Location: Hong Kong.

Goal: To participate in the Hong Kong LRFT meetings and deliver our messages and encouragement to develop more sustainable LFT fisheries.

China’s rapidly growing economy is also expanding the country’s ecological footprint. As the Chinese middle class grows, more people can now afford delicacies that were once reserved for the privileged few.

For example, Chinese consumers pay four to eight times more for the privilege of choosing their fish alive from restaurant tanks. But as demand for live reef fish continues to rise, the seas of Southeast Asia are feeling the impact.

Scientists from the US-based Conservation International announced that they may have discovered 12 new fish species in the waters off Bali.

“Right now, the fish are being identified and classified. Hopefully by December, or at the latest by January, the names can be listed and formalized as new species,” said the group’s coral fish researcher, Mark van Nydeck.

Read the full story on Jakarta Globe >> 

The Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security (CTI-CFF) entered a critical new phase on October 28, 2011, when ministers from the six Coral Triangle countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste – officially adopted agreements establishing the permanent Regional Secretariat of the CTI-CFF at the third CTI-CFF Ministerial Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Conservation International announces the launch of a seascapes guidebook: "The Seascapes Guidebook: How to Select, Develop and Implement Seascapes." As part of both the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security (CTI-CFF) and the Seascape Program, this guidebook addresses a need identified by the governments of the six CTI-CFF countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste – to provide guidance on implementing the Seascapes concept.