last decade for leatherbacks - Malaysia

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Last decade for leatherbacks

 

LEATHERBACK sea turtles, the one-tonne giants that once swam with the

dinosaurs, could be driven to extinction within 10 years, scientists warned the

American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting at Denver, the

United States, recently.

 

Researchers have found that numbers of leatherbacks are falling by 20% a year

in some parts of the world because of industrial fishing and destroyed nesting

sites. The number of nesting females had fallen by more than 95% over the last

22 years, making them the most endangered sea turtles.

 

" They could become extinct in the next 10 to 20 years unless sufficient

international co-operation is mounted to reverse this dramatic decline, " said Dr

Larry Crowder of Duke University, North Carolina. " There are probably fewer than

1,500 females nesting throughout the Pacific Rim. "

 

The research shows that there are just 900 nesting females left in Indonesia,

45 in Mexico, 55 in Costa Rica and two in Malaysia. Numbers have fallen by 20%

each year in Mexico for nearly a decade and the Malaysian and Costa Rican

leatherbacks could be extinct within three years. - © Telegraph Group Ltd,

London

 

Palace invaders

 

JAPANESE workers have drained a moat around the imperial palace in Tokyo so

that they can capture marauding foreign fish that are eating native species. The

Ushigafuchi moat has been lowered to a depth of 0.6m and Environment Ministry

staff will start catching the American black bass and bluegills that have taken

over the water.

 

A survey three years ago showed that the two American breeds now make up 99%

of fish in the moat, underlining fears that Japan's native fish were being wiped

out in the very place that most symbolises the country. Worse, one of the fish

that has become prey for the black bass is the goby, a species that Emperor

Akihito, a noted ichthyologist, has been studying for decades.

 

The imperial palace moats have been home to 17 native species of fish for

hundreds of years. But the fast-breeding and aggressive foreign fish have taken

over eight of the palace's 13 moats. If the operation at Ushigafuchi is

successful, it is expected to be repeated elsewhere in the grounds.

 

Black bass are believed to have been introduced to Japan by an American

businessman in 1925. It is rumoured that the emperor himself may have been

responsible for the introduction of bluegill in 1960. The bluegill began to

appear in the country's lakes soon after the then Crown Prince Akihito returned

from a trip to America with some given to him by Richard Daley, who was then

mayor of Chicago.

 

Previous efforts to remove the American fish from the palace moats using nets

have been hampered by rubbish in the water - it seems that even the imperial

waters contain the ubiquitous discarded bicycle. - © Telegraph Group Ltd, London

 

Low fish stock

 

FRESHWATER fish stocks have declined by up to 90% in many of the world's

largest rivers, experts say at the recent Symposium on the Management of Large

Rivers for Fisheries in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

 

The Yangtse River in China, Volga River in Russia, Niger River in West Africa,

Plata River in South America and the Murray and Darling Rivers in Australia are

among the rivers showing a decline in fish stocks.

 

Two-fifths of the world's fish are freshwater species. Of these, 20% are

threatened, endangered or have become extinct in recent decades.

 

The World Wide Fund for Nature say at the symposium that dams are one

contributing factor to the decline in freshwater ecosystems and in fish stocks.

Dams have been built on many of the rivers showing depleted fish stocks, and can

harm fisheries by reducing critical flood levels and disturbing flooding cycles

needed for fish reproduction, as well as by blocking migration passages.

 

Other contributing factors are pollution, overfishing, and general degradation

of river basin ecosystems through deforestation and inappropriate use of water.

- WWF

 

 

Fatal flight

 

HUNDREDS of rare tropical lizards, snakes, and frogs froze to death in a

bungled shipment from Madagascar to Swiss zoos and pet shops on Feb 6, zoo

officials said last week.

 

Zurich's zoo officials said 600 animals perished during the flight from the

Indian Ocean island to Zurich via Paris. Some 1,200 more - mostly centipedes -

survived the voyage, but some were in poor shape.

 

" The shipment was not handled correctly, " the zoo said in a statement. " The

temperature in the transport containers was only 13°C. Inquiries have shown that

the shipment was not always transported at the minimum requirement of 20°C and

was temporarily stored in Paris. " - Reuters