Joint Initiative Highlights
Joint Initiative Leadership Council Applauds President Obama’s Executive Order to Create a National Ocean Policy
July 19, 2010 
Today, President Obama took a critical step toward meaningful ocean policy reform to protect and restore our oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes by signing an Executive Order establishing a National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes. The Executive Order directs federal agencies to adopt and implement the final recommendations of the Ocean Policy Task Force, released earlier today and available here. The Task Force recommendations call for the establishment of a national ocean policy with a strong federal coordinating structure and an effective framework for implementation based on coastal and marine spatial planning. The Task Force recommendations center around the creation of a National Ocean Council which will be the major decision making body responsible for overseeing the implementation and coordination of the national ocean policy. The Joint Initiative enthusiastically supports the President’s action and the Task Force recommendations and urges Congress to take action to secure a dedicated funding source for the national ocean policy. Recent events in the Gulf of Mexico contribute dramatically to the evidence that our oceans and coasts are in dire need of this policy in order to provide a common vision for ocean management in the United States.
Read the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative press statement here.
Joint Ocean Commission Initiative Announces New Leadership Council
June 8, 2010
Today, the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative is pleased to announce new leadership that will focus on securing a strong national ocean policy to protect, maintain, and restore the environmental and economic health of our oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes. The Joint Initiative Leadership Council includes several new, influential members committed to helping the Joint Initiative promote a national ocean policy that includes an effective strategy for coordination among federal agencies and a dedicated funding source. The Honorable William Ruckelshaus and The Honorable Norman Mineta will co-chair the Joint Initiative Leadership Council and former Joint Initiative co-chairs, The Honorable Leon E. Panetta and Admiral James D. Watkins (U.S. Navy, Ret.), will serve as co-chairs emeritus. The biographies of the Joint Initiative Leadership Council members are available here.
Joint Initiative Supports Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force Efforts
The Joint Ocean Commission Initiative supports the White House Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force’s ongoing efforts to present President Obama with recommendations for a new national ocean policy and a strategy for implementation of the policy. President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum in June 2009 laying out a timeline and structure for the Task Force process. In September 2009 the Task Force released its Interim Report proposing a national ocean policy that significantly advances the effort to develop a strong, cohesive, and effective system to manage our oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes. In December 2009 the Task Force followed with an Interim Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning which offers a strategy for implementation of the national ocean policy, presenting a cooperative, integrated approach to ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes management that emphasizes the importance of a regional focus and stakeholder input. The Task Force accepted public comments on both reports and will issue final recommendations to President Obama.
Read the Joint Initiative’s press statements regarding the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force here.
Changing Oceans, Changing World
Ocean Priorities for the Obama Administration and Congress
The Joint Ocean Commission Initiative has released an urgent set of recommendations, Changing Oceans, Changing World: Ocean Priorities for the Obama Administration and Congress. Building on a previous Joint Initiative report released in fall 2008, Changing Oceans, Changing World outlines twenty priority actions needed for improving ocean and coastal policy and management, bolstering international leadership, strengthening ocean science, and funding ocean and coastal policies and programs. The actions respond to critical challenges, including climate change and its impacts, development of a comprehensive energy policy that includes ocean-based energy resources, and stimulation of the national economy, a significant portion of which is dependent on ocean and coastal activities and resources. With strong input and endorsement from ocean and coastal related industries, environmental advocacy groups, science and education organizations, and local, state, and federal government partners the Joint Initiative strongly encourages the Obama Administration and Congress to implement these recommendations within the next two to four years.
Oceans and coasts are severely threatened, domestically and around the world. The Joint Initiative’s primary goal is to accelerate the pace of change that results in meaningful ocean policy reform. The Joint Initiative brings extraordinary expertise, perspective, and diversity of interests to the ocean policy dialogue. The Joint Initiative works with people and organizations at the national, regional, state, and local levels to build durable support for ocean policy reform at all levels of decision making. Through its work the Joint Initiative seeks to expand our collective understanding of the threats facing our oceans and to enable actions that address them so that our oceans remain vibrant and healthy for current and future generations.
