Cattle removed from doomed ship. Animals dying in Gladstone Harbour

One of the worst live export tragedies is finally over leaving 2,750 cattle dead out of 5,600 on board a Brazilian ship headed to Egypt (here). The remaining animals are on land, after being stranded in the Red Sea for a week.

Animal welfare group, Compassion in World Farming (CIWF. here) said the Gracia Del Mar was carrying 5,600 animals from Brazil to Egypt to be slaughtered for food. The ship first got into trouble after running into bad weather. Later the converted livestock ship had problems with its ventilation and food systems. The combination of these complications caused half the cattle on board to suffer and die.

Animals Australia called the incident, “one of the worst shipboard disasters the live export industry has seen in many years.” (here) The animal rights group pleaded with the Australian government to send resources to help the surviving cattle.

When the Gracia Del Mar arrived at Port Said, Egypt which should have been the end of their journey, they were refused permission to dock because of the dead animals. The captain made the decision to sail through the Suez Canal to the Red Sea and try three more ports in Djibouti, Sudan and Eritrea, but they were turned away again.

Ultimately the ship became stranded in the Red Sea with the suffering cows inside.

Animals Australia reported that authorities considered moving the remaining cattle onto smaller boats in the Horn of Africa and then sailing them to shore. Activists urged officials that this was inhumane and to unload the cattle directly onto dry land.

Finally on Tuesday, word was received that all of the live animals had been taken off the ship. Animal groups are now trying to learn the whereabouts of the cows.

“We have been unable to verify the latest reports but are continuing in our efforts to find out what is happening with the surviving cattle and trying to ensure their humane treatment after the harrowing journey they have been forced to endure,” CIWF said.

“What is clear at the moment is the incident is another example of why long distance travel for farm animals should be ended.”

Lyn White, Director of Animals Australia (here) worried about the consequences to the animals if the ship had “broken down on the open ocean.” “It would have caused a catastrophe,” she said.

Peter Kane of the Australian Live Export Council condemned some of the guidelines of the Brazilian cattle export business, but touted the many safeguards and high-standards his country has in place to protect the animals being shipped overseas for slaughter. He assured the public this sort of situation would never happen to Australian cows.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/nearly-3000-cattle-die-on-a-stranded-ship.html#ixzz1os0GfzFp

First published: 2012-03-12 12:00 AM

Dr Alison Bleaney: Animals are sick and dying in Gladstone Harbour, ultimately from human activities

The approach taken by Government protects neither animal or human health.

The on-flow effects are enormous and almost unquantifiable for the Great Barrier Reef, or indeed for any other similar ‘project’ anywhere in Australia.

Please assist anyway you can; the funding for the research is a public fund; any and all donations welcome.

www.gladstonefishingresearchfund.org.au

Dr Alison Bleaney
TPEHN http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pollution_Information_Tasmania

Hi All,

It seems Qld DERM will claim black is white, day is night, no matter the information given to them.

An agency tasked with protecting natural resources can only behave as such when allowed by the scientific community and the public, to do so without drawing criticism, and without demands of reform.

My hat is tipped to Jon Brodie and Barry Hart, who have rightly publicly criticised DERM’s inaccurate appraisal of water quality, and to the others working in the background .

I’ll continue generating sound data, and hope that many more are willing to speak up, and represent the data to put in place measures that are protective of aquatic ecosystems. This is just the first major port development inside the GBR.

What is happening in Gladstone is preventable and regrettable. If anyone needs raw data, pathology reports etc, please get in touch.
I have received reports of more turtles dying this week in Gladstone harbour, more and more crabs with shell disease, and sick fish.

Best regards
Matt

Dr Matt Landos BVSc(HonsI)MACVS
Director, Future Fisheries Veterinary Service Pty Ltd
Honorary lecturer, associate researcher, University of Sydney
PO Box 7142, East Ballina NSW 2478

Gladstone Harbour dredging report blasts authorities
• by: Brian Williams
• From: The Courier-Mail
• March 13, 2012 12:00AM

COLOUR CODE: Aerial views show Gladstone Harbour before and after dredging operations began. Source: The Courier-Mail

AN independent report on Gladstone Harbour is scathing of State Government efforts to discover what is causing major disease problems.

The interim report by fisheries veterinarian and Sydney University lecturer Matt Landos says the Government has failed to adequately monitor animal mortality and used untrained observers despite evidence of a crisis.

Dr Landos says the Government has underestimated turtle deaths, made no baseline study of aquatic animal health before the harbour’s 46 million cubic metre dredging began, made no assessment of acoustic impacts and has not investigated dying coral.

The damning report was paid for by the Gladstone Fishing Research Fund with capital sought from public donations and fishermen.

The port is undergoing major expansion, mostly for the liquefied natural gas industry.

Former Queensland Seafood Industry Association president Michael Gardner, who helped organise funding, said yesterday that Dr Landos’ findings were at odds with the Government and Gladstone Ports Corporation view, which was that disease was related more to last year’s wet season than dredging.

Environment Department director-general Jim Reeves said it was incorrect that studies had not been done to assess the impact of dredging. He said Fisheries Queensland had been conducting an extensive fish health survey since August last year and studies were continuing.

The department had monitored Curtis Island turtle populations for decades before dredging began and there was no evidence of turtle deaths being underestimated. All fisheries observers were trained scientists and surveys were conducted in April and June.

Analysis showed water quality was consistent with historical trends, apart from the impacts of the January 2011 floods.

“There is no crisis for the green turtles and dugong that inhabit the area,” Mr Reeves said.

Dr Landos said he and Dr Ben Diggles had made preliminary observations of fish health, including barramundi.

“In simple terms, all the barramundi captured were quite sick,” he said. “The vast majority, even those with no apparent external skin abnormalities, displayed tucked up abdomens and all were lethargic when handled. I would not recommend human consumption.”

Dr Landos said that despite the fish having no feed in the gut, there were ample baitfish around upon which they could feed. Mullet sampled did not show any external signs of disease.

A population of 27 queenfish were sampled near the dredge spoil dumping ground. All had skin organism infestations and 18 had skin redness.

“My findings … would suggest that the 2010 flood is unlikely to be involved in their causation,” Dr Landos said.

At Friends Point in the inner harbour, 17 of 76 crabs sampled had mild to severe shell changes. At Colosseum Inlet, south of the harbour, 12 of 33 crabs showed signs of lesions.

Other problems included mangrove dieback, low fish numbers and few signs of juvenile animals.

A final report is expected in one to two months.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/dredging-report-blasts-authorities/story-e6freoof-1226297658256