Sustaining Aquatic Biodiversity

1. Sustaining Aquatic Biodiversity By Steven Snider and Connor Hall

2. Vocabulary • Commercial Extinction: Depletion of the population of a wild species used as a resource to a level at which it is no longer profitable to harvest the species. • Drift-Net Fishing: Catching fish in huge nets that drift in the water. • Overfishing: Harvesting so many fish of a species, especially immature fish, that not enough breeding stock is left to replenish the species and it becomes unprofitable to harvest them.

3. Objective 1 • What do we know about aquatic biodiversity and what is its economic and ecological importance? • The greatest marine biodiversity occurs in coral reefs, estuaries and the deep ocean floor. • Biodiversity is higher near the coast and surface because of habitat and food source variety. • Aquatic biodiversity yields important ecological and economic services.

4. Objective 2 • How are human activities affecting aquatic biodiversity? • Human activities have destroyed, disrupted or degraded a large proportion of the world’s coastal, marine and freshwater ecosystems. • Approximately 20% of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed. • We have destroyed more the 1/3 of the world’s mangrove forests for shipping lanes.

5. Objective 3 • How can we protect and sustain marine biodiversity? • Create laws, international treaties, and education can help reduce the premature extinction of marine species. • Decrease human ecological footprint. • Stop incorrectly viewing the oceans as an inexhaustible resource. • Do not introduce invasive species to foreign habitats.

6. Objective 4 • How can we manage and sustain the world’s marine fisheries? • Communities must regulate fish harvests on their own and others work with the government to regulate them. • Set catch limits well below the maximum sustainable yield. • Establish no-fishing areas. • Label sustainably harvested fish. • Sharply reduce or eliminate fishing subsidies.

7. Objective 5 • How can we protect, sustain, and restore wetlands? • Requiring government permits for filling or destroying U.S. wetlands. • Steer development away from existing wetlands. • Use mitigation banking only as a last resort. • Require creation and evaluation of a new wetland before destroying an existing wetland.

8. Objective 6 • How can we protect, sustain, and restore lakes, rivers, and freshwater fisheries? • Prevent introduction of nonnative species. • Limit the creation of new dams. • Build and protect populations of desirable species. • Prevent over-fishing. • Decrease populations of less desirable species.