Second negative briefs
LOCAL ECONOMIES WILL BE DEVASTATED
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- 3. AN OIL SPILL IS NOT REQUIRED FOR CALAMITY
- B. OIL SPILLS ARE ENVIRONMENTAL NIGHTMARES 1. BP OIL SPILL IS STILL AN UNFOLDING DISASTER
- 2. NO NEW SAFETY MEASURES HAVE BEEN ADOPTED
- 3. INTERNATIONAL REGULATION IS LACKING
- 4. INCREASED DRILLING MAKES OIL SPILLS INEVITABLE
- SK/N221. OVERFISHING: Solvency 1. N.O.A.A. IS INEFFECTIVE AT REGULATION
- 2. DATA IS INADEQUATE FOR SCIENCE-BASED MANAGEMENT
- 3. SCIENCE-BASED MANAGEMENT MODELS ARE FLAWED
- 4. FORECASTS ARE HIGHLY UNRELIABLE
- 5. MAXIMUM SUSTAINABLE YIELD IS A BOGUS GOAL
- 6. ADOPTING NEW MANAGEMENT MODELS IS A PIPE DREAM
- 7. SHORTER FISHING SEASONS ARE NOT A SOLUTION
- 8. REBUILDING FISH STOCKS TAKES MANY DECADES
- 9. SOME FISH STOCKS MAY BE BEYOND SAVING
2. LOCAL ECONOMIES WILL BE DEVASTATED SK/N220.04) STATES NEWS SERVICE, January 10, 2014, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. "In New Jersey, the tourism sector, which is anchored to our clean beaches and ocean, generated $34.7 billion in 2012 alone-that is 7.0 percent of the entire state economy," said Pallone [U.S. Congressman from New Jersey]. "Tourism sustained more than 500,000 jobs or 10 percent of total employment in the state. Commercial fishing supports more than 43,000 jobs and recreational fishing supports almost another 10,000 jobs. What assurances can you offer me and my constituents that oil and gas exploration in the Atlantic will not put these jobs and my state's economy at risk?" SK/N220.05) Frank Pallone Jr. [U.S. Congressman], STATES NEWS SERVICE, June 28, 2013, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. "I oppose H.R. 2231, the Offshore Energy and Jobs Act. By requiring offshore oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic Ocean, this bill threatens New Jersey's coastal environment, fishing, tourism and the associated jobs and economic activity.” SK/N220.06) Frank Pallone Jr. [U.S. Congressman], STATES NEWS SERVICE, June 28, 2013, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. "In New Jersey, tourism is a top industry, and we rely on our beaches, fisheries and clean ocean to attract that tourism. In 2011, the commercial fishing industry in New Jersey generated $6.6 billion in sales and contributed $2.4 billion to gross state product, while supporting 44,000 jobs. At the same time, New Jersey's recreational fisheries generated $1.7 billion in sales and contributed $871 million to gross state product, while supporting 10,000 jobs.” SK/N220.07) STATES NEWS SERVICE, January 30, 2013, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Today, U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) was joined by seven Senate colleagues on a letter to President Obama expressing concern about proposed seismic airgun testing in the Atlantic Ocean under the Department of Interior's Five Year Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. The testing, which involves loud, repeated airgun blasts, is conducted to locate offshore oil and gas reserves, and would put coastal economies, the environment, and marine life at risk along the East Coast. Senator Lautenberg was joined on today's letter by U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA). SK/N220.08) STATES NEWS SERVICE, January 30, 2013, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. "Given the decision to prevent dangerous offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean, there is no need to move forward with invasive and harmful seismic airgun testing. We urge a reconsideration of plans to allow this testing, which will only hurt our coastal communities and the marine resources that drive our coastal economy," the Senators [Frank Lautenberg et al.] wrote. 3. AN OIL SPILL IS NOT REQUIRED FOR CALAMITY SK/N220.09) UWIRE TEXT, October 10, 2011, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Even without catastrophic failure, oil rigs release toxic chemicals into the surrounding waters, transporting oil from these rigs is harmful, seismic waves disorientate sea-animals; and installing rigs erodes the ocean floor, which worsens the impact of hurricanes and tropical storms. B. OIL SPILLS ARE ENVIRONMENTAL NIGHTMARES 1. BP OIL SPILL IS STILL AN UNFOLDING DISASTER SK/N220.10) UWIRE TEXT, October 10, 2011, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Before the energy bill ever came to a vote in the Senate, an explosion in April 2010 caused a massive oil leak from a BP-operated deep-water oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. For four months innumerable gallons of oil leaked into the Gulf. It inflicted massive environmental damage and economic harm upon U.S. Gulf states. SK/N220.11) UWIRE TEXT, October 10, 2011, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. The Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010 showed, and continues to show, how devastating a massive oil leak can be. Fish, marine mammals and seabirds were killed in droves by a slick extending across hundreds of square miles. As the oil reached the shore it destroyed valuable coastal wetlands and beaches, harming the animals that rely on these habitats. SK/N220.12) Dennis Small, PACIFIC ECOLOGIST, Winter 2011, p. 19, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. We can already see many adverse effects relating to oil and gas extraction and other mining on the continental shelf. The Gulf of Mexico ocean oil drilling disaster gave ample evidence of this in 2010, with its terrible toll on countless thousands of birds and fish. SK/N220.13) Brandon A. Carroll [Southwestern Law School], SOUTHWESTERN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, 2012, LexisNexis Academic, pp. 670-671. A Swiss company, Transocean, owned the rig, but was leasing it to BP, a British company, at the time of the accident. The Deepwater Horizon was registered under the flag of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Each of these parties had a hand in creating the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. An estimated 53,000 barrels a day leaked over that three month period, covering an estimated 68,000 square miles of ocean. The extent of the damage caused by the spill has yet to be seen, but it is clear the spill has greatly affected both the environment in the Gulf of Mexico and the economy of the states along the Gulf Coast, especially the tourism and fishing industries. SK/N220.14) Brandon A. Carroll [Southwestern Law School], SOUTHWESTERN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, 2012, LexisNexis Academic, p. 671. This spill [Deepwater Horizon] presents a problem that could prove worse than the Exxon Valdez spill of 1989. It is estimated that approximately 21,000 gallons of oil still remain at the bottom of Prince William Sound in Alaska, the site of the Exxon Valdez spill. Much like the Exxon spill, litigation of the claims relating to the Deepwater Horizon spill will last for generations. SK/N220.15) UWIRE TEXT, October 10, 2011, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Apart from the terrible environmental damage caused by the Gulf spill, the economic costs have also been grievous. Fishing and tourism are the economic mainstays of coastal communities and both can be damaged by a major oil spill, causing considerable unemployment. BP has promised to compensate those directly affected by the loss of coastal jobs in this instance, but what if BP, or a future polluter, were unable to pay? Shutting down coastal industries has effects on suppliers, retailers, transport firms, etc., which damages the wider economy. 2. NO NEW SAFETY MEASURES HAVE BEEN ADOPTED SK/N220.16) STATES NEWS SERVICE, June 13, 2014, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. NRDC senior attorney and Oceans Program Director Sarah Chasis made the following statement: "Congress has not implemented any meaningful measures since the Deepwater Horizon disaster to mitigate the dangers of offshore drilling. We can't afford another Deepwater Horizon disaster - in the Gulf of Mexico or anywhere else. We rely on our oceans heavily for fishing, shipping, renewable energy and the abundant recreational opportunities they provide. We need to protect our rich fisheries and ocean ecosystems, not open up areas in the Arctic Ocean or along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to drilling." SK/N220.17) Clare Foran, NATIONAL JOURNAL DAILY, January 10, 2014, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Three years after completing an investigation into the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, members of a presidential panel say Congress has failed to adopt necessary offshore-drilling safety reforms and environmental protections. "Unfortunately Congress has really not acted to protect against future disasters," Frances Ulmer, the chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission and a member of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, said in an interview. SK/N220.18) Clare Foran, NATIONAL JOURNAL DAILY, January 10, 2014, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Commissioners and some legislators, however, note that the Restore Act does not address drilling safety or set up environmental safeguards in the event of a future disaster. "The problem is that so many of the recommended reforms have not been put in place," said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee. "This includes removing the liability cap [for companies implicated in offshore-drilling accidents], extending whistle-blower protections so regulators have access to needed information before an accident occurs, and increasing the capability to deal with spills." 3. INTERNATIONAL REGULATION IS LACKING SK/N220.19) Brandon A. Carroll [Southwestern Law School], SOUTHWESTERN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, 2012, LexisNexis Academic, p. 685. When several countries are involved, a clear set of rules and regulations is needed to help prevent another marine environmental disaster from occurring. There should no longer be situations in which jurisdiction overlaps and states are responsible for enforcement of laws on the other side of the world. Both possible solutions mentioned above, if able to be implemented, would have the potential to prevent conflicting or inconsistent laws from simultaneously governing oil rigs, thus helping prevent another Deepwater Horizon disaster. However, because it would be unlikely that the expansion of the EEZ into a pollution control zone would gain enough support from maritime states to be ratified, it is not a realistic solution. SK/N220.20) Brandon A. Carroll [Southwestern Law School], SOUTHWESTERN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, 2012, LexisNexis Academic, p. 672. The Deepwater Horizon spill is a poignant example of the obstacles that have resulted from the advancement of deep-sea drilling technology. As rigs evolve and are better suited to move into deeper water, they also may pass easily into international waters. This increased movement across the marine jurisdictional zones has exposed a void in international law that has the potential to lead to another disastrous spill. 4. INCREASED DRILLING MAKES OIL SPILLS INEVITABLE SK/N220.21) UWIRE TEXT, January 11, 2011, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. "Study after study has shown that the potential for something to go wrong on an oil rig is huge. It's a dirty and dangerous industry and one we need to transition out of. The No New Drilling Act is a practical way to do that," said Jacqueline Savitz, Oceana senior campaign director. SK/N221. OVERFISHING: Solvency 1. N.O.A.A. IS INEFFECTIVE AT REGULATION SK/N221.01) Editorial, THE PATRIOT LEDGER (Quincy, MA), February 23, 2013, p. 6, LexisNexis Academic. Years of questionable science, unfunded regulations and punitive laws handed down by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have cast fishermen adrift in a sea of regulations designed to drown them. Ostensibly, NOAA's goal was to protect cod and other groundfish from extinction, yet none of its measures have worked. In Scituate alone, the groundfishing fleet has been halved in the past decade to only six vessels. Scituate fisherman Frank Mirarchi predicted none of the remaining boats will be able to fish this summer because the catch limits would make each trip out to sea a net loss. SK/N221.02) Editorial, THE PATRIOT LEDGER (Quincy, MA), February 23, 2013, p. 6, LexisNexis Academic. Years of faulty science and even corruption within the NOAA, as documented in a 2010 report by the Commerce Department, which oversees NOAA, have destroyed an industry that has existed off of our shores for millennia. SK/N221.03) Richard Degener, THE PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY, December 26, 2013, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. The people who catch fish had the nation's premier federal fishing law on their side until reauthorizations of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1996 and 2006. Those reauthorizations of a law originally enacted in 1976 to kick foreign fishermen off the coast and boost the U.S. fishing industry were heavily influenced by environmental groups trying to save fish stocks. The effort has produced some success stories, but it has also put a lot of fishermen out of business. 2. DATA IS INADEQUATE FOR SCIENCE-BASED MANAGEMENT SK/N221.04) NATURE, February 21, 2013, p. 282, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. In one piece, Daniel Pauly argues that 'catch data' of the number of fish caught are a vital tool for assessing the health of fish stocks. In their counterpoint piece, Ray Hilborn and Trevor Branch warn that over-reliance on this measure misses important subtleties and can misleadingly distil the health of entire ecosystems down to a landed tonnage. This is far from an academic debate. If scientists cannot estimate fish numbers, and so the health of stocks, there is little hope that this resource can be exploited in a sustainable fashion. SK/N221.05) Gabriel Popkin, SCIENCE NEWS, January 25, 2014, p. 18, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Catch numbers have traditionally been a means of estimating fish populations, but those data can reflect the number of fishermen on the water and the fishing technology used as much as actual fish numbers. Over the past few decades, scientists have made major advances in gathering data on marine life; Sugihara [Scripps Institution of Oceanography] and his colleagues have built many of their results on a dataset produced by the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations, which has taken measurements on fish and environmental variables almost yearly since 1950. But nonlinear time series analysis requires data stretching back at least 30 or 40 years, which don't exist for many species in many places, especially in the developing world. SK/N221.06) Richard Degener, THE PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY, December 26, 2013, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. The Cape May-based Garden State Seafood Association argues the 2006 revisions created too many scientific demands without the necessary funding to agencies like NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Fisheries. Of the 528 stocks of fish the federal government manages, the GSSA says roughly 114 have adequate assessment data. When there isn't enough data, the most conservative management measures seem to kick in. This sometimes creates a situation where stocks are growing but fishermen can't catch them. SK/N221.07) Richard Degener, THE PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY, December 26, 2013, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. Jeff Kaelin, of Lund's Fisheries in the Port of Cape May, said the 2006 revision created too many scientific demands. "The law has outstripped the scientists' ability to give us good information, to answer questions on fisheries," said Kaelin. SK/N221.08) NATURE, February 21, 2013, p. 282, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. One message from the Comment pieces this week is just how little reliable information we have about fisheries. Pauly admits that catch data are massively under-reported in many countries, and Hilborn and Branch cite the value of more-detailed scientific assessments of stock while acknowledging that these exist for only 40% of the total catch in the global database of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN. 3. SCIENCE-BASED MANAGEMENT MODELS ARE FLAWED SK/N221.09) The Center for American Progress, US OFFICIAL NEWS, February 3, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. Of course, today's Magnuson-Stevens Act is not perfect. And neither is the science of assessing fish stocks. SK/N221.10) Gabriel Popkin, SCIENCE NEWS, January 25, 2014, p. 18, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. In 2010, however, scientists analyzed data from the previous two decades and published a study questioning the correlation between sardine population growth and sea surface temperature. As a result, the council removed ocean temperature from the mathematical models they use to forecast sardine population growth. The council's decision frustrates George Sugihara, a theoretical biologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. In his view, the simulations that fishery scientists use to predict population changes and set quotas are fundamentally flawed. When constructing these models, scientists typically assume that a given population of fish will grow, reproduce and die at known rates for the rest of time. SK/N221.11) Gabriel Popkin, SCIENCE NEWS, January 25, 2014, p. 18, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. The simulations can include environmental variables like sea surface temperature, but mostly rely on what scientists know about the biology of individual fish species. As a result, the predictions these models make don't reflect the dynamic complexity of the environment in which fish actually live, Sugihara [Scripps Institution of Oceanography] says. The simulations can't capture how a population's growth rate might change in response to the other fish species living in the ocean, for example, or to the amount of zooplankton, or to wind speeds or, for that matter, to fishing itself. He says "it's like trying to understand reality by just looking at one page" of a book. SK/N221.12) Gabriel Popkin, SCIENCE NEWS, January 25, 2014, p. 18, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Methods currently in use, Sugihara [Scripps Institution of Oceanography] thinks, are based on simplistic assumptions about nature and could make fished populations vulnerable to collapse. Nature is simply too complex, he argues, its connections too subtle, for human-made simulations to reproduce. As conservationist John Muir wrote in his 1911 book My First Summer in the Sierra, "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe." SK/N221.13) Gabriel Popkin, SCIENCE NEWS, January 25, 2014, p. 18, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. To put this wisdom into action, Sugihara[Scripps Institution of Oceanography] first has to convince the scientists who advise fishery managers that his techniques can work in real-world practice. While these scientists are intrigued by Sugihara's work, they are also hesitant to adopt methods that can seem, in the words of Alec MacCall, a senior ecologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who has collaborated with Sugihara, "almost magical." SK/N221.14) Gabriel Popkin, SCIENCE NEWS, January 25, 2014, p. 18, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. The upshot of nonlinearity is that seemingly disparate phenomena like ocean temperatures and fish populations can be connected even if they don't appear to be. As a result, you can't try to manage just one part of the environment as if it isn't being prodded and perturbed by everything around it, Sugihara[Scripps Institution of Oceanography] says. "It's kind of wishful thinking that the world is a stable place," he says. 4. FORECASTS ARE HIGHLY UNRELIABLE SK/N221.15) Gabriel Popkin, SCIENCE NEWS, January 25, 2014, p. 18, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. While banks can capitalize on a prediction of a stock's value minutes or even seconds in advance, fishery managers need projections for a species' population years out. Nonlinear time series analysis does a decent job of forecasting next year's population, and perhaps the one after that, but beyond two years, says NOAA's MacCall, "it's worthless." This is an especially serious limitation for managing long-lived species like rockfish, whose populations change over decades, not years. 5. MAXIMUM SUSTAINABLE YIELD IS A BOGUS GOAL SK/N221.16) Richard Degener, THE PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY, December 26, 2013, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. He [Nils Stolpe, commercial fishing industry spokesman] also questions the goal of getting every fish species to its highest levels, called maximum sustainable yield," or MSY, at once. "We need more flexibility, more ability for the managers to manage without being bound by unrealistic requirements, sometimes silly and damaging requirements. You can't get everything to MSY at once. You have a bunch of fish species in the same ecological niche. They eat the same stuff, when they aren't eating each other," Stolpe said. Stolpe cited the dogfish shark as one example. Regulations brought them to such high levels that they were blamed for eating everything else. SK/N221.17) Gabriel Popkin, SCIENCE NEWS, January 25, 2014, p. 18, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. But Sugihara believes the maximum sustainable yields that managers use are little more than guesswork. The models that spit them out rely on fish populations varying around a stable equilibrium, and that, says Sugihara, is a "fiction." In the real world, a sudden change in temperature or a drop in food supply could send a population on an entirely new trajectory. Especially with climate change likely to stress marine life in unpredictable ways, Sugihara [Scripps Institution of Oceanography] thinks fishing year after year to a theoretical (and scientifically questionable) maximum sustainable yield could easily tip a vulnerable population toward collapse. 6. ADOPTING NEW MANAGEMENT MODELS IS A PIPE DREAM SK/N221.18) Gabriel Popkin, SCIENCE NEWS, January 25, 2014, p. 18, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Despite these efforts, getting nonlinear time series analysis incorporated into actual practice has proven a slow and, for Sugihara [Scripps Institution of Oceanography], often frustrating process. A collaboration Sugihara has launched with Fisheries and Oceans Canada is just getting off the ground. Meanwhile, fishery scientists in the United States say they will need more time to convince managers that the technique is solid enough to base catch limits on. Not even Sugihara thinks nonlinear time series analysis will replace conventional linear models any time soon. "It's not like saying this guy has a better pickax, so forget this shovel," he says. "That's not something that's realistic." SK/N221.19) Gabriel Popkin, SCIENCE NEWS, January 25, 2014, p. 18, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Managers' conservative attitudes toward unproven methods is understandable, given the high stakes for people who fish for a living, says Fogarty [NOAA fishery scientist]. "People don't want their livelihoods used as an experiment." 7. SHORTER FISHING SEASONS ARE NOT A SOLUTION SK/N221.20) Matt Rand [Senior Director of Campaigns, Environmental Defense Fund’s Oceans Program], THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, March 25, 2013, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. True, shortening seasons can reduce overall pressure on stock. But history has shown that limited seasons are not always a long-term conservation solution - and cause problems for fishermen and fishing communities. While the fishing season is closed, fishermen can't earn a living. And shorter seasons can lead to a "race to fish." Fishermen try to catch as many fish as they can as quickly as possible. That risks unintentional overfishing, venturing out in dangerous weather, and tossing back fish - often dead - due to various rules. 8. REBUILDING FISH STOCKS TAKES MANY DECADES SK/N221.21) The Center for American Progress, US OFFICIAL NEWS, February 3, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. In its analysis of the National Academy of Sciences report, the conservation group Oceana pointed out that "of the 43 stocks under active rebuilding plans, 53 percent of these have rebuilding periods that exceed 10 years--some of them are as long as 32, 71, or even 96 years." 9. SOME FISH STOCKS MAY BE BEYOND SAVING SK/N221.22) The Center for American Progress, US OFFICIAL NEWS, February 3, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences backs up this concept with its finding that overfishing can push a fish population past a "tipping point"--a point after which rebuilding becomes virtually impossible. Download 0.49 Mb. Share with your friends:
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