Four more commonwealth countries have successfully lodged claims for additional areas of seabed.
Guyana, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and Tonga have all successfully made submissions to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf with assistance from the Commonwealth Secretariat.
This brings the total number of countries helped by the Secretariat in making their submissions to twelve. The combined figure for the additional seabed that has been secured by these 12 submissions is two million square km – equivalent in size to the land area of Mexico.
These submissions give coastal and island states exclusive sovereign rights to explore and exploit all natural resources in the claimed areas.
External inputs for the submissions included the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK and Geometrix, Canada.
For more information, please contact: Carrick House Group Media Contact info@carrickhouse.net
Four more Commonwealth countries make bid for additional areas of the seabed.
Commonwealth to assist Jamaica in maritime boundary negotiations
The establishment of agreed maritime boundaries for Jamaica will, in addition to future management of natural resources, but also for the conduct of maritime law enforcement activity to combat piracy and illicit drug smuggling.
“The Caribbean region is riddled with unresolved maritime boundaries, which has impeded the development of natural resources and law enforcement activity in the region,” the legal adviser at the Commonwealth Secretariat stated, adding that “successful delimitation between Jamaica and neighbouring countries will be crucial to improving ocean governance in the region.”
The establishment of maritime boundaries is a matter governed by international law, and in particular, the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The Convention is a multilateral treaty that establishes a framework of rules and principles to govern all ocean space. The Convention has been ratified by more than 157 countries, including some 47 Commonwealth member countries.
The Convention provides that where rights to ocean space (the water column and the seabed)of coastal states overlap, the countries concerned should seek to delimit maritime boundaries by agreement on the basis of international law in order to achieve an equitable result.
For more information, please contact: Carrick House Group Media Contact info@carrickhouse.net
Slow Progress on Ocean Protection
Less than 1% of the world’s oceans have been given protected status, according to a major survey.
[2009-05-22]
——————————————————————————–
Governments have committed to a target of protecting 10% by 2012, which the report says there is no chance of meeting. The Survey was led by the Nature Conservancy (TNC) and is published in the journal Conservation Letters.
Four years ago, signatories to the UN’s biodiversity convention – which includes almost every country – pledged to protect at least 10% of the oceans in a way that makes sense ecologically. Protecting them does not mean banning activities such as fishing or shipping completely, but making sure they are carried out sustainably.
Only about 4% of coastal waters are protected. Countries diverge widely in how much protection they have mandated.
Whereas New Zealand has almost 70% of its coastline under some form of protection, countries around the Mediterranean have set aside less than 2%.
In the developing world, Guinea-Bissau, in west Africa, is a country that has invested heavily in protection, particularly in the Bijagos Archipelago. Palau, Indonesia, Micronesia and several Caribbean states are also making significant progress.
For more information, please contact: Carrick House Group Media Contact info@carrickhouse.net
Fish key to reef climate survival
A healthy fish population could be key to ensuring coral reefs survive the impacts of climate change, pollution, overfishing and other threats.
[2009-05-22]
——————————————————————————–
Australian scientists found that some fish act as ‘lawnmowers’, keeping coral free of kelp and unwanted algae.
In recent year, Marine Protected Areas have been set up along the Great Barrier Reef in order to provide sanctuaries where fish and other marine creatures can grow and develop. This protected area status is rebuilding fish populations in some parts of the Great Barrier Reef.
Warming seas are likely to affect the reef severely within a few decades. Because sea temperatures are now a lot higher, they are now reaching the thresholds at which coral get into distress. Scientists have also learned just how small a temperature increase it takes to put the reefs in distress
For more information, please contact: Carrick House Group Media Contact info@carrickhouse.net
Alaska sues over Beluga Whale protection.
Governor Palin versus Washington
[2009-01-19]
——————————————————————————–
It was announced recently that the state of Alaska will sue over increased federal protections for Beluga whales in Cook Inlet.
The white whales were listed last year as endangered under the Endangered Species Act after federal scientists determined the whales were headed towards extinction.
The listing requires the designation of critical habitat for the whales, a recovery plan and a review of federally funded or permitted activities in Cook Inlet. The City of Anchorage is on Cook Inlet.
Gov. Sarah Palin opposed the listing decision because of the impact it could have on major Alaska development projects, including oil and gas developments and expanding the port of Anchorage.
The population of the Cook Inlet belugas has been in decline for years. Around 573 whales were counted last summer in waters of Anchorage.
The decline has been blamed on overharvesting by Alaska Native subsistence hunters before that was curtailed nearly a decade ago. It is unclear why the whales, which may have numbered as many as 1300 at their high point, have not rebounded.
Federal biologists have listed 18 potential threats to the Cook Inlet whales, including poaching, food reduction, noise caused by oil and gas drilling, and coastal construction.
San Fransisco Chronicle
For more information, please contact: Carrick House Group Media Contact info@carrickhouse.net