Oceans and Communities

A temporary reprieve has been bought for the deep sea environment as Nautilus has announced that it is delaying investments in Papua New Guinea. Due to the declining economic investment climate, the Canadian mining company has cancelled orders for a rising and lifting system, a seafloor mining tool, and a mining support vessel.

While this news is good for the marine environment, it is important to look at the long term picture and realize that as the economy recovers, investors will again begin looking at funding this speculative, extractive industry.

• Read More »

In late June, representatives of indigenous communities of the Bismark Sea region of Papua New Guinea gathered to discuss deep sea mining and express their concerns over the potential environmental, social and economic impacts of this experimental new mining process.

As a result, the communities, establishing themselves as the Bismarck Solomon Seas Indigenous Peoples Council, have issued a statement opposing any deep sea mining until community concerns are heard and addressed.

Oceans and Communities stands with the communities in their opposition to deep sea mining efforts in the last refuges of the ocean.

Send an email today to Nautilus Minerals, which is spearheading the effort to mine in the territorial waters of PNG.

The full statement follows and is signed by some 70 individuals representing tribes and associations.

• Read More »

A story is emerging from Papua New Guinea that local women are swapping sex for canned tuna in order to feed their families or sell to earn more money.

According to the article, a representative of the women from Kananam village, located in Madang Province, the village is no longer able to make ends meet by supplying fish to the town.

The women of the village are having sex in order to get the bycatch from a local canned fish company. The implication is that either the local fish supply is no longer as healthy as it once was or that competition from industrial vessels have forced out traditional fishers.

This sad situation demonstrates how dwindling fish supplies will force greater numbers of people into poverty and greater economic competition to feed their families.

It is critical to meet both human and ecological needs that we protect ocean resources from unsustainable use, especially from industrial fishing vessels that might be draining local food supplies.

• Read More »

While communities, NGOs and scientists are meeting in Madang to discuss the impacts of deep sea mining on the environment and people, Nautilus, the company leading deep sea mining in PNG, has announced that it has contracted a Norwegian company to provide a ship to conduct its operations in PNG territorial waters.

Meanwhile , Nautilus has yet to publicly release an Environmental Impact study of the proposed deep sea mining operations. With operations planned to begin as early as 2010, Nautilus is not providing a lot of time for the public to analyze and respond to potential environmental impacts.

• Read More »

Good news from the South Pacific where tuna fishing has been banned in two large areas of the high seas, outside of the territorial waters of a number of nations.

On June 15th, two tuna fishing-free zones will come into effect, one between Papua New Guinea and Palau, and another bordered by PNG, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, the Solomon Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.

Tuna vessels fishing within their exclusive economic zones will have to carry fisheries observers at all times. Fish aggregating devices or FADs, will be banned for the third quarter of each year.

With the Pacific providing half the tuna consumed globally, this is an important step.

However, there is growing concern over how these nations will enforce these rules in light of the illegal fishing occurring in the region as well as the lack of resources (vessels, cash, and staff) to enforce rules in such a large area.

A step in the right direction, but hopefully one that will be properly enforced.

• Read More »

The proposed megaport project in Orissa, India is not just about the impact that it will have on the sea turtles, but also about how it will impact the lives of coastal communitities. Previously concerns have been raised about the impacts of increased shipping vessel traffic on traditional fishing grounds. Now farmers are raising their voices about the lands that are being taken away for the port.

On Sunday, a hundred of villagers, including 43 women, were arrested as they protested that the port project would take their farming lands without adequate compensation. The actions of the villagers forced the suspension of the construction and state police were called in.

To add your voice in opposition to the project, send an email today.

• Read More »

Environmental activists and scientists are raising their voices against the Dhamra Port project in Orissa, India. Greenpeace and Indian activists have begin scaling efforts to raise this issue in the media with a number of good stories resulting.

Oceans and Communities is supporting the effort to oppose the port project by helping organize a scientists’ statement calling for the protection of the sea turtles and for Tata to reconsider its placement of the port.

Orissa is home to the world’s largest nesting site of olive ridley sea turtles. Additional animals at risk includes rare species of snakes, crabs, and frogs.

To add your voice in defense of the turtles, the oceans and the coastal fishing communities, send an email today to the company building the port.

• Read More »

A recent news story highlights the surge in activity in deep sea mining in the Pacific, including New Zealand. While Oceans and Communities has been monitoring this growth in mining, one of the more revealing sections of the article points out how this new extractive industry would not have been possible without the “subsidy” of government sponsored research.

This raises the larger question of whether some things, such as the deep ocean, are best left alone, especially when scientific exploration opens the door to exploitation and potential devastation.

• Read More »

As a follow up to my earlier post on the impacts of biofuels on the oceans, I want to point out a new story  which further undermines the importance of protecting biodiversity as a means to protect functioning ecosystems.

• Read More »

This week, the pilot of the Cosco Busan was charged with negligently causing the 58,000 gallon fuel spill that will impact the San Francisco Bay Area for years to come. While it is rewarding to see the slow wheels of justice turning, have we really put anything in place that will prevent another such spill some time in the future?

• Read More »