Post on 19-Apr-2018
transcript
Arctic Oil and Fisheries
Michael LeVine Christopher Krenz
March 29, 2013
Divergent Approaches to Management in Light of Scientific Uncertainty
LAW
PUBLIC
SCIENCE
• Habitat Protection • Food Web Protection • Sustainable Fishing
• Pollution Reduction and Prevention • Controlled Development
Sustainable Living
Ecosystem-Based Management Nicolai Konyukhov
Ice is a supporter of life. It brings the sea animals from the north into our area and in the fall it also becomes an extension of our land. When it freezes along the shore, we go out on the ice to fish, to hunt marine mammals, and to travel… When it starts disintegrating and disappearing faster, it affects our lives dramatically.
-- Caleb Pungowiyi
Growing Industrial Activity in the Arctic
Ocean
Climate Change
2 0 1 3
2 0 5 3
The Planning Challenge
Response Remoteness
Kodiak to Point Barrow is 940 miles across three mountain ranges—about the same distance as LA to Seattle
arcticresponsetechnology.org
Challenges to Management
Lack of Basic Scientific Information
“The Arctic Ocean is the least well known ocean on the planet. We know more about the topography of the planets Venus and Mars than we do about the bathymetry of the Arctic Ocean.”
Challenges to Management
• The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management and Conservation Act (MSA)
• The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA)
State Waters Exclusive Economic
Zone (EEZ)
Federal Statutory Framework
The Starting Point: Fisheries
“establish federal fisheries management . . . before an unregulated commercial fishery emerges and causes adverse impacts to the marine resources and ecosystem”
Proactive Management
Optimum Yield (OY)
Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)
Stock F MSY B MSY MSY Snow crab 0.36 1,268 mt 453 mt Arctic cod 0.70 8,298 mt 5,758 mt Saffron cod 0.62 953 mt 589 mt
Fishery Uncertainty Non-consumptive Value
Costs Ecosystem
Snow crab 36% ~0% ~100% ~0% Arctic cod 55% ~0% ~100% ~100% Saffron cod 61% ~0% ~100% ~100%
The Fishery
“initially prohibits commercial fishing in the Arctic waters of the region until more information is available to support sustainable fisheries management.”
“‘Fishermen want to avoid what happened in the mid-1980s when it was every nation for itself and the pollock stocks were overfished in the Bering Sea and collapsed,’” said Dave Benton, executive director of the Marine Conservation Alliance, an industry group that represents the seafood, groundfish and crab industries in Alaska. . . . ‘This time we want to get ahead of the curve,’” he said.
Community and Industry Support
The Starting Point: Oil and Gas
“[W]hile many items of incomplete, missing, or unavailable information were broadly relevant to the important issues at hand, none were essential.” There was: • “sufficient information to support sound scientific judgments and
reasoned managerial decisions;”
• a “presumption that adverse effects would certainly occur” in the event of an oil spill;
• a “commonality of potential impacts amongst all action alternatives;”
• protection from “other environmental laws and regulations;” and/or
• a likelihood that better information will be available later.
Chukchi Sea Lease Sale 193
Controversy Litigation challenging:
2007-12 Five-Year Program
Beaufort Sea Lease Sale 202
Chukchi Sea Lease Sale 193
Shell Exploration Plans for 2007-09, 2010, and 2012-13
Air permits for exploration drilling
Oil Spill Response Plans
“Expanding safe and responsible oil and gas production from the OCS is a key component of our comprehensive energy strategy to grow America’s energy economy, and will help us continue to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create jobs here at home.”
Understanding the Divergence
Fisheries Oil and Gas
Planning obligation
Proactive management allowed
Community involvement
Understanding the Divergence
Arctic FMP Oil and Gas
Community Involvement
Fisheries Oil and Gas
Planning obligation
Proactive management allowed
Community involvement
Congressional Leadership
Understanding the Divergence
Arctic FMP Oil and Gas
Congressional Leadership
Fisheries Oil and Gas
Planning obligation
Proactive management allowed
Community involvement
Congressional Leadership
Corporate stake in sustainable management
Understanding the Divergence
Fisheries Oil and Gas
Planning obligation
Proactive management allowed
Community involvement
Congressional Leadership
Corporate stake in sustainable management
Understanding the Divergence
Obtain and Synthesize Basic Science: Important Ecological Areas
Look Before We Leap
Transparent, Inclusive, and Comprehensive Planning
Preparedness and Accountability
Questions?
Juneau
Kotzebue
Portland
Monterey
Washington, D.C.
New York City
Belize City Santiago, Chile
Madrid
Brussels
• Regional Fishery Management Councils
• Fishery Management Plans • Conservation and
Management Measures
“to take immediate action to conserve and manage the fishery resources found off the coasts of the United States”
NOAA
The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management and Conservation Act
The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA)