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Sink or swim time on U.S. ocean policy

By JENNIFER DUPONT and CAMILLE DANIELS
Published February 12, 2006

The federal government received mostly unsatisfactory grades this month on a report card that measures performance on ocean-related issues.

In September 2001, President Bush appointed a 16-member Commission on Ocean Policy to enlighten him and Congress on threats facing our oceans, coasts and atmosphere. Three years later, the COP submitted 212 recommendations for a coordinated and comprehensive ocean policy (http://www.oceancommission.gov/)

A U.S. Ocean Policy report card was published Feb. 3 to track the government's progress in implementing COP recommendations. The federal government got its only A-minus in the subject of "Initial Response to the COP Report." The president issued an executive order creating a high-level committee to review ocean policy and published a modest U.S. Ocean Action Plan that highlighted the administration's environmental accomplishments. But the plan failed to address the majority of the COP's recommendations.

Here's a look at the rest of the report card:

- Subject: International Leadership; Grade: F

This grade should come as no surprise. The United States is one of the few major nations that has yet to sign the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. As a result, we are unable to expand our jurisdiction past its current designation at 200 miles offshore. Other countries, such as Russia, that have signed the convention are able to claim underwater lands that extend into the Arctic continental shelf. Until Congress ratifies this important treaty - as recommended by the president, Joint Chiefs of Staff and all of our recent secretaries of state - the United States has to abide by other nations' extended ocean "property lines," but we are unable to extend our own.

- Subject: Research, Science and Education; Grade: D

An inadequate budget to support innovative science and the development of an ocean observing system leaves us vulnerable to natural disasters and exposed in terms of national security. American students are far behind in math and science compared with their international counterparts. The future of our oceans is bleak in the face of a poorly trained generation. A national ocean research strategy needs to be developed, and ocean research funding should be doubled in the next few years.

- Subject: Fisheries Management Reform; Grade: C-plus

A Fisheries Conservation and Management bill has won support in the Senate, marking some action to restore our depleted fishing stocks. Now we'll have to see if this bill is actually passed and funded.

- Subject: New Funding for Ocean Policy and Programs; Grade: F

Funding for ocean programs has been cut drastically in recent years. We are all aware of the intense budgetary constraints at federal and state levels. Therefore, we need the Ocean Policy Trust Fund recommended by the COP, which would reinvest revenues from activities that use public federal waters. Monies would be used to support additional ocean research, education and management.

- Subject: Regional and State Ocean Governance Reform; Grade: B-minus

Promising efforts are underway in some regions to coordinate management of our resources across state borders, and the White House has helped move this along. In contrast to the federal government, Florida has come up with a vision that deserves an A-plus. The Florida Oceans and Coastal Resources Council just published a step-by-step plan to protect and restore our most valuable resource: our beaches and coasts. Now our Legislature can get its own A-plus by funding the plan.

The ocean economy contributes more than $117-billion to American prosperity each year and supports more than 2-million jobs, so protecting that vital resource is crucial to protecting our overall standard of living.

The federal government's report card is unacceptable. The president and other administration officials should show more leadership and get the country excited and engaged in these areas that are critical to our homeland. If we don't do this, we will continue to deplete our resources, and our oceans will edge closer to environmental collapse due to overfishing, pollution, disease and inattention to the consequences of global warming.

We demand better grades next semester.

--Jennifer Dupont and Camille Daniels are students in the Ocean Policy Class, College of Marine Science, University of South Florida. Fellow students Heather Holm, Warner Ithier, Amanda Linville, Marietta Mayo and Frank Muller-Karger also contributed to this article.

[Last modified February 12, 2006, 00:25:19]

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