Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services [research article]
By Boris Worm, et al. 
Human-dominated marine ecosystems are experiencing accelerating loss of populations and species, with largely unknown consequences.We analyzed local experiments, long-term regional time series, and global fisheries data to test how biodiversity loss affects marine ecosystem services across temporal and spatial scales. Overall, rates of resource collapse increased and recovery potential, stability, and water quality decreased exponentially with declining diversity.Restoration of biodiversity, in contrast, increased productivity fourfold and decreased variability by 21%, on average.We conclude that marine biodiversity loss is increasingly impairing the ocean's capacity to provide food, maintain water quality, and recover from perturbations. Yet available data suggest that at this point, these trends are still reversible.Click to read the entire article.
Pregnant? Eat Fish!
Dr. Andrew Weil
Founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine
"...while many worry that overfishing has depleted much of the world's fish stock, "fish stocks worldwide appear to be stable, and in the United States they are rebuilding, in many cases at a rapid rate," according to a recent New York Times Op-Ed piece by Ray Hilborn, a professor of aquatic and fishery sciences at the University of Washington. Even if this were untrue and fish were scarce, pregnant women would still be the most deserving recipients of this dwindling resource -- and should be absolutely the last group to have to give up fish."Read the rest of the article on the Huffington Post.
The Road to End Overfishing: 35 Years of Magnuson Act
Assistant Administrator Schwaab for Fisheries Talks about the Cornerstone of Sustainable Fisheries
As we look toward Earth Day next week, I want to acknowledge and highlight the 35 th anniversary of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Simply called “the Magnuson Act”, this law, its regional framework and goal of sustainability, has proven to be a visionary force in natural resource management - both domestically and internationally. The Magnuson Act is, and will continue to be a key driver for NOAA as we deliver on our nation’s commitment to ocean stewardship, sustainable fisheries, and healthy marine ecosystems
Because of the Magnuson Act, the U.S. is on track to end overfishing in federally-managed fisheries, rebuild stocks, and ensure conservation and sustainable use of our ocean resources. Fisheries harvested in the United States are scientifically monitored, regionally managed and legally enforced under 10 strict national standards of sustainability. This anniversary year marks a critical turning point in the Act’s history. By the end of 2011, we are on track to have an annual catch limit and accountability measures in place for all 528 federally-managed fish stocks and complexes. The dynamic, science-based management process envisioned by Congress is now in place, the rebuilding of our fisheries is underway, and we are beginning to see real benefits for fishermen, fishing communities and our commercial and recreational fishing industries.
But, we did not get here overnight. Our nation’s journey toward sustainable fisheries has evolved over the course of 35 years. At this particular moment it is important to take time and reflect back on where we have been to understand where we are and fully appreciate the historic visions and strategic investments that got us here, particularly by the Act’s principal architects, the late U.S. Senators Warren G. Magnuson of Washington State and Ted Stevens of Alaska.
Read the rest on SavingSeaFood.org.
Ocean acidification – changing planet (video)
As higher amounts of carbon dioxide become absorbed by the oceans, some marine organisms are finding it’s a struggle to adjust.The Changing Planet series explores the impact that climate change is having on our planet, and is provided by the National Science Foundation & NBC Learn.
The End of Overfishing in America
By Michael Conathan | March 25, 2011This feature is part of a new series from CAP dealing with fisheries management issues. The series will publish biweekly on Fridays. It is a joint column with Science Progress.Eric Schwaab, the administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service, or NMFS, stood before a crowd of fisheries experts on Monday at the Boston Seafood Show. Schwaab had made many forays to New England—home of some of the squeakiest wheels in our nation’s fishing industry—since taking over the job about a year ago. But this time was different. He came bearing a remarkable message: We are witnessing the end of overfishing in U.S. waters.One of the biggest changes to fisheries law in the 2007 reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act was the imposition of strict annual catch limits, or ACLs, in fisheries experiencing overfishing beginning in 2010, and for all other fisheries in 2011, “at a level such that overfishing does not occur.” Schwaab said the 2010 target of putting ACLs in place for all overfished fisheries was achieved, and “We are on track to meet this year’s deadline of having [ACLs] in place, as required, for all 528 managed stocks and complexes comprising U.S. harvest.”Schwaab went on to call this accomplishment an “enormous milestone.” Quite frankly, that is an even more enormous understatement.The end of overfishing should be shouted from rooftops from New England to the Carolinas to the Gulf Coast to Alaska to the Pacific Island territories and back to NMFS’s Silver Spring, Maryland headquarters. This is the biggest national news story our fisheries have seen in years.Read the rest of the story from America Progress.
Fisheries chief sees end to overfishing
March 22, 2011
By Richard Gaines Staff Writer
photo © 2010 Deepwater Horizon Response | more info (via: Wylio)Schwaab spoke to about 70 members of the National Seafood Marketing Coalition on Sunday, during the first day of the three-day seafood show, considered an apex event on the global fisheries calendar.Expressed in multiple variations, the theme of the show, according to Seafood.com, an industry news site, was supplier and seller efforts to measure and demonstrate seafood sustainability in a global market in which 84 percent of U.S. consumption is imported, half of it farmed.The leading exporter to U.S. markets is China, to which the United States had a $1.6 billion trade deficit in seafood alone in 2010, according to government statistics.Schwaab's characterization of the success of stock restoration efforts in the United States intersects the pending Senate confirmation hearing as ambassador to China of Gary Locke.Locke, the Secretary of Commerce, has become the center of a festering dispute between coastal state congressional leaders and the White House over administration fisheries policy, and whether the conversion to catch share management and a commodities market system has caused grave harm to the industry and fishing communities, as U.S. Sens. John Kerry, Scott Brown and Congressmen John Tierney and Barney Frank, all of Massachusetts, and other lawmakers have argued.Read the rest of the story from the Gloucester Times.
Shifting spring: Arctic plankton blooming up to 50 days earlier now
By Brian VastagWashington Post Staff Writer
Climate researchers have long warned that the Arctic is particularly vulnerable to global warming. The dramatic shrinking of sea ice in areas circling the North Pole highlights those concerns.A new report finds that the disappearing ice has apparently triggered another dramatic event – one that could disrupt the entire ecosystem of fish, shellfish, birds, and marine mammals that thrive in the harsh northern climate.Each summer, an explosion of tiny ocean-dwelling plants and algae, called phytoplankton, anchors the Arctic food web.But these vital annual blooms of phytoplankton are now peaking up to 50 days earlier than they did just 14 years ago, satellite data show.“The ice is retreating earlier in the Arctic, and the phytoplankton blooms are also starting earlier,” said study leader Mati Kahru, an oceanographer at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.Read the rest of the story here.
What Role Is Ocean Acidification Playing In Shellfish Losses?
No new Pacific oysters recruiting to oyster “beds.”Shellfish larvae dying at commercial hatcheries.Corrosive, acidified seawater measured for the first time off the Pacific Coast.
These and other observations, beginning in 2005 on the West Coast, prompted members of the shellfish industry to seek help from scientists to explore what is causing the shellfish losses, what role ocean acidification (OA) and other factors might be playing, and how to adapt to sustain West Coast shellfish resources.
Scientists, oceanographers, state and federal agency managers, and industry members participated in a workshop in 2010 to frame the problems, assess what information is available and what is needed, and to suggest future actions.
The California Current Acidification Network (C-CAN) evolved from that meeting as participants and others interested in ocean acidification agreed on the need to facilitate and enhance communications, education and research collaborations among scientists, academia, agencies and industry.The need for education is clear:, Increasing levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere, a consequence of fossil fuel use, are causing immediate, measurable impacts on ocean chemistry.About one-third of the carbon dioxide produced every day around the world is absorbed by the oceans. As CO2 reacts with seawater, it lowers seawater pH and reduces the concentration of carbonate ions, an essential component in the calcium carbonate that makes up the shells of shellfish and the skeletons of corals. Recently scientists have begun measuring changes in ocean chemistry and investigating the possible consequences to marine life, food webs and people. These studies find that ocean acidification is ongoing and may have significant biological impacts. The West Coast is vulnerable to the enhanced ocean acidification associated with seasonal upwelling, potentially causing serious impacts to ecosystems and some recreationally and commercially important shellfish.Watch this video produced by NBC Learn for more information.