Australian developers see red as rare bird foils plans

SYDNEY // One of the world's most endangered birds, the orange-bellied parrot, is becoming famous for the wrong reasons in its native Australia. Not because of its rarity - there are believed to be just 50 individuals left in the wild - but because the tiny, shy bird has foiled a series of multi-million-dollar developments.

A few years ago, the parrot, which conservationists call the OBP, almost stopped a big wind farm being built in Victoria. Last month, it forced the development of a A$50 million (Dh194 million) marina near Melbourne to be put on hold while the federal government assesses its impact on OBP habitat - although no parrots have been spotted in the area for 25 years.

The OBP is a migratory bird, which is unusual for a parrot. It breeds in the Tasmanian wilderness, then flies to the mainland to feed, mainly in the Victorian coastal flats. Its numbers have declined dramatically over the past decade. Habitat degradation, introduced predators and the infertility of many females, possibly the result of inbreeding, have caused the decline.

A ground-feeding bird with a brilliant green, yellow and blue plumage - plus an orange patch - the parrot first achieved notoriety in the 1990s, when proposals to relocate a Victorian chemical plant sparked controversy because the site jeopardised its habitat. The then state premier, Jeff Kennett, branded it a "trumped-up corella". The corella, a type of cockatoo, is common in Australian backyards.

In 2006, the OBP was back in the limelight, after the federal government vetoed a Victorian wind farm amid fears that migrating birds might collide with the turbines. The decision was later reversed. Now Canberra has stepped in again, declaring that the marina expansion at Western Harbour, south-east of Melbourne, could threaten the parrot's survival.

Read on:  http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/asia-pacific/australian-developers-see-red-as-rare-bird-foils-plans

Whale battle wins public

TWO in three Tasmanians support anti-whaling protesters, the Mercury Great Tassie Survey shows.

While 66 per cent backed whaling protesters, 83 per cent want the Federal Government to do more to stop whaling.

And while 89 per cent of respondents did not support whaling, just 52 per cent agreed with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's anti-whaling tactics.

A fourth saw Sea Shepherd as brave protesters saving whales, while another 48 per cent chose the response that they were a group that "uses some dodgy tactics but at least is doing something to save whales".

A fourth considered them an extremist group and 13 per cent as anti-whaling pirates.

Respondents were less supportive when it came to forking out to save protesters, with 61 per cent against Australian taxpayers having to foot the bill to rescue them.

The survey questioned 4400 Tasmanians on their views about the state.

Yesterday the anti-whaling ship Bob Barker docked in Hobart after another season hampering the Japanese whalers.

The crew is pushing for action after encountering a Japanese harpoon vessel four miles off Macquarie Island, which comes under Australian and Tasmanian governance.

"This is like a harpoon vessel coming up the River Derwent," captain Peter Hammarstedt said.

The Bob Barker was one of the Sea Shepherd fleet claiming victory after the Japanese whale tally was only 267, compared to its target of 1035.

Ship manager Andrea Gordon said a Japanese vessel tried to foul the Bob Barker's propeller within the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends 200 nautical miles from the coast.

Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research has accused the Bob Barker of attacking its vessels by firing flare signals and a high-powered laser beam.

"Japan's research whaling in the Antarctic is a perfectly legal activity carried out under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling," the institute said in a statement last week, adding it intended to continue whaling.

Capt Hammarstedt said Japan illegally entered Australia's territorial sea limits.

After concerns raised by Greens senator Bob Brown, Prime Minister Julia Gillard asked Japan to order its boats to leave territorial waters off Fremantle in January.

Sydney University international law expert Tim Stephens said ships minding their own business could come and go as they pleased.

Dr Stephens said enforcing a Federal Court decision that Australian law was broken was dangerous because it could jeopardise a deal that protected Antarctica from development.

painem@news.net.au

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/03/15/309641_tasmania-news.html 

Logging threat fears for rare lobster

Experts fear a planned logging operation in Tasmania's north-west threatens the survival of the Tasmanian giant freshwater lobster.

A river system near Wynyard has been earmarked for logging by Forestry Tasmania, despite the area being known as one of the last strong holds of the vulnerable lobster.

The coupe is not listed for immediate protection under Tasmania's $276 million forest peace deal, but is being assessed for inclusion in future reserves of high conservation value forest.

Lobster expert Todd Walsh says sediment run-off from logging operations could decimate lobster populations and the area should be given immediate protection.

"Sediment covers their homes, which means the juvenile lobsters have nowhere to live, which means they're exposed to predators like platypus and blackfish."

"But also it covers up their food supply so they either starve to death or they get eaten; so sediment basically wipes them out."

Mr Walsh says the area is an important study site.

"This tributary runs into probably the most surveyed lobster spot on the planet, so there's been more lobsters surveyed and tagged downstream from this tributary than anywhere else.

"So it's probably the most important site that we've got," he said.

Meanwhile Forestry Tasmania has denied plans to log a key habitat of the giant freshwater lobster go against the spirit of the forest peace deal.

Ken Jefferys from Forestry Tasmania says it is harvesting the coupe to meet supply agreements, as it is required to do under the forest agreement.

"Only a few weeks ago we had to send a consignment from the south of the state to the north west with sawlogs to keep those mills operating, we are in a very constrained space, whenever you lock up more forests our capacity to reschedule, to adopt flexibility is significantly reduced."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-09/20111109-logging-threat-fears-for-rare-lobster/3655276

Searching for the Tasmanian tiger in PNG

By:Joanna Egan | April-8-2011

IN DECEMBER 2010, the AG Society-sponsored adventurer Andrew Hughes headed into the wilderness in an attempt to see if the Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine - declared officially extinct in 1986 - continues to persist in any remote pockets (see video below) of Tasmania - and surprisingly, New Guinea.

Read more: http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/search-for-the-tasmanian-tiger.htm

VIDEO: Highlights of Andrew Hughes' expedition to track the history of the Tasmanian tiger


(Via Kristin Edwards)

Warm weather sets lowland skink sex

SNOW skinks can base their gender on either genes or temperature. Which strategy they choose appears to depend on the weather.


Ido Pen of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and colleagues studied two clans of snow skinks, Niveoscincus greeni, living at low or high altitude in the mountains of Tasmania, Australia. The team captured pregnant skinks from each clan and allowed half of each group to lie in the sun for 10 hours per day, while the others were restricted to 4 hours. When the skinks gave birth, the scientists sexed their offspring.

Litters born to the lowland clan had a greater proportion of females after long days in the sun, compared to short days. In contrast, the sex ratio of the highland litters remained equal (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature09512). This suggests that temperature drives the sex of low altitude litters, while genes determine gender further up the mountain.

Pen thinks climatic pressures are behind these different systems. At low altitudes, females born early under warm conditions have more time to grow large and produce offspring, so it is advantageous for these skinks' gender to be temperature-sensitive. At higher altitudes, however, erratic annual temperatures mean that the timing of birth may not affect reproduction rates, so the skinks rely on genes to produce a balanced sex ratio.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827844.300-warm-weather-sets-lowland-skink-sex.html