Photograph: © SAF — Coastal Care
Excerpts;
For the first time ever, a comprehensive report was released this week outlining how well states protect coastal waters. “There is much room for improvement,” the Marine Conservation Institute researchers wrote.
The 2013 Sea States Report shows that the United States has done a lackluster job of protecting coasts through no-take protection laws, the strictest way to create a marine protected area (MPA). No-take protections mean that oil and gas drilling are prohibited, as well as fishing and other types of ecological disturbances.
Of 23 coastal states surveyed, 15 have zero (0.00%) no-take areas. Six have little more than one percent of coastal waters under no-take protections, and only two states (California and Hawaii) have more than five percent of their coasts designated as no-take areas…
Read Full Article, The Huffington Post
First-Ever National Ranking Shows Most Coastal States Failing to Protect Oceans, Mission Blue
Two leading marine science and conservation organizations, the Marine Conservation Institute and Mission Blue, issued the 1st-ever quantitative, scientifically rigorous national ranking of states’ protection of their ocean waters. SeaStates: How Well Does Your State Protect Your Coastal Waters? shows that most states and territories are failing to safeguard our nation’s marine life, seafood and coasts.
