Caroline Paulsen, class of 2005 | Major: Environmental Sciences and Policy (A.B.) |
Second Major: Spanish Studies | Extracurricular: Project Wild Leader, waiting tables at Blue Corn Café, mandolin, running, studying Spanish | Home: Charlotte, NC
In Caroline’s Words:
As the human population grows and developing countries become more industrialized, the impact on the environment soars. The natural world is being influenced dramatically by human activities, which, if continued, will hurt the ability of future generations to survive. One particular concern is over marine fisheries and declining fish populations. Unlike terrestrial organisms, life in the ocean is harder to monitor and thus it is harder to determine the exact problems that humans are causing.
Last year I was exposed to issues affecting fisheries in Spain, the U.S., Bermuda, and Cuba. While studying at the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort, North Carolina, I learned about the complex management issues surrounding our world’s fisheries. Every fishery (determined by location and type of fish) needs to be studied individually to determine the best way to ensure its sustainable harvest. The Atlantic Groundfish, Pacific Salmon, and the Eastern Tropical Pacific tuna fisheries all provide examples of how different fisheries require completely different management techniques. Things to keep in mind while researching a fishery include: habitat needs, migration patterns, and life-history traits. In current management, there is no complete data on any fishery and then even the creation of management policy is controversial, especially when it involves multiple stake-holders and/or countries.
In Beaufort we focused some of our study on the fishermen themselves and small communities that are dependent on fishing for their livelihood. In Spain I studied about the huge impacts of the oil spill of 2002 off the coast of a region in the Northwest of the country. The region, called Galicia, is filled with small low-income communities that depend on limited tourism and their local fishing industries. By December of 2003, many of the region’s fisheries were still closed due to the lasting effects of the oil on the ocean ecosystem.
Bermuda’s situation shed light on the diversity of fisheries management between countries. As an island of only 20 square miles located 600 miles from any continent, it has had complete control over its fishing industry without having to worry about the actions of other countries. Still, the small island-nation faced declines in Grouper and Spiny Lobster populations in the 1980s. However, with the establishment of strict fishing regulations, the prohibition of lobster pots, and the creation of Marine Protected Areas around important coral reefs and fish breeding grounds, the two populations have begun to recover.
Finally in the summer of 2004 I was able to compare my studies with the situation in Cuba. Although I was unable to learn many details about the island’s fisheries and its management practices, I did get a personal glimpse at some of its coral reefs. I scuba dived in two areas, one off the coast of Havana and one off the coast of a peninsula in the middle of the island. The coral reefs that I saw were covered in algae, a sign that something is off-balance in the delicate ecosystem. Excess algae growth is usually a result of human-induced eutrophication, caused by agricultural/fertilizer or animal waste runoff. Eutrophication is a natural process in which nutrients are taken up from the ocean water and used by algae for growth. However, when humans allow too many of these nutrients (mostly Nitrates and Phosphates) to flow into streams and the ocean, it can cause an excess amount of algae growth, which hurts other marine organisms by depleting the dissolved oxygen in the water.
While I only saw two areas of Cuba’s North shore, the human impact on the coral ecosystem seemed to be much worse than in Bermuda. Although human land practices could be negatively affecting the fisheries in Cuba, its unique political situation seems to act as a barrier to over-exploitation of fish since the fishing industry is limited by the lack of large, high-technology fishing fleets.
Obviously the management of marine fisheries is a critical yet complicated topic for the world to consider. I hope to have opportunities to study more about local management and ways in which countries can protect and sustain their fisheries without erasing entire communities’ livelihoods.
