Protecting the Ocean.
November 17, 2008

RADIO 2CBA FOCAL POINT COMMENTARY BROADCAST ON FRIDAY JANUARY 14 2000 ON RADIO 2CBA FM.

Many people have been taking advantage of the summer to spend time at the beach. But few people have been thinking about the challenges of protecting the sea.

Professor Elisabeth Mann Borgese of Dalhousie University in Canada has written an excellent report to The Club of Rome on the management of the sea. It is called The Oceanic Circle: Governing the Seas as a Global Resource.

We are in the midst of the “blue revolution”. The seabed, in particular, is the new frontier. Less than two per cent has been explored. What little we have seen, has been amazing. After all, there is no light or air on the seabed and so it is easy to assume that the seabed must be some maritime form of a desert.

Instead, it contains life forms that we have never seen before – including six foot long giant worms. When it is recalled that 70 per cent of the earth’s surface is covered by the sea, there is still a great deal of this planet that we have yet to explore.

For example, Grand Canyon is one of the world’s best known tourist destinations. It is one mile deep and 280 miles long. But this is small compared with the Marianas Trench, near the Mariana Islands north east of Australia in the North Pacific.

Unfortunately, humankind continues to do at sea what it has outlawed on land. As we know from the periodic scares about pollution on Australia’s beaches, there are problems with dealing with pollution at sea. Some people have a less responsible attitude when at sea than when they are on land.

Additionally, the sea is being over-exploited. The world’s fishing fleet could be cut by half and yet the same amount of fish would be caught. There are too many fishers chasing too few fish.

Professor Mann Borgese recommends that more attention be given to regulating the use of the sea. For example, the Trusteeship Council at the United Nations has worked itself out of job. It was created to monitor the progress of the former German and Japanese colonies run by the Allied countries. Australia, for example, carried out its duties by looking after what used to be called German New Guinea. Papua New Guinea is now independent. Other Allied countries have also completed their work.

Therefore, the Trusteeship Council should be revived to look after the protection and regulation of the ocean.

Australia is a major maritime power. It has one of the longest coastlines in the world and claims control over more ocean than most other countries, We have a great deal at stake in how the ocean is used and protected.

1998 was the International Year of the Ocean. But the Australian Government virtually ignored it. It gave only about $55,000 for activities for that year. We are taking the ocean for granted.

Instead, we ought to use this report by Professor Mann Borgese as the basis for how Australia works outs its policy on the ocean.