National Ocean Month, 2023, 36459-36460 [2023-12062]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 107 (Monday, June 5, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 36459-36460]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-12062]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 88 , No. 107 / Monday, June 5, 2023 / 
Presidential Documents

[[Page 36459]]


                Proclamation 10594 of May 31, 2023

                
National Ocean Month, 2023

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The ocean makes life on Earth possible--feeding us, 
                sustaining livelihoods, and connecting economies across 
                the globe. It bonds us as a source of recreation and 
                rejuvenation for our spirits and links us to our 
                heritage through Indigenous communities who have 
                stewarded our marine habitats since time immemorial. 
                Through its rich ecosystems of diverse plants, animals, 
                and other species, it is also central to our fight 
                against the climate crisis and to creating a cleaner, 
                safer, and healthier future. During National Ocean 
                Month, we recommit to protecting and conserving our 
                precious ocean and to harnessing its power to shape a 
                more sustainable planet.

                My Administration is acting with urgency and a 
                seriousness of purpose. Around the globe, the climate 
                crisis today is drastically impacting marine life, 
                coastal communities, and the ocean economy. The past 
                eight years have been the warmest on record--and more 
                than 90 percent of excess heat has been absorbed by the 
                ocean. Rising temperatures force marine life to move 
                away from their usual habitats, straining communities 
                and working families who rely on fisheries for a living 
                and for sustenance. Increasing acidity in our seas, 
                along with nutrient and plastic pollution, endangers 
                species and threatens food supplies. Higher sea levels 
                make storm surges even more dangerous for coastal 
                communities.

                But we are not powerless in the face of these 
                challenges--and the ocean can be an effective tool to 
                confront them. That is why my Administration has joined 
                together with State, Tribal, territorial, and local 
                partners to implement the first-ever United States 
                Ocean Climate Action Plan. With billions of dollars 
                from our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and our 
                Inflation Reduction Act--the most significant climate 
                investment in American history--we are advancing new 
                offshore wind projects with an ambitious goal of 
                deploying 30 gigawatts by 2030, enough to power 10 
                million homes while also protecting biodiversity. We 
                are modernizing America's infrastructure and 
                electrifying equipment at our ports to decrease the 
                carbon footprint of cargo ships and build cleaner 
                supply chains. And as part of our strategy to place 
                environmental justice at the center of our ocean 
                climate action, we are supporting communities that have 
                been smothered by a legacy of pollution.

                At the same time, we are protecting ecosystems and 
                supporting the communities who rely on them. Together 
                with our international partners, we are cracking down 
                on illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. And we 
                are working to strengthen sustainable fisheries, 
                ensuring hardworking Americans can continue to provide 
                for their families and feed our Nation.

                As part of my America the Beautiful Initiative--which 
                set a goal of conserving 30 percent of America's lands 
                and waters by 2030--we are also taking steps toward 
                designating new national marine sanctuaries. Toward 
                that aim, I issued a Presidential Memorandum to 
                consider designating more than 700,000 square miles 
                around the Pacific Remote Islands as a new national 
                marine sanctuary. If completed, this area would be 
                among the largest marine protected areas on the planet. 
                And it would honor the traditional practices and 
                ancestral pathways of Pacific Island voyagers. With 
                input from Tribal partners, my Administration also 
                began the designation process for multiple

[[Page 36460]]

                new national marine sanctuaries, including the Hudson 
                Canyon in the Atlantic Ocean and the Chumash Heritage 
                National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Southern 
                California.

                These actions make us safer. Healthy ecosystems like 
                mangroves, seagrasses, and salt marshes take carbon out 
                of the atmosphere while creating natural buffers that 
                help absorb the force of hurricanes, typhoons, and 
                tropical storms before they reach our communities. That 
                is why my Administration is investing more than $500 
                million to help fortify these and other, nature-based 
                climate solutions and create good-paying jobs for 
                Americans in the process.

                It is hard to imagine just how much of the ocean we 
                have yet to discover and what possibilities for the 
                future of human and planetary health, as well as for 
                our economy, lie beneath its surface. This National 
                Ocean Month, let us honor its beauty and bounty with 
                action and commit to protecting and conserving it for 
                generations to come.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States of America, by virtue of the 
                authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws 
                of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2023 as 
                National Ocean Month. I call upon Americans to take 
                action to protect, conserve, and restore our ocean and 
                coasts.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                seventh.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2023-12062
Filed 6-2-23; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P