Sarasota Bay Estuary Program To Present a Blue Dolphin Award This Saturday
The Bradenton Times BRADENTON — The Sarasota Bay Estuary Program (SBEP) will present a Blue Dolphin Award on Saturday, May 2 during a Bay Guardian volunteer event at Robinson Preserve in Manatee County. The unique award acknowledges local champions of ... |
WPBF West Palm Beach |
Corps to resume Lake Okeechobee releases to St. Lucie Estuary Monday
WPBF West Palm Beach The Corps of Engineers will increase flows from Lake Okeechobee to Caloosahatchee on Friday, and plans to resume releases to the St. Lucie Estuary on Monday as part of its effort to manage water levels. Toxic blue-green algae bloom growing in Lake ... Algal bloom confirmed near Port Mayacanewszap.com all 5 news articles » |
Clacton and Frinton Gazette |
Different views of estuary at Beecroft in Southend
Clacton and Frinton Gazette Southend's Beecroft Art Gallery, in Victoria Avenue, is hosting a number of exhibits as part of an overall exhibition in homage to the river, until June 27. Alan Hockett's Drawing from Light is a collection of the pinhole photographic images he took ... JIM WORSDALE: Let's salute the Medway QueenMaldon and Burnham Standard all 413 news articles » |
Swartkops Estuary fish could poison
News24 “We have to understand that everything ends up in the Swartkops Estuary. We have three treatment works that are in desperate need of upgrades and all the metro can do at this time, because there is no funding, is patch here and there. For example, the ... and more » |
Harwich and Manningtree Standard |
Different views of estuary at Beecroft in Southend
Echo Southend's Beecroft Art Gallery, in Victoria Avenue, is hosting a number of exhibits as part of an overall exhibition in homage to the river, until June 27. Alan Hockett's Drawing from Light is a collection of the pinhole photographic images he took ... Football-mad youngster devastated after housing association gardeners dump ...Clacton and Frinton Gazette JIM WORSDALE: Let's salute the Medway QueenMaldon and Burnham Standard all 339 news articles » |
Mangrove survey
Fiji Times A SURVEY conducted by the University of the South Pacific's Institute of Applied Sciences along Navilitilevu Bay in Ra found the number of mangrove stands to be relatively lower when compared with the mangrove population along the Rewa delta. Institute ... |
Trade Arabia |
Eastern Mangroves nominated for top award
Trade Arabia Abdellatif Erraji, Eastern Mangroves Suites mayor, said: “We are honoured to be given the opportunity to be nominated for the World Luxury Hotels Awards the second time. This confirms our commitment towards fine luxury and hospitality, my team at ... Eastern Mangroves Nominated For the second time for World Luxury Hotel ...Zawya (registration) all 3 news articles » |
Youth campers try to save Pupua mangroves
Philippine Information Agency CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar, April 29 (PIA) - Members of the Youth for the Environment in Schools Organization (YES-O) in Catbalogan applied the theory learned in their summer camp as they ventured into the muddy and swampy waters of Barangay Pupua ... |
The Guardian |
Accent on common ground as Miliband takes on Russell Brand's estuary twang
The Guardian So for linguistic psychologists, it's no surprise to see Miliband swap his bland north London speech for an estuary twang during his interview with Russell Brand, complete with street-style hand gestures. “Yeah, we gotta deal with that. You gotta do it ... and more » |
Expansive Interpretation of Alien Tort Statute Endangers U.S. Businesses, Sea Shepherd Argues
The United States Supreme Court
Photo courtesy Wikimedia CommonsSea Shepherd Conservation Society, a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) non-profit marine conservation organization, filed a petition yesterday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appellate decision holding it in contempt of court based on the activities of foreign groups that opposed illegal Japanese whale hunts. (The petition is available at: Petition for Writ of Certiorari).
“Any business that operates internationally should be alarmed by the ruling at issue here,” said Claire Davis, a partner with Lane Powell, the law firm representing Sea Shepherd at the Supreme Court. “This case isn’t specific to whaling, but instead raises fundamental questions about how aggressively U.S. courts can interfere in the foreign affairs of U.S. businesses.”
Sea Shepherd seeks review of a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, finding that it violated an injunction to remain at least 500 yards away from Japanese whaling vessels in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary near Antarctica. The Ninth Circuit asserted jurisdiction over Sea Shepherd through the Alien Tort Statute, a federal statute intended to allow foreign citizens to bring actions in U.S. courts for violations of a small number of universally recognized international laws, usually understood to include acts such as genocide and torture.
“The Alien Tort Statute is meant to apply in a very narrow set of circumstances, which do not include environmental activism,” said Davis. “This decision authorizes U.S. courts to invent new international law and apply it to the activity of all U.S. businesses abroad. It sets a welcome mat in front of the U.S. courts for any plaintiffs’ lawyer or foreign actor wishing to attack a U.S. business, based on grudges arising anywhere across the globe.”
The legal dispute arises from Japan’s long-running violation of the International Whaling Commission’s (IWC’s) ban on commercial whaling. Since the 1980s, Japan has granted Scientific Research Permits for Japanese organizations to kill more than 1,000 whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary each year, including humpback whales and endangered fin whales. Last year, the International Court of Justice declared Japan’s research rationale to be a sham, and said that its whale hunts are in violation of international law. Sea Shepherd’s campaign to stop Japanese whale hunts has been documented in the Emmy-nominated Animal Planet series “Whale Wars.”
Japanese whaling has been the subject of consistent condemnation by the U.S., foreign governments, IWC, and scores of environmental groups. When Japan first began violating the moratorium against whaling, President Ronald Reagan responded by ordering the Secretary of State to suspend Japan’s fishing privileges in U.S. waters.
Sea Shepherd’s petition takes exception to two rulings by the Ninth Circuit—its issuance of the original injunction, through which it accuses Sea Shepherd of piracy under international law, and its finding that Sea Shepherd violated that injunction. Both rulings reversed prior decisions in favor of the conservation organization. In 2012, a federal District Court in Washington state issued a 44-page opinion denying the request for an injunction against Sea Shepherd by the Institute of Cetacean Research, a Japanese whaling group; in 2014, after an eight-day hearing, a special master recommended the Ninth Circuit find that none of the defendants had violated the injunction.
Despite its disagreement with the injunction issued by the Ninth Circuit in late 2012, Sea Shepherd complied, cutting all financial and administrative ties to Operation Zero Tolerance, an anti-whaling campaign scheduled for early 2013. Although the Ninth Circuit acknowledged that Sea Shepherd had not violated any of the terms of the injunction, it found the organization in contempt nonetheless, claiming retroactively that the “spirit” of the injunction required Sea Shepherd to control foreign entities.
Sea Shepherd’s bid for review before the Supreme Court raises two legal questions: (1) whether the Alien Tort Statute provides jurisdiction for an injunction regulating otherwise legal behavior in international waters, under a new norm of international law created by U.S. judges; and (2) whether a federal court can use its contempt power to punish a party for violating the spirit of an injunction, although it adhered to its express terms.
“The Ninth Circuit held Sea Shepherd to be committing piracy under international law, despite the fact that Sea Shepherd had been engaged in a non-violent campaign to halt illegal whaling in an established sanctuary. Then the court found Sea Shepherd to be in contempt, even though it concedes Sea Shepherd had complied with the terms of the injunction,” said Davis. “But these rulings are not really about piracy or whaling. They are about the ability of the federal courts to exercise unrestrained power, without authority from Congress, over what the law says, and how and where it can be enforced.”
The Supreme Court petition was filed as Sea Shepherd Conservation Society v. The Institute of Cetacean Research et al. A fact sheet with further information on Sea Shepherd and its involvement in this litigation is available here: Fact Sheet: Background on Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in Connection with Request for Appeal to Supreme Court.
Trade Arabia |
Eastern Mangroves Nominated For the second time for World Luxury Hotel ...
Zawya (registration) Mr. Abdellatif Erraji , Eastern Mangroves Suites mayor, said with regards to the announcement, "We are honored to be given the opportunity to be nominated for the World Luxury Hotels Awards the second time. This confirms our commitment towards fine ... Eastern Mangroves nominated for top awardTrade Arabia all 2 news articles » |
Hindustan Times |
No more work till felling of mangroves in Airoli is investigated: state ...
Hindustan Times Until allegations of 100 mangroves being felled at a construction site near Airoli are investigated, the Maharashtra State Mangrove Cell will not be allowing further hacking of trees or construction work at the site. On Friday, officials of the ... and more » |
Commentary by Sea Shepherd Founder, Captain Paul Watson
A Sea Shepherd billboard seen
by drivers in Costa Rica
Photo: Sea ShepherdCosta Rica is a beautiful nation with incredible bio-diversity and friendly people, but for many years this country has been plagued with political corruption from leaders whose agendas do not represent the people – and certainly not the environment.
Unsolved murders of conservationists, turtle egg poaching, illegal shark finning, the convenient loss of evidence in the trial of Jairo Mora Sandoval that resulted in his killers walking free.
Costa Rica has great public relations that feeds the myth of an ecologically conscious nation but it remains a country where narco-poachers operate with impunity and where many environmentalists have been murdered without their killers found, or if found, released on some technicality like the convenient loss of evidence.
They have said I should come to Costa Rica to defend myself in their courts, but there has been a $25,000 reward on my head since 2002 put in place by the poachers – and the best way for that reward to be collected is if I am in a Costa Rican jail. And what chance would I have in a court that loses evidence in a murder trial and proceeds to trial in my case with an accusation that contradicts itself regarding the geographical position of the “crime.”
Since 2012 I have been trying to speak with the Costa Rica government about the bogus charge they brought against me in response to my stopping an illegal Costa Rican shark-finning operation in the waters of Guatemala at the request of the Guatemalan government.
The charge against me accuses me of stopping the shark-finners in international waters but the position given in the accusation is well inside of Guatemalan waters.
And yet despite the contradiction in the charge itself, they refuse to drop the charge. They issued a Red List extradition request against me with Interpol. The Red List is for serial killers and war criminals. What I did was to stop a crime, and not a single person was hurt nor was property damaged. But for stopping an illegal shark-finning operation, Costa Rica wants to put me in prison from five to 15 years.
This month I said enough is enough. If the government and the courts will not talk with me, perhaps I should go straight to the people of Costa Rica with the truth.
A full-page ad in La Nacion newspaper reads, “Changes are accomplished by people. Let us defend together the seas of Costa Rica. Thank you Ticos for your tremendous support to turn the course of the unjust legal case, open against me 13 years ago by the Varadero 1 case. I still believe in justice.”Sea Shepherd has posted billboards in Costa Rica stating the importance of protecting marine wildlife. Last month journalists from Channel 7 in San Jose came to Paris to interview me. That interview has aired in different segments for the last three days this week and will continue tonight.
This reportage not only includes an interview with me but also with the captain of the fishing boat we caught finning sharks in 2002, as well as legal experts, lawyers, members of the government and the judiciary.
As a result, people in Costa Rica are getting a complete background of the case and the issues involved.
My attorney in Costa Rica, Abraham Stern will be taking my case to the Inter-American Court for Human Rights.
The question must be asked: If no one was injured; if no damages to property occurred; if the evidence in the accusation states the incident took place in Guatemalan waters; if we were acting on behalf of the government of Guatemala; if Sea Shepherd documented the entire incident on video, then why is Costa Rica investing so much money, time and effort to extradite me back to Costa Rica on such a minor charge?
My suspicion is that they want to bring me back to Costa Rica where the charges will be dismissed and they will then extradite me onward to Japan. There is significant evidence to suggest that Costa Rica revived their 2002 case against me in 2012 at the request of Japan – in other words, a political favor for a nation (Japan) that invests heavily in Costa Rica.
In 2002, the charges against me were dismissed and I was given clearance to leave Costa Rica. I never heard another thing about it until the Germans detained me in Frankfurt a decade later, in May 2012.
The film crew that covered this incident was an independent film crew led by Rob Stewart. His footage was used in the award-winning documentary “Sharkwater.”
The fishing captain of the Varadero I states that he was not in Guatemalan waters; the evidence proves otherwise. He claims he was not finning sharks, and yet, he was filmed finning sharks. He says he was not a poacher; yet he and his boat had been previously arrested and convicted of poaching within the Galapagos Marine Reserve in 2001.
Sea Shepherd is needed to address issues diminishing sharks and sea turtles in Costa Rica but the Costa Rican government has refused their assistance to protect the turtle beaches and to protect the fragile waters around Cocos Island. Sea Shepherd is tired of being refused as the poachers carry on with their crimes unopposed. Beginning June 1st, Sea Shepherd will have volunteers on Pacuare and Moin beaches protecting turtle eggs and nests, and will not let Jairo’s murder deter protection of the nests. Moin Beach is the place where Jairo was murdered two years ago.
Sea Shepherd has decided to go ahead with efforts to defend the lives of turtles, announcing this week the launch of Operation Jairo.
Sea Shepherd’s vessel, the Jairo Mora Sandoval is currently defending turtles and turtle nests in Cape Verde, carrying on Jairo’s legacy.
Sea Shepherd will continue its efforts to supply a patrol boat to the rangers of Cocos Island in order to assist in the protection of the Cocos Island Marine Reserve from poachers.
With the airing my interview with Channel 7 in Costa Rica over the last three days, the truth about my case is finally reaching the Costa Rican public.
I may not be able to go to Costa Rica myself, but Sea Shepherd will return to the beaches of Costa Rica and to the Cocos Island Marine Reserve.
Sea Shepherd will not let the Costa Rican government forget the name “Jairo Mora Sandoval,” and will do all in its power to further Jairo’s incredible conservation efforts, the very courageous efforts that cost him his life at the young age of 26.
The links to the interview with Channel 7 below are in Spanish. English subtitles will be available in the near future.
Part 1: ¿Qué pasó con el barco Varadero I? El capitán Paul Watson cuenta su verdad
Part 3: Paul Watson afirma que le gustarÃa tener fe en el sistema legal tico
Study finds Everglades pythons like saltwater mangroves as much as freshwater ...
Tampabay.com "They're completely capable of living in the Gulf of Mexico mangroves for a year," said Kris Hart, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and the lead author on a new study released Tuesday. "He was just happy as a clam in that salt water.". and more » |
The Star Online |
A morass of a problem
The Star Online Meanwhile, World Resources Institute (WRI) reported that more than 25,800ha of mangrove tracts worldwide were destroyed from 2001 to 2012. Malaysia lost 4.6% of its mangroves during that time, with approximately 1,000ha of mangroves felled each year, ... |
Stuff.co.nz |
Oil washes up in Tauranga estuary
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'Disgusting' oil spill reaches estuary, claims wildlife
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Work begins soon to clean polluted runoff into Padden Creek estuary
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EthioSports |
Tesfa and Tufa to defend titles at Yellow River Estuary international Marathon
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South China Morning Post (subscription) |
Rampant mining damaging one of China's largest mangroves - and authorities ...
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Work begins soon to clean polluted runoff into Padden Creek estuary
TheNewsTribune.com Located off of Harris Avenue near Bellingham Cruise Terminal, Padden Creek estuary provides important habitat for wildlife and fish, including adult and juvenile salmon that use it as a migration corridor, according to Bellingham officials. The estuary ... and more » |
Daily Post North Wales |
Property Insider: Gwynedd house with spectacular views over Dyfi Estuary on ...
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Mangrove cell, MSEB see red over destruction of greens in Airoli
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Fiji Times |
Mangrove restoration
Fiji Times PLANS are in the pipeline for additional activities that will help restore the mangrove populations in coastal Ra villages. Navuniivi Yaubula Management Supporting Team secretary Laisiasa Mocevakaca said Navuniivi Village had plans to plant more ... and more » |
Independent Online |
Mangroves battling after Mobeni oil leak
Independent Online Durban – Delicate ecosystems affected by a fire that ripped through a cooking oil refinery in Mobeni last month are struggling to recover. Mangroves in the Bayhead area, spanning about 15ha and home to numerous land and aquatic species, were hard hit ... and more » |
