[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 132 (Monday, September 29, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H8063-H8066]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING THE OCEAN

  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
concurrent resolution, House Concurrent Resolution 131, expressing the 
sense of Congress regarding the ocean, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 131

       Whereas the ocean comprises nearly three quarters of the 
     surface of the Earth;
       Whereas the ocean contains diverse species of fish and 
     other living organisms which form the largest eco-system on 
     Earth;
       Whereas these living marine resources provide important 
     food resources to the United States and the world, and 
     unsustainable use of these resources has unacceptable 
     economic, environmental, and cultural consequences;
       Whereas the ocean and sea floor contain vast energy and 
     mineral resources which are critical to the economy of the 
     United States and the world;
       Whereas the ocean largely controls global weather and 
     climate, and is the ultimate source of all water resources;

[[Page H8064]]

       Whereas the vast majority of the deep ocean is unexplored 
     and unknown, and the ocean is truly the last frontier on 
     Earth for science and civilization;
       Whereas the ocean is the common means of transportation 
     between coastal nations and carries the majority of the 
     United States foreign trade;
       Whereas any nation's use or misuse of ocean resources has 
     effects far beyond that nation's borders;
       Whereas it has been 30 years since the Commission on Marine 
     Science, Engineering, and Resources (popularly known as the 
     Stratton Commission) met to examine the state of United 
     States ocean and coastal policy, and issued recommendations 
     which led to the present Federal structure for oceanography 
     and marine resource management; and
       Whereas 1998 has been declared the International Year of 
     the Ocean, and in order to observe such celebration, the 
     National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other 
     Federal agencies, in cooperation with organizations concerned 
     with ocean science and marine resources, have resolved to 
     promote exploration, utilization, conservation, and public 
     awareness of the ocean: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that--
       (1) the ocean is of paramount importance to the economic 
     future, environmental quality, and national security of the 
     United States;
       (2) the United States has a responsibility to exercise and 
     promote comprehensive stewardship of the ocean and the living 
     marine resources it contains; and
       (3) Federal agencies are encouraged to take advantage of 
     the United States and international focus on the oceans in 
     1998, to--
       (A) review United States oceanography and marine resources 
     management policies and programs;
       (B) identify opportunities to streamline, better direct, 
     and increase interagency cooperation in oceanographic 
     research and marine resource management policies and 
     programs; and
       (C) develop scientific, educational, and resource 
     management programs which will advance the exploration of the 
     ocean and the sustainable use of ocean resources.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
Jersey [Mr. Saxton] and the gentleman from California [Mr. Farr] each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Saxton].
  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  (Mr. SAXTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. SAXTON. Today we are considering House Concurrent Resolution 131, 
Mr. Speaker, expressing the sense of Congress on the importance of the 
ocean, the gentleman from Hawaii [Mr. Abercrombie] and I, for two 
purposes. First, it will publicize the importance of the oceans to the 
economy, environmental quality, and national security of the United 
States.
  The ocean is critical to our Nation. Ninety-eight percent of the U.S. 
foreign trade travels by ship. Half of Americans live within 50 miles 
of the coastline. However, many U.S. ocean programs have received flat 
or decreasing funding over the last decade. We cannot act to address 
this problem unless the public fully understands that the oceans are 
important to all Americans, whether or not they make their living 
directly from the sea.
  Mr. Speaker, House Concurrent Resolution 131 helps to build this 
understanding. Also, it is interesting to point out that 1998 will be 
the International Year of the Ocean. Scientific and educational events 
designed to increase understanding of the oceans and ocean resources 
will be held throughout the year.
  The international focus on ocean resources presents a very good 
opportunity for us to make substantive improvements to the U.S. oceans 
programs. House Concurrent Resolution 131 encourages the administration 
to take advantage of the Year of the Ocean to review and streamline 
ocean programs, and take steps to improve our understanding of the 
ocean resources.
  Mr. Speaker, this resolution, will express congressional recognition 
of the importance of the ocean and congressional commitment to 
improving the ocean programs. Obviously, I hope everyone will support 
this bill.
  I would also like to point out the important role that the gentleman 
from California [Mr. Farr] has played, not only in helping to bring 
this resolution to the floor, but relative to the subject of ocean 
environment, generally. His contribution has been very, very 
meaningful, and it has been a pleasure to work with him.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this bill, and I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. FARR of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  (Mr. FARR of California asked and was given permission to revise and 
extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FARR of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House 
Concurrent Resolution 131. Mr. Speaker, the U.N. General Assembly has 
declared 1998 to be the International Year of the Ocean. That is 
probably one U.N. action that everyone in this House can support.
  It has been nearly 30 years, as the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. 
Saxton] pointed out, since the Commission on Marine Science, 
Engineering, and Resources, commonly known as the Stratton Commission, 
took a comprehensive look at the U.S. ocean policy. A large group of 
Members of Congress have recently urged the President to hold a White 
House conference on the ocean, and there will be an international 
exhibit on the oceans in Lisbon, Portugal, beginning next spring.
  Without a doubt, the world is becoming focused on the oceans and 1998 
is the year. It is time for all the world's seafaring nations to 
reexamine their ocean policies. The once boundless resources of the 
oceans have proven to be finite when pitted against our incredible 
technology. Many of our great fisheries have been decimated. Coastal 
ecosystems are severely stressed by development and by pollution. Yet, 
we depend on the oceans more than ever for food, for transportation, 
and for recreation.
  We need to take a long, hard look at how we interact with the oceans, 
and define a new relationship based on sustainable use, I repeat that, 
on sustainable use, of our ocean resources.
  Mr. Speaker, this resolution is an excellent way for the House to 
launch that effort. I join my colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey 
[Mr. Saxton] in urging bipartisan support. The gentleman from New 
Jersey is chair of the subcommittee. He has been a remarkable leader on 
this issue.
  It is very interesting that today a Representative from New Jersey 
and a Representative from California get up to support this, because we 
are separated by land mass, but our two districts are joined by the 
oceans, the long way around, I might add. But the fact is that what 
affects one affects the other, so this resolution will help bring a 
sense of Congress that this is an important issue, and that we ought 
to, in this Congress, be spending more attention and more moneys on 
oceans than we are on outer space, because the oceans are our future, 
how we are going to survive on this planet.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the committee for his 
leadership, and I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, let me just emphasize just how important I think this 
subject is. Obviously, when we pass a resolution suggesting that 
Congress pay special note to something, or that the American people pay 
special note of something, obviously there is a good reason for us to 
do it.
  I think what the gentleman from California [Mr. Farr] and I bring to 
the House together in terms of this subject is that we have both had 
experiences over the last decade or so that have shown us that while 
there are problems related to the oceans, and while we continue to need 
to make progress along that line, we have also made significant 
progress in the last 10 years.
  One decade ago, in the summer of 1987 on the Atlantic coast, we had a 
horrific summer. We had dolphins washing up on our shores, we had algae 
blooms all up and down the East coast, and in my home State of New 
Jersey and on Long Island there was medical waste that washed up on our 
beaches. It was enough to lead anyone who would vacation in the 
Northeast at the shore or to eat products derived from the sea to take 
their vacations elsewhere, or to buy their food from some other source. 
It was an easy conclusion for the public to make.

[[Page H8065]]

  Since 1987 and 1988, we have cooperated with the States, we have put 
Federal programs in place to help with the ocean environment, we have 
passed the Medical Waste Tracking Act, for example, we passed the 
sludge dumping prohibition that passed in 1988 or 1989, and generally 
speaking, the ecological state of our oceans has improved manyfold 
since those very difficult times in the Northeast.
  Mr. Speaker, as we move forward, we continue to have problems. We 
continue to have problems with the regulatory process through which we 
try to regulate fish and mammals that live in the ocean. I spoke of one 
the other day with the gentleman from California [Mr. Farr]. We have a 
Federal agency that regulates the fishing industry. It is known as the 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
  Perhaps it has some goals that need to be changed, because really, 
every time I go home and talk to someone who lives by the sea, I hear 
another story about how we need to do a better job in making sure that 
the ocean environment is conducive to making a good home for fish and 
mammals and other animal life that live there.

                              {time}  1245

  This is indeed an important subject. The amount of people who live 
near the ocean is immense. The amount of the world's surface that is 
covered by oceans is huge, and it is in all of our best interests to 
take these subjects extremely seriously. And so I hope that today will 
not be just a pro forma vote, passing another resolution.
  The United Nations has recognized how important this is on a global 
basis and has designated 1998 as the Year of the Oceans, 
internationally. It is in all of our best interests to support this 
bill and to carry this message out across the country and, in fact, 
around the world as to just how important these matters are.
  Mr. FARR of California. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. SAXTON. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. FARR of California. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the gentleman, 
because this is just one of many steps that he is going to take in his 
committee to try to strengthen the awareness and the law as it regards 
the oceans.
  We spend a lot of time on this floor debating how we are going to 
help disaster stressed communities. We usually look at natural 
disasters and base closures as sort of the two major reasons that we 
need economic relief.
  I happen to represent the city of Monterrey, CA, which at one time 
was the largest sardine port in the world, certainly well known by the 
writings of John Steinbeck in ``Cannery Row.'' Sardines disappeared. 
They are coming back in small numbers now. But they are mostly a 
bycatch rather than the main catch. But that was in the late 1940's and 
early 1950's. Everybody has agreed that the reason they disappeared is 
that they were just overfished. It shut down an entire industry, entire 
community. It was before we knew about disaster relief.
  I think what we are seeing with the impact of the pfiesteria 
infection on the Maryland shores is that we have got to have a much 
better awareness of what is happening to animals, to fish, and to 
marine life, because we are really dependent on it. We may not be 
totally dependent on it for food stocks, but we are dependent on it for 
economic survival in our communities, for recreation, for tourism, for 
restaurants, and, essentially, if the ocean is not healthy, then our 
communities cannot be healthy.
  So this attention that the gentleman's resolution and other bills 
that he is working on and I am working with him on, I think, is going 
to go a long way in bringing America to the forefront of being a 
pioneer, a new pioneer in the oceans, as we have been in the last 
decade. I thank the gentleman for his efforts.
  I encourage all my colleagues to take this issue seriously, because 
it is about our future. It is about our weather. It is about our 
knowledge of weather, our knowledge of oceans, and essentially the 
quality of life on the planet Earth.
  Mr. SAXTON. I thank the gentleman for his comments.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, House Concurrent Resolution 131 is 
a resolution that recognizes the importance of our oceans and the fact 
that 1998 has been internationally declared the ``Year of the Ocean.''
  As the Congressman for all Alaska, I am keenly aware of how vital the 
oceans are to my constituents. With the largest coastline in the Nation 
of 6,640 miles, Alaskan waters contain some of the richest and most 
valuable fishing grounds in the world. Many Alaskan towns are connected 
to the rest of the State only by watercraft, and many Alaskan Natives 
depend on fish and marine mammals for their subsistence.
  I strongly support efforts to focus attention on these bodies of 
water, which comprise nearly three-quarters of the Earth's surface. 
While remarkably we know little about many of the ocean's resources, in 
the future we are likely to grow increasingly dependent on the energy, 
food, and mineral resources that exist there.
  During the past 3 years, the Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, 
Wildlife and Oceans has conducted valuable hearings on the importance 
of our fishery resources, the ocean disposal of radioactive materials, 
the impact of offshore mineral production, and the need to update 
nautical charts. In fact, we have been successful in convincing the 
appropriators that accurate charts are essential to the maritime 
community and that adequate funding is necessary.
  The United States has always been a fishing nation, and these 
resources have provided protein to millions of Americans. It is crucial 
that our world's fisheries be properly managed and that effective 
conservation measures be enforced. By focusing attention on this issue, 
House Concurrent Resolution 131 serves an important purpose. I 
compliment the authors for highlighting the need to promote sound 
stewardship of the oceans and their living marine resources.
  I urge my colleagues to support House Concurrent Resolution 131.
  Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Concurrent 
Resolution 131, expressing the sense of Congress regarding the ocean 
and recognizing 1998 as the international year of the ocean.
  Congress, this Nation, and countries throughout the world need to 
foster a greater understanding and appreciation of our oceans. This 
resolution is one small but important step toward that end.
  Ocean waters cover nearly 75 percent of the Earth's surface. They 
comprise such a dominant part of our national, social, and cultural 
environment that it would be foolish to try to even begin listing all 
the benefits and functions they provide.
  Unfortunately, they are also fragile--at least more fragile in many 
respects than we would like to admit. Pollution, invasive species, 
encroaching populations, and other stressors can take their toll.
  Concerted efforts are needed. The world's nations, including ours, 
should work more closely together to respect and conserve our global 
marine resources.
  I commend Representative Saxton for his efforts and the Resources 
Committee in general for its role in moving this resolution forward.
  I should also add that the Transportation and Infrastructure 
Committee did not seek a referral of House Concurrent Resolution 131 
but has various jurisdictional interests in it and in other efforts 
relating to oceans. The Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation 
Subcommittee, chaired by Representative Wayne Gilchrest, and the Water 
Resources and Environment Subcommittee, which I chair, are particularly 
interested in various environmental and transportation-related aspects 
of the oceans. We look forward to working on additional initiatives and 
legislative provisions that are consistent with the spirit of this 
resolution and protect and promote various aspects of the world's 
oceans.
  I urge my colleagues to support House Concurrent Resolution 131.
  Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution. 
Next year is the International Year of the Oceans as designated by the 
United Nations. This designation hopes to draw attention to the need 
for conservation of the limited resources that our oceans provide. For 
years, humans have considered ocean resources as inexhaustible. As 
evidenced by the depletion and extinction of many fish species, the 
destruction of coral reefs and the pollution of waters around the 
globe, these resources are finite. We cannot continue to harvest the 
ocean without replenishing what we take. I am very pleased that the 
U.S. House of Representatives is recognizing the importance of the 
oceans and the need for the world to stop taking what they provide for 
granted. The oceans are an integral part of our lives whether we rely 
on them for food, transport or recreation. If we do not properly 
maintain our oceans, they will not continue to sustain us.
  Mr. FARR of California. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for 
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.


                             General Leave

  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members

[[Page H8066]]

may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to 
include extraneous material on the concurrent resolution under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Upton). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from New Jersey?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Saxton] that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the concurrent resolution, House Concurrent Resolution 
131, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  Mr. CONDIT. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a 
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not 
present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 5 of rule I and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

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