Ocean Zone News Blog

Posted by David Haviland on December 17, 2009 at 6:56 am

WASHINGTON – President Obama’s Ocean Policy Task Force released its Interim Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning (Interim Framework) today for a 60-day public review and comment period. With competing interests in the ocean, our coasts and the Great Lakes, the Interim Framework offers a comprehensive, integrated approach to planning and managing uses and activities. Under the Framework, coastal and marine spatial planning would be regional in scope, developed cooperatively among Federal, State, tribal, local authorities, and regional governance structures, with substantial stakeholder and public input.

December 16, 2009 Scientists in Scotland, Canada and the US have proposed a new method to identify priority areas for whale conservation. The team’s findings, published in Animal Conservation, suggest that even small protected areas, identified through feeding behaviour, can benefit highly mobile marine predators such as killer whales.

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Environmental News Service

WASHINGTON, DC, December 14, 2009 (ENS) – The Obama administration is trying a new approach to federal resource planning for oceans, coasts and the Great Lakes by establishing nine regional planning bodies that will work together and with the administration in an integrated manner.

A new framework document released for public comment today by President Barack Obama’s Ocean Policy Task Force outlines the process through which the federal government will work with states, tribes, local governments and communities to decrease conflicts among competing users.

Stevie Emilia , The Jakarta Post | Wed, 12/16/2009 11:17 AM | Headlines

Warming seas are melting ice in the Arctic and Antarctic, leading to sea level rise that will impact billions living in coastal areas. Extreme weather events and flooding will become more frequent. For the first time in history, a day has been committed to oceans alongside the UN climate negotiations. Lynne Zeitlin Hale, the director of global marine initiatives at The Nature Conservancy, was an afternoon panelist at Ocean’s Day on Monday. The expert in coastal ecosystem management with more than 25 years of experience, who played a leadership role in the design and implementation of integrated coastal management programs in the US, Latin America, Africa and Asia, including Indonesia, told The Jakarta Post’s Stevie Emilia how healthy oceans and coastlines help combat sea level rise and other climate change impacts.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 14, 2009

Ocean Policy Task Force Releases Interim Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning

Comprehensive, Integrated Approach Helps to Determine how the Ocean, Coasts and Great Lakes are Used and Protected Now and in the Future

WASHINGTON – President Obama’s Ocean Policy Task Force released its Interim Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning (Interim Framework) today for a 60-day public review and comment period. With competing interests in the ocean, our coasts and the Great Lakes, the Interim Framework offers a comprehensive, integrated approach to planning and managing uses and activities. Under the Framework, coastal and marine spatial planning would be regional in scope, developed cooperatively among Federal, State, tribal, local authorities, and regional governance structures, with substantial stakeholder and public input.