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Asharq Al-Awsat
6 days ago
- Business
- Asharq Al-Awsat
OPEC+ Adopts Plan for 2027 Baselines
OPEC+ agreed on Wednesday to establish a mechanism for setting baselines for its 2027 oil production. The 39th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting was convened in light of the continued commitment of the participating countries in the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) to achieve and sustain a stable oil market. The participants reaffirmed the Framework of the DoC, signed on December 10, 2016, and further endorsed in subsequent meetings. They reaffirmed the level of overall crude oil production for OPEC and non-OPEC participating countries in the DoC as agreed in the 38th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting until December 31, 2026. They reaffirmed the mandate of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) to closely review global oil market conditions, oil production levels, and the level of conformity with the DoC, assisted by the OPEC Secretariat. The JMMC meeting will be held every two months. The participants underlined the JMMC's authority to hold additional meetings, or to request an OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting at any time to address market developments, whenever deemed necessary. They also reiterated the critical importance of adhering to full conformity and the compensation mechanism. Furthermore, they mandated the OPEC Secretariat to develop a mechanism to assess participating countries' maximum sustainable production capacity (MSC) to be used as reference for 2027 production levels for all DoC countries. The 40th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting will be held on November 30.
Newsroom
26-05-2025
- General
- Newsroom
On the death of a whale
One day a sperm whale landed on my doorstep. On March 17, 1996, one of the wildest, greyest, wind whipped nor 'wester days imaginable, with elephantine breakers crashing as far as the eye could see, three sperm whales stranded along the length of Paekākāriki beach. One of them beached directly below our seafront cottage at around 11am. My four-year-old daughter and her friend Rata spotted what looked like an enormous whale's tail poking up over the seawall. We charged across the road to find a gigantic whale, that uniquely shaped fluke aloft, lying on the beach. News of the stranding spread like wildfire and the wider community quickly gathered on this surreal Sunday. It was a sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus, or 'the big-headed blower,' parāoa in Māori, cachalot in French). It turned out to be one of a male teenage triad. Our poor colossus perished slowly over several hours, collapsing in on itself as onlookers gathered, its tail occasionally whacking the ground, its blowing becoming weaker and less frequent. At one point, several strong men lined up along the whale's towering and slippery flank, perilously, futilely, trying to keep it aloft to protect its blowhole from being immersed, while the waves surged against them. A chorus of groans arose each time a wave hit, onlookers fearful that the men would be crushed as the whale rolled slightly at the mercy of the pounding surf. A woman with long flowing hair waded out and placed a bouquet of flowers on its nose. Sperm whales may not be pretty, but they are unique and majestic. Their noses, which are up to a third of their body length, serve as powerful sonar instruments. Author and naturalist Kennedy Warne describes them as 'strange-looking animals. The blunt submarine prow, the narrow flaplike jaw, the puny flippers, the skin, as wrinkled and apparently ill-fitting as a rhinoceros's'. It was tragic but extraordinary to view such a magnificent creature up close, although so cruelly out of its natural element. In Moby Dick, Herman Melville laments the impossibility of viewing a sperm whale in its entirety unless one goes whaling. Further north lay two more parāoa. There were urgent discussions between DoC and Massey University's veterinary department about euthanasia but, in the end, the whales died naturally. After 'our whale' took its last breath around 3.30pm, diminished in size and spirit, we walked up the beach to see one of its dead co-stranders. Dead by nightfall, our whale was the only one of the three washed out to sea overnight. Just as shocking as its arrival, and its prolonged, sinking death – its ribs slowly crushed by its own body weight over several hours and the waves covering its blowhole – was its disappearance. Feeling a parental protectiveness over this dead teenage creature of the deep, I went out in the night to check on it. Still discernible then in the shallow, moonlit waves, by morning it had gone, but where? Experiencing something akin to grief, we marvelled at the power of the ocean to remove such an argosy. Indicative of the strength of the local tidal system, our cetacean's carcass washed up on Wellington's Mākara beach the next day. Theories about the group stranding did the rounds. Had their navigation systems gone awry in the challenging storm conditions or were the others caring for one of their own who had literally lost their way in life? Was one whale sick or in trouble and did its distress calls cause the others to stay close as it drifted into the shallows, resulting in a mass marooning? Were these teenagers en route from the Cook Strait's dark canyons and deep crevices – the hunting ground for their favourite takeaway squid – to party lands in the Rauoterangi Channel that runs between Kapiti Island and the Paraparaumu / Waikanae coast? Whale specialist Anton van Helden attended the strandings. He emailed me recently, and wrote, 'As adolescent males they are not strictly following a migration pattern and are probably just kicking around from place to place, so might even just have been reasonably local in Cook Strait or Nicholson Canyon, and following prey shifts through the area.' Apparently, males between three and 15 years of age leave the natal group to team up with other young males, sometimes leading to co-stranding, in contrast to mothers and daughters who stick together for life. Sounding a lot like humans, the male of the species becomes increasingly solitary as they age, tending to roam further afield. With a touch of anthropomorphism, DoC's whale stranding database recorded their prior behaviour as being 'two whales seen to be 'helping' a third whale'. This altruism and herd instinct of sperm whales was often capitalised on by grizzled whalers of yore. Harpoon one and wait in the blood-thickening sea until others arrive to help their wounded comrade; then there would be the best part of the herd for the killing. Sperm whales usually frequent deep oceanic waters. They are among those whales predisposed to stranding, sometimes in mass. Aotearoa, which sits astride the great whales' migration route on their seasonal journeys to and from Antarctica, is a global marooning hot spot. Marine mammal scientist, Martin Cawthorn, notes that New Zealand's west coast, with its lethal mix of wild seas and shallow ocean bed, is notorious for strandings. Studies suggest this might be due to how sperm whales navigate, which is through a complex clicking system called echolocation. This appears to not work so well on gently sloping beaches compared to steep, shingle boulder beaches or rocky coasts. Our whale is now just a sad statistic: one of 189 sperm whales recorded beached on New Zealand shores between 1978 and 2004. We were lucky the sea took our whale away. While agencies and iwi deliberated over the ownership, use and disposal/burial of their corpses, a distinctive, blubbery reek permeated the village's north end; some locals reporting retching on going outside. 'Our poor colossus perished slowly over several hours…' Photo by Faye Rodgers A collective melancholy followed the whales' demise. Bad enough to witness their drawn-out death, but preferable to the past when they were ruthlessly hunted and harpooned in large numbers with the arrival of European whalers and their boats or occasionally carved up alive when beached by hungry coastal dwellers. In the 18th and 19th centuries, though, whales tended to be regarded as aggressive, fierce, even malicious, monsters of the deep, not gentle and tragic giants. A report in the Whanganui Herald gave a pejorative description of a whale which washed up in the same vicinity 80-odd years earlier, on September 10, 1917: 'A large whale drifted ashore at Pukerua, near Paekākāriki, last week and gave the Maoris who live in the vicinity quite a busy time for a few days. The huge monster was 50 feet in length and had a tail 12 feet across. It was dead when found and had drifted from some of the whaling stations in the Sounds. Millions of little blind eels came in with the monster.' The 1996 Paekākāriki event heralded a new understanding among government agencies, NGOs, and iwi, by clarifying tikanga and protocols for future strandings. But the process was far from smooth. It took time for Māori (Ngāti Haumia, Ngāti Toa and Te Ati Awa Whakarongotai), DoC and researchers, to reach agreement on the handling and proprietary rights over the whales' oil, teeth, and jaw bones, traditionally used for carving. Mistakes were made, such as a poorly considered tooth extraction from one of the carcasses amid the tensions over what constituted correct tikanga, protocol, and government agencies' research wants. While debates about correct tikanga and protocol carried on, DoC, the Kapiti Coast District Council and iwi sought an agreement on how to dispose/bury the enormous carcasses. Decomposing whales create a biohazard risk because of the buildup of noxious gases and bacteria, sometimes even exploding into blubber and body parts. But burial is often problematic, delaying decomposition. Current practice, where practical, is to tow the bodies out to sea to break down naturally in the marine environment; impossible with an up to 55-ton whale. So once iwi removed the jawbone, the stranded whales were cut up and buried or transported elsewhere for disposal. Small hunks of blubber were later found in the Wainui stream, while one local was flabbergasted at the sight of an enormous whale tale hanging off the back of a truck driving past his gate. In 2013, the whale wrangle resurfaced after another sperm whale stranded on Paraparaumu Beach. Angry scenes ensued as the corpse was cut up on the beach. The traditional right of Māori to harvest the whale's taonga was pitted against the public health and emotional effects of a dissection, seen by some as 'butchering', in the public domain. A Kapiti Coast District Councillor called for a review of the 1996 protocols by DoC, iwi and the council, pointing out a lack of understanding of the spiritual and cultural relationship between coastal iwi and whales, and the need for local iwi to manage public sensitivity better. My daughter's friend, the-then preschooler Rata, went on to become a Ngāi Tahu marine biologist with a research interest in the connection of Māori to whales. As for the whales themselves, and symbolic of the move towards personhood, local Māori named the three Paekakariki parāoa, Haumia Te Wai, Wainui, and Ruatau, our Mākara bound whale. I used to be slightly sceptical about Save the Whales' selective speciesism, its seeming elevation of cetaceans over other animals. But to see a creature so magnificent, to look in its eye, feel its humanity, sense its intelligence, yet its helplessness, felt visceral. But just as real was its otherness, its ultimate, slippery unknowingness.
NZ Herald
26-05-2025
- General
- NZ Herald
Rule-breaking boaties threaten Bay of Islands dolphin sanctuary
A science report commissioned by DoC and undertaken by Niwa and the Far Out Ocean Research Collective suggested 'a trend of significant decline' was continuing in the number of bottlenose dolphins in the Bay of Islands. The report stated 40 bottlenose dolphins were estimated to be in the area last autumn. The figure was a stark drop from the 244 dolphins in 1997 but an improvement on the population's lowest point of 16 dolphins in 2019. Bottlenose dolphins are an indicator species – their presence provides information about the condition of the marine environment in the Bay of Islands. DoC said in an internal review into the sanctuary's effectiveness that not enough time had passed to evaluate any long-term demographic changes sanctuary restrictions may have had on bottlenose dolphins. However, Niwa's report suggested the sanctuary's effectiveness may be hampered by rule-breakers but acknowledged data may be limited because the study was relatively short. Niwa found non-commercial boaties observed over a 20-day period rarely adhered to the sanctuary's rules for minimising dolphin interactions. 'Compliance with the sanctuary rules was generally poor, with power-driven vessels rarely adhering to rules minimising dolphin interactions or the safe zones,' the report said. 'However, all vessels were compliant with rules preventing swimming with marine mammals.' Rules state if a boat is within 300m of a marine mammal inside the sanctuary, people must stay out of the water, the boat must stay put and is only able to move once the mammal is further away. A 5 knot speed limit applies to all vessels inside two separate areas of the sanctuary. Currently, a DoC ranger carries out enforcement patrols during the busy season, such as summer, but patrol days and resourcing are limited in the shoulder seasons. DoC said the report underscored the need for long-term, evidence-based conservation efforts. The department's northern North Island regional operations director Sue Reed-Thomas said DoC was determined to address gaps in the current management of the sanctuary. 'Bottlenose dolphins are long-lived animals and population trends take time to shift,' Reed-Thomas said. 'Our focus is on consistent, proactive management, underpinned by science and supported by strong partnerships with hapū [local Māori] and the wider community.' DoC's Bay of Islands operations team has started work to enhance compliance and enforcement within the marine mammal sanctuary, continue building on the partnerships with local hapū and expand community engagement and education efforts. 'Together, we can take meaningful steps to ensure these taonga species are protected for generations to come,' Reed-Thomas said.
NZ Herald
20-05-2025
- Climate
- NZ Herald
Mōrere Hot Springs to reopen next week after being shut for two months
Mōrere Hot Springs will reopen on May 26 after being closed in March because of critical infrastructure issues. Photo / James Pocock The public will soon once again be able to enjoy a local taonga when the Mōrere Hot Springs between Wairoa and Gisborne reopens next week. An alert on the Department of Conservation website confirmed this week that Mōrere Hot Springs, or Nga Hua o Mōrere, will reopen on Monday, May 26. The facility closed for critical maintenance on March 20 because of an issue at the springs' hot water collection point. A DoC spokesman said at the time it hoped to have the hot springs open again by Easter, but this was delayed largely because of weather conditions, according to a previous update on the Nga Hua o Mōrere Facebook page in April. The site will have new hours when it reopens, shifting the opening and closing times an hour earlier.
NZ Herald
20-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Mōrere Hot Springs between Wairoa and Gisborne to reopen next week
It will be open from Thursday to Monday, 10am-5pm, and closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. The tourist attraction reopened in December last year after it initially closed on December 21, 2022, because of a failing septic tank system. At the time, a Mōrere Hot Springs Facebook post said the old infrastructure dated back almost 40 years and had been infrequently maintained. DoC took on site management in 2019. Cyclone Gabrielle delayed DoC securing contractors, while global supply chain delays impacted the delivery of key septic system components for the remedial works. Predicted reopening dates were delayed multiple times because of persistent issues – first from April or May last year to June, then from June to October, and finally from October to December. The site has been described as a taonga by DoC and locals and was traditionally used by iwi as a source of healing.
