Our Ocean Week

I’m Peter Neill, Director of the World Ocean Observatory. The week of June 16, 2014 may be a turning point for ocean issues in the United States and the international community. Convened by the U.S. State Department, policymakers, ocean scientists, thought leaders, entrepreneurs, environmentalists, and philanthropists from nearly 90 countries – as well as viewers from around the world – joined Secretary of State John Kerry a week-long Our Ocean Conference. Participants announced new partnerships and initiatives [valued at over $1.8 billion] as well as new commitments on the protection of more than 3 million square kilometers of the ocean, an area roughly the size of India. Here is a list of announcements, according to the final Summary Report. • President Obama announced a commitment to protect some of the most precious U.S. marine landscapes. The Administration will immediately consider how it might expand protections near the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument in the south-central Pacific Ocean, which contains some of the most pristine tropical marine environments in the world. • President Tong of Kiribati announced the decision of his government to ban commercial fishing in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area – over
400,000 square kilometers or roughly the size of California –
as of January 2015. • President Remengesau of Palau described a proposed new National Marine Sanctuary that would cover most of Palau’s exclusive economic zone – an area almost 500,000 square kilometers or nearly two times the size of New Zealand. • Leonardo DiCaprio pledged through his foundation $7 million to meaningful ocean conservation projects over the next 2 years. • Elizabeth Wright-Koteka and Kevin Iro of the Cook Islands announced their nation’s intent to phase in the expansion of the Cook Islands Marine Park to cover the entire exclusive economic zone of the Cook Islands, starting with a “no commercial fishing zone” out to 50 miles. • Sir David King of the United Kingdom announced an upcoming public process to consider
establishing a marine conservation zone covering most of the exclusive economic area of the Pitcairn Islands – an area roughly 830,000 square kilometers, greater than three times the size of the United Kingdom. • Kenred Dorsett of The Bahamas announced additional marine protected areas to be
created by the end of 2014, bringing The Bahamas’ existing network of marine protected areas to at least 10 percent of its near-shore marine environment. With regard to Promoting Sustainable Fisheries: • President Obama announced a comprehensive new national program on seafood transparency and traceability that will enable U.S. consumers to know that the seafood they buy has been harvested legally and sustainably. • Norway will allocate more than 150 million dollars to promote fisheries development and management abroad, including the building of a third research vessel to train fisheries experts and managers from around the world. • The United States launched a public-private partnership with mFish a new initiative to provide mobile devices to small-scale
fishers in developing nations with apps designed to access market and weather information and more easily report catches to fisheries management. • Foreign Minister Dussey of Togo announced a new agreement between Togo, Benin, Ghana, and Nigeria to combat illegal fishing in their area of West Africa. • Ted Waitt of the Waitt Foundation announced “Fish Forever” – a commitment of $2.5 million over five years in collaboration with RARE, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the University of California Santa Barbara to help communities manage fisheries sustainably. • With several governments at the conference willing to ratify the Port State Measures Agreement, we will soon be more than halfway toward entry into force of this ground-breaking new treaty that aims to prevent illegally harvested fish from entering the stream of commerce. 
 With regard to Reducing Marine Pollution: • The United States announced the Trash Free Waters program to stop trash and debris from entering the ocean, through sustainable product design, increased material recovery and reuse, and a nationwide trash prevention ethic. • Daniella Russo announced the Think Beyond Plastic Innovation Forum to advance entrepreneurship and to inspire innovations to reduce global plastic pollution. • Norway will allocate up to $1 million for a study on measures to combat marine plastic waste and microplastics. With regard to ocean acidification: • The United States announced an investment of more than $9 million over three years to sustain ocean acidification observing capability through the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network. • The United States announced new projects through the International Atomic Energy Agency totaling $1.24 million to meet the challenges of ocean acidification and
marine pollution in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the
Caribbean. • The United States announced new funding for a joint
initiative with Canada and Mexico to catalogue North
American coastal habitats such as mangroves, sea
grass beds, and salt marshes – that capture and hold carbon. With regard to Mapping and an Understanding of the Ocean: • The United States announced the activation of two new ocean research vessels providing a new generation of scientists with cutting-edge technology. • And Lynne Hale of The Nature Conservancy announced a three-year effort to Map the Ocean’s Wealth, with a $3.8 million lead investment from the Lyda Hill Foundation, to quantify and map key ecosystem services that the ocean provides. There were many other announcements as well. It was in fact an astonishing experience. One amazing ocean week. Maybe we’re getting somewhere at last. We will discuss these issues, and more, in future editions of World Ocean Radio.