Announcements. Gray Whale History. Makah Treaty of Natural Resource Management. East Pacific (California) Gray Whale

Transcription

1 Announcements East Pacific (California) Gray Whale Midterm exam Thursday All lectures posted on web Study guide posted. I will update today Guest Gray Whale History 45 coastal whales Feed on benthic organisms 10,000 mile migration (Longest of any mammal) ESA success story Photo from NOAA Makah Treaty of 1855 Hunted Gray whales for 2000 years 1920s: hunting ceased 1995: Gray whale delisted 1998: Makah granted permission to take 5 whales per year 1999: Killed a 2-y old Gray whale 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act Makahs seeking Marine Mammal Protection Act waiver Natural Resource Management Topics Why regulate resources? Example: Fisheries Forests Extinction and endangered species

2 Solutions to the tragedy of the commons? Catch records for fisheries Regulate access to the resource Privatize the resource Maximum Sustainable Yield Maximum sustainable yield MSY of ocean: MT per y Current usage: 130 MT per year Problems: Approaching or exceeding MSY Effort focused on few species Ten groups represent > 95% of catch Population Size (N) r Logistic growth model Carrying capacity Maximum rate of population growth Optimum size for harvest From Garrison 2005, Oceanography Population growth rate = harvest rate MT (thousands) Pandalus borealis Northern Shrimp ME NH MA Total Gulf of Maine northern shrimp landings by fishing season (December to May). Northern Shrimp MSY Data from MA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife

3 Maximum sustainable yield versus maximum economic yield Which would be lower (more conservative) Maximum sustainable yield of a public resource? Maximum economic yield of a private resource? Maximum economic yield! MSE is lower than MSY due to Reduced costs and capital Higher fish value Privatization vs. Regulation Ways to regulate a fishery Limited entry into fishery Gear limitation Limited catch per fisher Limited fishing season Limited total allowable catch Who sets the limits? Private ownership: Fishers Public regulation: Bureaucrats Advantages of the different strategies? Example 2: George s Bank Fishery Trawling tracks Trawling tracks recorded by NMFS in G. of ME. 65,000 km 2 dragged annually in the Gulf of Maine. 41,000 km 2 dragged on Georges Bank On average, every cm 2 dragged 3 x per y

4 Which is more important, preserving benthic habitats or fishers livelihoods? Trawling in Alaska Alaskan deep-water corals Diverse deep water coral communities are diverse and provide essential fish habitat. Photos: Seattle Times North Pacific Fishery Management Council recommends trawling ban Alaska Trawling Ban Trawling will be banned in most of Alaskan waters. (over ½ million squ. mi.) Trawling will continue in traditionally fished areas. Opposite of traditional wildlife reserve approach

5 Regulating fisheries Keys to sustainability Eliminate gear that destroys fish habitat (Bottom trawls, dynamite, cyanide) Limit access to sensitive fisheries and habitats Reduce bycatch Maximize economic value of catch Managing other systems Forests Most forest products come from private land How should we manage national forests? Road-building leads to forest exploitation Clear-cutting Rangelands Mostly government-owned land Overgrazing and desertification Primary forest: Mostly late successional species, few understory plants Changes in primary forest from Secondary forest: Relatively uniform age distribution, early successional species Most US forests are secondary Most forests in US were clear cut - Reduce productivity - Reduce nutrients - Reduce biodiversity - Promote soil erosion - Reduce water quality and groundwater flow - Release CO 2, eliminate CO 2 sink - Eliminates other forest-related products Who owns US forests? Where do our forest products come from? What about other organisms? Biodiversity and endangered species Examples of endangered species Causes of extinction Solutions Recent data from U.S. Forest Service

6 One third of primates risk extinction Decline in frog populations worldwide Primates In Peril: The World's Top 25 Most Endangered Primates (Conservation International and the IUCN). Passenger Pigeon How many extinct species can you name? In 19th century, the most numerous bird on the planet. (Over one billion in the U.S. ) Fly at speeds > 60 MPH. Flocks darkened the skies for miles. Last sighting in the wild in In 1914, at 1 PM, the last one died in a zoo in Cincinnati. Reasons for extinction (50y): 1: Hunting for meat (passenger pigeons were very tasty) 2: Hunting for sport (Record: >30,000 pigeons) 3: Deforestation Endangered species of WA ges/washingtonlist.html (129 species listed as endangered, threatened or as candidates for ESL) soc.htm Oregon silverspot butterfly Habitat: salt-spray meadows or coastal dunes Larvae feed on western blue violet Adults feed on wildflowers Reasons for decline: -Reduced fires loss of meadows (succession) -Invasive plants replace violets -Herbicides and pesticide use Solutions: -Mowing -Regulation of coastal development -Control spread of invasive plant species Threatened in WA

7 Primary causes of extinctions: Japanese knotweed 1: Habitat loss 2: Hunting 3: Introduced species ornamental introduced in 1800s Current distribution Japanese Knotweed Invading throughout Skagit and Whatcom counties 18 feet tall with pizza-sized leaves Hard to kill Spartina anglica Changing coastal ecosystems in WA Mudflats marshes Reduces wave energy Reduces mudflat habitat used by birds Photo: WA State Noxious Weed Control Board Photos from Skagit Valley Herald Endangered Species Act "Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed." Richard M Nixon ESA Endangered? San Francisco Chronicle Endangered Species Act (1973) Coordinated by the USFWS and NMFS 1982 amendment to ESA: Habitat Conservation Plan 1,800 species now listed as threatened or endangered in US

8 ESA success story