Belize puts a price on its pristine reefs

It's not related to Antarctica, but I wanted to share this story I found about the penalties a shipping company have been ordered to pay for damaging a pristine barrier reef in Belize. We have been trying to encourage people to value Antarctica's wilderness and relatively unaltered ecosystems, and it's good to see that people are really starting to recognize the value of undamaged natural habitat. Belize's chief justice seems to be ahead of the curve in accepting this argument. Though the award is perhaps not as high as the government wanted, it is notable that the judge seemingly rejected the shipping company's argument that they should only pay for the cost of rebuilding the reef with artificial materials, as if that would in any way make up for the loss of a natural structure that developed over thousands of years. How much reef was damaged? One acre. How much does the company have to pay? 11.5 million Belizean dollars, or about $5.75 million US. While the reef is important for tourism, it seems that the judge used the case as an opportunity to make a statement about the need for natural resources to be valued more highly. The incident also motivated Belize to pass legislation valuing each square meter of the reef at $5,000Bzd, so that future damage would cost even more. It's heartening to see that arguments about a large damages award hurting future shipping business were rejected. The unfortunate truth is that I'm afraid that without a financial incentive, there's not always enough motivation for businesses to act to protect the environment. $5 million dollars per acre is a good start and a good deterrent for shipping companies that don't take the proper precautions to protect Belize's valuable reefs, which are estimated to provide $120 million (US) worth of shoreline protection per year. It's about time when considering environmental damage we stopped worrying about commercial interests and starting making sure our irreplaceable resources are protected.

Greenpeace's Marine Reserves Video

This video from Greenpeace makes the case for marine reserves in an offbeat way.

I for one look forward to eating tasty tasty jellyfish. My jaw muscles need bulking up.

Draft US Ocean Policy - A Fresh Start?

Back in June, President Obama issued a memorandum that established an Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, which was designed to review the nation's oceans policy and make recommendations for creating and implementing a new approach to oceans and the Great Lakes. While the cynical response is that such task forces are all style and no substance, it was at least good to see that the Obama Administration thought ocean policy important enough to even consider making changes at a time when its agenda is already packed full with health care reform and climate change. The Task Force issued its draft report yesterday, as reported in the New York Times (a link to the report is included in the story).

The government agency heads and directors who make up the Task Force have produced a promising report. Especially since they recommend that ecosystem-based management should be the "foundational principle for the comprehensive management of the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes." It's about time such an approach became commonplace - the idea that you can set catch limits for a fishery without examining the rest of the ecosystem is highly inaccurate. It belongs to an era when doctors endorsed cigarettes in ads.

Since the report is only an interim report, there's time for the public to read and comment on it. If you'd like to comment on, say, how the US shouldn't forget about the Antarctic as it sets its ocean policy priorities, go here.

Guest Blog at The Reef Tank

Ava over at The Reef Tank blog asked me to guest blog for them on Antarctic issues a while ago, and I was delighted to be able to finally contribute . Read my post on Antarctic krill here, and make sure to check out the rest of the blog for interesting posts on a wide range of marine topics.