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- The Atlantic Ocean is crowded with shipping, energy, dredging, mining, fishing and other uses.
- This "ocean sprawl" threatens habitats and migratory animals like whales and seabirds.
- The Massachusetts Ocean Plan, created with help from the Conservancy, is a new model is a new model for using land-based planning processes in the ocean.
By Kerry Crisley
“Over there! There, there!!”
Sally Yozell, a marine conservation director for The Nature Conservancy, is the first to spot the humpback whale.
I shriek — yes, as if I am six years old — when I see the mammal bend her back in an impossibly acute angle and dive, waving goodbye with her fluke. She’s dining on sand lance, a fish rich in fat that is found here in abundance.
It’s a warm, sunny day, and Yozell and I are on the Sea Keeper with John Williamson, a former fisherman from Maine. We’re in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, a 638-square mile area that Williamson calls “the ecological jewel of the Gulf of Maine.”
Urban Whales: Migratory Routes as Busy as Highways
We’re far from alone out here. In addition to the whales, shearwater birds and storm petrels that have introduced themselves today, we’ve seen commuter ferries, freighters, harbor police, sailboats, trawlers, tuna boats, a service vessel for the underwater liquefied natural gas terminal, Coast Guard, whale watching cruises, and fishing boats of every size and shape.
“That humpback probably came here from Florida or the Caribbean, on its yearly trek to New England to feed,” says Yozell. “She had to travel through thousands of miles of shipping lanes dodging giant freighters, navy vessels, fishing boats and tankers and skirt the endless web of fishing nets along the way. These are urban whales; their migratory routes are as busy as major highways.”
Planning A Town…In Water
This motley crew of boats makes for a fun game of I Spy, but if it isn’t balanced well it could become a problem. The Atlantic is crowded, and with more people turning to the ocean to host new sources of energy, states are looking at ways to curb “ocean sprawl.”
“Think about what goes into planning a town,” continued Yozell. “You have areas for the houses where we live, areas for the businesses and industries where we work and shop, and areas set aside as parks and open space where we play and watch wildlife. The same principles need to be applied to the ocean.”
What’s needed, says Yozell, is a planning process that is streamlined and collaborative, rather than a collection of separate — and often conflicting — plans segmented by industry. By working together to consider different scenarios of ocean use in a larger and more comprehensive context, we can choose the one that best meets the needs of people and does the least harm to marine life and habitat.
Fisherman John Williamson agrees. “Not every square inch of the ocean is the same,” he says. “And it’s important to understand these differences. Small changes can have a huge impact. Adjustments to the shipping lanes up here have reduced whale collisions by more than half.”
Sharing the Science
The Conservancy has studied the Atlantic from Cape Hatteras to the Bay of Fundy, compiling data on shore and sea birds, mammals, sea turtles groundfish, shellfish, large pelagic fish (like shark, tuna and squid) and coastal and ocean floor habitats. This assessment has been a resource for east coast states including Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Virginia as they develop their own ocean plans.
The Massachusetts Ocean Plan — the first to be released — is also the first of its kind in the nation. And with President Obama creating a federal ocean policy task force, the plan is getting attention.
“All eyes are on Massachusetts,” continued Yozell. “The plan is an excellent framework with solid data and an inclusive process. It will help take advantage of offshore renewable energy potential; the key is to make sure that these are located in places that will be the least disruptive to the animals and habitats that make this part of the Atlantic so valuable.”
In order to do that, says Yozell, we need to take a close look at the science that’s been collected and understand what the cumulative impact of all these ocean uses — shipping, energy, dredging, sand and gravel mining, fishing and more — is having on our marine environment.
Our Ocean
We disembark the Sea Keeper in Gloucester. The harbor is busy; a whale watching vessel has just docked, and in the crowd I see a mother with two tired but happy daughters.
“Wasn’t that fun?” she asks. They nod enthusiastically.
On another dock, sixteen people file onto a small boat to tour the area lighthouses from the water. Nearby, two Coast Guard sailors scrub their vessel clean, giving a wave to the fishermen coming in with their catch.
“Our oceans give us a lot: food, jobs, medicine. And it’s a fun place to be,” says Yozell. “We can keep all this and get the clean energy we need, as long as we take the time to find the best balance.”
Kerry Crisley is a senior media relations manager for The Nature Conservancy.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Kerry Crisley/TNC (Massachusetts Bay Whale Watch); Photo © BigBlueOceans/Creative Commons (Humpback Whale).
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