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For Immediate Release
April 20, 2004

Contact:
Dave Bard, NET
202.778.4551

Sarah Bruchmann, NET
202.887.1347

Science is Clear; Oceans are in Trouble
Historic Ocean Policy Report Sent to Governors and Select Congressional Leaders

Washington — The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, a congressionally mandated 16-member panel tasked with studying the ocean, today provided its comprehensive report to governors and select members of Congress. This Commission spent the past three years developing recommendations for a coordinated and comprehensive national ocean policy.

The report is the second of two pivotal, high-level ocean studies to appear in the past twelve months. This study arrived at the same major findings as the other blue ribbon panel: the science is clear — U.S. oceans are in crisis. Overfishing, over-development of our coasts, habitat destruction and mismanagement are leading to the decline of ocean wildlife and the collapse of entire ocean ecosystems.

"The Commission's report should act as a wake up call to Congress and to the President," said Matt Rand, Director of Marine Fish Campaign, National Environmental Trust. "These two exhaustive, landmark ocean reports both conclusively show our oceans are in trouble. Surely this is no coincidence. Hopefully our federal lawmakers will heed this call and make changes to protect our oceans."

Because coastal communities will be directly affected by the impact of a national ocean policy, the Commission has released the draft copy of its report to all coastal states governors and select congressional leaders for a formal review. These two groups will have the opportunity to respond to the findings of the report and to weigh in on national ocean policy calling for the protection of our living oceans. The Commission will examine the comments, finalize the report, and send it to the President who will then have three months to submit his recommended changes emanating from this report.

All of the Commissioners concluded that the U.S. needs a new management model that will treat ocean resources in a holistic approach with an emphasis on interrelated ecosystems. Previously, U.S. fisheries were managed in a piece-meal fashion, more often than not, on a species-by-species basis. This approach contributed to the rapid decline of the nation's seas. The Commissioners are recommending that changes be made so that decisions on allowable ocean activities are based upon sound science and policy.

The report also calls for greater coordination of federally funded ocean activities. One possible mechanism would be the establishment of a national ocean council led by an assistant to the President.

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The campaign to Conserve Our Ocean Legacy (COOL) is a broad national effort to educate the public about the problems facing our oceans and to build support for ocean and fish protection. The COOL Campaign is a joint project between the National Environmental Trust and the state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG).