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Brussels (AFP) May 25, 2011 Europe's fisheries commissioner warned Wednesday that future quotas will be lowered systematically in the absence of reliable scientitic data from EU states on stock sustainability. Maria Damanaki said that where there was no data or "clear scientific recommendations on the state of stocks we will apply the principle of precaution, which means a drop in quotas," starting next year. The commissioner blamed the EU states for not delivering robust enough data to the Brussels executive, and said the policy shift would be used as a stick to speed progress there. "Some of the states are failing in part to meet their obligations," she underlined.
earlier related report President Benigno Aquino's spokesman also vowed to step up marine patrols following this month's seizure at Manila's port of 158 stuffed sea turtles and about 124,000 pieces of coral, which were valued at about $80,000. "(We are) appalled because the plundering of our marine resources shows much remains to be done to safeguard our marine biodiversity," spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a statement. "The monetary value of the black coral and sea turtles confiscated in the Port of Manila is tiny compared to the ecological devastation they represent -- hundreds, possibly thousands, of hectares of coral reefs and all the ecological complexity they represent, either killed or seriously damaged," Lacierda said. The corals and turtles were apparently stolen from the pristine waters of the Moro Gulf and the Sulu Sea off the main southern island of Mindanao, according to Lacierda. "It is our duty to safeguard these areas," he said, adding that the Philippine Navy and Coast Guard would step up patrols to protect the nation's coastline from such plunder as they acquired more modern vessels. The dead turtles and corals, as well as 209 boxes of shells, were misdeclared as "rubber" and hidden inside two huge containers that had been shipped from the southern Philippine city of Cotabato. Customs officials said they were still tracking down the owner of the shipment, who could face up to four years in jail. It is illegal in the Philippines to gather and sell endangered coral, although other countries allow it to be traded.
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Sea levels set to rise by up to a metre: reportSydney (AFP) May 23, 2011 Sea levels are set to rise by up to a metre within a century due to global warming, a new Australian report said Monday as it warned this could make "once-a-century" coastal flooding much more common. The government's first Climate Commission report said the evidence that the Earth's surface was warming rapidly was beyond doubt. Drawn from the most up-to-date climate science from around ... read more |
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