China Dialogue Ocean

China Dialogue Ocean (https://chinadialogueocean.net) is dedicated to illuminating, analyzing and helping to resolve our ocean crisis.

Deep-Sea Mining Could Threaten the Search for New Antibiotics

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-10-11 21:10:20

[By Jessica Aldred] Prof. Mat Upton is a medical microbiologist and Dr Kerry Howell is a deep-sea marine ecologist. At the University of Plymouth they have discovered antimicrobial properties in bacteria that live in a species of deep-sea sponge – a potential breakthrough in the fight against antibiotic-resistant superbugs. But they warn that such potential could be lost in the drive to exploit the ocean floor for minerals. Jessica Aldred (JA): What did you discover and how? Mat Upton (MU):...

After 450M Years, Chinese Horseshoe Crab is Now Endangered

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-10-04 17:22:58

[By Zhong Jianshan] The horseshoe crab has been around since before the dinosaurs. Over the past 30 years, numbers in China, home to one of four species of this “living fossil," have plummeted. One of the main reasons is demand for the animal’s copper-based blood, which is used to make the most sensitive indicator of bacteria ever discovered. In March this year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed the Chinese horseshoe crab (also known as the tri-spine...

Report: In Ghana, Chinese Trawlers Strip Fisheries Using Local Cover

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-09-13 20:42:58

[By Mona Samari] As women fish sellers sit on their stools in the bustling port of Elmina in Ghana, large steel basins between their legs and elegantly knotted turbans on their heads, some stare into the distance, towards a horizon that was once filled with more opportunity than it is now. From time to time a fish seller bangs loudly on their steel, impatient for the day’s catch to be offloaded from the wooden canoes. It is a noise...

Lamu Port Project Impacts Kenyan Fishermen's Livelihoods

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-08-30 21:45:07

[By Janet Njunge] At a police station on Lamu Island in Kenya, 47-year-old Somo Mohamed Somo is nursing his injuries. Somo, the chairman of a local group representing Lamu’s fishermen, has come to lodge a complaint. He says his attacker unfairly accused him of pocketing money meant to compensate fishermen hit by dredging for a new 32-berth port. The Lamu port is being funded by the Development Bank of South Africa and built by the China Communications Construction Company. It is...

Op-Ed: CITES Talks Bring Opportunity to Save Endangered Sharks

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-08-23 19:21:15

[By Lee Crockett and Rebecca Regnery] Sharks are no strangers to long journeys. They are among our planet’s most widely travelled species, with migrations known to exceed 20,000 kilometres. Due mostly to relentless overfishing that kills from 63 million to 273 million a year, mainly for their fins, these voyages are also fraught with danger. But this year marks a milestone in the most important shark journey of all – the one toward proper conservation and management, and away from the...

Alex Rogers: We Are Accelerating Biodiversity Loss in the Ocean

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-08-16 23:53:19

[By Jessica Aldred] Professor Alex Rogers is one of the world’s preeminent marine biologists, who has advised the UN, Greenpeace, WWF and G7 countries on ocean ecology. He is science director of the REV Ocean foundation, a visiting professor and senior research fellow at Oxford University and was a scientific consultant on the BBC’s Blue Planet II series. He has three marine species named after him, including the zombie snot worm, Osedax rogersi.

The Race for Rights to the Ocean’s Genetic Resources

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-08-09 12:21:34

[By Li Jing] The ocean is home to millions of species, many of which are still unknown to humans. It supplies us with oxygen and each year absorbs nearly 25% of the greenhouse gases we produce by burning fossil fuels. However, vast areas of the high seas, which cover nearly half of the Earth’s surface, remain unregulated. Countries are currently negotiating a landmark global deal known as the BBNJ (biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction), which for the first time would plug this significant...

Chinese Firm Shelves Plan for Fishing Port in Uruguay

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-08-02 23:01:20

[By Fermin Koop] Shandong BaoMa Fisheries Group has shelved plans to build a port in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo that could accommodate 500 Chinese vessels amidst legal complications and strong opposition from local residents and environmental organisations. The $200 million project, which included a free trade zone, shipyard and fish processing and freezing plants, on a private 28-hectare site in Punta Yeguas, a mostly rural area with a public park, required a change in the legal designation of the land....

Should China Build the World’s Longest Undersea Tunnel?

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-07-26 20:10:42

[By Zhang Chun] In the waters off Penglai, Shandong province, 151 islands strung out in a line mark the boundary between the Bohai and Yellow seas. The Changshan archipelago, as it is known, is an abundant habitat for migratory fish, birds and seals. It is one of 24 prime candidates for the new status of “national marine park”. But over the last two decades the local government has been hoping to use the archipelago to drill a rail tunnel underneath the Bohai...

Study: Temporary Fishing Bans Can Protect Fish Stocks

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-07-12 18:58:51

[By David Adam] Temporary fishing bans could be the best way to protect the world’s fish stocks while still providing enough to eat, a new study claims. The results suggest that fishing activity focused into periodic open seasons separated by several years of closures could be a more workable conservation solution than permanent bans. The study, from an international team of scientists, argues these so-called “pulse harvests” of fish can address concerns about stock sustainability, while also ensuring enough fish...