Political Quotes

“I am grateful today to be joined by Senator King, from the great State of Maine, to speak about the troubling changes that we are seeing in the oceans and how climate change is reshaping our States' fisheries. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recognizes that ``climate change imperils the structure and function of already stressed coastal aquatic ecosystems.'' For the record, Maine and Rhode Island are indeed aquatic. The oceans have absorbed approximately 30 percent of the excess carbon dioxide that we have pumped into the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution began. That is changing the ocean's chemistry. The oceans have also absorbed roughly 90 percent of the excess heat trapped in the atmosphere by those greenhouse gases. As a result of that excess carbon dioxide and that excess heat, our oceans are warming, and they are rising. They are losing oxygen, and they are growing more acidic. This puts marine life, coastal communities, and the global ocean economy all in jeopardy. Commercial fishing is an important economy in the United States, and both Maine and Rhode Island celebrate our longstanding fishing traditions. According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, over 9.6 billion pounds of wild seafood, valued at $5.3 billion, was commercially landed in the United States in 2016. Across New England, American lobster was our most valuable fishery.…”