Pressure mounts on the International Seabed Authority to deliver deep-sea mining regulations that are still 'two to three years' away
The gathering comes hot on the heels of the delivery of new research into the potential environmental impacts of mining the seabed, and a matter of months after US President Donald Trump signed off on an executive order designed to open up US and international waters to mining companies.
So now, with pressure mounting on the ISA, the hope is they will move closer to finalising regulations for deep-sea mining in international waters at last.
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Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
Trump's family business to build tower block in Romania
The Trump Organization - US President Donald Trump's family business - will team up with Romanian real estate developer SDC Imobiliare to build a tower block with luxury apartments in the capital, Bucharest. "Trump Tower Bucharest will be developed in the heart of Romania's capital, one of Europe's most vibrant and dynamic emerging markets, bringing premium residences under the Trump brand to the region," the companies said in a statement on Saturday. They did not specify the location or start date for work on the tower block, which is being branded as luxury residential apartments in Romania, the region's second-biggest economy. Romania's economy stalled in the first quarter amid a drawn-out political crisis and worries about a potential downturn, underperforming most of its peers in central and eastern Europe. Romania, a European Union and NATO member state, has found itself at the centre of a dispute between Europe and the Trump administration over democratic principles after the constitutional court in December cancelled an ongoing presidential vote due to suspicions of Russian meddling, denied by Moscow. US Vice President JD Vance has said Romania's decision to cancel the election - in which a far-right, pro-Russian candidate was the frontrunner - based on what he called "flimsy evidence" meant Bucharest did not share American values. The country re-ran its presidential ballot in May and centrist President Nicusor Dan won, with Trump later congratulating him on his victory.
SBS Australia
4 hours ago
- SBS Australia
Australia's hermit crabs are in demand globally but some want the trade banned
A push to export hermit crabs from Western Australia has sparked criticism, with one political party calling to ban the trade over concerns about animal welfare and environmental impact. Merv Cooper runs Crazy Crabs in Western Australia — a business operating since 1979, specialising in the sale of Australian land hermit crabs. He sells these to Australian pet stories, and also exports them internationally to locations including Hong Kong and the United States. But his export permit expired late last year and the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) is now assessing a three-year extension — a move the Animal Justice Party says would be "reckless and short-sighted". SBS News attempted to contact Cooper for comment but he was unavailable. Experts say it's difficult to know whether harvesting the crustaceans is sustainable, due to regulatory gaps in Australia's hermit crab trade. A little-known industry The species — Coenobita variabilis — is endemic to Australia, found only along the north-western coast of Western Australia and in parts of the Northern Territory. In its proposal to the DCCEEW, Crazy Crabs said the business collects on average 30,000 crabs each. In summer, he and a small crew head out for four to six days at a time, collecting crabs at night on foot using torches and buckets. "Really small" crabs are left on the beach. It says collections happen "only a couple of times a year" and these don't "appear to have any detriment on populations". But reliable data on hermit crab harvesting is scarce. During a typical year, Merv Cooper collects 30,000 crabs from Western Australian beaches — which he sends off to pet shops across Australia. Source: Getty / Jamie La Australian states and territories are responsible for domestic trade, including licensing requirements. This makes it difficult to determine the exact number of active hermit crab export operators in Australia, the quantity of crabs they collect, and the potential impact of this activity. According to an ABC report in 2022, WA Fisheries data indicated around 80,000 land hermit crabs were collected by two active operators that year. At the time, they estimated the commercial value of a hermit crab licence to be between $1 million and $5 million. A DCCEEW spokesperson said the federal government "strictly regulates commercial trade in wildlife and wildlife products from Australian native species, such as hermit crabs. Animal Justice Party MPs say the application highlights a lack of scientific rigour in how such trades are assessed — and could open the door to further exploitation. "This proposal is a stark example of the federal government's failure to uphold rigorous scientific and environmental standards," said Victorian upper house MP Georgie Purcell, "Allowing the commercial export of a native species without comprehensive ecological assessments is reckless and short-sighted." WA upper house MP Amanda Dorn said she is concerned that if the trade is allowed to continue with little regulation, "fragile ecosystems" could be "irreversibly" damaged. In its proposal, Crazy Crabs said WA's Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development does not consider Coenobita variabilis to be in need of formal management plans for protection. It said the number of crabs and the locations where they were collected are reported monthly, as required by state licensing laws. "I have been collecting Hermit crabs for over 50 years and have never seen any need for restrictions," the proposal reads." I don't go to all places every year, hence there is always plenty of hermit crabs." Tim Nichols, a manager at WA Fisheries, told the ABC in 2022 the species was abundant and their population was unlikely to be affected by the current level of fishing. 'Relying on self-reporting': Expert raises concerns Kim Feddema, a wildlife trade expert and lecturer at Edith Cowan University, said the trade relies heavily on licence-holders to assess their own environmental impact, with no baseline population data or independent monitoring. "We need to understand how many hermit crabs are actually in those locations and what role they play in the broader ecology," she told SBS News. "Without baseline data, there's no way to judge the sustainability of this kind of trade." While the international export of native species is subject to federal regulation, hermit crabs are not formally listed as protected. Invertebrates often fall through regulatory gaps, Feddema said, because they're harder to monitor and traditionally not perceived as sentient. Kim Feddema, a wildlife trade expert, said more regulation is necessary in the industry to ensure the welfare of hermit crabs and to understand the environmental implications of their removal. Credit: Stephen Heath / Edith Cowan University Globally, land hermit crabs are harvested for both the pet and shell trade. While shells are often sold as decorations, Feddema notes they once housed live animals. "People often perceive [shells] to be empty, but there is a live animal within them before that stage," she said. Across Asia, including Thailand and Japan, this dual trade has already been linked to population declines. While Australia requires permits to collect hermit crabs at a commercial level, enforcement is limited and operators are not independently monitored. "We're relying on self-reporting here," Feddema said. "There's no verification of what's being collected or the long-term impact on local populations." Are hermit crabs suitable pets? Hermit crabs play a vital role in their native ecosystems, Feddema said, acting as "ecosystem engineers". They recycle shells that would otherwise be buried by sand, creating homes for algae, sponges, and other small organisms. They also help with nutrient recycling by scavenging on waste and decaying animals. But despite this ecological importance, hermit crabs are often marketed as low-maintenance pets — sold in pet stores and online — a characterisation Feddema said is misleading. She said in the wild, they can live for over thirty years. In captivity, however, their lifespans are often significantly shortened — sometimes surviving only a few months or years. She compared the industry to the "cut flower trade", where high mortality rates are treated as inevitable. "People sometimes treat pets the same way they treat cut flowers — that they'll have them for a short period of time and then accept a certain level of mortality," she said. In its proposal, Crazy Crabs said its experience in taking, holding and transporting hermit crabs "has reduced the mortality rate during transit to practical zero for the last ten years". Demand for rare and large individuals is also growing, raising concerns about overharvesting ecologically important crabs that produce a high number of offspring. Studies have shown hermit crabs exhibit signs of sentience, including problem solving, memory and a response to pain — which Feddema said challenges assumptions that invertebrates do not require additional welfare standards. "There is a question about how appropriate they are to be held in captivity," she said. "If the owner doesn't have the particular needs and they're not able to recognise the complexity of owning a hermit crab." She said reforms are urgently needed to assess population health and establish long-term data. "It is very possible that this is a trade that is sustainable, but we just can't make that decision without the data behind it."
SBS Australia
4 hours ago
- SBS Australia
Trump suggests reporter is 'very evil' for asking about Texas flood warning system
United States President Donald Trump has lashed out at a reporter during a tour of a flash flooding site in central Texas, suggesting she was a "very evil person" for asking a question about whether the area's warning alert system worked as well as it could have. His response is unlikely to dampen mounting concerns about official preparations, which have refused to go away after the flash floods killed at least 120 people and left another 170 missing. As he surveyed the damage from the deadly Fourth of July weekend floods in Texas that have killed at least 120 people, Trump appeared temporarily lost for words. "We just were making a little tour of the area. It's hard to believe the devastation. Trees that are 100 years old just ripped out of the ground. I've never seen anything like it," he said. However, he soon recovered his composure. 'Only a bad person would ask a question like that' Trump has previously been fond of decrying officials in Democrat-run states hit by past natural disasters and tragedy. However, during his visit to the Texas flood plain in America's most populous Republican state, the president struck a far more sombre and sympathetic tone — highlighting the heartbreak of what happened while effusively praising elected officials and first responders. When a reporter asked him about whether the warning alert system for the devastating floods worked as well as it could have, Mr Trump lashed out. "Only a bad person would ask a question like that. I don't know who you are, but only a very evil person would ask you a question that." Texas Republican Representative Chip Roy was on the tour with the president and backed his criticism of the reporter. "The governor said it best when he said that pointing fingers is for losers," he said. "This state is about looking forward and we'll figure out how to make our systems the best they can be. But importantly, when you see 26 feet of water rising a foot per minute, don't go around pointing fingers." That's something some locals, like nurse Aliz Treibs, agree with. "I know that everybody is trying to find fault and blame right now and try to make it about politics. But I just feel like this really has been just a horrible, horrible act of nature and nobody could have controlled this either way." But others, like the pastor at Christ is King church, Michael Bell, says there are people who should be held responsible for what happened, even if it's unclear who they might be. "I know there was something similar to this in 1987 that took some lives — not as extreme as this," he said. "But I know after that there were some discussions of some grander scale plans that could have been implemented to avoid catastrophe as regards to human life, you know? "So, there will be some accountability that has to happen. Some changes need to be made for sure." Concerns over official handling of flood Concerns about the official preparation for and response to the disaster have started at the top. Some have asked if those federal government cuts could have weakened the flood preparations or response. Dr Rick Spinrad — the former administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the National Weather Service — has told CNN that it's impossible to say right now. "A lot of the weather forecast offices now are not operating at full complement of staff, which means that you're really putting an extra burden on these folks. I don't know how much that was a factor in what happened in Texas," he said. But it's at the state and local level where most of the questions are being asked. Camp Mystic's disaster plan was approved by Texas officials just two days before the floods swept away an estimated 27 campers and staff members. The Department of State Health Services released records earlier this week showing the camp complied with a host of state regulations around procedures to be implemented in the case of a disaster. It remains unclear what was in the plan and whether or not it was implemented. Governor Gregg Abbott has scheduled a special session of the Texas Legislature, beginning on 21 July, which will discuss improving warning systems for weather events. Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha says local officials will have their own review once they've completed the task of recovering those who perished in the floodwaters and cleaning up the area.
