Part 1
Ancient predators in peril in the Pacific
The decline of the Pacific Ocean's groundfish might be stemmed if
enough waters were set aside from all fishing and oil and gas development, just as
wilderness lands are off-limits to all logging and hunting.Part 2
U.S. Ocean Habitat Protection Flounders
The Sustainable Fisheries Act is "toothless," say its critics
Part 3
Is it fresh?
...and other important questions to ask at the seafood market
Part 4
Seven Troubling Trends
A checkup on the condition of the world's oceans, according to Dr.
Jane Lubchenco,
a leading Northwest ecologist
Part 5
No Refuge
Strictly speaking, our National Marine Sanctuaries aren't truly
"sanctuaries" at all
Part 6
Ten Gems of the Pacific
From Alaska to California, there are plenty
of special places worth preserving for their biodiversity and ecological value. Here are
ten -- our "undersea Yellowstones."
Part 7
Canada's Ocean Wild
Protecting
marine ecology
along British Columbia's richly diverse coastline.
Part 8
Puget Sound's
bottomfish
may land on the
Endangered Species List.
RESOURCES
Marine Conservation Biology Institute
National Marine Sanctuaries Home Page
NOAA Fisheries (National Marine Fisheries Service)
Parks Canada
Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans
(DFO)
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
Living Oceans Society
United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Tidepool (Ocean news from the Pacific)
Oregon Sea Grant
Pacific Marine Conservation Council
Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's
Associations
American Oceans Campaign
SeaWeb
Center for Marine Conservation
People for Puget Sound (SoundWeb)
Alaska Marine Conservation Council
Marine
Protected Areas around the globe (Australia)
California Seafood Council
National Fisheries Institute
Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute
Oregon Trawl Commission
Cascadia Times would like to thank the Lazar Foundation for a generous contribution to
the Cascadia Times Research Fund for support of research on marine ecosystems. |
1. Two-thirds
of the major marine fisheries are fully exploited, over exploited or depleted. Just over
40 years ago, this figure stood at less than 5 percent.
2. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
has increased by 30 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The best
(and cautious) predictions forecast a global temperature increase of between 2 and 6
degrees F, and a rise in sea level of 6 inches to 3 feet over the next century.
3. The explosively growing human population currently
utilizes over half the available surface freshwater of the planet. About 70 percent of
that amount is used in agriculture. Above and beyond the ramifications of these numbers
for population, this figure has critical implications for water flow through estuaries and
bays, and therefore habitat quality, e.g., for salmon.
4. Between one-third and one-half of the land surface of
Earth has now been transformed by human action. Examples include the conversion of
wetlands and forests to urban and industrial areas or of grasslands to pastures and
agricultural fields. The recent listing of nine salmon and steelhead populations in the
Pacific Northwest highlight some of the consequences to marine species of land
transformation due to logging, grazing, hydroelectric power generation, agriculture and
urbanization. Habitat transformation is more difficult to quantify in oceans.
5. The amount of nitrogen that enters the nitrogen cycle
each year has more than doubled over the past century as a result of human activities. The
making of fertilizers and burning of fossil fuels account for the bulk of this newly
"fixed" nitrogen. Additional wasted nitrogen is carried into the air and
transported elsewhere on land or into oceans. This excess nitrogen can disrupt downstream
ecological systems. The chemistry of coastal areas around the world is changing, in part
because of this influx of nitrogen into previously nitrogen-poor systems. The growth of
many (though not all) species that cause red tides and other harmful algal blooms is often
triggered by an influx of nitrogen and other nutrients.
6. A number of scientific experts have stated that Earth
is in the early states of the sixth mass extinction event in the history of the planet.
This is the first mass extinction that is due directly to human activities. Major drivers
include habitat destruction or alteration, introduced and invasive species, and
overfishing.
7. There are now some fifty "dead zones" or
areas with low to no oxygen, in the coastal areas around the world, most of which have
appeared within the last fifty years. Globally, dead zones have tripled in number in the
last thirty years. The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, for example, has doubled in size
since 1993, and at 1600 square miles is the largest in the Western Hemisphere. Excessive
nutrient influx, especially nitrogen and phosphorus compounds from agricultural, livestock
and poultry enterprises in upstream watersheds, are the suspected causal agents.
Source: Jane Lubchenco, distinguished professor of
zoology at Oregon State University, in comments to the House Subcommittee on Fisheries
Conservation and Oceans on May 6. Lubchenco, past president of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, has done extensive research on the ecology of rocky shores
of Oregon, Washington and California for over three decades. |