U.S. ocean policy 'not working'

Our stewardship of the ocean, as both a natural habitat and a provider of natural resources, is about as disjointed and arbitrary as it can get, said William Ruckelshaus, a member of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy meeting this week in Seattle.

"Over and over, we've heard from people about the need for better coordination," said Ruckelshaus, founding director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The 16-member commission is holding meetings around the nation and will make recommendations on fisheries management, coastal environmental regulations and other issues.

Declining to speculate on the recommendations, Ruckelshaus said one of the overarching themes he's hearing is the need to bring more focus and structure to the nation's obsolete, complicated and ineffective marine strategy.

"It's just not working," he said yesterday.

Lots of people are offering lots of ideas how to make it work better.

Environmental groups yesterday called on the commissioners to take steps to save ocean habitats, pointing to the Puget Sound area's celebrated orca recovery as a "symbolic" example of the problem.

"As we speak, there's a dramatic whale rescue under way," said Kathy Fletcher, executive director of People for Puget Sound, an organization devoted to protecting the marine ecosystem.

"But if we're going to rescue whales, we need to pay attention not to individual members of the species, but to the whole ecosystem in which they live," said Fletcher, who said a first step should include better enforcement of the federal Clean Water Act.

Denis Hayes of the Bullitt Foundation urged the commission to rise above a limited focus on just the ocean environment and include in its recommendations some recognition of the critical interplay between the oceans and climate. Hayes called upon the commissioners to take a stand on climate and energy policies as well.

Even surfers, or those who play on the beach, had their say yesterday.

"Safe, accessible enjoyment of our beaches, oceans and waves is an integral part of living in the Northwest," said Christopher Evans, executive director of the Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit group dedicated to ocean and coastline preservation.

The wide-ranging hodgepodge of interests, as well as the federal dollars going to rescue the orca in Puget Sound, reflects the sorry state of affairs today, said University of Washington fisheries scientist Ray Hilborn.

"This is just typical," said Hilborn, who testifies today before the panel on fisheries management. "There is no policy."

Even fisheries science, he said, fails to follow any rational decision-making process when it comes to deciding what to study. Nearly all scientific studies regarding marine life and fisheries, Hilborn said, are determined by line items in Congress' budget rather than by scientific bodies, such as the National Science Foundation.

"It's all dictated by lobbying," he said.

Hilborn and others contended the orca rescue in Puget Sound is more a symbol of the irrational and politicized nature of current marine policy than it a reasoned response to a well-defined need.

Ruckelshaus agreed and said he thinks the panel is already moving toward policy that aims to define and focus research priorities to effectively balance habitat protection with resource use. He said another major theme is the need to coordinate regulatory and agency responsibilities.

The panel is also hearing the need for enhancing community-based authority and responsibility in marine management, Ruckelshaus said.

He said many of the original tasks he faced with regard to ocean pollution and marine habitat about 30 years ago, when he headed the EPA, were major "point-source" pollution problems that required a federal "command-and-control" response.

Today, though some federal oversight is still necessary, Ruckelshaus said a lot of the problems appear to require more sophisticated solutions tailored to specific communities.

"How we ought to do some of these things needs to be directed at the watershed level," he said. "The current policy is still command and control."

The public will have an opportunity to comment today from 3 to 5 p.m. Comments may also be made in writing, or by e-mail at the commission's Web site: www.oceancommission.org

P-I reporter Tom Paulson can be reached at 206-448-8318 or tompaulson@seattlepi.com P-I reporter Carol Smith contributed to this report.

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