WASHINGTON - July 22 - Statement of U.S. PIRG Oceans Advocate Buffy Baumann

In their report finalized today, the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy (USCOP) confirms the grim truth - our oceans are in trouble. The message is crystal clear: we must make the changes now that are so desperately needed to restore, protect, and conserve our fragile oceans.

While the USCOP's nearly 200 recommendations cover the waterfront, the Commission emphasizes the need for ecosystem-based management throughout their report and their recommendations for needed change. U.S. PIRG commends the USCOP for their recognition that no marine species live in a vacuum - how we affect one part of the intricate web that ties these species together reverberates throughout the web in its entirety.

Recognition of these critical interactions must guide our management decisions and serve as a model for that very management as well. Fish don't recognize geopolitical boundaries. Neither do corals or any other creature of the sea. Thus, managing these species by state or other political lines is a mistake. We must adjust our management policies to address how marine life behaves in the real world, not on paper or in scenarios imagined in legislative offices or regional management council meetings. No natural resource should be managed in the piecemeal way that currently dominates the management of our oceans. It is the President's responsibility to recognize these realities and to urge Congress to develop policies that govern accordingly.

It is now up to the Administration to ensure that the report will not be just another well-intentioned document fated to collect dust on Congressional shelves. The USCOP final report will go to the President in a few short weeks. President Bush then has 90 days to issue his proposals to implement the recommendations of the Commission to Congress.

If ever there was a time to heed the alarm bells sounded by these ocean experts, it is now. If we don't make the understanding and stewardship of our oceans a national priority, the only place left for our children and future generations to see the majesty that was once off our shores will be if Pixar makes a sequel to "Finding Nemo."

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