Earlier this year, the newly minted National Ocean Council launched Oceanography’s Ocean Policy Department with an article introducing to you President Obama’s National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes (National Ocean Policy). In that article, Council Co-chairs, John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, described how the National Ocean Policy set the nation on a new course to address growing demands on ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes space and resources. The National Ocean Policy organizes a conversation with the American people about how to advance the nation’s environmental, social, economic, and security interests through sustainable and productive practices. As the Deputy Co-chairs of the Council, we ask you to lend your experience and expertise to help us refine the Policy’s implementation plan.

Fetter, S., and J. Jensen. 2011. Ocean policy: Working the National Ocean Policy and making the National Ocean Policy work. Oceanography 24(4):151–152, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2011.111.

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