Today is World Oceans Day, but I dont feel like celebrating.I feel like mourning.
Sure, there have been some ocean victories in the last year.A few months ago the British government made the Chagos Protected Area, the largest marine reserve in the world.It protects many tropical habitats and species, and does so on a scale much larger than any protected area to proceed it, but it seems like the only bright example in what has been an otherwise dismal year for the worlds oceans.
The Gulf of Mexico seems headed for annihilation.As I was flipping through the TV channels yesterday morning I chanced upon Admiral Thad Allen of the United States Coast Guard telling Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer that the Deep Horizon well is expected to continue gushing oil œwell into the fall.If my math and my calendar reading skills are right, that means were not even to the halfway point yet.BP has made an environmental disaster on par with the Dust Bowl of the Dirty Thirties.Deep Horizon isnt Barack Obamas Katrina; Deep Horizon is Barack Obamas 9/11.
Also, when the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora met back in March, they voted not to protect several critically endangered species, including blue fin tuna, polar bears, Nile crocodiles, 8 species of sharks and several species of red and pink corals.They reasoned that protecting endangered species would be too much of an economic strain on fishing nations, which is a small-sighted view of things; extinction will certainly place more of an economic strain on fisherman than regulations.
Back in Saipan things are dour, too.The US Fish & Wildlife Service still hasnt went forward with plans for the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument.There have been no public meetings, no draft regulations, no educational programs, no increased enforcement, nothing, nada, zilch, zero, zip.And after I spent hours drawing up testimony and traveled to Washington, DC with Agnes McPhetres to build support for a Mariana Trench Eco-Discovery Center, Representative Gregorio Sablan withdrew H.R. 3511 for dread that the Republicans would criticize him.Make that reason #52348798 to vote for a Democrat in the upcoming election.The Marianas Trench Marine National Monument as it stands is nothing more than a paper park, some meaningless lines on a map.Only the Friends of the Mariana Trench Monument, with their programs and their work with national and international media, have helped to fulfill the promises of the monument.The federal government is not delivering on their side of the deal.
As if all this wasnt terrible enough, Al Gore, probably the most well-known and prominent environmentalist alive, is getting a divorce.
As I type this about 32% of the Gulf of Mexico is closed to fishing, an area about the size of Minnesota or Nebraska.The way I try to comprehend this is by relating it to my own experiences.I spent much of the last several years promoting the creation of marine protected areas.My largest success was the 12,000 square mile marine protected area (MPA) contained within the Islands Unit of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument.
The BP oil disaster has made a marine catastrophe area (MCA) nearly 7x as large as the Islands Unit.I can remember sitting on the rim of the Maug crater last year and thinking that I had helped protect everything that the light touched; the Islands Unit extended literally as far as the eye could see in all directions.It sickens me to reckon that BP may have ruined that much ocean seven times over.
Pleased World Oceans Day.I hope 2011 gives us more reason to celebrate.
See the article here: 2010 World Oceans Day
Halo Sobat, Nama Saya Sofyan Syah, Memulai Dunia Blogging Sejak Nov 2011, Meskipun Masih Baru terjun di Dunia Blogging, Saya tidak patah semangat Untuk menjadi Yang terbaik dari yang Terbaik, karena saya yakin, Tidak ada hal yang tidak Mungkin.Buat saya Blogging Is My Life.Senang rasanya jika sobat sudah Berkunjung di blog ini.
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