The United Nations has declared 1998 as the International Year of the Ocean. This declaration represents an opportunity to raise public awareness about the value of the ocean to all Americans, to celebrate our considerable accomplishments in understanding the ocean, and to learn from our experiences in managing ocean resources to assure that our children have a healthy and productive ocean to enjoy.

All Americans are affected by the ocean (including coastal waters, estuaries, and the Great Lakes). And we all affect it. The United States has more than 95,000 miles of coastline and more than 3.4 million square miles of ocean within its territorial sea. The ocean's living resources provide food on our plates, raw materials for industry, new medicines to improve health, and unparalleled recreational experiences. Historically, the ocean has buffered the U.S. from conflicts overseas and foreign invasion. Our national security and our interests in enhancing global peace and stability are absolutely dependent on preserving high seas freedoms of navigation for military and commercial vessels. In 1996 approximately $590 billion of goods (41 percent of the total value of United States foreign trade, and a much larger share by weight) were carried on the ocean and passed through American ports. By comparison, air and overland transportation accounted for 27 and 31 percent respectively, by value. U.S. residents ate an average of 15 pounds of fish and shellfish last year. The ocean is also an important source of energy - about 18% of our oil and 27% of our natural gas are produced from the Outer Continental Shelf. Leading-edge anti-inflammatory drugs and potentially life-saving cancer treatments contain ingredients from fish and marine organisms. Finally, about 180 million people visit our coastlines each year, and most Americans spend at least 10 days a year near a coast. Travel and tourism is the largest and the fastest growing segment of the U.S. service industry.

The ocean regulates the world’s climate. The effects of the ocean on the atmosphere control our daily weather. This year’s El NiZ o event has changed dramatically weather patterns in the US and around the world. The ocean provides natural services such as carbon storage, atmospheric gas regulation, nutrient cycling, and waste treatment. Coral reefs, mangroves, and kelp forests protect coastal areas from storms. Marine algae contribute nearly 40 percent of global photosynthesis.

The ocean provides many Americans with their livelihood. One out of six jobs in the U.S. is marine-related and one-third of our GNP is produced in coastal areas. Today, over half of our population lives and works in coastal areas adjacent to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Lakes. Over the past three decades, coastal population has grown faster than the population of the country as a whole. The U.S. coasts are among the most densely populated areas in the world. By the year 2025, close to 75 percent of our people will live in coastal areas, the majority in sprawling, interconnected metropolitan centers. One concern about our burgeoning coastal population is the increased risk of coastal hazards and hurricanes, which have accounted for almost $50 billion in coastal damages over the past decade.

The oceans play an important role in enabling the United States to project military power, when necessary, to troubled regions of the world. Freedom of the seas provides U.S. policy-makers with flexible options in dealing with challenges to international peace and security.

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Finally there is a very personal value to the ocean. Often, we are drawn to the ocean only to stand and stare and listen. The ocean is beautiful to almost everyone, for reasons each of us understands and none of us knows. It has inspired some of the world’s finest paintings, poetry, stories, and music.

Although some progress is evident, signs of trouble in the seas should continue to concern us. Over-fishing, changes in coastal habitat, and pollution have combined to impact dramatically living resources in our marine waters. In both the United States and globally, with few exceptions, stocks are declining and the majority of fisheries are thought to be fully or over-utilized. Some species (cod, haddock, and flounder, for example) have nearly disappeared off the New England coast. Recent trends in catches, trade, contribution to food supplies, and overall economic viability of the fishing industry are not encouraging. As a result of effective conservation practices, a few marine mammals and sea turtles in U.S. waters appear to be recovering after years of declining numbers, but habitat loss and human activities are jeopardizing other species, such as salmon. Less-studied marine organisms are probably being lost before ever being identified, much less protected. We continue to lose important habitats such as wetlands, sea grass beds, and coral reefs. These are more than just environmental issues. The serious decline of fisheries have sparked confrontations in the past, and environmental degradation has created situations of friction, dislocation, and mass migration in various regions of the world.

Concerns about ocean pollution also are warranted. About 40% of our estuarine and coastal waters are not fishable or swimmable - primarily because of excess nutrients and bacteria from agricultural runoff and municipal wastewater discharges. Although the quality of our shellfish harvesting waters has improved over the past five years, 30% of these areas still have some form of harvest restrictions. In 1996 over 2,500 closings and advisories were issued for coastal bathing beaches due to bacterial contamination. Sediments in coastal areas near industrial facilities and ports, especially in areas where water circulation is slow, show elevated concentrations of chemical contamination. Concerns about dredging contaminated sediments in port areas have delayed the maintenance of major ports and waterways. Oil contamination, not only from tankers, but from municipal and industrial operations on the land, continues to be a problem. Major tanker spills contribute only about five percent of the oil contaminating the ocean. In fact, at least 75% of all pollutants that contaminate the ocean are from land-based sources.

Despite these very real concerns, there is much to be optimistic about with respect to the future of the ocean. The ocean remains a largely unexplored frontier that represents a critical source of food, energy, and other natural resources for the next millennium. Only recently have the seas yielded their secrets of the deep ocean floor, home to communities of organisms whose productivity is based on chemosynthesis instead of photosynthesis. Whole new ecosystems have been discovered within the last year, some of which might be the basis of new drugs and medical treatments.

Ocean policy is such a large, cross-cutting field that no single agency of the Federal government, on its own, has the necessary legal authorities, human and financial resources, and experience to move the country ahead in ocean science and management. As a result of the Stratton Commission, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the Department of Commerce was formed almost 30 years ago to unify many ocean-related functions in one agency. At that time other agencies also expanded their ocean missions. New partnerships

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among agencies with responsibilities for ocean issues, such as the Department of Transportation, the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Justice, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are beginning to show results. For example, experiments in the civil use of advanced technologies in the military and intelligence communities promise new insights into environmental problems in coastal areas and the ocean.

The Federal government, however, cannot do it alone. Renewed cooperation with our counterparts in state and local governments will be critical in order to solve problems of coastal pollution, habitat loss, hazards mitigation, and other areas. Federal agencies have a growing experience base in working with colleagues in state and local governments through programs such as the Coastal Zone Management Program and the National Estuary Program that can serve as models for future cooperation.

Moreover, the Federal government doesn’t have all the answers. Federal agencies, private industry, state and local governments, and academic institutions are strengthening and improving their cooperative activities, including the sharing of human resources, experience, data, equipment, instrument development, and facilities. Nurturing existing partnerships, such as the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, can help build support for oceanographic research.

In a time of shrinking budgets, the public sector at all levels will never have adequate resources to do all that needs to be done. Investments in coastal and marine areas by the private sector far outweigh public investments, and the experience base of the private sector is often untapped in public decision making. Real opportunities exist to develop public-private partnerships with the insurance industry to deal with concerns about climate change, with the tourism industry to deal with the environmental quality of coastal areas, and with the fishing industry to deal with issues related to essential fish habitat.

Finally, the United States cannot move the country ahead in ocean science and management in isolation. The ocean and its resources are inherently international. Even within our own waters, the health of the fish we eat and the waters in which we swim are affected by activities in other countries. The elements of effective management -- public participation, scientifically-sound decision making, governmental coordination and integration, the need for creative financing for programs -- are similar in all nations. The threats to ocean ecosystems -- over-fishing, destruction of habitat, nutrient and toxic pollutants, non-indigenous species, and pathogens -- are also global.

Although we should celebrate recent improvements of marine environments in the U.S., it is important to remember that coastal areas in the developing world are under severe pressures that few nations are equipped to manage. U.S. international development programs, in partnership with non-governmental organizations, universities, and the private sector, work with foreign governments, community groups, and international institutions to build local capacity to protect and use marine resources more sustainably. Principles that were established first in the U.S. are being adapted for use in Latin America, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, East Africa, and the Middle East. As a nation, we can also learn through our attempts to help others deal with similar problems. Building capacity for sustainable management on distant shores will enhance our own efforts.

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The ocean has already begun to receive new attention in other countries, the academic community, and the Congress. One of the Administration’s highest priorities this year is accession to the Law of the Sea (LOS) Convention. The LOS Convention restrains excessive maritime claims and codifies key legal provisions in the areas of navigational freedoms, ownership of non-living resources, environment, fisheries, and public vessel sovereign immunity in a way that balances the vital interests of maritime and coastal states.

In May 1998, Lisbon, Portugal, will open EXPO98, an international world’s fair focusing on the importance of the ocean in our lives. This event will be an opportunity to raise public awareness world-wide since over 20 million people are expected to attend. The ocean will also be a key issue at the 1998 G-8 Environmental Ministerial meeting that will be held in April, 1998, in the United Kingdom.

In recent years, many reports have concluded that domestic ocean management in the United States is fragmented. Most recently, a report entitled Striking a Balance: Improving Stewardship of Marine Areas, authored by the Marine Board of the National Research Council, concluded that our existing domestic management system is characterized by a confusing array of laws, regulations, and practices at the federal, state, and local levels. Further, it concluded that the various agencies that implement and enforce existing legal regimes operate with mandates that often conflict with each other, and that no mechanism exists for establishing a common vision and set of objectives. To begin correcting this situation, the Marine Board recommended the creation of a "National Marine Council" to define national objectives and improve coordination among federal and state agencies and other interested parties in the private sector. It also considered whether a domestic ocean management regime would be an effective structure for planning and decision-making, since most ocean management issues cross state boundaries. Congress is considering legislation this year to develop and maintain a coordinated, comprehensive, and long-range national policy with respect to domestic ocean and coastal activities.

The Federal agencies with ocean-related programs have been planning activities for the Year of the Ocean. In addition, these agencies have prepared the following set of discussion papers on a variety of themes and cross-cutting issues. They discuss what is working well and what is not in ocean resource management, and identify needs and opportunities for the future. They are intended to provide some of the background information needed to enable both the public and private sectors to work together to promote the conservation, exploration, and sustainable use of the ocean.

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