Chapter 13 Notes: Maintaining Aquatic Biodiversity
Question: Who “owns” coastal waters and their resources???
United Nations Law of the Sea: all coastal nations have sovereignty over
waters up to 12 miles (19 km) offshore
Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ’s - also under the United Nation’s
jurisdiction): coastal nations have jurisdiction up to 200 miles over their coastal
waters (beyond their territorial 12 miles) and resources (living or non-living)
High Seas: ocean areas beyond any country’s legal jurisdiction
Laws/legislation that protect marine species:
International:
Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES):
Prohibits trade of any species that is protected in at least one country;
Enacted: 1975
175 member countries
Punishment for violation – fines to imprisonment
Migratory Bird Treaty Act: Protects migrating birds – originally between U.S.
and Canada but has since extended to other countries including Mexico, Japan,
and Russia
Enacted: 1918
Global Treaty on Migratory Species: also known as Convention on Migratory
Species (CMS)
Enacted: 1979
Part of the United Nations Environment Program
International Convention on Biological Diversity: Global diversity protection
program
Brought up in 1988, up for signing at Rio Earth Summit in 1992
Enacted: 1995
United States Legislation:
Lacey Act: prohibits trade in species illegally taken, possessed, transported, or
sold
First major piece of environmental protection legislation in the U.S.!!
Enacted: 1900
U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act: protects any mammal species designated
as being depleted in U.S. waters and the high seas
Commercial fishing is allowed “incidentals” (bycatch) protection
Enacted: 1972
U.S. Whale Conservation and Protection Act: extended from the MMPA
Enacted: 1976
U.S. Endangered Species Act: protects any species listed as endangered
Signed into law by President Nixon
Enforced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Ecosystems for endangered species included
Money to private landowners who will preserve any listed species on their land
A person or organization can petition the government to list a species
Other protections…
Marine Protected Areas: a global system that protects some areas from human
activities (mostly done by individual nations)
Marine Reserves: fully protected areas where no extraction and alteration of any
living or nonliving resources are allowed (mostly done by individual nations)
Fishing, overharvesting, and solutions for managing fisheries:
Other handout!
Figure 13-9
Individual transfer quotas: the government gives each fishing vessel owner a
specified percentage of the total allowable catch for a fishery in a given year.
Problems… 1) “privatizes” public fisheries 2) big business buys out small
business 3) it is ignored by some and enforcement is difficult 4) total allowable
catch (TAC) often set too high
Maximum sustainable yield: the max number of a species that can be
harvested annually from a stock without causing a population to drop