1. CORAL: 2 lines, 20 counts each

1. CORAL: 2 lines, 20 counts each

Dynamite, cyanide destroy
coral reefs in S. Sulawesi

The widespread use of sodium cyanide and explosives in fishing
has caused massive damage to coral reefs in South Sulawesi over
the past decade, local environmentalists say.

"Some studies show that about 70 percent of coral reefs in the
Spermonde islands and on the west coast of South Sulawesi are
seriously damaged because fishing activities in these areas
ignore the environmental aspect", said Willem Moka, of the
Maritime Biology and Research Center for Coral Reefs at
Hasanuddin University.

The area is well-known for its strong winds and huge waves and
explosives and cyanide are considered effective to catch fish
quickly.

In addition, conventional fishing gear will not ensure a good
catch. Hence a shortcut is necessary: the use of sodium cyanide
and explosives. They are unaware, sadly to say, that this method
does great damage to the environment.

Sodium cyanide and explosives are used, among other things,
because certain expensive species of fish, for example kerapu,
usually hide behind coral reefs and they can be caught only after
they are anesthetized by spraying chemicals into the gaps in the
reefs.

If they cannot catch the fish easily, they will damage the
coral reefs to chase the fish.

The use of chemicals in fishing causes the death of living
tissues and the ecosystem of the coral reefs.

Moka says that once a coral reef ecosystem is damaged by
chemicals or explosives, its restoration will be very difficult.

It will take about 40 years to 50 years to restore a damaged
coral reef ecosystem while broken corals will take about four to
five years to return to their normal condition.

"Coral can survive as long as they have living tissues," Moka
said.

To prevent the damage to coral reefs from worsening, Moka
suggested that a nucleus zone, a protection zone and an
exploitation zone be established and modeled upon Maluku's sasi
system in which an island is alternately isolated and then opened
again. Under this system, locals will be prohibited from fishing
at particular times.

Efforts to cut the destruction of coral reefs have been made
by some institutions such as the government, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and the World Bank through its Coral Reef
Rehabilitation and Management Project (Cormap). The South
Sulawesi-based Research Institution for Coastal Villages and
Community (LP3M) is one of the institutions focusing themselves
on the rehabilitation of coral reefs and providing guidance to
the people living in the Taka Bonerate National Sea Park in the
regency of Selayar.

2. TURTLE: 2 lines, 28 counts

Giant Pacific sea turtles
on verge of extinction
or
Numbers of the giant Pacific
leatherback turtle dwindling

Giant Pacific leatherback sea turtles are on a fast track to
extinction as commercial fishing and man-made destruction of
their beach nesting areas threaten to wipe out the 150 million-
year-old species, scientists said.

Speaking at the Leatherback International Survival Conference
in Monterey, researchers said only a handful of females returned
to nesting beaches along the Pacific coast last season -- down
from thousands who did so just 20 years ago.

The week-long meeting that began last Tuesday is aimed at
bringing together marine biologists, environmental activists and
fishing industry representatives to seek ways to ensure the
survival of the only sea turtles without shells.

"The decline is an example of the greatest extinction of a
population of animals that we have probably witnessed since
humans have recorded this sort of thing," James Spotila, a
researcher at Philadelphia's Drexel University told a telephone
news conference.

"It is almost as rapid as the extinction of the bison in North
America in the 1800s."

Currently there are some 30,000 leatherbacks swimming in the
world's oceans, down from about 115,000 in the 1980s, the
researchers said. The turtles can reach 9 feet (2.7 metres) in
length and weigh 2,000 pounds (907 kg). The females come ashore
once a year to lay their eggs.

But the situation of Pacific leatherbacks -- which are
genetically distinct from those in the Atlantic Ocean -- is
particularly perilous because their numbers have sunk to about
3,000 from 91,000 just 20 years ago.

This creates a downward spiral where fewer and fewer females
are left to reproduce, leaving the leatherbacks swimming toward
an uncertain future, scientists said.

For example, last year just 68 of the animals, which spend
most of their time in the water, nested on Costa Rica's most
popular leatherback beach, down from 1,600 only 15 years ago.

More worrying, along Mexico's coast -- once described as the
largest and most important leatherback nesting area in the world
-- only 50 females returned to lay eggs this past season,
researchers said.

3. PLASTIC: 2 lines, 27 counts

'Smart' surgical plastic can
form new shapes inside body

A plastic material that can be made to tie itself into a knot
shows promise for use as a surgical thread and for some medical
implants.

The material, made of thermoplastic polymers that can be
absorbed by the body, can be engineered to retain a memory of a
specific shape and to then transform itself into that shape when
warmed to body temperature, said Robert Langer, the co-author of
a study appearing in the electronic version of the journal
Science.

The other author is Andreas Lendlein, a former researcher at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, now teaches at the
University of Technology in Germany,YTevtththehe TEchissbhe
Langer, a professor of chemistry at MIT, said the plastic could
be used to make implants or bone screws that are not much bigger
than a piece of string when they are inserted into the body. Once
they warm up, the devices change to form the appropriate implant.

"In a test on mice, we showed we can make these sutures
(surgical stitches) actually tie themselves," said Langer.

He said that since the material has a memory, it could be
threaded into an incision as a loose knot. When it warms to the
body's temperature, the material "remembers" its designed shape
and size and shrinks to tighten the wound. Later, after the wound
is healed, the material dissolves and is harmlessly absorbed by
the body.

"It is like a smart suture," said Langer. "That could be very
important in closing an incision in a place that is hard to reach
by surgeon."

Langer said that modern, minimally invasive surgery often
involves a small incision through which is passed a flexible
tube. The surgical work is done by passing tools, stitching
materials and even implants down the small diameter of the tube
to site within the body.

By using materials that are small when they enter the body and
then spring into the proper size later, it may be possible to do
more complicated operations using the flexible tube technique,
called laparoscopy, he said.

The researcher said the material could be used to make
vascular stents, devices that hold open blocked arteries to allow
easy blood flow. Stents made of thermoplastic polymer material
with a memory could be inserted as a small thread or string and
would then spring to a designed shape and size once it is warmed
by the body, said Langer.

More research on animals needs to be conducted before the
material can be tested in humans, but Langer said that the basic
polymer materials have all been used in other implanted medical
devices and been shown to be nontoxic. He said only basic
research with the material has been completed and more detailed
studies are needed before the polymer-with-memory material can be
tested in humans.