Ive been feeling pessimistic about marine conservation in 2018. Not only bc of bad actors (eg Trump) but also due to the duplicity, ignorance, and greed of marine scientists and conservation orgs. Some seem more interested in $ &/or recognition than actual biodiversity outcomes.
So to balance @ayanaeliza's wonderful piece about cons wins collectiv.in/SciAm08 here is a short list of some of our failures, followed by commentary on why I think they matter.
Up first has to be @TheOceanCleanup which as the @deepseanews team and many others predicted, did not actually capture any plastic. It did burn though tens of millions of cons $ and killed countless marine critters as @RebeccaRHelm pointed out. A #conservationfail of epic scale.
Next up: giant fans to cool the GBR. This won't help for numerous reasons. The scale will be pathetically small. And just think of the unanticipated consequences. Dumb. And expensive.
abc.net.au/news/2017-12-0…
abc.net.au/news/2017-12-0…
The sunscreen ban.
Little if any science and few scientists suggest sunscreen is a problem for corals. Banning it will do nothing. (And it's really important for human health.)
mashable.com/2015/11/10/sun…
Little if any science and few scientists suggest sunscreen is a problem for corals. Banning it will do nothing. (And it's really important for human health.)
mashable.com/2015/11/10/sun…
Super corals!
The most depressing thing to happen in coral reef science in 2018 is the gigantic talent and resource swallowing bandwagon that is the super coral movement.
Students beware: this will quickly run its course as cooler heads prevail.
theguardian.com/environment/20…
The most depressing thing to happen in coral reef science in 2018 is the gigantic talent and resource swallowing bandwagon that is the super coral movement.
Students beware: this will quickly run its course as cooler heads prevail.
theguardian.com/environment/20…
The jellyfish robot that will measure... something and somehow save the corals.
nbcnews.com/mach/science/r…
nbcnews.com/mach/science/r…
MPAs
Im a strong advocate of marine reserves, but @CoralReefFish and others have pointed out some the many failures of this movement. Namely placing MPAs were little or no fishing is happening, where biodiversity value is low, etc.
nytimes.com/2018/03/20/opi…
Im a strong advocate of marine reserves, but @CoralReefFish and others have pointed out some the many failures of this movement. Namely placing MPAs were little or no fishing is happening, where biodiversity value is low, etc.
nytimes.com/2018/03/20/opi…
Also see: theglobeandmail.com/canada/article…
Mapping coral reefs 🤔
Will not protect them from climate change 😰
But if you can convince a billionaire to give you $ to do this... 🤣👍
allencoralatlas.org/#1/0/0
Will not protect them from climate change 😰
But if you can convince a billionaire to give you $ to do this... 🤣👍
allencoralatlas.org/#1/0/0
The @NOAACoral reef conservation program strategic plan
Instead of tacking carbon emissions it "uses a resilience-based management approach, focused on conservation that supports the ability of corals to withstand and recover from stress" WHICH WE KNOW IS NOT EFFECTIVE 😡
Instead of tacking carbon emissions it "uses a resilience-based management approach, focused on conservation that supports the ability of corals to withstand and recover from stress" WHICH WE KNOW IS NOT EFFECTIVE 😡
Likewise Australia's Reef 2050 plan is all about water quality and fishing, ignoring the real problem: coal exports, greenhouse gas emissions, and ocean warming. It assumes (wrongly) that improving water quality will increase resilience to climate change.
coral larvae spreading robots
again; scale, cost, restriction to wealthy nations, unintended consequences (eg, release of non-locally adapted genotypes, disease spread, etc), failure to address any known problem, etc.
techcrunch.com/2018/11/01/ree…
again; scale, cost, restriction to wealthy nations, unintended consequences (eg, release of non-locally adapted genotypes, disease spread, etc), failure to address any known problem, etc.
techcrunch.com/2018/11/01/ree…
straw ban
Straws wouldn't make anybody's list of serious threats to the ocean. We're told straws are a "gateway" plastic, that banning them will lead to reductions in other plastics that r a real problem. But why not just ban them? eg, plastic bags.
vox.com/2018/6/25/1748…
Straws wouldn't make anybody's list of serious threats to the ocean. We're told straws are a "gateway" plastic, that banning them will lead to reductions in other plastics that r a real problem. But why not just ban them? eg, plastic bags.
vox.com/2018/6/25/1748…
What else? What's missing from this list?
I believe these misguided, ineffective displacement activities matter because they compete with real problems and known, effective solutions for funding, talent, and media coverage.
IMO we should be focusing on illegal fishing, ocean warming, coastal habitat loss and plastic pollution. We know how to do this. We just need the resources to implement effective solutions to these and other real problems.
I know this all sounds cranky and overly critical of a lot of well-meaning people, orgs, agencies, etc. And I'm sorry for that. But. I think conservation science would be much more effective, if we all embraced more healthy skepticism.
Im actually very optimistic. We know what we need to do, eg, stop plastics from going into the oceans in the first place. But #oceanoptimism shouldn't mean "just doing SOMETHING!" It means there are conservation wins and effective solutions: we can replicate and implement them.
Im also encouraged by the scientists thinking ambitiously yet critically about ocean conservation, eg @rejectedbanana @RebeccaRHelm @ProfTerryHughes @heatshok @CoralReefFish @MiriamGoldste @PeterSale3 @Enric_Sala @LeahLeopold @ElDon78 @NickDulvy @redlipblenny @WhySharksMatter
