Latest Skimmer Articles

By Tundi Agardy, Contributing Editor, MEAM. Email: tundiagardy [at] earthlink.net

I’m of two minds about restoration. On one hand, I’m amazed and encouraged by the advancements made in fixing some of the damage we’ve done to marine habitats such as salt marshes, seagrasses, mangroves, and coral and shellfish reefs. New technologies and knowledge are creating possibilities we could only dream of in the past. On the other hand, I worry about our hubris, and whether we are really fixing the damage done, or just creating the illusion that we can successfully reconstruct healthy, functioning ecosystems. And I worry that, if this illusion is accompanied by the deception that restoring ecosystems is easy, we pave the way for wholesale pillaging of the earth.

By Robert Orth, Professor of Marine Science, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester Point, Virginia. Email: jjorth [at] vims.edu

The system of barrier islands, coastal bays, and salt marshes along the Atlantic coast of Virginia’s portion of the Delmarva Peninsula represent some of the most natural, unspoiled coastal habitat along the US East Coast. Historically, finfish and shellfish resources in this region supported large fisheries. However, during the 1930s, this region underwent a dramatic ecological shift.

Last month’s EBM Toolbox column with resources for teaching about marine protected areas has been updated to include resources from the US NOAA National MPA Center and National Marine Sanctuaries network. Check it out here.

"If the last blue whale choked to death on the last panda, it would be disastrous but not the end of the world. But if we accidentally poisoned the last two species of ammonia-oxidizers, that would be another matter. It could be happening now and we wouldn't even know..."
                                  --- Microbiologist Tom Curtis in Nature, 2006

Most marine microbes are marine organisms too small to be seen by the unaided human eye (that is, roughly less than 0.1 mm). They make up 98 percent of ocean biomass, are the foundation of all marine food webs, and are a major driver of most of Earth’s biogeochemical cycles, including those of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus (not to mention those of sulfur, hydrogen, sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and chlorine).

• England adopts marine plan for south coast
• Coastal-marine EBM pilot project for West, Central, and South Africa launched
• New toolkit compiles guidance and tools for measuring and utilizing blue carbon for promoting coastal conservation and restoration
• Case studies of sustainable financing of marine/coastal management published
• Overview of sustainable fisheries and aquaculture best practices published
• New conservation finance training available (see other available trainings)
• UN provides policy brief on ocean deoxygenation
• Scientists discover common plastics release greenhouse gasses as they degrade
• New Zealand to phase out single-use plastic bags in coming year
• UN FAO finds overfishing increasing, one-third of major commercial fish species overfished
• Arctic’s oldest, thickest sea ice breaking up for the first time
• NOAA State of the Climate Report in 2017 finds that it was the warmest non-El Niño year on record and greenhouse gasses and sea level reached record highs
• Study finds only 13 percent of global ocean remains as wilderness (Download the manuscript on MarXiv)
• European Commission calls for MSP proposals, due Oct 31

Editor's note: The goal of The EBM Toolbox is to promote awareness of tools and methods for facilitating EBM and MSP processes. It is brought to you by the EBM Tools Network (www.ebmtools.org), a voluntary alliance of tool users, developers, and training providers.

In 2016, the EBM Tools Network compiled a list of hands-on activities for teaching about ecosystem services and ecosystem-based management (now updated with several more activities!). A university professor recently asked if we have any similar resources for teaching marine protected area (MPA) design and management. EBM Tools Network members pooled their collective knowledge again and came up with this fantastic list of resources for teaching about MPAs at all educational levels.

The last two issues of MEAM featured two Skimmers chock full of cutting edge research and insights from some of our climate change researcher heroes. If you didn’t have a chance to check them out yet, we highly recommend doing so now!

• How weather and climate extremes are impacting the ocean
• Managing and conserving ocean ecosystems in a rapidly changing climate

Editor’s note: The Skimmer is a MEAM feature where we briefly review the latest news and research on a topic. This Skimmer features new research and insights presented at the 4^th International Symposium on Effects of Climate Change on the World’s Oceans (ECCWO), held in June 2018 in Washington, DC. In last month’s MEAM, we covered new research on how weather and climate extremes are impacting marine ecosystems, as well as some climate change tools and resources, presented at the symposium. This month we examine what practitioners can do about it.

Marine species just are not where they used to be: Managing and conserving species on the move

• The problem: Much of current conservation action is based on maintaining species in the same places they have been located historically and at roughly the same levels of abundance. Marine resource management, likewise, is based on historical assumptions about where species are and in what numbers. But we are currently seeing big geographical shifts in marine populations in response to climate change, sometimes across political and management boundaries. How in the world can we deal with this?

Ocean planning and blue growth-related news and resources:

• US President Trump issues new US ocean policy deemphasizing conservation and spatial planning
• European Atlas of the Seas updates enable citizens to create their own sea maps
• European Commission releases first annual report on EU blue economy
• Handbook for developing indicators for MSP - with focus on blue growth - available
• Handbook for developing MSP visions and strategies also available
• New international forum on MSP to meet biannually
• Washington State (US) adopts spatial plan for evaluating new projects along Pacific coast
• White papers describe how ocean business clusters can promote sustainable ocean development and how to better engage the private sector in ocean governance
• Study analyses space demands for nine key EU maritime sectors and interactions between sectors
• AquaSpace publishes review of tools and methods for spatially allocating aquaculture

Editor’s Note: In June 2018, US President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13840 Ocean Policy To Advance the Economic, Security, and Environmental Interests of the United States. This executive order formally revokes Executive Order 13547 Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes, issued in July 2010 by former US President Barack Obama. MEAM interviewed Sarah Winter Whelan, director of the American Littoral Society's Ocean Policy Program and Healthy Oceans Coalition, about what these changes mean for ocean planning in the US, including existing regional ocean plans.