mr. speaker , i rise to express my opposition to this resolution .  this ocean policy task force resolution , while well intentioned by its sponsor , is misguided .  its effect would be to deceive the american public into believing that the house of representatives is actually working to advance the recommendations of two comprehensive ocean policy reports when the opposite is true .  as the ranking democratic member on the committee on resources , i staunchly support efforts to restore our ocean and coastal environment .  but what we have before us today smells fishy and i urge members to oppose this ill-advised resolution .  last september , the u.s. commission on ocean policy sent up to the congress a comprehensive report that included over two-hundred specific recommendations to guide the development of a new national ocean policy for the 21st century .  that report -- the first of its kind in over thirty years -- handed the congress an action agenda to finally address the degraded condition of our ocean and coastal resources .  the commission was filled with highly credentialed professionals with expertise in policy , economics , science , technology and resource management drawn from both the public and private sectors and academia .  no one , absolutely no one , questions the caliber of the commission .  for the congress to assert that it can do a better job in six months time than the experts appointed to the commission did in three years is absurd .  moreover , the ocean commission 's report echoed similar findings and recommendations to those made in the 2003 report released by the independent pew oceans commission , chaired by our former colleague , the honorable leon panetta .  if there was anything that these reports conveyed , it is that this is a pressing national problem .  unfortunately , rather than rolling up our sleeves and working in a bi-partisan fashion to begin a process of genuine oversight to evaluate the merits of the ocean commission 's work , months have been allowed to lapse with little , if any , meaningful oversight ; without the development of any joint strategy ; and absent any leadership by the republican majority .  i , along with members from both sides of the aisle , have introduced legislation to implement several of the commission 's recommendations .  my legislation , for example , addresses fisheries management , including how the various fisheries management councils can perform in a more transparent and effective manner .  but instead of debating these substantive proposals , the majority leadership trots out a resolution to create a toothless task force on ocean policy which will only waste precious time .  this is a classic stalling tactic of government -- to study an issue to death .  sadly , our oceans could be on life support before this republican-led congress acts to implement the commission 's recommendations .  i urge members to support true oversight of the ocean commission 's recommendations and to oppose this misguided resolution .  