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Two prestigious commissions have now established that our oceans are sick and we don't have a lot of time to find a cure. Yet where do you start when trying to fix a problem that is literally as vast as the sea? Several members of Congress are taking the challenge seriously and have proposed some good first steps.
Last year, the privately funded Pew Oceans Commission issued its findings: Abuses including overfishing, coastal destruction and pollution have tilted the oceans into a decline that will be difficult to reverse. That message was reinforced earlier this year in a report by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, which set a time limit for action. "We know if we don't get moving now, in 10 years we may not be able to recover," said chairman James Watkins.
Both commissions agreed that any solution must start with reform of a regulatory system dominated by industries that too often exploit the sea and an overhaul of the unwieldy oceans management bureaucracy.
The most immediate threat to the nation's territorial waters is overfishing. Protection of declining fish stocks is in the hands of eight regional fishery management councils that are controlled by the fishing industry and too often motivated by profit rather than conservation. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., likens the situation to "asking the mining industry to regulate mining safety."
Rahall has introduced a bill that would require councils to balance their membership with representatives who do not make their living from fishing and to strengthen the conflict-of-interest standard. It would also require catch limits to be based on independent, scientific analysis to promote sustainability.
Then there is the tangle of overlapping jurisdiction, with 20 agencies involved in some part of ocean management. Legislation by Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., would make the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration an independent agency and clarify its mission. Now, NOAA is part of the Commerce Department, whose mission is too broad to give conservation the necessary attention.
Legislation out of the House Oceans Caucus would establish a National Oceans Council answering to the president and charged with resolving interagency disputes. That would give those in charge the clout they will need to change the culture of neglect.
None of this will be easy, of course, because both private interests who profit from exploitation of the oceans and the bureaucracy will fight to protect their turf. But as Pew Commission chairman Leon Panetta said, "future generations will judge us on whether we shoulder our responsibility toward our ocean trust."