Ocean Zone News Blog

From: National Ocean Council Blog

Posted by Jerry Miller on March 23, 2012 at 05:36 PM EDT

President Obama has stated that the United States will promote the stewardship and sustainable use of the oceans in several ways including by cooperating and exercising leadership at the international level and pursuing U.S. accession to the Law of the Sea Convention.   On March 21^st, the State Department published a Fact Sheet identifying a number of compelling reasons why the United States should join the Law of the Sea Convention now.

From: WND

By: Aaron Klein

President Obama’s ambitious plan for stepped up government regulation of the oceans includes an unreported effort to cede U.S. oceans to United Nations-based international law, WND has learned.

The plan was previously a pet project of Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, whose ocean-zoning scheme was partnered with a globalist group that also aimed to hand over U.S. oceans to U.N. governance.

Obama’s plan is still in draft form. It calls for an executive order to be issued for a National Ocean Policy that will determine how the ecosystem is managed while giving the federal government more regulatory authority over any businesses that utilize the ocean.

From: Human Events

By: Audrey Hudson

From: California AG Network

US House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wa) calls it an unprecedented power grab.  He’s talking about the executive order issued by President Barack Obama called the National Ocean Policy.  Hastings has taken the unusual move of sending a letter to the House Appropriations Committee asking them to make sure funding to departments and agencies that would implement the president’s plan cannot use their money for those purposes.

Charles Pekow recently wrote an article for the Examiner (available in its entirety here).  The CRE has been following developments on Coastal Marine Spatial Planning on its Ocean Zoning IPD.  Mr. Pekow’s article sheds some light on the lack of stakeholder involvement with the implementation of the National Ocean Policy, specifically as is pertains to recreational fishermen.

Citing to the congressional testimony before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs, Mr Pekow concludes, “The National Ocean Policy adopted by the Obama Administration is severely limiting recreational fishing opportunities.”