Center for Coastal and Watershed Systems

CONFLICTS AT SEA:

VALUES AND ETHICS IN THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

CURTIS AND EDITH MUNSON MARINE CONSERVATION LECTURE SERIES

Aldo Leopold's Legacy: An Ocean Ethic

Aldo Leopold's land ethic provides a scientific and ethical foundation for modern concepts of conservation and ecosystem based management. The lecture will describe current controversies and show how his concepts are being applied in the development of a modern Ocean Ethic.

Dr. James Bohnsack

Research Fishery Biologist, Southeast Fisheries Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA

Ethical Implications of Climate Change in the World's Coastal Areas

Dr. Tundi Agardy

Executive Director, Sound Seas

Coastal Sprawl and the Need for Establishing a Working Waterfront Ethic in Maine

This lecture explores the ways that coastal development is challenging the economic and cultural heritage of Maine's working waterfront communities.

Mr. Rob Snyder

Program Director, Working Waterfront Alliance, Island Institute, Maine

Perspectives on an Ethic Toward the Sea

Beyond good science, management technology, and regulatory policies; sustainable fisheries conservation depends over the long-term on developing an ethic toward the marine environment based on a greatly expanded understanding of human self-interest.

Dr. Stephen Kellert

Tweedy/Ordway Professor of Social Ecology, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

Restore or Replace the Native Oyster in Chesapeake Bay: Is There a Silver-Bullet Solution to a Century-Old Problem?

Efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay's beleaguered oyster population, and the industry it once supported are underway. One possible solution being promoted by some political leaders and the seafood industry is to introduce a new species of oyster from the western Pacific Ocean. For an estuary whose very name "Chesapeake" literally means "great shellfish bay", this recommendation has, quite appropriately, prompted a vigorous debate.

Dr. Robert Brumbaugh

Global Marine Initiative, The Nature Conservancy

Why Dance with the Devil? Getting Past "Good Guys" and "Bad Guys" to an Ecumenical Sea Ethic: A Case Study from Baja California, Mexico

Finding common ground on conservation issues is difficult and the 'default mode' for our field is often black/white, good guys/bad guys. By building creative alliances between unusual bedfellows, the grassroots sea turtle conservation movement in NW Mexico, led by members of the Groupo Tortuguero network, is nearing a 'tipping point' of sorts and the time when sea turtles are once again abundant and sustainable used is coming. Sea turtles have emerged as a powerful cultural symbol for a sea ethic.

Dr. Wallace J. Nichols

Director, Pacific Ocean Region, Blue Ocean Institute

Ethical Implications of Climate Change in the World's Coastal Areas

Climate change is expected to greatly alter coastal ecosystems around the world, causing changes in delivery of ecosystem services which in turn will cause a reduction in human well-being in many parts of the globe, especially in developing countries. There are two aspects of this phenomenon that have ethical dimensions. The first is that the bulk of human-induced climate change is being driven by consumption in the developed world, while the costs of climate change will be borne by the lesser developed, and especially highly marginalized coastal communities. The second is that since coastal ecosystems are less able to adapt to changing climate when already stressed by other factors such as pollution and over fishing, the onus is on the developed world to improve the capacity of the underdeveloped to better manage coastal resource use and space.

Dr. Tundi Agardy

Executive Director, Sound Seas

Federal Responsibilities of an Island Nation

The respective roles of the legislative and executive branches of our Federal government in managing our coasts, oceans and Great Lakes, are called to task more now than they have been in nearly half a century. The ever-diversifying factors influencing the balance of economic development, environmental stewardship and public safety dictate a careful but aggressive set of programs, policies and resources. So, the question is, how best to proceed as a nation?

Dr. Richard Spinrad

Assistant Administrator, National Ocean Service, NOAA

Addressing Climate Change with Ocean Altering Projects

Abstract coming...

Dr. Mark J. Spalding

Senior Program Officer, Alaska Oceans Program

TBA

TBA

Dr. Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, Director

Tethys Research Institute, Italy

The Land Ethic and the Sea Ethic

Aldo Leopold's celebrated land ethic is the familiar ethic of choice among contemporary environmentalists and conservation biologists. Rachel Carson is equally well-known for her meticulous exposure of the hazards of pesticides and other synthetic chemicals to both human health and ecosystem health. Once popular but now less well known, before Silent Spring, Carson wrote movingly about "the sea around us." Does she articulate in her books about the ocean a sea ethic? And if so, how is like and unlike Leopold's land ethic?

Dr. J. Baird Callicott

Visiting Professor of Philosophy and School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale Bioethicist-in-Residence

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Last Updated January 21, 2005