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FSRN: Global Threats to Ocean Diversity
A new study by a team of marine scientists outlined in the November 3 edition of Science Magazine asserts a decline in marine biodiversity in the Earth's oceeans. Overfishing, pollution, and other environmental factors will wipe out the global seafood supply by 2048, if steep declines in marine diversity continue at current rates. But as FSRN's Vinny Lombardo reports, its not too late to change the outcome and protect ocean wildlife. TRT- 4:24
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Listen now:
AMBI: [Sea Lions barking]
The sea lions dwelling beneath the Santa Cruz Wharf, are one of many thouands of species that populate the biologically rich waters of Monterey Bay. Normally a strict coastal creature, last year, local sea lions travelled hundreds of miles offshore in search of edible fish, say marine researchers at UC Santa Cruz. This freakish behavior is one sign of a major shift in the ocean.
AMBI: [Crashing Waves]
A team of scientists from 5 countries conducted a study of marine bio-diversity, using regional ocean models, and global fisheries data. Findings of their four year study were published November 3rd in Science Magazine. Their predictions paint a dark picture for the future of the world's fisheries. Marine diversity loss has already affected the stability of the ocean's ecosystems, they say, and if this trend continues, the global seafood market will run dry by 2048.
DH1: "Its a scary scenario"
David Helvarg, president of Blue Frontier Campaign and author of 50 Ways to Save the Ocean, points to the report's assertion that estuaries, coral reefs, wetlands and oceanic fish are all rapidly losing populations, species or entire groups.
DH2: "There is a catastrophe in our oceans in terms of the loss of marine life that's documented in this new Science report, and we really could lose most of our edible species of wildlife and the diversity of the oceans by mid-century." :14
Helvarg says over-fishing is a key part of the problem.
DH3: "On a global scale what we're seeing is giant, corporate factory trawlers, gov't subsidizing fleets that have greater capacity than the ecology and habitat of the fish can support." :11
Kate Wing, oceans policy analyst with Natural Resources Defense Council, or NRDC.
KW1: "For too long, alot of these fisheries have been managed by the people who have a direct financial interest in them, the processors, the people who are making money off of them, even though its a public resource, the public hasn't been given a chance to have a say, and say, Hey, enough is enough." :14
Wing says seafood consumers are a driving force behind the drop in ocean life.
KW2: "...we just can't keep eating as many fish as we have in the past.....Fish is something special. Its not something you get to eat everyday, and when you do eat it you can make smart choices. There are alot of guides on how you can eat smarter, support fisherman who are fishing in more sustainable ways." :15
Fifteen years ago, the Santa Cruz Harbor had about one-hundred small and mid-sized commercial fishing boats docked there. Today, only half are left, while recreational crafts, such as whale-watching and sight-seeing boats, have swelled in numbers. Many other cities report larger drops in commercial fishing vessels. Kevin Carney, who docks his small commercial crabbing boat at Santa Cruz Harbor, was dismissive of the findings in Science Magazine.
KC: " I think its sensationalism. Its just some scientists that decided, OHH, we're gonna make this huge claim that all the fish are gonna be gone in forty years. Well, they said that forty years ago, that the fish were all gonna be gone by now, but they're not." :14
Santa Cruz Port Director Brian Foss maintains the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, which regulates West Coast commercial fishing, is effective.
BF1: "You know our fisheries basically are still healthy, and there are sustainable fisheries out there. Albacore, and salmon, and crab.Yes, we have seen some species that are not as abundant as they were before, but those are under management plans. Such as the Rockfish, which has a complette moratorium, commercially on it." :17
But Kate Wing, of NRDC, says most of the protections currently in place only look at one species.
KW3: "In the ocean, everything is connected. That fish gets eaten by something, and in return, that fish eats something else to survive. So just by focussing on individual pieces, we're not focussing on what we call an ecosystem basis. Then we're really missing what's going on in the ocean, and that's part of what's caused the problems that we have today." :18
AMBI BED: [CAT Bulldozer moving sand on the beach, with waves crashing in the background]
The Science Magazine report, cites other factors besides over-fishing, which play a role in declining ocean wildlife. Coastal migration and associated development, off-shore oil exploration, and global warming, all contribute to marine species loss. However, the results also show that trends in declining sea life are still reversible, if dramatic changes in ocean policy are enacted, today. Reporting in Santa Cruz, Vinny Lombardo, Free Speech Radio News.
The sea lions dwelling beneath the Santa Cruz Wharf, are one of many thouands of species that populate the biologically rich waters of Monterey Bay. Normally a strict coastal creature, last year, local sea lions travelled hundreds of miles offshore in search of edible fish, say marine researchers at UC Santa Cruz. This freakish behavior is one sign of a major shift in the ocean.
AMBI: [Crashing Waves]
A team of scientists from 5 countries conducted a study of marine bio-diversity, using regional ocean models, and global fisheries data. Findings of their four year study were published November 3rd in Science Magazine. Their predictions paint a dark picture for the future of the world's fisheries. Marine diversity loss has already affected the stability of the ocean's ecosystems, they say, and if this trend continues, the global seafood market will run dry by 2048.
DH1: "Its a scary scenario"
David Helvarg, president of Blue Frontier Campaign and author of 50 Ways to Save the Ocean, points to the report's assertion that estuaries, coral reefs, wetlands and oceanic fish are all rapidly losing populations, species or entire groups.
DH2: "There is a catastrophe in our oceans in terms of the loss of marine life that's documented in this new Science report, and we really could lose most of our edible species of wildlife and the diversity of the oceans by mid-century." :14
Helvarg says over-fishing is a key part of the problem.
DH3: "On a global scale what we're seeing is giant, corporate factory trawlers, gov't subsidizing fleets that have greater capacity than the ecology and habitat of the fish can support." :11
Kate Wing, oceans policy analyst with Natural Resources Defense Council, or NRDC.
KW1: "For too long, alot of these fisheries have been managed by the people who have a direct financial interest in them, the processors, the people who are making money off of them, even though its a public resource, the public hasn't been given a chance to have a say, and say, Hey, enough is enough." :14
Wing says seafood consumers are a driving force behind the drop in ocean life.
KW2: "...we just can't keep eating as many fish as we have in the past.....Fish is something special. Its not something you get to eat everyday, and when you do eat it you can make smart choices. There are alot of guides on how you can eat smarter, support fisherman who are fishing in more sustainable ways." :15
Fifteen years ago, the Santa Cruz Harbor had about one-hundred small and mid-sized commercial fishing boats docked there. Today, only half are left, while recreational crafts, such as whale-watching and sight-seeing boats, have swelled in numbers. Many other cities report larger drops in commercial fishing vessels. Kevin Carney, who docks his small commercial crabbing boat at Santa Cruz Harbor, was dismissive of the findings in Science Magazine.
KC: " I think its sensationalism. Its just some scientists that decided, OHH, we're gonna make this huge claim that all the fish are gonna be gone in forty years. Well, they said that forty years ago, that the fish were all gonna be gone by now, but they're not." :14
Santa Cruz Port Director Brian Foss maintains the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, which regulates West Coast commercial fishing, is effective.
BF1: "You know our fisheries basically are still healthy, and there are sustainable fisheries out there. Albacore, and salmon, and crab.Yes, we have seen some species that are not as abundant as they were before, but those are under management plans. Such as the Rockfish, which has a complette moratorium, commercially on it." :17
But Kate Wing, of NRDC, says most of the protections currently in place only look at one species.
KW3: "In the ocean, everything is connected. That fish gets eaten by something, and in return, that fish eats something else to survive. So just by focussing on individual pieces, we're not focussing on what we call an ecosystem basis. Then we're really missing what's going on in the ocean, and that's part of what's caused the problems that we have today." :18
AMBI BED: [CAT Bulldozer moving sand on the beach, with waves crashing in the background]
The Science Magazine report, cites other factors besides over-fishing, which play a role in declining ocean wildlife. Coastal migration and associated development, off-shore oil exploration, and global warming, all contribute to marine species loss. However, the results also show that trends in declining sea life are still reversible, if dramatic changes in ocean policy are enacted, today. Reporting in Santa Cruz, Vinny Lombardo, Free Speech Radio News.
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Canadian Baby Seal Slaughter Begins
Beth Brown
Thousands to Be Part of Canada Seal Hunt
Thousands of sealers armed with clubs, rifles and spears headed for the ice floes off eastern Canada on Tuesday for the world's largest seal hunt, one expected to bring poor coastal communities millions of dollars but condemned by animal rights activists as barbaric.
The contentious harp seal hunt, the target of protests since the 1960s, begins about two weeks after the seal pups are born and their fur changes from white to gray. Animal rights activists say the pups are clubbed to death and often skinned alive, but sealers and government officials who monitor the hunt insist the pups die instantly, under strict guidelines.
"It's just horrific out there. There is blood all across the ice and seal carcasses as far as the eye can see," Rebecca Aldworth of The Humane Society of the United States told The Associated Press from the Gulf of St. Lawrence on Tuesday.
"We've seen seals that were moving around and breathing, that have been left in these piles, some left conscious and crawling," said Aldworth, a native Newfoundlander who has observed the seal hunt for the past six years.
Regulations require that hunters ensure their prey is dead before moving on. Aldworth said she had listened to some seals crying, likely for their mothers, which whelp on the ice floes every spring.
Aldworth is filming the hunt and posting her findings on the Web.
Many countries, including the United States, ban imports of seal products.
But the Canadian government says the hunt brings badly needed income to its coastal communities, which earned about $16.5 million last year, primarily from pelt sales to Norway, Denmark and China.
Aboriginal and Inuit subsistence and commercial hunters begin the kill Nov. 15 in Canada's vast expanse of frozen northern waters, which reach from the Yukon Territories near Alaska through the Arctic Ocean and down into the North Atlantic off the Labrador coast.
The spring leg of the commercial hunt starts in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and moves to the Front, an arc of the Atlantic Ocean sweeping out about 30-40 miles from Newfoundland. Hunters were expected to kill more than 300,000 seals by May 15, when the federal, three-year plan ends, allowing sealers to harvest a total of 975,000 seals since 2003.
Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans says the country's seal population is "healthy and abundant," and notes that there are an estimated 5 million harp seals, nearly the highest level ever recorded and almost triple what it was in the 1970s.
Ed Frenette of the P.E.I. Fishermen's Association told Canadian Broadcasting Corp. television that harp seal pelts were at an all-time high of $57, and opponents of the hunt ought to target buyers, not the fishermen who desperately need the income from the pelts.
Aldworth said there were some 70 fishing boats in the area where she was filming, about 20 miles south of the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, yet no government officials on the ground to check whether the seals were being properly killed.
Michel Therien, a spokesman for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, countered this. He said there were two large Coast Guard vessels in the region and one fisheries officer for every seven or eight commercial vessels.
"I presume they can't be in all the places, all the times, but we encourage the public to report any illegal activities, for sure," Therien said by telephone from Charlottetown.
He said the fishermen need to supplement their income, since many fishing families only earn about $9,800 a year from their catches of snow crabs, lobster or cod.
"They have to live on whatever they're capable of catching," Therien said. "The seal fisheries is part of their livelihood."
A report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, meanwhile, says the harvest of up to 975,000 seals will damage the marine mammal population.
"Any pretense of a scientifically based ... hunt has been abandoned and Canada's commercial seal hunt has become — quite simply — a cull, designed more to achieve short-term political objectives than those of a biologically sustainable hunt," the report said.
Fishermen participating in the hunt, however, blame seals and their voracious appetites for the devastation of Canada's fish stocks, in particular cod, and argue a cull is necessary.
The anti-sealing movement scored major victories in the 1970s and 1980s, convincing the United States and much of Europe to ban the import of pelts from white coat and young harp and hooded seals. The Canadian government in 1997 banned the killing of both in their first days, only allowing the pups to be hunted after they had shed their white coats.
___
On the Net:
Aldworth postings of her footage:
Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans:
http://www.protectseals.org
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca
sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/03/29/international/i121422S30.DTL
Beth Brown
Thousands to Be Part of Canada Seal Hunt
Thousands of sealers armed with clubs, rifles and spears headed for the ice floes off eastern Canada on Tuesday for the world's largest seal hunt, one expected to bring poor coastal communities millions of dollars but condemned by animal rights activists as barbaric.
The contentious harp seal hunt, the target of protests since the 1960s, begins about two weeks after the seal pups are born and their fur changes from white to gray. Animal rights activists say the pups are clubbed to death and often skinned alive, but sealers and government officials who monitor the hunt insist the pups die instantly, under strict guidelines.
"It's just horrific out there. There is blood all across the ice and seal carcasses as far as the eye can see," Rebecca Aldworth of The Humane Society of the United States told The Associated Press from the Gulf of St. Lawrence on Tuesday.
"We've seen seals that were moving around and breathing, that have been left in these piles, some left conscious and crawling," said Aldworth, a native Newfoundlander who has observed the seal hunt for the past six years.
Regulations require that hunters ensure their prey is dead before moving on. Aldworth said she had listened to some seals crying, likely for their mothers, which whelp on the ice floes every spring.
Aldworth is filming the hunt and posting her findings on the Web.
Many countries, including the United States, ban imports of seal products.
But the Canadian government says the hunt brings badly needed income to its coastal communities, which earned about $16.5 million last year, primarily from pelt sales to Norway, Denmark and China.
Aboriginal and Inuit subsistence and commercial hunters begin the kill Nov. 15 in Canada's vast expanse of frozen northern waters, which reach from the Yukon Territories near Alaska through the Arctic Ocean and down into the North Atlantic off the Labrador coast.
The spring leg of the commercial hunt starts in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and moves to the Front, an arc of the Atlantic Ocean sweeping out about 30-40 miles from Newfoundland. Hunters were expected to kill more than 300,000 seals by May 15, when the federal, three-year plan ends, allowing sealers to harvest a total of 975,000 seals since 2003.
Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans says the country's seal population is "healthy and abundant," and notes that there are an estimated 5 million harp seals, nearly the highest level ever recorded and almost triple what it was in the 1970s.
Ed Frenette of the P.E.I. Fishermen's Association told Canadian Broadcasting Corp. television that harp seal pelts were at an all-time high of $57, and opponents of the hunt ought to target buyers, not the fishermen who desperately need the income from the pelts.
Aldworth said there were some 70 fishing boats in the area where she was filming, about 20 miles south of the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, yet no government officials on the ground to check whether the seals were being properly killed.
Michel Therien, a spokesman for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, countered this. He said there were two large Coast Guard vessels in the region and one fisheries officer for every seven or eight commercial vessels.
"I presume they can't be in all the places, all the times, but we encourage the public to report any illegal activities, for sure," Therien said by telephone from Charlottetown.
He said the fishermen need to supplement their income, since many fishing families only earn about $9,800 a year from their catches of snow crabs, lobster or cod.
"They have to live on whatever they're capable of catching," Therien said. "The seal fisheries is part of their livelihood."
A report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, meanwhile, says the harvest of up to 975,000 seals will damage the marine mammal population.
"Any pretense of a scientifically based ... hunt has been abandoned and Canada's commercial seal hunt has become — quite simply — a cull, designed more to achieve short-term political objectives than those of a biologically sustainable hunt," the report said.
Fishermen participating in the hunt, however, blame seals and their voracious appetites for the devastation of Canada's fish stocks, in particular cod, and argue a cull is necessary.
The anti-sealing movement scored major victories in the 1970s and 1980s, convincing the United States and much of Europe to ban the import of pelts from white coat and young harp and hooded seals. The Canadian government in 1997 banned the killing of both in their first days, only allowing the pups to be hunted after they had shed their white coats.
___
On the Net:
Aldworth postings of her footage:
Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans:
http://www.protectseals.org
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca
sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/03/29/international/i121422S30.DTL
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