Watching Our Water Ways

Joint Ocean Commission issues ‘urgent’ recommendations

April 7th, 2009 by cdunagan

Bill Ruckelshaus and David Dicks, major figures in the Puget Sound Partnership, are in Washington, D.C., today with a delegation calling on top federal officials to take action on ocean issues.

Among others, they are meeting with Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Ruckelshaus, a member of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, told me four years ago that the oceans are so important that he would never give up working to invigorate the nation’s laid-back approach to ocean issues.

I heard a similar commitment from retired Navy Adm. James D. Watkins, who now heads the Joint Ocean Commission — a consolidation of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the Pew Oceans Commission.

Today, the Joint Ocean Commission released an “urgent set of recommendations” that includes 20 “priority actions needed for improving ocean and coastal policy and management, bolstering international leadership, strengthening ocean science and funding ocean and coastal policies and programs.”

The recommendations, to be sure, are not much different from separate reports issued by the two commissions in 2004.

Watkins stated in a press release (PDF 48 kb):

“Our continuing complacency in the face of rising threats to the health and economic viability of our oceans and coasts from climate change, pollution and intense coastal development is no longer tolerable. Unless we commit to advancing our understanding, management and conservation of oceans and coasts, I am afraid the result will be enduring, and perhaps irreversible, changes that will jeopardize their contributions to this and future generations.”

Ruckelshaus, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said in the press release:

“Our oceans and coasts together are one of the biggest drivers of the U.S. economy. Improvements in ocean policy are absolutely critical if we are to restore the economy anytime soon.”

The Joint Ocean Commission released a report today titled “Changing Oceans, Changing World: Ocean Priorities for the Obama Administration and Congress” (PDF 280 kb).

A summary of the 20 recommendations:

Improving Ocean and Coastal Policy and Management

1. The Administration and Congress should establish a national ocean policy, specifically that it is the policy of the United States to protect, maintain, and restore the health of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems and enhance the sustainability of ocean and coastal economies. Further, it should require that federal agencies administer U.S. policies and laws to the fullest extent possible consistent with this national policy.

2. Congress should codify and strengthen the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to enhance its mission, improve its structure, and better enable it to carry out new and existing responsibilities. NOAA should be codified either pursuant to a stand-alone organic act or as part of a comprehensive ocean policy act.

3. The Administration and Congress should support regional, ecosystem-based approaches to the management of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources and support ecosystem-scale scientific research to support these efforts.

4. Congress should strengthen and reauthorize the Coastal Zone Management Act to enhance coastal management and to serve as a key mechanism to enable coastal communities to prepare for and adapt to climate change impacts.

5. Congress should strengthen the Clean Water Act by establishing a national goal of substantially reducing water pollution from nonpoint sources with measurable objectives to meet water quality standards.

6. The Administration should support expedited implementation of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, with Congress ensuring that NOAA has the necessary funding to effectively implement the Act’s provisions.

7. The Administration and Congress should actively encourage the use of innovative, science-based approaches that take into account important ecosystem dynamics that affect the health of our nation’s marine ecosystems as a whole and, in particular, its fisheries.

8. The United States Senate should provide its advice and consent to U.S. accession to the Convention on the Law of the Sea by the end of 2009.

9. The Administration should work to ensure that the Arctic Ocean is managed in a comprehensive, integrated, and science-based manner.

10. The Administration should implement a strong scientific research program in the Arctic.

11. The Administration should fully implement the illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and require all executive offices that represent the United States internationally to support NOAA’s efforts and recommendations on management, enforcement, and coordinated technical assistance
for nations engaging in IUU fishing.

12. The Administration and Congress should support ongoing U.S. efforts in the World Trade Organization negotiations calling for an end to fishing subsidies that promote overcapitalization and global depletion of fish stocks.

Strengthening Ocean Science

13. The Administration should strengthen and Congress should codify, where appropriate, the federal ocean science governance regime to more closely align ocean and coastal science priorities with the needs of policy makers and managers.

14. The Administration and Congress should enhance the integration of ocean and coastal science into the broader climate initiative, recognizing that many of the limitations in climate change science result from an inadequate understanding of ocean-related processes and their interactions with land and atmosphere.

15. The Administration and Congress should secure the availability of ocean-related information, products, and services critical to the operations of key sectors of the U.S. economy, drawing on the resources and expertise of the broader ocean and coastal community.

16. The Committee on Ocean Policy and the Office of Science and Technology Policy should take the lead in developing a comprehensive strategy to guide marine-related, ecosystem-focused research, assessment, and management.

17. The Administration should initiate an effort among governmental, academic, and private stakeholders engaged in ocean science to prioritize competing demands within the ocean and coastal science community.

Funding Ocean and Coastal Policies and Programs

18. The Administration and Congress should establish an Ocean Investment Fund, using a significant portion of the resource rents generated by private commercial activities occurring in federal waters on the Outer Continental Shelf. This fund should be dedicated to providing financial support for national, regional, and coastal state and local programs related to understanding and managing our oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes.

19. As the Administration and Congress craft proposals to address climate change, a portion of any funds generated by the sale of carbon credits pursuant to a cap and trade or tax system should be dedicated to protecting, maintaining, and restoring ocean and coastal ecosystems, as well as promoting greater scientific understanding of the relationship between the oceans and climate change.

20. The Administration should develop an integrated federal coastal and ocean budget that identifies ocean and coastal science and management programs and funding levels to use as a baseline and evaluation tool for assessing past, current, and future funding trends and needs in ocean and coastal science and management.

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