Listen to our stories on leatherback turtles restoration and protection project in Madang and sea bed mining stories and concerns on Radio NZ

Just wanted to let you know that my interview on leatherback turtles is playing on Monday morning on the Dateline Pacific programme, which you will find by going to Radio NZs website www.rnzi.com. Some comments I made on deep sea mining are included in a package which is on tomorrow's Tagata O Te Moana, which you can also listen to on rnzi's website, according to Annell from radio NZ.

Radio New Zealand International - Shortwave Broadcaster to the South Pacific
www.rnzi.com
Radio New Zealand International is a Shortwave Broadcaster. Our broadcasts are beamed to the island nations of the Pacific but can also be heard in other parts of the world.

Radio New Zealand broadcasts our stories on leatherback turtles and sea bed mining

Just wanted to let you know that my interview on leatherback turtles is playing on Monday morning on the Dateline Pacific programme, which you will find by going to our website www.rnzi.com . Some comments I made on deep sea mining are included in a package which is on tomorrow's Tagata O Te Moana, which you can also listen to on rnzi's website, according to Annell from radio NZ .

Radio New Zealand International - Shortwave Broadcaster to the South Pacific
www.rnzi.com
Radio New Zealand International is a Shortwave Broadcaster. Our broadcasts are beamed to the island nations of the Pacific but can also be heard in other parts of the world.

Call for PNG government to establish citizens mining council

A Papua New Guinea marine conservation group is calling on the government to establish a citizens’ council to advise on deep sea mining projects, reports Radio New Zealand.

PNG is the first country in the world to have issued a lease for deep sea mining, with the Canadian company Nautilus Minerals scheduled to start work in the Bismarck Sea in 2013.

The national co-ordinator of Mas Kagin Tapani says local people oppose the project but illiteracy stops them from taking any real part in the consultation process.

Wenceslaus Magun says members of a PNG deep sea mining citizens advisory council would be elected community representatives providing information to the public and government.

“This body should be funded by the government of the day or even better by the mining company themselves. So this is our next call to the government of Papua New Guinea and to Nautilus.”

Wenceslaus Magun says such a body could engage independent scientists to work along with it.

Call for SPC to listen to Pacific communities over seabed mining

The Pacific’s technical advisory body, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, is being urged to listen to the views of the region’s communities on seabed mining, reports Radio NZ
The SPC has drafted a legislative framework on deep sea mining, intended as a guide for Pacific countries with ocean floor mineral resources.
The national co-ordinator of Papua New Guinea’s marine conservation group, Mas Kagin Tapani, joins others in criticising the European Union-funded framework for its lack of protection of those likely to be affected by extractive work.
PNG is the first Pacific country to have granted a commercial mining licence, with a Bismarck Sea project scheduled to start in 2013.
Mas Kagin Tapani’s Wenceslaus Magun says 85 percent of PNG people and especially those in the vicinity of the project live on marine life.
“SPC, being Pacific Islanders working for SPC, they know that very well. They have to come out, get out of their air-conditioned offices there in Fiji, come to Papua New Guinea, visit the local communities, call for the views of the people themselves, not please the European Union who is funding their operations in Fiji.”
Pacific concerns over seabed mining

You can listen to Helen and Wence on Earth Matters which is on Australia's largest community radio, 3CR. This show goes national. It is up on the website
http://www.deepseaminingoutofourdepth.org/

A group based in Papua New Guinea is seeking public support to try to force governments to reconsider the push to exploit potential mineral resources in seabed mining, reports the ABC.

Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat reports the Pacific’s seabed mineral wealth has attracted the attention of business and governments, expecially in areas where there are few other sources of economic income.
The group Act Now PNG says Papua New Guinea has recently approved the world’s first seabed mining operation; Tonga and Nauru have issued exploration licences in international waters; and Fiji is expected to soon issue a licence.
There are concerns resources will be mined with little benefit coming back to the people of a region, and with likely damage to livelihoods and lifestyles long after miners have left.
Effrey Dademo, of Act Now PNG, says the group wants wider Pacific support so it can take a formal statement to the next meeting of Pacific Island leaders.
She notes that PNG has seen civil war and environmental disasters during its experience with land-based mining.
Ms Dademo said seabed mining is still at an experimental stage and there was scientific evidence to say it could destroy underwater hydro-thermal vents, a habitat for rare marine creatures.

Pacific deep sea mining framework under fire :: Papua New Guinea Issues in Perspective

Pacific deep sea mining framework under fire :: Papua New Guinea Issues in Perspective

SOPAC framework on deep seabed mining will disenfranchise Pacific Peoples'

MEDIA RELEASE
Wednesday 15 February 2012
SOPAC framework on deep seabed mining will disenfranchise Pacific Peoples'

NGO's across the Pacific, criticise The Secretariat of the Pacific Community's (SOPAC) proposal for a legislative and regulatory framework for deep sea mineral exploration and mining.
With Nautilus Mineral's Solwara 1 project in PNG scheduled to start mining in 2013, there is a growing international alliance of NGO's and civil society pushing for a halt to this latest display of greed.
Effrey Dademo, ACT NOW! PNG Program Manager, said, “The drafting of laws to facilitate experimental deep seabed mining disenfranchises Pacific peoples' who have not yet made an informed decision on whether they want to be the guinea pigs for this industry.”
“SOPAC has not consulted or gained consent from local communities in PNG, some of which have been resisting against Nautilus Minerals Solwara 1 project since 2008. Landowners under their customary rights do take claim to resources not just on land but also the sea.”
Wences Magun, national coordinator for Mas Kagin Tapani group in Papua New Guinea said, “Our coastal and offshore island people depend on our marine resources for survival. It is our "supermarket". Any negative impact caused to the marine environment will have detrimental negative impact on our lives and the lives of our descendants.
“Destroy it and you destroyed us. We stand by the famous wisdom saying: "Prevention is better than cure" and therefore we call on all parties including SOPAC to stop Nautilus and other corporations from sea bed mining in the Pacific.”
As well as facilitating the voices of growing local community concerns about the lack of consultation by corporations, national governments and bodies like SOPAC, the NGO's are also calling for the precautionary principle to be adhered to.
Dr. Helen Rosenbaum, campaign coordinator for the Deep Sea Mining campaign in Australia and author of Out of Our Depth: Mining the Ocean Floor in Papua New Guinea said, “The precautionary principle is notably absent in some of the policy documents we are seeing. We are concerned that SOPAC is not truly independent enough to be guided by the principle even though scientists and regulators have called for this to be the underlying principle behind any discussion and framing of regulation and legislation.”
Catherine Coumans of Mining Watch Canada, editor of the Out of Our Depth report said, “The precautionary principle states that if a development has a risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on the developers. In the case of the Solwara 1 project case it would be Nautilus and the PNG government.”
“It is clear that Nautilus cannot meet the precautionary principle. The company has admitted, for example, not being able to conduct basic toxicity testing on the deep sea species that will be directly and indirectly affected.”
John Chitoa, Bismarck Ramu Group in Papua New Guinea said, “Even if good laws are in place for deep sea mining in the Pacific do we even have the human resources or the capacity in managing it. Without enforcement we end up with indigenous communities suffering like they have in PNG at the hands of the worlds largest mining companies like BHP Billiton (Ok Tedi and the destruction of the Fly River) and Rio Tinto (Panguna and the war in Bougainville).
“If this supposed new “frontier” is to start – the entrenchment of deep sea mining in the Pacific, an unsustainable industry – we would be certainly sealing the fate of local communities in the Pacific, and humanity as a whole, for the worst.”
For more information contact:
Wences Magun (Papua New Guinea), +675 71959665, magun.wences@gmail.com
Catherine Coumans (Canada), +613 5693439, catherine@miningwatch.ca

You can download the Out of Our Depth: Mining the Ocean Floor in Papua New Guinea report here: http://www.deepseaminingoutofourdepth.org

Information About Turtles

The leatherback turtles are the largest sea turtle among all the seven species (they can reach 2 meters in length). They have an extremely wide distribution; being able to swim in cold and warm waters due to their ability to control their body temperature. They also dive as deep as a whale! (1000m)

Leatherback sea turtles have the largest reproductive output of all reptiles; they nest in beaches of tropical and subtropical regions. They lay between 60-85 eggs seven times in a season every 2-4 years.

They migrate very long distances from the nesting beaches to the foraging areas. For example the turtles nesting in Indonesia carry out transoceanic migrations reaching the waters off California where they forage. This species only feeds on jellyfish.

Leatherback turtles have been on earth for over 100 million years. The species is considered critically endangered by the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species (http://www.iucnredlist.org/) due to a decline of 90% of the population in the last 20 years.

Principal causes of the decline:

• Poaching of the eggs and females
• Interaction with fisheries (long lines and gillnets)
• Development of nesting beaches

Most reptiles lay amniotic eggs.The egg shell protects the embryo,and the intemal membranes help embryos develop.

Each species has a distinct appearance,habitat,and diet

Sea turtles are reptiles.Their closest relatives are snakes,lizards,crocodiles,and alligators.

By studying the fossil record,scientists have shown that turtles have been on Earth for more than 250 million years,which is long before dinosaurs.

http://www.earthsbirthday.org/EDSS/seaturtles/
slideshow/index.htm#basic

Unlike other turtles and tortoises,they cannot retract their heads and limbs into their shells.

Scientists estimate that only 1 out of every 1000 sea turtle eggs will produce a fully mature adult.

Turtles that hatch from the other 999 eggs will die before they mate,from natural events or human causes.

Females have two oviducts.These structural adaptations help insure that females lay large clutches of fertile eggs.

http://www.earthsbirthday.org/EDSS/seaturtles/
slideshow/index.htm#basic
» In China the sea turtle is a symbol of longevity and, for that reason, is often revered. Five species of sea turtles are present in Chinese waters in the South China Sea; leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea), green turtles (Chelonia mydas), hawksbills turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata), loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) and olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea)
Click here to learn more about China.
Flash puzzle zone: http://www.flashpuzzlezone.com/
jigsaw/animals/reptiles/sea-turtle/Turtle games

Turtle games
http://www.shegame.com/cat/77/ Turtles/flash-games-1

Flash puzzle zone:
http://www.flashpuzzlezone.com/ jigsaw/animals/reptiles/sea-turtle/

Turtle games http://www.shegame.com/cat/77/
Turtles/flash-games-1
The Official Great Turtle Race Educational
Resources
A two-week, easy-to-implement set of curricula for various grades created specifically for the Great Turtle Race

Sea Turtles 101 : SWOT Report - The State of the World's Sea Turtles Don't miss this excellent primer in sea turtles and sea turtle science around the world. If you want to learn more about sea turtles go to http://www.seaturtlestatus.org/ (where they have access to 3 different reports)

Earth Day Science Symposium: Endangered Sea Turtles

This classroom activity by Earth’s Birthday Project focuses on data analysis, mapping and graphing, and oral presentation. The seven classroom sessions measure student achievement across applied math and science benchmarks.

Sea Turtle Science

This resource offers an hour-long activity—"Survivor! A Loggerhead Hatching”—in which students explore the life stages of loggerhead turtles using actual scientific data. Created by The Bridge, it correlates to the National Science Education standards.

Caribbean Conservation
Corporation's Educational

These include a teacher's guide and activities for kids, such as online quizzes, puzzles, printable coloring books, crosswords and more.

A good example: How to go GREEN!

http://www.leatherback.org

http://www.seaturtle.org/

http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/
SeaTurtle/home.html

Sea Turtles: A Complete Guide to Their Biology, Behavior, and Conservation (Hardcover)

by James R. Spotila (Author)

Voyage of the Turtle: In Pursuit of the Earth's Last Dinosaur (Hardcover)
by Carl Safina (Author)
The Man Who Saved Sea Turtles: Archie Carr and the Origins of Conservation Biology (Hardc