Ezt a peticiot tovabbitom.  Talan kozuletek is valaki szeretne alairni.

Udv. , LBT

****************************************************************************
**********************





PLEASE CONSIDER "SIGNING" THIS STATEMENT
by sending an e-mail to  Aaron Tinker, MCBI Program Assistant
)

>********************************************************************
>SCIENTISTS URGE DRAMATIC STRENGTHENING OF MARINE CONSERVATION EFFORTS
>
>When scientists speak with one voice, the media, the public and decision
>makers pay attention. The time is now ripe for scientists to make a public
>statement on threats to marine biodiversity and the need for action to
>conserve it. The following statement was drafted and sent to prominent
>scientists who offered many improvements and signed on. Marine Conservation
>Biology Institute is now circulating the statement for signatures to marine
>scientists and conservation biologists (senior scientists and
>scientists-in-training as well); upon gaining enough signatures, the
>statement will be released to the media.
>
>More than 400 marine scientists and conservation biologists have already
>signed (partial list follows the statement). Timing is very important in
>this effort, so please respond by email as soon as possible, and please
>include your NAME, TITLE, and AFFILIATION. A copy of the statement is also
>available from our website at http://www.mcbi.org - to sign, please send me
>an email (Aaron Tinker, MCBI Program Assistant - ).
>
>TROUBLED WATERS: A CALL FOR ACTION
>We, the undersigned marine scientists and conservation biologists, call
>upon the world's citizens and governments to recognize that the living sea
>is in trouble and to take decisive action. We must act quickly to stop
>further severe, irreversible damage to the sea's biological diversity and
>integrity.
>
>Marine ecosystems are home to many phyla that live nowhere else. As vital
>components of our planet's life support systems, they protect shorelines
>from flooding, break down wastes, moderate climate and maintain a
>breathable atmosphere. Marine species provide a livelihood for millions of
>people, food, medicines, raw materials and recreation for billions, and are
>intrinsically important.
>
>Life in the world's estuaries, coastal waters, enclosed seas and oceans is
>increasingly threatened by: 1) overexploitation of species, 2) physical
>alteration of ecosystems, 3) pollution, 4) introduction of alien species,
>and 5) global atmospheric change. Scientists have documented the extinction
>of marine species, disappearance of ecosystems and loss of resources worth
>billions of dollars. Overfishing has eliminated all but a handful of
>California's white abalones. Swordfish fisheries have collapsed as more
>boats armed with better technology chase ever fewer fish. Northern right
>whales have not recovered six decades after their exploitation supposedly
>ceased. Steller sea lion populations have dwindled as fishing for their
>food has intensified. Cyanide and dynamite fishing are destroying the
>world's richest coral reefs. Bottom trawling is scouring continental shelf
>seabeds from the poles to the tropics. Mangrove forests are vanishing.
>Logging and farming on hillsides are exposing soils to rains that wash silt
>into the sea, killing kelps and reef corals. Nutrients from sewage and
>toxic chemicals from industry are overnourishing and poisoning estuaries,
>coastal waters and enclosed seas. Millions of seabirds have been oiled,
>drowned by longlines, and deprived of nesting beaches by development and
>nest-robbing cats and rats. Alien species introduced intentionally or as
>stowaways in ships' ballast tanks have become dominant species in marine
>ecosystems around the world. Reef corals are succumbing to diseases or
>undergoing mass bleaching in many places. There is no doubt that the sea's
>biological diversity and integrity are in trouble.
>
>To reverse this trend and avert even more widespread harm to marine species
>and ecosystems, we urge citizens and governments worldwide to take the
>following five steps: 1. Identify and provide effective protection to all
>populations of marine species that are significantly depleted or declining,
>take all measures necessary to allow their recovery, minimize bycatch, end
>all subsidies that encourage overfishing and ensure that use of marine
>species is sustainable in perpetuity. 2. Increase the number and
>effectiveness of marine protected areas so that 20% of Exclusive Economic
>Zones and the High Seas are protected from threats by the Year 2020. 3.
>Ameliorate or stop fishing methods that undermine sustainability by harming
>the habitats of economically valuable marine species and the species they
>use for food and shelter. 4. Stop physical alteration of terrestrial,
>freshwater and marine ecosystems that harms the sea, minimize pollution
>discharged at sea or entering the sea from the land, curtail introduction
>of alien marine species and prevent further atmospheric changes that
>threaten marine species and ecosystems. 5. Provide sufficient resources to
>encourage natural and social scientists to undertake marine conservation
>biology research needed to protect, restore and sustainably use life in the
>sea.
>
>Nothing happening on Earth threatens our security more than the destruction
>of our living systems. The situation is so serious that leaders and
>citizens cannot afford to wait even a decade to make major progress toward
>these goals. To maintain, restore and sustainably use the sea's biological
>diversity and the essential products and services that it provides, we must
>act now.
>
>**end of statement** A few of the over 400 endorsements gathered include:
>Jane Lubchenco, Michael Soule, Jim Carlton, Sylvia Earle, Jon Lien, Elliott
>Norse, Robert Paine, Winston Ponder, Stephen Palumbi, Carl Safina, Paul
>Dayton, Gary Meffe, John Ogden, Jeff McNeely, Victorin Mallet, Judith and
>Fred Grassle, George Rabb, Jeff Levinton, Les Watling, Liana and John
>McManus, Dee Boersma, Les Kaufman, Bruce Robison, Dennis Murphy, Paul
>Ehrlich, Elizabeth Flint, Julia Parrish, Richard Brusca, Don McAllister,
>Rod Fujita, Cheryl Ann Butman, Gary Davis, John Terborgh, Ed Bowlby, Joshua
>Sladek Nowlis, Michelle Paddack, Callum Roberts, Anson Hines, Chris Glass,
>Monte Hummel, JoAnn Burkholder, Andrew Cohen, Jeremy Jackson, Yuvenaly
>Zaitsev, Sabine Jessen, Deborah Crouse, Jack Sobel, Robert Spies, Katherine
>Ralls, Larry Dill, Judith Weis, Nancy Turner, Peter Auster, Michelle Wood,
>Timothy Werner, Stuart Pimm, Bruce Menge, Marjorie Reaka-Kudla, Bruce
>Leighty, David Schindler, Jack Williams, Devra Kleiman, Richard Harbison,
>Shao Kwang-Tsao, Tundi Agardy and many others.
>
>******************************************************************************
>Aaron Tinker                                           *   MCBI is a
>nonprofit, tax-exempt
>Program Assistant                                      *   organization
>dedicated to
>Marine Conservation Biology Institute          *   advancing the science
>of marine
>15806 NE 47th Court                                     *   conservation
>biology. To learn
>Redmond, WA 98052-5208 USA                     *   more, please visit our
>World
>1 (206) 883-8914 (office) 883-3017 (fax)       *   Wide Web site at:
>1 (206) 632-4849 (home)                                *   http://www.mcbi.org
                               *


Lawrence M. Dill, FRSC,
Professor and Director,
Behavioural Ecology Research Group,
Dept. of Biological Sciences,
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6
CANADA
Phone: 604-291-3664
FAX:  604-291-3496