Leave the Q & A panel all your hard questions here!

MC: Anna Fung

Q&A Team (+ general areas of specialty; please edit/elaborate if necessary)

Emily Moberg: environmental issues, coastal zones
Sean Wahl: climate
Isaac Joseph: climate
Denys Zhuo: fishing technology
Todd Mooring: fisheries management
David Anderson: aquaculture
Adam Bockelie: fish tracking
Vrajesh Modi: taxes, economics, fish tracking
Eva Cheung: social considerations, GPS
Alex Piotrowski: international
Alex Jordan: international, legislation

Potential questions that people might ask

example: This is my question. (Alex)

Response:

This is my response (the respondent)

What incentives do countries have to sign?

would countries actually be willing to give up trade rights with other countries that refuse to sign this treaty? Australia, despite its protests against Japan's whaling, refuse to place an economic sanction. It seems like the only people willing to risk taking action are radical environmental groups like Greenpeace.

how are you going to prosecute countries that haven't signed?

how are you going to regulate non-signatories and prevent them from entering MPAs?

Japan just violated a bunch of international regulations and went ahead with their whale hunt, and nobody's stopping them. What keeps signatories from violating our treaty?

Response: The Japanese found a loophole in the international regulations that permitted countries to kill marine animals for research purposes. If we're going to pass this treaty, it would need to be reviewed and expanded by a number of experts, hopefully removing any loopholes that would allow countries to bypass laws and get away with it.

How long will it take to pass this treaty, and how long will it take for it to have an effect? Will it be soon enough to save the fish stocks?