An article printed today stated that this time of year sees the Japanese whaling fleet of 6 ships setting of to carry out ‘scientific testing’ on 1000 whales in The Southern Ocean. This method of ‘testing’ involves harpooning the whale, measuring and whaling the dead whale and finally delivering it to market, sliced, diced, boxed and frozen ready to be sold.

In 1986 the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling and in 1994 The Southern Ocean was declared a Whale Sanctury. However a loophole in this legislation means that every year the Fisheries Agency of Japan (FAJ) sends their whaling fleets into the protected areas. The IWC however, states that they do not need the data produced by the FAJ ‘research’. The FAJ claims, “according to Japanese cultural values whales are viewed as a food source.” When the Japanes Asahi newspaper took an opinion poll in 2000 they reported that only 4% of the Japanese population regularly eat whale meat whereas 53% haven’t eaten it since childhood and a further 33% have never eaten the meat. These results to not provide a very convincing case for the death of 1000 whales a year.

Today Fiji’s Great Sea Reef launches the 1st in a network of 5 Marine Protected Areas (MPA), that, when completed will form one of the worlds largest underwater sanctuaries. Areas of these MPA’s will be known as ‘tabu’ zones where no fishing or harvesting of marine resources can take place.

Fiji’s Great Sea Reef is the 3rd longest barrier reef in the world. It has not been well studied, so the extent of its diversity is yet to be discovered. WWF conducted a 12 day survey, after which they reported there to be “a staggering array of life.” This survey also noted that there were significant threats to the Great Sea Reef from over-fishing and poaching by illegal fishers, poison fishing, sand dredging and other activities associated with a developing coastline.

Yesterday the Conservation Leadership Award was presented to Fiji’s government and the Fiji Locally Managed Marine Areas (FLMMA) network members to acknowledge the conservation effort and commitment to establishing the MPA network covering 30% of the country’s waters by 2020.

This is an encouraging development that could raise the profile of marine conservation.

Blue Ventures’ first foray into short diving holidays went without a hitch last week. The group of 12 enjoyed a weeks diving in the ecologically rich Red Sea off the coast of Dahab, also sampling the local cuisine and chilled out atmosphere. We visited some world famous dive sites, including the Blue Hole (yes, it is really that good!) and Canyons as well the little known but beautiful Gabr El Bint. Evenings were spent exploring the small town, and being romanced by the local Bedouin!

Wearing our responsible tourist hats, everyone was encouraged to think carefully about the effect of the tourism industry on the area and share their thoughts in informal discussion. It was disappointing to see the amount of rubbish in the desert and on the beaches, but discussions with local dive centres revealed that steps were being made to clean up the area. We were also informed that Egyptian authorities respond far better to opinions from outside Egypt, so BV has sent it’s impressions to the Egyptian tourist board.

Photos from the trip will soon be up on the web at this link to let those who were on the trip reminisce and to make those not on the trip jealous! We’d like to thank our dive guides at Poseidon Divers (Farmer and Vicky) and all the staff at the Coral Coast Hotel. It was great to see everyone on the trip, new and old friends alike, and we hope to see you again soon! For those who couldn’t make it, there’s always next time, just keep checking out our website!

This is a message we received from Jon Galton, a student from Cambridge University who carried out research on Andavadoaka’s artisanal fishery for his undergraduate research dissertation. After finishing his studies, Jon was traveling in inland Madagascar, some 500 miles from Andavadoaka, when he sent us the following note:

“I was wandering around a dried fish market in Fianarantsoa, generally minding my own business (and showing off my knowledge of Malagasy fish names!), when one of the fish-seller guys with a familiar face said to me “Salut camarade! Andavadoaka?” and I said “Oui!”. It transpired we’d met on one of my pirogue monitoring jaunts, when he’d come down to collect fish. I fired a list of names at him, and we remembered that he’d collected from Ngezy (one of the fishermen that helped with my study) and he waved at pile of varilava (herrings) that he’d collected from him. As Ngezy and I worked together regularly on fish monitoring studies, I think there was a strong chance that I’d measured those same varilava a few weeks back on the beach! “

The Ocean Conservancy released a scientific report showing that even the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are not immune from the dangers of overfishing. The report — based on government data — reveals that some key fish populations in the area are in a steady decline due to fishing pressure.

Fewer than a dozen commercial fishing boats currently make the long journey to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands’ waters. But, as our report illustrates, the ecosystem cannot remain healthy if any commercial fishing continues in the region.

On Tuesday, Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher of NOAA rejected an effort to allow ecologically damaging fishing in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. By doing so, he has helped to preserve the natural character of this truly magnificent, globally important ecological treasure.

Show your support and sign the petition petition thanking Admiral
Lautenbacher and asking for full protection of the Northwestern Hawaiian
Islands by clicking here

Yesterday BBC Radio 4 broadcast a radio-documentary about mining in Madagascar in their show Crossing Continents. We had mixed opinions about this show as you can see by checking their website and looking for comments by Richard Nimmo. If you missed this, then you can listen again by clicking here.