After months of hue and cry from local communities and conservationists, the Kenyan government has lifted a ban imposed five years ago prohibiting harvesting of mangroves. The well-meant ban had only hurt coastal community livelihoods. The 1997 ban, exacerbated by a national ban on exploitation of all forests, “almost crippled the socio-cultural and economic activities of Kenya’s coastal communities, who rely on mangrove wood for construction of houses and their fishing boats,” reported the conservation organisation WWF today. Coastal communities heavily rely on mangrove forests and wanted the ban reversed to enable them repair their dilapidated houses and boats so that they can get on with the business of their lives. Environmentalists, on the other hand, observed that Kenya’s mangrove forests were healthy where a controlled extraction was done……[click for more]

The Norwegian research vessel Dr Fridtjof Nansen, which left Reunion Island on November 12, 2009, has been sailing towards the southwest Indian Ocean Ridge, where a team of the world’s leading experts, together with scientists from the Western Indian Ocean region, will study six seamounts rising from the ocean floor located between 32°00′ S and 41°00′ S. The vessel will end its voyage in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, on 20 December.

The blog http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8363000/8363108.stm is following IUCN’s Sarah Gotheil as she takes part in an expedition in the Indian Ocean to study seamounts.

Mauritius uses deep ocean water to make its plan to become an international IT centre and to reduce its carbon footprint a reality. Read the full article from: http://theenvironmentinseychelles.blogspot.com/

Effective policy, education, fieldwork, and other conservation initiatives depend on sound technical knowledge and skills. Through Russell E. Train Fellowships, Education For Nature, EFN invests in the academic training of conservationists in Africa, Asia, and Latin America in a wide variety of disciplines so that they may gain the knowledge and skills necessary to manage natural resources in complex contexts.

Train Fellows receive financial support for education-related costs for a period of up to two years. Study can be at the master’s or doctoral level and can take place anywhere in the world.

For 2010, for the Western Indian Ocean region, only Kenya and Tanzania are eligible countries.

Download the Program Guidelines for Tanzania and Kenya (http://www.wiomsa.org/filearchive/3/3549/Tanzania%20and%20Kenya%20Fellowship%20Guidelines%202010.pdf) and the Application form (http://www.wiomsa.org/?id=695&cid=3551). For the full details about Russell E. Train Fellowships, please visit http://www.worldwildlife.org/science/fellowships/train/item1826.html#bene

The Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded the Nippon Foundation-POGO Centre of Excellence in Observational Oceanography. The Centre will offer a 10-month programme of study at Bermuda on Observational Oceanography. Tentative Programme dates are from 1 August, 2010 to 31 May, 2011. Travel and living expenses of the trainees will be covered by the NF-POGO Centre of Excellence.

Applications are invited from trainees from developing countries. The deadline for submission of applications is 1 February 2010.

Full details about the program, including a link to the application form, can be found here: NF- POGO Website (http://www.bios.edu/education/cofe.html)

Research articles and think-pieces on ocean governance, living resources,
non-living ocean resources, ocean acidification, ocean renewable energy,
transportation and communications, environment and coastal management, maritime
security, military activities, regional developments, training and education,
and ocean polar issues will be considered.  The deadline for submission is
March 31, 2010.  More details online…
http://law.dal.ca/Files/MEL_Institute/OYB/OYB_2009/Call_For_Papers_Volume_25-2009.pdf

Student Prize 2010: The Ocean Yearbook has an annual competition for students
writing research papers on marine affairs subjects.  The deadline for submission
of student papers is May 15, 2010.  More details online…
http://law.dal.ca/Files/MEL_Institute/OYB/OYB_2009/Student_Prize_2010.pdf

The South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Project (SWIOFP)  requests applications from prospective MSc students for grants for the period 2010/2011. Please see the SWIOFP Website http://www.swiofp.net  and navigate to SWIOFP MSc Programme, from where the Call for MSc Project proposals, application form, and instructions can be down-loaded. The deadline for applications is the 15th of December.

Nirmal Shah, was elected by the new WIOMSA Board of Trustees on Saturday, 21 November 2009, as the new President of the Association. Nirmal takes over from Nyawira Muthiga, who was the longest-serving President of the Association.

Nirmal becomes the fourth President of the Association after Magnus Ngoile (1994-1997& 1999-2001), Ezekiel Okemwa(1998-1999) and Nyawira Muthiga (2002-2009).

The Board also elected Salomao Bandeira and Margareth Kyewalyanga as the new Vice President and Treasurer, respectively.

Indu Hewawasam was re-elected for the second term as one of the two co-opted Board members. Micheni Ntiba, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Fisheries Development in Kenya was elected as the second co-opted Board member.

Please join us in wishing the new Board the best of luck as it formally begins its tenure.

Nyawira with the new Board and some Secretariat staff in Nairobi on 21 November 2009

The severity of cholera outbreaks can be linked to the rate at which rivers flow, scientists have found.

Cholera, caused by the aquatic bug Vibrio cholerae, spreads through contaminated food and water.

It has re-emerged as a major killer in recent decades, with the number of cases up ten per cent between 2007 and 2008, at 200,000, and the number of deaths up by more than a quarter at 5,000.

The team, from Tufts University, United States, analysed Bangladesh’s two seasonal cholera outbreaks — one around March and a second in September–October — using cholera data from the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (ICDDR,B) between 1980 and 2000, and water records from the country’s hydrology department.

Read the full article from: http://www.scidev.net/en/news/cholera-outbreaks-depend-on-river-flow-say-scientists.html.