S-4456               _______________________________________________

                                          SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 8027

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1988 Regular Session

By Senators Metcalf, Owen, Smith and Bailey

Read first time 1/28/88 and referred to Committee on Environment & Natural Resources.

TO THE HONORABLE RONALD REAGAN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, AND TO THE UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:

          We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

          WHEREAS, Plastic production has risen from six billion pounds annually in 1960 to more than fifty billion pounds per year currently; and

          WHEREAS, Synthetic rope, plastic strapping bands, lost and discarded fishing nets, plastic bags and other manufactured plastic items, and small plastic beads and particles may last for years or decades in the ocean; and

          WHEREAS, It is estimated that nine million tons of plastics are dumped at sea each year from vessels; and

          WHEREAS, Because of the entry of plastics materials going into oceans from rivers, estuaries, and other avenues, there may be as much as ninety million tons of plastics accumulating in the ocean annually; and

          WHEREAS, It has been documented that plastic is responsible for killing millions of birds, fish, seals, turtles, and sea lions each year through entrapment in discarded plastics and ingestion of plastic material; and

          WHEREAS, Information shows that synthetic debris is a significant contributing cause to the decline of the northern fur seal population and other marine mammals; and

          WHEREAS, In the Northwest, more than one thousand dollars per year, per commercial vessel, is spent due to damage caused by plastics and debris problems; and

          WHEREAS, The movement of eastern Pacific tidal waters is such that it brings debris into Washington's offshore waters, making it the Pacific Ocean area most densely contaminated with plastics, besides the Sea of Japan; and

          WHEREAS, A recent study concluded that Washington's offshore waters contain the highest density of plastics than anywhere else on the West Coast;

          NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the United States continue and strengthen implementation of Annex V of the international convention for the prevention of pollution from ships, which is designed to reduce the dumping of garbage from ships as well as ensure adequate garbage reception facilities and ports of call.

          BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Ronald Reagan, President of the United States, the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.