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For Immediate Release April 20th, 2004 Science Shows U.S. Oceans are in TroubleOcean policy report identifies pollution from inland states as significant problemWashington Ð The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, a congressionally established 16-member panel tasked with studying the status of and threats facing the nation's oceans, today provided its comprehensive report based on two years of work to governors and members of Congress. It represents the first Congressionally-mandated review of our national ocean policy in more than 30 years and includes recommendations for a coordinated and comprehensive national ocean policy. The report is the second of two high-level ocean studies to appear in the past twelve months, and the U.S. Commission study arrived at the same major findings as the independently established Pew Oceans Commission did last year: Overfishing, pollution, coastal development, habitat destruction and mismanagement are leading to the decline of ocean wildlife and the collapse of entire ocean ecosystems. Key among the findings were the impact that nutrient pollution, much of it coming from inland states, is having on the marine ecosystem. "Many in Illinois and elsewhere around the Midwest may wonder whether the findings of this report are of significance beyond our coasts, and the answer is a resounding yes," said Jean Flemma, Executive Director of Prairie Rivers Network. "The oceans and the resources within belong to all Americans, and we all benefit from them. Similarly, we all have a responsibility to do our part to protect them." According to the report, every year an area covering 12,000 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico becomes a "dead zone" as a result of nitrogen fertilizers from farms far inland washing into streams and ultimately the Mississippi river, flowing into the Gulf. These nutrients cause excessive algal growth, depleting oxygen in the Gulf's waters to levels too low to support fish, crustaceans, and many other forms of marine life. The report also found that, on average, streams draining from the agricultural states of Iowa and Illinois contribute about 35% of the nitrogen coming from the Mississippi into the Gulf. "This is the second major ocean report in the past year that has identified nutrient pollution from inland states like Illinois as having a significant impact on the oceans' resources," said Flemma. "As more and more Americans focus on the plight of the oceans, Illinois should expect that it will be asked to do its part to reduce these impacts." In fact, the Commission recommended that significant reductions of nonpoint source pollution, including nutrient pollution, in all impaired watersheds like the Gulf be established as a national goal. Achieving such a goal will require reductions in these pollutants from all sources, including inland states. To that end, the Commission made several recommendations aimed at reducing nutrient pollution. Key among them was the recommendation that USDA should align its conservation and funding with other programs aimed at reducing nonpoint source pollution and that it should require its state conservationists working in the Natural Resources Conservation Service to participate in watershed planning processes to ensure that funding for agricultural conservation programs complements and advances federal and state water quality plans. In addition, the Commission also recommended that Congress and USDA adopt more incentives to reduce agricultural nutrient runoff, including incentives to reward farmers for good performance, tax incentives for farmers who implement best management practices, insurance programs for farmers who apply fertilizer at below the recommended agronomic rates, and tying federal farm aid to the implementation of best management practices. Some of these incentives are already being tested on a limited basis around the Midwest. "At some point, we must recognize that even as a land-locked state, our activities still affect the ocean," said Flemma. "Nutrient run-off from agriculture and manufacturing here in Illinois makes its way into rivers and streams which ultimately flow into the ocean, and we must implement mechanisms for reducing them,Ó she said. "America's oceans don't start at the coast, America's oceans start here." Contact: Jean Flemma Prairie Rivers Network 217-344-2371 ### | |