WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s Ocean Policy Council is calling for a coordinated approach to restoring fragile ocean areas, many of which have been damaged by decades of piecemeal management decisions by the federal government.
Larry Crowder, professor of marine biology at Duke University’s Nicholas School, said lawmakers have hurt marine ecosystems by dividing up management responsibilities, explaining, “There were 20 different federal ocean science agencies trying to enforce 140 different ocean laws.”
Comparing the work of ocean agencies to that of doctors evaluating a patient, Crowder said collaboration is essential to make progress. “We need to get all of the ocean specialists in the same room before we can ask: How are we going to treat Long Island Sound?”
Image from U.S. Geographic Service multimedia library.
Oceanographer Sylvia Earle explains why an abundace of fish at the market could be a bad sign for marine life. (Bridget Macdonald/MNS)
The administration’s Ocean Policy Council is tasked with uniting a variety of interests as it works to finalize recommendations for a comprehensive ocean management plan by Dec. 9.
The Ocean Policy Task Force released an interim report Sept. 10, saying the new approach must take into account, “environmental sustainability, human health and well-being, national prosperity, adaptation to climate and other environmental change, social justice, foreign policy, and national and homeland security.”
In the past, laws have been enacted one at a time to address individual issues in American-controlled waters, from regulating scallop fisheries to protecting feeding grounds for endangered whales.
For example, although the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sets aside fragile areas like Monterey Bay and the Florida Keys for special protection through the National Marine Sanctuaries program, their jurisdiction is only within sanctuary boundaries. “There is no control over downstream affects,” Crowder said.
Sylvia Earle, former chief scientist at NOAA, added that complicating matters more, the same agency that monitors marine sanctuaries also heads the National Marine Fisheries Service. While the official purpose of the fisheries service is “to promote sustainable fisheries, recovery of protected species, and the health of coastal marine habitats,” Earle described it more critically as being “about killing and marketing fish.”
And even though she acknowledged that sanctuaries have expanded to encompass more than 150,000 square miles, Earle said the term “sanctuary” is slightly misleading. “They’re management areas.”
But she said NOAA’s current administrator, Jane Lubchenco, has championed fully protected ocean reserves, for the sake of both marine life and economic prosperity. “It’s not only good for the fish,” Earle said. “If there are to be fishermen, there have to be fish.”
Crowder agreed that the new administration has prioritized species protection. Under the “marine spatial planning” approach, all ocean agencies that have activities in a certain area – from the Gulf of Maine to the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Ontario – would collaborate on regulations that support investment and commerce, but also protect species.
However, on a global scale, disparities in international compliance have made protecting species much more difficult. One of the stickiest issues is that, “Animals do not know about lines on maps,” said Crowder.
While countries like Germany and Belgium have taken the initiative to craft sound management practices, other nations continue to hunt species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, or practice unsustainable fishing methods. In Mexico, for example, tuna “fishermen” drop nets as large as football fields from helicopters, snagging dolphins and sea turtles as incidental bycatch.
But in order to set a precedent, the U.S. must first comprehensively address how it regulates its own waters, especially given the new challenges presented by climate change issues.
This summer the polar ice cap melted to its third smallest recorded size, and Crowder pointed out that more and more vessels have been seeking passage through the Arctic Ocean. In a sense, he said, “A new ocean is opening up.”