Marine Conservation Biology: The Science of Maintaining the Sea’s Biodiversity

1 December, 2005

Marine Conservation Biology: The Science of Maintaining the Sea’s Biodiversity, edited by MCBI President Elliott Norse and Larry Crowder, Director of Duke University’s Center for Marine Conservation.

Marine Conservation Biology brings together for the first time in a single volume leading experts from around the world to apply the lessons and thinking of conservation biology to marine issues. Contributors offer penetrating insights on the nature of marine biodiversity, what threatens it, and what humans can and must do to recover the biological integrity of the world’s estuaries, coastal seas, and oceans.

Available in English.

Bycatch on the High Seas: A Review of the Effectiveness of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, September 2005

1 September, 2005

Source: WWF

Commercial fishing for groundfish species has occurred for over 400 years of recorded history in the area that has become the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) Convention Area. Increasing fishing power of vessels from many European and North American countries put growing pressure on the stocks, a number of which are seriously overfished. International management began with the formation of the International Convention for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries, which NAFO subsequently replaced in 1979.

Available in English.

 

NAFO Case Study

8 June, 2005

This Report focuses on one of the most well established and developed RFMOs in the world: the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO). With its origins in a regional commission that was established in 1949, it has been in existence since 1979 with the mandate “to contribute through consultation and co-operation to the optimum utilization, rational management and conservation of the fishery resources” of the Convention area. Yet despite this, its adoption of a wide range of conservation and management measures, and a well developed institutional structure, NAFO has been unable to achieve its mandate and as of 2005, 10 stocks under NAFO’s competence are currently under moratoria.

Available in English.

High Seas Bottom Trawl Red Herrings: Debunking Claims of Sustainability

1 June, 2005

The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC), a combined force of more than
40 conservation groups from around the world, is calling on the United Nations General Assembly to secure a moratorium on high-seas bottom trawling until a regime to protect deep-sea fisheries and biodiversity is developed and implemented. In an effort to fight this conservation measure, the fishing industry has made numerous fictitious claims aimed at downplaying the detrimental effects of bottom trawling on deep-sea ecosystems. These claims are easily refuted by the staggering amount of scientific evidence demonstrating the harmful impacts and unfortunate expansion of the bottom- trawling fishery from the shallow continental shelf to deeper and more distant waters beyond national jurisdiction. This document presents a compilation of the claims offered by the fishing industry, each followed by a powerful rebuttal based on the best available science.

Available in English and Spanish.

Why the World Needs a Time Out on High Seas Bottom Trawling

1 June, 2005

Fishing on the high seas far from land is dangerous and expensive, and it consumes large amounts of fossil fuel. Fishermen would be unlikely to venture out on the high seas if fish were still abundant in more productive nearshore waters. High-seas bottom trawling is a relatively new industry, having begun in the 1950s when an increasing number of nations over-fished their coastal fisheries. They built larger and more powerful vessels and developed fishing gears that were more robust, such as rockhopper trawls, huge nets and stronger cables. Governments further fueled this move with grants and subsidies.

Available in English and Spanish.

Making A Moratorium Work

1 April, 2005

To protect deep-sea biodiversity on the high seas from continued indiscriminate destruction the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition is calling on the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to adopt an immediate moratorium on deep-sea bottom trawl fishing on the high seas until legally-binding regimes for the effective conservation and management of fisheries and the protection of biodiversity on the high seas can be developed, implemented and enforced by the global community.

Available in: English, French, German, Spanish.

Medicines From the Deep: The Importance of Protecting the High Seas from Bottom Trawling

1 March, 2005

Medicines From the Deep: The Importance of Protecting the High Seas from Bottom Trawling, March 2005. Medical research suggests that novel compounds from the deep sea hold tremendous promise for treating human disease, highlighting the need to protect the fragile deep ocean bottom from destructive fishing practices like bottom trawling. Report produced by MCBI, in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Principal author: Sara Maxwell.

Cold-Water Corals – Fragile Havens In The Deep

1 December, 2004

Source: WWF

Deep in the cold, dark ocean, impressive coral reefs and thickets meander along the edges of continental slopes and seamounts. Vibrantly coloured and delicately branched corals, sponges and hydroids weave intricate structures providing living space for a multitudeof invertebrates – such as lobsters, crabs, shrimps, sea fans, worms and starfish – as well as for many commercially important fish species.

Available in English.

 

Cold-water Coral Reefs: Out of Sight, No longer out of mind

1 December, 2004

Source: UNEP

This report presents comprehensive and up-to-date information and data on marine cold water coral reefs from around the world. Cold Water Coral Reefs: Out of Sight – No Longer Out of Mind aims to provide policy makers with the information required to take concerted action in the conservation, protection and sustainable management of these beautiful, largely unexplored and fragile coral reefs.

Available in English.