the ever-eloquent executive director of Greenpeace Japan, said that "the best Samurai can win the battle without using his sword. This is what the Esperanza did here in Okinawa".

Joining the Esperanza in Okinawa was a diving team, with members from Japan, the US and Germany, who conducted research activities in tandem with local people in the region for a week, in order to prove the importance of protecting the area as a marine reserve.

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It's rough in the Bering Sea - storms, ice, fishermen... Get a taste for a fishes life with Greenpeace USA's new game, The Deadliest Catch.
Play the Game!


Game wise it's pretty old school. (Reminds me fondly of those Atari 2600 times.) The sea lions are pesky, but the nets are the real nightmare. Almost inescapable, just like real life. When you're done playing, don't forget to sign the petition asking the North Pacific Fisheries Council to take better care of the pollock.

Pollock don't have the charisma of dolphins, but they're vital to the Bering Sea ecosystem. Marine mammals, predatory fish and seabirds are already starving to death because pollock stocks have dropped so low. More than half of the US fish catch also comes from Alaska - meaning, a healthy pollock stock is needed for long term economic (as well as ecological) sustainability.

Pollution

By the year 2050 it is estimated that the world's population could have increased to around 12 billion. Of these, some 60 percent will live within 60km of the sea. The agricultural and industrial activities required to support this population will increase the already significant pressures on fertile coastal areas.

Pollution & the sea - like oil and water

One significant impact of human activity upon the oceans is marine pollution. It is not just oil pollution from accidents and illegally discharged tank cleaning wastes. Despite the high visibility of oil spills upon marine environments the total quantities involved are dwarfed by those of pollutants introduced from other sources (including domestic sewage, industrial discharges, leakages from waste tips, urban and industrial run-off, accidents, spillage, explosions, sea dumping operations, oil production, mining, agriculture nutrients and pesticides, waste heat sources, and radioactive discharges).

Land based sources are estimated to account for around 44 percent of the pollutants entering the sea and atmospheric inputs account for an estimated 33 percent. By contrast, maritime transport accounts only for around 12 percent.

Dawn of the dead: Creeping Dead Zones

The impacts of pollution vary. Nutrient pollution from sewage discharges and agriculture can result in unsightly and possibly dangerous "blooms" of algae in coastal waters. As these blooms die and decay they use up the oxygen in the water. This has led, in some areas, to 'creeping dead zones' (CDZ), where oxygen dissolved in the water falls to levels unable to sustain marine life. Industrial pollution also contributes to these dead zones by discharging substances which, as they degrade, also use up the dissolved oxygen

Gone fission

Radioactive contamination in the sea has many causes. Historically the testing of nuclear weapons has contributed. The normal operation of nuclear power stations also pollute the sea, but by far the single biggest point-sources of man-made radioactive elements in the sea are the nuclear fuel reprocessing plants at La Hague in France and at Sellafield in the UK. These discharges have resulted in the widespread contamination of living marine resources over a wide area; radioactive elements traceable to reprocessing can be found in seaweeds as far away as the West Greenland Coast and along the coast of Norway

Toxic chemicals

The input of man-made chemicals to the oceans potentially involves a huge number of different substances. 63,000 different chemicals are thought to be in use worldwide with 3000 accounting for 90 percent of the total production tonnage. Each year, anywhere up to 1000 new synthetic chemicals may be brought onto the market.

Of all these chemicals some 4500 fall into the most serious category. These, known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). They're resistant to breakdown and have the potential to accumulate in the tissues of living organisms (all marine life), causing hormone disruption which can, in turn, cause reproductive problems, induce cancer, suppress the immune system and interfere with normal development in children.

POPs can also be transported long distances in the atmosphere and deposited in cold regions. As a result, Inuit populations who live in the Arctic a long distance from the sources of these pollutants are among the most heavily contaminated people on the planet, since they rely on fat-rich marine food sources such as fish and seals. POPs include the highly toxic dioxins and PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls) together with various pesticides such as DDT and dieldrin. These chemicals are also thought to be responsible for some polar bear populations failing to reproduce normally.

Are you eating fish 'n' POPS tonight?

Scarily, seafood consumed by people living in temperate regions are also affected by POPs. Oily fish tend to accumulate POPs in their bodies and these can be passed to human consumers. When oily fish are rendered down into fish meal and fish oils and subsequently used to feed other animals, then this too can act as a pathway to humans. Farmed fish and shellfish, dairy cattle, poultry and pigs are all fed fish meal in certain countries, and so meat and dairy products as well as farmed and wild fish can act as further sources of these chemicals to humans.

Mining

Trace metal pollution from metal mining, production and processing industries can damage the health of marine plants and animals and render some seafood unfit for human consumption. The contribution of human activities can be very significant: the amount of mercury introduced to the environment by industrial activities is around four times the amount released through natural processes such as weathering and erosion.

Oil

The most visible and familiar form of pollution is oil pollution caused by tanker accidents and tank washing at sea, and in addition to the gross visible short term impacts, severe long term problems can also result. In the case of the Exxon Valdez which ran aground in Alaska in 1989, biological impacts from the oil spill can still be identified 15 years after the event. The Prestige, which sank off the Spanish coast late in 2002, resulted in huge economic losses as it polluted more than 100 beaches in France and Spain and effectively destroyed the local fishing industry.

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thanks again for your support and love

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Hello

Hello everyone, as you may have noticed we have crossed the 12000 friends mark, its an awesome achievement, but we want more, we need more, we need your help to circulate the word. Do you have friends who care, friends who are not aware of our site. If you do, let them know about us, either post a comment on their page, repost this bulletin or blog. repost repost repost results in exposure and the more exposure we can get means more people hear the news and get the messages. Please repost this. If everyone got one person to add on in the next 24 hours we would have 24000 friends :-)

Thank you everyone for your kind support.

Love and respect to you all
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September 21, 2007
Video: Save the dugong of Okinawa now!

Posted by Dave at 8:17 PM
[I'm posting this, but Eoin wrote most of it. I'm just the messenger! - Dave]






Important developments have unfolded in Japan since we wrote earlier this month about the threatened dugongs and plans to expand a U.S. military base on Okinawa's coast. The large marine mammals and their habitat on the north-east coast of Okinawa Island can be saved, but our window of opportunity to act is closing fast.

Shinzo Abe's recent resignation as Prime Minister of Japan, and the discovery of precious colony of blue corals in the airbase construction site have improved our odds of success.

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed airbase site is open for public comment throughout September. After that time, the authorities will tell us "you've had your chance".

Can you send a message to the Japanese government right now, or forward this message to your friends by email and on facebook, myspace and hi5 to join our call to save the dugongs and stop the airbase. (There's heaps of background information you can blog about too!)

We can stop the airbase, we've done it before.

Local environmentalists continue to inspire us with their peaceful protest, sustained for years since plans for an airbase cast a shadow over the dugong's underwater paradise. Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior was there in 2005, when Yuka Ozak wrote this 500 meters off the coast of Okinawa Island:

"It is 8:30 am and I and 30 activists have been sitting on drilling platform 4 for an hour and a half. We can see workers from the Defense Construction Agency gathering on the beach of Camp Schwab, the US Marine Corp base at Henoko, Okinawa. They are about to board a chartered fishing boat and come out and try to drill the first of 64 holes into the life sustaining coral reef. But for the 300th consecutive day, we are not going to let them."
And it worked - construction was stopped!

Now the our ship, the Esperanza is sailing to Okinawa, with the same message and spirit of resistance as before. Our campaigners meanwhile will hand-deliver all the messages from our supporters worldwide to the Japanese government next Thursday, September 27th. That's why we need you to act right away -- send a message to the Japanese government or spread the word so others add their voices too.

Our colleagues in Japan say recent political events in Japan have made this a unique opportunity to stop this airbase. Japan's government under Shinzo Abe has been marred by scandal and widely criticized for eroding Japan's post-war tradition of peace. Only a few weeks ago at the APEC summit in Australia, the then Prime Minister promised George W. Bush that the Okinawa airbase would be completed by 2014. The Japanese leader who stood by his guns, who refused to stand down despite scandal after political scandal all summer long, finally resigned last Wednesday, September 12th.

We've seen amazing video footage of Okinawa's dugongs and their threatened habitat.

Junichi Sato writes us from Greenpeace Japan:

"Recently local divers found a colony of blue coral in the Oura Bay where the airbase construction is planned. Nowhere on the globe has blue coral been found so far north, and this is one of the biggest found in the region; 80 meters long, 27 meters wide, and 12 meters high. This colony was not known before to exist in the bay. "Also, local TV news filmed an endangered dugong and turtle swimming and playing together in the bay, which is very rare to be seen (Video in Japanese). Please help us save them!"
And finally, our dugong video on YouTube (also on the take action page) is followed by a comment which speaks directly to the importance of this urgent action. FranciscoXavier7 wrote "Dugongs are a miracle of Nature, with our effort to create a real peace, we need to Protect, Respect, and learn from this Live Monument of beauty and peace!!"

PLEASE VISIT THE BELOW SITE TO SEND YOUR LETTER - THANK YOU

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/gmaps/take-action-save-the-dugongs?utm_source=gpi-cyberactivist-list&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dugongs-alert

Oceans in deep peril

The oceans are in deep peril and need drastic action. Marine reserves could be the answer, according to a report released by the World Watch Institute and Greenpeace.

According to the report Oceans in Peril: Protecting Marine Biodiversity, marine biodiversity is at risk with 76 percent of the world's fish stocks being fully or over exploited.

Major causes of this exploitation are due to: overfishing; bottom trawling and other destructive fishing techniques; unsustainable aquaculture; and illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.

The report's authors say that declaring 40 percent of the oceans off limits to human exploitation may be the only way for the oceans to recover. This means establishing a global network of marine reserves throughout the world's oceans.
Mapping the road to recovery

Greenpeace Australia Pacific oceans campaigner Jason Collins said that marine reserves were a powerful tool for conserving ocean wildlife. "Reserves may also benefit fisheries by promoting recovery and reproduction of exploited species."

Last year, in the report "Roadmap to Recovery", Greenpeace set out a design for a global network of high seas marine reserves. The report identifies marine areas that need immediate protection in the high seas off North Western Australia, off the South West Australian coast, around Lord Howe Rise and Norfolk Ridge to Australia's east and a large area in the Southern Ocean including Antarctic waters.

See the Greenpeace "Roadmap to Recovery" report and map, presented to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in March last year.

Already, marine reserves in the Caribbean and the Red Sea are helping to restore fish populations in those areas.
Attempting the first Pacific marine reserve
In the Pacific, a small island south of Fiji called Kadavu is trying to create the first marine reserve in the Pacific region.

Kadavu is a classic example of an area being overfished to a state where there is no fish left for the locals. Establishing a marine reserve in this area will help increase its biodiversity, create a more resilient ecosystem and boost fisheries.


Global action needed
There is no mechanism under international agreements to create a global marine reserve network encompassing the high seas.

The Oceans in peril report calls for a new implementation agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to establish and manage such reserves.

What is a Dugong pt 2

please visit
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/gmaps/take-action-save-the-dugongs

Save the dugongs - stop the expansion of Okinawa base


Dugongs living on the coast of Japan's Okinawa island are threatened by the proposed expansion of a U.S. military base there.

Throughout September, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed airbase site is open for public comment. We're using this opportunity to let the Japanese government know what the people of the world think - by delivering a petition of thousands of names to the environment and defence ministries, and calling on the government to establish a marine reserve in the area.

Add your name. Send the message below to Japan's Minister of Defence, Masahiko Koumura, and Minister of Environment, Ichiro Kamoshita.

Feel free to add a personal message, your own subject line even, before you send it.

Goal: 7156 people have sent the message below to the Japanese Government. Help us get to 10,000 by September 26th, 2007.

Please visit
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/gmaps/take-action-save-the-dugongs

Dugongs
Dugongs are large grey mammals which spend their entire lives in the sea. Fully grown, they may be three metres long and weigh 400 kilograms. They have nostrils near the top of their snouts. Dugongs swim by moving their broad spade-like tail in an up and down motion, and by use of their two flippers. Dugongs' only hairs are the bristles near the mouth.

Habitat
Dugongs are highly migratory, which means Australia shares populations with other neighbouring countries. In Australia, Dugongs swim in the shallow coastal waters of northern Australia from the Queensland/New South Wales border in the east to Shark Bay on the Western Australian coast. They are also found in other parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans in warm shallow seas where seagrass is found.

Shelter
Dugongs are usually found in shallow waters protected from large waves and storms. They surface only to breathe, and never come on to land.

Breeding
Female Dugongs give birth underwater to a single calf at three to seven year intervals. The calf stays with its mother, drinking milk from her teats and following close by until one or two years of age. Dugongs reach adult size between 9 and 17 years of age.

Diet
Dugongs are sometimes called 'Sea Cows' because they graze on seagrasses. These marine plants look like grass growing on a sandy sea floor in shallow, warm water. Dugongs need to eat large amounts of seagrass.

Defence
Dugongs are slow-moving and have little protection against predators. Being large animals, however, only large sharks, Saltwater Crocodiles and Killer Whales are a danger to them. Young Dugongs hide behind their mothers when in danger.

Conservation Status
Dugongs are protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999, which lists dugong as marine and migratory species. Dugong are subject to a range of human threats in Australia, including entanglement in shark, mesh and gill nets, loss and degradation of important habitat such as seagrass meadows, and collisions with boats (also known as boat strikes).

The Australian Government is actively addressing these threats. For example, in 2003, marine debris was listed as a Key Threatening Process under the EPBC Act. As a result, a Threat Abatement Plan is being developed that will build on existing activities to reduce the impact of marine debris on threatened marine species, including marine turtle and dugong.

Internationally, dugong are listed on Appendix I of the Conservation of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), and on Appendix II of the Convention on Migratory Species (the CMS). Australia is a signatory to both these conventions.