Think Green Live Clean

If you have read my earlier posts, you know that I like writing about policy.  There is nothing that makes me more motivated and inspired than seeing environmental change in physical writing, a binding document that encourages as well as enforces certain standards and changes for the good of the planet.

For this reason, NOAA or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gets two big thumbs up for recently banning the commercial harvesting of krill.  These small crustaceans are a vital food source in the marine food web and only recently came under fishery pressure.  As Mark Helvey, a regional administrator for NOAA sustainable fisheries put it “Protecting this vital food source will help protect and maintain marine resources and put federal regulations in line with West-Coast states.”  Fishing for krill not only has implications in disrupting the marine food web, but threatens other marine creatures through destructive fishing practices that are similar to the fishery for shrimp (Check out www.shrimpsuck.org to find out more).

This ban is inspiring because it displays true willpower and efficiency of federal agencies and specifically NOAA.  I believe one of the most powerful instruments in instigating environmental change is having a regulatory body that bases its decisions on sound science.  It is so important in the future of our planet to have the powerful integration of science and politics to ensure that all decisions are rooted in fact, and then initiated into the social and economic aspects of society.

The new legislation released on July 13, 2009 bans all commercial harvesting of krill in the EEZ or exclusive economic zones of the United States.  The experts on marine food resources have made it clear that the economic return for krill is not worth the environmental price.  Good news for krill and the health of our oceans for a change.

Read more about the new legislation from NOAA