EDITORIAL: New national council will help keep waters healthy

We live on an island, with a toe in the Atlantic, but we don't always realize the major role oceans play: Half of Americans live in coastal counties, and the ocean-related industries, from fishing to tourism, are bigger economic drivers than farming. Now President Barack Obama has taken a big step toward protecting our life-giving waters.

In an executive order last month, the president accepted the final recommendations of his interagency ocean policy task force and established the National Ocean Council. It will coordinate the work of 20 federal agencies, governed by 140 laws, to carry out the order's emphasis on protecting the ocean environment and economy as a high national priority.

Coordinate is a key word. The mess in the Gulf of Mexico reminded us how fragile our oceans are, and how much we need agencies to work together cooperatively and effectively. To keep our oceans and coastal waters healthy, we must manage them as entire ecosystems, not one species at a time. New York has adopted that policy, and its Ocean and Great Lakes Ecosystem Conservation Council is developing it.

As regional advisory committees are created under the national council, the state experience should help. For example, New York is working toward criteria for siting wind turbines, and planning the right uses for the right ocean spaces will be a key national emphasis. All this planning and coordination is good news for all Americans - and for our Island. hN