At Sea Over Oceans

THE BUSH administration's formal response to the report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy contains some encouraging elements. In September the congressionally mandated commission warned that America's coastal waters are in mortal danger; it was the second major panel to sound this ominous caution in recent months. To address their findings, President Bush set up a Cabinet-level committee to coordinate agency action, implement commission recommendations and further study what can be done. The White House issued a 39-page action plan that retired Navy Adm. James Watkins, who chaired the commission, called "a promising first step toward the implementation of a comprehensive national ocean policy." Promising, maybe, but not enough. The plan contains little new money for what will inevitably prove a costly undertaking. And it does not discuss the funding mechanism the commission itself proposed. Nor does it announce new regulatory initiatives for a problem that has so many causes -- onshore pollution and runoff, cruise ships, climate change, unchecked development, bad farming practices, etc. -- that only a broad-based regulatory approach can hope to reverse damaging trends. The White House offers only a vague nod toward the reform of fisheries management councils, which are dominated by commercial fishing interests and have permitted some species to be devastated by overfishing. Much of the plan just catalogues programs already in place.

In short, the ambition of the White House action plan falls far short of the seriousness of the crisis. Indeed, the plan does not really frame the problem of the oceans as a crisis at all. It describes the report as having "highlight[ed] the progress that has been made" in oceans policy. This is quite a rosy account of a document that declared that Americans are "starting to love our oceans to death" and that "reform needs to start now, while it is still possible to reverse distressing declines."

The essential first step in saving the oceans is facing the magnitude of the problem. Until the White House acquires more of a sense of urgency, its response is likely to prove inadequate.