Conserving Ocean Biodiversity: Trends and Challenges

The ocean’s biological diversity—its genetic resources, species, and ecosystems—provides immense benefits to the United States and to all of human society. Knowledge about these resources is still rudimentary; however, trends in the best studied species and ecosystems— commercially exploited fishes, protected marine mammals and turtles, and certain coastal ecosystems, such as coral reefs— indicate that these resources and their benefits are threatened by human activities both in the United States and globally. The U.S. government is already taking steps to address the threats, and actions are paying dividends in healthier resources. Recent initiatives, such as the President’s Executive Order on Coral Reef Protection, signal a commitment to continue to improve the state of the marine environment. The key to further progress will depend on strengthening scientific research; applying a precautionary approach to resource use; strengthening partnerships with all stakeholders; and managing marine resources on an ecosystem basis. This paper highlights the ecosystem approach and the new Aquatic Restoration and Conservation (ARC) Partnership for Marine, Estuarine and Freshwater Living Resources as parts of a conceptual framework for organizing future actions to protect marine biodiversity.1