U.S. Administration Continues Efforts to Implement Ocean Policy

The Obama Administration has proposed a National Ocean Policy (NOP), in an effort to help federal agencies manage research, and data collection to create better policy making decisions. The policy has been created to help in the efforts to save money and reduce conflict between policy makers and ocean users. The policy has highlights several goals including issues causing the most concern fro the oceans and Great lakes. The draft Implementation Plan includes more than 50 actions the Federal Government will take to improve the health of the oceans, coasts, and Great lakes. According to the National Ocean Council this will support tens of millions of jobs, contribute millions of dollars a year to the national economy, and are essential to public health and national security. There are nine priority objectives that the National Ocean Policy is structured around. All of them are focused on the improvement of stewardship of oceans, coasts and the Great Lakes. They include coastal and marine spatial planning, ecosystem-based management, changing conditions in the Arctic, water quality and sustainable practices on land, resiliency and adaptation to climate change and ocean acidification, better coordination of Federal, State, tribal, and local management, ocean, coastal, and Great lakes observation, mapping and infrastructure to inform decisions and improve understanding.  President Obama signed an executive order adopting the Final Recommendations of the Interagency Ocean policy task force that directs Federal agencies to take the appropriate steps to implement them.

“President Obama recognized that our uses of the ocean are expanding at a rate that challenges our ability to manage significant and often competing demands,” said Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.  “With a growing number of recreational, scientific, energy, and security activities, we need a national policy that sets the United States on a new path for the conservation and sustainable use of these critical natural resources.” In 2009 President Obama sent a memorandum to the heads of executive departments and Federal agencies establishing an Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force and charged it with developing recommendations to enhance national stewardship of the ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes and promote the long term conservation and use of these resources.  The Task Force was led by CEQ and included 24 senior-level policy officials from across the Federal Government.