Page History

Sunday, January

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27th,

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2008: Terrascope Room

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Projects to Work On

Spark Class—Claire and Tracey working on it

Letter Campaign

• Need to have something that people can look at—brochures? Poster?
  • Get copies of material from Blue Ocean Institute?
  • Make a pamphlet?
• Signature collection?
• Collect change for postage?
• Possible designs:
  • Petition format
  • One letter per person/choose who to send it to
  • Send large number of letters to small number of people
  • Spam everyone with
  • Enclose personal letter from constituents?
• Targets:
  • Coastal state senators/representatives
  • Important committee/subcommittee heads
    House—S&T, Energy Independence & Global Warming—Edward Markey
    Senate—Commerce, Science, & Transportation
  • Alex V. will find committees to contact
  • Must find out everyone's current position on this issue
    • Would let us personalize the letters
• What should the letters say?
  • Make specific requests?
  • Urge them to take the issue seriously?

Tasks:

• Create a letter
• Identify targets
• Must get space in Lobby 10—Alex J. will work on
• Work on identifying relevant legislation--Danielle

Must become some sort of entity--Todd

• Need better name
• Need a mailing address
• What is involved in becoming a student group?
  • Sponsored group?
• Would it be more useful to become some sort of lobbying group?

Wednesday, January 23, 2008: Terrascope Room

1. Discussed alternatives to making a website. Why not do something entirely new and different??? Youtube, teen magazines, propose the making of a documentary; anything but yet another website.
2. Registered a class for Spark in which we would play the fish game with a group of high schoolers. Spark is March 8th. Later changes or additions can be made to Spark registration until Feb. 14th.

Sunday, January 13th, 2008: Terrascope Room

See attached notes on:
1. Minutes of the meeting
2. Topics we're putting on Website
3. Topics for PDF (and basically RESEARCH topics)

Todd's Notes

Discussion of management

• Could be expanded
• More EBFM, problem focus
• Effect of fishing on fish population---other than making fish population smaller

Aquaculture

• Genetics---not enough evidence, must get better research
• Sources must be improved
• Establish how proposal could work in the United States
• More thorough discussion of problems
• Compare aquaculture with other food sources

Climate Change

• Need more focus on how it impacts rest of plan
• Need more focus on fish
• Do our own projections?

Avoid producing non-new recommendations
Read Pew Oceans Commission report

• U.S. laws are also good---Magnuson-Stevens, environmental laws

Environment

• Expand into deep ocean
• Industrial pollution
• More case studies
• Oil drilling effects? Governance?
• Oil spills?
• Cruise ship pollution?
• Split up section

Disproportionate attention issue---look more into technology/economics to counterbalance environment

Economics

• Can be quantified
• Tax ideas?
• People interested in label concept
  • UROP idea
  • Talk to grocery stores/restaurants
• Effects of regulation on fishing industry

Content of Documents to be Produced

• Introduction/Summary Section
  • Website---link all aspects of problem together
• MPAs
  • Website---Types of MPA-reserve vs. protected area, U.S. reserves, benefits of MPA, arguments against them, interview fishermen, show nonregulated areas and how they could be improved with regulations, protected areas vs. reserves advantages and disadvantages, ecotourism
  • PDF---Research more on 10% plan, pick number or choose criteria, or select specific areas
• International
  • Website---discuss what's out there, discuss Law of the Sea, Straddling fish stocks agreement, etc., review international nature of fishing industry, discuss flag hopping, Japanese whaling issue
  • PDF---endorse signing Law of Sea
• Social Issues
  • Website---social implications of fishing, overfishing, stopping fishing, fishing culture/cultural importance of fish, fishing history, interviews with fishermen, put in some numbers to provide quantitative legitimacy, sports fishing, tourism, case studies on Japan/China
  • PDF---Address the impact on the fishing industry, options for displaced fishermen, cultural considerations for U.S. fishing communities
• U.S. Policy
  • Website--summarize U.S. fishing policy--laws, regulations, etc.
• Education
  • Website---resources for teachers?
• Technology
  • Website---current technology/how we know where the fish are
    • Boat tracking will go in IUU
  • PDF---more work needed
• Management
  • Website--EBFM needs more work (why single stock is inadequate, fishing down the food chain), GPS deemphasize (look at other options), problems with IUU fishing, time and area closures, explanation of stock assessments-use examples, put quotas in this section--discuss subsidies in economics
  • PDF---ITQs, other quotas, etc., NOT taxes, subsidies (need more information)
• IUU Fishing (pending more research)
  • Website---how much (if any) in U.S. is IUU, U.S. consumption of IUU fish caught elsewhere, GPS tracking
• Aquaculture
  • Website---genetics, problems, viable sources of food other than aquaculture, situation in China, discuss hatcheries, engineered fish
  • PDF---decide if we endorse it
• Climate
  • Website---more about fish, more specifics, ocean acidification, influx of fresh water, implications for aquaculture etc.
  • PDF---Please, solve global warming!
• Environment
  • Website-Research specific issues more--get more on freshwater & deep seas, effects of oil drilling/spills, cruise ships
  • PDF---(must first go through all current environmental legislation) Make specific recommendations
• Economics
  • PDF---costs of plans, justification
• What You Can Do
  • Website--Recycle, energy efficiency, etc.

IAP Class 1/09

Agenda:

Sunday Meetings: 2-6pm
Wednesday Meetings (food): Terrascope room
IAP Goals
Overall Goals

READ: END OF THE LINE, by Clover

Decisions:

This is a social project, not necessarily a scientific research project

Overall Goals
1. Create user-friendly website to educate people (problem)
2. PDF: digital book of our solution and argument (solution)
3. Children's book
4. Presentation to take to schools
5. ADVERTISING

Contact politicians

IAP Goals
1. Review sections
a. Sort through information, fact check
b. Break sections into solution and background
c. Find holes in argument and FILL IN
2. Expand sections
a. Research new material
b. In depth research for current material
c. Continuous research
3. Integrate sections
a. Rational, cohesive
4. Develop the problem
a. Is it overfishing?
b. Put it into perspective
c. Find more convincing sources
5. Basic facts
a. How much fish is produced?
b. Who depends on fish?
c. When reducing, who does it hurt the most?

Task forces (formed at a later date)

• news media
• policy makers/lobbyists
• high schools/children
• fishermen
• scientists, educational community

Physical Solutions to Stop Overfishing:
MPAs
Aquaculture
Tracking
Catching tech
Management
Environment

International
Social
Education

Analysis of Our Solution

1. MPAs
∑ Keep MPAs as a part of the solution
∑ 10%--any number is slightly sketchy, but this is the best
o research the economics of 10%
o cost-benefit analysis
o RESEARCH THIS NUMBER
o Make this number available, but don't make policy based on it

2. International Cooperation
∑ Add info on current international stuff
∑ Treaty is more unrealistic than other parts of the proposal
∑ Start smaller than an international treaty
∑ Focus more on write-ups about current legislation than a solution on an international scale
∑ Website is geared towards the American public

3. Social Considerations
∑ Discuss the serious social implications of fishing, overfishing, stopping fishing
∑ Describe fishing culture
∑ This can be the window into the international issues
∑ Interview fishermen
o Send surveys?
∑ Try to give specific US fishing history

4. US Legislations
∑ New section that needs to be read, reviewed, written
∑ Mag-Stevens
∑ Days at Sea

5. Education
∑ Irrelevant information
∑ What you can do in the classroom
∑ We'll come to

6. Technology (Science and Monitoring)
∑ Fish catching tech
o Needs improvement
o Needs more thorough analysis of current technology
o Why our suggestions are best: BE COMPREHENSIVE
∑ Two-step plan
o Either rework or throw it out
o List the cost of using each new technology
o subsidies
∑ Fish tracking tech
o Research a more practical option
o More quantitative "fleshing out"
o Explain current methods of recording fish numbers, biomass, migration
o Why they suck
o Weigh more possibilities
∑ International Cooperation in Science is important
∑ Discuss the issue of fishing too much at one end of the age curve

7. Management
∑ Ecosystems based fisheries management
o Models used to predict fish numbers
o Needs more work, explanation
∑ GPS on fishing boats
o Investigate more
o Might be too specific
o Look into all tracking methods
o Where it's not in use, that's because it wont be effective there
o Would need to be subsidized
o Explore ALL other options
∑ Stopping IUU
o Sonar bouys
o Maybe GPS
o Other alternatives
o Part of the problem may be government, not a lack of knowledge
∑ Taxes
o Because we are talking about this on a local level, this is unnecessary
∑ Quotas
o ITQs—
o Research/write more info on current quotas
o Give examples
∑ QUANTIFY
o Real world quotas
∑ Subsidies
∑ Discussion of current management methods needed
∑ By-catch
o Either improve, or put into the technology
∑ Problem focus

8. Aquaculture
∑ Genetics
o More info needed
o Improved, impartial sources
∑ MORE about the issues with aquaculture
o Mushy flesh
o Environmental issues
o Genetics
o Escaping into the wild
∑ Research the facilities in the China
∑ Research the facilities in the USA
∑ Find other viable sources of food
o Anything else that is feasible

9. Climate
∑ Global warming
o Chemical composition
ß Salinity
ß CO2
o Temp increase
o Coral bleaching (ozone)
∑ How it effects other areas
o Aquaculture
∑ More on the effects to FISH, not just the effects on the oceans
∑ Recommendations
o Continued monitoring
o Flexibility
o We need to encourage the reduction of CO2 production, encourage recycling, reduce energy consumption

10. Environment
∑ Enhance the problem section
o Organize a little more clearly
o Research more issue
ß Oil spills and drilling
ß Cruise ship pollution
ß Industrial runoff
o Can expand to inland areas (freshwater)
o Expand to deep waters
ß Oil drilling
∑ Division of sections
o Ecosystems: Freshwater, coastal zones, deep seas
∑ MORE RESEARCH
o Cruise ships
o Oil drilling
o Oil spills
o Deep sea
o Fresh water

11. Economics
∑ LABELS
o UROP: labels in supermarkets, restaurants
∑ Effects on the economy of our plan—ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES
o Make estimates for each section
ß I.e. MPAs

SUGESSTIONS
1. no more acronyms

Wednesday, January 9, 2007: Terrascope Room

Todd's Notes

Meeting Opens

What should we do?

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Problem statement: In general we felt the statement was OK, we just need a better explanation of said statement.

MPAs: we should work on

• gradations of protection and coordination with geography, technology, fishing practices, etc.

• concentric rings of protection levels?

• how to make them more appealing to fishermen

• effect on the fishing industry (aka will it collapse)

ALSO: we need to create steps/priorities within our plan (decide internally)

• international cooperation is idealistic; we should also figure out which plans can work solely locally

INTERNATIONAL:

• eco-labels: cost issues, company cooperation; lack of support/recognition of marine stewardship council

• treaty is mostly guidelines; specific rules with regards to 10% plan and flag hopping

• issues with realism of inducting RBAs; failures of RBAs; some RBAs are species specific..... ours is geographically based

• regional fleets: costs? previous uses?

• implementation of global tax scheme: international waters, collection, etc.

• incentives to join: political, past initiatives

• random stuff: whaling, other large marine species

• marine science council--> under RBAs

FISHING TECHNOLOGY:

• short and long term: need to be better defined and organized

• cost benefit analysis and talk to actual fishermen who are designing their own technologies

• Implementation: subsidies; ITQ bonuses; larger subsidies for small fisherman; tax breaks to big companies; net drag speech and net mesh size regulations; ban trawling in deep water and eventually phase it out

• goal: digital imaging on nets

EDUCATION:

• decrease demand

• look up best way to educate public

We voted and decided that education will now focus on telling us HOW we will say whatever we decide to say, and will not be explicitly included within a website, etc.

MANAGEMENT:

• input or output controls

• ecosystem based management: more thorough and complex

• quotas -

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• > use ITQs

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• -> issues with selling them or with allocation in general

• we need a major discussion on taxes and quotas ***BIG******

We also realized it is important to foster contacts soon, so while it is critical to get our information and website up and better, it is also critical to talk to people.....

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