Maritime Issues : General

SAN DIEGO -- The canned tuna industry is swimming upstream, hurt by health warnings of mercury contamination and a perception that its product is just plain boring.

Now the major players are renewing efforts to hook customers.

Canned tuna producers are promoting the fish as a low-fat protein, laden in omega-3 fatty acids that are believed to benefit the heart. They're trotting out new advertising. And they're moving beyond the can, offering products in foil pouches, including steaks and flavored fillets.

"Tuna doesn't always equal sandwich," said John Signorino, chief executive of San Diego-based Chicken of the Sea International. "This can be a dinner food."

An annual survey has confirmed the continued steady growth of the humpback whale population off Australia's east coast.

Cape Byron Whale Research Project coordinator Dan Burns believes there was an annual migration of about 7,500 to 8,000 humpback whales off the east coast, which was increasing annually by about 10 per cent.

He said in a 12-day period researchers counted 792 whales - including the well known white humpback Migaloo.

This was compared to previous largest count of 844 whales in 2004 over a 16-day period.

"If we had done a full 16 days I'm sure we would have broken the record," said Mr Burns who is completing his PhD at the Southern Cross University (SCU)

Papua New Guinea: Undersea Vehicles to Study Formation of Seafloor Deposits Enriched in Gold, Other Precious Metals

An international team of scientists will explore the seafloor near Papua New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean later this month with remotely operated and autonomous underwater vehicles, investigating active and inactive hydrothermal vents and the formation of mineral deposits containing copper, gold and other commercially valuable minerals.

The cruise is a joint expedition between Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Nautilus Minerals Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia, a mining exploration company that holds exploration leases in the Bismarck Sea within the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea. Nautilus is the first firm to commercially explore the ocean floor for economically viable massive sulfide deposits, and is interested in understanding the size and mineral content of the seafloor massive sulfide systems.

The joint expedition includes a 32-day WHOI research program funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation to the Pacmanus vent sites in the Eastern Manus Basin. The remotely operated vehicle Jason will be used to survey and map the vent areas around an Ocean Drilling Program hole drilled in 2000. Nautilus will fund an additional 10-day program to explore and sample the Vienna Woods sulfide prospects on the Manus Ridge, northwest of the Pacmanus study area.

UNITED NATIONS, July 13 (UPI) -- Six countries and the European Community have signed an agreement to curb over-fishing in the South Indian Ocean.

Following talks last week at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's headquarters in Rome, the South Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement was signed Wednesday by the Comoros, France, Kenya, Mozambique, New Zealand, Seychelles and the European Community.

The accord aims to ensure the long-term sustainable use and conservation of fishery sources, other than tuna, in areas that are not protected by national jurisdictions. It calls for concrete actions, including effective mechanisms to monitor fishing, annual reports on fishing operations and inspecting ships visiting ports of the parties to verify compliance with the regulations.

There are 130 marine protected areas (MPAs) on Canada’s Pacific coast but they may not be effectively shielding key marine ecosystems, says Dr. Rosaline Canessa, a University of Victoria geographer.

Canessa, a computer mapping specialist who studies how human activity affects the ocean environment, was one of the contributors to the B.C. Coastal Environment Project, the results of which were released last month by the B.C. Ministry of Environment.

For the project, Canessa analysed information on the status of MPAs on the coast — where they are, how big they are, what they’re supposed to be protecting, and how well they’re succeeding. Her analysis shows a mix of different types of MPAs established by several federal and provincial agencies, each with their own mandate.

On Saturday, a group of volunteers met at Muir Beach for a cleanup sponsored by Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary and the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association.

At first glance, the beach looked clean and well groomed, but closer inspection revealed tiny bits of plastic scattered across the sandy shoreline.

“Once you start looking, you see it everywhere,” said Jennifer Stock of Cordell Bank, who has led four beach cleanups this year and is hoping to sponsor more in the future.

A June United Nations Environmental Program report estimated that there are an average of 46,000 pieces of plastic debris floating on or near the surface of every square mile of ocean.

Seventy percent of that litter will sink to the bottom, according to the report, while the rest will float indefinitely.

Dublin: The Green Paper on a future holistic Maritime Policy for the European Union and the Law of the Sea

On the 7th of June the Commission adopted a Green Paper launching a one-year consultation on Europe’s interaction with the oceans and seas. The idea behind this is to develop an all-embracing maritime policy aimed at enhancing Europe’s maritime economy in an environmentally sustainable manner. The Green Paper, or consultation paper, does not seek to bring us instantaneous answers. Nor does it indicate apropriate actions. It simply asks questions, questions that I believe raise the issues of concern to European citizens – both those who are closely involved with the oceans and seas and otherwise. The intention is to have as wide a debate as possible. We are looking for guidance as to what a maritime policy for Europe should be, from interested parties, stakeholders and experts such as yourselves.

Environmentalist group Greenpeace called on the government yesterday to help enforce bans on drift-net fishing techniques used in the international waters surrounding the country which it says are hurting local fish populations.

Sofia Tsenikli, who oversees the campaign concerning the marine environment, said that Greece needs to coordinate with its neighbors and stop the fishing method which also traps endangered sea turtles, dolphins and swordfish.

“The uncontrolled use of drift nets is a scandal after the complete ban by the European Union. It is illegal, unethical and must be stopped,” Tsenikli said. “Greece needs to take a position in the EU and to enforce existing laws,” she added.

Drift nets have been outlawed by the United Nations since 1992 and by the EU since 2002 but continue to be used, especially in international waters which national coast guards do not monitor.

Viet Nam and China: VN, Chinese marine experts agree on co-operative policies

HCM City — Experts from Viet Nam and China have come out from the 11th round of negotiations on marine issues with an agreement to pursue friendly and co-operative policies for a long-term basic solution acceptable to both sides.

The three-day event that concluded in HCM City yesterday was described by negotiators as "friendly, frank and constructive." The two sides discussed a large range of issues of mutual concern in an effort to improve understanding of each other’s points of view.

The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said in a press release yesterday that the negotiations were based on high-level agreements under international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention of Marine Law and the Declaration of (East Sea) Conduct (DOC).

The Pacific Ocean is now just a mouse click away. The Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea (VENUS) facility has opened the data portal to its information management and archive system.

The portal—hosted on the new VENUS website at www.venus.uvic.ca—gives scientists and the general public access to a constantly expanding “warehouse” of images, sounds and live data from the ocean floor.

“This is a very important and exciting development providing a unique window for researchers and the public on the world under the sea, about which we have so much still to learn,” said Dr. Martin Taylor, UVic’s vice-president research, at a technical briefing for the news media on June 22.

FEW could have imagined that the tsunami-ravaged shores and beaches of Andaman and Nicobar Islands would ever play hosts to tourists or Campbell and Hut bays will ever function normally.

Had it not been for the Pune-based Central Water and Power Research Station that provided the technological know-how and design for the reconstruction of breakwater barriers (perpendicular concrete walls build to prevent the waves wrecking havoc on the ports) and sea-walls, the earlier barriers and the beaches would have continued the signs of the destruction.

A tiny piece of land in the Black Sea continues to stand in the way of Ukraine and Romania drawing their maritime border, with the resolution of the issue apparently hinging on whether the territory is an island or a rock.

The speck of land in question, Zmiyiny (Snake) Island, is a rocky formation 0.17 square kilometers in area located about 35 kilometers east of the Danube Delta.

While Romania has insisted that the formation is a rock, Ukraine has been wasting no time in trying to prove that it is actually an inhabitable island, enacting a plan last week to create a viable settlement on Zmiyiny.

Ukraine and Romania have been at odds over the issue of Zmiyiny Island since 1998, with the two countries holding 24 rounds of negotiations until 2004, when Romania finally brought the matter before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations at The Hague, Netherlands.

AGAINST the pleas of scientists and environmentalists, Russia is proceeding with plans to drill a giant lake locked under the Antarctic ice sheet, risking pollution in its first exposure to human contact.

Lake Vostok, almost 13,000 square kilometres, has not been exposed to the outside world for hundreds of thousands of years. It is likely to contain unique life forms, and possibly fish.

Russian scientists have already drilled through 3650 metres of ice to come within 130 metres of the lake's surface, far inland in the Australian Antarctic Territory.

Under the Antarctic Treaty, all territorial claims are suspended, enabling Russia to drill in the area claimed by Australia.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 232-187 with 14 Not Voting to approve H.R. 4761 -- the Deep Ocean Energy Resource (DOER) Act -- an important piece of legislation for the budding U.S. ocean energy industry. The approval includes funding of $100 million over five years. While the move by Congress is still a ways away from becoming law, ocean energy representatives see it as a positive move.

Though climate scientists have long debated why atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide vary over lengthy periods in Earth's history, researchers now appear to have found a clue.

In a recent issue of the journal Nature, the team reports that computer modeling has revealed that the waters in the Southern Ocean below 60 degrees south latitude -- the region that hugs the continent of Antarctica -- play a far more significant role than was previously thought in regulating atmospheric carbon.

New evidence from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami is causing civil defense modelers to reassess recommended evacuation zones and the hazards of multiple waves, according to scientific presentations to be given today at a planning conference and released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). These new analyses suggest that the tsunami threat to Hawaii, particularly the south shore of Oahu, and California may be much greater than previously calculated.

One ominous aspect of the new studies is the increased vulnerability of populated coastal areas. Man-made developments along the shore slow the retreat of the flood caused by the first tsunami wave. Later waves then ride over the already-flooded area higher and faster. U.S. Geological Survey scientists have also warned NOAA of the multiple wave pile-up effect, caused by slow drainage of the tsunami because the seaward component of gravity is small in flat areas. The next tsunami wave arrives before the water from the previous waves returns to the ocean.

East Africa: New Agreement Governing High-Seas Fishing in Indian Ocean -- Successful Outcome of Multilateral Talks Hosted By FAO

Following two days of talks at FAO's Rome headquarters last week, six countries (the Comoros, France, Kenya, Mozambique, New Zealand and Seychelles) and the European Community have signed a multilateral agreement on the management of fishing in a vast area of the high seas in the South Indian Ocean.

The South Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA) is aimed at ensuring the long-term conservation and sustainable use of fishery resources other than tuna in areas that fall outside national jurisdictions.

Here's a chance for the public to tell scientists what they can do with red-tide research.

Nationally and internationally known red-tide experts will hold a four-day workshop July 17-20 at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota to discuss the status of red-tide research and look at what direction it needs to take.

Unlike most scientific workshops, this one opens up the ivory tower by allowing the public to fill out an online survey that will help scientists address future red-tide research.

"We want to hear from the public, to know what their biggest concerns are," said Barbara Kirkpatrick, manager of Mote's environmental health program. "We're going to share the results of the survey with the scientists in the opening session so they can hear what the public wants."

China/United States: China, U.S. work together to prevent illegal fishing in north Pacific

Two Chinese fishery law enforcement vessels are working with U.S. coastguards to clamp down on illegal fishing in the north Pacific, the China Fishery Law Enforcement Command announced on Tuesday.

This is the fifth consecutive year China has sent patrols to participate in the joint fishery law enforcement with the United States since 2002.

The "China Yuzheng 118" and "China Yuzheng 201" sailed to the north Pacific on June 24 and met with U.S. coastguard cutter "RUSH" last Sunday.

The two sides have exchanged information and the two Chinese vessels will sail alone, keeping in contact with the U.S. coastguard by satellite.

According to a memorandum of understanding reached between China and the United States in 1993, China has sent fishery law enforcement personnel to join the United States in law enforcement in the North Pacific every year since 1994.

Beginning from 2002, China added one or two vessels to the Sino-U.S. joint campaign against illegal fishing.

If you are still balancing the risks and benefits of eating fish, stop. There is no contest.

Fish, especially fatty fish, is good for you. For most people, experts say, the benefits outweigh any drawbacks related to concerns about toxic matter in fish.

In the latest studies of fish-related health benefits, published Monday in the Archives of Ophthalmology, researchers found that eating fish rich in omega-3s reduced the risk of macular degeneration, the leading cause of age-related blindness. The research confirms similar earlier findings.

Omega-3 fatty acids are found in the highest concentrations in oily fish such as salmon, trout and herring. The most documented benefit of omega-3s is to cardiovascular health.

Argentina/Falkland Islands: Companies with Falklands’ “parallel” interests targeted

The Argentine Executive is waiting for the legal instruments to sanction those companies “illegally” fishing in the South Atlantic and meantime has begun intelligence gathering focusing on those companies with “parallel” interests, which means Argentina and the Falkland Islands, reports the Buenos Aires press.

“Our decision is that companies must decide on which side of the fence they will stand”, said Gerardo Nieto, Argentina’s Fisheries Under Secretary and the most influential man in the industry since he is identified as a “penguin”, which in Argentine politics means he comes from Santa Cruz province and has direct access to the former governor and now president of Argentina Nestor Kirchner.

Several bills are currently under consideration in the Argentine Congress which will sanction and/or ban from all fishing activities in Argentina companies operating with Falkland Islands licences in the South Atlantic.

This has become Argentina’s strategy, accepted by the entire political establishment, to counter the Falkland Islands’ government issuing of long term fishing licences of up to 25 years.

The Oceans Go Robotic: Using Robots in Marine Science for Things Dirty, Dull or Dangerous" will be the topic of a lecture at 7 p.m., Thursday, July 20, at UD's College of Marine and Earth Studies in Lewes.

The lecture is part of UD's Ocean Currents Lecture Series, which is held on the third Thursday of the month, from April through September, at the Hugh R. Sharp Campus.

Arthur C. Trembanis, assistant professor of geology and director of UD's Coastal Sediments Hydrodynamics and Engineering Laboratory, will present the lecture. Trembanis and other UD researchers are exploring the Atlantic Ocean and the region's waterways through the use of a new Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), a highly advanced submersible robot equipped with a variable payload of sophisticated scientific equipment. The 83-inch long, 200-pound robot resembles a torpedo.

AUVs are unmanned, untethered mini-submarines that are capable of being trained to conduct missions in rivers, lakes, estuaries and the open ocean. In recent years, Trembanis said, they have moved quickly from an emerging to an applied technology.

The lecture will be held in 104 Cannon Laboratory at the Hugh R. Sharp Campus, 700 Pilottown Road, Lewes. The hour-long talk will be followed by light refreshments.

While the lecture is free and open to the public, seating is limited and reservations are required. To reserve your seat, please contact the college at (302) 645-4279.

Conservation group WWF has called for an immediate closure of bluefin tuna fisheries in the East Atlantic and Mediterranean, following the publication of a report that showed the level of unsustainable practice in the area. The two-year independent investigation, commissioned by WWF, found that fleets from France, Libya and Turkey regularly exceeded their bluefin tuna quotas and failed to report on their catches. In addition to this, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing has pushed the species to the limits of its survival.

The annual fishing quota of 32,000 tonnes in 2004 was exceeded by over 40%, an amount which was exceeded again in 2005. The British market for bluefin tuna, during the period the study was compiled, was worth more than £8.6m.

"The European Commission risks bearing witness to the collapse of this centuries-old fishery," said Dr Simon Cripps, Director of WWF's Global Marine Programme. "We urge EU Fisheries Commissioner Borg to show leadership and call for an immediate total closure of the fishery, and request that he supports strong management measures at this November's ICCAT meeting that guarantee a future for the fishery."

United States: Florida State University Wins $6.2M Grant to Foretell Future Hurricane Strength

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded a $6.2 million, five-year grant to the Florida State University Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Studies to develop a new tool that could possibly see the strength of future hurricane seasons.

"It's important for people, especially in states like Florida, to know how weak or strong the hurricane season will be," James O'Brien COAPS director emeritus, Robert O. Lawton Professor of Meteorology and Oceanography and state climatologist said. "That's why the government is investing in this. Emergency managers and citizens have to make a lot of decisions regarding preparedness that can been helped if they know it's going to be a particularly bad season."

The new model will use the university's supercomputer to amass atmospheric, ocean, land and climate data to predict the intensity of the hurricane season. Currently NOAA experts and the University of Colorado's William Gray use sea surface temperatures and statistical methods to develop long-range hurricane forecasts, according to O'Brien. The accuracy of these predictions have been mixed.

London - Scientists in Scotland on Tuesday blamed heavy fishing for an "explosion" in jellyfish in the Benguela Current that streams past Namibia in the South Atlantic Ocean.

"Because fish and jellyfish essentially compete for similar food resources, a dramatic decline in fish populations could theoretically contribute to a substantial increase in the abundance of jellyfish," said Andrew Brierley, head of the pelagic ecology research group at the University of Saint Andrews.

"This type of shift has been predicted as a consequence of 'fishing down the food web'."

Jellyfish have been increasing in the Benguela Current off Namibia for some time but a lack of hard data on their numbers has until now hampered understanding of their likely impact on the ecosystem.

Researchers from the University of St Andrews in Scotland carried out an in-depth quantitative analysis after striking changes were reported in numbers of the large jellyfish species Chrysaora hysoscella (Compass jellyfish) and Aequorea forskalea (Medusa).

The storm was nothing special. Its waves rocked the Norwegian Dawn just enough so that bartenders on the cruise ship turned to the usual palliative — free drinks.

Then, off the coast of Georgia, early on Saturday, April 16, 2005, a giant, seven-story wave appeared out of nowhere. It crashed into the bow, sent deck chairs flying, smashed windows, raced as high as the 10th deck, flooded 62 cabins, injured 4 passengers and sowed widespread fear and panic.

“The ship was like a cork in a bathtub,” recalled Celestine Mcelhatton, a passenger who, along with 2,000 others, eventually made it back to Pier 88 on the Hudson River in Manhattan. Some vowed never to sail again.

Enormous waves that sweep the ocean are traditionally called rogue waves, implying that they have a kind of freakish rarity. Over the decades, skeptical oceanographers have doubted their existence and tended to lump them together with sightings of mermaids and sea monsters.

Canada: DFO: Minister Mackay Announces Federal Funding of $5.3 Million for Improvements at 15 Fishing Harbours in Nova Scotia

PORT MORIEN, NOVA SCOTIA--(CCNMatthews - July 11, 2006) - The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Minister responsible for Nova Scotia, today announced on behalf of the Honourable Loyola Hearn, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, that the Government of Canada will provide funding in the amount of $5.3 million for improvements at 15 fishing harbours in Nova Scotia.

"Canada's new government is well aware how vital these harbours are to the people and economy of Nova Scotia," said Minister MacKay. "Investing in the facilities our fishers need is important to their success."

The chemistry of the world's oceans is changing with increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because of the burning of fossil fuels in cars and power plants. A report released recently by the says the change in the air is putting marine life and ecosystems at great risk.

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is predicted to double or triple by the end of the century. Lead author Joan Kleypas with the government-funded National Center for Atmospheric Research says absorption of CO2 by the ocean used to be considered an environmental plus. "Right now the estimates are that the oceans have absorbed about one-third of all the extra CO2 that humans have put into the atmosphere," she says. "So, it is a sponge. It is basically soaking up a lot of the CO2, which is good because it sort of slows down this whole process of greenhouse gas warming."

But the report documents the negative impact that excess CO2 is having on the world's oceans. Kleypas says increased levels of CO2 make the ocean more acidic and put sea organisms in danger. "Particularly those organisms which secrete calcium carbonate shells."

MIAMI -- Kerry Emanuel, a respected professor of atmospheric science, stepped to the podium in a packed conference room at the nation's hurricane research center feeling a little bit like Daniel in the lions' den.

His audience that January day included some of the nation's top hurricane researchers and forecasters, and the vast majority in attendance were not expected to like what Emanuel had to say.

A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Emanuel was there to serve up a theory strongly disputed by many of those involved in the nation's day-to-day hurricane forecasting network: Global warming is causing significant increases in the intensity of hurricanes.

To pick up a newspaper or watch Al Gore's recent foray into documentary filmmaking, you'd think theoreticians of the link between global warming and worsening hurricanes ruled the day and that those opposed to such views were beating a rapid retreat. But the debate is anything but settled. Few scientists doubt that global warming is a fact, but there is, as Emanuel has come to know firsthand, sharp disagreement on its effect on hurricane formation and intensity.

Satellites have been transmitting data for more than 25 years and now U.S. scientists are seeking ways to make such long-term data useful and accessible.

One such data set closely monitors the planet's weather conditions. Sea surface temperatures, wind, air temperature, atmospheric water vapor, cloud water and rainfall rates are all constantly measured, collected and transmitted to an Earth-receiving station.

Scientists need to make this data useful and easy to access. That was the genesis of DISCOVER -- the NASA-supported Distributed Information Services for Climate and Ocean products and Visualizations for Earth Research.

GREENLAND -- The Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation is seeking groups interested in adopting beaches for monthly beach cleanups as part of its Adopt-a-Beach program. The cleanups take one to two hours per month.

Several beaches are in need of monthly cleanups, including a section of Hampton Beach and a section of North Beach in Hampton, and a portion of Foss Beach in Rye.

Cleanups at the main beach in Hampton have been occurring since last summer through a partnership with N.H. Department of Environmental Services' Beach Program, and several clubs and businesses have been conducting cleanups throughout the year.

A petition urging the Government to reduce the annual sealion kill quota in the southern squid fishery has collected more than 4000 signatures in its first month.

The online Save Our Sealions petition wants the number of sealions allowed to drown in fishing nets to be close to zero next year.

Last year Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton increased the 2006 quota by 52 per cent from 97 to 150, despite the risk that raising it would further contribute to the decline of the New Zealand sealion population.

Once common around New Zealand, New Zealand sealions now only breed on a few sub-Antarctic islands and sporadically at Otago Peninsula.

There are fewer than 12,000 animals and annual pup production has reduced by 30 per cent over the last eight years.

Forest and Bird is encouraging the squid fishing industry to adopt the jigging method of fishing, which does not harm sealions and produces better quality frozen squid.

MONTEREY, Calif., July 10 (AScribe Newswire) -- How is the deep sea like a desert island? It sounds like a child's riddle, but it's actually a serious scientific question with implications for both terrestrial and marine biology. Biologists have long observed that when animals colonize and evolve on isolated islands, small animals tend to become larger while large animals tend to become smaller. Recent research led by Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) postdoctoral fellow Craig McClain suggests that a similar trend affects animals as they adapt to life in the deep sea. McClain will present a summary of these findings today at the 11th International Deep-Sea Biology Symposium in Southampton, England. A full article is in press in the peer-reviewed Journal of Biogeography.

Biologists ever since Charles Darwin have noted that when animals colonize an isolated island, after millions of years they may evolve into entirely new species that look very different from the original colonizers. For example, a population of mammoths isolated on the Channel Islands of Southern California developed into a new species that weighed only one tenth as much as their relatives on the mainland. Conversely, on some Caribbean islands, tiny shrews evolved into 30-centimeter-long (1-foot-long) "monsters." As these examples illustrate, small animals on islands often grow larger, while large animals become smaller.

Your new book explores in great detail how the escalating use of fossil fuels is causing global warming. However, you begin your book from a very personal perspective, reflecting on the implications of global warming on your own family and, by extension, the entire human family.

I call the bond between generations the “chain of deepest love.” I have been thinking of that even more since I wrote the book. Ultimately, global warming is a moral problem rather than a purely scientific or economic one. We are enriching ourselves by the use of fossil fuels in ways that degrade and imperil the future of our children, grandchildren and all future generations.

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, a string of islands, reefs, and atolls stretch about 1,400 miles northwest of Kauai, covers an area nearly as big as the entire state of California.

Thanks to a mid-June declaration by President George Bush, these islands are now the largest marine reserve on Earth. They join 14 13 other marine sanctuaries in the United States, officially protected from direct threats like fishing (especially if the current handful commercial fishing permits are bought out by conservationists) and poaching (presuming Congress eventually allocates the money to patrol against it).

Whatever the strategic political reasons for the move might have been (and lets just say there are next to no downsides in the declaration for the allies of an administration not noted for its progressive environmental policies, especially as they move into a tough election season), ecologically this declaration is worthy of a champagne toast. Nearly pristine, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands shelter one of the most biodiverse marine ecosystems in the United States: vast coral reefs, sharks, most of the state's nesting green sea turtles, whales, more than 14 million seabirds, the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, and seven thousand-odd more other species.

United States: Former owner of Arctic Alaska and F/V Aleutian Enterprise accused again of dumping fish waste illegally

Miller, who started Ocean Gold Seafood of Westport and its sister company Ocean Protein of Hoquiam, is under the microscope of government regulators again, for odors coming from the fish meal plant and for dumping fish waste in the ocean.

The Coast Guard's annual authorization act, which sets the allocations, is finally complete, nine months after the beginning of the fiscal year to which it applies. The delay was in recent months due to controversy over the Alaska delegation's effort, ultimately unsuccessful, to add language that would stop a major wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts.

Barbados/Trinidad and Tobago: T&T vs Barbados - Which country won the case, and why?

THE ARBITRAL TRIBUNAL set up to consider the maritime delimitation claim brought by Barbados against the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago has delivered its judgement. It has drawn a single maritime boundary between both countries, and has thereby indicated which maritime areas between these countries may properly be regarded as subject to the sovereign authority of Trinidad and Tobago on the one hand, and Barbados, on the other.

Which country won the case, and why? This question is not readily amenable to a simple answer; but, with that caveat, and bearing in mind that I have been on retainer with the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, it is my considered view that the decision in this particular case is very favourable to Trinidad and Tobago.

But on the remote beaches of northern Mexico, the most endangered of all sea turtles, the Kemp's ridley, is marching back from the brink of extinction.

Based in simple camps and basic corrals, teams of Mexican and American biologists and volunteers patrol miles of remote beaches for nests and then dig up the eggs to protect them from predators and poachers.

Last week marked the peak of hatching season as more than 200,000 hatchlings made their slow crawl to the sea.

As the sun set last Wednesday at Tepehuajes, about 200 miles south of Brownsville, Texas, the freshly hatched sea turtles were taken out of protective crates and placed one by one on the sand. It only takes about 10 minutes for the quickest of the tiny turtles, which can easily fit in the palm of your hand, to trundle a few feet into the Gulf of Mexico.

AFTER spending most of the year chasing Japanese whaling ships in the Southern ocean, the crew of Farley Mowat are taking a long awaited break in Fremantle.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's flagship berthed at Fremantle yesterday where it will spend the next week.

The ship has been actively involved in disrupting Japanese whaling in Antarctic Whale Sanctuary for the past seven months.

Captain Paul Watson, founder of the International Marine Conservation Society, said the ship would return to Melbourne before sailing in December to intercept the fishing fleet.

He said Japan intended to kill 1000 whales in the sanctuary under the guise of science next season, including 50 endangered humpbacks and 50 endangered fin whales.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- The small gray and black rocks stored in 3-foot-long clear plastic tubes at a Texas A&M University lab could be mistaken for the leftovers after a kitchen countertop installation.

But the surprisingly heavy pebbles are much more significant. They're part of the only intact section of oceanic crust ever recovered, pulled from beneath the Pacific Ocean by geologists drilling more than a mile into the sea floor.

Scientists hope this latest effort in the generations-old attempt to get closer to the center of the planet -- achieved as part of the world's biggest earth science program -- can help unlock some of the Earth's longest-held secrets.

"I would say this is just like a voyage of discovery to the planet Mars, except this is inner space rather than outer space," said Neil Banerjee, staff scientist for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program at Texas A&M.

It swims along the surface freely and, from all indications, with few worries. With the ability to reach 60 feet in length, it's a sight to see with its unique, graceful ways.

It's a member of the feared shark family, but the whale shark is out of place compared toe the aggressive bulls, tigers and even hammerheads.

The best way to describe the whale shark is a baby giant considered harmless to humans.

Now, the Gulf Coast Research Lab in Ocean Springs is taking its fascination with the animal a step further with a recent trip far into the Gulf of Mexico.

The purpose of the mission was to attach four satellite tags that could allow biologists to learn more about the whale shark's migrational patterns, swimming depths and preferred water temperatures.

"We just don't know anything about the whale shark," Dr. Eric Hoffmayer of the research lab said. "We've been getting a few reports of the whale shark, from fishermen, around the mouth of the (Mississippi) river. We decided to go check things out."

The fast-sinking feces of an obscure sea creature play a significant role in removing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to a new study.

Salp — transparent, jellylike animals about the size of a human thumb — are filter-feeders that spend their lives vacuuming up phytoplankton from the ocean's surface.

The phytoplankton assimilates carbon dioxide from the air and water as it grows. After salp eat the phytoplankton, they excrete the gas trapped in dense fecal pellets that quickly sink to the ocean floor. There in the deep, the carbon dioxide cannot reenter the atmosphere.

A team led by marine biologists Laurence P. Madin of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Patricia M. Kremer of the University of Connecticut found a "hot spot" off New England where huge swarms of a particular salp species, Salpa aspera, had been observed on four occasions over the last 30 years.

The oceans absorbed approximately 118 billion metric tons of carbon since the early 1800s and the beginning of the Industrial Age. This interaction with carbon dioxide is making the naturally alkaline ocean waters more acidic. The higher levels of acidity lower the concentration of carbonate ion, a building block of calcium carbonate, which many marine organisms use to grow their skeletons and create coral reef structures.

"This is leading to the most dramatic changes in marine chemistry in at least the past 650,000 years," says Richard Feely, one of the authors and an oceanographer at the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Experimental studies have shown that the marine organisms dependent on calcium carbonate grow more slowly as the oceans become more acidic. Consequently, reef structures will become threatened because corals will be unable to build reefs at a pace to keep ahead of natural forces of erosion.

Indonesia: Indonesia's second tsunami disaster shows need for warning system

PANGANDARAN, West Java (AP): Within minutes of the earthquake, regional tsunami centers warned it had the potential to send a deadly wave speeding toward Indonesia. But the country had no way of passing the information onto those in its path until it was too late.

Indonesia was the worst hit by the 2004 tsunami, and Monday's disaster shows how unprepared the sprawling island nation remains in dealing with the threat of tsunami triggered by the awesome seismic forces that lie beneath it.

Most people at this devastated beach resort did not feel the 7.7-magnitude earthquake and few noticed the ocean receding -- a typical phenomenon before a tsunami -- because the tide was already low and the effect was not especially pronounced, local residents and tourists said Tuesday.

UD's Office of Graduate Studies has awarded Rex Malmstrom its 2006 Theodore Wolf Prize for outstanding dissertation in the physical and life sciences. Malmstrom, who earned his doctorate in marine studies in May 2005, received the award for his dissertation, “Contributions of Abundant Bacterial Groups to the Flux of Dissolved Organic Matter in the Ocean.”

The Theodore Wolf Prize is given annually to a UD graduate student who has completed a dissertation in the fields of either agricultural sciences, biological sciences, chemistry and biochemistry, climatology, geology, marine sciences, or physics.

Malmstrom was nominated for the award by Nancy Targett, dean of the College of Marine Studies and director of the Delaware Sea Grant College Program. The winner is selected by a committee of three faculty members in the physical and life sciences.

“I am pleased to hear that my dissertation was so well-received, although I was also surprised that it was honored by a University-wide prize,” Malmstrom said. “I certainly enjoyed doing the research and loved my graduate experience at the College of Marine Studies, so being awarded the Wolf Prize is an incredible bonus. It also is satisfying that research in the field of marine microbial ecology was recognized by the award.”

Malmstrom's research focused on identifying how different types of bacteria in the ocean fit into the food web--the network that shows how all organisms, from the smallest plants to the largest animals, get the food and energy they need to grow and survive. For example, some marine bacteria get their food and energy by consuming organic material that is released into the water by microscopic algae, seaweeds and dead animals.

Scientists in Campbell River are studying how to prevent diseases from being passed between wild and farmed salmon in the ocean.

Dr. Valerie Funk, who has a PhD in Biochemistry, works at the Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences in the lower floor of the Maritime Heritage Centre. She was honoured last month with a $200,000 British Columbia Aquaculture and Environment Innovation award from the BC Innovation Council.

“The whole focus of the award was to look at aquaculture and the environment,” she said.

Funk studies pathogens, which are agents causing disease such as viruses or parasites, and she works on developing vaccines for diseases which may affect salmon. Her research is intended to minimize the interactions between wild and farmed populations of salmon, promoting the health of both.

The new funding will be dispersed over the next five years and Funk will use it to leverage more funding from other sources to build her research program. The money will allow her to expand and apply for other research grants, and possibly hire graduate students from Malasipina University College and the University of Victoria.

A federal rule passed yesterday, attempts to prevent extinction of the endangered right whale by demarking several hundred square miles as critical habitat for them. It is estimated that around 11,000 of these whales were present in the North Pacific sea at one time, the numbers of which have dwindled down to less than hundred now. Keeping this in mind, the law, effective the 7th of August onward, has established a 36,750 square miles area in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska as their habitat.

These whales were hunted for on the 19th century, for their prized oil and baleen. By the 1900s they were so few that an International Protection Act had to be passed in 1935 to ensure their survival. However, some countries like Japan and the Soviet Union did not want to suffer the commercial setback of stopping whale hunting and therefore did not sign the agreement. The diminishing numbers further reduced.

EU/Canada:EU, Canada to jointly patrol North Atlantic to stop illegal fishing

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The European Union and Canada said Thursday they would stage joint inspection patrols to prevent illegal fishing in the Northwest Atlantic, an area that often has been the source of disputes over the behaviour of European fishermen.

The air and sea inspections will start July 20 and help the 13-member Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) enforce fishing quotas and rules in the 322-kilometre zone of the United States, Canada and Greenland.

"This partnership will strengthen the inspection process for Canada and the EU," said Loyola Hearn, Canada's fisheries minister, in a joint statement with EU Maritime Affairs Commissioner Joe Borg.

"By working together, we'll be able to stop more would-be violators of the rules in order to protect fish stocks for the benefit of many."

The Northwest Atlantic has in the past been the scene of disp04 utes between Canada and the EU, notably over the behaviour of Spanish fishermen.

a recent study at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, usa , claims that the combined effect of air pollution (aerosols/particulate matter) and greenhouse gases may induce greater variability in the Indian monsoon — heightening its intensity or weakening it.

Published in the May 15, 2006, issue of the Journal of Climate (Vol 19, No 10), the study conducted by Chul Eddy Chung and V Ramanathan analyses sea-surface temperatures and other data from the Indian Ocean region. Many of the observations used were made during the Indian Ocean Experiment, a us $25-million international effort led by Scripps.

“These remarkable studies are a further demonstration that the earth’s climate, the average day-to-day weather conditions that profoundly affect virtually all sectors of human activities, hangs in delicate balance between natural and man-made forces,” says Jay Fein, programme director in the us -based National Science Foundation’s Division of Atmospheric Sciences.

THE Supreme People's Court said recently that all maritime disputes in the sea near the Yangshan Deep Port will be dealt with by the Shanghai Maritime Court instead of the Ningbo Maritime Court.

The Shanghai Maritime Court set up a court in the Yangshan Deep Port area in March and so far has accepted 22 lawsuits.

The American government is now working towards bringing back two of the most deadly and environmentally-destructive forms of fishing to the U.S. Pacific Coast. Though use of the notorious "curtains of death" known as drift gillnets has been banned on the high seas by the United Nations and restricted in the waters along the entire West Coast, it could be reinstated as soon as August. The revival of drift gillnets and a possible reversal of the ban on deadly longline fishing techniques would put the lives millions of marine animals in currently protected waters at serious risk.

In drift gillnet fishing, fishermen lower gigantic nets approximately one mile in length into the ocean in the evening to catch fish and hoist them up the next morning to retrieve their catch. However, countless other aquatic species -- including sea turtles, whales, dolphins, seals and sharks -- also become entangled in the nearly invisible traps. Some of them, such as marine mammals that need to come up for air and sharks who need to keep swimming in order to breathe through their gills, drown for lack of oxygen. These animals are not commercially valuable and are therefore typically thrown, dead of dying, back into the sea. Many of these species are critically endangered, such as the leatherback sea turtle, which scientists warn could soon become extinct in the Pacific if longlines and gillnets continue to be used.

Australia has signed a three-year research agreement with South Korea to preserve the long-term viability of regional fisheries.

The collaborative research agreement, signed in Hobart on Thursday, joins the Korean National Fisheries Research and Development Unit (NFRDI) and CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (CMAR) in activities including resource management, aquaculture and marine biotechnology.

CMAR chief Greg Ayers said the agreement provided an opportunity to expand and strengthen the two countries' scientific relationship.

"The formalisation of the relationship will bring great benefits for CSIRO as Korea has large tuna fisheries in the Pacific and participates in the same regional fisheries management forums as Australia," he said.

As the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement Conference hosted by the United Nations (UN) opens in Rome today, the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) calls on participating countries to implement a moratorium on all high seas bottom trawling within the region.

The Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement, under negotiation since 2001, will be finalized and opened for signature today. It will establish a multilateral regional fisheries management regime for the Southern Indian Ocean but it will be several years before this can effectively be implemented.

In the interim, the DSCC is asking the signatories to implement a moratorium, or temporary halt, to the fishing practice which has already decimated the deep oceans in the region.

In a move thought to be an attempt to forestall such a temporary prohibition, New Zealand high seas fishing companies have announced a voluntary measure to refrain from deep ocean bottom trawling in a limited number of high seas areas.

While global attention was glued to North Korea's missile test-fire, Korea completed a maritime survey in disputed waters near Dokdo Wednesday. There were quarrels between both Korean and Japanese patrol boats in the East Sea and their diplomatic headquarters by the exchange of statements regretting each other's acts, but fortunately, there were no further clashes. This, however, was just a small diplomatic battle over the rocky islets. Real war has yet to begin.

From the start, Tokyo is not justified in taking issue with the annual survey, which measures sea currents, temperature and salinity. Seoul has also informed related international agencies of this year's research in its own exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and obtained their approval. The logical basis for this survey is the extension of Korea's historical and still-effective control over Dokdo. For the same reason, Japan should obtain Korea's approval to conduct similar surveys in that area.

So, the government is right in both pushing ahead with its own survey while demanding Tokyo obtain its approval for a Japanese survey. In April, Japan abruptly attempted to conduct a similar survey in the disputed region, an apparent endeavor to scuttle Seoul's moves to register some topographical features with Korean names. The vice foreign ministers of the two countries defused the tension by agreeing to cancel their respective plans. Strictly speaking, however, Seoul lost a diplomatic point at that time.

A new advance in probing the chemical make-up of oceans should help determine how much global warming gases they can absorb, researchers say.

They believe the breakthrough may solve one of the biggest questions facing global warming - whether or not the oceans can keep pace with human carbon dioxide (CO2) output.

The breakthrough was made by Australian professor Malcolm McCulloch and his Italian and Spanish colleagues.

Professor McCulloch is deputy director of the Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies (CoERCS) and research leader at the Australian National University's Research School of Earth Sciences.

Two decades ago, when Dr. Richard Feely at the Seattle laboratories of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported his concerns about atmospheric carbon dioxide significantly altering the chemistry of the oceans, his findings were largely ignored.

Wednesday, Feely might have felt vindicated as one of the authors of a major federal report compiled by a blue-ribbon panel of scientists that pretty much said the same thing.

The report, jointly prepared by NOAA, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Geological Survey, is titled "Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers." Although it may sound obtuse and perhaps limited in scope, it appears to represent a significant turning point -- expert consensus that this is a serious problem.

"This is the first time the issue has received this level of attention in the U.S.," Feely said. He said their findings of CO2-driven acidification of the oceans also will be included for the first time in the next report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (a United Nations' panel widely regarded as the leading scientific organization on global warming).

The threat of piracy at sea is growing but the Government "does not even know the scale of the problem", a report from MPs said today.

The Government seemed to be "in the dark" about pirate attacks near Iraq despite British warships being in the area, the report from the House of Commons Transport Committee added.

The Government was not yet "demonstrating a sufficiently robust approach" to the probability of a future maritime terrorist attack", the committee said.

Salps are jellyfish-like creatures no bigger than thumbs. They swarm by the billions in ocean "hot spots."

When it comes to global warming, salps may be the friends you didn't know you had, but they could also be contributing to increased acid present in the ocean.

One swarm, discovered in a stretch of Atlantic Ocean between Cape Hatteras and Cape Cod, covered nearly 39,000 square miles and ate most of the phytoplankton, or tiny algae, growing in the warm waters. The algae had drawn carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in order to grow. The salps later deposited their refuse on the ocean floor as solid carbon waste.

The swarm kept an estimated 4,000 tons per day of carbon from being released back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, said biologist Laurence Madin, of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, one of the salp researchers.

Carbon dioxide produced by burning coal, oil and gas is the chief greenhouse gas trapping heat in the atmosphere that scientists say is contributing to rapid global warming.

The salps are doing their best to clean it up and that may help ease global warming, although scientists haven't confirmed it yet in studies.

SEOUL (Yonhap) - South Korea has become the 21st member of an international organization committed to scientific ocean drilling research, raising hope for the nation to make progress in the oceanic science field, the government said Wednesday.

The United States and Japan - two key members of the Washington-based Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) . granted South Korea membership on Monday, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries said.

The organization explores the Earth’s history and structure as recorded in sea floor sediment and rocks, and monitors the environment under the sea floor.

The membership raises the possibility for South Korea to engage in the IODP’s drilling explorations, which South Korea would otherwise not be able to conduct alone due to the high cost and technological limitations. It costs more than 10 billion won to conduct one drilling operation, the ministry said.

Bluefin tuna stocks in the East Atlantic and the Mediterranean are being stripped bare by illegal fishing, WWF has warned in a report.

Traditional tuna-trap fishermen in the Gibraltar Straits have caught 80% less fish in the last three years compared with the 1990s, the report claims.

It also says that demand for tuna in the UK is being driven by "fast sushi" bars and by supermarket sales.

The fishery is running out of control, fuelled by the unrestricted expansion of tuna farms across the Mediterranean Sea and driven by the high prices paid by traders in Japan and elsewhere.

It’s common knowledge that we are running out of oil. What’s not so well known is that we are also running out of big fish.

The realisation that stocks of big fish – marlin, sharks, swordfish, and tuna – are declining rapidly is beginning to sink in. The UN Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) considers that about 75 per cent of all fish are fully exploited, over-exploited, or depleted.

The crisis can be seen mostly clearly across the Pacific, where catches are shrinking along with the average size of the fish. Today a 70-pound swordfish – too young to have reproduced – is considered ‘a good-sized fish’ and can be legally landed in the United States. Just a few short decades ago swordfish averaged 300-400 pounds and could be caught close to shore with a harpoon.

The emission of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels worldwide is making the oceans more acidic, eroding the calcium in corals and other marine organisms, the way osteoporosis thins human skeletons. New research published today predicts that calcification rates will decrease as much as 60 percent within the 21st century.

The report, "Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers," is authored by a group that includes scientists from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Monaco, New Caldonia, and the United States. It documents that oceans worldwide absorbed about 118 billion metric tons of carbon between 1800 and 1994. This is altering ocean chemistry more than at any time for eons, the scientists say.

"This is leading to the most dramatic changes in marine chemistry in at least the past 650,000 years," says Richard Feely, one of the authors and an oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle.

Oceans are naturally alkaline, and they are expected to remain so, but the interaction with carbon dioxide is making them less alkaline and more acidic.

The increased acidity lowers the concentration of carbonate ion, a building block of the calcium carbonate that many marine organisms use to grow their skeletons and create coral reef structures.

Leopards may not be able to change their spots, but corals can change their skeletons, building them out of different minerals depending on the chemical composition of the seawater around them.

That’s the startling conclusion drawn by a Johns Hopkins University marine geologist, writing in the July issue of the journal Geology.

Postdoctoral fellow Justin Ries and his collaborators say this is the first known case of an animal altering the composition of its skeleton in response to change in its physical environment. The aquatic animal's sensitivity to such changes poses questions about its evolutionary history, as well as the future of the ecologically important coral reefs that it builds, Ries said, especially at a time when seawater is changing in response to global warming and the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

A 2005 Ph.D. graduate of Johns Hopkins, Ries collaborated on the research with his dissertation advisors, Steven M. Stanley (now of the University of Hawaii) and Lawrence A. Hardie, professor in the Morton K. Blaustein Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins.

Reefs are large underwater structures of coral skeletons, made from calcium carbonate secreted by generation after generation of tiny coral polyps over sometimes millions of years of coral growth in the same location. The team showed that corals can switch from using aragonite to another mineral, calcite, in making the calcium carbonate. They make that switch in response to decreases in the ratio of magnesium to calcium in seawater, Ries said. That ratio has changed dramatically over geologic time.

"This is intriguing because, until now, it was generally believed that the skeletal composition of corals was fixed," he said.

Tokyo /South Korea: South Korea enters Japan-claimed economic zone for sea survey

Tokyo - A South Korean survey ship entered a Japan-claimed exclusive economic zone around disputed islets in the Sea of Japan on Wednesday, the Japan Coast Guard said.

The Japanese government expressed regret over the South Korean move, near the islets of Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan, and demanded South Korea immediately stop its sea research.

The survey is 'quite regrettable and we demand an immediate halt' to the survey, Foreign Ministry Press Secretary Yoshinori Katori said in a statement.

Japan may move forward early with its own maritime survey, which had initially been planned for April, Katori said. Japan plans to file a protest on South Korea's sea survey, ministry officials said.

Kaiaua, Firth of Thames, 2 July 2006 -- The continued degradation of our marine and coastal environment and the urgency of climate change were top of the agenda at a summit of 67 of New Zealand's environment and conservation groups this weekend.

The Environment and Conservation Organisations conference resolved to work to urge Government to arrive at solutions on these pressing issues. Delegates at the conference included students from four universities, and a wide range of ages, from 7 to 84.

Climate change is the critical environmental threat to the planet. Scientists say we have just ten years to act to avoid dangerous climate change, and the Conference passed a number of resolutions, urging the government to:

- act immediately to meet Kyoto Protocol commitments, by instituting effective measures to reduce all types of greenhouse gas emissions

- commit to a target of 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and adopt a target of 100% renewable electricity by 2020

- take note of the huge increase in demand for public transport, in response to rising oil prices; this alone is evidence of a workable carbon charge

SAN FRANCISCO – For four generations, Geoff Bettencourt's family has fished the waters off Half Moon Bay by dragging heavy nets across the ocean floor to scoop up the sole and cod that feed there.

But Bettencourt may soon sell his right to trawl the sea – not to another fisherman, but to environmentalists.

The Nature Conservancy announced last week that it had bought six federal trawling permits and four trawling vessels from fishermen in Morro Bay, about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Now the international environmental group best known for buying development rights from farmers is looking to strike similar deals with fisherman up the coast, including Bettencourt.

The tactic, designed to reward fisherman for forgoing fishing methods that can damage sensitive marine ecosystems, reflects the Conservancy's new, cooperative strategy for protecting the ocean. A contrast to earlier environmental campaigns that some fishermen saw as a financial burden, the group's offer has been well-received, according to Bettencourt.

Beijing’s Ties to Sudan, Iran and Aggressive Behavior Toward Japan Worrisome

In the game of energy Monopoly, China isn’t doing half bad. Over the last several years, Beijing has been snatching up oil reserves all over the world to fuel its booming economy. To secure these reserves, the People’s Republic has cozied-up to some of the planet’s most despicable - but energy-rich - regimes such as those in Sudan and Iran. China’s new global presence, along with its growing military reach, has not only displeased, but also worried the international community.

The battle-ready Japan Coast Guard cutter Hateruma has just pulled into port after 10 days at sea protecting the nation's territory from Chinese encroachment.

Its canvas-wrapped deck gun hasn't been fired -- it probably won't -- and the islets it is watching are obscure, guano-encrusted outcroppings.

China and Taiwan also claim ownership, and history, pent-up nationalism, fishing rights and oil and gas make even the smallest speck of land a potential flash point in the seas surrounding Japan.