Never think for a minute that what you say or do won’t make a difference. Large international meetings such as COP27 can lead to feelings of disempowerment and futility, but as Greta Thunberg showed one individual can spark a movement that inspires a generation. Even something as small as an online comment submitted to the federal government can make a difference.
About twenty years ago a coalition of native Hawaiians, environmental activists, government scientists and political leaders began working on a proposal to create a marine sanctuary and no fishing zone around the remote northwestern Hawaiian islands. Once some of these islands were inhabited by native Hawaiians who left significant cultural artifacts. These islands, including Midway island, had military importance in WWII but were too small and too far away from the highly populated main islands to be able to maintain an economically viable human population. On the other hand they are critical habitat for birds and marine life. There was an opportunity to create a sanctuary and restore the habitat but a few large commercial fishing operations were still profiting from taking the most commercially valuable marine species. They had political connections on the islands. A key to the political success of the proposed sanctuary would be to win over the large community of people involved in amateur and small local commercial fishing on the main islands.
NOAA had an online page soliciting public comments. I wrote up a comment. (I think it was an earlier solicitation than the one I just linked to.) I thought that was the last I would ever see of it.
One day down at the beach months later I was talking to one of my body surfing buddies Eldon. Eldon wasn’t just an excellent body surfer. He was an outstanding fisherman who made, in the Japanese-Hawaiian tradition, the best poke, by far, that I have ever eaten. Eldon, said to me, “I saw what you wrote in the Hawaii Fishing News.“ I had no idea what he was talking about. “I didn’t write anything for the Hawaii Fishing News”, I replied. But I had. They had picked up and published my comment to NOAA about the proposed marine sanctuary in the Hawaii Fishing news. I haven’t seen that comment since I saw it so many years ago in the Hawaii Fishing News, but I know what the crux of the comment was. We needed to establish a marine protected area with a no fishing zone in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands to be a marine sanctuary for the Pacific and the world. If we did it would serve as a nursery and place of refuge for marine life and bird life and populations would recover. Over time, the vibrant fish stocks would expand back into the main Hawaiian islands.
What I wrote caught on with the fishing community in Hawaii. It was consistent with traditional Hawaiian beliefs about conservation and it made sense. The fishing community supported the proposed marine sanctuary. NOAA worked hand in hand with Hawaiian cultural practitioners to win their support. Democrats and Republicans bought into establishing a marine national monument. A key part of wining that bipartisan support was the benefit to people on the main islands.
In 2006, after substantial public comment in support of strong protections for the area, President George W. Bush signed a proclamation creating the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument. The president's actions afforded the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands our nation's highest form of marine environmental protection. Subsequently, through an initiative put forth by the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Native Hawaiian Cultural Working Group, the monument was given the Hawaiian name, Marine National Monument, in March 2007. The monument is co-managed by the Department of the Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the State of Hawaii, and is now the single largest conservation area under the U.S. flag.
The Obama administration quadrupled the area of the Papahānaumokuākea marine monument.
Now, let’s be clear. Many people worked very hard for many years to make the Papahānaumokuākea marine monument what is is today. My personal role was tiny. I wrote a few words that helped.
What has brought me tears of joy is seeing the success of the monument. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought that the recovery of the ecosystem in the northwestern islands would happen so quickly that I would read scientific reports that the stocks of large fish, especially tuna, would be observed increasing on the main Hawaiian islands in my lifetime. This is a stunning success story.
Does the trick
Marine protected areas (MPAs) have been shown to protect local populations of fishes. Questions have remained, however, about whether they would also work to protect species that migrate or travel over large distances. Medoff et al. looked at the effectiveness of a recently established—and thus far the largest—fully protected MPA located near Hawai’i, and found clear evidence that the protections afforded to two migratory species, bigeye and yellowfin tuna, led to spillover effects previously only seen for resident fish populations. —SNV
From the University of Hawaii’s press release:
Carefully placed no-fishing zones can help to restore tunas and other large, iconic fish species, according to a study published in Science led by two University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researchers.
It is well known that no-fishing zones can benefit sedentary marine life, such as corals or lobster. However, until now, it was assumed that no marine protected area could be big enough to protect species that travel long distances, such as tunas.
This recovery is good news for the environment and the global tuna fishing industry, which generates $40 billion in revenues each year and supports millions of jobs across the world.
“We show for the first time that a no-fishing zone can lead to the recovery and spillover of a migratory species like bigeye tuna,” said co-author John Lynham, a professor in the Department of Economics at UH Mānoa’s College of Social Sciences.
This is my contribution to the COP27 Climate Briefs. International efforts to act on the climate crisis are very frustrating, but success is possible and you never know when something that you do might help make success happen. Never give up and never lose hope. Even coral reefs apparently lost to a coral bleaching mass mortality event can recover if the fish are fully protected. Even seasoned marine scientists have been shocked by the success of marine protected areas.
www.npr.org/…
"It has an abundance of fish that is off the charts. So they were eating all the algae that would smother the dead coral skeletons, and make it impossible for the corals to come back, which is what happens in other places like the Caribbean," Sala explained.
Protecting oceans from overfishing, Sala added, allows the ecosystem itself to become more resilient. In highly protected areas, the populations of fish grow so much that they spill over the boundaries of their areas and help replenish surrounding fishing grounds, in addition to allowing the ocean to capture and store more carbon to mitigate climate change.
"So if countries want a future for the fisheries, they need to manage their fisheries in a more responsible way around areas that are set aside to help regenerate the rest of the ocean," Sala said. For him and his team, the rebirth of the coral reef in Kiribati is a beacon of hope among so much pessimism surrounding the future of reefs.
There is great hope, based on real, live science, that environmental restoration is possible and that national and international action can succeed despite all challenges. And you can make a difference.