Immediate measures needed to save oceans
Too many years of doing nothing, commission says
Americans must get serious now about protecting oceans battered by overfishing, pollution and coastal development, a bipartisan government panel said yesterday in the first major federal look at ocean health in a generation.
Otherwise, the group said, managing the nation's oceans will grow increasingly conflicted as fish farms, wind-power development, mining and projects not yet envisioned move out into waters inside the 200-mile limit of U.S. control.
Congress and President Bush need to double spending on ocean research, revamp the way the federal government regulates uses of the ocean, and mandate that science -- not politics -- decides how much fishing is too much, said the draft report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. Bush appointed the group based largely on congressional recommendations.
"Major changes are urgently needed," the commission's report said. "Reform ... needs to start now, while it is still possible to reverse distressing declines, seize exciting opportunities and sustain the oceans."
In a news conference in Washington, D.C., commission members cited the flagging health of Puget Sound and Chesapeake Bay as evidence that action is urgently needed.
"Our oceans and coasts are in trouble, and we as a nation have a historic opportunity to make a positive and lasting change in the way we manage them before it is too late," said retired Navy Adm. James Watkins, the commission's chairman. "Too many years of inattention and lack of investment are threatening this national treasure."
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Immediate measures needed to save oceans