Policy Solutions: Fact Sheets

All Fact Sheets Tagged overfishing

America’s Underwater Parks
The Marine Life Protection Act Safeguards Our Special Undersea Places

Fact Sheet

More than 130 years ago, the United States began to protect our most treasured areas on land by creating National Parks. It is now time to extend that same crucial protection to special marine areas by creating parks and wilderness reserves, called marine protected areas, in our oceans. The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) is creating a network of marine protected areas off California’s coast to sustain and revitalize the rich web of ocean life. Get document in pdf.

Healthy Oceans Need Smart Planning

Fact Sheet

We demand a lot from our oceans -- from fishing and tourism, to shipping and energy development. These human uses and the environmental needs of the sea have been governed haphazardly -- overseen by more than 140 laws and 20 agencies, each with different goals and often conflicting mandates. But our oceans and coasts are stressed from problems like pollution, depleted fish populations, dying coral, endangered species, warmer temperatures and ocean acidification. If not carried out wisely, growing industrial use of these waters will lead to “ocean sprawl,” further threatening the health of our valuable marine resources and jeopardizing the food, jobs and recreation our oceans provide. By planning ahead for our human needs from the sea we can reduce conflicts and keep ocean waters and life healthy. Get document in pdf.

Cabo Pulmo: Protecting Baja California's Thriving Coral Reef from Massive Tourism Development

Fact Sheet

Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park, at the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, is home to the only living hard coral reef in the Gulf of California. Teeming with marine life, it is one of the healthiest marine reserves in the world. But Spanish developer Hansa Urbana plans to build a colossal tourism and real estate complex right next door, which would devastate the park's fragile ecosystem. To protect the reef and its marine life, NRDC is partnering with local and international groups in a multi-faceted campaign to stop Hansa Urbana and create a sustainable, long-term development plan for the area. Get document in pdf.

Science-Based Catch Limits Are Essential To Healthy Fisheries

Fact Sheet

Chronic overfishing has diminished the nation's fisheries for decades, at great economic and ecological costs. In 2006, a bipartisan majority in Congress took action to require fishery managers to set science-based annual catch limits (ACLs) to prevent overfishing, and accountability measures (AMs) to ensure fishermen stay within those limits. After years of efforts, and in time for the 2011 statutory deadline, fishery managers and their scientific advisors are now on the cusp of implementing these measures in every federal fishery in the country. As they approach the finish line, the Fisheries Science Improvement Act (H.R. 2304), has been introduced in Congress to weaken these requirements. Supporters of H.R. 2304 are promoting the legislation with false claims about the inadequacy of fisheries science to implement ACLs. Failure to implement science-based catch limits would derail efforts to stop overfishing and rebuild depleted fish populations to healthy levels. Get document in pdf.

New York State's Strained Ocean Resources
Commercially and culturally vital, New York's shorelines, beaches and fisheries are in trouble.

Fact Sheet

Healthy, diverse ocean ecosystems are an important part of New York's coastal heritage and economic well-being. Yet these ocean systems are severely strained from pollution, destruction of productive marine habitat, and overfishing.