Toward healthier oceans NYT NYT Tuesday, May 11, 2004 On the surface, the oceans seem indestructible. Science tells a different story, a story of overfishing, pollution and biological degradation. In the United States, a presidential commission has now provided further evidence of decline. It has also provided a plausible road map for the oceans' recovery - and for the policy changes that Congress and President George W. Bush must make to turn things around. . The report is the first major U.S. assessment of ocean health in a generation. Though it focuses largely on America's coastal waters, its 250 recommendations include proposals for cleaning up the Great Lakes, and a fervent appeal to the Senate to drop its ridiculous opposition to the Law of the Sea, an international treaty governing ocean use that the United States has refused to ratify for 22 years. . Three major issues emerge from a long list of problems needing attention. One is the deterioration of coastal ecosystems, including wetlands and estuaries, partly caused by agricultural runoff but increasingly by relentless development. The report urges much stronger land-use controls and a much tougher application of current clean-water laws. . A more familiar issue is the overfishing that had led to the collapse of several commercially valuable fish species and the decline of others. The commission would end subsidy programs that encourage overfishing. It would also overhaul the way fisheries were managed at the regional level, giving scientists a greater role - and the fishing industry a smaller role - in setting catch limits. . A third issue is governance - which means, in this instance, bureaucratic chaos. Dozens of different ocean-related programs are scattered throughout dozens of different U.S. agencies; the commission would establish a National Oceans Council in the White House to coordinate and consolidate them. This would also give the issue of ocean protection the prominence it deserves. . The report now goes to state governors for comments, then to President Bush, and then Congress. It's time for everyone to pay attention. Less than a year ago, another report, from a private group called the Pew Oceans Commission, addressed many of the same problems, offered many of the same remedies and reached the same verdict: that the decline in oceanic health threatens not just the natural legacy we intend to leave future generations but our present-day food supply, jobs and public health. Together the two reports provide a blueprint for action too long deferred on a problem too long ignored.
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