By Brent Fewell
This week is “Ocean Week” on Capitol Hill, sponsored by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. With the spotlight on marine, coastal, and Great Lakes policy issues, this focused event should serve as a good reminder to us all that America’s waters are more than a scenic backdrop—they’re a source of food, jobs, energy, and national pride. They feed our families, sustain our coastal communities, and support a vast and intricate web of marine life.
But today, that system is in crisis.
Across Alaska and much of the Pacific, entire ecosystems are unraveling. Salmon are starving to death at sea. Forage fish-like herring and menhaden—critical links in the food chain—are in decline. Seabird populations are crashing. And even whales, the icons of our ocean heritage, are struggling as plankton abundance plummets.
This isn’t just about climate change or warming seas. It’s about a collapse in ocean productivity—a breakdown of the base of the food web that sustains marine life and the fishing families who depend on it.
A Conservative Call to Action
ConservAmerica believes in stewardship—protecting and restoring the natural resources that fuel our economy, support our traditions, and ensure generational abundance. That’s why this Oceans Week, we’re calling for bold, science-backed solutions to restore productivity in the ocean.
One of the most promising tools is Ocean Iron Fertilization (OIF)—a natural process that stimulates the growth of phytoplankton, the tiny marine plants that form the foundation of the ocean’s food web.
Just as farmers fertilize soil to grow crops, OIF replenishes iron, a vital micronutrient that is often missing from surface waters, in specific ocean regions where marine productivity has collapsed. These efforts mimic nature itself: volcanic dust, glacial melt, and river runoff have fertilized oceans for millennia. Science tells us we can work with nature to help heal damaged systems.
Why Now?
The time to act is now. Alaska’s fisheries are at a tipping point. In recent years, commercial salmon runs have collapsed in parts of the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. Forage species like sand lance, capelin, and krill are disappearing from traditional grounds. Entire communities—Native villages, family fishing operations, and working waterfronts—are losing their way of life.
This is not just an ecological tragedy. It’s a national one.
Restoring plankton abundance through OIF could bring back forage fish, feed starving salmon, boost food availability for whales and seabirds, and help rebalance marine ecosystems—all while drawing down atmospheric carbon through natural sequestration.
A Science-Grounded, Regulatory-Compliant Path Forward
This is not geoengineering. This is restorative ocean science, grounded in decades of peer-reviewed research from leading scientists such as John Martin, Victor Smetacek, and Russ George. It is entirely possible to design OIF projects that are safe, targeted, and compliant with U.S. environmental law, including the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA).
ConservAmerica supports transparent, science-based pilot projects—developed in partnership with agencies like EPA and NOAA—that can help us better understand OIF’s potential to restore ocean health and marine abundance. Done right, these projects can offer triple-bottom-line benefits: ecological, economic, and climate.
Stewardship, Not Slogans
We don’t have to choose between conservation and prosperity. We can restore the ocean and revive our fisheries. We can protect the livelihoods of fishing families while building resilience in marine ecosystems. But we must act with urgency, integrity, and courage.
This Oceans Week, let’s commit to restoring abundance—not just preserving decline. Let’s empower scientists, fishermen, policymakers, and local communities to work together on real solutions. And let’s embrace a new era of ocean restoration that reflects the best of American innovation and conservative stewardship.