The timing can't be overlooked. As oil gushes seemingly unchecked from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico due to society's insatiable appetite for fuel, there's a call for large swathes of ocean environments to be protected much like national parks preserve terrestrial landscapes.
While "marine protected areas,' such as those that are appearing along the U.S. coasts, are valuable, larger marine reserves are "an essential and long overdue contribution to improving stewardship of the global oceanic environment," some 245 scientists, members of Global Ocean Legacy, said in a release to mark World Oceans Day, which was celebrated Tuesday.
"The need to set aside more and larger marine reserves as one means of ensuring the continued health of our oceans is well-accepted among marine scientists," said Dr. Bernard Salvat, noted coral reef scientist and professor emeritus at the University of Paris' Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and the French National Centre for Scientific Research. "We have to work on very large trans-boundary marine protected areas with intergovernmental agreements. We now need to speak out to educate governments and the public about the crisis facing our oceans and the long-term benefits of establishing large, no-take marine reserves."
Overfishing, pollution and climate change are adversely affecting the health of the world's oceans, and ultimately threatening the livelihoods, food security and economic development of millions of people. Very large reserves can help reduce these problems, according to a recently published book, The Unnatural History of the Sea, by Dr. Callum Roberts with the University of York.
Less than 0.5 percent of the world's oceans are fully protected from extractive or destructive activities. Large, no-take marine reserves have been shown to blunt the effects of excessive commercial fishing by offering a refuge for sea life to breed and spawn, providing for healthier fisheries as the fish swim into surrounding areas, and thus ensuring more resilient coastal economies. Because the ecosystems in ocean reserves are healthier, they are also more resistant to the damage caused by pollution, climate change and a wide range of other development activities.
"More than a century after nations had the foresight to protect important landscapes like Yellowstone National Park in the United States and Kruger National Park in South Africa, they have just begun to turn their attention to protecting similarly significant places in the sea," said Jay Nelson, director of Global Ocean Legacy, which is a project of the Pew Environment Group. "The world's leaders need to recognize what more than 245 marine scientists from across the world understand: that the designation of very large, highly protected marine reserves is critical to maintaining the health of the ocean environment."
To date, Global Ocean Legacy's work with local partners and governments has been pivotal in the designation of some of the world's largest ocean reserves, including the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument in the Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands and the British Chagos Protected Area in the Indian Ocean. Collectively, these areas contain more than 70 percent of the world's no-take waters.
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It's about time we considered the oceans at part of Our world.
We should create a Gulf of Mexico National Park to preserve much of this globally important body of water, and a Gulf of Mexico National Ecological Restoration Area to help heal the damage caused by the GP oil spill. This would ensure permanent protection from future oil and gas drilling, highlight the ecological and social importance of the area, promote public education and recreation, and help to keep public attention and resources directed to the area.
In contrast, Prince William Sound was all but abandoned as soon as ExxonMobil thought they could get away with it (and they did). No one knows what is happening there today. This is another area that should be designated as a National Park. It would help to revive restoration efforts and maybe put needed pressure on ExxonMobil to follow through on their broken promises to clean up their mess.
There are many other U.S. marine areas that should also be considered for National Park status. Let's hope that the attention generated by the BP disaster will help to rally public support for making it happen.
A very compelling discussion. Thank you, Kurt, for bring it up. A side note, and not directly related, a very small underwater preserve in Southern Baja California, the name of which I will not post right now, is the northern most living reef in North America. I am not posting the name of it, simply to keep it from getting much attention. It's an example of how, due to the lack of money, something can be preserved as a national park with a small "p", without you even knowing of it. Yes, you can Google it and figure it out, but I only bring it up for the purpose of sharing the concept of preserving places with laws rather than money, so as not to simply create a park to make a place for tourism and recreation. Another park you probably know nothing about is a pristine Alpine mountain range in northern Baja, where, because of the remoteness of the place there has never been forest fire suppression or logging. Old growth Ponderosa Pine and similar topography as our Sierra Nevada, but with less water and a small footprint, and with few, almost no, people...or pavement. It is a National Park with a capital "P", but again, no money, as it's in Mexico, but because of that there is little attention drawn to it, and it survives with almost no human impacts.
Imagine what Yosemite would be like if they simply passed laws back in 1864 when it was set aside as a park, but never decided to promote it or pave roads into it, etc. Had they never advertised and it require a three day hike to get there, or a two day horse ride or a reservation for a valued few allowable annual visits with a highly regulated carrying capacity, perhaps we too could see what it was that George Fiske, Carlton Watkins and Eadweard Muybridge recorded in their early photography.
Our beloved John Muir articulated many a well stated verse that we all love to hear about Yosemite, but which of these people mentioned here did any of this for any reason other than money? John Muir wrote for paychecks. The Southern Pacific Railroad wanted to get travelers to Park to pay for their investment in train track, and paid him well.
The Prince William Sound example above is a good one. Is it possible to preserve a place before the impacts occur? Even once a place is designated for preservation, there is still the chance that too many human impacts can cause harm. How can a place like Yosemite or any protected place be preserved without limiting the amount of people allowed to go there? Places are crying out for carrying capacity limits, but no one wants to be turned away, and our National Park Service wants to accomodate all who wish to come, as they are there to serve.
More protection at what cost? Fish and Game posted flyfishing only and barbless hook designation on my favorite local river, which I fished that way anyway. The new designation, now twenty five years old, caused the area to draw a lot of traffic. It's now heavily fished. Before, it was an unknown...