Feds Want Comments On Great Lakes Stewardship
Last week the National Ocean Council released a plan for addressing oceanic, coastal, and Great Lakes issues across the U.S.
The document, the National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes, is in draft form. The federal government is taking public comments on the proposed plan through Feb. 26.
“The National Ocean Policy responds to more than a decade of bipartisan discussions and was established to resolve a long-standing, well-recognized, and significant problem: the oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes are a crucial resource for America and they are in trouble,” the draft policy states.
For the first time, federal agencies will have a framework to pursue shared goals for the ocean, coastal areas, and the Great Lakes, the document reads. These goals will also involve “State, Tribal, and local authorities, regional governance structures, non-governmental organizations, the public, and the private sector,” the document says.
The plan focuses on nine priority objectives for National Ocean Policy. These objectives are:
- Ecosystem-Based Management
- Inform Decisions and Improve Understanding
- Observations, Mapping, and Infrastructure
- Coordinate and Support
- Regional Ecosystem Protection and Restoration
- Resiliency and Adaptation to Climate Change and Ocean Acidification
- Water Quality and Sustainable Practices on Land
- Changing Conditions in the Arctic
- Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning
“This draft Implementation Plan presents what the Federal agencies will do to ensure healthy ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes now and for generations to come,” the plan reads. “But we also want it to serve as an open book for localities, States, Tribes, organizations, industry, and individual citizens to view and understand how and where the Federal agencies will focus their resources and attention.”
Comments on the plan may be submitted online. Comments received will be posted on the National Ocean Council website. Comments will be reviewed and the plan finalized in 2012, though the intent on the part of the federal government is to review and modify the plan as needed each year.
Comments may also be sent by fax to “Attn: National Ocean Council” at (202) 456-0753, or by mail to: National Ocean Council, 722 Jackson Place, NW, Washington, DC 20503. The White House asks that mailed comments are given two to three weeks time to arrive.