The Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force (IOPTF), established by Presidential Memorandum on June 12, 2009, was charged to develop recommendations for (1) a national policy that ensures the protection, maintenance, and restoration of the health of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems and (2) a recommended framework for ecosystem-based coastal and marine spatial planning (CMSP).  This paper focuses on the question:  Can the United States design a framework for nationwide ecosystem-based, regionally-implemented CMS planning that would involve and be implemented by all relevant federal agencies, states, and tribes? Under the leadership of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), federal officials on the IOPTF and its Working Committee and other subgroups worked together collegially to produce recommendations for consideration by the President.   The IOPTF utilized the reports of the Pew Ocean Commission (2003) and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy (2004) as foundation documents, and discussed key issues with a variety of experts, including Federal, State, tribal, and regional representatives, scientists from academia, NGOs and the private sector, legal and policy experts, and the public. To engage the public, CEQ hosted 38 roundtables to hear from a broad range of interests, including energy, conservation, recreational and commercial fishing, transportation, agriculture, human health, State, tribal, and local governments, ports, recreational boating, business, and national and homeland security; organized six regional public meetings; set up a website to accept public comments; and released the draft CMSP for a 60-day public review and comment period.

Results/Conclusions

The IOPTF submitted its final recommendations to the President in March 2010.  The recommendations define CMSP as follows: “CMSP is a comprehensive, adaptive, integrated, ecosystem-based, and transparent spatial planning process, based on sound science, for analyzing current and anticipated uses of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes areas.  CMSP identifies areas most suitable for various types or classes of activities in order to reduce conflicts among uses, reduce environmental impacts, facilitate compatible uses, and preserve critical ecosystem services to meet economic, environmental, security, and social objectives.”  In developing this definition and the accompanying implementation framework, the IOPTF considered ecological, economic, and social principles.    Importantly, the maintenance of critical ecosystem services is included as a central objective of CMS Plans, rather than an after-thought or case-by-case consideration in individual agency or permit decisions. This paper discusses how ecological principles and information on ecosystem services will be used in the practical application of CMSP.