Stimulus funds will expand coral nurseries

From a news release issued by The Nature Conservancy:

SUGAR LOAF KEY, FLORIDA — June 30, 2009 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced today that The Nature Conservancy and its partners’ staghorn and elkhorn coral recovery project will receive support from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which will fund all or part of 57 positions needed to develop large-scale, in-water coral nurseries and restore reefs along Florida’s southern coast and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Watch video of scientists and volunteer divers cultivate threatened staghorn coral at nurseries offshore as part of a Nature Conservancy project to increase the population of healthy, resilient corals throughout the Caribbean.

The Nature Conservancy will serve as coordinator of the overall project and a range of project partners, including the Coral Restoration Foundation, University of Miami, Nova Southeastern University, Mote Marine Laboratory, Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, and Nautical Farms will conduct most of the hands-on nursery and restoration work. Government natural resource managers from NOAA, the National Park Service, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources and Broward County will be involved in permitting and oversight of the project.

“We are thrilled to be a recipient of economic stimulus funds for this project, which will create jobs and help restore one of Florida’s greatest natural assets,” said James Byrne, The Nature Conservancy’s marine science program manager for Florida and the Caribbean. “To conduct restoration of coral on this scale is unprecedented. Coral reefs are one of the main attractions for tourism in south Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Fish that rely on reefs for habitat feed millions of people worldwide and provide income for thousands of people in Florida and the Virgin Islands.”

The project will expand four existing coral nurseries and establish two new nurseries in waters off the coast of south Florida and two new nurseries in waters surrounding the U.S. Virgin Islands. Over the next three years, the project will grow roughly 12,000 corals in Florida to enhance coral populations at 34 degraded reefs from the Dry Tortugas through Broward County. Nursery and restoration efforts are expected to extend beyond the three-year grant period.

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Swimming With The Sharks: Interview With Vivian Toro, One Of Stuart Cove's Female Shark Feeders

From an article posted on Underwater Times:

NASSAU, That Bahamas -- One of the few things you won’t see on the average person's resume, even dive resume, is 'Shark Feeder.' Yet everyday, one of Stuart Cove's dive staff does just that. Under the watchful eye of Stuart Cove and his senior Shark Adventure program leaders, Marc Taggart and Tohru Yamaguchi, a team of four women and three men (probably the largest shark feeding staff in the world) swim with, carefully feed and control the sharks every day off Nassau. In the coming months, we are going to interview some of our actual feeders and give you, our industry partners and friends, a snapshot into the life of actual shark feeders at Stuart Cove's Dive Bahamas.

Our interview is with Vivian Toro, of Puerto Rico. Vivian, . . . What do you hope your guests will take away from the feeding experience?

"I look at the afternoon (as shark dives are scheduled in the afternoons) as a whole experience. The shark feed takes about 30 minutes in the water, but I strive for making the whole trip experience a day to remember and try to educate our guests about how amazing the sharks really are. Truly these animals are at the top of the food chain in the ocean. However, many people think that our sharks are trained or somehow tame. They are anything but. However, they are also very misunderstood. Even though our guests get a small glimpse of how fierce a shark can be when they bite down on the bait and their teeth extend for a fraction of a moment, sharks need our protection. Once you have been in an “intimate” face-to-face experience, you can appreciate their beauty and the need to protect and preserve these amazing animals. That is what I hope our guests leave with at the end of the experience."

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For threatened sea turtles, one more peril: poachers

From an article by Kate Spinner in the Sarasota (Florida) Herald Tribune:

Poachers robbed the eggs from four loggerhead sea turtle nests near Venice this week, a crime that rarely strikes Florida's west coast but is rampant in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

On a Venice beach, a volunteer in Mote Marine Labratory's Sea Turtle Patrol examines a turtle nest that had been robbed of its eggs on June 6. Poachers have taken eggs from four loggerhead sea turtle nests on Sarasota County beaches in the past week.

Roughly 300 to 500 eggs may have been removed from the nests on Venice Beach and Casey Key. Volunteers from Mote Marine Laboratory who patrol the beach daily to mark new sea turtle nests spotted the poached clutches and alerted state wildlife officials, as well as Venice police and the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.

Officials would not say whether they had any leads in the case or whether they suspected more than one person, nor would they release details about their investigation.

But scientists suspect an experienced poacher. The number of nests raided suggests someone aiming to make a quick buck on the black market, said an official experienced with poachers on the east coast.

Whoever robbed the Sarasota County nests knew what he or she was doing, said Keri Nelson, a county environmental specialist, and Haley Rutger, spokeswoman for Mote Marine Laboratory.

There is only a short window in which the eggs are edible, which is why staked nests are rarely targeted.

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Mexico still searching for lost island

From an Associated Press article by Mark Stevenson published in the San Diego Union-Tribune:

MEXICO CITY — Mexico vowed to keep looking for a mysterious island that could extend its offshore oil claims after university researchers said they couldn't find it.

"The island doesn't exist" in the area where it was shown on maps, a National Autonomous University of Mexico study concluded after conducting studies with underwater sensing devices and aerial reconnaissance in the area.

"Isla Bermeja" appeared on maps from the 1700s as a speck of land off the northwest coast of the Yucatan peninsula. A group of Mexican legislators hoped the island would help their decade-long effort to fend off what they describe as U.S. encroachment on their nation's oil claims in the Gulf of Mexico.

Bermeja had been shown lying farther off Mexico's coast than other, confirmed islets, possibly extending the nation's claim by about 55 nautical miles into an area in the middle of the Gulf that lies between U.S. and Mexican territorial waters, said Elias Cardenas, the head of Mexico's congressional Maritime Committee.

That area, which lies beyond both countries' 200-mile territorial limits, is believed to hold rich oil deposits under the sea floor.

Cardenas said he hopes to explore other spots where the island might lie, and plans to ask for more funding for oceanographic studies to help solve the mystery.

"There are four other possible sites where it might have been," Cardenas said, referring to versions the island might have sunk or been submerged.

He said the matter was urgent because the two countries are expected to formalize an agreement on drilling rights in the area soon. "Right now, the big fight is for oil," he said.

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TV chef under fire over turtle recipe

From an article posted on Dutch News:

Television chef Herman den Blijker has come under fire from the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WFN) for featuring a recipe involving sea turtles in a tv cooking competition, the Telegraaf reports.

During the show couples had to cook a dish using green sea turtles which had been bred in captivity on the Cayman Islands.

The turtles are a protected species and the WFN says it is inappropriate to suggest it is ok to eat the them, even if they are farmed.

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Coral reefs face increasing difficulties recovering from storm damage

From an article posted on Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (June 22, 2009) — As global warming whips up more powerful and frequent hurricanes and storms, the world’s coral reefs face increased disruption to their ability to breed and recover from damage.

That’s one of the findings from a new scientific study of the fate of corals in the wake of large climate-driven bleaching and storm events.

“We have found clear evidence that coral recruitment – the regrowth of young corals – drops sharply in the wake of a major bleaching event or a hurricane,” says lead author Dr Jennie Mallela of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and Australian National University.

Using the island of Tobago in the Caribbean as their laboratory she and colleague Professor James Crabbe of the University of Bedfordshire, UK, backtracked to 1980 to see what had happened to the corals in the wake of nine hurricanes, tropical storms and bleaching events.

“In every case there was a sharp drop in coral recruitment following the event – often by as much as two thirds to three quarters. Not only were fewer new coral colonies formed, but also far fewer of the major reef building coral species recruited successfully.”

“This finding mirrors our modelling studies on the fringing reefs of Jamaica, and on the Meso-American Barrier reef off the coast of Belize”, says Prof. Crabbe.

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Fellowship Announcement for Coral Reef Ecosystem Research ISRS Fellowships (2009)

International Society for Reef Studies (ISRS) Graduate Fellowship for Coral Reef Ecosystem Research

The International for Reef Studies (ISRS) is pleased to announce funding to support up to two Graduate Fellowships for Coral Reef Ecosystem Research in 2009. The ISRS Fellowships will provide up to US$6,000 to be used for salary, travel, fieldwork, or laboratory analyses, which contribute directly to the recipients’ PhD research. Applications are due Friday, July 10th.

1) Background and Fellowship Goals
Coral reef ecosystems around the world continue to be threatened by direct anthropogenic stresses and climate change. Scientists and reef managers are increasingly working together to develop sound management strategies that are based on rigorous science. There remain however, many unanswered questions about reef disturbances and reef resilience, climate change and adaptation, reef connectivity, marine protected areas, fishery impacts, and effective management practices. Many coral reefs are in poor condition, yet we do not fully understand the threats that are undermining their integrity or their interactions. What processes and mechanisms are causing differential mortality and how are some species still able to survive and indeed be successful in times of stress. Studies are needed that will combine management with process-level information. Research supported by the 2009 ISRS Fellowships should increase our understanding of processes on coral reefs that are relevant to management at local, regional, or global scales.

Conditions
A condition of each ISRS Fellowship is that recipients will report back to the ISRS on their research progress, outline their findings, and also publicize the research outcomes with appropriate acknowledgment for the support provided by ISRS. Reports are to be submitted to the recording secretary (Dr Morgan Pratchett: morgan.pratchett@jcu.edu.au) as requested and within 12 months of receipt of the award.

Who can apply?
The Fellowship is available to students worldwide, who are already admitted to a doctoral program at an accredited university. The intent of the fellowship is to help Ph.D. students develop skills and address problems related to relevant applications of coral reef ecosystem research and management. The Fellowship can be used to support salary, travel, fieldwork, or laboratory analyses.

Complete details.

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Oceans fast becoming a garbage dump

From an article by Marina Litvinsky on Inter Press Service:

WASHINGTON, Jun 8 (IPS) - The growing problem of marine litter is harming oceans and beaches worldwide and authorities must act now to reverse and prevent further environmental degradation, said a report released Monday, World Oceans Day.

The new report "Marine Litter: A Global Challenge" is a result of a collaboration between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Ocean Conservancy. It is the first-ever attempt to take stock of the marine litter situation in 12 major regional seas.

The 12 regional seas included in the report are: Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, East Asian Seas, East African Seas, Mediterranean, Northeast Atlantic, Northwest Pacific, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, South Asian Seas, South Pacific, and Wider Caribbean.

"This is a major problem that is getting worse, not better," said Amy Fraenkel, director of UNEP’s Regional Office for North America, at a press conference announcing the report.

The report’s findings indicate that despite several international, regional, and national efforts to reverse marine pollution, alarming quantities of garbage thrown out to sea continue to endanger people’s safety and health, entrap wildlife, damage nautical equipment and deface coastal areas around the world.

"The ocean is our life support system – it provides much of the oxygen we breathe, the food we eat and climate we need to survive – yet trash continues to threaten its health," said Vikki Spruill, president and CEO of Ocean Conservancy. "The bottom line is our ocean is sick and its human activities that have made it so."

Land-based activities are the largest source of marine litter. In Australia, surveys near cities indicate up to 80 percent of marine litter originating from land-based sources, with sea-based sources in the lead in more remote areas.

Land-based sources include wastes from dumpsites located on the coast of banks of rivers; rivers and floodwaters; industrial outfalls; discharge from storm water drains; untreated municipal sewerage; littering of beaches and coastal picnic and recreation areas; tourism and recreational use of the coasts; fishing industry activities; ship-breaking yards; and natural storm-related events.

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Belize's World Heritage reef in danger

From a story on Newsbelize.com:

In March, we told you about a UNESCO team visiting Belize to investigate dredging and cutting down of mangroves inside a World Heritage Site at the Pelican Caye range in southern Belize. We also showed you UNESCO Programme Specialist Marc Patry’s visit to Fisherman’s Caye – a mangrove overwash that had been dredged and filled, ostensibly as a part of a resort development project.

Well, the UNESCO team has completed its report and as could have been expected the findings aren’t good for Belize. The report – send to Belize’s UNESCO Ambassador on May 27th. concludes that Belize’s World Heritage Sites are poorly protected. The report says, quote, “there is no clear recognition and understanding of the management implications for a world heritage property.”

And nowhere is that clearer than when making a visit to the lands office which shows that between 2004 and 2008, 79 grants and 58 leases were given in the South Water Caye Marine Reserve. Add this to mangrove cutting, tourism growth in areas such as Half Moon Caye, and construction in areas after the World Heritage declaration, and you’ve got a very bleak picture. After enumerating myriad threats and features of non-compliance, the report inevitably concludes that, quote, “the property is faced with specific and proven imminent danger, and should be considered for immediate inscription on the list of World Heritage in Danger.”

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'Crazy Turtle Woman' transforms graveyard into maternity ward

From a story on CNN:

MATURA, Trinidad (CNN) -- With its white sand and clear, blue water, Trinidad's Matura Beach looks like a postcard. It's a far cry from its recent past, when leatherback sea turtle carcasses littered the ground and kept tourists away.

Suzan Lakhan Baptiste's efforts have turned a beach from a leatherback turtle graveyard to a nesting colony.

"Twenty years ago, this was a graveyard," Suzan Lakhan Baptiste said of the six-mile stretch of beach near her home.

"The stench was horrendous. You could smell it for miles," she said.

Saddened and frustrated, Baptiste launched a crusade to help end the slaughter of the gentle giants. Today, she and her group are succeeding: What was once a turtle graveyard is now a maternity ward -- one of the largest leatherback nesting colonies in the world.

It hasn't been an easy fight for Baptiste or the turtles.

For 100 million years, the creatures have traveled the world's oceans, outliving the dinosaurs. Over the last 30 years, they have become critically endangered worldwide because of fishing, pollution and hunting.

For centuries, they've been hunted throughout the Caribbean for their meat and fins, and also for their eggs, which some people prize as aphrodisiacs.

"Turtles are in serious trouble," Baptiste said.

"Leatherbacks [are] very vulnerable," Baptiste said. "They cannot pull their head and flippers back into the shell. They have no sense of defense to actually protect themselves."

By the 1980s, nearly one in three turtles that nested on Matura Beach were killed. When the government asked for volunteers to help protect the endangered creatures, Baptiste and several others answered the call. In 1990, they started Nature Seekers, one of Trinidad's first environmental groups.

'Crazy Turtle Woman'
For years, Baptiste and her group patrolled the beaches every night of turtle nesting season. She often walked alone until sunrise.

Locals mocked her efforts, calling her the "Turtle Police" or "Crazy Turtle Woman," yet her dedication to the unpaid work was fierce; when it conflicted with her day job, she quit and found a new job.

Leatherbacks were a vital source of income for some members of her village, and the poachers who prowled the beaches with machetes could be threatening. When Baptiste's then-husband was injured during a patrol, she became more determined to stand her ground.

"I was very vigilant," she said, adding that at times, she even got into physical fights.

But Baptiste persisted, and a prestigious award from the United Nations Environment Program helped validate her efforts. She and her group also worked hard to convince the villagers that using the turtles for eco-tourism could create a more sustainable income.

Read more...

Mexico yet to cross clean energy threshold

From an article by Emilio Godoy on Tierramérica:

MEXICO CITY, Jun 8 (Tierramérica).- Despite its great potential for energy from the sun, wind and water, Mexico has not taken advantage of the Clean Development Mechanism laid out in the Kyoto Protocol climate change agreement.

Mexico, responsible for 1.5 percent of the world's climate changing emissions, was chosen by the United Nations as the host for the main celebrations of World Environment Day, June 5.

The most recent available official data on greenhouse gas emissions, from 2002, indicate that this country released 643 million tons of carbon dioxide per year: 61 percent from the generation and consumption of energy, 22 percent from industry and 14 percent from deforestation.

Electricity, which is produced primarily in plants run on fossil fuels, contributes some 114 million tons of carbon emissions annually in Mexico.

Based on that tally, Mexico could make better use of CDM projects to develop wind, solar and geothermal sources, energy efficiency and fossil fuel substitution, which would allow the country to cut its emissions by some 130 million tons, according to the Mexican Carbon Fund (FOMECAR).

Mexico registered 115 CDM projects, but just 10 percent are being executed. By May, 5.7 million carbon emissions reduction certificates had been issued.

The objective of CDM is that the industrialized nations will invest in projects to reduce emissions in developing countries as a way to offset emissions in their own countries.

In this way, the countries of the North obtain credits in their favor, as if they had reduced their greenhouse emissions.

But "the CDM is in a transition phase, it's been exhausted. In Mexico's case, the number of projects and quantity of credits issued have been somewhat disappointing," Gabriel Quadri, former director of the government's National Ecology Institute and director of the company Ecosecurities, told Tierramérica.

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Flatter, rubble-strewn Caribbean reefs raise risks, reduce fish

Healthy stretches of staghorn coral (Acropora Palmata), once a major
builder of coral reef, rarely covers the Caribbean Sea floor today.

From a Reuters article posted on Caribbean Net News:

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Climate change has contributed to a flattening of the complex, multi-layered architecture of Caribbean coral reefs, compromising their role as a nursery for fish stocks and a buffer against tropical storms, a study shows.

The analysis of 500 surveys of 200 reefs, conducted between 1969 and 2008, showed the most complex types of reef had been virtually wiped out across the entire Caribbean.

Such reefs -- typified by Table Corals of over 1 meter across and huge antler-shaped Staghorn Corals -- act as a sanctuary for local fish stocks and a hunting ground for larger, commercially fished species.

Many have been replaced with the flattest types of rubble-strewn reef, which now cover about three quarters of the Caribbean's reef area, up from about a fifth in the 1970s, said the study, published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

The biggest impact has occurred in the last decade, said the report by researchers from Britain's University of East Anglia and Canada's Simon Fraser University.

"Lack of ... refuges for species with commercial importance, such as lobsters and large fishes may compromise the long-term sustainability of fisheries and fishing communities," the report said.

Flatter reefs are also less effective in protecting coastal homes and villages from storm swells and tidal surges.

"The importance of this is going to increase," said Lorenzo Alvarez of the University of East Anglia, who led the study. "Many scientists think there will be more hurricanes in the future."

Photo by Wolcott Henry.

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Mexico ecological park to set record for turtle hatchings

From the Marine Turtle Newsletter:

Xcaret, Mexico’s biggest private ecological park, will set a record this year by releasing 2,000 baby turtles that hatched in the park as part of a successful program of breeding program.

Located south of Cancun on the Mexican Caribbean, Xcaret began in 1993 its so-called Initiation Program, which consists of maintaining for 15 months two nesting sites for turtles in captivity, who are then released into the sea after receiving special care and feeding by a team of veterinarians.

Xcaret Park regularly sets free turtles that are 30 centimeters (1 foot) long and therefore have a greater chance of surviving the predators lying in wait for them. The turtles are released with tourists looking on.

“One of the program’s main goals is to raise people’s awareness about the plight of marine turtles in Mexico,” said Ana Cecilia Negrete, coordinator of operations and preventive medicine for marine turtles in Xcaret.

The principal dangers to Mexico’s turtles include the invasion of beaches by people, sport fishing, the depredation of their nests by some communities that still eat their flesh and eggs, and injuries to some of them by outboard motors on boats.

Xcarethas also undertaken since 2003 the treatment and cure of those found injured or stranded. Veterinarians at the park have achieved a recovery rate of 98.4 percent for the turtles they receive.

In addition, Xcaret protects Xcacel Beach to the south of the Maya Riviera, the main nesting ground for the country’s green sea turtles. At that location, from May to October up to 6,000 turtle nests can be found, of which Xcaret takes two for its installations. Source:

The article originally appeared in the Latin American Herald Tribune, 4 April 2009.

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Help turtles and participate in an ecotourism adventure

An article by D.T. Regula from the Examiner:

If you love seeing sea turtles, the special turtle-friendly tours offered by SeeTurtles.org may be just the thing for you. They offer trips in Baja California Sur, Costa Rica, and Trinidad and Tobago, both independently and in conjunction with Earthwatch, an organization which began offering ecotourism volunteer opportunities before "ecotourism" was a word.

Teens are invited to join a special "Teen Team" in Trinidad to protect the local nesting grounds of the Leatherback Sea Turtle. While the new hatchling at right is just a few inches long and a few ounces in weight, when adult, these turtles may be 6feet or longer and weigh up to 2000 pounds.

For the more serious eco-tourists, SeeTurtles.org can also coordinate other volunteer opportunities where fit and willing participants will be trained in turtle conservation and can lend a hand on actual turtle rescue and protection assignments. Be warned though - these are actual jobs that must be done, not just busy work for volunteers. Few things will stop the turtle team from making their appointed rounds. Participation fees run about what you would pay for an exotic adventure, but the altruistic bragging rights you gain are, as they say, priceless.

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World's oceans need rescue from human carelessness

Trash lines the docks near the U.S. Navy Museum. Photo credit: Devin Harvey/Marine Photobank

From an article posted on the Environmental News Service:

NEW YORK, New York, June 8, 2009 (ENS) - Human activities are taking a "terrible toll" on the world's oceans and seas, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned today in a message marking the first United Nations World Oceans Day.

"Vulnerable marine ecosystems, such as corals, and important fisheries are being damaged by over-exploitation, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, destructive fishing practices, invasive alien species and marine pollution, especially from land-based sources," said Ban.

Increased ocean temperatures, sea-level rise and ocean acidification caused by climate change pose further threats to marine life, coastal and island communities and national economies, he said.

Read more...

World Oceans Day brings warnings from Council on Plastic Pollution

A news release issued by the Plastic Pollution Council:

June 8, 2009, San Francisco, California

Following a presentation to Google employees by Captain Charles Moore, an oceanographer who pioneered the study of plastic debris, the Strategic Council on Plastic Pollution convened at the Google Campus in Mountain View, California on June 4, 2009. It was the first meeting for the council on plastic pollution, which was recently formed to raise awareness of this rising threat to the world's oceans.

Said council member and marine biologist Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, “We are finding plastic in the stomachs of sea turtles, birds, and fish all over the world. I find this extremely disturbing." In honor of World Oceans Day, the council has issued the following statement regarding this increasingly urgent threat to wildlife and human health:

"Do you know where our plastic goes?

Did you know that our oceans are filling up with plastic pollution?

Plastic fragments contaminate even the most remote locations on earth, and harmful chemicals leached by plastics are present in the bloodstream and tissues of almost every one of us.

Plastic pollution harms people, animals, and the environment. Plastic is not biodegradable. In the marine environment, plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller particles that absorb toxic chemicals, are ingested by wildlife, and enter the food chain that we depend on.

Consumption of throwaway plastics, such as bottles, containers, bags, and packaging, has spiraled out of control.

Recycling is not a sustainable solution. The reality is that most of our plastic waste is landfilled, downcycled or exported to other countries. And tragically, millions of tons of plastic are poisoning our oceans.

Businesses and governments need to take responsibility for new ways to design, recover and dispose of plastics.

Plastic pollution is the visible symbol of our global crisis of over-consumption. Let's pledge to shift our societies away from the disposable habits that poison our oceans and land, eliminate our consumption of throwaway plastics, and begin embracing a culture of sustainability.

Our health, our children, and the survival of future generations depend on us."

Press contact: (English & español) Manuel Maqueda, manuelmaqueda@gmail.com
+(415)839-7777 (GMT -8 h)

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Public-private-NGO conservation alliance invests $100 million in Mexico, including

From an article posted on Environmental News Service:

QUINTANA ROO, Mexico, June 4, 2009 – To establish Mexico as a global model for conservation, a new alliance today announced an initial investment of US$100 million for the promotion of sustainable development and protection of biodiversity in six priority regions.

The global conservation group WWF, along with the foundation established by telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim, and the Mexican federal government, launched the initiative to support conservation in areas of exceptional natural richness.

"Mexico is home to 10 percent of the Earth's species and this wealth of diversity is important not only for Mexico's ecosystems, but for the people here who depend on these resources for their social, economic and physical well-being," said WWF President and CEO Carter Roberts.

"This is the largest private financial commitment from an individual ever made in support of conservation and sustainable development in Mexico," said Omar Vidal, director of WWF-Mexico.

"This alliance between the private sector, NGOs and government is exactly the kind of partnership that WWF sees as the model for transforming the way we conserve our special places and balance the needs of people and nature around the world," Vidal said.

The work of the alliance will include efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change, develop comprehensive water management policies, strengthen civil society, develop innovative financial mechanisms, and invest in local sustainable economies.

The six regions are:
The Gulf of California
The Mesoamerican Reef
The Chihuahuan Desert
Oaxaca State
The Monarch Butterfly Reserve
Chiapas State

Read more...

Adopt a seahorse for dad

From Oceana:

Male seahorses and other male members of the Syngnathidae fish family are known among ocean enthusiasts as fathers who literally go the extra mile - they incubate the eggs, produced by their female mates, and then give birth. Oceana would like to honor all the great Dads out there who go the extra mile for their families by offering a special limited edition Seahorse adoption kit for Father's Day. . . .

Adopt a seahorse and receive a special seahorse cookie cutter plus a personalized adoption certificate, sugar cookie recipe and complimentary gift wrapping. Your donation will help protect these amazing creatures, whose natural habitat is threatened by destructive trawling and ocean acidification.

Adoption package includes:
•Seahorse cookie cutter (tin, 4.25")
•Personalized adoption certificate (wood frame, 4" x 6")
•Original sugar cookie recipe, provided by CakeLove (4" x 6")
•Free shipping through June 11

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'Crazy Turtle Woman' transforms graveyard into maternity ward

From an article on CNN.com:

MATURA, Trinidad (CNN) -- With its white sand and clear, blue water, Trinidad's Matura Beach looks like a postcard. It's a far cry from its recent past, when leatherback sea turtle carcasses littered the ground and kept tourists away.

Suzan Lakhan Baptiste's efforts have turned a beach from a leatherback turtle graveyard to a nesting colony.

1 of 2 "Twenty years ago, this was a graveyard," Suzan Lakhan Baptiste said of the six-mile stretch of beach near her home.

"The stench was horrendous. You could smell it for miles," she said.

Saddened and frustrated, Baptiste launched a crusade to help end the slaughter of the gentle giants. Today, she and her group are succeeding: What was once a turtle graveyard is now a maternity ward -- one of the largest leatherback nesting colonies in the world.

It hasn't been an easy fight for Baptiste or the turtles.

For 100 million years, the creatures have traveled the world's oceans, outliving the dinosaurs. Over the last 30 years, they have become critically endangered worldwide because of fishing, pollution and hunting.

For centuries, they've been hunted throughout the Caribbean for their meat and fins, and also for their eggs, which some people prize as aphrodisiacs.

"Turtles are in serious trouble," Baptiste said.

Every year, female leatherbacks make their way onto the beach, laying their eggs deep in the sand. It is a long, complicated ritual during which the enormous, slow-moving animals are easy prey for poachers.

"Leatherbacks [are] very vulnerable," Baptiste said. "They cannot pull their head and flippers back into the shell. They have no sense of defense to actually protect themselves."

By the 1980s, nearly one in three turtles that nested on Matura Beach were killed. When the government asked for volunteers to help protect the endangered creatures, Baptiste and several others answered the call. In 1990, they started Nature Seekers, one of Trinidad's first environmental groups.

'Crazy Turtle Woman'
For years, Baptiste and her group patrolled the beaches every night of turtle nesting season. She often walked alone until sunrise.

Locals mocked her efforts, calling her the "Turtle Police" or "Crazy Turtle Woman," yet her dedication to the unpaid work was fierce; when it conflicted with her day job, she quit and found a new job.

Leatherbacks were a vital source of income for some members of her village, and the poachers who prowled the beaches with machetes could be threatening. When Baptiste's then-husband was injured during a patrol, she became more determined to stand her ground.

"I was very vigilant," she said, adding that at times, she even got into physical fights.

But Baptiste persisted, and a prestigious award from the United Nations Environment Program helped validate her efforts. She and her group also worked hard to convince the villagers that using the turtles for eco-tourism could create a more sustainable income.

"I wanted to show that a turtle is [worth] so much more to us alive than dead," Baptiste said.

Read more...

Graduate Fellowship for Coral Reef Ecosystem Research

International Society for Reef Studies (ISRS) Graduate Fellowship for Coral Reef Ecosystem Research

The International for Reef Studies (ISRS) is pleased to announce funding to support up to two Graduate Fellowships for Coral Reef Ecosystem Research in 2009. The ISRS Fellowships will provide up to US$6,000 to be used for salary, travel, fieldwork, or laboratory analyses, which contribute directly to the recipients’ PhD research. Applications are due Friday, July 10th.

1) Background and Fellowship Goals
Coral reef ecosystems around the world continue to be threatened by direct anthropogenic stresses and climate change. Scientists and reef managers are increasingly working together to develop sound management strategies that are based on rigorous science. There remain however, many unanswered questions about reef disturbances and reef resilience, climate change and adaptation, reef connectivity, marine protected areas, fishery impacts, and effective management practices. Many coral reefs are in poor condition, yet we do not fully understand the threats that are undermining their integrity or their interactions. What processes and mechanisms are causing differential mortality and how are some species still able to survive and indeed be successful in times of stress. Studies are needed that will combine management with process-level information. Research supported by the 2009 ISRS Fellowships should increase our understanding of processes on coral reefs that are relevant to management at local, regional, or global scales.

Conditions
A condition of each ISRS Fellowship is that recipients will report back to the ISRS on their research progress, outline their findings, and also publicize the research outcomes with appropriate acknowledgment for the support provided by ISRS. Reports are to be submitted to the recording secretary (Dr Morgan Pratchett: morgan.pratchett@jcu.edu.au) as requested and within 12 months of receipt of the award.

Who can apply?
The Fellowship is available to students worldwide, who are already admitted to a doctoral program at an accredited university. The intent of the fellowship is to help Ph.D. students develop skills and address problems related to relevant applications of coral reef ecosystem research and management. The Fellowship can be used to support salary, travel, fieldwork, or laboratory analyses.

Application materials
A five page proposal as a pdf document, using 12-point font, double-spaced, in English, is required from prospective fellowship candidates: proposals that do not meet these criteria may not be considered. The proposal should include the following sections:
1. Applicant’s details: The first page of the application should provide the Proposal Title, Author’s Name, Author’s Address, Major Professor’s Name, Major Professor's Address (if different than the Author's), and total amount requested.
2. Overview: The overview places the proposed research in context. We are looking for a clearly stated rationale, research objectives, a clear question that is driving the research, and the relevance of the study within the context of the literature.
3. Methods: The methods section includes hypotheses, methods, and experimental design, including details on field or laboratory techniques and how data will be analyzed.
4. Relevance & implications of research: This section will briefly outline expected outcomes, how the work is relevant to host country management and science issues and the implications of the research within a broader context. This section also includes evidence of host country coordination (e.g., identification of individuals or programs that will benefit from your results). Please also advise how the research outcomes are to be publicized.

The following three sections are also required but do not count against the five page limit:
5. Detailed Budget: The budget must not exceed $6,000. Evidence of cost-sharing is desirable for the application. Cost sharing might include, for example, additional funding, accommodation, the loan of equipment, or access to analytical facilities. Please outline all current sources of funding to be used to support the proposed project.
6. Literature Cited: Use the bibliographic format for the Society’s journal, Coral Reefs.
7. Applicant CV: 2 pages maximum, outlining publications, existing and previous funding, as well as relevant research experience.

Letter of support: The student's major professor must submit a support letter for the project based on his/her knowledge of the project, and familiarity with the student's background and abilities. If work will be conducted at another university, a support letter is required from the sponsoring Professor.

Submitting your application
ALL APPLICATION MATERIALS MUST BE SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY as follows:
a) All materials must be sent to Dr. Morgan Pratchett at: morgan.pratchett@jcu.edu.au
b) The completed proposal (items 1 – 7 above) must be combined into a single document and emailed as an attachment in pdf format. Please enter the subject line and your pdf file as in the following example: Smith proposal_ISRS09.pdf
c) The letter of support must come directly from the major professor as an e-mail attachment (pdf format). Please enter the subject line and pdf as: Smith support_ISRS09.pdf

Applications will be considered complete only when both the application and supporting letter have been received. You should ensure that your professors are aware of the deadline, and can get their letters submitted in a timely manner. Only completed electronic applications will be reviewed by the ISRS review panel.

EVALUATION CRITERIA INCLUDE: scientific merit, feasibility, support letter from major professor, and relevance to the Fellowship guidelines and ISRS objectives.

DEADLINE – All applications must be received by July 10th 2009, with awards to be announced in August 2009.

ISRS Mission Statement
The mission of the International Society for Reef Studies (ISRS) is to promote for the benefit of the public, the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge and understanding concerning coral reefs, both living and fossil.

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