Statement of Oceans Advocate Buffy Baumann
In their report finalized
today, the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy (USCOP) confirms the grim truth -
our oceans are in trouble. The message is crystal clear: we must make the changes
now that are so desperately needed to restore, protect, and conserve our fragile
oceans.
While the USCOP's nearly
200 recommendations cover the waterfront, the Commission emphasizes the need
for ecosystem-based management throughout their report and their recommendations
for needed change. U.S. PIRG commends the USCOP for their recognition that no
marine species live in a vacuum - how we affect one part of the intricate web
that ties these species together reverberates throughout the web in its entirety.
Recognition of these critical
interactions must guide our management decisions and serve as a model for that
very management as well. Fish don't recognize geopolitical boundaries. Neither
do corals or any other creature of the sea. Thus, managing these species by
state or other political lines is a mistake. We must adjust our management policies
to address how marine life behaves in the real world, not on paper or in scenarios
imagined in legislative offices or regional management council meetings. No
natural resource should be managed in the piecemeal way that currently dominates
the management of our oceans. It is the President's responsibility to recognize
these realities and to urge Congress to develop policies that govern accordingly.
It is now up to the Administration
to ensure that the report will not be just another well-intentioned document
fated to collect dust on Congressional shelves. The USCOP final report will
go to the President in a few short weeks. President Bush then has 90 days to
issue his proposals to implement the recommendations of the Commission to Congress.
If ever there was a time
to heed the alarm bells sounded by these ocean experts, it is now. If we don't
make the understanding and stewardship of our oceans a national priority, the
only place left for our children and future generations to see the majesty that
was once off our shores will be if Pixar makes a sequel to "Finding Nemo."
