Piracy has existed for as long as there has been maritime trade; it conjures images of sail ships, the jolly roger, treasure and buccaneers on the seven seas. Pirates in the twenty first century, however, are more familiar with semi-automatic weapons than a cutlass, while their treasure is less gold doubloons than hostages and the latest electric goods.

According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), piracy can be defined as the act of boarding any vessel with intent to commit theft or any other crime, and with an intent or capacity to use force in furtherance of that act. Stamping out piracy is an ongoing battle, but in recent years we have seen some positive trends. Somali waters are perhaps the most well-known location of the modern-day pirates, largely due to headlines generated during the 2000s. Since then, the region has managed to significantly reduce numbers of piracy incidents, in part due to surveillance from the air and sea, and an increased international cooperation between countries' navies. Though it is considered that the decisive factor was a concerted effort to improve security measures aboard vessels, particularly through the use of armed guards. This fall in numbers is at face value a global trend, with incidents of piracy falling worldwide in recent years.

2020 is, however, on course to buck this downward trend. The IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre recorded 98 incidents of piracy and armed robbery in the first half of 2020, up from 78 in the first half of 2019.

New era, new tactics?

The traditional modus operandi for pirates has not evolved dramatically over the years. It involves attacking vessels from astern, often at night, using grappling hooks and ropes to board the ship before anyone raises the alarm. To mitigate against this, vessels have long been warned not to drop anchor in high-risk areas and are increasingly being advised of the dangers of even drifting in these zones.

Where pirates have evolved is their capability to target ships at increasing distances from the coastline. We are typically seeing attacks take place between 45 and 75 nautical miles out to sea. There are also incidents recorded as far as 400 nautical miles from the shoreline. In these incidents, smaller ships are working in conjunction with a larger mothership that carries fuel, supplies and ammunition. Further, attacks are also becoming increasingly common during daylight hours.

Victims of piracy are often simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the vast expanse of the ocean pirates may just pick the first vessel they come across. There have been incidents however of pirates utilising open source intelligence and modern technology, specifically online tracking apps and surveillance equipment to target vessels. It is impossible to estimate how widespread the use of this technology is but in one recorded hijacking incident in 2017, in the South China Sea, the pirates monitored the online Marine Traffic system and used the Ship Finder app to follow the movements of the targeted ship. There is also anecdotal evidence of Somali pirates researching information on vessels and the counter measures being employed to combat them. There are various ship tracking apps freely available online which include huge swaths of detail on potential targets including images of vessels, types of vessel i.e.: tanker or cargo vessel and their proposed routes. These are all hugely valuable bits of information and it is not a leap to imagine how they might be used increasingly by pirates to scope out targets and plan their attack vectors.

There has also been some suggestion that informants are providing access to ship information making it possible for pirates to locate target specific vessels, which may have cargo of value, in the vast expanses of the sea. Crews of some hijacked vessels have said that the pirates appear to know specific details about the ship including its layout.

Kidnap for ransom is also trending as it is much easier, quicker and often more profitable to take human cargo rather than the entire vessel - which may be difficult to house and control. This trend is being driven primarily by events in The Gulf of Guinea were violence towards crew is also an increasing risk. Between January and July of this year 77 crew were taken hostage or kidnapped according to IMBs half year report. The Gulf of Guinea accounted for 49 of these kidnappings. The maritime pirates operating in the Gulf of Guinea, like the Somali pirates of old, are known to have strong connections to their land-based counterparts, especially those operating in the Niger Delta - notorious for kidnap for ransom gangs. This gives them unique access to the markets that profit from piracy activity.

Piracy is still rooted in a tried and tested model, but there is evidence of its evolution from basic armed robberies. The relationship with land-based groups demonstrates an operation that goes beyond regional borders. While modern technology will continue to improve a pirates capability and opportunities which means seafarers must continue to be vigilant and stay informed of trends.

Where are the hotspots?

There are four traditional hotspots for piracy: the Gulf of Aden, associated with Somali pirates of the 2000s; Southeast Asia; the Gulf of Mexico; and finally, the Gulf of Guinea which reportedly accounts for the majority of maritime kidnappings in the world. There is a concern though that an economic downturn, of the sort caused by the COVID 19 pandemic, will cause a rise in piracy in other regions of the world as individuals search out alternative means of income.

Though very different parts of the world, the same factors explain why piracy has risen in these areas:

- Corruption;

- The weak rule of law and unstable governments mean authorities are unable to respond to the threats;

- Economic conditions have led some people to resort to illegal activity. Piracy is a lucrative job.

These factors are likely to be exacerbated by the COVID 19 pandemic as security is directed to other priorities and the global economy suffers a downturn. This is reflected in the number of kidnap incidents since lockdown; with 32 of the 49 crew kidnap incidents in the Gulf of Guinea during the first half of this year occurring between May and July.

Gulf of Mexico

Maritime security officials say attacks have returned in the Gulf of Mexico due to instability in the region. The security forces available are also focused on inland issues during the current pandemic. When Mexico opened its oil industry to international investment it led to that sector being seen as a lucrative target. Though private sector involvement has been rolled back since Lopez Obrador became President, attacks are still occurring on ships and platforms tied to Mexico's oil industry, robbing crews of money and seizing personal belongings and technical equipment.

Reports emerged indicating that on 24 July a group of armed pirates targeted an offshore supply vessel which was conducting operations near the Odin Offshore platform off the coast of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz state.

The attacks in the gulf have persisted into the summer, causing the U.S. government in June to issue a special security alert for the region, singling out the Bay of Campeche as a particularly perilous region.

Asia

The number of piracy and armed robbery incidents reported in Asian waters has more than doubled in the first half of 2020 compared to last year. There were 51 incidents reported from January to June this year, compared with 28 for the same period in 2019.

The most high-profile incident in Asia took place in January, when pirates boarded a fishing trawler off the east coast of the Malaysian state of Sabah and abducted eight crew members. Six months later, five crew members are still being held in captivity.

The half-yearly statistics were released by the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre on 16 July. Most of the incidents in the Singapore Strait this year occurred in the hours of darkness and involved bulk carriers - although tankers and tug-boats were also targeted. ReCAAP has attributed a lack of law enforcement, patrol and surveillance to the spike in incidents.

Gulf of Guinea

The Gulf of Guinea off West Africa is increasingly dangerous for commercial shipping, accounting for the majority of maritime kidnappings worldwide.

Where Asia may experience the most piracy incidents, which are generally thefts, the Gulf of Guinea, particularly the Niger River Delta region, is the most perilous route for ships' crews.

"The violence towards the crew is quite high and significant," says Cyrus Mody, Assistant Director for Commercial Crime Services at the International Chamber of Commerce. "The incidents are targeted at the kidnappings of the crew and the attacks are a lot more violent than other parts of the world". "Violence against crews is a growing risk in a workforce already under immense pressure," says IMB Director Michael Howlett. "In the Gulf of Guinea attackers armed with knives and guns now target crews on every type of vessel. Everyones vulnerable."

In total, IMBs Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) reports that 49 crew have been kidnapped in 2020, 32 between May and July, for ransom in the Gulf of Guinea and held captive on land for on average up to six weeks.[1]

Attempts to mitigate this are hampered somewhat by the fact that none of the countries in this region allow for private security on board. Only those with memoranda of understanding with local navies, who in turn provide security, are allowed to operate. This obviously comes at a premium.

Gulf of Aden

The security focus less than a decade ago was in the Gulf of Aden, regarded then as the most dangerous waters in the world. Somali pirates persistently hijacked large cargo ships. But a combination of coordinated international naval efforts, improved local governments and enhanced security measures aboard ships, including armed personnel, reduced the threat of pirates off the East African coast.

Whats the authorities response?

The response to maritime piracy requires state cooperation; to date three agreements have been set up in different regions of the world. The members to these regional agreements agree to arrest, investigate, and prosecute pirates on the high seas, and to suppress armed robbery in their respective territorial waters.

- In Asia, the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) was established in 2006;

- In East Africa, the Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCoC) was agreed on in 2009;

- Finally, the Yaound Code of Conduct (YCoC) to combat illicit maritime activities in West and Central Africa was signed in 2013 by 25 regional states.

The collection and dissemination of data on maritime crimes is one of the most important practical tasks carried out by the regional agreements, because to efficiently coordinate cooperation between maritime security actors it is crucial to have available all relevant information on the threat at hand. Furthermore, by creating reliability, regular information sharing has the potential to strengthen trust and confidence among key actors.

While the setup of the regional agreements is certainly a milestone in counterpiracy governance, the different regions are faced with a variety of challenges concerning cooperation in general and the implementation of the agreements provisions, in particular:

- Concerns over territorial sovereignty;

- Lack of national capacities;

- Gaps in scope.

Looking ahead, threats to maritime security cannot be understood in isolation, as they are deeply interrelated and tied into international trends.

What can you do to stay safe from piracy?

For those operating in the area the best advice is to engage a professional maritime security advisor. They will be up to date with all the latest guidance and best practice, including onboard security and advice on how to navigate high risk areas. Furthermore, they will also be up to date on the latest trends and hotspots to help you best prepare your route.

Read more from the original source:

Piracy in 2020: the trends you need to know - Lexology

The head of Royal Caribbean Group has revealed that cruisers wont have to wait too much longer before setting sail once again with his company.

Speaking to travel agents on a webcast on online trade hub RCL Cares, Richard Fain said he had been heartened by the recent resumption of cruising in Europe: Were not through this yet, but there are more bright spots and bits of good news than there have been for quite a while. We are closer to the other side of this crisis every day.

The chairman and chief executive said that Royal Caribbean is committed to learning from early efforts and will start slowly and methodically when the brand returns to the high seas.

In Germany, our joint venture company, Tui Cruises, has been operating cruises since late July. In Italy, MSC Cruises started operating last week and has attracted a lot of really very positive publicity. We understand Costa Cruises is starting operating there in just a few weeks.

Not that the Royal Caribbean Group will have a chance to test the waters just yet as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has extended a no-sail order effectively banning cruising around American waters until the end of October. Similarly Canada has prohibited the arrival of cruise ships until at least October 31 while cruising in Australia has been suspended until December.

Fain also used the webcast to introduce Dr Calvin Johnson, Royal Caribbeans new head of public health and chief medical officer.

Asked as to why he applied for the role, Johnson said: I saw the opportunity to apply my skills in a really meaningful and substantive way during probably the most significant health crisis in our time.

It is the nature of the work. It is the opportunity to serve 75,000 crew and to protect their health and to serve four to six million guests a year and to protect their health. I am all focusing on protection of health.

Royal Caribbean Group is the parent company of Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara and Silversea. It also owns a partial interest in several European cruise brands.

The pandemic has seen the cruise linedelay the debut of the worlds largest ship, Wonder of the Seas, which was due to welcome passengers next spring.

While cruise lines slowly resume service in Europe, many others have delayed their restart until late 2020, or into 2021.

Read more here:

'We are closer to the other side of this crisis every day' Cruise boss confident of a return to sea - Telegraph.co.uk

Thousands of fishing boats berth at shore in Zhoushan, China, due to Typhoon Maysak on Tuesday.Reuters

More than a hundred miles from shore, near the coast of West Africa, I accompanied marine police officers from Gambia as they arrested 15 foreign ships on charges of labor violations and illegal fishing over the course of a week in 2019. All but one of the vessels arrested were from China.

At the beginning of that same year, during a monthlong voyage on a toothfish longliner headed into Antarctic waters from Punta Arenas, Chile, the only other ships we passed were a dozen rusty Chinese purse seinersfishing boats using long curtainlike netsthat looked barely seaworthy.

Chinas fishing fleet is more than just a commercial concern; it acts as a projection of geopolitical power on the worldsoceans.

Aboard a South Korean squid boat in May 2019, I watched nearly two dozen ships flying Chinese flags make their way single file into North Korean waters, in flagrant violation of United Nations sanctions. They were part of the worlds largest fleet of illegal ships: 800 Chinese trawlers fishing in the Sea of Japan as of 2019, revealed in a recent investigation for NBC.

And this month, more than 340 Chinese fishing vessels appeared just outside the biodiverse and ecologically sensitive Galpagos Marine Reserve. Many of the ships were tied to companies associated with illegal fishing, according to C4ADS, a conflict research firm. Three years prior, a similarly sized Chinese flotilla arrived in these same waters, and one ship was apprehended with about 300 tons of illegally caught fish, including endangered species, such as scalloped hammerhead sharks.

With anywhere from 200,000 to 800,000 boats, some as far afield as Argentina, China is unmatched in the size and reach of its fishing armada. Fueled primarily by government subsidies, its growth and activities have largely gone unchecked, in part because China itself has historically had few rules governing fishing operations.The dominance and global ubiquity of this fleet raise broader questions about how China has put so many boats on the water, and what it means for the worlds oceans.

Chinas fishing fleet is more than just a commercial concern; it acts as a projection of geopolitical power on the worlds oceans. As the U.S. Navy has pulled back from the waters of West Africa and the Middle East, China has bolstered its fishing and naval presence. And in places such as the South China Sea and the Arctics Northern Sea Route, China has laid claim to prized shipping lanes as well as subsea oil and gas deposits.

The scale and aggressiveness of its fleet puts China in control, says Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, adding that few foreign countries have been willing to push back when Chinas fishing boats make incursions into their national waters.

Not that the fishing itself is unimportant. The fleet is also a way to obtain food security for Chinas 1.4 billion people. Many of the marine stocks closest to Chinas shores have dwindled from overfishing and industrialization, so ships are forced to venture farther to fill their nets. The Chinese government says it has roughly 2,600 distant-water fishing vessels, which, according to a recent report by the Stimson Center, a security research group, makes it three times larger than the fleets of the next top four countriesTaiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Spaincombined.Over the past two decades, China has spent billions of dollars supporting its fishing industry, says Tabitha Grace Mallory, a professor at the University of Washington, who specializes in Chinas fishing policies, in an email. In 2018, total global fisheries subsidies were estimated to be $35.4 billion, with China accounting for $7.2 billion of it. This includes those for fuel and for new boats that increase the size of the fleet.

The government also helps cover the cost of new engines, of more durable steel hulls for trawlers, and for armed security and medical ships to be stationed permanently at fishing grounds, enabling fishing captains to stay at sea for longer. Chinese fishermen further benefit from government-led fishing intelligence that helps them find the richest waters.

Without its massive subsidy schemes, Chinas distant water fishing fleet would be a fraction of its current size, and most of its South China Sea fleet wouldnt exist at all, Poling says.

Daniel Pauly, principal investigator of the Sea Around Us Project at the University of British Columbias Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, explained in an email that these subsidies have not only increased geopolitical tensions by allowing ships to venture into contested regions, they also play a major role in depleting fish stocks as they keep vessels operating that would otherwise be decommissioned.

As long as fleets are provided financial assistance to overfish, experts say that sustainable fishing is impossible. Already 90 percent of commercial fish stocks tracked worldwide by the U.N.s Food and Agriculture Organization have been overfished or fully fishedmeaning they are past their capacity to sustainably replenish themselvesincluding the worlds 10 most important commercial species.

China is by no means singular when it comes to subsidizing its fishing fleet. More than half of the global fishing industry would be unprofitable at its current scale without government subsidies, according to a 2018 study in Science Advances led by National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence Enric Sala.

Japan spends more in subsidies for fishing on the high seasthe parts of the ocean not under control by any governmentthan any other country, accounting for about 20 percent of global high seas fishing subsidies, Salas study shows. Spain accounts for 14 percent of global fishing subsidies, followed by China at 10 percent, then South Korea, and the U.S.

But when it comes to scale, China is by far the biggest. With more than 800 ships on the high seas, Chinese vessels were responsible for more than 35 percent of the reported global catch on the high seas in 2014more than any other country. (Taiwan, with the next highest number of vessels at 593, accounts for about 12 percent of that catch, and Japan, with 478 ships, accounts for less than 5 percent.)

Subsidies are not just a major reason that the oceans are rapidly running out of fish. In putting too many vessels on the water globally, subsidies can lead to unsustainable fishing, unhealthy competition, territorial disputes, and illegal fishing as captains become desperate to find new, less-crowded fishing grounds.

To put it bluntly, this is akin to paying burglars to rob your neighbors house, says Peter Thomson, the U.N. secretary-generals special envoy for the ocean, about the role that subsidies play in encouraging illegal fishing.

China ranks as having the worlds worst score when it comes to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, according to an index published last year by Poseidon Aquatic Resource Management, a fishery and aquaculture consulting firm.

In 2016, the government released a five-year plan to cap the number of distant-water fishing vessels to fewer than 3,000 by 2021. (Its unclear whether China has made any progress toward this goal, however, because the government releases little data on ship numbers.)And in June, the Chinese fishing authorities announced they will close squid-catching seasons for Chinese boats in certain South American waters from July to November, citing the need to allow squid populations to replenish. This is the first time China has ever voluntarily closed a fishing season.

I believe that the Chinese government is serious when they offer to restrict their distant water fleet, Pauly says. Whether they can enforce the planned restrictions onto their fleet is another question; indeed, I dont believe they control their distant-water fleets any more than we control ours in the West.

Ensuring that ships of any nation comply with environmental, labor, or other rules when they are in international waters is difficult, since no country has the jurisdiction or resources to police them so far from shore.

With a rapidly growing middle class thats able to afford more seafood, the Chinese government has boosted its aquaculture industry with more than $250 million in subsidies between 2015 and 2019 in an effort to reduce the countrys dependence on wild-caught fish.

That move, however, presents a new problem: To fatten up their fish, most fish farms rely on fishmeal, a high-protein powder predominantly made from wild-caught fish from foreign or international waters. Furthermore, aquaculture takes a lot of fishmealbefore a farmed tuna gets to market, for example, it may eat more than 15 times its weight in wild fish in the form of fishmeal.

Ocean conservationists warn that the voracious nature of fishmeal production is accelerating ocean depletion, contributing to illegal fishing, destabilizing the aquatic food chain, and sapping poorer countries waters of protein sources needed for local subsistence.

Catching large amounts of wild fish to feed a growing demand for farmed fish makes little sense, Sala says. A fraction of those wild fish could instead be used to feed people directly, with less impact on ocean life.

To meet the demand for fishmeal and fish oil, Chinese fishing authorities said in 2015 that they planned to increase the amount of krill harvested from Antarctic waters from 32,000 metric tons to 2 million metric tons, though they committed to staying out of ecologically vulnerable areas. Krill are a primary food source for whales, and conservationists worry about the knock-on effects of such a high harvest.

In addition to the potentially devastating environmental consequences of overfishing and fishery collapses, so many ships on the sea means more competition for fishing grounds, which can destabilize relationships between countries and lead to violent clashes.

In 2016, the South Korean Coast Guard opened fire on two Chinese fishing vessels that had threatened to ram patrol boats in the Yellow Sea. A month earlier, Chinese fishermen rammed and sank another South Korean speedboat in the same area. In the same year, Argentina sank a Chinese boat it claimed was fishing illegally in its waters. Indonesia, South Africa, and the Philippines have all had recent run-ins with Chinese fishing fleets. In most of these cases, the Chinese boats were fishing for squid, which represents more than half of the fleets catch on the high seas.

One of the reasons Chinas fleet is so bloated is that some of its fishing ships serve purposes other than merely fishing. Part of a so-called civilian militia, Poling says, these fishing vessels are dispatched to conflict zones at sea to surveil the waters and occasionally to intimidate and ram fishing or law enforcement boats from other countries. Separate from its fishing subsidies, China has a program that incentivizes boats to operate in disputed waters in the South China Sea as a way to assert Chinas claims. They get many of the same benefits as the distant-water fleet, plus cash payments because operating in that region is otherwise unprofitable.More than 200 of these militia fishing boats occupy the waters around the South China Seas disputed Spratly Islandsan area rich with fish, and possibly oil and natural gas tooto which China, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan lay claim. Satellite imagery shows that the Chinese fishing boats in the area spend most of their time anchored close together in clusters and are not actually fishing.

The only reason that smaller [Chinese] fishermen go out to the Spratlys is because theyre paid to do so, Poling says. The presence of these fishing vessels has sped the decline of fish around the islands, led to clashes with fishing boats from other countries, and given China cover to build military installations on some of the reefs, further reinforcing its claims to the territory.

Partly because they travel in groups and sometimes with armed security, Chinese fishing ships are often aggressive toward competitors or perceived threats. I saw this up close in 2019 after paying my way onto a South Korean squid ship and heading offshore in the Sea of Japan, where I hoped to document the presence of illegal Chinese squidders operating in North Korean waters.

We raced to catch up with what turned out to be not just one ship but nearly two dozen, all heading single file from South Korean waters into North Koreanwaters.

Our captain was a short and wiry man, roughly 70 years old, with deep-set eyes and skin weathered like an elephant. On the morning of our scheduled departure, the hired crew told the captain that they would not be working the trip. They said they were too nervous about being associated with any reporting related to North Korea and about getting near Chinese fishing ships.

The captain said we could still go to sea with just his first mate but the ship would be tough to manage, dirtier than normal, and we would need to help him when asked.

Stinking of rotten chum and skating-rink slippery from the prior catch, the deck of the 60-foot-long wooden vessel was a mess. Crew quarters were trashed, and the ship engine conked out on us several hundred miles from shore, leading to a tense two hours until it was fixed.

Shortly after nightfall on our very first day offshore, the blip of a boat appeared on our radar. We raced to catch up with what turned out to be not just one ship but nearly two dozen, all heading single file from South Korean waters into North Korean waters. All were flying Chinese flags, and none with their transponders turned on, as required in South Korean waters.

In sending a previously invisible armada of industrial boats to fish in these banned waters, China has been violently displacing smaller North Korean vessels and spearheading a decline in once-abundant squid stocks. Asked about the findings, documented by novel satellite technology from Global Fishing Watch, and confirmed by my 2019 excursion, documented for NBC, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it conscientiously enforced the U.N. Security Councils North Korea resolutions and has consistently punished illegal fishing, but it neither confirmed nor denied the presence of Chinese ships there.

We followed the boats, filmed them, documented their identification numbers, and after about 45 minutes, we put a drone in the air to get a better look at the ships. In response, one of the Chinese boat captains blared his horn, flashed his lights, and then abruptly cut toward us in a ramming maneuvera warning. We stayed our course, but the Chinese ship continued toward us. When it reached within 30 feet of us, we suddenly veered to avoid collision.

This was as much as our captain wanted to risk. Deciding it was too dangerous to continue, he turned our ship around and began the eight-hour trip back to port, during which he seemed unusually quiet and slightly rattled. They are very serious, he kept murmuring, referring to the Chinese fishermen, who, undaunted, continued heading into North Korean waters.

Clearly, subsidies had not just grown the Chinese fishing fleet into a global force of unprecedented size and geographic reach. They had also instilled a sense of ambition, drive, and boldness that few other countries or their fishing captains were willing or able to challenge.

Go here to read the rest:

How Chinas Massive Fishing Fleet Is Transforming the Worlds Oceans - Slate

In another strike on Chinese apps, government has banned 118 fresh entities for engaging in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India. In the latest round, the biggest casualty appears to be PUBG, the worlds most lucrative mobile game whose largest subscriber base is in India. At a time when India and China continue to face off at the border in eastern Ladakh, the curb on Chinese apps is both a security imperative preventing data leakages, and a strong message to Beijing that it cant be business as usual.

New Delhis moves could, however, trigger a response from Beijing, not necessarily confined to aggressive moves along the LAC. China has all-round capabilities, and is adept at using an all of national power approach to bully neighbours. It could launch cyberattacks, for which New Delhi should be prepared. Its navy has rapidly expanded to become the largest in the world with 350 warships to the USs 293. As per a Pentagon report, China is actively trying to set up military logistics facilities in countries from Myanmar and Thailand to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and UAE. India could soon find itself surrounded by the Chinese navy.

Countering China at sea is therefore the big challenge next to resisting Beijings designs at the LAC. In this regard, India must immediately ask for regular naval exercises with the Quad grouping and other nations including the UK, France, Vietnam etc to balance China. Additionally, it must strengthen its force projection capabilities in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, from where it can exploit Chinas Malacca Dilemma and retain the option to choke Beijings energy supplies in case of war. The high seas are the new grounds of powerplay. India and likeminded nations must coordinate to check China here.

This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.

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Apps and after: Chinas growing naval muscle will have to be jointly countered - The Times of India Blog

The Gulf Livestock 1 cargo vessel sails through Port Phillip heading into Bass Strait in Australia in April 2019. Japanese rescuers were searching Thursday for the livestock ship carrying more than 40 crew members and thousands of animals. Graham Flett/AP hide caption

The Gulf Livestock 1 cargo vessel sails through Port Phillip heading into Bass Strait in Australia in April 2019. Japanese rescuers were searching Thursday for the livestock ship carrying more than 40 crew members and thousands of animals.

A ship carrying more than 40 crew members and some 6,000 head of cattle has disappeared off the coast of Japan after capsizing in typhoon-lashed seas, according to a crew member who so far is the only known survivor.

The Gulf Livestock 1, en route from New Zealand to China, issued a distress call early Wednesday from a position west of Japan's Amami Oshima island.

The mayday call, to which the Japanese coast guard responded, was sent as Typhoon Maysak was tracking through the region as a powerful Category 4 storm.

Maysak has since passed the area where the ship went missing, and the weather for the ongoing search is fine, Japanese coast guard regional spokesman Yuichiro Higashi said, according to The Associated Press.

The 450-foot livestock carrier, built in 2002, had a crew of 43, of which 39 are from the Philippines, two from New Zealand and two from Australia, the Japanese coast guard said.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported that a Queensland veterinarian, Lukas Orda, was among those aboard.

Photographs of the vessel taken before the accident show its deck stacked high with open livestock containers.

The lone crew member recovered so far, 45-year-old chief officer Sareno Edvarodo from the Philippines, was plucked from the water Wednesday night after being spotted by a Japanese navy P-3C surveillance aircraft. No wreckage from the ship has been found, the coast guard said.

Edvarodo told rescuers that the vessel lost an engine and then capsized when it was hit broadside by a wave. The crew was then ordered to don life jackets. Edvarodo said he abandoned ship but did not see any other crew members in the water after the ship sank.

Gulf Livestock 1 was carrying 5,867 head of cattle from Napier, New Zealand, to Jingtang in Tangshan, China, according to New Zealand's foreign ministry, Reuters reported.

Following the accident, New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries said it was temporarily suspending new cattle livestock export applications pending an investigation.

The ministry "wants to understand what happened on the sailing of the Gulf Livestock 1," a spokesperson was quoted as saying by the New Zealand Herald.

Splash247.com, a website that follows the shipping industry, noted numerous accidents involving livestock carriers over the years in which tens of thousands of animals were lost.

In November, the Queen Hind, a livestock carrier loaded with more than 14,000 sheep, experienced "maneuvering issues" and capsized not far from a wharf. Only a few hundred animals were rescued, according to The Maritime Executive. In 2016, 3,000 sheep died aboard a vessel that caught fire and sank in rough weather off Somalia.

In another similar disaster nearly a quarter-century ago, some 67,000 sheep died aboard a vessel after it caught fire and was abandoned by its crew east of the Seychelles. All but one of the crew survived.

See the article here:

42 Crew, Nearly 6000 Cows Missing After Ship Sinks In Storm-Tossed Seas Off Japan - NPR

This article originally was published on World Resources Institute.

Despite the name, organized crime in fisheries is not only about fishing. While illegal fishing is a serious problem across many regions of the world, organized crime in the fisheries sector extends much farther. It occurs globally throughout the entire fisheries value chain: on-shore; at-sea; at the coastal interface; and in cyberspace. Regardless of where it occurs or how it happens, its harmful effects take a massive toll on human populations worldwide.

Organized crime in the fisheries sector can take various forms including drug and human trafficking, fraudulent catch documentation, money laundering and corruption crimes that have potentially dire humanitarian implications. These crimes are profit-driven, diverting government revenue to the shadow blue economy at the expense of coastal communities and the pursuit of key sustainable development goals such as zero hunger, zero poverty and peace, justice and strong institutions. These crimes also directly can endanger those who are exploited in their perpetration.

People in many coastal nations, particularly developing countries, depend on the fisheries sector for food and jobs. Large ocean nations are particularly vulnerable to disruptions in the sector, as recently exposed by the impacts of COVID-19. Criminal networks operating in the fisheries sector exacerbate the economic dislocation of local coastal communities, threaten already tenuous food security and divert much-needed state revenue. But there is hope: effectively tackling organized crime in fisheries will help foster a sustainable ocean economy which, in turn, will benefit communities reliant on the ocean and its resources.

While the ecological and environmental costs of illegal fishing such as the threat of species extinction and marine habitat destruction are well documented, the human costs of organized crime in fisheries are rarely in the spotlight. Here are some ways organized crime in fisheries may negatively affect ordinary citizens worldwide:

Criminal networks operating in the fisheries sector often engage in a form of modern slavery: human trafficking for forced labor on fishing vessels. This shocking practice is getting more exposure in the media, including recent coverage of the North Korean "ghost ships" that regularly wash up on the shores of Japan.

Many crew members are indentured onboard distant water fishing vessels that rarely call at port. Instead, these vessels engage in transshipment, where catch, fuel, supplies and crew are transferred from one ship to another on the high seas. If the fishing vessels do dock at port, trafficking victims are frequently unable to communicate their plight to port authorities due to language differences, or for fear of being arrested as undocumented immigrants because ship captains usually hold their passports and identification documents. As a result, human trafficking victims often do not get the chance to report their inhumane working conditions or the human rights abuses they suffer.

While the ecological and environmental costs of illegal fishing are well documented, the human costs of organized crime in fisheries are rarely in the spotlight.

Those who were rescued and shared their stories speak of violence, malnutrition, sleep deprivation and, in extreme cases,murder. Workers, driven to seek employment due to the lack of economic opportunities at home, are often tricked into working onboard vessels by unethical recruitment agencies. Many also become trapped in debt bondage, as their earnings are taken aspayment for "debts" incurred in obtaining the job. These debts could be for brokerage, recruitment company fees, documentation charges or food.

Drug and arms trafficking associated with the fisheries sector and its accompanying economy of violence also have devastating effects on vulnerable coastal communities. In the Caribbean, Venezuelan smugglers are using forcefully taken fishing vessels to trade illicit weapons and cocaine to Trinidad and Tobago for basic goods, such as diapers and cooking oil, that are in short supply. Involved transnational networks are known to cooperate with local criminal groups, contributing to a rise in national violent crime, bringing illicit drugs into coastal communities and fueling local criminal gang activities.

Recent reports also spotlight the long-standing "drugs-for-guns" trade via fishing vessels between Jamaica and Haiti. These trades involve exchanging local marijuana for illegal weapons and cocaine, fueling violence in Jamaica and contributing to a growing arsenal of illegal weapons in coastal communities and further inland.

Corruption is another common, yet rarely discussed form of organized crime that permeates the sector, ranging from bribery in return for ignoring illegal fishing to allocating fishing licenses to companies or businesses with personal interests. Although its direct human costs are less visceral, the result is likewise devastating: money that could go towards much-needed job creation, education, health and basic services in developing coastal states is diverted to the pockets of a few white-collar criminals. Local communities feel the brunt of the impact as they lose out on access to national fish stocks, which are often vital to food security and livelihoods.

The overall economic cost of organized crime in the fisheries sector should raise alarms. Recent research shows that Africa alone will see annual economic losses between $7.6 billion and $13.9 billion, and income losses between $1.8 billion and $3.3 billion, due to catches redirecting from legitimate to illicit seafood trade. A 2011-2014 estimate suggests that annual illegal and unreported marine fishing generates $15.5 billion to $36.4 billion in illicit profits each year. Additionally, tax revenue lost to tax crime in fisheries undermines the development benefits of the sector, particularly affecting the Global South.

As the world faces the COVID-19 pandemic, we need a healthy oceanand a fisheries sector free of crime to provide the key ecosystem services and economic benefits to those who need it.

Solutions to tackle this problem are within reach. A new paper commissioned by the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, "Organized Crime in the Fisheries Sector," highlights the need for political and legal cooperation at local, national and international levels. Political momentum to address transnational organized crime in fisheries is already growing, evidenced by theCopenhagen Declaration Against Organized Crime in the Global Fishing Industry. The declaration fosters cooperation between governments through sharing knowledge and best practices to tackle fisheries crime.

There is, however, often a lack of capacity and resources to follow through on the ground. Processes that support developing countries in putting practical measures in place at national level are thus crucial. An example is the Blue Justice Initiative, which builds capacity to address transnational crime in the global fishing industry through close dialogue with the countries most affected.

Many countries already are making considerable progress. Thepaper highlights Indonesia as one such country, where law enforcement and policy reform relating to fisheries crime led to an increase of fish stocks from 7.31 million tons in 2014 to 12.54 tons in 2016. According to the Indonesian Ministry of Finance, tax revenue from the fisheries sector improved in 2018 by $113 million.

Organized crime in the fisheries sector is a major barrier to achieving a sustainable ocean economy. As the world faces the COVID-19 pandemic, now, more than ever, we need a healthy ocean and a fisheries sector free of crime to provide the key ecosystem services and economic benefits to those who need it. We are at a point in time when the vulnerable may be drawn into, or become the victim of, various forms of organized crime in the fisheries sector. Building momentum to address these crimes is critical to protect those who are at risk today and create a more sustainable future.

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The human impact of organized crime in fisheries extends far beyond the ocean - GreenBiz

World of Warships: Legends brings in the first Italian warships, a new collaboration with Transformers, and a new system for players to manage and upgrade their camouflage.Italian Navy Cruisers in Early Access, Italian Battleship Campaign, and Transformers collaboration in new Veni, Vidi, Vici Update.

The Veni, Vidi, Vici update also ushers in a new campaign to earn the tough Italian Tier VII battleship Roma, French destroyers are leaving early access, and a handful of other improvements are inbound. With so many new features coming this update, theres even more to dive into in Legends.

The new Italian nation comes with a line of Cruisers in early access and a cadre of four new commanders for players to incorporate into their fleet. The new Alberto da Giussano, Raimondo Montecuccoli, Trento, and Zara are available this update in early access, representing the core fighting cruisers of the Regia Marina during the Second World War.

These cruisers are quite maneuverable and have a Smoke Generator Consumable that allows them to create concealment whenever they need it. Combined with reliable armament and torpedoes, these cruisers are ready to join battle.

To reinforce the new nation, the new Veni, Vidi, Vici campaign stars the elegant Italian battleship Roma. Fast, Agile, and well-protected, the Roma is able to navigate through various threats on the high seas.

Plus, her high-velocity and quickly traversing 381mm guns help her deal with even the toughest enemy vessels. The Veni, Vidi, Vici campaign will run for 5 weeks and has 100 milestones to progress through. However, Italian ships arent the only new things coming this update.

Later this September, four new Transformers-themed Commanders will be here to lead your warships into battle! Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee, and Rumble become Warships in Disguise, powering up your fleet with their unique inspirations, abilities, and voiceovers. Each one also has a special skin available for a particular ship.

Optimus Prime leads the way from the Iowa, Megatron rules the seas aboard Bismarck, Bumblebee races to the front in Fletcher, and Rumble shakes things up in the Tashkent. There are also special camos, patch parts, and more available for players to use in battle.

The Veni, Vidi, Vici update brings a new feature for players to manage and upgrade camouflage for their ships. Now, players can convert consumable camouflage into paint or a permanent paint job for their ship! This will make the customization of their ships in-game even easier, while also adding a new way to progress and improve their fleet!

Coming in at high speed are the French destroyers! In this update the full line is available for players to research, including the top of the line gunboatLe Fantasque. Fast-paced and very well armed, the Le Fantasque is a large destroyer with a Main Battery Reload Booster instead of a Smoke Generator. This allows skilled captains to unleash devastating bursts of damage onto their enemies!

There are plenty of new additions to the game coming in the Veni, Vidi, Vici Update. Get ready to conquer the seas and Turn the Tide!

For more information and assets, visit our press room here.

Experience epic naval action in World of Warships: Legends, a massively multiplayer online game where you can master the seas in historys greatest warships! Recruit legendary commanders from maritime history, upgrade your vessels and stake your claim to naval supremacy with or against players around the world in thrilling and immersive battles.World of Warships: Legends brings the online naval action loved by millions to home consoles for the very first time, alongside a host of content and features exclusive to the console experience.

Official website:https://wowslegends.com/

Wargaming is an award-winning online game developer and publisher headquartered in Nicosia, Cyprus. Operating since 1998, Wargaming has grown to become one of the leaders in the gaming industry with 4500+ employees and offices spread all over the world.

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Over 200 million players enjoy Wargamings titles across all major gaming platforms. Their flagship products include the massively popular free-to- play hit World of Tanks and the strategic naval action game World of Warships.

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A totally illegal industry that nonetheless brings in billions of dollars every year,IUU (illegal, unauthorised or unreported) fishing is the blight of the oceans. At a time when fish populations are in freefall Pacific bluefin tuna populations have dropped by 97 per cent relative to their historical level and the international community is trying to preserve the wealth of the oceans, illegal practices at sea continue to thrive. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), IUU fishing accounts for as much as 20 to 30 per cent of the fisheries sector, with an estimated annual turnover of between US$10 and 23 billion.

IUU fishing is a highly lucrative and organised business. It is most often conducted by vessels that actually have fishing licences, Pavel Klinckhamers, project leader of the pan-Asian Greenpeace campaign to end illegal fishing, tells Equal Times. There are many boats that may well have licences but they still fish illegally for species they are not allowed to catch or in places where they are not authorised to fish, he adds.

IUU fishing is not just about fishing without a licence, says Heather Stimmler, media director for Sea Shepherd Global. The most common form of IUU is poaching, of course, but it can also take on much less spectacular forms, which are much harder to detect. Overfishing and unreported fishing of protected fish species are examples of the abuses faced by ocean defenders.

As Peter Horn, director of the Ending Illegal Fishing Project at the Pew Trust, points out: There are several reports suggesting that one in five fish is caught through IUU fishing. And whilst the figure is certainly lower in European waters, in areas under stress, such as the coast of West Africa, it is estimated at two in five fish. The impact of these activities is significant, and for certain vulnerable countries, it is catastrophic.

More fragile countries are easier targets for IUU fishing because they lack the resources to monitor their coast properly. IUU fishing is symptomatic of countries where political authority is weak, Peter Horn tells Equal Times. And as Lindsay Jennings, IUU fishing project director for FishWise tells us, it is a threat to marine ecosystems and food security in vulnerable countries such as Ghana.

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing can hold disastrous repercussions for these countries: overfishing empties territorial waters of their fish and createsfood insecurity for hundreds of small-scale fishers who depend on these resources to survive and to feed their families.

In Ghana, for example, IUU fishing is a threat to the 2.5 million people who depend on marine resources for survival. The countrys waters have been among the most overfished in the world since 2012, particularly by Chinese fleets, as detailed in a report by the Environmental Justice Foundation.

An estimated 37 per cent of the fish caught in Ghana each year is IUU, creating annual losses of around US$1 billion. The country is located in one of the areas worst affected by illegal fishing West Africa, although the waters in certain parts of Asia and the coasts of Latin America are also hugely overexploited, by Chinese long-distance fleets in the main but also by some European shipowners. These excesses are part of the wider trend of ocean grabbing, with strong political powers taking advantage of weaker ones.

The worst abuses often take place with impunity in these hotspots, with IUU fishing operations taking full advantage of the sheer immensity of our seas and oceans. For developing countries, exercising control over their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), areas extending 200 nautical miles from the coast where countries have special rights to explore and use resources, is a real struggle. EEZs represent vast areas for the maritime authorities of countries already faced with substantial economic difficulties and insecurity on land.

Sea pirates are all the more difficult to punish as they are free to hide in international waters, which represent more than 60 per cent of the worlds seas and oceans, and do not come under the jurisdiction of any state. Once you are in international waters, no country has the authority to make an arrest, says Stimmler. Because under the law of the sea, the legislation that applies to a ship in international waters is the law of the country whose flag it is flying. A simple rule...on the face of it.

But thanks to what are known as flags of convenience or open registries, pirates of all kinds are free to act with impunity on the worlds oceans. Shipowners often choose them because they are more lax in terms of safety standards or labour laws. Thirty-five countries are considered to have flags of convenience by the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF). The main ones are Panama, Liberia and the Marshall Islands. According to a 2015 report, 71 per cent of merchant fleet tonnage was registered under flags of convenience, compared with 51.3 per cent in 2005.

While not all flags of convenience imply illegal activities, the ease with which pirate ships can change their country of registration makes it more difficult to track them down.

These flags symbolise the lack of transparency around fishing, Horn tells Equal Times. They allow certain shipowners to make it more difficult to identify them. The level of regulation is, however, increasing. The number of flags of convenience has seen a slight fall since 2015, according to the Pew Trust project director.

The lack of regulation around the oceans is one of the main reasons so many abuses are committed. The flags of convenience are not the only problem: transhipment, which allows fishing vessels to stay at sea for months on end and to transfer their catches to other vessels that take them back to port, is another source of widespread criticism. The problem with this practice is that it is not properly regulated and it opens the door to IUU fishing and all kinds of trafficking on the high seas, Horn tells Equal Times. And as Heather Stimmler explains: Small boats can fish illegally, as once their fish is transferred, it becomes impossible to trace the products. It is a veritable fish laundering tool.

In an attempt to preserve transhipment while regulating it more effectively, the FAO is currently working on a new set of rules in a bid to clarify the ethical practices to be used during this process. At-sea transhipment could be banned in favour of transhipment near ports, which would enable better goods regulation and allow more observers in charge of monitoring fishing practices to board vessels.

The countries of the world are trying to mobilise to tackle IUU fishing. Bodies such as Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) have been set up in several parts of the world to ensure better fishing regulation and vessel monitoring. The fight against IUU fishing is a team sport, says Horn. Indeed, the detention of pirate vessels may require the intervention of several countries. And to facilitate management and monitoring operations, several associations are calling for the introduction of unique identification numbers for all vessels, so that they can be traced throughout their life.

This requires real cooperation between the various countries, says Stimmler. And the idea is beginning to take hold. The non-profit organisation Stop Illegal Fishing (SIF), based in Gaborone, Botswana, has created the FISH-i task force, a group of eight countries from the region that are all working together. The regions governments, Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd are working in partnership to improve the chances of stopping pirate vessels. And this type of operation is bearing fruit.

Over the past five years, more and more countries have become aware of the magnitude of the problem and the number of arrests has increased, says Sea Shepherds media director.

New technologies, such as cameras and surveillance systems, are also part of the solution. there is no shortage of solutions. What are often in short supply, however, are the means. Whilst the Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS), set up by states to track fishery activity around the globe, provide some hope and encouragement, their effectiveness remains limited: I am always amazed, when I am at sea, on the coast of West Africa, to see the difference between the vessel tracking system results and what I actually see on the water, says Klinckhamers. There are always 50 to 100 per cent more boats in the areas monitored, so you only see the tip of the iceberg through technology. The key perhaps lies in expanding the number of surveillance mechanisms. French researchers have, for example, developeda system to track albatrosses that follow fishing boats for food using sensors to record the undeclared presence of boats.

The international community is not standing idle in the face of this issue. The Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA), signed in 2010, is the first internationally binding agreement specifically dealing with illegal fishing. Its main objective is to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal fishing, preventing vessels engaged in these activities from using ports to land their catches. The agreement seeks to discourage vessels from engaging in such activities and to stop illegal fisheries products from reaching national and international markets.

Another initiative taken by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) seeks to put an end to the fisheries subsidies in place in many countries. This practice makes fish artificially cheap and encourages illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. The international organisation is calling on countries to refrain from granting new ones. The WTO is negotiating with many of the countries providing these detrimental subsidies, Lindsay Jennings of FishWise tells Equal Times.

Such initiatives may well bear fruit in the years to come. But we need to act more quickly.

Given the scale of the IUU fishing phenomenon, ever more oceanographers are calling on the international community to take urgent action to create more marine protected areas and to reduce the worlds fishing fleet.

A first step in the right direction was taken last June when Senegal refused new fishing authorisations for Chinas long-distance fishing fleet, which was requesting licences for 52 new vessels, despite the overcrowding already affecting Senegals waters. The decision was taken under pressure from small-scale fishers and local environmental groups. But progress is slow.

It took the international community ten years to agree on the need to establish a High Seas Treaty, on which the first negotiations began in 2018. The aim is to create a new binding international legal instrument to protect the biodiversity of the oceans and promote the sustainable use of this biodiversity on the high seas. The treaty discussed at the UN was due to be finalised in March and should establish marine protected areas to enable fish stocks to recover. Consideration of the text has, however, been postponed, as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. Greenpeace calls it a last chance treaty for the oceans. Time is running out: marine species have declined by 39 per cent in 40 years, in a world where 3.8 billion people depend on the oceans for food.

Continued here:

Can the world unite to combat illegal fishing? - Equal Times

Offshore oil rigs off the coast of Scotland.Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell (Getty Images)

The oceans may seem vast and indomitable, and yet humanity has found a way to spread its influence over them. New findings show that the worlds oceans are cluttered with all other sorts of human infrastructure.

The coverage area of human activity is so wide, our ocean infrastructure footprint is equivalent to the footprint of cities on landand its poised to grow in the coming decade, creating a bizarro real-life Waterworld. Human seaward expansion provides some benefits to natural ecosystems, but the message in the findings published on Monday in Nature Sustainability is clear: The world has to be deliberate or risk further screwing over the seas.

These findings are the first of their kind to map humanitys watery footprint. The researchers mapped a range of human activities happening both nearshore and far offshore, including oil rigs, pipelines, cables, fish farms, ports, and offshore wind farms. The findings show that 12,355 square miles (32,000 square kilometers) of seafloor, an area about the size of Maryland, have been directly colonized by human activities and infrastructure. But that physical footprint only tells part of the story; all told, up to 1.3 million square miles (3.4 million square kilometers) of seascapes have been impacted by human activities. That includes noise from ports and other knock-on effects.

The overall footprint of human infrastructure in the ocean accounts for 1.5% of all economic exclusive zones or areas that are generally within 230 miles (370 kilometers) of countries coastlines. That footprint is on par with the amount of land on Earth turned over to cities. Its also likely an underestimate because researchers didnt look at coastal defenses like sea walls.

While China has seen the most construction, including a huge area of aquculture and fish farming, other countries also get a few superlatives. The UK has the biggest offshore wind footprint as a pioneer in the industry. The U.S., meanwhile, can lay claim to the ignominious title of offshore drilling leader: Nearly half of offshore drillings footprint can be found in the Gulf of Mexico alone.

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By 2028, ocean construction could grow out by up to 70% from its current range, driven by aquaculture and wind and tidal energy farms, the researchers predict. Though again, that could be an underestimate since were going to need a lot more coastal protections to deal with rising seas as a result of climate change.

The extended footprint of infrastructure only tells part of the story of humans impact on the seas. Overfishing, marine heat waves driven by climate change, sea-level rise, and catastrophes like oil spills are all putting pressure on marine life and the ecosystems they depend on. Developments on land can also impact the high seas, including building hard defenses against the sea that can strangle out ecosystems like mangroves or agriculture runoff that has led to toxic dead zones. Scientists warned in a landmark report last year that oceans will transition to unprecedented conditions this century as the planet warms at a rate ecosystems will struggle to adapt to.

As the fate of the oceans go, so goes our fate. We rely on them for sustenance, to suck up carbon dioxide, and a host of other benefits. The results of the new study point to the need to think about how and where we develop at sea more carefully given the stress we already put on marine life. Some developments like protecting and restoring coastal wetlands as opposed to building new defenses can be a win-win solution that keeps ecosystems intact and provides flood control. There are also signs that offshore wind farms can be ecologically beneficial by creating artificial reefs, though its still an area of active research to figure long-term consequences and if they may invite non-native species or have other unintended impacts.

Much like cities on land, though, its clear we need to make decisions that allow us to live in better harmony with nature. The alternative is having oceans that may look blue and watery on the surface, but seem more like the Sahara under the waves.

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Ocean Infrastructure Has Basically Created Cities at Sea - Gizmodo

Posted on 02 September 2020

The study examines the effects of the climate crisis to small-scale fisheries in developing countries combining scientific climate models with social science approaches that incorporate local ecological knowledge. The assessment focuses on the impacts of and potential adaptation strategies to climate change for small-scale fishers in mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, South Africa and the Philippines.

The report, by WWF, Agrocampus Ouest (France), University of British Columbia (Canada), Charles Darwin Foundation (Galapagos) and Instituto Nacional de Pesca (Ecuador), warns that communities in developing countries who depend heavily on fishing are severely threatened by the climate crisis, as fish biomass is expected to decrease by between 30 to 40% in some tropical regions by 2100.

Severe effects, even at 1.5C of global warming

Philipp Kanstinger, marine expert at the WWF, says: "The study shows that climate change has significant negative consequences for the majority of fish species caught by small-scale fishers, including some of the most commercially important species like sardines, anchovies and tuna. Even if global warming were limited to 1.5C in the most favourable scenario, many fish species remain at risk of losing their habitats and food sources. In the coming decades, many fish species will be coping with temperatures that exceed comfortable limits for them to thrive, affecting their populations and distribution patterns. Fewer fish means less food and less income for people whose livelihoods are tied to our seas. The small-scale fishers, who account for half of the world's fish production, will be disproportionately affected by the consequences of a warmer ocean."

Tuna disappears from the Philippines

The study finds that fisheries in countries nearest to the equator will be the most heavily affected by warmer and more acidic seas.

"In some countries, catches will be halved by 2050. Of the countries studied, the Philippines will be hit particularly hard: in traditional hand-line tuna fishing, large decreases in the amount of fish caught are foreseen. These losses are difficult to compensate with other fish species, both in terms of the nutritional value of other species in the region and the trade value of tuna to international markets. If the tuna disappears from the coasts of the island state, people who depend on these and other fish will simultaneously lose a vital source of food and income, threatening their livelihoods. Climate adaptation strategies and plans for their implementation must urgently be developed and supported by all relevant stakeholders, he says.

Fishers confirm: the climate crisis is already here

Small-scale fishers are already strongly affected by the climate crisis, according to case studies developed for this report. Among the most frequently cited observations are unusually high sea temperatures, decreased availability of fish either due to lower abundance of fish or changes in fish distribution, and changes to species being observed. Fishers also reported a greater frequency and severity of extreme weather events such as floods and strong winds. All three countries are already affected by declining catches, either due to reduced fish stocks or altered fish distribution as species move further away from the coast or into deeper, cooler waters where they are no longer accessible by small-scale fishing gear. Fishers are also concerned about changes they have witnessed to marine ecosystems, especially to coral reefs that are dying or have already perished, as they serve as crucial fish spawning and nursery grounds. The cumulative effects of these changes are particularly devastating for coral reefs, which are home to 25% of all marine life.

The socio-economic consequences of the climate crisis are unprecedented. Fishers fear shrinking incomes due to dwindling fish stocks, and worry about their personal safety as they must travel further to find fish in seas where extreme weather conditions are increasingly frequent.

"If our greenhouse gas emissions continue increasing, we can anticipate a mass extinction of species in the oceans. Many marine ecosystems will collapse. If we remain inactive with regard to fisheries and the climate crisis, this will lead to dramatic losses. Millions of people will lose their livelihoods and go hungry, says Kanstinger.

Better fisheries management and fighting the climate crisis

The WWF study concludes that the small-scale fishing sector is not currently equipped to adequately adapt to the climate crisis. Marine ecosystems are experiencing dramatic changes at a rapid pace as fisheries continue to depend on them. If the sector fails to adapt to these changes, it will collapse. However, scientists estimate that globally sustainable fisheries' management could actually increase fish biomass in the oceans by 60%, but only if global warming is kept within the limit of 1.5C. Urgent action is required to steer both oceanic and social scenarios to more thriving and resilient outcomes.

Kanstinger warns: "With a human population of nearly 10 billion anticipated by 2050, we will need more marine resources than ever before. This cannot be met under the current circumstances. Only by shifting to sustainable management of fish stocks, reducing discarded catches, increasing consumer demand for small and fast-growing fish species, transitioning to sustainable aquaculture and accounting for the changes the climate crisis is already delivering to our seas and societies can the situation improve."

WWF recommendations for better fisheries management and control strategies, as well as for climate adaptation practices, call for the fisheries sector to become more responsible, adaptable, participatory, precautionary and social, including gender equality. Better and more effective monitoring and control of fishing activities, together with investment in better equipment and scientific data are urgently required.

"It is important that consumers choose sustainable fish and seafood products while consciously consuming less seafood, especially when sustainable choices are not available. Only sustainable fisheries and sustainable aquaculture can help ensure conservation of the ecosystems and species which support the livelihoods of 800 million people around the world and keep some of our favourite food items on our dinner plates, he says.

For further information contact Mandy Jean Woods mwoods@wwfint.org

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Urgent action needed for small-scale fishers to withstand the climate crisis says new WWF repor - WWF International

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This is the first of a two-part series on insurgencies in Indias northeastern frontier and the varying role China has played in supporting them.

Under the shadow of an ongoing crisis in Ladakh and worsening India-China relations, the ghost of Beijings support for Indias northeastern rebels seems to have been reawakened. According to media reports, New Delhi recently complained to Beijing for supporting Paresh Baruah, chief of the militant group United Liberation Front of AsomIndependent (ULFA-I). For decades, Baruah who seeks Assams separation from India has been operating from Chinas Yunnan province with interim stays in and travels to Myanmars Sagaing Division.

Often viewed as Chinas counter to Indias support for the Tibetan government-in-exile and the Dalai Lama, Beijings support for ULFA-I and other India-centric rebels has, at best, been an irritant in the bilateral relationship in recent years. Unlike Beijings interventionism in 1960s and 1970s under the rubric of the Cultural Revolution, China has done little to empower Northeast insurgents in recent years or to truly complicate Indias counter-insurgency strategy in the region.

But a joint attack in Chandel district of Manipur on July 29 by the Manipur Naga Peoples Front (MNPF), the Revolutionary Peoples Front (RPF), and ULFA-I, which led to the death of four Assam Rifles personnel and injured more, set off the alarm bells in New Delhi, triggering the complaint to Beijing.

In a retort to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis recent statement (aimed at China) that the era of expansionism is over, the rebels issued a joint statement one day after the attack, saying as the entire world has made up its mind against expansionism, the people of WeSEA [West Southeast Asia] are also countering against the expansionism of India. Such vocabulary, the ownership of responsibility, and availability of Chinese-made arms in the Northeast, firmly positions these groups along the spectrum of an intensified Sino-Indian rivalry.

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These developments raise questions with implications both for Sino-Indian relations and the future of Indias Northeast. One, how far is China involved in the Northeast? Two, can Beijing dramatically increase the cost of rivalry for India by supporting Northeast insurgents? Three, what does the recent uptick in violence in Manipur and elsewhere in this region mean for the politics of separatism in the Northeast?

Though China surely engages with Northeast insurgents in different capacities, counter to intuition, it would not be able to overhaul the security situation in this region to Indias detriment in a strategic sense. But, on the third issue, politics of separatism in the Northeast is far from over, even if violence is likely to intensify and localize in Manipur and pockets of Assam. Lets unpack these aspects one at a time.

China shelters various Northeast insurgents. In addition to Baruah, there is Hangshi Tangkhul, the self-styled defense minister of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), NSCN-IM, and T R Calvin, NSCN-IMs deputy chief arms procurer. One of the most potent insurgent group in the Northeast, NSCN-IM signed a ceasefire in 1997 and is currently in peace talks with the government of India. Based out of Yunnan, these insurgent leaders maintain contact with colleagues and cadres through social media platforms, email addresses with false names, and bases along the India-Myanmar border (and also along the India-Bangladesh border during the Khaleda Zia years).

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India filed a charge-sheet in 2011 against Tangkhul, for masterminding a criminal conspiracy to procure huge consignment of arms and ammunition illegally. For this purpose, in 2007, Tangkhul along with NSCN-IMs chief arms procurer Anthony Shimray and his deputy Calvin, met with leaders of Myanmars Mon National Liberation Army at a Mon monastery in Bangkok, and then traveled to Mae Sot to meet leaders of the Karen National Union.

These Burmese rebels helped Tangkhul strike a deal amounting to $1.2 million, for an assortment of small arms including rifles, machine guns, grenades, pistols, and grenade launchers.

The arms were to be loaded from Chinas Beihai port at the Gulf of Tonkin in the South China Sea, transferred into small fishing trawlers in the high seas near Coxs Bazaar in Bangladesh, and smuggled into India from there.

Till 2006, when Zias anti-India Bangladesh Nationalist Party was in power in Dhaka, NSCN-IM and ULFA-I were allowed to have bases near the border areas, as well as in Dhaka and Chittagong. The weapons that NSCN-IM stored in these camps (named Goshen, Bethel, and Zion; and an overseas command center called Alee), were silently transferred to camps in Nagaland and Manipur, as the group planned to restock them with new weapons arriving from the Beihai port.

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But with the pro-India Sheikh Hasina government cracking down on India-centric militants, this arrangement was postponed for a more politically opportune moment. Meanwhile, Tangkhul and his associates were unaware that Indian intelligence agencies were closely tracking their moves. With the help of a trader in West Delhi who had business links in Thailand and its consulate in Chiang Mai, Indian intelligence penetrated Tangkhul and Shimrays network. In September 2010, authorities arrested Shimray at the Patna Railway Station after he entered India clandestinely via Nepal on a Bangladeshi passport.

Tangkhul and Calvin never returned.

Instead, as in Baruahs case, they received protection from Chinese intelligence as it became clear that neither Myanmar nor Thailand was entirely safe given Indias growing diplomatic clout and intelligence networks in these countries. For Beijing, they were too important within the NSCN-IMs hierarchy and knew too much about the terrain to be let go to waste. Ever since, Indias external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and Chinas Ministry of State Security (MSS) have played hide-and-seek when it came to Baruah, Tangkhul, and Calvin, among other issues.

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But Beijing has remained silent on such support to ensure deniability and signal restraint to India, if not maintain outright secrecy. Baruahs presence in China is hardly a secret. He has openly hinted at Chinese support in media interviews, signaling either comfort or disinterest on Beijings part on the exposure of his apparent China connection. This was further corroborated in a series of recently released YouTube videos wherein ULFA-I openly supports Chinas narrative on the Eastern Ladakh crisis, especially the deadly clash in Galwan Valley where 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives.

To be clear, it is difficult to precisely gauge Chinas intent behind supporting these groups. They surely offer Beijing an effective tool to exert pressure on New Delhi during moments of crisis such as now. But, despite affording them sanctuary for years, Beijing has not empowered them enough to undertake high-intensity kinetic action against India. In fact, given how murky the world of espionage can be, and how difficult patron-client relations in this space often are, it is entirely possible, though unknown, that Beijing quietly limited ULFA-I or NSCN-IMs operational capabilities to avoid a confrontation with India.

The recent attack in Chandel seems to challenge this assumption.

To begin with, the timing is compelling. A sharp and violent downturn in Sino-Indian relations arguably offers Beijing a reason to increase pressure on India in the Northeast and elsewhere. After having invested in ULFA-I and NSCN-IM for years, the current circumstances offer an opportune moment to augment military and financial support for these groups.

The situation in Northeast itself is precarious.

Growth in mutual mistrust has fatally deadlocked talks between New Delhi and NSCN-IM, and the security situation in Manipur, eastern Arunachal Pradesh, and parts of Assam remains fragile. The composition of the grouping that orchestrated the attack in Chandel offers clues to this effect. A Meitei, a Manipuri Naga, and an Assamese group operating together without overt involvement of NSCN-IM indicates a churn in Northeasts insurgent landscape.

To be sure, insurgent alliances and in-fighting in this region are very common. But, given the history of animosity between Meitei and Manipuri Nagas, the coming together of MNPF and RPF signals tumult. At a local level, it signals growing opposition to NSCN-IM in the Tangkhul heartland of Manipur by a combination of Meitei and disgruntled Tangkhul Naga outfits with strategic support from ULFA-I. In addition to MNPF, other small groups such as the Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF) and the Eastern Naga National Government (ENNG) have violently challenged NSCN-IMs dominance in Manipurs Tamenglong district and Arunachal Pradeshs Changlang district respectively.

These local dynamics receive a boost from powerful external factors China? that enable supply of arms and money in a play that promises better payoffs if these groups operate jointly instead of pursuing ethnic fratricide. The joint statement offered a clue to this effect: We know that joining the Indian Occupation Force is not right because roguish India makes enmity among our brothers. None of this, however, offers definitive evidence of Beijings hand in the Northeast, Indias not-so-incredible claim of a link to China notwithstanding.

But then, this is not the first time such an attack has occurred. In 2015, a conglomeration of Northeast insurgents led by ULFA-I and NSCN-Khaplang (a rival Burmese Naga group that has long been at violent odds with NSCN-IM) attacked an Assam Rifles convoy, also in Chandel, killing 18 soldiers. The attack triggered an equally violent Indian response, wherein Indian special forces crossed over into Myanmar to target militant camps. In December 2017, two Assam Rifles personnel was killed in an attack in Arunachals Tirap district, for which NSCN-K, ULFA-I, and the Meitei-dominated and Imphal-centric Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup group took responsibility.

There was no official indication that the 2015 and 2017 attacks had a Chinese (or Pakistani) imprint on them, despite ULFA-Is involvement in the plots. India did not lodge complaints with Beijing either, despite the two neighbors having witnessed an intense military standoff in Doklam a few months prior. This raises the questions about the myths and realities about Chinas increased involvement in Indias Northeast. If these insurgent groups undertook independent action in 2015 and 2017 without Chinas direct involvement, why might that not be the case in 2020 as well?

Avinash Paliwal is Deputy Director of SOAS South Asia Institute and author of My Enemys Enemy: India in Afghanistan from the Soviet Invasion to the US Withdrawal (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017)

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Is China Behind a Recent Insurgent Attack in India's Northeast? - The Diplomat

The economist and CNRS senior researcher Gal Giraud offers a sobering assessment of the global trend towards privatisation and its dangers for the environment, along with a new perspective on the concept of common wealth.

Several studies in recent years have highlighted the link between economic inequalities and environmental issues. In short, the greater the inequalities, the more waste, pollution and CO2emissions a society produces. Do you agree there is a connection between the two?Gal Giraud:I mostly share this point of view, but Id like to express a few reservations. It is true that atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions are a direct reflection of the economic inequalities between nations because people who enjoy the highest annual incomes are those who produce the most CO2. For example, a US citizen generates more than 15 tonnes of the gas each year on average, compared with 5 tonnes per person in France, and less than 2 tonnes in Chad. This trend can also be observed within each country where CO2emissions rise along with income levels, even though more affluent people can afford to adopt more environmentally friendly consumption habits.

Yet no causal link should be established with regard to this correlation between inequality and pollution. Supposing the worlds income was shared among all inhabitants of the planet without changing anybodys lifestyle and everyone on Earth received a worldwide average income, making global society perfectly egalitarian, the reduction in CO2emissions would be negligible. The rise in releases from what were the lower income groups would offset the drop from the upper brackets. What matters is not so much the redistribution of wealth, as changing our lifestyles and convincing everyone of the necessity of being less wasteful.

According to the French consulting firm Carbone 4, adjusting individual behaviours could reduce our carbon footprint by as much as 25%, or 30% for the most frugal among us. To bring net CO2emissions down to near zero and retain some chance of not drastically overshooting the goal of a 2C temperature rise set by the Paris Agreement, we need to radically, collectively transform our basic infrastructure.

Isnt it more difficult to transform lifestyles and infrastructures in less egalitarian societies?G.G.:That is one of the main lessons of the Yellow Vests protests in France, which suggest there can be no energy transition without significant social compensation, if governments want to avoid facing massive unrest. Unfortunately, income inequality has widened in France in recent years, in particular due to the real estate bubble in large cities and, more generally, the urbanisation of the country where the increased economic, political, cultural and media power shifts to conurbations, to the detriment of rural areas and smaller towns. This tendency also makes access to public services even more unequal. The problem is by no means limited to France, as clearly shown in the Danish World Inequality Database (WID), the most reliable in the world, and James Galbraiths studies on inequality, for example.

In 2015, Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, warned that global warming was the greatest threat to financial stability and economic prosperity. Are we in fact trapped in a vicious circle in which the climate and the economy keep deteriorating, in turn worsening social unrest?G.G.:The first risk that Mark Carney quite rightly identified is the physical deterioration of assets held by financial institutions as a result of global warming. Today though, the banking and financial world is more concerned about the second type of threat Carney pointed to, whereby financial losses are caused by an overly rapid energy and environmental transition. In terms of immediate financial interests, it is important not to move too quickly. Since the economic impact of global warming, including the destruction of coastlines, the collapse of biodiversity, hydric stress, soil erosion, or extreme weather events, is very difficult to quantify and in any case is not factored into any corporate or national accounts it is vastly underestimated. To prevent this kind of danger, we are letting the first, much more serious type of risk continue to increase.

The main victims of global warming and current inaction will quite certainly be the poorest populations, whether in countries that have long been industrialised or in those that have never known an industrial revolution, as in Sub-Saharan Africa. But the economies of the North are dependent on those of the South and, should the latter happen to collapse, would quickly know the same fate. It is therefore of paramount importance to scientifically assess the impact of the first category of risk over time. This is what I am working on with the climatologists of the Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace.

How does this make it urgent to reform the banking system?G.G.:Most of the large traditional banks have, in their balance sheets, a historical endowment inherited from the industrial revolution that is incompatible with the energy transition. I am currently studying the dependency of financial establishments on the fossil fuel industry. I cant yet give a precise figure, but one thing is certain, it is considerable and thats normal. What is not so normal is that French banks are exacerbating this dependency by continuing to finance fossil fuels on a massive scale. According to Oxfam, for every euro allocated to the financing of renewable energies, banks still lend another seven to fossil fuel ventures. If coal and gasoline were to be made stranded assets, in other words if their sale was banned, many institutions, already severely weakened by the financial crisis of 2008, would fail.

A bank the size of BNP Paribas, the leader in the Eurozone with assets of nearly 2 trillion euros a figure comparable to Frances GDP would take the entire French economy down with it. The government would be unable to pay up to 100,000 euros to reimburse each individual investors lost savings, as provided by the law. No one can estimate the worldwide financial meltdown that the failure of such a megabank would trigger. The same holds true, mutatis mutandis, for most systemically important mixed financial institutions, which combine market operations with savings and lending services. France is the only country in the world with four institutions of this type.

Most Western economies therefore simply cannot rush headlong towards a carbon-free society without endangering the global financial system. This is, in my opinion, the real reason for the prevailing inaction hidden behind a veneer of media greenwashing, because we all depend on banks, public sector and private sector alike. We have to make a choice between them and the planet.

In this financialised economy, which relies on the excessive use of natural resources, have economic inequalities facilitated the monopolisation of those resources?G.G.:The inequalities among countries have indeed given wealthier economies an advantage in the race for raw materials and fossil fuels. Chinas new Silk Road is above all a way to provide the Chinese economy with resources that cant be found inside the country. The historian Christophe Bonneuil has thoroughly documented the extent to which, for more than a century, France has also been heavily dependent on imports of material resources, and how the French colonial empire encouraged the establishment of these channels. Bonneuil goes so far as to describe our economy as parasitic. More generally, the so-called advanced economies would not be viable without monopolising resources. A telling example, cited by the scientific board of the French development agency, AFD, is the growing presence in Africa of a country like China, which has its eyes set on the Democratic Republic of Congos cobalt deposits, the largest in the world.

Wang Teng/Xinhua REA

According to the World Bank, our economic system also has its advantages, in particular by making it possible to reduce the wealth gap between countries. Do you subscribe to this point of view?G.G.:No one disputes the increasing inequalities within individual states. But the argument put forth by my colleagues at the World Bank, namely that the gap between countries has narrowed, is questionable. For one thing, it is based on the inversion, since the late 1990s, of a curve representing the evolution of the relative Gini coefficient, which measures the difference between the perfectly equitable apportionment of a resource and its actual distribution. The slight drop in this index over the past 20 years is due solely to 700 million Chinese rising out of poverty. Excluding China, the Gini index between countries has continued to increase for a generation. In addition, taking into consideration the disparity between extreme incomes rather than their ratio, the divide between nations is still growing, whether China is included or not.

Isnt a new economic and political system needed to reverse growing inequalities and CO2emissions?G.G.:I think the concurrent destruction of nature and social bonds that we are witnessing is the result of a political philosophy hostile to ecological transition. This philosophy, famously championed by Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, has helped enshrine the modern notion of private property as an inviolable sacred right, a status that it had never had in ancient and mediaeval Europe. We are obsessed with the idea of appropriating the world around us, which prevents the collective sharing and preservation of resources, goods and services.

In France in 1789, the sacred nature of private property was set forth in Article 2 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and later perpetuated by the Napoleonic Code and the UN Universal Declaration of 1948. Granting private property the status that mediaeval scholasticism gave to natural law means running the risk that no authority will ever be able to set limits to private owners imaginary prerogatives. For example, according to US law today, nothing can prevent someone who finds oil in their back garden from extracting it. It is their property, and they have exclusive rights over it. Similarly, there is no legal authority that can question the sovereignty of the Brazilian State, even though it is destroying the Amazon forest.

Gabriela Biro/Agencia Estado/Handout via Xinhua REA

In contrast with this global privatisation, you are proposing to reintroduce the concept of commons. Can you tell us about it?G.G.:In my opinion, the concept of commons, in other words resources that are shared and managed collectively by a community, in keeping with what was done under Roman law and in the Middle Ages, seems indeed quite promising. To take one example, the effects of deep-water industrial fishing combined with the acidification and warming of the oceans is disrupting and weakening the marine food chain to such an extent that researchers at the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) have sounded the alarm. If nothing is done, there will not be a single edible fish left in the sea by 2050.

If we continue to consider the oceans as a private resource, Im afraid we will not be able to stop this decline. We must create global institutions through which resources, the high seas in particular, are administered as commons. I am not saying that this would be easy under present-day international law, but it seems essential if we dont want things to get worse. What gives me hope is that many communities have always had commons, and the practice is proliferating on the Internet and among collective groups dedicated to the protection of forestland, water resource management, or the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), to name but a few.

Jacques Loic/Photononstop/AFP

Should the idea be limited to natural resources?G.G.:I agree with the Hungarian economist and anthropologist Karl Polanyi who identified three main categories of assets whose privatisation breaks down social bonds, namely land, labour and money. Land, which we have already mentioned, is one of the resources supplied by non-human ecosystems. The question of labour is more complex, as shown in the remarkable works of Alain Supiot. It harks back to John Locke, who legitimised private property through labour, whereby those who work are the private owners of the product of their labour. This approach confines each and everyone of us to a solitude that is contradicted by the fact that society expresses itself through the product of individual labour. For example, does it make any sense to claim that the mathematician Alexandre Grothendieck is the sole owner of the theory of schemes? Relational anthropology cannot subscribe to the Lockean view and should encourage us to consider labour and its products as commons. This does not mean abolishing private property, but rather giving it the place it deserves.

As for money the third type of essential asset according to Polanyi its minting is reserved, in the Eurozone, to an oligopoly of private banks, since the sovereign right to issue currency has been taken away from the states. It is not certain that the privatisation of money serves the general interest, and yet this trend could be exacerbated by tech giants Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft, which are showing an interest in minting their own currency possibly beyond the control of public bank regulation authorities. This can only further erode the sovereignty of citizens and undermine already weakened governments.

In response, somewhat in the manner of the monetary biodiversity that prevailed in the Middle Ages when royal privileges allowed certain towns to mint coins, many initiatives have been launched in Europe to regain local monetary sovereignty. These complementary, civic-minded regional currencies, like the Sardex in Sardinia, are concrete reinventions of the concept of commons. Money, labour and natural resources are three areas where the role of the State needs to be reassessed. Governments should create the necessary conditions for the emergence and preservation of commons in civil society, including global ones like the Amazon. Otherwise, the utopia of an entirely privatised world, shredding the fundamental bonds of solidarity in our societies, will cause such suffering that, as in the 1930s, people will end up clamouring for authoritarian, anti-democratic solutions to save them from the nightmare of privatisation. In my opinion, this is the root cause of the rise of right-wing populism in Europe, Brazil and India today.

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Reducing inequalities to save the planet - ScienceBlog.com

ALTA MAR High Seas Season 4. Alta Mar, which is also known as High Seas, is a Spanish Language mystery series on Netflix. Every single viewer of the series is talking about it after season 3 of Alta Mar was dropped on Netflix today.All the Fans of the series only have one question that is- Will there be another series of High Seas?The show is on the story of two sisters named Eva (played by Ivana Baquero) and Carolina Villanueva (Alejandra Onieva). They find themselves solving murders aboard a luxury cruise ship.Will There Be Another Season Of High Seas?

At this moment in time, Netflix has not given any signals whether there will gonna be the fourth season of High Seas.

According to the news report sources, season four is said to be in development but this still has to be getting confirmed.

The third series of High Seas only got dropped on Netflix on the 6th of August, so it is still considered to be earlier for any new news regarding the announcement of the shows future.

The announcements relating to any series on Netflix are usually announced between one to six months after the premiere. So the fans have to wait for announcement news of season 4 of High Seas until the end of next year.

If High Seas is planning to give the green light to season four, then the fans and the viewers can expect the new series in the years 2021.

The previous series of the show have aired at a different time period in every year. As we can see the first season arrived in May 2019, season two in November 2019 and as follows, the third series arrived in summer in the year 2020 on Netflix worldwide.

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Alta Mar High Seas Season 4? Is There Any Possibility? - The Buzz Paper

Here to trigger everyone's thalassophobia, or fear of the sea, is the open-water survival and crafting game "Raft."

"Raft" is fairly simple. You start out on a two-by-two section of raft with nothing but the wood beneath your feet and a makeshift grappling hook. Around you is the wide-open ocean and a neverending stream of flotsam and jetsam that drifts your way (or are you drifting into it? The mind wonders).

Players throw the hook and snag nearby debris, collecting wood, plastic, vines and more to stay alive and expand the raft.

Players must manage their hunger and thirst as they collect resources to maintain and upgrade the raft.

But beware about simply jumping off the raft and swimming over to resources to collect them a hungry shark stalks the raft, and attacks the boat frequently, destroying sections unless driven off.

Alone on the ocean, in a raft, with a great white shark circling? Cue the "Jaws" music.

It sounds terrifying, but "Raft" is also quite calming and wholesome. Each day brings a set of tasks required to survive until the next dawn.

Seawater must be purified. Food, such as herring caught with a fishing pole, or potatoes found in drifting barrels, must be grilled. Every few minutes, the shark attacks a section of the raft and must be fought off.

The game does get deeper and more complex, however. As you drift along, you'll notice the occasional island pop into view on the horizon. Collect enough resources, and a sail and anchor can be built, allowing for a temporary stopover to harvest rare resources, such as seeds and fruits.

The true reward of islands, though, lies beneath the water, where seaweed and deposits of ores can be found -- provided you've found a way to distract the maneater that's still hunting you.

There's an actual storyline, too, although it doesn't begin until the player has acquired enough technology and resources to craft a radio receiver and three antennas.

"Raft" is currently in Early Access on Steam, although it has been there for a while. The first chapter of the story, in which players will start to uncover why the world is covered in water, was released late last year, and the second chapter is due to come out this fall. Once the storyline is unlocked, the player will encounter special named islands that offer unique resources and blueprints.

Players can advance fairly significantly, technology-wise. Early on, jabbing the shark with a sharp stick is the best you can do as your tiny home floats along a current. Eventually, players can acquire a steering wheel, biofuels and engines. Automatic collection nets will snag floating debris as it goes past, and players can smelt ore, grow crops and trees and even raise livestock on the raft.

Not to be forgotten is that "Raft" is also a multiplayer-capable game. Join friends on Steam or invite new pals found through the game's official Discord server, and players can drift the high seas in good company.

The more players that join a game, the more the materials that will spawn to be collected. But multiple sharks can also spawn, which can make some parts of the game more challenging. Also, more players mean more mouths to feed.

Interestingly, there's no limit to how many friends can join your game, nor how big the raft can become. It's limited only by the computing power of your PC, although I wouldn't recommend more than two to four players.

There are quite a few crafting options for raft expansion, too it doesn't have to be flat. You can have ladders and stairs, so feel free to turn your raft into a houseboat with many stories.

"Raft" comes with four difficulty modes Peaceful, Easy, Hard and Creative. In the first three, the difficulty slowly increases, with hunger and thirst draining more quickly and sharks re-spawning faster (yes, you can kill the shark and harvest its meat, but after a few minutes, another will appear).

In Creative mode, players have unlimited supplies and health, so they don't have to gather any materials, research blueprints or worry about survival, and can instead just have fun building the raft of their dreams.

Hard mode has an additional difficulty modifier that makes it really suitable only for confident solo players, or in multiplayer mode players who die cannot re-spawn on their own. Another player will need to grab the body and drag it to a bed to be brought back into the game. Up to five sharks can spawn at a time.

"Raft" is developed by a small Swedish studio of just eight people and originally was a student project. It has been a lot of fun to play.

Raft

Platform: Windows

Cost: $19.99

Rating: Everyone 8+

Score: 8 out of 10

"Raft" is a video game in which you drift the high seas while defending yourself from a shark and collecting flotsam to fancy up your raft. (Photo courtesy Redbeet Interactive)

Continued here:

GAME ON: Drift gently along the high seas with your 'Raft,' your pals and sharks - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

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Alta Marhigh Definition Season 4.Alta Mar, Which Is Also Known As High Seas, Is A Spanish Language Puzzle Series On Netflix. Every Viewer Of This Series Is Talking About It Today After Season 3 Of Alta Mar Has Been Dropped On Netflix.

All The Fans Of The Show Just Have One Question That Is- Can There Be Another Series Of High Seas?

The Series Is Based On The Story Of Two Sisters Named Eva (Played By Ivana Baquero) And Carolina Villanueva (Alejandra Onieva). They Find Themselves Solving Murders Aboard A Luxury Cruise Ship.

High Seas Season 3 Was Located On Netflix On 7th August 2020. Its Currently Very Early To Say As To If The Manufacturers Will Announce The Renewal Or This Shows Cancellation. Fans Are Eager To Know As To When The Release Date Of The Show Will Be Declared. But If There Is Acceptance, High Seas Season 4 Is Scheduled To Launch In September 2021.

The Ensemble Cast Of High Seas Season 4 Includes:

When We Last Left High Season Eva, And Carolina Had Jumped Aboard Brbara De Braganza, To Set Sail From Argentina. In Tracking Down A Man Who Is Carrying A Chemical Weapon Around The 26, A Spy Fabio Approaches Eva To Assist Him. In Season 4, Expect The Sisters To Set Yet Another Fascinating Adventure With A Sail. But The Visit To Mexico From Argentina Came To Some Decision With Everyone On A Rescue Vessel. Eva Will Initially Draw Herself To Deal With The Loss Of Nicols Vzquez, But It Wont Prevent Eva From Depriving Herself Of The Thirst She Has.

Considering That There Is No Release Date As Yet For Seas Season 4, No Trailer Has Been Released Either. Until There Is Any Announcement, Watch The Trailer Of High Definition Season 3 :

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Alta Mar High Seas Season 3: Release Date, Cast, Plot, Trailer And All New Latest Information Here - World Top Trend

Netflix series Alta Mar will be making a comeback with fans embarking on a brand-new voyage. Once again, the Villanueva sisters will be plunged into perilous danger. There are going to be some new faces joining the Spanish-language drama as along as more familiar characters Express.co.uk takes a look at the cast of High Seas.

Reprising her role as author Eva Villanueva will be Ivana Baquero. In season three Eva will be roped into a new mission to stop a scientist carrying a deadly biological weapon to Mexico.

Spanish star Baquero has previously starred in fantasy drama The Shannara Chronicles, Pans Labyrinth and The New Daughter.

Alejandra Onieva returns as older sister Carolina Villanueva, who is now in possession of another ship.

Fellow Spanish star Onieva has had parts in Presunto culpable, Ella es tu padre and El secreto de Puente Viejo.

READ MORE:Alta Mar season 3 release date, cast, trailer, plot

Joining them once more is Jon Kortajarena as the handsome and charming ships officer Nicols Vzquez.

Kortajarena is best known for roles in A Single Man, Andron, TV series La verdad and most recently featured in Netflix movie Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.

Taking on the part of the sisters uncle Pedro Villanueva is actor Jos Sacristn.

Sacristn has a distinguished career dating back to the 70s and has starred in many projects including Madrid 1987, Binge, El diputado and The Dead Man and Being Happy.

Vernica de Garca - Begoa Vargas

Begoa Vargas assumes the role of the timid Vernica de Garca, who is likely to have matured since fans last saw her.

Vargas is a rising star and has also featured in A Different View and Boca Norte.

Coming back to the show as well will be Eloy Azorn as Carolinas husband Fernando Fbregas, who does not get along with his sister-in-law Eva.

Prior to Alta Mar, the star appeared in Limbo, Betrayal, The Continental and Without Identity, among other roles.

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Francella has remained fairly vague about his character in Alt Mar but needless to say, the role will be a crucial one.

Francella teased to La Nacion: My character is an Argentine who arrives on this ship, the Brbara de Braganza, and has a friendship with the captain, who is Eduardo Blanco.

He is a very charming boy, who has something in his hands and who will have several faces throughout the season. But I can't tell much more, if I'm not going to spoil it.

The actor has previously starred in Pequea Victoria, The Suffering, The Man of Your Dreams and Daddy Is My Idol.

There are also likely to be more familiar faces returning to the fold as viewers find out what the two sisters have been up to since they completed their initial ill-fated voyage from Spain.

Eduardo Blanco will be back as Capitn Santiago Aguirre and helming another vessel with more intrigue on the cards.

Blanco has many credits to his name including Cannibals, Aqu no hay quien viva and Vientos de agua but is better known for his stage work after he started out in Shakespeare plays such as A Midsummer Nights Dream and MacBeth.

Actor Marco Pigossi is going to be playing a British spy in the show and will enlist Carolina to help him in his mission.

The star will be familiar to audiences from Netflixs supernatural series Tidelands, Edge of Desire and Land of the Strong.

Alta Mar season 3 will be released on Netflix on August 7

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Alta Mar season 3 cast: Who is in the cast of High Seas? - Express

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Alta Mar additionally known as High Seas, is a Spanish-language mystery series on Netflix. The display follows the tale of two sisters Eva (played through Ivana Baquero) and Carolina Villanueva (Alejandra Onieva) who discover themselves fixing murders aboard a luxurious cruise delivery. Will there be extra of High Seas to come back?

At the instant, Netflix has now not confirmed whether or not there can be the fourth season of High Seas. According to reports, season 4 is said to be in development however these have yet to be shown.

The third series best dropped on Netflix today (Friday, August 6), so it is nevertheless early days for news of the displays future to be announced.

Netflix renews are normally introduced among one and six months after the premiere, so fans might be anticipating information till the stop of the subsequent 12 months.

If High Seas is given the green mild for season four, lovers can count on the new series in 2021. The preceding series have aired at a different period every yr, with season one arriving in May 2019 and season in November 2019. The 3rd series arrived in the summer season 2020 on Netflix global.

Filming for High Seas season four may additionally face delays because of the present-day coronavirus outbreak however lovers should maintain their arms crossed for a 2021 launch.

In the cutting-edge season, Eva and Carolina were on board the Brbara de Braganza, this time to sail from Argentina to Mexico. While onboard, Eva worked along with a Brazillian secret agent. Fabio (Marco Pigossi) to assist him to hunt down a person wearing a toxic chemical onboard the ship.

Which he changed into the use of to kill several of its passengers. In the give up, Eva, Nicholas (Jon Kortajarena), and Fabio had been able to song down the killer. However, in cliffhanger fanatics did not see coming, one of the shows preferred characters became killed off.

Sadly, Nicholas became stabbed again and again by means of the killer and died on board the ship.

The fourth collection will maximum possibly comply with Eva and Carolina onboard a new delivery. With the previous coming to phrases with the loss of Nicholas. Fans were taking to Twitter worrying for the fourth season of High Seas and reacting to season 3.

One fan tweeted: Again, inform me Alta mar season four is occurring.A second viewer stated: Im literally panicking right now due to the fact from the seems of it Jon isnt always going to be in season four of Alta Mar. A third fan commented: If Alta mar doesnt get season four youll by no means listen from me once more

The majority of the main forged are expected to return for the fourth season of High Seas if it is given the green light.

So, this way Pans Labyrinth celebrity Ivana Baquero could be back as Eva Villanueva and Hazings Alejandra Onieva as Carolina. Hopefully, Jos Sacristn will go back as Pedro Villanueva, the uncle of Eva and Carolina. Also probable to go back is Begoa Vargas as Vernica de Garca.

The daughter of maid Francisca and Eloy Azorn as Fernando Fbregas. Carolinas husband and proprietor of the transatlantic ship. At the instant, is unknown if Brazilian actor Pigossi who played secret agent, Fabio in season 3 will return. If Jon Kortajarena returns as officer Nicols Vzquez. Its going to most likely be within the form of a flashback scene.

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High Seas Season 4 Expected Release Date, Cast Info and Every Other Detail - News Lagoon

This year's 'Shark Week' celebrates the 20th anniversary of 'Air Jaws'.

Its that time of year again and as always, Shark Week delivers some of the most exciting content on television. This year, Discovery is upping its game with even more science, stars and sharks than ever before. The new lineup includes more than 20 hours of programming and explores the uncharted territoryof how the current Covid-19 pandemic is impacting our seas.

Shark Week has proven to be an extremely important franchise for Discovery from both a ratings standpoint, as well as a vehicle to attract new viewers to the cable network.

This year, the viewer will tag along with A-List stars including Mike Tyson, Will Smith and Shaquille O'Neil. And, this years pandemic offers researchers the once in a lifetime opportunity to study how the global lockdown and reduced amount of human interaction and activity in our oceans has impacted the hunting patterns of sharks.

Last years programming shot Discovery up to the No. 1 slot, making it cables top network during Shark Week. Nearly 27 million viewers tuned in. According to analysis by Alphonso, average unique viewers (total day) last year were up 23% compared to the week before. In total, 28% of Shark Week viewers were new to Discovery last year.

The data shows how important the franchise is for short-term and long-term gains, says Raghu Kodige, co-founder and Chief Product Officer for Alphonso.The sizable audience attracts a variety of advertisers but the ability to pull in new viewers also allows Discovery to expose these individuals to promos for other shows, potentially expanding their base beyond Shark Week.

Two specials in this years lineup are dedicated to the Covid-19 pandemic: In Shark Lockdown researchers explore the waters off New Zealand where the largest female great whites are measuring over 20 feet long, earning the nickname the 747s. With no human interaction during COVID-19, researchers built a self-propelled cage to see how hunting patterns have changed. And, in Abandoned Waters researchers study how Covid-19 has affected the massive great whites at Australias Neptune Islands.

Marine Biologist and Ph.D. Alison Towner details how the worldwide shutdown has given sharks the opportunity to return to their natural behaviors and reclaim the oceans.

Marine biologist and Ph.D. Alison Towner lists 5 ways the pandemic is impacting sharks.

Towner, whose work includes research on white sharks with a focus on tracking and telemetry, as well as the driving factors of their movements, says scientists have recently been able to study sharks up close in ways that were nearly impossible prior. Here she lists five ways in which life for sharks has changed over the last several months.

This year's 'Shark Week' includes over 20 hours of programming.

Our oceans cover over 75% of the planet. Every second breath we take comes from the ocean thanks to marine plants and algae, explains Towner. Ecosystems are all about balance. If the top domino is tipped over, a systematic knock-on ripples through each trophic layer until most of the pieces are affected in some way or another.

Sharks, she adds, are one of the oceans top dominos. There are over 560 species of sharks on our planet. The earliest shark remains date back some 450 million years. Sharks Skates and Rays have survived multiple mass extinction events and adapted to thrive in extreme ocean habitats from the shallow coastal seas to the deepest darkest depths.

Their ability to survive is where the hope lies for Towner. Our planet is hurting from over-excessive wildlife extraction and consumption. The virus came from an animal in a wet market in Wuhan, China. If that doesnt support the notion that change needs to happen regarding our impacts on wildlife as humans nothing will. The next generation, those who do not want to see another pandemic rear its head, and those who want to see shark numbers bounding back from the loss of 100 million a year, now have the power at their fingertips to learn, educate and spread the plight of the shark with how to help.

Education is imperative to the plight of sharks. Tragically, these predators are threatened by a global shark fin trade. Efforts to fight this brutal, cruel and wasteful practice continue and through Shark Week the aim is to educate fans about why healthy oceans need sharks.

In the last 50 years, humans have advanced their capabilities to extract from the oceans to industrial scale levels, Towner explains. Factory fleets roam the high seas so advanced that they dont need to dock to offload their catch. These huge fleets can process all the meat fins and other body parts of sharks out of sight. They have naval technology, spotter planes and trackers to locate areas where remaining pockets of fish seek refuge. Nothing can hide and the chase to feed the growing populations of humans never ends. The cure for our suffering shark stocks will be the next generation of ocean ambassadors and their childrens actions.

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Shark Week 2020: How The Pandemic Added To This Years Programming - Forbes

Pumping efforts underway to stop oil leakage - courtesy of the Indian High Commission in Mauritius

By The Maritime Executive 08-10-2020 05:09:24

Reports from Mauritius indicate that the efforts to control oil leaking from the grounded bulk carrier Wakashio have for the moment been successful while frantic efforts continue along the coastline to contain the oil and control the spreading environmental disaster. With the situation remaining precarious, the prime minister of Mauritius, however, has warned his county to prepare for the worst-case scenario. The spill is already being called the worst in Mauritius history.

According to a statement from prime minister Pravind Jugnauths office, the flow of oil from the ships ruptured starboard tanks has been stopped for the moment. The estimates are that between 1,000 and 2,000 tons of fuel however have already leaked from the ship into the environmentally sensitive waters. At the time of the grounding on July 25, the 200,000 DWT bulk carrier was reported to have approximately 3,800 tons of fuel oil, 200 tons of diesel, and 90 tons of lube oil on board.

The first signs of cracks in the hull were reported on August 5 and shortly thereafter oil began to appear in the waters. The ships owners, Nagashiki Shipping Company, reported that it had contracted a professional response organization and salvage team and working with teams from Mauritius and international experts a hose connection was established between the Wakashio and a tanker the MT Elise. A second tanker the MT Tresta Star is also standing by the scene while helicopters have been deployed to transfer containers of fuel oil that was being pumped into drums on deck.

Despite the progress, the prime minister warned that the experts have reported additional cracks forming in the bulk carriers hull. With the weather in the area deteriorating and high seas again expected, the prime minister said they fear it is only a matter of time until the Wakashio breaks apart putting in danger at least two additional fuel tanks that so far are believed to be intact. They are estimating that as much as 2,000 additional tons of oil remain in the ships tanks.

In a further attempt to stabilize the situation, the ships owner in their official statement said that a tow line has been secured between the Wakashio and one of the salvage tugs that is on the scene. They are hoping that the tug can help to secure the Wakashio.

Aid also continues to arrive in Mauritius both from international sources, environmental groups, and residents who flocked to the shoreline trying to clean up the oil. Frances defense minister told Reuters that his country was sending both a military plane and a ship to Mauritius. The ships owner also said that they were seeking permission from Mauritius to deploy oil dispersant chemicals on the water.

Speaking in Japan, Nagashiki Shipping said it, deeply apologizes to the people of Mauritius and will do its utmost to protect the environment and mitigate the effects of the pollution. Similarly the vessel's charter, Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Line said at a news conference Saturday, We apologize profusely and deeply for the great trouble we have caused.

Accusations are also being to circulate to the cause to the grounding with a broad range of environmental groups and residents harshly criticizing the response efforts in the days after the grounding. Seeking to determine the cause of the grounding, Windward, a leader data analysis firm reviewed positioning data for an analysis published in Forbes. They are reporting that the ship was traveling at a normal 11-knot speed but was far to the north of the normal shipping lanes from the time it reached the area around Mauritius two days before the grounding.

Shortly after the grounding, there had also been reports from the media in Mauritius that the Coast Guard spotted the vessels course and tried in vain in the hours before the grounding to contact the Wakashio.

Read the original here:

Oil Leak Stopped from Bulker as Mauritius Prepares for the Worst Case - The Maritime Executive

A new weekend is coming and with the heat that lurks behind the door, it is better to hide in the cool that we have inside the house with snacks and refreshing drinks and enjoy the series that the streaming platforms bring us.

Like every weekend we recommend the new series that we find in Netflix, HBO and Prime Video. Each one in its own style and with very interesting novelties compete in the middle of summer to capture the attention of the majority of subscribers.

While Netflix brings us the continuation of a national drama with the Spanish actors of the moment, HBO stands out with a happy and fun new series that makes us forget the worries of the moment. For its part, Prime Video is committed to el genre of spies and corruption that so many like.

Between the premieres of the week with movies and series and the titles that have captivated in recent months, the platforms are becoming more complete and are taking advantage of the quarantine pull in many places to entertain everyone, whatever their tastes, at home.

If you like national productions, this list is for you: we have selected the 10 best Spanish series that you can watch on Netflix, HBO and Prime Video.

Netflix opens August with one of its national productions and which brings together a large cast of well-known performers: Ivana Baquero, Jon Kortajarena and Alejandra Onieva, among others. Alta mar returns in its third season and with many secrets still to be revealed, but above all the search for the lethal virus cabin by cabin on the cruise ship and a countdown that does not take her eyes off all the questions that remained to be resolved.

Title: High seas Release date: 2019 Duration: 40 minutes Platform: Netflix

HBO makes a much riskier bet, mixing comedy with musical in a series. Zoeys Extraordinary Playlist its a cool and enjoyable approach to these summer months. Zoey undergoes a medical test that will cause a strange syndrome, begins to perceive what people are thinking but singing. Her friends, co-workers and family sing her most hidden secrets around her and Zoey will have to deal with all that information without being able to reveal what she knows.

Title: Zoeys Extraordinary Playlist Release Date: 2020 Length: 40 minutes Platform: HBO

For Prime Video subscribers we leave you a series of espionage. The candidate addresses crime and drug trafficking in Mexico City. Two CIA agents have infiltrated to overthrow the most dangerous drug lord in the city and they run into the political and police corruption that often surrounds these criminal organizations.

Title: The Candidate Release Date: 2020 Duration: 40 minutes Platform: Prime Video

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What series to watch this weekend on Netflix, HBO and Prime Video: The extraordinary Playlist of Zoey and the High Sea | Entertainment - Explica