Report calls for urgent action on oceans

By Craig Welch and Sandi Doughton
Seattle Times staff reporters

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To reverse stark declines in ocean health, the country must better regulate commercial fishing, dramatically curb pollution that floods estuaries such as Puget Sound, and better control everything from coastal development to invasive species, according to a draft government report on ocean conditions.

The report urged the government to double spending on marine research, create a White House-level oceans council and funnel at least $1 billion more a year to states to curb pollution, clean up beaches and restore contaminated waterways.

Saying existing oversight of marine waters tackled problems in isolation, the first federal report of its kind since 1969 also called for more than 100 congressional or administrative actions to restructure ocean management.

"We are at a crossroads," said retired Adm. James Watkins, who led a 16-member commission created by Congress and impaneled by President Bush in 2001.

"After 2½ years of study, we've found our oceans and coasts are in trouble. We must act now before it's too late."

Yesterday, his panel urged Congress to tackle ocean problems on an ecosystem-wide scale. The commission recommended enforcing measurable water-quality cleanup goals, and creating regional groups to coordinate issues as diverse as Northwest salmon restoration and nutrient pollution in the Gulf of Mexico that courses down the Mississippi River.

From the draft report • In the past 30 years, the U.S. coastal population has increased by 37 million people. • More than 12,000 beach closures and swimming advisories were ordered nationwide in 2002. • More than 25 percent of major U.S. fish stocks are overfished, or currently being fished at levels too high to sustain the population. • Almost one-quarter of estuaries are too polluted for swimming or fishing. • About 28 million gallons of oil a year are spilled or run off into North American waters. • Ocean science gets 3.5 percent of federal research money, half the level of 1979. • About 95 percent of the world's oceans are unexplored. Source: U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy

Commissioners called for the government to strengthen the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which commission member and University of Washington professor Marc Hershman described as "a grab bag of a thousand mom-and-pop shops" with overlapping or opposing missions, many operating at too small a scale to be effective.

While the commission insisted the cost of these changes — roughly $3.2 billion a year — could be borne by establishing a trust from offshore oil and gas royalties that now go straight to the U.S. Treasury, it remains unclear how Congress and Bush will respond.

Thirty-five years ago, a similar report led to a sea change in ocean policy, including the creation of NOAA and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. But measures called for this time around are more complex, and are landing before a nation embroiled in a presidential election.

Watching the White House

Even as House and Senate members this week hold hearings on the issue, and with members of both major political parties poised to debate multiple bills, all eyes are on the Bush administration.

"If the executive branch is serious, the Congress will follow," Watkins said. "But they're not going to move until they see this is going to be a collaborative, nonpartisan effort."

The administration was largely silent yesterday on the issue. James Connaughton, director of the president's Council on Environmental Quality, said the administration would wait for a final draft before commenting, adding that Bush was "firmly committed to sound management and effective conservation of our ocean and coastal resources. ... "

Sen. John Kerry, embarking on a strategy to make the environment a higher-profile issue in his campaign for the presidency, seized on the report during a swing through Florida yesterday, blaming Bush for ignoring the oceans' decline. Kerry unveiled what he called a comprehensive ocean plan to reverse the trends, promising more funding and better protections.

While Watkins said he is confident that political leaders will "seize the momentum," others are less sure, suggesting that there are fewer powerful politicians interested in oceans today than in the early 1970s.

"The potential for the kind of bureaucratic shake-up the commission is recommending is very low," said Terry Leitzell, general counsel for Icicle Seafoods, and a head of the National Marine Fisheries Service in the Carter administration.

What happens next The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy's draft report goes to the governors of all 50 states, who must submit comments by May 21. Gov. Gary Locke plans to hold a forum May 13 at the Seattle Aquarium to hear from the public. Comments can be submitted to his office until May 17. The commission will then revise its draft and forward a final report this summer to Congress and the White House. President Bush is then required by law to submit within 90 days a statement of proposals to "implement or respond to the Commission's recommendations for a coordinated, comprehensive and long-range national policy for the responsible use and stewardship of ocean and coastal resources." The commission's report is online at oceancommission.gov

Yesterday's report follows a cascade of new science highlighting declines in ocean species, from sea turtles and predators to several species of rockfish along the Pacific coast.

It also comes after a report last summer by the Pew Charitable Trusts painted a similar portrait of ocean conditions, and called for even more dramatic changes.

Yesterday, the government panel blamed the problems on fractured management, as more than 100 local, state and federal bodies dictate pieces of ocean policy. The panel urged national standards for the discharge of cruise-ship waste and ship ballast water, which can transport dangerous non-native species; and special legislation to protect reefs and deep-sea corals, such as those off Alaska's Aleutian Islands.

Changes for regional councils

Environmentalists, politicians and fishing interests largely applauded the commission's work. But the most controversial findings dealt with efforts to overhaul regional councils that oversee the nation's commercial-fishing industry, where dozens of fish stocks are in decline.

The commission called for tighter conflict-of-interest rules governing the scientists who inform council decisions, and called for scientists — not appointed council members — to set mandatory limits on how many fish can be caught. It called for periodic outside scientific reviews, and broader oversight by interests not aligned with fishing.

"I think there's a lot of excitement that this can generate real change," said Karen Garrison, with the National Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.

Those who manage West Coast fishing, however, suggested the plan was overkill to rein in weak East Coast fishing councils.

"The people with the best expertise are already involved," said Bob Alverson, a member of the council that oversees fishing off California, Washington and Oregon.

Meanwhile, representatives of Alaska's largely Seattle-based fishing industry — which accounts for half the nation's seafood harvest — admit they lobbied ocean-commission members, reminding them that the North Pacific council already listens to scientists and doesn't let fleets catch as many fish as they could.

"I'm encouraged that they recognized that the North Pacific is a good example of how fisheries management does work," said Ron Clarke, executive director of an association that represents much of Alaska's commercial fleet. However, Clarke was critical of some details.

Environmental groups such as Oceana expressed disappointment that the commission didn't address the dangers certain types of fishing — such as bottom trawling with nets — can pose to seafloor habitats, and didn't recommend stronger changes to commercial-fishing management.

"There are a lot of missed opportunities," said Ted Morton, federal policy director for Oceana, which gets some of its funding from the Pew Foundation.

"We see this as a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and they could have done much more."

Craig Welch: 206-464-2093 or cwelch@seattletimes.com. Sandi Doughton: 206-464-2491 or sdoughton@seattletimes.com

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