Life Cycle Assessment for Ecosystem Services

Is Marine Protection a Good Investment ?

As a resident of Cape Cod, Ma. I have found that investments in marine protection are more cost effective and promote protection of marine biota and their habitats with greater efficacy, as opposed to trying to mitigate or adapt to the damage after it has occurred.  Our groundfish resources have collapsed due to overfishing and the impacts from other human stressors (eutrophication; mobile fishing gear impacts on habitat; climate change effects; invasive species; habitat loss/degradation from increasing population growth in coastal watersheds; etc.).  As a retired oceanographer from the Fisheries Lab in Woods Hole, I have watched with dismay over the years as our fishing industry has declined, including our cultural relationship to the nearby  ocean. Our working waterfronts have been displaced by tourism; docks with condominiums and large mansions along the coast.  Only 50% of our residents can purchase homeowner's insurance in the private market (the others are in the state program of last resort) and all policies contain a 5-10% wind deuctible clauses.  Ocean climate change has shifted the distribution abundance of forage fish; lobsters; cod; Atlantic mackerel; etc. with species either shifting offshore into deeper waters on the south side of the Cape or migrating northwards into the Gulf of Maine.

Some of our problems stem from regional pollution (mercury and acid rain from regional airshed; regional increases in greenhouse gases associated with climate disruption; etc.), but the overfishing/damage to essential fish habitat from mobile fishing gear problems could have been addressed by regional fisheries management programs (New England Fishery Management Council and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission).  It is unkown whether the new sector or catch shares management approach will solve these problems. Better seasonal regulations in fixed fishing gear (lobsters pots and gill nets) and shifting of the  shipping channel into Boston has reduced the deaths of North Atlantic right whales.  Whale watching is an important component of our tourist economy.

Much of the nitrogen and phosphorus that causes nutrient enrichment problems (poor water quality & loss of eelgrass bed habitats) in our coastal embayments comes from septic systems.  Thus Cape Cod towns are developing Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plans to address coastal eutrophication impacts which will cost billions of dollars.  Rising sea level and increased occurrence of major storms has increased coastal erosion and damaged our beaches that attract second home owners, retirees  and tourists.  This has  lead to shifts in our demographics as we export yound families and single people to areas with more diverse economic opportunities/better social interaction options.

Thus failure to protect our marine environment during good economic times has lead to the degradation of our natural environment from a variety of human stressors and failure of our socioeconomic system to adapt to the new economic/environmental  realities.  Thus a pound of prevention in the past would have yielded a ton of environmental/ecoconomic benefits in the present.  During a recent vist to coastal Maine I observed similar problems from a lack of foresight in making the proper investments in marine protection in the past.  Maine is probably worse off than Massachusetts/Rhode Island where ocean management plans are in place to help resolve some of these challeneges as we move ito the future, while Maine is open for business along the coast.  Balancing ocean conservation with multiple human uses of the ocean will be a major challenge as we move into the future.

Now that I am retired I have decided to beome a grassroots environmental activist on Cape Cod  to develop solutions to some of these challenges.