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Dear UN Atlas Member,
This month's newsletter takes a look at new happenings around the globe with
information from the polar regions to the equator. Many worldwide activities
have been launched to celebrate the wonders of our planet: the International Polar Year, the International Year of the Reef and the International Year of Planet Earth
-- learn more by visiting these sites.
If this newsletter may interest someone you know, please forward it.
Contribute to and participate in the growing Atlas community by becoming an
active Member of the UN Atlas today.
Thank you,
The UN Atlas of the Oceans Editors
Visit the UN Atlas of the Oceans Web site
Comments? Please write to UN-Atlas-Oceans-Project@fao.org
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Recently added
content:
- FAO Fisheries Technical Paper: Global fishery
resources of tuna and tuna-like species : Global fishery resources of tuna and tuna-like
species (Document)
- FAO and industry reps discuss emerging issues
affecting seafood business : Energy efficiency subject of second FAO-industry
forum in Bremen (News)
- IMO: IMO endorses Fair Treatment of Seafarers
poster campaign : A
joint campaign by the International Shipping Federation (ISF), the
International Chamber of shipping (ICS) and the International Transport
Workers Federation (ITF) to promote the IMO/ILO Guidelines on Fair
Treatment of Seafarers in the event of a Maritime Accident, has been
endorsed by the IMO Secretary-General, Mr. Efthimios E. Mitropoulos. The
campaign encourages members of ISF/ICS and ITF to approach Governments
to promote the Guidelines and monitor how effectively they are being
implemented. (News)
- Development of co-operative management
arrangements in the Great Barrier Reef: an adaptive management approach
: The practicalities of
planning and evaluating effective Indigenous co-management partnerships
within this unique marine protected area. (Document)
- Feed Me! The story of Penny the Penguin Chick
: A children's story based on
the Gentoo Penguin's breeding grounds around Bransfield Strait,
Antarctica. Notes for parents and teachers. Ideal for 5 to 9 year old
children. (Book)
- Frank Hurley. The Man Who Made History :
Frank Hurley captured some of
the world's earliest images of the Antarctic, particularly Shackleton's
expedition on the Endurance in 1914. DVD includes 4 photo galleries, biography
of life and work and an extended version of the 59min film in English. (Multimedia)
- Ocean Mapping Expedition Yields New Insights into
Arctic Depths : New
Arctic sea floor data released today by the University of New Hampshire
and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggests that
the foot of the continental slope off Alaska is more than 100 nautical
miles farther from the U.S. coast than previously assumed.
Coastal nations have sovereign rights over the natural resources of
their continental shelf, generally recognized to extend 200 nautical
miles out from the coast. The Law of the Sea Convention, now under
consideration in the U.S. Senate, provides nations an internationally
recognized basis to extend their sea floor resource rights beyond the
foot of the continental slope if they meet certain geological criteria
backed up by scientific data. (News)
- Coral Reef Research : Conserving what we have as well as we can has become
the greatest of all challenges to face humanity. This website is Veron's
contribution towards this formidable task. (Website)
- Status of Caribbean Coral Reefs after Bleaching
and Hurricanes in 2005 : This
book documents the devastating effects on coral reefs from the hottest
year on record with its very high sea surface temperatures and record hurricane
activity throughout the Caribbean and Atlantic basins. (Book)
- Environmental Groups Call For Increased Protection
Of Coral Reefs As World Marks 2008 International Year Of The Reef
: As 17 countries and 30
organizations launch the International Year of the Reef today, three
major environmental groups – World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy
and Conservation International – call on governments, businesses,
scientists, non-governmental organizations and individuals around the
world to vastly increase actions to protect coral reefs. The
International Year of the Reef 2008, designated by the International
Coral Reef Initiative, is a worldwide campaign to raise awareness about
the value and importance of coral reefs and to motivate action to
protect them. (News)
- New guide to reducing bycatch goes online :
As a service to the long-term
sustainability of both fish stocks and fishing communities, WWF has
established an online resource providing up-to-date information on
bycatch (the capture of non-target creatures in fishing gear) and how to
reduce it. (News)
- La Niña weather pattern likely to last for some
months : The
current La Niña weather pattern is expected to strengthen and continue
through the middle of the year, bringing wetter conditions to Australia
and the western Pacific and a drier climate to the Americas, the United
Nations World Meteorological Agency (WMO) reported. (News)
- Biosphere reserves play major role in combating
climate change : Biosphere
reserves can spur efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change as
well as encourage increased use of renewable energy, according to a
recent declaration adopted by a meeting backed by the UN Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (News)
- International Year of Planet Earth launched at
UNESCO : Making
the Earth a better place for humankind by engaging Earth Sciences for
Society is the motto of the declaration adopted on 12 February 2008 at
the Global Launch Event of the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE)
held at UNESCO on 12 and 13 February 2008 (News)
- Sharks disappearing as fin chopping rises :
Populations of tiger, bull,
dusky and other sea sharks have plummeted by more than 95 percent since
the 1970s as fisherman kill the animals for their fins or when they
scoop other fish from the ocean, according to an expert from the World
Conservation Union, or IUCN. (News)
- Improved management of fishing's "last
frontier" needed : Countries
discuss how to better protect deep sea species and habitats (News)
- Science and the challenge of managing small
pelagic fisheries on shared stocks in northwest Africa : The marine waters off northwest Africa, from Morocco
in the north to the southern region of Senegal, are among the richest in
the world. FAO, in partnership with the Moroccan Institut National de
Recherche Halieutique and the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research,
are organizing a four-day symposium to address the issues on the
challenges for managing the area's important small pelagic fisheries. (Event)
- FAO Fisheries Technical Paper: Culture-based
fisheries in Bangladesh - A socio-economic perspective : Review of culture-based fisheries and community-based
fisheries management in Bangladesh with regard to socio-economic impacts
as well as environmental effects and biodiversity loss. (Document)
- Understanding the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007
: Guidebook providing a quick
overview of the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (Document)
- Ocean Map Charts Path of Human Destruction :
Four years in the making, a
groundbreaking new map of the state of the world's oceans was released
today, and its message is stark: Human activity has left a mark on
nearly every square kilometer of sea, severely compromising ecosystems
in more than 40% of waters. (News)
- Map shows toll on world's oceans : Only about 4% of the world's oceans remain undamaged
by human activity, according to the first detailed global map of human
impacts on the seas. (News)
- IMO: BLG Sub-Committee agrees technical proposals
for reduction of air pollution from ships : Draft amendments to revise the MARPOL regulations on
the prevention of air pollution from ships were agreed by the IMO
Sub-Committee on Bulk Liquids and Gases (BLG) when it met last week (4-8
February) for its 12th session. (News)
- Social Dimensions of Marine Protected Area (MPAs)
: Marine Protected Areas:
Small-scale fishing community perspectives (Event)
- A co-operative solution to overfishing :
When Tam Giang Lagoon’s
once-bountiful catch started dwindling in the face of poor management
and destructive fishing methods, the area’s fishermen decided it was
time to get organised. (News)
- Climate change and children : Report examining how climate change has evolved from
an ‘environmental’ issue into one that requires collective expertise in
sustainable development, energy security, and the health and well-being
of children (Document)
- The world's rubbish dump: a garbage tip that
stretches from Hawaii to Japan : A "plastic soup" of waste floating in the
Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area
twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said. (News)
- Dutch mull ideas to defend coast from rising seas
: Dutch water experts met to
look at ways of protecting the nation's fragile coast from rising sea
levels, including one proposal to build man-made islands -- one in the
shape of a massive tulip. (News)
- Loss of mangroves alarming : 20 percent of mangrove area destroyed since 1980
-rate of loss slowing (News)
- Fishermen 'greening' their catch : About 400 vessels from six European nations catch
brown shrimp in the North Sea's Crangon fishery, off the coast of
Holland. (News)
- IMO: Major shipping nation accedes to key
Conventions : One
of the world's largest shipowning nations, the Commonwealth of the
Bahamas, has acceded to two major IMO Conventions and deposited its
annual assessment for 2008 with the Organization.
His
Excellency Mr. Basil G. O'Brien, High Commissioner and Permanent
Representative of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas to IMO has deposited with
IMO Secretary-General, Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, instruments of accession to
the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems
on Ships, 2001 (AFS Convention) and the International Convention on Civil
Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, 2001 (Bunkers Convention). (News)
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