[Coral-List] Majuro question: more resources
Szmant, Alina
szmanta at uncw.edu
Fri Mar 21 13:33:14 EDT 2014
Hello John:
The Clinton Presidential executive order that initiated the US Coral Reef Task Force was supposed to include the policy that no US Federal agency, which the FAA is, could conduct any activity that would negatively affect coral reefs. I remember during the early meetings of the task force all the discussions about the US Navy using Vieques and Culebra for bombing practice, and that the US Navy and Marines were pressured out from doing so. Why doesn't this apply to the FAA in Majuro or can the agency basically consider corals, and then state yes we considered then but we are going to do it anyway?
Alina
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." Eleanor Roosevelt
"The time is always right to do what is right" Martin Luther King
*************************************************************************
Dr. Alina M. Szmant
Professor of Marine Biology
Center for Marine Science
University of North Carolina Wilmington
5600 Marvin Moss Ln
Wilmington NC 28409 USA
tel: 910-962-2362 fax: 910-962-2410 cell: 910-200-3913
http://people.uncw.edu/szmanta
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-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of John McManus
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2014 11:42 AM
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Majuro question: more resources
Of course, this is about US FAA and RMI EPA, and not US EPA.
Some people from various US resource agencies made some inquiries about this problem some time ago to see what they could do about it. The answer had to do with the particular relationship of RMI to the US. This meant that although FAA could fund a project there, the resource agencies had no jurisdiction over the impacts of that project. Apparently, the rules even vary between Guam and the rest of Micronesia, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, etc. Apparently, no one size fits all set of rules applies.. The problem is worse for US development activities in countries which were not previously part of the US.
The situation is similar in some ways, or inverse, to the one addressed by the Black Bass Act, which prohibited import into the US of natural products gathered illegally in other countries -- including corals.
While clearly the immediate issue in Majuro is the priority for now, ultimately we need new legislation which prohibits the US from providing major funding to overseas construction projects without a US EPA approval based on a proper EIA/EIS. The US should never be involved in a major project anywhere which would be illegal within the US.
I say 'major' because of course we do not want Peace Corps volunteers to have to undergo such a process for every well they dig for small villages in Subsaharan Africa. Thus, 'major' would be defined in terms of some dollar
amount or by some other effective criteria.
I urge all of you in the US who are communicating about this to your congressional representatives to add this need for new legislation to your discussions -- after emphasizing the need for quicker, more immediate action on the Majuro situation.
John
John W. McManus, PhD
Director, National Center for Coral Reef Research (NCORE) Professor, Marine Biology and Fisheries Coral Reef Ecology and Management Lab (CREM Lab) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, 33149 jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu http://ncore.rsmas.miami.edu/ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John_McManus/
"If you lose a diamond ring in the bedroom, don't look for it in the living room just because the light there is better".
I got much of this information from using the following search term at the US Coral Reef Task Force (USCRTF) site (http://coralreef.gov):
site:http://www.coralreef.gov majuro
If you want to see what the airport looks like on Majuro, see the slide "Majuro Challenges" at in this presentation:
http://www.coralreef.gov/meeting27/pdf/fitialcnmi.pdf
>From a bit of reading, it appears to me that Majuro's airport may serve
to help many other islands in the region, and that's probably why "they"
want the airport extension: bigger cargo planes.
>From the USCRTF site I also find that the following organizations in
>the
Republic of the Marshall Islands may have input or knowledge about the coral mining issue in Majuro:
* Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority (MIMRA)
* Office of Environmental Planning and Policy Coordination (OEPPC)
* RMI Environmental Protection Agency (RMIEPA)
* Ministry of Internal Affairs (IA)
* College of the Marshall Islands (CMI)
* Marshall Islands Visitors Authority (MIVA)
* Historic Preservation Office (HPO)
* Marshall Islands Conservation Society (MICS)
* Natural Resources Assessment Surveys (NRAS)
Perhaps the USCRTF is a logical organization to further pursue the issue.
These are the members of the USCRTF (from their Web site):
? NOAA CRCP: The Coral Reef Conservation Program has a large grant
program funding major coral reef
research and management initiatives in the US and abroad.
? FWS: Fish and Wildlife Service manages 15 coral reef National
Wildlife Refuges and 4 National Marine
Monuments which represent the largest and most ecologically
comprehensive series of fully-protected marine
areas under unifi edconservation management in the world.
? MMS: Since the 1970s, the Mineral Management Service has sponsored
long-term monitoring in the coral reef
ecosystem of the Flower Garden Banks located in the Gulf of Mexico.
? NPS: The National Park Service has 10 National Parks in the Pacifi
c, Florida and the Caribbean with coral reef ecosystems.
? OIA: Offi ce of Insular Aff airs, through its Coral Reef
Initiative, funds coral reef conservation and management
projects in the US insular areas.
? USGS: The U.S. Geological Survey developed a "Strategic Science
for Coral Ecosystems 2007-2011," a
comprehensive planning document encompassing marine reserves and
reef structure, pollution and local
impacts, and responses to global change.
? USAID: The US Agency for International Development provides core
support to the WorldFish Center,
which published a "Lessons Learned and Best Practices in the
Management of Coral Reefs," providing a
comprehensive analysis of 30 projects worldwide.
? USCG: The US Coast Guard provides assets to assist with the
removal of fi shing gear and other debris aff ecting
coral reefs; removing over 510 metric tons from Hawai`i since 1996.
? USDA: The Department of Agriculture staff produces and maintains
Field Offi ce Technical Guides, with information
on conservation, water, air and biological resources, as well as
maps, cultural resources, and protected species.
? DOD - Navy: The Department of Defense funds a vast array of
environmental research via the Strategic
Environmental Research and Development Program, focusing the areas
of cleanup, compliance, conservation
and pollution prevention technologies.
? USACE: The Army Corps of Engineers maintains an Institute for
Water Resources, off ering education and
training opportunities in water resource management.
? DOS: The Department of State provides substantial support to the
International Coral Reef Initiative and the
Coral Triangle Initiative.
? EPA: The Environmental Protection Agency maintains the Catalog of
Federal Funding Sources for Watershed
Protection, a database with funding from many Federal agencies.
? NASA: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration conducts
cutting-edge coral monitoring and imaging
research, including the Millennium Coral Reef Mapping Project, which
maps all reefs found in all tropical oceans.
? NSF: The National Science Foundation supports projects targeted to
advancing knowledge of coral reef
ecosystems, including long-term and inter-disciplinary research.
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