Tamil – Tamil Resources Conservation Trust

Water from the roof is purified by sand filters

Rain Water Harvesting, RWH, system under Readiness for El Niño, RENI, project held by The Pacific Community, SPC, at Tamil community was completed and the training session was held on Jan 28, 2020.

As a part of RENi, supported by European Union, the tanks were set in November 2019 at Tamil Elementary School and since then the experimental operation of the system has been conducted until now. Specialists from Fiji checked the status of the system this time and also conducted the training session toward the community members.

On Tuesday, school teachers, coordinators of Tamil Resources Conservation Trust, TRCT, and other community members joined the specialists and Mr. Sean Gaarad, the country coordinator for SPC as well as the president of TRCT, at the cafeteria of the school and learnt the mechanism of and ways to maintain the system.

Rain over the roof is gathered through gutter and objects, like leaves, are removed through meshed funnel called “leaf eater” then water is filtered by sand. After the purification, water is stored in four tanks which can hold 1,500 litters in each. The full amount of water will support community members providing 3 littles of clean water for each for up to three weeks.

In the Pacific region, a serious El Niño was recorded in 2016 and raise serious droughts in several islands for up to 11 months. In Yap, no rain was recorded for months in the year and in Tamil serious wild fires burnt almost 1 kilometer square area.

EU set the project RENi from 2017-2020, providing 4 million Euro to set water tanks for the emergency in several island communities through SPC.

Reported by GOTO Haruka, a volunteer staff of ECOPLUS/TRCT, a student of WASEDA University, Tokyo

ナマコ730個体を計測し、自然界に放流

By editor

On January 26, 2020

In Activities, Marine Protected Area, 活動

　1月20、21日、TRCTは、College of Micronesia（COM）のCooperative Research & Extention（CRE）と共同で、これまで養殖をしてきたナマコの計測作業をサポートしました。
　3年前から、COM-CREとTRCTはタミル地区西方のメルール村の沖合いに養殖場を設置し、Sand fish（学名:Holothuria scarba）という種類のナマコを養殖してきました。養殖の初期は小さな受精卵でしたが、今では20cm前後の個体もあるほど見事に成長しました。

　2日間の作業で、730のナマコが計測のために浅瀬の養殖場から村のメンズハウスに持ち込まれました。すべてのナマコの体長と体重の計測後、村の沖の藻が生えている浅い海へ放されました。

　この調査の目的は、ナマコの成長速度を確認することです。本来ナマコはヤップの海にはたくさんいたのですが、中国への輸出を目的とする乱獲によって、絶滅寸前まで追い込まれました。
　この状況を改善することを視野に、この養殖プロジェクトはCOM-CREとサポーターのTRCTによって始まりました。

　COM-CREの専門家によると、ナマコは「海の掃除屋」と呼ばれるそうです。ナマコは陸から流れ込んできた堆積物を食べ、フィルターのように排出します。ナマコは海を健康に保つために重要な役割を果たします。十分な数のナマコがいなければ、海水が濁り、日光が届かないために暗くなります。そうなると、サンゴが育つことができません。健康なサンゴは魚や他の海の生きもののより良い生息地となるのです。

（現地ボランティアスタッフ・後藤はるか）

Over 700 Farmed Sea Cucumbers Measured and Released

By editor

On January 26, 2020

In Activities, Marine Protected Area

On Jan 20 and 21, TRCT members supported measuring operation of sea cucumbers by Cooperative Research & Extension (CRE) of College of Micronesia (COM).

Off the beach of Meerur village, COM-CRE and TRCT set a farming area and many cucumbers, called Sandfish, or “Holothuria scabra,” were farmed in past three years. At the beginning of the faming, those were just tiny fertilized eggs, now they grew big up to 8-inch or 20-cm long.

Through the operation in two days, over 700 cucumbers were collected from the shallow farming area and were brought back to the men’s house of the village for the measurement. After checking the size and weight of all, they were released to the open water.

The aim of the research is to identify the growth rate of the sea cucumber. Originally the sea cucumbers were very common in Yap water, however over catch of those intended to ship to China made those almost extinct in the ocean.

In 2017, the project started by COM-CRE with TRCT as a partner. Sea cucumbers are called as an “ocean cleaner,” according to specialists at COM-CRE. They eat sedimentation, and discharge sand, like a sand filter. Sea cucumbers play an important role to keep the ocean healthy. Without healthy number of sea cucumbers, the ocean would be dirty and dark, and coral could not grow. Healthy corals support healthier habitat of fishes and other sea creatures.

(Reported by GOTO Haruka, student of Waseda University)

Keep our island sustainable

Tag: Tamil

Rain Water System completed at Tamil Elementary School

ナマコ730個体を計測し、自然界に放流

Over 700 Farmed Sea Cucumbers Measured and Released