OCEAN CITY -- A potential plan to effectively zone vast areas of ocean along the nation’s coastlines appeared to gain some traction this week with the release of the president’s implementation plan, but the proposal still seems to have more questions than answers.

In 2010, based on recommendations of the Interagency Task Force on Ocean Policy, President Obama issued an executive order calling for a National Ocean Policy, a proposal that included a somewhat controversial “marine spatial zoning” of the seas off the nation’s coastlines including here in Ocean City and the mid-Atlantic. The president called for the creation of a National Ocean Council, an organization of stakeholders to coordinate the federal regulation of activities along the nation’s coasts including among other things recreational and commercial fishing.

A pillar of the recommendations is the creation of a plan to implement the same type of planning and zoning practices applied on land to open areas of ocean off the coast. In essence, if the plan comes to fruition, some areas of the ocean could be zoned to allow for industrial uses such as offshore drilling, shipping and alternative energy, while others could be set aside for recreational uses such as fishing and boating.

More simply put, while industrial and commercial interests currently share the ocean with recreational uses such as fishing and boating in a kind of peaceful coexistence, the president’s plan for a national ocean policy including marine spatial zoning could create a grid of sorts off the coast designating where some activities are allowed and others are not. From the outset, the plan received mixed reviews from the public and private sectors, but the ocean zoning proposal has been more conceptual than practical.

However, the proposal moved closer to coming to fruition this week with the release of the final implementation plan. The Obama Administration released the final plan for translating the concepts developed by the National Ocean Policy committee to real-time, on the ground activities. With significant public input from a wide range of individuals and stakeholder groups, the implementation plan focuses on improving coordination to speed federal permitting decisions, better manage the ocean and coastal resources and disseminate scientific information local communities, marine industries and other stakeholders can use.

“This plan embodies the type of efficient, collaborative government that taxpayers, communities and businesses expect from their federal government,” said Nancy Sutley, Co-Chair of the National Ocean Council this week. “With increasing demands on our oceans, we must improve how we work together, share information and plan smartly to grow our economy, keep our ocean healthy and enjoy the highest benefits from our ocean resources now and in the future.

From the outset, opponents of the National Ocean Policy and the associated ocean zoning plan have called the proposal a veiled attempt at gaining federal control over the ocean and coastal regions, placing decision-making in the hands of bureaucrats behind desks in Washington and taking it away from those who live and work in and around the water. House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings has been a strong opponent of the plan from the outset and this week voiced his displeasure with the final implementation plan.

“This final implementation plan raises more questions than answers and provides even less information on what the Obama Administration will impose under the guise of the National Ocean Policy,” he said. “What is certain is that this policy represents a significant step toward the mandatory zoning of our oceans and is a backdoor attempt to control the way inland, coastal and ocean activities are managed.”

Hastings warned of the limitations the plan might cause on ocean activities if implemented.

“If implemented, this plan will inflict red tape and economic damage both onshore and offshore across a wide range of activities including agriculture, fishing, construction, manufacturing, mining, oil and natural gas and renewable energy,” he said. “Over the past two years, the Natural Resources Committee has repeatedly attempted to obtain information on the development, legal authority, regulatory burdens, staffing and funding sources of this policy, but these questions and many others remain unanswered.”

The Recreational Fishing Alliance, which has made no secret about its dissatisfaction with the National Ocean Policy, said the proposal to zone vast areas of the ocean threaten recreational and commercial fishing. The RFA said the National Ocean Policy threatens to ban certain fishing activities along the nation’s coastlines.

“The RFA has made it very clear the National Ocean Council threatens to override all of our current federal fisheries management processes, threatens the integrity of our recreational fishing councils and creates an overarching bureaucracy, which could summarily dismiss all input from stakeholders,” said RFA Director Jim Donofrio. “It has the very real possibility of arbitrarily banning sportfishing activities throughout U.S. coastal waters and we are absolutely opposed to this presidential decree.”