oceans

Limits set on high seas bottom trawling

More than 20 nations recently met in Chile to set up a regulatory body to watch over a huge swath of ocean. The meeting, which was targeted by the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts, and included staff from Oceana's South American office, also netted (no pun intended) a landmark agreement that reels in high seas bottom trawling fleets. New regulations set to take effect next September will severely limit the destructive fishing method in waters from Australia to South America and from the Equator to the Antarctica.

Destructive trawls and dredges used for commercial fishing have bulldozed entire seafloor environments. Today's decision is a major leap in the right direction toward protecting our oceans.

Senators call for a worldwide end to fishing subsidies

The only thing worse than overfishing our oceans and driving species to the brink of extinction is the government paying to do it. That's been the case for far too long, as upwards of $30 billion (that's billion, with a "b") worth of subsidies are handed over to the fishing industry every year. A whopping $20 billion of that is used for things like boat repairs, fishing equipment, and fuel -- expenses that allow for increased and intensified fishing practices.

No more compromise

This is one issue where there can't be any compromise at this point: the demand for shark fin soup is decimating shark populations and marine ecosystems, and must stop. Whereas most forms of animal consumption put strains on ecosystems, this practice is extreme and environmentalists should continue to wage a "zero tolerance" campaign against it. It's not cultural imperialism or Big Brother, it's common sense and respect for life.

Reading the fin print

Some folks are quick to give sharks a bad rep without considering their importance as top feeders in the marine food web. But when we remove these so-called lions of the ocean from their habitat through shark-finning and bycatch, it doesn't take long for the rest of the food web to feel the effects. Chew on this:

In 2004, North Carolina's century-old bay scallop fishery effectively ended because too few scallops survived into the autumn to sustain fishing, according to a report published in Science last month.

The culprit? Rays. Vast increases in the numbers of rays, which eat scallops. The rays have been decimating the young scallops before they could grow to commercial size.

So where do the sharks come in?

Multimedia series honored in ‘explanatory reporting’ category

The Los Angeles Times won a Pulitzer Prize for “explanatory reporting” today for its impressive Altered Oceans series, with its rich online multimedia features as well as hard-hitting reporting and images that went into the print edition. Getting depressed about the appalling state of our oceans has never been so much fun! (See Grist’s mini-summary […]

This one will hit harder in the global south

Climate change is affecting the oceans in any number of unpredictable ways. For example, under pressure from rising ocean temperatures (and toxic waste), coral reefs — those glorious engines of biodiversity — are degrading. I knew that. But this one was new to me: They also become breeding grounds for poisonous algae. And that poison […]

Major reductions and a paradigm shift

Yes, a major reduction in fishing subsidies (currently in the tens of billions a year), the establishment of property rights over the ocean commons, a massive reduction in overall catches, and, as this amazing article in National Geographic makes clear, we need an entirely new way of thinking about the ocean. That is, we need a paradigm shift with respect to how we view marine ecosystems. Read the article and let the journey begin ...

Wired reports on undersea mining plans

Speaking of mining and threats to marine life, Wired is reporting that there is the potential for a huge undersea gold rush and very few environmental groups seem concerned:

Nisshin Accomplished

Burned out of business, Japan calls a halt to its annual whale hunt Japan’s whaling fleet, unable to recover from a mid-February fire that killed a crew member and disabled its main ship, has called off its controversial annual hunt a month early. While protesters expressed sympathy for the human loss, they also did a […]