Free Republic

"That planning process split the region into pro-fishing and no-fishing camps since it started in 2008, but it pales in comparison to the scope of a federal initiative that’s starting to take shape as a priority of the Obama administration. The coastal and marine spatial planning process, launched by executive order in 2010, seeks to account for the full range of ocean uses, from wave energy and oil extraction to shipping and recreation. It’s supposed to span broad ecosystems instead of relying on the traditional sector-by-sector approach to regulating ocean activities."

KEYPORT, Wash. - Critics of a Navy plan to use dolphins and sea lions to guard waters off the coast of a major submarine base say the ocean is too cold for the plan to work. Other critics who showed up at a public open house Tuesday questioned the use of live animals rather than sophisticated technology at Hood Canal, home of the West Coast Trident submarine base. The animals are trained to alert a handler when they detect anyone in the water. The handler, in a small boat, then places a strobe light on the nose of the animal,...

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER Stevens urges Alaska coastal seas be engaged Friday, August 23, 2002THE ASSOCIATED PRESSANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Sen. Ted Stevens has pledged to oppose withdrawals of Alaska coastal waters to fishing and oil exploration by the federal government, saying that he didn't want a repeat of what has happened to Alaska's interior."I'm going to oppose anything that sets up a process of withdrawals off our shore that's not managed by the local people," he told a hearing of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy on Wednesday.The Alaska Republican said a distant and unwitting Congress, encouraged by environmentalists, withdrew much of...