SAVE THE YELLOW SEA

MIGRATORY BIRD HABITATS AROUND THE YELLOW SEA ARE BEING SEVERELY THREATENED BY LAND RECLAMATION.

For more information checkout the Birds Korea website Yellow Sea

YOU can help by sending a letter to the various governments involved in protecting migratory shorebirds under the Japan-Australia, China-Australia and Republic of Korea-Australia Migratory Agreements (JAMBA, CAMBA and ROKAMBA).

To help you a Proforma Letter has been written.

Your letter(s) should be addressed to Contact Details

To make your letter(s) more personal it is suggested that you add information from Additional Material

East Asian-Australasian Flyway

The East Asian-Australasian Flyway stretches from the middle of Siberia to Alaska in the North, compressing through eastern Asia, and then spreading across south east Asia to Australia and New Zealand. More than 50 species of shorebird migrate up and down this flyway, along with hundreds of other species to varying degrees.

The Yellow Sea - Shorebird significance

· At least 2 000 000 shorebirds use the region in northward migration (40% of flyway)

· About 1 000 000 in southward migration

· 27 known sites with internationally significant numbers (>1% of flyway population) for at least one species

· 36 shorebird species in internationally significant numbers

· At least 6 sites support 15 or more species (including YRD)

· Four sites have >20% of the flyway population for a species (e.g. Eurasian curlew and Kentish plover at YRD) (Barter 2002):

The Yellow Sea - Threats to Shorebirds

· Habitat loss and alteration due to reclamation for industrial development, agricultural land, salt works, housing, mariculture and freshwater development

· Water quality deterioration – oil, inorganic phosphorous, inorganic nitrogen, heavy metals, industrial effluent and domestic sewerage

· Reduced river flow – reduced sediment transported – loss of fresh silt and nutrients to intertidal flats: All reducing fin fish and shell fish biomass and contaminating these food sources.

· Hunting – e.g. clap traps and mist nets

The pumping boats are pumping mud from the inter-tidal flats, to a depth of 15m, through pipes and over the seawall into the adjacent salt ponds. This is to create ‘solid ground’ that can then be developed with industry. At the same time new sea walls are being built around the mudflats and this area is then filled in and developed. This method of ‘reclamation’ is widely used in the Yellow Sea and is very effective for its purpose. Enormous areas of inter-tidal mud flats have been converted to industrial land in this way. The China Marine Environment Monitoring Centre estimates that between 2006 and 2010 1000 km2 of land were reclaimed each year in China.

The Yellow Sea - Habitat Loss in

Bohai Sea 1994-2009

Between 1994 and 2009, approximately 453 km2 of sea area, including 156 km2 of intertidal mudflats have been destroyed, a 36% loss of the total area of 428 km2 mudflats. ROEBUCKS BAY’S (Broom Bird observatory) MUDFLAT AREA IS 175km2

The area comprises inter-tidal flats of 25km in length. 5km of this area, known as Zuidong, will not be available to shorebirds at all next spring migration. Right now, all mudflats of the Zuidong area are being reclaimed. This is in addition to the major reclamation of Caofeidian immediately further east that is approaching completion. Part of the seaward impoundments at the Nanpu area have already been filled in, with the mudflats offshore showing many holes from dredging. Also the Nanpu area is bordered on the east by the dam to the Nanpu Oil Field artificial island, and the island itself. The relatively least-disturbed area is Beipu. The very muddy Beipu mudflats (home to tens of thousands Curlew Sandpipers and Red Knots in late May 2010) are harvested by the relatively affluent villagers of Beipu village. Nevertheless, rumours have it that dredging and the infilling of the seaward impoundment will also start here soon.