|
 Research tells us that many Americans perceive the oceans to be inexhaustible and able to fend for themselves. This, simply, is not the case. Both the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy (USCOP, 2004) and the Pew Oceans Commission (POC, 2003) worked for five years to document how almost every aspect of human activity adversely impacts U.S. oceans.
Both reports drew the same inescapable and inarguable conclusions. Science tells us that the U.S. oceans are severely degraded, and major changes are urgently needed. Principal human threats to our oceans include: point and non-point pollution, invasive species, aquaculture, coastal development, over-fishing, habitat alteration, and global climate change.
The reports concluded that fractured agencies and policies that govern our oceans are significant causes of this situation and sweeping reform is needed. Policy reform cannot take place without public support.
AOC’s mission is to engage the public to provide the support necessary for responsible sustainable management of these vital resources that are our spectacular heritage. Our oceans face a broader array of challenges than ever before in history; many factors besides industrial pollution play a role in the oceans’ degradation. Marine life and vital coastal habitats are straining under the increasing pressure of our use. We have come to a crossroads where the cumulative effect of what we take from, and conversely what we put into the oceans, is causing the collapse of entire ecosystems.
 The oceans are no longer capable of providing the vast economic and ecological goods and services on which we have come to depend. What we once considered inexhaustible and resilient is, in fact, finite, fragile and sick. The following are merely a few of the dramatic impacts:
• Tuna is not healthy for children and pregnant mothers.
• Farm-raised salmon may contain toxic residue.
• Sprawl development is consuming land at a rate of five or more times the rate of population growth in many coastal areas. Sprawl needlessly destroys wildlife habitat and degrades water quality.
• Nitrogen from cars, farms, and gardens released into coastal waters along the Atlantic seaboard and Gulf of Mexico has increased 5 fold since the pre-industrial era, and is expected to increase another 30% by 2030.
• More than 13,000 beaches were closed or under pollution advisories in 2001—a 20% increase over 2000.
• It is unhealthy to swim in 44% of our estuaries.
• 10.9 million gallons of oil runs off our streets and driveways and ultimately flows into the oceans every 8 months. This is as much oil as was spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster.
• Introduced marine species principally from bilge and ballast waters crowd out native species, alter habitats, and impose economic burdens on coastal communities.
• 500 million tons of manure is produced by U.S. animal feedlots each year—more than three times the amount of sanitary waste produced by the human population—much of which enters our waterways and drainage system.
• Based on EPA estimates, in one week a 3000-passenger cruise ship generates about:
- 210,000 gallons of sewage
- 1,000,000 gallons of gray water (shower, sink, and dishwasher water)
- 37,000 gallons of oily bilge water, more than 8 tons of solid waste
- Millions of gallons of ballast water containing potential invasive species, and toxic wastes
from dry cleaning and photo-processing laboratories.
• A coastal salmon farm of 200,000 fish releases into the ocean an amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and fecal matter roughly equivalent to the nutrient waste in the untreated sewage from 20,000, 25,000, and 65,000 people, respectively.
• Fishing gear that accidentally catches and kills non-targeted species is a significant cause for species and ecosystem collapse.
• An out-dated and fragmented management system is unable to protect the living resources of America’s oceans.
|
|
U.S. Coastal Dead Zones
Associated with Human Activity
Many coastal ecosystems around the United States have documented low levels of dissolved oxygen, a condition known as hypoxia. Most aquatic species cannot survive at these low oxygen levels. Although these hypoxic areas—also known as dead zones—can a result of both natural and man-made causes, the number of dead zones discovered has been doubling every decade, an indication that human activity is having a profound impact on these environments. The map below shows the distribution of dead zones in U.S. coastal waters that are associated with human activity.
Dead zones are concentrated along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts because of the proximity of heavily populated areas and intense agricultural practices that discharge large quantities of nutrients into our coastal waters. High nutrient levels in summer lead to huge plankton blooms, a condition known as eutrophication. Dead and dying phytoplankton sink through the stratified water column where bacteria use up all the available oxygen, resulting in hypoxic conditions in deep water. Waters along the Pacific coast of the U.S. are less prone to water column stratification and therefore less predisposed to eutrophication.
|
