Fish length A LITTLE up, so what...

Heavily fished oceans [1]

Integrity of marine ecosystems can be measured by average size of fish.

Therefore governments gather data on that feature all over the world knowing that a large portion of marine biomass is extracted by fishing. In may parts of the world ocean that share exceeds 30%. Many fish get caught before being mature. Thus the reproduction of fish populations gets brutally truncated!

One of the main indicator for the northern North Sea is average size of fish. It is based on the largest data set available and refers to an area heavily fished that still is trying to recover from lasting heavy over-exploitation. 

The "UK Biodiversity Indicators in Your Pocket 2011" [*] reports for large fish, thus equal to or larger than 40 cm: In in the northern North Sea the proportion of ) dropped 1982 to 2009 from about 15-20% in early 1980-ties to about 5% in 1995,  and since.  

Haddock

 Large fluctuations in numbers between years are features of the size of North Sea fish populations, but changes in the size structure of fish populations and communities reflect changes in the health of the fish community. Thus not quite healthy change if the proportion of large fish in the Northern North Sea fell from around 15 per cent by weight of the fish community in 1982 to a low of two per cent in 2001 and was around seven per cent in 2009.  

Haddock

What to do? Don't eat small fish!  Know the size, and say no to buy small  fish.

Haddock in the North Sea should have an average length of more than 30 cm length to have a population of mainly mature fish, ready to repoduce.

Now, in 2009 only some large Haddock are at that size - one out of ten. Sorry your food is gone!  

Martin.Mundusmaris@gmail.com
info@mundusmaris.org

[*] http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/BIYP_2011.pdf

[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-end-of-fish-in-one-chart/2012/05/19/gIQAgcIBbU_blog.html?fb_ref=NetworkNews

These Phototrophs, I love them so much...

Polished Stromatolite made
by cyanobacteria [**]

In the oceans, ubiquitous microscopic organisms,  the phytoplankton,  account for approximately half the production of organic matter on Earth. These organisms -  phototrophs [*], initially a kind of bacteria and later then algae -  are key for producing oxygen at earth. Since more than 3 Billion years they  are blubbering away -  causing around 2.4 billion years ago the Oxygen Catastrophe. The Oxygen Catastrophe, also called the  Great Oxygenation Event,  marks the transition to an atmosphere with abundant free oxygen to breath.

Phototrophs were producing oxygen already a little of 600 Million years before causing the  Oxygen Catastrophe. However, initially organic matter and dissolved iron captured any free oxygen then these became saturated [%]. The excess free oxygen started to accumulate in the atmosphere. This rising oxygen levels have wiped out a huge portion of the Earth's anaerobic inhabitants at the time. Thus Cyanobacteria, by producing oxygen that was toxic to anaerobic organisms, were essentially responsible for what was likely the largest extinction event in Earth's history, but opening the path to live as we know it. And still today we relying today on these ubiquitous microscopic organisms,  the phytoplankton. 

Analyses of satellite-derived phytoplankton concentration, which are available since 1979, have indicated that phytoplankton concentrations fluctuate over decades and may be linked to climate forcing. Historical records of ocean transparency measurements and direct chlorophyll observations show time dependence of phytoplankton biomass at local, regional and global scales since 1899 Phytoplankton biomass seems to decline in several ocean regions  [1].  Inter-annual phytoplankton biomass fluctuations are superimposed on long-term trends. These fluctuations being correlated with basin-scale climate indices, whereas long-term declining trends are related to increasing sea surface temperatures.The global rate of decline seems to be ~1% of the global median  phytoplankton biomass per year. Such a decline of oxygen producers or food producers would need to be considered for geochemical cycling and fisheries. It is going well beyond local phenomena, such as  seasonal oxygen deficits that are observed to occur more frequently. 

Seasonal oxygen deficits in coastal ecosystems  already today represents  an acute perturbation to ecological dynamics and fishery sustainability  [2]. Its known that anthropogenic nutrient loading has increased the frequency and severity of  oxygen deficits  in  semi-enclosed seas such as the Baltic.  Also in some parts of the better mixed North Sea summer oxygen levels are declining  to critical values, probably because of ocean warming and the decay of photosynthetic blooms that form as a result of nutrient influx [3].  Historical data over the last century highlight an increase in seasonal oxygen depletion and a warming over the past 20 years.  In 2010, dissolved oxygen in central North Sea  came close to ecological critical values [#] that, if reached, would require management action under the European Union's Water Framework Directive.   

This image shows cold water up-welling near the coast of Peru
(purple) and joining the South Equatorial Current, which flows
westward across the Pacific Ocean. This MODIS SST image
from January 1-8, 2001 shows the ocean in normal conditions,
Credit: NASAaption

Oxygen deficits in open-coast up-welling systems reflects ocean conditions that control the delivery of oxygen-poor and nutrient-rich deep water onto continental shelves. Up-welling systems support a large proportion of the world's fisheries. Therefore understanding how changes in ocean climate lead to  up-welling-driven oxygen deficits  is critical; even for getting the "blame" right in a sensitive region", such as Persian Gulf.

When large numbers of fish began dying off the northern coast of Oman in the Persian Gulf in late August 2000, the local media reported that the deaths were due to the release of contaminated ballast water from a U.S. tanker visiting the area. Red tide blooms are a common phenomenon in the coastal waters of Oman. Thus Omani authorities feared that a toxic algal bloom was killing the fish, raising concerns about health and food security for their nation's fishing industry. Neither seemed true, using data from two NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites, a team of researchers demonstrated that the fish kill was due to environmental changes that severely reduced the oxygen content of the surface waters   [4, ##].

Thus, these ubiquitous microscopic bubbling organisms,  the phytoplankton, play their role. They are key for producing oxygen at earth, since more than 3 Billion years.  They are key for food. Their decline or absence, nothing to like for.

Martin.Mundusmaris@gmail.com
info@mundusmaris.org

Modern stromatolites off the eastern coast of Australia.

[*] Phototrophs are organisms that gain the energy to run their metabolism from sunlight; most but are fixing carbon to build their tissues. 

[**, adapted from Wikipedia] Stromatolites are layered structures formed in shallow water by the trapping, binding and cementation of sedimentary grains by biofilms of micro-organisms, especially Cyanobacteria. Stromatolites provide some of the most ancient records of life on Earth.


[%; from 5]  Research published recently indicates that earth's output of "...reduction in volcanic gases brought about by a drop in mantle-melt intensity was an important precursor to oxygenation."

[#; adapted from [3]] A hydrographic survey in August 2010 mapped the spatial extent of summer oxygen depletion. Typical near-bed dissolved oxygen saturations in the stratified regions of the North Sea were 75–80 % while the well-mixed regions of the southern North Sea reached 90 %. Two regions of strong thermal stratification, the area between the Dooley and Central North Sea Currents and the area known as the Oyster Grounds, had oxygen saturations as low as 65 and 70 % (200 and 180 μmol dm−3) respectively. Low dissolved oxygen was apparent in regions characterised by low advection, high stratification, elevated organic matter production from the spring bloom and a deep chlorophyll maximum.

SeaWiFS captured this image of a dust storm over the
Arabian Peninsula on May 3, 1999

[##; adapted from [4]] Omani scientists know the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea contain oxygen-poor water at depths of about 100 meters  below the surface. This oxygen-poor layer is due to the fact that the whole northern Arabian Sea is so highly productive. Strong winds often sweep iron-rich desert dust out over the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea where much of it settles into the ocean. The iron contained in the dust effectively fertilizes biological productivity in the ocean's surface waters. Phytoplankton under the right conditions have the capacity to “bloom,” into exponentially large numbers in a matter of days. Over time, these biota die at the surface and begin to sink to the bottom as detritus. As this detritus sinks it decays, thereby using up oxygen in the water column. The Arabian Sea has one of the thickest oxygen-depleted layers of ocean water found anywhere in the world. Sometimes, due to shifts in the overlying wind field, these deep oxygen-poor waters upwell to the surface. So, ironically, the very reason that Oman’s fish reserves are the largest in the world also indirectly leads to periodic mass fish kills. Satellite imagery gave an indication that there was indeed an up-welling event along the coast of Oman. Remotely-sensed sea surface temperature data showed that cool up welled water appeared at the surface along the Batinah coast as early as August 21, 2000, reaching coolest temperatures by the time of the peak of the fish kill on September 4, 2000.

[1] Daniel G. Boyce, Marlon R. Lewis & Boris Worm;  Nature 466, 591–596 (29 July 2010) 
[2] Brian A. Grantham, Francis Chan, Karina J. Nielsen, David S. Fox, John A. Barth, Adriana Huyer, Jane Lubchenco & Bruce A. Menge; Nature 429, 749-754 (17 June 2004) |
[3] Bastien Y. Queste, Liam Fernand, Timothy D. Jickells und Karen J. Heywood, Biogeochemistry, 2012, DOI: 10.1007/s10533-012-9729-9
[4]  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/oman/
[5] http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/4779/how-the-ground-altered-the-air

Just back again – and friends are there too

Gray whale

Some 800,000 years ago - about the time early human tribes were learning to make fire – a tiny species of plankton called Neodenticula seminae went extinct in the North Atlantic. Now, that microscopic plant has come back again. It drifted into North Atlantic from the Pacific through the Arctic Ocean.

The melting Arctic has opened a passage across the Pole for the tiny algae. And while it's a food source, it isn't being welcomed because it could change the marine food web.

The tiny marine plant's migration is paired with the arrival of a Pacific gray whale, spotted last year off the coasts of Spain and Israel. Gray whale vanished from the Atlantic three centuries ago, likely because of over-hunting.  

Neodenticula seminae off  Iceland

Other phytoplankton species, known as dinoflagellates, are moving steadily eastward across the Atlantic towards Scandinavia. That is looking less innocent then Neodenticula seminae because many dinoflagellates are harmful. Their bloom affects other marine creatures.

Jellyfish too are increasing in the northeast Atlantic, often forming massive blooms. Outbreaks of venomous warm-water jellyfish, Pelagia noctiluca a gluttonous predator of juvenile fish, have become an annual event, forcing the closing of beaches.

Rootmouth jellyfish

Simple changes in temperature mean some species are no longer available when their predators need them. Off Northwest Europe, the warming trend has led to earlier spawning of cod, while phytoplankton have kept their traditional biological schedule. The result is a mismatch between the cod's larval and its food. The impacts of such changes remain difficult to assess. The web of life in the oceans is complex. Some impacts will combine to magnify their effects on ocean life; others might neutralize each other; or marine life might alter abruptly. [*]

Martin.Mundusmaris@gmail.com

info@mundusmaris.org

[*] after press release of project “Climate Change and European Marine Ecosystem Research” www.clamer.eu

Just a little time ago...

It's just a little time ago, when sea life was bursting. The long-lasting “Proterozoic” had came to its end, after about two billion (2.000.000.000) years. Modern “Phanerozoic” times had started – just about five-hundred-forty million (540.000.000) years ago, and marine life made a giant leap. Previously, sea life already had left its traces on planet earth. Now more complex life forms, plants and animals, got ready to proliferate, first in the sea and then on land.

For the record, some dramatic events had happened: marine alga/bacteria-like life had oxygenated the atmosphere, several global glaciations have passed freezing the sea, and evolution of abundant soft-bodied multicellular organisms had taken place in the sea – but no fish, no shell-fish, no corals, no whales, just vigorously living jelly-stuff.

 Wayne Ranney  embraces the Great Unconformity
in Blacktail Canyon,
From blog: written-in-stone-seen-through-my-lens

Then, at the transition between the "Proterozoic" and "Phanerozoic", diversification of multicellular animals happens. Acquisition of mineralized skeletons, which get preserved more easily in the sediments, mark that step. The geological record shows a transition, the “Great Unconformity”. First trilobites and reef building animals such as corals appear; first appearance of a complex feeding burrows; first appearance of small, armored 'shelly fauna'. At their base crystalline rocks; the “Great Unconformity” represent a unique physical environmental transition.  

Global seawater chemistry changed during a time of profound expansion of shallow marine habitats. The marine sediments [1] record both an expansion of shallow continental shelf seas and a different pattern of chemical sedimentation.

Beast from Cambrian Sea

Oceanic alkalinity had increase and chemical weathering of continental crust had enhanced. These geochemical changes reflect a wast period of extensive continental erosion and physical reworking of soil and basement rock. A continental-scale marine transgression is observed. Increase input of silicates from the continents and lower solubility of calcareous minerals in the sea are favourable for the evolution of shells and skeletons. Massive marine sedimentary deposits form in shallow seas, bursting of new forms of life; the Cambrian explosion [2].

Pauline Lim - The Great Unconformity
(with her permission [4])

The stratigraphic surface, which separates (often) continental crystalline rock from much younger Cambrian shallow marine sedimentary deposits, is known as the Great Unconformity; its formation “may have been an environmental trigger for the evolution of bio-mineralization and the ‘Cambrian explosion’ of ecologic and biodiversity following the... emergence of animals" [3].

Martin.Mundusmaris@gmail.com
info@mundusmaris.org

p.s. Seeing the article [3] by Peters and Gaines in NATURE caused the desire to share it in context of Maris Mundus, to illustate an other aspects of the enormous treasure the sea is. My text is built on their abstract. I hope that simplifying the matter did not distort their idea. For some related reading, also about bio-mineralisation see: http://io9.com/multicellular-organism/

[1] deposited approximately 540–480 Million years ago

[2] from Wikipedia: The Cambrian explosion or Cambrian radiation was the relatively rapid appearance (over a period of many millions of years), around 530 million years ago, of most major animal phyla, as demonstrated in the fossil record, accompanied by major diversification of organisms including animals, phytoplankton, and calcimicrobes. Before about 580 million years ago, most organisms were simple, composed of individual cells occasionally organized into colonies. Over the following 70 or 80 million years the rate of evolution accelerated by an order of magnitude (as defined in terms of the extinction and origination rate of species) and the diversity of life began to resemble that of today.

[3] Formation of the ‘Great Unconformity’ as a trigger for the Cambrian explosion; Shanan E. Peters & Robert R. Gaines http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v484/n7394/full/nature10969.html; for further reading: http://www.physicstoday.org/daily_edition/down_to_earth/mind_the_gap or http://phys.org/news/2012-04-great-unconformity-evidence-geologic-trigger.html

[4] http://www.paulinelim.net/071102Pages/GreatUnconformity.html

Giant swirl, tiny swirl - the dancing sea

Simulation of oil spread by Gulf Stream

Giant swirl, big swirl, tiny swirl - the ocean is full of these. Their dance carries heat, salt, nutrients, plankton, pollutants, debris ... all over the globe.

It's about fifty years ago that marine scientists, oceanographers started to find out about these swirly movements (geostrophic turbulence [1]) hundred and fifty  years after they started to map the big persistent current at the east coast of North America, the Gulf Stream. Most ocean currents look much different then this big stream of water, which is moving steadily across the widths of the sea.

 [1] "Geostrophic trubrulence is the chaotic, non-linear motion of fluids that are near the state of geostrophic and hydrostatic balance." (Peter B. Rhines 1979, Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics Vol. 11: 401-441)

There are several of these visible streams out there; they are powerful and dramatic – be it the Gulf Stream in the Northern Atlantic or the Kuroshio (黒潮 "Black Tide") in the North Pacific. These currents, focused by an effect of the rotation of the earth stting the geostrophic balance, are mainly found at the east coasts of the continents moving poleward, and are the western branch auf the giant swirl covering the width of the ocean basin. In general the ocean water movements are  much more like a wavy drift of swirly  They may be persisting rings of the Agulhas Current shed off south of Cape Hope or they are just transient features, sometimes forming more or less repetitive patterns. 

Dust plume off the Sahara desert over the Atlantic Ocean.
SeaWiFS satellite picture 

The ocean is agitated as we feel and know it from the atmospheres. Storms, winds, breezes, gusts we know. They come with ever changing directions. They carry leaves, dust, smell or pollution over wide distances. Dust from the Sahara can be found over the North Atlantic far off the African coast.   The sea is the same, to a fair degree – a bit more gentle, a bit less up and down. Flows are more in the horizontal plane. Some swirls, Gulf Stream Rings, are persistent and mighty like storm systems in the atmosphere.  Other swirls are short-lived, transient and fade away. 

Plankton bloom in the Baltic Sea
(Satellite picture published by BBC 23rd July 2010) 

If conditions are right; river inflow of tannin fresh water or phytoplankton blooms render these swirls visible, even the tiny ones. Modern observation techniques, satellites and floats allow to measure them and to show the dance of the giant swirls, big swirls, and tiny swirls.

Often a swirl is are made of water having a slightly different composition, salinity, temperature or nutrients then the neighbouring swirl. This  then may go together with different marine life  [*], which often flourishes best at the border zone between swirls.   

Recently NASA has given the public a fascinating, realistic show (Video) of the surface currents of the world ocean – an global sea full of giant swirls, big swirls, tiny swirls of overwhelming beauty; modern computers rendered this animated show technical feasible [2]. These swirly currents carry water, salt, heat, debris, pollution... over the globe, from one swirl to the next. These swirly movements may dilute, but often they carry substances over wide distances and gather them in places, if the conditions are right.  Thus floating plastic debris are found accumulated in the mid of the ocean or are carried over the width of the Pacific  [**], as shown by the sneaker drift .

[2] NASA "This visualization shows ocean surface currents around the world during the period from June 2005 through December 2007. The visualization does not include a narration or annotations; the goal was to use ocean flow data to create a simple, visceral experience"

The East Anglian plume an
 sediments along the shoreline  of Belgium and Holland.

River outflow follows closely the coast, bringing nutrients that may support coastal ecosystems and fishing grounds. The river outflow may mark coastal seas with sediments, or in worst conditions lay a band of pollution along the coast.

Mixing in the sea is slow, slower as one believes seeing the waves hitting the shore. The stabilizing effects of earth rotation and topography keep waters together in bands and swirls, so that there distinct constituencies are kept.  The outflow of radionuclide of the nuclear wast processing plants in France (Le Hague) and UK (Sellaflield) can be traced following the European coast [***] up into the Baltic Sea .  

Pollutants coming down Thames, Rhine and Elbe river goes north and is found in the Arctic waters of the Barents Sea. Among those pollutants are PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls), which are causing reproduction problems in ice bears. These chemical substances discharged into the river water in small quantities, get accumulated in marine life, from plankton to seals. Finally, going up the food-chain, they end in ice bears or humans, which are hunting and eating seals or Arctic fish.

Deep layers of salty water flowing out of the Mediterranean Sea move north along the European shelf break finally into the Greenland Sea. The salt it brings to the Sub-Arctic from the Mediterranean ease the winterly formation of deep water at the surfcae. When the sea is cooled at the surface and freezing sets in then the sea surface water gets heavy and may dive kilometre deep to the bottom of the sea leaving heat and plastic debris at the surface but carrying heat, salt, oxygene and pollutants into the depth of the Ocean. Form there the dance of giant swirl, big swirl and tiny swirl - now in the interior and depth of the sea but as like as at the surface - carry heat, salt, oxygene and polutants around the globe; a never ending dance.

Martin.Mundusmaris@gmail.com
info@mundusmaris.org

[*] from Wikipedia: "Warm core rings are known to have lower primary productivity than surrounding cold waters. Agulhas Rings are no exception, and have been observed to carry waters with low chlorophyll-a concentration water into the South Atlantic... removing larval and juvenile fish from the continental shelf. This removal of young fish can result in a reduced Anchovy catch in the Benguela system if a ring passes through the fishery."

[**] from EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union  Vol. 88, No. 1, 2 January 2007: "In 1992, a cargo container of children’s bath toys fell overboard in the middle North Pacific Ocean. Subsequently, 29,000 toys were tracked 4,000 kilometres to south-eastern Alaska... toys stranded on shorelines around the Subarctic Gyre, a planetary vortex the size of the United States."

[***] "Radionuclides (99Tc, 125Sb, 90Sr, 137Cs) discharged from La Hague in France have been used to trace advection and dispersion of water masses in the “European Coastal Current” from the English Channel to the Baltic...  It is concluded, that 10% of the La Hague discharge is transported through Kattegat... This coastal transport is important when contaminant transport is monitored." (Radioactive tracers as a tool in coastal oceanography: An overview of the MAST-52 project H. Dahlgaard  Journal of Marine Systems Volume 6, Issues 5–6, November 1995, Pages 381–389)

Protecting Deep Sea Biodiversity too

Europe, or more specific the European Union, has its strategy for biodiversity, NATURA 2000. Political language used by EU Member States reflects understanding of thread to biodiversity and actions needed to mitigate loss of biodiversity.  However concrete actions on the ground, and particular in the sea lag behind and integration with other politics is much improvable, so judgement of campaigners and press.

Fish ruler poster - here for Gambia

Rising public awareness for protecting endangered marine fish species is making ground in developed countries [1] as well as in developing world, but much more is at risk of the coast in the deep ocean.  

The European Union has met the target of the Nagoya Protocol - signed by the states which adhered to the Convention on Biological Diversity - for protected areas on land.

Environmentally protected areas, about 2500 sites, make 18% of the territory of the European Union;  the target of Nagoya Protocol is 17%. However protected coastal or marine areas total just to about 4% of the EU marine area [2].

Big difference between EU Members Sates are found regarding areas covered by management plans or not. The part of areas for which management plans are established is ranging from more than 95% for Sweden to less than 15% for Ireland, Greece or Spain  [3].  

Satellite picture (published by BBC 23rd July 2010) 

Lag of funding seems to be a main cause, although research has demonstrated that protecting biodiversity, keeping natural environments intact, and even re-naturalization of is economically beneficial. For example, re-naturalization of bogs around the Baltic Sea would be an effective and economic means to reduce nutrient input the Baltic Sea that is causing algal blooms, sometimes toxic, and oxygen deficits in the Baltic Sea - that may extend over a vast area as shown in the picture of  central Baltic.  

"Reefs off Rockall Island"
Picture taken from article by D. Derbyshire - Mail Online 20th February 2010:
"UK's stunning cold water reefs in danger of being smashed to pieces"

Currently and on global scale, the fraction of marine areas protected under the Convention on Biological Diversity is only 2%; mostly in coastal and shelf seas. Little is done for the open, deep sea although we know quite well about most endangered species in the open sea. But there is more to protect but some species; just as at land areas need protection to safeguard habitats and specific ecosystems -  for example "cold-water coral reefs". Lack of firm empirical base arguing the case to protect a large  area and strong pressure to keep unhindered access to valuable resources possibly is the reason.  

The Convention on Biological Diversity opened in 2010 the opportunity to identify “Ecological or Biological Significant Areas” (EBSA) and to propose these to intergovernmental organizations for protection because of their importance to ecosystem functioning. But a firm management plan of the EBSA would not be required to establish an EBSA, what should ease much agreeing on such areas, although protecting without managing protection seems vain. EBSA  should contain for example unique, rare or endemic creatures and /or habitats, or should have high biological productivity or high biological diversity.

Scientists, at a recent workshop about EBSA in the north-east Atlantic, identified Hatton-Rockhall bank west of Ireland and Scotland as a top candidate  – about 260.000 km of deep sea environment. Scientists have developed a three-tiers approach for managing an EBSA; an approach that combines fully protected areas, areas with regulated use and unprotected areas.

Post stamp featuring petrels

The Hatton-Rockhall bank area is a prime candidate because it is partly heavily fished, needs precautionary bottom-fisheries closures, hosts specific habitats including fragile cold-water coral reefs as well as feeding grounds for bird such as petrels.

("The European Storm-petrel or Storm Petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) is a small bird of the storm-petrel family, Hydrobatidae, part of the seabird order Procellariiformes. It lives on inaccessible islands in the north Atlantic and western Mediterranean, with the core population in western Ireland, northwest Scotland and the Faroe Islands, where the worldwide biggest colony breeds. It nests in colonies close to the sea in burrows or rock crevices and lays a single white egg.")

Martin.Mundusmaris@gmail.com
info@mundusmaris.org

[1] RTL "Often, the fish that end up in the trawl nets are too young: 92% of the flounders caught in the North Sea are smaller than permitted by EU laws. These fish are caught before they have a chance to reproduce, which puts the ecosystem at risk. And even fish which comply with the sizes mandated by the EU have not always reached reproductive majority: for instance, cod may be caught as soon as it is 35 cm long, but doesn't become sexually mature until it has reached a length of 68 cm. German fish currently not regarded as endangered are the herring, sprat and pollock."


[3]  see also Mundus Maris for information beyond Europe 



[3] data from article by Dave Keating

Blue Planet under pressure

What about we started the Anthropocene now? Human economic activity is now so strong that it is driving this planet into a new geological age.

“Human domination of earth's ecosystems” was a title two decades ago of a scientific article by P.M. Vitousek and co-workers. Since then much more evidence has been gathered showing that our daily activities gathered such force that they drive the globe in the same manner as ordinary natural process do. The size of human population, its appetite for natural resources, and the speed turning these around transform landscape, ecosystems and global biogeochemical cycles for, e.g. carbon, nitrogen, water or our wastes. 

In addition we consume directly about 20% of the global primary production -  the marine fishery example “Modern fisheries, including both landings and by-catch, currently consume 24-35% of global marine primary production in the continental shelf and major up-welling areas, corresponding closely to recent estimates that humans now appropriate roughly one quarter of the land's potential net primary production as well. Humans are thus the dominant marine predator on earth... meaning that they [fisheries stocks] are being harvested at rates estimated to be near their maximum sustainable limit, 24% are over-exploited [*] or depleted, meaning that they are being harvested at rates not sustainable in the long term, and 1% are considered to be recovering from depletion.” (J.E. Duffy, Marine Biodiversity and Food;  earthportal, quoted: 8th April 2012). 

This experience calls for global stewardship, going well beyond biodiversity concerns because most of our economic use of  the planet's resources is undertaken in a stone-age like manner - "search, find and, gather" - as in modern marine fishery;  or at best  as "slash, burn and grow", as done once in neolithic agriculture, or nowadays for oil.  However, many local settings or restricted use-cases of sustainable use are  found,  evidently most often for activities for which we care because of our cultural, social or economic value systems. It is understood that lasting,  sustainable use of resources requires binding these value systems into one balanced set to guide our practice to the best of our knowledge.

In the pressure cooker

Gathering for the conference “Planet under Pressure” - 26^th-29^th March London - to argue how to make best if that unprecedented situation our peers published the “State of the Planet Declaration" [2]:

• Research demonstrates that the continued functioning of the Earth system as it has supported the well-being of human civilization in recent centuries is at risk. Without action, we could face threats to water, food, biodiversity and other critical resources: these threats risk intensifying economic, ecological and social crises, creating the potential for a humanitarian emergency on a global scale.

• In one lifetime our increasingly interconnected and interdependent economic, social, cultural and political systems have come to place pressures on the environment that may cause fundamental changes in the Earth system and move us beyond safe natural boundaries. But the same interconnectedness provides the potential for solutions: new ideas can form and spread quickly, creating the momentum for the major transformation required for a truly sustainable planet.

• The defining challenge of our age is to safeguard Earth's natural processes to ensure the well-being of civilization while eradicating poverty, reducing conflict over resources, and supporting human and ecosystem health.

• As consumption accelerates everywhere and world population rises, it is no longer sufficient to work towards a distant ideal of sustainable development. Global sustainability must become a foundation of society. It can and must be part of the bedrock of nation states and the fabric of societies.

  What's on stage - one?

Curiously, the global process are less visible to us; we, as citizen in our daily life, cannot grasp easily the sheers size of our human activities. What does it mean 7.000.000.000 people consuming annually about 91.000 TerraWattHours energy? What does it mean that global primary production is about half terrestrial and half marine and we consume directly about a fifth of it?

Science, research and reason based choices can handle these complexities; and modern societies that have a science base could grasp them through their educational systems. Local, traditional knowledge based societies, although they miss the global scale, they have a way of functioning in which the need to nurture commons is a self-evident behaviour and thus stewardship comes naturally. Between these two poles there is a range of societies in which poverty ravages and thus neither caring of commons  nor understanding the global picture is an evident option.

Thus it is to acknowledge: 

“Humanity's impact on the Earth system has become comparable to planetary-scale geological processes such as ice ages. Consensus is growing that we have driven the planet into a new epoch, the Anthropocene, in which many Earth-system processes and the living fabric of ecosystems are now dominated by human activities.”  

“These insights demand a new perception of responsibilities and accountability of nation states to support planetary stewardship. A crucial transformation is to move away from income as the key constituent of well-being and to develop new indicators that measure actual improvements in well-being at all scales. Equity in opportunities to improve well-being and eradication of poverty at the individual level will also play pivotal roles in the transition towards planetary stewardship.”

 What's on stage -  two? 

The global village is emerging rapidly, and it gets visible - least on this side of the digital divide. As villagers we know about our neighbours; their deeds, strengths and failures. As villagers we may hate each other, but even then we are bundled into one undertaking. Villagers know that they are bound to work together, or fail, in particular to face the challenges of the environment - be it on the fields of the Nile valley or keeping  local fishery communities prosperous. The village is a interconnected system of surprising complexity; mutual assistance and caring is possible as well as destructive run-away reactions.  The risk for the latter rises in the global village.

Thus, opportunities and risks:

“The Earth system is a complex, interconnected system that includes the global economy and society, which are themselves highly interconnected and interdependent. Such systems can confer remarkable stability and facilitate rapid innovation. But they are also susceptible to abrupt and rapid changes and crises, such as global financial meltdowns or the volatility of the global food system.”

"A commitment to the proposal for universal Sustainable Development Goals is needed, as goals for Global Sustainability. These should be developed to take account of the synergies and trade-offs in and between areas such as food, water and energy security, maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem services, sustainable urbanisation, social inclusion and livelihoods, protection of seas and oceans, and sustainable consumption and production."  

 What's on stage -  three?  

Our blue planet through the eyes of Venus

Monetary value is key to have built a global network of exchange of goods and services. Maximising monetary value is the main driver in our societies to reduce process inefficiency. It locked appealingly simple and worked convincingly if applied to local problems, as long as side effects could be externalised, following the "the solution to pollution is dilution" - approach; but that got stuck as "your solution is my pollution". There is the end to dilution. Thus, simplicity of optimised single value driven choices does not work any more; wider, multivalue concepts are needed.

Thus, value and action:

“Recognition of the monetary and non-monetary values of public goods such as ecosystem services, education, health and global common resources such as the oceans and the atmosphere. These must be properly factored into management and decision-making frameworks at the national and sub-national levels to ensure that economic activities do not impose external costs on the global commons. Corrective measures that internalize costs and minimize the impacts on the commons need to be identified and implemented through regulatory and market-based mechanisms.”

“Our highly interconnected global society has the potential to innovate rapidly. The international scientific community must rapidly reorganize to focus on global sustainability solutions. We must develop a new strategy for creating and rapidly translating knowledge into action, which will form part of a new contract between science and society, with commitments from both sides.”

One, two,  three  - go!

We acknowledge that humanity's activities form now a planet-scale geological process, starting the Anthropocene. WE will keep it functioning - for our survival in the pressure cooker. Global stewardship will take care of the globe and its commons, of  reason based choices favouring social inclusion, knowledge and participation.  

Martin.Mundusmaris@gmail.com
info@mundusmaris.org

[*] link added into quote; [text in italic is quoted from declaration]