Scientists call for national system of MPAs
Jocelyn Garovoy
jocelyn at mcbi.org
Thu Feb 17 13:59:42 EST 2000
Announcement: February 16, 2000
Marine Conservation Biology Institute (MCBI) and The Cousteau
Society are proud to release the documents from their recent workshop,
Establishing a National System of Marine Protected Areas in the United
States. 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.
Please find the letter outlining the group's recommendations to
President Clinton and Vice President Gore below. The full text of the
document, Safeguarding America's Seas: Establishing a National System of
Marine Protected Areas, can be accessed through MCBI's website:
http://www.mcbi.org
February 14, 2000
President William Jefferson Clinton
Vice President Albert Gore
The White House
Washington DC 20500
Dear Mr. President and Mr. Vice President:
Among the many challenges the United States faces in the 21st
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 Turning to the Sea:
America's Ocean Future. 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.
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.
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.
Sincerely,
Tundi Agardy Ph.D., Senior Director, Global Marine Program, Conservation
International, Washington DC
Angel C. Alcala, Ph.D., Research Professor, Silliman University, Pasig
City, The Philippines
Louis W. Botsford, Ph.D., Professor of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation
Biology, University of California-Davis, Davis CA
Phillip Dustan, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, College of Charleston,
Charleston SC
Peter M. Emerson, Ph.D., Senior Economist, Environmental Defense, Austin TX
Jon Lien, Ph.D., Honorary Research Professor, Ocean Sciences Centre,
Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. Johns, Canada
James Lindholm, Ph.D., Postoctoral Fellow, University of Connecticut
National Undersea Research Center, Groton CT
Michael Mascia, Ph.D. Candidate, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort NC
Amy Mathews-Amos, M.S., M.P.A., Program Director, Marine Conservation
Biology Institute, Washington DC
Elliott A. Norse, Ph.D., President, Marine Conservation Biology Institute,
Redmond WA
John C. Ogden, Ph.D., Director, Florida Institute of Oceanography, St.
Petersburg FL
Alison Rieser, J.D., Director, Marine Law Institute, University of Maine,
Portland ME
cc: The Honorable William M. Daley, Secretary of Commerce
The Honorable Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior
George Frampton, Chairman, Council on Environmental Quality
James B. Steinberg, Deputy Assistant to the President for National
Security Affairs, National Security Council
Ellen Athas, Associate Director for Oceans, Council on
Environmental Quality
Ian Bowles, Director of Environmental Affairs, National Security
Council
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