For societies that survive on hunting, gathering and fishing, the loss of legal rights over land they may have lived on for centuries is particularly hard.
Loss is something that fishing communities have long had to face but this is little solace at this moment.
The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (UNESCO-IOC) is part of a powerful coalition of governments, international organizations, civil society groups and private interests that are joining together under the banner of a Global Partnership for Oceans to address the blatant need for coordinated, global action and confront widely documented problems of over-fishing, marine degradation, and habitat loss.
That said, not all are impressed by the potential loss of a traditional lifestyle based on fishing.
Scottish boats, for example, face cuts of 15-20% of their fishing grounds - but the original recommendation had been a 40% loss.
As the biggest fishing town on Prince William Sound, Cordova may have suffered the greatest economic loss of any community in the aftermath of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
CORDOVA, Alaska (CNN) -- As the biggest fishing town on Prince William Sound, Cordova may have suffered the greatest economic loss of any community in the aftermath of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
The process of scrapping a fishing boat which sank off the Isle of Man 13 years ago, with the loss of seven lives, will begin next month.
There has long been opposition to the prospect of a gold mine and processing plant being built at Skouries in the Halkidiki peninsula, with some residents objecting to what they say will be the destruction of the environment and of pristine forest in the area, leading to the loss of tourism and other local activities such as farming, the rearing of livestock and fishing.
应用推荐