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An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century - California Ocean ...

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Chapter 5: Advancing a Regional ApproachRecommendation 5–1The National <strong>Ocean</strong> Council should work with Congress, <strong>the</strong> President’s Council of Advisorson <strong>Ocean</strong> Policy, and state, territorial, tribal, and local leaders, including representatives from<strong>the</strong> private sector, nongovernmental organizations, and academia, to develop a flexible andvoluntary process <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> creation of regional ocean councils. States, working with relevantstakeholders, should use this process to establish regional ocean councils, with support from<strong>the</strong> National <strong>Ocean</strong> Council.Recommendation 5–2The President, through an executive order, should direct all federal agencies with ocean- andcoastal-related functions to immediately improve <strong>the</strong>ir regional coordination and increase<strong>the</strong>ir outreach ef<strong>for</strong>ts to regional stakeholders.To initiate this process, NOAA, EPA, USACE, DOI, and USDA should:• collaborate with regional, state, territorial, tribal, and local governments, and nongovernmentalparties to identify regional priorities and in<strong>for</strong>mation needs.• identify inconsistencies in agency mandates, policies, regulations, practices, or fundingthat prevent regional issues from being effectively addressed and communicate <strong>the</strong>se to<strong>the</strong> National <strong>Ocean</strong> Council.• improve coordination and communication among agencies, including <strong>the</strong> possibledevelopment of interagency protocols to guide regional decision making.• coordinate funding and grants in a manner consistent with regional priorities.Recommendation 5–3The President should <strong>for</strong>m a task <strong>for</strong>ce of federal resource management agencies to developa proposal <strong>for</strong> adoption and implementation of common federal regional boundaries. Thetask <strong>for</strong>ce should solicit input from state, territorial, tribal, and local representatives.Recommendation 5–4Pending <strong>the</strong> creation of a regional ocean council, <strong>the</strong> governors in each region should selecta suitable entity to operate a regional ocean in<strong>for</strong>mation program that carries out research,data collection, in<strong>for</strong>mation product development, and outreach based on <strong>the</strong> needs andpriorities of ocean and coastal decision makers.The entity assigned to carry out <strong>the</strong> regional ocean in<strong>for</strong>mation program should:• include representation from federal agencies, state, territorial, tribal, and local decisionmakers, scientists, as well as experts in in<strong>for</strong>mation exchange and outreach.• communicate regional research and in<strong>for</strong>mation priorities to federal agencies and o<strong>the</strong>rswith ocean and coastal responsibilities to help guide <strong>the</strong>ir programs.• maintain strong links with <strong>the</strong> regional ocean observing systems to help <strong>the</strong>m fulfillregional data collection requirements while adhering to national Integrated <strong>Ocean</strong>Observing System requirements.Recommendation 5–5The National <strong>Ocean</strong>ic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and <strong>the</strong> U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA), working with o<strong>the</strong>r appropriate federal and regional entities, shouldcoordinate <strong>the</strong> development of regional ecosystem assessments, to be updated periodically.As part of this process, NOAA and EPA should:• incorporate data and in<strong>for</strong>mation developed at <strong>the</strong> state and local levels, includingresource assessments developed by state coastal management programs.• coordinate with <strong>the</strong> organization responsible <strong>for</strong> improving regional ocean in<strong>for</strong>mationcollection and dissemination activities to make optimum use of regional in<strong>for</strong>mation.• collaborate closely with regional ocean councils.CHAPTER 31: SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS483

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