Goldfish

That’s right.. The new team which has been charged with looking out for the safety and wellbeing of the representatives of the G20 summit are six goldfish.

The people in charge at the Convention and Exhibition Center in Seoul, South Korea, have sworn in this “seal team” of fish to help keep tabs on the purity of the water in the bathrooms of the facility, in the hope that they will be able to sound the alarm if something is fishy.

Oh Su-Young, who heads up public relations for the venue, has told the AFP that the crack team of goldfish are being utilized as part of the process of inspecting the venue before the representatives arrive for the G20 summit, adding: “The fish also symbolize an eco-friendly water policy, which recycles used water for restrooms.” There was no mention made of exactly where this recycled water came from..

One of the people who will benefit from the efforts of these goldfish is British prime minister David Cameron when the summit takes place this 11th and 12th of November.

However, this is not the first time this year where animals have been trained and put to good use for the safety and wellbeing of our world leaders.

During the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, the police force of India scooped up monkeys and trained them to run regular patrols in the athlete’s village as well as the venues of the event.

These unlikely bouncers with long tails were meant to protect spectators and athletes alike, from the notorious Bonnet monkey, which supposedly holds a grudge against us humans.

Whale wars

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS), which is known round the globe as the crew from Animal Planet’s “Whale Wars” has gone by many titles, pirates, environmentalists and even eco-terrorists. However, no matter what you may call them, they are now calling one of their own “dishonest” and “morally bankrupt”, and are going as far as to say that they have been involved in conspiracies and cover-ups.

The former captain of Sea Shepherd, Pete Bethune, who hails from New Zealand, has struck out against the motley, yet sometimes dangerous, group of people who consist of weekend warriors, college activists, and even professionals on vacation. They are well known for causing a ruckus for Japanese whalers, in an attempt to save the whales. However, he seems to be targeting Captain Paul Watson, and accuses him of pulling the wool over the public’s eyes on more than one occasion, exaggerate facts and exploits, among other things.

He even went so far as to write an in depth expose on his Facebook page, and then made himself available for a lengthy piece on the site ecorazzi.com. Bethune even goes as far to offer an “online letter of resignation.”

“I am asking that from now on, SSCS determine to act in an honest way with its volunteers, supporters and media,” Bethune writes as a comment on Facebook. “SSCS does not need to lie. Saving whales, dolphins, tuna and sharks are noble causes, and the public will embrace these as worthwhile. The story does not need to be manipulated and changed in order to get public support.”

While this is certainly an interesting turn of events, only time will tell what, if anything, will come of these accusations.

Costa Rica

A United States based world fisheries conservation association is gunning for punishment to be dished out, after a sportfishing boat was attacked by a commercial Venezuelan tuna purse seining boat and a helicopter off of Costa Rica’s coast.

This incident was reported, and is well documented, on The Billfish Foundation’s website: http://www.billfish.org.

The past August 1st, at just about 3PM, a United States sportfishing boat, the Silver-Rod-O, owned by Gary Carter, a TBF member, of Duluth, GA., was assaulted by the other craft, Venezuelan flagged tuna purse seiner La Rosa Mistica (The Mystic Rose), while minding its own business some 15 miles off the shores of Garza, Costa Rica.

According to Gary, the Silver-Rod-O was minding its own business, trolling around a school of spinner dolphin for yellow fin tuna and billfish, when a helicopter off of the La Rosa Mistica, began to circle overhead.

“We were celebrating one of our guest’s first-ever sailfish release, when the seiner veered from its course and headed directly toward our boat. The helicopter then began making passes over the anglers and as the seiner came closer and began setting its net, the helicopter started dropping incendiary devises around the Silver-Rod-O and the school of spinners.”

“Several explosives landed within 50 meters of the boat. The purse seiner continued to power straight toward our boat,” Carter said, “It was threatening to either encircle us in their net or to plow us into the sea unless we abandoned the school of dolphin. Rather than endanger our guests, we retreated and watched and listened as the La Rosa Mistica closed the net and its crew obnoxiously celebrated its victory.”

Just goes to show you, be careful where you fish! Hopefully, the Costa Rican authorities will look into the matter, and justice will be served.

A bill introduced by Maui County Council Member Mike Molina may tighten up the rules for how aquarium fish is treated after being caught in Maui waters. Existing animal welfare laws only stipulate that ornamental fish collectors must maintain facilities that can keep the fish alive and “in reasonable health”.

“The reality is that the inhumane treatment is inherent in the trade,” said environmentalist and dive operator Renee Umberger. “They don’t consider them to really be animals. That’s why it’s important to change the (legal) definition of what the state considers pets.”

The new bill would piggyback on superseding state laws and is intended to make sure that ornamental fish is treated well. Molina also hopes that the bill will raise awareness about overfishing and the fragility of Hawaii’s reefs. Over the past two decades, Hawaii’s aquarium reef fish population has declined by nearly 60 percent.

According to statistics from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, Maui fishermen caught aquarium fish valued at $32,478 last year. In the entire state, the value of all caught aquarium fish was roughly $2 million in the same period.

Robert Wintner, owner of Snorkel Bob’s, now questions why Hawaii is endangering its reef fish population for a mere $2 million a year when hundreds of local jobs in the multimillion scuba and tour sector depends on the wellbeing of the reefs.

Examples of what the Molina bill is suggesting

• Prohibition of several industry practises, such deflating the swim bladder, exposing the fish to air, and temperature changes of more than 2 degrees.
• Mortality rates and dead fish disposal methods must be documented.
• Causing the death of an ornamental fish will be considered an inhumane treatment of aquatic life.
• Violation of the law would be a misdemeanour. The fine would range between $500 and $2,000 and up to a year in jail.

Before the bill goes before the full County Council, it needs to be assigned to a committee for further discussion.

Federal stimulus money will be used to pay about 40 diving fishermen to recover lost fishing nets from the Puget Sound.

Due to the worldwide economic crises, many of the Puget Sound fishermen who normally make a living out of exporting cucumbers and sea urchins to Asia are currently out of work and the Northwest Marine Conservation Initiative has therefore received $4.6 million in stimulus funds to recover most of the nets that litter Puget Sound.

Thousands of large nets clutter the waters of Puget Sound where they continue to “ghost fish” for as long as their strong and durable synthetic fibres last. According to the Northwest Marine Conservation Initiative, the nets are responsible for killing tens of thousands of marine life, mammals and birds every year. The nets are also a hazard for maritime humans since they can tangle boat propellers and ensnare scuba divers. Modern fishing nets used by commercial fishermen tend to be very large and some of the nets lost in Puget Sound extend larger than a football field.

The only reason the nets have remained underwater for so long, said Ginny Broadhurst, director of the Northwest Marine Conservation Initiative, is because the damage they are doing to the environment is invisible from the surface.

“If you had nets strung along the streets that are catching bunny rabbits and squirrels, we wouldn’t be discussing whether we should be removing them. We would be pulling them. It would be immediate,” said Broadhurst. “When those threats are underwater it’s so much harder to know what impacts they are having.”

Over the next 18 months the group expects to pull some 3,000 nets from Puget Sound.