President Biden today proclaimed June 2023 as National Ocean Month, calling on Americans to “take action to protect, conserve, and restore our ocean and coasts.”
The proclamation highlighted the role of the ocean as a solution to climate challenges, and noted administration efforts including implementation of the Ocean Climate Action Plan, advancement of offshore wind projects, infrastructure modernization and port electrification, addressing illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, strengthening sustainable fisheries, designation of new marine sanctuaries in the Western Pacific and off the East and West Coasts, and fortification of nature-based solutions such as mangroves, seagrasses, and salt marshes.
In a blog post today, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Asst. Director for Ocean Climate Science and Policy Scott Doney called the ocean “an essential part of a healthy and livable world” that “offers powerful tools for combatting climate change and creating a more resilient marine environment and ocean economy.”
He also highlighted the Ocean Climate Action Plan as a “groundbreaking roadmap” to protect ocean health and address the climate crisis, and noted that expanding protected areas “can help ecosystems and communities weather climate and ocean changes,” and said that ocean-based actions are “feeding into a broader effort on the development of a U.S. National Ocean Plan.”
