I Smell A Rat: CNMI Rejects Marine Monument

According to Angelo Villagomez over at The Saipan Blog, the CNMI Legislature today adopted a resolution opposing the proposed Northern Islands Marine National Monument.

Why? The seeds of fear have been sown.

Fear #1: Loss of Local Control
The resolution states that the CNMI “fervently opposes the transfer of any form of marine resource management authority over CNMI waters” to any federal agency. This is a misplaced fear. "Control" of a monument is not an either/or proposition. Similar marine monuments (such as the newly created Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii) incorporate collaborative management structures that combine local, federal, and indigenous interests.

This sort of hybrid structure promotes active and creative management possibilities. Federal heavy-handedness might be the expected outcome, however, if local jurisdictions can't get their act together sufficiently to manage their own resources. From everything I can see from my vantage point here on the mainland, it doesn't seem like that should be a worry. It seems as though there's an outpouring of interest from local stakeholders to play a role in the proposed monument oversight, design, and management.

Fear #2: Loss of Mining Rights
Lawmakers expressed concern that the designation would prevent fishing and mining activities within the 115,000 square-mile area that is being eyed for the proposed monument. Such restriction, they said, may conflict with the commonwealth's bid in establishing its own fishery and mining industries.

The Marianas Trough, as a back-arc basin, is indeed a likely candidate site for seafloor massive sulphide (SMS) deposit extraction--a deep sea mining process to isolate copper, gold, zinc and silver ore from from dormant vent systems. Despite copious assurances of minimal environmental disturbance from mining front-runner Nautilus Minerals (nicely summarized by Craig at Deep Sea News), not all scientists are convinced. A number of prominent scientists, including Rod Fujita of Environmental Defense thinks a full tally of risks has not been conducted, "[Nautilus] is rushing into this without studying the impacts. That was forgivable 100 years ago. It’s not now."

Why would CNMI legislators pass on protection and the ongoing benefits derived from potential tourism as a result of a world-class marine protected area in favor of limited local revenue potential from resource extraction? Once extracted, minerals are gone. Where's the vision for a future revenue stream? If Nautilus is preparing to compensate CNMI in advance for mining rights and securitize their environmental clean-up costs (again in advance) then that's a different story. But I don't see that deal on the table.

Fear #3: Loss of Fishing Rights
Angelo has already pointed out on his blog that at present, fishing activity within the proposed monument is a non-issue. Within the proposed marine park, the closest island to Saipan is over 300 miles away. As Ignacio Cabrera (with the Marianas Resource Conservation and Development Council) indicated in his letter of support for the monument, "Most Chamorros and Carolinians are not going there regularly to fish. It is too far, too dangerous, and gas is just too expensive. The only boats fishing there are illegal fishing boats from other Asian countries. The increased enforcement that would follow the creation of the park would help deter the illegal taking of our fish."

Curiously, Angelo mentions an interesting detail from one of his recent marine monument public awareness presentations,

A gentleman from Hawaii named Phil Westbrook was there. He got pretty heated when I talked about the sunset clause for the existing 8 vessels and how those boats were going to be bought out at the end of five years. He argued that he had lobster fisherman friends who didn't get paid when the monument was created, but I pointed out that the lobster fishery was closed years before by court order. The fishery was mismanaged by WESPAC and there are no more lobster.

He told me I was wrong. I told him I'd look it up. I was right.

I don't know Mr Westbrook. Maybe he was on Saipan visiting family or on holiday. But I do find it curious that a Hawaii resident found himself at a Saipan public discussion of marine protected areas and managed to turn the conversation into a "loss of fishing rights" argument. Sounds suspiciously like the standard operating procedure of WESPAC to drop a provocateur into a public forum to foment fear and shift the issue to loss of indigenous rights.

WESPAC is a powerful and influential fishing rights lobbying group. But their track record tells a long story of conflict of interest that looks (to these eyes) like emphasizing profit over sustainable resource management. A big problem with most US fisheries management bodies (like WESPAC) is that council members often have a direct financial interest in the fisheries that they manage and regulate. In 2003, WESPAC decided to reopen lucrative swordfishing in Hawaiian waters through which endangered leatherback turtles migrate. Biologists warned the council the longline fishing would kill approximately 144 sea turtles per year, but the council voted 8-5 to reopen the fishery. The vote lead to allegations of violations of the Endangered Species Act.

Last February, WESPAC came under Congressional investigation by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as a result of allegations made by several Hawaiian nonprofit organizations in June 2007 regarding the inappropriate use of government funds and unethical conduct by WESPAC personnel.

Fear #4: Lack of Community Support
This one I just don't get and I have to wonder if CNMI legislators have their heads in the sand or just have a bad case of "island tunnel-vision." The Saipan Tribune reports that lawmakers said "CNMI citizens have not and would not formally endorse the proposal until more information is gathered and considered." Fair enough, but where did the lawmakers get this impression?

Again, I'm 3000 miles away but what I've read in the press and in online discussions is overwhelming support and excitement for the marine monument. An informal blog poll among the very active Saipan blogging community demonstrated a landslide support for the monument. Of course there are a lot of fine print details and financing that needs to be examined, but where is the groundswell of public rejection? Am I missing something here?

CNMI is currently experiencing a lot of financial uncertainty. I can understand caution on the part of elected officials against rushing head-first into a potentially challenging proposition such as establishing a marine monument. Visions of Music Man's "Professor" Harold Hill selling River City on a 76-trombone band come to mind (or for Simpsons' fans, buying-into the hype of a monorail.)

But we're not talking about a pie-in-the-sky, unproven approach here. It's an ambitious vision based on already working exemplars. Consultants and expertise are just neighbor island groups away. And it creates a tangible, realistic, and inspirational goal for stakeholders--young and old, elected and electorate--to rally around.

It appears to me that the CNMI legislature has a priori decided against a monument. A Mariana Trench "National Park of the Sea" could have been a forward-reaching gift to CNMI's future generations--as a source of cultural pride, cultural identity, and environmental leadership within Micronesia and the United States. Unfortunately, it seems fear managed to edge-out reason.

Craig Broke The Boat?

On my way to work today aboard the ferry, I noticed the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute's (MBARI) research vessel, the R/V Western Flyer, in drydock at the Alameda ship yard. Again. I think this ship hits drydock about half a dozen times a year. Those MBARI folks play with their toys hard.

According to the MBARI website, the Western Flyer serves the oceanographic community as a stable platform for deploying, operating, and recovering a tethered remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to a depth of 4,000 meters, and other oceanographic activities with state-of-the-art equipment.

From friends of mine who have conducted research in the Monterey Bay Submarine Canyon aboard her, I also understand that the Western Flyer is a notorious vomit inducer. Any first hand, memorable experience worth sharing, Craig? Is the vessel in drydock for a hose down?

Dear Wal-Mart...

Remember these things in the picture to the left? They're packages of fish food sold throughout the Hawaiian Islands (and elsewhere) so snorkelers along coastal reefs can attract clouds of colorful fish. Problem is they not only attract fish, but also distract fish, especially grazing fish that play an important role in controlling algal growth on reefs. Fed fish are also aggressive fish and bathers and snorkelers are increasingly subjected to painful bites. A few months ago I wrote about how CORAL and our Hawaii-based partners have been working on a variety of fronts to educate tourists and local tourism businesses against fish feeding.

But now we're working another part of the supply chain. Wal-Mart's and Longs Drugs are two of the largest retail chains throughout Hawaii that sell fish food. We're targeting store managers and buyers with environmental messaging in an effort to convince them to remove fish food from store shelves. We plan to approach corporate level decision makers with the evidence of environmental disturbances from fish feeding as well as messages from local Hawaiian communities who want to preserve a natural reef experience where visitors treat the marine environment with respect. We've got an opportunity with 2008 as International Year of the Reef to help these retailers to do the right thing and position themselves as leaders.

CORAL Hawaii Field Manager Liz Foote was in Lahaina town all day conducting a series of meetings to begin the process of collecting community feedback. Here's a sample of some of the effort. Great work, folks!

Who Ya Gonna Call? FishPhone!

Need instant seafood sustainability info but can't be bothered to carry around a card or other such reference? Well now there's FishPhone: a high tech way to get the information you need right away. Dial 30644 on your mobile phone and to this text the word "FISH" (all caps), followed by the name of the species in question.

Thanks to the Blue Ocean Institute, FishPhone instantly replies with details on the fish's origin, scarcity, and sustainability.

365 Earth Days Each Year

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtfully committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead

Get Ready For EarthCast 2008

I'm enjoying a much needed couple days of R&R, but thought I'd raise my head long enough to remind readers of the Earth Day webcast I'll be participating in tomorrow, Earth Day, April 22, 2008. The full 24 hour schedule can be found here. The segment in which I'll be participating starts at 3:00 PM Pacific Time.

I'll be joining Jason Robertshaw of Cephalopodcast, Karen James of the The Beagle Project Blog, and Kevin Zelnio of Deep Sea News/The Other 95% for an hour of ocean-focused chatter. join in and listen or better yet, log in and be a part of the discussion.

102 Years Since The Great Quake

Today, April 18, marks the 102nd anniversary of the 1906 earthquake that nearly wiped San Francisco off the map. At approximately 5:12 AM on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, an estimated magnitude 7.8 quake shook The City for 45 to 60 seconds. The total related death toll as a result of the quake was approximately 3000 lives with more that 20,000 people left homeless or displaced.

In what has now become a tradition in The City, 1906 earthquake survivors and SF natives have gathered at Lotta's Fountain on Market Street to commemorate the quake and remember the incredible loss as well as the San Francisco spirit of renewal. The fountain, which amazingly still flowed after the quake, was one of the few sources of drinkable water and became a meeting place for quake survivors in the days following the devastation. I've been wanting to be a part of this tradition since moving to San Francisco almost 11 years ago. But 5AM is early, ya know?

Well, I read that the attending survivor list has now dwindled to but a single amazing individual. Herb Hamrol of Daly City is 105 years old, yet still works part time stocking shelves at a San Francisco supermarket. If a 105 year old survivor can get himself out of bed, then surly I could. And I'm so glad I did.

105 year-old Herb Hamrol in his police escorted Rolls Royce
I joined Mayor Gavin Newsom (how can anyone look this good so early?), Herb, The City's fire, police, and disaster relief chiefs, the San Francisco Historical Society, and a crowd of about 100 other nuts enthusiasts to remember the past with a moment of silence. And like the crazy San Franciscans that we are, we all burst into a rousing (well, sort of) rendition of the tune San Francisco.

It only takes a tiny corner of
This great big world to make a place you love
My home up on the hill
I find I love you still
I've been away, but now I'm back to tell you:

San Francisco, open your golden gate
You let no stranger wait outside your door
San Francisco, here is your wandering one
Saying "I'll wander no more"

Other places only make me love you best
Tell me you're the heart of all the golden west
San Francisco, welcome me home again
I'm coming home to go roaming no more

Honu Hideout

I know I post a lot of images from our Hawaii project sites, but what can I say... I love the islands! Here's a great pic CORAL Hawaii Field Manager Liz Foote just sent me from a dive last week at Molokini with one of our major donors. It's three Honu or Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) resting on a sunken fishing boat.

The divemaster on this trip was Pauline Fiene of Mike Severns Diving. You can't do much better than Pauline as a guide and naturalist, so if you are looking for a great experience in the waters of Maui be sure to look her up.

A Little Perspective On The Bikini Atoll/Flourishing Coral News

I've written here before about past atomic testing in the Marshall Islands and US plans to continue military testing well into the future there. But some recent news from the Marshall's is getting a lot of attention. Practically every major news outlet is carrying the story that 54 years after the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated by the United States on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, scientists have discovered lush coral colonies flourishing in the blast crater.

Researchers from Australia's ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, half-expecting to find a desolate, radioactive wasteland, instead found "plenty of fish, corals and action going on, some really striking individual colonies." The scientists conducting the first comprehensive coral reef survey since the blast discovered some coral colonies up to 9 yards high and some with 12 inch-thick bases.

This is indeed remarkable news and testament to the ability of some natural systems to recover even under the most devastating of circumstances. But I've noticed that in many (if not most) of the online reports of this news, the full story has either been truncated--leaving the reader with the headline message that coral will recover from anything... even an atomic bomb--or important conditional details to the recovery have been buried at the very end. And these two, not insignificant, details are what has likely driven the ability for coral reefs to recolonize after the atomic assault.

Ecological Connectivity
As the researchers themselves have pointed out, Bikini Atoll did not repopulate itself. Following the series of atomic tests, most if not all of the life present within blast areas was effectively extirpated. So where did the new coral recruits come from? The team thinks that Rongelap Atoll is potentially seeding Bikini’s recovery, because it is the second largest atoll in the world with a huge amount of coral reef diversity and biomass and lies upstream from Bikini. So Bikini Atoll became the "sink" to a lot of Rongelap Atoll's "source."

Understanding this sort of connectivity in marine systems is critically important to resource managers, particularly in its application to establishing marine protected areas. As we now know, setting aside a threatened ecosystem as protected may be necessary, but not sufficient for its long term ecological livelihood. We need to also look to neighboring ecosystems for critical connections that are either exporting or importing resources.

Had Bikini Atoll not benefited from this sort of ecological connectivity from undamaged neighboring atolls, I suspect the researchers would indeed have found nothing but an empty rubble hole.

54 Years Without Human Activity
The second relevant detail that many of the news carriers seem to have ignored in documenting the Bikini Atoll recovery is that for the past 54 years, Bikini Atoll has remained undisturbed. Apart from occasional forays of illegal shark, tuna and Napoleon Wrasse fishing, the reef is almost completely unvisited. Divers who visit the Marshall islands dive on shipwrecks, like the USS Saratoga, and not on the reef near the blast sites. Certainly, the concern over residual radiation goes a long way in keeping people out. Interestingly, when researchers checked the ambient gamma radiation of Bikini Atoll, they found it to be comparable to the background radiation in an Australian city. Where they did discover high radiation levels, however, was in plant material such as coconuts which accumulates radioactive material from the soil.

So when humans can step back and not contribute reef stressors associated with their presence (destructive fishing, coastal development, recreation damage from anchors and coral breakage, etc.) reefs can recover from damage even in some of the most extreme circumstances. This isn't necessarily "news" to resource managers, as much of their time is spent devising effective methods of reducing or eliminating these direct human threats.

Not Just A Matter of Semantics
Finally, I take some issue with the use of the word "rebound" to describe the recovery in Bikini Atoll. Does a little over half-a-century constitute a rebound? As an evolutionary biologist, I appreciate the long view of earth time (or "deep time" to use a favorite John McPhee-ism). I realize that 50 years in the "big picture" is hardly a speck of dust in the geologic time scale. But as a conservationist, I fear that taking a sanguine approach to environmental damage as being acceptable when recovery can come in as little as 50 years is setting up a dangerous precedent.

While this study in no way suggests that 50 years is the average recovery time for coral reef systems, for the sake of argument let's just take the number as a baseline figure. I don't know about you, but 50 years is a good chunk of my life. How do you explain to a local coral reef community that has depended upon healthy reefs for their survival that their resource is now gone (due to atomic testing, dredging, development, climate change, whatever.) What does one do while waiting 50 years for recovery? Where does the food come from? Where is the coastal protection from storms? What about the close cultural connections many coral reef communities have established with their reefs?

For me, these and other questions remain unanswered, particularly if we convince ourselves to be comfortable with environmental recoveries that are measured in human life spans.

That's A Moray Monday: The Less Salty Edition

So there you are, relaxing in a refreshing freshwater stream after trekking through the verdant bush in some tropical coastal rainforest in Borneo. You're relaxed because you realize that you're "safe as houses" from the typical coastal marine nibblers, stingers, and biters--soaking, as you are, in freshwater a good kilometer from the ocean. You rest your tired back against a big rock in the clear, flowing stream and close your eyes for a quick nap--which is about when you feel the almost meter-long eel begin to snake its way up your pant leg.

Welcome to the territory of the Freshwater moray.

Freshwater moray
Gymnothorax polyuranodon

It may come as a surprise that some species of moray spend a majority of their time in freshwater. None of the alleged "freshwater" morays, however, are exclusively so. While G. polyuranodon can live in lotic or lentic (flowing or standing) freshwater, it can also be found in brackish and estuarine conditions as well.

The Freshwater moray is a facultatively catadromous species, meaning it reproduces in the sea but spends most of its life in fresh water. In this regard, the Freshwater moray is similar to its cousin the European eel (Anguilla anguilla) which is generally believed to spawn in the Sargasso Sea and then eventually migrate back to European streams and lakes. I won't get into the remarkable cellular and physiological dynamics involved in osmoregulation across such different aquatic habitats. Suffice to say your swollen ankles after eating a big plate of salty kahlua pork 'aint nothing compared to gill energetics moving from a freshwater stream to a hypersaline tropical lagoon.

Freshwater morays are found throughout the Indo-Pacific in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Borneo, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Fiji. They have also been reported in Micronesia in Palau, and as far south as Australia and New Caledonia. The species has been reported to attain a length of approximately 92.5 cm. The body is yellow in color with rust-brown to black spots, a bit like a leopard, along the length of the eel. The spectacular markings combined with its ability to live in freshwater makes the Freshwater moray particularly attractive to the home aquarium trade. As a result, the species is considered highly vulnerable to exploitation and local depletion throughout its range.