Marine conservation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marine conservation, also known as marine resources conservation, is the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas. Marine conservation focuses on limiting human-caused damage to marine ecosystems, and on restoring damaged marine ecosystems. Marine conservation also focuses on preserving vulnerable marine species.

1 Overview
2 Techniques
3 Laws and treaties
4 Marine conservation organisations and education
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Overview

Marine conservation is the study of conserving physical and biological marine resources and ecosystem functions. This is a relatively new discipline. Marine conservationists rely on a combination of scientific principles derived from marine biology, oceanography, and fisheries science, as well as on human factors such as demand for marine resources and marine law, economics and policy in order to determine how to best protect and conserve marine species and ecosystems. Marine conservation can be seen as a subdiscipline of conservation biology.

[edit] Techniques

Strategies and techniques for marine conservation tend to combine theoretical disciplines, such as population biology, with practical conservation strategies, such as setting up protected areas, as with marine protected areas (MPAs) or Voluntary Marine Conservation Areas. Other techniques include developing sustainable fisheries and restoring the populations of endangered species through artificial means.

Another focus of conservationists is on curtailing human activities that are detrimental to either marine ecosystems or species through policy, techniques such as fishing quotas, like those set up by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, or laws such as those listed below. Recognizing the economics involved in human use of marine ecosystems is key, as is education of the public about conservation issues.

[edit] Laws and treaties

International laws and treaties related to marine conservation include the 1966 Convention on Fishing and Conservation of Living Resources of the High Seas. United States laws related to marine conservation include the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, as well as the 1972 Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act which established the National Marine Sanctuaries program.

[edit] Marine conservation organisations and education

There are marine conservation organisations throughout the world that focus on funding conservation efforts, educating the public and stakeholders, and lobbying for conservation law and policy. Examples of these organizations are the Blue Frontier Campaign (United States), and Marine Conservation Society (United Kingdom).

[edit] References

Primack, Richard B. (1998). "Essentials of conservation biology." 2nd Ed. Sunderland, Ma: Sinauer.
Ray, G. Carleton and McCormick-Ray, Jerry (eds). (2004). "Coastal-marine conservation: science and policy". Malden, Ma: Blackwell.
Marine Conservation Biology Institute (MCBI). Bibliography of resources.