By Sophia Read
For The Bali Times

SEMINYAK ~ Swimming with dolphins is almost everyone’s dream come true. Humans have an age-old respect for and reverence of these amazing creatures. They have been credited throughout the ages with miracles. But can they really cure disease, or rebalance a troubled mind?

Dolphin Assisted Therapy (DAT) programs are now widely available all over the globe, including here in Bali. What is Dolphin Assisted Therapy? Basically it’s interaction with a captive dolphin – this can be as simple as touching and stroking, or the “patient” may interact with the dolphin as a reward for completing a task. Does it work? That’s a much more difficult question.

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By Sophia Read
For The Bali Times

SEMINYAK ~ Indonesia has now become only the second-worst country for pirate attacks in the world. Nigeria has the title. Yes, you read that right, pirate attacks – in the 21st century. This year pirate attacks globally have risen 20 percent compared to last year. Indonesia’s numbers, however, have fallen in the same period from nine in 2007 to only four so far the year. Advances in technology mean that ships run with fewer crew and that has unfortunately made them more vulnerable to attack.

Modern-day pirates bear little resemblance to the swashbucklers of old. They are generally equipped with fast, well-maintained boats, and can operate with an undeniable slickness, stealing large cargo-loads in the blink of an eye. They are also generally heavily armed. One of the most valuable payloads targeted by pirates is fish. Overfishing and conservation issues have led to a dramatic rise in the price of fish, and made fishing vessels with large cargoes a tempting target.

For many years Indonesia has been the worst-affected country in the world, mainly in the Straits of Malacca. This area has always been rife with pirates, since the Europeans arrived in the area. It is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world - more than 25 percent of the all traded goods pass through the strait, including basically all goods imported by China or Japan. One of the main problems has been a lack of policing.

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By Sophia Read
For The Bali Times

SEMINYAK ~ Did you know that the largest trash collection in the world is currently floating in the Pacific Ocean? Known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (comprising the Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patches), scientists estimate that approximately 3.5–10 million tons of rubbish cover an area at least twice the size of Texas – and that the majority of it is plastic.

It is borne by a current called the North Pacific Gyre, which runs clockwise through the Northern Pacific Ocean. The circular motion of the current draws debris into the centre, where it rests in a little-visited area of the ocean between the East Coast of the mainland US and Hawaii.

Researchers estimate that about 80 percent of the rubbish is land generated, and 20 percent from ships at sea, and that it would take several billion US dollars to clear it up. This is of course unlikely to occur, as no one is in a hurry to claim responsibility. So, it’s there, and there appears to be very little anyone can do about it. Our efforts need to be focused on ensuring that it does not increase.

How has this happened? Mainly due to our invention of plastic, unfortunately. Plastic does not biodegrade – it photodegrades, simply breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic particles, and it can take hundreds of years to do this. In the meantime it is just floating in the ocean, posing a threat to any marine life that encounters it. Many fish, marine mammals and birds mistake it for their favorite foods and eat it. Plastic has no nutritional value, and also, does not pass through the system, so the creatures simply fill up with plastic, and eventually starve to death. Marine invertebrates are becoming entangled in the indescribable amount of monofilament fishing line and dying. The UN estimates that more than one million seabirds are killed due to plastic in the oceans each year, and more than 100,000 marine creatures.

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By Sophia Read

For The Bali Times

SEMINYAK ~ Diving is certainly not the most sartorial of sports. It’s difficult to look good, and elegant when encased in neoprene, weighted with lead, wearing a bulky nylon jacket, and lugging a metal tank on your back. However, all these pieces of equipment are vital to the diver – here is a quick breakdown of everything that they need:

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By Sophia Read

For The Bali Times

SEMINYAK ~ The green turtle (Chelonia mydas) is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but a new study suggests the outlook for them is not as bad as feared.

Conservationists studied the population of green turtles at Ascension Island, and discovered that it has increased by 232 percent since the 1970s. The green turtle population in Florida and Hawaii is also on the rise. Turtle protection measures seem to be working.

The study suggests that the listing “endangered” should perhaps only be applied to populations and species that are at serious risk of immediate extinction.

Green turtle populations are spread around the globe – Australia, the Caribbean, South Pacific, Africa, South America, even the Mediterranean. They have been badly affected by loss of habitat – as they will return to the beach they hatched on to lay their eggs some 30 years later – and if it has vanished, they do not breed. They have also suffered from being caught in trawler nets. The major factor in the endangered listing has been, however, the collection of eggs and adults from the nesting beaches.

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