Fisheries Expert Testifies Before Congress on Future of NOAA, U.S. Ocean Policy
By David Sims, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space
May 2, 2007
UNH scientist Andrew Rosenberg, professor of natural resources
at the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space,
testified Thursday before the U.S. House of Representatives
Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee Fisheries, Wildlife
and Oceans in an effort to help lawmakers move forward with
legislation aimed at vastly improved management and protection
of U.S. oceans.
According to Rosenberg, former Northeast Regional Administrator
for the National Marine Fisheries Service, and commissioner
on the presidentially appointed U.S. Commission on Ocean
Policy, lawmakers are now taking up legislation on oceans
and climate change and there is a real chance of making
significant progress in the new Congress.
Testimony concerned H.R. 21, the Oceans Conservation, Education
and National Strategy for the 21st Century Act. The bill,
Rosenberg notes, has included many of the items recommended
by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy (http://www.oceancommission.gov),
on which he served.
Rosenberg addressed five major areas relative to the legislation,
including the need for ecosystem-based management as a guiding
principle for ocean policy.
According to Rosenberg, ecosystem-based management is a “fundamental
shift in how we view and manage our interactions with natural
resources” and sets a different process for policymaking, “starting
from a different perspective on goal-setting through the
basis for resolving conflicts.”
To accomplish this, the lead federal agency responsible
for carrying out ocean policies, the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will need a new structure
that integrates across its disparate programs and often
conflicting mandates including fisheries, protected species,
habitat, coastal zones, sanctuaries, and estuarine research
reserves.
And, Rosenberg stressed, the need for NOAA to have a truly
connected overall program – with shared planning,
a sense of shared mandates, and a coordinated strategy – is
imperative because our oceans are indeed in trouble.
In written testimony he told committee members, “I
believe that we must immediately begin to make changes in
U.S. ocean policy to reverse an alarming, widespread degradation
in the health of the oceans and coasts, vital living marine
resources, and coastal communities. I believe that our ocean
environment is at risk and a change of course is needed
to reduce that risk. We must reinvigorate and fully fund
our leadership in ocean science and our understanding of
the life-support system of the earth.”
With climate change issues getting a lot of attention on
Capitol Hill, Rosenberg says, “It’s my understanding
that lawmakers are going to try to move climate legislation,
and it is my hope they will take into account how our oceans
affect and are affected by climate change.”
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