Behinda the buoy

Boat/US Magazine, July, 2003

As this issue of BoatU.S. Magazine goes to press, the oceans and marine resources are very much in the news.

In "Troubled Waters Make Headlines" (page 16), associate editor Ryck Lydecker reports that after two years of study, a blue ribbon panel of experts assembled by the Pew Charitable Trusts has concluded that our complex saltwater ecosystems are in trouble, a victim of commercial exploitation, mindless pollution and careless development.

Later this year a second panel, the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy -- officially sanctioned by the federal government -- will release its findings after a similar period of inquiry, albeit covering a much broader swath of issues concerning the state of our oceans.

Both of these reports come on the heels of a report contained in a technical letter published in the May issue of the prestigious science Journal, Nature, which claims that fully 90% of the world's top-of-the-food chain open ocean species -- large predatory fish like marlin, swordfish, giant tunas and oceanic sharks -- are gone, fished out.

The report, from two scientists at Daihousie University in Nova Scotia, also postulates that many of these populations teeter on the brink of extinction as ever more efficient fishing fleets vacuum up our ocean's resources.

Not long after this private report grabbed the world's headlines, an annual "report card" from the federal National Marine Fisheries Service went public to considerably less national exposure. The U.S., it says, is on the road to recovering a number of its overfished stocks, for the second year in a row, and is successfully turning other stressed populations around to a positive course.

But the pages on this report were barely dry before it was challenged by the Marine Fish Conservation Network. Its report, "Horrors of the Deep," contends that the science the government uses to reach at least some of its positive conclusions is flawed. It maintains that more stocks actually are in trouble than is generally acknowledged, due the failings of the federal fishery management councils that the two ocean commissions recommend for overhaul.

While some of these articles have grabbed front-page headlines nationwide and around the world, they have also stirred up their share of controversy and skepticism.

What are boaters and anglers to make of all this unsettling attention on the very environment that we love and on which we spend our precious free time and limited resources?

Are our oceans dying? Are our coastal bays and estuaries damaged beyond repair?

It seems clear to many that "something" must be done. New management regimes that focus on whole saltwater ecosystems as well as on entire inland watersheds that ultimately affect our coastal waters are likely.

To implement such comprehensive, broad-scale management prescriptions will require fundamental changes in govemance especially here in Washington, DC, where as things now stand, some 40 federal agencies have pieces of the regulatory pie.

Turf, even ocean turf, is never easily given up in our nation's capital. Special interests claiming national mandates abound as does tunnel vision and knee-jerk reactions.

For its part, BoatU.S. is and has long been engaged in an effort to ensure that the interests of recreational boaters receive fair consideration in any public policy prescriptions that aim to cure our ocean's ills.

Since the environmental movement took hold some 30 years ago spawning everything from the Clean Water Act of 1972 to the Clean Vessel Act of 1992, the boating and fishing communities have been part of the solution to the problems that plague our marine environment. The marine industry has adopted tougher standards, boaters practice more environmentally conscious boating and many anglers would rather catch and release than have their prize stuffed and nailed to a wall.

In hundreds of seemingly small ways, boaters and anglers all across the country have rolled up their sleeves to improve the habitat and protect our marine resources.

With this wave of published reports, a great national debate should ensue, perhaps even making it into the campaign for the 2004 White House.

If you agree that boaters should be part of the solution, we urge you to become informed and participate by visiting BoatUS.com/gov/issues.htm. Review these reports as they become public, let us know your thoughts at GovtAffairs@BoatUS.com and be prepared to get involved in this once-in-a generation debate.