Bangladesh: What's behind a series of deadly industrial fires?

A devastating fire killed dozens at a container depot in southeastern Bangladesh this weekend. It's not the first such disaster in the country. Experts say corruption and lax enforcement are to blame.

Experts say the series of deadly fires in Bangladesh is mostly due to negligence

Hundreds were injured and at least 49 people killed in the fire that broke out on Saturday night at a shipping container depot in Bangladesh.

Officials fear that the death toll could rise as many of the victims are critically injured and some people remain missing after the explosions. The fire took place at the BM Inland Container Depot, a Dutch-Bangladeshi joint venture in Sitakunda, near the Bangladeshi port city of Chattagram.

Although the reason behind the fire is yet to be discovered, fire service officials confirmed that they had not been informed that chemicals were being stored at the depot. 

"The depot operator did not inform the firefighters about the chemicals — specifically, hydrogen peroxide — stored on-site," said Purnachandra Mutsuddi, an assistant director of the Chattagram fire station. "If they did, the casualties would have been much less."

"The firefighters unwittingly doused the hydrogen peroxide with water, setting off an explosive reaction," added Mutsuddi, who lost several of his fellow firefighters at the site.

Firefighters lack staff, equipment

While firefighters have been praised for their heroic efforts to put out the fire in Sitakunda, experts pointed out that the incident again showed that the country's fire department lacks the human resources and modern equipment needed to deal with such a situation.

"We need to reform the fire service department. It has been long overdue. We need to focus on building capacity and buying modern equipment," Ali Ahmed Khan, a former director-general of the country's fire service department, told DW.

"We have been building new industries in many areas but we are not putting fire response teams in those economic zones. We lack proper training in chemical inspections and trained firefighters to deal with a chemical explosion," he said.

Khan called for the appointment of 10,000 new firefighters and the construction of hundreds of new stations.

"We have around 14,000 firefighters and 400 stations across the country, which is far from enough to meet international safety standards," said Khan.

Could the explosions have been prevented? 

Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua, a legal expert who has investigated other fires in his country, believes that the explosions at the container depot worsened due to a lack of information about the stockpile of chemicals there.

"The firefighters were not informed about what was stored in the containers," Barua told DW. "Therefore, they have spread water on inflammable chemicals, which aggravated the situation. They could have used foam and sand to stop the fire instead."

Authorities later said that there were more than 4,000 containers at the depot, of which about 1,000 were filled with hazardous materials, including chemicals.

Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, thinks that the disaster at the depot could have been easily avoided with proper safety measures.

"After a disaster of such scale, systems and administrations are expected to take lessons and rectify [the situation]. Bangladesh regrettably hasn't taken any lessons from the past," the lawyer told DW. 

Both experts pointed out that the South Asian country has a history of industrial disasters, which have killed several hundred people in the past.

In 2010, a fire in a house illegally storing chemicals in the old town of the country's capital Dhaka killed at least 123 people.

In 2012, about 117 workers died when they were trapped behind locked exits in a garment factory in Dhaka.

In 2019, a blaze ripped through a 400-year-old area cramped with apartments, shops and warehouses in the oldest part of Dhaka and killed at least 67 people.

In 2021, a fire at a food and beverage factory outside Dhaka killed at least 52 people, many of whom were trapped inside by an illegally locked door.

"It is nothing but sheer lack of responsibility and accountability that leads to such deadly incidents," Hasan added.

An act of 'systematic killing'

Legal expert Jyotirmoy Barua doesn't consider such incidents to be accidents because when an incident is declared an accident and unintentional, victims are left with very little room to find justice in the country's legal system, he says.

"If we go through the patterns of those deadly incidents, it becomes clear that owners were already aware of what could happen if a fire breaks out in their factories," Barua told DW. 

"That's why we call it an act of 'systematic killing' as the term gives the victims a chance to file murder cases against the perpetrators," he said. "We were able to file two murder cases in the past after two industrial disasters. Trials have been going on in those cases.”

However, he admitted that in most incidents, perpetrators remain unpunished due to the corruption in different sectors, lax enforcement and a culture of impunity.

"The owners of these industries are so powerful that many forces come together to save them after an incident. They hardly face any justice due to their influence over political and other sectors of the country," he added.

Home minister vows to find culprits

"An investigation was launched to determine the reason behind the blaze [in Sitakunda]," Asaduzzaman Khan, Bangladesh's home minister, told reporters in Dhaka.

"Those responsible for the accident will be brought to justice," he added.

Around 90% of Bangladesh's roughly $100 billion (€93.6 billion) in trade, including clothes for H&M and Walmart, passes through the Chattagram port, located at the top of the Bay of Bengal.

Rakibul Alam Chowdhury, a spokesperson for the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said that about $110 million worth of garments were also destroyed in the fire.

"It is a huge loss for the industry," he said.

Edited by: Leah Carter

Chad declares food emergency as grain supplies fall

Chad's transitional government has declared a food and nutrition emergency in the wake of the Ukraine war and a poor harvest. In neighboring Niger and much of the African continent, food insecurity is skyrocketing.

A combination of poor harvest and the Ukraine war has led to Chad's food emergency

Last week, Chad declared a food emergency due to a lack of grain supplies. The landlocked African nation on Thursday urged the international community to help its population cope with rising food insecurity.

Cereal prices across Africa surged because of the slump in exports from Ukraine — a consequence of the war in Ukraine and a raft of international sanctions on Russia which have disrupted supplies of fertilizer, wheat and other commodities from both Russia and Ukraine.

Soaring prices

DW spoke with one couple in Chad who are dealing with the effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Many Chadians have to dig deeper into their pockets to afford basic foodstuffs

Cedric Toralta and Anne Non-Assoum live in the Boutalbagar neighborhood of Chad's capital, N'Djamena.

Non-Assoum — who had just returned from the market — expressed her dissatisfaction with rising food prices.

''Look what I bought: Here is meat for 1,500 CFA francs ($2.45, €2.28), rice for 1,000 and spices for 600 — that's more than 3,000 CFA francs only for lunch for four people," she said.

She told DW that in the past, the same purchase would have cost around 2,000 CFA francs.

"My husband and I spent 60,000 CFA a month on food, but now, even 90,000 is not enough!''

The cost of basic necessities has also risen significantly in Chad's neighbor to the northwest, Niger

Less food for the family

The dire situation has forced Toralta to take drastic nutrition measures that are not without consequences.

"We can't make ends meet, even though I decided to increase our food ration by 30,000 CFA francs. So I'm forced to reduce the amount we eat every day — and you see it's affecting the children," Toralta told DW.

''We need urgent food aid for the population," Non-Assoum said, stressing the urgency.

"If even the middle-income population in the capital can't cope with this situation, how can the rural population? It's very complicated, and we need the international community to help us.''

On Friday, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that international wheat prices had risen for a fourth consecutive month — up 5.6% in May alone.

And the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Action (OCHA) recently warned that one-third of Chad — about 5.5 million people — urgently needs humanitarian assistance.

Government blamed for not acting fast

According to Daouda El Hadj Adam, secretary-general of Chad's consumer rights association, the country's transitional government should have acted early enough to prevent a food emergency.

"This situation was predictable because agricultural production was extremely deficient last year," El Hadj Adam told DW.

"The government could have made this decision very early and taken consistent action," he said, adding that extra measures need to be taken beyond food aid support.

The consumer rights defender attributed the food crisis to several factors.

"First, we have agricultural production that is in deficit year after year due to climate change. Secondly, it's the failure of agricultural policy in our country."

He added that the bodies entrusted with supporting the agricultural sector do not function, do not have financial means, and do not have resources.

For example, even though the budgets have been approved, the National Agency for Rural Development Support (ANADER) and the Chadian Institute of Agronomic Research for Development (ITRAD), which deals with research, do not have sufficient resources to carry out their operations.

"The situation has worsened due to the combination of climate change and bad [farming] seasons," El Hadj Adam said.

Farmers hit by fertilizer price hike

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the prices of basic necessities have risen significantly in Chad's neighbor to the northwest, Niger.

Milk, sugar, oil and flour are the products whose prices have skyrocketed there. The cost of fertilizer has also increased dramatically.

At a recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the African Union chairperson, Macky Sall, said the continent was bearing the brunt of the war in Ukraine due to a shortage of grain and fertilizer.

In the village of Falke, some 665 kilometers (413 miles) from the capital Niamey, Tassiou Adamou, a farmer, told DW that this year's harvest will likely be poor because producers cannot afford to buy enough fertilizer.

"Groundnuts, which are our main cash crop, need fertilizer," Adamou pointed out.

"Until last season, a bag of fertilizer cost 17,000 CFA francs. This year, it has reached 30,000," he said, adding that it is impossible to produce much for those in the countryside.

AU chairperson Macky Sall says Africa is a "victim" of the Ukraine war

Bracing for tough times ahead

"If you used to use three bags of fertilizer for your field, today, you can only have one bag with the same amount. Where you used to harvest 50 bunches of millet, you can barely produce 30 bunches without fertilizer."

People in Niger, Chad, and many in the continent have difficulty making ends meet. As a result, many are now turning to their savings or cutting down costs to deal with rising inflation.

"When you walk through the cities, you see too many beggars," Chadian consumer rights activist El Hadj Adam said.

"As for those who work, their purchasing power is affected because they have to take care of other people even more."

In most African cities, prices in the markets have gone up by more than 30% and 40%. Price increases aside, it is doubtful whether the continent will have a sufficient supply of grains from Ukraine, such as millet and wheat, which are widely consumed.

Kossivi Tiassou contributed to this article.

Edited by: Keith Walker.

Please, go home: How COVID-19 halted labor migration

The COVID-19 pandemic brought international migration to a standstill — and migrant workers have borne the greatest cost. But Bangladeshi workers are doing surprisingly well.

Many migrant workers waited for plane tickets in front of a Saudia Arabian Airlines 

office in Bangladesh in 2020

Abul Basar has been in Saudi Arabia for 14 years now. After failing to find a suitable job in Bangladesh, he tried his luck as a migrant worker in the oil-rich desert state in order to support his family in Bangladesh, first in Riyadh, later in Jeddah. Most recently, he worked as a plumber at a water treatment plant in Al Qasim province. Then the coronavirus hit. 

Abul Basar has a job in Al Qasim province, Saudi Arabia

As of today, Basar is one of approximately 260 million migrants worldwide whose labor contributes to a major redistribution of capital to lower-income regions of the world. Ninety percent of what he earns — 2,000 Saudi riyals ($533, €498) a month — he sends home to support his family of four people.

More than half of all migrant workers are from South, East and Southeast Asia. They make up around 20% of the workforce in Western, Northern and Southern Europe — and the US. In the Gulf states, it's around 41%.   

Europe, the US, and the Gulf States are particularly important destinations for migrant workers and the source of most remittances (dark blue on the map).

Remittances: The economic stabilizer

With their remittances, migrant workers don't just provide for their families. They also stabilize entire national economies. In Zimbabwe, Georgia, Nicaragua and Senegal, remittances account for more than 10% of the national economy. In El Salvador, Gambia, Jamaica and Nepal, it's more than 20% and in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. it's around 30%. 

North and sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Central America benefit particularly from remittances.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, this model appeared to be in jeopardy. Lockdowns and job losses threatened to choke off the steady flow of capital transfers. In April 2020, World Bank experts estimated that migrants would send $129 billion less back home in the first year of the pandemic — a 20% drop.

In reality, payments recovered quickly after a brief, sharp drop. Currencies of key emerging economies such as Brazil, South Africa and Turkey depreciated sharply at the onset of the pandemic while remittances from dollar and euro economies grew in value. A large number of migrant workers also likely drew on savings in order to support their families back home, despite losing their jobs. 

"Usually I send around 500,000 BDT ($5,775; €5,450) a year to my family," Abul Basar said. 

But this has changed during the pandemic. Over the last two years, he tried to send more money to his family. 

"In 2021, my father was infected with COVID-19 and his treatment cost over 100,000 BDT. Compromising my savings that year, I sent more than 600,000 BDT to my family for bearing their extra cost."

The 'employment gap' with the local population

So the pandemic led to a greater financial burden and to severe cuts for migrant workers. Seasonal and migrant workers in particular, who had little legal protection, quickly lost their jobs. The unemployment rate also rose among the local population in many countries. But migrant workers were more affected by layoffs. In some countries with many seasonal workers, such as Hungary, Spain and Italy, a migrant worker was 50% more likely to be unemployed compared to a local worker.

According to the International Labor Organization, a UN institution, the reason for migrant workers being more likely unemployed than the local population is that they often work in the precarious, low-wage sectors. These include industries hit particularly hard by the pandemic, such as catering, tourism, culture, retail and construction.  

The true unemployment figures are likely even higher when you consider migrants who left the country due to job losses and therefore aren't counted in the statistics.  

India alone counted 6.1 million stranded workers who had to be flown home on charter flights when the pandemic hit. Thailand, Nepal, Malaysia, Sri Lanka also saw hundreds of thousands leave the country, in many cases due to layoffs. The ILO says the situation in South America and Africa was similar. Migrant workers in the Arab Gulf states were affected even more.  

It's unknown whether these people will be able to return to the countries where they were working anytime soon. While at the beginning of the pandemic, virtually all countries in the world closed borders to prevent travel, migration policies have varied since then: Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa quickly lifted regulations, while other European ones such as Spain and Italy tightened travel restrictions after COVID numbers increased.  

Vaccination rules have also made entry more difficult. The US, EU, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and especially Saudi Arabia not only require proven vaccination against COVID-19. At least for some time, they rejected certain vaccines produced in China, deeming them insufficient. But these were frequently used in South and Southeast Asia.  

The 'Saudization' of Saudi Arabia

The restrictive policy in the gulf in particular could be due to the so-called Saudization of the economy. Underway since 2018, the government initiative requires companies to "increase the proportion of Saudi nationals in their workforce," with penalties for "firms with low percentages of Saudi workers and 'redundant' foreign workers," a study of human rights organization FairSquare Project described. The Saudi health sector, for example, has to achieve an employment quota for locals between 30% and 60%. 

"Firms above the quota are granted benefits, while those below face restrictions for expat hiring," a study by Harvard University's Center for International Development indicates. 

Throughout the pandemic, discrimination against foreign workers was made even worse by demonization in the media. Many reports alleged that migrant workers were driving up infection rates.

Labor migration out of Bangladesh, however, only took a short term hit from restrictions such as those in Saudi Arabia. The number of workers going abroad decreased by more than two-thirds from 2019 to 2020, the Bangladeshi Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training documented. But since 2021, the number has risen again sharply. 

Recent figures show that about 75% of Bangladeshi migrant workers have left for Saudi Arabia

For three years running, Bangladesh has broken the record for highest remittance inflows ever seen in its history. According to official estimates, the workers sent back over $22 billion in 2021.

According to Dr. Zahid Hussain, formerly lead economist of the World Bank's Dhaka office, there are two special factors behind the recent record remittance inflow in Bangladesh. First, migrant workers likely sent more remittances through unofficial channels than the legal ones. 

"Because of the complete disruption of unofficial channels during the pandemic time, they have been forced to choose the latter one," Hussain said. 

Many also transferred their savings to Bangladesh amid fear of losing their jobs. 

"Some may have returned to the country with all their savings because they did not have a job," he said. "This may help boost the remittance inflow of the last two years."

Edited by: Kristie Pladson

US and China present competing visions for the Pacific

US President Biden's recent diplomatic tour has reassured allies of Washington's commitment to Asia. But China wants to present itself as an alternative to US-led order.

Leaders of the "Quad" grouping met in Japan during a visit from US President Biden

US President Joe Biden's inaugural visit to Asia in May was seen as a reminder that Washington's long-term foreign policy goals remain focused on Asia, even as the war in Ukraine currently takes center stage.

After Biden's tour, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken laid out the administration's China strategy in a highly anticipated speech, calling Beijing's geopolitical ambitions the "most serious long-term challenge to the international order."

Biden's four-day visit to US allies Japan and South Korea was also an effort to repair ties with Seoul and Tokyo that were frayed under former President Donald Trump.

While in South Korea, Biden met with newly inaugurated President Yoon Suk-yeol and struck agreements on bolstering the deployment of US military assets to the Korean Peninsula and increasing joint military exercises, which had been scaled back during the Trump administration.

In Japan, Biden met with the leaders of Japan, India and Australia, which along with the US comprise the "Quad," an informal grouping of countries that aims to align security policies in the Indo-Pacific vis a vis China.

Biden also introduced an economic initiative called the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), which excludes China but includes a dozen countries in the region including Japan, India and Indonesia.

The White House said the framework will enable the US and its allies to "decide the rules of the road."

However, it stops short of being a free-trade pact, calling instead for "high-standard commitments" to "deepen economic engagement," but would not, for example, allow for a cut in US tariff rates. It is also subject to change, according to the political whims of the next potential US presidential administration.

Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore (NUS), said the US Indo-Pacific strategy is based on entrenching rules, international laws, and standards that it prefers.

"As long as there are more actors signing up to these standards, it will shape the environment," he said, adding that if countries voluntarily comply with standards led by the US, it could raise the costs for them to comply with China's alternatives.

"It may then make it more difficult for China to push forward," he said. 

What does Beijing offer?

For years, China has been working to build what it sees as an alternative to an outdated US-led international order. More recently, Beijing has eyed partnerships with small Pacific Island nations. This has alarmed Australia in particular, which sees a Chinese foothold in the South Pacific as a security threat.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is currently on a 10-day tour of Pacific island nations, seeking among other things to shore up support for a Beijing-led regional trade and security deal, covering things like free trade, police training, and disaster resilience.

However, China met a setback when the 10 island nations did not agree on a joint communique outlining the plan following a meeting on Monday in Fiji with foreign ministers.

China's top diplomat Wang Yi arrives in the Solomon Islands during a tour of the Pacific

Wang had hoped the countries would endorse the prepared agreement. After the meeting he said "further discussions were needed to shape consensus," and that China would continue to offer support to Pacific countries "with no political strings attached."

"Don't be too anxious and don't be too nervous, because the common development and prosperity of China and all the other developing countries would only mean great harmony, greater justice, and greater progress of the whole world," the Chinese foreign minister said.

Anna Powles, a senior lecturer in security studies at Massey University in New Zealand, told DW that China "learned the hard way" that everyone needs to be on board with multilateral agreements.

"The proposed communique simply hadn't gone through that consensus-building process that it needed to," she said.

"They overplayed their hand and did not sufficiently appreciate the fact that there will be differences of opinions across the Pacific about elements of the agreement," she added.

China already has a bilateral security deal it signed the with the Solomon Islands last month,  as it pursues other bilateral strategic avenues in the Pacific.

China already has a security deal with the Solomon Islands

In September 2021, China also applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which would make it the biggest economy in a revamped version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The TPP was signed by 12 Pacific Rim countries during the Obama administration as an extensive free-trade agreement, excluding China, and encompassing some 40% of global GDP. Former President Trump took the US out of the pact within days of taking office in 2017.

However, China is already part of the world's largest trade deal, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which includes the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. It does not include the US.

Put into force in 2022, the RCEP envisions the elimination of tariffs and common rules around trade, intellectual property, e-commerce and competition. China is by far the most dominant economy in the RCEP, and analysts have said the pact will likely benefit Beijing the most.

On the strategic side, Beijing continues to claim sovereignty over international waters in the South China Sea. It has also taken an increasingly aggressive stance against Taiwan, which it considers a renegade province to be reunited with the mainland.

 An inevitable US-China rivalry?

In his policy speech, Secretary Blinken said that China was the "only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do it."

However, Blinken underlined that Washington was not looking for conflict or a new Cold War, instead promising to strengthen international laws and agreements so all countries can "coexist and cooperate" in an "open and inclusive international system."

"The Biden administration's approach is to reassume US influence in multilateral settings and shape 'rules of the road' in ways that help the US sustain international influence and compete against China on more favorable terrain," said Wen-Ti Sung, a lecturer in Taiwan Studies at Australian National University (ANU), who is currently based in Taiwan. 

"At this juncture, when the global community is rallying around the US — partly for its leadership on the Ukraine crisis and on delivering for global COVID-relief — it would be unwise for Beijing to take the US head-on right now," he told DW.

On Sunday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang said Washington's views on China and bilateral relations between the world's top two economies have "gone seriously awry."

He also accused the US of being the source of chaos that "shakes the current international order."

"We want to tell the US side that Sino-US relations are not a zero-sum game designed by the US," Wang said, calling US strategy "unipolar hegemony."

Blinken said US policy wasn't to block China from its role as a major global power or try to prevent Beijing from advancing the interests of its people.

"But we will defend and strengthen the international law, agreements, principles, and institutions that maintain peace and security, protect the rights of individuals and sovereign nations, and make it possible for all countries — including the United States and China — to coexist and cooperate,” he said.

While Blinken said Washington was ready to strengthen diplomacy and increase communication with Beijing across a full range of issues, analyst Chong from NUS said the current political climate in the US and China will make cooperation difficult.

"If there is any move that appears to be a compromise or accommodation, it will possibly be costly for either side," he said.

Edited by: Wesley Rahn

Figure skating's minimum age to be raised to 17

There will be no figure skaters under the age of 17 at the 2026 Winter Olympics. It follows the controversy surround 15-year-old Russian skater Kamila Valieva in Beijing.

The new limit follows the controvery of Russian 15-year-old Kamila Valieva's 

performance in Beijing

The minimum age for figure skaters competing in high-level international competitions will be raised following a vote by the sport's governing body on Tuesday.

Figure skaters will ultimately have to be at least 17 years old to compete in international events. The limit will be phased in, allowing 16-year-old skaters to compete in the 2023-24 season.

Before this decision, skaters as young as 15 were allowed to compete.

The decision was passed 110-16 in a vote by the International Skating Union in Phuket, Thailand.

The issue came to a head following controversy surround the participation of Russian national champion, Kamila Valieva, at the Beijing Olympic Games earlier this year.

Valieva — who was allowed to compete despite failing a drug test — faced enormous pressure and scrutiny over her participation. She was a favorite to win the individual event after helping secure gold in the group event, but stumbled several times during her routine. She was then openly criticized by her coach Eteri Tutberidze in a tearful encounter.

However the issue of ever-younger competitors and medalists has long accompanied a sport where the additional agility of youth has become fundamentally important. All six individual male and female medalists in Beijing were 24 or younger, three of them were teenagers. 

"This is a very important decision," ISU president Jan Dijkema said. "I would say a very historic decision."

Young skaters face health risks

The ISU proposed the new limit, citing risks of "burnout, disordered eating, and long-term consequences of injury" for young skaters.

The governing body said it had "a duty of care to protect the physical and psychological health and safety of all athletes including elite adolescent athlete[s]."

A medical report written for the ISU said the new limit would allow young skaters to reach skeletal maturity before competing, and that young athletes faced a puberty delay of two years on average.

"They have the right to develop themselves as people during their adolescent age... They don't need us to be forcing them to compete," said Dr Jane Moran from the body's medical commission.

Russian commentators said the decision was aimed at hurting Russia's medal chances.

Former Russian skating star Alexander Zhulin, now a coach, told TASS news agency: "The decision is mainly directed against us."

"It is obvious to everyone that at 15-16 years old our girls cannot be beaten. Everyone is against us now so this decision was not surprising."

Former coach turned media personality Tatiana Tarassova told TASS: "We will win anyway."

Smaller nations said it would reduce their chances of winning, but other smaller skating nations including Iceland and Ireland defended the decision, saying the focus should be on protecting youngsters.

"We have to remember they are children first and athletes second," Ireland's representative in Phuket said.

The next Winter Olympics is in Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy in 2026.

aw/msh (AP, AFP, Reuters)

'Ugly' fish don't get the conservation they need

The fish humans find most beautiful are least in need of conservation while "ugly" fish need more help. A study into fish aesthetics warns of a beauty bias.

A new study shows how humans rate the prettiness of more than 2,400 reef fish

Never judge a book by its cover — it's a principle we would like others to apply to us. But we do often judge others by their looks and a new study has found that our inclination to judge based on appearances also extends to the oceans.

The species of reef fishes that people find least beautiful tend not to be prioritized for conservation support, says the study published in the journal PLOS Biology. But it's "ugly" fish and the ecosystems they support that need conservation most.

Researchers at the University of Montpellier in France say they found that species ranked as more attractive tend to be less distinctive in terms of their ecological traits and evolutionary history.

How they ranked beautiful and 'ugly' fish

The researchers used an online survey to ask 13,000 members of the public to rate the aesthetic attractiveness of more than 480 photographs of ray-finned reef fishes — fishes being different species of fish.

Then they used the information from the survey to train an artificial intelligence technology, known as a convolutional neural network, to respond to yet more images in a similar way to the participants of the survey.

Once trained, the AI generated predictions — or aesthetic assessments — for an additional 4,400 photographs, featuring 2,417 of the most common reef fish species.

Why 'ugly' fish need conservation

When the public's ratings were combined with the AI's predictions, the scientists found that bright colorful fish species with rounder bodies tended to be rated as the most beautiful.

That does not bode well for "ugly" fish species or support from the public for conservation, say the researchers.

The study says that the ecological and evolutionary distinctiveness of unattractive fishes makes them important for the functioning of an entire reef and their loss — through a lack of conservation, for instance — could affect these ecosystems high in biodiversity

'UGLY' FISH MORE LIKELY TO BE ENDANGERED
Not just a pretty face
A study from the University of Montpellier in France has described the aesthetic value of 2,416 reef fish species for the first time. The study shows that fish rated as less aesthetically pleasing are more in need of conservation support — and that they may be less likely to get it. The mandarin fish (pictured) is not one of them though. It actually has a high aesthetic value.
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Species listed on a so-called Red List as threatened, or species whose conservation status has yet to be evaluated, had a lower aesthetic value on average than species categorized as of "least concern," say the researchers.

The Red List is maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

What humans find 'beautiful'

Nicolas Mouquet, an ecologist and lead author on the study, told DW that neuroaesthetic studies had shown that certain images tend to be judged as beautiful more than others.

For instance, when elements of an image can be removed from their background or visual features of a subject can be grouped into recognizable objects, that can trigger a sense of aesthetic pleasure in our minds.  

The study authors say that our preferences for shape and color, including when we look at fish, may be due to the way the human brain processes colors and patterns.

But there is a mismatch between our sense of aesthetic value, a species' ecological function and its vulnerability to extinction. That, according to the study, means that when it comes to conservation, less attractive species may miss out on public support.

Avoid bias with better communication

Human bias for aesthetically pleasing groups of animals is common.

"Our study highlights important mismatches between potential public support for conservation and the species most in need of this support," said Mouquet, adding that unattractive species also had greater commercial interest.

Mouquet said he hoped researchers would collectively minimize the impact of human perception biases through better communication with the public, policymakers and conservation groups.

Edited by: Zulfikar Abbany

A CLOSE LOOK AT MARINE MARVELS
Unknown life
Under permanent ice cover that is hundreds of meters thick in Antarctica, researchers have discovered sessile animals (similar to sponges) that have adapted to extreme conditions like darkness and subzero temperatures, as well as being under such expanses of ice that these organisms are 260 kilometers (155 miles) from the open sea. To what species the rock-bound creatures belong remains unclear.
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The story behind Albert Einstein's most iconic photo

It’s been 70 years since the genius physicist stuck out his tongue at pesky reporters. The photo turned him into an icon. But what's the story behind it?

The photo of Einstein sticking out his tongue is world-famous

It was March 14, 1951, the day Albert Einstein turned 72. The famous physicist, who was born in Ulm, Germany, had already been living in the United States for many years. At the time, he was working at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. A birthday celebration was held in his honor at the research center. 

The paparazzi were lurking outside the venue when he left, hoping to hear one of the world-famous professor's witty quips about the global political situation — and to take the perfect birthday photo.

Not a fan of media hype, and growing weary of being a spokesperson, Einsteinwas annoyed by their presence. Yet there he was, stuck in the back seat of a limousine, sandwiched between the institute's former director, Frank Aydelotte, and his wife, Marie, unable to escape the flashing bulbs. "Enough is enough..." he is said to have repeatedly shouted at the pushy reporters. "Hey, Professor, smile for a birthday photo, please," one shouts.

In a gesture of annoyance, the unconventional free spirit stuck his tongue out at his pursuers — a moment that was captured by photographer Arthur Sasse. The picture quickly circulated around the world, becoming an iconic image. 

The image elevated Einstein to pop icon status

A famous snapshot

The absent-minded professor with disheveled hair, who often forgot to put on socks, yet whose theory of relativity is still understood by only the world's most brilliant minds, was elevated to a mythical figure during the course of his own life. The cheeky snapshot also earned him pop icon status. 

The iconic photo has been reproduced frequently, as shown here on an Easter egg

However, it was not the photographer who helped the photo achieve worldwide fame, but Einstein himself. He ordered numerous prints and cropped it so the Aydelotte couple could no longer be seen. He sent dozens of the photos to colleagues, friends and acquaintances. "The outstretched tongue reflects my political views," he wrote to his friend Johanna Fantova. In 2009, an original signed copy was sold for $74,324 (€62,677) at auction, making it the most expensive photo of the genius ever. 

Einstein on human stupidity 

Einstein, who was Jewish, had fled Nazi Germany and knew what it felt like to be the subject of a government-led witch hunt. Thus, he did not condone the Cold War and the search for alleged communists instigated by Senator Joseph McCarthy, in which many politicians, intellectuals and artists were accused of being "un-American." 

The photo was even reproduced in a corn field in Germany, as seen here

Einstein had a lot to say about such human stupidity: "The ruling of the dumb people can't be overcome because there are so many of them, and their voice counts as much as ours" reads an Einstein quote translated from German. "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity. But I'm not quite sure about the universe yet," goes another of the professor's quips.  

Einstein met this stupidity with genius — and a dash of humor. 

Since it was taken on Einstein's birthday in 1951, the photo of him sticking out his tongue has been reproduced millions of times: on posters and t-shirts, greeting cards, mugs and murals. And even today, decades after his death, the revolutionary thinker and genius professor still has numerous fans, from young to old. 

This article was translated from German by Sarah Hucal.