Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

jennifer

Government Ban on GM to ‘Expire’ in Victoria

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“Victorian farmers have welcomed reports that the Victorian Government will give farmers the choice to grow genetically modified crops, effectively breaking ranks with other Labor states that have imposed moratoria on GM production.

“According to The Age, sources close to Premier Steve Bracks say the government is satisfied there is almost zero risk associated with GM crops and the ban “will be allowed to expire next year”.

Read the complete article at Farm Online: http://www.farmonline.com.au/news_daily.asp?ag_id=42448

Zimbabwe to Head UN Sustainability Program: What Where They Thinking?

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It says much about the state of African politics, and the credibility of the United Nations (UN), that Francis Nhema, Zimbabwe’s minister for environment and tourism, was elected last Saturday to head the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.

Evidently it doesn’t matter that Nhema belongs to a government that has effectively destroyed the agricultural base of a once proud farming nation.

When I visited in 1991, Zimbabwe also had huge and healthy elephant population and well managed national parks.

I don’t know how the elephant population is holding-up, but there is apparently an acute food shortage now, rationing of electricity, and official inflation is running at about 2,200 percent annually.

If the UN Commission needed to be headed by an African – I might have nominated someone from South Africa. What were the Africans thinking when they nominated Nhema from Zimbabwe?

I’ve Been Visiting The Murray Mouth, And

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I know the dams at the top of the Murray River are very low, but there is still water in the lower reaches of the system.

Today I visited the so-called Murray Mouth which is part of the Coorong National Park.

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We then drove around the western perimeter of the huge estaurine lake system.

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While the national consensus appears to be that some sort of catastrophe is about to befall this region — interestingly there are new housing developments and new olive orchards and more…

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Crossed the ferry at Wellington – what I think is the real Murray mouth.

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And there was also water in the river a bit upstream of Wellington.

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I’ll be back in Brisbane tomorrow. And many thanks to Phil Sawyer for a great few days in South Australia.

I’ve Been Visiting Port Lincoln, And

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I’ve spent the last couple of days with Phil Sawyer visiting Port Lincoln and other interesting places at the tip of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.

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They have had a bit of rain.

We drove down to Sleaford Bay on Friday.

Its a rugged landscape.

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Some of the first settlers were whalers.

Here’s a 300 kg bubber pot once used by Sleaford Bay whalers to extract oil.

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More recently Port Lincoln residents have got rich fatten tuna for Japanese markets.

These pilchard will be fed to tuna that are held in cages in the sea to the south of Port Lincoln.

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Prawn trawlers, abalone and crayfish fishermen still operate out of Port Lincoln. I watched a procession of about 20 prawn trawlers leave the harbour Friday night. They will be out for 11 days.

This is a photograph of some of the rigging on the boats in the afternoon, before they departed.

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The Mayor suggested to me yesterday that Port Lincoln would be a good place for a wind-powered desalination plant.

There are already wind turbines in the area. This picture was taken yesterday from Coffin Bay National Park looking south.

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Ben-Peter Terpstra on TIME with Gore

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“TIME Magazine believes that Gore and “global warming” sermons are a great combination. That’s why their environmental doctrines are so very bizarre, I guess.

How bizarre? Try reading TIME Magazine’s “Global Warming Survival Guide” dated, April 9, 2007, and the “51 Things You Can Do to Make a Difference”.

Rule 26: “Plant a bamboo fence”, because it feels good?

Unprecedented levels of idiocy aside, there’s plenty to laugh about. Indeed, I was so moved by the weirdness of it all that I wrote to TIME:

Your comically unbalanced cover story on “global warming” reminded me of why, I, for one, am not a believer. “If droughts and wildfires, floods and crop failures … and the images of drowning polar bears didn’t quiet most of the remaining global-warming doubters,” claimed the hysterical Jeffrey Kluger, “the hurricane-drive destruction of New Orleans did”. Actually, it didn’t. Many scientists have said to blame Hurricane Katrina on global warming is absurd. In Australia’s case, we have had more devastating droughts before. As for “wildfires”, these have more to do with arson than global warming. Could TIME please consider the other side of the story?

My letter, to the editor’s credit, appeared in TIME’s Inbox section under the subheading “Global Hysterics?”

But what really made me laugh was the fact I had to remove my magazine from its plastic wrapper to read the damn thing. (States Rule 24: “Just say no to plastic bags”.)

Meanwhile even the politicised United Nations freely concedes crop harvests are booming. Just analyse the satellite images. TIME must employ lazy reporters.

Read the complete article here: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5825

An Update from Ann Novek on Whaling in the North

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“The controversial Icelandic whaling fleet captain, Mr. Kristian Loftsson, has stated that whale hunting is a matter of independence.

Some government ministers have as well claimed that whale hunting is an internal affair and not any other nation’s business. Many people, however, believe that such talk is nationalistic nonsense.

http://icelandreview.com/icelandreview/search/news/Default.asp?ew_0_a_id=251371

The whaling issue has split Iceland into almost two equal camps. Intellectuals in Universities and the tourist industry oppose whale hunting. US gigantic super market chain, Whole Foods Market, has decided to stop marketing Icelandic products because of Iceland’s decision to resume commercial whaling, and UK consumers have been told to boycott Icelandic fish. Tourists, however, seem to be still travelling to Iceland .

The Icelandic Government keeps their decisions on whaling quotas secret for as long as possible.

Only some weeks ago, the Prime Minister, Mr. Haare, told the international media that “ Iceland’s unsure to continue commercial whaling”.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=31&art_id=nw20070415124412250C494522&set_id=

Well, the decision has now been made. The total minke whale quota this season is 74 animals. The Government has issued permits to kill 38 minkes for the commercial hunt and the quota for the scientific hunt is 36 minke whales.

Iceland killed its first minke on Friday for the commercial hunt , and the scientific hunt will begin on May 8.

The minke whale meat is intended for the domestic market. The Icelandic Marine Research Institution estimates that about 200 to 400 minkes in Icelandic waters can be hunted in a sustainable way.

http://icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16539&ew_0_a_id=281010

It is not known yet if Iceland will continue to hunt Fin whales this year. It all depends on if there is a market for Fin whales in Japan. Last years the decision to kill 9 Fin whales was met with an international outcry.

Another whaling nation, Norway, has been struggling with whaling for some years and resumed whaling April 1. So far 21 minkes have been reported killed. By the same time last year, which was a very bad one for whalers, 17 minke whales had been killed.

http://www.fiskeribladet.no/default.asp?lesmer=5210

I’m wondering will Iceland and Mr . Loftsson hunt Fin whales this season and will Norwegian whalers fill their whaling quota?

Ann Novek
Sweden