1998 Year of the Ocean Ocean Living Resources 



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 



The ocean covers nearly three fourths of the planet and embraces most of the earth's 

 biosphere — the region where life occurs. The ocean's living resources are a treasure for current 

 and future generations of humankind. Fisheries provide food for billions of people; through 

 science, new medicines and materials from the amazing diversity of marine life forms are being 

 discovered; and the ecosystem flinctionings of marine life sustain human life in ways just now 

 begirming to be discovered. Marine aquaculture holds the promise of helping to meet the food 

 demands of a growing world population. As worldwide observance of the Year of the Ocean 

 proceeds, it is worth taking stock of current perceptions about the living ocean, the status of its 

 resources, the threats it faces, and the steps that the United States is taking to secure this treasure 

 for successive generations. 



Knowledge about marine species and ecosystems lags far behind the state of information 

 about terrestrial systems. Despite the value that living marine resources represent, relatively little 

 still is known about them — indeed, most species are unknown and whole new ecosystems have 

 been discovered in the last two decades. Yet, for those species and ecosystems most studied to 

 date — particularly commercially exploited fish, protected marine mammals and turtles, and 

 certain coastal ecosystems — ^trend indications have convinced many observers that the productive 

 limits of the ocean are being reached and often exceeded.. 



Both U.S. and world fisheries, with a few excepfions, exhibit flat or declining trends in 

 harvests and the majority are thought to be fully or overutilized. Recent trends in catches, trade, 

 contribution to food supplies, and overall economic viability are not encouraging. Certain marine 

 mammals and sea turtles in U.S. waters appear to be recovering after years of population 

 declines. Still, habitat destrucfion and human activifies are increasingly placing other species, 

 such as salmon, in jeopardy, while less well studied marine organisms are probably being lost 

 before ever being identified, much less protected. The world's most biologically diverse marine 

 ecosystems, coral reefs, provide home to hundreds of commercially valuable fish species. 

 Despite their importance, the health and cover of shallow water coral have declined worldwide 

 over the last two decades. Without another marine ecosystem, coastal wetlands, many species of 

 fish and shellfish carmot survive. Yet, existing programs to protect wetlands notwithstanding, the 

 habitat, acreage, and function of wetland areas continues to decline. 



Research and experience have shown that the bounty of the ocean is not limitless. 

 Increasing population and the accompanying expansion of human activities have the capacity to 

 diminish the ocean's productivity in numerous ways. The ocean's living resources and the 

 benefits derived from them are threatened by fisheries operations, chemical pollution and 

 eutrophication, alteration of physical habitat, and invasions of exotic species. Looming on the 

 horizon are new threats caused by ozone depletion and human-induced climate change, whose 

 potential negative impacts on whole ecosystems add fiarther to the impact of already existing 

 threats caused by other human activities. 



C-2 



