“ The oceans, 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. We have a stewardship responsibility to maintain healthy, resilient, and sustainable oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes resources for the benefit of this and future generations.” 

So begins the June 12^th Memorandum from President Obama to the executives of over 20 different agencies who have some degree of responsibilty for our oceans and Great Lakes. With such a broad array of agencies, and over 140 different US laws affecting these areas, conflict and impasse have often been the norm.

Water covers 75% of our planet. These vast open waters provide the base necessary for the production of fresh water and oxygen - fundamental necessities of life - and yet we continue to abuse our water more than 35 years after the first Earth Day.

Oceans and other large bodies of water face challenges related to pollution, water quality, habitat loss, fishing impacts, invasive species, disease, rising sea levels, climate change, and acidification.  (See NRDC’s oceans documents for more details.)

The President’s Memorandum creates an “Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force” to recommend a comprehensive policy for maintaining and protecting our oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes, to include recommending “a framework for effective coastal and marine spatial planning” to prevent "ocean sprawl" as developments for offshore energy and other uses increase.

This is not the first national attempt to address these issues. In 2003 and 2004, national commissions were established to examine the challenges and issue recommendations. (See the Pew Oceans Commission and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy.) The commissions did an admirable job documenting the concerns and made numerous recommendations. Although some measures were implemented in various corners within the overlapping governmental entities responsible for the oceans and Great Lakes, interest at the top levels quickly wained. Hopefully President Obama’s Memorandum will redirect attention to this critical area of environmental concern.