The U.S. has more than 95,000 miles of shoreline, including the Great Lakes, and 53 percent of all Americans now live in coastal counties. That percentage is forecast to reach 63 percent by 2020, further ensuring that "the United States is a coastal nation," according to the National Ocean Council.

 

Environmentalists have spent years pushing for a cohesive policy to protect all that coastline, and while they haven't gotten one yet, it came a lot closer this week. The White House issued its new National Ocean Policy action plan Thursday, outlining more than 50 actions the U.S. will take to defend the ecological and economic value of its oceans and Great Lakes.

 

The plan was prompted by a June 2009 memo from President Obama, which sought "to maintain healthy, resilient, and sustainable oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes resources for the benefit of this and future generations."

 

Major U.S. bodies of water haven't fared very well in recent years, from dead zones and oil spills to invasive species and overfishing. The U.S. has a long history of dealing individually with specific activities in the ocean — oil drilling, fishing, etc. — or specific disasters — oil spills, invasive species — but it has never taken a broad, proactive approach on a national scale. That's the idea behind this ocean plan, but such a big sea change will take time.

 

The National Ocean Council will now work with state and Native American groups to develop nine regional planning areas, which will then carry the torch for the next leg of the process. Within three to five years, planners in each of the nine regions will unveil their visions "for the sustainable use and long-term protection of the ocean, our coasts and the Great Lakes."

 

The new plan is long — 118 pages, with no executive summary — but it does list some overarching priorities that apply to several policy areas. According to a National Science Foundation summary, the plan "focuses on public-private partnerships, promoting efficiency and collaboration across sectors, managing resources with an integrated approach and making available and using the best science and information on ocean health." It emphasizes science-based decisions, providing open access to data, developing sound methods for assessing various resources, and identifying critical habitat for "priority fish species."

 

The full plan, which you can read here, will be open for public comment until Feb. 27. Meanwhile, here are some reactions from people closely involved with ocean issues:

 

Nancy Sutley

Chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality