According to the report Obama’s Oceans Policy Executive Order has one national policy for ocean stewardship and directs the federal government to make regional plans for ocean and coastal resources and the Great Lakes. Mark Tercek, The Nature Conservancy President and CEO, said that the Gulf oil spill makes us all acutely aware of the importance and the vulnerability of our marine and coastal resources.
The executive order’s bold new approach for managing the offshore uses is called coastal and marine spatial planning (CMSP). Much like land-use planning, CMSP uses science to paint a picture of how the ocean can support multiple human activities, marine life and natural resources.
The organization said that the executive order also ends the piling of laws one after another which lessens the effect of implementation. The Nature Conservancy is on the front lines supporting these efforts, working with fishermen, government officials, industry and scientists to share our experience, policy expertise and our data to help advance coordinated planning. Around the country, many states are already engaged in ocean planning or forming regional ocean partnerships.
