March-June 2001

Saving Our Seas, Saving Ourselves

"How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean. " -- Arthur C. Clarke

Life began in the oceans and it is to the oceans that we owe our lives. Over half of all Americans live within 50 miles of the coast, a figure that will reach 70% by 2050. Covering three-fourths of the Earth’s surface, oceans account for 97% of its water. They create weather, stabilize global temperatures and generate the oxygen we breathe. So vast are the seas that we mistakenly assume that nothing we do could possibly harm them. Yet what we are doing to them is rapidly killing their capacity to support us – and life itself, which critically depends on them.

• 70% of the world’s fisheries are depleted, with thousands of jobs and millions of dollars lost.
  
  
• Coral reefs, “the rainforests of the ocean,” are being destroyed at alarming rates. Without rapid action, three-quarters of the world’s reefs will be gone in 50 years.
  
  
• Contrary to the popular impression, the whales have not yet been saved. Increased whaling, disease-causing ocean pollution and discarded "ghost nets" that free-float in the ocean all threaten their future. The North Atlantic right whale may become extinct in our lifetime.
  
  
• Two-thirds of U.S. bays and estuaries suffer from pollution caused largely by residential and commercial runoff from sources many hundreds of miles upstream. Oily runoff into U.S. waters from roads, refineries, and ships equals 20 Exxon Valdez oil spills each year. This polluted runoff creates immense dead zones -including a vast stretch the size of New Jersey in the Gulf of Mexico- where no life can be supported. Last year there were 7,000 beach closings due to pollution.
  
  
• Only a tiny fraction of our oceans -- 1/100th of 1% -- are preserved in marine reserves off-limits to fishing and destructive recreation. The public mistakenly believes 22% are protected.
  
  
• One in four fish eaten around the world is farmed. But destructive fish farming practices are actually driving us towards a worldwide collapse of our wild fisheries. Why? Every pound of farmed shrimp, salmon, tuna, or cod requires 2 to 5 lbs. of feed made from wild-caught fish.
  
  
• Sea life is astoundingly diverse. Between 3 million to 500 million species exist exclusively in the marine environment, but we know very little about their world. Just 7% of the world’s oceans have been sampled. More people have walked on the Moon than have touched the ocean floor.

“Knowledge of the oceans is no longer a matter of curiosity,” President Kennedy said in 1961. “Our very survival may hinge upon it.” We can no longer afford to take for granted all the oceans do for us, using them to dispose of anything we want to rid ourselves of. As the forests are our lungs, the seas are our lifeblood.

Between March and June 2001, MMP conducted a major public education campaign on these issues. In all, we scheduled 189 radio interviews in 29 states. Of these, 16 were regionally, nationally or globally syndicated. Some 54 authorities were interviewed on such topics as ocean diversity, sustainable seafood, and offshore oil development.

Guest Speakers by Topic:

David Helvarg, Journalist and Author, Independent

Phil Kline, Fisheries Policy Director, American Oceans Campaign

Jim Lichatowich, Fisheries Biologist, Alder Fork Consulting, Author, Co-Author

Carl Safina, Vice President - Marine Conservation, National Audubon Society

Les Watling, Professor of Oceanography - Darling Marine Center, University of Maine

Rebecca Goldburg, Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense

Roz Naylor, Senior Fellow - Center for Environmental Science and Policy, Stanford University

Boyce Thorne-Miller, Senior Science Advisor, SeaWeb

Warner Chabot, Vice President for Regional Operations, The Ocean Conservancy

Richard Charter, Marine Conservation Advocate, Environmental Defense

Rod Fujita, Marine Ecologist, Environmental Defense

Steve Gaines, Professor - Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Director, Marine Science Institute, University of California Santa Barbara

Jane Lubchenco, Professor of Zoology & Marine Biology, Oregon State University

John Ogden, Director, Professor - Florida Institute of Oceanography, University of Southern Florida

Robert Warner, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara

Richard Aronson, Senior Marine Scientist, Dauphin Island Sea Lab

Joanie Kleypas, Associate Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research

Peter Hoffman, Owner and Chef, Savoy Restaurant , National Chair, Chefs Collaborative

Rick Moonen, Executive Director and Partner, Oceana Restaurant

Ellen Pikitch, Director of Marine Programs, Wildlife Conservation Society

Lisa Speer, Senior Policy Analysist, Natural Resources Defense Council

Vikki Spruill, Executive Director, SeaWeb

James Carlton, Professor of Marine Science, Williams College, Director, The Williams College Mystic Seaport Maritime Studies Program

Don Boesch, Professor of Marine Science - Center for Environmental Science, University of Maryland, President , University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES

Robert Howarth, Program Director - Senior Marine Scientist - The Oceans Program, Environmental Defense

Joan Rose, Professor - College of Marine Water Micro-Biology, University of South Florida

Drew Harvell, Professor, Cornell University

Jim Porter, Professor - Institute of Ecology, School of Marine Programs, University of Georgia

Barbara Best, US Agency for International Development, US Agency for International Development

Paul Holthus, Executive Director, Marine Aquarium Council

Mary Middlebrook, Marine Aquarium Council Representative, American Marinelife Dealers Association

Dee Boersma, Professor of Zoology, University of Washington, Scientific Fellow, Wildlife Conservation Society

Larry Crowder, Professor of Marine Ecology - Marine Lab, Duke Univeristy

Sylvia Earle, Explorer, National Geographic Society, Founder and Chair, Deep Ocean Exploration and Research

Jim Estes, Research Biologist - Adjunct Professor of Marine Sciences and Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz

Steve Palumbi, Biology Professor, Harvard University

Roger Payne, Founder and President, Ocean Alliance

Greg Atkinson, Executive Chef, Canlis Restaurant

Peter Benchley, Author, Jaws, The Deep

Colin Bull, Project Seahorse, Shedd Aquarium

Joann Burkholder, Professor of Aquatic Botany and Marine Sciences, Pew Fellow and Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow, Director of the Center for applied Aquatic Ecology, North Carolina State University

Mark Ferrulo, Director, PIRG Florida

Jennifer Feyerherm, Sierra Club, WI

Stan Frankenthaler, Executive Chef and Co-Owner, Salamander Restaurant

J. Frederick Grassle, Director, Institute of marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University

Sam Hayward, Chef and Partner, Fore Street Restaurant

Greg Higgins, Board Member and owner and Chef, Chef's Collaborative and Higgins Restaurant and Bar

Brett Hulsey, Senior Regional Representative, Sierra Club, WI

Athan Manuel, Director, Arctic Wilderness Campaign, US PIRG

Mel Moon, Natural Resources Director, Quileute Tribe

Ted Morton, Policy Director and Co-chair, American Oceans Campaign and Clean Water Network

Ann Notthoff, California Advocacy director and Planner, Natural Resources Defense Council

Leon Panetta, commissioner, PEW Oceans Commission

Pietro Parravano, Commissioner, PEW Oceans Commission

George Parsons, Senior Saltwater Aquarist, Shedd Aquarium

Mark Powell, Center for Marine Conservation WA

Dean Rebuffoni, Midwest Regional Representative, Mississippi River Protection Program, Sierra Club

Andrew Rosenberg, Dean, University of new hampshire Life Sciences and Agriculture

Tyson Slocum, Research Director - Critical Mass Energy & Environment Program, Public Citizen

Sonja Tiegs, Conservation Department, Shedd Aquarium

Eric Uram, Midwest Regional Representative, Sierra Club

Patten White, Commissioner, PEW Oceans Commission

Bruce Wishart, Policy Director, People for Puget Sound

Wendell Woods, South Oregon field representative, Oregon Natural Resources Council

Nina Young, Pacific Take Reduction Team, Center for Marine Conservation