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PRESS BRIEFING 
6Oct17 
15:45, Malta at the Our Ocean conference 2017 

Today, The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and The Ocean Foundation (TOF) are signing an MOU to commit to co-host three workshops on ocean acidification to benefit 10 Pacific Island (large ocean states) nations. 

SPREP and TOF have mutual interests in relation to the protection and conservation of the marine environment, particularly in the areas of ocean acidification, climate change, and integrated governance.

Hurricane Harvey, as with other disasters, has demonstrated once again that communities gather and help each other when the need arises. Further, we saw those leaders who failed to help where they could, were swayed by the common belief that they needed to act to help the vulnerable and house the displaced. Sadly, we all need to remember to speak for the vulnerable and the abused even when not faced with cataclysmic weather or other disasters, natural and man-made.

While Americans celebrated National Ocean Month in June and spent summer on or near the water, the Department of Commerce began soliciting public comments to review many of our nation’s most important marine conservation sites. The review could lead to a reduction in size for 11 of our marine sanctuaries and monuments. Ordered by President Trump, this review will focus on designations and expansions of marine sanctuaries and marine monuments since April 28, 2007.

When I was a little girl, I was afraid of the water. Not so afraid that I wouldn't go in it, but I would never be the first one to take the plunge. I’d sacrifice my family and friends, quietly waiting a few beats to see if they were eaten by a shark or sucked down to core of the Earth by a surprise sinkhole—even in the lakes, rivers, and streams of my home state of Vermont, where we are stuck tragically without a salty coastline. After the scene appeared to be safe, I’d cautiously join them, only then able to enjoy the water with peace of mind.

If you have ever woken up early to wander the stalls of a fish market, you can relate to my feeling of anticipation leading up to the SeaWeb Seafood Summit.  The fish market brings to the surface a sample of the undersea world that you cannot see day-to-day.  You know that some jewels will be revealed to you.  You revel in the diversity of the species, each with its own niche, but collectively making up an exquisite system.