America's Living Oceans
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America’s Living Oceans CHARTING A COURSE FOR SEA CHANGE Summary Report Recommendations for a COMMISSION New Ocean Policy May 2003 FRONT AND BACK COVER OPPOSITE Light of the setting sun bathes battered sea stacks Tourists kayak the turquoise waters of Virgin Islands shrouded by summer fog at McClure’s Beach, in Point National Park. Americans love their freedom to move Reyes National Seashore, California. Here, pounding about the ocean surface where no streets, signs, or Pacific waves have carved a shoreline of white cres- fences impede them, yet their sense that no one owns cent beaches and rocky cliffs. this vast realm has allowed them to tolerate no one caring for it. DAVID SANGER/DAVIDSANGER.COM STEVE SIMONSEN/MARINE SCENES Contents PacificSea otter double-saddle with starfish, butterfly location fish, TK Western Shoals, Agana Harbor,Tom & Pat Guam Leeson Steve Simonsen/Marine Scenes America’s Living Oceans CHARTING A COURSE FOR SEA CHANGE Restoring America’s Ocean Trust 1 A Plan of Action for Our Oceans 21 Ocean Governance for the 21st Century 21 Restoring America’s Fisheries 23 Confronting Coastal Sprawl 25 Members of the Cleaning Coastal Waters 26 Pew Oceans Commission 3 Sustainable Marine Aquaculture 28 Charting a New Course 29 Our Oceans in Crisis 5 Works Cited 32 Acknowledgements 34 Publications of the Pew Oceans Commission Our Nation and the Sea Today 15 on CD-ROM Inside Back Cover Summary Report Recommendations for a COMMISSION New Ocean Policy Leon E. Panetta, Chair May 2003 Restoring AMERICA’S OCEAN TRUST Cushion sea star, Hurricane Hole, U.S. Virgin Islands Steve Simonsen/Marine Scenes Who has the most hope in the world? It is a fisherman, of ocean’s chemistry, stripping it of fish and the many course, for every time he casts out his line he has hope. other organisms which comprise its rich biodiversity, exploding and bleaching away its coral nurseries, Perhaps that hope can motivate us so that we can save and and even reprogramming the ocean’s delicate preserve the oceans and all its creatures from man, background noise. the apex predator. We love our freedom to move about the ocean Stephen Sloan surface where no streets, signs, or fences impede us, Trustee, International Game Fish Association yet our sense that no one owns this vast realm has allowed us to tolerate no one caring for it. Americans have always loved the ocean. Half of us During the 20th century our nation came to live in coastal communities and the other half come regard the air we breathe, the fresh water we drink, to visit. Perhaps, as President John F. Kennedy once and the open lands as “common goods,” part of our suggested, it is “the salt in our veins.” public trust. Now we must acknowledge that the When we stand at the water’s edge, we stare oceans, too, are part of our common heritage and longingly out to sea—for the boat to return, for the our common responsibility. tides to shift, for the winds to arrive, for the fish to The report of the Pew Oceans Commission, bite, for the sun to rise or set—beyond the far horizon. summarized here, outlines a national agenda for pro- Inspired by their majesty and mystery, we tecting and restoring our oceans. It is a vision that depend on our oceans and their coasts, not just for projects an equilibrium of goods withdrawn from and pleasure and food—although these uses are central— goods regenerated within the ocean. It is a vision that but also as a counterweight to extremes of heat and abhors the careless—no less the systematic— cold on land, as a sponge for absorbing excess car- extinction of vital sea species. It is a vision of clean bon, and as a generator of life-giving oxygen. water and clear horizons. Although we often view the ocean as starting where Both comprehensive and detailed, the report the land ends, that separation is arbitrary. Land and presents a new direction for governing our oceans. oceans are part of the same global system. Activities From identifying the pollutants that rush down our on one profoundly affect the other. waterways into our coastal bays to proposing Just as the 20th century brought us into knowl- protected zones for critical marine life, the edgeable contact with outer space, the 21st will Commission has confronted the most challenging almost certainly connect us more intimately to our aspects of ocean policy. If its recommendations are oceans. In fact, it is imperative because—as much as accepted and acted upon, we can anticipate a future we love our oceans—our ignorance has been when fish will again be plentiful and fishing commu- destroying them. We love clean beaches, but what nities will thrive, when beaches will be clean, and we discharge into the oceans befouls them. We now-impoverished coral reefs will teem with life. destroy the very coastal wetlands we need to buffer For those less familiar with our oceans, this storms and filter fresh water. A nation of seafood summary report provides an overview of the chal- lovers, we are careless about how we treat the lenges faced by our oceans and coasts in the 21st oceans’ “nurseries” and brood stocks that replenish century and an agenda for meeting those challenges. our fish supply. For those already familiar with our oceans, we hope Furthermore, the size of the world’s human this summary leads you to delve into the population and the extent of our technological cre- Commission’s full report for inspiration to help us ativity have created enormously damaging impacts on protect, maintain, and restore our magnificent ocean all of the oceans. We are now capable of altering the trust for all future generations. 1 Franklin Viola/violaphoto.com Franklin A mother and her young son experience the won- ders of marine life at Hanauma Bay, Hawaii. The Pew Oceans Commission calls for a new era of ocean literacy that pre- pares today’s children to be tomorrow’s stewards. Justin Kenney/Pew Oceans Commission Kenney/Pew Justin During their visit to Maine, commissioners went lobster fishing off Spruce Head. Captain Bob Baines talks with Pew Oceans Commission Chair Leon Panetta about innovative measures to manage the highest revenue- producing fishery in the Northeast. ASSESSING OUR LIVING OCEANS reserves, fishing, aquaculture, and invasive species. In June 2000, the 18 members of the independent Commissioners traveled from Maine to Pew Oceans Commission embarked on the first Hawaii, from the Gulf of Alaska to the Gulf of national review of ocean policies in more than 30 Mexico. They studied coastal development in years. They brought together their collective Charleston, South Carolina, and Portland, Oregon. experiences from the worlds of fishing, science, They met with sportfishermen in Florida, lobstermen conservation, education, government, philanthropy, in Maine, salmon fishermen in Kodiak, and crabbers and business to develop recommendations for a in Baltimore. The commission toured aquaculture new national policy to restore and protect ocean facilities in Maine, Florida, and Washington, and a and coastal ecosystems and to maintain the many pineapple plantation in Hawaii. Commissioners benefits the oceans provide. Each member of the reviewed habitat restoration programs in South Pew Oceans Commission brings a lifetime of per- Carolina, Maine, and California. They traveled to sonal and professional connections to the oceans. Des Moines, Iowa, to talk with farmers about ways In the ensuing two and a half years, commis- to limit polluted runoff from fields and feedlots. sioners traveled around the country to learn first- The story that unfolded is one of a growing hand about the problems facing our oceans. Along crisis in America’s oceans and along our coasts. the way, they spoke with thousands of citizens who Although the issues and circumstances vary from live and work along the coasts. They heard from community to community, the Commission found a dozens of leading scientists and published a series shared sense of urgency and commitment to reverse of reports on pollution, coastal development, marine the decline in the health of the oceans. 2 MembersOF THE PEW OCEANS COMMISSION Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska Deb Antonini/Pew Oceans Commission The Honorable Leon E. Panetta, Chair He is director of the California State University Panetta Institute for Public Policy. He served in Congress for eight terms. He chaired the House Budget Committee and served as White House chief of staff. John H. Adams He is the founder and president of the Natural Resources Defense Council —one of the nation’s leading environmental organizations. In 1998, he was named one of Audubon’s 100 Champions of Conservation. The Honorable Eileen Claussen She is president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. She is a former assistant secretary of state for oceans, environment, and science. The Honorable Carlotta Leon Guerrero She is a former member of the Guam Senate where she chaired committees with juris- diction over transportation, telecommunications, and Micronesian affairs. She is current- ly co-director of the Ayuda Foundation, a nonprofit health care organization in Guam. The Honorable Mike Hayden He is the secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. The former governor of Kansas served as president and CEO of the American Sportfishing Association, a recreational fishing group. Geoffrey Heal, Ph.D. He is the Garrett Professor of Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility and professor of economics and finance at the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University. One of his major research interests is the interaction of human societies and their natural resources. Charles F. Kennel, Ph.D. He is director of the Scripps Institution for Oceanography and the author of more than 250 publications in plasma physics, planetary science, and astrophysics.