Friday, June 24, 2022
Three dead after fresh Ecuador protest clashes, despite govt concession
Police in Ecuador's capital fired tear gas on Thursday to disperse Indigenous protesters who tried to storm congress, as the country's crippling cost-of-living demonstrations left another three dead, according to a rights group.
OF ECUADOR PROTESTS
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UN says Al Jazeera journalist killed by Israeli fire
AFP , Friday 24 Jun 2022
The United Nations said Friday that its findings showed that the shot that killed Al Jazeera TV journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11 was fired by Israeli occupation forces.
File Photo: Al-Jazeera s late veteran TV journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh (Akleh), shows her reporting for the Qatar-based news channel from Jerusalem on May 22, 2021. AFP
The Palestinian journalist, who was wearing a vest marked "Press" and a helmet, was killed on May 11 while covering an Israeli army operation in Jenin camp in the northern West Bank.
"We find that the shots that killed Abu Akleh came from Israeli security forces," UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
"It is deeply disturbing that Israeli authorities have not conducted a criminal investigation.
"We at the UN Human Rights Office have concluded our independent monitoring into the incident.
"The shots that killed Abu Akleh and injured her colleague Ali Sammoudi came from Israeli occupation forces and not from indiscriminate firing by armed Palestinians, as initially claimed by Israeli authorities" she said.
Reporter reacting (R) as an unidentified man tries to lift the body of the channel's veteran journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh (Akleh) from the ground after she was fatally wounded by gunfire in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, on May 11, 2022. AFP
She added that the information came from the Israeli military and the Palestinian attorney general.
"We have found no information suggesting that there was activity by armed Palestinians in the immediate vicinity of the journalists," Shamdasani said.
Colleagues and friends react as the corpse of veteran Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is brought to the offices of the news channel in the West Bank city of Ramallah. on May 11, 2022. AFP
In line with its human rights monitoring methodology, the UN rights office inspected photo, video and audio material, visited the scene, consulted experts, reviewed official communications and interviewed witnesses.
The findings showed that seven journalists arrived at the western entrance of the Jenin refugee camp soon after 6:00 am.
At around 6:30 am, as four of the journalists turned into a particular street, "several single, seemingly well-aimed bullets were fired towards them from the direction of the Israeli occupation forces.
"One single bullet injured Ali Sammoudi in the shoulder; another single bullet hit Abu Akleh in the head and killed her instantly."
Israeli occupation police confront mourners as they carry the casket of slain Al Jazeera veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during her funeral in east Jerusalem, Friday, May 13, 2022. AP
UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has urged Israel to open a criminal investigation into Abu Akleh's killing and into all other killings by Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank and in the context of law enforcement operations in Gaza.
SEE
Thousands of migrants storm border fence in Spain's Melilla
AFP , Friday 24 Jun 2022
Around 2,000 migrants tried to storm the border separating Spain's Melilla enclave from Morocco on Friday, the first such attempted mass crossing into the territory since the two nations mended diplomatic ties in March.
Migrants climb the fences separating the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco in Melilla, Spain, Friday, June 24, 2022. AP
Melilla and Ceuta, Spain's other tiny North African enclave, have the European Union's only land borders with Africa, making them a magnet for migrants.
Some 2,000 migrants made their way to the border at dawn and over 500 managed to enter the border control area after cutting a fence with shears, the Spanish government's local delegation said in a statement.
Of these 130 sub-Saharan African migrants, "all of them men and apparently adults", managed to enter Melilla, it added.
Morocco deployed a "large" amount of forces to try to repel the assault on the border, which "cooperated actively" with Spain's security forces, the delegation said earlier in a separate statement.
Images on Spanish media showed exhausted migrants laying on the sidewalk in Melilla, some with bloodied hands and torn clothes.
On Thursday night migrants and security forces "clashed" on the Moroccan side of the border, Omar Naji of Moroccan rights group AMDH told AFP.
Morocco's Hassani Hospital in Nador near Melilla confirmed that "several" police officers and migrants were admitted for treatment.
'New stage'
In March this year, Spain ended a year-long diplomatic crisis by backing Morocco's autonomy plan for Western Sahara going back on its decades-long stance of neutrality.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez then visited Rabat, and the two governments hailed a "new stage" in relations.
The row began when Madrid allowed Brahim Ghali, leader of Western Sahara's pro-independence Polisario Front, to be treated for Covid-19 in a Spanish hospital in April 2021.
A month later, some 10,000 migrants surged across the Moroccan border into Spain's Ceuta enclave as border guards looked the other way, in what was widely seen as a punitive gesture by Rabat.
Rabat calls for Western Sahara to have an autonomous status under Moroccan sovereignty but the Polisario wants an UN-supervised referendum on self-determination as agreed in a 1991 ceasefire agreement.
In the days just before Morocco and Spain patched up their ties, there were several attempted mass crossings of migrants into Melilla, including one involving 2,500 people, the largest such attempt on record. Nearly 500 made it across
'Means of pressure'
Patching up a relationship with Morocco, the departure point for many migrants has meant a drop in arrivals, notably in Spain's Atlantic Canary Islands.
The number of migrants who reached the Canary Islands in April was 70 percent lower than in February, government figures show.
Sanchez earlier this month warned that "Spain will not tolerate any use of the tragedy of illegal immigration as a means of pressure."
Spain will seek to have "irregular migration" listed as one of the security threats on NATO's southern flank when the alliance gathers for a summit in Madrid on June 29-30.
Over the years, thousands of migrants have attempted to cross the 12-kilometre (7.5-mile) border between Melilla and Morocco, or Ceuta's eight-kilometre border, by climbing the fences, swimming along the coast or hiding in vehicles.
The two territories are protected by fences fortified with barbed wire, video cameras and watchtowers.
The attempts include violent clashes between those crossing and the agents charged to stop them.
Migrants sometimes use hooks and sticks to try to climb the border fence, and throw stones at police.
Claimed by Morocco, the two cities have long been a flashpoint in diplomatic relations between Rabat and Madrid, which insists both are integral parts of Spain.
Wildfire threatens unspoiled Georgia island rich in history
By RUSS BYNUM
By RUSS BYNUM
June 22, 2022
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Smoke rises from the burned landscape at the north end of St. Catherine's Island on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. Four fires were sparked on the island by lightning strikes on June 11. (Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News via AP)
ST. CATHERINES ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — Wildfires sparked by lightning have scorched hundreds of acres on this unspoiled island off the Georgia coast, where crews are battling to protect plantation ruins, the remnants of a 16th century Spanish mission and archaeological sites that have yielded human artifacts thousands of years old.
St. Catherines Island has long been prized as an ecological and historic coastal treasure. Giant sea turtles nest on its beaches and ring-tailed lemurs, brought to the island decades ago, live in its dense forest. Slave quarters made from oyster-shell tabby survive on the island, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Savannah, as does the home of a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Protected for decades under ownership of a private foundation, St. Catherines Island has seen roughly 15% of its land area burn since a lightning storm sparked fires June 11. Severe drought left the island tinder-dry, allowing flames to rapidly spread. Columns of black smoke have been visible from the mainland, and raging flames reaching the treetops have at times burned near the beach.
“We have an untouched history, so we go above and beyond to try to protect that,” Michael Halderson, the island’s manager and only fulltime resident, told reporters Wednesday during a boat tour of the island’s perimeter, where smoldering fire formed thick smoke among blackened trees.
The island fires are among more than 30,000 that have burned roughly 4,600 square miles nationwide during one of the worst starts the U.S. has seen to its wildfire season.
Halderson and his small staff of seven worked nonstop for days trying to contain the flames until they realized four separate fires were burning across the island’s 6,700 acres (2,700 hectares).
Help arrived last week from the Georgia Forestry Commission, which mobilized about 15 wildland firefighters with bulldozers for plowing fire breaks as well as planes and a helicopter equipped to dump water on the flames. Another 25 fire team members were expected to arrive Thursday.
Crews haven’t attacked the fires with trench-digging plows as aggressively as they normally would, given the island’s history as a trove of historical treasures.
Over the decades, archaeologists have located the site where Catholic missionaries from Spain established a church and settlement on the island in the 1570s. Others have found evidence of humans living here 4,500 years ago. In total, the island has yielded well over 1 million artifacts.
Concerned that heavy plows could destroy undiscovered buried treasures, firefighters in some areas have taken a slower approach using bulldozers to scrape just a few inches (centimeters) from the ground — enough to clear grasses and vegetation so they won’t fuel the spread of approaching fire.
Areas of the island considered more sensitive are being doused with water from the air, said Byron Haire, a spokesman for the forestry commission team.
“We want to get this fire stopped, but we just have to slow down,” Haire said, adding that crews are trying “to keep a light hand on the land vs. the heavy hand of a machine that digs up a lot of dirt.”
Haire estimated the fires so far have burned up to 1,000 acres (405 hectares). Low humidity and unpredictable winds have made fighting the blazes more difficult.
Still, crews have managed to keep the flames out of the island’s compound that includes lodging for visiting researchers and a radio tower that’s vital for communications. Also protected in that area is the former home of Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who bought the island in 1766 and lived there until he died in 1777 after being mortally wounded in a duel.
Flames crept close to the tabby plantation ruins on the island’s south end until a helicopter snuffed them with water dumped from a giant bucket, Halderson said. He said fire burned through the Spanish mission site, where planted palm trees outline the footprint of the church that stood there centuries ago, but appeared to do little damage.
As for the island’s wildlife, both Halderson and Haire noted that animals typically are adept at avoiding fire. In some areas scorched when the fire first started, new plants have already begun to sprout.
Still, Halderson said doesn’t expect the fires to be extinguished any time soon.
“This will continue until we get significant rain,” Halderson said. “It could take weeks. It could be months.”
ST. CATHERINES ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — Wildfires sparked by lightning have scorched hundreds of acres on this unspoiled island off the Georgia coast, where crews are battling to protect plantation ruins, the remnants of a 16th century Spanish mission and archaeological sites that have yielded human artifacts thousands of years old.
St. Catherines Island has long been prized as an ecological and historic coastal treasure. Giant sea turtles nest on its beaches and ring-tailed lemurs, brought to the island decades ago, live in its dense forest. Slave quarters made from oyster-shell tabby survive on the island, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Savannah, as does the home of a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Protected for decades under ownership of a private foundation, St. Catherines Island has seen roughly 15% of its land area burn since a lightning storm sparked fires June 11. Severe drought left the island tinder-dry, allowing flames to rapidly spread. Columns of black smoke have been visible from the mainland, and raging flames reaching the treetops have at times burned near the beach.
“We have an untouched history, so we go above and beyond to try to protect that,” Michael Halderson, the island’s manager and only fulltime resident, told reporters Wednesday during a boat tour of the island’s perimeter, where smoldering fire formed thick smoke among blackened trees.
The island fires are among more than 30,000 that have burned roughly 4,600 square miles nationwide during one of the worst starts the U.S. has seen to its wildfire season.
Halderson and his small staff of seven worked nonstop for days trying to contain the flames until they realized four separate fires were burning across the island’s 6,700 acres (2,700 hectares).
Help arrived last week from the Georgia Forestry Commission, which mobilized about 15 wildland firefighters with bulldozers for plowing fire breaks as well as planes and a helicopter equipped to dump water on the flames. Another 25 fire team members were expected to arrive Thursday.
Crews haven’t attacked the fires with trench-digging plows as aggressively as they normally would, given the island’s history as a trove of historical treasures.
Over the decades, archaeologists have located the site where Catholic missionaries from Spain established a church and settlement on the island in the 1570s. Others have found evidence of humans living here 4,500 years ago. In total, the island has yielded well over 1 million artifacts.
Concerned that heavy plows could destroy undiscovered buried treasures, firefighters in some areas have taken a slower approach using bulldozers to scrape just a few inches (centimeters) from the ground — enough to clear grasses and vegetation so they won’t fuel the spread of approaching fire.
Areas of the island considered more sensitive are being doused with water from the air, said Byron Haire, a spokesman for the forestry commission team.
“We want to get this fire stopped, but we just have to slow down,” Haire said, adding that crews are trying “to keep a light hand on the land vs. the heavy hand of a machine that digs up a lot of dirt.”
Haire estimated the fires so far have burned up to 1,000 acres (405 hectares). Low humidity and unpredictable winds have made fighting the blazes more difficult.
Still, crews have managed to keep the flames out of the island’s compound that includes lodging for visiting researchers and a radio tower that’s vital for communications. Also protected in that area is the former home of Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who bought the island in 1766 and lived there until he died in 1777 after being mortally wounded in a duel.
Flames crept close to the tabby plantation ruins on the island’s south end until a helicopter snuffed them with water dumped from a giant bucket, Halderson said. He said fire burned through the Spanish mission site, where planted palm trees outline the footprint of the church that stood there centuries ago, but appeared to do little damage.
As for the island’s wildlife, both Halderson and Haire noted that animals typically are adept at avoiding fire. In some areas scorched when the fire first started, new plants have already begun to sprout.
Still, Halderson said doesn’t expect the fires to be extinguished any time soon.
“This will continue until we get significant rain,” Halderson said. “It could take weeks. It could be months.”
Nevada Supreme Court ruling shakes up groundwater rights
By GABE STERN
By GABE STERN
June 22, 2022
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada Supreme Court ruling on Thursday has set new precedent for how the state can manage groundwater in areas with severe drought.
In a 4-3 ruling issued Thursday to settle a water dispute in Diamond Valley, a rural Eureka County farm area, the court said groundwater management plans established in areas that are losing groundwater supply quickly can deviate from the longstanding senior water rights doctrine.
Nevada’s top water official, the state engineer, has authority to regulate water in the Diamond Valley area of Eureka County under a groundwater management plan approved by local farmers and water users even if the plan deviates from existing state water law, the state high court said.
In reversing a decision by a Eureka County District Court judge, the justices ruled that in some cases, water-use plans can deviate from longstanding “priority doctrine,” which gives premium rights to senior water users who’ve owned their land the longest.
The West is experiencing a more than 20-year megadrought. Scientists say the region has become much warmer and drier in recent decades and that climate change will continue to make weather more extreme, wildfires more frequent and destructive, and water supplies less reliable.
In the agricultural Diamond Valley, severe drought and decades of water overuse have led to battles over a groundwater supply depleted because it is unable to recharge naturally.
As a result, it has been designated a Critical Management Area, the only area in the state carrying such a designation.
Because the goal of the groundwater management plan is to erase the area’s “critical” status, the court said the state engineer can take action in ways that deviate from the “priority doctrine,” the court said.
The deviations are allowed only if the plan has been approved by both the engineer and a majority of water-users within the critically designated area, the court said. It called the management plan approved in Diamond Valley a community-based solution to long-term water shortages in the valley.
“We recognize that our opinion will significantly affect water management in Nevada,” Justice James Hardesty wrote for the majority. The court ruling was first reported by the Nevada Independent.
“We are of the belief, however, that — given the arid nature of this State — it is particularly important that we effectuate the plain meaning of a statute that encourages the sustainable use of water,” Hardesty wrote.
Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great Basin Water Network, said the ruling underscored ongoing tension over water use in the West, where doctrines long have separated junior and senior holders of water rights.
“This ruling puts a magnifying glass on that tension,” Roerink said.
It comes as farmers in many parts of the state are refiguring which and how many crops they can grow amid drought and rising costs due to inflation.
“We’re risking a lot more when we go and put in a seed in the ground than we were last year,” said Eric Hull, general manager of Winnemucca Farms, a Humboldt County operation that he called the largest irrigated farm in the state. “And in a tougher environment with a lot less water,” he added
Stern is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Stern on Twitter.
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada Supreme Court ruling on Thursday has set new precedent for how the state can manage groundwater in areas with severe drought.
In a 4-3 ruling issued Thursday to settle a water dispute in Diamond Valley, a rural Eureka County farm area, the court said groundwater management plans established in areas that are losing groundwater supply quickly can deviate from the longstanding senior water rights doctrine.
Nevada’s top water official, the state engineer, has authority to regulate water in the Diamond Valley area of Eureka County under a groundwater management plan approved by local farmers and water users even if the plan deviates from existing state water law, the state high court said.
In reversing a decision by a Eureka County District Court judge, the justices ruled that in some cases, water-use plans can deviate from longstanding “priority doctrine,” which gives premium rights to senior water users who’ve owned their land the longest.
The West is experiencing a more than 20-year megadrought. Scientists say the region has become much warmer and drier in recent decades and that climate change will continue to make weather more extreme, wildfires more frequent and destructive, and water supplies less reliable.
In the agricultural Diamond Valley, severe drought and decades of water overuse have led to battles over a groundwater supply depleted because it is unable to recharge naturally.
As a result, it has been designated a Critical Management Area, the only area in the state carrying such a designation.
Because the goal of the groundwater management plan is to erase the area’s “critical” status, the court said the state engineer can take action in ways that deviate from the “priority doctrine,” the court said.
The deviations are allowed only if the plan has been approved by both the engineer and a majority of water-users within the critically designated area, the court said. It called the management plan approved in Diamond Valley a community-based solution to long-term water shortages in the valley.
“We recognize that our opinion will significantly affect water management in Nevada,” Justice James Hardesty wrote for the majority. The court ruling was first reported by the Nevada Independent.
“We are of the belief, however, that — given the arid nature of this State — it is particularly important that we effectuate the plain meaning of a statute that encourages the sustainable use of water,” Hardesty wrote.
Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great Basin Water Network, said the ruling underscored ongoing tension over water use in the West, where doctrines long have separated junior and senior holders of water rights.
“This ruling puts a magnifying glass on that tension,” Roerink said.
It comes as farmers in many parts of the state are refiguring which and how many crops they can grow amid drought and rising costs due to inflation.
“We’re risking a lot more when we go and put in a seed in the ground than we were last year,” said Eric Hull, general manager of Winnemucca Farms, a Humboldt County operation that he called the largest irrigated farm in the state. “And in a tougher environment with a lot less water,” he added
___
Stern is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Stern on Twitter.
Feds issue draft assessment that could doom Minnesota mine
By STEVE KARNOWSKI
FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2011, photo, a core sample drilled from underground rock near Ely, Minn., shows a band of shiny minerals containing copper, nickel and precious metals, center, that Twin Metals Minnesota LLC, hopes to mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota. The U.S. Forrest Service issued a draft environmental assessment Thursday, June 23, 2022, that backs a proposed 20-year moratorium on copper-nickel mining upstream from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski, File)
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service issued a draft environmental assessment Thursday to lay the foundation for a proposed 20-year moratorium on copper-nickel mining upstream from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Formally, the proposal would “withdraw” from new mineral leasing for 20 years about 352 square miles within the Rainy River watershed in the Superior National Forest around the town of Ely. The plan threatens to doom the proposed Twin Metals mine near Birch Lake, which drains into a river that flows into the Boundary Waters. But it would not affect a separate project, the proposed PolyMet mine near Babbitt and Hoyt Lakes, which lies in a different watershed.
The Forest Service plans to start a 30-day comment period Tuesday when it publishes a notice in the Federal Register. The assessment was posted on the project website at go.usa.gov/xtaCw. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will make the final decision on whether to approve the moratorium.
“The proposed mineral withdrawal aims to prevent further negative environmental impacts from future mining operations,” the Forest Service said in its announcement of the draft. “It also evaluates the impacts of future mining on important social, cultural, and economic values.”
Democratic U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, who represents a St. Paul-area district and is sponsoring legislation to permanently ban copper-nickel mining in that area, welcomed the study, as did environmental groups that have been fighting the Twin Metals project for years. They say the risk of acid mine drainage poses an unacceptable threat to the country’s most-visited federally designated wilderness area.
McCollum said in a statement that the draft “makes it clear that sulfide-ore copper mining in the Superior National Forest is a toxic threat to the Boundary Waters. This pristine, precious wilderness demands permanent protection. The EA’s scientific foundation leaves no doubt: it is simply too risky to mine in this location.”
But Twin Metals said in a statement that the study was “not informed by science” and contradicts the goals of the Biden administration to ensure domestic accessibility of copper and other minerals needed for the renewable energy economy.
“We remain confident that we will move this project forward, responsibly source clean energy minerals and bring 750 family-sustaining jobs and 1,500 spinoff jobs to the communities of northeast Minnesota,” the company said.
Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, who represents northeastern Minnesota, where iron mining is a major industry, said the Biden administration “politicized” the review to kill Twin Metals instead of evaluating the project on its own merits.
“Biden and his fellow elitist Democrats in Washington and St. Paul are denying my constituents of our way of life,” Stauber said in a statement. “Joe Biden has made his position clear: he’d rather have foreign and child slave labor produce minerals instead of American union miners working to deliver Minnesota’s mineral wealth to the nation and world using the best environmental and labor standards.”
The Forest Service first proposed the moratorium in the final days of the Obama administration, which canceled Twin Metals’ two federal mineral rights leases. The Trump administration reversed that decision and canceled the environmental assessment process,. But the Biden administration revived the proposed mor atorium last year, and in January terminated the leases, saying they had been unlawfully reinstated.
Twin Metals is owned by the Chilean mining company Antofagasta. The proposed $1.7 billion underground mine was in the very early stages of the permitting process until the state Department of Natural Resources pulled the plug on its own environmental review in February, citing the company’s loss of the federal leases.
“The environmental assessment released today provides a strong scientific foundation for a 20-year ban on copper mining near the Boundary Waters,” Becky Rom, national chair for the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, said in a statement. “It is deeply rooted in peer-reviewed science, law, and established federal public lands policy, and validates the concerns of local residents and the American people about the risk sulfide-ore copper mining poses to the Wilderness.”
By STEVE KARNOWSKI
FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2011, photo, a core sample drilled from underground rock near Ely, Minn., shows a band of shiny minerals containing copper, nickel and precious metals, center, that Twin Metals Minnesota LLC, hopes to mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota. The U.S. Forrest Service issued a draft environmental assessment Thursday, June 23, 2022, that backs a proposed 20-year moratorium on copper-nickel mining upstream from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski, File)
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service issued a draft environmental assessment Thursday to lay the foundation for a proposed 20-year moratorium on copper-nickel mining upstream from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Formally, the proposal would “withdraw” from new mineral leasing for 20 years about 352 square miles within the Rainy River watershed in the Superior National Forest around the town of Ely. The plan threatens to doom the proposed Twin Metals mine near Birch Lake, which drains into a river that flows into the Boundary Waters. But it would not affect a separate project, the proposed PolyMet mine near Babbitt and Hoyt Lakes, which lies in a different watershed.
The Forest Service plans to start a 30-day comment period Tuesday when it publishes a notice in the Federal Register. The assessment was posted on the project website at go.usa.gov/xtaCw. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will make the final decision on whether to approve the moratorium.
“The proposed mineral withdrawal aims to prevent further negative environmental impacts from future mining operations,” the Forest Service said in its announcement of the draft. “It also evaluates the impacts of future mining on important social, cultural, and economic values.”
Democratic U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, who represents a St. Paul-area district and is sponsoring legislation to permanently ban copper-nickel mining in that area, welcomed the study, as did environmental groups that have been fighting the Twin Metals project for years. They say the risk of acid mine drainage poses an unacceptable threat to the country’s most-visited federally designated wilderness area.
McCollum said in a statement that the draft “makes it clear that sulfide-ore copper mining in the Superior National Forest is a toxic threat to the Boundary Waters. This pristine, precious wilderness demands permanent protection. The EA’s scientific foundation leaves no doubt: it is simply too risky to mine in this location.”
But Twin Metals said in a statement that the study was “not informed by science” and contradicts the goals of the Biden administration to ensure domestic accessibility of copper and other minerals needed for the renewable energy economy.
“We remain confident that we will move this project forward, responsibly source clean energy minerals and bring 750 family-sustaining jobs and 1,500 spinoff jobs to the communities of northeast Minnesota,” the company said.
Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, who represents northeastern Minnesota, where iron mining is a major industry, said the Biden administration “politicized” the review to kill Twin Metals instead of evaluating the project on its own merits.
“Biden and his fellow elitist Democrats in Washington and St. Paul are denying my constituents of our way of life,” Stauber said in a statement. “Joe Biden has made his position clear: he’d rather have foreign and child slave labor produce minerals instead of American union miners working to deliver Minnesota’s mineral wealth to the nation and world using the best environmental and labor standards.”
The Forest Service first proposed the moratorium in the final days of the Obama administration, which canceled Twin Metals’ two federal mineral rights leases. The Trump administration reversed that decision and canceled the environmental assessment process,. But the Biden administration revived the proposed mor atorium last year, and in January terminated the leases, saying they had been unlawfully reinstated.
Twin Metals is owned by the Chilean mining company Antofagasta. The proposed $1.7 billion underground mine was in the very early stages of the permitting process until the state Department of Natural Resources pulled the plug on its own environmental review in February, citing the company’s loss of the federal leases.
“The environmental assessment released today provides a strong scientific foundation for a 20-year ban on copper mining near the Boundary Waters,” Becky Rom, national chair for the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, said in a statement. “It is deeply rooted in peer-reviewed science, law, and established federal public lands policy, and validates the concerns of local residents and the American people about the risk sulfide-ore copper mining poses to the Wilderness.”
Widespread strikes disrupt services in North Macedonia
June 22, 2022
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — A strike by government workers in North Macedonia disrupted services Wednesday over a pay dispute between unions and the country’s center-left government fueled by high inflation.
Police associations, health care workers, municipal employees and others joined the strike, leaving essential services running with emergency staffing levels.
The National Federation of Trade Unions, or SSM, in North Macedonia is demanding pay increases for public sector workers after inflation increased for a ninth straight month in May to reach a 14-year high of 11.9 %, up from 10.5 % in April. The average monthly wage in the country is around 480 euros ($500).
“We need that money because of double-digit inflation, price shocks and the announced energy crisis,” SSM leader Darko Dimovski said.
In the center of the capital, Skopje, protesters left 120 empty chairs in front of parliament Wednesday, matching the number of the country’s lawmakers. The 24-hour rolling strikes were launched after a parliamentary budget committee failed to comply with union demands for a proposed salary adjustment scale. The strike disrupted mostly administrative services. Flights at the country’s main international airport, in Skopje, weren’t immediately affected.
June 22, 2022
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — A strike by government workers in North Macedonia disrupted services Wednesday over a pay dispute between unions and the country’s center-left government fueled by high inflation.
Police associations, health care workers, municipal employees and others joined the strike, leaving essential services running with emergency staffing levels.
The National Federation of Trade Unions, or SSM, in North Macedonia is demanding pay increases for public sector workers after inflation increased for a ninth straight month in May to reach a 14-year high of 11.9 %, up from 10.5 % in April. The average monthly wage in the country is around 480 euros ($500).
“We need that money because of double-digit inflation, price shocks and the announced energy crisis,” SSM leader Darko Dimovski said.
In the center of the capital, Skopje, protesters left 120 empty chairs in front of parliament Wednesday, matching the number of the country’s lawmakers. The 24-hour rolling strikes were launched after a parliamentary budget committee failed to comply with union demands for a proposed salary adjustment scale. The strike disrupted mostly administrative services. Flights at the country’s main international airport, in Skopje, weren’t immediately affected.
Climate change a factor in ‘unprecedented’ South Asia floods
By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL and AL-EMRUN GARJON
By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL and AL-EMRUN GARJON
June 22, 2022
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Flood affected people wait to receive relief material in Sylhet, Bangladesh, Wednesday, June 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)
SYLHET, Bangladesh (AP) — Scientists say climate change is a factor behind the erratic and early rains that triggered unprecedented floods in Bangladesh and northeastern India, killing dozens and making lives miserable for millions of others.
Although the region is no stranger to flooding, it typically takes place later in the year when monsoon rains are well underway.
This year’s torrential rainfall lashed the area as early as March. It may take much longer to determine the extent to which climate change played a role in the floods, but scientists say that it has made the monsoon — a seasonable change in weather usually associated with strong rains — more variable over the past decades. This means that much of the rain expected to fall in a year is arriving in a space of weeks.
The northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya received nearly three times its average June rainfall in just the first three weeks of the month, and neighboring Assam received twice its monthly average in the same period. Several rivers, including one of Asia’s largest, flow downstream from the two states into the Bay of Bengal in low-lying Bangladesh, a densely populated delta nation.
With more rainfall predicted over the next five days, Bangladesh’s Flood Forecast and Warning Centre warned Tuesday that water levels would remain dangerously high in the country’s northern regions.
The pattern of monsoons, vital for the agrarian economies of India and Bangladesh, has been shifting since the 1950s, with longer dry spells interspersed with heavy rain, said Roxy Matthew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune, adding that extreme rainfall events were also projected to increase.
Until now, floods in northeastern Bangladesh were rare while Assam state, famed for its tea cultivation, usually coped with floods later in the year during the usual monsoon season. The sheer volume of early rain this year that lashed the region in just a few weeks makes the current floods an “unprecedented” situation, said Anjal Prakash, a research director at India’s Bharti Institute of Public Policy, who has contributed to U.N.-sponsored study on global warming.
“This is something that we have never heard of and never seen,” he said.
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave a similarly grim assessment Wednesday.
“We haven’t faced a crisis like this for a long time. Infrastructure must be constructed to cope with such disasters,” she told a news conference in Dhaka. “The water coming from Meghalaya and Assam has affected the Sylhet region” in northeastern Bangladesh, she said, adding that there is no quick respite for the country.
Hasina said that floodwaters would recede soon from the northeast, but they would likely hit the country’s southern region soon on the way to the Bay of Bengal.
“We should prepare to face it,” she said. “We live in a region where flooding happens quite often, which we have to bear in mind. We must prepare for that.”
A total of 42 people have died in Bangladesh since May 17 while Indian authorities reported that flood deaths have risen to 78 in Assam state, with 17 others killed in landslides.
Hundreds of thousands are displaced and millions in the region have been forced to scramble to makeshift evacuation centers.
Bangladesh, home to about 160 million, has historically contributed a fraction of the world’s emissions. Meanwhile, a decade-old deal for rich nations, who have contributed more to global emissions, to give $100 billion to poorer nations every year to adapt to climate change and switch to cleaner fuels hasn’t been fulfilled. And the money that is provided is spread too thin.
That means that countries like Bangladesh — whose GDP has risen from $6.2 billion in 1972 to $305 billion in 2019 — have to redirect funds to combat climate change, instead of of spending it on policies aimed at lifting millions from poverty.
“This is a problem which is created by the global industrialized north. And we are paying the price for it because they have ignored their responsibility,” Prakash said.
In the hardest-hit city of Sylhet, shop owner Mohammad Rashiq Ahamed has returned home with his families to see what can be salvaged from floods. Wading through knee-deep water, he said that he was worried about waters rising again. “The weather is changing ... there can be another disaster, at any time.”
He is one of about 3.5 million Bangladeshis who face the same predicament each year when rivers flood, according to a 2015 analysis by the World Bank Institute. Bangladesh is considered one of the most vulnerable to climate change and the poor are disproportionately impacted.
Parul Akhter, a poultry farmer, held on to her disabled son to save him from the floodwaters in Sylhet. But she lost her only income — her chickens — and all other belongings.
“The chicken farm was the only way for me to live. I have no other means to earn,” she said.
Mohammad Arfanuzzaman, a climate change expert at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, said that catastrophic floods like the one this year could have wide-ranging impacts, from farmers losing their crops and being trapped in a cycle of debt to children not being able to go to school and at increased risk to disease.
“Poor people are suffering a lot from the ongoing flooding,” he said.
___
Ghosal reported from New Delhi. Associated Press writers Julhas Alam from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Victoria Milko in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
SYLHET, Bangladesh (AP) — Scientists say climate change is a factor behind the erratic and early rains that triggered unprecedented floods in Bangladesh and northeastern India, killing dozens and making lives miserable for millions of others.
Although the region is no stranger to flooding, it typically takes place later in the year when monsoon rains are well underway.
This year’s torrential rainfall lashed the area as early as March. It may take much longer to determine the extent to which climate change played a role in the floods, but scientists say that it has made the monsoon — a seasonable change in weather usually associated with strong rains — more variable over the past decades. This means that much of the rain expected to fall in a year is arriving in a space of weeks.
The northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya received nearly three times its average June rainfall in just the first three weeks of the month, and neighboring Assam received twice its monthly average in the same period. Several rivers, including one of Asia’s largest, flow downstream from the two states into the Bay of Bengal in low-lying Bangladesh, a densely populated delta nation.
With more rainfall predicted over the next five days, Bangladesh’s Flood Forecast and Warning Centre warned Tuesday that water levels would remain dangerously high in the country’s northern regions.
The pattern of monsoons, vital for the agrarian economies of India and Bangladesh, has been shifting since the 1950s, with longer dry spells interspersed with heavy rain, said Roxy Matthew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune, adding that extreme rainfall events were also projected to increase.
Until now, floods in northeastern Bangladesh were rare while Assam state, famed for its tea cultivation, usually coped with floods later in the year during the usual monsoon season. The sheer volume of early rain this year that lashed the region in just a few weeks makes the current floods an “unprecedented” situation, said Anjal Prakash, a research director at India’s Bharti Institute of Public Policy, who has contributed to U.N.-sponsored study on global warming.
“This is something that we have never heard of and never seen,” he said.
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave a similarly grim assessment Wednesday.
“We haven’t faced a crisis like this for a long time. Infrastructure must be constructed to cope with such disasters,” she told a news conference in Dhaka. “The water coming from Meghalaya and Assam has affected the Sylhet region” in northeastern Bangladesh, she said, adding that there is no quick respite for the country.
Hasina said that floodwaters would recede soon from the northeast, but they would likely hit the country’s southern region soon on the way to the Bay of Bengal.
“We should prepare to face it,” she said. “We live in a region where flooding happens quite often, which we have to bear in mind. We must prepare for that.”
A total of 42 people have died in Bangladesh since May 17 while Indian authorities reported that flood deaths have risen to 78 in Assam state, with 17 others killed in landslides.
Hundreds of thousands are displaced and millions in the region have been forced to scramble to makeshift evacuation centers.
Bangladesh, home to about 160 million, has historically contributed a fraction of the world’s emissions. Meanwhile, a decade-old deal for rich nations, who have contributed more to global emissions, to give $100 billion to poorer nations every year to adapt to climate change and switch to cleaner fuels hasn’t been fulfilled. And the money that is provided is spread too thin.
That means that countries like Bangladesh — whose GDP has risen from $6.2 billion in 1972 to $305 billion in 2019 — have to redirect funds to combat climate change, instead of of spending it on policies aimed at lifting millions from poverty.
“This is a problem which is created by the global industrialized north. And we are paying the price for it because they have ignored their responsibility,” Prakash said.
In the hardest-hit city of Sylhet, shop owner Mohammad Rashiq Ahamed has returned home with his families to see what can be salvaged from floods. Wading through knee-deep water, he said that he was worried about waters rising again. “The weather is changing ... there can be another disaster, at any time.”
He is one of about 3.5 million Bangladeshis who face the same predicament each year when rivers flood, according to a 2015 analysis by the World Bank Institute. Bangladesh is considered one of the most vulnerable to climate change and the poor are disproportionately impacted.
Parul Akhter, a poultry farmer, held on to her disabled son to save him from the floodwaters in Sylhet. But she lost her only income — her chickens — and all other belongings.
“The chicken farm was the only way for me to live. I have no other means to earn,” she said.
Mohammad Arfanuzzaman, a climate change expert at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, said that catastrophic floods like the one this year could have wide-ranging impacts, from farmers losing their crops and being trapped in a cycle of debt to children not being able to go to school and at increased risk to disease.
“Poor people are suffering a lot from the ongoing flooding,” he said.
___
Ghosal reported from New Delhi. Associated Press writers Julhas Alam from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Victoria Milko in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Fishing feud at end of the world split US and UK over Russia
By JOSHUA GOODMAN
By JOSHUA GOODMAN
June 22, 2022
Fillets of Chilean sea bass caught near the U.K.-controlled South Georgia island are displayed for sale at a Whole Foods Market in Cleveland, Ohio on June 17, 2022. A diplomatic row is taking place near the South Pole dividing the normally allied U.S. and U.K. governments in response to provocations from Russia over catch limits of the meaty toothfish. The feud could lead to an import ban on the fish, which U.S. officials insist is being caught unlawfully in violation of rules governed by the Antarctic Treaty. (AP Photo/Joshua Goodman)
MIAMI (AP) — It’s one of the world’s highest-fetching wild-caught fish, sold for $32 a pound at Whole Foods and served up as meaty fillets on the menus of upscale eateries across the U.S.
But Russia’s obstruction of longstanding conservation efforts, resulting in a unilateral rejection of catch limits for the Chilean sea bass in a protected region near Antarctica, has triggered a fish fight at the bottom of the world, one dividing longtime allies, the U.S. and U.K. governments.
The diplomatic feud, which has not been previously reported, intensified after the U.K. quietly issued licenses this spring to fish for the sea bass off the coast of South Georgia, a remote, uninhabited U.K.-controlled island some 1,400 kilometers east of the Falkland Islands.
As a result, for the first time since governments banded together 40 years ago to protect marine life near the South Pole, deep-sea fishing for the pointy-toothed fish is proceeding this season without any catch limit from the 26-member Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources or CCAMLR.
The move essentially transformed overnight one of the world’s best-managed fisheries into a France-sized stretch of outlaw ocean — at least in the eyes of U.S. officials threatening to bar U.K. imports from the area.
“In a world beset by conflict, the U.K. is playing a risky game,” said Will McCallum, head of oceans at Greenpeace U.K. “The history of Antarctic protection is one of peaceful cooperation for the common good of humanity. Russia’s consistent willingness to abuse the process cannot excuse unilateral action by other Members. We trust that countries who have previously imported South Georgia toothfish will not accept the catch of what is now an unregulated fishery.”
For decades, the fishery near South Georgia was a poster child for international fisheries cooperation, one that brought together sometimes adversarial powers like Russia, China and the U.S. to protect the chilly, crystal blue southern ocean from the sort of fishing free-for-all seen on the high seas.
Last year, as tensions with the West were rising over Ukraine, Russia took the unprecedented step of rejecting the toothfish catch limits proposed by the Antarctic commission’s scientists. The move was tantamount to a unilateral veto because of rules, common to many international fisheries pacts, that require all decisions to be made by unanimous agreement.
But critics say the U.K.’s response — issuing licenses without a CCAMLR-approved catch limit — is unlawful under the commission’s rules and weakens the Antarctica Treaty established during the Cold War that set aside the continent as a scientific preserve. U.S. officials have also privately told their U.K. counterparts that they would likely bar imports of any toothfish caught near South Georgia, according to correspondence between U.S. fisheries managers and members of Congress seen by The Associated Press.
The fight underscores how Russia’s attempts to undermine the West have extended to even obscure forums normally removed from geopolitical tussles. It also risks reviving Britain’s tensions with Argentina, which invaded South Georgia in 1982 as part of its war with the U.K. over the Falkland Islands.
But the outcome couldn’t be more consequential: With fish stocks across the globe declining due to overfishing, consumers are demanding greater transparency about where the filets on their plates are sourced. Central to that effort is rules-based international fisheries management on the open ocean and environmentally sensitive areas like the polar regions.
“It sets a dangerous precedent,” said Evan Bloom, who for 15 years, until his retirement from the State Department in 2020, led the U.S. delegation to the CCAMLR.
“What the Russians did clearly violates the spirit of science-based fisheries management,” added Bloom, who is now an expert on polar issues at the Wilson Center in Washington. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the U.K. can act unilaterally.”
Three of the four vessels authorized by the U.K. to fish near South Georgia starting May 1 belong to Argos Froyanes, a British-Norwegian company that pioneered techniques credited with dramatically reducing seabird mortality in the south Atlantic.
One of its customers is New York-based Mark Foods, the largest U.S. supplier of sea bass certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, the industry’s gold standard for sustainability.
CEO Barry Markman declined an interview request but said his company would not import any product deemed illegal by U.S. authorities.
“We have been working collaboratively with U.S. officials to resolve this situation in a favorable manner,” he wrote in an e-mail.
Chilean seabass — the commercial name of Patagonia toothfish — from South Georgia is sold at both Whole Foods and Orlando-based Darden Restaurants, which operates the fine-dining chains Eddie V’s and The Capital Grille. Neither company responded to a request for comment.
An official from the government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, which issued the licenses in coordination with the U.K. foreign office, said it took action so as not to give in to obstructionist tactics by Russia that it doesn’t expect will end anytime soon.
The fishery is one of the best managed in the world, with catch limits set by South Georgia below even the quota recommended by the Antarctic commission. In addition, all vessels authorized to fish near the island have observers and tamper-proof electronic monitoring equipment on board.
Officials say that closing the fishery would’ve taken valuable resources away from research and monitoring because about 70% of the island chain’s budget comes from the sale of licenses.
They point out that the population of toothfish — a bottom-dwelling species capable of living up to 50 years — almost collapsed in the days before CCAMLR due to poachers, many from the former Soviet Union, drawn to the high prices paid for the fish, which can weigh over 200 pounds. However, thanks in part to the multinational efforts of the commission, the species has bounced back.
But U.S. officials have taken a dim view of the U.K.’s actions.
Janet Coit, a senior official at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, wrote in an April 25 letter obtained by the AP that in the absence of approved protections, any fishing near South Georgia would be of “questionable legality” and have “serious implications” for the Antarctic commission.
She also stated that any shipments of fish harvested in what’s known as subarea 48.3 would likely be barred from entering the U.S., a preliminary view she said was shared with the U.K. government and U.S. importers to guide their decision-making.
“We recognize that fish from this subarea has represented a substantial percentage of toothfish imports,” according to the letter, which was sent to a bipartisan group of seven House members concerned about the impact of a ban on the seafood industry. “However, we are bound by our obligations under the CAMLR Convention, applicable conservation measures in force, and relevant U.S. law.”
The financial hit for the seafood industry from any import ban could be significant.
Every year, the U.S. imports around 3 million pounds of MSC-certified toothfish from South Georgia, worth about $50 million. The loss of those imports can’t be easily substituted because the four other MSC-certified toothfish fisheries in the CCAMLR convention area — run by Australia, France and the Falkland Islands — are fishing at or near capacity. Overall, about 15% of the more than 12,000 metric tons of toothfish caught in the CCAMLR convention area comes from South Georgia.
Under U.S. law, fishing conducted in a way that disregards conservation measures, such as catch limits, adopted by international fishery organizations to which the U.S. is a party, is considered illegal. Vessels that engage in such activity can be denied access to U.S. ports and blacklisted within the Antarctic commission framework.
Meanwhile, the U.K. has shown no sign of backing down. Even with no conservation measure in place, it insists it will continue to operate the fishery in the conservative way it always has, basing its decisions on the quota and other guidelines proposed by commision scientists.
“Russia egregiously blocked the agreed catch limits citing spurious scientific concerns not recognized by any other member of the CCAMLR,” the U.K.’s foreign office said in a statement. “The UK will continue to operate the toothfish fishery within the framework agreed by all CCAMLR Members.”
___
Follow Goodman at @APJoshGoodman
___
This story was supported by funding from the Walton Family Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
___
Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/
Fillets of Chilean sea bass caught near the U.K.-controlled South Georgia island are displayed for sale at a Whole Foods Market in Cleveland, Ohio on June 17, 2022. A diplomatic row is taking place near the South Pole dividing the normally allied U.S. and U.K. governments in response to provocations from Russia over catch limits of the meaty toothfish. The feud could lead to an import ban on the fish, which U.S. officials insist is being caught unlawfully in violation of rules governed by the Antarctic Treaty. (AP Photo/Joshua Goodman)
MIAMI (AP) — It’s one of the world’s highest-fetching wild-caught fish, sold for $32 a pound at Whole Foods and served up as meaty fillets on the menus of upscale eateries across the U.S.
But Russia’s obstruction of longstanding conservation efforts, resulting in a unilateral rejection of catch limits for the Chilean sea bass in a protected region near Antarctica, has triggered a fish fight at the bottom of the world, one dividing longtime allies, the U.S. and U.K. governments.
The diplomatic feud, which has not been previously reported, intensified after the U.K. quietly issued licenses this spring to fish for the sea bass off the coast of South Georgia, a remote, uninhabited U.K.-controlled island some 1,400 kilometers east of the Falkland Islands.
As a result, for the first time since governments banded together 40 years ago to protect marine life near the South Pole, deep-sea fishing for the pointy-toothed fish is proceeding this season without any catch limit from the 26-member Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources or CCAMLR.
The move essentially transformed overnight one of the world’s best-managed fisheries into a France-sized stretch of outlaw ocean — at least in the eyes of U.S. officials threatening to bar U.K. imports from the area.
“In a world beset by conflict, the U.K. is playing a risky game,” said Will McCallum, head of oceans at Greenpeace U.K. “The history of Antarctic protection is one of peaceful cooperation for the common good of humanity. Russia’s consistent willingness to abuse the process cannot excuse unilateral action by other Members. We trust that countries who have previously imported South Georgia toothfish will not accept the catch of what is now an unregulated fishery.”
For decades, the fishery near South Georgia was a poster child for international fisheries cooperation, one that brought together sometimes adversarial powers like Russia, China and the U.S. to protect the chilly, crystal blue southern ocean from the sort of fishing free-for-all seen on the high seas.
Last year, as tensions with the West were rising over Ukraine, Russia took the unprecedented step of rejecting the toothfish catch limits proposed by the Antarctic commission’s scientists. The move was tantamount to a unilateral veto because of rules, common to many international fisheries pacts, that require all decisions to be made by unanimous agreement.
But critics say the U.K.’s response — issuing licenses without a CCAMLR-approved catch limit — is unlawful under the commission’s rules and weakens the Antarctica Treaty established during the Cold War that set aside the continent as a scientific preserve. U.S. officials have also privately told their U.K. counterparts that they would likely bar imports of any toothfish caught near South Georgia, according to correspondence between U.S. fisheries managers and members of Congress seen by The Associated Press.
The fight underscores how Russia’s attempts to undermine the West have extended to even obscure forums normally removed from geopolitical tussles. It also risks reviving Britain’s tensions with Argentina, which invaded South Georgia in 1982 as part of its war with the U.K. over the Falkland Islands.
But the outcome couldn’t be more consequential: With fish stocks across the globe declining due to overfishing, consumers are demanding greater transparency about where the filets on their plates are sourced. Central to that effort is rules-based international fisheries management on the open ocean and environmentally sensitive areas like the polar regions.
“It sets a dangerous precedent,” said Evan Bloom, who for 15 years, until his retirement from the State Department in 2020, led the U.S. delegation to the CCAMLR.
“What the Russians did clearly violates the spirit of science-based fisheries management,” added Bloom, who is now an expert on polar issues at the Wilson Center in Washington. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the U.K. can act unilaterally.”
Three of the four vessels authorized by the U.K. to fish near South Georgia starting May 1 belong to Argos Froyanes, a British-Norwegian company that pioneered techniques credited with dramatically reducing seabird mortality in the south Atlantic.
One of its customers is New York-based Mark Foods, the largest U.S. supplier of sea bass certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, the industry’s gold standard for sustainability.
CEO Barry Markman declined an interview request but said his company would not import any product deemed illegal by U.S. authorities.
“We have been working collaboratively with U.S. officials to resolve this situation in a favorable manner,” he wrote in an e-mail.
Chilean seabass — the commercial name of Patagonia toothfish — from South Georgia is sold at both Whole Foods and Orlando-based Darden Restaurants, which operates the fine-dining chains Eddie V’s and The Capital Grille. Neither company responded to a request for comment.
An official from the government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, which issued the licenses in coordination with the U.K. foreign office, said it took action so as not to give in to obstructionist tactics by Russia that it doesn’t expect will end anytime soon.
The fishery is one of the best managed in the world, with catch limits set by South Georgia below even the quota recommended by the Antarctic commission. In addition, all vessels authorized to fish near the island have observers and tamper-proof electronic monitoring equipment on board.
Officials say that closing the fishery would’ve taken valuable resources away from research and monitoring because about 70% of the island chain’s budget comes from the sale of licenses.
They point out that the population of toothfish — a bottom-dwelling species capable of living up to 50 years — almost collapsed in the days before CCAMLR due to poachers, many from the former Soviet Union, drawn to the high prices paid for the fish, which can weigh over 200 pounds. However, thanks in part to the multinational efforts of the commission, the species has bounced back.
But U.S. officials have taken a dim view of the U.K.’s actions.
Janet Coit, a senior official at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, wrote in an April 25 letter obtained by the AP that in the absence of approved protections, any fishing near South Georgia would be of “questionable legality” and have “serious implications” for the Antarctic commission.
She also stated that any shipments of fish harvested in what’s known as subarea 48.3 would likely be barred from entering the U.S., a preliminary view she said was shared with the U.K. government and U.S. importers to guide their decision-making.
“We recognize that fish from this subarea has represented a substantial percentage of toothfish imports,” according to the letter, which was sent to a bipartisan group of seven House members concerned about the impact of a ban on the seafood industry. “However, we are bound by our obligations under the CAMLR Convention, applicable conservation measures in force, and relevant U.S. law.”
The financial hit for the seafood industry from any import ban could be significant.
Every year, the U.S. imports around 3 million pounds of MSC-certified toothfish from South Georgia, worth about $50 million. The loss of those imports can’t be easily substituted because the four other MSC-certified toothfish fisheries in the CCAMLR convention area — run by Australia, France and the Falkland Islands — are fishing at or near capacity. Overall, about 15% of the more than 12,000 metric tons of toothfish caught in the CCAMLR convention area comes from South Georgia.
Under U.S. law, fishing conducted in a way that disregards conservation measures, such as catch limits, adopted by international fishery organizations to which the U.S. is a party, is considered illegal. Vessels that engage in such activity can be denied access to U.S. ports and blacklisted within the Antarctic commission framework.
Meanwhile, the U.K. has shown no sign of backing down. Even with no conservation measure in place, it insists it will continue to operate the fishery in the conservative way it always has, basing its decisions on the quota and other guidelines proposed by commision scientists.
“Russia egregiously blocked the agreed catch limits citing spurious scientific concerns not recognized by any other member of the CCAMLR,” the U.K.’s foreign office said in a statement. “The UK will continue to operate the toothfish fishery within the framework agreed by all CCAMLR Members.”
___
Follow Goodman at @APJoshGoodman
___
This story was supported by funding from the Walton Family Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
___
Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/
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