Posted by nicole on 07/18/2006 10:52 am

The following posting is from Carroll, who is onboard in the Bering Sea...

Sitting fogged in at St. Matthew this morning gave me some time to reflect, for the first time in days, on what we’ve seen here so far and what it might mean. In a famous essay, the ecologist Aldo Leopold wrote of thinking like a mountain—understanding nature not in terms of any one species, but as a whole far greater than the sum of its parts.

I draw a similar lesson from our time in St. Matthew and the Pribilofs. The whales, the seals, the seabirds, the fish, the Unungan are all part of the larger story of the sea itself. To protect those parts, and to protect the Bering, we have to begin thinking like an ocean. We have to recognize that the species of this and other waters are interwoven in a web of relationships we are only beginning to understand. To focus our efforts on harvesting one or a few species, even “sustainably”, without considering the effects on other species, risks unraveling that web.

In science and policy-speak, this consideration of broader impacts is called ecosystem-based management, or EBM. EBM is about humility in the face uncertainty; about acting with caution when we’re unsure what the real-world consequences of our actions will be. The concept isn’t novel. Just underused. Particularly in the context of fisheries management, which is remarkable, because the law already calls for it.

The heart of the federal fisheries management system in the United States is a law called the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Magnuson-Stevens is also called the “Sustainable Fisheries Act” because, when it was adopted in its current form in 1996, Congress expected it to bring about a revolution in the sustainable management of U.S. fisheries. And it did help; though it was more evolutionary than revolutionary. One evolutionary step the law took was to require the National Marine Fisheries Service, the federal agency that governs our fisheries, to develop recommendations for expanding the use of ecosystem principles in fishery management. So, NMFS convened a panel, which developed recommendations, which have yet to be systematically applied anywhere.

As I write this, Congress is debating whether and how to improve the Magnuson-Stevens Act. One thing conspicuously absent from the proposed revisions to the Act is any solid requirement to adopt ecosystem-based management instead of the outdated and disproven single species approaches on which we currently rely. This is a serious oversight. It’s been three years since two major commissions concluded our oceans are in crisis driven chiefly by overfishing. Ten years since Congress recognized the need for an ecosystem-based approach to managing our seas. And more than half a century since Aldo Leopold first thought like a mountain.

It’s time, at last, to start thinking like an ocean.

- Carroll 

Posted by nicole on 07/18/2006 10:45 am

The following posting is from Captain Bob Pedro, who is onboard in the Bering Sea...

I’m sitting in my chair and thinking. Thinking about how we set anchor last night in calm protected waters with a patchy low fog embracing the peaks of St. Matthew Island here in the middle of the Bering Sea. At this latitude, were it not for the fog, it would have been bright daylight even at 11 p.m.

When we awoke this morning, the fog was heavy right to the water line and at best we could see about 50 yards. This was not at all cooperating with our desires to circumnavigate close around the island hoping to see what bird and mammal life might be living here.

We were a little disappointed, but after a little discussion we decided to move plans forward to the search pattern route we’d set between St. Matthew Island and St. Lawrence Island. We will be traversing an area from about 5 miles from the International date line/Russian waters and 100 miles east of that line and back and in a somewhat north easterly general direction.

This is already the farthest north I’ve ever been and we are going even farther. Thinking about this is very exciting. It’s a new life experience. I keep wondering what I’m going to see next. The lookouts on watch up in the crows nest keep scanning for whales as far as they can see. Every time I see a whale, I am in awe. They are such magnificent animals, and simply breathtaking to see up close. And yet we know so little about them.

As I am learning on this trip, whales and many others of the sea are on a proverbial “tight wire”. There are many good and dedicated people from all walks of life, who are trying desperately to help maintain that critical balance between animal and man.

As I stand and look out the wheelhouse side window and breathe in the cool fresh sea air, I can’t help but think of how lucky I am to be here, and have these great life experiences that most people will never have. And then, to have a job like mine as Captain of this great research vessel, doing what I can to help the efforts going on all around me to make the world a better place.

I look out the wheelhouse window and know words could never describe how it feels to be at sea. I’ve seen severe storms and I’ve seen flat calm with cloudless skies a thousand miles from shore. I’ve seen sunrises that caused my whole being to smile and sunsets that set fire to the sky from horizon to horizon.

I truly have an affection for the sea. Not unlike the affection I have for my beautiful wife. I believe that if we treat each other with the mutual respect that we each deserve, our relationship and love will go on forever. And also with the sea, I believe that there can be a balance where, if well maintained, we can have an abundance of life that will go on for all future generations. Working together we can and will find that balance. Working together we can not only enjoy the fruits of our efforts, but know that future generations will be proud of us for having done it. We must find that balance.

As I stand and look out the wheelhouse side window and breathe in the cool fresh sea air, I know that I am in love with life. My life! And I’m a very lucky man.

Thank you for sharing it with me.

- Captain Bob Pedro

Posted by nicole on 07/18/2006 10:36 am

The following posting is from Adam, who is onboard in the Bering Sea...

There is virtually no wind now and the fog has left us for the time being. We have a low swell so it's a very comfortable ride.

The day started off with us cocooned in fog. It's sort of strange going along on the calm sea in a little circle of visibility about 100m wide. It makes you think the Marie Celeste or some other ghost ship will suddenly appear out of the mist. Nothing to see but the odd Puffin or Kittiwake

Around 1700 the fog cleared so the whale lookout rotations started again. I just got down from my turn. The ocean is flat to the horizon, which is perfect for sighting a whale's blowing, but no one's seen any so far. We are headed into an un-researched section of the Bering where rumor has it that a population of humpbacks was spotted some ten years ago. We are to confirm its existence here and collect some data.

It's a zig zag search pattern we are on now that will take us up to the Russian border and back a few times and eventually to St. Lawrence Island.

Enjoy, wherever you are, and do something to help save the oceans please!!!

- Adam