Protecting and Restoring Our Oceans

The world’s oceans are crucial to life on Earth. Yet, the synergistic effects of human activity, including habitat destruction and overfishing – both domestically and internationally – as well as the spread of invasive species, climate change, and pollution have initiated changes of untold magnitude. Healthy oceans are key not only to our survival but also to our quality of life; without healthy oceans we are ecologically and economically diminished. Science must inform our utilization of ocean goods and services so that we may enjoy the abundance that healthy oceans can provide.

A heap of trash that's twice the size of Texas is floating somewhere between San Francisco and Hawaii. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, as it's called, is 80 percent plastic, and weighs in at 3.5 million tons. Trapped in a circular course by winds and currents, it's been around since the 1950s, and has been growing tenfold every decade. It's not a dumping ground in the sense that people are flying or boating by and throwing their refuse into the heap. Instead, it's picking up trash that originates onshore, and has since made its way out into the Pacific. Cleaning it up doesn't sound too likely, since the effort would cost billions, but it would be nice if we figured out a way to stop adding to it. The San Francisco Chronicle published a great article about the Patch.

As Americans, Texans and temporary inhabitants of this planet, our stewardship responsibilities should include realizing federal and international ocean governance reforms, reviving America's traditional international leadership role, implementing improvements in the management of fisheries and marine mammals, protecting special places in the marine environment as the inheritance of future generations, planning for the effects of climate change and offshore energy development, and providing the funding necessary to set a meaningful pace of positive change.