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International Ocean Institute

August 2010 IOIHQ/ES 06/10

The International Ocean Institute celebrates

World Ocean Day 2010

and presents the activities held globally by the IOI Headquarters, the IOI Operational Centres

and Focal Points

On the 8th

June of each year, the International Ocean Institute (IOI) joins the rest of the maritime world in

celebrating World Ocean Day. World Ocean Day began on 8th

June 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro

and is a yearly opportunity to honour the ocean that connects us and sustains us with its bounty and that is such

an important component of world climate conditions. This is a day to reflect on the crucial role of the ocean in

our lives as well as on the ways to build much greater awareness of the oceans and of how our lives depend on it

and the important ways we can help to protect it.

This year also marks the first anniversary of the designation of the 8th

June as World Ocean Day by the United

Nations following paragraph 171 of its resolution 63/111 on Oceans and the Law of the Sea. The theme of this

year’s celebrations was appropriately – “Our Ocean, Opportunities and Challenges”. The global IOI network of

centres responded with enthusiasm to the invitation to commemorate this day by organising a diverse range of

scientific, social and cultural activities ranging from encounters with local communities to scientific and official

seminars and lectures for specialists and students; hands on activities to themed exhibitions. Please read on to

see how World Ocean Day was celebrated by the IOI

network worldwide.

IOI Headquarters - Event held in Malta, Europe.

On the occasion of World Oceans Day and WorldEnvironment Day the International Ocean Institute HQ,

Malta and the Institute of Earth Systems (University of

Malta) organised a public viewing of the award-winning

film on climate change and ocean acidification - "A Sea

Change: imagine a world without fish". The event was

held on Saturday 5th

June at the University of Malta and

was well attended by the general public.

Prof Charles V Sammut (Dean, Faculty of Science,

University of Malta - climate change specialist), Prof. Paul Goodall (James Madison University, USA - chemical

engineer specialising in renewable energy and related industry) and Prof. Paul Sant Cassia (Anthropology

Coordinator, Mediterranean Institute, University of Malta - Anthropologist) - formed the panel of

experts and gave their comments on the film after its

showing. They also took questions from the

audience with a lively discussion ensuing, which

continued during the small reception held

afterwards. Our thanks for this successful evening

go to the panel participants, the evening's sponsors

and the public who participated fully in the

discussion.This event was sponsored by the University of Malta; General Soft

Drinks Co; Attard & Co Foodstuffs; Strand Palace Agencies, Malta

IOInforma is the news and information bulletin of the International Ocean Institute(IOI). Any feedback or request for information should be sent to the InternationalOcean Institute HQ Malta, PO Box 3, Gzira GZR 1000, Malta or Email:[email protected]

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August 2010 IOIHQ/ES 06/10 p2

IOI Headquarters - Event held in Paris, France Europe.

Between the 8th

and 16th

June, IOI’s collection of Children’s

Artworks was on display at the UNESCO Headquarters as

part of the celebrations of the 50th

Anniversary of IOC and

of World Oceans Day and to coincide with the Meeting of

43rd

session of the IOC Executive Council at which Dr

Cherdsak Virapat represented the IOI. A total of 122

pictures collected by the IOI network of Operational

Centres from 14 countries were displayed in the lobby of

the UNESCO main building to much interest from the

visitors to UNESCO. IOC UNESCO co-sponsored this

exhibition.

(Right: the Exhibition at UNESCO)

Please read on for a review of the activities organised by the

IOI Operational Centres (OCs) in different countries around the world.

Astrakhan

On June 08, at Astrakhan State Technical University (ASTU), IOI Caspian Sea OC in partnership with the

Department of Hydrobiology and Ecology celebrated the World Ocean Day. This year the activity was devoted

to Conservation of Biodiversity as the 2010 is also the year of Biodiversity. At the start of the academic year,

students received research topics for working on; they were tasked with accomplishing these mini-research

projects for presentation during World Ocean Day. 10 students presented different interesting outcomes to a

panel for assessment on protection of marine biodiversity of the Caspian Sea and means of its sustainable use

for. The jury of this event retained 4 research works:1. “A New Approach for Assessment of the Caspian Seal Population Size”

2. “The role played by the Microbiocenos in the Biological Productivity of Northern Caspian Sea”

3. “The role of Macrophytes in the Formulation of the Hydrochemical Regime of Wetland Water Bodies”

4. “A new approach for the management of fisheries y in the world oceans”

The four top-ranked students received a passport of the Citizen of Ocean and, also, representatives from IOI

Caspian Sea also took part on the celebration of Ocean Day in China.

(Left: Participating students from ASTU, Astrakhan)

Canada

IOI-Canada’s main activities for this year’s World Oceans Day

centred on its sixth Elisabeth Mann Borgese Ocean Lecture, held

in the evening of the 8th

June. This annual lecture

commemorates and celebrates the life and work of IOI’s founder,

Elisabeth Mann Borgese. The 2010 speaker was Dr Susan

Lieberman, Director, International Policy with the Pew

Environment Group in Washington. Dr Lieberman gave an

interesting and

informative lecture on Science versus Politics: Tales from CITES

which is available on the IOI-Canada website (www.dal.ca/ioihfx ).

About 80 persons attended the lecture, and the evening concluded

with a reception. Earlier in the day, Dr Lieberman also gave

interviews on both television and radio which were broadcast for

World Oceans Day.

(Right: Dr M Butler, Director IOI Canada, and Dr Liebermann)

IOInforma is the news and information bulletin of theInternational Ocean Institute (IOI). Any feedback or request forinformation should be sent to the International OceanInstitute HQ Malta, PO Box 3, Gzira GZR 1000, Malta orEmail: [email protected]

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In addition, IOI-Canada participated in the annual WOD celebration at the

Halifax waterfront, with 30 exhibitors representing a range of differentcoastal and ocean organisations. Visitors to the displays at the Maritime

Museum of the Atlantic included school children and students as well as

other oceans professionals and the general public.

(Students attending the IOI stand at the Halifax waterfront)

China

On the occasion of World Oceans Day, IOI China organized a ceremony in

Tianjin on the 8th June which was attended by a number of eminent

persons amongst which, Dr. Awni Behnam, Assistant Secretary-General, Commissioner General of the United

Nations Pavilion at World Expo 2010 who delivered a special message from the UN secretary General Mr. Ban Ki

Moon on the day. The message is reproduced below.

“Distinguished Guests,

It is pleasure to greet you on World Oceans

Day and China Ocean Day, which the

Government of China is celebrating under

the theme “Love Our Ocean – We Act Hand

in Hand”. Oceans play a key role in our

daily lives. They are integral to sustainable

development and an important frontier for

research. As scientists explore the oceans

at greater depths than ever before, they

continue to discover new forms of marine

life. This research has great potential to

advance human well-being.

But, if we are to fully benefit from what oceans have to offer, we must address the damaging impacts of human

activities. The diversity of life in the oceans is under ever-increasing strain. Over-exploitation of marine living

resources, climate change, and pollution from hazardous materials and activities all pose a grave threat to the

marine environment. So does the growth of criminal activities, including piracy, which have serious implications

for the security of navigation and the safety of seafarers.

Much action is already being taken within the framework of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of

the Sea – our “constitution for the oceans”. More than 15 years after the Convention’s entry into force, it

continues to act as our guide. But if we are to safeguard the capacity of the oceans to service society’s many

and varied needs, we need to do much more. On this second annual commemoration of World Oceans Day, Iurge Governments and citizens everywhere to acknowledge the enormous value of the world’s oceans -- and do

their part in ensuring their health and vitality.

Please accept my best wishes for World Oceans Day.”

During the event a number of children’s artworks were exhibited and prizes were awarded to the artists who

contributed winning entries, including children from Astrakhan and Turkmenistan and Thailand.

Costa Rica

As part of their celebrations of World ocean Day in 2010, the IOI OC in Costa Rica dedicated a month long

activity to the promotion of the IOI Children’s Artworks Contest (also part of the IOI KIDS project being

organized by IOI OC in Malta through the IOI’s Women, Youth and the Sea Programme).


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During this month, personnel from the OC and partners in the host institute’s School of Psychology, met variousSouthern Costa Rican coastal schools’ directors in order to formally introduce them the programme and request

their participation. All of them were willing to participate and it was understood that a local academic

committee will select the two most relevant works, so the integrated IOI-Costa Rica committee will finally

select, among all the category pairs, the final two works to deliver to Malta before the 31th

of August, as

requested. To mark IOI’s appreciation, the participating schools will be receiving a future UNA publication

including all the works submitted to the local committee. Ongoing work on the project also involved taking

pictures and videos of the kids and personnel involved and proceeding with the selection of the final two works

for Malta.

Cuba

In the occasion of the World Ocean Day the IOI OC Cuba and the Centro de Investigaciones Marinas organized a

thematic conference at the Centro de Investigaciones Marinas at the University of Havana. The conference

theme was “40 years of scientific work on the Spiny Lobster (Panulirus argus ) in Cuba”. It was delivered by Dr.

Raul Cruz Izquierdo, Senior Researcher at the Centro de Investigaciones Marinas and more than 30 people from

different Cuban scientific institutions attended the conference. The conference stressed past and current issues

on the status of this important economic resource for Cuba, and its future development. Cuba is one of the first

producers of spiny lobster in the world, therefore the conference was considered important for the different

institutions represented at the meeting.

As part of the conference the Director of the IOI OC Cuba

addressed the participants about the relevance of the

World Ocean Day for our institutions and country,

especially in the current situation relating to Global

Changes and the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. IOI considers that

objectives of the activity were fulfilled: firstly, the theme

of World Ocean Day was brought to the attention of

several Cuban institutions and also, the conference

touched key aspects for the preservation and future

sustainable exploitation of this important economic

resource.

(Left, Dr Angulo Valdes, Director, IOI Cuba)

Cyprus

In order to commemorate World

Oceans Day-2010, the IOI Focal

Point in Cyprus - Dr Nicholas

Kathijotes – authored andpublished a full page article in the

Cyprus Weekly, of very high

weekly circulation in Cyprus. The

article described the importance

of the oceans and the economic,

ecological and amenity services it

provides and ended with a plea

for its conservation and its

sustainable and careful

management.

(Right: artwork from the article in the Cyprus Weekly)


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IR Iran

The Persian Gulf (Boushehr) Research Station which is the third research station of Iranian National Institute forOceanography (INIO) was inaugurated on the occasion of World Ocean Day on 8th June 2010 in Boushehr, Iran.

The Boushehr governor general, other Boushehr official authorities, the executive deputy of Iranian National

Institute for Oceanography (INIO) and IOI-I.R Iran staffs attended the ceremony.

In the ceremony, the opening of the research station and the world ocean day were celebrated with formal

recitations of the Quran and the national anthems of

the Islamic Republic of Iran. Dr. Nobakhti’s (executive

deputy of INIO) inaugural speech referred to the

importance of the oceans globally and locally and to

the work of the INIO in understanding the different

fields of marine and oceanographic science in the

Islamic Republic of Iran. The message of Mr. QuinliHan, Director and Representative of UNESCO Tehran

Cluster Office was also cited in the ceremony.

The opening ceremony of the Persian Gulf (Boushehr)

Research Station of Iranian National Institute for

Oceanography (INIO) on The Occasion of the World

Ocean Day - 8th

June 2010, Boushehr, Iran

Malta

In commemoration of World Oceans Day, the IOI-Malta OC launched the “IOI-KIDS: Spot the Jellyfish Initiative”

on the 4th June, 2010. This initiative set base for summer 2010 in engaging children and youngsters, their

teachers and parents to help the marine environment by recording the presence and location of various jellyfishspecies in Maltese coastal waters.

A launch event took place at the University Gozo Campus (UGC) in

Xewkija, Gozo, Malta in the presence of distinguished guests including

Hon. Minister Giovanna Debono, Minister for Gozo. The host of the

ceremony was the director of the UGC, Prof. Lino Briguglio. This

initiative, coordinated by Aldo Drago - Director of the IOI-Malta

Operational Centre - aims to increase awareness, especially amongst

younger generations, about the local diversity of jellyfish species,

through a practical exercise involving the reporting sightings of jellyfish

that swarm close to our shores and beaches. In so doing this initiative

will supply useful data for local marine scientists and tourist authorities

through a citizen-science approach, while also helping bathers avoid

stinging jellies.

Following the launch event, the ‘Spot the Jellyfish’ Initiative has been

promoted by the local media and in activities around schools. Jellyfish

sightings are reported on a colourful leaflet being distributed to

thousands of children in schools and on the beaches. With the support

of the MTA, large posterboards promote and inform about the initiative along major bays in Malta and Gozo.

Further information on the ‘Spot the Jellyfish’ initiative can be obtained by visiting the IOI-KIDS website

(www.ioikids.net) and the dedicated webpage (www.ioikids.net/jellyfish) where interesting facts about local

jellyfish can be found, and the report leaflet can be downloaded. “Spot the Jellyfish” enjoys the support of the Malta

Tourism Authority (MTA), Nature Trust, EkoSkola, the BlueFlag Malta programme and Friends of the Earth Malta and is sponsored by

Cherubino Safe Sea products.(Right: screen shot from the online Times of Malta reporting on the Initiative – June 2010)


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Nigeria

Within the general theme “Our Ocean, Opportunities and Challenges”, the IOI Western Africa OperationalCentre (IOI-WAOC) in collaboration with the host Institution, focused on the impacts and potential impacts of

anthropogenic activities in the marine realm with specific reference to Ship Ballast Water and Invasive Species.

The main event was the screening of the film “Invaders from the Sea”. This acclaimed documentary is a joint

British Broadcasting Corporation/International Maritime Organization (BBC/IMO) production. In a concise,

illustrative and clear manner, it tells the Ballast Water Story including case studies of gross negative socio-

economic and ecological impacts. One of the objectives is the generation of awareness. The screening was

followed by a discussion of the subject.

The target audience mainly comprised but not limited to secondary school and University students. The event

was also covered by the print and electronic media which permitted even greater awareness about the subject

among the Nigerian populace.

Thailand

In 2010 the IOI Thailand OC, in partnership with the Foundation of National Disaster Warning Council, the

Zoological Park Organization under the Royal Patronage and the Department of Fisheries organized an event on

World Ocean Day to involve school children from kindergarten level to 16 years of age in the artwork contest on

the topic "Fisheries for Food Security and Sustainable Development" . The winning artworks were exhibited at

the HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Natural Study Center of the Zoological Parks Organization in Bangkok

between 6th

– 11th

June, 2010.

The ceremony was inaugurated by H.E. Dr. Smith Dharmasaroja, Honorary Advisor of the International Ocean

Institute Thailand and Chairman of the Foundation of the National Disaster Warning Council accompanied by

H.E. Mr.Pramote Maiklad, Vice Chairman of the National Disaster Warning Council and a Member of the

Advisory Board of IOI Thailand, as well as representative delegates from the sponsoring organizations.

Commemorative Plaque IOI OC Thailand – Director, staff and helpers.


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168 artworks were entered into contest from 63 schools in 24 provinces nationwide. Among these creativeartworks, 18 most outstanding artworks were selected by three professional referees. The wining artworks

were exhibited in four levels, namely; kindergarten, primary school grade1-3, primary school grade 4-6, and

secondary school grade 1 – 3. The scholarships were awarded to the most outstanding artworks by school

children in different levels of the competition.

The scholarships for the school children who won the Contest were supported by Siam Commercial Bank Public Company Limited, PTT

Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (Thailand), Thai Frozen Foods Association and Luk-tung Network Company Limited.

The IOI – Canada Operational Centre successfully concludes the 2010Training Programme on Ocean Governance:

Policy, Law and ManagementWith the support of Dalhousie University, the

International Ocean Institute-Canada has offered an

intensive, interdisciplinary training programme in Halifax

since 1981. It is the flagship course within IOI’s

OceanLearn suite of programmes. The IOI-Canada

Alumni Association now exceeds 600 persons, from

more than 100 countries. For details, please refer to the

IOI-Canada website at

http://internationaloceaninstitute.dal.ca

alumni/index.php

Photo left: Participants of the 2010 Training Programme

with Dalhousie University President, Dr. Tom Traves and

IOI Staff.

IOI announces the nextTraining Programme on Regional Ocean Governance for

Mediterranean and Eastern European Countries, Malta 2010

Application Deadline 15th September 2010http://www.capemalta.net/ioimoc/course2010/index.html

IOInforma is the news and information bulletin of theInternational Ocean Institute (IOI). Any feedback or requestfor information should be sent to the InternationalOcean Institute HQ Malta, PO Box 3, Gzira GZR1000, Malta or Email: [email protected]

www.ioinst.org

ioinforma 0610

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