EDITORIAL
New oceans study cannot be ignored

If any state should take close and careful notice of a new national report on ocean policy out this week, it should be Hawai'i.

The ocean is, our life blood. It entertains us, it feeds us, it helps us maintain our wonderful weather and, of course, it is a core attraction for the millions of visitors who support our economy.

But a new comprehensive report on ocean policy, the first since 1969, suggests that our oceans and ocean inhabitants are in trouble.

The good news is that there is growing consensus on what the problems are and what solutions should be applied. Now, it will require political will, both locally and nationally, to see to it that the right fixes are made before it is too late.

The report, from the Pew Oceans Commissions, has as its centerpiece a call for a National Ocean Policy Act. Ocean policy, regulation and law are now divided among numerous agencies, councils and offices. The result is policy that is fragmented or, in some cases, policy that works against itself.

Case in point: Some federal agencies focus on helping our important fishery industry while other agencies focus on protecting the marine ecosystem, which can mean opposing fishing interests.

The most striking thing about the current report is that it accepts, as a fundamental precept, that our marine resources are both limited and threatened.

The previous report worked from the basic premise that marine resources are essentially endless, if not always well-managed.

Those are two entirely different world views with two entirely different policy implications.

The reality of limits is clear. A recent report contended that the number of large fish — top-of-the-food-chain predators — in the ocean has declined by 90 percent. Ninety percent! Fisheries on both coasts and even off Hawai'i have been closed because of dangerous depletion levels.

With clear, focused and cooperative management, our oceans will continue to provide us with bounty, entertainment and environmental relief for generations to come. But that heightened quality of management must begin now.

At the local level, it means increased efforts to coordinate the work of county, state and federal marine officials, working cooperatively with private industry.

At the federal level, it means creation of a comprehensive, unified ocean policy.

And internationally, it means working with other nations to see that they, too, realize the stake we all hold in these oceans whose waters we share.

The Pew Commission report is an important piece of work that should not be ignored.