Typical agriculture sectors like animal production and processing, aquaculture and its processing, and fruit and vegetable processing, can be water-intensive and generate complex and sometimes severe pollution. Controlling pollution hinges on knowing its quantity (wastewater and solid waste volume) and characteristics (major pollutants and their concentration range, nature of wastes, …
The poor man's access to common property resources which is declining due to rapid commercialization, needs to be protected, says a United Nations Development Programme report on Human Development in Bangladesh, focussed on the environment. The report was released on the eve of the World Environment Day on June 4. …
SPARKS are flying as yet anotber fish war gains momentum in the Pacific Ocean; the protagonists this time are Canada and Alaska. Canada's feisty fisheries minister, Brian Tobin, has taken strong offence to Alaska's refusal to fall in line with Canadian proposals for conserving dwindling stocks of the Pacific salmon. …
INDOMITABLE France lit the fuse again. Barely a month after the Big 5 nuclear nations made a solemn pledge at New York, during the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (npt) Conference, to exercise "utmost restraint", France reneged and flexed its muscles. The newly-elected French President, Jacques Chirac, has announced his decision to …
THE Chinese government appears to have suddenly woken up to the importance of protecting its ocean resources. An unprecedented official order has been issued, banning fishing in a 37 sq km area off its east coast for 2 months to give its depleted fish stocks a chance to recover, reports …
Beset by falling fish catches, Cuba has decided to create new, highly independent and flexible production units, with economic and labour conditions which will guarantee worker stimulation. The move will not put an end to the massive loss-making state-run enterprises, but will definitely mean reduced centralism. Cuba has only 1 …
Cultural pressures are slowly decimating Mexico's rich heritage of indigenous languages. The 200 languages and dialects spoken in Mexico when it was overrun by Spanish colonisers 5 centuries ago have been throttled to 70, although the indigenous population has more than doubled. Bilingual education is offered to only 7.5 per …
SCIENTISTS are scratching their heads to figure out an explanation for a mysterious fish plague which has led to the deaths of millions of pilchards along Australia's eastern coastline. Australia's pilchard fish industry earns the US $7.4 million annually; but the plague threatens to disrupt salmon and tuna exports (worth …
Who will dispense justice in Hong Kong once the British pack up and leave? The issue has evoked a heated debate between Britain and China. Britain is all for setting up the independent Court of Final Appeal, which she claims is designed to protect the rule of law after China …
A PROGRAMME called Local Initiatives for the Environment -- LIFE -- is using novel approaches to finance and implement environmental projects. A product of Agenda 21, the international agreement drawn up during the Earth Summit (1992) in Rio de Janeiro, LIFE is "aiming to be more of an initiative catalyst …
In May, Bangladesh shut its doors on 125 tonnes of milk powder imported from Estonia, alleging high radiation levels in the product. Locked in a wordy duel over the issue are the importer, Danish Condensed Milk (Bangladesh) Ltd and the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission. Customs sources at the Chittagong Radiation …
A storm is brewing again in the international waters off Canada. Just 2 weeks after burying the hatchet with Canada (Down To Earth, Vol 4, No 1), Spanish authorities have ordered one of their vessels back to port for using illegal nets. According to an agriculture ministry spokesman, the Spanish …
PERUVIANS catch 11.6 million metric tonnes (MT) of fish annually but consume only 3 kg - 16 per cent of the amount recommended by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) - per head. Measures to develop freshwater fishing aim more towards generating profits, exports and employment, rather than improving the …
Intensive prawn monoculture has repeatedly seen epidemics wiping out entire crops, or drastically reducing production. In Taiwan, aquaculture has boomed since 1984 and production reached 100,000 tonnes by 1987 -- 21 per cent of Asia's cultured shrimps. The yield nosedived to 20,000 tonnes in 1988, 10,000 tonnes the following year …
Not very long ago, shrimp was plebeian grub. Oldtimers in the south still remember that it was but small courtesy for toddy sellers to give half-a-dozen shrimps free with a bottle of the best. Impoverished local labourers still enjoy the right to fish shrimp left over in any farm after …
It cut a thick swathe down the coast: an elusive beast that bumped off a full year's crop. The symptoms were the same everywhere. The prawns developed white spots on their dorsal side, which began to degenerate. As the pathogen spread to the intestines, the shrimp lost appetite and growth. …
THE shrimp: a tiny key to a giant treasure chest. A global market -- worth US $8,000 million, 20 per cent of the global seafood trade -- lay open to shrimp farmers from all along India's 7,000 km coastline. The golden egg is the tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) gourmandised the …
SPECULATION is on about the effect of global warming on fish production. The world's marine population is, as it is, subjugate to various factors such as water temperature, salinity, ocean currents, predator-prey relationship, food and nutrient availability, rainfall and pollution due to human activity and new technologies. This interesting and …
THE Atlantic Ocean is becoming increasingly rougher with a new row erupting over fishing rights in international waters. The European Community (EC) and Canada are locked in fierce combat over access to Greenland halibut catches off the coast of Newfoundland. Even diplomacy seems to have floundered. As the EC Fisheries …
On March 7, 2 British fishermen and Spanish fishing boat owners were served a huge fine for illegal fishing. In addition to the ignominy of forking out a total of US $391,380, the offenders were convicted on 15 charges of breaching quotas -- 4 of making wrongful landing declarations, 2 …
The greening of Bangladesh's coastline will commence soon. The Asian Development Bank has approved a US $23.4 million loan for a 7-year project for improving Bangladesh's forest cover and alleviating rural poverty by creating income opportunities. Under an aggressive reforestation drive spearheaded by Bangladeshi NGOs and the forestry department, landless …
