Team Seagrass would like to take this opportunity to wish all our volunteers a Happy World Wetlands Day!
This year's theme is "Fish for Tomorrow" in recognition of the importance of wetlands to:
- the needs of the one billion people who rely on fish as their primary source of animal protein;
- the state of the world's fisheries where 75% of commercially important marine and most inland water fish stocks are either currently overfished or being fished at their biological limit, and where the effects of unsustainable aquaculture practices on wetland ecosystems are of growing concern;
- the important role that inland and coastal wetlands play in supporting fish and fisheries at all levels, from large-scale, commercial fisheries to subsistence fishers, and from wild, capture fisheries to farmed fish; the critical role that coastal wetlands play as spawning and nursery areas for many marine species; and the urgent need for effective management of fisheries and the wetland ecosystems that support them;
- the adoption in November 2005 by the Ramsar Convention of a resolution and annexed guidelines on the conservation, production and sustainable use of fisheries which commits the 153 Contracting Parties to the Convention to playing their role in establishing and maintaining sustainable fisheries in wetlands.
(Taken from http://www.ramsar.org/wwd/7/wwd2007_index.htm)
So please take a moment to reflect on the importance of wetlands (including seagrass meadows) in our lives and the significance of the body of information you're contributing to in better understanding our marine ecosystem by participating in Team Seagrass.
Have a wonderful day!
PS. From Ria: To commemorate this Day, I've started a compilation of seagrass media articles.
Sadly, there's an article today about how an algae bloom is killing seagrasses in the U.S.
Algiers Beach becomes Algae Beach
By Kevin Lollar News-Press.com 2 Feb 07
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