Protect our coral reefs

By NALAU BINGEDING

There is now intense debate for and against the deep-sea mining proposed for the Bismarck and Milne Bay waters. Civil societies, the public, customary land owners and sea owners, academics and university students argue that the environmental cost of the deep-sea mining is unknown and could be catastrophic therefore the proposal should be shelved for now.

Nautilus Minerals Limited (Nautilus) on the other hand is adamant that it has spent millions of dollars exploring the sea floor of the Bismarck Sea and will mine the seabed regardless of concerns raised on the environmental consequences of the mining on marine ecosystems. Moreover, Nautilus is determined to see PNG become the first country in the world to use state-of-the-art technology to do deep-sea mining because it has been given the green light to do so by the PNG government.

 Neither side is willing to throw in the towel. Therefore funds are being raised right now by civil societies and the public to take the matter to court so that justice is done and the deep-sea mining proposal is shelved for now. Nautilus on the other hand is organizing public forums to appease public outcry and attempt to find a way forward.

In 2009 the Department of Environment and Conservation on behalf of the PNG government adopted a 10-year Regional Action Plan to protect coral reefs and other marine ecosystems through the Coral Triangle Initiative. The initiative included Indonesia, Malaysia, Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands and PNG. Through the initiative these countries agreed to support people-centered biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, poverty reduction and equitable development. 

However, the very department that signed the Coral Triangle Initiative to protect coral reefs and marine ecosystems has now issued environmental permits for Nautilus to do deep-sea mining in the Bismarck and Milne Bay waters. This action now contradicts what was agreed under the Coral Triangle Initiative and compromises the department’s position as the regulator of the environment in PNG and questions whether the department has the heart to protect the country’s coral reefs and marine ecosystems.

PNG has a coral reef area of some 14,000 km², and ranks second to Australia (48, 000 km²) in terms of coral reef area if we exclude countries like France and others who have colonies with discrete populations of coral reefs.  Much of the coral reefs in PNG occur within the Bismarck and Milne Bay waters and generally remain intact and in good health.

Reef-building corals have a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship - one organism depends on the survival of the other - with a microscopic, one cell algae species called zooxanthellae. The algae species produces oxygen, helps the coral to remove waste, and supplies the coral with carbohydrates for coral reef growth. In return, the coral reef provides the algae a protected environment and other compounds that are necessary for photosynthesis. This symbiotic relationship is so important that sedimentation of the ocean and any changes in the ocean’s temperature and pH (acidity or alkalinity) can adversely affect coral reef growth and health.

It is now known that due to the build-up of man-made greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the world’s oceans now take in one-quarter of the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This is acidifying the world’s oceans and the zooxanthellae populations are being expelled from the coral reefs due to high levels of carbonic acid in seawater. Consequently, the coral reefs cannot survive without the zooxanthellae and many can starve to dead. Dead of large areas of coral reefs, usually exposed skeletons that have a white color, is known as coral bleaching. The impact of ocean acidification is not pronounced at the moment in the Pacific, but this will gradually increase in the near future.

Global warming is also responsible for warming of the world’s atmosphere and the ocean surfaces. Thus the warming of the world’s ocean surfaces has resulted in bleaching of coral reefs in some parts of the world. In the Pacific the warming of the oceans through global warming has not had any profound effect, but it is predicted that these impacts will be more pronounced in the near future.

Mining of the ocean floor in the Bismarck Sea threatens our coral reefs due to the prospect of further acidification of the oceans. It is now known that substantial damage will be done on the ocean floor. Excavation of the ocean floor will involve digging up of volcanic mounts and breaking down of 15 – 20m tall hydrothermal vents. Consequently, tons of rocks and sediments will be pumped up to ships on the sea surface in the form of slurry.

Excavation of the ocean floor will result in a change in the pH of the water column at the excavation site. Chemical elements buried beneath sediments and within rocks will be exposed to the seawater due to the damage that will be done. As a result chemical reactions will take place between the stirred sediments and broken surfaces of the excavated rocks, thus the ocean’s pH will be altered.

From basic science one understands that a diffusion gradient is created when particles move from a high concentration area to a low concentration area. Thus if the excavation on the ocean floor turns the seafloor water column acidic due to the chemical reactions that will take place, a diffusion gradient will be created horizontally, laterally or vertical through the water column. Consequently the Bismarck Sea could turn acidic and endanger our populations of coral reefs.  This combined with the looming threats posed by climate change through warming of the ocean surface and the acidification of the oceans through uptake of excessive made-made greenhouse gases from the atmosphere can cause massive bleaching of our coral reefs. Thus this threatens the survival of all other species (including man) that inhabits the Bismarck Sea and beyond.

One other effect of excavation on the ocean floor is the proliferation of certain microorganisms through change in pH of the water column. Certain microorganisms depend on temperature and pH of the water to be conducive for their exponential growth. At a certain pH and temperature, these organisms exist in small numbers, but once the conditions become conducive for their proliferation they reproduce exponentially for a certain period. Then the population decreases and levels off when food sources are depleted or the environment is no longer conducive for their reproduction.

Such a case occurred with ocean dredging for sand to reclaim land from the sea in Japan a few years ago. In the attempt to reclaim land from the sea in a seaside city in Japan a few years back, the ocean floor was dredged for sand. However, the dredging caused damage to the sea floor and released sediments and chemical elements buried beneath the sand into the ocean water column. This action changed the pH of the seawater column and as a result it created an environment that was conducive to the growth of a certain microorganism. These microorganisms then reproduced exponentially and were dispersed vertically, laterally and horizontally through the sea water column due to underwater currents.

As these microorganisms were swept by underwater currents towards the shoreline, they infected populations of seashells. Consequently, the seashells died and were washed ashore by underwater currents and the waves, with hundreds of tons of seashells littering the shoreline and the smell of rotting seashells could be inhaled some kilometers away. This was an environmental disaster.

Although ocean dredging for sand in Japan was done at depths not comparable to that proposed for the deep-sea mining in the Bismarck Sea, there is a high probability for such an environmental disaster to occur. Excavation on the ocean floor can change the pH of the seawater column and create an environment conducive for certain microorganisms to proliferate. Then these microorganisms will have to be dispersed through the water column due to underwater currents or the effect of a diffusion gradient. Thus these microorganisms can create environmental disasters if they infect higher organisms like seashells.   

Much of PNG’s coral reefs remain intact and in good health at the moment. Therefore, these populations of coral reefs need to be protected at all cost for the livelihood of our coastal populations. Moreover, the PNG government has signed a treaty under the Coral Triangle Initiative and has the obligation to protect these coral reefs and the ecosystems that exist therein. Therefore, any action contrary to supporting people-centered biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, poverty reduction and equitable development can only mean that the government is more interested in money from mining and has no concern for its own people and the very environment that their very lives depend on.

Nalau Bingeding is a Research Fellow in the Land and Economic Division within the Wealth Creation Pillar at the National Research Institutehttp://www.facebook.com/n/?groups%2F210718705711207%2F&mid=6c3525eG20735b4fGb104cdbG15&bcode=LNVAbcrL_1.1348031792.AaSvo9N3YuUm0lzr&n_m=magun.wences%40gmail.com

Turtle tagging and Monitoring, Madang

7-11th November 2012

Report compiled by Job Opu

Background

Many beaches and near shore reefs along the coastal areas of PNG are home to marine turtles. While turtle conservation programs have been initiated in a few parts of PNG, large areas although significant in nature lack turtle conservation programs. It is in these areas that local consumption of turtle for eggs and meat go on without saving some of these turtles and eggs.
Mas Kagin Tapani Inc., a local CBO based in Madang began mobilising communities in Madang in 2007 to save the critical endangered leatherback turtles that were nesting on their beaches. These beaches are situated to the northern side of Madang towards Bogia.
The first Turtle Conservation workshop was organised by the Makata Inc and hosted by the Karkum Community of Madang. The workshop ran from September 19th – September 23rd 2009 and the target audience of the workshop included Madang community members and representatives from Community based organisation. There were 40 participants at this course. This workshop introduced participants to basic marine biology, turtle tagging and monitoring, developing work plans to address turtle conservation and education and awareness on turtle conservation and other marine issues.
A second workshop was undertaken in Magubem Village, Madang with a total of 40 participants and ran from the 1st – 6th of October 2012..
This training workshop was the second of its kind and a follow-up of the activities and interests generated so far in turtle conservation and management with the Madang Communities. The Communities have indicated that they wish to go one step further in turtle conservation and begin to develop action plans to tag and monitor nesting turtles during the nesting season. Hence this training workshop was carried out to meet their requirement.
This follow-up trip was basically to take the theory and put it into practical by patrolling the nesting beaches to tag turtles and document data.


Day 1. 7th November 2012
The marine turtle specialised arrived at Magubem Village at 2.00pm from Port Moresby via Madang. He met with Peter, Chairman of Gildipasi CBO. They arranged to meet with the rest of the beach rangers from the main 4 communities the next morning.
Meanwhile plans were made to begin the exercise later that evening. The specialist then briefed Peter and a few selected field rangers from Magubem Community to start patrolling the nesting beaches that night.
Equipment were then checked and laid out. These included the following:
• Turtle tags and applicators
• Turtle datasheet and clipboards. Pencils.
• Torches and batteries
• Measuring tapes (3 mtr in length)
• Raincoats (in the event of rain)
The Magubem team started the patrol at 8.00pm and ended at 2.00pm. The weather was overcast and there was slight drizzle.
No nesting turtles were encountered. However the team came across the tracks of a green turtle. It seem the green turtle came and did some crawls on the beach but did not nest. We believe the sand substrate was too hard with some small pebbles hence no nesting took place.
Further on down the beach the team came across an old leatherback nest which has been dug up by some locals and eggs taken. The nest seems to be about a month old.
At 1.30pm the drizzle was getting bigger and heavy drops of rain were felt, hence the team had to abandon the patrol at 2.00am and head back to Peter’s hamlet (where the team were housed).

Day 2. 8th November 2012
On day 2 the specialist and the beach rangers gathered at the Magubem Community hall and the specialist went over turtle tagging and monitoring protocols for the team The following topics were covered:
• Sites for beach patrols
• Turtle species to target– Leatherback turtle and green turtles
• Tagging methods and the part of the turtle to tag.
• Demonstration on use of tags and applicator
• Turtle data sheets


The session lasted the whole morning with questions and answers and clarification on all aspects of the turtle research. At the end of the session the team felt that it was ready to undertake beach patrols and start turtle tagging and monitoring program.

After the overview of the above topics the equipment were brought out and divided into the 4 major beach groups corresponding to their area and beach.

The team then left for their respective areas. The teams made a commitment to begin their programs at night.
The Magubem team (with the turtle specialist) were to cover the nesting beaches that came under the Magubem community, However this did not eventuate as there was heavy rains beginning in the afternoon and lasting all night. The heavy rains stopped the team from going out at night to patrol the beaches.


Day 3. 9th November 2012
Early the next day, the sun was shining so the Magubem team including the specialist took a walk along the nesting beaches to check if any turtles came up to nest. After a long two kilometre walk along the beach no signs of nesting were noted on the beach, hence we concluded that no turtle came up to nest on the beach last night.
After checking the beach the team went back to basecamp and went over notes and tagging equipment.
Later on in the afternoon the team prepared for another beach patrol.
After dinner and equipment check the team left for the beaches at about 8.00pm.
The team started at the mouth of River Dibor and walked northwards along the beach. There was almost 100% cloud cover hence no stars were noted. The tide was coming in and huge waves were pounding on the beach
The team spend about 8 hours on the beach patrolling up and down. However no turtles were encountered.
At about 4.00am in the morning the team decided to call it a night and headed back to the base camp.

Day 4. 10th November 2012
On the morning of the fourth day the beach rangers met again and had a review of the past nigh activities.
Plan was again made to coordinate work with the other beach rangers from the other groups so they could patrol in synchrony throughout their own beaches and meet at a central point through the night so that this would ensure all sectors of the long beach was covered.
Turtle information and beach census data from the research work onwards will be collated and sent to the turtle specialist to document and report on.
The specialist then left for the Madang.

Conclusions

In conclusion, expected outputs of this trip were partly achieved.
Material and equipment for the “turtle tagging and monitoring” program for the communities were divided equally among the 4 major communities corresponding to the number of group of beach rangers as well.
The rangers were also taken again through the protocols of tagging and monitoring and documentation of turtle data. The principles were reinforced amongst the beach rangers.
The turtle specialist led patrols at night with the beach rangers to give them experience of observation nesting turtles at night.
The only setback was that the team did not encounter any nesting turtles during the short visit by the specialist. This would have been an opportunity to actually witness tagging as all beach rangers have never witnessed let alone tagged and compiled data on a turtle before.Marine Species Specialist, Job Opu conducting turtle tagging and monitoring exercise in Dibor, Madang. Long term tagging and monitoring exercise can be done if we are adequately supported. We therefore call on relevant government agencies and partner organisations to come to our assistance to make this exercise successful and sustainable.

Villagers empowered to save turtles

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Acknowledgement

This is the second workshop of its kind that we have undertaken in Madang targeting community based turtle conservation groups. We have started slowly to save the iconic mariner, the great leatherback turtle and other marine turtles, along the nesting coasts of Madang. Despite numerous obstacles, the message on the endangered species and many threats it faces throughout its life is slowly getting across along the Madang Coastal Communities. And for this we thank the communities of Karkum, Mirap, Tokain, Malas, Kimadi, Magubem, Murukanam and Pepaur who have taken the initiative to do something to save this endangered species. We are very grateful that you had time to attend the training workshop.
We especially thank the Magubem and Kimadi Communities for hosting the workshop
We also sincerely thank the mothers of Magubem and Kimadi who made sure our stomaches were full for the whole week that we were there. You have a beautiful undisturbed beach. May you save it for your future generations and may your traditions and customs stay alive.

Introduction

Sea turtles of today have changed little from their ancient reptilian ancestors that appeared on earth millions of years ago before humans. For many years, humans have been exploiting turtles for food and decorative ornaments. In the last 200 years or so, the uncontrollable harvests of adults and juveniles and turtle eggs have caused sea turtle population worldwide to drastically decline. The remaining population are critically endangered and very close to extinction.
Of the seven of world’s marine turtles, six occur in the PNG marine waters. These include the Flatback, the Green Turtle, the hawksbill, leatherback turtle, the loggerhead and Olive Ridley. Of these six, Hawksbill, Green turtle and the leatherback turtle are most common. From previous survey results and anecdotal information, PNG has some of the largest remaining populations of hawksbill, green turtle and Leatherback turtle in the world today. However these populations and especially the leatherback turtle have rapidly declined.
Marine turtles have lived over 100 millions of years. They grow slowly and take between 30-50years to reach sexual maturity. Some live to be over a 100years old.
All marine turtle species are experiencing serious threats to their survival. The main threats are pollution can change to environment – especially reefs and nesting areas. Marine turtles are also killed by entanglement in marine debris, incidental catch in active fishing gear, predation by feral animals, changes to habitat and food sources and indigenous hunting.
Marine turtles migrate long distances of up to 3000 km between nesting beaches and home foraging grounds so that impact on animals in one region have far-reaching implications for populations that spun local, regional and national boundaries.
Marine turtles have traditionally had strong cultural linkages to local communities along the coastal areas of PNG. To maintain these cultures drastic decline in turtle populations must be able to be put to a stop.
Many beaches and near shore reefs along the coastal areas of PNG are home to the marine turtles. While turtle conservation programs have been initiated in a few parts of PNG, large areas although significant in nature lack turtle conservation programs. It is in these areas that local consumption of turtle for eggs and meat go on without saving some of these turtles and eggs.
In 2006 STRP carried out an awareness campaign to save the turtles on the Madang beaches. This was followed in 2007 by STRP and the community of Karkum getting together to set up conservation areas along the beaches to save the nesting marine turtles and other marine resources and habitats under various degrees of threats.
This training workshop is the second of its kind and a follow-up of the activities and interests generated so far in turtle conservation and management with the Madang Community. The Communities have indicated that they wish to go one step further in turtle conservation and begin to develop action plans to tag and monitor nesting turtles during the nesting season. Hence this training workshop was carried out to meet their requirement.
The first workshop was organised by the Makata Inc and hosted by the Karkum Community of Madang. The workshop ran from the September 19th – September 23rd 2009 and the target audience of the workshop included Madang community members and representatives from Community based organisation. There were 40 participants at this course.
This second workshop was undertaken in Magubem Village, Madang with a total of 40 participants and ran from the 1st – the 6th of October 2012..

1.1 Aims and objectives

The objectives of the training workshop were as outlined:
• Exposing participants to turtle biology and conservation
• Instructing participants on turtle tagging and monitoring protocols. Theory and Practical
• Developing a simple action strategy and management plan for turtle conservation and management
• Exposing the participants to laws protecting endangered marine species
• Exposing the participants to the use of awareness campaigns to educated communities on the turtle conservation.
• Networking communities with each other and in country turtle specialists so as to progress sustainable management of marine turtles.
The training workshop intended to enhance the capacity of Madang communities’ members who are developing a turtle management program in Turtle Conservation and Management. It specifically introduced participants to turtle tagging, data recording and compiling of basic information to monitor turtles that frequent their shores and near shore marine turtles habitats.

1.2 Expected Outcomes

Expected outcomes of the workshop are as listed below.
• Participants have been exposed to turtle tagging and monitoring protocols and are comfortable to begin turtle monitoring including tagging and documentation of nesting data on their nesting beaches.
• Participants are well versed with turtle and marine issues and are able to articulate through awareness campaigns to the coastal communities of the Madang coasts.
• A turtle conservation and management network is established and information flow and exchange is initiated and maintained.
• Participants of the training workshop complete the training and are awarded training certificate.

1. Course Contents.

The training workshop was divided into 6 sessions and presentations and discussions were centred on this. The sessions are as listed below.

Session 1: To introduce marine turtle ecology to the participants that will include:
• Marine environment
• Marine turtle biology / life cycle
• Marine turtle nesting ecology

Session 2: To introduce Marine turtle Species found in PNG waters
• Marine Turtles species in PNG waters
• Marine turtle Distribution in PNG waters
• Status of Marine Turtles in PNG
• Current Turtle programs in PNG

Session 3: To introduce turtle tagging and data collection protocols
• Marine turtle tagging
• Various tags used
• Data sheets
• Satellite tracking
• Databases
• Practical application to turtle tagging and data collecting

Session 4. Developing a turtle Conservation Management Plan
• Strategic planning and workplan
• Management planning

Session 5. Marine Turtle Protection under PNG legislation
• Fauna Protection and Control Act (1978)

Session 6. Education and Awareness on Marine Turtle Conservation Programs
• Education and awareness ..........WHY???
• Methods/ Avenues
2. Outcomes of the Workshop.

Participants began arriving on Monday 1st of October. Registration began on Tuesday (2nd Oct) morning.

Day 1. Tuesday 2nd October 2012

An opening ceremony was done at 9.00am to open the workshop. The Chairman of Gildipasi, Mr Peter made a few remarks on the importance of creation and followed this with a prayer. This was followed by a few remarks by Wenceslaus Magun, the MAKATA Program Director.

Following the opening ceremony, participants were asked to introduce themselves. Participants’ number at the workshop was about 40 and this included about 10 female participants allowing for gender balance at the workshop.

The training proper began at 9.00am. The participants were introduced to the marine environment. These included the major habitats such as mangroves forests, seagrass beds, the coral reefs and the pelagic or deep waters. Examples of organisms on each habitat were given. There was great emphasis on the “connectivity” of the marine systems and the need to consider this connectivity when designing a management regime for these systems. Water currents playing a major role in disbursement of larvae etc of marine organisms was also highlighted. Turtle migration and feeding was also linked to marine connectivity.

Marine turtle biology was introduced next. The participants were introduced to the life cycle of the marine turtles. From the nesting behaviour to hatchling going into the sea, growing up on the sea and the migration to feeding sites and returning to nesting beaches as matured adults. Marine Turtle nesting ecology was presented to the participants highlighting nesting behaviours and beaches.

Marine Turtle species of the oceans were introduced and all seven species of marine turtles were introduced briefly. The common 3 species (hawksbill, green turtles and the leatherback turtle) were discussed thoroughly as more time were spent on these 3 species and also the fact that they were very common in PNG marine waters. Current turtle programs in PNG were also presented. This included the Huon Coast Leatherback program and the Milne Bay tagging program.

Marine Turtle Species in PNG waters and their distribution were then presented to the participants. The participants were informed that there has been no systematic update on the distribution of the turtle species in the PNG waters since the last distribution survey done by Sylvia Spring in 1978. Information from Sylvia’s survey indicated that Greens and Hawkbills were common throughout PNG waters while Leatherback was restricted to the northern coast of PNG mainland and occasionally were found in the New Britain’s, New Ireland and Manus Islands beaches during nesting seasons.
For each presentation, discussion time was set aside for questions and comments. There were a good number of discussions and comments. Traditional knowledge was also highlighted by the participants on their knowledge of the marine environment and especially on the marine turtles.

Towards the end of the day there was a recap and a brief evaluation of the presentations and the workshop ended for day at 4.30pm. All in all the participants understood and grasped the presentation well

Day2. Wednesday 3rd October 2012

Day two began at 8.30am with a recap of the previous day’s presentation. This was followed by a couple of presentations on turtle tagging and monitoring protocols throughout the day.

Presentations under this session included: Turtle tagging protocols, various tags that are used, turtle monitoring datasheets, and various turtle databases and turtle management programs in PNG and the region. Under turtle tagging protocols, participants were instructed on the proper application of various tags used including the metal tags, the PIT tags and the satellite tracking systems. Advantages and disadvantages of this various tags were highlighted. Various data sheets were also introduced to the participants including: “turtle encounter and nesting turtle datasheet”, “nest “datasheet, Nesting Beach ground survey”..etc. The participants were informed that the Turtle Encounter and Nesting Turtle Datasheet” was ideal for the purpose of the turtle tagging program that is being initiated along the Madang coast.

The participants were also introduced to the 2 main database in the region including the SPREP database, The Queensland Parks and Wildlife marine turtle database (Col Limpus) . It was rather unfortunate that samples of the two databases were not available at the time of the workshop and so could not be demonstrated to the participants.

Later in the afternoon, participants had a practical demonstration session on the handling and tagging of marine turtles and the recording of data. The session went very well and the participants were able to grasp the practical application of tags and documentation of data.

Time was also set aside for questions, comments, and clarifications on the presentations. In general, the session was very constructive and also a lot of information not covered under the formal presentations was covered under this session.

After an evaluation of the day’s sessions, the workshop wrapped up at 5.00pm.
Day3. Thursday 4th October 2012

Day 3 began with a recap of the previous day’s presentation. This was followed by the session set for the day.

Day 3 session was basically introducing the participants to strategic planning of various programs and especially Day 4. Friday 5th October 2012
where the participants were tasked to develop a Turtle Management Plan for the marine turtle program for their respective communities.
The following topics were covered under this session:
• Strategic planning (vision, mission...etc)
Work planning
Issues
Thematic mapping of issues
Developing a Management Plan

The participants were introduced to basic strategic planning and then taken through a strategic planning exercise using their community oriented turtle program to develop Workplan for their community programs. For most of the participants it was a first time to go through a strategic planning process but they were very enthusiastic and had no problems coping with the exercise.

The strategic planning exercise took the whole day and had to continue on to early part of day 4.

Day 4 ended at 5.30pm.


Day 4 began at 8.30am with a recap of day 3. Participants were then allocated time to continue completing their community Workplans. Participants divided into 4 main communities to undertake this exercise. They were then recalled back to do presentations on their draft workplans. It should be noted here that even given the fact that they had no previous experience in developing workplans they did come up with workable plans. Refer to Annex 4 for draft Workplan.

A couple of video presentations on turtle management were then shown to the participants. At the end of these sessions, questions and comments were invited from the participants. As usual with comments from other previous sessions, comments provided in this session were very constructive and lessons and experiences were shared in this session.

The final two sessions were squeezed into the afternoon session. This included the relevant laws and legislation protecting turtles and how to go about developing an effective awareness campaign on turtle conservation.

Under the PNG laws on wildlife protection, participants were introduced to the Fauna Protection and Control Act (1978), relevant Policies and the Wildlife Management Areas concept under the Fauna (and Flora) protection and Control Act. Various sections under the Act were introduced. Discussion centred on the issue of enforcement. Enforcement and/or rather lack of enforcement of this Act under the Department of Environment and Conservation have been an ongoing issue. It was also noted that regulations under this Act pertaining to endangered, restricted take, and/or protection of endangered species were not very specific in terms local take or harvest of these resources. All in all the discussions and comments brought forward under this session went very well and opened up minds of the participants.

Under the session on “Effective Awareness Campaign”, participants were introduced to Education and Awareness as an effective mechanism or tool that is currently utilised to drive home information and also increase communities and general public knowledge on the issues associated with conservation management. Topics under this session included: why education and awareness?, methodologies, getting the message across, target audiences and effective awareness campaigns. Most participants at the workshop has had previous and varying experiences in undertaking awareness campaigns on environmental and conservation issues out to the general public and communities and are well versed. This session strengthened and somewhat enhanced their capacity to undertake more awareness campaigns. Discussions under this session went well and were again very informative.

An evaluation was undertaken following the session on Education and Awareness followed by a final evaluation of the training workshop. More than 40 participants attended this workshop.

The training workshop was officially closed at 5.30pm on Friday, 5th October 2012. A small official ceremony was undertaken to close the workshop followed by refreshments.

An open letter to Mel Togolo on seabed mining

by ramunickel Wenceslaus Magun | Australian Association for the Advancement of Pacific Studies | PNG Attitude GOOD MORNING MEL*. I have great respect for you but not for Nautilus's experimental seabed mining. I know deep within your heart and in your subconscious sense, you are not in favour of the experimental seabed mining. As an ex seminarian, I challenge you to probe once again into your moral and ethical decision to support Nautilus a foreign company that truly does not care if the lives of indigenous Papua New Guineans are going to be affected or not should there be any risk occurring. The company and the Government of Papua New Guinea does not have the infrastructure, funds, and the capacity to mitigate any such unplanned risks. You have not taken into account the precautionary principals as your primary social responsibility. You are only developing your Environmental Management Plan. Logically this should have been the first thing to do and that you should have gauged views from the public prior to requesting to be granted a 20-year mining lease licence. Believe me we are no longer ignorant and fools and can easily be listening to your crap of lies. We now know that your experimental seabed mining will have more negative detrimental impact on our marine habitat, cultures, food source, and dignity. Whilst I am not a lawyer or a marine scientist the facts presented to us by our scientific advisor Professor Richard Steiner, Dr Helen Rosenbaum and other journals on this subject gives us sufficient information to believe that your experimental seabed mining will have more negative impact to us in all fronts than the gains you boats so much of. Listen Mel. PNG is your country. We are your people. Stand up for us now. The National Fisheries Authority, the Opposition leader and his team in the Opposition, Governor for Oro, Governor for Milne Bay, Governor for Manus, Governor for Madang, New Ireland Provincial Government, the resource owners of New Ireland, East New Britain, Madang, Milne Bay and university students from these respective provinces as well as individuals, scientists, learned friends from PNG and abroad are all opposed to your venture and are supporting our call to stop your experimental seabed mining. We are united! We demand that you tell your associates in Nautilus to pack up and leave our waters, our sovereign independent State of Papua New Guinea where our forefathers have lived for more than 50,000 years. They knew better how to survive on their land and sea and we desire to follow their footsteps. Our natural resources have provided sustenance and shelter. We have deep spiritual and emotional connections with our environment that gives us our dignity. Nearly all our indigenous tribes on this land recognise this reciprocal relationship. We desire to pass on the pristine, unique, diverse biodiversity and habitat from our natural resources to our children and grand children and great grand children of which we have borrowed from them this richly blessed country. We are custodians to our resources and have an obligation to ensure that all is well, safe, healthy and friendly as stipulated in the Somare Temu Vision 2050 statement. We cannot sit back and continue to remain passive to the ongoing pollution and pillaging of our rich habitat and biodiversity, traditional cultures, and spirituality by some neo-colonialists wearing the sheep coat as pioneers of seabed mining boasting of "redeeming" us from our economic and social woes. Money is not the essence of life. Life comes from God. And that life is sustained by the beauty and abundance of our natural resources. We have been called upon to be stewards of God's creation. This is our strength. Finally, Mel, how comes you are responding now to Gangai and not to my list of questions I had sent to you almost a year ago? I have great respect for you but not for the industry. Cheers, Wence * Mel Togolo is PNG country manager for Nautilus Minerals. He has over 30 years of experience in senior roles, working for industry and government both in Papua New Guinea and abroad. He is on the Executive Business Council of Papua New Guinea. Mr. Togolo has represented industry at the board level, including roles at Westpac-PNG Limited, Highlands Gold Limited and Bougainville Copper Limited, and was also Deputy Chairman of the Investment Promotion Authority of Papua New Guinea. Prior to his appointment at Nautilus he worked for ten years as the General Manager of Corporate Affairs at Placer Dome Niugini Limited. [Nautilus website]

Papua New Guinea’s seabed to be mined for gold and copper

Government approves world's first commercial deep-sea mining project despite vehement objections over threat to marine life; http://www.google.com/

url?q=http%3A%2F%2Framumine.wordpress.com%2F2012%2F08%2F07%2F

papua-new-guineas-seabed-to-be-mined-for-gold-and-copper%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGjkoaUNsljzzqzWRd1UNZYsMvm9A

August 7, 2012 · 6:06 am

Papua New Guinea’s seabed to be mined for gold and copper

Government approves world’s first commercial deep-sea mining project despite vehement objections over threat to marine life

Oliver Milman | The Guardian

A “new frontier” in mining is set to be opened up by the underwater extraction of resources from the seabed off the coast of Papua New Guinea, despite vehement objections from environmentalists and local activists.

Canadian firm Nautilus Minerals has been granted a 20-year licence by the PNG government to commence the Solwara 1 project, the world’s first commercial deep sea mining operation.

Nautilus will mine an area 1.6km beneath the Bismarck Sea, 50km off the coast of the PNG island of New Britain. The ore extracted contains high-grade copper and gold.

The project is being carefully watched by other mining companies keen to exploit opportunities beneath the waves.

The Deep Sea Mining (DSM) campaign, a coalition of groups opposing the PNG drilling, estimates that 1 million sq km of sea floor in the Asia-Pacific region is under exploration licence. Nautilus alone has around 524,000 sq km under licence, or pending licence, in PNG, Tonga, New Zealand and Fiji.

“PNG is the guinea pig for deep-sea mining,” says Helen Rosenbaum, the campaign’s co-ordinator. “The mining companies are waiting in the wings ready to pile in. It’s a new frontier, which is a worrying development.

“The big question the locals are asking is ‘What are the risks?’ There is no certain answer to that, which should trigger a precautionary principle.

“But Nautilus has found a place so far away from people that they can get away with any impacts. They’ve picked an underfunded government without the regulation of developed countries that will have no way of monitoring this properly.”

The mining process will involve levelling underwater hydrothermal “chimneys”, which spew out vast amounts of minerals. Sediment is then piped to a waiting vessel, which will separate the ore from the water before pumping the remaining liquid back to the seafloor.

The DSM campaign has compiled a report, co-authored by a professor of zoology from University of Oxford, which warns that underwater mining will decimate deep water organisms yet to be discovered by science, while sediment plumes could expose marine life to toxic metals that will work their way up the food chain to tuna, dolphins and even humans.

“There are indirect impacts that could clog the gills of fish, affect photosynthesis and damage reefs,” says Rosenbaum.

Activists also claim that an environmental analysis by Nautilus fails to properly address the impact of the mining on ecosystems, nor explains any contingency plan should there be a major accident.

Wenceslaus Magun, a PNG-based activist, told the Guardian that local fishing communities are concerned about the mining and are planning to challenge the exploration licence.

“We are really concerned because the sea is the source of our spirituality and sustenance,” he said. “The company has not explained to us the risks of deep sea mining. They haven’t responded to my requests for information.”

“The government has turned a blind eye to the concern of its own people. We are mobilising people to raise funds to take this to court and retract Nautilus’ licence.”

However, proponents of deep-sea mining point out that it is potentially far less damaging than land-based extraction.

“The material is very high grade so you have to mine less in order to get the same amount of metal,” said Chris Yeats, a geologist at CSIRO, the Australian government’s scientific arm. “At those depths there are bacteria, but there’s a cut off at around 1,000m where most fish are, so it should have little impact.”

“Unlike a terrestrial mine, you don’t have to build infrastructure such as roads and you don’t displace people. You chop off one of these venting chimneys and another one will grow back, so it’s a little like the mining equivalent of cutting grass.”

Steve Rogers, the CEO of Nautilus, said the company had gone through a “rigorous” study of environmental impact over the past six years.

“This will be a relatively small footprint compared to a mine on land, on an area about the size of a dozen football pitches,” he said. “We’ve sought out the best scientists in the world. We aren’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes.”

“This isn’t in a fishing area and won’t impact coral. Even if it were in a fishing area, it won’t affect that upper area where the fish are.”

Rogers said that Nautilus had contacted 15,000 local people in PNG to hold workshops on the project. The company estimates that the 30-month first phase of the mining will bring $142m(£92m) in benefits to the PNG economy, with a plan to employ 70% of the project’s staff from the country within three years.

Despite these assurances, the project has been delayed by an undisclosed commercial dispute between Nautilus and the PNG government, which is currently under arbitration in Sydney.

The PNG government has come under fire for taking a 30% equity stake in the project, which will require it to contribute about $25m(£16m) towards infrastructure, provoking accusations of a flagrant conflict of interest.

In return, PNG will receive $40.8mn (£26m) in tax from a project estimated to generate $1bn(£642m) although Rogers said revenue would be “a long way short of that”) along with a 30% return on what is still a highly experimental mining process.

“It was the government’s choice to take a stake, we didn’t ask them to do it,” says Rogers. “I’d stress that the government isn’t threatening any of our mining permits. We’re disappointed to be in a dispute with the government but I’m confident we will resolve this.”

What isn’t in dispute is that the mining industry is starting to eye major opportunities on the seabed.

“A number of governments are exploring for minerals in this way, such as Russia, Japan, China and the UK,” said Rogers. “It will take time, it’s not a gold rush, but the demand in increasing.”

Yeats added: “As the global population increases, we’re likely to see large-scale marine mining. How far away that is depends on how successful they are. But we will have to turn to the 70% of the world we currently aren’t mining for minerals.”