The environment in the news

The Guardian Time running out to curb effects of deep sea pollution, warns UN
(also appears in: The Hindu, The Age, The Observer (UK), Free Internet Press (NY..)

Saturday June 17, 2006

· Pace of change outstrips conservation efforts

Damage to the once pristine habitats of the deep oceans by pollution, litter and overfishing is running out of control, the United Nations warned yesterday. In a report that indicates that time is running out to save them, the UN said humankind's exploitation of the the deep seas and oceans was "rapidly passing the point of no return".

Last year some 85 million tonnes of wild fish were pulled from the global oceans, 100 million sharks and related species were butchered for their fins, some 250,000 turtles became tangled in fishing gear, and 300,000 seabirds, including 100,000 albatrosses, were killed by illegal longline fishing.

Into the water in their place went three billion individual pieces of litter - about eight million a day - joining the 46,000 pieces of discarded plastic that currently float on every square mile of ocean and kill another million seabirds each year. The water temperature rose and its alkalinity fell - both the result of climate change. Coral barriers off Australia and Belize are dying and newly discovered reefs in the Atlantic have already been destroyed by bottom trawling.

Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN's environment programme, said: "Humankind's ability to exploit the deep oceans and high seas has accelerated rapidly over recent years. It is a pace of change that has outstripped our institutions and conservation efforts."

Mining, for example, could soon spread to the sea floor for the first time. The Canadian company Nautilus Minerals plans to dig for deposits of gold and copper off Papua New Guinea.

More than 90% of the world's living organisms are found in the oceans, but a new UN report says that researchers are only now beginning to understand the nature of their ecosystems."Today, these environments are considered to have been the very cradle for life on Earth."

Yesterday's warning from the UN came as officials and experts met in New York to discuss ways the international community could better police activities in international waters.

Mr Steiner said: "Well over 60% of the marine world and its rich biodiversity is found beyond the limits of national jurisdiction and is vulnerable and at increasing risk. Governments must urgently develop guidelines, rules and actions needed to bridge this gulf."

The UN says countries need to manage oceans along ecological boundaries rather than political borders. It says more research is needed to investigate the 90% of the oceans that remain unexplored. It also calls for greater protection for vulnerable species such as cod, marlin and swordfish, which have lost 90% of their global stocks over the last century.

Kristina Gjerde, high seas policy adviser with the International Conservation Union's global marine programme, who wrote the new report, said: "Once limited largely to shipping and open ocean fishing, commercial activities at sea are expanding rapidly and plunging ever deeper." She said the effects of climate change made conservation efforts more important.

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BBC: Action urged to protect deep seas

Fish with high commercial value are in decline

Urgent action is needed to protect the world's oceans from human exploitation, according to conservationists.

They say over-fishing, pollution and climate change are pushing marine areas to the point of no return.

The warning comes from the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) and World Conservation Union (IUCN).

In a report launched on Friday in New York, they are calling for new marine protected areas to be set up in deep seas and open oceans.

Dr Stefan Hain from Unep said it was a crucial moment for the marine environment.

"Very often, it's the case that people go out there and fish without considering what effect this has on the fish stocks," he told BBC News.

"We know now that the environments and the eco-systems in the deep water are very fragile.

"The impact is that these stocks are being reduced at an alarming rate, and, simply, these ecosystems are not designed to cope with drastic impact by human activity."

Beyond limits

The report, Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Deep Waters and High Seas, is the centrepiece of talks on the law of the sea at the UN.

THREATENED WATERS

Illegal long-line fishing kills more than 300,000 seabirds each year

Large fish like tuna, cod and swordfish have declined by as much as 90% in the past century

Over 46,000 pieces of plastic litter are floating on every square mile of the ocean

Bush creates marine park

The report makes the case for marine protected areas in parts of the sea that are not included in the territorial sea or in the internal waters of a State.

Ibrahim Thiaw, acting director general of the IUCN, said well over 60% of the marine world and its rich biodiversity, found beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, was vulnerable and at increasing risk.

"Governments must urgently develop the guidelines, rules and actions needed to bridge this gulf," he said.

"Otherwise we stand to lose and to irrevocably damage unique wildlife and critical ecosystems many of which moderate our very existence on the planet."

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UN News Centre: Urgent action needed to conserve deep seas and open oceans: joint UN report

The new study, ‘Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Deep Waters and High Seas’, which was issued jointly by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN), argues that the many lessons learnt on conserving coastal waters should be adapted and applied right across the marine world, including in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

“Humankind’s ability to exploit the deep oceans and high seas has accelerated rapidly over recent years. It is a pace of change that has outstripped our institutions and conservation efforts whose primary focus have been coastal waters where, until recently, most human activity like fishing and industrial exploration took place,” said Achim Steiner, UNEP’s Executive Director.

“We now most urgently need to look beyond the horizon and bring the lessons learnt in coastal water to the wider marine world,” he added at the report’s launch in New York, which took place as countries and experts are holding talks on the law of the sea.

With more than 90 per cent of the planet’s living biomass – the weight of life – found in the oceans, the report underlines the value of the deep seas and open oceans and highlights how science is only now just getting to grips with the wealth of life, natural resources and ecosystems existing in the marine world.

“Well over 60 per cent of the marine world and its rich biodiversity, found beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, is vulnerable and at increasing risk,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, Acting Director General of IUCN.

“Governments must urgently develop the guidelines, rules and actions needed to bridge this gulf. Otherwise we stand to lose and to irrevocably damage unique wildlife and critical ecosystems many of which moderate our very existence on the planet.”

The report, launched at the UN Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS) which feeds into the UN General Assembly, also highlights the way fisheries, pollution and other stresses such as those arising from global climate change are impacting and affecting the marine world.

Less than 10 per cent of the oceans have been explored with only one millionth of the deep sea floor having been subject to biological investigations but the report states that over half – 52 per cent – of the global fish stocks are fully exploited. Overexploited and depleted species have also increased from about 10 per cent in the mid 1970s to 24 per cent in 2002.

“Once limited largely to shipping and open ocean fishing, commercial activities at sea are expanding rapidly and plunging ever deeper. Deep sea fishing, bioprospecting, energy development and marine scientific research are already taking place at depths of 2,000 m or more,” says the report’s author, Kristina M. Gjerde, High Seas Policy Advisor to IUCN’s Global Marine Program.

Taking into account the discussions in various international meetings, she also outlines several options aimed at the conservation and sustainable management of the deep seas and open oceans. These include among other things, actions and measures that reflect an integrated approach to oceans management based on ‘ecological boundaries’ rather than just political ones and giving higher levels of protection to vulnerable species like deep sea fish.

Other steps include the creation of a “precautionary system of marine protected areas” along with improved impact assessments that reflect the full range of possible human activities across the total marine environment.

Electronic versions of the report are available on the home pages of the UNEP Regional Seas Programme and the IUCN Marine Programme).

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