Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Solutions
Managing Fisheries
Fishery Regulations
Bycatch
Set catch limits well below the
maximum sustainable yield
Use wide-meshed nets to allow
escape of smaller fish
Improve monitoring and
enforcement of regulations
Use net escape devices for
seabirds and sea turtles
Economic Approaches
Ban throwing edible and
marketable fish back into the sea
Sharply reduce or eliminate
fishing subsidies
Aquaculture
Charge fees for harvesting fish
and shellfish from publicly owned
offshore waters
Restrict coastal locations for
fish farms
Control pollution more strictly
Certify sustainable fisheries
Depend more on herbivorous
fish species
Protected Areas
Establish no-fishing areas
Nonative Invasions
Establish more marine protected areas
Kill organisms in ship ballast water
Rely more on integrated
coastal management
Filter organisms from ship ballast
water
Consumer Information
Dump ballast water far at sea and
replace with deep-sea water
Label sustainably harvested fish
Publicize overfished and
threatened species
Figure 8-30
Solutions:
ways to manage fisheries more sustainably and protect marine biodiver-
sity.
Critical thinking: which five of these actions do you believe are the most important?
designing national conservation strategies, establish-
ing a much larger global network of protected areas,
greatly expanding biodiversity educational training
and research, and establishing economic incentives to
promote the conservation of species and ecosystems
throughout the world.
8-10
WHAT CAN WE DO?
Global Outlook: The IUCN World
Conservation Strategy
The IUCN has developed a global strategy for
sustaining the world's biodiversity.
The IUCN, also known as the World Conservation
Union, has developed a
World Conservation Strategy
for
preserving and sustaining the world's biodiversity. It
has the following three main objectives:
Solutions: Establishing Priorities
Biodiversity expert Edward O. Wilson has proposed
eight priorities for protecting most of the world's
remaining ecosystems and species.
In 2002, Edward O. Wilson, considered to be one of the
world's foremost experts on biodiversity, proposed the
following priorities for protecting most of the world's
remaining ecosystems and species:
■
Maintain essential ecological services and life-sup-
port sysems that support human life and sustainable
development
■
Preserve genetic diversity as a source of plants and
domesticated animals needed as human sources of
food
■
Take immediate action to preserve the world's biological
hot spots
(Figure 8-26).
■
Keep intact the world's remaining old-growth forests
and cease all logging of such forests.
■
Complete the mapping of the world's terrestrial
and aquatic biodiversity so we know what we have and
Ensure sustainable use of all species and ecosystems
■
Plans for accomplishing these goals include edu-
cating the public and policymakers about the impor-
tance of the earth's biological resources and services,