[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 38 (Monday, September 29, 2008)]
[Pages 1259-1263]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the United States Ocean Action Plan

September 26, 2008

    Thank you all. Thank you, Secretary Clough, for the introduction. 
And congratulations on the opening of the Sant Ocean Hall, which, by the 
way, opens tomorrow morning at 11 o'clock. The Secretary and I just had 
a fabulous tour. These exhibits in this hall will remind people that our 
oceans are vital for our planet. This is going to heighten awareness of 
how important our oceans are and that we have a solemn duty to protect 
them.
    And so I've come not only to see the hall and to herald its opening 
but to spend a little time talking about ocean conservation. There are a 
lot of people in this room who care about ocean conservation, and I 
appreciate you working on--with us to help preserve a vital natural 
resource.
    First of all, I do want to recognize the Chancellor of the 
Smithsonian Institute's Board of Regents--I call him the Chief Justice 
of the Supreme Court; Justice Roberts, thank you for coming. I 
appreciate very much the Sant family, Roger and Vicki. Roger turns out 
to be the Chairman of the Institute's Board of Regents and a big 
supporter, obviously, of the Smithsonian; otherwise, they probably 
wouldn't have named the hall for him. [Laughter] But thank you for your 
generosity and your support.
    Cristian Samper is the Director of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural 
History,

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and he gave us a tour today. And he's a knowledgeable fellow, a 
biologist, and he will make sure that these exhibits remain relevant for 
the--you know, for the education of the American people. And I want to 
than you, Cristian, for your service.
    I'm proud to be here with a member of my Cabinet, Carlos Gutierrez, 
Department of Commerce, which oversees NOAA, which had something to do 
with this facility. I want to thank Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo; 
there she is. Madeleine, good to see you; thank you for coming. She is 
from Guam. I appreciate the winners of the National Ocean Art Contest 
who are here today; that would be you all.
    I'm about to talk about some policy we've been implementing, and I 
want to thank all those in the room for helping. There's a lot of folks 
around the country and here in Washington who care deeply about the 
oceans. And many of the organizations that have worked constructively 
with our administration are here, and I thank you for your efforts, 
because the truth of the matter is that we have got a good record 
working with you. And I want to share some thoughts about it.
    First of all, you got to know I like oceans. I didn't grow up in the 
ocean--as a matter of fact--near the ocean--I grew up in the desert. 
Therefore, it was a pleasant contrast to see the ocean. And I 
particularly like it when I'm fishing. It turns out, it's a--I'm not the 
first President liked to fish. It turns out, the first President really 
liked to fish. George Washington--I was reading where he one time caught 
100,000 herring in a single day. That's either a lot of fish or a lot of 
fishing. [Laughter] But unlike that George W., I have not had that kind 
of luck before. [Laughter]
    America is a maritime nation. Obviously the--protecting the oceans 
are in our interest. It turns out that commercial and recreational 
fishing add more than $76 billion to our economy every year. Seaport-
related businesses add an estimated $2 trillion in economic activity. 
And the oceans are important for our economic, you know, as an economic 
lifeline. They're important to our economy. Seas also offer limitless 
opportunities for recreation and transportation and education and 
research. It all adds up to the fact we got to be good stewards.
    And so we developed what we've called the Ocean Action Plan. I'm a 
guy who likes--when people walk into my office, I like to say, you know, 
what are the specific steps, and how are we doing at achieving them? 
This particular plan started off with 88 different points of action, 
expectations; we've met 87 of them. When the Senate passes a treaty, we 
will have met 88 of them. And it's--[applause].
    Many of you in this room helped develop the plan. Many of you helped 
implement the plan, and I thank you. The goal was to make our oceans' 
coasts and Great Lakes cleaner, healthier, and more productive. I want 
to spend a little time talking about some of the successes.
    Under the Ocean Action Plan, we've worked to stop overfishing. Last 
year, I issued an Executive order protecting two of our Nation's most 
popular game fish, striped bass and red drum. I signed important 
legislation reauthorizing the Magnuson-Stevenson [Magnuson-Stevens] * 
Act, which sets a firm deadline to end overfishing in America by 2011. 
Many in this hall helped pass that piece of legislation, and I thank 
you. Thanks to these and other efforts, we are beginning to see good 
progress toward ending overfishing.
    * White House correction.
    At the beginning of my administration, 44 fish stocks were listed as 
overfished. Today, almost half of those stocks are no longer on the 
list. That's good news. Along the way, we've stepped up our efforts to 
identify additional fish stocks that are at risk, and we're going to 
take steps to protect them.
    We're protecting and restoring vital wetland and marine habitats. In 
2004, I set a goal of restoring, improving, and protecting 3 million 
acres of interior and coastal wetlands in 5 years. We met that goal 1 
year ahead of schedule. This effort includes our watershed restoration 
project in the Florida Everglades, which is the largest in the world. 
During my administration, we have put two-thirds of Federal waters, 
about 2.3 million square nautical miles, off-limits to harmful

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bottom-trawling and dredging. We care what happens in the oceans.
    We made a special effort to protect the tropical forests of the sea, 
coral reefs. Some of the most spectacular reefs are found in the 
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, which I created 
in June of 2006, thanks to the efforts of many in this hall. This 
monument is the world's largest fully protected marine conservation 
area, and it covers more than 7,000 marine species, a quarter of which 
are found nowhere else on Earth.
    We've promoted a culture of cooperative conservation. Through 
programs like the Coastal America Partnership, we joined with State and 
local governments, fishermen and tribal leaders and tens of thousands of 
volunteers to improve conservation from the Great Lakes to the gulf 
coast. One project, which is dear to my heart, is when folks from the 
private sector helped to restore 10,000 acres of tidal wetlands in my 
home State. For decades, this area could be the equivalent of a dust 
bowl, just neglected. Today, it's a thriving ecosystem filled with 
shorebirds and abundant fish.
    Cooperative conservation works; it makes sense. It's a strategy 
that's easy to implement when you find people willing to step up and do 
their part.
    We're increasing international cooperation to protect the ocean 
environment that affects all nations. Through the Coral Triangle 
Initiative, we're working with nations like Indonesia and Malaysia and 
the Philippines and Australia to identify and eliminate the threats to 
tropical reefs. President Yudhoyono of Indonesia gets a lot of credit 
for this initiative. He is bound and determined to protect coral reefs 
around his nation, and we are bound and determined to help him do so by 
providing money, strategy, expertise, and encouragement. At the United 
Nations, we succeeded in passing a resolution to help protect fish 
stocks and marine habitats from destructive fishing practices.
    A lot of our citizens don't understand what's taking place in parts 
of the world, but people use dynamite to fish, or they poison the fish 
stocks in order to net them, or they use destructive bottom-trawling. 
And we're using our influence to stop those kind of practices.
    We're expanding ocean research. There is more left to learn about 
the oceans; there's probably more to learn about the oceans than we need 
to learn about the Moon--or that we know about the Moon. And so to help 
unlock these mysteries, we've launched a 10-year Ocean Research 
Priorities Plan. Research supported by the plan is helping to reduce 
shipping's impact on the environment, improve our understanding of 
important ocean conditions like red tides, teach us more about the 
oceans' role in climate change, and improve our ability to protect 
Americans from natural disasters like hurricanes and tsunamis.
    We're expanding educational programs to teach citizens more about 
the oceans. The truth of the matter is, there's a knowledge gap between 
what scientists and biologists understand about oceans and what our 
citizens understand about it. So we've ensured that teachers and 
students and the public have access to the most up-to-date marine 
science. Laura was particularly moved when she went out to the Hawaiian 
National Monument to learn about the effects of debris--you know, people 
just dropping stuff all over their boats, and it gets in these currents 
and kills birds and clogs the ecosystem. She's been very active about 
educating the young and old about the importance of making sure we're 
wise about marine--not--stopping marine debris. The Coastal Ecosystem 
Learning Center network is a interesting, innovative idea where the 
public can learn hands on about sea life at more than 20 of America's 
top aquariums. So there will be kiosks in each aquarium that are 
connected to here, as well as around the Nation, and people can get 
information at their fingertips.
    The great achievement, of course, is this new hall. It's built 
through a partnership between NOAA and the Smithsonian. It's going to 
introduce visitors to all kinds of interesting things: prehistoric 
predators; what life is like around the coral reef; an animated display 
of the oceans' impact on the global environment. It's worthwhile for our 
citizens to come here. I think you're going to learn a lot. As part of 
the exhibit's opening, a half-mile-long

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mural of ocean art by children from 110 countries will show visitors to 
the National Mall the beauty of sea life around the world. And of 
course, we thank those artists. My favorite exhibit was the 24-foot 
giant squid. That's--the squid was brought all the way from Spain as a 
joint operation between the Navy and the Air Force--[laughter]--
appropriately called Operation Calamari. [Laughter] I do want to thank 
our military for bringing the deal here. It is--[laughter]--it's worth 
looking at it. [Laughter] Admiral, I don't know if you had anything to 
do with it, but it's--if you did, it must have been a heck of an 
operation. [Laughter]
    And then people are going to come here and they're going to be 
amazed to see a 45-foot replica of a female Right Whale. There are fewer 
than 400 North Atlantic Right Whales left in the world. And the model in 
this hall is inspired by a whale that got tangled in fishing gear, but 
got herself free. She was given the appropriate name of Phoenix. And 
under the Ocean Action Plan, we've worked hard to protect whales like 
her. Part of the 88 different actions we've taken was to work on smart 
whale policy. And people in this room have helped. For example, we now 
require fishermen to use more whale-friendly gear. Based on a careful 
study of where Right Whales and ships are most likely to collide, we've 
rerouted the shipping lanes near Boston Harbor. The action reduced the 
danger to Right Whales like the Phoenix by nearly 60 percent.
    And there are going to be new regulations that will be coming to be 
shortly that require ships to slow down as they approach seaports where 
these whales are likely to be.
    In all these ways, the Ocean Action Plan is helping to protect our 
planet's most essential natural resource. Yet we're going to do more. 
And so I've asked--I've told people I'm sprinting to the finish; I mean, 
4 months, you can actually get a lot done. And so I've asked the 
Secretaries of the Interior, Commerce, and Defense as well as the CEQ 
Chairman to work to find additional areas in the Pacific that could be 
eligible for Federal protection. We will improve our wetlands work by 
protecting, restoring, and improving an additional 4 million acres. It's 
important to set clear goals. We have set clear goals in this 
administration, we have met those goals, and, in this case, we're 
setting a new goal. We will expand the Monterey Bay National Marine 
Sanctuary to include the Davidson Seamount. This 585-square-nautical-
mile addition will safeguard one of the largest known seamounts in U.S. 
waters, and it will protect an extraordinary array of ocean creatures.
    All Americans have a responsibility and obligation to be good 
stewards of our environment. And one person who understands that is 
Pietro Parravano. I met Pietro today. He is a commercial fisherman in 
Half Moon Bay, California. He was as excited to see this exhibit as I 
was. When a project to expand the nearby Port of Oakland threatened the 
bay's fishing grounds, Pietro helped broker an agreement that allowed 
the expansion of the port while protecting Half Moon Bay. Pietro has 
continued his cooperative conservation work at the local, State, and 
Federal and international levels. This fisherman has been honored by 
NOAA and the EPA. He says: ``Conservation needs to be everyone's 
priority, because the oceans belong to all Americans.''
    I don't know where you are, Pietro, but--somewhere around here--
wherever you are--there he is. Thanks, Pietro. Only in America. We're 
sure glad you're here, and thanks for your work. Like, people--Pietro 
shows that, you know, you can make a difference in your communities; 
it's just not all that hard. And part of the purpose of this fantastic 
facility is to encourage people to do that when it comes to the oceans.
    I believe that the research that's going on and the actions that 
will be taken by this administration, and hopefully, future 
administrations will say to our children and grandchildren: we saw our 
responsibility, and we met it; that those of us who work here in 
Washington came here to be a constructive force, to see problems before 
they became acute, and we did something about it. And for those of you 
in this room who are doing something about it, I thank you from the 
bottom of my heart, and so will future generations of Americans. God 
bless.

Note: The President spoke at 10:15 a.m. in the Sant Ocean Hall at the 
Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. In his remarks, he referred to

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Pietro Parravano, secretary, San Mateo County Harbor District Board of 
Commissioners.