CCST Offers Comments on Ocean Health Agreement

At the request of Resources Agency Secretary Mike Chrisman, CCST has completed an analysis of a draft action plan designed to streamline ocean management policies on the West Coast.

In September 2006 the Governors of California, Oregon, and Washington announced the West Coast Governor’s Agreement on Ocean Health. The Agreement launched a new, proactive regional collaboration to protect and manage the ocean and coastal resources along the entire West Coast, as called for in the recommendations of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the Pew Oceans Commission. A draft Action Plan was prepared by October 2007, and the architects of the agreement requested that CCST prepare a formal commentary on the plan.

“We commend the Governors of California, Oregon and Washington for moving forward aggressively on the important challenges of our ocean’s health through the development of this plan,” said CCST Council Chair Charles Kennel.

CCST offered comments and recommendations focusing on the following eight areas:

• Support for establishment of an Ocean Trust Fund
• Broad participation in a West Coast assessment of shoreline changes and impacts
• Increased emphasis on importance of habitat characterization and mapping
• Need for a core set of indicators and established standards
• CCST led external review of the integrated research plan
• Synthesis of reports and development of web toolkit for managers and policymakers
• Need to enable experimentation in protected areas
• Need for stable funding for integrating observing infrastructure