Unified Bid for Healing the Seas

This summer’s low temperatures were but one reason our beach season was a bit of a bust. Stubbornly high bacteria counts kept the popular Huntington Beach shoreline off-limits to bathers for weeks. And release of new test results, reported just before the Labor Day last-fling weekend, found local waters to be incubators for viruses that cause ailments ranging from diarrhea to hepatitis.

All this is reason enough to endorse a blueprint, released last week, for restoring America’s beach and marine resources. Recommendations of a national panel go far beyond staunching urban runoff onto local beaches. The issues include declining fisheries and marine life, booming coastal development, increased maritime traffic and pressure on offshore oil reserves. These and other matters prompted President Clinton to convene the group last year and ask for answers.

Its report, “Turning to the Sea: America’s Ocean Future,” makes a compelling case for a coordinated national approach to improving the health of the seas. It should be obvious, for example, that reviving stocks of halibut, cod and flounder, depleted by years of overfishing, is beyond the ability of individual cities or states. And that abating beach runoff, whether in Southern California or along the Florida coast, cannot be done by local ordinance alone. Congress and the coastal states have taken steps to address these problems over the years, but enforcement and coordination have been spotty. So has funding.

Still, “Turning to the Sea” is disappointingly short on specifics. What exactly should the federal government do to prod states into limiting beachfront development? How can degraded kelp beds or coral reefs be restored?

Some steps are clear. First, Clinton should appoint an oceans working group to hone the broad goals and monitor progress. Second, Congress needs to fund the research, planning and restoration that will accomplish these goals. The federal Land and Water Conservation Fund is a good place to start. Congress created this fund in 1965 to underwrite just such efforts with federal offshore oil revenues, but in recent years Washington raided that $900-million annual pot to help balance the budget. When it returns from recess, Congress should rededicate these funds to improving America’s irreplaceable land and ocean resources.