6 November 2006
aha! again... or is it still?
by Buffy, onboard the Esperanza
©Greenpeace/Alex Hofford
its official. again. the oceans are in deep, deep trouble (pun mostly intended). a new study released this week reports that if things continue as is, all commercial fisheries will collapse by 2048. in my lifetime. yes, i'll be an elderly version of myself by then, but still...
the study also found that greenpeace is right theres hope. and that hope comes in the form of marine reserves.
when you protect a marine area and make it off limits to uses such as fishing, oil drilling and mining, the ecosystem can repair itself so close an area, get more diversity. get more diversity, get more productivity. the more diverse an ecosystem is, the better the recovery. this study also concluded that the conservation of biodiversity and economic development on a long-term scale are interdependent you cant have the latter without the former.
as you may know/have guessed, i'm onboard the my esperanza right now, onboard campaigner for the u.s. leg of the defending our oceans tour. and though this new study is alarming, even to me, i cant think of a better place to be than on the ship thats making its way around the world, calling for a global network of marine reserves.
greenpeace is all about promoting solutions. and when it comes to our oceans, were calling for 40% of our oceans to be protected. in hawaii, we spotlighted the success and ongoing work of an amazing grassroots effort to protect the northwestern hawaiian islands, now a marine national monument and the worlds largest marine protected area. this is a great first step for the u.s., but we need more and this new study backs us up. if were going to defend our oceans, the most important and meaningful thing we can do is set aside and fully protect marine ecosystems so that those that come after us, after the middle of this century, will know the beauty of the sea that we (and those before us) took for granted.
Comments
Save our seas, marine reserves now! :-)
Posted by: Pepijn at November 6, 2006 10:42 PM
I have a spare 'Shift' key if you need one...
Posted by: Alex at November 7, 2006 10:39 AM
Thank you for your observations. I wholeheartedly concur with the concepts of marine reserves! As an avid diver in the Gulf of Mexico, I see upclose and personally the effects of the lack of protection in our marine waters.
Posted by: Michael B at November 8, 2006 3:01 PM
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