2003
NEWS ARCHIVE
PEW
Oceans Report
June 12, 2003
After two
years of work, the Pew Oceans Commission has released its long
awaited report, America's Living Oceans: Charting a Course
for Sea Change. The 18 commissioners traveled around
the country and spoke to thousands of people who live and work
along U.S. coasts. According to the report, "The story that
unfolded is one of a growing crisis in America's oceans and along
our coasts." Their report is the first national review of
ocean policies since the Stratton Report was released in 1969.
Another report, from the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, will
be completed later in 2003. The Pew Report identified nine major
threats to oceans, and proposes some ways to address them.
Threats
Identified by the Report
Overfishing.
As of 2001, the government could only assure that 211 of 959 fish
stocks (22%) were not being overfished. The report says that even
this figure is optimistic because the legal definition of overfishing
does not account for the health of other species or the ecosystem.
"The intent of ecosystem-based management is to maintain
the health of the whole as well as the parts." According
to the report, one of the most promising new approaches to marine
conservation is the development of marine reserves (marine protected
areas), where all activities that upset the ecosystem or take
things from it are prohibited. This includes fishing.
Bycatch.
Scientists estimate that fishermen worldwide discard about 25%
of what they catch — about 60 billion pounds. This reduces
catches in other fisheries and can alter ecosystems. Bycatch in
longline fisheries affects sea birds and sea turtles.
Nonpoint
Source Pollution. This is pollution that can't be identified
as coming from specific points, but rather from broad sources,
such as runoff from land or deposits from the air. It is estimated
that the oil entering the oceans from runoff from U.S. streets
and driveways equals an Exxon Valdez oil spill — 10.9 million
gallons — every 8 months. The greatest threat, the report
says, to coastal marine life is the runoff of excess nitrogen
from fertilized farm fields and cities. Nitrogen runoff from animal
feedlots is considered to be point source pollution and adds to
the problem. It also enters the ocean from the air, where it comes
from industrial smokestacks and automobile exhaust pipes. The
excess nitrogen in the ocean fertilizes the massive growth of
microscopic algae, which removes oxygen from the water when it
dies and decays.
Point
Source Pollution. Point source pollution comes from identifiable
sources. In the U.S., animal feedlots produce about 500 million
tons of manure each year, more than 3 times the sanitary waste
produced by the human population. In one week, a single 3,000
passenger cruise ship produces about 210,000 gallons of sewage,
1,000,000 gallons of shower, sink, and dishwashing water, 37,000
gallons of oily bilge water, over eight tons of solid waste, and
toxic wastes from dry-cleaning and photo processing.
Invasive
Species. Alien species of plants and animals are establishing
themselves at an alarming rate in coastal waters, often crowding
out native species and changing habitats and food chains. In San
Francisco Bay alone more than 175 species of introduced marine
fish, invertebrates, algae, and higher plants live.
Aquaculture.
Farmed fish can escape, compete with wild fish for space
and food, and interbreed with them, producing young less fit for
survival in the wild. A salmon farm of 200,000 fish can release
as much nitrogen as is in the untreated sewage of 20,000 people,
as much phosphorus as for 25,000 people and as much fecal waste
as for 65,000 people The report said that the oyster disease dermo
(Perkinsus marinus) was likely introduced to the Atlantic and
Gulf coasts by aquaculture.
Coastal
Development. Sprawl development is consuming land at
5 times the rate of population growth in many coastal areas. Coastal
counties, which are 17% of the U.S. land area, hold more than
half the U.S. population. One of the most harmful parts of development
is the creation of hard surfaces — roads, parking lots and
rooftops — that prevent water from soaking into the soil.
They collect pollutants, which then run off rapidly to natural
waters. A one-acre parking lot has 16 times the runoff of a one-acre
meadow.
Habitat
Alteration. Fishing gear that drags along or digs into
the bottom, the report says, destroys seafloor habitat needed
by marine wildlife. It can take 5 years for bottom-living invertebrates
(animals without backbones) to recover from one pass of a dredge.
Climate
Change. World air temperatures are expected to rise by
2.5-10.4° F in this century, causing sea levels to rise by
4-35 inches. A 2° F temperature rise may destroy the world's
coral reefs, and an increase in water temperatures could possibly
shut down the Gulf Stream.
One
Problem Identified in the Report
One of the
major problems that the report identified is that the U.S. has
a fractured ocean policy. Instead of a system, it is a hodgepodge
of 140 separately-passed laws that involve at least 6 federal
departments and dozens of agencies. What is needed, the report
says, is application of the following 6 principles:
- Upholding
the pubic trust by the government being a steward for the oceans.
- Practicing
sustainability by taking no more living things from the ocean
than the ocean can replace and adding no more contaminants than
the oceans can safely absorb.
- Applying
precaution by erring on the side of protecting ecosystems when
science is uncertain.
- Recognizing
interdependence between human well-being and the well-being
of our coasts and oceans.
- Ensuring
democracy by not allowing the needs and desires of a few people
to override the benefits to all people.
- Improving
understanding of coastal and marine ecosystems with more research.
Challenges
and Recommendations
The Pew Oceans
Commission identified 5 main challenges, and made recommendations
for changes in U.S. law to meet those challenges.
Challenge
1, Ocean Governance in the 21st Century. The U.S. should
enact a National Ocean Policy Act (NOPA) with clear and measurable
goals and standards. As part of NOPA, Congress should create "regional
ecosystem councils" to plan ocean use, practice ocean zoning
and reduce user conflicts. Congress should create a national system
of marine reserves (marine protected areas). Congress should also
create a new national oceans agency, under which should be placed
as many as practical of the oceans programs now under other agencies.
Finally, Congress should establish a permanent interagency oceans
council. The head of the new national oceans agency should chair
the council and its membership, should include the heads of federal
agencies whose activities affect oceans.
Challenge
2, Restoring America's Fisheries. The main goal of American
fisheries policy should be redefined to be to protect, maintain
and restore marine ecosystems. Conservation and allocation decisions
should be separated, with conservation always given priority over
economic or political considerations. The government should practice
marine zoning and ecosystem planning. Fishing should not be allowed
until after considering how it affects the entire ecosystem. Fishing
gear such as trawls and dredges should be zoned into specific
areas and then only allowed if scientists find that the gear can
be used with minimum problems. Fishing should only be allowed
under bycatch monitoring and management plans, with the goal being
near-zero bycatch. Allocation plans that limit access and allocate
catch, and meet conservation goals should be developed before
fishing is allowed. A permanent fisheries trust fund should be
established to fund research data collection, management, enforcement,
habitat management, license buyback, and community development
programs.
Challenge
3, Confronting Urban Sprawl. Nonpoint source pollution
action plans should be developed for watersheds. Critical ecosystem
habitat should be protected from development. At all levels of
government, development should be managed for compact growth,
reduction of hard surfaces and to discourage development in some
areas. Government subsidies and programs should be directed away
from development and towards activities such as restoration.
Challenge
4, Cleaning Coastal Waters. Congress should establish
water quality standards for nutrients such as nitrogen and require
the use of best management practices to control runoff from agriculture
and development. EPA and the states should ensure that water quality
standards are in place for pollutants such as PAHs, PCBs and heavy
metals such as mercury. Air emissions of nitrogen, mercury and
other pollutants should be reduced. Waste water discharges from
animal feed lots and cruise ships should be brought under control
and ballast-water treatment for vessels should be required. A
national electronic permitting system should be created to track
imports of live species that may get loose in the environment.
Congress should provide more funding to develop invasive-species
management plans. The U.S. should ratify the Stockholm Convention
on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Congress should pass legislation
that allows other chemicals to be added to the "dirty dozen"
list. More seafood monitoring should occur.
Challenge
5, Sustainable Marine Aquaculture. A new national marine
aquaculture policy based on conservation principles should be
created for the location, design and operation of ecologically
sustainable fish farms. Until such a policy and its standards
are passed, Congress should place a moratorium on new marine finfish
farms. Also, until a review process can be established, a moratorium
should be placed on use of genetically engineered species. The
U.S. should provide international leadership for sustainable marine
aquaculture practices.
Some
Reactions to the Report
Not everyone
agrees with the assessments of the Pew Commission. NOAA Fisheries
(National Marine Fisheries Service) points to the number of fisheries
species recovering under fisheries management plans. Thor Lassen,
President of Ocean Trust said "The fact is most major U.S.
stocks, which make up 99 percent of U.S. landings, are fished
sustainably. The 16 percent of major stocks that are overfished
are either recovering under rebuilding plans or otherwise protected
by federal law." Columnist John Fiorillo for News@thewaveonline
said, "This report and the work of the commission represent
little more than an attempted power grab by environmentalists."
The Seafood
Coalition, speaking for 32 fisheries trade associations and four
corporations said "The Pew Commission would create several
new layers of bureaucracy, eating up any new funding that Congress
might provide for fisheries research, "and warned U.S. Congressmen
and Senators "Don't be fooled by the negativism in the Pew
Commission's report." In a co-written press release, The
Trawlers Survival Fund and the Associated Fisheries of Maine called
the commission a "traveling road show" funded by the
Pew Charitable Trusts, which also funds the environmental law
advocacy group Oceana. They called the Pew report "alarmist"
and "gloom-and doom".
Finally, U.S.
Congressman Richard W. Pombo of California, Chairman of the House
Resources Committee, says "The pictures are nice, but this
study contributes about as much to fisheries management as a coffee
table book about coffee tables. Unfortunately, criticism always
sells, regardless of fact. How would they justify the huge expense
of time and money if the report supported the great progress we've
made in fisheries management? Pew is naturally calling for more
of what sustains it and every other radical environmental entity:
bigger government and more regulation. They use outdated regulations
to file frivolous lawsuits, plunder taxpayer dollars from the
U.S. Treasury, and pay the rent on their offices." Pombo
added, "Remember, the Pew Commission is funded by the same
foundation that has funded some of the more radical environmental
groups and has been funding the environmentalists' attack on fisheries
management through the courts. That is exactly why Congress created
the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, which will release its report
this fall. We cannot expect such a group to issue non-biased recommendations."
The Pew Oceans
Commission was funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trust,
which supports nonprofit activities in the areas of culture, education,
the environment, health and human services, public policy, and
religion. Additional funding was provided by the David and Lucile
Packard Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Oxford
Foundation.
Sources:
America's Living Oceans: Charting a course for Sea Change. Pew
Oceans Commission 2003. Pew Commission: Show Us the MONEY, Spare
Us the Dog and Pony Show. John Fiorillo, News@thewaveonline, June
4, 2003. The Ocean's Bright Future. Thor Lassen, News@thewaveonline,
June 4, 2003. Open letter from The Seafood Coalition. June 2,
2005. Fishing Groups Call Report on Oceans Alarmist. Doug Frazer,
Cape Cod Times, June 4, 2003. Press Statement from Congressman
Richard Pombo. June 4, 2003.
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