Coelacanth News!
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The sixth R.O.V. expedition of Japan's Aquamarine Fukushima, succeeded in locating and filming a juvenile coelacanth on October 6th, 2009. The fish was found in Manado Bay, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. It was measured by a laser beam to be 31.5cm. The expedition leader was Masa Iwata from Fukushima Aquarium. (Courtesy Rik Nulens).
The same expedtion that filmmed the juvenile made a picture of six coelcanths in one cave. See the full account of the Fukushima expeditons on dnofish.com at Recent History/Fukushima. , and an account of the Indonesian Coelacanths at Recent History/Indonesian Coelacanths.
One small step for a fish! The Coelacanth Rescue Mission (CRM), funded by contributors to this web site via Coelashop purchases, initiated financing for a coelacanth research center (CoelaCenter) at Itsoundzou, a fishing village on Grand Comoro island in the Indian Ocean. The center is within several hundred feet of where the largest and most studied colony of coelacanths reside by day in their submarine caves. It is being built and will be operated by APG, a local group supporting coelacanth conservation. The center will be used to increase conservation awareness locally, and conduct ecological research. It will also be a museum dedicated to the history of the coelacanth. Groundbreaking began in April '04. By winter '08, thanks entirely to "coelashoppers" walls were completed for the first floor. In Feb. '08, the Comoros office of the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) Global Environment Facility/ Small Grants Programme, agreed to finance the next phase of the Center's completion, an exciting giant leap for the center and the people of Itsoundzou.. (Pictures courtesy Said Ahamada, Mahmoud Aboud and Jerome Hamlin) Further contributions welcome- see Coelashop.
200 T Shirts 2004
500 T Shirts! 2005
1,500 T Shirts! 2006
2000 T shirts! 2007
2,500 T shirts! 2008
2,500 T shirts + GEF/SGP! 2009
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New port Project Threatens Coelacanth habitat in Tanzania A proposed expansion of the port faclity at Tanga, Tanzania, to a location (Mwambani Bay) outside the original harbor, would include submarine blasting and channel dredging, destroying known coelacanth habitat in the vicinity of Yambe and Karange islands - the site of several of the Tanzanian coelacanth catches. This possibility, along with other drawbacks, is stirring controversy over the expansion plan.
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| Project Splashback: Deep Release Kit II's Distributed in the Comoros
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Thanks also to Dinofish.com contributors (see Coelashop Hall of Fame elsewhere on this site) Deep Release Kits of the Type II variety were distributed to fishermen in the Comoros through Said Ahamada and the Society for the Preservation of Gombessa on the island of Grand Comoro. In November, 2000, the devices were introduced for the first time on the Comoran island of Anjouan, where coelacanths are also caught and virtually no conservation program existed. The DRK II is a plastic bag attached to a barbless hook packaged in a pocketable plastic change purse. When sinker stones are placed in the bag and the hook on the Coelacanth's lower jaw, an accidentally caught Coelacanth can be lowered back into the cold water on the ocean floor without further stress. The DRK II is easier to produce and is more durable than the DRK I which previously was sewn to the back of a T-Shirt. Both were invented by Jerome Hamlin based on the deep release concept submitted to dinofish.com by Ray Waldner. Presently more kits are being sent to the Gombessa Association in the Comoros. (Gombessa is the local name for coelacanth.) Meanwhile, Said Ahamada, our contact in the Comoros, has received matching support from the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) in the form of 100 lamps to encourage shallow level fishing, and a motorized patrol boat. In 2008, Deep Release Kits were also made available in Tanga, Tanzania, where more coelacanths are now being caught than in the Comoros. |
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More CRM T-Shirts were donated to Comoran fishermen throughout the year 2000 and into 2001/2002. T-Shirts are very popular in the "fashion conscious" Comoros. They are often worn to shreds and must be replaced from time to time. |
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