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U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy - Joint Ocean Commission Initiative

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CHAPTER 5ADVANCING AREGIONAL APPROACHThe nati<strong>on</strong>’s ocean and coastal resources offer many opportunities for beneficialuses but are also affected by the cumulative impacts of human activities that spancities, counties, states, and sometimes nati<strong>on</strong>s. To move toward an ecosystembasedmanagement approach, government should have the instituti<strong>on</strong>alcapacity to resp<strong>on</strong>d to ocean and coastal issues in a coordinated fashi<strong>on</strong>across jurisdicti<strong>on</strong>al boundaries.The voluntary establishment of regi<strong>on</strong>al ocean councils, developedthrough a process supported by the Nati<strong>on</strong>al <strong>Ocean</strong> Council, wouldfacilitate the development of regi<strong>on</strong>al goals and priorities andimprove resp<strong>on</strong>ses to regi<strong>on</strong>al issues. Improved coordinati<strong>on</strong> of federalagencies at the regi<strong>on</strong>al level would complement the establishmentof regi<strong>on</strong>al ocean councils, improving the federal resp<strong>on</strong>se tostate and local needs while furthering nati<strong>on</strong>al goals and priorities.The development and disseminati<strong>on</strong> of regi<strong>on</strong>ally significantresearch and informati<strong>on</strong> is imperative to meet the informati<strong>on</strong>needs of managers and support ecosystem-based decisi<strong>on</strong>s.Addressing Issues Across Jurisdicti<strong>on</strong>al LinesIn additi<strong>on</strong> to improving coordinati<strong>on</strong> at the nati<strong>on</strong>al level, as describedin Chapter 4, an important comp<strong>on</strong>ent of the new Nati<strong>on</strong>al <strong>Ocean</strong><strong>Policy</strong> Framework is the strengthening of regi<strong>on</strong>al approaches that allowdecisi<strong>on</strong> makers to address pressing ocean and coastal issues <strong>on</strong> an ecosystembasedscale. Today’s governance systems are generally not designed to transcendtraditi<strong>on</strong>al political boundaries. Governments rarely c<strong>on</strong>sider opportunities orimpacts outside their immediate jurisdicti<strong>on</strong>al area, although these borders seldom corresp<strong>on</strong>dwith ecosystem boundaries. In additi<strong>on</strong>, individual agency mandates are often to<strong>on</strong>arrow in scope, sector-based, and poorly coordinated to address regi<strong>on</strong>al issues. Finally,broadly accepted regi<strong>on</strong>al goals—social, ec<strong>on</strong>omic, and envir<strong>on</strong>mental—are infrequentlyavailable to promote and gauge progress.Despite these challenges, there are many instances where c<strong>on</strong>cern for the health of aparticular ecosystem has motivated a wide range of participants to create new structuresfor addressing regi<strong>on</strong>al c<strong>on</strong>cerns. The declining health of the Chesapeake Bay triggered a86 A N O CEAN B LUEPRINT FOR THE 21ST C ENTURY

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