Visualizing Environmental Science

Addressing Ocean Problems 291

Service to protect essential fish habitat for more than 600

fish species, reduce overfishing, rebuild the populations

of overfished species, and minimize bycatch. Fishing

quotas, restrictions of certain types of fishing gear, limits

on the number of fishing boats, and closure of fisheries

during spawning periods are some of the management

tools used to reduce overfishing. The 2007 reauthoriza-

tion of the Magnuson-Stevens Act strengthened controls

on illegal and unreported fishing in U.S. waters.

Future Actions

A 2004 report by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy,

the first comprehensive review of federal ocean policy in

35 years, recommended three primary strategies for im-

proving the ocean and coasts:

sCreate a new ocean policy to improve decision mak-

ing. Currently, a number of agencies and committees

manage U.S. waters, and their respective goals often

conflict. The commission recommends strength-

ening and reorganizing the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and consoli-

dating other federal ocean programs under it.

sStrengthen science and generate information

for decision makers. There is a critical need for

high-quality research on how marine ecosystems

function and how human activities affect them.

sEnhance ocean education to instill in citizens a

stewardship ethic. Environmental education should

be part of the curriculum at all levels and should

include a strong marine component.

Ensuring the recovery of depleted fisheries may

require the establishment of networks of “no-take”

reserves and a substantial reduction of fishing fleets.

Governments will also have to reduce or remove subsi-

dies that help support the fishing industry. (A subsidy

is a form of government support given to a business or

an institution to promote the activity performed by that

business or institution.) Government subsidies encour-

age modernization and expansion of fishing fleets.

Many scientists think the best way to halt and reverse

destruction of the ocean is to adopt an ecosystem-based

approach to manage ocean environments. This means

1. Describe international initiatives that address
   problems in the global ocean.


2. Explain strategies proposed to correct ocean
   problems in the future.

T

he many different threats to the world’s
oceans are attributed to a range of local,
regional, national, and global sources. Prob-
lems in the ocean are complex and there-
fore require complex solutions.
Industrialized countries’ interest in removing manga-
nese nodules from the ocean floor, first expressed in the
1960s, triggered the formation of an international treaty,
the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
UNCLOS, which became effective in 1994, is generally con-
sidered a “constitution for the ocean,” and its focus is the
protection of ocean resources. As of late 2012, 164 countries
had joined the treaty and are bound to its requirements.
(The United States had not yet ratified UNCLOS but volun-
tarily observes its provisions.) The provisions of UNCLOS are
binding only for international waters, not for territorial wa-
ters, so seabed mining is not prohibited in territorial waters.
For example, hydrothermal vent systems in deep territorial
waters off Papua New Guinea contain gold, zinc, copper, and
silver, and exploration efforts are currently under way to de-
termine methods for extracting these resources.
In 1995 the United Nations approved the U.N. Fish
Stocks Agreement, the first international treaty to regulate
marine fishing. The treaty went into effect in 2001. Because
the overfishing problem continues to escalate, the United
Nations has sponsored other fishery protection pacts.
The Magnuson Fishery Conservation Act, which
went into effect in 1977, regulates marine fisheries in the
United States. This law established eight regional fish-
ery councils, each of which developed a management
plan for its region. Until 1996, the act was not particu-
larly successful because managers were often pressured
to set quotas too high and the National Marine Fisher-
ies Service estimated that more than one-third of U.S.
fish stocks were being fished at higher levels than could
be sustained. In 1996 the act was amended and reautho-
rized as the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act or Sustainable Fisheries Act. It requires
the regional councils and the National Marine Fisheries

Addressing Ocean Problems

LEARNING OBJECTIVES