Oceans need our attention, says Worldwatch

Even the Arctic Ocean is beginning to suffer from the effects of humans

March 25, 1999
Web posted at: 5:15 PM EST

We've already pushed the world oceans close to -- and in some cases, past -- their natural limits, according to a recently released report on the state of our oceans by the Worldwatch Institute.

The increasing number of citizen groups, businesses and governments taking an active interest in slowing down the destruction and pollution of the ocean is encouraging, says senior researcher and author Anne Platt McGinn, citing a host of efforts already under way:

• Unilever, which controls 20 percent of the whitefish market in Europe and the U.S., has agreed to buy only fish caught and produced in an environmentally sustainable manner.
• Volunteers in the Philippines, Thailand, India and Ecuador are replanting mangrove areas to repair earlier damage from shrimp farming.
• In northern Sulawesi, citizens have cleared coral reefs of harmful invasive species.
• The United States and Canada have each banned oil drilling on large portions of their continental shelves.

Habitat degradation, resulting from development, agricultural run off, sewage pollution and destructive fishing practices has lead to a tripling in the number of poisonous algal species identified by scientists, increasing fish kills, beach closures, and economic losses.

The impact on the economy is significant. People obtain an average of 16 percent of their animal protein from fish, and people in developing countries are extremely dependent on reef fisheries for both food and income. Tourism accounts for a large piece of coastline economies and medicines are being found in reef ecosystems everyday. Even toothpaste and ice cream depend on the gel-forming properties of brown algae.

The problems facing the oceans are legion: the marine conservation community is fragmented, bans on destructive activities are routinely ignored, too many regulatory organizations have a development-first mindset and enforcement and oversight are ineffective, if not altogether lacking.

Oceans need to be protected locally, nationally and internationally, according to McGinn. Right now, the United Nations General Assembly spends just one day a year covering issues that affect more than half of the planet.

The report suggests that a tax of one-tenth of one percent on industrial and recreational ocean activities would generate $500 million a year, more than five times the annual budgets the International Maritime Organization and the Fisheries Department of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

However, the most productive areas of the ocean are under national jurisdiction and 80 percent of oceanic pollution originates on land. This means that addressing global marine issues requires strong national and local policies.

New Zealand and Iceland charge fishers user fees and Mozambique and Bonaire charge tourists diving fees. The United Kingdom, Norway and Denmark all tax offshore oil and gas production in their waters.

In addition, several international institutions are today adopting policies that emphasize more stewardship and conservation. The International Maritime Organization, for example, has overseen the tightening of regulations on oil transportation. Since 1981, the occurrence of oil spills has been reduced by 60 percent, even though the volume of oil transported has doubled. The IMO is now trying to extend this success story to deal with threats from ship paints and ballast water discharge.

Problems at the international level continue to be difficult to resolve. Five years after the Law of the Sea entered into force, the United States is one of only eight countries worldwide that still has not ratified it. Also, the international convention addressing fish that swim across political boundaries is not yet in force and lacks support from key fishing nations. After nearly a decade of political wrangling, voluntary guidelines to address land-based pollution still have not won the support of national leaders. And while a global ban on a dozen long-lived synthetic chemicals that threaten ocean life is close to becoming reality, industry introduces hundreds of new ones that quickly become part of marine food chains each year.

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