Surfers Say Save Our Seas!
We have national parks all across the land, but until now our oceans have been left to fend for themselves, even though they cover the majority of the globe. In fact, they cover 71% of Earth, which is uncoincidentally also the title of this video by Ari Marcopoulos, "Greenlight Journalist."
Ari's film stars several well known big wave surfers, including Grant "Twiggy" Baker, Brian Conley, Greg Long, Rusty Long, Frank Solomon and Anthony Tashnick. Presented by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), these surfers share their first hand experience with the ocean, and lend their voices to a call for the creation of marine protected areas (MPAs), which would function the way national parks do on land.
It seems like a no-brainer. Oceans are filling up with trash, to the point that even Oprah is doing shows about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Once common species of fish are becoming extinct, and you have to double and triple check the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch list on your iPhone before you order sushi or even fish and chips. In Northern California and Oregon, salmon season was cancelled this year.
Obviously, something needs to change.
In California the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) would create a series of MPAs. You'd think aquatic "national parks" would be a familiar and simple solution, but a minority of fishing industry interests are opposing the act out of fear that it will harm their business -- as if running out of fish won't ruin them completely!
Leila Monroe, an Oceans Policy Analyst based in San Francisco, does an excellent job explaining the issue. If you want to understand more about the MLPA, why people are resisting it, and why you should support it, definitely read her calm and rational blog post on the topic.
If you've ever visited the Northern California coast and seen the phenomenal Monterey Bay Aquarium -- even if you've only seen bits and pieces of it in movies (Star Trek IV, the one about whales, shot scenes at the Aquarium) and TV shows (the opening scene of Murder She Wrote was totally filmed on the rocky coast of Mendocino County, not Maine!) -- you know it would be a tragedy for mankind to ruin this truly natural wonder.
I live in San Francisco, and obviously have a completely emotional reaction to this issue. I'm jumping up and down to get everyone to sign the NRDC's letter to the California Fish and Game Commission, with a cc: to California's proud Governornator, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
We still have time to save fish, coral, plants and millions of marine creatures that live there, but we must we act now! So go! Sign the letter! And while you're at it, donate some money to the NRDC, too. They're making a valiant effort to keep the oceans alive long enough to give the next generation a chance to experience seahorses, coral and kelp first hand. That's worth at least ten bucks, right?
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