Ocean Zoning Discussion Forum

Taipei, July 29 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Thursday that plans for international forums on fishery and food security in Taipei next month are a sign that Taiwan is engaging itself more with the international community.

The International Fishers’ Forum (IFF) will gather officials and scholars from 25 countries from Aug. 3-5, while the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Food Security Forum will be held in Taiwan for the first time from Aug. 18-20, according to Lily Hsu, director-general of MOFA’s Department of International Organization.

The IFF will be co-hosted by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC), a U.S. federal organization tasked with managing and implementing laws governing fishing activity, and Taiwan’s Fisheries Agency under the Council of Agriculture (COA), she said at a press briefing.

As Taiwan has one of the largest fishing fleets in the world, its engagement in the international fishery community is welcomed, Hsu said, adding that the fact the WPRFMC invited Taiwan to co-host the forum shows that Taiwan’s efforts in fishery conservation have been recognized.

The central objective of the IFF is to bring the fishing industry into the relatively recent dialogue of marine spatial planning and management.

The Times-Picayune

Obama administration officials point to the Deepwater Horizon disaster as proof that the country needs the new comprehensive ocean policy it released last week, and the spill is certainly a dramatic example of the environment’s fragility and the overlapping interests at work off our shores. 

The BP spill has fouled beaches and wetlands, chased away tourists, closed fisheries and led to a blanket deepwater drilling moratorium — impacts that hit many people and many different economic sectors. It is a good illustration of the need for a comprehensive approach to managing and protecting the nation’s coasats, oceans and Great Lakes.

But for South Louisianians, the spill is only the latest example of how critical oceans and coasts are to our lives, and how poorly we’ve been served by the current, fragmented approach to taking care of these vital resources.

Louisiana has suffered decades of coastal wetlands loss, due to human activity as well as natural forces, a destructive trend that leaves us far more exposed to tropical storms and hurricanes. Residents here watch a vast dead zone form off Louisiana’s shore every summer, but there’s little effort to reduce the cause — agricultural runoff from the Midwest. We’ve seen fisheries pushed to near collapse by overfishing. And we’ve seen new industries eager to rush in, with little thought to possible negative consequences — liquefied natural gas ports are one example; open ocean fish farming is another.

From Fly Rod + Reel Online

Submitted by Ted Williams on Tue, 07/20/2010 – 12:01.

And of course, the bottom feeders are cursing him. This from the “More Dead Fish For Us” crowd:

“KING OBAMA” SIGNS OCEAN PROTECTION POLICY
Executive Order Circumvents Tired Old Democratic Process
(7/20/1010) Washington, DC – President Barack Obama used his presidential privilege on July 19 to circumvent the legislative process, signing a new ocean protection law that’s vastly similar to legislation which has languished in Congress for nearly a decade. While environmental groups are hailing it a momentous day for America’s oceans, the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) said these are sad times for our democratic process.

“Rep. Sam Farr of California has been pushing this ideological hogwash through the House for nearly 10 years, but every time his doomsday bill gets debated in Committee it is tossed out for being utter nonsense and a bureaucratic nightmare,” said RFA Executive Director, Jim Donofrio. “Our President appears to be infatuated with nonsense and bureaucracy, and once again proves that his authority to rule is more powerful than the legislative process alone, signing his name to decrees as if he were king.”

On July 14, 2010, the Office of the National Marine Sanctuaries of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric  Administration published Federal Register notice that it has initiated a review of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary management plan.  One purpose of this review is to evaluate substantive progress toward implementing the goals for the sanctuary.  Another purpose is to make revisions to its management plan and regulations as necessary to fulfill the purposes and policies of the NMSA and the Hawaiian Islands National Marine Sanctuary Act.

NOAA anticipates that completion of the revised management plan and concomitant documents will require approximately thirty-six months from the date of publication of their July 14th  Notice of Intent in the Federal Register. The management plan review process occurs concurrently with a public process under the National Environmental Policy Act.

NOAA will consider all comments on issues related to the continued management of Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary if NOAA receives them on or before October 16, 2010.

For further information contact Malia Chow, Policy Advisor, Telephone (808) 397-2651, or read NOAA’s Federal Register notice at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-17083.htm

On June 30, 2010, several NGOs filed a complaint in a New Orleans federal court. Their complaint alleges that the Department of the Interior and what used to be the Minerals Management Service have violated several federal laws regulating the sue of seismic airguns during oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere. A copy of their complaint is available online at a href=”http://www.thecre.com/pdf/NRDC%20v%20Salazar%20EDLA%20-%20Seismic1.pdf

Their complaint is either deliberately or negligently misleading. For example, their complaint alleges that in 2002

“endangered adult humpback whales were reported to have stranded in unusually high numbers along Brazil’s Abrolhos Banks, where oil-and-gas surveys were being conducted.”

“Based on this and other evidence, the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission, one of the world’s leading bodies of marine biologists, concluded in its 2004 report that the increase in noise from geophysical exploration and other activities was “cause for serious concern, and the IWC has since held special symposia related to the impacts of seismic surveys of whales.”

Their complaint fails to note that everyone including the IWC has concluded that seismic did not cause the Brazilian whale standings.