Based on our work with fishing communities in New England, we submitted the attached comments on the Interim Report of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force convened by the White House. In short, we recommend:

• Place appropriate conditions on strategy objectives.
• Include a provision for saying “no.”
• Facilitate timely, coordinated plans of action.
• Make coastal communities an integral part of the decision-making.
• Recognize the unique position of those people, such as fishermen, who have direct interaction with marine ecosystems.
• Management should be consistent with multiple ecosystem scales.
• Be more explicit about coordination and conflict resolution.
• Incorporate diverse sources of information into management process.

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