WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a subcommittee hearing today on The Future of Ocean Governance: Building our National Ocean Policy.

 

 

The Honorable Nancy Sutley, Chair, Council on Environmental Quality

 

The Honorable Jane Lubchenco, Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

 

The Honorable Thad Allen, Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard

 

The Honorable Laura Davis, Associate Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior

 

Mr. Billy Frank, Jr., Chairman, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

 

Dr. Dennis Takahashi-Kelso, Executive Vice President, The Ocean Conservancy

 

Mr. Matthew Paxton, Government Relations Counsel, Coastal Conservation Association

 

Ms. Carolyn Elefant, Legislative and Regulatory Counsel, Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition

 

 

“Our oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes provide our nation with unmatched wealth, the air we breathe, and the water we drink.  They are home to magnificent animals that never cease to amaze us. Yet today, ocean management remains fragmented with an array of laws, regulations, and practices that confound efforts to protect, manage, and restore our oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes for future generations.  We have a responsibility to get this right and I look forward to working with the Administration as it finalizes its recommendations for the national ocean policy and develops a framework for coastal and marine spatial planning.” 

“The ocean and coastal economies of the U.S. provide over 50 million jobs for Americans and contribute nearly 60 percent of our GDP.  Our economy depends on a healthy ocean environment, but most people don’t realize that our oceans are in crisis and we must take action now.  This is it, this is the time.”

“The United States has been a leader in exploring and protecting the oceans.  As we research and monitor the ocean ecosystems, we have come to realize why it is so important to protect this critical resource.  We have reduced overfishing, made great strides in reducing coastal pollution, and helped restore endangered species and degraded habitats.  But we also recognize that demands on the oceans, our coasts, and the Great Lakes are intensifying, spurred by population growth, migration to coastal areas, and economic activities.”

“It is one of my priorities for NOAA to be a leader in understanding the processes by which marine ecosystems provide services crucial for human survival on Earth, in quantifying the values of these services, and in helping to educate businesses and federal, state and local decision makers about how the health of human society and the health of the environment are tightly coupled.  Simply put, human health, jobs, prosperity, and well-being depend upon the health and resilience of natural ecosystems.  Nowhere is this connection more evident or important than in our oceans and along our coasts and Great Lakes where NOAA has major responsibilities.”

“Although the work of producing the Interim Ocean Policy Task Force Report was limited to 90 days, the Department of Homeland Security and the Coast Guard are proud of what the Task Force produced in this timeframe.  This report provides admirable focus on, and balance of safety, security, economic resource and environmental stewardship issues.  The report emphasizes a number of areas that the Coast Guard views as critical to achieve safe, secure, and environmentally prudent commercial shipping.”

“We at the Department of the Interior are proud to be part of the Task Force and pledge to do our part to fulfill the President’s vision for a coordinated, comprehensive national policy for our ocean, our coasts and the Great Lakes.”

 

“Preserving and restoring the health of our ocean and coastal areas and the abundance of the associated natural resources should be our collective goal.  We need to focus our energy on continuing to move forward, to improving our management approaches and better integrating our existing governance structures.”

“A healthy and resilient ocean can continue to perform its key climate regulation functions and continue to provide us with all of the goods and ecosystem services we need to survive.  A healthy and resilient ocean can also be a source of renewable energies that can increase the nation’s energy independence and decrease use of fossil fuels.”

“Recreating in America’s oceans is big business and supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, but it is also more than that.  It allows Americans to utilize America’s public marine resources as they do so with terrestrial resources.  Such outdoor activities strengthen the family, improve public health, re-link people with natural resources and invest in them a stewardship ethic.”

“A robust marine renewable energy industry advances other national economic, energy and environmental goals by producing renewable, emission-free energy from our nation’s abundant ocean resources, thereby mitigating climate change effects.”

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