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http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/oceans

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the ocean is in trouble

• 90% of the big fish are gone. Tuna, swordfish, halibut, cod, and flounder populations have been devastated by overfishing.


• The average size of the remaining big fish has been cut in half or less in the last 50 years. The average weight of a swordfish caught today is 90 lbs., down from 266 lbs. in 1960.


• Discarded plastics have formed a toxic “plastic soup” that is gathering in 5 massive ocean gyres around the world. As the plastic breaks down, it is eaten by sea animals, causing illness and death. It eventually enters our diets, too.


• There are a reported 405 ocean “dead zones” — areas where there is little to no oxygen due to fertilizer run-off and nitrogen pollution. Dead zones are doubling every ten years.


• Our oceans account for 71% of the planet, but less than 2% of our oceans are protected. We have protections in place for nearly 12% of all land (through areas like national parks).

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  The key threats we address are:

  Industrial fishing

  Giant ships, using state-of-the-art equipment, can pinpoint schools offish quickly and accurately. These industrial fishing fleets have exceeded the ocean's ecological limits. As larger fish are wiped out, the next smaller fish species are targeted and so on. (Canadian Fisheries expert Dr Daniel Pauly warns that if this continues ourchildren will be eating jellyfish.)

  Simply put, more and more people are competing for less and less fish and worsening the existing oceans crisis. More

  Bycatch

  Modern fishing practices are incredibly wasteful. Every year, fishing nets kill up to 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises globally. Entanglement is the greatest threat to the survival of many species. Moreover, some fishing practices destroy habitat as well as inhabitants. Bottom trawling, for example, destroys entire ancient deep-sea coral forests and other delicate ecosystems. In some areas it is the equivalent of ploughing a field several times a year.  More

  Unfair fisheries

  As traditional fishing grounds in the north have collapsed, fishingcapacity has increasingly turned to Africa and the Pacific. Piratesthat ignore regulations and effectively steal fish are denying some ofthe poorest regions of the world much needed food security and income,and those fleets fishing legally are only giving a small percentage ofthe profit to African or Pacific States. More

  Global warming

  The ocean and its inhabitants will be irreversibly affected by the impacts of global warming and climate change. Scientists say that global warming, by increasing sea water temperatures, will raise sea levels and change ocean currents. The effects are already beginning to be felt. Whole species of marine animals and fish are at risk due to the temperature rise - they simply cannot survive in the changed conditions. For example, increased water temperatures are thought to be responsible for large areas of corals turning white and dying (bleaching).  More

  Pollution

  Another significant impact of human activity on the marine environment is pollution. The most visible and familiar is oil pollution caused by tanker accidents. Yet despite the scale and visibility of such impacts,the total quantities of pollutants entering the sea from oil spills are dwarfed by those of pollutants introduced from other sources. Theseinclude domestic sewage, industrial discharges, urban and industrial run-off, accidents, spillage, explosions, sea dumping operations, mining, agricultural nutrients and pesticides, waste heat sources, and radioactive discharges. More

  Defending our oceans

  Fundamental changes need to be made in the way our oceans are managed. This means that we must act to make sure that human activities are sustainable, in other words that they meet human needs of current and future generations without causing harm to the environment. Accordingly, governments must set aside 40 percent of our oceans as marine reserves. Marine reserves can be defined as areas of the ocean in which the exploitation of all living resources is prevented, together with the exploitation of non-living resources such as sand and gravel and other minerals.

  http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/
  
  

The right to rebellion is the right to seek a higher rule... GEORGE ELIOT

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         http://www.theportlandalliance.org/breakingnews

The two officers who had been disciplined in
the brutal beating death of James Chasse, Jr. were ordered to have their records expunged and back payments made for the 80 hours each was suspended.

As long as we continue to have little police accountability in Portland,
avoidable killings of innocent people will continue.

King:

I Have a Dream. Obama:
I Have a Drone

By Norman Solomon

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Munk's Musings

  Picture of Michael Munk Tribune Photo  L. E. Baskow

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