segunda-feira, 26 de novembro de 2012

Illegal Fishing Breaking the News

*Asanami calls on F-FDTL to control illegal fishing in Timor Sea, Timor Post

Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Mariano Asanami Sabino has called on the Timorese Defense Force (F-FDTL) to control illegal fishing in Timor Sea.

The defense force should control our natural resources in the sea, so that other countries‚ people cannot steal them, the minister told journalist at Dili's Convention Center last Thursday.

Asanami affirmed that, each year people stole about 200 million in the Timor Sea in which its costal area is 73 kilometers.

He added that the Government was planning to rehabilitate Com Sea port in Lautem district to better develop fishery sector in the area.

*Polices have no proper facilities to control illegal fishing, Independente

Communities who are living in the eastern and southern territories are concerned about illegal fishing in their areas.

The Timorese National Police (PNTL) Marine Unit commander, Lino Saldanhal said there was always illegal fishing in the eastern coast such as in Valusere and Jaco Island and in the southern coast. To control these areas PNTL Marine Unit needed proper facilities.

The operation is aimed to capture people that engaged illegal fishing, therefore, PNTL Marine Unit needs proper facilities to protect themselves and to do operations successfully, he said.

domingo, 25 de novembro de 2012

PermaFest

Timor-Leste’s own permaculture NGO, Permatil, is hosting the 3rd Annual National PermaScout Camp from 24th November – 30th November in Laga, Baucau.

1,300 people are expected, which represents more than a 100% increase from last year’s camp in Aileu.  PermaScout & Permatil representatives from each of the 13 Districts in Timor-Leste will join 180 International volunteers and enthusiasts from Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, PNG, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Ireland and the United States.  A news / documentary film crew from Australia, led by Wayne Tindall (“Change the World”) and including two Timorese trainees, are filming the event throughout the week.

Hundreds of people from the local communities in Tequinomata and Sagadate have been active participants in preparing the camp over the last 5 months.  The camp was constructed exclusively from local materials in the village and will remain after its close as a legacy to community participation in hosting the camp.

The theme of the 2012 PermaScout Camp is NATUREZA IDA BA ITA HOTU (One Nature for All).  The 2012 camp is named for the recently-deceased HE FRANSISCO XAVIER DO AMARAL, the proclaimer of Timor-Leste’s National Independence in 1975.

With support from Australian ‘Permaculture’ practitioners, Permatil was established in 1999 shortly after the end of Indonesian occupation.  Permaculture connects and integrates different ideas and techniques of living and agriculture together: housing, water supply, health, waste management, agriculture, tree crops, aquaculture, rivers, forests, and animals.  It builds on traditional knowledge and new techniques available to augment that knowledge.  

Permatil provides disadvantaged communities in East Timor with an opportunity to overcome poverty and hunger while restoring the natural environment.  The Permascout camp, designed to empower its participants with this knowledge, will enable participants to carry techniques, skills and ideas back to their own communities.

The camp includes over 70 activities, 30 workshops, several site visits (to local villages, historic Veterans’ sites, & nearby farms), exhibitions, an expo, and musical performances.

Over 25 young leaders from most of the 13 districts have been formally trained during camp preparations.  Conducting the training are approximately 40 active Permatil leaders who were trained at previous camps in Dili and Alieu.  The camp has been sponsored by over 20 local and international organisations which has enabled participants to travel and attend the camp at minimal to no cost.

Non-Permascout members are welcome to attend (there is a daily fee) to learn, exchange, join in, compete and have fun. However, in the words of Ego Lemos – Permatil and PermaScout founder – there is an important message to be absorbed by every one of us:

“It is people who have created these problems and it is people who must change their ways for the earth to become healthy again. It is not too late for all of us to take action and to fix and save our earth. There is much local wisdom that still exists around the world today, including in Timor-Leste; our future generations depend on it. “

ENQUIRIES:
Herminia J Pinto, Head of Organising Committee:  +670 77345653 / Permatil.optims@gmail.com
All English-language Media Enquiries should be directed to Jason at +670 7802 9770
All Tetun-language Media Enquiries should be directed to Efraim at +670 7728 2076

SOURCE: ETAN

quarta-feira, 14 de novembro de 2012

Census

Parabéns ao Timor-Leste pelo grande avanço. Certamente é um passo enorme para a melhoria da gestão dos recursos marinhos do país.


Dili, 14 November 2012

Timor-Leste completes first national census of fishing boats

Timor-Leste has completed its first ever national census of fishing vessels, an achievement which will greatly facilitate the sustainable management of the nation’s fisheries resources.

Between October 2011 and October 2012, a Mobile Licensing Service visited 192 fishing centers in all 11 districts throughout the country. There they gathered information on almost every fishing boat currently operative in the country. A total of 2,865 boats were registered during the process, of which 1,324 were issued licenses.  Information on all the boats has been entered into a publicly accessible online system (www.peskador.org) where if forms a national census of fishing effort.

The service was operated by the Department of General Fishing Inspection of the National Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture (NDFA) in partnership with the Spanish-funded Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme for South and Southeast Asia (RFLP) which is executed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Mr. Lourenco dos Reis Amaral, the Chief of the NDFA’s Department of Fisheries Inspection said, “This is a major achievement for Timor-Leste. By facilitating a simpler and more effective process we now know how many fishing boats we have, where they are based and the type of fishing gear they use. This data will greatly facilitate better planning and management for the sustainable use of Timor-Leste’s fisheries. At the same time by visiting communities the mobile licensing team has also helped build better relationships between the authorities and fishers.”

Mr. Man Ho So, FAO’s Representative to Timor-Leste said, “This is an excellent example of how a relatively small-scale, but well targeted activity can deliver concrete results that will have very real and long lasting benefits for the people of Timor-Leste.”

The information gathered during the process has also been put to practical use during search and rescue missions for missing fishers. For example when an empty boat washed ashore on Atauro Island on 29 May 2012, the registration number on the boat allowed authorities to quickly find out exactly where it had come from and who the owner was. A search and rescue operation was launched along the route the boat had travelled, and although unfortunately the fisher was not found, the boat was returned to the fishing household.

Under Timor-Leste’s fishing law certain fishing boats (those with engines) are required to obtain a license. However the process to obtain one was complex, time consuming and expensive. As a result, prior to the census only eight vessels were licensed.

In response, the NDFA, with support from RFLP, decided to form a mobile licensing team in order to make the procedure simpler by providing a one-stop service much needed by fishers. The team registered all boats (motorized and non-motorized) and issued licenses to those requiring them.

RFLP helped equip the team with basic equipment including a generator, laptop, printers, a laminator, and geo-referenced camera. RFLP also helped the team coordinate its visits with that of an awareness raising team. They visited the communities a week before the mobile licensing team and explained to communities the need for basic fisheries management to help fishers better understand the need for licensing.

When the mobile teams visited the fishing centres, they helped every fisher with a boat to fill out a form detailing basic characteristics such as the owner/operator’s name, vessel length, year built, type/materials, fishing techniques used etc. A registration number was then marked on every boat: spray painted for non-motorized canoes and with an acrylic plate for motorized boats. A photo of the boat and owner was then taken with a geo-referenced enabled camera, making sure that the registration number was clearly visible.

For the motorized boats requiring licenses fishers pay the US$ 5 fee and are issued a receipt. They were helped to fill in the license application which was officially stamped and the license issued on the spot.

On their return from the field the information gathered was entered into the National Fisheries Statistical Database www.peskador.org that was established with RFLP support where it is publically available. The geo-referenced photographs boats/owners are also uploaded into Google Earth, so that their exact location can be recorded and seen.

SOURCE: ETAN

segunda-feira, 5 de novembro de 2012

Timor Submerso

Uma vez que a temática do blog é voltada para assuntos referentes ao mar, nesse vídeo promovido pelo Ministério do Turismo, Comércio e Indústria, é possível ver algumas das singularidades do mar Timorense: tartarugas, corais altamente coloridos, peixe-boi.

Gostaria que tivesse videos mais profundos sobre esse assunto. É de se espantar, quando se analiza a potencialidade costeira e marinha do Timor-Leste, as diversas ramificações que esse ambiente oferece. Eco-turismo, economia tradicional do pescado, economia industrial do pescado, artesanato, transporte, cultura,... Vídeos que extrapolem o quesito "mergulho (dive)" acrescentarão na fomação e desenvolvimento da industria marinnha e costeira, além de usar o recurso audio-visual para a formação da ideia.

Idioma: Inglês
Ano: 2012
Duração: 5:07