Picture perfect...spectacular sunsets from Asia Divers & El Galleon Beach Resort during this time of the year...
The image below is looking towards the Batangas area click on the image or this LINK for more images from the Philippine - Micronesia Alliance Destinations. The Divers Choice.
© Gunther Deichmann - www.deichmann-photo.com
Environment: The very recent killing of Thresher and dogsharks for squalene, photos of the liver from some 1,000 + dogsharks that were caught. They live at least 2 fathoms deep..
We
CARE ABOUT OUR ENVIRONMENT.
GD
....although I spend time discussing
issues revolving around the tourism in El Nido, the following issue
takes supreme precedence as it directly affects concerns both
personally, professionally, and globally. This email was forwarded
to me by a friend who works in the tourism industry in
Donsol.
Lee
Hey Guys
Sorry to depress you with these photos... They were taken in
Donsol, Sorsogon
(whale shark habitat), just
two weeks ago by my friend Omar. The finned sharks are thresher,
hunted by the hundreds...
The pink stuff in the bucket are little pieces of shark liver (from
dog sharks) for squalene. Pictured here are of the
liver from some 1,000 + dogsharks that were caught. They live at
least 2 fathoms deep...
Please forward this article if you wish...thank
you.
This is
the way the fishermen earn in the off season. They sell it to
middle men who bring it to Taiwan and Hong Kong. I’ve seen
firsthand the hunting of dog shark and finning in
Sorsogon and even Siargao but
I am certain in happens everywhere.
What we can DO is raise awareness.
Please forward if you wish
Thanks,
Denise
www.ecorescue.org
Donsol, Sorsogon,
Philippines is known
internationally as being an area that attracts some of the largest
congregations of whale sharks in the world. Originally hunted for
their commercial value, the sharks have recently gained full
protection status throughout the Philippines. This was largely due
to the world-wide recognition they received from
WWF
and the incredibly positive response
from the tourism industry (both locally and internationally).
Obviously the local fisherman, whom are harshly punished if they
pursue Whale sharks, have found another animal to exploit,
Thresher
sharks. Unfortunately, this
species has the same ‘vulnerable to extinction’ status
as their cousins, the Whale shark. Just as unfortunate, they do not
have the same protection in Philippine waters. That can
change…
Local and international awareness campaigns proved their
effectiveness in protecting the whale shark. It can be done with
the Thresher sharks as well. Just a bit of education and an
economic value larger than what can be provided by fishing them
must be provided (the notion that protecting an animal for the sake
of protecting biodiversity, especially in third world countries, is
not a reality…misguided but true). Fortunately, there is
both education and a real economic value already being recognized
in other places within the Philippines. On the small island
of Malapascua, Threshers
sharks have gained protection
due primarily to the recognition that they 'bring-in' more money as
a live attraction for SCUBA divers than as a dead animal sold as
parts to the neighboring Asian countries. Taking a page from
Donsol, local operators developed community based awareness
programs and contribute to the community by providing jobs and much
needed infrastructure. The results have been positive for both
sharks and people. In Donsol, the attention has been on the
Whale
shark, now help is needed to
expand the attitude of protection to other species as
well…
Lee Goldman
Lee Goldman, MSc
Marine Biologist
SE Asia Kayak Tours
www.asiakayaktours.com
China Dive Expo and the Expat Expo in Shanghai, the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance was represented by Club Paradise and Dugong Dive Center in Palawan, Philippines.
Alliance Partners in Shanghai
China Dive
and Expat Expo September 2008
Club Paradise
and Dugong Dive Center attended the
CDEX Dive Expo and at the Expat Show in Shanghai, from Friday
18th
to
21 Sept.
Juergen Warnke and Dirk Fahrenbach have just returned from the Expo
with some very good results. Both events where held at the same
time in Shanghai and some booking coming in already, below some
images from Dirk Fahrenbach.
One of the highlights was a Cocktail evening with JW and DOT.
(Philippine Department of Tourism)
Late News: Dugong Dive Center & the NEW and very sexy TASHINA...explore and island hopping to APO REEF NATURE PARK or CORON BAY with its Wrecks from WW II or TARA ISLANDS plus a lot more in Palawan, Philippines
Island hopping at
its best...explore Palawan and beyond.
She has
arrived...and ready for some serious island hopping in Palawan
Philippines.
we have just gotten word that the very “SEXY TASHINA”
is now at Club Paradise and Dugong Dive Center.
Dirk Fahrenbach dropped these images of yesterday, now he is on the
way with Juergen Warnke from Club Paradise to the Shanghai Dive
Expo.
Dugong
Dive Center Info...”The
Tashina”
As of
September one the Dugong Dive Center has the brand new Yacht
“TASHINA” (Trimaran).
The Fiberglas Yacht is 16m long and equipped with a back up
engine.
For daily dive trips the boat has a capacity of maximum 10 divers
and for overnight trips a maximum of 6 divers.
The boat is ideal for private charter. Guest that like to have a
private boat with dive guide and boat crew will have an individual
dive cruise, they never forget.
You like
to go as couple with a yacht across the Calamian Islands of
northern Palawan? This is only on sample of individual
cruising.
Trips to APO REEF NATURAL PARK or CORON BAY with its Wrecks from WW
II or TARA ISLANDS are the 3 main destinations we still offer with
our Dive Boat “Karen Claire”. This 12 years experience
with those dive trips will benefit the trips with our new
boat.
For more info contact: Club Paradise and Dugong Dive Center
@
http://www.dugongdivecenter.com/
http://www.clubparadisepalawan.com/
Data Sheet
(“Bust and
waistline”)
200 HP Main Engine
40 HP back up Engine
Bauer Compressor
Deep/Fish Finder
GPS
Satellite Telephone
Simple Kitchen
Small Toilet with Fresh Water Shower
Open Air Shower / Fresh Water
Diving Platform
12 and 220 V
TV with DVD Player and SD Card Slot
Radio with JBL and Bose Marine Speaker
One Open Air Sitting Area with Table and Sun Roof
One Cabin Sitting Area with Table
One Double Bed
4 Single Beds.
6 Open Air Hammocks for sleeping under the Stars.
Published Rates:
120,-Euro per person per day. (min. 4 Guest)
Inclusions: Accommodation, Food, 4 Dives per day.
OR
Boat Charter
100,-Euro Boat Charter per Day
30,-Euro per hour Travelling (fuel charge)
Per Person:
50,-Euro / Day Diving per person
15,-Euro per person for 3 meals
Wow...no school today... or is it a field trip to the killing fields?A barbaric Dolphin and Whale killing rampage in Denmark…yet another way of educating our Children…letting them help with the slaughter
DID YOU KNOW?
Is brought to you by the
Philippine - Micronesia
Alliance,
the Divers Choice.
We care about our Environment!
These images which have been send to me by my
friend Mark Cox are almost to graphic and brutal to show on the
web... but I feel this has to be brought to the attention of the
world...and maybe, but only maybe, we can STOP
this brutal
killing.
Wow...no school today...
or is it a field trip to the killing
fields?
A Whale of a Killing in
Denmark -Truth! & Fiction!
The
“Red Sea” blood every where, a barbaric custom from the
stone age has just caught my attention.
I don’t care what the excuse is, but now I have just about
seen enough, this makes me sick! I have never seen such a brutal
way of killing those harmless animals in this part of
Europe, Denmark
to be exact, where children helping
in the slaughter yet another real “good
education” Children even
given a day off school so they can participate, Oh
Boy...
To be honest,
I am lost for
words…the true
color (blood red) of our human or not so human behavior, I think
our ancestors in the stone age have behaved themselves in a more
human way.
See below some links for additional info there you can cast your
vote and bring this cruel practice to a STOP!
GD
Below some excerpts from the articles for more check the
links;
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/w/whale-killing-denmark.htm
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/end-whale-dolphin-slaughter-in-the-faroe-islands
I
am lost for words... GD
Courtesy and Excerpts from the articles, all the photos have been
send to me with the understanding
that these could be used, and help to stop this barbaric practice.
Thank you very much.
Target:
Prime Minister Jóannes Eidesgaard
Sponsored by:
John Koehler
Whales are sensitive, social
animals with highly developed nervous systems. They have a profound
capacity to suffer distress, terror and pain. Each year, the
Faroese kill pilot whales and other small cetaceans.
Islanders in motorboats first drive the whales into a bay. The
chase may be lengthy. The exhausted, terrified and confused whales
are eventually driven into the shallows. Here the bloodbath begins.
The islanders repeatedly hammer 2.2 kg metal gaffs into the living
flesh of each whale until the hooks hold. A 15 cm knife is then
used to slash through the blubber and flesh to the spinal column.
Next the main blood vessels are severed. The blood-stained bay is
soon filled with horribly mutilated and dying whales.
The Faroese celebrate the butchery of their victims in an carnival
atmosphere of entertainment. Indoctrinated from an early age,
children are often given a day off school to watch the fun. They
run down to the bay and clamber over the carcasses of slaughtered
whales.
Every year around 2,000 whales are driven ashore and cruelly
slaughtered in the Faroe Islands, mid-way between the Shetland
Islands and Iceland. For centuries the Faroe Islanders have hunted
pilot whales, driving entire schools into killing bays, where they
are speared or gaffed from boats, dragged ashore and butchered with
knives. Although the Islands are a protectorate of Denmark, they
have their own Government and regulations governing the pilot whale
hunt or "grind" as it is known.
Aside from the fact that the number of North Atlantic long-finned
pilot whales is unknown and they are listed as 'strictly protected'
by the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and
Natural Habitats, this is an act of barbarism and pointlessness. By
slaughtering 100 whales at a time, the Faroese are wiping out
entire pods and family groups. They are removing building blocks
from the gene pool of the species and damaging the web of life in
the North Atlantic and the North Sea.
The drive hunt is a practice abandoned elsewhere many decades ago,
and now outlawed by other European states. The inhabitants of the
Faroe Islands have no subsistence need for whale meat, and much of
the flesh is left to rot and be dumped; it cannot be exported, as
it is polluted with heavy metals and other toxins and therefore
cannot meet EU heath standards for human food.
According to Faroese legislation it is also permitted to hunt
certain species of small cetaceans other than pilot whales. These
include: Bottlenose dolphin; Atlantic white-beaked dolphin;
Atlantic white-sided dolphin; and Harbour porpoise (There are also
specific regulations for the hunting of harbour porpoise. Harbour
porpoises are killed with shotguns).
