WASHINGTON, D.C. – Marine mammal photographer and filmmaker Bob Talbot recalled the California sea of his childhood with sorrow and urgency.

Testifying Saturday at the first in a series of Congressional oversight hearings on the National Marine Sanctuaries Program, the IMAX movie director painted a 40-year-old picture of waters teeming with blue sharks, abalone, big fish of all kinds.

"We used to go over in a raft to Catalina Island and literally have to steer around the blue sharks sunning themselves on the surface," Talbot told Reps. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, and Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam, who conducted the field hearing at UC Santa Barbara.

"Now, you're lucky to come across one or two and you never see abalone anymore. Those of us in the ocean all the time, we see the destruction every day. Our ocean is dying. We're out of time."
Talbot was one of eight expert witnesses called to testify about the impact of the federal Marine Sanctuaries Act, which protects sensitive marine life in 150,000 square miles of ocean waters on both coasts.
First enacted in 1972, the law has been due for Congressional reauthorization since 2005.

All but one member of the expert panel asked that the act be reauthorized with expanded powers, more funding and faster timetables. The majority also called for ending a current moratorium on designating new sanctuaries.

"Whether climate change or other forces, these marine ecosystems are all under assault," said Meg Caldwell, a senior law lecturer at Stanford University and former chair of the California Coastal Commission.
Preserve ocean waters

The act allows Congress and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to designate, protect and preserve ocean waters with ailing ecosystems. Depending on the circumstances, areas can be designated as reserves, where all fishing is banned, or conservation areas, where fishing is limited.

The U.S. has 13 national marine sanctuaries, including the Channel Islands sanctuary, which is the nation's largest. About 20 percent of the 1,252-nautical-mile sanctuary are reserves.

Caldwell pointed to the Channel Islands sanctuary as a model and "rare success story that took 10 years to get where we are today."
Designated in 1980, much of the sanctuary area continued to be heavily fished and used for recreation. In 2003, after five years of community meetings and red tape, state no-fishing zones around the islands were created. This year, the zones were extended to include deeper federal waters.

Scientists like Steven Gaines, a professor of marine ecology at UCSB, are still analyzing data about the effectiveness of the four-year-old state sanctuaries. But preliminary findings show signs of healing, Gaines testified at Saturday's hearing.

"The fastest species to rebound is the lobster," Gaines said. "On a global basis, there has been a 400 percent increase in fish within reserves."

Jim Martin with the Recreational Fishing Alliance, however, said he is unconvinced by the state of the science. Martin testified he and the thousands of anglers and divers his association represents depend on the ocean for their livelihood and are being unfairly blamed for depleting the number of fish.

"People in California are more concerned about water quality and runoff than recreational anglers and divers, but the science is not talking about this impact," Martin said. "We're not saying we're against marine protected areas, we just don't think the science is all there."
More field hearings will be scheduled in coming months, said Capps, who is a member of the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans.

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