The marine environment will be a focus for Catherine Novelli again this week, when the Our Ocean 2016 conference (ourocean2016.org) meets Sept. 15-16 in Washington, D.C.
The ocean is a big place, so the focus is being kept on a limited set of concerns. Organizers expect more than 35 foreign ministers among the 450 attendees, and the hope is for countries to strike new shared commitments.
Novelli listed some key topics, speaking in a conference call with the media last Friday:
>> Sustaining fishing through a new enforcement mechanism called the Port State Measures Agreement. This international accord, years in the making but only beginning full implementation now, compels fishers to document that their catch meets regulatory requirements.
“The idea behind this is if you get the major consuming countries to refuse to accept illegal shipments, then you choke off the economic incentive to illegally fish,” she said.
>> Marine pollution, including plastics and runoff from fertilizers that create huge dead zones in the ocean.
>> Climate-related impacts on the ocean.
>> The “blue economy” — “How do we marry economic sustainability and environmental sustainability in a way that supports both things?”
>> Marine protected areas. Hawaii’s Papahanau- mokuakea Marine National Monument is due to get an Atlantic sibling, a new reserve to be announced at the conference, Novelli said.
“We need to focus on the ocean because it is such a building block for life itself and it is under threat,” she said. The good news? “When you do do the right thing, the ocean is very resilient.”
