Daily Archives: April 21, 2021

The ocean covers about 70% of Earth and provides a suite of vital services to humanity, but the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Servicesreports that threats ranging from unsustainable fishing to climate change could leave more than half of marine species at risk of extinction by 2100. Building resilience of our ocean while boosting fisheries, marine-based livelihoods, and economies is possible, in part, through new and expanded marine protected areas (MPAs). The Blue Nature Alliancea new partnership between Conservation International, The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Global Environment Facility, Minderoo Foundation, and the Rob and Melani Walton Foundationis working to conserve 18 million square kilometers over the next five years. Shubash Lohani, a project director with Blue Nature Alliance, explains how effective marine protection can help protect the ocean and support people. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

A:The Blue Nature Alliance aims to support the conservation of 18 million square kilometers (6.9 million square miles) through the creation of new protected areas and expansion, improved management, or increased protections in existing ones. The alliance will invest in places that are significant to ocean biodiversity and people with the aim of achieving the highest level of protection possible while recognizing the rights of Indigenous peoples and working alongside local communities. In addition to MPAs, Blue Nature Alliance will also support other effective area-based conservation measures, and innovative place-based interventions designed to achieve biodiversity conservation outcomes. The alliance is currently working on large-scale efforts in Fijis Lau Seascape, Antarcticas Southern Ocean and Tristan da Cunha to collectively secure protections over 4.8 million square kilometers (1.9 million square miles) of the ocean. Looking forward, we expect to soon partner on initiatives in Canada, Palau, Seychelles and the Western Indian Ocean, which aim to strengthen and enhance the protection of nearly 2 million square kilometers (734,000 square miles) of the ocean. In addition, 18 additional Blue Nature Alliance engagements have been identified across North and South America, Europe, and the Asian Pacific region.

A: Studies consistently show that large, fully protected marine reserves protect biodiversity, safeguard traditional cultures closely linked to the sea, and allow plant and animal species to recover, all of which benefit areas far beyond the boundaries of the protected areas. However as of April 2021, according to the Marine Protection Atlas, a project of the Marine Conservation Institute, only 7.8% of the ocean is in some form of protection. Of that just 2.7% of the ocean is strongly protected in a no-take marine reserve or MPA with severe restrictions on extraction. To reap the full biological and economic benefits, MPAs must be well-designed and well-managed. They need robust management plans along with sufficient staffing, equipment, and funding. The International Union for Conservation of Nature recommends fully protecting at least 30% of the global ocean by 2030, and today more than 70 countries have publicly supported this goal. But its not just about protecting more of the ocean. We also need to protect better. This is where the Blue Nature Alliance can help drive change, by supporting the conditions needed for effective large-scale ocean conservation.

A: Conservation depends on collaboration of all ocean stakeholders in establishing and managing the MPAs. It is also important to share that Indigenous peoples and local communities are among the most effective stewards of biodiversity, with landmark United Nations and peer-reviewed research documenting their contribution. The Blue Nature Alliance will work to ensure all partners are engaged in designing and implementing projects to safeguard biodiversity and protect and conserve the ocean. The economic benefits of protected areas also extend to people who provide sustainable tourism and those engaged in nearby fisheries, as studies show that MPAs also lead to higher fish populations in neighboring, unprotected areas.

A: Rapid scaling up of meaningful and effective marine protections is possible only through a shared ambition and strategic partnerships, which is why Blue Nature Alliance will bring together NGOs, governments, local communities, and the private sector to provide expertise and support to help achieve large-scale ocean conservation. The alliances broad definition of success includes seeing any site we work on advance in its conservation journey. Our target of conserving 18 million square kilometers is our main measure of success but will not be the only one. We want to significantly support the goal to protect at least 30% of the global ocean by 2030. To achieve this, we need a treaty to protect the high seas, action at CCAMLR to protect the Antarctic Southern Ocean, marine protections in country national waters, sustained financing to ensure effective conservation measures today and into the future, and the participation and inclusion of all ocean stakeholders. The Blue Nature Alliance aims to cultivate the enabling conditions that are necessary to reach this ambitious goal. Well build upon the success and lessons of current and past projects, and in some cases will invest in those sites to achieve durable conservation and social outcomes. The alliance is a natural evolution of Pews long-standing commitment to protect the ocean.

A: Our ambitions must be as big as the ocean. They need to be global, diverse, and acknowledge that we are all part of the same ecosystem, and the only way to achieve our goals is to bring in partnerships at all levels, working with leaders from coastal communities to national and global decision-makers, like the United Nations. Blue Nature Alliance partners are local champions and leaders in the field of ocean conservation, with experience in advocacy, field implementation, communications, and long-term financing. Through our partnership approach, well have the assets and expertise needed to achieve results that could not be reached by any organization alone.

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New Partnership Seeks to Protect 18 Million Square Kilometers of Ocean Over Next Five Years - The Pew Charitable Trusts

PORT FOURCHON, La. (AP) Families anxiously awaited news of the 12 people missing from a capsized oil industry vessel Thursday while divers searching for survivors knocked on the ships hull without response.

Rescuers dont know whether any of the missing might be caught inside the lift boat called the Seacor Power that flipped over Tuesday in hurricane-force winds and high seas about 8 miles (13 kilometers) off the coast of Louisiana, Coast Guard spokesmen said.

There is the potential they are still there, but we dont know, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Lally said Thursday. Were still searching for 12 people because there are 12 still missing.

The Coast Guard said on Twitter that divers were able to conduct operations Thursday but didnt hear anything when they knocked on the ships hull. The Guard said dive operations were over and would resume Friday. They will continue to search overnight by air and sea.

A handful of the missing workers family gathered at a two-story fire station at Port Fourchon, a sprawling port where much of the industry that services the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico is based.

Workers from across Louisiana and other parts of the country arrive at the port to load up on the fleet of helicopters and ships that take them to the oil rigs miles out for long stretches of work. The flat landscape is punctuated by cranes where cargo can be loaded or unloaded and docks or hangers to make repairs.

In a nearby harbor, shrimping boats were docked, and fishing camps stood raised on stilts to protect them from incoming storms.

Marion Cuyler, who is engaged to crane operator Chaz Morales, spoke to reporters Thursday outside the fire station after briefings by executives with boat owner Seacor and the Coast Guard. She said she believes all 12 missing people are on the vessel.

Cuyler wavered between optimism and fear as she spoke but held out hope that Morales was in a part of the ship that had air after the accident and would be rescued alive.

Hopefully, they are all in one room, and they can just rescue them all in one day, she said.

She said she and other family members are frustrated and want answers about why the boat went out in the first place.

I asked, Who gave the orders and of course silence, she said. Cuyler said shed told her husband-to-be that he shouldnt be going out in such weather. And he knew they shouldnt have been going out.

A total of six people were rescued Tuesday when the ship capsized, and the Coast Guard Thursday released new details of how the rescue unfolded. The crew of a Coast Guard ship that answered the ships distress signal, arriving about 5:10 p.m. Tuesday, saw five men clinging to the hull, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Carlos Galarza.

A helicopter crew from Bristow, a marine company, lowered life vests and VHF radios to them, he said. Two of the men dropped into the water and were picked up by the Coast Guard. About the same time, Good Samaritan vessels rescued four other people, he said. The Coast Guard was also able to talk to the three people still on the ships hull using the radios that had been dropped. Later Tuesday night the Coast Guard was notified that one person had fallen in the water and wasnt seen again.

Shortly before 10 p.m., the two remaining people told the Coast Guard they were going back inside, and that was the last time the Coast Guard spoke with them, Galarza said.

On Thursday, Coast Guard members in a boat made their way to within a few yards of the capsized vessel and tried throwing a hammer at the hull in an attempt to make contact with potential survivors, the agency said.

One persons body was recovered from the water Wednesday as searchers scanned an area roughly the size of Hawaii, the Coast Guard said. The Coast Guard said it had been classified as a major marine casualty with the National Transportation Safety Board joining the investigation.

The Lafourche Parish Coroners Office identified the dead man as David Ledet, 63, of Thibodaux a town in southeastern Louisiana where many people work in the oil industry.

Capt. Dave was awesome, Joshua Segura, a mate and crane operator, said on Facebook. He said he had worked with Ledet before moving to another offshore company, describing him as one of the nicest and most humble people hes met.

Captain David has been on that boat over 15 years and is one of the most experienced captains Ive ever worked with, he wrote.

Part of the overturned ships hull and one of its legs were still visible, leaving most of the bulky vessel underwater, in an area 50 to 55 feet (15 to 17 meters) deep, according to the Coast Guard. The ship has three long legs designed to reach the sea floor and lift the boat out of water as an offshore platform.

The vulnerabilities of lift boats in storms have been known for years, and federal authorities have investigated multiple deaths on them. Four people on board the Trinity II died in September 2011 in the Gulf of Mexico when large waves struck its hull. Then in July 1989 a lift boat sank off the coast of Louisiana in storms associated with Hurricane Chantal. Ten of the 14 people on board died.

Coast Guard Capt. Will Watson said winds were 80 to 90 mph (130 to 145 kph) and waves rose 7 to 9 feet high (2.1 to 2.7 meters) when the Seacor Power overturned.

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Martin reported from Atlanta. Photographer Gerald Herbert contributed to this story from Grand Isle, Louisiana, and reporters Janet McConnaughey and Rebecca Santana contributed from New Orleans.

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No response as divers knock on capsized ship hull - The Associated Press

The bodies of four victims from the Seacor Power liftboat have been recovered as of Friday.

PORT FOURCHON, La. Coast Guard crews have recovered three more bodies of victims from the liftboat that capsized Tuesday in rough seas off the coast of Louisiana.

Two unresponsive people were recovered Friday by Donjon Marine commercial divers.

A Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopter spotted one of the victims Thursday night near the capsized Seacor Power.

One otherbody was recovered Wednesday, eleven are still missingand six people have been rescued.

The Coast Guard is not releasing the names of the victims -- or of any of the mariners involved in the accident -- out of respect for the families.

Editor's note: The video above originally aired on April 15.

Divers returned to the area early Friday, but dangerous weather conditions forced them to resurface a few hours later. They were able to resume diving around 1:30 p.m.

The Coast Guard confirms its possible some of the missing could still be on the vessel, which is owned by a Houston company.

We don know for certain, right now, but thats something that were looking into as the investigation unfolds, Coast Guard spokeswoman Ensign Shelly Turner said. Were trying to figure that information out, but it is a possibility right now.

Determined searchers say theyre not giving up hope.

We have to remain hopeful and optimistic. We are giving it all weve got, Captain Will Watson said. We are saturating the area with available resources to assist in the rescue mission, and we will continue to do so.

The Coast Guard said it has already covered an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.

The Seacor Power overturned in high seas and hurricane-force winds. The Coast Guard said winds were 80 to 90 mph and waves rose 7 to 9 feet high, worse than what was forecasted.

The boat is still overturned, partially submerged and grounded in about 55 feet of water. It was on a 100-mile journey to the Talos platform.

Liftboats transport equipment and workersto and from oil rigs in the Gulf. They lower huge legs to the sea floor to become offshore platforms.

The rest is here:

4 bodies of crewmembers recovered from capsized liftboat off Louisiana coast - KHOU.com

Earlier this month, the US announced that a warship of theirs, the John Paul Jones had sailed 130 nautical miles west of the Lakshadweep islands, within Indias Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) without Indias prior consent.

This was what the US terms a Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOPS) aimed at challenging states like India who they say have gone beyond the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) to assert excessive maritime claims.

Indians were rightly upset by this. Former navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash termed it an act of breathtaking inanity considering the atmosphere of rapidly warming Indo-US ties and within weeks of the US-led Quad leaders virtual meetings and on the heels of a major Indo-US naval exercise.

Though this generated many headlines, this was certainly not the first time this has happened. By its own count , the US has conducted such operations in Indian waters 19 times in the past 30 or so years since 1991. The only difference is, that for reasons best known to itself, the US decided to immediately publicise it. Usually, such operations around the world, affecting various countries, would form a long list which would be issued by the US Department of Defence annually.

While countries like India which are close to the US are baffled, those like China see a sinister motive behind this. They say the US uses the provisions in UNCLOS that do not explicitly prohibit military activity in its Exclusive Economic Zone to keep a close deployment off Chinas coast. The US has, famously, used FONOPS to challenge Beijings over-the-top maritime claims in the South China Sea where a UNCLOS tribunal has ruled Chinese artificial islands do not merit the maritime claims Beijing is making.

Also read: How Long Will New Delhi Let Washington Do as it Pleases?

There is also a benign explanation for this is. The US has not ratified the UNCLOS, but says it observes it as customary international law. One of its principles, as a Belfer Center explainer notes, is the US does this is to prevent the law itself from changing over time. According to the explainer, states must persistently object to actions by other states that seek to change those rules. As a maritime power, it is usually the US which ends up sailing into other states territorial waters or conducting military activity in their Exclusive Economic Zone. So, it needs to ensure that the current rules stay.

Under UNCLOS, states have the right to conduct military manoeuvres and movements within the 200 nm EEZ of a state. Indeed, they have the right of innocent passage where they can come into the territorial waters within just 12 nm of the country, if they sail straight through without turning on their weapons-related sensors.

At the time of signing and ratifying the UNCLOS, India had made a declaration that in its view, the Convention does not authorise other states to carry out military exercises or manoeuvres without the consent of the coastal state. Later this was incorporated into domestic legislation.

But this was merely an expression of Indias understanding of the spirit of UNCLOS, not its letter. The US says it conducts FONOPS to challenge the claims in excess to those provided by the letter of the treaty.

So, the US has for the past 30 years challenged Indias claim that you need to notify us before you conduct military manoeuvres in our EEZ. We have been able to live with it; indeed, short of taking on the US Navy, we had little alternative.

But there is another problem in the Lakshadweep islands. They are some 200 nautical miles from the Kerala coast which puts them at the edge of the EEZ. But because of them, we can extend the EEZ another 200 nm or so out to a part of the high seas which have huge strategic importance. This is the Nine-Degree Channel through which a vast amount of shipping goes.

Lakshadweeps strategic location. Photo: marinetraffic.com as of April 16, 2021

Maritime boundaries follow a simple principle. Twelve nautical miles out from your shore are territorial waters where the laws of the land are in force. Some laws can be applied for the next 24 nm of waters called the contiguous zone. Thereafter comes another 200 nm of what is called the Exclusive Economic Zone, which are technically the high seas where your laws do not hold, only that you have the right to exploit its fisheries and seabed resources.

Maritime boundaries lead off from what is called a baseline point on your shore it is the low-tide point from which the count 12+24+200nm outward to the sea is measured. So, usually, your territorial waters, contiguous zone and EEZ mimic your land boundary.

Islands like the Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar also follow the same principle of 12+24+200; in addition, if there are outlying rocks, they generate contiguous zones of 24 nm (and low tide elevations fetch nothing).

Now in an option given to archipelagic states like Indonesia, Fiji and the Philippines, instead of landing up with a polka dot pattern maritime boundary, they are allowed to define a boundary by creating straight baselines by joining the baseline points of their outermost rocks/islands and enclosing the area within as their internal sea.

In Lakshadweep, India has, through a 2009 notification, claimed a boundary using straight baselines drawn with nine or so baseline turning points, though this is a provision not available to India or any other continental state till now under the UNCLOS. So far, barring Pakistan, no one has protested this move. And though the USS John Paul Jones was 130 nm away from the Lakshadweep, there is no indication that the 2009 Indian straight baseline claim was challenged. In fact, there is no indicator in a check list of the US State Department whether Lakshadweep is on their target list. But they do have issues with the Indian claims in the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Bay.

At the end of the day, challenges close to Indias shores are likely to come only from states which have the ability to mount it. So far, there is only the US which can do it. But China is rising and there are worries that it may take the path of the US. That would be ironic, since China itself has drawn straight baselines around the Paracel Islands which the US has challenged by sending a ship through them. But in power politics, you should be prepared for all kinds of surprises.

Manoj Joshi is a Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.

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UNCLOS, an American Ship and India's Maritime Boundary - The Wire

Chinese state media has released new videofootagethat could suggest that the first domestically-built People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)aircraft carrier,Shandong,could soon conduct even more high sea trials.

The new carrier, which is based on the same design as the Soviet-builtLiaoning, is expected to fully enter service by the end of this year.

Shandongis Coming

Shandongwas officially commissioned in December 2019 in a ceremony attended by President Xi Jinping, four years after she was laid down inLiaoningprovince in March 2015 by Dalian Shipbuilding. It was seen as a milestone achievement for the PLAN, even as the carrier remains far less capable than anyU.S. Navycounterparts. However, the fact the Beijing was able to build a carrier puts it in a rare club of nations.

Now the first homebuilt carrier is about to undergo its next level of tests before entering service.

"TheShandongwill probably start its drills and training on the high seas later this year, which is a necessary step for it to achieve initial operational capability [IOC], a source to the PLAN told theSouth China Morning Post.

Not Exactly Ready for War

Earlier this month state broadcaster China Central Television had released footage that showed how the carrier had been continuing preparations for ever more advanced high sea trials during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The carrier has a crew of some 5,000 sailors including the air wing, and due to Covid-19 restrictions, much of the official state TV footage was actually shot by the crew offering a rare view inside the twenty-story accommodation and operations block of the carrier.

After being handed over to the PLAN from the shipbuilder it was expected that it would take at least eighteen months for the aircraft carrier to reach IOC. According to the CCTV video footage, the carrier features more than 12,000 different equipment systems, which all of course would need to be tested. To date, theShandonghas conducted nine sea trials, which were completed in Bohai Bay or the South China Sea relatively close to the warship's home base in Sanya, Hainan province.

The video also gave some insight into the carrier's capabilities including its ski-jump for launching jets, which was reported to be fourteen degrees rather than the twelve degrees that past experts had believed it to be. TheSouth China Morning Postalso reported that because of the thrust of China'sJ-15 fighter jet, the ramp angle was believed to been reduced but various angles were tested range from eight to sixteen degrees.

Flight operations are just some of the testing to be completed before the carrier will reach IOC.

Shandongisn't alone in having to undergo such lengthy trials. The United States Navy's newest carrier,USSGerald R. Ford(CVN-78) has also been undergoing numerous sea trials. It was only last year that the nuclear-powered warship and the largest military vessel in the world completed its Flight Deck Certification (FDC) and Carrier Air Traffic Control Center (CATCC) Certification

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He regularly writes about military small arms, and is the author of several books on military headgear includingA Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.

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China's New Aircraft Carrier Has All the Makings of a Powerhouse - The National Interest