Showing posts with label marine life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marine life. Show all posts

Saturday 8 April 2017

"If someone asks you, what's so bad about shark nets? Remember this picture"


Note:

In Australia the Loggerhead Turtle is officially listed as a nationally endangered species.

Thursday 6 April 2017

Japan's government sanctioned whale killers returned to home port in March 2017



ABS-CBN, 31 March 2017:

TOKYO - Japan's whaling fleet returned on Friday from its months-long Antarctic hunt in the name of scientific research with a take of more than 300 minke whales, a hunt that prompted complaints from Australia.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 2014 that Japan should halt Antarctic whaling and Japan suspended its hunt for one season to re-tool its whaling programme, including measures such as cutting the number of whales and species targeted.

It resumed hunting in the 2015-2016 season.

The final ships of the five-vessel whaling fleet returned to the southwestern port of Shimonoseki, having achieved their goal of 333 minke whales, the Fisheries Agency said…..

Japan intends to take nearly 4,000 whales over the next 12 years as part of its research program and has repeatedly said its ultimate goal is the resumption of commercial whaling.

Shimonoseki, a major whaling port, is in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's electoral district.

Japan, which has long maintained that most whale species are not endangered and that eating whale is part of its culture, began what it calls "scientific whaling" in 1987, a year after an international whaling moratorium took effect.

The meat ends up on store shelves, even though most Japanese no longer eat it.

Japan has shrugged off repeated international protests, including those from key ally the United States. In January, Australia said it was "deeply disappointed" that Japan had continued its hunt, just days after Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had discussed it with Abe.

Anyone wishing to politely make their views on Japanese whaling in the South Ocean/Antarctica known to the Government of Japan can do so with these contact details:

PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
1-6-1 Nagata-cho
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8968 JAPAN
Tel: +81-3-5253-2111
E-mail form: https://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/forms/comment_ssl.html
Website: http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.html
Public Relations Fax: +81-3-3581-3883

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Minister for Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida
Foreign Affairs online comment page:

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry And Fisheries Hiroshi Moriyama
1-2-1 Ksumigaseki
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8907 JAPAN
Tel:+81-3-3502-8111
Fax: +81-3-3502-0794
E-mail form: https://www.contact.maff.go.jp/maff/form/114e.html
Website: http://www.maff.go.jp/e/index.html

EMBASSY OF JAPAN IN AUSTRALIA

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Australia Sumio Kusaka
Embassy of Japan in Australia
112 Empire Circuit, Yarralumla
Canberra A.C.T.2600
 Australia.
Tel:(61-2)6273-3244
Fax:(61-2)6273-1848
http://www.au.emb-japan.go.jp/

Anyone wishing to shop ethically might like to consider avoiding goods/products from:

Nippon Meat Packers Australia (NMPA) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Meat Packers, Inc., a Japanese publicly listed company and a leader in the Japanese fresh meat, ham, sausage, and processed foods industries. Brands are: OAKEY ANGUS RESERVE, OAKEY RESERVE, CPB GRAIN FED, BORTHWICKS AUSTRALIA PREMIUM BEEF, WINGHAM BEEF EXPORTS, WINGHAM RESERVE, OAKEY ABATTOIR'S "BLUE" BRAND, OAKEY ABATTOIR'S, "OLIVE" BRAND, WINGHAM GOLD.

Lion Nathan National Foods a wholly owned subsidiary of Kirin Holdings Company Limited, a Japanese corporation specialising in beer, wine and dairy products. Brands are: XXXX GOLD, TOOHEYS NEW, JAMES BOAG’S PREMIUM, WITHER HILLS CHARDONNAY, ST HALLETT FAITH SHIRAZ, DAIRY FARMERS, YOPLAIT, COON, BERRI, DARE, FARMERS UNION, PURA, BIB M, MOOVE, TASMANIAN HERITAGE, KING ISLAND DAIRY.
 
Schweppes Australia a wholly owned subsidiary of Asahi Group Holdings Ltd of Japan. Brands: SCHWEPPES BRAND SOFT DRINKS & MIXERS, SOLO, SPRING VALLEY, COTTEE'S CORDIALS, COOL RIDGE SPRING WATER, EXTRA JUICY, POP TOPS, GLO, FRANTELLE, PEPSI, MOUNTAIN DEW (under licence), GATORADE (under licence).

Independent Distillers a subsidiary owned by Asahi Group Holdings of Japan. Brands: ASAHAI BEER, WOODSTOCK BOURBON, WOODSTOCK BOURBON & COLA, PULSE, HIGHLAND SCOTCH WHISKY, RED BEER, CS COWBOY, VODKA MUDSHAKE, VODKA CRUISER, CRUISER BLACK, CRUISER FREE, CRUISER APPARELLA, LADY LUCK, EVERGLADES, TWISTEE SHOTS, HUMMINGBIRD BLONDE LAGER,KINGKISHER BEER, BALTIKA BEER, HAAGEN PREMUIM MALT.

Friday 17 February 2017

North Coast marine species protection record of NSW Coalition Government a very sad affair in 2017


One dead Great White Shark and 30 dead in non-target/ innocuous marine species. The NSW Coalition Government has a worse by-catch kill rate than many super trawlers.

Report period: 8 Jan 2017 – 7 Feb 2017

Over 8 Jan – 7 Feb 2017 nets were deployed on 27–31 days at five beaches and each checked 28-39 times (Table 1). The contractors are required to check the mesh nets twice a day, but if the weather or bar conditions prevent safe access, then fewer checks are made.

Table 1: The number of days that mesh nets were deployed at each beach, and the number of times each mesh net was checked over 8 Jan - 7 Feb 2017.
Beach
Number of days net deployed
Number of time net checked
Seven Mile, Lennox Head
27
28
Sharpes, Ballina
27
28
Shelly, Ballina
27
29
Lighthouse, Ballina
27
29
Main, Evans Head
31
39

During the second month, 72 individuals across 11 species were caught in the mesh nets

56% were released
44% were deceased and had tissue samples retained for analyses (Table 2).
of the three target shark species (White, Tiger and Bull Sharks), one White Shark was caught in the mesh nets at Sharpes Beach; the animal was deceased and retained for analysis.

      Table 2: The numbers of each species caught in the mesh nets that were alive and released, or dead at each beach.
Beach
Species
Number alive
Number dead
Seven Mile, Lennox Head
Cownose ray
1
0

Loggerhead turtle
1
0

Manta ray
0
1

Whitespotted guitar fish
1
0
Sharpes, Ballina
Cownose ray
1
0

Great hammerhead shark
0
2

White shark
0
1

Green turtle
0
1

Manta ray
2
3
Shelly, Ballina
Bottlenose dolphin
0
1

Cownose ray
3
2

Great hammerhead shark
0
1

Manta ray
0
1

Spotted eagle ray
3
0
Lighthouse, Ballina
Cownose ray
3
2

Great hammerhead shark
0
4

Ocellated eagle ray
1
0

Spotted eagle ray
1
0
Main, Evans Head
Cownose ray
17
7

Great hammerhead shark
0
3

Loggerhead turtle
0
1

Manta ray
0
1

Ocellated eagle ray
1
1

Spinner shark
1
0

Spotted eagle ray
4
0
Total

40
32

Wednesday 18 January 2017

Lessons That The NSW Government Never Learns: these marine deaths were entirely predictable and avoidable


Green Sea Turtle

ABC News
, 17 January 2017:

The latest report on the New South Wales shark netting program revealed 133 target sharks [27 found dead] were caught along with 615 non-target marine animals off beaches between Wollongong and Newcastle.
Almost half of the animals caught perished in the netting.
The report revealed 90 threatened or protected species were caught in the nets during the 2015-16 season.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 January 2017:

The Shark Meshing (Bather Protection) Program Annual Performance Report, covering 51 beaches off Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, says there were 748 "marine life interactions" with the nets during the period.
This is significantly higher than the 189 recorded during the 2014-15 season.

Echo NetDaily, 17 January 2017:

A Bottlenose Dolphin and a Green Sea Turtle were among 12 animals killed by newly installed shark nets along the north coast in the first month of their operation.
Of the 43 animals caught in the nets, just one white shark and a bull shark were caught, with the bull shark among 12 animals that died.
The net at Lennox Head killed a Australian Cownose Ray, a Longtail Tuna, two Hammerhead Sharks and a Bottlenose Dolphin.
No deaths were recorded at Sharpes and Shelley beaches in Ballina, although Lighthouse Beach accounted for two dead Hammerhead sharks, an Australian Cownose Ray and a Bull Shark.
At Evans Head the net killed two Australian Cownose Rays and a Green Turtle.
The North Coast Shark Net Trial report covers the period 8 December 2016 to 7 January 2017

NSW Dept. of Primary Industries, NSW North Coast Shark Meshing Trial Report: 8 Dec2016 – 7 Jan 2017

Wednesday 21 December 2016

CCRAP and the Adani Group


Adani Mining Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of India's largest coal trader the Adani Group, intends to dig an enormous hole in the ground costing over $16 billion and the odd billion or two it can extract from gullible federal and state governments in Australia.

This hole known as the Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project will comprise six open-cut pits and five underground mines; supported by five mine infrastructure areas, a coal handling and processing plant, a heavy industrial area, water-supply infrastructure, 189-kilometres of rail line (Adani has applied for a $1 billion loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund to build the rail link), as well as off-site infrastructure including a workers' accommodation village and airport.

All of this running roughly parallel with the Great Barrier Reef and the Abbott Point port required to ship all this coal overseas at considerable risk to fresh water security, coral sustainability and marine biodiversity.


To facilitate its aim of environmental vandalism for corporate profit the Adani Group has registered the following companies which are all currently operating out of an office tower in Eagle Street, Brisbane:

Abbot Point Operations Pty Ltd
Adani Abbot Point Company Pty Ltd
Adani Abbot Point Holding Trust
Adani Abbot Point Terminal Holdings Pty Ltd
Adani Abbot Point Terminal Pty Ltd
Adani Australia Coal Terminal Finance Company Pty Ltd
Adani Australia Coal Terminal Holdings Pty Ltd
Adani Australia Coal Terminal Pty Ltd
Adani Australia Company Pty Ltd
Adani Australia Holding Trust
Adani Minerals Pty Ltd
Adani Mining Pty Ltd
Carmichael Rail Finance Company Pty Ltd
Carmichael Rail Holdings Pty Ltd
Carmichael Rail Network Holdings Pty Ltd
Carmichael Rail Network Holdings Trust
Carmichael Rail Network Pty Ltd
Carmichael Rail Network Trust
Carmichael Rail Pty Ltd
Carmichael Rail Pty Ltd
Galilee Transmission Holdings Pty Ltd
Galilee Transmission Holdings Trust
Galilee Transmission Pty Ltd
Mundra Port Holding Trust
Mundra Port Holdings Pty Ltd
Mundra Port Pty Ltd

Juice Media put this mocking video together to let the Adani family and the world know what many people in this country think of this mining scheme.

Thanks to Simon Chance for this link

Published on Dec 4, 2016
The Australian Government just released this advert about the proposed Carmichael Coal Mine and it's surprisingly honest and informative. 

6 WAYS YOU CAN HELP STOP CCRAP:

1. Tell PM Malcolm Turnbull you don't want your tax dollars to be used to subsidise CCRAP: https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/gr...
2. Join GetUp!'s Fight for the Reef: https://fightforthereef.getup.org.au
3. Donate to the Wangan & Jagalingou defense fund: http://wanganjagalingou.com.au/donate
4. Follow the Wangan & Jagalingou on Facebook to keep up to date with the campaign to stop CCRAP on their lands: https://www.facebook.com/WanganandJag...
5. Find out more about the Wangain & Jagalingou traditional owners: http://wanganjagalingou.com.au
6. Share this video.
CREDITS: Written & created by Giordano. Performed by Matylda. Voice by Lucy. Thanks to Adso, Kajute, Miriam, Anthony, Adam, Benna, Damian, Dave and Dbot for helping out! Photos and Footage of Wangan & Jagalingou people used with permission from Wangan & Jagalingou Traditional Owners Family Council.  Please SUPPORT the Juice Media to help us make more videos: https://www.patreon.com/TheJuiceMedia

BACKGROUND

Financial Review, 6 December 2016:

Challenges:

Finance – There is a reason the Galilee Basin has been left undeveloped for the past 50 years. For a start, it's close to 500 kilometres from ports on the coast, meaning whoever is going to build the project has to outlay billions of dollars to get the project built. And the quality of the coal is not as good as others in the closer Bowen and Surat Basin.
India's Adani Group also has to find $10 billion to finance the project. There are also questions raised about whether the project is economically viable after a plunge in the coal price following the end of the coal boom. But even though the price of thermal coal has recovered to above $100 a tonne in recent months, it is less relevant because Adani is using the coal for its own power stations rather than selling to other customers. The Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis director Tim Buckley – a vocal critic of the project – says Adani's parent company is struggling with current market capitalisation of equity at $US1.1 billion, against which it has net debts of $US2.4 billion.

Environmentalists – Adani's Carmichael project has become the lightning rod for anti-fossil fuel activists and environmentalists who want to stop the building of any new coal mines in Australia. It also fits into the narrative about Australia's changing energy mix – from one dominated by coal and gas to renewable energy such as wind and solar. Environmentalists claim the extra coal exports will damage the World Heritage-protected Great Barrier Reef, although it has received environmental approval from both state and federal governments. As the Turnbull government releases its 2017 climate review this week, the argument over the Adani mega-mine also ties in with the debate about whether Australia,- which has one of the largest emissions per capita,- should be building another large coal mine that will release more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Well-funded and media-savvy environmental groups have also been very effective in targeting banks about lending to the Carmichael mine. Some banks, under pressure to make sure they look like good corporate citizens, have promised not to lend to any future coal mines.

Legal activism – One of the reasons the project has been progressing at a snail's place the past seven years is because environmental and Indigenous groups have used the legal system to their advantage and challenged virtually every aspect of the project. The mining lease, environmental authority, and native title have been challenged by a range of parties, including the Australian Conservation Foundation, little-known group Coast & Country as well as Indigenous group, the Wangan and Jagalingou. They have successfully held up the project, resulting in the former Abbott government threatening to change the laws to make it harder to challenge big mining projects.

Last month, two legal challenges were thrown out of court, leaving three appeals – two before the full bench of the Federal Court over the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act and native title, and there is also a judicial review of Adani's port expansion at Abbot Point which has been brought by local residents in the Whitsundays – before the project can be given the green light.

Scandal  – The Adani Group has been plagued by allegations of corruption surrounding its projects in India. Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani is one of India's richest men, whose personal wealth was valued at $7.1 billion in 2014 by Forbes magazine. There have been allegations of environmental vandalism in relation to the development of the Port of Mundra, which is owned by Adani, as well as claims of tax evasion. Adani's Australian chief executive Jeyakumar Janakaraj has also been dragged into the scandal by failing to disclose his history running a mining company in Africa that pleaded guilty to serious economic harm. So far, none of these allegations have failed to bring down any of Adani's executives, but it adds to the controversy over the project.

UPDATE

ABC News, 21 December 2016:

Giant Indian conglomerate Adani, which plans to build one of the world's largest coal mines in Queensland's Galilee Basin, has set up a complex network of companies and trusts in Australia which are owned in one of the world's major tax havens, the Cayman Islands.

The Adani Group is also attempting to shift ownership of the existing Abbot Point coal port — which it bought for $1.8 billion — to a Singaporean company ultimately owned in the Cayman Islands.

An exhaustive search of company filings and documents across the globe has cast light on this opaque structure of ownership and control.

It has alarmed environmental activists and legal experts, who fear it could make it harder to gain compensation from Adani in the event of an environmental disaster from Adani's planned mine and port expansion on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef.

"I've been a businessman for most of my life, as well as an environmental activist, and the risks are great," said Geoff Cousins, former Optus CEO and chairman of the George Paterson advertising agency, now a board member of the Australian Conservation Foundation.

"With these kinds of approvals of big mining operations or port operations, you always get a set of conditions that the Government puts on.
"But those conditions aren't worth anything if, when something goes wrong, you try to find the company responsible and either it has no money or if it has money it's in a tax haven and you can't reach it."

It is a view echoed by David Chaikin, a professor of business law at the University of Sydney.
"The advantage of having the money in tax havens is that you are able to conceal the source of money, the use of money, and also to minimise tax," he said…..

Adani has created four companies and two trusts in Australia for the rail project.

The parent company for all these entities is Carmichael Rail and Port Singapore Holdings Pte Ltd, a company registered in Singapore where the corporate tax rate is 15 per cent.

This Singapore parent company is in turn owned by Atulya Resources Limited, a private company controlled by the Adani family and based in the Cayman Islands.

The port expansion has a similar structure: five companies and two trusts in Australia, ultimately controlled by Atulya Resources in the Cayman Islands……

Adani has created four companies and two trusts in Australia for the rail project.

The parent company for all these entities is Carmichael Rail and Port Singapore Holdings Pte Ltd, a company registered in Singapore where the corporate tax rate is 15 per cent.

This Singapore parent company is in turn owned by Atulya Resources Limited, a private company controlled by the Adani family and based in the Cayman Islands.

The port expansion has a similar structure: five companies and two trusts in Australia, ultimately controlled by Atulya Resources in the Cayman Islands.

The port expansion has a similar structure: five companies and two trusts in Australia, ultimately controlled by Atulya Resources in the Cayman Islands.

The vast expansion of the coal port planned by Adani has sparked enormous controversy.

It will involve dredging 1.1 million tonnes of spoil from the ocean near the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and poses a potential danger to the environmentally-sensitive reef, which is listed on the World Heritage Register.

Critics say the company structure set up by Adani raises serious concerns about the value of strict environmental approvals placed on the project.

Ownership of the existing Abbot Point Coal Terminal is in limbo.

Adani bought a 99-year lease over the coal port in 2011 for $1.8 billion through a company listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (AZPEZ).

That company said it "sold" the port three years ago to a Singaporean-based Adani family company "subject to regulatory and lenders approvals".

But the sale has not been completed, because of objections by the State Bank of India, which lent Adani $US800 million ($1.1 billion) for the port purchase.

In its latest filings with the Australian corporate watchdog, Adani still lists the port as being owned by the Bombay-listed company.

But ASPEZ's 2016 annual report said it had "recorded the divestment" of the port to Abbot Point Port Holdings Pte Ltd, Singapore: an entity which lists as its sole director Vinod Shantilal Adani, the brother of Guatam Adani, head of the Adani Group, and which is ultimately owned by Atulya Resources in the Cayman Islands.

Transferring ownership of the critical port infrastructure to a Caymans Islands' company "means it will be unregulated, unaccountable," Tim Buckley, director of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analytics told the ABC.

"It will be non-transparent to the Australian Government as to what is going on, who owns it, who are the directors. To me it is a matter of national security."

Companies and trusts created by Adani for the proposed Carmichael mine are ultimately owned by Adani Enterprises, a publicly-listed company in India, but the control flows via a company registered in the tax haven of Mauritius, Adani Global Ltd.

Adani Global Ltd. is based at Suite 501 St James Court, St Denis Street in Port Louis, Mauritius, and since 1998 has operated as a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Limited which was incorporated in March 1993 as Adani Exports Ltd with the name change effected in 2007.

In October 2010 Adani's Australian subsidiary, Adani Mining Pty Ltd, made an application for approval of the Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project.

On 14 October 2015 the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment granted approval of 'controlled action' subject to conditions following re-consideration of project under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

In 2014 Adani and Posco had agreed to build rail line in Australia and the following year Adani signed an MoU with Australia's Woodside Energy for Energy Cooperation.

Adani media release, 25 November 2016:

Adani welcomes court decisions Adani Group today welcomed decisions by the Queensland Supreme Court to dismiss activist lead appeals against the granting of a Mining Lease and an Environmental Authority in relation to the company’s planned $21 billion coal project. The company said the decisions were further positive steps towards starting work in the September Quarter 2017 on the Carmichael Mine in central western Queensland and associated projects – a near-400km rail line and port expansion at Abbott Point. Adani said it would now examine the full decision documents and make no further comment.

Adani letter to the Indian stock exchange, excerpt, 8 December 2016:


Live Mint, 21 December 2016:

Adani Enterprises Ltd is aiming to start production at its $16 billion integrated mining project in Australia by end of 2020, after facing a four-year delay because of stiff resistance from environmental groups. 

In an interview, group chairman Gautam Adani brushed aside concerns about the group’s indebtedness and said it was looking at investment opportunities in sectors such as defence, coal conversions and water. He added that the group continues to explore opportunities in the mining sector as it looks at an integrated “pit-to-plug” strategy encompassing mines, rail and the port sector. 

The Carmichael mines in Galilee, Australia, will produce about 25 million tonnes of coal a year in fiscal 2021. The group has invested close to $4.5 billion in the first phase, Adani said. It is planning to use the coal to fuel its Mundra and Udupi power plants. 

Adani also said he sees the ports business—one of the group’s most successful ventures so far—to meet its target of setting up 200 million tonnes of cargo handling capacity by the end of 2018, two years before schedule.