NEWS

Lampung fishermen cry foul over Thai fish in local market

Fishermen in Lampung are protesting against the entry of Thai anchovies and salted fish products in local markets, arguing that they could not compete with the imported commodities due to the cheaper prices.They demanded the central government and local administrations tackle the issue in order to stabilize the price of the commodities.“Marta said Thai salted fish entered Indonesia through a small port in Jambi and from there were shipped to Lampung and Jakarta from the eastern coast of Sumatra.“We are surprised that the products can enter quite freely and can be sold for 50 percent cheaper than our products,” Marta said.The price of a kilogram of local salted teri nasi in Lampung and Jakarta, for example, is Rp 50,000 (US$5) compared to that from Thai, which sells for between Rp 23,000 and Rp 25,000. Local salted teri jengki costs Rp 30,000 per kilogram, compared to Rp 15,000 for the Thai version.

Herza Yulianto, director of Mitra Betala, an NGO providing supervision to fishermen and coastal communities, urged the government to act quickly to deal with the impact of the influx of Thai fish products in Indonesian markets to prevent local fishermen from going bankrupt.He said tens of thousands of traditional fishermen, vendors and others along the eastern and western coasts of Sumatra depended on the local fishing industry.

“Unless protection is given by the government, the livelihoods of all these people are threatened,” Herza said.One measure of protection, Herza suggested, was to prevent foreign fishing fleets from directly selling their catch to buyers in Jakarta."It doesn’t make sense that given the same operating costs, Thai fishermen can sell their products for much less than local fishermen,” he added.

Big fish eating small fish?: Villagers sort out small fish on Pasaran Island, Lampung. It is feared local small fish businesses could go bankrupt because of uncontrolled entry of fish from Thailand at lower prices. JP/Oyos Suroso

What is Tsunami?

What is a Tsunami?

The term "tsunami" describes a series of long oceanic waves that is created in after a large volume of water has been displaced. “Tsunami” is derived from the Japanese language, and when transcribed to English, it means “Harbor (“tsu”) Wave (“nami”). The term was first coined by Japanese fisherman to describe the destruction caused by largewaves that would wipe out entire areas surrounding the harbor. The strange thing was that they would experience little to no effects of thetsunami on their boats in their sea.

Tsunamis are waves characterized by moving at fast speeds, sometimes having a high amplitude (wave height), and long wavelength – thus tsunamis are essentially giantwaves . In the deep ocean, tsunamis are barely felt since they are masked by the sheer vastness of the rest of the ocean. This is the reason why those aforementioned Japanese fishermen were not affected. However, tsunamis can be absolutely devastating as ocean’s depth decreases with approaching land.

The speed at which a tsunami travels is another impressive characteristic. Tsunamis can travel at great speeds across an ocean, usually from 500 to 1000 kilometers per hour, with hardly any energy losses and are barely noticeable out at sea. This is the reason whytsunami’s generated from one region can affect other regions thousands of kilometers away. With the recent tsunami is South Asia, the epicenter of the tsunami was just of the coast of Indonesia, and yet the tsunami struck with the same amount of force in Eastern Africa – some 14 hours after Southeast Asia was hit.

Huge EarthQuake

A huge earthquake has struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra, triggering blackouts, widespread panic and tsunami warnings.

The 7.8 magnitude quake, the second major temblor to hit the island in six months struck at 5.15 am local time (2215 GMT) 125 miles off the city of Sibolga, on Sumatra's north west coast, which was devastated in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Buildings shook and residents of coastal cities fled to higher ground, and there were blackouts in Medan and Banda Acheh. However there were no reports of major damage or casualties and the tsunami warnings issed by the Indonesian Government and Thailand were lifted two hours later.

Residents of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, said they felt the earth shudder with frightening intensity for about a minute as the first earthquake was followed by three strong after-shocks.

Many fled their homes or piled onto motorcycles to head inland in fear of destructive waves .

"People panicked and ran out of the house, it lasted almost a minute," an AFP reporter in Banda Aceh said. "I saw a lot of people who live close to the sea using motorcycles to drive inland."

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake struck at a depth of 29 miles (46 km). The epicentre was 60 kilometres southeast of Sinabang, on Simeulue Island, the epicentre of the 2004 earthquake.

Officials in Sinabang and the Indonesian capital of Jakarta said there were no immediate reports of damage near the epicentre. "Our personnel haven't found any damage in Sinabang," local police chief Dedi Junaidi told MetroTV.

Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific rim of fire, along which 90 per cent of the world's earthquakes and 80 per cent of the world's largest earthquakes occur.

Today’s earthquake comes six months after a 7.6 magnitude quake devastated the Sumatran city of Padang, 200 miles (350 km) to the south of Sibolga, killing 1000 people.

Global Warming

World View of Global Warming is an independent documentary project by photojournalist Gary Braasch, now in its 11th year, presenting a comprehensive look at global warming science, the world wide effects of climate change, its implications, and what action is being taken about it. Braasch documents this change through science reporting and photography from the Arctic to Antarctica, from glaciers to the oceans. Rapid climate change is occurring now and its effects are fast becoming one of the prime events of the 21st century.

Every citizen of the world needs to be aware of rapid climate change:

1. Understand the problem, its causes and threats.
2. Let your leaders know the facts and that you expect them to act.
3. Do something today to reduce greenhouse gas output --
please Take Action

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This project would be impossible without scientists and observers around the world who have provided hundreds of scientific contacts and papers. See Background, Advisors, and Reference for documentation, funders and major advisors, without whom I could not complete the work. This project is privately supported and I seek donations through Blue Earth Alliance.

World View of Global Warming is a project of the Blue Earth Alliance, Seattle Washington, a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. The project is supported entirely by donations, grants, and license fees for the photographs. Information about how to contribute is on the Blue Earth web site, or contact Gary Braasch. Thank you.

How To be Healthy

HOW TO BE HEALTHY

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• Above all, don't smoke. Cigarette smoke is a toxic cocktail of around 70 cancer-causing chemicals and hundreds of other poisons. Smoking is the single biggest cause of cancer in the world. In the UK, smoking accounts for one in four cancer deaths and kills five times more people than road accidents, overdoses, murder, suicide and HIV all put together.

• Eat at roughly the same times each day. This might be two, three or more times but a routine encourages a reasonable weight.

• Watch your portions. Don't heap food on your plate (except for vegetables) and think twice before having second helpings.

• Try to have five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. A portion is about 80g of fruit or vegetables. This is roughly equal to an apple, orange, banana, or similarly-sized fruit or two serving spoons of cooked vegetables such as broccoli or carrots.

• Eat foods with reduced fat. Choose reduced fat versions of foods such as dairy products, spreads and salad dressings. Cut fat off meat.

• Eat foods with reduced salt. Too much salt can increase your blood pressure and your risk of heart disease and stroke.

• Eat healthier snacks. If you're hungry between meals, choose a healthy option such as fresh fruit or low calorie yogurts instead of chocolate or crisps.

• Look at food labels. Choose food with less far, sugar and salt content.

• Think about how you eat. Eat your meals at the table and it will help you focus on the amount of food you eat. Eat slowly because it takes time for your body to register how much food you've eaten and how full you are. Don’t eat while walking, but wait until you get there and take time to concentrate on what you are eating.

• Think about what you drink. Water is good (but eight glasses a day is not necessary - for discussion). Semi-skimmed milk is good too. Many soft drinks (including fizzy and sweetened soft drinks) contain a lot of sugar. Alcohol is high in calories.

• Don't bother with vitamin supplements. If you enjoy normal health and are not sensitive to healthy foods, you probably don't need them and there is no real evidence that they do any good. Don't believe me? - then check out the evidence: .

• Walk every day. The aim should be to do around 10,000 steps which equates to around 60-90 minutes of walking. Using a pedometer on a belt is a good way to monitor this. On the way to or from work, shops, or meetings, leave the car or public transport a bit short of your destination. In the office, use stairs rather than the lift (or elevator, for my American readers).

• Don't sit around too long. Break up your sitting time by walking around at regular intervals. At home, do a chore. At work, visit a colleague.

• Limit exposure to the sun. Between 11 am and 3 pm, it's better to be in the shade. When in the sun, wear sensible clothing and use appropriate sun factor lotion. Never burn.

• Get enough sleep. The amount varies by individual and age, but most people need seven or eight hours a night. It's important to go to bed at a regular time and get up at a regular time. There is some evidence that people who take a short nap during the day lower the risk of heart disease.

• Be happy. Happiness helps healthiness, especially mental health. For many tips on how to be happy

Exercise for the Body and the Brain

Physical Activity can be helpful for maintaining a healthy body weight and body composition. Being physically active helps in lowering one’s risk for cardiovascular diseases, improves risks of diabetes, improves mood and lowers one’s risk for depression. Being active also includes involving others whether a human or an animal companion on your walks.

The brain also needs to be kept active. Keeping the brain active involves using the brain daily by solving crossword puzzles or math equations, reading, writing, imagining and creating. Volunteering and being socially active is also a good way to keep the brain energized and active.

Healthy Foods

Focus on eating a variety of healthy foods. "Healthy Foods" include eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, cereals, breads and other grain products and legumes (beans). With dairy and meats the emphasis is on choosing lower-fat milk products, leaner meats and foods prepared with little or no fat. In addition limit the intake of salt, alcohol and caffeine.

Enough Sleep

Sleep is important for people of all ages. Getting enough sleep has been shown to increase one's ability to fight off diseases, improve your cardiovascular health and improve mood. Sleep can also help with improving one's ability to concentrate, learning and memory in addition to reducing irritability and impatience.

The average amount of sleep needed by people is 8 hours a night but many people can do well on 6 hours, where others need as much as 10. The absolute amount of sleep needed varies from person to person.

Perhaps the best thing for many people about getting enough sleep is having more energy to do what they like to do.

Aging Healthfully

Aging healthfully includes, among others, finding ways to reduce and manage stress, being physically active, getting enough sleep, eating healthy foods, making good lifestyle choices, staying socially active, watching for changes and nurturing the spirit as well as the mind.

Lifestyle Choices

Since 70 – 80 % of longevity depends on lifestyle choices, it is important to emphasize the good lifestyle choices and de-emphasize the poor ones.

Good lifestyle choices include eating healthy food, participating in daily physical and mental activity, getting enough sleep and minimizing stress.

Poor lifestyle choices to de-emphasize include limiting or reducing high fat foods, limiting the number of empty calories – those from sugar, fat and alcohol, quit smoking and using tobacco and limiting the amount of inactivity.

Time to Unwind

Stress can impact a person over a lifetime. Whether the stress comes from the environment or personal sources all forms cause a stress response in the body, which over time drains the body reserves making the person more susceptible to illness and disease.

Taking the time to unwind and reducing, removing and de-stressing helps lessen the negative impact on the body and improves overall health and well being.

Health Checks

Yearly routine exams are an important part of monitoring for potential diseases. Getting blood pressure checked, cholesterol and lipids screenings, being evaluated for risks of osteoporosis and getting basic cancer screenings (mammogram, colonoscopy and prostate exams) can to help a person “BE HEALTHY.”

In addition, it is important to watch for any changes and signs of disease and seek prompt treatment if something arises.

Youthful Thoughts

Author Ellen Glasgow once noted "Though it sounds absurd, it is true to say I felt younger at sixty than I felt at twenty." There is a lot of truth in the expression, "You're as young as you feel" so to feel young, remember to think young thoughts.

Final Thoughts

Remember that following these simple tips, making daily healthy food and lifestyle changes over a lifetime can greatly improve a person’s longevity* or your total years of life lived and also the quality of living.

To Stay Healthy as you age, you have to BE HEALTHY for life.