The Hill News

In recent weeks, Republicans in Congress have once again taken aim at a comprehensive ocean management and protection plan. In misleading hearings and op-eds, their talking points mirror rumors that have long been exposed as falseâ€"that the National Ocean Policy (NOP) is somehow a direct assault on fishing.

Frankly, such an assertion is ridiculous. The National Ocean Policy, with proper stakeholder input, would actually protect habitat and access and result in the common sense management of marine resources. Current attempts to defund and delay implementation of the National Ocean Policy are a thinly veiled attack on the basic programs that protect, maintain and restore the health of our oceans and coasts.

The policy’s improved ocean management effort is designed to protect and create jobs, and grow our economy by ensuring all the multiple uses of the ocean don’t come crashing down on each other. It requires the more than 20 federal agencies that g! overn our seasâ€"currently in an uncoordinated and ad hoc wayâ€"to finally work together, with input from local governments, ocean industries and, yes, fishermen. To some, this may appear as yet another layer of government intervention. But the truth is it will actually streamline the process, reduce bureaucratic red tape and perhaps more importantly, enlist local stakeholders in the decision-making process.

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