[ISSHA] ciguatera climate change atomic weapons testing etc please forward

[mark skinner]

Please read letter, ciguatera report attached, forward to colleagues?
>> Subject: ciguatera climate change atomic weapons testing etc
>> Reply-To: mark skinner <mark_skinner59 at yahoo.com.au>
>> 
>> OPEN LETTER TO PACIFIC ISLAND COUNTRIES: The implicated impacts within the tropical reef environment, seafood poisonings and the dispersal of toxic microalgae with a relationship to the nuclear bomb tests.
>> As an environmental scientist (Masters in environmental toxicology and PhD, researching seafood poisonings in the coral reef environment) and a consultant to WHO, I wish to bring to your attention the degradation of the coral reef environs and some of the associated activities that are happening in the Pacific Island region. I have been researching ciguatera fish poisoning since my first visit to the Cooks in 1993, prior to this I had visited some pristine fringing coral reefs in Tahiti 1970, Bali 1977, Fiji 1978, Tonga 1983 and Samoa 1993. My research on ciguatera fish poisoning took me to field sites in the Cook Islands 2003, Bali (Indonesia) 2005 and sites on the Great Barrier Reef 2007(see Marine Pollution Bulletin Vol 77). I have also written up a paper on the extent of ciguatera in the Pacific, please see “PLOS NTD Ciguatera in the Pacific Islands” and an updated WHO report in 2016 (see attached).
>> Seafood poisoning diseases, ciguatera and various shellfish poisoning have not always spread naturally and whilst the causative agents, microalgae may originally be ancient organisms it appears they have taken on, by way of mutation from radiation of atomic weapons testing blasts and sites, forms (clines) which are better able to bloom in the coral reef seas and lagoons, that are degraded under human influences (warming seas, increasing pH, excessive nutrients, sea level rise, stronger cyclones etc.)encompassing climate change. These altered toxic microalgae have the ability of poisoning whole ecosystems and together with altered environs and their bio invasiveness there has been a “new age” (since the 1970’s) of seafood poisoning. Due to coral reefs reaching their endpoints in degradation, so to has the seafood diseases become even more dangerous to islanders, more recently causing multiple deaths in some countries and around some islands all seafood can show signs of toxicity. Whilst the original disease was found to be due to ciguatoxin (from the microalgae Gambierdiscus), there are also implications from other benthic microalgae that produce tumor promoters (Prorocentrum) and paralytic toxins (Ostreopsis) as well as cyanobacterial toxins (i.e. Lyngbya).
>> The bio invasive nature of these toxic organisms and the lack of ratification of the 2004 IMO (International Maritime Organisation) boat ballast convention has permitted the spread of toxic microalgae from various boats, where ever these boats have exchanged ballast as well as shipwrecks onto reefs. It has become apparent to a number of islanders, that some countries have been deliberately spreading the ciguatera disease, toxic microalgal organisms via the boat ballast transfer and ship wrecks on reefs where the toxic miccroalgae can then bloom and create local ciguatera outbreaks as well as a combined Pacific/coral triangle wide eco catastrophe.
>> In addition such countries spreading toxic organisms  have been doing soft invasions (with cash incentives and cheap imported chemically added food commodities) that can take away the reliance on traditional food resources such as the seafood, that has become toxic. One can speculate at what the long term intentions of such countries are but when one considers the enormous potential for the future mining of sea bed minerals or fossil fuels, the exploitation of which could result in compounding  that other global ecocatastrophe, climate change. Just as with the loss of the coral reef food resources, as the pelagic food webs become even more polluted with the wastes from sea bed mining there could no longer be any natural  seafood products. The revenue produced by mining such resources will hardly be seen by the countries in which they take place but will go offshore, just as an example, Australia has Chinese companies building coal mines that destroy forests, groundwater and farming land and with nothing worthwhilst going to the indigenous population and yet huge pits are left behind without any remediation, like a permanent reminder to man’s exploitation over God’s creation.
>> The time may have passed for the ability to stop the bioinvasions of toxic microalgae from destroying the ecology of the coral reefs together with the impacts of climate change. However to do nothing would be complacent and just as bad as those who have been responsible for the environmental damage. Needless to say that nature can be resilient and may havethe scope to rebound over time. It would be best to firstly place long moratoriums on all sea bed mining in the Pacific. Collectively (Is it not time for a Republic of the Pacific, Oceanea?) the Pacific island nations and their people need to take full control of all their resources. Secondly to glean compensation for the damages wrought by the nuclear testing, would be used to promote sustainability within the Pacific. Those old enough to have experienced the nuclear test storm surges and nuclear storm cloud fallout (as I have), the radioactive filth spread over 1,000s of kilometers,can also have thought through the additional destruction that has come about through the spread of radiated toxic microalgae. Compensation from those countries (France, USA, England, China, Japan etc) who have been carrying out the soft invasions and toxic microalgae spread by boat ballast and ship wrecks, should also be sought. Such compensation may then be used to purchase lands most suitable for those that will become climate change refugees whilst the protection of islands resources, left vacant will still need to be enforced. Finally it is truly a worthwhilst activity now, for islanders to engage with the various environmental groups that are fighting, in such countries as Australia, PNG, Indonesia against further climate change by actively demonstrating and halting coal mining (and coal seam gas mining) and sea-bed mining..
>> What I have discussed in this letter is a very serious matter that needs to be taken up by the highest levels of respected governance and acted upon, if you have not already done so. I entrust you with God’s grace within whatever capacity you hold to do your best for the future sustainability of the Pacific people’s livelihoods, within a suitable time frame.
>> Your sincerely
>> Dr Mark Philip Skinner
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