Sheltered seas.This year has been good for oceans. During 2006, several new initiatives promised to safeguard thousands of miles of ocean. The new plans will protect marine animals such as sea turtles sea turtle, name for several species of large marine turtles found in tropical and subtropical oceans. These turtles are modified for life in the ocean by having flipperlike forelimbs without toes and lightweight shells. and monk seals monk seal n. Any of several small subtropical seals of the genus Monachus found in the Hawaiian, Mediterranean, and Caribbean regions and characterized by brown, black, or gray coloration and by folds of skin on the neck. , species that are at risk of dying out. In a very significant environmental act, President Bush designated a swath of ocean off the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands The Northwestern Hawaiʻian Islands or the Leeward Islands are the small islands and atolls in the Hawaiian island chain located northwest (in some cases, far to the northwest) of the islands of Kaua as a national marine monument. Nearly the size of Montana, this region is now the world's largest protected area
Protected areas of ocean. In a similar move, the California government recently designated 29 locales along the state's central coast as marine protected areas Marine Protected Area (MPA) is often used as an umbrella term covering a wide range of marine areas with some level of restriction to protect living, non-living, cultural, and/or historic resources. A commonly used definition is the one developed by the World Conservation Union. . Fishing will be restricted within all of these newly protected waters. Many scientists are concerned that humans have been over-fishing many marine species, removing more fish from the sea than can be replaced naturally through reproduction. With the new protections in place, threatened fish and other sea animals may be able to rebuild their populations, says Tim Eichenberg of the environmental group The Ocean Conservancy. "[The U.S.] has often set aside land for protection," he says. "Now we are beginning to protect the oceans." |
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