Opinion: Growth trends pose global threat to ocean
FLORIDA TODAY Oct 13, 6:53 PM
Early this year, with little fanfare, a new federal commission began an
18-month study of the world's oceans and related U.S. policies. The
blue-ribbon panel is headed by James Watkins, a former chief of Naval
operations who directed the Energy Department in the first Bush
administration.
The initial commission's findings, contained in an interim report
released this week, are disturbing:
Forty thousand acres of coastal wetlands worldwide are disappearing
each year.
Forty percent of fully assessed U.S. fish stocks are depleted or
overfished.
Myriad federal and state rules apply to the oceans and marine
activities, creating headaches for those governments and those affected by
the regulations.
Perhaps the panel's most ominous conclusion was that coastal
populations are increasing so rapidly that efforts to protect the
environments in those areas are being overwhelmed.
For Floridians, the latter conclusion should be especially meaningful.
Each year, more beachfront in Brevard and other coastal counties in this
state is overtaken by development.
In many foreign countries, the pace of coastal development and its
impact on the environment, are even worse.
The conclusions of the Watkins commission, as the U.S. Commission on
Ocean Policy is informally called, indicate Congress will need to revisit
promptly the issue of maritime policy.
"The Caribbean Conservation Corporation and other environmental groups
with an international perspective long have said this has been going on
with the world's resources," said Gary Appelson, a spokesman for the
Gainesville-based conservation group.
"But I doubt there will be anything new from this commission. What we
are waiting for is to see what will be done. The world's resources are
being depleted at an unsustainable level, and coastal development is part
and parcel of that process."
The last time the lawmakers ventured into that regulatory area on a
large scale was in response to the recommendations of another oceans
policy panel, the Stratton Commission in 1969.
That study resulted in the creation of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration in 1970 and important federal laws on coastal
zone management and fisheries conservation.
While new federal regulations might be necessary, it's increasingly
clear that managing the world's oceans must be an international effort. In
such a broad arena, the U.S. government can do only so much.
That means the United Nations and other international organizations
must be key players in efforts to manage the world's oceans efficiently,
with the U.S. government leading the way.
Only through a cooperative effort can humankind hope to change the
destructive trends taking a heavy toll on the world's oceans.
