WASHINGTON, April 20 (UPI) -- A federal commission called Tuesday for a coordinated national strategy to save U.S. shorelines and oceans from over fishing and degradation.
The congressionally charted U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, the first federal review of American government ocean policy in 35 years, issued a preliminary report with 200 recommendations for action at the federal and state level.
The commission calls for doubling U.S. investments in ocean research and clean-up to $1.3 billion in the first year, increasing to $3.2 billion in the third year onward -- money they recommended be culled from unallocated revenues from federal offshore oil and gas royalties.
The commission also called on Congress to created a national ocean council within the executive branch.
"Our oceans and coasts are in trouble, and we as a nation have a historic opportunity to make a positive and lasting change in the way to manage them before it is too late," retired Adm. James Watkins, the commission chairman, said in a briefing.
