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On Friday, the government of Tristan da Cunha, a four-island archipelago in the South Atlantic, announced that it is creating the fourth-largest marine “no-take” reserve in the world.
Why This Matters: As National Geographic states, while 8% of the world’s ocean territory is protected at some level, commercial fishing is banned in only 2.6%.
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A new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences proves that protecting an additional 5% of the world’s ocean area leads to an increase of 20% more fish for fishermen to catch and thus much more food for people to eat.
Why This Matters: Right now only 2.5% of the ocean is fully protected, but the goal is 30% protected by 2030.
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We know that rising ocean temperatures are causing fish stocks to migrate to cooler waters, and now we have new evidence as to why. A study by German scientists found that juvenile fish and fish that are ready to mate are especially sensitive to changes in water temperature, and as a result, up to 60 percent of all species may be forced to leave their traditional spawning areas as waters warm.
Why This Matters: Fish populations need functional habitat to survive and procreate.
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Our future depends upon sustaining ocean health and building resilience to climate change and other ocean stressors like pollution and acidification. Protecting at least 30% of the ocean by 2030 through implemented, fully, and highly protected Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is necessary for ocean and planetary health. Establishing an MPA can take years for communities […]
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A new study warns that climate change “velocity” in the deep ocean — the rate at which species’ range shifts in order to remain at their preferred temperature — is greater than at the surface even if we mitigate climate change, and particularly at depths below 600 and 3000 feet.
Why This Matters: The differences in water temperature increases at different depths in the water column could cause major disruptions in food webs as species that rely on each other for survival will have to adapt at different velocities, thus having major impacts on the distribution and abundance of ocean wildlife.
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The Our Ocean Conference concluded in Norway with 370 separate pledges for action to conserve the ocean made by governments, NGOs and private corporations, with a value of $63 billion, ABC News reported. Climate change commitments received the lion share of the funding at $51 billion, and the private sector providing nearly 80% of the funds. Concurrently, a Youth Leadership Summit convened 100 young ocean activists from around the globe for a “boot camp” on ocean conservation innovative ideas.
Why This Matters: The Our Ocean conference is a different type of global meeting — not based on a legal framework or executive agreement, and not limited to governments or as full participants — which seems to be one of the keys to its success. The Conference also benefits from the exuberance of the youth meeting held in parallel. It seems to be working — Palau has signed on to host the next year’s conference and Panama will host the year after that.
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