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Saturday, June 22, 2013

MAP News Issue 317, June 21, 2013

VerticalResponse

Partnering with mangrove forest communities, grassroots NGOs, researchers and local governments to conserve and restore mangrove forests and related coastal ecosystems, while promoting community-based, sustainable management of coastal resources.

The MAP News
317th Edition                                June 21, 2013

Action Alerts:

Cambodia: Stop the flooding of the Cardamom Forest! SIGN THE PETITION

Please help us spread the word about our Question Your Shrimp video and our QYS consumer/ markets campaign!  We hope that you will share this LINK TO OUR VIDEO with your list!
 
Please help RedManglar Mexico put pressure on the Mexican government to protect the mangroves now threatened by development. PLEASE JOIN US IN SIGNING THIS PETITION

Question Your Shrimp- Don't Buy or Sell Imported Tropical Shrimp! Sign the Petition

Urgent Action Alert: Please Sign the Following Letter to Save Bimini Island from Destructive Development: SEE SAMPLE LETTER
Phulbari Coal Mine Blog View Blog
Phulbari Update – NEW Watch Short Video

CALLING FOR MANGROVE ART SUBMISSIONS!

We invite all primary school children from tropical and sub-tropical nations, and whose schools are located near mangroves, to create art telling us "why mangroves are important to me and my community". Selected winners will be published in a 2014 calendar to be distributed internationally to raise awareness of mangrove forest ecology. Email
monicagquarto@olympus.net or mangroveap@olympus.net or READ MORE

MAP's 2014 Children's Mangrove Art Calendar sponsors needed. View PDF

Donate to MAP via Paypal
Giving could never be easier
Donate.jpg
It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.
 
—Mahatma Gandhi


Green Planet Fundraising Assists MAP – LEARN MORE



URGENT - VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

MAP is looking for volunteer interns for its Thailand Headquarters – READ MORE

MAP’s VOLUNTEER INTERNS HELP MAP MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE
READ MORE

 


MANGROVE ISSUES 

Please view our new video for our Question Your Shrimp Consumer/Markets Campaign! It is now on our website under the Question Your Shrimp section heading. WATCH VIDEO

Mangrove Restoration in Asia – Watch Short Video
Mosaic of Life 
READ A MOSAIC OF LIFE” Peek into the underwater world of mangroves, "womb of the sea." By Liz Cunningham Photos By Wes Matweyew and Liz Cunningham

View MAP’s uploaded Videos at MAPmangrover’sChannel

“Education In The Mangroves" can now be seen on the  PhotoPhilanthropy website here!

Marvellous Mangroves – A Curriculum-Based Teachers Guide.
By Martin A. Keeley, Education Director, Mangrove Action Project
Read this 10 page history of the development of MAP’s educational curriculum VIEW DOCUMENT

FOR MORE ON MAPs AWARD WINNING CHINA MANGROVE CURRICULUM VISIT THESE SIGHTS
SLIDE SHOW
    VIMEO SHOW

Education In The Mangroves
Six minute video features discussion of Mangrove Action Project’s Mangrove Curriculum VIEW THE VIDEO
 
Article in Canada's Green Teacher Magazine -
Read More
 


"Question Your Shrimp" Campaign

Learn more about the affects of the shrimp industry on mangroves by visiting our blog

Editor’s Note: Mangrove Action Project’s Executive Director, Alfredo Quarto was interviewed about shrimp by Green Acre Radio’s Martha Baskin

LISTEN TO INTERVIEW


Join MAP on Facebook


Sign the Consumer's Pledge to avoid imported shrimp


Donate.jpg


Not yet a MAP News subscriber?
Click here to subscribe.



Note to Our Readers:
We strive to keep active links in our newsletter. However, due to circumstances beyond our control,
occasionally links to stories may become broken. If you find a link to a story is not functioning, please cut and paste the headline into your browser search bar. In most cases you should be able to locate the original story.




Help Mangrove Action Project through your recycled E-Waste.  List of Accepted E-waste Items:

Injet Cartidges, Cell Phones, Pagers, GPS, Radar Detectors, Mobile Hot Spots, Calculators, eBook Readers, iPods/MP3 players, Digital/Video Cameras/Camcorders, PDAs, iPads/Tablets/Laptops, Video Game Consoles, Handheld Video Games

Visit the Mangrove Action Project recycle website Click on the recycle button then click on the Download Shipping Label, and follow the instructions.

 

download_shipping_label





 

FEATURED STORY

Veracruz loses 13% of its mangrove areas
52133141-bc16-4a4e-9f36-910b741e73ed
MEXICO – In 26 years, the state of Veracruz has lost 13 percent of its mangrove areas. It currently has 43 thousand hectares of the 50,000 that existed, said Elisa Pérez Rojas, director of Pro Natura. He said that according to the study conducted by the State Biodiversity Strategy, in the Laguna de Alvarado alone more than 5000 hectares of mangroves have been lost. There are only 19 000 hectares remaining there. Mangrove forests have been reduced by changes in land use, as they are cleared and converted to livestock grazing areas or to create barriers to livestock, he said. In Rojas' opinion, open spaces for farming are needed, as it is the primary source of income for many families. But in order to stop the trend towards mangrove destruction, it is necessary to improve education and awareness about mangrove habitat. People might then discover other resources besides raising livestock. READ MORE (en Espanol)
 
AFRICA
 
Shrimp Farmers Unite to Fight White Spot in East Africa
MOZAMBIQUE - Work on reducing the risk of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) at shrimp farms in East Africa through improved management and policy is progressing, thanks, in part, to a Responsible Aquaculture Foundation (RAF) case study conducted in mid-May. The case study, the third such project administered by RAF, dealt with a WWSV outbreak at shrimp farms in Mozambique and Madagascar. A team of aquaculture professionals and academics traveled to East Africa to meet with farmers and other stakeholders to review the chronology and impact of the WSSV outbreak and discuss strategies to control the disease. The team consisted of George Chamberlain (coordinator), Donald Lightner (shrimp pathologist), Noriaki Akazawa (Asian shrimp farm manager), Marcos Villarreal (Central American shrimp farm manager), Richard Towner (geneticist), Peter van Wyk (financial analyst) and Adolfo Alvial (public-private partnerships). READ MORE
 
ASIA
 
MAP Welcomes New Volunteer and a Group of Student Researchers from Marietta College, USA on World Oceans Day
THAILAND - Although starting back in 1992, it was only until recently that the World Oceans Day has become more popular and is being observed in many countries. Trang province in the southern part of Thailand is known as one of the major observant of this event. Not only was June 8th 2013  World Oceans Day, it was also my first day volunteering for MAP along with MAP welcoming a group of student researchers and their Professor from Marietta College in Ohio, USA. Luckily, the team have scheduled for two site visits in Bang Kang Khao and Laem Makham villages. Getting a chance to visit restoration sites on my first day of arrival was such a pleasant opportunity because I have been told that most volunteers work in the office for several weeks before having a chance to visit MAP’s mangrove restoration sites. In fact, this was my very first time visiting mangroves which made the occasion that much more special personally. Moreover, I have also made new friends, a group of student researchers from Marietta College. READ MORE
 
Stop the flooding of the Cardamom Forest!
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CAMBODIA - China Guodian Corporation, a state-owned power company, plans to build a hydroelectric dam on the Areng’s upper reaches in Cambodia. The Cheăy Areng dam would spell catastrophe for the rainforest dwellers by inundating their habitat. Just a few hundred of the highly-endangered Siamese crocodiles remain worldwide – and most of them live in the Areng Valley. The indigenous peoples would lose their homes and have to be relocated. From an economic point of view, the project makes little sense, as its costs would exceed its benefits for the country. READ MORE
 
‘Entrepreneur’ smashes down Phuket mangroves
THAILAND - Following complaints from local people, the Chairman of Pa Khlok OrBorTor on Wednesday led police and other officials on a raid on an allegedly illegal construction site among mangroves in Moo 2 They found the mangroves had been removed, the site had been levelled and construction of a property development was well under way. They seized seven trucks and a bulldozer. The case has been passed to the Thalang police to follow up and charge those responsible. The chairman, Punya Sumpaorat, said “Pa Khlok Municipality continually checks for mangrove forest encroachment by ‘entrepreneurs’ because most of the area [along the shore] is forest under the protection of HM the Queen, and locals and the municipality have replanted regularly. READ MORE
 
Songkhla dolphins facing relocation
THAILAND – The last group of 15 Irrawaddy dolphins in the Songkhla Lake in Songkhla province may have to be relocated to a new habitat if water quality and the environment in the lake does not improve, the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) says. DMCR marine biologist Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong on Monday said the dolphins were being threatened by fishing gear, water pollution, insufficient food supplies and inbreeding. If these risks are not addressed, the dolphins are expected to disappear from the lake within five years, he said. The department has not yet decided where the dolphins could be relocated, although it suggested a reservoir of the Ratchaprapa dam in Surat Thani province or the Gulf of Thailand as potential sites. READ MORE

 Editor’s Note - Strange that shrimp farms are both booming and depressed, depending on which article you happen to read.
A lot of seafood giants fall into tragic plight
20130621090550-seafood
VIETNAM – The seafood companies’ workers in the Tra Noc Industrial Zone of Can Tho City and the Hoa Trung Industrial Zone in Ca Mau province come to factories irregularly these days. On the Highway No. 1A, which goes through the biggest shrimp material areas – Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau, there are no more bustling shrimp markets gathering in the afternoon after the working hours like in the previous years. These are all the bad signals for the seafood industry. A lot of seafood companies in the region have fallen into insolvency; others have been operating at a moderate level. Only a few companies have luckily escaped the biggest difficulties and now try to resume the production. In the Tra Noc Industrial Zone, An Khang Import-Export Company still opens. However, it opens just to receive some 70 workers who come to work in shifts under the management of Director Tran Hong Quan. READ MORE

Shrimp Exports from Vietnam surpass $1 billion mark
VIETNAM – Vietnam was estimated to have earned $1.03 billion worth of shrimp export in the first half of this year, up 1.5% on year, the Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said. However, the shrimp exports into the US is seen to hardly increase in the second half of this year due to recent preliminary decision on anti-subsidy duties on frozen shrimp imported from seven countries, including Viet Nam of the US Department of Commerce’s (DOC), VASEP added. The final decision would be issued in mid-August, according to VASEP, saying that it was possible Vietnamese shrimp would be hit by two taxes on the US market: anti-subsidy duty and anti-dumping duty, the local newswire www.VOV.vn reported. READ MORE
 
AMERICAS
 
Environmentalists march in defense of mangroves
v3
VENEZUELA - Falcon state environmental groups, gathered on Saturday June 15 in Punto Fijo, following the call of the Environmental Association for Environmental Preservation (AEPA), grassroots organization that since 2001 works in defense of mangrove ecosystems and human rights and is a member of Venezuelan group known as International REDMANGLAR. 250 people from 10 groups and social organizations marched along the 2.5 km walk, calling on the authorities for ultimate protection Guaranao Lagoon, a coastal marine wetland covering 7.1 hectares. The area is home to some 250 species of flora and fauna, including the Caribbean flamingo, the red corocora and some mammals. Scientist Robert Wingfield, known for his environmental work was present at the action and expressed support for the protestors. "We are here to support the work of social groups. Guaranao Lagoon is an important ecosystem must be protected as the only freshwater course across the semiarid region Paraguana. This important region houses a large number of species unique to the area, therefore we call for protecttion " READ MORE (en Espanol)
 
Cuba girds for climate change by reclaiming coasts
CUBA – After Cuban scientists studied the effects of climate change on this island's 3,500 miles (5,630 kilometers) of coastline, their discoveries were so alarming that officials didn't share the results with the public to avoid causing panic. The scientists projected that rising sea levels would seriously damage 122 Cuban towns or even wipe them off the map. Beaches would be submerged, they found, while freshwater sources would be tainted and croplands rendered infertile. In all, seawater would penetrate up to 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) inland in low-lying areas, as oceans rose nearly three feet (85 centimeters) by 2100. Climate change may be a matter of political debate on Capitol Hill, but for low-lying Cuba, those frightening calculations have spurred systemic action. Cuba's government has changed course on decades of haphazard coastal development, which threatens sand dunes and mangrove swamps that provide the best natural protection against rising seas. READ MORE
 
EDITORS NOTE - Some bad news coming from Seafood Watch who’s popular and convenient pocket sized seafood cards alert consumers to which seafood is best to buy. They have for years placed farmed shrimp as a red listed (not to buy) item, but now they are saying ASC and Naturland shrimp are OK, which is a sad loss for us! This really is not so surprising, considering that the Packard sisters founded the Monterey Bay Aquarium many years ago, and Packard Foundation funded over $2 million to support WWF's faulty "Shrimp Dialogue." Nevertheless, it will be more difficult to convince our restaurant and retailer allies that it is not good to sell certified shrimp, as the Seafood Watch advice cards are regularly used by conscientious buyers of seafood.
Seafood Watch plugs MSC, ASC-certified products
USA - Seafood Watch, a Monterey Bay Aquarium program that promotes consumer awareness in the seafood industry, announced today that it will now recommend seafood carrying the mark of other well-known sustainability programs. According to a statement from the aquarium, the program will now list on its “buy” list certain seafood species that bear the stamp of approval from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), NaturLand, Canada Organic, and Friend of the Sea. All of the organizations assess seafood producers and processors, granting certification to all that meet their standards of sustainability. READ MORE
 
Walmart shrimp supplier accused of labor abuse
USA - Longtime Walmart shrimp supplier, certified by the Global Aquaculture Alliance, in a new report is being accused of engaging in serious violations of Thai law and international human rights standards. The briefing paper, “The Walmart Effect: Child and Worker Rights Violations at Narong Seafood,” — released by Warehouse Workers United (WWU) and the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) — documents a number of serious violations at shrimp processing company Narong Seafood. Violations at Narong’s principal facility in Samutsakron, Thailand, include utilizing underage workers, nonpayment of wages, charging workers excessive fees for work permits, and an ineffective auditing regime. READ MORE

US keeps Thailand on trafficking watchlist
USA - The U.S. State Department released its annual Trafficking in Persons report this week, and has once again labeled Thailand as a hub for human trafficking. The new report comes less than a month after the nonprofit group Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) released its own report, detailing slavery and murder in the Thai fishing industry. The state department designation, in short, is an acknowledgement that the Thai government has made an effort to address the issue but significant problems still remain. “The Government of Thailand does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in the report. READ MORE
 
Farmed Fish Production Overtakes Beef
update114_fishbeef
USA - The world quietly reached a milestone in the evolution of the human diet in 2011. For the first time in modern history, world farmed fish production has topped beef production. The gap widened in 2012, with output from fish farming—also called aquaculture—reaching a record 66 million tons, compared with production of beef at 63 million tons. And 2013 may well be the first year that people eat more fish raised on farms than caught in the wild. More than just a crossing of lines, these trends illustrate the latest stage in a historic shift in food production—a shift that at its core is a story of natural limits. READ MORE
 
Shrimp Exports from Vietnam surpass $1 billion mark
VIETNAM – Vietnam was estimated to have earned $1.03 billion worth of shrimp export in the first half of this year, up 1.5% on year, the Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said. However, the shrimp exports into the US is seen to hardly increase in the second half of this year due to recent preliminary decision on anti-subsidy duties on frozen shrimp imported from seven countries, including Viet Nam of the US Department of Commerce’s (DOC), VASEP added. The final decision would be issued in mid-August, according to VASEP, saying that it was possible Vietnamese shrimp would be hit by two taxes on the US market: anti-subsidy duty and anti-dumping duty, the local newswire www.VOV.vn reported. READ MORE
 
EUROPE
 
UK government accepts complaint over GCM Resources’ Bangladesh coal mine
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UK – British company GCM Resources was dealt a serious blow today as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) agreed to consider complaints regarding severe human rights violations associated with the company’s planned coal mine in Bangladesh. GCM wants to open a massive open-pit coal mine in Phulbari in the north-west of Bangladesh, displacing up to 220,000 people and threatening the Sundarbans, one of the world’s largest remaining mangrove forests and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The complaint by the International Accountability Project and the World Development Movement claims that the mine planned by the AIM-listed company would breach OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. It would violate the human rights of indigenous people from 23 different tribal groups, and destroy nearly 12,000 acres of Bangladesh’s most fertile and productive farmland. READ MORE
 
LAST WORD
 

FOR THE MANGROVES
MAP-Asia is putting together a poster banner showing the destruction of mangroves to get people thinking.
 
Destruction / degradation can be of any human caused form.... cutting, clearing, shrimp aquaculture, infrastructure development, land filling, impounding, trash pollution, oil spills, etc.... If you've any good high resolution photos you would like donate to MAP's educational awareness cause please send them to me.  1 MB size or larger are preferred but we're also in need of shots for a new MAP video under production & for our website.  If you would like to be credited for the photos used please send your name as it should appear.
 
For the mangroves & those who depend on them for life & livelihood.
 
Jim
SEND IMAGES TO
Jim Enright <mapasia@loxinfo.co.th>


~ WE WELOCME YOUR LETTERS - If you’d like to have the last word on this or any other mangrove related topic, please send us your submission for upcoming newsletters. We’ll choose one per issue to have “the last word”. While we can’t promise to publish everyone’s letter, we do encourage anyone to post comments on our Blog at www. mangroveactionproject.blogspot.com

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Mangrove Action Project

Saturday, June 8, 2013

MAP News Issue 316, June 8, 2013

VerticalResponse

Partnering with mangrove forest communities, grassroots NGOs, researchers and local governments to conserve and restore mangrove forests and related coastal ecosystems, while promoting community-based, sustainable management of coastal resources.

The MAP News
316th Edition                                June 8, 2013

Action Alerts:

Take action and demand justice for victims of Bangladesh building collapse – SIGN HERE

Please help us spread the word about our Question Your Shrimp video and our QYS consumer/ markets campaign!  We hope that you will share this LINK TO OUR VIDEO with your list!
 
Please help RedManglar Mexico put pressure on the Mexican government to protect the mangroves now threatened by development. PLEASE JOIN US IN SIGNING THIS PETITION

Question Your Shrimp- Don't Buy or Sell Imported Tropical Shrimp! Sign the Petition

Urgent Action Alert: Please Sign the Following Letter to Save Bimini Island from Destructive Development: SEE SAMPLE LETTER


Action Alert: Massive Chinese Dam Threatens Cambodia's Cardamom Rainforests Sign the Petition
 
Action Alert: Demand India Protect Old-Growth and Abandon Coal Sign the Petition
Phulbari Coal Mine Blog View Blog
Phulbari Update – NEW Watch Short Video

CALLING FOR MANGROVE ART SUBMISSIONS!

We invite all primary school children from tropical and sub-tropical nations, and whose schools are located near mangroves, to create art telling us "why mangroves are important to me and my community". Selected winners will be published in a 2014 calendar to be distributed internationally to raise awareness of mangrove forest ecology. Email
monicagquarto@olympus.net or mangroveap@olympus.net or READ MORE

MAP's 2014 Children's Mangrove Art Calendar sponsors needed. View PDF

Donate to MAP via Paypal
Giving could never be easier
Donate.jpg
It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.
 
—Mahatma Gandhi


Green Planet Fundraising Assists MAP – LEARN MORE



URGENT - VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

MAP is looking for volunteer interns for its Thailand Headquarters – READ MORE

MAP’s VOLUNTEER INTERNS HELP MAP MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE
READ MORE

 


MANGROVE ISSUES 

Please view our new video for our Question Your Shrimp Consumer/Markets Campaign! It is now on our website under the Question Your Shrimp section heading. WATCH VIDEO

Mangrove Restoration in Asia – Watch Short Video
Mosaic of Life 
READ A MOSAIC OF LIFE” Peek into the underwater world of mangroves, "womb of the sea." By Liz Cunningham Photos By Wes Matweyew and Liz Cunningham

MANGROVE BOOK – J. Primavera
The book Beach Forests and Mangrove Associates in the Philippines by J.H. Pimavera and R.B. Sadaba (ISBN 978-971-9931-01-0; National Library  CIP QK938.C6  581.75109599  2012  P220120602) is now available. aves, flowers, fruits, utilization and silviculture
.
SEE POSTER and order instructions

View MAP’s uploaded Videos at MAPmangrover’sChannel

“Education In The Mangroves" can now be seen on the  PhotoPhilanthropy website here!

Marvellous Mangroves – A Curriculum-Based Teachers Guide.
By Martin A. Keeley, Education Director, Mangrove Action Project
Read this 10 page history of the development of MAP’s educational curriculum VIEW DOCUMENT

FOR MORE ON MAPs AWARD WINNING CHINA MANGROVE CURRICULUM VISIT THESE SIGHTS
SLIDE SHOW
    VIMEO SHOW

Education In The Mangroves
Six minute video features discussion of Mangrove Action Project’s Mangrove Curriculum VIEW THE VIDEO
 
Article in Canada's Green Teacher Magazine -
Read More
 


"Question Your Shrimp" Campaign

Learn more about the affects of the shrimp industry on mangroves by visiting our blog

Editor’s Note: Mangrove Action Project’s Executive Director, Alfredo Quarto was interviewed about shrimp by Green Acre Radio’s Martha Baskin

LISTEN TO INTERVIEW


Join MAP on Facebook


Sign the Consumer's Pledge to avoid imported shrimp


Donate.jpg


Not yet a MAP News subscriber?
Click here to subscribe.



Note to Our Readers:
We strive to keep active links in our newsletter. However, due to circumstances beyond our control,
occasionally links to stories may become broken. If you find a link to a story is not functioning, please cut and paste the headline into your browser search bar. In most cases you should be able to locate the original story.




Help Mangrove Action Project through your recycled E-Waste.  List of Accepted E-waste Items:

Injet Cartidges, Cell Phones, Pagers, GPS, Radar Detectors, Mobile Hot Spots, Calculators, eBook Readers, iPods/MP3 players, Digital/Video Cameras/Camcorders, PDAs, iPads/Tablets/Laptops, Video Game Consoles, Handheld Video Games

Visit the Mangrove Action Project recycle website Click on the recycle button then click on the Download Shipping Label, and follow the instructions.

 

download_shipping_label





 

FEATURED STORY

SPECIAL REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS : Editors Note : This issue highlights the tragic consequences of the world’s love of shrimp and its dire effect on the people caught in its cycle.
 
Bad Cocktail: Labor Abuse in Thailand’s Shrimp Industry
IMG_7370_0_0
THAILAND - Shrimp is big business in Thailand, thanks to an appetite in the United States that continues to grow. Today, a third of country’s exported shrimp goes to the U.S., its top customer, where retail giants like Walmart and Costco do high-volume sales and suburban Red Lobsters offer bargain blue plate specials. Breakthroughs in aquaculture have helped Thai producers keep up with the rising demand, but there’s a catch to their success: an invisible underclass of Burmese migrant workers, thousands of whom labor in sub-human conditions to keep costs down. Of the estimated 200,000 Burmese migrants working in Samut Sakhon province, the heartland of the Thai shrimp industry, about a third are unregistered and subject to rights abuses. READ MORE
 
Shrimp Industry Exploits Workers to Satisfy Global Appetite
Abuse
Thailand - The world--especially the U.S.--wants cheap shrimp. For the $1 billion plus shrimping industry in Thailand, fulfilling this desire comes at the expense of workers. Special correspondent Steve Sapienza reports on the abusive working conditions in the Thai shrimping industry, including corruption, human trafficking and violence. VIEW VIDEO
 
... MORE STORIES ON HUMAN RIGHTS FOLLOW UNDER THE ASIA HEADING

AFRICA
 
Niger Delta pollution: Fishermen at risk
Afisher
NIGER - A pristine paradise - these are not words you often hear to describe the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria. But you get to appreciate the area’s natural beauty whilst wading across lily covered creeks and trekking deep into the forest, accompanied by birdsong. “I’m on the plank now so walk right behind me,” a guide said as we squelched across a muddy swamp trying not to sink in too deep. After walking for about an hour and a half from the village of Kalaba in Bayelsa state, I caught the first glimpse of an expansive tranquil lake through the trees. On the shore are shelters made of wooden poles draped in material. Every two years several families set up a camp at Lake Masi where they fish for just three months. Most people living near the creeks do not benefit from the oil wealth in the region.”After preparing the nylon and woven basket nets we go into the lake and drive the fish into one area,” Woloko Inebisa told me. “By fishing every two years we allow the fish to grow large. If we fished every year there would only be very small fish here,” the 78 year old told me as two men in dug out canoes adjusted the nets inside a section of the lake that had been fenced off with cane reeds. READ MORE
 
Mapping the Mangroves
Qatar Mapping
QATAR - A project led by Qatar Foundation International (QFI), a US-based ember of Qatar Foundation, engages with environmentally aware individuals to collect and disseminate information about the world’s mangrove forests, which are under threat from industrialization and development in many parts of the world. The project is being run in partnership with Conservation International (CI), a non-profit organization that works to protect natural environments all over the world through scientific research and field work. Launched at the Al Dhakira mangroves near Al Khor, the project encourages visitors to gather data on wildlife species spotted at the site. They can then feed this information into the online resource at mappingthemangroves.qfi.org via their smartphone or tablet. The data is then processed using Ushadidi, an open source mapping platform that enables people anywhere in Mangroves play numerous fundamental – yet often unrecognized and under-appreciated – roles in the maintenance of the planet the world to upload GPS-tagged information from a mobile device, giving very precise location details through the use of a downloadable app. Reports can also be logged by traditional email, through the website portal. READ MORE
 
Rising tides threaten Tanzania's coastal towns
TANZANIA - Surging Indian Ocean tides have forced hundreds of people in northeast Tanzania’s Pangani District to abandon their homes, as higher seas increasingly threaten settlements along East Africa’s coastline. Several towns and villages are suffering flooding and intrusions of salt water, which are damaging property and tainting clean water supplies.  Scientists and government officials attribute the problem partly to climate change, but crumbling sea defenses are also to blame. The increasing disaster threat has led government officials to urge residents to move to higher ground, and to promise to repair seawalls. But the country’s key tourism industry remains at risk as rising seas and worsening storm surges erode beaches and coastal infrastructure, experts say. Flooding has also been worsened by clearing of mangroves which once formed a natural buffer against the ocean waves. READ MORE
 
ASIA
 
Thailand's 'sickening' human rights abuses
Abuses
THAILAND – A recent report highlights 'the importance of companies in the West to have accurate information on their supply chain,' says EJF lead campaigner. After the publication of a new report on human trafficking, labor abuse and murder in the Thai fish industry on Wednesday, IntraFish talked to Environmental Justice Foundation's (EJF's) lead oceans campaigner Andy Hickman, the main investigator on the report. The details of human rights abuses are sickening, to say the least. “The Thai Department of Special Investigation invited EJF to document their investigation, which happened in March this year,” Hickman said. Fifteen Burmese workers between the ages of 16 to 46 -- who had been working on three separate fishing vessels -- had been subjected to “significant abuse, bonded labor, 20 hours working day without pay, and been at sea for five months at a time.” READ MORE
 
Thai fisheries human trafficking ‘widespread’
THAILAND - Human trafficking continues to be not only widespread, but also well known within Thailand’s fishing industry, said Steve Trent, executive director of the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF). EJF recently released a report of its investigation into human trafficking in Thai fisheries. Though the report focuses on the plight of 14 Myanmar men trafficked on fishing boats, Trent said the problem extends to all areas of the seafood industry in Thailand, where a thriving industry is fueled by cheap, undocumented labor from neighboring countries with fewer economic opportunities. “I’ve been working in this kind of area for 25 years and I’ve worked in over 40 countries and I’ve seen a lot of things. My impression in what is going on here, is the trafficking in Thailand is very widespread,” he said. Trent said his organization is lobbying for a downgrade of Thailand’s ranking on the U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, which should be updated in June. READ MORE
 
Vanishing mangroves
PAKISTAN - A sight of Sindh’s coast has a tendency to inspire the human spirit, with its abundant mangroves, sprouting out from the Indus delta, a magical juncture of river and sea, where birds unwind comfortably sitting on mangrove trees and fishes swimming five feet beneath them. It is a place of grand beauty and its mysticism is only exceeded by its aesthetics. For many living species, including humans, these forests provide a home and a source of sustenance, and are integral to survival of biodiversity and communities which have existed here for a long time. These forests, unfortunately, are on the brink of extinction, and so is the habitat upon which many species depend. Receding of Sindh’s coastal mangrove forests is a direct consequence of withholding water supply by dams which has changed the salinity levels within the mangrove covered region. Now, anthropogenic induced climate change has also become a leading cause of onslaught against mangrove forests, and the communities and species which depend upon it. To add to their plight, changing climatic conditions is increasing sea level, due to which salinity of the Indus Delta is dramatically increasing which was already under stress from breakdown of water flow. These forests, in areas including Keti Bunder, are unable to adapt to the pace of changing water salinity and have been condemned to be wiped off the map. READ MORE
 
VietNam protests US shrimp tariff
VIETNAM - The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has protested against a preliminary determination by the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) on subsidy margins for frozen shrimp imports from Vietnam. In its preliminary determination released on Thursday, according to a Vietnam Television correspondent in the U.S., the DOC determines a subsidy margin of 5.08 percent on shrimp from Minh Qui Co., a subsidiary of Minh Phu Seafood Corp., 7.05 percent on Nha Trang Seafoods Co., and 6.07 percent on others. If anti-subsidy tariffs are imposed, Vietnam’s shrimp exports to the U.S. will face both anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties, making it harder for Vietnamese exporters to survive in the American market. READ MORE

Editor’s Note – The following story comes from a town called Mapusa. MAP USA does not have any affiliation with this town, but we hope to!
Mangroves hacked, cleared at Tuem
INDIA - A large tract of mangroves has been hacked and cleared in patches along the roadside at Arabo in Tuem by a private party during the last few weeks, sources said. A few labourers were engaged to fell the trees and clear the large area along the road from Dhargal to Tuem by a rivulet branching off from the Chapora river. The work had commenced a few weeks back and several hectares of mangroves have been hacked while the authorities were allegedly slow to react. The workers have constructed a hut at the site for resting during breaks while the clearing of the large areas was in progress. It is not clear why the mangroves have been hacked but on the other side of the rivulet, there is a aquaculture farm and there is speculation that a similar project is being pursued here. READ MORE

AMERICAS
 
Noted Costa Rican Environmentalist Killed
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COSTA RICA - An environmentalist who worked to protect leatherback turtles on Costa Rica's Caribbean coast was found dead on a beach used by drug traffickers, authorities said. Costa Rica's Judicial Investigation Police said in a statement that a motive in the killing of Jairo Mora Sandoval has not been determined. Mora Sandoval was a volunteer with the nonprofit group Widecast, which protects turtle nests from poachers in Moin beach in Limon province. He had had his hands tied behind his back and had been shot in the head, said Widecast director Didiher Chacon. Mora Sandoval, 26, had been patrolling the beach along with four other female volunteers Thursday night when masked men kidnapped them. The women escaped their attackers and went to police, Chacon said. READ MORE
 
Second International Symposium on Mangroves as Fish Habitat
MEXICO - Throughout the tropical and subtropical coasts around the world, mangrove forests serve as the physical lattice that provide protective breeding, feeding, and nursery areas for a wide variety of marine life, including many economically important species. This symposium will bring together scientists from around the globe to share knowledge on the links between fisheries, ocean health, and the growing need for protecting the mangrove ecosystem. Symposium topics will include: Community Form and Function, Habitat and Productivity, Species Diversity and Interactions, Commercial and Artisanal Fisheries, Recreational Fisheries, Ecotourism, Conservation and Education, Restoration Programs, Blue Carbon and Ecosystem Services. In addition there will be a restoration workshop and field trips to local mangrove areas. The meeting will be held at the El Cid Moro Beach Resort, Mazatlan, Mexico. Venue details, registration, and abstract submission dates will be posted soon. READ MORE
 
Severe ecological damage, from mangroves to the Black Forest
MEXICO - "If we could define death of nature, we would say this ... All that lives here are arachnids, crabs and insects. The rest is dead ", says the expert Javier Rojas on some of the coastal areas of Chiapas damaged. Tapachula, Chiapas  Mangrove forests are places that have the magic of the stories of Lewis Carroll at times dark and other times light, where animals take on other dimensions. In Tapachula, Chiapas, in the southern Pacific coast and a few miles from the border with Guatemala, these ecosystems are fundamental to economic, social and environmental activity south of our country. There are mangrove forests in 17 states of Mexico and represent a total area of ​​770 000.57 acres. Campeche, Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Chiapas and Oaxaca are the places of greatest extension. In Mexico, the estimated loss rate per year, according to the Institute of Ecology, is 2.5 percent, at this rate, by 2025 the surface of the vegetation of the country will be reduced by 50 percent. Although they are areas protected by the Federal Government as a World Heritage Areas, today, 70 percent is in a state of devastation. READ MORE (Spanish)
 
Shrimpers wary of still-secret TPP contents
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USA - The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a proposed multinational trade agreement intended to further liberalize the economies of the Asia-Pacific region. If approved, its most-likely impact on the U.S. seafood market would be an influx of farmed Vietnamese and Malaysian shrimp — to the detriment of Gulf Coast shrimpers. Provisions of the deal still kept secret could have wide ranging effects. TPP has been under negotiation since 2010. Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam are the current negotiating partners. The United States already has free trade agreements (FTAs) that include seafood trade with many of the participants. For example, Chile is a major exporter of farmed salmon to the U.S., but tariffs on most Chilean products are already at zero and others are scheduled to be eliminated by 2015 under an existing FTA. So, there would be no effect on tariff rates. READ MORE
 
US sets preliminary CVD shrimp rates
USA - The U.S. government announced preliminary countervailing duty (CVD) rates for shrimp imports for seven countries under investigation. Rates ranged from less than 1 percent — or de minimus, in which no duties are collected — to more than 62 percent. The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) announced its preliminary determinations on frozen warmwater shrimp from China, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. While Ecuador and Indonesia escaped without any collectable duties (most producers were assigned rates less than 1 percent), the DOC found that many producers and exporters received countervailable subsidies. In China, Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products Co. and its affiliates received a rate of 5.76 percent; all other producers and exporters in China were also assigned a preliminary subsidy rate of 5.76 percent. READ MORE
 
How to Fix the World’s Seas
ECUADOR - The problems facing the world’s oceans and marine resources can seem insurmountable: overfishing, wasteful by-catch, pollution, privatization… Many were discussed at Slow Fish earlier this month, but one conference in particular heard inspiring examples from around the world of a solution that could be the answer to many of those problems. “Towards Collective Management of Common Resources,” chaired by Roberto Danovaro from the Polytechnic University of the Marche, heard mostly from fishermen, from Ecuador, Colombia, Spain and France, who have been involved in setting up and running co-management systems. In these systems, instead of regulations being dictated by a central government, the local fishing communities themselves work with local authorities and other stakeholders to come up with sustainable and sensible ways to manage who fishes what, how and where. Lider Gongora of C-CONDEM, the national network for the defense of the mangrove ecosystem in Ecuador, described the incredible benefits that mangroves bring to the environment and the humans who live around them. But in Ecuador, and many other countries, locals are being evicted from their villages, the mangroves are being chopped down and the estuaries polluted to satisfy the huge demand for farmed shrimp in the United States, Japan and Europe. READ MORE
 
LAST WORD
 

From a reader (A comment posted on our MAPs Blog May 15)

Nice blog.
I had fun reading this. And it is easy to understand. Nice going.

Stephen
Mangrove Place
RE: MAP News Issue 310 March 16, 2013

Thanks Stephen!

~ WE WELOCME YOUR LETTERS - If you’d like to have the last word on this or any other mangrove related topic, please send us your submission for upcoming newsletters. We’ll choose one per issue to have “the last word”. While we can’t promise to publish everyone’s letter, we do encourage anyone to post comments on our Blog at www. mangroveactionproject.blogspot.com

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