2017年12月，我參加了由亞洲保育醫學學會（Asian Society of Conservation Medicine）在日本對馬島所舉辦的第一屆亞洲野生貓科動物保育工作坊。工作坊舉辦的主要目的，是結合眾人的知識與經驗，並且以對馬山貓（分布於日本對馬島的石虎亞種）的保育工作經驗為案例，討論未來亞洲野生貓科物種保育方案及重要目標。連續五天的工作坊，除了從許多專家學者的報告及討論過程中獲得貓科動物保育知識之外，我也深刻地感受到日本郊山環境的里山地景（Satoyama landscape）變化對於當地住民及野生動物族群的影響。
去年，英國倫敦的橢圓板球場（ Kia Oval cricket grounds）也發出聲明：要在2020年全面實現「零塑膠」的標。該球場以環保杯取代之前銷售的塑膠杯，並安裝了20個免費的飲水機和水龍頭，同時提供2萬個限量版、可重複使用飲料瓶。從本賽季起，橢圓板球場已經開始禁用塑膠吸管，並推出了可用作堆肥（混合肥料）的咖啡杯，場內的商店也逐步止使用塑膠袋。
環團舉例，以聯合國糧農組織（FAO）漁業年報（The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2016）的案例來看，美國超市已要求台灣水產品須有類似永續海鮮的認證，台東的鬼頭刀漁業便開始摸索改進管理方式。鬼頭刀（又名暑魚）在台灣國內的平均價格每公斤約在82元，經過漁業管理改善計劃後，2016年出口美國的價格大幅上漲，從每公斤227元漲到400元上下。
這項計畫全稱為「石虎米推廣計劃──推動社區消費民眾與生態和諧共榮」。扶輪社「全球獎助金」（The Global Grant）提供全世界的扶輪社，用於符合基金會六大焦點領域，使扶輪社員們有能力透過募得的基金，來改進婦女保健，支持教育，水資源的保護，減低疾病的發生，以及促進社區經濟，以減輕貧窮，來增進世界瞭解，親善與和平的獎助金。
由於海洋資源管理不易，雖然可共享資源卻無法清楚劃分責任區域，導致全球海洋呈現過度利用及破壞的「公有地的悲劇」（tragedy of the commons）。此外，高效率的漁具、漁法及混獲現象，則是造成過漁的元凶。「三腳虎（扒網）抓的實在太嚴重了，一次出去抓個二、三百噸，小漁民哪比得上！」近年來備受爭議的扒網，挾著雄厚財力及高效率的科技優勢，已經躍升台灣重要漁法之一。
A coalition of national environmental groups today filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York challenging the Trump Administration’s move to eliminate longstanding protections for waterfowl, raptors, and songbirds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, MBTA.
In a legal opinion issued December 2017, the administration reversed decades of government policy and practice, by both Democratic and Republican administrations, on the implementation and enforcement of the MBTA.
This policy directive absolves companies from responsibility for bird deaths in oil pits, on power lines, and from other energy-related infrastructure.
The Act’s prohibition on the killing or “taking” of migratory birds has long been understood to extend to incidental take from industrial activities – meaning unintentional but predictable and avoidable killing.
Under the Administration’s revised interpretation, the MBTA’s protections will apply only to activities that purposefully kill birds. Any “incidental” take – no matter how inevitable or devastating the impact on birds – is now immune from enforcement under the law.
The plaintiff groups are: the American Bird Conservancy, the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, the National Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“The new policy makes it much harder to protect birds from major bird traps – threats like oil pits, wind turbines, and communication towers in bird migration hotspots,” said Mike Parr, president of American Bird Conservancy. “Leaving these threats unattended is like leaving manhole covers off along the sidewalk during rush hour – it’s negligent, irresponsible, and guaranteed to cause harm.”
The risk of liability under the MBTA has long provided the oil and gas industry, wind energy development companies, and power transmission line operators with an incentive to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to minimize bird deaths.
For example, in an effort to protect migratory birds and bats and avoid potential MBTA liability, the wind industry, conservation groups, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service worked to develop comprehensive guidelines aimed to ensure best practices for siting and developing wind farms.
The administration’s new policy eliminates this incentive for industries and individuals to minimize and mitigate foreseeable impacts of their activities on migratory birds, putting already-declining populations of our nation’s songbirds and other migratory birds at risk.
“The Trump administration’s rollback of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act is an absolute disaster for America’s birds,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
“Many bird species are already declining from habitat destruction and a host of other threats. This rule will allow the death of even more birds, whether they’re landing on polluted ponds left uncovered by the oil and gas industry or have their nest trees cut down from underneath them. It’s tragic,” said Greenwald.
The MBTA also protects birds from fossil fuel development. Oil pits kill hundreds of thousands of birds – if incidental take liability is eliminated, industry need no longer take measures to protect birds from these hazards.
In addition, when the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon disaster spilled more than 210 million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico more than one million birds were killed in the four years following the blowout.
BP paid $100 million in fines under the MBTA that supported wetland and migratory bird conservation. The new interpretation would bar the federal government from seeking such mitigation under the MBTA for devastating oil spills in the future.
“For 100 years, the United States has committed with other nations to protect migratory birds through international treaties and laws,” said Jamie Rappaport Clark, CEO and president of Defenders of Wildlife, and a former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under President Bill Clinton.
“The Trump administration’s meddling with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act threatens to reverse decades of progress to conserve birds that are essential to ecosystems, economies and our enjoyment of nature,” she said. “On the centennial of this important law, we will do everything we can to protect migratory birds that are defenseless against the reckless actions taken by this administration.”
據FAO統計，海鮮生態標章的創設有「國家與區域政府推動型（National and Regional Government-Based Ecolabels）」與「非政府推動型（Non-Government-Based Ecolabels）」兩類，前者如澳洲、北歐與日本。
後者有大名鼎鼎的MSC（Marine Stewardship Council），它1996年就在英國倫敦成立，竭力攻佔全球商業市場；近年來與MSC在亞洲市場角力激烈的，是總部設在義大利、2006年成立的海洋之友「Friend of the Sea」。而在歐洲有機農業相當知名、以德國為中心的Naturland，2006年也跨足海洋，推出「Naturland Wildfish」。
日本的足跡
2007年，日本選擇走自己的路。在官方色彩主導下，推出驗證費用優惠的Marine Eco-Label Japan （MEL Japan），採用適合日本漁業國情的標準；這兩年來，為了搶攻2020東京奧運的食材大餅、供應符合國際奧會規定的環保海鮮，日本農林水產省更是如火如荼的升級MEL Japan。包括為了取得「全球永續水產品倡議GSSI」[2]認證，修訂現行MEL Japan之考核基準，設定為期三年的過渡期──MEL Japan過去已認證的28個漁業，都必須重新評估。工程浩大！
「漁道ProFisher」永續海鮮生態標章簡介
