Human Actions Threaten All Ocean Life, Scientists Warn

SEATTLE, Washington, February 16, 2004 (ENS) - Governments and the United Nations must act urgently to protect imperiled deep sea coral and sponge ecosystems, marine scientists from 69 countries warned in a consensus statement released Sunday simultaneously in Seattle at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the meeting of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The statement is signed by 1,136 scientists, more than have supported any other specific marine environmental issue, signifying unprecedented concern by experts in marine sciences and conservation biology.

"It's ironic that billions are being spent searching for water that might once have supported life on Mars while we're destroying the dazzling diversity of life in waters here on Earth," said Dr. Elliott Norse, president of Marine Conservation Biology Institute in Redmond, Washington who co-authored the consensus statement.

Gorgonian corals with sponges in the deep sea surrounding Alaska's Aleutian Islands. (Photo courtesy NMFS)

Trawls are huge nets armed with steel weights or heavy rollers. Deep sea fishing vessels drag them across the seafloor to catch species such as shrimp, cod, orange roughy, armorhead, grenadier and Chilean seabass. Trawls smash corals and sponges and rip them from the seafloor.

"At present, scientists studying deep sea corals are in an unfortunate race with commercial fishermen, who are trawling these corals into oblivion," said Dr. Martin Willison of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. "As fishing has emptied coastal waters of fishes, trawlers are moving into seas as deep as two kilometers (1.2 miles), and into the most remote seas on Earth.

"About 98 percent of the oceans' species live in, on or just above the seafloor," said Dr. Norse. "Many of them, including ancient deep sea corals and sponges, haven't even been discovered yet."

Norse, Willison and the 1,134 other signers of the statement say it is not too late to save most of the world's deep sea coral and sponge ecosystems. They urge the United Nations to establish a moratorium on bottom trawling on the high seas. They urge individual nations and states to ban bottom trawling to protect deep sea ecosystems wherever coral forests and reefs are known to occur within their Exclusive Economic Zones, as Australia, Canada and Norway have done.

Conservation of marine mammals, sea turtles, and fish species are also on Dr. Norse's radar. At the AAAS conference he has proposed a unique kind of protection - a moveable marine reserve - one that moves with the animals as they migrate through the oceans.

Speaking at the conference and on the Science Channel's "Discoveries This Week" program, Dr. Norse said, "We can put a protective cordon around these organisms and say, these are marine reserves. Right now, take the place between this latitude and longitude and this one and don't go in there and don't fish. Those organisms deserve a chance to feed and breed without being preyed upon by people."

Humpback whale mother and calf in the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale Sanctuary (Photo by Dave Matilla courtesy NOAA)

Most American adults know that human activity is endangering the Earth's oceans, yet fewer than one in three people feel empowered to influence positive change, according to the findings of a national survey released Sunday by AAAS in conjunction with a public town hall meeting on marine science issues.

AAAS surveyed 2,400 adults on issues from the need for global action on ocean pollution to human impacts on coastal ecosystems. The survey, conducted by Porter Novelli, was completed by mail in November 2003.

Only 31 percent of those questioned said they feel their actions could actually affect the health of the oceans, but the survey showed that they are willing to try to do so.

Nearly two-thirds of the respondents said they would eat less of certain kinds of fish if it would help the marine environment. More than half support the use of public money for research and technology to reduce pollution.

Nearly three-fourths, 72 percent of respondents believe that the oceans should be protected in a global way, through international agreements. Nearly half, 47 percent, would support government regulations restricting the use of the seashore, and 46 percent would support local efforts to reduce business and economic development of coasts.

The town hall meeting is the debut event for a new AAAS effort to reach out and involve the general public in the complex scientific issues that affect daily life - such as which fish to purchase and cook for dinner. The AAAS Center for Public Engagement with Science and Technology was established to enhance the public's input into scientific research agendas by creating opportunities for dialogue among policymakers, the public and the scientific community.

"We're hosting this marine science town hall meeting to encourage dialogue between the scientific community and the public. It's very timely because our survey also found that 65 percent of Americans don't trust scientists to put society's interests above their own personal goals," said Dr. Alan Leshner, AAAS chief executive officer.

An eight ton catch of pollock is taken aboard a U.S. research vessel. (Photo courtesy NOAA)

The AAAS annual meeting brought together for the first time members of the Pew Oceans Commission, which issued its report in June 2003 warning of dire consequences if ocean plundering is not halted, and members of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, a congressionally mandated body whose preliminary report is set to be unveiled in two weeks.

At a press briefing Saturday, National Ocean Commissioners William Ruckelshaus and Andrew Rosenberg joined Leon Panetta, chairman of the Pew Oceans Commission, and marine ecologist Boris Worm to highlight the need for reform of U.S. federal and state ocean policies in order to protect and restore ocean life and preserve the ecological, economic and social benefits the oceans provide.

Reports from these two commissions are the first thorough review of our ocean policy since the Stratton Commission's report to Congress in 1969.

The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy is expected to recommend centralizing oceans administration in one single body, a National Ocean Council, that would use an approach based on consideration of entire marine ecosystems.

Presently in the United States, more than 10 federal agencies and 28 coastal states and territories have jurisdiction over the oceans. Governance and management has been by regional fisheries commissions and has focused on single species such as coho salmon, or cod.

"At first look ecosystem based management may seem enormously complicated but it actually provides a means of simplifying management in some significant ways," says Federal Ocean Commissioner Andrew Rosenberg, dean of science at the University of New Hampshire and former deputy director of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

"Considering interactions between activities up front can reduce the conflicts between management actions and negative effects that inevitably arise when activities are considered one by one in isolation," Rosenberg said.

William Ruckelshaus is a two-time former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who is currently chairman of the board of the World Resources Institute. (Photo courtesy U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy)

Ruckelshaus, who also chairs the Washington State's Pacific Salmon Recovery Funding Board, says taking an ecosystem based approach could help save the remaining salmon species in the Pacific Northwest.

The winter-run chinook salmon originating in California's Sacramento River was listed as threatened in 1990 under the Endangered Species Act, but was reclassified to endangered in 1994. In 1992, the Snake River stock of sockeye salmon was listed as endangered wherever found. The spring-summer and fall runs of chinook originating in Idaho's Snake River were listed as threatened in 1992. Others are being considered for listing.

A 1991 report by the American Fisheries Society indicated that 214 of about 400 stocks of salmon, steelhead, and sea-run cutthroat trout in the Northwest and California are at risk of extinction. The report also indicated that 106 were already extinct at that time.

"A healthy ecosystem has healthy fish stocks," says Ruckelshaus. "When the ecosystem can no longer support spawning salmon, the effect on the fish is obvious, but no less real are the effects on the economics of commercial and sport fishing."

Historically, fisheries management has focused on trying to maintain maximum sustainable yields of commercially targeted species. This involves using models to adjust catches and attempting to keep populations near 50 percent of their estimated "unfished" levels.

Ecosystem based management recognizes that there is uncertainty in predicting natural fluctuations in populations, communities and physical oceanographic conditions. The goal is not a precise state but retention of a diverse system that maintains its own resilience in the face of change.

The long term consequences of oil spills must be considered, members of both commissions acknowledge. A recent study by Charles Peterson published in the December 2003 issue of the AAAS journal "Science" of the long term and integrated ecosystem response to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill showed the need for management to look at long-term consequences and links among species.

Previously, managers had assumed that impacts to populations from oil were typically acute and short lived. But Peterson and his team found that even 14 years after the initial spill, oil toxins still were affecting the health and survival of local wildlife. Unexpected persistence of toxic oils, long term sub-lethal exposure, and transfer of these toxins through food chains resulted in increased mortality and decreased reproduction of salmon, seabirds and sea otters.

This ecosystem approach shows that current practices for assessing the ecological risk of oil in the ocean – whether it be from massive oil spills or daily ooze from land-based pollution – are inadequate. Only by understanding the links between different species and identifying the danger of daily, sub-lethal doses could scientists reveal the true impact of seemingly innocuous decisions to allow oil to reach the oceans.

An ecosystem based management framework would take a long term approach to safeguard the ability of ocean life to grow and reproduce.

Leon Panetta chairs the Pew Oceans Commission (Photo courtesy Indiana State University)

The report of the Pew Oceans Commission calls for a new conservation ethic that embraces the oceans as a public trust, recognizes human dependence on healthy marine ecosystems, and practices precaution in the management of ocean resources. The Commission calls upon Congress and the Bush administration to pass a National Ocean Policy Act that embodies a national commitment to protect, maintain, and restore the living oceans.

"We are calling for policy makers to update this country's laws and policies to reflect our new understanding and the new research and scientific evidence that show we are squandering the ocean's richness through neglect and mismanagement," Panetta said. "While allocating dollars to further our understanding of Mars is admirable, we should first be allocating dollars to protect life on this planet. The oceans are crucial to our own lives."