Northwest Atlantic Ocean Needs More Protection

Sarah Clark Stuart, Conservation Law Foundation, 267-254-7246

Brian Keane, Conservation Law Foundation, 617-403-1325 (pager) or 617-350-0990 x 727

Susan Farady, The Ocean Conservancy, 978-618-3043 or 207-767-0144

Danielle Luttenberg, Environmental Defense, 617-723-5111

Robert Rangeley, World Wildlife Fund Canada, 902-225-1541 or 902-464-0814

Martin Willison, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, 902-477-6102 or 902-477-6102

Boston, MA. February 16, 2002. A vast majority of the public in New England and Atlantic Canada strongly supports protection of the oceans, says a poll released today. Five leading American and Canadian marine conservation groups who commissioned the poll are calling upon their governments to fully protect more areas of the ocean.

This public support is encouraging, particularly in light of alarming data on the effects of overfishing in the region. Today, at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Daniel Pauly of the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre released a study revealing that, despite the dramatic increase in fishing and in the number of fishing boats over the past 50 years in the North Atlantic, catch of food fish has declined by one half. Overfishing has not only severely reduced populations of cod, halibut, haddock and flounder, but has fundamentally undermined the North Atlantic Ocean?s ecosystem.

Correcting this problem won?t be easy. But one tool that has been found to be effective in other parts of the world—yet has not been adequately employed by either the United States or Canada— is the designation or setting aside of marine protected areas, especially fully protected “no-take” areas in which all extractive activities such as fishing, dredging and oil and gas drilling are prohibited. Scientists agree that fully protected areas are essential to help replenish overfished stocks and restore the health of ocean ecosystems. As it turns out, the residents of New England and Atlantic Canada fully support the idea and strongly favor the establishment of more such areas off their shores.

The Conservation Law Foundation, The Ocean Conservancy, Environmental Defense, World Wildlife Fund Canada and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society together sponsored a poll that interviewed 750 residents of New England and Atlantic Canada. A summary of the poll?s findings follows:

• The public is very supportive of establishing fully protected “no-take” ocean areas that prohibit all extractive activities, including commercial and recreational fishing. (New England 74%, Atlantic Canada 73%).

• Ironically, most residents of this region believe that 20-23% of their ocean waters is already fully protected. In fact, less than 1% of New England?s ocean waters and none of Atlantic Canada?s are fully protected.
• Upon learning that less than 1% of the waters off New England and Atlantic Canada are fully protected, 82% of New Englanders and 87% of Atlantic Canada residents say this fact alone is a convincing reason for more waters to be fully protected.

• 66% of New Englanders and 77% of Atlantic Canadians are willing to live with the impacts of restricting human activities in the ocean, including short-term costs in lost jobs and higher prices for goods and services, in order to obtain the long-term benefits from healthier fish populations and increased tourism for future generations.

“This new poll shows that there is strong support among those who live in New England and Atlantic Canada for establishing fully protected areas in the ocean that prohibit all extractive activities, including commercial and recreational fishing” said Priscilla Brooks, Director of the Marine Resources Project at the Conservation Law Foundation. “The surprising finding was that people believe a significant portion of the ocean is already protected, when in fact it is not,” said Susan Farady, Project Manager for The Ocean Conservancy. “Certain areas of the ocean are critical habitat for fish and other sea life, and resource managers need to accelerate their efforts to work with the public and protect those areas,” said Danielle Luttenberg, Ocean Advocate with Environmental Defense.

“Both the United States and Canadian governments need to create public processes that will create fully protected areas in the ocean, which are science-based, participatory and also give full consideration to fishing industries” said Robert Rangeley, Atlantic Marine Program Director of WWF-Canada. “It is time that governments of these two countries afford the same kind of protection to the wild creatures of the ocean as they do to wildlife and wild habitats on land,” said Martin Willison of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. “People who live in New England and Atlantic Canada highly value marine life that dwell in the ocean and want their governments to do more to protect them and give them a chance to recover.”

“Establishing networks of “no-take” marine reserves is an essential step that must be taken along with substantially reducing fishing fleets and abolishing subsidies to industrial fisheries in order to restore productivity to the fisheries of the North Atlantic,” said Daniel Pauly of the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre. “This poll reveals that there is strong public support for the same solution to the effects of overfishing that is being promoted by the scientific community. If this is both scientifically sound and the public agrees, how can we not do this? The alternative is the continued decline of what little is left.”

The poll is based on 750 interviews in the Gulf of Maine region; 450 interviews conducted across Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island and 300 interviews conducted across the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.