IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature

Location: WWF, 1250 24th Street, NW, Washington DC 20037-1132

Location: National Audubon Society, 1150 Connecticut Ave NW #600, Washington DC 20036

Location: National Audubon Society 1150 Connecticut Ave., NW #600, Washington DC 20036

Guest presenters: Carl Gustaf Lundin (IUCN Head of Global Marine Programs), Dan Lafolley (WCPA-Marine), Mike Gill (Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program)
 

Bycatch in Pelagic Marine Fisheries: Eric Gilman, Marine Science Advisor for the IUCN (The World Conservation Union) Global Marine Programme, based in Honolulu, Hawaii, presented the state of international and regional initiatives and technological solutions to bycatch of some sensitive species groups in pelagic marine capture fisheries. His primary programme areas involve improved sustainability of marine capture fisheries and coastal ecosystem responses to climate change. He has been working in the coastal and marine science fields for over 15 years.

For more information, please contact Eric Gilman: egilman@utas.edu.au

Topics included in DCMC Meeting:
• Results of a recently completed review prepared for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on intergovernmental organizations’ initiatives to address seabird and sea turtle bycatch in marine capture fisheries
• State of knowledge for turtle avoidance in marine capture fisheries, from FAO’s in progress sea turtle technical guidelines;
• Results of research conducted in the Hawaii pelagic longline fisheries to reduce sea turtle, seabird and shark interactions
• Results of studies on cetacean and shark interaction in global pelagic longline fisheries

Additional updates:
IUCN’s Harlan Cohen on the Iron Fertilization Workshop hosted at Woods Hole and the High Seas Ocean Governance Workshop in NY.

Jennifer Palmer, Marine Program Officer, provided reminder updates for Barcelona Congress 2008 along with upcoming improvements to the DCMC listserv including a yahoo group account with online calendar, image, link and membership profile capabilities.

Next proposed DCMC meeting to be the 7 December 2007, with Carl Gustaf Lundin (IUCN), Dan Lafolley (WCPA-Marine), and Mike Gill (Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program).

Andrew Hurd, senior coordinator for the IUCN global marine program introduced the new IUCN Marine Program Coordinator for the DC office, Jennifer Palmer and gave an overview of the World Conservation Congress to be held in Barcelona, Spain (5-14 October 2008). Andrew also reviewed the draft IUCN marine program for 2009-2012 and the recent UNISPOLOS meeting on marine genetic resources.

For more information: http://www.iucn.org/congress/2008/congress.htm

Topics included in DCMC Meeting:

The World Conservation Congress will provide an opportunity for the world’s conservation community to discuss sustainable development challenges through a variety of side events from workshops and training courses to movies and exhibitions. Issues such as exhibit topics, cross cutting themes, and proposals for side events were among the many topics discussed.

The 2009-2012 IUCN global marine plan identifies 10 marine results IUCN will further refine in the next upcoming years:

• protecting marine areas
• conserving threatened species
• securing coastal livelihoods
• rationalizing sea uses
• improving industry practices
• improving marine ecosystem resilience
• ocean carbon sequestration
• testing new approaches to high seas conservation and management
• strengthening and harmonizing ocean related agreements

For more information on the 2009-2012 IUCN marine plan, please contact Jennifer Palmer:: jpalmer@iucnus.org

Harlan Cohen, advisor on ocean governance issues gave a brief overview of the UNICPOLOS 8 informal consultative process on marine genetic resources. The focus of the meeting was on marine genetic resources from micro-organisms and some macro organisms (ex: Sponges) but not on those found in fish or marine mammals. No agreed consensual elements were formed for the outcome of the meeting largely due to the fact that some states were of the opinion that marine genetic resources were common heritage to mankind or subject to the regime established by the International Seabed Authority in areas beyond National jurisdiction, while other states believed the such resources in areas beyond National jurisdiction were subject to High Seas Freedoms.

For more information on the meeting on marine genetic resources please contact: Harlan Cohen: hcohen@iucnus.org
 

IUCN US participated in Capital Hill Oceans Week 2007, the first week of June, in an effort to raise awareness of its Global Marine Program. Sponsored by National Marine Sanctuaries Foundation, stakeholders and speakers from Members of Congress, representatives of federal and state governments, industry, academia and nonprofit organizations gathered to discuss current ocean and coastal issues for the three days leading up to World Oceans Day. IUCN US was able to raise awareness and increase participation for the DC Marine Community- an initiative to increase collaboration among people working on marine issues in Washington. Over thirty new people joined the DC Marine Community listserv at CHOW in order to become more connected with other members of industry, government, academia, and NGO’s working on marine issues in the DC area.

For CHOW website information: http://nmsfocean.org/chow2007/index.html

CHOW Summary:

On the upcoming legislative agenda for the 110th Congress are several important ocean issues. The re-authorized Magnuson Stevenson Act which promises to end overfishing and implement ecosystem based management will need to be fully implemented this session. The Coastal Zone Management Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Coral Reef Conservation Act all need to be re-authorized. These acts include such controversial issues as offshore energy, acoustics and marine mammals, and user conflicts. The Coral Reef Conservation Act’s potential re-authorization would also include a portion on marine debris, vessel groundings, and reducing threat and injury to coral reefs. Climate change will play a large role in legislation involving the ocean with such issues as ocean acidification, global warming, coral bleaching and disease. Ratifying the Law of the Sea Convention will be another contentious issue for this Congress. Amy Carroll from the House Committee on Science and Technology, Jean Flemma from the House Committee on Natural Resources, and Amy Frankel from the Senate Commerce Committee were in attendance for this session.

The Ecosystem-based Management session was well attended by all stakeholders, as well as Representative Wayne Gilchrest from Maryland. Congressman Gilchrest, senior member on the House Natural Resources Committee, serves on the subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Oceans. NOAA is aiming to put into practice an ecosystem-based approach to management of the ocean’s resources. Zoning was a controversial issue, as several industry stakeholders voiced concerns over how it was going to be accomplished. An important issue for NOAA, as voiced through several stakeholders, involved the definition of an ecosystem and of the ecosystem baseline, that would be used to make management decisions. IUCN’s publication, The Ecosystem Approach: Five Steps to Implementation, could serve as a rough outline for how NOAA could implement ecosystem based management as the publication provides a strategy for the integrated management of land, water, and living resources, that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way. Through various case studies, IUCN addresses determining stakeholders and defining the ecosystem area as one of its five steps. Two other steps- ecosystem structure, function and management and economic issues- are also addressed through case studies and are important not only to conservation of terrestrial resources but also marine. The final two steps- adaptive management over space and adaptive management over time-coincide with NOAA’s future management efforts. Based on the comments made at this session of Capital Hill Oceans Week, IUCN has a unique opportunity to assist NOAA with its ecosystem based approach to marine resource management.
 

This meeting focussed on a range of tools and approaches for ocean outreach and improving marine literacy.

The panel of speakers:
• Mike Sutton – Director, Center for the Future of the Oceans, Monterey Bay Aquarium
• Nancy Hotchkiss and Glenn Page - Director of Education and Director of Conservation (respectively), National Aquarium in Baltimore
• Melanie Janin - Senior Communications Advisor, SeaWeb
• Barbara Chow - VP for Education and Children's Programs, National Geographic
• Amie Brautigam – IUCN Species Survival Commission/marine and Perry Institute for Marine Science
 

Informal brownbag presentation by Dr. Terry Donaldson (Senior Scientist at the University of Guam Marine Laboratory and chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Coral Reef Fish Specialist Group) on progress with the Global Assessment of Reef Fishes (GARF), a project aiming to evaluate all coral reef fishes for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.