Demonstrating great leadership and positive collaboration, the California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) held a special meeting this morning, preceding the San Francisco listening session of President Obama's Interagency Ocean Policy Task force.  Accepting and incorporating public testimony into their recommendations to the Task Force, OPC emphasized the importance of California's model efforts on many issues that will be impacted by the National Ocean Policy such as:

• Marine protected areas;
• Data collection for marine spatial planning;
• Marine plastics pollution;
• Climate change and ocean acidification; and
• Water quality pollution.

Ocean Protection Council members and staff emphasized their desire to see coastal states and federal agencies work closely together, and with regional bodies such as the West Coast Governor's Agreement on Ocean Health, to improve the health of our oceans.  For their part, national leaders present at OPC meeting -- Nancy Sutley, Chair, White House Council on Environmental Quality and Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of NOAA - applauded California for its good work on the oceans. 

Dr. Lubchenco emphasized the importance of the California Marine Life Protection Act, with its science guidelines and intensive stakeholder involvement, as a model for the creation of protected areas.  While OPC's meeting was underway, the Task Force released its Interim Report, which  recommends sweeping and important improvements in U.S. ocean protection and management. 

While the threats to ocean health are sometimes daunting, today we left the meeting exited and hopeful about this historic day of cooperation and the future of better ocean protection management that lies ahead.  Express your support for President Obama's leadership on ocean issues here.