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Seize chance to turn tide on oceans  

The Palm Beach Post

Opinion

By Dr. Shirley Pomponi, Special to The Post
Sunday, April 25, 2004

On Tuesday, a bipartisan panel of 16 experts from government, academia and industry -- the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy -- released the broadest review in three decades of how this country manages its vast ocean resources. Authorized by Congress and appointed by the president, the commission has spent two years considering testimony from hundreds of citizens, scientists and policy-makers. What they heard is that the oceans are in danger, and that local, state and federal agencies are not working together effectively. From this tidal wave of material has come a plan for reversing this situation.

Because the oceans play vital roles in regulating our climate and even produce about half of the oxygen we breathe, everyone on the planet relies on healthy oceans. But in Florida, many of us also depend on the sea for recreation, food and employment as well. With our economy and lifestyle so intimately tied to the oceans, we can feel the effects of decline more here than any other state, in the form of beach closings, decreases in tourism and even bad fishing. Such consequences threaten not only our way of life but also the continued favor of the 50 million tourists who visit each year. Floridians especially should care about what the commission is recommending. (To download the report visit www.oceancommission.gov.)

The most significant conclusion of the new report is that the mixed-up system that has evolved over the past few decades to oversee the country's ocean interests, which includes an array of more than a dozen government agencies and even more congressional committees, simply is not up to the challenge of fixing the problems.

The report recommends profound restructuring at the federal level, including a new adviser to the president on ocean issues and new opportunities for local and state leaders to have access to the president and Congress. Only with such federal leadership, coupled with broad involvement of state and regional governments, can the changes required be realized.

That improved coordination will be critical if we are to begin managing the oceans in a big-picture way. This concept, known as ecosystems-level management, is a key theme for the report. It means, for example, recognizing that pollution from Central and South Florida can harm fish and coral as far away as the Keys and beyond. It means working cooperatively.

The other final frontier

Next month, through state financing for a program called the Center of Excellence in Biomedical and Marine Biotechnology, a team from Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution and Florida Atlantic University will be searching waters off Florida's east coast and the Keys for organisms that produce chemicals with the potential to cure diseases from cancer to Alzheimer's. As startling as this may sound, even within a few miles of shore, our group will have no trouble finding places that no one ever has seen.

But such programs are just a drop in the world's largest bucket. Another of the report's recommendations is that the country begin a serious effort to study the 95 percent of the oceans that remain unexplored. Besides disease cures, ocean exploration also will lead to new technologies and improved scientific understanding with benefits comparable, possibly even superior, to those we have realized as a result of space exploration.

We clearly have a great deal of work to do. The new report recommends a framework that will make that work possible. So, for everyone who enjoys fishing, diving, spending a day at a clean beach or eating safe seafood, I would urge you to call on state and national leaders to act quickly and decisively to carry out the commission's recommendations. The health of our oceans should be a key issue in the coming election, but that can happen only if we demand it. With a clear path to follow, the support of stakeholders around the country and the interest of Congress, we have a unique opportunity to reverse the downward spiral of ocean health.