West Coast Publishing Ocean 2014 affirmative page

Enviornment-Public Trust Doctrine

A) The public trust doctrine is key to solve environmental problems associated with aquaculture

Kenneth Parker, J.D., Northwestern, 13 “Fishing for the Public Trust Doctrine: The Search for a Legal Framework to Govern Open Ocean Aquaculture in America’s Federal Waters,” Northeastern University Law Journal, Vol. 4, No. 1, pg. Google Scholar [accessed: 4/27/14]

In order to find a public trust doctrine that will provide a binding¶ rule of law governing open ocean aquaculture in federal waters, it is¶ necessary first to find a public trust doctrine that applies in federal waters.¶ A number of legal scholars have observed the role of the public trust¶ doctrine in state waters and explored its possible application to federal¶ waters. Much of this scholarship is summarized in The Silver Anniversary¶ of the United States’ Exclusive Economic Zone: Twenty-Five Years of Ocean¶ Use and Abuse, and the Possibility of a Blue Water Public Trust Doctrine, in¶ which the authors pose the following questions:¶ (1) does a federal public trust doctrine exist; (2) if so,¶ can we rightfully extend it to include the entirety of the¶ U.S. ocean waters; and (3) could the doctrine provide¶ the missing catalyst for federal agencies to manage the¶ use of U.S. ocean resources in a coordinated, sustainable¶ fashion?¶ The authors answer all three questions in the affirmative, not by¶ identifying a clear, binding authority that applies the public trust doctrine¶ to federal waters,12 but through a utilitarian argument that the public trust¶ doctrine “could uniquely provide a powerful and intuitive framework for¶ restructuring the way we manage ocean resources . . . [and] that the most¶ robust federal public trust doctrine would be established by a mutually¶ reinforcing combination of judicial interpretation, congressional mandate,¶ and executive action.”¶

B) The plan applies it

Kenneth Parker, J.D., Northwestern, 13 “Fishing for the Public Trust Doctrine: The Search for a Legal Framework to Govern Open Ocean Aquaculture in America’s Federal Waters,” Northeastern University Law Journal, Vol. 4, No. 1, pg. Google Scholar [accessed: 4/27/14]
This formulation of the federal public trust doctrine presents the¶ possibility that with congressional action, this ancient rule of law might be¶ applied to the management of federal waters and, therefore, to open ocean¶ aquaculture. But predicating enforcement of the public trust doctrine in¶ federal waters on congressional action presents a number of problems,¶ the most basic of which is that Congress might fail to act, which has been¶ the pattern to date with respect to open ocean aquaculture. The National¶ Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”) has made repeated¶ efforts to spur the development of federal standards for the licensing of¶ open ocean aquaculture, filing the National Offshore Aquaculture Act of¶ 2005 and the National Offshore Aquaculture Act of 2007, as well as¶ organizing the 2007 National Maritime Aquaculture Summit to promote¶ this legislation

Overfishing Extensions

Overfishing is a crucial internal link to marine biodiversity loss-Causes push past tipping points

Joseph Travis, Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, et. Al, 2013, “Integrating the invisible fabric of nature into fisheries management,” PNAS, [accessed 5/7/2014]

Overfishing and environmental change have¶ triggered severe and unexpected consequences¶ in diverse ecosystems supporting marine¶ fisheries. As existing fisheries have collapsed,¶ the ecosystems in which they were embedded¶ have changed dramatically. These changes¶ have brought those ecosystems to states that¶ are often less productive and less predictable¶ and from which recovering the fishery is¶ more difficult. We contend that the failure¶ of fisheries management to anticipate these¶ transformations resulted from a lack of appreciation¶ for the nature, strength, complexity,¶ and outcome of species interactions. Ecologists¶ have come tounderstand that networks¶ of interacting species exhibit nonlinear dynamics¶ and feedback loops that can produce¶ sudden and unexpected shifts (1). We argue¶ that fisheries science and management must¶ follow this lead by developing a sharper focus¶ on species interactions and how disrupting¶ these interactions can push ecosystems in¶ which fisheries are embedded past their¶ tipping points.