Mar232017

The Brexit opportunity – a new fishing policy

John Redwood MP
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It is time for us to consider how the UK should use its new won powers of self government once the notification has been sent that we are leaving.  The Repeal Bill should more properly be called the Great Continuity Bill, as it will simply confirm all current EU laws and policies as good UK laws and policies. As soon as it is through the UK Parliament can then get to work amending and improving the inherited law. The most obvious place to start is fishing.

The UK as a sovereign country again can establish its territorial waters out to 200 miles from our coast or to the media line with another country’s seaside. The UK can decide what regulations to impose on fishing in these waters. Out must go the idea of quotas with discards of dead fish. The first new rule should be that the fisherman lands all his catch, rather than waste dead fish by putting them back.  With modern technology the Regulator could see what is being caught and could if damage is being done to our fishing grounds require the fisherman to move on or amend his fishing practice. A local regulator should be able help fishermen choose the right net mesh and find the best locations to take more of the fish we want to catch and avoid more damage by catching too many of the wrong size and kind of fish.

The UK will of course need to discuss its new arrangements with neighbouring countries, including Iceland and Norway outside the EU, and France and  the Netherlands inside the EU. There is also the issue of current rights to quota held by Spanish and other fishing interests. Do you think there should be some kind of transitional arrangement for those who have bought businesses and quota? What rights will these fishing businesses have when we decide to change our approach and are no longer under the control of the Common Fishery policy?

The UK will be a full member again of the world bodies for fishing.

Mar232017

World Meteorological Day celebrates importance of clouds for weather, climate and water

HM Government
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23 March 2017 – Clouds inspire art and thought, but few natural phenomena are as important to weather, climate or water, the United Nations meteorological agency today said, launching a digital cloud atlas to celebrate World Meteorological Day.

&#8220If we want to forecast weather we have to understand clouds. If we want to model the climate system we have to understand clouds. And if we want to predict the availability of water resources, we have to understand clouds,&#8221 said said World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

World Meteorological Day commemorates the coming into force on 23 March 1950 of the convention establishing the WMO. This year’s theme is &#8220Understanding Clouds.&#8221

In conjunction with the Day, WMO today launched for the first time a primarily on-line digital edition of the International Cloud Atlas, which features hundreds of images and information about clouds, as well as meteorological marvels, such as rainbows and halos.

The new Atlas &#8220combines 19th century traditions with 21st century technology,&#8221 the UN agency said, noting that the International Cloud Atlas was first published some 200 years ago.

It contains pictures, definitions, and explanations that are accepted and used by all of WMO’s 191 members, as well as all types of measurements from space and through remote sensing.

For example, the Atlas includes &#8220volutus, a roll cloud; clouds from human activities such as the contrail, a vapour trail sometimes produced by airplanes; and asperitas, a dramatic undulated cloud which captured the public imagination,&#8221 according to WMO.

In his message for the Day, Mr. Taalas noted the importance of understanding weather and climate changes in protecting people and property, and assisting communities to become more resilient.

Mar232017

HQs flocked to Beijing in 2016

HM Government
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Wanda Plaza in Beijing. [Photo/China.org.cn]

The number of headquarters of enterprises in Beijing stood at 4,006 at the end of 2016 with a net growth of 70.

A headquarter economy is mutually beneficial for both Beijing and enterprises. The latest data shows that from January to November 2016, the assets of HQs accounted for 74.2 percent of the city’s total; operation revenues 71.6 percent; and profits 89.8 percent. All the three figures are much higher than those of 2015.

Beijing enjoys many advantages as China’s political, economic, cultural and talent center, and lots of important businesses open here, said Alibaba Group President Jin Jianhang.

In the next few years, Alibaba will set up research and development bases for information technology sectors such as cloud computing, big data and the mobile internet in Beijing. Beijing will also become the operating base for innovative industries in the fields of health, film, music and others.

Cooperation between the government and enterprises has generated many benefits. For example, after becoming the top sponsor of the International Olympic Committee earlier this year, Alibaba has been promoting winter sports in Beijing. Internet company AutoNavi is working with Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport and Beijing Traffic Management Bureau to ease congestion through the “internet plus geographic information” approach.

Mar232017

Supporting projects get started for water diversion

East Asia
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An aerial view of the South -to-North Water Diversion Project. [Photo/China.org.cn]

Construction of three projects including the expansion of the Yizhuang regulating reservoir, Hexi branch and Daxing branch commenced Monday, marking the third stage of supporting projects for the South-to-North Water Diversion Project.

The projects, scheduled for completion in 2018 and 2020, will guarantee the water supply to the city’s sub-center, the new airport, as well as Fangshan, Daxing and Mentougou districts.

By 2020, Beijing will be able to deal with 1.5 billion cubic meters of water annually from external sources, up nearly 50 percent from now.

The regulating reservoir has storage and regulatory functions. The water arriving from the Yangtze River into Beijing first enters the Yizhuang regulating reservoir, and then flows into tens of thousands of households through the water supply network after unified allocation. When expanded, the capacity of the reservoir will balloon to 2.6 million from 525,000 cubic meters currently, which will enhance the water supply security in the southeastern region, especially in the sub-center.

The supporting projects fall into three stages slated for completion by 2020. The first two stages have been completed and phased in. Currently, the city has received 2.07 billion cubic meters of water in total, helping to significantly ease water shortages.

Mar232017

Problematic metro cables to be replaced

East Asia
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The contractors of Chengdu subway projects promised on Wednesday to replace all the electric cables used in the city’s subway lines which were provided by a company failing to meet standards, according to the subways official Weibo account.

The two contractors, China Railway Group and Power Construction Corporation of China, said the replacements will be made regardless of whether tests show the cables used in Chengdu subway lines meet the standards or not.

A planned cooperation with the electric cable company on Chengdu subway Line 2 will be canceled, said the announcement.

Eight people at Shaanxi Aokai Cable Corporation, based in Xi’an city in Shaanxi province, have been detained for providing substandard electric cables for Xi’an subway Line 3. The company has been shut down.

An online tip-off revealed last week that the electric cables provided by the company for Xi’an subway Line 3 were problematic, and questioned the process by which the company won the bid.

A subsequent investigation showed that all of the five samples of the low-voltage cables from Xi’an subway Line 3 failed to meet set standards.

The Xi’an metro company said at a news conference on Monday that it will replace all the substandard cables.

Wang Zhiwei, a legal representative from the company, knelt down and apologized to the public after the investigation result was published.

A joint probe examined the Xi’an subway Line 3 project’s data and documents, and looked into the supervision work carried out by administrative bodies and law enforcement departments, said Yang Xin, head of the commission for discipline inspection in Xi’an, the city’s top anti-graft authority.

The police have impounded the rest of the cable stock at Aokai and have taken samples for testing, Yang said.

Established in late 2012, the company was a private firm producing items such as electric cables, control cables and cables for rail transportation.

Xi’an subway Line 3 was put into use in November last year and carried 345,000 passengers on the first day of operation.