In April, 2006, dumper trucks poured their final loads of rubble and rock into the last remaining gap in a 33-km long dyke, and closed off 40,000 hectares of this vast estuary from the sea. This makes Saemangeum larger than the Fraser Valley Estuary, Beaverhill Lake, the Chaplin/Old Wives/Reed Lakes system and Last Mountain Lake, all protected areas in Canada. With over 100 km of coast line within the system, this is a tragedy beyond reckoning.
With almost no tide, the shellfish beds - that had until that day supported the world's largest concentration of Great Knot - started to die. By April 2007, most of Saemangeum's tidal-flats had either been flooded, or turned into desert - huge expanses of drying mud, littered with dead shells, plastic, and even fishing boats - all part of a massive "reclamation" project, with still no clear end-use.
The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) would deem this area as a Hemispheric site, as when healthy, it supported over 30% of the world's Great Knot, and daily counts of over 50,000 were expected. The WHSRN would also deem it an International site, as the 2006 Saemangeum Shorebird Monitoring Program (SSMP) counted a minimum of 192,872 birds using the site as a refueling station on their journey north. WHSRN receive protection and support in Canada, but there is no protection for this site at this time, and the time to make an effort to save it is running short.
As South Korean lawmakers debate Saemangeum's future, we need to send them a clear message, 40,000 times, one email for every hectare of wetland being destroyed:
Let them know that:
Saemangeum is still internationally important for shorebirds, still supporting species like the rapidly-declining Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper.
South Korea is a signatory to the Ramsar Convention, and will even host the next Ramsar Conference of the Parties in 2008. It is time for South Korea to honor the obligations of this Convention.
We need urgently to open the sluice-gates in the Saemangeum seawall, to restore more of the tidal-flow, and bring life back to some of the estuary.
The neighboring Geum Estuary is still threatened with "reclamation" (a euphemism for the damming and destruction of intertidal wetland). This site too is extremely important internationally, and needs to be protected by national law and designated a Ramsar site.
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restoresaemangeum.com. Working to restore Saemangeum and preserve shorebird habitat and diversity on the Yellow Sea. Contact us at info@restoresaemangeum.com
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