Today is World Oceans Day

Floor Speech

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Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, in the time I make these remarks, 1 minute, and every minute after, the equivalent of an entire garbage truck full of plastic will be dumped into the oceans. That is about 8 million metric tons a year, endangering marine life.

Today is World Oceans Day, a good time to recommit to protect, conserve, maintain, and rebuild our oceans and our ocean resources.

The health of our oceans reflects the health of our planet. We have work to do. Oceans absorb CO2 produced by human activities, and increasing carbon emissions are stressing the oceans and threatening the livelihood of coastal communities.

As oceans become more acidic, shellfish struggle to build shells. Oysters and clams are especially vulnerable. Harmful algal blooms produce acid that accumulates in shellfish, like Dungeness crab, and can be poisonous to humans.

We must invest in research to better understand the challenges to ocean health, like ocean acidification, harmful algal blooms, marine debris, and overfishing.

The ocean is resilient, but we cannot afford to wait. On World Oceans Day, I invite all of my colleagues to join the bipartisan Oceans Caucus. The time to take action is now.

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