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Announcement: February 16, 2000<br>
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<x-tab> </x-tab>Marine
Conservation Biology Institute (MCBI) and The Cousteau Society are proud
to release the documents from their recent workshop, <i>Establishing a
National System of Marine Protected Areas in the United States</i>.
The workshop, held in Washington DC, included more than a dozen leading
social and natural scientists from around the world and over thirty
observers from federal agencies, universities, and NGOs in the USA
and Canada. The workshop participants have produced an
unprecedented set of recommendations calling for the immediate
establishment of high-level federal process to create a comprehensive
national system of marine protected areas, and recommended criteria for
the design and management of the proposed system. <br>
<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Please
find the letter outlining the group’s recommendations to President
Clinton and Vice President Gore below. The full text of the
document, <i>Safeguarding America’s Seas: Establishing a National System
of Marine Protected Areas</i>, can be accessed through MCBI’s website:
<a href="http://www.mcbi.org/" eudora="autourl"><b>http://www.mcbi.org</a><br>
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February 14, 2000<br>
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President William Jefferson Clinton<br>
Vice President Albert Gore<br>
The White House<br>
Washington DC 20500<br>
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Dear Mr. President and Mr. Vice President:<br>
<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Among the
many challenges the United States faces in the
21<font size=2><sup>st</font></sup> Century, the greatest one is
bequeathing future generations a livable planet. This requires that
our leaders safeguard our nation’s unequaled marine environments no less
than our terrestrial landscapes. The Clinton-Gore Administration
has made major contributions toward that end, including holding the first
National Ocean Conference in June 1998 in Monterey CA and outlining
needed initiatives in <i>Turning to the Sea: America’s Ocean
Future</i>. We strongly believe that, if implemented effectively,
the recommendation in that report to establish a national system of
marine protected areas would be one of your Administration’s greatest
environmental legacies, one whose historic impact would be comparable to
those of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Jimmy
Carter in protecting the American landscape. <br>
<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>To help
you achieve this bold and critically important goal, Marine Conservation
Biology Institute and The Cousteau Society convened an international
group of more than a dozen natural and social scientists, all of whom are
experts in marine conservation, to propose measures that this and
succeeding Administrations could undertake to protect the biological
diversity and integrity of our nation’s estuaries, coastal waters and
oceans. In the document that follows we outline a plan your
Administration can initiate that would be an unprecedented step toward
protecting America’s ocean legacy, and offer state-of-the-art guidelines
for establishing marine protected areas to achieve this purpose. We
encourage you to create a National Marine Protected Area Council via
Executive Order to coordinate and carry out this plan, much as you have
coordinated efforts to address invasive species and coral reef protection
through other farsighted Executive Orders.<br>
<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>This is
not a task for those lacking in vision, but we come to you knowing that
establishing this system will benefit our nation, our children and all
generations of Americans to come.<br>
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Sincerely,<br>
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Tundi Agardy Ph.D., Senior Director, Global Marine Program,
Conservation International, Washington DC<br>
Angel C. Alcala, Ph.D., Research Professor, Silliman University, Pasig
City, The Philippines<br>
Louis W. Botsford, Ph.D., Professor of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation
Biology, University of California-Davis, Davis CA<br>
Phillip Dustan, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, College of Charleston,
Charleston SC<br>
Peter M. Emerson, Ph.D., Senior Economist, Environmental Defense, Austin
TX<br>
Jon Lien, Ph.D., Honorary Research Professor, Ocean Sciences Centre,
Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. Johns, Canada<br>
James Lindholm, Ph.D., Postoctoral Fellow, University of Connecticut
National Undersea Research Center, Groton CT<br>
Michael Mascia, Ph.D. Candidate, Duke University Marine Laboratory,
Beaufort NC<br>
Amy Mathews-Amos, M.S., M.P.A., Program Director, Marine
Conservation Biology Institute, Washington DC<br>
Elliott A. Norse, Ph.D., President, Marine Conservation Biology
Institute, Redmond WA<br>
John C. Ogden, Ph.D., Director, Florida Institute of Oceanography, St.
Petersburg FL<br>
Alison Rieser, J.D., Director, Marine Law Institute, University of Maine,
Portland ME<br>
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<br>
<br>
cc:<x-tab> </x-tab>The Honorable William M.
Daley, Secretary of Commerce<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>The
Honorable Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>George
Frampton, Chairman, Council on Environmental Quality
<dl>
<dd> <x-tab> </x-tab>James B.
Steinberg, Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security
Affairs, National Security Council <br>
<br>
</dl><x-tab> </x-tab>Ellen
Athas, Associate Director for Oceans, Council on Environmental
Quality<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Ian
Bowles, Director of Environmental Affairs, National Security
Council<br>
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