SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Protect the ocean

Photo J-M Liot

No matter how great the challenge, it is possible to protect the oceans.

After the oil pollution on the Galician coast of Spain, in November 2002, the MEPC (Marine Environment Protection Committee) adopted new rules on:
- oil products shipped in double-hulled tankers;
- the acceleration of the withdrawal of simple-hulled tankers; and,
- the extension of oil tanker inspection procedures.

This is only a small step, but it is progress, and it is following the pattern of the evolution of rules in the United States after the Exxon Valdez catastrophe.

But oil pollution is less than 10% of ocean pollution. Oil leaks have a large impact in the media and contribute to actions that strengthen international and national legislation but the real effects of these events are less than permanent organic pollutants and other non bio-deteriorated wastes.
The major threats to the oceans were recognized in 1972 at the Stockholm Conference. The issues we must address are marine pollution from deposited wastes, overexploitation of marine life and coastal habitat loss.

Protecting the oceans is a top priority in this century (Agenda 21) as we discover how great the interdependence of terrestrial and oceanic life is. With the growing concern for climate change we are tracking its global oceanic risks: rising sea levels, changes of the sea streams (currents) and resulting climatic effects, and higher acidification due to greater absorption of CO2. This last finding is particularly serious regarding reefs and plankton; fewer living reefs and less plankton means damaged biodiversity and less fish.

Fishing! This is where the behavior of humankind is devastating. Over fishing can be irreversible for a number of marine species with a resulting danger for both the food chain and the world food supply.

At the UNESCO 3rd World Conference on Oceans (January 2006), experts warned that progress on protecting the oceans is too slow. Action on over fishing has been largely insufficient and 75% of fish are either fully exploited or over-fished. Deep-sea fishing has been noted as specifically dangerous for late-maturing species that only recover slowly (Nature, January 2006).

Sea products are a critical food source for coastal populations, especially around the Indian Ocean, and the poorest suffer more from the drop in fish resources. Would aquaculture be a solution? This a developing sector (in which Raphaëla works as veterinarian), but it is a sector that needs to adopt itself to more sustainable models, more concern for the environment where fish farms are developed, and sounder alternatives for aquaculture feed.

Raphaëla windsurfs across the Indian Ocean. This ocean is an exemplar of the problems of pollution and fisheries. The serious issues here resulted in regional governments (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, as well as Australia, New Zealand, Maldives and Philippines) to adopt joint and more protective legislation.

This crossing is an opportunity to increase our knowledge and awareness of urgent issues and commit ourselves to action.

More on the following web sites:

On fisheries and aquaculture,

With FAO, http://www.fao.org/fi/default.asp,
With the Marine Stewardship Council, http://www.msc.org/, which has developed an environmental standard for sustainable and well-managed fisheries;
With Global Aquaculture Alliance, http://www.gaalliance.org/.

On shipping and its impact on the oceans, the International Maritime Organization web site http://www.imo.org/home.asp.

Globally, on issues of the oceans and coastal environmental problems, go to the UNEP (United Nations Environmental Program),
http://www.unep.org/Geo/geo3/english/313.htm
and the latest release in the GEO 4,
http://www.grida.no/geo/pdfs/geo_yearbook_2004_eng.pdf ;
or to the dedicated site of UNESCO
http://ioc.unesco.org/iocweb/index.php and the United Nations Atlas of the oceans http://www.oceansatlas.com/, with the Global Web Service on Oceans http://www.globaloceans.org/index.html
and to Oceans Alive, http://www.mos.org/oceans/planet/indian2.html.