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Pursuing Environmental Solutions

Saving Marine Biodiversity Through the Power of Partnerships

or over 70 years, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has protected biodiversity by using a simple strategy: Buy
it. The Conservancy uses grants and donations to purchase privately owned natural areas or to buy develop-
Fment rights to those areas. TNC has protected over 50 million hectares (125 million acres) of land by either
buying land or buying the development rights of the land. As a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization, TNC
has great flexibility to use innovative conservation and restoration techniques on natural areas in its possession.

TNC focuses its efforts on areas containing rare species or numbers of oysters and clams. Beginning in the 1950s, how-
biodiversity hotspots, including the Florida Keys in southern ever, overharvesting these shellfish led to sharp declines in
Florida and Santa Cruz Island in California. Recently, it has the shellfish and this led to the loss of thousands of jobs
set its sights on the oceans, including coastal marine ecosys- connected to the industry. By the 1990s, commercial shell-
tems. Coastal ecosystems have experienced steep declines in fishing ceased and harvesting had declined to 1 percent
the populations of many fish and shellfish, including oysters, of what it once was. Despite the reduced harvesting, the
clams, and mussels, due to a combination of overharvesting shellfish species did not rebound. In addition, with fewer
and pollution. By preserving these coastal ecosystems, TNC shellfish to filter the algae out of the water combined with
hopes to create reserves that will serve as breeding grounds increased inputs of nutrients into the bay, the area began to
for declining populations of overharvested species. In this experience harmful algal blooms.
way, protecting a relatively small area of ocean will benefit From 2002 to 2004, TNC acquired the rights to 5,420 ha
much larger unprotected areas, and even benefit the very (13,000 acres) of oyster beds along the southern shore of
industries that have led to the population declines. Long Island. These rights, which were donated to TNC by
Shellfish are particularly valuable in many coastal eco- the Blue Fields Oyster Company, were valued at $2 million.
systems because they are filter feeders: They remove tiny TNC worked with local governments, community mem-
organisms, including algae, from large quantities of water, bers, and the shellfish industry to develop restoration
cleaning the water in the process and helping to prevent strategies, including reducing the nutrient inputs, updat-
harmful algal blooms. However, shellfish worldwide have ing harvesting plans, and seeding the area with millions of
been harvested unsustainably, leading to a cascade of effects
throughout many coastal regions. For example, oyster pop-
ulations in the Chesapeake Bay were once sufficient to filter
the water of the entire bay in 3 to 6 days. Now there are
so few oysters that it would take a year for them to filter
the same amount of water. As a result, the bay has become
much murkier, and excessive algae have led to lowered oxy-
gen levels that make the bay less hospitable to fish.
Conserving marine ecosystems is particularly challenging
because private ownership is rare. State and federal govern-
ments generally do not sell areas of the ocean. Instead, they
have allowed industries to lease the harvesting or exploitation
rights to marine resources such as oil, shellfish, and physical
space for marinas and aquaculture. So how can a conservation
group protect coastal ecosystems if it cannot buy an area of
the ocean to protect it? The Nature Conservancy’s strategy is
to purchase harvesting and exploitation rights and use them
as a conservation tool. In some cases, TNC will not harvest
any shellfish in order to allow the populations to rebound.
In other cases, the leases require at least some harvesting, so
TNC has worked to demonstrate sustainable management
practices to serve as an example of how shellfish harvests can Restoring ocean populations. In areas that have declining
be conducted while restoring the shellfish beds. populations of shellfish, such as this site in New Hampshire,
In New York’s Great South Bay, along the southern coast researchers seed the area with additional individuals to help
of Long Island, there was a long history of harvesting large speed up the recovery of the populations. (Joe Klementovich)

UNIT 2 ■ Pursuing Environmental Solutions 163
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