1998 Year of the Ocean Ocean Living Resources 



what is known indicates that the trend in U.S. waters and worldwide is toward overutilization and 

 increased damage. The following section describes the threats to marine living resources that 

 have resulted from the observed trends. 



THREATS TO THE SUSTAINABILITY OF LIVING MARINE RESOURCES 



The international observance of 1998 as the Year of the Ocean comes at a time when the 

 earth's living marine resources face unprecedented stress from human activity. As human 

 population and economic growth increase, particularly in coastal zones, the worldwide trend is 

 for more pressure on coastal areas, the ocean, and the marine wildlife that inhabit those regions. 

 Moreover, because marine species do not occur or function in isolation, it is not sufficient to 

 simply protect marine mammals, manage salmon, etc. Rather, management and conservation 

 regimes that recognize and take into account the interrelationships of all ocean life must be 

 developed . However, public perception continues to operate considerably behind the state of the 

 knowledge of scientists, decision makers, managers, and various other marine-oriented 

 constituencies about the threats facing the marine environment. 



In a landmark report, ''Understanding Marine Biodiversity ^ (NRC 1995) the National 

 Research Council identified the five most important agents of present and potential threat to 

 marine biodiversity at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. These factors also have been 

 identified by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity^ as key threats (UNEP/CBD 

 1995). The five categories are: 



1. fisheries' operations; 



2. chemical pollution and eutrophication; 



3. alteration of the physical habitat; 



4. invasions of exotic species; and 



5. global climate change. 



Fisheries Operations 



Until very recently, far more effort has been expended on trying to increase catches of 

 fish than on developing conservation and management efforts. This was in keeping with the 

 historic view that the abundance of marine fishes was so vast, and the impacts of fishing so 

 small, that there was no need to regulate it. In fact, serious management of U. S. marine fisheries 

 began only 20 years ago. The passage of the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management 



5 Note: The United States has signed but not yet ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity 



C-15 



