March 17, 1998

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Project Biologist Paula Afonso monitors harvest of sand oysters with the
help of a school boy. Bazaruto National Park, Mozambique
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Gland, Switzerland --WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature and Swatch are
teaming up for conservation in the Bazaruto Archipelago in Mozambique,
WWF announced today. Proceeds from a new Swatch watch will
benefit conservation of whales, highly threatened dugongs and other
wildlife in the Archipelago, a spectacular Indian Ocean island chain.
Proceeds from the Swatch Expo '98 Watch, specially designed for the
Expo '98, and launched in Lisbon, Portugal today, will benefit WWF's
Bazaruto Archipelago project as part of the United Nation's International
Year of the Ocean and Expo '98.
"Time is indeed ticking away for the threatened dugongs and other
unique marine species of Bazaruto," said Dr Claude Martin,
Director-General of WWF-International. "The proceeds from this watch
will give WWF the financial backing to continue nearly a decade of
conservation work with local island communities, and push forward
plans for full National Park status for the entire island chain."
Each Swatch Expo '98 Watch will contain a microchip allowing
purchasers entry to the Expo and access to interactive games in the
Swatch pavilion. For each of the special watches sold, Swatch will
donate two US dollars to the Bazaruto project.
The Bazaruto Archipelago is a string of five, small islands off the eastern
shores of Mozambique. The waters surrounding the islands are home to
more than 80 percent of all marine fish families of the Indo-Pacific.
Resident minke and right whales ply surrounding seas, as well as
common, spinner and bottlenose dolphins, and the highly-threatened
dugong.
The Archipelago, neighbour to years of civil strife in nearby Mozambique,
is today struggling to replace environmentally damaging fishing and
farming techniques with sustainable ways of managing its marine and
terrestrial resources. Unregulated tourism development, slash-and-burn
agriculture on unstable sand dunes, excessive grazing and
over-exploitation of certain fisheries is threatening the fragile ecosystem.
Industrial trawlers put additional pressure on the local resources.
WWF in association with the Mozambican Wildlife Department in the
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and other conservation groups
such as the Endangered Wildlife Trust, is working to manage tourism
development, encourage sustainable fishing, and promote the entire
island chain as a National Park.
CONTACT:
Janet Friedli, WWF- International, Tel. +41 22 364 9316 (or)
Elizabeth Foley, WWF-International, Tel. +41 22 364 9554
WWF is known as World Wildlife Fund in Canada and the United States.