Enviros Demand Clinton Take Quick Action to Help Oceans

by Danielle Knight

In a letter to the White House, the environmentalists presented a list of demands to protect national and international ocean waters and marine fisheries. The requests included; halting overfishing, ratifying and implementing international ocean agreements such as the "Law of the Sea," protecting endangered marine life, and strengthening the national Clean Water Act.

The organizations, such as the Center for Marine Conservation, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council, urged the president to implement the proposed policies to commemorate 1998 as the "Year of the Oceans," as declared by the United Nations.

"Our oceans are in serious trouble," said Sylvia Earle, president of Deep Ocean Engineering and former chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Action must be taken. This nation has already suffered serious economic and ecological losses in fisheries and ocean habitats."

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that nearly 70 percent of the world's commercial fish species are fully exploited, overfished or otherwise in urgent need of management.

In 1950, no marine fish stocks were known to be overfished. Now, once abundant species like cod, shark, swordfish and tuna were sharply declining, FAO said.

Nearly one-third of all U.S. commercial fisheries were overfished and almost a half were being fished to their limit, according to Roger E. McManus, president of the Washington-based Center for Marine Conservation.

By 1978, 48 U.S. states had "lost nearly half of their coastal wetlands and many other important habitats had been destroyed or degraded," he said.

According to the EPA, 40 percent of the country's waters remain too polluted for fishing, swimming and other recreation, including tourism. Despite these alarming statistics, environmental groups said that the United States "has no national 'plan' to manage the oceans" and has taken a back-seat to international efforts to protect marine ecosystems.

"We lack any over-arching policy or management regime for our vast and valuable ocean resources," McManus said. "As a result the United States has suffered serious losses in fisheries, marine habitats and water quality."

The environmental groups urged Clinton to press for the protection and restoration of oceans at an upcoming national conference in Monterey, California -- home to the largest national marine sanctuary in the United States. The environmentalists demanded that the president challenge Congress to strengthen the Clean Water Act to control pollution and protect and restore the country's estuaries and wetlands.

"Pollution flowing downstream from fertilizer and manure run-off has led to ocean contamination including the 'dead-zone' area in the Gulf of Mexico," said Jessica Landman, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Current laws and enforcement are not fixing the problem."

Last February, Clinton announced his "Clean Water Action Plan," which aimed to strengthen water pollution clean-up and prevention policies. Groups said the president should press Congress to fully fund the plan enforce policies against over-fishing to avoid ecological and economic disaster.

"By 1997, a third of U.S. marine fisheries were overfished, costing the U.S. economy $25 billion and coastal communities thousands of jobs," said a new report released separately by the Center for Marine Conservation.

Environmentalists also called on Clinton to secure funding for laws that aim to protect endangered marine species, including sea turtles, salmon and Steller sea lions. Groups urged the administration to lead efforts to reform the World Trade Organization -- which recently ruled that a U.S. law to protect sea turtles violated the international trade agreement. They also wanted Clinton to expand and strengthen marine protection areas as well as lead international efforts to protect coral reefs.

The environmentalists accused Clinton of taking a back seat to international efforts to protect the oceans and felt Washington should be taking a leadership role. "The U.S. is clearly falling behind by not ratifying and implementing important international agreements such as the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea," McManus told IPS.

Environmentalists called on the Clinton administration to secure ratification and implementation of other international agreements, including the U.N. Straddling Stocks Agreement, the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, the Global Action Plan on Marine Pollution from Land-Based Sources, and the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles.