Author Archives: Alexandra Enion

The Dilemma of Sea Cucumbers

An indefinite ban on the fishing of sea cucumbers is creating quite a ruckus in Mexico.  Although sea cucumbers are barely consumed in Mexico, high demand in China fueled overfishing of the sea cucumbers in Yucatán waters and has greatly depleted the sea cucumber population in the area.  Overfishing in Asian and Pacific waters has already decimated the sea cucumber populations in these regions.

Since 2009, of the 20,000 tons of sea cucumbers available, only an estimated 1,900 tons of these marine animals are left according the secretary of rural development in Quintana Roo State, Felipe Cervera.1  In order to give the sea cucumber populations a chance to recover, an indefinite ban on sea cucumber fishing was issued in Mexico.  The ban was meant to be beneficial and allow the Mexican waters’ ecosystems a chance to recover, but because of the lack of enforcement, the ban is actually having the reverse effect.

Fishing of the sea cucumbers continues to occur in high numbers in Mexico and the sea cucumber black market is thriving.  Many of the fishermen in Mexico have no other means to earn a living, so they continue to fish the depleted sea cucumber populations and sell them to middlemen who transport the sea cucumbers to China.  One pound of sea cucumbers can sell for as much as $300.1

Illegally fishing of the sea cucumbers is also a dangerous business.  Fisherman often admit that some competitors will shoot at others to get their own share of the sea cucumbers though most of these incidents go unreported to the police since the fisherman are breaking the law, and many are also distrustful of the authorities who they believe unfairly target groups when enforcing the ban.1

Fishermen have another risk when fishing for these precious sea animals, the bends.  The fisherman dive 50 feet into the water using only a mask and an old hose for oxygen to harvest these bottom dwellers.1  Nitrogen and other gases from the air dissolve in the water of a diver’s body, and if the diver rises too quickly to the surface, the decrease in pressure causes the dissolved gases to come out of solution as bubbles.2  Decompression sickness, also known as the bends, can be fatal.  In fact, around 30 fishermen have died because of decompression sickness in Celestún since 2009 while trying to collect the sea cucumbers.1

Obviously, the sea cucumber ban had the good intention of restoring sea cucumbers’ numbers and providing a healthier ecosystem for the Yucatán waters.  Because authorities have not properly enforced the ban, fishing of the sea cucumbers continues to occur illegally.  The Mexican authorities must step up enforcement of the ban if they want to save both sea cucumber and human lives.  Sea cucumbers need a chance to restore their population numbers if they are to survive in Yucatán waters and be around in the future as a revenue source for fisherman.  However, this ban took away fisherman’s revenue source without providing them with an alternative to earn a living.  The Mexican government as well
as NGOs should help out these fishermen by providing training in other careers, so that these fishermen can feed their families and not have to revert to the dangerous and illegal sea cucumber fishing.  Doing so, protects both sea cucumbers and humans alike.

1 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/world/americas/quest-for-illegal-gain-at-the-sea-bottom-divides-fishing-communities.html?ref=endangeredandextinctspecies

2 http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/water-sports/question1011.htm

Poaching of African Elephants

There are few species in the animal kingdom that hold the mystic of the elephant.  Every aspect of an elephant’s body captures the mind’s attention from their huge heft to their massive trunks to their long, flexible trunks.  Unfortunately, another part of their impressive physique, their ivory tusks, attracts attention for all the wrong reasons.  Hunted for centuries for the precious ivory of their tusks, African elephants have been protected by the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species since 1990 which inhibits international trade among member countries of products that come from African elephants.

Despite the protection, the surging price of ivory in Asian market has led to dramatic rise in poaching in Gabon.  For example in Thailand, the largest unregulated market for ivory in the world, the sale of ivory from domestic Thai elephants is legal.  Although the sale of ivory from African elephants is illegal, colossal amounts of ivory from Africa are smuggled in and sold in Thai shops.1

While a great deal of the poaching occurs in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the rise in demand of ivory has caused poachers to cross the border into Gabon.  Gabon is particularly attractive to poachers because it is home to forest elephants, a slightly smaller species of elephants with hard, pink streaked ivory.

This increase in poaching has been absolutely devastating to the Gabonese elephant population.  Since 2004, Dr. Fiona Maisels of the Wildlife Conservation Society estimates that the elephant population in the Minkebe national park in Gabon has decreased by between 44 and 77 percent of 11,100 have been killed.2

Though the government of Gabon have tried to take measures to deter poachers, their efforts have not been sufficient to prevent poachers, mostly coming from Cameroon, from killing what authorities estimate to be between 50 to 100 elephants a day in the Minkebe national park.  Just policing the Minkebe area is a problem; it is around the size of Belgium with no roads.  The poaching problem is augmented by corruption in the Gabonese government.  According to Bas Huijbregts of the World Wildlife Fund, “When arrests are made, they are often obstructed by government people who have a stake in the trade as well.”  With government officials involved in the illegal ivory trade, conditions for the elephants of Gabon appear dire.  Professor Lee White, in charge of the Gabon’s national park system, admits that “If we do not turn the situation around quickly, the future of the elephant in Africa is doomed.”2

With so much at stake, campaigners hope that next month’s meeting on the international trade in endangered species (CITES) will be opportunity to address the ivory problem.  Additionally, the World Wildlife Fund in the United Kingdom is currently trying to obtain a million signatures for a petition to get rid of loopholes that allow the ivory trade to continue.

P.S. the link for the petition is the first website address below.

1http://action.panda.org/eaaction/actionea.client.id=1773&ea.campaign.id=17713&utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=facebook&utm_content=thaipetition&utm_campaign=iwtc

2http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21352722

The Brazilian Amazon – A Beacon on Hope

In the news, it seems like every article and every news report concerning the environment is some way or another predicting the impending doom of the Earth.  The ice caps are melting, temperatures are rising, and carbon emissions continue to increase.  In this web of depressing reports describing how man has caused so much damage to the Earth that possibility of reversing our current path appears unattainable, there is a ray of hope.  This ray of hope comes in the form of Brazil and the Amazon rainforest.  Over 60 percent of the Amazon lies within Brazil and for years, report after report indicated how deforestation of the rainforest continued to increase every year.  In fact, since 1980, around 224,000 square miles of the Amazon has been destroyed. 1

This pace seemed on track to continue, but in 2004, Brazil made the commitment to reduce its 2004 deforestations levels by 80 percent by 2020. According to the Brazilian’s government’s record for 2011, deforestation was down by an astonishing 78 percent from the 2004 levels meaning that Brazil had achieved its deforestation goal nearly a decade early.2

According to an article titled “In Brazil, Fears of a Slide Back for Amazon Protection,” by Alexei Barrionuevo published by The New York Times, the Brazilian government has carved out 150 million acres of the Amazon for conservation.3  Additionally, Brazil has ramped up enforcing Amazon protection legislation by using their police force as well as satellite images to discover and capture illegal loggers working deep within the Amazon.  The efforts of strongly enforcing Amazon protection legislation has led to astonishing results.  According to Gilberto Câmara, director of the National Institute for Space Research, if Amazon protection legislation is effectively enforced in Brazil, then the Brazilian Amazon has the opportunity of being replanted faster than it is being deforested by 2020.3 

Thankfully, Brazil has taken up the cause for the Amazon before the damage was too great that the Amazon could not be saved.  After all, rainforests are hugely important for the ecosystem of the world.  They help regulate the climate, are huge producers of oxygen, consume harmful carbon dioxide, are the source for many pharmaceuticals, and are home to millions of plants and animals species. 

Despite the exciting news coming out of Brazil, there is still good reason to be concerned.  Since the 2010 election of President Dilma Rousseff, the Brazilian government seems to be attempting to loosen protection of the Amazon in order to promote agricultural development of the Amazon.  For instance, a provisional measure gives the president the opportunity to decrease the portion of the Amazon that had been allotted for conservation.  The government has also been more lenient with companies trying to attain environmental licensing.  The struggle in Brazil boils down to pro-development versus pro-conservation.  Despite the more pro-development slant of the new administration, many in Brazil including the former environment minister Marina Silva, who also ran for president in the 2010 election, are becoming advocates for keeping the Amazon protection laws rigid.  General public opinion in Brazil appears to be more supportive of conservation than development.  In fact, a poll taken by Datafolha showed the 85 percent of Brazilians favored a Forest Code that would make rivers and forests a priority even if this hindered agricultural development.3

Brazil has obviously made astounding progress in reducing deforestation of the Amazon and serve as great examples to the international community of the progress that a government can attain in only a few short years by strongly enforcing environmental policy.  However, if this progress is to continue, then there must be significant pressure within Brazil and internationally on the Brazilian government to ensure that protecting the Amazon rainforest remains a top priority.   

1http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/amazon-deforestation-nasa-photos_n_1748759.html

2http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16295830

3http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/world/americas/in-brazil-protection-of-amazon-rainforest-takes-a-step-back.html?pagewanted=all

 

The Environment – An Introduction

It seems you can’t turn on the news or open a newspaper without hearing some story or reading some article concerned about the environment.  With the higher cost of gasoline, the near constant warnings of environmentalists about the dangers of the melting caps, and the various international agreements concerning greenhouse gas emissions, it seems like we are flooded with messages spelling the impending doom of the Earth.  The constant stream of media attention is enough to make anyone a cynic.

I personally find myself rolling my eyes when some fanatic environmentalist preaches about the dangerous course we are heading down if we continue our practices.  But aside from all their prophesying, don’t they have a point?  As humans who share this planet with millions of different living things isn’t our current treatment of the planet selfish, irresponsible, and harmful to all creatures including ourselves?

The goal of this blog is not to have another environmentalist blog to condemn and attack other countries or big business who are refusing to cut down pollution or support green technologies.  Instead, the goal of this blog is to inform, present the arguments with the facts, and give an accurate representation of the situation.

So when did I become such a proponent for all things green?  I can only trace my enthusiasm back to second grade when I attended zoo camp for the first time.  Learning about the different endangered species in the zoo was both fascinating and heart breaking.  How could human be responsible for putting these animals in danger because of our infringement of their habits and poaching?

Specifically in this blog, I plan to focus on the ramifications of destroying the rain forests and other animal habits, the consequences for humans and animals alike.  Human rely on the rainforest to help stabilize the climate of the Earth, absorb carbon dioxide preventing it from being released into the atmosphere, give off oxygen, and as a source for medicine.

Human depend on the environment for survival.  What will happen if our depletion of the rainforest continues?  How can we reverse the pattern and ensure the protection our of Earth’s precious ecosystems?  I will focus this blog not only on bringing attention to current environmental issues, but the steps that are being taken to protect the environment and steps that need to be taken to ensure that the Earth continues to be the safe home to millions of species for the years to come.