Via The Telegram
"Andrew Robinson’s article “Marine Protected Areas not holding up,” March 3, describes the quest for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as somewhat of a noble gesture, but ultimately a lost cause. However, a look at the broader, more global picture reveals a different story of more positive recovery outcomes for our oceans through the establishment of MPAs."
By Julie Gardner, Dovetail Consulting, jgardner [at] mail.ubc.ca
As I was sitting down to read my bit of yoga philosophy before meditating the other day, the foghorns were sounding in English Bay near my home in Vancouver, BC. In a beautiful coincidence, the reading spoke of “dissolving the fog” to connect your heart to your head, and each time I drifted off into problem-solving during meditation the foghorn would bring me back.
"We are happy to invite you to the third event in our series of workshops on Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP). Workshop 3 – Shipping will take place on 06 June 2014 in Athens, Greece.
In June 2013, the European Commission launched its series of stakeholder workshops to assess the benefits and challenges of MSP for specific maritime sectors and activities. On 14 June 2013, in Dublin, the first meeting was dedicated to MSP and energy. The second workshop was held in Vilnius on 15 November 2013. It was dedicated to fisheries and aquaculture. Presentations and feedback from both workshops can be found on the website: http://www.amiando.com/MSPworkshops_Athens
The third workshop will be held in Athens, Greece on 6 June 2014. It will be dedicated to shipping and will gather experts, industries and NGOs to discuss the coexistence and synergies between shipping and other maritime sectors in a context of increasing use of marine space."
Via the Marine Center at the University of Agder
"UiA/IMR scientists Esben Moland Olsen and Even Moland participates in the ERA-Net BiodivERsA project BUFFER (http://www.criobe.pf/programmes/buffer/index.php), which aims to understand the functioning of buffer-zones with limited fishing activity around marine protected areas. At a meeting in Lisboa last week they discussed (among other things) how to integrate data from marine protected areas in Norway, Sweden, France and Portugal. The Norwegian case study deals with the behaviour and mortality of anadromous brown trout (sea trout) in the Tvedestrand fjord, where a marine protected area has recently been established."
Via Voxy.co.nz
"The Government today announced a new marine reserve, whale and fur seal sanctuary, five customary fishing areas and amateur fishing regulations to improve the management of Kaikōura’s coast and ocean.
"Kaikōura’s extraordinary marine environment needs the protection and recognition of these new sanctuaries and reserves. This is the most biologically rich ocean anywhere in the world over 500 metres depth because of its deep canyon so close to shore," Dr Smith says."
Via The Daily Blog
"The Government is making a mockery of our marine protections by granting a mining licence for Chatham Rise Phosphate to mine for phosphate in a marine protected area, the Green Party said.
Chatham Rock Phosphate was granted a mining permit today, the first granted under the amended Crown Minerals Act which came into effect in May. The mining permit is in a benthic protection area which means it is an area where the fishing industry is prohibited from bottom trawling or dredging."
Via SunLive
"Conservation Minister Dr Nick Smith today announced the appointment of a 14-member community-led forum to consider marine protection for the Otago coastline.
“New Zealand has a nationwide network of marine reserves. However, Otago stands out as being the only region in the country without a marine protected area. This is despite its spectacular coastline being home to some of our most endangered species such as the yellow-eyed penguin, the northern royal albatross and the New Zealand sea lion,” Dr Smith says."
When we say an ecosystem is resilient, we mean it is relatively able to resist change or recover from impacts - particularly the negative impacts caused by climate change. In the marine and coastal realms, such climate change-related impacts can include higher water temperatures and sea levels, lower ocean pH, and increasingly frequent and severe storms.
Generally, the more intact and less stressed an ecosystem is, the more resilient it should be (see the box at the end of this article, "Ecosystem properties that confer resilience"). In that light, managing for resilience involves taking actions to foster intact, relatively unstressed ecosystems. There are two main ways of doing it: protecting ecosystems that are already healthy, and restoring degraded ecosystems to a state of better health.
By Tundi Agardy, Contributing Editor, MEAM. Email: tundiagardy [at] earthlink.net
In an ever-changing world, with a burgeoning human population and growing demands for goods and services, who could argue against maximizing the resilience of the natural systems on which we depend?
The real question is whether we can.