 Stresses Need for Ocean Protection, Restoration before Federal Commission August 22, 2002
"Alaska's oceans are vital to life in the 49th state," Knowles said. "Alaska has more coastline, 44,000 miles, than the rest of the United States combined. We are bordered by three seas, the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort; two oceans, the Pacific and the Arctic; and the Gulf of Alaska." Alaska produces roughly half the seafood landed in the United States, he said, and nearly 75,000 Alaskans work in the commercial fishing industry. Sport fishing supports over 10,000 jobs annually, and of foremost importance to many Alaskans is the subsistence harvest of fish, marine mammals, and shellfish. Knowles praised the goal of the commission to look at concerns regarding coastal development, pollution, commercial fishing, and governance of our oceans. "The health of America's oceans is in peril," Knowles said. "Half of America's population already lives along our coastlines and that's projected to increase to 75 percent over the next two decades. Our scientists say this increased development will impair water quality in coastal streams and can damage coastal wetlands that are vital nursery grounds for many marine species. "Pollution from cities and farms ultimately finds its way into the oceans. Oil running off our streets and driveways reaches our oceans in amounts equal to an Exxon Valdez spill every eight months," the governor said. "Persistent Organic Pollutants, or POPS, produced world wide are now condensing in the Arctic waters, posing an ever increasing danger each step up the marine food chain." Fisheries, devastated by over harvesting, are limited in their ability to recover by habitat destruction and wasteful bycatch, he added. Ocean pen farmed fish pose a growing threat of disease, pollution, and invasive and genetic threats to wild stocks. Governance is fragmented at best and often hopelessly gridlocked. "This is just some of the growing evidence that mandates the urgent need for institutional reform and repair of our oceans, rivers and coastline," Knowles said. "The status quo is not acceptable. Future generations will judge us on whether we shoulder our responsibility. It is time for America to unequivocally declare a national policy to protect, maintain, and restore the health, integrity, and productivity of our oceans by adopting a National Oceans Policy Act." Modeled after the National Forest Management Act, Knowles proposed the Oceans Policy Act to serve as a compass for managing and preserving America's 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone. The Oceans Policy Act would be binding on all activities affecting United States ocean waters and resources, require federal and state actions and programs be consistent with its purposes and policies, provide clear standards against which performance can be measured, and assemble a mechanism through which compliance can be assured. "The policy would empower a governance system that would protect, maintain and restore marine biological diversity," Knowles said. "It would manage activities on an ecosystem basis; utilize the best available scientific, social, and economic information for decisions; and support the needed and necessary research and education in improving the understanding of marine ecosystems. Finally it must be a governance that is equitable, transparent, and accountable as it balances the legitimate interests of federal, regional, state and private stakeholders." Knowles is chairman of the governance committee of the Pew Oceans Commission, which is looking at these same issues with an emphasis on sustaining the productivity and diversity of the ocean's living resources. Knowles said the work of the privately funded Commission will complement that of the federal panel. "All of the scientific evidence we are gathering will no doubt bring us to many of the same conclusions," Knowles said. "I believe it is essential that we be mutually supportive in our recommendations, wherever possible, if we are to realize the reform and restoration we know is so urgently needed." Knowles said that fishing families in Alaska's coastal communities, and across the United States, depend upon the oceans to sustain their jobs, their families, and their communities. And they ultimately depend on the leadership in Washington and across the country to attain the long-term goal of sustaining the oceans that sustain our businesses and our people. Knowles concluded by noting that 100 years ago, Theodore Roosevelt used the power of the presidency to protect the nation's great open spaces: Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon. At a recent meeting of the Pew Ocean Commission, Theodore Roosevelt IV spoke of the need to extend that conservation ethic to the sea. "Our
earth is known as the blue planet because three-quarters of its
surface is covered by oceans," Knowles said. "Alaska's
and America's environment and economy are inextricably linked
to the health of our oceans and watersheds. Let's make sure the
blue planet stays blue and that the next frontier remains a place
of great beauty and great abundance."
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