Dire Forecast for the Oceans

The Nov. 3 front-page article "World's Fish Supply Running Out, Researchers Warn" told just part of the story. The ocean is no longer a vast expanse of clean water, bountiful with natural resources. Pollution affects a growing number of regions; fish and other marine populations have declined dramatically; and valuable natural habitat is being lost at an alarming rate.

Ninety-eight percent of the U.S. fish harvest occurs in state and federal waters. The oceans are a vital source of commerce, trade, energy and mineral resources, as well as a buffer for security.

Many of our ocean management failures are linked to insufficient understanding of the oceans and their wildlife. It is time that we implement the Integrated Ocean Observing System, an oceanic equivalent to the National Weather Service that is being developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Such a system would provide tools for understanding the oceans, the climate and aquatic wildlife.

Only then can we begin to take action to reverse this decline.

RICHARD WEST

President

Consortium for Oceanographic

Research and Education

Washington

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The article "World's Fish Supply Running Out, Researchers Warn" reinforced what we've been hearing from experts on the oceans for several years: Our oceans are in peril, and leadership on marine conservation policy is desperately needed. Unfortunately, what some policymakers and industries have offered instead are industrial-size fish farms off our coasts.

Open-ocean aquaculture relies on heavy doses of antibiotics, chemicals, hormones and fish feeds containing known carcinogens, which make it into the marine environment and our food supply. Additionally, escaped non-native or farmed fish could compete with and spread disease to wild populations. Finally, most offshore aquaculture proposals involve raising carnivorous fish such as halibut or cod, and every pound of farmed fish produced requires that at least three pounds of wild fish be caught and ground up as feed, further depleting fish populations.

Your readers should also know that Congress is considering opening U.S. ocean waters to a relatively untested form of industrial aquaculture. Through a provision tucked into the energy bill, Congress may authorize the use of decommissioned oil and gas rigs for fish farms. Open-ocean fish farming is inappropriate under any circumstance, but this proposal is more outrageous because of the high levels of mercury in the environment and fish found near oil rigs.

WENONAH HAUTER

Executive Director

Food and Water Watch

Washington