Date: June 27 (Wed) 7:30pm
Venue: MNS HQ, Kuala Lumpur
The Marine SIG & the Herpetofauna crew have always been closely entwined because turtles (marine reptiles) bring us together. This year the SIGs will celebrate our commonality with a joint gathering to get to know volunteers (new & old), talk about our plans for the rest of 2007 (and there’s quite a lot of exciting things happening!) and elect our new committees.
Do join us for this informal get-together – it’s your chance to sign up, be informed and meet new people. There will be light food to munch on, lots of laughs and lots of opportunities to get involved. Bring your friends!
All are welcome. See you there!!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Diving the WANLI wreck
Date: June 19 (Tues) 8pm,
Venue: MNS HQ, Kuala Lumpur
Speaker: Ben Rongen
Shipwrecks have littered our coastline for centuries and the WANLI is no different. A relic of the 17th Century, this vessel held countless Ming treasures. Join Ben Rongen as he relates his story onboard the Enterprise II, the shipwreck recovery boat and through his video footage, be part of the crew as they dive into the past. A former adolescent health specialist, Ben Rongen digressed into underwater film-making, wreck diving and now designs and sells jewellery. Stop by at this talk to get a first hand look at life on a 17th Century shipwreck lying in state in our waters.
All are welcome. Attendance is free but donations are always appreciated!
Venue: MNS HQ, Kuala Lumpur
Speaker: Ben Rongen
Shipwrecks have littered our coastline for centuries and the WANLI is no different. A relic of the 17th Century, this vessel held countless Ming treasures. Join Ben Rongen as he relates his story onboard the Enterprise II, the shipwreck recovery boat and through his video footage, be part of the crew as they dive into the past. A former adolescent health specialist, Ben Rongen digressed into underwater film-making, wreck diving and now designs and sells jewellery. Stop by at this talk to get a first hand look at life on a 17th Century shipwreck lying in state in our waters.
All are welcome. Attendance is free but donations are always appreciated!
Food for thought
By Kerry Stansfield
While pregnant, many mothers watch what they eat to ensure the best possible development for their baby. When I realised I was pregnant, I immediately cut out the obvious harmful substances from my diet and checked on the Internet to make sure there wasn’t anything I’d missed. But yes, there was quite a list. Much to my surprise it included some species of fish, such as tuna, due to the levels of mercury in their flesh. US FDA exposure standards recommend that pregnant women avoid certain highly contaminated fish like shark (meat and fins) and swordfish altogether, and limit consumption of certain other species to no more than 12 ounces per week. Luckily, most fish species contain very little mercury and it is recommended that women of reproductive age and children continue to eat fish such as Pacific salmon, flounder and haddock because of the nutritional benefits. To find out more about the levels of mercury in fish visit http://www.gotmercury.org/.
Mercury is a global pollutant that cycle in the environment as a result of both natural phenomena and human activities. Mercury in the form of methyl-mercury is absorbed from seawater by plankton at the beginning of the food chain. Methyl mercury is not excreted and accumulates in the tissues of fish that eat the plankton. Fish such as big eye tuna, swordfish, and sharks live for a long time, accumulating chemicals from the many smaller contaminated fish they eat. The level of mercury in a fish depends on the species, its age/size and the waters from which it came.
Exposure of the fetus to low levels of mercury due to consumption of fish by the mother has been associated with subtle affects on neurological development of the fetus which may resemble learning difficulties later in life. Unborn babies are particularly vulnerable because their brains are developing very rapidly. A study of couples in Hong Kong found higher levels of mercury in the blood to be associated with infertility and that higher seafood consumption is associated with elevated blood mercury concentration (Choy et al 2002). So eating fish with high levels of mercury can also affect your fertility.
In addition to containing harmful mercury, many predator fish species are over fished and endangered. Some of the fishing methods used to catch them is harmful to non-target species. Longline fishing of tuna and shark also kills endangered sea turtles and albatrosses. The technique of shark finning (removal of the shark fin while the shark is still alive followed by the discarding of the rest of the shark) is cruel, wasteful and unsustainable.
There is certainly a lot of food for thought before you next order shark fin soup or tuna sushi, whether you are pregnant or not.
(Reference: Choy C.M.Y. et al (2002) Infertility, blood mercury concentrations and dietary seafood consumption: a case-control study BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 109 (10), 1121–1125.)
While pregnant, many mothers watch what they eat to ensure the best possible development for their baby. When I realised I was pregnant, I immediately cut out the obvious harmful substances from my diet and checked on the Internet to make sure there wasn’t anything I’d missed. But yes, there was quite a list. Much to my surprise it included some species of fish, such as tuna, due to the levels of mercury in their flesh. US FDA exposure standards recommend that pregnant women avoid certain highly contaminated fish like shark (meat and fins) and swordfish altogether, and limit consumption of certain other species to no more than 12 ounces per week. Luckily, most fish species contain very little mercury and it is recommended that women of reproductive age and children continue to eat fish such as Pacific salmon, flounder and haddock because of the nutritional benefits. To find out more about the levels of mercury in fish visit http://www.gotmercury.org/.
Mercury is a global pollutant that cycle in the environment as a result of both natural phenomena and human activities. Mercury in the form of methyl-mercury is absorbed from seawater by plankton at the beginning of the food chain. Methyl mercury is not excreted and accumulates in the tissues of fish that eat the plankton. Fish such as big eye tuna, swordfish, and sharks live for a long time, accumulating chemicals from the many smaller contaminated fish they eat. The level of mercury in a fish depends on the species, its age/size and the waters from which it came.
Exposure of the fetus to low levels of mercury due to consumption of fish by the mother has been associated with subtle affects on neurological development of the fetus which may resemble learning difficulties later in life. Unborn babies are particularly vulnerable because their brains are developing very rapidly. A study of couples in Hong Kong found higher levels of mercury in the blood to be associated with infertility and that higher seafood consumption is associated with elevated blood mercury concentration (Choy et al 2002). So eating fish with high levels of mercury can also affect your fertility.
In addition to containing harmful mercury, many predator fish species are over fished and endangered. Some of the fishing methods used to catch them is harmful to non-target species. Longline fishing of tuna and shark also kills endangered sea turtles and albatrosses. The technique of shark finning (removal of the shark fin while the shark is still alive followed by the discarding of the rest of the shark) is cruel, wasteful and unsustainable.
There is certainly a lot of food for thought before you next order shark fin soup or tuna sushi, whether you are pregnant or not.
(Reference: Choy C.M.Y. et al (2002) Infertility, blood mercury concentrations and dietary seafood consumption: a case-control study BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 109 (10), 1121–1125.)
Fins - Best on Sharks T-shirts on sale
< Front
The Marine Special Interest Group's Fins - Best on Sharks T-shirts are finally ready! Help us to spread the word and proclaim your support for the ocean's top predator... These very comfortable T-shirts are available at the Nature Owlet (MNS HQ) for RM23/RM19 (members/non-member's price). Available in Men's (XXL/XL/L/M/S) and Ladies' (XL/L/M/S) sizes... shirts are going fast... Help us to help our sharks!
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