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 GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - The governors of Oregon, Washington and California announced an agreement Monday to press the federal government to give greater support to state efforts to combat threats to the ocean, such as pollution, climate change and declining fisheries.
Noting two national panels had identified the need to act quickly to protect the nation's oceans, the West Coast Governors' Agreement on Ocean Health, announced at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, said oceans need to be managed on an ecosystem level that crosses political boundaries, which demands increased coordination between states and the federal government.
The announcement came as salmon fishermen are coping with sharp cutbacks to protect chinook from Northern California's Klamath River, scientists are studying a growing zone of oxygen-depleted water killing fish off Oregon and Washington that may be triggered by global warming, and the Bush administration is promoting offshore fish farms that would be beyond state control.
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