Marine conservation

Lobster

Western Australia’s Western Rock Lobster industry becomes world’s first fishery to be certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council

By / / Archive of Human Genius

A fishery that obtains Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) accreditation has met the world’s leading benchmark for sustainable management and provides consumers with certainty and assurance that the products they buy are sourced, harvested, and fully traceable through the chain of custody from ocean to plate. The fishery has maintained continuous certification since that time.

Ocean water

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea comes into force

By / / Good news links, Archive of Human Genius

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is an international treaty that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. It is perhaps the first major international agreement ever to establish laws to respect, protect, preserve, and prevent the dumping of plastics in the marine environment. Its preamble asserts that problems faced by the ocean “are closely interrelated and needed to be considered as a whole.” As of October 2024, 169 sovereign states and the European Union are parties.

Carson and Bob Hines researching off the East Coast in 1952

Rachel Carson’s “sea trilogy” helps inspire the “marine revolution”

By / / Good news links

Carson began her career as an aquatic biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her widely praised 1951 bestseller The Sea Around Us won her a U.S. National Book Award. Its success prompted the republication of her first book, Under the Sea Wind (1941), in 1952, which was followed by The Edge of the Sea in 1955 — both were also bestsellers. The sea trilogy explores the whole of ocean life from the shores to the depths and is credited with inspiring a major shift in public awareness on marine conservation.