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Center for Biological Diversity: Protect Corals, Fish & Whales from Ocean Acidification

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http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=10080

 

Protect Corals, Fish and Whales From Ocean Acidification

Your beach may be more polluted than you think. Each hour we dump one ton of invisible pollution into the ocean; if it were a visible, tangible substance like oil, we would demand that the spill be halted. Even though you can’t see it, this pollution threatens our sea life — from the smallest of plankton to the greatest of whales.

The pollution is carbon dioxide, and it’s making our oceans more acidic. Ocean acidification is linked to global warming in that both are caused by CO2 buildup and both threaten to cause unprecedented devastation to the planet’s biome. The early effects are already here: Baby oysters cannot survive in waters off the Pacific Northwest, coral growth has been stunted in Florida, and polar waters have eroded the shells of prey that sustain Alaska’s salmon and whales.

Sign the petition at link above and tell the President and EPA we must act now to end ocean acidification. The science is in, and there’s no debate: Ocean acidification threatens our marine life and coastal communities. The EPA has the tools to prevent ocean acidification from hurting corals, sea otters, salmon and whales, but it must act swiftly.

 

 

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United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD): A Roadmap for Ocean Sustainability

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UNCSD March informal-informal Side Event Annoucement:

Date:
  • UNCSD First round of informal-informal negotiations on the zero draft of the outcome document
  • Mar 22, 2012
Location:
  • United Nations Headquarters
  • North Lawn Building, Conference Room 7
  • New York City, New York
Description:

1.      A green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication and

2.      the institutional framework for sustainable development.


Specifically the side event will aim to provide a roadmap for ocean sustainability by:
  • addressing why high seas biodiversity is important for achieving sustainable development objectives;
  • outlining the failings of current management of high seas biodiversity; and
  • discussing the implications of paragraph 80 for closing governance gaps relating to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
List of Speakers:Moderator:  Lisa Speer, Director of the International Oceans Program, The Natural Resources Defense Council
Speaker: Dr. Tony Haymet, Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego
Speaker:  Ambassador Jean-Pierre Thébault, Roving Ambassador for the Environment and Rio+20, France
Speaker:  Dr. Diré Tladi, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of the Republic of South Africa to the United Nations
Speaker: Dr. Susan Lieberman, Director of International Policy, Pew Environment Group

Please visit the link below for more information:

http://www.pewenvironment.org/get-involved/events/id/85899377036

Special thanks to Richard Charter
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Center for Biologic Diversity: Lawsuit Seeks Plan to Save Florida’s Corals, Urgently Threatened by Ocean Warming and Acidification

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http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2012/corals-03-15-2012.html

So glad the Center for Biological Diversity is paying attention to this.  We worked so hard to achieve the threatened species designation for Elkhorn and Staghorn; it’s sad that NOAA has failed to meet their responsibility to actually follow through with a plan to  increase protection for these endangered corals.   DeeVon



 

For Immediate Release, March 15, 2012

Contact: Miyoko Sakashita, (415) 632-5308, miyoko@biologicaldiversity.org

 

SAN FRANCISCO— The Center for Biological Diversity filed a formal notice of intent to sue the National Marine Fisheries Service today for failing to develop a recovery plan for two species of coral, elkhorn and staghorn, that live off the coast of Florida and in the Caribbean. Although these corals have been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 2006, the Fisheries Service still has not yet developed a crucial, and legally required, recovery plan to avoid extinction and secure their future survival.

“These elegant corals are heading toward an ugly end if we don’t act soon,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center. “We need to start with halting their decline — only then will corals have a chance.”

Following a petition from the Center, elkhorn and staghorn corals in 2006 became the first species to be protected under the Endangered Species Act due to the threat of global warming and ocean acidification.

Reefs in Florida and the Caribbean were once dominated by the beautiful, branching staghorn and elkhorn corals. In a few short decades, these corals have declined by more than 95 percent. Unusually warm waters have caused bleaching and mass mortality of elkhorn and staghorn; pressures from disease, fishing and pollution also have led to coral decline. And Caribbean waters are rapidly turning more corrosive because of ocean acidification.

“If we want to bring our oceans’ rich coral reefs back to life, we’ll need to take really decisive action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Otherwise that pollution will wipe out the reefs by mid-century,” said Sakashita.

Recovery plans are the main tool for identifying actions necessary to save endangered species from extinction and eventually be able to remove their protection under the Endangered Species Act. Species that have had dedicated recovery plans for two or more years are far more likely to be improving than those without recovery plans. The timely development and implementation of a plan is critical to saving elkhorn and staghorn corals because it will specifically identify what’s necessary to save them, such as habitat restoration and protection.

Today’s 60-day notice of intent to sue is a prerequisite to filing a lawsuit under the Endangered Species Act.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 350,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

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Reef Rescue: FLORIDA CORAL REEFS VICTORIOUS: REEFS – 2, SEWAGE – 0

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I am so happy to learn that the effort  to weaken existing legislation that would end the discharge of sewage onto South Florida’s coral reefs  has,  for a second year in a row, failed to pass.  Some times the good guys win!  DeeVon

Tallahassee: For a second year in a row public outcry blocked passage of pro-sewage legislation. Bill 724, filed by Miami Senator Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, died in committee as the 2012 Florida legislative session ended at midnight March 9.

This years attempt to roll back compliance deadlines intended to end the discharge of over 300,000,000 gallons a day of inadequately treated sewage dumped into Southeast Florida coastal waters almost made it to the Senate floor for a vote. A companion bill easily passed the Florida House of Representatives without opposition from so-called pro-environmental lobbyists who were caught sleeping on the job.

In February outraged coral reef advocates and conservationists sent a joint letter to the Florida Senate urging representatives to vote against the bill. At the same time many hundreds of individuals responding to Action Alerts flooded the legislature with emails requesting the rules committee not advance the bill to the Senate floor for final passage.

It worked, for the second time in as many years the attempt to weaken the 2008 Florida Outfall law was blocked.

In the future we need to more carefully scrutinize the allegiance of the Tallahassee lobbyists who should have vociferously opposed this bill, said Ed Tichenor Director of Palm Beach County Reef Rescue. It was not until an article appeared in the Miami Herald that we learned there was no one at bat for us.

 

Sign on letter to the Florida Senate: http://www.scribd.com/doc/84820810/Sign-on-letter-SB-724

Reef Rescue Action Alert: http://reefrescuealert.wordpress.com/

Miami Herald: Efforts by the utilities to water down or delay deadlines in the last few years have stalled in the Legislature. The current proposals, a House version sponsored Reps. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, and Eddy Gonzalez, R-Hialeah, and identical Senate bill introduced by Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami-Dade  have sailed through committees without opposition or criticism from environmental groups. (Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/27/2612159/utilities-seek-break-on-ocean.html#storylink=cpy)

 

 

Like what we are doing – consider making a donation to Reef Rescue – because this fight will never be over.

 

 

Palm Beach County Reef Rescue

PO Box 207 * Boynton Beach, FL 33425

Special thanks to Palm Beach County Reef Rescue

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Coral-list: Seakeys Network shuts down long term monitoring of Florida Keys coral reefs

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Jim Hendee
11:43 AM (6 minutes ago)
to Coral-List

This sad bit of news comes from a recent SECOORA (Southeast Coastal Ocean
Observing Regional Association) bulletin.  The station referred to that
AOML will maintain is located on the Molasses Reef lighthouse.

*SEAKEYS Assets Removed from Water

The SEAKEYS network has been operational for over 20 years and provides a
long time series of observations in the Florida Keys. The program provides
a framework for long-term monitoring and research along the 220 mile
Florida coral reef tract and in Florida Bay at a geographical scale
encompassing the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS).
Compounding the problem of limited funding, the instruments are primarily
on a series of stationary platforms (lighthouses, towers), the structural
integrity of which has now becoming questionable due to age. The US Coast
Guard do not have plans to repair the lighthouses but intend to sell. It is
anticipated that non-profit entities will purchase these for their
historical value.

To address the future of SEAKEYS and its infrastructure and funding, the
Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO) held a meeting at the Keys Marine
Lab in November 2011. The user community was invited and included
representatives from many areas of NOAA (Florida Keys National Marine
Sanctuary; National Weather Service; Atlantic Oceanographic and
Meteorological Laboratory; Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory),
the National Park Service, the Ocean Reef and Gun Club, and FIO. The
NOAA/National Data Buoy Center, Coast Guard, FL Fish and Wildlife Research
Institute, and representatives from Audubon, the dive and fishing
communities, and staff from a local legislative office were unable to
attend, but some sent letters of support. Following the meeting other
funding sources were sought but were not successfully identified.

At the end of 2011, due to a lack of financial support, FIO made the
difficult decision to terminate the SEAKEYS program, and are withdrawing
all FIO assets from the water. NOAA/AOML, with assistance from NOAA/FKNMS,
has agreed to take over maintenance of one station (FIO is loaning an
instrument to NOAA/AOML for this purpose); NOAA/GLERL are investigating the
possibility of maintaining a second station; and a limited subset of
meteorological sensors will be visited every two years by NOAA/NDBC, with
no maintenance support between visits.
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