Letter to Interior Secretary on USVI Monuments
Oceanwatch at aol.com
Oceanwatch at aol.com
Tue Mar 20 11:04:45 EST 2001
Coral Listers:
The following letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton may be of general
interest and specific to the message string on National Monuments of a month
ago.
best
Cliff McCreedy
><((;> ><((;> ><((;>
Oceanwatch
PO Box 10427
Arlington, VA 22210
phone 703-351-7444
fax 703-351-7472
e-mail: Oceanwatch at aol.com
http://www.oceanwatch2001.org
Text of Letter Follows:
Friends of Virgin Islands National Park * Virgin Islands Audubon Society *
American Oceans Campaign * Coral Reef Alliance * Defenders of Wildlife *
Environmental Defense * Marine Conservation Biology Institute * National
Audubon Society Living Oceans Program * Natural Resources Defense Council *
National Parks Conservation Association * Oceanwatch * Pacific Whale
Foundation * PADI Project AWARE Foundation * Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility * Sierra Club * The Cousteau Society * The
Wilderness Society * World Wildlife Fund
March 14, 2001
Honorable Gale A. Norton
Secretary of Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20240
Dear Secretary Norton:
We the undersigned local and national organizations are writing to request
your support and immediate implementation of the U.S. Virgin Islands Coral
Reef National Monuments.
The Buck Island National Monument and Virgin Islands National Park are
national treasures worthy of full protection. Each was created to protect
and manage the extraordinary diversity of marine life and unique tropical
ecosystems of the Virgin Islands. The coral reefs, beaches, mangroves,
seagrass beds and offshore areas provide critical habitat for marine mammals,
birds, sea turtles, fish, invertebrates, and important local fisheries. Many
are threatened or endangered.
The Interior Department now has a critical opportunity to fulfill its mandate
to protect these precious areas. According to the Department's data,
overfishing from fish traps in and around the islands has reached crisis
levels. Spawning aggregations are greatly reduced, and fish size and
abundance are in decline. The Department can start rebuilding fish
populations now, and avoid the tragic inaction that allowed Nassau grouper
and queen conch to almost disappear from the Caribbean. By implementing the
prohibitions on extraction in these limited areas around Buck Island and St.
John, the Department can take the first step to providing meaningful, lasting
protection.
Nothing could be more timely or urgent than immediate implementation of these
new National Monuments, particularly to address overfishing which has
depleted fish populations and undermined the health of coral reef ecosystems
around St. John and Buck Island. The benefits of this approach in
replenishing overexploited fish stocks, conserving biodiversity, and
restoring habitats are clearly supported by broad scientific consensus. Both
the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis and the National
Academy of Sciences' National Research Council have endorsed the increased
use of fully protected marine reserves as a way of restoring and enhancing
the abundance, productivity, diversity and size of marine organisms. Of all
the resource management tools available to the Department, these marine
reserves would yield the greatest benefits in rebuilding fish stocks and
protecting the overall functioning and productivity of coral reef ecosystems.
We believe the Monument reserve plan, especially the prohibition on
extraction, should go forward immediately. To be effective, however, science
also shows that marine reserves must have adequate public involvement. As it
moves forward with implementation, the Department should increase public
understanding of these reserves, provide further education and outreach on
the benefits, and encourage maximum involvement from local stakeholders in
monitoring these reserves. In addition, we request that the Department
publish a rulemaking in the Federal
Register immediately establishing these protected areas in regulation.
Finally, we request that the Department solicit funding from Congress to
provide additional staff and resources to monitor the
Page 2
Honorable Gale A. Norton
effects of the reserves on biological resources, assess reserve performance,
and enforce these new protections emanating from the Monument Proclamation
and the upcoming Management Plan.
Thank you for considering our views on this important matter.
Sincerely,
Brian Bell
Conservation Committee
Virgin Islands Audubon Society
John Garrison
President
Friends of Virgin Islands National Park
William J. Chandler
Vice President for Conservation Policy
National Parks Conservation Association
Sarah Chasis
Senior Attorney
Natural Resources Defense Council
Stephen Colwell
Executive Director
The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL)
Robert Dewey
Vice President of Government Relations
and External Affairs
Defenders of Wildlife
Russell Dunn
Director, Government Relations
National Audubon Society
Living Oceans Program
Phillip Dustan
Science Advisor
The Cousteau Society
Thomas V. Grasso
U.S. Director
Marine Conservation Program
World Wildlife Fund
Ken Lindeman
Senior Scientist
Environmental Defense
Amy Mathews-Amos
Vice President
Marine Conservation Biology Institute
Cliff McCreedy
President
Oceanwatch
Dan Meyer
General Counsel
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
Ted Morton
Policy Director
American Oceans Campaign
Dave Raney
Sierra Club
Coral Reef Working Group
Pacific NGO Representative to the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force
Dr. Robert Wilder
Conservation Director
Pacific Whale Foundation
Jim Waltman
Director, Refuges and Wildlife
The Wilderness Society
Kristin Valette
Manager
PADI Project AWARE Foundation
CC: Honorable Donald Evans
Honorable Donna M. Christensen
Honorable James V. Hansen
Honorable Nick J. Rahall
Honorable Charles Turnbull
~~~~~~~
For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the
digests, please visit www.coral.noaa.gov, click on Popular on the
menu bar, then click on Coral-List Listserver.
More information about the Coral-list-old
mailing list