Two separate commissions are suggesting farm chemicals and pollution in rivers are the biggest threats to ocean health. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:
Transcript
Two separate commissions are suggesting farm chemicals and
pollution in rivers are the biggest threat to ocean health. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:
The privately funded Pew Oceans Commission and the U.S.
Government’s Commission on Ocean Policy are coming to the same
conclusion. They say issues such as agriculture runoff into
streams, rivers, and lakes are at the top of the list of threat
to ocean plant and animal life. Tom Kitsos is the director of
the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. He says the first step is to
change people’s approach to watershed management:
“I think this is a question of education
and public awareness of the watershed managers and watershed
councils that are prevalent in the Midwest, the farm associations
and individual farmers becoming aware that what they do on their
land affects our coasts and affects our oceans.”
The Commissions are recommending the government do more to stop
the kind of chemical usage that contributes to the problems in
oceans. Both reports will be sent to Congress for consideration.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jonathan Ahl.