Boat with 50 passengers capsizes, only 30 rescued

Antara News, Saturday, October 23, 2010

Ende, Flores  (ANTARA News) - Some 30 passengers were rescued but tens of others went missing after the motorboat they were traveling in capsized in the Flores Sea in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) at around 3 on Friday afternoon.

Maumere Naval Base Commander Col Suroso Hadiwiboso said here on Saturday that the ill-fated boat was engulfed by big waves at Cape Watumana on its way from Palue island to Maumere in Sikka district on Flores island.

"The total number of passengers who had been in the boat remains unclear but according to unofficial information it carried more than 50 people when it capsized," Hadiwibowo said, adding that 30 of them were rescued while around 20 others remained missing.

He said as of Saturday morning rescue workers assisted by water police and local fishermen were still searching for the missing passengers of the ill-fated boat.

The boat was reported to have left Palue island at 4 on Friday afternoon for Maumere, but one hour after that it entered rough seas at Cape Watumana and was hit by big waves that caused it to capsize.

Seaweed to be Lampung`s leading commodity

Antara News, Friday, October 22, 2010 16:27 WIB

Kalianda, Lampung Selatan (ANTARA News) - Lampung Selatan district administration will increase seaweed product as one of leading commodity.

Local district government spokesman Sutono said here on Friday that Lampung Selatan has an extensive area for seaweed cultivation because such a commodity has a high economic value.

Sutono said that with its high economic value, seaweed would be one of leading commodity that could improve the welfare of the people at coastal areas in Lampung Selatan district.

According to him, Lampung Selatan has wide seaweed cultivation area to step up the amount of the commodity for local consumption and for export.

In addition, he said the district also needed investors to develop the seaweed cultivation potential, because the business of that commodity was run by local businessmen with limited capital.

Therefore the seaweed produced by the local farmers would be unable to meet the market demand.

Meanwhile, a Lampung Selatan investment office spokesman said that most of seaweed cultivation operation in the district`s coastal area was small in scale because it was managed with traditional method and supported by limited capital.

He said the market demand for seaweed from Lampung Selatan was high enough and with modern cultivation methods and sufficient capital it would be even higher.

Anti-dolphin hunting groups, Japan's Taiji town to hold 1st meeting

The Mainichi Daily News, October 21, 2010

WAKAYAMA (Kyodo) -- Local leaders and activists who have been engaged in an anti-dolphin hunting campaign in the traditional whaling town of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, will hold their first meeting around Nov. 2 to exchange opinions, organizers of the meeting said Wednesday.

According to the organizers and the town government officials, the meeting will be attended by Taiji Mayor Kazutaka Sangen, senior officials of a local fisheries cooperative association and representatives of the anti-hunt groups, including the Sea Shepherd.

The coastal town in southwestern Japan was recently in the spotlight as the Oscar-winning U.S. documentary film, "The Cove," depicted and criticized dolphin hunting in the town.

Anti-hunt activists have been protesting in the town since September when Japanese fishermen began their annual hunt of dolphins, whales and other cetaceans in waters off Taiji.

The Taiji town government had been refusing to hold any talks with the anti-hunt groups, saying the hunting is "legal" and conducted with the permission of the prefecture's governor.

At the meeting, the two sides will express their views and debate based on questions submitted earlier. The meeting will be fully open to the media.

(Mainichi Japan) October 21, 2010

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