Letter writing campaign

SEE THE NOTES ABOUT THE LETTER:

Outline of letter

FACTS:
Number of people dependent on fish
Depletion of stocks
Decrease fish size

A summary of the problem:
The use of over-efficient fishing technology, the lack of sufficient scientific data regarding the oceans, the ignorance and apathy of humanity towards this oceanic crisis, and insufficient implementation of existing maritime agreements are resulting in a decrease in the biodiversity of the ocean, changes to ocean and in the genetic composition of marine species, disturbances to the food web, the collapse of fish stocks, and irreparable damage to marine ecosystems and to the fishing industry (including all people dependent on fish for sustenance, income, and cultural value).

Article in SCIENCE on fishing down the food chain
Trophic cascade

Call to action
a. encourage marine reserves
    i. increase the amount
    ii. talk about how little there is compared to land
b. bottom trawling
    i. environmental effects of trawling
    ii. energy intensive
c. stop subsidies for gas
    i. LOTS OF FOSSIL FUELS
    ii. All subsidies for fishing?

The basic message:
We now about this. We're educating people, and we want YOU to make it a major part of your campaign.

Who are we sending the form letter to?

1. Senator Kerry
2. Senator Kennedy
3. Senator Boxer
4. Senator Feinstein
5. Senator Stevens
6. Senator Cantwell

Who are we sending a single, personalized letter to?

Logistics

We need:

1. a form letter
2. 150 copies for each Senator (pretty letterhead?)
3. Stamps (5 x 150 = 750)
4. Embossed envelopes

Here is the beginning of an outline for a letter that could be sent to a congressman:

ADDRESS LINE

As someone greatly concerned about the health of the world's oceans, I urge you
to move forward with developing marine protected areas, including no-take
reserves, in the federal waters of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

Marine protected areas are a scientifically proven tool for protecting ocean
habitats and ecosystems and should play a central role in sanctuary management.
The less than one percent of the sanctuary that is currently fully protected is
woefully insufficient to fulfill the sanctuary's mandate of maintaining its
natural biological communities and protecting, restoring, and enhancing its
natural habitats, populations, and ecological processes.

As you know, the state of California recently created a network of marine
protected areas in state waters off the central coast. However, none of the
sanctuary's federal waters have these essential protections. I urge you to take
immediate action to extend marine protected areas into federal waters to protect
the unique offshore habitats and deepwater species of the sanctuary. The
reserves should be large enough to help the many species in trouble recover and
also to provide insurance against disasters and management mistakes.

I also encourage you to partner with the state to ensure adequate management,
monitoring and enforcement of all marine protected areas within sanctuary
boundaries.

Please make marine protected areas a top priority for the Monterey Bay National
Marine Sanctuary, and move forward on this critical issue now.

SIGNATURE

Todd's Comments on the Draft
In general, a clearer explanation of the issue is needed. Parts of it are vague and/or reference information that the recipients of the letter are unlikely to have in their heads. I find that this makes the letter difficult to comprehend. I was not even aware that the status of MPAs in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary was an issue. Is there some legislation up about this? I agree (as proposed in the question box below) that we need to take a specific position on this issue. In summary, I believe that the letter should be edited so that it can serve as a brief introduction to the issue and an explanation of why it is important. We already know that this issue receives relatively little attention, so it cannot be assumed that politicians have preexisting knowledge of it.

To Do List

Questions To Answer