Oceans in urgent need of protection - UN

By Tony Carnie

The United Nations has been urged to pass new international sea laws before rapid human exploitation of the world's oceans passes the point of no return.

According to a report launched in New York at the weekend, huge sections of the sea still lie beyond the legal protection of individual nations at a time when oil companies, fishing companies, governments and various commercial enterprises are pushing ever further and deeper into the oceans.

The report, prepared by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Conservation Union, estimates that nearly two-thirds of the marine world is not protected by national jurisdiction.

"Humankind's ability to exploit the deep oceans and high seas has accelerated rapidly over the past few years," UN Environment Programme chief Achim Steiner said. "It is a pace of change that has outstripped our institutions and conservation efforts. We now most urgently have to look beyond the horizon and bring lessons learned in coastal waters to the wider marine world."

“We now most urgently have to look beyond the horizon…”

Ibrahim Thiaw, acting head of the World Conservation Union, said more than 60 percent of marine riches were found in places which were not protected by the laws of individual nations and unless governments collectively drew up new guidelines or rules, there was a risk of irrevocable damage to unique wildlife and marine ecosystems, many of which had yet to be studied by scientists.

The publication of the new report, Ecosystems And Biodiversity In Deep Water And High Seas", coincides with a meeting in New York where UN member nations are holding talks on the law of the sea.

The UN informal consultative process on oceans and the law of the sea, which began last Friday, is intended to guide the General Assembly's future decisions on high seas law.

Kristina Gjerde, main author of the report, said the population of fish species such as tuna, cod, swordfish and marlin had shrunk by 90 percent in the past century because of commercial exploitation.

Many species had not been studied by biologists yet, while others were uniquely vulnerable. The orange roughy, for example, was a commonly targeted deep-sea fish which only reached maturity at the age of 32 years. One such fish caught recently was found to about 240 years old - meaning that it had been born at nearly the same time as Napoleon Bonaparte.

…”oceans now contain almost 46,000 pieces of plastic litter”.

Her report also notes that, on average, every square mile of the world's oceans now contain almost 46 000 pieces of plastic litter.

"In the central Pacific, there are up to six pounds of marine litter to every pound of plankton."

This article was originally published on page 8 of The Mercury on June 22, 2006

IOL

June 22, 2006