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TechnoratiExperts Call for Action on Ocean Preserves
UNITED NATIONS - The report, called "Oceans in Peril: Protecting Marine Biodiversity", outlines the factors causing damage to the ocean, namely fishing, pollution and climate change, and also suggests a set of solutions.
"Loss of marine diversity will have a disproportionate impact on the poorer nations, where fishing communities will be seriously affected. In the rich countries, people will start to see certain species of fish disappearing from the supermarket," David Santillo, a senior scientist with the Greenpeace Research Laboratories and one of the authors of the report, told IPS.
While the situation has been getting worse over the last few decades, Santillo said, "We are now at a political crossroads." The U.N. Division of Sustainable Development implemented a plan to eliminate destructive fishing practices and the establishment of marine protected areas consistent with international law by 2012, "but little has still been done, and there are now only five more years to go until the deadline," said Santillo.
"But I am an optimist and believe that it's not too late to do something. We just need the political will of individual countries," he said.
Christopher Flavin, president of the Worldwatch Institute, said that, "Collective commitments to thriving ecosystems are needed to save overfished species from being systematically depleted from compromised habitats. The oceans cannot save themselves."
The report cites overfishing, use of bottom trawling and other destructive fishing techniques, unsustainable aquaculture, and illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing as one of the major reasons for the depletion of fish stocks.
Bottom trawling has been likened to forest clearcutting. As fishers drag heavy nets and other gear across the sea floor, this causes massive collateral damage to corals and other features that offer protection and habitat for many creatures.
Bycatch is a growing problem, killing or injuring hundreds of thousands of seabirds, turtles, marine mammals, and other marine species annually. In some cases, industrial fishers discard nearly half their dead or dying catch back into the sea.
IUU fishing accounts for up to 20 percent of the global catch and is worth 4-9 billion dollars a year. As industrial countries see their own fish stocks fall and impose stricter controls, fishers often move to developing-country waters where effective control is absent, jeopardising the livelihoods of fishing communities.
Human-induced climate change, predicted to increase sea-surface temperature, raise sea levels, and reduce sea-ice cover, is also harming the world's oceans. In one sector of the Southern Ocean, krill densities fell by an estimated 80 percent between 1976 and 2003, correlating with losses in the extent and duration of sea ice the previous winter and leaving penguins, albatrosses, seals, and whales especially vulnerable. In parts of the Arctic, the impacts of climate change on sea ice and snowfall may be affecting the breeding success of ivory gulls, ringed seals, and polar bears.
The third cause, says the report, is pollution from chemical, radioactive, and nutrient sources; oil spills; and marine debris as the third cause that is contaminating the marine environment, killing organisms, and undermining ecosystem integrity. Of particular concern is the effect on marine wildlife of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), especially those chemicals not yet regulated under the 2001 Stockholm Convention.
Marine debris, including plastics and derelict fishing gear, is responsible for causing death and injury to many marine species, among them seabirds, turtles, and marine mammals. Large oxygen-depleted "dead zones," made worse by excessive nitrogen runoff from fertilisers, sewage discharges, and other sources, are further signs that the oceans are under severe stress.
The authors of the report, Michelle Allsopp, Richard Page, Paul Johnston, and David Santillo, all environmental experts, suggest marine reserves as one of the solutions to this problem. A well-designed global network of marine reserves, covering key ecosystems and habitats, could help reverse the devastating toll human actions are taking on the world's oceans, note the authors. Marine reserves are a proven method for restoring fish populations:
For example, in the Soufriere Marine Management Area in St. Lucia in the Caribbean, three years of protection tripled the biomass of commercial fish species within the closed reserves. After five years, in areas outside the reserves, biomass doubled and average catches per trip increased 46 to 90 percent depending on the size of trap used. Also, marine reserves established in the Red Sea in 1995 increased the catch per unit of effort in surrounding areas by more than 60 percent after five years of protection.
"There is currently no mechanism under existing international agreements to create a global marine reserve network encompassing the high seas-areas beyond national jurisdiction," said Santillo.
The authors are also suggesting a new implementation agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to establish and manage such reserves. They call for an integrated, precautionary, and ecosystem-based approach to the conservation and sustainable management of the marine environment in the high seas.
The authors also recommend moving negotiations on fish and fish products out of the World Trade Organisation and into other multilateral fora where commercial and trade interests do not dominate.
"By synthesising all the research in this report and providing solutions, the report hopes to bring the oceans to people's minds," Santillo told IPS.
© 2007 IPS - Inter Press Service
11 Comments so far
Show AllKem, I think the enviornmental issues don't get us much feedback because many of us feel there is nothing we can do about it until and unless we get rid of this administration.
We can all do our part on an individual basis but without a sane adminstrative policy it won't help much.
What do we do?
I think we try not to hang on to the past. The world is flooded with those who don't care. They will destroy the earth, and there is nothing we can do about it. So, perhaps we try to work towards the development of a new kind of person - one who can care. That's going to take a lot of time, and however successful we are, we will not be successful enough to stop the coming cataclysm. Still, life will endure in one form or another, and perhaps some of those whose sensibility has been transformed may survive to create the new world.
At least, we can hope.
TWISTOFLEX
2050 - i personally think that will be way too far late.......already caviar is depleting as the sturgeon are disappearing. they have overfished these creatures to the extent that they are not having time to reach maturity. result - no caviar. i wont' miss it - i'm vegetarian. but it's an absolute abomination; the greed of humans to fish/hunt/kill animals to practical extinction............
We, the little guy, are fucked. The ocean is a commons by law and de facto even in many cases where it isn't supposed to be. If we succeed in killing the ocean, life on earth is going to be in perilous state indeed. Nations support fishing with big subsidies because it provides food and governments that don't provide food get topelled. But I have read that the end of commercial fishing is coming around 2050. If this proves correct, this will put great strain on food resources. If phytoplankton goes, that would be the end of oceans. We are between a rock and a hard place.
KEM PATRICK September 19th, 2007 9:09 pm
SPOT ON....Sadly Environmental Issues seem to next to last on even progressive peoples agenda....Personally I think planet earth and all life on it are doomed until this changes....
Here's one more comment - getting it closer to ten! Maybe there will be even more this time, as people look to read something else for a change besides tasering and corruption.
The oceans are on my mind. Always. I love the sea and have tears every time I think about all the trash being dumped into the oceans. When I walk along the river here at home I pick up trash along the way. I often take photos of the wildlife too. A little different at sea I suspect. Guess you'd have to get out in the boat and skim the surface.
This is a great article, well written and informative. Not only are you informed but also inspired, as they give possible solutions to the problem. What can someone like me do though, on a personal level?
I'm tired of writing our representatives who don't listen and sending donations into a black hole. I'm tired of organizations asking for $$$ all the time. I recycle, reuse, buy wild catch, object to chemical dumping and support programs to enforce it.
Frankly the big corporations seem to have a louder voice and a fatter purse. So where does it leave us, the little guy?
SIMONHHH AND COCO, ___ right on. It is almost impossible to take an underwater photo and not have small hunks of plastic float in front of the lens. That is so in every portion of every ocean. Have you ever noticed when an article such as this or other enviromential isses is posted, there are usually less than ten comments? We need another top notch book like "Silent Spring". The "phytoplankton" are by far, the most important life form on this planet and they ARE dying off.
Even here on Common Dreams, where almost everyone is concerned about our furure and our childrens futures, the enviroment takes last place when it should be number one. Global warming strings get attention, but about half of the blogs will relate to political issues or Al Gore, what he's done or has failed to do. In 48 hours this string will be in the archives and we'll be commenting on some political issues or the war in Iraq or the possible war in Iran.
When that bridge fell in Minnesota, there were about 90 comments, if a string comes on about Cheney, we get 150 comments, a string about our oceans and we get ten or less. This is a water world, the only one known in the universe, ___ we are killing it and few listen or observe the obvious clues of on coming danger which could be reversed. TIME is very short and every year it gets shorter. Time is the only thing of real importance that we really have.
KEM PATRICK
yeah they will say jacques who? unfortunately his predictions are fast becoming a reality. islands of plastic floating around and sea birds dying from ingesting plastic pellets cause they think it is food. and such a waste of those poor creatures: 'industrial fishers discard half their dead or DYING catch back into the sea'. decadence, pure unadulterated decadence.
As the Oceans become more ACIDIC most of the Marine Biodiversity will disappear...Corals are particularly vulnerable to acidic based die back...
Australian CSIRO scientists estimate U.N. Division of Sustainable Development with the Co-operation of ALL Member Governments have approx 10 years ACTING NOW to reverse this Catastrophic Extinction causing event...
Otherwise WE on Planet Earth are DOOMED...
They better address the issues Jacques Costeau outlined in the 1970s. He gave us about 80 years if we didn't stop polluting our oceans with chemicals, plastic trash, atomic waste, and that from burning coal. He stated that if we didn't act soon, the atmosphere of this planet will not make it. If the atmosphere loses the necesssary oxygen, due to the die off of the ocean's phytoplankton, it's going to be a very difficult problem for all life, fish, birds, inscects and animals, including the human variety. Those tiny phytoplankton produce most of our oxygen and they are dying off and few seem to be aware of the fact. If aware, no one is doing anthing to correct the problem and time is running out.
Oh well, we do have other pressing issues to address, a war here or there, the price of a barrel of oil, Iran may build a nuck someday, O J is in trouble again and China uses lead based paint on TOYS R US and the trash Wal-Mart sells.
The Ocean's? ___ Hey, why worry liberal foil head, they have always been there and they look great. Got astop over-fishing, but when's the last time you saw anyone gasping for air? ___ Jacques who?
The UN Convention on the Law at sea has been discussed and largely explained here and it is one of the best resources to underline the importance of the oceans in the current state of climate. The same author has developed other resources on the internet, which are available for the visitors that are interested in the oceans and climate issue.