Oceans need our attention

By: North County Times Opinion Staff - | Tuesday, September 19, 2006 8:16 PM PDT ∞

The announcement Monday that the governors of California, Oregon and Washington will work together to address threats to the coast and oceans is a welcome ripple that needs to build into a global groundswell. No matter where we live, every one of us depends on healthy oceans ---- and the blue planet's defining characteristic is suffering from our neglect and exploitation.

The world's oceans are being overfished: As fish stocks collapse due to surging worldwide demand, huge new factory-fishing boats are steaming down to the Antarctic to plunder the formerly ignored vast clouds of krill that form the basis of the global marine food chain.

The oceans' chemistry is changing, with increased acidity wiping out corals and fertilizer runoff causing poisonous jellyfish populations to explode.

Huge amounts of discarded plastic float endlessly everywhere, choking and clogging up the guts of all manner of seabirds, fish and marine mammals.

Climate-change models predict rising sea levels that could threaten heavily populated coasts ---- like North County's ---- the way low-lying Pacific islands and Inuit villages in Canada are already sinking under the seas.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his northern neighbors didn't reveal exactly how they would combine their efforts. But the act of joining together to lobby Washington, D.C. ---- where President Bush and Congress have dragged their feet in implementing bipartisan recommendations to foster ocean health ---- is itself good news.

Every political entity claiming a coastline must redouble its efforts to restore our shores. But because the oceans help feed the world and regulate global temperatures, we're all on the hook ---- even those of us far from the shore ---- for helping them recover from a rising tide of human-caused calamities.

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