President Obama Announces Ocean Task Force

On June 12, 2009, President Obama announced the formation of an Oceans Task Force, comprised of heads of various federal agencies, to develop a national policy on oceans that “ensures the protection, maintenance, and restoration of the health of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems and resources, enhances the sustainability of ocean and coastal economies, preserves our maritime heritage, provides for adaptive management to enhance our understanding of and capacity to respond to climate change, and is coordinated with our national security and foreign policy interests.”

Additional information about the task force is available here.

Interestingly, the proposed policy endorses use of adaptive management, a strategy which OREC has long endorsed.  Funding for an adaptive management fund is included in the Senate version of the energy bill, described in further detail in the New York Times.