Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, Including Socio-economic Aspects: the “Assessment of Assessments”

Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, UNESCO
http://unhq-appspub-01.un.org/LIB/DHLRefWeblog.nsf/dx/31072009103719AMSLKK6W.htm
Despite progress achieved, regulation of the high seas or trans-zonal fisheries remains a major challenge. There is an increasing concern that many fisheries practices are unsustainable and that global fisheries face a major crisis. Many
special habitats are threatened by unsustainable uses, especially in the coastal environment. Mangroves, estuaries, coral reefs and seamounts [...]

Potential Job Creation, Economic Benefits and Revenue Sharing from Oil and Natural Gas Exploration and Production in North Carolina

Southeast Energy Alliance
(summary) http://consumerenergyalliance.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/sea-exec-summary2.pdf 
(full report) http://consumerenergyalliance.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/sea-report.pdf

A coalition of corporate, energy and agriculture leaders presented a report Monday projecting that North Carolina could eventually reap $577 million a year from offshore drilling along the state’s coast.
Members of the Southeast Energy Alliance made their case for drilling as lawmakers try to cope with a nosedive in state [...]

The Economic Growth Impact of Hurricanes : Evidence from US Coastal Counties

Ecole Polytechnique Paris, Centre National del la Recherche Scientifique Department d’Economie / by Eric Strobl
http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/39/23/82/PDF/2009-17_strobl_hurr.pdf
[Abstract] [Eric Strobl estimates] the impact of hurricane strikes on local economic growth rates and how this is reflected in more aggregate growth patterns. To this end he assembles a panel data set of US coastal counties’ growth rates and construct [...]

The Socio-Economic Impact of Sea Level Rise in the Galveston Bay Region

Environmental Defense Fund and the British Consulate General, Houston / by David W. Yoskowitz, James Gibeaut and Ali McKenzie
http://www.edf.org/documents/9901_EDF_Sea_Level_Rise_Report.pdf
[From press release]  Galveston-area sea level rise over the next 100 years due to climate change could displace more than 100,000 households and create more than $12 billion in infrastructure losses, according to a report released today… [...]

Eutrophication : Sources and Drivers of Nutrient Pollution

World Resources Institute / by Mindy Selman and Suzie Greenhalgh
http://www.wri.org/publication/eutrophication-sources-and-drivers
[Summary] This report…argues that nutrient over-enrichment of freshwater and coastal ecosystems, or eutrophication, is a rapidly growing environmental crisis.
Worldwide, the number of coastal areas impacted by eutrophication stands at over 500. In coastal areas, occurrences of dead zones, which are caused by eutrophic conditions, have increased [...]

Ocean Acidification

Congressional Research Service
http://opencrs.com/document/R40143/
[Summary] With increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, the extent of effects on the ocean and marine resources is an increasing concern. One aspect of this issue is the ongoing process whereby seawater becomes acidified (i.e., ocean acidification) as more CO2 dissolves in it, causing hydrogen ion concentration in seawater [...]

Ocean Acidification

Congressional Research Service
http://opencrs.com/document/R40143
[Summary]  With increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, the extent of effects on the ocean and marine resources is an increasing concern. One aspect of this issue is the potential for seawater to become less alkaline (i.e., ocean acidification) as more CO2 dissolves in seawater, causing hydrogen ion concentration in [...]

U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea : Living Resources Provisions

Congressional Research Service
http://opencrs.com/document/RL32185
[Summary]  The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS Convention) was agreed to in 1982, but the United States never became a signatory nation. The current Administration has reiterated support for U.S. accession to the LOS Convention, and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations reported the LOS Convention on December [...]

Desalination : An Ocean of Problems

Food and Water Watch
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/pubs/reports/desalination-an-ocean-of-problems
{From press release] Food & Water Watch today released a new report that reveals that ocean desalination, an emerging technology often promoted by private corporations as a solution to drought and water shortages, creates a myriad of environmental and social problems. Desalination: An Ocean of Problems finds that desalination—the process of removing [...]

Monaco Declaration

Second International Symposium on the Ocean in a High-CO2 World Monaco – October 6-9, 2008
http://ioc3.unesco.org/oanet/Symposium2008/MonacoDeclaration.pdf
More than 150 leading marine scientists from 26 countries are calling for immediate action by policymakers to reduce CO2 emissions sharply so as to avoid widespread and severe damage to marine ecosystems from increasing ocean acidification—the “other CO2 problem”. They issued [...]