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Small-scale fisheries will be the focus of this month's upcoming global conference: Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries: Bringing together responsible fisheries and social development to be held in Bangkok, Thailand from 13-18 October and co-organized by FAO and the Department of Fisheries of Thailand. As the International Year of the Reef draws to a close, we feature the expeditions of CReefs, part of the global Census of Marine Life, that have found hundreds of new coral and other species -- a reminder of how little is known of the world's marine biodiversity. This month we also list events such as IMO's celebration of World Maritime Day which honors shipping and the annual Ocean Conservancy International Coastal Clean Up Day. There are some interesting new book titles and an ongoing coverage of climate change and extreme weather events.
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- Small island nations’ survival threatened by climate change, UN hears : Small island developing nations, which contribute least to climate change but are under imminent threat of inundation due to rising sea levels, appealed to the United Nations today for immediate measures to be taken to ensure their survival. (News)
- Ban to set up new climate change centre to support Pacific island countries : Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced today that the United Nations and Samoa plan to establish an Inter-Agency Climate Change Centre to help coordinate support to Pacific Island countries to combat the impact of global warming in their region. (News)
- UN’s role in world shipping over 60 years celebrated on World Maritime Day : In the 21st century where communications are instantaneous, 90 per cent of world trade still reaches its destination via the commercial shipping industry, which has been shaped over the last six decades by the practices and standards set by the United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO). (News)
- European Food Law Handbook : Highlights the consequences of food law embedded within general European Union law and provides insights in both substantial and procedural elements of food law. Specific rules addressing food as a product, the processes related to food, and communication about food through labelling are discussed. These rules define requirements on subjects such as market approval for food additives, novel food, and genetically modified foods. The powers of public authorities to enforce food law and to deal with incidents are also set out. Chapter on the United Nations. (Book)
- Japan Asked to Avert Disaster From Pacific World War II Wrecks : The Pacific island nation of Micronesia wants Japanese help to avert an environmental disaster as Imperial Navy ships destroyed during World War II break up and leak oil in a tropical lagoon. Scientists last month recorded a 5-kilometer-long slick oozing from the wreck of the Hoyo Maru oil tanker in the Chuuk Lagoon, where more than 50 Japanese vessels litter the seabed. (News)
- Explorers Find Hundreds of Undescribed Corals, Other Species on Familiar Australian Reefs : Hundreds of new kinds of animal species surprised international researchers systematically exploring waters off two islands on the Great Barrier Reef and a reef off northwestern Australia -- waters long familiar to divers. The expeditions, affiliated with the global Census of Marine Life, help mark the International Year of the Reef and included the systematic scientific inventory of spectacular soft corals, named octocorals for the eight tentacles that fringe each polyp. The explorers today released some initial results and stunning images from their landmark four-year effort to record the diversity of life in and around Australia's renowned reefs. (News)
- CReefs - the Australian Node : The partnership between BHP Billiton, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, the Census of Marine Life and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) will allow Australian reef sites to be included in the CReefs global research initiative. (Website)
- IMO: World Maritime Day 2008 : Today (25 September 2008) marks the 31st celebration of World Maritime Day, the annual occasion when the International Maritime Organization (IMO) leads the world in honouring shipping. This year the theme for World Maritime Day is IMO: 60 years in the service of shipping. (News)
- IMO: World Maritime Day parallel celebrations held in Greece : The fourth "Parallel Event" to celebrate World Maritime Day formally and officially outside of the International Maritime Organization's London base was held in Greece on 19 and 20 September, hosted by the Government of the Hellenic Republic. On 19 September, Athens was the location for a seminar and panel discussion on the theme of IMO: 60 years in the service of shipping, in which leading figures from the maritime community took the opportunity to outline, from their perspective, their views on the past, present and future of IMO and the shipping industry. On 20 September, the International Memorial to the Wife of the Seafarer was unveiled in the town of Galaxidi, by the Secretary-General of IMO, Mr. Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, and Greece's Minister of Mercantile Marine, the Aegean and Island Policy, Mr. Anastasis Papaligouras. (News)
- Line fishers catching fewer ... birds : Seabird safeguards urged for net fisheries too (News)
- A rising tide : Scientists find proof that privatising fishing stocks can avert a disaster (News)
- Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Clean Up. 20 Sep 2008 : Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup is the world’s largest volunteer event of its kind. Last year, 378,000 volunteers from 76 countries and 45 states cleared six million pounds of trash (rubbish, garbage, litter) from oceans and waterways and recorded every piece collected. Go to the website to sign up now to join this year's cleanup effort on Sept. 20, 2008, and a local coordinator will be in touch with you soon. (News)
- IMO: Harmful ships’ paint systems outlawed as international convention enters into force. : An international convention banning the use of organotins and other harmful substances in anti-fouling paints applied on ships' hulls enters into force on 17 September 2008. The International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-Fouling Systems on Ships (AFS Convention) was adopted on 5 October 2001 by IMO and the terms for its entry into force (ratification by 25 States representing 25 per cent of the world's merchant shipping tonnage) were reached last year. The Convention has, to date, been ratified by 34 States, with a combined 52.81 per cent of world merchant shipping tonnage. (News)
- Economic Damage from Ike may be less than Feared : A small change in Hurricane Ike's course just before it crashed into the Texas coast Saturday may have spared the state and the nation from significantly worse economic damage. The center of the storm appeared to miss the vital concentration of oil and petrochemical refineries in the Houston area, and the surge of water rolling into the nation's second-largest port was also weaker than predicted. (News)
- Saltwater solution to save crops : Technology under development at the University of New South Wales could offer new hope to farmers in drought-affected and marginal areas by enabling crops to grow using salty groundwater. (News)
- Climate: New spin on ocean's role : New studies of the Southern Ocean are revealing previously unknown features of giant spinning eddies that have a profound influence on marine life and on the world's climate. (News)
- Overfishing, not climate change, is greatest danger to world's oceans : The biggest current threat to marine life is not climate change but over fishing and mankind's demand for water, experts have warned. (News)
- FAO Glossary of Aquaculture : The FAO Glossary of Aquaculture is now available in hard copy. Already published online since April 2006, FAO decided to produce print and CD-ROM versions in order to reach a wider audience -- and particularly to make it available for those without fast Internet connection. The Glossary contains approximately 2 500 terms and includes definitions, information sources, synonyms, related terms and images when available. Terms and definitions are available in five FAO official languages (English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese). (News)
- Human dimensions of the ecosystem approach to fisheries : A new FAO Fisheries Technical Paper, Human dimensions of the ecosystem approach to fisheries: an overview of context, concepts, tools and methods, offers an understanding of the role of the economic, institutional and sociocultural components within the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) and examines potential EAF management methods and approaches in support of its application. (Document)
- What is the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries - online in Russian : A booklet describing important aspects of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries in a non-technical manner is now available online in Russian. (Document)
- The struggle to help hurricane-hit Caribbean continues, UN relief wing says : The United Nations humanitarian wing expressed deep concern today over the crisis engulfing the storm-stricken Caribbean as the region’s countries endure the fourth hurricane in less than a month. (News)
- Humanitarian Implications of Climate Change : Mapping emerging trends and risk hotspots (Document)
- Caribbean Lashed by Hurricane Ike : Thousands of people have taken refuge across the Caribbean as one of the season's fiercest hurricanes barrels across the islands, on course for Cuba. At least 37 people were reported dead in Haiti as torrential rains fell on already flooded parts of the country. The Turks and Caicos Prime Minister was quoted as saying that 80% of homes on the main islands had been damaged. Image: Hurricane Ike has brought fresh misery to Haiti. Credit: AP on BBC website. (News)
- Better management for fishing's 'last frontier' : Countries agree on guidelines for protecting deep-sea species and habitats (News)
- Marine species identification manual for horizontal longline fishermen. Manuel d'identification des especes marines destine aux pecheurs a la palangre horizontale. : Editor's Award. Illustrated list of fish and wildlife species (English, French, Japanese and Hawai'ian names) caught by horizontal longline in the Pacific. (Book)
- 'Dead Zones' Multiply Along World's Coasts : "Dead zones" are multiplying along the world's coasts. There are now more than 400 areas where the bottom waters have too little oxygen to support life. (News)
- The Cloud Book : Editor's Award. Definitive guide to understanding every cloud type with discussion of clouds and climate change, condensation trails (from aircraft) and noctilucent clouds. (Book)
- Human Factors in the Maritime Domain : Integrates a common body of knowledge into one volume. Environmental/Individual Interaction Factors (Noise, Vibration, Seasickness). Some Methodologies Used for Collection of Human Factors Data (Accidents, Incidents, and Near Miss). (Book)