It was to be the summit to save the seas.

Oil spills and water pollution threatened to contaminate coastal waters. Coastal development and invasive species spelled the loss of a major food source. Years of financial neglect meant government agencies were barely able to enforce existing protective laws. At the same time, scientists complained we knew more about the moon than the universe beneath the waves and were losing it before it could be discovered.

With marine experts from around the county discussing thorny ocean issues and Bill Clinton and Al Gore supplying 48 hours of unwavering national attention, the National Oceans Conference held at the Naval Postgraduate School two years ago today should have heralded a new era of solving the plight of the oceans.

On the conference's second anniversary, it's clear the conference has yet to solve many pressing ocean problems. Rockfish and Pacific salmon continue to hover near extinction, while coastal storm drains still drip oil, E. coli and other pollutants into the ocean. Marine ecosystems remain nearly as inscrutable as ever, and the oceans still haven't generated enough government interest to merit cabinet-level representation.

But change takes time, and what could have been a cause-of-the day confab has blossomed into an impressive crop of promising, though embryonic, fruit.

"The main thing that came out of the conference was a new national awareness of the importance of oceans," said Andrew DeVogelaere, research coordinator for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. "They were able to talk to these higher level political folks about things that are important to the ocean, so we're on their radar screen for future programs....These lead to executive directives to create centers and increase budgets."

Local scientists say attitudes about protecting the nation's oceans began to change even before the first delegates arrived in town. The very need to develop an agenda for the meeting, said George Boehlert, lab director of the Pacific Fisheries Environmental Group in Pacific Grove, "drew the local science community together more strongly."

While the universities and marine research institutions around Monterey Bay had already been meeting informally for 20 years, "the Ocean Conference shamed us into collectivization," said Jim Gill, professor of earth sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The researchers organized themselves into the Monterey Bay Crescent Ocean Research Consortium, a group Gill now chairs and that has continued to meet on a regular basis. So far, they've concentrated on ways to share staff and funding to pursue large research projects difficult for a single institution to pursue alone. Already the members are planning ways they can tackle the huge job of monitoring the health of the sanctuary.

"We haven't yet brought in million-dollar grants," Gill said, "but it provides a forum for those options to be discussed and the means to discuss barriers to do so."

Big Ears, Big Names

The conference gave scientists the ears of some of the most influential people in government. Besides the president, vice president, and first lady, the star-studded guest list included three cabinet secretaries, the Secretary of the Navy, Congressman Farr and a number of other government luminaries.

The most visible results of the conference are three executive directives the president announced just a few weeks ago, on May 26. The first order--permanent protection for the coral reefs of the northwest Hawaiian Islands--came directly from the coral reefs task force the president announced during the Monterey conference. Another directive ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to take more steps to limit pollution on beaches, oceans and coast. A third ordered all of the nation's ocean conservation areas to join forces under a national system of "marine protected areas."

"I would bet five bucks these are a direct outcome of the discussion started at the Ocean Conference," said Chris Harrold, director of conservation research at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The last directive offers the chance to add yet another jewel to the Monterey Bay's glittering crown of marine research centers. The new marine protected area network will be coordinated from a national center that local scientists are lobbying to have built on the former Fort Ord or near the University of California at Santa Cruz's Long Marine Lab.

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary's advisory council has already voted to send a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration requesting that the center be located on Monterey Bay.

"In Monterey Bay we've developed a very large, unique and diverse base of marine researchers, all of whom work well together," said Gregor Cailliet, chairman of the council and a professor of ichthyology at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. He said the number of interested marine science centers, the presence of several major government research laboratories, and the unequalled expertise of local ocean scientists make Monterey Bay an ideal site for such a center.

Bringing Home the Bacon

"Local marine research institutions have also benefited from the conference in a more concrete way--with money. DeVogelaere said the national budget for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary almost doubled to $2 million last year, with a corresponding increase--from roughly $14 million to $26 million--for all marine sanctuaries.

"That results in a lot of new programs," DeVogelaere said. The additional money has paid for one staff person to enforce environmental law just in the sanctuary, where before one person was responsible for the coastline stretching from San Francisco to the Mexican border. He said the money has also freed up staff to develop a proposal to move shipping traffic farther off the Central Coast of California to protect the Monterey Bay, Gulf of the Farallones and Channel Islands national marine sanctuaries. That proposal has just been accepted by the United Nations.

With a bigger budget, said DeVogelaere, "we're working with all 20 or so research institutions around the bay to develop an extensive monitoring program for the sanctuary. That is huge. We're going to actually have our finger on the pulse of the sanctuary as far as what resources are and how it's changing so we can detect a problem and try to fix it if there is."

Gore's Influence

Behind the president's recent interest in the oceans is the unmistakable influence of Vice President Al Gore, said Peter Douglas, executive director of the California Coastal Commission.

"In reality, behind the scenes I know that Al Gore has been a prime mover behind the coastal ocean stewardship agendas. There's no doubt in my mind," Douglas said.

During the oceans conference, Douglas said, Gore spoke extemporaneously for 45 minutes on global environmental and ocean issues at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. "All of us there were blown away by the depth of his knowledge and the sincerity with which he expressed his concerns," Douglas said. "But for Al Gore's involvement and push, I'm not sure most of this would've happened."

The conference's influence hasn't been limited to the executive branch. Congressman Sam Farr, D-Carmel, credits the conference with drumming up interest in the new bipartisan oceans caucus he's formed in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"A lot of legislators representing coastlines had micro-management issues. When the president put oceans into the national perspective, that gave a lot of impetus to members who said, hey, we ought to be on this boat," said Farr, a longtime supporter of protection for the oceans.

His oceans caucus is sponsoring an oceans conference of its own July 17-19 in Washington, D.C.

Farr said the president's recent executive order to protect the rocks and islands off the coast of California as wilderness was undoubtedly aided by a new awareness about ocean concerns.

Private Funding

Government isn't the only institution to take a pro-active role as steward of the oceans. On May 24, the Pew Charitable Trust announced the formation of an Oceans Commission co-chaired by Monterey County's own Leon Panetta, director of the Panetta Institute.

"They were concerned that not enough was being done to follow up on the policy recommendations that came out of the conference, so they established this commission through a grant," Panetta said. "We should've had an ocean's commission appointed a long time ago ... I'm glad [the Pew] is doing it, but it's something should've been done by the federal government."

Panetta attributes this federal intransigence to wrangling between the administration and a Republican-dominated House. He said a number of other Clinton proposals to help the oceans, such as increased funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the creation of a separate cabinet seat to oversee the oceans, have been derailed by partisan politics.

The commission will assess the health of the nation's marine resources and set national priorities to restore and conserve ocean and shoreline areas. Members of the commission include governors from two states as well as representatives from ocean stakeholders such as government, the scientific community and business.

The president's attention to marine issues shows no sign of waning. Earth scientist Marcia McNutt, president of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, has been invited to the White House to present a lecture on deep sea exploration on June 12, with both the president and first lady present.

"I was skeptical at the beginning of what the conference might do," said Chris Harrold, director of conservation research for the Monterey Bay Aquarium. "I see now how important these things are."

--Kathleen Wong