June 19, 2018 (Saving Seafood) — President Trump has rescinded the 2010 National Ocean Policy, in an Executive Order on oceans and environment issued today.

The Order formally revokes Executive Order 13547, signed by President Obama. Among other initiatives, it established the National Ocean Policy and created Regional Planning Bodies (RPBs) to coordinate ocean planning and development off the nation’s coasts. The RPBs will be abolished as a result of the new Order.

In their place, the Order calls for the establishment of the Ocean Policy Committee, which will be primarily comprised of the heads of relevant federal agencies and will serve as the main venue for interagency cooperation on ocean planning issues. The Committee will also focus on improving the collection and dissemination of scientific data within and outside the government, as well as facilitate communication between the government and members of the private sector.

The text of the full Executive Order can be read here

The following statement on the Order was released by the National Ocean Policy Coalition:

In response to today’s Executive Order on ocean policy, National Ocean Policy Coalition Managing Director Jack Belcher has issued the following statement:

“Today’s action is a welcome development that embraces principles we all agree on, such as encouraging data and information sharing, interagency and inter-jurisdictional collaboration, and partnerships within and among the public and private sectors.  At the same time, it removes a significant cloud of uncertainty that has been hovering over a wide range of commercial and recreational interests that represent a broad cross-section of the American economy, threatening domestic jobs, economic activity, and recreational opportunities through new and unauthorized bureaucracies, mandates to federal agencies, and actions that could needlessly prohibit, limit, or delay access to public lands.”

“This announcement will help ensure a future in which the American people can continue to receive the diverse array of economic, recreational, and societal benefits that the oceans provide for generations to come.”

Established in 2010, the National Ocean Policy Coalition is an organization of diverse interests representing sectors and entities that support tens of millions of jobs, contribute trillions of dollars to the U.S. economy, and seek to ensure ocean policies that best benefit the National interest, including protection of the commercial and recreational value of the oceans, marine-related natural resources, and terrestrial lands of the United States.