News: White House: Executive Order--Stewardship of the Oceans and Policy

[Ocean Rehab]

July 19, 2010
Executive Order--Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes
Executive Order--Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes | The White House

"By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Purpose. 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. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and resulting environmental crisis is a stark reminder of how vulnerable our marine environments are, and how much communities and the Nation rely on healthy and resilient ocean and coastal ecosystems. America's stewardship of the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes is intrinsically linked to environmental sustainability, human health and well-being, national prosperity, adaptation to climate and other environmental changes, social justice, international diplomacy, and national and homeland security.

This order adopts the recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, except where otherwise provided in this order, and directs executive agencies to implement those recommendations under the guidance of a National Ocean Council. Based on those recommendations, this order establishes a national policy to ensure the protection, maintenance, and restoration of the health of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems and resources, enhance the sustainability of ocean and coastal economies, preserve our maritime heritage, support sustainable uses and access, provide for adaptive management to enhance our understanding of and capacity to respond to climate change and ocean acidification, and coordinate with our national security and foreign policy interests."

 

[Jim Lapenta]

SOB! "preserve our maritime heritage",There goes wreck diving with hammers, crowbars, and chisels. One stroke of a pen from someone without a clue as to what kind of damage this will do. Academics who do little to no actual work will set policies that screw everyone else. Welcome comrades, the oceans and lakes are now commie territory,

 

[kjvander]

You already can't do that in most of the great lakes already....most of it has been deemed underwater preserves.

 

[Jax]

Yeah, I wonder how much this little gem will end up costing! Not only the taxes for monitoring and enforcing, but the numbnut academics tend to put untenable restrictions on industry that cost a lot and do little, but the cost is passed to us.

 

[kjvander]

In actuality this pretty much exsisted before....just in two different exectutive orders..

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2004/pdf/04-11592.pdf
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2004/pdf/04-28079.pdf

There is more verbage here and it might be a little different....I don't have time to read all three fully right now....this was just a little research into the matter. I may be wrong...I've never claimed to be right all of the time.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Great Lakes are one thing. NOAA has for a long time wanted to expand ocean areas as "protected". Saltwater wrecks other than war graves should remain fair game for those willing to risk money, time, and safety to recover artifacts without having some egghead who has never been in the water claiming the find in the name of "science". Bull crap. They want the booty- they can go out and earn it or shut up. If I found stuff off of the Spanish Armada off New Jersey no way would I tell anyone. My effort-my reward.

 

[Ocean Rehab]

""Prior to this new National Ocean Policy, the United States had a regulatory jumble of more than 140 different and often conflicting laws pertaining to ocean management, all of which were overseen by more than 20 separate agencies"

Creating more Government? Maybe.
Trying to protect Coral Reefs? again maybe, but if so then please understand the importance of such a vital eco system, less than 1/4 of 1% of the Oceans have Coral Reefs and these habitats support greater than 70% of all Ocean Species.
(I do not understand the aquaculture in the Great Lakes, I study reefs, and apologize for the concerns you have.)

-I read somewhere this could enhance the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act.! vital to Ocean Health.

taken from the SeaWeb Email, Thanks Dawn. again thanks Dawn

Dear Friends of SeaWeb,

It is with great pleasure that I share news today of President Obama's decision to issue and Executive Order that creates our nation's first comprehensive national policy to govern our ocean, coasts and Great Lakes. This landmark effort seeks to provide a comprehensive structure for managing multiple uses in the ocean, ranging from oil and gas extraction and exploration to recreation and much more. For the first time in our more than 200 years as a maritime nation, we now have a comprehensive roadmap for handling all of the various activities we do in the ocean and the Great Lakes and along our coasts.

Prior to this new National Ocean Policy, the United States had a regulatory jumble of more than 140 different and often conflicting laws pertaining to ocean management, all of which were overseen by more than 20 separate agencies. What this new policy enables is well-thought-out interaction with the ocean, allowing us to protect sensitive ecosystems while still providing avenues for fishing, shipping and developing renewable energy in ways that minimize the impacts on the environment.

If the past 95 plus days in the Gulf of Mexico has taught us anything, it's that we truly need to be smarter about-and do a much better job of-protecting America's marine and aquatic ecosystems.

The work it took to get to this point was significant: The President's Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force developed this policy after more than a year of holding hearings, gathering public input and finding coordinated ways for ensuring the protection, maintenance and restoration of the U.S. ocean, coasts and Great Lakes. That work has paid off, however, and has given us the first holistic vision for multiple economic uses of and ecosystem services and benefits from the ocean.

 

[CheddarChick]

Man...save us....

 

[tyesai]

Great Lakes are one thing. NOAA has for a long time wanted to expand ocean areas as "protected". Saltwater wrecks other than war graves should remain fair game for those willing to risk money, time, and safety to recover artifacts without having some egghead who has never been in the water claiming the find in the name of "science". Bull crap.

I just finished reading Dragon Sea Amazon.com: Dragon Sea: A True Tale of Treasure, Archeology, and… and there is a science vs profit theme to it that I don't get it.

The academic world seems to get all bent out of shape when people salvage wrecks for money but it isn't feasible for them to study all of them anyway.

On the other hand I don't see why anyone wants to take a pry bar and a chisel 175 feet under the water to take a corroded port hole off either, but I sure as hell don't want the federal trying to regulate anything any more than it already does.

So I say take your prybar and hammer and hit that cold dirty Atlantic off of NJ. Me, I'm gonna go look at the pretty fish and the prettier topless Senoritas this weekend and somehow force a smile.:depressed:

 

[Scott L]

Yet another newly created federal entity to provide cushy jobs for his cronies and to direct commerce, etc. to special interest groups. I do not trust anything that man does anymore...