In light of global climate events, the U.S. All Island Coral Reef Committee urges the \u201cimmediate elevation\u201d of the climate change issue within the federal government, among other issues, in a recent report.<\/p>\n
Global risk to coral reefs continues to grow, according to AIC chair Fran Castro. Under the status quo, coral reefs continue to decline at alarming rates, she said.<\/p>\n
According to Castro\u2019s report from late February, the year 2015 is expected to the worst coral bleaching event since 1998, when the U.S. \u201cfunctionally lost 15-20 percent (almost 1\/5th) of the world\u2019s coral reefs.\u201d<\/p>\n
AIC asked the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force to \u201cbe a voice in pushing for the immediate elevation of the climate change issue within the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cImmediate action is needed by the federal government to take on this carbon emission challenges. Inaction is simply not a viable strategy,\u201d the report stated.<\/p>\n
To the recent listing of 20 coral species under the Endangered Species Act, AIC noted \u201cthe need for increased staff capacity\u201d for the newly listed species. This is also needed for \u201cthe current bottleneck\u201d in the review of permits and projects for previously listed corals, the report said.<\/p>\n
AIC also recommended a \u201cbalance between resource protection and use\u201d in any special regulations made for these species.<\/p>\n
They said consideration should be given to activities related to common use.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommon non-destructive fishing and boating activities should be allowed to proceed as usual due to their importance as a local tradition and way of life in coral reef jurisdictions,\u201d the report stated.<\/p>\n
Exemptions should also be made for \u201cminor accidental impacts\u201d to these corals, according to AIC. Additionally, thresholds should be defined for what is maximum allowable impact, stated AIC.<\/p>\n
AIC urged further dialogue and consultation between them and NOAA Fisheries on the issue moving forward.<\/p>\n
AIC also asked that the Task Force \u201cformally support\u201d the Coral Reef Management Fellowship program, so that they work together to build an \u201cinstitutionalized program with a sustained source of funding.\u201d<\/p>\n
This program builds coral reef management capacity at the local level. Right now, the program is kept afloat by NOAA\u2019s Coral Reef Conservation Program and contributions from AIC members. Funding will be pursued again in the next one to two years.<\/p>\n
AIC jurisdictions include American Samoa, the CNMI, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Affiliate jurisdictions are the Federal States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, and Palau.<\/p>\n
AIC presents the \u201cunified voice\u201d for the effective management of coral reef ecosystems in the U.S. and Freely Associated states. The committee aims for \u201cthriving coral reef ecosystems,\u201d that \u201ceffectively managed to protect their ecological, social, and economic value for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In light of global climate events, the U.S. All Island Coral Reef Committee urges the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2453,598,2454,627],"class_list":["post-192892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-aic","tag-endangered-species-act","tag-fran-castro","tag-noaa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192892\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}