Papua New Guinea politicians playing a deadly game of Russian roulette
A simple
amendment into environment law may help wipe out most of our long-term
renewable marine resources
The
Government on Friday, May 28, 2010 bulldozed yet again another
constitutional amendment in the environmental law without any real
extensive consultations carried out or an analytical research into
what the effects and consequences of the law amendments may bring us.
All those
MPs who supported the bill have no idea nor do they have the country’s
best interest at heart.
They have thrown our country and
its people to the dogs and right outside our very own gates to make us
become spectators of the destructions that will take place after all the
mining, oil and gas activities are over.
The
proposed amended to the Environment Bill was passed with an absolute
majority after the third reading in Parliament but no-one bothered to
give any explanation during the last two readings as to
what the long-term negative impacts this changes would bring on our
nation’s other renewable resources.
In plain simple terms the
Government of the day has now allowed the current and all
future non-resource developers who are coming into Papua New Guinea to
literally destroy our environment just to extract our minerals and non
renewable resources from our land and no one is allowed to stop them.
Let me elaborate bit into what
may happen after this changes are enacted
Ramu Nickel’s
deep sea tailings approved
Ramu Nickel Project
in Madang with its deep sea tailings (DST) has now been given the
go-ahead by the State to dump its tailings into the Basamuk bay.
The
Chinese are known throughout the world for their don’t care attitudes”
and sheer negligence in environmental damages and
destructions and our Government has now said: “OKAY please destroy our
environment and get all the Nickel out”.
Simple economic analysis will
tell you that the nickel prices have dropped so drastically throughout
the world and will continue to do so.
This is simple economics that any
educated person will know and understand because many global currencies
today are doing away with the use of the nickel metal for their coins
only because they do not have any value anymore – the plastic money is
more popular today than ever.
· How
much is our Government expected to profit from the Ramu Nickel mine
after its proposed lifetime has come to an end?
· Will
the nickel extracted be of any value or will it be worthless?
· Was
it worth the while for the Government to amend the environmental law?
During the passing of the
amendments to the Environmental Act and those MPs who try to justify
that the deep sea tailings in Lihir Gold mine and Misima Gold mine has
no environment impacts cannot even compare to the damages it would bring
on Madang’s Tuna industry.
Madang’s Ramu
Nickel’s DST effects
The Ramu Nickel
Project in Madang with its deep sea tailings (DST) into the Basamuk Bay
will drastically affect not only the livelihoods of the people who are
seafaring but will eventually kill of the country’s biggest tuna
industry.
With the go ahead of DST, the tuna migratory
paths that en routes Madang waters through the Western and Central
Pacific oceans will severely affect the deep sea marine ecosystem and
disrupt the vital food-chain for some of our most-valuable and
renewable tuna resources to thrive on.
PNG tuna and
fisheries zone located in the Western and Central Pacific as compared to
other tropical waters in the region is highly productive as a result of
its geographical and climatic location.
It is
influenced by localised upwelling [meaning an upward flow of cold, heavy
deep-sea water, laden with nutrients, as warm surface water is drawn
away by offshore currents] associated with large number of
islands, reefs and sea mounts, periodic extensions of the equatorial
upwelling, seasonal monsoon upwelling and current reversals along the
New Guinea north coast, and nutrient run-off from the high rainfall
landmass.
The tuna species of principal interest in the
PNG are the offshore tunas, which include skipjack Katsuwonus pelamis, yellowfin Thunnus albacores, bigeye tuna Thunnus obesus, and albacore Thunnus alalunga.
The
world production of tuna on an annual basis of around 3.2 million mt, of
which skipjack comprises some 1.48 million mt (47.3%), yellowfin 1.19
million mt (37.9%), bigeye 283,000 mt (9.0%), and albacore 193,000 mt
(6.1 %).
Approximately 1.2 million mt of this world
catch is taken in the Central and Western Pacific
ocean , with up to 30% of the regional tuna production coming
from PNG in exceptional years and 20% in most years;
Over the
past decade the estimated purse-seine catch from PNG waters exceeded
200,000 mt in three years, the highest being over 350,000 mt.
The
highest estimated catch in the longline fishery has been 19,500 mt in
1978.
Since the domestication of the longline fishery
in 1995, this young industry exported between 800 mt and 1000 mt
annually. [Fisheries Management Act 1998. The National Tuna Fishery Management Plan]
Misima Gold Mine’s DST effects
MPs from Milne Bay should ask themselves why all
their sea cucumbers and bĂȘche-de-mer harvesting are almost gone.
Studies
have shown that all sea cucumbers extract bacteria and organic matter
from bottom sediments and some are responsible for bioperturbation and
oxygenation of the sea floor.
In the past only a
handful of beche-de-mer species were considered most valuable, but rapid
declined in abundance of these group in the last 20 years has led the
less-favoured species being harvested increasingly.
Today
there are currently 20 different species being harvested commercially in
PNG.
There has been a marked declined in the volume
of high value species and an increase in the volume of the low value
species taken.
The opening of the market to new species that
traditionally had no commercial value has dramatically impacted on the
volume of export.
Figures for 2000 showed PNG
exported about 607mt valued about K16.2 million.
Of that
the low value species accounted for 61% (370mt) and high value species
made up the remaining.
In 2001 PNG exported 484mt value
about K17.2 million and again the low value species accounted for more
than 60% of the total export. [Fisheries Management Act 1998 - The
National Beche-de-mer Fishery Management Plan]
Consequently,
it is not proven but DST alone may have already caused some very
drastic changes to the condition and nature of seafloor sediments with
unknown impacts on the existing renewable resources and also other
marine resources unknown to us.
Lihir Gold Mine’s DST effects
However, MPs in New Ireland
should still ask themselves why all their villagers who practice the
bottom long-line fishing method that has a mainline that lies on the
bottom or is suspended near the sea bottom for the majority of
its length may not be as successful nowadays and may be attributed to
the drastic effects of DST.
DST from the Lihir Gold Mine may have already caused some very
drastic changes to the condition and nature of seafloor sediments around
New Ireland’s coastlines and may have had unknown impacts on the local
fishing industry.
Any prospects in New
Ireland ’s future shark fishery industry that may target deep
bottom sharks for their liver oil may already be at an adverse
risk from the Lihir mines DST.
Shark products grew from about 20mt, processed
weight (dried fins and dressed frozen) in 1990 to almost 2,000mt in
2000.
Shark meat, oil and fins (frozen and dried) have been the
primary products exported.
The shark oil production peaked in 1992 with a
volume of 20.73mt worth K1, 030,277.39. [NATIONAL SHARK LONGLINE
MANAGEMENT PLAN 2002]
Liquefied
Natural Gas pipeline effects
The proposed
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in the Southern Highlands and cuts
into the Gulf and Central provinces will literally put
the country’s renewable prawn industry and its vast abundance of marine
resources at risk.
The
current pipeline that now services the Kummel Terminal in the Gulf
province has already had serious and unfavorable effects of its 1m
pipeline in diameter that has now raised the sea-bed by two meters in
height.
This sea-bed rise has now changed the water temperature and has
already killed off billions of marine microbes that once survived for
thousands of generation as a food-source from the prawns and fish after
the laying of the pipeline.
Can anyone imagine
the laying of a 70-mile LNG pipeline by Exxon Mobile right across the 14
major tributary rivers between the Western and Gulf provinces?
The
pipeline will raise the sea-bed by two meters and will always be under
constant pressure from these tributaries that literally pump out
billions and billions of marine life through the layers of silt per
minute to feed the prawn industry that is currently enjoyed by PNG.
The
pipeline will also be a major risk of being damaged causing a
catastrophic gas leak through this enormous pressure from all these
tributaries.
When this happens that it is good bye PNG’s
prawn industry
The sea-bed rise can drastically
change the water temperature above that supports the food-chain of
marine organisms which are also an important food source to the prawns
that spawn within the 14 great tributaries of the Gulf province may
eventually die off completely.
By placing this 70-mile LNG pipe
line may cause a very serious and long term effect that may kill of the
country’s major prawn industry in the Gulf province.
The
coastline to Papua New Guinea from Parama Island (at the southern limit
of the estuary of Fly River) to the border of Central and Gulf
Provinces.
This prawn species of the Family Panaeidae including the principle
species white banana prawn (Panaeus
merguiensis); the Indian banana prawn (Panaeus indicus); the (giant)
black tiger prawn (Panaeus monodon);
the brown tiger prawn (Panaeus
semisulcatus); and including the lesser-value endeavour
species, Metapanaeus spp.
In 1987,
annual harvests of prawn (all species) were worth K9.3 million in
exports alone. The industry was overcapitalised, and after strict
controls on fishing effort introduced in 1989, the value of exports
declined to about K7 million in 1994 to 1997.
Although,
there is a decline in the value, in reality, the fishery is profitable.
The
amendment of the Environmental Law gives us just a tip of the ice-berg
into the consequential effects that are already here and it points to a
devastating result it will have on some of our major renewable resources
in the future.
But what about the other non-renewable impact
projects that are taking the nation by storm with their short-term and
lump-sum benefits of instant wealth that will be here today and gone
tomorrow.
Betha, Arthur, the Grand Thief and the rest of the family don’t have to worry about PNG going to the dogs because they’ve all prepared their escape to Cairns if the Grand Thief gets kicked out of office. Then over in Cairns, media specialist (and failed journalist) Betha will continue to promote what wonderful patriots the Somare family was. It’s all very clear that the ‘new’ Somare that surfaced the last 7+ years is nothing more than an attempt to show career archrival Sir Julius Chan that Somare can enrichen himself through legal loopholes just as elegantly as Sir J did.
ReplyDeleteSir J has his own family skeletons but the Somare family is truly classic as a bunch of backbiting squabbling wantoks whose attempts at tricks and deceptions never cease. Lady Veronica is renowned for her various extramarital affairs with security guards but that didn’t stop her from periodically smacking the Grand Thief when he got home from overseas trips on her suspicion that he was doing the same behind her back. Veronica is one high flying mama always demanding the very best that money can buy. We should give her the title Dame Thief. Betha is a failed newspaper owner and journalist who is now employable only through Somare Inc. Arthur is a – how shall we put it – a thug whose own wife messed around, Arthur found out and sad to say, resulted in the violent death of the fellow who obviously was more sexually attractive than Arthur.
We could go on and on, the sad and sordid stories of the Somare family make their rounds at all the Moresby bars and have been an occasional source of great humour for many years. When I read Betha’s feeble attempts at replying to pngexposed questions, my mates and I just shook our heads and laughed, imagining all the while that Betha must be wearing an even more sour looking face than she normally has on.
May the dysfunctional Somare family escapes humour us for many more years to come. When the head of the tribe finally dies, let us not do the normal stupid PNG thing of crying our little hearts out for even the most corrupt. Let us instead celebrate the end of the Grand Thief and everything incompetent or evil he has come to stand for.