IUCN US participated in Capital Hill Oceans Week 2007, the first week of June, in an effort to raise awareness of its Global Marine Program. Sponsored by National Marine Sanctuaries Foundation, stakeholders and speakers from Members of Congress, representatives of federal and state governments, industry, academia and nonprofit organizations gathered to discuss current ocean and coastal issues for the three days leading up to World Oceans Day. IUCN US was able to raise awareness and increase participation for the DC Marine Community- an initiative to increase collaboration among people working on marine issues in Washington. Over thirty new people joined the DC Marine Community listserv at CHOW in order to become more connected with other members of industry, government, academia, and NGO’s working on marine issues in the DC area.
For CHOW website information: http://nmsfocean.org/chow2007/index.html
CHOW Summary:
On the upcoming legislative agenda for the 110th Congress are several important ocean issues. The re-authorized Magnuson Stevenson Act which promises to end overfishing and implement ecosystem based management will need to be fully implemented this session. The Coastal Zone Management Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Coral Reef Conservation Act all need to be re-authorized. These acts include such controversial issues as offshore energy, acoustics and marine mammals, and user conflicts. The Coral Reef Conservation Act’s potential re-authorization would also include a portion on marine debris, vessel groundings, and reducing threat and injury to coral reefs. Climate change will play a large role in legislation involving the ocean with such issues as ocean acidification, global warming, coral bleaching and disease. Ratifying the Law of the Sea Convention will be another contentious issue for this Congress. Amy Carroll from the House Committee on Science and Technology, Jean Flemma from the House Committee on Natural Resources, and Amy Frankel from the Senate Commerce Committee were in attendance for this session.
The Ecosystem-based Management session was well attended by all stakeholders, as well as Representative Wayne Gilchrest from Maryland. Congressman Gilchrest, senior member on the House Natural Resources Committee, serves on the subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Oceans. NOAA is aiming to put into practice an ecosystem-based approach to management of the ocean’s resources. Zoning was a controversial issue, as several industry stakeholders voiced concerns over how it was going to be accomplished. An important issue for NOAA, as voiced through several stakeholders, involved the definition of an ecosystem and of the ecosystem baseline, that would be used to make management decisions. IUCN’s publication, The Ecosystem Approach: Five Steps to Implementation, could serve as a rough outline for how NOAA could implement ecosystem based management as the publication provides a strategy for the integrated management of land, water, and living resources, that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way. Through various case studies, IUCN addresses determining stakeholders and defining the ecosystem area as one of its five steps. Two other steps- ecosystem structure, function and management and economic issues- are also addressed through case studies and are important not only to conservation of terrestrial resources but also marine. The final two steps- adaptive management over space and adaptive management over time-coincide with NOAA’s future management efforts. Based on the comments made at this session of Capital Hill Oceans Week, IUCN has a unique opportunity to assist NOAA with its ecosystem based approach to marine resource management.
