Coasts under threat, fisheries vulnerable: U.N.

Reuters 4 Jun 08;

ROME (Reuters) - High food prices may add pressure for more fishing along coasts where the environment faces threats from pollution and climate change, a U.N. University report said on Wednesday.

It said 40 percent of all people lived within 50 km (30 miles) of coasts and that governments needed to work out better policies to safeguard resources.

"The decline is terminal, unless we introduce much more effective management immediately," said the study by the university's International Network on Water, Environment and Health (INWEH).

"This is one more voice added to the chorus about how bad the situation for the world's coasts is," Peter Sale, INWEH assistant director, told Reuters. Fixing the problems "do not mean spending more money but spending it more wisely".

High prices for foods such as wheat and rice may mean people press for more fishing, he said. A conclusion in the report said "management of fisheries is failing".

"Even in a developing country that critically needs more food it is better to have a management system in place that means they have some fish rather than none at all," he said.

The study said world fish catches peaked in the late 1980s with larger species, such as tuna and swordfish, being progressively fished out.

A U.N. summit in Rome from June 3-5 is considering ways to defuse a world food crisis which threatens up to 1 billion people with hunger, caused by factors including rising populations, high oil prices and a shift to biofuels.

"Coastal marine systems have declined progressively in recent decades due to the growth of human populations and their demands on the marine environment and resources," the report said. "Bays and estuaries, sea grasses, and mangroves and wetlands have suffered dramatically in the past 50 years."

Run-off from fertilizers were adding to "dead zones" along the coasts and corals could be under threat from warmer oceans.

The U.N. climate panel projected last year that world sea levels will rise by between 18 and 59 cm (7-23 inches) this century due to heat-trapping emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels that are melting ice sheets.

(Editing by Elizabeth Piper))

UN report: Coastal communities face disaster
Paul Eccleston, The Telegraph 4 Jun 08;

Entire marine ecosystems are threatened because of human mismanagement, according to the UN academic study.

It warns of a looming, potentially "terminal" disaster in several coastal areas unless they are given better care.

The UN University's Canadian-based International Network on Water, Environment and Health claims current management methods are a recipe for disaster for the 40 per cent of all people who live within 50 km of fast-growing coastal areas,

In the past 50 years bays and estuaries, sea grasses, and mangroves and wetlands have all suffered dramatically because of human activity, the report states.

Shorelines have hardened, channels and harbours have been dredged, soil dumped, submerged and emergent land moved, and patterns of water flow changed.

The problem was being compounded by climate change which had led to some scientists predicting the total disappearance of coral reefs in some parts of the world.

By 2050, the report claims, more than 90 per cent of the world's coastlines will have been affected by development, much of it poorly planned, with a resulting knock-on effect on the ocean.

The report identified the biggest threats as coming from:
# Large scale agriculture and the overuse of nitrates leading to offshore 'dead-zones'.

# Pollution and the arrival of destructive invasive species as a result of shipping and commerce.

# Ill-planned tourism in ecologically sensitive areas that caused irreversible damage.

# Development that disrupts marine environments and ecosystems.

# Over-fishing of coastal and pelagic stocks which had far reaching consequences for economies and ecosystems.

The report's lead author Peter Sale, said: "Important ecological processes that sustain coastal ecosystems are impeded by our careless alterations of coastal habitats - fisheries decline, water quality deteriorates and so does human health and quality of life."

The report acknowledged the efforts being made by some countries and environmental groups to halt the destruction but they were often too short to have a lasting effect and were hampered by poor co-ordination.

It described a great majority of the world's 4,600 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) covering 1.4 per cent of the global coastal shelf area, as "paper parks" - legal creations that weren't based on scientific understanding of ecosystem protection and with little regulatory enforcement.

The report called for a "transparent and holistic approach" to coastal management which would help improve the acceptance of difficult decisions, such as the need to cut the number of fish caught.

The authors concluded: "We believe that use of scientific and traditional knowledge, together with better understanding of the economic value of healthy coastal ecosystems, can help change the political discourse that eventually determines societal pressures.

"Although the situation is dire, there is reason for hope. Our understanding of the ecological functioning of the coastal ocean is quite good, and we have a basic kit of useful management tools at our disposal.

"Good examples of well-managed coastal environments, and sustainably harvested coastal fisheries occur around the world. The reversal of negative trends and the improvement of water quality in some areas indicate that decline of coastal ecosystems is neither inevitable nor always irreversible."

"None of these steps are impossible, but taking them will require a major commitment to change."