National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

Key Ocean Issues

Our oceans are in crisis. Marine mammals are disappearing, overfishing is rampant, pollution is causing huge "dead zones" in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere, beaches are closed to swimming because of sewage overflows. A study in the journal Nature found that the populations of large ocean fishes like tunas and marlin are down to 10% of their historic populations.

There is hope, though. Within the last few years, two separate blue-ribbon commissions, the federally-created U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the independent Pew Oceans Commission, have each completed comprehensive evaluations of U.S. management of ocean resources. These reviews constitute the first assessments of U.S. ocean policy in over thirty years. Both Commissions in their reports document the current crisis in the health of the oceans and call for major shifts in U.S. policy in order to protect and restore our ocean resources. The release of these reports and the common-sense solutions they present offers an unparalleled opportunity to reverse decades of mismanagement of our oceans.

Implementing the recommendations of those reports will require political leadership - a leadership that has been lacking in the halls of Congress and state legislatures in recent years. The public has to demand that our political leaders exercise leadership to save our oceans. Ocean Champions Voter Fund exists to educate the voting public about ocean issues and the positions of candidates on those issues, so that voters can make good decisions about which candidates will speak out for the oceans.

Ocean Champions Voter Fund has prepared this list of questions that voters can ask candidates for public office in order to determine their positions on key issues facing the ocean. These questions all flow from the two national commission reports, and are directly relevant to implementing the reforms those reports recommend. The questions also serve as a broad overview of the most pressing ocean issues facing Congress.

Ocean Champions Voter Fund strongly encourages voters to ask candidates their positions on at least one of these issues. Because if you don't care enough to ask, then candidates won't care enough to act.

Our Oceans

Are you aware that both the U.S. Commission and the Pew Commission concluded that the health of U.S. ocean and coastal resources has declined dramatically in the last thirty years, resulting in a "crisis" in ocean and coastal health, and that fundamental and significant reforms in ocean and coastal management are necessary in order to reverse these declines, and safeguard our oceans and coasts for future generations?
Given the findings of these two commissions, would you support fundamental restructuring of ocean and coastal management?

Ecosystem Health & Management

Both commissions have recommended that Congress establish a management regime based upon the entire ecosystem as compared to the traditional approach of managing individual species. Ecosystem-based management requires understanding the interactions between and among marine species as well as the environments in which they live and defining standards of ecosystem health. Would you support adopting ecosystem-based management in principle?
Given these findings, would you support legislation establishing "the protection, maintenance, and restoration of the health of marine ecosystems" as the governing standard for regulating human activities in the ocean?
In order to implement ecosystem-based management, both commissions have cited the need to substantially increase the federal ocean and coastal science research budget over the next five years. Would you support such an increase in the research budget?

Coastal and Ocean Waters

"Nonpoint source pollution" is pollution that is not associated with a specific conveyance, such as a pipe, and can take the form of runoff from agricultural fields, parking lots, and roadways. This type of pollution has caused two-thirds of bays and estuaries to be classified as either moderately or severely degraded and results in thousands of beach closures and pollution advisories each year. Are you aware that both the U.S. Commission and the Pew Commission identified nonpoint source pollution as the greatest source of degradation of U.S. coastal waters?
Given the impact of nonpoint source pollution on U.S. coastal and ocean waters, would you support amendments to the Clean Water Act that would regulate and reduce nonpoint source pollution?
Point-source pollution also threatens our coastal and ocean waters. Under current law, there are no federal standards governing wastewater discharges from cruise ships, and many have been found to dump untreated sewage and other chemicals in sensitive coastal waters. Do you support legislation that would bring cruise ships under the authority of the Clean Water Act by preventing discharges in coastal areas, establishing uniform pollution treatment standards for discharges in US waters, authorizing Coast Guard and EPA to develop and enforce these standards, and promoting the development of innovative marine pollution technology through NOAA?

National Ocean Policy

Both the U.S. Commission and the Pew Commission recommend an "organic act" for the oceans that would establish an overarching national policy, creating standards for federal, state, and territorial agencies to follow in protecting marine and coastal ecosystems, and reorienting national and regional decision-making bodies to these ends. Would you support the enactment of such an organic act for the oceans?
As both the U.S. Commission and the Pew Commission point out, management authority for U.S. marine resources is currently divided among at least six departments and dozens of agencies, resulting in inefficient and uncoordinated management of ocean resources. Both commissions therefore recommend the establishment of a permanent, interagency National Oceans Council within the Executive Office of the President to help address this problem. Would you support the creation of such a council?
In light of these facts, would you also support either:
- The creation of an independent national oceans agency that would administer many of the programs that are currently spread across departments and agencies; OR
- The restructuring of current agencies, with more authority and management responsibility vested in a strengthened National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)?
In order to support habitat conservation and other ocean policy initiatives necessary to implement a strengthened national ocean policy, both the U.S. Commission and the Pew Commission recommend the creation of an Ocean Policy Trust Fund which would be funded by royalties from outer continental shelf oil, gas, and mineral development, but which does not encourage additional development of such resources. Would you support the creation of such a trust fund?

Sustainable Fisheries Management

The Magnuson-Stevens Act governs the prosecution of commercial fisheries and mandates the prevention of overfishing, the protection of essential fish habitat, and the reduction of unintentional bycatch (catch of non-target organisms). The act is overdue for reauthorization, and various draft bills in recent years have proposed either strengthening or weakening its conservation requirements. In light of the findings of the U.S. Commission and the Pew Commission that we are facing a crisis in ocean health, including plummeting fish stocks, do you think the current requirements in the Magnuson-Stevens Act relating to overfishing, habitat protection, and bycatch are too restrictive, about right, or not protective enough?
Both the U.S. Commission and the Pew Oceans Commission found that there are fundamental problems in the management of U.S. fisheries, leading to widespread overfishing, significant habitat destruction, and excessive bycatch. Significantly, both commissions agree that these problems are primarily a result of shortcomings in the current Fishery Management Council system under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, rather than a result of inadequate science. Accordingly, would you support legislation separating decisions regarding how many fish can be taken from the ocean (so-called "assessment decisions") from decisions about allocation of the available catch and other operational issues ("allocation decisions"), as recommended by both commissions?
Both the U.S. Commission and the Pew Commission found that marine aquaculture causes significant water quality problems, harms wild fish by introduction of exotic species, and depresses prices paid to commercial fishermen. Would you support legislation to regulate marine aquaculture by establishing national standards and comprehensive permitting authority for the siting, design, and operation of ecologically sustainable marine aquaculture facilities and would you support placing a moratorium on the expansion of marine finfish farms until such national marine aquaculture standards and policy are established?

Ocean Treaties

The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea would codify the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone currently claimed by the U.S. in international law, as well as establish international standards in most areas of ocean policy, including navigation, aerial overflights, exploitation of the seabed, conservation, and research. The U.S. Commission recommended passage of this treaty. Do you support ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea?