Good enviro news?
Yeah, that doesn't happen too often. If I was up on my Gristmill more often I'd have heard about this sooner, but hey, better late than never -
After a hard-fought battle, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association) has succeeded in closing off 654,000 square miles to commercial fishing (some just to bottom trawling, some to all fishing)!
That is a lot of ocean - and, as this USA Today piece notes, it's larger than the rest of our national conservation areas combined, which total approximately 420,000 square miles.
Why is this important? Because world fisheries are collapsing, and fast. Only 10 percent of big ocean fish (tuna, etc) are left compared to populations just 50 years ago. Anybody like Chilean Sea Bass? It's only been on the international market for a little more than a decade and already its population is in severe decline. Fish populations can rebound quickly - WHEN fisheries are closed to fishing, even if just temporarily, and if there are designated safe zones for fish reproduction that help to recharge the populations. So closing off big hunks of ocean is good for the fish, good for the environment (industrial fishing practices can be quite destructive, don't get me started, it's terrible), and, ultimately, good for fishermen and those of us who do love to eat fish.
Now, those 600,000+ square miles of ocean are, of course, just a drop in the vast oceanic bucket. And we've only got jurisdiction over waters within 200 miles of the US coastline. And closing the ocean doesn't mean there's a fence up - certainly some areas will be fished illegally (grrr). But still - hey, it's a start. Just like how the Nature Conservancy has bought a bunch of fishing permits in California with the intent to ease the burden on fisheries (Sorry, lost that link).
By the way - The Fish List is a good consumer guide to which fish species are best to eat and which come from overfished, declining stocks. There are a lot of tasty specimens on the to-avoid list, I know. I love me some grouper and tuna. Nonetheless, it's a handy reference.