A local fishing ban off the southern French coast has won praise from environmentalists and fishers alike, a rare example of biodiversity protection dovetailing with business interests.
Almost two decades after the ban, Cap Roux, a coastal tip of the Esterel mountain range near the commune of Saint-Raphael on the Mediterranean coast, is a biodiversity haven.
It stands in stark contrast to many other places on the Cote d’Azur where unbridled construction, overfishing and heavy shipping traffic have spoiled the once-pristine natural environment.
Photo: AFP
More than 80 species of marine life thrive off Cap Roux, attracted by meadows of seagrass and so-called “living rock” beneath the waves, a fusion of coral and algae.
Fishing here has been forbidden since 2004, a ban covering 450 hectares.
Surprisingly to some, local fishers called for the restriction, saying fish needed a safe place to breed and grow to renew stocks.
Photo: AFP
“Fishermen were worried about their future, and said: ‘Let’s find a space for a nursery that will replenish the surrounding waters,’” said Christian Decugis, Saint-Raphael’s first fishing mediator.
The fish sanctuary lies in the heart of an EU-protected reserve, chosen because it is a relatively unspoilt natural spot, far from the coast’s commercial ports.
“There would have been no point creating a reserve in an area that’s already been messed up,” Decugis said.
The ban has resulted in “many more fish and bigger fish, and an abundance of species,” he said — an observation backed by scientific studies and experiments.
Evidence shows the haven status has helped protect populations of grouper and corb, with scorpion fish and sea bream doing particularly well.
A 2017 study by the Association for Fisheries and Maritime Activities (APAM), which promotes sustainable fishing, said that income for fishers was “significantly higher” near the sanctuary than in zones farther away.
Beyond financial benefits, the new system also improves the reputation of the fishing community, which is often accused of having little concern for the consequences of relentlessly exploiting the sea’s resources.
“The image of a profession that is getting a handle on things and that thinks about tomorrow is very motivating for the fishermen,” Decugis said.
Not everyone is so protective of the restricted zone, with poachers tempted to plunder its healthy and plentiful fish supplies.
“It’s like an open treasure chest,” Decugis said.
Julia Toscano, comanager of the reserve, regularly goes out on a boat between May and September to check the no-fishing zone.
She calls police if she notices anything suspicious. Soon, she hopes there will be cameras to make the job easier.
Many tourists go fishing as they are unaware of the rules, but Toscano said that this is “still poaching.”
Regular campaigns inform visitors of the regulations and explain why the rich fishing grounds are off-limits, but it is a growing challenge: The number of tourists has shot up over the past three years.
Many come on big pleasure boats, typically more than 24m long.
The abundance of fish and colorful reefs also attract divers, who generate 500,000 euros (US$526,875) in income each year for local diving clubs, said Fabien Rozec, who runs the region’s marine life watchdog.
EU funds have enabled the clubs to get hold of eco-friendly buoys, so they no longer have to lower anchors on the fragile seabed.
Even pleasure boats have grown more cautious over the years, anchoring on patches of sand rather than underwater flora, Rozec said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained