National Geographics Kerry interview on the oceans conference
On why he, rather than someone else in the Obama administration led on this:
"Every one of those are life and death issues. And the oceans are, too. If we don’t preserve the oceans from nitrate runoff and plastic and chemicals, and if we don’t preserve it from acidification, and if we don’t preserve it from grotesque overfishing—too much money chasing too few fish—we’re going to have the most massive ecosystem on the planet in peril. It is in peril. And I view this as important as any of those other issues."
On proudest accomplishment from the Ocean conferences:
"One of the things I’m proudest of is an idea to push [for] a global accountability enforcement network [for illegal fishing] in areas of the ocean where we know certain countries are sending vessels that go in and still drift net and strip mine, using GPS and other technology to trace and track. When I began this endeavor in 2014, there were 10 countries signed up for the Port State Measures Agreement [a treaty that prevents boats with illegally caught fish to dock and off-load those fish in participating ports]. Now we’re up to 60 countries that have joined Port State Measures. That is a huge step forward in terms of accountability as to where fish are coming from and how they’re being sold and who caught them."
Asked what one thing does he most want to happen before Obama leaves office:
"The biggest thing I’d like to see is to bring the Paris [climate] agreement into full force. Every meeting we’ve gone to, we are pushing nations to sign up, join up. My hope is that we get the Paris agreement in place because that will have a profound impact. The faster we get that out there, the bigger the impact is on the acidification of the oceans, the warming and melting, sea level rise. It’s all wrapped up in that."
And, in what might be the most JK comment there - when asked of his legacy on this:
"I leave it up to others. I’m just trying to maximize what I can do every day here and when I’m gone, I’ll sit back and reflect. I want to be able to tell my grandchildren I tried. I gave it my all."
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/john-kerry-ocean-health-fishing-environment-interview/