Many accounts describe the trouble the world’s oceans face due to rising temperatures and increasing acidification. Continuing these trends point to dire consequences not only for the marine environment but for humankind as well. In January 2011, the National Council for Science and the Environment sponsored a symposium, “Our Changing Oceans.” Recommendations from the symposium’s break-out sessions suggest actions to take in response to the crisis we face as seas rise, sea chemistry changes and marine communities shift in response to altered conditions.

The 24 break-out sessions were divided under the categories of

• Oceans and carbon
• Oceans and Living Marine Ecosystems
• Oceans Affect Everyone
• Tipping Points
• White Arctic/Blue Arctic
• Observing and Measuring Ocean Changes for Improved Stewardship
• Cross-cutting

Sessions and recommendations:

1. Sea Level Rise, Uncertainty and Policy: Recommendations include

• Incorporating considerations of anticipated climate-change consequences into economic policy and putting a price on carbon
• Discouraging development in flood-prone areas
• Acquiring land for refuges to maintain wetland acreage and coastal ecosystem services
• Continuing governmental support for research, planning and dissemination of information

2. Ocean and Coastal Hypoxia and Climate Change: Recommendations include

• Changing federal agency water management policies
• Increasing local environmental literacy
• Restoring wetlands and floodplains

3. Carbon Sequestration in the Marine Environment: Recommendations include

• Recognizing the importance of coastal and ocean carbon sequestration
• Establishing high-level leadership and funding programs to encourage Research and develop policy regarding blue carbon
• Immediately conserving ecosystems know to sequester carbon

4. Avoiding “Maladaptation” of the Coast: Recommendations include

• Encouraging federal agencies to plan and implement large-scale, ecosystem-based, multidisciplinary coastal adaptation
• Developing a communication strategy and a clearinghouse for coastal adaptation information, databases and models
• Including coastal adaptation planning into pre-disaster response-and-recovery plans
• Restricting National Flood Insurance Program coverage in high-hazard and environmentally sensitive areas

5. Ocean Acidification Threats to Fisheries and Aquaculture: Recommendations include

• Increased monitoring of data from hatcheries, coastal waters, essential fish habitat, and open ocean (food web effects)
• Developing predictive models and identifying tipping points
• Monetizing the impacts of ocean acidification
• Developing acidification-resistant stock
• Supporting governmental programs for ocean research and for strengthening ocean resiliency

6. An Effective Law and Policy Framework for Coastal Adaptation: Recommendations include

• Creating a single, authorative climate source in NOAA
• Including adaptation to sea level rise and climate management plans in state coastal management plans
• Altering provisions in the National Flood Insurance Plan and encouraging retreat from encroaching shorelines
• Updating maps to account for sea level rise and erosion projections
• Including ecosystem services in cost-benefit analyses

Click here to continue viewing recommendations from all sessions.