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Managing Marine Protected Species
Chris Yates is an alum from SNRE's first graduating class in 1999. He currently holds a position in the National Marine Fisheries Service in Hawaii.
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By Chris Yates, M.S. Alumnus '99
I am an alumnus of the first class of SNRE (then CNRE) which entered the University of Florida in the fall of 1999. During my studies at UF I was fortunate to be selected to participate in the Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship program which is administered by the Sea Grant Program. With this selection I moved to Washington DC and began a one year fellowship with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Office of Protected Resources.
At NMFS my role began as an assistant to staff working on international policy related to the conservation of large whales. However, due to staff changes, I quickly found myself serving as the International Whaling Commission (IWC) Coordinator. In this role I worked directly for the U.S. Commissioner, who is appointed by the President to represent the United States at meetings of the IWC. This gave me an early opportunity to work on very controversial issues and to interact with high level officials in developing U.S. policy.
As part of this job I developed draft policy on international whale conservation and management issues and worked with other federal agencies, Native American tribes, non-governmental conservation organizations, and foreign governments during negotiations on this policy and its implementation. I led and attended interagency meetings to finalize U.S. positions on controversial issues, and then met with high foreign government officials and congressional representatives to explain the U.S. position on these issues in preparation for annual IWC meetings. These meetings are where all member counties come together to debate the issues and vote on policy options.
After four years of working as the IWC Coordinator, I moved to Hawaii and now am an
Assistant Regional Administrator for the NMFS Pacific Islands Regional Office. NMFS is organized regionally, and our office is responsible for managing marine species in a vast area of U.S. waters around the State of Hawaii, Territory of American Samoa, Territory of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and numerous unpopulated U.S. owned atolls across the Pacific.
Protecting endangered Hawaiian monk seals (above) proves difficult for conservation specialists. The monk seal's habitat is also utilized by tourists and locals and is frequently disturbed by ongoing construction, military traning and shipping. Photo by James Watt
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My specific responsibilities include leading efforts to conserve and recover sea turtles, Hawaiian monk seals, and numerous whale and dolphin species protected by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). I lead a team of 11 employees, and we work cooperatively with a range of organizations such as other federal and state resource agencies and non-governmental conservation groups.
We have many conservation challenges to address, most of which evolve directly from resource conflicts between human use of the oceans and coasts and the needs of protected species. These conservation challenges require an interdisciplinary approach, and support the need for interdisciplinary education programs such as SNRE. These challenges require an understanding of the natural sciences such the ecology of the species we are conserving, but also an understanding of the human dimensions of the issue such as legal authorities, political interests, economics, and cultural considerations. In reality, our efforts are principally managing human behavior much more so than managing the species we are protecting.
Some examples of these conservation challenges where use conflicts arise include: reducing bycatch of sea turtles and marine mammals in commercial and recreational fisheries, while recognizing the economic and cultural importance these fisheries hold to many stakeholders; working to reduce shipstrikes of humpback whales in Hawaii, while realizing that the growing numbers of whales and boats increases the likelihood of collisions; protecting the critically endangered Hawaiian monk seal on beaches in the main Hawaiian islands when they come ashore to rest or to raise a pup, while knowing that the beaches are also used by tourists, various ocean users, and for native Hawaiian practices; and balancing the impacts of underwater noise on marine mammals with the need for activities that create noise such as the construction of piers, military training, and shipping.
These are just a few of the types of conflicts that exist between the need to conserve and protect these marine species and man’s use of the ocean and coasts. As our use of the ocean continues to increase, we are starting to address emerging challenges such as climate change, aquaculture, and alternative energy projects. These challenges will need future generations of conservationists, scientists, and managers who can use various disciplines to seek effective solutions.
For more information on NMFS efforts to protect endangered species in the Pacific Islands Region, please visit NOAA's website at www.fpir.noaa.gov.
Chris Yates can be contacted at, Chris.Yates@noaa.gov.
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