Five hundred invited politicians, scientists, academics, environmentalists and business leaders gathered in Monterey, California to participate in the first National Ocean Conference. The two day Conference, which was filled with multi-media, high tech presentations, began on June 11.

The Conference was sponsored by the Clinton Administration, as one of its "Year of the Ocean" activities. Though papers were presented and substantive discussions took place, the Conference was more of a part-political, part-public awareness event. According to the Administration, the Conference was intended to highlight the interrelationship between the ocean and all other life-related issues.

Four general issues served as the Conference focal point. They were: ocean pollution reduction, commerce enhancement efforts (one of ever six jobs in the United States is ocean related), global security ( freedom of the seas is vital to national security) and ocean exploration, education and research.

One point that emerged from the Conference is how little is actually known about the ocean. While most of the lunar surface has been mapped and re-mapped, little is still known about the ocean floor. According to one Navy official, we know more about the back side of the moon than we do about the ocean's bottom.

The President, Vice President, First Lady and other elected officials participated during the Conference. President Clinton proposed $224 million in spending on the ocean, most of which would require Congressional approval. He also proposed intiatives concerning offshore drilling, fish population protection, increased sea exploration, and the creation of a new commission to develop a national ocean strategy for the 21st century.

Several papers were also presented during the Conference. One discussed the effect the ocean has on climate conditions of coastal areas. The paper was written by several federal agencies and observed that the Earth's weather and climate are the result of the redistribution of heat.

The major source of heat to the surface of the Earth is the sun, principally through incoming visible radiation most of which is absorbed by the Earth's surface. It is this radiation that is redistributed by the both the ocean and the atmosphere. Clouds and other gases trap radiation emitted by the Earth's surface and remit their own heat at much lower temperatures. This makes the Earth much warmer than it would be otherwise.

The ocean also plays an important role in climate change. Long-term impacts of climate change in coastal areas, such as sea level rise or storm surges, could cause increased shore erosion, increased salinity of estuaries and freshwater aquifers, changes in tidal ranges in rivers and bays, changes in sediment and nutrient transport, and increased coastal flooding. Such changes have considerable implications for U.S. coastal areas where the majority of the country's population and significant economic activity is concentrated.

One other paper, also prepared by several agencies, considered the importance of coastal tourism and recreation to the United States and its citizens and identified areas in which corrective action is deemed to be necessary.

According to the authors, the ocean's importance as a key economic attraction must be recognized and appropriate resources should be devoted to it on this basis alone. Over 90 percent of foreign tourism spending is concentrated in coastal states where beaches are the leading tourism destination.

On this note, the federal government receives about 6 times as much tax revenue annually from foreign tourism spending at Miami Beach than it spends to restore beaches in the entire nation. The authors asserted that these values often go unrecognized, and are not the subject of suitable attention by federal, state, and local policy makers.

The authors also concluded that American promotional efforts to attract foreign tourists to U.S. coastal areas lag significantly behind those of other nations. While foreign tourists use U.S. coastal areas very frequently and contribute significantly to jobs, earnings, and tax revenues in coastal communities, the U.S. government spends very little in tourism promotion compared with competing nations.

The information provided in this column is written by Stuart Lieberman,a practicing environmental attorney, and is for general information purposes only. It is not legal advice and should not be used in place of legal advice.

Stuart Lieberman, Esq., and IRED.Com, Inc., will not accept any responsibilty for any reliance on the information in this column or any damages whatsoever resulting from reading this column.