by Malin Pinsky, Ph.D Candidate, Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford 

Capitol Hill Ocean Week (CHOW) has taken place every year for the past decade, but this year has
taken on a special meaning for one unfortunate reason: oil that
continues to pour from the broken Deep Horizon well. Almost every
speaker, no matter what their planned topic, somehow touches on the
“disaster” and “tragedy.” A representative of the fishing industry got
up yesterday and berated government officials for regulating fisheries
more tightly than oil drilling. Hard to argue with. Perhaps we’ll see
the equivalent of fisheries observers on every rig in the coming
years.

With our attention focused on pictures of oil-soaked birds and sticky
beaches, the country is thinking about the ocean to a degree that it
rarely does. Bill Douros (Marine Santuary program) and many others
have commented that the 1969 Union An oil spill in Santa Barbara
catalyzed Earth Day and a host of the clean air, clean water, and
other environmental laws we now take for granted 
for more info). At the time, the public was outraged at industry and
the government, and legislation quickly followed that outrage.

At the Leadership awards dinner on Tuesday, Jane Lubchenco emphasized
that we have another window of opportunity now. For the moment, the
country recognizes the fragility of marine ecosystems and,
potentially, the need to rethink our approach to management. Quick
fixes like separating the revenue and enforcement functions of MMS may
help a little, but don’t address the deeper problems of lax oversight,
little priority for ecosystem protection, and our underlying addiction
to oil. This window of opportunity is likely brief. Can we use it?