National Ocean Policy
Teens4Oceans provides the public with the facts necessary to make informed decisions relevant to ocean policy.
As an educational organization,Teens4Oceans is responsible for offering details on issues concerning our seas. Although T4O can’t make decisions for you, it can provide you with the facts requisite in making responsible choices. An increasingly important measure facing the nation is President Obama’s proposed National Ocean Policy, which establishes a National Ocean Council (hereafter NOC). The NOC is designated nine National Primary Objectives to ameliorate the condition of American coastal, oceanic, and Great Lakes resources while respecting established Federal, State, tribal, local, and regional policy. National Ocean Policy postulates that the implementation of the nine primary objectives will strengthen ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes governance and provide a framework for comprehensive and sustainable management of resources.
Contact your representatives on Capitol Hill about National Ocean Policy or ocean conservation
The nine primary objectives outlined in National Ocean Policy are:
1) Ecosystem-Based Management: Ecosystem-based management is deemed important by National Ocean Policy because “traditional management has focused on individual species with limited consideration for how the management practices of one might impact the sustainability of another.” Ecosystem-based management is defined as a holistic approach to resource management; according to National Ocean Policy, recognizing the interconnectedness of processes (through science) is integral to effectively maintaining ecosystems.
2) Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning: Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning (CMSP) suggests the implementation of planning that guides and balances judicious allocation of ocean resources and reduce conflict among uses and reduce cumulative externalities associated with human employment of marine ecosystems.
3) Inform Decisions and Improve Understanding: This section of National Ocean Policy stresses the importance of disciplinary and interdisciplinary scientific research. It is important that we understand marine ecosystems before the decision-making process, and therefore better scientific knowledge is a requisite of understanding human impacts on the ocean, coastal regions, and Great Lakes.
4) Coordinate and Support: The coordinate and support objective indicates the importance of communication in managing resources. It encourages increased international presence, and coordination between the federal government and local governance in instituting ocean legislation. “Through increased communication, we can streamline processes...and enhance synergy.”
5) Resiliency and Adaptation to Climate Change: This section affirms that the ocean is critical in shaping global climate and exacerbating climate variability. Acidification, onset by anthropogenic climate change, poses a serious threat to ecosystems and coastal communities, and is associated with numerous disadvantageous externalities. Therefore, according to National Ocean Policy, it is necessary to address climate change by increasing resilience, improving adaptation, and mitigating the effects of climate change.
6) Regional Ecosystem Protection and Restoration: Ocean challenges must be met across by focusing upon threatened regions. Since the coast faces significant threats, National Ocean Policy states that it is critical to allocate resources to coastal restoration projects.
7) Water Quality and Sustainability: This aspect of the ocean conservation plan outlined by the president addresses the effect of actions on land on ocean resources. Non-point source pollution, runoff, and the degradation of watersheds must be reduced through land-based pollution reduction programs.
8) Changing Conditions in the Arctic Climate: Climate change affects the poles more than elsewhere, causing Arctic permafrost to thaw, releasing unprecedented amounts of methane, exacerbating environmental challenges. Through the employment of the best available science, the fragile Arctic must be protected.
9) Ocean, Coastal, and Great Lakes Observations, Mapping, and Infrastructure: The final point addresses the importance of bolstering data collection and observation techniques. To understand climate and the ocean, we must have access to data.
This summary of National Ocean Policy is not comprehensive, but it outlines some of the most important points in the Policy. As a relevant issue in ocean management, Teens4Oceans aims to help people understand what is entailed by the Policy. An in-depth analysis of National Ocean Policy is being developed and will be available on our website in July, 2011.
Written By Nate Newman, June 2011.