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Monday, September 3, 2007

About Our Ocean

As a Tourist or Diver:

- How You Can Help
- What You Can Do

Be responsible!

  • The money you spend on your holiday helps determine the development and direction of tourism. Use your money to support reputable, conservation-minded tour operators and suppliers.
  • Stay in locally owned hotels, support local businesses, and hire local guides and services. By supporting the local economy, you will help local communities to protect their environment.
  • Support environmentally-friendly businesses. Ask before you buy: is the business supporting the local marine environment? Let them know you are informed and care about coral reefs and other marine habitats.
  • In restaurants, don't buy live reef fish
  • Respect all local guidelines, recommendations, regulations, and customs.
  • Ask local authorities or your dive shop how to protect coral reefs, seagrass meadows, beaches, and other marine habitats.
  • Don't put rubbish or human waste in rivers or the sea.
  • Don't leave waste on the beach.
  • Don't buy products made from any endangered species, including tortoise-shell or coral - they could be illegal.
  • Don't collect shells, corals, or other natural items.
  • If you find yourself in a boat, make sure it doesn’t anchor on a reef.
  • If you dive or snorkel, don't touch reefs or marine animals! Keep yourself and your scuba gear off coral reefs. And try to stay off the bottom: stirred-up sediment can settle on coral and smother it.
  • If you go whale watching, or watching other marine mammals and birds, ensure the tour operator stays a respectable distance from the animals. And never touch!
  • Take a look at EarthDive - a global project for millions of divers, snorkellers, and ordinary citizens to preserve the health and diversity of our oceans.
  • Volunteer for a coral reef or beach cleanup for your holiday.
  • Support a local conservation organization at your holiday destination. Even the smallest donations can make a big difference.
As a Seafood Lover:

Whether it is sushi, swordfish steak, paella or fish and chips, many of us love seafood.

The trouble is, our oceans are being seriously over fished. So much so, that unless action is taken some of our favourite fish may disappear from the seafood counter and restaurant table altogether.

But it is not just our supper that's at stake. Unsustainable fishing is decimating the world's fisheries, as well as destroying marine habitats and incidentally killing billions of fish and other marine animals each year.


But you can help change this.

Consumer demand for sustainable seafood can act as an extremely powerful incentive for better fisheries management.

If you buy, or ask for, seafood that comes from sustainable sources you are helping to protect our marine environment and, at the same time, ensuring that seafood can be enjoyed for many years to come.

Say Yes to sustainable seafood: Pledge to buy MSC!

In supermarkets, look for seafood products with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) ecolabel; or alternatively, go to supermarkets that stock MSC-certified seafood.

Ask your supermarket, fish store, or favourite restaurant to stock MSC-certified fish.


Check out the WWF seafood guides...

At WWF-Indonesia we believe that it is possible to have fish on the menu in homes and restaurants while ensuring healthy fish populations in a healthy environment. If you make careful choices when enjoying your seafood while learning more about how fisheries should be managed we all contribute to ensuring healthy oceans for the future.

Indonesian seafood products are under threats as coastal and reef fisheries are putting too high pressure on the fish populations and fish environment.



Did you know that:

  • Lobster grows and matures very slowly. Lobster is very easy to catch and so lobster in the wild are getting very rare.
  • Lobster is sometimes caught with poison. The poison kills the reef and its other inhabitants.
  • Sharks fins are obtained from sharks that are often caught in nets or on long-lines where also dolphins, turtles, birds and other marine life falls prey.
  • Shark meat is often discarded after the fins are cut off.
  • Sharks grow and mature very slowly. Shark populations have gone down dramatically in the past 10 years.
  • Baby sharks are getting rare as their adults are being over-fished. Baby sharks could restore the dwindling shark population when they are left to live and grow.
  • Prawns are caught with trawlers that destroy the near shore ocean bottom ecosystem. By-catch often includes turtles and other marine mammals.
  • Prawns are also farmed in ponds for which mangrove forests were cut down. Without the mangrove tress, coastlines erode and natural fish nursery areas disappear.
  • Grouper is often caught with poison that kills the reef.
  • Grouper grows and matures slowly. Groupers are also important in balancing the reef fish community.
  • Reef fish are often caught with explosives. Many snappers, rabbitfish, groupers, fusiliers, triggerfish and surgeonfish are typical blast fishing catches. The explosive kills the reef for many decades, and the reef sometimes does not regenerate at all.
  • Pelagic fish such as mackerel, tuna and trevally make great dishes and are simply prepared.
  • A combination of too much fishing pressure and destructive capture techniques have caused reef and inshore fish stocks to collapse in many areas in Indonesia. What does that have to do with you? Not all areas in Indonesia represent gloom and doom. By making a careful selection when you wish to enjoy seafood, you can help to make things better.

Now you know, now you can act!

You can download and use the guide when selecting your meal. Whenever possible please ask for seafood from the green list. They present a wide variety of healthy and nutricious food.

Please be careful and aware when you select seafood from the yellow list. These products are often not produced in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.

Please refrain from ordering seafood from the red list. These products are in serious decline in the wild or cause large and unwanted by-catch of other endangered or protected species.

Codes: 1=legally protected species; 2=low fecundity and extreme vulnerability to over-fishing; 3=capture techniques extremely habitat destructive;4=health hazard due to ciguatera or metal bioaccumulation.

This list is not complete and final. Items may shift from one category to another at some time. New updates and some great seafood recipes will be regularly published at the WWF website: www.wwf.or.id or www.panda.org

2 comments:

Unknown said...

For details of where you can find MSC certified sustainable seafood near you please go to http://eng.msc.org/html/content_531.htm.

Lefidus Malau said...

thanks ...

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