Despite 30 years of progress in reducing pollution from wastewater treatment facilities and other point sources categories, America's coastal waters remain in peril, according to a new report from the Pew Oceans Commission, an independent group established by the Pew Charitable Trusts to assess the condition of America's oceans and marine resources.
The report, "Marine Pollution in the United States: Significant Accomplishments, Future Challenges," finds that many of the nation's coastal environments exhibit symptoms of overenrichment. Symptoms include algal blooms, loss of seagrasses and coral reefs, and serious oxygen depletion. As a result, valuable coastal fisheries are imperiled and coastal ecosystems are becoming less able to recover from human impacts and natural disasters.
Polluted runoff from farms and cities - often far inland - has gone largely unabated or actually increased over the past 30 years, in many cases negating gains made in controlling direct sources of pollution, the report concludes.
Scientists from the University of Maryland and University of Rhode Island point to an increase in plant nutrients as the most pervasive pollution risk for estuaries, coral reefs, seagrass beds, and other coastal ecosystems.
"We've done a good job tackling many of the obvious causes of ocean pollution - ocean dumping, discharges from industrial facilities and sewage plants, and toxic pollutants," said Leon Panetta, chair of the Pew Oceans Commission. "Now we need to get serious about the less obvious sources of pollution that flow from our cities, farms, and ships if we want to protect our coastal waters and the communities they support."
Panetta recently assumed leadership of the commission after Christine Todd Whitman stepped down from that post to become head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Panetta and Whitman have worked together to guide the commission since its inception last year.
The commission is an independent group that includes leaders from ocean research, fishing, conservation, industry and government. After meeting with Americans throughout the nation and considering the best scientific information available, the 20-member commission will make formal recommendations to Congress and the nation in early 2002 on how best to improve stewardship of the oceans.
The legal and institutional approaches to controlling coastal pollution have been only modestly successful, the report said. However, the authors conclude that watershed approaches to managing pollution are beginning to have an effect, citing a multi-state effort to control pollution in the Chesapeake Bay as one example. Also, seagrass beds in Tampa Bay are slowly recovering after improved sewage treatment greatly reduced nitrogen inputs. The report calls for solutions that combine voluntary and regulatory approaches to pollution abatement.
"We simply do not have all the answers today," said Panetta. "Despite the best efforts at federal, state, and local levels, the oceans face a greater array of problems than ever before. Our challenge is to find those answers."
The Pew Oceans Commission is conducting a national dialogue on the policies needed to restore and protect living marine resources in U.S. waters. In addition to marine pollution, the commission is reviewing coastal development, fishing, invasive species, and governance.
Copies of "Marine Pollution in the United States: Significant Accomplishments, Future Challenges" are available at www.pewoceans.org or by calling 703-516-0624.
