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

CHAPTER 6COORDINATING MANAGEMENTIN FEDERAL WATERSFederal waters provide vast opportunities to build the nation’s economy, enhanceour quality of life, and increase knowledge about the workings of nature.Converging economic, technological, demographic, and other factors make theseareas of the surrounding sea an increasingly attractive place for new enterprisesseeking to tap the ocean’s resources, as well as for the continuationand expansion of traditional uses. The challenge for policy makers will beto unlock the ocean’s potential while minimizing conflicts among users,safeguarding human and marine health and cultural resources, andfulfilling the federal government’s obligation to manage publicresources for the maximum long-term benefit of the entire nation.While legal, policy, and institutional frameworks exist for managingsome ocean uses, there remain increasingly unacceptable gaps.The nation needs a coordinated offshore management regimethat encompasses traditional and emerging uses and is adaptableenough to incorporate uses not yet clearly foreseen.Meeting Growing NeedsAn important task for the new National Ocean Policy Frameworkis to improve the ability of the federal government to managethe growing number of activities taking place or being proposed in federalwaters. This area, which extends from 3 to 200 nautical miles offshore,contains an enormous diversity of resources, many of which are usedor affected by human activities. Within federal waters, the United States hassovereign rights for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, conserving, and managingthe living and nonliving natural resources of the seabed and subsoil and the surfaceand subsurface of the waters. The federal government also has jurisdiction over theestablishment and use of artificial structures, islands, and installations that have economicpurposes, and the protection and preservation of the ocean environment. Associated withthese authorities is the federal government’s responsibility to ensure that ocean activitiesare managed for the benefit of the public.In decades past, nearshore areas held certain inherent advantages for human activities—the waters tend to be shallower, logistics simpler, and costs lower. Increasingly, however,these advantages are shrinking. Nearshore waters are now crowded with competing userswhose ranks are steadily augmented by surging coastal populations. There is also consid-98 A N O CEAN B LUEPRINT FOR THE 21ST C ENTURY