[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 94 (Wednesday, June 3, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H3778-H3779]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  RECOGNIZING CAPITOL HILL OCEAN WEEK

  (Ms. Bonamici of Oregon was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, this week, hundreds of scientists, 
conservationists, explorers, students, and advocates from across the 
country are gathered here for the 25th anniversary of America's premier 
ocean policy event: Capitol Hill Ocean Week, or CHOW. This week marks 
25 years of translating science into policy and cultivating 
partnerships to protect the coasts, fisheries, and habitats that 
sustain our economy and our world.
  As our Nation marks its own 250th anniversary, this week challenges 
us to reckon with both the threats and opportunities we face as 
stewards of the ocean: to chart a course for the next 250 years by 
protecting the ocean because of its importance to our shared prosperity 
and to the planet.
  Mr. Speaker, 250 miles above us, the International Space Station 
crosses the horizon every 90 minutes. From that vantage point, there 
are no borders, but there is a lot of blue. More than 70 percent of the 
Earth is ocean, providing habitat for thousands of known species, 
driving economies for coasts and nations, and regulating the climate 
effects on every harvest, port, and storm.
  Down here at sea level, we are testing the limits of our blue world. 
The same waters that feed and connect us are warming, becoming more 
acidic, and rising faster than at any point in human history.

[[Page H3779]]

  This Nation was built by the sea. Our maritime heritage runs through 
every port, fishing village, and coastal community. The science and 
tools we have built to help us steward our waters have saved countless 
lives, properties, and habitats. They are among this country's greatest 
achievements.
  We jeopardize that resilience if we fail to manage ocean resources 
wisely. As climate change accelerates, shifting currents and migrating 
species are redrawing economic maps and straining international 
cooperation. These risks undermine trade, safety, and stewardship.
  Nearly one-third of the seafood consumed in the United States is now 
tied to illegal or unreported fishing, a black-market industry worth up 
to $36 billion a year, often entangled with drug smuggling and forced 
labor. These networks plague ecosystems, weaken supply chains, undercut 
U.S. workers and businesses, and erode the rule of law.

                              {time}  1015

  The Trump administration is choosing to compound the risks and 
undermine the country's lead agency, NOAA, the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration, by shedding thousands of its workers and 
threatening to eliminate its research office. Belittling science in the 
name of modernization will erode our Nation's talent and further strain 
our oceans' resources.
  Here is the good news. When we choose stewardship, it pays dividends. 
Every dollar invested in NOAA yields $112 in benefits--in jobs, in 
stability, and resilience. Ninety percent of the U.S. fisheries are now 
sustainably managed. American ocean science has stimulated an $827 
billion blue economy that supports 3.3 million jobs. That didn't happen 
by accident. It happened because leaders worked together and kept focus 
through the countless partnerships that keep our coasts working and our 
ecosystems thriving.
  I represent a significant part of the magnificent Oregon coast. When 
I visit, I see future ocean leadership, and I see what it can look 
like: fishers using real-time data to avoid depleted stocks, students 
mapping kelp forests that store more carbon per acre than any forest on 
land, and scientists working to research marine energy that can harness 
the power of the tides to keep the lights on.
  Capitol Hill Ocean Week reflects these ambitions and calls us to 
realize them. That is the vision for future demands: science in service 
of security and cooperation in service of resilience.
  That partnership means embracing the truth that conservation and 
competitiveness are not opposites. They are inseparable. The same 
science that restores coral reefs also protects coastal infrastructure. 
The same satellite technology that tracks illegal fishing also improves 
disaster response. The same diplomacy that defends marine ecosystems 
also deters instability and preserves human rights.
  After 25 years of organized ocean advocacy, we know the challenges 
and are equipped with the solutions. What we need now is the shared 
resolve to turn that knowledge into action.
  The ocean won't wait for our politics to calm. Its currents are 
eroding coastlines and economies. If we delay, we will cede precious 
resources and influence to those who would exploit both. If we act, we 
can turn climate risk into resilience by decarbonizing commerce, 
restoring blue carbon ecosystems, and expanding the industries that 
will define a sustainable century.
  That is the challenge we face to make the ocean once again a source 
of unity rather than division, abundance rather than scarcity, and 
cooperation rather than conflict.
  As co-chair of the bipartisan House Oceans Caucus, I have seen what 
is possible when we keep that focus. We have bridged party lines, 
brought agencies and industries to the same table, and shown that ocean 
health does not need to be partisan.
  The scientists, fishers, explorers, and advocates here at Capitol 
Hill Ocean Week know that leadership, like the tide, is never still. 
The future of American prosperity and the blue planet depend on it.

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