Congress May Revamp USA Ocean Policy

Congress May Revamp USA Ocean Policy



March 2007 – U.S. oceans policy 
remains adrift, leaving the nation unable to address the 
myriad of environmental problems facing its oceans and coastal 
areas, the co-chairs of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative 
told a House panel Thursday. 
Retired Admiral James Watkins and fellow co-chair Leon Panetta 
expressed frustration that lawmakers and the Bush 
administration have largely ignored the recommendations 
outlined by two national commissions in 2003 and 2004. 
The reports issued by the Pew Oceans Commission, chaired by 
Panetta, and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, chaired by 
Watkins, came to similar conclusions about the state of the 
oceans and outlined more than 240 combined recommendations to 
reform the nation's haphazard oceans policy. 
Both commissions concluded that the current regime fails to 
coordinate goals and is hampered by a lack of funding. 
"The government's flaws are many," said Watkins. "We have 
fragmented laws, overlapping jurisdictions, and an absence of 
a coherent national ocean policy." 
As a result many species are overfished, coastal wetlands and 
estuaries that serve as nurseries are polluted and 
disappearing, there are massive dead zones in the Gulf of 
Mexico, the Chesapeake Bay and off the coast of Oregon, 
commercial fishing interests are suffering, and invasive 
species are gaining a stronger foothold in many ecosystems. 
Lawmakers have been warned repeatedly that the nation's 
treatment of the oceans and coasts must change. 
Panetta said implementation of the recommendations offered by 
the commissions has been "far too slow and cautious given the 
state of our oceans." 
"Our oceans are in crisis," Panetta told members of the House 
Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans. "We are in 
danger not only of damaging what is obviously one of the 
greatest natural resources of our planet … but we are in 
danger of impacting on life itself and I think that is what 
needs to be brought home to the American people." 
Lawmakers at the hearing acknowledged that the federal 
response to the two landmark reports has been tepid. 
"Both painted a pretty bleak picture of the state of our 
oceans but unfortunately we didn't really do much with this 
information during the past two Congresses," said 
Representative Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat. 
Legislation to implement some of the recommendations endorsed 
by the initiative has been introduced in the House and 
referred to the subcommittee. 
"It is up to us to provide the leadership needed to ensure the 
sustainability of our ocean ecosystems and all that they 
provide us for the long term," said subcommittee chairwoman 
Madeleine Bordallo, a Democratic delegate from Guam. 
A Bush administration official defended the White House 
response to the reports, pointing to the creation of a 
cabinet-level committee to oversee and coordinate the nation's 
oceans policy and an action plan developed to identify short- 
and long-term goals for reform. 
The administration has made "significant progress" completing 
83 percent of its goals to better coordinate policy, said Mary 
Glackin, assistant administrator for program planning and 
integration at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA). 
Glackin highlighted management efforts in the Gulf of Mexico, 
the creation of a new marine sanctuary in Hawaii and a $131 
million increase in its request for NOAA's budget. 
But Watkins questioned the effectiveness of the 
administration's response, noting that the total budget for 
oceans policy and research is at least $100 million less than 
last year's appropriation. 
"We have been at status quo for three years," Watkins said. 
"If there is a committee on ocean policy doing something, it 
is hard to see it." 
Funding in the past two years "has been a disaster," Panetta 
added. 
Both commissions called for an eventual $3-$4 billion increase 
in oceans funding, including a doubling of research from the 
current level of $650 million. 
"It is a modest increase given the consequences if we allow 
the current rate of degradation to continue," Watkins said. 
Panetta and Watkins praised the reuthorization of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act, which sets fishery management in federal 
waters, but called it a rare sign of action to reform oceans 
policy. 
The initiative has endorsed the concept of an Oceans Trust 
Fund to pay for implementation of its recommendations - the 
fund would use some $4 billion of the $5 billion annually 
collected as federal revenues from Outer Continental Shelf oil 
and gas development and would include any future rents from 
permitted uses of federal waters. 
The earmarked money currently goes into the U.S. Treasury. 
But lawmakers remain wary of the idea - Idaho Republican Bill 
Sali said diverting money to an oceans trust fund would 
increase the deficit. 
"All that money is being used and appropriated today," Sali 
said. "It is going to have to be made up somewhere else." 
"There is no simple answer, no magic answer," replied Panetta, 
a former California Congressman who served as head of the 
House Budget Committee. "If you care about the deficit you are 
going to have to cut spending or raise taxes or both". 
The nation's oceans and coastal areas generate some $138 
billion in economic activity annually, Panetta said, and their 
future health merits a greater investment by the federal 
government. 
"You have to decide what are the priorities that you have to 
invest in for the sake of the country," Panetta said. "If we 
walk away from it, if we don't make the investment, if we 
don't develop the skills and science we need, make no mistake 
about it our child will be asking the question, 'where were 
we?'" 
Panetta and Watkins also called on Congress to strengthen 
NOAA, adopt a statement of national ocean policy and enact 
legislation to create an ecosystem-based framework to support 
regional management. 
Lawmakers need to develop regulatory policies for aquaculture, 
the development of wind energy off the coasts as well as for 
bioprospecting within ocean waters, the initiative's co-chairs 
said, and the Senate should ratify the UN Convention on the 
Law of the Sea. 
The accord, which has been ratified by more than 140 nations, 
sets forth international standards for navigating the oceans 
by commercial and military vessels, fishing on the open seas, 
mining the sea bed, laying communications cable, and 
protecting the marine environment. 
Although its ratification is supported by the Bush 
administration, a handful of Republican Senators have blocked 
ratification of the treaty, arguing it gives the United 
Nations too much power. 
The massive dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is largely a 
product of agricultural runoff, demonstrating the link between 
land use activities and the health of the oceans and coastal 
waters.  
Expanding oceans research is absolutely critical to dealing 
with the ecological problems facing the coasts and oceans, 
said Panetta, who pointed out how little is known about the 
planet's dominant feature. 
"We need to expand ocean exploration," Panetta added. "Fifteen 
hundred people have climbed Mt. Everest, 300 people have gone 
into space, 12 have actually walked on the moon, but only two 
people have gone to the deepest part of our oceans. 
Ninety-five percent of our oceans are virtually unexplored." 
Watkins stressed the importance of the oceans with regards to 
the growing concern about climate change. 
"Through there capacity to absorb and transport heat and 
carbon dioxide, oceans are a key driver of climate change 
process," Watkins said, noting that there is already ample 
evidence of changes in the ocean because of the increased 
concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. 
"We need to make sure oceans are mentioned in the climate 
change debate," Watkins said. "That is the first victim and 
probably houses our hope for the future if we understand how 
it operates." 
The concern about climate change resonated with Maryland 
Republican Wayne Gilchrest. 
"Climate change is not just something that happens in the 
atmosphere, not just some thing that melts the polar ice 
caps," Gilchrest said. "It is something that has a fundamental 
effect on the ocean chemistry and if we are not careful, if we 
are not bold, the chemistry of the ocean can become as 
primitive as it was millions of years ago." 
Watkins added that "chronic underfunding" of research programs 
has hampered the ability to understand the linkages between 
the oceans and climate change. 
"We've cut $500 million out of NASA's earth sciences budget," 
Watkins told the panel. "What are we doing? That is essential 
to the Earth observing system. How are we going to make good 
decisions if we don't have the date flowing in that can then 
be converted by analysts into useful tools for decisionmakers 
like you?" 
Watkins said he and Panetta would continue to press for action 
and urged lawmakers to finally heed their recommendations. 
"We either believe this is a high priority for the future of 
our country or we don't," Watkins said. "We think it is and 
that is why we are staying in the game. We don't get anything 
out of it. 





 

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