1. Islands

Category Archives: Islands

Islands Trust Fund releases results

Posted on by

February 17, 2014

Environmental scientists took to the waters last fall for the second year of a three-year initiative to map eelgrass in the Islands Trust area.

The study will provide baseline information that marine scientists and conservation organizations can use to monitor marine habitats of the Salish Sea.

The projects partners the Islands Trust Fund, SeaChange Conservation Society and Seagrass Con-servation Working Group released the results of that mapping last week.

Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is a flowering marine plant that provides critical habitat to fish, shellfish, birds and mammals. Eelgrass meadows serve as nursery habitat, providing food and protection for more than 80 per cent of the regions commercially important fish and shellfish species at some point in their lifetimes. Sometimes called salmon highways, eelgrass habitat is essential to the survival of all species of salmon along our Coast. Eelgrass, also dubbed blue carbon, sequesters carbon at a much faster rate than the equivalent area of forest.

When its contributions towards fisheries and carbon sequestration are taken into consideration, the plant can be considered to have a significant economic value.

According to the David Suzuki Foundation, the estimated natural capital value of eelgrass is estimated to be between $21,000 and $80,000 per hectare per year, said Kate Emmings, ecosystem protection specialist with the Islands Trust Fund. If this was extrapolated to the estimated extent of eelgrass in B.C. 40,000 hectares that number would be somewhere between $1 billion and $3 billion per year.

The areas the Islands Trust Fund and its partners have mapped so far include the Ballenas-Winchelsea archipelago, Bowen, Denman, Gabriola, Galiano, Gambier, Hornby, Lasqueti, Mayne, Pender and Thetis Local Trust areas.

If enough funding is found for 2014, the Islands Trust Fund hopes to complete the mapping for Salt Spring and Saturna Island Local Trust areas.

Eelgrass habitats are particularly sensitive to docks, mooring buoys and anchor chains, hardened shorelines and contaminated or silty runoff from land. The Islands Trust Fund aims to use the eelgrass mapping to focus voluntary conservation efforts on the shorelines and watersheds that have the greatest impact on eelgrass meadows. Local governments and island communities may also use the maps when considering community education programs, land use plans and development applications along the shoreline.

Go here to see the original:

Islands Trust Fund releases results

Pacific Islands Forum To Continue Dialogue, Engage With Fiji

Posted on by

SUVA, Feb 15 (Bernama) -- The Pacific Islands Forum's Ministerial Contact Group concluded its two-day visit to Fiji on Saturday, saying the visit is consistent with the mandate of Pacific Islands Forum leaders to continue a dialogue and engage with Fiji.

The group said it welcomes "significant progress" made by Fiji since it last visited in April last year, including "important and significant efforts" to prepare for elections by Sept 30 this year, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Welcoming the progress Fiji has made towards elections and a return to parliamentary democracy, the ministers agreed to recommend to forum leaders that Fiji be invited to participate in PACER (Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations) Plus negotiations and forum trade ministers' meetings at the ministerial level," the statement said.

It said the ministers discussed with the forum secretary general steps for welcoming Fiji's full participation in the forum, following Fiji's September election in accordance with the spirit and intent of the Biketawa Declaration.

The Ministerial Contact Group is chaired by New Zealand's Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully and includes Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop, who visited Fiji for the first time since taking up the post, and ministers from Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Fiji has been suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum since May 2009 after the 2006 coup, by which the country's current Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, a naval officer, took power.

The Fijian government has pledged to hold a general election by the end of September this year, and Bainimarama has said he will resign as commander of the military forces to prepare for the upcoming general election.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus negotiations "offer an opportunity to help Pacific Islands Forum countries benefit from enhanced regional trade and economic integration".

Pacific Islands Forum leaders launched negotiations on PACER Plus at their 40th meeting in August 2009.

Fiji is currently not a participant in the PACER Plus negotiations.

View original post here:

Pacific Islands Forum To Continue Dialogue, Engage With Fiji

Islands Free listening, videos, concerts, stats and …

Posted on by

Islands is an indie rock band formed in 2005 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and currently based in Los Angeles, California

Hailing from Montreal, Canada, Islands is a 6 piece band founded in 2005 by The Unicorns co-founder/songwriter Nick Thorburn (often performing as Nick Diamonds) and drummer JAime Tambeur. Following the untimely disbandment of The Unicorns as they teetered on the brink of breaking through, Islands debut release entitled Return to the Sea, with its quirky sounds and refreshing, catchy melodies includes collaborations with members of Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade. This debut picks up where The Unicorns left off and takes the music to new heights without departing from The Unicorns unique if sometimes peculiar appeal.

Islands plays beautiful pop melodies, intertwined with elements of afro-pop, hip hop, and indie rock, among others. One of the main gimmicks of the band is the recorder brought over from The Unicorns, which is prominently featured in the song Jogging Gorgeous Summer. Nick Diamonds rules over the band with an iron fist. Other members include: Patrice Agbokou, Aaron Harris, Alex Chow, Sebastian Chow, and Patrick Gregoire. Return to the Sea, their rookie effort, was released on April 4th, 2006 on the brand new label, equator records, and rough trade in the uk. Digital Distribution handled by Alpha Pup.

On May 20, 2008, Islands released its second album, Arms Way, on Anti- Records.

On September 22, 2009 Islands released their third full length album, Vapours.

See the rest here:

Islands Free listening, videos, concerts, stats and ...

Spotts Beach | Spotts | Grand Cayman | Cayman Islands Sotheby’s International Realty – Video

Posted on by


Spotts Beach | Spotts | Grand Cayman | Cayman Islands Sotheby #39;s International Realty
http://www.sircaymanislands.com/eng/sales/detail/242-l-912-chgpe8/beach-front-land-spotts-other-cayman-islands-ky http://www.sircaymanislands.com/ http://www...

By: Cayman Islands real estate videos

View original post here:

Spotts Beach | Spotts | Grand Cayman | Cayman Islands Sotheby's International Realty - Video


  1. Islands