CalOceans News

A brighter--and better managed--ocean future

“The ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes provide jobs, food, energy resources, ecological services, recreation, and tourism opportunities, and play critical roles in our Nation’s transportation, economy, and trade, as well as the global mobility of our Armed Forces and the maintenance of international peace and security.”
 
With those bold words, President Obama made history on Monday. The president signed into law an executive order creating a national ocean policy to coordinate and streamline the management of our marine resources. This is a landmark day for ocean advocates, and promises to fix the clunky, wasteful and uncoordinated system where agencies often worked at cross purposes.
 
Waterways are managed by more than 20 federal agencies—in addition to local and state governments—and subject to more than 140 different laws and regulations.

The national ocean policy creates an overarching framework under which the work of all ocean and Great Lake resource management would take place, in concert.

The new policy includes the use of marine spatial planning to help protect ecosystems while accommodating a variety of uses.  The idea of setting aside certain areas for the well being of sea life is nothing new in California--we're doing it now through the Marine Life Protection Act. 
 
The national policy will create a platform of sound science on which to balance business needs with ecological considerations. Three cheers for President Obama’s bold vision in creating this national ocean policy. We here at CalOceans look forward to a bright future for our ocean, its inhabitants and the people who rely on them.

• Tags:
• national ocean policy
• marine spatial planning
• Marine Life Protection Act